comparative stratigraphy and subsidence history of mesozoic rift basins of north atlantic mesozoic rift basins around the north atlantic all possess many of the following upper jurassic to lower cretaceous oxfordian to albian stratigraphic elements 1 an early oxfordian hiatus 2 backfill deposits in upper jurassic paleovalleys 3 multiple tithonian transgressive regressive sequences 4 early berriasian regressive sequences 5 a sub valanginian unconformity overlain by coarse siliciclastic sandstones and conglomerates 6 valanginian to hauterivian fining upward sequences 7 condensed barremian sequences and 8 prominent aptian unconformities more local features include abrupt kimmeridgian deepening lusitanian basin portugal albian deepening cantabrian and aquitaine basins northern spain and southern france and late albian early cenom nian source rejuvenation cantabrian basin northern iberia decompaction and backstripping of sediments from well and outcrop sections in six basins also reveal broad similarities in trends of rates of apparent basement subsidence relatively high rates 50 100 m m y characterize onset of rift phases in the triassic and the kimmeridgian locally in the lusitanian basin of portugal kimmeridgian rates reach about 250 m m y in the cantabrian and aquitaine basins a third phase of rapid subsidence characterizes the aptian albian interval after the main phase of continental breakup around iberia this phase may be due to transtensional stresses as iberia continued to rotate relative to europe tensional intraplate stresses or gravity driven partial collapse of the new continental marg n the north atlantic mesozoic basins share many features because they had a common origin controlled by intracontinental rifting and subsequent separation of europe and north america pulses of extension generally are reflected in the stratigraphy of all of the basins superimposed on this record are the effects of eustatic sea level variations the main difference between the canadian jeanne d arc basin and iberian basins is the significantly greater early and middle jurassic basement subsidence rate in the former about 40 m m y vs 0 10 m m y this difference may result from prolonged extension on the canadian side perhaps due to northward transfer of shear stress from left lateral transform motion between the grand banks and northwestern africa

seismic moulin tremor through glacial moulins meltwater is routed from the glacier surface to its base moulins are a main feature feeding subglacial drainage systems and thus influencing basal motion and ice dynamics but their geometry remains poorly known here we show that analysis of the seismic wavefield generated by water falling into a moulin can help constrain its geometry we present modeling results of hour long seimic tremors emitted from a vertical moulin shaft observed with a seismometer array installed at the surface of the greenland ice sheet the tremor was triggered when the moulin water level exceeded a certain height which we associate with the threshold for the waterfall to hit directly the surface of the moulin water column the amplitude of the tremor signal changed over each tremor episode in close relation to the amount of inflowing water the tremor spectrum features multiple prominent peaks whose characteristic frequencies are distributed like the resonant modes of a semiopen organ pipe and were found to depend on the moulin water level consistent with a source composed of resonant tube waves water pressure waves coupled to elastic deformation of the moulin walls along the water filled moulin pipe analysis of surface particle motions lends further support to this interpretation the seismic wavefield was modeled as a superposition of sustained wave radiation by pressure sources on the side walls and at the bottom of the moulin the former was found to dominate the wave field at close distance and the latter at large distance to the moulin

the shelf sand plume model a critique in recent years a new model for deposition of sand bodies in a shelf environment has appeared this model known as the shelf sand plume model is hypothesized to result from storm driven currents that are deflected around a deltaic headland stripping sand from the headland and redepositing it in a downcurrent plume on the inner shelf the modern analogue for this model is considered to be an arcuate shelf sand body located off the damietta branch of the nile delta however the distribution of older deltaic and shoreline sands probably controls the arcuate outline of the sand body the present current system has certainly reworked these sands into ridges and large scale bedforms but is not responsible for the overall outline of the sand body grain size range and distribution of sand on the shelf demonstrate that the source of sand in the nile shelf sand body is not the modern damietta headland as postulated by the shelf sandplume model in our view the shelf sand plume model is presently unsubstantiated and has orginated as a misapplication of the original nile example as a geological model the shelf sand plume model lacks a set of observable consistently applicable criteria the only common denominator to the model is the plume geometry of a sand body located off a deltaic promontory however workers postulating the existence of shelf sand plumes have neither clearly established a plume geometry nor shown the juxtaposition of these bodies with respect to coeval deltaic headlands in their outcrop or subsurface examples the model does not provide criteria to distinguish a shelf sand plume from other classes of shelf sand bodies notably sand ridges and storm generated sheet like sands its application to the rock record should be re evaluated

melt under cutting and buoyancy driven calving from tidewater glaciers new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations the simple calving laws currently used in ice sheet models do not adequately reflect the complexity and diversity of calving processes to be effective calving laws must be grounded in a sound understanding of how calving actually works here we develop a new strategy for formulating calving laws using a the helsinki discrete element model hidem to explicitly model fracture and calving processes and b the continuum model elmer ice to identify critical stress states associated with hidem calving events a range of observed calving processes emerges spontaneously from hidem in response to variations in ice front buoyancy and the size of subaqueous undercuts calving driven by buoyancy and melt under cutting is under predicted by existing calving laws but we show that the location and magnitude of hidem calving events can be predicted in elmer ice from characteristic stress patterns our results open the way to developing calving laws that properly reflect the diversity of calving processes and provide a framework for a unified theory of the calving process continuum

a physically based calving model applied to marine outlet glaciers and implications for the glacier dynamics we present results from numerical ice flow models that include calving criteria based on penetration of surface and basal crevasses which in turn is a function of longitudinal strain rates near the glacier front the position of the calving front is defined as the point where either 1 surface crevasses reach the waterline model cdw or 2 surface and basal crevasses penetrate the full thickness of the glacier model cd for comparison with previous studies results are also presented for a height above buoyancy calving model qualitatively both models cdw and cd produce similar behaviour unlike previous models for calving the new calving criteria are applicable to both grounded termini and floating ice shelves and tongues the numerical ice flow model is applied to an idealized geometry characteristic of marine outlet glaciers results indicate that grounding line dynamics are less sensitive to basal topography than previously suggested stable grounding line positions can be obtained even on a reverse bed slope with or without floating termini the proposed calving criteria also allow calving losses to be linked to surface melt and therefore climate in contrast to previous studies in which calving rate or position of the terminus is linked to local water depth the new calving criterion is able to produce seasonal cycles of retreat and advance as observed for greenland marine outlet glaciers the contrasting dynamical behaviour and stability found for different calving models suggests that a realistic parameterization for the process of calving is crucial for any predictions of marine outlet glacier change

distributed subglacial discharge drives significant submarine melt at a greenland tidewater glacier this is the publisher s final pdf the article is copyrighted by american geophysical union and published by john wiley sons inc it can be found at http agupubs onlinelibrary wiley com agu journal 10 1002 28issn 291944 8007

evidence of an imbricate crustal thrust belt in the southern british variscides contributions of southwestern approaches traverse swat deep seismic reflection profiling recorded through the english channel and the celtic sea the southwestern approaches traverse swat seismic reflection profiles recorded through the celtic sea and the english channel provide unexpected data concerning notably the deep structure of the irish and south british variscan crust one of the most significant results is the recognition of prominent deep southerly dipping reflectors regarded as large scale foreland directed variscan thrusts which constitute in the southern innermost zones a crustal stacking wedge the resulting overthickened crust may have induced the petrogenesis of the cornubian granitic batholith by an anatectic melting process the roots of this crustal duplex are not imaged on the swat lines because of their subsequent assimilation by the more recent layering of the present day lower crust upward the deep crustal ramps are assumed to flatten out and to join a roof thrust which acts as a major midcrustal decoupling zone not revealed by the swat profiles and which underlies the thick devonian allochthonous high strained units of cornwall northward this shallow northerly verging shear zone is overstepped by the tintagel antithetic back thrusts which are closely related to deeper northward dipping basement faults considered as caledonian features southward the imbricate crustal thrust unit is overridden by the lizard ophiolitic suture which appears as a 8 km thick gently southerly dipping sheared zone crosscuttting the entire crust and rooting deep beneath the present day moho its hanging wall is constituted by the channel cadomian block characterized by an almost seismically featureless upper crust which is not involved in the main variscan thrust stacking northward the imbricate thrust unit is delineated by a moderately southerly dipping ramp which penetrates straight down into the upper crust without any evidence of an intervening flat lying decollement level this frontal ramp emerges along a broadly 110 n trending discontinuous thrust front located above the northern downfaulted margins of the munster ireland and pembroke wales devonian basins the swat deep seismic data relate the overall variscan crustal shortening undergone by the south british domain to an oblique converging process involving a continental shelf pinched between the rigid allochthonous channel block and the northern autochthonous foreland this crustal shortening occurred during a carboniferous intracontinental collisional context subsequent to the closure and the obduction of a small oceanic crust floored basin lizard

global detection and location of seismic sources by using surface waves we develop an algorithm for the detection and location of seismic sources using intermediate period 35 150 sec surface waves recorded on a global array of stations continuous vertical seismic waveforms from the global network are collected and a 4 4 global grid of target locations is defined for each target location and each station a surface wave propagation operator is deconvolved from the seismogram to restore any source pulse present the envelope of the seismogram is calculated and cross correlated with a theoretical source pulse shape the resulting waveforms are stacked to improve signal to noise characteristics and the quality strength and timing of the potential detection are determined when a successful event detection is made a finer grid is applied to locate the event with greater precision we apply the algorithm systematically for the period 1993 2003 and catalog the events approximately 2000 events are detected and located for each year and 98 of shallow events in the harvard centroid moment tensor cmt catalog are detected and located by the new algorithm a comparison of 9482 events common to the two catalogs allows the detection strength to be calibrated against the cmt moment magnitude all detected events have estimated moment magnitudes m w 4 5 in each year approximately 100 events not listed in other global seismicity catalogs are detected and located many of these events lie along the ridge transform plate boundaries in the southern hemisphere and may be regular earthquakes that have gone undetected because of poor station coverage other events located in areas where global and regional networks provide good coverage are potentially anomalous and may have escaped detection as a result of their unusual source properties

crust and uppermost mantle structure of greenland and the northwest atlantic from rayleigh wave group velocity tomography the greenland landmass preserves 4 billion years of tectonic history but much of the continent is inaccessible to geological study due to the extensive inland ice cap we map out for the first time the 3 d crustal structure of greenland and the nw atlantic ocean using rayleigh wave anisotropic group velocity tomography in the period range 10 80 s from regional earthquakes and the ongoing glatis glisn seismograph networks 1 d inversion gives a pseudo 3 d model of shear wave velocity structure to depths of 100 km with a horizontal resolution of 200 km crustal thickness across mainland greenland ranges from 25 km to over 50 km and the velocity structure shows considerable heterogeneity the large sedimentary basins on the continental shelf are clearly visible as low velocities in the upper 5 15 km within the upper continental basement velocities are systematically lower in northern greenland than in the south and exhibit a broadly nw se trend the thinning of the crust at the continental margins is also clearly imaged upper mantle velocities show a clear distinction between typical fast cratonic lithosphere vs 4 6 km s 1 beneath greenland and its ne margin and anomalously slow oceanic mantle vs 4 3 4 4 km s 1 beneath the nw atlantic we do not observe any sign of pervasive lithospheric modification across greenland in the regions associated with the presumed iceland hotspot track though the average crustal velocity in this region is higher than that of areas to the north and south crustal anisotropy beneath greenland is strong and complex likely reflecting numerous episodes of tectonic deformation beneath the north atlantic and baffin bay the dominant anisotropy directions are perpendicular to the active and extinct spreading centres anisotropy in the subcontinental lithosphere is weaker than that of the crust but still significant consistent with cratonic lithosphere worldwide

buoyant flexure and basal crevassing in dynamic mass loss at helheim glacier despite the role that calving plays in greenland mass loss the mechanisms of calving are poorly constrained observations of greenland s helheim glacier suggest that buoyant flexure at the glacier terminus leads to the propagation of basal crevasses and iceberg calving

complex force history of a calving generated glacial earthquake derived from broadband seismic inversion the force applied to the earth by the calving of two icebergs at jakobshavn isbrae greenland has been quantified the source force history was recovered by inversion of regional broadband seismograms without any a priori constraint on the source time function in contrast with previous studies for periods 10 100 s the three component force can be obtained from distant stations alone and is proportional to the closest station seismograms this inversion makes it possible to quantify changes of the source force direction and amplitude as a function of time and frequency a detailed comparison with a video of the event was used to identify four forces associated with collision then bottom out and top out rotation of the first and second icebergs and ice melange motion only the two iceberg rotations were identified in previous studies all four processes are found here to contribute to the force amplitude and variability such a complete time frequency force history provides unique dynamical constraints for mechanical calving models

ice front variation and tidewater behavior on helheim and kangerdlugssuaq glaciers greenland we used satellite images to examine the calving behavior of helheim and kangerdlugssuaq glaciers greenland from 2001 to 2006 a period in which they retreated and sped up these data show that many large iceberg calving episodes coincided with teleseismically detected glacial earthquakes suggesting that calving related processes are the source of the seismicity for each of several events for which we have observations the ice front calved back to a large pre existing rift these rifts form where the ice has thinned to near flotation as the ice front retreats down the back side of a bathymetric high which agrees well with earlier theoretical predictions in addition to the recent retreat in a period of higher temperatures analysis of several images shows that helheim retreated in the 20th century during a warmer period and then re advanced during a subsequent cooler period this apparent sensitivity to warming suggests that higher temperatures may promote an initial retreat off a bathymetric high that is then sustained by tidewater dynamics as the ice front retreats into deeper water the cycle of frontal advance and retreat in less than a century indicates that tidewater glaciers in greenland can advance rapidly greenland s larger reservoir of inland ice and conditions that favor the formation of ice shelves likely contribute to the rapid rates of advance

dynamics of glacier calving at the ungrounded margin of helheim glacier southeast greenland during summer 2013 we installed a network of 19 gps nodes at the ungrounded margin of helheim glacier in southeast greenland together with three cameras to study iceberg calving mechanisms the network collected data at rates up to every 7 s and was designed to be robust to loss of nodes as the glacier calved data collection covered 55 days and many nodes survived in locations right at the glacier front to the time of iceberg calving the observations included a number of significant calving events and as a consequence the glacier retreated 1 5 km the data provide real time high frequency observations in unprecedented proximity to the calving front the glacier calved by a process of buoyancy force induced crevassing in which the ice downglacier of flexion zones rotates upward because it is out of buoyant equilibrium calving then occurs back to the flexion zone this calving process provides a compelling and complete explanation for the data tracking of oblique camera images allows identification and characterisation of the flexion zones and their propagation downglacier interpretation of the gps data and camera data in combination allows us to place constraints on the height of the basal cavity that forms beneath the rotating ice downglacier of the flexion zone before calving the flexion zones are probably formed by the exploitation of basal crevasses and theoretical considerations suggest that their propagation is strongly enhanced when the glacier base is deeper than buoyant equilibrium thus this calving mechanism is likely to dominate whenever such geometry occurs and is of increasing importance in greenland

large variations in holocene solar activity constraints from 10be in the greenland ice core project ice core 1 cosmogenic radionuclides extracted from ice cores hold a unique potential for reconstructing past solar activity changes beyond the direct instrumental period taking the geomagnetic modulation into account the solar activity in terms of the heliospheric modulation function can quantitatively be reconstructed in high resolution throughout the holocene for this period our results reveal changes in heliospheric modulation of galactic cosmic rays significantly larger than the variations reconstructed on the basis of neutron monitor measurements of galactic cosmic rays for the last 50 years moreover the 10be data from the greenland ice core project ice core as well as 14c support a high current solar activity however although the reconstruction of solar activity on long timescales is difficult our result suggests that the modern activity state of the sun is not that exceptional regarding the entire holocene this extended solar activity record provides the basis for further detailed investigations on solar and cosmic ray physics as well as on solar forcing of the earth s climate whose importance is suggested by increasing paleoclimatic evidences

diagenesis and burial history modeling of heterogeneous marginal marine to shoreface paleocene glauconitic sandstones taranaki basin new zealand paleocene marginal marine to shoreface glauconitic sandstones f sands of the farewell formation from the maui field in taranaki basin new zealand demonstrate a diagenetic evolution driven by major shifts in acidic pore water composition rate of burial and clay mineral authigenesis mechanical compaction is the principal porosity reducing mechanism during the first 2500 m of burial of the f sands continued mechanical compaction with long grain contacts concavo convex contacts and deformed liable grains are common throughout the f sands late stage flow of dissolved co2 in the pore fluids of the farewell formation is thought to have been generated from thermal decarboxylation of coaly source rocks the circulation of these co2 rich fluids will have dissolved into undersaturated pore fluids and partially catalyzed dissolution of feldspar and quartz producing ions for the precipitation of kaolinite and chlorite timing of the diagenetic reactions as determined using paragenetic observations fluid inclusion analysis and burial history modeling suggests that the quartz cements formed at a late stage 100 c corresponding to 0 7 ma and is consistent with the migration of hydrocarbons and associated co2 into the f sand reservoir significant secondary porosity is generated through the dissolution of feldspar which is preserved due to late stage of occurrence at close to present day maximum burial dissolved solutes in the f sands sandstones are being preferentially precipitated in interbedded and surrounding fine grained heterolithic siltstone to very fine grained sandstone beds leading to enhanced heterogeneity and preservation of secondary porosity this study provides an improved understanding for diagenetic reconstruction of marginal marine to shoreface facies

calving processes and the dynamics of calving glaciers abstract calving of icebergs is an important component of mass loss from the polar ice sheets and glaciers in many parts of the world calving rates can increase dramatically in response to increases in velocity and or retreat of the glacier margin with important implications for sea level change despite their importance calving and related dynamic processes are poorly represented in the current generation of ice sheet models this is largely because understanding the calving problem involves several other long standing problems in glaciology combined with the difficulties and dangers of field data collection in this paper we systematically review different aspects of the calving problem and outline a new framework for representing calving processes in ice sheet models we define a hierarchy of calving processes to distinguish those that exert a fundamental control on the position of the ice margin from more localised processes responsible for individual calving events the first order control on calving is the strain rate arising from spatial variations in velocity particularly sliding speed which determines the location and depth of surface crevasses superimposed on this first order process are second order processes that can further erode the ice margin these include fracture propagation in response to local stress imbalances in the immediate vicinity of the glacier front undercutting of the glacier terminus by melting at or below the waterline and bending at the junction between grounded and buoyant parts of an ice tongue calving of projecting submerged ice feet can be regarded as a third order process because it is paced by first or second order calving above the waterline first order calving can be represented in glacier models using a calving criterion based on crevasse depth which is a function of longitudinal strain rate modelling changes in terminus position and calving rates thus reduces to the problem of determining the ice geometry and velocity distribution realistic solutions to the problem of modelling ice flow therefore depend critically on an appropriate choice of sliding law models that assume that basal velocities are controlled by basal drag can replicate much of the observed behaviour of calving glaciers with grounded termini but an important limitation is that they cannot be used to model floating glacier termini or ice shelves alternative sliding laws that parameterise drag from the glacier margins provide more flexible and robust ways of representing calving in ice sheet models such models can explain a remarkable range of observed phenomena within a simple unifying framework including downglacier increases in velocity and strain rates where basal and or lateral drag diminishes flow acceleration in response to thinning through time the tendency for glaciers to stabilise at pinning points in relatively shallow water or fjord narrowings the constraints on ice shelf stability and the contrasts in calving rates between tidewater and freshwater calving glaciers many unresolved issues remain however including the role played by the removal of backstress in the acceleration of retreating calving glaciers and the controls on melting at and below the waterline

potential antarctic ice sheet retreat driven by hydrofracturing and ice cliff failure abstract geological data indicate that global mean sea level has fluctuated on 103 to 106 yr time scales during the last 25 million years at times reaching 20 m or more above modern if correct this implies substantial variations in the size of the east antarctic ice sheet eais however most climate and ice sheet models have not been able to simulate significant eais retreat from continental size given that atmospheric co2 levels were relatively low throughout this period here we use a continental ice sheet model to show that mechanisms based on recent observations and analysis have the potential to resolve this model data conflict in response to atmospheric and ocean temperatures typical of past warm periods floating ice shelves may be drastically reduced or removed completely by increased oceanic melting and by hydrofracturing due to surface melt draining into crevasses ice at deep grounding lines may be weakened by hydrofracturing and reduced buttressing and may fail structurally if stresses exceed the ice yield strength producing rapid retreat incorporating these mechanisms in our ice sheet model accelerates the expected collapse of the west antarctic ice sheet to decadal time scales and also causes retreat into major east antarctic subglacial basins producing 17 m global sea level rise within a few thousand years the mechanisms are highly parameterized and should be tested by further process studies but if accurate they offer one explanation for past sea level high stands and suggest that antarctica may be more vulnerable to warm climates than in most previous studies

centroid single force inversion of seismic waves generated by landslides the centroid moment tensor cmt waveform inversion method of dziewonski et al 1981 is modified to analyze long period seismic waves generated by single force events such as the gigantic landslides associated with the 1980 eruption of mount st helens we refer to the method as centroid single force csf inversion as the result of the inversion we obtain the spatio temporal centroid and three components of a vector we call the csf vector which is the seismic point source representation of a landslide and whose direction is the opposite of the direction of sliding the sealer magnitude of the csf vector measures the overall size of the landslide and is given by mcsf md where m is the mass of the sliding object and d is the sliding distance we apply csf inversion to the long period surface waves generated by the 1980 mount st helens event the 1975 kalapana earthquake and the 1974 mantaro landslide using seismograms from the gdsn ida and hglp networks the csf solution for the st helens event is remarkably consistent with the actual geological observations and proves the efficacy of csf inversion the csf solution for the kalapana event does not fit the overall waveforms better than the cmt solution does however because the cmt solution does not explain the observed love wave radiation pattern it may be necessary to invoke a combination of both types of mechanism for this event although the geometry of the csf solution the direction of the force for the mantaro event is consistent with the actual landslide mcsf is about 5 times smaller than that expected from the mass and travel distance of the landslide estimated by geological observations this discrepancy may suggest either the relatively aseismic nature of this landslide or that the total volume of the slide was overestimated by analogy to single station cmt inversion single station csf inversion also appears to be stable and useful

subglacial discharge at tidewater glaciers revealed by seismic tremor subglacial discharge influences glacier basal motion and erodes and redeposits sediment at tidewater glacier termini discharge drives submarine terminus melting affects fjord circulation and is a central component of proglacial marine ecosystems however our present inability to track subglacial discharge and its variability significantly hinders our understanding of these processes here we report observations of hourly to seasonal variations in 1 5 10 hz seismic tremor that strongly correlate with subglacial discharge but not with basal motion weather or discrete icequakes our data demonstrate that vigorous discharge occurs from tidewater glaciers during summer in spite of fast basal motion that could limit the formation of subglacial conduits and then abates during winter furthermore tremor observations and a melt model demonstrate that drainage efficiency of tidewater glaciers evolves seasonally glaciohydraulic tremor provides a means by which to quantify subglacial discharge variations and offers a promising window into otherwise obscured glacierized environments

seasonal and interannual variabilities in terminus position glacier velocity and surface elevation at helheim and kangerlussuaq glaciers from 2008 to 2016 the dynamic response of greenland tidewater glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric change has varied both spatially and temporally while some of this variability is likely related to regional climate signals glacier geometry also appears to be important in this study we investigated the environmental and geometric controls on the seasonal and interannual evolution of helheim and kangerlussuaq glaciers southeast greenland from 2008 to 2016 by combining year round satellite measurements of terminus position glacier velocity and surface elevation while helheim remained relatively stable with a lightly grounded terminus over this time period kangerlussuaq continued to lose mass as its grounding line retreated into deeper water by summer 2011 kangerlussuaq s grounding line had retreated into shallower water and the glacier had a 5 km long floating ice tongue we also observed seasonal variations in surface velocity and elevation at both glaciers at helheim seasonal speedups and dynamic thinning occurred in the late summer when the terminus was most retreated at kangerlussuaq we observed summer speedups due to surface melt induced basal lubrication and winter speedups due to ice shelf retreat we suggest that helheim and kangerlussuaq behaved differently on a seasonal timescale due to differences in the spatial extent of floating ice near their termini which affected iceberg calving behavior given that seasonal speedups and dynamic thinning can alter this spatial extent these variations may be important for understanding the long term evolution of these and other greenland tidewater glaciers

ice melange dynamics and implications for terminus stability jakobshavn isbrae greenland 1 we used time lapse imagery seismic and audio recordings iceberg and glacier velocities ocean wave measurements and simple theoretical considerations to investigate the interactions between jakobshavn isbrae and its proglacial ice melange the melange behaves as a weak granular ice shelf whose rheology varies seasonally sea ice growth in winter stiffens the melange matrix by binding iceberg clasts together ultimately preventing the calving of full glacier thickness icebergs the dominant style of calving and enabling a several kilometer terminus advance each summer the melange weakens and the terminus retreats the melange remains strong enough however to be largely unaffected by ocean currents except during calving events and to influence the timing and sequence of calving events furthermore motion of the melange is highly episodic between calving events including the entire winter it is pushed down fjord by the advancing terminus at 40 m d 1 whereas during calving events it can move in excess of 50 103 m d 1 for more than 10 min by influencing the timing of calving events the melange contributes to the glacier s several kilometer seasonal advance and retreat the associated geometric changes of the terminus area affect glacier flow furthermore a force balance analysis shows that large scale calving is only possible from a terminus that is near floatation especially in the presence of a resistive ice melange the net annual retreat of the glacier is therefore limited by its proximity to floatation potentially providing a physical mechanism for a previously described near floatation criterion for calving

a review of mesozoic climates there is overwhelming evidence based on the distribution of distinctive sediments and fossils and oxygen isotope data that the climate of the mesozoic world was appreciably more equable than that of today with no polar ice caps but precise quantitative data are not available except for an episode of late cretaceous cooling there is no good documentation of any significant change in global temperature distributions through the era the distribution of coals and evaporites together with other criteria indicates a pattern of humid arid and zones appreciably different in important respects from that of today during the triassic and jurassic western pangaea in low to middle latitudes was largely arid but in the early cretaceous the lands on the margin of the newly opening central atlantic and western tethys experienced a humid climate by late cretaceous times arid zones had become very restricted in extent because of insufficient suitable data attempts at climatic modelling have had only modest success and only to a limited extent can the major long term changes in climate between the permian and the present be explained in terms of changing geography the most probable explanation of mesozoic equability is an increased atmospheric co 2 content a number of enigmas remain such as the existence of flourishing forests in polar palaeolatitudes whereas for the late cenozoic short term climatic changes can be related successfully to variations in the geometry and mechanics of the earth sun system there is a long way to go before comparable success can be claimed for the mesozoic

reverse glacier motion during iceberg calving and the cause of glacial earthquakes nearly half of greenland s mass loss occurs through iceberg calving but the physical mechanisms operating during calving are poorly known and in situ observations are sparse we show that calving at greenland s helheim glacier causes a minutes long reversal of the glacier s horizontal flow and a downward deflection of its terminus the reverse motion results from the horizontal force caused by iceberg capsize and acceleration away from the glacier front the downward motion results from a hydrodynamic pressure drop behind the capsizing berg which also causes an upward force on the solid earth these forces are the source of glacial earthquakes globally detectable seismic events whose proper interpretation will allow remote sensing of calving processes occurring at increasing numbers of outlet glaciers in greenland and antarctica

numerical modeling of iceberg capsizing responsible for glacial earthquakes the capsizing of icebergs calved from marine terminating glaciers generate horizontal forces on the glacier front producing long period seismic signals referred to as glacial earthquakes these forces can be estimated by broadband seismic inversion but their interpretation in terms of magnitude and waveform variability is not straightforward we present a numerical model for fluid drag that can be used to study buoyancy driven iceberg capsize dynamics and the generated contact forces on a calving face using the finite element approach we investigate the sensitivity of the force to drag effects iceberg geometry calving style and initial buoyancy we show that there is no simple relationship between force amplitude and iceberg volume and similar force magnitudes can be reached for different iceberg sizes the force history and spectral content varies with the iceberg attributes the iceberg aspect ratio primarily controls the capsize dynamics the force shape and force frequency whereas the iceberg height has a stronger impact on the force magnitude iceberg hydrostatic imbalance generates contact forces with specific frequency peaks that explain the variability in glacial earthquake dominant frequency for similar icebergs top out and bottom out events have significantly different capsize dynamics leading to larger top out forces especially for thin icebergs for realistic iceberg dimensions we find contact force magnitudes that range between 5 6 1011 and 2 1014 kg m consistent with seismic observations this study provides a useful framework for interpreting glacial earthquake sources and estimating the ice mass loss from coupled analysis of seismic signals and modeling results

the tectonic evolution of the north celtic sea and cardigan bay basins with special reference to basin inversion abstract the morphology and structural evolution of the north celtic sea basin ncsb and cardigan bay basin cbb are in large part controlled by reactivation of basement features of caledonian and possibly variscan origin from earliest triassic until maastrichtian times sedimentation was almost continuous initially in a rapidly subsiding rift system and finally in a progressive passive sag phase at the onset of the alpine orogeny both basins experienced spectacular inversion along readily identifiable axes the inversion takes the form of a compressive reactivation and reversal of the pre existing growth faults and a broad regional upwarping of the cretaceous depocentre the amount of inversion varies depending on the location within the basin but values in excess of 1000 m are possible by utilising regional seismic data the timing of inversion can be estimated as occurring between maastrichtian and eocene times which correlates with the so called laramide pulse of the alpine orogeny

forced regressions in a sequence stratigraphic framework concepts examples and exploration significance sequence stratigraphic concepts suggest that stratal geometries develop and are largely controlled by changes in relative sea level on the shelf lowstand deposits which form during falls and subsequent stillstands of relative sea level can be recognized by the presence of an unconformity at the base the isolated and basinward position relative to the previous shoreline and the abrupt seaward translation of shallow water and shoreline facies into the basin across an unconformity surface this seaward translation of facies and shoreline regression in response to relative sea level lowering is termed a forced regression a forced regression is independent of variations of sediment flux and is in contrast with normal regressions that occur in response to excess sediment flux relative to space available on the shelf i e accommodation forced regressions commonly are associated with a zone of sedimentary bypass subaerial exposure and possible fluvial erosion between the newly formed and preceding shorelines certain shelf sands previously interpreted as offshore or mid shelf sand bodies thus can be reinterpreted as stranded lowstand shorelines associated with forced regressions this alternative interpretation has economic significance insofar as it suggests different subsurface correlations and reservoir geometries with the potential for development of new play types and enhanced recovery in o der fields examples of forced regression can be observed at a variety of scales and ages several such examples include the modern east coulee fan delta and the lower cretaceous viking formation in alberta canada the quaternary rhone delta and the quaternary hudson valley system

celtic sea western approaches area an overview abstract a mesozoic tectonic and a pre quaternary geological map of the celtic sea western approaches area is presented the rift and wrench induced mesozoic basins of the celtic western approaches came into evidence during the permo triassic and remained active until the aptian crustal separation in the bay of biscay compressional intra plate stresses induced their inversion during the cenozoic

proterozoic source rocks sedimentology and organic characteristics of the velkerri formation northern territory australia the velkerri formation 1 43 ga in northern australia is one of the organically richest pro terozoic successions in australia and over the last 10 yr has been a target for oil exploration this formation is predominantly a glauconitic marine shale deposited in restricted to anoxic conditions in a deep water pro delta slope to basin environment the velkerri formation is composed of superimposed sediment couplets made up of laminated black organic rich mud shales total organic carbon toc 4 6 and laminated gray green organically lean mud shales toc 2 the couplets stack at scales ranging from centimeters to meters of particular interest are three black organic rich mud shales in the middle velkerri member tens of meters thick and correlatable over much of the drilled area of the basin their high organic contents reflect changes in organic productivity vs the rate of sediment supply and not fluctuating oxygen levels in the bottom waters or changes in water depth extractability and rock eval data show more efficient expulsion of hydrocarbons from the upper two of the three organic rich units in the middle velkerri evidence also exists for local intraformational migration of hydrocarbons into siltstone layers nevertheless the middle velkerri has very low permeability and porosity and still retains a significant fraction of its generated hydrocarbons especially in the lower portions of the middle velkerri where a volcanogenic provenance led to the early blocking of pore throats by clay diagenesis during early burial this study emphasizes the high quality of middle proterozoic source rocks for petroleum exploration in northern australia the main problem is finding traps that can preserve hydrocarbons over the long periods of time since the rocks became charged with hydrocarbons

grounding line migration and high resolution calving dynamics of jakobshavn isbrae west greenland 1 we performed three field campaigns in 2004 2007 and 2010 at the southern margin of the jakobshavn isbrae west greenland in order to infer flow velocities and their changes from photogrammetric time lapse imagery with a temporal resolution of 20 min and a spatial spacing of about 30 m on the glacier surface area wide analysis of more than 3000 three dimensional trajectories at individual glacier positions allow for both the mapping of the grounding line and the detailed observation of flow variations during major calving events from 2004 to 2010 the grounding line of jakobshavn isbrae retreated 3 5 0 2 km considering previously published results the grounding line retreat amounts to 6 km since 1985 the glacier has an ephemeral floating tongue that can establish during the readvance of the glacier front and break apart after large calving events observations of a major calving event show that an acceleration of flow velocities coincides with the onset of the break up during which flow velocities of up to 70 m d can be reached moreover large vertical displacements of the glacier front in the order of 15 m and lowering of 8 m at positions 500 m beyond the calving front were observed 2 days before the calving event after the break up the glacier slowly adjusts to the new boundary conditions within the next 4 5 days flow velocity variations caused by calving were detected up to 1 km upstream only which indicates that individual calving events have no immediate effect on the large scale glacier dynamics

shannon sandstone in wyoming a shelf ridge complex reinterpreted as lowstand shoreface deposits abstract the shannon sandstone campanian of wyoming was formerly interpreted as two stacked shelf ridge complexes sand was believed to have been transported from a time equivalent shoreline 110 150 km to the west and reworked or molded into ridges at the depositional site we show that this time equivalent shoreline section at lucerne wyoming consists of not one shoreface sandbody but two superimposed they are both storm dominated and the lower one terminates in beach facies capped by root traces there must have been a rise in relative sea level of at least 14 m to make accommodation space for the second shoreface sandbody in the salt creek area and the adjacent subsurface teapot dome there are two sandier upward facies successions in the lower succession there are abrupt vertical acies contacts between offshore bioturbated sandstones thicker hummocky cross stratified sandstones and coarser cross bedded sandstones there is also evidence that the cross bedded sandstones rest erosively on underlying facies the trace fauna in the sandstones includes macaronichnus segregatis rosselia socialis and ophiomorpha the m segregatis suggests a foreshore or upper shoreface depositional environment and r socialis indicates a lower to middle shoreface neither are characteristic of a shelf ridge complex the abrupt and probably erosive facies contacts along with the trace fauna suggest that the cross bedded sandstones in this succession represent a shoreface deposit that formed during a stage of actively falling relative sea level overlyi g muddy bioturbated sandstones indicate that shoreface deposition was terminated by a transgression the upper sandier upward succession contains facies and trace fauna similar to those of the lower succession and is also interpreted as a prograding shoreface rather than the sand moving 110 150 km from the shoreline and then being molded into shelf ridge complexes at salt creek we suggest that the shoreline moved into the salt creek area as the result of a fall in relative sea level it was transgressed and moved back westward a second fall of relative sea level moved the shoreline back to salt creek and a final transgression terminated shannon deposition

step wise changes in glacier flow speed coincide with calving and glacial earthquakes at helheim glacier greenland this is the publisher s version also available electronically from http onlinelibrary wiley com

possible mechanisms for glacial earthquakes the large glacial earthquakes reported on by ekstrom et al 2003 2006 and tsai and ekstrom 2007 have previously been evaluated in terms of their seismic characteristics in this paper we attempt to take constraints such as known glacial ice properties outlet glacier size calving style and meltwater variability to construct a self consistent physical model of the glacial earthquake process since many glaciological parameters are poorly constrained we parameterize a number of important processes and estimate a wide range of possible values for some properties the range of model outputs is thus fairly large but it is still difficult to match observational constraints under most conditions we find that only a small class of models is able to satisfy the major observational constraints these models are characterized by 1 lost basal resistance coupled to viscoelastic deformation with extensive internal crevassing or with low effective elastic modulus and possibly low effective viscosity or 2 by nonequilibrium calving such as having large icebergs capsize into the glacier front although observational constraints cannot definitively rule out any of the proposed classes of mechanisms the calving model has much stronger support fortunately the various models make different predictions regarding observables that can potentially be measured in the near future

crustal structure of the celtic sea and western approaches from gravity data and deep seismic profiles constraints on the formation of continental basins a free air anomaly map of the celtic sea and the western approaches is presented including all available marine gravimetric data and bouguer anomalies on land n60 features are predominant in the area they correspond to the n60 so called caledonian grain which played a major role in the variscan orogeny and in the formation of the permo triassic sedimentary basins the fundamental new point which comes out from this gravimetric map is the existence of a closely spaced pattern of n105 features which we regard as late carboniferous transpressional structures in the eastern pan of the celtic sea thrusts are in the same n105 direction west of 6 w longitude however folds and thrusts trend preferentially in a n60 direction following the older grain there the n105 lineaments may be regarded as dextral shear structures with a possible compressive component the hercynian shortening of the celtic sea domain located between the variscan front and the lizard suture resulted from the displacement along the n160 direction of the two adjacent rigid domains north of the variscan front the n105 and n135 features were possibly active in more recent times then both the n60 and n105 trends controlled the formation of permo triassic basins the n105 directions being transfer faults two dimensional gravity modelling of the swat profiles in the celtic sea shows that the base of the reflective lower crust may be associated with the moho discontinuity everywhere in the celtic sea except below the saint george s channel basin the lower crust does not change significantly in depth and thickness beneath the permo triassic basins none of the available models simply satisfies such conditions they all require at least a modification of the geometry of the lower crust after the formation of the celtic sea basins nevertheless if the simple shear model can be ruled out mainly from structural arguments the uniform stretching and to a lesser degree the thermomechanical models seem to be more relevant models however two additional conditions are necessary 1 the preservation of crustal seismic features formed before the creation of basins must be explained and 2 a significant portion of the volume of the stretched lower crust about 40 of this volume for the north celtic sea basin must be added below or perhaps partly above the lower crust by lateral flow of the crust or at the expense of the upper mantle

a model for migrating shelf bar sandstones in upper mancos shale campanian northwestern colorado the duffy mountain sandstone was deposited by migrating submarine shelf bars that are now completely encased in marine mudstones of the mancos shale upper cretaceous the shelf bars were deposited at least 10 mi 16 km offshore and stood approximately 100 to 150 ft 30 to 46 m above a shallow shelf the bars were never emergent but were shallow enough for fair weather waves to form ripples along their crests these elongate sand bodies trend northeast southwest approximately parallel to the shoreline the sediment was probably derived from reworking of transgressed littoral deposits in southwestern wyoming four subenvironments are recognized 1 landward flank of the shelf bar the back bar 2 the axial crest of central bar 3 a seaward facing ramp subfacies and 4 the shelf upon which the shelf bars migrated two major processes were active during deposition 1 fair weather longshore southwesterly currents and 2 storm erosion and westerly across the shelf bar sediment transport during fair weather sand waves transported sediment along the central bar while the back bar and shelf were being bioturbated storms eroded the seaward face of the bar and portions of the central bar creating hummocky erosion surfaces eroded sediment transported across the bar was deposited in coarsening upward spillover lobes in the back bar after the storm waned sediments deposited in t e back bar were bioturbated and sand waves were deposited on the eroded central bar migration of sand waves onto the eroded face of the bar formed the ramp facies as the shelf bar migrated the central bar facies climbed stratigraphically over the back bar facies the direction of shelf bar migration was probably controlled by the interaction of fair weather and storm sediment transport

for how long will the current grand maximum of solar activity persist 1 understanding the sun s magnetic activity is important because of its impact on the earth s environment the sunspot record since 1610 shows irregular 11 year cycles of activity they are modulated on longer timescales and were interrupted by the maunder minimum in the 17th century future behavior cannot easily be predicted even in the short term recent activity has been abnormally high for at least 8 cycles is this grand maximum likely to terminate soon or even to be followed by another maunder like grand minimum to answer these questions we use as a measure of the sun s open magnetic field a composite record of the solar modulation function f reconstructed principally from the proxy record of cosmogenic 10 be abundances in the grip icecore from greenland this f record extends back for almost 10 000 years showing many grand maxima and grand minima defined as intervals when f is within the top or bottom 20 of a gaussian distribution we carry out a statistical analysis of this record and calculate the life expectancy of the current grand maximum we find that it is only expected to last for a further 15 36 years with the more reliable methods yielding shorter expectancies and we therefore predict a decline in solar activity within the next two or three cycles we are not able however to predict the level of the ensuing minimum citation abreu j a j beer f steinhilber s m tobias and n o weiss 2008 for how long will the current grand maximum of solar activity persist geophys res lett 35 l20109 doi 10 1029 2008gl035442

vp vs relationship and amplitude variation with offset modelling of glauconitic greensand the relationship between vp and vs may be used to predict vs where only vp is known vp vs is also used to identify pore fluids from seismic data and amplitude variation with offset analysis theoretical physical as well as statistical empirical vp vs relationships have been proposed for reservoir characterization when shear wave data are not available in published work the focus is primarily on the vp vs relationship of quartzitic sandstone in order to broaden the picture we present vp vs relationships of greensand composed of quartz and glauconite by using data from the paleocene greensand nini oil field in the north sea a vp vs relationship derived from modelling is compared with empirical vp vs regressions from laboratory data as well as from log data the accuracy of vs prediction is quantified in terms of root mean square error we find that the vp vs relationship derived from modelling works well for greensand shear wave velocity prediction we model the seismic response of glauconitic greensand by using laboratory data from the nini field our studies here reveal that brine saturated glauconitic greensand can have a similar seismic response to that from oil saturated quartzitic sandstone and that oil saturated strongly cemented greensand can have a similar amplitude variation with offset response to that from brine saturated weakly cemented greensand

simple scaling of catastrophic landslide dynamics catastrophic landslides involve the acceleration and deceleration of millions of tons of rock and debris in response to the forces of gravity and dissipation their unpredictability and frequent location in remote areas have made observations of their dynamics rare through real time detection and inverse modeling of teleseismic data we show that landslide dynamics are primarily determined by the length scale of the source mass when combined with geometric constraints from satellite imagery the seismically determined landslide force histories yield estimates of landslide duration momenta potential energy loss mass and runout trajectory measurements of these dynamical properties for 29 teleseismogenic landslides are consistent with a simple acceleration model in which height drop and rupture depth scale with the length of the failing slope

bounds on the calving cliff height of marine terminating glaciers increased calving and rapid retreat of glaciers can contribute significantly to sea level rise but the processes controlling glacier retreat remain poorly understood we seek to improve our understanding of calving by investigating the stress field controlling tensile and shear failure using a 2d full stokes finite element model using idealized rectangular geometries we find that when rapidly sliding glaciers thin to near buoyancy full thickness tensile failure occurs similar to observations motivating height above buoyancy calving laws in contrast when glaciers are frozen to their beds basal crevasse penetration is suppressed and calving is minimal we also find shear stresses are largest when glaciers are thickest together the tensile and shear failure criteria map out a stable envelope in an ice thickness water depth diagram the upper and lower bounds on cliff height can be incorporated into numerical ice sheet models as boundary conditions thus bracketing the magnitude of calving rates in marine terminating glaciers

development of shoreline shelf sand bodies in a cretaceous epeiric sea deposit abstract the 350 m thick spirit river formation lower cretaceous of west central alberta comprises a clastic wedge which prograded into an epeiric sea within the clastic wedge eight major transgressive and regressive sequences of sedimentation from 30 to 50 m thick have been identified cores from four sequences in the central pan of the study area reveal that the sediments consist of fine grained well sorted sandstone with mostly low angle to horizontal laminations and some palaeophycus burrows conglomerate units up to 10 m thick occur locally the sequences are capped by carbonaceous mudstone and or coal each sequence is interpreted as consisting of shoreface beach deposits with conglomeratic fluvial channel and beach deposits overlain by backswamp lagoon sediments these s quences have sharp sandy bases rather than shaly gradational ones because of a shallow depths and high wave energies and b preservation of basal transgressive deposits on a large scale the shoreline sequences can each be correlated to marine sequences which grade from shale at the bases to fine sandstone at the tops the upper pans of each marine sequence form shoreline attached sheet sandstones each coarsening upward sequence is bounded by marine shale laid down during a transgression when coarser sediment was trapped in nonmarine or marginal marine areas some sequences break up seaward into two coarsening upward units because of minor transgressions within the marine portions of some thicker sequences 5 to 10 m thick coarsening upward units can be defined which are believed to reflect fluctuations in sediment supply the correlation of these units is an application of a technique called event correlation which outlines approximate time surfaces these correlations reveal a series of imbricated seaward sloping surfaces of deposition within each major sequence sedimentation in the epeiric seaway proceeded by seaward accretion of evenly sloping bodies of sediment with no development of a shelf slope basin configuration the gradual slope formed because of a shallow depths controlled by the stable tectonic setting and rapid sediment input and b high wave energy levels which distributed sediment almost uniformly over the ea bottom

solar activity reconstructed over the last 7000 years the influence of geomagnetic field changes 1 the long term solar activity as manifested by sunspot number has been recently reconstructed on multi millennium time scales by s k solanki et al 2004 from the measured concentration of 14 c in tree rings the exact level of the reconstructed solar activity depends however on independently evaluated data of the geomagnetic dipole strength variations recently a new series of the palaeomagnetic dipole moment reconstruction for the last 7000 years has been presented by m korte and c g constable 2005a on the basis of a thorough analysis of global samples the new palaeomagnetic series yields a systematically lower dipole moment in the past compared to the earlier geomagnetic reconstructions we have revised the earlier sunspot activity reconstruction since 5000 bc using the new geomagnetic data series and found that it is roughly consistent with the previous results during most of the period although the revised sunspot number values are in general higher nonetheless it is confirmed with the new palaeomagnetic series that the sun spends only 2 3 of the time in a state of high activity similar to the modem episode this strengthens the conclusion that the modem high activity level is very unusual during the last 7000 years

storm deposition in marine sand sheets wall creek member frontier formation powder river basin wyoming abstract the turonian cretaceous wall creek member frontier formation and equivalent turner sandy member carlile shale powder river basin wyoming were deposited on the western margin of the north american seaway the seaway occupied the foreland of the sevier orogenic belt the wall creek turner interval is up to 67 m thick and consists of shale sandstone and minor conglomerate and bentonite deposition occurred during rising sea level following an approximately 90 ma lowstand sandstone and mudstone of the wall creek were deposited in thin shelf sand sheets 6 15 m thick up to approximately 120 km from equivalent shorelines shelf sand sheets dip gently seaward core and outcrop show shelf sandstone of the wall creek in the powder river basin to consist of burrowed to bioturbated medium scale cross beds near horizontal laminated beds and ripple laminated beds reactivation surfaces and mud drapes are common the lack of consistent periodicity across cross sets in foreset angle and thickness and unperiodic spacing of reactivation surfaces mud drapes and burrowed intervals suggest that tides were not an important transport process over most of the depositional area the dominance of storm currents over tides is also indicated by variable bed thickness structure type grain size and degree of burrowing vertically much of the mud separating beds and draping foresets likely represents sedimentation from river floods following storm events p

the south celtic sea bristol channel basin origin deformation and inversion history abstract the south celtic sea bristol channel basin is a relatively narrow and elongated sedimentary trough located within the northern part of the hercynian fold belt and filled with permo triassic redbeds to jurassic marine sediments its present configuration is the result of a three fold sequence of tectonic phases initiated during the late palaeozoic the origin of the basin appears to be related to localised extensional reactivation of hercynian thrust zones during the permian and early triassic followed by regional subsidence during the late triassic and jurassic uplift of the basin margins together with dextral strike slip movements in an east west sense and large scale erosion during the late jurassic to early cretaceous resulted in the present elongated configuration of the lower mesozoic basin regional subsidence from aptian time onwards resulted in widespread deposition of a relatively thin section of wealden elastics and upper cretaceous chalk unconformably overlying folded pre cretaceous strata sedimentation was interrupted during the early tertiary by a series of tectonic events that included emplacement of the lundy igneous mass during the early eocene and mild basin inversion during the oligo miocene inversion was accompanied by dextral reactivation of the nw se oriented sticklepath fault zone the total amount of uplift probably not exceeding 350 m reflects the rather stable configuration of the underlying lithospheric crust as indicated by seismic reflection and refraction data

analysis of glacial earthquakes in 2003 ekstrom et al reported on the detection of a new class of earthquakes that occur in glaciated regions with the vast majority being in greenland the events have a characteristic radiation pattern and lack the high frequency content typical of tectonic earthquakes it was proposed that the events correspond to large and sudden sliding motion of glaciers here we present an analysis of all 184 such events detected in greenland between 1993 and 2005 fitting the teleseismic long period surface waves to a landslide model of the source we obtain improved locations timing force amplitudes and force directions after relocation the events cluster into seven regions all of which correspond to regions of very high ice flow and most of which are named outlet glaciers these regions are daugaard jensen glacier kangerdlugssuaq glacier helheim glacier the southeast greenland glaciers the northwest greenland glaciers rinks isbrae and jakobshavn isbrae event amplitudes range from 0 1 to 2 0 10 14 kg m force directions are consistent with sliding in the direction of glacial flow over a period of about 50 s each region has a different temporal distribution of events all glaciers are more productive in the summer but have their peak activity in different months over the study period kangerdlugssuaq has had a constant number of events each year whereas jakobshavn had most events in 1998 1999 and the number of events in helheim and the northwest greenland glaciers has increased substantially between 1993 and 2005 the size distribution of events in kangerdlugssuaq is peaked above the detection threshold suggesting that glacial earthquakes have a characteristic size

seismic reconstruction of the 2012 palisades rockfall using the analytical solution to lamb s problem abstract we investigate a large rockfall that occurred along the cliffs of the hudson river palisades united states on 12 may 2012 using seismic signals recorded at a distance of about 2 km a rockfall involves a combination of rock detachment acceleration impact and settling motion each of which involves forces that load and unload the earth and generate seismic waves we characterize different phases in the seismograms and associate them with specific stages of the rockfall using the analytical solution to lamb s problem we simulate the seismic wave propagation between the event and seismic station taking into account the elastic properties of the crust in the palisades region the dynamics and the source history of the palisades rockfall are reconstructed by analyzing the characteristics of the seismic signal from the modeled force history we infer that the bulk of the mass detached from about 30 m above the highest part of the riverbank and that lower bounds of the mobilized mass and volume are 3 1 10 4 metric tons and 1 1 10 4 m 3 respectively

shelf sheet sand reservoir of the lower cretaceous greensand north celtic sea basin offshore ireland core and log data show that the marine early to middle albian a sand of the aptian to lower cenomanian greensand gault interval north celtic sea basin offshore ireland was deposited as an approximately tabular sand body in shelf water depths the a sand is the major reservoir interval at kinsale head and ballycotton gas fields the reservoir sandstone is bioturbated variably glauconitic shell rich and least muddy toward its provenance in a local area of the irish massif and finer grained southeastward into the basin thickness and coarseness of the a sand are related in part to distance from a narrow area of the paleoshore bathymetric control of sand thickness was superimposed on proximal distal trends specifically thick intervals are inferred to have be n deposited in shelf lows and thin zones were deposited over bathymetric highs the a sand was not deposited as a ridge sand and positive relief on the depositional sand body appears to have been minor deposition of the greensand occurred during thermal subsidence of the north celtic sea basin following early cretaceous rifting overall late early cretaceous to late cretaceous transgression was interrupted by progradation of the a sand probably caused by a relative drop in sea level forced regression the a sand sheet consists of several units within the central depositional basin three slightly coarsening upward units up to 15 m thick probably are the consequence of high frequency fluctuations in sea level during progradation the top of the a sand consists of a several m ter thick very glauconitic muddy sandstone to sandy mudstone the upper unit accumulated in deepening water following the maximum lowstand

four storm event beds and the tropical cyclones that produced them a numerical hindcast a three dimensional numerical prediction system for storm sedimentation has been constructed to compute a cyclonic wind field coastal circulation storm waves generated over the continental shelf the combined effects of steady currents and waves on the benthic boundary layer both suspended and bed load transport of sediment and conservation of the sea floor it has been used to hindcast the oceanographic and sedimentological responses of the western gulf of mexico to four historical tropical cyclones in order to investigate the effects of coastal configuration and storm variability on event bed genesis the simulations reveal several common responses to these storms 1 onshore flow to the fight of the storm track generally transports fine sediment landward 2 off shore flow to the left transports coarser sediment seaward and 3 for an observer facing the coast right to left along shelf flow transports finer sediment in deep water and coarser sediment in shallow water the main source of sandy sediment on the inner shelf is the shoreface which is eroded by currents driven by wind stress geostrophy and offshore flows associated with collapse of the coastal setup coastal geometry is the dominant factor in determining sedimentation patterns along the coast in front of each storm the volume of sediment transported obliquely onshore or offshore is a function of shelf gradient and coastal configuration steeper gradients constrain flow to a more longshore pattern concave coastlines promote greater shoreface erosion because of increased coastal setup none of the simulations reveals the vertical current structure predicted by the geostrophic model for continental shelf circulation because the calculated depth of the wind mixed layer exceeded local water depth everywhere over the shelf thus in these experiments most of the continental shelf fell within the friction dominated zone in which the upper and lower boundary layers overlap resulting in vertically uniform along shelf flow

impact of hydrodynamics on seismic signals generated by iceberg collisions full glacier thickness icebergs are frequently observed to capsize as they calve into the ocean as they capsize they may collide with the glaciers termini previous studies have hypothesized that such collisions are the source of teleseismic glacial earthquakes we use laboratory scale experiments force balance modeling and theoretical arguments to show that 1 the contact forces during these collisions are strongly influenced by hydrodynamic forces and 2 the associated glacial earthquake magnitudes expressed as twice integrated force histories are related to the energy released by the capsizing icebergs plus a hydrodynamic term that is composed of drag forces and hydrodynamic pressure our experiments and first order modeling efforts suggest that due to hydrodynamic forces both contact force and glacial earthquake magnitudes may not be directly proportional to the energy released by the capsizing icebergs as might be expected most importantly however our results highlight the need to better understand the hydrodynamics of iceberg capsize prior to being able to accurately interpret seismic signals generated by iceberg collisions

seismic detection and analysis of icequakes at columbia glacier alaska 1 contributions to sea level rise from rapidly retreating marine terminating glaciers are large and increasing strong increases in iceberg calving occur during retreat which allows mass transfer to the ocean at a much higher rate than possible through surface melt alone to study this process we deployed an 11 sensor passive seismic network at columbia glacier alaska during 2004 2005 we show that calving events generate narrow band seismic signals allowing frequency domain detections detection parameters were determined using direct observations of calving and validated using three statistical methods and hypocenter locations the 1 3 hz detections provide a good measure of the temporal distribution and size of calving events possible source mechanisms for the unique waveforms are discussed and we analyze potential forcings for the observed seismicity

modelling capsizing icebergs in the open ocean at near grounded glacier termini calving can lead to the capsize of kilometer scale unstable icebergs the transient contact force applied by the capsizing iceberg on the glacier front generates seismic waves that propagate over teleseismic distances the inversion of this seismic signal is of great interest to get insight into actual and past capsize dynamics however the iceberg size which is of interest for geophysical and climatic studies cannot be recovered from the seismic amplitude alone this is because the capsize is a complex process involving interactions between the iceberg the glacier and the surrounding water this paper presents a first step towards the construction of a complete model and is focused on the capsize in the open ocean without glacier front nor ice melange the capsize dynamics of an iceberg in the open ocean is captured by computational fluid dynamics cfd simulations which allows assessing the complexity of the fluid motion around a capsizing iceberg and how far the ocean is affected by iceberg rotation expressing the results in terms of appropriate dimensionless variables we show that laboratory scale and field scale capsizes can be directly compared the capsize dynamics is found to be highly sensitive to the iceberg aspect ratio and to the water and ice densities however dealing at the same time with the fluid dynamics and the contact between the iceberg and the deformable glacier front requires highly complex coupling that often goes beyond actual capabilities of fluid structure interaction softwares therefore we developed a semi analytical simplified fluid structure model safim that can be implemented in solid mechanics computations dealing with contact dynamics of deformable solids this model accounts for hydrodynamic forces through calibrated drag and added mass effects and is calibrated against the reference cfd simulations we show that safim significantly improves the accuracy of the iceberg motion compared with existing simplified models various types of drag forces are discussed the one that provides the best results is an integrated pressure drag proportional to the square of the normal local velocity at the iceberg s surface with the drag coefficient depending linearly on the iceberg s aspect ratio a new formulation based on simplified added masses or computed added mass proposed in the literature is also discussed we study in particular the change of hydrodynamic induced forces and moments acting on the capsizing iceberg the error of the simulated horizontal force ranges between 5 and 25 for different aspect ratios the added masses affect the initiation period of the capsize the duration of the whole capsize being better simulated when added masses are accounted for the drag force mainly affects the amplitude of the fluid forces and this amplitude is best predicted without added masses

analysis of low frequency seismic signals generated during a multiple iceberg calving event at jakobshavn isbrae greenland 1 we investigated seismic signals generated during a large scale multiple iceberg calving event that occurred at jakobshavn isbrae greenland on 21 august 2009 the event was recorded by a high rate time lapse camera and five broadband seismic stations located within a few hundred kilometers of the terminus during the event two full glacier thickness icebergs calved from the grounded or nearly grounded terminus and immediately capsized the second iceberg to calve was two to three times smaller than the first the individual calving and capsize events were well correlated with the radiation of low frequency seismic signals 0 1 hz dominated by love and rayleigh waves in agreement with regional records from previously published glacial earthquakes these low frequency seismic signals had maximum power and or signal to noise ratios in the 0 05 0 1 hz band similarly full waveform inversions indicate that these signals were also generated by horizontal single forces acting at the glacier terminus the signals therefore appear to be local manifestations of glacial earthquakes although the magnitudes of the signals twice time integrated force histories were considerably smaller than previously reported glacial earthquakes we thus speculate that such earthquakes may be a common if not pervasive feature of all full glacier thickness calving events from grounded termini finally a key result from our study is that waveform inversions performed on low frequency calving generated seismic signals may have only limited ability to quantitatively estimate mass losses from calving in particular the choice of source time function has little impact on the inversion but dramatically changes the earthquake magnitude accordingly in our analysis it is unclear whether the smaller or larger of the two calving icebergs generated a larger seismic signal

could the last interglacial constrain projections of future antarctic ice mass loss and sea level rise deep uncertainty in future antarctic ice sheet mass loss makes it challenging to produce robust projections of sea level rise previous studies used peak last interglacial period lig 129 116 ka

undercutting of marine terminating glaciers in west greenland marine terminating glaciers control most of greenland s ice discharge into the ocean but little is known about the geometry of their frontal regions here we use side looking multibeam echo sounding observations to reveal that their frontal ice cliffs are grounded deeper below sea level than previously measured and their ice faces are neither vertical nor smooth but often undercut by the ocean and rough deep glacier grounding enables contact with subsurface warm salty atlantic waters aw which melts ice at rates of meters per day we detect cavities undercutting the base of the calving faces at the sites of subglacial water sgw discharge predicted by a hydrological model the observed pattern of undercutting is consistent with numerical simulations of ice melt in which buoyant plumes of sgw transport warm aw to the ice faces glacier undercutting likely enhances iceberg calving impacting ice front stability and in turn the glacier mass balance

calving event detection by observation of seiche effects on the greenland fjords with mass loss from the greenland ice sheet accelerating and spreading to higher latitudes the quantification of mass discharge in the form of icebergs has recently received much scientific attention here we make use of very low frequency 0 001 0 01 hz seismic data from three permanent broadband stations installed in the summers of 2009 10 in northwest greenland in order to monitor local calving activity at these frequencies calving seismograms are dominated by a tilt signal produced by local ground flexure in response to fjord seiching generated by major iceberg calving events a simple triggering algorithm is proposed to detect calving events from large calving fronts with potentially no user interaction our calving catalogue identifies spatial and temporal differences in calving activity between jakobshavn isbrae and glaciers in the uummannaq district similar to 200 km to the north the uummannaq glaciers show clear seasonal fluctuations in seiche based calving detections as well as seiche amplitudes in contrast the detections at jakobshavn isbrae show little seasonal variation which may be evidence for an ongoing transition to winter calving activity the results offer further evidence that seismometers can provide efficient and inexpensive monitoring of calving fronts

rapid retreat and acceleration of helheim glacier east greenland 1 a significant amount of the measured coastal thinning of the greenland ice sheet may be due to recent acceleration of outlet glaciers using remote sensing we measured two major periods of speedup on helheim glacier between 2000 and 2005 that increased peak speeds from approximately 8 to 11 km yr these speedups coincided with rapid retreats of the calving front totaling over 7 5 km the glacier also thinned by over 40 m from 2001 to 2003 retreat of the ice front appears to decrease resistance to flow and concentrates the gravitational driving force over a smaller area farther up glacier acceleration may be a delayed response to surface draw down and steepening of the glacier s main trunk if the 2005 speedup also produces strong thinning then much of the glacier s main trunk may un ground leading to further retreat citation howat i m i joughin s tulaczyk and s gogineni 2005 rapid retreat and acceleration of helheim glacier east greenland geophys res lett 32 l22502 doi 10 1029 2005gl024737

sustained seismic tremors and icequakes detected in the ablation zone of the greenland ice sheet during summer 2011 seismic activity in the ablation zone of the western greenland ice sheet gris was monitored using a network of three component seismometers the seismic record includes a large variety of icequakes and seismic tremors that demonstrate a clear correlation with subglacial water flow we verified the existence of well known shallow icequakes related to surface crevasse formation deep icequakes located at 100 160 m depth and narrow banded short term seismic tremors tens of seconds in duration in addition we present previously unreported long term tremors lasting several hours using attenuation of the measured tremor amplitude we locate the epicentre of this long term tremor to a large moulin within our study area between 3 and 11 hz our continuous seismic record is dominated by this moulin tremor and shows strong correlation with the water level of the generating moulin we argue that monitoring of icequake and glacial tremor sources bears high potential for investigating glacier hydraulics and dynamics and is thus an ideal supplement to traditional glaciological measurements

seasonal to decadal scale variations in the surface velocity of jakobshavn isbrae greenland observation and model based analysis 1 using new data we build upon the nearly two decade long record of observations from jakobshavn isbrae to investigate the processes driving its dynamic evolution while winter flow speed has not increased substantially over the last three winters there remains a strong seasonal variation in flow speed that coincides with a cycle of summer thinning and winter thickening we relate changes in glacier speed to geometry through variations in basal traction and horizontal stresses using ice flow models constrained by satellite and airborne observations these results suggest that the bed provides little flow resistance along the main trough within about 20 km of the terminus while the loss of buttressing from the retreat of grounded and floating ice likely contributed to the initial speedup other processes are of comparable significance at seasonal to decadal time scales from analysis of the models we hypothesize that thinning induced change in basal effective pressure is the dominant process influencing near terminus behavior while diffusive processes drive the upstream response the apparent need for the terminus to thin to near flotation before it can calve may limit the rate at which retreat occurs our analysis of the processes controlling the speed suggests little potential for further large acceleration thinning and elevated speeds may continue at rates similar to present however putting the glacier on course to retreat to the head of its deep trough in about a century at which point it likely would stabilize with a thinner terminus

seismic and hydroacoustic tremor generated by colliding icebergs 1 iceberg harmonic tremor iht emanating from tabular icebergs in the southern ocean and along calving margins of the antarctic ice sheet is a complex evolving signal at frequencies above approximately 0 5 hz iht has been observed as t phases on islands in the equatorial pacific as hydroacoustic signals in the indian ocean and by local and regional antarctic seismic networks to identify the iht source mechanism and to understand its relevance to iceberg calving evolution and breakup we deployed seismometers on a giant 25 by 50 km tabular iceberg called c16 in the ross sea antarctica during a uniquely accessible period austral summer 2003 2004 when it was aground against the northern shore of ross island during the deployment period c16 was in sporadic contact with another giant tabular iceberg b15a that was moving under the influence of local ocean currents this study reveals that the c16 associated iht was a manifestation of extended episodes of discrete repeating stick slip icequakes typically thousands of individual subevents per hour produced when the cliff like edges of the tabular icebergs underwent glancing strike slip collisions the iht signal that we observed is thus not a phenomenon associated with iceberg elastic or fluid resonance modes but is instead the consequence of long sequences of very regularly spaced and similar pulses of seismic radiation from these constituent stick slip subevents iht represents a newly identified glaciogenic source of seismicity that can be used to improve our understanding of iceberg dynamics and possibly of ice shelf disintegration processes

solar and volcanic fingerprints in tree ring chronologies over the past 2000 years abstract the sun is the main driver of earth s climate yet the sun s role in forcing decadal to centennial climate variations has remained controversial especially in the context of understanding contributions of natural climate forcings to continuing global warming to properly address long term fingerprints of solar forcing on climate long term very high resolution globally distributed climate proxy records are necessary in this study we compile and evaluate a near global collection of annually resolved tree ring based climate proxies spanning the past two millennia we statistically assess these records in both the time and frequency domains for solar forcing i e total solar irradiance tsi and climate variability with emphasis on centennial time scales analyses in the frequency domain indicate significant periodicities in the 208 year frequency band corresponding to the devries cycle of solar activity additionally results from superposed epoch analysis sea point toward a possible solar contribution in the temperature and precipitation series however solar climate associations remain weak with for example no clear linkage distinguishable in the southwestern united states drought records at centennial time scales other forcing factors namely volcanic activity appear to mask the solar signal in space and time to investigate this hypothesis we attempted to extract volcanic signals from the temperature proxies using a statistical modelling approach wavelet analysis of the volcanic contribution reveals significant periodicities near the devries frequency during the little ice age lia this remarkable and coincidental superposition of the signals makes it very difficult to separate volcanic and solar forcing during the lia nevertheless the volcano free temperature records show significant periodicities near the devries periodicity during the entire past 1500 years further pointing to solar mechanisms and emphasising the need for solar related studies in the absence of strong multi decadal volcanic forcing

glacier fjord and seismic response to recent large calving events jakobshavn isbrae greenland 1 the recent loss of jakobshavn isbrae s extensive floating ice tongue has been accompanied by a change in near terminus behavior calving currently occurs primarily in summer from a grounded terminus involves the detachment and overturning of several icebergs within 30 60 min and produces long lasting and far reaching ocean waves and seismic signals including glacial earthquakes calving also increases near terminus glacier velocities by 3 but does not cause episodic rapid glacier slip thereby contradicting the originally proposed glacial earthquake mechanism we propose that the earthquakes are instead caused by icebergs scraping the fjord bottom during calving

monitoring greenland ice sheet buoyancy driven calving discharge using glacial earthquakes since the 2000s greenland ice sheet mass loss has been accelerating followed by increasing numbers of glacial earthquakes ges at near grounded glaciers ges are caused by calving of km scale icebergs which capsize against the terminus seismic record inversion allows a reconstruction of the history of ge sources which captures capsize dynamics through iceberg to terminus contact when compared with a catalog of contact forces from an iceberg capsize model seismic force history accurately computes calving volumes while the earthquake magnitude fails to uniquely characterize iceberg size giving errors up to 1 km 3 calving determined from ges recorded ateight glaciers in 1993 2013 accounts for up to 21 of the associated discharge and 6 of the greenland mass loss the proportion of discharge attributed to capsizing calving may be underestimated by at least 10 as numerous events could not be identified by standard seismic detections olsen and nettles 2018 while calving production tends to stabilize in east greenland western glaciers have released more and larger icebergs since 2010 and have become major contributors to greenland dynamic discharge production of ges and calving behavior are controlled by glacier geometry with bigger icebergs being produced when the terminus advances in deepening water we illustrate how ges can help in partitioning and monitoring greenland mass loss and characterizing capsize dynamics

transgressive depositional systems of the mississippi delta plain a model for barrier shoreline and shelf sand development abstract depositional sequences generated in the mississippi river delta plain consist of a regressive and a transgressive component the transgressive component has been considerably less studied but accounts for the majority of the surface area on the lower mississippi river delta plain and up to 50 percent of the total sequence thickness in shallow water deltas the development and preservation of transgressive depositional systems in abandoned delta complexes follows the process of transgressive submergence in which the horizontal component of reworking occurs during shoreface retreat combined with a vertical component of submergence acting to preserve the sequence the evolution of transgressive depositional systems in each of the abandoned holocene mississippi river delta complex s can be summarized in a three stage model beginning with stage 1 an erosional headland and flanking barriers in this stage regressive sand deposits contained within abandoned deltaic headlands are reworked by the eroding shoreface and dispersed longshore into contiguous flanking barriers enclosing restricted interdistributary bays submergence of the delta plain during relative sea level rise generates an intradeltaic lagoon separating the former stage 1 sand body from the shoreline forming stage 2 a transgressive barrier island arc the landward migrating barrier island arc is unable to keep pace with relative sea level rise and the retreating mainland shoreline resulting in submergence and the formation of stage 3 an inner shelf shoal following submergence the former barrier island arc sand body continues to be reworked into a marine sand body on the inner continental shelf during stage 3 this sequence of coastal evolution provides direct evidence of barrier island formation with each stage producing a distinctive stratigraphic signature the current sea level rise models of shoreface retreat and in place drowning developed for the u s atlantic continental shelf do not adequately explain either the morphology or the stratigraphy of transgressive mississippi river delta sand bodies current models of mississippi deltaic stratigraphy emphasize the deep water artificially maintained balize delta which differs considerably from the shallow water shelf phase delta complexes that are the primary depositional constituents of he holocene mississippi river delta plain

glacial rumblings from jakobshavn ice stream greenland the steep increase in greenland s glacial earthquake activity detected by the global seismographic network since the late 1990s suggests that a close inspection of these events might provide clues to the nature and origin of such seismic activity here we discuss the detection of large unexpected seismic events of extraordinarily long duration 10 40 min occurring about once every 2 days and localized in the ice stream that feeds the earth s fastest moving glacier jakobshavn isbrae from the east these glacial rumblings represent an ice mass wasting process that is greater and more frequent than glacial earthquakes have suggested probably triggered by calving the rumblings are all very similar regardless of duration and all end with a sharp earthquake like event in which the largest seismic amplitude is in the rumbling and that might signal the collapse of large ice masses upstream by calculating the total amount of seismic energy released as rumblings we estimate that the maximum seasonal amount of ice moved seismogenically down the ice stream is up to 12 km 3 or 30 of the average annual iceberg discharge in jakobshavn

glacial earthquakes in greenland and antarctica glacial earthquakes are a new class of seismic events first discovered as signals in long period seismograms recorded on the global seismographic network most of these events occur along the coasts of greenland where they are spatially related to large outlet glaciers glacial earthquakes show a strong seasonality with most events occurring during the late summer the rateofglacial earthquakeoccurrenceincreasedbetween2000and2005 with a stabilization of earthquake frequency at 2003 2004 levels in 2006 2008 recent observations establish a strong temporal correlation between the distinct seismic signals of glacial earthquakes and large ice loss events in which icebergs of cubic kilometer scale collapse against the calving face linking the seismogenic process to the force exerted by these icebergs on the glacier andtheunderlyingsolidearth asuddenchangeinglacierspeedresultsfrom these glacial earthquake calving events seasonal and interannual variations in glacier terminus position account for general characteristics of the temporal variation in earthquake occurrence glacial earthquakes in antarctica are less well studied but they exhibit several characteristics similar to glacial earthquakes in greenland

contribution of antarctica to past and future sea level rise polar temperatures over the last several million years have at times been slightly warmer than today yet global mean sea level has been 6 9 metres higher as recently as the last interglacial 130 000 to 115 000 years ago and possibly higher during the pliocene epoch about three million years ago in both cases the antarctic ice sheet has been implicated as the primary contributor hinting at its future vulnerability here we use a model coupling ice sheet and climate dynamics including previously underappreciated processes linking atmospheric warming with hydrofracturing of buttressing ice shelves and structural collapse of marine terminating ice cliffs that is calibrated against pliocene and last interglacial sea level estimates and applied to future greenhouse gas emission scenarios antarctica has the potential to contribute more than a metre of sea level rise by 2100 and more than 15 metres by 2500 if emissions continue unabated in this case atmospheric warming will soon become the dominant driver of ice loss but prolonged ocean warming will delay its recovery for thousands of years