aftsolve a program for multi kinetic modeling of apatite fission track data aftsolve is a computer program for deriving thermal history information from apatite fission track data it implements a new fission track annealing model that takes into account the known kinetic variability among different apatite species to fully utilize this model a fission track worker must obtain data that can be used to infer the kinetic characteristics of each apatite grain from which a measurement was taken such data can consist of etch figure lengths or chemical composition the benefit of this overall approach is that it allows useful information to be derived from previously unusable analyses extends the practical range of geological temperatures constrained by fission track analyses and increases overall confidence in model predictions aftsolve also incorporates the effects of fission track orientation relative to the apatite crystallographic c axis variation in initial track length and the biasing effect of 2 5 2 cf irradiation for enhancing confined horizontal track length detection aftsolve is written for windows operating systems and has a graphical interface that allows interactive input of thermal histories and real time generation of estimates for fission track length distributions and ages for up to six simultaneously modeled kinetic populations it also includes procedures for estimating the range of time temperature histories that are statistically consistent with a data set and constraints entered by the user

clastic intrusions in deep sea fan deposits of the rosroe formation lower ordovician western ireland abstract the rosroe formation contains discordant elastic intrusions and essentially stratiform clastic intrusions up to 40 cm thick that display little evidence of injection features of the elastic intrusions such as upper surface irregularities and tapered lateral margins also occur in wedged clastic layers up to 30 cm thick in the rosroe formation and suggest they may be injected sheets a few of the mostly granule grade injected sheets in the rosroe formation contain banding that is remarkably similar to the banding in the formation s stratified pebbly sandstone together with the existence of essentially stratiform injected sheets the banding suggests that some elastic sills in deep sea fan deposits may be indistinguishable from normally deposited beds contactual features sharp upper contacts upper surface irregularities truncation of superjacent strata upper surface inclusions nesting and blunt steep and tapered lateral margins and internal characters lenticular breccia and trains of aligned laminite clasts of the elastic intrusions in the rosroe formation provide tentative criteria for the identification of clastic sills that simulate normally dep sited beds in deep sea fan deposits

giant clastic intrusions primed by silica diagenesis postdepositional sediment mobilization is a common phenomenon that occurs over large areas of sedimentary basins usually within mudstone rich successions however defining the exact mechanism that initiates this process has proved elusive here we describe a number of large scale clastic intrusions injectites 50 to 300 m in height hosted within fine grained biosiliceous upper eocene to pliocene strata in four sedimentary basins within these basins diagenetic conversion of opal a into opal ct cristobalite and tridymite causes a marked reduction in sediment porosity and the liberation of bound water often at relatively shallow burial 0 5 km we propose that this occurs over geologically short time periods over large expanses of sedimentary basins causing rapid pore fluid expulsion and overpressure buildup within interbedded sands the liberated fluids primed these sands rendering them susceptible to remobilization this mechanism should have broad applicability

a three layer alternating spinning circulation in the south china sea abstractunderstanding of the three dimensional circulation in the south china sea scs is crucial for determining the transports of water masses energy and biogeochemical substances in the regional and adjacent larger oceans the circulation s kinematic and dynamic natures however are largely unclear results from a three dimensional numerical ocean circulation model and geostrophic currents derived from hydrographic data reveal the existence of a unique three layer cyclonic anticyclonic cyclonic cac circulation in the upper 1500 m layers in the scs with differing seasonality an inflow outflow inflow structure in luzon strait largely induces the cac circulation which leads to vortex stretching in the scs basin because of a lateral planetary vorticity flux in each of the respective layers the formation of joint effects of baroclinicity and relief jebar is an intrinsic dynamic response to the cac circulation the jebar arises from the cac flow topog

crustal and upper mantle responses to lithospheric segmentation in the northern apennines lithospheric tear faults are expected to develop in response to along strike variations in the rates of slab rollback however the exact geometry of such structures and their crustal and upper mantle expressions are still debated we present an analysis of seismic structural and morphological features that possibly represent the expression of lithospheric segmentation in the northern apennines geophysical observations show evidence for the existence of a discontinuity in the lithospheric structure beneath the northern apennines characterized by a change in the spatial distribution of intermediate depth seismicity along strike variations in the pattern of crustal seismicity and a bend in the moho topography the near surface expression of this discontinuity is associated with an abrupt change in the morphology and exhumation history of the northern apennines in the proximity of the livorno sillaro lineament we interpret these features as evidence for incipient tearing of the lithospheric slab beneath the northern apennines marking the boundary between domains that underwent contrasting styles of lithospheric deformation which are either associated with different rates of slab rollback or a transition from underplating to retreat we suggest that similar types of structures may play a crucial role in the evolution of convergent plate boundaries allowing segmentation of orogenic belts and facilitating the development of orogenic curvatures ultimately further tearing along such structures could potentially lead to the occurrence of tear related magmatism and the formation of slab windows

experimental studies of the fluidization of layered sediments and the formation of fluid escape structures experiments demonstrate that fluid escape structures can be produced as a result of unstable fluidization behaviour where a lower base layer of granular material is inhibited from fluidizing by the presence of an overlying non fluidizing top layer before the base layer can fluidize the weight of the overlying material must be balanced and this is accomplished by base layer material pressing against the bottom surface of the confining top layer forming a static layer this static layer allows the top layer to lift away from the base layer which is then free to fluidize a water filled crack forms below the static layer and as this grows instability causes the static layer and top layer to bend and conical voids to form below the antiformal sections rupture occurs at the apex of the water void allowing the underlying water and fluidizing material to burst out through the top layer the fluidized base layer material then flows through the rupture until all of this material except that in the static layer is deposited above the previously overlying layer and a stable fluidization system results the top layer material is bent upwards around the rupture and the resulting pillar type escape structure is preserved if flow then ceases the vigour of the burst out is greatest when the base layer material has a grain size 15 of the top layer material if the base layer grain size is less than 8 of the top layer then base layer material will pass through the top layer pore spaces without forming an escape structure if cohesive material is present escape structures form when a layer of fine grained cohesive material overlies a layer of cohesionless material at low flow rates small pipes with scattered angular bends pierce the top layer and base layer material passes through them the base layer material is ejected on to the top layer and builds up around the mouth of each pipe to form constructional structures sand volcanoes this is in contrast to the cohesionless experiments where the weight of material being deposited on the top layer caused an ejecta filled depression to form around the rupture if flow then ceases both the pipes and the sand volcanoes are preserved at high flow rates where the base layer fluidizes the top cohesive layer becomes fragmented small fragments circulate within the fluidizing base layer and are preserved as floating clasts large fragments sink to the bottom of the fluidizing base layer erosion of the bottom surface of these larger fragments causes this surface to become convex downward the experimentally derived structures are similar to pillar type structures observed in the field and the processes described can be used to investigate the development of these structures fluidization experiments also demonstrate the genesis of dish structures and the cohesive behaviour can be applied to the deformation of these structures after initial formation

on the vorticity balance over steep slopes kuroshio intrusions northeast of taiwan abstractthe circulation of the kuroshio northeast of taiwan is characterized by a large anticyclonic loop of surface intrusion and strong upwelling at the shelfbreak to study the mechanisms of kur

new style of honeycomb structures revealed on 3d seismic data indicate widespread diagenesis offshore great south basin new zealand abstract in the great south basin within the eocene section at time depths around 700 900 ms two way time below the seafloor unusual features are observed on 3d seismic data closely associated with polygonal faults the features referred to as honeycomb structures hs cover an area of 600 km 2 are packed circular oval to polygonal depressions 150 400 m across in plan view and several to 10 m in amplitude polygonal faults rapidly die out at the marshall paraconformity which is overlain by the oligocene penrod formation hence the polygonal faults are inferred to have formed prior to the marshall paraconformity and they cross cut hs features consequently the top of the hs probably formed at burial depths of around 375 500 m which is their decompacted depth below the paraconformity the interval containing hs is about 125 m vertical thick there are several possible origins for the hs the most probable is related to bulk contraction of the sediment volume accompanied by fluid expulsion which suggests a diagenetic origin in particular the opal a ct transition there are actually two polygonal fault systems pfs present in the area the southern tier 1 pfs lies laterally to the hs and overlaps with it the northern pfs tier 2 lies above the hs appears to be independent of the hs and formed in the upper 200 300 m of the sediment column the tier 1 pfs probably formed by shear failure related to the same diagenetic effects that caused the hs

the role of orogen transversal tectonic structures on the syn and post depositional evolution of a foredeep succession the case of the cervarola sandstones formation miocene northern apennines italy abstract in collisional belts foredeep turbidites are tracers of the evolution of the orogenic wedge syn depositional tectonics affects the sedimentary facies distribution of the turbidite deposits while post depositional tectonics generates the major structures that deform the foredeep basins the aquitanian to burdigalian cervarola turbiditic succession is one of the main oligo miocene foredeep units that characterize the northwestern portion of the northern apennines the reconstructed syn and post depositional evolution of the cervarola succession reveals that orogen transversal tectonic structures strongly and persistently controlled this turbiditic succession from the time turbidites were infilling the foredeep basin aquitanian burdigalian to the time this foredeep deposits became a major and complex thrust sheet of the northern apennines orogenic wedge post burdigalian present the syn depositional history of the cervarola turbiditic succession has been defined through a detailed facies analysis that has allowed the basin morphology to be accurately constrained then the post depositional history has been addressed to define the multi scale deformations preserved in the cervarola succession through the following approaches 1 analysis of published geological maps 2 detailed field mapping 3 construction of geological cross sections across the major folds 4 analysis of meso scale structures and 5 analysis of a seismic reflection profile the study has outlined that the foredeep basin morphology was tectonically controlled and segmented by compressive structures transversal to the nw se basin elongation the same structures were also present during the post depositional compressive phases that built up the orogenic wedge and they have been even reactivated in the latest extensional events that have dismembered the mountain range these orogeny transversal and long lasting 23myrs lineaments cross cut the entire tectonic stacking of the northern apennines affecting tectonic units which suffered different amount of translation during the mountain building making the reconstruction of the geological evolution possible only with an integrated approach as performed in this work

seasonal exchanges of the kuroshio and shelf waters and their impacts on the shelf currents of the east china sea previous in situ observations and modeling studies have indicated that through mass and momentum exchanges across the shelf edge the kuroshio can significantly influence the shelf currents of the east china sea ecs here instead of localized observations this study uses 25yr of drifter data supported by satellite and other data to identify seasonal cross shelf exchanges along the entire shelf edge the authors show that kuroshiomeandersonshorefromfalltowinterandoffshorefromspringtosummer withthelargestamplitude northeast of taiwan the influence is limited to the shelf edge when the kuroshio meanders offshore in spring and summer by contrast strong onshelf intrusions and cross shelf exchanges occur when the kuroshio meanders onshore in fall and winter drifters intrude onshelf northeast of taiwan and spread as far north as 308n against the strong northeasterly wind the forcing on the shelf is identified as a northward downsloping of the sea level that is steepest north of taiwan at 258 288n but which is 3 times weaker farther north the vorticity budget computed from a numerical model indicates that intrusion during fall andwinter is primarily a result of balancebetweenonshelfadvectionofambientpotentialvorticityandvorticityproductionbythealong isobath pressure gradient acting on the changing mass of water column across the continental slope

a numerical study on the formation of upwelling off northeast taiwan 1 we examined the spatial and temporal variations of upwelling off northeast taiwan using a fine resolution numerical model with realistic bathymetry the zonally running shelf break in the area deflects the kuroshio seaward and produces upwelling on its on shelf edge the upwelling in turn manifests a cold dome or a cyclonic eddy in depths below 150 m or so the upwelling and hence the cyclonic eddy exist year round above this depth the eddy waxes and wanes as the upper portion of the kuroshio migrates seaward and shoreward respectively the eddy event fluctuates in a wide range of timescales seasonally the occurrence heavily favors summer rather than winter because the mean kuroshio axis migrates seaward in summer intraseasonally the fluctuation contains two dominant periods centered at 70 days and 30 days local wind forcing and channeling by two local canyons do not affect the eddy statistics significantly

episodic basin wide fluid expulsion from geopressured shale sequences in the north sea basin a proposed general model for the episodic dewatering of thick shale successions is based on the recognition of a pervasive polygonal extensional fault network developed in the dominantly fine grained lower tertiary of the north sea basin seismic data show that the faults are arranged in stratigraphically bound structural units tiers that are delimited vertically by almost undeformed condensed sections and are restricted in distribution to the lowest permeability slope and basin floor facies i propose an episodic three stage mechanism to explain the fault genesis involving 1 the development of basin wide overpressured compartments 2 a density inversion between the overpres sured units and the overlying seal and 3 natural hydraulic fracturing pressure bleed off and resealing of the pressure compartment leading to a repeat of the cycle

experimental evidence for fluidization processes in breccia pipe formation results of small scale fiuidization spouting and channeling experiments suggest that similar processes may have been involved in the formation of many breccia pipe features various cylindrical parallel plate and boxlike model containers were filled with mixtures of particulate materials ranging from clay sized powdered kaolinitc to 1 cm gravel and each container was attached at its base to a large volume compressed air source features generated during the course of the various experimental runs are analogous to the majority of features observed in breccia pipes complex branching fracture systems developed in models containing abundant cohesive material appear to be similar to incipient crackle breccias steep walled funnel to cone shaped conduits formed readily and in some models inward dipping fractures ring fractures marginal shear folds and or downwarps and or high angle normal faults developed in adjacent material thorough mixing of heterogeneous particulate materials from throughout the stratigraphic column commonly was achieved and blocks of more cohesive materials were readily rounded and comminuted convective particle motion spouting was most effective in the mixing process and was accompanied by downwarping and fragmentation of adjacent strata downward migration of wall rock blocks along conduit margins and generation of annular zonation of conduit filling material in some systems annular size classification resulted in fine layering parallel to conduit walls crude centroclinally nested saucer bedding developed in some experiments where air fall ejecta were generated and these beds commonly were transported essentially intact downward within the pipe during a bubbling fiuidization event a gas streaming or channeling process in which finer material was elutriated or cleared out of coarser material led to the formation of channelways or chimneys which in natural systems would provide excellent avenues for introduction of later magma or hydrothermal solutions in model systems enriched in strongly cohesive clay sized particles accretionary pelletal spherules commonly were generated fluidization and related processes have been defined to describe highly controlled industrial systems problems of scale and strength of materials are significant when comparing experimental with geologic systems but the striking similarity of many features observed in both experimental and natural breccia pipe systems suggests that a similar genetic process is reasonable although many pipes clearly are not formed by fiuidization and related processes these processes may be important in the development of or some developmental stage of some breccia pipes

thermochronologic evidence for orogen parallel variability in wedge kinematics during extending convergent orogenesis of the northern apennines italy analysis of 146 new apatite u th he ages six new apatite fi ssion track ages and 165 previously published apatite fi ssiontrack aft ages from the northern apennine extending convergent orogen reveals a signifi cant along strike change in post late miocene wedge kinematics and exhumation history east of 11 30 e age patterns and age elevation relationships are diagnostic of ongoing frontal accretion and slab retreat consistent with a northeastward migrating orogenic wave enhanced erosion rates of 1 mm yr over a period of 3 5 ma are recorded on the contractional pro side of the orogen and 0 3 mm yr on the extending retro side west of 11 30 e ongoing exhumation has been restricted to the range core since at least ca 8 ma at rates of 0 4 mm yr increasing to 1 mm yr in the pliocene ca 3 ma accompanied by post pliocene tilting and associated faulting this pattern can be attributed to either continued convergence but a switch in the transfer of material into the wedge to a regime dominated by underplating or out of sequence shortening or a slowdown or cessation of frontal accretion and slab retreat with enhanced pliocene uplift and erosion triggered by a deeper seated process such as lithospheric delamination complete slab detachment or slab tear these fi ndings emphasize that no single model of wedge kinematics is likely appropriate to explain long term northern apennine orogenesis and synconvergent extension but rather that different lithospheric geodynamic processes have acted at different times in different lateral segments of the orogen

the pattern and variability of winter kuroshio intrusion northeast of taiwan the variations of the kuroshio path and velocity northeast of taiwan are analyzed based on along track satellite altimeter data as well as high resolution model experiments observations reveal that in winter the kuroshio intrusion into the east china sea ecs at this location is manifested by a secondary maximum current core smcc shoreward of the kuroshio s main path the smcc varies significantly on interannual time scale and its variability is strikingly out of phase with that of the kuroshio entering the ecs meaning that the stronger the kuroshio the weaker the smcc and vice versa model experiments corroborate the observational results and more importantly indicate that the kuroshio intrusion here follows two primary routes a large anticyclonic loop that separates from the kuroshio at the northern end of taiwan and moves forward to form the smcc and a straight northward path onto the shelf when the kuroshio turns sharply eastward along the continental slope of the ecs the intrusion is controlled by both local forcing and remote effect with its pattern and variability depending mostly on the local heat flux and the inertia of the kuroshio current

basin floor fans in the north sea sequence stratigraphic models vs sedimentary facies discussion original article shanmugan g r b bloch s m mitchell g w j beamish r j hodgkinson j e damuth t straume s e syvertsen and k e shields 1995 aapg bulletin v 79 p 477 512

characterisation of interactions between a pre existing polygonal fault system and sandstone intrusions and the determination of paleo stresses in the faroe shetland basin abstract detailed analysis of 3d seismic data shows how hundreds of large scale conical sandstone intrusions interact with a polygonal fault network in the faroe shetland basin the intrusions were injected upwards during the late miocene through polygonally faulted claystones of eocene oligocene age three types of interactions are recognized 1 intrusions that are unaffected by polygonal faults 2 intrusions partially or fully intruded into fault planes and 3 intrusions arrested by polygonal faults type 2 intrusions are generally thinner taller and wider whereas those unaffected by faults are thicker and characterized by low dips of intrusive limbs wings it was found that type 2 intrusions preferentially intruded into faults striking nw se whereas type 3 intrusions were arrested by faults striking ne sw comparison of structural data and simple mechanical predictions allows paleostresses to be reconstructed at the time of intrusion we have established that the basin was undergoing anisotropic horizontal stresses at the time of intrusions in which h and h were oriented n145 e and n055 e respectively intrusion depth polygonal fault dips and strikes have been used to quantify paleostress intensity and to give a h v ratio close to 0 95 and a h h ratio of 0 8 these ratios support the conclusion that sandstone intrusion emplacement occurred just after a mid late miocene sse nnw n145 e compressional phase when the compression direction had decreased in intensity and became smaller than lithostatic stress v

liquefaction fluidization and erosional structures associated with bituminous sands of the bracklesham formation middle eocene of dorset england at hengistbury head dorset the boscombe sands middle eocene bracklesham formation are of estuarine channel facies a mud filled channel is exposed the banks and eastern flank of which have a black carbonaceous stain the degraded remains of a bitumen at the time of deposition the bitumen rendered the sediment firm and it was extensively burrowed by a thalassinoides forming organism crustacean the bituminous sand on the eastern channel bank suffered brecciation and dilation as a result of liquefaction and flowage of the underlying sediments this is thought to have been due to rapid expulsion of pore water possibly as a result of seismic shock the layers of bituminous sand below the surface were ruptured during water escape resulting in localized zones of rapid flow causing fluidization and the development of dewatering pipes up to 1 2 m long the estuarine sediments were subsequently transgressed during which the bituminous sand was exposed on the seafloor when it was eroded into a hummocky topography and heavily burrowed blocks of bituminous sand were reworked into the marine basal conglomerate composed mainly of flints demonstrating the remarkable strength of the bituminous cement

apatite fission track analysis apatite fission track aft analysis has been widely used during the past 30 years to constrain the low temperature thermal histories of many igneous metamorphic and sedimentary rocks in a wide range of geological settings applicable geological settings include orogenic belts rifted margins faults sedimentary basins cratons and mineral deposits the types of geologic problems that can be addressed include the timing and rates of tectonic events sedimentary basin evolution the timing of hydrocarbon generation and ore mineralization the absolute age of volcanic deposits the effects of major climatic changes on the near surface geothermal gradient and long term landscape evolution early work by naeser 1967 and wagner 1968 1969 first established the basic procedures that enabled the fission track dating method to be applied routinely to these geologic problems fleischer et al 1975 summarized the early studies of the broader discipline of nuclear track detection in different solid state materials more recent comprehensive overviews of fission track applications have been provided by naeser and mcculloh 1989 wagner and van den haute 1992 gallagher et al 1998 van den haute and de corte 1998 dumitru 2000 and gleadow et al 2002 etched natural fission tracks in several apatite grains are shown in figure 1 successful aft analysis is limited by the following 1 the availability of apatite from which useful aft data can be obtained often due to a lack of apatite of sufficient grain size and quality within available rock types or alternatively the lack of available rock samples due to minimal outcrop exposure or other reasons 2 economic considerations in terms of the time and money required to obtain sufficient aft data 3 the inherent limitations of aft data to resolve geological thermal history information often related to limited numbers of accumulated spontaneous fission tracks due to

from soft sediment deformation to fluid assisted faulting in the shallow part of a subduction megathrust analogue the sestola vidiciatico tectonic unit northern apennines italy

formation of fluidization pipes during liquefaction examples from the uratanna formation lower cambrian south australia usually well preserved fluidization pillars and sand filled fluidization pipes occur within submarine channel sands of the basal uratanna formation lower cambrian in the adelaide geosyncline of south australia the morphology of these structures reflects complex lateral and vertical movement of fluids during liquefaction and dewatering fluidization pipes acted as conduits for highly concentrated upward directed fluid flow the formation and maintenance of these pipes was dependent upon the development of a pipe wall composed of clay plugged fine sand formed during initial fluidization this lining acted as a permeability barrier confining and concentrating fluidized flow within the pipe each of the pipes is surrounded by a cylindrical fluidization halo in which leakage through the pipe lining produced partial fluidization of the surrounding sediment fine scale structures within these haloes indicate that fluids flowed radially and upward out of the fluidization pipes at an acute angle these fluids merged with and influenced the orientation and size of adjacent fluidization pillars the fluidization pipes of the uratanna formation may represent unusual preservation of the unstable fluid flow conditions that occur during incipient fluidization of sand beds

numerical study of the ocean circulation on the east china sea shelf and a kuroshio bottom branch northeast of taiwan in summer using the regional ocean model system the ocean circulation on the east china sea ecs shelf was examined by a fine resolution model which was nested in a coarse resolution pacific ocean model the high resolution simulation shows an accurate volume transport of 2 70 sv sv 10 6 m 3 s 1 through the tsushima strait which is more consistent with the previous 5 5 year observation value 2 64 sv than former model results for the taiwan strait it also shows a close volume transport 1 03 sv to a recent estimate 1 20 sv at the same time the model results reproduced almost all of the known circulation structure on the ecs shelf in addition the hindcast of 2009 shows a kuroshio bottom branch current to the northeast of taiwan kbbcnt the kbbcnt is confirmed by the observational bottom high salinity water from 15 august to 2 september 2009 whose distribution is also reproduced by the model results tracer and particle experiments were carried out to elucidate the formation of the high salinity water and the pathway of the kbbcnt in light of the field observation and numerical experiments a new pathway of the kbbcnt is proposed bifurcated from the subsurface water of kuroshio northeast of taiwan it upwells northwestward gradually from 300 to 60 m then turns to northeast in the region around 27 5 degrees n 122 degrees e and finally reaches 31 degrees n off the mouth of the changjiang river along similar to 60 m isobaths forming the bottom saline water off the coast of zhejiang province china

sequence development during uplift palaeogene stratigraphy and relative sea level history of the outer moray firth uk north sea abstract published models of sequence stratigraphy have been derived from studies of the depositional history of subsiding basins during the palaeogene sediment accumulation in the outer moray firth basin of the north sea coincided with episodes of basin uplift palaeogene trends in coastal onlap and relative sea level in this basin have been estimated directly from seismic data and reveal two long duration cycles of relative sea level fall and rise the first cycle comprising over 800 m fall followed by 500 m rise was initiated in the earliest palaeocene and lasted approximately 9 my the second cycle began in the early eocene and resulted in approximately 70 m fall and 150 m rise in relative sea level over 13 my the duration of both of these cycles can be defined as second order superimposed on both of these long term second order cycles are higher frequency variations in relative sea level with periodicities of around 1 5 my and amplitudes of up to 150 m these shorter cycles are associated with the deposition of sequences identified on the seismic data one of the effects of this superimposition was to either subdue or enhance the development of systems tracts within the sequences enhancement took place where the sea level trends were similar on both the long and the short duration curves e g both rising systems tracts were subdued where sea level trends were opposed in general lowstands and transgressive systems tracts showed significant enhancement within a sequence when the sequence coincided with the steeply falling and steeply rising portions respectively of the long duration relative sea level cycle groups of these skewed sequences are stacked in certain distinct patterns termed sequence sets the pattern type is again dependent on the coincidence of the group of sequences with the second order cycle in general downstepping sequence sets are associated with the steeply falling part of the second order cycle progradational sequence sets with the gently falling to gently rising portion and retrogradational sequence sets with the steeply rising portion these stacking patterns reflect large scale changes in accommodation volume the multi sequence depositional record of a tectonically driven long duration cycle of relative sea level can be considered as a composite sequence where its systems tracts are composed of sequence sets

concretion morphology classification and genesis abstract a discussion of the most relevant morphological features of concretionary bodies and the different classifications and the criteria involved in these classifications is presented together with suggestions for improvements to the various classification schemes the meaning of syngenetic diagenetic and epigenetic related to the relative timing and environment of growth of concretionary bodies is also reviewed and discussed the replacement of mixed morphogenetic classifications which lead to conflicting results by classification categories based on textural features is proposed because the identification of the genetic environment of a concretionary body tells little about its history i recommend defining growth patterns in which the successive steps associated with changes in composition and or texture and the development of new structures are recorded a new path is presented that accounts for the contradiction between textural and isotope features which suggests respectively syngenetic and diagenetic or even epigenetic signatures this new path is characterized by the preservation of large porosities over very long time spans and down to depths that are somewhat greater than expected due to the inhibition of normal compaction caused by early overpressuring this overpressuring is the result of the development of hydraulic seals since approximately the syngenetic phase times the concepts of force of crystallization and displacive growth are also reviewed it is being suggested to discard some controversial interpretations of their actual importance for true concretionary displacive growth under epigenetic conditions in accordance with other authors the conclusion is reached that displacive growth is only possible if the shear strength of the host is very low and the stress field within the host is almost hydrostatic a new model the symcompactional concretionary growth model is proposed which explains how a concretionary body generally a nodule can grow while its host thins down by compaction this overpressured undercompacted model will be useful for the interpretation of an assemblage of features such as injection dikes hydraulic breccias cone in cone structures among others that are thought to be representative of the former presence of overpressured horizons these overpressured horizons could serve as detachment planes in paleotectonically active basins seals that could have controlled the movement of brines and hydrocarbons during the diagenetic evolution of the basin can also be assessed this is relevant for the identification of maturation conditions the potential development of secondary fracture permeability due to hydraulic fracturing in buried areas of the basin can also be evaluated based on the identification of formerly overpressured horizons in outcrops the origin of concretions is generally a geological puzzle clifton 1957

topographic coupling of the atlantic overturning and gyre circulations abstractthe vorticity dynamics associated with the mean and time varying gyre and overturning circulations of the atlantic ocean are examined in a realistic ocean model hindcast simulation of the late twentieth century abyssal flow interaction with sloping bottom bathymetry gives rise to the bottom pressure torque bpt term of the vertically integrated vorticity equation the dominance of this term in the closure of the barotropic gyre circulation noted in previous studies is corroborated here for both non eddy resolving and eddy resolving versions of the parallel ocean program pop model this study shows that bpt is also a dominant term in the vorticity balance of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc and therefore represents a key dynamical link between the overturning and gyre streamfunctions the interannual variability of the atlantic circulation over the last several decades viewed in terms of time varying integral vorticity balances demonstrates the fundamental role played by

structural style of the offscraped ligurian oceanic sequences of the northern apennines new hypothesis concerning the development of melange block in matrix fabric shaly dismembered formations crop out extensively on the eastern side of the northern apennines as overthrusted cretaceous oceanic units the lack of metamorphism and the unconformably overlain epi ligurian sequence which represents the trench slope basin sedimentary sequence suggest that these units are accreted sequences accomplished by offscraping and imbrication these units are characterized by stratal disruption lack of internal coherence and complete destruction of the original stratigraphic sequence block in matrix fabric results in symmetric boudins and systematic presence of isolated or intrafolial hinges of isoclinal folds two orthogonal sets of tight to isoclinal folds are always recognizable involving the break up and the boudinage of the competent layers now transposed parallel to the axial planes of the disrupted isoclinal folds the superposition of two generations of orthogonal tight to isoclinal folds may be locally observed either in single bed fragments or in some preserved coherent units disruption and block in matrix fabric is a consequence of polyphase folding and intense shortening this geometry and kinematic interpretation well constrain the tectonic environment where these rocks were deformed to the proximity of the prism toe and within the prism itself thus the apennine broken formations result from the disruption of a sedimentary pile lying on the subducting plate of the cretaceous to eocene trench fore arc system which generated the ligurian accretionary wedge

thickness and spatial distributions of clastic dykes northwest sacramento valley california abstract the geometry and distribution of the clastic dykes of the ono district north sacramento valley are examined within stream sections five traverses along dry stream beds provide good exposure allowing the spacing thickness and geometry of the dykes to be recorded the spatial and thickness distribution of the dykes are considered using cumulative frequency plots allowing a visual estimation of a best fit distribution dyke thickness conforms best to a log normal distribution there is also a characteristic minimum dyke thickness in a traverse and this is attributed to the minimum aperture that a fluid with sand clasts is able to exploit dyke spacing however shows a good correlation with a power law distribution for four traverses suggesting that there is a mechanistic control on the spatial distribution plotting dyke thickness against minimum dyke spacing reveals that thin dykes do not generally intrude in isolation unlike veins and igneous dykes clastic dykes continue to provide preferential pathways for fluid flow subsequent to their intrusion thus inhibiting intrusion in the area surrounding a pre existing dyke a combination of this process and dyke branching provides the best model for the observed spatial and thickness distribution of clastic dykes seen in the ono district california

reinterpretation of depositional processes in a classic flysch sequence pennsylvanian jackfork group ouachita mountains arkansas and oklahoma discussion the pennsylvanian jackfork group in the ouachita mountains of arkansas and oklahoma has conventionally been interpreted by many workers including us as a classic flysch sequence dominated by turbidites in a submarine fan setting however normal size grading and bouma sequences indicative of turbidite deposition are essentially absent in these sandstone beds they appear massive i e structureless in outcrop but when slabbed reveal diagnostic internal features these beds exhibit sharp and irregular upper bedding contacts inverse size grading floating mudstone clasts a planar clast fabric lateral pinch out geometries moderate to high detrital matrix up to 25 sigmoidal deformation duplex structures and contorted layers all these features indicate sand mplacement by debris flows mass flows and slumps mud matrix in these sandstones was sufficient to provide cohesive strength to the flow discrete units of current ripples and horizontal laminae have been interpreted to represent traction processes associated with bottom current reworking the dominance of sandy debris flow and slump deposits nearly 70 at degray spillway section and bottom current reworked deposits 40 at kiamichi mountain section and the lack of turbidites in the jackfork group have led us to propose a slope setting our rejection of a submarine fan setting has important implications for predicting sand body geometry and continuity because deposits of fluidal turbidity currents in fans are laterally more continuous than those of plastic debris flows and slumps on slopes a turbidite dominated fan model would predict an outer fan environment with laterally continuous sheetlike sandstones for the jackfork group in southern oklahoma and western arkansas whereas a debris flow slump model would predict predominantly a slope environment with disconne ted sandstone bodies for the same area

seismic attribute technology for reservoir forecasting and monitoring during the 1970s and 1980s the seismic attributes most used in petroleum exploration were amplitude based instantaneous attributes however in the 1990s seismic attribute technology has dramatically advanced in several directions techniques now range from single trace instantaneous event attribute computations to more complex multitrace windowed seismic event attribute extractions to the generation of seismic attribute volumes applications run from simple amplitude anomaly detection to monitoring fluid front movement over time

complex reservoir geometries in a deep water clastic sequence gryphon field ukcs injection structures geological modelling and reservoir simulation abstract the balder formation sandstone reservoir of the gryphon field was deposited during the late paleocene early eocene while the background sedimentation comprised pelagic shales and tuffs sediment gravity flows transported sands from the shelf area in the west the crawford ridge acted as a barrier to sediment transport in the east causing the sands to be deposited predominantly as massive sand bodies as flow velocities decreased during burial sand remobilisation and injection occurred possibly localised around faults cored intervals show a range of injection structures from thin cm scale dykes to more massive metre scale chaotic intrusive features the cross cutting nature of the injection structures as observed in core and in seismic sections accounts for the high degree of reservoir connectivity observed in the field a study was undertaken with the objective of constructing a 3d geological model for dynamic reservoir simulation in order to evaluate future development activities in the field as previous purely deterministic models had proven unsuitable the complex depositional and post depositional history of the gryphon field reservoir has resulted in a system for which there is no published analogue to aid in 3d reservoir modelling preliminary stochastic models based on analogues chosen to reflect the reservoir sand body geometries did not match the field production history the fact that both the deterministic and fully stochastic models were unsuitable suggested that a novel approach was required to model this field subsequent models constructed using a combination of stochastic and deterministic models have proven successful in matching the production history of the field and evaluating infill opportunities

palynofacies organic geochemistry and depositional environment of the tartan formation late paleocene a potential source rock in the great south basin new zealand abstract detailed palynofacies analysis of sidewall core samples taken from below within and above the tartan formation thanetian late paleocene 58 7 55 8 ma a potential source rock in the epeiric great south basin shows that the formation is characterised by very high percentages of degraded brown phytoclasts rare marine algae and amorphous organic matter and thereby represents a mix of terrestrial and marine kerogen the results indicate that the formation was deposited in a marginally marine hyposaline proximal environment under bottom conditions that varied from anoxic to oxic along a nearshore offshore transect samples from the upper part of the underlying wickliffe formation indicate deposition in a marginal to normal marine proximal environment under anoxic to oxic bottom environments the lower part of the overlying laing formation was deposited in an open marine relatively distal setting under anoxic to oxic bottom environments the palaeodepositional changes observed through this sequence may be best explained as a result of base level changes in a relatively shallow water sea the tartan formation was deposited in the central southern and eastern parts of the great south basin during a peak regression in the thanetian that terminated an overall mid to late paleocene aggradational to regressive trend in the basin and gave way to a latest paleocene earliest eocene transgression its earliest and thickest known occurrence is in the pakaha 1 well in the centre of the basin the formation is absent from proximal offshore wells and absent to very thin in onshore otago drill cores and outcrops most probably due to sediment bypass or subaerial erosion the tartan formation is characterised by a combination of high organic carbon contents and 13c enrichment relative to the enclosing formations corg and toc values are mostly in the range 3 7 17 1 mean 8 0 and 13c values 21 4 to 15 8 up to c 9 heavier than in the under and overlying formations for sidewall core samples there is a strong correlation between toc and 13c values r2 0 91 the heavy 13c values can only partly be attributed to the global paleocene carbon isotope maximum and indicate that other organic matter source and or regional depositional factors affected carbon fractionation in the tartan kerogen the tartan formation displays very good excellent petroleum generative potential up to 31 mg hc g rock but hi values presented herein range only from 157 to 268 mg hc g toc mean 203 mg hc g toc indicating the potential is primarily for gas with only minor oil the relatively poor hi values are attributed to the large influx of degraded woody material rendering the tartan formation less oil prone than previously inferred the tartan formation is biostratigraphically coeval with the waipawa formation of the new zealand east coast basin which is a similar source rock unit also enriched in 13c samples from the waipawa formation taken 1000 km north of the great south basin share palynofacies and geochemical characteristics with the tartan formation indicating that a base level fall also controlled the deposition of the waipawa formation in the east coast basin the size of the area affected by the base level fall and the lack of evidence for contemporaneous large scale tectonic uplift imply that the base level fall was caused by eustasy this suggests that the tartan and waipawa formations may be more extensive in new zealand offshore basins than previously thought

burial and exhumation across the alps apennines junction zone constrained by fission track analysis on modern river sands terra nova 24 221 226 2012 abstract we applied fission track analysis on modern river sands to constrain the cenozoic evolution of the alps apennines junction zone west of the villalvernia varzi ottone fault samples yielded major peaks at 33 36 and 62 65 ma showing that apatites in the eroded wedge top successions were largely unreset to the east samples yielded prominent peaks at 4 0 4 7 6 5 6 7 and 19 ma probably formed by reset ages our results indicate that the alpine orogenic wedge originally tapered out to the south the northern apennines were buried beneath a thick and widespread epiligurian cover now almost completely eroded and experienced major uplift and erosional exhumation since early pliocene times at average rates of 1 km ma 1 a large amount of alpine derived detritus previously stored on top of the orogenic wedge was transferred into the po plain sediment recycling thus overwhelmed any eventual effect of climate change on plio quaternary sedimentation rates south of the alps

mechanisms and controls on the formation of sand intrusions sandstone intrusions are found in all sedimentary environments but have been reported most commonly from deep water settings they also appear to be more frequently developed in tectonically active settings where applied tectonic stresses facilitate development of high fluid pressures within the sediments a variety of mechanisms have been cited as triggers for clastic intrusions these include seismicity induced liquefaction application of tectonic stresses excess pore fluid pressures generated by deposition related processes and the influx of an overpressured fluid from deeper within the basin into a shallow sand body the formation of sandstone dykes and sills is investigated here by considering them as natural hydraulic fractures when the seal on an unconsolidated overpressured sand body fails the resulting steep hydraulic gradient may cause the sand to fluidize the fluidized slurry can then inject along pre existing or new fractures to form clastic intrusions the scale and the geometry of an intrusive complex is governed by the stress state depth and pre existing joints or faults within the sedimentary succession as well as the nature of the host sediments for the simplest tectonic setting where the maximum stress in a basin is vertical gravitational loading small irregular intrusions commonly result in the formation of sills at shallow depths within a few metres of the surface whereas at greater depth dykes and sills forming clastic intrusion networks are more typical a simple relationship is derived to calculate the maximum burial depth at which a dyke sill complex forms as a function of the source bed to sill height the bulk density of the surrounding sediments and the ratio of the vertical to horizontal effective stresses k 0 when applied to three examples of large scale dyke sill complexes developed within paleocene and eocene deep water reservoir sand bodies of the north sea maximum burial depths in a range of 375 to c 500 m 450 700 m and 550 850 m are estimated for intrusion of each of the three complexes

history of subduction and back arc extension in the central mediterranean summary geological and geophysical constraints to reconstruct the evolution of the central mediterranean subduction zone are presented geological observations such as upper plate stratigraphy hp lt metamorphic assemblages foredeep trench stratigraphy arc volcanism and the back arc extension process are used to define the infant stage of the subduction zone and its latest back arc phase based on this data set the time dependence of the amount of subducted material in comparison with the tomographic images of the upper mantle along two cross sections from the northern apennines and from calabria to the gulf of lyon can be derived further the reconstruction is used to unravel the main evolutionary trends of the subduction process results of this analysis indicate that 1 subduction in the central mediterranean is as old as 80 myr 2 the slab descended slowly into the mantle during the first 20 30 myr subduction speeds were probably less than 1 cm year x1 3 subduction accelerated afterwards producing arc volcanism and back arc extension and 4 the slab reached the 660 km transition zone after 60 70 myr this time dependent scenario where a slow initiation is followed by a roughly exponential increase in the subduction speed can be modelled by equating the viscous dissipation per unit length due to the bending of oceanic lithosphere to the rate of change of potential energy by slab pull finally the third stage is controlled by the interaction between the slab and the 660 km transition zone in the southern region this results in an important re shaping of the slab and intermittent pulses of back arc extension in the northern region the decrease in the trench retreat can be explained by the entrance of light continental material at the trench

fission track reconstruction of the front of the northern apennine thrust wedge and overlying ligurian unit in the northern apennines foreland the marnoso arenacea formation ma fm records post depositional burial temperatures overlapping with those of the zone of partial annealing of apatite fission tracks because the stratigraphy sedimentology petrography and structural evolution of this turbidite succession has been intensively studied over the last 40 years the ma fm provides an ideal case to apply the apatite fission track method the data show a general decrease of the maximum paleotemperature undergone by the ma samples toward the foreland area the maximum burial calculated using a geothermal gradient of 20 c km spans from more than 5 km to less than 2 5 km and indicates that the reconstructed total thickness of the ma succession is not enough to justify the determined burial values stratigraphic data indicates that the missing section consisted of a lower component foredeep successions and an upper allocthonous component composed of disrupted and chaotic oceanic sediments and minor ophiolites ligurian unit the ligurian unit overrode the foredeep succession during deposition its advancement toward the foreland area was associated with subsidence and only locally contrasted by thrust growth the reconstructed wedge shape of the ligurian unit in its final and pre erosional configuration at time of the maximum bunal of the ma succession shows a flat upper surface which corresponds to a paleosurface of early pliocene age this surface marks at 4 to 5 ma the onset of the exhumation phase which occurred at a mean rate of 1 2 mm yr

geological record of fluid flow and seismogenesis along an erosive subducting plate boundary a fossil erosive subduction channel the shear zone marking the plate boundary preserved in the northern apennines of italy is identified the fossil zone records the presence of two decollements which seem to have been simultaneously active at the top and base of the subduction channel in modern subduction zones the onset of seismic activity is believed to occur at 150 c however in the fossil channel the onset seems to have occurred at colder temperatures tectonic erosion of the overriding plate by the downgoing slab is believed to occur at half the earth s subduction zones1 2 in situ investigation of the geological processes at active erosive margins is extremely difficult owing to the deep marine environment and the net loss of forearc crust to deeper levels in the subduction zone until now a fossil erosive subduction channel the shear zone marking the plate boundary3 has not been recognized in the field so that seismic observations have provided the only information on plate boundary processes at erosive margins here we show that a fossil erosive margin is preserved in the northern apennines of italy it formed during the tertiary transition from oceanic subduction to continental collision and was preserved by the late deactivation and fossilization of the plate boundary the outcropping erosive subduction channel is 500 m thick it is representative of the first 5 km of depth with its deeper portions reaching 150 c the fossil zone records several surprises two decollements were simultaneously active at the top and base of the subduction channel both deeper basal erosion and near surface frontal erosion occurred at shallow depths extension was a key deformation component within this erosive convergent plate boundary and slip occurred without an observable fluid pressure cycle at depths greater than about 3 km a fluid cycle is clearly shown by the development of veins and the alternation of fast co seismic and slow inter seismic slip in the deepest portions of the outcropping subduction channel extension is finally overprinted by compressional structures in modern subduction zones the onset of seismic activity is believed to occur at 150 c but in the fossil channel the onset occurred at cooler palaeo temperatures

modeling upwelling circulation off the oregon coast 1 time dependent three dimensional upwelling circulation on the continental shelf off the oregon coast is studied using a primitive equation numerical model a limited area domain with a high resolution curvilinear grid is utilized the response of the coastal ocean to forcing by observed wind stress and heat flux during the summer 2001 time period of the coastal ocean advances in shelf transport coast field experiment is investigated model results are compared to coast current and hydrographic measurements the shelf velocity and density fields are generally characterized by the presence of a southward alongshore coastal jet with an upwelling density front on the shoreward side of the jet the large variability in shelf topography associated with heceta bank exerts a major influence on the shelf velocity and density fields over the bank the alongshore coastal jet is displaced offshore and colder upwelled water extends farther from the coast northward mean flow and upward motion are found inshore of the jet three dimensional flow structures in response to variable shelf bottom topography are presented and an analysis of time and space dependent alongshore momentum balances is applied to clarify the associated dynamics in general northward pressure gradients set up over the bank during southward upwelling winds accelerate currents on the inshore side of the jet northward when the winds relax analysis of term balances in the depth averaged equation for potential temperature shows that during upwelling across shore advection makes the major contribution to cooling over most of the region except inshore over heceta bank where alongshore advection also plays a significant role

use of a new artificial cohesive material for physical modelling application to sandstone intrusions and associated fracture networks abstract sandstone intrusions are formed by fluidisation and injection of sand into hydraulic fractures to experimentally reproduce sandstone intrusion emplacement and to understand mechanisms governing their final morphology it is necessary to employ a brittle granular material simulating the intruded medium with water as a pore fluid we created a new analogue material made of a mixture of sand and gelatine to simulate overburden behaviour and which is capable of reproducing fracturing in water saturated sediments the cohesion and frictional coefficient of this material is controlled by gelatine concentration an increase of gelatine concentration of 1 g l results in an increase of 490pa and 0 08 of cohesion and frictional coefficient respectively permeability of sand is sufficiently reduced to prevent fluid flow prior to hydraulic fracturing 10 14 10 17 m oscillatory tests on sand gelatine mixture suggest a visco elastic behaviour with a dominant elastic behaviour initial experimental results are presented here and show that the main geometries of sandstone intrusions sills dykes wing like intrusions and cones and their network geometry dyke to sill dyke to cone or cone to cone can be reproduced we show that not all the fractures propagating in the model network are intruded by sand we focus in this paper on the emplacement of wing like intrusions we make use of a p i v particle imaging velocimetry technique to analyse plastic deformation showing that wing like fractures open in mode i a cone of vertical displacement was also recorded above the reservoir adding a shear component in the opening mode of wing like fractures these results have broad application to the emplacement mechanics of sandstone and igneous intrusions

origin and evolution of a splay fault in the nankai accretionary wedge subduction zones are often characterized by wedge shaped sedimentary complexes called accretionary prisms that form when sediments are scraped off the subducting plate and added to the overriding plate large landward dipping thrust faults can cut through such a prism these faults known as megasplay faults 1 2 originate near the top of the subducting plate and terminate at the shallow landward edge of the prism1 3 4 5 6 megasplay faults have been the subject of numerous geological and geophysical studies4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 but their initiation and evolution through time remains poorly constrained here we combine seismic reflection data from the nankai accretionary wedge with geological data collected by the integrated ocean drilling program iodp and find that the splay fault cutting this wedge initiated approx1 95 million years myr ago in the lower part of the prism as an out of sequence thrust oost after an initial phase of high activity the movement along the fault slowed down but uplift and reactivation of the fault resumed about 1 55 myr ago the alternating periods of high and low activity along the splay fault that we document hint at episodic changes in the mechanical stability of accretionary prisms

fluidization and injection in the deep water sandstones of the eocene alba formation uk north sea the nauchlan member of the late eocene alba formation uk north sea consists of a deep water channel fill that was extensively modified by post depositional sand remobilization and injection sandstone textures facies associations and the geometry of the channel fill were affected a suite of sand rich facies was produced by large scale fluidization and injection within the channel fill and above it these facies termed here unstratified facies are characterized by the absence of stratification surfaces and by discordant relationships with bedding in the adjacent succession they reflect variable degrees of disruption of the primary sedimentary structures caused by escaping pore fluid the velocity of which is estimated at least in the order of 0 1 ms 1 adjacent mudstones were severely disrupted by hydraulic fracturing and fragments of fractured mudstone were incorporated into the fluidized sand average porosity was decreased in the sandstones affected by fluidization two main phases of sand injection are inferred to occur at different burial depths a shallow burial phase below 100 m produced thin dykes with ptygmatic folds the second phase occurred at the boundary between eocene and oligocene 300 m burial depth and resulted in large scale tabular wing like dykes that project from the edges of the channel fill the significant pore fluid overpressure which was required to hydraulically fracture the thick mudstone seal and to fluidize the large volume of sand was likely to be built up by static liquefaction of the source sand and was possibly enhanced by hydrocarbon gas influx

turbidites in foreland and on thrust basins of the northern apennines abstract turbiditic sediments are associated with all stages of development of the apennines orogen not only the classical flysch of oligo miocene age macigno cervarola marnoso arenacea but also the coeval smaller bodies based on thrust sheets loiano of ranzano sequence and the younger molasse of the plio pleistocene foredeep except for more recent ones quaternary turbidite units are affected to some degree by thrusting and later block faulting the equivalent marginal deposits were also deformed uplifted and eroded to a great extent however identification and correlation of sequences and paleoenvironments across the orogenic belt can be helped by a deposits with rather strong eustatic imprint high stands and b preservation of marginal sediments by early remobilization cannibalism into deeper depocentres the following categories of basins can be recognized main foreland basin or foredeep in front of thrust sheets based on undeformed or previously rifted continental crust thrust top basins meso autochthonous auct in absence of a well defined major foredeep satellite basins thrust based but inwardly associated with a foredeep and of much smaller size linear dimensions in the order of kilometers and ten of kilometers volume of fill in the order of tens to hundreds cubic kilometers the foredeep persisted for the whole orogenic cycle but changed its character and was more or less segmented two main stages can be recognized conventionally labelled as the flysch stage up to the late miocene appenines mostly submerged and the molasse stage late miocene to recent present relief already in existence satellite basins floating on the ligurian sheet epi ligurian persisted up to the mid pliocene but received turbidites only in the oligocene and miocene others were created later on thrusts of different style involving the foreland sedimentary cover piggyback basins of ori and friend 1984 turbidite lithosomes of the flysch group are the largest ones volumes up to 30 000 km 3 with maximum size and lateral continuity of individual beds megaturbidites they are not seen as overlapping units filling coexisting and adjacent basins but as distinct superposed isochronous units within which only time transgressive sedimentation could occur macigno thus stands for all oligocene turbidites of the northern apennines foredeep cervarola for early miocene ones and marnoso arenacea for mid late miocene ones it is assumed that these units reflect sedimentary cycles of some order correlatable with global charts and splittable into depositional sequences sensu vail and collaborators

small scale polygenetic melanges in the ligurian accretionary complex northern apennines italy and the role of shale diapirism in superposed melange evolution in orogenic belts abstract the argille varicolori varicolored scaly clays of the external ligurian units of the northern apennines have been widely described as a typical unmetamorphosed broken formation i e a chaotic unit without exotic blocks produced by offscraping and tectonic imbrication during the evolution of the ligurian accretionary wedge geological mapping and integrated structural and stratigraphic observations show that the argille varicolori consist of diverse types of small scale melanges non mappable at a 1 25 000 scale forming a composite chaotic unit in which the superposition of tectonic sedimentary and diapiric processes resulted in the occurrence of polygenetic chaotic bodies at different scales these melange units record the evolution of the ligurian accretionary wedge from subduction to collision and intracontinental deformation tectonically disrupted body 1 tdb1 comprises boudinage and pinch and swell structures formed by layer parallel extension contraction at the wedge front of the ligurian accretionary complex during the late cretaceous middle eocene it is interleaved with non mappable gravity driven chaotic bodies gcb developed during alternating episodes of accretion and removal of material at the wedge front the late oligocene early miocene out of sequence thrusting related to the collisional episodes in the apennines overprinted the previously formed chaotic bodies and formed a polygenetic tectonic melange tectonically disrupted body 2 tdb2 this unit is characterized by a structurally ordered block in matrix fabric and by the gradual decrease of stratal disruption away from the regional thrust overpressurized fluids concentrated along the shear surfaces and the scaly cleavage planes facilitated the diapiric upward movement of unconsolidated sediments in the early miocene this process produced non mappable shale dike injections ddb1 and mappable diapirically disrupted bodies ddb2 which show an internal zonation of deformation this deformation reworked the previously formed chaotic bodies although some of these polygenetic melanges cannot be mapped at a 1 25 000 scale their careful documentation provides a better understanding of time progressive scale independent melange forming processes

numerical study on the pattern and origins of kuroshio branches in the bottom water of southern east china sea in summer pattern and origins of kuroshio branches in the bottom water of southern east china sea ecs were carefully examined by numerical simulations based on the regional ocean modeling system roms together with observations model results show that in the bottom water of ecs the intrusion pattern of kuroshio is mainly composed of an offshore kuroshio branch current okbc which bifurcated from the kuroshio northeast of taiwan flows nearly along the isobath of similar to 100 m and a nearshore kuroshio branch current nkbc which originated from the kuroshio northeast of taiwan upwells northwestward gradually from similar to 250 m to similar to 60 m then turns to northeast around 27 5 degrees n 122 e thereafter flows northeastward along the isobath of similar to 60 m and finally reaches at 30 5 degrees n where it turns to east furthermore we found that the nkbc mostly originated in the kuroshio subsurface water 120 250 m east of taiwan whereas the okbc mainly stemmed from the kuroshio water 60 120 m east of taiwan this pattern and origins of okbc and nkbc well addressed the observational phenomena that off the coast of zhejiang province china there were colder less saline and more phosphate rich bottom water near the isobath of similar to 60 m rather than near the isobath of similar to 100 m in august 2009 finally it is proposed that on southern ecs continental shelf kuroshio exhibits its intrusion branches by an anticyclonical stair structure bottom stair nkbc middle stair okbc and top stair kuroshio surface branch kbc

clastic dike swarms and the structural evolution of the foreland fold and thrust belt of the southern andes clastic dike swarms are intruded into a cenozoic foreland fold and thrust belt in southern chile the dike material consists of sandstone and conglomerate with clasts as much as 25 cm in diameter brecciated wall rocks are also found in the clastic matrix the dikes often exceed 50 cm in width and hundred of metres in length in outcrop and are oriented overwhelmingly transverse to fold axes and parallel to cross joints the dike swarms are concentrated near the toe of major thrusts where they are found injected into the hanging wall a regional axial planar spaced cleavage is developed in the clastic dikes and sills clearly postdating injection of clastic material dike injection postdates at least the initiation of extension fractures the cross joint set within the swarms the dike intrusions represent as much as 20 extension parallel to fold axes in addition to several percent extension represented regionally by the cross joints the structural features of the dike swarms and their geometric relationship to other structures suggest rapid single phase injection the arrival of the front edge of a thrust on an already highly overpressured sedimentary sequence would cause an instantaneous increase in the overburden pressure and therefore could result in injection of a dense slurry of wet coarse sediments along preexisting planes of weakness field relationships of mesoscopic structures suggest the following evolution cross joint development incipient cleavage development initiation of thrusting and buckling clastic dike injection regional spaced cleavage development and associated late stage tightening of folds

experimental soft sediment deformation structures formed by the liquefaction of unconsolidated sands and some ancient examples the effects of liquefaction in saturated sand bodies under a variety of driving forces are described from shaking table experiments and structures from the geological record are presented which are analogous to the experimental structures the collapse of sloping heaps of cross bedded sand under a gravitational body force generates low angle essentially uncontorted stratification a basal zone of shearing may be present with steepened and folded foresets stretching of foresets may be accommodated on normal faults and bottomsets may be contorted into inclined folds in natural systems the substrate may also liquefy causing deformation driven by an unevenly distributed confining load stratification in the surface bedform is flattened and stratification in the substratum contorted experiments failed to produce relative displacement at the interface between stacked sand bodies liquefaction of gravitationally unstable systems in sands generates load structures comparable to those from sand mud systems recumbent folded deformed cross bedding is formed by current shear over a liquefied bed as has been inferred from field and theoretical analyses shear of nonliquefied sand forms angular folds other deformation mechanisms such as fluidization or seepage may generate structures similar to all of these local water escape structures driven by fluidization occur in the upper parts of some liquefied sand bodies they include cusps sand volcanoes and clastic dykes transient cavities formed in some experiments and seemed to be preserved as breached cusps although the experiments tried to isolate individual driving forces driving forces may operate together and there may be a continuum between deformation driven by water escape and deformation driven by loading different structures from those described here may form where liquefaction develops in a buried layer as opposed to at the sediment surface

geometry and tectonic significance of albian sedimentary dykes in the sisteron area se france abstract sedimentary dykes in the sisteron area have penetrated pre existing fracture sets in late aptian and early albian strata dynamic characteristics of such fractures are revealed by the bifurcation and the branching of dykes three dimensional statistical analysis of the initial orientation of two vertical conjugate sets of dykes indicates their mechanics of formation as well as the principal compressional stress direction during the development of the sill dyke regime in the sisteron area another set of sandstone dykes present in the area suggests syn sedimentary and extensional faulting tectonic activity before the area became involved in compressional tectonics several significant dyke forms clearly show the sense of shear along fractures filled with sand and enable the stress pattern during dyke formation in the area to be recognized

topographic control of basin and channel flows the role of bottom pressure torques and friction the topographical control of western boundary currents within a basin and zonal jets in a channel is investigated in terms of the potential vorticity pv and barotropic vorticity bv the curl of the depth integrated velocity budgets using isopycnic adiabatic wind driven experiments along the western boundary the wind driven transport is returned across latitude lines by the bottom pressure torque while friction is only important in altering the pv within an isopycnic layer and in allowing a closed circulation these contrasting balances constrain the geometry of the flow through integral relationships for the bv and pv for both homogenous and stratified basins with sloping sidewalls the northward subtropical jet separates from the western wall and has opposing frictional torques on either side of the jet which cancel in a zonal integral for bv but alter the pv within a layer streamline in a channel with partial topographic barriers the bottom pressure torque is again important in returning wind driven flows along western boundaries and in transferring bv from neighboring wind driven gyres into a zonal jet the depth integrated flow steered by topography controls where the bottom friction alters the pv which can lead to different pv states being attained for separate subbasins along a channel

geology of the seismogenic subduction thrust interface a microseismically active layer of underthrust sediments is commonly inferred along subduction thrust interfaces the exhumed chrystalls beach complex in the otago schist new zealand may be analogous to an actively deforming underthrust rock assemblage the complex contains asymmetric competent lenses of sandstone chert and basalt enclosed in a cleaved mudstone matrix continuous fabrics such as folds boudins and asymmetric phacoids formed by distributed cataclasis and dissolution precipitation creep discontinuous deformation is evident in an extensive fault fracture mesh involving mutually cross cutting subvertical extension veins and subhorizontal slickenfibre shear surfaces the hikurangi margin provides an example of along strike variations in seismic style possibly related to heterogeneous fluid pressure state and interface geology in both the ancient and active subduction related shear zone fluid pressure state appears to be a critical control on frictional failure which primarily occurs on weak fluid overpressured discontinuities continuous aseismic deformation occurs where other mineral deformation mechanisms such as dissolution precipitation creep are preferred the geometry and composition of the underthrust rock assemblage appear to be first order controls on megathrust fluid pressure distribution bulk rheology and dominant deformation mechanism and thus may be significant controls on megathrust seismic style

thrust wedges with decollement levels and syntectonic erosion a view from analog models abstract analog sandbox models have been set up to study the impact of syntectonic erosion on thrust wedges with one and two decollement levels different accretion mechanisms are activated depending on interactions between surface processes and wedge mechanics frontal accretion backthrusting underthrusting and underplating due to decollement induced duplex formation at depth these mechanisms may function simultaneously being located at different parts across the wedge for all the experiments a high friction is imposed at the base of models and the volume of eroded material remains equal to the volume of newly accreted material maintaining a constant surface slope during the shortening erosion limits the forward propagation of thrust wedges and favors the underthrusting of basal layers allowing duplex formation erosion promotes development of major backthrusts in the thrust wedges without or with one decollement but no backthrusts was formed in the wedges with two decollements slow erosion allows lower extent of basal underthrusting in comparison with regular rate erosion variations in the erosion taper lead to changes in duplex geometry and exhumation rate in thrust wedges with one or two decollements the 6 erosion taper promotes formation of antiformal stack at the rear part of thrust wedge high rate of basal underthrusting and high extent of erosional removal the cover layers are nearly completely eroded above the antiformal stack and form the synformal klippe in frontal part of thrust wedges the 8 erosion taper allows development of individual ramp anticlines and active forward thrusting of cover layers above the decollement and low rate of basal underplating below it with consequent low extent of erosional removal the results of our experiments support the observations on structural evolution and erosion in the alberta foothills of the canadian rockies

why western boundary currents in realistic oceans are inviscid a link between form stress and bottom pressure torques it is shown that wind stress curl is balanced by bottom pressure torque in a zonal integral over any strip wide enough to smooth out the effect of nonlinear terms typically about 3 of latitude the derivation is completely general as long as the zonal wind stress is balanced by form stress at each latitude as is known to be the case in the ocean this implies that viscous torques are not important in western boundary currents their place being taken by bottom pressure torques the prediction is confirmed in the context of a global eddy permitting numerical ocean model this link between form stress and bottom pressure torques makes it easier to consider southern ocean dynamics and subtropical gyre dynamics in the same conceptual framework with topographic interactions being important in both cases

fibrous calcite veins overpressures and primary oil migration the fibrous calcite veins found parallel to the bedding of certain shales may have been formed during burial as a consequence of overpressuring their presence could even be indicative of former overpressures this suggestion if it can be upheld carries implications for theories of primary oil migration

fluid flow features in hydrocarbon plumbing systems what do they tell us about the basin evolution abstract fluid flow features such as sandstone intrusions mud volcano systems and pockmarks represent well known geological structures generated due to flow of fluids in the subsurface however the integration of fluid flow features in quantitative and qualitative basin analysis is still in its infancy this study presents a review and a qualitative integration of fluid flow features in basin analysis of the danish north sea area and of salt mini basins offshore angola based on results from six case studies focusing on the detection mapping and evaluation of features related to focused fluid flow in these areas in the study the diversity of seismically imaged fluid flow features in hydrocarbon plumbing systems is reviewed and their utility is demonstrated this is done by focusing on the aspects of fluid flow related features that can be integrated into basin analysis studies and how these may help us increase the understanding of basin evolution and to achieve the major goals of basin analysis such as understanding the depositional and tectonic context of the basin and the presence and extent of hydrocarbons particularly concerning the determination of fluid flow timing triggers sources and routes fluid flow features represent a major but underused tool in basin analysis

frontal wedge deformation near the source region of the 2011 tohoku oki earthquake 1 we report an uplift of 5 m with a horizontal displacement of more than 60 m due to the 2011 tohoku oki earthquake the uplift was measured by an ocean bottom pressure gauge installed before the earthquake on a frontal wedge which formed an uplift system near the japan trench horizontal displacements of the frontal wedge were measured using local benchmark displacements obtained by acoustic ranging before and after the earthquake the average displacements at the frontal wedge were 58 m east and 74 m east southeast these results strongly suggest a huge coseismic slip beneath the frontal wedge on the plate boundary the estimated magnitude of the slip along the main fault was 80 m near the trench our results suggest that the horizontal and vertical deformations of the frontal wedge due to the slip generated the tremendous tsunami that struck the coastal area of northeastern japan

interpretations of the jebar term abstract in diagnostic calculations of the ocean s circulation the so called jebar joint effect of baroclinicity and relief term may induce a significant depth average current field as has been noted in the oceanographic literature here we present two consistent interpretations of this term in the equation governing the vorticity of the depth averaged current a topographic vortex stretching term proportional to the dot product of depth averaged velocity and the depth gradient arises we show that jebar corrects this term by removing the contribution of the geostrophic flow referenced to the bottom which cannot generate topographic vortex stretching in the evolution equation for the vorticity of the depth integrated flow a bottom torque term is present we show that the jfbar term discussed above enters here as a contribution to the bottom torque emphasizing the role of jebar as a forcing term we also show that when a diagnostic calculation is formulated completely in terms of the transport str

reproducibility of apatite fission track length data and thermal history reconstruction abstract the ability to derive detailed thermal history information from apatite fission track analysis is predicated on the reliability of track length measurements however insufficient attention has been given to whether and how these measurements should be standardized in conjunction with a fission track workshop we conducted an experiment in which 11 volunteers measured 50 track lengths on one or two samples one mount contained durango apatite with unannealed induced tracks and one contained apatite from a crystalline rock containing spontaneous tracks with a broad length distribution caused by partial resetting results for both mounts showed scatter indicative of differences in measurement technique among the individual analysts the effects of this variability on thermal history inversion were tested using the hefty computer program to model the spontaneous track measurements a cooling only scenario and a reheating scenario more consistent with the sample s geological history were posed when a uniform initial length value from the literature was used results among analysts were very inconsistent in both scenarios although normalizing for track angle by projecting all lengths to a c axis parallel crystallographic orientation improved some aspects of congruency when the induced track measurement was used as the basis for thermal history inversion congruency among analysts and agreement with inversions based on data previously collected was significantly improved further improvement was obtained by using c axis projection differences among inversions that persisted could be traced to differential sampling of long and short track populations among analysts the results of this study while demonstrating the robustness of apatite fission track thermal history inversion nevertheless point to the necessity for a standardized length calibration schema that accounts for analyst variation

the alba field ocean bottom cable seismic survey impact on development alba field in the central north sea uk block 16 26 consists of eocene age high porosity unconsolidated turbidite channel sands sealed by low permeability shales at an average subsea depth of 1900 m the main channel is approximately 9 km long and 1 5 km wide and can be up to 100 m thick figure 1 the channel contains discrete bodies of intrareservoir shales that can cause significant drilling completion and production problems immediately overlying the main alba sand channel several wells have encountered thin discontinuous oil saturated brioc sands

early exhumation of underthrust units near the toe of an ancient erosive subduction zone a case study from the northern apennines of italy apatite fission track aft analyses were performed on 16 sandstone samples from a tectonic melange unit exposed in three tectonic windows located near the inferred front of the early miocene subduction system of the northern apennines of italy the tectonic windows display a block on block tectonic melange present under the ligurian units the melange is formed by portions of the upper plate incorporated in the plate boundary shear zone as a consequence of a mechanism of frontal tectonic erosion during the aquitanian early miocene aft and structural data together with stratigraphic constraints allow the reconstruction of a complete deformation cycle with a phase of underthrusting followed by underplating and early exhumation of the tectonic melange the exhumation in particular took place at 10 20 km from the original subduction front moreover the analysis suggests that multiple faults were active at the same time in the frontal part of the subduction zone

constraining the depth and timing of large scale conical sandstone intrusions kilometer scale sandstone intrusions a recently recognized end member of the spectrum of soft sediment deformation structures are important components of many deep water sandstone reservoirs they result from the remobilization of considerable volumes of sand during early stages of burial this paper uses three dimensional seismic data calibrated to nearby wells to describe an extensive system of large downward tapering conical sandstone intrusions from the faeroe shetland basin on the uk atlantic margin the intrusions are derived from a middle eocene submarine fan and are injected vertically upward through overlying highly faulted claystones to form conical bodies that interconnect across the 700 m thick claystone interval to feed a set of shallow intrusions located within a few hundred meters of the paleoseabed the forcible intrusion of these shallow sandstone bodies produced complementary folding of the contemporaneous seabed the subsequent onlap of these seabed domal folds took place immediately after the intrusion event and by correlation to biostratigraphic data from nearby wells we date these intrusions as late miocene this is the first time that both the age and emplacement depth range of a system of large scale sandstone intrusions have been constrained

large scale conical sandstone intrusions and polygonal fault systems in tranche 6 faroe shetland basin abstract kilometre scale sandstone intrusions are important components of many deep water clastic systems they result from the remobilisation and injection of sand during early stages of burial and are commonly found in fine grained mudrocks containing a pervasive polygonal fault network this paper uses three dimensional seismic data from the faroe shetland basin on the uk atlantic margin calibrated to nearby wells to examine the relationship between an extensive system of large downward tapering conical sandstone intrusions to the pervasive polygonal fault network present within the surrounding encasing host mudstones the intrusions were injected upwards during the late miocene through eocene oligocene claystones with a pre existing polygonal fault network to form conical bodies up to 300 m high within the 700 m thick claystone sequence this study shows that polygonal faults and the discordant limbs of conical sandstone intrusions form two distinct dip populations with little overlap that have average dips of 58 and 26 respectively polygonal faults display decreasing dip with increasing depth however conical sandstone intrusion dip is uniform throughout the eocene oligocene succession these observations lead us to conclude that the geometry of conical sandstone intrusions is not greatly affected by the presence of a pre existing polygonal fault network nor is it affected by increased overburden pressure with depth therefore the 10 50 dip range displayed by the limbs of conical sandstone intrusions observed within the study area is a fundamental property of conical sandstone intrusions the presence of a widespread region of conical sandstone intrusions in the faroe shetland basin has important implications for vertical fluid migration in the region the eocene oligocene claystones in the region have very low permeability but the presence of large scale conical sandstone intrusions and any possible feeder systems is likely to provide high permeability fluid conduits through this sequence in effect the otherwise good regional caprock provided by the eocene oligocene claystone sequence is breached by a network of sandstone intrusions possibly resulting in reduced hydrocarbon trapping potential beneath the seal

tectonic and sedimentary evolution of the frontal part of an ancient subduction complex at the transition from accretion to erosion the case of the ligurian wedge of the northern apennines italy subduction can be associated either with accretion or with removal of material from the overriding plate these two processes can either coexist or alternate in time along the same margin their inception has the potential to change the dynamic equilibrium of a marginal wedge resulting in the development of out of sequence thrusts normal and strike slip faults or large submarine landslides in the frontal part of the subduction zone in this work we investigate the effects of the transition from frontal accretion to frontal erosion on the stability of a subduction complex through the study of an ancient example from the northern apennines ligurian subduction complex new structural data suggest that in the early neogene aquitanian the removal and underthrusting of the toe of the wedge formed by both the accreted oceanic sediments and the overlying wedge top basin fill i e the subligurian units implied a process of frontal tectonic erosion the presence on top of the subduction complex of a complete succession of mid late eocene to late miocene slope apron sediments i e the epiligurian succession facilitates a reconstruction of the sedimentary response to this event in the aquitanian large areas of the wedge were denuded from the lower slope sedimentary cover through extensive gravitational mass movements the subsequent deposition of a thick body of submarine debris flows is documented the mass wasting deposits are interpreted as the sedimentary response to the underthrusting of the frontal part of the ligurian subduction complex formed by the subligurian units

recurrent liquefaction induced by the 1989 loma prieta earthquake and 1990 and 1991 aftershocks implications for paleoseismicity studies sandblows formed in man made lake deposits near watsonville california resulted from the october 1989 m 7 1 loma prieta earthquake and its april 1990 m 5 5 aftershock and a march 1991 m 4 6 aftershock excavations in the dry bed of soda lake expose the subsurface structure of sandblows induced by the october and april events we also made surface observations three days after the march 1991 event lateral spread fissures developed in the lake sediment during the mainshock and the host deposits were vertically offset 3 to 6 5 cm liquefied sand erupted through the fissures onto the dry lake bed and formed sandblow cone deposits these deposits range from low angle conical structures 30 to 50 cm thick and 2 to 5 m in diameter to elongate deposits up to 35 m long sandblows associated with the april 1990 aftershock commonly reoccupied preexisting fissures but also formed new solitary vents sandblows developed during the march 1991 aftershock erupted only through preexisting vents sandblow vents reactivated in april 1990 contain sediment clasts of sandblow deposits formed in the october 1989 mainshock clasts of host sediment were also present in the sand dikes lamination in the sandblow cones and sand dikes shows that they were not formed in a single episode surface cones and feeder dikes composed of multiple laminated subunits represent the three generations of sandblows the subunits suggest that the cone deposits were formed by pulses of water and sediment expelled from the vent the pulses result from cyclic phases of local excess pore pressure and its release in the liquefied bed at depth the three generations of structures at soda lake formed six months to a year apart have distinct tonal and textural differences that may mimic liquefaction structures formed decades or centuries apart this study provides modern analogs for comparison to and interpretation of prehistoric liquefaction structures that are frequently partly eroded or poorly exposed

improved measurement of fission track annealing in apatite using c axis projection apatite fission track length data are used extensively for thermal history inversion however several studies have documented instances of poor reproducibility of length data we address this problem by using c axis projection to normalize track lengths for crystallographic angle in the extensive laboratory annealing data set acquired by barbarand et al 2003a 2003b a new simplification reduces the c axis projection model from six to four fitted parameters normalizing for track angle using c axis projection improves every aspect of length measurement reproducibility examined it accelerates convergence of mean length in single analyses increases consistency among replicate measurements by a single analyst enhances consistency of measurements of the same mounts by different analysts and improves the match between analyses conducted with and without cf irradiation c axis projection is also shown to enhance the thermal sensitivity of length data based on these results we assert that c axis projection is a good means of compensating for observer bias although it does not overcome differences caused by experimental error

regional fractures i a mechanism for the formation of regional fractures at depth in flat lying reservoirs 1 regional fractures may form slowly at depth in extension and parallel to regional horizontal tectonic compression such fracture sets can be common in reservoirs despite the absence of flexure of the strata and are commonly important contributors to reservoir permeability such fractures make good targets for deviated wells high formation pore pressure is crucial to creating low effective confining stresses and brittle rock properties in the reservoirs conditions conducive to fracturing despite deep burial but pore pressure does not exceed the least principal stress and does not cause tensile fracturing the mechanism of natural hydraulic fracturing is incompatible with the characteristics of most regional fracture sets rather many regional fractures form duri g far field compression initiate at locally induced tensile stresses caused by flaws in the rock and propagate in the plane of the maximum and intermediate compressive stresses the differential stress required for initiation and propagation of regional fractures is well below that necessary for shear failure in the presence of high pore pressure fractures can be held open at depth by a tectonic basinwide dilatancy of the strata and the open void space commonly becomes mineralized

eocene sandstone intrusions in the tampen spur area norwegian north sea quad 34 imaged by 3d seismic data the eocene of the northern north sea is characterised by fine grained mudstones and isolated sandbodies three dimensional 3d seismic data reveal that the eocene mudstones are intensely deformed by polygonal faulting and contain numerous discordant amplitude anomalies the anomalies identified in the tampen spur area are similar to discordant anomalies previously described from the eocene in the south viking graben and the outer moray firth detailed mapping shows that the anomalies are often conical in three dimensions with dimensions ranging from 100 to 200 m height and a few hundred metres to a few kilometres lateral extent well calibrations show that the anomalies arise from sandstones tens of metres thick encased in mudstone the discordant amplitude anomalies are interpreted as large scale conical sandstone intrusions fed from deeper paleocene sandbodies individual conical intrusions may contain millions of cubic metres of sandstone and may provide fluid migration paths potential reservoirs and pose a drilling risk when exploring for deeper targets

use of liquefaction induced features for paleoseismic analysis an overview of how seismic liquefaction features can be distinguished from other features and how their regional distribution and properties of source sediment can be used to infer the location and strength of holocene paleo earthquakes abstract liquefaction features can be used in many field settings to estimate the recurrence interval and magnitude of strong earthquakes through much of the holocene these features include dikes craters vented sand sills and laterally spreading landslides the relatively high seismic shaking level required for their formation makes them particularly valuable as records of strong paleo earthquakes this state of the art summary for using liquefaction induced features for paleoseismic interpretation and analysis takes into account both geological and geotechnical engineering perspectives the driving mechanism for formation of the features is primarily the increased pore water pressure associated with liquefaction of sand rich sediment the role of this mechanism is often supplemented greatly by the direct action of seismic shaking at the ground surface which strains and breaks the clay rich cap that lies immediately above the sediment that liquefied discussed in the text are the processes involved in formation of the features as well as their morphology and characteristics in field settings whether liquefaction occurs is controlled mainly by sediment grain size sediment packing depth to the water table and strength and duration of seismic shaking formation of recognizable features in the field generally requires a low permeability cap above the sediment that liquefied field manifestations are controlled largely by the severity of liquefaction and the thickness and properties of the low permeability cap criteria are presented for determining whether observed sediment deformation in the field originated by seismically induced liquefaction these criteria have been developed mainly by observing historic effects of liquefaction in varied field settings the most important criterion is that a seismic liquefaction origin requires widespread regional development of features around a core area where the effects are most severe in addition the features must have a morphology that is consistent with a very sudden application of a large hydraulic force this article discusses case studies in widely separated and different geological settings coastal south carolina the new madrid seismic zone the wabash valley seismic zone and coastal washington state these studies encompass most of the range of settings and the types of liquefaction induced features likely to be encountered anywhere the case studies describe the observed features and the logic for assigning a seismic liquefaction origin to them also discussed are some types of sediment deformations that can be misinterpreted as having a seismic origin two independent methods for estimating prehistoric magnitude are discussed briefly one method is based on determination of the maximum distance from the epicenter over which liquefaction induced effects have formed the other method is based on use of geotechnical engineering techniques at sites of marginal liquefaction in order to bracket the peak accelerations as a function of epicentral distance these accelerations can then be compared with predictions from seismological models

the origin of consolidation laminae and dish structures in some deep water sandstones abstract consolidation laminae and dish structures form high density zones that are interpreted to have formed by disruption of primary structures during gravitational collapse of the grain framework during water escape and consolidation they are not associated with higher contents of clay size material than adjacent units but the chloritic clay minerals associated with consolidation laminae and dish structures have a different microtexture than observed elsewhere clay mineral texture has a direct effect on petrophysical characteristics in particular water saturation and conductivity in hydrocarbon saturated intervals ct scans identify consolidation laminae and dish structures as zones of high density that correspond to tighter packing of sand grains and are unrelated to clay distribution dish structures may form independently of consolidation laminae or by further modification of fragmented consolidation laminae

kuroshio subsurface water feeds the wintertime taiwan warm current on the inner east china sea shelf the taiwan warm current twc has an overwhelming influence on the heat salt and nutrients balance on one of the broadest shelf in the world the east china sea shelf in winter the twc flows in an unusual upwind direction and reaches the changjiang yangtze river estuary but its origin and pathway are intensely debated here combined evidences from current measurement hydrographic and stable isotopic data all suggest that the wintertime twc intrusion off the changjiang estuary mainly originates from the kuroshio subsurface water northeast of taiwan rather than from the taiwan strait warm water the kuroshio branched water northeast of taiwan can intrude into the inner shelf near the zhe min coast via bottom layer manifesting by a pronounced boundary at 50 m isobath around 28 n and thereby feeds the twc intrusion into the changjiang estuary the intrusion complicates the hydrological process in the estuary and shelf sea and its impact on marine environment deserves more research attentions

cross flows in the taiwan strait in winter abstractin winter a branch of the china coastal current can turn in the taiwan strait to join the poleward flowing taiwan coastal current the associated cross strait flows have been inferred from hydrographic and satellite data from observed abundances off northwestern taiwan of cold water copepod species calanus sinicus and in late march of 2012 also from debris found along the northwestern shore of taiwan of a ship that broke two weeks earlier off the coast of china the dynamics related to such cross flows have not been previously explained and are the focus of this study using analytical and numerical models it is shown that the strait s currents can be classified into three regimes depending on the strength of the winter monsoon equatorward poleward for northeasterly winds stronger weaker than an upper lower bound and cross strait flows for relaxing northeasterly winds between the two bounds these regimes are related to the formation of the stationary rossby wave over the changyun ridge

mechanisms of subduction accretion as implied from the broken formations in the apennines italy mesoscale structural analysis of the ligurian broken formations of the northern apennines and the regional occurrence of subduction related structures indicate polyphase folding as the mechanism responsible for progressive disruption the evidence for direct correlation between regionally extensive noncylindrical folds and tectonic disruption has a strong bearing on determining how the ligurian accretionary prism evolved for example the block in matrix structure of the ligurian tectonic melanges is produced through extension developed along fold limbs in a compressive stress field as expected from offscraping and intraprism deformation the model implied by the mesoscale and macroscale analyses of the ligurian tectonic melanges provides one mechanism of accretion reconciling two deformation styles i e stratal disruption and folding commonly seen in ancient accretionary prisms furthermore this model could be relevant in active accretionary prisms especially in the intraprism part where the seismic and drilling data are sparse