the nature and distribution of upper cenozoic ignimbrite centres in the central andes abstract a wide variety of upper cenozoic ignimbrite centres have been identified and studied on landsat imagery of the central andes some have been investigated in the field lower miocene ignimbrite centres are distributed along an arc which in north chile diverges markedly from the line of the present trench and parallels an arc of lower miocene plutons in the eastern cordillera of bolivia much of the ignimbrite erupted since the late miocene has been erupted around the faulted margins of the altiplano basin of western bolivia particularly where the western and eastern cordilleras converge typical examples of ignimbrite centres are described some centres take the form of ignimbrite shield volcanoes other ignimbrite sheets are more widely dispersed the degree of dispersal probably relates to the height of the eruption column partial or total caldera formation sometimes took place and a few of these calderas have resurgent centres late stage lava extrusions are common and some of these are located on caldera ring fractures

revisiting the circulation of the east australian current its path separation and eddy field abstract the traditional view of the east australian current eac as depicted in many schematics is of a continuous boundary current that flows along the shelf off eastern australia between approximately 18 s and about 32 5 s where it separates from the coast and continues either towards new zealand along the tasman front or towards tasmania as the eac extension additionally it is widely recognised that eddies are prevalent in the eac region particularly south of the eac separation we revisit this long standing paradigm and suggest that the eac is perhaps better viewed as a continuous meandering stream flowing adjacent to the coast that feeds a field of mesoscale eddies observations show that eac eddies are prevalent over a broad region of the western tasman sea as far north as 25 s typically with maximum intensity between 30 and 35 s at any instant in time the eac jet is usually evident as a poleward stream adjacent to the continental shelf edge other commonly accepted components of the eac system including the tasman front and eac extension are rarely seen as distinct identifiable features rather these features are evident only in time mean fields when the eddy variability is filtered out it is also common for the eac to be spatially discontinuous due to the presence of eddies often with multiple short streams that sometimes separate and re attach to the coast recognition of the eac as an eddy dominated current system has seen many recent studies focus on various aspects of eddies in the eac system providing new insights into mesoscale ocean dynamics recent studies of individual eddies have shown that the circulation within eddies including tilting and vertical motion is more complex than previously understood a summary of these studies along with a review of the eac system particularly its path separation and eddy field is presented here

mountain building in the central andes the central andes is the middle part of the andean chain between about 13 s and 27 s characterized by the parallel running high mountain chains the western and eastern cordilleras at the edges of high plateaus with a height of about 4000 m and a width of 200 to 450 km the altiplano puna from the examination of geophysical and geological data in this area including earthquakes deformation gravity anomaly volcanism uplift history and plate motion we conclude that the continued plate subduction with domination of compressive stress over the entire arc system is the main cause of the tectonic style of the central andes we propose that the present cycle of mountain building has continued in the cenozoic with the most active phase since the miocene and that the present subduction angle 30 is not typical in that period but that subduction with more shallowly dipping oceanic lithosphere has prevailed at least since the miocene because of the young and buoyant slab involved this situation is responsible for the production of a broad zone of partial melt in the mantle above the descending slab addition of volcanic materials was not restricted to the western edge where active volcanoes of the western cordillera exist but extended to the western and central portion of the altiplano puna the western half of the central andes is essentially isostatic because the heat transferred with the volcanic activities softened the crust there in the eastern edge the thermal effect is small and the crust is strongly pushed by the westward moving south american plate this caused the shortening of crustal blocks due to reverse faulting and folding in the eastern cordillera and amazonian foreland the magmatism and crustal accretion are dominant at the western end of the mountain system and decrease eastward while the compression and consequent crustal shortening are strongest at the eastern end and wane toward west these two processes are superposed between the two mountain chains and form high plateaus there the altiplano of bolivia and peru and the puna of argentina this interpretation is supported by the observation that 1 neogene sedimentary formations have been uplifted to high elevations without heavy distortion in the altiplano and the western cordillera 2 no significant reverse fault systems are observed on the altiplano 3 neogene volcanic rocks and volcanic centers since the miocene are not restricted to the western cordillera but are widely distributed over most of the altiplano 4 most of the altiplano is in a zone of high heat flow values 5 thick paleozoic rocks are strongly folded and faulted in the eastern cordillera with little volcanism and no large scale plutonism in the cenozoic age 6 crustal earthquakes with reverse fault mechanisms are concentrated on the eastern flank of the eastern cordillera and amazonian foreland and 7 the crustal thickness suddenly decreases at the junction of the eastern cordillera and the amazon basin exactly at the place of reverse earthquakes

gravity anomalies and flexure of the brazilian shield beneath the bolivian andes abstract seismological and geological data suggest that the brazilian shield is now underthrusting beneath the sub andes in order to constrain the minimum amount of shortening that results from this underthrusting we analyzed bouguer gravity anomalies over the shield and the bolivian andes assuming that they are due primarily to variations in crustal thickness that in turn are due to the flexure of an effectively elastic plate brazilian shield loaded by the weight of the andean mountain range gravity anomalies show that airy type isostatic equilibrium does not exist the sub andes are overcompensated and the chaco plain to the east is undercompensated the flexure of the plate can help explain both the overcompensation and the undercompensation if the brazilian shield behaves as an essentially elastic plate that extends at least 150 km and probably 200 km beneath the sub andes and the cordillera oriental and if the flexural rigidity of the plate is between 0 1 and 2 10 24 n m the fit of observed and calculated anomalies however is far from perfect and additional sources of short wavelength anomalies appear to be present assuming that the sediments and sedimentary rocks in the sub andes and cordillera oriental were deposited on the brazilian shield and that later they were overthrust eastward onto one another causing the present topography and the deflection of the plate we computed a family of estimates for the minimum amount of crustal shortening these estimates depend strongly on the amount of sedimentary rock deposited before deformation which does not seem to be well constrained by published geologic mapping nevertheless the calculations suggest that at least 100 km of crustal shortening have occurred and probably more implying that the andes may have been built mostly by crustal shortening

mapping the u s west coast surface circulation a multiyear analysis of high frequency radar observations signals with phase speeds of o 10 and o 100 to 300 km day 1 and time scales of 2 to 3 weeks the signals with slow phase speed are only observed in southern california it is hypothesized that they are scattered and reflected by shoreline curvature and bathymetry change and do not penetrate north of point conception the seasonal transition of alongshore surfacecirculationforcedbyupwelling favorablewindsandtheirrelaxationiscapturedinfine detail submesoscaleeddies identifiedusingflowgeometry haverossbynumbersof0 1to3 diameters in the range of 10 to 60 km and persistence for 2 to 12 days the hfr surface currents resolve coastal surface ocean variability continuously across scales from

characterizing frontal eddies along the east australian current from hf radar observations the east australian current eac dominates the ocean circulation along south eastern australia however little is known about the submesoscale frontal instabilities associated with this western boundary current one year of surface current measurements from hf radars in conjunction with mooring and satellite observations highlight the occurrence and propagation of meanders and frontal eddies along the inshore edge of the eac eddies were systematically identified using the geometry of the high spatial resolution 1 5 km surface currents and tracked every hour cyclonic eddies were observed irregularly on average every 7 days with inshore radius 10 km among various forms of structures frontal eddies associated with eac meanders were characterized by poleward advection speeds of 0 3 0 4 m s migrating as far as 500 km south based on satellite imagery flow field kinematics show that cyclonic eddies have high rossby numbers 0 6 1 9 and enhance particle dispersion patches of intensified surface divergence at the leading edge of the structures are expected to generate vertical uplift this is confirmed by subsurface measurements showing temperature uplift of up to 55 m over 24 h and rough estimates of vertical velocities of 10s of meters per day while frontal eddies propagate through the radar domain independently of local wind stress upfront wind can influence their stalling and growth and can also generate large cold core eddies through intense shear such coherent structures are a major mechanism for the transport and entrainment of nutrient rich coastal or deep waters influencing physical and biological dynamics and connectivity over large distances

zooplankton distribution and dynamics in a north pacific eddy of coastal origin ii mechanisms of eddy colonization by and retention of offshore species abstract mesoscale anticyclonic eddies form annually in late winter along the eastern margin of the subarctic north pacific eddies that originate off the southern tip of the queen charlotte islands near 52 n 132 w are called haida eddies during the subsequent 1 3 years they propagate westward into the alaska gyre enroute the eddies are colonized by zooplankton originating from the central british columbia continental shelf the continental slope and along slope boundary current and the oceanic alaska gyre eddies also gradually lose kinetic energy water properties and biota to the surrounding ocean in this paper we analyze zooplankton samples from haida eddies obtained in late winter early summer and autumn of 2000 and in early summer and autumn of 2001 and compare the within eddy zooplankton distributions abundances and community composition of the oceanic origin species to observations from the continental margin and alaska gyre source regions most between region comparisons were consistent with a hypothesis that the eddy zooplankton are a mixture intermediate in abundance and community composition between the bc continental margin and offshore alaska gyre source regions although usually closer to the alaska gyre however about 30 of the comparisons showed within eddy abundances higher than in either source region this outcome cannot arise from mixing alone aggregation and retention appear to be linked to vertical distribution behavior most of the successful taxa spend much of their time below the surface mixed layer this minimizes their exposure to wash out by three physical processes slow upwelling and surface divergence that accompanies weakening of the anticyclonic geostrophic currents rapid but intermittent flushing of the surface layer by ekman transport during strong wind events exchange across the eddy margin geostrophic streamlines caused by temporary displacement by wind driven inertial currents

the mechanical state of the lithosphere in the altiplano puna segment of the andes abstract information about topography the shape of the geoid seismicity neogene deformation and volcanism in the region of altiplano puna of western south america is used to analyse the state of stress across the convergent plate margin in terms of the effects of topography and simple models of its compensation an average elevation near 4 km is consistent with compensation by a yet unresolved combination of crustal root and hot uppermost mantle producing a geoid high of 22 27 meters average horizontal compressive stress in excess of a reference sea level lithostatic value of 390 bars in a 150 km thick lithosphere and an average shear stress of 170 bars along a 30 dipping interplate boundary the basis for these estimates is evidence for a neutral to extensional stress regime within the high plateau contrasted with a compressional regime on the eastern slopes and along the interplate boundary itself comparison with other plateaus in a convergent plate tectonic setting suggests an evolutionary sequence from compressional to extensional tectonics as elevation of the plateau increases

quaternary normal and reverse faulting and the state of stress in the central andes of south peru field studies in the andes of southern peru show that in the high andes and pacific lowlands quaternary and recent faults are normal this extensional tectonics postdates compressional deformations of pliocene early quaternary age in the sub andes the observed deformations are compressional they affect early quaternary deposits some of the faults separate quaternary deposits from the bedrock and thus are clearly of tectonic origin and not landslide effects striations on the fault planes indicate n s trending extension in the high andes and pacific lowlands the total amount of crustal stretching is small probably of the order of 1 during the last 1 2 m y in the sub andes folds and faults affecting neogene and early quaternary deposits result from n s shortening nevertheless it is supposed that this n s shortening is of early quaternary age the present day compression probably strikes e w judging from focal mechanisms in the sub andes of central peru southern bolivia and northwest argentina data from structural analysis of faults and from earthquake focal mechanisms allow us to surmise the state of stress in the andes of southern peru the high andes and pacific lowlands subjected to n s trending extension are bounded by two zones of e w trending compression the sub andes to the east and the contact between the convergent nazca and south america plates to the west in our model the maximum horizontal compressive stress trajectory hmax is roughly parallel with the e w convergence between the two plates hmax corresponds to 1 in the sub andes and to 2 in the high andes the latter situation is caused by the elevated mass of the high andes where zz the vertical stress is inferred to be 1 thus the third principal stress axis being orthogonal to the other two axes it is oriented n s allowing extension to occur in that direction on the other hand in the sub andes zz is 3 and horizontal e w shortening occurs the state of stress in the andean continental crust above the 30 dipping slab appears to be different from that in the andes of central peru situated above the flat subducting segment in this region compressional deformantion affect a wider part of the cordillera

a western boundary current eddy characterisation study abstract the analysis of an eddy census for the east australian current eac region yielded a total of 497 individual short lived 7 28 days cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies for the period 1993 to 2015 this was an average of about 23 eddies per year 41 of the tracked individual cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies were detected off southeast queensland between about 25 s and 29 s this is the region where the flow of the eac intensifies forming a swift western boundary current that impinges near fraser island on the continental shelf this zone was also identified as having a maximum in detected short lived cyclonic eddies a total of 94 43 individual cyclonic eddies or about 4 5 per year were tracked in this region the census found that these potentially displaced entrained water by about 115 km with an average displacement speed of about 4 km per day cyclonic eddies were likely to contribute to establishing an on shelf longshore northerly flow forming the western branch of the fraser island gyre and possibly presented an important cross shelf transport process in the life cycle of temperate fish species of the eac domain in situ observations near western boundary currents previously documented the entrainment off shelf transport and export of near shore water nutrients sediments fish larvae and the renewal of inner shelf water due to short lived eddies this study found that these cyclonic eddies potentially play an important off shelf transport process off the central east australian coast

earthquakes in the subducting slab beneath northern chile a double seismic zone abstract available mechanism solutions of most intermediate depth earthquakes in northern chile have t axes aligned subparallel to the direction of plate subduction down dip tension however the mechanism of the 1977 january 17 earthquake 24 9 s 68 7 w is quite different from this general pattern and shows an almost horizontal compression in east west direction the focal depth was reexamined by two independent methods master event method and travel time difference between direct and surface reflected waves and it was concluded that this earthquake occurred at about 120 km depth within the subducting slab the systematic discrepancies observed in the focal depths of intermediate earthquakes in northern chile between those obtained by the least squares method and those by travel time differences can be ascribed to the effect of a higher p velocity within the subducting plate there is a suggestion of a two layer like structure in the e w cross section at about 24 s if we only plot the earthquake foci determined by pp p time difference the 1977 earthquake either 1 1 is an event in the compressional part of the double seismic zone or 2 2 shows an anomalous stress orientation because it occurred near the break in the dip angle of the subducting slab

discussion on late cenozoic geological evolution of the northern north sea development of a miocene unconformity reshaped by large scale pleistocene sand intrusion journal of the geological society 170 133 145 in their recent paper loseth et al 2013 propose a new model for the late cenozoic evolution of the northern north sea they propose that during the early pleistocene sensu ics 2013 large volumes of sand were ejected from the paleocene through the eocene oligocene hordaland group and deposited both as extrusive sand on the pleistocene seafloor and as intrusive sand within the oligocene section c 180 m below the seafloor the paper builds on two earlier studies 1 that by loseth et al 2012 in which the pleistocene extrusive sand is presented in more detail 2 that by rodrigues et al 2009 in which an experimental model related to such sand deposition is presented the model of loseth et al 2013 is illustrated by a seismic section in their figure 12 showing intrusive sands within the oligocene and extrusive sands within the pleistocene details of this model such as feeder dykes and blowout fissures that create ditches are shown in their figure 8 visund field and figure 11 snorre field the geological events are summarized in their figure 16 as illustrated on a stratigraphic scheme their figs 2 and 15 loseth et al interpret the oligocene sands as being injected from a paleocene parent sand they propose that the mounds at the top of the hordaland group resulted from forced folding over the sand injectites as exemplified in their figure 11 furthermore loseth et al interpret escarpments on the top hordaland group unconformity as cliff sections similar to those of southeastern england today and claim that the northern north sea was subaerially exposed during a 10 myr miocene time span loseth et al 2012 2013 not only challenge our previous turbiditic interpretation of the pleistocene sand eidvin

subduction zones an introduction to comparative subductology abstract the subduction model for trench arc back arc systems was deduced more or less as a logical consequence of sea floor spreading many features in these systems such as thrust type inter plate earthquakes and deep earthquakes along wadati benioff zones are readily explained by the subduction model but other features such as extensional spreading and high heat flow in back arc regions and arc volcanism are difficult to explain an approach to solve these problems may be to recognize the existence of the two basically different modes of subduction one chilean type causing a compressional stress regime in the arc and back arc regions the other mariana type causing a tensional stress regime implications of the two types of the mode of subduction for some tectonic problems such as vertical movement and sediment accretion at trenches are discussed with special reference to the results of recent dsdp active margin drilling in discussing the possible causes of the two modes it is suggested that the large scale thermal and stress regimes in the back arc areas may not be the direct products of simple subduction but of some additional factors involving much greater energy such as mantle flow associated with the motion of major plates finally the possible great importance of various types of collision accretion and erosion at subduction zones is emphasized

decadal variability of east australian current transport inferred from repeated high density xbt transects a ctd survey and satellite altimetry a time series of the net geostrophic transport through the tasman sea representing the flow of the east australian current eac extension is determined from a full depth ctd section 15 years of high density xbt transects and satellite altimetry data a section between sydney and wellington px34 has been occupied four times per year since 1991 with high resolution xbt sampling two methods to infer baroclinic transport from proxy data along the section are presented the first uses shallow xbt transects to derive geostrophic transport relative to a deep 2000 m reference level in the second approach synts the subsurface temperature and salinity structure are inferred from satellite surface height and temperature fields using a model developed from historical in situ observations the baroclinic transport is then computed in the usual manner the methods are validated using both a full depth ctd occupation of the px34 section and further transects crossing the eac in the northern tasman sea there is close agreement between the 49 xbt and synts px34 transport estimates obtained between 1992 and 2006 the time series of transport through the sydney wellington section shows a range of temporal signals from eddyscale seasonal interannnual to decadal in particular we note that the net eac flow ranges from 5 sv in 1995 to a maximum of 16 sv in 2000 2001 this decadal variation confirms the eac response to a spin up of the south pacific circulation forced by changes in the basin wide winds and matches the changes in oceanic properties observed in the tasman sea

a numerical modeling study of the east australian current encircling and overwashing a warm core eddy 1 warm core eddies wces often form in the meanders of western boundary currents wbcs wces are frequently overwashed with less dense waters sourced from the wbc we use the regional ocean modelling system to investigate the ocean state during the overwashing of one such wce in october 2008 in the east australian current eac comparisons of model outputs with satellite sea surface temperature and vertical profiles show that the model provides a realistic simulation of the eddy during the period when the eac encircled and then overwashed the eddy during the encircling stage an eddy with closed circulation persisted at depth in the surface eac water entered from the north encircled the eddy and exited to the east the overwashing stage was initiated by the expulsion of cyclonic vorticity for the following 8 days after the expulsion waters from the eac washed over the top of the eddy transferring heat and anticyclonic vorticity radially inward after approximately one rotation period of overwashing the eddy separated the overwashing creates a two layer system that forms a subsurface maximum velocity at the interface of the two layers analysis of water mass properties eulerian tracer dynamics and lagrangian particle tracks show that the original eddy sinks 10 50 m during the overwashing period overwashing has been observed in many wbcs and occurs in most wces in the western tasman sea

recent rapid uplift in the bolivian andes evidence from fission track dating apatite and zircon fission track cooling ages constrain the tertiary cooling and uplift history of the eastern cordillera and altiplano of bolivia fission track data are from two triassic plutons and surrounding paleozoic metasedimentary rocks in the eastern andes north of la paz zircon cooling ages indicate that the roof of the huayna potosi pluton was emplaced in the zircon partial annealing zone and that the zongo pluton was emplaced entirely in the zircon total annealing zone apatite cooling ages for both plutons record uplift in the past 5 15 m y and zircon cooling ages from the zongo pluton reflect uplift in the past 25 45 m y uplift rates calculated by these apatite and zircon cooling ages suggest that uplift rates were 0 1 0 2 mm yr between 20 and 40 ma and increased significantly between 10 and 15 ma by 3 ma uplift rates may have been as high as 0 7 mm yr

the nimbus 7 czcs experiment in the benguela current region off southern africa february 1980 2 interpretation of imagery and oceanographic implications three nimbus 7 czcs chlorophyll images of the southern benguela current region off the west coast of south africa on february 9 13 and 15 1980 during a surface truth experiment in the area are evaluated in the light of a time series of airborne radiation thermometry and wind data for this period and the validity of czcs chlorophyll estimates for the region is discussed there was good agreement between upwelling and relaxation in the system and changes in the distribution of chlorophyll the development of upwelling tongues with the subsequent increase in chlorophyll concentrations and the intensification of the oceanic front off capes was evident an s shaped band of high chlorophyll was present well offshore of the orange river mouth and lends support to the existence of a divergence zone at the shelf break in the area there being fair agreement between satellite buoy tracks topography and the position of the oceanic color front areas of elevated chlorophyll were evident in two bays on the south coast on february 13 1980 and these are ascribed to an earlier upwelling event in the region implications for future work in the area are discussed

an avenue of eddies quantifying the biophysical properties of mesoscale eddies in the tasman sea 1 the tasman sea is unique characterised by a strong seasonal western boundary current that breaks down into a complicated field of mesoscale eddies almost immediately after separating from the coast through a 16 year analysis of tasman sea eddies we identify a region along the southeast australian coast which we name eddy avenue where eddies have higher sea level anomalies faster rotation and greater sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a anomalies the density of cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies within eddy avenue is 23 and 16 higher respectively than the broader tasman sea we find that eddy avenue cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies have more strongly differentiated biological properties than those of the broader tasmansea as a result of larger anticyclonic eddies formed from coral sea water depressing chl a concentrations and for coastal cyclonic eddies due to the entrainment of nutrient rich shelf waters cyclonic eddies within eddy avenue have almost double the chlorophyll a 0 35 mg m 3 of anticyclonic eddies 0 18 mg m 3 the average chlorophyll a concentration for cyclonic eddies is 16 higher in eddy avenue and 28 lower for anticyclonic eddies when compared to the tasman sea with a strengthening east australian current the propagation of these eddies will have significant implications for heat transport and the entrainment and connectivity of plankton and larval fish populations citation everett j d m e baird p r oke and i m suthers 2012 an avenue of eddies quantifying the biophysical properties of mesoscale eddies in the tasman sea geophys res lett 39 l16608 doi 10 1029 2012gl053091

gravity anomaly across the peruvian andes we carried out gravity surveys along four routes across the peruvian andes one in northern peru one in central peru and two in southern peru two of the routes extend from the coast to the flat lands of the amazon basin across the high andes while the other two routes extend only from the coast to the central high plateau or the altiplano one route through nazca contains 250 data points over a length of 800 km and thus offers one of the best gravity profiles across the andes this profile shows quite asymmetric gravity anomalies associated with the western cordillera and the eastern cordillera in marked contrast with the symmetric pattern of topographic profile using these profiles we constructed crustal models varying layer thicknesses rather than layer densities the crustal thickness has a maximum beneath the western cordillera although the maximum thickness varies from 45 km in northern peru to 55 km in central peru and 65 km in southern peru in contrast to the assumed thickness of 35 km beneath the stable brazilian shield possible effects of lateral variations of crustal and mantle densities tend to reduce the above estimates of maximum thickness the very shallow moho beneath the peruvian coast steeply deepens eastward in correspondence to the steep western slope of the andes the crust is thicker in the western cordillera than in the eastern cordillera the moho beneath the eastern cordillera tends to be relatively flat and shallows abruptly eastward across the sub andes the wadati benioff zone lies in general well below the model south american continental crust leaving a mantle wedge in between a notable exception is the nazca profile where the base of the model south american continental crust is in direct contact with the top of the wadati benioff zone this provides a direct evidence for uplifting of the buoyant slab with an aseismic ridge the nazca ridge at its top which tends to attach itself to the bottom of the continental crust we examined whether or not the load due to mountain topography is balanced with the buoyancy load due to excess mass of the crust in the andes the western cordillera is found to be approximately in isostatic equilibrium but the eastern cordillera is not this contrast in mechanical state and the difference in recent geology suggest that the western cordillera and the eastern cordillera have not uplifted through entirely the same tectonic process

cyclonic entrainment of preconditioned shelf waters into a frontal eddy the volume transport of nutrient rich continental shelf water into a cyclonic frontal eddy entrainment was examined from satellite observations a slocum glider and numerical simulation outputs within the frontal eddy parcels of water with temperature salinity signatures of the continental shelf 18 19 c and 35 5 respectively were recorded the distribution of patches of shelf water observed within the eddy was consistent with the spiral pattern shown within the numerical simulations a numerical dye tracer experiment showed that the surface waters 50 m depth of the frontal eddy are almost entirely 95 shelf waters particle tracking experiments showed that water was drawn into the eddy from over 4 of latitude 30 34 5 s consistent with the glider observations the modeled particles entrained into the eddy sunk relative to their initial position particles released south of 33 s where the waters are cooler and denser sunk 34 m deeper than their release position distance to the shelf was a critical factor in determining the volume of shelf water entrained into the eddy entrainment reduced to 0 23 sv when the eddy was furthest from the shelf compared to 0 61 sv when the eddy was within 10 km of the shelf from a biological perspective quantifying the entrainment of shelf water into frontal eddies is important as it is thought to play a significant role in providing an offshore nursery habitat for coastally spawned larval fish

three dimensional structure of a swarm of the salp thalia democratica within a cold core eddy off southeast australia 1 swarms of the salp thalia democratica periodically occur off southeast australia following the austral spring bloom of phytoplankton in october 2008 a filament of upwelled water was advected south by the adjacent east australian current and formed a 30 km diameter cold core eddy cce the three dimensional structure of a subsurface swarm of t democratica within the eddy was examined using both oblique and vertical hauls and an optical plankton counter opc deployed on a towed body the cce displayed distinct uplift of the nutricline and elevated fluorescence net samples show the zooplankton community was dominated by t democratica comprising 73 88 of zooplankton abundance the size distribution of t democratica measured from net samples was 0 5 5 mm and was used to interpret the opc transects which showed the swarm formed a 15 km diameter disc located 20 40 m deep in the center of the eddy the maximum salp abundance was in the pycnocline and coincided with the subsurface fluorescence maximum the mean abundance of t democratica size particles within the disc was 5003 individuals m 3 ind m 3 contrasted with only 604 ind m 3 at the outer edge of the eddy the vertically concentrated and horizontally constrained disc shaped salp swarm occurred at the interface of salp bearing inner shelf water and nutrient rich upwelled water in a cce the physical processes that formed the cce on the inshore edge of the western boundary current led to the largest density of salps recorded

terrestrial heat flow in western south america abstract twenty heat flow measurements were made in western south america nine in chile one in argentine five in peru one in ecuador and five in bolivia using available holes from the values obtained combined with several others published previously it may be concluded that the heat flow in this subduction plate boundary area resembles that of other trench arc systems with low heat flow prevailing closer to the trench and high heat flow prevailing on the volcanic arc due to the limited distribution of sites the regional heat flow in the area landward of the volcanic zone cannot be assessed with confidence although high heat flow somewhat analogous to that observed in young back arc basins of island arcs might exist in bolivia but not in argentine

spatial and temporal variations in the andean subduction zone a comprehensive global study of the process of subduction of oceanic lithosphere has made it evident that a major role is played by the age of the subducted lithosphere the age dependence of subduction is of special interest in an understanding of the late cenozoic history of the andean subduction zone many of the complexities of this zone result from the peculiar circumstance that the zone is in transition from an early stage of consumption of old lithosphere 70 ma producing deep earthquakes towards the latest stage of consumption of young lithosphere without deep earthquakes this transition has induced an evolutionary pattern with significant temporal variations notably changes in dip and length of the subducted slab moreover the various segments of the south american subduction zone are in different stages of this evolution in comparison with the other segments the northern chile segment is in the earliest stage and therefore shows a much closer resemblance to the classic deep subduction zones in the western pacific than do other parts of the south american zone a roughly n s symmetry in development is found around northern chile with the ecuadorian and southern chilean near 40 45 s segments representing the latest stage to a large extent the temporal and spatial variations in lithospheric age at the trench originate from the reorganization in plate configuration which started with the break up of the farallon plate into the cocos plate and the nazca plate at about 25 ma

plate reconstructions aseismic ridges and low angle subduction beneath the andes low angle subduction segments beneath peru and chile are believed to represent interaction of the subduction zone with the aseismic nazca and juan fernandez ridges on the basis of symmetric sea floor spreading models and plate hotspot reconstructions predicted continuations of the relatively buoyant ridges correspond well with the limits of the low angle subduction segments further the history of interaction of the aseismic ridges with the subduction zone as predicted by plate reconstructions is not inconsistent with available information on volcanic episodes of the andes if the contemporary correlation of volcanic gaps and low angle subduction is also applicable to the rest of the late cenozoic the occurrence of deep seismicity beneath the eastern flanks of the andes is also believed to reflect the effects of low angle subduction the deep seismic segments are adjacent to segments which are presently or were recently experiencing low angle subduction thus the deep seismicity is interpreted as representative of remnants of normal oceanic lithosphere subducted before interaction of aseismic ridges with the subduction zone other geologic phenomena are associated with low angle subduction beneath south america including landward shift in loci of tectonism surficial subsidence and laramide style deformation the aseismic ridge buoyancy hypothesis appears to be a valuable predictive tool for the interpretation of such geologic effects

parallel thrust and normal faulting in peru and constraints on the state of stress abstract we present evidence for recent normal faulting in the cordillera blanca of peru along planes trending approximately n40 w parallel to the chain this type of faulting suggests that there is an important component of extension perpendicular to the chain and contrasts markedly with the underthrusting of the nazca plate on the west side of peru and with the folding and thrusting observed in the sub andes on the eastern flank of the chain these contrasting styles of deformation and associated stress fields can be explained by buoyancy forces due to the high mountains and crustal roots in so far as this explanation is correct the difference in elevation between zones of normal and thrust faulting can be used to place an upper bound of 500 bars on the average stress difference in the crust

on the cross shelf exchange driven by frontal eddies along a western boundary current during austral winter 2007 western boundary currents are characterized by high mesoscale eddy activity including that of cyclonic frontal eddies cfes these form frequently adjacent to the shelf break export coastal water and affect biological productivity here we study the physical properties of eddies identified within the intensification zone of the east australian current eac through the analysis of remotely sensed data the application of an ocean circulation model and the evaluation of lagrangian simulations during austral winter 2007 we examine the spatial and temporal evolution of identified eddies investigate their formation mechanism and quantify the contribution made to cross shelf exchanges the mesoscale eddies are tracked from generation to decay using an eddy detection and tracking method in this case study we identify two cfes referred to as c1 and c2 with lifetimes of 11 and 38 days and radii of 45 and 70 km respectively and one anticyclonic eddy ace with a lifetime of 62 days and a radius of 60 km both cfes interact with the ace leading to quasi stationary dipole eddies located in the vicinity of the shelf this is the first time dipole eddies are reported for the intensification zone of the eac the location of cfes characterised by negative sea surface height anomaly ssha and clockwise rotation coincides with remotely sensed sea surface temperature sst and chlorophyll a chl a anomalies cfes c1 and c2 appear to contribute in different ways to the cross shelf transport along the shelf break cfe c1 drives a stronger onshore transport while cfe c2 appears to enhance the offshore transport the estimated daily cross shelf export of shelf water associated with cfe c2 is estimated with about 1 23 sv 106 km3 day 1 it renews the regional shelf water in about 7 days the lifetime of cfe c2 is about 38 days thus the eddy had the potential to flush the shelf at least five times the transient cfes were found for the first time to intensify the cross shelf exchange that is due to the wind driven cyclonic circulation of the fraser gyre this seasonally occurring gyre dominates the local shelf during austral autumn and winter the results from this study demonstrate the importance of cfes in exporting cooler and chl a enriched shelf water into the warmer and oligotrophic waters of the southward flowing eac

observed bottom boundary layer transport and uplift on the continental shelf adjacent to a western boundary current western boundary currents strongly influence the dynamics on the adjacent continental shelf and in particular the cross shelf transport and uplift through the bottom boundary layer four years of moored in situ observations on the narrow southeastern australian shelf in water depths of between 65 and 140 m were used to investigate bottom cross shelf transport both upstream 30 s and downstream 34 s of the separation zone of the east australian current eac bottom transport was estimated and assessed against ekman theory showing consistent results for a number of different formulations of the boundary layer thickness net bottom cross shelf transport was onshore at all locations ekman theory indicates that up to 64 of the transport variability is driven by the along shelf bottom stress onshore transport in the bottom boundary layer was more intense and frequent upstream than downstream occurring 64 of the time at 30 s wind driven surface ekman transport estimates did not balance the bottom cross shelf flow at both locations strong variability was found in bottom water transport at periods of approximately 90 100 days this corresponds with periodicity in eac fluctuations and eddy shedding as evidenced from altimeter observations highlighting the eac as a driver of variability in the continental shelf waters ocean glider and hf radar observations were used to identify the bio physical response to an eac encroachment event resulting in a strong onshore bottom flow the uplift of cold slope water and elevated coastal chlorophyll concentrations

satellite observations of chlorophyll phytoplankton biomass and ekman pumping in nonlinear mesoscale eddies nonlinear mesoscale eddies can influence biogeochemical cycles in the upper ocean through vertical and horizontal advection of nutrients and marine organisms the relative importance of these two processes depends on the polarity of an eddy cyclones versus anticyclones and the initial biological conditions of the fluid trapped in the core of the eddy at the time of formation eddies originating in the eastern south indian ocean are unique in that anticyclones typically associated with downwelling contain elevated levels of chlorophyll a enhanced primary production and phytoplankton communities generally associated with nutrient replete environments from analysis of 9 years of concurrent satellite measurements of sea surface height chlorophyll phytoplankton carbon and surface stress we present observations that suggest eddy induced ekman upwelling as a mechanism that is at least partly responsible for sustaining positive phytoplankton anomalies in anticyclones of the south indian ocean the biological response to this eddyinduced ekman upwelling is evident only during the austral winter during the austral summer the biological response to eddy induced ekman pumping occurs deep in the euphotic zone beyond the reach of satellite observations of ocean color

lagrangian and eulerian characterization of two counter rotating submesoscale eddies in a western boundary current in recent decades high spatial resolution ocean radar and satellite imagery measurements have revealed a complex tangle of submesoscale filaments and eddies in the surface velocity temperature and chlorophyll a fields we use a suite of high resolution data to characterize two counter rotating short lived eddies formed at the front between the warm east australian current eac and temperate coastal waters 308s eastern australia in this region submesoscale filaments and short lived eddies are dynamically generated and decay at time scales of hours to days dominant cyclonic filaments of o 1 rossby number formed along frontal jets and eddy boundaries generating localized ageostrophic circulations at the submesoscale measurements of over ocean wind direction and surface currents from high frequency radars reveal the influence of the short term small scale wind forcing on the surface circulation enhancement of the horizontal shear frontal jet destabilization and the generation and decay of the cyclonic eddy by contrast the anticyclonic eddy formation was most likely associated with eac mesoscale instability and anticyclonic vorticity lagrangian tracks show that surface particles can be temporarily trapped in the eddies and frontal convergent zones limiting their transport mixing between eac derived and coastal waters was increased along the frontal regions and particles starting at the divergent regions around the eddies experienced significant dispersion at submesoscales the cyclonic cold core eddy entrained high chlorophyll a shelf waters on its convergent side suggesting spiral eddy cyclogenesis

front eddy influence on water column properties phytoplankton community structure and cross shelf exchange of diatom taxa in the shelf slope area off concepcion 36 37 s in eastern boundary current systems ebcss submesoscale to mesocale variability contributes to cross shore exchanges of water properties nutrients and plankton data from a short term summer survey and satellite time series january february 2014 were used to characterize submesoscale variability in oceanographic conditions and phytoplankton distribution across the coastal upwelling and coastal transition zones north of punta lavapie and to explore cross shelf exchanges of diatom taxa a thermo haline front frn 1 flanked by a mesoscale anticyclonic intrathermocline eddy ite 1 or mode water eddy persisted during the study period and the survey was undertaken during a wind relaxation event at the survey time ite 1 contributed to an onshore intrusion of warm oceanic waters southern section and an offshore advection of cold coastal waters northern section with the latter forming a cold high chlorophyll a filament in situ phytoplankton and diatom biomasses were highest at the surface in frn 1 and at the subsurface in ite 1 whereas values in the coastal zone were lower and dominated by smaller cells diatom species typical of the coastal zone and species dominant in oceanic waters were both found in the frn 1 and ite 1 interaction area suggesting that this mixture was the result of both offshore and onshore advection overall front eddy interactions in ebcss could enhance cross shelf exchanges of coastal and oceanic plankton as well as sustain phytoplankton growth in the slope area through localized upward injections of nutrients in the frontal zone combined with ite induced advection and vertical nutrient inputs to the surface layer

spherical shell tectonics effects of sphericity and inextensibility on the geometry of the descending lithosphere the shape of a deep seismic zone is thought to represent that of the descending slab of lithosphere the lithosphere before subduction is a spherical shell and the shape of the descending slab is the result of the deformation of the spherical lithosphere at the subduction zone upon bending a spherical shell often deforms in a very different way from a simple plate we examine whether the actual shape of the descending slab can be explained by a simple bending of an inextensible spherical shell which shows little surface deformation under moderate stress this examination is made region by region for most of the subduction zones in the world by means of an analogue method the lithosphere is simulated by an inextensible spherical shell made of polyvinyl chloride resin the wadati benioff zone is shaped by plaster by referring to the reliable hypocentral data selected from the international seismological centre isc bulletins the spherical shell is forced to fit the miniature of the wadati benioff zone fitting is first attempted only by bending if a good fit is not attainable and if a discontinuity or gap in seismic activity is observed in the relevant region the spherical shell is torn along this discontinuity or gap and the goodness of fit is reexamined the results of the analysis are summarized as follows 1 the shape of the wadati benioff zone can be simulated largely by a simple bending of a spherical shell without surface deformation 2 in almost all of the regions of poor fit with bending a good fit can be achieved by tearing the spherical shell along the trace of low seismicity the sphericity of the lithosphere and the inextensibility upon deformation are the two essential factors in controlling the slab shape this means that the lateral constraint is most important for understanding the geometry of the downgoing slab of lithosphere and the stress state within it further several problems related to the deformational characteristics of the spherical lithosphere are also reviewed and discussed in connection with subduction tectonics

subduction of the nazca plate beneath peru as determined from seismic observations a detailed reinvestigation of seismicity in the southern half of peru using data from a local seismic network and a focal mechanism study using p wave first motions reveal that for the first 100 km of descent the slab as defined by this seismicity enters at a normal dip angle near 30 and that below this depth it is bent to a nearly horizontal angle this horizontal slab extends eastward for about 300 km and then dips steeply below the thick continental lithosphere scsp observations are found to be consistent with the profile of the subducting plate as determined from the local seismicity beneath the region from southern peru to northern chile the nazca plate descends with an almost constant dip angle 30 down to at least 300 km depth between the 30 dipping plate in southern peru and the horizontal profile beneath central peru there is a contortion over a 100 km wide continuous lateral section of the subducting plate we infer that at least in the upper 150 km depth range the descending nazca plate is contorted rather than torn

magmatic and metallogenetic episodes in the northern tin belt cordillera real bolivia new k ar determinations for granitoid rocks and ores from the northern bolivian segment ca 15 18 s of the central andean cordillera oriental eastern cordillera confirm that this region displays a remarkable repetition of magmatic activity and associated lithophile metal mineralization intrusion of monzogranites in part peraluminous and granodiorites took place in the mid to late triassic apparent age range 225 202 ma and late oligocene early miocene 28 4 ca 19 2 ma the two plutonic domains are juxtaposed with little or no areal overlap along an essentially linear belt defining the inner boundary of the central andean magmatic arc there is no conclusive evidence of granitoid intrusion during the intervening period although at least two centres of upper cretaceous basic intermediate hypabyssal volcanic rocks are known whereas the triassic episode simultaneously affected ca 200 km of the belt the oligocene miocene domain experienced a longitudinal southeastward migration of activity which in its later stages 22 19 ma coincided with the initiation of widespread volcanism and intrusion on the altiplano to the west of the granitoid belt

cross shelf dynamics in a western boundary current regime implications for upwelling abstractthe cross shelf dynamics up and downstream of the separation of the south pacific ocean s western boundary current wbc are studied using two years of high resolution velocity and temperature measurements from mooring arrays the shelf circulation is dominated by the east australian current eac and its eddy field with mean poleward depth integrated magnitudes on the shelf break of 0 35 and 0 15 m s 1 up and downstream of the separation point respectively the high cross shelf variability is analyzed though a momentum budget showing a dominant geostrophic balance at both locations among the secondary midshelf terms the bottom stress influence is higher upstream of the separation point while the wind stress is dominant downstream this study investigates the response of the velocity and temperature cross shelf structure to both wind and eac intrusions despite the deep water up to 140 m the response to a dominant along shelf wind stress forcing is a classic two layer ekman structure du

the andean orogenic period and its major structures in central and northern peru the andean orogenic period began in the albian and consisted of at least 6 discrete compressional phases which are albian to late miocene in age deformation migrated progressively toward the amazonian foredeep the major andean structures in central and northern peru are related to the eocene incaic early miocene quechua 1 and late miocene quechua 3 phases the maranon thrust and fold belt mtfb which bounds the western cordillera to the ne rose in the eocene it was reactivated partly by the quechua 1 phase which also folded the altiplano farther e and possibly part of the eastern cordillera the sub andean thrust and fold belt stfb is related to the quechua 3 phase in both mtfb and stfb the imbricate thrusts merge at depth in large decollement faults gravity sliding does not play a dominant role for these faults have to be rooted westward in the pre andean basement the corresponding crustal shortening played a significant part in the creation of the sialic root of the andes

opening mode of the japan sea inferred from the palaeomagnetism of the japan arc the western edge of the pacific plate is marked by a chain of back arc basins stretching from the aleutians through japan and the philippines to new zealand most of the basins lie behind volcanic island arcs far from continents and are the result of extension of the oceanic lithosphere1 but the japan sea is bounded on one side by continental crust the sikhote alin and korean peninsula of the asian continent and on the other by an active arc with continental fragments it can thus be said to be associated more with continental rifting1 4 than with oceanic processes we report here palaeomagnetic data from the japan arc which indicate that since the early miocene north east japan has rotated counter clockwise through 47 around a vertical axis while south west japan has rotated clockwise through 56 refs 5 8 we attribute this differential rotation which took place concurrently between 21 and 11 myr ago to the back arc opening of the japan sea8 with a double door mode that is there are two fan shaped spreading basins facing each other such a fan shaped opening is probably peculiar to the geological phenomenon of rifting of a continental fragment from thick continental lithosphere

tectonic and magmatic evolution of the andes of northern argentina and chile abstract two orogenic cycles both with different evolution are developed in the western margin of the south american continent in northern argentina and chile the paleozoic hercynic cycle and the meso cenozoic andean cycle the hercynic cycle a wide marine basin extending westward of the cordillera oriental which developed in cambrian ordovician times marks the beginning of this cycle in contrast to peru and bolivia where this basin developed between two precambrian blocks the western margin of this basin in northern argentina and chile is still unknown the ordovician sedimentation and accompanied volcanism ends with the ocloyic deformation phase and its synkinematic granitic plutonism two basins were developed in the silurian devonian separated by the puna arc uplifted during this ocloyic phase the shallow water marine terrigeneous sediments which were deposited in them were deformed by a new tectono magmatic associated phase chanic phase carboniferous to lower permian marine carbonates were deposited west of the puna arc and red beds east of it later on during the permian to triassic a magmatic belt was developed along the cordillera occidental the rhyolites ignimbrites and the granitic to granodioritic related intrusives are well represented in chile although the overall geologic history of this period is known many problems concerning its origin and relations to plate tectonics are still unsolved the andean cycle during this cycle a series of magmatic arc systems related to the subduction of the pacific crust was built up along the western margin of south america huge volumes of calc alkaline lavas and related plutons were emplaced since the jurassic along belts parallel to the present coastline showing a general eastward migration trend up to the lower cretaceous an ensialic back arc basin was formed east of this magmatic arc thousands of meters of marine and continental sediments were deposited in it this basin disappeared during the middle cretaceous probably as a result of the final opening of the atlantic and the active westward movement of the south american plate since middle cretaceous times the magmatic arc has been the fundamental paleogeographic element the arc progressively migrated stepwise eastward each step marked by a tectonic phase subduction related crustal erosion could explain the lack of fore arc petrotectonic assemblages the eastward magmatic polarity which characterizes this section of the andes could also be explained by such a mechanism

observations of submesoscale variability and frontal subduction within the mesoscale eddy field of the tasman sea abstractsubmesoscale lenses of water with anomalous hydrographic properties have previously been observed in the east australian current eac system embedded within the thermocline of mesoscale a

florida current frontal eddies and the settlement of coral reef fishes we deployed three replicate larval light traps off the upper florida keys from june september 2001 to measure the delivery of settlement stage fish larvae to the coral reefs nightly measures of larval abundance were compared to water temperatures measured across the outer reef nearby wind records and the alongshore and cross shelf components of the currents measured at the seaward edge of the reef these time series together with satellitederived sea surface temperature and color fields indicate that a very large multi taxa larval pulse on 20 july was directly associated with the passage of a florida current fc sub mesoscale frontal eddy embedded within the elongated remnant of a mesoscale eddy a second large pulse of larvae occurred when a similar mesoscale eddy passed the upper keys in mid june periods of increased tidal bore activity occurred with the passage of these eddies semidiurnal internal tides caused near bottom onshore intrusions of cooler slope waters during periods of onshore meanders of the fc front when the downstream baroclinic flow and stratification increased at the reef margin the high abundance and similarity in larval ages within taxa on 20 july indicate a keys shelf origin although the temporal and spatial scales of entrainment cannot be resolved the passage of a third mesoscale eddy in september did not result in a larval pulse possibly because of a mismatch between biological and physical criteria several of which must be met for larval transport by mesoscale eddies to be successful

k ar geochronology of the late cenozoic volcanic rocks of the cordillera occidental southernmost peru abstract twenty four k ar radiometric ages are presented for late cenozoic continental volcanic rocks of the cordillera occidental of southernmost peru lat 16 57 17 36 s rhyodacitic ignimbrite eruptions began in this transect during the late oligocene and continued episodically through the miocene the development of andesitic dacitic strato volcanoes was initiated in the pliocene and continues to the present the earliest ignimbrite flows 25 3 22 7 ma are intercalated in the upper coarsely elastic member of the moquegua formation and demonstrate that this sedimentary unit accumulated in a trough parallel to andean tectonic trends largely in the oligocene more voluminous ash flow eruptions prevailed in the early miocene 22 8 17 6 ma and formed the extensively preserved huaylillas formation this episode was coeval with a major phase of andean uplift and the pyroclastics overlie an erosional surface of regional extent incised into a paleogene volcano plutonic arc terrain an age span of 14 2 8 9 ma mid late miocene is indicated for the younger chuntacala formation which again comprises felsic ignimbrite flows largely restricted to valleys incised into the pre huaylillas formation lithologies and at lower altitudes an extensive aggradational elastic facies the youngest areally extensive ignimbrites constituting the sencca formation were extruded during the late miocene in the earliest pliocene the ignimbrites were succeeded by more voluminous calcalkaline intermediate flows which generated numerous large and small stratovolcanoes these range in age from 5 3 to 1 6 ma present day or holocene volcanism is restricted to several large stratovolcanoes which had begun their development during the pleistocene by 0 7 ma the late oligocene early miocene ca 22 23 ma reactivation of the volcanic arc coincided with a comparable increase in magmatic activity throughout much of the cordilleras occidental and oriental of the central andes

the cold core eddy and strong upwelling off the coast of new south wales in early 2007 abstract during the austral summer of 2006 07 a series of extreme oceanic events occurred in the tasman sea following a series of strong wind driven upwelling events an intense cold core eddy developed off sydney australia a data assimilating eddy resolving ocean model is used to create a three dimensional time varying reanalysis of these events the reanalysis indicates that the cold anomalies associated with the upwellings were in excess of 5 c near the coast where sea level decreased by as much as 0 2 m the reanalysed three dimensional structure of the cold core eddy shows the eddy leaning to the west north west in towards the continental shelf the diameter of the eddy is about 100 km and the sea level anomaly at the eddy centre peaks at around 1 m with an associated sub surface temperature anomaly in excess of 8 c at 200 m depth corresponding to an upward isotherm excursion of 600 m the circulation around the cyclonic eddy is ageostrophic with upwelling in the southern sector of the eddy where flow is onshore and climbing the continental slope and downwelling in the northern sector where flow is descending off the slope three dimensional trajectories of water parcels around the eddy involve 50 100 m vertical excursions based on the reanalysed circulation and composite satellite images of chlorophyll a we hypothesise that the circulation around the eddy led to significant nutrient enrichment in the euphotic zone around the perimeter of the eddy

a tale of two eddies the biophysical characteristics of two contrasting cyclonic eddies in the east australian current system mesoscale cyclonic eddies are known to be highly productive less well known are the dynamics and productivity of smaller cyclonic eddies known as frontal eddies that form on the landward side of western boundary currents in this study we investigate the physical and biogeochemical properties of two contrasting cyclonic eddies in the east australian current eac the first murphy a mesoscale cyclonic eddy that formed at 28 s with a diameter of 160 km and high surface chlorophyll a concentrations which lived 47 days the second freddy a smaller frontal eddy 35 km diameter that formed from a shelf water billow 7 days prior to sampling at 31 5 s and was advected off the shelf along the eac front from 200m to 4000m of water both eddies were at least 1000m deep with a similar steric height anomaly we introduce and employ the method of closest approach using shipboard adcp velocities to estimate the eddy centers which reveals significant tilting through the water column we estimate rotation rates of 4 10 days and 1 9 days and rossby numbers 0 25 0 1 and 0 6 0 1 from the surface to 600m for murphy and freddy respectively high resolution altimetry measurements from the saral altika satellite provide estimates of the ageostrophic component of rotation our results show that the frontal eddy is significantly more ageostrophic energetic and productive than the mesoscale cyclone despite its small size and short life 4 weeks we suggest that frontal eddies have potential to contribute significantly to the net productivity of the tasman sea region this article is protected by copyright all rights reserved

upper cenozoic volcanism and tectonism in the andes of northern chile abstract recent geological and radiometric information of the upper cenozoic volcanic sequences of northern chile in conjunction with previous evidences point out the complex evolution of the central andes volcanism volcanic activity developed along the andean range during the last 23 m y appears to have been temporally and genetically related to tectonic movements that shaped the major morphostructural features of this region since the middle miocene 12 m y there has been a constant overlap both in time and space between lavas and ignimbrites however ignimbrite eruptions seem to predominate up to the upper miocene while lava eruptions are dominant from the pliocene to the quaternary small scale chronological and volumetric variations of the volcanic activity in the studied areas make difficult the correlations with volcanic episodes through long distances units older than pliocene have been folded and thrusted as a result of compressive movements that occurred ca 7 4 m y ago this deformation is mostly remarkable at the borders of major faulted blocks these blocks were structured along pre existing fractures caused by tectonic movements during the lower miocene pliocene and quaternary block movements developed mainly through n s fault systems these faults together with nw se and ne sw systems control the spatial distribution of most volcanic vents in this region locally the n s faults may correspond to reactivations of previous fault zones this allowed successive effusions of volcanic material at least during the last 17 m y

andean tectonics related to geometry of subducted nazca plate seismological and geological data show that tectonic segmentation of the andes coincides with segmentation of the subducted nazca plate which has nearly horizontal segments and 30 east dipping segments andean tectonics above a flat subducting segment between 28 s to 33 s are characterized by from west to east 1 a steady topographic rise from the coast to the crest of the andes 2 no significant quaternary and possibly neogene magmatism 3 a narrow belt of eastward migrating apparently thin skinned neogene to quaternary shortening of the andes and 4 plio pleistocene uplift of the crystalline basement on reverse faults in the pampeanas ranges from about 15 to 24 s over a 30 dipping subducted plate a west to east andes cross section includes 1 a longitudinal valley east of coastal mountains 2 an active neogene and holocene andesitic volcanic axis 3 the altiplano puna high plateau 4 a high neogene but inactive thrust belt eastern cordillera and 5 an active eastward migrating subandean thin skinned thrust belt tectonics above a steeply subducting segment south of 33 s are similar west of the volcanic axis but quite different to the east early cenozoic tectonics of western north america were quite similar to the neogene andes however duration of segmentation was longer and the width of deformation was greater in the western united states patterns of crustal seismicity are systematically related to plio quaternary structural provinces implying that current deformational processes have persisted since at least the pliocene horizontal compression parallel to the plate convergence direction is indicated to a distance of 800 km from the trench above flat subducting segments crustal seismicity occurs over a broad region whereas over steep segments it is confined to the narrow thrust belt strain patterns in the forearc region are complex and perhaps extensional and a broad region of the altiplano puna and eastern cordillera appears to be aseismic

andean andesites and crustal growth over the last 200 ma the ensialic andean plate margin has been characterized by calc alkaline magmatism the early mesozoic activity was dominantly of basaltic volcanism while the cainozoic volcanism was of intermediate calc alkaline character the restriction of recent volcanism to parts of the andes underlain by thick wedges of asthenospheric mantle and the sr and nd isotopic relations indicate that the calc alkaline parental magmas are derived from the asthenospheric mantle there is no unequivocal geochemical and geophysical evidence that continental crust or sediment has contributed to the mantle source for andean magmatism the chemical compositions of the calc alkaline volcanic rocks of the active volcanic zones are controlled by fractional crystallization whereas o sr isotopic relations reflect crustal interaction of mantle derived parental magma with the sialic basement of the andes the variable extent of fractional crystallization partial melting and mixing of crustal contaminant are related to the variable thickness and age of crust in the different volcanic provinces calc alkaline magmatism was largely responsible for post mesozoic crustal growth in the andes and would have depleted the underlying mantle unless balanced by circulation within the asthenospheric mantle wedge in terms of net growth of the south american continent it is not certain where the balance lies between growth by magmatic addition and shrinking by erosion

seismicity fault plane solutions depth of faulting and active tectonics of the andes of peru ecuador and southern colombia the intracontinental seismicity of the andes of peru ecuador and southern colombia is concentrated along the easternmost flank of the cordillera beneath the western margin of the sub andes the focal depths and fault plane solutions of the largest events were constrained by comparing the observed long period p waves with synthetic waveforms in general the fault plane solutions show reverse faulting on steeply dipping nodal planes striking northwest southeast and reflect crustal shortening perpendicular to the range probably in response to the subduction of the nazca plate to the west earthquakes in the sub andes occur at depths of between 8 and 38 km indicating that much of the crust deforms in a brittle manner the seismicity seems to reflect antithetic underthrusting of the brazilian shield beneath the eastern margin of the andes however the earthquakes are too deep and their nodal planes are too steep to be associated with the thin skinned decollement of the sedimentary cover instead they appear to reflect the tectonic deformation of the underthrust basement west of the zone of active deformation at the surface in the sub andes hence the earthquakes on the east side of the andes may reflect the style of deformation in the hinterland of fold and thrust belts such as in the canadian rockies while much of the decollement farther east occurs aseismically in contrast normal faulting occurs in the high andes on planes parallel to the strike of the mountain belt thus there is a delicate balance between the compressive stress applied to the andes in the direction of subduction which causes thrust faulting in the sub andes and the gravitational body forces acting on the topographically higher parts and the crustal root of the andes which may cause normal faulting at high elevation

apatite fission track dating of erosion in the eastern andes bolivia abstract three samples from a triassic age batholith in the eastern andes northeast of la paz bolivia yield apatite fission track ages of 11 13 ma interpreting these young ages as due to uplift and erosion requires approximately 2 5 5 0 km of erosion in the past 12 ma an amount which is consistent with the known geology and which is typical of many active mountain ranges