coupling and decoupling of crust and mantle in convergent orogens implications for strain partitioning in the crust topographic relief strain partitioning and crust mantle coupling within convergent orogens may be systematically related to the distribution of strength as a function of depth within continental crust this result is obtained by solving analytically for basally driven three dimensional flow within an idealized crust with a laterally invariant depth dependent newtonian viscosity two end member flow states are shown to occur in the first crustal flow is directly coupled to the underlying mantle and is controlled by stresses transmitted vertically through the crust in the second upper crustal to midcrustal flow is decoupled from the underlying mantle and is controlled by stresses transmitted horizontally through the crust this model is applied to deformation of continental crust above plate like mantle that undergoes oblique convergence across a narrow suture if no significant low viscosity zone develops within the crust crustal deformation is coupled to motion of the underlying mantle and a triangular mountain range develops surface shortening occurs at the foot of the mountains normal to the trend of the range while strike slip and extension are partitioned along the axis of the orogen if a low viscosity zone is initially absent but develops during crustal thickening a steep sided flat topped plateau forms crustal deformation is coupled to mantle motions on the plateau flanks but may be strongly decoupled beneath the plateau surface shortening normal to the plateau occurs at the foot of the plateau while surface extension normal to the plateau occurs at the plateau edge if a low viscosity zone is present in the lower crust prior to convergence a wide orogen with low topographic relief develops crustal deformation is decoupled from the mantle except at the edges of the deforming region and surface shortening is partitioned uniformly across the belt this study shows that horizontal and vertical partitioning of strain occur even in the absence of lateral strength variations and that shortening and extension may exist simultaneously in different parts of an orogen similar morphology and strain partitioning can be observed in many real orogenic belts including the eastern alps the tibetan plateau and the lachlan tasman fold belt

present day stress orientations adjacent to active strike slip faults california and sumatra present day stress directions interpreted from well bore breakouts adjacent to two crastal scale active strike slip faults the san andreas fault in california and the great sumatran fault in sumatra indicate that the maximum horizontal stress direction sh is oriented at a high angle 70 90 to both faults the regionally defined stress fields spanning these faults show that adjacent young or actively growing folds have formed orthogonal to sh and are therefore in the thrust fault orientation these observations indicate a decoupling of the strike slip and compressional components of the deformation within these broadly transpressive zones borehole breakouts in 118 wells in western california indicate a regionally consistent stress pattern with sh generally oriented ne sw nearly perpendicular 80 90 to the strike of the san andreas fault the orientation of sh nearly perpendicular to the san andreas fault implies low shear stress on the fault and is consistent with geological interpretations of the coast and transverse ranges indicating active compressional deformation fault plane solutions for recent dip slip style earthquakes principal stress directions determined from inversion of earthquake focal mechanisms and induced hydraulic fracture orientations a stress trajectory map for western california is computed using an iterative statistical algorithm in which observed directional data such as breakout directions are used to obtain a model regional stress field analysis of well bore breakouts in 25 wells within the central and southern oil districts of sumatra indicates that the regionally defined sh adjacent to the active great sumatran strike slip fault is oriented at a high angle 70 80 to the fault this orientation of sh is consistent regionally with geologic stress indicators and focal mechanisms of dip slip earthquakes preliminary analysis of the stress field in the vicinity of the philippine and alpine faults suggests sh is also oriented at a high angle to these active strike slip faults similarly the minimum horizontal stress sh is oriented at a high angle to the the kane and dead sea transforms the observation of sh and sh in the vicinity of active strike slip faults being oriented nearly perpendicular and parallel to the faults suggests that large crustal scale strike slip faults may in general be inherently weak surfaces

tectonics and topography for a lithosphere containing density heterogeneities the purpose of this paper is to clarify the dynamic role of lithospheric density heterogeneities in particular with respect to mountain building and other processes of intraplate deformation density anomalies within or just beneath the lithosphere constitute major sources for tectonic stress fields the product of their magnitude by their depth is shown to characterize their ability to induce deformation this rule of the density moment directly yields the lithospheric thickening or thinning rate when applied to structures of large lateral extent for anomalies of lateral extent that is small in comparison with their depth the deformation is vertically inhomogeneous and has been computed with the help of simple physical models of a stratified viscous newtonian lithosphere the analytical treatment is based on fourier transform continent continent collision thickens not only the crust but the entire lithosphere the cold root underlying a mountain chain induces strong regional compressive stresses able to sustain the mountain bulding process without further help from forces transmitted from far away thus the continental lithosphere is in a somewhat metastable mechanical state adiabatic i e rapid thickening or thinning tends to grow further once initiated tectonic phases of strong compression correspond to the climax of such instabilities the response of models with cold lithospheric roots of various intensities has been computed both in two and three dimensions they yield velocity distributions and stress fields instructive comparisons are made with earthquake focal mechanisms and in situ stress measurements in the alpine and appalachian regions in the presence of lateral variations of the mechanical properties of the lithosphere the tectonic style is not only function of the local topography and of the nature of its compensation deformations in neighbouring provinces are coupled as shown by 3 dimensional models for example thickening sustained by a cold lithospheric root may generate extension in peripheral zones of weakness these last results illustrate the point that the computation of regional tectonic stresses requires the knowledge of the density anomalies within the lithosphere on the one hand and of geometrical constraints related to lateral mechanical heterogeneities on the other

delamination and detachment of a lithospheric root abstract orogens can be formed by shortening of the lithosphere on time scales much shorter than that of thermal diffusion for time scales of a few ma the major part of the uplift of an orogen which may occur during the transition from crustal shortening to extension may be due to delamination of the mantle lithosphere rather than to convective thinning the negative buoyancy forces of a lithospheric root may cause lateral shortening while the lithospheric root delaminates peels off from the crust detaches and is replaced by hot upwelling asthenosphere this provides a large input of heat into the crust geological observations show that the late orogenic phase may be characterized by volcanic activity high temperature low pressure metamorphism extension high heat flow and a rapid within a few ma increase of the topography we present dynamically and thermally consistent numerical models of the evolution of an orogenic root mantle rheology is based on laboratory data of olivine while models with the rheology of olivine do not allow for delamination due to its very high viscosity the incorporation of a quasi brittle rheology is necessary for modelling delamination of the mantle lithosphere successful delamination models are always associated with a rapid change in topography we examined the parameter range of our models and found different regimes of behaviour of the orogenic root of the mantle lithosphere no delamination delamination delamination and full detachment for a fixed viscosity of the upper crust of 1023 pa s delamination occurs for a range of viscosities of 1023 pa s to 1020 pa s for the lower crust depending on the thickness of the lithospheric root but full detachment of the delaminated lithospheric slab only occurs if the viscosity of the lower crust is greater than approximately 1021 pa s hot asthenosphere is welling up into the gap opening during delamination further implications of our models are lithospheric roots or unsupported slabs of at least 100 170 km depth extent are needed to provide sufficient negative buoyancy to allow delamination and detachment in all delamination models significant amounts of lower crustal material are subducted into the mantle in applying our models to selected orogens we argue that mantle delamination may have played an important role in the variscan and the himalayan orogenies

the clementine mission to the moon scientific overview in the course of 71 days in lunar orbit from 19 february to 3 may 1994 the clementine spacecraft acquired just under two million digital images of the moon at visible and infrared wavelengths these data are enabling the global mapping of the rock types of the lunar crust and the first detailed investigation of the geology of the lunar polar regions and the lunar far side in addition laser ranging measurements provided the first view of the global topographic figure of the moon the topography of many ancient impact basins has been measured and a global map of the thickness of the lunar crust has been derived from the topography and gravity

understanding the lunar surface and space moon interactions the surface of the moon is a critical boundary that shapes our understanding of the moon as a whole all geologic mapping and remote sensing techniques utilize only the outermost portion of the moon before leaving the moon for study in our laboratories all lunar samples that have been studied existed at or very near the surface with the exception of the deeply probing geophysical techniques our understanding of the interior of the moon is derived from surficial but not superficial information coupled with boundary of the lunar crust it is the lower boundary layer of the tenuous lunar atmosphere and constitutes both a source and a sink for atmospheric gases the surface is also where the moon interacts with the space environment causing changes in the physical nature of lunar materials and provides a laboratory for the study of processes that occur on all airless bodies the data obtained remotely by the galileo clementine and lunar prospector missions as well as data derived from lunar meteorites have resulted in major changes to our understanding of global distributions of chemistry and rocks this chapter summarizes the current understanding of this critical interface the surface of the moon in its role as the lower boundary of the lunar atmosphere the upper boundary of the crust and the window through which we view through remote sensing the composition of the crust and the history of the moon in this post lunar prospector time the view of the moon has changed lending new perspectives to lunar samples and lunar processes but the new view will likely remain in flux as we continue to digest the results from these recent space missions and move forward to a new era of lunar exploration despite the freshness of our perspective this is an important moment to capture

heat flow gravity and structure of the abitibi belt superior province canada implications for mantle heat flow the results of new heat flow measurements are presented for eleven sites located in the abitibi greenstone belt of the archean superior province these new and previously published heat flow data are used with gravity and seismic data to constrain the crustal structure and composition of the abitibi subprovince and to determine the mantle heat flow beneath the canadian shield in order to analyze the long wavelength variations in heat flow and bouguer gravity anomaly the crust was divided into three layers with distinctive composition and physical properties average density heat production and thickness for each layer were varied within a range compatible with measurements and yielded crustal models consistent with gravity and heat flow data the dominant contribution to crustal heat production is that of a tonalitic type layer which has the lowest density the models require mantle heat flow to range between 10 and 14 mw m 2 the westward increase in heat flow requires the tonalitic layer to thicken from the grenville front toward the kapuskasing uplift at the expense of the greenstone supracrustals long wavelength gravity data are more affected by changes in crustal thickness than by composition and the low bouguer anomaly near the eastern grenville front is caused by 5 6 km of crustal thickening in greenstone terranes the long wavelength variations in heat flow are more useful for determining average crustal composition and the thickness of supracrustals than the gravity data

apollo 17 landing site topography photometric corrections and heterogeneity of the surrounding highland massifs 1 a high resolution digital elevation model for the apollo 17 landing site 20 n 31 e and surrounding region is used to correct the photometry of clementine ultraviolet visible multispectral data to standard viewing and illumination geometry on a pixel by pixel basis feo and tio2 concentrations were derived from these topographic photometrically corrected data and steep sloped highland massifs are used to assess the magnitude of the effects of the correction the effects are significant yielding errors as high as 5 wt feo and 4 wt tio2 absolute on 30 slopes the magnitude of the correction varies for sun facing versus anti sun slopes with greater changes on anti sun slopes because most of the apollo 17 sample stations were on surfaces with low slope values 5 the topography has only a small effect on the use of the apollo 17 site for calibration of feo and tio2 parameters topographically corrected data and derived compositional information are used to show accurately the variation in composition of the highland units such as the massifs and the sculptured hills on a fine scale massif compositions are consistent with mixtures of noritic impact melt and feldspathic granulitic material plus variable amounts of high ti basalt on flanks at low elevations and pyroclastic deposits at high elevations as surmised from previous studies an unexpected enrichment in feo at intermediate elevations in some places where massif surfaces have not been covered by mass wasting of impact melt rich material signals an older volcanic component not previously recognized this component may be correlative with an old high plains volcanic unit exposed northeast of the landing site and north of the sculptured hills downslope movement of regolith on steep slopes appears to have resulted in compositional or grain size sorting leading to an apparent enrichment in feo and tio2 from volcanic glass in valleys and draws the sculptured hills have highly variable compositions ranging from feldspathic patches to exposures of mafic rocks a strong but localized mafic anomaly within the sculptured hills may be a small postbasin volcanic feature consisting of very low ti basalt

fluxes of fast and epithermal neutrons from lunar prospector evidence for water ice at the lunar poles maps of epithermal and fast neutron fluxes measured by lunar prospector were used to search for deposits enriched in hydrogen at both lunar poles depressions in epithermal fluxes were observed close to permanently shaded areas at both poles the peak depression at the north pole is 4 6 percent below the average epithermal flux intensity at lower latitudes and that at the south pole is 3 0 percent below the low latitude average no measurable depression in fast neutrons is seen at either pole these data are consistent with deposits of hydrogen in the form of water ice that are covered by as much as 40 centimeters of desiccated regolith within permanently shaded craters near both poles

the clementine bistatic radar experiment during the clementine 1 mission a bistatic radar experiment measured the magnitude and polarization of the radar echo versus bistatic angle beta for selected lunar areas observations of the lunar south pole yield a same sense polarization enhancement around beta 0 analysis shows that the observed enhancement is localized to the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar south pole radar observations of periodically solar illuminated lunar surfaces including the north pole yielded no such enhancement a probable explanation for these differences is the presence of low loss volume scatterers such as water ice in the permanently shadowed region at the south pole

focused 70 cm wavelength radar mapping of the moon we describe new 70 cm wavelength radar images of the lunar near side and limb regions obtained via a synthetic aperture radar patch focusing reduction technique the data are obtained by transmitting a circularly polarized pulsed waveform from the arecibo telescope in puerto rico and receiving the echo in both senses of circular polarization with the robert c byrd green bank telescope in west virginia the resultant images in both polarizations have a spatial resolution as fine as 320 m 450 m near the lunar limb the patch focusing technique is a computationally efficient method for compensating for range migration and doppler azimuth smearing over long coherence times i e 983 s which is needed to achieve the required doppler resolution three to nine looks are averaged for speckle reduction and to improve the signal to noise ratio at this long wavelength the radar signal penetrates up to several tens of meters into the dry lunar surface materials thus revealing details of the bulk loss properties and decimeter scale rock abundance not evident in multispectral and other remote sensing data application of the new radar images to the analysis of basalt flow complexes in mare serenitatis shows that the long wavelength radar data are sensitive to differences in both flow age and composition and may be particularly useful for studies of smaller deposits that do not have robust crater statistics the new 70 cm lunar radar data are archived at the national aeronautics and space administration planetary data system

deep seismic reflection evidence for continental underthrusting beneath southern tibet the himalaya and adjacent tibetan plateau constituting earth s largest region of elevated topography and anomalously thick crust formed as a consequence of cenozoic collision between india and asia itself considered the archetypal continent continent collision1 3 here we report the first results from an attempt to image the structure of the crust beneath this region using deep seismic reflection profiling our 100 km long profile acquired in the tethyan himalaya shows a mid crustal reflection that prob ably marks the active thrust fault along which the indian plate is underthrusting southern tibet upper crustal reflections with geo metries suggestive of large scale structural imbrication of the upper crust and moho reflections from the base of the double normal thickness crust underlying the region these results lend substantial support to the view that crustal thickening beneath southernmost tibet was accomplished by wholesale underthrusting of indian continental crust beneath the structurally imbricated upper crust comprising the tethyan himalaya

evolution of the petrological and seismic moho implications for the continental crust mantle boundary the chemical and petrological composition of mafic rocks from the lower continental crust are discussed by comparing mafic granulites and meta gabbroic rocks from the ivrea zone and the northern hessian depression nhd xenolith suite both regions contain contrasting types of meta mafic lithologies i former basaltic rocks with trace element patterns ranging from morb iike to subduction related or intra plate tholeutes and u ca and al enriched plagiodase dominated gabbroic rocks showing positive eu anomalies generated by complex deep crustal magmatic processes such as fractionation accumulation of plagiodase and pyroxene and crustal contamination the absence of typical garnet omphadte parageneses in these rocks indicates that the eclogite stability field was not reached during palaeozoic orogenic processes a compilation of experimentally determined p wave velocities and densities for mafic granulites gabbroic rocks eclogites and peridotites is used to evaluate key physical properties of lower crustal mafic rocks during crystal thickening caused by continent continent collision in a step by step scenario it is demonstrated that the position of the seismic moho defined as a first order velocity discontinuity and the petrological moho defined as the boundary between non peridotitic crustal rocks and olivine dominated rocks is not identical for the case that mafic rocks are transformed into edogites at the base of orogenically thickened crust p wave velocities of eclogites largely overlap with those of peridotites although their densities are significantly higher than common upper mantle rocks as a consequence refraction seismic field studies may not detect edogites as crustal rocks this means that the seismic moho detected by refraction seismic field studies appears at the upper boundary between edogites and overlying crustal units since edogites generally have higher densities than peridotites they might be recycled into the deeper lithosphere thereby transferring excess eu into the upper mantle this process could be a due for understanding the negative euanomaly in the upper continental crust which is apparently not balanced quantitatively by the abundance of common mafic crustal rocks

brightness temperature calculation of lunar crater interpretation of topographic effect on microwave data from chang e in order to quantitatively interpret topographic effect on chang e ce microwave data a detailed method to compute brightness temperature tb over a lunar crater is proposed which incorporated the effect of surface tilts the method improves the effective solar irradiance model of the lunar surface to obtain the temperature profile of the lunar crater the calculated tb at 37 ghz with the proposed computation method which is based on three digital elevation models dems from different sources are consistent with the observed tb from the ce 2 microwave radiometer the simulated behavior of tb across crater hercules reproduces the tb undulation observed by ce in a single swath tb is significantly affected by the lunar dust of a lunar crater and affected by albedo and emissivity in a lesser degree based on the explanation with simplified models the tb variation over a crater is proved to be significantly affected through physical temperature by the crater shape described by dems with the simplified crater model the amplitude of the tb oscillatory curves is proved to depend on the crater shape

the high pressure stability of hydrous phases in orogenic belts an experimental approach on eclogite forming processes abstract metamorphic evolution of orogenic belts is characterized by reactions involving hydrous phases stability relations of hydrous phases depend on h 2 o activity availability during metamorphism however hydrous phases do occur in synthetic and natural systems also at water undersaturated conditions h 2 o undersaturated experiments in the cao al 2 o 3 sio 2 h 2 o model system were performed in order to predict the role of hydrous phases in h 2 o undersaturated compositions at constant pressure and temperature these experiments yielded different assemblages of hydrous anhydrous phases depending on the experimental bulk h 2 o content in natural eclogites of mafic to intermediate bulk composition common hydrous phases include amphibole lawsonite zoisite mg chloritoid paragonite and talc complex continuous reactions delimit the stability fields of the different assemblages involving these hydrous phases such continuous reactions can be used as powerful petrogenetic tools to derive p t conditions of natural eclogites derivation of h 2 o undersaturated phase relationships for natural and synthetic systems show that hydrous phases also occur in h 2 o undersaturated bulk compositions at eclogite facies conditions comparison of experimentally determined phase relationships in mafic rocks with pressure temperature evolution of orogenic terrains demonstrates that at subsolidus conditions a trend toward h 2 o saturation is necessarily maintained during prograde p t paths in orogenic belts as far as dehydration reactions occur any prograde p t path necessarily leads to a maximized occurrence of hydrous phases and thus a maximized h 2 o preservation is achieved during metamorphism

viscosity and thickness of the asthenosphere detected from the fennoscandian uplift the earth s response to the deglaciation in fennoscandia is modelled using a layered viscous model with an elastic lithosphere the modelled tilting of palaeoshorelines at particular locations peripheral to the former ice load and the pattern of the present rate of uplift consistent with the observations strongly suggest a low viscosity asthenosphere earth models without a low viscosity asthenosphere give significant mismatch to the present rate of uplift and are unable to mimic the observed tilting of palaeoshorelines models with a viscosity of the lower mantle of 1 0 2 0 1021 pa s and a viscosity of the upper mantle of 0 7 1 0 1021 pa s overlain by low viscosity asthenosphere with a thickness ranging from 25 to 100 km fit equally well with the observations it is suggested strongly that the asthenosphere has a thickness of less than 150 km and a viscosity of less than 7 0 1019 pa s

archean and proterozoic crustal evolution evidence from crustal seismology seismic velocity models for archean and proterozoic provinces throughout the world are analyzed the thickness of the crust in archean provinces is generally found to be about 35 km except at collisional boundaries whereas proterozoic crust has a significantly greater thickness of about 45 km and has a substantially thicker high velocity 7 0 km s layer at the base we consider two models that may explain these differences the first model attributes the difference to a change in the composition of the upper mantle the higher temperatures in the archean mantle led to the eruption of komatiitic lavas resulting in an ultradepleted lithosphere unable to produce significant volumes of basaltic melt proterozoic crust developed above fertile mantle and subsequent partial melting resulted in basaltic underplating and crustal inflation in the second model convection in the hot archean mantle is considered to have been too turbulent to sustain stable long lived subduction zones by the proterozoic the mantle had cooled sufficiently for substantial island and continental arcs to be constructed and the high velocity basal layer was formed by basaltic underplating

rheological dependence of extension in wedge models of convergent orogens abstract although several mechanical models of extension in contractional orogens have been proposed in many cases these models have been based on viscous constitutive laws lack of more complicated rheological models has primarily been due to the technical difficulty of solving for deformation with complex rheological behavior and boundary conditions a finite element model is presented that allows for solution of the wedge mechanical problem with viscous non linear viscous and coulomb plastic rheologies this model is used to investigate extension in a doubly vergent wedge model in which deformation is primarily contractional driven by a reversal of basal traction proposed models showing extension in the crust at shallow crustal levels in spite of overall contraction and contraction at depth are confirmed but only for high argand number low crustal viscosity at low argand number little or no extension is observed non linear stress dependence power law flow also suppresses extension but not entirely some extension is observed at high effective argand number however with a coulomb plastic rheology no extension is observed for a wide range of parameter values no extension is observed for models with viscous deformation at depth and plastic deformation near the surface this suggests that the extension is a function of the rheologic model not the effective strength of the crust coeval extension and contraction in convergent orogens with steady external forcing therefore requires viscous deformation to very shallow depths

implications of crustal property variations for models of tibetan plateau evolution shear coupled teleseismic p waves sampling the interior of the tibetan plateau provide evidence of systematic variations in crustal structure the crust thins by up to 20 km from south to north with a concomitant increase in poisson s ratio from normal values in the south to unusually high values in the north this suggests that the crust of the northern plateau is partially melted due to high temperatures these changes imply spatial and perhaps temporal variations in the way the elevation of the high plateau is created and maintained

mantle convection plates and hotspots abstract more than 20 years after their discovery plates and hotspots are still awaiting a consistent dynamic model both imply large viscosity variations in the mantle sustained efforts have been targeted on modeling on computer as well as in the laboratory convection in fluids with temperature and pressure dependent viscosity the main results of these studies are reviewed and summarized in a few simple rules several properties of plates such as ridge push or heat flow distribution are well accounted for by convection models with temperature dependent viscosity however the process of subduction is not properly explained by these models one of the simple rules deduced from the study of convection and temperature dependent viscosity states that the viscosity drop across the lower boundary layer adjusts to a low value less than 10 this constrasts strongly with the viscosity variations required by current hotspot formation models which are typically 100 times larger it is suggested that this paradox can be solved if subduction is properly included in the convection models

the experimental deformation of dunite deformation experiments have been carried out on two dunites anita bay of 100 m grain size and aheim of 900 m grain size at strain rates from 10 3 to 10 6 s 1 and temperatures from 1000 c to 1300 c in a gas medium deformation apparatus at 300 mpa confining pressure most of the tests were under wet conditions defined by the presence of small amounts of water from hydrous minerals initially present constant strain rate and relaxation experiments covering ranges of flow stress down to about 70 mpa and 7 mpa respectively show that there is a change in flow law in going below about 100 mpa differential stress and that the coarser grained rock is stronger than the finer grained one power law parameters above the transition are n 4 48 0 31 and q 498 38 kj mol 1 for aheim dunite and n 3 35 0 17 and q 444 24 kj mol 1 for anita bay dunite while below the transition relaxation tests on anita bay dunite give n 2 44 0 18 and q 386 27 kj mol 1 it is concluded that there is a weakening effect of water that this effect is mainly in the grain boundaries and that grain boundary sliding is probably a significant deformation mechanism at the lower stresses under wet conditions

topography of the moon from the clementine lidar range measurements from the lidar instrument carried aboard the clementine spacecraft have been used to produce an accurate global topographic model of the moon this paper discusses the function of the lidar the acquisition processing and filtering of observations to produce a global topographic model and the determination of parameters that define the fundamental shape of the moon our topographic model a 72nd degree and order spherical harmonic expansion of lunar radii is designated goddard lunar topography model 2 gltm 2 this topographic field has an absolute vertical accuracy of approximately 100 m and a spatial resolution of 2 5 the field shows that the moon can be described as a sphere with maximum positive and negative deviations of 8 km both occurring on the farside in the areas of the korolev and south pole aitken s p aitken basins the amplitude spectrum of the topography shows more power at longer wavelengths as compared to previous models owing to more complete sampling of the surface particularly the farside a comparison of elevations derived from the clementine lidar to control point elevations from the apollo laser altimeters indicates that measured relative topographic heights generally agree to within 200 m over the maria while the major axis of the lunar gravity field is aligned in the earth moon direction the major axis of topography is displaced from this line by approximately 10 to the east and intersects the farside 24 north of the equator the magnitude of impact basin topography is greater than the lunar flattening 2 km and equatorial ellipticity 800 m which imposes a significant challenge to interpreting the lunar figure the floors of mare basins are shown to lie close to an equipotential surface while the floors of unflooded large basins except for s p aitken lie above this equipotential the radii of basin floors are thus consistent with a hydrostatic mechanism for the absence of significant farside maria except for s p aitken whose depth and lack of mare require significant internal compositional and or thermal heterogeneity a macroscale surface roughness map shows that roughness at length scales of 10 1 10 2 km correlates with elevation and surface age

isotopic evidence from the ivrea zone for a hybrid lower crust formed by magmatic underplating the large mafic complex overlying mantle peridotites in the ivrea zone of northern italy originated by underplating of mantle derived magma onto the base of continental crust and may be a unique outcrop of typical mafic lower crust sampled elsewhere only by mafic xenoliths neodymium and strontium isotope data show that the magmas assimilated large and roughly uniform proportions of crustal material the resulting hybrid magmas have the same isotopic signature as and may represent the lower crustal roots of upper crustal hercynian granitoid intrusions

dynamics of subduction initiation at preexisting fault zones we show that a new subduction zone can initiate at a preexisting dipping fault zone with reasonable plate forces consistent with what is observed in the western pacific the dynamics of subduction initiation within a viscoelastic medium has been systematically explored with the finite element method we investigate the compression of oceanic lithosphere with both force and velocity boundary conditions and track the thermal structure in which heat is transported by both advection and diffusion the viscosity of the medium is non newtonian and temperature dependent we also examine the influence of a perfectly plastic yield stress a new method to model the preexisting weak zone as a graded fault with remeshing is introduced the first 400 km of plate convergence is examined during which time there are profound changes in plate boundary dynamics initially topography across the plate boundary is characterized by over 1000 m of uplift close to the trench subsequently a bathymetric depression develops on the overriding plate with an initial subsidence rate of 125 m myr for a slab subducting at 2 cm yr tectonic subsidence of the overriding plate is primarily dependent upon the depth of slab penetration for a plate force of 4 10 12 n m subduction initiates even with a fault shear stress of 3 mpa the resistance most consistent with seismological observations however subduction will not initiate when this fault shear stress is 5 mpa our results are consistent with plate reconstructions which predict the initiation of subduction across preexisting weak zones within oceanic basins

study of plate deformation and stress in subduction processes using two dimensional numerical models two dimensional finite element modeling is used to model subduction of an oceanic lithospheric plate beneath continental lithosphere the subduction process is initiated along a preexisting inclined fault and continues until reaching 400 km of total convergence the lithosphere is assumed to be underlain by an in viscid asthenosphere different rheological laws have been considered for the lithosphere including elasticity and elastoplasticity the modeling shows that both the stress system in the plates and the surface topography are strongly dependent on two main parameters the density contrast between lithosphere and asthenosphere l a and the coefficient of friction along the subduction plane varying these two parameters allows explanation of the main characteristics of real subduction zones and results in two major regimes manifested by extension or compression in the arc back arc system extension and back arc rifting corresponds to a positive density contrast and a low coefficient of friction while negative values and or high friction leads to a compressional regime the coexistence of trench arc compression and back arc tension is only possible for a coefficient of friction lower than 0 1 the results of the numerical experiments agree with those of experimental modeling conducted under similar physical assumptions

topography of the lunar poles from radar interferometry a survey of cold trap locations detailed topographic maps of the lunar poles have been obtained by earth based radar interferometry with the 3 5 centimeter wavelength goldstone solar system radar the interferometer provided maps 300 kilometers by 1000 kilometers of both polar regions at 150 meter spatial resolution and 50 meter height resolution using ray tracing these digital elevation models were used to locate regions that are in permanent shadow from solar illumination and may harbor ice deposits estimates of the total extent of shadowed areas poleward of 87 5 degrees latitude are 1030 and 2550 square kilometers for the north and south poles respectively

mechanical model for the tectonics of doubly vergent compressional orogens a mechanical model of crustal shortening and deformation driven by the relative convergence of rigid underlying mantle plates explains many features of convergent orogens results based on numerical models and supported by sandbox models show that a coulomb crustal layer subject to basal velocity boundary conditions corresponding to asymmetric detachment and subduction of the underlying mantle passes through three stages of orogenic growth 1 block uplift bounded by step up shear zones 2 development of a low taper wedge over the underthrusting mantle plate and 3 development of a low taperwedge overlying the overthrusting mantle plate and verging in the opposite direction when modified by isostasy basal viscous flow surface erosion and denudation and sedimentation the resultant model orogens exhibit a variety of styles with characteristics in common with small rapidly denuded orogens large orogens with plateaus and extensional characteristics and active subduction margins with doubly vergent accretionary wedges and deformed fore arc basins

thermal evolution of the oceanic lithosphere an alternative view abstract the most common model used for representing the evolution with age of the oceanic lithosphere is the plate model where the temperature is set at a fixed depth called the base of the plate this base of the plate has no physical meaning but this model provides a mathematical substitute for a system where small scale convection occurs through instabilities growing at the base of the cooling lithosphere and becomes effective only below old ocean another possible view is that convection provides heat at the base of the lithosphere whatever the age of the overlying plate this last process can be modeled by a constant heat flow applied on the bottom lithospheric isotherm chablis model a good fit to the observables bathymetry and geoid as function of age and old age heat flow can be obtained both for plate and chablis models in spite of an experimentally determined thermal expansion coefficient much larger than assumed in previous plate models these models have important consequences for several geodynamic processes the plate at an age of 100 ma is only 80 km thick for both models melting above a hot spot can then occur in the garnet spinel transition field without much plate thinning in the plate model the subsidence is stopped at an age of about 80 ma while according to the chablis model several hundred meters of subsidence are expected after 100 ma thus the two models predict quite a different long term pattern of subsidence in the sedimentary basins finally in the chablis model the global cooling of the mantle coming from cold material eroded by secondary convection at the base of the plates is considerably larger than in plate models it amounts to 40 the remaining 60 being due to the subduction process

the continental collision zone south island new zealand comparison of geodynamical models and observations the south island zone of oblique continent continent convergence occurs along a 400 km long section of the modern australia pacific plate boundary zone across which about 50 km of shortening has been accommodated since about 10 ma the orogen comprises a central mountain range southern alps flanked on both sides by what are interpreted to be foreland basins two essential features that characterize the orogen are 1 the degree of denudation that accompanied deformation and 2 a fundamental structural asymmetry the architectural asymmetry of the orogen can be explained by plane strain finite element models of continental convergence incorporating mantle subduction comparison of model and orogen polarity implies that pacific plate mantle subducts the models predict two crustal scale dipping shear zones that form above the point where the pacific mantle subducts the localized one more distant from the incoming plate retro step up shear zone corresponds to the alpine fault whereas its conjugate pro step up shear zone corresponds to the distributed strain and thrusting along the eastern margin of the mountain belt parameters that modify the model boundary conditions top surface degree of denudation basal zone subduction load crust mantle velocity discontinuity subduction of lower crust mantle retreat and distributed decrease in mantle velocity and the internal strength of the crust two layer crust with moderate coupling temperature distribution strain weakening are varied in a series of numerical model calculations that establish the combination of material properties and boundary conditions that lead to different cross sectional architectures of the modeled collision zone in turn these are compared with observations about the south island orogen the calculations show how the style and extent of deformation across the whole orogen depend on the rheological properties of the crustal layer and on the balance between its internal strength and the combined effects of the boundary and gravitational stresses north to south along strike differences in the width and two dimensional architecture of the orogen simulated in the experiments by varying the model parameters can be explained by a combination of southward increases in preconvergent crustal thickness geothermal gradient convergence and potentially subduction retreat with the added possibility of a southward decrease in the component of lower crustal subduction

collision tectonics in the swiss alps insight from geodynamic modeling this paper compares results from two dimensional finite element dynamic modeling with the kinematic evolution of the swiss alps during the collision phase in particular we investigate the role of inherited lateral strength heterogeneities on orogenesis a number of first order characteristics are directly comparable at crustal scales in the models the entry of continental crust into the convergent margin marks the end of near perfect subduction accretion of material of the subducting plate to the upper plate creates an orogenic wedge on the incoming pro side and initiates a retroshear zone or model backthrust the addition of material to the upper plate builds a bivergent orogen heterogeneities in the pro crust focus shear and lead to the development of nappe structures the combined action of pro shear nappe stacking and retroshear backthrusting uplifts a plug between the two shear zones subsequent focusing of shear along the retroshear zone results in rotation of the plug and overlying units leading to crustal scale backfolds as observed in the swiss alps the model experiments predict features relevant to alpine dynamics including 1 similar crustal thicknesses and exhumation patterns to those observed in the swiss alps today for erosion rates comparable to natural ones 1 mm yr 1 2 continued accretion and subduction of upper crustal fragments allowing high pressure metamorphic conditions 3 tilting and exhumation of lower crust when a midcrustal weak zone is present and 4 shunting of material across the strong lower crustal wedge of the upper plate

subduction of the lithosphere and back arc dynamics insights from physical modeling physical modeling of the subduction of an elastico plastic lithosphere underlained by a low viscosity asthenosphere and driven by both horizontal compressional force and gravitational sinking of the subducting plate has shown the subduction regime to be strongly affected by 1 a where a and 1 are the asthenosphere and lithosphere densities at 0 a steady state process develops which requires a horizontal lithosphere compression of h 0 3 0 4 s 108 pa where s is the lithosphere yield limit the central part of the leading wedge of the overriding plate is nonisostatically elevated in this case especially in the region of the frontal arc which corresponds to a free air gravity anomaly maximum of 200 400 mgal a decrease in 0 compression of the overriding plate is considerably less from the onset of subduction and then decreases during subduction at some point compression changes into tension tensional nonhydrostatic stresses grow during the process to a value near h 0 1 0 2 s 0 4 108 pa both subsidence of the overriding wedge below the isostatic equilibrium level and an increase in the benioif dip angle accompany this process the gravity anomaly maximum is displaced into the volcanic arc in this subduction regime where it is normally less than 150 mgal if some weaknesses are present in the overriding plate tensional stresses result in a failure of the lithosphere at these locations and the broken lithosphere segment the arc plate starts to move counter to the subduction plate the arc plate slides along the underthrusting plate s surface without loss of contact and causes back arc opening hydrostatic suction prevents the plates from being separated this effect is caused by the peculiarity of a mechanical system whereby a low viscosity asthenosphere and a plastic lithosphere which effective yield limit is considerably lower than the hydrostatic stresses in the plate if the overriding lithosphere is not weakened enough to fail under the existing tension then the hanging slab breaks down under its own weight when it reaches a specific length both interacting plates undergo isostatic recovery in this case and the whole cycle is repeated again the hydrostatic suction effect also provides back arc tension under other conditions such as when asthenospheric flow forces the subducted plate to move away from the island arc

processing of crust in the root of the caledonian continental collision zone the role of eclogitization segments of the root to the caledonian collision zone are exposed along the west coast of norway allowing the study of processes and petrophysical conditions at the deepest crustal levels p t conditions prevailing in these crustal root zones correspond to eclogite facies eclogitization is associated with marked changes in petrophysical properties notably a density 10 15 and vp increase which may give a mantle signature to an eclogitized crust the observed ductility enhancement may be caused by transformation plasticity reduction in grain size formation of new mineral assemblages and presence of fluid in the western gneiss region and the bergen arcs eclogites form along shear zones interpreted as fluid pathways with sharp boundaries to their metastable protolith this makes eclogite shear zones potential deep crustal reflectors dry crust subducted into roots of continental collision zones will undergo eclogitization only if hydrous fluids are available timing of metamorphic reactions does not depend on crossing of equilibrium boundaries in the p t space but rather on the introduction of fluids into the system eclogites are not only passive recorders of p t t paths illustrating very deep subduction of crust 100 km rapid changes in petrophysical properties make fluid induced eclogitization a dynamic process that influences geodynamics stresses set up by the volume changes or by tectonic forces are released by ductile deformation along shear zones and by seismic faulting as evidenced by syn eclogitic pseudotachylytes in the metastable protolith deformation including seismicity enhances fluid infiltration and further eclogitization dense and rheologically weak eclogites may delaminate and sink into the mantle in the absence of fluids crustal doubling may occur without metamorphic re equilibration the evolution of a collision zone depends on the fluid regime which should be considered in geodynamic modelling in addition to p and t

mobility of continental mantle evidence from postseismic geodetic observations following the 1992 landers earthquake the crust around the rupture zone of the 1992 landers earthquake has continued to deform in the years following the earthquake at rates 3 times greater than pre earthquake rates we use a combination of global positioning system gps and synthetic aperture radar insar data collected during a 3 year epoch following the earthquake in order to investigate postseismic mechanisms responsible for the high transient velocities in order to maximize the potential signal from viscoelastic relaxation we evaluate and model postseismic relaxation following the first few months of documented accelerated deformation the combination of gps and insar data allows us to establish viscoelastic relaxation of the lower crust and upper mantle as the dominant postseismic process and to discriminate among possible viscoelastic models the data particularly require the presence of a highly ductile uppermost mantle beneath the central mojave domain with temperature between the wet and dry basalt solidus this is consistent with independent seismic and geochemical inferences of a regionally warm uppermost mantle further consideration of seismic velocity variations in conjunction with faulting patterns within the mojave desert suggests that the primary faulting characteristics of the mojave desert namely the pervasive late cenozoic deformation within the eastern california shear zone versus the near absence of faults in the western mojave domain are controlled by the rheology of the uppermost mantle

increased sediment transport via bioturbation at the last glacial interglacial transition global sedimentation rates increased during the quaternary due to frequent landscape adjustment to climatic oscillations although high rates of sediment transport are commonly associated with glacial conditions in mountainous terrain the infl uence of climate and vegetation on geomorphic response is poorly constrained outside of glaciated settings along a low gradient 30 hillslope valley transect on a moderately dissected loess mantled fl uvial terrace in the charwell basin new zealand we coupled records of colluvial infi lling and vegetation change via phytoliths to show that late pleistocene sediment fl ux was 0 0012 m 3 m 1 a 1 under a shrubland grassland mosaic and holocene sediment fl ux was 0 0022 m 3 m 1 a 1 under forest this near doubling through the last glacial interglacial transition appears to refl ect increased bioturbation and downslope soil transport associated with a forest ecosystem such an increase in sediment transport contrasts with a contemporaneous decrease inferred for adjacent steep landslide prone catchments suggesting that geomorphic response to climate change is heavily modulated by biology topography and geological substrate our fi ndings appear to contradict the commonly cited notion that forest colonization universally stabilizes soils and suppresses erosion instead over long time scales bioturbation associated with forests may increase transport along gentle portions of the landscape not subject to slope instability or erosion by overland fl ow

digital elevation models of the moon from earth based radar interferometry three dimensional 3d maps of the nearside and polar regions of the moon can be obtained with an earth based radar interferometer this paper describes the theoretical background experimental setup and processing techniques for a sequence of observations performed with the goldstone solar system radar in 1997 these data provide radar imagery and digital elevation models of the polar areas and other small regions at spl sim 100 m spatial and spl sim 50 m height resolutions a geocoding procedure relying on the elevation measurements yields cartographically accurate products that are free of geometric distortions such as foreshortening

topographic mapping from interferometric synthetic aperture radar observations interferometric synthetic aperture radar observations provide a means for obtaining high resolution topographic terrain maps from data acquired simultaneously at two slightly displaced antennas calculation of the three dimensional coordinates of all the points in a radar image can be made from the combination of along track slant range and interferometer fringe measurements thus the result compensates for the layover exhibited by conventional radar maps and removes the false targets generated by multiple signal paths to a given object in the scene we have derived a topographic map of a portion of the san francisco bay area utilizing data that were recorded by a radar system mounted on a nasa cv990 aircraft and processed by a general purpose digital computer this map displays the height above sea level of a region approximately 11 km by 10 km in size sampled on an 11 m pixel grid uncertainties in the estimated height result from imprecise knowledge of the observational geometry radar bandwidth limitations and finite signal to noise ratios for our system each factor contributed approximately 3 4 m to a relative rms error of about 6 m additional global errors of the order of 10 m can result from inaccurate monitoring of aircraft attitude the statistical variation of the height measurements from the ocean portion of the map which we can presume to be quite flat is 2 10 m rms which is consistent with the theoretical estimate comparison of our results with u s geological survey contour maps indicates a high degree of correlation between the two sets of altitude data

geo tectonic framework of the himalaya of n pakistan in the karakorum range there is a structurally complicated cretaceous are comprising the kohistan sequence on its northern side the northern suture consists of a mega melange and is bounded to the s by tightly folded pillow bearing volcanics and sediments to the s the kohistan plutonic belt consists of southwards a early foliated and late post tectonic tonalites and diorites b aplites and pegmatites up to 30 of rock volume c basic dykes up to 10 m thick d the chilas complex a stratiform cumulate body over 300 km long and 8 km thick chromite layered dunites gabbros and norites with a low pressure granulite facies mineral fabric of tectonic origin e an amphibolite belt with a complex mixture of other rocks and f the jijal complex a 200 km 2 tectonic wedge of high pressure granulites and chromite layered dunites cumulate graded units in the chilas complex show that it is folded by an isoclinal anticline f 1 the mid upper crust of the are is folded by a 50 km half wavelength f 2 syncline the whole kohistan sequence with its two phases of isoclinal folds was tilted during himalayan collision so that the structures are now subvertical the southern suture main mantle thrust has a wedge of glaucophane schists the indian plate contains a basement of psammites and schists intruded by cambrian granites and overlain by isoclinally folded and metamorphosed carbonates and shales

subsidence of the paris basin and its bearing on the late variscan lithosphere evolution a comparison between plate and chablis models abstract in this study two different models for the lithospheric thermal evolution are used to predict the long term subsidence of the paris basin the plate or chablis models have a constant temperature or constant heat flow at the base of the lithosphere these boundary conditions yield a different thermal relaxation time for a given equilibrium lithospheric thickness the final thermal steady state does not depend on the boundary condition fixed at the base of the lithosphere the thermal evolution of the lithosphere is computed taking into account temperature and pressure dependent thermal characteristics metamorphism in the crust top crustal erosion and phase transition in the mantle spinel garnet the long term tectonic subsidence of the paris basin constrains the mesozoic thermal evolution of the lithosphere and the amplitude of the initial thermal anomaly the chablis model including the effects of spinel garnet phase transition predicts present day lithospheric thickness in better agreement with observation than the plate model the chablis model involves a basal heat transfer of 37 mw m2 similar to the value beneath oceanic plates the long term subsidence of the paris basin obviously results from the decay of a thermal anomaly initiated during late variscan times we first assume that at 300 ma the lithosphere was less than 150 km thick and the thickened crust started returning to its present thickness 35 km by uniform lithospheric extension the subsidence data can be explained by short stephano autunian as well as long stephano triassic lasting extension these hypotheses both implicitly refer to extensional collapse of the variscan belt however the evolution of the variscan belt from 350 to 300 ma may have involved almost no crustal thickening but an anomalously thin lithosphere ca 55 km the corresponding thermal evolution of the lithosphere is computed using the chablis model with an initially high heat transfer of 61 mw m2 at the base of the base of the lithosphere at 280 ma this heat transfer is tuned to 40 mw m2 leading to lithospheric cooling from 280 to 30 ma which can also explain the paris basin subsidence for the short lasting extension hypothesis the late variscan lithospheric evolution predicted with the chablis model yields paleogeography magmatism and retrograde p t t paths in good agreement with those reported from areas around the paris basin conversely the plate model does not allow mantle melting during the end of carboniferous and permian times the long lasting extension hypothesis does not explain the paleogeographic evolution the timing of magmatism and retrograde p t paths showing isothermal decompression the hypothesis with a strong lithospheric delamination cannot be ruled out however it is less plausible than the extensional collapse hypothesis

the topography of tycho crater three dimensional mapping of the moon can be accomplished with an earth based radar interferometer elevation data and radar imagery obtained with this technique are presented for the tycho crater area with a spatial resolution of 200 m and a height resolution of 30 m the radar maps are displayed in standard cartographic projections with appropriate corrections for elevation induced geometric distortions the digital elevation model allows detailed morphometry of the 85 km diameter crater the floor of tycho lies 3970 m below a 1738 km radius sphere and the crater s central peak rises 2400 m above the floor the average rim crest elevation is 730 m above the 1738 km datum giving a mean rim to floor depth of 4700 m the floor has two distinct units with the western section being higher in elevation by 200 m this dichotomy is consistent with an asymmetry in the crater shape which reveals that maximum wall slumping occurred in the western and southwestern regions of the crater comparison of the radar derived topography with 87 altimetry points from the clementine lidar experiment shows rms deviations of 90 m after a 0 11 latitude correction to the location of all the clementine altimetry points

kinematic thermal and petrological model of the central alps lepontine metamorphism in the upper crust and eclogitisation of the lower crust abstract seismic and seismological studies as well as gravimetric models indicate that a slab of european lithospheric mantle and lower crust is currently underthrust below the apulian crust we assume a simple kinematic model in which the lower and upper subducted european crusts are decoupled along a decollement the lower crust goes into subduction without deformation the upper crust deforms by pure shear with a horizontal compressional axis the total erosional flux is adjusted to balance upper crust input so that the belt keeps the same geometry different distributions of erosion being used the computed temperature field is steady state if the kinematic model applies during a minimum time of 40 myr for a convergence rate of 8 mm yr equilibrium mineral assemblages and densities are determined from the computed p t conditions for a granodioritic chemical composition of the upper crust and an andesitic composition of the lower crust assuming local isostasy the density model fits the average topographic profile across the central alps the p t t paths obtained for the part of the upper crust initially at depths 10 to 16 km are compatible with the medium pressure oligocene metamorphism in the lepontine dome the peak calculated temperature for the deepest non subducted crustal rocks is 600 c for a pressure of 0 8 gpa near the lower limit of high pressure amphibolites we thus propose that the lepontine metamorphism corresponds to the steady state thermal regime however either faster erosion rates in the internal part of the belt or tectonic denudation are required for exhumation of the deeper portion of the belt the computed temperature field implies eclogitisation of the lower crust at a depth of 55 to 60 km we conclude that the moho limiting the deepest part of the root may correspond to the eclogitisation phase change lower crust eclogites have a density comparable to or higher than that of the mantle depending on their chemical composition 3 37 for andesitic eclogites 3 56 for gabbroic eclogites thus andesitic eclogites may stay in gravitational equilibrium in the mantle below the root whereas gabbroic eclogites are gravitationally unstable and should sink

mantle unrooting in collisional settings abstract we present a two dimensional numerical model to study the thermo mechanical evolution of the lithosphere under a convergence regime in order to define the conditions that lead to lithospheric mantle break up and consequent unrooting a newtonian rheology with a temperature dependent viscosity is considered the system is not closed and horizontal flow through lateral boundaries is permitted a horizontal velocity is imposed at the top of the model to simulate compression whereas velocity vanishes at the bottom of the model the initial conditions correspond to a homogeneous lithosphere with a constant heat production in the crust the analysis of variations of maximum shear stress strain rate and total kinetic energy allowed us to define four major stages during the mantle unrooting process orogenic growth initiation of gravitational instability until lithospheric failure sinking of the detached lithosphere and relaxation of the system numerical results also show that the conditions for lithospheric unrooting strongly depend on the convergence velocity the wideness of the deformation zone and the imposed rheology

lunar regolith thermal behavior revealed by chang e 1 microwave brightness temperature data abstract microwave brightness temperature data obtained by the chinese chang e 1 lunar orbiter are analyzed with the lunar diurnal variations filtered resulting maps from the high frequency microwave channel show lunar topographic signatures with close similarity to those seen in clementine s lunar topography maps while the low frequency channels reveal intriguing lunar surface properties not previously observed here we focus on two characteristics displayed by the filtered brightness temperature maps in the high frequency maps the existence of an anti correlation between daytime and nighttime brightness temperature deviations in certain regions especially in the lunar maria and in the low frequency maps the appearance of cold spots which correspond with the hot spots observed in the infrared during lunar eclipses

gravity anomalies crustal structure and thermo mechanical support of the himalaya of central nepal summary we use two gravity profiles that we measured across central nepal in conjunction with existing data to constrain the mechanical behaviour and the petrological structure of the lithosphere in the himalayan collision zone the data show 1 overcompensation of the foreland and undercompensation of the higher himalaya as expected from the flexural support of the range 2 a steep gravity gradient of the order of 1 3 mgal km x1 beneath the higher himalaya suggesting a locally steeper moho and 3 a 10 km wide hinge in southern tibet we compare these data with a 2 d mechanical model in which the indian lithosphere is flexed down by the advancing front of the range and sedimentation in the foreland the model assumes brittle coulomb failure and nonlinear ductile flow that depends on local temperature which is computed from a steadystate thermal model the computed moho fits seismological constraints and is consistent with the main trends in the observed bouguer anomaly it predicts an equivalent elastic thickness of 40 50 km in the foreland the flexural rigidity decreases northwards due to thermal and flexural weakening resulting in a steeper moho dip beneath the high range residuals at short wavelengths over distances of 20 30 km are interpreted in terms of 1 sediment compaction in the foreland dr 150 kg m x3 between the lower and middle siwaliks 2 the contact between the tertiary molasse and the meta sediments of the lesser himalaya at the mbt dr 220 kg m x3 and 3 the palung granite intrusion in the lesser himalaya dr 80 kg m x3 finally if petrological transformations expected from the local p t are assumed a gravity signature of the order of 250 mgal is predicted north of the lesser himalaya essentially due to eclogitization of the lower crust which is inconsistent with the gravity data we conclude that eclogitization of the indian crust does not take place as expected from a steady state local equilibrium assumption we show however that eclogitization might actually occur beneath southern tibet where it could explain the hinge observed in the gravity data we suspect that these eclogites are subducted with the indian lithosphere

stress magnitudes in the crust constraints from stress orientation and relative magnitude data the world stress map project is a global cooperative effort to compile and interpret data on the orientation and relative magnitudes of the contemporary in situ tectonic stress field in the earth s lithosphere horizontal stress orientations show regionally uniform patterns throughout many continental intraplate regions these regional intraplate stress fields are consistent over regions 1000 5000 km wide or ca 100 times the thickness of the upper brittle part of the lithosphere ca 20 km and about 10 15 times the thickness of typical continental lithosphere ca 150 200 km relative stress magnitudes or stress regimes in the lithosphere are inferred from direct in situ stress measurements and from the style of active faulting the intraplate stress field in both the oceans and continents is largely compressional with one or both of the horizontal stresses greater than the vertical stress the regionally uniform horizontal intraplate stress orientations are generally consistent with either relative or absolute plate motions indicating that plate boundary forces dominate the stress distribution within the plates since most regions of normal faulting occur in areas of high elevation the extensional stress regimes in these areas can be attributed to superimposed bouyancy forces related to crustal thickening and or lithosphere thinning stresses derived from these bouyancy forces locally exceed midplate compressional stresses evaluating the effect of viscous drag forces acting on the plates is difficult simple driving or resisting drag models with shear tractions acting parallel or antiparallel to plate motion are consistent with stress orientation data however the large lateral stress gradients across broad plates required to balance these tractions are not observed in the relative stress magnitude data current models of stresses due to whole mantle flow inferred from seismic tomography models and with the inclusion of the effect of high density slabs predict a general compressional stress state within continents but do not match the broad scale horizontal stress orientations the broad regionally uniform intraplate stress orientations are best correlated with compressional plate boundary forces and the geometry of the plate boundaries

seismic structure and evidence for eclogitization during the himalayan convergence abstract reflections on the deep moho of the tethyan himalayas have been obtained from vertical seismics at the time predicted by wide angle reflection interpretations supporting the previous inference of a low average crustal velocity a mostly felsic composition is then required through the 70 km of the thickened crust the moho appears as a heterogenous transition layer more than 10 km thick the high velocity measured beneath the moho from pn refractions cannot be attributed any more to e w oriented olivine since sks observations do not confirm such an anisotropy instead eclogite just under the seismic moho could account for the observations these three results from independent parts of the seismic data set support a model of the himalayan convergence in which the indian crust has undergone phase transformation in the granulite eclogite system upon burial the intermediate and basic composition rocks of the middle and lower layers of an initial crust of average platform type can be transformed to such high velocities that they are lost across the himalayas into the level of the moho or just under the moho defined by seismic velocity mostly upper crustal type material then remains to form the thickened crust above consistent with the observed low velocity the variation in moho depth across the himalayas as suggested from wide angle seismics accounts for the first order variation in teleseismic transit times variations in the velocity depth structure of the mantle hence do not dominate but a change in the orientation of sks splitting anisotropy would suggest deformation within the lithosphere to change across the high himalayas and the indus tsangpo suture

subduction initiation and continental crust recycling the roles of rheology and eclogitization abstract a mechanical model with viscous ductile and plastic brittle rheologies is used to investigate the effect of eclogitization on the dynamics of convergence density increases by 300 600 km m3 during eclogitization of crustal rocks and continental lower crust and oceanic crust reach higher density than mantle we explore cases of intracontinental deformation subduction and continental collision we consider a wide range of parameters for friction activation energy and initial thermal state and cases with or without eclogitization the style of deformation appears to be primarily controlled by the presence or absence of weak zones simulations are run with a constant convergence velocity 1 5 or 4 cm year and the evolution of the compressive force through time is thus a critical test of the model viability for intracontinental deformation when the brittle crust is decoupled from the mantle the mantle deforms by symmetrical bending or subduction and a variable amount of lowermost crust is entrained with the sinking mantle in these cases the compressive force remains in the 1012 3 1013 n m acceptable range oceanic subduction only occurs if a low friction shear zone is specified in the brittle realm during the transition from oceanic subduction to collision the oceanic crust in this shear zone remains trapped between colliding crusts eclogitization has no influence on the initial mode of deformation thus it is probably not an important factor in the initiation of subduction in all simulations the influence of eclogitization increases progressively with time in proportion of the amount of lower continental crust and oceanic crust entrained into the mantle the structural evolution of the orogen model depends on eclogitization if initial decoupling occurs at mid crustal level the simulations thus indicate that eclogitization promotes convergence and also in some cases enables the recycling of the whole continental lower crust into the mantle we also suggest that eclogitization could regulate the long term convergence rate in orogens

post glacial rebound and asthenosphere viscosity in iceland during the weichselian glaciation iceland was covered with an ice cap which caused downward flexure of the earth s surface the post glacial rebound in iceland was very rapid being completed in about 1 000 years the length of this time interval constrains the maximum value of asthenosphere viscosity in iceland to be 1 times 10 sup 19 pa s or less further clarification of the ice retreat and uplift history may reveal lower viscosity current changes in the mass balance of icelandic glaciers must lead to measurable elevation changes considering this low viscosity expected current elevation changes around the vatnajoekull ice cap are of the order of 1 cm per year due to mass balance change in this century

receiver functions from regional p waves summary p waves from regional distance earthquakes are complex and reverberatory as would be expected from a combination of head waves post critical crustal reflections and shallow incident p waves from the upper mantle although designed for steeply incident teleseismic p waves receiver functions rfs can also retrieve information about crustal structure from regional p using a new computation method based on multiple taper spectral analysis regional distance rfs for gsn stations rayn and anto show broad agreement with teleseismic rfs at rayn the moveout of the moho converted ps phase relative to direct p follows the predictions of the iasp91 earth model well the moho converted ps phase shows complexity associated with the transition zone triplications near 20 and constant delay zero moveout as 0 consistent with conversion from pn similar behaviour is seen for anto for events that arrive from the west for eastern backazimuths the anto rfs show features whose moveout is negative as 0 this moveout is poorly fit by reverberations in flat layers or by direct scattering from a dipping interface but is consistent with a topographic scatterer 20 30 km eastward of the anto site regional receiver functions may therefore be useful in judging whether teleseismic rfs at a particular station are suitable candidates for a 1 d velocity structure inversion synthetic seismograms of regional p phases computed with a locked mode reflectivity approach in a 1 d structure confirm several gross features of the rayn and anto regional receiver functions

the role of water in the deformation of dunite specimens of two natural dunites anita bay of 100 m grain size and aheirn of 900 m grain size have been deformed in experiments at temperatures between 1200 and 1400 c and constant strain rates between 10 4 and 10 6 s 1 in a gas medium deformation apparatus at 300 mpa confining pressure prior to these experiments the specimens were given a heat treatment in a controlled oxygen fugacity furnace at 1200 c for 60 hours to dehydrate the trace layer silicate minerals present and drive off adsorbed water the predried specimens are much stronger than specimens tested under wet conditions in an earlier study the predried specimens also do not show the apparent grain size dependence seen under wet conditions infrared absorption measurements on the present specimens and those of the earlier study indicate that for a given rock flow stress can be correlated with the intensity of a residual water related broad absorption the addition of water to a predried specimen results in both a mechanical reweakening and an intensifying of the broadband infrared component the weakening of the dunites under wet conditions is probably strongly influenced by the presence of small amounts of a water related species in the grain boundaries but intragranular weakening may also be contributing it is suggested that the concentration of the water related species in the grain boundaries is governed by its concentration in the small melt fraction present the amounts of water that have been found to be of importance for the strength of these dunites are of the order of 0 01 wt amounts much less than most estimates of the water content of the earth s undepleted upper mantle such water may have an important role in determining upper mantle flow behavior stress strain curves for all experiments are available with entire manuscript on microfiche order from american geophysical union 2000 florida avenue n w washington dc 20009 document b84 008 2 50 payment must accompany order

deep structure of the alps what do we really know abstract in the last five decades the deep structure of the alps has been probed by every geophysical method applicable and the resulting amount of data is unmatched for any other orogen in this study an attempt is made to review the data and the proposed structural models with the aim of separating the certain from the probable and from the speculative information this can be achieved by first reviewing the theoretical resolving power and ambiguity of the applied interpretation methods and then analysing the proposed models the methods reviewed are inversion of surface wave data teleseismic and local earthquake seismic tomography near vertical reflection seismology wide angle reflection and refraction seismology and gravity modelling all information about the moho rated as certain is combined to give a moho map of the alpine area the information rated as certain and probable and additional qualitative arguments are used to discuss a crustal model of the western and central alps represented by two cross sections major structural elements in this crustal model are a thick overthrust penninic nappe system wedging at mid to lower crustal levels a discontinuous moho and strong variations along the strike of the orogen whereas the structures of the european upper crust and of the penninic nappe system are well constrained only few and isolated lower crustal structural elements are rated as certain finally the shape of the lower lithosphere in the alps is discussed by review and comparison of the results from surface wave teleseismic travel time residual and tomographic studies qualitative arguments suggest the existence of a lithospheric root or slab beneath the alps probable tomographic information suggests a south vergent european lithospheric slab beneath the southern alps and the po plain despite the considerable number of studies aimed at resolving the deepest part of alpine orogeny the available quantitative information on the sub moho structure cannot be rated as certain

arecibo radar mapping of the lunar poles a search for ice deposits the arecibo 12 6 centimeter wavelength radar system was used to image the polar regions of the moon at a resolution of 125 meters in a search for ice deposits in areas of possible permanent shadow from the sun no areas greater than 1 square kilometer were found with high radar backscatter cross sections and high circular polarization ratios properties suggestive of the presence of ice a number of areas smaller than 1 square kilometer were found with these properties but optical images from spacecraft missions have shown some of these features to be in sunlight arecibo radar images of sinus iridum at latitude 47 n also showed a number of small features with similar properties the coincidence of some of these features with the radar facing slopes of craters and their presence in sunlit areas suggests that very rough surfaces rather than ice deposits are responsible for their unusual radar properties

uplift of tibet from eclogites to granulites implications for the andean plateau and the variscan belt abstract using a simplified petrogenetic grid and a one dimensional thermal model to compute the evolution of the density of the crust with time the contribution to the uplift of tibet of metamorphic transitions in the lower crust is shown to be large the computations are made for a lower crust of either mafic or intermediate composition a mafic lower crust would have a mantle like density incompatible with seismological results this conclusion implies that any pre thickening gabbroic lower crust has been removed during the orogenic process a lower crust of intermediate composition would be affected by about 3 km of post thickening uplift over a few tens of millions of years this uplift is essentially the result of the eclogite to granulite transformation the resulting altitude matches the present altitude and does not require any delamination of the mantle lithosphere such a process would also explain why the neogene uplift of tibet to an average elevation of 5 km appears to have occurred without crustal shortening the same model may explain the uplift of the altiplano puna plateau which also occurred without surface shortening since about 10 ma a comparison is made with the now collapsed variscan high mountain belt for which there is evidence of a progressive increase of the temperature in the crust over tens of million years