structural analysis of a transform fault rift zone junction in north iceland abstract on the north coast of iceland the rift zone in north iceland is shifted about 120 km to the west where it meets with and joins the mid ocean kolbeinsey ridge this shift occurs along the tjornes fracture zone an 80 km wide zone of high seismicity which is an oblique non perpendicular transform fault there are two main seismic lineaments within the tjornes fracture zone one of which continues on land as a 25 km long wnw trending strike slip fault this fault referred to as the husavik fault meets with and joins north trending normal faults of the theistareykir fissure swarm in the axial rift zone the most clear cut of these junctions occurs in a basaltic pahoehoe lava flow of holocene age where the husavik fault joins a large normal fault called gudfinnugja at this junction the husavik fault strikes n55 w whereas gudfinnugja strikes n5 e so that they meet at an angle of 60 the direction of the spreading vector in north iceland is about n73 w which is neither parallel with the strike of the husavik fault nor perpendicular to the strike of the gudfinnugja fault during rifting episodes there is thus a slight opening on the husavik fault as well as a considerable dextral strike slip movement along the gudfinnugja fault consequently in the holocene lava flow there are tension fractures collapse structures and pressure ridges along the husavik fault and pressure ridges and dextral pull apart structures subparallel with the gudfinnugja fault the 60 angle between the husavik strike slip fault and the gudfinnugja normal fault is the same as the angle between the tjornes fracture zone transform fault and the adjacent axial rift zones of north iceland and the kolbeinsey ridge the junction between the faults of husavik and gudfinnugja may thus be viewed as a smaller scale analogy to the junction between this transform fault and the nearby ridge segments using the results of photoelastic and finite element studies a model is provided for the tectonic development of these junctions the model is based on an analogy between two offset cuts mode i fractures loaded in tension and segments of the axial rift zones or parts thereof in the case of the husavik fault the results indicate that the tjornes fracture zone in general and the husavik fault in particular developed along zones of maximum shear stress furthermore the model suggests that as the ridge segments propagate towards a zero underlapping configuration the angle between them and the associated major strike slip faults gradually increases this conclusion is supported by the trends of the main seismic lineaments of the tjornes fracture zone

the effect of rock strength on weathering rates of sandstone used for angkor temples in cambodia abstract this study determined the weathering rates from the depths of hollows formed by the deterioration of sandstone blocks used to build angkor temples in the 7th 12th centuries due to capillary processes these hollows generally develop at the bases of building components such as doorframes false doorframes window frames and pillars in this study 55 locations in 29 temples were selected to measure maximum hollow depth based on the ages of the temples the weathering rate was calculated to be in the range 7 92 mm ka 1 the weathering rate was found to be independent of building component type and aspect the calculated weathering rate corresponds to the physical weathering rate of sandstone caused by the wetting drying cycles that result from the tropical environment along with the dry season an equation that can estimate the maximum depth of a hollow in a sandstone block was proposed based on temple age and the coefficient obtained from two types of rock hardness values the equation coefficient is an effective index that can help predict the deterioration of stone cultural artifacts such as the angkor temples

longitudinal strike slip faults in oceanic rifting a mesostructural study from western to southeastern iceland abstract mesostructural analysis carried out in several localities of western southern central and southeastern iceland shows an unexpectedly frequent occurrence of strike slip faults parallel to or lying at relatively small angles with the axis of rifting some faults can be interpreted in terms of shear parallel to the rifts whereas others form conjugate systems referable to rift parallel compression axial shear can be explained by the accommodation of differences in the directions of tectonic extension between different segments of the axial rift system and subordinately by lateral rift parallel displacements between the major lithospheric plates axial compression may be attributable to rift oblique transform shear or to mantle transport parallel to the spreading axis compensating local deficiencies in mantle upwelling the data regard 1974 fault surfaces mainly small scale

deterioration of stone materials in the angkor monuments cambodia the angkor monuments in cambodia are built mainly of sandstone and laterite this paper mainly describes the deterioration of sandstone blocks the sandstone in the monuments can be classified into three types based on the colour texture chemical composition and constituent mineral grey to yellowish brown sandstone red sandstone and greenish greywacke the deterioration is distinct in grey to yellowish brown sandstone because of its low compressive strength high porosity well developed bedding and constituent minerals susceptible to alteration such as feldspar and biotite the main causes of deterioration identified are chemical weathering efflorescence related to bat guano and biodeterioration by the growth of trees algae and lichens an water supply is also indispensable for deterioration

lagrangian assessment of simulated surface current dispersion in the coastal ocean 1 a purely lagrangian assessment of dispersion from modeled surface current trajectories in the coastal ocean is presented modeled trajectories come from roms simulations for the southern california bight during the 1996 through 1999 period data are from surface current trajectories collected primarily in the santa barbara channel with code style drifters distributions of particle positions from trajectories emanating from launch locations within 10 kilometers of the coast throughout the santa barbara channel that advect for one through four days lagrangian pdfs are evaluated descriptively and quantitatively the two dimensional kolmogorov smirnov k s statistical test for comparing discrete sampled data with a known probability distribution is the quantitative basis in general dispersion distributions from observations are similar to lagrangian pdfs computed from modeled trajectories and the k s statistic quantifies this accordingly a few specific regions of poor model data agreement are indicated and discussed the purely lagrangian assessment elucidates an improved understanding of model performance and ocean circulation beyond that offered in a eulerian sense and is necessary when modeled trajectories are utilized for applied oceanographic and marine ecology problems

on the strength of oceanic fracture zones and their influence on the intraplate stress field we use the locations and source mechanisms of oceanic intraplate earthquakes to test the hypothesis that the strength of oceanic fracture zones is less than that of normal oceanic lithosphere if fracture zones are weaker than the surrounding lithosphere they should be sites of concentrated intraplate seismicity and the lithospheric stress field should be perturbed in their vicinity the 77 earthquakes selected for the study have well determined focal mechanisms and epicenters in regions where fracture zones are well mapped we have searched for dependence of faulting style fault orientation or principal stress direction on the distance from the nearest fracture zone if fracture zones were generally weaker than the surrounding lithosphere one of the principal horizontal stresses would be oriented nearly perpendicular to the fracture zone we find no evidence that principal stresses near fracture zones are oriented preferentially in this manner there is a slight tendency for earthquakes to occur near fracture zones and patterns of fault orientation and sense of slip support the view that differential cooling and horizontal contraction on fracture zones may contribute seismogenic stress these patterns are not demonstrable at high significance however if oceanic transform fault zones are weak relative to the surrounding lithosphere these results suggest that the strength of the fracture zones increases within a few million years after cessation of transform motion to levels comparable with that of normal oceanic lithosphere

near surface trajectories off central and southern california the near surface circulation in the santa barbara channel and off the coast of central and southern california is described based on 20 releases of drifters drogued 1 m beneath the surface from 12 sites within the channel at bimonthly intervals this description includes small scale features of the circulation which are not part of descriptions based on moored observations or of the statistics of the drifter releases the eventual fate of drifters at long time intervals compared to the residence time in the channel about 7 days is also included in the channel the trajectories document a persistent cyclonic circulation with a typical recirculation period between 3 and 5 days in the spring currents near the mainland are weaker than near the channel islands and the overall flow is toward the southeast trajectories document the possibility for water parcels to leave the channel through the interisland passes in the late fall and winter a poleward flow with velocities often exceeding 0 5 m s 1 is confined within 20 km of the mainland between these two seasons the cyclonic tendency is enhanced although most of the drifters eventually migrate westward the trajectories of drifters released at the same time from sites only 20 km apart can be remarkably different once the drifters migrate out of the channel their trajectories can be grouped into a few patterns in spring and summer drifters tend to remain in the southern california bight their trajectories often remain close over extended periods as if they were caught in convergence zones in fall the drifters often are caught in a poleward current

distortions rotations and crustal thinning at ridge transform intersections when an oceanic ridge intersects a transform fault the newly formed oceanic crust may be severely distorted frequently exhibiting major rotations of fault blocks1 4 such effects typically extend over a 10 km wide strip parallel to the transform by contrast studies of contemporary oceanic transforms suggest that deformation is restricted to a single fault trace within the transform domain5 9 this apparent inconsistency can be reconciled if the rotations occurred at the ridge transform intersection during accretion of the crust here i develop a kinematic model that considers the effect of an ephemeral period of stretching on a region that broadens as the transform is approached along the ridge the strains calculated from this model indicate extension at the ridge simple shear at the transform and composite strains in the region of distributed deformation the model predicts very rapid rotation rates 100 in 104 105 yr the implications for the topography and structure of ridge transform intersections are considered and the alternating periods of extension by stretching and by intrusion are illustrated by reference to contemporary transforms on the mid atlantic ridge the model may also explain the common occurrence of cross cutting dykes near transform faults in ophiolites

salt weathering of sandstone at the angkor monuments cambodia identification of the origins of salts using sulfur and strontium isotopes abstract the angkor monuments in northwestern cambodia which are primarily made of sandstone are suffering from deterioration due to salt weathering in order to elucidate the sources of the salts and salt weathering process this paper analyzed bulk chemical compositions and s sulfur and sr strontium isotopic ratios for the salts and surrounding environmental materials at places where bats inhabit the structures various kinds of sulfate and phosphate salts are formed on the surface of the sandstone the results of the analysis demonstrate that the s and p phosphorus components in the salts are primarily derived from bat guano moreover ca calcium which is the major element in the salts is suggested to be derived from both bat guano and the sandstone the isotopic data strongly suggests that bat guano is related to salt weathering removal of these animal excrements is essential for future conservation of these monuments on the other hand exfoliation of sandstone commonly occurs due to crystallization of calcite caco 3 on platform surfaces of pyramid type monuments a large amount of ca in calcite is suggested to be derived from calcite cement of the building sandstone

structural and volcanic expression of a fast slipping ridge transform ridge plate boundary sea marc i and photographic surveys at the clipperton transform fault a high resolution near bottom survey has been conducted of the clipperton transform fault and adjoining segments of the east pacific rise epr using the sea marc i side looking sonar system and the lamont doherty geological observatory olympus based camera system the transform fault zone tfz is a narrow well defined belt of transform parallel lineaments which varies along strike from a single sharp edged notch to a complex band of subparallel lineaments up to 1 km wide the tfz is set within a 5 km wide band of unusually fine grained side scan texture which could indicate nonbasaltic seafloor and or pervasively sheared and mass wasted basaltic crust the fine grained swath is surrounded by constructional volcanic terrain with no hint of strike slip motion this observation puts an upper limit of 5 km on the extent of lateral migration of the tfz in the last 1 5 m y both ridge transform intersections rtis are dominated by bathymetric highs located on the old plate opposite the spreading center a mantling of fresh looking constructional volcanic terrain on side scan images suggests that the highs are built in part by recent extrusive and intrusive volcanism thermal expansion may also play a part the epr south of clipperton has recently experienced extrusion of high effusion rate basalts burial of faults and fissures by lava flows and development of vigorous hydrothermal circulation on the epr north of clipperton the axial zone of faults and fissures tapers toward the transform fault this may reflect a change in the shape or size of the underlying shallow level magma feeders as a function of distance from the site of magma upwelling or distance toward the transform fault

are oceanic fracture zones locked and strong or weak new evidence for volcanic activity and weakness traditionally oceanic fracture zones and other lithospheric and crustal faults have been viewed as zones of weakness that are vulnerable to seismic and volcanic activity this notion has recently been questioned on the basis of evidence showing that initial depth offsets scarp height across some pacific fracture zones are preserved even after 100 m y of differential subsidence this evidence suggests that some parts of oceanic fracture zones are locked shortly after they drift away from ridge transform intersections because the fracture zones seem to be strong welds differential cooling stresses cause flexure in the lithosphere on both sides of the fracture in this paper we briefly review the seemingly contradictory evidence for the thermomechanical characteristics of oceanic fracture zones locked and strong vs slipped and weak and present new evidence indicating that parts of some fracture zones are volcanically active volcanism is an indication of relative weakness because strain and failure are required to open volcanic conduits this and other evidence for the inherent weakness of fracture zones can be reconciled with evidence for strength if different segments of fracture zones exhibit contrasting thermomechanical behavior more data are needed to determine whether this is so and whether there are systematic patterns of distribution for weak and strong parts of individual fracture zones

circulation over the continental shelf in the northern gulf of mexico abstract more than 750 surface drifters were deployed over the northern continental shelf in the gulf of mexico gulf from 1993 through 1998 drifters were mostly air deployed on a schedule giving continuous data over much of the texas louisiana and west florida shelves for an entire year the drifter data are analyzed to give descriptive statistical and dynamical views of the northern gulf circulation on synoptic to seasonal scales circulation on both the texas louisiana and west florida shelves is characterized by coherent along shore and across shore modes which explain more than 50 of the variance a pronounced seasonal cycle exists on the texas louisiana shelf but not the west florida shelf both shelves display synoptic signals due to local wind forcing strong connectivity between the shelves occurs during isolated period of strong winds associated with the passage of tropical storms eddies impinging upon the shelf are responsible for moving drifters cross shore offshore flows generally occur prior to reversals in the along shore direction regions with near zero mean velocities but large total energy exist drifters leave these areas and move thorough much of the gulf and into the atlantic within 90 days despite negligible annual mean eulerian velocities

statistical analysis of the surface circulation of the california current we use a set of mixed layer drifting buoy trajectories from the california current 20 n 40 n during 1985 1990 to obtain statistically reliable estimates of the mean currents the mean variance field and the geographically varying diffusivity integral timescales and integral space scales typical values for the diffusivity are 1 1 8 7 107 cm2 s 1 while the timescales and space scales are 2 1 7 1 days and 16 59 km respectively the variance field displays a strong westward gradient out to 125 w and diffusivity shows a tendency to decrease toward the southwest part of the domain significant anisotropy is found in the variance field near the coastal boundary and at 30 n 130 w which is the region where the subarctic and northern subtropical fronts approach the california current the antisymmetric component of the diffusivity tensor indicates that cyclonic eddies dominate the mesoscale signature of drifters in this region we seek simple parameterizations to relate the scales of motion of the random velocity field to the diffusivity by testing least squares fits to u02t and u0l where u02 is the velocity variance we found no cases for which these two hypotheses could be distinguished for the meridional component the linear regressions are not successful which suggests that the meridional departure velocities result from a flow regime that is significantly organized by for example waves or coherent structures a subset of the drifters measured temperature along their tracks and we use the resultant data to produce the first direct estimates of the horizontal eddy heat flux divergence based on lagrangian estimates in addition we separately compute the eddy diffusivity parameterization of the eddy heat flux divergence u using our diffusivity estimates and a sea surface temperature climatology the two independent terms agree well which provides a measure of reassurance about the diffusivity estimates the eddy heat flux divergence in the california current is very small 5 w m 2 and does not appear to be significant in the long term heat budget of the upper ocean in this region

statistical aspects of surface drifter observations of circulation in the santa barbara channel argos tracked drifters are used to study the near surface circulation in the santa barbara channel the mean consists of a cyclonic cell in the western santa barbara channel with weaker flow in the eastern channel drifter mean velocities agree well with record means from near surface current meters at the eastern entrance to the channel drifter velocities are biased toward outflow eastward velocity conditions drifter variability at synoptic and seasonal scales shows a tendency for upwelling and eastward flow in spring a strong cyclonic circulation in summer poleward relaxation in fall and weak variable circulation in winter drifter estimates of eddy stress divergence indicate advective terms play a secondary role in the mean surface momentum balance lagrangian time and space scales are about 1 day and under 10 km respectively the mismatch between lagrangian and eulerian timescales indicates advective terms are important to the fluctuating circulation

deep tow studies of the vema fracture zone 1 tectonics of a major slow slipping transform fault and its intersection with the mid atlantic ridge the vema transform fault which slips at a rate of 24 mm yr displaces the mid atlantic ridge mar 320 km in a left lateral sense high resolution deep tow studies of the vema ridge transform intersection rti and the eastern 130 km of the active transform fault reveal a complex pattern of dip slip and strike slip faults which evolve in time and space at the intersection both the neovolcanic zone and the west wall of the mar rift valley curve counterclockwise toward the transform fault along trends approximately 30 oblique to the regional north south trend of the spreading axis the curving of extensional structures in the rift valley such as normal faults and the axial zone of dike injection appears to be related to transmission of transform related shear stresses into the spreading center domain intermittent locking of the american and african lithospheric plates across the rti causes shear stresses to penetrate up to 4 km into the mar axial neovolcanic zone where the lithosphere is relatively thin and up to 12 km into the block faulted west wall of the rift valley where the lithosphere is thicker the degree of shear coupling across the rti may vary with time due to changes in the thickness of the lithosphere along the axis 0 10 km the strength of a mantle weld at depth and the presence or absence of an axial magma chamber so that extensional structures at the rti may be either spreading center parallel when coupling is weak or oblique when coupling is strong oblique extension across the rti in addition to other factors may account for some of the down dropping of lithosphere within the deep nodal basin the easternmost 20 km of the active transform fault zone near the rti displays a braided network of three to nine tectonically active grabens and v shaped furrows in a zone 2 4 km wide interpreted to consist of interwoven riedel shears p shears and oblique normal faults clay cake deformation experiments and deep tow observations suggest that p shears and r shears which are 10 20 oblique to the transform slip direction develop during the initial stages of transform faulting near the rti as the newly accreted lithosphere accelerates to full plate velocity some of the r shears propagate along strike and intercept the oblique normal faults resulting in sharply curving scarps at the rti subsequent to this merging of the two fault types some of the r shears develop a significant component of dip slip while other r shears merge with p shears creating a complex anastomosing fault pattern up to 4 km wide a continuous strand within this braided pattern of faults is interpreted to be the principal transform displacement zone near the rti twenty kilometers west of the rti the active transform fault zone narrows to a furrow generally less than 100 m wide with only a few short discontinuous splays this narrow groove cuts through thinly sedimented basalt 20 40 km west of the rti and continues as a narrow furrow less than 100 m wide through up to 1 5 km of layered turbidite fill most of the way to the western rti such a narrow zone of deformation typifies the mature stages of transform faulting where the lithosphere on both sides of the transform fault is relatively old thick and rigid and has completed its acceleration to full plate velocity the transform fault zone is closely associated with a partially buried median ridge and widens to 1 2 km where it transects exposed portions of the ridge the transform parallel median and transverse ridges create the highest topography associated with the transform fault and may be serpentinized ultramafic intrusions capped by displaced crustal blocks of gabbro metagabbro and basalt

velocity probability density functions for oceanic floats probability density functions pdfs of daily velocities from subsurface floats deployed in the north atlantic and equatorial atlantic oceans are examined in general the pdfs are approximately gaussian for small velocities but with significant exponential tails for large velocities correspondingly the kurtoses of the distributions are greater than three similar pdfs are found in both western and eastern regions above and below 1000 m depth with more significant non gaussianity in the north atlantic than at the equator analogously lagrangian statistics in decaying two dimensional turbulence also display non gaussian velocity pdfs with approximately exponential tails in the limit of large reynolds number

eulerian and lagrangian velocity distributions in the north atlantic velocity probability density functions pdfs are calculated using data from subsurface current meters in the western north atlantic ocean the pdfs are weakly but significantly non gaussian they deviate from normality because of an excess of energetic events and there are evidently more such events in the main thermocline than in the deep ocean the pdfs are also compared with those obtained from subsurface floats in the same region the pdfs are statistically indistinguishable so long as the float data are averaged in appropriately sized bins taking too small bins yields overly gaussian float pdfs and taking too large bins yields too non gaussian pdfs with this caveat the lagrangian and eulerian pdfs agree consistent with expectations from theory and previous numerical simulations

weathering of coastal defensive structures in southwest england a 500 year stone durability trial historic structures can be viewed as exposure trials of the stone of which they are constructed as such they represent a geomorphological weathering experiment several structures of henrician sixteenth century and greater age on the coast of southwest england have been exposed to coastal salt weathering for 500 600 years long term weathering rates on five different rock groups are derived from careful study of weathering depths and forms there is significant variation in weathering rate between five major rock groups rank ordering of weathering rate values reveals a durability order of these rock groups which is confirmed by local juxtapositions controls on rock durability in the coastal weathering environment include both mechanical and mineralogical characteristics specific density and combined quartz and muscovite content are positively related to durability high feldspar and chlorite content are associated with low durability copyright 2000 john wiley sons ltd

evidence for a fossil transform fault in the solund stavfjord ophiolite complex west norwegian caledonides on the island of tviberg west norway a sheeted dike complex is rotated anticlockwise into parallelism with a zone of strong deformation hosting screens of sheared meta ultramafite incompatible element enriched high level plutonic rocks and two swarms of mafic dikes are intruded into sheared and unsheared meta ultramafites intrusion and sinistral shearing of the high level plutonic rocks and an old swarm of mafic dikes took place contemporaneously with sinistral shearing of the meta ultrabasites these field relationships are interpreted to reflect magmatism within a transform fault and the dike rotation is explained as fault drag along a strike slip zone in the transform a younger swarm of mafic dikes striking at a high angle to the shear zones transects all tectonic structures and may reflect a second phase of magmatism within the transform in fault contact with the transform fault related plutonic rocks and dikes lenses of serpentine diatreme breccias and lenses of sediments composed of mafic and ultramafic detritus are hosted in a phyllonitic matrix comprising basic ultrabasic and continent derived detritus this rock unit is interpreted as an ophiolitic melange and it probably started to form when obduction of the ophiolite nucleated on the transform

insolation weathering and hygric dilatation two competitive factors in stone degradation in the natural environment temperature and moisture are very important parameters in stone degradation therefore on 28 samples from different lithologies magmatic metamorphic and sedimentary rocks thermal and hygric expansion measurements were performed in order to constrain their behaviour related to environmental changes it was shown that marbles even those that are dolomitic are sensitive to temperature impacts for rocks with clay minerals the effect of temperature may be responsible for shrinking finally the amount of residual strain i e the formation of microcracks due to temperature action controls the rate of stone degradation for most sedimentary rocks no residual strain after heating was observed in contrast to most magmatic and metamorphic low porosity rocks sedimentary rocks contain swelling minerals like smectite and even phyllosilicates which are very sensitive to hygric attacks the cycles of wetting and drying i e the natural environmental effects may significantly control the deterioration velocity caused by hygric expansion

durability of carbonate rock as building stone with comments on its preservation carbonate rocks have been extensively used as building stones because of their availability workability and attractiveness unfortunately however some stones suffer from chemical attack or freeze thaw activity the environmental affects especially those due to pollution of the atmosphere are discussed in terms of weathering processes salt crystallization and acid deposition a review of some recent research in relation to deterioration of stone in urban environments is given and carbonate rocks are classified in relation to position within a building geographical location and degree of pollution some comments on stone preservation are provided especially in terms of the properties a preservative should possess

salt and ice crystallisation in porous sandstones salt and ice crystallisation in the pore spaces causes major physical damage to natural building stones the damaging effect of these processes can be traced back to physically induced stress inside of the rock while crystallizing the increasing scientific research done during the past century has shown that there are numerous parameters that have an influence on the weathering resulting from these processes however the working mechanisms of the stress development within the rock and its material dependency are still subject to discussion this article gives an overview of salt and ice weathering additionally laboratory results of various sandstones examined are presented salt crystallisation tests and freeze thaw tests were done to obtain information about how crystallisation weathering depends on material characteristics such as pore space water transportation and mechanical features simultaneous measuring of the length alternating during the salt and ice crystallisation has revealed detailed information on the development of crystal in the pore spaces as well as the development of stress these findings can help to understand the damaging mechanisms

dynamical instability produces transform faults at mid ocean ridges transform faults at mid ocean ridges one of the most striking yet enigmatic features of terrestrial plate tectonics are considered to be the inherited product of preexisting fault structures ridge offsets along these faults therefore should remain constant with time here numerical models suggest that transform faults are actively developing and result from dynamical instability of constructive plate boundaries irrespective of previous structure boundary instability from asymmetric plate growth can spontaneously start in alternate directions along successive ridge sections the resultant curved ridges become transform faults within a few million years fracture related rheological weakening stabilizes ridge parallel detachment faults offsets along the transform faults change continuously with time by asymmetric plate growth and discontinuously by ridge jumps

characteristic patterns of shelf circulation at the boundary between central and southern california 1 the coastal circulation in the santa barbara channel sbc and the southern central california shelf is described in terms of three characteristic flow patterns the upwelling pattern consists of a prevailing equatorward flow at the surface and at 45 m depth except in the area immediately adjacent to the mainland coast in the sbc where the prevailing cyclonic circulation is strong enough to reverse the equatorward tendency and the flow is toward the west in the surface convergent pattern north of point conception the surface flow is equatorward while the flow at 45 m depth is poleward east of point conception along the mainland coast the flow is westward at all depths and there results a convergence at the surface between point conception and point arguello with offshore transport over a distance on the order of 100 km beneath the surface layer the direction of the flow is consistently poleward the relaxation pattern is almost the reverse of the upwelling pattern with the exception that in the sbc the cyclonic circulation is such that the flow north of the channel islands remains eastward although weak the upwelling pattern is more likely to occur in march and april after the spring transition when the winds first become upwelling favorable and while the surface pressure is uniform the surface convergent pattern tends to occur in summer when the wind is still strong and persistently upwelling favorable and the alongshore variable upwelling has build up alongshore surface pressure gradients the relaxation pattern occurs in late fall and early winter after the end of the period of persistent upwelling favorable winds

evaluation of trajectory modeling in different dynamic regions using normalized cumulative lagrangian separation 1 the lagrangian separation distance between the endpoints of simulated and observed drifter trajectories is often used to assess the performance of numerical particle trajectory models however the separation distance fails to indicate relative model performance in weak and strong current regions such as a continental shelf and its adjacent deep ocean a new skill score is proposed based on the cumulative lagrangian separation distances normalized by the associated cumulative trajectory lengths this skill score is used to evaluate surface trajectories implied by global hycom hindcast surface currents as gauged against actual satellite tracked drifter trajectories in the eastern gulf of mexico during the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill it is found that the new skill score correctly indicates the relative performance of the global hycom in modeling the strong currents of the gulf of mexico loop current and the gulf stream and the weaker currents of the west florida shelf in contrast the lagrangian separation distance alone gives a misleading result the proposed dimensionless skill score is particularly useful when the number of drifter trajectories is limited and neither a conventional eulerian based velocity nor a lagrangian based probability density function may be estimated

propagation and linkage of oceanic ridge segments we have investigated the propagation of spreading ridges and the development of structures that link ridge segments using an analogy between ridges and cracks in elastic plates the ridge propagation force and a path factor that controls propagation direction were calculated for echelon ridge segments propagating toward each other the ridge propagation force increases as ridge ends approach but then declines sharply as the ends pass so ridge segments may overlap somewhat the sign of the path factor changes as ridge ends approach and pass so the overlapping ridge ends may diverge and then converge following a hook shaped path the magnitudes of shear stresses in the plane of the plate and orientations of maximum shear planes between adjacent ridge segments were calculated to study transform faulting for different loading conditions simulating ridge push plate pull and ridge suction we identify a zone of intense mechanical interaction between adjacent ridge ends in which stresses are concentrated for all conditions the shear stress in the interaction zone increases as ends approach and remains large as the ends overlap thus crust in this zone may fracture and weaken in preparation for the formation of a through going transform fault the calculated shear planes rotate toward an orientation about 90 from the strike of ridges as the ends pass thus favoring the orthogonal arrangement of ridges and transforms the magnitudes of mean stresses in the plane of the plate and orientations of principal stress planes were also calculated the mean stress is tensile in the interaction zone so basins may form there except in the case of ridge push loading the planes across which the maximum tension acts are oblique to ridges thus favoring obliquely oriented normal faults bounding the transform valley

damage phenomenon and petrophysical properties of sandstones at the phnom bakheng temple angkor cambodia first investigations and possible conservation measures sandstones clay in the form of bricks and laterite are the building materials used by the khmer to construct the imposing and magnificent temples in southeast asia many of these monuments suffer from fracturing sanding contour scaling crust formation and salt weathering the affinity to weathering is closely connected to the type of material two sandstone types classified as feldspathic arenite and quartz arenite of angkor as well as two arkosic sandstones from thailand are described and investigated in this study important petrophysical properties determined for the different sandstones consist of hydric expansion thermal expansion pore radii distribution and ultrasonic velocity different investigations such as capillary water uptake surface hardness hygroscopic water sorption and salt resistance tests were undertaken in the laboratory to characterize the various rock types observations and quantified damage mapping were done onsite at the phnom bakheng temple contour scaling in the form of weathering crusts is one of the main deterioration features observable at the angkor monuments comparisons are made between the building stone the crust material from the phnom bakheng temple and fresh stone material used for restoration significant differences in hydric and especially in thermal expansion of the crust and sandstone have been determined the results seem to indicate that extensional processes occur which can be considered a force for detachment i e contour scaling flaking in an experimental trial the hydric and thermal expansion of the weathering crust and the building stone was significantly reduced by using a weak acid for the crust and a swelling inhibitor for the original building stone

microearthquake evidence for extension across the kane transform fault we report the results of a microearthquake experiment conducted in 1987 in the active transform portion of the kane fracture zone the kane is a slow slipping 25 mm yr large offset 150 km transform delineated by a pronounced transform valley the experiment site lies in the eastern half of the transform 40 km west of the eastern ridge transform intersection in a region of marked transform parallel topography the network consisted of 12 ocean bottom hydrophones and seismometers and extended for 25 km along the transform and 10 km in width spanning the transform valley and a narrow median ridge to the north hypocentral parameters were determined for 86 earthquakes epicenters within the network define a narrow transform parallel trend along the steep southern wall of the transform valley maximum focal depths increase from 6 to 9 km from east to west across the network significant activity was also detected outside the transform tectonized zone to the southeast this activity may be associated with the inside corner of the ridge transform intersection while to the north about 20 events occurred in 7 m y old crust in a region of ridge parallel bathymetry six focal mechanisms were obtained from p wave first motions for events within the transform valley the best constrained solutions for four earthquakes within the network show normal faulting on fault planes subparallel to the trend of the transform all the mechanisms indicate a tension axis perpendicular to the trend of the transform these results together with a significant historical record of large earthquakes near the experiment site lead us to conclude that the principal transform displacement zone was inactive during our experiment and that the activity we recorded is the result of extension in the adjacent lithosphere the observed focal mechanisms and the inference that the axis of least compressive stress is approximately perpendicular to the transform provide direct evidence that the transform fault is mechanically weak relative to the surrounding lithosphere potential sources of extension across the transform include thermal stress in the young oceanic lithosphere topographic loading a small component of plate divergence normal to the transform and northward motion of the asthenosphere relative to the surface plate

hydrofracturing stress measurements in the iceland research drilling project drill hole at reydarfjordur iceland two independent suites of hydrofracturing stress measurements were conducted in the top 600 m of the iceland research drilling project deep hole at reydarfjordur east iceland as indicated by the continuously extracted drill core the tested section consists of tertiary subaerial tholeiitic lava flows cut by many basaltic dikes the density of the basalt was used to estimate the vertical stress v in megapascals at depth d in meters v 0 027d in the 33 to 270 m depth range the horizontal principal stresses hmax and hmin as calculated from hydrofracturing results increase gradually with depth but at a lower rate than the vertical stress hmin 2 1 0 016d hmax 3 3 0 016d in the 300 to 550 m depth range a major perturbation occurs with both horizontal stress magnitudes rapidly rising between 300 and 400 m and then uniformly decreasing between 400 and 550 m to a level apparently predictable by the relationships obtained in the top 270 m conditions favoring normal faulting v hmax hmin were established in the 540 to 580 m range and are conjectured to persist at greater depths since the vertical stress gradient is higher than that of hmax and hmin this would be in accord with the predominant fault type in east iceland the relative low horizontal stress values and the small difference between them are supportive of ocean floor spreading theories and contradict near surface high compressive stresses previously determined by hast 1973 in east iceland the large increase in horizontal stress in the range of 300 to 500 m depth is not understood a correlation appears to exist between the zone of almost unintruded thick lava flows 200 500 m and that of high stresses an intuitive model suggesting locked in stresses in this zone is proposed the hydrofracturing determined overall mean direction of hmax is n50 e while a more selective sampling of results yields n40 e the measured stress directions appear to be reasonably compatible with the local structure such as dike direction nne and lava dip wsw significantly hmax direction is subparallel to the n20 e trend of the nearest fissure swarms in the axial rift zone this almost coincidence of directions like the measured stress magnitudes is also in agreement with the model of spreading lithospheric plates being pulled apart

major tectonic rotation along an oceanic transform zone northern iceland evidence from field and paleomagnetic investigations abstract we provide structural and paleomagnetic evidence for major distributed rotational shear adjacent to and including the active husavik flatey transform fault in the southern part of the tjornes fracture zone of north iceland in the flateyjarskagi peninsula immediately south of the fault dike and bedding trends gradually change over about 11 km in approaching the transform fault main trace in map view this pattern is seen as a progressive clockwise curvature of structural elements that equals or in some cases exceeds 90 we present paleomagnetic analyses that verify large clockwise rotations of the same order as the curvature of structural elements observed we compare our field and paleomagnetic observations with results from careful analog modeling that demonstrate how regional curvature of structures results from distributed strain that dominates the early stages of transform shear deformation prior to the appearance of a transform fault system comprised of discrete shears our paleomagnetic results were obtained from one relatively undisturbed reference site and three sites of deformed rocks in flateyjarskagi and two in tjornes peninsula these results indicate large vertical axis rotations and the progressive deflection of dike trends throughout northern flateyjarskagi also serves as a separate quantitative estimate of vertical axis rotation the clockwise vertical axis rotation estimates of 71 97 from dikes are less than those deduced from paleomagnetism but the order of magnitude is correct and we attribute the differences as mainly reflecting imperfect bed attitude adjustments used in analyses the problem is typical for deformed rocks from high latitude sites with steeply inclined paleomagnetic vectors we consider our field measurements of dikes as more accurate indicators of true tectonic rotation this regional deformation of miocene rocks occurred early in the evolution of the tfz transform probably beginning ca 7 ma when an older rift zone present in western north iceland jumped to its present nvz location in northeast iceland the early deformations involved shear strain distributed over a region about 20 km broad and produced the curved structures this phase was followed by the sequential development of more narrowly distributed discrete shears generating the initial husavik flatey transform fault

comparative investigation of the spatial distribution of past weathering impacts on sandstone masonry abstract inspection of the deterioration of both natural outcrops and historical built stone facades reveals that patterns of disruption are not uniform indicating the influence of material and environmental properties sandstones have a spatial variability in weathering response for this reason geostatistical techniques have been applied to studies of sandstone properties mineralogical and structural that influence susceptibility to decay for this study a comparative analysis of permeability data acquired from a quarry fresh stone and a weathered sample is undertaken the depositional processes that resulted in the formation of sandstone also create structures of spatial variation such as laminations or larger bedding planes within the material using geostatistical techniques the permeability variance observed within quarry fresh blocks of sandstone indicates the subsampling of larger geological structures when cut from the quarry face once blocks have been emplaced within a building they will be subjected to the increased stress of the urban environment these conditions result in exacerbated weathering through processes such as salt and chemical weathering weathering can alter material properties such as permeability with the creation of a secondary permeability produced by the opening pores and alteration of pore connectivity through the application of geostatistics in the analysis of permeability data observed from the weathered block variography reveals the presence of smaller scale structures this suggests that alteration of the sandstone s permeability has led to the creation of new weathering structures within the stone overwriting the initial sedimentary structures these weathering related structures will affect both the magnitude and spatial distribution of permeability within the weathered block the interconnected pathways of permeability created by past weathering facilitate the migration of moisture and salts in solution through the substrate this work has demonstrated that through a geostatistical approach with the application of co kriging these potential moisture pathways can be identified and visualised

submesoscale impacts on horizontal and vertical transport in the gulf of mexico 1 impacts of submesoscale processes on transport are investigated numerically in an energetic mesoscale flow with an ocean model run at two horizontal resolutions 1 and 5 km the focus is the northwestern gulf of mexico where the loop current eddies are surrounded by smaller vortices by increasing the horizontal resolution the number and strength of submesoscale eddies and vorticity filaments within the mixed layer increase dramatically and with them the vertical velocities inside the coherent eddies and at their peripheries increased vertical velocities for increasing resolution are associated to near inertial motions and they are not limited to the mixed layer but are found at all depths horizontal velocities on the contrary are similar lagrangian isobaric tracers are deployed close to the surface and at 100 m and three dimensional neutrally buoyant particles are released close to the surface at the base of the mixed layer and at 100 m the modeled horizontal dispersion curves for each deployment depth are independent of the kind of particles and of horizontal resolution close to the ocean surface however convergence zones generated by submesoscale ageostrophic motions and resolved at 1 km resolution influence the details of the tracer distributions vertical dispersion increases by several folds for increasing resolution at all depths explored with the largest differences found close to the surface therefore submesoscales processes play a fundamental role in driving vertical transport in eddy dominated flows both within and below the mixed layer for times comparable to the eulerian time scale

preliminary observations on the impact of complex stress histories on sandstone response to salt weathering laboratory simulations of process combinations historic sandstone structures carry an inheritance or a memory of past stresses that the stone has undergone since its placement in a facade this inheritance which conditions present day performance may be made up of long term exposure to a combination of low magnitude background environmental factors for example salt weathering temperature and moisture cycling and superimposed upon these less frequent but potentially high magnitude events or exceptional factors for example lime rendering severe frost events fire the impact of complex histories on the decay pathways of historic sandstone is not clearly understood but this paper seeks to improve that understanding through the use of a laboratory process combination study blocks of quartz sandstone peakmoor from nw england were divided into subsets that experienced different histories lime rendering and removal fire and freeze thaw cycles in isolation and combination that reflected the event timeline of a real medieval sandstone monument in ne ireland bonamargy friary mccabe et al 2006b these subsets were then subject to salt weathering cycles using a 10 salt solution of nacl and mgso4 that represents the every day stress environment of for example sandstone structures in coastal or polluted urban location block response to salt weathering was monitored by collecting drying and weighing the debris that was released as blocks were immersed in the salt solution at the beginning of each cycle the results illustrate the complexity of the stone decay system showing that seemingly small variations in stress history can produce divergent response to salt weathering cycles applied to real world historic sandstone structures this concept may help to explain the spatial and temporal variability of sandstone response to background environmental factors on a single facade and encourage conservators to include the role of stress inheritance when selecting and implementing conservation strategies

inscription legibility method for estimating rock weathering rates abstract relative legibility of dated inscription is closely associated with measured surface recessions for 3895 vermont marble tombstones and the resulting ordinal to ratio transfer function allows weathering rates to be computed for many exposed rock surfaces that cannot be measured by more accurate methods case studies demonstrate applications of the technique 1 surfaces of horizontal ground level marble plaques have dissolved at steady rates of 1 3 mm 100 yr in providence ri and 1 1 mm 100 yr in richmond va despite reports of increasing acid rain 2 vertical faces of century old marble tombstones in upper midwestern united states small towns have receded 10 times faster 1 4 mm 100 yr than have stones in less polluted environments 3 vertical faces of limestone monuments have receded at half the rate 0 5 mm 100 yr of vermont marble tombstones 0 9 mm 100 yr in louisville ky 4 aspect differences have not affected recession rates of marble pillar surfaces near philadelphia pa 5 aspect is important to sandstone granular weathering rates at inscription rock nm where north facing cliffs recede 3 times faster 0 9 mm 100 yr than do southeast facing cliffs 6 horizontal pre weathered quartizite surfaces at a scenic overlook in maryland recede at 0 6 mm 100 yr

assessment of sandstone deterioration at ta keo temple angkor first results and future prospects a first application of geomorphological methods to the assessment of sandstone deterioration at angkor is presented damage diagnosis was carried out on the first eastern tier of the central pyramid of the 1 000 year old ta keo temple methods combine field observations and measurements at 230 sampling points high resolution lasergrammetry and stereophotogrammetry on a 2 m2 test zone and sem observations the first results indicate that decay operates through a synergistic combination of weathering phenomena dominated by scaling and solution and exhibits a high spatial variability percentages of deteriorated surfaces vary from 17 6 to 93 8 and average stone recession values from 0 00 to 2 71 cm minimum and 0 34 to 5 49 cm maximum on the test zone stereophotogrammetry and 3d mapping of the present and reconstructed initial states using lasergrammetry indicate that erosion scars up to 6 cm deep have formed since 1963 on the whole the amount of deteriorated surfaces more than tripled between 1963 and 2008 the degree of implication of salts in stone decay remains unclear for most efflorescences are composed of calcite caco3 with secondary importance of barite baso4 and gypsum caso4 2h2o future prospects aim to evaluate the impact on stone decay of the clearing out of the temple from the forest in the 1920s

weathering of sandstone lotus petals at the angkor site a 1 000 year stone durability trial this article is based on field investigations carried out at ta keo and banteay srei temples angkor cambodia which have similar environmental histories and display the same recurrent decorative pattern lotus petal in three different sandstone lithotypes based on two original scales of mechanical and chemical weathering the degree of deterioration of c 2000 sandstone petals was visually assessed resulting in the proposal of a durability scale an explanatory scheme was provided based on laboratory analyses of stone materials icp aes xrd sem eds polarizing microscopy and mercury injection the key drivers of sandstone durability are both mineralogical and petrophysical the remarkable preservation of the pink sandstone is due to the quartzose nature of its clasts the non swelling clay content of its abundant matrix kaolinite and its porosity structure large connected pores and probable non connected porosity the overall good preservation of the green sandstone is due to its extremely low porosity and specific surface area associated with its strong cementation the severe deterioration of the grey sandstone is due to its laminated structure oriented biotites the susceptibility to hygric swelling and solution of its binding agents chlorite smectite and calcite and its porosity structure which evolves during a two stage weathering sequence the first stage is characterized by a bimodal porosity due to the partial clogging of macropores by swelling clays and the second stage by a substantial increase in porosity and the penetration of salts barite and anhydrite conversely oxidation phenomena associated with weathering can lead to a drastic reduction of porosity

circulation and multiple scale variability in the southern california bight abstract the oceanic circulation in the southern california bight scb is influenced by the large scale california current offshore tropical remote forcing through the coastal wave guide alongshore and local atmospheric forcing the region is characterized by local complexity in the topography and coastline all these factors engender variability in the circulation on interannual seasonal and intraseasonal time scales this study applies the regional oceanic modeling system roms to the scb circulation and its multiple scale variability the model is configured in three levels of nested grids with the parent grid covering the whole us west coast the first child grid covers a large southern domain and the third grid zooms in on the scb region the three horizontal grid resolutions are 20 km 6 7 km and 1 km respectively the external forcings are momentum heat and freshwater flux at the surface and adaptive nudging to gyre scale soda reanalysis fields at the boundaries the momentum flux is from a three hourly reanalysis mesoscale mm5 wind with a 6 km resolution for the finest grid in the scb the oceanic model starts in an equilibrium state from a multiple year cyclical climatology run and then it is integrated from years 1996 through 2003 in this paper the 8 year simulation at the 1 km resolution is analyzed and assessed against extensive observational data high frequency hf radar data current meters acoustic doppler current profilers adcp data hydrographic measurements tide gauges drifters altimeters and radiometers the simulation shows that the domain scale surface circulation in the scb is characterized by the southern california cyclonic gyre comprised of the offshore equatorward california current system and the onshore poleward southern california countercurrent the simulation also exhibits three subdomain scale persistent i e standing cyclonic eddies related to the local topography and wind forcing the santa barbara channel eddy the central scb eddy and the catalina clemente eddy comparisons with observational data reveal that roms reproduces a realistic mean state of the scb oceanic circulation as well as its interannual mainly as a local manifestation of an enso event seasonal and intraseasonal eddy scale variations we find high correlations of the wind curl with both the alongshore pressure gradient apg and the eddy kinetic energy level in their variations on time scales of seasons and longer the geostrophic currents are much stronger than the wind driven ekman flows at the surface the model exhibits intrinsic eddy variability with strong topographically related heterogeneity westward propagating rossby waves and poleward propagating coastally trapped waves albeit with smaller amplitude than observed due to missing high frequency variations in the southern boundary conditions

oceanic transform earthquakes with unusual mechanisms or locations relation to fault geometry and state of stress in the adjacent lithosphere on oceanic transforms most earthquakes are expected to occur on the principal transform displacement zone ptdz and to have strike slip mechanisms consistent with transform parallel motion we conducted a search for transform earthquakes departing from this pattern on the basis of source mechanisms and locations taken from the harvard centroid moment tensor catalogue and the bulletin of the international seismological centre respectively events with unusual mechanisms occur on several transforms we have determined the source mechanisms and centroid depths of 10 such earthquakes on the st paul s marathon owen heezen tharp menard and rivera transforms from inversions of long period body waveforms relative locations of earthquakes along these transforms have been determined with a multiple event relocation technique much of the anomalous earthquake activity on oceanic transforms is associated with complexities in the geometry of the ptdz or the presence of large structural features that may influence slip on the fault reverse faulting earthquakes occur at a compressional bend in the owen transform in the area of mount error and at the st paul s transform near st peter s and st paul s rocks a normal faulting earthquake on the heezen transform is located at the edge of a pull apart basin marking an extensional offset of the fault normal faulting earthquakes along the tharp menard and rivera transforms may also be related to extensional offsets some events with unusual mechanisms occur outside of the transform fault zone however and do not appear to be related to fault zone geometry for instance earthquakes with mechanisms indicating reverse faulting on ridge parallel fault planes are located near the ridge transform intersections of the st paul s and the marathon transforms possible additional contributors to the occurrence of anomalous earthquakes include recent changes in plate motion differential lithospheric cooling and the development of a zone of weakness along the fault zone but we do not find strong evidence to confirm the influence of these processes

formation and growth of normal faults at the divergent plate boundary in iceland the divergent plate boundary in iceland is characterized by 40 80 km long and 5 10 km wide swarms of tension fractures 102 m long and normal faults 103 m long the upper part of the crust is mainly composed of lava flows with abundant columnar joints that are mostly perpendicular to the lava contacts the lava flows are horizontal at the surface of the rift zone but become tilted at the rate of 1 for every 150 m depth in the crust at the surface of the rift zone the joints are vertical and parallel to the vertical principal stress because of tilting of the lava pile the columnar joints become oblique to this stress hence becoming potential shear fractures and form echelon sets at greater depths in the crust theoretical considerations suggest that normal faults start to nucleate on sets of en echelon columnar joints and or large scale tension fractures at crustal depths of 0 5 1 5 km the width depth must be the smallest controlling dimension of many faults nevertheless there is a positive linear relation r 0 91 between maximum throw and length of the holocene faults if the faults grow as self similar structures the throw length relationship can be explained by a similar relation between fault length and width

thermal stress and the spacings of transform faults bathymetric charts are used with satellite altimeter profiles to locate major ridge transform intersections along five spreading ridges the ridges are the mid atlantic ridge the east pacific rise the chile rise the pacific antarctic rise and the southeast indian ridge analysis of these data show spacings between transform faults w increase linearly with spreading rate w 6 28 m y this linear correlation is explained by a thermoelastic model of a cooling strip of lithosphere spreading at a rate the traction free boundaries of the thin elastic strip simulate cracks in the lithosphere at transform faults a two dimensional thermoelastic solution for the in plane stress shows the largest stress component is tensional and parallel to the ridge stresses are zero at the ridge and increase as age to a maximum value at an age of w 4 all stress components are small for ages greater than w when the transform spacing is large compared with the spreading rate w 100 m y thermal stresses exceed the strength of the lithosphere for ages between 0 and 30 ma the observed maximum ratio of transform spacing to spreading rate w 10 m y results in low thermal stresses that only exceed the strength of the lithosphere for ages less than 1 ma thus transform faults relieve most of the thermal stress model predictions also agree with earthquake studies showing that normal faults in young lithosphere have tensional axes aligned with the ridge moreover oceanic intraplate earthquakes rarely occur in lithosphere older than 30 ma as predicted by the model these and other geophysical observations confirm turcotte s hypothesis that transform faults are thermal contraction cracks

contrasting weathering and climate regimes in forested and cleared sandstone temples of the angkor region comparative assessment of stone weathering intensities and bioclimatic conditions was conducted at four temples located in cleared and forested sites of the angkor park based on similar protocols four thousand sculpted lotus petals carved in the same grey sandstone were categorized by using two customized scales of weathering intensity and climate monitoring was conducted from december 2008 to november 2009 whereas 70 of the sandstone lotus petals are almost completely destroyed by mechanical weathering in cleared areas 74 of petals located in forested environments appear to be totally free of mechanical weathering and are only affected by superficial biochemical weathering ambient conditions are also contrasting with the magnitude of the diurnal surface temperature and relative humidity ranges being three times higher at cleared sites than in wooded areas as wetting drying cycles are the driving force of sandstone decay at angkor causal links are suggested between weathering and climate regimes in wooded areas the microclimate is buffered by the forest and the associated lithobionts which maintain constant humidity levels reduce thermal stresses at the stone surface and induce a slow biochemical weathering regime in cleared areas direct exposure to sunshine and monsoon rains induces pronounced wetting drying cycles conducive to swelling shrinking movements and other potential processes provoking the rapid mechanical decay of the sandstone even if local damage can be caused by tree roots the forest cover and the associated lithobionts obviously play an overall protective role additionally microtopographical factors related to architectural designs and post building events probably explain intra site and between site minor differences in the amount of sandstone decay by influencing key factors such as the water residence time at the stone surface last the contrasting weathering regimes in forested and cleared sites are but a trend for besides overwhelming mechanical weathering chemical weathering is also operative at cleared sites as indicated by salt efflorescences and ferric oxidation copyright 2012 john wiley sons ltd

the role of saline solution properties on porous limestone salt weathering by magnesium and sodium sulfates saline solution properties viscosity in particular are shown to be critical in salt weathering associated with sodium and magnesium sulfate crystallization in porous limestone the crystallization of sodium and magnesium sulfate within a porous limestone has been studied at a macro and microscale using different techniques including mercury intrusion porosimetry environmental scanning microscopy and x ray computed tomography such analysis enabled the visualization of the crystallization process in situ and at high magnification yielding critical information as to where and how salts crystallize sodium sulfate decahydrate mirabilite tends to crystallize in large pores as euhedral micron sized crystals formed at low supersaturation near to the surface of the stone in contrast magnesium sulfate heptahydrate epsomite tends to precipitate as anhedral wax like aggregates formed at high supersaturation and distributed homogeneously throughout the stone pore system filling large and small pores while the former crystallization behavior resulted in scale formation the latter led to crack development throughout the bulk stone ultimately the contrasting weathering behavior of the two sulfates is explained by considering differences in flow dynamics of solutions within porous materials that are mainly connected with the higher viscosity of magnesium sulfate saturated solution 7 27 cp when compared with sodium sulfate saturated solution 1 83 cp on the basis of such results new ways to tackle salt weathering particularly in the field of cultural heritage conservation are discussed

lithospheric stress near a ridge transform intersection oceanic lithosphere at a ridge transform intersection has distinct structural characteristics the spreading axis and normal fault scarps which parallel the ridge axis away from the intersection locally curve towards the transform fault this implies that the least compressive stress direction becomes oblique to the spreading direction near a ridge transform intersection this stress field may be the result of a tensile ridge axis stress resisting plate separation and a transform shear stress resisting relative plate motion a plane stress plate model with prescribed plate boundary stresses is formulated to explore this hypothesis the orientation of the least compressive horizontal stress near an intersection depends strongly on the ratio of the applied boundary stresses thus ridge axis curvature may place an important constraint on plate boundary forces

seismic evidence of a ridge parallel strike slip fault off the transform system in the gulf of california 1 a left lateral strike slip fault perpendicular to the major transform fault that occurred at the extended continental crust in the middle of the gulf of california produced a remarkably active main shock and aftershock seismic sequence that began on 1 september 2007 in contrast to observations from oceanic transform fault systems this event induced unusually active seismicity by means of an inversion procedure we obtained the moment tensor solutions of all the events greater than mw 4 4 and we observed multiple types of faulting some very similar to the main event and others that included a tensional cracking mechanism with a significant nondouble couple component static stress change for optimally oriented left lateral faults predicts the seismic activity this event has implications for the californian peninsular geology especially for the late miocene fault systems that were optimally reoriented to promote active faulting

modifications of the porous network of sandstone accompanying the formation of black varnish black varnish commonly develops on rain washed fine grained monument sandstone stone modifications are to the naked eye limited to 10 m thick black film and underlying modified zone about 1 mm thick transfer properties absorption and drying kinetics and permeability are however modified several centimetres under the surface the present study investigates the modifications of black varnish covered siliceous sandstones taken from alsatian monuments east of france and of fresh sandstone undergoing wetting drying cycles in the laboratory double coloured thin sections revealed gradual changes in the porous network up to 3 cm under the black varnish sem observations showed that the film was mainly composed of iron and phosphorus while the modified zone was rich in calcium and sulphur fifty capillary absorption drying cycles were carried out on fresh sandstone absorption kinetics was measured at each cycle a continuous decrease of sandstone absorption kinetics over the fifty cycles was interpreted as a reorganisation of the porous network reducing the connectivity of the porous network although total porosity remained unchanged wetting drying cycles carried out under an environmental microscope esem showed a displacement of the finest particles clay clusters filling the macroporosity and decreasing the connectivity

in situ study of the eastern ridge transform intersection of the vema fracture zone abstract fourteen dives of the submersible nautile have been carried out at the eastern intersection of the vema fracture zone with the mid atlantic ridge direct observations allow us to locate precisely the surficial expression of the transform fault motion in the southern trough of the fracture zone valley the present day displacement zone corresponding to an extremely narrow less than 300 m transform fault zone is confined to a belt of disturbed terrain situated at the foot of the southern wall and characterized by transform parallel 30 100 m high ridges of basaltic fragments and pelagic sediments active splays of the transform fault zone lie generally between these ridges creating steep v shaped furrows despite a rather sinuous trend one of the fault strands appears to be laterally continuous and other minor active splays branch out from it or run parallel to it the surface manifestations of the tectonic activity along the present day displacement zone include r riedel shears low angle shears p shears en echelon structures open fissures small pull apart structures and funnel alignments in the sedimentary cover the transform fault motion reactivates large normal faults on the adjacent flanks of the southern wall and the median ridge the transform parallel topography defines a 10 km wide zone with dip slip motion the ridge transform intersection area is entirely floored by fresh basalts contrasting with other intersections of major fracture zones such as the kane and oceanographer fracture zones recent volcanic activity is not restricted to the central volcanic ridge but is widespread across the whole nodal basin area the present day displacement zone cross cuts the neovolcanic zone and the disconnected northernmost extension of the volcanic ridge is attached to the median ridge and so belongs to the african plate the extensive volcanism is suggestive of a magmatic production phase in the intersection area extremely fresh pillowed lava forms have been observed at the rti inside corner high indicating possible off axis volcanism

a sea beam investigation of the clipperton transform fault the morphotectonic expression of a fast slipping transform boundary a regional scale bathymetric map of the fast slipping 11 0 cm yr clipperton transform boundary and adjoining east pacific rise segments has been constructed using the high resolution capabilities of sea beam the transform domain is 85 km long varies in width from 10 to 20 km and is defined by an assemblage of transform parallel ridges and troughs the largest of which is a 40 km long median ridge that stands up to 700 m above the surrounding seafloor these major topographic elements of the transform domain are bisected by a very narrow 1 km swath of strongly lineated terrain composed of elongate depressions narrow lozenge shaped ridges and gullies that integrate spatially to create a narrow zone of disturbed topography this zone trends 082 and cuts like a knife across the grain of the clipperton transform domain linking one truncated ridge tip with the other we interpret this swath of disturbed terrain to be the product of strike slip tectonism thereby fixing the location of the present day plate boundary the present day structural geometry of the clipperton transform appears relatively simple and characterized by a narrow strike slip plate boundary linking two offset ridge axes

dikes minor faults and mineral veins associated with a transform fault in north iceland abstract the tjornes fracture zone is a transform fault connecting the axial rift zone in north iceland with that of the kolbeinsey ridge off the north coast of iceland on the north coast of the flatcyjarskagi peninsula there is a 3 5 km wide zone of intense deformation which we interpret as the main on land part of this transform fault this transform zone strikes n64 w and is characterized by unusually steeply dipping lavas 25 44 wnw extensive secondary mineralization numerous slickensided surfaces normal faults 1 20 m throw dikes that strike parallel to the zone and occasional 3 20 m wide subzones of crushed rocks striking parallel to the transform fault in a 17 km long continuous coastal profile south of the transform zone there is a 30 clockwise change from south to north in the lava strike the dike strike also changes clockwise north along this profile but only by 4 this indicates that the clockwise change in the lava strike is original and not due to subsequent tectonic rotation when the axial rift zones of north iceland and the kolbeinsey ridge are modelled as single offset mode i cracks finiteelement results show that the tjornes fracture zone developed between these mode i cracks in a region of maximum shear stress the underlap between these axial rift zones has apparently decreased during the past several million years the model predicts that as this underlap decreased the angle between the husavik flatey fault and that of the associated axial rift zones increased and the activity of the husavik flatey fault decreased both these predictions are borne out by the available data

observation of sections of oceanic crust and mantle cropping out on the southern wall of kane fz n atlantic the objective of the 20 nautile dives of the recent kanaut cruise was to study the southern wall of the kane fracture zone from its eastern intersection with the mid atlantic ridge mar to 5 myr in age the geological mapping shows four successive massifs wrench faulted and slightly tilted the transform facing walls of these massifs exhibit outcrops of fresh and serpentinized peridotites gabbros and basalts the entire crustal exposure is cataclased and metamorphosed to greenschist facies

sandstone weathering a century of research and innovation abstract a review of sandstone weathering research particularly in the past 100 years reveals a trajectory of enquiry from early description and classification of features to development of process based explanations to decreasing scales of investigation and a disparity between understanding of process es and explanations of the genesis of sandstone weathering features developments in expositions on mesoscale weathering features on sandstone surfaces are discussed demonstrating a range of approaches to weathering phenomena field based and laboratory based that must be linked to provide an explanation of observed features on a landform scale throughout the twentieth century a thematic chronology highlights certain trends in research description of forms often in arid and semi arid environments single process form models an emphasis on experimentation difficulties in measuring weathering rates and a persistent emphasis on physical causes of breakdown a new research agenda is promoted in which biodeterioration and chemical processes gain parity a holistic approach based on conceptual modeling of weathering systems gains prominence and scale issues are addressed more rigorously

sandstone weathering in tropical climate results of low destructive investigations at the temple of angkor wat cambodia abstract investigations at the temple of angkor wat aimed at the explanation of the major weathering processes of building sandstone as well as at the role of both intrinsic factors i e sandstone petrography and properties and extrinsic factors i e climatic and environmental influences since material sampling at the temple was limited to a few boreholes because of the high artistic rank of the building non destructive and low destructive in situ investigation methods like ultrasonic wave and drilling resistance measurements had to be applied to obtain information about the material properties of sandstone and their changes due to weathering moreover hydric swelling behaviour of the sandstone was determined on undecorated pieces of fallen blocks from the walls additional random test stable isotopic investigations of environmental influences and salts and thorough investigations of the spatial distribution of salts in the ashlars at two selected places with typical weathering patterns completed the set of data the results demonstrate that the weathering process is mainly triggered by rain dry cycles salt load found in the stone is composed of gypsum and nitrate compounds sulphur stable isotope investigations of potential sources of gypsum lead to the conclusion that soluble components of bat droppings are the major source of salts influences of environmental factors like sulphate in rainwater or so2 from the air on salt formation are unlikely gypsum may reinforce the surface deterioration due to high swelling shrinking movements of the sandstone 1 mm m during intensive wetting drying cycles

role of clay minerals in the physicomechanical deterioration of sandstone 1 extensive weathering suffered by sandstone in natural outcrops as well as in historical buildings could be attributed among other mechanisms to the action of wetting and drying cycles we have recently shown how to quantify the stresses generated during such cycles to determine whether damage can take place this procedure is further developed in this paper and applied to the tarifa sandstone a sandstone with a 7 wt content of clay minerals and used in the main facade of the church of san mateo in tarifa cadiz spain for which the relevant material properties are measured it is shown that tensile stresses during drying can cause cracking of thin elements and that shear forces can cause buckling of wetted surfaces more generally eventually resulting in scaling and or contour scaling these predictions are supported by visual observations on the monument showing degradation patterns characteristic of those types of damage similar weathering forms have been observed in natural sandstone landscapes application of swelling inhibitors e g cationic surfactants that selectively adsorb on the clay basal planes results in a substantial swelling reduction this confirms that the swelling clays typically present in sandstone are pivotal for its weathering and indicates that swelling inhibitors are a potentially valuable treatment to prevent or minimize damage to stone the circumstances that would lead to weathering are discussed in relation to sandstone material properties in the wet and dry state clay bearing stones are shown to exhibit softening during wetting as well as viscoelastic stress relaxation which is expected to limit the extent of damage these results may aid in the better understanding of sandstone weathering both in nature and in urban environment and may help develop conservation methods to mitigate wetting drying damage in ornamental sandstone or to prevent pore plugging in reservoir sandstones

stress fields associated with oceanic transform faults abstract although their formation is commonly attributed to shear stresses oceanic transform faults contain many structural elements indicating extension across them examples include transform parallel tension fractures normal faults grabens dykes and small scale spreading centres at the junctions between transform faults and adjacent ridge segments there are commonly sets of oblique fractures a detailed field study of oblique fractures in the vicinity of a junction between a mid ocean ridge and an oceanic fracture zone in north iceland shows that they are mostly tension fractures and normal faults this paper presents the results of a boundary element study of the stress field associated with the junction between an oceanic transform fault and its ridge segments the results show that uniaxial tensile loading plate pull parallel with the transform fault tends to lock it but also gives rise to shear stress concentration in a zone that coincides with the fault this shear stress is primarily responsible for the strike slip faulting and associated earthquakes in the transform fault to generate the transform parallel fracture zone graben normal faults tensile fractures dykes and spreading centres however requires tensile loading parallel with the ridge axis the results suggest that biaxial ridge parallel and ridge perpendicular tensile loading generates a stress field that 1 unlocks and makes slip easier on the transform faults and 2 explains the oblique fractures at the ridge transform junctions

effect of tensile stress concentration around magma chambers on intrusion and extrusion frequencies what controls the intrusion and extrusion frequencies associated with volcanoes is still poorly understood i propose that for volcanoes at divergent plate boundaries these frequencies may be largely determined by the tensile stress concentration around the magma chambers that feed them this stress concentration is mainly a function of the applied tensile stress associated with spreading and the aspect height width ratios of the chambers high spreading rates and or aspect ratios lead to high rates of tensile stress concentration around the chambers and to an increase in their intrusion frequencies it is found that for chambers at the same depth in a volcanic zone the one of the highest aspect ratio will normally intrude magma most frequently also if the chambers are of equal aspect ratios the one at the greatest depth will intrude magma most frequently because the extrusion frequency of a volcano is a fraction of its intrusion frequency the extrusion frequency may also be largely determined by the rate of tensile stress concentration around the magma chamber that feeds the volcano these results are applied to the divergent plate boundary in iceland where many of the volcanoes appear to be fed by double chambers that is shallow chambers fed by deep seated chambers it is found that except when the aspect ratio of the deep seated chamber is much less than that of the shallow chamber the intrusion frequency of the shallow chamber is normally largely controlled by that of the deep seated chamber it is concluded that whereas the short term i e 103 yrs extrusion frequencies of volcanoes at the plate boundary in iceland may be similar to the dike intrusion frequencies of the source chambers the long term i e 104 yrs extrusion frequencies may be about ten times lower than the intrusion frequencies

extensional tectonics in the vicinity of a transform fault in north iceland at the junction between an oceanic transform fault and the adjacent ridge segments there is normally a curved fabric the trollaskagi peninsula is located just south of the junction between the kolbeinsey ridge and the tjornes fracture zone and offers a rare opportunity for studying the three dimensional tectonics of the associated curved fabric for the purpose of elucidating its infrastructure we measured the attitudes of tens of lava flows and several hundred dykes faults and mineral veins in 28 profiles in the northern half of the trollaskagi peninsula at sea level the general dip of the lava pile is 6 14 but in the northernmost part of the peninsula the dip is 10 36 with an average of 22 most dykes are basaltic and strike north or nne they are exceptional as regards thickness frequency of multiple dykes and crustal dilation the average thickness 5 9 m and a crustal dilation of 28 in a 4 5 km long profile are the highest figures reported from regional dyke swarms in iceland most faults are normal faults the curved fabric is limited to the northernmost part of the trollaskagi peninsula and consists of two main sets of fractures one set includes north and nne striking faults mineral veins and dykes the other set consists of nw striking oblique faults mineral veins and tilted lava flows a boundary element model indicates that the abnormal lava dip and the nw striking oblique extensional structures in the northernmost part of the peninsula are attributable to the stress field associated with the junction between the kolbeinsey ridge and the tjornes fracture zone

three dimensional oceanic eddy analysis in the southern california bight from a numerical product with eight islands complex coastlines and bottom topography strong wind curls and frequent upwelling fronts the southern california bight scb is an area with strong eddy activity by applying an automated eddy detection scheme to a 12 year high resolution numerical product of the oceanic circulation in the scb a three dimensional eddy data set is developed it includes information for each eddy s location polarity intensity size boundary and moving path at nine vertical levels through a series of statistical analyses applied to the eddy data set three dimensional statistical characteristics of mesoscale and submeoscale eddy variations in the scb are elucidated these shed light on how eddies are generated evolve and terminate a significant percentage of eddies is found to be generated around islands and headlands along the coastline which indicates that islands in the scb play a vital role in eddy generation three types of eddies based on shape are identified from the numerical product bowl lens and cone a dynamic analysis shows that some submesoscale eddies with finite local rossby numbers tend to be ageostrophic balanced while mesoscale eddies are in geostrophic balance the present research results are useful for the interpretation of data sets obtained during the interdisciplinary santa barbara channel radiance in a dynamic ocean radyo field experiment conducted on september 3 25 2008