a redox stratified ocean 3 2 billion years ago abstract before the great oxidation event goe 2 4 2 2 billion years ago it has been traditionally thought that oceanic water columns were uniformly anoxic due to a lack of oxygen producing microorganisms recently however it has been proposed that transient oxygenation of shallow seawater occurred between 2 8 and 3 0 billion years ago here we present a novel combination of stable fe and radiogenic u th pb isotope data that demonstrate significant oxygen contents in the shallow oceans at 3 2 ga based on analysis of the manzimnyama banded iron formation bif fig tree group south africa this unit is exceptional in that proximal shallow water and distal deep water facies are preserved when compared to the distal deep water facies the proximal samples show elevated u concentrations and moderately positive 56 fe values indicating vertical stratification in dissolved oxygen contents confirmation of oxidizing conditions using u abundances is robustly constrained using samples that have been closed to u and pb mobility using u th pb geochronology although redox sensitive elements have been commonly used in ancient rocks to infer redox conditions post depositional element mobility has been rarely tested and u th pb geochronology can constrain open or closed system behavior the u abundances and 56 fe values of the manzimnyama bif suggest the proximal shallow water samples record precipitation under stronger oxidizing conditions compared to the distal deeper water facies which in turn indicates the existence of a discrete redox boundary between deep and shallow ocean waters at this time this work therefore documents the oldest known preserved marine redox gradient in the rock record the relative enrichment of o 2 in the upper water column is likely due to the existence of oxygen producing microorganisms such as cyanobacteria these results provide a new approach for identifying free oxygen in earth s ancient oceans including confirming the age of redox proxies and indicate that cyanobacteria evolved prior to 3 2 ga

the east anatolian fault zone seismotectonic setting and spatiotemporal characteristics of seismicity based on precise earthquake locations 1 the east anatolian fault zone eafz represents a plate boundary extending over 500 km between the arabian and anatolian plates relative plate motion occurs with slip rates ranging from 6 to 10 mm yr and has resulted in destructive earthquakes in eastern turkey as documented by historical records in this study we investigate the seismic activity along the eafz and fault kinematics based on recordings from a densified regional seismic network providing the best possible azimuthal coverage for the target region we optimize a reference 1 d velocity model using a grid search approach and re locate hypocenters using the double difference earthquake relocation technique the refined hypocenter catalog provides insights into the kinematics and internal deformation of the fault zone down to a resolution ranging typically between 100 and 200 m the distribution of hypocenters suggests that the eafz is characterized by ne sw and e w oriented sub segments that are sub parallel to the overall trend of the fault zone faulting mechanisms are predominantly left lateral strike slip and thus in good correlation with the deformation pattern derived from regional gps data however we also observe local clusters of thrust and normal faulting events respectively while normal faulting events typically occur on ns trending subsidiary faults thrust faulting is restricted to ew trending structures this observation is in good accordance with kinematic models proposed for evolving shear zones the observed spatiotemporal evolution of hypocenters indicates a systematic migration of micro and moderate sized earthquakes from the main fault into adjacent fault segments within several days documenting progressive interaction between the major branch of the eafz and its secondary structures analyzing the pre versus post seismic phase for m 5 events we find that aftershock activities are initially spread to the entire source region for several months but start to cluster at the central part of the main shock rupture thereafter

inversion of complex body waves we have developed a method that inverts seismic body waves to determine the mechanism and rupture pattern of earthquakes the rupture pattern is represented as a sequence of subevents distributed on the fault plane this method is an extension of our earlier method in which the subevent mechanisms were fixed in the new method the subevent mechanisms are determined from the data and are allowed to vary during the sequence when subevent mechanisms are allowed to vary however the inversion often becomes unstable because of the complex trade offs between the mechanism the timing and the location of the subevents many different subevent sequences can explain the same data equally well and it is important to determine the range of allowable solutions some constraints must be imposed on the solution to stabilize the inversion we have developed a procedure to explore the range of allowable solutions and appropriate constraints in this procedure a network of grid points is constructed on the i plane where and i are respectively the onset time and the distance from the epicenter of a subevent the best fit subevent is determined at all grid points then the correlation is computed between the synthetic waveform for each subevent and the observed waveform the correlation as a function of and i and the best fit mechanisms computed at each i grid point depict the character of allowable solutions and facilitate a decision on the appropriate constraints to be imposed on the solution the method is illustrated using the data for the 1976 guatemala earthquake

global positioning system measurements of present day crustal movements in the arabia africa eurasia plate collision zone we present and interpret global positioning system gps measurements of crustal motions for the period 1988 1994 at 54 sites extending east west from the caucasus mountains of southern russia georgia and armenia to the aegean coast of turkey and north south from the southern edge of the eurasian plate pontus block to the northern edge of the arabian platform viewed from a eurasia fixed reference frame sites on the northern arabian platform move n38 13 w at 20 3 mm yr roughly consistent with the velocity implied by nuvel 1a circuit closure n23 7 w at 24 2 mm yr the motion of arabia appears to be transferred directly to the region of turkey north of the suture however eastern turkey is characterized by distributed deformation while central western turkey is characterized by coherent plate motion involving westward displacement and counterclockwise rotation of the anatolian plate internal deformation within the central part of the anatolian plate is less than 2 mm yr the anatolian plate is decoupled from eurasia along the right lateral strike slip north anatolian fault naf this different response in eastern and western turkey to the collision of arabia may result from the different boundary conditions the hellenic arc forming a free boundary to the west and the asian continent and oceanic lithosphere of the black and caspian seas forming a resistant boundary to the north and east we derive a best fitting euler vector for anatolia eurasia motion of 29 2 0 8 n 32 9 0 4 1 3 0 1 m y the mapped surface trace of the naf corresponds well to a small circle about this pole the new euler vector implies an upper bound for naf slip rate of 30 2 mm yr i e assuming all relative motion is accommodated along the naf using the nuvel 1a euler vector for arabia eurasia and the gps euler vector for anatolia eurasia we determine an arabia anatolia euler vector of 31 2 n 45 2 e 0 9 0 1 m y and an upper bound on the east anatolian fault slip rate of 15 3 mm yr the aegean trough region of western turkey deviates significantly from coherent plate rotation in addition to rotating with anatolia this region shows roughly n s extension at a rate of 14 5 mm yr taken together with satellite laser ranging results along the hellenic arc the contemporary pattern of deformation indicates increasing motions toward the arc suggesting that the westward displacement and counterclockwise rotation of anatolia is driven both by pushing from the arabian plate and by pulling or basal drag associated with the foundering african plate along the hellenic subduction zone

high archean climatic temperature inferred from oxygen isotope geochemistry of cherts in the 3 5 ga swaziland supergroup south africa new and compiled oxygen isotope data combined with the results of geological and sedimentological studies demonstrate that enclaves of synsedimentary to very early diagenetic cherts are widely preserved in the 3 5 3 2 ga swaziland supergroup barberton greenstone belt south africa the low 1 8 o values of these cherts indicate extremely high ocean temperatures of 55 85 c previously the large depletion in 1 8 o shown by all barberton cherts relative to their phanerozoic counterparts has been attributed to low 1 8 o in archean oceans chert formation during late diagenesis wholesale loss of 1 8 o during alteration and or regional silicification of sediments around hot springs these alternative explanations are not compatible with the new results cherts in the onverwacht group display an isotopic stratigraphy that is inversely repeated in conglomerates in the overlying fig tree and moodies groups demonstrating that the chert 8 0 o values were fixed prior to archean uplift and erosion which started at 3 26 ga the maximum 1 8 o value in barberton cherts 22 is lower than the minimum values 23 in phanerozoic bedded cherts precluding late diagenesis as the explanation of the overall low 1 8 o values regional metamorphic hydrothermal or long term resetting of original 1 8 o values is also precluded by preservation of 1 8 o values across different metamorphic grades and by systematic 1 8 o differences among interbedded chert types stratigraphic units and conglomerate clasts the 7 1 8 o variation of these archean cherts is similar to that of phanerozoic deep sea cherts formed when opal converted to microquartz during burial but the actual archean values are 10 lower marine opal was apparently converted to microquartz during burial to depths of 1 km cherts with 1 8 o 15 reflect conversion during deepest burial or in local areas of enhanced geothermal gradient and or hydrothermal activity cherts with higher 1 8 o values formed during early diagenesis and indicate an extremely hot archean ocean and surface environment

secular change in the precambrian silica cycle insights from chert petrology chert deposits preserve a record of secular change in the oceanic silica cycle the evolutionary radiation of silica secreting organisms resulted in a transition from abiological silica deposition characteristic of the archean and proterozoic eons to the predominantly biologically controlled silica deposition of the phanerozoic comparative petrography of phanerozoic and precambrian cherts indicates that an earlier change in chert deposition occurred toward the end of the paleoproterozoic era ca 1 8 ga in neoproterozoic and mesoproterozoic strata early diagenetic chertification is largely restricted to peritidal environments these early diagenetic cherts typically occur as nodules or discontinuous beds within carbonate deposits that have similar depositional textures the cherts formed primarily by carbonate replacement with subsidiary direct silica precipitation some of the paleoproterozoic cherts associated with iron formations however are distinctly different from younger cherts and appear to have formed largely by direct silica precipitation at or just below the seabed these primary cherts lack ghosts or inclusions of carbonate precursors have fine scale grain fracturing possibly from syneresis exhibit low grain packing densities and are not associated with unsilicified carbonate deposits of similar depositional composition cherts in some paleoproterozoic iron formations e g the gunflint formation northwestern lake superior region are composed of silica types similar to those in phanerozoic sinters e g the devonian rhynie and windyfield cherts scotland such cherts may provide evidence that basinal and perhaps global oceanic silica concentrations were higher during the paleoproterozoic era than at later times

controls on the strength of coupling among climate erosion and deformation in two sided frictional orogenic wedges at steady state 1 many important insights regarding the coupling among climate erosion and tectonics have come from numerical simulations using coupled tectonic and surface process models however analyses to date have left the strength of the coupling between climate and tectonics uncertain and many questions unanswered we present an approximate analytical solution for two sided orogenic wedges obeying a frictional rheology and in a condition of flux steady state that makes explicit the nature and sensitivity of the coupling between climate and deformation we make the simplifying assumption that the wedge grows in a self similar fashion consistent with airy isostasy such that topographic taper is invariant with orogen width tectonic influx rate and climate we illustrate first how and why the form of the erosion rule matters to orogen evolution and then derive a physically based orogen scale erosion rule we show that steady state orogen width crest elevation and crustal thickness are controlled by the ratio of accretionary flux to erosional efficiency to a power dictated by the erosion process remarkably we show that for most combinations of parameters in the erosion law rock uplift rate is more strongly controlled by erosional efficiency than it is by the accretionary flux further assuming frontal accretion with no underplating the spatial distribution of erosional efficiency dictates the relative rock uplift rates on the pro wedge and retro wedge and the time averaged trajectories of rocks through the orogen the restriction to invariant frictional properties is conservative in these respects systems subject to positive feedback between erosion and rheology will exhibit even stronger coupling among climate erosion and deformation than shown here

silica diagenesis ii general mechanisms abstract amorphous silica phases opal a precipitate in nature due to the formation of dense colloids in supersaturated alkaline aqueous solutions with low relative concentrations of other ions opal a dissolves and yields solutions of still relatively high silica content in pore waters containing abundant cations open framework polymers form which flocculate to yield opal ct opal ct becomes increasingly ordered primarily due to preferential growth of cristobalite relative to tridymite and crystal size increase opal ct dissolves to yield pore waters of low silica concentration which allows slow growth of quartz crystals from monomeric solution the quartz crystals then slowly increase in size and crystallinity carbonates appear to enhance opal ct formation possibly due to the activity of positively charged hydroxyl complexes hence polymerization in relatively pure systems is involved in opal a formation and polymerization in impure systems is involved in opal ct formation and slow growth from monomeric low silica concentration solutions is involved in precipitation of quartz in sedimentary realms

landscape form and millennial erosion rates in the san gabriel mountains ca abstract it has been long hypothesized that topography as well as climate and rock strength exert first order controls on erosion rates here we use detrital cosmogenic 10 be from 50 basins ranging in size from 1 to 150 km 2 to measure millennial erosion rates across the san gabriel mountains in southern california where a strong e w gradient in relief compared to weak variation in precipitation and lithology allow us to isolate the relationship between topographic form and erosion rate our erosion rates range from 35 to 1100 m ma and generally agree with both decadal sediment fluxes and long term exhumation rates inferred from low temperature thermochronometry catchment mean hillslope angle increases with erosion rate until 300 m ma at which point slopes become invariant with erosion rate although this sort of relation has been offered as support for non linear models of soil transport we use 1 d analytical hillslope profiles derived from existing soil transport laws to show that a model with soil flux linear in slope but including a slope stability threshold is indistinguishable from a non linear law within the scatter of our data catchment mean normalized channel steepness index increases monotonically though non linearly with erosion rate throughout the san gabriel mountains even where catchment mean hillslope angles have reached a threshold this non linearity can be mostly accounted for by a stochastic threshold incision model though additional factors likely contribute to the observed relationship between channel steepness and erosion rate these findings substantiate the claim that the normalized channel steepness index is an important topographic metric in active ranges

tectonic and lithologic controls on bedrock channel profiles and processes in coastal california 1 recent theoretical models suggest that topographic characteristics of bedrock channels are products of interactions among tectonics substrate resistance and the climatically modulated erosive ability of the river the degree to which these factors influence the form of channel profiles is poorly quantified at present here we investigate bedrock channels developed across the southern flank of the santa ynez mountains california uniform climate and systematic variations in lithology and rock uplift rate along the range allow comparison of channel morphology between 1 channels eroding rocks of uniform and nonuniform strength and 2 channels experiencing differences in tectonic forcing we combine field observations surveys and analysis of digital data to determine topographic and hydraulic characteristics of bedrock channels at a constant rock uplift rate streams flowing from resistant to less resistant bedrock exhibit highly concave profiles and increased gradients along lower reaches relative to channels developed in uniform bedrock these effects are interpreted as responses to 1 an increase in substrate resistance to channel incision in the upper reaches and 2 transport limited gradients along lower reaches comparisons of channels developed across uniform lithology but experiencing an approximately sevenfold difference in rock uplift rate reveal an approximately twofold increase in gradient and an approximately threefold decrease in width in this landscape the combined channel adjustments of gradient and width are consistent with a fluvial incision model in which channel incision rate is linearly proportional to mean bed shear stress

transient fluvial incision in the headwaters of the yellow river northeastern tibet china 1 we utilize topographic analysis of channel profiles combined with field measurements of erosion rates to explore the distribution of channel incision in the anyemaqen shan a broad mountainous region in the northeastern tibetan plateau tributary channels to the yellow river display systematic downstream increases in channel gradient associated with convex upward longitudinal profiles steep lower reaches of channels are associated with rapid 1 m ka incision rates along the yellow river while upstream reaches are associated with relatively slow 0 05 0 1 m ka erosion of soil mantled uplands covariance between erosion rates and channel steepness indices suggest that channels are adjusted to match long wavelength differential rock uplift across the range geologic constraints indicate that rapid incision downstream of the range is associated with excavation of basin fill driven by changes in relative base level farther downstream the upstream limit of this wave of transient incision is marked by a series of knickpoints that are found at nearly the same elevation throughout the watershed consistent with knickpoint migration as a kinematic rather than diffusional wave tributary channel gradients downstream of knickpoints however display a progressive adjustment to increased incision rates that may reflect the influence of increased sediment flux comparison of observed channel profiles to a stream power model of fluvial behavior reveals that the rate of knickpoint propagation can only be explained if the erosional efficiency coefficient k increases during incision our results thus highlight the utility of channel profile analysis to reconstruct the fluvial response to both active tectonism and external changes in base level

faulting associated with historical and recent earthquakes in the eastern mediterranean region summary this paper summarizes evidence for surface faulting in historical and recent earthquakes in the eastern mediterranean region and in the middle east such information is particularly important for studies of active tectonics and for palaeoseismology we have found 78 cases of faulting pre 1900 and 72 post 1900 some of which show that faults that have apparently been inactive this century had already ruptured before 1900 for some cases faulting could not have been predicted from 20th century activity and in others it could have been expected but has not been observed during the instrumental period the data are suycient to allow the derivation of relationships between magnitude and rupture length

a mechanistic model for river incision into bedrock by saltating bed load 1 abrasion by bed load is a ubiquitous and sometimes dominant erosional mechanism for fluvial incision into bedrock here we develop a model for bedrock abrasion by saltating bed load wherein the wear rate depends linearly on the flux of impact kinetic energy normal to the bed and on the fraction of the bed that is not armored by transient deposits of alluvium we assume that the extent of alluvial bed cover depends on the ratio of coarse sediment supply to bed load transport capacity particle impact velocity and impact frequency depend on saltation trajectories which can be predicted using empirical functions of excess shear stress the model predicts a nonlinear dependence of bedrock abrasion rate on both sediment supply and transport capacity maximum wear rates occur at moderate relative supply rates due to the tradeoff between the availability of abrasive tools and the partial alluviation of the bedrock bed maximum wear rates also occur at intermediate levels of excess shear stress due to the reduction in impact frequency as grain motion approaches the threshold of suspension measurements of bedrock wear in a laboratory abrasion mill agree well with model predictions and allow calibration of the one free model parameter which relates rock strength to rock resistance to abrasive wear the model results suggest that grain size and sediment supply are fundamental controls on bedrock incision rates not only by bed load abrasion but also by all other mechanisms that require bedrock to be exposed in the channel bed

growth and erosion of fold and thrust belts with an application to the aconcagua fold and thrust belt argentina 1 the development of topography within and erosional removal of material from an orogen exerts a primary control on its structure we develop a model that describes the temporal development of a frontally accreting critically growing coulomb wedge whose topography is largely limited by bedrock fluvial incision we present general results for arbitrary initial critical wedge geometries and investigate the temporal development of a critical wedge with no initial topography increasing rock erodibility and or precipitation decreasing mass flux accreting to the wedge front increasing wedge sole out depth decreasing wedge and basal decollement overpressure and increasing basal decollement friction lead to narrow wedges large power law exponent values cause the wedge geometry to quickly reach a condition in which all material accreted to the front of the wedge is removed by erosion we apply our model to the aconcagua fold and thrust belt in the central andes of argentina where wedge development over time is well constrained we solve for the erosional coefficient k that is required to recreate the field constrained wedge growth history and these values are within the range of independently determined values in analogous rock types using qualitative observations of rock erodibilities within the wedge we speculate that power law exponents of 1 3 m 0 4 and 2 3 n 1 characterize the erosional growth of the aconcagua fold and thrust belt this general model may be used to understand the development of mountain belts where orogenic wedges grow as they deform at their coulomb failure limit

rupture kinematics of 2020 january 24 mw 6 7 doganyol sivrice turkey earthquake on the east anatolian fault zone imaged by space geodesy

sedimentology and geochemistry of archean silica granules the production of biogenic silica has dominated the marine silica cycle since early paleozoic time drawing down the concentration of dissolved silica in modern seawater to a few parts per million ppm prior to the biological innovation of the first silica biomineralizing organisms in late proterozoic time inputs of silica into precambrian seawater were balanced by strictly chemical silica and silicate precipitation processes although the mechanics of this abiotic marine silica cycle remain poorly understood cherty sedimentary rocks are abundant in archean sequences and many previous authors have suggested that primary precipitation of amorphous silica could have occurred in archean seawater the recent discovery that many pure chert layers in early archean rocks formed as sedimentary beds of sand sized subspherical silica granules has provided direct evidence for primary silica deposition here we provide further sedimentological and geochemical analyses of early archean silica granules in order to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of granule formation silica granules are common components of sedimentary cherts from a variety of depositional settings and water depths the abundance and widespread distribution of silica granules in archean rocks suggest that they represented a significant primary silica depositional mode and that most formed by precipitation in the upper part of the water column the regular occurrence of silica granules as centimeter scale layers within banded chert alternating with layers of black or ferruginous chert containing few granules indicates episodic granule sedimentation contrasting silicon isotopic compositions of granules from different depositional environments indicate that isotopic signatures were modified during early diagenesis looking to modern siliceous sinters for insight into silica precipitation we suggest that silica granules may have formed via multiple stages of aggregation of silica nanospheres and microspheres consistent with this hypothesis archean ocean chemistry would have favored particle aggregation over gelling granule formation would have been most favorable under conditions promoting rapid silica polymerization including high salinity and or high concentrations of dissolved silica our observations suggest that granule sedimentation was often episodic suggesting that granule formation may have also been episodic perhaps linked to variations in these key parameters

architecture of the neoarchaean jaguar vhms deposit western australia implications for prospectivity and the presence of depositional breaks abstract the duration and nature of breaks in archaean volcanosedimentary packages recently re evaluated in the abitibi greenstone belt has been assessed at jaguar an archaean cu zn rich volcanic hosted massive sulphide vhms deposit in the teutonic bore volcanic complex tbvc the eastern goldfields of the yilgarn craton western australia the deposit is hosted by coherent volcanic facies and associated volcaniclastic facies with minor non volcanic facies the hypothesis that vhms ore lies on the intersection of volcanic centres and depositional breaks is found to be valid for the jaguar deposit with the site being an active volcanic complex at footwall time with further dome development close to the final ore location at mineralised package time and then reoccurring volcanic complexes andesitic and basaltic at several points in the hangingwall succession broadly tied into the ore position at jaguar the entire stratigraphic sequence faces west with no major structural complications making it ideal for stratigraphic analysis the footwall evidences prolific volcanism with no intervening sedimentation the mineralised package mp consists of intercalated dacite breccia conglomerate sandstone and mudstone the footwall volcanic rocks and the mp dacite appear to be differentiation products from the same magma chamber a major volcanic geochemical boundary is identified between the footwall mp tholeiitic to transitional affinities and the immediate hangingwall succession calc alkaline the hangingwall package includes four distinct volcanic units intercalated with mass flow deposits and graphitic argillites vhms mineralisation occurred across a distinct change in the geochemistry of erupted volcanic facies at a time of increased volcaniclastic sedimentation and extension this break is comparable to member level hiatuses seen in the abitibi gb i e the most brief of breaks because there is no silicification of sedimentary unit tops by silicic seawater exposure and there is minimal development of black shales a third time sensitive criteria was the development of peperite on the base of hanging wall hw andesite lavas the mp closely resembles breaks within interpreted deeper water domains of the abitibi gb for instance the deloro tisdale assemblage interface south of timmins the recognition of the change in the rate of emplacement of volcanic units and particularly the change in chemistry of volcanic rocks are critical exploration lithologic guides to use in the absence of chemical sediment deposits exhalites although crustal extension and basin subsidence were factors in the shaping of the succession their effects were too subtle to use as an exploration tool a corollary of the recognition of a member level vhms bearing interval in the teutonic bore volcanic complex is that like the kidd munro assemblage stratigraphy abitibi gb where several ore bearing depositional breaks are known below the great kidd creek deposit there is scope for the discovery of further potentially larger deposits on higher formation or group level breaks in the tbvc

river incision into bedrock mechanics and relative efficacy of plucking abrasion and cavitation improved formulation of bedrock erosion laws requires knowledge of the actual processes operative at the bed we present qualitative field evidence from a wide range of settings that the relative efficacy of the various processes of fluvial erosion e g plucking abrasion cavitation solution is a strong function of substrate lithology and that joint spacing fractures and bedding planes exert the most direct control the relative importance of the various processes and the nature of the interplay between them are inferred from detailed observations of the morphology of erosional forms on channel bed and banks and their spatial distributions we find that plucking dominates wherever rocks are well jointed on a submeter scale hydraulic wedging of small clasts into cracks bashing and abrasion by bedload and chemical and physical weathering all contribute to the loosening and removal of joint blocks in more massive rocks abrasion by suspended sand appears to be rate limiting in the systems studied here concentration of erosion on downstream sides of obstacles and tight coupling between fluid flow patterns and fine scale morphology of erosion forms testify to the importance of abrasion by suspended load rather than bedload particles mechanical analyses indicate that erosion by suspended load abrasion is considerably more nonlinear in shear stress than erosion by plucking in addition a new analysis indicates that cavitation is more likely to occur in natural systems than previously argued cavitation must be considered a viable process in many actively incising bedrock channels and may contribute to the fluting and potholing of massive unjointed rocks that is otherwise attributed to suspended load abrasion direct field evidence of cavitation erosion is however lacking in terms of the well known shear stress or stream power erosion law erosion by plucking is consistent with a slope exponent n of 2 3 to 1 whereas erosion by suspended load abrasion is more consistent with a slope exponent of 5 3 given that substrate lithology appears to dictate the dominant erosion process this finding has important implications for long term landscape evolution and the models used to study it

channel changes in badlands stripping of the vegetation and soil from a 13 hectare site in virginia underlain by coastal plain sediments created a rapidly evolving badland topography two types of channels developed 1 sand bed alluvial channels were graded to transport the bed material load supplied from slope erosion with available runoff but they also generally eroded their beds slowly and 2 steeper bedrock floored channels incised rapidly in bedrock channels the erosion rate was proportional to the 4 9ths power of drainage area and the 2 3rds power of gradient these exponents are consistent with a model in which the erosion rate is proportional to the bed shear during high flows due to rapid mass wasting and reduced runoff the alluvial channels became as much as 50 steeper during the winter than the summer with an attendant yearly cycle of winter aggradation and summer entrenchment the gradients their seasonal variability and their downstream hydraulic geometry were consistent with the predictions of total load transport formulas for sand beds and high loads the hydraulic geometry of alluvial channels in the virginia badlands were similar to that on the morrison formation in the western united states

stress accumulation and increased seismic risk in eastern turkey abstract unlike the north anatolian fault zone which has produced 11 large earthquakes since 1939 the east anatolian fault zone eafz has been relatively quiescent in the last century when compared to historical records and has therefore accumulated significant stresses along its length determination of the location and likely magnitude of a future probable earthquake along the eafz is of interest both because of this history of large earthquakes m 8 and the density of population in the area here we calculate stress evolution along the fault zone due to both seismic and tectonic loading since 1822 a sequence of 10 well constrained historical earthquakes is selected and the resulting stresses are calculated summed with tectonic loading stresses and resolved onto the mapped active faults we identify two areas of particular seismic risk one of which might be expected to yield a large event our results are sensitive to the previous history of large earthquakes in the region and indicate a need for detailed investigations to constrain the exact rupture geometries of previous earthquakes on these segments

orogeny and orography the effects of erosion on the structure of mountain belts a numerical model of the coupled processes of tectonic deformation and surface erosion in convergent orogens is developed to investigate the nature of the interaction between these processes crustal deformation is calculated by a two dimensional finite element model of deformation in response to subduction and accretion of continental crust erosion operates on the uplifted surface of this model through fluvial incision which is taken to be proportional to stream power the relative importance of the tectonic and erosion processes is given by a dimensionless erosion number relating convergence velocity rock erodibility and precipitation rate this number determines the time required for a system to reach steady state and the final topographic shape and size of a mountain belt fundamental characteristics of the model orogens include asymmetric topography with shallower slopes facing the subducting plate and an asymmetric pattern of exhumation with the deepest levels of exhumation opposite to subduction these characteristics are modified when the regional climate exhibits a dominant wind direction and orographically enhanced precipitation on one side of the mountain belt the two possible cases are dominant wind in the direction of motion of the subducting plate and dominant wind direction in the opposite direction of the subducting plate velocity models of the former case predict a broad zone of exhumation with maximum exhumation in the orogen interior models of the latter case predict a focused zone of exhumation at the margin of the orogen and at high erosion number a reversal in the topographic asymmetry natural examples of these two cases are presented the southern alps of new zealand exhibits the climate and exhumation asymmetry characteristic of wind in the direction opposite to motion of the subducting plate the asymmetry of topography suggests that erosion is not efficient enough to have reversed the topographic asymmetry the contrasting example of dominant wind in the direction of subduction motion is provided by the olympic mountains of washington state in this case exhumation of deep levels of the cascadia accretionary wedge shows a broad domal pattern consistent with the observed orographic precipitation

reconstruction of a 3700 ma transgressive marine environment from isua greenland sedimentology stratigraphy and geochemical signatures abstract the rare preservation of a stratigraphy in the northwest of the eoarchean isua supracrustal belt greenland demonstrates the world s earliest recognised marine transgression stratigraphically lowest is the 3710 ma solvang volcanic formation of picrites basalts and basaltic andesites with arc like geochemical signatures close to its erosional top this formation s volcanic rocks show increase in k2o with depletion of na2o depletion in sr with no alteration in eu abundance and 18ovsmow increase to 16 interpreted as subaerial weathering at 3700 ma the sedimentary snowpatch formation was deposited unconformably on the solvang volcanic formation locally the unconformity is marked by the laterally discontinuous conglomerate member dominated by rounded quartz clasts but also with clasts of basalt and andesite up to 10 cm across layered chert and ultramafic rocks the conglomerate member carries sparse detrital zircons the youngest of which are 3710 ma the conglomerates are succeeded by the sandstone and dolostone member of layered quartz and dolomite clastic sandstones that locally preserve relict shallow marine cross bedding with scoured layers tempestite breccia beds and very rare stromatolite horizons the sandstone and dolostone member is succeeded by the 3695 ma bif member the snowpatch formation quartz dolomite sandstones and interlayered stromatolites have seawater like ree y trace element patterns variably modified by a negligible to significant influx of a terrigenous component trace element signatures such as ti v ratios and normalising ree y data to a 3710 ma weathered volcanic rock rather than post archean average shale suggest this component was derived from a juvenile arc source resembling the basement solvang volcanic formation the detailed field and geochemical evidence such as positive correlation between fe mg and pr yb in the snowpatch formation dolostones and bif banded iron formation indicates that the dolomitic lithologies developed in a shallow water setting with clastic sedimentation during a marine transgression over a weathered 3710 ma volcanic arc basement followed by bif deposition in deeper water thus by 3700 ma shallow water exposed settings had already been established which were the site of stromatolite development

stress interactions of three moderate size earthquakes in afyon southwestern turkey abstract we analyze three moderate size earthquakes occurred in the afyon region of southwestern turkey on december 15 2000 m w 6 0 and february 3 2002 m w 6 5 and m w 5 8 this earthquake sequence took place on the sultandag fault having dominantly normal faulting mechanisms with different orientations in an extensional tectonic regime we relocate these mainshocks and their large aftershocks and use the waveform data to determine the rupture dimensions and directivities we carry out both static and dynamic stress analysis to investigate stress interactions and possible earthquake triggering mechanisms in this sequence we show that the 2002 m w 6 5 rupture started at the termination of the 2000 m w 6 0 earthquake where the calculated coulomb stress changes increased more than 0 5 bar thus we conclude that the coseismic stress increase by the 2000 event favored the nucleation and promoted the timing of the 2002 event an intense seismic activity identified as the kizildag aftershock zone developed following both of the large mainshocks where the third largest earthquake m w 5 8 of the sequence occurred 2 h after the 2002 m w 6 5 mainshock the coulomb stress calculations of the 2000 earthquake shows no influence in this zone while the static coulomb stress changes due to the 2002 m w 6 5 mainshock raised the coulomb stresses an additional 0 3 0 7 bar in the kizildag aftershock zone thus we infer that such changes in the coulomb stresses positively influence the occurrence of the aftershocks in this zone since the kizildag aftershock zone takes place in a geothermal area we compute dynamic stress changes imposed by the 2000 and 2002 mainshocks the computed peak dynamic stress levels for both mainshocks are found much higher than the static stress changes calculated within the kizildag aftershock zone thus we propose that transient stress triggering most likely involving elevated fluid pressures in the hydrothermal systems present in this region may have played a major role in the initiation of increased seismicity followed by local multiple elastic stress triggering leading to the further development of aftershocks and the occurrence of the m w 5 8 mainshock

restraining bend tectonics in the santa cruz mountains california imaged using 10be concentrations in river sands reverse faults frequently generate large and destructive earthquakes yet their seismic hazard remains diffi cult to assess with traditional paleoseismic tools because their surface expressions are often complex and subtle this contribution assesses the utility of millennial scale denudation rates derived from in situ cosmogenic 10be for revealing the spatial patterns and magnitudes of rock uplift produced by slip along reverse faults we present seventeen basin averaged denudation rates from rivers draining the santa cruz mountains along the san andreas fault california usa which closely reproduce known uplift rate patterns associated with a restraining bend along the fault an additional component of vertical deformation appears to be superposed on the uplift due to the restraining bend this may result from regional transpression further irregularities in the fault trace or interactions with neighboring faults our results indicate that 10be derived denudation rates can reveal patterns of rock uplift adjacent to reverse faults over length scales relevant for characterizing their seismic hazard potential

aftershock study and seismotectonic implications of the 8 march 2010 kovancilar elazig turkey earthquake mw 6 1 1 a destructive earthquake mw 6 1 occurred on the northeast end of the palu segment of the east anatolian fault system eafs eastern turkey on 8 march 2010 the spatial distribution of aftershocks suggests that the palu segment does not terminate to the east of palu town but extends in the n50 e direction where it has produced a 30 km right stepover aftershock depths indicate a seismogenic brittle zone of about 15 km depth the stress changes on the segments due to recorded events might have loaded more than 0 5 bars of stress on the ne end of the palu segment and the sw end of the goynuk segment therefore a future earthquake on both segments may occur sooner than was expected before the occurrence of the mw 6 1 earthquake on 8 march 2010

has focused denudation sustained active thrusting at the himalayan topographic front the geomorphic character of major river drainages in the himalayan foothills of central nepal suggests the existence of a discrete west northwest trending break in rock uplift rates that does not correspond to previously mapped faults the 40 ar 39 ar thermochronologic data from detrital muscovites with provenance from both sides of the discontinuity indicate that this geomorphic break also corresponds to a major discontinuity in cooling ages samples to the south are proterozoic to paleozoic whereas those to the north are miocene and younger combined these observations virtually require recent pliocene holocene motion on a thrust sense shear zone in the central nepal himalaya 20 30 km south of the main central thrust field observations are consistent with motion on a broad shear zone subparallel to the fabric of the lesser himalayan lithotectonic sequence the results suggest that motion on thrusts in the toe of the himalayan wedge may be synchronous with deeper exhumation on more hinterland structures in central nepal we speculate that this continued exhumation in the hinterland may be related to intense sustained erosion driven by focused orographic precipitation at the foot of the high himalaya

primary silica granules a new mode of paleoarchean sedimentation in the modern silica cycle dissolved silica is removed from seawater by the synthesis and sedimentation of silica biominerals with additional sinks as authigenic phyllosilicates and silica cements fundamental questions remain however about the nature of the ancient silica cycle prior to the appearance of biologically mediated silica removal in neoproterozoic time the abundance of siliceous sedimentary rocks in archean sequences mainly in the form of chert strongly indicates that abiotic silica precipitation played a significant role during archean time it was previously hypothesized that these cherts formed as primary marine precipitates but substantive evidence supporting a specific mode of sedimentation was not provided we present sedimentologic petrographic and geochemical evidence that some and perhaps many archean cherts were deposited predominately as primary silica grains here termed silica granules that precipitated within marine waters this mode of silica deposition appears to be unique to archean time and provides evidence that primary silica precipitation was an important process in archean oceans understanding this mechanism promises new insights into the archean silica cycle including chert petrogenesis microfossil preservation potential and archean alkalinity budgets and silicate weathering feedback processes

iron mineralization and taphonomy of microfossils of the 2 45 2 21 ga turee creek group western australia abstract we report a new assemblage of carbonaceous microfossils intimately associated with siderite and fe silicates from a black chert nodule included in iron formation of the ca 2 45 2 21 ga turee creek group western australia this chert comprises microbial fabrics dominated by filaments preserved in matrix of nano to micrometric quartz filaments occur in clumps and in a cobweb like fabric interspersed with coarse crystalline void filling quartz granules we studied this chert with optical microscopy combined with scanning transmission electron microscope observations of focused ion beam sections of microfossils this distinguished three types of well preserved fossil interpreted as polysaccharide sheaths that usually do not preserve chains of cells trichomes type 1 comprises narrow filaments with thin continuous kerogen sheaths type 2 comprises narrow filaments with thick granular sheaths and type 3 comprises broad filaments with thin sheaths type 4 filaments are poorly preserved as granular kerogen organic ultrastructures of type 2 4 microfossils are variably replaced by siderite crystals associated with minor fe silicates iron isotope analyses on bulk powder and reactive iron fraction show indistinguishable and highly positive 56 fe values 1 45 relative to the reference irmm 014 indicating that the bulk of siderite derives from reduction of fe iii oxides this provides indirect evidence that the microbial community was originally associated with fe iii oxides siderite and fe silicates are found with type 2 4 but not type 1 filaments suggesting that only the former were encrusted by fe iii oxides which may have been reduced in situ siderite and fe silicates could result from oxidation of organic matter in filaments coupled with microbial and or thermal reduction of fe iii bio minerals the increasing abundance of siderite correlated with decreasing organic matter preservation in filaments supports that this reaction occurred to variable extents in situ on each microfossil type 2 4 microfossils may thus represent iron oxidizing bacteria these microbial mats display strong similarities with those associated with immediately overlying carbonate rocks of the turee creek group where filaments were interpreted as sulfur oxidizing bacteria some filamentous bacteria can oxidize both iron and sulfur such metabolic versatility could have enabled benthic microbial mats to thrive in the drastically changing chemical conditions of the great oxidation event

an iron shuttle for deepwater silica in late archean and early paleoproterozoic iron formation iron formations are typically thinly bedded or laminated sedimentary rocks containing 15 or more of iron and a large proportion of silica commonly 40 in the ca 2590 2460 ma campbellrand kuruman complex transvaal supergroup south africa iron formation occurs as a sediment starved deepwater facies distal to carbonates and shales iron minerals primarily siderite define the lamination the silica primarily occurs as thin beds and nodules of diagenetic chert now microcrystalline quartz filling pore space and replacing iron formation minerals and co occurring deepwater lithologies mechanisms proposed to explain precipitation of the iron component of iron formation include photosynthetic oxygen production anoxygenic photosynthesis abiotic photochemistry and chemoautotrophy using fe ii as an electron donor the origin and mechanism of silica precipitation in these deposits have received less attention here we present a conceptual model of iron formation that offers insight into the deposition of silica the model hinges on the proclivity of dissolved silica to adsorb onto the hydrous surfaces of ferric oxides soluble ferrous iron is oxidized in the surface ocean to form ferric hydroxides which precipitate fe oh 3 binds silica and sinks from the surface ocean along with organic matter shuttling silica to basinal waters and sediments fe iii respiration in the sediments returns the majority of iron to the water column but also generates considerable alkalinity in pore waters driving precipitation of siderite from fe2 and respiration influenced co2 silica liberated during iron reduction becomes concentrated in pore fluids and is ultimately precipitated as diagenetic mineral phases this model explains many of the mineralogical textural and environmental features of late archean and earliest paleo proterozoic iron formation

oxygen and hydrogen isotope evidence for a temperate climate 3 42 billion years ago the widely held view that the archaean climate around 3 5 billion years ago was remarkably warm with ocean temperatures perhaps as high as 80 c has been questioned on the grounds that the established method of estimating ancient ocean temperature from the oxygen isotope ratios of sedimentary deposits is subject to significant uncertainty michael hren et al have adopted a different approach to estimating ocean temperature based on an analysis of both oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of 3 4 billion year old buck reef chert sediments from south africa the isotopes sampled are consistent with formation in waters no warmer than about 40 c suggesting that earth s early oceans may have been far cooler than previously thought the study of stable oxygen isotope ratios 18o of precambrian cherts suggests that ocean temperatures during the archaean era about 3 5 billion years ago were between 55 c and 85 c but uncertainty about the 18o of the primitive ocean has led to considerable debate regarding this conclusion here a combined analysis of oxygen and hydrogen istopes sampled from 3 42 billion year old buck reef chert rocks in south africa indicates that the ancient ocean was much cooler than previously thought stable oxygen isotope ratios 18o of precambrian cherts have been used to establish much of our understanding of the early climate history of earth1 2 3 and suggest that ocean temperatures during the archaean era 3 5 billion years ago were between 55 c and 85 c ref 2 but because of uncertainty in the 18o of the primitive ocean there is considerable debate regarding this conclusion examination of modern and ancient cherts indicates that another approach using a combined analysis of 18o and hydrogen isotopes d rather than 18o alone can provide a firmer constraint on formational temperatures without independent knowledge of the isotopic composition of ambient waters4 5 here we show that 18o and d sampled from 3 42 billion year old buck reef chert rocks in south africa are consistent with formation from waters at varied low temperatures the most 18o enriched buck reef chert rocks record the lowest diagenetic temperatures and were formed in equilibrium with waters below 40 c geochemical and sedimentary evidence suggests that the buck reef chert was formed in shallow to deep marine conditions so our results indicate that the palaeoarchaean ocean was isotopically depleted relative to the modern ocean and far cooler 40 c than previously thought2

geomorphic limits to climate induced increases in topographic relief recognition of the potential for strong dynamic coupling between atmospheric and tectonic processes has sparked intense cross disciplinary investigation and debate on the question of whether tectonics have driven long term climate change or vice versa it has been proposed that climate change might have driven the uplift of mountain summits through an isostatic response to valley incision because isostasy acts to compensate mean elevations the debate hinges on the question of whether climate change can significantly increase topographic relief or more precisely increase the volume of missing mass between summits and ridges here we show that in tectonically active mountain ranges geomorphic constraints allow only a relatively small increase in topographic relief in response to climate change thus although climate change may cause significant increases in denudation rates potentially establishing an important feedback between surficial and crustal processes neither fluvial nor glacial erosion is likely to induce significant isostatic peak uplift

seismogenic zones in eastern turkey an edited version of this paper was published by the american geophysical union agu copyright 2003 agu see also http www agu org pubs crossref 2003 2003gl018023 shtml http atlas geo cornell edu turkey publications turkelli et al 2003 htm

early archean silicate spherules of probable impact origin south africa and western australia layers of sand sized silicate spherules in 3 2 to 3 5 ga archean greenstone belts in south africa and western australia formed by the accumulation of quenched liquid silicate droplets having primary compositions resembling those of immediately underlying rock sequences the layers and particles appear to be unrelated to volcanic activity and we suggest that both occurrences may represent melt droplets formed during meteorite or comet impacts if so these spherules are the oldest known terrestrial impact products if these objects are representative of a larger population of early archean impact features it may be possible to directly estimate the meteorite flux on the early archean earth

stress triggering in thrust and subduction earthquakes and stress interaction between the southern san andreas and nearby thrust and strike slip faults 1 we argue that key features of thrust earthquake triggering inhibition and clustering can be explained by coulomb stress changes which we illustrate by a suite of representative models and by detailed examples whereas slip on surface cutting thrust faults drops the stress in most of the adjacent crust slip on blind thrust faults increases the stress on some nearby zones particularly above the source fault blind thrusts can thus trigger slip on secondary faults at shallow depth and typically produce broadly distributed aftershocks short thrust ruptures are particularly efficient at triggering earthquakes of similar size on adjacent thrust faults we calculate that during a progressive thrust sequence in central california the 1983 mw 6 7 coalinga earthquake brought the subsequent 1983 mw 6 0 nunez and 1985 mw 6 0 kettleman hills ruptures 10 bars and 1 bar closer to coulomb failure the idealized stress change calculations also reconcile the distribution of seismicity accompanying large subduction events in agreement with findings of prior investigations subduction zone ruptures are calculated to promote normal faulting events in the outer rise and to promote thrust faulting events on the periphery of the seismic rupture and its downdip extension these features are evident in aftershocks of the 1957 mw 9 1 aleutian and other large subduction earthquakes we further examine stress changes on the rupture surface imparted by the 1960 mw 9 5 and 1995 mw 8 1 chile earthquakes for which detailed slip models are available calculated coulomb stress increases of 2 20 bars correspond closely to sites of aftershocks and postseismic slip whereas aftershocks are absent where the stress drops by more than 10 bars we also argue that slip on major strike slip systems modulates the stress acting on nearby thrust and strike slip faults we calculate that the 1857 mw 7 9 fort tejon earthquake on the san andreas fault and subsequent interseismic slip brought the coalinga fault 1 bar closer to failure but inhibited failure elsewhere on the coast ranges thrust faults the 1857 earthquake also promoted failure on the white wolf reverse fault by 8 bars which ruptured in the 1952 mw 7 3 kern county shock but inhibited slip on the left lateral garlock fault which has not ruptured since 1857 we thus contend that stress transfer exerts a control on the seismicity of thrust faults across a broad spectrum of spatial and temporal scales

erosion and exhumation in the himalaya from cosmogenic isotope inventories of river sediments the outward erosional flux is a key factor in the tectonic evolution of mountain belts and there is much debate about the feedbacks between tectonics erosion and climate here we use cosmogenic nuclides 10be and 26al analysed in quartz from river sediments from the upper ganges catchment to make the first direct measurements of large scale erosion rates in a rapidly uplifting mountain belt the erosion rates are highest in the high himalaya at 2 7 0 3 mm yr 1 errors fall to 1 2 0 1 mm yr on the southern edge of the tibetan plateau and are 0 8 0 3 to 0 6 mm yr in the foothills to the south of the high mountains these relative estimates are corroborated by the nd isotopic mass balance of the river sediment analysis of sediment from an abandoned terrace suggests that similar erosion rates have been maintained for at least the last few thousand years the data presented here along with data recently published for european river catchments demonstrate that a log linear relationship between relief and erosion rate holds over three orders of magnitude variation in erosion rate and between very different climatic and tectonic regimes the erosion rate estimates from cosmogenic nuclides correlate well with exhumation rates calculated from previously published apatite fission track ages in the indian himalaya this confirms that much of the exhumation in the himalayan mountain chain is now balanced by erosion however exhumation rates calculated from high blocking temperature systems such as 40ar 39ar in muscovite imply lower exhumation rates rocks presently at the surface must have undergone a three to six fold increase in exhumation rate within the last few million years we show how this could be explained either by climatic forcing of erosion rate changes or by tectonics published evidence for equally rapid changes of exhumation rate in the past and the probable diachroneity in the time at which the present exhumation rates accelerated imply that tectonics has moderated at least some of the change in exhumation rates

the silica cycle in the precambrian abstract whereas the modem silica cycle is heavily dependent on the biology of silica secreting organisms such as the diatoms the precambrian silica cycle was dominated by inorganic reactions among dissolved silica clay and zeolite minerals and organic matter there is no evidence for deposition of a layered amorphous silica but abundant evidence for diagenetic silicification in the neoproterozoic the time period chosen for this analysis the influx of silica to the neoproterozoic ocean would have been governed as today by the balance among tectonism weathering and hydrothermal input the evidence of neoproterozoic rocks favors tectonic and weathering regimes not very dissimilar to those of the early phanerozoic and hydrothermal inputs significantly altered at certain periods one flux would have been very different the present diffusional influx of silica from interstitial waters into the oceans would have been altered to an efflux from the oceans to interstitial waters reactions of dissolved silica with inorganic phases would have controlled silica concentrations at a level of about 60 ppm this figure is based on experimental determinations of solubility and silica sorption on clay minerals and zeolites as silica in interstitial waters was lowered by opal ct precipitation a diffusional efflux from the ocean into the sediment was set up silicification would have started in early diagenesis as opal ct precipitated from interstitial waters diffusion of silica from overlying seawater declined as the sediment was buried a few hundred meters and the diffusion path lengthened during this still relatively shallow burial silicification continued but this time powered by hydrologie transport of dissolved silica from coastal plain sediments during transgressions and regressions thus the major removal of silica from the neoproterozoic ocean took place by diagenetic reactions

hillslope and channel evolution in a marine terraced landscape santa cruz california a flight of marine terraces along the central california coastline provides a unique setting for the study of topographic evolution wavecut platforms mantled by 2 6 m of marine terrace cover deposits are separated by 10 50 m tall decaying sea cliffs paleocliff edges become more rounded with age yet the details of the profiles and frequent bedrock exposure on the upper slopes imply weathering limited transport five bedrock stream channels etched through the marine terrace sequence display one to three distinct convexities in their longitudinal profiles detailed hand level surveys of the hillslopes and of the stream channel longitudinal profiles constrain hillslope evolution and channel incision components of a numerical model of landscape evolution we account for regolith production as a function of regolith depth in accord with the field observation that hillslope processes are presently dominated by the activities of burrowing rodents the transport process is taken to be diffusive stream incision is assumed to be controlled by stream power for which we use the surrogate of local drainage area slope product best fits of the numerical model to field data imply hillslope diffusivity is 10 m2 kyr 1 regolith production rate on bare bedrock is 0 3 m kyr 1 and falls off rapidly with regolith cover and the constant controlling the efficiency of stream incision is 5 to 7 10 7m 1 kyr1

sponge spicules silicification and sequence stratigraphy abstract early diagenetic silica is distributed unevenly in phanerozoic sponge spicule rich carbonate mounds in paleozoic mounds replacive silica occurs principally at the microscopic scale whereas in mesozoic strata it is frequently present as nodular chert this paper explores the possibility of advective dispersive loss of dissolved pore water silica for explaining the contrasting styles of silica cycling in mounds four examples of spicule rich mounds were transcribed into hydrogeological conceptual models two weakly silicified paleozoic mounds with stromatactis silurian carboniferous and two strongly silicified jurassic mounds one stromatactis mound one sponge mound monte carlo fluid flow simulations utilized literature derived ranges of effective porosity while hydraulic conductivity of component hydrostratigraphic units provided quantitative constraints for the paleozoic examples the strata aggrade and prograde which creates shallowing upward trends mesozoic examples aggrade and retrograde resulting in deepening upward trends and stratigraphic condensation and fluid baffling interpreted from hardgrounds and black shale for the silurian and the jurassic stromatactis mound models simulations of advective dispersive silica mass transport were performed by applying different compaction driven fluid fluxes based on stratigraphic data the silurian mound displays vertical flushing but high silica concentrations prevail in off mound and flank deposits the jurassic case maintains a stratiform like silica distribution over tens of thousands of years the two other cases carboniferous jurassic used an identical low fluid flux the simulations which match field observations silica depleted mound versus stratiform chert occur at different time scales realistic for the jurassic case but unrealistic for the carboniferous case because it lacks the required degree of stratigraphic condensation to establish a silica depleted mound the results suggest that the variation of fluxes of dissolved pore water silica in phanerozoic spicule rich mounds is controlled by mass accumulation or sediment burial rate during the paleozoic mound formation is commonly associated with shallowing upward trends high to intermediate accumulation rates whereas mesozoic mound formation more commonly extended into condensed sections with low mass accumulation and respective low rates of compaction driven fluid flow the mesozoic extension of spicule rich carbonate mounds into the condensed section might be related to an intensification of benthic pelagic coupling established during the mesozoic marine revolution

implications of the 2003 bingol earthquake for the interaction between the north and east anatolian faults aftershocks of the magnitude m w 6 4 bingol earthquake of 1 may 2003 eastern turkey were monitored by a local temporary seismic network the spatial distribution of the aftershocks shows that the earthquake did not occur on the left lateral east anatolian fault but perpendicular to it along a north northwest striking right lateral fault the event ruptured an area of 20 km by 8 km but did not reach the earth s surface the aftershocks of the 2003 bingol earthquake and those of the 1992 erzincan earthquake seem to indicate the existence of a new seismically active right lateral shear zone indeed we show that historical earthquakes along both the north and east anatolian fault led to positive changes in coulomb failure stress for north northwest oriented right lateral strike slip faults in the bingol epicentral area moreover the existence of such faults is supported by remote sensing data online material fault geometry and aftershock data near bingol

the december 2nd 2015 bingol eastern anatolia turkey earthquake mw 5 3 a rupture on optimally oriented fault plane abstract eastern anatolia is a 2 km high plateau shaped by the continent continent collision of the arabian and eurasian plates the left lateral east anatolian fault zone the right lateral north anatolian fault zone and the bitlis fold thrust belt are the major tectonic boundaries of this convergence zone the arabian eurasian collision has resulted in high volcanism and well recorded seismic activity in eastern anatolia and its surroundings karliova junction is located at the intersection of these major fault systems and contains secondary faults such as the karakocan fault and the sancak uzunpinar fault we processed high quality waveform data collected from a recent seismic activity in the proximity of the city of bingol where the largest event is the moderate size earthquake mw 5 3 occurred on 2 december 2015 this event is located to the west of karliova junction and to the northwest of sancak uzunpinar fault the spatial distribution of the aftershocks points out unmapped faults with nnw sse alignment towards the west of sancak uzunpinar fault aftershock depth distribution indicates a nearly 15 km deep brittle seismogenic zone the relocated aftershock distributions and seismic moment calculations yield a rupture area 9 km in length and 5 km in width with an average 8 cm of slip the latest four earthquakes preceding the 2015 eq with magnitudes larger than mw 6 enhanced the coulomb stress failure in the 2015 bingol earthquake rupture area the ruptured fault plane is in line with the optimally oriented right lateral strike slip faults

earth s topographic relief potentially limited by an upper bound on channel steepness rivers limit the maximum elevation of active mountain belts control the coupling between climate and tectonic processes and archive the pace and tempo of fault related rock uplift rates topographic profiles along rivers in steep non glaciated landscapes have led many to posit that river incision rates vary as a power function of channel discharge and slope we used 10be abundance in river sands and topographic analysis to test this relationship in watersheds varying by four orders of magnitude in erosion rate 4 7 10 3 7 1 mm yr 1 and supplemented this with a global analysis of erosion rates and topography our data and analyses reveal that in steep rapidly eroding landscapes channel morphology does not scale with erosion rate as expected instead river profiles reach a threshold steepness which may provide a bound on the topographic relief of earth in this case increases in channel length may limit topographic relief as erosion rate becomes increasingly sensitive to small changes in channel slopes in steep landscapes the channel morphology of rapidly eroding landscapes does not scale with river erosion rates according to isotopic and topographic analysis

active tectonics of the alpine himalayan belt between western turkey and pakistan summary over 80 new fault plane solutions combined with satellite imagery as well as both modern and historical observations of earthquake faulting are used to investigate the active tectonics of the middle east between western turkey and pakistan the deformation of the western part of this region is dominated by the movement of continental material laterally away from the lake van region in eastern turkey this movement helps to avoid crustal thickening in the van region and allows some of the shortening between arabia and eurasia to be taken up by the thrusting of continental material over oceanic type basement in the southern caspian mediterranean makran and black sea thus central turkey bounded by the north and east anatolian strike slip faults is moving west from the van region and overrides the eastern mediterranean at two intermediate depth seismic zones one extending between antalya bay and southern cyprus and the other further west in the hellenic trench the motion of northern iran eastwards from the van region is achieved mainly by a conjugate system of strike slip faults and leads to the low angle thrusting of iran over the southern caspian sea the seismicity of the caucasus shows predominantly shortening perpendicular to the regional strike but there is also some minor elongation along the strike of the belt as the causcasus overrides the caspian and black seas the deformation of the eastern part of this region is dominated by the shortening of iran against the stable borders of turkmenistan and afghanistan the north east direction of compression seen in zagros is also seen in north east iran and the kopet dag where the shortening is taken up by a combination of strike slip and thrust faulting large structural as well as palaeomagnetic rotations are likely to have occurred in ne iran as a result of this style of deformation north south strike slip faults in southern iran allow some movement of material away from the collision zone in ne iran towards the makran subduction zone where genuinely intermediate depth seismicity is seen within this broad deforming belt large areas such as central turkey nw iran azerbaijan central iran and the southern caspian appear to be almost aseismic and therefore to behave as relatively rigid blocks surrounded by active belts 200 300 km wide the motion of these blocks can usefully be described by poles of rotation the poles presented in this paper predict motions consistent with those observed and also predict the opening of the gulf of iskenderun ne of cyprus the change within the zagros mountains from strike slip faulting in the nw to intense thrusting in the se and the relatively feeble seismicity in se iran baluchistan this description also explains why the north south structures along the iran afghanistan border do not cut the east west ranges of the makran within the active belts surrounding the relatively aseismic blocks a continuum approach is needed for a description of the deformation even though motions at the surface may be concentrated on faults the evolution of fault systems within the active zones is controlled by geometric constraints such as the requirement that simultaneously active faults do not in general intersect many of the active processes discussed in this paper particularly large scale rotations and lateral movement along the regional strike are likely to have caused substantial complexities in older mountain belts and should be accounted for in any reconstructions of them

microplate boundaries as obstacles to pre earthquake strain transfer in western turkey inferences from continuous geochemical monitoring abstract warm and hot spring water chemistry changes as well as soil gas radon release patterns have been monitored in western turkey alongside regional seismicity providing a multi disciplinary approach from january 2009 to may 2011 33 earthquakes with ml between 4 0 and 6 0 occurred in this seismically very active region the ml 6 0 earthquake occurred on 19 may 2011 in simav town of kutahya province at a location midway between dense multidisciplinary monitoring networks of marmara region mr and the aegean extensional province aep we previously reported on noteworthy precursory anomalies prior to several earthquakes ml 4 in the mr and aep but no precursory anomaly was detected prior to the ml 6 0 event on 19 may 2011 in simav kutahya province midway between dense multidisciplinary monitoring mr and aep networks although these networks operate within the theoretical strain radii of this earthquake dobrovolsky et al 1979 no reliable anomaly were found geodetic studies based on gps data have identified crustal blocks in this region the epicentral area of the simav event is located within a block tectonically separated from aep and mr thus we speculate that pre earthquake strain accumulation within the simav block did not effectively transfer to adjacent blocks where the mr and aep networks are located thereby providing an explanation for the absence of detectable anomalies moreover prior to some earthquakes quadrant features of geochemical transients have been found suggesting that soil radon anomalies appear in compressional quadrant s of pre earthquake strain distribution

scaling factors for the rates of production of cosmogenic nuclides for geometric shielding and attenuation at depth on sloped surfaces abstract the decrease in rates of production of cosmogenic nuclides occurs because of shielding of cosmic rays by mountains sloped surfaces and local rock formations that block them when a large part of the sky is blocked this correction is large and requires detailed model calculations this paper considers three geometries a rectangular obstruction a triangular obstruction and a sloped surface other geometries can be considered as a combination of these the results are presented in terms of formulas and graphs so that the reader can easily apply them to common field situations any use of cosmogenic nuclides in the study of geomorphic processes or forms must consider factors that introduce variations in the production of nuclides

theoretical constraints on oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in the precambrian atmosphere simple one dimensional climate models suggest that carbon dioxide concentrations during the archean must have been at least 100 1000 times the present level to keep the earth s surface temperature above freezing in the face of decreased solar luminosity such models provide only lower bounds on co2 so it is possible that co2 levels were substantially higher than this and that the archean climate was much warmer than today periods of extensive glaciation during the early and late proterozoic on the other hand indicate that the climate at these times was relatively cool to be consistent with climate models co2 partial pressures must have declined from approximately 0 03 to 0 3 bar around 2 5 ga ago to between 10 3 and 10 2 bar at 0 8 ga ago this steep decrease in carbon dioxide concentrations may be inconsistent with paleosol data which implies that pco2 did not change appreciably during that time oxygen was essentially absent from the earth s atmosphere and oceans prior to the emergence of a photosynthetic source probably during the late archean during the early proterozoic the atmosphere and surface ocean were apparently oxidizing while the deep ocean remained reducing an upper limit of 6 x 10 3 bar for po2 at this time can be derived by balancing the burial rate of organic carbon with the rate of oxidation of ferrous iron in the deep ocean the establishment of oxidizing conditions in the deep ocean marked by the disappearance of banded iron formations approximately 1 7 ga ago permitted atmospheric oxygen to climb to its present level o2 concentrations may have remained substantially lower than today however until well into the phanerozoic

coseismic and postseismic fault slip for the 17 august 1999 m 7 5 izmit turkey earthquake we use global positioning system gps observations and elastic half space models to estimate the distribution of coseismic and postseismic slip along the izmit earthquake rupture our results indicate that large coseismic slip reaching 5 7 meters is confined to the upper 10 kilometers of the crust correlates with structurally distinct fault segments and is relatively low near the hypocenter continued surface deformation during the first 75 days after the earthquake indicates an aseismic fault slip of as much as 0 43 meters on and below the coseismic rupture these observations are consistent with a transition from unstable episodic large earthquakes to stable fault creep sliding at the base of the seismogenic zone

petrography and provenance of silicified early archaean volcaniclastic sandstones eastern pilbara block western australia intense post depositional alteration has profoundly affected sandstones in the volcanic portions of early archaean 3 5 3 3 ga greenstone belts the mineralogy and bulk compositions of most grains have been completely destroyed by pervasive metasomatism but grain textures are commonly well preserved consequently microtextural information coupled with present alteration compositions as determined petrographically can be used to estimate original framework modes silicified early archaean volcaniclastic sandstones assigned to the panorama formation and duffer formation warrawoona group eastern pilbara block western australia were originally composed of volcanic vrf and sedimentary srf rock fragments volcanic quartz feldspar traces of ferromagnesian minerals and pumice only volcanic megaquartz remained stable during alteration all other primary components were replaced by granular microcrystalline quartz gmc and sericite in most areas the sandstones were composed of dacitic to rhyolitic vrfs now totally replaced by sericite poor gmc and recognized by preserved microporphyritic textures in a few areas quartz poor dacitic to andesitic vrfs dominated the detrital assemblage minor srfs and mafic vrfs now replaced by gmc are recognized on the basis of colour internal structures and internal textures including skeletal possible spinifex textures detrital feldspar is represented by blocky sericite rich grain pseudomorphs a semi quantitative point count scheme developed for the analysis of heavily altered sandstones indicates the following primary detrital mode ranges for panorama arenites quartz 0 28 feldspar 0 28 vrfs 58 86 and srfs 0 25 in about half the point counted samples feldspar could not be distinguished from rock fragments in such cases both were counted as one grain type lv which makes up from 84 to 100 of the framework modes of these rocks these sands were derived from a terrane composed largely of fresh felsic volcanic rocks and sediments but locally including minor mafic ultramafic and sedimentary rocks much but not all of the felsic volcaniclastic sand represents reworked pyroclastic debris there is no evidence for contributions from plutonic or metamorphic sources the panorama modal assemblage represents a provenance that is lithologically more restricted than that of archaean greywackes and other siliciclastic units common in the sedimentary portions of these same early archaean greenstone belts and younger greenstone belts 3 0 2 7 ga

global analysis of the stream power law parameters based on worldwide 10be denudation rates abstract the stream power law expressed as e kamsn where e is erosion rate lt 1 k is an erodibility coefficient t 1l 1 2m a is drainage area l 2 s is channel gradient l l and m and n are constants is the most widely used model for bedrock channel incision despite its simplicity and limitations the model has proved useful for topographic evolution knickpoint migration palaeotopography reconstruction and the determination of rock uplift patterns and rates however the unknown parameters k m and n are often fixed arbitrarily or are based on assumptions about the physics of the erosion processes that are not always valid which considerably limits the use and interpretation of the model in this study we compile a unique global data set of published basin averaged erosion rates that use detrital cosmogenic 10be these data n 1457 enable values for fundamental river properties to be empirically constrained often for the first time such as the concavity of the river profile m n ratio or concavity index the link between channel slope and erosion rate slope exponent n and substrate erodibility k these three parameters are calculated for 59 geographic areas using the integral method of channel profile analysis and allow for a global scale analysis in terms of climatic tectonic and environmental settings in order to compare multiple sites we also normalize n and k using a reference concavity index m n 0 5 a multiple regression analysis demonstrates that intuitive or previously demonstrated local scale trends such as the correlation between k and precipitation rates do not appear at a global scale our results suggest that the slope exponent is generally 1 meaning that the relationship between erosion rate and the channel gradient is nonlinear and thus support the hypothesis that incision is a threshold controlled process this result questions the validity of many regional interpretations of climate and or tectonics where the unity of n is routinely assumed

origin of chert nodules in the ediacaran doushantuo formation black shales from yangtze block south china abstract chert nodules are widely developed in ediacaran deposits of south china yet the mechanism responsible for their formation remains disputed petrological and geochemical studies of chert nodules and host shale of the ediacaran doushantuo formation of the yangtze block south china were carried out to more fully assess silicification of these deposits doushantuo chert nodules display a concentrically layered internal structure dominated by quartz and lesser concentrations of calcite carbonate fluorapatite organic matter pyrite and sphalerite individual layers become thinner from nodule centers to edges our results suggest that 1 doushantuo host black shale accumulated under persistent anoxic bottom water conditions and 2 chert nodules formed as a consequence of the anaerobic oxidation of methane focused along sulfate methane transition zones at shallow burial depth nodules likely originated from porous proto nodules that consisted of 13c depleted authigenic calcite produced by the anaerobic oxidation of methane decaying of organic matter within nodules helped to create porosity that was filled by authigenic calcite and also released phosphate and zinc ions to pore water thus favoring precipitation of carbonate fluorapatite and sphalerite silica supplied principally from the diagenesis of clay minerals of the host shale cemented the nodules and replaced early formed calcite the progressive infilling of residual porosity by 18o depleted pore fluids associated with increasing burial depth is reflected in the strongly negative 18ocarb values documented from the nodules thus the formation of doushantuo chert nodules reflects a protracted diagenetic history initiated by bacterial sulfate reduction and anaerobic oxidation of methane close to and within the sulfate methane transition zone and continued in association with the diagenetic release of silica from host shale as well hydrocarbon generation with increasing burial depth

sedimentology of the 3 3 ga upper mendon formation barberton greenstone belt south africa the mendon formation is the uppermost unit of the 3 5 3 26 ga onverwacht group in the barberton greenstone belt south africa it consists of a cyclic stack of komatiitic volcanic units separated by thin cherty sedimentary layers in most areas the uppermost mendon formation is a sedimentary interval characterized by black chert banded black and white chert and banded ferruginous chert although the detailed patterns of lithofacies in different sections are more complex previously reported zircon u pb ages suggest that mendon deposition could represent more than 70 myr of time between 3 334 ma and 3 260 ma this study presents sedimentological and petrographic observations of the upper mendon formation from across the central part of the barberton greenstone belt in order to investigate sediment sources depositional processes and environments of sedimentation the dominant mode of sedimentation was quiet settling of carbonaceous grains and in the deepest sections below storm wave base fine ferruginous material resulting in finely laminated black and grey chert in situ carbonaceous laminations are rare suggesting that benthic microbial mat growth had little direct influence on deposition the hemipelagic background deposition was punctuated by occasional inputs of fine pyroclastic debris formation and deposition of silica granules and reworking by infrequent storm events storm deposits are represented by coarse grained poorly sorted intraclast breccias some of which include distinctive intraclasts sampling lithofacies that are not observed in situ despite considerable lateral variability correlative temporal trends are resolvable in many mendon sections there is an upward deepening of the overall depositional setting recorded in the oldest upper mendon sections consistent with the previous interpretation that mendon time was characterized by rifting lowe 1994a lowe 1999a younger mendon cycles include thick relatively ferruginous basal sections interpreted to reflect the deepest water deposition these sections are capped by black chert and silicified ashes with more evidence of disturbance and reworking by storms reflecting gradual shoaling this sedimentological analysis is broadly consistent with previous geochemical and tectonic analyses and provides a better picture of depositional patterns during uppermost onverwacht time before the distinct change in tectonic regime marked by impact spherule layer s2 and the onset of fig tree group orogenesis and related siliciclastic deposition

texture specific si isotope variations in barberton greenstone belt cherts record low temperature fractionations in early archean seawater sedimentary cherts are unusually abundant in early archean pre 3 0 ga sequences suggesting a silica cycle that was profoundly different than the modern system previously applied for the purpose of paleothermometry si isotopes in ancient cherts can offer broader insight into mass fluxes and mechanisms associated with silica concentration precipitation diagenesis and metamorphism early archean cherts contain a rich suite of sedimentological and petrographic textures that document a history of silica deposition cementation silicification and recrystallization to add a new layer of insight into the chemistry of early cherts we have used wavelength dispersive spectroscopy and then secondary ion mass spectrometry sims to produce elemental and si and o isotope ratio data from banded black and white cherts from the onverwacht group of the barberton greenstone belt south africa this geochemical data is then interpreted in the framework of depositional and diagenetic timing of silica precipitation provided by geological observations sims allows the comparison of si and o isotope ratios of distinct silica phases including black carbonaceous chert beds and bands many including well defined sedimentary grains white relatively pure chert bands including primary silica granules early cavity filling cements and later quartz filled veins including all chert types and textures analyzed the 30 si dataset spans a range from 4 78 to 3 74 with overall mean 0 20 median 0 51 and standard deviation 1 30 n 1087 most samples have broadly similar 30 si distributions but systematic texture specific 30 si differences are observed between white chert bands mean 0 60 n 750 which contain textures that represent primary and earliest diagenetic silica phases and later cavity filling cements mean 1 41 n 198 we observed variations at a 100 m scale indicating a lack of si isotope homogenization at this scale during diagenesis and metamorphism although fractionations during diagenetic phase transformations may have affected certain textures we interpret these systematic variations to reflect fractionation during silica precipitation as well as isotopically distinct fluids from which later phases originated sims 18 o values fall in a range from 16 39 to 23 39 n 381 similar to previously published data from bulk gas source mass spectrometry of onverwacht cherts we observed only limited examples of texture related variation in 18 o and did not observe correlation of 18 o with 30 si trends this is consistent with hypotheses that si isotope ratios are more resistant to alteration under conditions of rock buffered diagenesis marin carbonne et al 2011 our results indicate that low temperature processes fractionated silicon isotopes in early archean marine basins a behavior that probably precludes the application of chert 30 si as a robust paleothermometer the values we observe for facies that sedimentological and petrographic observations indicate formed as primary and earliest diagenetic silica precipitates from seawater are more 30 si rich than that expected for bulk silicate earth this is consistent with the hypothesis that the silicon isotope budget is balanced by the coeval deposition of 30 si enriched cherts and 30 si depleted iron formation lithologies precipitation of authigenic clay minerals in both terrestrial and marine settings may have also comprised a large 30 si depleted sink with the corollary of an important non carbonate alkalinity sink consuming cations released by silicate weathering

forecasting the evolution of seismicity in southern california animations built on earthquake stress transfer 1 we develop a forecast model to reproduce the distribution of main shocks aftershocks and surrounding seismicity observed during 1986 2003 in a 300 310 km area centered on the 1992 m 7 3 landers earthquake to parse the catalog into frames with equal numbers of aftershocks we animate seismicity in log time increments that lengthen after each main shock this reveals aftershock zone migration expansion and densification we implement a rate state algorithm that incorporates the static stress transferred by each m 6 shock and then evolves coulomb stress changes amplify the background seismicity so small stress changes produce large changes in seismicity rate in areas of high background seismicity similarly seismicity rate declines in the stress shadows are evident only in areas with previously high seismicity rates thus a key constituent of the model is the background seismicity rate which we smooth from 1981 to 1986 seismicity the mean correlation coefficient between observed and predicted m 1 4 shocks the minimum magnitude of completeness is 0 52 for 1986 2003 and 0 63 for 1992 2003 a control standard aftershock model yields 0 54 and 0 52 for the same periods four m 6 0 shocks struck during the test period three are located at sites where the expected seismicity rate falls above the 92 percentile and one is located above the 75 percentile the model thus reproduces much but certainly not all of the observed spatial and temporal seismicity from which we infer that the decaying effect of stress transferred by successive main shocks influences seismicity for decades finally we offer a m 5 earthquake forecast for 2005 2015 assigning probabilities to 324 10 10 km cells

alternating si and fe deposition caused by temperature fluctuations in precambrian oceans precambrian banded iron formations contain thin alternating layers of iron and silica rich minerals microbial culture experiments show that these alternations could be caused by changes in the relative dominance of microbial iron oxidation and abiotic silica precipitation driven by fluctuating ocean temperature

spatially averaged long term erosion rates measured from in situ produced cosmogenic nuclides in alluvial sediment spatially averaged erosion rates of small catchments can be accurately inferred from the concentrations of cosmogenic nuclides in stream sediment here we test this technique at two catchments by comparing erosion rates inferred from cosmogenic nuclides with rates of alluvial fan deposition over the past 16 000 years these two independent estimates agree within one standard error demonstrating that cosmogenic nuclide signatures of stream sediment can be used to measure spatially averaged long term erosion rates using this technique we show that long term erosion rates are an exponential function of average hillslope gradient at these sites

climatic control of denudation in the deglaciated landscape of the washington cascades erosion in the washington cascades mountains was dominated by glacier activity until the end of the last glacial maximum when fluvial incision and mass wasting became the dominant drivers an analysis of millennial scale rates of denudation in the range suggest erosion is sensitive both to spatial variations in precipitation and inherited topography

trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution life requires a wide variety of bioessential trace elements to act as structural components and reactive centers in metalloenzymes these requirements differ between organisms and have evolved over geological time likely guided in some part by environmental conditions until recently most of what was understood regarding trace element concentrations in the precambrian oceans was inferred by extrapolation geochemical modeling and or genomic studies however in the past decade the increasing availability of trace element and isotopic data for sedimentary rocks of all ages has yielded new and potentially more direct insights into secular changes in seawater composition and ultimately the evolution of the marine biosphere compiled records of many bioessential trace elements including ni mo p zn co cr se and i provide new insight into how trace element abundance in earth s ancient oceans may have been linked to biological evolution several of these trace elements display redox sensitive behavior while others are redox sensitive but not bioessential e g cr u their temporal trends in sedimentary archives provide useful constraints on changes in atmosphere ocean redox conditions that are linked to biological evolution for example the activity of oxygen producing photosynthetic cyanobacteria in this review we summarize available precambrian trace element proxy data and discuss how temporal trends in the seawater concentrations of specific trace elements may be linked to the evolution of both simple and complex life we also examine several biologically relevant and or redox sensitive trace elements that have yet to be fully examined in the sedimentary rock record e g cu cd w and suggest several directions for future studies

geologic constraints on bedrock river incision using the stream power law denudation rate in unextended terranes is limited by the rate of bedrock channel incision often modeled as work rate on the channel bed by water and sediment or stream power the latter can be generalized as ka m s n where k represents the channel bed s resistance to lowenng whose variation with lithology is unknown a is drainage area a surrogate for discharge s is local slope and m and n are exponents whose values are debated we address these uncertainties by simulating the lowering of ancient river profiles using the finite difference method we vary m n and k to match the evolved profile as closely as possible to the corresponding modern river profile over a time period constrained by the age of the mapped paleoprofiles we find at least two end member incision laws ka 0 3 0 5 s for australian rivers with stable base levels and k f a 0 1 0 2 s n for rivers in kauai subject to abrupt base level change the long term lowering rate on the latter expression is a function of the frequency and magnitude of knickpoint erosion characterized by k f incision patterns from japan and california could follow either expression if they follow the first expression with m 0 4 k varies from 10 7 10 6 m 0 2 yr for granite and metamorphic rocks to 10 5 10 4 m 0 2 yr for volcaniclastic rocks and 10 4 10 2 m 0 2 yr for mudstones this potentially large variation in k with lithology could drive strong variability in the rate of long term landscape change including denudation rate and sediment yield

source parameters of large earthquakes in the east anatolian fault zone turkey summary the east anatolian fault zone accommodates most of the motion between the arabian plate and the apparently little deforming interior of central turkey the direction of overall slip across this zone is crucial to the determination of the slip rate on the north anatolian fault we use long period p and sn waveforms to determine the source parameters of the four largest earthquakes that occurred in or near the east anatolian fault zone in the last 35 years only one of these actually involved left lateral strike slip motion on a ne sw fault but the other three and the nearby 1975 lice earthquake all had steeply dipping nodal planes with a nnw strike if these were the auxiliary planes then all the earthquakes had a slip vector direction within about 10 of 063 if this direction represents the arabia turkey motion then the slip rate on the north anatolian fault must be in the range 31 to 48 mm yr with a probable value of 38 mm yr and the overall slip rate across the east anatolian fault zone must be about 29mmyr with a range of 25

the east anatolian fault geometry segmentation and jog characteristics a detailed account is given of the fault geometry and segment structure of the east anatolian fault zone as a whole based on mapping of active faults supported by available seismological and palaeoseismological data we divide the east anatolian fault into two main strands southern and northern the main southern strand is c 580 km long between karliova and antakya and connects with the dead sea fault zone and the cyprus arc via the amik triple junction the northern strand termed the surgu misis fault system is c 350 km long and connects with the kyrenia misis fault zone beneath the gulf of iskenderun we infer that slip partitioning between the main and northern strands of the east anatolian fault accommodates 2 3 and 1 3 of the slip rate of the lateral motion between the arabian and anatolian plates respectively in the celikhan adana antakya region taking account of the time elapsed from the latest events on the east anatolian fault we suggest that the pazarcik and amanos segments have the potential to produce destructive earthquakes in the near future

seafloor silicification and hardground development during deposition of 2 5 ga banded iron formations banded iron formations bifs are important archives of the ancient oceans atmosphere and biosphere but fundamental questions remain about their origin it is widely assumed that bifs were derived from layers of ferric oxyhydroxides and silica that precipitated directly from a water column that was enriched in dissolved iron and silica the reported lack of current generated structures and clastic particles beyond mud grade and the perceived basin scale extent of laminae is regarded as evidence for uninterrupted pelagic settling with no sedimentary reworking new sedimentological and petrographic results show that laminated cherts in the 2 5 ga dales gorge member of the brockman iron formation western australia preserve textures indicative of in situ brecciation immediately below the seafloor and the deposition of intraformational sandstones composed of chert clasts in a chert matrix chert intraclasts have two sedimentary components silt sized microgranules and submicron sized particles indicating that the original sediment comprised iron rich silicate muds that were cemented on or just below the seafloor by pore filling silica silicified muds were episodically eroded by density currents and the resulting detritus was transported as sand sized clasts and locally deposited in a matrix of microgranules and mud our results support the hypothesis that high concentrations of silica in early precambrian seawater favored episodic silica cementation of sediments on the seafloor we suggest that competition between sediment accumulation and seafloor silica cementation with subsequent differential compaction explains primary layering in bifs between beds of relatively thickly laminated chert and beds of thinly laminated iron rich minerals the thickest laminated chert beds are interpreted to represent intervals when seafloor silicification outpaced deposition of hydrothermal muds forming the equivalent of phanerozoic hardgrounds at sequence boundaries

a shorter archean day length biases interpretations of the early earth s climate earth s earliest sedimentary record contains evidence that surface temperatures were similar to or perhaps even warmer than modern in contrast standard solar models suggest the sun was 25 less luminous at this ancient epoch implying a cold frozen planet all else kept equal this discrepancy known as the faint young sun paradox remains unresolved most proposed solutions invoke high concentrations of greenhouse gases in the early atmosphere to offset for the fainter sun though current geological constraints are insufficient to verify or falsify these scenarios in this work we examined several simple mechanisms that involve the role played by earth s spin rate which was significantly faster during archean time this faster spin rate enhances the equator to pole temperature gradient facilitating a warm equator while maintaining cold poles results show that such an enhanced meridional gradient augments the meridional gradient in carbonate deposition which biases the surviving geological record away from the global mean toward warmer waters moreover using simple atmospheric models we found that the faster spinning earth was less sensitive to ice albedo feedbacks facilitating larger meridional temperature gradients before succumbing to global glaciation we show that within the faster spinning regime the greenhouse warming required to generate an ice free earth can differ from that required to generate an earth with permanent ice caps by the equivalent of 1 2 orders of magnitude of pco 2 accordingly the resolution of the faint young sun problem depends significantly on whether the early earth was ever or even at times ice free

a coupled carbon silicon cycle model over earth history reverse weathering as a possible explanation of a warm mid proterozoic climate abstract the balance between carbon outgassing and carbon burial controls earth s climate on geological timescales carbon removal in carbonates consumes both atmospheric carbon and ocean carbonate alkalinity sourced from silicate weathering on the land or seafloor reverse weathering rw refers to clay forming reactions that consume alkalinity but not carbon if the cations of alkalinity end up in clay minerals rather than in the carbonates carbon remains as atmospheric co 2 warming the climate higher silicate weathering fluxes and warmer temperatures are then required to balance the carbon cycle it has been proposed that high dissolved silica concentrations resulting from the absence of ecologically significant biogenic silica precipitation in the precambrian drove larger rw fluxes than today affecting the climate here we present the first fully coupled carbon silica cycle model for post hadean earth history that models climate evolution self consistently available as open source code rw fluxes and biogenic silica deposition fluxes are represented using a sediment diagenesis model that can reproduce modern conditions we show that a broad range of climate evolutions are possible but most plausible scenarios produce proterozoic warming 5 k relative to without rw which could help explain the sustained warmth of the proterozoic despite lower insolation rw in the archean is potentially more muted due to a lower land fraction and sedimentation rate key model uncertainties are the modern reverse weathering flux the rate coefficient for rw reactions and the solubility of authigenic clays consequently within the large uncertainties other self consistent scenarios where proterozoic rw was unimportant cannot be excluded progress requires better constraints on parameters governing rw reaction rates including explicit consideration of cation limitations to precambrian rw and perhaps new inferences from si or li isotopes systems

new insights into the mineralogy of the atlantis ii deep metalliferous sediments red sea the atlantis ii deep of the red sea hosts the largest known hydrothermal ore deposit on the ocean floor and the only modern analog of brine pool type metal deposition the deposit consists mainly of chemical clastic sediments with input from basin scale hydrothermal and detrital sources a characteristic feature is the millimeter scale layering of the sediments which bears a strong resemblance to banded iron formation bif quantitative assessment of the mineralogy based on relogging of archived cores detailed petrography and sequential leaching experiments shows that fe oxy hydroxides hydrothermal carbonates sulfides and authigenic clays are the main ore minerals mn oxides were mainly deposited when the brine pool was more oxidized than it is today but detailed logging shows that fe deposition and mn deposition also alternated at the scale of individual laminae reflecting short term fluctuations in the lower brine previous studies underestimated the importance of nonsulfide metal bearing components which formed by metal adsorption onto poorly crystalline si fe ooh particles during diagenesis the crystallinity of all phases increased and the fine layering of the sediment was enhanced within a few meters of burial corresponding to a few thousand years of deposition biogenic ca carbonate was dissolved manganosiderite formed and metals originally in poorly crystalline phases or in pore water were incorporated into diagenetic sulfides clays and fe oxides permeable layers with abundant radiolarian tests were the focus for late stage hydrothermal alteration and replacement including deposition of amorphous silica and enrichment in elements such as ba and au