massive sulfides of mount jourdanne along the super slow spreading southwest indian ridge and their genesis abstract modern massive sulfide deposits are known to occur in diverse tectonic settings and it is generally expected that hydrothermal deposits of similar geological settings shall have more or less similar mineralogical and geochemical signatures however the mount jourdanne sulfide deposits along the super slow spreading southwest indian ridge deviate from this common concept these sulfide precipitates are zn rich up to 35 wt and are characterized by high concentrations of pb 3 5 wt as 1 1 wt ag 0 12 wt au 11 ppm sb 967 ppm and cd 0 2 wt which are unusual for a modern sediment free mid oceanic ridge system therefore we have reinvestigated the sulfide samples collected during the indoyo cruise in 1998 in order to explain their unusual mineralogy and geochemical composition the sulfide samples are polymetallic and are classified as a chimneys b mounds and c hydrothermal breccias the chimneys are small tube like symmetrical bodies 30 40 cm high 10 cm diameter and consist mainly of sphalerite and less chalcopyrite set in a matrix of late amorphous silica the inner wall shows a late stage colloform sphalerite containing co precipitates of galena and or pb as sulfosalts in contrast the mound samples are dominated either by fe sulfides pyrite or by a mixture of pyrite and chalcopyrite with less sphalerite pyrrhotite amorphous silica and barite both the chimney and mound samples are characterized by layering and mineral zonation the hydrothermal breccias are highly altered and mineralogically heterogeneous they consist of silicified basaltic material that are impregnated with sulfides and contain cm sized chimney fragments within a matrix of low temperature minerals such as sphalerite and pyrite the latter fragments mainly consist of chalcopyrite with isocubanite lamellae in addition these breccias contain late stage realgar boulangerite galena pb as sulfosalts and barite that are mostly confined to vugs or fractures at least five mineralogical associations are distinguished that indicate different thermal episodes ranging from black smoker mineralization conditions to cessation of the hydrothermal activity based on the mineralogical associations and established literature in this regard it is inferred that the mineralization at mt jourdanne occurred mainly in three temperature domains above 300 c the chalcopyrite with isocubanite pyrrhotite association formed whereas the sphalerite dominated assemblage with much less chalcopyrite and pyrite formed around and below 300 c the late stage mineralization below 200 c contains colloform sphalerite galena pb as sulfosalts realgar and barite the unusual mineralogy and trace element chemistry for this modern vhms deposit could be explained assuming hydrothermal leaching of some felsic differentiates underneath the basaltic cover and subsequent zone refining processes

hydrothermal activity at the trans atlantic geotraverse hydrothermal field mid atlantic ridge crest at 26 n the first submersible observations of the only known active submarine hydrothermal field on a slow spreading oceanic ridge are incorporated with results of 10 prior years of investigation to derive an understanding of periodicity duration and varying intensity of hydrothermal activity at the trans atlantic geotraverse tag hydrothermal field on the mid atlantic ridge crest near latitude 26 n hydrothermal activity has persisted at this location for at least 1 106 years based on the distribution of hydrothermal and hydrogenous mineralization with respect to crustal age the hydrothermal activity has been cyclic multistage and episodic prior high temperature hydrothermal venting stages with a periodicity of the order of 1 104 years and duration of the order of 101 years are deduced from the estimated ages of discrete sedimentary layers anomalously enriched in cu fe and zn and correspond with the independently determined periodicity of volcanic eruptive cycles on the mid atlantic ridge the most recent episode of high temperature venting is inferred to have ceased in the recent past based on metal enrichment cu fe zn in the surficial sediment layer low temperature hydrothermal venting stages with a duration of the order of 1 104 years intervene between the short high temperature stages and produce stratiform deposits of layered and earthy manganese oxide iron oxide hydroxide and silicate bivalve like forms with the characteristics of vent clams in various stages of dissolution are identified on bottom photographs the fresh appearance of intact tubules composed of iron hydroxide that acted as vents on relict deposits conductive heat flow anomalies in the sediment column and the record of temperature anomalies and excess 3he in the near bottom water column suggest that the low temperature hydrothermal discharge is intermittent at individual vents on a time scale of years

fault reactivation and rift localization northeastern gulf of aden margin 1 the gulf of aden and the sheba spreading ridge gulf of aden forms the southern boundary of the arabian plate its orientation 075 e and its kinematics about 030 e divergence are interpreted as the result of an oblique rifting in this contribution a field study in the northeastern gulf of aden allows us to confirm the oligo miocene synrift directions of extension and to precise the normal fault network geometry the synrift extensions are 020 e and 160 e possibly in this chronological order the normal faults strike 070 e 090 e and 110 e the results show that some characteristics are consistent with oblique rifting analogue models while some others are not especially fault reactivation of mesozoic structures is shown to have occurred significantly at the beginning and during rifting these data are therefore compared to analogue models of oblique reactivation and this comparison demonstrates that fault reactivation played a key role during the early stage of the gulf of aden rifting finally scenarios of the lithospheric evolution during the eastern gulf of aden opening preexisting weaknesses in the lithosphere or not are discussed to better constrain the deformation history of the northern margin especially we show that rift localization processes may imply stress rotations through time

tectonic controls on a large landslide complex williams fork mountains near dillon colorado abstract an extensive 25 km2 landslide complex covers a large area on the west side of the williams fork mountains in central colorado the complex is deeply weathered and incised and in most places geomorphic evidence of sliding breakaways hummocky topography transverse ridges and lobate distal zones are no longer visible indicating that the main mass of the slide has long been inactive however localized holocene reactivation of the landslide deposits is common above the timberline at about 3300 m and locally at lower elevations clasts within the complex as long as several tens of meters are entirely of crystalline basement proterozoic gneiss and granitic rocks from the hanging wall of the laramide late cretaceous to early tertiary west directed williams range thrust which forms the western structural boundary of the colorado front range late cretaceous shale and sandstone compose most footwall rocks the crystalline hanging wall rocks are pervasively fractured or shattered and alteration to clay minerals is locally well developed sackung structures trenches or small scale grabens and upslope facing scarps are common near the rounded crest of the range suggesting gravitational spreading of the fractured rocks and oversteepening of the mountain flanks late tertiary and quaternary incision of the blue river valley just west of the williams fork mountains contributed to the oversteepening major landslide movement is suspected during periods of deglaciation when abundant meltwater increased pore water pressure in bedrock fractures a fault flexure model for the development of the widespread fracturing and weakening of the proterozoic basement proposes that the surface of the williams range thrust contains a concave downward flexure the axis of which coincides approximately with the contact in the footwall between proterozoic basement and mostly cretaceous rocks movement of brittle hanging wall rocks through the flexure during laramide deformation pervasively fractured the hanging wall rocks

the relationship between quaternary volcanism in central mexico and the seismicity and structure of subducted ocean lithosphere late quaternary volcanism in central mexico is related to the subduction of young ocean lithosphere at the middle america trench along arc variations in seismicity volcano structure and composition of volcanic products bear a remarkable correlation with the age and structural framework of the downgoing slab morphological and petrographic characteristics of major volcanoes within the trans mexican volcanic belt tmvb serve to distinguish two calc alkaline subprovinces 1 a western arc averaging 60 km in width associated with aseismic subduction of the rivera plate the main cones of this region are dominated by two pyroxene andesites comprise volumes 70 km 3 and stand less than 3 000 m above sea level 2 a broad central and eastern arc related to subduction of a gently inclined segment of the cocos plate bounded by the rivera transform and the tehuantepec ridge major volcanic edifices possess summit elevations in the range 4 000 to 6 000 m have appropriately larger volumes typically 200 km 3 and are constructed with a high proportion of amphibole bearing lavas the boundary between these subprovinces is marked by a north south oriented structural depression the colima graben and it coincides with a 100 km offset in the volcanic front extensional tectonism in the colima graben accompanied by mixed calc alkaline and alkaline volcanism of potassic affinity is likely related to a hinge type transform fault which marks the cocos rivera plate juncture in the downgoing slab a third segment of ocean floor is presently interacting with continental lithosphere south of the gulf of tehuantepec where quaternary volcanism is weakly developed within a tectonically complex region that marks the diffuse cocos noam caribbean triple junction the northern limit of this triple junction is defined by the seismically active isthmus fault which may be related to alkaline volcanic activity at san andres tuxtla a tectonic reconstruction based on the evolution of oceanic crust reveals that the distribution of intermediate depth earthquakes along the arc is directly dependent upon the age of the subducted slab ocean lithosphere younger than approximately 20 m y is subducted aseismically at convergence rates approaching 9 cm yr the length of the inclined seismic zone indicates that the time constant for thermal relaxation in the slab is approximately 4 m y the tmvb overlies the aseismic extension of this young ocean lithosphere several aspects of this study have a bearing on the segmented nature of converging margins in general 1 the tectonic evolution of the ocean floor may determine the nature of segmentation at the site of subduction 2 the complete record of volcanism in the tmvb over the past million years can be related to the present plate configuration 3 alkaline and calc alkaline volcanism have developed contemporaneously at a converging plate margin 4 lineaments in volcanic arcs may reflect the structural complexity of the crust rather than segment boundaries in the subducted slab

relict hydrothermal zones in the tag hydrothermal field mid atlantic ridge 26 n 45 w two relict hydrothermal zones were delineated between water depths of 3400 and 3500 m at the lower part of the east wall of the rift valley of the mid atlantic ridge in the tag hydrothermal field using a deep towed side scan sonar tow and a camera temperature tow along the northern 3 km of the wall and a submersible transect named the north and mir relict zones they are located about 4 km and 2 km northeast respectively of the known active high temperature sulfide mound between water depths of 3625 and 3670 m on the rift valley floor near the base of the east wall the north zone extends about 2 km along the northern end of the lower east wall the zone includes two moundlike features up to 30 m high by 200 m in diameter imaged by side scan sonar within a 2 km long line of discontinuous hydrothermal deposits comprising inactive toppled and standing chimneys layered material and patchy dark stains on sediment photographed by the camera temperature tow several other moundlike features were imaged with the side scan sonar outside of the photographic coverage the mir relict hydrothermal zone 2 km south of the north zone named after the mir submersible used to investigate it consists of three subzones 1 a 200 m wide area of diverse types of hydrothermal materials exposed by normal faulting at its western margin 2 a 400 m wide by 700 m long central area of discrete groups of toppled and standing inactive sulfide chimneys up to 25 m high on a substrate of red metalliferous sediment and carbonate lutite spires sampled on the highest chimneys are composed of coarse grained recrystallized sulfides dominated by pyrite and chalcopyrite which contain the first primary free gold grains 2 3 m diameter found at a hydrothermal site on a mid ocean ridge and 3 a 150 m wide hummocky area of layered hydrothermal material with the appearance of low temperature precipitates and carbonate lutite with patchy dark stains at its eastern margin the active sulfide mound the north zone and the mir zone are each located on the fractured western margins of gentle dome shaped areas of pillow flows typically 500 m in diameter interpreted as summits of volcanic centers that may have supplied heat to drive adjacent hydrothermal activity the distribution and size of the active and inactive hydrothermal zones of the tag field the chronology and the characteristics of relict samples recovered indicate a history of at least 100 103 years of high temperature hydrothermal episodes with multiple overprinting stages of mineralization accompanied by alteration

active faults and state of stress in the central part of the trans mexican volcanic belt mexico 1 the venta de bravo fault the central part of the trans mexican volcanic belt is being deformed by seismically active west east striking normal faults that cause pronounced scarps structural and seismic along strike discontinuities allow the following segmentation 1 the western segment the area between morelia and the los azufres volcanic center is characterized by 25 km long fault scarps that define the cuitzeo graben and the santa ana maya horst which has a relief 850 m with respect to the cuitzeo graben the faults cut several quaternary scoria cones as well as alluvium 2 the central neotectonic segment extends between maravatio in the west and altamirano volcano in the east the most prominent structure of this segment is the 45 km long venta de bravo fault with a relief 300 m the february 22 1979 mb 5 3 maravatio earthquake occurred on this fault the late quaternary vertical slip rate along the easternmost part of the venta de bravo fault is estimated at 2 mm yr the lateral extension of the segment is defined by the limits of the venta de bravo fault and the eastern termination of the cuitzeo graben 3 the eastern segment is made up of the acambay graben the limit between the central and eastern segments is defined by an extensional jog between the venta de bravo and pastores faults which indicates a left lateral strike slip component the most recent rupture of this segment occurred in the november 19 1912 ms 6 9 acambay earthquake that caused vertical displacements 50 cm along the faults flanking the graben stress determinations based on quaternary scoria cone alignments the focal mechanism of the 1979 earthquake and the inversion of striation measurements indicate a stress field with sv sene snnw the fault striations as well as the focal mechanism indicate a minor but consistent left lateral strike slip component the observed stress and deformation can be explained by the superposition of two sources of stress isostatically compensated surface loads related to the high elevation of the trans mexican volcanic belt probably cause horizontal deviatoric tension and the observed crestal normal faults which strike parallel to the axis of the volcanic belt the observed left lateral strike slip component on the other hand can be explained by compressional far field stresses caused by loads at the boundary between the cocos and north american plates the orientation of the faults with respect to the direction of plate convergence is a prefered orientation for left lateral slip along the observed faults alternatively the observed left lateral strike slip component may accommodate trench parallel motion of crustal blocks in southwestern mexico

hydrothermal venting in magma deserts the ultraslow spreading gakkel and southwest indian ridges 1 detailed hydrothermal surveys over ridges with spreading rates of 50 150 mm yr have found a linear relation between spreading rate and the spatial frequency of hydrothermal venting but the validity of this relation at slow and ultraslow ridges is unproved here we compare hydrothermal plume surveys along three sections of the gakkel ridge arctic ocean and the southwest indian ridge swir to determine if hydrothermal activity is similarly distributed among these ultraslow ridge sections and if these distributions follow the hypothesized linear trend derived from surveys along fast ridges along the gakkel ridge most apparent vent sites occur on volcanic highs and the extraordinarily weak vertical density gradient of the deep arctic permits plumes to rise above the axial bathymetry individual plumes can thus be extensively dispersed along axis to distances 200 km and 75 of the total axial length surveyed is overlain by plumes detailed mapping of these plumes points to only 9 10 active sites in 850 km however yielding a site frequency fs sites 100 km of ridge length of 1 1 1 2 plumes detected along the swir are considerably less extensive for two reasons an apparent paucity of active vent fields on volcanic highs and a normal deep ocean density gradient that prevents extended plume rise along a western swir section 10 23 e we identify 3 8 sites so fs 0 3 0 8 along a previously surveyed 440 km section of the eastern swir 58 66 e 6 sites yield fs 1 3 plotting spreading rate us versus fs the ultraslow ridges and eight other ridge sections spanning the global range of spreading rate establish a robust linear trend fs 0 98 0 015us implying that the long term heat supply is the first order control on the global distribution of hydrothermal activity normalizing fs to the delivery rate of basaltic magma suggests that ultraslow ridges are several times more efficient than faster spreading ridges in supporting active vent fields this increased efficiency could derive from some combination of three dimensional magma focusing at volcanic centers deep mining of heat from gabbroic intrusions and direct cooling of the upper mantle and nonmagmatic heat supplied by exothermic serpentinization

seamount volcanism at the super slow spreading southwest indian ridge between 57 and 70 using high resolution bathymetric data of the southwest indian ridge axial valley floor 523 seamounts were identified between the atlantis ii fracture zone 57 and the rodrigues triple junction 70 we find that the seamount population has a much larger spatial density 103 per 10 3 km 2 and shorter characteristic height 48 m to the west of 62 than to the east 8 per 10 3 km 2 and 105 m respectively these densities of seamounts are much lower than those found on the mid atlantic ridge suggesting that magma production is attenuated under the southwest indian ridge compared with faster spreading oceanic ridges we propose that cooler mantle temperatures which induce lower degrees of partial melting and less magmatic supply to the ridge axis result in construction of taller and fewer seamounts between 62 and 70

recent left oblique slip faulting in the central eastern trans mexican volcanic belt seismic hazard and geodynamic implications 1 detailed structural analysis was conducted on the e w trending tenango fault system tfs at the western end of the la pera fault system a major structure within the trans mexican volcanic belt tmvb field mapping which included trenching the fault trace revealed the displacement of recent volcanic deposits the study indicates that the tfs is an active subvertical fault with transtensive left lateral movement consistent with the contemporary stress regime in the region the estimated holocene slip rate is 0 3 0 5 mm yr the tfs activity constitutes an important seismic hazard in the intra arc lerma basin several towns are located within this basin and are particularly vulnerable to seismic risk because of its underlying strata consisting of lacustrine and volcaniclastic deposits estimated maximum mw 6 8 7 the tfs is an important structural element in the complex tectonic deformation history of central eastern tmvb and influenced the behavior of recent volcanism within the lerma basin

geology of los azufres caldera mexico and its relationships with regional tectonics ferrari l gardufio v h pasquar6 g and tibaldi a 1991 geology of los azufres caldera mexico and its relationships with regional tectonics in s p verma editor calderas genesis structure and unrest j volcanol geotherm res 47 129 148 the los azufres geothermal field is one of several silicic centres of the mexican volcanic belt mvb for which a caldera structure was suggested geological and structural surveys in a wide area surrounding los azufres reveal that this complex is situated in an area of unusual concentration of acid volcanism consisting of four pyroclastic units and several dome complexes although a complete caldera structure is not morphologically evident several facts suggest a long collapse history at los a zufres the geothermal field lies at the centre of a subcircular depressed area 27 26 km in size filled by a distinctive fluviolaeustrine sequence middle to late miocene rocks bound to the south and to the north of this depression and are encountered only at depth inside it four large ignimbritic suites of latest miocene and pliocenc age outcrop outside the depression volume estimations of these pyroclastic products are comparable with the missing volume of the depressed area no alternative caldera structures exist in a radius of 200 km from los azufres dacitic to rhyolitic lavas principally extruded as dome complexes were emplaced inside this depression during the pleistocene los azufres is therefore interpreted as a nested caldera of latest miocene and pliocene age the recent regional tectonic evolution of the central sector of mvb comprises a late miocene early pliocene left lateral transcurrent phase followed by a late pliocene quatern ary transtensional one the silicic volcanism occurring between 6 1 and 2 8 ma can be linked to the first phase while in the adjacent areas of mvb a volcanic hiatus can be recognized the following transtensional phase reached the los azufres area only during the pleistocene and disrupted the caldera structure normal faults developed during this period controlled the uprising of basic magma which partly interacted with the remaining differentiated one and produced part of the recent intracaldera cycle

active and relict sea floor hydrothermal mineralization at the tag hydrothermal field mid atlantic ridge the tag hydrothermal field is a site of major active and inactive volcanic hosted hydrothermal mineralization in the rift valley of the slow spreading mid atlantic ridge at 26 degree n the axial high is the principal locus of present magmatic intrusions the tag field contains three main areas of present and past hydrothermal activity 1 an actively venting high temperature sulfide mound 2 two former high temperature vent areas 3 a zone of low temperature venting and precipitation of fe and mn oxide deposits the volcanic centers occur at the intersections between ridge axis parallel normal faults and projected axis transverse transfer faults the intersections of these active fault systems may act as conduits both for magmatic intrusions from sources beneath the axial high that build the volcanic centers and for hydrothermal upwelling that taps the heat sources radiometric dating of sulfide samples and manganese crusts in the hydrothermal zones and dating of sediments intercalated with pillow lava flows in the volcanic center adjacent to the active sulfide mound indicate multiple episodes of hydrothermal activity throughout the field driven by heat supplied by episodic intrusions over a period of at least 140 times 10 sup 3 yr the sulfide deposits are built by juxtaposition and superposition during relatively long residence times near episodic axial heat sources counterbalanced by mass wasting in the tectonically active rift valley of the slow spreading oceanic ridge hydrothermal reworking of a relict hydrothermal zone by high temperature hydrothermal episodes has recrystallized sulfides and concentrated the first visible primary gold reported in a deposit at an oceanic ridge

occurrences and distribution of invisible precious metals in sulfide deposits from the edmond hydrothermal field central indian ridge abstract here we report the first documented occurrences of invisible gold and silver in seafloor sulfide deposits from an active hydrothermal system on the central indian ridge a detailed mineralogical and geochemical study of polymetallic sulfides from the edmond vent field was conducted in order to identify controls on the distribution of precious metals bulk samples n 18 contain up to 18 7 ppm au and 1450 ppm ag with average concentrations of 2 3 ppm au and 218 9 ppm ag among them several zn rich chimney fragments and anhydrite dominated ore samples have higher contents of precious metals than fe cu rich massive sulfides and silica rich hydrothermal precipitates native gold grains are mainly associated with sphalerite anhydrite barite and fe oxyhydroxides abundant submicroscopic au ag alloys tend to occur along grain boundaries between cu fe sulfides and tennantite or close to the rims of fe poor sphalerite in contrast to primary electrum with high ag au ratios the absence of detectable silver in high purity gold indicates that secondary au enrichment has probably occurred after a direct co precipitation with zn rich mineral assemblages upon cooling and mixing of vent fluids with cold seawater a suite of late stage ag rich phases including argentotennantite pearceite and acanthite occur as crack filling veinlets and patches in low temperature fahlores or as tiny inclusions enclosed by pyrite chalcopyrite and colloform sphalerite by using hrtem combined with haadf stem imaging we have found out that silver is also present in significant quantities as discrete colloidal nanoparticles in tennantite minor native copper is closely associated with altered chalcopyrite sphalerite and covellite exhibiting signs of dissolution recrystallization and reprecipitation extensive hydrothermal reworking resulted from a long history of high temperature venting in this field together with post depositional supergene replacement processes involving oxidation leaching or coupled dissolution reprecipitation mechanisms facilitated by a permeable porosity generated in primary cu fe sulfides are considered to be important for the remobilization and local reconcentration of early formed precious metals and may have been responsible for the formation of relatively coarse grained native gold or silver within recrystallized massive sulfides and chimney debris

neotectonics in central mexico regional neotectonic activity in central mexico was mapped through analysis of eleven landsat thematic mapper images the study area stretches from mexico city on the east to the gulf of california on the west between 17 and 21 n latitude fault scarps of plio quaternary age define several large scale tectonic features within the mexican volcanic belt dominated by rifting transtension and shear with probable sinistral components three large crustal blocks south of the mexican volcanic belt are separated from the north american plate and from each other by zones of neotectonic activity that express the relative motions between the adjacent blocks a simple vector diagram for plates and crustal blocks in central mexico has been constructed using information from the literature combined with the orientations of fault zones as mapped in this study the relative motion between the blocks varies from about 2 5 to 8 mm year 1 which is comparable to motions of crustal blocks in areas of active rifting in other parts of the world in the mexican volcanic belt there is a clear relationship between volcanism and neotectonic activity fault zones that traverse nearly the entire region have the same location and orientation as the volcanic belt this may indicate that deformation within the crust of the overriding slab plays a significant role in determining the unusual orientation of the mexican volcanic belt relative to the trench the ultimate factor controlling the location of plio quaternary volcanism and tectonism in central mexico may be large zones of crustal weakness formed during major mesozoic and cenozoic tectonic events

molecular evidence for microorganisms participating in fe mn and s biogeochemical cycling in two low temperature hydrothermal fields at the southwest indian ridge we examined two low temperature hydrothermal deposits rich in fe si mn collected from the recently discovered hydrothermal fields at the southwest indian ridge using mineralogical geochemical and molecular biological techniques the mineralogical and geochemical analyses indicated that the low temperature hydrothermal fields would provide a warm and chemical species rich habitat for chemosynthetic based hydrothermal ecosystems analyses of 16s rrna sequences showed that proteobacteria pseudoalteromonas leptothrix and pseudomonas were potential fe and mn oxidizers in the low temperature hydrothermal environments but they were not present in equal abundance among the subniches some potential fe and mn reducers were also recovered they were more commonly found in the exterior black fe mn oxides the difference between the exterior black fe mn oxides and the interior opal a could be related to differences in in situ physicochemical conditions we also identified microbial players that may participate in sulfur s geochemical cycling in these low temperature hydrothermal environments via analyses of 16s rrna sequences and the apra functional gene the results indicated that members of proteobacteria and proteobacteria were involved in the s oxidation process while members of proteobacteria nitrospirae firmicutes and archaea might participate in the s reduction process fe mn and s oxidizers and reducers might actively participate in hydrothermal biogeochemical processes which could influence the transfer of chemical species and the formation of biogenic minerals

sulfur isotopic compositions of sulfides along the southwest indian ridge implications for mineralization in ultramafic rocks the recently explored tianzuo hydrothermal field in serpentinized ultramafic rocks of the amagmatic segment of the ultraslow spreading southwest indian ridge displays high temperature sulfide mineralization isocubanite sphalerite and minor pyrrhotite and low temperature pyrite and covellite phases pyrite can be subdivided into pyrite i and ii with the former generally having a pseudomorphic texture after pyrrhotite and the latter typically growing around isocubanite sphalerite and pyrite i or occurring as individual grains in quartz veinlets the sulfide minerals have the greatest range of 34s values 23 8 to 14 1 found so far among modern sediment starved ridges with distinct 34s values for low and high temperature mineral phases the high 34s values of isocubanite 9 6 to 12 2 and sphalerite 9 1 to 14 1 suggest that sulfate which precipitated from seawater during an early low temperature phase of hydrothermal circulation was the main sulfur source for these sulfides pyrite ii has the lowest and most variable 34s values 23 8 to 3 6 suggesting microbial sulfate reduction pyrite i has variable and generally positive 34s values 0 1 to 12 0 with sulfur being inherited from pyrrhotite from the original thermochemical reduction of sulfate mixed with volcanogenic sulfur intermittent magmatism represented by gabbroic intrusions and high permeability caused by well developed fractures associated with detachment faults contributed to the formation of sulfides in the tianzuo hydrothermal field these factors possibly control sulfide mineralization in amagmatic segments of ultraslow spreading ridges

stress pattern evolution in the central sector of the mexican volcanic belt abstract stratigraphic studies and detailed field analyses of brittle and plastic deformations allow the reconstruction of the stress pattern and the tectonic evolution of the central sector of the mexican volcanic belt several compressional phases affected the metamorphic basement while the last one also involved the volcanic cover of early miocene age in middle miocene early pliocene times and ene wsw extensional phase developed representing the southern protraction of the basin and range province of the western united states in pliocene quaternary times there then followed the development of a complicated deformational cycle showing the superficial evidence of a sinistral lateral shear zone at the beginning the area was affected by a ne sw compression including reverse dextral and sinistral strike slip faulting this was followed by early pleistocene sinistral transtension characterized by a nw se direction of least principal stress and sinistral normal slip faulting during late pleistocene holocene times the transtension was concentrated along e w faults tectonic control in the distribution of volcanism has also been recognized the basin and range phase controlled the deposition of the miocene volcanic and clastic units particularly the effusion of basaltic lavas connected with the latest extensional movements of the same phase the mexican volcanic belt sequence is strictly linked with the development of a large e w sinistral lateral shear zone active from the pliocene to the present which shows the extensional component progressively prevailing over the shear one

landslides triggered by earthquakes and their relations with faults and mountain slope geometry an example from ecuador abstract a large number of landslides occurred during two seismic events respectively 6 9 and 6 1 msw on 5 march 1987 in the ecuadorian andes these landslides have been mapped digitized and coregistered with topography at 1 50 000 scale geometry of coseismic and holocene faulting has been assessed integrating field and geophysical data landslide distribution and holocene tectonic features have been compared with earthquake foci geological deposits slope area inclination and orientation and vegetation cover the macro seismic field deduced by landslide distribution is ellipse shaped with the major axis striking nne and coinciding with the trend of the coseismic and holocene faults landslide distribution also shows a correlation with respect to the dip direction of these faults and the orientation of mountain slopes slopes parallel to the coseismic fault planes sloping towards wnw are almost unaffected by landsliding while this increases on the slopes at high angle to the fault plane and lying along its strike if these results could be confirmed in other areas a method of reconstruction of geometry of seismogenetic faults from topographic effects appears feasible

geology sulfide geochemistry and supercritical venting at the beebe hydrothermal vent field cayman trough the beebe vent field bvf is the world s deepest known hydrothermal system at 4960m below sea level located on the mid cayman spreading centre caribbean the bvf hosts high temperature 401 c black smoker vents that build cu zn and au rich sulphide mounds and chimneys the bvf is highly gold rich with au values up to 93 ppm and an average au ag ratio of 0 15 gold precipitation is directly associated with diffuse flow through beehive chimneys significant mass wasting of sulphide material at the bvf accompanied by changes in metal content results in metaliferous talus and sediment deposits situated on very thin 2 3km thick oceanic crust at an ultraslow spreading centre the hydrothermal system circulates fluids to a depth of 1 8km in a basement that is likely to include a mixture of both mafic and ultramafic lithologies we suggest hydrothermal interaction with chalcophile bearing sulphides in the mantle rocks together with precipitation of au in beehive chimney structures has resulted in the formation of a au rich volcanogenic massive sulphide vms deposit with its spatial distribution of deposit materials and metal contents the bvf represents a modern day analogue for basalt hosted au rich vms systems this article is protected by copyright all rights reserved

the contribution of landslides to landscape evolution in europe abstract after a review of some analytical and conceptual models of slope evolution with the intervention of mass movements a proposal is made of a series of indicators for the quantitative description of landscape evolution in relation to mass movements the ratio between landslide mobilisation rate and downwearing rate is proposed as a quantitative measure of the significance of mass movements in landscape evolution a subdivision of european regions with respect to their susceptibility to landsliding as a process of landscape evolution is proposed the role of landsliding for the evolution of landscape in some regions is described the data presented show that landsliding may in some cases be the main contributor to landscape change

quaternary intra arc extension in the central trans mexican volcanic belt the trans mexican volcanic belt is an active volcanic arc related to subduction along the middle america trench and characterized by shallow seismicity and synvolcanic to postvolcanic extensional arc parallel faulting major intra arc basins within the central part of the belt between long 998w and 1028w are from west to east the cuitzeo and acambay grabens the aljibes half graben and the mezquital graben in this region 100 eastwest2striking 2 km long steeply dipping normal faults expressed by pronounced multi event fault scarps have been mapped of the 100 faults 65 displace rocks of known quaternary age younger than 1 6 ma and 22 cut rocks with a documented age younger than 750 ka known historical surface ruptures are limited to faults of the acambay graben overall the faults cause north south to north northwest2south southeast2oriented extension of 1 km which is distributed over a 30250 km wide zone that has 5210 faults in cross section and a relative extension of 3 quaternary vertical slip rates estimated for 13 of the faults have a mean of 0 07 mm yr they are highest at the southern margin of the cuitzeo graben the northern margin of the acambay graben and in the aljibes half graben where they measure between 0 16 and 0 18 mm yr the north south to north northwest2south southeast2oriented quaternary bulk extension rate of the system is likely to be 0 2 6 0 05 mm yr this fault system is in an initial stage of coalescence its western and eastern parts consist mostly of isolated fault segments whereas in the central part deformation is localized onto a few through going faults the longest of these are the venta de bravo fault 45 km and the acambay tixmadeje fault 34 km the short fault traces have a simple structure whereas the longer ones are commonly composed of two or more segments there is no obvious migratory pattern of quaternary fault activity which suggests that the entire region is tectonically active

the aljibes half graben active extension at the boundary between the trans mexican volcanic belt and the basin and range province mexico the aljibes half graben is located 140 km west northwest of mexico city and is characterized by several parallel 10 km long south dipping and east striking normal faults late miocene basalt flows with 40 ar 39 ar ages of 7 7 0 1 ma and 7 1 0 5 ma are displaced along these faults with reference to this basalt the composite throw and heave of the half graben are 480 m and 270 m respectively and the relative extension is 5 whereas the vertical slip rate along the faults of the aljibes half graben after the deposition of the basalt is 0 07 mm yr the aljibes half graben is located at the northern margin of the trans mexican volcanic belt and perpendicularly intersects northstriking normal faults of the basin and range province the relative sequence of activity of the two stress fields and fault systems cannot be resolved in the study area and the two systems may have been active simultaneously we explain this structural configuration by horizontal migration of the boundary between the two stress provinces with time which requires intermittent permutations between the intermediate and least principal stresses 2 and 3 this is supported by the low stress ratio 2 3 1 3 obtained from modeling the stress tensor associated with the slip along the faults of the aljibes half graben the orientations of the fault planes and slip vectors of the aljibes half graben are practically identical to those of the nearby acambay graben and the venta de bravo fault which caused the acambay earthquake of november 19 1912 m s 6 9 and the maravatio earthquake of february 22 1979 m b 5 3 furthermore the aljibes half graben forms the extrapolated western continuation of the northern master fault of the mezquital graben which ruptured partly in the cardonal earthquake of march 26 1976 m b 5 3 this suggests the aljibes half graben may also be seismically active although no historical earthquake is known to have occurred along this structure further evidence for the likely seismic activity of the aljibes half graben are two east to eastnortheast trending epicenter alignments between the aljibes halfgraben and the mezquital graben and structural indication for stickslip behavior based on the structure of the aljibes half graben we believe the maximum credible earthquake that may occur along the faults of the aljibes half graben is on the order of 2 10 27 dyne cm m 0 6 10 25 dyne cm and 7 5 m w 6 5

relict hydrothermal events along the super slow southwest indian spreading ridge near 63 56 e mineralogy chemistry and chronology of sulfide samples abstract during the indoyo cruise in 1998 with shinkai 6500 a massive sulfide field was located in a water depth of about 2940 m near 27 51 s 63 56 e east of the melville fracture zone the newly discovered hydrothermal field is situated at the summit of an axial volcanic ridge informally called mount jourdanne within the field inactive chimneys as well as hydrothermal mounds were observed on the ocean floor but no indications such as shimmering water chemical anomalies in the water column or faunal relicts which might point to an active vent site were observed our discovery proves for the first time that high temperature massive sulfide chimneys can also develop at a super slow spreading ridge such as the southwest indian ridge this discovery of massive sulfides will possibly open new aspects in the understanding of hydrothermal processes along super slow spreading ridges since the sulfide samples from mt jourdanne show interesting differences in their mineralogical as well as chemical compositions when compared to sulfide samples from faster opening ridge environments to reconstruct the history of the evolution of this field age dating studies were carried out on the recovered sulfide samples these indicate activity between 70 000 and 13 000 years ago

discovery of ancient and active hydrothermal systems along the ultra slow spreading southwest indian ridge 10 16 e 1 we report the discovery of active and fossil hydrothermal systems during r v knorr cruise 162 legs vii and ix along a 400 km long segment of the ultra slow southwest indian ridge swir between 10 and 16 e where the effective spreading rate for mantle upwelling is the slowest of any ocean ridge explored to date 8 4 mm yr 1 full rate eight of forty one optical temperature profiles contain hydrothermal plume characteristics that indicate firm evidence for two active vent sites and tentative evidence for as many as three others fossil hydrothermal material was recovered in 6 of the 38 dredge hauls and includes an occurrence of partially oxidized sulfide breccias four deposits ofsepiolite and silica as well as mn oxide and nontronite cemented breccias the massive sulfide deposit likely developed during mixing of upwelling hot fluids with cold seawater within a shallow permeable fault breccia along a deep seated normal fault bounding the southern rift valley wall silica and sepiolite deposits were found mostly on the rift valley walls and likely formed during low to moderate temperature ultramafic hosted hydrothermal activity the abundance of hydrothermal material and the frequency of localized hydrothermal activity is remarkable because the mantle upwelling and magma supply rates and hence the magmatic heat input along this section of the swir are lower than on any other explored segment of the global mid ocean ridge system this observation suggests that high mantle upwelling and magma supply rates are not required to drive mid ocean ridge hydrothermal systems and that a close relationship between magmatic heat input and hydrothermal activity may not be established at the ultra slow end of the ridge spreading spectrum the frequency and distribution of hydrothermal activity in the study area may reflect a largely tectonic control on fluid circulation with hydrothermal vent sites being preferentially associated with long lived faults that provide fluid pathways our results suggest the contribution of magma starved ridge segments to the global ocean lithosphere geochemical budget is potentially much larger than previously thought

u th systematics and 230th ages of carbonate chimneys at the lost city hydrothermal field the lost city hydrothermal field lchf is a serpentinite hosted vent field located 15 km west of the spreading axis of the mid atlantic ridge in this study uranium thorium u th geochronological techniques have been used to examine the u th systematics of hydrothermal fluids and the 230th ages of hydrothermally precipitated carbonate chimneys at the lchf fluid sample analyses indicate that endmember fluids likely contain only 0 0073 ng g u or less compared to 3 28 0 03 ng g of u in ambient seawater for fluid samples containing only 2 21 ambient seawater 1 1 11 mmol kg mg th concentration is 0 11 0 13 pg g and surrounding seawater concentrations average 0 133 0 016 pg g the 230th 232th atomic ratios of the vent fluids range from 1 10 10 6 to 11 5 10 6 are less than those of seawater and indicate that the vent fluids may contribute a minor amount of non radiogenic 230th to the lchf carbonate chimney deposits chimney 238u concentrations range from 1 to 10 g g and the average chimney corrected initial 234u is 147 2 0 8 which is not significantly different from the ambient seawater value of 146 5 0 6 carbonate 232th concentrations range broadly from 0 0038 0 0003 to 125 16 ng g and 230th 232th atomic ratios vary from near seawater values of 43 8 10 6 up to 530 25 10 3 chimney ages corrected for initial 230th range from 17 6 yrs to 120 13 kyrs the youngest chimneys are at the intersection of two active steeply dipping normal faults that cut the atlantis massif the oldest chimneys are located in the southwest portion of the field vent deposits on a steep fault bounded wall on the east side of the field are all 4 kyrs old indicating that mass wasting in this region is relatively recent comparison of results to prior age dating investigations of submarine hydrothermal systems shows that the lchf is the most long lived hydrothermal system known to date it is likely that seismic activity and active faulting within the atlantis massif and the atlantis fracture zone coupled with volumetric expansion of the underlying serpentinized host rocks play major roles in sustaining hydrothermal activity at this site the longevity of venting at the lchf may have implications for ecological succession of microorganisms within serpentinite hosted vent environments

a methodological approach for the analysis of the temporal occurrence and triggering factors of landslides the temporal occurrence of landslides in an area of the cantabrian range during the last 120 000 years is analyzed an initial relative chronology was established on the basis of aging degree and spatial relationships between landslides and glacial and fluvial features ten landslide classes were thus identified and their chronological limits defined on the basis of 19 14c age determinations on fluvial and glacial deposits including eight new ones the chronology was tested with 14c dates obtained on landslide deposits 10 from previous work and nine new ones the chronological classes identified were compared with existing climate models for the region the type and spatial distribution of landslides in each class were also analyzed the approach made it possible to identify periods during which landslides were triggered mainly by channel incision seismic activity and rainfall increase human activity played a significant role after 5000 bp and especially in the last few centuries mobilization of materials by slope movements has increased in the region by a factor of 10 compared to pre neolithic rates

volcano stratigraphy and physical characterization of the san mateo pomez unit cerritos member temascalcingo volcano central mexico abstract the temascalcingo volcano is a dacitic stratovolcano located at the eastern part of the acambay graben a tectonic basin in the central sector of the trans mexican volcanic belt tmvb which is an active mostly calc alkaline volcanic arc that crosses mexico from the pacific ocean to the gulf of mexico this study characterises the explosive activity of the san mateo pumice eruption that is the most recent and largest paroxysmal episode of this volcano and the last unit of the cerritos member indeed this eruption is associated with an undated debris avalanche event consisting of a major sector collapse developed on the western flank of the volcano stratigraphic data suggest a highly explosive eruption that generated a relatively thick up to 10 m and widespread pumice fallout deposit trending to the ne and an aerial distribution of at least 100 km2 this subplinian type eruption of vei 4 lasted about 9 h and produced a plume height up to 12 km above the vent i e 14 km above sea level this type of explosive eruption is relatively common in the tmvb so a comprehensive geological study with the corresponding numerical simulations like the one that was carried out contributes to the understanding of the explosive volcanism of modest size stratovolcanoes that are common in the tmvb

inorganic and biogenic as sulfide precipitation at seafloor hydrothermal fields highlights as sulfides are minor minerals at volcanic arc and back arc hydrothermal settings there are two modes of as sulfide precipitation inorganic and biogenic the most stable as sulfide at low t seafloor hydrothermal conditions is orpiment biogenic type of orpiment represents completely mineralized fungal hyphae fungal orpiment precipitation is a mechanism of bio sequestration of hydrothermal as we investigated as sulfides orpiment as2s3 and realgar as4s4 from four seafloor hydrothermal fields three from back arc and one from mid ocean ridge settings our studies suggest two different modes of as sulfide precipitation at the seafloor hydrothermal sites inorganic and biogenic the eh ph modeling shows that the most stable as sulfide at low temperature t 100 c seafloor hydrothermal conditions is orpiment whereas realgar appears as a stable as sulfide phase at t 25 c and under a narrow range of eh ph values inorganically precipitated realgar forms euhedral crystals whereas the orpiment is mostly colloform the biogenic type of orpiment no realgar of this type was found represents completely mineralized fungal hyphae the proposed scenario of biogenic orpiment formation assumes that crack dwelling fungal filaments in the sub seafloor were killed by an as rich hydrothermal fluid moving along the same crack network the fungal organic matter served as a geochemical trap for hydrothermal as which reacted with s leached from the basement or reduced from seawater sulfate and mineralized the fungal hyphae as as2s3 this process of fungal orpiment precipitation is a mechanism of bio sequestration of hydrothermal as and another mode of soft tissue fossilization not described so far

large scale landslides triggered by quaternary tectonics in the acambay graben mexico detailed analysis was conducted on large scale gravitational tectonic deformations and landslides in the acambay graben an intra arc basin in the trans mexican volcanic belt tmvb field mapping and remote sensing revealed the slope instability of the northern graben boundary induced by the acambay tixmadeje fault two major landslides of 0 1 km3 and 0 05 km3 in volume were identified and their characteristics were analyzed according to the role of tectonics mechanism of slope failure and possible triggering factors quaternary faulting played a major role in increasing the local relief and the activity of the acambay tixmadeje fault represents the main geomorphic factor conditioning the gravitational movements moreover displacements along this fault generated sliding surfaces and reduced the strength of the rock mass the two landslides are classified as large scale rotational slides involving volcanic rocks of late miocene pleistocene age since the acambay graben is a seismogenic area with a known maximum horizontal ground acceleration of 0 5 g a strong earthquake could be ascribed as the possible triggering mechanism of the landslides our work represents the first analysis of large gravitational slope movements in tectonically active regions in mexico a process that can be common in the intra arc basins of the tmvb where active tectonic seismicity weak altered volcanic rocks and heavy rains affect the slope stability copyright 2010 john wiley sons ltd

generation of hydrothermal fe si oxyhydroxide deposit on the southwest indian ridge and its implication for the origin of ancient banded iron formations modern hydrothermal fe si oxyhydroxide deposits are now known to be analogues to ancient siliceous iron formations in this study samples of fe si oxyhydroxide deposits were collected from hydrothermal field on the southwest indian ridge an investigation of mineralization in these deposits was carried out based on a series of mineralogical and morphological methods x ray diffraction and selected area electron diffraction analysis show that amorphous opal and poorly crystalline ferrihydrite are the major minerals furthermore some typical filament structures detected by scanning electronic microscopy examinations probably indicating the presence of fe oxidizing bacteria feob are pervasive with the main constituents being fe si p and c we thus believe that chemolithoautotrophic feob play a significant role in the formation of fe oxyhydroxide which can effectively oxidize reduced fe ii sourced from hydrothermal fluids precipitation of amorphous silica in contrast is only a passive process with the fe oxyhydroxide acting as a template the distinct microlaminae structure alternating between the fe rich and si rich bands was observed in our samples for the first time in modern seafloor hydrothermal systems we propose that its formation was due to the episodic temperature variation of the hydrothermal fluid which controls the biogenic fe oxyhydroxide formation and passive precipitation of silica in this system our results might provide a clue for the formation mechanism of ancient banded iron formations

strike slip fault propagation cleavage in carbonate rocks the mattinata fault zone southern apennines italy disjunctive spaced solution cleavage in carbonate rocks is genetically associated with the propagation of the left lateral strike slip mattinata fault in the gargano promontory italy typical cleavage development is restricted within the 200 300 mwide fault zone which is bounded by virtually unfractured wall rocks the cleavage consists of sub parallel solution surfaces which are often reactivated as sheared solution planes geometrical and kinematic relationships exist between the fault and the associated cleavage planes thus 1 cleavage fault intersection lines lie parallel to the fault and the sheared cleavage rotational axes and 2 the cleavage fault angle is almost constantly equal to 408 a model for the development of the mattinata fault is proposed in which the cleavage surfaces are interpreted as fault propagation deformations cleavage nucleates as solution planes at the front of the advancing fault as the result of stress concentration in this region two distinct time sequential processes are shown to operate during the fault propagation 1 typical millimetre to centimetre spaced solution surfaces form in the distal tip zone of the advancing fault plane 2 as the tip advances the fault plane breaks through the cleavage as minor shear displacements reactivate some of these nascent surfaces these observations may prove useful in understanding mechanisms for fault controlled enhanced reduced permeability and fluid pathways 1999 elsevier science ltd all rights reserved

hydrothermal activity along the southwest indian ridge twenty years after the discovery of sea floor hot springs vast stretches of the global mid ocean ridge system remain unexplored for hydrothermal venting the southwest indian ridge is a particularly intriguing region as it is both the slowest spreading of the main ridges1 and the sole modern migration pathway between the diverse vent fauna of the atlantic and pacific oceans2 a recent model postulates that a linear relation exists between vent frequency and spreading rate3 and predicts vent fields to be scarcest along the slowest spreading ridge sections thus impeding migration and enhancing faunal diversity2 here however we report evidence of hydrothermal plumes at six locations within two 200 km long sections of the southwest indian ridge indicating a higher frequency of venting than expected these results suggest that fluxes of heat and chemicals from slow spreading ridges may be greater than previously thought and that faunal migration along the southwest indian ridge may serve as an important corridor for gene flow between pacific and atlantic hydrothermal fields

a view on some hydrological triggering systems in landslides abstract in this paper different types of hydrological triggering systems for debris flows shallow and deeper landslides are described the generation of surface run off and high peak discharges in first order alpine catchments is an important triggering mechanism for debris flows failure conditions in shallow landslides can occur when at a critical depth which is determined by the cohesion of the soil and the slope angle the moisture content in the soil becomes close to saturation resulting in a considerable reduction of soil strength deeper landslides 5 20 m depth are in most cases triggered by positive pore pressures on the slip plane induced by a rising ground water level the assessment of meteorological threshold conditions for shallow landslides 1 2 m needs more detailed meteorological information than for deeper landslides in the analyses of the hydrological triggering systems of deeper landslides the presence of a permeable top layer and fissures has to be taken into consideration

the influence of spreading rate basement composition fluid chemistry and chimney morphology on the formation of gold rich sms deposits at slow and ultraslow mid ocean ridges seafloor massive sulphide sms deposits are variably enriched in precious metals including gold however the processes invoked to explain the formation of auriferous deposits do not typically apply to mid ocean ridge settings here we show a statistically significant negative correlation between the average gold concentration of sms deposits with spreading rate at non sedimented mid ocean ridges deposits located at slow spreading ridges 20 40 mm a have average gold concentrations of between 850 and 1600 ppb however with increasing spreading rate up to 140 mm a gold concentrations gradually decrease to between 50 and 150 ppb this correlation of gold content with spreading rate may be controlled by the degree and duration of fluid rock interaction which is a function of the heat flux crustal structure faulting and the permeability of the source rocks deposits at ultraslow ridges including ultramafic hosted deposits are particularly enriched in gold this is attributed to the higher permeability of the ultramafic source rocks achieved by serpentinisation and the inherent porosity of serpentine minerals combined with relatively high gold concentrations in peridotite compared with mid ocean ridge basalt variations in fluid chemistry such as reducing conditions and the potential for increased sulphur availability at ultramafic hosted sites may also contribute to the high concentrations observed beehive chimneys which offer more favourable conditions for gold precipitation may be more prevalent at ultramafic hosted sites due to diffuse low velocity venting compared with more focussed venting at basalt hosted sites

quaternary tectonics and large scale gravitational deformations with evidence of rock slide displacements in the central apennines central italy eight cases of large scale gravitational movements with evidence of rock slide type displacements evolving close to quaternary faults have been analysed in the central apennines geomorphological and structural surveys have defined the relationship between the gravitational displacements and the tectonically controlled modifications of the landscape the evolution of all the investigated cases has been conditioned by the presence of fault planes located along the mountain slopes in most cases mt cefalone cima della fossa villavallelonga casali d aschi gioia dei marsi the faults played or are playing a primary role in increasing the local relief and their activity represents the main geomorphic factor conditioning the gravitational movements this kind of relationship has been observed along mountain slopes bordering depressions which have not been drained for most of their geomorphic history or have been characterised by an evolution of the hydrographic network that has been conditioned only by the local tectonic subsidence in such cases the gravitational movements develop in the footwalls of the faults in other cases fiamignano pescasseroli the faults have played a passive role since they only bound the sliding masses and coincide with the surficial expressions of the sliding planes therefore the gravitational displacements develop in the hangingwall of the faults the evolution is conditioned by the incision of the hydrographic network in response to regional quaternary uplift the illustrated case studies provide a wide range of examples of the gravitational response of slopes to the modifications of the landscape due to linear and areal tectonics the identification of the geomorphic traces of the large scale gravitational movements along fault controlled mountain fronts has implications for hazard particularly for the evolution of the displacement the quantitative analysis of the vertical displacements and data on the characteristics of the surface breaking during historical earthquakes demonstrate that along fault offsets strongly increases where the unstable large scale rock masses are located therefore the large coseismic vertical offset may represent a major problem for the displacement of utilities and may represent a potential cause for the sudden and catastrophic evolution of the gravitational movement

formation and decay of a modern massive sulfide deposit in the indian ocean in december 1993 the first massive sulfides were recovered from the indian ocean floor north of the rodrigues triple junction the polymetallic deposit is situated in the fourth central indian ridge segment close to the rift axis it is hydrothermally no longer active the deposit appears to be typical of mid ocean ridge massive sulfide occurrences but is in a phase of disintegration and about to be buried by sediment the chimney structures were formed by multiple hydrothermal events and are now degraded by mass wasting showing various stages of weathering later stage low temperature hydrothermal mineralization processes led to copper and gold enrichment here we report on the geological setting mineral zonation different sulfide types and stages of formation of the sonne sulfide field which is part of a larger mineralized zone

paleoseismology of the 1912 acambay earthquake and the acambay tixmadeje fault trans mexican volcanic belt the acambay graben is a major intra arc basin of the trans mexican volcanic belt trenching studies at four sites along the acambay tixmadeje fault reveal evidence for the 1912 acambay earthquake and at least four late pleistocene and holocene ground rupturing earthquakes with similar displacements to the 1912 event evidence for multiple events was recognized by a combination of upward terminating faults fissure fills erosionally truncated fissures colluvial wedge fills and downward increasing separation of stratigraphic units sites along the central part of the ese wnw trending rangefront fault indicates large dip slip separations across a multi event scarp in holocene colluvium with a penultimate event that occurred since 5230 calibrated years before present cal yr b p on the huapango plain near the eastern end of the 1912 rupture where slip was oblique the penultimate earthquake occurred after 4700 cal yr b p and there is evidence for at least four more earthquakes in the last 34 000 cal yr b p three dimensional excavation of lacustrine and channel deposits at las lomas yields a left normal slip vector of s40 5 e with 105 10 cm of slip for the last three events there this slip vector is consistent with nne oriented extension across the graben the amount and style of slip documented for prehistoric ruptures are also consistent with the 1912 rupture with a mean of 60 cm event of dip slip on the rangefront and a mean of 35 cm event of oblique slip on the n48 w trending huapango plain assuming these values represent a characteristic behavior yields an average recurrence interval of 3600 years for the last four large earthquakes since 11 570 cal yr b p and a slip rate of 0 17 mm yr across the rangefront empirical earthquake parameters calculated from our paleoseismic data support instrumental measures indicating that the 1912 acambay earthquake was of m 6 8 7 0 the 1912 event is representative of ground rupturing earthquakes on the acambay tixmadeje fault and demonstrates that large seismic events m 7 can be generated by faults in the trans mexican volcanic belt and in other intra arc settings

the formation of gold rich seafloor sulfide deposits evidence from the beebe hydrothermal vent field cayman trough the beebe vent field bvf in the cayman trough has built an auriferous massive sulfide deposit on the ultra slow spreading mid cayman spreading centre the genesis of auriferous sulfide deposits at mid ocean ridges is not fully understood although there is a growing recognition that slow and ultra slow spreading centres are conducive to gold mineralization analysis of hydrothermal precipitates from the bvf indicates that the highest gold contents are present within beehive diffusers which have developed a highly porous pyrrhotite framework the beehive structure allows vent fluids to effuse slowly while allowing ingress of seawater to cool the fluid the prevalence of pyrrhotite in the beehive samples lack of sulfates association between pyrrhotite and gold grains and results of thermodynamic modelling suggests gold precipitation occurred under highly reduced conditions even during mixing with seawater in contrast high temperature chimneys with a single orifice maintain high temperatures to the primary vent orifice and much of the gold is lost to seawater despite this both chimney types are relatively gold enriched which points to a further underlying cause for high gold at the bvf such as interaction of hydrothermal fluids with ultramafic lithologies in the basement the final gold composition of the deposit is partially controlled by loss of gold during mass wasting of the material with gold depletion most prevalent in blocks formed at beehive type chimneys the bvf demonstrates that the overall gold content of a massive sulfide deposit is the sum of basement precipitation and surface processes

neotectonics and catastrophic failure of mountain fronts in the southern intra andean puna plateau argentina new cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages of rock avalanche deposits in front of sierra laguna blanca in the arid argentine puna plateau demonstrate the effects of westward propagation of reverse faulting and the influence of active faulting on slope oversteepening and subsequent gravitational collapse the 21 ne exposure ages of 8 superposed landslides with volumes 0 3 km 3 are between ca 150 and 430 ka and indicate an average recurrence interval of large gravitational mountain front failures of 27 5 k y for the ultimate 7 landslides landsliding did not occur after 150 ka along this sector of the sierra laguna blanca the termination of landsliding activity correlates with reverse fault propagation into the piedmont area of the sierra laguna blanca the exposure age of ca 130 ka of a tectonically uplifted terrace postdates initiation of fault activity in the piedmont region and the fault scarp height of 120 m indicates important continued uplift in the piedmont no further offsets occurred at the mountain front due to this lack of tectonic activity at the mountain front no further collapse has occurred indicating that in this environment catastrophic mountain front failure is mainly controlled by tectonically driven slope oversteepening

focused magmatism versus amagmatic spreading along the ultra slow spreading southwest indian ridge evidence from tobi side scan sonar imagery 1 the analysis of the towed ocean bottom instrument tobi side scan sonar images along the southwest indian ridge between 63 40 e and 65 40 e reveals strong focusing of magmatic activity and long amagmatic accretionary ridge segments fresh looking volcanic terrains are observed at distinct locations along the axis separated by highly tectonized and sedimented terrains of an along axis extent as much as 82 km the largest tectonized section corresponds to a dramatically thin crust area with moderate magnetization anomalies we suggest that seafloor spreading is mainly amagmatic in this tectonized section of the southwest indian ridge with upper mantle rocks exposed at the seafloor amagmatic accretionary ridge segments of such dimensions are quite distinct from what is observed at the mid atlantic ridge but are also recognized at the gakkel ridge and may thus be characteristic of ultra slow spreading ridges the correlation between the distribution of fresh looking volcanic terrains the occurrence of shallow areas crowned by axial volcanic ridges and high magnetization values suggests a shallow segmentation of the ridge mainly related to variation in the thickness and or the intrinsic magnetization of the basaltic source layer by contrast strong along axis variations of the gravity derived crustal thickness are shrunken in length relative to this shallow segmentation of the ridge and occur only beneath the elevated segments adjacent to these elevated segments small bathymetric swells with fresh looking volcanic constructions do not correspond to thicker crust areas this suggests a highly focused melt supply beneath the elevated segments which may feed volcanic constructions up to 60 km from the center of these segments by shallow lateral melt migration in the crust probably through large dikes neither the ultra slow spreading rate nor the ridge obliquity explains the variation of the magmatic vigor along the ridge mantle source heterogeneities together with lower mantle temperatures beneath the easternmost southwest indian ridge could partly control its segmentation

pelagic communities of the south west indian ocean seamounts r v dr fridtjof nansen cruise 2009 410 the seamounts of the southern indian ocean remain some of the most poorly studied globally and yet have been subject to deep sea fishing for decades and may face new exploitation through mining of seabed massive sulphides in the future as an attempt to redress the knowledge deficit on deep sea benthic and pelagic communities associated mainly with the seamounts of the south west indian ridge two cruises were undertaken to explore the pelagic and benthic ecology in 2009 and 2011 respectively in this volume are presented studies on pelagic ecosystems around six seamounts five on the south west indian ridge including atlantis bank sapmer seamount middle of what seamount melville bank and coral seamount and one un named seamount on the madagascar ridge in this paper existing knowledge on the seamounts of the southwestern indian ocean is presented to provide context for the studies presented in this volume an account of the overall aims approaches and methods used primarily on the 2009 cruise are presented including metadata associated with sampling and some of the limitations of the study sampling during this cruise included physical oceanographic measurements multibeam bathymetry biological acoustics and net sampling of phytoplankton macrozooplankton and micronekton nekton the studies that follow reveal new data on the physical oceanography of this dynamic region of the oceans and the important influence of water masses on the pelagic ecology associated with the seamounts of the south west indian ridge new information on the pelagic fauna of the region fills an important biogeographic gap for the mid to high latitudes of the oceans of the southern hemisphere

steep subduction geometry of the rivera plate beneath the jalisco block in western mexico the morphology of the rivera plate subducted beneath the jalisco block in western mexico is determined from accurately located hypocenters of locally recorded microearthquakes and from earthquakes with magnitude mb 4 5 recorded at teleseismic distances the hypocenters of these latter earthquakes are relocated and for five of them the focal depth is constrained by the inversion of long period body waves the wadati benioff zone inferred from these data indicates a steep subduction of the rivera plate that resembles the geometry of subduction of the cocos plate beneath central america it is however very different from the shallower and almost subhorizontal subduction of the cocos plate observed in southern mexico southeast of this region the rivera plate is comparable to the juan de fuca plate in terms of the small areal extent young seafloor age low relative velocity and low teleseismic activity in the subduction zone this study shows that the dip of both the juan de fuca and rivera plates are similar once they are decoupled from the overriding continental crust the downgoing rivera plate initially starts with a dip of 10 down to a depth of 20 km and then increases gradually to a constant dip of 50 below a depth of 40 km intermediate depth seismicity is low in this zone associated with the subduction of the slow 2 cm yr and young 9 m y rivera plate the maximum depth extent of earthquakes observed in the rivera subduction zone is about 130 km the andesitic calc alkaline colima volcano appears to be directly related to the subduction of the rivera plate to the nw of this volcano the observed quaternary volcanism in the jalisco block which is parallel to the trench may also be explained by the subduction of the rivera plate

depositional patterns following the 1870s avulsion of the saskatchewan river cumberland marshes saskatchewan canada abstract the avulsion of the saskatchewan river cumberland marshes east central saskatchewan canada has resulted in new floodplain deposition over an area of more than 500 km2 since beginning in the 1870s the avulsion deposits are predominantly fine grained and could be otherwise classifiable as overbank sediments in alluvial floodplains presumed to be supplied by intermittent flooding of dominant master channels the north angling and cadotte channels are older pre existing channels that were intercepted and appropriated by the expanding avulsion following annexation of the north angling channel stable cohesive banks inhibited channel enlargement and crevassing forcing the increasing discharges to be accommodated by overbank flow and in the process enhancing new levee aggradation these levee deposits coarsen upward and thin downstream as a result of greater competence and higher proximal deposition rates brought on by the larger flows in contrast the cadotte channel responded to increasing discharges by levee breaching giving rise to splay progradation and floodbasin filling the cadotte splay complex formed from the avulsively annexed cadotte channel represents a small but typical area of the avulsion belt facies characteristics and interrelationships examined from auger borings and vibracores are presented to illustrate patterns of deposition and floodplain development avulsive flooding initially raised local water surface elevations deepening small existing lakes and creating new shallow 1 2 m deep lakes on the floodplain surface deposition began when levees of the cadotte channel were breached allowing water and coarser sediment to spread as sheet like flows while finer sediment was carried and deposited farther into the basin later as the proximal splay sheets coalesced and grew basinward flows became channelized and progradation of mouth bars into marshes and shallow lakes together with deposition of interchannel fines became dominant forming coarsening upward sequences further floodplain aggradation developed by overbank flooding when splay channels became stabilized and bordered by levees gradual abandonment was accompanied by deposition of organic rich fine grained sediment on top of the progradational sequences throughout the avulsion the north angling channel has stood as an older alluvial ridge separating two broad areas of avulsive deposition its recent levee deposits now grade basinward into these new floodplain sediments composed of thicker heterogeneous predominantly upward coarsening and rapidly deposited facies of the avulsion

the acambay graben active intraarc extension in the trans mexican volcanic belt mexico the trans mexican volcanic belt is an active volcanic arc related to subduction along the middle america trench the central part of the belt is being deformed by the chapala tula fault zone an approximately 450 km long and 50 km wide zone of active extension the volcanic arc and the arc parallel chapala tula fault zone are superposed nearly perpendicularly on the preexisting stress and deformation province of the mexican basin and range the acambay graben about 40 km long and 15 km wide is located approximately 100 km northwest of mexico city and is one of the major troughs within the chapala tula fault zone the border faults of the acambay graben acambay tixmadeje in the north and pastores in the south are separated in the west by stepovers from range bounding faults of similar orientation epitacio huerta in the north and venta de bravo in the south the stepovers occur at the intersection of these faults with an older system of basin and range faults an early stage right lateral component of motion along the venta de bravo and pastores faults is inferred on a map scale from a left stepping en echelon array of normal fault segments the divergence of the en echelon segments from the general fault trend decreases gradually from west to east suggesting that the early extension was rotational the present relative displacement along the southern margin of the system on the other hand results in a left lateral strike slip component this is documented on a map scale from extension structures at left stepovers and on an outcrop scale from fault striations indicating left oblique slip the striations measured at the northern system margin indicate nearly pure extensional dip slip without a consistent lateral displacement component this is supported on a map scale by the structure of the right stepover between the acambay tixmadeje and epitacio huerta faults which shows no evidence of local extension or shortening the divergence between the present directions of motion at the southern and northern margins of the extended zone can be explained by a minor rotational deformation component with the pole of rotation being located to the east of the zone of deformation this could explain why no active extension has been observed to the east of the chapala tula fault zone in the eastern part of the trans mexican volcanic belt during the ms 6 9 acambay earthquake of november 19 1912 surface rupture occurred along both margins of the graben at the base of multiple event scarps along the acambay tixmadeje fault the coseismic rupture is 41 km long the vertical offset increases gradually from the eastern end of the surface rupture to its center where it is with 50 cm at a maximum furthermore the change in the vertical surface offset along the fault is approximately proportional to the change in height of the acambay tixmadeje multiple event fault scarp the easternmost part of the ground rupture passes through a plain and not at the base of a multiple event scarp as farther west it may therefore correspond partly to an increase in length of the acambay tixmadeje fault during the 1912 earthquake the slip rate along the southern border of the acambay graben can be estimated from the displacement and age of a basalt flow for which we have obtained a 40ar 39ar age of 0 4 0 1 ma this basalt may be displaced up to 15 m by the pastores fault which indicates a middle late quaternary slip rate of 0 04 mm yr furthermore based on a coseismic surface rupture of approximately 20 cm along this fault in the 1912 earthquake we estimate a recurrence interval of 5000 years for major earthquakes along the faults of the acambay graben

first active hydrothermal vents on an ultraslow spreading center southwest indian ridge the ultraslow spreading southwest indian ridge is a major tectonic province representing one of the important end member mid ocean ridge types for its very slow and oblique spreading and providing the only known route for migration of chemosynthetic deep sea vent fauna between the atlantic and indian oceans we report the investigation of the first active high temperature hydrothermal field found on any ultraslow mid ocean ridge worldwide located on southwest indian ridge at 37 47 s 49 39 e it consists of three zones extending 1000 m laterally and it is one of four recently discovered active and inactive vent sites within a 250 km long magmatically robust section our results provide the first direct evidence for potentially widespread distribution of hydrothermal activity along ultraslow spreading ridges at least along magmatically robust segments this implies that the segment sections with excess heat from enhanced magmatism and suitable crustal permeability along slow and ultraslow ridges might be the most promising areas for searching for hydrothermal activities it is surprising that the special vent fauna appear to indicate some complex affinity to those on the central indian ridge southern mid atlantic ridge and the southwest pacific ocean

sulfide geochronology along the endeavour segment of the juan de fuca ridge 1 forty nine hydrothermal sulfide sulfate rock samples from the endeavour segment of the juan de fuca ridge northeastern pacific ocean were dated by measuring the decay of 226ra half life of 1600 years in hydrothermal barite to provide a history of hydrothermal venting at the site over the past 6000 years this dating method is effective for samples ranging in age from 200 to 20 000 years old and effectively bridges an age gap between shorter and longer lived u series dating techniques for hydrothermal deposits results show that hydrothermal venting at the active high rise sasquatch and main endeavour fields began at least 850 1450 and 2300 years ago respectively barite ages of other inactive deposits on the axial valley floor are between 1200 and 2200 years old indicating past widespread hydrothermal venting outside of the currently active vent fields samples from the half graben on the eastern slope of the axial valley range in age from 1700 to 2925 years and a single sample from outside the axial valley near the westernmost valley fault scarp is 5850 205 years old the spatial relationship between hydrothermal venting and normal faulting suggests a temporal relationship with progressive younging of sulfide deposits from the edges of the axial valley toward the center of the rift these relationships are consistent with the inward migration of normal faulting toward the center of the valley over time and a minimum age of onset of hydrothermal activity in this region of 5850 years

macroseismic study of shallow earthquakes in the central and eastern parts of the trans mexican volcanic belt mexico we present isoseismal maps for eight shallow earthquakes 1887 pinal de amoles 1912 acambay 1920 jalapa 1950 ixmiquilpan 1976 cardonal 1979 maravatio 1987 actopan and 1989 landa 4 1 mb 6 9 that occurred in the central and eastern parts of the trans mexican volcanic belt based on their intensity distributions we can relate several of these earthquakes to east west striking quaternary normal faults known from geological observations furthermore we derive for these events by empirical curve fitting linear relations between the magnitude calculated from the instrumental record the intensity distribution and the maximum intensity the comparison of these relations with equations from the literature suggests that the area shaken with a certain intensity by an earthquake in the trans mexican volcanic belt is approximately 10 times smaller than the area shaken by a shallow earthquake of the same magnitude in the intracratonic part of north america moreover we use the derived relationships between magnitude isoseismal area and maximum intensity to estimate the intensity magnitude mi of the 1887 pinal de amoles earthquake as 5 3 0 5

geometry and state of stress of the downgoing cocos plate in the isthmus of tehuantepec mexico the seismicity in the isthmus of tehuantepec mexico is anomalously active compared with other parts of the middle american subduction zone the results of a microearthquake study conducted in this region show that the slab changes dip from an almost subhorizontal geometry west of longitude 96 w to a dip of about 45 to 50 to the east of this longitude the change in dip occurs gradually in a broad flexure of the subducting slab that takes place over 150 km this geometry of the slab is reminiscent of that in southern peru the change in dip however takes place more gently in tehuantepec in addition to the change in the dip of the subducted cocos plate a rapid increase is observed in the maximum depth extent of the subducted slab in the region of subhorizontal subduction focal depths are consistently shallower than about 80 km whereas earthquakes as deep as 200 km are found where the subducted slab dips at a steeper angle both the change in the dip of the slab and of the maximum depth of intermediate depth earthquakes appear to correlate with the presence of the tehuantepec fracture zone which separates two distinct provinces of the oceanic cocos plate the age and the crustal thickness of the cocos plate increase to the southeast of the tehuantepec fracture zone relative to its northwestern counterpart in tehuantepec the dip and maximum depth of the subducted slab appears to be correlated with the age of the oceanic plate as has been observed in other subduction zones of the world

hydrothermal activity on a 105 year scale at a slow spreading ridge tag hydrothermal field mid atlantic ridge 26 n new radiometric dates are presented for the hydrothermal deposits in the alvin and mir relict hydrothermal zones located on the lower east wall of the rift valley within the tag hydrothermal field and placed in context of the evolution of the tag field as a whole over the past 105 years the field includes an active high temperature sulfide mound situated near the base of the east wall and a low temperature zone at middepth on the east wall all within a 5 by 5 kilometer area the oldest hydrothermal deposits sampled in the mir relict zone the low temperature zone and an inactive sulfide mound in the alvin relict zone are low temperature manganese crusts dated at 140 000 125 000 and 74 000 years respectively high temperature activity began about 100 000 years ago in the mir zone a 50 000 year high temperature event took place at the active sulfide mound in the mir zone and at the inactive sulfide mound in the alvin zone this event is followed by sporadic activity at the mir zone and the active sulfide mound until 10 000 and 5000 years ago respectively a reactivation of the system affected the mir zone from about 2000 to 600 years ago the presently active sulfide mound was reactivated only 60 years ago after a quiescence of about 4000 years the radiochronologic record reveals that the hydrothermal activity has been episodic with a major high temperature event throughout the tag field at 50 000 years and other more localized events

giant landslides topography and erosion abstract distributions of slope angles in tectonically active mountain belts point to the development of threshold conditions where hillslopes attain a critical inclination or height at which they fail readily because of limitations in material strength it has been proposed that hillslopes adjust to rapid uplift and bedrock incision through an increase in the rate of relief limiting landsliding rather than gradual slope steepening here we test this concept by investigating the relationship between mean local relief h which we take to be a proxy of long term erosion rates e and the occurrence of over 300 of the largest v 10 8 m 3 terrestrial landslides on earth we find that nearly two thirds of these giant landslides have occurred in the steepest 5 of the earth s land surface where relief is close to its proposed upper strength limit they are primarily located in deeply incised valleys along fault bounded fringes of active mountain belts and in volcanic arcs this distribution coincides with areas of high long term erosion rates 4 mm yr 1 confirming that giant landslides contribute to rapid denudation of mountains most of the eroded volume is concentrated in the smallest but steepest parts of mountain belts and volcanic arcs first order estimates of minimum erosion rates accomplished by the largest landslides are 0 01 mm yr 1 these rates are between 1 and 10 of the late pleistocene to holocene mean erosion rates in a given area importantly the landslide erosion rates show a nonlinear increase with mean local relief suggesting that the contribution of giant landslides in total and per event increases significantly with increasing overall erosion rates however giant landslides also occur in areas of lower than average relief h 300 700 m irrespective of whether threshold hillslopes have developed or not factors contributing to these failures include soft rocks extensive low angle discontinuities high rates of fluvial bedrock incision and tectonically driven deformation and slope loading

an overview of recent large catastrophic landslides in northern british columbia canada at least thirty eight large catastrophic landslides each either larger than 0 5 m m 3 or longer than 1 km have occurred in northern british columbia in the last three decades the landslides include low gradient flowslides in cohesive sediments long runout rock slides rock avalanches and complex rock slide flows the flowslides have occurred in a variety of sediments including glaciolacustrine silt clay rich till and clay rich colluvium the rock failures have happened in weak shale overlain by sandstone and volcanic rocks the frequency of large landslides in northern british columbia appears to be increasing suggesting a link to climate change d 2005 elsevier b v all rights reserved

recurrent magma mingling in successive ignimbrites from amealco caldera central mexico the amealco tuff is a widespread 2880 km2 trachyandesitic to rhyolitic pyroclastic deposit in the central mexican volcanic belt that was erupted from the amealco caldera at 4 7 0 1 ma it includes three major ignimbrites each showing complex mingling of pumice fragments and matrix glass with andesitic to rhyolitic compositions the different glasses are well mingled throughout each of the pyroclastic flow deposits mingling of glasses may have occurred just before and during the explosive eruptions that produced the pyroclastic flows as the distinct melts had insufficient time to homogenize mingling of glasses is evident in each of the three separate major ignimbrites of the amealco tuff thus the processes that caused it were repetitive it is infered that the repetitive mingling of melts was due to repeated mafic magma inputs to an evolved magma chamber

metallogenic information extraction and quantitative prediction process of seafloor massive sulfide resources in the southwest indian ocean abstract seafloor massive sulfide sms deposits have significant development potential in 2011 the china ocean mineral resources research and development association comra and international seabed authority isa signed a contract to explore a 10 000 km2 region of the seafloor along the southwest indian ridge swir containing hydrothermal sulfides as regulated by the contract china will have to relinquish 50 and 75 of the contract area within 8 and 10 years respectively however exploration for seafloor hydrothermal sulfide deposits in china remains in the initial stage based on quantitative prediction theory and the status of exploration for sms we assemble factors related to the deposits in terms of topography geology geophysics and several other related aspects along the swir and extract the most favorable information to establish a prospecting prediction model for sms by employing the weights of evidence method we obtain a weighting for each prediction factor and thereby obtain a posterior probability map for the swir the prediction result suggests that the central region of the swir has the highest posterior probability i e it is the most prospective for the formation of hydrothermal vents and related sms known hydrothermal areas such as mt jourdanne area a and 10 e 16 e are all located in the regions with high posterior probability values the chinese contract area 47 51 e has the highest posterior probability value and thus can be selected as a reserved region for additional exploration by narrowing the exploration area and improving exploration accuracy the predictions made will provide a focus for further exploration of seafloor hydrothermal sulfide resources

sulfide geochronology along the northern equatorial mid atlantic ridge abstract hydrothermal processes and seafloor massive sulfide sms deposits have different characteristics at fast and slow spreading mid ocean ridges one such parameter is the age of a sms deposit which differs by 1 2 orders of magnitude between the fast spreading east pacific rise epr and the slow spreading mid atlantic ridge mar the large collection of sms samples dated from the 18 hydrothermal fields of the northern equatorial part of the mid atlantic ridge 194 samples demonstrates a relatively old average age of hydrothermal fields here 66 ka with the oldest one estimated as ca 223 ka peterburgskoye field based on geochronological data it was confirmed that hydrothermal discharge has an episodic character active and inactive periods of the sms formation alternate the distribution of events at all hydrothermal fields demonstrates that maximum activity occurred at 38 35 30 20 and 8 2 ka and increased with time based on statistical analyses dating variations can be explained as a superposition of several periods of activity with the duration of 15 10 and 5 ka relationship between the age and distance from the axial rift zone as well as between the age and aerial distribution is different for sms deposits hosted by basalts and by gabbro peridotites depending on their geological setting on the particular mar segment this difference can be explained by a variety of hydrothermal processes determined by tectonic or magmatic segment evolution and symmetrical or asymmetrical mode of accretion escartin et al 2008

hydrothermal activity on the eastern swir 50 70 e evidence from core top geochemistry 1887 and 1998 evidence for hydrothermal activity on the eastern swir has been reported previously in the form of optical backscatter anomalies interpreted to indicate the presence of hydrothermal plumes here i report on a brief reconnaissance analysis of the geochemical composition of core top samples collected from sites both beneath and away from those previously reported plume signals to determine whether evidence for fall out of hydrothermal plume material is discernible samples used for this study were collected using the deep diving submersible shinkai 6500 in 1998 and from the tallow coatings applied to lead sounding lines 111 years earlier aboard hms egeria the data indicate hydrothermal input to all but one of eight shinkai 6500 cores along the length of the eastern swir rift valley including the site of strongest previously reported plume anomalies comparison with a recent mar study suggests that the cores analyzed here however may predominantly lie distant from any current or recently active source of venting

active fault systems and tectono topographic configuration of the central trans mexican volcanic belt abstract the central trans mexican volcanic belt tmvb reflects the interplay between three regional fault systems the nnw sse to nw se striking taxco queretaro fault system the ne sw striking system and the e w striking morelia acambay fault system the latter is the youngest and consists of fault scarps up to 500 m high whose formation caused structural and morphological reorganization of the region in this paper we investigate possible activity of the three systems within the central tmvb and assess the role that they play in controlling the tectono topographic configuration of the area our study is based on dem derived morphometric maps longitudinal river profiles geomorphologic mapping and structural field data concerning recent faulting we find that all three regional fault systems are active within the central tmvb possibly with different displacement rates and or type of motion and that nnw sse and ne sw striking faults control the major tectono topographic elements that build up the region which are being re shaped by e w striking faults we also find that tectonic information can be deciphered from the topography of the youthful volcanic arc in question regardless its complexity

geomorphic assessment of active tectonics in the acambay graben mexican volcanic belt spatial variations of quaternary deformation and tectonic activity of faults along the acambay graben are assessed using geomorphic and morphometric approaches the acambay graben is an east west trending structure of apparent quaternary age located in the central part of the mexican volcanic belt which gives rise to pronounced scarps over a distance of about 80 km continuing tectonic activity in the acambay graben is confirmed by recent well documented seismic episodes the intensity of active tectonics has been interpreted through a detailed geomorphic study of the fault generated mountain fronts and fluvial systems the combined geomorphic and morphometric data provide evidence for relative variations in tectonic activity among the acambay graben faults geomorphic indices suggest a relatively high degree of tectonic activity along the venta de bravo and the acambay tixmadeje faults followed in order of decreasing activity by the pastores temascalcingo and tepuxtepec faults spatial variations within faults have also been identified suggesting a higher level of tectonic activity at the tips of the faults this pattern of variation in the relative degree of tectonic activity is consistent with field evidence and seismic data for the acambay graben geomorphic evaluation of the acambay graben faults suggests that the acambay tixmadeje and venta de bravo faults and specifically the tips of these faults and a central segment near the town of venta de bravo should be considered as areas of potentially high earthquake risk 1998 john wiley sons ltd

earthquake induced landslides in central america central america is a region of high seismic activity and the impact of destructive earthquakes is often aggravated by the triggering of landslides data are presented for earthquake triggered landslides in the region and their characteristics are compared with global relationships between the area of landsliding and earthquake magnitude we find that the areas affected by landslides are similar to other parts of the world but in certain parts of central america the numbers of slides are disproportionate for the size of the earthquakes we also find that there are important differences between the characteristics of landslides in different parts of the central american isthmus soil falls and slides in steep slopes in volcanic soils predominate in guatemala and el salvador whereas extensive translational slides in lateritic soils on large slopes are the principal hazard in costa rica and panama methods for assessing landslide hazards considering both rainfall and earthquakes as triggering mechanisms developed in costa rica appear not to be suitable for direct application in the northern countries of the isthmus for which modified approaches are required