thermal regime rheology and seismicity in central japan abstract in the present study geothermal models of the crust for a number of individual structural units of honshu island japan are constructed the depth distribution of crustal seismicity is used as a tool to assess the reliability of the calculated thermal models it is demonstrated that where reliable information is available on cutoffs in seismicity at certain depths the temperature at those depths can be estimated from theological considerations to the accuracy of not worse than from geothermal modelling such temperatures can then be used as reference values in checking the validity of a geothermal model for a region this approach may be especially useful in constructing geothermal models for tectonically disturbed areas with non steady state thermal conditions

rheological stratification of the lithosphere abstract the rheology of the lithosphere is estimated on the basis of pore pressure dependent frictional failure in the brittle regime and power law steady state creep in the ductile regime different petrological models of the continental and oceanic lithosphere combined with different geotherms and thicknesses are used to generate models covering a variety of geodynamic situations results show that the depth dependence of lithospheric rheology varies with the tectonic province and that in many instances the continental lithosphere has one at the bottom of the crust or two the previous one plus another at mid crustal levels soft ductile layers sandwiched between brittle layers the depth distribution of geophysical parameters seismicity seismic wave velocity and electrical conductivity matches the theological predictions well the lithospheric rheological profiles are used to analyze observed variations in the structural style of deformed continental margin and oceanic terranes in the southeastern canadian cordillera the large scale characteristics of the system show a satisfactory agreement with the inferred rheological structure sub horizontal decollements should be the rule rather than the exception where the lithospheric rheology is strongly stratified

roughness at the base of the seismogenic zone contributing factors the cutout depth of microseismic activity in continental fault zones appears to correspond to the onset of greenschist metamorphic conditions at about 300 c it can generally be modeled as the transition from frictional to quasi plastic behavior in quartzofeldspathic crust shear resistance increases with depth through the frictional regime to peak at the transition beneath which it falls off exponentially with increasing temperature larger earthquake ruptures ml 5 5 nucleate around this transition depth where the highest concentrations of strain energy may accumulate varying depth and amplitude of the peak shear resistance along strike induce fluctuations in strain energy concentration at the base of the seismogenic zone factors affecting the depth of the transition include crustal composition geometry and mode of faulting fluid pressure levels in the frictional regime and water content in the quasi plastic regime quasi plastic strain rate and geothermal gradient evaluation of their relative importance is complicated because several are interdependent however compositional change may cause abrupt irregularities in seismogenic depth and peak shear resistance while regional variations in heat flow look to be particularly effective in creating long wavelength heterogeneities in strain energy concentration affecting faulting style

elastic thickness structure of south america estimated using wavelets and satellite derived gravity data abstract we used a wavelet formulation of the classical spectral isostatic analysis to invert satellite derived gravity and topography bathymetry for elastic thickness te over south america and its surrounding plates to provide a homogeneous representation of the gravity field for this vast region we corrected free air anomalies derived from a combination of terrestrial marine gravity data with data from the grace and champ satellite missions model eigen cg03c by a simple bouguer slab using a smoothed representation of surface relief wavelengths 125 km the resulting bouguer anomaly compares well with terrestrial data acquired in the central andes and allows te to be confidently estimated for values greater than 10 km the te map resolves regional scale features that are well correlated with known surface structures and shows maximum values of 100 15 km over the archean neoproterozoic core of the continent decreasing to less than 30 km around continental margins several regions of the oceanic plates and continental margins have an elastic thickness less than 10 km we performed a quantitative analysis by comparing the elastic thickness with the thermal structure predicted from the age of oceanic crust and igneous metamorphic rocks this demonstrates that oceanic plates have been weakened by thermal interaction with hotspots and locally by fracturing and hydration near the trench we observe that only the nucleus of the continent has resisted the thermomechanical weakening induced by the rifting of africa and south america along the passive margin and the andean orogeny along the active margin this latter region shows along strike variations in te that correlate with the geotectonic segmentation of the margin and with the pattern of crustal seismicity our results reveal that the rigidity structure follows the segmentation of the seismogenic zone along the subduction fault suggesting a causal relationship that should be investigated in order to improve the understanding and predictability of great earthquakes and tsunamis

mud volcanoes at the front of the makran accretionary complex pakistan abstract conical mounds 1 1 5 km in diameter and up to 65 m high were mapped at the foot of the active makran continental margin the mounds developed seaward of the accretionary front in a relatively planar zone where the beginning of build up of tectonic pressure initiates deformation based on shallow high resolution 4 khz sediment echosounding the sedimentary sequence in this area is generally well stratified as indicated by closely spaced horizontal reflections however in the vicinity of the mounds the sediment is characterised by many acoustically transparent zones which are 100 300 m in diameter and cut near vertically through the horizontal reflectors two sediment cores from the top of the largest cone and a neighbouring acoustically transparent zone reveal small scale post depositional deformation in a stratified sequence and methane concentrations up to 40 000 ng g this deformation and disruption of potential reflectors provides a clue to explain the acoustic transparency we interpret it as caused by the rise of charged fluids and mud leading initially to the slight disturbance of the generally good acoustic reflectors and eventually to the formation of conical mud mounds mud volcanoes mcs data showing a buried mound in an analogous structural position support the idea of tectonically induced mud fluid expulsion seaward of the accretionary front

structural styles of an accretionary wedge south of the island of sumba indonesia revealed by seamarc ii side scan sonar the accretionary wedge south of sumba island indonesia is in the early stages of continent island arc collision australian continental shelf sediments are being actively accreted to the sunda arc at the timor trough we have correlated seamarc ii side scan images and bathymetry with 3 5 khz and seismic reflection profiles to construct a structural interpretation of this zone deformation is concentrated on the lower slope of the accretionary wedge within 15 to 25 km of the thrust front above which the strain rate appears to decrease abruptly three distinct structural styles are developed in the survey area the characteristics of the easternmost region are 1 deformation in a fold and thrust geometry 2 presence of mud volcanoes and mud ridges parallel to the thrust front indicating elevated fluid pressure and 3 the development of a long decollement extending 10 to 15 km from the thrust front in contrast the central region shows a more homogeneous thickening resulting mainly from closely spaced faulting seaward verging thrust faults and conjugate strike slip faults are the main structures in this segment of the accretionary wedge mud volcanoes and a very long decollement are absent in the central region we present a hypothesis in which structural style is controlled by the length of the decollement developed in front of the thrust front short thick thrust sheets may favor uniform shortening whereas long thin sheets may be unstable to buckling and deform by folding high fluid pressure may facilitate propagation of the decollement in contrast to the accretion occurring in the other two regions the western part of the accretionary wedge is in the process of being indented and redeformed by a basement ridge

fault geometries illuminated from seismicity in central taiwan implications for crustal scale structural boundaries in the northern central range abstract data sets of collapsed earthquake locations earthquake focal mechanisms gps velocities and geologic data are integrated to constrain the geometry and kinematics of a crustal block within the accreted continental margin rocks of taiwan s northeastern central range this block is laterally extruding and exhuming towards the north northeast the block is bound on the west southwest by the previously recognized sanyi puli seismic zone and on the east by a vertical seismic structure that projects to the eastern mountain front of the central range focal mechanisms from the broadband array of taiwan seismicity bats catalog consistently show west side up reverse displacements for this fault zone a second vertical structure is recognized beneath the slate belt metamorphic belt boundary as a post chi chi relaxation oblique normal fault bats focal mechanisms show east side up normal displacements with a minor left lateral component the vertical and lateral extrusion of this crustal block may be driven by the current collision between the philippine sea plate and the puli basement high indenter on the eurasian plate and or trench rollback along the ryukyu subduction zone in addition the vertical extent of the two shear zones suggests that a basal decollement below the eastern central range is deeper than previously proposed and may extend below the brittle ductile transition

collisional melange development geologic associations of active melange forming processes with exhumed melange facies in the western banda orogen indonesia analysis of block assemblages matrix clay mineral composition and microfauna and offshore seismic reflection profiles reveal that the bobonaro melange in the timor region is sourced from mud rich australian continental margin sequences that are remobilized during accretion and form various facies depending on the structural conditions of emplacement melange facies include broken formation matrix rich mud injections and classic mixed block in clay facies each of these are distinguished by varying degrees of remobilization mixing and dispersion at different structural positions across the orogenic wedge the most important structural control is whether melange was generated beneath or in front of upper plate banda forearc basement banda terrane at the present collisional deformation front in the timor trough seismic reflection profiles show that melange forms mostly by stratal detachment and fluid assisted remobilization above a basal decollement propagating laterally along overpressured jurassic to cretaceous clay rich sequences of the distal australian continental margin the broken clay rich material injects upward through faults to form intrusive bodies at the base of slope cover sediment to form mud ridges at the surface similar patterns of stratal disruption are exposed onshore in the pliocene kolbano fold and thrust wedge of southern timor which is structurally contiguous with the timor trough deformation front melange in the kolbano mountains is mostly broken formation and matrix rich injections of mud from jurassic and cretaceous units deformation mechanisms include intense layer parallel extension associated with emplacement by mud diapirs that rise from near the decollement upward to the surface along fault conduits in the hinterland of the orogenic wedge east timor and northern west timor melange is dominantly of mixed block in clay facies with large blocks derived from roof thrust sheets of intermixed banda terrane and maubisse formation units at the structural base of these thrust sheets is the sonnebait disruption zone sdz which formed the initial suture between the banda terrane and structurally underthrust australian continental margin sequences during the late miocene to early pliocene the thickest accumulations of mixed block in clay melange in the timor region are found at the southern edge outlet of the sdz near the central and viqueque synorogenic basins the extent of block dispersion and mixing in the sdz is indicative of intense shear strains perhaps induced by an oversupply of accretable material when the suture zone was clogged by underthrusting of the australian continental margin

crust mantle boundaries in the taiwan luzon arc continent collision system determined from local earthquake tomography and 1d models implications for the mode of subduction polarity reversal abstract in order to better understand the mode of subduction polarity reversal in the taiwan luzon arc continent collision zone we mapped its crust mantle boundaries using local earthquake tomography by contouring surfaces of constant vp 7 5 km s 1 we identified three moho discontinuities and the plate interface that juxtaposes eurasian lower crust against mantle lithosphere of the philippine sea plate the plate interface dips to the east under southeastern taiwan and steepens progressively towards north until it becomes vertical at 23 7 n from there it continues northward in a vertical orientation until the limit of the tomographic model inhibited further mapping for the moho additional depth constraints were derived from 1d models using p wave arrivals of local earthquakes the mohos of the eurasian and philippine sea plates are disconnected across the plate interface beneath southern taiwan the eurasian moho dips to the east at 50 60 following the orientation of the plate boundary and continuous with the benioff zone towards north the eurasian moho steepens into subvertical again together with the plate boundary the philippine sea plate moho exhibits a synform like crustal root interpreted as the base of the magmatic luzon arc towards the north this root deepens from 30 to 70 km underneath the ryukyu trench in northernmost taiwan the hinge of the vertically subducting eurasian slab steps westward out of the thrust belt leaving the deformation front to the east inactive and giving way to the north dipping philippine sea plate a subhorizontal moho at 30 35 km depth overlies the north dipping philippine sea slab and is interpreted as a newly formed moho established after westward rollback and delamination of the subducting eurasian slab in combination these data support a model of progressive subduction polarity reversal in which a tear within the eurasian lithosphere propagated southwestward deactivating the deformation front

submersible study of mud volcanoes seaward of the barbados accretionary wedge sedimentology structure and rheology abstract in 1992 the nautile went to a mud volcano field located east of the barbados accretionary wedge near 13 50n using nannofossil analysis on cores we determined the sedimentation rate and provided a new estimation of the age of the mud volcanoes 750 000 years for the oldest one six structures have been explored with the submersible nautile and manifestations of fluid venting chimneys carbonate cementation and chemosynthetic communities were observed on all sedimentological analysis identifies two sources of diapiric mud most mud volcanoes expel mud containing late miocene to quaternary faunae that have the same composition as sediments drilled above the barbados wedge decollement one volcano also contains older oligocene taxa with a mud composition corresponding to the sedimentary sequence below the decollement we use diving observations to map the fine scale morphology the distribution of chemosynthetic fauna and define two end member types of structures mud pies flat topped mud volcanoes and conical mounds mud pies atalante and cyclops are characterised by the presence of a lake of highporosity mud 70 to 75 in their central parts chemosynthetic benthic communities calyptogena colonies and sponge bushes are concentrated in the outer parts contrasting morphologies of the two mud pies indicate different stages of activity cyclops is growing whereas atalante is collapsing expulsion of water and methane occurs mostly through the mud lake and may be stronger during the collapse phase on conical mounds there are no mud lakes fluid venting concentrates near the summit and occurs through carbonate cemented chimneys which form within the sediment viscosity measurements have been carried out on mud samples from the two mud pies and one conical mound all mud samples have a plastic fluid behaviour the plastic threshold decreases with porosity and thixotropy is observed for a porosity of more than 70 an analogue experiment shows that for this thixotropic mud shearing in the feeding conduit liquefies the mud which then spreads to form a mud pie conical mounds form when the mud remains plastic we show that the dissociation of methane hydrate is the cause of the high porosity in mud pies and confirm that these structures are a consequence of large scale dissociation of methane hydrate at the base of its stability field dissociation of hydrates before and during ascent is only slightly contributing to the pore fluid in conical mounds but solid hydrates still present in the mud may contribute to its buoyancy

taiwan orogeny thin skinned or lithospheric collision abstract the taiwan orogeny is young and presently very active it provides an excellent environment for studying ongoing orogenic processes especially since the region is monitored intensively with dense seismological and geodetic networks and new studies aiming at deciphering shallow and deep structures in and around taiwan have been recently conducted or are being planned the available data can be used continually to test critically hypotheses of the taiwan orogeny hypotheses dealing with the mechanics of mountain building are basic to the understanding of taiwan orogeny and are particularly amenable to testing the widely cited thin skinned tectonics hypothesis was formulated to explain mainly the geologic and relatively shallow

relations between mud volcanoes thrust deformation slope sedimentation and gas hydrate offshore north panama abstract seamarc ii swath mapping and migrated seismic reflection data show a high concentration of mud volcanoes in the primary sediment depocentre along the lower slope of a thrust belt offshore north panama the mud volcanoes are 0 4 2 0 km wide sonar reflectivity backscattering sediment cores and seismic stratigraphic relations indicate that the depocentre contains thick sequences of basinal turbidites which are ponded between the anticlinal ridges the ridges are composed of the deformed turbidites of the colombian basin and exhibit a strong bottom simulating reflector bsr apparently associated with a gas hydrate layer based on the concentration of mud volcanoes along the crests of the anticlinal ridges in the depocentre and the structural position of the bsr we suggest that folding along the deformation front sediment ponding leading to differential loading methane migration and accumulation in the anticlines and gas hydrate formation are important factors in the development of mud volcanoes in this region

the structural evolution of the timor collision complex eastern indonesia abstract the structural style of timor is consistent with foreland fold belt processes and zones of frontal accretion and underplating can be recognized in the australian parautochthonous sequence the parautochthon is overlain by an allochthonous sequence which corresponds to the pre collisional oceanic forearc in northern timor the parautochthon has been underplated directly beneath the allochthonous basement unlike previous interpretations of timor in terms of foreland fold belt processes the timor foldbelt is here interpreted as having evolved in a fairly straightforward way from the pre collisional forearc by the sequential addition of thrust slices of australian continental crust to the front and base of the developing collision complex

the wetar back arc thrust belt eastern indonesia the effect of accretion against an irregularly shaped arc the 350 km long east west trending wetar back arc thrust belt in eastern indonesia is a result of the collision of australia with the indonesian island arc along the northwest margin of wetar island a short 50 km section of the thrust belt trends northeast coincident with the offset of the indonesian arc by the newly discovered left lateral wetar atauro fault which runs along the shelf region and trends northeast the wetar atauro fault may be viewed as a large scale lateral ramp or wrench fault separating the eastern wetar thrust belt from the western wetar thrust belt the interaction of strike slip faulting and back arc thrust faulting creates several arc blocks whose geometry strongly affects the structure of the deformed wedge of sediment accreting in the wetar back arc thrust belt the varying orientations of the arc backstop make the wetar back arc thrust belt a perfect laboratory for the study of oblique convergence along most of its length the wetar thrust belt parallels the arc slope however along the northeast trending offset in the thrust belt seamarc ii side scan sonar plus seismic reflection data show that the trend of the thrust belt is not parallel to the trend of the arc slope rather it is intermediate between the trend of the arc slope and the perpendicular to the expected convergence direction the side scan images allow us to map the geometry of four main thrust faults the wetar liran atauro and alor faults the wetar liran and atauro faults trend northeast parallel to the thrust front and do not have an en echelon relationship the westernmost fault in the survey area the alor fault trends almost east west the orientation of the wetar atauro fault is consistent with a maximum principal stress within the arc oriented between 8 and 23 west of north depending on the internal coefficient of friction this agrees well with the p axes of nearby earthquake focal mechanisms which trend consistently west of north suggesting that the regional principal tectonic compression is oriented west of north because the thrust belt is oblique to the arc slope we infer the structural directions are influenced by both the arc backstop and by the regional tectonic stress the tectonic compression due to arc continent collision in this region may be modified by the arc geometry in several ways 1 the stress necessary to support the arc topography may be significant close to the arc 2 the change in thickness of the elastic part of the lithosphere may cause a concentration of tectonic stress and 3 the difference in material properties between the relatively rigid arc bulldozer and the weak basin sedimentary fill may be an important factor in producing a thrust belt that conforms roughly to the shape of the arc the structure of the wetar back arc thrust zone demonstrates that the development of small rigid blocks within a major collision zone may produce complex structural patterns and local directions of shortening that are highly oblique to the main direction of plate convergence

significance of mud volcanism 1 mud volcanism and diapirism have puzzled geoscientists for 2 centuries they have been described onshore and offshore in many places on earth and although they occur in various tectonic settings the majority of the features known to date are located in compressional tectonic scenarios this paper summarizes the main thrusts in mud volcano research as well as the various regions in which mud volcanism has been described mud volcanoes show variable geometry up to tens of kilometers in diameter and several hundred meters in height and a great diversity regarding the origin of the fluid and solid phases gas predominantly methane water and mud may be mobilized at subbottom depth of only a few meters but in places can originate from several kilometers depth with minor crustal or mantle input the possible contribution of mud extrusion to global budgets both from quiescent fluid emission and from the extrusive processes themselves is important in regions where mud volcanoes are abundant such as the collision zones between africa and eurasia fluid flux through mud extrusion exceeds the compaction driven pore fluid expulsion of the accretionary wedge also quiescent degassing of mud volcanoes may contribute significantly to volatile budgets and hence to greenhouse climate

sunda banda arc transition incipient continent island arc collision northwest australia the eastern sunda arc represents one of the few regions globally where the early stages of continent arc collision can be studied we studied along the western limit of the collision zone at the sunda banda arc transition where the australian margin collides with the banda island arc causing widespread back arc thrusting we present integrated results of a refraction wide angle reflection tomography gravity modeling and multichannel reflection seismic imaging using data acquired in 2006 southeast of sumba island the composite structural model reveals the previously unresolved deep geometry of the collision zone changes in crustal structure encompass the 10 12 km thick australian basement in the south and the 22 24 kmthick sumba ridge in the north where backthrusting of the 130 km wide accretionary prism is documented the structural diversity along this transect could be characteristic of young collisional systems at the transition from oceanic subduction to continent arc collision citation shulgin a h kopp c mueller e lueschen l planert m engels e r flueh a krabbenhoeft and y djajadihardja 2009 sunda banda arc transition incipient continent island arc collision northwest australia geophys res lett 36 l10304 doi 10 1029 2009gl037533

a geometric model to estimate slip rates from terrace rotation above an offshore listric thrust fault kaikōura new zealand abstract the kaik ura peninsula lies at the transition from subduction to continental collision at the southern end of the hikurangi subduction system this study uses a 2012 lidar survey over the kaik ura peninsula to re map a flight of four uplifted late pleistocene marine terraces at high resolution the lidar shows that the terraces are being progressively tilted landwards in a manner consistent with listric thrust faulting offshore the fault known as the kaik ura peninsula fault dips shallowly at c 30 to the northwest at depth and probably truncates the seaward segment of the hope fault in the footwall of the jordan thrust geometric analysis of the tilt using ages based on previous dating and a regional sea level curve suggests that slip rates on the kaik ura peninsula fault have ranged between 2 3 1 5 mm yr and 4 1 1 3 mm yr over the late pleistocene the elevations of late holocene fringing beaches track regional sea level changes apart from a departure indicating a single uplift event penultimate earthquake in the late 18th to earliest 19th century 1702 1838 ce followed by uplift in the 2016 kaik ura earthquake the slip rate calculated from beach uplift including the kaik ura earthquake is consistent with longer term rates the accumulation of the slip over only c 220 years following 2000 years of quiescence suggests that the offshore thrust and associated faults exhibit clustered behavior possibly as a result of keystone faulting

rise and fall of the eastern great indonesian arc recorded by the assembly dispersion and accretion of the banda terrane timor abstract new age petrochemical and structural data indicate that the banda terrane is a remnant of a jurassic to eocene arc trench system that formed the eastern part of the great indonesian arc the arc system rifted apart during eocene to miocene supra subduction zone sea floor spreading which dispersed ridges of banda terrane embedded in young oceanic crust as far south as sumba and timor in timor the banda terrane is well exposed as high level thrust sheets that were detached from the edge of the banda sea upper plate and uplifted by collision with the passive margin of nw australia the thrust sheets contain a distinctive assemblage of medium grade metamorphic rocks overlain by cretaceous to miocene forearc basin deposits new u pb age data presented here indicate igneous zircons are less than 162 ma with a cluster of ages at 83 ma and 35 ma 40ar 39ar plateau ages of various mineral phases from metamorphic units all cluster at between 32 38 ma these data yield a cooling curve that shows exhumation from around 550 c to the surface between 36 28 ma after this time there is no evidence of metamorphism of the banda terrane including its accretion to the edge of the australian continental margin during the pliocene these data link the banda terrane to similar rocks and events documented throughout the eastern edge of the sunda shelf and the banda sea floor

depth of seismicity in the imperial valley region 1977 1983 and its relationship to heat flow crustal structure and the october 15 1979 earthquake focal depths from over 1000 earthquakes occuring between 1977 and 1983 in the imperial valley southern peninsular ranges are used to study relationships between the depth of seismicity heat flow and crustal structure this study used relocated a and b quality events from the california institute of technology catalog that were carefully selected to insure focal depth precision of 2 km regional variations in focal depth appear to be related to regional heat flow variation whereas local variations in focal depth especially in the central imperial valley may be related to crustal structure these variations are studied by rheologic modeling a comparison of focal depths of earthquakes occurring before and after the october 15 1979 m 6 6 earthquake indicates that aftershocks during the first 2 months of the sequence were 2 3 km deeper than earthquakes occurring in other time periods the deepest earthquakes in imperial valley are spatially associated with a subbasement dome near the northern end of the imperial fault this dome coincides with the region where the imperial fault undergoes a transition from stick slip behavior to aseismic fault creep models of slip during the 1979 mainshock are also compared with premainshock and postmainshock seismicity a relocation of the 1940 m 7 1 mainshock suggests that this sequence began by rupturing the same portion of the fault that experienced maximum slip during the 1979 mainshock

thermomechanical structure of european continental lithosphere constraints from rheological profiles and eet estimates summary the eet equivalent elastic thickness of the lithosphere is a measure of the integrated lithospheric strength it is directly related to the mechanical thickness and rheology of the crustal and mantle lithosphere we present a comparison of eet estimates and strength profiles based on the extrapolation of rock mechanics data for different parts of the european and eurasian continental lithosphere we discuss the temporal and spatial variations in the mechanical thickness and strength inferred from data for precambrian segments of europe s lithosphere variscan europe and the alpine collision belt this analysis demonstrates important spatial and temporal variations in lithospheric rigidity for orogenic belts and sedimentary basins in eastern and western europe and asian parts of eurasia the eet estimates based on synthetic rheological profiles constrained by newly available geophysical data are consistent with the estimates of eet derived from flexural studies of sedimentary basins forelands and orogenic belts these rheological profiles suggest weakening of the major parts of the european and eurasian continental lithosphere by decoupling of the crustal and upper mantle parts a comparison with the seismicity depth distribution for some selected sites suggests that the intra plate seismicity is essentially restricted to the upper crustal parts of europe s lithosphere providing additional support to the notion of the decoupled lithosphere the presence of intra plate stress fields can explain a significant part of the observed variations in eet estimates within individual thermotectonic age groups a comparison of wavelengths of crustal and lithospheric folding with observations shows these wavelengths to be consistent with estimates of eet inferred from the rheological response of basins and orogens at more moderate levels of intra plate stress

mud volcano field seaward of the barbados accretionary complex a deep towed side scan sonar survey a 30 km2 diapiric field has been identified near 13 50 n up to 12 km seaward of the deformation front of the barbados accretionary complex using a deep towed side scan sonar with a 3 5 khz profiler we identified 31 different diapiric structures based on seismic stratigraphy we show that this field has been active for 200 000 years and that it is a transient feature triggered by the seaward propagation of the high pore fluid pressure associated with the decollement beneath the accretionary complex both basement and decollement in this area are anomalously shallow due to the presence of a n110 basement ridge the height of the diapirs above seafloor does not exceed 40 50 m and can be related to the pressure head of the mud below the decollement two types of structures are identified mud volcanoes and massively emplaced diapirs and ridges on the one hand enigmatic circular very flat mud pies and conical mounds on the other hand the second type of structures has steeper slopes and appears to be associated with very active venting as confirmed by a submersible exploration reported in a companion paper le pichon et al this issue b the venting results in the formation of a stiff carbonate crust and of large subsiding basins around the mud pies continuous active fluid expulsion through these structures indicates that an efficient piping system still connects them to the zone of anomalously high pore pressure below the protodecollement

cenozoic evolution of the savu basin indonesia forearc basin response to arc continent collision abstract a seismo stratigraphic analysis of the savu basin relates the evolution of a complexly evolved forearc basin to the late miocene recent collision with australia initial early miocene subsidence of the outer forearc basin and the subsequent development of a middle late miocene volcanic proto arc located in the south of the basin both resulted from the late oligocene early miocene eastward propagation of the java timor trench block faulting of the relatively thick continental forearc basement probably determined the rather irregular and scattered pattern of middle late miocene volcanic centres just north of the accretionary prism the forearc basement is flexed down and reshaped into a trenchward dipping backstop that facilitates backthrusting of the accretionary prism the southern forearc basement probably acted as a barrier against compression the thickness of this continental basement is suggested to be a critical factor in the response of the forearc to continent collision owing to its strength the savu basin did not react to collision by the development of northward verging inter arc thrusts in contrast it responded to the underthrusting of continental crust by reactivation of the basement ridges this resulted in the differentiation of the forearc basin into a presently extinct and uplifted miocene south savu basin and a pliocene recent active north savu basin the simultaneous late miocene recent uplift of large segments of the outer forearc and subsidence of the north savu basin is interpreted to result from tectonic underplating of continental material and uplift caused by the buoyancy of the subducted continental crust the relatively recent decoupling of this crust from the oceanic slab and the subsequent isostatic rebound may superimpose the initial effects of post collision extension on arc continent collision

mud diapirism and subcretion in the barbados ridge accretionary complex the role of fluids in accretionary processes mud diapirism has recently been recognized in several modern accretionary wedges it provides an important means of dewatering accretionary wedges and should be regarded as an important process for producing the melanges found in both modern and ancient accretionary terranes mud diapirism affects a large area of the barbados ridge accretionary complex the distribution of the mud diapirs appears to be primarily controlled by the presence of underconsolidated terrigenous submarine fan deposits that are being accreted to the complex the frequency of diapir occurrence decreases northward as the fan becomes thinner mud diapirs are absent from the very eastern most part of the complex formed from sediments accreted at its toe with the exception of a few mud volcanoes on the ocean floor in front of the complex the initiation of diapirism appears to be spatially coincident with the onset of subcretion or underplating of sediment to the base of the complex at a ramp between two levels of decollement it is proposed that the release of mud and pore water from the subcreted sediments is a direct or indirect cause of most of the mud diapirism in the accretionary complex there is a range of diapiric form dependent on the viscosity of the mud from mud volcanoes fed by low viscosity mud to higher viscosity mud ridges the diapirs in the eastern areas of the complex are generally mud volcanoes with narrow conduits feeding a surface mound mud ridges are prominent in the western parts of the complex this is interpreted as reflecting a general westward decrease in the fluid content of the accretionary complex bottom simulating seismic reflectors formed by gas hydrate are commonly developed in the areas of mud volcano occurrences the presence of the hydrate indicates that large volumes of methane are being generated at depth in these regions the generation of methane may be contributing to zones of overpressuring in the wedge methane may also be partly responsible for driving the diapiric material to the surface to form mud volcanoes ridges in the subducting oceanic crust beneath the accretionary complex locally enhance diapirism above their crests and southern flanks faults formed later in the development of the complex are more commonly associated with diapirism than those resulting from accretion at the toe of the wedge these later faults play an important role in controlling the sites of individual mud volcanoes chains of mud volcanoes and mud ridges

a lithospheric cross section through the swiss alps ii constraints on the mechanical structure of a continent continent collision zone summary the calculation of strength profiles along the european geotraverse egt through the swiss alps yields constraints on the large scale vertical and lateral mechanical structure through the alpine continent continent collision zone strength profiles are evaluated for different assumptions on petrological stratification and strain rate and are based on temperature depth profiles derived from transient thermo kinematic modelling of the neoalpine orogeny the main contribution to the total strength results from the mantle lithosphere which is strongly controlled by temperature in contrast the crustal contribution is mainly determined by variations in petrological stratification a direct correlation between surface heat flow and the total strength of the crust the mantle lithosphere and the entire lithosphere crust and mantle lithosphere is not observed our results demonstrate that in tectonically active areas a transient thermal model along with detailed knowledge of the deep structure and petrology is necessary to evaluate lithospheric strength envelopes inside the collision zone strain rate has a strong control on the bottom of the mechanically strong crust whereas outside the collision zone the effect is less significant the cut off depth of seismicity along the profile which correlates largely with the bottom of the mechanically strong crust deviates from the 300 400 c isotherm the inferred effective elastic thickness for the molasse basin north of the alps is in agreement with flexural modelling results whereas for the southern alps the predictions deviate

applicability of method to estimate transmissivity based on yield drawdown analysis in mountainous fractured rock aquifers a case study in taiwan abstract the observation of yield drawdown response in the course of pumping test as well as its derived application for aquifer characterization is an essential practice in a geotechnical investigation on the basis of that for providing a reasonable estimate of aquifer transmissivity on site a number of empirical models have therefore been proposed yet the majority of previous studies are conducted based on investigations at homogeneous alluvial plain very few particularly in the case of taiwan are carried out focusing on mountainous fractured rock aquifers aiming to address this problem the observation data of 53 pumping tests obtained from a multi years in situ geological investigation program are analyzed and the applicability of empirical log log linear relationship between t and q s is examined our analysis reveals that the yield drawdown responses derived from different geologic formations are quantitatively distinct and those empirical rules derived from the alluvial landform should be used with care when applying in mountainous fractured rock aquifers based on the analysis of statistical results in our study with a systematic investigation and clarification of the q s relationship in advance a satisfactory and cost effective solution is obtained

continental margin tectonics submarine accretionary prisms submarine accretionary prisms are sites of incipient mountain building where sediments and rocks of the deep ocean are uplifted deformed and ultimately transformed to continental crust accretionary prisms develop at sites of lithospheric convergence that is subduction zones commonly accretionary prisms form along continental margins although accretionary prisms may also occur adjacent to island arcs which are ultimately coalesced into continental landmasses here we review the studies of submarine accretionary prisms during the past four years with primary focus on the contributions of geoscientists from the united states

slip vectors and fault mechanics in the makran accretionary wedge southwest pakistan the makran is a broadly east west trending arcuate accretionary wedge currently forming where the oceanic floor of the gulf of oman is being subducted north northeastward beneath the south asian margin two traverses across the makran coast ranges extending about 80 km inland from the coastline which lies about 100 km north of the wedge front show that the structure of this region is dominated by large back rotated south directed thrust faults and associated folds related structures include duplexes fault gouge containing reidel shears and melange along fault zones these structures are cut by later north directed backthrusts out of sequence south directed thrusts and apparently conjugate sets of nne trending sinistral and nw trending dextral strike slip faults slip vectors were determined from slickenlines fiber lineations gouge fabrics and riedel shears vectors from early thrusts and bedding parallel slip surfaces corrected for tectonic rotation form a broad south directed concentration lying between the normal to the regional strike varying from 160 to 180 and the present plate convergence vector 200 locally the concentration is bimodal this pattern may represent the interaction between plate forces and body forces in the accretionary wedge the late thrusts have widely variable slip vectors and stair step off the early thrusts they overlap in orientation and slip vector with gently dipping sinistral strike slip faults suggesting that they also stair step in plan off the latter the steep strike slip faults represent the final tectonic stage involving minor n s shortening and longitudinal extension these three stages probably occurred in sequence in any one area but migrated diachronously southward as the wedge grew

variable rates of late quaternary surface uplift along the banda arc australian plate collision zone eastern indonesia radiometrically dated emergent coral terraces from southeastern indonesia provide estimates of differential vertical strain in the banda arc continent collision complex at semau island two samples from the lowest emergent reef 5 7 m yield 230th dates that correspond to the 5a c 83 ka sea level highstand and a low surface uplift rate of 0 2 0 3 m per 1000 years at rote island samples from the lowest emergent reef c 1 2m on both north and south sides of the island yield late holocene ages and an average short term uplift rate of c l 1 5m per 1000 years similarity of ages from different samples on the north coast of rote suggests possible coseismic emergence survey data from nine emergent reefs and marine notches up to 170m in altitude on the south side of rote indicate that uplift rates may have been c l 1 5m per 1000 years for c l20000 130000 years combined with previous studies these results indicate that late quaternary surface uplift rates vary an order of magnitude along the strike of the banda orogen vertical displacement rates are greatest in young parts of the orogen where the shelf slope break recently has been underthrust beneath the orogenic wedge as at rote and in older parts of the orogen where retroarc thrust faulting occurs as at alor island this paper presents new 230th ages and associated surface uplift rates for emergent coral reefs on two islands near west timor in southeastern indonesia fig 1 on rote island no previous work has been done on emergent corals on semau island only one coral sample has yielded a previous age estimate jouannic et a 1988 both islands are located in an important zone of transition from subduction to collision along the plate boundary between the indian australian and eurasian plates whereas the transition from subduction to collision is poorly preserved in most other collision zones it is well preserved in the timor region many lines of evidence indicate that both horizontal and vertical rates of deformation are greater in this area than elsewhere in the orogen this paper also compiles all previous estimates of surface uplift rates from coral dating on islands throughout southeastern indonesia we use this compilation to consider regional variability in vertical strain rates in relation to recent models of tectonic processes in the banda arc australian continental margin collision zone cenozoic deformation in the banda arcaustralian continental plate collision zone the indonesian region contains an active subduction zone accretionary arc volcanic island arc and emergent collision zone in western indonesia oceanic crust of the indian australian plate is subducting northward beneath the eurasian plate along the java trench forming the sunda volcanic arc and accretionary wedge which includes the volcanic islands of sumatra and java fig 1 in eastern indonesia where oceanic crust has been subducted completely underthrusting of buoyant australian continenta1lithosphere since about 3 ma changes the java trench into a collisional foredeep and the locally inactive banda arc into an arc continent collision zone along the timor trough hamilton 1979 bowin eta 1980 silver eta 1983 breen eta 1986 karig eta 1987 underthrusting of the mature australian continental margin significantly increases the influx of accretionary material and the frictional resistance to slip along the plate boundary harris 1991 collisional strain merritts d eby r harris r edwards r l chang h 1998 variable rates of late quaternary surface uplift along the banda arc australian plate collision zone eastern indonesia in stewart i s vitafinzi c eds coastal tectonics geological society london special publications 146 213 224 214 d merritts et al explanation of symbols thrust fault teeth on upper plate

three trench endings in eastern indonesia abstract underway surveys using long range sidescan sonar as well as conventional marine geophysical techniques have been made of three trench endings in eastern indonesia in each case the termination is associated with the presence of a block of thickened crust the transition between the sunda trench and the troughs which encircle the banda arc is a consequence of collision with the northern margin of the australian continent whereas the southern termination of the philippine trench is defined by the presence of an oceanic plateau which impedes further southwards propagation both these trenches are currently active and are associated with clearly defined wadati benioff zones the new guinea trench terminates in the west at a n trending seafloor rise known as the mapia ridge the relationship between the two features is not well understood there are no clear indications of present day subduction along the northern margin of new guinea and insufficient data from the flanks of the mapia ridge to show whether this ever had a subduction history the new data obtained within the trench immediately east of the ridge suggests that subduction has ceased in the westernmost part of the new guinea trench and that the oceanic crust of the ayu basin west of the mapia ridge post dates the period of active subduction

backthrusting on the birps deep seismic reflection profiles banda arc indonesia a response to changing slab inclination the recently published birps banda deep seismic profiles across the banda arc continent collision complex indicate major backthrusting both internal to the volcanic arc and between the volcanic arc and forearc ridge this is significantly different from the west timor savu sea and tanimbar sectors of the arc where backarc thrusting is absent and the interarc region is extensional the primary control on these very different structural styles is interpreted to be whether the underlying subducted slab is steepening or straightening through tune whilst straightening of the slab through buoyant post collisional rebound induces extension normal to the arc steepening of the subducted slab is associated with arc normal compression

accretionary margin of north western hispaniola morphology structure and development of part of the northern caribbean plate boundary abstract broad range side scan sonar gloria images and single and multi channel seismic reflection profiles demonstrate that the margin of north western hispaniola has experienced compression as a consequence of oblique north american caribbean plate convergence two principal morphological or structural types of accretionary wedges are observed along this margin the first type is characterized by a gently sloping 4 sea floor and generally margin parallel linear sets of sea floor ridges that gradually deepen towards the flat hispaniola basin floor to the north the ridges are caused by an internal structure consisting of broad anticlines bounded by thrust faults that dip southwards beneath hispaniola anticlines form at the base of the slope and are eventually sheared and underthrust beneath the slope in contrast the second type of accretionary wedge exhibits a steeper 6 16 sea floor slope characterized by local slumping and a more abrupt morphological transition to the adjacent basin the internal structure appears chaotic on seismic reflection profiles and probably consists of tight folds and closely spaced faults we suggest that changes in sea floor declivity and internal structure may result from variations in the dip or frictional resistance of the decollement or possibly from changes in the cohesive strength of the wedge sediments the observed pattern of thickening of hispaniola basin turbidites towards the insular margin suggests differential southwards tilting of the hispaniola basin strata probably in response to north america caribbean plate interactions since the early tertiary based upon indirect age control from adjacent parts of the northern caribbean plate boundary we infer a late eocene to early miocene episode of transcurrent motion i e little or no tilting an early miocene to late pliocene period of oblique convergence i e increased tilt during which the accretionary wedge began to be constructed and a late pliocene to recent episode of increased convergence i e twice the miocene to pliocene tilt which has led to rapid uplift and erosion of sediment sources on the margin and on hispaniola generating a submarine fan at the base of the insular slope

rheology and strength of the eurasian continental lithosphere in the foreland of the taiwan collision belt constraints from seismicity flexure and structural styles 1 deformation in western taiwan is characterized by variable depth frequency distribution of crustal earthquakes which are closely connected with along strike variations of tectonic styles thin or thick skinned around the peikang high a major inherited feature of the chinese margin to fit the calculated high crustal geotherm and the observed distribution of the crustal seismic activity a qz diorite and granulite composition for the upper and the lower crust is proposed we then model the plate flexure through te estimates using brittle elastic ductile plate rheology flexure modeling shows that the best fit combination of te boundary condition is for thrust loads acting at the belt front the calculated te vary in the range of 15 20 km these values are primarily a reflection of the thermal state of the rifted chinese margin inherited from the oligocene spreading in the south china sea however other mechanical properties such as the degree of crust mantle coupling and the thickness of the mechanically competent crust and mantle are considered south of the peikang high flexure modeling reveals lower te associated with thinner mechanically strong layers variable stress strain distribution associated with a higher degree of crust mantle decoupling is examined to explain plate weakening we first show that plate curvature cannot easily explain strength reduction and observed seismic activity additional plate boundary forces arising from the strong coupling induced by more frontal subduction of a buoyant crustal asperity i e the peikang high with the overriding plate are required favorably oriented inherited features in the adjacent tainan basin produce acceleration of strain rates in the upper crust and hence facilitate the crust mantle decoupling as attested by high seismic activity and thick skinned deformation the relative weakening of the lower crust and mantle then leads to weaken the lithosphere by contrast to the north more oblique collision and the lack of inherited features keep the lithosphere stronger this study suggests that when the eurasian plate enters the taiwan collision tectonic inheritance of the continental margin exerts a strong control on the plate deformation by modifying its strength

extensional collapse of the northern taiwan mountain belt as an active collision zone between the luzon arc and the china continental margin the taiwan mountain belt particularly its south central part is undergoing crustal shortening and rapid uplift the northern part of the orogen is however subjected to crustal stretching and rifting as a result of flipping of subduction from the northwest facing luzon arc system to the south facing ryukyu arc system taiwan and its neighboring southern ryukyu used to be part of the rifted china continental margin before the collision started in late miocene time engineered by the northwest movement of the philippine sea plate in the past 5 m y the north south trending luzon arc obliquely overrode the northeast southwest trending continental margin and tectonized it into a collision orogen that progressively enlarged and migrated from northeast to southwest following the southwest propagating collision the north dipping philippine sea plate which was subducting beneath the ryukyu arc also extended westward and caused flipping of subduction in the northern part of the collision orogen in consequence the orogen lost the compressive support by the colliding plates and became subjected to lithospheric stretching induced by the trench suction the collision orogen collapsed as a result of crustal thinning and its central part foundered into a deep submerged basin a whole spectrum of active tectonic scenarios ranging from orogenic buildup by collision to orogenic collapse by rifting and subsidence can be readily observed in the taiwan ryukyu area and provides a vivid example for the process of orogenic collapse

flow heterogeneity over 3d cluster microform laboratory and numerical investigation the present study examines the flow around a self occurring cluster bed form and the use of general computation fluid dynamics methods for hydraulic and geophysical flow applications this is accomplished through a comprehensive experimental numerical investigation in the laboratory cluster bed forms are first formed from movable sediment and laser doppler velocimeter measurements of two dimensional fluid velocity are then taken around a formed cluster a three dimensional 3d reynolds averaged navier stokes simulation of the physical cluster and flow conditions is then conducted using near wall shear stress transport sst turbulence modeling with the inclusion of hydraulic roughness ks r 31 150 ks h 0 1 ks 274 i e in the fully rough regime sst near wall modeling is advantageous compared to the more widely used wall functions approach for flows with significant roughness and flow separation because the model equations can be integrated down to the wall therefore sst near wall model

structural aspects of diapiric melange emplacement the duck creek diapir abstract the duck creek melange is one of a series of diapiric mud intrusions into the slope cover sequence of the cascadia accretionary wedge the diapir originated deep within the accreted hoh sequences and has intruded approximately 1 km up into the 2 3 km thick pliocene quinault slope cover sequences at its current level of exposure in coastal seacliffs analyses of the geometry and kinematic indicators at the current exposure level strongly suggest that this part of the diapir intruded at a low angle to form an inclined sill or dyke like body at least 0 5 km in diameter microstructural analysis indicates a zonation of deformational features between the core and margins of the diapir resulting from an evolving series of fabrics and the increasing concentration of strain towards the margins specifically we interpret early independent particulate flow ipf fabrics as indicating deformation in a low effective stress environment with the possibility of turbulence during initial mobilization and intrusion the subsequent transition to cataclastic flow indicates deformation occurring in the presence of increasing effective stress and the creation of broad marginal shear zones suggests strain hardening the final transition to ipf fabrics limited to narrow strain softened marginal shear zone suggests decreasing effective stresses during the latest intrusion phase in addition the abundance of veining phases associated with the latter part of the intrusion history indicates that the diapir became a major fluid conduit for mineralizing fluids toward the end of its emplacement history

late cretaceous miocene diachronous onset of back thrusting along the south caribbean deformed belt and its importance for understanding processes of arc collision and crustal growth 1 the venezuelan basin is obliquely subducted to the east southeast beneath the continental south american plate at the east west trending south caribbean deformed belt scdb a 50 100 km wide wedge of accreted sedimentary rocks derived both from offscraping of the 0 5 to 1 km thick sedimentary cover of the subducting venezuelan basin and from incorporation of clastic sediments derived from the continental margin of south america in this paper we describe the structure and sequence stratigraphy of five late cretaceous to recent sedimentary sequences overlying a 230 000 km2 area of the southern venezuelan basin and beata ridge the data set includes 5900 km of 2d seismic reflection data that are tied to lithologic and age data taken from dsdp sites 146 149 and 150 in the central part of the venezuelan basin we use observed patterns of wedging in mapped and dated sedimentary sequences adjacent to the scdb to determine the age of the diachronous west to east initiation of thrusting and subduction at the scdb the onset of subduction in the scdb corresponds with the cessation of thrusting from west to east along the zone of collision between the intraoceanic caribbean arc and the south american continent this correlation in the age of deformation indicates that collision between the caribbean arc and the south american continent led to subduction polarity reversal a process that is commonly observed at various stages of tectonic evolution in other areas of active arc continent collision including japan and sunda

deepwater fold and thrust belt classification tectonics structure and hydrocarbon prospectivity a review abstract deepwater fold and thrust belts dwftbs are classified into near field stress driven type 1 systems confined to the sedimentary section and type 2 systems deformed by either far field stresses alone or mixed near and far field stresses dwftbs can occur at all stages of the wilson cycle up to early stage continent continent collision type 1 systems have either weak shale or salt detachments they occur predominantly on passive margins but can also be found in convergent related areas such as the mediterranean and n borneo examples include the niger and nile deltas the west coast of africa and the gulf of mexico type 2 systems are subdivided on a tectonic setting basis into continent convergence zones and active margin dwftbs continent convergence zones cover dwftbs developed during continent arc or continent continent collision and those in a deepwater intracontinental setting e g w sulawesi makassar straits active margins include accretionary prisms and transform margins the greatest variability in dwftb structural style occurs between salt and shale detachments and not between tectonic settings changes in fold amplitude and wavelength appear to be more related to thickness of the sedimentary section than to dwftb type in comparison with shale salt detachment dwftbs display a lower critical wedge taper more detachment folds long and episodic duration of deformation and more variation in vergence structures unique to salt include canopies and nappes accretionary prisms also standout from other dwftbs due to their relatively long continuous duration rapid offshore propagation of the thrust front and large amount of shortening in terms of petroleum systems many similar issues affect all dwftbs these include the oceanward decrease in heat flow offshore increase in age of mature source rock and causes of trap failure e g leaky oblique and frontal thrust faults breach of top seal by fluid pipes one major difference between type 1 and type 2 systems is reservoir rock high quality continent derived quartz rich sandstones are generally prevalent in type 1 systems more diagenetically reactive minerals derived from igneous and ophiolitic sources are commonly present in type 2 systems or many are simply poor in well developed turbidite sandstone units however some type 2 systems particularly those adjacent to active orogenic belts are partially sourced by high quality continent derived sandstones e g nw borneo s caspian sea columbus basin in some cases very high rates of deposition in accretionary prisms adjacent to orogenic belts coupled with uplift due to collision results in accretionary prism related fold belts that pass laterally from sub aerial to deepwater conditions e g s caspian sea indo burma ranges the six major hydrocarbon producing regions of dwftbs worldwide gulf of mexico niger delta nw borneo brazil west africa s caspian sea stand out as differing from most other dwftbs in certain fundamental ways particularly the very large volume of sediment deposited in the basins and or the great thickness and extent of salt or overpressured shale sdetachments

thermal modeling of continental subduction and exhumation constrained by heat flow and seismicity in taiwan abstract the thermal evolution of crustal exhumation subsequent to the subduction of the continental margin is modeled through numerical solutions to the two dimensional heat conduction equation the boundary conditions used in the modeling are basically constrained by available geophysical and geological observations in the taiwan area temperature distributions are calculated at one million year intervals over a 5 ma duration although this study presents a tentative estimation based on some reasonable assumptions the preliminary results not only explain the sharp change in seismicity within the crust but also agree with the general heat flow pattern on the surface of taiwan more specifically both the high heat flow and the aseismic belt beneath the eastern central range which are probably attributed to higher temperatures within the crust are modeled by crustal exhumation after the subduction of the continental margin however the occurrence of deeper earthquakes east of the central range is a result of the lower thermal gradient which is due to the subduction of the cold continental crust into the uppermost mantle in summary preliminary thermal modeling supports the possibility of a tectonic model of active continental subduction and crustal exhumation for the taiwan orogen

lithospheric flexure and thermal anomalies plots of effective elastic thickness te of the oceanic lithosphere as a function of age when elastically deformed show a general increase in te with the square root of age although there is much scatter some of the scatter can be eliminated by correcting for the effect of finite yield strength in rocks which makes te for more sharply bent plates underestimate the true depth tm to the rheological boundary at the base of the high strength mechanical lithosphere after converting effective values te to true thicknesses tm it appears that the mechanical lithosphere is always thinner beneath islands and seamounts compared to lithosphere of similar age flexed at subduction zones from several other lines of evidence such as depth anomalies seamount subsidence and heat flow data it has been suggested that the thermal structure in plates subjected to hot spot type volcanism is reset to values appropriate for much younger lithosphere the reduction in mechanical plate thickness beneath hot spot volcanoes is also consistent with this concept of thermal rejuvenation since the strength of rocks decreases exponentially with rising temperature this dependence implies that variations in mechanical plate thickness can be used to map temperature anomalies in the lithosphere since the mechanical plate thickness depends principally upon the temperature at one depth specifically the depth at which the temperature reaches 550 600 c depending on strain rate flexural data are particularly sensitive indicators of the vertical structure of lithospheric reheating compared to quantities dependent on depth integrals of temperature such as swell height and subsidence the thermal rejuvenation hypothesis predicts that the flexural profile should mimic viscoelastic relaxation in the first 10 ma after loading if initially reheating is confined to depths close to and below the 550 c isotherm the flexural data combined with depth anomaly information for hawaii point to extremely rapid reheating localized in the lower lithosphere rejuvenation in the society islands on the other hand is compatible with slower methods of heat injection involving the entire lithospheric column

spatial variation of seismogenic depths of crustal earthquakes in the taiwan region implications for seismic hazard assessment abstract this paper presents the first whole taiwan scale spatial variation of the seismogenic zone using a high quality crustal seismicity catalog the seismicity onset and cutoff depths i e seismogenic depths are determined by the earthquake depth moment distribution and used to define the upper and lower boundaries of the seismogenic zone respectively together with the published fault geometries and fault area moment magnitude relations the depth difference in the onset and cutoff depths i e seismogenic thickness is used as the fault width to determine the moment magnitudes of potential earthquakes for the major seismogenic faults results show that the largest mw7 9 8 0 potential earthquake may occur along the changhua fault in western taiwan where the seismic risk is relatively high and seismic hazard mitigation should be a matter of urgent concern in addition the first motion focal mechanism catalog is used to examine the relation between the seismogenic depths and earthquake source parameters for crustal earthquakes 50 km the shallowest onset and cutoff depths are observed for normal and strike slip events respectively this observation is different from the prediction of the conventional continental rheology model which states that thrust events have the shallowest cutoff depth thus a more sophisticated rheology model is necessary to explain our observed dependence of the seismogenic depths on faulting types meanwhile for intermediate to large crustal mw 4 depth 50 km earthquakes thrust events tend to occur at the bottom region of the seismogenic zone but normal and strike slip events distribute at a large depth range

the petroleum potential of inversion anticlines in the banda arc the banda arc in eastern indonesia and newly independent timor leste east timor is the zone of collision between the northern margin of the australian continent and an oceanic island arc system bordering the eurasian plate structurally the banda forearc is a fold and thrust belt consisting of the imbricated outer edge of the australian continent overlain locally by fragments of the precollisional oceanic forearc the banda forearc is an established petroleum province in the island of seram but the remainder of the forearc has so far yielded no further exploration success despite close geological similarity to seram a major disincentive to exploration in the banda forearc has been a common perception of structural complexity this complexity may however have been overstated and this paper presents a simple structural model for the evolution of the banda forearc key to this model is the recognition of basement involved inversion structures in the deeper parts of the collision complex the inverted graben basins are filled with permianjurassic continental margin sequences including high quality source rocks of late triassicearly jurassic age and contemporaneous potential reservoir sequences sealed by middlelate jurassic shales these jurassic shales also act as an important decollement horizon separating shallow level structural complexity from a simpler structural style beneath characterized by large inversion anticlines the oseil field in seram may be located in such an inversion anticline and comparable prospective structures are identified elsewhere in the banda forearc particularly in timor and the tanimbar islands

transition from oblique subduction to collision earthquakes in the southernmost ryukyu arc taiwan region tectonic characteristics of the region between taiwan and the southernmost ryukyu arc are inferred from a detailed analysis of local seismicity and source parameters of 62 recent earthquakes of 5 5 mb 6 6 five major seismogenic structures can be delineated the collision seismic zone csz the interface seismic zone isz the wadati benioff seismic zone wbsz the lateral compression seismic zone lcsz and the okinawa seismic zone osz in the csz located along the east coast of taiwan and offshore earthquake focal mechanisms show horizontal p axes distributed in two directions 287 10 and 333 16 possibly reflecting a strain partition associated with the relative plate convergence between the eurasia plate and the philippine sea plate the corresponding seismic strain tensor indicates a maximum compressive strain rate of 1 2 10 7 yr 1 along 293 and a comparable extension in vertical direction presumably resulted from plate collision in the region the geometry of the isz which is distorted significantly at its westernmost end can be approximated by a north dipping plane that is gradually pushed northward with increasing dip the seismogenic portion of the interface spans a short depth range from 10 km to 35 km a clear pattern of earthquake slip partition is observed the average slip vector residual is as large as 35 seismic strain patterns within the subducted philippine sea slab show predominantly downdip extension between 80 and 120 km and downdip compression at 270 km different from the pattern of strain segmentation observed for the rest of the ryukyu arc where the northern and southern portions are dominated by downdip extension and compression respectively owing to the large convergence obliquity the slab is descending at a rate significantly slower near taiwan than in the southern ryukyu thus we interpret the appearance of downdip extension within the subducted lithosphere as a combined result of oblique subduction and the slab s negative buoyancy a number of thrust or oblique strike slip earthquakes between isz and wbsz show a consistent pattern of lateral compression with p axes oriented roughly parallel to the local strike of the trench arc system they are probably due to the compressive strain originated from the collision and transmitted laterally within the lithosphere shallow normal faulting earthquakes show successive rotation of t axes from approximately n s in the okinawa trough to approximately e w in northeast taiwan possibly as a result of interaction between the extension from the opening of the okinawa trough and the compression from collision one normal event january 18 1991 mb 5 9 occurred in the central range with t axis roughly parallel to the structural trend of taiwan implying that the nature of the orogeny in taiwan has changed from thin skinned deformation to lithospheric collision involving the whole crust and uppermost mantle

geological evidence for mud diapirism on the mediterranean ridge accretionary complex abstract a mud breccia has been repeatedly cored from four mud diapir fields located on the crest of the mediterranean ridge this breccia is composed of subrounded clasts supported by a clay rich matrix and ranges in age from cretaceous to early miocene sedimentological analysis allows identification of a primitive intrusive and a reworked mud breccia the latter being formed by mud extrusion and gravitational reworking of the former homogeneous mud sorted by grain size which occurs at the top of the diapirs has been interpreted as a lake deposit based on composition and carbon isotopic ratios gases present within the diapiric material suggest a partial thermogenic origin and gas escape structures have been identified in the mud breccia and host sediments carbonate crusts occurring in the host sediments are not related to bacterial oxidation of methane and consequent authigenic calcite precipitation their carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios reveal that they are characteristic of early deep sea lithification in the mediterranean sea the presence of a marker bed composed of mn nodules and bacterial colonies the mud lake deposits showing lower carbonate content than primitive mud breccia and the gas escape structures suggest the presence of active fluid vents in the vicinity of the diapiric structures evidence of active mud diapirism can be found from about 300 000 yrs b p to the present

thermo mechanical structure beneath the young orogenic belt of taiwan abstract we investigate the thermo mechanical properties beneath the young orogenic belt of taiwan by constructing a shear strength profile from a vertical stratified rheological structure the stratified rheological structure is estimated based on the recently developed thermal structure and its likely composition subduction collision in the young orogenic belts and the thick accretionary wedge make a significant contribution to the growth of sialic crust in the hinterland the sialic bulk crust not only results in a low seismic velocity but also produces weak crust in the hinterland the earthquake depth frequency distribution in the foreland and hinterland correlates very well with the regimes of the brittle ductile transition revealed in the strength profile our results show that the observed two layer seismicity in the foreland is due to a moderate geotherm and an intermediate mafic bulk composition while single layer seismicity in the hinterland is due to its felsic bulk composition in the foreland the mechanically strong crust msc and the mechanically strong lithosphere msl coincide with frequent seismicity the shallow msc in the hinterland is consistent with the 20 to 25 km seismicity occurring there the total lithospheric integrated strength lis in the hinterland is only about half of that in the foreland suggesting a weak lower crust and lithosphere mantle in the hinterland the results confirm that the earthquake cutoff depth is a proxy for temperature the calculated decrease of effective elastic thickness eet from the orogenic margin foreland to the center hinterland is consistent with the results of flexure modeling in most orogenic belts due to the weak lis in the hinterland crustal thinning and rifting may occur in the future our results thus suggest that the mechanical structure is also closely related to the composition and is not directly reflected in the thermal structure