geochemistry genesis and health implications of fluoriferous groundwaters in the upper regions of ghana the most appropriate and widely used source of drinking water for the populations of the upper regions of ghana is groundwater in general groundwater quality is acceptable except for some parts of the bolgatanga and bongo districts where there are occurrences of elevated levels of natural groundwater fluoride concentrations of groundwater fluoride in excess of the world health organization who maximum guideline value 1 5 mg l in the bongo area have been known since 1978 however the effect of fluoride on people ingesting the water did not receive public and medical attention until october 1993 when health personnel were asked to investigate the cause of stained teeth in school children the investigation established that 62 of the total population of school children in the bongo area had dental fluorosis against this background a study was initiated to understand the geochemistry genesis and distribution of fluoride in relation to the geology of the area groundwater fluoride in the upper regions ranges from 0 11 to 4 60 ppm with the highest concentrations associated with the fluorine enriched bongo coarse grained hornblende granite and syenite suite the source of groundwater fluoride within the bongo granitoids is dissolution of the mineral fluorite and dissolution of and anion exchange with micaceous minerals and their clay products applying the who recommended guideline values for fluoride in drinking water reveals that 49 of wells in the area deliver water below the optimum level of 0 5 mg l f these populations are thus prone to dental caries twenty eight percent of the wells fall within the optimum interval for good dental health 0 5 1 5 mg l f twenty three percent of the wells have concentrations above the recommended maximum guideline limit of 1 5 mg l f this population is susceptible to dental and possibly skeletal fluorosis climatic conditions of the area suggest that the individual water consumption is in the order of 3 to 4 l which is higher than the who estimate of 2 l adult day in addition dietary intake for the upper region population is probably higher than who baseline values 0 2 0 5 mg day this implies that a much higher population is susceptible to developing dental and skeletal fluorosis than originally suspected geochemical symbol plot maps help geochemists understand factors controlling the distribution and uptake of fluoride in the upper regions but they are of minimal value to health officials responsible for planning epidemiological studies and dental health education programs in the region by casting fluoride data into contoured geochemical health risk maps using intake interval guidelines more closely aligned to regional climatic and dietary conditions health officals can better judge the impacts regional and population based of fluoride on segments of the population such as various sex and age groups

hydrogeochemical mechanisms governing the mineralization and elevated fluoride f contents in precambrian crystalline aquifer groundwater in central benin western africa in the central part of benin western africa high fluoride left text f right contents have been reported in groundwater from precambrian crystalline bedrock aquifer which is the main source of drinking water the hydrogeochemical mechanisms leading to such elevated fluoride concentrations are usually not fully understood in this context the objective is to identify the hydrogeochemical processes governing groundwater mineralization and the origin of the high fluoride concentrations a dataset of 162 groundwater samples was collected from the aquifer consisting of a thin altered bedrock layer shallow aquifer and a deep fractured crystalline bedrock deep aquifer geochemical approaches and multivariate statistics have been used to explore the data fluoride concentrations vary between 0 00 and 7 19 mg l in groundwater samples collected in the southern part of the investigated area close to dassa zoume show the highest concentrations with more than 75 greater than the guideline value of 1 5 mg l the deep fractured aquifer shows higher concentrations of fluoride than the shallow regolith reservoir results reveal that groundwater mineralization is derived mainly from the hydrolysis of silicate minerals but it is also influenced by anthropogenic effects particularly in the shallow reservoir however fluoride has a geogenic origin primarily from the weathering of silicate minerals primarily biotite text ca 2 text na cation exchanges and text f text oh anion exchanges between groundwater and the rock matrix also occur as minor processes saturation of the water with respect to calcite and the precipitation of this mineral which reduces calcium activity also favor the release of fluoride from rocks

evolution of retreating subduction boundaries formed during continental collision retreating subduction boundaries formed where the rate of subduction exceeds the rate of overall plate convergence appear to be commonly developed features within regions of early or incomplete continent continent collision they are characterized by regional extension within the overriding plate and at their leading edge by thin skinned arcuate thrust belts that are concave towards the overriding plate as is illustrated by examples from the mediterranean region the formation of retreating subduction boundaries is intimately related to the process of continental collision during the early stages of collision retreating subduction boundaries are commonly formed by lateral ejection from zones of crustal shortening along the main collision boundary retreating plate boundaries can also form before the main collision and the associated thrust belts emplaced as precollisional accretionary assemblages because the driving mechanism for retreating subduction boundaries appears to be gravity acting on a dense subducted slab slab pull subduction usually ceases when and only when thick buoyant continental crust enters the subduction zone thus differences in the evolution and duration of retreating subduction systems can be largely attributed to the size and configuration of the deep water regions available to be subducted in some cases retreating subduction boundaries may escape into the open ocean where they form nearly isolated local tectonic systems in these systems the rate of subduction is approximately compensated by the rate of upper plate extension and migration of the system across the oceanic region may be very rapid for example the horseshoe seamounts located about 800 km offshore in the eastern north atlantic may be the active expression of an east dipping westwardly migrating retreating subduction boundary that has evolved from the betic cordillera rif system active in miocene time and may now be progressing across the atlantic at approximately 50 mm yr an analogous situation may be represented by the scotia arc system a westward dipping retreating subduction system located between the south american and antarctic plates which may have escaped into the south atlantic ocean from a zone of crustal shortening in the andes and is now progressing across the atlantic at a rate of about 80 mm yr

the north cycladic detachment system and associated mineralization mykonos greece insights on the evolution of the aegean domain 1 in the aegean back arc domain some 30 35 ma ago an increase of the rate of slab retreat led to the initiation of post orogenic extension largely accommodated by large scale structures such as the north cycladic detachment system ncds although this extension is still active nowadays an e w compressional regime developed in the late miocene with the propagation of the north anatolian fault on mykonos island cyclades the ne sw back arc extension is particularly well expressed with the livada and mykonos detachments that belong to the ncds and that are associated with nw se barite veins emplaced during the synkinematic cooling of the mykonos intrusion this study shows that the formation of the mineralization occurred when the pluton crossed the ductile to brittle transition during its exhumation below the ncds at 11 10 ma in addition the kinematics of mineralized structures evolved with time 1 most of the displacement was accommodated by the top to the ne livada and mykonos detachments accompanied by the formation of mineralized normal faults that were 2 reworked in a strike slip regime with an e w direction of shortening and a persistent ne sw stretching and 3 a late post mineralization e w compressional stage with a minor reworking of shallow dipping faults locally including the detachments themselves we interpret this increase of the e w shortening component recorded during the mineral deposition as a consequence of the initiation of the westward motion of anatolia from 10 ma thus 4 ma before the propagation of the north anatolian fault in the dardanelles strait and the localization of the strain on the aegean sea margins

interactions between plutonism and detachments during metamorphic core complex formation serifos island cyclades greece in order to better understand the interactions between plutonic activity and strain localization during metamorphic core complexes formation the miocene granodioritic pluton of serifos cyclades greece is studied this pluton 11 6 9 5 ma intruded the cycladic blueschists during thinning of the aegean domain along a system of low angle normal faults belonging to the south dipping west cycladic detachment system wcds based on structural fieldwork together with microstructural observations and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams we recognize a continuum of deformation from magmatic to brittle conditions within the magmatic body this succession of deformation events is kinematically compatible with the development of the wcds the architecture of the pluton shows a marked asymmetry resulting from its interaction with the detachments we propose a tectonic scenario for the emplacement of serifos pluton and its subsequent cooling during the aegean extension 1 a first stage corresponds to the metamorphic core complex initiation and associated southwestward shearing along the meghalo livadhi detachment 2 in a second stage the serifos pluton has intruded the dome at shallow crustal level piercing through the ductile brittle meghalo livadhi detachment southwest directed extensional deformation was contemporaneously transferred upward in the crust along the more localized kavos kiklopas detachment 3 a third stage was marked by syn magmatic extensional deformation and strain localization at the contact between the pluton and the host rocks resulting in narrow shear zones nucleation which 4 continued to develop after the pluton solidification

assessment of shallow groundwater in lake nyos catchment cameroon central africa implications for hydrogeochemical controls and uses in 1986 carbon dioxide gas exploded from lake nyos and killed about 1 800 people after that disaster various administrative and research activities have been conducted to mitigate subsequent disasters however none of those endeavors have characterized the groundwater chemistry to identify hydrogeochemical processes that control the water chemistry and the quality of the water for domestic and agricultural uses that support the lives of un official resettlers around lake nyos conventional hydrochemical techniques coupled with statistical and graphical analysis were therefore employed to establish the baseline hydrochemical conditions assess processes controlling solutes distribution in shallow groundwater in the lake nyos catchment and explore its usability groundwater samples were analyzed for their physical and chemical properties the wide ranges of electrical conductivity and total dissolved solid values reveal the heterogeneous distribution of groundwater within the watershed the relative abundance of major dissolved species was ca mg na k for cations and hco3 cl so4 no3 for anions piper diagram classified almost all water samples into mixed camg hco3 water type major ion geochemistry reveals that in addition to silicates weathering water rock interaction ion exchange processes regulate the groundwater chemistry principal component analysis supports the occurrence of water rock interaction hierarchical cluster analysis showed that the chemistry of groundwater in the study area is controlled by three main factors and suggests no hydraulic connectivity between deep lake water and groundwater in the catchment the quality assessment of the groundwater showed that groundwater parameters are within the acceptable limit of the world health organization and nigeria guidelines for drinking and domestic uses and water found to be good for irrigation

hydrothermal fluid venting along a seismogenic detachment fault in the moresby rift woodlark basin papua new guinea we investigate the conditions of hydrothermal alteration occurring along an active seismogenic normal fault dipping 30 in the moresby rift woodlark basin papua new guinea petrological and fluid inclusion studies were conducted in the samples recovered from the ocean drilling program leg 180 that cored the footwall scarp and hanging wall of the fault chemical analyses of the thermodependent si al substitutions in chlorites show that synrift alteration is coeval with a temperature rise from 200 c to 300 c in the footwall of the detachment whereas no thermal event is recorded in the hanging wall in the same samples fluid inclusions indicate that footwall rocks followed an isothermal exhumation path from 5 7 km to the subsurface taken together the results strongly suggest that the 100 c temperature rise results from the upward migration of h2o nacl fluids expelled by dehydrating metamorphic rocks from the lower crust fluid release began with the onset of detachment faulting and is still actively occurring nowadays the fact that low angle earthquakes also occur now at 5 7 km along the fault suggests that the dehydration of the metamorphic rocks and the subsequent circulation of hot hydrothermal fluids may be responsible for the weakening of the middle crust and the formation of a detachment in the moresby rift

interrelations between extensional shear zones and synkinematic intrusions the example of ikaria island ne cyclades greece abstract the aegean extensional backarc domain is an ideal place to investigate the interrelations between syntectonic intrusions and large scale detachments understanding whether the intrusions have a triggering effect on the inception of metamorphic core complex formation or not a new field study of ikaria island ne cyclades greece in two miocene granitoid plutons intruding a high temperature metamorphic dome namely the raches and karkinagrion granites leads to the identification of a major structure that has been omitted in previous studies the gialiskari detachment this regional scale detachment is correlated with the north cycladic detachment system structural fieldwork at the scale of the entire raches and karkinagrion intrusions allows us to propose a map of strain intensity in these granites this map based on macrostructural criteria highlights a strong strain gradient in both intrusions from base to top when approaching the gialiskari detachment along the strain gradient a continuum of top to the north shearing deformation is recognized including i syn magmatic deformation ii high temperature ductile deformation at submagmatic state iii mylonitic to ultramylonitic deformation and iv low temperature brittle deformation a scenario of the interactions between the detachment and the raches and karkinagrion intrusions during their emplacement is proposed we show that these granites were emplaced while the exhumation of the ikaria metamorphic dome was already underway we conclude that these plutons do not initially localize detachments and instead that detachments localize and control the ascent of plutons intrusions then interact with detachments accommodating their upward migration in the crust this scenario is described on other cycladic islands such as on tinos or mykonos at a larger scale the final emplacement of plutons may result from the flow of molten crust toward metamorphic core complex during extension

the mechanics and dynamics of sills in layered elastic rocks and their implications for the growth of laccoliths and other igneous complexes abstract the recent experimental work by kavanagh et al kavanagh j l menand t and sparks r s j 2006 an experimental investigation of sill formation and propagation in layered elastic media earth planet sci lett 245 799 813 shows that lithological discontinuities and rigidity contrasts can control the formation and dynamics of sills at interfaces separating upper rigid strata from lower weaker strata the present paper extends this work and focuses on its implications in terms of the length and time scales associated with the development of laccoliths and other igneous complexes sill formation controlled by rigidity contrasts is shown to provide a growth mechanism for laccoliths the formation of a sill provides favourable rigidity anisotropy for the emplacement of subsequent sills so that laccoliths grow by over accretion under accretion or even mid accretion of successive sills in accord with field data this model predicts that laccoliths grow mainly by vertical expansion representing the cumulative thickness of their internal sills while maintaining a comparatively constant lateral extend the model also predicts that the time scale over which laccoliths form is essentially determined by the cumulative time between successive sill intrusions also sill dynamics are controlled by viscous dissipation of the fluid along their length which have consequences for the size and shape of sills viscously controlled dynamics would enable sills to propagate further and thus to grow thicker than dykes of similar magmas these dynamics would also enable sills to propagate faster and thus to induce non elastic deformations in surrounding rocks that could deviate them from the interface they originally follow this would allow them to feed new sills along other interfaces and could assist in the formation of the step structures and saucer shapes that are commonly observed in sill complexes

miocene south directed low angle normal fault evolution on kea island west cycladic detachment system greece 1 new structural petrologic and thermochronologic data from kea west cyclades define a crustal scale ductile shear zone and ductile brittle low angle normal fault lanf system both the greenschist facies shear zone forming the footwall and the overlying lanf zone formed during constrictional strains with a consistent top to sw s shear sense with increasing finite strains toward higher structural levels but decreasing temperatures from footwall to hanging wall the tectonostratigraphy comprises a 450 m thick footwall of shallowly dipping schists and calcite marbles representing the intermediate unit of the attic cycladic crystalline acc above the footwall is a 60 m thick highly strained lanf zone consisting of phyllonites cataclastic schists ultramylonitic calcite marbles proto mylonitic calcite marbles and cohesive cataclasites that arch over the whole island these fault rocks exhibit multistage lanfs evolving from ductile to brittle conditions an up to 50 m thick brecciated limestone and dolostone sequence forms the unmetamorphosed hanging wall which is most probably part of the upper unit of the acc multiequilibrium p t estimates on chlorite white mica pairs in the footwall yield 7 5 5 kbar 360 c 450 c for inclusions in albite and epidote 5 5 3 kbar 400 c 350 c for the main foliation and 3 2 kbar 350 c 280 c in localized shear bands c and c foliations the 40ar 39ar white mica footwall cooling ages demonstrate that greenschist facies retrogression occurred between 21 and 17 ma localized late decimeter thick shear zones were active and dynamically recrystallized before 15 to 13 ma the lanf on kea together with similar structures in south attica and the west cyclades define the west cycladic detachment system characterized by ductile to brittle top sw s shear sense

post nevadan detachment faulting in the klamath mountains california a group of faults surrounding the trinity terrane in the core of the klamath mountains province of northern california displays a commonality in physical features and in age that sets them apart from other faults in the klamath mountains the faults dip shallowly outward from the central trinity terrane and feature younger on older detachment fault geometry several exhibit shallowly south southwest or south southeast plunging slickenside striations distinctive muscovite bearing dacite muscovite bearing rhyolite and plagioclase porphyry dikes are common along these faults as are epithermal mineralization and associated small but economic gold and or copper massive sulfide deposits two of the faults crosscut the triassic siskiyou thrust in addition the cecilville fault cuts the late jurassic soap creek ridge fault so extensional faulting postdates the widely developed nevadan deformational event in the klamath mountains a 126 3 ma k ar whole rock age obtained on a muscovite bearing rhyolite dike intruding the fault zone at menzel gulch on the southern margin of the trinity terrane gives a minimum age of early cretaceous for this fault evidence for tertiary extensional faulting on the la grange fault previously reported by schweickert and irwin records a later episode of extension on the southern margin of the trinity terrane

geometry and kinematics of mykonos detachment cyclades greece evidence for slip at shallow dip 1 the eastern part of mykonos island cyclades greece shows the detailed internal structure of a two branch shallow dipping extensional detachment system of miocene age this paper shows that the last stage of slip along the detachment during the deposition of syn rift sediments occurred with a very low dip and proposes that this geometry prevailed since the initiation of extension extensional deformation during and after a 13 ma old granite intrusion is taken up by two main shallow dipping shear zones 1 the lower livada detachment which extends laterally across tinos island is a ductile structure located at the interface between the granite and the upper cycladic nappe metabasites a pervasive top to the ne shearing deformation is observed throughout the granite in this island with a strong gradient toward the intrusive contact later brittle faults shallowly and steeply dipping rework the ductile deformation with the same overall shear sense 2 the upper mykonos detachment is brittle and separates the metabasites from late miocene sandstones and conglomerates the detachment fault dips 12 15 toward the nne and its sense of shear is consistent with that of the livada detachment soft sediment deformation during the time of detachment faulting and the presence of steep normal faults that root into the detachment gouge indicate a shallow depth of deformation rotations about vertical and horizontal axes can be reconstructed within and below the detachment zone indicating that the overall direction of extension is nne ssw with a sense of shear toward the nne and the dip of the fault is throughout very low the two detachments have accommodated several tens of kilometers of horizontal extension during the formation of the aegean sea which emphasizes the importance of low angle extensional faults and shear zones in extensional tectonics

bridging onshore and offshore present day kinematics of central and eastern mediterranean implications for crustal dynamics and mantle flow we present a new kinematic and strain model of an area encompassing the calabrian and hellenic subduction zones western anatolia and the balkans using haines and holt s 1993 method we derive continuous velocity and strain rate fields by interpolating geodetic velocities including recent gps data in the balkans relative motion between stable eurasia and the western aegean sea is gradually accommodated by distributed n s extension from southern balkans to the eastern corinth gulf so that the westward propagation of the north anatolian fault naf throughout continental greece or peloponnesus is not required we thus propose that the naf terminates in north aegean and that n s extension localized in the corinth gulf and distributed in southern balkans is due to the retreat of the hellenic slab the motion of the hyblean plateau apulia peninsula south adriatic sea ionian basin and sirte plain can be minimized by a single rigid rotation around a pole located in the sirte plain compatible with the opening the pelagian rifts 2 2 5 mm yr and seismotectonics in libya we interpret the trenchward ultraslow motion of the calabrian arc 2 2 5 mm yr as pure collapse the calabrian subduction being now inactive in the absolute plate motion reference frame our modeled velocity field depicts two toroidal crustal patterns located at both ends of the hellenic subduction zone clockwise in nw greece and counter clockwise in western anatolia we suggest the nw greece toroidal pattern is the surface expression of a slab tear and consequent toroidal asthenospheric flow

westward propagation of the north anatolian fault into the northern aegean timing and kinematics we present new evidence for the propagation processes of the north anatolian fault folding in the dardanelles straits region allows us to document the timing of the deformation preceding and the finite displacement after the passage of the propagating tip of the fault the accuracy of the observations is due to interplay between deformation and the sea level changes in the mediterranean the well known messinian regression followed by the pliocene transgression the long term kinematics around the sea of marmara pull apart total displacement of about 85 km over the past 5 m y is similar to the present day kinematics deduced from space geodesy at a larger scale westward propagation of the north anatolian fault over nearly 2000 km in the past 10 m y appears to be associated with strain recovery suggesting that the continental lithosphere retains long term elasticity

the timing of partial melting barrovian metamorphism and granite intrusion in the naxos metamorphic core complex cyclades aegean sea greece abstract the relationship between partial melting and granite intrusion in a classic barrovian metamorphic terrane has been assessed thirteen samples were dated by shrimp u pb zircon geochronology from the island of naxos greece one of the aegean metamorphic core complexes the effect of partial melting during peak barrovian metamorphism on naxos is recorded by fine

synkinematic skarns and fluid drainage along detachments the west cycladic detachment system on serifos island cyclades greece and its related mineralization back arc extension in the aegean sea has been accommodated by several large scale detachments such as the west cycladic detachment system wcds in the oligocene and miocene the wcds especially crops out on serifos island cyclades with a synkinematic granodioritic intrusion as skarns represent metasomatic reactions near the contact between intrusions and the host rocks they sign the position of the main drains used by fluids while the mineralogy of the serifos skarns is well known geometrical and kinematic relations between the detachments and ore bodies remains poorly studied this study allows us to distinguish different types of skarn high temperature skarns correspond to 1 massive garnet endoskarns 2 ribbon and bubble garnet pyroxene endoskarns 3 garnet pyroxene cracks exoskarns whereas medium temperature pyroxene ilvaite bearing skarn breccias within the meghalo livadhi and kavos kiklopas detachments belonging to the wcds our observations show that skarn formation is associated with the activity of detachments and the syntectonic pluton emplacement endo and exoskarn deposits formed coeval with the ductile and brittle structures resulting from the activity of the wcds such as echelon veins veins with antithetic shear and boudinaged veins wrapped within sheath folds with a top to the ssw or sw shear senses compatible with the regional kinematics some skarn breccias formed within detachment planes far from the contact of the main granodioritic body attesting for the intense flow of magmatic fluids along these discontinuities these over pressurized fluids play a major role in the mechanical behaviour of the detachments and strain localization the two detachments acting as preferential crustal scale drains the pattern of magmatic fluid flows is not centred on the intrusion in this context iron rich skarns and associated primary magnetite deposits have been remobilized during late brittle increments of motion along the detachments together with surface derived fluids responsible for deposition of the economic fe ba mineralization

granite intrusion in a metamorphic core complex the example of the mykonos laccolith cyclades greece abstract the aegean domain is a well suited place to study the formation of metamorphic core complex mcc and to investigate the role of syn tectonic granites on their development in the northern cyclades the mykonos delos rhenia mcc is characterized by the intrusion of a kilometer scale late miocene pluton of i type granitoids within a migmatitic gneiss dome new combined ams anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and microstructural studies on the mykonos granitoids together with recently published thermochronological data allow us to use the granitoids as strain markers the mykonos granitoids form a laccolith like intrusion with a n70 e long axis the laccolith is strongly asymmetric with an outlying root zone to the sw and a major body mainly developed to the ne the laccolith construction is due to successive pulses of more or less differentiated magma that intruded the cycladic blueschist unit the attitude of stretching markers suggests an important about 60 vertical axis local rotation phenomenon in the cycladic upper crust during the exhumation of the mykonos mcc structural data suggest a four stage evolution of the mykonos mcc i a first stage characterized by flat shearing toward the n ne and by the formation of a domal structure in migmatitic paragneisses with multi scale generation of folds with axes either perpendicular or parallel to the regional stretching as a result of the interplay between regional n20 e directed extension and ew shortening ii a second stage marked by the emplacement of the mykonos laccolith at 13 5 0 3 ma at the top of the migmatitic paragneisses iii the third stage corresponding to the development of protomylonitic foliations and lineations in the whole laccolith in high to medium temperature conditions and iv the late stage marked by an acceleration of the exhumation of the mykonos mcc this exhumation was accommodated by important rotations of upper crustal blocks during the end of the exhumation processes around 10 ma deformation localized at the top of the laccolith in semi ductile conditions and then in brittle conditions in the major detachment plane our study shows that the cycladic plutonism event had no role on the initiation of the mcc however the geometry of the mykonos intrusion supports that the magmas are sucked into the direction of regional extension and that the intrusion of magmas has caused an acceleration of the last stages of the mcc development this acceleration was marked by a very fast exhumation of the laccolith after its emplacement

evolution of hydrothermal regime along a crustal shear zone tinos island greece 1 structural cathodoluminescence and sims 18o analyses of quartz calcite veins are combined to constrain the evolution in space and time of fluid infiltration in an exhuming detachment shear zone tinos island cyclades greece careful description of vein arrays shows that the plumbing system evolved into an interconnected network just beneath the ductile to brittle transition microtextures of quartz and calcite infilling veins display deformed relics and newly precipitated grains high resolution 18o mapping in relics yields a steady quartz calcite fractionation of 2 at 400 c whereas fractionation increases in neograins from 2 to 5 in 190 m toward the fault or a 150 c temperature fall cooling is associated with a shift of fluid stable isotope signature from 15 to 0 beneath the detachment results are interpreted as advective removal of heat by massive infiltration of surface derived fluids over depths of 10 15 km fluid penetration was promoted by the coalescence of late ductile early brittle veins as the exhuming footwall crossed the ductile brittle transition only small amounts of fluids penetrated the ductile crust beneath the transitional rheology

quaternary evolution of the corinth rift and its implications for the late cenozoic evolution of the aegean summary we present geological and morphological observations at different scales to constrain rates of faulting and the distribution of deformation in the seismically active aegean region we focus first on the 130 km long corinth rift an asymmetric graben where a flight of terraces of marine origin are uplifted we show that the edges of the terraces lie in the footwall of the normal fault bounding the corinth rift and correspond to sea level highstands of laic pleistocene age using a detailed analysis of aerial and spot imagery supported by field observations we have mapped 10 terrace platforms and strandlines ranging in elevation from 10 to 400 m over distances of 2 to 20 km from the fault the elevation of the terraces inner edges was estimated at 172 sites with an error of 5m this data set contains a precise description of the uplift and flexure of 10 different palaeohorizontal lines with respect to the present sea level to date the deformation we correlate the corinth terraces with late pleistocene oxygen isotope stages of high sea level stands and with global sea level fluctuations using a thick elastic plate model consistent with our current understanding of the earthquake cycle and a boundary element technique we reproduce the geometry of the shorelines to constrain both mechanical parameters and the slip on the fault we show that the seismogenic layer behaves over the long term as if its elastic modulus were reduced by a factor of about 1000 all the terraces are fitted for fault slip increasing in proportion to terrace age and the component of regional uplift is found to be less than 0 3 mm yr 1 the best fits give a slip rate of 11 3 mm yr 1 on the main rift bounding fault over the last 350 kyr other geological and morphologic information allows us to estimate the total age of the main fault 1 ma and to examine the mechanical evolution of the corinth rift the minimum observed sediment thickness in the gulf places an extreme check on the results of the modelling and a lower bound on slip rate of 6 7 mm yr 1 40 per cent less than estimated with modelling even this slip rate is nearly 10 times higher than for comparable features in most of the aegean and elsewhere in the world at a larger scale the spacing and asymmetry of the rift systems in the aegean suggest strain localization in the upper mantle with slow extension starting 15 myr ago or earlier the more recent 1 myr rapid phase of rifting in corinth partly reactivated this earlier phase of extension the younger faulting in corinth appears to result from its present location in the inhomogeneous stress field process zone of the south westward propagating tip of the southern branch of the north anatolian fault we extend these relations to propose a mechanical model for the late cenozoic evolution of the aegean as the arabia europe collision progressed in eastern turkey it caused anatolia to move to the west and the north anatolian fault to propagate into the aegean where the early slow extension started to be modified about 5 ma ago the process of propagation dramatically increased the activity of some but not all of the earlier rifts the model we present is compatible with tectonic observations as well as with the seismicity the palaeomagnetic rotations and the displacement field now observed with gps and slr

eocene tectonometamorphism on serifos western cyclades deduced from zircon depth profiling geochronology and mica thermochronology abstract phengite bearing metasedimentary sequences preserving relict glaucophane from serifos western aegean are indicative of high pressure conditions during cycladic blueschist metamorphism depth profiling and conventional sims u pb geochronology and o isotope analysis on zircon from highly strained orthogneisses at the base of the sequence reveal xenocrystic zircon with varying degrees of recrystallization one end member population has needle like or prismatic morphologies is internally oscillatory zoned with little to no rim material created during recrystallization these zircons yield triassic to carboniferous ages elevated th u and 18 o mostly ranging between 4 and 11 in marked contrast a separate zircon population has a spongy structure created by complete recrystallization of the pre existing crystal these zircons possess low th u and flat hree patterns and yield eocene ages with 18 o 7 chondrite normalized ree profiles are extremely depleted within this spectrum other zircons show variable states of recrystallization and mixed ages regression of u pb data from three mylonitic orthogneiss samples that exhibit near complete recrystallization and similar age depth profiles yields c 40 ma ages these new data are the first geochronological constraints that successfully demonstrate an eocene metamorphic event in the western cyclades and new 40 ar 39 ar phengitic mica ages of 38 32 ma presented here suggest the metamorphic wedge was exhumed into the shallow crust shortly thereafter

slab segmentation and late cenozoic disruption of the hellenic arc the hellenic subduction zone displays well defined temporal and spatial variations in subduction rate and offers an excellent natural laboratory for studying the interaction among slab buoyancy subduction rate and tectonic deformation in space the active hellenic subduction front is dextrally offset by 100 120 km across the kephalonia transform zone coinciding with the junction of a slowly subducting adriatic continental lithosphere in the north 5 10 mm yr and a rapidly subducting ionian oceanic lithosphere in the south 35 mm yr subduction rates can be shown to have decreased from late eocene time onward reaching 5 12 mm yr by late miocene time before increasing again along the southern portion of the subduction system geodynamic modeling demonstrates that the differing rates of subduction and the resultant trench offset arise naturally from subduction of oceanic pindos lithosphere until late eocene time followed by subduction of a broad tract of continental or transitional lithosphere hellenic external carbonate platform and then by miocene entry of high density oceanic ionian lithosphere into the southern hellenic trench model results yield an initiation age for the kephalonia transform of 6 8 ma in good agreement with observations consistency between geodynamic model results and geologic observations suggest that the middle miocene and younger deformation of the hellenic upper plate including formation of the central hellenic shear zone can be quantitatively understood as the result of spatial variations in the buoyancy of the subducting slab using this assumption we make late eocene middle miocene and pliocene reconstructions of the hellenic system that include quantitative constraints from subduction modeling and geologic constraints on the timing and mode of upper plate deformation

eclogites of the snowbird tectonic zone petrological and u pb geochronological evidence for paleoproterozoic high pressure metamorphism in the western canadian shield eclogite occurs within the southern domain of the east athabasca mylonite triangle in northern saskatchewan situated at the boundary between the archean rae and hearne provinces of the western canadian shield the east athabasca mylonite triangle is a fundamental exposure of the 3 000 km long snowbird tectonic zone the eclogite occurs in association with a variety of lower crustal high pressure granulites that record a complex metamorphic history from 2 6 to 1 9 ga temperatures of the eclogite facies metamorphism are constrained by garnet clinopyroxene exchange thermometry at 920 1 000 c minimum pressure conditions are recorded by the jadeite quartz albite geobarometer at 1 8 2 0 gpa a near isothermal decompression path to granulite facies conditions is inferred from retrograde reaction textures involving the formation of granulite facies assemblages such as orthopyroxene plagioclase and pargasite plagioclase u pb idtims zircon geochronology of the eclogite yields a weighted mean 207pb 206pb date of 1 904 0 0 3 ma which we interpret as the time of peak eclogite facies metamorphism shrimp in situ analyses of metamorphic zircons included within omphacitic clinopyroxene support this interpretation with a weighted mean 207pb 206pb date of 1 905 19 ma inclusion suites of high pressure phases and the petrographic setting of zircon are a direct link between zircon growth and eclogite facies metamorphism zircon from one eclogite sample has older cores that are 2 54 ga which is a minimum age for the emplacement or earliest metamorphism of the gabbroic protolith u pb rutile data indicate slow cooling at 1 c ma below 500 c from 1 88 to 1 85 ga the formation and exhumation of the eclogites at ca 1 9 ga has important implications for the tectonic significance of the snowbird tectonic zone during the paleoproterozoic the eclogites described here are consistent with transport of continental crust to mantle depths during the paleoproterozoic followed by rapid buoyancy driven exhumation to normal lower crustal depths

groundwater flows in weathered crystalline rocks impact of piezometric variations and depth dependent fracture connectivity summary groundwater in shallow weathered and fractured crystalline rock aquifers is often the only perennial water resource especially in semi arid region such as southern india understanding groundwater flows in such a context is of prime importance for sustainable aquifer management here we describe a detailed study of fracture properties and relate the hydraulic connectivity of fractures to groundwater flows at local and watershed scales investigations were carried out at a dedicated experimental hydrogeological park in andhra pradesh southern india where a large network of observation boreholes has been set up twenty height boreholes have been drilled in a small area of about 18 000 m 2 in which borehole loggings and hydraulic tests were carried out to locate the main flowing fractured zones and investigate fractures connectivity several hydraulic tests nineteen slug tests and three pumping tests performed under two water level conditions revealed contrasting behavior under high water level conditions the interface including the bottom of the saprolite and the first flowing fractured zone in the upper part of the granite controls groundwater flows at the watershed scale under low water level conditions the aquifer is characterized by lateral compartmentalization due to a decrease in the number of flowing fractures with depth depending on the water level conditions the aquifer shifts from a watershed flow system to independent local flow systems a conceptual groundwater flow model which includes depth dependent fracture connectivity is proposed to illustrate this contrasting hydrological behavior implications for watershed hydrology groundwater chemistry and aquifer vulnerability are also discussed

the geological signature of a slab tear below the aegean in this paper we explore the geology of the aegean region in the miocene to identify the geological signature of a first order slab tear observed in all tomographic models from 15 to 8 ma the tear is associated spatially and timely with a fast clockwise rotation of the external hellenides alkaline volcanism high temperature metamorphic domes with a predominance of north dipping detachments and south westward migration of granitoid intrusions these features suggest a warmer geodynamic environment during the rotation and the impact of a hot mantle flow associated with the tear the 8 ma duration between the first high temperature metamorphic domes in the centre of the archipelago and the beginning of the fast rotation may correspond to the time needed for the slab to bend stretch and finally tear

rates of processes in magmatic arcs implications for the timing and nature of pluton emplacement and wall rock deformation abstract the construction of arcs and in many cases the emplacement of plutons occur in tectonically active regions it is critical therefore to evaluate the rates of structural and magmatic processes when trying to understand the evolution of arcs and the associated pluton wall rock systems our best estimates of average rates or durations of processes in shallow to moderate level arc environments are the following 1 crystal growth rates in magma of 10 4 cm year 1 2 growth rates of metamorphic porphyroblasts between 10 5 and 10 2 cm year 1 3 long term magma supply rates of 10 1 km 3 year 1 and short term rates of up to 350 km 3 year 1 4 diapiric ascent rates for mafic plutons of 1 3 m year 1 5 cooling of plutons to ambient wall rock temperatures in 10 5 10 6 years 6 final crystallization of plutons in a small fraction of the time needed for complete cooling 7 fault displacements of 3 cm year 1 8 development of cleavages in fault zones in less than 10 6 years at strain rates of 10 13 s 1 or higher and 9 the development of regional cleavages in 10 6 years at strain rates of 10 14 s 1 these rates indicate that processes operating in magmatic arcs are relatively rapid pluton emplacement cleavage development etc occur over time spans of tens of thousands to no more than a few million years however the rate of ascent and crystallization of plutons at shallow levels is generally shorter than that needed to get large displacements on faults or widespread cleavages developed at deeper levels or in zones undergoing faster strain rates the time spans of the various processes approach one another thus plutons with otherwise similar characteristics emplaced in regions undergoing fast strain rates or at deeper crustal levels may appear quite different structurally from those emplaced at shallow levels or in regions undergoing slower strain rates comparison of these data also suggests that the rate at which wall rock deforms is the limiting factor controlling the rates of other structural processes during emplacement of plutons unless fast strain rates or multiple deformation mechanisms are considered thus emplacement mechanisms that rely on the transport of magma over 10 5 to 10 6 years are favored and need further consideration finally we argue that the structural and other characteristics of pluton wall rock systems will depend on rates of various processes involved and that these rates at the very least influence and sometimes invalidate the timing criteria previously published by us and others

metamorphic core complexes of cordilleran type in the cyclades aegean sea greece the islands of ios and naxos in the cycladic archipelago greece contain elongate domes over which a pervasive north to north northeast stretching lineation is warped these islands may be metamorphic core complexes of cordilleran type involving middle crustal rocks drawn upward and outward from underneath the sedimentary basins now 100 km to the south from ca 25 ma onward during uplift the crystalline rocks now exposed on the islands were deformed noncoaxially in the deeper levels of a major shallow dipping ductile shear zone this shear zone may have connected with low angle normal faults in its upper levels because it is probable that its later history involved the metamorphic complexes being dragged out from under a stretching and fracturing upper plate composed mainly of unmetamorphosed sedimentary and ophiolite suite rocks this model can be extended to explain the exhumation of the high pressure low temperature metamorphic rocks on crete which with the cyclades forms a distended paired metamorphic belt separated by an active sedimentary basin