new insights into deformation and fluid flow processes in the nankai trough accretionary prism results of ocean drilling program leg 190 moore g f taira a klaus a becker l boeckel b cragg b a dean a fergusson c l henry p hirano s hisamitsu t et al 2001 new insights into deformation and fluid flow processes in the nankai trough accretionary prism results of ocean drilling program leg 190 geochemistry geophysics geosystems 2 article no 2001gc000166

sediment deformation and hydrogeology of the nankai trough accretionary prism synthesis of shipboard results of odp leg 131 the main objective of leg 131 was to provide data on the deformational processes and associated hydrogeology of the nankai prism toe drilling succeeded for the first time in the history of ocean drilling in penetrating the complete sedimentary sequence to basaltic basement reaching 1327 mbsf metres below seafloor with good core recovery 55 excellent correlation of the lithology and structure including the frontal thrust and the decollement with seismic reflection images was also determined bedding dips faults and shear bands analyzed in the cores confirm the pattern of deformation to be mainly due to nw se shortening as expected from the plate tectonic convergence vector below the decollement no significant deformation features were observed indicating that the decollement is a sharp discontinuity in stress transmission physical properties data show major discontinuities at the decollement notably an increase in porosity below the later this may indicate excess pore pressure in the subducted section and decollement zone a less marked increase in porosity below the frontal thrust may reflect the youthfulness of this feature attempts to make downhole measurements were severely hampered by unstable hole conditions but useful constraints have been placed on the thermal regime and some calibration of laboratory physical properties toin situ conditions has been provided andin situ stress and pore pressure were measured in the uppermost sediments evidence of channelized fluid flows is inconclusive no sharp geochemical signatures or unequivocal geochemical anomalies indicative of channelized fluid flow were found thermal measurements are not significantly different from those predicted by a purely conductive heat flow model a signature of low chloride pore water near the decollement may partly be related to smectite diagenesis but may also be due to episodic fluid flow events we conclude that dewatering probably occurred dominantly through diffuse flow throughout the accreted sediments at this site

horizontal shortening versus vertical loading in accretionary prisms 1 the analysis of two phased deformation of subducted turbidites within the shimanto belt on kyushu japan shows strongly contrasted kinematics between an earlier noncoxial fold and thrust type stage and a later metamorphic coaxial vertical shortening stage the deep deformation is characterized by the development of a subhorizontal muscovite chlorite metamorphic foliation associated with pure shear deformation which overprinted the structures inherited from the earlier stage we associate the metamorphic deformation stage with the lower levels of accretionary prism landward segment inner wedge which was therefore deformed by vertical loading and horizontal extension much in contrast with prism trenchward segment outer wedge which often shows fold and thrust structures indicative of horizontal shortening a possible explanation based on wang and hu s 2006 model for these longitudinal variations in deformation kinematics of the prism may lie in the contrasted rheology of its basal surface strain weakening in the seismic portion below the inner wedge while strain strengthening in the aseismic portion below the outer wedge the vertical shortening active within the inner wedge revealed by this study possibly represents a large contribution to the exhumation of the deeper levels of accretionary prisms

open system constant volume development of slaty cleavage and strain induced replacement reactions in the martinsburg formation lehigh gap pennsylvania no important changes in the volume of mudrocks occur across the mudstone to slate transition in the martinsburg formation at lehigh gap pennsylvania mass balance calculations based on chemical analyses and specific gravity measurements of 48 mudstones and 26 graywackes from the martinsburg formation across this 130 m strain gradient show constant ratios of al2o3 tio2 feot mgo mno y v and zr this reflects the relatively low differential mobility of these components during diagenesis and slaty cleavage development as well as the uniformity of compositions of the mudstones and graywackes at deposition using minimum strain samples and al2o3 as references the calculations show no loss in sio2 but large losses of cao na2o ba and sr from the outcrop that are directly proportional to strain and reflect an open system on the scale of kilometers analyses of graywacke mudstone metagraywacke slate pairs show that losses in sio2 na2o and volume and gains in k2o and ba in the graywacke metagraywacke are balanced by opposite changes in the adjacent mudstone slate this documents a local mobility of sio2 on the scale of centimeters the inertness of most major components over the 100 m outcrop especially sio2 however requires 1 that the composition of the fluid passing through the rocks was closely buffered by the quartz albite muscovite chlorite assemblage 2 that the volume of the fluid was small and 3 that the p t gradient down which it traveled was gentle the changes in chemical composition identified can be explained by the inferred replacement reaction plag 1m musc k 2m musc qz ca 2 na sr 2 ba 2 the strong correlation of minor element chemistry and strain indicates that this reaction was strain induced and that changes in bulk chemical composition are defined by the progress of this reaction

deformation and fluid flow of a major out of sequence thrust located at seismogenic depth in an accretionary complex nobeoka thrust in the shimanto belt kyushu japan 1 nobeoka thrust in kyushu southwest japan was investigated to understand the relationship between the seismogenic out of sequence thrust ost and fluid flow in accretionary prisms the nobeoka thrust is a fossilized ost being active at seismogenic depth the hanging wall exhibits a penetrative plastic deformation while a brittle cataclastic melange like occurrence characterizes the footwall although both of them have same shale and sandstone dominant protolith vitrinite reflectance analyses indicate that the maximum temperatures of the hanging wall and footwall are approximately 320 and 250 c respectively this thermal gap across the thrust corresponds to 8 6 14 4 km of displacement assuming a 28 47 c km geothermal gradient the brittle damage zone of the thrust is asymmetric only 2 m for hanging wall side and 100 m for footwall three types of mineral veins quartz and carbonate are well developed especially in the damaged footwall the tension crack filling vein the fault filling vein and postmelange one the first is harmonious with fabric perpendicular to the p surface fluid inclusion geothermobarometry indicates the p t of fluid in the intensively damaged zone of the footwall is 300 c 230 250 mpa higher than that from vitrinite reflectance which suggests that hydrothermal fluid flow is associated with deformation the same type vein in the lowest portion of the footwall damaged zone includes a much lower p t fluid this difference suggests that continuous underplating caused the damaged zone to propagate downward with cooling and shallowing which differs from faults characterized by shear localization and might be unique to aquiferous ost in accretionary complexes

large volume loss during cleavage formation hamburg sequence pennsylvania green reduction spots in red slate of the hamburg sequence exposed near shartlesville pennsylvania have axial ratios of 1 42 1 0 0 28 on the limbs of near isoclinal folds and 1 0 0 79 0 41 in fold hinge zones conodont cusps and denticles within the reduction spots have been brittlely pulled apart and give independent measures of extension in various directions comparison of conodont extensions with reduction spot shapes on limbs and hinges indicates that sedimentary compaction of 44 preceded the tectonic strain associated with cleavage formation this strain having identical maximum extensions but greater shortening in fold hinges as compared to limbs was characterized by 41 extension in x no change in y 50 to 59 shortening in z and 29 to 42 tectonic volume loss the general lack of directed overgrowths on grains reflects the large volume loss and contrasts with other slates where deformation was an almost constant volume process and extension in x compensated for shortening in z

evidence for syntectonic crystallization for the mudstone to slate transition at lehigh gap pennsylvania u s a data primarily for phyllosilicates have been obtained for the continuous transitional sequence from mudstone to slate with well developed slaty cleavage at lehigh gap pennsylvania and for slates from quarries in the same area samples were studied by optical microscopy powder x ray diffraction and electron microprobe analysis with emphasis on transmission and analytical electron microscopy mineral grains are virtually free of deformation induced strain concomitant with the gradual development of cleavage normal to bedding the following changes are observed or confirmed 1 the orientation of phyllosilicate grains changes discontinuously from being preferentially parallel to bedding to being parallel to cleavage 2 crystal imperfections as expressed in layer terminations low angle grain boundary like features and other defects decrease in density 3 complex mixed layering is replaced by homogeneous packets of layers of single phases and 4 illite transforms to muscovite with increase in k a1 and change from a lmd to 2m polytype slaty cleavage apparently develops due in part to pressure solution of phyllosilicates oriented parallel to bedding mass transport of components and crystallization to form new grains parallel to cleavage it reflects transitions from imperfect metastable phases toward ordered stable phases in a low temperature 225 c metamorphic environment

paleothermal structure of the shimanto accretionary prism shikoku japan role of an out of sequence thrust vitrinite reflectance study on the cretaceous shimanto accretionary prism of southwest japan shows that the vitrinite reflectance varies from 0 6 to 3 0 corresponding to the estimated maximum paleotemperature variation of 90 210 c the thermal structure shows a sharp discontinuity across an out of sequence thrust separating it into two thermal blocks in each block vitrinite reflectance values increase systematically toward the prism younging direction and the thermal structure is clearly overprinted on the tectonic imbrication of turbidite and melange units this provided us with a set of data to calculate the geometry and displacement of the out of sequence thrust the fission track zircon partial annealing ages indicate that this thrust was active about 43 ma probably in response to the accretion of eocene rocks this study shows that initial thickening of the accretionary prism in an order of several kilometres was mainly controlled by out of sequence thrust

mass transfer and pressure solution in deformed shale of accretionary complex examples from the shimanto belt southwestern japan abstract this study investigates volume changes in the accretionary complex in southeastern shikoku japan using mesoscopic and microscopic observations and chemical analyses of shale three types of deformation in shale were recognized 1 coherent type compacted 2 type i melange less deformed and 3 type ii melange sheared pressure solution seams pss are common and reflect large volume reductions for coherent type 13 50 and type ii melange 17 54 positive correlations exist between pss density and concentration of the immobile chemical component tio2 and between pss density and paleotemperature for type ii melange and coherent type under constant temperature conditions the pss density is higher for type ii melange than for coherent type indicating more efficient generation of pss for type ii melange based on the analysis of rheological equations we conclude that generation of pss may be controlled by differences in differential stress and or the duration of deformation the positive correlation between pss density and tio2 concentration indicates that volume change in accretionary complexes can be described by a simple equation using pss density

chlorite illite muscovite interlayered and interstratified crystals a tem stem study phyllosilicates in rocks which are transitional from mudstone to slate from lehigh gap pa have been studied by a variety of techniques including high resolution transmission electron microscopy and analytical electron microscopy the principal minerals are white mica which is transitional from illite in mudstone to ordered twolayer mica in slate and chlorite 7a berthierine occurs more rarely dioctahedral and trioctahedral layers are shown to be interleaved in individual crystals at all scales between the following two end members 1 both random and regular 1 1 interlayering at the scale of individual layers as shown in part by lattice fringe images 2 packets of trioctahedral and dioctahedral layers up to a few thousand angstroms or microns in thickness detectable with ordinary optical techniques the complete range of intermediate structures is represented in samples which are in transition to slate bulk analytical empa x ray diffraction or other measurements are shown to result in averages over both kinds of layers when tem techniques are not used

detrital illite crystals identified from crystallite thickness measurements in siliciclastic sediments illite crystals in siliciclastic sediments are heterogeneous assemblages of detrital material coming from various source rocks and at paleotemperatures 70 c of superimposed diagenetic modification in the parent sediment we distinguished the relative proportions of 2m1 detrital illite and possible diagenetic 1md 1m illite by a combined analysis of crystal size distribution and illite polytype quantification we found that the proportions of 1md 1m and 2m1 illite could be determined from crystallite thickness measurements bwa method using the mudmaster program by unmixing measured crystallite thickness distributions using theoretical and calculated log normal and or asymptotic distributions the end member components that we used to unmix the measured distributions were three asymptotic shaped distributions assumed to be the diagenetic component of the mixture the 1md 1m polytypes calculated using the galoper program phase a was simulated using 500 crystals per cycle of nucleation and growth phase b 333 cycle and phase c 250 cycle and one theoretical log normal distribution phase d assumed to approximate the detrital 2m1 component of the mixture in addition quantitative polytype analysis was carried out using the rockjock software for comparison the two techniques gave comparable results r 2 0 93 which indicates that the unmixing method permits one to calculate the proportion of illite polytypes and therefore the proportion of 2m1 detrital illite from crystallite thickness measurements the overall illite crystallite thicknesses in the samples were found to be a function of the relative proportions of thick 2m1 and thin 1md 1m illite the percentage of illite layers in i s mixed layers correlates with the mean crystallite thickness of the 1md 1m polytypes indicating that these polytypes rather than the 2m1 polytype participate in i s mixed layering

accretionary prisms in subduction earthquake cycles the theory of dynamic coulomb wedge 1 we expand the theory of critically tapered coulomb wedge for accretionary prisms by considering stress changes in subduction earthquake cycles building on the coulomb plasticity of the classical theory we assume an elastic perfectly coulomb plastic rheology and derive exact stress solutions for stable and critical wedges the new theory postulates that the actively deforming most seaward part of an accretionary prism the outer wedge overlies the updip velocity strengthening part of the subduction fault and the less deformed inner wedge overlies the velocity weakening part the seismogenic zone during great earthquakes the outer wedge is pushed into a compressively critical state with an increase in basal and internal stresses and pore fluid pressure after the earthquake the outer wedge returns to a stable state the outer wedge geometry is controlled by the peak stress of the updip velocity strengthening part of the subduction fault achieved in largest earthquakes the inner wedge generally stays in the stable regime throughout earthquake cycles acting as an apparent backstop and providing a stable environment for the formation of forearc basins the new theory has important implications for the studies of the updip limit of the seismogenic zone the evolution of accretionary prisms and forearc basins activation of splay faults and tsunami generation evolution of the fluid regime and mechanics of frontal prisms at margins dominated by tectonic erosion

proliferation and demise of deep sea corals in the mediterranean during the younger dryas abstract uranium series and radiocarbon ages are reported for deep sea corals madrepora oculata desmophyllum dianthus lophelia pertusa and caryophyllia smithii from the mediterranean sea u series dating indicates that deep sea corals have persisted in the mediterranean for over 480 000 years especially during cool interstadial periods the most prolific period of growth however appears to have occurred within the younger dryas yd period from 12 900 to 11 700 years bp followed by a short 330 years phase of post yd coral growth from 11 230 to 10 900 years bp this indicates that deep sea corals were prolific in the mediterranean not only during the return to the more glacial like conditions of the yd but also following the rapid deglaciation and transition to warmer conditions that followed the end of the yd surprisingly there is a paucity last glacial maximum lgm coral ages implying they were largely absent during this period when cold water conditions were more prevalent radiocarbon ages show that the intermediate depth waters of the mediterranean generally had 14 c compositions similar to surface waters indicating that these waters were extremely well ventilated the only exception is a narrow period in the yd 12 500 100 years bp when several samples of lophelia pertusa from the ionian sea had 14 c values falling significantly below the marine curve using a refined approach isolation ages isol of 300 years to 500 years are estimated for these intermediate 800 1000 m depth waters relative to surface marine waters indicating a reduction or absence of deep water formation in the ionian and adjacent adriatic seas during the yd contrary to previous findings we find no evidence for widespread intrusion of low 14 c atlantic waters into the mediterranean prolific growth of deep sea corals in the mediterranean ended abruptly at 10 900 years bp with many of the coral bearing mounds on the continental slopes being draped in a thin veneer of mud their demise is attributed to a number of factors including the direct loss of habitat due to high sedimentation that accompanied glacial meltwater pulses together with rising temperatures that would have finally pervaded the deeper water of the mediterranean following the onset of holocene warming

low grade metamorphism around the down dip limit of seismogenic subduction zones example from an ancient accretionary complex in the shimanto belt japan abstract reactions involving clay minerals during low grade metamorphism at the depth of an ancient accretionary complex in the shimanto belt kyushu japan were studied by integrated transmission electron microscopy energy dispersive x ray spectroscopy and x ray diffraction analyses of the bulk rock and clay fraction the analyzed metasediment the kitagawa unit contain an incipient sub horizontal slaty cleavage illite crystallinity data and mica b dimensions indicate that the conditions of metamorphic deformation were anchizone epizone grade and intermediate pressure cleavage formation was linked to two reactions involving clay minerals 1 the recrystallization of 1m dominant matrix mica inherited from the original sedimentary fabric into thick defect free 2m1 packets along cleavage planes and 2 the formation of chlorite from 7 a berthierine balanced equations among the clay phases based on compositional data and their relative abundance suggest that the decomposition of matrix mica resulted in the formation of paragenetic mica and chlorite along the cleavage planes without significant elemental outflux although a modal increase in phyllosilicates is not indicated by the data the growth of chlorite and mica along cleavage planes may have a large influence on the rheological properties of a decollement and may be related to the occurrence of the seismic aseismic transition at 350 c

frictional slip of granite at hydrothermal conditions sliding on faults in much of the continental crust likely occurs at hydrothermal conditions i e at elevated temperature and elevated pressure of aqueous pore fluids yet there have been few relevant laboratory studies to measure the strength sliding behavior and friction constitutive properties of faults at hydrothermal conditions we slid laboratory granite faults containing a layer of granite powder simulated gouge velocity stepping experiments were performed at temperatures of 23 to 600 c pore fluid pressures ph2o of 0 dry and 100 mpa wet effective normal stress of 400 mpa and sliding velocities v of 0 01 to 1 m s 0 32 to 32 m yr conditions were similar to those in earlier tests on dry granite to 845 c by lockner et al 1986 the mechanical results define two regimes the first regime includes dry granite up to at least 845 and wet granite below 250 c in this regime the coefficient of friction is high 0 7 to 0 8 and depends only modestly on temperature slip rate and ph2o the second regime includes wet granite above 350 c in this regime friction decreases considerably with increasing temperature temperature weakening and with decreasing slip rate velocity strengthening these regimes correspond well to those identified in sliding tests on ultrafine quartz we infer that one or more fluid assisted deformation mechanisms are activated in the second hydrothermal regime and operate concurrently with cataclastic flow slip in the first cool and or dry regime is characterized by pervasive shearing and particle size reduction slip in the second hot and wet regime is localized primarily onto narrow shear bands adjacent to the gouge rock interfaces weakness of these boundary shears may result either from an abundance of phyllosilicates preferentially aligned for easy dislocation glide or from a dependence of strength on gouge particle size major features of the granite data set can be fit reasonably well by a rate and temperature dependent three regime friction constitutive model chester this issue we extrapolate the experimental data and model fit in order to estimate steady state shear strength versus depth along natural slipping faults for sliding rates as low as 31 mm yr we do this for two end member cases in the first case pore pressure is assumed hydrostatic at all depths shallow crustal strength in this case is similar to that calculated in previous work from room temperature friction data while at depths below about 9 13 km depending on slip rate strength becomes less sensitive to depth but sensitive to slip rate in the second case pore pressure is assumed to be near lithostatic at depths below 5 km strength is low at all depths in this case 20 mpa in agreement with observations of weak faults such as the san andreas the predicted depth of transition from velocity weakening to velocity strengthening lies at about 13 km depth for a slip rate of 31 mm yr in rough agreement with the seismic aseismic transition depth observed on mature continental faults these results highlight the importance of fluid assisted deformation processes active in faults at depth and the need for laboratory studies on the roles of additional factors such as fluid chemistry large displacements higher concentrations of phyllosilicates and time dependent fault healing

evidence for major mass transfer and volume strain during regional metamorphism of pelites systematic examination of published sedimentary and metamorphosed pelite analyses has revealed evidence of significant mass transfer and volume strain during regional metamorphism statistical analysis of the data shows that barrovian zone metamorphism of pelitic schist generally causes increases in the whole rock concentrations of the low solubility elements ti and all the observed increases in ti and al contents as functions of metamorphic grade are almost certainly due to residual enrichment caused by the removal of other more soluble species application of mass balance principles to the petite compositional trends indicates that the average pelite may lose as much as 30 of its mass and volume during progressive metamorphism from subgreenschist to amphibolite facies conditions the bulk of the lost mass is silica not volatiles in addition other elements particularly ca na and k appear to be highly mobile in deep crustal metamorphism contrary to conventional interpretations it is concluded that the regional metamorphism of pelites is not an isochemical process

limited localized nonvolatile element flux and volume change in appalachian slates geometric evidence for major nonvolatile volume losses at several appalachian slate localities contradicts geochemical evidence for minimal compositional changes during low grade metamorphism of shales relative to adjoining microlithons spaced cleavage zones are depleted in si quartz na albite and for carbonate rich slates ca mn and mg calcite and dolomite zr ti al p and fe are enriched in cleavage zones the greatest enrichments are in zr proportional k gains and na and si losses suggest that cleavage fractionation combines stoichiometric reactions e g k albite chlorite muscovite sio 2 na with pressure solution of quartz and carbonate minerals cleavage and sorting pelite to psammite fractionation patterns are similar but can be distinguished by higher zr in al rich cleavage zones relative to zr in al rich pelitic rocks the compositional similarities of homogeneous shales and slates do not indicate large volume losses during slate metamorphism for paleozoic slates from localities where large volume losses have been hypothesized on geometric grounds martinsburg slate belt of pennsylvania and new jersey meguma group of nova scotia and taconic slate belt of vermont and new york slate compositions show no evidence of large nonvolatile volume losses relative to likely shale protoliths detailed sampling of slates folded at hand specimen to quarry scales indicate that substantial element and volume fluxes are limited to the submeter scale in small scale folds volume losses in tight inner arcs appear to be balanced by volume gains in adjoining areas the complications of metamorphic recrystallization and heterogeneous strain are probably responsible for erroneous interpretations of large nonvolatile volume losses in these appalachian slate localities

deformation of chlorite in naturally deformed low grade rocks the intracrystalline deformation of chlorite in naturally deformed low grade rocks was investigated with transmission electron microscopy tem as in other phyllosilicates the deformation of chlorite is dominated by the 001 slip plane slip along this plane is very easy through the generation and movement of partial dislocations with burgers vector b 1 n uv0 after initial bending of the 001 planes through a flexural slip mechanism accommodated by slip along 001 the misorientation is concentrated in tiltwalls subnormal to 001 which are formed by partial dislocations with b 1 n uv0 tiltwalls subparallel to 001 are formed by arrays of dislocations with a total burgers vector 001 these boundaries are either initiated at the grain boundary and move inwards by dislocation climb or form by movement of free dislocations towards the tip of propagating boundaries by glide along planes inclined to 001 once a boundary is formed the increasing misfit is accommodated by climb of these dislocations along 001 due to the combination of very easy slip along 001 and the ability to form subgrain boundaries subparallel to 001 by dislocation climb and activation of hard slip systems chlorite deforms plastically even at temperatures below 300 c

interlaboratory standardization and calibration of day mineral crystallinity and crystallite size data clay mineral crystallinity and crystallite domain size data determined by x ray diffraction xrd are methods extensively used in the characterization of very low grade metamorphic conditions however the lack of sufficient interlaboratory standardization has made comparisons between different research groups unreliable due to significant variations in numerical results obtained a consequence of the different machine conditions measurement methods and sample preparations used during analysis a calibration approach to the standardization of data using rock chip standards is presented which allows data sets produced by different research groups to be directly and quantitatively compared a standardized scale the crystallinity index standard cis is proposed with illite crystallinity anchizonal boundary limits of 0 25d 2 and 0 42d 2 and equivalent illite crystallite sizes of 52 and 23 nm respectively determined by the warren averbach method calibrating both old and new data will enable more reliable comparisons between similar and contrasting geological environments and should improve the accuracy and reliability of correlations made between xrd data and other indicators of very low grade metamorphism hence increasing the value of such clay mineral studies

fault stability inferred from granite sliding experiments at hydrothermal conditions seismicity on crustal faults is concentrated in the depth interval 1 3 to 12 15km tse and rice 1986 suggested that the lower bound on seismicity is due to a switch with increasing temperature from velocity weakening destabilizing to velocity strengthening stabilizing friction they inferred this transition from friction data for dry granite however pore fluids exist at elevated temperatures throughout the crust and may strongly influence strength and sliding behavior we present new data from sliding experiments on granite at elevated t 23 to 600 plus elevated ph2o 100 mpa our results show velocity strengthening at room temperature but velocity weakening from 100 to 350 c except at 250 from 350 to 600 there are systematic trends from velocity weakening to strong velocity strengthening and from high to low friction neither trend was seen in tests on dry granite the velocity dependence data imply the potential for unstable slip in the interval 100 to 350 using a geotherm to map temperature to depth this interval closely matches the observed earthquake distribution

transition of accretionary wedge structures around the up dip limit of the seismogenic subduction zone the nankai accretionary prism is divided into three segments outer and inner wedges and their transition zone these wedges reflect different aspects of wedge taper internal deformation and basal plate boundary fault the outer wedge is characterized by narrow critical taper internal deformation by in sequence fold and thrust and aseismic decollement the inner wedge represents a stable narrow taper weakly deformed internal structure and seismogenic plate boundary fault along its base the transition zone between the two wedges shows large critical taper with steep surface slope internal structure of out of sequence thrust and step down of decollement onto the sediment oceanic basement interface the trench slope break and oceanward margin of forearc basin is located around the landward edge of this transition zone these common aspects might be related to the lithification of both accreted and underthrust sediments and the resultant switch of the plate boundary fault deformation and lithification process recorded in exhumed on land melange of accretionary complexes suggest that the step down of the plate boundary decollement occurs around the up dip limit of seismogenic subduction zone

reflection signature of seismic and aseismic slip on the northern cascadia subduction interface at the northern cascadia margin the juan de fuca plate is underthrusting north america at about 45 mm yr 1 ref 1 resulting in the potential for destructive great earthquakes2 3 the downdip extent of coupling between the two plates is difficult to determine because the most recent such earthquake thought to have been in 1700 4 occurred before instrumental recording thermal and deformation studies5 indicate that off southern vancouver island the interplate interface is presently fully locked for a distance of 60 km downdip from the deformation front great thrust earthquakes on this section of the interface with magnitudes of up to 9 4 5 have been estimated to occur at an average interval of about 590 yr ref 3 further downdip there is a transition from fully locked behaviour to aseismic sliding where high temperatures allow ductile deformation with the deep aseismic zone exhibiting slow slip thrust events6 here we show that there is a change in the reflection character on seismic images from a thin sharp reflection where the subduction thrust is inferred to be locked to a broad reflection band at greater depth where aseismic slip is thought to be occurring this change in reflection character may provide a new technique to map the landward extent of rupture in great earthquakes and improve the characterization of seismic hazards in subduction zones

an integrated model for transitional pressure solution in sandstones abstract a key aspect of the deformation of sedimentary rocks during diagenesis is pressure solution however it is often not clear why some rocks of a given mineralogy depth and pressure exhibit a great deal of pressure solution while very similar rocks under similar conditions do not to address such difficulties which we believe arise from the natural non linear physico chemical processes a quantitative model for pressure solution applied to sandstones has been developed this model subsumes various factors 1 pressure temperature and burial rate 2 grain size shape and packing of the mineral grains 3 the variability of water film thickness and coefficient of diffusion between any two grains in contact as a function of stress across the contact pore fluid pressure salinity ph and temperature in this study we distinguish several types of surface sites over quartz grains in a sandstone with corresponding differences in chemical potential thus allowing the diffusive transfer of matter from one site to another the contact between two grains is divided into two parts the actual true contact between two grains is a site of water film diffusion and the inclusions inside the contact the free face inclusion contacts are sites of free face pressure solution on the pore surface site precipitation occurs it is shown that a kinetics transition from a reaction limited deformation to a diffusion limited deformation occurs in the upper crust a geometric transition occurs too due to the textural evolution of the rock with deformation the main goal of this paper is to show the dynamics of the shifting importance of actual and free face inclusion contacts using a unified model including both features the result is a predictive model for porosity variations with depth due to pressure solution in sandstones

along strike variations in underthrust sediment dewatering on the nicoya margin costa rica related to the updip limit of seismicity 1 along the costa rican subduction zone offshore the nicoya peninsula an offset in the updip limit of seismicity coincides with a transition between subduction of warm crust generated at the cocos nazca spreading center and cool crust formed at the east pacific rise we evaluate whether the observed difference in thermal state of incoming crust would result in significant differences in sediment dehydration reaction progress along strike thought to be a control on the updip limit of seismicity we combine thermal models with models of dehydration reaction kinetics for opal and smectite to estimate the distribution of diagenetic fluid sources the modeled distribution of diagenetic fluid sources mimics the pattern of the updip limit of seismicity seismicity begins 15 20 km landward of most of the smectite to illite transition this suggests that the location of the updip limit of seismicity may be influenced by the dissipation of fluid overpressures landward of smectite to illite dehydration

diversity and distribution of subseafloor thermococcales populations in diffuse hydrothermal vents at an active deep sea volcano in the northeast pacific ocean received 30 august 2005 revised 28 july 2006 accepted 5 september 2006 published 20 december 2006 1 the presence diversity and distribution of a key group of subseafloor archaea the thermococcales was examined in multiple diffuse flow hydrothermal vents at axial seamount an active deep sea volcano located in the northeast pacific ocean a polymerase chain reaction pcr approach was used to determine if this group of subseafloor indicator organisms showed any phylogenetic distribution that may indicate distinct subseafloor communities at vents with different physical and chemical characteristics targeted primers for the thermococcales 16s rrna small subunit ribosomal rna gene and intergenic transcribed spacer its region were designed and applied to organisms filtered directly from a variety of diffuse flow vents thermococcales were amplified from 9 of 11 samples examined and it was determined that the its region is a better phylogenetic marker than the 16s rrna in defining consistent groups of closely related sequences results show a relationship between environmental clone distribution and source vent chemistry the most highly diluted vents with elevated iron and alkalinity contained a distinct group of thermococcales as defined by the its region suggesting separate subseafloor thermococcales populations at diffuse vents within the axial caldera

smectite to chlorite conversion by frictional heating along a subduction thrust abstract an ancient subduction thrust developed at the top of oceanic basaltic crust is exposed in the shimanto accretionary complex of eastern shikoku southwest japan the fault zone structure indicates that slip was localized along a few centimeters thick layer in which fluidization of comminuted material is recorded to identify possible clay mineral reactions during frictional heating along subduction thrusts we examined the clay mineralogy of the basalt derived fault zone rocks including ultracataclasite altered basalt foliated cataclasite and massive basalt all samples include chlorite mixed layer chlorite smectite c s and corrensite among the samples the highest chlorite content in the c s is found in the ultracataclasite the significant chloritization in the ultracataclasite is unlikely to reflect hydrothermal alteration and regional very low grade metamorphism during subduction down to seismogenic depths instead it is interpreted to have resulted from frictional heating associated with localized slip based on chlorite geothermometry and the presence of small quantities of corrensite we estimate the temperatures during this frictional heating to have been in the range of 185 260 c which is 35 130 c higher than the ambient temperature this difference of 35 130 c is consistent with a temperature rise of 50 150 c indicated by the stretching of fluid inclusions in calcite therefore the crystallographic and chemical properties of c s are potentially useful in detecting small temperature rises associated with frictional heating and the method could be widely applicable to c s bearing faults

tem and aem constraints on the origin and significance of chlorite mica stacks in slates an example from central wales u k chlorite mica stacks grains of intergrown chlorite and white mica in a matrix of fine grained white mica and chlorite have been studied using xrd sem empa tem and aem methods the stacks occur in a weakly cleaved llandoverian mudstone central wales which has a white mica illite crystallinity index of 0 35 a20 corresponding to the lower anchizone white mica occurs as packets 100 to 8 m thick interleaved with dominant chlorite packets in stacks with both apparent coherent interfaces or cross cutting small angle boundaries with chlorite layers it is well crystallized 2m polytype with phengitic composition and low paragonite component na na k 0 0 07 chlorite in stacks is fe rich and relatively homogeneous tio2 crystals surround stacks and occur within chlorite and white mica is ti rich compared to matrix white mica fine grained white mica and chlorite in the matrix have two different orientations one parallel to bedding and one parallel to cleavage which is approximately 30 50 to bedding matrix white mica is predominantly a 2m1 polytype but some cleavage parallel white mica is 3 t and some bedding parallel white mica is 1md it is na rich na na k 0 14 0 42 and relatively heterogeneous some discrete paragonite and phengitic muscovite are observed to coexist in the cleavage orientation matrix white mica and chlorite each contain less fe than corresponding white mica and chlorite in stacks both matrix and stack chlorite are one layer polytypes the data imply that chlorite in the stacks is largely derived from the replacement of volcanogenic biotite and other ferromagnesian minerals probably via intermediate expandable trioctahedral phyllosilicates most intergrowths of chlorite and mica in stacks formed by mica replacement of chlorite and altered biotite along cleavage fissures subsequent deformation caused further modification of pre existing chlorite mica stacks whereas partial dissolution of stacks and bedding parallel matrix phyllosilicates resulted in the formation of cleavage parallel phyllosilicates

compositional and fluid pressure controls on the state of stress on the nankai subduction thrust a weak plate boundary abstract we show that both fault mineralogy and regional excess fluid pressure contribute to low resolved shear stresses on the nankai subduction plate boundary off southwest japan ring and direct shear tests indicate that saturated clay minerals in the fault possess intrinsically low residual friction coefficients r at stress levels between 1 0 and 40 mpa the direct shear r values for purified smectite are 0 14 0 02 for illite 0 25 0 01 and for chlorite 0 26 0 02 for point load velocities of 0 0001 mm s these clay minerals dominate the nankai subduction decollement zone illite plus quartz is mechanically important in the altered incoming muroto section and the predicted decollement r should lie between 0 2 and 0 32 this low residual strength together with elevated fluid pressure limits shear stresses to below 4 mpa within the frontal 50 km of the subduction system consistent with the low wedge taper in this region a higher wedge taper off the ashizuri peninsula indicates basal shear stresses rise slightly along strike towards this region our analysis indicates lower fluid pressures must predominantly be responsible because only small second order along strike variations in r are predicted to occur as a result of variations in smectite and total clay content these variations should be further reduced at depth under the wedge as smectite is diagenetically altered to illite however our data suggest the low r values of the clay rich decollement still limit shear stresses to between 17 and 29 mpa within the frontal 50 km of the wedge consistent with other estimates of plate boundary weakness indeed we propose that it should be expected that subduction plate boundaries like nankai will be weak because of the intrinsic presence of clay rich faults and moderate fluid overpressures our data do not support the hypothesis that the smectite to illite reaction directly controls the onset of seismogenic behavior deep in the nankai system because there is already a mechanical dominance of illite rather than smectite in the shallow decollement zone and we find all the clay phases tend to velocity strengthen however temperature activated clay diagenesis and dehydration may cause secondary changes in the fault properties and state of stress across the up dip limit of the seismogenic zone

the structure and the phyllosilicates chemistry crystallinity and texture of talas ala tau tien shan kyrgyz republic comparison with more recent subduction complexes abstract geological mapping and structural analysis of the talas ala tau tien shan kyrgyz republic have revealed a complex structure composed of folds with axial plane cleavage and thrust faults verging towards the ne the main structures of the range correspond to minor tertiary and carboniferous permian deformation superimposed on the main deformation event that took place during the baikalian orogeny the pervasive axial plane cleavage diminishes in penetrativity from the hinterland to the foreland in both the uzunakhmat and karagoin sheets the main thrusts developed phyllonitic shear related rocks on the hangingwall immediately above the thrust planes a crystal chemical study of the phyllosilicates growth during the baikalian deformation event along a cross section revealed changes in the crystallinity composition and lattice parameters of them the phyllosilicates present in the talas ala tau rocks were crystallized in very low grade metamorphic conditions that is below 300 c as indicated by their kubler index ki which decreases from sw towards the ne detailed tem study of the phyllosilicates reveals a clear textural difference at the lattice level between samples with higher or lower ki parameters there is also a clear difference in crystal chemical parameters ki and b and composition between the phyllosilicates growth in relation to the axial plane cleavage and the ones belonging to the thrust related phyllonites the first ones are more affected by the ferrimuscovitic vector than the phyllosilicates of phyllonites closer to the theoretical phengitic component huge ranges of values of phengitic content of micas at sample level are interpreted as the result of a decompression path from at least 8 kbar we propose a subduction geodynamic environment for the regional deformation and the origin of the phyllosilicates as they are similar to those obtained in more recent accretionary complexes

local thickening of the cascadia forearc crust and the origin of seismic reflectors in the uppermost mantle seismic reflection profiles from three different surveys of the cascadia forearc are interpreted using p wave velocities and relocated hypocentres which were both derived from the first arrival travel time inversion of wide angle seismic data and local earthquakes the subduction decollement which is characterized beneath the continental shelf by a reflection of 0 5 s duration can be traced landward into a large duplex structure in the lower forearc crust near southern vancouver island beneath vancouver island the roof thrust of the duplex is revealed by a 5 12 km thick zone identified previously as the e reflectors and the floor thrust is defined by a short duration reflection from a b2 km thick interface at the top of the subducting plate we show that another zone of reflectors exists east of vancouver island that is approximately 8 km thick and identified as the d reflectors these overlie the e reflectors together the two zones define the landward part of the duplex the combined zones reach depths as great as 50 km the duplex structure extends for more than 120 km perpendicular to the margin has an along strike extent of 80 km and at depths between 30 km and 50 km the duplex structure correlates with a region of anomalously deep seismicity where velocities are less than 7000 m s 1 we suggest that these relatively low velocities indicate the presence of either crustal rocks from the oceanic plate that have been underplated to the continent or crustal rocks from the forearc that have been transported downward by subduction erosion the absence of seismicity from within the e reflectors implies that they are significantly weaker than the overlying crust and the reflectors may be a zone of active ductile shear in contrast seismicity in parts of the d reflectors can be interpreted to mean that ductile shearing no longer occurs in the landward part of the duplex merging of the d and e reflectors at 42 46 km depth creates reflectivity in the uppermost mantle with a vertical thickness of at least 15 km we suggest that pervasive reflectivity in the upper mantle elsewhere beneath puget sound and the strait of georgia arises from similar shear zones