quaternary glaciation of the bale mountains ethiopia central ethiopia comprises a high plateau at 2000 3000 m formed from tertiary lava flows and bisected by the eastern african rift ten volcanic mountains rise to altitudes of just over 4000 m but on only three has quaternary glaciation been substantiated by published field observations on the bale mountains 4400 m a previous report based on limited evidence proposed an ice cap extending to 600 km2 based on aerial photographs and ground surveys this paper reports evidence of a more complex situation a wide spread of large erratic boulders on the plateau records a central ice cap of 30 km2 though ice probably extended for a further 40 km2 further north two groups of deeply incised and clearly glaciated valleys contain moraines and roches moutonnees 60 km2 on interfluves between them and on the open north slopes are moraines from an earlier stage of the same glaciation or from a distinct older event altogether about 180 km2 may have been glaciated cores dated by 14c from inside and outside the glaciated area suggest that at least the northern valley glaciers may date from the last glacial maximum estimated equilibrium line altitudes for these glaciers and the ice cap are 3750 4230 m

a new symbol and gis based detailed geomorphological mapping system renewal of a scientific discipline for understanding landscape development this paper presents a comprehensive and flexible new geomorphological combination legend that expands the possibilities of current geomorphological mapping concepts the new legend is presented here at scale of 1 10 000 and it combines symbols for hydrography morphometry morphography lithology and structure with colour variations for process genesis and geologic age the piece by piece legend forms a geomorphological alphabet that offers a high diversity of geomorphological information and a possibility for numerous combinations of information this results in a scientific map that is rich in data and which is more informative than most previous maps but is based on a simple legend the system is developed to also be used as a basis for applications in gis the symbol based information in the geomorphological maps can be digitally stored as a powerful database with thematic layers and attribute tables by combining and further developing aspects of different classical mapping systems and techniques into expanded data combinations new possibilities of presentation and storage are developed and thus a strong scientific tool is provided for landscape configuration and the reconstruction of its development in turn the combination paves the way for specific thematic applications the new system is illustrated for two contrasting landscape types the first is located on the border of vorarlberg western austria and liechtenstein in a glacially influenced high altitude alpine setting that is strongly modified by various degradation processes the second area represents a formerly glaciated region in dalarna central sweden near mora an area that is characterized by a variety of aeolian fluvial glaciofluvial and lacustrine depositional and erosional landforms and also reflects isostatic uplift the new method functions well for both areas and results in detailed scientific outlines of both landscape types

quaternary glaciation in africa key chronologies and climatic implications multiple episodes of quaternary glaciation are evidenced on 10 distinct mountain localities throughout africa with the best dated sites from kilimanjaro and mt kenya in equatorial east africa a general paucity of radiogenic dates constrains the glacial chronology and regional sequences have largely been based on correlations by relative weathering of features excellent glacial moraine preservation and other features of erosion put limits on the spatial extent of palaeoglaciers and have facilitated advances in palaeo equilibrium line altitude ela analyses all radiocarbon dates n 30 provide minimum ages of deglaciation and are consistent with a widespread synchronous advance during the last glacial maximum lgm 21 2 ka k ar dates on kilimanjaro lava flows initially recognised up to three glaciations prior to the lgm over 100 cosmogenic radionuclide crn 36 cl exposure ages on glacial erratics and bedrock from kilimanjaro and mt kenya date 16 landforms confirming maximum glacial extent prior to marine isotope stage mis 10 no glacial geological features have been dated to mis 6 while on kilimanjaro the crn ages confirm a clear lgm mis 2 maximum mt kenya lacks definitive lgm moraines lateglacial advances or stillstands on both mountains are suggested by low relief moraines dating to 14 6 1 2 ka two boulders on mt kenya and 16 3 1 9 ka and 15 8 2 5 ka on kilimanjaro multiple moraines upvalley have early holocene ages ranging from 11 2 0 8 to 8 6 0 2 ka isolated and equivocal dates on both mountains also provide speculative evidence that the maximum extent since mis 5e may have occurred close to 30 ka similar to sites in south america new palaeoclimatic understanding from lake and ocean proxies suggests hypotheses for the source of low latitude climate changes causing the advances that can be tested with improved dates a high degree of intra regional variance in ela is observed with differences by aspect reflecting precipitation gradients future work should include more crn dates improved mapping and inverse climate mass balance modelling copyright 2008 john wiley sons ltd

mass movement mapping for geomorphological understanding and sustainable development tigray ethiopia abstract mass movement topography characterises the escarpments and piedmont zones of the tabular ridges in the western part of the mekelle outlier tigray ethiopia several types of mass movements can be distinguished the first type is rockfall produced by 357 km rocky escarpments and cliffs during the rainy season in the study area every current kilometer of amba aradam sandstone cliff annually produces 3 7 m3 of rock fragments however this is an under estimation of the actual cliff and escarpment evolution which is also characterised by debris slides and small rock slides in the debris flow class three dormant flow types are recognised the first type comprises preferential or undifferentiated mobilisations of the so called plateau layers the whitish sandy clayey lacustrine deposits and the lower and upper basalts and more especially the swelling clays derived from the basalts these debris flows start on the nearly horizontal amba aradam sandstone tabular extensions jump over cliff recessions or even spurs and go very far into the valley in some instances parts of amba aradam sandstone and antalo limestone cliffs are transported secondly some debris flows take their origin in the antalo limestone supersequence it concerns deeply weathered layers resting upon aquicludes aquitards finally gigantic debris flows and rock slides occur around dolerite dyke ridges about 20 of the total surface of the study area is occupied by landslide topography most of the landslides affect the steep edges of the table mountains or the dykes sills mapping and listing of active and dormant mass movements increases knowledge in three domains which are crucial for sustainable development of the study area the first one is geomorphological risk assessment the distribution map of active rockfall and dormant landslides shows the areas where potential risks are located land use changes which improve the water infiltration capacity of dormant landslides should be followed up secondly the impact of global climate change on these risk areas can be assessed the second domain is the water sector which needs attention in the study area and in many parts of africa landslides mobilised by hydrostatic pressures are related to the occurrence of aquicludes and aquifers in the study area landslide mapping led to the location of three aquitards not described before the third domain is the pedological mapping in the study area soil distribution is very well explained by the morphology and extension of dormant landslides finally mapping of dormant landslides stimulates the academic debate on the geomorphological significance of mass movements in hillslope retreat in tropical areas

use of digital elevation models to understand and map glacial landforms the case of the canigou massif eastern pyrenees france abstract this paper presents an improved geomorphological methodology that uses remotely sensed data a geographical information system and a brief field campaign to allow rapid yet precise mapping as well as interpretation and analysis of glacial earth surface morphology in high mountain areas the study area consists of the quaternary glaciated part of the coumelade valley canigou massif eastern pyrenees france which ranges between 1450 and 2731 m a s l a topographical map derived digital elevation model was used for analyzing glacial landforms by extracting the slope gradient valley profiles and the slope aspect the results were gradually refined from the interpretations of aerial photograph and the field investigation glacial landforms are present above 1500 m a s l and include glacial and nivation cirques cirque and latero frontal moraines 7 7 106 m and micro scale landforms such as chattermarks crescent grooves and polished surfaces the geomorphological investigation reveals that the quaternary glaciation of the coumelade valley remained limited resulting in a low denudation rate of 0 011 mm yr 1 over the last glacial cycle

middle to late cenozoic basin evolution in the western alborz mountains implications for the onset of collisional deformation in northern iran carbonates and basalt flows yielding 40 ar 39 ar ages of 32 7 0 3 and 32 9 0 2 ma the gand ab unit is correlated with the oligocene lower miocene qom formation of central iran and is considered a product of thermal subsidence following eocene extension the narijan unit unconformably overlies the gand ab unit and is composed of fluvial lacustrine and alluvial fan sediments exhibiting contractional growth strata we correlate the narijan unit with the middle to upper miocene upper red formation of central iran on the basis of lithofacies similarities stratigraphic position and an 8 74 0 15 ma microdiorite dike 40 ar 39 ar that intruded the basal strata deformation timing is constrained by crosscutting relationships and independent thermochronological data the parachan thrust system along the eastern edge of the ancestral taleghan alamut basin is cut by dikes dated at 8 74 0 15 ma to 6 68 0 07 ma 40 ar 39 ar subhorizontal gravels that unconformably overlie tightly folded and faulted narijan strata are capped by 2 86 0 83 ma 40 ar 39 ar andesitic lava flows these relationships suggest that alborz deformation had migrated southward into the taleghan alamut basin by late miocene time and shifted to its present location along the active range front by late pliocene time data presented here demonstrate that shortening in the western alborz mountains had started by late middle miocene time this estimate is consistent with recent thermochronologicalresultsthatplacetheonsetofrapid exhumation in the western alborz at 12 ma moreover nearly synchronous miocene contraction in the alborz zagros mountains turkish iranian plateau and anatolia suggests that the arabia eurasia collision affected a large region simultaneously without a systematic outward progression of mountain building away from the collision zone citation guest b b k horton g j axen j hassanzadeh and w c mcintosh 2007 middle to late cenozoic basin evolution in the western alborz mountains implications for the onset of collisional deformation in northern iran tectonics 26 tc6011 doi 10 1029 2006tc002091

past glaciation in the tropics abstract tropical glaciers are considered along three meridional profiles for the australasian sector africa and the americas evaluated are the annual mean freezing level 0 c modern equilibrium line altitude mel and past equilibrium line altitude pel the calculation of 0 c is based on a 1958 1997 global data set mel refers to estimates concerning the first half of the 20th century and the timing of the pel is not generally known 0 c stands around 4000 5000 m with lower levels in the outer tropics mel is reached in the australasian sector on four mountains and in africa on three mountains near the equator near or above 0 c in the american cordilleras many peaks are still glaciated above 0 c but in the arid southern tropical andes even summits above 6000 m do not reach mel the pel stands between 3000 m and 5000 m high in the equatorial zone but highest in the arid southern tropical andes the height difference between mel and pel is of order 1000 m with regional differences deglaciation dates range between 15 000 and 8000 years bp with later timing towards the higher elevations this synopsis suggests priority targets for further research morphological mapping and age determination in the high atlas of morocco timing of deglaciation in the high semyen of ethiopia and the altos de cuchumatanes of guatemala exploration in the highlands of lesotho and of the dominican republic and glaciation in the arid southern tropical andes

40ar39ar ages and tectonic setting of ophiolite from the neyriz area southeast zagros range iran abstract an ophiolite considered to be an allochthonous fragment of tethyan oceanic crust and mantle crops out near neyriz in the zagros range iran 40 ar 39 ar ages ranging from 76 8 23 8 ma to 105 23 3 ma were measured on hornblende from five samples of plagiogranite and diabase from the ophiolite the most precise ages are 85 9 3 8 ma for a diabase and 83 6 8 4 ma for a plagiogranite the weighted mean age of hornblende from the five samples is 87 5 7 2 ma which indicates that the igneous part of the neyriz ophiolite formed during the early part of the late cretaceous pargasite from amphibolite below peridotite of the neyriz ophiolite has a 40 ar 39 ar age of 94 9 7 6 ma the pargasite age agrees within analytical uncertainty with the ages measured on diabase and plagiogranite comparable ages have been measured on igneous rocks from the samail ophiolite of oman and on amphibolite below peridotite of the samail ophiolite

formation of internally drained contractional basins by aridity limited bedrock incision 1 low internal relief aridity and internal drainage characterize the puna altiplano plateau and the tibetan plateau and the tarim basin structurally these areas are reverse fault bounded terrains with intervening wedge top basins that store thick accumulations of sediment for millions of years orographic barriers along the margins of these basins are oriented normal to moisture bearing winds resulting in regional aridity the combination of this aridity rapid shortening and uplift rates and resistant exposed lithologies coincides with the location of these internally drained basins we hypothesize that these large internally drained areas persist indefinitely when uplift overwhelms the fluvial systems and defeats the channel network to test this hypothesis we developed models of channel defeat to examine the threshold conditions required to fragment the channel network the results of these models suggest that low erodibility rocks moderate to high uplift rates and low precipitation favor defeat of orogen traversing channels most coupled tectonic landscape development models prevent the development of internal drainage and so may overestimate the voracity of erosion in regimes that favor internal drainage profoundly influencing predicted orogenic growth patterns

timing of thrust activity in the high zagros fold thrust belt iran from u th he thermochronometry 1 apatite and zircon u th he cooling ages are used to quantify the timing of exhumation associated with thrust faulting in the high zagros fold thrust belt single grain cooling age data were collected from 1 cambrian sandstone in various thrust sheets 2 sandstone and basement clasts derived from structurally controlled salt plugs or fault bounded slices and 3 syntectonic neogene siliciclastics strata in the northwestern kuhrang and central kuh e lajin high zagros apatite u th he ahe ages range from 26 7 to 0 38 ma most cooling and exhumation occurred in the early to middle miocene constrained by ahe ages 19 15 ma from the high zagros thrust sheet localized faults and reset cooling ages from bakhtiyari deposits in the southeastern high zagros kuh e dinar cooling occurred later with ahe ages ranging from 16 5 to 0 79 ma here most cooling and exhumation occurred in the late miocene constrained by ahe ages 12 8 ma from the high zagros fault and exhumed paleozoic clasts in synorogenic strata zircon u th he zhe ages from bedrock samples across the high zagros are reflective of the precollisional thermal history the preservation of precollisional zhe ages limits the pre miocene maximum burial temperature of the exhumed strata to 180 c and indicate 7 9 km of maximum exhumation in the central zagros this study shows that thrust activity in the high zagros and continental suturing along the zagros suture was underway by at least 19 ma and initiated no later than latest oligocene to early miocene time 23 ma

cenozoic evolution of neotethys and implications for the causes of plate motions africa north america eurasia plate circuit rotations combined with red sea rotations and new estimates of crustal shortening in iran define the cenozoic history of the neotethyan ocean between arabia and eurasia the new constraints indicate that arabia eurasia convergence has been fairly constant at 2 to 3 cm yr since 56 ma with slowing of africa eurasia motion to 1 cm yr near 25 ma coeval with the opening of the red sea ocean closure occurred no later than 10 ma and could have occurred prior to this time only if a large amount of continental lithosphere was subducted suggesting that slowing of africa significantly predated the arabia eurasia collision these kinematics imply that africa s disconnection with the negative buoyancy of the downgoing slab of lithosphere beneath southern eurasia slowed its motion the slow steady rate of northward subduction since 56 ma contrasts with strongly variable rates of magma production in the urumieh dokhtar arc implying magma production rate in continental arcs is not linked to subduction rate

sediment flux dynamics as fingerprints of catchment rehabilitation the case of western rift valley escarpment of northern ethiopia variability in supply and entrainment of stream bedload particles during storm events is an important hydrogeomorphologic response of steep mountain streams to land management in their catchments because of difficulties in its measurement and absence of accurate measuring equipment bedload transport in mountain streams is however poorly understood this study focuses on analyzing bedload supply and entrainment in 11 streams of sloping 27 65 catchments 0 4 25 km2 in northern ethiopia which have experienced severe deforestation and degradation processes until the first half of the 1980s and considerable rehabilitation thereafter field measurements of the median diameter of the 10 coarsest bedload particles max10 moved in each event n 332 and stream bed particle sampling were carried out in three rainy seasons 2012 2014 event peak discharges were calculated from daily measurements by 11 crest stage gauges using manning s equation percentages of land cover classes in the catchments were detected from high resolution 0 6 m google earth imagery 1 february 2014 morphometric characteristics of the catchments were computed from an aster digital elevation model and topographic maps hydraulic competence analysis for entrainment of the average max10 was carried out using peak discharge stream power and critical shear stress approaches the supply of max10 was positively related to scar density on the surrounding slopes r2 0 50 p 0 05 and catchment area r2 0 36 p 0 05 while negatively related with total forest cover r2 0 63 p 0 05 or vegetation cover r2 0 58 p 0 05 a multiple regression analysis showed that 98 of the variability in max10 is explained by scar density and catchment area entrainment of max10 was positively related to peak discharge qp r2 0 60 p 0 01 stream power r2 0 71 p 0 01 strickler s roughness sn r2 0 86 p 0 01 and critical shear stress c with reference to d50 r50 r2 0 96 p 0 01 and with reference to d84 r84 r2 0 93 p 0 01 the relationships between event max10 and event qp in each catchment were also used to extrapolate the peak discharges that would have prevailed in the first half of the 1980s and the results showed huge reductions in peak discharges p 0 01 as a result of the reforestation interventions overall this study demonstrates that i the supply of bedload in steep tropical mountains is determined negatively by forest or vegetation cover and positively by the presence of scar networks in the sloping parts of the catchments and catchment size ii entrainment of the coarsest bedload particles is determined positively by peak discharge stream power stream bed roughness and most strongly by critical shear stress and iii in steep mountain streams where direct measurement of bedload movement is difficult yet simple in situ measurement of the coarsest bedload particles max10 supplied and entrained in each event helps for understanding the dynamics of sediment flux in relation to catchment rehabilitation

tertiary sequence of deformation in a thin skinned thick skinned collision belt the zagros folded belt fars iran 1 we describe how thin skinned thick skinned deformation in the zagros folded belt interacted in time and space homogeneous fold wavelengths 15 8 5 3 km tectono sedimentary evidence for simultaneous fold growth in the past 5 5 2 5 ma drainage network organization and homogeneous peak differential stresses 40 15 mpa together point to buckling as the dominant process responsible for cover folding basin analysis reveals that basement inversion occurred 20 ma ago as the arabia eurasian plate convergence reduced and accumulation of neogene siliciclastics in foreland basin started by 10 ma ongoing contraction occurred by underplating of arabian crustal units beneath the iranian plate this process represents 75 of the total shortening it is not before 5 ma that the zagros foreland was incorporated into the southward propagating basement thrust wedge folds rejuvenated by 3 2 ma because of uplift driven by basement shortening and erosion since then folds grew at 0 3 0 6 mm yr and forced the rivers to flow axially a total shortening of 65 78 km 16 19 is estimated across the zagros this corresponds to shortening rates of 6 5 8 km ma consistent with current geodetic surveys we point out that although thin skinned deformation in the sedimentary cover may be important basement involved shortening should not be neglected as it requires far less shortening moreover for such foreland folded belts involving basement shortening underplating may be an efficient process accommodating a significant part of the plate convergence

late quaternary glaciation in the tropics future research directions abstract glacier snowline depressions in the tropics of 800 1000 m indicate an atmospheric cooling of 5 7 c during the late pleistocene such a temperature depression and the presence of large glaciers in the tropics in the past suggests that on glacial interglacial time scales the tropics have undergone substantial climatic and hydrologic change however uncertainties in the chronology of glaciation the response of glacial mass balance in the tropics to a variety of climate forcings and the relation of proxy records in alpine regions to synoptic tropical paleoclimate limit the full utility of the snowline proxy future research in these three areas will provide information on the phasing of climate change in the tropics in comparison to higher latitude regions and the correspondence of tropical glaciation to large scale changes in precipitation temperature and solar radiation

constraints on palaeodrainage evolution induced by uplift and exhumation on the southern flank of the zagros iranian plateau foreland sedimentary rocks from the northern fars region of iran contain a record of deformation associated with the cenozoic collision between arabia and eurasia that resulted in formation of the zagros orogen the timing of the deformation associated with this event is poorly known to address this we conducted a study of miocene foreland sedimentary rocks 19 7 14 8 ma of the chahar makan syncline using clast composition clay mineralogy and low temperature fission track dating the results showed that most of the sedimentary rocks were sourced from ophiolitic rocks detrital apatite fission track aft age signatures of miocene sedimentary rocks record exhumation in the hanging wall of the main zagros thrust and confirm that the change from underthrusting of the stretched arabian margin to widespread crustal thickening and deformation in the zagros region is no younger than 19 7 ma a transition from late oligocene to mesozoic eocene aft detrital age signatures between 19 7 16 6 ma and 16 6 13 8 ma is interpreted to reflect a possible rearrangement of palaeodrainage distribution that resulted from folding and expansion uplift of the zagros iranian plateau region supplementary material details of the succession of the study area a complete presentation of sample preparation and fission track age measurements of apatite grains and examples of x ray diffractograms are available at http www geolsoc org uk sup18502

glacial and periglacial geomorphology and its paleoclimatological significance in three north ethiopian mountains including a detailed geomorphological map abstract geomorphological investigations and detailed mapping of past and present peri glacial landforms are required in order to understand the impact of climatic anomalies the ethiopian highlands show a great variety in past and contemporary climate and therefore in the occurrence of glacial and periglacial landforms however only a few mountain areas have been studied and detailed geomorphological understanding is lacking in order to allow a fine reconstruction of the impact of the past glacial cycle on the geomorphology vegetation complexes and temperature anomalies a detailed geomorphological map of three mountain areas mt ferrah amba 12 51 n 39 29 e mt lib amba 12 04 n 39 22 and mt abuna yosef 12 08 n 39 11 e was produced in all three study areas inactive solifluction lobes presumably from the last glacial maximum lgm were found in the highest study area of abuna yosef three sites were discovered bearing morainic material from small late pleistocene glaciers these marginal glaciers occurred below the modeled snowline and existed because of local topo climatic conditions evidence of such pleistocene avalanche fed glaciers in ethiopia and africa has not been produced earlier current frost action is limited to frost cracks and small scale patterned ground phenomena the depression of the altitudinal belts of periglacial and glacial processes during the last cold period was assessed through periglacial and glacial landform mapping and comparisons with data from other mountain areas taking latitude into account the depression of glacial and periglacial belts of approximately 600 m implies a temperature drop around 6 c in the last cold period this cooling is in line with temperature depressions elsewhere in east africa during the lgm this study serves as a case study for all the intermediate mountains 3500 4200 m of the north ethiopian highlands

human impact on the environment in the ethiopian and eritrean highlands a state of the art abstract this review analyses the environmental evolution of the ethiopian highlands in the late quaternary the late pleistocene 20 000 12 000 14c years bp was cold and dry with 1 low lake levels in the rift valley 2 large debris fans on the flanks of lake abhe basin and 3 the blue nile transporting coarse bedload then a period with abundant and less seasonal rains existed between 11 500 and 4800 14c years bp as suggested by increased arboreal pollen high river and lake levels low river turbidities and soil formation around 5000 4800 14c years bp there was a shift to more arid conditions and more soil erosion many phenomena that were previously interpreted as climate driven might however well be of anthropic origin thick sediment deposits on pediments as well as an increase of secondary forest scrub and ruderal species in pollen diagrams are witnesses of this human impact one important aspect of the late quaternary palaeoenvironment is unclear changes in nile flow discharges and rift valley lake levels have been linked to changes in precipitation depth most authors do not take into account changes in land use in the highlands nor changes in the seasonality of rain both of which can lead to a change in runoff coefficients tufa and speleothem deposition around 14 000 years ago tend to indicate that at the end of the last glacial maximum lgm conditions might have been wetter than generally accepted the most important present day geomorphic processes are sheet and rill erosion throughout the country gullying in the highlands and wind erosion in the rift valley and the peripheral lowlands based on existing sediment yield data for catchments draining the central and northern ethiopian highlands an equation was developed allowing to assess area specific sediment yields sy 2595a 0 29 n 20 r 2 0 59 where sy area specific sediment yield t km 2 year 1 and a drainage area km2 with respect to recent environmental changes temporal rain patterns apart from the catastrophic impact of dry years on the degraded environment cannot explain the current desertification in the driest parts of the country and the accompanying land degradation elsewhere causes are changing land use and land cover which are expressions of human impact on the environment deforestation over the last 2000 3000 years was probably not a linear process in ethiopia studies on land use and land cover change show however a tendency over the last decades of increasing removal of remnant vegetation which is slowed down or reversed in northern ethiopia by a set aside policy ongoing land degradation requires urgent action at different levels of society soil and water conservation swc structures are now widely implemented local knowledge and farmer s initiatives are integrated with introduced swc techniques at various degrees impact assessments show clear benefits of the soil conservation measures in controlling runoff and soil erosion in high rain areas runoff management requires greater emphasis during the design of soil conservation structures in such areas investment in swc might not be profitable at farm level although benefits for society are positive this pleads in favour of public support the present land degradation in the ethiopian highlands has a particular origin which includes poverty and lack of agricultural intensification causes of these are to be found in the nature of past and present regional social relations as well as in international unequal development this review strengthens our belief that under improved socio economic conditions land husbandry can be made sustainable leading to a reversal of the present desertification and land degradation of the ethiopian highlands

recent behaviour of the debeli namet glacier durmitor montenegro a small cirque glacier is present in a north east facing cirque on the mountain of sljeme 2455 m a s l in the durmitor massif montenegro sediment ridges in front of this glacier are interpreted as moraines and can be attributed to recent glacier activity over the past 130 years lichenometry was applied to determine the relative ages of different moraines using aspicilia calcarea agg one set of moraines dates from about 1878 ad whilst another set of inner moraines dates from about 1904 ad the most recent moraines appear to have formed within the last 11 years in front of an active glacier margin copyright 2007 john wiley sons ltd

plate tectonic evolution of the southern margin of eurasia in the mesozoic and cenozoic abstract thirteen time interval maps were constructed which depict the triassic to neogene plate tectonic configuration paleogeography and general lithofacies of the southern margin of eurasia the aim of this paper is to provide an outline of the geodynamic evolution and position of the major tectonic elements of the area within a global framework the hercynian orogeny was completed by the collision of gondwana and laurussia whereas the tethys ocean formed the embayment between the eurasian and gondwanian branches of pangea during late triassic early jurassic times several microplates were sutured to the eurasian margin closing the paleotethys ocean a jurassic cretaceous north dipping subduction boundary was developed along this new continental margin south of the pontides transcaucasus and iranian plates the subduction zone trench pulling effect caused rifting creating the back arc basin of the greater caucasus proto south caspian sea which achieved its maximum width during the late cretaceous in the western tethys separation of eurasia from gondwana resulted in the formation of the ligurian penninic pieniny magura ocean alpine tethys as an extension of middle atlantic system and a part of the pangean breakup tectonic system during late jurassic early cretaceous times the outer carpathian rift developed the opening of the western black sea occurred by rifting and drifting of the western central pontides away from the moesian and scythian platforms of eurasia during the early cretaceous cenomanian the latest cretaceous paleogene was the time of the closure of the ligurian pieniny ocean adria alcapa terranes continued their northward movement during eocene early miocene times their oblique collision with the north european plate led to the development of the accretionary wedge of the outer carpathians and its foreland basin the formation of the west carpathian thrusts was completed by the miocene the thrust front was still propagating eastwards in the eastern carpathians during the late cretaceous the lesser caucasus sanandaj sirjan and makran plates were sutured to the iranian afghanistan plates in the caucasus caspian sea area a north dipping subduction zone jumped during paleogene to the scythian turan platform the shatski terrane moved northward closing the greater caucasus basin and opening the eastern black sea the south caspian underwent reorganization during oligocene neogene times the southwestern part of the south caspian basin was reopened while the northwestern part was gradually reduced in size the collision of india and the lut plate with eurasia caused the deformation of central asia and created a system of nw se wrench faults the remnants of jurassic cretaceous back arc systems oceanic and attenuated crust as well as tertiary oceanic and attenuated crust were locked between adjacent continental plates and orogenic systems

late cenozoic and modern stress fields in the western fars iran implications for the tectonic and kinematic evolution of central zagros 1 the zagros iran developed during mio pliocene times in response to arabia eurasia convergence the western fars highlights a major bend of the deformation front and displays a remarkable set of nearly n s right lateral strike slip faults the kazerun borazjan karebass sabz pushan sarvestan faults oblique at high angle to the belt the region likely plays a major kinematic role by accommodating the change in shortening modes from partitioned in the western central zagros to nonpartitioned in the eastern zagros the inversion of focal mechanisms from small and moderate earthquakes shows a consistent n020 030 compression with a low ratio between differential stresses this regime accounts for the combination of strike slip and thrust type mechanisms through likely 2 3 permutations fault slip analysis reveals two successive late cenozoic regional compressional trends ne sw then n020 the latter is in good agreement with the present day stress the significance of the ne sw compression is discussed alternatively in terms of stress deviations or block rotations in relation to the strike slip fault system fieldwork and satellite imagery suggest that these faults behave first as transfer faults during folding of the cover and later as strike slip faults in agreement with the succession of stress regimes and the evolution of the dominant deformation style from thin skinned to thick skinned the first order stability of the collision related state of stress since 5 ma supports that the arabia eurasia convergence did not give rise to partitioning in the western fars but rather was and is still accommodated by distributed deformation involving both shortening and strike slip motion throughout the cover and the basement

oroclinal bending distributed thrust and strike slip faulting and the accommodation of arabia eurasia convergence in ne iran since the oligocene regional shortening is accommodated across ne iran in response to the collision of arabia with eurasia we examine how n s shortening is achieved on major thrust systems bounding the eastern branch of the alborz east of 57 e sabzevar and kuh e sorkh mountain ranges which lie south of the kopeh dagh mountains in ne iran although these ranges have experienced relatively few large earthquakes over the last 50 yr they have been subject to a number of devastating historical events at neyshabur esfarayen and sabzevar a significant change in the tectonics of the eastern alborz occurs directly south of the central kopeh dagh near 57 e to the east shortening occurs on major thrust faults which bound the southern margin of the range resulting in significant crustal thickening and forming peaks up to 3000 m high active shortening dies out eastward into afghanistan which is thought to belong to stable eurasia the rate of shortening across thrust faults bounding the south side of the eastern alborz north of neyshabur is determined using optically stimulated luminescence dating of displaced river deposits and is likely to be 0 4 1 7 mm yr 1 shortening across the sabzevar range 150 km west of neyshabur has previously been determined at 0 4 0 6 mm yr 1 although reassessment of the rate here suggests it may be as high as 1 mm yr 1 migration of thrust faulting into foreland basins is common across ne iran especially in the esfarayen region near 57 e where the northward deflection of the east alborz range reaches a maximum of 200 20 km from its presumed linear e w strike at the beginning of the oligocene west of 57 e the tectonics of the alborz are affected by the westward motion of the south caspian region which results in the partitioning of shortening onto separate thrust and left lateral strike slip faults north and south of the range at the longitude of 59 e published gps velocities indicate that 50 per cent of the overall shortening across ne iran is accommodated in the kopeh dagh the remaining 50 per cent regional shortening must therefore be accommodated south of the kopeh dagh in the eastern alborz and kuh e sorkh ranges assuming present day rates of slip and the fault kinematics are representative of the late cenozoic deformation in ne iran the total 200 20 km n s shortening across the eastern alborz and kopeh dagh mountains since the beginning of uplift of the kopeh dagh basin would be accommodated in 30 8 ma although this extrapolation may be inappropriate over such a long timescale the age is nevertheless consistent with geological estimates of post early to middle oligocene 30 ma for the onset of kopeh dagh uplift

seismic structure near the inner core boundary in the south polar region 1 it is crucial to obtain good spatial coverage of seismic data points for better understanding the earth s core but the core beneath the polar regions remains largely unexplored we analyzed differential traveltimes and amplitude ratios of core phases whose raypaths run beneath antarctica for determining the vp and qp structure near the inner core boundary in the south polar region the model we obtained south polar region model spr is described relative to the preliminary reference earth model prem as follows a 0 05 km s lower vp value at the top of the inner core a 1 5 times steeper vp gradient in the upper 300 km of the inner core a smaller qp 300 in the upper 300 km of the inner core and a 0 04 km s lower vp at the bottom of the outer core the vp values of spr in the lowermost outer core lie between those of prem and ak135 being closer to those of ak135 the lowermost outer core vp inside the tangent cylinder is thus close to the global average in the upper inner core spr has lower vp than ak135 and prem the spr vp profile is close to that of previous models for the western hemisphere although most of our data sample the eastern hemisphere of the inner core our results indicate that the inner core does not have a simple hemispherical variation as usually supposed our data support an eyeball shaped high vp anomaly with compressional velocity higher than in 1 d reference earth models concentrated to a smaller region beneath eastern asia

paleoenvironmental significance of clay mineral associations at the cretaceous tertiary passage abstract the clay mineral stratigraphy at the cretaceous tertiary transition is considered by the study of new sections walvis ridge maud rise central italy northern tunisia which are compared with results of previous investigations increased contents of smectite and or kaolinite or substrate derived species e g illite group depending on the areas investigated are observed near the boundary these diversified modifications indicate increased erosion and predominance of local detrital supply including that of volcanic rocks over general related causes most probably these modifications of clay mineral associations express a major geodynamic disruption characterized by tectonic instability and sea level drop those events began prior to the cretaceous tertiary boundary i e prior to the major iridium anomaly recorded in sediments this could explain why a catastrophic event at the cretaceous tertiary boundary is hardly evidenced in the clay sedimentological record which is extremely sensitive to the global changes in the earth s terrestrial environment

reconstruction of equilibrium line altitudes for tropical and sub tropical glaciers past fluctuations of tropical and sub tropical glaciers provide important palaeoclimate proxies for regions where other forms of evidence are rare however published equilibrium line altitude ela estimates for tropical and sub tropical glaciers at the lgm vary widely reflecting the diversity of methods and approaches employed by different research groups this complicates regional and global comparisons of ela estimates and emphasises the need for standardised methods the distinctive character of tropical and sub tropical glaciers however means that standard methods for reconstructing former glacier limits elas and palaeoclimate need to be adapted for local conditions many methods of ela reconstruction explicitly or implicitly make assumptions about glacier mass balance gradients and care needs to be taken that the choice of accumulation area ratios aars balance ratios brs and terminus to head ratios thars is appropriate as such indices are influenced by climatic regime debris cover and other factors ela reconstructions should employ multiple methods and should be cross checked and fully reported to allow assessment of the accuracy of ela estimates reliable glacier chronologies are equally important dating should be based on multiple radiometric techniques wherever possible and method of dating the type of material dated and the context of the date must all be reported

the late quaternary glaciation of africa a regional synthesis abstract there are numerous mountain ranges in africa which carry evidence of quaternary glaciation though few have glaciers now and these are rapidly disappearing the best studied sites are in east africa and ethiopia in east africa the three highest mountains kilimanjaro kenya and the rwenzori each have evidence of 3 5 major glaciations dating back to an estimated 400 000 bp one of which is dated to the last glacial maximum lgm by radiocarbon or cosmogenic radionucleide crn methods two other mountains have similar large moraine systems inferred to date to the lgm in ethiopia three mountains have clear evidence of glaciation and on two of them radiocarbon dates give minimum ages which suggest that these are lgm features in north africa the atlas and other groups of mountains have evidence of glaciation but in the absence of any dating it is unclear whether these sites were glaciated at the lgm although geomorphic features resembling moraines and protalus ramparts have been described from the drakensberg mountains south africa it is still unclear whether these features indicate glaciation and can be attributed to the lgm thus although circumstances for fieldwork on african mountains are very difficult in many cases investigations for more than a century provide an extensive picture of quaternary glaciation in some cases there has been an increasingly detailed mapping of field evidence and the first crn dates were carried out recently thus improving the global picture considerably particularly in east africa and ethiopia there is sufficiently reliable field information to make useful estimates of equilibrium line altitude changes at the provisionally identified lgm but this age needs confirmation by further crn dating by making some hypothetical assumptions inferences can be drawn that indicate a temperature lowering of 5 6 c during the lgm elsewhere in africa further field surveys are required

fabric variability associated with periglacial mass wasting at eagle summit alaska fabric analysis is a frequently applied technique and when used in concert with other tools aids the interpretation of glacigenic and colluvial depositional environments the research presented here focuses on its application to periglacial colluvium using a stratified systematic unaligned sampling framework in order to assess the variation of fabrics generated the range of possible variation in fabric is necessary information for its application to periglacial paleoenvironmental interpretation fabric strength and shape from 68 samples of 50 stones each on a range of microgeomorphic settings across terrain influenced by periglacial mass wasting in central alaska were analyzed in relation to local slope orientation clast characteristics organic mat thickness stone density distance downslope from the divide soil texture and soil moisture principal components analysis pca was used to reduce stone characteristics to three factors multiple regression analyses of the three factors and environmental variables with the fabric strength parameters as dependent variables indicate that stone characteristics particularly size and platyness are the most significant factors determining fabric strength no distinct fabric strength or shape was associated with specific landforms these results raise serious doubts as to the time cost effectiveness of the application of fabric analysis as a paleoenvironmental tool to identify periglacial landforms from their deposits

what triggers the transition of palaeoenvironmental patterns in china the tibetan plateau uplift or the paratethys sea retreat abstract geological research has illustrated the transition of palaeoenvironmental patterns by the earliest miocene from a planetary wind dominant type to a monsoon dominant type indicating that the east asian monsoon became markedly intensified and played a leading role in the east asian climate from a modeling point of view the pioneering research using the reduced number of scenarios had demonstrated that both the tibetan plateau uplift and the paratethys sea retreat were important for understanding the asian monsoon evolution however the sensitivity of the paratethys retreat to the east asian climate still needs further studies based on the more detailed scenarios thirty numerical experiments under the six paratethys sea and the five tibetan plateau conditions illustrate the shifts from zonal climate to the monsoon climate in east asia the results confirm again that both the paratethys retreat and the tibetan plateau uplift play important roles in the formation of the monsoon dominant environmental pattern and show that the paratethys retreat can strengthen the east asian monsoon and greatly increase humidity and aridity respectively in the monsoon areas and northwest china which is similar to the impact of the tibetan plateau uplift on the east asian climate furthermore the fact that the paratethys sea retreats to the turan plate is found to be the key criterion for the palaeoenvironmental patterns transition in china the shrinkage of paratethys sea leads to the reconstructions of the pressure system and the atmospheric circulations which result in the variations of precipitation and the transition of palaeoenvironmental patterns

middle to late miocene middle eastern climate from stable oxygen and carbon isotope data southern alborz mountains n iran abstract the alborz mountains of northern iran intercept and divert the northern hemisphere westerlies carrying moisture from the mediterranean and black sea and form an orographic barrier to moisture sourced to the north in the caspian sea this implies that terrestrial deposits along the southern alborz mountains leeward side of northerly winds and windward side of westerlies with the respect to tibet and other mountainous terrain in the himalayan karakoram realm potentially track changes in past moisture and erosional regimes and mirror rainfall patterns here we present results of a stable isotope analysis and clay mineral study of the miocene ca 17 5 7 6 ma upper red formation in the foreland of the southern alborz mountains the changes recorded by stable oxygen and carbon isotope data from pedogenic and lacustrine palustrine carbonate in the southern alborz mountains suggest 1 an increase in aridity possibly related to the evolution of the alborz orographic rain shadow which became more efficient between 17 5 and 13 2 ma 2 a steady increase in precipitation between 13 2 and 10 3 ma with a significant increase in rainout along the southern slope of the alborz mountains between 11 and 10 3 ma possibly related to perturbations in atmospheric circulation pattern in the northern hemisphere as suggested by coeval wetter phases in southern europe and 3 a decrease in aridity from ca 9 6 to 7 6 ma possibly reflecting an increase in the seasonality of precipitation based on environmental and climatic changes observed across southern asia and india starting from ca 10 ma we speculate that the topographic evolution of the himalayan tibetan system might have affected the late miocene climate in middle east

oligocene and early miocene coral faunas from iran palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography oligocene and early miocene coral assemblages from three sections of central iran are investigated with respect to their palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographic implications these corals are compared with faunas from the mediterranean tethys and the indopacific associated larger foraminifers are used for biostratigraphy and to support the palaeoecological interpretation the studied sections are situated in the foreland basins of the iranian plate which is structured into a fore arc and a back arc basin separated by a volcanic arc the coral assemblages from abadeh indicate a shallowing upward trend infrequently distributed solitary corals at the base of the section indicate a turbid environment above a distinct horizon characterised by a leptoseris stylophora assemblage associated with lepidocyclinids and planktonic foraminifers is interpreted as maximum flooding surface small patch reefs with a porites faviidae assemblage are a common feature of late oligocene to early miocene coral occurrences and indicate water depths of less than 20 m the diversity of the coral faunas shows marked differences oligocene corals from the esfahan sirjan fore arc basin comprise more than 45 species of 32 genera and occur in a wide range of environments early miocene corals from the qom back arc basin are less frequent show a lower diversity 13 genera with 15 species and occur in single horizons or small patch reefs

seismic imaging of the lithospheric structure of the zagros mountain belt iran we present a synthesis and a comparison of the results of two temporary passive seismic experiments installed for a few months across central and northern zagros the receiver function analysis of teleseismic earthquake records gives a high resolution image of the moho beneath the seismic transects on both cross sections the crust has an average thickness of 43 2 km beneath the zagros fold and thrust belt and the central domain the crust is thicker beneath the hanging wall of the main zagros reverse fault mzrf with a larger maximum moho depth in central 69 2 km than in northern zagros 56 2 km the thickening affects a narrower region 170 km beneath the sanandaj sirjan zone of central zagros and a wider region 320 km in northern zagros we propose that this thickening is related to overthrusting of the crust of the arabian margin by the crust of central iran along the mzrf considered as a major thrust fault cross cutting the whole crust the fault is imaged as a lowvelocity layer in the receiver function data of the northern zagros profile moreover the crustal scale thrust model reconciles the imaged seismic moho with the bouguer anomaly data measured on the central zagros transect at upper mantle depth p wave tomography confirms the previously observed strong contrast between the faster velocities of the arabian margin and the lower velocities of the iranian micro blocks our higher resolution tomography combined with surface wave analysis locates the suture in the shallow mantle of the sanandaj sirjan zone beneath central zagros the arabian upper mantle has shield like shear wave velocities while the lower velocities of the iranian upper mantle are likely due to higher temperature but these velocities are not low enough and the low velocity layer not thick enough to conclude on a delamination of the lithospheric mantle lid beneath iran the lack of a high velocity anomaly in the mantle beneath central iran suggests that the neotethyan oceanic lithosphere is probably detached from the arabian margin

comparisons of the kinematics and deep structures of the zagros and himalaya and of the iranian and tibetan plateaus and geodynamic implications 1 we compare the geologic histories the deep structures and the present day kinematics of deformation of the himalaya and the adjacent tibetan plateau with those of the zagros and iranian plateau to test geodynamic processes of continental collision shortly after india and arabia collided with eurasia horizontal shortening manifested itself by folding and thrust faulting of sedimentary rock detached from india s and arabia s underlying crystalline basement subsequently slip on thrust faults stacked slices of india s basement to build the himalaya on india s northern margin such faulting has not yet developed in the zagros where collision is more recent and arabia penetrates into eurasia more slowly than india does so that postcollision convergence with eurasia is less the greater elevation thicker crust and more marked heterogeneity of the upper mantle beneath the tibetan than beneath the iranian plateau also reflect a more advanced stage of development moreover while thrust or reverse faulting and crustal shortening continue on the margins of both plateaus normal faulting suggesting horizontal extension and crustal thinning occurs within tibet but not in iran hence the balance of forces that built the high tibetan plateau must have changed apparently some time since 15 ma removal of tibetan mantle lithosphere could have altered that balance if mantle lithosphere beneath the iranian plateau has been removed however the change in force balance has been too small to initiate normal faulting low seismic wave speeds in the uppermost mantle just beneath the moho of both plateaus suggest to us that lithosphere beneath both is thin consistent with late cenozoic removal of it but alternative explanations might account for these low speeds despite its apparently thin and hence presumably weak mantle lithosphere much of central iran undergoes little deformation it illustrates how a crustal block can behave rigidly not necessarily because it is strong but because deviatoric stresses can be small whereas differences between the two regions clearly depend on the amount that arabia and india have penetrated into eurasia which scales with both the dates of collision and rates of convergence we see no differences in the operative processes that depend on the present day rates of convergence

tectonic control on sedimentary facies pattern and sediment accumulation rates in the miocene foreland basin of the southern alborz mountains northern iran 1 the southern alborz mountains of northern iran are an integral part of the arabia eurasia collision zone a magnetostratigraphic and rock magnetic investigation of the eyvanekey stratigraphic section in the southern alborz mountains reveals the spatiotemporal character of sedimentary facies migration in the alborz foreland basin the section constitutes three coarsening upward units units 1 2 and 3 comprising the upper red and hezardarreh formations our data reveal that the upper red formation was deposited between 17 5 and 7 5 ma while the depositional age of the top of the hezardarreh formation can be extrapolated to 6 2 ma slow sediment accumulation rates correlate with sedimentary facies comprising prograding coarsening upward units this is likely the result of intraforeland uplift units 1 and 2 and basin inversion probably associated with a growth syncline located in the proximal foreland unit 3 in contrast fine grained strata at the bottom of each cycle are associated with faster sediment accumulation rates testifying to enhanced flexural basin subsidence in the course of thrust loading progradation of coarse grained facies also occurred during relatively fast sediment accumulation top of unit 2 suggesting that the influx of coarse grained sediment outpaced the storage capacity of the proximal foreland thus despite an overall southward propagation of deformation into the southern alborz foreland the locus of active deformation must have migrated back and forth on a time scale of circa 0 7 to 2 ma

constraints on arabian plate motion and extensional history of the red sea analysis of the geologic and geophysical data from the western and northern margin of the arabian plate combined with data from the red sea gulf of aden leads to an interpretation of arabian plate motion that supports an episodic extensional history in the red sea and gulf of aden phase 1 extension began in medial to late eocene and was caused by the nw propagation of the reoriented central indian ridge spreading center it stretched and thinned continental crust along numerous wrench and normal faults that reactivated preexisting structures first phase extension stopped when the arabian plate terminally sutured to eurasia in the medial miocene and halted northward movement of arabia relative to africa the combined african arabian plates moved north more slowly constricting and thickening continental crust in the bitlis zagros sutures while the red sea remained technically quiescent and accumulated salt by the early pliocene continued northward movement was accommodated by lateral extrusion of large continental wedges north of the bitlis zagros sutures this allowed arabia to move northward faster than africa and reopen the red sea where phase 2 extension was expressed by seafloor spreading extension within the red sea gulf of aden rift system has been controlled by the interactions and effects of two factors 1 convergent processes between the north margin of the arabian plate and the eurasian plate to the north and 2 northwest propagation of extension associated with the medial eocene reorganization of the central indian spreading center

calcite twinning constraints on late neogene stress patterns and deformation mechanisms in the active zagros collision belt mechanically induced calcite twins in veins and host rocks of late cretaceous to miocene age in iran have been used to determine regional arabia eurasia collisional stresses a late folding stress regime with a compression oriented 025 15 has been identified across the zagros belt and the southern iranian plateau this late neogene stress pattern agrees with the current stress field determined from the focal mechanisms of basement earthquakes and suggests that the hormuz salt decollement poorly decouples the basement and cover stress fields our data show that the collisional state of stress has been relatively constant since ca 5 ma the magnitudes of the stresses obtained from the twinning analysis are unexpectedly low and to a first approximation they are constant across the zagros simply folded belt this result supports an overall mechanism of buckling of the detached zagros cover internal viscous plastic processes help to relieve stress within this cover thus lowering its seismogenic potential beyond these regional implications this study underlines the potential of paleostress analyses in constraining both the tectonics and the mechanics of ancient and active foreland fold belts

convergence history across zagros iran constraints from collisional and earlier deformation the zagros orogen provides a unique opportunity within the alpine system to evaluate the interplay between a young tertiary collision and earlier subduction obduction processes within the crush zone and the sanandaj sirjan internal zone separating the zagros fold belt from central iran we document several major tectonic events taking place at the end of the cretaceous of the eocene and from the mio pliocene onwards ca 20 15 ma contrary to recent interpretations our data cross sections and description of the overall deformation style strongly suggest that the main zagros thrust mzt is deeply rooted possibly to moho depths and that the suture zone effectively runs along the mzt field observations show that the final resorption of the oceanic domain took place slightly after 35 ma and that collision must have started before ca 23 25 ma in northern zagros the shortening rate across the crush zone since the mid miocene 20 15 ma is estimated at a minimum 3 4 mm year shear movements in the crush zone during the eocene oligocene period and extensional strike slip movements in the internal zones during the late cretaceous point to an oblique setting early in the convergence history a geotectonic scenario for convergence from the time of obduction to the present is finally proposed

constraints on miocene oceanography and climate in the western and central paratethys o sr and nd isotope compositions of marine fish and mammal remains abstract the paratethys evolved as a marginal sea during the alpine himalayan orogeny in the oligo miocene sediments from the northern alpine molasse basin the vienna and the pannonian basins located in the western and central part of the paratethys thus provide unique information on regional changes in climate and oceanography during a period of active alpine uplift oxygen isotope compositions of well preserved phosphatic fossils recovered from the sediments support deposition under sub tropical to warm temperate climate with water temperatures of 14 to 28 c for the miocene 18o values of fossil shark teeth are similar to those reported for other miocene marine sections and using the best available estimates of their biostratigraphic age show a variation until the end of the badenian similar to that reported for composite global record the 87sr 86sr isotope ratios of the fossils follow the global miocene seawater trend albeit with a much larger scatter the deviations of 87sr 86sr in the samples from the well constrained seawater curve are interpreted as due to local input of terrestrially derived sr contribution of local sources is also reflected in the end values consistent with input from ancient crystalline rocks e g bohemian massif and or mesozoic sediments with end 7 excluding samples showing local influence on the water column an average end value of 7 9 0 5 may be inferred for the miocene paratethys this value is indistinguishable from the end value of the contemporaneous indian ocean supporting a dominant role of this ocean in the western and central paratethys

geomorphological investigation on gully erosion in the rift valley and the northern highlands of ethiopia abstract gully erosion phenomena are very common in ethiopia they affect large areas with different morphological pedological and climatic characteristics the amount of soil loss due to gullying has become a very serious problem in the recent decades as it was associated to remarkable depletion of cultivated land field investigations on gully morphology and its genetic processes were carried out in two study areas of ethiopia representative of different geo environmental conditions the lakes region in the rift portion north of shashamene and the area surrounding the town of mekele in tigray two main types of gullies were identified on the basis of their morphological and hydraulic geometry characteristics 1 discontinuous gullies which generally develop on low gradient slopes 1 5 on average and the hydraulic radius of which increases from an upstream minimum to a maximum at approximately their mid length and decreases again to a relative minimum at their downstream end and 2 stream gullies formed by deep erosion processes typically migrating upslope in order to investigate the main causes originating the different types of gullies shear stress data were collected in the field from their hydraulic geometry hypotheses on the mechanisms responsible for both discontinuous and stream gullies development and for their different characteristics are discussed considering the pattern of shear stress variation in the downstream direction

multi tracer study of continental erosion and sediment transport to the red sea and the gulf of aden during the last 20 ka abstract mineralogical compositions and grain size distributions combined with 87sr 86sr and end values of the detrital fraction were studied on cores recovered from the gulf of aden md92 1002 and the red sea md92 1008 basins in order to document past changes in indian monsoon and northwesterly winds during the last glacial interglacial transition the last 20 ka encompassing the african humid period ahp the end vs 87sr 86sr plot indicates that sediments result from the mixing of two main sedimentary sources corresponding to the afar volcanic rocks in ethiopia and to the arabian nubian shield variations of sediment isotopic and mineralogical composition point to a diminution of the volcanic source contribution during the last deglaciation changes of mineral accumulation rates and grain size distributions denote a decline in the aridity of the source regions during the holocene particularly of the afar volcanic region in this area the reduction of detrital supply from 15 cal ka bp can be explained by an increase of precipitations during the ahp which resulted in an expansion of the vegetation cover and lake extensions in east africa in the arabian peninsula precipitations were confined to the south allowing sediments to be transported even during the holocene our data suggest that the southwest monsoon was not the main carrier of aeolian sediments to the red sea and gulf of aden basins but the northwesterlies in the red sea the isotopic and mineralogical tracers reveal a contribution from saharan dust between 16 and 12 cal ka bp transported from the nile catchment after aridification during heinrich event 1

the eocene bimodal piranshahr massif of the sanandaj sirjan zone nw iran a marker of the end of the collision in the zagros orogen abstract the bimodal piranshahr massif is composed of coeval but geochemically unrelated mafic 40 7 0 2 ma zircon u pb sensitive high resolution ion microprobe shrimp age and a type felsic rocks 41 0 5 ma rb sr and 41 3 0 8 ma zircon u pb shrimp age the mafic rocks consist of two geochemical types of gabbros that derived from different magmas the more abundant gabbros are moderately alkaline have ratios of large ion lithophile elements to ree and high field strength elements to ree similar to those of intraplate mantle magmas 87 sr 86 sr 41 ma 0 7036 and e nd 41 ma 7 2 the less abundant gabbros have calc alkaline affinities 87 sr 86 sr 41 ma 0 7043 and e nd 41 ma 4 78 felsic rocks are metaluminous a2 type annite fayalite hedenbergite hypersolvus leucocratic coarse grained agpaitic syenites pulaskites and granites with 87 sr 86 sr 41 ma 0 7048 and e nd 41 ma 3 6 4 5 syenites pulaskites and granites are genetically related pulaskites probably represent alkali enriched water rich residual melts from which an f rich vapour phase was later separated granites were probably generated during open system processes in which f rich hydrous alkaline fluids released from the syenites acted upon pre existing felsic rocks the c 41 ma age of the post collisional piranshahr massif indicates that the related collision probably occurred at 50 60 ma i e late palaeocene or early eocene thus resolving a much debated question

mineralogical geochemical and isotopic evolution of two miocene mafic intrusions from the zagros iran abstract in the zagros mountain belt which represents in iran the collision zone between eurasian and arabian african plates large plutonic intrusions were emplaced during miocene times these massifs are composed of layered cumulates with sequences of fine grained texturally isotropic rocks from dominant gabbros to subordinated felsic rocks for this study two intrusions have been selected according to the geotectonic site of their emplacement the tah intrusion is located in the ophiolitic zone representing the remnants of the tethyan seafloor whilst the kharsareh intrusion is emplaced in the sanandaj sirjan metamorphic domain which corresponds to the border of the central iran plate starting with equivalent cumulates and gabbros the evolution of the two intrusions are clearly different the tah rock series comprises syenogabbros syenodiorites and syenites whereas silica oversaturated rocks appear in the karsareh series with the sequence of monzodiorites quartz monzonites and monzogranites the two intrusions show regular variations in their mineralogical and geochemical characters suggesting a direct genetic relationship within each rock series sr and nd isotopic compositions show smaller variations in the tah intrusion with sr and nd values respectively in the 6 7 to 12 4 and 3 3 to 5 4 ranges than in the karsareh intrusion with equivalent ranges of 16 to 99 and 0 4 to 5 2 the na k ba sr rb and ree contents of the gabbros although not truly representative of the primary magmas are typical of transitional basalts a two step combined wall rock contamination and crystal fractionation process would account for the evolution of the two series isotopic modelling suggests that during the first step which affects both intrusions the wall rocks would be basaltic rocks whereas during the second one only acting in the kharsareh intrusion the wall rock would be a hydrous continental crust the major differences between the two intrusions have been related to the geotectonic site of their emplacement

arabia eurasia collision and the forcing of mid cenozoic global cooling the end of the eocene greenhouse world was the most dramatic phase in the long term cooling trend of the cenozoic era here we show that the arabia eurasia collision and the closure of the tethys ocean gateway began in the late eocene at 35 ma up to 25 million years earlier than in many reconstructions we suggest that global cooling was forced by processes associated with the initial collision that reduced atmospheric co2 these are 1 waning volcanism across southwest asia 2 increased organic carbon storage in paratethyan basins e g black sea and south caspian 3 increased silicate weathering in the collision zone and 4 a shift towards modern patterns of ocean currents associated with increased vigour in circulation and organic productivity

late cenozoic reorganization of the arabia eurasia collision and the comparison of short term and long term deformation rates the arabia eurasia collision deforms an area of 3 000 000 km2 of continental crust making it one of the largest regions of convergent deformation on earth there are now estimates for the active slip rates total convergence and timing of collision related deformation of regions from western turkey to eastern iran this paper shows that extrapolating the present day slip rates of many active fault systems for 3 7 million years accounts for their total displacement this result means that the present kinematics of the arabia eurasia collision are unlikely be the same as at its start which was probably in the early miocene 16 23 ma or earlier in some but not all active fault systems short term 10 year and long term 5 million year average deformation rates are consistent there is little active thickening across the turkish iranian plateau and possibly the interior of the greater caucasus these are two areas where present shortening rates would need more than 7 million years to account for the total crustal thickening and where there are structural and or stratigraphic data for pre late miocene deformation we suggest that once thick crust up to 60 km built up in the turkish iranian plateau and the greater caucasus convergence took place more easily by crustal shortening in less elevated regions such as the zagros simple folded zone the south caspian region and foothills of the greater caucasus or in other ways such as westward transport of turkey between the north and east anatolian faults the time and duration of this changeover are not known for certain and are likely be diachronous although deformation started or intensified in many of the currently active fault systems at 5 2 ma

quaternary glaciations in africa abstract glaciers were active on the african mountains during several periods of the quaternary evidence exists of three old glaciations before 100 ka bp on kilimanjaro and two on mount kenya and ruwenzori the last glaciation which was synchronous with the last major glacial phase in temperate latitudes affected kilimanjaro mount kenya ruwenzori nyandarua range mount elgon the ethiopian highlands and several of the high mountains within and around the sahara desert the ice disappeared from most of these areas during the early holocene except from kilimanjaro mount kenya and ruwenzori where glaciers exist at the present day

geochemical 40ar 39ar age and isotopic data for crustal rocks of the neyriz ophiolite iran trace element data including the rare earth elements in the crustal sequence of the neotethyan neyriz ophiolite in southwest iran indicate normal mid ocean ridge basalt n morb or island arc tholeiite chemistry for the tang e hana basalt the data suggest that the tang e hana rhyodacite basalt plagiogranite and gabbro derived from a low k tholeiitic parent magma trace element distributions in amphibolite clasts in the sole detachment of the ophiolite south of lake neyriz correlate well with distributions in basalt clasts in the melange and in the tang e hana basalt these trace elements suggest that the amphibolite originated from metamorphism and deformation of a tholeiitic basalt protolith new 40 ar 39 ar incremental heating plateau ages from two hornblende plagiogranite specimens in the crustal sequence in tang e hana are 92 07 1 69 and 93 19 2 48 ma isotopic data for five tang e hana basalts yield end values of 7 8 and 7 9 and 87 sr 86 sr values of 0 70368 to 0 70476 the isotopic compositions ophiolite tectonostratigraphy and correlation of the 40 ar 39 ar cooling plagiogranite and deformation amphibolite ages suggest emplacement of the neyriz ophiolite either into an accretionary prism through offscraping and subduction erosion and or formation in a supra subduction zone environment around 82 96 ma progressive accretion probably led to the de velopment of a fore arc basin and deposition of upper cretaceous eocene fore arc and arc derived sediments on the ophiolite resume des donnees sur les elements traces incluant les terres rares dans la sequence crustale de l ophiolite neo tethysienne de neyriz dans le sud ouest de l iran indiquent que le basalte de tang e hana est de type basalte oceanique de type n n morb ou une tholeiite d arc insulaire les donnees recueillies suggerent que la rhyodacite le basalte le plagiogranite et le gabbro de tang e hana proviennent d un magma tholeiitique parent a faible teneur potassique la repartition des elements traces dans les clastes amphiboliques dans l unique portion separee de l ophiolite au sud du lac neyriz est en bonne correlation avec celle trouvee dans les clastes basaltiques du melange ophiolitique et du basalte de tang e hana ces elements traces laissent penser que l amphibolite provient du metamorphisme et de la deformation d un protolithe de basalte tholeiitique de nouveaux ges 40 ar 39 ar par paliers de temperature pour deux specimens de plagiogranite a hornblende appartenant a la sequence crustale de tang e hana ont donne des valeurs de 92 07 1 69 ma et de 93 19 2 48 ma des donnees isotopiques de cinq basaltes de tang e hana ont donne des valeurs end de 7 8 et de 7 9 et des valeurs 87 sr 86 sr de 0 70368 a 0 70476 les compositions isotopiques la tectonostratigraphie ophiolitique et la correlation entre les ges 40 ar 39 ar de refroidissement plagiogranite et de deformation amphibolite laissent croire que l ophiolite de neyriz a ete mise en place dans le prisme d accretion sous l effet de l ecaillage et de l erosion par subduction et ou s est formee au sein d un environnement a zone de supra subduction il y environ 82 ma a 96 ma l accretion graduelle a probablement conduit au developpement d un bassin d avant arc et au depot de sediments provenant de l avant arc et de l arc sur l ophiolite au cours du cretace superieur et de l eocene

slip partitioning and inclined dextral transpression along the zagros thrust system iran abstract flexural duplex structures and shear zones are well developed in the heneshk area in southwestern iran the zagros thrust system in this area consists of eight sheets of nw striking ne dipping dextral strike slip duplexes that are linked with imbricate fans and oblique slip thrusts the zagros thrust system is a portion of the internal zone of the zagros orogenic belt this internal zone is characterized by penetrative plastic deformation and metamorphism based on the kinematic vorticity number w k 0 73 0 02 calculated from quartz porphyroclasts of the goshti shear zones along the zagros thrust system the estimated angle between the maximum instantaneous strain axis isa and the transpressional zone boundary is 33 the estimated angle of the plate convergence or the flow apophysis of the displacement field is 25 the presence of dominantly dextral shear sense indicators in the area is consistent with dextral inclined transpressional convergence the mean estimated finite deformation w m value indicates relative contributions of 47 pure shear and 53 simple shear for the deformation which involved both strike slip and oblique slip displacements in this inclined transpression about 40 strike slip partitioning was required to accommodate the finite strain and re orientation of instantaneous strain

the historical legacy of spatial scales in freeze thaw weathering misrepresentation and resulting misdirection discussion of weathering in cold regions has historically been dominated by widespread acceptance of the significance of the freeze thaw concept among periglacial geomorphologists and an essentially universal acceptance by those geomorphologists not directly involved in researching the topic debris produced by freeze thaw is frequently deemed to be angular in form and the observation of such debris has been used to identify the former or present operation of this weathering mechanism large debris blocks and small debris grains or flakes have been recognised as the outcome of the two scales of freeze thaw weathering macrogelivation and microgelivation respectively however the fusion of climatic geomorphology and process geomorphology in the ongoing development of the freeze thaw concept has resulted in the confusion of product with process whereby microgelivation producing small products and macrogelivation producing large products are seen due to the product dichotomy as distinctly different processes despite the recent highly sophisticated laboratory experimentation on freeze thaw weathering this historical process scale dichotomy still pervades thinking and experimental evaluation here we consider the historical development of microgelivation macrogelivation and outline what are thought to be fundamental flaws with the concepts and their underpinnings built within the two notions are elements of rock properties hard and soft and scale issues regarding rock attributes solid rock and existing weaknesses in rock that serve only to confuse the process and scale issues even more the whole notion of frost weathered debris having a specific form is also highly spurious there being no shape attribute that is uniquely diagnostic of frost action and this in turn leads to the further problem of process synergy or other processes entirely being the cause of rock failure in cold regions ultimately we argue that while there may be a range of product sizes and shapes resulting from frost weathering per se the widely invoked scale concepts are fraught with problems and are best dropped as too are any process shape connotations

effect of orogeny plate motion and land sea distribution on eurasian climate change over the past 30 million years the eurasian climates of today 10 million and 3o million years ago are simulated using an atmospheric general circulation model that incorporates realistic continental geography and epicontinental sea distributions the resulting climates compare well with various palaeoclimate records the retreat of the paratethys an epicontinental sea shifts the central asian climate from temperate to continental conditions and plays as important a role as uplift of the himalayan tibetan plateau in driving the asian monsoon changes

insights from the talysh of azerbaijan into the paleogene evolution of the south caspian region the age and mode of formation of the south caspian basin are disputed an 10 km thick predominantly middle eocene clastic and volcanic succession is exposed in the talysh mountains of azerbaijan at its western margin here high k alkali basalts pass laterally to the east and southeast into volcanogenic sandstone dominated turbidity current and debris flow deposits these southeasterly directed depositional systems accumulated in water depths generally greater than 200 m and fed directly into the western south caspian basin new ar ar ages cluster around 39 ma with an upper 1400 m thick volcanic interval being deposited in 2 2 0 2 m y we interpret that this rapid deposition and magmatism records a major back arc extensional transtensional event in the talysh north of the north dipping neotethyan subduction zone this event is recognized across much of southwest asia and may indicate a period of significant basin formation within the adjacent south caspian basin a transition into upper eocene lower oligocene strata dominated by fine grained turbidity current and hemipelagic sediments with slope instability features is interpreted to mark the end of rifting and volcanism in the talysh and the start of the arabia eurasia collision overlying oligocene coarse clastic rocks are interpreted as the erosional products of localized topography created by the further propagation of compressional deformation into the talysh region