effect of grain size on the distribution and transport of deep seated fluids and melts because permeability increases with the square of the grain size for a given fluid fraction it is commonly assumed that porous flow of fluids and melts is more effective in coarse grained domains of deep seated rocks this relative behavior is accurate however only as a description of two systems operating in isolation we demonstrate that if coarse and fine grained domains are in chemical communication then equilization of pore wall curvature across the system results in concentration of fluid or melt in domains of finer grain size because of this localization of fluid the permeability of the finer grained domains will match or exceed that of domains with coarser grains fluid focussing due to differences in grain size has potentially important implications for grain scale transport of metamorphic fluids including those released from subducting slabs into the sheared mantle wedge and also for partial melts in the mantle and deep crust

three dimensional velocity imaging of the kachchh seismic zone gujarat india abstract to understand the causative mechanism of the continued occurrence of earthquakes in kachchh gujarat for the last six years we estimated high resolution three dimensional vp vs and vp vs structures in the aftershock zones of the 2001 mw7 7 bhuj and 2006 mw5 6 gedi earthquakes we used 13 862 p and 13 736 s wave high quality arrival times collected from the seismograms of 2303 aftershocks recorded at 5 18 three component seismograph stations during 2001 06 seismic images revealed a marked spatial variation in the velocities from 20 to 14 in vp from 12 to 13 in vs and from 12 to 12 increase in vp vs in the 0 34 km depth range beneath the bhuj aftershock zone relatively more increase in vp than vs resulting in an increase in vp vs in the crust beneath the seismically active causative fault north wagad fault nwf zone of 2001 bhuj mainshock suggests a rigid mafic crust beneath the region they also delineate an increase of 8 in vp and 14 in vs and a decrease of 4 in vp vs in the almost vertical rupture zone of the 2006 gedi earthquake extending up to 12 km depth this high velocity body associated with the gedi mainshock is inferred to be a gabbroic intrusive the banni region and the wagad uplift are found to be associated with high velocity intrusive bodies inferred to be mafic extending from 5 to 35 km depth which might have intruded during the rifting in early jurassic 160 ma aftershock activity is mainly confined to the zones characterized by high vp high vs and low vp vs ratio which might be representing the strong competent and brittle parts of the fault zone intrusive bodies that could accumulate large strain energy for generating aftershocks for more than six years it is inferred that the crustal stress concentrations associated with the intrusive bodies are contributing significant perturbation to the crustal stress regime to generate the intraplate earthquakes in the kachchh rift zone a few patches of slow vp and vs and high vp vs between 10 to 30 km depth have also been detected on the causative 45 south dipping north wagad fault nwf for the 2001 mainshock which may be attributed to the fluid filled fractured rock matrix interestingly the 2001 bhuj mainshock hypocenter is found to be associated with such a low velocity patch thus it is inferred that the occurrence of 2001 bhuj mainshock might have facilitated by the presence of fluids at hypocentral depth

a low seismic wavespeed anomaly beneath northwestern india a seismic signature of the deccan plume abstract seismic tomography of the indian region using p wave arrival times reveals an approximately cylindrical region of lowered seismic velocities in the upper mantle to the north of the gulf of cambay and the present exposure of the deccan flood basalts this anomaly with low velocities interrupts the characteristically high seismic velocities in the lithosphere beneath peninsular india and extends from shallow depth down to a more extensive low velocity zone beneath 200 km the centre of the low velocity anomaly lies just below the earliest alkaline magmatism which has been directly associated with the deccan plume in the northern portion of the cambay graben these magmatic events precede the main deccan flood eruptions by at least 3 myr the lowered seismic wavespeeds link into the ancient narmada lineament and to some extent to the south but here unfortunately the tomographic image runs out of resolution synthetic tests indicate that such a zone of lowered wavespeeds can be recovered with some loss of amplitude towards the south the association of the current seismic anomaly with the deccan traps is intriguing since the cambay graben remains a place of raised heat flow one explanation would be that the seismic anomaly represents the signature of the initial conduit through which plume material forced its way through the lithosphere beneath the cambay rift the zone of lowered seismic velocities beneath the indian lithosphere might then represent the remains of the initial plume head which would need to have moved with india over the 65 myr since the deccan eruptions

seismic imaging of the aftershock zone of the 2001 mw 7 7 bhuj earthquake india 1 detailed seismic tomography reveals that the 2001 mw 7 7 bhuj earthquake was associated with a 10 14 increase in vp and vs and a 10 decrease in vp vs in the 10 to 35 km depth range covering a 2750 km2 area beneath the aftershock zone this anomaly could be attributed to the existence of a lithological heterogeneity or a pluton of mafic composition that might have intruded during the rifting in early jurassic 160 ma the banni basin and the wagad uplift are found to be associated with high velocity intrusive bodies extending from 5 to 35 km depth a few patches of low vp and vs and high vp vs between 10 to 30 km depth have also been detected on the causative 45 south dipping north wagad fault nwf for the 2001 mainshock which may be attributed to a fluid filled fractured rock matrix

source parameters and tectonic implications of aftershocks of the mw 7 6 bhuj earthquake of 26 january 2001 we present and discuss the spatial distribution of more than 1000 aftershocks of the largest continental intraplate earthquake to occur during the modern seismological period the data were recorded on a network of eight portable digital seismographs deployed for 3 weeks starting 17 days after the mainshock we have calculated high quality single event locations based on a 1d velocity model determined for the region for earthquakes with magnitudes between 2 and 5 aftershock locations reveal activity concentrated on a nearly east striking south dipping plane trapezoidal in outline the active zone tapers from about 45 km along strike at the shallow end which is about 5 km deep to no more than 25 km long at a depth of 35 km the total rupture area was about 1300 km 2 we estimate the static stress drop of the mainshock at 16 2 mpa aftershocks extend nearly through the entire crust with concentrations in the lower crust at about 26 km and in the upper crust at about 10 km the fault that ruptured was not mapped at the surface and not known to have been active prior to the 2001 earthquake the aftershock data are consistent with the bhuj earthquake resulting from reactivation in contraction of a fault formed under extension within a failed rift

tectonics and crustal structures related to bhuj earthquake of january 26 2001 based on gravity and magnetic surveys constrained from seismic and seismological studies abstract gravity and magnetic data of the kachchh basin and surrounding regions have delineated major e w and nw se oriented lineaments and faults which are even extending up to plate boundaries in the north arabian sea and western boundary of the indian plate respectively the epicentral zone of bhuj earthquake and its aftershocks is located over the junction of rann of kachchh and median uplifts viz kachchh mainland and wagad uplifts which are separated by thrust faults gravity data with constraints from the results of the seismic studies along a profile suggest that the basement is uplifted towards the north along thrust faults dipping 40 60 south similarly gravity and magnetic modeling along a profile across wagad uplift suggest south dipping 50 60 basement contacts separating rocks of high susceptibility and density towards the north one of these contacts coincides with the fault plane of the bhuj earthquake as inferred from seismological studies and its projection on the surface coincides with the e w oriented north wagad thrust fault a circular gravity high in contact with the fault in northern part of the wagad uplift along with high amplitude magnetic anomaly suggests plug type mafic intrusive in this region several such gravity anomalies are observed over the island belt in the rann of kachchh indicating their association with mafic intrusions the contact of these intrusives with the country rock demarcates shallow crustal inhomogeneities which provides excellent sites for the accumulation of regional stress a regional gravity anomaly map based on the concept of isostasy presents two centers of gravity lows of 11 to 13 mgal 10 5 m s2 representing mass deficiency in the epicentral region their best fit model constrained from the receiver function analysis and seismic refraction studies suggest crustal root of 7 8 km deep crustal inhomogeneity under them for a standard density contrast of 400 kg m3 it is therefore suggested that significant amount of stress get concentrated in this region due to a buoyant crustal root b regional stress due to plate tectonic forces and c mafic intrusives as stress concentrators and the same might be responsible for the frequent and large magnitude earthquakes in this region including the bhuj earthquake of january 26 2001

imaging crust and upper mantle seismic structure in the southwestern united states using teleseismic receiver functions rio grande rift seismic transect ristra is designed to image and interpret crust and mantle structures beneath the southwestern united states including the nature of the colorado plateau and rio grande rift figure 1 key questions include the nature of crustal and mantle structures and thermal conditions beneath one of the more dramatic continental rifts on earth and clues to understanding the anomalously unextended colorado plateau which is currently surrounded by the predominantly extensional deformation of the western united states figure 1 regional tectonic map with ristra station locations stars indicate the 54 main transect stations the diamond locates global seismic network borehole station anmo stations tx01 tx06 lie in texas nm07 nm44 in new mexico az45 az50 in arizona and ut51 ut54 in utah the data collecting stage of ristra provided an exceptional 18 months 1999 2001 of broadband streckheisen sts 2 120 s seismometers teleseismic iris passcal data along a 950 km great circle transect of 54 sites with 18 3 6 km station spacing with endpoints near lake powell utah and pecos texas the northwest southeast trending transect was oriented parallel to the azimuth of the very active western pacific seismogenic zones analysis applied to this seismic data set includes surface wave dispersion inversion for crustal and mantle structure teleseismic body wave tomography and teleseismic mantle anisotropy here we discuss the use of ristra data to examine lithospheric structure using p to s mantle and crustal forward scattering observed in the s phases immediately following several tens of seconds the teleseismic p arrival figure 2 we migrate these signals to produce p to s converted mode images of the structure along the ristra array figure 2 global distribution of the 285 earthquakes red points with body wave magnitude 5 6 recorded during the ristra network deployment which have suitable offsets for calculating the 8361 receiver functions used in this study we use teleseisms from epicentral distances of

a continent wide map of 1 hz lg coda q variation across eurasia and its relation to lithospheric evolution 1 we present new maps of lg coda q qo and its frequency dependence at 1 hz that cover virtually all of eurasia qo is relatively high up to 650 or more in the east european siberian indian and kazakh platforms but is surprisingly low 300 500 in the arabian platform and western portion of the siberian platform as well as in great britain and the northwestern portion of mainland europe it is generally low throughout the tethysides orogenic belt but there too it displays substantial regional variations 150 400 most qo anomalies appear to be related to the tectonic history of the eurasian crust the four regions with lowest values coincide with four of eurasia s most active concentrations of earthquake activity observed eurasian qo values are consistent with a previously determined empirical plot of global values in which qo in any region is proportional to the time elapsed since the most recent episode of tectonic or orogenic activity there comparisons of the new qo map with maps of rayleigh wave velocity temperature subducted lithosphere and seismicity lead us to infer that lg coda wave attenuation is most easily explained by energy lost in moving fluids through permeable rock or in being scattered from fluid enhanced zones the fluids are likely to have originated by hydrothermal release from subducting lithosphere or other upper mantle heat sources anomalies in qo and other lithospheric properties in some cases extend well outside the tethysides belt and other regions where upper mantle heat sources are known to occur possible explanations include earlier episodes of subduction activity crustal deformation due to collision of the afro arabian and indian plates or broader than expected back arc activity beneath eurasia

grain scale permeabilities of synthetic quartzite with volumetrically minor phlogopite corundum or aluminosilicate abstract in order to examine grain scale permeabilities in materials that are microstructurally similar to those of the lower crust and upper mantle we produced porous synthetic quartzites with small fractions of an additional minor mineral powdered quartz was mixed with minor amounts of either corundum or phlogopite and run in ag capsules at 800 850 c and 1 4 gpa for 5 to 10 days the resulting quartzites generally exhibited microstructural equilibrium and contained phlogopite corundum or aluminosilicate the minor mineral in all runs typically resided along quartz grain boundaries at low volume fractions x but increasingly occurred as porous clusters within corner pores at higher x in all polished sections the smallest quartz bound pores appeared free of the minor mineral pore geometry of all materials differed from that observed in pure synthetic quartzite pores exhibited an increased number of facets a small decrease in the dihedral angle and partial filling of larger pores by the minor phase measurements of permeability k were both higher and lower than those of monomineralic quartzite with similar with k decreasing as a function of x this decrease is likely the result of pore throat reduction either through fluid redistribution or obstruction of fluid pathways

mantle derived spinel lherzolite xenoliths from the deccan volcanic province india implications for the thermal structure of the lithosphere underlying the deccan traps abstract petrography mineral and host rock chemistry of the mantle derived spinel lherzolite xenoliths in the nephelinites of kutch a late variant of the deccan traps province india are reported the xenoliths register equilibration temperatures between 920 70 c and 1060 50 c and an ascent time between 19 and 168 days representing a palaeogeotherm of minimum heat flow between 60 and 70 mw m 2 the xenoliths possibly came from the oceanic lithosphere under the deccan field following the cretaceous eocene fragmentation of gondwanaland

lithogic partitioning of fluids and melts under conditions of mechanical equilibrium the grain scale distribution of fluid or melt in a lithologically complex system is governed by the relative energies of the mineral fluid interfaces and the grain boundaries accordingly spatial changes in mineralogy imply accompanying changes in the connectivity and even the amount of fluid or melt present at equilibrium the hypothesized phenomenon of local variation in fluid or melt abundance with spatial changes in mineralogy is referred to here as lithologic partitioning of fluid or melt the phenomenon is potentially important because it could lead to the existence of highly permeable or impermeable zones in lithologically complex regions of the crust and upper mantle to verify and evaluate the concept of lithologic partitioning of aqueous fluid experiments were conducted in simple analog systems by annealing juxtaposed cylinders of two different rock types at 700 925 degrees c and 1 0 1 5 gpa these polycrystalline fluid partition couples included the following rock pairs calcite fluorite quartz fluorite and quartz clinopyroxene with overall aqueous fluid volume fractions phi ranging from approximately 0 015 to 0 10 in calcite fluorite couples fluid is partitioned by a factor of approximately 1 5 5 into the fluorite the actual value depends upon the chemical purity of the fluorite in fluorite quartz couples the fluid is partitioned into the quartz by a factor of 2 5 and in quartz clinopyroxene couples it is enriched in the clinopyroxene by a factor of approximately 3 similar experiments were done in a partially molten mantle system by juxtaposing peridotite and orthopyroxenite cylinders in the presence of approximately 6 basaltic melt in this case however no preference of the melt for one host rock relative to the other could be verified in general lithologic partitioning is a factor to be reckoned with as we seek understanding of fluid related petrologic and geochemical phenomena the effect is clearly capable of rapid and significant re distribution and localization of fluids in mineralogically variable systems

evolution of the petrological and seismic moho implications for the continental crust mantle boundary the chemical and petrological composition of mafic rocks from the lower continental crust are discussed by comparing mafic granulites and meta gabbroic rocks from the ivrea zone and the northern hessian depression nhd xenolith suite both regions contain contrasting types of meta mafic lithologies i former basaltic rocks with trace element patterns ranging from morb iike to subduction related or intra plate tholeutes and u ca and al enriched plagiodase dominated gabbroic rocks showing positive eu anomalies generated by complex deep crustal magmatic processes such as fractionation accumulation of plagiodase and pyroxene and crustal contamination the absence of typical garnet omphadte parageneses in these rocks indicates that the eclogite stability field was not reached during palaeozoic orogenic processes a compilation of experimentally determined p wave velocities and densities for mafic granulites gabbroic rocks eclogites and peridotites is used to evaluate key physical properties of lower crustal mafic rocks during crystal thickening caused by continent continent collision in a step by step scenario it is demonstrated that the position of the seismic moho defined as a first order velocity discontinuity and the petrological moho defined as the boundary between non peridotitic crustal rocks and olivine dominated rocks is not identical for the case that mafic rocks are transformed into edogites at the base of orogenically thickened crust p wave velocities of eclogites largely overlap with those of peridotites although their densities are significantly higher than common upper mantle rocks as a consequence refraction seismic field studies may not detect edogites as crustal rocks this means that the seismic moho detected by refraction seismic field studies appears at the upper boundary between edogites and overlying crustal units since edogites generally have higher densities than peridotites they might be recycled into the deeper lithosphere thereby transferring excess eu into the upper mantle this process could be a due for understanding the negative euanomaly in the upper continental crust which is apparently not balanced quantitatively by the abundance of common mafic crustal rocks

the rapid drift of the indian tectonic plate the breakup of the supercontinent gondwanaland into africa antarctica australia and india about 140 million years ago and consequently the opening of the indian ocean is thought to have been caused by heating of the lithosphere from below by a large plume whose relicts are now the marion kerguelen and reunion plumes plate reconstructions based on palaeomagnetic data suggest that the indian plate attained a very high speed 18 20 cm yr 1 during the late cretaceous period subsequent to its breakup from gondwanaland and then slowed to approximately 5 cm yr 1 after the continental collision with asia approximately 50 myr ago the australian and african plates moved comparatively less distance and at much lower speeds of 2 4 cm yr 1 refs 3 5 antarctica remained almost stationary this mobility makes india unique among the fragments of gondwanaland here we propose that when the fragments of gondwanaland were separated by the plume the penetration of their lithospheric roots into the asthenosphere were important in determining their speed we estimated the thickness of the lithospheric plates of the different fragments of gondwanaland around the indian ocean by using the shear wave receiver function technique we found that the fragment of gondwanaland with clearly the thinnest lithosphere is india the lithospheric roots in south africa australia and antarctica are between 180 and 300 km deep whereas the indian lithosphere extends only about 100 km deep we infer that the plume that partitioned gondwanaland may have also melted the lower half of the indian lithosphere thus permitting faster motion due to ridge push or slab pull

stress rotation in the kachchh rift zone gujarat india double difference relocations of the 1402 kachchh events 2001 2006 clearly delineate two fault zones viz south dipping north wagad fault nwf and almost vertical gedi fault gf the relocated focal depths delineate a marked variation of 4 and 7 km in the brittle ductile transition depths beneath gf and nwf respectively the focal mechanism solutions of 464 aftershocks using 8 12 first motions show that the focal mechanisms ranged between pure reverse and pure strike slip except for a few pure dip slip solutions the stress inversions performed for five rectangular zones across the kachchh rift reveal both clockwise and anticlockwise rotation 7 32 in the 1 orientation within the rupture zone favoring a heterogeneous stress regime with an average n s fault normal compression this rotation may be attributed to the presence of crustal mafic intrusives 5 35 km depth in the rupture zone of the 2001 bhuj main shock results suggest a relatively homogeneous stress regime in the gf zone favoring strike slip motion with a fault normal n s compression

crust and mantle structure across the basin and range colorado plateau boundary at 37 n latitude and implications for cenozoic extensional mechanism we present new evidence on the seismic velocity and density of the crust and upper mantle along a 200 km long transect across the eastern basin and range and western colorado plateau at 37 n latitude receiver functions computed from the p waveforms recorded with 10 portable broadband stations deployed along the transect were used to estimate crustal thickness variations the crust is 30 35 km thick within the eastern basin and range and increases over a distance of 100 km at the western edge of the colorado plateau reaching a maximum of approximately 45 km east of the hurricane fault the timing of crustal multiples within the reciever functions were used to estimate the v p v s of the crust along the profile and we found that the western colorado plateau crust is characterized by a high poisson s ratio 0 28 0 29 indicative of a crust with an average mafic composition we estimated the upper mantle lid thickness along our profile based on teleseismic p wave travel times and constraints provided by gravity data our data and available geophysical constraints are most consistent with a lithosphere that thickens from an average thickness of 60 km beneath the basin and range to 100 km beneath the western colorado plateau although the basin and range lithosphere may have significant thickness variations the thick strong mafic crust and thicker mantle lid under the colorado plateau can account for the relative geologic stability and subdued magmatism of the plateau during laramide compression and cenozoic extension compared to surrounding regions the crustal and lithospheric thinning across the tectonic boundary occurs over a short distance 100 km suggesting it is a geologically young feature produced by a predominantly mechanical response to late cenozoic extension our new lithosphere model at 37 n latitude is consistent with the existence in early cenozoic time of a flat subducted slab at 100 km depth and a relict sevier laramide 50 60 km thick crustal welt and 60 100 pure shear extension values of 1 6 2 0 during the late cenozoic

crustal and lithospheric thinning beneath the seismogenic kachchh rift zone gujarat india its implications toward the generation of the 2001 bhuj earthquake sequence a high resolution passive seismic experiment in the kachchh rift zone of the western india has produced an excellent dataset of several thousands teleseismic events from this network 500 good teleseismic events recorded at 14 mobile broadband sites are used to estimate receiver functions for the 30 310 back azimuth ranges which show a positive phase at 4 5 6 1 s delay time and a strong negative phase at 8 0 11 0 s these phases have been modeled by a velocity increase at moho i e 34 43 km and a velocity decrease at 62 92 km depth the estimation of crustal and lithospheric thicknesses using the inversion of stacked radial receiver functions led to the delineation of a marked thinning of 3 7 km in crustal thickness and 6 14 km in lithospheric thickness beneath the central rift zone relative to the surrounding un rifted parts of the kachchh rift zone on an average the kachchh region is characterized by a thin lithosphere of 75 9 5 9 km the marked velocity decrease associated with the lithosphere asthenoshere boundary lab observed over an area of 120 km 80 km and the isotropic study of xenoliths from kachchh provides evidence for local asthenospheric updoming with pockets of partial melts of co2 rich lherzolite beneath the kachchh seismic zone that might have caused by rifting episode at 88 ma and the associated deccan thermal plume interaction at 65 ma episodes thus the coincidence of the area of the major aftershock activity and the moho as well as asthenospheric upwarping beneath the central kachchh rift zone suggests that these pockets of co2 rich lherzolite partial melts could perhaps provide a high input of volatiles containing co2 into the lower crust which might contribute significantly in the seismo genesis of continued aftershock activity in the region it is also inferred that large stresses in the denser and stronger lower crust at 14 34 km depths induced by ongoing banni upliftment crustal intrusive marked lateral variation in crustal thickness and related sub crustal thermal anomaly play a key role in nucleating the lower crustal earthquakes beneath the kachchh seismic zone

upwarped high velocity mafic crust subsurface tectonics and causes of intraplate latur killari m 6 2 and koyna m 6 3 earthquakes india a comparative study abstract a unique attempt is made to understand the genesis of intraplate seismicity in the latur killari and koyna seismogenic regions of india through derived crustal structure by synthesizing active and passive seismic magnetotelluric gravity and heat flow data it has indicated presence of relatively high velocity density intermediate granulite and amphibolite facies rocks underneath the deccan volcanic cover caused mainly due to a continuous geodynamic process of uplift and erosion since precambrian times these findings have been independently confirmed by detailed borehole geological geochemical and mineralogical investigations the crystalline basement rock is found to contain 2 wt of carbon di oxide fluid components the presence of geodynamic process associated with thermal anomalies at subcrustal depths is supported by a high mantle heat flow 29 36 mw m2 beneath both regions although some structural and compositional variations may exist as evidenced by p and s wave seismic velocities we suggest that the stress caused by ongoing uplift and a high mantle heat flow is continuously accumulating in this denser and rheologically stronger mafic crust within which earthquakes tend to nucleate these stresses appear to dominate over and above those generated by the india eurasia collision the role of fluids in stress generation as advocated through earlier studies appears limited

crustal structure of the indian shield new constraints from teleseismic receiver functions teleseismic earthquake waveform data from 10 broadband stations spread over the indian shield and in operation since 1997 were analyzed to infer the crustal structure using the receiver function technique the south indian shield is characterized by a 33 39 km thick and remarkably simple crust with an average poisson s ratio close to 0 25 the archaean crust is devoid of any prominent intra crustal discontinuities the velocity contrast at the well developed moho is large resulting in very clear p to s conversions as well as first order multiples in contrast the predominantly proterozoic crust in the northern part of the shield exhibits a complex character due to the presence of additional seismic discontinuities moho conversions which are considerably weaker compared to the archaean terrains indicate crustal thicknesses of more than 40 km

intraplate seismicity and stress in the southeastern united states abstract the stress induced by topography and by density heterogeneities in the lithosphere has been computed for two seismic regions in the southeastern united states the southern appalachian mountains and the south carolina coastal plain the lithosphere was assumed to be a three dimensional layered elastic slab overlying an inviscid fluid the calculations indicate that the local stress is of the same magnitude as the tectonic stress tens of mpa but contradictory conclusions are suggested by the comparison of stress differences and principal directions with earthquake locations and focal mechanisms in the southern appalachians the seismicity correlates well with the stress maximum and focal mechanisms agree with the calculations where regional stress is combined with locally induced stress in south carolina a combination of regional and local stress can explain the orientation of focal mechanisms but stress does not concentrate in the region of charleston and thus other factors must play a role in the charleston seismicity

diffusion reaction in a thermal gradient implications for the genesis of anorthitic plagioclase high alumina basalt and igneous mineral layering abstract piston cylinder experiments investigating the interaction between basaltic andesite melt and partially molten gabbro in a thermal gradient provide insight into melt rock reaction processes occurring during magma differentiation in the crust in two experiments juxtaposing basaltic andesite and gabbro at 0 5 gpa pressure for durations of either 13 or 26 days diffusive chemical exchange between the two materials results in mineral layering and notable mineral compositions such as anorthitic plagioclase specifically the basaltic andesite gains al2o3 mgo and cao from the gabbro and loses na2o k2o sio2 and feo to it with a plagioclase rich layer developing at the interface between the two materials in a process termed diffusion reaction the percent crystallinity of the basaltic andesite increases during the process and the plagioclase crystals within the interface region develop anorthitic cores up to an90 that abruptly shift in composition to thin rims that are in na ca exchange equilibrium with the co existing melt both the mineralogical layering and bulk compositional change occurring at the interface are reproduced in model simulations of diffusion reaction isotopic tracers 45ca 6li 84sr and 136ba initially deposited at the basaltic andesite gabbro interface in the 13 day experiment were detected in the cores of the anorthitic plagioclase after the experiment demonstrating that the melt chemically communicates with the plagioclase cores over the duration of the diffusion reaction experiment the formation of anorthitic plagioclase during diffusion reaction may explain its widespread occurrence in terrestrial volcanic rocks without requiring the presence of ultra calcic melts textures and mineralogical changes in the gabbro indicate that chemical transport occurs throughout the experiments despite temperatures at the cold end of the experimental capsule approaching 500 c for instance apatite fenis olivine and almost pure albite occur at distinct specific horizons in the gabbro within the 26 day experiment because the bulk element profiles indicating chemical transport reflect analyses of almost completely solid gabbro equilibration between minerals and fluids melts must be rapid the overall effect of the diffusion reaction process is to make an ascending magma more primitive in composition and in this case produce anorthitic plagioclase while making surrounding crustal wall rocks more evolved several observations within igneous rocks support the occurrence of this process suggesting that the genesis of porphyritic high alumina basalt ubiquitously observed at convergent margins could reflect a diffusion reaction process in the crust

lithospheric mantle deformation beneath the indian cratons abstract the nature of deformation of the deep continental roots beneath the archean early proterozoic terrains opens the question whether these ancient terrains have had stable roots since the precambrian or whether recent plate motions have deformed them in view of this we make an attempt to study the thermal structure beneath the cratonic regions of the indian shield which vary in lithospheric thickness from 65 km in the singhbhum craton to 148 km in the archean dharwars the average depth of 104 km to the top of the underlying asthenosphere is consistent with other termination methods and is in fact less than half the 200 400 km depth found in other stable areas of the earth similarly the average reduced heat flow of about 35 mw m2 and moho temperature of about 550 c range 400 730 c for the indian cratons are also much higher than their counterparts elsewhere our study indicates a large scale deformation of the cratonic mantle lithosphere beneath the indian shield since the mesoproterozoic c

three dimensional gravity modelling of kutch region india abstract understanding the crustal architecture of kutch rift region india is important due to the presence of thick mesozoic sediments and also due to occurrence of earthquakes we present here three dimensional gravity models the major features of our shallow crustal model are 1 thickness of deccan traps is almost negligible towards northern side of vigodi fault and katrol hill fault 2 mesozoic sediment thickness is about 3 km on the southern side and 3 several undulations in the basement on the wagad uplift the model is consistent with the geological observation that the basin slopes towards southwest the observed bouguer gravity anomalies are explained by 10 km thick granitic upper crust of 2 7 g cm 3 10 km thick intermediate mid crust of 2 82 g cm 3 15 km thick mafic lower crust of 2 91 g cm 3 density crustal thickness is about 40 45 km on wagad uplift and near katrol hill fault the modelled gravity data do not require presence of anomalous amount of fluids melts and or magma chambers in the deep crust of kutch region

characteristics of deformation and past seismicity associated with the 1819 kutch earthquake northwestern india the 1819 earthquake in kutch northwestern india is one of the most significant events to have occurred in a plate interior setting despite being the second largest among the stable continental region scr earthquakes this event has not been analyzed within the context of present day understanding of earthquake seismology coseismic changes related to this earthquake include massive ground deformation in a wide low lying tidal flat area although detailed historic accounts of this earthquake exist many questions regarding the mode of deformation and the seismic history of the region remain unresolved we explored the region nearly 180 years after the earthquake and the information gathered adds to our understanding of this event and provides a fresh perspective on this unique intraplate seismogenic zone a 90 km long tract of elevated land with a peak height of 4 3 m is the most visible surface expression of this earthquake we surveyed and analyzed the morphological features of this scarp and also carried out exploratory trenching in this region the scarp morphology is suggestive of a growing fold related to a buried north dipping thrust rather than a discrete fault that could have resulted from a surface rupture the extensive liquefaction field associated with the earthquake offered an ideal setting to explore the paleoearthquake history age data of liquefaction features suggest that a previous event of comparable size must have occurred 800 1000 years ago seismic activity appears to be related to the reactivation of an ancient rift in a stress regime that is dominated by nearly north south compression

semi brittle behavior of wet olivine aggregates the role of aqueous fluid in faulting at upper mantle pressures the role of aqueous fluid in fracturing in subducting slabs was investigated through a series of deformation experiments on dunite that was undersaturated i e fluid free or saturated with water i e aqueous fluid bearing at pressures of 1 0 1 8 gpa and temperatures of 670 1250 k corresponding to the conditions of the shallower regions of the double seismic zone in slabs in situ x ray diffraction radiography and acoustic emissions aes monitoring demonstrated that semi brittle flow associated with aes was dominant and the creep failure strength of dunite was insensitive to the dissolved water content in olivine in contrast aqueous fluid drastically decreased the creep failure strength of dunite up to 1 gpa of weakening over a wide range of temperatures in the semi brittle regime weakening of the dunite by the aqueous fluid resulted in the reduction of the number of ae events i e suppression of microcracking and shortening of time to failure the ae hypocenters were located at the margin of the deforming sample while the interior of the faulted sample was aseismic i e aseismic semi brittle flow under water saturated conditions a faulting slip rate of 10 3 to 10 4 s 1 associated with a large drop of stress 0 5 to 1 gpa and or pressure p 0 5 gpa was dominant in fluid free dunite while a slow faulting slip rate 8 10 5 s 1 without any stress pressure drop was common in water saturated dunite aseismic semi brittle flow may mimic silent ductile flow under water saturated conditions in subducting slabs

effect of faceting on pore geometry in texturally equilibrated rocks implications for low permeability at low porosity the pore geometry of texturally equilibrated rocks is controlled by the interfacial energy ratio between grain boundaries and solid liquid boundaries faceting at pore walls which is a common feature of pore networks in rocks strongly affects the liquid distribution we investigated the effects of faceting on the equilibrium pore geometries based on image analysis of several systems with various degrees of faceting and dihedral angles the degree of faceting was assessed by the f value which is the ratio of the flat interface length at the pore wall to the length of total interfacial boundary between solid and liquid the f values tend to increase with increasing liquid volume fraction little faceted systems show relatively homogeneous liquid distribution moderately faceted systems with a higher dihedral angle 55 are characterized by development of large pores surrounded by faceted walls and complementary shrinkage of triple junction tubes whereas strongly faceted systems with a low dihedral angle show no evidence of shrinking triple junction tubes although most pores are surrounded by faceted pore walls the faceted systems tend to produce more facet boundaries at the pore walls due to the difference of interfacial energies between the flat and curved surfaces in the systems with the same degree of faceting heterogeneity of liquid distribution tends to decrease with dihedral angle for faceting systems the permeability of texturally equilibrated rocks with low liquid fraction would be significantly decreased by the relative reduction of triple junction volumes or by closure of channels along grain edge due to the truncation of facet walls

sediment thicknesses and qs vs qp relations in the kachchh rift basin gujarat india using sp converted phases delineation of the top sedimentary structure and its qs vs qp relationship using the travel time difference of direct s and converted sp phase is key to understanding the seismic hazard of any sedimentary basin area we constructed filtered displacement waveforms from local etna episensor acceleration recordings as well as local velocity recordings of aftershocks of the 2001 bhuj earthquake recorded by the kachchh seismological network of the national geophysical research institute ngri hyderabad india during 2001 2004 stations are within 15 70km of epicenters and the resulting displacement waveforms are generally simple displaying prominent p sp and s wave pulses particle motion of p and s waves suggest near vertical raypaths consistent with preliminary depth estimates the direct s wave on the horizontal component is characterized by lower frequency content than the converted sp phase on the vertical component this difference in frequency content between s and sp phases can be explained in terms of different attenuation effects for p and s waves in the unconsolidated sediments the sp phase is generated by s to p phase conversion at the base of mesozoic sediments of the kachchh basin travel time inversion velest of 2565 p and 2380 s arrivals from 658 well located aftershocks recorded at 8 14 three component local seismic stations led to 1 d velocity models indicated very slow sediments in the upper 0 2 km depth range vp 2 92 km s and vs 0 90 km s and an increasing trend of velocities with depth at 2 40 km depth the estimated sediment thicknesses beneath 12 accelerograph and 6 seismograph sites from the estimated velocity model and the travel time difference between s and converted sp phases reaches a maximum of 1 534 0 117 km beneath bandri near the location of 2001 bhuj mainshock and attains a minimum sediment thickness of 0 858 0 104 km beneath ramvav and burudia the spectral ratios between sp and s from 159 three component accelerograms have been used to study seismic wave attenuation in the kachchh rift basin the estimated qs vs qp relations for 12 accelerograph sites vary from qs 0 184 qp at chobari to qs 0 505 qp at dudhai for stations chobari chopdwa jahawarnagar vondh and tapar the spectral ratio slopes and hence the calculated qs vs qp relations are effectively the same and the correlation coefficients are quite high 0 91 0 93 stations adhoi manfara new dudhai dudhai and sikara have similar qs vs qp relationships to each other and also have high correlation coefficients 0 78 0 87 the spectral ratios for stations anjar and ramvav are small and poorly constrained resulting in less reliable qs vs qp relations this could be due to noisy data fewer available waveforms or scattering due to velocity heterogeneities and or interface irregularities

a possible origin of intraplate earthquakes in the kachchh rift zone india since the 2001 mw7 7 bhuj earthquake abstract we herein use the joint inversion of p receiver functions and fundamental mode group velocity dispersion data 9 70 s of rayleigh and love waves to estimate crustal and lithospheric thicknesses at twenty three component mobile broadband stations in kachchh gujarat modeled moho depths range from 35 to 43 km while lithospheric thicknesses vary from 64 to 106 km the main result of our modelling is the delineation of a marked crustal 2 4 km as well as lithospheric 10 20 km thinning and a 2 6 drop in vs across the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary lab within the samkhiali graben associated with gravity high underlying the central kachchh rift zone krz where 95 of the continued aftershock activity took place since 2001 such a large drop in vs could be attributed to the presence of carbonatite melts in the upper mantle our modeling reveals a 4 km crustal thinning below the central krz and a 4 km crustal thickening below the surrounding riftless regions this kind of crustal structure is inferred to induce large flexural deviatoric stresses 50 100 mpa in the upper crust thereby these stresses in the presence of regional plate tectonic stresses can bring the samkhiali graben below the central krz near to the critical stress level while stress transfer meteoric water in the upper crust and metamorphic fluid as well volatile co2 flows in the lower crust provide the required triggering effect to the critically stressed graben structure down to 35 km depth for generating continued aftershock activity in the kachchh rift zone since 2001 we also propose that the deeper circulation of volatile co2 through the inferred conduit related to the 65 ma deccan plume activity extending from lower crust down to asthenosphere plays a key role in the generation of uninterrupted occurrence of earthquakes in the kachchh rift zone gujarat india

the 26 january 2001 m 7 6 bhuj india earthquake observed and predicted ground motions although local and regional instrumental recordings of the devastating 26 january 2001 bhuj earthquake are sparse the distribution of macroseismic effects can provide important constraints on the mainshock ground motions we compiled available news accounts describing damage and other effects and interpreted them to obtain modified mercalli intensities mmis at 200 locations throughout the indian subcontinent these values are then used to map the intensity distribution throughout the subcontinent using a simple mathematical interpolation method although preliminary the maps reveal several interesting features within the kachchh region the most heavily damaged villages are concentrated toward the western edge of the inferred fault consistent with western directivity significant sediment induced amplification is also suggested at a number of locations around the gulf of kachchh to the south of the epicenter away from the kachchh region intensities were clearly amplified significantly in areas that are along rivers within deltas or on coastal alluvium such as mudflats and salt pans in addition we use fault rupture parameters inferred from teleseismic data to predict shaking intensity at distances of 0 1000 km we then convert the predicted hard rock ground motion parameters to mmi by using a relationship derived from internet based intensity surveys that assigns mmi based on the average effects in a region the predicted mmis are typically lower by 1 3 units than those estimated from news accounts although they do predict near field ground motions of approximately 80 g and potentially damaging ground motions on hard rock sites to distances of approximately 300 km for the most part this discrepancy is consistent with the expected effect of sediment response but it could also reflect other factors such as unusually high building vulnerability in the bhuj region and a tendency for media accounts to focus on the most dramatic damage rather than the average effects the discrepancy may also be partly attributable to the inadequacy of the empirical relationship between mmi and peak ground acceleration pga when applied to india the mmi pga relationship was developed using data from california earthquakes which might have a systematically different stress drop and therefore a different frequency content than intraplate events when a relationship between response spectra and mmi is used we obtain larger predicted mmi values in better agreement with the observations

sedimentary and crustal structure beneath kachchh and saurashtra regions gujarat india abstract strong and distinct ps conversions from moho and top sediments characterize the radial receiver functions rf estimated for stations in kachchh basin while these for stations in saurashtra are characterized by a strong ps conversion from moho and a weak or absence of ps conversion from top sediments the jumping inversion of stacked radial rfs suggest that 1 3 km thick top low velocity sediments v p 1 8 2 5 km s 0 28 0 34 and a 39 48 km thick crust 0 25 thicker than average precambrian crust characterize the kachchh basin area while the crust beneath saurashtra is characterized by a 0 1 km thick moderate velocity sediments v p 2 0 3 56 km s 0 25 0 28 and a north dipping shallow moho 35 42 km 0 248 the estimated average crustal values from the arrival times of pppms and ppsms pspms phases suggest a relatively stronger crust in kachchh 0 22 0 27 in comparison to the crust in saurashtra 0 18 0 19 in the epicentral zone of 2001 bhuj earthquake the estimated moho thickness reveals a moho upwarping 3 5 km change in the e w direction and a 6 9 km change in the n s direction beneath the epicentral zone of 2001 bhuj earthquake which might have induced large intraplate stresses to cause the m w 7 7 earthquake at 23 km depth

crustal and upper mantle structure in the amazon region brazil determined with broadband mobile stations 1 three broadband stations operated from march 1997 to september 1998 in the amazon region north of manaus brazil which including the iris station ptga pitinga covered an area of roughly 60 200 km applying the receiver function technique to determine the crustal structure there is evidence for an increase of the moho depth from about 38 km below the amazon basin to approximately 48 km north of the basin in addition we analyzed the polarization of sks waves to determine anisotropy the observed splitting parameters in a majority of the data set can be accounted for by a layer of axial symmetric anisotropy with the fast direction oriented roughly n110e this direction cannot be associated with the present day plate motion of the south american plate however the anisotropy may be related to a lithospheric fabric that was generated during the early tectonic history of the amazonian craton

significant crustal thinning beneath the baikal rift zone new constraints from receiver function analysis 1 thinning of the crust of more than 10 km is a major feature of typical continental rifts such as the east african ear and rio grande rgr rifts however numerous previous studies across the baikal rift zone brz which has similar surface expressions and tectonic history and more active seismicity relative to ear and rgr have resulted in contradicting amount of thinning ranging from almost none to more than 10 km we measure crustal thickness by stacking teleseismic receiver functions beneath 51 sites on the southern and central parts of the brz and adjacent siberian platform and sayan baikal mongolian foldbelt our measurements reveal that beneath the southern part of the platform the average crustal thickness is about 38 km which is about 7 km thinner than that beneath the foldbelt and the un rifted part of the brz the thinnest crust 35 km is found beneath the central part of the rift and represents a significant thinning of about 10 km relative to the un rifted parts of the brz index terms 7200 seismology 7203 seismology body wave propagation 7205 seismology continental crust 1242 citation gao s s k h liu and c chen 2004 significant crustal thinning beneath the baikal rift zone new constraints from receiver function analysis geophys res lett 31 l20610 doi 10 1029 2004gl020813

large variation of curie depth and lithospheric thickness beneath the indian subcontinent and a case for magnetothermometry summary a first order estimate of curie depth and lithospheric thickness variation beneath the indian region has been obtained using the available geothermic data the curie depth is found to vary from 18 to 68 km and the lithospheric thickness from 38 to 186 km these estimates conform well with the mags at and seismological findings both the parameters exhibit covariancy and suggest the possibility of approximating heat flow values and lithospheric thickness in geothermally uncharted areas using curie point geotherm depths derived from air satellite borne magnetic anomalies interestingly the areas with shallow curie depth and lithospheric thickness are found to be associated with a thin crust higher heat flow higher geothermal gradients and positive gravity anomalies and vice versa large thickness estimate of magnetic crustal layer extending below the moho demands a new conceptual understanding the study has brought out a good case for wider use of magneto thermometry and provides understanding of the geodynamic evolution of the indian subcontinent

characterization of the causative fault system for the 2001 bhuj earthquake of mw 7 7 abstract precise hypocenters erh m w 2 0 5 3 delineate a east west trending blind thrust dipping 45 towards south named as north wagad fault nwf about 25 km north of kachchh main land fault kmf as the causative fault for the 2001 bhuj earthquake of m w 7 7 the aftershock zone involves a crustal volume of 60 40 35 km 3 lying between kmf and nwf the waveform inversion of 45 aftershocks of m 3 0 5 3 suggest that the e w trending south dipping reverse faulting mainly characterizes the aftershock zone however some reverse faulting along nw se as well as ne sw planes and some strike slip faulting along nw se trending vertical plane are also noticed the estimated p axes point on an average towards n s while t axes orient in e w agreeing well with the prevailing regional plate tectonic stress directions the estimated velocity model from one dimensional inversion of 8000 p and 5000 s travel times from 600 aftershocks deciphers a detailed crustal structure of the region upper 0 6 km on an average suggests a low velocity zone characterizing the jurassic and younger sediments the depth range 6 42 km is characterized on an average by larger values of v p 6 31 to 6 98 km s with an average of 6 71 km s v s 3 64 to 4 05 km s with an average of 3 85 km s and v p v s 1 69 to 1 81 with an average of 1 75 the high crustal velocities can be attributed to the existence of a high velocity mafic intrusive rift pillow structure beneath the region probably emplaced during the rifting time this brittle competent high velocity zone beneath the epicentral area in response to the compression due to the northward movement of the indian plate could induce sufficient local stress perturbation for generating large intraplate earthquakes of m w 7 5 in the lower crust further within the overall higher velocity depth range a layer characterized by large values of v p 6 98 km s v s 3 854 km s and v p v s 1 81 is found in the depth range of 20 5 30 km which is inferred to be fractured and saturated high crack density and probably fluid filled presence of numerous fractures in this layer is confirmed by a high b value 0 75 1 1 in this layer this layer might have facilitated the nucleation process of the 2001 bhuj earthquake the major rupture and 47 of the aftershocks have occurred within this layer

seismicity analysis of the kachchh aftershock zone and tectonic implication for 26 jan 2001 bhuj earthquake abstract we have carried out a detailed analysis of seismicity in the vicinity of the 26 jan 2001 bhuj earthquake mw 7 7 from the depth sections of 24 parallel profiles and from the b value cross section we claim the existence of a hidden fault which conjugates to the major rupture fault i e north wagad fault of the 2001 bhuj earthquake the proximity of the intersection of these faults to the focus suggests a close association bhuj main shock generation a circular pattern in the profiles also provides evidence for the existence of an intrusive consistent with earlier findings from gravity magnetic modeling and tomography studies the location of the fault intersection within the intrusive support a model where both play a significant role in the earthquake generation the intersection of the conjugate faults acts as a stress concentrator while their presence within a big pluton possibly will facilitate the stress amplification this mechanism might explain the occurrence of two mw 7 7 earthquakes in a relatively short time span of 182 years in the kachchh rift the b value cross section displays high and low b value patches along the two intersecting faults this suggests a model of a faulted block that consists of two kinds of segment the locked and the unlocked locked segments do not easily participate in creeping and therefore generate strong magnitude aftershocks m 3 while unlocked segments easily creep and result in only weak aftershocks m

regional tectonic framework structure and evolution of the western marginal basins of india abstract the kutch saurashtra cambay and narmada basins are pericontinental rift basins in the western margin of the indian craton these basins were formed by rifting along precambrian tectonic trends interplay of three major precambrian tectonic trends of western india dharwar nnw sse aravalli delhi ne sw and satpura ene wsw controlled the tectonic style of the basins the geological history of the basins indicates that these basins were formed by sequential reactivation of primordial faults the kutch basin opened up first in the early jurassic rifting was initiated in late triassic along the delhi trend followed by the cambay basin in the early cretaceous along the dharwar trend and the narmada basin in late cretaceous time along the satpura trend the evolution of the basins took place in four stages these stages are synchronous with the important events in the evolution of the indian sub continent its breakup from gondwanaland in the late triassic early jurassic its northward drifting during the jurassic cretaceous and collision with the asian continent in the early tertiary the most important tectonic events occurred in late cretaceous time the present style of the continental margins of india evolved during early tertiary time the saurashtra arch the extension of the aravalli range across the western continental shelf subsided along the eastern margin fault of the cambay basin during the early cretaceous it formed an extensive depositional platform continuous with the kutch shelf for the accumulation of thick deltaic sediments a part of the saurashtra arch was uplifted as a horst during the main tectonic phase in the late cretaceous the present high thermal regime of the cambay bombay high region is suggestive of a renewed rifting phase

mantle compensation of active metamorphic core complexes at woodlark rift in papua new guinea in many highly extended rifts on the earth tectonic removal of the upper crust exhumes mid crustal rocks producing metamorphic core complexes these structures allow the upper continental crust to accommodate tens of kilometres of extension but it is not clear how the lower crust and underlying mantle respond also despite removal of the upper crust such core complexes remain both topographically high and in isostatic equilibrium because many core complexes in the western united states are underlain by a flat moho discontinuity it has been widely assumed that their elevation is supported by flow in the lower crust or by magmatic underplating these processes should decouple upper crust extension from that in the mantle in contrast here we present seismic observations of metamorphic core complexes of the western woodlark rift that show the overall crust to be thinned beneath regions of greatest surface extension these core complexes are actively being exhumed at a rate of 5 10 km myr 1 and the thinning of the underlying crust appears to be compensated by mantle rocks of anomalously low density as indicated by low seismic velocities we conclude that at least in this case the development of metamorphic core complexes and the accommodation of high extension is not purely a crustal phenomenon but must involve mantle extension

microstructure evolution of aqueous fluid bearing wehrlites implications for the fluid distribution in polymineralic rocks 1 the microstructure of aqueous fluid bearing wehrlites was experimentally studied in order to investigate the fluid distribution in polymineralic rocks wehrlites of various forsterite diopside ratios were synthesized with 1 0 1 5 wt water at 1200 c and 1 2 gpa for 1 5 668 hours conspicuous grain growth drag and coagulation of pore fluids were observed in the time series experiments the pore fluids were classified into two types those surrounded only by a single phase g type and those surrounded by both forsterite and diopside i type in the short time runs the relative volume fraction of i type pores in all the pores fi agrees well with the value calculated from an ideal pore distribution model in which all the grains are randomly distributed the fi of wehrlites with various forsterite diopside ratios increased with average grain size and reached a steady state value at 80 90 in about 160 163 hours the increase of fi is explained by interphase boundary trapping g type pore fluids move faster than i type and the number of g type becoming i type by being trapped into the interphase boundary per unit time is larger than that of i type pores transforming to g type the experimental results suggest that large fractions of pore fluids might be distributed at the grain junctions surrounded by more than two mineral phases in natural rocks as a result of grain growth the connectivity of the fluid network in polymineralic rocks may be strongly influenced by modal composition of the rocks as well as by the dihedral angles among the fluid and two mineral phases

seismic evidence for an ancient rift beneath the cumberland plateau tennessee a detailed analysis of broadband teleseismic p waveforms broadband receiver functions developed from teleseismic p waveforms recorded on the midperiod passband of regional seismic test network station rscp are inverted for vertical velocity structure beneath the cumberland plateau tennessee the detailed broadband receiver functions are obtained by stacking source equalizd horizontal components of teleseismic p waveforms the resulting receiver functions are most sensitive to the shear velocity structure near the station a time domain inversion routine utilizes the radial receiver function to determine this structure assuming a crustal model parameterized by many thin flat lying homogeneous layers lateral changes in structure are identified by examining azimuthal variations in the vertical structure the results reveal significant rapid lateral changes in the midcrustal structure beneath the station that are interpreted in relation to the origin of the east continent gravity high located northeast of rscp the results from events arriving from the northeast show a high velocity midcrustal layer not present in results from the southeast azimuth this velocity structure can be shown to support the idea that this feature is part of a keweenawan rift system another interesting feature of the derived velocity models is the indication that the crust mantle boundary beneath the cumberland plateau is a thick probably laminated transition zonemore between the depths of 40 and 55 km a result consistent with interpretations of early refraction work in the area less

the 2001 bhuj earthquake tomographic evidence for fluids at the hypocenter and its implications for rupture nucleation 1 the january 26 2001 bhuj earthquake mw 7 6 is one of the most catastrophic indian earthquakes we have investigated the 3 d seismic velocity and poisson s ratio structures of the bhuj source area to understand the probable cause of triggering the earthquake we used 1948 p and 1865 s wave high quality arrival times from 331 aftershocks recorded at a temporary seismic network significant variations up to 5 in velocity and 10 in poisson s ratio are revealed in the aftershock area the mainshock is located in a distinctive zone characterized by high vp low vs and high poisson s ratio in the depth range of 20 to 30 km and extending 15 to 30 km laterally this feature is very similar to that of the 1995 kobe earthquake zhao et al 1996 the anomaly may be due to a fluid filled fractured rock matrix which might have contributed to the initiation of the bhuj earthquake

pluton shapes in the cornubian batholith new perspectives from gravity modelling gravity modelling of the dartmoor bodmin st austell and carnmenellis plutons of the cornubian batholith of sw england strongly supports a tabular form for the exposed granites modelled thicknesses for the individual bodies with the exception of dartmoor are consistent with those derived from empirical relationships for plutons and laccoliths in the case of the dartmoor bodmin and st austell plutons the deepest parts are located near their southern margins suggesting a steep conduit with northerly and outward direct flows modelling of the carnmenellis granite suggests a more centrally located feeder in the case of dartmoor at least the granite appears to have exploited the devonian carboniferous interface during its emplacement

crustal structure of the gujarat region india new constraints from the analysis of teleseismic receiver functions abstract in this study receiver function analysis is carried out at 32 broadband stations spread all over the gujarat region located in the western part of india to image the sedimentary structure and investigate the crustal composition for the entire region the powerful genetic algorithm technique is applied to the receiver functions to derive s velocity structure beneath each site a detail image in terms of basement depths and moho thickness for the entire gujarat region is obtained for the first time gujarat comprises of three distinct regions kachchh saurashtra and mainland in kachchh region depth of the basement varies from around 1 5 km in the eastern part to 6 km in the western part and around 2 3 km in the northern part to 4 5 km in the southern part in the saurashtra region there is not much variation in the depth of the basement and is between 3 km and 4 km in gujarat mainland part the basement depth is 5 8 km in the cambay basin and western edge of narmada basin in other parts of the mainland it is 3 4 km the depth of moho beneath each site is obtained using stacking algorithm approach the moho is at shallower depth 26 30 km in the western part of kachchh region in the eastern part and epicentral zone of the 2001 bhuj earthquake large variation in the moho depths is noticed 36 46 km in the saurashtra region the crust is more thick in the northern part it varies from 36 38 km in the southern part to 42 44 km in the northern part in the mainland region the crust is more thick 40 44 km in the northern and southern part and is shallow in cambay and narmada basins 32 36 km the large variations of poisson s ratio across gujarat region may be interpreted as heterogeneity in crustal composition high values of 0 30 at many sites in kachchh and few sites in saurashtra and mainland regions may be related to the existence of high velocity lower crust with a mafic ultramafic composition and locally to the presence of partial melt the existing tectono sedimentary models proposed by various researchers were also examined

wetting properties of anorthite aggregates implications for fluid connectivity in continental lower crust 1 the connectivity of c h o fluids in anorthite aggregate was assessed by measurements of the dihedral angle at conditions of 800 1000 c and 0 8 1 2 gpa for duration of 1 21 days the longer duration experiments show reduction of the effect of crystal anisotropy on pore geometry especially fluid filled small pores 5 m in anorthite aggregate quickly approach to textural equilibrium controlled by minimization of surface energies in 3 days anorthite aggregates with co2 fluid show large dihedral angle over 120 in the anorthite aggregates with aqueous fluid the dihedral angles are over 60 at pressure of 1 0 gpa and decrease across critical angle of 60 with increasing pressure over the range of experimental conditions isopleths of dihedral angle show nearly zero to negative dp dt slope with increasing temperature the observed reduction in dihedral angle with increasing pressure and temperature may be attributed to increase in plagioclase solubility in aqueous fluid natural anorthite with small amounts of albite component shows smaller dihedral angle than pure anorthite at higher temperature conditions the anorthite content of the run products deviates progressively from that of starting material this suggests that preferential solubility of albite component relative to anorthite affects the equilibrium fluid distributions of plagioclase by aqueous fluid experimental results point to the likelihood that plagioclase rich lower continental crust will not allow intergranular fluid flow of c h o fluids even in the presence of high geothermal gradient

the tectonic evolution of western india and its impact on hydrocarbon occurrences an overview abstract the largest hydrocarbon accumulations of india were localized in western india by a unique convergence of tectonic events mesozoic rifting along the structural trends of proterozoic mobile belts formed the passive margin basins of the indian coast during the campanian rifting of madagascar from india north south striking normal faults propagated into the area of the cambay graben late maastrichtian doming over the incipient deccan reunion hotspot imparted extensional stresses to the northwestern indian coast and formed the fault block that became the bombay high after eruption of the deccan flood basalts in early paleocene extension continued in the weakened crust this resulted in enhanced subsidence of the cambay graben and surat danahu depression rifting of the seychelles microcontinent from india and reactivation of normal faults on the emergent bombay high the cambay graben and the surat danahu depression filled with organic rich source shales as they underwent thermal subsidence shallow water eocene to miocene carbonates developed on the slowly subsiding bombay platform and sea level oscillations fostered secondary porosity development late tertiary maturation of the surat danahu depression shales generated hydrocarbons that migrated into the carbonate reservoirs on the bombay high konkan kerala and the older basins of the east coast of india were unaffected by the post campanian tectonic events and lack the favorable play elements that characterize the giant fields

source parameters of the anjar earthquake of july 21 1956 india and its seismotectonic implications for the kutch rift basin abstract the kutch rift basin is a major seismic region in india characterized by a low earthquake occurrence rate but a very high maximum intensity the largest event in the region is the great kutch earthquake of 1819 estimated m w 7 8 however lacking instrumental data its exact source parameters are not well known the anjar or rann of kutch earthquake of july 21 1956 m w 6 0 took place very close to the 1819 kutch event and caused considerable damage and casualties our modeled waveforms of teleseismic p and sh waves and p wave first motions determine a reverse faulting mechanism strike 235 dip 46 5 and rake 85 as well as source parameters for the anjar earthquake a previous strike slip mechanism for this event has been eliminated on the basis of waveform constraints the two nodal planes of our solution both strike northeast sub parallel to the trend of the kutch rift very close to the trend of the isoseismals the seismic moment is 1 19 10 25 dyne cm the focal depth and the stress drop are 15 km and 162 bar respectively the anjar reverse fault may represent a reactivated normal fault undergoing tectonic inversion in the kutch rift zone under present day compressional stress two larger earthquakes adjacent to anjar but outside of the kutch rift are also found to be mainly reverse faulting with a minor strike slip component judging from available information the great kutch event of 1819 is most likely a reverse faulting event