weakening associated with the diaspore corundum dehydration reaction in metabauxites an example from naxos greece abstract metabauxite lenses embedded in marble on naxos consist of diasporites below the 420 c isograd and dehydrate into corundum rich rocks with increasing grades of metamorphism while the diasporites are essentially undeformed the corundum rich rocks are strongly deformed even though both diasporites and corundum rich rocks are much stronger than the surrounding intensely deformed marbles the observed structures can be explained as an effect of high fluid pressures during the prograde diaspore corundum dehydration reaction which causes dramatic temporary weakening of the metabauxites to a strength comparable to that of the surrounding deforming marbles deformation of the metabauxite is thus largely restricted to the time span the phase transformation occurred allowing the dehydrating bauxite mass to deform together with the surrounding marbles

numerical modeling of frontal and basal accretion at collisional margins 1 we investigate the deformation of orogenic wedges that form in the early stages of continent continent collisions using a two dimensional numerical model limited to the upper lithosphere our models show that deformation at the plate margins is influenced by rheology surface processes and the balance between inward mass flux and outward subduction flux as controlled by the subduction load which represents the effects of slab pull and resistive forces and flexural downbending we find three characteristic deformation modes 1 near pure subduction with little or no accretion 2 frontal accretion with development of an accretionary wedge built up by offscraping of the sediment layer at shallow depth and 3 independent frontal and basal accretion where a retrothrust allows stacking of basement nappes at crustal to mantle depths near pure subduction is enabled for ordinary rheology materials characterized by brittle and viscous material behavior approximating a christmas tree type depth profile and almost zero friction along the subduction shear zone frontal accretion occurs when slightly increased friction along the subduction shear zone allows offscraping of the sediment layer from the subducting plate independent frontal and basal accretion develops in strong rheology models with an almost fully brittle material behavior major surface erosion or a reduction of the subduction load promote the development of large basement nappes frontal accretion is favored by major sedimentation during convergence a large backstop and in the case of a lateral transition from a strong rheology to an ordinary rheology subducting plate our numerical models develop first order characteristics as observed in natural orogenic wedges for example upper crustal nappe stacks frontal and basal accretion or extension in the core of an orogen frontal and basal accretion are interdependent and tend to stabilize the subduction system

upper limits of power law creep of rocks at depths below a few kilometers most rocks probably flow in the steady state dominantly by diffusion assisted dislocation creep mechanisms whereby strain rate is proportional to a low power of deviatoric stress at high stress levels for metals ceramics and rocks the power law breaks down plb to some other strain rate stress functional relationship and this paper explores four methods by which the breakdown stress b may be estimated for metals alloys and ceramics b 10 3 for non silicate rocks b 5 10 3 and for silicates b 10 2 for silicates the low stress exponent power law breaks down at high stresses to an exponential dependence of strain rate upon stress or to a dorn law the governing flow mechanisms generally being lattice resistance controlled dislocation glide and mechanical twinning plb breakdown stresses for silicates are nearly strain rate insensitive and extrapolated values of b are so high as to suggest that low temperature high stress plasticity may be suppressed entirely in geological deformations plb for olivine rich rocks is discussed in some detail and new three dimensional deformation mechanism surfaces for wet and dry olivine polycrystals are presented

experimental studies of the role of water in the plasticity of quartzites experiments on several quartzites at 300 mpa confirming pressure show them to behave as if near the brittle ductile transition at 900 sup 0 c when oven dry and in a more ductile fashion at 1000 sup 0 c when extra water is added in both cases the stress strain curves are substantially higher than would be expected on the basis of the strength of hydrolytically weakened synthetic crystals containing less water than the rocks as measured by the broad infrared absorption at low temperature thus would appear that relative to the single crystals the effective concentration of the water related species that is active in mechanical weakening within the grains is only a small fraction of the water present the presence of glass in the grain boundaries of wet deformed specimens suggest that grain boundary weakening may also be significant in these experiments questions of equilibrium and of geological extrapolation are discussed

a flow law for dislocation creep of quartz aggregates determined with the molten salt cell we have used the molten salt cell to conduct an experimental study on the rheology of a natural quartzite containing 0 15 wt water co axial deformation experiments were conducted at constant piston displacement rates approximating constant strain rates at low strain the strengths of our natural quartzite measured in the molten salt cell are approximately half those measured at the same conditions in solid media because unlike solid confining media molten salt does not contribute to the strength of the sample it reduces the friction on the moving piston and it allows clear identification of the hit point we have limited the experimental conditions to those required for dislocation creep and have used only steady state flow stresses measured during climb accommodated dislocation creep to calculate the flow law parameters two flow laws were determined one for samples containing minor amounts of melt 1 2 and one for melt free samples in both cases the power law stress exponent n is 4 0 0 9 which is greater than that previously reported in flow laws for dislocation creep of quartz aggregates determined in solid media the activation energy q is 137 34 kj mol 1 for samples with melt and 223 56 kj mol 1 for those without within the range of previously determined values for quartz aggregates containing 0 1 wt water the pre exponential term a is 1 1 10 4 2 mpa ns 1 for samples without melt and 1 8 10 8 2 mpa ns 1 for those with melt the lower strengths measured in the molten salt cell indicate that previous piezometer relations for quartz experimentally determined in solid media are not correct extrapolation of the flow law for melt free aggregates to natural strain rates predicts higher strengths than most previous quartz flow laws however accurate extrapolation requires determining the dependence of flow stress on fh2o and or ah

observed interannual variability of zonal currents in the equatorial indian ocean thermocline and their relation to indian ocean dipole interannual variability of zonal currents in the eastern equatorial indian ocean thermocline is significantly correlated with sea surface temperature sst in the eastern pole of the indian ocean dipole iod this relationship is more significant than for zonal currents and the dipole mode index the latter of which measures zonal sst anomaly gradient the variability of zonal currents in the thermocline is consistent with the variations of eastward pressure gradient force in the thermocline and the equatorward geostrophic thermocline flows associated with the shallow meridional overturning circulations in the eastern tropical indian ocean our analysis suggests a positive feedback between zonal currents in the thermocline and sst in the eastern pole of iod the combination of equatorial wind and off equatorial wind stress curls associated with sst anomalies in the eastern pole of the iod drives interannual variability in equatorial zonal thermocline flows and its covariability with the shallow meridional overturning cells

problems in the extrapolation of laboratory rheological data abstract the many types of variables and deformation regimes that need to be taken into account in extrapolating rheological behaviour from the laboratory to the earth are reviewed the problems of extrapolation are then illustrated with two particular cases in the case of divine rich rocks recent experimental work indicates that within present uncertainties of extrapolation the flow in the upper mantle could be either grain size dependent and near newtonian or grain size independent and distinctly non newtonian both types of behaviour would be influenced by the present of trace amounts of water in the case of quartz rich rocks the uncertainties are even greater and it is still premature to attempt any extrapolation to geological conditions except as an upper bound the fugacity and the scale of dispersion of the water are probably two important variables but the quantitative laws governing their influence are not yet clear

the single slip hypothesis revisited crystal preferred orientations of sheared quartz aggregates with increasing strain in nature and numerical simulation this study discusses the fabric development in naturally sheared quartz aggregates in comparison to results from texture modeling according to the polycrystalline plasticity theory with particular emphasis on the formation of a single c axis maximum the investigated natural shear zone samples were deformed at about 650 50 c with increasing strain up to 14 and show dynamic recrystallization microstructures of grain boundary migration recrystallization neutron diffraction texture analysis results in c axis pole figures with a single maximum at the periphery of the pole figure this maximum does not align with the shear plane normal towards higher strain but rotates towards an inclined orientation in accordance with the sense of shear such a rotation is inconsistent with the single slip hypothesis and suggests that the formation of this c axis pattern is controlled by multi slip on several slip systems based on the polycrystalline plasticity theory this quartz fabric can develop if combined view the mathml source r view the mathml source z and view the mathml source prism slip dominates and must not be related to the commonly proposed view the mathml source basal slip the multi slip texture development is in agreement with the shear sense interpretation from the asymmetry between well defined quartz fabrics and the foliation for dominant view the mathml source basal slip in quartz and 2 numerical simulations predict a single peripheral maximum perpendicular to the shear plane and two a maxima with a 30 inward position parallel to the shear plane this simulation corresponds to naturally observed cpo patterns of quartz formed at different deformation conditions and it is in agreement with the single slip hypothesis hence our combined natural and numerical data suggest that the single slip hypothesis is a possible explanation for a single c 0001 maximum but not universally true

continental scale rheological heterogeneities and complex intraplate tectono metamorphic patterns insights from a case study and numerical models abstract continental plates are built over long periods of time through successive extensional and compressional cycles they are therefore rheologically heterogeneous this heterogeneity should significantly influence the mechanical response of the continental lithosphere during collision processes the study of the neoproterozoic borborema shear zone system of northeast brazil highlights a systematic link between marked changes in its tectono metamorphic pattern and the pre existing structure of the plate that is characterized by juxtaposition of continental domains either comprising an old basement palaeo to eoproterozoic or accreted during an extensional event between 1 0 and 0 7 ga in neoproterozoic time when the shear zone system was developed these domains displayed different geotherms and lithospheric thicknesses and therefore contrasted rheological behaviours we use numerical models simulating the mechanical evolution of a continental plate comprising multiple thermally induced rheological heterogeneities submitted to compression to investigate how these heterogeneities may affect strain localization and the distribution of deformation regimes and vertical strain within the plate from the very beginning of the deformation weak and stiff heterogeneities induce strain localization due to a lower initial effective viscosity or to stress concentrations at their tips respectively shear zones propagate from the heterogeneities and finally coalesce forming a network of high strain zones bounding almost underformed blocks within this network shear zones transfer strain between the different heterogeneities and model boundaries the evolution of the system depends essentially on the geometrical distribution of heterogeneities and on their strength contrast relative to the surrounding lithosphere the resulting finite strain field is heterogeneous and displays rapid lateral variations in vertical and or rotational deformation such a heterogeneous strain distribution may induce contrasted magmatic metamorphic and uplift evolutions within an orogenic belt as observed in the borborema shear zone system and other collisional belts

continuously stratified models of the steady state equatorial ocean abstract two linearized vertically diffusive steady state models are formulated on an equatorial plane the purpose is a to investigate the vertical boundary layer structure in a continuously stratified ocean spanning the equator and b to test the sensitivity of the results to different turbulence parameterizations both models are analytically tractable in a horizontally unbounded basin one is characterized by newtonian cooling the other has biharmonic friction for either model the equations are analogous to the well known equations governing equatorial wave motion this analogy is exploited in both obtaining and interpreting the solutions in both models zonal wind forcing leads to features such as the equatorial undercurrent south equatorial current and equatorial intermediate current structures resembling the recently discovered subsurface countercurrents are also generated the depth velocity and other scales are model dependent but the basic dynamics are not specifically near the eq

density changes of fluid inclusions in high pressure low temperature metamorphic rocks from crete a thermobarometric approach based on the creep strength of the host minerals abstract the densities of fluid inclusions in quartz from high pressure low temperature metamorphic rocks are generally inconsistent with the p t conditions derived from solid phase equilibria therefore some process of change must regularly have occurred during exhumation however evidence of decrepitation is frequently lacking consideration of the rates of change of p and t in metamorphic rocks shows that very low strain rates are sufficient for volume adaptation dislocation creep appears to be a feasible deformation mechanism allowing for continuous ballooning driven by a small differential pressure during decompression down to temperatures of about 300 c in quartz decrepitation requires a higher differential pressure in natural rocks it is therefore restricted to relatively low temperatures this concept was tested on inclusions in the phyllite quartzite unit of crete in these rocks cooling to below ca 300 c at confining pressures of 3 to 4 kbar is indicated corresponding to depths of 10 to 13 km it is anticipated that in metamorphic rocks the isochores of all fluid inclusions in quartz that have been formed at higher temperatures and remain unaffected by decrepitation should intersect close to the 300 c isotherm thereby defining a point on the p t paths rarely accessible by other methods extension of this concept to other minerals with known mechanical properties is straightforward and can under favourable circumstances be used to fix several points on p t paths

the lateral boundary of a metamorphic core complex the moutsounas shear zone on naxos cyclades greece we describe the structure microstructures texture and paleopiezometry of quartz rich phyllites and marbles along n trending moutsounas shear zone at the eastern margin of the naxos metamorphic core complex mcc fabrics consistently indicate a top to the nne non coaxial shear and formed during the main stage of updoming and exhumation between ca 14 and 11 ma of the naxos mcc the main stage of exhumation postdates the deposition of overlying miocene sedimentary successions and predates the overlying upper miocene pliocene conglomerates detailed microstructural and textural analysis reveals that the movement along the moutsounas shear zone is associated with a retrograde greenschist to subgreenschist facies overprint of the early higher temperature rocks paleopiezometry on recrystallized quartz and calcite yields differential stresses of 20 77 mpa and a strain rate of 10 15 10 13 s 1 at 350 c for quartz and ca 300 c for calcite chlorite geothermometry of the shear zone yields two temperature regimes 300 360 c and 200 250 c the lower temperature group is interpreted to result from late stage hydrothermal overprint

the vertical structure of the zonal pressure gradient in the eastern equatorial pacific ctd data from the epocs and norpax experiments were used to construct a mean zonal pressure gradient profile between 110 w and 150 w for the 1979 to 1981 pre el nino time period the mean zonal pressure gradient referenced to 100 dbar had a value of 4 5 10 7 m s 2 at the surface and decreased to within two standard errors of zero at 200 dbar below this depth the mean was not significantly different from zero deviations from this mean were not related to fluctuations of the zonally averaged zonal wind stress between 150 w and 110 w rather the largest deviations in the boreal springs of 1979 and 1980 appeared to be associated first with vertical mode kelvin wave pulses propagating eastward along the equator the 1979 81 mean profile was also used as a reference to examine variations in zonal pressure gradient during the 1982 83 enso event the sea surface was more sharply sloped upward from the east to west in april and september 1982 before arid near the beginning of the event the surface slope was below normal in april and october 1983 vertical profiles of the zonal pressure gradient deviations showed large high vertical mode contributions during the vent than in the prevent samples

variability of river discharge and atlantic water inflow at the laptev sea continental margin during the past 15 000 years implications from maceral and biomarker records in order to reconstruct the depositional environment from the laptev sea continental slope and shelf during the past 15 000 years bp maceral analysis was carried out on two sediment cores ps2458 4 ps2725 5 and compared with organic geochemical parameters during the transition from the last glacial to the holocene the environment of the laptev sea shelf was controlled by the post glacial sea level rise variations in river discharge surface water productivity and atlantic water inflow along the eurasian continental margin based on our results we identify the following significant changes of the environment a at approximately 13 500 years bp the first step of deglaciation termination 1a is documented by the deposition of marine and fresh water organic matter b at approximately 10 400 years bp the first post glacial influence of atlantic water inflow along the eastern laptev sea continental margin is indicated by an increase in marine organic matter c at the beginning of the holocene an increased fluvial supply is documented by an increase in fresh water alginite and d since 9500 8000 years bp modern marine conditions are established at the laptev sea continental margin as documented in increased amounts of marine macerals biomarkers dinosterol brassicasterol short chain fatty acids and dinoflagellate cysts

rheology of the lithosphere selected topics we review recent results concerning the rheology of the lithosphere with special attention to the following topics 1 the flexure of the oceanic lithosphere 2 deformation of the continental lithosphere resulting from vertical surface loads and forces applied at plate margins 3 the rheological stratification of the continents 4 strain localization and shear zone development and 5 strain induced crystallographic preferred orientations and anisotropies in body wave velocities we conclude with a section citing the 1983 1986 rock mechanics literature by category

rheology of the plate interface dissolution precipitation creep in high pressure metamorphic rocks abstract subduction zone models invoke deformation to be concentrated along the plate interface in a region of particularly low temperature geophysical observations do not provide constraints on temperature stress and deformation patterns with desired resolution in contrast the record of high pressure metamorphic rocks exhumed from subduction zones provides details on p t history deformation mechanisms and stress state albeit not readily correlated with the former dynamic situation on larger scale here we review available information on dissolution precipitation creep dpc in high pressure metamorphic rocks which if representative for subduction zones in general can pose constraints on conditions rheology and flow patterns along the plate interface the key observations and conclusions are that 1 deformation is typically highly inhomogeneous and localized into shear zones 2 stresses are generally too low to drive crystal plastic deformation 3 microfabrics suggest dissolution precipitation creep to be the predominant deformation mechanism 4 an aqueous fluid at quasi lithostatic pressure is available throughout allowing for tensile fracturing and crack healing or sealing 5 low stress combined with high strain rates required for localized deformation at typical subduction rates implies low viscosity and 6 contribution of shear heating to the thermal budget of subduction zones should be moderate the dominant deformation mechanism dpc is reviewed in some detail including experimental and theoretical approaches various examples of dpc in high pressure metamorphic rocks are illustrated emphasizing the role of interphase boundaries as sites of dissolution rheology governed by dpc is proposed to control interplate coupling and development of a subduction channel with return flow being a likely candidate for rapid exhumation of high pressure metamorphic rocks

transient creep of a composite lower crust 2 a polymineralic basis for rapidly evolving postseismic deformation modes postseismic horizontal strain and displacement following the june 28 1992 landers california earthquake mw 7 3 is broad scale and cannot be explained solely by delayed afterslip located at the rupturing fault trace both the observed strain at pinon flat observatory pfo and observed global positioning system receiver velocities evolve rapidly after the landers big bear earthquake sequence the observed exponential decay of these motions with timescales of 4 34 days may reflect a soft creep rheology in the lower crust and brittle ductile transition zone or even within the seismogenic crust itself here a simple model of a two dimensional screw dislocation in a layered maxwell viscoelastic earth is employed in conjunction with a composite rheology to demonstrate that the short timescale transient response modes 4 34 days are consistent with the behavior of a biviscous lower crust the lowest viscosity of this system is derivable from laboratory experimental data on the long term creep of natural quarztites and the highest viscosity is consistent with isostasy related lower crustal flow in a continental extensional tectonic environment the model predicts significant stress relaxation at the base of the seismogenic crust near the base of the seismogenic zone and about 4 km away from the mainshock the rate of predicted relaxation is of the order of 0 01 mpa d 1 during the first 20 days of postseismic flow oblate spheroidal inclusions at 5 concentration levels that are both aligned and fairly flat in shape and that have a viscosity of 3 4 1015 pa s are consistent with both the amplitude and decay time of horizontal crustal strain observed at pfo after the landers mainshock it is speculated that the structures exposed in cross sections and in seismic reflection profiles of the lower crust that have mylonitic associations are in part the cause of such rapid postseismic evolution in southeastern california unmylonitized quartz rich rock at sufficiently elevated temperatures could also contribute to the rapid decay modes

the tectonic evolution of the southern alps new zealand insights from fully thermally coupled dynamical modelling summary we present here the results of numerical models of the southern alps in which the thermal and dynamical developments of the orogen are fully coupled to one another this interlinkage allows the use of a wide range of thermal and physical features of the orogen as constraints on the applicability of our models in particular the thermal aspect of this method enables the prediction of the distribution of thermochronological ages at the surface of the model perturbation of the geothermal structure due to rapid uplift and exhumation causes an intrinsic weakening and concentration of strain along the equivalent of the alpine fault zone in these models this thermal weakening of the crust also produces a zone of high strain antithetic to the alpine fault in the upper crust that is comparable to the main divide fault zone within the southern alps the introduction of orographic rainfall and erosional processes into the model leads to the development of high asymmetric topography comparable to that of the southern alps this topographic profile results from the capture of available precipitation by the windward side of the orogen and the resultant rain shadow on the leeward side due to the time required to accumulate suycient topography for this rain capture evect to become significant the establishment of this high asymmetric topography lags the initiation of surface uplift by several million years comparison of the observed thermal history of the southern alps with that seen in models based on divering hypotheses of the tectonic evolution of the south island shows that the present tectonic regime of the orogen most probably developed in a single rapid reorganization of plate motions at approximately 5 ma with relative stability of the tectonic regime since that time the variation in isotopic ages along the southern alps is consistent with that expected from variation in accumulated uplift and exhumation along the orogen arising from the obliquity of convergence of the australian and pacific plates

use of the geostrophic approximation to estimate time varying zonal currents at the equator moored thermistor chains at 2 n and 2 s and current temperature moorings at 0 are used to examine the accuracy of geostrophically estimated zonal velocity on the equator in the eastern 110 w and western 165 e pacific the meridionally differentiated form of the geostrophic balance is used to eliminate large errors due to wind balanced cross equatorial pressure gradients statistical analyses indicate that for time scales longer than 30 50 days the observed and geostrophically estimated zonal velocities are similar correlation coefficients of 0 6 0 9 and comparable amplitudes thus low frequency equatorial current oscillations are reasonably well represented by the geostrophic approximation however the mean currents are poorly resolved with the available array in the eastern pacific the mean zonal speed difference over the 10 month comparison period is 25 cm s 1 at 25 m and increases to 60 cm s 1 at 125 m at 165 e mean differences in the upper 250 m are typically 50 cm s 1 over a 4 month record the principal reason for these large mean differences is that the meridional scale of the mean currents is smaller than the spacing of the moorings comparison of observed and geostrophic velocity profiles obtained from shipboard sampling indicates that meridional spacing of about 1 latitude would be optimum for estimating the zonal velocity

the role of deformation reaction interactions to localize strain in polymineralic rocks insights from experimentally deformed plagioclase pyroxene assemblages abstract in order to study the mutual effect of deformation and mineral reactions we have conducted shear experiments on fine grained plagioclase pyroxene assemblages in a griggs type solid medium deformation apparatus experiments were performed at a constant shear strain rate of 10 5 s 1 a confining pressure of 1 gpa and temperatures of 800 850 and 900 c while the peak stress of plagioclase orthopyroxene assemblages reaches values between those of the end member phases the strength of polymineralic materials strongly decreases after peak stress and reaches flow stresses that stabilize far below those of the weaker phase plagioclase this weakening correlates with the coeval development of high strain shear zones where new phases are preferentially produced including new pyroxene plagioclase and amphibole the reaction products mostly occur as intimately mixed phases within fine grained and interconnected shear bands together with different compositions with respect to the starting material this indicates that deformation significantly enhances the kinetics of mineral reactions which in turn strongly weaken the deforming sample here attributed to a switch to grain size sensitive diffusion creep through phase nucleation and grain size reduction such an interplay between deformation and mineral reactions may have strong implications for the initiation development and durability of shear zones in the lower crust

deformation mechanisms and rheology why marble is weaker than quartzite when deformed together in nature calcite rocks invariably appear weaker and more ductile than quartz rocks this can be reconciled with experimental flow data only by taking into account grain size sensitive gss flow in calcite rocks which is predicted to dominate even at grain sizes on the order of 1mm at middle metamorphic grades using new experimental data that demonstrate the transition between intracrystalline plastic and gss flow of quartz rocks we predict that unnaturally small grain sizes at temperatures of 700 c or higher are required for gss flow of quartz in nature thus natural flow of quartzite is expected to occur by intracrystalline plastic processes even after recrystallization to a fine grain size

trade wind fetch related variations in equatorial undercurrent depth speed and transport a dynamical model is developed to examine the dependence of equatorial undercurrent depth speed and volume transport on trade wind fetch the model ocean is linear continuously stratified vertically diffusive and formulated on the equatorial beta plane analytical solutions are derived in closed form for realistic choices of model parameters results indicate that the undercurrent would be significantly shallower and weaker in the atlantic than in the pacific because of the shorter atlantic trade wind fetch

seasonal variability in the equatorial pacific abstract five to nine years of observations from the tropical atmosphere ocean array in the tropical pacific are used to document the seasonal cycle of surface winds zonal currents sst thermocline depth and dynamic height along the equator the normally westward surface zonal current reverses direction in late boreal spring and early summer this seasonal variation in the zonal surface current propagates westward as do seasonal variations in the equatorial undercurrent and zonal surface winds at the equator at 5 n and 5 s the seasonal variations in the 20 c isotherm and dynamic height also propagate westward conversely at the equator in the eastern and central pacific the variations in 20 c isotherm depth and dynamic height propagate eastward these seasonal variations are interpreted by means of a simple dynamical model based on linear equatorial wave theory model results indicate that seasonal variability between 5 n and 5 s is dominated by wind forced equatorial kelvin waves and first meridi

wind stress curl and enso discharge recharge in the equatorial pacific discharge and recharge of the warm water volume wwv above the 20 c isotherm in an equatorial pacific ocean box extending across the pacific from 156 e to the eastern ocean boundary between latitudes 5 s and 5 n are key variables in enso dynamics a formula linking wwv anomalies zonally integrated wind stress curl anomalies along the northern and southern edges of the box and flow into the western end of the box is derived and tested using monthly data since 1993 consistent with previous work a wwv balance can only be achieved if the 20 c isotherm surface is not a material surface that is warm water can pass through it for example during el nino part of the wwv anomaly entering the box is cooled so that it is less than 20 c and therefore passes out of the bottom of the box the 20 c isotherm surface the observations suggest that the anomalous volume passing through the 20 c isotherm is approximately the same as t the anomalous wwv entering the western end of the box therefore the observed wwv anomaly can be regarded as being driven by the anomalous wind stress curl along the northern and southern edges of the box the curl anomaly changes the wwv both by divergent meridional flow at the edges of the box and vortex stretching that is the sverdrup balance does not hold in the upper ocean a typical amplitude for the rate of change of wwv for the 5 s 5 n box is 9 6 sv sv 10 6 m 3 s 1 the wind stress curl anomaly and the transport anomaly into the western end of the box are highly correlated with the el nino index nino 3 4 the average sea surface temperature anomaly ssta over the region 5 s 5 n 170 120 w and nino 3 4 leads minus the wwv anomaly by one quarter of a cycle based on the preceding results a simple discharge recharge coupled enso model is derived only water warmer than about 27 5 28 c can give rise to deep atmospheric convection so unlike past discharge recharge oscillator models the west central rather than eastern equatorial sstas are emphasized the model consists of two variables t the ssta averaged over the region of strong enso air sea interaction in the west central pacific equatorial strip 5 s 5 n 156 e 140 w and d the 20 c isotherm depth anomaly averaged over the

extension and gold mineralisation in the hanging walls of active convergent continental shear zones abstract orogenic gold bearing quartz veins form in mountain belts adjacent to convergent tectonic boundaries the vein systems hosted in extensional structures within compressively deformed rocks are a widespread feature of these orogens in many cases the extensional structures that host gold bearing veins have been superimposed on and locally controlled by compressional structures formed within the convergent orogen exploring these observations within the context of a three dimensional mechanical model allows prediction of mechanisms and locations of extensional zones within convergent orogens our models explore the effect of convergence angle and mid crustal strength on stress states and compare them to the southern alps and taiwan the dilatation zones coincide with the highest mountains in the hanging walls of major plate boundary faults and can extend as deep as the brittle ductile transition extensional deformation is favoured in the topographic divide region of oblique orogens with mid lower crustal rheology that promotes localisation rather than diffuse deformation in the near surface topography influences the stress state to a depth approximately equal to the topographic relief bringing the rock closer to failure and rotating 1 to near vertical the distribution of gold bearing extensional veins may indicate the general position of the topographic divide within exhumed ancient orogens

pressure solution in siliciclastic hp lt metamorphic rocks constraints on the state of stress in deep levels of accretionary complexes abstract the magnitude of differential stress in deep levels of accretionary complexes along convergent plate margins is poorly constrained by theoretical models and cannot be directly measured the only direct evidence to infer rheology and state of stress for such crustal settings is the microstructural memory of high pressure low temperature metamorphic rocks recorded during their crustal evolution microfabrics in hp lt metamorphic t 400 50 c p 10 2 kbar phyllites and quartzites of the phyllite quartzite unit on the island of crete southern aegean reveal 1 that progressive deformation was by pressure solution dissolution precipitation creep 2 that clastic quartz grains in the phyllites show no evidence for crystal plastic deformation during burial and exhumation 3 that the unilaterally rational 001 mica quartz phase boundaries were sites of strongly enhanced dissolution and 4 dislocation creep was restricted to a minor role in quartzites poor in mica consequently the magnitude of differential stress in relation to temperature in the phyllites has remained below the level required to drive dislocation creep throughout the history of burial to a depth of more than 30 km and subsequent exhumation currently available flow laws for quartzite indicate that the differential stress in the phyllites remained well below 15 mpa at temperatures around 400 c at a depth of 30 km this implies that the effective viscosity in deep crustal levels in forearc settings is much lower than that predicted by conventional models based on flow laws for dislocation creep

influence of water fugacity and activation volume on the flow properties of fine grained anorthite aggregates 1 to specify quantitatively the effect of pressure and water weakening on the flow strength of feldspar we performed triaxial creep experiments in a gas deformation apparatus at temperatures of 1000 1150 c confining pressures of 100 450 mpa and axial stresses of 10 400 mpa resulting in strain rates of 6 10 7 to 3 10 3 s 1 dense samples with a grain size of 3 m were prepared by hot isostatic pressing of anorthite glass powder hydrous samples contain about 0 33 0 14 wt h2o and dry specimens 0 0005 0 02 wt h2o the estimated residual glass content of wet samples is 2 vol samples deformed by grain boundary diffusion controlled creep at low stresses and dislocation creep at stresses 150 mpa we estimate an activation volume of v 24 cm3mol 1 for anhydrous samples deforming in diffusion creep for wet samples deformed in hydrous conditions with varying buffers fixing oxygen fugacity the activation volume is about 38 cm3 mol 1 creep rate of hydrous anorthite aggregates depends on water fugacity raised to a power of r 1 0 0 3 suggesting hydrolysis of oxygen bonds considering the effect of activation volume and water fugacity on extrapolation of constitutive laws to conditions prevailing in the continental lower crust viscosities of hydrous feldspar aggregates increase by a factor of 3

a new multilayered visco elasto plastic experimental model to study strike slip fault seismic cycle nowadays technological advances in satellite imagery measurements as well as the development of dense geodetic and seismologic networks allow for a detailed analysis of surface deformation associated with active fault seismic cycle however the study of earthquake dynamics faces several limiting factors related to the difficulty to access the deep source of earthquake and to integrate the characteristic time scales of deformation processes that extend from seconds to thousands of years to overcome part of these limitations and better constrain the role and couplings between kinematic and mechanical parameters we have developed a new experimental approach allowing for the simulation of strike slip fault earthquakes and analyze in detail hundreds of successive seismic cycle model rheology is made of multilayered visco elasto plastic analog materials to account for the mechanical behavior of the upper and lower crust and to allow simulating brittle ductile coupling postseismic deformation phase and far field stress transfers the kinematic evolution of the model surface is monitored using an optical system based on subpixel spectral correlation of high resolution digital images first results show that the model succeed in reproducing the deformation mechanisms and surface kinematics associated to the main phases of the seismic cycle indicating that model scaling is satisfactory these results are comforted by using numerical algorithms to study the strain and stress distribution at the surface and at depth along the fault plane our analog modeling approach appears then as an efficient complementary approach to investigate earthquake dynamics

wind waves and fronts frictional effects in a generalized ekman model abstractocean currents in the surface boundary layer are sensitive to a variety of parameters not included in classic ekman theory including the vertical structure of eddy viscosity finite boundary layer depth baroclinic pressure gradients and surface waves these parameters can modify the horizontal and vertical flow in the near surface ocean making them of first order significance to a wide range of phenomena of broad practical and scientific import in this work an approximate green s function solution is found for a model of the frictional ocean surface boundary layer termed the generalized ekman or turbulent thermal wind balance the solution admits consideration of general more physically realistic forms of parameters than previously possible offering improved physical insight into the underlying dynamics closed form solutions are given for the wind driven flow in the presence of coriolis stokes shear a result of the surface wave field and thermal wind shear arising from a baroclinic

strain analysis and rheology contrasts in polymictic conglomerates an example from the seine metaconglomerates superior province canada deformed conglomerates typically display contrasting strains between different lithological clast populations and matrix which can be exploited to provide information about effective viscosity contrasts we analyzed three different clast populations granitoid mafic volcanic and felsic volcanic across a strain gradient in the seine metaconglomerates of ontario canada we calculated finite strain using the rf 4 method and bootstrap statistics granitoid clasts exhibited the least amount of strain while the mafic and felsic clasts had similar greater strains we assumed that the bulk finite strain was recorded by the mafic clasts given their large proportion of the rock and their similar composition to the matrix we calculated effective viscosity contrasts using the finite strain information assuming newtonian viscous rheology the two volcanic clast populations have similar effective viscosities regardless of strain magnitude with ratios of felsic mafic ranging from 0 27 to 2 12 and average ratio of 1 19 the granitoid clasts are significantly more competent than the mafic clasts with effective viscosity ratios ranging from 2 35 to 12 39 and average ratio of 5 61 the results are consistent with a qualitative

dislocation creep of dry quartz small scale shear zones within the permian truzzo meta granite developed during the alpine orogeny at amphibolite facies conditions in these shear zones magmatic quartz deformed by dislocation creep and recrystallized dynamically by grain boundary migration with minor subgrain rotation recrystallization to a grain size of around 250 750 m consistent with flow at low differential stresses fourier transform infrared ftir spectroscopy reveals very low water contents in the interior of recrystallized grains in the form of discrete oh peaks 20 h 10 6 si and very little broad band absorption 100 h 10 6 si the spectral characteristics are comparable to those of dry brazil quartz in ftir spectra magmatic quartz grains show a broad absorption band related with high water concentrations only in those areas where fluid inclusions are present while other areas are dry drainage of fluid inclusions and synkinematic growth of hydrous minerals indicates that a hydrous fluid has been available during deformation loss of intragranular water during grain boundary migration recrystallization did not result in a microstructure indicative of hardening these ftir measurements provide the first evidence that quartz with extremely low intragranular water contents can deform in nature by dislocation creep at low differential stresses low intragranular water contents in naturally deformed quartz may not be necessarily indicative of a high strength and the results are contrary to implications taken from deformation experiments where very high water contents are required to allow dislocation creep in quartz it is suggested that dislocation creep of quartz in the truzzo meta granite is possible to occur at low differential stresses because sufficient amounts of intergranular water ensure a high recovery rate by grain boundary migration while the absence of significant amounts of intragranular water is not crucial at natural conditions

why calcite can be stronger than quartz 1 in the neves area eastern alps calcite forms asymmetric centimeter scale single crystal porphyroclasts in quartz mylonites developed during hydrous amphibolite facies metamorphism at 550 c under these conditions coarse calcite was clearly stronger than the surrounding polycrystalline dynamically recrystallized quartz matrix experimental results indicate that coarse calcite is less strain rate sensitive than wet quartzite consistent with an inversion in strength on extrapolation to natural strain rates for this to occur wet quartzite must be weak flowing at differential stress of 10 mpa the lack of high temperature twins showing bulging or recrystallization in calcite clasts is consistent with such low stresses during shear zone development under near peak metamorphic conditions the maximum effective viscosity ratio of coarse calcite to quartzite for these conditions is probably not large 10 however numerical modeling shows that ratios of around 2 are sufficient to maintain near rigid calcite clast behavior for power law rheology with stress exponents appropriate to quartz n 3 4 and coarse calcite n 6 the inversion in relative strength reflects the difference in influence of water on the crystal plastic flow of calcite and quartz water has a dramatic effect for quartz but little or no effect for calcite quartz rich rocks under hydrous amphibolite facies conditions in the middle to lower crust are therefore relatively weak in fact weaker than coarse calcite and flow at much lower stresses than dry quartz rich rocks at similar crustal levels

solubility of hydroxyl in natural quartz annealed in water at 900 c and 1 5 gpa we have measured the infrared spectra of a natural quartz after annealing it for up to 37 hours in water at 900 1000 c and 1 0 1 5 gpa under chemical conditions buffered through a hydrogen membrane with an assemblage of water nickel metal and nickel oxide from integral absorbances in the 3400 and 2500 cm 1 regions we calculated the concentration of hydrogen and deuterium present in the samples as hydroxyl concentrations reported in this work are calibrated to the deuterium content of a sample annealed 37 hours in d2o18 as determined by nuclear reaction analysis hydrothermal annealing increased the hydroxyl content of natural quartz a 1 from 26 to 75 11 h 106si absorption increased by growth of o h bands it 3318 3483 and 3432 cm 1 associated with a13 samples annealed in d2o18 showed an increase in bands near 2500 cm 1 associated with o d and a13 an o h band in the starting material at 3485 cm 1 associated with li was absent from the spectra of annealed samples fractured samples were characterized by the appearance of a sharp band at 3580 cm 1 and absorption several times larger than unfractured samples microscopic examination of fractured samples showed that they contained water inclusions and healed fractures previous hydroxyl solubility measurements made on fractured samples may be too large due to hydroxyl contamination along fractures at 900 c experiments equilibrated in times consistent with a diffusivity for hydrogen impurity in quartz of 10 7 cm s

experimental intracrystalline plastic flow in hot pressed synthetic quartzite prepared from brazilian quartz crystals samples of synthetic ultrafine grained quartzite were prepared by hot pressing aggregates of crushed clear brazilian quartz of mean grain size 0 4 m at 300 mpa and 1373 and 1473 k the samples displayed rapid grain growth to ca 12 20 m with 2 porosity at 1473 k facilitated by the 0 6 wt of water adsorbed onto the grain boundaries during sample preparation this water could be driven off by preheating thereby preventing grain growth sufficient water was incorporated during growth into the coarsened samples to render them weak and ductile these were deformed experimentally in the quartz field using an argon gas medium apparatus at 300 mpa confining pressure at temperatures mainly between t 1273 and 1473 k ductile flow was described by the flow law 10 4 9 3 2 9 7 f h 2 o exp 242000 rt with stress a in mpa and grain size d in microns and strain rate in s 1 r is the gas constant and f h 2 o is water fugacity based on observation of grain flattening optical strain features shapes and densities of dislocation arrays and flow law parameters samples deformed dominantly by dislocation creep with some contribution from grain boundary sliding bearing in mind possible changes in the flow law parameters over the extrapolation interval and possible effects of the phase transition extrapolation to natural strain rates and temperatures predicts plastic flow at higher flow stresses at the same water fugacity at greenschist facies temperatures than previously published flow laws

how vein sealing boosts fracture widening rates the buckling enhanced aperture growth mechanism for syn tectonic veins abstract the paper introduces the mechanism of buckling enhanced aperture growth for syn tectonic veins that formed in simple shear dominated kinematic frameworks in the middle or lower crust apart from the well understood concepts of fracture widening driven by effective tensile stresses buckling enhanced fracture aperture growth relates widening to active outward buckling of more viscous incipient cement layers precipitated as hydrothermal minerals for the pore fluid on the walls of juvenile syn tectonic veins driven by fracture parallel compressive creep strain in the host rocks thus the mechanism proposed here follows similar principles as tectonic folding although important differences exist inspired by the structural record of low aspect ratio veins exposed in hp lt metamorphic rocks cropping out on south evia island greece generic numerical models are calculated to study development of buckling instabilities in such incompletely cemented veins and their impact on aperture growth rates the models indicate 1 that aperture growth rates increase with increasing viscosity contrast between the host rocks and the cement layers 2 an increase in the thickness of the cement layers cause acceleration of aperture growth 3 that support of restraining forces at the vein tips offered by the host rocks against buckling of the cement layers cause fully compressive states of stress ahead the fracture tips and 4 that fracture aperture growth is possible against fully compressive fracture normal stresses the buckling enhanced vein aperture growth mechanism yields important implications for the maintenance and decay of fracture bound permeability and for the mechanical state of the middle and lower crust in seismically active regions