landslide generated tsunamis at reunion island 1 landslides that occur on oceanic volcanoes can reach the sea and trigger catastrophic tsunamis reunion island has been the location of numerous huge landslides involving tens to hundreds of cubic kilometers of material we use a new two fluid seawater and landslide numerical model to estimate the wave amplitudes and the propagation of tsunamis associated with landslide events on reunion island a 10 km3 landslide from the eastern flank of piton de la fournaise volcano would lift the water surface by about 150 m where it entered the sea the wave thus generated would reach saint denis the capital of reunion island population of about 150 000 people in only 12 min with an amplitude of more than 10 m and would reach mauritius island in 18 min although mauritius is located about 175 km from the impact waves reaching its coast would be greater than those for reunion island this is due to the initial shape of the wave and its propagation normal to the coast at mauritius but generally coast parallel at reunion island a submarine landslide of the coastal shelf of 2 km3 would trigger a 40 m high wave that would severely affect the proximal coast in the western part of reunion island for a landslide of the shelf of only 0 5 km3 waves of about 2 m in amplitude would affect the proximal coast

numerical modeling of the emplacement of socompa rock avalanche chile 1 the 7 5 ka socompa sector collapse emplaced 25 km3 of fragmented rock as a thin but widespread 500 km2 avalanche deposit followed by late stage sliding of 11 km3 as toreva blocks most of the avalanche mass was emplaced dry although saturation of a basal shear layer cannot be excluded modeling was carried out using the depth averaged granular flow equations in order to provide information on the flow behavior of this well preserved long run out avalanche results were constrained using structures preserved on the surface of the deposit as well as by deposit outline and run up a proxy for velocity models assuming constant dynamic friction fail to produce realistic results because the low basal friction angles 1 to 3 5 necessary to generate observed run out permit neither adequate deposition on slopes nor preservation of significant morphology on the deposit surface a reasonable fit is obtained however if the avalanche is assumed simply to experience a constant retarding stress of 50 100 kpa during flow this permits long run out as well as deposition on slopes and preservation of realistic depositional morphology in particular the model explains a prominent topographic escarpment on the deposit surface as the frozen front of a huge wave of debris reflected off surrounding hills the result that socompa avalanche experienced a small approximately constant retarding stress during emplacement is consistent with a previously published analysis of avalanche data

tectonic setting and timing of the final deccan flood basalt eruptions the role of extensional tectonics in the generation of basaltic melt and eruption of continental flood basalts is controversial and yet it remains crucial to understanding the origin and cause of these large volume eruptions establishing the timing of lithospheric extension continental rifting and the onset of continental flood basalt volcanism is therefore of importance to petrogenetic models detailed mapping along the mumbai coast india reveals three chemically distinct sets of dikes which together with high precision 40 ar 39 ar dating demonstrate the temporal relationship between lithospheric extension and deccan volcanism the east west extension evident along the west coast of india which led to the separation of the seychelles from the indian plate only began during the final phases of the basalt eruptions and cannot have initiated the large volume eruptions of the deccan flood basalt province

characterising three dimensional anisotropic spatial correlation of soil properties through in situ test results proper characterisations of soil properties and their variations are pivotal to the geotechnical design process although multiple in situ soil tests are routinely specified and performed in geotec

sector collapse at kick em jenny submarine volcano lesser antilles numerical simulation and landslide behaviour kick em jenny volcano is the only known active submarine volcano in the lesser antilles it lies within a horseshoe shaped structure open to the west northwest toward the deep grenada basin a detailed bathymetric survey of the basin slope at kick em jenny and resulting high resolution digital elevation model allowed the identification of a major submarine landslide deposit this deposit is thought to result from a single sector collapse event at kick em jenny and to be linked to the formation of the horseshoe shaped structure we estimated the volume and the leading edge runout of the landslide to be ca 4 4 km3 and 14 km respectively we modelled a sector collapse event of a proto kick em jenny volcano using volcflow a finite difference code based on depth integrated mass and momentum equations our models show that the landslide can be simulated by either a coulomb type rheology with low basal friction angles 5 5 6 5 and a significant internal friction angle above 17 5 or with better results by a bingham rheology with low bingham kinematic viscosity 0 b 30 m2 s and high shear strength 130 180 m2 s2 the models and the short runout distance suggest that the landslide travelled as a stiff cohesive flow affected by minimal granular disaggregation and slumping on a non lubricated surface the main submarine landslide deposit can therefore be considered as a submarine mass slide deposit that behaved like a slump

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

electrical resistivity cross section across northern part of saurashtra region an insight to crystallized magma and fluids abstract saurashtra region forms the western part of the deccan volcanic province dvp in india and is bounded by the cambay rift basin crb in the east narmada rift basin nrb in the south and kachchh rift basin krb in the north this region is uplifted due to different stages of inter continental breakup madagascar india seychelles india different stages of rifting reactivation of fault zones and deccan volcanism the major portion of saurashtra region is covered by deccan basalts underlain by mesozoic sediments detailed magnetotelluric mt and long period magnetotelluric lmt soundings have been carried out in the northern part of saurashtra with an aim to bring out the geoelectrical configuration of different basins jamnagar jasdan and cambay along the profile 2d inversion carried out for different modes transverse electric te transverse magnetic mode tm and te tm independently the inversion of different modes shows distinct electrical signatures due to the 3d nature of the data we have considered the tm mode of interpretation because it is less prone to 3d distortions the final model represents large scale heterogeneities in the crust due to the presence of different resistive and conductive blocks high conductive lithosphere denotes the thermal influx of the mantle material to the base of the crust exchange of heat with the lower crust during basaltic magmatic underplating released carbonate fluids and or dehydration of minerals resulting in high conductivity anomalies a prominent conductive feature on the east side of the profile at upper crustal depths may be due to partial melts associated with mafic ultra mafic intrusions related to the reunion plume activity different resistive blocks in conjunction with seismic tomography studies represent recrystallized older precambrian crust that forms the uplifted blocks of jamnagar jasdan and western part of cambay basins

seismicity faulting and structure of the koyna warna seismic region western india from local earthquake tomography and hypocenter locations although seismicity near koyna reservoir india has persisted for 50 years and includes the largest induced earthquake m 6 3 reported worldwide the seismotectonic framework of the area is not well understood we recorded 1800 earthquakes from 6 january 2010 to 28 may 2010 and located a subset of 343 of the highest quality earthquakes using the tomodd code of zhang and thurber 2003 to better understand the framework we also inverted first arrivals for 3 d vp vs and vp vs and poisson s ratio tomography models of the upper 12 km of the crust epicenters for the recorded earthquakes are located south of the koyna river including a high density cluster that coincides with a shallow depth 1 5 km zone of relatively high vp and low vs also high vp vs and poisson s ratios near warna reservoir this anomalous zone which extends near vertically to at least 8 km depth and laterally northward at least 15 km is likely a water saturated zone of faults under high pore pressures because many of the earthquakes occur on the periphery of the fault zone rather than near its center the observed seismicity velocity correlations are consistent with the concept that many of the earthquakes nucleate in fractures adjacent to the main fault zone due to high pore pressure we interpret our velocity images as showing a series of northwest trending faults locally near the central part of warna reservoir and a major northward trending fault zone north of warna reservoir

repeat ridge jumps and microcontinent separation insights from ne arabian sea abstract microcontinents separate due to ridge jumps associate either asymmetric sea floor spreading or plume ridge interactions india separated from seychelles at 64 ma by asymmetric sea floor spreading initially when the spreading centre in the mascarene basin jumped towards the indian sub continent between magnetic chrons c29 and c28 the subsequent tectonics is difficult to comprehend since laxmi ridge another microcontinent formed during the later phase most of the studies considered the laxmi ridge as a sliver others considered it to be oceanic crust high resolution deep 25 km seismic data reveals that i the ridge possesses 15 km deep sea ward dipping reflector sdr packages ii normal faulted rift valleys devoid of syn rift sedimentary packages and iii axial magma chambers 5 7 km beneath the ridge top additionally from 2d forward gravity models we deduce that the ridge most possibly comprises of high density oceanic crust we conclude the laxmi ridge to be indeed composed of oceanic crust and a fossil spreading centre we thus identified the ridge jumps and their relation to the seychelles microcontinent separation previous numerical models suggest that the time required for a ridge jump is controlled by magmatic heating spreading rate at the ridge and plate ages for repeated ridge jumps the additional factor is the dynamic relation between the plume and lithosphere in terms of melt transfer and heating we find that the medium spreading rates and high magmatic heating due to the reunion plume and young plates favoured rapid and repeated ridge jumps towards the plume

numerical simulation of the last flank collapse event of montagne pelee martinique lesser antilles 1 we model the submarine emplacement of a debris avalanche generated by the last flank collapse event of montagne pelee volcano we estimate the collapsed volume 1 7 km3 using both the volume of the missing material in the horseshoe shaped structure and the volume of submarine deposits this avalanche is treated as the gravitational flow of a homogeneous continuum it is simulated by a finite difference model solving mass and momentum conservation equations that are depth averaged over the slide thickness numerical simulations show that the emplacement of this debris avalanche can be suitably modeled by a coulomb type friction law with a variable friction angle below 10 we propose that variations of the friction angle are mainly influenced by the thickness of the flowing mass

hydrothermal venting and mineralization in the crater of kick em jenny submarine volcano grenada lesser antilles kick em jenny is a frequently erupting shallow submarine volcano located 7 5 km off the northern coast of grenada in the lesser antilles subduction zone focused and diffuse hydrothermal venting is taking place mainly within a small 70 110 m depression within the 300 m diameter crater of the volcano at depths of about 265 m much of the crater is blanketed with a layer of fine grained tephra that has undergone hydrothermal alteration clear fluids and gas are being discharged near the center of the depression from mound like vents at a maximum temperature of 180 c the gas consists of 93 96 co2 with trace amounts of methane and hydrogen gas flux measurements of individual bubble streams range from 10 to 100 kg of co2 per day diffuse venting with temperatures 5 35 c above ambient occurs throughout the depression and over large areas of the main crater these zones are colonized by reddish yellow bacteria with the production of fe oxyhydroxides as surface coatings fragile spires up to several meters in height and elongated mounds up to tens of centimeters thick a high resolution photomosaic of the inner crater depression shows fluid flow patterns descending the sides of the depression toward the crater floor we suggest that the negatively buoyant fluid flow is the result of phase separation of hydrothermal fluids at kick em jenny generating a dense saline component that does not rise despite its elevated temperature

a comparison of pyroclastic flow and debris avalanche mobility many pyroclastic flows have runout distances longer than expected from basic frictional arguments in these cases the ratio of the height descended h and the runout l are as small as 0 2 a feature which has been attributed to fluidization however significant fluidization by gases is now considered unlikely during emplacement of debris avalanches where h l and volume are inversely related we determine whether pyroclastic flows are more mobile than debris avalanches of the same volume and if different emplacement mechanisms are needed to describe their runout h l and volume data were compiled for 34 nonvolcanic and 40 volcanic debris avalanche deposits as well as 15 pyroclastic flow deposits systematic differences in the volume versus h l plots were explored by statistical analysis results show an inverse relationship between h l and volume for both nonvolcanic and volcanic debris avalanche deposits as expected and also for pyroclastic flow deposits regression lines for plots of pyroclastic flow and volcanic debris avalanche data are statistically indistinguishable and the non volcanic debris avalanche line is parallel to the other two we argue that the nonvolcanic and volcanic debris avalanche differences are due to material properties rather than emplacement mechanisms therefore since pyroclastic flows and volcanic debris avalanches have indistinguishable h l versus volume it is unlikely that pyroclastic flows have a significantly different primary emplacement mechanism based on the data in hand we conclude that it is unnecessary to invoke gas fluidization to explain the mobility of the types of pyroclastic flows examined or the excess runout of large volume debris avalanches

tectonics of the himalaya an introduction soumyajit mukherjee1 rodolfo carosi2 peter van der beek3 barun kumar mukherjee4 delores m robinson5 department of earth sciences indian institute of technology bombay powai mumbai 400 076 maharashtra india dipartimento di scienze della terra v valperga caluso 35 10125 torino italy universite grenoble alpes institut des sciences de la terre 38041 grenoble france petrology and geochemistry group wadia institute of himalayan geology 33 gms road dehra dun 248001 india department of geological sciences university of alabama 201 7th ave room 2003 bevill building tuscaloosa al 35487 usa

tectonomagmatic setting of lava packages in the mandla lobe of the eastern deccan volcanic province india palaeomagnetism and magnetostratigraphic evidence

numerical modelling of tsunami generation and propagation from submarine slumps the 1998 papua new guinea event summary deep and large submarine slumps may generate tsunamis as disastrous as tsunamis of tectonic origin such a landslide is likely to be the origin of the 1998 july 17 tsunami of papua new guinea the deadliest tsunami in the last 50 years water waves devastated a 20 km stretch of coastline wiping out three villages and killing more than 2200 people a numerical model has been developed to study the efficiency of deep slumps in producing tsunamis and has been applied to the papua new guinea event the landslide is treated as the flow of a homogeneous gravity driven continuum governed by a rheological law water waves are generated by sea bottom displacements induced by the landslide the shallow water approximation is adopted for both the landslide and the associated water waves the resulting differential equations are solved by a finite difference method based on shock capturing the shallow water hypothesis is tested by comparison with a model solving navier stokes equations for a mixture of water and sediments sensitivity tests carried out for a 2 d simplified geometry show that the water surface profile depends strongly on the constitutive law of the landslide the 1998 event is simulated numerically by the shallow water model testing different friction laws the observed inundation height distribution is well reproduced by the model for a volume of 4 km3 with its top located at a water depth of 550 m and sliding with a coulomb type friction law over a distance of 5 km

debris avalanche deposits offshore st vincent west indies impact of flank collapse events on the morphological evolution of the island abstract major scarp features have been previously identified on soufriere volcano st vincent lesser antilles and recently interpreted as flank collapse structures although no associated debris avalanche deposits were recognized new offshore high resolution bathymetry and geophysical data have been collected during the caraval cruise n o l atalante february march 2002 offshore of st vincent recent analysis of these data leads us to identify and characterize a debris avalanche deposit on the western flank of soufriere volcano which extends down to the grenada basin the origin of the submarine deposit by submarine slump or flank collapse event is discussed but data analysis tends support the occurrence of a flank collapse event during the evolution of soufriere volcano the collapse volume has been estimated to about 9 km 3 and the age of the event is less than 50 000 years using marine geophysical constraints the origin of the flank collapse can be related to local causes weakening of the flank by intense hydrothermal alteration magmatic injections increase of the load by accumulation of volcanic products and or to regional causes asymmetry of the arc sea level variations induced by climate change that may have an effect on the stability of the volcano taking into account this event we proposed a model for the evolution of soufriere volcano including a new estimation of the magma production rate the estimation indicates that soufriere volcano is one of the most active volcanoes of the arc a future flank collapse event could have catastrophic consequences for the entire area due to the emplacement of voluminous potentially tsunamigenic debris avalanches

a review and new data on neotectonic evolution of active faults in the kachchh basin western india legacy of post deccan trap tectonic inversion

volcanological and tectonic control of stratigraphy and structure in the western deccan traps many of the world s flood basalt provinces form elevated plateaux at the margins of continents although in most cases their present large elevation is not the result of mountain building processes several explanations have recently been put forward to explain such occurrences of epeirogeny the deccan trap basalt province forms one such elevated plateau and results are presented here showing how the epeirogenic uplift in this region combined with crustal subsidence probably associated with the rifting of the indian continental margin has affected the structure of the basalt sequence trace element analytical data are used for samples from numerous vertical sections through the deccan traps lava series along and around the western ghats ridge in india the results reinforce the previously defined stratigraphy of the mahabaleshwar area and extend it over a region covering some 36 000 km2 reaching as far south as belgaum and the trap basement contact these results show that the lava pile is not flat lying but forms a very low amplitude anticlinal fold structure plunging southwards by up to 0 3 over most of the area although in the south there is evidence of a reversal of this plunge the fold is interpreted as being the result of two tilting processes 1 westward tilting near the coast due to the foundering of the passive continental margin and 2 epeirogenic uplift along the whole west coast of india producing the observed topography and the peninsula wide drainage patterns and also the easterly component of dip variations in the magnitude of the latter effect along the western continental margin may also be important in generating the plunge of the fold although the possibility of some component of depositional dip may also be important this latter possibility can be modelled using a simple computer program the results of this modelling show that a migrating linear volcanic edifice fits the observations best

geosciences of the himalaya karakoram tibet orogen the himalaya karakoram tibet orogen a product of india eurasia collision 55 ma back continues to attract global attention for its many geoscientific uniqueness this orogen is the most exciting natural laboratory to study continental dynamics and its evolution during past few decades phenomenal progresses have been made in uplift and extrusion models dynamic metamorphism magmatism climate tectonics interaction etc this thematic volume on the geosciences of the himalaya karakoram tibet consists of eighteen papers and two geosites in the first paper kirby and harkins correlated variation in slip rate along the kunlun fault with topography of the anyemaqen shan mountain at the eastern tibetan plateau their work indicates that fault terminations might be associated with crustal thickening of the plateau and demonstrate that the upper crustal deformation of the tibetan plateau to be pervasive and dispersed throughout the crustal blocks rather than localized along narrow fault zones robinson and pearson compiled an orogen wide correlation of footwall and hanging wall units of the ramgarh and munsiari thrust sheets they considered the ramgarh munsiari thrust sheet as a single major orogenscale fault system they hypothesized that the extensional shear within the south tibetan detachment was triggered possibly by slip transfer from the main central thrust into the ramgarh munsiari thrust during the miocene thakur reviewed the tectonics of the siwalik range of the himalaya he concluded in sequence deformation and critical taper mechanism acted in this terrain presuming the crustal channel flow model to be correct mukherjee estimated a viscosity of 10 10 pa s and a prandtl number of 10 10 for the greater himalayan crystallines moharana et al described the munsiari thrust from kumaun himalaya to consist of a core and a damage zone and described their structural geology in detail mukherjee described a basal detachment of extensional ductile shear from the base of the greater himalayan crystallines at bhagirathi section of the indian himalaya and explained it in terms of a shifting crustal channel flow ubiquitous backthrusts within this terrain were another new finding and were explained by southward subduction of eurasian plate below the indian plate based on balanced crosssection studies khanal and robinson estimated slip along major himalayan faults from the budhi gandhaki river section of central nepal sen and collins inferred dextral transpression and changing angle of convergence of the formation of the ladakh magmatic arc they also reported late eocene s type granite magmatism in its central part mathew et al discuss the tectonothermal evolution of the arunachal himalaya they obtained isothermal decompression for the greater himalayan sequence and isobaric cooling from the main central thrust region jayangondaperumal et al reevaluated co seismic slip of the himalayan frontal thrust the estimated shortening around the himalayan frontal thrust would lead a bigger earthquake in the western part of indian himalaya shah presented a geomorphologic study from kashmir basin in india identified faults from remote sensing studies and predicted a future earthquake of mw 7 6 srivastava et al s mukherjee department of earth sciences indian institute of technology bombay mumbai india e mail soumyajitm gmail com

stochastic evaluation of static liquefaction in a predominantly dilative sand fill the paper investigates the potential for liquefaction in a predominantly dilative hydraulic sand fill and in particular whether pockets of loose material could have been instrumental in the failure of the nerlerk underwater berm this has been achieved stochastically by linking random field theory for modelling spatial variability with finite elements for computing geostructural response specifically a double hardening soil model has been calibrated against data from 74 triaxial tests on erksak sand for a wide range of sand states while state parameter statistics have been derived from 71 cone penetration tests from two beaufort sea sand islands multiple realisations of structural performance have then been carried out by generating univariate random fields of state parameter from which the soil model parameters have been inferred the results demonstrate that it may be possible for a predominantly dilative fill to liquefy due to the presence of semi continuous loose zones arising from deposit

near n s paleo extension in the western deccan region india does it link strike slip tectonics with india seychelles rifting this is the first detailed report and analyses of deformation from the w part of the deccan large igneous province dlip maharashtra india this deformation related to the india seychelles rifting during late cretaceous early paleocene was studied and the paleostress tensors were deduced near n s trending shear zones lineaments and faults were already reported without significant detail an e w extension was envisaged by the previous workers to explain the india seychelles rift at 64 ma the direction of extension however does not match with their n s brittle shear zones and also those faults sub vertical ne sw nw se and few n s we report and emphasize in this work slickenside bearing fault planes brittle shear zones and extension fractures in meso scale enabled us to estimate the paleostress tensors directions and relative magnitudes the field study was complemented by remote sensing lineament analyses to map dykes and shear zones dykes emplaced along pre existing n s to ne sw nw se shears fractures this information was used to derive regional paleostress trends a nw se ne sw minimum compressive stress in the oldest kalsubai subgroup and a n s direction for the younger lonavala wai and salsette subgroups were deciphered thus a nw ne to n s extension is put forward that refutes the popular view of e w india seychelles extension paleostress analyses indicate that this is an oblique rifted margin field criteria suggest only ne sw and nw se with some n s strike slip faults brittle shear zones we refer this deformation zone as the western deccan strike slip zone wdsz the observed deformation was matched with offshore tectonics deciphered mainly from faults interpreted on seismic profiles and from magnetic seafloor spreading anomalies these geophysical findings too indicate oblique rifting in this part of the w indian passive margin we argue that the seychelles microcontinent separated from india only after much of the dlip erupted further studies of magma rich passive margins with respect to timing and architecture of deformation and emplacement of volcanics are required

large scale flank collapse events during the activity of montagne pelee martinique lesser antilles 1 a horseshoe shaped structure already identified on the southwestern flank of montagne pelee martinique lesser antilles arc was previously interpreted as resulting of a flank collapse event but no debris avalanche deposits were observed at the time new offshore high resolution bathymetry and geophysical data aguadomar cruise december 1998 to january 1999 r v l atalante lead us to identify three debris avalanche deposits on the submarine western flank of montagne pelee extending down to the grenada basin they display morphological fronts and hummocky morphology on bathymetric data speckled pattern on backscatter data and hyperbolic facies on 3 5 khz and seismic profiles new on land geological studies lead us to identify two other horseshoe shaped structures on the same flank of the volcano the three submarine deposits have been traced back to the structures identified on land which confirms the occurrence of repeated flank collapse events during the evolution of montagne pelee the ages of the last two events are estimated at 9 ka and 25 ka on the basis of 14c and 238u 230th dates every flank collapse produced debris avalanches which flowed down to the caribbean sea we propose that the repeated instabilities are due to the large asymmetry of the island with western aerial and submarine slopes steeper than the eastern slopes the asymmetry results from progressive loading by accumulation of volcanic products on the western slopes of the volcano and development of long term gravitational instabilities meteoric and hydrothermal fluid circulation on the floor of the second flank collapse structure also creates a weakened hydrothermalized area which favors the recurrence of flank collapses

human use of landforms on the deccan volcanic plateau formation of a geocultural region abstract this paper takes its inspiration from karl w butzer s course on the human use of landforms at the university of chicago it builds upon that concept through an exploration of regional settlement patterns and landforms in the deccan volcanic province of west central india the first section develops a conceptual framework for analyzing human adjustment to landforms on regional settlement and site scales the second section employs that framework to analyze four major landform settlement configurations in the deccan from antiquity to the end of the eighteenth century the satavahana kingdom ca 100 bce to 200 ce had a strong southeast to northwest alignment along the godavari river their capital city of paithan was located at a navigable sacred ford across the river tirtha which was linked with upstream confluences sangams tanks kunds mountain passes ghats and port cities on the arabian sea subsequent hindu dynasties ca 850 1300 ce shifted from fluvial landforms to a north south alignment along steep mesa escarpments and buttes in the central deccan that provided defensive fortress and cave temple sites sultanate and mughal forces expanded the urban footprint on nearby plateau lands at sites protected by surrounding mesas ca 1330 1700 ce these cities were supported by local watershed runoff and long distance water channels the final precolonial phase of deccan settlement entailed a shift from the semiarid central plateaus to humid headwaters of the western ghats whose buttes and scarps provided sites for scores of forts controlled by the founder of the maratha empire chhatrapati shivaji in the seventeenth century maratha success led to development downstream at the capital city of pune 1627 1803 ce located at a river confluence flanked by mesas which combined the strategies of previous periods over two millennia these four distinct yet intersecting patterns of human landform relations have shaped an evolving geocultural region on the deccan plateau that deserves comparison with other flood basalt regions

review of flanking structures in meso and micro scales a variety of host fabric elements he cut by cross cutting elements ce in rocks defines flanking structures fs on mesoscopic and microscopic scales there has been renewed interest in studying and classifying the fs for their morphologies useful as shear sense indicators and geneses existing non genetic morphologic parameters for the fs are reviewed and two new classification schemes are presented one of these is based on the nature of the ce and whether he penetrates it the other scheme takes account of all the potential combinations of drag no drag and slip no slip of the he deciphering the shear sense of the rock body from fs is complicated because the angular relationship between the ce and the primary shear planes might be opposite to what is found between s and c ductile shear fabrics further single ces can curve and several similar fs occur in reverse forms as with mineral fish the shape asymmetries of microscopic ces indicate the shear sense conjugate fs with non parallel ces with interfering perturbation fields around the ces are more reliable shear sense indicators than fs with single ce during low but increasing bulk strains fs may evolve from one type to another e g from a to s type at high strain fs can resemble intrafolial or sheath fold whether the drag is normal or reverse depends fundamentally on the initial angle between the he and the ce and the relative magnitudes of throw and vertical separation

directed blasts and blast generated pyroclastic density currents a comparison of the bezymianny 1956 mount st helens 1980 and soufriere hills montserrat 1997 eruptions and deposits we compare eruptive dynamics effects and deposits of the bezymianny 1956 bz mount st helens 1980 msh and soufriere hills volcano montserrat 1997 shv eruptions the key events of which included powerful directed blasts each blast subsequently generated a high energy stratified pyroclastic density current pdc with a high speed at onset the blasts were triggered by rapid unloading of an extruding or intruding shallow magma body lava dome and or cryptodome of andesitic or dacitic composition the unloading was caused by sector failures of the volcanic edifices with respective volumes for bz msh and shv c 0 5 2 5 and 0 05 km3 the blasts devastated approximately elliptical areas axial directions of which coincided with the directions of sector failures we separate the transient directed blast phenomenon into three main parts the burst phase the collapse phase and the pdc phase in the burst phase the pressurized mixture is driven by initial kinetic energy and expands rapidly into the atmosphere with much of the expansion having an initially lateral component the erupted material fails to mix with sufficient air to form a buoyant column but in the collapse phase falls beyond the source as an inclined fountain and thereafter generates a pdc moving parallel to the ground surface it is possible for the burst phase to comprise an overpressured jet which requires injection of momentum from an orifice however some exploding sources may have different geometry and a jet is not necessarily formed a major unresolved question is whether the preponderance of strong damage observed in the volcanic blasts should be attributed to shock waves within an overpressured jet or alternatively to dynamic pressures and shocks within the energetic collapse and pdc phases internal shock structures related to unsteady flow and compressibility effects can occur in each phase we withhold judgment about published shock models as a primary explanation for the damage sustained at msh until modern 3d numerical modeling is accomplished but argue that much of the damage observed in directed blasts can be reasonably interpreted to have been caused by high dynamic pressures and clast impact loading by an inclined collapsing fountain and stratified pdc this view is reinforced by recent modeling cited for shv in distal and peripheral regions solids concentration maximum particle size current speed and dynamic pressure are diminished resulting in lesser damage and enhanced influence by local topography on the pdc despite the different scales of the blasts devastated areas were respectively 500 600 and 10 km2 for bz msh and shv and some complexity involving retrogressive slide blocks and clusters of explosions their pyroclastic deposits demonstrate strong similarity juvenile material composes 50 of the deposits implying for the blasts a dominantly magmatic mechanism although hydrothermal explosions also occurred the character of the magma fragmented by explosions highly viscous phenocryst rich variable microlite content determined the bimodal distributions of juvenile clast density and vesicularity thickness of the deposits fluctuates in proximal areas but in general decreases with distance from the crater and laterally from the axial region the proximal stratigraphy of the blast deposits comprises four layers named a b c d from bottom to top layer a is represented by very poorly sorted debris with admixtures of vegetation and soil with a strongly erosive ground contact its appearance varies at different sites due to different ground conditions at the time of the blasts the layer reflects intense turbulent boundary shear between the basal part of the energetic head of the pdc and the substrate layer b exhibits relatively well sorted fines depleted debris with some charred plant fragments its deposition occurred by rapid suspension sedimentation in rapidly waning high concentration conditions layer c is mainly a poorly sorted massive layer enriched by fines with its uppermost part laminated created by rapid sedimentation under moderate concentration weakly tractive conditions with the uppermost laminated part reflecting a dilute depositional regime with grain by grain traction deposition by analogy to laboratory experiments mixing at the flow head of the pdc created a turbulent dilute wake above the body of a gravity current with layer b deposited by the flow body and layer c by the wake the uppermost layer d of fines and accretionary lapilli is an ash fallout deposit of the finest particles from the high rising buoyant thermal plume derived from the sediment depleted pyroclastic density current the strong similarity among these eruptions and their deposits suggests that these cases represent similar source transport and depositional phenomena

computer simulations of tsunamis due to sector collapse at stromboli italy abstract stromboli is an island volcano of the aeolian volcanic arc characterised by persistent activity the cone rises about 2500 3000 m from its submarine base with very steep slopes its summit at 924 m above the sea level the subaerial growth of stromboli occurred in the last 100 ka has been marked by repeated episodes of large gravitational collapses especially affecting the nw flank of the island in the last 13 ka the last one occurred less than 5000 years ago forming the deep depression on the nw seaward flank named sciara del fuoco sdf and it produced very likely large water waves this paper envisages a scenario where a huge mass of volcanic material collapses into the sea in the same sector in which the sdf collapse took place in holocenic times and it computes possible tsunami evolutions assuming the present day bathymetry numerical simulations are performed by means of two distinct models one for the mass collapse and one for the tsunami slope failure dynamics are calculated with the aid of a lagrangian model the landslide is subdivided into blocks and the motion of each constituent block is calculated by applying the basic principle of mechanical momentum conservation with block block and block ambient interactions being taken into account water waves are computed by solving a system of shallow water equations including a forcing term dependent on the sliding mass motion the finite element fe technique is employed since it permits the use of non uniform grids which are adequate to account for marine basins with irregular coastlines in addition to the sensitivity analysis concerning the main parameters governing the slide motion two main cases are explored differing in the slide path followed by the mass the resulting tsunami is very large with giant waves as high as several meters tens of meters in the worst cases impinging the coast due to the strong wave refraction induced by bathymetry waves travel around the island affecting even the island coast opposite the source

40k 40ar dating of the main deccan large igneous province further evidence of ktb age and short duration most mass extinctions coincide in time with outpourings of continental flood basalts cfb some 20 years ago it was shown courtillot v besse j vandamme d montigny r jaeger j j cappetta h 1986 deccan flood basalts at the cretaceous tertiary boundary earth planet sci lett 80 361 374 courtillot v feraud g maluski h vandamme d moreau m g besse j 1988 deccan flood basalts and the cretaceous tertiary boundary nature 333 843 846 duncan r a pyle d g 1988 rapid eruption of the deccan flood basalts at the cretaceous tertiary boundary nature 333 841 843 that the age of the deccan traps was close to the cretaceous tertiary kt boundary and its duration under 1 myr we have undertaken a new geochronological study using the unconventional 40k 40ar cassignol gillot technique which is particularly well suited to the potassium poor deccan lavas the mean of 4 determinations from the topmost ambenali and mahabaleshwar formations is 64 5 0 6 ma they straddle the c29r c29n reversal boundary for which they provide a new constraint the mean age of 3 determinations from the oldest jawhar formation is 64 8 0 6 ma the difference in age between top and bottom of a 3500 m composite section probably comprising 80 of the total deccan volume is statistically insignificant with the overall mean age being 64 7 0 6 ma n 7 our results are consistent with the most recent 40ar 39ar determinations knight k b renne p r halkett a white n 2003 40ar 39ar dating of the rajahmundry traps eastern india and their relationship to the deccan traps earth planet sci lett 208 85 99 knight k b renne p r baker j waight t white n 2005 reply to 40ar 39ar dating of the rajahmundry traps eastern india and their relationship to the deccan traps discussion by a k baksi earth planet sci lett 239 374 382 confirming that there should be no systematic difference between the two methods when they are used in an optimal way an earlier smaller but significant pulse of volcanism between 68 and 67 ma extending over at least 500 km in latitude in the northern part of the deccan cfb has also been identified after 2 to 3 ma of quiescence the second major phase of volcanism occurred near 65 ma expanding over most of the area covered by the first pulse and another 500 km to the south consistent with drift of india by 300 to 450 km at not vert similar 150 mm yr during the quiescence period new paleontological data from the remote rajahmundry section keller g adatte t gardin s bartolini a bajpai s humler e in prep the cretaceous tertiary boundary in deccan traps of the krishna godavari basin of southeastern india epsl to be submitted suggest that this second pulse can itself be divided into two major pulses one starting in c29r and ending at the kt boundary the second starting in the upper part of c29r and ending within c29n

estimation of effective elastic thickness from gravity and topography data under the deccan volcanic province india abstract effective elastic thickness eet under the deccan volcanic province is estimated based on admittance and coherence between the gravity field and the topography the observed admittance function shows a good fit for the regional compensation model with an eet of 10 2 km the effect of a long wavelength geoidal gravity anomaly on the computation of eet has been investigated and found not to significantly influence the value of eet although a considerable change in compensation depth was noticed the estimated eet is less than the thickness of the seismically active layer in this region these results are consistent with observations in other parts of the world that eet should be smaller than the depth of the 350 100 c isotherm

multiple pulsed debris avalanche emplacement at mount st helens in 1980 evidence from numerical continuum flow simulations abstract the complex 1980 mount st helens debris avalanche is modeled numerically as a transient biviscous fluid flow several approaches are considered including two step rheologically distinct models for avalanche i and combined avalanches ii iii and a composite flow model consisting of retrogressive slides of identical rheology successively accreted to the main avalanche flow for the two step situation flow rheologies are evaluated separately for the initial avalanche comprising the debris avalanche block facies and an ensuing explosive influenced flow strengths normalized by density as high as 250 m2 s2 and apparent newtonian viscosities as much as 275 m2 s were established for the block facies these parameters for the explosively influenced flow are an order of magnitude lower the distribution of stratigraphic units within flowing model debris compared with field distributions suggests that the higher strength emplacement models are appropriate for debris deposited on johnston ridge and in the upper parts and flanks of the north fork toutle river valley in general models for which constant rheology is assumed throughout the flow process provide lower bound emplacement times and excessive early velocities as compared to the prototype event because model calibration is based on matching runout by trial and error it is therefore biased toward the rheologic parameters essential to achieving that runout these values characterize the flow in its latter stages whereas the actual strength and viscosity may have substantially decreased as a function of displacement two dimensional models predict debris accumulation about twice as thick as that observed at the foot of mount st helens where flow divergence was significant this discrepancy is lessened with a quasi three dimensional modification of the flow model accretionary composite flow models with homogeneous rheology simulate the overriding of early avalanche debris by later debris pulses the accretionary composite model also predicts a thick flow snout down valley since this feature is not indicated in the debris deposit the model lends support to the concept of flow separation by rheology the two step and accretionary composite flow models complement one another and provide model based support for the harry glicken hypothesis for complex emplacement at mount st helens

bombay gravity high and eruption of deccan flood basalts india from a shallow secondary plume abstract the western margin of india especially the area surrounding the gravity high of bombay is covered by a thick pile of deccan flood basalts the massive eruption is one of the largest continental volcanic events at the cretaceous tertiary biological mass extinction boundary 65 ma ago the area is characterized by several hidden tectonic features and their origin and evolution have remained controversial in the search for magma source structure attention was focused on an unusual oval shaped positive gravity anomaly over the bombay coastal zone the gravity analysis indicates the presence of two subsurface structures at depths of 4 5 0 5 km and 18 2 km these depths correspond to the top of the crustal basaltic layer and an upwarped moho discontinuity respectively the positive gravity anomaly in three dimensional analysis reveals a possible magma conduit structure and the near absence of the granitic layer the unusually shallow moho layer coincides with the region of a broad high heat flow anomaly average heat flow more than 80 mw m2 the geophysical signatures from the neighborhood show that the asthenosphere has welled up considerably and is located at a depth of about 40 km high heat flow and asthenospheric depth estimates suggest melting conditions at very shallow depths it is suggested that the highly differentiated magma associated with the major eruptive phase of deccan traps did not originate at the d layer it is hypothesized that magma was brought to the surface by a major secondary plume at a much shallower depth within the lithosphere and possibly at the crust mantle boundary as a consequence of subcrustal erosion and secondary melting caused by the extreme velocity of india during the late cretaceous and early tertiary substantial melting of the base of the lithosphere due to frictional heating might have resulted in the accumulation of a large quantity of magma below the thinned lithosphere at the pre existing fracture zone near the continental margin the presence of a magmatic conduit structure above the moho derived from the inversion of gravity data and other tectonic conditions suggests a possible triggering of the magma reservoir by a large bolide impact 10 km diameter at the cretaceous tertiary boundary near bombay

review on symmetric structures in ductile shear zones symmetric structures in ductile shear zones range widely in shapes and geneses matrix rheology its flow pattern its competency contrast with the clast degree of slip of the clast shear intensity and its variation across shear zone and deformation temperature and degree of confinement of clast in shear zones affects independently the degree of symmetry of objects kinematic vorticity number is one of the parameters that govern tail geometry across clasts for example symmetric and nearly straight tails develop if the clast matrix system underwent dominantly a pure shear compression prolonged deformation and concomitant recrystallization can significantly change the degree of symmetry of clasts angular relation between two shear zones or between a shear zone and anisotropy determines fundamentally the degree of symmetry of lozenges symmetry of boudinaged clasts too depends on competency contrast between the matrix and clast in some cases and on the degrees of slip of inter boudin surfaces and pure shear parasitic folds and post tectonic veins are usually symmetric

reliability assessment of slopes with three dimensional rotated transverse anisotropy in soil properties the influence of soil variability on three dimensional 3d probabilistic slope stability analysis has been previously investigated for soils that display isotropic spatial variability features or

petrology and eruption styles of kick em jenny submarine volcano lesser antilles island arc basaltic magmas erupted from the kick em jenny submarine volcano have assimilated amphibole bearing crustal material the mgo content of the basalts ranges from 12 to 4 wt and some of the more evolved members of the suite may have eventually become saturated with amphibole as well as olivine plagioclase clinopyroxene and titanomagnetite major element and trace element compositions are consistent with processes dominated by assimilation fractional crystallization analysis of glassy melt inclusions mgo 2 9 wt in olivine phenocrysts suggests that pre eruption melt water contents may have been as high as 5 wt glass compositions are interpreted to reflect eruption related loss of water submersible observations and dredge sampling of the volcano have revealed two styles of eruption explosive tephra producing eruptions and non explosive dome forming lava eruptions the contrasting styles of eruption are thought to be due principally to the rate and extent of eruption related degassing of 5 wt juvenile h2o although magma interactions with external water may also play a role in explosive eruptions

the primitive volcano of mount pelee its construction and partial destruction by flank collapse abstract the geology of mount pelee the active volcano of martinique lesser antilles has been actively studied during the past decade this paper reviews the current knowledge about the oldest least well known part of the volcano here called paleo pelee and the relations between paleo pelee and the mont conil volcanic complex paleo pelee consists mostly of volcanic breccias with a few lava flows it differs in this respect from neighbouring active volcanoes such as the grande decouverte soufriere in guadeloupe and the soufriere in st vincent the oldest products of which are mainly lava flows paleo pelee initially formed a regular cone which was comparable in size with the present edifice it is now largely eroded and its products form prominent radial ridges on the western flank of mount pelee these are buried under younger deposits on the eastern flank the uniformly andesitic breccias of paleo pelee are for the most part brecciated lava flows it is inferred that the activity of mount pelee was less explosive at this stage than during following periods neo pelee the paleo pelee formations overlap those of mont conil the geology of mont conil is poorly known however its lowest exposed products are submarine andesitic breccias cut by many dikes this contrasts with paleo pelee where all breccias are of subaerial origin pleistocene limestones are interbedded within the mont conil breccias between 120 and 150 m above sea level though mont conil seems to be closely linked to mount pelee on the basis of available petrological data a major uplift must have occurred sometime during or after the construction of mont conil and forms a recognizable geological boundary between the two volcanic systems the paleo pelee edifice was partially destroyed by a flank collapse event that occurred on the southwest flank during the early stage 40 000 20 000 y b p of neo pelee this event is evidenced by a large 6 2 5 km horseshoe shaped structure which is limited by well preserved morphological scarps on land and by a 300 m offshore scarp as shown by seabeam bathymetry paleo pelee breccias and lava flows are truncated by the boundary of the collapse structure lava domes occupied the upslope part of the structure at a later time these domes are intersected by the present crater etang sec which has probably been the active vent for at least 2000 years the active crater is located at the intersection between the flank failure depression and an older caldera formed at the paleo pelee stage but probably enlarged later the flank failure structure appears as a major structure of the volcano and creates a strong structural asymmetry in the edifice this fact should be considered when dealing with such various aspects as the hydrogeology of the volcano the structural control of past and future eruptions and the volcanic hazards

crustal structure from deep seismic soundings along the koyna ii kelsi loni profile in the deccan trap area india abstract the crustal depth section obtained from deep seismic soundings along the koyna ii kelsi loni profile which lies near latitude 18 n roughly in the east west direction in that part of the deccan trap maharashtra state india shows a number of reflection segments below the deccan traps down to the moho discontinuity a deep fault below the deccan traps 13 km east of mahad divides the entire cross section including the moho boundary into two crustal blocks the reflection segments show updip towards the west coast in the western block the moho discontinuity which is at a depth of 39 km near the deep fault starts rising towards the coast reaching a depth of 31 5 km at the west coast the eastern block is thrown up by 1 5 km with respect to the western block along the deep fault a structural contour map of the moho discontinuity for the koyna reservoir area has been prepared from the present results and the crustal information obtained along the koyna i profile kaila et al 1979a shows that the deep fault in the koyna area is aligned in the nnw sse direction refraction seismic data analysis by the wave front method reveals that the thickness of the deccan trap increases towards the west coast the deccan trap is 600 700 m thick in the eastern region between nira sp 130 and loni sp 200 and attains a thickness of 1500 m at 10 km east of the west coast the longitudinal wave velocity in the deccan traps along the profile varies from 4 8 to 5 0 km sec and in the crystalline basement from 6 0 to 6 15 km sec a tentative isopach contour map of the deccan traps and a tentative structural contour map of the pre deccan trap contact have been prepared for the koyna reservoir area from the results along the koyna ii and koyna i profiles a flexure aligned in a nnw sse direction in the pre deccan trap contact which is an expression of the deep fault into the basement has been clearly brought out the flexure coincides in general with the orientation of the deccan volcanic scarp in this area

shoulder uplift of the western ghats passive margin india a denudational model the paper presents a denudational rift flank uplift model of the western ghats of karnataka india the cenozoic denudation of the deccan plateau was constrained by relative dating of regional planation surface levels in combination with preliminary apatite fission track results the denudational history of the western ghats escarpment coastal foreland was constrained both by onshore fission track and offshore sediment data methods are briefly described results were used as reference data to elaborate a computer simulation model of both flexural rift flank upwarp and escarpment retreat from the k t boundary to the present depending on the assumptions concerning the attributes of the thin elastic lithospheric sheet infinite or semi infinite the shape and elevation of the initial deccan topography flat lying or affected by lithospheric updoming due to the reunion mantle plume and the position of the continental divide upon rifting the flexural response to denudational unloading is shown to yield either a concave up flexure of the dharwar craton or a convex monoclinal downwarp of the margin the relative merits of each model are discussed in the light of auxiliary field evidence particularly from the neighbouring deccan traps however the diverse assumptions on boundary conditions fail to entirely avoid geomorphological equifinality 1998 john wiley sons ltd

himalayan seismic hazard the devastating earthquake in bhuj on 26 january 2001 highlighted the high earthquake risk in the indian region of gujarat in their perspective bilham et al warn that major earthquakes may be expected in another part of india the himalayan arc an analysis of historic earthquakes suggests that several major earthquakes are overdue in this region but that recent low activity has focused attention away from the himalayan arc projections from earlier earthquakes suggest that just one of the possibly overdue himalayan earthquakes may lead to 200 000 predictable fatalities

controls on cu mineralization in central part of the kerman porphyry copper belt se iran constraints from structural and spatial pattern analysis abstract the sarduiyeh area in the central part of the kerman porphyry copper belt kpcb se iran contains numerous cu deposits and prospects this area is bound by e w trending major faults which show the northern and southern borders of fault duplex minor faults first second or third orders were identified in three trends of nw n s and ne analysis of the fault kinematics data revealed an extensional fault duplex pattern for this area in this fault zone cu deposits are associated with faults that have a special trend this proposed kinematic model for evolution of sarduiyeh extensional fault duplex emphasizes that the main cu deposits in the sarduiyeh area are located within the dilatational zones related to nw se trending normal faults in this study the spatial pattern analysis conducted by fry fractal fracture density and buffer zones methods support the conceptual model of district scale mechanism of structural controls on final emplacement of cu deposits this investigation of sarduiyeh cu mineralization revealed that the nw se trending faults are effective in localization of cu mineralization in the central part of kpcb

calderas or gravity slide structures in the lesser antilles island arc abstract large arcuate depressions up to about 10 km in diameter on the back arc side of st lucia dominica and st vincent in the lesser antilles arc are discussed the qualibou depression on st lucia has been previously described as a caldera partly because it was believed to be the source of ignimbrites on the island remapping and stratigraphic studies of these ignimbrites show they were not erupted from the depression but from central vents in the highland rainforests and are much younger dominica is geologically similar and has two scarped depressions at the southern end of the island soufriere volcano st vincent has a prominent arcuate scarp opening to the west the southern half of which has been buried under the youngest volcanic products of the volcano we interpret these structures as the root zones of gravity slides perhaps eruption related and triggered by magmatic inflation post slide activity lava domes and fumaroles has occurred within them due to reduction in lithostatic load and pressure release on the flanks of these island volcanic complexes the presence of these structures only on the western coasts is correlated with the steeper 9 slopes into the grenada basin in contrast to the 1 submarine slopes of the atlantic side

the deccan traps an interpretation in terms of progressive lithospheric flexure in response to a migrating load abstract structural and geochemical data from the western ghats india have been used to construct an accurate north south section of the volcanic stratigraphy of the southwest part of the deccan province the characteristic style of the section is one of southerly dip reversing in the extreme south southward overstep of higher units onto pre deccan rocks and down dip thinning of individual formations in contrast an east west section shows continuity of essentially horizontal stratigraphic units without overstepping relationships previous authors have interpreted these data in terms of the progressive southward migration of the volcanic source as india drifted northwards over a hot spot now centered beneath reunion we have compared the observed stratigraphy to the predictions of a geophysical model based on the flexural response of the continental lithosphere to a migrating volcanic load the best fit to the observed section is for the structurally lowest part of the modelled sections with an elastic thickness of the lithosphere of 100 km this value explains the present day width of the traps in peninsula india but requires that up to 5 5 km of the upper part of the flank section has been removed by erosion the origin of the erosion is not clear but it may be related to flexural rebound following removal of the cone loads that formed along the trace of the plume the model cannot explain the subsidence of the traps beneath the shelf off bombay or the rim uplift of the traps in the western ghats we attribute these modifications of the stratigraphy to vertical movements uplift and subsidence that followed rifting of india from the mascarene plateau during the eocene

hydrocarbon prospects across narmada tapti rift in deccan trap central india inferences from integrated interpretation of magnetotelluric and geochemical prospecting studies abstract as the mesozoic sediments contribute most of the oil and gas reserves of the world we present an integrated interpretation approach using magnetotellurics mt and surface geochemical prospecting studies to demarcate hydrocarbon prospective gondwana mesozoic formations underneath the deccan flood basalts of late cretaceous age across narmada tapti rift between bhusawal and barwah in central india the mt interpretation shows deep 5 km basement structure between southern and central part of the mt profile however it gradually becomes shallower to either ends of the profile with a predominant basement depth reduction in the northern end compared to the southern end the geophysical results suggest thick 2 3 5 km mesozoic sediments in the area characterized by deep basement structure the geochemical analysis of the near surface soil samples indicate higher concentrations of light gaseous hydrocarbons constituents over the area marked with thick sub basalt mesozoic formations analyses of the geochemical data imply that these hydrocarbons are genetically related generated from a thermogenic source and these samples fall in the oil producing zone the temperature depth estimations in the region supports favorable temperature conditions 80 120 c for oil generation at basement depths

regional geoelectric structure beneath deccan volcanic province of the indian subcontinent using magnetotellurics understanding deep continental structure and the seismotectonics of deccan trap covered region has attained greater importance in recent years for imaging the deep crustal structure magnetotelluric mt investigations have been carried out along three long profiles viz guhagarh sangole gs sangole partur sp edlabad khandwa ek and one short profile along nanasi mokhad nm the results of gs sp and nm profiles show that the traps lie directly over high resistive basement with thin inter trappean sediments where large thickness of sediments of the order of 1 5 2 0 km has been delineated along ek profile across narmada son lineament zone the basement is intersected by faults fractures which are clearly delineated as narrow steep conducting features at a few locations the conducting features delineated along sp profile are also seen from the results of aeromagnetic anomalies towards the southern part of the profile these features are spatially correlated with kurduwadi rift proposed earlier from gravity studies apart from the kurduwadi rift extending to deep crustal levels the present study indicates additional conductive features in the basement the variation in the resistivity along gs profile can be attributed to crustal block structure in koyna region similar block structure is also seen along nm profile deccan trap thickness based on various geophysical methods varies gradually from 1 8 km towards west to 0 3 km towards the east while this is the general trend a sharp variation in the thickness of trap is observed near koyna the resistivity of the trap is more 150 200 m towards the west as compared to the east 50 60 m indicating more compact or denser nature for the basalt towards west the upper crust is highly resistive 5000 10 000 m and the lower crust is moderately resistive 500 1000 m in the present study seismotectonics of the region is discussed based on the regional geoelectrical structure with lateral variation in the resistivity of the basement and presence of anomalous conductors in the crust 2007 elsevier b v all rights reserved

influence of deccan volcanism synrift magmatism on the crust mantle structure and its implications for the seismogenesis of earthquakes occurring in the kachchh rift zone

age of seychelles india break up many continental flood basalt provinces are spatially and temporally linked with continental break up establishing the relative timing of the two events is a key step in determining their causal relationship here we investigate the example of the deccan traps and the separation of india and the seychelles whilst there has been a growing consensus as to the age of the main phase of the deccan emplacement 65 5 1 ma chron 29r the age of the rifting has remained unclear we resolve this issue through detailed seafloor magnetic anomaly modeling supported by wide angle and reflection seismic results of the north seychelles and conjugate laxmi ridge gop rift margins and geochemistry and 40ar 39ar geochronology of rocks from the north seychelles margin we show that syn rift volcanics offshore the seychelles islands in the form of seaward dipping reflectors were most likely erupted during chron 28n and the first organized seafloor spreading at the carlsberg ridge also initiated during this chron at 63 4 ma the severing of the seychelles occurred by a south eastward ridge propagation that was completed by the start of chron 27n 62 ma a brief pre 28r phase of seafloor spreading occurred in the gop rift possibly as early as 31r 32n 71 ma initial extension at the margin therefore preceded or was contemporaneous with the deccan emplacement and separation of the seychelles was achieved less than 3 5 ma afterwards this is the shortest time interval between flood basalt emplacement and break up yet reported for any continental flood basalt rifted margin pair a contributing factor to the apparently short interval in the deccan case may be that rifting occurred by a ridge jump into already thinned continental lithosphere however we conclude that external plate boundary forces rather than the impact of a mantle plume were largely responsible for the rifting of the seychelles from india

alteration and submergence of basalts in kachchh gujarat india implications for the role of the deccan traps in the india seychelles break up

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

mapping the volcanic hazards from soufriere hills volcano montserrat west indies using an image processor we have used a digital model of the topography of montserrat a simple mathematical model of gravitational flow and some assumptions of the way in which the next eruption will develop to create a map of the volcanic hazards from soufriere hills volcano this has been done using an image processing computer to simulate the deposits produced by pyroclastic flows this technique has the advantages over more traditional cartographic methods of spatial precision rapid computation of multiple eruption models and the explicit nature of the physical model used soufriere hills volcano is a small andesitic volcano characterized by a cluster of summit domes and an apron of pyroclastic flow deposits and mudflows upon which several thousand people now live most of the flanks were covered by deposits from a series of eruptions from 24000 to 16000 a bp though there is some evidence that dome growth and small pyroclastic flows have occurred since the modelling is constrained by field evidence from the deposits of previous eruptions although the evidence is not good enough to model individual flow units the cumulative deposits can be used from the eruption deposit models we have created a new type of map specifically for emergency planning this sequential hazard zone map attempts to portray the regions that would be at hazard from pyroclastic flows during successive stages from the start of an eruption whose energy release was increasing with time

reconnaissance de structures tectoniques et volcaniques sous marines de l arc recent des petites antilles kick em jenny qualibou montagne pelee nordouest de la guadeloupe abstract a multibeam bathymetric survey seacarib 1 was carried out in april 1985 on board the r v conrad lamont doherty geological observatory off the western coasts of several islands of the lesser antilles complementing a previous survey of the same type arcante 2 thermosite 1980 devoted to adjoining areas in guadeloupe martinique and st lucia it allowed us to precisely map submarine volcanoes in a marginal setting behind the recent arc the main volcanic axis of the archipelago emplaced during the neogene the kick em jenny volcano south of the grenadines is the only active submarine volcano of the lesser antilles it is a small and very young cone probably only tens or hundreds of years old which was hydrothermally active during the survey the directeur volcano guadeloupe is the largest submerged volcanic centre thus far detected in the lesser antilles having been formed between 3 3 and 2 9 ma during the 1980 survey two other large volcanoes were discovered off southern basse terre guadeloupe vieux fort volcano 2 5 2 0 ma and in front of fort de france bay martinique schoelcher volcano older than 4 2 ma several other much smaller volcanoes have been mapped off the same coasts particularly the bouillante seapeaks guadeloupe moreover large tectonic structures cut the recent arc transversally and obliquely the well known qualibou depression on the island of st lucia was interpreted in various ways neither the hypothesis of a large caldera the western side of which collapsed offshore nor the suggestion of a huge rotational gravity slide are confirmed the depression seems more likely to have been controlled by tectonic factors shaping a complex graben structure the seaward extension appears to be restricted to a northern channel the soufriere channel the st pierre fault in martinique is a large transverse feature extending seaward down to some 2000 m depth to the south it bounds the mount pelee active volcanic system and the escarpment of the fault forms a dam against subaqueous pyroclastic flows running down from the volcano these flows are responsible for the unusually smooth morphology of the submarine flanks the zombi fault of northwest guadeloupe is part of a first order feature extending along at least 130 km from montserrat in the north to marie galante in the east this curved fracture cuts across the northern central part of the lesser antilles passing progressively from a subparallel to a transverse orientation with respect to the axis of the island arc these types of surveys are important because they provide better understanding of the structure and recent geological evolution of the recent volcanic arc they are also a useful complementary tool for geothermal and seismological studies

a possible k t boundary bolide impact site offshore near bombay and triggering of rapid deccan volcanism abstract the temporal coincidence of a major biological mass extinction including dinosaurs the well known iridium excess anomaly at the cretaceous tertiary k t boundary and the eruption of deccan flood basalts at about 65 ma has aroused global interest among geologists and biologists it is widely debated whether the mass extinction and iridium anomaly are due to an asteroid impact or the massive outpouring of extensive deccan volcanism an oval shaped unusual positive gravity anomaly 10 000 km 2 in area near bombay has attracted our attention during a search for an impact site near deccan basalts a detailed gravity interpretation indicates the presence of a fossil conduit structure of 12 km height extending from a shallow crust mantle boundary at 18 km to an approximate depth of 6 km from the surface the conduit structure with a maximum diameter of about 35 km at its base may originate from cracking of a weak pre deccan trap shallow upwarped mantle the structure may have been caused by a bolide impact which triggered the eruption of massive flood basalts deccan traps on the western margin of the fast moving indian plate an impact in this locality can explain the sudden detachment of the arcuate seychelles block from india as well as the large scale reorganisation of plate boundaries in the indian ocean our hypothesis of impact triggered volcanism at 65 ma advocates a bimodal cause for the mass extinction at the k t boundary extraordinary geothermal and structural conditions of the nearby region are also discussed as circumstantial evidence to support the twin cause mechanism by weakened features and the presence of partial melt at subcrustal depth

prodigious submarine landslides on the hawaiian ridge the extensive area covered by major submarine mass wasting deposits on or near the hawaiian ridge has been delimited by systematic mapping of the hawaiian exclusive economic zone using the side looking sonar system gloria these surveys show that slumps and debris avalanche deposits are exposed over about 100 000 km2 of the ridge and adjacent seafloor from kauai to hawaii covering an area more than 5 times the land area of the islands some of the individual debris avalanches are more than 200 km long and about 5000 km3 in volume ranking them among the largest on earth the slope failures that produce these deposits begin early in the history of individual volcanoes when they are small submarine seamounts culminate near the end of subaerial shield building and apparently continue long after dormancy consequently landslide debris is an important element in the internal structure of the volcanoes the dynamic behavior of the volcanoes can be modulated by slope failure and the structural features of the landslides are related to elements of the volcanoes including rift zones and fault systems the landslides are of two general types slumps and debris avalanches the slumps are slow moving wide up to 110 km and thick about 10 km with transverse blocky ridges and steep toes the debris avalanches are fast moving long up to 230 km compared to width and thinner 0 05 2 km they commonly have a well defined amphitheater at their head and hummocky terrain in the lower part oceanic disturbance caused by rapid emplacement of debris avalanches may have produced high level wave deposits such as the 365 m elevation hulopoe gravel on lanai that are found on several islands most present day submarine canyons were originally carved subaerially in the upper parts of debris avalanches subaerial canyon cutting was apparently promoted by the recently steepened and stripped slopes of the landslide amphitheaters

the deccan trap cretaceous paleogene boundary connection new 40ar 39ar ages and critical assessment of existing argon data pertinent to this hypothesis abstract the cretaceous paleogene boundary kpgb was dated by the 40ar 39ar method herein from the western interior of north america at 65 48 0 12 ma 1 in good agreement with other recent published estimates for the deccan traps india new argon ages as well as others available in the literature are assessed for reliability based on a statistical reliability of plateau isochron sections and b freshness of material dated utilizing the alteration index method from tholeiitic lavas from the composite western ghats section cwgs only six ages are found to be reliable estimates of the time of crystallization these ages along with the magnetic polarity of the lavas agree with the geomagnetic polarity time scale gpts at 67 64 ma alkaline rocks from the anjar area of kutch provide three reliable ages that suggest a hiatus in lava extrusion around kpgb for the rajahmundry basalts the upper flow s age defines its formation during chron 29n a single age from the lower reversed polarity flow appears somewhat dichotomous when plotted against the gpts the reliable lava ages indicate the most voluminous reversed polarity sections of the cwgs were extruded at a time statistically indistinguishable from that of the kpgb the deccan trap kpgb faunal extinction hypothesis remains plausible but must compete with the latest report favoring a very close temporal connection 0 03 m y between the chixculub impact crater and the kpgb

the generating mechanisms of the august 17 1999 izmit bay turkey tsunami regional tectonic and local mass instabilities causes abstract the m w 7 4 earthquake that affected the northwestern part of turkey on august 17 1999 and in particular the gulf of izmit had dramatic consequences also as regards tsunami generation the main cause of the earthquake was a dextral strike slip rupture that took place along different segments of the western part of the north anatolian fault wnaf the rupture process involved not only a number of distinct strike slip fault segments but also dip slip ancillary faults connecting the main transcurrent segments the general picture was further complicated by the occurrence of subsidence and liquefaction phenomena especially along the coasts of the izmit bay and in the sapanca lake tsunami effects were observed and measured during post event surveys in several places along both the northern and the southern coasts of the bay the run up heights in most places were reported to lie in the interval 1 3 m but in the small town of degirmendere where a local slump occurred carrying underwater buildings and gardens of the waterfront sector eyewitnesses reported water waves higher than 15 m the purpose of this work is to investigate on the causes of the tsunami by means of numerical simulations of the water waves we show that the tsunami was a complex event consisting at least of the combination of a regional event due to tectonic causes and of a local event associated with the mass failure as to the first we are able to demonstrate that the observed tsunami cannot be explained only in terms of the sea bottom dislocation produced by the main right lateral dislocation but that the prominent contribution comes from the displacement associated with the secondary shallow normal faults furthermore the large waves and effects seen in degirmendere can be explained as the consequence of the slump by means of a stability analysis based on an original method making use of the limit equilibrium concept we show that the slump was highly stable before the earthquake and that it was triggered by seismic waves simulation of the tsunami induced by the slump was carried out by a two step numerical code that computes the landslide motion first and then the generated water wave propagation it is shown that the computed local tsunami matches the experimental data

structure and evolution of the western continental margin of india deduced from gravity seismic geomagnetic and geochronological studies abstract available geochronological gravity seismic and geomagnetic data on the western continental margin of india between 8 20 n are presented based on the data three models describing the evolution of the crustal structure are developed model 1 describes the evolution of the crustal structure along 19 n the main basic igneous activity that accompanied the tectonic events since the late cretaceous resulted in the formation of rifts along the coast thus giving rise to the present day structure the acid volcanic event that preceded the above activity at about 93 ma ago is responsible for the observed crustal structure along 13 30 n shown in model 2 this event resulted in the formation of the st mary group of islands along this latitude counterclockwise rotation of the indian plate during the tertiary period caused rifting of the continental blocks giving rise to the laccadive kerala graben bounded by the chagos laccadive ridge on the west and the west coast fault on the east vertical movements of the rifted blocks promoted the deposition of both continental and marine sediments on the coast west of the west coast fault this tectonic event was accompanied by upwarping of the mantle crust thus giving rise to the present day structure shown in model 3

volcano flank instability in the lesser antilles arc diversity of scale processes and temporal recurrence 1 the 1997 boxing day collapse a remarkable feature of the ongoing eruption of soufriere hills on montserrat has prompted new interest in the study of volcano stability in the lesser antilles building on a few cases documented in the literature we have now identified at least 47 flank collapse events on volcanoes of the caribbean arc where this type of behavior is characteristic and repetitive about 15 events occurred on active volcanoes within the last 12 000 years in the northern part of the arc flank collapses are repetitive do not exceed 1 km3 in volume occur in all directions and are promoted by intense hydrothermal alteration and well developed fracturing of the summit part of the edifices in contrast infrequent but large sector collapses with volumes up to tens of km3 are typical of the southern volcanoes they are always directed to the west as a result of the high overall slopes of the islands toward the deep back arc grenada basin because caribbean islands are small a large part of the resulting debris avalanches have flowed into the sea thus contributing voluminous and sudden inputs of volcaniclastic sediments to the grenada basin deposits from such submarine flows have been identified during the recent aguadomar and caraval oceanographic cruises and traced to their source structures on land edifice collapses have a major influence on subsequent volcanic activity but also are of high concern because of their tsunamigenic potential

the panvel flexure along the western indian continental margin an extensional fault structure related to deccan magmatism abstract on the basis of field observations aided by remote sensing data a new model for the western indian panvel flexure is proposed the model involves normal motion on east dipping faults and westward tilting of fault blocks the flexuring occurred by attenuation and foundering of continental crust due to crustal thinning and loading by a dyke swarm following a period of massive magmatic discharge accompanying the continental break up and opening of indian ocean during early tertiary times

volcanic hazards from bezymianny and bandai type eruptions major slope failures are a significant degradational process at volcanoes slope failures and associated explosive eruptions have resulted in more than 20 000 fatalities in the past 400 years the historic record provides evidence for at least six of these events in the past century several historic debris avalanches exceed 1 km3 in volume holocene avalanches an order of magnitude larger have traveled 50 100 km from the source volcano and affected areas of 500 1500 km2 historic eruptions associated with major slope failures include those with a magmatic component bezymianny type and those solely phreatic bandai type the associated gravitational failures remove major segments of the volcanoes creating massive horseshoe shaped depressions commonly of caldera size the paroxysmal phase of a bezymianny type eruption may include powerful lateral explosions and pumiceous pyroclastic flows it is often followed by construction of lava dome or pyroclastic cone in the new crater bandai type eruptions begin and end with the paroxysmal phase during which slope failure removes a portion of the edifice massive volcanic landslides can also occur without related explosive eruptions as at the unzen volcano in 1792 the main potential hazards from these events derive from lateral blasts the debris avalanche itself and avalanche induced tsunamis lateral blasts produced by sudden decompression of hydrothermal and or magmatic systems can devastate areas in excess of 500km2 at velocities exceeding 100 m s 1 the ratio of area covered to distance traveled for the mount st helens and bezymianny lateral blasts exceeds that of many pyroclastic flows or surges of comparable volume the potential for large scale lateral blasts is likely related to the location of magma at the time of slope failure and appears highest when magma has intruded into the upper edifice as at mount st helens and bezymianny debris avalanches can move faster than 100 ms 1 and travel tens of kilometers when not confined by valley walls avalanches can affect wide areas beyond the volcano s flanks tsunamis from debris avalanches at coastal volcanoes have caused more fatalities than have the landslides themselves or associated eruptions the probable travel distance l of avalanches can be estimated by considering the potential vertical drop h data from a catalog of around 200 debris avalanches indicates that the h l rations for avalanches with volumes of 0 1 1 km3 average 0 13 and range 0 09 0 18 for avalanches exceeding 1 km3 h l ratios average 0 09 and range 0 5 0 13 large scale deformation of the volcanic edefice and intense local seismicity precede many slope failures and can indicate the likely failure direction and orientation of potential lateral blasts the nature and duration of precursory activity vary widely and the timing of slope faliure greatly affects the type of associated eruption bandai type eruptions are particularly difficult to anticipate because they typically climax suddenly without precursory eruptions and may be preceded by only short periods of seismicity