geology and structure of the continental margin off northern israel and the adjacent part of the levantine basin abstract the continental margin off northern israel and southern lebanon is characterized by a narrow coastal plain in places it is absent a narrow shelf a narrow slope which is incised by numerous submarine canyons and by a complex topography of the adjacent deep sea levantine platform detailed seismic reflection surveys have revealed the development of the area since the late miocene during the messinian when the level of the mediterranean sea dropped the present continental slope area was exposed eroded and covered by thinly scattered sediments in the deep basin evaporite bearing series accumulated reaching 1 km in thickness about 60 km offshore during the pliocene quaternary the area was covered by a fine clastic sequence up to 1 5 km thick that forms the present continental margin basinward gravitational slumping of these sediments over the messinian evaporites which acted as a lubricant resulted in a complex topography and many shore parallel rootless growth faults along the base of the continental slope and the adjacent deep sea young faults which are exposed in northern israel and extend seaward comprise the most important structural feature of the study area these faults were active during the pliocene and quaternary possibly also during the miocene the major nw trending young yagur carmel fault and e w trending rosh hanniqra fault extend to the base of the continental slope where they converge enclosing the complex western galilee graben the relief of the base of the pliocene quaternary sequence was affected by motions of these faults and of smaller faults inside the graben farther seaward a horst like block is developed along the extension of the carmel fault still farther basinward there is a group of diapiric ridges trending nw to e w they were formed by flowage of messinian evaporites in some cases these ridges seem to be aligned along underlying faults this group of diapirs is unique in the area the diapir ridges are interpreted as expressions of deeply rooted faults

comparison of frequency of occurrence of earthquakes with slip rates from long term seismicity data the cases of gulf of corinth sea of marmara and dead sea fault zone summary in this article through the comparison of knowledge relating to historical earthquakes with the understanding of present day earthquake mechanics and overall gps slip rates in the eastern mediterranean region it has been possible to obtain an idea of how frequently large earthquakes may be expected in some parts of the region it has also been possible to make an assessment from these early events of slip rates over a long period of time for the gulf of corinth in greece the marmara sea in turkey and the dead sea fault system as well as deriving long term magnitude frequency relations for these same regions it has been demonstrated that slip rates calculated from historical data are in general comparable to those calculated from gps measurements and field observations while the size of historical earthquakes and their uncertainty can be quantified this permits a more reliable estimation of the long term hazard the calculation of which is the concern of the engineering seismologist it has also been shown that in most cases large earthquakes are less frequent when they are estimated from long term data sets rather than from the instrumental period making the notion of recurrence time and of hazard assessment questionable this study focuses on some of the few areas in the world for which long term macroseism information exists and which facilitate this kind of analysis

large submarine landslides in the japan trench a new scenario for additional tsunami generation 1 we describe in detail possible large submarine landslides several tens of kilometers in length and width on the trench landward slope of the japan trench on the basis of high resolution topographic surveys and detailed seafloor observations these slides stopped at the toe of the trench slope after initial movement of the toe along a basal decollement or thrust of the trench landward slope wedge during an earthquake the basal frictional condition s might change drastically from static to dynamic thus reducing the frictional strength as a result rapid submarine landsliding push downward on the toe generating large horizontal displacements for tsunamis this hypothesis should explain suitably the relation between large displacement of the thrust fault and tsunami generation by the 2011 tohoku earthquake as well as tsunami generation by the 1896 tohoku earthquake

probabilistic modeling of faults below the limit of seismic resolution in pelican field north sea offshore united kingdom faults which can compartmentalize a reservoir and which are too small to be seen on seismic can be predicted using a self similar or fractal model of faulting at various scales a computerized method has been developed for statistical analysis of a fault pattern interpreted from three dimensional 3 d seismic in order to fractally derive the distributions of fault size frequency and spatial variations and to verify their invariance within the seismic resolution range this analysis can be used for quality control of seismic interpretation and as input for extrapolation toward smaller scales using probabilistic techniques the application of this program to pelican field united kingdom north sea validated the interpretation of the complex fault pattern of that field but suggested that only limited extrapolations could be confidently made probabilistic maps showing distribution of faults down to 3 m 10 ft of throw and not resolved by 3 d seismic were made these maps subsequently were used as a qualitative aid in full field reservoir simulations to model differently zones of potential dense faulting from zones of reduced faulting this was done because nearby field behavior had shown that faulting is a significant factor in reservoir behavior and ultimately field deliverability field development planning therefore could be optimized

carbonate dissolution and sedimentation on the mid atlantic continental margin the calcium carbonate content was determined for core tops from two transects on the upper slope to lower rise on the mid atlantic continental margin carbonate content in the sediment increases from 5 percent by weight on the upper slope to more than 30 percent on the upper rise a zone of low carbonate content extends from 3000 to 4400 meters below 4400 meters the percent carbonate increases an examination of dissolution indices in these core tops indicates that the low carbonate zone is associated with intense dissolution below 4400 meters dissolution decreases and carbonate is well preserved the decrease in dissolution occurs where the high velocity core of the western boundary undercurrent is first encountered

late quaternary sedimentation in the western north atlantic stratigraphy and paleoceanography abstract a detailed analysis of stratigraphic indices was undertaken to study paleoclimatic change in the western north atlantic three stratigraphic indicators carbonate content globorotalia menardii and uvigerina peregrina were tested in ten radiocarbon dated cores from the north american continental margin of these carbonate content appears to be most accurate carbonate content exhibits two major increases from late glacial time to the present estimated ages of the average of the mid point of these increase are 13 200 b p and 8600 b p an absolute chronology was established down fifteen cores using these stratigraphic indicators and the radiocarbon dates sea surface temperature sst estimates derived from planktonic foraminifera were mapped at 2000 yr intervals from 2000 b p to 14 000 b p sst warms rapidly from 12 000 to 8000 b p reaches a maximum between 8000 and 6000 b p and gradually cools after 6000 b p bottom waters were monitored with uvigerina peregrina and dissolution indices the disappearance of uvigerina suggests that the water type it lives in low o 2 started to thin from both the top and bottom by 13 000 b p and by 7300 b p had disappeared fragmentation of planktonic foraminifera was used as an index of dissolution in most cores dissolution was intense during late glacial time lessened during early postglacial time and resumed in the late postglacial

comparisons of 210pb and pollen methods for determining rates of estuarine sediment accumulation abstract comparisons of sedimentation rates obtained by 210 pb and pollen analyses of 1 m cores collected throughout the potomac estuary show good agreement in the majority of cores that can be analyzed by both methods most of the discrepancy between the methods can be explained by the analytical precision of the 210 pb method and by the exactness with which time horizons can be identified and dated for the pollen method x radiographs of the cores and the distinctness of the pollen horizons preclude significant displacement by reworking and or mixing of sediments differences between the methods are greatest where uncertainties exist in assigning a rate by one or both methods i e 210 pb trends and or possible horizon assignments both methods show the same relative rates with greater sediment accumulation more common in the upper and middle estuary and less toward the mouth the results indicate that geochronologic studies of estuarine sediments should be preceded by careful observation of sedimentary structures preferably by x radiography to evaluate the extent of mixing of the sediments time horizons whether paleontologic or isotopic are generally blurred where mixing has occurred precluding precise identification whenever possible two methods should be used for dating sediments because a rate albeit erroneous can be obtained isotopically in sediments that are mixed accurate sedimentation rates are also difficult to determine where the time boundary is a zone rather than a horizon where the historical record does not provide a precise date for the pollen horizon or where scouring has removed some of the sediment above a dated pollen horizon

pollen distribution in the bottom sediments of the western north atlantic ocean abstract an extensive survey of pollen distribution in surficial sediments from the slope and rise between 29 and 72 n shows patterns which reflect the distribution of vegetation in eastern north america and the effects of aeolian fluvial and marine sedimentation the results of the analysis of 94 core tops show that pollen concentration ranges from 23 000 to 10 grains per gram and decreases offshore with distance from vegetation sources and northward in relation to lower vegetation density maximum concentration occurs in organic rich fine grained lutum deposited off rivers draining the southeastern united states low pollen concentrations are associated with high energy environments such as the western boundary undercurrent and the labrador current percentages of dominant pollen types generally correspond with onshore distribution of pollen and vegetation oak and other deciduous pollen types are the most abundant in marine sediments off the deciduous forests of eastern united states hemlock pollen is essentially restricted to sediments off the hemlock oak forests of northeastern u s and southeastern canada and spruce pollen is most abundant adjacent boreal forests and forest tundra formations the relative increase in pine pollen seaward reflects the selective effects of marine transport synthesis of pollen data by q mode factor analysis shows that major vegetation formations of eastern north america produce distinctive regional marine pollen assemblages

pollen distribution in recent marine sediments eastern canada analysis of 90 samples from coastal and continental shelf areas off eastern canada between 42 and 69 n shows that quaternary pollen and spores are present in recent marine muds throughout this region pollen and spore concentrations range from 50 000 to 100 grains per cm3 and they decrease both offshore as a function of distance from vegetation sources and northwards as a function of lower vegetation density north of the summer arctic frontal zone isopercentage contours show that maximum relative abundances of most palynomorphs occur in marine sediments adjacent to their regions of highest vegetation representation onshore however pinus and picea pollen tend to increase in percentage abundance with distance offshore presence of these tree pollen in marine sediments off baffin island implies that wind transport is an important pathway by which bisaccate pollen types enter the ocean in addition to fluvial transport q mode factor analysis shows that four major factors account for 89 of the variance amo

reconstructing pathways of aeolian pollen transport to the marine sediments along the coastline of sw africa the distribution of pollen in marine sediments is used to reconstruct pathways of terrigenous input to the oceans and provides a record of vegetation change on adjacent continents the wind transport routes of aeolian pollen is comprehensively illustrated by clusters of trajectories isobaric 4 day backward trajectories are calculated using the modelled wind field of echam3 and are clustered on a seasonal basis to estimate the main pathways of aeolian particles to sites of marine cores in the south eastern atlantic trajectories and clusters based on the modelled wind field of the last glacial maximum hardly differ from those of the present day trajectory clusters show three regional and two seasonal patterns determining the pathways of aeolian pollen transport into the south eastern atlantic ocean mainly transport out of the continent occurs during austral fall and winter when easterly and south easterly winds prevail south of 25 s winds blow mostly from the west and southwest and aeolian terrestrial input is very low generally a good latitudinal correspondence exists between the distribution patterns of pollen in marine surface sediments and the occurrence of the source plants on the adjacent continent the northern angola basin receives pollen and spores from the congolian and zambezian forests mainly through river discharge the zambezian vegetation zone is the main source area for wind blown pollen in sediments of the angola basin while the semi desert and desert areas are the main sources for pollen in sediments of the walvis basin and on the walvis ridge a transect of six marine pollen records along the south western african coast indicates considerable changes in the vegetation of southern africa between glacial and interglacial periods important changes in the vegetation are the decline of forests in equatorial africa and the north of southern africa and a northward shift of winter rain vegetation along the western escarpment

continental slope processes off northern israel and southernmost lebanon and their relation to onshore tectonics abstract the continental terrace of israel and lebanon consists of a 1 2 km thick pliocene quaternary sediment wedge that narrows steepens and deepens from south to north the continental terrace is the product of 1 nile derived sediment accumulation whose bulk and rate of deposition decrease along the active levant continental margin with increasing distance from the nile mouths and 2 of the vertical tectonic uplift of israel and lebanon versus the subsidence of the adjacent submarine levantine basin which increases to the north collapse of the entire seaward facing part of the continental terrace off northern israel caused by large scale halokinetic rotational slumping has further accentuated its steep and narrow wedge form in the study area intensive mass wasting and canyon cutting over the steep continental slope have shaped its present furrowed morphology canyon incision is fault controlled the faults being submarine extensions of the continental fault system effected by drag of the sinai sub plate along the dead sea jordan beqa a transform that has controlled the tectonics and the structure of israel and lebanon since the late miocene the canyon heads at the continental shelf lie opposite the mouths of the continental rivers canyon cutting processes are not however connected to fluvial erosion of the emergent continental shelf during the last glacial lowered sea level stand canyon incision started on the continental slope and advanced downslope and upslope toward the shelf embryonic slope valleys canyons confined to the continental slope a canyon in the process of breaching the shelf break and mature canyons that indent the continental shelf to nearshore distances were mapped and are described

oceanic pollen transport and pollen dinocyst ratios as markers of late cenozoic sea level change and sediment transport abstract palynological studies of late cenozoic cores from nine sites show large peaks in the ratio of pollen and spores to dinocysts p d which reflect major increases in terrigenous sediment influx to the north atlantic ocean under normal pelagic conditions in the north atlantic i e in the absence of ice rafting or mass wasting p d in oceanic sediments is low usually

landslide generated tsunamis geotechnical considerations landslide induced tsunamis are particularly dangerous because the warning time is very short in the coastal area therefore it is critical to identify the potential for coastal landslides involving large masses of material almost invariably such large landslides will occur in material susceptible to liquefaction particularly during earthquakes this paper discusses characteristics of such materials how they may be identified and offers suggestions for estimating the potential for large deformations

did a submarine landslide contribute to the 2011 tohoku tsunami many studies have modeled the tohoku tsunami of march 11 2011 as being due entirely to slip on an earthquake fault but the following discrepancies suggest that further research is warranted 1 published models of tsunami propagation and coastal impact underpredict the observed runup heights of up to 40 m measured along the coast of the sanriku district in the northeast part of honshu island 2 published models cannot reproduce the timing and high frequency content of tsunami waves recorded at three nearshore buoys off sanriku nor the timing and dispersion properties of the waveforms at offshore dart buoy 21418 3 the rupture centroids obtained by tsunami inversions are biased about 60 km nne of that obtained by the global cmt project based on an analysis of seismic and geodetic data together with recorded tsunami waveforms we propose that while the primary source of the tsunami was the vertical displacement of the seafloor due to the earthquake an additional tsunami source is also required we infer the location of the proposed additional source based on an analysis of the travel times of higher frequency tsunami waves observed at nearshore buoys we further propose that the most likely additional tsunami source was a submarine mass failure smf i e a submarine landslide a comparison of pre and post tsunami bathymetric surveys reveals tens of meters of vertical seafloor movement at the proposed smf location and a slope stability analysis confirms that the horizontal acceleration from the earthquake was sufficient to trigger an smf forward modeling of the tsunami generated by a combination of the earthquake and the smf reproduces the recorded on near and offshore tsunami observations well particularly the high frequency component of the tsunami waves off sanriku which were not well simulated by previous models the conclusion that a significant part of the 2011 tohoku tsunami was generated by an smf source has important implications for estimates of tsunami hazard in the tohoku region as well as in other tectonically similar regions

millennial and orbital scale climate variability in southeastern united states and in the subtropical atlantic during marine isotope stage 5 evidence from pollen and isotopes in odp site 1059 abstract we present directly correlative high resolution pollen and isotopic data from marine isotope stage mis 5 from a marine core taken on the continental margin off the southeastern united states 31 40 n 75 24 w 2985 m these data provide the first chronostratigraphically controlled pollen data for the last interglacial from this region comparison of the pollen and benthic isotope stratigraphies demonstrate that vegetation and climate development in southeastern united states did not always coincide with global ice volume changes deglacial terrestrial climate amelioration which was nearly synchronous with ice decay peaked slightly before the ice volume minimum in mis 5e cooling in the latter part of the last interglacial began at c27 prior to ice growth vegetation and climate were not stable during mis 5e suborbital climate oscillations persisted throughout mis 5 both onshore and in the subtropical atlantic offshore the largest correlative suborbital oscillations in the pinus pine and quercus oak forests of coastal georgia and south carolina and sea surface variability correspond to stadial interstadials documented in greenland ice cores however coupled oscillations also occur more frequently

pollen sedimentation in the northwest atlantic effects of the western boundary undercurrent abstract sedimentation on the continental rise off eastern north america is strongly affected by the southerly flowing western boundary undercurrent wbuc recent studies of physical characteristics position and velocity field of this contour current show that the high velocity core is characterized by decreased carbonate dissolution coarse particle size and improved magnetic alignment of sedimentary grains in this report we suggest that the high velocity core of the wbuc also effects palynomorph sedimentation pollen concentration is lower and the percentage of redeposited pollen grains is higher under this bottom current

the landslide generated tsunami of november 3 1994 in skagway harbor alaska a case study we examine the origin and behavior of the catastrophic tsunami that impacted skagway harbor at the head of taiya inlet alaska on november 3 1994 geomorphologic and tide gauge data combined with numerical simulation of the event reveal that the tsunami was generated by an underwater landslide formed during the collapse of a cruise ship dock undergoing construction use of a fine grid model for skagway harbor and a coarse grid model for taiya inlet enables us to explain many of the eyewitness accounts and to reproduce the dominant oscillations in the tide gauge record including the persistent 1 h 3 min oscillation in skagway harbor the occurrence of the landslide is linked to critical overloading of the slope materials at a time of extreme low tide

correlating pleistocene sequences across the new jersey margin abstract the biostratigraphic ranges of palynomorphs as well as climatostratigraphic changes recorded by both marine and terrestrial palynomorphs provide one of the few means of dating and correlating neritic environments where calcareous microfossils are rare the transport of terrestrial palynomorphs to marine environments also allows for direct land sea correlation in addition palynological assemblages provide insights into sediment transport and sea levels over 500 m of upper pleistocene sediments were recovered in odp hole 1073a on the upper new jersey slope palynomorphs in this hole record rapid progradation during the late pleistocene a prominent unconformity pp3 s forms the upper boundary of this thick progradational sequence palynological analysis from odp sites 1072 and 1073 allows this surface to be correlated from the outer shelf to the upper slope and also suggests that it was generated during a sea level lowstand probably during oxygen isotope stage 12 450 425 ka both the atlantic coastal plain and odp site 1072 on the outer new jersey shelf appear to have become erosional during this progradational phase which began around the time that the magnitude of northern hemisphere ice accumulation increased this suggests that sediments prograded across the new jersey margin as accommodation in inner neritic and coastal environments decreased in response to amplified glacioeustatic fluctuation and substantially increased sediment availability supplied by glacial erosion erosion associated with the generation of unconformity pp3 s appears to have increased accommodation on the new jersey margin allowing sediments to aggrade on the continental shelf and even to accumulate on the atlantic coastal plain during interglacial highstands the upper pleistocene architecture of the new jersey margin appears to have been controlled by glacioeustatic fluctuations and the accompanying increase in sediment supply in contrast unconformable surface pp4 s is more complex and separates upper miocene sediments deposited between 7 4 and 5 9 ma from lower pleistocene sediments deposited prior to approximately 1 4 ma in hole 1072a whereas in hole 1073a pp4 s is in sediments of early pleistocene age between 1 6 and 1 3 ma these data suggest that unconformity pp4 s was generated during the early pleistocene but there is no clear palynological evidence that glacioeustasy was responsible for the generation of this unconformity

late quaternary pollen transport processes western north atlantic data from box models cross margin and n s transects abstract surface pollen assemblages in coastal and neritic sediments of the western north atlantic compare well with eastern north american vegetation zones and late quaternary pollen in marginal marine sediments clearly correlate with changes in terrestrial vegetation and paleoclimates in contrast offshore assemblages are strongly affected by differential adaptation of pollen to long distance transport by wind and water marine pollen transport processes were studied by measuring air and water inputs to a coast shelf box model and by study of surface samples from cross margin transects in three different climatic and oceanographic regions at approximately 38 45 and 55 n latitude the box model shows that aerial transport is the main process by which pollen moves across the continental margin off nova scotia two clear seabed distribution patterns were found betula quercus and herb pollen decrease rapidly offshore in abundance grains per cubic centimetre and in relative abundance percentage pinus and picea have abundance peaks on the continental margin but percentages increase further offshore distributions of the main pollen and spore taxa were compared for late wisconsinan glacial oxygen isotopic stage 2 12 28 ka terminal pleistocene 10 12 ka and holocene sediments at 5 continental margin and 3 deep sea sites the largest changes were found in percentages of pinus picea and herb pollen during the late wisconsinan glacial and terminal pleistocene intervals at subpolar latitudes these data can be related to shifts in paleo vegetation winds and hydrology that accompany global climate change

the tsunami earthquake of 1932 june 22 in manzanillo mexico seismological study and tsunami simulations summary we conduct a detailed seismological study of the large colima mexico earthquake of 1932 june 3 and of its aftershocks of june 18 and 22 the latter event iii generated a tsunami more devastating than that of the main shock despite much smaller seismic magnitudes thus qualifying as a so called tsunami earthquake relocation based on published arrival times shows that event iii took place up dip of the main shock the analysis of the spectral amplitude of mantle surface waves yields low frequency moments of 24 5 2 and 4 times 1027 dyn cm respectively with event iii featuring a moment growing with period which expresses the source slowness characteristic of tsunami earthquakes this is confirmed by a deficient energy to moment ratio as derived from high frequency p waves recorded at pasadena near field hydrodynamic simulations show that the effects of the main shock s tsunami are well modelled by a standard seismic source whereas the stronger tsunami from event iii can be modelled by rupture along a splay fault in a mechanically deficient material all our results then fit the model for tsunami earthquake aftershocks proposed for the kuril islands by fukao in 1979

modern pollen distribution in marine sediments from the northern part of the south china sea we analyzed the pollen and spore distributions in sediments from the northern south china sea to support reconstruction of the region s paleoenvironment 1 based on pca analysis in the two areas with water depths of 200 m pollen and spores found at water depths of 200 m wind transport is dominant 2 tree pollen was abundant on the continental shelves near guangdong and southeastern hainan island the center of the study area and deep basins in the south pinus pollen was abundant with the highest levels on the continental shelf near guangdong and in the marine area south of 15 degrees n pollen from tropical and subtropical broad leaved trees e g castanopsis quercus had low abundances castanopsis pollen appeared to originate near hainan island guangdong and the indochina peninsula herbaceous pollen was less abundant with pollen from the poaceae and artemisia scattered among the northern and southern regions with the highest levels near guangdong and a distribution that followed the rivers or sea surface circulation poaceae pollen was most abundant along the guangdong and vietnam coasts due to their proximity to tropical and subtropical grasslands and crops monolete spores and cyperaceae pollen were most abundant near the pearl river estuary southern hainan island and southwestern taiwan probably originating from fluvial river discharge trilete spores mostly dicranopteris were most abundant on the continental shelf of southeastern hainan island and the continental slope far from guangdong 3 pollen and spore assemblages from airborne sea surface water and sediment samples were compared from august to september airborne pollen and spores mainly belong to trees ulmaceae pinus and herbaceous pollen and have seasonal characteristics ocean surface waters in august september mainly contain d dichotoma rhizoma polypodiodis nipponicae and other trilete spores but no pinus pollen with clear seasonality characteristic pollen and spore assemblages in surface sediments are dominated by trilete spores pinus and herbaceous pollen and appear to integrate the pollen characteristics of the four seasons c 2014 elsevier b v all rights reserved

quantitative reassessment of brick red lutites evidence from reflectance spectrophotometry abstract brick red lutites are distinctive bright red sediments deposited in the western north atlantic these unique sediments were derived from permo carboniferous outcrops in the canadian maritime provinces transported out the gulf of st lawrence through the cabot straits and redistributed by the western boundary undercurrent along the north american continental margin in this study we used fourteen cores taken off eastern north america to more precisely examine the input and depositional history of brick red lutites our study differs from previous studies in the manner in which the red sediment was identified unlike previous studies which used color charts to assess the presence of brick red lutites we used visible light reflectance spectrophotometry the primary mineral imparting a red color to brick red lutites is hematite experiments with known quantities of hematite in a matrix mineralogically similar to western north atlantic sediment indicate that the presence of hematite can be detected at weight percentages of less than 0 1 using spectral reflectance data we characterized the distribution of brick red lutites for two broadly defined time levels latest glacial and early holocene as expected the maximum input of brick red lutite was during late glacial time and input decreased reaching a minimum during the early holocene since the early holocene there has been little change in the distribution of this unique red sediment on the north american margin however our reflectance spectra indicate renewed accumulation of hematite rich sediment at the present time in the cabot straits

the high velocity core of the western boundary undercurrent at the base of the u s continental rise the western boundary undercurrent is a high velocity contour following bottom current that flows southwesterly on the u s atlantic continental margin a high velocity core of the western boundary undercurrent is delineated by an analysis of underlying sediments which are characterized by coarse particle sizes and efficiently aligned magnetic grains in a zone from 4440 meters at the base of the rise to 5200 meters on the adjacent abyssal plain

potential tsunamigenic submarine landslides in active margins abstract a review of modern historical and submarine landslides from the geological record shows that landslides in active continental margins can generate tsunamis the tsunamis may damage coastal and seabed infrastructure and so represent an important element of marine geohazards research due to their potentially significant impacts on society the primary trigger mechanism of tsunamis in this type of setting was thought to be earthquake activity however there are also a number of alternative hypotheses regarding the likely initiation mechanism including the generation of submarine landslides in this paper we briefly review the geological features and trigger mechanisms of tsunamigenic submarine landslides on active margins large tsunamigenic submarine landslides appear to occur mostly on margins characterized by non accretion these observations have implications for tsunami warning systems as the japanese system does not consider the scenario of tsunami excitation by submarine landslides

empirical constraints on magnitude distance relationships for seismically induced submarine tsunamigenic landslides abstract seismically induced submarine landslide tsunamis here called silts attract growing attention due to their unique setting damage potential and short warning time a question of key importance especially for tsunami early warning is how far can an earthquake trigger a tsunamigenic slump here we investigate the relationships between earthquake magnitude and the maximal distance between the seismogenic fault and the tsunamigenic slumps rf and between the earthquake epicenter and the slump re and propose empirical constraints on these magnitude distance m d relations the 49 identified silts are spread in various seismotectonic and bathymetric settings in different seas around the globe we found that the maximal distance of the tsunamigenic submarine landslide from the parent earthquake grows with the magnitude and is bounded by an envelope constrained by mw as low as 4 9 for several kilometers the 1968 liguria coast italy and as far as 250 km for mw 7 7 the 1819 rann of kachchh india higher earthquake magnitudes also produce silts seemingly distances lower than 250 km however it is suspected that the available data is limited and unable to reflect the true nature of silt s generation generalized empirical relations between the earthquake magnitude mw and the maximal distance from the seismogenic fault to its generated silt rf in km are log rf 1 17 0 49 mw r2 0 78 the empirical distance between the earthquake epicenter and the corresponding tsunamigenic slump re in km is log re 0 87 0 45 mw r2 0 83 although many earthquakes within the m d bounding envelope did not produce tsunamis the successful events still enable the delineation of the m d zone vulnerable to tsunami generation which in turn can be applied to tsunami early warning procedures this is particularly important for near coast inland earthquakes as their tsunamigenic potential might be overlooked

environmental effects from five historical earthquakes in southern apennines italy and macroseismic intensity assessment contribution to inqua eee scale project abstract this paper aims at substantiating the basic postulate of the recent earthquake environmental effects eee scale proposed by the international union for quaternary research inqua that primary and secondary environmental effects of earthquakes provide invaluable information on the earthquake size and intensity field complementing but also independently testing the results of the traditional damage based macroseismic scales the eee scale is applied to five disastrous earthquakes which occurred in southern italy since the end of the xvii century for each considered earthquake the available macroseismic data have been reviewed and integrated through an updated interpretation of the original texts the cataloguing and analysis of the seismically induced environmental effects has provided a a more detailed picture of the macroseismic fields b the chance to test the scaling of the eee scale with the mcs and msk macroseismic scales confirming its good fit with the msk mm c i0 estimates based on eee scale in good agreement with i0 assessments derived from mcs msk scales d further constrains for the new version of the eee scale e useful data for seismic zonation these results have confirmed once more the essential role of eees in the process of seismic hazard assessment and risk reduction

sources of the large a d 1202 and 1759 near east earthquakes the sources of the may 1202 and november 1759 m 7 5 near east earthquakes remain controversial because their macroseismal areas coincide straddling subparallel active faults in the lebanese restraining bend paleoseismic trenching in the yammouneh basin yields unambiguous evidence both for slip on the yammou neh fault in the twelfth thirteenth centuries and for the lack of a posterior event this conclusion is supported by comparing the freshest visible fault scarps which imply more recent slip on the r chaiya serghaya system than on the yammouneh fault our results suggest that the recurrence of an a d 1202 type earthquake might be due this century as part of a sequence similar to that of a d 1033 1202 possibly heralded by the occurrence of the 1995 mw 7 3 aqaba earthquake the seismic behavior of the levant fault might thus be characterized by millennial periods of quiescence separated by clusters of large earthquakes

exotic pollen as an indicator of variable atmospheric circulation over the labrador sea region during the mid to late holocene variability in the abundance of exotic non native pollen in sediment cores has long been considered as a potential proxy for changing atmospheric circulation but the difficulty of gaining sufficient total exotic pollen and the incomplete under standing of atmospheric pollen transport patterns has hindered its application in light of recent advances in the study of pollen transport we present an exotic pollen record from two fjord sediment cores taken from the west placentia bay newfoundland and east narsaq sund greenland labrador sea as a basis for studying variations in regional atmospheric circulation the two cores cover the last ca 5500 years and indicate a shift in dominant spring summer air masses at ca 2000 southern greenland and 3000 cal a bp newfoundland transporting reduced concentrations of pollen from southerly and south westerly vegetation zones this may suggest a shift away from more dominantly zonal atmospheric circulation a feature of positive north atlantic oscillation years to more frequent meridional circulation these results support sea ice sea surface temperature proxy reconstructions from newfoundland investigated as part of the same project which also suggest increased winter atmospheric circulation during the early part of the time period studied in this region more positive north atlantic oscillation years and therefore more zonal atmospheric circulation are associated with increased atmospheric circulation in both the winter and the summer seasons copyright 2011 john wiley sons ltd