modeling mountain building and the seismic cycle in the himalaya of nepal a host of information is now available regarding the geological and thermal structure as well as deformation rate across the himalaya of central nepal these data are reconciled in a two dimensional mechanical model that incorporates the rheological layering of the crust which depends on the local temperature and surface processes over geological timescale 5 ma the 20 mm yr estimated shortening rate across the range is accommodated by localized thrust faulting along the main himalayan thrust fault mht the mht reaches the surface along the foothills where it is called the main frontal thrust fault mft the mht flattens beneath the lesser himalaya and forms a midcrustal ramp at the front of the higher himalaya consistent with the river incision and the anticlinal structure of the lesser himalaya farther northward the mht roots into a subhorizontal shear zone that coincides with a midcrustal seismic reflector aseismic slip along this shear zone is accommodated in the interseismic period by elastic straining of the upper crust increasing the coulomb stress beneath the front of the higher himalaya where most of the microseismic activity clusters negligible deformation of the hanging wall requires a low apparent friction coefficient less than 0 3 on the flat portion of the mht on the ramp might be as high as 0 6 sensitivity tests show that a rather compliant quartz rich rheology and a high radioactive heat production in the upper crust of 2 5 w m 3 is required erosion affects the thermal structure and interplays with crustal deformation a dynamic equilibrium is obtained in which erosion balances tectonic uplift maintaining steady state thermal structure topography and deformation field using a linear diffusion model of erosion we constrain the value of the mass diffusivity coefficient to 0 5 1 6 l0 4 m 2 yr this study demonstrates that the data are internally consistent and compatible with current understanding of the mechanics of crustal deformation and highlight the role of viscous flow in the lower crust and of surface erosion in orogeny processes on the long term as well as during interseismic period

the cosmogenic 21ne production rate in quartz evaluated on a large set of existing 21ne 10be data abstract based on a compilation of published combined 10 be and 21 ne cosmogenic nuclide data sets from quartz samples obtained at eth zurich we assess the 21 ne 10 be p21 p10 production rate ratio with the goal to determine the 21 ne production rate p21 in quartz a variety of sliding erosion islands in a 21 ne 10 be versus 10 be diagram were evaluated to find the one that fits the data best which in turn yields the most probable p21 if the 10 be production rate is known the approach minimizes the influence of samples with a complex exposure history a best fit value for p21 p10 sp sp the 10 be fraction being produced by spallation as opposed to production by muons of 4 23 0 17 is obtained for a 10 be half life of 1 39 ma adopting a p10 sp value in quartz of 4 41 0 52 at g 1 yr 1 this yields a p21 of 18 7 2 3 at g 1 yr 1 it is possible that 2 of the 21 ne is produced by fast muons

kinematic model of active deformation in central asia the velocity field of present day deformation in central asia is modelled using a set of four rotating blocks siberia tarim tibet india on a spherical earth a best fit is inverted on the basis of estimated shortening rates across the main thrust zones himalayas tien shan and measured slip rates along the principal strike slip faults altyn tagh and karakorum separating those blocks the fit to the data implies that nearly all the present convergence between india and asia can be accounted for by slip partitioning on these four zones with as much as 50 absorbed by northeastwards extrusion of tibet this suggests that localised deformation governs the present mechanical behaviour of the central asian lithosphere

high resolution record of environmental changes and tephrochronological markers of the last glacial holocene transition at lake lautrey jura france this paper presents the results of a multiproxy investigation including volume magnetic susceptibility mineral and pollen analyses of late glacial sediments from lake lautrey jura france small scale lithological variations have been identified with high stratigraphic resolution in order to establish lithostratigraphic correlations between cores measurements combined with mineralogical analyses provide information on past sedimentary processes this combined approach reflects major changes in terrestrial habitats and soil processes which may relate to the climatic events characterising the late glacial climatic warming and cooling phases during warm intervals the record indicates increased lake productivity via carbonate precipitation and decreased input of detrital material in contrast cooler intervals show reduced lake productivity catchment area instability and increased detrital inputs several short interruptions in reforestation and in soil stabilisation can be identified and linked with abrupt colder events occurring through the bolling a general trend of warming is recorded from the coldest part of the younger dryas three tephra layers were also detected the mineral composition analyses show that the upper tephra layer corresponds to the laacher see eruption eifel germany while the lower ones may relate to the volcanic activity of the chaine des puys massif central france around 13 000 cal yr bp these two events recognised for the first time outside the massif central region may provide additional chronostratigraphic markers for the late glacial sedimentary records of the jura mountains and northern alps copyright 2004 john wiley sons ltd

surface deformation and lower crustal flow in eastern tibet field observations and satellite geodesy indicate that little crustal shortening has occurred along the central to southern margin of the eastern tibetan plateau since about 4 million years ago instead central eastern tibet has been nearly stationary relative to southeastern china southeastern tibet has rotated clockwise without major crustal shortening and the crust along portions of the eastern plateau margin has been extended modeling suggests that these phenomena are the result of continental convergence where the lower crust is so weak that upper crustal deformation is decoupled from the motion of the underlying mantle this model also predicts east west extension on the high plateau without convective removal of tibetan lithosphere and without eastward movement of the crust east of the plateau

uplift and convergence along the himalayan frontal thrust of india along the himalayan thrust front in northwestern india terrace deposits exposed 20 to 30 m above modern stream level are interpreted to have been uplifted by displacement on the underlying himalayan frontal thrust a radiocarbon age limits the age of the terrace to 1665 215 calendar bc 3663 215 radiocarbon years before present yielding a vertical uplift rate of 6 9 1 8 mm yr in combination with published studies constraining the dip of the himalayan frontal thrust fault to about 30 in the study area the observed uplift rate equates to horizontal shortening across the himalayan frontal thrust of 11 9 3 1 mm yr and the slip rate of the himalayan frontal thrust of 13 8 3 6 mm yr this is similar to previously reported rate estimates along the himalayan arc based on displacement of older plio miocene age rocks or the much shorter records of geodesy and historical seismicity the similarity is consistent with the idea that convergence across the himalayan front has occurred at a relatively steady rate through time the seismic expression of this deformation includes several great m 8 historical earthquakes which due to lack of surface rupture during those events have been attributed to their occurrence on blind thrusts yet the occurrence of a possible fault scarp in the field area indicates that past earthquakes have been sufficiently large to rupture to the surface and produce coseismic scarps these observations suggest a potential for earthquakes along the himalayan frontal thrust larger than those observed historically

the 21ne production rate in quartz revisited abstract i have revised our earlier production rate determination of 21ne in terrestrial quartz s niedermann th graf j s kim c p kohl k marti and k nishiizumi 1994 earth planet sci lett 125 341 355 taking account of improved knowledge about the exposure age of samples used in that work and applying distinct procedures for scaling to sea level and high latitudes the corrected value of 19 0 3 7 atoms g 1 a 1 is in excellent agreement with expectations based on nuclear properties j masarik and r c reedy 1995 earth planet sci lett 136 381 395 and closely corresponds to the present day production rate in the case of substantial variations of the geomagnetic field in the past as proposed by several studies the revised value can consistently be used with suitable correction methods

reconstruction of late glacial summer temperatures from chironomid assemblages in lac lautrey jura france a chironomid july air temperature inference model based on chironomid assemblages in the surface sediments of 81 swiss lakes was used to reconstruct late glacial july air temperatures at lac lautrey jura eastern france the transfer function was based on weighted averaging partial least squares wa pls regression and featured a leave one out cross validated coefficient of determination r2 of 0 80 a root mean square error of prediction rmsep of 1 53 c and was applied to a chironomid record consisting of 154 samples covering the late glacial period back to the oldest dryas the model reconstructed july air temperatures of 11 12 c during the oldest dryas increasing temperatures between 14 and 16 5 c during the bolling temperatures around 16 5 17 0 c for most of the allerod temperatures of 14 15 c during the younger dryas and temperatures of ca 16 5 c during the preboreal the lac lautrey record features a two step july air temperature increase after the oldest dryas with an abrupt temperature increase of ca 3 3 5 c at the oldest dryas bolling transition followed by a more gradual warming between ca 14 200 and 13 700 bp the transfer function reconstructs a less rapid cooling at the allerod younger dryas transition than other published records possibly an artefact caused by the poor analogue situation during the earliest younger dryas and an abrupt warming at the younger dryas holocene transition during the allerod two centennial scale 1 5 2 0 c coolings are apparent in the record although chronologically not well constrained the first of these cold events may be synchronous with the beginning of the gerzensee oscillation the second is inferred just before deposition of the laachersee tephra at lac lautrey and is therefore coeval with the end of the gerzensee oscillation in contrast to the greenland oxygen isotope records the lac lautrey palaeotemperature reconstruction lacks a clearly defined greenland interstadial gi event 1d and the decreasing temperature trend during the bolling allerod interstadial copyright 2005 john wiley sons ltd

cosmogenic nuclides and the dating of lateglacial and early holocene glacier variations the alpine perspective abstract based on cosmogenic 10 be data from four sites in the alps we discuss geological uncertainties associated with the dating of former cirque and small valley glacier margins at the early lateglacial gschnitz site trins austria a 3000 yr spread in 10 be exposure ages points to prolonged boulder instability three out of seven ages are not included in the mean age calculation which yielded 15 400 1000 yr indistinguishable from the oldest boulder age of 16 130 1040 yr as a result of the distinctive morphology at julier pass switzerland site we are able to exposure date the early 12 300 1300 yr and the late 11 300 600 yr egesen stadial glacier advances younger dryas equivalent not just final retreat at the kromer site austria 10 be exposure ages from five clast supported boulders are indistinguishable within the analytical uncertainties mean age 8400 500 yr in addition to moraine age key factors that may lead to too young ages include degree of matrix vs clast support of the boulders post depositional periglacial activity and tree coverage at the nagelisgratli bedrock site near grimsel pass switzerland exposure ages of 10 760 11 720 yr are consistent with early holocene cirque glacier retreat and underline the marked lack of nuclide inheritance in bedrock exposures in the alps

southward propagation of the karakoram fault system southwest tibet timing and magnitude of slip the net slip on the southern portion of the karakoram fault system in southwest tibet is estimated by restoring a piercing line defined by two key surfaces in the south kailas thrust system a regional counter thrust along the indus yalu suture assuming that the thrust system is planar across the karakoram fault we calculate 66 5 5 km of normal right slip documentation of the south kailas thrust active at 13 ma implies that the karakoram fault in southwest tibet did not initiate until after the cessation of motion on the thrust however field investigations of the central portion of the karakoram fault system document the fault to have been active at 17 ma and to have accumulated a maximum of 150 km of right slip we suggest that these along strike variations in the magnitude of slip and timing constraints are best explained by southward propagation of the karakoram fault system this is inconsistent with major right lateral slip on the fault system which was used in support of extrusion models for tibet

rates and timing of earth surface processes from in situ produced cosmogenic be 10 beryllium 10 is the longest lived of the seven known unstable isotopes of be it results mostly from the interaction of cosmic radiation primarily neutrons with a variety of target atoms by spallation the splitting of nuclei lal 1988 it can also be produced at very low levels by radio disintegration of u and th sharma and middleton 1989 although all radioactive be isotopes are produced in the atmosphere via cosmic ray reactions arnold 1956 lal and peters 1967 morris et al chapter 5 this volume in this paper we are most interested in 10be produced in rock which we refer to as in situ produced such in situ produced 10be is a cosmic ray dosimeter functioning as a quantitative monitor of near surface residence time in some geologic situations 10be can be used as a chronometer allowing one to estimate the duration of surface exposure in other settings 10be can be used as a tracer allowing one to estimate the rate distribution and behavior of earth surface processes rates of 10be production are very low in rocks exposed at earth s surface 102 atoms g 1 y 1 resulting in typical in situ produced 10be concentrations termed activities of 103 to 107 atoms g 1 the development of accelerator mass spectrometry ams in the 1980s allowed routine measurement of 10be at levels typical of rocks exposed near earth s surface elmore and phillips 1987 analytical refinements in the 1990s lowered detection limits by an order of magnitude allowing dating of exposure periods 103 years in favorable geologic and geographic situations simple exposure histories at high altitude and latitude most in situ 10be is measured in quartz mineral separates where the primary spallation target is o lal and arnold 1985

fault plane solutions of earthquakes and active tectonics of the tibetan plateau and its margins summary fault plane solutions of earthquakes within and on the margins of the tibetan plateau show diverse styles of faulting and deformation with thrust faulting and crustal shortening normal to the margins of the plateau and with normal and strike slip faulting resulting in roughly east west crustal extension within the plateau the direction of overthrusting of the himalaya onto the indian shield is radially outward varying from southwest in the western himalaya to south southeast in the east assuming that the indian shield behaves rigidly this requires a west northwest divergence of western tibet from southeastern tibet at a rate of 18 9 mm yr 1 comparable with the rate of convergence at the himalaya fault plane solutions of earthquakes in the southern portion of the tibet plateau consistently show large components of normal faulting on roughly north striking planes and corroborate such extension within the high plateau where elevations exceed 5000 m normal and strike slip faulting occur so that an overall east southeast west northwest extension of the region at about 10 mm yr 1 is partitioned into roughly equal parts of crustal thinning and north northeast south southwest crustal shortening about 5 mm yr 1 in general strike slip faulting characterizes solutions for earthquakes within eastern tibet where mean elevations drop below 4500 5000 m but the orientations of the strike slip faults vary across the region in central tibet left lateral slip occurs on planes trending roughly northeast but for earthquakes farther east the orientations of that plane become progressively east west and then southeast this variation in orientation implies a rotation of material along curved left lateral shear zones thus the eastward extrusion of tibet appears to be facilitated not only by rapid left lateral shear but also by large clockwise rotations of the material in eastern tibet the rate of eastward extrusion of material in eastern tibet relative to the tarim basin to its north is roughly 30 40 mm yr 1 fault plane solutions of earthquakes in the northern and eastern margins of tibet show large components of thrust faulting with the p axes oriented radially outward from the plateau and approximately perpendicular to the regional topographic contours of the plateau the orientation of this crustal shortening is northeast southwest on the northeastern margin east west on the eastern margin and northwest southeast in the longmenshan on the southeastern margin thus at least some of the extrusion of eastern tibet out of india s northward path into asia is absorbed by crustal shortening on the margins of the plateau the variation from normal faulting in the high tibetan plateau where elevations exceed 5000 m to dominantly strike slip faulting farther east where elevations are lower and then to thrust faulting on the margins of the plateau where elevations drop below 3000 m surely results at least in part from a decrease in the value of the vertical stress the magnitude of the east west compressive stress need not vary across the plateau

vegetation response to rapid climate change in central europe during the past 140 000 yr based on evidence from the furamoos pollen record the response of central european vegetation to rapid climate change during the late quaternary period eemian to holocene is assessed by data from the new pollen record of furamoos southwestern germany this record represents the longest late quaternary pollen record north of the alps as currently known its high degree of completeness allows detailed correlations with greenland ice cores and sea surface temperature records from the north atlantic our data show that if climate deteriorations were not long or severe enough to extirpate refugia of arboreal taxa north of the alps such as during marine oxygen isotope stage mis 5 i e wurm stadial a stadial b and stadial c reforestation with the onset of warmer conditions in central europe occurred on a centennial scale if arboreal taxa became completely extinct north of the alps such as during mis 4 i e wurm stadial d several thousand years were necessary for the reimmigration from refugia situated in regions south of the alps thus dansgaard oeschger interstades dois 24 to 20 and 15 to 11 are expressed in central european pollen records whereas dois 19 to 16 are not recorded due to migration lags

velocity field in asia inferred from quaternary fault slip rates and global positioning system observations we perform a joint inversion of quaternary strain rates and 238 global positioning system gps velocities in asia for a self consistent velocity field the reference frames for all geodetic velocity observations are determined in our inversion procedure india in moves relative to eurasia eu about a pole of rotation at 29 78 n 7 51 e 0 353 myr 1 which yields a velocity along the himalaya within india that is 73 76 of the magnitude of the in eu nuvel 1a velocity and a vector azimuth that is 8 10 clockwise of nuvel 1a in eu vector azimuth relative to eurasia south china moves at 9 11 mm yr in the direction 110 120 with a pole position 64 84 n 156 74 e 0 12 myr 1 amurian block motion has a pole position in a similar location but at a slower rate 64 61 n 158 23 e 0 077 myr 1 and most of the amurian eurasia motion is accommodated by extension across lake baikal tarim basin moves relative to eurasia about a pole of rotation at 39 24 n 98 2 e 0 539 myr 1 and 16 18 mm yr of shortening is accommodated across the west central tien shan there is distributed e w extension throughout both southern and north central tibet within southern tibet between the longitudes of 77 e to 92 e the deformation field accommodates 16 19 mm yr of e w extension we compare predicted seismic moment rates with those observed in this century in asia total observed seismic moment rates within the entire area of central and east asia 2 2 107 km2 in this century are 2 26 0 7 1020 n m yr 1 as compared with a predicted total rate of 2 03 0 066 1020 n m yr 1 comparisons between observed and predicted moment rates within 42 subregions reflect the generally unstable process of inferring long term seismic moment rates from a catalog of limited duration 94 years an observation period of 10 000 years would be required to reduce uncertainties in observed seismic moment rate to the same size as the uncertainties in model tectonic moment rates inferred from the joint inversion of gps and quaternary rates of strain we show that in general a better correlation with model tectonic moment rate is inferred from the seismicity catalog by considering the numbers of earthquakes above a cutoff magnitude mb 5 0 for the period january 1 1965 to january 1 1999

evolution of an overdeepened trough in the northern alpine foreland at niederweningen switzerland quaternary deposits in the overdeepened wehntal switzerland were investigated using both seismicprofiling and the analysis of 93 6 m long drill core using sedimentology geochemistry palynology

the most complete quaternary record of the swiss alpine foreland abstract the open pit section at thalgut near berne switzerland had already been considered as a quite complete reference section with interglacial lacustrine beds complex glacial sequences and evidence for morphogenetic activity during an earlier interglacial by a drilling operation this section has been extended and completed a long core of a still older interglacial has been recovered containing palynostratigraphic segments characterized by high percentages of pterocarya and fagus pollen assemblages with this discovery the thalgut section has become the most complete quaternary sequence of the northern alpine foreland with two different interglacial lacustrine beds and with a relic paleosoil separated each by complex glacial and glaciolacustrine sediments this record also implies a much older age for maximum erosion in the alpine foreland

structure and shortening of the kangra and dehra dun reentrants sub himalaya india surface geology oil well seismic reflection and magnetostratigraphic data are integrated to evaluate the structural style and the shortening rate at the himalayan front sub himalaya of northwest india the sub himalaya between the main boundary thrust and the himalayan frontal fault is the primary surface expression of shortening between the himalaya and the indian plate at certain locations the himalayan frontal fault is a blind thrust beneath anticlines of siwalik tertiary molasse parallel to the himalayan orogen the main boundary thrust is sinuous so the width of the sub himalaya ranges from 30 to 80 km where the sub himalaya is narrow nahan salient tertiary rocks are exposed in imbricate thrust sheets where the sub himalaya is broad kangra and dehra dun reentrants alluvium fills wide synclinal valleys duns seismic reflection data reveal that surface anticlines form in association with south vergent thrusts that root in a decollement at the base of the tertiary section reflection profiles and well data also indicate that the basement lithology changes northward from precambrian crystalline rocks beneath the indo gangetic plains to precambrian and cambrian metasedimentary rocks beneath the sub himalaya the sub himalayan decollement dips 2 5 northward beneath the kangra reentrant but it is steeper 6 beneath the dehra dun reentrant the kangra and dehra dun reentrants display fault propagation folds having steep limbs in the north and fault propagation and fault bend folds that have gently north dipping limbs in the south a balanced cross section of the kangra reentrant shows that a minimum of 23 km shortening has occurred since 1 9 1 5 ma yielding a shortening rate of 14 2 mm yr shortening has occurred at a rate of 6 16 mm yr across the dehra dun reentrant these data are similar to other published shortening rates and indicate that approximately 25 of the total india eurasia convergence at this longitude is accommodated within the sub himalaya given continued convergence and the presence of overpressured wells in the kangra reentrant the region is likely at risk from moderate and or great earthquakes in the future

the mw 5 4 reggio emilia 1996 earthquake active compressional tectonics in the po plain italy summary we have analysed the seismic sequence that occurred in october 1996 near the town of reggio emilia on the southern edge of the po plain the onset of the sequence was marked by a 5 4 moment magnitude main shock located at 15 km depth the main shock focal mechanism is a reverse solution with a strike slip component and the scalar moment is 1 46 1017 n m we used broad band digital recordings from a borehole station located at about 70 km from the epicentre for a spectral analysis in order to estimate attenuation and source parameters for the main shock in addition the empirical green s function method has been applied to evaluate the source time function in terms of both moment rate and stress rate we infer an asperity like rupture process for the main shock as suggested by the short duration of the stress release with respect to the overall duration of the moment rate function this analysis also allows us to estimate the average dynamic stress drop of the main shock 600 bar we analysed the digital recordings of the temporary local seismic network deployed after the main shock and of a permanent local network maintained by the italian petroleum agency agip during 15 days of field experiments we recorded more than 800 aftershocks which delineate a 9 km long ne elongated distribution confined between 12 and 15 km depth suggesting that the basement is involved in the deformation processes 102 focal mechanism of aftershocks have been computed from p wave polarities showing mainly pure reverse solutions we calculate the principal stress axes from a selected population of earthquakes providing a constraint on the stress regime of this part of the po plain the focal mechanisms are consistent with a n s subhorizontal 1 all the seismological data we have analysed confirm that this region is undergoing active compressional tectonics as already inferred from recent earthquakes geomorphological data and other stress indicators moreover the elongation of the reggio emilia aftershock sequence is consistent with the regional direction of the thrust fronts cropping out in the area suggesting that they are still active

timing of late pleistocene climate change in lowland switzerland abstract a chronology of climate change in lowland switzerland for the time between the last interglacial and the last glaciation maximum lgm is provided by complementary radiocarbon 230 th u and luminescence dating of the gossau key section the gossau interstadial complex is consistently dated to 50 000 30 000 yr bp and hence correlated with marine oxygen isotope stage mis 3 palaeotemperature readings reconstructed from coleoptera analyses and pollen assemblages evidence oscillating environmental conditions from tundra to open woodland and reflect changing climate during the middle wurmian delta deposits from the lower part of the gossau section indicate a cold period prior to the interstadial complex this severe climatic deterioration is correlated with mis 5d based on luminescence dating sedimentological evidence implies the presence of glaciers at the northern margin of the swiss alps during this time

the motion and active deformation of india measurements of surface displacements using gps constrain the motion and deformation of india and india eurasia plate boundary deformation along the himalaya the gps velocities of plate interior sites constrain the pole of the angular velocity vector of india with respect to eurasia to lie at 25 6 1 0 n 11 1 9 0 e approximately 6 west of the nuvel 1a pole of 3 ma plate motion the angular rotation rate of 0 44 0 03 myr 1 is 14 slower than the long term rate of 0 51 myr 1 insignificant velocities between plate interior sites indicate that the exposed indian plate is stable to within 7 10 9 yr 1 the observed contraction vector across the himalaya 20 mm yr veers from n20 e in the northwest himalaya to n25 w in east nepal consistent with east west extension of southern tibet

geodetic constraints on the rigidity and relative motion of eurasia and north america gps observations in northeastern asia when combined with observations from the global network for the period 1992 1999 yield an angular rotation vector between eurasia and north america consistent with and a factor of two more precise than estimates derived using gps or vlbi data previously available from only western eurasia the new vector implies a pole of relative rotation 1200 km more to the northwest than predicted by the nuvel 1a global plate model suggesting a significant change in the relative motion of eurasia and north america over the past 3 myr the standard deviations of horizontal velocities from rigid plate motion for nineteen stations in eurasia and ten in north america are less than 1 mm yr the observations place an upper bound of 2 mm yr at 95 confidence for relative motion between western and eastern eurasia

holocene paleoclimate data from the arctic testing models of global climate change to evaluate the spatial variability of arctic climate change during the present interglacial cape project members compiled well dated terrestrial marine and ice core paleoenvironmental records spanning the past 10 12 thousand years ka six tundra biomes of increasing summer temperature requirements were defined based on regionally coherent pollen assemblages using a rule based approach pollen spectra were converted to tundra forest tundra or forest biomes ranked by their average growing season requirements marine sea surface reconstructions were based on proxy data following a similar rule based approach from these data based reconstructions departures in summer temperatures from modern normals were calculated in 1 ka time slices through the holocene to test predictive models data based summer temperature reconstructions were compared with general circulation model gcm simulations for 10 ka and 6 ka ago paleodata and model results both show that warming occurred earlier across beringia and asia relative to lands adjacent to the north atlantic and that late holocene cooling was most apparent in the north atlantic region however the gcm over predicts the magnitude of mid holocene warming over northern asia and underestimates the intensification of the north atlantic drift in the early holocene strong spatial variability in environmental response during the holocene despite symmetric insolation forcing suggests that any future changes whether caused by anthropogenic or natural factors are unlikely to result in a uniform change across the arctic adding additional complexity to forecasts of global impacts

convergence across the northwest himalaya from gps measurements 1 horizontal velocities of 26 global positioning system gps stations in the northwest himalayan region provide new constraints on the partitioning of india eurasia convergence and elastic strain accumulation about the locked main frontal thrust mft the northwest striking karakorum fault slips at 11 4 mm yr and contributes to east west extension of southern tibet and westward motion of the northwest himalaya towards nanga parbat rather than playing a role in eastward extrusion of tibet crustal shortening across the himalaya occurs within a zone centered about 100 km north of the siwalik foothills and the mft model inversions of the gps data indicate that the mft is locked over a width of 100 km comparison with geologic mft slip rate estimates suggests that this zone is building up a slip deficit at a rate of 14 1 mm yr and will eventually fail in future great earthquakes

palaeogeographical relationships between alpine and jura glaciers during the two last pleistocene glaciations abstract two main moraine complexes are usually defined in the northwestern alpine piedmont the external moraine complex emc dated to the penultimate glaciation riss sensu lato and the internal moraine complex imc dated to the last glaciation wurm until recently the prevalent concept was that these two complexes had been built by glaciers originating in the central alpine zone this paper presents a new palaeogeographical diagram based on mapping and petrographical studies of these two moraine complexes and especially on the relationships between alpine and jura tills we reach the following conclusions 1 1 the jura glaciers were independent of the alpine glaciers during the two last pleistocene glaciations 2 2 the jura mountains formed a topographical barrier blocking and modifying the alpine glacier advance towards the northwest with the result that during the wurmian glaciation the maximum elevation 1200 m a s l of the alpine glaciers on the eastern margin of the jura was too low to allow alpine ice to enter the jura and during the rissian glaciation the greater thickness of the alpine glaciers resulted in their penetration only into the lower marginal zone of the jura 3 3 thus in the studied area the central alps were not the only centre of ice dispersal during the two last pleistocene glaciations on the northwestern jura slopes the corresponding moraine complexes were mainly built by glaciers emanating from the central jura

slow tilt reversal of the lesser himalaya between 1862 and 1992 at 78 e and bounds to the southeast rupture of the 1905 kangra earthquake summary measurements between 1862 and 1992 of a 77 km long spirit levelling line that crosses the main frontal thrust of the himalaya near dehra dun 78 e reveal a slow reversal of tilt in the early part of the last century unperturbed by the destructive 1905 april 4 kangra earthquake 200 km to the northwest the lesser himalaya are inferred to be tilting currently to the northeast at 0 08 rad yr 1 with similar rate but opposite sign to their tilt in 1862 the absence of co seismic deformation near dehra dun in 1905 indicates that the kangra rupture terminated short of dehra dun consistent with a revised ms 7 8 estimate for the size of the kangra earthquake but inconsistent with previous analyses of the levelling data that interpret a large slope dependent systematic error as co seismic slip the reversal in tilt corresponds to a linear northeast down tilt acceleration of 0 0015 0 0004 rad yr 2

accuracy of cosmogenic ages for moraines analyses of all published cosmogenic exposure ages for moraine boulders show an average age range of 38 between the oldest and youngest boulders from each moraine this range conflicts with the common assumption that ages of surface boulders are the same as the age of the landform the wide spread in boulder ages is caused by erosion of the moraine surface and consequent exhumation of fresh boulders a diffusion model of surface degradation explains the age range and shows that a randomly sampled small set of boulders n 3 7 will always yield a lower age limit for the moraine the model indicates that for identical dating accuracy six to seven boulders are needed from old and tall moraines 40 000 100 000 yr 50 100 m initial height but only one to four boulders from small moraines 20 000 100 000 yr 10 20 m by following these guidelines the oldest obtained boulder age will be 90 of the moraine age 95 probability this result is only weakly sensitive to a broad range of soil erosion rates our analysis of published boulder ages indicates that 3 of all moraine boulders have prior exposure and 85 of these boulders predate the dated moraine

expansion and retreat of the jura ice sheet france during the last glacial maximum in continental environments while there is no uninterrupted record of glaciation glacier activity can be reconstructed from the nature and geometry of sediments trapped by lake filling examination of the combe d ain lake filling provides insight into the history of the jura mountains during the last glacial maximum lgm from the evidence of outcrops borehole cores and seismic reflection profiles of the lake filling we show that glaciation was marked by three stages of stabilization then recessional moraines marked five episodes of stabilization in the course of glacial retreat comparison with b 18 o data from ice cores of greenland makes possible to date the last glacial maximum at 25 500 22 000 cal bc and

strain partitioning along the himalayan arc and the nanga parbat antiform shortening along the himalayan arc of continental convergence is approximately in the radial direction if the underthrusting foot wall block india is not deformed the hanging wall block tibet needs to stretch along the arc as suggested by radial grabens in southern tibet in contrast the nanga parbat haramosh massif and the western himalayan syntaxis are part of a 250 km long antiform that strikes in the radial direction northeast and verges northwest the nanga parbat antiform is the structural and topographic expression of arc parallel shortening that compensates for arc parallel extension in southern tibet this shortening is predicted to be as high as 12 mm yr

first results of cosmogenic dated pre last glaciation erratics from the montoz area jura mountains switzerland the jura mountains are a perialpine chain bending from the sw to the nw of switzerland alpine ice reached only marginal areas of this chain during the last glacial maximum lgm but remaining erratic boulders of alpine origin indicate older glaciations of unknown age tentatively correlated either with the classical rissian or with the most extensive glaciation presented here are the first results of dating these pre lgm boulders by using cosmogenic radionuclides 10be and noble gases 21ne both data sets are in good agreement within 1 error with radionuclide apparent exposure ages ranging from 60 to 107 ka and noble gas apparent ages from 73 to 123 ka considering the importance of erosion on older boulders the age of the erratics corresponds most probably to marine isotope stage 6 these results are encouraging for further studies on pre lgm erratic boulders in the mid latitudes

great earthquakes seismicity gaps and potential for earthquake disaster along the himalaya plate boundary abstract analysis of the space time patterns of seismicity in the himalaya plate boundary has established the existence of three seismic gaps 1 1 the kashmir gap lying west of the 1905 kangra earthquake 2 2 the central gap situated between the 1905 kangra and the 1934 bihar earthquakes 3 3 the assam gap between the 1897 and 1950 assam earthquakes this study has shown that the above great earthquakes were preceded as well as followed by long periods 19 years of decreased levels of seismic activity in the epicentral regions remarkable decrease in the seismicity following the year 1970 has been observed in the western half of the central gap as well as in the assam gap local seismic investigation in the assam gap confirms this feature and the seismicity suggests the existence there of an asperity the local seismic investigations in garhwal himalaya have shown that the small earthquakes are confined to the upper 6 8 km of the crust and may have strike slip motions these earthquakes occur in a region where teleseismically recorded events were few

multichannel analysis of love waves in a 3d seismic acquisition system abstractmultichannel analysis of love waves malw analyzes high frequency love waves to determine near surface s wave velocities and it is getting increasing attention in the near surface geophysics and geotechnique community based on 2d geometry spread in which sources and receivers are placed along the same line current malw fails to work in a 3d seismic acquisition system this is because love wave particle motion direction is perpendicular to its propagation direction which makes it difficult to record a love wave signal in 3d geometries we have developed a method to perform malw with data acquired in 3d geometry we recorded two orthogonal horizontal components inline and crossline components at each receiver point at the same time by transforming the raw data from rectangular coordinates inline and crossline components to radial transverse coordinates radial and transverse components we recovered love wave data along the transverse direction at each receiver point to achieve a love w

cosmic ray produced neon in antarctic rocks we studied three antarctic rocks and quartz separates thereof for their records of cosmic ray produced 21ne all three samples reveal an excess of 21ne and in two of them a cosmic ray origin is documented by the spallation ratios 22ne 21ne 3he is shown to be incompletely retained in quartz 10 previous studies have shown the suitability of quartz as a monitor for cosmic ray produced radionuclides 10be and 26al and therefore as a tracer for geological processes 26al 10be ratios allow the calculation of minimum exposure ages and maximum erosion rates and measured ratios 21ne 10be and 21ne 26al add significant information to exposure histories especially in the case of a complex exposure this information is necessary for an evaluation of erosion rates and to define geological processes such as uplift and variations in the antarctic ice cover

scaling factors for the rates of production of cosmogenic nuclides for geometric shielding and attenuation at depth on sloped surfaces abstract the decrease in rates of production of cosmogenic nuclides occurs because of shielding of cosmic rays by mountains sloped surfaces and local rock formations that block them when a large part of the sky is blocked this correction is large and requires detailed model calculations this paper considers three geometries a rectangular obstruction a triangular obstruction and a sloped surface other geometries can be considered as a combination of these the results are presented in terms of formulas and graphs so that the reader can easily apply them to common field situations any use of cosmogenic nuclides in the study of geomorphic processes or forms must consider factors that introduce variations in the production of nuclides

re interpretation of the meikirch pollen record swiss alpine foreland and implications for middle pleistocene chronostratigraphy the meikirch drilling site in the swiss midlands north of bern is re interpreted using a combination of sedimentological logging pollen analyses and luminescence dating the sedimentary sequence comprises about 70 m of lacustrine deposits overlain by about 39 m of coarse glacial outwash interpreted to represent at least two independent ice advances pollen analyses of the apparently complete limnic sequence reveal a basal late glacial period followed by three warm phases that are interrupted by two stadial periods meikirch complex the warm periods were previously correlated with the holsteinian and eemian interglacials according to luminescence dating and with consideration of evidence for middle pleistocene climate patterns at other central european sites a correlation of the meikirch complex with marine isotope stage mis 7 is now proposed if this correlation is correct it implies the presence of three intervals with interglacial character during mis 7 however the late middle pleistocene vegetational features of the meikirch complex show significant differences when compared with the pollen record from the velay region central france possible explanations for this discrepancy are distinct middle pleistocene patterns of atmospheric circulation over central europe and a different distribution of vegetation refugia compared to the eemian interglacial and the holocene copyright 2005 john wiley sons ltd

oblique convergence in the himalayas of western nepal deduced from preliminary results of gps measurements a gps network consisting of 29 sites was installed in central and western nepal with measurements taken in 1995 and partial remeasurements in 1997 data suggest 15 5 mm yr of n180 convergence between the higher himalayas and india a result that is consistent with n s shortening across the arcuate shape of the nepalese himalayas and an oblique underthrusting of the indian crust below the high himalayas of western nepal a 4 3 mm year e w extension and deviation of the principal shortening axes are inferred east of 83 e where quaternary faults darma bari gad fault system and thakkhola graben delineate a crustal wedge this wedge is located on the se projection of the karakorum fault and may segment the himalayan thrust belt the convergence between the outer belt of western nepal and india is less than 3 mm yr an attenuation consistent with creep on a dislocation locked beneath the lesser himalayas a preliminary model suggests that this n 120 e striking dislocation is affected by a 19 mm yr thrust component and a 7 mm yr right lateral component

the timing of glacier advances in the northern european alps based on surface exposure dating with cosmogenic 10be 26al 36cl and 21ne

earthquake recurrence and rupture dynamics of himalayan frontal thrust india the black mango fault is a structural discontinuity that transforms motion between two segments of the active himalayan frontal thrust hft in northwestern india the black mango fault displays evidence of two large surface rupture earthquakes during the past 650 years subsequent to 1294 a d and 1423 a d and possibly another rupture at about 260 a d displacement during the last two earthquakes was at minimum 4 6 meters and 2 4 to 4 0 meters respectively and possibly larger for the 260 a d event abandoned terraces of the adjacent markanda river record uplift due to slip on the underlying hft of 4 8 0 9 millimeters per year or greater since the mid holocene the uplift rate is equivalent to rates of fault slip and crustal shortening of 9 6 3 5 7 0 millimeters per year and 8 4 3 6 7 3 millimeters per year respectively when it is assumed that the hft dips 30 10

the last climatic cycle at la grande pile vosges france a new pollen profile a new pollen diagram has been made from an old unanalyzed core from la grande pile gp xx correlations with the previous work of woillard 1975 1978 leads to the following conclusions the end of the eemian was marked by a minor climatic change prior to the melisey i stadial the ognon ii and ognon iii interstadials are not consistent and correspond to the level of reworking of mesophilous taxa during the last pleniglacial the limitations of the botanical interpretation of pollen spectra from the last pleniglacial are underlined lastly bruckenthalia and larix are identified for the first time at la grande pile the respective roles of these taxa following the eemian are additional arguments for correlating the st germain i and ii with the early weichsel interstadials in the north of middle europe

gps measurements of present day convergence across the nepal himalaya the high elevations of the himalaya and tibet result from the continuing collision between india and asia which started more than 60 million years ago1 4 from geological and seismic studies of the slip rate of faults in asia5 it is believed that approximately one third of the present day convergence rate between india and asia 58 4mmyr 1 is responsible for the shortening uplift and moderate seismicity of the himalaya great earthquakes also occur infrequently in this region releasing in minutes the elastic strain accumulated near the boundary zone over several centuries and accounting for most of the advance of the himalaya over the plains of india the recurrence time for these great earthquakes is determined by the rate of slip of india beneath tibet which has hitherto been estimated indirectly from global plate motions6 from the slip rates of faults in asia7 8 from seismic productivity9 and from the advance of sediments on the northern ganges plain10 here we report geodetic measurements using the global positioning system gps of the rate of contraction across the himalaya which we find to be 17 52 2 mm yr 1 from the form of the deformation field we estimate the rate of slip of india beneath tibet to be 20 5 2 mmyr 1 strain sufficient to drive one or more great himalayan earthquakes with slip similar to that accompanying the magnitude 8 1 bihar nepal 1934 earthquake may currently be available in western nepal

the field of crustal velocity in asia calculated from quaternary rates of slip on faults rates of quaternary faulting when treated as measures of strain rates within regions several times larger than the depths of brittle faulting yield a velocity field for asia that matches the average relative velocity between the indian and eurasian plates over the past 2 myr nuvel 1a and the velocity of shanghai with respect to eurasia measured with very long baseline interferometry vlbi by using rates of slip on discrete surfaces faults to define average strain rates we explicitly assume that the large scale deformation can be treated as that of a continuum depending on the jcales over which strain rates are averaged 87 to 93 per cent of the assumed strain ites are fit within assigned 1 sigma uncertainties and 97 to 99 per cent are fit within 2 sigma the internal consistency of these data and the agreement with independent rates nuvel 1a and vlbi test the validity of treating large scale deformation of continents as that of a continuum in the calculated velocity field a large fraction 85 per cent of india s convergence with eurasia is absorbed by crustal or lithospheric thickening among consistently misfit assumed strain rates are those dominated by high rates of strike slip faulting strain associated with 20 30 mm a 1 of slip on the altyn tagh karakax and karakorum faults is inconsistent with the distributions of strain in surrounding regions we conclude that these rates all of which are based on correlations of ages of offset landforms with changes in global climate and not on radiometric dating have been systematically overestimated lateral transport out of india s northward path is relatively minor south china is calculated to move east southeast at less than 10 mm a 1

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

the limited influence of glaciations in tibet on global climate over the past 170 000 yr extensive ice cover on the tibetan plateau would significantly influence earth s climate in general and the asian monsoon system in particular but extent and timing of quaternary glaciations in tibet remain highly controversial we dated erratics on top of moraines in the climatic key areas of central and east tibet using cosmogenic 10be 26al and 21ne consistent exposure ages obtained by various nuclides indicate a continuous period of exposure since the deposition of the samples our data imply that glacial advances were restricted to a few 10 km during the last 170 kyr in central tibet and during the peak of the last glaciation 24 13 kyr ago in eastern tibet advances of tibetan glaciers were much less prominent than elsewhere in the northern hemisphere most likely due to very arid conditions and high sublimation rates a proposed ice dome covering the entire plateau can be excluded thus albedo increase of tibet most likely did trigger neither northern hemisphere ice ages nor paleomonsoon changes during the last two glacial cycles the glacial advance during marine isotope stage 2 in east tibet and the absence of significant glacial events during the holocene suggest a relation of snowline lowering in east tibet to north atlantic cooling events rather than to periods of high precipitation by an intensified monsoon

glacier response in the european alps to heinrich event 1 cooling the gschnitz stadial the gschnitz stadial was a period of regionally extensive glacier advance in the european alps that lies temporally between the breakdown of the last glacial maximum piedmont lobes and the beginning of the bolling warm interval moraines of the gschnitz stadial are found in medium to small catchments are steep walled and blocky and reflect a snowline lowering of 650 700 m in comparison to the little ice age reference snowline 10 be surface exposure dating of boulders from the moraine at the type locality at trins gschnitz valley tyrol austria shows that it stabilised no later than 15 400 1400 yr ago the overall morphological situation and the long reaction time of the glacier suggest that the climatic downturn lasted about 500 300 yr indicating that the gschnitz cold period began approximately 15 900 1400 yr ago if not somewhat earlier this is consistent with published radiocarbon dates that imply that the stadial occurred sometime between 15 400 14 c yr bp 18 020 19 100 cal yr and 13 250 14 c yr bp 15 360 16 015 cal yr a palaeoclimatic interpretation of the gschnitz glacier based on a simple glacier flow model and statistical glacier climate models shows that precipitation was about one third of modern day precipitation and summer temperatures were about 10 k lower than today in comparison during the younger dryas precipitation in this area was only about 10 less and ts summer temperature was only 3 5 4 k lower than modern values based on the age of the moraine and the cold and dry climate at that time we suggest that the gschnitz stadial was the response of alpine glaciers to cooling of the north atlantic ocean associated with heinrich event 1 copyright 2005 john wiley sons ltd