sector collapse sedimentation and clast population evolution at an active island arc volcano stromboli italy sciara del fuoco is the subaerial part of a partially filled sector collapse scar that extends to 700 m below sea level on stromboli volcano the collapse occurred 2200 m and 10 km from the shore to the nnw a fan shaped mounded feature comprises debris avalanche deposits 4 km3 from two or more sector collapses volcaniclastic density currents originating from sciara del fuoco follow the topographic margin of the debris avalanche deposits although overbank currents and other unconfined currents widely cover the mounded feature with turbidites historical recorded eruptive activity in sciara del fuoco is considerably less than that which occurred earlier and much of the partial fill may have formed from eruptions soon after the sector collapse it is possible that a mass of eruptive products similar to that in the collapse scar is dispersed as volcanogenic sediment in deep water of the tyrhennian basin evidence that the early post collapse eruptive discharge was greater than the apparent recent flux 2kg s counters suggestions that a substantial part of stromboli s growth has been endogenous the partial fill of sciaria del fuoco is dominated by lava and spatter layers rather than by the scoria and ash layers classically regarded as main constituents of strombolian cinder cones much of the volcanic slope beneath the vents is steeper than the angle of repose of loose tephra which is therefore rapidly transported to the sea delicate pyroclasts that record the magmatic explosivity are selectively destroyed and diluted during sedimentary transport mainly in avalanches and by shoreline wave reworking and thus the submarine deposits do not record well the extent and diversity of explosive activity and associated clast forming processes considerable amounts of dense non vesicular fine sand and silt grains are produced by breakage and rounding of fragments of lava and agglutinate the submarine extension of the collapse scar and the continuing topographic depression to 2200 m below sea level are zones of considerable by passing of fine sand and silt which are transported in turbidity currents evidently volcanogenic sediments dispersed around island volcanoes by density currents are unlikely to record well the true spectrum and relative importance of clast forming processes that occurred during an eruption marine sedimentary evidence of magmatic explosivity is particularly susceptible to partial or complete obliteration unless there is a high rate of discharge of pyroclastic material into the sea

growth and destruction of gran canaria deduced from seismic reflection and bathymetric data the morphology and structure of the submarine flanks of gran canaria have been mapped using hydrosweep swath bathymetry and high resolution reflection seismic data the growth and destruction of the island has been characterized previously by three major periods of volcanic activity 16 9 ma 4 5 3 5 ma younger than 3 ma separatedby erosional intervals two major sector collapses along the west coast inferred from the coastal morphology are believed to have formed at the end of the shield building phase one is characterized by a 19 km wide reentrant along the northwestern coast that may have formed synchronously with the formation of the 20 km diametermiocene tejeda caldera high sedimentation rates around gran canaria 50 m myr tend to cover and bury major landslide blocks ssw off the island several canyons continue seaward into a major sediment fan a 9 5 km wide volcaniclastic ridge in this fan is interpreted to represent deposits of the pliocene subaerial roque nublo debris avalanche we tentatively interpret the slope break at a depth of 600 800 m as the transition between subaerial and subaqueous chilled lavas at the end of the shield building phase the subsidence caused by the volcanic load 30 000 km3 on the lithosphere may thus amount to no more than 800 m several canyons on the island can be traced down the submarine flanks to a depth of 3 5 km indicating that at least deeper portions below the level of subsidence were eroded by mass flows continuing seaward from the subaerial canyons four submarine volcanoes were identified west and northeast of the island

deep magma body beneath the summit and rift zones of kilauea volcano hawaii a magnitude 7 2 earthquake in 1975 caused the south flank of kilauea volcano hawaii to move seaward in response to slippage along a deep fault since then a large part of the volcano s edifice has been adjusting to this perturbation the summit of kilauea extended at a rate of 0 26 meter per year until 1983 the south flank uplifted more than 0 5 meter and the axes of both the volcano s rift zones extended and subsided the summit continues to subside these ground surface motions have been remarkably steady and much more widespread than those caused by either recurrent inflation and deflation of the summit magma chamber or the episodic propagation of dikes into the rift zones kilauea s magmatic system is therefore probably deeper and more extensive than previously thought the summit and both rift zones may be underlain by a thick near vertical dike like magma system at a depth of 3 to 9 kilometers

a model for attenuation of backscatter due to sediment accumulations and its application to determine sediment thicknesses with gloria sidescan sonar where the seafloor consists of a highly backscattering surface covered with a drape of fine grained sediment and where the sediment does not contribute significantly to the backscattered signal the sediment thickness can potentially be inferred from the amount of signal attenuation in the sediment layer a first order acoustical model is proposed in which the signal strength is reduced by an amount proportional to the sediment thickness and attenuation rate in the sediments data collected with geological long range inclined azdic gloria are used to develop and test this model at an acoustic frequency of 6 5 khz the range of sediment thickness that the sonar can potentially recover is 0 20 m a range that is often below the resolution of vertical profilers in the first example the signal variation with grazing angle over a uniformly buried surface is analyzed for attenuation which is expected to increase toward shallow grazing angles and longer attenuating paths through the sediment layer the surface is a lava flow north of hawaii covered by 1 2 m of fine grained sediments clague et al 1990 and gloria data analyzed with the model suggest an attenuation coefficient of 0 2 0 4 db m a value consistent with results from laboratory and field measurements of sediment attenuation in the second example a rocky surface is buried by varying amounts of sediment which is analyzed at almost constant grazing angle the surface is the volcanic basement of the southeast indian ridge and gloria data reveal the thickening of the sediment cover with distance away from the spreading center this is used to derive an average sedimentation rate of 6 mm ka which is generally consistent with results from other studies and suggests that this technique may be used to study differences in sedimentation rates between different regions furthermore the model is used to calculate from image amplitude distributions the sediment thickness distribution which represents the accumulation of sediments in ponds and the exposure of abyssal hills these sedimentary processes are also reflected in the standard deviation of sediment thickness which increases with seafloor age i explore the various sources of error in estimating sediment thickness using this technique and propose a model for nonuniform sediment drapes the first order model assumes a uniform thickness at the subfootprint scale

a geomorphological reconnaissance of the submarine part of the east rift zone of kilauea volcano hawaii more than half of the intensely active east rift zone of kilauea volcano crops out underwater along the crest of the submarine puna ridge i present multibeam bathmetry of the entire ridge near bottom photographic and sonar observations of the plunging crest of its deeper distal half and seismic profiles across the ridge tip and the adjacent structural moat analysis of large scale relief small scale topography and superficial rock types indicates that the rift zone is actively propagating across the moat but is probably a superficial structure that does not penetrate the underlying oceanic crust that its tip is covered with large lava flows erupted at high rates and is surrounded with extensive debris flow deposits and that the axial topography at depths of 2 4 km is dominated by gaping fissures and collapse pits showing a preponderance of intrusive rather than extrusive events some aspects of this central volcano rift zone such as its geometry at small lateral offsets resemble those at interplate rift zones along fast spreading mid ocean rises but the great contrast in lithosphere thickness results in fundamental structural differences

the ml scale in northern baja california mexico abstract we found that the attenuation functions proposed for southern california by richter 1958 and hutton and boore 1987 are not entirely suitable for local magnitude calculation for earthquakes in northern baja california in this study we used zero to peak amplitudes from synthetic wood anderson seismograms to determine appropriate log a 0 attenuation functions and station magnitude corrections through a multiple linear regression analysis our data were grouped so that each energy path was entirely contained in either the granitic peninsular ranges of baja california prbc or the sedimentary environment of the mexicali imperial valley miv the best solutions of the regression analysis are log a 0 1 0134 0 0288 log r 100 0 0025 0 0005 r 100 3 0 for miv and log a 0 1 1319 0 0197 log r 100 0 0017 0 0002 r 100 3 0 for prbc where r is hypocentral distance a comparison of these functions with those for southern california revealed the following a a remarkable agreement between richter9s function and the function for miv at distances between 40 and 450 km b hutton and boore9s function and the function for prbc are quite similar in the whole distance range considered 10 to 450 km and c for both areas at distances shorter than 50 km the log a 0 richter function was as much as 0 5 units lower than the others thus as for other regions the use of richter9s function results in understimation of local magnitudes at near source distances additionally the attenuation function for prbc was 0 30 units lower than richter9s at 400 km which means that at such longer distances the richter function overestimates the magnitude of prbc earthquakes finally station magnitude corrections from 0 42 to 0 26 units were obtained suggesting significant effects due to station site properties

structure and emplacement of the pliocene roque nublo debris avalanche deposit gran canaria spain abstract collapse of the flanks of the pliocene roque nublo stratocone on gran canaria lead to large debris avalanches that traveled far beyond the coastline with velocities that may have exceeded 100 m s the deposits comprised at least 14 km 3 of debris and covered an area of about 180 km 2 in the southern half of the island the debris filled deep canyons are largely exhumed at present incomplete disintegration poor fluidization and a good preservation of megablocks are thought to be mainly due to the confinement of the debris avalanche within deep canyons the rheological behavior of lithologic domains varies with their size internal strength and relative position within the deposit the deformation structures indicate that distinct components flowed whereas others slid throughout the transport in a relatively dense mode the following factors are believed to have been important in generating the roque nublo debris avalanche deposit 1 unusual abundance of pyroclastic flow and other volcaniclastic deposits making up the upper roque nublo cone 2 highly asymmetric basement beneath the cone with a very high southern ridge and a steep erosional southern slope leading to major instabilities 3 intrusion of dikes and cryptodomes as well as hydrothermal alteration in the crater area further weakening the volcano

two dimensional soil moisture flow in a sloping rectangular region experimental and numerical studies results from experiments with a 3 66 by 0 58 by 0 108 m flume filled with sand are used to study the two dimensional flow of soil moisture under the condition of rainfall infiltration the experimental results are compared to results obtained by a numerical solution via a finite element finite difference transformation of the two dimensional richards equation the results are presented in the form of flow field conditions hydraulic head distribution and position of the phreatic surface and the rising limb of the runoff hydrograph the experimental and the numerical results are in satisfactory agreement when the effect of capillary hysteresis is incorporated into the numerical solution when capillary hysteresis is ignored the numerically simulated hydrograph lags far behind the experimentally derived hydrograph

experimental and numerical study of water and solute infiltration in layered porous media abstract in the present paper an experimental and numerical study of flow and transport processes occurring in natural and artificial recharge of phreatic aquifers is presented the study is restricted to two dimensional flow in a vertical plane and conservative tracers the investigated porous medium consisted of a horizontally layered sand packing once the infiltration front reached the capillary fringe the experiments showed a rapid change in the phreatic surface slope and thus a fast increase of the flow rate in the saturated domain outflow of the infiltrated solute was observed at much later times it is shown that this fast response is due to capillary phenomena i e to the hysteresis in the soil moisture characteristics and thus depends on the initial conditions in the capillary zone it is also shown that the solute transport was dominated by advective transport mechanisms which are strongly influenced by the layering of the sand packing the results are discussed with respect to their hydrological significance

giant blocks in the south kona landslide hawaii a large field of blocky sea floor hills up to 10 km long and 500 m high are gigantic slide blocks derived from the west flank of mauna loa volcano on the island of hawaii these megablocks are embedded in the toe of the south kona landslide which extends 80 km seaward from the present coastline to depths of nearly 5 km a 10 15 km wide belt of numerous smaller 1 3 km long slide blocks separates the area of giant blocks from two submarine benches at depths of 2600 and 3700 m depth that terminate seaward 20 to 30 km from the shoreline similar giant blocks are found on several other major submarine hawaiian landslides including those north of oahu and molokai but the south kona blocks are the first to be examined in detail using high resolution bathymetry dredging and submersible diving dredging of two of the giant blocks brought up pillowed tholeiitic lava observations from the u s navy submersible sea cliff on the asymmetrically steep eastern flank of one block 10 km long and 300 m high revealed a succession of fractured massive basalt laminar lava flows hyaloclastite and pillow lavas chemical analyses of dredged lava identified 19 units that overlap compositionally with lavas from the south rift zone ridge of mauna loa sulfur content indicates that most of the lavas were erupted in subaerial and shallow submarine

seismostratigraphy of the western flanks of el hierro and la palma canary islands a record of canary islands volcanism abstract a cruise carried out aboard the spanish r v hesperides using a 255 inch3 airgun allowed to identify three main seismostratigraphic units in the western submarine flanks of the islands of la palma and el hierro canary islands the time structure and thickness maps of each unit together with the interpretation of the seismic facies demonstrate that the evolution of the canary islands is recorded in the marine basin the structure maps show that the older reflectors dip to the nw in contrast to the present day sea floor which dips to the wnw the thickness maps also show that the depocentre moved from a position parallel to the northwest african margin to a position now occupied by the island of la palma despite the high sedimentation rates of hemipelagic background sedimentation in the study area the three seismic units can be interpreted in terms of their relation to the canarian volcanism unit i was deposited before the initiation of volcanism and the arrival of volcaniclastic flows and is thus mainly if not entirely composed of hemipelagic sediments unit ii seems to reflect the shield phases of the easternmost edifices and as such would be constituted by the distal products of erosion and mass wasting of these islands unit iii in contrast results mainly from the shield phase of the two westernmost islands la palma and el hierro and as such reflects more proximal conditions as demonstrated by the presence of lateral collapse deposits from these islands

vertical and lateral collapses on tenerife canary islands and other volcanic ocean islands recent studies demonstrate that tenerife has undergone large lateral collapses this has led to the suggestion that the las canadas caldera one of the best exposed calderas in the world is the result of lateral collapse we have tested this idea using the available structural stratigraphic volcanological and geochronological data we conclude that the las canadas caldera is the result of a complex sequence of vertical collapse events associated with a long history of phonolitic explosive activity in the central part of tenerife our results indicate however that vertical collapses may have played a major role in triggering lateral collapses we propose that the association of vertical and lateral collapse events such as inferred for tenerife can also explain similar sequences of events interpreted to have affected other large volcanic ocean islands

the insular shelves of the faial pico ridge azores archipelago a morphological record of its evolution shelves surrounding reefless volcanic ocean islands are formed by surf erosion of their slopes during changing sea levels posterosional lava flows if abundant can cross the coastal cliffs and fill partially or completely the accommodation space left by erosion in this study multibeam bathymetry high resolution seismic reflection profiles and sediment samples are used to characterize the morphology of the insular shelves adjacent to pico island the data show offshore fresh lava flow morphologies as well as an irregular basement beneath shelf sedimentary bodies and reduced shelf width adjacent to older volcanic edifices in pico these observations suggest that these shelves have been significantly filled by volcanic progradation and can thus be classified as rejuvenated despite the general volcanic infilling of the shelves around pico most of their edges are below the depth of the last glacial maximum revealing that at least parts of the island have subsided after the shelves formed by surf erosion prograding lava deltas reached the shelf edge in some areas triggering small slope failures locally decreasing the shelf width and depth of their edges these areas can represent a significant risk for the local population hence their identification can be useful for hazard assessment and contribute to wiser land use planning shelf and subaerial geomorphology magnetic anomalies and crustal structure data of the two islands were also interpreted to reconstruct the long term combined onshore and offshore evolution of the faial pico ridge the subaerial emergence of this ridge is apparently older than previously thought i e before 850 ka

intermediate term earthquake prediction using the modified time to failure method in southern california abstract based on retrospective modeling of earthquakes from the southern california earthquake catalog along with previously published evaluations from the new madrid seismic zone the modified time to failure method may be used as an intermediate term earthquake prediction technique for locating and predicting the size and time of a future mainshock modeling previous mainshocks for hypothesis development indicates that the method predicts the actual magnitude of the mainshock to within approximately 0 5 magnitude units the error associated with the time of failure is approximately 1 1 years assuming the last precursory event is known when the last event in the precursory sequence is not known the predicted magnitude remains similar but the predicted time will require refinement as additional events are added with time to the sequence the mainshock location can also be identified within a circular region with a radius on the order of tens of kilometers criteria are provided for defining acceleration sequences and mainshock locations the criteria reduce the number of false predictions but also eliminate some mainshocks from our evaluation mainshocks as small as magnitude 5 5 occurring between 1980 and 1995 were evaluated from the southern california earthquake catalog scc the results were used in association with previous studies to develop a method that can be used for practical future prediction applications the modified time to failure method was used to search the scc for future mainshocks occurring after 17 august 1998 one region satisfied all the criteria and may be modeled by the modified time to failure method the region likely to have a mainshock is a 65 km radius area centered at 31 43 n 115 47 w northern baja california mexico the predicted magnitude is 6 36 0 55 and the predicted time of failure is 1998 565 7 25 98 1 127 years the addition of future precursory events will allow refinement of the predicted values

the off shore continuation of an active basaltic volcano piton de la fournaise reunion island indian ocean structural and geomorphological interpretation from sea beam mapping abstract in 1984 a sea beam survey of the submarine east flank of piton de la fournaise was performed with r v jean charcot three main types of volcanic or volcano tectonic features have been identified 1 1 the subaerial ne and se volcanic rift zones of piton de la fournaise do not extend more than about five kilometers offshore unlike typical hawaiian rift zones which form narrow 2 4 km ridges extending tens of kilometers from the summit the active rift zones of piton de la fournaise widen downslope attaining more than 10 km at their front 2 2 the submarine extension of the grand brule slide is larger than the subaerial portion the entire slide forms a 7 24 km scar bounded by two ramparts to the north and south the slumped material may have moved as a debris flow forming a large talus downslope of the slide however the submarine counterpart of the south area of the grand brule seems to be composed by a slumped block whose structure is apparently not disturbed 3 3 another prominent feature is a conspicuous topographic high that occupies nearly all the center of the surveyed zone this cast flank submarine plateau cannot be associated with any active structure of piton de la fournaise its surface generally dips gently 2 3 and its northern and southern flanks are extensively cut by landslides cones of variable dimensions are observed on the plateau and farther to the east three hypotheses are examined to account for the origin of this morphology a remnant flank of an ancestral fournaise volcano associated with a large buried intrusion found by drilling beneath the grand brule b distinct volcanic massif or c material of a huge and ancient landslide the geophysical data show that the western part of this submarine plateau is reversely magnetized and associated with a moderate positive gravity anomaly this confirms that as suggested by the bathymetric analysis this part of the plateau is relatively coherent conversely the eastern portion of the plateau appears to be poorly magnetized and composed of low density material probably chaotic materials derived from landslides the reversed magnetization of the western part shows that the whole structure is older than 0 7 ma these results show that the volcanic history of piton de la fournaise is more complex than previously thought

volcanic evolution of the island of tenerife canary islands in the light of new k ar data new age determinations from tenerife together with those previously published 93 in all provide a fairly comprehensive picture of the volcanic evolution of the island the oldest volcanic series with ages starting in the late miocene are formed mainly by basalts with some trachytes and phonolites which appear in anaga teno and roque del conde massifs in anaga ne three volcanic cycles occurred one older than 6 5 ma a second one between 6 5 and 4 5 ma with a possible gap between 5 4 and 4 8 ma and a late cycle around 3 6 ma in teno nw after some undated units the activity took place between 6 7 and 4 5 ma with two main series separated by a possible pause between 6 2 and 5 6 ma in the zone of roque del conde s the ages are scattered between 11 6 and 3 5 ma between 3 3 and 1 9 ma the whole island underwent a period of volcanic quiescence and erosion the large canadas volcano made up of basalts trachytes and phonolites was built essentially between 1 9 and 0 2 ma to the ne of this central volcano linking it with anaga is a chain of basaltic emission centers with a peak of activity around 0 8 ma the canadas caldera had several collapse phases associated with large ignimbrite emissions there were at least an older phase more than 1 ma old on the western part of the volcano and a younger one less than 0 6 ma old in the eastern side the two large valleys of guimar and la orotava were formed by large landslides less than 0 8 ma ago and probably before 0 6 ma ago the present canadas caldera was formed by another landslide less than 0 2 ma ago this caldera was later filled by the huge teide volcano which has been active even in historic times during the same period a series of small volcanoes erupted at scattered locations throughout the island the average eruptive rate in tenerife was 0 3 km3 ka with relatively small variations for the different eruptive periods this island and la gomera represent a model of growth by discontinuous pulses of volcanic activity separated by gaps often coinciding with episodes of destruction of the edifices and sometimes extended for several million years the neighbouring gran canaria on the other hand had an initial rapid shield building phase during which more than 90 of the island was built and a series of smaller pulses at a much later period a comparison between these three central islands indicates that the previously postulated westward displacement in time of a gap in the volcanic activity is valid only as a first approximation several gaps are present on each island overlapping in time and not clearly supporting either of the models proposed to explain the evolution of the canaries

hotspot volcanism close to a passive continental margin the canary islands the canarian archipelago is a group of volcanic islands on a slow moving oceanic plate close to a continental margin the origins of the archipelago are controversial a hotspot or mantle plume a zone of lithospheric deformation a region of compressional block faulting or a rupture propagating westwards from the active atlas mountains fold belt have been proposed by different authors however comparison of the canarian archipelago with the prototypical hotspot related island group the hawaiian archipelago reveals that the differences between the two are not as great as had previously been supposed on the basis of older data quaternary igneous activity in the canaries is concentrated at the western end of the archipelago close to the present day location of the inferred hotspot this is the same relationship as seen in the hawaiian and cape verde islands the latter archipelago associated with a well defined but slow moving mantle plume shows anomalies in a plot of island age against distance which are comparable to those seen in the canary islands these anomalies cannot therefore be used to argue against a hotspot origin for the canaries individual islands in both archipelagoes are characterized by initial rapid growth the shield building stages of activity followed by a period of quiescence and deep erosion erosion gap which in turn is followed by a post erosional stage of activity the absence of post shield stage subsidence in the canaries is in marked contrast with the major subsidence experienced by the hawaiian islands but is comparable with the lack of subsidence evident in other island groups at slow moving hotspots such as the cape verdes comparison of the structure and structural evolution of the canary islands with other oceanic islands such as hawaii and reunion reveals many similarities these include the development of triple mercedes star rift zones and the occurrence of giant lateral collapses on the flanks of these rift zones the apparent absence of these features in the post erosional islands may in part be a result of their greater age and deeper erosion which has removed much of the evidence for their early volcanic architecture we conclude that the many similarities between the canary islands and island groups whose hotspot origins are undisputed show that the canaries have been produced in the same way

long term denudation of ocean crust in the central north atlantic ocean near bottom sidescan bathymetric and visual observations of fault scarps in 4 24 ma sea floor show that basaltic ocean crust undergoes extensive denudation that creates wide complex scarp zones most denudation is caused by mass wasting probably accompanied by abrasion by disaggregated debris in 11 24 ma crust trellis drainage patterns are formed by deep cross scarp canyons and intersecting scarp parallel gullies that appear to follow weak zones of fracturing and intracrustal weathering until stabilized e g by sediment burial fault scarps will continue to degrade with time yielding increasingly distorted representations of apparent fault geometry in remotely sensed morphological data

assessing landslide movements in volcanic islands using near shore marine geophysical data south pico island azores marine geophysical data from around the submarine flanks of volcanic islands can potentially help to resolve whether large scale instability of an edifice has been geologically recently active we use geophysical data to investigate part of the coast of pico island of the azores where above sea level a major slump of topo volcano has been interpreted previously from arcuate escarpments and a rugged irregular topography seaward of them multibeam echo sounder data collected offshore of this feature show remarkably little evidence for slump fault movements in the island s submarine slope mid slope benches like those associated with the hilina slump of kilauea are absent the high resolution data extends onto the island s shelf allowing us to evaluate evidence for continuing activity there in particular as the shelf s rock platform will have been last modified by surf erosion during the postglacial period of sea level transgression it provides a reference surface of intermediate age 7 19 ka that can potentially reveal whether any movements occurred in pre historic times where the arcuate escarpments are continued offshore the modern seabed shows no bathymetric evidence for active faults where the shelf rock platform crops out in the multibeam data elsewhere mobile shelf sediments could be disguising evidence for active faulting so we examined boomer profiles able to image the rock platform beneath them the data reveal a platform that is steep 6 6 compared with the dips of platforms that we have studied previously around the coast of adjacent faial island and steeper than the platform outside the proposed slump this suggests that it was created by coastal erosion over a shorter period and hence is consistent with a younger age of the coastline as with the multibeam data where escarpments are continued offshore onto the shelf the rock surface imaged with these boomer data also shows no clear evidence of major slump related fault displacements this study therefore illustrates how high resolution boomer seismic and multibeam data could usefully contribute to hazard assessment of volcanic islands by helping to evaluate areas with no historical movements explanations to reconcile the onshore and offshore data here are also put forward

role of olivine cumulates in destabilizing the flanks of hawaiian volcanoes the south flank of kilauea volcano is unstable and has the structure of a huge landslide it is one of at least 17 enormous catastrophic landslides shed from the hawaiian islands mechanisms previously proposed for movement of the south flank invoke slip of the volcanic pile over seafloor sediments slip on a low friction decollement alone cannot explain why the thickest and widest sector of the flank moves more rapidly than the rest or why this section contains a 300 km3 aseismic volume above the seismically defined decollement it is proposed that this aseismic volume adjacent to the caldera in the direction of flank slip consists of olivine cumulates that creep outward pushing the south flank seawards average primary kilauea tholeiitic magma contains about 16 5 wt mgo compared with an average 10 wt mgo for erupted subaerial and submarine basalts this difference requires fractionation of 17 wt 14 vol olivine phenocrysts that accumulate near the base of the magma reservoir where they form cumulates submarine erupted kilauea lavas contain abundant deformed olivine xenocrysts derived from these cumulates deformed dunite formed during the tholeiitic shield stage is also erupted as xenoliths in subsequent alkalic lavas the deformation structures in olivine xenocrysts suggest that the cumulus olivine was densely packed probably with as little as 5 10 vol intercumulus liquid before entrainment of the xenocrysts the olivine cumulates were at magmatic temperatures 1100 c when the xenocrysts were entrained olivine at 1100 c has a rheology similar to ice and the olivine cumulates should flow down and away from the summit of the volcano flow of the olivine cumulates places constant pressure on the unbuttressed seaward flank leading to an extensional region that localizes deep intrusions behind the flank these intrusions add to the seaward push this mechanism ties the source of gravitational instability to the caldera complex and deep rift systems and therefore limits catastrophic sector failure of hawaiian volcanoes to their active growth phase when the core of olivine cumulates is still hot enough to flow

deep sea volcaniclastic sedimentary systems an example from la fournaise volcano reunion island indian ocean a volcaniclastic sedimentary fan extending to water depths of 4000 m is characterized using gravity cores camera surveys high resolution sonar images seismic records and bathymetry from the submarine portion of la fournaise volcano reunion island a basaltic shield volcano in the sw indian ocean three main areas are identified from the study 1 the proximal fan extending from 500 m water depth down to 2000 m water depth 2 the outer fan extending from 2000 m water depth down to 3600 m water depth 3 the basin extending beyond 3600 m water depth within these three main areas seven distinct submarine environments are defined the proximal fan is characterized by volcanic basement outcrops sedimentary slides deep water deltas debris avalanche deposits and eroded floor in the valley outlets the outer fan is characterized by a discontinuous fine grained sedimentary cover overlying coarse grained turbidites or undifferentiated volcanic basement the basin is characterized by hemipelagic muds and fine grained turbidites interbedded with sandy and gravelly turbidite lobes the evolution of the deep sea volcaniclastic fan is strongly influenced by sector collapses such as the one which occurred 0 0042 ma ago this collapse produced a minimum of 6 km3 of debris avalanche deposit in the proximal area the feeding regime of the deep sea fan is alluvial dominated before the occurrence of any sector collapse and lava dominated after the occurrence of a sector collapse the main deep water lava fed delta is prograding among the blocks of the debris avalanche deposits as a result of turbidity flows occurring on the delta slope these turbidity flows are triggered routinely by wave action earthquakes and accumulation of new volcanic debris on top of the deltas both turbidity currents triggered on the deep water delta slope and those triggered by debris avalanche reworked volcaniclastic material as far as 100 km from the shore line

source mechanism and surface wave excitation for two earthquakes in northern baja california mexico summary two earthquakes of comparable local magnitude from different regions of northern baja california the 1975 july 17 pino solo earthquake ml 5 1 from the peninsular ranges region and the 1976 december 7 mesa de andrade earthquake ml 5 3 from the colorado river delta region are studied in detail to determine possible causes for the observed stronger excitation of surface waves by earthquakes from the delta region relative to earthquakes of comparable local magnitude in the peninsular ranges region data from distant stations are complemented with data from aftershock studies using local arrays and for the mesa de andrade earthquake with data from two strong motion stations the strong motion records for ihe mesa de andrade earthquake show that it consisted of two events 45 s apart which produced maximum recorded horizontal accelerations of 0 21 and 0 24g respectively at a distance of 18 km from the epicentre synthetic seismograms are used to help determine the depth of these events and their source time functions both events are relatively simple the second event is sharp and impulsive and could be thought of as an aftershock since it has a considerably smaller moment than the first event even though its recorded acceleration was higher comparison of measured parameters shows that while the local magnitude of the mesa de andrade earthquake is only 0 2 units larger than the pino solo earthquake and its source dimension is 2 2 times larger source areas 4 8 times larger its moment is larger by a factor of 6 2 8 5 this is approximately explained by the cy2 scaling law however the near source spectra and accelerations recorded on the strong motion accelerograph at riito at a distance of about 18 km are considerably larger than predicted by the scaling law this is probably a results of high stress drop asperities on the fault surface although near field focusing directivity may also have contributed

a detailed microseismicity study and current stress regime in the peninsular ranges of northern baja california mexico the ojos negros region the nw trending san miguel fault system is one of the most important seismogenic systems in northern baja california and the ojos negros region comprising the ojos negros valley and bordering areas is one of its most active regions within this region are found most of the mapped faults of the system ojos negros tres hermanos most of san miguel and portions of the vallecitos fault which makes this a very important region from the points of view of intraplate tectonics and regional seismic hazard a detailed microseismicity 0 2 m 4 0 survey of the ojos negros region carried out in 1997 one month 13 reftek stations recording at 200 samples sec plus two permanent resnom stations and other less sensitive instruments yielded important results about the fault activity and the stress regime in the region our results are based on 278 hypocenters and 50 focal mechanisms selected from almost 2500 earthquakes recorded at a minimum of four stations the selected database is comprised of good quality local events for which the hypocentral depth can be reliably estimated locations and focal mechanisms were obtained using an improved velocity model sierra97 for this part of the peninsular ranges the hypocenters tend to cluster in space and time with cluster interepicenter separations of the order of the location error 1 km the ojos negros valley as defined by its sedimentary soil is roughly covered by epicenters the tres hermanos fault shows no significant seismicity and the few earthquakes near although not very close to its southern third seem to be associated with seismicity that extends into the valley seismicity associated with the ojos negros fault consists almost exclusively of one large cluster the san miguel fault the most active fault in the area has epicenters within a 6 8 km wide band centered along its mapped trace most focal mechanisms are strike slip with a minor normal component while others are dominantly normal the resulting pattern for the valley indicates a regional extensional regime with the average t axis in the ene wsw direction and p axes distributed along an n s strip with a slight inclination and concentrated near the poles

constructive and destructive episodes in the building of a young oceanic island la palma canary islands and genesis of the caldera de taburiente the results of new field observations 23 new k ar determinations and sixteen previously published determinations provide the basis for the reconstruction of the subaerial volcanic history of the island of la palma after the seamount activity represented by the materials of the basal complex an eruptive phase between 2 0 and 1 3 ma formed a large shield a period of volcanic quiescence followed until around 1 ma during which a large lateral collapse partly destroyed the former edifice between 1 05 and 0 7 ma activity was renewed in the shield and a n s ridge was built in the southern part of the island around 0 7 ma two new large lateral collapses affected the western part of both edifices and they were followed by eruptions between 0 71 and 0 65 ma which built a new edifice that partly filled the depressions thus created the caldera de taburiente constitutes the eroded remnants of the depression formed in the northern shield from 0 65 ma to present activity has been restricted to the n s ridge which has continued to grow southwards there was a general n s migration of volcanic activity with time but in the shield the trend was northwest to southeast eruptive rates seem to have been fairly constant during the different eruptive phases considered between 0 15 and 0 37 km3 ka a very similar succession of constructive and destructive episodes has been obtained for the neighboring island of hierro but in this case the activity started around 0 8 ma and eruptive rates were about 0 5 km3 ka

assessing long term postseismic deformation following the m7 2 4 april 2010 el mayor cucapah earthquake with implications for lithospheric rheology in the salton trough the 4 april 2010 mw 7 2 el mayor cucapah emc earthquake provides the best opportunity to date to study the lithospheric response to a large m6 magnitude earthquake in the salton trough region through analysis of global positioning system gps data in conjunction with the earthscope plate boundary observatory pbo we installed six new continuous gps stations in the months following the emc earthquake to increase station coverage in the epicentral region of northern baja california mexico we modeled the pre emc deformation field using available campaign and continuous gps data for southern california and northern baja california and inferred a pre emc secular rate at each new station location through direct comparison of the pre and post emc secular rates we calculate long term changes associated with viscoelastic relaxation in the salton trough region we fit these velocity changes using numerical models employing an elastic upper crustal layer underlain by a viscoelastic lower crustal layer and a mantle half space forward models that produce the smallest weighted sum of squared residuals have an upper mantle viscosity in the range 4 6 1018 pa s and a less well resolved lower crustal viscosity in the range 2 1019 to 1 1022 pa s a high viscosity lower crust despite high heat flow in the salton trough region is inconsistent with felsic composition and might suggest accretion of mafic lower crust associated with crustal spreading obscured by thick sedimentary cover

later stages of volcanic evolution of la palma canary islands rift evolution giant landslides and the genesis of the caldera de taburiente the islands of la palma and el hierro form the western end of the hotspot induced canary islands chain both islands are at present in the earliest and fastest shield building stage of growth and show many similarities with the hawaiian islands la palma shows two very distinct phases of volcanic construction 1 a pliocene submarine volcanic and intrusive series interpreted as an uplifted seamount at least 1500 m above present sea level and 2 a subaerial volcanic series erupted in the past 2 m y taburiente volcano initially formed the northern part of the island and then extended to the south forming a ridge cumbre nueva ridge that was partially destroyed about 560 ka by a giant lateral collapse the cumbre nueva collapse possibly involving 180 200 km 3 of subaerial volcanic material the northwest boundary of the cumbre nueva collapse formed a vertical scarp that enlarged by headward erosion formed the spectacular depression of caldera de taburiente cumbre vieja volcano a north south elongated rift forms the southern half of la palma and constitutes its last stage of growth including all eruptive activity in the past 125 k y detailed field observations mapping and high precision radiometric dating have allowed reconstruction of the growth and structural changes of the cumbre vieja volcano interactions between eruption rates coastal erosion and glacio eustatic sea level change allow stratigraphic subdivision of the edifice the structure of the volcano has been controlled for most of its history by a rift system with a clearly dominant north south and less distinct north east and north west volcanic rift zones the rift reorganization of the volcano to a single north south rift since 7 ka and the opening of faults during the 1949 eruption probably reflect increasing instability of the west flank of the volcano

new sonar evidence for recent catastrophic collapses of the north flank of tenerife canary islands previous sonar surveys show that the north flank of tenerife has been subject to at least four major landslides during the past 1 ma the youngest icod affected the region to the north of the teide pico viejo complex the world s third highest oceanic volcano recently we obtained the first detailed acoustic images of icod using a deep tow side scan sonar the images suggest that tenerife s north flank has experienced at least two types of flow deposit in the recent past the older flow deposit icod i is characterised by a 15 to 20 km wide 65 km long chaotic debris avalanche deposit which includes several very large blocks we believe the deposit to be 170 ka and that it represents the mass wasting products of the canadas edifice remnants of which are now found in the las canadas caldera wall the younger flow deposit icod ii associated with a shute in its proximal part appears to have produced a less chaotic deposit in its distal part which clearly preserves flow structures such as latitudinal boulder ridges and longitudinal shear structures the sonar images cannot determine how much younger icod ii is than icod i although it is likely that they are a consequence of the same lateral collapse event there is evidence from the shute area for erosional scour and sediment deposition since the icod landslide if this is correct then it suggests that mass wasting is an ongoing process that has already started to modify the teide pico viejo complex itself

large scale catastrophic flank collapses in a steep volcanic ridge the pico faial ridge azores triple junction abstract large scale flank collapses are common in the geological evolution of volcanic ocean islands in the atlantic to date catastrophic lateral collapses in the azores islands have been difficult to identify leading to suggestions that a lack of events may relate to the relatively small size of the islands here we show evidence for two major collapses on the northern flank of pico island pico faial volcanic ridge central azores suggesting that this island had a collapse incidence similar to that of other atlantic volcanic islands the study is based on the analysis of 1 offshore and onshore high resolution digital elevation models 2 field data focused on the n flank and 3 new k ar ages on selected lava flow samples pico sub aerial northern flank is marked by two conspicuous arcuate shaped depressions concave towards the sea here interpreted as landslide scars a main debris field is observed offshore the largest depression this deposit has 20 km of maximum length covers ca 150 km2 is composed of meter to hectometer blocks and has an exposed volume here estimated between 4 and 10 km3 though the actual volume probably exceeds 10 km3 debris flow towards the ese was apparently determined by the slope of the narrow wnw ese s jorge channel young lava flows cascade over the interpreted scars thus concealing the older volcanic sequence s affected by the landslide s new k ar ages measured on these lava flows provide a minimum age of ca 70 ka for the large scale collapse s in pico s northern flank

submarine geology of the hilina slump and morpho structural evolution of kilauea volcano hawaii abstract marine geophysical data including sea beam bathymetry hawaii mr1 sidescan and seismic reflection profiles along with recent robot submersible observations and samples were acquired over the offshore continuation of the mobile kilauea volcano south flank this slope comprises the three active hot spot volcanoes mauna loa kilauea and loihi seamount and is the locus of the hawaiian hot spot the south flank is the site of frequent low intensity seismicity as well as episodic large magnitude earthquakes its sub aerial portion creeps seaward at a rate of approximately 10 cm year the hilina slump is the only large submarine landslide in the hawaiian archipelago thought to be active and this study is one of the first to more highly resolve submarine slide features there the slump is classified into four distinct zones from nearshore to the island s base estimates of size based on these data indicate a slumped area of 2100 km 2 and a volume of 10 000 12 000 km 3 equivalent to about 10 of the entire island edifice the overall picture gained from these data sets is one of mass wasting of the neovolcanic terrain as it builds upward and seaward though reinforcement by young and pre hawaii seamounts adjacent to the pedestal is apparent extensive lava delta deposits are formed by hyaloclastites and detritus from recent lava flows into the sea these deposits dominate the upper submarine slope offshore of kilauea with pillow breccia revealed at mid depths along the lower flanks massive outcrops of volcanically derived sedimentary rocks were found underlying kilauea thus necessitating a rethinking of previous models of volcanic island development the morphologic and structural evolutionary model for kilauea volcano and the hilina slump proposed here attempts to incorporate this revelation a hazard assessment for the hilina slump is presented where it is suggested that displacement of the south flank to date has been restrained by a still developing northeast lateral submarine boundary when it does fully mature the south flank may be more subject to land slips triggered by large long duration earthquakes and thus kilauea may undergo more frequent episodes of failure with increased displacements

susceptibility of mid ocean ridge volcanic islands and seamounts to large scale landsliding 1 with a view to assessing the incidence of large scale landsliding a morphologic database was created for volcanic islands and seamounts on young oceanic lithosphere the database included 44 mid ocean ridge seamounts jasper seamount and the islands of ascension bouvet guadalupe and several of the galapagos and azores islands supplemented with published reports from a further five volcanic edifices the data reveal that major landslides are common on edifices taller than 2500 m but are rare in shorter edifices implying a threshold of instability at around 2500 m a number of causes of this threshold are discussed for example many structures taller than 2500 m are or were originally volcanic islands and therefore their flanks probably include extensive weak hyaloclastite built up from lava sea interactions around coasts compaction of hyaloclastites in larger edifices lead to regions of low permeability which may help to explain the more deeply seated slope failures it is intriguing that the threshold also coincides with the edifice height at which volcanic ridges become observable a stage at which dike intrusion is probably common because slope oversteepening or excess pore pressure associated with dike intrusions have been proposed elsewhere as landslide triggers the current indications of landsliding reveal no observable relation to rainfall as landslides occur equally in wet and dry climates and no relation to tectonic setting as there are relatively few major landslides in the seismically active azores group

recurrent large scale landsliding on the west flank of la palma canary islands a large area of debris avalanche deposits has been discovered on the western submarine flanks of the island of la palma multibeam bathymetry and its derivative backscatter data towed ocean bottom instrument tobi sidescan sonar images and 3 5 khz and airgun seismic reflection data have been used to identify at least two and possibly as many as four major landslide events the youngest of the events the cumbre nueva debris avalanche extends onshore into the valleys bounded by the caldera de taburiente and cumbre nueva ridge which mark the degraded collapse scars radiometric dating of the volcanic flows in the headwall indicate an age of between 536 and 125 ka for this landslide the debris avalanche covers an area of 780 km2 has a maximum thickness of 500 m and has an estimated volume of 95 km3 older deposits collectively referred to as the playa de la veta debris avalanche complex are probably as the name indicates an amalgamation of at least two or three events rather than the result of a single catastrophic failure the playa de la veta debris avalanche complex is associated onshore with an unconformity dated as late matuyama 1 ma to 800 ka it covers an area of 1200 km2 has a maximum thickness of 1300 m and may represent a total volume of up to 650 km3 the greater thicknesses and limited areas occupied by debris avalanches on the western flank of la palma compared to other landslides in the canary archipelago suggest that the la palma landslide masses have relatively low mobility the different debris avalanche lobes formed by each landslide event are separated by channels 2 2 5 km wide the clear relationship between channel position and the boundaries of each debris avalanche lobe indicates that debris avalanches control later channel formation and pathways the relief of the submarine flanks of the la palma volcanoes in the areas of island slope unaffected by landslides is mainly the result of constructional volcanic processes however the older submarine slopes such as in the northern taburiente volcano may also have been modified by smaller scale submarine mass wasting and sediment flows

focal mechanisms and locations of earthquakes in the vicinity of the 1975 kalapana earthquake aftershock zone 1970 1979 implications for tectonics of the south flank of kilauea volcano island of hawaii the november 29 1975 kalapana earthquake of magnitude 7 1 on the south flank of kilauea volcano hawaii represents a major rift tectonic event it is generally understood that the earthquake resulted from movement on a nearly horizontal fault plane with the crustal block south of kilauea s east rift zone moving south southeastward up to several meters well recorded earthquakes on the south flank of kilauea from 1970 to 1979 were analyzed and focal mechanisms determined to obtain a better understanding of the details of south flank tectonics included are a large number of earthquakes from the aftershock sequence of the 1975 earthquake hypocenters are distributed in a subplanar zone that dips 2 to 3 to the west at a depth of about 8 9 km depth we interpret this pattern to coincide with a portion of the slip plane of the kalapana earthquake and to be consistent with the notion of the slip plane occurring in a weak layer at the top of the old oceanic crust focal mechanisms are remarkably constant throughout this time period both before and after the 1975 event and closely agree with the mainshock mechanism p axis azimuths and slip vectors for the low angle fault planes are normal to the middle and lower east rift zones of kilauea there is suggestion of a change in the orientation of p axes from shallower to steeper plunge at the time of the kalapana earthquake such a change is consistent with a general reduction in the horizontal compressional stress normal to the rift zone at the time of the large earthquake no other evidence of precursory reorientation of the stress field was found and the precise predictability of this event remains in doubt however a general model of the tectonics of the volcanic rift system is now available that satisfies a number of geological and geophysical observations

overlapping volcanoes the origin of hilo ridge hawaii the submarine hilo ridge has been interpreted as a part of mauna kea volcano but is crossed at 1100 m depth by a submerged shoreline terrace composed of basalts that are isotopically distinct from those of mauna kea and similar to those of kohala volcano this terrace evidently is a product of kohala instead of mauna kea almost all of hilo ridge below the terrace therefore must predate the principal growth of mauna kea which has superficially isolated the ridge from its kohala source by overlapping its proximal segment the mauna kea section penetrated by the hawaii scientific drilling project is predicted to be thinner than expected previously owing to the overlap similar overlaps are suspected among other volcanoes and may cause significant changes in the understanding of hawaiian volcanism

anomalously deep crustal earthquakes in the ventura basin southern california earthquakes at depths of 20 30 km occur beneath the ventura basin in southern california the epicentral distribution of deep seismicity outlines an east trending ellipse which corresponds closely with the mapped santa clara syncline the main structural element of the ventura basin with 15 km thickness of sediments clear pn and pg phases are seen for even the deepest earthquakes which demonstrate that these earthquakes are occurring within the crust travel time curves from shallow and deep earthquakes in the western transverse ranges require that the depth to the moho under the ventura basin must be depressed by 7 10 km relative to the surrounding area indicating crustal thickening of 20 35 other researchers have shown that the ventura basin has the lowest heat flow in western california thus low heat flow exceptionally thick 15 km sediments rapid shortening of the crust the deep earthquakes and a depressed moho all coincide within a small area strongly suggesting a common cause for all five phenomena the confinement of the deep earthquakes and depressed moho to the ventura region suggests that the rapid shortening of the ventura basin is anomalous and not representative of the rate of shortening across all of the western transverse ranges

morphology and structure of loihi seamount based on seabeam sonar mapping loihi seamount has been mapped using seabeam multibeam sonar and the resulting data have been processed to produce bathymetric maps with a 10 m contour interval and shaded relief perspective images analysis of morphological and structural data recorded in the maps and images indicates that constructional volcanism on loihi has been localized predominantly along its southern and northern rift zones and that these rifts have been active since early in the seamount s history the distinct asymmetry between loihi s eastern and western slopes the eastern slopes are steeper is attributed to mass wasting of large sections of the volcano s west flank two large amphitheater valleys on the seamount s west flank are believed to have resulted from repeated mass wasting events triggered by earthquakes associated with an early rift zone whose core now lies buried beneath the block feature present on loihi s southwest flank the prominent kink in the present south rift zone of loihi may represent a fundamental readjustment of along rift magma conduits that was caused by gravitational slumping on the southwest flank of the volcano lava cones and constructional volcanic ridges are present along the rims of summit pit craters and form a continuous chain of volcanic constructs around the periphery of the summit platform the concentric arrangement of young eruptive vents pn loihi s summit may be caused by ring dikes the morphology and structural interrelationships of pit craters on loihi s summit suggest that the southeastern pit is the youngest the formation of a summit platform on loihi may have been caused by repeated collapse of pit craters and the southward migration of primary magma conduits that underlie the pits this model predicts a north to south age progression for volcanism on loihi s summit

overthrusting and sediment accretion along kilauea s mobile south flank hawaii evidence for volcanic spreading from marine seismic reflection data a large intermittently active submarine landslide known as the hilina slump has been interpreted along the south flank of kilauea volcano seaward dipping faults on land mark its headwall and an offshore bench may define its uplifted toe geodetic data show that the entire south flank is also moving seaward by a process referred to as volcanic spreading this provides an alternative explanation for the bench i e overthrusting along the edge of the sliding flank the latter interpretation is consistent with new seismic reflection data across the submarine flank a prominent reflection near the top of the oceanic plate suggests the decollement upon which the mobile flank slides landward dipping reflections rise from this horizon and bound packages of bedded strata faulted and imbricated within the bench the absence of correlative seaward dipping faults and rotated strata on the upper flank suggests that the bench is not coupled to a slump moreover kinematic reconstructions of the bench indicate that it has accommodated 15 24 km of displacement this value is consistent with estimates for rift zone extension but too high for shortening at the toe of a slump we interpret the bench to result from overthrusting and accretion of volcaniclastic sediments to the edge of the mobile flank and suggest that morphologic benches develop preferentially where landslide debris has accumulated near the base of the volcano and can be accreted to its sliding edifice

transition from circular to stellate forms of submarine volcanoes large volcanic islands and guyots have stellate forms that reflect the relief of radiating volcanic rift zones multiple volcanic centers and embayments due to giant flank failures small mid ocean ridge volcanoes in contrast are commonly subcircular in plan view and show only embryonic rift zones in order to characterize the transition between these two end members the morphology of 141 seamounts and guyots was studied using the shape of the depth contour at half the height of each edifice irregularity was characterized by measuring perimeter distance elongation and moment of inertia of the contours assuming an ideal edifice is circular the analysis reveals a general transition over 2 4 km edifice height best transition estimate 3 km while some large edifices 4 5 km high show no major embayments or ridges suggesting considerable variation in the effectiveness of mechanisms that cause flank instability and growth of rift zones the various origins of the transition are discussed and the upper limit of magma chambers many of which lie above the basement of the larger edifices is proposed to affect the morphologic complexity via a number of mechanisms and is an important factor affecting the mode of growth the origins of the truncated cone shape of mid ocean ridge volcanoes are also discussed of the eruption mechanisms that have been proposed to explain their flat summits the most likely mechanisms involve eruption from small ephemeral magma bodies lying within the low density upper oceanic crust the discussion includes speculations on factors affecting the depths of magma chambers beneath oceanic volcanoes supporting table is available via web browser or via anonymous ftp from ftp kosmos agu org directory append username anonymous password guest subdirectories in the ftp site are arranged by paper number information on searching and submitting electronic supplements is found at http www agu org pubs csupp about html

hysteretic storativity concept for aquifer simulation the influence of the capillary zone on groundwater flow is usually taken into account by a constant storativity parameter in vertically integrated models of extended phreatic aquifers hysteresis of the water content characteristics may however significantly influence the response of phreatic aquifers in time dependent flow processes for this reason a variable storativity concept is introduced it is based on the hysteresis model of mualem and is restricted to primary wetting or drying curves assuming a static pressure distribution in the vertical storativity is a function of the position of the phreatic surface the unsteady vertically integrated groundwater model thus becomes nonlinear the model is checked with data from sandbox experiments it accurately reproduces the time dependent flow influenced by hysteresis in the water content characteristics applications to unidirectional flow are presented in dimensionless form

reply to comment by marques et al on the insular shelves of the faial pico ridge azores archipelago a morphological record of its evolution

large scale active slump of the southeastern flank of pico island azores we report evidence for ongoing lateral slump of part of the southeastern flank of the pico volcanic ridge in the azores data from a high resolution digital elevation model field work gps and radar interferometry show that 1 the slumping sector is several cubic kilometers in size 2 the structure involves several curved scars with normal fault kinematics 3 the central part is undergoing little horizontal displacement toward the southeast 1 6 1 3 mm yr but significant downward movement 5 12 mm yr and 4 the outer part of the southeastern flank of pico is subsiding faster than the inner parts this likely reflects recent individualization of a steep seaward dipping fault in the moving mass the slump shares similarities with active slumps recognized elsewhere although the studied area may represent only the proximal part of a much larger complex potentially affecting the deep submarine base of the island displacement of the subaerial part of the southeastern flank of pico seems to be accommodated by the movement and rotation of large blocks along listric normal faults

a neotectonic study of the san miguel vallecitos fault baja california mexico abstract the san miguel strand of the san miguel vallecitos fault zone displaces an alluvial ridge 23 5 10 m in the vicinity of dolores mountain the same section of fault produced surface rupture during the m 6 8 earthquake of 1956 we estimate a minimum age of the ridge at between 110 150 60 ka by comparing soil development on the offset ridge to two soil chronosequences in southern california dividing the measured offset by the age of the ridge places a maximum range on the fault slip rate of 0 2 0 35 0 15 mm yr excavations along and across the fault at the same site revealed at least 80 cm and probably 115 cm of right lateral offset of a now buried stream channel deposit we attribute the 115 cm offset to the 1956 m 6 8 earthquake a displacement that is slightly larger than previously reported for this earthquake dividing the 80 to 115 cm of displacement by the calculated fault slip rate yields an estimated return time for similar sized events of about 5 8 17 4 3 ka similarly dividing the slip expected for rupture of the entire 160 km length of the san miguel vallecitos fault zone by the fault slip rate yields an estimate of return time of m w 7 8 earthquakes of about 80 ka the slip rate determined from this study is at least an order of magnitude less than that contributed by the agua blanca fault and indicates that the san miguel fault zone transfers less than about 1 of the plate motions the san miguel fault shows a complex fault trace and registers a small value of cumulative geologic offset maximum of 0 6 km when combining the geological estimates of magnitude and return time of the largest earthquakes with magnitude frequency data recorded along the san miguel fault by the resnor seismic network during the period 1976 to 1991 we observe that the shape of the magnitude frequency distribution along the fault may be described by the gutenberg richter relationship log n a bm in contrast along strike slip faults in southern california that are characterized by orders of magnitude more cumulative offset and less complex fault traces we observe that extrapolation of earthquake frequency statistics from the instrumental record of seismicity severely underestimates the rate of occurrence of maximum expected events we speculate that the relatively high productivity of small earthquakes along the san miguel fault reflects a more heterogeneous stress field associated with the incipient and complex nature of the fault trace

k ar ages and magnetic stratigraphy of a hotspot induced fast grown oceanic island el hierro canary islands abstract the combined use of accurate radiometric dating and magnetic stratigraphy can be applied to define the main stages of the building of oceanic volcanic islands this method has been successfully applied on the island of el hierro the westernmost island of the canaries archipelago for the emerged part of this island built in the last 1 2 ma magnetic stratigraphy and mapping show the presence of four consecutive subchrons k ar dating of eighteen samples in stratigraphic sequences using an unspiked technique produced ages consistent with the general volcanic stratigraphy the ages show that the magnetic polarity zones correlate to the upper part of the matuyama and to the brunhes chrons the jaramillo normal polarity subchron of the upper part of the matuyama reverse polarity chron is recorded in one of the lava sequences the lower limit of this event is constrained by two ages of 1 04 0 02 ma and one of 1 05 0 02 ma close to the value deduced from the astronomically tuned magnetic polarity time scale apts the volcanic history can be summarised by two consecutive main basaltic volcanic edifices the el tinor active during the upper part of the matuyama chron and the el golfo edifice constructed during the brunhes chron

catastrophic flank collapses and slumping in pico island during the last 130 kyr pico faial ridge azores triple junction abstract the pico island constitutes the easternmost sub aerial domain of a steep wnw ese volcanic ridge which has developed within the nubia eurasia diffuse plate boundary azores triple junction the island comprises three volcanic systems from older to younger the topo volcano the fissural system and the pico stratovolcano from a high resolution digital elevation model 10 m and new bathymetric stratigraphic structural and high precision k ar data we reconstruct the main successive stages of growth and partial destruction of the island over the last 200 kyr we especially concentrate on the central sector of the island which has recorded gradual movements through slumping and catastrophic flank collapses since ca 130 kyr the remmants of the topo volcano are partly exposed on pico s se flank and are here dated between 186 5 and 115 4 ka topo was significantly destroyed by n and s directed large scale flank collapses between ca 125 and 70 ka on pico s n flank collapse seems to have removed all the unstable material but in the s the collapse structure is composite including a major flank collapse and a remnant slump complex that is still active a first episode of deformation occurred between ca 125 and 115 ka along the master fault of the slump between ca 115 and 69 ka most of the unstable material was removed by a major flank collapse leaving behind a still considerable volume of unstable material that comprises the active slump this first collapse was catastrophic and generated a large debris deposit recognized on the high resolution bathymetry with a minimum run out of ca 17 km the scar was partially filled by volcanic products erupted from volcanic cones developed within the slump depression and possibly also from the early wnw ese fissural system subsequent deformation in the slump area affected in part the filling units leading to the individualization of secondary curved faults younger volcanic products have gradually masked the mass wasting scars unlike the well known hilina slump hawaii pico s slump evolution might be controlled by an active regional tectonics

landslides and the evolution of el hierro in the canary islands seismic and sonar data have been used to evaluate the extent and characteristics of giant landslides on the flanks of el hierro in the canary islands as the youngest and most southwesterly of the canary islands el hierro has experienced rapid growth and destructive events in its 1 12 million year history at least four giant landslides el golfo el julan san andres and las playas have modified 450 km3 of el hierro during the last 200 300 thousand years with each landslide event removing around 3 of the total edifice volume the extent of landsliding indicates that it is the main process of decay we characterise flank morphology around el hierro and distinguish between rugged unfailed flank failed flank and steep gullied ridge flanks affected by landsliding have downslope long profiles with distinctive b coefficients and exponential forms the el golfo landslide is the most recent 15 ka best described and clearly defined landslide in the canary islands the el julan landslide sw flank has an estimated volume of 130 km3 an age of 200 ka and is characterised by gravitational slumping on the se flank two new landslide events are reported the younger landslide las playas occurred 145 176 ka has a narrow steep sided embayment and a corresponding blocky debris avalanche deposit the older landslide san andres is recognised on the basis of a highly chaotic seismic facies offshore and reduced upper flank gradients its lack of an upper flank embayment and offshore blocky debris avalanche lead us to interpret that the landslide involved gravitational slumping possibly a series of events which reduced upper flank gradients but did not catastrophically collapse to produce a debris avalanche

offshore continuation of volcanic rift zones el hierro canary islands el hierro is the youngest and most southwesterly of the seven canary islands the established view based on subaerial geology is that el hierro is a classic example of an oceanic island with 120 spaced volcanic rift arms vrzs forming a mercedes star however new offshore data do not support this simple interpretation instead of the discrete ridges of vrzs we observe to the nw and ne broad areas of irregular morphology which suggest that rifting activity might not be confined to narrow zones furthermore our data suggest that the anomalously long and steep flanked southern ridge could be part of an older eroded volcanic edifice that predates much of the other submarine flanks of el hierro the southern ridge has a distinctive gullied morphology which strongly contrasts with adjacent flanks there is also a 400 m deep saddle in its longitudinal profile 15 km from the coastline which we interpret as evidence that the southern ridge did not form by continuous dyke intrusion from the el hierro volcanic centre south of the saddle mean flank slopes are 10 steeper 30 with a sharp slope break at 3700 m between the ridge and smoothly sedimented seafloor these steeper slopes and lack of landslide scars to the south of the saddle indicate that the southern ridge is a stable edifice relative to the rest of el hierro surrounding sediments to the southeast appear to onlap the southern ridge a large landslide deposit el julan estimated age 200 ka occurs to the west of the ridge this landslide appears to have been constrained from spreading southeastwards by the southern ridge resulting in an elevation difference of 300 m for the seafloor on either side of the ridge

island edifice failures and associated tsunami hazards volcanic ocean islands are prone to structural failure of the edifice that result in landslides that can generate destructive tsunamis these island landslides range enormously in size varying from small rock falls to giant sector failures involving tens of cubic kilometers of debris a survey of literature has allowed us to identify twenty three processes that contribute to edifice collapse these have been divided into endogenetic and exogenetic sources of edifice failure endogenetic sources of instability and failure include unstable foundations volcanic intrusions thermal alteration edifice pore pressures unbuttressed structures and buried faults exogenetic sources of instability and failure include collapse of subaerial or submarine deposits endo upwelling karst megaporosity fractures oversteepening overloading sea level change marine erosion weathering including hurricanes glacial response volcanic activity regional uplift or subsidence tectonic seismicity and anthropogenic agents while the endogenetic sources dominate during periods of active volcanism and cone building the exogenetic sources may cause failure at any time tsunamis both small and large are associated with these edifice failures

large scale active slump of the southeastern flank of pico island azores comment we were interested to read the paper by hildenbrand et al 2012 1 outlining geodetic and geologic evidence for active movement of a giant slump in pico island azores such movement is potentially a concern to local communities so the issues arising from the paper need addressing we wish to

seismic cycle and rheological effects on estimation of present day slip rates for the agua blanca and san miguel vallecitos faults northern baja california mexico 1 geodesy can be used to infer long term fault slip rates assuming a model for crust and upper mantle rheology we examine the sensitivity of fault slip rate estimates to assumed rheology for the agua blanca and san miguel vallecitos faults in northern baja california mexico part of the pacific north america plate boundary zone the agua blanca fault is seismically quiet but offset alluvial fans indicate young activity current seismicity is confined to the nearby san miguel vallecitos fault a small offset fault better aligned with plate motion gps measurements between 1993 and 1998 suggest that both faults are active with a combined slip rate of 4 8 mm yr 1 regardless of rheological model however slip rate estimates for the individual faults are sensitive to assumed rheology elastic half space models yield 2 3 mm yr 1 for the agua blanca fault and somewhat faster rates for the san miguel vallecitos fault 2 4 mm yr 1 with uncertainties of about 1 mm yr 1 models incorporating viscoelastic rheology and seismic cycle effects suggest a faster slip rate for the agua blanca fault 6 1 mm yr 1 and a slower rate for the san miguel vallecitos fault 1 1 mm yr 1 in better agreement with geological data but these rates are sensitive to assumed rheology numerical simulations with a finite element model suggest that for similar rheological and friction conditions slip on the san miguel vallecitos fault should be favored due to better alignment with plate motion long term faulting processes in the larger offset agua blanca fault may have lowered slip resistance allowing accommodation of motion despite misalignment with plate motion index terms 1206 geodesy and gravity crustal movements interplate 8155 1236 geodesy and gravity rheology of the lithosphere and mantle 8160 8107 tectonophysics continental neotectonics keywords fault slip rates and the seismic cycle northern baja california

growth structure instability and collapse of canarian volcanoes and comparisons with hawaiian volcanoes recent onshore and offshore investigations in the canarian archipelago especially in the western islands of la palma and el hierro have greatly improved the understanding of the genesis and evolution of these islands and allow interesting comparisons with other hotspot induced oceanic island volcanoes especially the hawaiian archipelago genesis induced by hotspot activity and consequently shield and post erosional stages of growth allow the definition of similar main stratigraphic units the canarian and hawaiian volcanoes show common constructional and structural features such as rift zones progressive volcano instability and multiple gravitational collapses however the canaries present some important geological differences from the prototypical hotspot volcanoes of the hawaiian islands particularly the absence of significant subsidence the canarian volcanoes remain emergent until completely mass wasted by gravitational collapses and erosion volcanic formations over 20 million years are observable in outcrop in the canaries including the seamount stages of growth in several of the islands

formation of submarine flat topped volcanic cones in hawai i high resolution bathymetric mapping has shown that submarine flat topped volcanic cones morphologically similar to ones on the deep sea floor and near mid ocean ridges are common on or near submarine rift zones of kilauea kohala or mauna kea mahukona and haleakala volcanoes four flat topped cones on kohala were explored and sampled with the pisces v submersible in october 1998 samples show that flat topped cones on rift zones are constructed of tholeiitic basalt erupted during the shield stage similarly shaped flat topped cones on the northwest submarine flank of ni ihau are apparently formed of alkalic basalt erupted during the rejuvenated stage submarine postshield stage eruptions on hilo ridge mahukona hana ridge and offshore ni ihau form pointed cones of alkalic basalt and hawaiite the shield stage flat topped cones have steep 25 sides remarkably flat horizontal tops basal diameters of 1 3 km and heights 300 m the flat tops commonly have either a low mound or a deep crater in the center the rejuvenated stage flat topped cones have the same shape with steep sides and flat horizontal tops but are much larger with basal diameters up to 5 5 km and heights commonly greater than 200 m the flat tops have a central low mound shallow crater or levees that surrounded lava ponds as large as 1 km across most of the rejuvenated stage flat topped cones formed on slopes 10 and formed adjacent semicircular steps down the flank of ni ihau rather than circular structures all the flat topped cones appear to be monogenetic and formed during steady effusive eruptions lasting years to decades these and other submarine volcanic cones of similar size and shape apparently form as continuously overflowing submarine lava ponds a lava pond surrounded by a levee forms above a sea floor vent as lava continues to flow into the pond the lava flow surface rises and overflows the lowest point on the levee forming elongate pillow lava flows that simultaneously build the rim outward and upward but also dam and fill in the low point on the rim the process repeats at the new lowest point forming a circular structure with a flat horizontal top and steep pillowed margins there is a delicate balance between lava heat supply to the pond and cooling and thickening of the floating crust factors that facilitate construction of such landforms include effusive eruption of lava with low volatile contents moderate to high confining pressure at moderate to great ocean depth long lived steady eruption years to decades moderate effusion rates probably ca 0 1 km3 year and low but not necessarily flat slopes with higher effusion rates sheet flows flood the slope with lower effusion rates pillow mounds form hawaiian shield stage eruptions begin as fissure eruptions if the eruption is too brief it will not consolidate activity at a point and fissure fed flows will form a pond with irregular levees the pond will solidify between eruptive pulses if the eruption is not steady lava that is too volatile rich or that is erupted in too shallow water will produce fragmental and highly vesicular lava that will accumulate to form steep pointed cones as occurs during the post shield stage the steady effusion of lava on land constructs lava shields which are probably the subaerial analogs to submarine flat topped cones but formed under different cooling conditions

evolution of the north flank of tenerife by recurrent giant landslides geomorphologic analysis of submarine and subaerial surface features using a combined topographic bathymetric digital elevation model coupled with onshore geological and geophysical data constrain the age and geometry of giant landslides affecting the north flank of tenerife shaded relief and contour maps and topographic profiles of the submarine north flank permit the identification of two generations of post shield landslides older landslide materials accumulated near the shore 40 km and comprise 700 km3 of debris thickening towards a prominent axis suggests one major landslide deposit younger landslide materials accumulated 40 70 km offshore and comprise the products of three major landslides the la orotava landslide complex the icod landslide and the east dorsal landslide complex each with an onshore scar a proximal submarine trough and a distal deposit lobe estimated lobe volumes are 80 80 and 100 km3 respectively the old post shield landslide scar is an amphitheatre 20 25 km wide partly submarine now completely filled with younger materials age width relationships for tenerife s coastal platform plus onshore geological constraints suggest an age of ca 3 ma for the old collapse young landslides are all less than 560 ka old the la orotava and icod slides involved failures of slabs of subaerial flank to form the subaerial la orotava and icod valleys offshore they excavated troughs by sudden loading and basal erosion of older slide debris the onshore east dorsal slide also triggered secondary failure of older debris offshore the slab like geometry of young failures was controlled by weak layers deep drainage channels and flank truncation by marine erosion the partly submarine geometry of the older amphitheatre reflects the absence of these features relatively low h l ratios for the young slides are attributed to filling of the slope break at the base of the submarine edifice by old landslide materials low aspect ratios of the failed slabs and channelling within troughs post shield landslides on tenerife correlate with major falls in sea level reflecting increased rates of volcanism and coastal erosion and reduced support for the flank landslide head zones have strongly influenced the pattern of volcanism on tenerife providing sites for major volcanic centres

catastrophic collapse of the volcanic island of hierro 15 ka ago and the history of landslides in the canary islands landslides play an important role in the evolution of many volcanic islands producing huge fields of blocky volcanic debris on their submarine slopes sidescan sonar images presented in this paper provide evidence for a large debris avalanche el golfo on the northern flank of hierro island in the canary islands angular blocks as much as 1 2 km across and 200 m high cover the debris avalanche surface el golfo avalanche is related to both the canary debris flow and a volcaniclastic turbidite found in the madeira abyssal plain 600 km west of the canaries dating of the turbidite and the failure scarp onshore indicates that the failure probably occurred between 13 and 17 ka there appears to be a general correlation between volcaniclastic turbidites in the abyssal plain sequence and landslides in the canaries during the past 750 ka tentatively this correlation suggests that seven major landslides have affected the canaries in that time

comment on construction and destruction of a volcanic island developed inside an oceanic rift graciosa island terceira rift azores by sibrant et al 2014 and proposal of a new model for graciosa s geological evolution abstract volcanoes rising above sea level within extensional oceanic plate boundaries provide accessible locations with which to study the effects of plate tectonic and volcanic processes of such areas however relying solely on subaerial observations can lead to biased interpretations reconciling the information provided by multibeam echo sounders on the submarine parts of volcanic islands with geology and geomorphology observable above sea level can potentially provide more robust interpretations in this comment of the study of sibrant et al 2014 which is based almost solely on subaerial observations we show how the published multibeam sonar data around graciosa reveals that their proposed successive phases of destruction of the volcanic edifices composing the island by massive landslides is incompatible with the high resolution bathymetry the data reveal no large scale debris avalanche deposits or characteristic flank collapse scars where sibrant et al 2014 propose these landslides to have occurred instead the data show volcanic constructional areas some of which have simply been eroded by wave abrasion the interpretation of collapse structures appears to have originated partly from a misreading of the volcano stratigraphy and tectonic structures overall wave erosion coupled with subaerial erosion and tectonic activity can more easily explain the onshore observations of sibrant et al 2014 providing a less catastrophic explanation for the evolution of graciosa island

structure of the mobile south flank of kilauea volcano hawaii how do huge landslides occur in hawaii we can begin to address this question by examining an incipient landslide structure on the mobile south flank of kilauea volcano between 1970 and 1989 this part of the south flank moved in a southeast direction seaward by 4 m on its eastern end and by 10 m on its western end parallel to the western boundary of a large oifshore topographic bench we show that abrupt decreases in cumulative flank movement correspond to abrupt decreases in hypocenter concentration most of the earthquakes occur in a 7 to 10 km deep band beneath the south flank and relative relocation of a subset of these events shows that they are derived from a single horizontal plane which appears to be a decollement focal mechanisms for this deep seismicity are dominated by thrust fault mechanisms with the overlying block moving seaward a comparison of south flank bathymetry with decollement structures on other volcanoes suggests that the distal end of this decollement coincides with the distal end of the offshore topographic bench 30 50 km from shore and 5 km below sea level the fault system forming the hilina pali is connected with this decollement so that slip on the hilina pali s normal faults coincides with slip of the decollement and with reverse faulting of the distal end of the bench this interpretation is supported by studies of the events associated with the m7 2 kalapana earthquake in 1975 when the hilina pali is connected to the outer bench with a decollement inferred from seismicity a wedge 8 km thick adjacent to kilauea s magma system and 1 2 km thick along the edge of the outer bench an area over 3000 km2 is defined the thickness adjacent to the magma system decreases eastward along kilauea s east rift zone and southwestward from kilauea caldera whereas the thickness of the lip of the outer bench decreases only eastward geologic observations and geophysical studies of the subaerial flank reveal an extensive magma system beneath the koae fault system as well as beneath kilauea caldera and its east rift zone we infer that the boundary of the proximal end of the mobile flank is the southern boundary of this magma system and that this boundary coincides with the southern boundaries of both the koae fault system and kilauea s east rift zone

analytical expressions for drainable and fillable porosity of phreatic aquifers under vertical fluxes from evapotranspiration and recharge 1 in shallow unconfined aquifers the response of the water table wt to input and output water fluxes is controlled by two distinct storage parameters drainable and fillable porosity which are applicable for wt drawdown and rise respectively however only the drainable porosity estimated from the hydrostatic soil moisture profile is in common use in this study we show that under conditions of evapotranspiration and or recharge from or to a shallow water table drainable and fillable porosity have different values separate analytical expressions are developed for drainable and fillable porosity accounting for dynamic soil moisture conditions through the assumption of successive steady state fluxes in the unsaturated zone the equations are expressed in terms of soil hydraulic parameters and matric suction at the soil surface parametric evapotranspiration and recharge functions are used to estimate the suction at the soil surface the final expressions are independent of evapotranspiration or recharge function thus allowing the use of any appropriate function to estimate the storage parameters it is shown that the occurrence of unsaturated zone fluxes can result in significantly different values of drainable and fillable porosity even when hysteresis is neglected application of the two parameters in a boussinesq type groundwater model resulted in significantly improved estimates of field measured water table dynamics compared to the hydrostatic single parameter model

a revised estimate of pacific north america motion and implications for western north america plate boundary zone tectonics for the past 20 years much effort has been directed to determining the present day relative motion of the pacific and north american plates using two independent approaches one uses geologic observations and geodetic measurements along the san andreas fault and other faults in the plate boundary zone the other is based on plate motion models that incorporate spreading rates from marine magnetic anomalies transform azimuths and earthquake slip vectors geologic and geodetic studies find two principal elements of deformation slip along the san andreas of 34 mm yr directed n41 w and extension across the basin and range province of about 10 mm yr directed n56 w in contrast plate motion studies find 56 60 mm yr directed n35 w the discrepancy between these estimates a vector of about 15 mm yr oriented nearly due north is often attributed to a combination of slip along faults parallel to the san andreas and shortening normal to it here we revise the estimate of pacific north america motion by analyzing marine magnetic profiles from the gulf of california since 3 ma spreading has averaged 48 mm yr 10 mm yr slower than estimated before and consistent with the 49 mm yr spreading predicted by a new global plate motion model derived without any data along the pacific north america boundary the discrepancy with geodetic and geologic estimates is thus reduced to only 5 mm yr parallel to the san andreas 60 less than estimated before and 7 mm yr of shortening across the san andreas similar to prior estimates these results suggest that strike slip motion on faults west of the san andreas is less than thought before a conclusion consistent with geodetic seismological and other geologic observations

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

contrasts between source parameters of m 5 5 earthquakes in northern baja california and southern california summary earthquake source processes are determined for four historic events that occurred in baja california between 1915 and 1954 these results are combined with previous studies of recent and historic seismicity to compare earthquake processes along the san jacinto imperial cerro prieto and northern baja fault systems of southern california and northern mexico observed regional differences in rupture complexity fault rupture lengths and aftershock foreshock activity appear to be related to variations in heat flow and total fault offset there appear to be no systematic variations in stress drop as measured from far field observations between earthquakes along the imperial cerro prieto fault zone and those within the peninsular ranges of northern baja california slip rates estimated from historical seismicity between 1915 and 1992 fall 1 5 cm yr 1 short of the estimated relative plate motion between the pacific plate and north america for this region

constructing the upper crust of the mid atlantic ridge a reinterpretation based on the puna ridge kilauea volcano the volcanic morphology of a number of segments of the slow spreading mid atlantic ridge mar have been reinterpreted based on our understanding of dike emplacement dike propagation and eruption at the east rift zone of kilauea volcano hawaii and its submarine extension the puna ridge the styles of volcanic eruption at the submarine puna ridge are remarkably similar to those of the axial volcanic ridges avrs constructed on the median valley floor of the mar we use this observation to relate volcanic processes occurring at kilauea volcano to the mar we now consider that volcanic features e g seamounts and lava terraces built on the flanks of the avrs are secondary features that are fed from lava tubes or channels not primary features fed directly from an underlying dike we examine simple models of pipe flow and conclude that lava tubes can transport lava down the flanks of submarine rifts to build all of the volcanic features observed there in addition deep water lava tubes are strong enough to withstand the pressures of a few megapascals that the building of a volcanic structure 150 m high at the end of the tube would generate the volumes of individual volcanic terraces and seamounts on the puna ridge and at the mar are large 0 1 1 km3 and similar to the volumes of lava flows that are broadly distributed at the subaerial east rift zone of kilauea this striking difference in the volcanic morphology on a scale of 1 2 km producing terraces and seamounts underwater and low relief flows on land must be related to the enhanced cooling and to the greater mechanical stability of tubes in the submarine environment we suggest that at the mar a crustal magma reservoir most likely located beneath shallow flat sections of the segment provides magma to the rift axis through dikes that propagate laterally tens of kilometers the zone of dike intrusion at least in the neighborhood of the magma body is likely narrower than the width resurfaced by flows yielding a crustal structure that has a rapid vertical transition from lavas to sheeted dikes at segment ends the zone of dike intrusion is likely to be wider giving a resulting structure with a more gradual transition from lavas to dikes

the morphology of the submarine flanks of volcanic ocean islands a comparative study of the canary and hawaiian hotspot islands the submarine flanks of volcanic islands are shaped by volcanic constructional processes landslides erosion sediment deposition and tectonic movements we use a newly acquired multibeam sonar dataset from the westerly canary islands el hierro la palma and tenerife to develop a comparison with the hawaiian islands which suggests differences in the processes constructing and modifying their flanks landslides affect the flanks of both island groups debris avalanches fast moving shallow landslides have left smooth chutes and blocky deposits in both cases but blocks within some hawaiian avalanche deposits are markedly larger we attribute the larger block sizes in the hawaiian islands to the fact that their avalanches were relatively unconfined whereas many canary and hawaiian avalanches with small block sizes appear to have been constrained down narrow chutes forcing interactions between blocks within the flows and encouraging disintegration furthermore the hawaiian avalanches with the largest blocks initiated near sea level whereas many of the canary avalanches initiated above sea level so hydraulic resistance of water entering cracks may be an additional factor in resisting block disintegration during flow slow moving deep seated slumps or volcanic spreading have produced submarine benches and tabular escarpments due to thrust faulting adjacent to several hawaiian rift zones but are not well developed in the canaries although volcanic morphology is partly obscured by sedimentation in the canaries we are able to interpret lava terraces around the deep flanks of el hierro which are similar to those found in the hawaiian islands however cones rather than terraces are the most common volcanic forms in the canary islands implying that flank eruptions have involved magma with significant volatile contents assuming that volatile contents dictate whether cones or terraces are formed these differences may ultimately originate from the different building rates of the two island groups for example the lack of evidence for high level magma chambers in the canaries associated with their lower outputs implies that there is less possibility for degassing of magma below the summit before lateral intrusion down rift zones hence cones rather than lava terraces are more commonly observed the apparent lack of slumping or volcano spreading could also reflect a lack of driving pressure from extensive high level magma chambers in the canaries

an earthquake explosion reversed refraction line in the peninsular ranges of southern california and baja california norte abstract an approximate reversed refraction profile has been obtained for the center of the peninsular ranges of southern california and baja california norte using arrival times from corona blasts to obtain the nw se profile and arrival times from the well located pino solo earthquake of 17 july 1975 to obtain the reversing se nw profile the results indicate a relatively high velocity crust with p velocities of 6 57 to 6 95 km sec similar to the high velocities found by hadley and kanamori 1979 a crustal thickness of about 40 km was found for the axis of the peninsular ranges significantly greater than was found by hadley and kanamori 1979 for the average crustal thickness of the northern part of the province this suggests that the thick crust may be confined to a relatively narrow zone along the axis of the province the crustal thickness found here is approximately 10 km less than found for the deeper crust of the sierra nevada bateman and eaton 1967 pakiser and brune 1980

the formation of perched lava ponds on basaltic volcanoes the influence of flow geometry on cooling limited lava flow lengths analysis of the formation of morphologically distinctive perched lava ponds produced in effusive basaltic eruptions focusses attention on the ways in which cooling and fluid dynamics interact to limit the distance a lava flow can travel if a previously channelised flow spreads laterally on encountering a sudden decrease in the slope of the substrate or some other abrupt change in topography its speed and thickness decrease progressively in a way dictated by the requirements of mass and energy conservation there is a consequent dramatic increase in heat loss from the lava as it thins where a flow spreads approximately radially in this way it may form a perched lava pond the high heat loss limits the size of any such pond to be at most a few hundred meters under almost all circumstances pond size depends much more strongly on lava volume flux than on any other physical parameter involved in the system and the formation of these features provides a means of estimating eruption rates in paleo eruptive episodes

analysis of the seismicity detected in 1982 1984 in the northern peninsular ranges of baja california the san miguel fault system strikes in the northwest direction within the peninsular ranges of baja california the study concentrates primarily on the southern sector of the san miguel fault ssm which is about 20 km long and had a large rupture in 1956 there is a high rate of seismicity along the ssm in a time period of 23 days 109 events were located with duration magnitudes between 1 4 and 2 8 focal depths are between 5 and 15 km epicentral locations show three clusters of seismicity two clusters are on the ssm another cluster is closer to a normal fault that strikes parallel 8 km to the southwest of ssm the seismicity is stationary with an average of 20 events per day a b value of 0 92 0 02 is characteristic for the background seismicity a larger b value of 1 4 0 07 is associated with the cluster at the northwest end of ssm those inconsistent b values suggest a heterogeneous state of stress most fault plane solutions in the northern peninsular ranges of baja california indicate strike slip motions one normal mechanism is also observed the greatest principal stress is oriented approximately north south