the exposed base of a collapsing wedge the nestos shear zone rhodope metamorphic province greece 1 the nestos shear zone nsz in the rhodope metamorphic province is a major high strain zone between two metamorphic terranes microdiamond bearing ultrahigh pressure uhp rocks occur in the nsz which was therefore interpreted as a suture zone where subduction and exhumation of these rocks and terrain accretion occurred during the mesozoic our petrological study of samples from the lower part of the nsz together with monazite dating of a microdiamond bearing garnet schist structural observations already published results from the upper part and other published timing constraints results in a fundamentally different picture the nsz is the base of an eocene age southwestward thrust wedge which included not only the structurally higher parts of the rhodope metamorphic province but also the entire internal hellenides the uhp rocks for the peak pressure of which we derive an age of 200 ma by monazite dating are unrelated to the tectonic processes in the nsz and probably represent slivers of a higher tectonic unit captured by thrusting along the nsz pressure decrease in the footwall and regional extension and basin formation in the hanging wall during the activity of the nsz show that the overlying thrust wedge was collapsing in late eocene times we hypothesize that the transition from subduction to continental collision may start with a pronounced accretion event when the first detachment horizon forms in the middle crust of the downgoing plate such an event could trigger slab retreat an extensional collapse of the internal wedge and subsequent magmatism

effect of maturity on 13c12c ratios of individual compounds in north sea oils abstract carbon isotope variations in individual compounds are reported for north sea oils of variable thermal maturity using the pristane phytane ratio of the oils as an indication of source facies variation and molecular maturity ratios to determine maturity it is possible to differentiate the two effects in these samples maturity accounts for between 50 and 90 of the observed isotopic variation all values becoming heavier with increasing maturity typically by between 2 and 3 however source differences are also apparent with a terrestrially influenced source possibly the heather formation contributing material to the kimmeridge clay sourced oils the heather contribution is isotopically heavier than the kimmeridge oil for most compounds but is isotopically lighter for the isoprenoid hydrocarbons and some other branched compounds it is also more important for lower molecular weight hydrocarbons than for higher homologues

upper cretaceous exhumation of the western rhodope metamorphic province chalkidiki peninsula northern greece the vertiskos unit of northern greece is an elongated basement belt with a complex poly metamorphic history it extends from greece chalkidiki peninsula to the south up to serbia in the north and arguably represents the westernmost part of the rhodope metamorphic province northern greece to southern bulgaria the vertiskos unit experienced a medium pressure lower amphibolite facies metamorphic overprint during the alpine orogeny the available medium temperature geochronology implies that it remained at temperature of approximately 300 c or slightly higher during lower cretaceous in order to constrain its post lower cretaceous thermal history until near surface exposure we applied apatite fission track analysis the central ages obtained range from 68 5 3 8 to 46 6 3 6 ma uppermost cretaceous to middle eocene and mean track lengths between 13 and 13 5 m we applied two inverse thermal modeling approaches using either each sample independently high degree of freedomin the thermal history better data fit or all samples together interpreting them as a vertical profile simpler thermal history worse data fit irrespective of the modeling approach we conclude that the bulk thermal history of the vertiskos unit crosses the high temperature limit of the apatite partial annealing zone by the uppermost cretaceous and reaches near surface conditions as early as lower middle eocene these results contrast with the thermal history of the other domains of the rhodope metamorphic province further east namely the southern rhodope core complex and the northern rhodope complex and establish the vertiskos basement complex as the oldest exhumed coherent basement fragment of the rhodope metamorphic province and greece

inferences on the mesozoic evolution of the north aegean from the isotopic record of the chalkidiki block the chalkidiki block is a major domain in the north aegean that contrary to other domains in the region largely escaped thermal perturbations during tertiary extension as a result the chalkidiki block is an ideal candidate to glean information related to the timing of mesozoic thermal events using appropriate geochronological techniques we have undertaken a laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icp ms study u th pb on monazites and u pb on zircons coupled with 40ar 39ar dating on nine samples from various structural levels within the thrust system of the chalkidiki block the eastern and structurally lower part of the system revealed a complete isotopic reset of carboniferous early triassic monazites coeval with partial monazite destruction ree mobilisation and formation of apatite allanite epidote coronas at 132 ma a reaction that is commonly observed in amphibolite facies rocks these coronas formed after crystallisation of garnet i e at t 580 c and in all probability either close to the peak temperature conditions 620 c on a prograde path or during retrogression between the peak temperature and the low temperature boundary of the amphibolite facies cooling of these rocks and arrival at mid crustal levels occurred at 95 100 ma by contrast the western and structurally uppermost part of the system went through the same event by 120 125 ma further structural considerations with respect to medium temperature geochronology data imply that syn metamorphic thrusting must have ceased by early late cretaceous we emphasize that with the sole exception of the chalkidiki block no pre 45 ma medium temperature geochronology data are preserved in other north aegean domains a feature that is clearly related to the extension induced thermal perturbation of the region during the tertiary

cretaceous tertiary structures and kinematics of the serbomacedonian metamorphic rocks and their relation to the exhumation of the hellenic hinterland macedonia greece the kinematic pattern and associated metamorphism of the predominant ductile deformation and the subsequent deformational stages of the serbomacedonian metamorphic rocks and granitoids are presented in terms of peri tethyan tectonics a systematic record of structural and metamorphic data gives evidence of a main top to ene to ese ductile flow of cretaceous age 120 90 ma associated with a crustal stretching and unroofing a subordinate wsw to wnw antithetic sense of movement of the tectonic top is observed in places the associated metamorphic conditions are estimated at 4 5 7 5 kbar and 510 580 c during eocene to miocene times these fabrics were successively deformed by low angle extensional de ductile shear zones with top to ne and sw sense of movement and brittle shear zones of similar kinematic pattern suggesting a transition from ductile to brittle deformation de deformation was accompanied during its later stages by nw se directed shortening we also discuss the relation of this cretaceous tertiary deformation of the serbomacedonian metamorphic rocks with the eocene to miocene ductile top to southwestward crustal shear of the adjacent rhodope crystalline rocks we regard the serbomacedonian and the rhodope metamorphic rocks to represent related metamorphic provinces the most recent exhumation and cooling history of which is bracketed between the eocene and neogene

dextral rotations and tectonomagmatic evolution of the southern rhodope and adjacent regions greece abstract palaeomagnetic measurements deduced from eocene oligocene miocene and pliocene formations exposed in the greek rhodope and surrounding areas reveal significant clockwise rotations displaying an apparent systematic increase in magnitude from thrace westwards and a decrease northwards the pelagonian zone in the west has suffered no rotation at least since the late miocene a transition from rotated to unrotated regions seems to exist close to the western boundary of the vardar zone no rotations are apparent earlier than the mid oligocene parts of the rhodope may have been rotated clockwise by 12 during the late oligocene additional clockwise rotations occurred after the early miocene it is proposed that at least the post early miocene rotations were the result of plate tectonic motions in the north aegean area initiated by middle miocene times and continuing to the present day southward stretching and bending of the ductile part of the lithosphere was accomplished at brittle upper crustal levels by the detachment translation and rotation of the upper plate of the rhodope core complex the serbomacedonian element possibly followed by further fragmentation and rotation of individual blocks

tectonostratigraphic models of the alpine terranes and subduction history of the hellenides abstract the tectonostratigraphy of the hellenic terranes is related to their paleogeodynamic and paleogeographic evolution which comprises three major stages i continental rifting in the northern margin of gondwana characterised by volcanosedimentary complexes of late paleozoic triassic ii continental drifting and contemporaneous oceanic opening of tethyan basins in between the continental terranes during triassic paleogene with shallow water carbonate platforms on the continental terranes and ophiolite suites interlayered with pelagic sediments within the tethyan basins iii accretion of the tectonostratigraphic terranes with docking along the active european margin characterised by flysch melange sedimentation along the trenches from early jurassic to neogene two tectonostratigraphic models can be distinguished one for the continental terranes carbonate platforms and another for the oceanic basins the duration of each geodynamic stage for each terrane is obtained from the chronology of the tectonostratigraphic facies change the general trend is younger ages observed in the southern terranes and older ages towards the northern terranes the two alternative tectonostratigraphic models are applied in the two groups of terranes and the chronology of the geodynamic paleogeographic stages is estimated the hellenic subducted slab as shown in the seismic tomographic images is correlated to the terrane paleogeography using the estimated widths and the average subduction rates the upper 1700 km of the slab correspond to the three southern more external terranes whereas the remainingpart of the slab may represent the other more internal terranes a palinspastic model of the hellenides is presented taking into account the chronology of each stage for every terrane obduction of ophiolites over the southern platforms is observed in all four oceanic basins blueschist exhumation formation of core complexes and tectonic windows through extensional detachments occur after micro collision of continental terranes platforms and their isostatic uplift within the upper plate after their detachment from the subducting slab

source complexity of the october 1 1987 whittier narrows earthquake long and short period body waveform data recorded at regional and teleseismic distances are modeled to obtain the source parameters of the whittier narrows earthquake of october 1 1987 although the long period data can be satisfied by a simple thrust earthquake on a plane striking 280 at a depth of 14 km we require a double source solution to satisfy both the long and short period teleseismic data the first subevent has a focal mechanism of strike 250 dip 30 n and a slip vector 90 the second is 280 40 n and 98 the second event occurred 1 0 s after the first was 5 times larger 1 2 1025 dyn cm for the second 0 23 1025 for the first in terms of seismic moment and was also shallower 12 km whereas the first subevent was at 15 km the two subevents probably occurred on a north dipping listric fault but may have occurred on two subparallel faults these features were determined by studying a variety of phases including teleseismic p and sh and regional pnl the whittier narrows earthquake was a high stress drop event but a single value for stress drop cannot be obtained because of the complex nature of the source if we define the fault area as the aftershock area we obtain a stress drop of about 750 bars

a review of the biogeochemical controls on the occurrence and distribution of polycyclic aromatic compounds pacs in coals abstract the organic matter in coal contains polycyclic aromatic compounds pacs of varying quantities in diverse soluble and insoluble forms pacs in coal are of special interest for organic geochemical studies because they have been successfully used as biological marker compounds biomarkers and indicators of thermal maturity in addition they could provide critical information to understand the structural and compositional evolution of the coal organic matters during coalification and to predict pac releasing characteristics during coal utilization the main purpose of this paper is to provide a critical review on the current state of knowledge on the potential use of pac composition to understand the underlying biogeochemical factors that control pac occurrence and distribution in coal the published pac data of world coal are first compiled according to their ranks natural coke anthracite semi anthracite bituminous coal low volatile bituminous coal medium volatile bituminous coal high volatile bituminous coal sub bituminous coal lignite countries brazil canada china france germany japan usa formation periods carboniferous permian jurassic cretaceous early middle cenozoic then the biogeochemical factors affecting the occurrence and distribution of pacs in coal including biogenic precursor materials coal rank maceral composition depositional environment and geological settings are comprehensively reviewed the results show that the geochemical parameters of pacs in coal are robust tools to trace the coalification processes from the molecular perspectives and to understand the corresponding biogeochemical process e g depositional environment geological settings igneous intrusion occurring during coal formation

the genesis of coal from the viewpoint of coal petrology abstract the genesis of the microscopic constituents of coal macerals and of maceral associations microlithotypes representing various coal facies is discussed in the light of recent advances that have been made in the study of coals and modern peats peat microscopy especially promoted the understanding of humification and biological gelification both of which are decisive for the genesis of huminites vitrinites in brown coals and hard coals respectively microbial activity during peatification has been documented by chemists microbiologists and petrologists and recently by electron microscopical observations in coals this activity leads to the incorporation of lipid substances into the humic matter and later influences the chemical physical and technological properties of vitrinites geochemical gelification transforms the huminites of brown coals into the vitrinites of bituminous coals and is probably caused by the onset of bitumen generation in coal in this process the hydrogel brown coal is transformed to the bitumogel bituminous coal coal as a source rock for oil has become an important research subject for coal petrologists and oil exploration the formation of more or less liquid bitumen and its later cracking to gaseous hydrocarbons leads to the coalification jumps of the macerals especially liptinites and vitrinites and to the generation of secondary macerals like exsudatinite bitumen and micrinite dead carbon bituminization in coal has been revealed by the use of fluorescence microscopy which also found the presence of new liptinite macerals bituminite fluorinite and exsudatinite and suggests a higher proportion of algal material in coals than was thought earlier the genesis of various types of inertinite macerals will probably become an increasingly important subject of research especially with regard to rank inertinites that seem to attain their high inertinitic reflectance initially during coalification besides the origin of macerals the origin of various coal facies in terms of maceral associations is considered in relation to the palaeogeographic depositional milieu the peat forming vegetation palaeoclimate water and nutrient supply acidity marine and calcareous influence and fire with examples from euramerican carboniferous coals gondwana coals and tertiary brown coals vegetation water and oxygen supply eh conditions are most important for the generation of coal facies vegetation has been reconstructed with the help of palaeobotany including palynology cuticular analysis and wood anatomy in brown coals and with the study of petrified permineralized peats preserved in coal balls the microscopical investigations of botanically recognizable plant remains isolated from coals or accompanying rocks has been especially informative however the results of palynological and cuticular analyses should be evaluated with caution considering the varying resistance of palynomorphs and cuticles and in the case of palynomorphs their possible extrapaludal origin microscopical studies of modern peats that were derived from different types of vegetation growing in different hydrological environments have been very helpful in interpreting coal facies especially in brown coals the much disputed origin of brown coal lithotypes is considered in detail for hard coals there seems to be agreement that coal layers rich in vitrites and liptinite poor clarite were deposited in wet forest swamps that microlayered liptinite rich clarites are sub aquatic humic muds and that inertinite rich durites represent oxidized peats the origin of liptinite rich durites is controversial either subaquatic muds or oxidized peats the latter perhaps from raised bogs a recent trend in the literature is the assumption that many if not all mineable coal seams have been deposited in raised bogs under ombrogenous oligotrophic conditions although raised bogs with a dense arborescent vegetation are known from borneo it seems not probable that most seams which were deposited in foredeeps or steadily sinking graben zones are of ombrogenous origin although a succession from relatively wet and eutrophic to relatively dry and oligotrophic conditions may be true for occasional seams but as in modern peats striking changes of coal facies are commonly caused by hydrological events e g inundations as a consequences of crevasses or of fires that burned the peat the origin of the inertinite rich gondwana coals is discussed in relation to their specific climatic conditions and a comparison with sub arctic peats is recommended coals influenced by marine and calcareous conditions are characterized by high contents of sulfur and pyrite as well as by hydrogen rich vitrinites with a relatively low reflectance and high fluorescence all due to a strong bacterial activity in peats of low acidity proposals for further research are made in the conclusions

molecular stable carbon isotope compositions of alkylphenanthrenes in coals and marine shales related to source and maturity abstract phenanthrene phe and methylphenanthrenes mps extracted from coaly shale and coal samples containing terrestrial organic matter are compared with the same compounds from marine shales in terms of yields and 13 c values at marginally to fully mature stages of thermal evolution the shales derived from four boreholes in the hils half graben area northwestern germany were shown to be representative of a greater number of samples from the same sites the 13 c values of extractable phe and mps are less negative in the terrestrial 24 3 to 26 0 than in the marine 28 8 to 30 5 samples since these values are unrelated to mean vitrinite reflectance r r values in the range of 0 5 0 9 it appears that the stable carbon isotope composition of phe and mps is controlled by organic matter type rather than maturity

syn metamorphic nappe complex in the rhodope massif structure and kinematics mylonitic gneisses of the bulgarian and greek rhodope were deformed under medium pressure type metamorphism the kinematic information contained in these gneisses shows that shear deformation occurred during development of a nappe complex lithologies and metamorphic histories allow a lower footwall and an upper hanging wall terrane to be distinguished that define a crustal scale duplex as oceanic crust is involved collision between two continental units with subsequent crustal thickening is inferred the blocks would be moesia to the north and the lower rhodope promontory to the south which collided in the mesozoic to early cenozoic the nappe complex is characterized by south to southwestward foreland directed piling up and is associated with both coeval and subsequent extension the late extension is associated with the establishment of a high temperature low pressure metamorphic gradient and plutonism that predates but makes a transition to the lithospheric extension of the aegean arc

tectonometamorphic evolution of the rhodope orogen 1 this study combines new data on tectonostratigraphy macrostructures and microstructures petrology and geochronology to propose a comprehensive model for the tectonometamorphic evolution of the rhodope orogen from the jurassic to the early paleogene rocks from two study areas in the central and eastern greek rhodope represent a continental suture zone rhodope suture zone with the included material most likely forming an extensional allochthon south of the european continent during permo triassic times that was subsequently subducted beneath europe in the early jurassic 180 ma on the basis of comparable metamorphic ages and coherent structures but differences in metamorphic conditions and lithologies the rocks of the rhodope suture zone are subdivided into an upper and a lower part the prograde history is linked with subduction related structures in the lower part uniaxial stretching deformation stage d1 in metapelites the earliest stage of metamorphism recorded at circa 180 ma occurred at least under ultrahigh pressure metamorphic conditions the rocks of the upper part experienced isothermal decompression with partial anatexis exhumation paths of both parts differ in temperature because of the relative tectonic position within the exhuming wedge exhumation was forced by the nestos shear zone that controlled the early phase of normal displacement by sw shearing at the base lower part and ne shearing on top upper part from the late jurassic to the late cretaceous deformation stage d2 an intervening stage of mineral recrystallization and thermal reequilibration in the upper part was followed by a common exhumation history of both parts at pressures lower than about 12 kbar 35 40 km depth during this stage exhumation was controlled by southwest directed shearing and folding deformation stage d3 slab retreat to the south led to subsequent extension deformation stage d4 and final exhumation coeval with the formation of basement domes thus making the rhodope a classic core complex juxtaposed with former structurally higher units

the south scandinavian crust structural complexities from seismic reflection and refraction profiling abstract pioneering work on mapping the scandinavian crust commenced in the early 1960s and since then numerous profiling surveys have been undertaken particularly as part of the on going eugeno s project however the most significant contribution to mapping crustal structural details came from the m v mobil search cruises in the skagerrak and off the west coast of norway 16 s twt reflection profiling all past and present crustal profiling results have been integrated to produce detailed maps of moho depths and crustal thicknesses for south scandinavia the thinnest crust is found in the north sea and skagerrak approximately 20 km while east central sweden features very thick crust approximately 50 km other interesting features are the apparent correlation between crustal thinning and sedimentation subsidence magmatic activity earthquake occurrences and the tectonic age of the crust moho depths and the crustal thicknesses clearly reflect the tectonic evolution and the present structural features of the region investigated

a strontium neodymium and oxygen isotope study of hydrothermal metamorphism and crustal anatexis in the trois seigneurs massif pyrenees france nd sr and o isotope analyses have been made on metamorphic and igneous rocks and minerals from a 310 340 ma hercynian age metamorphic terrane in the pyrenees france lower paleozoic shales and phyllites have 87sr 86sr values of 0 707 0 717 at 310 ma but model values at 310 ma of 0 709 0 736 based on assumed depositional age of 450 ma and an initial 87sr 86sr 0 707 on a regional scale 87sr 86sr was homogenized to about 0 713 to 0 717 in the higher grade pelitic schists during metamorphism much of this 87sr 86sr exchange occurred at very low grades below the biotite isograd but significant changes also accompanied the 18o lowering of the phyllites 13 to 16 during their transformation to andalusite and sillimanite grade schists 18o 11 to 12 all of these effects are attributed to pervasive interactions with hydrothermal fluids wickham and taylor 1985 the data also show that a syn metamorphic plutonic complex dominated by a biotite granite body was derived by mixing of a relatively mafic magmatic end member 87sr 86sr 0 7025 0 7050 and 18o 7 5 to 8 0 with two metasedimentary sources both having 87sr 86sr 0 715 and 18o 10 0 to 12 0 but with one being more homogeneous than the other the more homogeneous component and the mantle derived magmatic end member dominate at low structural levels within the complex the less homogeneous end member that dominates at high levels is clearly derived from the local paleozoic pelitic schists a rb sr age of 330 20 ma was obtained on hornblende from a deep level within the complex which fixes this age for the regional metamorphism as well although a post metamorphic granodiorite magma body at trois seigneurs also displays heterogeneities in 18o and 87sr 86sr and thus does not give a clear cut rb sr isochron the data are consistent with an emplacement age between 260 and 310 ma similar to ages of other late granodiorites in the pyrenees 143nd 144nd is very uniform within the hercynian crust both at trois seigneurs nd 3 to 7 and elsewhere in the pyrenees almost all igneous lithologies have depleted mantle mid proterozoic model ages consistent with efficient recycling of crustal material following original crustal accretion in this area at about 1600 ma or earlier rb sr mineral ages exhibit a complex cooling history reflecting late hercynian and mesozoic thermal events our results show that profound homogenization of the 87sr 86sr and 18o 16o ratios of large volumes of the crust can occur during regional metamorphism and crustal anatexis particularly in regions undergoing extensional tectonics such processes can significantly modify the isotopic compositions of the protoliths of granitic magmas this may explain why many peraluminous hercynian granitoids of western europe have anomalously low 87sr 86sr initial values compared to their probable sedimentary parent rocks

comparison of michigan basin crude oils abstract michigan basin oils from the ordovician trenton silurian niagaran and devonian dundee formations have been geochemically compared by gc gc ms and carbon isotope mass spectrometry one oil from each formation was selected for detailed analysis which included measurement of individual n alkane 13 c values the ordovician and devonian oils are strikingly similar to one another yet clearly different from the silurian oil this pattern is unexpected because ordovician and devonian reservoirs are physically separated by the silurian strata from time temperature considerations the devonian oil probably was formed in older strata and has migrated to its present location our analyses suggest a common source for the devonian and ordovician oils

structural and geochronological evidence for paleogene thrusting in the western rhodopes sw bulgaria elements for a new tectonic model of the rhodope metamorphic province 1 the rhodope metamorphic province in the area around the mesta graben sw bulgaria exposes a structurally lower complex the pangaion pirin complex of variscan continental crust and its cover mostly orthogneiss and marble and a higher complex the rhodope terrane of mixed oceanic and continental origin with metamorphosed jurassic arc magmatites the boundary between the two is the top to the southwest nestos shear zone the regional top to the southwest shearing of the two basement complexes is related to the emplacement of the rhodope terrane over the pangaion pirin complex along this shear zone syntectonic and posttectonic alpine intrusions within the basement can provide age limits for the thrusting zircons from the posttectonic teshovo south pirin granitoid pluton in the pangaion pirin complex yielded crystallization ages of 32 0 2 ma la sf icp ms u pb method zircons from two syntectonic granite plutons in the rhodope terrane dolno dryanovo and spanchevo have circa 143 to 145 ma old inherited magmatic cores and circa 55 to 56 ma old magmatic rims these ages especially the presence of the upper jurassic lower cretaceous cores in the plutons from the rhodope terrane and the structural relations indicate that the southwestward thrusting of the rhodope terrane over the pangaion pirin complex took place in the paleogene a model is proposed in which the pangaion pirin complex represents the margin of apulia and the structure of the rhodopes is explained by a switch of subduction polarity from sw dipping in the jurassic and early cretaceous to ne dipping in the late cretaceous and paleogene

late palaeozoic early cenozoic tectonic development of the eastern pontides artvin area turkey stages of closure of tethys along the southern margin of eurasia

evidence of variscan and alpine tectonics in the structural and thermochronological record of the central serbo macedonian massif south eastern serbia the serbo macedonian massif smm represents a composite crystalline belt within the eastern european alpine orogen outcropping from the pannonian basin in the north to the aegean sea in the south the central parts of this massif south eastern serbia consist of the medium to high grade lower complex and the low grade vlasina unit outcrop and micro scale ductile structures in this area document three major stages of ductile deformation the earliest stage d1 is related to isoclinal folding commonly preserved as up to decimetre scale quartz feldspar rootless fold hinges d2 is associated with general south eastward tectonic transport and refolding of earlier structures into recumbent metre to kilometre scale tight to isoclinal folds stages d1 and d2 could not be temporally separated and probably took place in close sequence the age of these two ductile deformation stages was constrained to the variscan orogeny based on indirect geological evidence i e ca 408 ca 328 during this period the smm was involved in a transpressional amalgamation of the western and eastern parts of the galatian super terrane and subsequent collision with laurussia outcrop scale evidence of the final stage d3 is limited to spaced and crenulation cleavage which are probably related to formation of large scale open upright folds as reported previously 40ar 39ar thermochronology was applied on hornblende muscovite and biotite samples in order to constrain the age of tectonothermal events and activity along major shear zones these 40ar 39ar data reveal three major cooling episodes affecting the central smm cooling below greenschist facies conditions in the western part of the vlasina unit took place in a post orogenic setting extensional or transtensional in the early permian 284 1 ma the age of activity along the top to the west shear zone formed within the orthogneiss in the bo ica area of the vlasina unit was constrained to middle triassic 246 1 ma this age coincides with widespread extension related to the opening of the mesozoic tethys the greenschist facies retrogression in the lower complex probably occurred in the early jurassic 195 1 ma and it was related to the thermal processes in the overriding plate above the subducting slab of the mesozoic tethys ocean

cyclic terpenoids of contemporary resinous plant detritus and of fossil woods ambers and coals abstract cyclic terpenoids present in the solvent extractable material of fossil woods ambers and brown coals have been analyzed the sample series chosen consisted of wood remains preserved in holocene to jurassic sediments and a set of of ambers from the philippines copalite israel canada and dominican republic the brown coals selected were from the fortuna garsdorf mine and miocene formations on fiji the fossil wood extracts contained dominant diterpenoid or sesquiterpenoid skeletons and aromatized species were present at high concentrations with a major amount of two ring aromatic compounds tricyclic diterpenoids were the predominant compounds in the ambers aromatized derivatives were the major components consisting of one or two aromatic ring species with the abietane and occasionally pimarane skeletons the saturated structures were comprised primarily of the abietane and pimarane skeletons having from three to five carbon c1 c2 etc substituents kaurane and phyllocladane isomers were present in only minor amounts bicyclic sesquiterpenoids as saturated and partial or fully aromatized forms were also common in these samples but only traces of sesterterpenoids and triterpenoid derivatives were found the brown coal extracts were composed of major amounts of one and two ring aromatized terpenoids with a greater proportion of triterpenoid derivatives than in the case of the woods and ambers this was especially noticeable for the german coal where the triterpenoids were predominant open c ring aromatized structures were also present in this coal steroid compounds were not detectable but some hopanes were found as minor components in the german brown coal an overview of the skeletal structure classes identified in each sample as well as the general mass spectrometric characteristics of the unknown compounds are included in the present paper it can be concluded from these structural distributions that aromatization is the main process for the transformation of terrestrial cyclic terpenoids during diagenesis constituting a general pathway for all terpenoids

kinematics of cretaceous subduction and exhumation in the western rhodope chalkidiki block in the chalkidiki peninsula of northern greece a thrust complex made of a basement vertiskos unit a cover circum rhodope belt and arc back arc units chortiatis magmatic suite and eastern vardar ophiolites is exposed in the chalkidiki peninsula of northern greece the complex forms the western part of the rhodope metamorphic province and lies on the hanging wall of the kerdylion detachment the structure responsible for the exhumation of the southern rhodope core complex and the most prominent and visible ductile structure related to the tertiary aegean extension the chalkidiki thrust complex arguably preserves a complete record of cretaceous deformation and related fabrics in this contribution we describe the geometry of foliation stretching lineation and shear sense s on a regional scale the regional foliation strikes nw se and displays different patterns in the three studied units i dominantly dipping at low angle in the vertiskos unit ii affected by upright folding in the circum rhodope belt and iii systematically steeply dipping to the ne in the chortiatis magmatic suite stretching lineation trend dominantly sw ne in the three mentioned units on the basis of new mapping neglecting local perturbations and deformation related to tertiary extension we infer the regional kinematics of cretaceous syn metamorphic thrusting and subsequent exhumation of the metamorphic units thrusting took place toward the sw in present day coordination and the related fabrics are recorded throughout the metamorphic pile on the contrary exhumation related fabrics are related to shear toward the ne and are preferentially recorded in the uppermost part of the metamorphic pile suggesting that extension was more localised and of less finite intensity compared to thrusting

late proterozoic and silurian basement units within the serbo macedonian massif northern greece the significance of terrane accretion in the hellenides

source and significance of selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments hovea 3 well perth basin western australia spanning the permian triassic boundary abstract stable carbon isotopic data for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons pahs chrysene and triphenylene benzo e pyrene 9 methylphenanthrene in sediments of comparable thermal maturity from a petroleum drill core hovea 3 well perth basin western australia spanning the largest mass extinction event in the past 500 million years permian triassic boundary are consistent with an algal kerogen source in the basal triassic as opposed to a combustion and or higher plant source in the underlying permian sediments the 13c values of extractable pahs are less negative in the permian inertinitic interval 24 7 to 29 2 than the triassic sapropelic interval 30 to 33 3 a strong correlation is evident between 13c of individual pahs 13c of kerogen and rock eval pyrolysis hydrogen index providing unequivocal evidence that pah 13c is mainly controlled by organic matter type abundant algal derived pahs in basal triassic sediments may be a global feature the lack of coal globally in the basal triassic sediments is also consistent with this observation the early triassic coal gap appears to coincide with the global extinction of peat forming plants at the end of the permian coal did not reappear until the middle triassic and permian levels of plant diversity and thick peat deposits did not recover until the late triassic the pah isotopic data support the contention that a global anoxic event at the end of the permian period contributed to the gradual worldwide asphyxiation and ultimate extinction of many marine and terrigenous organisms

correlating terrestrial signatures from biomarker distributions δ13c and palynology in fluvio deltaic deposits from nw australia triassic jurassic abstract a multidisciplinary study using molecular and organic isotope geochemistry petrology and palynology has been used to establish palaeoenvironmental conditions of fluvio deltaic deposits from the delambre 1 well western australia triassic jurassic changes in higher plant biomarker distributions correlate with 1 brackish water environments 2 major changes in composition of spore and pollen assemblages 3 variations in types of sedimentary facies and 4 stable carbon isotopic composition of higher plant biomarkers these changes are all consistent with the occurrence of climatic shifts in northwestern australia during triassic jurassic periods established by parrish j t bradshaw m t brakel a t mulholland s m totterdell j m yeates a n 1996 palaeoclimatology of australia during the pangean interval palaeoclimates 1 241 281 the combustion marker benzo e pyrene is abundant in samples that contain pollen from falcisporites australis the decline of f australis and the rapid emergence of assemblages dominated by corollina spp at the end of the triassic marks a rapid pollen spore extinction event at the triassic jurassic boundary there is an increase in relative abundance of the higher plant biomarkers cadalene and simonellite in a prodeltaic facies the 13 c values of between 26 9 and 24 9 for retene are consistent with a source from class i conifer resinites and relate to samples abundant in araucariacian conifers in the early middle jurassic where facies are characterized as pro distal deltaic

coseismic folding earthquake recurrence and the 1987 source mechanism at whittier narrows los angeles basin california static deformation associated with the october 1 1987 whittier narrows california m 6 0 earthquake was detected by geodetic elevation changes the earthquake uplifted a 1 5 km high quaternary fold the santa monica mountains anticlinorium by 50 mm but caused no fault rupture at the ground surface this suggests that folding and faulting of the los angeles basin sediments are coincident and continuing after correction for surveying errors and nontectonic subsidence we model the 214 geodetic observations with a simple dislocation in an elastic half space a thrust fault with reverse slip of 1 1 0 3 m and dipping 30 4 n with an upper edge at a depth of 12 1 km and a lower edge at 17 1 km fits the geodetic data best and is consistent with the main shock hypocenter fault plane solution and initial aftershock distribution the upper limit on the static stress drop is 17 5 5 0 mpa 175 50 bar the lower limit on the geodetic moment is 1 0 0 2 1025 dyne cm in accord with seismic estimates indicating that most of the slip took place during seismic rupture if earthquakes of m 6 characterize the blind thrust fault on which the earthquake occurred we estimate a 200 year repeat time at whittier narrows and a 5 18 year rate of earthquake occurrence within a 150 km long band in the northern los angeles basin and santa monica bay to the west the 25 year rate of historical occurrence since 1860 is less than this prediction the deficit in moment release implies that either vigorous aseismic slip or infrequent larger earthquakes occur here

structure of the mygdonia basin n greece inferred from mt and gravity data abstract the area of the mygdonia basin n greece comprises the european seismological test site for that reason a large number of different geophysical methods have been applied in the area however information on the structure below the sediments has not been revealed mt and gravity data were interpreted in order to identify the deeper structure of the region where the basin is in detail gravity data were also used in order to reveal information about the extent of the magmatic intrusions in the area a three dimensional gravity model for the broader area of the mygdonia basin was constructed based on the interpretation of the gravity data a buried body of a density less than that of the hosting metamorphic rocks is suggested and is considered as the continuation of the arnea granite which outcrops mainly southwards of the studied area eight mt soundings were performed in the mygdonia basin the frequency range was 128 0 004 hz and nine channels were employed for each sounding with four used as a reference station the data were processed using both least square and remote reference least square methods different types of dimensionality indicators were calculated resulting in a n65e regional strike a profile perpendicular to the strike was concluded and a vertical grid along this line was created using information from d c resistivity measurements for the first 400 m depth the grid was used as an input to a two dimensional inversion algorithm occam s 2d the geological model proposed for the basement consists of schists with a thickness of 200 m and gneisses which reach a depth of 1200 m below these formations the existence of the granite is suggested from the results of both the mt and gravity data the depth of the bottom of the granitic body reaches 5 km

the basement of the mount athos peninsula northern greece insights from geochemistry and zircon ages the mount athos peninsula is situated in the south easternmost part of the chalkidiki peninsula in northern greece it belongs to the serbo macedonian massif smm a large basement massif within the internal hellenides the south eastern part of the mount athos peninsula is built by fine grained banded biotite gneisses and migmatites forming a domal structure the southern tip of the peninsula which also comprises mount athos itself is built by limestone marble and low grade metamorphic rocks of the chortiatis unit the northern part and the majority of the western shore of the mount athos peninsula are composed of highly deformed rocks belonging to a tectonic melange termed the athos volvi suture zone avz which separates two major basement units the vertiskos terrane in the west and the kerdillion unit in the east the rock types in this melange range from metasediments marbles and gneisses to amphibolites eclogites and peridotites the gneisses are tectonic slivers of the adjacent basement complexes the melange zone and the gneisses were intruded by granites ierissos ouranoupolis and gregoriou the ouranoupolis intrusion obscures the contact between the melange and the gneisses the granites are only slightly deformed and therefore postdate the accretionary event that assembled the units and created the melange pb pb and u pb shrimp dating of igneous zircons of the gneisses and granites of the eastern athos peninsula in conjunction with geochemical and isotopic analyses are used to put athos into the context of a regional tectonic model the ages form three clusters the basement age is indicated by two samples that yielded permo carboniferous u pb ages of 292 6 2 9 ma and 299 4 3 5 ma the main magmatic event of the granitoids now forming the gneiss dome is dated by pb pb ages between 140 0 2 6 ma and 155 7 5 1 ma with a mean of 144 7 2 4 ma a within error identical age of 146 6 2 3 ma was obtained by the u pb shrimp method this late jurassic age is also known from the kerdillion unit and the rhodope terrane the rather undeformed granites are interpreted as piercing plutons the small granite stocks sampled have late cretaceous to early tertiary ages of 66 8 0 8 ma and 68 0 1 0 ma u pb shrimp 62 8 3 9 ma pb pb the main accretionary event was according to these data in the late jurassic since all younger rocks show little or no deformation the age distribution together with the geochemical and isotopic signature and the lithology indicates that the eastern part of the mount athos peninsula is part of a large scale gneiss dome also building the kerdillion unit of the eastern smm and the rhodope massif this finding extends the area of this dome significantly to the south and indicates that the tectonic boundary between the smm and the rhodope massif lies within the avz

tectonic development of the vardar ocean and its margins evidence from the republic of macedonia and greek macedonia abstract the tectonic development of the northeast margin of the korabi pelagonian continent and the adjacent vardar ocean is discussed based on study of nine traverses across the former northeastern margin of the korabi pelagonian continent represented by the west vardar subzone in the republic of macedonia a detailed correlation of units is also made across the international border with greece coupled with regional comparisons precambrian palaeozoic units were metamorphosed and intruded by granitic rocks followed by mid triassic rifting and the construction of a carbonate platform bordering a late triassic early jurassic ocean neritic deposition was followed by late jurassic syn or pre early tithonian subsidence with radiolarian and then terrigenous turbidite sedimentation overlying ophiolitic rocks are characterised by a relatively thin 200 km n s sheet of sheared blocky serpentinite mainly mantle harzburgite associated with ophiolite derived debris flows the emplaced ophiolitic rocks were subaerially weathered to form local fe ni accumulations following marine transgression a shallow water carbonate siliciclastic deposits including coralgal reefs accumulated during late tithonian early cretaceous after a hiatus mixed terrigenous carbonate gravity flows accumulated in deep water during the late cretaceous the vardar ocean opened during the late triassic early jurassic separating the korabi pelagonian and serbo macedonian continents northeastward subduction created a late jurassic magmatic arc along the southern margin of the serbo macedonian continent while future ophiolites formed by supra subduction zone spreading within the vardar ocean these ophiolites were emplaced in response to collision of the subduction trench with the korabi pelagonian continent the pre mesozoic basement detached and subducted undergoing high pressure low temperature metamorphism during the late jurassic tithonian followed by amphibolite greenschist facies metamorphism and exhumation prior to the late cretaceous a much reduced vardar ocean survived into the late cretaceous until this finally closed during the latest cretaceous early cenozoic triggering continental collision and thick skinned folding thrusting of the pelagonian vardar and serbo macedonian zones towards the w sw

carbon isotopic compositions of 28 30 bisnorhopanes and other biological markers in a monterey crude oil abstract an immature tar like oil api 3 13 c 23 6 vs pdb from the miocene monterey formation offshore california was selected for a study of carbon isotopic signatures of individual biomarkers the three principal stereoisomers of 28 30 bisnorhopane c 28 have within analytical precision identical carbon isotopic compositions average 13 c 32 3 0 4 and are considerably depleted in 13 c compared to the whole oil these 28 30 bisnorhopanes bnh differ isotopically from c 29 and c 30 17 h hopanes 25 8 and 26 1 and c 31 c 35 extended hopanes 13 c 27 7 and suggest different precursors for the c 28 hopanes than for c 29 c 35 hopanes the relative depletion of bnh of almost 9 compared to the isotopic composition of the whole oil suggests that these hopanes derive from chemoautotrophic bacteria possibly not yet identified h 2 s oxidizers which utilize 13 c depleted substrates the c 29 and c 30 hopanes are within analytical precision isotopically identical 26 and similar to algal derived compounds e g c 27 steranes 25 9 which is consistent with a cyanobacterial source for these hopanes an archaebacterial biomarker 1 1 biphytane 13 c 25 5 likely derived from methanogens is also isotopically similar to c 27 sterane norpristane pristane and phytane liberated by desulfurization of the aromatic and polar maltene fractions show isotopic compositions similar to the same isoprenoids in the free lipids of the bitumen total range from 24 5 to 27 5 this isotopic similarity supports a common origin for the free and sulfur bound forms of these isoprenoids this origin could be algal and or archaebacterial lipids which both show isotopic compositions within the range of the c 18 c 20 isoprenoids like other marine derived organic matter this monterey oil does not show the strong 13 c depletion typical for methylotroph derived compounds characteristically found in organic matter of lacustrine origin this may indicate fundamental differences of methane recycling processes in marine sulfate dominated as compared to lacustrine environments

application of aromatic compounds as maturity indicators in source rocks and crude oils concentration ratios of aromatic compounds such as naphthalenes phenanthrenes and dibenzothiophenes are at present attracting increasing attention as maturity indicators in sedimentary rocks and crude oils generally these indicators rely either on an increase with maturity in the degree of alkylation of a given parent compound or a shift in the isomer distribution of alkyl aromatic homologues towards thermally more stable isomers a combination of both concepts in the methylphenanthrene index mpi resulted in an excellent maturity parameter as demonstrated for rock extracts by an improved correlation with mean vitrinite reflectance rm between 0 65 and 1 4 i e in the zone of oil formation in cases that rm measurements were ambiguous this empirical relationship has proved useful in the calculation of theoretical vitrinite reflectance rc values from the mpi on the other hand for potential petroleum source rocks reaching maturity at relatively low temperatures the influence of the organic matter type on the aromatic distributions cannot be neglected consequently organic facies effects should be taken into account in the interpretation of aromatic distributions of such source rocks and related crude oils since the impact of the organic facies is strongly reduced with increasing maturity aromatic maturity parameters are particularly useful in the maturity evaluation of post mature crude oils and condensates in contrast to biological markers substantially higher concentrations of the key alkyl aromatics persist at elevated maturation levels thus aromatic maturity parameters should be considered as versatile tools in organic maturation studies and can complement established maturity indicators based on steranes and terpanes

organic matter maturation under the influence of a deep intrusive heat source a natural experiment for quantitation of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion from a petroleum source rock toarcian shale northern germany four shallow boreholes were drilled in the hils syncline northern germany in order to determine quantitatively the amount of hydrocarbons generated and expelled during maturation of a typical kerogen type ii bearing source rock the holes penetrated the carbonceous lias shales posidonia shale lower toarcian and part of the adjacent dogger and lias mudstones the maturity of the organic matter in the cores recovered ranges from immature 0 48 r0 to overmature 1 45 r0 due to location of the hils syncline in the vicinity of the vlotho massif which is deep seated intrusive body facies variations of the lias within the short geographical distances in the study area are negligible organic matter mass balance calculations were based on detailed organic geochemical analyses of residual material in the lias shales kerogen bitumen etc and on the evidence of a uniform initial composition of these sediments in the study area dead carbon determinations supported this latter criterion but were not used as a parameter in the calculations about 50 of the initial kerogen was transformed into oil gas and inorganic compounds during the vitrinite reflectance increase from 0 48 to 0 88 ro and only marginally more during the maturity increase from 0 88 to 1 45 ro only a small portion of the generated material remained in the source rock even at a relatively early stage of generation 0 68 ro expulsion efficiency of oil plus gas reached a value of 86 at the end of the main generation stage 0 88 ro

40ar 39ar laserprobe direct dating of discrete deformational events a continuous record of early alpine tectonics in the pelagonian zone nw aegean area greece abstract the pelagonian zone of the hellenides which occurs in the northwestern aegean region of the eastern mediterranean contains remnants of a high pressure metamorphic belt which subsequently underwent localized reworking during low temperature deformational events formation of alpine deformational structures in the ossa massif northern pelagonian zone occurred at metamorphic temperatures which failed to reset most pre alpine 40ar 39ar cooling ages in muscovite porphyroclasts the low metamorphic temperatures at alpine times have preserved the argon isotopic signature in white mica bearing deformational structures which allows direct dating of these structures and refinement of the alpine tectonic history in the region after separation of carefully selected and characterized mica generations application of sensitive 40ar 39ar laserprobe dating has resulted in a continuous record of the early alpine tectonic history of the ossa massif from the early cretaceous well into the eocene the early alpine history of the ossa massif records cooling of basement thrust slices which are mostly hercynian granites and metamorphics below ca 350 c by 100 ma while lower tectonostratigraphic levels of the basement had already cooled below these temperatures at around ca 285 ma blueschist facies mylonite fabrics related to a top to ene direction of tectonic transport yield ages as old as 84 5 3 3 ma exhumation of the blueschist facies sequences was initiated at ca 54 ma and involved tectonic activity along blueschist facies and greenschist facies mylonites zones final wsw ward transport of the metamorphic sequence across the structurally lowest and supposed autochthonous series occurred at around 45 ma and resulted in termination of the ductile deformation history in the studied area this study confines the onset of high pressure metamorphism in the pelagonian zone to an interval between 100 ma and 85 ma and has shown that high pressure metamorphism had terminated by ca 54 ma the recognition of an early to middle alpine cycle lasting over 30 million years and involving crustal shortening high pressure metamorphism exhumation and subsequent crustal shortening is a key contribution to a better understanding of the early alpine tectonic history of the aegean region and eastern mediterranean

geology and geochronology of the arnea sithonia and ouranopolis intrusions chalkidiki peninsula northern greece abstract the chalkidiki peninsula comprises the greek geotectonic units of the vardar axios zone and the serbo macedonian massif several granitic bodies of various ages intrude this area and many of them are of unknown or disputed age the ages of the arnea sithonia and ouranopolis granitoids are investigated using 40 ar 39 ar stepheated mineral and rb sr whole rock analyses the arnea granite has experienced intense but variable deformation recrystallization and retrogression in general it lacks easily datable minerals because of it s highly evolved silica rich composition however coarse grained phlogopitic mica separated from a minor less evolved porphyritic part of the intrusion yields an excellent 40 ar 39 ar plateau age of 136 1 ma rb sr whole rock samples give a regression line of age 155 11ma and an initial 87 sr 86 sr ratio of 0 7174 0 0017 mswd 280 the scatter may reflect the widespread recrystallization and deformation of the arnea granite the arnea granite is at least late jurassic in age and has undergone regional greenschist metamorphism during the early cretaceous biotite from the sithonia granitoid yields a plateau age of 43 0 6 ma muscovites from crosscutting pegmatites within the granitoid give slightly saddle shaped age spectra with minimum ages of 49 ma and 50 ma suggesting argon 40 excess biotite and muscovite from the ouranopolis granitoid yield plateau ages of 44 1 1 ma and 47 0 7 ma respectively it is suggested that this granitoid is coeval and cogenetic with the sithonia granitoid both intrusions are eocene in age rb sr whole rock samples from the sithonia and ouranopolis granitoids failed to provide any isochrons this is interpreted to be due to inhomogeneities in these young intrusions the age data strongly suggest that the sithonia and ouranopolis granitoids are unrelated to the arnea granite coupled with geochemical and petrographic data these results clarify the relationships between some of the granitic intrusions and have important regional implications

evidence for and implications of self healing pulses of slip in earthquake rupture dislocation time histories of models derived from waveforms of seven earthquakes are discussed in each model dislocation rise times the duration of slip for a given point on the fault are found to be short compared to the overall duration of the earthquake 10 however in many crack like numerical models of dynamic rupture the slip duration at a given point is comparable to the overall duration of the rupture i e slip at a given point continues until information is received that the rupture has stopped propagating alternative explanations for the discrepancy between the short slip durations used to model waveforms and the long slip durations inferred from dynamic crack models are 1 the dislocation models are unable to resolve the relatively slow parts of earthquake slip and have seriously underestimated the dislocations for these earthquakes 2 earthquakes are composed of a sequence of small dimension short duration events that are separated by locked regions barriers 3 rupture occurs in a narrow self healing pulse of slip that travels along the fault surface evidence is discussed that suggests that slip durations are indeed short and that the self healing slip pulse model is the most appropriate explanation a qualitative model is presented that produces self healing slip pulses the key feature of the model is the assumption that friction on the fault surface is inversely related to the local slip velocity the model has the following features high static strength of materials kilobar range low static stress drops in the range of tens of bars and relatively low frictional stress during slip less than several hundreds of bars it is suggested that the reason that the average dislocation scales with fault length is because large amplitude slip pulses are difficult to stop and hence tend to propagate large distances this model may explain why seismicity and ambient stress are low along fault segments that have experienced large earthquakes it also qualitatively explains why the recurrence time for large earthquakes may be irregular

late permian early triassic igneous activity in the attic cycladic belt attica new geochronological data and geodynamic implications article i nfo article history igneous rocks of the attic cycladic belt acb formed prior to the alpine orogeny have received relatively little attention especially regarding their crystallisation age new u pb shrimp zircon data from mylonitised metagranitoid rocks within metapelites and metabasites of the pentelikon mountain lower tectonic unit ltu of attica in combination with internal zircon characteristics reveal the following the metagranitoid precursor was very likely an i type pluton crystallising in two successive stages at 255 3 ma and 246 2 ma weighted mean 206 pb 238 u ages error at 95 c l these age results are respectively marginally older than and within un certainty of the 240 4 ma protolith age reported for metagranitoids of the same unit in the area of lavrion at tica they are in line with the protolith ages of several meta igneous rocks within the cycladic blueschist unit of aegean islands one core zircon domain and one single zircon grain yielded

chronology of magmatism and mineralization in the kassandra mining area greece the potentials and limitations of dating hydrothermal illites abstract various geochronological methods u pb rb sr and k ar have been applied to constrain the timing of magmatism and polymetallic mineralization in the kassandra mining district northern greece these data provide the first geochronological evidence that porphyry copper mineralization proximal copper skarns and distal high temperature carbonate hosted pb zn ag au replacement ores formed contemporaneously and probably within less than 2 million years polymetallic mineralization is temporally related to the emplacement of granodioritic to quartz dioritic porphyries 24 25 ma that postdate the largest post tectonic intrusion of the area the stratoni granodiorite 27 9 1 2 ma andesite porphyry dikes which crosscut the pb zn ag au ores and associated alterations represent the last magmatic phase in the area 19 1 0 6 ma and did not contribute to metal concentration the combination of k ar rb sr and oxygen isotope studies of hydrothermal illite rich clays and careful granulometric analysis constrains the reliability of these geochronological methods and emphasizes the importance of characterizing the post formational history of the sample we identify various processes which partly disturbed the k ar and rb sr system of some clays such as retrograde alteration by heated meteoric waters superimposed supergene illitization and resetting of both isotopic systems due to a hydrothermal overprint related to the intrusion of the andesite porphyry our data however suggest that diffusive ar loss from the finest clay fractions k ar system conventional k ar ages of 200 c therefore do not give reliable formation ages the loss of ar may be used to model the cooling history of the hydrothermal system applying the concept of closure temperatures dodson 1973 40k 40arrad isochrons of natural coarser grained 0 6 m size fractions of illites from single samples even when slightly contaminated with feldspars may yield meaningful ages either of the formation or of a reheating event the rb sr dating of hydrothermal clays is sensitive to contamination by adsorbed strontium which may not be cogenetic with the clay as well as feldspars which may not have been homogenized isotopically by the illitization process

fission track thermochronology vertical kinematics and tectonic development along the western extension of the north anatolian fault zone 1 we have investigated the low temperature history of pre neogene basement areas adjacent to the western extension of the north anatolian fault zone nafz by apatite fission track thermochronology of 33 samples taken from marmara island kapidag peninsula both in the sea of marmara samothrake island and chalkidike peninsula both in the north aegean region together with already published apatite fission track data from 30 other sampling localities of the region these data 63 in total have been evaluated mainly with regard to the transitional period from the mesohellenic orogeny eocene oligocene to the plate tectonical individualization of the aegean antolian microplate to gain a better understanding of the tectonical chronology that has led to modern east mediterranean plate tectonics apatite fission track investigations of the area under discussion reveal two major events of cooling and exhumation of pre neogene rocks a first frequency maximum of cooling ages between 35 and 25 ma late eocene to early oligocene is due to postorogenic regional erosion after the climax of the mesohellenic orogeny which was caused by continental collision of the pelagonian platform and the rila rhodope zone after the final closure of the axios vardar ocean a second frequency maximum of cooling ages between 17 and 11 5 ma early to middle miocene depicts more localized uplift and exhumation in consequence of transpressive and or transtensive movements along early structural discontinuities that gave rise to the later fault systems in the western extension of the nafz the earliest fault structures of this system have developed shortly after the orogenic collapse and crustal extension of the rila rhodope area but quasi simultaneously with the onset of subduction along the modern hellenic trench the regional distribution of fission track ages of the miocene age group 17 to 11 5 ma and corresponding thermochronological calculations based on frequency distributions of confined track lengths suggest that an early fault propagation has occurred from east to west during the miocene the onset of subduction along the hellenic trench and subsequent gravitational retreat of the subducting oceanic slab are considered as a major cause for transtension of the aegean crust especially with regard to the development of north aegean pull apart basins such early fault structures have facilitated the westward propagation of a continuous nafz that took place during the pliocene from the easternmost marmara region to the gallipoli peninsula and to the north aegean trough

the 1971 san fernando earthquake a double event evidence is presented which suggest that the 1971 san fernando earthquake may have been a double event that occurred on two separate subparallel thrust faults it is postulated that the initial event took place at depth on the sierra madre fault zone which runs along the base of the san gabriel mountains rupture is postulated to have occurred from a depth of about 15 km to a depth of about 3 km a second event is thought to have initiated about 4 sec later on another steeply dipping thrust fault which is located about 4 km south of the sierra madre fault zone the surface trace of this fault coincides with the san fernando fault zone which was the principal fault associated with surface rupture it is postulated that rupture propagated from a depth of 8 km to the free surface the moments of the first and second events are approximately 0 7 10 26 dyne cm and 1 0 10 26 dyne cm respectively this model is found to explain the combined data sets of strong ground motions teleseismic p and s waveforms and static offsets better than previous models which consist of either a single fault plane or a plane having a dip angle which shallows with decreasing depth nevertheless many features of the observed motions remain unexplained and considerable uncertainty still exists regarding the faulting history of the san fernando earthquake

geochemical study on a well in the western canada basin relation of the aromatic distribution pattern to maturity of organic matter abstract thirty one rock samples from a western canada basin well have been analysed for aromatics using glass capillary gas chromatography with simultaneous flame ionization and sulfur selective flame photometric detection a uniform aromatic distribution pattern with a marked predominance of di and tricyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was observed throughout a depth interval of 3000 meters comprising cretaceous and jurassic sediments the very high relative abundance of sulfur aromatics at two narrow intervals in the triassic and mississippian is attributed to a major change in facies gradual changes with increasing depth have been observed for a series of compound ratios which had been calculated from the isomers of methyl and dimethylphenanthrene and their parent compounds these changes reflect the increasing thermal maturation of the sedimentary organic matter a methylphenanthrene index mpi has been introduced which exhibited a very good correlation with vitrinite reflectance data the mpi is the first maturity parameter which is based on a series of aromatic hydrocarbons this hydrocarbon internal maturity parameter permits the recognition and definition of maturity levels in extracts which can be compared to the maturity e g vitrinite reflectance of source rocks

example of ensialic ophiolites emplaced in a wrench zone innermost hellenic ophiolite belt greek macedonia the innermost hellenic ophiolite belt of northern greece comprises discontinuous ophiolites of the guevgueli and chalkidiki complexes field structural chemical and geochronological data indicate that they are broadly autochthonous and were emplaced into continental crust along a northwest southeast wrench zone during the middle and late jurassic variations in structure and petrology along the belt can be related to changes in the tectonics of emplacement from extensional to transcurrent

timing of tectonic emplacement of the ophiolites and terrane paleogeography in the hellenides the timing of tectonic emplacement of the ophiolites is analyzed in the four oceanic terranes of the hellenides h2 h4 h6 h8 the criteria for this analysis are based on a the post emplacement sedimentary cover or intrusive rocks b the syn emplacement tectonostratigraphic formations and c the youngest rocks involved in the structure of the autochthon and the allochthon unit in each case the timing becomes younger towards the more external tectonic units of the hellenides with i late eocene oligocene age in the external ophiolite belt of the pindos cyclades oceanic terrane h2 ii late jurassic early cretaceous age in the internal ophiolite belt of the vardar axios oceanic terrane h4 iii post liassic pre late jurassic age in the ophiolites of lesvos circum rhodope oceanic terrane h6 and iv pre late jurassic age in the ophiolites of volvi eastern rhodope terrane h8 an ophiolite obduction model can be applied with the ophiolitic nappes always emplaced on top of pre alpine continental terranes with mesozoic shallow water carbonate platforms the geometry of the continental terranes drifting during the mesozoic within the tethys ocean controls the number and dimensions of the tethyan oceanic basins where a continental terrane dies out the two adjacent oceanic basins merge into one larger basin this seems to be the case of the pelagonian terrane h3 which is terminated north of skopje where the pindos oceanic basin h2 merges with the vardar axios oceanic basin h4

tertiary granitoids of rhodope northern greece magmatism related to extensional collapse of the hellenic orogen abstract many granites that occur in orogenic belts such as the himalaya the hercynides or caledonides are thought to result from anatexis of the lower parts of over thickened thrust stacked crustal units just preceding termination of the orogenic cycle numerous tertiary granitoids occur in the rhodope zone of northern greece and adjacent regions of bulgaria a belt regarded as an eastern extension of the alpine system these granites could also be regarded as syn or late tectonic crustal melts in that some have been emplaced as sheet like bodies along major alpine thrust planes and show a strong marginal foliation parallel to the pervasive alpine compressional fabrics in detail however the geochemistry of the granitoids their timing and relationships with country rocks suggest they have been emplaced in an extensional regime that is related to the collapse of the hellenic orogen and more particularly to the crustal thinning that the aegean region has suffered since the mid tertiary rather than being products of crustal thickening it is suggested that their petrogenesis is related to the elevation of thermal gradients during the extensional phase which initiated thermal breakdown of hydrous minerals in the lithosphere and lower crust that had existed metastably during compression and the subduction of cool ocean lithosphere beneath the region in the late mesozoic early tertiary

insights into the origin of perylene from isotopic analyses of sediments from saanich inlet british columbia perylene is an abundant and common polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in sedimentary settings yet its origin remains puzzling we have investigated the relation of perylene to the amount and type of organic matter in the sediments of saanich inlet a coastal marine anoxic basin organic matter is predominantly marine in origin but the proportions of marine and land derived components have varied perylene concentrations generally increase with sediment depth relative to toc which indicates continued formation of this compound by microbially mediated diagenesis perylene 13c values range between 27 7 and 23 6 whereas toc 13c values vary narrowly from 21 7 to 21 2 over the same sediment depth interval the variation in isotopic difference suggests that perylene originates from more than one precursor material both aquatic and continental organic matter different microbial processes or some combination of these possibilities

aliphatic and aromatic biomarkers from gondwanan sediments of late ordovician to early devonian age an early terrestrialization approach abstract twenty one core samples of late ordovician to early devonian age from sections in southern tunisia north african platform gondwana and containing marine and terrestrial organic matter with microbial input were investigated to link the aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon distributions with the terrestrial and marine palynomorph content e g acritarchs prasinophytes chitinozoans cryptospores and trilete spores in addition to several biomarkers of algal bacterial origin long chain n alkanes that might be derived from land plants as well as the terrestrial diterpane norabietane were found several land plant derived biomarkers such as retene cadalene simonellite tetrahydroretene and c19 isohexylalkyl naphthalene were observed in the aromatic fractions while these terrestrial biomarkers could be clearly recognized in the middle silurian lower devonian samples their presence in the upper ordovician lower silurian sediments is more doubtful because of much lower relative abundances the land plant biomarkers show a fairly good correlation with the occurrence and abundance of cryptospores and trilete spores derived from bryophytes and tracheophytes which covered the emerged areas around the ghadamis basin during the silurian and devonian the early tracheophytes e g cooksonia lycophytes and zosterophylls are therefore suggested as a new terrestrial source for most of the saturated and aromatic biomarkers found in sediments of middle silurian to early devonian age

interplay between geochemistry and magma dynamics during magma interaction an example from the sithonia plutonic complex ne greece orogenic granitoids often display mineralogical and geochemical features suggesting that open system magmatic processes played a key role in their evolution this is testified by the presence of enclaves of more mafic magmas dispersed into the granitoid mass the occurrence of strong disequilibrium textures in mineralogical phases and or extreme geochemical and isotopic variability in this contribution intrusive rocks constituting the sithonia plutonic complex northern greece are studied on the basis of mineral chemistry whole rock major trace element geochemistry and sr and nd isotopic composition sithonia rocks can be divided into a basic group bearing macroscopic mafic enclaves microscopic disequilibrium textures geochemical and isotopic evidence of magma interaction and an acid group in which most geochemical and isotopic features are consistent with a magma mixing process but macroscopic and microscopic features are lacking a two step mixing plus fractional crystallization mfc process is considered responsible for the evolution of the basic group the firststepexplainsthechemicalvariationinthemaficenclavegroup abasicmagma representedbytheleastevolvedenclaves interacted

a molecular and isotopic study of the organic matter from the paris basin france thirteen liassic sedimentary rocks of increasing depth and three petroleums from the paris basin were studied for 13c 12c isotopic compositions and biological markers including steranes sterenes methylphenanthrenes methylanthracenes and triaromatic steroids the isotopic compositions of n alkanes from mature sedimentary rocks and petroleums fall in a narrow range 2 except for the deepest hettangian rock and the trias petroleum for which the short chain n alkanes are enriched and depleted in 13c respectively most of the molecular parameters increase over the 2000 2500 m depth range reflecting the transformation of the organic matter at the onset of petroleum generation in this zone carbonate content and carbon isotopic composition of carbonates as well as molecular parameters are distinct for the toarcian and hettangian source rocks and suggest a migration of organic matter from these two formations two novel molecular parameters were defined for this task one using methyltriaromatic steroids from organic extracts the other using 1 methylphenanthrene and 2 methylanthracene from kerogen pyrolysates the anomalous high maturity of the dogger petroleum relative to the maturity depth trend of the source rocks is used to estimate the minimal vertical distance of migration of the organic matter from the source rock to the reservoir

overview of ophiolites and related units in the late palaeozoic early cenozoic magmatic and tectonic development of tethys in the northern part of the balkan region abstract the northern balkan peninsula including serbia montenegro bosnia croatia and the former yugoslavian republic of macedonia represents an excellent region for the study of tectonic processes related to mesozoic tethyan ophiolite genesis and emplacement we first summarise the main tectonic units of the northern balkan peninsula and then use this information to discuss tectonic processes including rifting sea floor spreading ophiolite genesis and emplacement melange accretion ocean basin closure and collision we then discuss alternative models of ophiolite genesis and emplacement for the region and suggest that multi ocean basin interpretations fit the data better than single ocean basin interpretations rifting of adria gondwana during the triassic created a rift in the south budva zone and opened a triassic oceanic basin further north dinaride ocean occurrences of inferred sub continental mantle lithosphere in the dinaride ophiolite belt e g zlatibor may record extensional exhumation within an ocean continent transition zone bordering the adria dinaride continent this was followed by emplacement together with ophiolites and melange during upper jurassic early cretaceous time upper triassic radiolarites and mid ocean ridge type basalts formed at a spreading ridge after continental break up the oceanic lithosphere of the dinaride ophiolite belt was partly generated above a subduction zone the metamorphic soles of the dinaride ophiolites formed during mid late jurassic mainly based on k ar dating widespread melange that is associated with the ophiolites represents a subduction complex controlled by tectonic accretion and sedimentary reworking in trench and fore arc basin settings a possible cause of jurassic dinaride ophiolite emplacement was collision of a subduction trench with a continental margin further north mesozoic oceanic lithosphere subducted northeastwards present coordinates opening a late jurassic marginal basin in the main vardar zone the dinaride ocean in the south closed during late jurassic early cretaceous time tithonian berriasian deformed oceanic crust melange and magmatic arc rocks further north main vardar zone were transgressed by mainly clastic sediments during the early cretaceous however part of the vardar ocean vardar zone western belt or sava zone remained partially open until latest cretaceous time generally northward subduction within this remnant ocean triggered further supra subduction zone ophiolite genesis during the late cretaceous the ocean closed by the maastrichtian followed by early cenozoic regional scale southward thrusting that locally intercalated older and younger mesozoic ophiolites and melanges future progress particularly depends on determining the crystallisation ages of the ophiolites obtaining better structural data on the direction of initial ophiolite emplacement and unravelling the palaeozoic tectonic development of the eurasian continental margin

serbo macedonian revisited a silurian basement terrane from northern gondwana in the internal hellenides greece abstract new geochronological and geochemical data on basement orthogneisses from the vertiskos unit of the serbo macedonian massif smm internal hellenides northern greece are used in order to constrain the pre alpine tectonic history of the basement units in the metamorphic hinterland of the hellenides the prevailing rock types in the vertiskos crystalline basement are coarse grained biotite augengneisses with subordinate leucocratic muscovite gneisses and two mica gneisses zircon pb pb and u pb ages on 20 samples range from 425 9 4 2 ma to 443 4 5 5 ma with a mean of 432 2 3 2 ma and are interpreted as primary crystallisation ages of the basement granites on the basis of the magmatic internal structure of the zircon grains trace element and isotope geochemistry of the gneisses show that they originated in a magmatic arc setting but also contain material from pre existing continental crust the rocks are slightly peraluminous and some leucocratic gneisses are strongly depleted in incompatible trace elements the zircon ages document an early silurian magmatic phase in the internal hellenides the association of lithologies and ages is distinctly different from that of the adjacent basement massifs this difference in basement provenance and the fact that the vertiskos unit is bordered by ophiolitic material both to the west and to the east leads to the conclusion that this part of the smm is an exotic terrane of northern gondwanan origin which was finally accreted to its present position during the alpine orogeny the vertiskos terrane may have been part of the hun superterrane which evolved at the northern active continental margin of gondwana in the early palaeozoic and rifted away from it during the opening of the rheic ocean in the cambrian to silurian parts of this superterrane such as the vertiskos terrane are present throughout the variscan and alpine orogens

source complexity of the 1987 whittier narrows california earthquake from the inversion of strong motion records strong motion records for the whittier narrows earthquake are inverted to obtain the history of slip both constant rupture velocity models and variable rupture velocity models are considered the results show a complex rupture process within a relatively small source volume with at least four separate concentrations of slip two sources are associated with the hypocenter the larger having a slip of 55 90 cm depending on the rupture model these sources have a radius of approximately 2 3 km and are ringed by a region of reduced slip the aftershocks fall within this low slip annulus other sources with slips from 40 to 70 cm each ring the central source region and the aftershock pattern all the sources are predominantly thrust although some minor right lateral strike slip motion is seen the overall dimensions of the whittier earthquake from the strong notion inversions is 10 km long along the strike and 6 km wide down the dip the preferred dip is 30 degree and the preferred average rupture velocity is 2 5 km s moment estimates range from 7 4 to 10 0 times 10 sup 24 dyn cm depending on the rupture model

microscopic and sedimentologic evidence for the generation and migration of hydrocarbons in toarcian source rocks of different maturities abstract this study is part of a comprehensive research program on the generation and migration of petroleum from the organic rich posidonia shale lower toarcian jurassic of the hils syncline northern germany four cores of the complete posidonia shale with varying amounts of underlying pliensbachian and overlying aalenian mudstones provided the sample base depending upon their distance from a presumed subjacent heat source the vlotho massif the cores display progressive levels of increasing thermal maturation with r 0 values 0 48 0 68 0 88 and 1 45 which span the limits of the oil generation window primary stratigraphic lithologic and petrographic attributes of the four sections are all very similar each includes a lower marlstone member about 5 m thick overlain by 11 31 m of calcareous clay shale clay minerals calcite pyrite kerogen and quartz are the principal constituents thus there is no evidence that depositional conditions of the posidonia shale varied significantly over the sampled area the omnipresence of framboidal pyrite clearly formed from the activity of sulphate reducing bacteria at or near the depositional interface is strong evidence that uniform reducing anoxic conditions were persistent at all localities this conclusion supports the assumption that initially each section was identical in overall properties and that significant differences observed in geochemistry organic macerals and other properties are directly related to the variable levels of thermal maturation kerogen from the least mature section r o 0 48 is type ii and composed of alginite a alginite b liptodetrinite bituminite and some terrestrial sporinite vitrinite and inertinite macerals with increasing maturation the alginite macerals exhibit a progressive change in morphology and fluorescence properties alginite of the least mature section displays a strong green fluorescence at 0 68 r o alginite macerals exhibit yellow orange fluorescence and are structurally well preserved although geochemical data indicate generation and loss of large amounts of oil at 0 88 r o hydrocarbon generation is almost complete and few primary alginites remain they have been transformed into secondary liptinites designated as metaalginite which have similar fluorescence colours at the highest maturation level 1 45 r o metaalginites are only weakly fluorescent with a shift toward red colours calcite and or bitumen filled bedding plane micro and macrofractures occur exclusively in the organic rich posidonia shale at maturity levels of 0 68 r o and above such features are totally absent in the immature posidonia section and in the adjacent organic poor mudstones this observation indicates that the fractures developed in direct response to overpressuring i e pore pressure exceeding lithologic load related to oil and gas generation in the source rock the fractures undoubtedly provided important expulsion conduits for generated products

two oil types on north slope of alaska implications for exploration forty oil samples from across the north slope of alaska have been analyzed by the u s bureau of mines and the u s geological survey results of these analyses suggest two separate genetic oil types the first the simpson umiat oil type occurs in reservoir rocks of cretaceous and quaternary age and includes oil from seeps in the skull cliff cape simpson manning point and ungoon point areas and oils from wolf creek test 3 and the cape simpson and umiat oil fields these are higher gravity low sulfur oils with no or slight odd numbered n alkane predominance and pristane to phytane ratios greater than 1 5 also these oils have dgr13c values ranging from 29 1 to 27 8 parts per thousand ppt and dgr34s values from 10 3 to 4 9 ppt the s cond type the barrow prudhoe oil type occurs in reservoir rocks of carboniferous to cretaceous age and includes oils from south barrow gas field prudhoe bay oil field and the fish creek test well 1 physical properties of barrow prudhoe oils are variable but in general the oils are medium gravity high sulfur oils with slight even numbered n alkane predominance and pristane to phytane ratios less than 1 5 also these oils have dgr13c values of 30 3 to 29 8 ppt and dgr34s values from 30 0 to 2 1 ppt the two types are believed to originate from different source rocks the barrow prudhoe type may have originated from a carbonate or other iron deficient source rock and the simpson umiat type from a siliciclastic source rock occurrences of the two oil types when outlined on a map indicate at least two areas for additional exploration for the barrow prudhoe type in stratigraphic traps along and adjacent to the barrow arch and for the simpson umiat type in cretaceous rocks along the trend between the simpson and umiat oil fields and in cretaceous and tertiary rocks from prudhoe bay field to the william o douglas arctic wildlife range

strong motion and broadband teleseismic analysis of the 1991 sierra madre california earthquake short period and broadband teleseismic waveform data and three component strong motion records were analyzed to obtain the source parameters of the 1991 sierra madre earthquake close in strong motion velocity records analyzed from 5 s to 5 hz show two distinct pulses about 0 35 s apart requiring some rupture complexity the near field shear wave displacement pulse from this event has a relatively short duration about 1 s for the magnitude of the event requiring a particularly high average stress drop to further constrain the rupture process the data were used in a finite fault source inversion to determine the temporal and spatial distribution of slip we chose a fault plane orientation striking s 62 w and dipping 50 toward the northwest as required by the distribution of aftershocks the first motion mechanism and the teleseismic bodywave point source inversion in addition to the aftershock locations depth constraints are provided by teleseismic short period and broadband recordings which require a centroid depth of 10 11 km our inverse modeling results indicate that both the teleseismic and strong motion data sets can be fit with a compact rupture area about 12 km2 southwest and up dip from the hypocenter the average slip is approximately 50 cm and the maximum slip is 120 cm the seismic moment obtained from either of the separate data sets or both sets combined is about 2 8 0 3 1024 dyn cm and the potency is 0 01 km3 using the area of significant slip estimated from the finite fault inversion the resulting stress drop is on the order of 150 200 bars

aftershock patterns and main shock faulting we have compared aftershock patterns following several moderate to large earthquakes with the corresponding distributions of coseismic slip obtained from previous analyses of the recorded strong ground motion and teleseismic waveforms well located aftershock hypocenters are projected onto the main shock fault plane and their positions are examined relative to the zones of coseismic displacement indicated by the estimated distributions of main shock slip we also examine the aftershock focal mechanisms when these data are available in an attempt to identify possible patterns of secondary faulting within the aftershock zone our results are consistent with a hypothesis of aftershock occurrence that requires a secondary redistribution of stress following primary failure on the earthquake fault aftershocks following the earthquakes examined in this study occur mostly outside of or near the edges of the source areas indicated by the patterns of main shock slip the spatial distribution of aftershocks reflects either a continuation of slip in the outer regions of the areas of maximum coseismic displacement or the activation of subsidiary faults within the volume surrounding the boundaries of main shock rupture

triassic rift related meta granites in the internal hellenides greece the serbo macedonian massif is a basement complex in the internal hellenides of northern greece situated between the vardar zone to the west and the rhodope massif to the east the serbo macedonian massif comprises several distinct basement units interpreted as terranes the largest of which is the gondwana derived vertiskos terrane in the northwestern and central parts of the massif a series of leucocratic meta granites intrude the silurian orthogneiss basement of the vertiskos terrane no similar granites are found in any of the other units of the internal hellenides the meta granites have a pronounced crustal within plate signature which is visible in lithology major and trace element geochemistry and the sr isotopic compositions these intrusions were dated using the pb pb single zircon evaporation method and yielded a triassic age of between 240 7 2 6 ma and 221 7 1 9 ma on 17 samples with a mean age of 228 3 5 6 ma the zircons are purely magmatic indicating that ages are primary crystallization ages a rb sr errorchron of the whole rock samples of the arnea granite yielded an age of 231 6 9 9 ma mswd 82 and a mean 87 sr 86 sr initial ratio is 0 7142 indicating a crust dominated source and suggesting an a type origin for the granites the a type meta granites together with mafic intrusive bodies amphibolites in the vertiskos terrane may be evidence of triassic rifting that led to the formation of a branch of neotethys vardar meliata ocean similar rock associations are also exposed in the cyclades and in massifs of the wider eastern mediterranean realm related to the gondwana derived hun terrane indicating that the arnea type granites are representatives of a major regional rifting event in triassic times

tectonic sedimentary evolution of the western margin of the mesozoic vardar ocean evidence from the pelagonian and almopias zones northern greece

organic geochemistry and coal petrology of tertiary brown coal in the zhoujing mine baise basin south china 4 biomarker sources inferred from stable carbon isotope compositions of individual compounds abstract carbon isotopic compositions of extractable compounds derived from higher land plants are within 2 0 00 of the bulk coal 13 c 27 0 0 00 from baise basin this data suggests that either similar species contributed these compounds or that the plants from which this coal was formed imposed similar biosynthetic fractionations the terpenoid hydrocarbons form two isotopically distinct groups the diterpenoids 13 c 25 0 1 4 0 00 and the sesquiterpenoids 13 c 25 9 1 5 0 00 are on 1 2 0 00 enriched in 13c compared to the bulk coal whereas the oleanane ursane lupane derivatives 13 c 29 0 0 8 0 00 are on average 1 2 0 00 depleted in 13c compared to the bulk coal the n alkanes ranging from c15 to c35 have a mean 13c value of 32 4 0 6 0 00 whereby averages for the c17 c22 and c23 c33n alkanes do not significantly differ from the overall average hopane derivatives in this coal extract are depleted in 13c compared to the bulk coal by 8 34 0 00 suggesting that bacterial cycling of methane played a role during formation of this coal

a comparison of thermal maturity parameters between freely extracted hydrocarbons bitumen i and a second extract bitumen ii from within the kerogen matrix of permian and triassic sedimentary rocks abstract in this study we compared various maturity dependent aromatic steroid and triterpenoid hydrocarbon ratios in bitumens that are freely extractable from sedimentary rocks bitumen i with those in second extracts that comprised hydrocarbons closely associated with the kerogen mineral matrix bitumen ii bitumen ii was released through kerogen isolation and demineralisation using hcl and hf h3bo3 the samples studied although of similar age come from different localities they represent a range of facies and two kerogen types ii and iii and all were deposited under marine conditions the results show that the more stable isomers of methylnaphthalene mn and methylphenanthrene mp are relatively more abundant in bitumen ii the difference between the methylnaphthalene ratio mnr of bitumens i and ii when plotted against the ratio of clay to total organic carbon clay toc gives an excellent correlation r2 0 88 the highest clay toc ratio corresponds with the biggest difference in mnr for the respective bitumens consistent with the more stable isomers being preferentially retained within the clay kerogen matrix since the mp isomers are higher in bitumen ii than in bitumen i it was anticipated that their methylphenanthrene index mpi 1 values a commonly used measure of thermal maturity would also be different for most samples the measured mpi 1 in bitumen i is generally higher than that in bitumen ii except for three samples thus showing a bias towards a lower thermal maturity for the second extract the opposite is true of the mp ratio and mnr this may be attributed to the fact that phenanthrene p which is part of the denominator in mpi 1 is more stable than its methylated counterparts steroid and triterpenoid maturity parameters also showed differences between the two extracts with c27 diasterane sterane and ts ts tm being higher in bitumen i only the former parameter is positively correlated with the clay toc ratio suggesting that clay content probably influences the diagenetic transformation of steroid precursors to diasteranes the observed differences between the maturity parameters of bitumen i and bitumen ii may be especially important in sedimentary rocks that contain high percentages of clay minerals

inversion of strong ground motion and teleseismic waveform data for the fault rupture history of the 1979 imperial valley california earthquake a least squares point by point inversion of strong ground motion and teleseismic body waves is used to infer the fault rupture history of the 1979 imperial valley california earthquake the imperial fault is represented by a plane embedded in a half space where the elastic properties vary with depth the inversion yields both the spatial and temporal variations in dislocation on the fault plane for both right lateral strike slip and normal dip slip components of motion inversions are run for different fault dips and for both constant and variable rupture velocity models effects of different data sets are also investigated inversions are compared which use the strong ground motions alone the teleseismic body waves alone and simultaneously the strong ground motion and teleseismic records the inversions are stabilized by adding both smoothing and positivity constraints the moment is estimated to be 5 0 10 25 dyne cm and the fault dip 90 5 dislocation in the hypocentral region south of the united states mexican border is relatively small and almost dies out near the border dislocation then increases sharply north of the border to a maximum of about 2 m under interstate 8 dipslip motion is minor compared to strike slip motion and is concentrated in the sediments the best fitting constant rupture velocity is 80 per cent of the local shear wave velocity however there is a suggestion that the rupture front accelerated from the hypocenter northward the 1979 imperial valley earthquake can be characterized as a magnitude 5 earthquake at the hypocenter which then grew into or triggered a magnitude 6 earthquake north of the border

higher plant biomarker signatures of early eocene sediments of north eastern india abstract the biomarkers molecular fossils of paleobiota have been studied in detail from a coal bearing sequence of early eocene lakadong sandstone member of sylhet formation of upper assam basin ne india using gas chromatography mass spectrometry corresponding hydrocarbon source potential of the same unit has been studied using rock eval pyrolysis the rock eval data suggest dominant terrestrial land plant contribution i e type iii kerogen and the sediments of the section had entered the early stage of catagenesis the alkane and isoprenoid distributions are characterized by odd over even preference oep 1 1 1 2 of n alkanes and high pristane phytane ratio 2 9 7 6 which corroborate the rock eval data the distribution of aliphatic biomarkers is characterized by dominance of c24 tetracyclics over c23 tricyclics high concentration of des e hopane moderate to high c29 c30 hopane ratio extremely low oleanane index and low c35 homohopane index the extremely low oleanane index is correlated with a high degree of aromatization of oleanane skeleton favoured by acidic swampy depositional environment the presence of diterpanes at the base of the early eocene section indicates contribution from gymnosperms coniferales order of land plants whereas angiospermous biomarkers with oleanoid skeleton are also preserved this pattern subsequently evolved to angiosperm dominated towards the top of the section with no gymnosperm signature indicating possible climatic variation during the early eocene towards the top of the section presence of bicadinanes indicates contribution of dipterocarpaceae family of trees and advent of the evergreen tropical rain forest element in eastern india in early eocene similar to the pattern found in western india e g cambay and kutch basins

early diagenetic pyrite cementation influences molecular composition of sedimentary organic matter in the dongying depression china abstract micro variations of lipid hydrocarbons and biomarkers in well laminated shales have not been extensively documented especially within different rock textures fabrics and mineralogies comparison of a pyrite cemented zone and its surrounding sediment may offer a new perspective on mineral control on preservation of hydrocarbons and organic carbon a black well laminated shale comprising two adjacent and contrasting calcareous light and pyrite dark laminae at the millimetre scale was selected from the eocene shahejie formation dongying depression bohai bay basin it was horizontally sliced to separate a pyrite cemented concretion from the unaltered laminated shale and investigated using geochemical techniques to assess the heterogeneity of elements minerals microfossils and hydrocarbons within the two slices micro scale changes in source inputs were noted for instance the 4 methylsteranes dinosteranes and the triaromatic dinosteranes show varying distributions between the two slices attributed to slight differences in dinoflagellate contributions similarly variation in the amount of bacterial sulfate reduction is indicated by variations in the aryl isoprenoid ratio relative amount of isorenieratane long chain n alkane carbon isotopic composition and other molecular indicators including the relative amounts of dibenzothiophene dibenzofuran methyldibenzothiophene and methyltrimethyltridecylchromans the primary control on these variations appears to be different euxinic water conditions but diagenesis has also influenced the distributions differential anaerobic bacterial reworking of organic matter and pyrite concretion protection are responsible for organic geochemical variations on a millimetre scale in the shale the pyrite concretion has an altered record of its thermal history but has a more accurate record of the organic geochemistry of microfossils and water column conditions this study shows the potential for future investigations of closely spaced vertical variation in organic geochemical parameters that may shed light on rapid temporal variation in organic matter input and depositional environment

the 1988 and 1990 upland earthquakes left lateral faulting adjacent to the central transverse ranges two earthquakes m l 4 6 and m l 5 2 occurred at almost the same location in upland southern california in june 1988 and february 1990 and had similar strike slip focal mechanisms with left lateral motion on a northeast striking plane the focal mechanisms and aftershock locations showed that the causative fault was the san jose fault an 18 km long concealed fault that splays west southwest from the frontal fault of the central transverse ranges left lateral strike slip faults adjacent to the frontal faults may play an important role in the deformation of the transverse ranges and the los angeles basin as suggested by these upland earthquakes the left lateral strike slip 1988 m l 4 9 pasadena earthquake on the raymond fault 30 km to the west of upland and scattered background seismicity along other active left lateral faults these faults may transfer slip away from part of the frontal fault toward the south alternatively these faults could represent secondary faulting related to the termination of the northwest striking right lateral strike slip faults to the south of the range front the 1988 and 1990 upland earthquakes ruptured abutting or possibly overlapping segments of the san jose fault the edges of the overlapping aftershock zones which are sharply defined together with background seismicity outline a 14 km long aseismic segment of the san jose fault the 1988 mainshock originated at 9 5 km depth and caused aftershocks between 5 and 12 km in contrast the 1990 mainshock focus occurred at the top of its aftershock zone at 5 km and caused aftershocks down to 13 km depth these deep aftershocks tapered off within 2 weeks the rate of occurrence of aftershocks in magnitude time space was the same for both sequences the state of stress reflected in the focal mechanisms of the aftershocks is identical to that determined from background activity and did not change with time during the aftershock sequence the constant stress state suggests that the 1988 and 1990 events did not completely release all the stored slip on that segment of the fault the presence of 14 km of unbroken fault the abrupt temporal termination of deep aftershocks and the constant stress state all suggest that a future moderate sized earthquake m l 6 0 6 5 on the san jose fault is possible with a rupture length of at least 14 km and possibly 18 km

from an ocean floor wrench zone origin to transpressional tectonic emplacement of the sithonia ophiolite eastern vardar suture zone northern greece in the hellenides of northern greece the sithonia back arc ophiolite constitute an element of the vardar suture zone against the chortiatis island arc magmatic suite the melissochori formation and the serbo macedonian massif further north at the mesozoic continental margin of eurasia a granodiorite from the chortiatis island arc magmatic suite crystallized at 160 ma as derived from new u pb zircon geochronology and confirms the end of arc magmatic activity that started at around 173 ma located southerly of the chortiatis island arc magmatic suite the sithonia ophiolite had igneous life from 159 to 149 ma and the ophiolite interfinger with clastic carbonate kimmeridgian sediments magmatic structures i e sheeted dykes in the ophiolite witness for ne trending rift axis while the transform faults and fracture zones sketch nw se transcurrent transtension like propagation of the rift spreading center at sithonia that is consistent with a dextral wrench corridor already proposed for the ophiolite origin in the eastern vardar zone the tectonic emplacement of the sithonia ophiolite involved dextral ene to se strike slip sense of shear and sw and ne reverse thrust sense of shear on mostly steep foliation s1 subhorizontal lineation l1 and associated variably inclined f1 fold axes this structural grain and kinematics are shared by adjacent chortiatis island arc magmatic suite and the melissochori formation the coexistence of strike parallel and thrust components of displacement along discrete dextral strike slip shear zones and internal deformation of the mentioned units is interpreted to result from a bulk dextral transpressive deformation regime developed in greenschist facies metamorphic conditions the back arc ocean floor previous structural architecture with faults and fracture zones where kimmeridgian sediments deposited in troughs was used by discrete strike slip shear zones in which these sediments involved and the shear zones become the sites for strain partitioning of transpressional deformation available biostratigraphic and radiometric age constraints define latest jurassic earliest cretaceous tithonian berriasian to early valanginian time frame for the sithonia ophiolite northeastward tectonic emplacement accomodated by dextral transpression that led to the ophiolite accretion to the chortiatis island arc magmatic suite and its trench fill exposed in the melissochori formation and further north toward the serbo macedonian margin of eurasia