litho1 0 an updated crust and lithospheric model of the earth we present the litho1 0 model which is a 1 tessellated model of the crust and uppermost mantle of the earth extending into the upper mantle to include the lithospheric lid and underlying asthenosphere the model is parameterized laterally by tessellated nodes and vertically as a series of geophysically identified layers such as water ice sediments crystalline crust lithospheric lid and asthenosphere litho1 0 is created by constructing an appropriate starting model and perturbing it to fit high resolution surface wave dispersion maps love and rayleigh group and phase over a wide frequency band 5 40 mhz we examine and discuss the model with respect to key lithospheric parameters such as average crustal velocity crustal thickness upper mantle velocity and lithospheric thickness we then compare the constructed model to those from a number of select studies at regional and global scales and find general consistency it appears that litho1 0 represents a reasonable starting model of the earth s shallow structure crust and uppermost mantle for the purposes in which these models are used such as traveltime tomography or in efforts to create a 3 d reference earth model the model matches surface wave dispersion over a frequency band wider than the band used in the inversion there are several avenues for improving the model in the future by including attenuation and anisotropy as well as making use of surface waves at higher frequency

diagenesis of the lower eocene thebes formation gebel rewagen area eastern desert egypt abstract the diagenesis of lower eocene shallow water carbonates with flint was studied in the gebel rewagen area eastern desert egypt the carbonates are mainly wackestones to packstones with benthic bioclasts embedded in a dark red luminescent micrite matrix the studied succession displays a complex diagenetic history that involves syngenetic and late diagenetic processes silica which exists either as persistent bands nodules and or silicified benthic bioclasts shows a distinctive pattern regarding its distribution source depositional environments and timing three lines of evidence support a syngenetic origin of the chert bands 1 they alternate in a cyclic manner within the host carbonates and 2 they exhibit noticeable lateral persistence throughout the investigated area following the strata boundaries and 3 there is a lack of any carbonate dissolution in limestone adjacent to chert bands the deposition of silica bands in association with shallow water carbonates is possibly related to eustatic sea level changes which were accompanied by episodic variations in silica and carbonate productivities with a relative sea level fall and the establishment of a lowstand period at the end of the early eocene a basinward shift of the groundwater zones is expected within the carbonate platform during this period some late diagenetic processes took place which involve 1 the formation of siliceous and carbonate concretionary growths 2 partial silicification of bioclasts 3 neomorphic stabilization of the caco3 bioclasts and 4 the formation of equant calcite cement siliceous and carbonate concretions are believed to have taken place within microenvironments created and controlled by sulphate reducing bacteria and physico chemical and kinetic factors near a marine meteoric water mixing zone this is inferred from the distribution of iron sulphides the non ferroan nature of all concretions and the depleted 13c 5 4 to 6 0 pdb and 18o 5 8 to 6 8 pdb values of the carbonate concretions the silica fabrics of all the partly silicified benthic bioclasts with abundant pyrite cubes argue for a delayed silicification process within the sulphate reduction zone the close and relatively depleted 18o values of the low mg calcite micrite matrix 3 0 to 4 4 pdb and benthic bioclasts 3 4 to 4 8 pdb indicate that both matrix and bioclasts have probably suffered neomorphic stabilization from freshwater dominated solutions the initial marine 13c values of both low mg calcite matrix 0 2 to 2 2 pdb and altered benthic bioclasts 0 2 to 0 9 pdb are retained and not affected by diagenesis the luminescence character and the extremely depleted oxygen values 8 3 to 10 1 pdb of the equant void filling calcite mosaics are consistent with their formation within a meteoric phreatic realm

evidence for magmatic underplating and partial melt beneath the canary islands derived using teleseismic receiver functions abstract in recent years an increasing number of studies have focussed on resolving the internal structure of ocean island volcanoes traditionally active source seismic experiments have been used to image the volcano edifice here we present results using the analysis of compressional to shear p to s converted seismic phases from teleseismic events recorded by stations involved in an active source experiment tom teidevs ibanez et al 2008 on the island of tenerife canary islands we supplement this data with receiver function rf analysis of seismograms from the canary islands of lanzarote and la palma applying the extended time multitaper frequency domain cross correlation estimation method helffrich 2006 we use the neighbourhood inversion approach of sambridge 1999a sambridge 1999b to model the rfs and our results indicate magmatic underplating exists beneath all three islands ranging from 2 to 8 km but showing no clear correlation with the age of the island beneath both la palma and tenerife we find localized low velocity zones lvzs which we interpret as due to partial melt supported by their correlation with the location of historical earthquakes la palma and recent earthquakes tenerife for lanzarote we do not sample the most recently volcanically active region and find no evidence for a lvz instead we find a simple gradational velocity structure with discontinuities at 4 10 and 18 km depth in line with previous studies

paleo seawater ree compositions and microbial signatures preserved in laminae of lower triassic ooids abstract signals indicative of paleo seawater rare earth element ree composition and microbial activity were identified in marine ooids from the lower triassic of south china using in situ laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy la icp ms together with petrographic and isotope geochemical techniques quantitative trace element profiles were generated across successive growth laminae in the cortices of selected ooids the shale normalized ree and yttrium y data of these layers show 1 light rare earth element depletion mean la sn yb sn 0 36 0 14 2 positive la anomalies mean la la sn 2 02 1 25 and 3 high ratios of y ho mean 53 12 which are similar to modern seawater compositions and bahamian ooids these findings imply that ooids in the study samples faithfully record early triassic paleo seawater chemical signals such as ree y distributions petrographic observations revealed dark colored layers with intense fluorescence containing structures that resemble microbial filaments or extracellular polymeric substances these layers also possess more enriched ree compositions and higher concentrations of nutrient like elements e g zn and ba than adjacent recrystallized light colored laminae most ooid laminae contain negative ce anomalies indicative of a well oxygenated environment of formation but some laminae have minimal negative anomalies suggesting the influence of suboxic porewater conditions the present study provides a new perspective on the role of microbes in ooid genesis and on the utility of ooids as proxies for paleo seawater chemistry

systematic comparisons of earthquake source models determined using insar and seismic data abstract robust earthquake source parameters e g location seismic moment fault geometry are essential for reliable seismic hazard assessment and the investigation of large scale tectonics they are routinely estimated using a variety of data and techniques such as seismic data and more recently interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar comparisons between these two datasets are frequently made although not usually in a comprehensive way this review compares source parameters from global and regional seismic catalogues with those from a recent database of insar parameters which has been expanded with 18 additional source models for this study we show that moment magnitude mw estimates agree well between the two datasets with a trend for thrust events modelled using insar to have slightly larger mw estimates earthquake locations determined using insar agree well with those reported in regional catalogues with a median difference of 6 3 km between them which is smaller than for global seismic catalogues we also investigate the consistency of source parameters and source directivity by comparing isc hypocentres with gcmt and icmt centroid locations for earthquakes with mw 6 5 in some cases the source directivity is qualitatively comparable with previous studies especially when comparing isc and icmt locations the average difference between insar determined depths and those in the ehb catalogue is reduced if a layered half space is used in the inversion of insar data overall faulting geometry strike dip and rake angles remain in good agreement with values from the gcmt catalogue and any large discrepancies can be attributed to tradeoffs between parameters with continued investment in satellites for radar interferometry insar is a valuable technique for the estimation of earthquake source parameters the observed trends and discrepancies between insar and seismically determined source parameters are the result of issues with the data different inversion techniques and the assumed earth structure model

volcanic history and 40ar 39ar and 14c geochronology of terceira island azores portugal abstract seven new 40ar 39ar and 23 new radiocarbon ages of eruptive units in support of new geologic mapping improve the known chronology of middle to late pleistocene and holocene volcanic activity on the island of terceira azores and define an east to west progression in stratovolcano growth the argon ages indicate that cinco picos volcano the oldest on terceira completed its main subaerial cone building activity by about 370 380 ka collapse of the upper part of the stratovolcanic edifice to form a 7 9 km caldera occurred some time after 370 ka postcaldera eruptions of basalt from cinder cones on and near the caldera floor and trachytic pyroclastic flow and pumice fall deposits from younger volcanoes west of cinco picos have refilled much of the caldera the southern portion of guilherme moniz volcano in the central part of the island began erupting prior to 270 ka and produced trachyte domes flows and minor pyroclastic deposits until at least 111 ka the northern part of guilherme moniz caldera is less well exposed than the southern part but reflects a similar age range the northwest portion of the caldera was formed sometime after 44 ka several well studied ignimbrites that blanket much of the island likely erupted from guilherme moniz volcano the pico alto volcanic center a tightly spaced cluster of trachyte domes and short flows is a younger part of guilherme moniz volcano stratigraphic studies and our new radiocarbon ages suggest that most of the pico alto eruptions occurred during the period from about 9000 to 1000 years bp santa barbara volcano is the youngest stratovolcano on terceira began erupting prior to 29 ka and has been active historically

crustal seismic velocity structure near faial and pico islands azores from local earthquake tomography the azores archipelago portugal is located on an oceanic plateau in a geodynamic environment prone to intense seismic and volcanic activity in order to investigate the crustal structure in this region we have conducted a local earthquake tomography study in the area of the islands of faial pico and s jorge using data recorded in july 1998 the july 9th 1998 earthquake near faial island triggered an aftershock sequence of thousands of events that lasted for several months and were recorded by a total of 14 stations located on the three islands surrounding the epicentral area in the upper crustal layers consistency is seen between the tomographic results and the islands surface volcanic units beneath the faial central volcano a low vp b6 0 km s anomaly roughly located at 3 7 km depth suggests a connection to the plumbing system possibly the presence of a magma chamber in ne faial a high vp n6 3 km s body was found located at mid lower crust most likely an intrusion of gabbroic composition that is bordered by the registered seismic activity its shape suggesting a tectonic controlled mechanism the relocated hypocenters together with the overall analysis of the tomographic model suggest a tectonic segmentation of faial island the crustal thickness under the islands volcanic buildings of the faial pico area was estimated at around 14 km 2007 elsevier b v all rights reserved

site amplification in the los angeles basin from three dimensional modeling of ground motion it is well established that sedimentary basins can significantly amplify earthquake ground motion however the amplification at any given site can vary with earthquake location to account for basin response in probabilistic seismic hazard analysis therefore we need to know the average amplification and intrinsic variability standard deviation at each site given all earthquakes of concern in the region due to a dearth of empirical ground motion observations theoretical simu lations constitute our best hope of addressing this issue here 0 0 5 hz finite difference finite fault simulations are used to estimate the three dimensional 3d response of the los angeles basin to nine different earthquake scenarios amplifi cation is quantified as the peak velocity obtained from the 3d simulation divided by that predicted using a regional one dimensional 1d crustal model average ampli fication factors are up to a factor of 4 with the values from individual scenarios typically differing by as much as a factor of 2 5 the average amplification correlates with basin depth with values near unity at sites above sediments with thickness less than 2 km and up to factors near 6 above the deepest 9 km and steepest dipping parts of the basin there is also some indication that amplification factors are greater for events located farther from the basin edge if the 3d amplification factors are divided by the 1d vertical sh wave amplification below each site they are lowered by up to a factor of 1 7 the duration of shaking in the 3d model is found to be longer by up to more than 60 seconds relative to the 1d basin response the simu lation of the 1994 northridge earthquake reproduces recorded 0 0 5 hz particle velocities relatively well in particular at near source stations the synthetic and observed peak velocities agree within a factor of two and the log standard deviation of the residuals is 0 36 this is a reduction of 54 and 51 compared to the values obtained for the regional 1d model and a 1d model defined by the velocity and density profile below a site in the middle of the basin dow respectively this result suggests that long period ground motion estimation can be improved consid erably by including the 3d basin structure however there are uncertainties con cerning accuracy of the basin model model resolution the omission of material with shear velocities lower than 1 km s and the fact that only nine scenarios have been considered therefore the amplification factors reported here should be used with caution until they can be further tested against observations however the results do serve as a guide to what should be expected particularly with respect to increased amplification factors at sites located above the deeper parts of the basin

the isostatic compensation of the azores plateau a 3d admittance and coherence analysis the compensation of the azores plateau is re examined by means of a 3d admittance study involving computations of the admittance between the bathymetry and 1 the geoid 2 the free air gravity and 3 the mantle bouguer anomalies the geoid to bathymetry relationship rather than being analysed in the space domain is studied in the spectral domain in this way the information related to the flexural response of the lithosphere is retained in the geoid to bathymetry signal and can be compared to that of the gravity to bathymetry we find that the anomalously shallow depths of the azores plateau are not due to dynamic forces sustained by mantle upwelling the plateau is supported by a thickened crust which mainly results from large volumes of accreted extrusives and consequent deflection of the underlying elastic plate both the free air gravity and the mantle bouguer admittance point to a flexural isostatic model with a moho depth of 12 km and an elastic thickness in the range of 3 6 km however the analysis of the coherency between bathymetry and the mantle bouguer anomaly indicates that buoyant material at the base of the crust partially accounts for the uplift of the plateau in our best fitting model the average elastic thickness is 4 km and the amplitude of the buoyant load at the moho is 1 3 of that of the surface volcanic load buoyancy forces at the moho may arise from underplated material resulting from subcrustal plutonism

crustal structure of northern italy from the ellipticity of rayleigh waves abstract northern italy is a diverse geological region including the wide and thick po plain sedimentary basin which is bounded by the alps and the apennines the seismically slow shallow structure of the po plain is difficult to retrieve with classical seismic measurements such as surface wave dispersion yet the detailed structure of the region greatly affects seismic wave propagation and hence seismic ground shaking here we invert rayleigh wave ellipticity measurements in the period range 10 60 s for 95 stations in northern italy using a fully non linear approach to constrain vertical v s v p and density profiles of the crust beneath each station the ellipticity of rayleigh wave ground motion is primarily sensitive to shear wave velocity beneath the recording station which reduces along path contamination effects we use the 3d layering structure in mambo a previous model based on a compilation of geological and geophysical information for the po plain and surrounding regions of northern italy and employ ellipticity data to constrain v s v p and density within its layers we show that ellipticity data from ballistic teleseismic wave trains alone constrain the crustal structure well this leads to mambo e an updated seismic model of the region s crust that inherits information available from previous seismic prospection and geological studies while fitting new seismic data well mambo e brings new insights into lateral heterogeneity in the region s subsurface compared to mambo it shows overall faster seismic anomalies in the region s quaternary pliocene and oligo miocene layers and better delineates the seismic structures of the po plain at depth two low velocity regions are mapped in the mesozoic layer in the western and eastern parts of the plain which seem to correspond to the monferrato sedimentary basin and to the ferrara romagna thrust system respectively

the environmental seismic intensity scale esi 2007 in greece addition of new events and its relationship with magnitude in greece and the mediterranean preliminary attenuation relationships abstract the environmental seismic intensity esi scale has been officially released in 2007 and is based on the quantification of earthquake environmental effects due to its quantitative nature the scale improves the process of assessing macroseismic intensities particularly in the epicentral area of those cases in which sole traditional intensity scales prove to be ineffective following a large number of publications that applied this relatively newly established scale there is some need for parametrization this is because this intensity scale can offer new insights to seismic hazard assessment and has the potential to reduce the uncertainties that stem from traditional macroseismic scales this study has three main goals firstly to enrich and compile an esi 2007 database from earthquakes in greece by adding 4 new events secondly to extract a relationship between magnitude and the esi 2007 for greece and the mediterranean thirdly to offer a preliminary estimate of how the intensity attenuates with distance after developing a code in python language to assist this process the esi 2007 scale was applied in the 1995 ms 6 6 kozani grevena earthquake the 1978 mw 6 5 thessaloniki earthquake the historic 1894 atalanti earthquake sequence m 6 4 and m 6 8 and the 365ad event in crete m 8 4 these events were selected because they have well documented and extensive co seismic effects including primary and secondary surface ruptures rockfalls landslides and liquefaction phenomena for the kozani earthquake extracted results were correlated with sar interferograms in order to provide a complete and high spatial resolution of the ground deformation both the kozani grevena and the thessaloniki events produced a maximum intensity ix on the esi 2007 scale the atalanti earthquake produced a maximum intensity x and the 365ad crete earthquake a maximum intensity xii overall the esi 2007 scale compares fairly well with the traditional macroseismic scales except for some villages in the kozani grevena epicentral area where due to the poor quality of buildings existing scales overestimated the intensity by one degree compared to the esi 2007 it is interesting to note that both for greece and the mediterranean area a strong correlation exists between mw and the esi 2007 scale in particular the following relationships between the mw and the esi scale have been extracted i for greece io esi 2007 3 1427 exp 0 1643mw and ii for the mediterranean io esi 2007 3 3543exp 0 1557mw however more events and more data regarding the intensity distributions are required to establish the intensity attenuation with distance

variations in thickness of layer 3 dominate oceanic crustal structure abstract seismic refraction studies have determined that while much of the crust underlying the world s oceans is about 7 km thick it also occurs in lesser and considerably greater thicknesses here we show that vastly different thicknesses of oceanic crust formed at ridges by seafloor spreading are generally characterized by the two gradient velocity structure recognized as typical of 6 7 km thick oceanic crust adopting a standard we study ninety published seismic velocity structures of oceanic crust ranging in thickness from 2 to 37 km several structures formed in midplate settings ocean islands and seamounts are also considered for comparison regardless of origin ridge or midplate we find that the percentage of the whole crust formed by layer 2 systematically decreases with increasing total crustal thickness while the average velocity of layer 2 varies widely for all crust the average velocity of layer 3 increases systematically with increases in the average whole crustal thickness and velocity crust formed in midplate settings differs in that the thickness of layer 2 velocity crust is generally two to three times that of crust formed at ridges residual depths were calculated for oceanic crust by removing the effects of sediment loading and subsidence due to lithospheric cooling most of the data fall close to a model whereby different crustal thicknesses result from different extents of partial melting of oceanic upper mantle the crustal sections were restored to zero age assuming the average depth of emplacement for 7 km thick oceanic crust is 2 5 km below sea level from this restoration it appears that the depth to the top of layer 3 at the time it was formed is 4 25 1 25 km below sea level regardless of whole crustal thickness or spreading rate these results suggest that the mechanism of construction of oceanic crust is in many ways remarkably uniform despite very large changes in the total thickness of the crust produced very basic questions remain it is for instance not at all clear why layer 2 and layer 3 exist in the proportions they do while neutral buoyancy or melt trapping at the base of a brittle lid may account for local properties of the layer 2 3 boundary they do not seem adequate to account for the global phenomenon

testing the new inqua intensity scale in greek earthquakes abstract testing the new inqua seismic intensity scale is an important challenge in the fields of macroseismology and earthquake geology in order to calibrate and compare the new scale with conventional scales intensities were tested for two greek earthquakes elia nw peloponnese 16 october 1988 ms 5 9 and athens central greece 7 september 1999 ms 5 9 the selected earthquakes were strong and their macroseismic effects included not only damage to buildings and other structures but also ground failures such as local landslides rockfalls ground fissures and liquefaction the macroseismic fields of the selected earthquakes were studied and intensities in modified mercalli mm scale were assessed an inventory of macroseismic effects was created intensities in the mm and inqua scales were assessed for several observation points as regards the two earthquakes inqua scale intensities assessed for the elia 1988 earthquake are as high as those resulting from the mm scale this is because the intensity assessment in inqua scale is based on ground damages and many ground cracks rock falls and liquefaction in sediment were extensively associated with the elia earthquake the case of the athens 1999 earthquake is significantly different from that of the elia earthquake mm intensities as high as ix were assessed due to the extensive structural damage however inqua intensities fail to approach adequately the mm intensities because there were only a few ground failures with only sporadic rockfalls and or landslides because of this inqua intensities underestimate the overall impact of the athens earthquake

magmatic underplating of crust beneath the laccadive island nw indian ocean summary we investigate the crust and uppermost mantle velocity structure beneath the laccadive island through the inversion of teleseismic receiver functions following the neighbourhood algorithm the velocity structure suggests that the 16 km thick oceanic crust is underplated by 8 km thick high velocity layer vs 4 25 4 4 km s 1 vp 7 35 7 6 km s 1 the uppermost mantle shear velocity is 4 6 km s 1 vp 8 18 km s 1 the moho at 24 km is possibly formed due to underplating of mantle derived picritic melt at the base of oceanic crust produced during the interaction of the indian plate with the reunion hotspot continuity of crustal underplated material beneath the laccadive could be traced to the laxmi ridge in the north and to the reunion island in the south suggesting this to be possible trace of the reunion hotspot

crustal structure beneath portugal from teleseismic rayleigh wave ellipticity up until now portugal lacked a countrywide shear velocity model sampling short length scale crustal structure which limits interpretations of seismicity and tectonics and predictions of strong ground motion in turn such interpretations and predictions are important to help mitigate risk of destruction from future large on and offshore earthquakes similar to those that portugal has experienced in the past e g the mw 8 5 8 7 tsunamigenic event in 1755 in this study we measured teleseismic rayleigh wave ellipticity rwe from 33 permanent and temporary seismic stations in portugal with wave periods between 15 s and 60 s and inverted it for 1 d models of shear wave velocity vs structure beneath each station using a fully non linear monte carlo method because rwe is strongly sensitive to the uppermost few kilometres of the crust both rwe measurements and vs models are spatially correlated with surface geology in portugal for instance we find that sedimentary basins produced by rifting that had begun in the mesozoic such as the lusitanian basin lb and the lower tagus sado basin ltsb are characterised by higher rwe lower vs interestingly we observe similar rwe and vs values in the interior of the central iberian zone ciz which is a metamorphic belt of paleozoic age together with reduced crustal thickness previously estimated for the same parts of the ciz this suggests that the ciz might have experienced an episode of extension possibly simultaneous to mesozoic rifting the galicia tras os montes zone gtmz that has undergone polyphased deformation since the paleozoic is characterised by the lowest rwe highest vs in portugal ossa morena zone and the south portuguese zone exhibit intermediate vs values when compared to that of basins and the gtmz our crustal vs model can be used to provide new insights into the tectonics seismicity and strong ground motion in portugal

reconstructing the architectural evolution of volcanic islands from combined k ar morphologic tectonic and magnetic data the faial island example azores the morpho structural evolution of oceanic islands results from competition between volcano growth and partial destruction by mass wasting processes we present here a multi disciplinary study of the successive stages of development of faial azores during the last 1 myr using high resolution digital elevation model dem and new k ar tectonic and magnetic data we reconstruct the rapidly evolving topography at successive stages in response to complex interactions between volcanic construction and mass wasting including the development of a graben we show that 1 sub aerial evolution of the island first involved the rapid growth of a large elongated volcano at ca 0 85 ma followed by its partial destruction over half a million years 2 beginning about 360 ka a new small edifice grew on the ne of the island and was subsequently cut by normal faults responsible for initiation of the graben 3 after an apparent pause of ca 250 kyr the large central volcano cv developed on the western side of the island at ca 120 ka accumulating a thick pile of lava flows in less than 20 kyr which were partly channelized within the graben 4 the period between 120 ka and 40 ka is marked by widespread deformation at the island scale including westward propagation of faulting and associated erosion of the graben walls which produced sedimentary deposits subsequent growth of the cv at 40 ka was then constrained within the graben with lava flowing onto the sediments up to the eastern shore 5 the island evolution during the holocene involves basaltic volcanic activity along the main southern faults and pyroclastic eruptions associated with the formation of a caldera volcano tectonic depression we conclude that the whole evolution of faial island has been characterized by successive short volcanic pulses probably controlled by brief episodes of regional deformation each pulse has been separated by considerable periods of volcanic inactivity during which the faial graben gradually developed we propose that the volume loss associated with sudden magma extraction from a shallow reservoir in different episodes triggered incremental downward graben movement as observed historically when immediate vertical collapse of up to 2 m was observed along the western segments of the graben at the end of the capelinhos eruptive crises 1957 58

fluorescent bands in massive corals result from terrestrial fulvic acid inputs to nearshore zone the discovery of yellow green fluorescent bands in the skeletons of massive corals from inshore waters of the great barrier reef and the temporal and spatial correlations of these bands with adjacent river flow1 prompted an investigation into the substances responsible for the phenomenon we have determined that all regions of the coral skeleton contain fulvic acids2 3 which impart a blue background fluorescence the yellow green fluorescent bands found only in inshore coral appear to result from enhanced concentrations of low relative molecular mass 10 000 fulvic acids from adjacent river input these compounds are ubiquitous and the yellow green banding phenomenon can be expected to occur in massive corals located near to significant river systems in the widely distributed genus porites4 the great age of the largest colonies1 means that extremely long highly resolvable records of coastal runoff exist throughout tropical nearshore seas

activators of photoluminescence in calcite evidence from high resolution laser excited luminescence spectroscopy abstract laser excited luminescence spectroscopy of a red algal biogenic calcite and a synthetic mn calcite can make the distinction between organic and trace element activators of photoluminescence organic activated photoluminescence in biogenic calcite is characterized by significant peak shifts and increasing intensity with shorter wavelength excitation and by significant decreases in intensity after heating to 400 c in contrast mn activated photoluminescence shows no peak shift greatest intensity under green excitation and limited changes after heating examination of samples with a high sensitivity spectrometer using several wavelengths of exciting light is necessary for identification of photoluminescence activators

morpho structural evolution of a volcanic island developed inside an active oceanic rift s miguel island terceira rift azores the evolution of volcanic islands is generally marked by fast construction phases alternating with destruction by a variety of mass wasting processes more specifically volcanic islands located in areas of intense regional deformation can be particularly prone to gravitational destabilisation the island of s miguel azores has developed during the last 1 myr inside the active terceira rift a major tectonic structure materializing the present boundary between the eurasian and nubian lithospheric plates in this work we depict the evolution of the island based on high resolution dem data stratigraphic and structural analyses high precision k ar dating on separated mineral phases and offshore data bathymetry and seismic profiles the new results indicate that 1 the oldest volcanic complex nordeste composing the easternmost part of the island was dominantly active between ca 850 and 750 ka and was subsequently affected by a major south directed flank collapse 2 between at least 500 ka and 250 ka the landslide depression was massively filled by a thick lava succession erupted from volcanic cones and domes distributed along the main e w collapse scar 3 since 250 kyr the western part of this succession furnas area was affected by multiple vertical collapses associated plinian eruptions produced large pyroclastic deposits here dated at ca 60 ka and less than 25 ka 4 during the same period the eastern part of the landslide scar was enlarged by retrogressive erosion producing the large povoacao valley which was gradually filled by sediments and young volcanic products 5 the fogo volcano in the middle of s miguel is here dated between ca 270 and 17 ka and was affected by at least one southwards flank collapse 6 the sete cidades volcano in the western end of the island is here dated between ca 91 and 13 ka and experienced mutliple caldera collapses a landslide to the north is also suspected from the presence of a subtle morphologic scar covered by recent lava flows erupted from alignments of basaltic strombolian cones the predominance of the n150 and n75 trends in the island suggest that the tectonics of the terceira rift controlled the location and the distribution of the volcanism and to some extent the various destruction events

inversion of the hz ratio of microseisms for s wave velocity in the crust summary s wave velocity in the shallow crust is an important controlling parameter for ground motion amplification it is a key parameter for prediction of ground motion and thus for earthquake hazard mitigation in general shallow s wave velocity structure has often been obtained from phase velocity of microtremors and microseisms we present a new approach which directly inverts the ratio of horizontal to vertical amplitudes of microseisms which is referred to as the hz ratio in this paper our approach consists of i isolation of rayleigh wave dominant portions in seismograms by using the 90 degree phase shift between horizontal and vertical component ii measurement of the hz ratios as a function of frequency and iii iterative inversion for s wave velocity structure in the crust depth sensitivity kernels of the hz ratios for density p wave velocity and s wave velocity are derived by a numerical method examples of the application of this method to data in southern california show that the hz ratio data require modification of the standard seismic velocity model in this region southern california earthquake center community velocity model 3 0 or scec cvm in the upper 10 15 km the derived models show amplification of incident sh waves by factors of 2 8 relative to the prediction by the scec cvm the proposed approach has promise for applications to other regions in the world because microseisms are observed everywhere in the world the method may become even more powerful if it is combined with phase velocity data

global compilation of interferometric synthetic aperture radar earthquake source models 1 comparisons with seismic catalogs 1 while many earthquakes have now been studied using interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar data a full assessment of the quality and additional value of insar source parameters compared to seismological techniques is still lacking we compile a catalog of source models obtained using insar and estimate the corresponding centroid moment tensor cmt parameters we refer to this compilation as the icmt archive we compare source parameters from over 70 insar studies of 57 global earthquakes with those in the global cmt gcmt international seismological centre isc and engdahl hilst buland ehb seismic catalogs we find an overall good agreement between fault strike dip and rake values in the gcmt and icmt archives likewise the differences in seismic moment between these two archives are relatively small and we do not find support for previously suggested trends of insar leading to larger moments than seismic data however epicentral locations show substantial discrepancies which are larger for the gcmt median differences of 21 km than for the ehb and isc catalogs median differences of 10 km since insar data have a high spatial resolution and thus should map epicentral locations accurately this allows us to obtain a first independent estimate of epicentral location errors in the seismic catalogs earthquake depths from insar are systematically shallower than those in the ehb catalog with a median of differences of 5 km while this trend may be partly due to unmodeled crustal complexity it is also compatible with the observation that the rupture of crustal earthquakes tends to propagate upward in the seismogenic layer

seismic imaging of hotspot related crustal underplating beneath the marquesas islands volcanism in active continental rift zones1 2or on rifted continental margins3is frequently associated with unusually high lower crustal seismic velocities indicating the presence of large igneous intrusions at the base of the crust the only comprehensive investigation of crustal underplating at an oceanic hotspot beneath hawaii4 6 has yielded controversial results7 here we report the results of seismic refraction experiments across the marquesas islands hotspot trace which show that the island chain is underlain by crust 15 17 km thick and that a large lower crustal region 275 km wide and 2 8 km thick has seismic velocities 7 3 7 75 km s 1 indicative of crustal underplating wide angle reflections occur near the base of the normal lower crustal velocities and at the base of the underplating complex we interpret these reflectors as the relict pre hotspot moho and the current post hotspot moho respectively the high velocity material may be purely intrusive or may consist of a mixture of intrusive and preexisting rocks the volume of the high velocity body is impressive amounting to nearly twice the volume of volcanics erupted at the surface

evaluation of the macroseismic intensities triggered by the january february 2014 cephalonia greece earthquakes based on esi 07 scale and their comparison to 1867 historical event abstract on january 26th and february 3rd 2014 two earthquakes occurred onshore the island of cephalonia inducing severe environmental effects the main types of earthquake induced failures were liquefaction and slope failures and were mainly widespread at the western and central part of the island at paliki peninsula although the fact that the generated strong motions by the second event were the highest ever recorded in greece medium severity structural damages were induced few days after the occurrence of the events two post earthquake field surveys took place in order to document the generated environmental effects by taking into account these field observations it was decided to evaluate the macroseismic intensity of the february 3rd 2014 earthquake by applying the esi 07 scale as an outcome the epicentral intensity of feb 3rd 2014 was evaluated as vii esi 07 by taking into account the total affected area furthermore as it is pointed out in primary contemporary sources and seismic catalogues similar environmental failures such as liquefaction phenomena at coastal areas and large scale rockfalls were triggered by historical earthquakes at the island of cephalonia the most accurately described effects are the ones triggered by the 1867 earthquake therefore it was decided to assess the macroseismic intensities of this historical event based on the esi 07 scale and compare it with the relevant ones of feb 3rd 2014 event as an outcome it is concluded that similar intensities were assessed for both events viii esi 07 for 1867 event and vii esi 07 for the february 2014 one despite the fact that the relevant earthquake magnitudes strongly differ outlining the results of this study it is reconfirmed the importance of the recording and documentation of earthquake environmental effects in order to maintain the consistency with the historical earthquake catalogues moreover a re evaluation of historical earthquake magnitudes at the area of cephalonia island could be realized in order to accurately update the seismic hazard

advances and limitations of the environmental seismic intensity scale esi 2007 regarding near field and far field effects from recent earthquakes in greece implications for the seismic hazard assessment the new environmental seismic intensity scale esi 2007 introduced by inqua incorporates the advances and achievements of palaeoseismology and earthquake geology and evaluates earthquake size and epicentre solely from the earthquake environmental effects eee this scale is tested and compared with traditional existing scales for the 1981 alkyonides earthquake sequence in the corinth gulf ms 6 7 ms 6 4 ms 6 3 the 1993 pyrgos event ms 5 5 and the 2006 kythira event mw 6 7 these earthquakes were of different magni tudes focal mechanisms and focal depths and produced well documented environmental effects the esi 2007 intensity values and the isoseismal pattern for the 1993 pyrgos and the 2006 kythira events are similar to those resulting from the traditional scales demonstrating that for moderate intensity levels vii and viii the esi 2007 and the traditional scales comply well in contrast the 1981 alkyonides earthquake sequence shows that there is an inconsistency between the esi 2007 and the traditional scales both in the epicentral area where higher esi 2007 intensity values have been assigned and for the far field effects the esi 2007 scale offers higher objectivity in the process of assessing macroseismic intensities particularly in the epicentral area than traditional intensity scales that are influenced by human parameters the esi 2007 scale follows the same criteria environmental effects for all events and can compare not only events from different settings but also contemporary and future earthquakes with histori cal events a reappraisal of historical earthquakes so as to constrain the esi 2007 scale may prove beneficial for seismic hazard assessment by reducing the uncertainty implied in the attenuation laws which constitute one of the most important seismic hazard parameters

the potential failure of monte nuovo at ischia island southern italy numerical assessment of a likely induced tsunami and its effects on a densely inhabited area ischia is the emergent top of a large volcanic complex that rises more than 1 000 m above the sea floor at the north western end of the gulf of naples caldera resurgence in the central part of the island has resulted in the formation of differentially displaced blocks among which mt epomeo 787 m a s l is the most uplifted deformation and slope instability have been recognised as common features induced by a block resurgence mechanism that causes uplift and favours gravitational loading and flank failure the monte nuovo block a topographic high on the north western flank of mt epomeo has recently been interpreted as a block affected by deep seated gravitational slope deformation this block may undergo a catastrophic failure in the case of renewal of magmatic activity this paper investigates the potential failure of the monte nuovo block as a rockslide debris avalanche the consequent tsunami generation and wave propagation and discusses the catastrophic effects of such an event mobilization prone volume has been estimated at about 160 106 m3 and would move from a maximum elevation of 400 m a s l the landslide itself would sweep away a densely populated territory as large as 3 5 km2 the highest waves generated by the tsunami on which this paper is mainly focussed would hit the northern and western shores of ischia however the high coast would prevent inundation and limit devastation to beaches harbours and surrounding areas most of the tsunami energy would head towards the north east hitting the campania coast severe inundation would affect an area of up to 20 km2 around the mouth of the volturno river including the urban area of castel volturno in contrast less energy would travel towards the south and the gulf of naples would be perturbed by long persisting waves of limited damaging potential

vertical movements of ocean island volcanoes insights from a stationary plate environment abstract uplift reconstructions based on the cape verde s geological record provide a unique opportunity to study the long term isostatic movements associated with hotspot activity on a stationary plate environment the archipelago is considered stationary with respect to its melting source so the hotspot driven isostatic effects affecting the ocean islands are expected to be enhanced in this study ar ar and u th geochronology techniques were used to date a set of palaeo markers of sea level from santiago s and sao nicolau s edifices two of the main cape verde islands a comparison between relative sea level and eustatic sea level from a modern eustatic curve was established to extract the vertical displacement undergone by the markers and to reconstruct the uplift subsidence history of each island the resulting uplift reconstructions confirm that both santiago and sao nicolau experienced a general uplift trend over the last 6 ma seemingly synchronous with the vigorous volcanic activity that built their exposed edifices these islands however exhibit different uplift histories despite their common uplift trend several uplift mechanisms were tested and a local rather than regional mechanism is proposed as the main cause of uplift generally unrelated with far field effects of surface loading this mechanism is probably associated with magmatic additions at crustal level

40ar 39ar ages and paleomagnetism of sao miguel lavas azores we present new 40 ar 39 ar ages and paleomagnetic data for sao miguel island azores paleomagnetic samples were obtained for 34 flows and one dike successful mean paleomagnetic directions were obtained for 28 of these 35 sites 40 ar 39 ar age determinations on 12 flows from the nordeste complex were attempted successfully ages obtained are between 0 78 ma and 0 88 ma in contrast to published k ar ages of 1 ma to 4 ma our radiometric ages are consistent with the reverse polarity paleomagnetic field directions and indicate that the entire exposed part of the nordeste complex is of a late matuyama age the duration of volcanism across sao miguel is significantly less than previously believed which has important implications for regional melt generation processes and temporal sampling of the geomagnetic field observed stable isotope and trace element trends across the island can be explained at least in part by communication between different magma source regions at depth the 40 ar 39 ar ages indicate that our normal polarity paleomagnetic data sample at least 0 1 myr 0 0 1 ma and up to 0 78 myr 0 0 78 ma of paleosecular variation and our reverse polarity data sample approximately 0 1 myr 0 78 0 88 ma of paleosecular variation our results demonstrate that precise radiometric dating of numerous flows sampled is essential to accurate inferences of long term geomagnetic field behavior negative inclination anomalies are observed for both the normal and reverse polarity time averaged field within the data uncertainties normal and reverse polarity field directions are antipodal but the reverse polarity field shows a significant deviation from a geocentric axial dipole direction 1998 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

vertical movements of ocean island volcanoes insights from a stationary plate the origin of hotspot swells is still controversial and their development is at present poorly constrained and strongly model dependent however since islands are built on top of these structures the role of swell development in island uplift subsidence should be assessed

interaction between the mid atlantic ridge and the azores hot spot during the last 85 myr emplacement and rifting of the hot spot derived plateaus 1 multiple and single beam bathymetric data are compiled over the azores plateau to produce a 1 km 1 km grid between latitudes 32 n and 49 n and longitudes 22 w and 43 w mantle bouguer anomalies are then calculated from this grid and the satellite derived gravity these grids provide new insights on the temporal and spatial variations of melt supply to the ridge axis the elevated seafloor of the azores plateau is interpreted as resulting from the interaction of a mantle plume with the mid atlantic ridge mar the presence of a large region of elevated seafloor associated with a thick crust between the great meteor seamounts and the azores platform on the africa plate and less developed conjugate structures on the north america plate favors genetic relations between these hot spot derived structures this suggests that a ridge hot spot interaction has occurred in this region since 85 ma this interaction migrated northward along the ridge axis as a result of the sse absolute motion of the africa plate following a direction grossly parallel to the orientation of the mar kinematic reconstructions from chron 13 35 ma to the present allow a proposal that the formation of the azores plateau began around 20 ma and ended around 7 ma a sharp bathymetric step is associated with the beginning of important melt supply around 20 ma the excess of melt production is controlled by the interaction of the ridge and hot spot melting zones the geometry and distribution of the smaller scale features on the plateau record episodic variations of the hot spot melt production the periodicity of these variations is about 3 5 myr following the rapid decrease of widespread volcanism the plateau was subsequently rifted from north to south by the mid atlantic ridge since 7 ma this rifting begins when the mar melting zone is progressively shifted away from the 200 km plume thermal anomaly these results bear important consequences on the motion of the africa plate relative to the azores hot spot they also provide an explanation to the asymmetric geochemical signature of the azores hot spot along the mid atlantic ridge

episodic swell growth inferred from variable uplift of the cape verde hotspot islands ocean islands formed over hotspots can uplift and subside as the hotspots evolve the history of the cape verde islands reveals large scale uplift owing to growth of the hotspot swell but also variable uplift of individual islands resulting from the local intrusion of magma

the zh ratio method for long period seismic data sensitivity kernels and observational techniques summary amplitude ratio between vertical and horizontal components of rayleigh waves is controlled by structure beneath a seismic station this ratio measured as a function of frequency has been extensively analysed for shallow crustal structure study in earthquake engineering and applied seismology this quantity termed the zh ratio in this paper may be useful for deep earth structure study and its feasibility for the frequency range between 0 004 and 0 05 hz period 20 250 s is explored in this paper for depth sensitivity kernels we demonstrate that a numerical approach is practical and provides sufficient accuracy for structural inversion depth extent of sensitivity kernels are about half of depth extent in phase velocity kernels indicating that the zh ratio is useful for studying the lithospheric structure two observational approaches for measurement of the zh ratio are presented the first approach uses simple envelope amplitude ratio and the second approach uses waveform correlation technique between vertical and horizontal components the zh ratio data alone only constrains structure beneath seismic stations but recent densification of seismic networks may make it possible to extend the analysis to regional scale structure a greater opportunity may exist in combination of the zh ratio method and the phase and group velocity measurements

40ar 39ar constraints on the temporal evolution of graciosa island azores portugal lava flows spanning the eruptive record of graciosa island azores archipelago and a gabbro xenolith were dated by 40ar 39ar in order to constrain the pleistocene and holocene volcanic evolution of the island the results range from 1 05 ma to 3 9 ka whereas prior published k ar and 14c ages range from 620 to 2 ka the formation of the serra das fontes shield volcano started at minimum 1 05 ma and the magmatic system was active for ca 600 ky as suggested by the formation of the gabbro xenolith by magmatic differentiation evolved magmas making up the serra das fontes serra branca composite volcano were generated at ca 450 ka after a period of ca 110 ky of volcanic inactivity and erosion of volcanic edifices volcanism was reactivated with the formation of the vitoria unit nw platform later the development of the vulcao central unit started with the formation of monogenetic cones located to the south of the serra das fontes serra branca vitoria unit this volcanism became progressively more evolved and was concentrated in a main eruptive center forming the vulcao central stratovolcano with an age older than 50 ka the caldera related to this stratovolcano is older than 47 ka and was followed by effusion of basaltic magmas into the caldera resulting in the formation of a lava lake which ultimately spilled over the caldera rim at ca 11 ka the most recent eruptions on graciosa formed two small pyroclastic cones within the caldera and the pico do timao cone within the vitoria unit at ca 3 9 ka

emergence and evolution of santa maria island azores the conundrum of uplifted islands revisited the growth and decay of ocean island volcanoes are intrinsically linked to vertical movements while the causes for subsidence are better understood uplift mechanisms remain enigmatic santa maria island in the azores archipelago is an ocean island volcano resting on top of young lithosphere barely 480 km away from the mid atlantic ridge like most other azorean islands santa maria should be experiencing subsidence yet several features indicate an uplift trend instead in this paper we reconstruct the evolutionary history of santa maria with respect to the timing and magnitude of its vertical movements using detailed field work and 40ar 39ar geochronology our investigations revealed a complex evolutionary history spanning 6 m y with subsidence up to ca 3 5 ma followed by uplift extending to the present day the fact that an island located in young lithosphere experienced a pronounced uplift trend is remarkable and raises important questions concerning possible uplift mechanisms localized uplift in response to the tectonic regime affecting the southeastern tip of the azores plateau is unlikely since the area is under transtension our analysis shows that the only viable mechanism able to explain the uplift is crustal thickening by basal intrusions suggesting that intrusive processes play a significant role even on islands standing on young lithosphere such as in the azores

joint inversion of rayleigh wave phase velocity and ellipticity using usarray constraining velocity and density structure in the upper crust rayleigh wave ellipticity or h v ratio observed on the surface is particularly sensitive to shallow earth structure in this study we jointly invert measurements of rayleigh wave h v ratio and phase velocity between 24 100 and 8 100 sec period respectively for crust and upper mantle structure beneath more than 1000 usarray stations covering the western united states upper crustal structure in particular is better constrained by the joint inversion compared to inversions based on phase velocities alone in addition to imaging vs structure we show that the joint inversion can be used to constrain vp vs and density in the upper crust new images of uppermost crustal structure 3 km depth are in excellent agreement with known surface features with pronounced low vs low density and high vp vs anomalies imaged in the locations of several major sedimentary basins including the williston powder river green river denver and san juan basins these results demonstrate not only the consistency of broadband h v ratios and phase velocity measurements but also that their complementary sensitivities have the potential to resolve density and vp vs variations

constraining s wave velocity using rayleigh wave ellipticity from polarization analysis of seismic noise we develop a new method for measuring ellipticity of rayleigh waves from ambient noise records by degree of polarization dop analysis the new method named dop e shows a good capability to retrieve accurate ellipticity curves separated from incoherent noise in order to validate the method we perform synthetic tests simulating noise in a 1 d earth model we also perform measurements on real data from antarctica and northern italy observed curves show a good fit with measurements from earthquake records and with theoretical ellipticity curves the inversion of real data measurements for vs structure shows a good agreement with previous models in particular the shear wave structure beneath concordia station shows no evidence of a significant layer of liquid water at the base of the ice the new method can be used to measure ellipticity at high frequency and therefore it will allow the imaging of near surface structure and possibly of temporal changes in subsurface properties it promises to be useful to study near surface processes in a wide range of geological settings such as volcanoes fault zones and glaciers

the influence of thermal and cyclic stressing on the strength of rocks from mount st helens washington stratovolcanoes and lava domes are particularly susceptible to sector collapse resulting from wholesale rock failure as a consequence of decreasing rock strength here we provide insights into the influence of thermal and cyclic stressing on the strength and mechanical properties of volcanic rocks specifically this laboratory study examines the properties of samples from mount st helens chosen because its strength and stability have played a key role in its history influencing the character of the infamous 1980 eruption we find that thermal stressing exerts different effects on the strengths of different volcanic units increasing the heterogeneity of rocks in situ increasing the uniaxial compressive stress generates cracking the timing and magnitude of which was monitored via acoustic emission ae output during our experiments aes accelerated in the approach to failure sometimes following the pattern predicted by the failure forecast method kilburn 2003 crack damage during the experiments was tracked using the evolving static young s modulus and poisson s ratio which represent the quasi static deformation in volcanic edifices more accurately than dynamic elastic moduli which are usually implemented in volcanic models cyclic loading of these rocks resulted in a lower failure strength confirming that volcanic rocks may be weakened by repeated inflation and deflation of the volcanic edifice additionally volcanic rocks in this study undergo significant elastic hysteresis in some instances a material may fail at a stress lower than the peak stress which has previously been endured thus a volcanic dome repeatedly inflated and deflated may progressively weaken possibly inducing failure without necessarily exceeding earlier conditions

distributed deformation close to the azores triple point abstract terceira rift and the northern and southern branches of the mid atlantic ridge mar form a triple junction close to 39 n known as the azores triple junction new swath bathymetric data are used to investigate the surface expression of faulting close to the triple junction by the systematic mapping of mar generated abyssal hills it is shown that close to the geometrical intersection between the three spreading axes there exists no single transform fault connecting terceira rift to the mar but a distributed tectonic deformation area characterized by mesoscale brittle deformation close to the surface covering approximately 90 km by 100 km and almost no volcanism which links terceira rift to the mar accommodating the relative displacement of the three plates close to the geometrically triple point magnetic chrons are used to compute the spatial variation of spreading velocity at the mid atlantic ridge and confirm the above interpretation they show a progressive increase of spreading velocity along a single mar segment between pure nubian at 38 30 n and pure eurasian at 39 25 n without the development of a transform fault that would integrate the eurasia nubia plate boundary the comparison of similar triple junctions where a slower axis joins two faster ridges shows that the slower arm does not reach the triple point and that there is always a finite triple junction area highly tectonized in which size is dependent on the angle between the two faster arms and consequently on the relative spreading velocity of the slower arm

age spreading rates and spreading asymmetry of the world s ocean crust we present four companion digital models of the age age uncertainty spreading rates and spreading asymmetries of the world s ocean basins as geographic and mercator grids with 2 arc min resolution the grids include data from all the major ocean basins as well as detailed reconstructions of back arc basins the age spreading rate and asymmetry at each grid node are determined by linear interpolation between adjacent seafloor isochrons in the direction of spreading ages for ocean floor between the oldest identified magnetic anomalies and continental crust are interpolated by geological estimates of the ages of passive continental margin segments the age uncertainties for grid cells coinciding with marine magnetic anomaly identifications observed or rotated to their conjugate ridge flanks are based on the difference between gridded age and observed age the uncertainties are also a function of the distance of a given grid cell to the nearest age observation and the proximity to fracture zones or other age discontinuities asymmetries in crustal accretion appear to be frequently related to asthenospheric flow from mantle plumes to spreading ridges resulting in ridge jumps toward hot spots we also use the new age grid to compute global residual basement depth grids from the difference between observed oceanic basement depth and predicted depth using three alternative age depth relationships the new set of grids helps to investigate prominent negative depth anomalies which may be alternatively related to subducted slab material descending in the mantle or to asthenospheric flow a combination of our digital grids and the associated relative and absolute plate motion model with seismic tomography and mantle convection model outputs represents a valuable set of tools to investigate geodynamic problems

crustal structure of the azores archipelago from rayleigh wave ellipticity data determining the crustal structure of ocean island volcanoes is important to understand the formation and tectonic evolution of the oceanic lithosphere and tectonic swells in marine settings and to assess seismic hazard in the islands the azores archipelago is located near a triple junction system and is possibly under the influence of a mantle plume being at the locus of a wide range of geodynamic processes however its crustal structure is still poorly constrained and debated due to the limited seismic coverage of the region and the peculiar linear geometry of the islands to address these limitations in this study we invert teleseismic rayleigh wave ellipticity measurements for 1 d shear wave speed vs crustal models of the azores archipelago moreover we test the reliability of these new models by using them in independent moment tensor inversions of local seismic data and demonstrate that our models improve the waveform fit compared to previous models we find that data from the westernmost seismic stations used in this study require a shallower moho depth 10 km than data from stations in the eastern part of the archipelago 13 16 km this apparent increase in the moho depth with increasing distance from the mid atlantic ridge mar is expected however the rate at which moho deepens away from the mar is greater than that predicted from a half space cooling model suggesting that local tectonic perturbations have modified crustal structure the 1 d vs models obtained beneath the westernmost seismic stations also show higher wave speeds than for the easternmost stations which correlates well with the ages of the islands except santa maria island we interpret the relatively low vs profile found beneath santa maria island as resulting from underplating which agrees with previous geological studies of the island compared to a recent receiver function study of the region the shallow structure top 2 km in our models shows lower shear wave speed which may have important implications for future hazard studies of the region more generally the new seismic crustal models we present in this study will be useful to better understand the tectonics seismicity moment tensors and strong ground motions in the region

unusual calcite stromatolites and pisoids from a landfill leachate collection system low magnesium calcite stromatolites and pisoids were found to have precipitated within the leachate collection system piping of a palm beach county florida landfill the stromatolites and pisoids formed in an aphotic and anoxic environment that was at times greatly supersaturated with calcite the stromatolites are composed of branching cylindrical bundles of concentrically laminated radial fibrous crystals the pisoids consist of concentric layers of radial fibrous and microcrystalline calcite bacteria likely sulfate reducing appear to have acted as catalysts for calcite crystal nucleation and thus the formation of the stromatolites and pisoids the leachate system stromatolites provide a recent example of stromatolites that formed largely by cement precipitation by acting as catalysts for calcite nucleation bacteria may cause more rapid cementation than would have occurred under purely abiotic conditions rapid calcite precipitation catalyzed by bacteria has interfered with the operation of the palm beach county landfill leachate collection by obstructing pipes and may be an unrecognized problem at other landfill sites

stratification of the earth beneath the azores from p and s receiver functions abstract seismic recordings of iris ida gsn station cmla and of several temporary stations in the azores archipelago are processed with p and s receiver function prf and srf techniques contrary to regional seismic tomography these methods provide estimates of the absolute velocities and of the vp vs ratio up to a depth of 300 km joint inversion of prfs and srfs for a few data sets consistently reveals a division of the subsurface medium into four zones with a distinctly different vp vs ratio the crust 20 km thick with a ratio of 1 9 in the lower crust the high vs mantle lid with a strongly reduced vp vs velocity ratio relative to the standard 1 8 the low velocity zone lvz with a velocity ratio of 2 0 and the underlying upper mantle layer with a standard velocity ratio our estimates of crustal thickness greatly exceed previous estimates 10 km the base of the high vs lid the gutenberg discontinuity is at a depth of 80 km the lvz with a reduction of s velocity of 15 relative to the standard iasp91 model is terminated at a depth of 200 km the average thickness of the mantle transition zone tz is evaluated from the time difference between the s410p and sks660p seismic phases that are robustly detected in the s and sks receiver functions this thickness is practically similar to the standard iasp91 value of 250 km and is characteristic of a large region of the north atlantic outside the azores plateau our data are indicative of a reduction of the s wave velocity of several percent relative to the standard velocity in a depth interval from 460 to 500 km this reduction is found in the nearest vicinities of the azores in the region sampled by the prfs but as evidenced by srfs it is missing at a distance of a few hundred kilometers from the islands we speculate that this anomaly may correspond to the source of a plume which generated the azores hotspot previously a low s velocity in this depth range was found with srf techniques beneath a few other hotspots

ionian sea western greece its structural outline deduced from drilling and geophysical data abstract this paper outlines the preliminary structural results obtained by the compilation of geological drilling and geophysical data in western greece most external geotectonic zones of the hellenides are included in the geological setting of the marine and insular domain of western greece ionian pre apulian and apulian zones the gavrovo and pindus zones make a restricted contribution to the marine geological framework continental shelf of southwest peloponesus besides the geographical setting of the geotectonic units their general tectonic characteristics allow the following remarks to be made the main tectonic events younger than eocene are well marked in both ionian and pre apulian zones the detrital sequence shows a fast pinch out towards the apulian platform where the plio quaternary clastic layers overlap what are probably late mesozoic or early tertiary limestones taking into consideration general tectonic features we can distinguish a northern area and a southern one separated by a fault trending 30 n located on the western margin of kephallinia lefkas islands 1 a in the northern area we observe a strong tangential tectonism decreasing towards the apulian platform with transitional characteristics on the pre apulian zone paxos where asymmetrical folding occurs 2 b in the southern area from lefkas kephallinia islands to the s w cape of peloponesus the tangential tectomism is well masked by strong vertical faulting attributed to young plio quaternary deformations the fast subsidence induces huge diapiric structures in the ionian zone salt walls originating from triassic layers intersect a thick pleistocene sequence

predictions and observations for the oceanic lithosphere from s to p receiver functions and ss precursors the ocean lithosphere is classically described by the thermal half space cooling hsc or the plate models both characterized by a gradual transition to the asthenosphere beneath scattered waves find sharp seismic discontinuities beneath the oceans possibly from the base of the plate active source studies suggest sharp discontinuities from a melt channel we calculate synthetic s to p receiver functions and ss precursors for the hsc and plate models and also for channels we find that the hsc and plate model velocity gradients are too gradual to create interpretable scattered waves from the base of the plate subtle phases are predicted to follow a similar trend as observations flattening at older ages therefore the seismic discontinuities are probably caused by a thermally controlled process that can also explain their amplitude such as melting melt may coalesce in channels although channels 10 km thick should be resolvable by scattered wave imaging

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

gravity anomalies and crustal thickness variations along the mid atlantic ridge between 33 n and 40 n multibeam bathymetry and gravity data have been obtained along an 800 km long section of the mid atlantic ridge from just south of the hayes fracture zone at 33 n to the northern edge of the azores platform near 40 n a three dimensional analysis of these gravity and topography data combined with results from earlier seismic refraction studies in this area reveal two different scales of crustal heterogeneity a systematic along axis segment scale 8 9 km near the middle of spreading segments and the thinnest crust 3 4 km near segment offsets the magnitude of this along axis variation in crustal thickness is proportional to the length of the spreading segment and the size of the adjacent ridge offset there also is a distinct asymmetry in crustal structure across the rift valley near large segment offsets with gravity highs inferred to be thinner crust beneath the inside corner highs adjacent to these offsets this segment scale crustal heterogeneity is similar to that reported from the kane to atlantis section of the mid atlantic ridge and from parts of the intermediate spreading southern mid atlantic ridge it is superimposed on a second longer wavelength variation in gravity and crustal thickness associated with the azores hot spot the most pronounced effect of the azores hot spot on the mid atlantic ridge occurs between 38 n and 40 n where the ridge axis rapidly shoals by more than 1000 m the crust thickens by over 2 km and the rift valley largely disappears the absence of a deep axial rift valley on the azores platform and near the midpoints of some ridge segments along the mid atlantic ridge to the south agrees well with the predictions of recent ridge crest thermal and rheological models that suggest a dependence of axial morphology on both crustal thickness and spreading rate the transition from a rift valley to an axial high morphology at these spreading rates 11 mm yr half rate occurs at a crustal thickness of about 9 1km

three dimensional crustal structure of ascension island from active source seismic tomography we present a crustal velocity and moho depth model of the ascension volcanic edifice using one of the most densely sampled 3 d wide angle data sets for volcanic islands currently available we invert traveltimes of first and second arrivals by seeking a layer interface minimum structure model and then test the resulting velocity model by gravity modelling and a 3 d checkerboard resolution test within the shallow extrusive part of the crust two main high velocity regions coincide with the highest topography on land and the gravity maximum off the west coast of the island respectively these features are connected with a high velocity intrusive core that is created either within or on the top of oceanic layer 3 and is interpreted as a possible relic magma chamber the thickness of the surface low velocity region is similar to that observed at hawaii jasper seamount and great meteor seamount suggesting a similar process of edifice construction the mean density of the volcanic edifice is significantly less than that of normal oceanic crust and than load densities typically assumed in studies of flexure as a result of seamount loading there is no simple flexural model that explains the shape of the moho beneath the island perhaps because of the long lived volcanism and the proximity of the island to the mid atlantic ridge mar and the ascension fracture zone there is no evidence for magmatic underplating beneath ascension island

the volcanotectonic evolution of flores island azores portugal abstract from the study and interpretation of the volcanic products and structures of flores island we infer that its volcanic history was dominated by two major periods 1 proto insular volcanism which includes all the submarine and emergent activities and 2 insular volcanism consisting exclusively of subaerial eruptions the first period includes two phases 1 the oldest 2 2 to 1 5 ma of shallow submarine volcanism 2 the youngest 1 0 to 0 75 ma includes emergent volcanism throughout the second period three volcanic stages are recognized 1 the first one 0 7 to 0 5 ma includes the most voluminous volcanism balanced between effusive and explosive events 2 an intermediate stage 0 4 to 0 2 ma that involves a larger number of small scale feeder centres with effusive eruptions prevailing 3 the third stage is the latest volcanic activity of the island 0 003 ma with strombolian and subsequent phreatic and phreatomagmatic activity centred at four volcanic vents from 1 0 ma to the present the volcanotectonic development of flores island also reflects the operation of two major tectonic processes 1 a marked volcanotectonic uplift during the first stage 1 0 to 0 55 ma and 2 subsidence particularly intensive in the island s central area which led to the subsequent formation of two and perhaps three large calderas during the period 0 55 to 0 4 ma

stress change from the 2015 mw 7 8 gorkha earthquake and increased hazard in the southern tibetan plateau abstract we examine the co seismic coulomb stress change induced by the 2015 mw 7 8 gorkha nepal earthquake and investigate its influence on the seismic hazard in the southern tibetan plateau we find that the location of the aftershocks coincides with areas where stress was enhanced this stress enhanced area also covers the west and the shallow fault section updip of the 2015 gorkha earthquake rupture in the main himalayan thrust fault mht signaling the raising hazard of the seismic gaps in the west and south to kathmandu the 2015 gorkha earthquake strongly interacted particularly with the normal and thrust faults in the distance of around 100 250 km from the rupture zone by bringing stress closer to the coulomb failure this fault interaction process increased stress by 12 kpa and 100 kpa at the southern end of the tingkye and the nyalam normal faults respectively triggering the ms 5 9 tingri earhquake on 25 may 2015 and the ms 5 3 nyalam earthquake on 26 may 2015 stress in the main frontal himalaya thrust fault mft the main boundary thrust fault mbt in the lalitpur area of nepal was promoted by 40 100 kpa such stress transfer should facilitate the future rupture on these active faults and raise seismic hazard in the southern tibetan plateau

the application of fluid inclusions to migration of oil and diagenesis in petroleum reservoirs abstract fluid inclusions can be used to interpret thermal history and petroleum maturation and migration relative to burial history temperature pressure and composition data collected from fluid inclusions are used to determine the environment of diagenesis and the timing of cementation and migration cements in petroleum reservoirs contain both oil and aqueous fluid inclusions fluorescence spectroscopy is used to identify oil inclusions and to determine the maturity of entrapped oil the lifetime of fluorescence induced by a pulsed laser is related to the api gravity of entrapped oil interpretation of fluid inclusion data depends on knowing the origin of fluid inclusions and the probability that they survive in the burial environment those aspects of fluid inclusion study are investigated by synthesizing oil and aqueous inclusions in calcite crystals in laboratory experiments examples of how fluid inclusions are used to determine the physico chemical environments of diagenesis in petroleum reservoirs and the timing of cementation and migration are given for the wealden basin england the mishrif formation dubai the smackover formation gulf coast u s a and jurassic sandstones offshore norway in the wealden basin temperature data from fluid inclusions are used to determine that oil migration occurred in the cretaceous and that the reservoir rocks have been uplifted to varying degrees at a time after migration distribution of oil inclusions indicates that generation and migration of oil was principally in the western part of the basin the geochemistry of oil inclusions in calcite cements from the mishrif formation dubai are used to determine the type and maturity of entrapped oil temperature data from oil and water inclusions are used to relate reservoir diagenesis to burial history and the migration of oil in deep smackover reservoirs oil contains h 2 s the origin of the h 2 s is examined by study of fluid inclusions containing h 2 s in jurassic sandstones offshore norway fluid inclusion studies show that silica cementation is related to burial depth whereas a later calcite cementation originated from invasion of a hot fluid

on the robustness of seismic moment tensor inversions for mid ocean earthquakes the azores archipelago source models of mid oceanic earthquakes are often based only on far field teleseismic data the uncertainties of all source parameters are rarely quantified which restricts our understanding of how these events slip and how oceanic lithosphere is formed here we perform moment tensor inversions for five mw 4 6 5 9 earthquakes that occurred in the azores archipelago near the mid atlantic ridge in 2013 2016 taking advantage of the recently expanded seismic network in the region we assess moment tensor uncertainties due to data and earth model variability as well as the robustness of teleseismic versus local data inversions we find that for the events studied i existing 1 d earth models of the region based on receiver function data lead to a slightly improved data fit of local data compared to a widely used regional model based on active seismic surveys and ii using different 1 d earth models in the local data inversions leads to a variability in the retrieved source parameters of 15 30 in fault strike 5 20 in dip and 20 60 in rake depending on the earthquake s magnitude and location we study in detail the mw 5 9 2013 april 30 povoacao basin earthquake using 1 d and 3 d waveform modelling for which reported values of strike dip and rake in earthquake catalogues differ by 60 35 and 80 we find that our moment tensor solutions show a lower variability than in the catalogues and exhibit a persistent non double couple component of 40 60 per cent which is not due to a volumetric change we suggest that it is potentially due to geometrically complex faulting in the povoacao basin notably curved faults we find that the retrieved moment tensor solutions depend strongly on the earthquake s location if an accurate location is used joint inversions of local and teleseismic data can help to stabilize moment tensor solutions of oceanic earthquakes and reduce parameter trade offs compared to inversions of local data alone

earthquake hazard and the environmental seismic intensity esi scale the main objective of this paper was to introduce the environmental seismic intensity scale esi a new scale developed and tested by an interdisciplinary group of scientists geologists geophysicists and seismologists in the frame of the international union for quaternary research inqua activities to the widest community of earth scientists and engineers dealing with seismic hazard assessment this scale defines earthquake intensity by taking into consideration the occurrence size and areal distribution of earthquake environmental effects eee including surface faulting tectonic uplift and subsidence landslides rock falls liquefaction ground collapse and tsunami waves indeed eees can significantly improve the evaluation of seismic intensity which still remains a critical parameter for a realistic seismic hazard assessment allowing to compare historical and modern earthquakes moreover as shown by recent moderate to large earthquakes geological effects often cause severe damage therefore their consideration in the earthquake risk scenario is crucial for all stakeholders especially urban planners geotechnical and structural engineers hazard analysts civil protection agencies and insurance companies the paper describes background and construction principles of the scale and presents some case studies in different continents and tectonic settings to illustrate its relevant benefits esi is normally used together with traditional intensity scales which unfortunately tend to saturate in the highest degrees in this case and in unpopulated areas esi offers a unique way for assessing a reliable earthquake intensity finally yet importantly the esi scale also provides a very convenient guideline for the survey of eees in earthquake stricken areas ensuring they are catalogued in a complete and homogeneous manner

evolution of a volcanic island on the shoulder of an oceanic rift and geodynamic implications s jorge island on the terceira rift azores triple junction abstract the s jorge island in the azores lies on a peculiar setting the southern shoulder of the terceira rift tr which raises a series of questions that we address in this study we first established the main volcanic stratigraphy by recognizing in the field the main unconformities discontinuities and their meaning major erosion surfaces and faults then we collected critical samples and finally dated them by k ar to calibrate the stratigraphy and the age of inferred large scale flank collapses based on field geochronological and marine geophysical data 1 we found much older rocks in s jorge than in previous studies ca 1 85 ma and established a new volcanic stratigraphy from bottom to top old volcanic complex ca 1 9 1 2 ma cropping out in the eastern third of the island intermediate volcanic complex ca 0 8 0 2 ma cropping out in the western two thirds of the island and separated from the underlying complex by a major fault young volcanic complex

the 1980 1997 and 1998 azores earthquakes and some seismo tectonic implications abstract we have studied the focal mechanisms of the 1980 1997 and 1998 earthquakes in the azores region from body wave inversion of digital gdsn global digital seismograph network and broadband data for the 1980 and 1998 shocks we have obtained strike slip faulting with the rupture process made up of two sub events in both shocks with total scalar seismic moments of 1 9 1019 nm mw 6 8 and 1 4 1018 nm mw 6 0 respectively for the 1997 shock we have obtained a normal faulting mechanism with the rupture process made up of three sub events with a total scalar seismic moment of 7 7 1017 nm mw 5 9 a common characteristic of these three earthquakes was the shallow focal depth less than 10 km in agreement with the oceanic type crust from the directivity function of rayleigh lr waves we have identified the nw se plane as the rupture plane for the 1980 and 1998 earthquakes with the rupture propagating to the se slow rupture velocity about of 1 5 km s has been estimated from directivity function for the 1980 and 1998 earthquakes from spectral analysis and body wave inversion fault dimensions stress drop and average slip have been estimated focal mechanisms of the three earthquakes we have studied together with focal mechanisms obtained by other authors have been used in order to obtain a seismotectonic model for the azores region we have found different types of behaviour present along the region it can be divided into two zones zone i from 30 w to 27 w zone ii from 27 w to 23 w with a change in the seismicity and stress direction from zone i in zone i the total seismic moment tensor obtained corresponded to left lateral strike slip faulting with horizontal pressure and tension axes in the e w and n s directions respectively in zone ii the total seismic moment tensor corresponded to normal faulting with a horizontal tension axis trending ne sw normal to the terceira ridge the stress pattern for the whole region corresponds to horizontal extension with an average seismic slip rate of 4 4 mm yr

observations of long period rayleigh wave ellipticity summary we analyse phase shifts and amplitude ratios of horizontal to vertical components of t 150 s fundamental rayleigh waves in the ray picture of surface wave propagation it is expected that at a single station this ratio will be constant being controlled only by the seismic velocity structure beneath the seismic station in contrast we observe substantial variability in the amplitude ratios measured at a number of stations from the global seismic network we discuss possible causes for the anomalous ratios concluding that they probably arise from effects associated with small scale heterogeneity distinctly distributed across different tectonic domains and having scale lengths shorter than a wavelength