evaluating knickpoint recession along an active fault for paleoseismological analysis the huoshan piedmont eastern china abstract ground rupturing earthquakes can generate tectonic knickpoints within upstream reaches of streams across active fault zones these knickpoints are characteristic of upstream propagation of time related process once generated by an earthquake so analysis of knickpoint series in streams which cross fault zones can be used to infer paleoearthquake events we studied the knickpoints along the huoshan piedmont fault hpf which is an active normal fault in the shanxi faulted basin zone china and demonstrate that analysis of knickpoints shows evidence for two paleoearthquakes in the hpf first we identified knickpoints in bedrock reaches upstream of the hpf using high resolution dems derived from irs p5 stereo images and the stream gradient method after excluding non faulting knickpoints 47 knickpoints were identified in 23 bedrock reaches upstream from the hpf analysis of the most recent knickpoints caused by the 1303 ce hongdong earthquake allowed for local calibration of the retreat rates applying these retreat rates across the study area allows for the estimation of the age of other knickpoints and constrains the age ranges of two knickpoint groups to be 2269 3336 a bp and 4504 5618 a bp these ages constrain the ages of two paleoearthquake events at 2710 102 and 4980 646 a bp the knickpoints along the hpf obey the parallel retreating model in which knickpoint morphology was roughly maintained during retreat so the heights of knickpoints represent the coseismic vertical displacements generated by the earthquakes along the hpf the vertical offsets for these three earthquake events are similar and are approximately 4 m which indicates that the ruptures on the hpf obey a characteristic slip model with a similar slip distribution for several successive earthquakes these results provide additional evidence of paleoearthquakes on the hpf and show that analysis of knickpoint recession along an active fault is a valuable tool for paleoseismology

investigating multiple fault rupture at the salar del carmen segment of the atacama fault system northern chile fault scarp morphology and knickpoint analysis this study presents a new geomorphological approach to investigate the past activity and potential seismic hazard of upper crustal faults at the salar del carmen segment of the atacama fault system in the northern chile forearc our contribution is based on the analysis of a large set of topographic profiles and allows extrapolating fault analysis from a few selected locations to distances of kilometers along strike of the fault we detected subtle changes in the fault scarp geometry which may represent the number of paleoearthquakes experienced by the structure and extracted the cumulative and last incremental displacement along strike of the investigated scarps we also tested the potential of knickpoints in channels crossing the fault scarps as markers for repeated fault rupture and proxies for seismic displacement the number of paleoearthquakes derived from our analysis is 2 3 well in agreement with recent paleoseismological investigations which suggest 2 3 earthquakes mw 6 5 6 7 at the studied segments knickpoints record the number of events for about 55 of the analyzed profile pairs only few knickpoints represent the full seismic displacement while most retain only a fraction of the displacement the along strike displacement distributions suggest fault growth from the center toward the tips and linkage of individual ruptures our approach also improves the estimation of paleomagnitudes in case of multiple fault rupture by allowing to quantify the last increment of displacement separately paleomagnitudes calculated from total segment length and the last increment of displacement mw 6 5 7 1 are in agreement with paleoseismological results

hierarchical segmentation of the malawi rift the influence of inherited lithospheric heterogeneity and kinematics in the evolution of continental rifts we used detailed analysis of shuttle radar topography mission digital elevation model and observations from aeromagnetic data to examine the influence of inherited lithospheric heterogeneity and kinematics in the segmentation of largely amagmatic continental rifts we focused on the cenozoic malawi rift which represents the southern extension of the western branch of the east african rift system this north trending rift traverses precambrian and paleozoic mesozoic structures of different orientations we found that the rift can be hierarchically divided into first order and second order segments in the first order segmentation we divided the rift into northern central and southern sections in its northern section the rift follows paleoproterozoic and neoproterozoic terrains with structural grain that favored the localization of extension within well developed border faults the central section occurs within mesoproterozoic neoproterozoic terrain with regional structures oblique to the rift extent we propose that the lack of inherited lithospheric heterogeneity favoring extension localization resulted in the development of the rift in this section as a shallow graben with undeveloped border faults in the southern section mesoproterozoic neoproterozoic rocks were reactivated and developed the border faults in the second order segmentation only observed in the northern section we divided the section into five segments that approximate four half grabens asymmetrical grabens with alternating polarities the change of polarity coincides with flip over full grabens occurring within overlap zones associated with 150 km long alternating border faults segments the inherited lithospheric heterogeneity played the major role in facilitating the segmentation of the malawi rift during its opening resulting from extension

selection of earthquake scaling relationships for seismic hazard analysis a fundamentally important but typically abbreviated component of seismic hazard analysis is the selection of earthquake scaling relationships these are typically regressions of historical earthquake datasets in which magnitude is estimated from parameters such as fault rupture length and area the mix of historical data from different tectonic environments and the different forms of the regression equations can result in large differences in magnitude estimates for a given fault rupture length or area we compile a worldwide set of regressions and make a first order shortlisting of regressions according to their relevance to a range of tectonic regimes plate tectonic setting and fault slip type in existence around the world regression relevance is based largely on the geographical distribution age and quantity quality of earthquake data used to develop them our compilation is limited to regressions of magnitude or seismic moment on fault rupture area or length and our shortlisted regressions show a large magnitude range up to a full magnitude unit for a given rupture length or area across the various tectonic regimes these large differences in magnitude estimates underline the importance of choosing regressions carefully for seismic hazard application in different tectonic environments

evolution of terrace risers along the upper rhine graben inferred from morphologic dating methods evidence of climatic and tectonic forcing summary we show that morphologic dating techniques that have been applied successfully in arid and semi arid areas are also suitable for slowly evolving scarps that are usually found in temperate climate environments we have attempted two morphologic approaches based on diffusion to relate the present day shape of an abandoned terrace riser to its age the first assumes a model of scarp degradation based on a diffusive process the d method the second evaluates the state of scarp degradation using the slope distribution the sd method along a topographic profile by using a manmade scarp of known age we have obtained a mass diffusivity close to 1 4 m2 ka 1 when the area experiences a temperate climate characterized by a continuous vegetation cover however this value decreases during glacial episodes probably on account of the permafrost even though the sd method requires an age correction that can be easily computed only this method reveals that at several profiles a later scarp reactivation event has occurred indeed along several profiles the slope distribution was best fitted by two offset gaussian curves suggesting that some scarps have undergone a complex evolution that cannot be modelled with a single diffusive process this scarp reactivation may correspond to a new incisive episode and allows one to estimate the vertical incision rate along the terrace riser applied to a wurmian terrace riser of the upper rhine valley ne france this approach reveals that the vertical incision rate ranges from 0 2 to 0 85 mm yr 1 between 35 and 15 ka and that the terrace bevelling occurred during two episodes related to climatic forcing moreover we can identify a component of tectonic forcing evidenced by an increase to the north of vertical incision rate and rhine stream power another major result is showing that this terrace riser is not isochronous along its strike and that younger portions result from lateral incision of a 30 ka pre existing scarp

holocene coastal environments and processes in subantarctic temperate cold tierra del fuego argentina chile fil bujalesky gustavo gabriel consejo nacional de investigaciones cientificas y tecnicas centro austral de investigaciones cientificas argentina

holocene vertical displacement on the central segments of the wasatch fault zone utah compiled per event vertical displacement observations from 17 paleoseismic sites along the six central segments of the wasatch fault zone wfz highlight possible biases and trends in displacement along the fault the displacement data are consistent with a model of characteristic type slip but anomalous and variable displacements indicate that significant natural variability in displacement occurs when combined into a composite distribution of displacement 79 of the data fit within a displacement envelope that shows displacement decreasing in a half ellipse shape from 1 4 3 5 m near the segment centers to 0 6 2 5 m near the ends additionally displacements normalized by the distance from the segment centers to ends decrease from means of 2 0 3 0 m near the segment centers to 1 3 1 9 m near the ends consistent with characteristic type slip termination although several paleoseismic sites exhibit repeated similar displacements the data are sparse and both low valued 0 5 0 8 m and high valued 4 2 4 7 m outliers suggest complex strain release possibly resulting from segment interaction and or noncharacteristic events although a global normal fault type surface rupture length srl average displacement regression underpredicts observed wfz displacements the largest displacements per segment correspond well with a srl maximum displacement regression this correlation as well as moderate variability in srl and displacement based moment magnitude suggests that the anomalous displacements represent the intrinsic variability in characteristic displacement per segment thus minor variations to the characteristic slip model to account for exceptional upper and lower bound displacements e g a hybrid characteristic variable slip model may be appropriate for the wfz additional paleoseismic data are necessary to address data gaps and biases to facilitate more robust tests of earthquake slip models and to reduce uncertainty in srl displacement and magnitude

analysis of scarp profiles evaluation of errors in morphologic dating morphologic analysis of scarp degradation can be used quantitatively to determine relative ages of different scarps formed in cohesionless materials under the same climatic conditions scarps of tectonic origin as well as wavecut or rivercut terraces can be treated as topographic impulses that are attenuated by surface erosional processes this morphological evolution can be modelled as the convolution of the initial shape with erosion or degradation function whose width increases with time such modeling applies well to scarps less than 10m high formed in unconsolidated fanglomerates to a good approximation the degradation function is gaussian with a variance measuring the degree of rounding of the initial shape this geometric parameter can be called the degradation coefficient a synthetic experiment shows that the degradation coefficient can be obtained by least squares fitting of profiles levelled perpendicular to the scarp gravitational collapse of the free face is accounted for by assuming initial scarp slopes at the angle of repose of the cohesionless materials 30 35 uncertainties in the measured profiles result in an uncertainty in degradation coefficient that can be evaluated graphically because the degradation coefficient is sensitive to the regional slope and to three dimensional processes gullying loess accumulation stream incision etc a reliable and accurate determination of degradation coefficient requires several long profiles across the same scarp the linear diffusion model of scarp degradation is a gaussian model in which the degradation coefficient is proportional to numerical age in that case absolute dating requires only determination of the propotionality constant called the mass diffusivity constant for holocene scarps a few meters high in loose alluvium under arid climatic conditions mass diffusivity constants generally range between 1 and 6 m 2 kyr morphologic analysis is a reliable method to compare ages of different scarps in a given area and it can provide approximate absolute ages of holocene scarplike landforms

testing fluvial erosion models using the transient response of bedrock rivers to tectonic forcing in the apennines italy the transient response of bedrock rivers to a drop in base level can be used to discriminate between competing fluvial erosion models however some recent studies of bedrock erosion conclude that transient river long profiles can be approximately characterized by a transport limited erosion model while other authors suggest that a detachment limited model best explains their field data the difference is thought to be due to the relative volume of sediment being fluxed through the fluvial system using a pragmatic approach we address this debate by testing the ability of end member fluvial erosion models to reproduce the well documented evolution of three catchments in the central apennines italy which have been perturbed to various extents by an independently constrained increase in relative uplift rate the transport limited model is unable to account for the catchments response to the increase in uplift rate consistent with the observed low rates of sediment supply to the channels instead a detachment limited model with a threshold corresponding to the field derived median grain size of the sediment plus a slope dependent channel width satisfactorily reproduces the overall convex long profiles along the studied rivers importantly we find that the prefactor in the hydraulic scaling relationship is uplift dependent leading to landscapes responding faster the higher the uplift rate consistent with field observations we conclude that a slope dependent channel width and an entrainment erosion threshold are necessary ingredients when modeling landscape evolution or mapping the distribution of fluvial erosion rates in areas where the rate of sediment supply to channels is low

new empirical relationships among magnitude rupture length rupture width rupture area and surface displacement source parameters for historical earthquakes worldwide are compiled to develop a series of empirical relationships among moment magnitude m surface rupture length subsurface rupture length downdip rupture width rupture area and maximum and average displacement per event the resulting data base is a significant update of previous compilations and includes the additional source parameters of seismic moment moment magnitude subsurface rupture length downdip rupture width and average surface displacement each source parameter is classified as reliable or unreliable based on our evaluation of the accuracy of individual values only the reliable source parameters are used in the final analyses in comparing source parameters we note the following trends 1 generally the length of rupture at the surface is equal to 75 of the subsurface rupture length however the ratio of surface rupture length to subsurface rupture length increases with magnitude 2 the average surface displacement per event is about one half the maximum surface displacement per event and 3 the average subsurface displacement on the fault plane is less than the maximum surface displacement but more than the average surface displacement thus for most earthquakes in this data base slip on the fault plane at seismogenic depths is manifested by similar displacements at the surface log linear regressions between earthquake magnitude and surface rupture length subsurface rupture length and rupture area are especially well correlated showing standard deviations of 0 25 to 0 35 magnitude units most relationships are not statistically different at a 95 significance level as a function of the style of faulting thus we consider the regressions for all slip types to be appropriate for most applications regressions between magnitude and displacement magnitude and rupture width and between displacement and rupture length are less well correlated and have larger standard deviation than regressions between magnitude and length or area the large number of data points in most of these regressions and their statistical stability suggest that they are unlikely to change significantly in response to additional data separating the data according to extensional and compressional tectonic environments neither provides statistically different results nor improves the statistical significance of the regressions regressions for cases in which earthquake magnitude is either the independent or the dependent parameter can be used to estimate maximum earthquake magnitudes both for surface faults and for subsurface seismic sources such as blind faults and to estimate the expected surface displacement along a fault for a given size earthquake

modification of wave cut and faulting controlled landforms from a casual observation that the form of degraded fault scarps resembles the error function this investigation proceeds through an elementary diffusion equation representation of landform evolution to the application of the resulting equations to the modern topography of scarplike landforms the morphologic observations can be analyzed either in the form of one or more cross strike elevation profiles or in the form of the slope offset plot a point plot of maximum scarp slope versus scarp offset working with either or both of these data representations for nine geologic structures which range in age from 3 to 400 ka b p and in offset from 1 to 50 m we apply analytical solutions for the vertical initial value scarp the vertical continuous offset scarp and the finite slope initial value scarp the model calculations are intrinsically ambiguous yielding as the final answer only the product t in the case of the initial value problem or the product a 1 in the case of the repeated faulting problem here t is the age of a single scarp forming event 2a is the vertical slip rate and is the mass diffusivity a single profile across three sea cliffs along the santa cruz california coast is analyzed as three separate initial value problems a reasonably constrained age for the sea cliff standing above the highway 1 platform returns 11 gkg 1 gkg 1 m2 ka with this we can date the two older sea cliffs in fact we do the converse age estimates for these two older sea cliffs based on a uniform rate of uplift both yield the same as for the lower sea cliff we treat a single profile of the raymond fault in pasadena san marino in terms of the repeated faulting problem for it the uplift rate of r crook and others yields 16 gkg the very substantial preexisting offset across the raymond fault must have been buried leveled some 230 ka b p when the modern topography began to form our analysis of the lake bonneville shoreline scarps reveals a dependence of t on 2a suggestive of nonlinear modification processes this appearance is treated with the finite slope initial value scarp model to determine 1 1 gkg for the lake bonneville shoreline scarps the suggestion of m n machette that approximately 100 000 year old meter high scarps are unobservable in weakly consolidated alluvial terranes of the basin and range and rio grande rift valley provinces can be formulated as 1 gkg the coincidence between this inequality and the lake bonneville shoreline is striking and it suggests that the value of 1 gkg may be generally applicable as a good first approximation to the modification of alluvial terranes within the semiarid regions of the western united states the lake bonneville shoreline is the basis for dating four sets of fault scarps in west central utah the drum mountains fault scarps can be modeled in several different circumstances but the most likely interpretation is that these fault scarps formed as the result of a single episode of normal faulting 3 6 to 5 7 ka b p the younger age is associated with quite low initial slope angles 25 the other three sets of fault scarps show no evidence for finite initial value slopes fault scarps along the eastern base of the fish springs range are very young 3 ka b p we estimate the age of fault scarps along the western flank of the oquirrh mountains to be 32 ka b p which meets the weak geologic constraint that they be older than the lake bonneville shoreline fault scarps along the northeastern margin of the sheeprock mountains are even older 53 ka b p an intriguing consequence of our single event analysis of these scarps is that an 11 5 m offset occurred in a single earthquake

gis analysis of fluvial knickzone distribution in japanese mountain watersheds although a knickzone a location at which stream gradient is locally large and intense erosion occurs has been regarded as an important geomorphic feature in bedrock river morphology the distribution of knickzones has not been well investigated especially for broad area this study examines the distribution of fluvial knickzones along mountain rivers for the entire japanese archipelago whereas conventional manual methods of identifying knickzones based on map readings or field observations tend to be subjective and are impractical for a broad scale analysis this study employs a semi automated method of knickzone extraction using dems and gis in a recent study by the authors this method has been shown to enable efficient examination of knickzone distribution over a broad area investigations on major mountain rivers revealed that knickzones are generally abundant in upstream steep river reaches suggesting hydraulic origins for the knickzones the broad presence of such knickzones in the steep japanese mountain rivers indicates that rivers subjected to active erosion show complex morphology induced by natural irregularities of water flow hydraulics as well as various environmental perturbations such as climatic changes there also seems to be a characteristic frequency of knickzone distribution common to moderately steep to very steep bedrock reaches in japan although volcanic products such as lavas and welded pyroclastic flow deposits in valleys can cause distinct knickzones substrate geology plays only a limited role in determining the distribution and form of knickzones

scientific drilling in the great rift valley the 2005 lake malawi scientific drilling project an overview of the past 145 000years of climate variability in southern hemisphere east africa abstract the recovery of detailed and continuous paleoclimate records from the interior of the african continent has long been of interest for understanding climate dynamics of the tropics and also for constraining the environmental backdrop to the evolution and spread of early homo sapiens in 2005 an international team of scientists collected a series of scientific drill cores from lake malawi the first long and continuous high fidelity records of tropical climate change from interior east africa the paleoclimate records which include lithostratigraphic geochemical geophysical and paleobiological observations documented in this special issue of palaeo3 indicate an interval of high amplitude climate variability between 145 000 and 60 000 years ago when several severe arid intervals reduced lake malawi s volume by more than 95 these intervals of pronounced tropical african aridity in the early late pleistocene around lake malawi were much more severe than the last glacial maximum lgm a well documented period of drought in equatorial and northern hemisphere tropical east africa after 70 000 years ago climate shifted to more humid conditions and lake levels rose during this latter interval however wind patterns shifted rapidly and perhaps synchronously with high latitude shifts and changes in thermohaline circulation this transition to wetter more stable conditions coincided with diminished orbital eccentricity and a reduction in precession dominated climatic extremes the observed climate mode switch to decreased environmental variability is consistent with terrestrial and marine records from in and around tropical africa

channel changes in badlands stripping of the vegetation and soil from a 13 hectare site in virginia underlain by coastal plain sediments created a rapidly evolving badland topography two types of channels developed 1 sand bed alluvial channels were graded to transport the bed material load supplied from slope erosion with available runoff but they also generally eroded their beds slowly and 2 steeper bedrock floored channels incised rapidly in bedrock channels the erosion rate was proportional to the 4 9ths power of drainage area and the 2 3rds power of gradient these exponents are consistent with a model in which the erosion rate is proportional to the bed shear during high flows due to rapid mass wasting and reduced runoff the alluvial channels became as much as 50 steeper during the winter than the summer with an attendant yearly cycle of winter aggradation and summer entrenchment the gradients their seasonal variability and their downstream hydraulic geometry were consistent with the predictions of total load transport formulas for sand beds and high loads the hydraulic geometry of alluvial channels in the virginia badlands were similar to that on the morrison formation in the western united states

morphological dating of cumulative reverse fault scarps examples from the gurvan bogd fault system mongolia summary we relate reverse fault scarp morphology formed by several earthquake dislocations to the average deformation rate using a morphological dating model based on a diffusion analogue of erosion our scarp degradation model includes diffusive erosion during the interseismic period the gravitational collapse of the coseismic fault scarp just after formation and the variation of the surface rupture location interactions between thrusting and geomorphic processes acting on scarp morphology are analysed along the gurvan bogd range in mongolia four main processes acting on scarp morphology were distinguished i gravitational collapse of the frontal scarp resetting the diffusive scarp if fault offsets are big and faulting is localized 2 progressive erosion of the fault scarp during the interseismic period 3 folding associated with the frontal thrust and backthrusts 4 competing alluvial deposition on mountain piedmont slopes and abrasion of the fault scarp by wash processes the growth of cumulative reverse fault scarps is suppressed when they are located in the outwash of major drainage basins they can grow higher in distance from major catchment discharges the modelling suggests that the morphology of the scarp and its apparent degradation stage depend on the parameters controlling the amount of frontal collapse the magnitude of coseismic offsets the dip of the fault near the surface and the step distance between faults folding associated with thrusting creates a convexity on the upper part of the scarp and increases its height the comparison of different scarp profiles suggests that folding leads to an overestimate of the morphological age we estimate a diffusion coefficient at 3 3 1 7 m 2 ka l morphological ages calculated with our model confirm that slip rate along reverse faults of the gurvan bogd range has not been constant over the last 100 ka

bedrock channel incision along piccaninny creek australia piccaninny creek in northwestern australia drains approximately 60 km 2 of high relief sandstone and conglomerate terrain the drainage basin lies within the seasonal tropics and is characterized by ephemeral high magnitude flows flood flows of 50 to 100 m 3 s 1 are probably primarily responsible for the spectacular erosional features along the bedrock channel segments of the creek these erosional features occur in two basic forms as parallel longitudinal grooves and as a downstream sequence that begins with shallow linear depressions parallel to flow and ends in a deep narrow inner channel the longitudinal grooves are assumed to result from longitudinal vortices while the erosional sequences which closely resemble von karman vortex streets are interpreted to result from turbulent vortices shed off irregularities of the channel bed the longitudinal grooves and the inner channel sequence alternate with each other and with gravel floored depositional reaches downstream along the channe

evidence from high resolution topography for multiple earthquakes on high slip to length fault scarps the bilila mtakataka fault malawi geomorphological features such as fault scarps and stream knickpoints are indicators of recent fault activity determining whether these features formed during a single earthquake or over multiple earthquakes cycles has important implications for the interpretation of the size and frequency of past events here we focus on the bilila mtakataka fault malawi where the 20 m high fault scarps exceed the height expected from a single earthquake rupture we use a high resolution digital elevation model 1 m to identify complexity in the fault scarp and knickpoints in river profiles of 39 selected scarp profiles 20 showed evidence of either multi scarps or composite scarps and of the seven selected river and stream profiles five showed evidence for multiple knickpoints a near uniform distribution of vertical offsets on the sub scarps suggests they were formed by separate earthquakes these independent methods agree that at least two earthquakes have occurred with an average vertical offset per event of 10 and 12 m this contrasts earlier studies which proposed that this scarp formed during a single event and demonstrates the importance of high resolution topographic data for understanding tectonic geomorphology we use a one dimensional diffusion model of scarp degradation to demonstrate how fault splays form multi scarps and estimate the diffusion age t of the bilila mtakataka fault scarp to be 48 m25 m2 corresponding to 6400 4000 years since formation we calculate that a continuous rupture would equate to a mw 7 8 0 3 earthquake greater than the largest seismic event previously recorded in east africa

morphologic dating of scarps formed by repeated slip events along the san andreas fault carrizo plain california morphologic dating of fault scarps determines late cenozoic fault activity by comparing observed topographic profiles with those determined using a calibrated hillslope development model we postulate that the material transport rate along the profile is a function only of local slope and is transport limited morphologic dating of hillslopes bounded by continuously dropping boundaries or cut by continuously slipping faults is used to determine the material transport rate constant the time since the downdrop was initiated or the fault began to slip we calibrated the hillslope development model on the southwest facing scarp southeast of wallace creek along the san andreas fault saf in the carrizo plain california the scarp has been exposed by right lateral offset of a southeast sloping shutter ridge located on the southwest side of the saf and by vertical offset related to secondary deformation we assume that all the observed offset occurs after initial exposure of the scarp by passage of the shutter ridge forward modeling of profile development yielded a mass diffusivity of 8 6 0 8 m2 kyr 1 normal fault slip rates were determined for two graben bounding faults in the northern elkhorn hills in the southeastern carrizo plain by applying the calibrated to the degradation of the scarps to determine the scarp age one fault scarp began to form about 12 kyr ago and the other about 63 kyr ago those ages and estimates of the dip slip along the faults result in slip rates of 1 2 mm yr 1

evidence for self similar triangular slip distributions on earthquakes implications for earthquake and fault mechanics we characterize average slip distributions on earthquakes beyond their individual heterogeneity for that we analyze a large number of seismic slip distributions both measured at the surface after earthquakes 44 profiles and derived from slip inversion models 76 models investigating the overall shape of these slip profiles we find that they are roughly triangular both along strike and dip and most of them 70 80 are asymmetric long linear slopes and high slip gradients therefore are the key ingredients to describe earthquake slip profiles the scaling relations between maximum displacement and length or width suggest furthermore that the triangular slip profiles are self similar such slip patterns make earthquakes dominated by one major zone of maximum slip hence one major asperity analyzing the position of hypocenters with respect to these asperities we find that earthquakes nucleate at a distance from them that averages 20 30 of their total length compiling observations on 56 earthquakes we show that this distance i e the asperity size is structurally defined we then compare the earthquake slip profiles to cumulative slip profiles measured on long term faults of various ages and sizes and find that all profiles have a similar shape triangular and asymmetric hence combining data for a large number of earthquakes leads to point out average generic characteristics of the coseismic slip that are similar to those that emerge from the accumulation of events with time on a single fault this suggests that these characteristics result from robust physical properties

morphologic dating of fluvial terrace scarps and fault scarps near west yellowstone montana analysis of fault and fluvial terrace scarps in the west yellowstone basin south of hebgen lake montana indicates that during degradation the gradient of the scarp face and the curvatures of the basal concavity and crestal convexity of the scarp face decrease become more rounded with time the pattern of degradation is identical with that predicted by a simple analytical model for degradation by creep in which the change in elevation at a point on a hillslope is proportional to the curvature of the profile at that point the model therefore provides the basis for morphologic dating a technique for determining the age of a scarp by the extent to which its initial morphology has been degraded in order to date a scarp the coefficient of proportionality c must be known the technique is probably not suitable for use on hillslopes degraded by processes other than creep both the potential and the limitations of morphologic dating are demonstrated via measurements of a sequence of terrace scarps along the madison river the calculated relative ages are in agreement with the known relative ages despite the fact that the gradient of the youngest scarp is significantly less than that of the older scarps to calculate an absolute morphologic age c must be derived from analysis of a scarp of known age having the same aspect must be underlain by the same material and must be within the same climatic zone as the scarp to be dated in the west yellowstone basin a value of c 2 00 0 38 10 3 m 2 yr was calculated from a minimum date of 7100 50 yr b p determined by radiocarbon dating for one of the terrace scarps scarps formed by normal faulting in the west yellowstone basin are much more difficult to date than are terrace scarps because of the possible complexity of their initial morphology fault scarps formed during the 1959 yellowstone earthquake commonly consist of an assemblage of two or more smaller scarps or are superimposed on preexisting scarps formed by one or more previous faulting events by using a selective sampling procedure however one can screen out these fault scarps in this way it was possible to determine an age of 2 800 1 100 yr for a pre 1959 fault scarp in the west yellowstone basin because the fault and terrace scarps in the west yellowstone area do not vary significantly in height the morphologic dating technique proposed earlier by nash 1980a cannot be applied to them the substantially modified procedure developed for the present study does not require a wide range of heights for each scarp to be dated it can be performed using a relatively small number of scarp profiles if c is known it is easy to use and when used with considerable care it is reasonably accurate 36 59 in this study it is potentially applicable to scarps in other areas

knickpoint initiation and distribution within fluvial networks 236 waterfalls in the waipaoa river north island new zealand if knickpoints transmit signals of base level fall in river networks then improvements in our understanding of their retreat rate and basin wide distribution helps constrain the transient response following perturbation many studies of knickpoint retreat focus on the response of trunk streams to base level fall here we examine the response of an entire fluvial network as recorded by 236 active knickpoints distributed within the waipaoa river on the north island of new zealand base level fall within the waipaoa catchment initiated 18 000 years ago in response to a climatically triggered and tectonically exacerbated pulse of incision using observations from field work aerial photo analysis and a digital elevation model dem we study the knickpoint positions within the network we find that 70 of the knickpoints are located at drainage areas between 1 10 5 m 2 and 1 10 6 m 2 and more than half are b1 km upstream of a large change in drainage area for the knickpoints b1 km upstream of large tributary junctions we find that the retreat distances were well correlated with the tributaries drainage areas in order to determine how a pulse of incision distributes itself throughout a fluvial network we develop two simple end member models and compare their behavior to the observed knickpoint distribution in the waipaoa in the first model we propose that a knickpoint initiated at the basin outlet retreats upstream and distributes the signal throughout the network at a rate that is a power law function of drainage area in the second model we propose that knickpoints form near a threshold drainage area below which channels cannot incise with the same efficiency as possible in downstream reaches though neither model addresses the along stream variability in substrate or knickpoint form the misfit between the modeled and the observed knickpoints along stream positions are surprisingly low b1 km 1 25 of the total stream length for knickpoints with drainage areas b1 10 6 m 2 large misfits up to 3 5 km are observed for knickpoints with present day drainage areas greater than 1 10 6 m 2 the large single step in channel elevation that characterizes knickpoints presently observed in tributaries of the waipaoa river may not characterize the base level fall signal that propagated through the trunk streams evidence for progressive rather than instantaneous incision in the trunk streams the knickpoints vicinities to tributary junctions and the equivalent success of the two end member models lead us to conclude that the present positions of the 236 observed knickpoints are largely a consequence of thresholds in channel incision at low drainage areas

dem based morphometry of range front escarpments in attica central greece and its relation to fault slip rates in this paper we apply current geological knowledge on faulting processes to digital processing of digital elevation models dem in order to pinpoint locations of active faults the analysis is based on semiautomatic interpretation of 20 and 60 m dem and their products slope shaded relief in northern eastern attica five normal fault segments were recognized on the 20 m dem all faults strike wnw ese the faults are from west to east thriassion thfs fili fifs afidnai affs avlon avfs and pendeli pefs and range in length from 10 to 20 km all of them show geomorphic evidence for recent activity such as prominent range front escarpments v shaped valleys triangular facets and tilted footwall areas however escarpment morphometry and footwall geometry reveal systematic differences between the bexternalq segments pefs thfs and avfs and the binternalq segments affs and fifs which may be due to mechanical interaction among segments and or preexisting topography in addition transects across all five escarpments show mean scarp slope angles of 22 18f0 78 for both carbonate and metamorphic bedrock the slope angle equation for the external segments shows asymptotic behaviour with increasing height we make an empirical suggestion that slope angle is a function of the long term fault slip rate which ranges between 0 13 and 0 3 mm yr the identified faults may rupture up to magnitude 6 4 6 6 earthquakes the analysis of the 60 m dem shows a difference in fault patterns between western and northern attica which is related to crustal rheology variations d 2004 elsevier b v all rights reserved

fault slip and earthquake recurrence along strike slip faults contributions of high resolution geomorphic data article i nfo understanding earthquake eq recurrence relies on information about the timing and size of past eq ruptures along a given fault knowledge of a fault s rupture history provides valuable information on its potential future behavior enabling seismic hazard estimates and loss mitigation stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence of faulting is used to constrain the recurrence of surface rupturing eqs analysis of the latter data sets culminated during the mid 1980s in the formulation of now classical eq recurrence models now routinely used to assess seismic hazard within the last decade light detection and ranging lidar surveying technology and other high resolution data sets became increasingly available to tectono geomorphic studies promising to contribute to better informed models of eq recurrence and slip accumulation patterns after reviewing motivation and background we outline requirements to successfully reconstruct a fault s offset accumulation pattern from geomorphic evidence we address sources of uncertainty affecting offset measure ment and advocate approaches to minimize them a number of recent studies focus on single eq slip distribu tions and along fault slip accumulation patterns we put them in context with paleoseismic studies along the respective faults by comparing coefficients of variation cv for eq inter event time and slip per event and find that a single event offsets vary over a wide range of length scales and the sources for offset variability differ with length scale b at fault segment length scales single event offsets are essentially constant c along fault offset accumulation as resolved in the geomorphic record is dominated by essentially same size large offset in crements and d there is generally no one to one correlation between the offset accumulation pattern constrained in the geomorphic record and eq occurrence as identified in the stratigraphic record revealing the higher resolution and preservation potential of the latter while slip accumulation along a fault segment may be dominated by repetition of large nearly constant offset increments timing of surface rupture is less regular

slip re orientation in oblique rifts oblique extension is expected to result in a combination of dip slip and strike slip displacement along faults with strike orthogonal and oblique to the extension direction respectively this general concept is in disagreement with observations from natural oblique rifts where faults show dip slip kinematics indicating pure extension irrespective of the fault strike with respect to the regional extension direction consequently along oblique structures slip is re oriented and oblique to the applied extension direction besides at fault scale slip is re oriented along strike such that it is dip slip at the fault center and becomes highly oblique slip toward the fault tips here we use analogue experiments to show that this discrepancy can be resolved when a preexisting weak zone wz is present in the crust at the onset of oblique extension the wz is implemented within the lower crust and strikes oblique to the extension direction our experimental results show that an inherited wz within the ductile crust favors the re orientation of slip such that oblique extension results in pure dip slip displacement on faults that strike oblique with respect to the extension direction furthermore we show that slip is re oriented along strike of major faults such that the fault center shows dip slip kinematics whereas its tips display strike slip kinematics these findings call into question the use of paleostress reconstructions to constrain plate kinematics in oblique extensional tectonic settings

holocene paleoearthquakes of the daqingshan fault detected from knickpoint identification and alluvial soil profile abstract are there any effective methods to reveal paleoearthquakes on normal faults except traditional trenching technique in this paper we study holocene paleoearthquakes of the daqingshan fault which is a normal fault along the daqingshan piedmont of inner mongolia in china we identify knickpoints from stream profiles and study alluvial soil profiles to reconstruct the holocene paleoearthquakes of the fault from the fault s footwall we extract 25 gullies from irs p5 dem data and identify knickpoints in the profile that result from fault motion disturbing each channel we combine the retreat distances and the knickpoint retreat rates to determine each knickpoint s forming time we study alluvial fan outcrops that contain various paleosol sequences as three distinct holocene paleosols developed in the daqingshan piedmont alluvial fans we assume that the soil profile development was interrupted by fault activity preserved by interbedded gravel between the paleosols the gravel layer between two adjacent paleosol layers represents material transported there after a paleoseismic event thus we date paleosol layers which are above and below the gravel layer to constrain paleoseismic events since trenches had been made by our predecessors along the fault to reveal the holocene paleoearthquakes we identify the holocene paleoearthquake records from both sides of the fault and then compare the results with the results from the trenches the final result demonstrates that the knickpoints sequence in the footwall and the paleosols ages in the hanging wall correspond very closely with the holocene paleoearthquakes along the daqingshan piedmont fault methods in this paper have future application value to study paleoearthquakes on other normal faults with similar structure to the daqingshan fault

slip accumulation and lateral propagation of active normal faults in afar we investigate fault growth in afar where normal fault systems are known to be currently growing fast and most are propagating to the northwest using digital elevation models we have examined the cumulative slip distribution along 255 faults with lengths ranging from 0 3 to 60 km faults exhibiting the elliptical or bell shaped slip profiles predicted by simple linear elastic fracture mechanics or elastic plastic theories are rare most slip profiles are roughly linear for more than half of their length with overall slopes always 0 035 for the dominant population of nw striking faults and fault systems longer than 2 km the slip profiles are asymmetric with slip being maximum near the eastern ends of the profiles where it drops abruptly to zero whereas slip decreases roughly linearly and tapers in the direction of overall aden rift propagation at a more detailed level most faults appear to be composed of distinct shorter subfaults or segments whose slip profiles while different from one to the next combine to produce the roughly linear overall slip decrease along the entire fault on a larger scale faults cluster into kinematically coupled systems along which the slip on any scale individual fault or fault system complements that of its neighbors so that the total slip of the whole system is roughly linearly related to its length with an average slope again 0 035 we discuss the origin of these quasilinear asymmetric profiles in terms of initiation points where slip starts and barriers where fault propagation is arrested in the absence of a barrier slip apparently extends with a roughly linear profile tapered in the direction of fault propagation

bedrock channel adjustment to tectonic forcing implications for predicting river incision rates we present detailed data of channel morphology for a river undergoing a transient response to active normal faulting where excellent constraints exist on spatial and temporal variations in fault slip rates we show that traditional hydraulic scaling laws break down in this situation and that channel widths become decoupled from drainage area upstream of the fault unit stream powers are 4 times higher than those predicted by current scaling paradigms and imply that incision rates for rivers responding to active tectonics may be significantly higher than those heretofore modeled the loss of hydraulic scaling cannot be explained by increasing channel roughness and is an intrinsic response to tectonic forcing we show that channel aspect ratio is a strongly nonlinear function of local slope and demonstrate that fault induced adjustment of channel geometries has reset hillslope gradients the results give new insight into how rivers maintain their course in the face of tectonic uplift and illustrate the first order control the fluvial system exerts on the locus and magnitude of sediment supply to basins

late quaternary activity of the laguna salada fault in northern baja california mexico faulted alluvial fans and bajadas along the central laguna salada fault zone in northernbajacaliforniarecordarecurrent history of oblique slip holocene earthquakes alluvialsurfaces whichrangefrom late pleistocene to historic in age have been progressively displaced along the base of the crystalline rangefront as well as along more basinward fault splays in alluvium the recurrence interval determined from displacedalluvialdepositsthataredatedby soil profile development is in the range of 1 2 ka with a corresponding right lateral slip rate of 2 3 mm yr similar to that of thesouthernelsinorefaultinsoutherncalifornia the most recent event along the fault zone is probably the widely felt earthquake of february 23 1892 at least 22 km ofthefaultzonerupturedduringthisevent along both an oblique dextral section of the northwest strikinglagunasaladafaultand

hillslope development in areas of active tectonics tectonic and geomorphic displacements of the earth s surface control topographic profile development therefore their analysis should be combined in the model presented here transient finite difference solutions to the continuity equation for material transport determine geomorphic displacements the material transport rate is a function of distance from the divide to the power m local slope to the power n and a rate constant values of m and n may be adjusted to simulate processes varying from rainsplash and soil creep i e diffusive m 0 n 1 to slope wash and river flow m 0 n 0 the actual geomorphic displacements may be transport or weathering limited depending on soil profile development superimposed edge dislocations in an elastic half plane are used to model tectonic displacements slip along a normal or reverse fault of any dip depth and down dip length may be incremental earthquake or continuous aseismic creep considering climate and material properties constant the ratio of the transport capacity rate constant to the fault slip rate roughly determines form this model extends existing morphologic diffusion erosion analyses to include other geomorphic conditions and processes transport or weathering limited conditions material flux boundary conditions and the development of gullies and knickpoints and more heterogeneous spatial and temporal distributions of tectonic displacement such as those due to slip along buried thrust faults we advocate calibration of these parameters and processes to provide a quantitative approach to modeling landform development determining deformation rates and inferring earthquake hazards

recurrence of large earthquakes in magmatic continental rifts insights from a paleoseismic study along the laikipia marmanet fault subukia valley kenya rift the seismicity of the kenya rift is characterized by high frequency low magnitude events concentrated along the rift axis its seismic character is typical for magmatically active continental rifts where igneous material at a shallow depth causes extensive grid faulting and geothermal activity thermal overprinting and dike intrusion prohibit the buildup of large elastic strains therefore prohibiting the gen eration of large magnitude earthquakes on 6 january 1928 the ms 6 9 subukia earthquake occurred on the laikipia marmanet fault the eastern rift bounding struc ture of the central kenya rift it is the largest instrumentally recorded seismic event in the kenya rift standing in contrast to the current model of the rift s seismic character in which large earthquakes are not anticipated furthermore the proximity of the rup tured fault and the rift axis is intriguing the rift bounding structure that ruptured in 1928 remains seismically active capable of generating large magnitude earthquakes even though thermally weakened crust and better oriented structures are present along the rift axis nearby prohibiting any significant buildup of elastic strain we excavated the surface rupture of the 1928 subukia earthquake to find evidence for preceding ground rupturing earthquakes we also made a total station survey of the site topography and mapped the site geology we show that the laikipia marmanet fault was repeatedly activated during the late quaternary we found evidence for six ground rupturing earthquakes includ ing the 1928 earthquake the topographic survey around the trench site revealed a degraded fault scarp of 7 5 m in height offsetting a small debris slide using scarp diffusion modeling we estimated an uplift rate of u 0 09 0 15 mm yr con straining the scarp age to 50 85 ka assuming an average fault dip of 55 75 the preferred uplift rate 0 15 mm yr accommodates approximately 10 20 of the recent rate of extension 0 5 mm yr across the kenya rift

knickpoint recession rate and catchment area the case of uplifted rivers in eastern scotland knickpoint behaviour is a key to understanding both the landscape responses to a base level fall and the corresponding sediment fluxes from rejuvenated catchments and must be accommodated in numerical models of large scale landscape evolution knickpoint recession in streams draining to glacio isostatically uplifted shorelines in eastern scotland is used to assess whether knickpoint recession is a function of discharge here represented by its surrogate catchment area knickpoints are identified using ds plots log slope versus log downstream distance a statistically significant power relationship is found between distance of headward recession and catchment area such knickpoint recession data may be used to determine the values of m and n in the stream power law e kamsn the data have too many uncertainties however to judge definitively whether they are consistent with m n 1 bedrock erosion is proportional to stream power and kps should be maintained and propagate headwards or m 0 3 n 0 7 bedrock incision is proportional to shear stress and kps do not propagate but degrade in place by rotation or replacement nonetheless the e scotland m and n values point to the dominance of catchment area discharge in determining knickpoint retreat rates and are therefore more consistent with the stream power law formulation in which bedrock erosion is proportional to stream power copyright 2005 john wiley sons ltd

segmentation and growth of an obliquely reactivated normal fault abstract detailed kinematic analysis of a large 1800 m maximum displacement reactivated normal fault in the taranaki basin new zealand has been conducted using high quality 3d seismic data the parihaka fault is approximately north south striking in basement where it accrued late cretaceous to early eocene displacements in response to east west extension and was obliquely reactivated by nw se extension in the pliocene reactivation resulted in upward propagation newly formed segmentation and up dip clockwise rotation of the fault surface by up to 20 from the strike of the basement fault fault segmentation and map view soft linkage by relay zones in post miocene strata was synchronous with the formation of antithetic faults in late miocene strata at bends in the fault surface fault segment lengths antithetic faults and relay zone dimensions were formed geologically instantaneously during initial reactivation of the main fault at 3 7 3 4 ma i e within the first 10 of faulting rapid formation of pliocene fault segments is followed by displacement accumulation without an increase in fault segment length until eventual relay breaching when continued ramp rotation is unsustainable this evolutionary history is consistent with a model in which arrays of fault segments are from inception components of a single coherent structure

active tectonics in southern xinjiang china analysis of terrace riser and normal fault scarp degradation along the hotan qira fault system the northern piedmont of the western kunlun mountains xinjiang china is marked at its easternmost extremity south of the hotan qira oases by a set of normal faults trending n50e for nearly 70 km conspicuous on landsat and spot images these faults follow the southeastern border of a deep flexural basin and may be related to the subsidence of the tarim platform loaded by the western kunlun northward overthrust the hotan qira normal fault system vertically offsets the piedmont slope by 70 m highest fault scarps reach 20 m and often display evidence for recent reactivations about 2 m high successive stream entrenchments in uplifted footwalls have formed inset terraces we have leveled topographic profiles across fault scarps and transverse abandoned terrace risers the state of degradation of each terrace edge has been characterized by a degradation coefficient derived by comparison with analytical erosion models edges of highest abandoned terraces yield a degradation coefficient of 33 4 m 2 profiles of cumulative fault scarps have been analyzed in a similar way using synthetic profiles generated with a simple incremental fault scarp model the analysis shows that 1 rate of fault slip remained essentially constant since the aggradation of the piedmont surface and 2 the occurrence of inset terraces was synchronous at all studied sites suggesting a climate driven terrace formation observation of glacial and periglacial geomorphic features along the northern front of the western kunlun range indicates that the qira glaciofluvial fan emplaced after the last glacial maximum during the retreat of the kunlun glaciers 12 22 ka the age of the most developed inset terrace in uplifted valleys is inferred to be 10 3 ka coeval with humid climate pulses of the last deglaciation the mass diffusivity constant k t being time b p in the hotan region is determined to be 3 3 1 4 m 2 10 3 years consistent with other estimates in similar climatic and geologic environments of western china these results imply a minimum rate for the tarim subsidence of 3 5 2 mm yr if western kunlun overthrusts the tarim platform on a crustal ramp dipping 40 45 to the south it would absorb at least 4 5 3 mm yr of convergence between western tibet and tarim

the 3d geometry of small scale relay zones between normal faults in soft sediments serial cross sections of faults within soft sediments of miocene age on the east coast of denmark were collated to provide 3d data sets with which to study the geometry of minor faults displacements 10 cm from the wide variety of geometrical complexities displayed by these faults many due to mutually cross cutting relationships between opposed dipping faults we present relatively simple structures considered to demonstrate stages in the evolution of relay zones between overlapping fault segments the structures described are 1 initial embayments in fault tip lines 2 established relay zones displaying transfer of displacement between overlapping fault segments 3 breached relay zones and 4 fault bound lenses an individual relay zone may display more than one of these structures along its length and relay zones that are intact on one cross section may be breached along strike on another examples of relay zones that are isolated from the fault tip line and are effectively holes within a continuous fault are also observed the observed relay zones breach by propagation of the initial parent fault through the relay zone rather than by the formation of a new breaching fault

fault segmentation new concepts from the wasatch fault zone utah usa the question of whether structural segment boundaries along multisegment normal faults such as the wasatch fault zone wfz act as persistent barriers to rupture is critical to seismic hazard analyses we synthesized late holocene paleoseismic data from 20 trench sites along the central wfz to evaluate earthquake rupture length and fault segmentation for the youngest 3 ka and best constrained earthquakes differences in earthquake timing across prominent primary segment boundaries especially for the most recent earthquakes on the north central wfz are consistent with segment controlled ruptures however broadly constrained earthquake times dissimilar event times along the segments the presence of smaller scale subsegment boundaries and areas of complex faulting permit partial segment and multisegment e g spillover ruptures that are shorter 20 40 km or longer 60 100 km than the primary segment lengths 35 59 km we report a segmented wfz model that includes 24 earthquakes since 7 ka and yields mean estimates of recurrence 1 1 1 3 kyr and vertical slip rate 1 3 2 0 mm yr for the segments however additional rupture scenarios that include segment boundary spatial uncertainties floating earthquakes and multisegment ruptures are necessary to fully address epistemic uncertainties in rupture length we compare the central wfz to paleoseismic and historical surface ruptures in the basin and range province and central italian apennines and conclude that displacement profiles have limited value for assessing the persistence of segment boundaries but can aid in interpreting prehistoric spillover ruptures our comparison also suggests that the probabilities of shorter and longer ruptures on the wfz need to be investigated

geometry and kinematics of active normal faults south oquirrh mountains utah implication for fault growth the nnw striking south oquirrh mountains normal fault zone consists of four individual faults the individual faults are arranged in a right stepping pattern in the north and a left stepping pattern in the south forming a convex shaped fault zone in map view with the apex towards the hanging wall late quaternary fault activity is characterized by 2 0 4 5 m high discontinuous fault scarps developed in both late quaternary alluvium and bedrock the fault scarps in bedrock contain evidence of two large rupture events the last large earthquake occurred prior to the highstand of the bonneville lake cycle 15 ka based on cross cutting relationship between the bonneville shoreline and the fault scarp and on comparisons of fault scarp morphology cumulative displacement patterns inferred from range crest elevations bouguer gravity data in the adjacent basin and rotation of the subsidiary faults adjacent to the west mercur fault are similar to the pattern of displacements measured across late quaternary fault scarps that is the maximum displacement is near the apex of the convex shaped fault zone where the west mercur fault is located and then tapers off towards both ends of the fault zone fault traces that range from a few meters to tens of kilometers long are characterized by two dominant orientations strike n11 w and n43 w the two orientations are separated from each other by a statistically constant angle of 33 3 slip directions concentrate on a trend of s70 w for both groups of faults perpendicular to the average strike of the fault zone these data indicate that the geometry of the fault surfaces is non cylindrical and may be composed of self similar structural ridges and troughs of variable wavelength and amplitude that are elongated parallel to slip direction the relationships between fault geometry displacement and geomorphology in the south oquirrh mountains fault zone suggests a growth model of normal faults in which apex points on the convex shaped fault sections mark the nucleation points of primary faults secondary faults developed at the ends of the primary fault step into the footwall block as the fault zone grows laterally intersecting regions between two laterally growing fault zones are concave shaped in map view

an introduction to the european geotraverse project first results and present plans abstract the european geotraverse egt is an international multidisciplinary project focused on a north south orientated lithospheric profile 4000 km long and of varying width extending from northernmost scandinavia to north africa this profile consists of three interlinking segments northern central and southern comprising a continuous succession of tectonic provinces ranging from the oldest precambrian areas of the baltic shield to the currently active area of the western mediterranean the broad aim of the egt project is to obtain a better three dimensional picture of the structure state and composition of the continental lithosphere to use as a basis for an understanding of its evolution and dynamics all of the 12 major projects that constitute the egt joint programme have now been initiated and several of these projects are nearing completion along the northern segment data from the fennoscandian long range project fennolora a 2000 km long seismic profile across the precambrian baltic shield show that except beneath southern sweden the shield is characterized by a high velocity 40 50 km thick crust including a 5 10 km thick crust mantle transition zone an alternating series of 4 6 high and low velocity zones is present in the subcrustal lithosphere the base of which increases in depth from ca 110 km to ca 230 km from south to north beneath the shield the top of the mantle transition zone lies at a depth of about 450 km the second major project along this segment the eugeno s european geotraverse northern segment southern part project is a multidisciplinary study of the fennoscandian border zone and was largely completed in 1984 with the realization of a large scale seismic experiment preliminary interpretation of the excellent data obtained indicate the presence of strong lateral variations in internal crustal structure beneath the danish basin field work for a third major project a multidisciplinary transect of the archaean and early proterozoic terrains in the northernmost part of the shield the polar profile was carried out in 1985 a series of deep seismic reflection lines has so far been realized in the area of the central segment in the context of german national programmes first interpretations of the seismic data from a 260 km long profile across the two main intra variscan hercynian lineaments have shown the presence of numerous horizons making up a highly reflective zone in the lowermost 10 km of the crustal section studied and distinct changes in reflectivity between the main variscan tectonic zones in 1986 the entire segment will be investigated in detail in an ambitious international programme of integrated geological and geophysical studies a series of seismic experiments termed egt s have been carried out across the southern segment in 1982 1983 and 1985 interpretation of data from the 1982 and 1983 experiments have led to several interesting results including 1 1 the suggestion that two crust mantle like interfaces exist beneath the po basin at depths of about 35 and 50 km and adjacent tectonic units these interfaces marking a deep contact zone between the adriatic and european plates 2 2 in the area between genoa and corsica the ligurian sea is underlain by a greatly thinned distinctly layered section of continental crust and 3 3 corsica and sardinia are underlain by bowl shaped typically variscan continental crusts the 1985 phase of seismic surveys focused on crustal structure beneath tunisia and the adjacent seas in addition two off traverse projects are being realized first a wide aperture network of autonomously recording seismic stations nars installed along the line gothenburg malaga between 1982 and 1984 is already yielding high quality data on the upper 600 700 km of the mantle second an investigation of lithospheric seismic anisotropy in the area of the iberian peninsula is being organized for 1987 1988 finally of great importance are the systematic compilation of existing data and where needed in critical regions collection of new geophysical and geological data presently being carried out for the entire area encompassed by the egt it is expected that these compilations will be completed by 1987 at about the same time that full results from the main large scale seismic experiments become available enabling the construction of an integrated lithospheric cross section along the egt requiring a final phase of intensive multidisciplinary collaboration

response of alluvial rivers to slow active tectonic movement alluvial rivers respond to valley slope deformation caused by active tectonics in various ways depending on the rate and amount of surficial deformation and on the type of river on the basis of experimental results and field examples hypothetical models of river response to anticlinal uplift and synclinal subsidence were developed for different types of alluvial rivers an experimental braided channel responded to anticlinal uplift across the channel with degradation and terrace formation in the central part of the uplift with subsidence aggradation in the central reach was the main response transverse bars developed downstream of the subsidence axis an experimental meandering channel responded to slope steepening with a sinuosity increase bank erosion and point bar growth occurred downstream of the anticlinal axis and upstream of the synclinal axis upstream of the uplift axis and downstream of the subsidence axis where the slope was flattened water flooded over bars local convexity in longitudinal profiles of the middle rio grande new mexico is considered to be formed by a domal uplift local aggradation and degradation could be explained by the effect of uplift the san joaquin river california which is now highly controlled does not show clear adjustment to the rapid subsidence due to ground water withdrawal it shows however a channel pattern adjustment to active tectonic subsidence that has been occurring for a long time the san antonio and guadalupe rivers in texas both increase their sinuosity significantly where monoclinal movements steepen valley slopes

deep temperatures and lithospheric thickness along the european geotraverse abstract one dimensional steady state heat conduction models in the crust and upper mantle for 24 areas along the european geotraverse egt show that temperatures are higher beneath young geological regions at the moho they range from 450 to 825 c heat flowing out from the mantle varies from 18 to 72 mw m2 and the contribution of crustal heat flow density evaluated by the correlation between seismic velocity and the abundance of radioactive elements accounts for about 48 of the surface heat flow density the temperature gradient below moho from about 5 to 23 mk m is low where the surface heat flow density reaches its minimum values the depth at which the geotherms reach 0 85 of the mantle melting temperature is greater in the precambrian and caledonian areas with a maximum value of about 195 km under the early proterozoic scandinavian shield in the hercynian and alpine areas this depth is generally lower higher values maximum 150 km coincide with the orogenic belts and the continental block of sardinia and corsica under the ligurian sea and the sardinian channel the lithospheric thickness decreases remarkably to about 50 km globally the lithosphere thickness is controlled by the mantle heat flow density which decreases according to a power law with an increase in the lithosphere asthenosphere depth

displacement history of a limestone normal fault scarp northern israel from cosmogenic 36cl the abundance of cosmogenic 36 cl measured in 41 limestone samples from a 9 m high bedrock fault scarp allows us to construct the 14 kyr fault displacement history of the nahef east normal fault northern israel 300 m above sea level n33 latitude the nahef east fault is one of a series of fault scarps located along the 700 m high zurim escarpment a major geomorphic feature samples at the top of the scarp have the highest nuclide concentrations 79 x 10 4 atoms g rock 1 samples at the base have the lowest 11 x 10 4 atoms g rock 1 using chemical data from the samples nahef east fault scarp geometry and surface and subsurface production rates for the 36 cl producing reactions we have constructed a numerical model that calculates 36 cl accumulation on a scarp through time given a series of unique displacement scenarios the resulting model 36 cl concentrations are compared to those measured in the scarp samples faulting histories that result in a good match between measured and modeled 36 cl abundances show three distinct periods of fault activity during the past 14 kyr with over 6 vertical meters of motion occurring during a 3 kyr time period in the middle holocene smaller amounts of displacement occurred before and after the period of most rapid motion the episodic behavior of the nahef east fault indicates that the average displacement rate of this fault system has varied through time

longitudinal profile development into bedrock an analysis of hawaiian channels analysis of topographic maps of rivers incised into dated hawaiian lava flows shows that the long term average bedrock erosion rate along certain reaches is linearly related to stream power field observations suggest that two processes may control hawaiian channel downcutting 1 stream power dependent erosion including abrasion of the channel bed by transported particles and 2 step wise lowering caused by knickpoint propagation modeling results indicate that a simple stream power dependent erosion law predicts the straight to weakly convex longitudinal profiles characteristic of kauai channels but is insufficient to predict two other characteristic features the upslope propagation of knickpoints and the straight 5 8 channel slopes below the knickpoints thus more than this single transport law is apparently required to model bedrock channel incision field surveys also indicate that significant portions of the channel lengths below the knickpoints are mantled with large boulders we propose that

modeling fluvial incision and transient landscape evolution influence of dynamic channel adjustment 1 channel geometry exerts a fundamental control on fluvial processes recent work has shown that bedrock channel width depends on a number of parameters including channel slope and is not solely a function of drainage area as is commonly assumed the present work represents the first attempt to investigate the consequences of dynamic gradient sensitive channel adjustment for drainage basin evolution we use the channel hillslope integrated landscape development child model to analyze the response of a catchment to a given tectonic perturbation using as a template the topography of a well documented catchment in the footwall of an active normal fault in the apennines italy that is known to be undergoing a transient response to tectonic forcing we show that the observed transient response can be reproduced to first order with a simple detachment limited fluvial incision law transient landscape is characterized by gentler gradients and a shorter response time when dynamic channel adjustment is allowed the differences in predicted channel geometry between the static case width dependent solely on upstream area and dynamic case width dependent on both drainage area and channel slope lead to contrasting landscape morphologies when integrated at the scale of a whole catchment particularly in presence of strong tilting and or pronounced slip rate acceleration our results emphasize the importance of channel width in controlling fluvial processes and landscape evolution they stress the need for using a dynamic hydraulic scaling law when modeling landscape evolution particularly when the relative uplift field is nonuniform

mapping active fault associated with the 2003 mw 6 6 bam se iran earthquake with aster 3d images abstract satellite images reveal the geomorphology and geometry of an active fault associated with an earthquake that caused over 40 000 deaths in southeast iran this earthquake of moment magnitude mw 6 6 occurred at 01 56 52 utc on december 26 2003 near the towns of bam and baravat an active fault that ruptured during the earthquake can be seen on three dimensional 3d pre and post earthquake images generated from advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer aster visible and near infrared vnir data the interpretation and analysis of satellite images suggest that a dextral fault extends for 65 km through the bam baravat region it strikes north northwest and steps leftward at a segment boundary between two towns transpressional stress at this step over bend probably triggered the 2003 earthquake rupture as suggested also by source mechanism solution of the bam earthquake and by landforms observed in the field in the past 2000 years bam has had no earthquake as destructive as the one in 2003 the potential for this catastrophe could have been identified through a combination of satellite remote sensing technique and field reconnaissance

trench investigations of the 1915 fucino earthquake fault scarps abruzzo central italy geological evidence of large historical events earthquake hazard analyses in italy are mainly based on historical seismic catalogs however the completeness of the italian catalog which spans more than 2000 years progressivcly decreases going back in time in the fucino basin historical research has not produced evidence of large earthquakes before the january 13 1915 event m s 7 0 33 000 people killed this event generated surface faulting along at least two parallel quaternary normal faults bounding the eastern side of the basin the celano gioia and parasano cerchio faults over an end to end length of about 23 km with a downthrow of 30 90 cm toward southwest to improve geological aspects of the seismic history of this area we trenched onc of the coseismic scarps along the celano gioia fault at a trench site near the village of san benedetto de marsi the fault traverses the area formerly covered by the fucino lake drained for farming in 1875 a d the evidence collected in the trenchcs suggests at least two large events in historical times before 1915 radiocarbon dates constrain the age of event b between the 6th and the 9th centuries a d possibly coinciding with the cvent felt in rome in 801 a d molin arid guidoboni 1989 event a probably occurred after the 10th ccntury a d and almost certainly before the 1349 a d earthquake because historical studies show 1 that event a was not produced during the earthquake sequence that occurred in central italy in 1349 a d molin and guidoboni 1989 and 2 that the post 1349 seismic catalog can be regarded as complete for surface faulting earthquakes surface displacements determined for events a and b compared to the 1915 surface faulting indicate that m 6 5 earthquakes were associated with each rupturc these obscrvations suggest that the return period for large earthquakes in the fucino basin is shorter than that indicated by the historical record alone the fucino example clearly shows that thc cxceptionally long historical record in italy is still inadequate for a comprehcnsive seismic hazard characterization

long aftershock sequences within continents and implications for earthquake hazard assessment one of the most powerful features of plate tectonics is that the known plate motions give insight into both the locations and average recurrence interval of future large earthquakes on plate boundaries plate tectonics gives no insight however into where and when earthquakes will occur within plates because the interiors of ideal plates should not deform as a result within plate interiors assessments of earthquake hazards rely heavily on the assumption that the locations of small earthquakes shown by the short historical record reflect continuing deformation that will cause future large earthquakes here however we show that many of these recent earthquakes are probably aftershocks of large earthquakes that occurred hundreds of years ago we present a simple model predicting that the length of aftershock sequences varies inversely with the rate at which faults are loaded aftershock sequences within the slowly deforming continents are predicted to be significantly longer than the decade typically observed at rapidly loaded plate boundaries these predictions are in accord with observations so the common practice of treating continental earthquakes as steady state seismicity overestimates the hazard in presently active areas and underestimates it elsewhere

comparison of surface slip and focal mechanism slip data along normal faults an example from the eastern gulf of corinth greece abstract focal mechanism and surface slip data are used to investigate whether kinematics are similar at depth and at the surface along an active normal fault in the gulf of corinth greece we present a new database of slip data from the lateral termination of the south alkyonides fault segment safs and the en echelon stepover between it and an adjacent fault and use published data on surface slip and focal mechanism data pertaining to slip at depth during the 1981 alkyonides earthquake sequence the focal mechanisms exhibit similar fault plane orientations and kinematics to those measured at the surface within the stepover both data sets show that contemporaneous c n s and c e w extension is being accommodated by c e w and c n s oriented normal faults and the overall deformation is distributed oblate vertical flattening the deviation of the surface slip direction from 350 increases with distance from the centre of the safs the deviation of the focal mechanism t axes from 350 fit well with the surface data implying that the coseismic slip on the safs at depths of 7 10 km exhibits a similar kinematic pattern as that observed at the surface our results imply that it is critical to know the along strike position of data on a fault if either focal mechanisms or surface slip are to be used to infer regional strain and stress trajectories

modeling of knickpoint retreat on the roan plateau western colorado 1 the roan plateau in western colorado constitutes a natural experiment for studying landscape response to a drop in base level late cenozoic incision of the upper colorado river led to elevational isolation of the plateau and initiation of a wave of incision into its southern edge knickpoints oversteepened reaches that contain waterfalls 60 110 m in height mark the upstream extent of this headward propagating wave that this incision has occurred in a laterally extensive well stratified and essentially flat lying bedrock and in an area with relatively uniform climate implies that it should serve as a good test of existing knickpoint propagation models we predict the locations of knickpoints by using a stream power based celerity model in which knickpoint recession rate is a power function of drainage area and is proportional to rock susceptibility to erosion models of the parachute and roan drainages 17 and 16 knickpoints respectively show expected rapid initial knickpoint propagation rates which decline as drainage area decreases stepwise at tributary junctions the modeled positions of knickpoints match well with observed features using a single combination of parameters to model retreat in both drainage basins we compare our celerity model results with past studies and explore how longitudinal profile analysis may be used to derive independently the exponent on drainage area in the celerity model

scarp degraded by linear diffusion inverse solution for age under the assumption that landforms unaffected by drainage channels are degraded according to the linear diffusion equation a procedure is developed to invert a scarp profile to find its diffusion age diffusion age having dimension length 2 is the product of diffusivity times chronological age the second moment of scarp slope grows linearly with age this fact together with an assumption about initial scarp shape allows the inverse determination of diffusion age age found assuming a vertical initial scarp is termed apparent age any nonvertical initial scarp profile has a nonzero initial apparent age true diffusion age differs from apparent age by a fraction of scarp offset squared the inverse procedure applied to synthetic data yields the following rules of thumb evidence of initial scarp shape has been lost when apparent age reaches twice its initial value if a scarp is formed by two events the inversion gives their offset weighted mean age with an error that is a fraction of offset squared a scarp that appears to have been formed by one event may have been formed by two with an interval between them as large as apparent age after scarps of two fault traces have diffused to appear as one the error in inferred age may be as large as half the apparent age variation of apparent age along strike would indicate multiple fault traces the simplicity of scarp profile measurement and this inversion makes profile analysis attractive if linearity of the flow law time for a free face to be reduced to the angle of repose and variation of diffusivity with climate and material could be established profile analysis would become a reliable dating technique

fault behavior and characteristic earthquakes examples from the wasatch and san andreas fault zones paleoseismological data for the wasatch and san andreas fault zones have led to the formulation of the characteristic earthquake model which postulates that individual faults and fault segments tend to generate essentially same size or characteristic earthquakes having a relatively narrow range of magnitudes near the maximum analysis of scarp derived colluvium in trench exposures across the wasatch fault provides estimates of the timing and displacement associated with individual surface faulting earthquakes at all of the sites studied the displacement per event has been consistently large measured values range from 1 6 to 2 6 m and the average is about 2 m on the basis of variability in the timing of individual events as well as changes in scarp morphology and fault geometry six major segments are recognized along the wasatch fault on the basis of the most likely number of surface faulting events 18 that have occurred on segments of the wasatch fault zone during the past 8000 years an average recurrence interval of 400 666 years with a preferred average of 444 years is calculated for the entire zone geologic data on the distribution of slip associated with prehistoric earthquakes and slip rates along the south central segment of the san andreas fault suggest that the m 8 1857 earthquake is a characteristic earthquake for this segment comparisons of earthquake recurrence relationships on both the wasatch and san andreas faults based on historical seismicity data and geologic data show that a linear constant b value extrapolation of the cumulative recurrence curve from the smaller magnitudes leads to gross underestimates of the frequency of occurrence of the large or characteristic earthquakes only by assuming a low b value in the moderate magnitude range can the seismicity data on small earthquakes be reconciled with geologic data on large earthquakes the characteristic earthquake appears to be a fundamental aspect of the behavior of the wasatch and san andreas faults and may apply to many other faults as well

spatial coincidence of rapid inferred erosion with young metamorphic massifs in the himalayas a spatially distributed rate of erosion index ei based on models of bedrock river incision documents a strong spatial correspondence between areas of high erosion potential and young metamorphic massifs as well as structural highs throughout the himalayas the ei is derived from slopes and drainage areas calculated from a hydrologically cor rected digital elevation model gtopo30 combined with precipitation data iiasa to generate synthetic annual stream discharges these variables drive three generalized pro cess models to produce ei maps that while differing in detail provide an internally con sistent spatially continuous index of large scale erosion rates the large spatial variation in potential erosion rates in the himalayas suggested by the ei patterns contrasts with the uniform convergence of the indian subcontinent if these ei gradients persist through time they support the emerging view of a positive feedback between localized rapid ero sion and upward advection of lower crust

decoding temporal and spatial patterns of fault uplift using transient river long profiles we present detailed observations of rivers crossing active normal faults in the central apennines italy where excellent constraints exist on the temporal and spatial history of fault movement we demonstrate that rivers with drainage areas 10 km2 and crossing faults that have undergone an increase in throw rate within the last 1 my have significant long profile convexities in contrast channels that cross faults that have had a constant slip rate for 3 my have concave up profiles and have similar concavities and steepness indices to rivers that do not cross any active fault structures this trend is consistent across the central apennines and cannot be explained by appeal to lithology or regional base level change the data challenge the belief that active faulting must always be reflected in river profiles instead the long profile convexities are best explained as a transient response of the river system to a change in tectonic uplift rate moreover for these rivers we demonstrate that the height of the profile convexity as measured from the fault scales with the magnitude of the uplift rate increase on the fault and we establish that this relationship holds for throw rate variation along strike for the same fault segment as well as between faults these findings are shown to be consistent with predictions of channel response to changing uplift rate rates using a detachment limited fluvial erosion model and they illustrate that analysis of the magnitude of profile convexities has considerable predictive potential for extracting tectonic information we also demonstrate that the migration rate of the profile convexities varies from 1 5 10 mm y and is a function of the slip rate increase as well as the drainage area this is consistent with n 1 for the slope exponent in a classical detachment limited stream power erosion law but could potentially be explained by incorporating an erosion threshold or an explicit role for sediment in enhancing erosion rates finally we show that for rivers in extensional settings where the response times to tectonic perturbation are long in this case 1 my attempts to extract tectonic uplift rates from normalised steepness indices are likely to be flawed because topographic steady state has not yet been achieved

geomorphic and sedimentary response of rivers to tectonic deformation a brief review and critique of a tool for recognizing subtle epeirogenic deformation in modern and ancient settings abstract rivers are extremely sensitive to subtle changes in their grade caused by tectonic tilting as such recognition of tectonic tilting effects on rivers and their resultant sediments can be a useful tool for identifying the often cryptic warping associated with incipient and smaller scale epeirogenic deformation in both modern and ancient settings tectonic warping may result in either longitudinal parallel to floodplain orientation or lateral normal to floodplain orientation tilting of alluvial river profiles alluvial rivers may respond to deformation of longitudinal profile by 1 deflection around zones of uplift and into zones of subsidence 2 aggradation in backtilted and degradation in foretilted reaches 3 compensation of slope alteration by shifts in channel pattern 4 increase in frequency of overbank flooding for foretilted and decrease for backtilted reaches and 5 increased bedload grain size in foretilted reaches and decreased bedload grain size in backtilted reaches lateral tilting causes down tilt avulsion of streams where tilt rates are high and steady down tilt migration combing where tilt rates are lower each of the above effects may have profound impacts on lithofacies geometry and distribution that may potentially be preserved in the rock record fluvial sedimentary evidence for past tilting is traditionally based on the assumption that depositional features reminiscent of modern fluvial tectonic effects are evidence for past tectonic effects where it is closely associated with historically active structures or where non tectonic causes cannot be invoked however caution must be exercised when using these effects as criteria for past or current tectonic warping as these effects may be caused by non tectonic factors these non tectonic causes must be eliminated before tectonic interpretations are made

overlapping faults intrabasin highs and the growth of normal faults normal fault systems bounding extensional basins are typically adjoined by a series of subbasins separated by intrabasin highs the strata within these basins form syndepositional anticlines and synclines whose axes are transverse to the strike of the main bounding fault one possible explanation for these intrabasin highs is that they result from persistent along strike deficits in fault displacement such deficits are incompatible with scaling relationships observed between fault displacement and length based on large populations of faults we present data from active normal faults within the basin and range province and from inactive normal faults of the newark basin of eastern north america demonstrating a clear correlation between the along strike position of overlapping splay faults and the location of intrabasin highs as well as syndepositional transverse folds summed displacements for all faults within an intrabasin high are comparable to the displacements on faults bounding flanking subbasins o

dem based identification of fluvial knickzones and its application to japanese mountain rivers stream gradients of mountain bedrock rivers in central japan were examined using gis and 50 m digital elevation models to discuss the distribution of knickzones the gradients are classified into local and trend types based on the measurement lengths the transition rate from the local to trend gradients i e the decreasing rate of gradient with increasing measurement length is then obtained as the indicator of relative steepness of a river segment which permits the objective identification of fluvial knickzones the identified knickzones occur widely in the study area and indicate that the knickzone is one of the common landforms in japanese mountain rivers the knickzones are more abundant in steep upstream reaches of the rivers subjected to active erosion and rapid rock uplift this suggests a hydraulic origin of the knickzones which is similar to step pool morphology but on a much larger scale some knickzones in piedmont areas can be on the other hand consistent with tectonic faulting at the mountain foot although some influences of volcanic activities on the formation of knickzones are observed regional lithology seems to exert a relatively weak influence on the abundance of knickzones knickzones are more consistent with other local mechanisms of fluvial erosion including reach scale processes

the aigion neos erineos coastal normal fault system western corinth gulf rift greece geomorphological signature recent earthquake history and evolution 1 at the westernmost part of the corinth rift greece an area of rapid extension and active normal faulting geomorphological observations reveal the existence and geometry of an active nw se trending coastal fault system which includes the aigion fault we recognize a similar fault pattern on both the coastal range front to the nw of aigion town and the holocene fan deltas in front of it we interpret this as a result of recent migration of faulting to the hanging wall of the fault system differences in the geomorphic expression of the constituent faults provide hints on the possible evolution of the fault pattern during this recent migration a trench excavated across one of the identified coastal fault scarps on a holocene fan delta provides information on the seismic history of the fault system which includes at least four possibly six earthquakes in the past 4000 years a minimum estimate for the slip rate of the trenched fault is 1 9 2 7 mm yr the trench exposed sediments of an uplifted paleolagoon approximate age 2000 years b p inside which the last two earthquakes formed an underwater monoclinal scarp oscillating coastal vertical movements are suggested by the fact that the lagoonal deposits are also uplifted on the trenched fault hanging wall uplift by offshore faults and by the abrupt transition from fluvial to lagoonal deposits subsidence by more landward faults assuming that extensive coastal sediment failure has not taken place in the specific part of the fan delta within the time interval of interest these movements suggest that the proposed migration of activity from the range front faults to those on the fan deltas is probably still ongoing with activity on both sets of faults