climate exposed source rock lithologies crustal uplift and surface erosion a theoretical analysis calibrated with data from the alps north alpine foreland basin system paleofloristic data imply that paleoclimate changed in the swiss alps at the oligocene miocene boundary from humid and hot conditions toward a climate with high temperature and low humidity the aridization is associated with a change in depositional pattern from alluvial fans to lakes and floodplains suggesting decreasing sediment discharge a further 25 40 decrease of sediment discharge occurred at ca 20 ma when the orogenic core of the alps became exposed to the surface we applied a surface processes model to explore potential controls on the pattern of sediment discharge and on the evolution of the alpine drainage basin the model is based on the presumption that the rates of fluvial incision into bedrock are proportional to shear stress exerted by the flowing water the model results imply that the paleoclimate change resulted in an instantaneous decrease of sediment discharge and a vertical topographic growth until steady state conditions between erosional and crustal mass flux are established however exposure of the crystalline core of the alps at ca 20 ma is likely to have resulted in the 25 40 decrease of sediment discharge and the reorganization of the drainage pattern from an orogen normal to an orogen parallel orientation of dispersion

magmatic and tectonic sources at vulcano aeolian islands southern italy a geodetic model based on two decades of gps observations abstract an update of the surface ground deformation field over the lipari vulcano complex has been provided by analyzing all the available gps observations collected in the last two decades the geodetic velocity field referred to a fixed eurasian frame shows a remarkable negative velocity gradient between the southernmost stations velocity values of 9 0 mm yr and the northernmost ones resulting in a n s contraction of 4 5 mm yr in addition all the gps stations show subsidence with rates decreasing from the northernmost stations 10 0 mm yr to the southernmost ones 4 8 mm yr modelling of geodetic data demonstrates that the observed surface deformation field results from the joint contribution of regional tectonic and local magmatic sources such a dataset is unable to uniquely constrain the magmatic source indeed the three performed models m1 m2 and m3 produce statistically equivalent deformation sources the source modeled in m1 is spatially coincident with that of m3 and both are located beneath the vulcanello cone at depth of 4 km bsl conversely the source modeled in m2 is placed at depth of 0 76 km bsl beneath the northern rim of the la fossa crater integration of these results with geochemical and petrological data already available from literature suggests however that the m1 m3 source placed beneath the vulcanello cone should be the preferred model

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

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

tectonics and denudation adjacent to the xianshuihe fault eastern tibetan plateau constraints from fission track thermochronology the xianshuihe xiaojiang fault system extending from eastern tibet to central yunnan china is a major left shear structural boundary accommodating the clockwise rotation of crustal rocks between the eastern himalayan syntaxis and the south china block zircon and apatite fission track ft data are reported for 111 samples of basement collected from both sides of the northern part of this fault and spanning 300 km across the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau where its mean elevation drops from 3500 to 1500 m above sea level the zircon ft ages define two fossil partial annealing zones at different elevations one fossilised at circa 130 ma and the other at circa 21 ma as a result of cooling probably via regional denudation the apatite ft ages are mostly less than 25 ma but a few granitoids higher up on the plateau retain late cretaceous apparent ages within the apatite ft data with neogene ages there may be several partial annealing zones with mixture modeling identifying age components suggestive of discrete cooling phases at circa 22 7 and 2 ma the first order pattern of the minimum amount of neogene denudation for a section across the plateau margin immediately northeast of xianshuihe fault suggests that a relatively uniform 4 6 km has been eroded from the inner part of the plateau margin increasing to 7 10 km at kangding where the oldest rocks precambrian are exposed and then decreasing markedly into sichuan basin these new ft data combined with published ft data suggest that the present extent of the tibetan plateau was defined during the early miocene

present day kinematics at the india asia collision zone the collision of the indian subcontinent with asia drives the growth and evolution of the greater tibetan plateau region fault slip rates resulting from the relative motion between crustal blocks can provide a kinematic description of the distribution of presentday deformation i construct a three dimensional regional scale elastic block model of the india asia collision zone that is consistent with geodetic observations of interseismic deforma tion mapped fault system geometry historical seismicity and the mechanics of the earthquake cycle this mechanical model of the elastic upper crust yields a set of kinematically consistent fault slip rates and block motions that may serve to constrain dynamic models of continental crustal dynamics

detrital zircon provenance of the late triassic songpan ganzi complex sedimentary record of collision of the north and south china blocks the majority of the songpan ganzi triassic flysch sequence is believed to have derived from denudation of the dabie and sulu ultrahigh pressure uhp metamorphic belt in eastern china e g nie et al 1994 1 zhou and graham 1996 2 however intense debate still exists on the sources of

a comment on in situ zircon u pb dating and o isotopes of the neoarchean hongtoushan vms cu zn deposit in the north china craton implication for the ore genesis by ming tian zhu et al ore geol rev 67 2015 354 367

focal mechanisms and aftershock locations of the songpan earthquakes of august 1976 in sichuan china the precursory swarm three mainshocks m 7 2 6 7 7 2 and aftershocks of the songpan earthquakes have been reanalyzed using both local and teleseismic data the three mainshocks of this sequence occurred on the huya fault over a 7 day period relocations of the aftershocks using local arrival times show that three fault strands were activated during this sequence each mainshock occurred on a separate strand each one south of the strand activated in the previous mainshock and the aftershock zones of each mainshock appear to abut rather than overlap fault plane solutions determined by matching teleseismic p waveforms at world wide standard seismograph network stations with synthetic seismograms are consistent with the observed aftershock zones the first and third mainshocks m 0 1 3 10 19 and 8 4 10 18 n m respectively showed almost identical senses of motion a combination of reverse and left lateral strike slip motion on parallel strands striking n15 w that were separated by a large rightstepping en echelon offset the second mainshock m 0 4 0 10 18 n m occurred in this offset on a fault at a steep angle 125 to the other two strands and showed almost pure reverse motion differences in the orientations of the slip vectors of the three mainshocks show that the first mainshock increased the normal and shear stresses on the fault segment that moved in the second mainshock and that the second mainshock decreased the normal stress on the fault segment activated by the third mainshock these changes in normal stresses may have given rise to the longer time between the first and second events 5 days as compared with the time between the second and third events 30 hours a precursory swarm that preceded the songpan sequence by 3 years occurred in a volume that surrounded the northernmost part of the planar aftershock zone the time between the start of the swarm and the mainshocks and the magnitude of the largest event in the swarm are similar to those seen for precursory swarms in soviet central asia

trace element geochemistry and petrogenesis of felsic volcanic rocks associated with volcanogenic massive cu zn pb sulfide deposits volcanogenic massive cu zn pb sulfide vms deposits occur primarily in subaqueous rift related environments e g oceanic fore arc arc back arc continental margin or continental are hosted primarily by bimodal mafic felsic volcanic successions and are typically associated with felsic volcanic rocks with specific geochemical characteristics fi alkalic dacites and rhyodacites despite being abundant in the rock record are typically barren some fii calc alkalic rhyodacites and rhyolites host vms deposits but most are barren fiii tholeiitic and fiv depleted rhyolites and high silica rhyolites are much less abundant in the rock record but commonly host vms deposits regardless of age and fiii rhyolites appear to host the largest deposits most petrogenetic models proposed for the formation of fii and fiii fiv felsic volcanic rocks link felsic magma genesis to fractionation processes in high level magma chambers now represented by associated subvolcanic intrusions where the magma is also interpreted to have supplied the heat and or metals required to generate and sustain the vms forming convective hydrothermal system however the relatively constant compositions of fii and fiii fiv felsic volcanic rocks within individual areas the high eruptive temperatures at or above liquidus of fiii rhyolites and the bimodality of vms hosting volcanic successions indicate that fractional crystallization within subvolcanic intrusions could not have generated or significantly modified the compositions of fii and fiii fiv magmas this coupled with detailed geological geochemical and geochronological studies indicates that many of these subvolcanic intrusions were emplaced in multiple phases and that the later most voluminous phases often cut ore associated hydrothermally altered rocks a reassessment of the physical conditions responsible for producing the geochemistry of ore associated fii and fiii fiv felsic volcanic rocks and a review of the compositions of felsic volcanic rocks associated with vms deposits that range in age from mesoarchean to cenozoic provide important constraints on models for vms associated felsic volcanic rocks and their relationship to mineralization the compositions of felsic volcanic rocks may be explained by low to moderate degrees of partial melting of mafic sources at a range of depths within rift environments where the mineralogy and composition of the source regions modes and degrees of partial melting pressure and temperature of melting and to a lesser extent subsequent fractionation processes account for the compositional variations from fi through fii to fiii fiv long lived enhanced heat flow and structural permeability of rift environments that allows partial melting to form some fii rhyolites at midcrustal levels 10 15 km and fiii fiv rhyolites at shallow crustal levels 10 km both within the zone of brittle fracture permeability are essential to sustain the high temperature convective hydrothermal systems that are required to form large vms deposits and camps rift environments contain long lived thermal magmatic and structural corridors that focus magma ascent heat flow high temperature convective hydrothermal systems and emplacement of subvolcanic intrusions that are favorable environments for the formation of vms deposits and fii and fiii fiv felsic volcanic rocks

trace element geochemistry of ore associated and barren felsic metavolcanic rocks in the superior province canada reply archaean felsic metavolcanic rocks in the superior province of the canadian shield may be divided into three major groups on the basis of trace element abundances and ratios 1 fi felsic metavolcanic rocks are dacites and rhyodacites characterized by steep ree patterns with weakly negative to moderately positive eu anomalies high zr y low abundances of high field strength elements e g hree y zr hf and high abundances of sr examples occur in the bowman subgroup and skead group in the abitibi belt in the kakagi lake lake of the woods shoal lake and sturgeon lake areas of the wabigoon belt and in the confederation lake area of the uchi belt none of these horizons as known hosts base metal sulphide deposits 2 fii felsic metavolcanic rocks are rhyodacites and rhyolites characterized by gently sloping ree patterns with variable eu anomalies moderate zr y and intermediate abundances of hfs elements and sr examples occur in the misema subgroup of the abitibi belt in the wabigoon lake a

active tectonics of the beichuan and pengguan faults at the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau the steep high relief eastern margin of the tibetan plateau has undergone rapid cenozoic cooling and denudation yet shows little evidence for large magnitude shortening or accommodation generation in the foreland basin we address this paradox by using a variety of geomorphic observations to place constraints on the kinematics and slip rates of several large faults that parallel the plateau margin the beichuan and pengguan faults are active dominantly dextral slip structures that can be traced continuously for up to 200 km along the plateau margin both faults offset fluvial fill terraces that yield inheritance corrected cosmogenic 10be exposure ages of 15 kyr indicating latest pleistocene activity the pengguan fault appears to have been active in the holocene at two sites along strike latest quaternary apparent throw rates on both faults are variable along strike but are typically 1 mm yr 1 rates of strike slip displacement are likely to be several times higher probably 1 10 mm yr 1 but remain poorly constrained late quaternary folding and dextral strike slip has also occurred along the western margin of the sichuan basin particularly associated with the present day mountain front these observations support models for the formation and maintenance of the eastern plateau margin that do not involve major upper crustal shortening they also suggest that activity on the margin parallel faults in eastern tibet may represent a significant seismic hazard to the densely populated sichuan basin

paleoseismology and global positioning system earthquake cycle effects and geodetic versus geologic fault slip rates in the eastern california shear zone published slip rates for the owens valley fault zone in eastern california based on geodetic data and elastic half space models 5 7 mm yr are faster than longer term geologic rates 2 3 mm yr we use global positioning system data spanning the central owens valley a more realistic rheological model with an elastic upper crust over a viscoelastic lower crust and upper mantle and paleoseismic data from adjacent faults to show that this difference could reflect earthquake cycle effects we estimate a long term rate 2 1 0 7 mm yr and earthquake recurrence interval 2750 350 1000 yr from the geodetic data both in agreement with independent geologic estimates

neotectonics of the min shan china implications for mechanisms driving quaternary deformation along the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau the min shan region located along the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau north of the sichuan basin provides an important natural laboratory in which to study the rates and patterns of deformation and their relationship to mountain building at the margin of the plateau the topographic margin of the plateau is coincident with a north trending mountain range the min shan that stands nearly 2 km above the mean elevation of the plateau 3500 m in this region we exploit the preservation of a series of variably deformed quaternary sediments along the western flank of the range to investigate the pleistocene holocene deformation field within the min shan region mapping and field observations of remnant alluvial fans of late pleistocene age indicate that deformation within the min shan involved substantial 10 rapid down to the northwest tilting the geometry of the deposits and the partial preservation of an erosion surface beneath the basin suggest that much of the modern relief of the min shan relative to the tibetan plateau is a consequence of this late pleistocene tilting rates of tilting inferred from luminescence dating of interbedded loess have been remarkably rapid 10 8 rad yr similarly rapid rates of holocene differential rock uplift are inferred from tilted lacustrine sediments in the southwestern part of the range the range is bounded on the west by the min jiang fault zone an east vergent reverse fault however holocene alluvial terraces in headwaters of the min river are preserved across the fault in several places indicating that displacement rates on the min jiang fault are 1 mm yr active faulting only occurs along the eastern foot of the range huya fault for a short distance 60 km despite 3 km of relief on the eastern range front the relationship between these structures and the tilting observed in the min jiang basin is enigmatic the faults do not appear to exert a strong control on the rates and pattern of deformation within the basin a simple flexural model demonstrates that rates of tilting on the western flank of the min shan are too high to be simply attributed to an isostatic response to surficial loading and unloading of the lithosphere present day horizontal shortening across the min shan is geodetically determined to be less than 2 3 mm yr suggesting that only a small part of the observed tilting can be attributed to horizontal shortening thus tilting and concomitant differential rock uplift in the min shan appear to require an additional driving component we suggest that quaternary deformation along the western min shan may reflect the surface response to thickening of a weak lower crust at the margin of the tibetan plateau

the application of zircon cathodoluminescence imaging th u pb chemistry and u pb ages in interpreting discrete magmatic and high grade metamorphic events in the north china craton at the archean proterozoic boundary abstract two distinct late neoarchean to early paleoproterozoic magmatic events are recognized at the northern margin of the eastern block of the north china craton based on interpretation of zircon structure cathodoluminescence signature th u pb chemistry and age the first event is represented by emplacement of the chaihe trondhjemite and xianjinchang tonalite with magmatic zircon core ages ranging from 2559 2553 7 ma respectively these rocks experienced a subsequent high grade metamorphic event constrained by partial recrystallization of primary magmatic zircon and growth of new zircon rims between 2517 and 2490 ma a second magmatic episode generated by partial melting of crustal rocks during this metamorphic event is represented by the hongshilazi syenogranite with an age of 2502 11 ma the short time interval between initial magmatism and high grade regional metamorphism signifies they were related to the same major tectonothermal event when considered along with evidence of a similar sequence of events at this time 800 km to the south in eastern hebei and the previously established 2500 ma age of granulite facies metamorphism in mafic rocks across the craton it is proposed that a large mantle plume developed beneath the north china craton at the close of the archean

distribution of active rock uplift along the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau inferences from bedrock channel longitudinal profiles 1 current models of long term river incision into bedrock suggest that the local rate of differential rock uplift should exert a primary control on the gradient of channel longitudinal profiles however discrimination of this effect from the influence of variations in substrate erodibility sediment flux precipitation and transient changes in profile shape has proved difficult in practice here we investigate the controls on the spatial distribution of bedrock channel gradients adjacent to the sichuan basin in an effort to assess the degree and nature of active deformation along this margin of the tibetan plateau analysis of river longitudinal profiles utilizing a channel steepness index a measure of profile gradient normalized for drainage area reveals a zone of anomalously steep channels adjacent to the topographic front of the plateau margin channel profiles are systematically less steep in their headwater reaches on the plateau and in their lower reaches east of the plateau margin comparison of steepness indices to mapped lithologic variations reveals that lithology has only a limited influence on channel gradient in this field area we observe no systematic relationship between steepness indices and upstream drainage area channels of all size are steeper near the plateau margin we argue that these systematic changes are not readily explained as a consequence of increased sediment flux or of orographic precipitation we are led to conclude that steep channel profiles along the topographic front of the plateau reflect active differential rock uplift between this region and the foreland

differential exhumation in response to episodic thrusting along the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau abstract thermochronological data from the songpan ganze fold belt and longmen mountains thrust nappe belt on the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau in central china reveal several phases of differential cooling across major listric thrust faults since early cretaceous times differential cooling indicated by distinct breaks in age data across discrete compressional structures was superimposed upon a regional cooling pattern following the late triassic indosinian orogeny 40ar 39ar data from muscovite from the central and southern longmen mountains thrust nappe belt suggest a phase of differential cooling across the wenchuan maouwen shear zone during the early cretaceous the zircon fission track data also indicate differential cooling across a zone of brittle re activation on the eastern margin of the wenchuan maouwen shear zone during the mid tertiary between 38 and 10 ma apatite fission track data from the central and southern longmen mountains thrust nappe belt reveal differential cooling across the yingxiu beichuan and erwangmiao faults during the miocene forward modelling of apatite fission track data from the northern longmen mountains thrust nappe belt suggests relatively slow regional cooling through the mesozoic and early tertiary followed by accelerated cooling during the miocene beginning at ca 20 ma to present day regional cooling is attributed to erosion during exhumation of the evolving longmen mountains thrust nappe belt lmtnb following the indosinian orogeny differential cooling across the wenchuan maouwen shear zone and the yingxiu beichuan and erwangmiao faults is attributed to exhumation of the hanging walls of active listric thrust faults thermochronological data from the longmen mountains thrust nappe belt reveal a greater amount of differential exhumation across thrust faults from north to south this observation is in accord with the prevalence of proterozoic and sinian basement in the hanging walls of thrust faults in the central and southern longmen mountains the two most recent phases of reactivation occurred following the initial collision of india with eurasia suggesting that lateral extrusion of crustal material in response to this collision was focused along discrete structures in the lmtnb

large magnitude transient strain accumulation on the blackwater fault eastern california shear zone we investigate the quaternary slip rate for the blackwater fault eastern california shear zone through mapping and geochronology of offset volcanic rocks basalt flows of the black mountains support the presence of faulting at 3 77 0 11 ma 1 8 0 1 km of subsequent slip and a well constrained long term slip rate of 0 49 0 04 mm yr total slip diminishes northward evidenced by a 0 3 1 8 km offset of a 7 23 1 07 ma dacite flow in the black hills and fault termination in the lava mountains 5 km short of the garlock fault slow long term slip rate together with sparse evidence for holocene rupture contradict predictions of rapid slip rate from tectonic geodesy these results support the conclusion that as much as 95 of geodetic strain accumulation across the blackwater fault and thus from 1 to 6 mm yr of geodetic strain measured across the eastern california shear zone is a transitory phenomenon discrepant geologic and geodetic results may indicate an increased near term seismic hazard but merit caution for interpretation of fault slip rates from geodesy alone

effective attenuation lengths of cosmic rays producing 10be and 26al in quartz implications for exposure age dating we have measured cosmic ray produced 10be t 1 5 my and 26al t 0 72 my as functions of depth in a core of quartz sandstone bedrock collected in south victoria land antarctica these data were used to place limits on the exposure age and erosion rate of the exposed surface and to calculate the effective attenuation lengths of cosmic rays producing these nuclides these latter results indicate that the production attenuation length for 26al is comparable to that for 10be this suggests that the production ratio 26al 10be does not vary substantially with depth in a rock and that its value at the surface of exposed rock is not strongly affected by erosional losses allowing wider use of the ratio in determining exposure ages

oxygen isotope ratios of archean plutonic zircons from granite greenstone belts of the superior province indicator of magmatic source zircons commonly preserve primary magmatic oxygen isotope ratios even through high grade metamorphic events unlike quartz which more readily loses its primary 18o value by subsolidus exchange intrusive bodies from the superior province canada have an average 18o zircon of 5 8 0 6 n 59 rocks those from granite greenstone belts have an average 18o zrc 5 8 0 6 n 55 in contrast to those from metasedimentary belts that average 18o zrc 6 7 0 2 n 4 the 18o zircon values from granite greenstone belts indicate a maximum allowable input of 14 supracrustal high 18o material into archean magmas of the superior province relative to mantle 18o values igneous bodies of the superior province have been separated into two groups based on geochemistry unenriched plutons and sanukitoids magmatic oxygen isotope ratios inferred from these zircons indicate up to a subtle but significant division of 1 between the two geochemical sets of rocks this distinction is apparent only in the 18o zrc and not in more commonly analyzed less refractory minerals such as quartz and feldspar oxygen isotope data correlate with geochemical modeling of sanukitoids the average 18o zrc for sanukitoids is 6 4 0 2 in comparison to 5 5 0 4 for unenriched plutons there is almost no overlap in values the elevation of sanukitoid 18o zrc indicates input from a high 18o source such as fluids from the subducting oceanic crust melts of subducted sediments or continental crust all of the plutons analyzed in this study have been dated by u pb zircon techniques and the combination of u pb ages and 18o zrc indicates little variability of 18o versus age during archean plutonism in the superior province therefore recycling of sediments and other high 18o sources was not a dominant process during crustal growth from 3003 to 2670 ma in the superior province

late cenozoic evolution of the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau inferences from 40ar 39ar and u th he thermochronology high topography in central asia is perhaps the most fundamental expression of the cenozoic indo asian collision yet an understanding of the timing and rates of development of the tibetan plateau remains elusive here we investigate the cenozoic thermal histories of rocks along the eastern margin of the plateau adjacent to the sichuan basin in an effort to determine when the steep topographic escarpment that characterizes this margin developed temperature time paths inferred from 40 ar 39 ar thermochronology of biotite multiple diffusion domain modeling of alkali feldspar 40 ar release spectra and u th he thermochronology of zircon and apatite imply that rocks at the present day topographic front of the plateau underwent slow cooling 30 50 c m y coincident with exhumation from inferred depths of 8 10 km at denudation rates of 1 2 mm yr samples from the interior of the plateau continued to cool relatively slowly during the same time period 3 c m y suggesting limited exhumation 1 2 km however these samples record a slight increase in cooling rate from 1 to 3 c m y at some time during the middle tertiary the tectonic significance of this change remains uncertain regardless late cenozoic denudation in this region appears to have been markedly heterogeneous with the highest rates of exhumation focused at the topographic front of the plateau margin we infer that the onset of rapid cooling at the plateau margin reflects the erosional response to the development of regionally significant topographic gradients between the plateau and the stable sichuan basin and thus marks the onset of deformation related to the development of the tibetan plateau in this region the present margin of the plateau adjacent to and north of the sichuan basin is apparently no older than the late miocene or early pliocene 5 12 ma

active faulting and block movement associated with large earthquakes in the min shan and longmen mountains northeastern tibetan plateau the min shan and central and southern parts of the longmen mountains form the middle segment of the north trending earthquake zone at the eastern edge of the tibetan plateau the min shan mountains are a cenozoic to quaternary uplift zone that has undergone south directed block movements to produce the 1933 diexi earthquake m 7 5 on the min jiang fault and the 1976 songpan earthquake swarm m 7 2 6 7 7 2 on the huya fault the min jiang fault on the western boundary of the uplift zone is dominated by reverse movement with a right lateral component the huya fault on the eastern margin of the min shan uplift zone is also dominated by reverse movement but is associated with a left lateral component

continuous deformation of the tibetan plateau from global positioning system data global positioning system velocities from 553 control points within the tibetan plateau and on its margins show that the present day tectonics in the plateau is best described as deformation of a continuous medium at least when averaged over distances of 100 km deformation occurs throughout the plateau interior by ese wnw extension and slightly slower nne ssw shortening relative to eurasia material within the plateau interior moves roughly eastward with speeds that increase toward the east and then flows southward around the eastern end of the himalaya crustal thickening on the northeast ern and eastern margins of the plateau occurs over a zone 400 km wide and cannot be the result of elastic strain on a single major thrust fault shortening there accommodates much of india s penetration into eurasia a description in terms of movements of rigid blocks with elastic strain associated with slip on faults between them cannot match the velocity field

late cenozoic uplift of southeastern tibet the age of surface uplift in southeastern tibet is currently unknown but the initiation of major river incision can be used as a proxy for the timing of initial uplift the topographically high eastern plateau and gently dipping southeastern plateau margin are mantled by an elevated low relief relict landscape that formed at a time of slow erosion at low elevation and low tectonic uplift rates prior to uplift of the eastern tibetan plateau thermochronology from deep river gorges that are cut into the relict landscape shows slow cooling between ca 100 and ca 10 20 ma and a change to rapid cooling after ca 13 ma with initiation of rapid river incision at 0 25 0 5 mm yr between 9 and 13 ma a rapid increase in mean elevation of eastern tibet beginning at this time supports tectonic climate models that correlate the lateral eastern expansion of high topography in tibet with the late miocene intensification of the indian and east asian monsoons

upper mantle beneath southeast asia from s velocity tomography 1 we present a three dimensional s velocity model of the se asian western pacific upper mantle with 400 km lateral resolution using the novel automated multimode inversion technique we processed 4038 vertical component seismograms and extracted 22 708 linear equations with uncorrelated uncertainties that constrain upper mantle structure we used time frequency windows to select signal with negligible proportion of scattered energy the windows included the fundamental rayleigh mode and s and multiple s waves the observed range of s velocity variations is the widest 17 18 in the upper 150 km of the mantle high velocity continental roots can reach beyond the present extent of the overlying archean proterozoic crust by 500 km beneath some precambrian units the roots are absent which can be attributed to deformation and gradual destruction of the ancient lithosphere at 120 150 km s velocity beneath some cratons reaches 4 8 km s this can be accounted for by thermal and compositional effects beneath the hainan island area a low velocity anomaly is observed from near the surface to the bottom of our model the hot spot type volcanism here may be caused by the deep mantle hainan plume a low velocity mantle domain underlies the south central sea of japan surrounded on the surface by intraplate volcanoes a deep seismicity gap is present near 40 n in the pacific slab subducting below and may result from a plume slab interaction a high velocity anomaly is present in the transition zone beneath the northern boundary of the yangtze craton we propose that the anomaly corresponds to subducted continental lithosphere stagnant atop the 660 km discontinuity

post earthquake changes and prediction of debris flow scales in subao river valley beichuan county sichuan province china subao river lies along the beichuan yingxiu fault in beichuan county which has been heavily impacted by the wenchuan earthquake on 12 may 2008 and has become sources of many geo hazards on 24 september 2008 a rainstorm triggered a large debris flow in the catchment causing several deaths and significant damages a case study on changes of the debris flow was conducted in the river the peak discharges were calculated in the guanmenzi huangnidi and daanshan gullies results indicated that the peak discharges corresponded to various return periods in different gullies 200 years in daanshan 100 years in huangnidi and 50 years in guanmenzi however the triggering precipitation in these three gullies was only of a 20 year return period the debris flows had undergone significant changes analysis indicated that the changes should be ascribed to the flow characteristics initiation conditions and the channel blockage impacted by the rapid accumulation of loose material channel blockage was the principal factor increasing the scale of the debris flow the values on the blocking coefficient were presented based on density height and other characteristics of dams finally all of the peak debris flow discharges of the subao river valley for a 20 year return period were calculated using the recommended blocking coefficient values

in situ zircon u pb dating and o isotopes of the neoarchean hongtoushan vms cu zn deposit in the north china craton implication for the ore genesis abstract the hongtoushan volcanogenic massive sulfide vms deposit is the largest archean cu zn deposit in china located in the qingyuan greenstone belt on the northern margin of the north china craton the cu zn mineralization was stratigraphically controlled by the interbeds 100 m in thickness of mafic felsic volcanic sets and overlain by banded iron layers however the relationship between vms deposits and associated volcanics has not been examined this study ultimately clarifies the times and sources of the volcanics and mineralization based on in situ zircon u pb and o isotope on vms hosting mafic felsic volcanic rocks banded and massive sulfide ores and postmineralization pegmatite vein we considered that there were two main formation stages for the qingyuan cu zn deposits one was exhalative hydrothermal sedimentation and another was further cu zn enriched by later hydrothermal processes the timing of the first stage occurred at 2571 6 ma based on the magmatic zircons in the vms hosting mafic volcanic rocks from which the inherited zircons also indicate the existence of 2 65 3 12 ga ancient supercrustal rocks in the qingyuan district a modern mantle like 18 o zircon value of 5 5 0 1 2sd for this volcanism was well preserved in the inherited core domains of ore samples it suggests that the mafic volcanics was most likely sourced from partial melting of juvenile crust e g ttg granites a large scale metamorphic or hydrothermal event is documented by the recrystallized zircons in sulfide ores the timing is tightly constrained by the hydrothermal zircon u pb ages they are 2508 4 ma for the banded ore 2507 4 ma for the massive ore and 2508 2 ma for the postmineralization pegmatite vein these indistinguishable ages indicate that the 2507 ma hydrothermal systems played a significant role in the upgrading of the vms cu zn orebodies the weighted 18 o values of hydrothermal zircons show a successively increasing trend from 6 0 0 1 2 for the banded ore 6 6 0 2 2 for the massive ore to 7 3 0 2 2 for the later pegmatite vein this variation might be induced by gradual inputting of the 18 o rich oceanic crust and or oceanic sediment during the hydrothermal cycling system considering its modern mantle like oxygen isotope composition of 2571 ma volcanism a submarine volcanic hydrothermal system involving mantle plumes is a preferred setting for the neoarchean vms cu zn deposits in the qingyuan greenstone belt

dating fluvial terraces with and profiles application to the wind river wyoming abstract fluvial strath terraces provide a record of river incision and the timing of climatic perturbations to the fluvial system dating depositional surfaces like terraces that are older than the range of 14 c however is difficult we employ a cosmogenic radionuclide crn profile technique that addresses a major problem of crn dating on such surfaces nuclide inheritance by measuring 10 be and 26 al profiles we constrain the exposure age and the mean crn inheritance for the deposit the crn profile also yields a self check on the assumptions underlying the method we report our attempts to date terraces along the wind river wy like many sequences of western north american fluvial terraces these are inferred to reflect oscillation between glacial and interglacial conditions in the headwaters previous dating of some of these terraces and the associated terraces and glacial deposits makes this a unique location to compare dating methods dates from five sites along the bull lake glacial correlative terrace wr 3 are 118 125 ka which agrees with dates on bull lake age moraines and independent age estimates on the terrace and is consistent with the model of terrace glacial relationship crn inheritance is significant and highly variable requiring it be considered despite the additional sampling complexity assuming all inheritance in wr 3 deposits arises during exhumation in the headwaters we obtain minimum mean rates of exhumation of 13 130 m my for the source rocks alternatively assuming the crns are inherited during clast transport the time of fluvial transport from source to terrace is 10 ka it increases downstream and is lower for sand than cobbles the crn ages for older terraces wr 7 300 ka and wr 15 510 ka are lower by 50 than previous estimates based on tephrochronology the most plausible explanation is eolian deflation of a once thicker loess cover on the terrace surfaces mean thicknesses of loess of 0 5 1 5 m are required to reconcile these concentrations of crn with the previous estimates of age difficulty in dating the older terraces emphasizes that geologic caution independent estimates of age and multiple sample sites should still be part of dating depositional surfaces with crns even when employing the inheritance correction technique

emplacement of the longmen shan thrust nappe belt along the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau abstract the topographic descent from the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau to the sichuan basin passes through the longmen shan thrust nappe belt which is sub divided by six nw dipping major listric thrusts with accompanying duplexes and imbricate fans into five large scale nappes each nappe has its own stratigraphic and deformational features in the inner longmen shan longmen mountains allochthonous nappe units have incorporated both mesoproterozoic basement and sinian neoproterozoic to triassic cover sequences as thick skinned horses whereas in the frontal longmen shan sinian cretaceous cover sediments have been stripped from the basement as thin skinned fold and thrust sheets including the extensively distributed klippen structures pre thrusting extension during devonian to middle late triassic times resulted in syn depositional normal faults structural inversion of these faults initiated the peng xian guan xian basement complex jiuding shan and tangwangzhai nappes during the early episode of the indosinian orogeny norian to rhaetian this was followed by episodic thrusting during latest triassic to early cretaceous times to develop the guan xian an xian and southeastern marginal nappes that have incorporated sediments from the neighbouring foreland basin into the frontal part of the thrust nappe belt during a late miocene reactivation of the pre existing thrusts differential thrusting occurred across the thrust nappe belt

explicit treatment of inheritance in dating depositional surfaces using in situ 10be and 26al we describe a new strategy for dating depositional landscape surfaces using in situ produced cosmogenic radionuclides crns that removes the complication of nuclide inheritance by clasts prior to depositon two amalgamated samples each consisting of 30 clasts one from the surface and one from a fixed depth in the subsurface constrain this crn inheritance and date the surface the inheritance may be used to estimate minimum exhumation rates and maximum transport times within the geomorphic system we test the technique using sup 10 be and sup 26 al to date the third fr3 of five terraces along the fremont river utah and the third wr3 of 15 along the wind river wyoming whereas effective ages based solely upon the surface samples yield 118 138 ka fr3 and 93 ka wr3 the subsurface samples reveal that inheritance accounts for 22 wr3 to 43 fr3 of the total crn concentration taking this into account yeilds terrace ages of nearly 61 81 ka for fr3 and nearly 67 76 ka for wr3 we explore the dependence of age estimates on the accumulation history of the terrace silt caps 22 refs 3 figs 1 tab

right lateral shear and rotation as the explanation for strike slip faulting in eastern tibet the convergence of two continents can be accommodated by crustal thickening and by lateral transport of crust out of the path of the converging continents1 3 the principal features suggesting that lateral transport is important are major strike slip faults striking roughly orthogonally to the orientation of convergence between the continents displacement on such faults is imagined to allow lateral transport of material with respect to the converging continents possibly accounting for a large fraction of the convergence between the two continents the most spectacular example of such strike slip faulting is in the eastern part of the tibetan plateau where three major left lateral faults with slip rates of 10 mm yr 1 and several smaller roughly parallel faults dominate the regional strain field2 3 cobbold and davy4 suggested that these faults may be rotating in a clockwise fashion here we put bounds on that rate of rotation and conclude that the image of lateral transport on such faults2 known also as continental escape extrusion or expulsion is an illusion and that instead the left lateral slip on east striking planes in eastern tibet is a manifestation of north striking right lateral simple shear if this conclusion is correct the east striking left lateral faults and the crustal blocks between them are rotating clockwise at 1 2 myr 1 the east west dimension of eastern tibet is shortening at 10 20 mm yr 1 and little material is moving eastward out of india s path into eurasia by left lateral simple shear

inescapable slow slip on the altyn tagh fault 1 gps surveys conducted in 1994 1998 and 2002 on the central portion of the altyn tagh fault confirm left lateral slip rates of 9 4 mm yr significantly slower than geological estimates of slip rate for the past several thousand years the measurements were obtained on a 300 km long profile between 88 and 91 e within one fault dimension of the mw 7 6 and mw 7 8 kunlun earthquakes of 1997 and 2001 the inferred elastic displacements from these events are incorporated into the interpreted 1994 2002 velocity field the recent serendipitous occurrence of these two large earthquakes on a sub parallel fault system suggests that slip on the kunlun fault may have recently accelerated thereby reducing the slip rate on the altyn tagh fault however geodetic data from northern tibet prior to the 2001 earthquake indicate present day rates similar to long term rates this suggests that systematic errors may be present in published geologic slip rate estimates for the altyn tagh fault

zircon thermometry of high temperature rhyolites near volcanic associated massive sulfide deposits abitibi subprovince canada high temperature high silica rhyolites are commonly found near cu zn volcanic associated massive sulfide vms deposits in the archean abitibi subprovince they are characterized by anhydrous phenocrysts feldspar quartz in concentrations of generally 73 sio 2 high incompatible element contents rb sr 1 zr y

late cenozoic to holocene deformation in southwestern sichuan and adjacent yunnan china and its role in formation of the southeastern part of the tibetan plateau from at least 2 4 ma to present crust in the southeastern part of the tibetan plateau west of the convex east xianshuihe xiaojiang fault system has deformed internally and rotated clockwise around the eastern himalayan syntaxis the northwest striking ganzi fault zone bounds the rotating crust on the north and has a total left slip of 78 100 km of which 60 km is transferred to the xianshuihe fault zone across a diffuse transfer zone and 22 40 km is absorbed by bending of older structures and crustal shortening crustal shortening is expressed along and east of the eastern end of the ganzi fault zone by mountains capped by permanent glaciers locally rising nearly 1000 m above the average elevation of the tibetan plateau a similar transfer of left slip into shortening occurs farther south across the xianshuihe fault in the high mountains around and east of gongga shan 7556 m the northwest striking convex east left lateral litang fault zone lies southwest of the ganzi xianshuihe xiaojiang fault zone and appears to be less well developed but otherwise similar to the ganzi fault zone the batang chenzhi and other northeast striking right lateral faults of small displacement occur within the rotating crustal fragment together with the left slip faults they accommodate east west shortening northeast of the eastern himalayan syntaxis south of this region of shortening the crust is extending to form grabens within the dali and southern xiaojiang fault systems and in the tengchong volcanic province the progressive change from shortening southward into extension is related to variations in strain that characterize the region from northeast to southeast of the eastern himalayan syntaxis the assemblage of structures in southwestern sichuan geometrically resembles structures of eocene to miocene age in southern yunnan that were positioned northeast of the eastern himalayan syntaxis similar to present day southwestern sichuan at the time of their development the similarity in the structural development in the two areas indicates that crust northeast of the syntaxis underwent a common evolution as the syntaxis migrated northward during the past 50 m y structures in sichuan are less fully developed than older structures in southwestern yunnan and can serve as a guide to reconstruct the progressive tectonic development in the region of the syntaxis deformation in these areas indicates that plateau formation has been complex inhomogeneous and diachronous at scales from 1000 km to less than 100 km

coseismic surface ruptures and crustal deformations of the 2008 wenchuan earthquake mw7 9 china 1 the irregularly distributed surface fault ruptures of the wenchuan earthquake spanned over 200 km along the longmen shan lms fault zone through field investigations we found over 10 coseismic surface ruptures with maximum vertical displacements of approximately 6 m on the yingxiu beichuan fault and 2 m on the guanxian anxian fault however the entire fault rupture movement was still not clearly understood since high topographic areas were inaccessible thus we used interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar satellite observations to capture whole coseismic surface ruptures and crustal deformations across the lms faults we created a novel bi fault slip model to invert fault slips using insar information which yielded that thrust fault slips were dominant at yingxiu houshenggou and bajiaomiao in the near epicenter segment while the dextral fault slips were dominant at pingtong and nanba along the northeast segment the combination of field investigations and simulations suggested that the two coseismic fault zones ruptured with an irregular surface distribution accompanied by crustal deformations

use of a regional relict landscape to measure vertical deformation of the eastern tibetan plateau 1 field work and topography analysis show that remnant local areas of a low relief landscape or erosion surfaces are geographically continuous across the southeastern tibetan plateau margin we correlate these remnant surfaces as a paleolandscape that formed at low elevation remnants of this paleolandscape are preserved because incision of the fluvial system has been largely limited to major rivers and principal tributaries and has not yet progressed throughout the entire fluvial network the incomplete adjustment of the fluvial system signals initiation of rapid bedrock incision into a developing plateau margin and erosional denudation is concentrated in the major river channels this interpretation contradicts earlier notions that low gradient regional topography is the product of regional elevation reduction by intense landscape dissection due to the presence of several large southeast flowing rivers the modern altitude of the reconstructed paleolandscape or relict landscape constrains the vertical displacement of the plateau surface in response to crustal thickening and subsequent erosion during the lateral growth of the tibetan plateau regional preservation of the relict landscape is consistent with minor surface disruption by late cenozoic thrust faults and folds and supports a model of distributed lower crustal thickening because significant erosion is limited to narrow river gorges an increase in the plateau elevation due to isostatic rebound is minor therefore we propose that the modern elevation of the relict landscape reflects isostatically compensated thickening of the lower crust