uthpb in chondrites evidence of elemental mobilities and the singularity of primordial pb a unified graphical approach that emphasizes the strict corellativity in the u th pb systematics and projects subtle diagnostic deviations from it has been adopted for the evaluation of the existing data base it has been revealed that 1 excess radiogenic pb in chondrites is largely an artifact stemming from pb contamination of some samples and apparent recent u loss from other samples problems with u analysis 2 taken at face value the data indicate that recent u th mobility on the chondrule scale is pervasive in allende in contrast apparent recent u th mobility in barwell is generally consistent with gain of terrestrial pb 3 allende carries the isotopic imprints of recent multiple disturbances in which elemental mobilities were effected but not isotopic homogenization of pb 4 for allende the pb isotope pattern of the matrix samples suggests terrestrial contamination if this is the case the systematics indicates for the matrix recent u gain as well the u rich chondrules and inclusions whose discordance is often consistent with u loss are the probable source in contrast to the contaminated matrix the uncontaminated matrix should then be discordant by pb loss i e u gain 5 canyon diablo primitive pb appears to represent the primordial composition from which chondritic pb evolved allegations to the contrary appear ill founded 6 identification of variable ancient initial leads by the pb pb method in correlation with as much as 100 m y difference in the ages of formations is not feasible apparently because of the low u pb in the nebula 0 25

sediment deformation and hydrogeology of the nankai trough accretionary prism synthesis of shipboard results of odp leg 131 the main objective of leg 131 was to provide data on the deformational processes and associated hydrogeology of the nankai prism toe drilling succeeded for the first time in the history of ocean drilling in penetrating the complete sedimentary sequence to basaltic basement reaching 1327 mbsf metres below seafloor with good core recovery 55 excellent correlation of the lithology and structure including the frontal thrust and the decollement with seismic reflection images was also determined bedding dips faults and shear bands analyzed in the cores confirm the pattern of deformation to be mainly due to nw se shortening as expected from the plate tectonic convergence vector below the decollement no significant deformation features were observed indicating that the decollement is a sharp discontinuity in stress transmission physical properties data show major discontinuities at the decollement notably an increase in porosity below the later this may indicate excess pore pressure in the subducted section and decollement zone a less marked increase in porosity below the frontal thrust may reflect the youthfulness of this feature attempts to make downhole measurements were severely hampered by unstable hole conditions but useful constraints have been placed on the thermal regime and some calibration of laboratory physical properties toin situ conditions has been provided andin situ stress and pore pressure were measured in the uppermost sediments evidence of channelized fluid flows is inconclusive no sharp geochemical signatures or unequivocal geochemical anomalies indicative of channelized fluid flow were found thermal measurements are not significantly different from those predicted by a purely conductive heat flow model a signature of low chloride pore water near the decollement may partly be related to smectite diagenesis but may also be due to episodic fluid flow events we conclude that dewatering probably occurred dominantly through diffuse flow throughout the accreted sediments at this site

kinematic models of dewatering accretionary prisms steady state two dimensional analytical solutions are derived for sediment velocity and rate of fluid expulsion in a thickening accretionary prism with smooth upper and lower surfaces two different kinematic assumptions lead to two similar sets of solutions in one case the sediment flow lines are assumed to diverge uniformly landward in the other case the horizontal velocity of any given sediment column is assumed uniform by further assuming zero horizontal darcy velocity in the prism expressions can be obtained for the approximate vertical fluid velocity and pore fluid pressure fields results from applying these solutions to the cascadia accretionary prism off vancouver island show the importance of modeling the effects of lateral as well as vertical porosity variation on the hydrogeology of the prism these solutions provide a means to estimate fluid flow and pore pressure distribution for prisms with realistic geometry the rate of fluid expulsion can also be incorporated into numerical models as the fluid source term

oxygen and strontium isotopic investigations of subduction zone volcanism the case of the volcano arc and the marianas island arc abstract recent fresh volcanic rocks of the intra oceanic mariana and volcano arcs were analyzed for o and sr isotopic compositions in order to determine the source of these magmas fresh non arc volcanic rocks from the regions surrounding the mariana volcano arcs and some dsdp sediments were also analyzed for comparison the oxygen isotopic ratios of the arc lavas 5 5 6 8 exhibited a small inter island variation that cannot be entirely explained by fractional crystallization the sr isotopic composition of the arc lavas is remarkably uniform 0 70332 0 70394 for the marianas three models are considered in order to explain the observed isotopic characteristics 1 bulk mixing and melting of morb type mantle with a subducted sediments and b subducted oceanic crust excluding sediments 2 melting of a mixture of sediment derived fluids and morb type mantle and 3 melting of a mixture of sediment derived fluids and oceanic island or hot spot type mantle the last model fits the data best the conclusion that very small and variable amounts of sediment derived fluid 1 are required to explain the observed inter island o isotopic variation is consistent with that of other workers who used different isotopic and trace element methods the generation of magmas in the mariana volcano arcs involves very little sediment and the source region of mariana lavas is isotopically indistinguishable from that of hot spot basalts

runaway slip to the trench due to rupture of highly pressurized megathrust beneath the middle trench slope the tsunamigenesis of the 2011 tohoku earthquake off the east coast of northern japan abstract the gigantic 2011 march 11 mw 9 tohoku earthquake is examined from the viewpoint of the pre seismic forearc structure the seismic reflection properties of a megathrust around the usual up dip limit of the seismogenic zone the thermal state of a shallow subduction zone and the dehydration of underthrust sediments at the japan trench the pacific plate is subducting westward beneath northeast japan at a dip angle of 4 6 the middle and lower slopes of the landward side dip eastward at angles of 2 5 and 8 0 respectively the forearc prism beneath the middle and lower slopes is inferred to be in extensionally and compressively critical states respectively based on the presence of clear internal deformation features and on the occurrence of aftershock earthquakes the rapid uplift of the forearc that caused the 2011 tohoku tsunami may have been associated with this internal deformation of the prism the critical state of the prism indicates that the effective basal friction b of the plate boundary megathrust is 0 08 for the lower prism the megathrust especially under the middle slope is characterized by a prominent reflector with negative polarity one of multiple possible explanations is that the megathrust hosts highly pressurized fluids underthrust sediments in this part of the japan trench are dominated by pelagic and siliceous vitric diatomaceous silt with clay the dehydration kinetics of opal a to quartz the clay transformation of smectite illite and the thermal structure of the japan trench suggest that maximum dehydration of the sediments would take place at 50 60 km horizontally from the deformation front where the temperature along the megathrust is 100 120 c the zone of maximum dehydration coincides with the prominent seismic reflector that has negative polarity we hypothesize a possible free slip along this portion of the megathrust during the 2011 tohoku earthquake caused by anomalously high fluid pressure resulting from fluid accumulation over centuries

water flow in the barbados accretionary complex we present a simple analytic kinematic model of the barbados accretionary complex assuming a porosity depth law and deformation by pure vertical shear the model is applied to two sections a northern one with a 900 m thick basin sedimentary column near 16 n and a southern one with a 4 5 km thick one to the south this simple model is compatible with growth of the barbados accretionary complex since 50 ma assuming a constant subduction rate and a constant basin sedimentary column equal to the present one this conclusion is not affected by reasonable changes in the porosity depth law it suggests that the totality of the entering sedimentary column is either accreted or subcreted to the wedge the accretion velocity decreases dramatically with age and its variation should be taken into account in any quantitative model the average strain rates show remarkably different distributions between the two sections the thinner wedge having a much higher rate in a narrow area at the toe we then use the model to compute the sediment grains flow the fluid flow and their thermal effects these effects are small and do not exceed 5 of the heat flow in the absence of other internal flows in contrast the thermal effect of the burial of the slab can result in a lowering of the surface heat flow by as much as 40 the temperature at the base of the wedge on its arc side is close to 300 c on the southern section and half that amount on the northern one this high temperature could account for the absence of large earthquakes to the south and their presence to the north the amount of water discharged if collected by faults over the whole toe area is unable to account for some of the manifestations observed over the toe or seaward of the toe in the barbados area we suggest two possible other sources one for the southern section is the orinoco fan area the other for the northern section might be seismic pumping at the limit of the seismogenic zone along the backthrusts between the accretionary wedge and the forearc basin

porosity of sediments in accretionary prisms and some implications for dewatering processes rapid dewatering largely through loss of porosity is one of the most striking changes affecting deformed sediments in accretionary prisms analysis of porosity from sample and seismic data confirms that porosity in accretionary prisms is significantly less than that in basinal strata of similar lithology more specifically the porosity depth gradient increases arcward across the prism until porosities less than 10 occur within a few kilometers of the surface in deeper parts of the prism dewatering and volume reduction occur not only during loss of porosity but also during dehydration and metamorphic reactions calculations involving volume change lead us to define a function which reflects total volume reduction the distribution of the relative intensity of dewatering within the prism can be calculated from the porosity contours and trajectories of sediment elements an initial attempt indicates that in the toe region the rate of dewatering is accelerated at depth relative to the basinal section and may be greatest near the base of the prism toward the rear of the prism the maximum rate of dewatering occurs at progressively shallower depths several lines of evidence suggest that in addition to gradual diffuse dewatering localized zones of strong dewatering are associated with zones of intense shear this model of shear dewatering based on critical state soil mechanics suggests that sediments adjacent to the basal decollement should be strongly dewatered

critical taper model of fold and thrust belts and accretionary wedges the fold and thrust belts and submarine accretionary wedges that lie along compressive plate boundaries are one of the best understood deformational features of the earth s upper crust although there is considerable natural variation among the many fold and thrust belts and accretionary wedges that have been recognized and explored several features appear to be universal in cross section fold and thrust belts and accretionary wedges occupy a wedge shaped deformed region overlying a basal detachment or decollement fault the rocks or sediments beneath this fault show very little deformation the decollement fault characteristically dips toward the interior of the mountain belt or in the case of a submarine wedge toward the island arc the topography in contrast slopes toward the toe or deformation front of the wedge deformation within the wedge is generally dominated by imbricate thrust faults verging toward the toe and related fault bend folding two north american fold and thrust belts that exhibit these features are shown in figure 1 neither of these two examples is tectonically active today the southern canadian fold and thrust belt was active during the late jurassic and cretaceous 150 100 ma whereas the southern appa lachians were deformed during the late carboniferous to permian alle ghenian orogeny 300 250 ma figure 2 shows two examples that are currently active the taiwan fold and thrust belt produced by the sub duction of the eurasian plate beneath the philippine sea plate suppe 1981 1987 and the barbados accretionary wedge produced by the sub

conditions for hydrofracture and the fluid permeability of accretionary wedges abstract the dewatering of fine grained sediment piles in accretionary wedges is controlled by zones of active deformation episodic hydrofracture in these zones enhances permeability enabling fluid flow to be faster than the speed of underthrusting here i investigate the mechanics of simultaneous shear failure and hydrofracture in muddy rocks as a function of the faulting mode the physical properties of model rock types are chosen to represent uncemented mud or cherty marly mudstones that have undergone significant diagenesis during thrust faulting hydrofracture always requires pore fluid pressures in excess of the lithostatic load whereas shallow level wrenching or normal faulting permits hydrofracture at hydrostatic pressures significantly lower than lithostatic load all three faulting modes are expected to occur in an accretionary wedge attempting to dynamically maintain its critical taper the model computations indicate that in the upper 80 120 m of a section of soft mudstone hydrofracture inevitably accompanies wrench or normal faulting hard mudstones inevitably hydrofracture to depths of up to 1400 m during normal faulting these differences in mechanical behaviour have profound consequences for fluid venting capabilities of accretionary wedges they influence hydrocarbon trapping and play a role in the localisation of mud diapirs and mud volcanism

hydrological response of weathered clay shale slopes water infiltration monitoring with time lapse electrical resistivity tomography this work presents an attempt to monitor water infiltration and subsurface flow within a clay shale landslide using time lapse electrical resistivity tomography ert a rainfall experiment was carried out on a plot of 100 m2 at the laval landslide in the draix experimental catchments ore draix south french alps in order to characterize the spatial and temporal development of water circulation in the soil and to identify when steady state flow conditions are reached the experiment was conducted during 67 h with initial unsaturated conditions in the slope the apparent electrical resistivity values were inverted with a time lapse approach using several cross models the results indicate a significant decrease in resistivity 18 compared to the initial state in the rain plot downslope progression of negative resistivity anomalies is imaged suggesting that vertical and subsurface lateral flows have developed about 21 h after the start of the rain experiment a constant level of resistivity values is observed indicating that the hydrological system reached steady state flow conditions this observation is consistent with ground water level observations and chemical tracer analysis computed differences in time of steady state conditions highlight possible preferential flows near the landslide toe a hydrological concept of functioning of the slope is proposed and apparent saturated hydraulic conductivity ks of 1 7 10 4 m s 1 is computed from the steady state times this study demonstrates the potentiality of ert monitoring to monitor water infiltration in clay shale slopes and the high water transfer capacity of reworked clay shale material

deformation at the toe of an active accretionary prism synopsis of results from odp leg 131 nankai sw japan toes of accretionary prisms record the initial deformation of wet sediments during accretion at a convergent plate margin odp leg 131 succeeded in coring the toe of the nankai prism sw japan together with the basal decollement the underthrust sediments and the basaltic ocean basement an unprecedented structural geological inventory has been compiled gravitational deformation is important in the slope apron deposits but tectonic stresses too are transmitted to these levels core scale deformation bands due to heterogeneous bulk shortening of the prism are exceptionally well developed at nankai and range through kink bands shear zones and faults anomalous frequencies indicate localized high strain zones stress inversion analysis gives a principal compression close to the plate convergence vector the frontal thrust of the prism is a 26 m thick zone of breccia scaly fabric with a 309 m net slip it may well be currently active and accommodating almost half of the present convergence strain the basal decollement a 19 m thick breccia zone separates the deforming overconsolidated sediments of the prism from the virtually undeformed materials below these are highly underconsolidated and probably overpressured anomalous fluid pressures localize several of the prism structures unlike some other prisms drainage of the nankai prism is dominantly pervasive rather than controlled by major structures

fluid expulsion from the cascadia accretionary prism evidence from porosity distribution direct measurements and gloria imagery fluid expulsion from the cascadia accretionary prism off oregon results from porosity reduction by compaction and by cementation as methane rich pore waters precipitate diagenetic carbonate deposits near the sediment water interface porosity changes suggest that dewatering begins 5 6 km west of the base of the slope in a proto deformation zone gloria imagery of surficial carbonate deposits confirms that fluid is actively expelled from this zone there is no such evidence further west in cascadia basin within the uncertainties of the data porosities do not decrease landward beneath the prism this pattern is consistent with imbricate thrust faulting on the slope which provides the vertical load to induce compactive dewatering and may physically import as much as 50 of the total fluid volume in the section a simple vertical compaction model suggests that significant pore water volumes have been expelled from the lower slope but at flux rates 10 11 10 12 m 3 m 2 s 1 which are orders of magnitude less than those measured at individual vent sites 10 6 m 3 m 2 s 1 faulting clearly controls some fluid expulsion but gloria data suggest that repeated local discharge cementation and abandonment lead to dispersed accumulations of diagenetic carbonate

fluid flow along a decollement layer a model applied to the 16 n section of the barbados accretionary wedge a seismic section across the whole barbados accretionary complex at 16 n recently published by westbrook et al 1988 shows that the reflection marking the decollement fades between 40 and 60 km arcward of the deformation front but is present again further inland this interruption appears to be related to a thrust cutting through the wedge one dimensional steady state models of water flow along the decollement suggest a mechanism responsible for decollement disruption a local increase of the slope either of the wedge or of the decollement causes the subducted layer to compact and locally increases the friction along the decollement if the thrust is used as a conduit for fluids to escape from the decollement the friction along the decollement toeward of the thrust is further increased the model also shows that the permeability of the decollement should be of the order of 10 14 m2 but may be higher near the deformation front for short periods if fluid expulsion mainly occurs in transient bursts associated with hydraulic fracturing as a consequence of the non linearity of the compaction equation pore pressure at depth in the decollement depends on the water flux on the lithostatic pressure gradient along the decollement and on the parameters from which the physical properties of the sediment are calculated however it is almost independent on the pore pressure below the toe

trench parallel fluid flow in subduction zones resulting from temperature differences differences in the thermal state of subducting crust along the trench of a subduction zone cause differences in subduction zone temperature that persist to tens of kilometers down dip of the trench the resulting differences in fluid viscosity permeability and hydraulic conductivity can lead to trench parallel variations in fluid pressure on the plate boundary fault temperature differences in locations with low decollement temperature 75 c at the trench result in large differences in fluid viscosity and fluid flow from the cold to the hot side of the system margins characterized by high decollement temperature at the trench are probably dominated by temperature controlled differences in intrinsic permeability resulting in fluid flow from the hot to the cold side of the system margins with large trench parallel temperature differences support considerable trench parallel fluid flow and the effect is accentuated for cases where compaction driven dewatering is concentrated near the trench type locations for along strike hydrologic differences include margins with subducting crust with differences in plate age along the trench or patchy hydrothermal circulation in such cases the three dimensional pattern of subduction zone fluid flow should be considered when inferring the location of the source of fluids sampled from boreholes or seeps additionally trench parallel differences in fluid pressure control effective stress on the plate boundary fault reduced effective stress on the plate boundary on the low hydraulic conductivity side of a subduction zone reduces the effective friction coefficient which both reduces frictional heating and may delay the onset of frictional instability

accretion and erosion in subduction zones the role of fluids convergence occurs today along about 60 000 km of plate boundaries parsons 1981 in this paper we consider frontal subduction which occurs along about 40 000 km of convergent plate boundaries using the kine matic solution of de mets et al 1990 and including 0 5 km 2 yr1 of marginal basin openings otsuki 1989 we find that 2 95 km 2 per year disappear in frontal subduction at an average rate of 7 3 cm yr the upper overriding plate is significantly modified not only through the addition of a large amount of magmatic material markhinin 1968 but also through tectonic processes which result either in outgrowth of the margin through addit ion of sediments silver 1969 or in recession through frontal and subcrustal erosion which appears to be linked to sediment subduction coats 1962 gilluly 1963 the various phenomena observed must in some way be related to variations in mechanical coupling between the two plates uyeda kanamori 1979 had proposed that the transition from erosion to accretion results from increasing mechanical coupling the marianas trench was presented as typical of an crosional margin and the chile trench of an accreting margin ruff kanamori 1980 and kana mori 1986 showed that the magnitude of the subduction earthquakes increases with the convergence velocity and the inverse of the age of the subducted lithosphere this correlation was qualitatively explained by the control of age on the d ip of the platc and of convergence velocity on the

updip limit of the seismogenic zone beneath the accretionary prism of southwest japan an effect of diagenetic to low grade metamorphic processes and increasing effective stress off southwest japan the seaward limit of coseismic displacement or updip limit of the seismogenic zone of the 1946 mw 8 3 thrust earthquake reaches to 4 km depth and 40 km landward of the trench this limit coincides with the estimated location of the 150 c isotherm and has been linked to changes in physical properties associated with the smectite to illite clay mineral transition here we show that this limit correlates with a suite of diagenetic to low grade metamorphic processes characterized by 1 declining fluid production and decreasing fluid pressure ratio and 2 active clay carbonate and zeolite cementation and the transition to pressure solution and quartz cementation these diagenetic to low grade metamorphic changes cause the onset of velocity weakening during thrust faulting an increase in effective stress and strengthening of the hanging wall which together combine to produce recordable earthquakes

implications for focused fluid transport at the northern cascadia accretionary prism from a correlation between bsr occurrence a d near sea floor reflectivity anomalies imaged in a multi frequency seismic data set a high resolution seismic survey was carried out at the accretionary prism on the continental slope off vancouver island canada two gi gun data sets with different source frequency ranges of 50 150 and 100 500 hz were combined with 4 khz narrow beam echosounding data parasound the data allow spatial correlation between a gas hydrate bottom simulating reflector bsr and distinct areas of high near sea floor reflectivity an integrated interpretation of the multi frequency data set provides insight into the regional distribution of tectonically induced fluid migration and gas hydrate formation in the vicinity of odp leg 146 sites 889 and 890 the bsr at the base of the gas hydrate stability field is observed within accreted and deformed sediments but appears to be absent within bedded slope basin deposits it is suggested that these basin deposits inhibit vertical fluid flow and prevent the formation of a bsr whereas the hydraulic conductivity of the accreted sediments is sufficiently high to allow for pervasive gas migration an elevation of the bsr beneath the flanks of a topographic high is interpreted as an indicator for local upflow of warm fluids along permeable pathways within outcropping accreted sediments parasound data reveal discontinuous zones of high reflectivity at or directly beneath the sea floor which may indicate local cementation of surface sediments in combination with gi gun data the occurrence of these reflective areas can be related to the location of slope sedimentary basins acting as hydraulic seals it is proposed that the seals sometimes fail along faults extending beneath the bsr leading to focused upflow of methane bearing fluid and the formation of carbonate pavements at the sea floor

the estimation of diffuse strains in the toe of the western nankai accretionary prism a kinematic solution arcward changes in the vertical spacing of seismically defined stratigraphic reflectors and sediment porosities determined from drill cores and seismic interval velocities suggest a compact kinematic solution for estimating diffuse deformation within accretionary prism toes the method involves the solution of the lagrangian form of the conservation of mass equation for the two dimensional finite deformation gradient field within discrete deforming domains we apply this technique to the unfaulted protothrust zone ptz along a western transect across the nankai accretionary prism in the vicinity of deep sea drilling project sites 582 and 583 the results yield horizontal shortening estimates of about 1 7 km or about 20 this shortening appears to be accommodated through different strain responses depending on the consolidation state of the sediments at the time of accretion shallow sediments respond to horizontal shortening dominantly by expelling pore fluids producing volume strains up to 30 while deeper sediments accommodate horizontal shortening dominantly through vertical extension reaching 70 in the footwall of the frontal thrust horizontal shear strains within the ptz are not well resolved by this solution due to uncertainties in the porosity distribution but they generally appear to be quite small

transient fluid flow through the toe of the barbados accretionary complex constraints from ocean drilling program leg 110 heat row studies and simple models thirty four sediment and mud line temperatures were collected from six drill holes on ocean drilling program odp leg 110 near the toe of the barbados accretionary complex when combined with thermal conductivity measurements from sediment cores and results from earlier surveys these data delineate the complicated thermal structure on the edge of this convergent margin heat flow values at the seafloor of 92 192 mw m sup 2 are 80 300 higher than those predicted by standard heat flow versus age models for oceanic crust but are compatible with earlier seafloor measurements made in this area at the same latitude heat flow tends to decrease downhole at four sites suggesting the presence of heat sources within the sediments these results are consistent with the flow of warm fluids through the complex along high permeability conduits including thrust faults the major decollement zone and sandy intervals simple calculations suggest that this fluid flow is transient occurring on time scales of tens of thousands of years fluid flow velocities along the decollement zone estimated with a simple thermal model are about 10 sup minus 7 m s 100 times faster than predicted by numerical steady state analyses the estimated maximum sediment permeability within the decollement zone which was basedmore on the above fluid flow velocity is about 10 sup minus 12 m sup 2 also 100 times higher that that calculated numerically high heat flow in the vicinity of 15 degree 30 prime n and not elsewhere along the deformation front suggests that the leg 110 drill sites may be situated over a prism water discharge zone with dewatering more active here than elsewhere along the accretionary complex less

lithification facilitates frictional instability in argillaceous subduction zone sediments abstract previous work suggests that in subduction zones the onset of large earthquake nucleation at depths 5 10 km is likely driven by a combination of factors associated with the process of lithification at these depths lithification processes affect the entire fault system by modifying the mechanical properties of both the plate boundary fault zone and the wall rock to test the hypothesis that lithification of subduction zone sediments produces rocks capable of earthquake nucleation via diagenesis and low grade metamorphism we conducted friction experiments on fossil subduction zone sediments recovered from exposures in the shimanto belt in sw japan these meta sediments represent accreted and subducted material which has experienced maximum temperatures of 125 to 225 c which are representative of seismogenic depths along the active nankai subduction megathrust in the foreland of the shimanto belt we find that intact shimanto rock samples which preserve the influence of diagenetic and metamorphic processes exhibit the potential for unstable slip under in situ pressure conditions powdered versions of the same samples tested under the same conditions exhibit only velocity strengthening friction thus demonstrating that destroying the lithification state also removes the potential for unstable slip using advanced porosity loss to quantify the lithification process we demonstrate that increased velocity weakening correlates with increasingly advanced lithification in combination with documented frictionally stable behavior of subduction zone sediments from shallower depths our results provide evidence that the sediment lithification hypothesis can explain the depth dependent onset of large earthquake nucleation along subduction zone megathrusts

off scraping accretionary process under the subduction of young oceanic crust the shimanto belt of okinawa island ryukyu arc the eocene kayo formation exposed at the southwestern end of the shimanto belt in the ryukyu arc records the progressive development of off scraping accretion accompanied by increase in lithification and burial as well as synaccretionary thermal imprint the formation consists almost wholly of coherent trench turbidites supplied by axial currents detailed structural analysis has revealed that two successive deformation stages are recognized in the formation the early deformation stage 1 occurred by horizontal shortening related to the initial stage of off scraping accretion in this stage sands were water rich and nearly unlithified and the competence contrast between sandstone and shale was low the late deformation stage 2 is marked by the formation of seaward verging imbricate fold and thrust system within the accretionary wedge compared with stage 1 sands in stage 2 were more dewatered and lithified and the competence contrast between sandstone and shale increased in accordance with this deformation history structures caused by high pore fluid pressure indicate increased cohesion of sands during off scraping accretion studies of the vitrinite reflectance and the illite crystallinity clearly suggest that the formation became buried and suffered thermal imprint pressure solution cleavage developed as an axial planar to the stage 2 folds thermal imprint on the formation is characterized by high paleotemperatures at approximately 250 c 300 c in a region of the prehnite pumpellyite facies metamorphism this thermal event took place during and slightly after the stage 2 probably associated with subduction of a young and hot oceanic plate

elevated fluid pressure and fault zone dilation inferred from seismic models of the northern barbados ridge decollement in 1992 a large volume of three dimensional seismic reflection data were acquired in a 5 25 km area across the toe of the barbados accretionary complex that covers the deep sea drilling project leg 78a and ocean drilling program legs 110 and 156 drilling sites these data are used to examine the acoustic character of the decollement seismic reflection and to qualitatively and quantitatively characterize fluid pressures within the fault zone seismic models have been constructed across a 6 km region of the decollement where it has been mapped as a moderate to bright polarity reversed reflection the models show that this segment of the decollement reflection is caused by a low velocity interval usually 12 16 m thick the top of the low velocity interval appears to be a sharp boundary that requires a decrease in velocity from 1 8 km s to between 1 7 and 1 65 km s with some localized bright reflections with an even lower velocity of 1 6 km s the base of the low velocity layer is less certain from modeling the base consists of either a velocity increase that is usually approximately half the velocity contrast at the top of the layer or the velocity increase is equal to the contrast at the top of the layer but distributed over a 10 m thick interval comparison of these results to laboratory experiments on the relationship between fluid pressure and seismic velocity indicates that in this interval of the decollement fluid pressure is at or near lithostatic furthermore the reflection coefficients of the decollement are sufficiently large that some dilation of the fault zone is required the dilation should lead to high fracture zone permeability and explain the observation of a laterally consistent decollement reflection along a 5 km segment of the decollement it is within these segments of the fault that fluid pressure approaches lithostatic and significantly reduces fault strength

crustal structure of the sunda forearc region west of central sumatra from gravity data free air gravity anomalies near nias island include a 100 mgal low centered 10 20 km landward of the trench axis and a 80 mgal high over the outer arc ridge but also show a few large anomalies unrelated to topography a 90 mgal low is found on the structural high between the banyak islands and sumatra north of nias an 80 mgal rise at a gradient of 8 mgal km is modeled by a near surface body of high density material oceanic crust 4 km wide and tens of kilometers long this slab may be exposed on the southwest coast of nias where ultramafic bodies have been mapped and its northerly trend compared with northwesterly bathymetric trends may be related to other obliquely trending structures near here to a proposed strike slip fault which crosses nias and or to the basement high topped by the batu islands a 30 mgal free air low over the forearc basin can be modeled best if pre miocene melange or continental crust underlies the basin and it seems unlikely that the basin can be underlain by a large thickness of oceanic crust

growth pattern of underlithified strata during thrust related folding abstract asymmetric anticlines with overturned or steeply dipping forelimbs and gently dipping backlimbs are generally interpreted as thrust related folds fold asymmetry occurs as a consequence of forelimb rotation if deformation takes place in environments dominated by submarine sedimentation the limbs coincide with the slope depositional surface and rotation reflects slope steepening if folds are nucleated in poorly or unlithified deposits growth geometry also depends on the properties of the media such as cohesion and the angle of internal friction for cohesionless deposits the tilting of the slope influences the equilibrium of the soft sediments resulting in gravity driven flow re mobilisation or in situ compaction the occurrence of mass re mobilisation is also connected with the limb tilting lithification ratio hence the presence of non primary bedding geometries or soft sediment deformations in folding related growth strata may provide useful tools for deciphering contractional kinematics deformation of underlithified sediments during thrust related folding is recorded in the outer sector of the neogene sicily chain central mediterranean deformation occurred during the building of the pliocene chain folding is the driving mechanism of the growth stratal pattern fold nucleation and amplification influenced the inclination of the slope of the basin floor where sediments were deposited slump and stretching structures in soft sediment occurred during folding and mass accumulation at the base of limbs led to a decrease in slope inclination analysis of fault related fold and gravity driven geometries enable us to reconstruct the contractional kinematics and the behaviour of syn tectonic deposits that modify the growth fold pattern in terms of limb hinge change of length thickness