The presence, characteristics and earthquake implications of the St. Lawrence fault zone within and near Lake Ontario (Canada–USA)     

J. L. Wallach   《Tectonophysics》2002,353(1-4)

Questions persist concerning the earthquake potential of the populous and industrial Lake Ontario (Canada–USA) area. Pertinent to those questions is whether the major fault zone that extends along the St. Lawrence River valley, herein named the St. Lawrence fault zone, continues upstream along the St. Lawrence River valley at least as far as Lake Ontario or terminates near Cornwall (Ontario, Canada)–Massena (NY, USA). New geological studies uncovered paleotectonic bedrock faults that are parallel to, and lie within, the projection of that northeast-oriented fault zone between Cornwall and northeastern Lake Ontario, suggesting that the fault zone continues into Lake Ontario. The aforementioned bedrock faults range from meters to tens of kilometers in length and display kinematically incompatible displacements, implying that the fault zone was periodically reactivated in the study area. Beneath Lake Ontario the Hamilton–Presqu'ile fault lines up with the St. Lawrence fault zone and projects to the southwest where it coincides with the Dundas Valley (Ontario, Canada). The Dundas Valley extends landward from beneath the western end of the lake and is marked by a vertical stratigraphic displacement across its width. The alignment of the Hamilton–Presqu'ile fault with the St. Lawrence fault zone strongly suggests that the latter crosses the entire length of Lake Ontario and continues along the Dundas Valley.The Rochester Basin, an east–northeast-trending linear trough in the southeastern corner of Lake Ontario, lies along the southern part of the St. Lawrence fault zone. Submarine dives in May 1997 revealed inclined layers of glaciolacustrine clay along two different scarps within the basin. The inclined layers strike parallel to the long dimension of the basin, and dip about 20° to the north–northwest suggesting that they are the result of rigid-body rotation consequent upon post-glacial faulting. Those post-glacial faults are growth faults as demonstrated by the consistently greater thickness, unit-by-unit, of unconsolidated sediments on the downthrown (northwest) side of the faults relative to their counterparts on the upthrown (southeast) side. Underneath the western part of Lake Ontario is a monoclinal warp that displaces the glacial and post-glacial sediments, and the underlying bedrock–sediment interface. Because of the post-glacial growth faults and the monoclinal warp the St. Lawrence fault zone is inferred to be tectonically active beneath Lake Ontario. Furthermore, within the lake it crosses at least five major faults and fault zones and coexists with other neotectonic structures. Those attributes, combined with the large earthquakes associated with the St. Lawrence fault zone well to the northeast of Lake Ontario, suggest that the seismic risk in the area surrounding and including Lake Ontario is likely much greater than previously believed.  相似文献   

Stability of earthquake moment tensor inversions: effect of the double-couple constraint   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

C. Henry  J. H. Woodhouse  S. Das   《Tectonophysics》2002,356(1-3)

We show that spurious large non-double-couple components can be obtained in inversions for the full deviatoric moment tensor for shallow crustal earthquakes due to inaccurate Earth models. The traditional “best double-couple” solution does not in general provide an optimal estimate of a double-couple mechanism, and is only reliable when the non-double-couple component of the full deviatoric solution is small. The inverse problem for the moment tensors of the 1998 Antarctic Plate and 2000 Wharton Basin strike-slip earthquakes is shown in each case to have two well-fitting minima in the misfit function of pure double-couple solutions. Such pairs of solutions are most likely to exist for earthquakes which are close either to vertical strike-slip or to dip-slip on a fault plane dipping at 45°. It is shown theoretically that these pairs of solutions arise from the combination of the pure double-couple constraint and the instability of two elements of the moment tensor. No significant non-double-couple component is found for the shallow thrusting 1996 Biak, Indonesia earthquake.  相似文献   

Aptian to Coniacian (Early–Late Cretaceous) palynostratigraphy of the Gustav Group, James Ross Basin, Antarctica     

James B. Riding  J. Alistair Crame 《Cretaceous Research》2002,23(6):739

The Gustav Group of the James Ross Basin, Antarctic Peninsula, forms part of a major Southern Hemisphere Cretaceous reference section. Palynological data, chiefly from dinoflagellate cysts, integrated with macrofaunal evidence and strontium isotope stratigraphy, indicate that the Gustav Group, which is approximately 2.6 km thick, is Aptian–Coniacian in age. Aptian–Coniacian palynofloras in the James Ross Basin closely resemble coeval associations from Australia and New Zealand, and Australian palynological zonation schemes are applicable to the Gustav Group. The lowermost units, the coeval Pedersen and Lagrelius Point formations, have both yielded early Aptian dinoflagellate cysts. Because the overlying Kotick Point Formation is of early to mid Albian age, the Aptian/Albian boundary is placed, questionably, at the Lagrelius Point Formation–Kotick Point Formation boundary on James Ross Island, and this transition may be unconformable. Although the Kotick Point Formation is largely early Albian on dinoflagellate cyst evidence, the uppermost part of the formation appears to be of mid Albian age. This differentiation of the early and mid Albian has refined the age of the formation, previously considered to be Aptian–Albian, based on macrofaunal evidence. The Whisky Bay Formation is of late Albian to latest Turonian age on dinoflagellate cyst evidence and this supports the macrofaunal ages. Late Albian palynofloras have been recorded from the Gin Cove, lower Tumbledown Cliffs, Bibby Point and the lower–middle Lewis Hill members. However, the Cenomanian age of the upper Tumbledown Cliffs and Rum Cove members, based on molluscan evidence, is not supported by the dinoflagellate cyst floras and further work is required on this succession. The uppermost part of the Whisky Bay Formation in north-west James Ross Island is of mid to late Turonian age and this is confirmed by strontium isotope stratigraphy. The uppermost unit, the Hidden Lake Formation, is Coniacian in age on both palaeontological and strontium isotope evidence. The uppermost part of the formation appears to be early Santonian based on dinoflagellate cysts, but strontium isotope stratigraphy constrains this as being no younger than late Coniacian. This refined palynostratigraphy greatly improves the potential of the James Ross Basin as a major Cretaceous Southern Hemisphere reference section.  相似文献   

柴达木盆地北缘上三叠统—侏罗系层序特征与含油气系统划分   总被引：3，自引：2，他引：3  

杨永泰  刘桂侠  贾兴友  管俊亚 《地球学报》2002,23(1):67-72

本文应用层序地层学理论将柴达木盆地缘上三叠统－侏罗系划分为5个层序、12个体系域，确定了该区烃源岩主要赋存在层序Ⅱ和层序Ⅲ的湖侵体系域深湖相泥岩中；通过地震剖面追踪，圈定了烃源岩赋存于下株罗统层序Ⅱ和中株罗统层序Ⅲ中，主要以冷湖－南八仙构造带为边界；烃源岩发育层段的地震相、沉积相研究表明，下株罗统层序Ⅱ的湖侵体系域发育大面积的滨浅湖、沼泽相沉积，在湖盆中心发育面积较小的半深湖－深湖相沉积，中株罗统层序Ⅲ的湖侵体系域仅在鱼卡凹陷及其周缘发育半深湖相；依据层序划发、沉积相的研究成果，确定了主要生烃中心，并依据烃源岩分布特征将柴达木盆地北缘划发为J1（！）－R和2(!)-E2个含油气系统，其中J1（！）－R含油气系统为中等丰度的含油气系统，围绕其周围的昆特依构造、冷湖七号构造、伊克雅乌汝构造是有利的勘探目标；J2（！）－E含油气系统面积较小，烃源岩厚度较薄，勘探潜力较小。  相似文献   

Post-mid-Cretaceous eastern North Sea evolution inferred from 3D thermo-mechanical modelling   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Lykke Gemmer  Sren B. Nielsen  Mads Huuse  Holger Lykke-Andersen 《Tectonophysics》2002,350(4):105-342

The Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic evolution of the eastern North Sea region is investigated by 3D thermo-mechanical modelling. The model quantifies the integrated effects on basin evolution of large-scale lithospheric processes, rheology, strength heterogeneities, tectonics, eustasy, sedimentation and erosion.

The evolution of the area is influenced by a number of factors: (1) thermal subsidence centred in the central North Sea providing accommodation space for thick sediment deposits; (2) 250-m eustatic fall from the Late Cretaceous to present, which causes exhumation of the North Sea Basin margins; (3) varying sediment supply; (4) isostatic adjustments following erosion and sedimentation; (5) Late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic Alpine compressional phases causing tectonic inversion of the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone (STZ) and other weak zones.

The stress field and the lateral variations in lithospheric strength control lithospheric deformation under compression. The lithosphere is relatively weak in areas where Moho is deep and the upper mantle warm and weak. In these areas the lithosphere is thickened during compression producing surface uplift and erosion (e.g., at the Ringkøbing–Fyn High and in the southern part of Sweden). Observed late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic shallow water depths at the Ringkøbing–Fyn High as well as Cenozoic surface uplift in southern Sweden (the South Swedish Dome (SSD)) are explained by this mechanism.

The STZ is a prominent crustal structural weakness zone. Under compression, this zone is inverted and its surface uplifted and eroded. Contemporaneously, marginal depositional troughs develop. Post-compressional relaxation causes a regional uplift of this zone.

The model predicts sediment distributions and paleo-water depths in accordance with observations. Sediment truncation and exhumation at the North Sea Basin margins are explained by fall in global sea level, isostatic adjustments to exhumation, and uplift of the inverted STZ. This underlines the importance of the mechanisms dealt with in this paper for the evolution of intra-cratonic sedimentary basins.  相似文献   

Study on dynamics of tectonic evolution in the Fushun Basin, Northeast China   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

吴冲龙  汪新庆  刘刚  李绍虎  毛小平  李星 《中国科学D辑(英文版)》2002,45(4):311-324

The updated study shows that the taphrogenesis of basement of the Fushun Basin is not a kind of instantaneous process. It intensified gradually and went to extreme in the sedimentary stage of the Guchengzi formation, and then, it weakened rapidly and stopped soon afterwards; the depression did not take place after the taphrogenesis. On the contrary, it almost happened simultaneously with the taphrogenesis. The depression went at a high speed from the beginning of the sedimentary period of the Xilutian formation, and then weakened gradually in the sedimentary period of the Gengjiajie formation. The evolution course of the synsedimentary structure of the Fushun Basin can be summarized as the following six stages: slow taphrogenesis and high speed depression to accelerated taphrogenesis and high speed depression to high speed taphrogenesis and high speed depression to retarded taphrogenesis and high speed depression to gradual halt of taphrogenesis and reduced depression to slow depression and gradual halt of depression. The tectonic evolution resulted in the formation of the "lower taphrogenesis and upper depression" structure. The formation of the binary structure might be due to the suspension of taphrogenesis and the change of the regional structure stress field, but the depression kept going. The result of calculation combining the analysis of the synsedimentary structural frame, the back-stripping method of the subsidence history of the basin basement and the simulation of thermo-settlement history indicates that the great sedimentary space required by the "upper depression part" consists of two parts, namely, 40% from compaction of sediments and 60% from slow depression of the basin basement during a long period of time. Gradual halt of the depression in the Fushun Basin may be attributed to the reversal of the lithosphere hot-recession and gravity isostasy adjustment which may be the result of new hot-events in the depths and accompanied invasion of extremely thick diabase sill, thus revealing a new forming mechanism of "fault subsidence at the base and depression on the top" structure.  相似文献   

Sediment yield and storage variations in the Négron River catchment (south western Parisian Basin,France) during the Holocene period     

Jean‐Jacques Macaire  Saïda Bellemlih  Christian Di‐Giovanni  Patrick De Luca  Lionel Visset  Jacques Bernard 《地球表面变化过程与地形》2002,27(9):991-1009

In the Négron River catchment area (162 km²), surface‐sediment stores are composed of periglacial calcareous ‘grèze’ (5 × 10⁶ t) and loess (21 × 10⁶ t), and Holocene alluvium (12·6 × 10⁶ t), peat (0·6 × 10⁶ t) and colluvium (18·5 × 10⁶ t). Seventy‐five per cent of the Holocene sediments is stored along the thalwegs. Present net sediment yield, calculated from solid discharge at the Négron outlet, is low (0·6 t km^?2 a^?1) due to the dominance of carbonate rocks in the catchment. Mean sediment yield during the Holocene period is 7·0 t km^?2 a^?1 from alluvium stores and 7·6 t km^?2 a^?1 from colluvium stores. Thus, the gross sediment yield during the Holocene period is about 18·7 t km^?2 a^?1 and the sediment delivery ratio 3 per cent. The yield considerably varies from one sub‐basin to another (3·9 to 24·5 t km^?2 a^?1) according to lithology: about 25 per cent and 50 per cent of initial stores of periglacial grèze and loess respectively were reworked during the Holocene period. Sediment yield has increased by a factor of 6 in the last 1000 years, due to the development of agriculture. The very high rate of sediment storage on the slope during that period (88 per cent of the yield) can be accounted for by the formation of cultivation steps (‘rideaux’). It is predicted that the current destruction of these steps will result in a sediment wave reaching the valley floors in the coming decades. Subboreal and Subatlantic sediments and pollen assemblages in the Taligny marsh, where one‐third of the alluvium is stored, show the predominant influence of human activity during these periods in the Négron catchment. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

云南省金沙江流域土壤流失方程研究   总被引：17，自引：2，他引：17  

杨子生 《山地学报》2002,(Z1)

云南金沙江流域是长江中上游水土流失最严重的区域。本项研究以“通用土壤流失方程”(USLE)为蓝本,运用小区实验等手段,综合分析了各个侵蚀因子,建立了云南金沙江流域土壤流失方程A=R·K·LS·c·P,并确定了方程中诸因子的求算方法和数值,以及该流域土壤允许流失量,为方程的应用提供了基本的技术数据。同时,还进行了方程的检验,方程计算值与小区实测值的相对误差在6.3％以下,表明该方程在实际应用中是可靠的。该方程的建立,可为云南金沙江流域预测预报土壤侵蚀,制定土地合理利用规划方案、水土保持措施和土地生态安全格局提供了一套可靠的科学方法和依据。  相似文献   

云南省金沙江流域水土流失基本特征分析     

杨子生  梁洛辉  王云鹏 《山地学报》2002,(Z1)

在应用新近建立的云南金沙江流域土壤流失方程测算该流域各县(市、区)年均土壤流失总量和各地类年均 土壤流失量基础上,分析了该流域水土流失的总体特征、各地类水土流失特征和不同坡度级坡耕地的水土流失特 征,为因地制宜地防治水土流失提供了依据。  相似文献   

Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene shallowing-upwardlacustrine sequences controlled by periodic and non-periodic processes(Ebro Basin, northeastern Spain)     

Arantxa Luzón  Angel González  Arsenio Muñoz  Belén Sánchez-Valverde 《Journal of Paleolimnology》2002,28(4):441-456

The lacustrine facies from two sections (Candasnos and Fraga) ofthe Oligocene-Miocene Torrente de Cinca lithostratigraphic Unit in thecentral part of the Ebro Basin (Spain) have been analysed to determine theinfluence of orbital parameters in lacustrine sedimentation. The unit ispredominantly composed of limestones and marls, and represents a shallowlacustrine freshwater system. The sedimentological features of the faciesstudied demonstrate that the lower part of the Candasnos section representsoffshore lacustrine subenvironments whereas the upper part, and the whole ofthe Fraga section, characterise marginal lacustrine areas. Series of stratalthickness variations of limestone, marl, and limestone/marl couplets fromboth sections have been analysed using spectral analysis. This shows thatinformation corresponding to periodic cycles only appears in the offshorefacies, that is to say, in the lower part of Candasnos section, and disappearsin the marginal facies where non-periodic cycles exist. Furthermore, thespectral analysis of the offshore facies highlights the existence of a peak inthe power spectrum with a period of around 7 (6.8 to 7.8) that can berecognised in the field as shallowing-upward lacustrine sequences.Magnetostratigraphic data from the Candasnos section allow us to establish atime span of 2,808 years for the limestone/marl couplet from the lower partof this section, and between 19,000 and 22,000 years for the periodic cycleidentified, thus representing the climatic precession cycle. Shallowingsequences from marginal areas do not correspond with any periodiccycle.  相似文献