Search results for " Tectonics"

Seismic Network Evaluation through Simulation: An Application to the Italian National Seismic Network

2011

Abstract A properly organized seismic network is a valuable tool for monitoring seismic zones and assessing seismic hazards. In this paper we propose a new method (seismic network evaluation through simulation, SNES) to evaluate the performance of hypocenter location of a seismic network. The SNES method gives, as a function of magnitude, hypocentral depth, and confidence level, the spatial distribution of the number of active stations in the location procedure and their relative azimuthal gaps, along with confidence intervals in hypocentral parameters. The application of the SNES method also permits evaluation of the magnitude of completeness ( M C ), the background noise levels at the sta…

Modelo de cabalgamiento profundo para el Alto Atlas (Marruecos). Implicaciones sísmicas en la zona de colisión entre Eurasia y Africa

2007

Previous crustal models of the High Atlas suppose the existence of a mid-crustal detachment where all the surface thrusts merged and below which the lower crust was continuous. However, both seismic refraction data and gravity modeling detected a jump in crustal thickness between the High Atlas and the northern plains. Here we show that this rapid and vertical jump in the depth of Moho discontinuity suggests that a thrust fault may penetrate the lower crust and offset the Moho (deep-rooted “thick skinned” model). The distribution of Neogene and Quaternary volcanisms along and at the northern part of the High Atlas lineament can be related to the beginning of a partial continental subduction…

The Mulgandinnah Shear Zone; an Archean crustal scale strike-slip zone, eastern Pilbara, Western Australia

1998

Abstract A large part of the deformation in the Archean Pilbara granitoid-greenstone terrain is localized in relatively narrow shear zones. The Mulgandinnah shear zone (MSZ) is a major one of these, with a width up to 8 km, that can be followed for over 70 km along strike in the Shaw Batholith in the eastern Pilbara. It forms part of the Mulgandinnah Lineament, that can be traced to the Lalla Rookh Basin and the Carlindi Batholith in the north, giving it a total length of over 150 km. The MSZ contains both mylonites and ultramylonites, both of which have foliations that are subvertical to steeply dipping, with the ultramylonitic foliation overprinting the mylonitic foliation to form more lo…

Hotspot distribution, gravity, mantle tomography: evidence for plumes

1999

Abstract Thermal convection is the motor of Earth dynamics and therefore is the link between plate motions, hotspots, seismic velocity variations in the mantle, and anomalies of the gravity field. Small scale mantle anomalies, such as plumes, do, however, generally escape detection by tomographic methods. It is attempted to approach the problem of detection in a somewhat statistical manner. Correlations are sought between spherical harmonic expansions of the fields under study: the hotspot distribution, mantle velocity variations, gravity, heat flow. Using spherical harmonic representations of global fields implies integration and averaging over the whole globe. Thus, although relationships…

Transfer of mantle derived fluids across the Calabrian-Peloritan arc: tectonic and geodynamic implications

2019

Mantle degassing occurs principally through active volcanic systems and young oceanic lithosphere. Tectonically active regions on the continental crust may additionally contribute a (poorly quantified) fraction of the deep CO2 budget. We studied volatiles in thermal manifestations along the seismically active Nebrodi-Peloritani chains (NE Sicily), to investigate the origin of thermalism and the sources of the outgassing fluids. The geological evolution of the area has been controlled by the interaction between the European and African plates and links the African Maghreb with the European Apennines. The collected samples exhibit 3He excess, supporting active outgassing of mantle-derived vol…

Deformation history during chain building deduced by outcrop structural analysis: The case of the Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt (Central Mediterranea…

2015

Abstract The Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt is located in the central Mediterranean area, and it represents the south-eastern arcuate segment of the Apennine-Maghrebide orogen. The tectonic evolution of the Sicilian belt is documented after outcrop analysis of small-scale structural features carried out throughout the region. Results are consistent with the following four main deformation stages having affected the study area, from the oldest to the youngest: (i) multilayer weakening; (ii) folding-and-thrusting, (iii) extension, and (iv) renewed thrusting. The first deformation stage included three different substages (layer-parallel shortening, bed-parallel simple shear and fold nucleation)…

Understanding Paleomagnetic Rotations in Sicily: Thrust Versus Strike-Slip Tectonics

2018

The paleomagnetic investigation of the western Sicily Maghrebian belt has revealed since the 1970s that large clockwise rotations up to 140° with respect to the Hyblean-African foreland occurred synchronous with Tertiary shortening of the chain. The observation that rotations decrease stepwise from internal to external tectono-stratigraphic units led in the 1990s to a widely accepted model postulating that rotational thrust-sheet emplaced during forward orogenic propagation. More recently, other authors suggested that clockwise rotations from Sicily are conversely the result of late orogenic dextral strike-slip tectonics. Here we report on a paleomagnetic investigation of 30 Jurassic-Eocene…

Tectono-sedimentary constraints to the Oligocene-to-Miocene evolution of the Peloritani thrust belt (NE Sicily)

1999

Abstract The Peloritani thrust belt belongs to the southern sector of the Calabrian Arc and is formed by a set of south-verging tectonic units, including crystalline basement and sedimentary cover (from the top: Aspromonte U.; Mela U.; Mandanici U.; Fondachelli U.; Longi-Taormina U.), piled up starting from Late Oligocene. At least two main terrigenous clastic formations lie with complicated relationships on top of the previous units: the Frazzano Fm (Oligocene) and the Stilo-Capo d'Orlando Fm (Late Oligocene?–Early Miocene), as syn-to-post-tectonic deposits. These clastic deposits have different characteristics, in space and time, representing or flysch-like sequences involved in several t…

Proterozoic mobile belts compatible with the plate tectonic concept

1983

The role of geochronology in understanding continental evolution

2010

Geochronology has become one of the most essential tools in reconstructing processes of continental growth and evolution, and in situ dating of minerals has become common practice through the development of high-resolution ion microprobes and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry techniques. Zircon has established itself as the most robust and reliable mineral to record magmatic and metamorphic processes. The combination of mineral ages with Sm–Nd, Lu–Hf and O isotopic systematics constrains magma sources and their evolution, and a picture is emerging that supports the beginning of modern-style plate tectonics in the early Archaean. Major fields for future research in …