Tectonics and paleogeography along the Amazon river

The main structural and geomorphological features along the Amazon River are closely associated with Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonic events. The Mesozoic tectonic setting is characterised by the Amazonas and Marajó Basins, two distinct extensional segments. The Amazonas Basin is formed by NNE-SSW normal faults, which control the emplacement of dolerite dykes and deposition of the sedimentary pile. In the more intense tectonic phase (mid-Late Cretaceous), the depocentres were filled with fluvial sequences associated with axial drainage systems, which diverge from the Lower Tapajós Arch. During the next subsidence phase, probably in the Early Tertiary, and under low rate extension, much of the drainage systems reversed, directing the paleo-Amazon River to flow eastwards. The Marajó Basin encompasses NW-SE normal faults and NE-SW strike-slip faults, with the latter running almost parallel to the extensional axes. The normal faults controlled the deposition of thick rift and post-rift sequences and the emplacement of dolerite dykes. During the evolution of the basin, the shoulder (Gurupá Arch) became distinct, having been modelled by drainage systems strongly controlled by the trend of the strike-slip faults. The Arari Lineament, which marks the northwest boundary of the Marajó Basin, has been working as a linkage corridor between the paleo and modern Amazon River with the Atlantic Ocean. The neotectonic evolution since the Miocene comprises two sets of structural and geomorphological features. The older set (Miocene-Pliocene) encompasses two NE-trending transpressive domains and one NW-trending transtensive domain, which are linked to E-W and NE-SW right-lateral strike-slip systems. The transpressive domains display aligned hills controlled by reverse faults and folds, and are separated by large plains associated with pull-apart basins along clockwise strike-slip systems (e.g. Tupinambarana Lineament). Many changes were introduced in the landscape by the transpressive and transtensive structures, such as the blockage of major rivers, which evolved to river-lakes, transgression of the sea over a large area in the Marajó region, and uplift of long and narrow blocks that are oblique to the trend of the main channel. The younger set (Pliocene-Holocene) refers to two triple-arm systems of rift/rift/strike-slip and strike-slip/strike-slip/rift types, and two large transtensive segments, which have controlled the orientation of the modern drainage patterns. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structural and geochronological studies of the Médio Coreaú domain, NE Brazil: Constraints on Brasiliano/Pan-African tectonic evolution in the NW part of the Borborema Province

Recent structural investigations and geochronological studies of rocks from the Médio Coreaú domain in the NW part of northeast Brazil's Borborema Province provide important constraints on the tectonic evolution of the region both preceeding and during the assembly of West Gondwana. Field observations of structural features and fabrics have revealed the presence of four distinct deformational phases in the MCD: D1, D2, D3 and D4. Only the early Paleoproterozoic gneisses record the D1 tectonic event and its preservation is cryptic owing to strong overprinting by the subsequent tectonic phases. The D2, D3 and D4 events affected younger supracrustal rocks and Neoproterzoic magmatic units, and U-Pb geochronological constraints show that all of these tectonic phases represent deformational events that occurred during Brasiliano collision between the West African craton and the NW part of the Borborema Province. The D2 phase, lasting between ca. 622 and 591 Ma, represents a frontal collision stage, which generated NW verging thrust-nappe systems, low-angle foliation, high-grade metamorphism and crustal anatexis. Transition to a strike-slip regime (D3) occurred at around 591 Ma when the region entered a phase of escape tectonics. During this time, the motion of crustal blocks towards NE and E was accommodated along numerous anastomosing shear zones. Syntectonic emplacement of granitoid plutons took place in transtensional domains of the shear zone system. The intrusion of late tectonic granitoids and rapid uplift and cooling of the orogen around 560 Ma as a result of D4 transpressional movements marked the end of the D3 transcurrent regime. These findings show that only the early Paleoproterozoic gneisses in the Médio Coreaú domain are polycyclic in nature. Rather than representing distinct orogenic events, the D2, D3 and D4 tectonic phases are a manifestation of progressive deformational events that developed in response to changes in the regional stress field during convergence and collision between the Borborema Province and its surrounding cratons.

Neotectônica do baixo vale do rio Jaguaribe - Ceará

Pós-graduação em Geologia Regional - IGCE

Tectonics and paleogeography of the Marajó Basin, northern Brazil

ABSTRACT: The Marajó Basin area presents geologic and geomorphologic features chiefly due to the Mesozoic extension and post-Miocene neotectonics. The extension event with an Early and a Late Cretaceous phases originated four sub-basins that constitutes the Marajó Basin, with a thick continental clastic sequence showing marine influence. NW and NNW normal faults and NE and ENE strike-slip faults controlled the basin geometry. The extension, related to the Equatorial Atlantic opening, propagated into the continent along crustal weakness zones of the Precambrian Tumucumaque, Amapá and Araguaia orogenic belts. The neotectonic event is a strike-slip regime which developed transtensional basins filled in by Upper Tertiary shallow marine (Pirabas Formation) and transitional sequences (Barreiras Group), followed by Quaternary fluvial deposits and transitional sequences derived from the Amazon and Tocantins rivers and the Marajoara estuary. The current landscape has a typical estuarine morphology. The coast morphology presents sea-cliffs on transitional Upper Tertiary sequences, while inwards dominate hills sustained by Mid-Pleistocene lateritic crust, with a flat erosive surface at 70 m. In the eastern Marajó Island several generations of paleochannels associated with fluvial-estuarine sequences are recognized, while a fluvial-marine plain is widespread on its western side.

Síntese geológica e geocronológica do Cráton São Luís e do Cinturão Gurupi na região do Rio Gurupi (NE-Pará / NW-Maranhão)

A região do Gurupi, na fronteira norte dos estados do Pará e Maranhão, é historicamente dividida em dois domínios geocronológicos (Rb-Sr, K-Ar): um paleoproterozóico (Cráton São Luís), outro neoproterozóico (Cinturão Gurupi). Dados geocronológicos em zircão (evaporação de Pb), recentemente disponibilizados, além de dados inéditos aqui apresentados, contemplam a maioria das unidades litoestratigráficas e litodêmicas regionais e, juntamente com poucos dados de Sm-Nd em rocha total, mostram ser o período entre 2,0 e 2,2 Ga a época de formação da quase totalidade das unidades rochosas (juvenis ou não). Apenas um granitóide possui idade de cristalização neoproterozóica (~0,55 Ga) e o Arqueano apresenta-se somente como vestígio em cristais herdados de zircão e em idades modelo Sm-Nd (T_DM) de protólitos de algumas unidades. A avaliação das características composicionais, metamórficas, estruturais, geofísicas e geocronológicas das diversas unidades sustenta a divisão prévia em dois domínios, mas mostra que o domínio (cinturão) Gurupi possui história orogênica paleoproterozóica comum ao domínio (cráton) São Luís. O domínio Gurupi possui características de orógeno colisional, enquanto que o domínio São Luís possui características acrescionárias e ambos participaram da colagem orogênica Paleoproterozóica (2,2 - 2,0 Ga), muito importante em escala global. No Neoproterozóico, a borda sul desse conjunto foi afetada por forte atividade tectônica direcional e litogênese muito limitada, como reflexo da colagem orogênica Brasiliana, definindo a configuração atual do Cinturão Gurupi e da borda sul do Cráton São Luís.

Geocronologia e evolução crustal da área do depósito de Cu-Au Gameleira, Província Mineral de Carajás (Pará), Brasil

O depósito de Cu-Au Gameleira está hospedado nas rochas do Grupo Igarapé Pojuca, pertencente ao Supergrupo Itacaiúnas, Província Mineral de Carajás, SE do Cráton Amazônico. Esse grupo está representado principalmente por rochas metavulcânicas máficas (RMV), anfibolitos, biotita xistos, formações ferríferas e/ou hidrotermalitos, cortadas por rochas intrusivas máficas (RIM), bem como por granitos arqueanos (2,56 Ga, Granito Deformado Itacaiúnas) e paleoproterozóicos (1,87 - 1,58 Ga, Granito Pojuca e Leucogranito do Gameleira). Cristais de zircão de um saprolito (2615 ± 10 Ma e 2683 ± 7 Ma) e de uma amostra de RIM (2705 ± 2 Ma), mostraram ser contemporâneos aos dos gabros do depósito Águas Claras. Datações Pb-Pb em rocha total e calcopirita de RMV indicaram idades de 2245 ± 29 Ma e 2419 ± 12 Ma, respectivamente, enquanto lixiviados de calcopirita indicaram idades de 2217 ± 19 Ma e 2180 ± 84 Ma. Essas idades são interpretadas como rejuvenescimento parcial provocado pelas intrusões graníticas proterozóicas (1,58 e 1,87 Ga) ou pelas reativações tectônicas associadas aos Sistemas Transcorrentes Carajás e Cinzento, ou total, provocada pelas últimas. As idades-modelo T_DM de 3,12 e 3,33 Ga para as RMV e RIM e os valores de _εNd (t) de -0,89 a -3,26 sugerem contribuição continental de rochas mais antigas e magmas gerados possivelmente em um ambiente de rifte continental ou de margem continental ativa.

Petrografia, geocronologia e significado tectônico do Nefelina Sienito Brejinho: extremo noroeste da Província Borborema

No extremo noroeste da Província Borborema foi identificado um maciço alcalino subsaturado, o Nefelina Sienito Brejinho (NSB), alojado em gnaisses do Paleoproterozoico do Complexo Granja. As investigações envolveram mapeamento de detalhe do corpo, acompanhado de análises petrográficas e geocronológicas, que permitiram reconstruir a sua história evolutiva. Foram identificadas cinco fácies petrográficas, com a sua distribuição cartográfica, associações mineralógicas presentes e análises texturais/estruturais sugerindo a atuação de processos de cristalização fracionada, com forte controle da ação da gravidade e imiscibilidade de líquidos na história da cristalização magmática do maciço. Os estudos geocronológicos realizados pelo método Rb-Sr em rocha total revelaram valor de 554 ± 11 Ma, interpretado como a idade mínima para cristalização e emplacement do NSB, no final do Neoproterozoico. No contexto tectônico, esse magmatismo alcalino pode ser relacionado ao evento extensional responsável pela implantação do Gráben Jaibaras e seus correlatos no oeste do Ceará, assim como à granitogênese da região, cujas idades situam-se no intervalo entre 530 e 590 Ma. Situação semelhante é reconhecida na borda norte da Bacia do Amazonas, com o Complexo Alcalino-Ultramáfico-Carbonatítico Maicuru (589 Ma) alojado no embasamento gnáissico paleoproterozoico do Cráton Amazônico. A situação geológica e temporal do NSB permite situá-lo posteriormente à tectônica transcorrente representada na área pela Zona de Cisalhamento Santa Rosa, uma ramificação do Lineamento Transbrasiliano, e anterior à Bacia do Parnaíba. Disso resulta que esse magmatismo alcalino pode ser interpretado como um importante registro da fase rifte que prenunciou a instalação dessa bacia no início do Paleozoico. A sua caracterização, até então sem similar na Província Borborema, abre novas perspectivas de pesquisa em todo o embasamento da Bacia do Parnaíba, tendo em vista a importância tectônica e metalogenética desse tipo de magmatismo.

Neotectonics in the northern equatorial Brazilian margin

An increasing volume of publications has addressed the role of tectonics in inland areas of northern Brazil during the Neogene and Quaternary, despite its location in a passive margin. Hence, northern South America plate in this time interval might have not been as passive as usually regarded. This proposal needs further support, particularly including field data. In this work, we applied an integrated approach to reveal tectonic structures in Miocene and late Quaternary strata in a coastal area of the Amazonas lowland. The investigation, undertaken in Marajo Island, mouth of the Amazonas River, consisted of shallow sub-surface geophysical data including vertical electric sounding and ground penetrating radar. These methods were combined with morphostructural analysis and sedimentological/stratigraphic data from shallow cores and a few outcrops. The results revealed two stratigraphic units, a lower one with Miocene age, and an upper one of Late Pleistocene-Holocene age. An abundance of faults and folds were recorded in the Miocene deposits and, to a minor extent, in overlying Late Pleistocene-Holocene strata. In addition to characterize these structures, we discuss their origin, considering three potential mechanisms: Andean tectonics, gravity tectonics related to sediment loading in the Amazon Fan, and rifting at the continental margin. Amongst these hypotheses, the most likely is that the faults and folds recorded in Marajo Island reflect tectonics associated with the history of continental rifting that gave rise to the South Atlantic Ocean. This study supports sediment deposition influenced by transpression and transtension associated with strike-slip divergence along the northern Equatorial Brazilian margin in the Miocene and Late Pleistocene-Holocene. This work records tectonic evidence only for the uppermost few ten of meters of this sedimentary succession. However, available geological data indicate a thickness of up to 6 km, which is remarkably thick for an area regarded as a passive margin. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Time constraints on magmatism along the Major Gercino Shear Zone, southern Brazil: Implications for West Gondwana reconstruction

The Dom Feliciano Belt, situated in southernmost Brazil and Uruguay, contains a large mass of granite-gneissic rocks (also known as Florianopolis/Pelotas Batholith) formed during the pre-, syn- and post-orogenic phases of the Brasiliano/Pan-African cycle. In the NE extreme of this granitic mass, pre-, syn- and post-tectonic granites associated with the Major Gercino Shear Zone (MGSZ) are exposed. The granitic manifestation along the MGSZ can be divided into pre-kinematic tonalitic gneisses, peraluminous high-K calcalkaline early kinematic shoshonitic, and metaluminous post-kinematic granites. U-Pb zircon data suggest an age of 649 +/- 10 Ma for the pre-tectonic gneisses, and a time span from 623 +/- 6 Ma to 588 +/- 3 Ma for the early to post-tectonic magmatism. Negative epsilon Hf (t) values ranging from -4.6 to -14.6 and Hf model ages ranging from 1.64 to 2.39 Ga for magmatic zircons coupled with whole rock Nd model ages ranging from 1.24 to 2.05 Ga and epsilon Nd (t) values ranging from -3.84 to -7.50, point to a crustal derivation for the granitic magmatism. The geochemical and isotope data support a continental magmatic arc generated from melting of dominant Paleoproterozoic crust, and a similar evolution for the granitic batholiths of the eastern Dom Feliciano Belt and western Kaoko Belt. (C) 2011 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Estimating crustal deformation from geodetic data

By the end of the 19th century, geodesy has contributed greatly to the knowledge of regional tectonics and fault movement through its ability to measure, at sub-centimetre precision, the relative positions of points on the Earth’s surface. Nowadays the systematic analysis of geodetic measurements in active deformation regions represents therefore one of the most important tool in the study of crustal deformation over different temporal scales [e.g., Dixon, 1991]. This dissertation focuses on motion that can be observed geodetically with classical terrestrial position measurements, particularly triangulation and leveling observations. The work is divided into two sections: an overview of the principal methods for estimating longterm accumulation of elastic strain from terrestrial observations, and an overview of the principal methods for rigorously inverting surface coseismic deformation fields for source geometry with tests on synthetic deformation data sets and applications in two different tectonically active regions of the Italian peninsula. For the long-term accumulation of elastic strain analysis, triangulation data were available from a geodetic network across the Messina Straits area (southern Italy) for the period 1971 – 2004. From resulting angle changes, the shear strain rates as well as the orientation of the principal axes of the strain rate tensor were estimated. The computed average annual shear strain rates for the time period between 1971 and 2004 are γ˙1 = 113.89 ± 54.96 nanostrain/yr and γ˙2 = -23.38 ± 48.71 nanostrain/yr, with the orientation of the most extensional strain (θ) at N140.80° ± 19.55°E. These results suggests that the first-order strain field of the area is dominated by extension in the direction perpendicular to the trend of the Straits, sustaining the hypothesis that the Messina Straits could represents an area of active concentrated deformation. The orientation of θ agree well with GPS deformation estimates, calculated over shorter time interval, and is consistent with previous preliminary GPS estimates [D’Agostino and Selvaggi, 2004; Serpelloni et al., 2005] and is also similar to the direction of the 1908 (MW 7.1) earthquake slip vector [e.g., Boschi et al., 1989; Valensise and Pantosti, 1992; Pino et al., 2000; Amoruso et al., 2002]. Thus, the measured strain rate can be attributed to an active extension across the Messina Straits, corresponding to a relative extension rate ranges between < 1mm/yr and up to ~ 2 mm/yr, within the portion of the Straits covered by the triangulation network. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the Messina Straits is an important active geological boundary between the Sicilian and the Calabrian domains and support previous preliminary GPS-based estimates of strain rates across the Straits, which show that the active deformation is distributed along a greater area. Finally, the preliminary dislocation modelling has shown that, although the current geodetic measurements do not resolve the geometry of the dislocation models, they solve well the rate of interseismic strain accumulation across the Messina Straits and give useful information about the locking the depth of the shear zone. Geodetic data, triangulation and leveling measurements of the 1976 Friuli (NE Italy) earthquake, were available for the inversion of coseismic source parameters. From observed angle and elevation changes, the source parameters of the seismic sequence were estimated in a join inversion using an algorithm called “simulated annealing”. The computed optimal uniform–slip elastic dislocation model consists of a 30° north-dipping shallow (depth 1.30 ± 0.75 km) fault plane with azimuth of 273° and accommodating reverse dextral slip of about 1.8 m. The hypocentral location and inferred fault plane of the main event are then consistent with the activation of Periadriatic overthrusts or other related thrust faults as the Gemona- Kobarid thrust. Then, the geodetic data set exclude the source solution of Aoudia et al. [2000], Peruzza et al. [2002] and Poli et al. [2002] that considers the Susans-Tricesimo thrust as the May 6 event. The best-fit source model is then more consistent with the solution of Pondrelli et al. [2001], which proposed the activation of other thrusts located more to the North of the Susans-Tricesimo thrust, probably on Periadriatic related thrust faults. The main characteristics of the leveling and triangulation data are then fit by the optimal single fault model, that is, these results are consistent with a first-order rupture process characterized by a progressive rupture of a single fault system. A single uniform-slip fault model seems to not reproduce some minor complexities of the observations, and some residual signals that are not modelled by the optimal single-fault plane solution, were observed. In fact, the single fault plane model does not reproduce some minor features of the leveling deformation field along the route 36 south of the main uplift peak, that is, a second fault seems to be necessary to reproduce these residual signals. By assuming movements along some mapped thrust located southward of the inferred optimal single-plane solution, the residual signal has been successfully modelled. In summary, the inversion results presented in this Thesis, are consistent with the activation of some Periadriatic related thrust for the main events of the sequence, and with a minor importance of the southward thrust systems of the middle Tagliamento plain.

Neotettonica della faglia Nord-Anatolica nel Mare di Marmara. Analisi di dati sismici a riflessione e morfobatimetrici ad alta risoluzione

Il 17 agosto 1999 un violento terremoto di Mw 7,4 (terremoto di Izmit) ha interessato l’area del Golfo di Izmit, dove il segmento settentrionale della Faglia Nord-Anatolica (FNA) entra nel Mare di Marmara. Oltre a causare enormi danni e un numero di vittime altissimo (oltre 20000), la dislocazione orizzontale di oltre 5 metri in prossimità dell’epicentro ha caricato tettonicamente il segmento della FNA verso Istanbul. Da qui, l’importanza di un modello geologico-strutturale condiviso dalla comunità scientifica per questo ramo della Faglia Nord Anatolica, per la formulazione dei modelli di stima del rischio sismico in una zona della Turchia molto densamente popolata (oltre 12 milioni di persone). I numerosi studi di geologia e geofisica marina condotti nel Golfo di Izmit e più in generale nel Mare di Marmara, hanno avuto un grosso impulso in concomitanza del terremoto del 1999 e negli anni successivi, quando il Mare di Marmara è stato inserito tra i siti di importanza strategica. Nonostante la grande mole di dati raccolti e le pubblicazioni di lavori importanti che hanno contribuito a portare nuova luce sulla geologia di questo territorio complesso, permangono ancora incertezze e controversie sui rapporti le tra la formazione del bacino di Marmara e la FNA. Questo lavoro di tesi ha lo scopo di esaminare la cinematica della FNA nell’area del Mare di Marmara, in generale, ed in particolare lungo i vari bacini allineati lungo il ramo settentrionale: da Est verso Ovest, il Bacino di Cinarcik, il Bacino di Kumburgaz, il Bacino Centrale ed il Bacino di Tekirdag. Analizzeremo la natura e il grado di attività dei segmenti individuati da zone di trasferimento (bending o overstep) e tenteremo di cartografare la geometria, lo stile strutturale e la lunghezza di ciascun segmento, per effettuare una stima del potenziale sismogenetico di ciascun ramo utilizzando relazioni empiriche.

Significance of the Deformation History within the Hinge Zone of the Pennsylvania Salient, Appalachian Mountains

Two competing models exist for the formation of the Pennsylvania salient, a widely studied area of pronounced curvature in the Appalachian mountain belt. The viability of these models can be tested by compiling and analyzing the patterns of structures within the general hinge zone of the Pennsylvania salient. One end-member model suggests a NW-directed maximum shortening direction and no rotation through time in the culmination. An alternative model requires a two-phase development of the culmination involving NNW-directed maximum shortening overprinted by WNW-directed maximum shortening. Structural analysis at 22 locations throughout the Valley and Ridge and southern Appalachian Plateau Provinces of Pennsylvania are used to constrain orientations of the maximum shortening direction and establish whether these orientations have rotated during progressive deformation in the Pennsylvania salient's hinge. Outcrops of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks contain several orders of folds, conjugate faults, steeply dipping strike-slip faults, joints, conjugate en echelon gash vein arrays, spaced cleavage, and grain-scale finite strain indicators. This suite of structures records a complex deformation history similar to the Bear Valley sequence of progressive deformation. The available structural data from the Juniata culmination do not show a consistent temporal rotation of shortening directions and generally indicate uniform,

Dating brittle tectonic movements with cleft monazite: Fluid-rock interaction and formation of REE minerals

[1] Two millimeter-sized hydrothermal monazites from an open fissure (cleft) that developed late during a dextral transpressional deformation event in the Aar Massif, Switzerland, have been investigated using electron microprobe and ion probe. The monazites are characterized by high Th/U ratios typical of other hydrothermal monazites. Deformation events in the area have been subdivided into three phases: (D1) main thrusting including formation of a new schistosity, (D2) dextral transpression, and (D3) local crenulation including development of a new schistosity. The two younger deformational structures are related to a subvertically oriented intermediate stress axis, which is characteristic for strike slip deformation. The inferred stress environment is consistent with observed kinematics and the opening of such clefts. Therefore, the investigated monazite-bearing cleft formed at the end of D2 and/or D3, and during dextral movements along NNW dipping planes. Interaction of cleft-filling hydrothermal fluid with wall rock results in rare earth element (REE) mineral formation and alteration of the wall rock. The main newly formed REE minerals are Y-Si, Y-Nb-Ti minerals, and monazite. Despite these mineralogical changes, the bulk chemistry of the system remains constant and thus these mineralogical changes require redistribution of elements via a fluid over short distances (centimeter). Low-grade alteration enables local redistribution of REE, related to the stability of the accessory phases. This allows high precision isotope dating of cleft monazite. 232Th/208Pb ages are not affected by excess Pb and yield growth domain ages between 8.03 ± 0.22 and 6.25 ± 0.60 Ma. Monazite crystallization in brittle structures is coeval or younger than 8 Ma zircon fission track data and hence occurred below 280°C.

Lake sediments as natural seismographs: A compiled record of Late Quaternary earthquakes in Central Switzerland and its implication for Alpine deformation

Central Switzerland lies tectonically in an intraplate area and recurrence rates of strong earthquakes exceed the time span covered by historic chronicles. However, many lakes are present in the area that act as natural seismographs: their continuous, datable and high-resolution sediment succession allows extension of the earthquake catalogue to pre-historic times. This study reviews and compiles available data sets and results from more than 10 years of lacustrine palaeoseismological research in lakes of northern and Central Switzerland. The concept of using lacustrine mass-movement event stratigraphy to identify palaeo-earthquakes is showcased by presenting new data and results from Lake Zurich. The Late Glacial to Holocene mass-movement units in this lake document a complex history of varying tectonic and environmental impacts. Results include sedimentary evidence of three major and three minor, simultaneously triggered basin-wide lateral slope failure events interpreted as the fingerprints of palaeoseismic activity. A refined earthquake catalogue, which includes results from previous lake studies, reveals a non-uniform temporal distribution of earthquakes in northern and Central Switzerland. A higher frequency of earthquakes in the Late Glacial and Late Holocene period documents two different phases of neotectonic activity; they are interpreted to be related to isostatic post-glacial rebound and relatively recent (re-)activation of seismogenic zones, respectively. Magnitudes and epicentre reconstructions for the largest identified earthquakes provide evidence for two possible earthquake sources: (i) a source area in the region of the Alpine or Sub-Alpine Front due to release of accumulated north-west/south-east compressional stress related to an active basal thrust beneath the Aar massif; and (ii) a source area beneath the Alpine foreland due to reactivation of deep-seated strike-slip faults. Such activity has been repeatedly observed instrumentally, for example, during the most recent magnitude 4.2 and 3.5 earthquakes of February 2012, near Zug. The combined lacustrine record from northern and Central Switzerland indicates that at least one of these potential sources has been capable of producing magnitude 6.2 to 6.7 events in the past.

Extension and Partitioning in an Oblique Subduction Zone, New Zealand: Constraints from Three-Dimensional Numerical Modeling

Contraction, strike slip, and extension displacements along the Hikurangi margin northeast of the North Island of New Zealand coincide with large lateral gradients in material properties. We use a finite- difference code utilizing elastic and elastic-plastic rheologies to build large- scale, three-dimensional numerical models which investigate the influence of material properties on velocity partitioning within oblique subduction zones. Rheological variation in the oblique models is constrained by seismic velocity and attenuation information available for the Hikurangi margin. We compare the effect of weakly versus strongly coupled subduction interfaces on the development of extension and the partitioning of velocity components for orthogonal and oblique convergence and include the effect of ponded sediments beneath the Raukumara Peninsula. Extension and velocity partitioning occur if the subduction interface is weak, but neither develops if the subduction interface is strong. The simple mechanical model incorporating rheological variation based on seismic observations produces kinematics that closely match those published from the Hikurangi margin. These include extension within the Taupo Volcanic Zone, uplift over ponded sediments, and dextral contraction to the south.