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USGS2012

Submersible observations along the southern Juan de Fuca Ridge: 1984 Alvin program.

In September 1984, the research submersible Alvin provided direct observations of three major hydrothermal vent areas along the southernmost segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge (JFR). The submersible operations focused on specific volcanologie, structural, and hydrothermal problems that had been identified during the preceding 4 years of photographic, dredging, acoustic imaging, and geophysical studies along a 12-km-long section of the ridge. A continuously maintained (from 1981 to the present) net of seafloor-anchored acoustic transponders allowed the observations from Alvin to be directly tied to all previous U.S. Geological Survey data sets and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration water column surveys from 1984 to the present. The three vent areas studied are the largest of at least six areas identified by previous deep-towed camera surveys that lie within a deep cleft, which marks the axis of symmetry of the JFR in this region. The cleft appears to be the locus of eruption for this segment of the JFR. The vent areas, at least in part, are localized near what appear to be previous volcanic eruptive centers marked by extensive lava lake collapse features adjacent to the cleft at these sites. Each hydrothermal area has several active discharge sites, and sulfide deposits occur as clusters (15–100 m 2 ) of small chimneys, individual large chimneys, or clusters of large branched chimneys. We review the dive program and present a brief synthesis of the geology of the vent sites together with sample and track line compilations.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗

USGS2006

Atmospheric chemistry of a 33-34 hour old volcanic cloud from Hekla Volcano (Iceland): Insights from direct sampling and the application of chemical box modeling

On 28 February 2000, a volcanic cloud from Hekla volcano, Iceland, was serendipitously sampled by a DC-8 research aircraft during the SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE I). It was encountered at night at 10.4 km above sea level (in the lower stratosphere) and 33-34 hours after emission. The cloud is readily identified by abundant SO2 (???1 ppmv), HCl (???70 ppbv), HF (???60 ppbv), and particles (which may have included fine silicate ash). We compare observed and modeled cloud compositions to understand its chemical evolution. Abundances of sulfur and halogen species indicate some oxidation of sulfur gases but limited scavenging and removal of halides. Chemical modeling suggests that cloud concentrations of water vapor and nitric acid promoted polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) formation at 201-203 K, yielding ice, nitric acid trihydrate (NAT), sulfuric acid tetrahydrate (SAT), and liquid ternary solution H2SO4/H2O/HNO3 (STS) particles. We show that these volcanically induced PSCs, especially the ice and NAT particles, activated volcanogenic halogens in the cloud producing >2 ppbv ClOx. This would have destroyed ozone during an earlier period of daylight, consistent with the very low levels of ozone observed. This combination of volcanogenic PSCs and chlorine destroyed ozone at much faster rates than other PSCs that Arctic winter. Elevated levels of HNO3 and NOy in the cloud can be explained by atmospheric nitrogen fixation in the eruption column due to high temperatures and/or volcanic lightning. However, observed elevated levels of HOx remain unexplained given that the cloud was sampled at night. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres↗

USGS2006

Shrinking ponds in subarctic Alaska based on 1950-2002 remotely sensed images

Over the past 50 years, Alaska has experienced a warming climate with longer growing seasons, increased potential evapotranspiration, and permafrost warming. Research from the Seward Peninsula and Kenai Peninsula has demonstrated a substantial landscape-level trend in the reduction of surface water and number of closed-basin ponds. We investigated whether this drying trend occurred at nine other regions throughout Alaska. One study region was from the Arctic Coastal Plain where depp permafrost occurs continuously across the landscape. The other eight study regions were from the boreal forest regions where discontinuous permafrost occurs. Mean annual precipitation across the study regions ranged from 100 to over 700 min yr-1. We used remotely sensed imagery from the 1950s to 2002 to inventory over 10,000 closed-basin ponds from at least three periods from this time span. We found a reduction in the area and number of shallow, closed-basin ponds for all boreal regions. In contrast, the Arctic Coastal Plain region had negligible change in the area of closed-basin ponds. Since the 1950s, surface water area of closed-basin ponds included in this analysis decreased by 31 to 4 percent, and the total number of closed-basin ponds surveyed within each study region decreased from 54 to 5 percent. There was a significant increasing trend in annual mean temperature and potential evapotranspiration since the 1950s for all study regions. There was no significant trend in annual precipitation during the same period. The regional trend of shrinking ponds may be due to increased drainage as permafrost warms, or increased evapotranspiration during a warmer and extended growing season. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences↗

USGS2003

Topographically driven groundwater flow and the San Andreas heat flow paradox revisited

Evidence for a weak San Andreas Fault includes (1) borehole heat flow measurements that show no evidence for a frictionally generated heat flow anomaly and (2) the inferred orientation of ??1 nearly perpendicular to the fault trace. Interpretations of the stress orientation data remain controversial, at least in close proximity to the fault, leading some researchers to hypothesize that the San Andreas Fault is, in fact, strong and that its thermal signature may be removed or redistributed by topographically driven groundwater flow in areas of rugged topography, such as typify the San Andreas Fault system. To evaluate this scenario, we use a steady state, two-dimensional model of coupled heat and fluid flow within cross sections oriented perpendicular to the fault and to the primary regional topography. Our results show that existing heat flow data near Parkfield, California, do not readily discriminate between the expected thermal signature of a strong fault and that of a weak fault. In contrast, for a wide range of groundwater flow scenarios in the Mojave Desert, models that include frictional heat generation along a strong fault are inconsistent with existing heat flow data, suggesting that the San Andreas Fault at this location is indeed weak. In both areas, comparison of modeling results and heat flow data suggest that advective redistribution of heat is minimal. The robust results for the Mojave region demonstrate that topographically driven groundwater flow, at least in two dimensions, is inadequate to obscure the frictionally generated heat flow anomaly from a strong fault. However, our results do not preclude the possibility of transient advective heat transport associated with earthquakes.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗

USGS2020

Plastic faulting in ice

Plastic faulting is a brittle‐like failure phenomenon exhibited by water ice and several other rock types under confinement. It is suspected to be the mechanism of deep earthquakes and extreme cases of shear localization in shallow rocks. Unlike ordinary Coulombic failure, plastic faulting is characterized by a pressure‐independent failure strength and fault plane oriented 45° to maximum principal stress. To research the question of how the instability initiates, we conducted over 50 constant‐displacement‐rate experiments on polycrystalline ice (phases Ih and II) near the brittle‐to‐ductile (B‐D) transition, at confining pressures P = 0–300 MPa, applied strain rates = 5 × 10 −5 – 7 × 10 −3 s −1 , temperatures T = 105–233 K, and mean grain sizes d = 0.25–1.18 mm. We find that (1) the width of the B‐D transition in variable space is vanishingly narrow, to the point of appearing as a crossover, (2) a plastic fault plane, once formed, is not a zone of subsequent weakness, (3) distributed ice I→II phase transformation in small amounts (<1 vol%) shows no causal relationship to subsequent failure, and (4) plastic faulting also occurs in ice II. We hypothesize that the elusive nucleating “trigger” parallels that of metals and ceramics undergoing severe plastic deformation, wherein transient local structural rearrangement occurs, in turn causing material strength to drop to a level sufficiently low, in a volume sufficiently large, that adiabatic instability is nucleated. Our results do not require and often are inconsistent with phase transformation. Plastic faulting may therefore be available to all solids undergoing severe deformation, and its appearance in so few is simply the result of insufficiently extreme conditions.

Journal of Geophysical Research- Solid Earth↗

USGS2009

Responses of stream nitrate and dissolved organic carbon loadings to hydrological forcing and climate change in an upland forest of the northeast USA

[1] In coming decades, higher annual temperatures, increased growing season length, and increased dormant season precipitation are expected across the northeastern United States in response to anthropogenic forcing of global climate. We synthesized long-term stream hydrochemical data from the Sleepers River Research Watershed in Vermont, United States, to explore the relationship of catchment wetness to stream nitrate and DOC loadings. We modeled changes in growing season length and precipitation patterns to simulate future climate scenarios and to assess how stream nutrient loadings respond to climate change. Model results for the 2070–2099 time period suggest that stream nutrient loadings during both the dormant and growing seasons will respond to climate change. During a warmer climate, growing season stream fluxes (runoff +20%, nitrate +57%, and DOC +58%) increase as more precipitation (+28%) and quick flow (+39%) occur during a longer growing season (+43 days). During the dormant season, stream water and nutrient loadings decrease. Net annual stream runoff (+8%) and DOC loading (+9%) increases are commensurate with the magnitude of the average increase of net annual precipitation (+7%). Net annual stream water and DOC loadings are primarily affected by increased dormant season precipitation. In contrast, decreased annual loading of stream nitrate (−2%) reflects a larger effect of growing season controls on stream nitrate and the effects of lengthened growing seasons in a warmer climate. Our findings suggest that leaching of nitrate and DOC from catchment soils will be affected by anthropogenic climate forcing, thereby affecting the timing and magnitude of annual stream loadings in the northeastern United States.

Vermont↗

USGS2021

Cataloging tectonic tremor energy radiation in the Cascadia subduction zone

For the past ∼12 years the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network has been automatically detecting and locating tectonic tremor across the Cascadia subduction zone, resulting in a catalog of more than 500,000 tremor epicenters to date, which has served as a valuable resource for tremor and slip research. This manuscript presents an updated methodology for routine tremor detection in Cascadia and a new catalog of over 180,000 tremor epicenters including amplitudes detected along the subduction zone margin from 2017 to 2021. The events are detected via cross-correlation of continuous vertical envelope data of 128 stations from northern California to northern Vancouver Island. The modified approach results in less scatter and a 55% increase in detected epicenters than previously observed, as well as a newly identified tremor source offset updip from the main tremor and slip region at the southern edge of the subduction zone. Radiated seismic energy in the 1.5–5 Hz band is used to assign epicenters an energy magnitude ( M eL ), which is calibrated to the M L of local earthquakes. Southern Cascadia is most active, but the highest tremor energy rates occur in northern Cascadia. Tremor in central Cascadia is systematically weaker and less frequent. Individual epicenter magnitudes range from ∼0.5–2 and spatiotemporally cluster into 1,060 swarms with cumulative M eL ranging from ∼0.8 to 3.7. The swarms reflect underlying slow slip events and occur with an earthquake-like energy distribution with a b value ∼1. Tremor epicenters, however, follow a tapered Gutenberg-Richter distribution with high b values, suggesting individual tremor bursts and their constituent low-frequency earthquakes are fault-dimension limited.

California, Oregon, Washington↗

USGS2010

Comparison of atmospheric mercury speciation and deposition at nine sites across central and eastern North America

This study presents >5 cumulative years of tropospheric mercury (Hg) speciation measurements, over the period of 2003–2009, for eight sites in the central and eastern United States and one site in coastal Puerto Rico. The purpose of this research was to identify local and regional processes that impact Hg speciation and deposition (wet + dry) across a large swath of North America. Sites sampled were selected to represent both a wide range of mercury exposure and environmental conditions. Seasonal mean concentrations of elemental Hg (1.27 ± 0.31 to 2.94 ± 1.57 ng m−3; x ± s), reactive gaseous mercury (RGM; 1.5 ± 1.6 to 63.3 ± 529 pg m−3), and fine particulate Hg (1.2 ± 1.4 to 37.9 ± 492 pg m−3) were greatest at sites impacted by Hg point sources. Diel bin plots of Hgo and RGM suggest control by a variety of local/regional processes including impacts from Hg point sources and boundary layer/free tropospheric interactions as well as from larger‐scale processes affecting Hg speciation (i.e., input of the global Hg pool, RGM formed from oxidation of Hgo by photochemical compounds at coastal sites, and elemental Hg depletion during periods of dew formation). Comparison of wet Hg deposition (measured), RGM and fine particulate Hg dry deposition (calculated using a multiple resistance model), and anthropogenic point source emissions varied significantly between sites. Significant correlation between emission sources and dry deposition was observed but was highly dependant upon inclusion of data from two sites with exceptionally high deposition. Findings from this study highlight the importance of environmental setting on atmospheric Hg cycling and deposition rates.

Journal of Geophysical Research↗

USGS2001

Dating the Vostok ice core record by importing the Devils Hole chronology

The development of an accurate chronology for the Vostok record continues to be an open research question because these invaluable ice cores cannot be dated directly. Depth-to-age relationships have been developed using many different approaches, but published age estimates are inconsistent, even for major paleoclimatic events. We have developed a chronology for the Vostok deuterium paleotemperature record using a simple and objective algorithm to transfer ages of major paleoclimatic events from the radiometrically dated 500,000-year δ 18 O-paleotemperature record from Devils Hole, Nevada. The method is based only on a strong inference that major shifts in paleotemperature recorded at both locations occurred synchronously, consistent with an atmospheric teleconnection. The derived depth-to-age relationship conforms with the physics of ice compaction, and internally produces ages for climatic events 5.4 and 11.24 which are consistent with the externally assigned ages that the Vostok team needed to assume in order to derive their most recent chronology, GT4. Indeed, the resulting V-DH chronology is highly correlated with GT4 because of the unexpected correspondence even in the timing of second-order climatic events that were not constrained by the algorithm. Furthermore, the algorithm developed herein is not specific to this problem; rather, the procedure can be used whenever two paleoclimate records are proxies for the same physical phenomenon, and paleoclimatic conditions forcing the two records can be considered to have occurred contemporaneously. The ability of the algorithm to date the East Antarctic Dome Fuji core is also demonstrated.

Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres↗

USGS2020

Geological and thermal control of the hydrothermal system in northern Yellowstone Lake: Inferences from high resolution magnetic surveys

A multiscale magnetic survey of the northern basin of Yellowstone Lake was undertaken in 2016 as part of the Hydrothermal Dynamics of Yellowstone Lake Project (HD‐YLAKE)—a broad research effort to characterize the cause‐and‐effect relationships between geologic and environmental processes and hydrothermal activity on the lake floor. The magnetic survey includes lake surface, regional aeromagnetic, and near‐bottom autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) data. The study reveals a strong contrast between the northeastern lake basin, characterized by a regional magnetic low punctuated by stronger local magnetic lows, many of which host hydrothermal vent activity, and the northwestern lake basin with higher‐amplitude magnetic anomalies and no obvious hydrothermal activity or punctuated magnetic lows. The boundary between these two regions is marked by a steep gradient in heat flow and magnetic values, likely reflecting a significant structure within the currently active ~20‐km‐long Eagle Bay‐Lake Hotel fault zone that may be related to the ~2.08‐Ma Huckleberry Ridge caldera rim. Modeling suggests that the broad northeastern magnetic low reflects both a shallower Curie isotherm and widespread hydrothermal activity that has demagnetized the rock. Along the western lake shoreline are sinuous‐shaped, high‐amplitude magnetic anomaly highs, interpreted as lava flow fronts of upper units of the West Thumb rhyolite. The AUV magnetic survey shows decreased magnetization at the periphery of the active Deep Hole hydrothermal vent. We postulate that lower magnetization in the outer zone results from enhanced hydrothermal alteration of rhyolite by hydrothermal condensates while the vapor‐dominated center of the vent is less altered.

Wyoming↗

USGS2012

Structure of the lower crust beneath the Carolina Trough, U.S. Atlantic continental margin

Data from three large-offset seismic profiles provide information on the crustal structure beneath the Carolina trough. The profiles, obtained by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Naval Oceanographic Research Development Agency, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1985, were oriented parallel to the trough and were located (1) seaward of the East Coast Magnetic Anomaly (ECMA), which is generally thought to represent the boundary between oceanic and continental crust; (2) along the axis of the trough between the ECMA and the hinge zone, which is thought to reflect the landward limit of highly stretched and altered transitional crust; and (3) along the Carolina platform landward of the basement hinge zone on crust thought to have been thinned only slightly during rifting. These data constrain the velocity structure of the lower crust and provide evidence for a thick lens of high-velocity (>7.1 km/s) lower crustal material that extends beneath the Carolina trough and the adjacent ocean basin. This lens reaches a maximum thickness of about 13 km beneath the deepest part of the trough, thins to about 5 km seaward of the ECMA, and is either very thin or absent landward of the hinge zone. It is interpreted to represent material that was underplated beneath and/or intruded into the crust during the late stage of continental rifting and that led to an anomalously thick plutonic layer during the early seafloor spreading phase. These data thus support the recent conclusions of White et al. (1987b) and Mutter et al. (1988) that the initiation of seafloor spreading is attended in many, if not most, cases by the generation of an anomalously large volume of melt.

Carolina Trough↗

USGS2022

Quantifying interdependencies in geyser eruptions at the Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park

The Upper Geyser Basin at Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, USA) harbors the greatest concentration of geysers worldwide. Research suggests that individual geysers are not isolated but rather are hydraulically connected in the subsurface with other geysers and thermal springs. To quantify such connections, we combined techniques from machine learning, causal inference, and dynamical systems to characterize the collective eruptive behavior of a set of 10 geysers over 18 months (April 2007 – September 2008) focusing on geyser-geyser interactions. Model predictions were up to 15 times more accurate when we sought to predict a geyser's eruption time series based on outflow channel temperatures from the network than based on its own time series alone, suggesting the existence of a complex interconnected subsurface groundwater system. On average, cone-type geysers had larger impacts on other geysers than did fountain-type geysers. Similarly, cone-type geysers were on average more insulated from other geysers. However, substantial unexplained variation remained after considering the cone versus fountain dichotomy. Distance between geysers also affected interactions: nearby geysers had stronger effects on focal geysers than did geysers located farther away. Collectively, results support the hypothesis of geyser interdependence at timescales of 5 min–10 days. Our analyses highlight the existence of quantifiable geyser-to-geyser interactions that can be resolved through pairwise and system-level analyses. These findings emphasize the subsurface interconnectedness of thermal features, provide information relevant to visitor experiences in Yellowstone National Park, and suggest strategies for exploring patterns of interdependence that may exist among other episodic geological phenomena.

Wyoming↗

USGS2014

Temporal variability of carbon and nutrient burial, sediment accretion, and mass accumulation over the past century in a carbonate platform mangrove forest of the Florida Everglades.

The objective of this research was to measure temporal variability in accretion and mass sedimentation rates (including organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorous (TP)) from the past century in a mangrove forest on the Shark River in Everglades National Park, USA. The 210 Pb Constant Rate of Supply model was applied to six soil cores to calculate annual rates over the most recent 10, 50, and 100 year time spans. Our results show that rates integrated over longer timeframes are lower than those for shorter, recent periods of observation. Additionally, the substantial spatial variability between cores over the 10 year period is diminished over the 100 year record, raising two important implications. First, a multiple-decade assessment of soil accretion and OC burial provides a more conservative estimate and is likely to be most relevant for forecasting these rates relative to long-term processes of sea level rise and climate change mitigation. Second, a small number of sampling locations are better able to account for spatial variability over the longer periods than for the shorter periods. The site average 100 year OC burial rate, 123 ± 19 (standard deviation) g m -2 yr -1 , is low compared with global mangrove values. High TN and TP burial rates in recent decades may lead to increased soil carbon remineralization, contributing to the low carbon burial rates. Finally, the strong correlation between OC burial and accretion across this site signals the substantial contribution of OC to soil building in addition to the ecosystem service of CO 2 sequestration.

Florida↗

USGS2019

Identifying the molecular signatures of agricultural expansion in Amazonian headwater streams

Agricultural impacts on aquatic ecosystems are well-studied, however, most research has focused on temperate regions, whereas the forefront of agricultural expansion is currently in the tropics. At the vanguard of this growth is the boundary between the Amazon and Cerrado biomes in Brazil, driven primarily by expansion of soybean and corn croplands. Here we examine the impacts of cropland expansion on receiving lowland Amazon Basin headwater streams in terms of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition via ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry. Streams draining croplands had lower DOC concentrations and DOM molecular signatures enriched in N- and S-containing formula in comparison to forested streams. Cropland streams were also enriched in aliphatic, peptide-like and highly unsaturated and phenolic (low O/C) compound categories in comparison to forest streams (enriched in polyphenolics, condensed aromatics and highly unsaturated and phenolic (high O/C) compound categories) indicative of the shifting of sources from organic-rich surface soils and litter layers to autochthonous and more microbial biomass. Distinct molecular assemblages were strongly correlated with cropland and forest catchments, highlighting headwater streams as sentinels for detecting change. On investigation of unique molecular formulae present in only cropland sites, four cropland markers provided the ability to track agricultural impacts in the region. Overall, these patterns indicate reduced organic matter inputs in croplands and greater microbial degradation at these sites leading to declining DOC concentrations, and DOM of more microbial character in receiving streams that is more biolabile, with clear ramifications for downstream ecology and biogeochemical cycles.

Amazon River basin, Tanguro Ranch, Xinga River↗

USGS2012

Characterizing mercury concentrations and fluxes in a Coastal Plain watershed: Insights from dynamic modeling and data

Mercury (Hg) is one of the leading water quality concerns in surface waters of the United States. Although watershed-scale Hg cycling research has increased in the past two decades, advances in modeling watershed Hg processes in diverse physiographic regions, spatial scales, and land cover types are needed. The goal of this study was to assess Hg cycling in a Coastal Plain system using concentrations and fluxes estimated by multiple watershed-scale models with distinct mathematical frameworks reflecting different system dynamics. We simulated total mercury (Hg T , the sum of filtered and particulate forms) concentrations and fluxes from a Coastal Plain watershed (McTier Creek) using three watershed Hg models and an empirical load model. Model output was compared with observed in-stream Hg T . We found that shallow subsurface flow is a potentially important transport mechanism of particulate Hg T during periods when connectivity between the uplands and surface waters is maximized. Other processes (e.g., stream bank erosion, sediment re-suspension) may increase particulate Hg T in the water column. Simulations and data suggest that variable source area (VSA) flow and lack of rainfall interactions with surface soil horizons result in increased dissolved Hg T concentrations unrelated to DOC mobilization following precipitation events. Although flushing of DOC-Hg T complexes from surface soils can also occur during this period, DOC-complexed Hg T becomes more important during base flow conditions. TOPLOAD simulations highlight saturated subsurface flow as a primary driver of daily Hg T loadings, but shallow subsurface flow is important for Hg T loads during high-flow events. Results suggest limited seasonal trends in Hg T dynamics.

South Carolina↗

USGS2003

Climate change and Arctic ecosystems: 1. Vegetation changes north of 55°N between the last glacial maximum, mid-Holocene, and present

A unified scheme to assign pollen samples to vegetation types was used to reconstruct vegetation patterns north of 55??N at the last glacial maximum (LGM) and mid-Holocene (6000 years B.P.). The pollen data set assembled for this purpose represents a comprehensive compilation based on the work of many projects and research groups. Five tundra types (cushion forb tundra, graminoid and forb tundra, prostrate dwarf-shrub tundra, erect dwarf-shrub tundra, and low- and high-shrub tundra) were distinguished and mapped on the basis of modern pollen surface samples. The tundra-forest boundary and the distributions of boreal and temperate forest types today were realistically reconstructed. During the mid-Holocene the tundra-forest boundary was north of its present position in some regions, but the pattern of this shift was strongly asymmetrical around the pole, with the largest northward shift in central Siberia (???200 km), little change in Beringia, and a southward shift in Keewatin and Labrador (???200 km). Low- and high-shrub tundra extended farther north than today. At the LGM, forests were absent from high latitudes. Graminoid and forb tundra abutted on temperate steppe in northwestern Eurasia while prostrate dwarf-shrub, erect dwarf-shrub, and graminoid and forb tundra formed a mosaic in Beringia. Graminoid and forb tundra is restricted today and does not form a large continuous biome, but the pollen data show that it was far more extensive at the LGM, while low- and high-shrub tundra were greatly reduced, illustrating the potential for climate change to dramatically alter the relative areas occupied by different vegetation types.

Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres↗

USGS2002

Draped aeromagnetic survey in Transantarctic Mountains over the area of the Butcher Ridge igneous complex showing extent of underlying mafic intrusion

A draped aeromagnetic survey over the area surrounding the Butcher Ridge igneous complex (BRIC), Transantarctic Mountains, was acquired in 1997–1998 as part of a larger Transantarctic Mountains Aerogeophysical Research Activity survey. The BRIC is a sill-like hypoabyssal intrusion ranging in composition from tholeiitic basalt to rhyolite. An 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age of 174 Ma and the chemical character of the basaltic rocks show the BRIC to be part of the widespread Jurassic Ferrar suite of continental tholeiitic rocks, that extends for 3500 km across Antarctica. The aeromagnetic survey shows a horseshoe-shaped pattern of anomalies reaching amplitudes as great as 1900 nT generally associated with the bedrock topography where it is exposed. It is apparent that the high-amplitude anomaly pattern is more extensive than the 10-km-long exposed outcrop, first crossed by a single 1990 aeromagnetic profile. The highest-amplitude anomalies appear south of the profile acquired in 1990 and extend out of the survey area. The new aeromagnetic data allow determination of the extent of the interpreted Butcher mafic(?) intrusion beneath exposures of Beacon sedimentary rock and ice in the area covered, as well as beneath the small BRIC exposure. The magnetic anomalies show a minimum area of 3000 km 2 , a much greater extent than previously inferred. Magnetic models indicate a minimum thickness of ∼1–2 km for a horizontal intrusion. However, nonunique models with magnetic layers decreasing in apparent susceptibility with depth are consistent with of a 4- to 8-km-thick layered intrusion. These magnetic models indicate progressively deeper erosion of the interpreted mafic-layered body from the south to north. The erosion has removed more magnetic upper layers that mask the magnetic effects of the lower less magnetic layers. The probable minimum volume of the intrusion in the area of the survey is ∼6000 km 3 . An alternate, but less likely, interpretation of a series of dikes can also fit the observed magnetic anomalies.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗

USGS2012

Shallow structure and deformation along the San Andreas Fault in Cholame Valley, California, based on high-resolution reflection profiling

The mapped active traces of the San Andreas fault are separated by a 1-km-wide right-stepping offset in Cholame Valley. The geometry of this offset, defined in other strike-slip systems as a releasing bend or a dilational jog, has resulted in the formation of a pullapart basin. Various researchers have inferred that this offset served as a rupture terminus for earthquakes on both strands of the San Andreas fault (1966 Parkfield and 1857 Fort Tejon); thus, this en echelon offset may represent a barrier to the propagation of rupture between two segments of the San Andreas fault. We collected 18 km of high-resolution seismic reflection data specifically designed to image the San Andreas fault zone in the shallow crust surrounding this offset. Four short profiles (≤ 3.3 km long) of Mini-Sosie reflection data (1 s of two-way travel time ≈ 1.5 km deep) were collected perpendicular to the San Andreas fault; three of these profiles were tied by a 7-km-long profile that trended northwest through Cholame Valley, subparallel to the San Andreas fault. A zone of incoherent energy, narrow at the surface but widening with depth, underlies the mapped active traces of the San Andreas fault and abruptly terminates shallow reflections on both sides. The reflection profiles and available well data indicate that west of the mapped active traces of the San Andreas fault the shallow subsurface structure of the crust consists of thin (≤400 m thick), offset packages of reflections, laterally coherent on the scale of tens of meters, overlying deformed clastic sedimentary rocks. East of the San Andreas fault, the structure of the shallow crust in southern Cholame Valley is characterized by thick packages of reflections, laterally coherent on the scale of kilometers, overlying the Franciscan complex. All of the strata east of the fault (within Cholame Valley) dip toward the San Andreas fault and the offset, into an approximately 1-km-deep sedimentary basin abutting the south strand of San Andreas fault. The offset in Cholame Valley is characterized by a gentle downwarping of sediments into the offset, the presence of many small faults and discontinuous reflections (consistent with areally distributed shear) between the traces of the main fault, localized subsidence abutting the main strike-slip fault, the formation of a basin, near the offset, that is about as deep as the jog is wide, and the southward propagation of the deformation associated with the offset. Strain field modeling based on simple geometries of the San Andreas and associated faults successfully predicts the general features of the observed topography and subsurface structure of southern Cholame Valley, including subsidence and basin formation near the offset, a discontinuous San Andreas fault plane, and at least one fault in southeastern Cholame Valley.

Journal of Geophysical Research↗