ALBERT

Description: Attachment zones couple the rheological layers of lithosphere. In wrench settings, attachment zones accommodate the transition from relatively continuous wrenching at depth to discrete strike-slip faulting of rigid blocks in the upper crust. Strain is controlled by a component of wrench shearing as well as a component of horizontal shearing associated with the differential displacement of finite-width rigid blocks. Strain modelling of wrench attachments predicts high lateral and vertical strain gradients and specific foliation patterns showing antiforms and funnel-shaped synforms. Lineations are shallowly plunging and oriented close to the direction of wrenching. Shear sense reverses across the vertical axial surfaces of synforms and antiforms. In transpression and transtension attachments developed during low-angle oblique convergence or divergence, the pattern of foliation and lineation is similar to that produced in wrench attachments. Transpression attachments display gradients in the shape of the finite strain ellipsoid, from flattening at the base to strongly constrictional beneath the rigid blocks, owing to the increased effect of the horizontal shear component. Conversely, transtension attachments show constriction at the base changing to flattening beneath the rigid blocks. The location of this fabric change within attachment zones is insensitive to finite displacement and angle of convergence or divergence, and therefore should be one of the most robust criteria to identify transpression and transtension attachments. In general, the component of coaxial flow that characterizes transpressional and transtensional systems decreases upward through attachment zones, due to the increased role of the horizontal simple shear in the finite vorticity. These strain and kinematic gradients are a robust result of attachment modelling and can be used as indicators of attachments developed in wrench, transpression, or transtension.

Description: The Molucca Sea Collision Zone in eastern Indonesia is the site of an orthogonal collision between two active subduction systems. Both the Halmahera subduction zone, to the east, and the Sangihe subduction zone, to the west, have subducted oceanic lithosphere of the Molucca Sea Plate, which has now been completely consumed. Both volcanic arcs were active since the Neogene and provide a means of probing the element fluxes through the two systems. The geochemistry of Neogene and Quaternary lavas from each volcanic arc is compared to constrain changes in the mass fluxes through the systems and the processes controlling these fluxes at different times during their history. Both arcs show increased evidence for sediment recycling as the collision progressed, but for contrasting reasons. In Halmahera this may represent an increased sediment flux through the arc front, while in Sangihe it may simply reflect a greater opportunity for melting of sediment-fluxed portions of the mantle wedge. In both cases the change in arc geochemistry can be related to the evolving architecture of the particular subduction zone. The Halmahera lavas also record a temporal change in the chemistry of the mantle component that resulted from induced convection above the falling Molucca Sea Plate drawing compositionally distinct peridotite into the mantle wege.

Description: The discrete-element method (UDEC -- Universal Distinct Element Code) was used to numerically model the deformation and fluid flow in fracture networks under a range of loading conditions. A series of simulated fracture networks were generated to evaluate the effects of a range of geometrical parameters, such as fracture density, fracture length and anisotropy. Deformation and fluid flow do not change progressively with increasing stress. Instability occurs at a critical stress and is charzacterized by the localization of deformation and fluid flow usually within intensively deformed zones that develop by shearing and opening along some of the fractures. The critical stress state may be described in terms of a driving stress ratio, R = (fluid pressure -- mean stress)/1/2 (differential stress). Instability occurs where the R ratio exceeds some critical value, RC, in the range - 1 to -2. At the critical stress state, the vertical flow rates are characterized by a large increase in both their overal magnitude and degree of localization. This localization of deformation and fluid flow develops just prior to the critical stress state and may be characterized by means of multifractals. The stress-induced criticality and localization displayed by the models is an important phenomenon, which may help in the understanding of deformation-enhanced fluid flow in fractured rock masses.

Description: Extended research over two decades reveals more than 20 distinct fracture episodes in the Beer Sheva syncline. This paper focuses on eight fault-joint systems that differ from each other in their genetic affiliation and/or their geometric relationship and fracture properties. Two systems are linked to burial, whereas six others relate to various syntectonic-uplift associations. Joint sets within these systems are categorized into three, pre-, syn- and post-fault groups. Correspondingly, synfault early uplift and post-fault early uplift events can be distinguished from prefault and synfault late uplift events. Water drainage may be considerably improved along certain fault-joint systems. Accordingly, in formulating fracture-network models the particular distribution of fault-joint systems and their properties need to be taken into consideration.

Description: Concepts of differential geometry are reviewed, and it is demonstrated through examples that the main joint surface, rib marks and hackle of a joint may be described using parametric representations such that the first and second fundamental forms fully characterize these surfaces. Other useful quantities are the unit normal vector, the principal normal curvatures, and the Gaussian and the mean curvature. Sufficiently close to any point on a surface the shape is planar, parabolic, elliptical or hyperbolic. The surface of a joint in chert and another in siltstone were scanned and the resulting data analysed. Although the main joint surface of the chert sample is approximately planar, it is composed of low-amplitude undulations with elliptical and hyperbolic forms. The unit normal vector does not vary by more than about 3.4{degrees} over this surface, which is consistent with the threshold angle for the initiation of hackle based on laboratory experiments. An individual hackle is found to be approximately helicoidal in shape, but only in the breakdown zone. Rib marks on the siltstone sample have distinct and similar morphologies, with a concave base and convex peak. Field and laboratory campaigns designed to test hypothese about the geometry of joints should use the principles and tools of differential geometry.

Description: Poles from line samples of systematic joint sets scatter about a mean pole because joints are neither perfectly planar nor parallel, and because measurement instruments are imprecise. Definition of a single joint set can be based solely on its orientation distribution and this distribution is assessed using two statistical parameters: square root of the circular variance (approximately equal to the standard deviation {sigma} for two-dimensional (2D) data) and cone of confidence ({alpha}95 for 3D data). The distribution for joints generated in the absence of tectonic deformation is well clustered with {sigma} = 1.7{degrees} and {alpha}95 = 0.48{degrees} based on a bootstrap sample of 50. Jointing associated with various fold styles show less clustering: the kink of a fault-bend fold ({sigma} = 6.1{degrees} and {alpha}95 = 1.7{degrees}), basement-cored anticline ({sigma} = 3.5{degrees} and {alpha}95 = 1.5{degrees}), regional joint set transected by a basement-cored anticline ({sigma} = 5.2{degrees} and {alpha}95 = 1.8{degrees}) and a buttress anticline ({sigma} = 4.3{degrees} and {alpha}95 = 1.7{degrees}). Jointing associated with local faulting tends to show even less clustering: a Cretaceous marl ({sigma} = 8.3{degrees} and {alpha}95 = 2.4{degrees}) and a glauconitic sandstone ({sigma} = 8.6{degrees} and {alpha}95 = 2.2{degrees}). The latter sample was drawn from two overlapping joint sets, indicating that distribution data greater than {alpha}95 = 2.2{degrees} may signal overlapping joint sets.

Description: Opening-mode fractures in clinker and opal-CT chert spheroids form by growth and coalescence of pores, and are associated with extensive textural and compositional changes in the host material. Extensive inelastic deformation outside the immediate vicinity of fracture tips characterizes these fracture processes as ductile. Fracture formation in clinker is concurrent with high-temperature combustion alteration of diatomaceous mudstone. Fracture formation in chert spheroids is associated with the opal-CT to quartz transition in the same host material during early marine diagenesis. In both cases, growth of elongate pores is attributed to the combined effects of diffusive-fracture growth and flow by solution-precipitation creep. Pore growth and coalescence occur preferentially ahead of fracture tips along two directions oblique to the mean macroscopic fracture direction. This growth process, referred to as side-lobe damage, is interpreted to reflect the shear-stress dependence of pore growth by solution-precipitation creep. The tendency for oblique fracture growth is suppressed by global stress and strain-boundary conditions forcing the fracture along a characteristic zig-zag propagation path that is macroscopically perpendicular to the loading direction. These examples of ductile fracture demonstrate that macroscopic fracture formation is not uniquely associated with damage processes by microfracture at low-temperature brittle' subsurface conditions. Instead, fracture is a deformation process that can occur due to various inelastic-deformation mechanisms under diverse crustal environments, which include high-temperature conditions.

Description: North American and Pacific spore-pollen records show a major extinction event at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary, and abrupt changes are similarly found in many marine organisms world-wide. In contrast, records from the Old World reveal little evidence of terrestrial vegetational change across the boundary. In order to improve the characterization of changes across the K-T boundary, palynological assemblages from two sections in the southern Pyrenees have been evaluated. The abundance and diversity of trilete fern spores are high in Maastrichtian samples and show a statistically significant decrease during the Danian. The fern spike' of low-diversity spores found elsewhere is not recorded in the Pyrenean region. Minor replacements of taxa across the K-T boundary are also noted, as well as an increase in inaperturate gymnosperm pollen in the Danian. Comparing our two examined sections with one another reveals important differences in angiosperm pollen composition.

Description: The mechanism for structural damage during incipient slip on joints within the Melechov Granite, Czech Republic, changes with the misalignment of the joint's mesotopography, largely a plumose surface morphology. Prior to slip, the joint surfaces are well mated so that contact area is organized on a microscopic scale. During the first phase of slip, diffusion-mass transfer is the active deformation mechanism between the sliding surfaces of the joints, as indicated by the extensive growth of crystal-fibre lineations characteristic of slickenside surfaces. After slip of the order of 1 cm or more, the mesotopography becomes mismatched and the contact area is reorganized to form indentation pits aligned on the ridges of hackle plumes. Indentation pits, that are testimony to a brittle process, are generated by the excavation of Hertzian ring cracks that propagate under contact loading of a brittle substrate. The depth of the indentation pits increases with contact width, suggesting that indentation creep is active. Following indentation along Hertzian ring cracks the slip mechanism transforms to a frictional abrasion. The distribution of indentation track lengths is consistent with laboratory wear grooves generated during earthquake-like stick-slip sliding. The elliptical shape of the indentation pits indicates a gradual decrease in contact area, a process that is consistent with a slip-weakening mechanism during a stick-slip cycle.

Description: A knowledgeable choice for a stage boundary stratotype is dependent upon obtaining high-resolution stratigraphic data. Detailed analyses conducted for the two potential Turonian-Coniacian stage boundary stratotypes that were considered at the Second Cretaceous Stage Boundary Symposium provide both positive and negative insights for consideration. The Salzgitter-Salder Quarry in central Germany (which was recommended by the symposium) contains abundant bivalve fossils, including the recommended boundary datum: the lowest occurrence of the inoceramid bivalve Cremnoceramus deformis erectus. Foraminifera are also abundant, but extensive diagenetic recrystallization seriously degrades nannofossil and palynomorph recovery and limits the potential of the section for stable isotope stratigraphy and radiometric dating. Furthermore, palaeoenvironmental analysis indicates that much of the Salzgitter stage boundary interval has resulted from allochthonous sedimentation, indicating that the well-developed lithological cyclicity between limestone and marlstone that occurs in the section is largely autocyclic. The orbital cyclostratigraphic potential of the section is therefore also in question. The Wagon Mound outcrop in northeastern New Mexico, USA, has good recovery and biostratigraphic control for all three microfossil groups, but the base of C. deformis erectus occurs above the section, by definition placing the section entirely in the Upper Turonian Well-preserved ammonites and inoceramid bivalves are also recoverable in over half of this section. Facies have not been recrystallized and represent continuous autochthonous sedimentation with sharply defined lithological cyclicity between limestone/marlstone couplets on a fine stratigraphic scale. In addition, a number of bentonites with proven datability occur in the section. Thus the bio- and chemostratigraphic dating potential, as well as the radiometric dating potential, of the section are good. However, much of the section is composed of carbonaceous, dysoxic facies with abnormal marine micro- and macrofossil assemblages, limiting study of the stratigraphic or palaeoecological trends leading up to the boundary. The absence of the datum at Wagon Mound is puzzling, because microfossil biostratigraphy suggests that the section is substantially coeval with the Salzgitter-Salder section. The C. deformis erectus datum may thus be diachronous. Until the suitability of the recommended boundary datum is addressed, a reasoned choice of a section for the boundary stratotype is not possible. In any case, the absence of C. deformis erectus and the abnormal facies in the lower part of the Wagon Mound section, and the extensive diagenesis and partly allochthonous nature of the Salzgitter-Salder section, are serious enough problems to warrant rejection of both sections as stratotypes.