Geology topics

D. Bourles

Publications and source records attributed to D. Bourles.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2011

Slip rate and slip magnitudes of past earthquakes along the Bogd left-lateral strike-slip fault (Mongolia)

We carried out morphotectonic studies along the left-lateral strike-slip Bogd Fault, the principal structure involved in the Gobi-Altay earthquake of 1957 December 4 (published magnitudes range from 7.8 to 8.3). The Bogd Fault is 260 km long and can be subdivided into five main geometric segments, based on variation in strike direction. West to East these segments are, respectively: the West Ih Bogd (WIB), The North Ih Bogd (NIB), the West Ih Bogd (WIB), the West Baga Bogd (WBB) and the East Baga Bogd (EBB) segments. Morphological analysis of offset streams, ridges and alluvial fans—particularly well preserved in the arid environment of the Gobi region—allows evaluation of late Quaternary slip rates along the different faults segments. In this paper, we measure slip rates over the past 200 ka at four sites distributed across the three western segments of the Bogd Fault. Our results show that the left-lateral slip rate is ∼1 mm yr –1 along the WIB and EIB segments and ∼0.5 mm yr –1 along the NIB segment. These variations are consistent with the restraining bend geometry of the Bogd Fault. Our study also provides additional estimates of the horizontal offset associated with the 1957 earthquake along the western part of the Bogd rupture, complementing previously published studies. We show that the mean horizontal offset associated with the 1957 earthquake decreases progressively from 5.2 m in the west to 2.0 m in the east, reflecting the progressive change of kinematic style from pure left-lateral strike-slip faulting to left-lateral-reverse faulting. Along the three western segments, we measure cumulative displacements that are multiples of the 1957 coseismic offset, which may be consistent with a characteristic slip. Moreover, using these data, we re-estimate the moment magnitude of the Gobi-Altay earthquake at M w 7.78–7.95. Combining our slip rate estimates and the slip distribution per event we also determined a mean recurrence interval of ∼2500–5200 yr for past earthquakes along the different segments of the western Bogd Fault. This suggests that the three western segments of the Bogd Fault and the Gurvan Bulag thrust fault (a reverse fault bounding the southern side of the Ih Bogd range that ruptured during the 1957 earthquake) have similar average recurrence times, and therefore may have ruptured together in previous earthquakes as they did in 1957. These results suggest that the western part of the Bogd Fault system, including the Gurvan Bulag thrust fault, usually behaves in a ‘characteristic earthquake’ mode.

Bogd Fault↗

USGS2006

Cosmogenic 3He production rates revisited from evidences of grain size dependent release of matrix-sited helium

Measurements of the cosmogenic 3 He ( 3 He c ) content of various size aliquots of exposed olivines show that the fine fraction (<140 μm) has 3 He c concentrations between 14 and 100% lower than that of the coarse fractions (0.14–1 mm). Such differences attest to a grain size dependent partial release of 3 He c from the phenocrysts matrix during the preliminary in vacuo crushing. This result might have important implications since most 3 He c measurements have used for ∼20 yr a standard routine based on the fusion of bulk powdered phenocrysts, whatever their grain size. A suite of new data obtained from coarse olivine grains yielded a mean Sea Level High Latitude 3 He c production rate (SLHL P 3 ) of 128±5 and 136±6 at. g −1 yr −1 , depending on the scaling factors used. This new value, which is ∼15% higher than previously published rates, is obtained from 5 ropy flow surfaces of Mt Etna (38°N) and Hawaiian (19°N) volcanoes, at elevations between sea level and 870 m and ranging in age from 1.47±0.05 to 149±23 ka according to independent 14 C or K/Ar dating. 3 He loss during the crushing step might account for the discrepancy between the standard reference value of 110–115 at. g −1 y −1 and the higher SLHL P 3 proposed here. More generally, removal of the powdered fraction before fusion is an important point to consider in further studies in order to avoid any 3 He c systematic underestimates. An altitudinal section has also been sampled on the ropy surface of a ∼1500 yr single flow of Mauna Loa (19°N) which allowed a new empirical atmospheric attenuation length of 149±22 g cm −2 to be documented for 3 He c in olivines between 2400 and 4000 m elevations.

Earth and Planetary Science Letters↗

USGS2003

Late Pleistocene to Holocene slip rates for the Gurvan Bulag thrust fault (Gobi-Altay, Mongolia) estimated with 10Be dates

We surveyed morphotectonic markers along the central part of the Gurvan Bulag thrust, a fault that ruptured with the Bogd fault during the Gobi-Altay earthquake (1957, M 8.3), to document climatic and tectonic processes along the fault for the late Pleistocene- Holocene period. The markers were dated using 10Be produced in situ. Two major periods of alluviation ended at 131 ?? 20 and 16 ?? 4.8 ka. These appear to be contemporaneous with global climatic changes at the terminations of marine isotope stages (MIS) 6 and 2. The vertical slip rates, determined from offset measurements and surfaces ages, are 0.14 ?? 0.03 mm/yr over the late Pleistocene-Holocene and between 0.44 ?? 0.11 and 1.05 ?? 0.25 mm/yr since the end of the late Pleistocene. The higher of these slip rates for the last ???16 kyr is consistent with paleoseismic investigations along the fault [Prentice et al., 2002], and suggests that, at the end of late Pleistocene, the fault evolved from quiescence to having recurrence intervals of 4.0 ?? 1.2 kyr for surface ruptures with ???4 m vertical offset (similar to that of 1957). The inferred recurrence interval is comparable to that of the Bogd fault (3.7 ?? 1.3 kyr) suggesting that the two faults may have ruptured together also earlier during the last ???16 kyr.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗