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At least 883 records · Page 49Linked to original sources

New constraints on mechanisms of remotely triggered seismicity at Long Valley Caldera

Regional-scale triggering of local earthquakes in the crust by seismic waves from distant main shocks has now been robustly documented for over a decade. Some of the most thoroughly recorded examples of repeated triggering of a single site from multiple, large earthquakes are measured in geothermal fields of the western United States like Long Valley Caldera. As one of the few natural cases where the causality of an earthquake sequence is apparent, triggering provides fundamental constraints on the failure processes in earthquakes. We show here that the observed triggering by seismic waves is inconsistent with any mechanism that depends on cumulative shaking as measured by integrated energy density. We also present evidence for a frequency-dependent triggering threshold. On the basis of the seismic records of 12 regional and teleseismic events recorded at Long Valley Caldera, long-period waves (>30 s) are more effective at generating local seismicity than short-period waves of comparable amplitude. If the properties of the system are stationary over time, the failure threshold for long-period waves is ~0.05 cm/s vertical shaking. Assuming a phase velocity of 3.5 km/s and an elastic modulus of 3.5 x 10 10 Pa, the threshold in terms of stress is 5 kPa. The frequency dependence is due in part to the attenuation of the surface waves with depth. Fluid flow through a porous medium can produce the rest of the observed frequency dependence of the threshold. If the threshold is not stationary with time, pore pressures that are >99.5% of lithostatic and vary over time by a factor of 4 could explain the observations with no frequency dependence of the triggering threshold.

California↗

A model ensemble for projecting multi‐decadal coastal cliff retreat during the 21st century

Sea cliff retreat rates are expected to accelerate with rising sea levels during the 21 st century. Here we develop an approach for a multi‐model ensemble that efficiently projects time‐averaged sea cliff retreat over multi‐decadal time scales and large (>50 km) spatial scales. The ensemble consists of five simple 1‐D models adapted from the literature that relate sea cliff retreat to wave impacts, sea level rise (SLR), historical cliff behavior, and cross‐shore profile geometry. Ensemble predictions are based on Monte Carlo simulations of each individual model, which account for the uncertainty of model parameters. The consensus of the individual models also weights uncertainty, such that uncertainty is greater when predictions from different models do not agree. A calibrated, but unvalidated, ensemble was applied to the 475 km‐long coastline of Southern California (USA), with 4 SLR scenarios of 0.5, 0.93, 1.5, and 2 m by 2100. Results suggest that future retreat rates could increase relative to mean historical rates by more than two‐fold for the higher SLR scenarios, causing an average total land loss of 19 – 41 m by 2100. However, model uncertainty ranges from +/‐ 5 – 15 m, reflecting the inherent difficulties of projecting cliff retreat over multiple decades. To enhance ensemble performance, future work could include weighting each model by its skill in matching observations in different morphological settings

Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface↗

Magnetic effects of maghemitization of oceanic crust

Both theoretical considerations and available experimental results indicate that magnetic effects of maghemitization are strongly dependent on the grain size of the originally unoxidized titanomagnetite. Maghemitization of single‐domain titanomagnetite results in a decrease in coercivity, an increase in susceptibility, and a large decrease in Q ratio. Maghemitization of multidomain titanomagnetite results in an increase in coercivity, a decrease in susceptibility, and no large changes in Q ratio. Single‐domain titanomagnetite is probably resistant to the development of a chemical remanent magnetization (CRM), whereas multidomain titanomagnetite can acquire a CRM during maghemitization. The behavior of pseudo‐single‐domain titanomagnetite, which is the main carrier of remanence in submarine extrusive rocks, is investigated by comparing the magnetic properties of the French‐American Mid‐Ocean Undersea Study (FAMOUS) (less than 0.1 m.y. old) and the Leg 37 (3.5 m.y. old) pillow basalts recovered from the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge near 37°N. Combining electron microprobe analyses, Curie temperature measurements, and cell edge determinations, we find that the FAMOUS rocks are already oxidized ( z = 0.38), possibly as a result of some high‐temperature maghemitization during cooling of the magma. Comparison with the more highly oxidized ( z = 0.7) Leg 37 pillow basalts indicates that low‐temperature maghemitization of such rocks does not result in appreciable changes of coercivity and susceptibility, although the Q ratio does decrease and CRM seems to be acquired. Such a CRM could account for the anomalously low magnetic inclinations observed at most of the Leg 37 sites.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗

An exploration of the relative influence of physical models for Omori’s law

Omori’s law states that the rate of aftershocks decays as a function of inverse time. There are multiple physical explanations that we reduce into a nonlinear mixed effects relation of three terms: (1) a Rate/State expression that can account for static/dynamic and viscoelastic triggering caused directly by the mainshock, (2) a fluid diffusion triggering term, and (3) a randomized secondary triggering (cascade) term. We fit free physical-model parameters to an observed aftershock sequence through two nonlinear regression methods to find the relative contributions of physics-based models in an observed aftershock sequence. Results from both methods show that Rate/State models overpredict aftershock rates by ∼0–30%. Secondary aftershocks cause a net negative contribution (seismicity rate reduction that corrects overprediction by other terms) ranging between ∼0 and 30%. All regression solutions yield negative secondary triggering contributions without being guided to do so. A physical explanation for this is that aftershock occurrence relieves stress from the crust, ultimately causing the sequence to extinguish itself. Fluid diffusion triggering contributions range from ∼0 to 20%. Diffusion processes are observed to be shorter in time than the full duration of an aftershock sequence and they are also spatially limited, diminishing their influence. Our results apply to an aftershock decay curve from the 2016 Central Apennines earthquake sequence, meaning that our specific results may not be general. Our primary conclusion is that any one physical model cannot alone fit the observed sequence as well as the combination of three we investigated.

Frontiers in Earth Science↗

High-latitude dust in the Earth system

Natural dust is often associated with hot, subtropical deserts, but significant dust events have been reported from cold, high latitudes. This review synthesizes current understanding of high-latitude (≥50°N and ≥40°S) dust source geography and dynamics and provides a prospectus for future research on the topic. Although the fundamental processes controlling aeolian dust emissions in high latitudes are essentially the same as in temperate regions, there are additional processes specific to or enhanced in cold regions. These include low temperatures, humidity, strong winds, permafrost and niveo-aeolian processes all of which can affect the efficiency of dust emission and distribution of sediments. Dust deposition at high latitudes can provide nutrients to the marine system, specifically by contributing iron to high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll oceans; it also affects ice albedo and melt rates. There have been no attempts to quantify systematically the expanse, characteristics, or dynamics of high-latitude dust sources. To address this, we identify and compare the main sources and drivers of dust emissions in the Northern (Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Iceland) and Southern (Antarctica, New Zealand, and Patagonia) Hemispheres. The scarcity of year-round observations and limitations of satellite remote sensing data at high latitudes are discussed. It is estimated that under contemporary conditions high-latitude sources cover >500,000 km2 and contribute at least 80–100 Tg yr−1 of dust to the Earth system (~5% of the global dust budget); both are projected to increase under future climate change scenarios.

Reviews of Geophysics↗

The international seismological observing period in Africa

The International Seismological Observing Period (ISOP) is a specific time interval designated for enhanced international cooperation in the collection and dissemination of observatory measurements from the global seismographic network. The primary purpose of the ISOP is to strengthen the international infrastructure that supports current seismological practice and increase the cooperation among nations that operate seismological observatories. Measurements, reported by the existing global network and compiled by agencies such as the International Seismological Centre (ISC), are providing new information about earthquakes and the structure of the Earth of fundamental importance to the Earth sciences. However, these data represent but a small fraction of the information contained in the seismograms. One of the goals of the ISOP is to collect improved sets of data. In particular, the measurement and reporting of later-arriving phases, during a fixed ISOP period, from earthquakes selected for detailed observation by the cooperating stations will be encouraged. The use of advanced, digital instrumentation provides an unprecedented opportunity for enhancing the methods of seismogram interpretation and seismic parameter extraction, by the implementation of digital processing methods at seismic observatories worldwide. It must be ensured that this new information will be available to the entire seismological community. It is believed that this purpose is best served with an ISOP that promotes increased on-site processing at digital stations in Africa and elsewhere. Improvements in seismology require truly international cooperation and the educational aspects of seismological practice form one of the goals of the ISOP. Thus, workshops will be needed in Africa to train analysts in ISOP procedures and to introduce them to modern techniques and applications of the data. Participants will, thus, benefit from theoretical results and practical experience that are of direct relevance to their own work.

Tectonophysics↗

Causality guided machine learning model on wetland CH4 emissions across global wetlands

Wetland CH 4 emissions are among the most uncertain components of the global CH 4 budget. The complex nature of wetland CH 4 processes makes it challenging to identify causal relationships for improving our understanding and predictability of CH 4 emissions. In this study, we used the flux measurements of CH 4 from eddy covariance towers (30 sites from 4 wetlands types: bog, fen, marsh, and wet tundra) to construct a causality-constrained machine learning (ML) framework to explain the regulative factors and to capture CH 4 emissions at sub-seasonal scale. We found that soil temperature is the dominant factor for CH 4 emissions in all studied wetland types. Ecosystem respiration (CO 2 ) and gross primary productivity exert controls at bog, fen, and marsh sites with lagged responses of days to weeks. Integrating these asynchronous environmental and biological causal relationships in predictive models significantly improved model performance. More importantly, modeled CH 4 emissions differed by up to a factor of 4 under a +1°C warming scenario when causality constraints were considered. These results highlight the significant role of causality in modeling wetland CH 4 emissions especially under future warming conditions, while traditional data-driven ML models may reproduce observations for the wrong reasons. Our proposed causality-guided model could benefit predictive modeling, large-scale upscaling, data gap-filling, and surrogate modeling of wetland CH 4 emissions within earth system land models.

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology↗

Rocky Mountain hydroclimate: Holocene variability and the role of insolation, ENSO, and the North American Monsoon

Over the period of instrumental records, precipitation maximum in the headwaters of the Colorado Rocky Mountains has been dominated by winter snow, with a substantial degree of interannual variability linked to Pacific ocean–atmosphere dynamics. High-elevation snowpack is an important water storage that is carefully observed in order to meet increasing water demands in the greater semi-arid region. The purpose here is to consider Rocky Mountain water trends during the Holocene when known changes in earth's energy balance were caused by precession-driven insolation variability. Changes in solar insolation are thought to have influenced the variability and intensity of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and North American Monsoon and the seasonal precipitation balance between rain and snow at upper elevations. Holocene records are presented from two high elevation lakes located in northwest Colorado that document decade-to-century scale precipitation seasonality for the past ~ 7000 years. Comparisons with sub-tropical records of ENSO indicate that the snowfall-dominated precipitation maxima developed ~ 3000 and 4000 years ago, coincident with evidence for enhanced ENSO/PDO dynamics. During the early-to-mid Holocene the records suggest a more monsoon affected precipitation regime with reduced snowpack, more rainfall, and net moisture deficits that were more severe than recent droughts. The Holocene perspective of precipitation indicates a far broader range of variability than that of the past century and highlights the non-linear character of hydroclimate in the U.S. west.

Colorado↗

Post-rifting stress relaxation at the divergent plate boundary in northeast Iceland

Interaction of the elastic lithosphere with the underlying anelastic asthenosphere causes strain to propagate along the Earth's surface in a diffusion-like manner following tectonism at plate boundaries. This process transfers stress between adjacent tectonic segments and influences the temporal tectonic pattern along a plate boundary. Observations of such strain transients have been rare, and have hitherto been confined to strike-slip and underthrusting plate boundaries 1 . Here we report the observation of a strain transient at the divergent (spreading) plate boundary in Iceland. A Global Positioning System survey undertaken a decade after an episode of dyke intrusion accompanying several metres of crustal spreading reveals a spatially varying strain field with the expected diffusion-pulse shape and an amplitude three times greater than the 5.7 cm that would be expected from the average spreading rate 2 . A simple one-dimensional model with a thin elastic layer overlying a viscous layer fits the data well and yields a stress diffusivity of 1.1 á±0.3 m 2 s −1 . Combined with struc-tural information from magnetotelluric measurements, this implies a viscosity of 0.3−2 × 10 19 Pa s—a value comparable to that derived for Iceland from post-glacial rebound 23 , but low compared with estimates for mantle viscosity obtained elsewhere 3 .

Nature↗

Hydraulic, geochemical, and thermal monitoring of an aquifer system in the vicinity of Mammoth Lakes, Mono County, California, 2015–17

Since 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey has been working in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, Mono County, Ormat Technologies, Inc., and the Mammoth Community Water District to design and implement a groundwater-monitoring program for the proposed Casa Diablo IV Geothermal Power Project in Long Valley Caldera, California, to characterize baseline groundwater-level, water-temperature, and water-chemistry conditions at dedicated monitoring wells and municipal supply wells. The publicly available data and the analyses provided here represent quality-assured and peer-reviewed information to help with the management of the thermal and non-thermal water resources beneath and in the vicinity of the town of Mammoth Lakes, California. The methods of data collection for continuous water levels and quarterly water-temperature profiles for two 600-foot-deep monitoring wells during 2016 through 2017 are discussed. Also discussed are the methods of water-sample collection and characterizations of the water chemistry in numerous wells in the multilayered aquifer system beneath Mammoth Lakes. Additionally, the methodology used to develop digital (mathematical) filters to remove or reduce the effects of barometric pressure and solid Earth tides on the continuous water-level records is discussed. Digitally filtered water levels for a 2017 flow test of a deep geothermal production well are described, and various aquifer responses observed during the flow test are discussed. These are further considered in a companion evaluation of potential physical and chemical influences on the water-level data collected during the flow test. The digitally filtered water-level data indicated that some hydraulic communication exists between the deep geothermal aquifer and shallow groundwater aquifer at the location of the flow test, northeast of Mammoth Lakes. Groundwater-chemistry data from three wells indicated that shallow groundwater naturally mixes with a small component of geothermal water along the northern periphery of the shallow aquifer system at Mammoth Lakes.

California↗

Normal electromagnetic variations, tectono-magnetic effects, earthquakes, and animal behavior

The temporal and spatial variations of the geomagnetic field at the earth's surface can be as much as 100 gammas/minute and 200 gammas/km, respectively. Tectono-magnetic signals from the most likely physical, mechanisms are expected not to exceed a few gammas. Observations along the San Andreas fault of earthquake related tectonomagnetic signals indicate maximum signals of less than four gammas, while similar observations on active volcanoes indicate a few tens of gammas. An explanation of the origin of anomalous animal behavior in terms of a magnetic source implies either a capability to discriminate against the temporal and spatial field variations or the existence of some as yet unknown and unobserved localized source with larger anomaly amplitudes.

Open-File Report↗

Phosphatic zone in the lower part of the Maquoketa Shale in northeastern Iowa

The basal beds of the Maquoketa Shale in northeastern Iowa include a basal silty phosphorite layer that is thickest near Dubuque. In Clayton County, Iowa, the bed averages about 1 foot thick (30 centimeters) and contains 22.5 percent P 2 0 5 . Phosphatic dolomite that is 8 10 feet (2.4 3 meters) thick and occurs higher in the Maquoketa was observed only in Dubuque County. The thickest and most phosphatic rock in the Maquoketa appears to be coextensive with dark-brown shale, which also occurs mainly in Dubuque County. Rare-earth content of the phosphatic rock decreases southeastward across the area, ranging from 2,000 to about 120 parts per million. The thin low-grade phosphorite is typical of the platform-type phosphorite facies and may be' genetically related to the emergence of the Ozark uplift as an island late in the Ordovician period.

Iowa↗

How to build and teach with QuakeCaster: an earthquake demonstration and exploration tool

QuakeCaster is an interactive, hands-on teaching model that simulates earthquakes and their interactions along a plate-boundary fault. QuakeCaster contains the minimum number of physical processes needed to demonstrate most observable earthquake features. A winch to steadily reel in a line simulates the steady plate tectonic motions far from the plate boundaries. A granite slider in frictional contact with a nonskid rock-like surface simulates a fault at a plate boundary. A rubber band connecting the line to the slider simulates the elastic character of the Earth’s crust. By stacking and unstacking sliders and cranking in the winch, one can see the results of changing the shear stress and the clamping stress on a fault. By placing sliders in series with rubber bands between them, one can simulate the interaction of earthquakes along a fault, such as cascading or toggling shocks. By inserting a load scale into the line, one can measure the stress acting on the fault throughout the earthquake cycle. As observed for real earthquakes, QuakeCaster events are not periodic, time-predictable, or slip-predictable. QuakeCaster produces rare but unreliable “foreshocks.” When fault gouge builds up, the friction goes to zero and fault creep is seen without large quakes. QuakeCaster events produce very small amounts of fault gouge that strongly alter its behavior, resulting in smaller, more frequent shocks as the gouge accumulates. QuakeCaster is designed so that students or audience members can operate it and record its output. With a stopwatch and ruler one can measure and plot the timing, slip distance, and force results of simulated earthquakes. People of all ages can use the QuakeCaster model to explore hypotheses about earthquake occurrence. QuakeCaster takes several days and about $500.00 in materials to build.

Open-File Report↗

Closing the gap between regional and global travel time tomography

Recent global travel time tomography studies by Zhou [1996] and van der Hilst et al . [1997] have been performed with cell parameterizations of the order of those frequently used in regional tomography studies (i.e., with cell sizes of 1°–2°). These new global models constitute a considerable improvement over previous results that were obtained with rather coarse parameterizations (5° cells). The inferred structures are, however, of larger scale than is usually obtained in regional models, and it is not clear where and if individual cells are actually resolved. This study aims at resolving lateral heterogeneity on scales as small as 0.6° in the upper mantle and 1.2°–3° in the lower mantle. This allows for the adequate mapping of expected small-scale structures induced by, for example, lithosphere subduction, deep mantle upwellings, and mid-ocean ridges. There are three major contributions that allow for this advancement. First, we employ an irregular grid of nonoverlapping cells adapted to the heterogeneous sampling of the Earth's mantle by seismic waves [ Spakman and Bijwaard , 1998]. Second, we exploit the global data set of Engdahl et al . [1998], which is a reprocessed version of the global data set of the International Seismological Centre. Their reprocessing included hypocenter redetermination and phase reidentification. Finally, we combine all data used ( P , pP , and pwP phases) into nearly 5 million ray bundles with a limited spatial extent such that averaging over large mantle volumes is prevented while the signal-to-noise ratio is improved. In the approximate solution of the huge inverse problem we obtain a variance reduction of 57.1%. Synthetic sensitivity tests indicate horizontal resolution on the scale of the smallest cells (0.6° or 1.2°) in the shallow parts of subduction zones decreasing to approximately 2°–3° resolution in well-sampled regions in the lower mantle. Vertical resolution can be worse (up to several hundreds of kilometers) in subduction zones with rays predominantly pointing along dip. Important features of the solution are as follows: 100–200 km thick high-velocity slabs beneath all major subduction zones, sometimes flattening in the transition zone and sometimes directly penetrating into the lower mantle; large high-velocity anomalies in the lower mantle that have been attributed to subduction of the Tethys ocean and the Farallon plate; and low-velocity anomalies continuing across the 660 km discontinuity to hotspots at the surface under Iceland, east Africa, the Canary Islands, Yellowstone, and the Society Islands. Our findings corroborate that the 660 km boundary may resist but not prevent (present day) large-scale mass transfer from upper to lower mantle or vice versa. This observation confirms the results of previous, global mantle studies that employed coarser parameterizations.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗

Development of partial rock veneers by root throw in a subalpine setting

Rock veneers stabilize hillslope surfaces, occur especially in areas of immature soil, and form through a variety of process sets that includes root throw. Near Westcliffe, Colorado, USA, data were collected from a 20 ?? 500 m transect on the east slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Ages of pit/mound complexes with rock fragments exposed at the surface by root throw ranged from recent (freshly toppled tree) to unknown (complete tree decay). Calculations based on dimensions of the pit/mound complexes, estimated time of free topppling, sizes of exposed rock fragments, and percentage rock covers at pit/mound complexes, as well as within the transect area, indicate that recent rates of root throw have resulted in only partial rock veneering since late Pleistocene deglaciation. Weathering of rock fragments prevent development of an extensive rock veneer and causes a balance, achieved within an estimated 700 years, between the rates of rock-fragment exposure by root throw and clast disintegration by chemical reduction. The estimated rate of rock-fragment reduction accounts for part of the fluvial sediment yields observed for forested subalpine areas of western North America. Copyright ?? 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Earth Surface Processes and Landforms↗

The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction: A lethal mechanism involving anhydrite target rocks

The Chicxulub Crater, Yucatan, Mexico, is a leading contender as the site for the impact event that caused the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) extinctions. A considerable thickness of anhydrite (CaSO 4 ) forms part of the target rock. High temperatures resulting from impact would drive SO 2 off from the anhydrite. Hundreds of billions of tonnes of sulfuric acid aerosol would thus enter the stratosphere and cause considerable cooling of the Earth's surface, decrease photosynthesis by orders of magnitude, deplete the ozone layer, and permit increased UV radiation to reach the Earth's surface. Finally, the aerosol would fall back to Earth as acid rain and devastate land and some lacustrine biota and near-surface marine creatures. The presence of anhydrite in the Chicxulub target rock may thus help explain the many extinctions observed at the K-T boundary.

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta↗

The effect of pressurized magma chamber growth on melt migration and pre-caldera vent locations through time at Mount Mazama, Crater Lake, Oregon

The pattern of eruptions at long-lived volcanic centers provides a window into the co-evolution of crustal magma transport, tectonic stresses, and unsteady magma generation at depth. Mount Mazama in the Oregon Cascades has seen variable activity over the last 400 ky, including the 50 km 3 climactic eruption at ca. 7.7 ka that produced Crater Lake caldera. The physical mechanisms responsible for the assembly of silicic magma reservoirs that are the precursors to caldera-forming eruptions are poorly understood. Here we argue that the spatial and temporal distribution of geographically clustered volcanic vents near Mazama reflects the development of a centralized magma chamber that fed the climactic eruption. Time-averaged eruption rates at Mount Mazama imply an order of magnitude increase in deep magma influx prior to the caldera-forming event, suggesting that unsteady mantle melting triggered a chamber growth episode that culminated in caldera formation. We model magma chamber–dike interactions over ∼50 ky preceding the climactic eruption to fit the observed distribution of surface eruptive vents in space and time, as well as petrologically estimated deep influx rates. Best fitting models predict an expanding zone of dike capture caused by a growing, oblate spheroidal magma chamber with 10–30 MPa of overpressure. This growing zone of chamber influence causes closest approaching regional mafic vent locations as well as more compositionally evolved Mazama eruptions to migrate away from the climactic eruptive center, returning as observed to the center after the chamber drains during the caldera-forming eruption.

Oregon↗

A great tsunami earthquake component of the 1957 Aleutian Islands earthquake

The great 1957 Aleutian Islands earthquake ruptured ∼1200 km of the plate boundary along the Aleutian subduction zone and produced a destructive tsunami across Hawaiʻi. Early seismic and tsunami analyses indicated that large megathrust fault slip was concentrated in the western Aleutian Islands, but tsunami waves generated by slip in the west cannot explain the large observed runup in Hawaiʻi far to the southeast. Recently mapped 1957 geologic deposits on eastern Aleutian Islands suggest occurrence of very large nearby slip. Jointly modeling tsunami runup along the eastern Aleutian and Hawaiian Islands together with tide gauge recordings across the Pacific resolves 12-26 m shallow slip along 600 km of the eastern Aleutian Islands in addition to modest, deeper western slip inferred from seismic records. The eastern near-trench slip results in an M W 8.3-8.6 tsunami earthquake component of the M W 8.6-8.8 rupture, comparable in size to the adjacent 1946 Aleutian tsunami earthquake to the east. The reexamination of the 1957 rupture confirms the tsunami hazards posed by the eastern Aleutian subduction zone to Hawaiʻi and lays the groundwork for investigation of large prehistoric earthquakes through modeling tsunami runup inferred from stratigraphic observations to constrain their rupture processes.

Alaska↗