Compressional and shear wave velocity and attenuation measurements were obtained in the laboratory from 50 mm diameter, cylindrical, limestone core samples over a confining pressure range of 5 – 60 MPa. Normal and tangential fracture compliance values, as a function of confining pressure, were calculated for a single fracture cut perpendicular to the long axis of the core. The ratio of the normal to tangential compliance was approximately 0.4 and was independent of the applied stress. Values of normal and tangential fracture compliance calculated were of the order 10^-14 m/Pa, and decreased with an increase in confining pressure. Both Q^-1</sup>_P and Q^-1</sup>_S1/Qs were shown to be small for these samples. A borehole test site was constructed in a Carboniferous limestone quarry, at Tytherington, situated north of Bristol, UK. This quarry was chosen because the rock type was fairly homogeneous and the fractures could be mapped in the quarry walls as well as down three, 40 m vertical boreholes drilled in-line in the quarry floor. Wireline logs were obtained in all the holes and a seismic crosshole survey was carried out between the two outermost boreholes. An estimate of in-situ normal fracture compliance, Z_N, was obtained from the log and crosshole data, in 4 different ways, using effective medium theories as well as the displacement discontinuity theory. An additional estimate of Z_N was obtained from a separate borehole test site constructed in fractured Devonian meta-sediments at Reskajeage, Cornwall, UK. These fractures were much larger in size than those observed at Tytherington quarry. From the above field and laboratory measurements, fracture compliance was shown to increase approximately linearly with the size of the fractures. In addition, a study of crosshole seismic attenuation was performed at Tytherington quarry. Q was found to be frequency dependent. This frequency dependence was interpreted as being due to scattering rather than intrinsic attenuation.

The Wilkes Land margin of East Antarctica, conjugate to the southern Australian margin, is a non-volcanic rifted margin that formed during the Late Cretaceous. During 2000-01 and 2001-02, Geoscience Australia (GA) acquired ~10,000 line km of seismic reflection, magnetic anomaly, and gravity anomaly data, on the Wilkes Land margin. Seismic reflection and sonobuoy refraction data provide the first constraints on sediment thickness and images of the deep crustal structure for the extent of the Wilkes Land margin. Two major post-rift seismic-stratigraphic sequences are recognised, separated by a regionally correlatable unconformity. The unconformity is interpreted as Early- to Middle-Eocene (~50 Ma). This unconformity has previously been interpreted to represent the onset of continent-wide glaciation at ~34 Ma. A major unconformity at the base of post-rift sediments is interpreted as a breakup unconformity, of approximately Turonian (85-90 Ma) age. Timing the onset of seafloor spreading using lineated magnetic anomalies within the Australia-Antarctic Basin (AAB) is extremely difficult due to uncertainties in correlating anomalies to the geomagnetic reversal time scale. Modelling indicates that the anomaly commonly correlated to Chron 34y may, in some cases, be associated with high level intrusions and/or serpentinisation of exhumed upper-mantle peridotites. Process-oriented gravity modelling indicates that the Wilkes Land margin lithosphere is characterised by a relatively high effective elastic thickness (Te). Isostatic anomalies are most effectively reduced for models utilising Te = 30 km. Although the margin is broadly characterised by a high Te, zones of low Te are inferred from modelling. Spectral analysis of isostatic anomalies indicates that the power of the flexural isostatic anomalies is lower than the free air gravity anomalies. The margin does not appear to be segmented, at least in regard to its long-term strength. However, a change in initial, zero-elevation crustal thickness (Tc) is inferred from west to east. A Tc of ~35 km is inferred for western Wilkes Land, whereas eastern Wilkes Land is characterised by Tc = 29 to 31 km. Limited seismic refraction data from the conjugate margin indicates a similar trend from southwest to southeast Australia.

The cause and distribution of spatial variations in the mechanical properties of the continental lithosphere are fundamental questions for modern geology. In this study variations in long-term lithospheric rigidity have been investigated. These investigations used profile- and grid-based flexural models of the lithosphere’s response to geologically imposed topographic, or buried, loads. These models were constrained by topographic and gravity data allowing recovery of best fitting rigidity values. In Oman a Cretaceous ophiolite acts as a significant load on the continental crust. Flexural models along profiles orthogonal to the ophiolite strike show that the observed gravity data can be best modelled by an elastic beam with standard thickness (T_e) of 30 km. Along strike there is shown to be significant variation in the foreland shape and the observed gravity signal. This, it is proposed, relates to the complex tectonic processes which occurred as the ophiolite was obducted. The Himalayan foreland has been the focus of controversy over the recovered long-term rigidity of the continents, with recovered T_e values ranging from 40 to over 90 km. Both profile- and grid-based techniques show that T_e is high (>70 km) in the foreland region. Across the India-Eurasia collisional system as a whole T_e values are variable. Beneath the Tibetan plateau recovered values are generally low (<10 km), while the plateau margins are marked by regions of higher rigidity. Recovered T_e values across the Arabia-Eurasia collisional system range from over 60 km in the foreland region to close to zero beneath the high Zagros mountains. In the eastern part of the foreland, flexural models match the gravity data; however, they disagree with sediment thickness data for the material infilling the foreland. This discrepancy is interpreted in terms of de-coupling of the flexural lithosphere from the shallower crustal levels, caused by the presence of significant salt deposits in this region. Application of grid-based techniques to South America, North America and Europe recover a broad range of Te values from ∼0 to over 90 km. The low T_e values are explained in active orogenic belts in terms of current processes acting to weaken the lithosphere, and in the continental interiors as the relics of past orogenic events. High T_e values in the continental interiors correlate with ancient cratonic cores which have undergone little deformation since their formation in the Archean. This study shows that T_e variations have a critical influence on the development of large compressional orogenic belts. In the Himalayan and Andean orogens there is a correlation between the over-thrusting of the orogenic belt and high T_e foreland regions. Where lower T_e regions are seen, less over thrusting is apparent, and in the case of the India-Eurasia collisional system out-flow of lower crustal material may be occurring.

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 105 pages. / Thesis (M.S.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: Relative plate motion history since 30 Ma between the Pacific and the southern portion of the Nazca (Farallon) plates is examined. The history is constrained by available seafloor magnetic anomaly data and a two-minute grid of predicted bathymetry derived from satellite altimetry and shipboard sensors. These data are used to create a new plate motion reconstruction based on new magnetic anomaly identifications and finite poles of motion. The new identified magnetic isochrons and tectonic reconstruction provides greater resolution to the tectonic history between chrons 7y (24.73 Ma) and 3 (4.18 Ma) than previous interpretations. Shipboard magnetics and aeromagnetic data from over 250 expeditions were plotted and used to extrapolate magnetic anomalies picked from 2D magnetic modeling from selected cruises. Magnetic anomalies were further constrained by tectonic features evident in the predicted bathymetry. / ABSTRACT: Previously published magnetic anomaly locations consistent with this work were used where interpretation could not be constrained by 2D modeling and map extrapolation. Point locations for anomalies were used as input for calculation of finite poles of motion for chrons 10y, 7y, 6c, 5d, 5b, 5aa, 5o, 4a and 3a. An iterative process of anomaly mapping, pole calculation and anomaly point rotations was used to refine the finite poles of motion. Eleven stage poles were calculated from the nine finite poles from this study and two published instantaneous Euler vectors. Tectonic reconstructions indicate a history dominated by two major southward ridge propagation events, the first starting by 28 Ma and completed by 18 Ma. The second event initiated in association with breakup of the Farallon plate around 24 Ma and ceased by about 11 Ma. Lithosphere was transferred from Nazca to Pacific during the first event and in the opposite sense during the second. / ABSTRACT: Development of the Mendoza microplate east of the later propagator occurred at about 20 Ma and this dual spreading process appears to have lasted until about 15 Ma. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The Gorringe Bank region is located at the eastern end of the Azores-Gibraltar plate boundary, which plate kinematic studies show to progressively change from extension at the Azores, through pure right lateral strike slip at the Gloria fault to compression at Gibraltar. The region is dominated by high relief (4-5 km), highly deformed, uncompensated, ENE-WSW trending seamounts and intervening abyssal plains with basin sediment thicknesses in excess of 4 km and minimal surface deformation. Gorringe Bank, which was formed by overthrusting of the African plate upon the Eurasian plate at about 10 Ma along the plate boundary, is supported in part by exure of the Eurasian plate, as indicated by pre-loading sediments and basement to the north which are tilted towards Gorringe Bank. Broken plate models show the Eurasian plate to have an elastic thickness of about 35 km which is in agreement with that expected for the crustal age (130-135 Ma) at the time of loading. Coral Patch Ridge was formed by a combination of thrust faulting and whole crustal buckling resulting from the past 20 Ma compression and was partially uplifted before deposition of an olistostrome in the Middle Miocene. Recent compressional deformation is distributed over a wide region, as indicated by the dispersed shallow seismicity and has a trend which rotates from approximately N45oE to N70oE from west to east across the region, near perpendicular to westward verging plate motion vectors. The majority of extensional and strike-slip deformation is explained by a regional strike-slip strain ellipse model, including an antithetic NNE-SSW strike slip fault between Gettysburg and Hirondelle seamounts which marks the boundary between the Eastern and Western Horseshoe Basins. Isostatic models for the Madeira-Tore Rise, which initially formed at the Mid Atlantic Ridge, give an elastic thickness of approximately 15 km indicating that significant material was added to the Rise as it moved away from the Ridge.

Relative plate motion history since 30 Ma between the Pacific and the southern portion of the Nazca (Farallon) plates is examined. The history is constrained by available seafloor magnetic anomaly data and a two-minute grid of predicted bathymetry derived from satellite altimetry and shipboard sensors. These data are used to create a new plate motion reconstruction based on new magnetic anomaly identifications and finite poles of motion. The new identified magnetic isochrons and tectonic reconstruction provides greater resolution to the tectonic history between chrons 7y (24.73 Ma) and 3 (4.18 Ma) than previous interpretations. Shipboard magnetics and aeromagnetic data from over 250 expeditions were plotted and used to extrapolate magnetic anomalies picked from 2D magnetic modeling from selected cruises. Magnetic anomalies were further constrained by tectonic features evident in the predicted bathymetry. Previously published magnetic anomaly locations consistent with this work were used where interpretation could not be constrained by 2D modeling and map extrapolation. Point locations for anomalies were used as input for calculation of finite poles of motion for chrons 10y, 7y, 6c, 5d, 5b, 5aa, 5o, 4a and 3a. An iterative process of anomaly mapping, pole calculation and anomaly point rotations was used to refine the finite poles of motion. Eleven stage poles were calculated from the nine finite poles from this study and two published instantaneous Euler vectors. Tectonic reconstructions indicate a history dominated by two major southward ridge propagation events, the first starting by 28 Ma and completed by 18 Ma. The second event initiated in association with breakup of the Farallon plate around 24 Ma and ceased by about 11 Ma. Lithosphere was transferred from Nazca to Pacific during the first event and in the opposite sense during the second. Development of the Mendoza microplate east of the later propagator occurred at about 20 Ma and this dual spreading process appears to have lasted until about 15 Ma.

Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Marine Geology and Geophysics (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-37). / We evaluate the applicability of plagioclase and gabbro flow laws by comparing predicted and observed deformation mechanisms in gabbroic shear zones. Gabbros and layered gabbro mylonites were collected from the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR), ODP Hole 735B. Deformation temperatures are constrained by two-pyroxene thermometry, stress is estimated from grain size, and deformation mechanisms are analyzed by microstructure and the presence or absence of a lattice preferred orientation (LPO). Our analyses indicate that mylonite layers deformed at a strain rate in the range of 1012 to 101 s-1, while coarse-grained gabbro deformed at a strain rate of approximately 10-14 to 1013 s-1. Plagioclase in pure plagioclase mylonite layers exhibit strong LPOs indicating they deform by dislocation creep. Plagioclase grain size in mixed plagioclase-pyroxene mylonite layers is finer than in pure plagioclase layers, and depends on the size and proportion of pyroxenes. Progressive mixing of pyroxene and plagioclase within gabbro mylonite layers is accompanied by weakening of the LPO indicating that phase mixing promotes a transition to diffusion creep processes that involve grain boundary sliding. Our results indicate that experimental flow laws are accurate at geologic strain rates, although the strain rate for diffusion creep of fine-grained gabbro may be underestimated. At the conditions estimated for the SWIR crust, our calculations suggest that strain localization leads to a factor of two to four decrease in lower crustal viscosity. Even so, the viscosity of lower gabbroic crust is predicted to be similar to that of dry upper mantle. / by Luc Mehl. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Marine Geology and Geophysics (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (v.2, leaves 309-317). / Many features of the oceanic plates cannot be explained by conductive cooling with age. A number of these anomalies require additional convective thermal sources at depths below the plate: mid-plate swells, the evolution of fracture zones, the mean depth and heat flow relationships with age and the observation of small scale (150-250 km) geoid and topography anomalies in the Central Pacific and Indian oceans. Convective models are presented of the formation and evolution of these features. In particular, the effect of a shallow low viscosity layer in the uppermost mantle on mantle flow and its geoid, topography, gravity and heat flow expression is explored. A simple numerical model is employed of convection in a fluid which has a low viscosity layer lying between a rigid bed and a constant viscosity region. Finite element calculations have been used to determine the effects of (1) the viscosity contrast between the two fluid layers, (2) the thickness of the low viscosity zone, (3) the thickness of the conducting lid, and (4) the Rayleigh number of the fluid based on the viscosity of the lower layer. A model simple for mid-plate swells is that they are the surface expression of a convection cell driven by a heat flux from below. The low viscosity zone causes the top boundary layer of the convection cell to thin and, at high viscosity contrasts and Rayleigh numbers, it can cause the boundary layer to go unstable. The low viscosity zone also mitigates the transmission of normal stress to the conducting lid so that the topography and geoid anomalies decrease. The geoid anomaly decreases faster than the topography anomaly, however, so that the depth of compensation can appear to be well within the conducting lid. Because the boundary layer is thinned, the elastic plate thickness also decreases and, since the low viscosity allows the fluid to flow faster in the top layer, the uplift time decreases as well. We have compared the results of this modeling to data at the Hawaii, Bermuda, Cape Verde and Marquesas swells, and have found that it can reproduce their observed anomalies. The viscosity contrasts that are required range from 0.2-0.01, which are in agreement with other estimates of shallow viscosity variation in the upper mantle. Also, the estimated viscosity contrast decreases as the age of the swell increases. This trend is consistent with theoretical estimates of the variation of such a low viscosity zone with age. Fracture zones juxtapose segments of the oceanic plates of different ages and thermal structures. The flow induced by the horizontal temperature gradient at the fracture zone initially downwells immediately adjacent to the fracture zone on the older side, generating cells on either side of the plume. The time scale and characteristic wavelength of this flow depends initially on the viscosity near the largest temperature gradient in the fluid which, in our model, is the viscosity of the low viscosity layer. They therefore depend on both the Rayleigh number and the viscosity contrast between the layers. Eventually the flow extends throughout the box, and the time scales and the characteristic wavelengths of the flow depend on the thickness and viscosity of both layers. When the Rayleigh number based on the viscosity of the top la er, and the depth of both fluid layers, is less than 10 , the geoid anomalies of these flows are dominated by the convective signal. When this Rayleigh number exceeds 106, the geoid anomalies retain a step across the fracture zone out to large ages. We have compared our results to geoid anomalies over the Udintsev fracture zone, and have found that the predicted geoid anomalies, with high effective Rayleigh numbers, agree at longer wavelengths with the observed anomalies and can produce the observed geoid slope-age behaviour. We have also compared the calculated topographic steps to those predicted by the average depth-age relationships observed in the oceans. We have found that only with a low viscosity zone will the flow due to fracture zones not disturb the average depth versus age relationships. We have also applied the model to a numerical study of the effect of a low viscosity zone in the uppermost mantle on the onset and surface expression of convective instabilities in the cooling oceanic plates. We find that the onset and magnitude of the geoid, topography and heat flow anomalies produced by these instabilities are very sensitive to the viscosity contrast and the Rayleigh number, and that the thickness of the low viscosity zone is constrained by the wavelength of the observables. If the Rayleigh number of the low viscosity zone exceeds a critical value then the convection will be confined to the low viscosity zone for a period which depends on the viscosity contrast and the Rayleigh number. The small scale convection will eventually decay into longer wavelength convection which extends throughout the upper mantle, so that the small scale convective signal will eventually be succeeded by a longer wavelength signal. We compare our model to the small scale geoid and topography anomalies observed in the Southeast Pacific. The magnitude (0.50-0.80 m in geoid and 250 m in topography), early onset time (5-10 m.y.) and lifetime (over 40 m.y.) of these anomalies suggest a large viscosity contrast of greater than two orders of magnitude. The trend to longer wavelengths also suggests a high Rayleigh number of near or over 10 and their original 150-250 km wavelength indicates a low viscosity zone of 75- 125 km thickness. We have found that the presence of such small scale convection does not disturb the slope of the depth-age curve but elevates it by up to 250 m, and it is not until the onset of long wavelength convection that the depth-age curves radically depart from a cooling halfspace model. In the Pacific, the depth-age curve is slightly elevated in the region where small scale convection is observed and it does not depart from a halfspace cooling model until an age of 70 m.y.. Models that produce the small scale anomalies predict a departure time between 55 and 65 m.y. / by Elizabeth M. Robinson. / Ph.D.

Thesis: Ph. D. in Marine Geology, Joint Program in Marine Geology and Geophysics (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis analyzes compositions of seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits and related hydrothermal vent fluids to identify proxies of reaction zone conditions (host-rock lithology, hydrothermal fluid temperature and chemistry). Chapter 2 investigates the morphology, mineralogy, and geochemistry of SMS deposits from six vent fields along the Eastern Lau Spreading Center (ELSC), demonstrating that ELSC SMS deposits record differences in hydrothermal fluid temperature, pH, sulfur fugacity and host-rock lithology related to proximity to the nearby Tonga Subduction Zone. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on partitioning of Co, Ni, Ga, Ag, and In between hydrothermal vent fluids and chalcopyrite lining fluid conduits in black smoker chimneys. Chapter 3 develops secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) as a technique to measure Co, Ni, Ga, Ag, and In in chalcopyrite and identifies a correlation between Ga and In in chalcopyrite and hydrothermal fluid pH. Chapter 4 presents new data on these elements in ELSC hydrothermal fluids that, combined with SIMS analyses of chalcopyrite chimney linings and previously published data on vent fluids from the Manus Basin, provide evidence that supports partitioning of Ag a lattice substitution for Cu. Together, concentrations of Ga, In, and Ag in chalcopyrite provide proxies of hydrothermal fluid pH and metal (i.e., Ag and Cu) contents. / by Guy Nathaniel Evans. / Ph. D. in Marine Geology

Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Marine Geology and Geophysics (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-79). / This study describes the spatial distribution of sediment deposition in the wake of a circular patch of model vegetation and the effect of the patch on turbulence and mean flow. Two difference types pf vegetation were used along with two different stem densities totaling four different case studies. The spatial location of enhanced deposition correlated with the steady wake zone, which has length, L1. The steady wake zone only occurred downstream of the rigid emergent patches of vegetation and was not seen downstream of the flexible submerged patches of vegetation. The enhanced deposition occurred when both turbulence and mean velocity was below the upstream, initial values. The enhanced deposition occurred when the mean velocity was less than or equal to half of the initial velocity. For the four cases studied, theses parameters of low velocity and low turbulence were primarily met within the steady wake region immediately downstram of the two rigid emergent patches of vegetation. In all four cases, large coherent structures are created in the flow due to the patch. Lateral vortices are formed downstream of the patch in a von-Karman vortex street that meets at the center of the flow a distance, Lw, downstream of the patch. For the flexible submerged cases, streamlines reattach to the bed of the flume a distance, Lv, downstream of the patch. In addition, for the flexible submerged cases, a secondary circulation is generated with flow moving laterally away from the patch at the surface and toward the centerline of the patch at the bed. / by Alejandra C. Ortiz. / S.M.