Development of a Late Quaternary Marine Terraced Landscape during On-Going Tectonic Contraction, Crescent City Coastal Plain, California

1999 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Polenz ◽  
Harvey M. Kelsey
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Thrust Fault ◽  
Cascadia Subduction Zone ◽  
Marine Terrace ◽  
Crescent City ◽  
The North ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
Tectonically Active

The Crescent City coastal plain is a low-lying surface of negligible relief that lies on the upper plate of the Cascadia subduction zone in northernmost California. Whereas coastal reaches to the north in southern Oregon and to the south near Cape Mendocino contain flights of deformed marine terraces from which a neotectonic history can be deduced, equivalent terraces on the Crescent City coastal plain are not as pronounced. Reexamination of the coastal plain revealed three late Pleistocene marine terraces, identified on the basis of subtle geomorphic boundaries and further delineated by differentiable degrees of soil development. The youngest marine terrace is preserved in the axial valley of a broad syncline, and the two older marine terraces face each other across the axial region. An active thrust fault, previously recognized offshore, underlies the coastal plain, and folding in the hanging wall of this thrust fault has dictated, through differential uplift, the depositional limits of each successive marine terrace unit. This study demonstrates the importance of local structures in coastal landscape evolution along tectonically active coastlines and exemplifies the utility of soil relative-age determinations to identify actively growing folds in landscapes of low relief.

scholarly journals Upper-plate deformation of Late Pleistocene marine terraces in the Trinidad, California, coastal area, southern Cascadia subduction zone

Geosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 1323-1341 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Scott Padgett ◽  
Harvey M. Kelsey ◽  
David Lamphear
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Coastal Area ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Cascadia Subduction Zone ◽  
Marine Terrace ◽  
Plate Deformation ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
Sea Cliff

Abstract Forming at sea level, uplifted shore platforms serve as long-term geodetic markers. The spatial distribution and elevation of marine terrace sequences offer insight into regional tectonics. In the Trinidad coastal area (California, USA), active tectonic processes reflect upper-plate deformation above the southern extent of the Cascadia subduction megathrust. A set of five uplifted and deformed Late Pleistocene marine terraces is preserved in the Trinidad region and provides an opportunity to analyze regional uplift, folding, and faulting. Using lidar imagery embedded within a GIS, we employ a surface classification model (SCM) that identifies uplifted marine terraces on the basis of their micro-topographical characteristics, i.e., low slope and low roughness. The SCM-based identification of marine terraces both supplements and verifies existing field mapping. We demonstrate the utility of the SCM, which can be applied to a variety of surface terrain analysis investigations that seek to identify smooth and/or rough terrain features, e.g., terraces and fault scarps. Age assignments for the five marine terraces, which range from 80 ka to <500 ka, are based on paleo–sea cliff geomorphology and soil development trends. Specifically, the steepest, highest, and most prominent paleo–sea cliff, which is associated with terrace number 3, is correlated to the long-duration sea-level highstand centered at 125 ka (marine isotope stage 5e), exemplifying a novel method in relative age assignment for Pleistocene geomorphic features. Based on these age assignments, the average maximum uplift rates in the Trinidad coastal area are ∼1.0 m/k.y., and the average long-term uplift rate diminishes westward to ∼0.4 – 0.5 m/k.y. on the downthrown side of the Trinidad fault. Based on analysis of deformation using the high-resolution lidar imagery of the marine terraces, the Trinidad hanging-wall anticline represents a fault propagation fold that ceased to be active when the associated reverse fault, the Trinidad fault, daylighted to the surface ca. 80–100 ka. Based on deformation tilts of a marine terrace with an assigned age of 200 ka, the Trinidad anticline has accommodated at least 1 km of shortening in the last 200 k.y., which represents at least 2% of the convergence of the Juan de Fuca plate relative to North America over the same time period. Overall, both the hanging wall and the footwall of the Trinidad fault show long-term positive rock uplift, which implies that the Trinidad anticline and fault are contained within the hanging wall of a deeper structure. Therefore, the Trinidad fault likely splays off of the Cascadia subduction zone megathrust or off of a deeper thrust fault that splays off of the megathrust.

scholarly journals Dating and morphostratigraphy of uplifted marine terraces in the Makran subduction zone (Iran)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphaël Normand ◽  
Guy Simpson ◽  
Frédéric Herman ◽  
Rabiul Haque Biswas ◽  
Abbas Bahroudi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Surface Deformation ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Makran Subduction Zone ◽  
Megathrust Earthquakes ◽  
Surface Uplift ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
Uplift Rates ◽  
Tectonically Active ◽  
East West

Abstract. The western part of the Makran subduction zone (Iran) has not experienced a great megathrust earthquake in recent human history, yet, the presence of emerged marine terraces along the coast indicates that the margin has been tectonically active during at least the late Quaternary. To better understand the surface deformation of this region, we mapped the terraces sequences of seven localities along the Iranian Makran. Additionnaly, we performed radiocarbon, 230Th/U and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of the layers of marine sediments deposited on top of the terraces. This enabled us to correlate the terraces regionally and to assign them to different Quaternary sea level highstands. Our results show east-west variations in surface uplift rates mostly between 0.05 and 1.2 mm y−1. We detected a region of anomalously high uplift rate, where two MIS 3 terraces are emerged, yet we are uncertain how to insert these results in a geologically coherent context. Although it is presently not clear whether the uplift of the terraces is linked with the occurrence of large megathrust earthquakes, our results highlight heterogeneous accumulation of deformation in the overriding plate.

Episodic Emergence in the Past 3000 Years at the Akkeshi Estuary, Hokkaido, Northern Japan

2001 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Sawai
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Vertical Crustal Movement ◽  
The Past ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Tectonically Active ◽  
Emergence Event ◽  
Rapid Emergence ◽  
Northern Japan

AbstractAt the Akkeshi estuary, rapid emergence interrupted Holocene submergence at least four times in the past 3000 years. Each emergence event produced an upward change from estuarine mud to freshwater peat. While the estuarine mud abounds in brackish and marine diatoms, freshwater taxa dominate the peat. Emergence events occurred from 1700 to 2300, 1000 to 1300, and 500 to 700 cal yr B.P. An additional emergence event predated by several decades a volcanic ash that erupted in A.D. 1694. At least three of the events produced contacts abrupt enough to represent uplift during earthquakes. Such uplift may reconcile seemingly conflicting records of vertical crustal movement in eastern Hokkaido. This tectonically active area, which is being subducted by the Pacific plate at 8 cm/yr, contains marine terraces that imply 0.1–0.5 mm/yr of net uplift in the late Quaternary. However, these terraces adjoin tide gages that recorded 8–9 mm/yr of steady submergence in the 20th century. The terrace uplift need not conflict with the gaged submergence if the region is subject to occasional coseismic uplift, as during the emergence events implied by Holocene geology near Akkeshi.

scholarly journals Structural analysis of the Rubjerg Knude Glaciotectonic Complex, Vendsyssel, northern Denmark

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stig A. Schack Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Structural Analysis ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Proximal Part ◽  
Thrust Fault ◽  
The North ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Fault Deformation

Pedersen, S.A.S. 2005: Structural analysis of the Rubjerg Knude Glaciotectonic Complex, Vendsyssel, northern Denmark. Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 8, 192 pp. The Rubjerg Knude Glaciotectonic Complex is a thin-skinned thrust-fault complex that was formed during the advance of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (30 000 – 26 000 B.P.); it is well exposed in a 6 km long coastal profile bordering the North Sea in northern Denmark. The glaciotectonic thrust-fault deformation revealed by this cliff section has been subjected to detailed structural analysis based on photogrammetric measurement and construction of a balanced cross-section. Thirteen sections are differentiated, characterising the distal to proximal structural development of the complex. The deformation affected three stratigraphic units: the Middle Weichselian arctic marine Stortorn Formation, the mainly glaciolacustrine Lønstrup Klint Formation and the dominantly fluvial Rubjerg Knude Formation; these three formations are formally defined herein, together with the Skærumhede Group which includes the Stortorn and Lønstrup Klint Formations. The Rubjerg Knude Formation was deposited on a regional unconformity that caps the Lønstrup Klint Formation and separates pre-tectonic deposits below from syntectonic deposits above. In the distal part of the complex, the thrust-fault architecture is characterised by thin flatlying thrust sheets displaced over the footwall flat of the foreland for a distance of more than 500 m. Towards the proximal part of the complex, the dip of the thrust faults increases, and over long stretches they are over-steepened to an upright position. The lowest décollement zone is about 40 m below sea level in the proximal part of the system, and shows a systematic step-wise change to higher levels in a distal (southwards) direction. The structural elements are ramps and flats related to hanging-wall and footwall positions. Above upper ramp-hinges, hanging-wall anticlines developed; footwall synclines are typically related to growth-fault sedimentation in syntectonic piggyback basins, represented by the Rubjerg Knude Formation. Blocks and slump-sheets constituting parts of the Lønstrup Klint Formation were derived from the tips of up-thrusted thrust sheets and slumped into the basins. Mud diapirs are a prominent element in the thrust-fault complex, resulting from mud mobilisation mainly at hanging-wall flats and ramps. Shortening during thrust-fault deformation has been calculated as 50%. Only about 11% of the initial stratigraphic units subjected to thrust faulting has been lost due to erosion. The thrust-fault deformation was caused by gravity spreading of an advancing ice sheet. Overpressured mud-fluid played an important role in stress transmission. The average velocity of thrust-fault displacement is estimated at 2 m per year, which led to compression of a 12 km stretch of flat-lying sediments, c. 40 m in thickness, into a thrust-fault complex 6 km in length. The thrust-fault complex is truncated by a glaciotectonic unconformity, formed when the advancing ice sheet finally overrode the complex. When this ice sheet melted away, a hilland- hole pair was formed, and meltwater deposits derived from a new ice-advance (NE-Ice) filled the depression. The NE-Ice overran the complex during its advance to the main stationary line situated in the North Sea. When this ice in turn melted away (c. 19 000 – 15 000 B.P.), the glacial landscape was draped by arctic marine deposits of the Vendsyssel Formation (new formation defined herein).

scholarly journals The Subsurface Geology and Landscape Evolution of the Volturno Coastal Plain, Italy: Interplay between Tectonics and Sea-Level Changes during the Quaternary

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3386
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Corrado ◽  
Sabrina Amodio ◽  
Pietro P. C. Aucelli ◽  
Gerardo Pappone ◽  
Marcello Schiattarella
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Plan View ◽  
North West ◽  
The North

The Volturno alluvial-coastal plain is a relevant feature of the Tyrrhenian side of southern Italy. Its plan-view squared shape is due to Pliocene-Quaternary block-faulting of the western flank of the south-Apennines chain. On the basis of the stratigraphic analysis of almost 700 borehole logs and new geomorphological survey, an accurate paleoenvironmental reconstruction before and after the Campania Ignimbrite (CI; about 40 ky) eruption is here presented. Tectonics and eustatic forcing have been both taken into account to completely picture the evolution of the coastal plain during Late Quaternary times. The upper Pleistocene-Holocene infill of the Volturno plain has been here re-organized in a new stratigraphic framework, which includes seven depositional units. Structural analysis showed that two sets of faults displaced the CI, so accounting for recent tectonic activity. Yet Late Quaternary tectonics is rather mild, as evidenced by the decametric vertical separations operated by those faults. The average slip rate, which would represent the tectonic subsidence rate of the plain, is about 0.5 mm/year. A grid of cross sections shows the stratigraphic architecture which resulted from interactions among eustatic changes, tectonics and sedimentary input variations. On the basis of boreholes analysis, the trend of the CI roof was reconstructed. An asymmetrical shape of its ancient morphology—with a steeper slope toward the north-west border—and the lack of coincidence between the present course of the Volturno River and the main buried bedrock incision, are significant achievements of this study. Finally, the morpho-evolutionary path of the Volturno plain has been discussed.

scholarly journals Post-IR IRSL dating of K-feldspar from last interglacial marine terrace deposits on the Kamikita coastal plain, northeastern Japan

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 352-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazumi Ito ◽  
Toru Tamura ◽  
Sumiko Tsukamoto
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
Marine Terrace ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Infrared Stimulated Luminescence ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
Northeastern Japan ◽  
Fading Rate ◽  
Mis 5E ◽  
Ne Japan

Abstract To establish a suitable luminescence dating protocol for marine terrace deposits in Japan, we tested the applicability of K-feldspar post-infrared (IR) infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) (pIRIR) dating using a marine isotope stage (MIS) 5e terrace deposit from the Kamikita coastal plain (NE Japan), where independent age control from a tephra is available. One of the most commonly used pIRIR signals, measured at 290°C with the first IR stimulation temperature at 50°C (pIRIR50/290), faded with a mean g2days value of 1.94 ± 0.19%/decade. In contrast, the pIRIR signal with a higher first IR stimulation temperature of 200°C (pIRIR200/290) had a much lower fading rate (g2days = 0.16 ± 0.49%/decade). The average fading-uncorrected and -corrected pIRIR200/290 ages of MIS 5e subtidal sediments obtained from two sampling sites were 126 ± 3 ka and 132 ± 2 ka, which is in good agreement with the independent age control. We conclude that is it is now possible to use pIRIR protocol to estimate the ages of not only marine terraces formed during MIS 5 substages (5a, 5c) but also of older marine terraces, for which age evidence is limited.

Stratigraphy, depositional setting, and tectonic significance of the clastic cover to the Fidalgo Ophiolite, San Juan Islands, Washington

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Garver
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentary Cover ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Island Formation ◽  
San Juan Islands ◽  
The North ◽  
Tectonic Significance ◽  
Tectonically Active ◽  
Depositional Setting

The San Juan Islands of northwest Washington State comprise a diverse assemblage of Paleozoic and Mesozoic terranes amalgamated during a regional Cretaceous orogenic event. Detailed tectono-stratigraphy of the sedimentary cover to the Fidalgo Complex indicates the presence of several stratigraphically distinct units, which are described and formalized in this paper. The Fidalgo Complex and its sedimentary cover are the structurally highest rocks in the San Juan thrust system.The Fidalgo Complex is a highly disrupted Middle to Upper Jurassic ophiolite with arc-related intrusives, volcanics, and sediments. The Trump unit is an informally named sequence of siliceous sediments, volcanic graywacke, and minor volcanics that occurs at the stratigraphically highest portion of the Fidalgo Complex. Complex facies, lithologies, and provenance indicate that deposition of this Oxfordian(?) to upper Tithonian unit occurred in an arc-proximal setting.The upper Tithonian and younger Lummi Group (elevated here) lies depositionally above the Fidalgo Complex; locally the contact is an angular unconformity. The James Island Formation (new) is designated as a lower unit of the Lummi Group in the Decatur Island area. The chert-rich volcaniclastic sediments of the James Island Formation, locally containing ophiolitic debris, represent submarine-fan deposition within a tectonically active basin where basement blocks were uplifted along fault scarps.Middle Cretaceous thrusting and lawsonite–prehnite–aragonite metamorphism predated deposition of the Obstruction Formation (new), which is inferred to unconformably overlie the Lummi Group – Fidalgo Complex. Metamorphism postdated the late Albian, as rocks of this age are metamorphosed. The Obstruction Formation (?Cenomanian–Turonian) does not have metamorphic lawsonite–prehnite–aragonite, which are characteristic of underlying terranes in the San Juan Islands. Instead, the Obstruction Formation contains clasts derived from underlying metamorphosed terranes in the San Juan Islands; some clasts show these high-pressure, low-temperature metamorphic minerals. The Obstruction Formation probably represents synthrusting sedimentation that occurred after the San Juan terranes were metamorphosed and rapidly brought to the surface by continued thrusting over a hanging-wall obstruction. Thrusting was most likely driven by the accretion of Wrangellia against the North American margin.

scholarly journals Structural analysis of the Rubjerg Knude Glaciotectonic Complex, Vendsyssel, northern Denmark

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stig A. Schack Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Structural Analysis ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Proximal Part ◽  
Thrust Fault ◽  
The North ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Fault Deformation

The Rubjerg Knude Glaciotectonic Complex is a thin-skinned thrust-fault complex that was formed during the advance of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (30 000 – 26 000 B.P.); it is well exposed in a 6 km long coastal profile bordering the North Sea in northern Denmark. The glaciotectonic thrust-fault deformation revealed by this cliff section has been subjected to detailed structural analysis based on photogrammetric measurement and construction of a balanced cross-section. Thirteen sections are differentiated, characterising the distal to proximal structural development of the complex. The deformation affected three stratigraphic units: the Middle Weichselian arctic marine Stortorn Formation, the mainly glaciolacustrine Lønstrup Klint Formation and the dominantly fluvial Rubjerg Knude Formation; these three formations are formally defined herein, together with the Skærumhede Group which includes the Stortorn and Lønstrup Klint Formations. The Rubjerg Knude Formation was deposited on a regional unconformity that caps the Lønstrup Klint Formation and separates pre-tectonic deposits below from syntectonic deposits above. In the distal part of the complex, the thrust-fault architecture is characterised by thin flatlying thrust sheets displaced over the footwall flat of the foreland for a distance of more than 500 m. Towards the proximal part of the complex, the dip of the thrust faults increases, and over long stretches they are over-steepened to an upright position. The lowest décollement zone is about 40 m below sea level in the proximal part of the system, and shows a systematic step-wise change to higher levels in a distal (southwards) direction. The structural elements are ramps and flats related to hanging-wall and footwall positions. Above upper ramp-hinges, hanging-wall anticlines developed; footwall synclines are typically related to growth-fault sedimentation in syntectonic piggyback basins, represented by the Rubjerg Knude Formation. Blocks and slump-sheets constituting parts of the Lønstrup Klint Formation were derived from the tips of up-thrusted thrust sheets and slumped into the basins. Mud diapirs are a prominent element in the thrust-fault complex, resulting from mud mobilisation mainly at hanging-wall flats and ramps. Shortening during thrust-fault deformation has been calculated as 50%. Only about 11% of the initial stratigraphic units subjected to thrust faulting has been lost due to erosion. The thrust-fault deformation was caused by gravity spreading of an advancing ice sheet. Overpressured mud-fluid played an important role in stress transmission. The average velocity of thrust-fault displacement is estimated at 2 m per year, which led to compression of a 12 km stretch of flat-lying sediments, c. 40 m in thickness, into a thrust-fault complex 6 km in length. The thrust-fault complex is truncated by a glaciotectonic unconformity, formed when the advancing ice sheet finally overrode the complex. When this ice sheet melted away, a hilland-hole pair was formed, and meltwater deposits derived from a new ice-advance (NE-Ice) filled the depression. The NE-Ice overran the complex during its advance to the main stationary line situated in the North Sea. When this ice in turn melted away (c. 19 000 – 15 000 B.P.), the glacial landscape was draped by arctic marine deposits of the Vendsyssel Formation (new formation defined herein).

scholarly journals MIDDLE-LATE QUATERNARY GEODYNAMICS OF CRETE, SOUTHERN AEGEAN, AND SEISMOTECTONIC IMPLICATIONS

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 400
Author(s):  
R. Caputo ◽  
S. Catalano ◽  
C. Monaco ◽  
G. Romagnoli ◽  
Et Al.
Keyword(s):  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Offshore Structures ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
Tectonic Structures ◽  
Hellenic Arc ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
Crete Island

In order to characterize and quantify the superficial deformation occurred during Middle-Late Quaternary in the Southern Aegean, we have systematicaly analyzed the major tectonic structures affecting Crete Island. They typically consist of 10 to 30 km-long dip-slip normal faults, separating carbonate and/or metamorphic massifs, in the footwall block, from loose to poorly consolidated alluvial and colluvial materials within the hanging-wall. All these faults show clear evidence of recent re-activation and trend parallel to two principal directions: WNW-ESE and NNE-SSW. Based on all available data for both onland and offshore structures (morphological and structural mapping, satellite imagery and airphotographs remote sensing as well as the analysis of seismic profiles and the investigation of marine terraces and Holocene raised notches along the island coasts), for each fault we estimate and constrain some of the principal seismotectonic parameters and particularly the fault kinematics, the cumulative amount of slip and the slip-rate. Summing up the contribution to crustal extension provided by the two major fault sets (ca. E-W and ca. N-S) we calculate both radial and tangential (i.e. perpendicular and parallel to the Hellenic Arc, respectively) long-term strain-rates. A comparison of these geologically-based values with those obtained from GPS measurements show a good agreement, therefore suggesting that the present-day crustal deformation is probably active since Middle Quaternary and mainly associated with the seismic activity of upper crustal normal faults characterized by frequent shallow moderate-to strong (Mmax = 7.0) seismic events seldom alternating with stronger (Mmax = 7.5) earthquakes occurring along blind low-angle thrust planes affecting deeper and more external sectors of the Hellenic Arc.

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