61 research outputs found

    Seismic structure of the southern Rivera plate and Jalisco block subduction zone

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    Structural and tectonic features in the Pacific Coast of Mexico generate a high level of seismic activity in the Jalisco block (JB) region, making it one of the most attractive areas of the world for geophysical investigations. The Rivera North America contact zone has been the object of different tectonic studies in recent years framed within the TsuJal project. To this day, this project is generating numerous crucial geophysical results, which significantly improve our understanding of the region. Our study is focused on the interaction between the south of the JB and Rivera plate (RP), which crosses the Middle America trench. We also cover an offshore onshore transect of 130 km length between the eastern Rivera fracture zone and La Huerta region, in the Jalisco state. To characterize this region,we interpreted wide angle seismic, multichannel seismic, and multibeam bathymetry data. The integration of these results, with the local and regional seismicity recorded by the Jalisco Seismic Accelerometric Telemetric Network and by the Mapping the Rivera Subduction Zone experiment, provides new insights into the geometry of the southern RP, which is dipping 12 14 degrees under the JB in the northeast southwest direction. Moreover, our results provide new seismic images of the accretionary wedge, the shallow crust, the deep crust, and the upper-mantle structure along this profile.Comment: Seismological Research Letters 201

    Delivering 21st century Antarctic and Southern Ocean science

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    The Antarctic Roadmap Challenges (ARC) project identified critical requirements to deliver high priority Antarctic research in the 21st century. The ARC project addressed the challenges of enabling technologies, facilitating access, providing logistics and infrastructure, and capitalizing on international co-operation. Technological requirements include: i) innovative automated in situ observing systems, sensors and interoperable platforms (including power demands), ii) realistic and holistic numerical models, iii) enhanced remote sensing and sensors, iv) expanded sample collection and retrieval technologies, and v) greater cyber-infrastructure to process ‘big data’ collection, transmission and analyses while promoting data accessibility. These technologies must be widely available, performance and reliability must be improved and technologies used elsewhere must be applied to the Antarctic. Considerable Antarctic research is field-based, making access to vital geographical targets essential. Future research will require continent- and ocean-wide environmentally responsible access to coastal and interior Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Year-round access is indispensable. The cost of future Antarctic science is great but there are opportunities for all to participate commensurate with national resources, expertise and interests. The scope of future Antarctic research will necessitate enhanced and inventive interdisciplinary and international collaborations. The full promise of Antarctic science will only be realized if nations act together

    Next Generation European Research Vessels: Current Status and Foreseeable Evolution

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    The European research vessel fleet plays a vital role in supporting scientific research and development not just in Europe but also across the globe. This document explores how the fleet has developed since the publication of the European Marine Board Position Paper 10 (EMB PP 10) "European Ocean Research Fleets – Towards a Common Strategy and Enhanced Use" (Binot et al., 2007). It looks at the current fleet and its equipment and capabilities (Chapter 2), the deep sea (Chapter 3) and Polar regions (Chapter 4) as study areas of ever- increasing importance for science and for the vessels that explore them, the role that research vessels play in the wider ocean observing landscape (Chapter 5), the importance of training personnel for research vessels (Chapter 6), and considers management of the European research vessel fleet (Chapter 7). This Position Paper considers what has changed since 2007, what the status is in 2019, and future directions for the European fleet, with a 10-year horizon to 2030. This Position Paper finds that the current European research vessel fleet is highly capable, and is able to provide excellent support to European marine science and wider scientific research and can lead on the world stage. However, with a typical life expectancy of a research vessel of 30 years, the fleet is ageing and urgently requires further investment and reinvestment to continue to be as efficient and capable as the scientific community expects and requires. The capabilities of the fleet have increased considerably since 2007, and vessels have kept up with fast-paced technological developments. The demand for complex and highly capable vessels will continue, and research vessel designs and the fleet as a whole will need to keep pace in order to remain fit-for-purpose and continue to be a key player globally. There is huge diversity in vessel types and designs in terms of capabilities and equipment, management structures and processes, and training possibilities. While it would not be possible or appropriate to highlight any one approach as the only one to use, a growing trend in collaboration through community groups, agreements, legal entities and funded projects now enables more strategic thinking in the development of these vital infrastructures. However, some issues remain in enabling equal access to research vessel time for all researchers across Europe regardless of country, and regardless of whether or not that country owns a suitable research vessel for their scientific needs

    Wide-angle seismic constraints on the internal structure of Tenerife, Canary Islands

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    We have used wide-angle seismic data to constrain the internal structure of Tenerife, Canary Islands. The experiment was designed as a seismic fan profile to detect azimuthal variations in the seismic structure of the volcanic edifice and its flanks. Seismic energy was generated using a 75-1 airgun-array on board the RRS Charles Darwin fired every 40 s along a quasi-circular profile around the island of Tenerife, centered on Teide volcano. We present the results obtained from the data recorded by five portable land stations distributed on the island. The travel-times indicate that the averaged P-wave velocity within the volcanic edifice is greater than 6 km/s. The observed travel-times were reduced to residual travel-times by removing the effects of variations in the bathymetry along the profile, variations in the shot-receiver distance, and from local heterogeneities. Negative residual travel-times up to 0.8 s in amplitude indicate that the southwestern part of Tenerife is characterized by a high P-wave velocity zone, coincident with a gravity maximum that was previously modeled as a high-density body forming the core of an old, large mafic volcano. We estimate velocities greater than 7.3 km/s within the anomalous body, suggesting that it represents an intrusive plutonic complex. This high-velocity, high-density body may have played an important role in the evolution of Tenerife, buttressing Las Cañadas edifice and preventing the occurrence of landslides in the southern and western areas of Tenerife. The bathymetric high between Tenerife and La Gomera is associated with travel-time delays up to 0.4 s, suggesting that it may be composed of large deposits of lava flows and volcaniclastic materials, probably erupted from the shield massifs of Teno, Roque del Conde, and La Gomera. The post-shield volcanic zones of Santiago and Dorsal rifts also seem to be characterized by moderate high P-wave velocities. © 2000 Elsevier Science B. V. All rights reserved

    信濃国 奈良井宿 換1分

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    日本銀行金融研究所所蔵藩札等資料番号:ⅢAエドb2-24-9-9科学研究費助成事業(研究成果公開促進費)で電子化を実施データベースの名称:藩札等に関する統合データベース課題番号:20HP8030利用に関するお問い合わせ:画像の転載(出版物・HP等)に際しては、日本銀行貨幣博物館への申請手続きが必要です。詳しくは貨幣博物館ホームページ(http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/cm/service/)をご覧ください

    Imaging the seismic crustal structure of the western Mexican margin between 19 degrees N and 21 degrees N

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    Three thousand kilometres of multichannel (MCS) and wide-angle seismic profiles, gravity and magnetic, multibeam bathymetry and backscatter data were recorded in the offshore area of the west coast of Mexico and the Gulf of California during the spring 1996 (CORTES survey). The seismic images obtained off Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in the Jalisco subduction zone extend from the oceanic domain up to the continental shelf, and significantly improve the knowledge of the internal crustal structure of the subduction zone between the Rivera and North American (NA) Plates. Analyzing the crustal images, we differentiate: (1) An oceanic domain with an important variation in sediment thickness ranging from 2.5 to 1 km southwards; (2) an accretionary prism comprised of highly deformed sediments, extending for a maximum width of 15 km; (3) a deformed forearc basin domain which is 25 km wide in the northern section, and is not seen towards the south where the continental slope connects directly with the accretionary prism and trench, thus suggesting a different deformational process; and (4) a continental domain consisting of a continental slope and a mid slope terrace, with a bottom simulating reflector (BSR) identified in the first second of the MCS profiles. The existence of a developed accretionary prism suggests a subduction-accretion type tectonic regime. Detailed analysis of the seismic reflection data in the oceanic domain reveals high amplitude reflections at around 6 s [two way travel time (twtt)] that clearly define the subduction plane. At 2 s (twtt) depth we identify a strong reflection which we interpret as the Moho discontinuity. We have measured a mean dip angle of 7A degrees A A +/- A 1A degrees at the subduction zone where the Rivera Plate begins to subduct, with the dip angle gently increasing towards the south. The oceanic crust has a mean crustal thickness of 6.0-6.5 km. We also find evidence indicating that the Rivera Plate possibly subducts at very low angles beneath the Tres Marias Islands

    Vertical movements and material transport during hotspot activity : seismic reflection profiling offshore La Réunion

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    The structure of the submerged part of La Réunion hotspot island is determined by a grid of multichannel seismic reflection profiles. The submarine part of the edifice appears as a poorly stratified wedge of material lying above a significant thickness of preexisting sediments and the oceanic basement. The dense data coverage has allowed us to derive contour maps of the top of the basement and of the base of the volcaniclastic edifice, further constrained by coincident wide-angle profiles. The resulting isobath maps reveal new, unsuspected features that could not be deduced from observation along a single seismic line since the geometry of these horizons varies significantly from one radial profile to the next. Both maps show a large degree of heterogeneity in the topography, with no axial nor cylindrical symmetry, indicating that plate flexure is not dominant. A slight depression toward the island is observed only in the southern area, ahead of the hotspot trace. The lack of angular unconformity in the volcano-sedimentary pile that covers the oceanic basement firmly establishes the lack of significant vertical movement and flexure. The base of the edifice is roughly domed, centered on the island, with several topographic highs or lows superimposed. The submarine apron appears as a composite constructional body, spreading by slumping of its flanks. Superficial lenses of laterally transported material are observed on the seismic data south of the island, not only to the east of the active Piton de la Fournaise volcano. Oceanic sediments trapped beneath the apron seem undeformed. (Résumé d'auteur

    Complement inhibition attenuates acute kidney injury after ischemia-reperfusion and limits progression to renal fibrosis in mice.

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    The complement system is an essential component of innate immunity and plays a major role in the pathogenesis of ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). In this study, we investigated the impact of human C1-inhibitor (C1INH) on the early inflammatory response to IRI and the subsequent progression to fibrosis in mice. We evaluated structural damage, renal function, acute inflammatory response, progression to fibrosis and overall survival at 90-days post-injury. Animals receiving C1INH prior to reperfusion had a significant improvement in survival rate along with superior renal function when compared to vehicle (PBS) treated counterparts. Pre-treatment with C1INH also prevented acute IL-6, CXCL1 and MCP-1 up-regulation, C5a release, C3b deposition and infiltration by neutrophils and macrophages into renal tissue. This anti-inflammatory effect correlated with a significant reduction in the expression of markers of fibrosis alpha smooth muscle actin, desmin and picrosirius red at 30 and 90 days post-IRI and reduced renal levels of TGF-β1 when compared to untreated controls. Our findings indicate that intravenous delivery of C1INH prior to ischemic injury protects kidneys from inflammatory injury and subsequent progression to fibrosis. We conclude that early complement blockade in the context of IRI constitutes an effective strategy in the prevention of fibrosis after ischemic acute kidney injury

    Evidence for active strike-slip faulting along the Eurasia-Africa convergence zone: Implications for seismic hazard in the southwest Iberian margin

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    New seismic imaging and seismotectonic data from the southwest Iberian margin, the site of the present-day boundary between the European and African plates, reveal that active strike slip is occurring along two prominent lineaments that have recently been mapped using multibeam bathymetry. Multichannel seismic and subbottom profiler images acquired across the lineaments show seafloor displacements and active faulting to depths of at least 10 km and of a minimum length of 150 km. Seismic moment tensors show predominantly WNW–ESE right-lateral strike-slip motion, i.e., oblique to the direction of plate convergence. Estimates of earthquake source depths close to the fault planes indicate upper mantle (i.e., depths of 40–60 km) seismogenesis, implying the presence of old, thick, and brittle lithosphere. The estimated fault seismic parameters indicate that the faults are capable of generating great magnitude (Mw ≥ 8.0) earthquakes. Such large events raise the concomitant possibility of slope failures that have the potential to trigger tsunamis. Consequently, our findings identify an unreported earthquake and tsunami hazard for the Iberian and north African coastal areas
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