Three-dimensional lithospheric structure below the New Zealand Southern Alps

Uppermost mantle seismic structure below the Southern Alps in South Island, New Zealand, is investigated by teleseismic P wave travel time residual inversion. The three-dimensional tomographic images show a near-vertical, high-velocity (2–4%) structure in the uppermost mantle that directly underlies thickened crust along the NNESSW axis of the Southern Alps. The center of the high-velocity anomaly lies to the east of the Alpine fault which bounds Pacific and Australian plate rocks. The oblique collision of these plates resulted in the uplift of the Southern Alps during the past 5–7 m.y. Also, a high-velocity anomaly (3–5%) corresponding to the Hikurangi subduction zone lies to the northeast of the Southern Alps anomaly, and low-velocity anomalies (-3%) underlying parts of northwestern and southern South Island may be signatures of late Tertiary extension and volcanism. The data consist of teleseismic arrival times from the New Zealand National Seismograph Network and arrival times recorded during the 1995–1996 Southern Alps Passive Seismic Experiment. Crustal heterogeneity was accounted for by back projecting the rays through an independently obtained three-dimensional crustal velocity and Moho depth model. The Southern Alps uppermost mantle velocity anomalies are most simply explained by lithospheric thickening below the center of convergence accompanied by thinning and asthenospheric upwelling adjacent to the region of convergence

Extension and Partitioning in an Oblique Subduction Zone, New Zealand: Constraints from Three-Dimensional Numerical Modeling

Contraction, strike slip, and extension displacements along the Hikurangi margin northeast of the North Island of New Zealand coincide with large lateral gradients in material properties. We use a finite- difference code utilizing elastic and elastic-plastic rheologies to build large- scale, three-dimensional numerical models which investigate the influence of material properties on velocity partitioning within oblique subduction zones. Rheological variation in the oblique models is constrained by seismic velocity and attenuation information available for the Hikurangi margin. We compare the effect of weakly versus strongly coupled subduction interfaces on the development of extension and the partitioning of velocity components for orthogonal and oblique convergence and include the effect of ponded sediments beneath the Raukumara Peninsula. Extension and velocity partitioning occur if the subduction interface is weak, but neither develops if the subduction interface is strong. The simple mechanical model incorporating rheological variation based on seismic observations produces kinematics that closely match those published from the Hikurangi margin. These include extension within the Taupo Volcanic Zone, uplift over ponded sediments, and dextral contraction to the south

Intermediate-Depth Earthquakes in a Region of Continental Convergence: South Island, New Zealand

It is rare to find earthquakes with depths greater than 30 km in continent–continent collision zones because the mantle lithosphere is usually too hot to enable brittle failure. However, a handful of small, intermediate-depth earthquakes (30–97 km) have been recorded in the continental collision region in central South Island, New Zealand. The earthquakes are not associated with subduction but all lie within or on the margins of thickened crust or uppermost mantle seismic high-velocity anomalies. The largest of the earthquakes has M_L 4.0 corresponding to a rupture radius of between 100 and 800 m, providing bounds on the upper limit to the rupture length over which brittle failure is taking place in the deep brittle–plastic transition zone. The earthquake sources may be controlled by large shear strain gradients associated with viscous deformation processes in addition to depressed geotherms

Geophysical structure of the Southern Alps orogen, South Island, New Zealand

The central part of the South Island of New Zealand is a product of the transpressive continental collision of the Pacific and Australian plates during the past 5 million years, prior to which the plate boundary was largely transcurrent for over 10 My. Subduction occurs at the north (west dipping) and south (east dipping) of South Island. The deformation is largely accommodated by the ramping up of the Pacific plate over the Australian plate and near-symmetric mantle shortening. The initial asymmetric crustal deformation may be the result of an initial difference in lithospheric strength or an inherited suture resulting from earlier plate motions. Delamination of the Pacific plate occurs resulting in the uplift and exposure of mid-crustal rocks at the plate boundary fault (Alpine fault) to form a foreland mountain chain. In addition, an asymmetric crustal root (additional 8 - 17 km) is formed, with an underlying mantle downwarp. The crustal root, which thickens southwards, comprises the delaminated lower crust and a thickened overlying middle crust. Lower crust is variable in thickness along the orogen, which may arise from convergence in and lower lithosphere extrusion along the orogen. Low velocity zones in the crust occur adjacent to the plate boundary (Alpine fault) in the Australian and Pacific plates, where they are attributed to fracturing of the upper crust as a result of flexural bending for the Australian plate and to high pressure fluids in the crust derived from prograde metamorphism of the crustal rocks for the Pacific plate

CNS-PNETs with C19MC amplification and/or LIN28 expression comprise a distinct histogenetic diagnostic and therapeutic entity

Amplification of the C19MC oncogenic miRNA cluster and high LIN28 expression has been linked to a distinctly aggressive group of cerebral CNS-PNETs (group 1 CNS-PNETs) arising in young children. In this study, we sought to evaluate the diagnostic specificity of C19MC and LIN28, and the clinical and biological spectra of C19MC amplified and/or LIN28+ CNS-PNETs. We interrogated 450 pediatric brain tumors using FISH and IHC analyses and demonstrate that C19MC alteration is restricted to a sub-group of CNS-PNETs with high LIN28 expression; however, LIN28 immunopositivity was not exclusive to CNS-PNETs but was also detected in a proportion of other malignant pediatric brain tumors including rhabdoid brain tumors and malignant gliomas. C19MC amplified/LIN28+ group 1 CNS-PNETs arose predominantly in children <4 years old; a majority arose in the cerebrum but 24 % (13/54) of tumors had extra-cerebral origins. Notably, group 1 CNS-PNETs encompassed several histologic classes including embryonal tumor with abundant neuropil and true rosettes (ETANTR), medulloepithelioma, ependymoblastoma and CNS-PNETs with variable differentiation. Strikingly, gene expression and methylation profiling analyses revealed a common molecular signature enriched for primitive neural features, high LIN28/LIN28B and DNMT3B expression for all group 1 CNS-PNETs regardless of location or tumor histology. Our collective findings suggest that current known histologic categories of CNS-PNETs which include ETANTRs, medulloepitheliomas, ependymoblastomas in various CNS locations, comprise a common molecular and diagnostic entity and identify inhibitors of the LIN28/let7/PI3K/mTOR axis and DNMT3B as promising therapeutics for this distinct histogenetic entity. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00401-014-1291-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Depth variable crustal anisotropy, patterns of crustal weakness, and destructive earthquakes in Canterbury, New Zealand

Available online xxxx Editor: P. Shearer Keywords: seismic anisotropy crustal structure earthquake hazard noise interferometry inversion Low strain rate areas of the earth are often host to long-recurrence but damaging earthquake cycles. In many cases, these events occur on reactivated and previously unrecognized faults. Noise-based imaging of seismic anisotropy is capable of revealing the seismic fabric of inherited structures as well as the preferred orientation of pervasive cracking in the upper crust, both features with a potential relationship to failure on faults, causing catastrophic earthquakes. By understanding the orientation of seismic weaknesses, seismic hazard in areas of low-strain rate can be better understood. The geometric relation of crustal anisotropy and the 3-D crustal stress tensor has the potential to qualitatively inform us of the location and/or orientation of large crustal earthquakes in regions with little previously recorded seismicity but known tectonic loading directions. In this study, noise cross-correlation techniques were used to measure surface wave dispersion. These measurements were inverted to solve for azimuthal anisotropy of fundamental mode Rayleigh waves in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. The results of passive imaging show a distinct difference in magnitude and azimuth of surface-wave anisotropy at different depths within the crust across the region. We suggest that the approximately east-west fast axis orientation at upper-crustal depths reflects the Cretaceous faulting of the impacting Chatham Rise and the approximately northeast-southwest fast axis orientation at lower-crustal depths reflects the present plate boundary strain direction. The upper-crust fast axis parallels the surfacerupturing Greendale Fault which gave rise to the ongoing destructive Canterbury earthquake sequence. We suggest that the upper-crust azimuthal anisotropy measured using ambient noise is capable of revealing dominant patterns of crustal weaknesses in regions like Canterbury which are prone to low-recurrence but highly damaging earthquakes

Three-dimensional Qp- and Qs-tomography beneath Taiwan orogenic belt: implications for tectonic and thermal structure

International audienceWe determined the 3-D Qp- and Qs- structure of the Taiwan orogenic belt to enhance understanding of the related tectonic and thermal structure beneath the collision zone. The inversion used t* values measured from the spectra of P and S waves from the dense Taiwan strong motion network for moderate size earthquakes (ML 4.5-5.5) to avoid source complexity. The time period, 1991-2007, includes the aftershock sequence of the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake that provides good ray coverage in central Taiwan. Over 18 000 velocity spectra from 883 earthquakes were analysed. A non-linear least square technique is applied to the spectra for t* determination by assuming a ω-2 source model for the frequency band of 1-30 Hz. A frequency-independent Q was assumed in this study. The corner frequency of a specific event was fixed for the corresponding stations, and a quality index was defined to assure good quality data for the inversion. The results reveal the sharp variation of Qp and Qs across the recently ruptured Chelungpu Fault, and the Kaoping and Chaochou Faults in Pingtung Plain. The Q values in the hangingwall are smaller by about 85 and 110 for Qp and Qs, respectively, relative to the footwall. The fault geometry is distinctly delineated by the contour of Qp/Qs of 1.2 that extends to the depth of the geologically identified décollement structure. Beneath the Central Range, the low Qp, low Qs and high Qp/Qs features coincide well with the aseismic zone. Comparison to the recent thermomechanical numerical models of Taiwan shows that the low Q zone corresponds to the exhumation of the lower crust. The low Qs regime (high attenuation) beneath the Central Ranges at the depth of 5-22 km coincides with predicted temperatures of 400-600 °C. The Qs comparison with the major tectonic and thermal mechanical models of Taiwan reveals that the shear wave attenuation model contains comprehensive rheological and thermal information of relevance to understanding mountain building processes. This technique appears particularly useful for distinguishing strong and weak crustal regions in the absence of other constraints