Molasse-Alpine and Columbian

Late-orogenic sediments deposited alongside growing mountain belts reflect the rise and cooling of crystalline complexes within the core zone of the orogens. The nature of these molasse deposits is strongly influenced by structures adjacent to the sedimentary basins. Despite differences in scale and paleoclimate the molasse of the Alps and that of the Columbian Orogen show remarkable similarities

First-Order Regionalization of Landslide Characteristics in the Canadian Cordillera

Landslide modes in the Canadian Cordillera are regionalized into eight zones according to the dominance of specific types of failure and mass transport. The Coast-Insular Zone is dominated by rock falls, rock avalanches, debris and earth flows; the St. Elias Zone by rock slumps and debris flows; the Plateau Zone by earth flows and rock slumps; the Skeena Zone by rock slumps; the Yukon-Selwyn Basin Zone by rock slumps; the Cassiar-Columbia Zone by deep-seated slope-sagging and gravitational spreading; the Eastern Carbonate Zone by rock avalanches and debris flows; the Foothills Zone by soft-rock slumps and earth flows. Landslide abundance in the Canadian Cordillera is related to the complex interaction of local geology on the one hand and regional factors such as relief, intensity of precipitation, and seismicity on the other. The landslide hazard deserves special attention in the recreational hinterland of Vancouver and Calgary

Pantelleria Rift — crustal extension in a convergent intraplate setting

The Pantelleria Rift system is a wide zone of post-Miocene northwest-trending grabens and horsts beneath the Sicily Strait. The central grabens host volcanics of predominantly alkalic composition which are exposed on the islands of Pantelleria and Linosa. On the Maltese Islands, along the northeastern shoulder of the rift, an Oligocene-Miocene carbonate succession exposed above sea level allows structural analysis and determination of shallow crustal stresses within the otherwise largely submarine rift system. An older northeast-trending set of normal faults is probably the expression of an Oligocene-Miocene crustal extension event which produced continental rifts in western Europe and led to passive margin formation in the western Mediterranean. Younger northwest-trending grabens of the Pantelleria Rift system cut the older faults almost at right angles and define a zone of lithospheric stretching between Tunisia and Sicily. The northwest-trending grabens which subsided dramatically since the beginning of Pliocene time appear to be connected by east-trending dextral and, more rarely, north-trending sinistral transforms. Displacement along the transforms is probably in the order of a few kilometres. In-situ stress measurements carried out on the Maltese Islands show maximum horizontal compression (SH) parallel to the rift. This suggests that in general σ1 (vertical) and σ2 (horizontal and parallel to the rift) are of about the same magnitude; both exceed σ3 (Sh) which trends northeasterly. Slight intraplate convergence in a NW-SE direction seems to be more than balanced by extension in a NE-SW direction. Neotectonics of the region possibly reflects an asthenospheric flow pattern which became established during the Messinian salinity crisis. The mechanism of recent intraplate deformation of the Pelagian shelf has relevance for the understanding of more anciently subsided platforms of the Apulian Plate