Tectonic and climatic controls on the Chuquibamba landslide (western Andes, southern Peru)

The contribution of landslides to the Quaternary evolution of relief is poorly documented in arid contexts. In southern Peru and northern Chile, several massive landslides disrupt the arid western Andean front. The Chuquibamba landslide, located in southern Peru, belongs to this set of large landslides. In this area, the Incapuquio fault system captures the intermittent drainage network and localizes rotational landslides. Seismic activity is significant in this region with recurrent Mw9 subduction earthquakes; however, none of the latest seismic events have triggered a major landslide. New terrestrial cosmogenic dating of the Chuquibamba landslide provides evidence that the last major gravitational mobilization of these rotational landslide deposits occurred at ~ 102 ka, during the Ouki wet climatic event identified on the Altiplano between 120 and 98 ka. Our results suggest that wet events in the arid and fractured context of the Andean forearc induced these giant debris flows. Finally, our study highlights the role of tectonics and climate on (i) the localization of large Andean landslides in the Western Cordillera and on (ii) the long-term mass transfer to the trench along the arid Andean front

Burial in the western Central Andes through Oligocene to Miocene ignimbrite flare-ups recorded by low-temperature thermochronology in the Cañete Canyon, Peru

Thermochronological data are essential to constrain thermal and exhumation histories in active mountain ranges. In the Central Andes, bedrock outcrops are rare, being blanketed by widespread late Palaeogene–Neogene and younger volcanic formations. For this reason, the exhumation history of the Western Cordillera (WC) in the Peruvian Andes has only been investigated locally along the mountain range. Dense thermochronological data are only available in canyons of the Arequipa (16° S) and Cordillera Negra regions (10° S). We present new apatite (U-Th)/He and fission-track data from the 1 km deep Cañete Canyon (13° S), where the Oligo-Miocene deposits are preserved lying conformably on an Eocene palaeo-topographic surface. Thermal modelling of thermochronological data indicate that the 30–20 Ma ignimbrite deposits overlying the bedrock were thick enough to cause burial reheating. We demonstrate that burial associated with thick volcanic formations should be taken into account when interpreting thermochronological data from the WC or in similar volcanic-arc settings

Stress field evolution above the Peruvian flat-slab (Cordillera Blanca, northern Peru)

International audienceIn subduction settings, the tectonic regime of the overriding plate is closely related to the geometry of the subducting plate. Flat-slab segments are supposed to increase coupling at the plate interface in the Andes, resulting in an increase and eastward migration of the shortening in the overriding plate. Above the Peruvian flat-slab, a 200 km-long normal fault trend parallel to the range and delimits the western flank of the Cordillera Blanca. In a context of flat subduction, expected to produce shortening, the presence of the Cordillera Blanca normal fault (CBNF) is surprising. We performed a systematic inversion of striated fault planes in the Cordillera Blanca region to better characterize the stress field above the Peruvian flat-slab. It evidences the succession of different tectonic regimes. NE-SW extension is predominant in most of the sites indicating a regional extension. We suggest that the Peruvian flat-slab trigger extension in the Western Cordillera while the shortening migrated eastward. Finally, we propose that flat-slab segments do not increase the coupling at the trench neither the shortening in the overriding plate but only favor shortening migration backward. However, the stress field of the overriding plate arises from the evolution of plate interface properties through time due to bathymetric anomaly migration

Scraped by flat-slab subduction

International audienc

The AlborEX dataset: sampling of sub-mesoscale features in the Alboran Sea

The AlborEX (Alboran Sea Experiment) consisted of a multi-platform, multi-disciplinary experiment carried out in the Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean Sea) between 25 and 31 May 2014. The observational component of AlborEx aimed to sample the physical and biogeochemical properties of oceanographic features present along an intense frontal zone, with a particular interest in the vertical motions in its vicinity. To this end, the mission included 1 research vessel (66 profiles), 2 underwater gliders (adding up 552 profiles), 3 profiling floats, and 25 surface drifters.Near real-time ADCP velocities were collected nightly and during the CTD sections. All of the profiling floats acquired temperature and conductivity profiles, while the Provor-bio float also measured oxygen and chlorophyll a concentrations, coloured dissolved organic matter, backscattering at 700nm, downwelling irradiance at 380, 410, and 490nm, as well as photo-synthetically active radiation (PAR).In the context of mesoscale and sub-mesoscale interactions, the AlborEX dataset constitutes a particularly valuable source of information to infer mechanisms, evaluate vertical transport, and establish relationships between the thermal and haline structures and the biogeochemical variable evolution, in a region characterised by strong horizontal gradients provoked by the confluence of Atlantic and Mediterranean waters, thanks to its multi-platform, multi-disciplinary nature.The dataset presented in this paper can be used for the validation of high-resolution numerical models or for data assimilation experiment, thanks to the various scales of processes sampled during the cruise. All the data files that make up the dataset are available in the SOCIB data catalog at https://doi.org/10.25704/z5y2-qpye (Pascual et al., 2018). The nutrient concentrations are available at https://repository.socib.es:8643/repository/entry/show?entryid=07ebf505-bd27-4ae5-aa43-c4d1c85dd500 (last access: 24 December 2018)

Development and validation of a motor function classification in patients with neuromuscular disease: the NM-score

To develop a classification for neuromuscular disease patients in each of the three motor function domains (D1: standing and transfers; D2: axial and proximal function; D3: distal function)