Episodic intraplate deformation of stable continental margins: evidence from Late Neogene and Quaternary marine terraces, Cape Liptrap, Southeastern Australia

The Waratah Fault is a northeast trending, high angle, reverse fault in the Late Paleozoic Lachlan Fold Belt at Cape Liptrap on the Southeastern Australian Coast. It is susceptible to reactivation in the modern intraplate stress field in Southeast Australia and exhibits Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene reactivation. Radiocarbon, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), and cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) dating of marine terraces on Cape Liptrap are used to constrain rates of displacement across the reactivated Waratah Fault. Six marine terraces, numbered Qt<sub>6</sub>–Tt<sub>1</sub> (youngest to oldest), are well developed at Cape Liptrap with altitudes ranging from ∼1.5 m to ∼170 m amsl, respectively. On the lowest terrace, Qt<sub>6</sub>, barnacles in wave-cut notches ∼1.5 m amsl, yielded a radiocarbon age of 6090–5880 Cal BP, and reflect the local mid-Holocene sea level highstand. Qt<sub>5</sub> yielded four OSL ages from scattered locations around the cape ranging from ∼80 ka to ∼130 ka. It formed during the Last Interglacial sea level highstand (MIS 5e) at ∼125 ka. Inner edge elevations (approximate paleo high tide line) for Qt<sub>5</sub> occur at distinctly different elevations on opposite sides of the Waratah Fault. Offsets of the inner edges across the fault range from 1.3 m to 5.1 m with displacement rates ranging from 0.01 mm/a to 0.04 mm/a. The most extensive terrace, Tt<sub>4</sub>, yielded four Early Pleistocene cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) ages: two apparent burial ages of 0.858 Ma ± 0.16 Ma and 1.25 Ma ± 0.265 Ma, and two apparent exposure ages of 1.071 Ma ± 0.071 Ma (<sup>10</sup>Be) and 0.798 Ma ± 0.066 Ma (<sup>26</sup>Al). Allowing for muonic production effects from insufficient burial depths, the depth corrected CRN burial ages are 1.8 Ma ± 0.56 Ma and 2.52 Ma ± 0.88 Ma, or Late Pliocene. A Late Pliocene age is our preferred age. Offsets of Tt<sub>4</sub> across the Waratah Fault range from a minimum of ∼20 m for terrace surface treads to a maximum of ∼70 m for terrace bedrock straths. Calculated displacement rates for Tt<sub>4</sub> range from 0.01 mm/a to 0.04 mm/a (using a Late Pliocene age, ∼2 Ma), identical to the rates calculated for the Last Interglacial terrace, Qt<sub>5</sub>. This indicates that deformation at Cape Liptrap has been ongoing at similar time-averaged rates at least since the Late Pliocene. The upper terraces in the sequence, Tt<sub>3</sub> (∼110 m amsl), Tt<sub>2</sub> (∼140 m) and Tt<sub>1</sub> (∼180 m) are undated, but most likely correlate to sea level highstands in the Neogene. Terraces Tt<sub>1</sub>–Tt<sub>4</sub> show an increasing northward tilt with age. The Waratah Fault forms a prominent structural boundary in the Lachlan Fold Belt discernible from airborne magnetic and bouger gravity anomalies. Seismicity and deformation are episodic. Episodic movement on the Waratah Fault may be coincident with sea level highstands since the Late Pliocene, possibly from increased loading and elevated pore pressure within the fault zone. This suggests that intervals between major seismic events could be on the order of 100 ka

Doubts about How the Middle Horizon Collapsed (ca. A.D. 1000) and Other Insights from the Looted Cemeteries of the Lower Ica Valley, South Coast of Peru

This paper presents new information from funerary contexts in the lower Ica Valley, south coast of Peru, spanning two millennia from the end of the Early Horizon to the Late Intermediate Period. Although severely looted, these sites can still yield valuable information. We discuss their architecture and material culture in the context of radiocarbon dates. Among other findings, these cast new light on the poorly understood transition from the Middle Horizon to the Late Intermediate Period, for which a paucity of archaeological data from c. A.D. 1000 to 1250 has long been taken as evidence of an environmentally or socially-induced demographic collapse. Yet the data we present here suggests that the basins of the lower Ica Valley were likely occupied continuously over this period, and that the echoes of Wari influence here may have lasted longer than previously thought.We thank the Ministerio de Cultural del Perú for granting permission for the fieldwork (No. 0028-2010-VMPCIC-MC) and analysis of samples for dating (No. 369-2011-VMPCIC-MC); Alberto Benavides Ganoza and the people of Samaca for facilitating fieldwork, all participants of the Proyecto de investigación arqueológica Samaca and Viviana Siveroni and Ruben Garcia for their useful thoughts and suggestions. This work was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council

Design, synthesis and biochemical evaluation of inhibitors of aromatase

The importance of inhibiting the cytochrome P-450 enzyme, aromatase, in the treatment of hormone-dependent breast cancer is discussed, and the current inhibitors reviewed. A number of novel inhibitors of aromatase have been synthesised based on Evans' chiral auxiliary, namely 4-benzyl-2-oxazolidinone. The derivatisation of the 4-benzyl group is described involving nitration and reduction reactions to give the 4-(4'-aminobenzyl)-2-oxazolidinone - the 4-amino group being required to ligate the cytochrome P-450 haem group of aromatase. Alkylation of the oxazolidinone ring is also considered in an attempt to investigate the affect of hydrophobicity on the inhibitory activity of these compounds. The reactions were, in general, found to proceed without major problems and in good yield to give a range of N-alkylated 4-(4'-aminobenzyl)-2-oxazolidinone compounds, the alkylation involved the methyl to the decyl derivatives of both the R and S enantiomers. These potential inhibitors were then subjected to biochemical evaluation using the standard literature procedure (as previously described by Thompson and Siiteri) involving the radiometric analysis of the aromatase catalysed reaction. A number of problems were encountered, however, during the course of the initial screening and only limited results were obtained, for example compounds 61 and 63 gave 39% inhibition at 100¡..tM. After these initial results, the assay failed to provide any more useful data. Extensive analysis of the assay procedure showed that the enzyme had denatured over time - it was discovered that other non-cytochrome P-450 enzymes within the sample (such as oestrone sulphatase) were found to retain their activity. Due to a lack of time, however, new placental preparations could not be prepared and thorough evaluation of the inhibitory activity of the compounds was not achieved