An analysis of corporate ethical code studies: “Where do we go from here?”

The dramatic increase in the number of corporate ethical codes over the past 20 years has been attributed to the Watergate scandal and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Ethical codes differ somewhat from profesional codes and mission statements; yet the terms are frequently interchanged and often confused in the literature. Ethical code studies are reviewed in terms of how codes are communicated to employees and whether implications for violating codes are discussed. Most studies use content analysis to determine subjects in codes. Little information is available about how codes are communicated, whether they are accepted and used by employees, and whether they affect employee/corporate behavior. More research on ethical codes is needed to answer some of these questions.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42514/1/10551_2004_Article_BF00877156.pd

Fault structure control on fault slip and ground motion during the 1999 rupture of the Chelungpu fault, Taiwan

The Chelungpu fault, Taiwan, ruptured in a M-w 7.6 earthquake on 21 September 1999, producing a 90-km-long surface rupture. Analysis of core from two holes drilled through the fault zone, combined with geologic mapping and detailed investigation from three outcrops, define the fault geometry and physical properties of the Chelungpu fault in its northern and southern regions. In the northern region the fault dips 45degrees-60 degrees east, parallel to bedding in both the hanging wall and footwall, and consists of a narrow (1-20 cm) core of dark gray, sheared clay, gouge. The gouge is located at the base of a 30- to 50-m zone of increased fracture density confined asymmetrically to the hanging wall. Microstructural analysis of the fault gouge indicates the presence of extremely narrow clay zones (50-300 mum thick) that are interpreted as the fault rupture surfaces. Few shear indicators are observed outside of the fault gouge, implying that slip was localized within the gouge zone. Slip localization along a bed-parallel surface resulted in a narrow gouge zone that produced less high-frequency ground motion and larger displacements (average 8 m) during the earthquake than in the southern region. Displacement in the southern region averaged only 2 in, but ground shaking consisted of large amounts of high-frequency ground motion. The fault in the southern region dips 20degrees-30degrees at the surface and consists of a wide (20-70 in thick) zone of sheared, foliated shale with numerous gouge zones. These data demonstrate a potential correlation between fault structure (i.e., gouge width, geometry) and earthquake characteristics such as displacement and ground motion (i.e., acceleration)

Cenozoic deformation and exhumation history of the Central Kyrgyz Tien Shan

New low-temperature thermochronological data from 80 samples in eastern Kyrgyzstan are combined with previously published data from 61 samples to constrain exhumation in a number of mountain ranges in the Central Kyrgyz Tien Shan. All sampled ranges are found to have a broadly consistent Cenozoic exhumation history, characterized by initially low cooling rates (<1°C/Myr) followed by a series of increases in exhumation that occurred diachronously across the region in the late Cenozoic that are interpreted to record the onset of deformation in different mountain ranges. Combined with geological estimates for the onset of proximal deformation, our data suggest that the Central Kyrgyz Tien Shan started deforming in the late Oligocene-early Miocene, leading to the development of several, widely spaced mountain ranges separated by large intermontane basins. Subsequently, more ranges have been constructed in response to significant shortening increases across the Central Kyrgyz Tien Shan, notably in the late Miocene. The order of range construction is interpreted to reflect variations in the susceptibility of inherited structures to reactivation. Reactivated structures are also shown to have significance along strike variations in fault vergence and displacement, which have influenced the development and growth of individual mountain ranges. Moreover, the timing of deformation allows the former extent of many intermontane basins that have since been partitioned to be inferred; this can be linked to the highly time-transgressive onset of late Cenozoic coarse clastic sedimentation

Tectonic control on sedimentary facies pattern and sediment accumulation rates in the Miocene foreland basin of the southern Alborz mountains, northern Iran

The southern Alborz mountains of northern Iran are an integral part of the Arabia/Eurasia collision zone. A magnetostratigraphic and rock magnetic investigation of the Eyvanekey stratigraphic section in the southern Alborz mountains reveals the spatiotemporal character of sedimentary facies migration in the Alborz foreland basin. The section constitutes three coarsening upward units (units 1, 2, and 3), comprising the Upper Red and Hezardarreh formations. Our data reveal that the Upper Red Formation was deposited between 17.5 and 7.5 Ma, while the depositional age of the top of the Hezardarreh Formation can be extrapolated to ∼6.2 Ma. Slow sediment accumulation rates correlate with sedimentary facies comprising prograding, coarsening-upward units. This is likely the result of intraforeland uplift (units 1 and 2) and basin inversion, probably associated with a growth syncline located in the proximal foreland (unit 3). In contrast, fine-grained strata at the bottom of each cycle are associated with faster sediment accumulation rates, testifying to enhanced flexural basin subsidence in the course of thrust loading. Progradation of coarse-grained facies also occurred during relatively fast sediment accumulation (top of unit 2), suggesting that the influx of coarse-grained sediment outpaced the storage capacity of the proximal foreland. Thus, despite an overall southward propagation of deformation into the southern Alborz foreland, the locus of active deformation must have migrated back and forth on a time scale of circa 0.7 to 2 Ma. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union