563 research outputs found
Persistent termini of 2004- and 2005-like ruptures of the Sunda megathrust
To gain insight into the longevity of subduction zone segmentation, we use coral microatolls to examine an 1100-year record of large earthquakes across the boundary of the great 2004 and 2005 Sunda megathrust ruptures. Simeulue, a 100-km-long island off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia, straddles this boundary: northern Simeulue was uplifted in the 2004 earthquake, whereas southern Simeulue rose in 2005. Northern Simeulue corals reveal that predecessors of the 2004 earthquake occurred in the 10th century AD, in AD 1394 ± 2, and in AD 1450 ± 3. Corals from southern Simeulue indicate that none of the major uplifts inferred on northern Simeulue in the past 1100 years extended to southern Simeulue. The two largest uplifts recognized at a south-central Simeulue site—around AD 1422 and in 2005—involved little or no uplift of northern Simeulue. The distribution of uplift and strong shaking during a historical earthquake in 1861 suggests the 1861 rupture area was also restricted to south of central Simeulue, as in 2005. The strikingly different histories of the two adjacent patches demonstrate that this boundary has persisted as an impediment to rupture through at least seven earthquakes in the past 1100 years. This implies that the rupture lengths, and hence sizes, of at least some future great earthquakes and tsunamis can be forecast. These microatolls also provide insight into megathrust behavior between earthquakes, revealing sudden and substantial changes in interseismic strain accumulation rates
Recommended from our members
Quantifying Cerebellum Grey Matter and White Matter Perfusion Using Pulsed Arterial Spin Labeling
To facilitate quantification of cerebellum cerebral blood flow (CBF), studies were performed to systematically optimize arterial spin labeling (ASL) parameters for measuring cerebellum perfusion, segment cerebellum to obtain separate CBF values for grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM), and compare FAIR ASST to PICORE. Cerebellum GM and WM CBF were measured with optimized ASL parameters using FAIR ASST and PICORE in five subjects. Influence of volume averaging in voxels on cerebellar grey and white matter boundaries was minimized by high-probability threshold masks. Cerebellar CBF values determined by FAIR ASST were 43.8 ± 5.1 mL/100 g/min for GM and 27.6 ± 4.5 mL/100 g/min for WM. Quantitative perfusion studies indicated that CBF in cerebellum GM is 1.6 times greater than that in cerebellum WM. Compared to PICORE, FAIR ASST produced similar CBF estimations but less subtraction error and lower temporal, spatial, and intersubject variability. These are important advantages for detecting group and/or condition differences in CBF values
Electron spin coherence in metallofullerenes: Y, Sc and La@C82
Endohedral fullerenes encapsulating a spin-active atom or ion within a carbon
cage offer a route to self-assembled arrays such as spin chains. In the case of
metallofullerenes the charge transfer between the atom and the fullerene cage
has been thought to limit the electron spin phase coherence time (T2) to the
order of a few microseconds. We study electron spin relaxation in several
species of metallofullerene as a function of temperature and solvent
environment, yielding a maximum T2 in deuterated o-terphenyl greater than 200
microseconds for Y, Sc and La@C82. The mechanisms governing relaxation (T1, T2)
arise from metal-cage vibrational modes, spin-orbit coupling and the nuclear
spin environment. The T2 times are over 2 orders of magnitude longer than
previously reported and consequently make metallofullerenes of interest in
areas such as spin-labelling, spintronics and quantum computing.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Coherent state transfer between an electron- and nuclear spin in 15N@C60
Electron spin qubits in molecular systems offer high reproducibility and the
ability to self assemble into larger architectures. However, interactions
between neighbouring qubits are 'always-on' and although the electron spin
coherence times can be several hundred microseconds, these are still much
shorter than typical times for nuclear spins. Here we implement an
electron-nuclear hybrid scheme which uses coherent transfer between electron
and nuclear spin degrees of freedom in order to both controllably turn on/off
dipolar interactions between neighbouring spins and benefit from the long
nuclear spin decoherence times (T2n). We transfer qubit states between the
electron and 15N nuclear spin in 15N@C60 with a two-way process fidelity of
88%, using a series of tuned microwave and radiofrequency pulses and measure a
nuclear spin coherence lifetime of over 100 ms.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures with supplementary material (8 pages
Primer Extension Capture: Targeted Sequence Retrieval from Heavily Degraded DNA Sources
We present a method of targeted DNA sequence retrieval from DNA sources which are heavily degraded and contaminated with microbial DNA, as is typical of ancient bones. The method greatly reduces sample destruction and sequencing demands relative to direct PCR or shotgun sequencing approaches. We used this method to reconstruct the complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes of five Neandertals from across their geographic range. The mtDNA genetic diversity of the late Neandertals was approximately three times lower than that of contemporary modern humans. Together with analyses of mtDNA protein evolution, these data suggest that the long-term effective population size of Neandertals was smaller than that of modern humans and extant great apes
The Neandertal genome and ancient DNA authenticity
Recent advances in high-thoughput DNA sequencing have made genome-scale analyses of genomes of extinct organisms possible. With these new opportunities come new difficulties in assessing the authenticity of the DNA sequences retrieved. We discuss how these difficulties can be addressed, particularly with regard to analyses of the Neandertal genome. We argue that only direct assays of DNA sequence positions in which Neandertals differ from all contemporary humans can serve as a reliable means to estimate human contamination. Indirect measures, such as the extent of DNA fragmentation, nucleotide misincorporations, or comparison of derived allele frequencies in different fragment size classes, are unreliable. Fortunately, interim approaches based on mtDNA differences between Neandertals and current humans, detection of male contamination through Y chromosomal sequences, and repeated sequencing from the same fossil to detect autosomal contamination allow initial large-scale sequencing of Neandertal genomes. This will result in the discovery of fixed differences in the nuclear genome between Neandertals and current humans that can serve as future direct assays for contamination. For analyses of other fossil hominins, which may become possible in the future, we suggest a similar ‘boot-strap' approach in which interim approaches are applied until sufficient data for more definitive direct assays are acquired
One-way multigrid method in electronic structure calculations
We propose a simple and efficient one-way multigrid method for
self-consistent electronic structure calculations based on iterative
diagonalization. Total energy calculations are performed on several different
levels of grids starting from the coarsest grid, with wave functions
transferred to each finer level. The only changes compared to a single grid
calculation are interpolation and orthonormalization steps outside the original
total energy calculation and required only for transferring between grids. This
feature results in a minimal amount of code change, and enables us to employ a
sophisticated interpolation method and noninteger ratio of grid spacings.
Calculations employing a preconditioned conjugate gradient method are presented
for two examples, a quantum dot and a charged molecular system. Use of three
grid levels with grid spacings 2h, 1.5h, and h decreases the computer time by
about a factor of 5 compared to single level calculations.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B, Rapid Communication
Holocene Earthquakes and Right-lateral Slip on the Left-lateral Darrington-Devils Mountain Fault Zone, Northern Puget Sound, Washington
Sources of seismic hazard in the Puget Sound region of northwestern Washington include deep earthquakes associated with the Cascadia subduction zone, and shallow earthquakes associated with some of the numerous crustal (upper-plate) faults that crisscross the region. Our paleoseismic investigations on one of the more prominent crustal faults, the Darrington–Devils Mountain fault zone, included trenching of fault scarps developed on latest Pleistocene glacial sediments and analysis of cores from an adjacent wetland near Lake Creek, 14 km southeast of Mount Vernon, Washington. Trench excavations revealed evidence of a single earthquake, radiocarbon dated to ca. 2 ka, but extensive burrowing and root mixing of sediments within 50–100 cm of the ground surface may have destroyed evidence of other earthquakes. Cores in a small wetland adjacent to our trench site provided stratigraphic evidence (formation of a laterally extensive, prograding wedge of hillslope colluvium) of an earthquake ca. 2 ka, which we interpret to be the same earthquake documented in the trenches. A similar colluvial wedge lower in the wetland section provides possible evidence for a second earthquake dated to ca. 8 ka. Three-dimensional trenching techniques revealed evidence for 2.2 ± 1.1 m of right-lateral offset of a glacial outwash channel margin, and 45–70 cm of north-side-up vertical separation across the fault zone. These offsets indicate a net slip vector of 2.3 ± 1.1 m, plunging 14° west on a 286°-striking, 90°-dipping fault plane. The dominant right-lateral sense of slip is supported by the presence of numerous Riedel R shears preserved in two of our trenches, and probable right-lateral offset of a distinctive bedrock fault zone in a third trench. Holocene north-side-up, right-lateral oblique slip is opposite the south-side-up, left-lateral oblique sense of slip inferred from geologic mapping of Eocene and older rocks along the fault zone. The cause of this slip reversal is unknown but may be related to clockwise rotation of the Darrington–Devils Mountain fault zone into a position more favorable to right-lateral slip in the modern N-S compressional stress field
- …