Seismotectonic study of the Fergana region (Southern Kyrgyzstan): distribution and kinematics of local seismicity

We present new seismicity and focal-mechanism data for the Fergana basin and surrounding mountain belts in western Kyrgyzstan from a temporary local seismic network. A total of 210 crustal earthquakes with hypocentral depths shallower than 25 km were observed during a 12-month period in 2009/2010. The hypocenter distribution indicates a complex net of seismically active structures. The seismicity derived in this study is mainly concentrated at the edges of the Fergana basin, whereas the observed rate of seismicity within the basin is low. The seismicity at the dominant tectonic feature of the region, the Talas-Fergana fault, is likewise low, so the fault seems to be inactive or locked. To estimate the uncertainties of earthquake locations derived in this study, a strong explosion with known origin time and location is used as a ground truth calibration event which suggests a horizontal and vertical accuracy of about 1 km for our relocations. We derived 35 focal mechanisms using first motion polarities and retrieved a set of nine moment tensor solutions for earthquakes with moment magnitude (Mw) ranging from 3.3 to 4.9 by waveform inversion. The solutions reveal both thrust and strike-slip mechanisms compatible with a NW-SE direction of compression for the Fergana region. Two previously unknown tectonic structures in the Fergana region could be identified, both featuring strike-slip kinematics. The combined analysis of the results derived in this study allowed a detailed insight into the currently active tectonic structures and their kinematics where little information had previously been available

Land seismic data of the ALPHA amphibious controlled source experiment - Report

Raw-, SEG-Y and other supplementary data of the landside deployment from the amphibious wide-angle seismic experiment ALPHA are presented. The aim of this project was to reveal the crustal and lithospheric structure of the subducting Adriatic plate and the external accretionary wedge in the southern Dinarides. Airgun shots from the RV Meteor were recorded along two profiles across Montenegro and northern Albania

Counting Unique-Sink Orientations

Unique-sink orientations (USOs) are an abstract class of orientations of the n-cube graph. We consider some classes of USOs that are of interest in connection with the linear complementarity problem. We summarise old and show new lower and upper bounds on the sizes of some such classes. Furthermore, we provide a characterisation of K-matrices in terms of their corresponding USOs.Comment: 13 pages; v2: proof of main theorem expanded, plus various other corrections. Now 16 pages; v3: minor correction

India (Tethyan Himalaya Series) in central Myanmar: implications for the evolution of the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis and the Sagaing transform-fault system

In the Katha Range of central Myanmar, lithologic tracers and pressure-temperature-deformation time data identify Cambro-Ordovician, Indian-affinity Tethyan Himalaya Series, located ∼700 km from their easternmost outcrop in S-Tibet, and ∼450 km from Himalayan rocks in the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis. Metamorphism began at ∼65 Ma, peaked at ∼45 Ma (∼510°C, 0.93 GPa), and exhumation/cooling (∼25°C/ Myr) occurred until ∼30 Ma in a subduction-early collision tectonic setting. When the Burma microplate-part of the intra-Tethyan Incertus arc-accreted to SE-Asia, its eastern boundary, the southern continuation of the Indus-Yarlung suture (IYS), was reactivated as the Sagaing fault (SF), which propagated northward into Indian rocks. In the Katha rocks, this strike-slip stage is marked by ∼4°C/Myr exhumation/cooling. Restoring the SF system defines a continental collision-oceanic subduction transition junction, where the IYS bifurcates into the SF at the eastern edge of the Burma microplate and the Jurassic ophiolite-Jadeite belts that include the Incertus-arc suture

Seismic structure of the Central Andean subduction zone from local earthquake data

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Earthquake segmentation in northern Chile correlates with curved plate geometry

We performed an integrated analysis of the coseismic slip, afterslip and aftershock activity of the 2014 M w 8.1 Pisagua earthquake. This earthquake seems to be spatially located between two major historical earthquakes, the 1868 M w 8.8 earthquake in southern Peru and the 1877 M w 8.5 earthquake in northern Chile. Continuous GPS data were used to model the coseismic slip of the mainshock and the largest aftershock (M w 7.6). The afterslip was modeled for 273 days (end of year 2014) after the largest aftershock, revealing two patches of afterslip: a southern patch between the mainshock and the largest aftershock and a patch to the north of the mainshock. Observations from the seismic network indicate that aftershocks were concentrated near the southern patch. Conversely, the northern patch contained hardly any aftershocks, indicating a dominant aseismic slip. The Pisagua earthquake occurred within a prominent, curved section of the Andean subduction zone. This s

Structure and stress field of the lithosphere between Pamir and Tarim

The Pamir plateau protrudes ∼300 km between the Tajik- and Tarim-basin lithosphere of Central Asia. Whether its salient location and shape are caused by forceful indentation of a promontory of Indian mantle lithosphere is debated. We present a new local-seismicity and focal-mechanism catalog, and a P-wave velocity model of the eastern part of the collision system. The data suggest a south-dipping Asian slab that overturns in its easternmost segment. The largest principal stress at depth acts normal on the slab and is orientated parallel to the plate convergence direction. In front (south) of the Asian slab, a volume of mantle with elevated velocities and lined by weak seismicity constitutes the postulated Indian mantle indenter. We propose that the indenter delaminates and overturns the Asian slab, underthrusts the Tarim lithosphere along a compressive transform boundary, and controls the location and shape of the Pamir plateau

Impact of the Juan Fernandez Ridge on the Pampean Flat Subduction Inferred From Full Waveform Inversion

A new seismic model for crust and upper mantle of the south Central Andes is derived from full waveform inversion, covering the Pampean flat subduction and adjacent Payenia steep subduction segments. Focused crustal low‐velocity anomalies indicate partial melts in the Payenia segment along the volcanic arc, whereas weaker low‐velocity anomalies covering a wide zone in the Pampean segment are interpreted as remnant partial melts. Thinning and tearing of the flat Nazca slab is inferred from gaps in the slab along the inland projection of the Juan Fernandez Ridge. A high‐velocity anomaly in the mantle below the flat slab is interpreted as relic Nazca slab segment, which indicates an earlier slab break‐off triggered by the buoyancy of the Juan Fernandez Ridge during the flattening process. In Payenia, large‐scale low‐velocity anomalies atop and below the re‐steepened Nazca slab are associated with the re‐opening of the mantle wedge and sub‐slab asthenospheric flow, respectively.Plain Language Summary: Taking advantage of the abundant information recorded in seismic waveforms, we imaged the seismic structure of the crust and upper mantle beneath central Chile and western Argentina, where the oceanic Nazca slab is subducting beneath the South American plate. The subducted Nazca slab is almost flat at a depth of 100–150 km in the north of the study area below the Pampean region, where the Juan Fernandez seamount ridge is subducting as part of the Nazca slab. The slab steepens again in the south in the Payenia region. Our model reveals pronounced low‐velocity anomalies within the Pampean flat slab along the inland projection of the Juan Fernandez Ridge, indicating that the Pampean flat slab is thinned or even torn apart. A high‐velocity anomaly is imaged beneath the flat slab, representing a former slab segment that was broken off during the slab flattening process and was overridden by the advancing young slab. Our model suggests a causal relationship between the oceanic ridge subduction and the flat slab formation. In the Payenia region, the slab re‐steepening resulted in the re‐establishment of the mantle wedge and induced hot mantle flow below the slab, which are characterized by low‐velocity anomalies in the model.Key Points: A new seismic model for the crust and upper mantle beneath central Chile and western Argentina is presented. Thinning and tearing within the Pampean flat slab is detected along the inland projection of the Juan Fernandez Ridge. A relic slab is imaged beneath the Pampean flat slab, reflecting slab break‐off during the flattening process.Freie Universität Berlin—China Scholarship CouncilEuropean Research CouncilEuropean Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000921Swiss National Supercomputing Center (CSCS