Plate-like subsidence of the East Pacific Rise - South Pacific Superswell system

In previous studies the removal of small-scale features such as seamounts and oceanic islands from bathymetry has revealed a large and unusually shallow region in the South Pacific Ocean, which, at 3000 km wide and up to 1 km high, has been dubbed a “superswell.” These studies use statistical techniques based on finding the modal depth of the bathymetry. Such an analysis, however, does not completely isolate these features, or their associated oceanic plateaus and localized hot spot swells, from the ridge-generated regional bathymetry upon which they are superimposed. Accordingly, a technique is required that passes beneath topographic constructs rather than through them, as is the tendency of the mean, median, or mode. We have developed an algorithm, MiMIC, that reproducibly removes all these features and reveals the large-scale bathymetric trends in a manner based upon and consistent with manual interpretation. Application of the algorithm to bathymetry data in the southwest Pacific shows that the depth anomaly with respect to a cooling plate model changes steadily from being too deep at the East Pacific Rise (EPR) crest to being too shallow at the superswell. The largest shallow anomaly of 712 ± 66 m occurs at 98 Ma, not 1300 m at 65 Ma, as has been previously suggested. Most significantly, the superswell appears to be part of a large-scale, “plate-like,” subsidence that extends to the EPR crest, rather than an isolated shallowing that reverses the subsidence and causes uplift. We interpret the plate-like subsidence as due in part to cooling of the oceanic lithosphere and in part to a lateral temperature gradient in the underlying asthenosphere which is maintained by the flow of relatively hot material from beneath the superswell toward the relative cold material beneath the EPR. The best fit model implies a lateral temperature gradient of 0.014°C km−1 and is in general accord with the available effective elastic thickness, crustal thickness, heat flow, and seismic tomography data

Crustal structure of the French Guiana margin, West Equatorial Atlantic

Geophysical data from the Amazon Cone Experiment are used to determine the structure and evolution of the French Guiana and Northeast Brazil continental margin, and to better understand the origin and development of along-margin segmentation. A 427-km-long combined multichannel reflection and wide-angle refraction seismic profile acquired across the southern French Guiana margin is interpreted, where plate reconstructions suggest a rift-type setting. The resulting model shows a crustal structure in which 35–37-km-thick pre-rift continental crust is thinned by a factor of 6.4 over a distance of ∼70 km associated with continental break-up and the initiation and establishment of seafloor spreading. The ocean–continent boundary is a transition zone up to 45 km in width, in which the two-layered oceanic-type crustal structure develops. Although relatively thin at 3.5–5.0 km, such thin oceanic crust appears characteristic of the margin as a whole. There is no evidence of rift-related magmatism, either as seaward-dipping sequences in the reflection data or as a high velocity region in the lower crust in the P-wave velocity model, and as a such the margin is identified as non-volcanic in type. However, there is also no evidence of the rotated fault block and graben structures characteristic of rifted margins. Consequently, the thin oceanic crust, the rapidity of continental crustal thinning and the absence of characteristic rift-related structures leads to the conclusion that the southern French Guiana margin has instead developed in an oblique rift setting, in which transform motion also played a significant role in the evolution of the resulting crustal structure and along-margin segmentation in structural style

On Perturbations of Unitary Minimal Models by Boundary Condition Changing Operators

In this note we consider boundary perturbations in the A-Series unitary minimal models by phi_{r,r+2} fields on superpositions of boundaries. In particular, we consider perturbations by boundary condition changing operators. Within conformal perturbation theory we explicitly map out the space of perturbative renormalisation group flows for the example phi_{1,3} and find that this sheds light on more general phi_{r,r+2} perturbations. Finally, we find a simple diagrammatic representation for the space of flows from a single Cardy boundary condition.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figure

The role of lithospheric flexure in the landscape evolution of the Wilkes Subglacial Basin and Transantarctic Mountains, East Antarctica

Reconstructions of the bedrock topography of Antarctica since the Eocene–Oligocene Boundary (ca. 34 Ma) provide important constraints for modelling Antarctic ice sheet evolution. This is particularly important in regions where the bedrock lies below sea level, since in these sectors the overlying ice sheet is thought to be most susceptible to past and future change. Here we use 3D flexural modelling to reconstruct the evolution of the topography of the Wilkes Subglacial Basin (WSB) and Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) in East Antarctica. We estimate the spatial distribution of glacial erosion beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, and restore this material to the topography, which is also adjusted for associated flexural isostatic responses. We independently constrain our post‐34 Ma erosion estimates using offshore sediment stratigraphy interpretations. Our reconstructions provide a better‐defined topographic boundary condition for modelling early East Antarctic Ice Sheet history. We show that the majority of glacial erosion and landscape evolution occurred prior to 14 Ma, which we interpret to reflect more dynamic and erosive early ice sheet behaviour. In addition, we use closely‐spaced 2D flexural models to test previously proposed hypotheses for a flexural origin of the TAM and WSB. The pre‐34 Ma topography shows lateral variations along the length of the TAM and WSB that cannot be explained by uniform flexure along the front of the TAM. We show that some of these variations may be explained by additional flexural uplift along the south‐western flank of the WSB and the Rennick Graben in northern Victoria Land

Erosion-driven uplift in the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains of East Antarctica

The relative roles of climate and tectonics in mountain building have been widely debated. Central to this debate is the process of flexural uplift in response to valley incision. Here we quantify this process in the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, a paradoxical tectonic feature in cratonic East Antarctica. Previous studies indicate that rifting and strike-slip tectonics may have provided a key trigger for the initial uplift of the Gamburtsevs, but the contribution of more recent valley incision remains to be quantified. Inverse spectral (free-air admittance and Bouguer coherence) methods indicate that, unusually for continents, the coherence between free-air gravity anomalies and bedrock topography is high (>0.5) and that the elastic thickness of the lithosphere is anomalously low (<15 km), in contrast to previously reported values of up to ∼70 km. The isostatic effects of two different styles of erosion are quantified: dendritic fluvial incision overprinted by Alpine-style glacial erosion in the Gamburtsevs and outlet glacier-type selective linear erosion in the Lambert Rift, part of the East Antarctic Rift System. 3D flexural models indicate that valley incision has contributed ca. 500 m of peak uplift in the Gamburtsevs and up to 1.2 km in the Lambert Rift, which is consistent with the present-day elevation of Oligocene–Miocene glaciomarine sediments. Overall, we find that 17–25% of Gamburtsev peak uplift can be explained by erosional unloading. These relatively low values are typical of temperate mountain ranges, suggesting that most of the valley incision in the Gamburtsevs occurred prior to widespread glaciation at 34 Ma. The pre-incision topography of the Gamburtsevs lies at 2–2.5 km above sea-level, confirming that they were a key inception point for the development of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Tectonic and/or dynamic processes were therefore responsible for ca. 80% of the elevation of the modern Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains

Extended multiplet structure in Logarithmic Conformal Field Theories

We use the process of quantum hamiltonian reduction of SU(2)_k, at rational level k, to study explicitly the correlators of the h_{1,s} fields in the c_{p,q} models. We find from direct calculation of the correlators that we have the possibility of extra, chiral and non-chiral, multiplet structure in the h_{1,s} operators beyond the `minimal' sector. At the level of the vacuum null vector h_{1,2p-1}=(p-1)(q-1) we find that there can be two extra non-chiral fermionic fields. The extra indicial structure present here permeates throughout the entire theory. In particular we find we have a chiral triplet of fields at h_{1,4p-1}=(2p-1)(2q-1). We conjecture that this triplet algebra may produce a rational extended c_{p,q} model. We also find a doublet of fields at h_{1,3p-1}=(\f{3p}{2}-1)(\f{3q}{2}-1). These are chiral fermionic operators if p and q are not both odd and otherwise parafermionic.Comment: 24 pages LATEX. Minor corrections and extra reference

Sedimentation record in the Konkan-Kerala Basin: implications for the evolution of the Western Ghats and the Western Indian passive margin

The Konkan and Kerala Basins constitute a major depocentre for sediment from the onshore hinterland of Western India and as such provide a valuable record of the timing and magnitude of Cenozoic denudation along the continental margin. This paper presents an analysis of sedimentation in the Konkan-Kerala Basin, coupledwith a mass balance study, and numerical modelling of flexural responses to onshore denudational unloading and o¡shore sediment loading in order to test competing conceptual models for the development of high-elevation passive margins. The Konkan-Kerala Basin contains an estimated 109,000 km&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;; of Cenozoic clastic sediment, a volume difficult to reconcile with the denudation of a downwarped rift flank onshore, and more consistent with denudation of an elevated rift flank. We infer from modelling of the isostatic response of the lithosphere to sediment loading offshore and denudation onshore that flexure is an important component in the development of the Western Indian Margin.There is evidence for two major pulses in sedimentation: an early phase in the Palaeocene, and a second beginning in the Pliocene. The Palaeocene increase in sedimentation can be interpreted in terms of a denudational response to the rifting between India and the Seychelles, whereas the mechanism responsible for the Pliocene pulse is more enigmatic

On the Completeness of the Set of Classical W-Algebras Obtained from DS Reductions

We clarify the notion of the DS --- generalized Drinfeld-Sokolov --- reduction approach to classical ${\cal W}$-algebras. We first strengthen an earlier theorem which showed that an $sl(2)$ embedding ${\cal S}\subset {\cal G}$ can be associated to every DS reduction. We then use the fact that a \W-algebra must have a quasi-primary basis to derive severe restrictions on the possible reductions corresponding to a given $sl(2)$ embedding. In the known DS reductions found to date, for which the \W-algebras are denoted by ${\cal W}_{\cal S}^{\cal G}$-algebras and are called canonical, the quasi-primary basis corresponds to the highest weights of the $sl(2)$. Here we find some examples of noncanonical DS reductions leading to \W-algebras which are direct products of ${\cal W}_{\cal S}^{\cal G}$-algebras and `free field' algebras with conformal weights $\Delta \in \{0, {1\over 2}, 1\}$. We also show that if the conformal weights of the generators of a ${\cal W}$-algebra obtained from DS reduction are nonnegative $\Delta \geq 0$ (which isComment: 48 pages, plain TeX, BONN-HE-93-14, DIAS-STP-93-0

Large-volume silicic volcanism in Kamchatka: Ar–Ar and U–Pb ages, isotopic, and geochemical characteristics of major pre-Holocene caldera-forming eruptions

The Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Russia represents the most volcanically active arc in the world in terms of magma production and the number of explosive eruptions. We investigate large-scale silicic volcanism in the past several million years and present new geochronologic results from major ignimbrite sheets exposed in Kamchatka. These ignimbrites are found in the vicinity of morphologically-preserved rims of partially eroded source calderas with diameters from ∼ 2 to ∼ 30 km and with estimated volumes of eruptions ranging from 10 to several hundred cubic kilometers of magma. We also identify and date two of the largest ignimbrites: Golygin Ignimbrite in southern Kamchatka (0.45 Ma), and Karymshina River Ignimbrites (1.78 Ma) in south-central Kamchatka. We present whole-rock geochemical analyses that can be used to correlate ignimbrites laterally. These large-volume ignimbrites sample a significant proportion of remelted Kamchatkan crust as constrained by the oxygen isotopes. Oxygen isotope analyses of minerals and matrix span a 3‰ range with a significant proportion of moderately low-δ18O values. This suggests that the source for these ignimbrites involved a hydrothermally-altered shallow crust, while participation of the Cretaceous siliceous basement is also evidenced by moderately elevated δ18O and Sr isotopes and xenocryst contamination in two volcanoes. The majority of dates obtained for caldera-forming eruptions coincide with glacial stages in accordance with the sediment record in the NW Pacific, suggesting an increase in explosive volcanic activity since the onset of the last glaciation 2.6 Ma. Rapid changes in ice volume during glacial times and the resulting fluctuation of glacial loading/unloading could have caused volatile saturation in shallow magma chambers and, in combination with availability of low-δ18O glacial meltwaters, increased the proportion of explosive vs effusive eruptions. The presented results provide new constraints on Pliocene–Pleistocene volcanic activity in Kamchatka, and thus constrain an important component of the Pacific Ring of Fire