Bathymetry of the Indonesian Sunda margin-relating morphological features of the upper plate slopes to the location and extent of the seismogenic zone

Earthquake history shows that the Sunda subduction zone of the Indonesian margin produces great earthquakes offshore Sumatra, whereas earthquakes of comparable magnitude are lacking offshore Java and the Lesser Sunda islands. Morphological structures in multibeam bathymetric data across the forearc relate with the extent of the seismogenic zone. Its updip limit corresponds to the slope break, most distinct off Java and Lesser Sunda islands, where we find coincident narrow, uniform, continuous outer arc ridges. Their landward termination and a shallow upper plate mantle mark the downdip limit of the seismogenic zone. In contrast the outer arc ridges off Sumatra are wider and partly elevated above sea level forming the forearc islands. The downdip limit of the seismogenic zone coincides with a deeper upper plate mantle. Sunda Strait marks a transition zone between the Sumatra and Java margins. We find the differences along the Sunda margin, especially the wider extent of the seismogenic zone off Sumatra, producing larger earthquakes, to result from the interaction of different age and subduction direction of the oceanic plate. We attribute a major role to the sediment income and continental/oceanic upper plate nature of Sumatra/Java influencing the composition and deformation style along the forearc and subduction fault

Contrasting Decollement and Prism Properties over the Sumatra 2004-2005 Earthquake Rupture Boundary

Styles of subduction zone deformation and earthquake rupture dynamics are strongly linked, jointly influencing hazard potential. Seismic reflection profiles across the trench west of Sumatra, Indonesia, show differences across the boundary between the major 2004 and 2005 plate interface earthquakes, which exhibited contrasting earthquake rupture and tsunami generation. In the southern part of the 2004 rupture, we interpret a negative-polarity sedimentary reflector ~500 meters above the subducting oceanic basement as the seaward extension of the plate interface. This predécollement reflector corresponds to unusual prism structure, morphology, and seismogenic behavior that are absent along the 2005 rupture zone. Although margins like the 2004 rupture zone are globally rare, our results suggest that sediment properties influence earthquake rupture, tsunami hazard, and prism development at subducting plate boundaries

3500 yr record of centennial-scale climate variability from the Western Pacific Warm Pool

We use geochemical data from a sediment core in the shallowsilled and intermittently dysoxic Kau Bay in Halmahera (Indonesia, lat 1°N, long 127.5°E) to reconstruct century-scale climate variability within the Western Pacific Warm Pool over the past ∼3500 yr. Downcore variations in bulk sedimentary δ15N appear to reflect century-scale variability in basin ventilation, attributed to changes in oceanographic conditions related to century-scale fluctuations in El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). We infer an increase in century-scale El Niño activity beginning ca. 1700 yr B.P. with peaks in El Niño activity ca. 1500 yr B.P., 1150 yr B.P., and ca. 700 yr B.P. The Kau Bay results suggest that there was diminished ENSO amplitude or frequency, or a departure from El Niño-like conditions during the Medieval Warm Period, and distinctive, but steadily decreasing, El Niño activity during and after the Little Ice Age. © 2008 The Geological Society of America

Structure, evolution and tectonic activity of the eastern Sunda forearc, Indonesia, from marine seismic investigations

Forearc structures of the eastern Sunda Arc are studied by new multichannel reflection seismic profiling. We image a high along-strike variability of the subducting oceanic plate, the interface between subducting and overriding plate, the accretionary wedge, the outer arc high and forearc basins. We highlight ongoing tectonic activity of the entire outer arc high: active out-of-sequence thrust faults connecting the plate interface with the seafloor, slope basins showing tilted sedimentary sequences on the outer arc high, vertical displacement of young seafloor sediments, and tilted sedimentary sequences in the Lombok forearc basin. While frontal accretion plays a minor role, the growth of the outer arc high is mainly attributed to oceanic sediments and crustal fragments, which are attached to the base of the upper plate and recycled within the forearc. We image ongoing large-scale duplex formation of the oceanic crust. The incoming oceanic crust is dissected by normal faulting into 5–10 km wide blocks within a 50–70 km wide belt seaward of the deep sea trench. These blocks determine the geometry and evolution of duplexes attached to the base of the overriding plate landward of the trench. Long-lasting and ongoing subsidence of the Lombok Basin is documented by distinct seismic sequences. In the Lombok Basin we image mud diapirs, fed from deeply buried sediments which may have been mobilized by rising fluids. We propose a wrench fault system in the eastern Lombok forearc basin that decouples the subduction regime of the Sunda Arc from the continent–island arc collision regime of the western Banda Arc. The observed tectonic activity of the entire forearc system reflects a high earthquake and tsunami hazard, similar to the western part of the Sunda Arc