Pull-apart basin formation and development in narrow transform zones with application to the Dead Sea Basin

Contrary to other examples, like Death Valley, California, and the Sea of Marmara, Turkey, the Dead Sea-type pull-apart basins form within a narrow transform corridor between strike-slip faults that are less than 10 km apart, much smaller than the crustal thickness of 35 km. In this paper we investigate the role of fault zone width versus thickness and rheology on the mechanics of pull-apart basins through a series of laboratory experiments. Results show that pull-apart basins that develop above a small step over (i.e., smaller than the thickness of the brittle layer") are narrow and elongated parallel to the overall motion. This is enhanced by increased decoupling along a basal ductile layer. The experiment with the highest degree of mechanical decoupling shows a striking resemblance to the Dead Sea Basin (DSB). Comparison with modeling results suggests that the DSB's flat basin floor is bordered over its full length by strike-slip faults that control the basin geometry and temporal and spatial basin migration. This is in strong contrast to Death Valley-type pull-apart basins that are highly oblique to the transform direction with transverse normal faults dominating over longitudinal strike-slip faults. Results imply that lithosphere rheology and the ratio of basin width to crustal thickness are controlling factors in the mechanics of pull-apart basin formation within transform corridors like the Dead Sea Fault. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union

Adakites from collision-modified lithosphere

Adakitic melts from Papua New Guinea (PNG) show adakitic geochemical characteristics, yet their geodynamic context is unclear. Modern adakites are associated with hot-slab melting and/or remelting of orogenic mafic underplate at convergent margins. Rift-propagation over collision-modified lithosphere may explain the PNG adakite enigma, as PNG was influenced by rapid creation and subduction of oceanic microplates since Mesozoic times. In a new (rift) tectonic regime, decompressional rift melts encountered and melted remnant mafic eclogite and/or garnet-amphibolite slab fragments in arc collisional-modified mantle, and partially equilibrated with metasomatized mantle. Alternatively, hot-slab melting in a proposed newborn subduction zone along the Trobriand Trough could generate adakitic melts, but recent seismic P-wave tomographic models lack evidence for subducting oceanic lithosphere in the adakite melt region; however they do show deep subduction zone remnants as a number of high P-wave anomalies at lithospheric depths, which supports our proposed scenario

A Method of Intervals for the Study of Diffusion-Limited Annihilation, A + A --> 0

We introduce a method of intervals for the analysis of diffusion-limited annihilation, A+A -> 0, on the line. The method leads to manageable diffusion equations whose interpretation is intuitively clear. As an example, we treat the following cases: (a) annihilation in the infinite line and in infinite (discrete) chains; (b) annihilation with input of single particles, adjacent particle pairs, and particle pairs separated by a given distance; (c) annihilation, A+A -> 0, along with the birth reaction A -> 3A, on finite rings, with and without diffusion.Comment: RevTeX, 13 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. References Added, and some other minor changes, to conform with final for

Cluster approximation solution of a two species annihilation model

A two species reaction-diffusion model, in which particles diffuse on a one-dimensional lattice and annihilate when meeting each other, has been investigated. Mean field equations for general choice of reaction rates have been solved exactly. Cluster mean field approximation of the model is also studied. It is shown that, the general form of large time behavior of one- and two-point functions of the number operators, are determined by the diffusion rates of the two type of species, and is independent of annihilation rates.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Pull-apart basin formation and development in narrow transform zones with application to the Dead Sea Basin

International audienceContrary to other examples, like Death Valley, California, and the Sea of Marmara, Turkey, the Dead Sea-type pull-apart basins form within a narrow transform corridor between strike-slip faults that are less than 10 km apart, much smaller than the crustal thickness of 35 km. In this paper we investigate the role of fault zone width versus thickness and rheology on the mechanics of pull-apart basins through a series of laboratory experiments. Results show that pull-apart basins that develop above a small step over (i.e., smaller than the thickness of the brittle layer") are narrow and elongated parallel to the overall motion. This is enhanced by increased decoupling along a basal ductile layer. The experiment with the highest degree of mechanical decoupling shows a striking resemblance to the Dead Sea Basin (DSB). Comparison with modeling results suggests that the DSB's flat basin floor is bordered over its full length by strike-slip faults that control the basin geometry and temporal and spatial basin migration. This is in strong contrast to Death Valley-type pull-apart basins that are highly oblique to the transform direction with transverse normal faults dominating over longitudinal strike-slip faults. Results imply that lithosphere rheology and the ratio of basin width to crustal thickness are controlling factors in the mechanics of pull-apart basin formation within transform corridors like the Dead Sea Fault

The Levantine Basin - crustal structure and origin

The origin of the Levantine Basin in the Southeastern Mediterranean Sea is related to the opening of the Neo-Tethys. The nature of its crust has been debated for decades. Therefore, we conducted a geophysical experiment in the Levantine Basin. We recorded two refraction seismic lines with 19 and 20 ocean bottom hydrophones, respectively, and developed velocity models. Additional seismic reflection data yield structural information about the upper layers in the first few kilometers. The crystalline basement in the Levantine Basin consists of two layers with a P-wave velocity of 6.06.4 km/s in the upper and 6.56.9 km/s in the lower crust. Towards the center of the basin, the Moho depth decreases from 27 to 22 km. Local variations of the velocity gradient can be attributed to previously postulated shear zones like the Pelusium Line, the DamiettaLatakia Line and the BaltimHecateus Line. Both layers of the crystalline crust are continuous and no indication for a transition from continental to oceanic crust is observed. These results are confirmed by gravity data. Comparison with other seismic refraction studies in prolongation of our profiles under Israel and Jordan and in the Mediterranean Sea near Greece and Sardinia reveal similarities between the crust in the Levantine Basin and thinned continental crust, which is found in that region. The presence of thinned continental crust under the Levantine Basin is therefore suggested. A β-factor of 2.33 is estimated. Based on these findings, we conclude that sea-floor spreading in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea only occurred north of the Eratosthenes Seamount, and the oceanic crust was later subducted at the Cyprus Arc

Structural expression of a fading rift front: a case study from the Oligo-Miocene Irbid rift of northwest Arabia

Not all continental rifts mature to form a young ocean. The mechanism and duration of their cessation depend on the crustal structure, modifications in plate kinematics, lithospheric thermal response, or the intensity of subcrustal flow (e.g., plume activity). The cessation is recorded in the structure and stratigraphy of the basins that develop during the rifting process. This architecture is lost due to younger tectonic inversion, severe erosion, or even burial into greater depths that forces their detection by low-resolution geophysical imaging. The current study focuses on a uniquely preserved Oligo-Miocene rift that was subsequently taken over by a crossing transform fault system and, mostly due to that, died out. We integrate all geological, geophysical, and previous study results from across the southern Galilee to unravel the structural development of the Irbid failing rift in northwest Arabia. Despite tectonic, magmatic, and geomorphologic activity postdating the rifting, its subsurface structure northwest of the Dead Sea fault is preserved at depths of up to 1&thinsp;km. Our results show that a series of basins subsided at the rift front, i.e., rift termination, across the southern Galilee. We constrain the timing and extent of their subsidence into two main stages based on facies analysis and chronology of magmatism. Between 20 and 9&thinsp;Ma grabens and half-grabens subsided within a larger releasing jog, following a NW direction of a deeper presumed principal displacement zone. The basins continued to subside until a transition from the transtensional Red Sea to the transpressional Dead Sea stress regime occurred. With the transition, the basins ceased to subside as a rift, while the Dead Sea fault split the jog structure. Between 9 and 5&thinsp;Ma basin subsidence accentuated and an uplift of their margins accompanied their overall elongation to the NNE. Our study provides for the first time a structural as well as tectonic context for the southern Galilee basins. Based on this case study we suggest that the rift did not fail but rather faded and was taken over by a more dominant stress regime. Otherwise, these basins of a failing rift could have simply died out peacefully.</p

Kinetics of Aggregation-Annihilation Processes

We investigate the kinetics of many-species systems with aggregation of similar species clusters and annihilation of opposite species clusters. We find that the interplay between aggregation and annihilation leads to rich kinetic behaviors and unusual conservation laws. On the mean-field level, an exact solution for the cluster-mass distribution is obtained. Asymptotically, this solution exhibits a novel scaling form if the initial species densities are the same while in the general case of unequal densities the process approaches single species aggregation. The theoretical predictions are compared with numerical simulations in 1D, 2D, and 3D. Nontrivial growth exponents characterize the mass distribution in one dimension.Comment: 12 pages, revtex, 2 figures available upon reques

Priority diffusion model in lattices and complex networks

We introduce a model for diffusion of two classes of particles ($A$ and $B$) with priority: where both species are present in the same site the motion of $A$'s takes precedence over that of $B$'s. This describes realistic situations in wireless and communication networks. In regular lattices the diffusion of the two species is normal but the $B$ particles are significantly slower, due to the presence of the $A$ particles. From the fraction of sites where the $B$ particles can move freely, which we compute analytically, we derive the diffusion coefficients of the two species. In heterogeneous networks the fraction of sites where $B$ is free decreases exponentially with the degree of the sites. This, coupled with accumulation of particles in high-degree nodes leads to trapping of the low priority particles in scale-free networks.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Kinetics of Heterogeneous Single-Species Annihilation

We investigate the kinetics of diffusion-controlled heterogeneous single-species annihilation, where the diffusivity of each particle may be different. The concentration of the species with the smallest diffusion coefficient has the same time dependence as in homogeneous single-species annihilation, A+A-->0. However, the concentrations of more mobile species decay as power laws in time, but with non-universal exponents that depend on the ratios of the corresponding diffusivities to that of the least mobile species. We determine these exponents both in a mean-field approximation, which should be valid for spatial dimension d>2, and in a phenomenological Smoluchowski theory which is applicable in d<2. Our theoretical predictions compare well with both Monte Carlo simulations and with time series expansions.Comment: TeX, 18 page