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Notes: [Auszug] HUTCHISON et al.1 have reported U-Pb analyses on samples of the meteorite Nakhla which confirm that this meteorite is younger than 3.68 Gyr. In both their title and their discussion there seems to be some apprehension about the Validity' of model ages. Because of the considerable utility of the ...

Notes: We present geological and morphological observations at different scales to constrain rates of faulting and the distribution of deformation in the seismically active Aegean region. We focus first on the 130 km long Corinth Rift, an asymmetric graben where a flight of terraces of marine origin are uplifted. We show that the edges of the terraces lie in the footwall of the normal fault bounding the Corinth Rift and correspond to sea-level highstands of laic Pleistocene age. Using a detailed analysis of aerial and SPOT imagery supported by field observations, we have mapped 10 terrace platforms and strandlines ranging in elevation from 10 to 400 m over distances of 2 to 20 km from the fault. The elevation of the terraces' inner edges was estimated at 172 sites with an error of ±5m. This data set contains a precise description of the uplift and flexure of 10 different palaeohorizontal lines with respect to the present sea level. To date the deformation, we correlate the Corinth terraces with late Pleistocene oxygen-isotope stages of high sea-level stands and with global sea-level fluctuations. Using a thick elastic plate model consistent with our current understanding of the earthquake cycle and a boundary-element technique we reproduce the geometry of the shorelines to constrain both mechanical parameters and the slip on the fault. We show that the seismogenic layer behaves over the long term as if its elastic modulus were reduced by a factor of about 1000. All the terraces are fitted for fault slip increasing in proportion to terrace age, and the component of regional uplift is found to be less than 0.3 mm yr−1. The best fits give a slip rate of 11±3 mm yr−1 on the main rift-bounding fault over the last 350 kyr. Other geological and morphologic information allows us to estimate the total age of the main fault (∼1 Ma) and to examine the mechanical evolution of the Corinth Rift. The minimum observed sediment thickness in the Gulf places an extreme check on the results of the modelling and a lower bound on slip rate of 6–7 mm yr−1 (40 per cent less than estimated with modelling). Even this slip rate is nearly 10 times higher than for comparable features in most of the Aegean and elsewhere in the world.At a larger scale, the spacing and asymmetry of the rift systems in the Aegean suggest strain localization in the upper mantle, with slow extension starting 15 Myr ago or earlier. The more recent (1 Myr), rapid phase of rifting in Corinth partly reactivated this earlier phase of extension. The younger faulting in Corinth appears to result from its present location in the inhomogeneous stress field (process zone) of the south-westward propagating tip of the southern branch of the North Anatolian Fault. We extend these relations to propose a mechanical model for the Late Cenozoic evolution of the Aegean. As the Arabia/Europe collision progressed in eastern Turkey it caused Anatolia to move to the west and the North Anatolian Fault to propagate into the Aegean, where the early slow extension started to be modified about 5 Ma ago. The process of propagation dramatically increased the activity of some but not all of the earlier rifts. The model we present is compatible with tectonic observations, as well as with the seismicity, the palaeomagnetic rotations and the displacement field now observed with GPS and SLR.

Notes: The seismic source parameters seismic moment M0, source dimension r, fault length l, average displacement (u), shear-stress drop Δs̀, radiated energy Es, and apparent stress n(s̀) are calculated for the Kalamata (southern Greece) earthquake of 1986 September 13. These source parameters are obtained by using teleseismic P and SH-wave spectra and making use of three independent spectral parameters, the long period spectral level Ω0, the corner frequency f0, and the parameter ε which controls the high-frequency decay of the displacement spectrum. The calculated far-field spectra are based on the direct phases of P-and S-waves and they have been corrected for the instrumental response and for an average radiation pattern assuming normal faulting mechanism. The striking feature of the obtained results is the low stress drop value of about 6–7 bar which is in deviation from the average value (30 bar) for interplate earthquakes. A seismic moment of 1.9 times 1025 and 2.2 times 1024 dyne·cm, a fault length of about 22 and 11 km, and an average displacement of 15 and 9 cm are obtained on the basis of P- and S-waves, respectively.

Notes: In February and March 1981, three successive destructive earthquakes occurred at the eastern end of the Gulf of Corinth. The third shock (March, 4, Ms ≈ 6.4) ruptured the Kaparelli fault. About 40 cm of a limestone fault scarp was exhumed by the earthquake. Each major prehistoric earthquake has added new surface to this cumulative scarp exposing fresh material to cosmic-ray bombardment. Using 36Cl cosmic ray exposure dating we have obtained the continuous exposure history for this 4–5-m-high limestone surface at two sites about 50 m apart. The results suggest that the Kaparelli fault has ruptured three times prior to 1981 at 20 ± 3 ka, 14.5 ± 0.5 ka and 10.5 ± 0.5 ka with slip amplitudes between 0.6 m and 2.1 m. The Kaparelli fault appears to have been inactive for 10 thousand years prior to the 1981 event.

Notes: [Auszug] To many historians of the Greek classical period5"8, the earthquake that destroyed Sparta in -464 BC was an important reference. Ducat9 points out that there exist three independent contemporaneous descriptions of the 464 BC earthquake: by Thucydides, who reports the event in his History of the ...

Notes: Abstract A technique based on the ν-value, which is defined by % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaWaaSGbaeaaca% GGOaGafqiXdqNbaebacaGGPaWaaWbaaSqabeaacaaIYaaaaaGcbaWa% a0aaaeaacqaHepaDdaahaaWcbeqaaiaaikdaaaaaaaaaaaa!3CEB!\[{{(\bar \tau )^2 } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{(\bar \tau )^2 } {\overline {\tau ^2 } }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {\overline {\tau ^2 } }}\], where τ is the time interval between two adjacent earthquakes and indicates the pattern of time sequences of earthquakes, has been applied to the 25 March 1986 Aegean Sea (Greece) earthquake (M L = 5.2) in an attempt to discover temporal changes in seismicity. The analysis of several earthquake sequences revealed that low ν-values preceded the occurrence of relatively large earthquakes. The ν-value technique may be used for monitoring the seismicity changes.