Fig 1 - uploaded by Randolph Williams
Content may be subject to copyright.
Simplified geologic map of an exhumed section of the Loma Blanca fault overlain on satellite imagery (map data: Google, Landsat/Copernicus). Fault is dashed where inferred. (Inset) Location of detailed map in New Mexico. Geologic units: Qac (yellow), Quaternary alluvium; QSa (brown), Quaternary unit A; Qss (uncolored), stabilized Holocene deposits; QTsa (blue), axial stream deposits; Tpl (gray), Popotosa Formation; Tsp (green), piedmont slope and alluvial fan deposits. The box outlines the South Fracture Zone of ref. 20, within which dated veins were collected. Geologic data are from ref. 19.
Source publication
Significance
U-Th dating of coseismic calcite veins in the Loma Blanca fault, New Mexico, quantifies an earthquake history spanning more than 400,000 years, the longest paleoseismic record ever documented for any fault. Data show that earthquakes on the Loma Blanca fault generally occurred at regular intervals, rather than aperiodically as previous...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... earthquake records were randomly sampled and the COV of the apparent interseismic periods in each subsample was calculated and stored. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that model results are not affected by vari- ations in either the assumed mean recurrence interval or the total number of synthetic earthquakes in each record (SI Appendix, Fig. ...
Citations
... If that is the case, then acknowledge the potential relevance of the source in question and state in plain language (with supporting evidence) why you disagree with its conclusions. In other cases, the nature of our data and the available literature may be such at there simply is no single, unambiguous interpretation, as is shown in this more complex example from the discussion in Williams et al. (2017b) (modified slightly to be one continuous paragraph): ...
Scientific writing is a cornerstone component of modern geoscience practice. Despite this, the subject rarely benefits from any explicit instruction during graduate training. This editorial attempts to address that gap by providing a simplified approach to writing modern geoscience papers. Implementation of this approach requires aspiring scientific writers to first consider why we as scientists write papers and what our goals should be for our audience. From there, specific and detailed advice is provided on how to best structure the idea flow and presentation within each of the primary components of a peer-reviewed manuscript (e.g. introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusions, and abstracts). Examples of annotated, illustrative text are provided throughout. Considerable attention is paid to the notion of a scientific paper as an argument (as presented primarily in it's discussion section) in favor of some proposition, and the key aspects of what makes an argument compelling. The goal is to provide new or struggling scientific writers with an explicit mechanism to construct impactful peer-reviewed manuscripts more easily.
... The fluid flow circulation is linked to CO2 degassing during seismic events (e.g. Uysal et al., 2009, Williams et al., 2017Matera et al., 2021). As a consequence, the expansion of CO2 enriched fluid together with high buoyancy leads to upward acceleration. ...
Travertines are terrestrial carbonates that are commonly associated with fault activity in extensional and transtensional basins. The faults serve as conduits for the rise and mixing of carbonate enriched fluids with thermal and meteoric CO 2 inputs promoting travertine precipitation at the surface. Therefore, travertine successions provide key constrain on the faulting, depositional environments, fluid flow and climate. This work focuses on the travertine succession in the Miocene Levač Basin, the marginal basin of the Morava Corridor situated at the junction of the Dinarides and the southernmost Carpathians. Detailed sedimentological, geochronological (U‐Pb age, laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry) and structural analyses of the travertines are used to reconstruct the evolution of the feeding hydrothermal system. Furthermore, these data were used to understand the controlling factors governing alternation of fluid flows enriched in thermally generated and meteoric CO 2 , and precipitation of travertines in Levač Basin, and finally to elucidate the late stage of basin evolution. Four facies associations are distinguished within the succession, i.e. travertine slope, ridge, flat, and travertine flat under the fluvial influence. The results demonstrated that travertine deposition was controlled by north‐west/south‐west and north‐east/south‐east normal fault arrays. Stable isotope data show positive δ ¹³ C values (with δ ¹⁸ O being negative) shifting to negative in the distal and stratigraphically younger deposits implying dilution of deep hydrothermal fluids by mixing with meteoric waters. Finally, travertine deposits yielded a new U‐Pb age of ca 14 Ma indicating that the Middle Miocene extensional phase known from other intermountain basins in the Dinarides reached as far east as the Levač Basin and Morava Corridor.
... To advance our understanding of fault mechanics, the earthquake strain cycle, and to enhance the accuracy of seismic hazard assessments, it is essential to constrain the temporal patterns of earthquakes along specific fault zones. The periodicity of earthquakes (whether timedependent or time-independent) in diverse tectonic settings has been a focal point in fault research (Weldon et al., 2004;Scharer et al., 2010Scharer et al., , 2011Williams et al., 2017Williams et al., , 2019Chen et al., 2020;Lu et al., 2020). Data from historical and instrumental earthquake records are often utilized to calculate the probability of the locations and times of future earthquakes, as relative plate motions tend to generate earthquakes along boundary faults . ...
... Liu and Stein (2016) suggested that continental earthquakes tend to cluster and occur within complex dynamic systems of interacting fault zones. Other cases of paleo-earthquake records offer an invaluable resource for assessing the recurrent patterns of large earthquakes in continental settings (Williams et al., 2017). The longest documented paleo-seismic record to date is a 400,000-year record of earthquake frequency from the Loma Blanca fault in New Mexico, United States, which demonstrates a time-dependent model (Williams et al., 2017). ...
... Other cases of paleo-earthquake records offer an invaluable resource for assessing the recurrent patterns of large earthquakes in continental settings (Williams et al., 2017). The longest documented paleo-seismic record to date is a 400,000-year record of earthquake frequency from the Loma Blanca fault in New Mexico, United States, which demonstrates a time-dependent model (Williams et al., 2017). ...
This study examined the temporal patterns of paleo-earthquake recurrences on the Korean Peninsula, situated near the Eurasian Plate boundary, by using electron spin resonance (ESR) dating to ascertain the ages at which fault gouge patches were reactivated. The findings reveal that the paleo-earthquakes in each of the fault zones (Keumwang, southern part of Wangsukcheon, Yangsan, and Ulsan) display quasiperiodic patterns. The observed patterns align with a time-dependent earthquake recurrence model. A periodicity of approximately 100 kyr could represent a regional baseline for fault activity. Over the past 650 kyr, the periodicity of paleo-earthquakes has coincided with the interglacial periods of marine isotope stages (MIS) 15, 13, 11, 9, and 7. On the Korean Peninsula, it is hypothesized that long-term differential stress changes, resulting from sea-level rises in the Pacific Ocean, have played a significant role in driving Quaternary fault activities during these interglacial stages. Consequently, this study suggests that the ongoing global warming trend could potentially increase the earthquake frequency on the Korean Peninsula.
... Carbon (C) isotope analysis is mainly used to trace the origin of carbonate rocks or CO 2 , Oxygen (O) isotope is applied to calculate paleo-geotherm and to determine the rock-forming fluid origin (Taylor et al., 1967;Hoefs et al., 1997). As a corollary, REE distribution patterns, 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, δ 18 O, and δ 13 C ratios of calcite veins are efficient parameters to determine the origin and evolution of geofluids responsible for mineral precipitation (Yang et al., 2013;Williams et al., 2017;Liu et al., 2019;Gao et al., 2019). Fluid inclusions often record significant information on fluid composition, their trapping temperature, and pressure in calcite and quartz veins (Becker et al., 2010;Guo et al., 2012;Guo et al., 2016a,b;Fall et al., 2015). ...
Abundant calcite and quartz veins have been developed in the Wufeng-Longmaxi (O3w-S1l) shale reservoirs, which are direct records of fluid flow events in the southern Jiaoshiba area, Sichuan Basin. To investigate their origin and timing, multiple in-situ analytical approaches were conducted on selected calcite and quartz veins. Three stages of calcite veins and two stages of quartz veins are identified in the studied region as: stage 1 calcite veins (Cal-1 veins), stage 2 quartz veins (Qtz-1 veins), stage 3 calcite veins (Cal-2 veins), stage 4 quartz veins (Qtz-2 veins), and stage 5 calcite veins (Cal-3). The Cal-1, Qtz-1, Cal-2, Qtz-2, and Cal-3 veins were formed at 177–166 Ma, 167–145 Ma, 156–145 Ma, 84–83 Ma, and 65 Ma, respectively, as indicated by combining with fluid inclusions data in both the calcite and quartz veins and burial-thermal history reconstruction. Intra-layer diagenetic fluid in the O3w-S1l shale was responsible for the formation of Cal-1, Qtz-1, Cal-2, and Qtz-2 veins. The Cal-3 veins were only identified in the O3w-S1l shale reservoirs of the Zilichang zone, and the vein-forming fluid was derived from extraneous fluids under an oxidative environment. In addition, methane inclusions in the calcite and quartz veins show three episodes of natural gas expulsion in the southern Jiaoshiba area. Due to the effective sealing capabilities of shale, the three episodes of gas expulsion were transported for a short distance within the O3w-S1l shale reservoirs in the Piangqiao zone. The last episode of gas expulsion occurred in the Zilichang zone during the Late Yanshanian uplift was corresponded to the formation of Cal-3 veins. Extraneous fluid can infiltrate the reservoir through the local fault-fracture systems in the Zilichang zone, indicating the destruction of sealing capability. Our methane inclusion data analysis indicates the loss of shale gas in the Zilichang zone, which was potentially associated with the fluid flow responsible for the formation of Cal-3 vein in the O3w-S1l shale reservoirs. Fluid evolution in different gas-bearing shale reservoirs reveals preservation conditions during the process and has an implication for the differential enrichment of shale gas.
... Hancock [16], based on fieldwork on late Quaternary thermogenic travertine in Turkey, the Aegean region of Greece, the Apennine Mountains of northern Italy, and the American basin mountain area, found that travertine can reveal the characteristics and activity history of many neotectonics and, thus, proposed the concept of travitonics. Based on this theory, the dating of travertine produced in tectonically active sites, especially fissure-ridge-type travertine, has allowed for the reconstruction of seismic activity and its repetition [15,[17][18][19][20], and the assessment of fault spreading rates [21], fault ages [18,22,23], sliding rates [24], and the relationship between faults and fluid properties in geothermal fields have also been studied [25,26]. On the other hand, there have been few cases of paleoearthquakes based on tufa, as the water source is mostly karst water, the concentration of HCO 3 − is low (<6 mmol/L), and the spring water is not exposed on active faults. ...
The sedimentary characteristics of the special interlayer contained in the section of the Sparkling Lake dam revealed by the 8 August Jiuzhaigou earthquake in 2017 are obviously different from the tufa in the dam body, and they are considered to be historic flood relics. Based on the study of the particulate matter from the 8 August Jiuzhaigou earthquake, this study combined comparative petrographic, mineralogical, geochemical, and chronological studies of the special interbedded sediments of the Sparkling Lake dam with other genetic samples to obtain homology information and genetic links and to explore the tufa depositional dynamics and earthquake disaster subsidence. The paleoseismic benefit in the discontinuity layer was explored, and the paleoseismic information embedded in the profiles was extracted, providing a new idea for reconstructing the paleoseismic events in the tufa deposition sequence. According to X-ray diffraction, laser particle size analysis, and scanning electron microscope experiments, the particulate matter in the Jiuzhaigou mountains has its own specific mineralogical characteristics. The mineral composition of the particulate matter is basically calcite. The particle size is large, and single particles are mostly angular and subangular. The fracture morphology observed under the single-particle microscope was uneven, showing the characteristics of the dust caused by earthquake disasters. The geochemical analysis data show that the distribution patterns of rare earth elements in different types of particulate matter in the same area have similar characteristics. Moreover, an analysis of the elements Rb, Sr, and Ba shows that the particulate matter in Jiuzhaigou has a strong correlation (R2 = 0.9941), indicating the stability and uniformity of the material source. The source of the particulate matter was limestone of the carbonate strata from the Devonian to the Triassic. Combined with mineralogy and grain size morphology, the interbedded particles in the tufa depositional profile have the potential application of paleoseismic archives to record extreme seismic events. According to the chronological data of the special interlayer sediments in the tufa dam body, the paleoseismic age is inferred to be 1220 ± 30 BP. Therefore, the tufa bedding can be related to the paleoearthquake, and the special interlayer of the tufa section can be used to reconstruct paleoearthquakes.
... Moreover, the spatiotemporal behavior of intraplate faults, because the time between successive earthquakes can be extremely long in regard to our ability to decipher geological record, is more difficult to characterize. Hence, variable processes have been proposed, from random pattern and/or clustering (quasi)periodic behavior, with no emerging general picture (Berryman et al., 2012;Calais et al., 2016;Williams et al., 2017;Bollinger et al., 2021). The Korean Peninsula has long been considered a stable intraplate region with low seismicity (Fig. 1a) on the basis of the absence of historical and instrumental records of destructive surface-rupturing earthquakes. ...
... From a critical point of view though, it may be questioned whether the recurrency of tectonically triggered seismic events, which traditionally is thought to operate at a frequency of hundreds of thousands of years, can result in an abundance of SSDS at multiple stratigraphic levels in prograding delta systems, which typically operate at significantly shorter time spans (some few thousand to tens of thousands of years, e.g., Helland-Hansen & Hampson, 2009). Interestingly, however, is the growing body of literature which demonstrate that faults can generate earthquakes relatively often and at quasi-periodic intervals of some few thousand to tens of thousands of years (e.g., Cowan et al., 1996;Williams et al., 2017). Røe (2003) attributed the abundance of SSDS in the Vadsø Group to seismic activity induced by syn-rift faulting along the VFZ. ...
... Most commonly utilised is uranium, which can be dated through decay to its final daughter product, lead (U-Pb geochronology) or via decay to its intermediate daughter products 234 U and 230 Th (U-Th geochronology). U-Th geochronology is applicable over timeframes ranging from several years to around 600,000 ka (Edwards et al., 1987;Williams et al., 2017), although it requires very high analytical precision at the older end of this age range. U-Pb geochronology is theoretically applicable across the entire geological timescale, but is most commonly used beyond the realm of U-Th dating at > 1 Ma, and within the Phanerozoic eon . ...
... The ages of this single fracture fill overlap those from across the region , indicating that detailed chronologies of single fills can record protracted regional deformation. At a finer scale, Williams et al. (2017) demonstrated a recurrence interval of the Loma Blanca fault using U-Th geochronology of 40-50 ka. ...
... 20 to 13 Ma, each of which is associated with a change in the recorded direction of strain across the fault as determined through calcite twinning analysis. Williams et al. (2017) presented twenty reliable U-Th dates from the Loma Blanca normal fault in the Rio Grande rift, spanning several individual fracture fill samples. Their dates range from ca. 575 to 150 ka and, as highlighted above, can be used to demonstrate a recurrence interval of some 40 to 50 ka. ...
Calcite is a common mineral precipitated within upper crustal fault zones and associated fractures, forming veins, mineral cements and fault coatings. It has the potential to be dated using several radioisotopic systems if parent/daughter isotope abundances are suitable for the currently available analytical techniques. U-Pb dating can be most readily achieved using the in-situ laser ablation technique, which has led to a rapid growth area in the U-Pb dating of calcite. The ability to constrain the timing of fault slip hinges critically on the ability to confidently link calcite precipitation to fault movement and/or spatially and temporally associated fracture opening which requires careful microstructural and petrographic documentation. We discuss the varying reliability of different fracture fill types to make these links, and demonstrate that crack-seal-slip fills associated with faults are the most suitable for unambiguously linking calcite growth to phases of fault slip. Previous applications of the U-Pb and U-Th methods to natural examples at a range of temporal and spatial scales are reviewed, in particular their implications for the timescales of faulting and for the rates of fracture-filling. We then highlight the main limitations of the method, and provide a brief commentary on future directions.
... The routinely conducted speleothem-based palaeoseismological studies commonly reach for the so-called regrowths as material for dating (e.g., Forti and Postpischl, 1984;Kagan et al., 2005;Plan et al., 2010;Becker et al., 2012;Szczygieł et al., 2021aSzczygieł et al., , 2021bGrasemann et al., 2022). Dating of calcite crystallized in fractured rocks has been successfully used in dating their deformations (Jurewicz et al., 2007;Nuriel et al., 2011;Uysal et al., 2011;Williams et al., 2017;Koltai et al., 2018), even those not associated with neotectonic movements (Su et al., 2021). Recent investigations have shown that healed speleothems are also advantageous material for studies on palaeoseismicity (Plan et al., 2010;Szczygieł et al., 2021a). ...
Healed speleothems, sparsely mentioned in literature, have been noted in one of the side passages of the Demänová Cave System in Slovakia. Speleothem healing commonly proceeds in columns and flowstones after their brittle deformation. Crystallization of calcium carbonate in fractures and along their mouths results in formation of various outgrowths: subvertical ridges, subhorizontal ridges, and helictites. Morphology of the subvertical ridges and helictites indicates that they were supplied by water migrating through the fractures, while the subhorizontal ridges resulted from gravity-controlled water flow down the speleothem surface. Stable isotope composition of the outgrowths suggests that they crystallized as a result of CO2 degassing, like most speleothems. Since speleothem damages in the DCS are directly linked to fault reactivation, the healed speleothems appear to be advantageous objects for seismotectonic analysis of karst terrains.
... Research in this area is complicated; however, by the fact that fault-zone fracture networks are not static structures in the crust. Rather, a variety of rock record, geophysical, and experimental studies indicate that fracture systems are dynamic, repeatedly opening and closing throughout fault history [1,15,16,[20][21][22][23][24]. ...
... Over longer timescales or in reaction environments, however, both dissolution and precipitation of mineral phases occur, and the configuration of fracture networks will necessarily change over time. Abundant veins observed in exhumed fault zones and other fractured rocks provide a clear example of coupled geochemical and transport processes that drastically modify fracture properties [23,93,[101][102][103][104]. ...
Progressive cementation and sealing of fault-localized fractures impact crustal mass transport and the recovery of fault strength following slip events. We use discrete fracture network (DFN) models to examine how fracture sealing during end-member cementation mechanisms (i.e., reaction- versus transported-limited cementation) influences the partitioning of fluid flow through time. DfnWorks was used to generate randomized fracture networks parameterized with fracture orientation data compiled from field studies. Single-phase flow simulations were performed for each network over a series of timesteps, and network parameters were modified to reflect progressive fracture sealing consistent with either reaction- or transport-limited crystal growth. Results show that when fracture cementation is reaction-limited, fluid flow becomes progressively channelized into a smaller number of fractures with larger apertures. When fracture cementation is transport-limited, fluid flow experiences progressive dechannelization, becoming more homogeneously distributed throughout the fracture network. These behaviors are observed regardless of the DFN parameterization, suggesting that the effect is an intrinsic component of all fracture networks subjected to the end-member cementation mechanisms. These results have first-order implications for the spatial distribution of fluid flow in fractured rocks and recovery of permeability and strength during fault/fracture healing in the immediate aftermath of fault slip.
