Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Alpine Fault'

The Alpine Fault is a major plate boundary structure, which accommodates up to 50-80% of the total plate boundary motion across the South Island of New Zealand. The fault has not ruptured historically although limited off-fault shaking records and on-fault dating suggest large to great (~ Mw 8) earthquakes (every ~100-480 years; most recently in 1717), making it potentially one of the largest onshore sources of seismic hazard in New Zealand. The central section of the Alpine Fault, which bounds the highest elevations in the Southern Alps, is one of the most poorly characterised sections along the fault. On-fault earthquake timing in addition to the amount of dextral slip during major earthquakes was unknown along a 200-km-long section of the central Alpine Fault, while the amount of co-seismic hanging wall uplift was poorly known, prior to the present work. In this thesis I address these knowledge gaps through a combination of light detection and ranging (lidar), field, and stratigraphic mapping along with sample dating to constrain earthquake timing, style of faulting, and hanging wall rock uplift rates. Using lidar data coupled with field mapping I delineated the main trace of the Alpine Fault at Gaunt Creek as a north-striking fault scarp that was excavated and logged; this is part of a 2-km-wide restraining bend dominated by low-angle thrust faulting and without the clear strike-slip displacements that are present nearby (<5 km distant along strike in both directions). Where exposed in this scarp, the fault-zone is characterized by a distinct 5-50 cm thick clay fault-gouge layer juxtaposing hanging wall bedrock (mylonites and cataclasites) over unconsolidated late-Holocene footwall colluvium. An unfaulted peat at the base of the scarp is buried by post-most recent event (MRE) alluvium and yields a radiocarbon age of A.D. 1710–1930, consistent with sparse on-fault data, validating earlier off-fault records that suggest a 1717 MRE with a moment magnitude of Mw 8.1 ± 0.1, based on the 380-km-long surface rupture. Lidar and field mapping also enabled the identification and measurement of short (<30 m), previously unrecognized dextral offsets along the central section of the Alpine Fault. Single-event displacements of 7.5 ± 1 m for the 1717 earthquake and cumulative displacements of 12.9 ± 2 m and 22 ± 2.7 m for earlier ruptures can be binned into 7.1 ± 2.1 m increments of repeated dextral (uniform) slip along the central Alpine Fault. A comparison of these offsets with the local paleoseismic record and known plate kinematics suggests that the central Alpine Fault earthquakes in the past 1.1 ka may have: (i) bimodal character, with major surface ruptures (!Mw 7.9) every 270 ± 70 years (e.g. the 1717 event) and with moderate to large earthquakes (!Mw 7) occurring between these ruptures (e.g. the 1600 event); or (ii) that some shaking data may record earthquakes on other faults. If (i) is true, the uniform slip model (USM) perhaps best represents central Alpine Fault earthquake recurrence, and argues against the applicability of the characteristic earthquake model (CEM) there. Alternatively, if (ii) is true, perhaps the fault is “characteristic” and some shaking records proximal to plate boundary faults do not necessarily reflect plate-boundary surface ruptures. Paleoseismic and slip data suggest that (i) is the most plausible interpretation, which has implications for the understanding of major plate-boundary faults worldwide. Field mapping, geological characterisation, geophysical mapping, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of on-fault hanging wall sediments were used to better constrain the geometry and kinematics of Holocene deformation along the rangefront of the Southern Alps at the Alpine Fault near the Whataroa River. The fault here is dextral-reverse, although primarily strike-slip with clear fault traces cutting across older surfaces of varying elevations. Deformational bulges are observed along these traces that are likely thrust-bounded. A terrace of Whataroa River sediments was found on the hanging wall of the Alpine Fault approximately ~ 55-75 m (when considering uncertainties) above the floodplain of the Whataroa River. OSL ages for a hanging wall sediments of 10.9 ± 1.0 ka for the aforementioned terrace, 2.8 ± 0.3 ka for Whataroa River terrace deposits in a deformational bulge, and 11.1 ± 1.2 ka for a rangefront derived fan indicate Holocene aggradation along the rangefront and hanging wall uplift rates of 6.0 ± 1.1 mm/yr. The sub-horizontal, laterally continuous, and planar-bedded Whataroa-sourced terrace deposits suggest that the adjacent bounding faults are steeply-dipping faults without geometries in the shallow subsurface that would tend to cause sedimentary bed rotation and tilting. Using data from the approximately 100-m deep pilot DFDP boreholes together with lidar and field mapping, I present a review of the Quaternary geology, geomorphology, and structure of the fault at Gaunt Creek, and estimate new minimum Late-Pleistocene hanging wall rock uplift rates of 5.7 ± 1.0 mm/yr to 6.3 ± 1.1 mm/yr (without considering local erosion) that suggest that the Southern Alps are in a dynamic steady state here. GPS-derived “interseismic” vertical uplift rates are < 1 mm/yr at the Alpine Fault, so the majority of rock uplift at the rangefront happens during episodic major earthquakes, confirming with on-fault data that slip occurs coseismically. Notably the uplift rates from both Mint and Gaunt Creek are consistent between the two sites although the primary style of faulting at the surface is different between the two sites, suggesting consistent coseisimc uplift of the Southern Alps rangefront along the Alpine Fault in major earthquakes. This thesis collected new on-fault datasets that confirm earlier inferences of plate-boundary fault behaviour. This study of the high-uplift central section of the Alpine Fault provides the first on-fault evidence for the MRE (i.e. 1717) and repeated of dextral slip during the MRE and previous events as well as new hanging wall uplift data which suggests that the majority of rangefront uplift occurs in earthquakes along the Alpine Fault. Because the fault has not ruptured for ~300 years, it poses a significant seismic hazard to southern New Zealand.

The upper 8-12 km of the Alpine Fault, South Island, New Zealand, accommodates relative Australia-Pacific plate boundary motion through coseismic slip accompanying large-magnitude earthquakes. Earthquakes occur due to frictional instabilities on faults, and their nucleation, propagation, and arrest is governed by tectonic forces and fault zone properties. A multi-disciplinary dataset is presented on the lithological, microstructural, mineralogical, geochemical, hydrological, and frictional properties of Alpine Fault rocks collected from natural fault exposures and from Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP-1) drillcore. Results quantify and describe the physical and chemical processes that affect seismicity and slip accommodation. Oblique dextral motion on the central Alpine Fault in the last 5-8 Myr has exhumed garnet-oligoclase facies mylonitic fault rocks from depths of up to 35 km. During the last phase of exhumation, brittle deformation of these mylonites, accompanied by fluid infiltration, has resulted in complex mineralogical and lithological variations in the fault rocks. Petrophysical, geochemical, and lithological data reveal that the fault comprises a central alteration zone of protocataclasites, foliated and nonfoliated cataclasites, and fault gouges bounded by a damage zone containing fractured ultramylonites and mylonites. Mineralogical results suggest that at least two stages of chemical alteration have occurred. At, or near, the brittle-to-ductile transition (c. >320 °C), metasomatic alteration reactions resulted in plagioclase and feldspar replacement by muscovite and sausserite, and biotite (phlogopite), hornblende (actinolite) and/or epidote replacement by chlorite (clinochlore). At lower temperatures (c. >120°C), primary minerals were altered to kaolinite, smectite and pyrite, or kaolinite, smectite, Fe-hydroxide (goethite) and carbonate, depending on redox conditions. Ultramylonites, nonfoliated and foliated cataclasites, and gouges in the hanging wall and footwall contain the high-temperature phyllosilicates chlorite and white mica (muscovite/illite). Brown principal slip zone (PSZ) gouges contain the low-temperature phyllosilicates kaolinite and smecite, and goethite and carbonate cements. The frictional and hydrological properties of saturated intact samples of central Alpine Fault surface-outcrop gouges and cataclasites were investigated in room temperature experiments conducted at 30-33 MPa effective normal stress (σn') using a double-direct shear configuration and controlled pore fluid pressure in a triaxial pressure vessel. Surface-outcrop samples from Gaunt Creek, location of DFDP-1, displayed, with increasing distance (up to 50 cm) from the contact with footwall fluvioglacial gravels: (1) an increase in fault normal permeability (k = 7.45 x 10⁻²⁰ m² to k = 1.15 x 10⁻¹⁶ m²), (2) a transition from frictionally weak (μ=0.44) fault gouge to frictionally strong (μ=0.50’0.55) cataclasite, (3) a change in friction rate dependence (a–b) from solely velocity strengthening to velocity strengthening and weakening, and (4) an increase in the rate of frictional healing. The frictional and hydrological properties of saturated intact samples of southern Alpine Fault surface-outcrop gouges were also investigated in room temperature double-direct shear experiments conducted at σn'= 6-31 MPa. Three complete cross-sections logged from outcrops of the southern Alpine Fault at Martyr River, McKenzie Creek, and Hokuri Creek show that dextral-normal slip is localized to a single 1-12 m-thick fault core comprising impermeable (k=10⁻²⁰ to 10⁻²² m²), frictionally weak (μ=0.12 – 0.37), velocity-strengthening, illite-chlorite and trioctahedral smectite (saponite)-chlorite-lizardite fault gouges. In low velocity room temperature experiments, Alpine Fault gouges tested have behaviours associated with aseismic creep. In a triaxial compression apparatus, the frictional properties of PSZ gouge samples recovered from DFDP-1 drillcore at 90 and 128 m depths were tested at temperatures up to T=350°C and effective normal stresses up to σn'=156 MPa to constrain the fault's strength and stability under conditions representative of the seismogenic crust. The chlorite/white mica-bearing DFDP-1A blue gouge is frictionally strong (μ=0.61–0.76) across a range of experimental conditions (T=70–350°C, σn'=31.2–156 MPa) and undergoes a stability transition from velocity strengthening to velocity weakening as T increases past 210°C, σn'=31.2–156 MPa. The coefficient of friction of smecite-bearing DFDP-1B brown gouge increases from μ=0.49 to μ=0.74 with increasing temperature and pressure (T=70–210°C, σn'=31.2–93.6 MPa) and it undergoes a transition from velocity strengthening to velocity weakening as T increases past 140°C, σn'=62.4 MPa. In low velocity hydrothermal experiments, Alpine Fault gouges have behaviours associated with potentially unstable, seismic slip at temperatures ≥140°C, depending on mineralogy. High-velocity (v=1 m/s), low normal stress (σn=1 MPa) friction experiments conducted on a rotary shear apparatus showed that the peak coefficient of friction (μp) of Alpine Fault cataclasites and fault gouges was consistently high (mean μp=0.69±0.06) in room-dry experiments. Variations in fault rock mineralogy and permeability were more apparent in experiments conducted with pore fluid, wherein the peak coefficient of friction of the cataclasites (mean μp=0.64±0.04) was higher than the fault gouges (mean μp=0.24±0.16). All fault rocks exhibited very low steady state coefficients of friction (μss) (room-dry mean μss=0.18±0.04; saturated mean μss=0.10±0.04). Three high-velocity experiments conducted on saturated smectite-bearing principal slip zone (PSZ) fault gouges had the lowest peak friction coefficients (μp=0.13-0.18), lowest steady state friction coefficients (μss=0.02-0.10), and lowest breakdown work values (WB=0.07-0.11 MJ/m²) of all the experiments performed. Lower strength (μ < c. 0.62) velocity-strengthening fault rocks comprising a realistically heterogeneous fault plane represent barrier(s) to rupture propagation. A wide range of gouges and cataclasites exhibited very low steady state friction coefficients in high-velocity friction experiments. However, earthquake rupture nucleation in frictionally strong (μ ≥ c. 0.62), velocity-weakening material provides the acceleration necessary to overcome the low-velocity rupture propagation barrier(s) posed by velocity-strengthening gouges and cataclasites. Mohr-Coulomb theory stipulates that sufficient shear stress must be resolved on the Alpine Fault, or pore fluid pressure must be sufficiently high, for earthquakes to nucleate in strong, unstable fault materials. A three-dimensional stress analysis was conducted using the average orientation of the central and southern Alpine Fault, the experimentally determined coefficient of friction of velocity-weakening DFDP-1A blue gouge, and the seismologically determined stress tensor and stress shape ratio(s). Results reveal that for a coefficient of friction of μ ≥ c. 0.62, the Alpine Fault is unfavourably oriented to severely misoriented for frictional slip.

Disasters can occur without warning and severely test society’s capacity to cope, significantly altering the relationship between society and the built and natural environments. The scale of a disaster is a direct function of the pre-event actions and decisions taken by society. Poor pre-event planning is a major contributor to disaster, while effective pre-event planning can substantially reduce, and perhaps even avoid, the disaster. Developing and undertaking effective planning is therefore a vital component of disaster risk management in order to achieve meaningful societal resilience. Disaster scenarios present arguably the best and most effective basis to plan an effective emergency response to future disasters. For effective emergency response planning, disaster scenarios must be as realistic as possible. Yet for disasters resulting from natural hazards, intricately linked secondary hazards and effects make development of realistic scenarios difficult. This is specially true for large earthquakes in mountainous terrain. The primary aim of this thesis is therefore to establish a detailed and realistic disaster scenario for a Mw8.0 earthquake on the plate boundary Alpine fault in the South Island of New Zealand with specific emphasis on secondary effects. Geologic evidence of re-historic earthquakes on this fault suggest widespread and large-scale landsliding has resulted throughout the Southern Alps, yet, currently, no attempts to quantitatively model this landsliding have been undertaken. This thesis therefore provides a first attempt at quantitative assessments of the likely scale and impacts of landsliding from a future Mw8.0 Alpine fault earthquake. Modelling coseismic landsliding in regions lacking historic inventories and geotechnical data (e.g. New Zealand) is challenging. The regional factors that control the spatial distribution of landsliding however, are shown herein to be similar across different environments. Observations from the 1994 Northridge, 1999 Chi-Chi, and 2008 Wenchuan earthquakes identified MM intensity, slope angle and position, and distance from active faults and streams as factors controlling the spatial distribution of landsliding. Using fuzzy logic in GIS, these factors are able to successfully model the spatial distribution of coseismic landsliding from both the 2003 and 2009 Fiordland earthquakes in New Zealand. This method can therefore be applied to estimate the scale of landsliding from scenario earthquakes such as an Alpine fault event. Applied to an Mw8.0 Alpine fault earthquake, this suggests that coseismic landsliding could affect an area >50,000 km2 with likely between 40,000 and 110,000 landslides occurring. Between 1,400 and 4,000 of these are expected to present a major hazard. The environmental impacts from this landsliding would be severe, particularly in west-draining river catchments, and sediment supply to rivers in some catchments may exceed 50 years of background rates. Up to 2 km3 of total landslide debris is expected, and this will have serious and long-term consequences. Fluvial remobilisation of this material could result in average aggradation depths on active alluvial fans and floodplains of 1 m, with maximum depths substantially larger. This is of particular concern to the agriculture industry, which relies on the fertile soils on many of the active alluvial fans affected. This thesis also investigated the potential impacts from such landsliding on critical infrastructure. The State Highway and electrical transmission networks are shown to be particularly exposed. Up to 2,000 wooden pole and 30 steel pylon supports for the transmission network are highly exposed, resulting in >23,000 people in the West Coast region being exposed to power loss. At least 240 km of road also has high exposure, primarily on SH6 between Hokitika and Haast, and on Arthur’s and Lewis Passes. More than 2,750 local residents in Westland District are exposed to isolation by road as a result. The Grey River valley region is identified as the most critical section of the State Highway network and pre-event mitigation is strongly recommended to ensure the road and bridges here can withstand strong shaking and liquefaction hazards. If this section of the network can remain functional post-earthquake, the emergency response could be based out of Wellington using Nelson as a forward operating base with direct road access to some of the worst-affected locations. However, loss of functionality of this section of road will result in >24,000 people becoming isolated across almost the entire West Coast region. This thesis demonstrates the importance and potential value of pre-event emergency response planning, both for the South Island community for an Alpine fault earthquake, and globally for all such hazards. The case study presented demonstrates that realistic estimates of potential coseismic landsliding and its impacts are possible, and the methods developed herein can be applied to other large mountainous earthquakes. A model for developing disaster scenarios in collaboration with a wide range of societal groups is presented and shown to be an effective method for emergency response planning, and is applicable to any hazard and location globally. This thesis is therefore a significant contribution towards understanding mountainous earthquake hazards and emergency response planning.

Detailed paleoseismic investigation of the Alpine Fault, South Island, New Zealand, has been undertaken at locations which bracket the central and north sections of the fault, between the Hokitika and Ahaura River. A total of seven trenches and pits have been excavated at four localities along approximately 75 kilometres of the fault. From these excavations a total of 16 radiocarbon dates provide age constraints on the timing of the most recent two earthquakes. This trenching demonstrates that the most recent rupture occurred after 1660 AD, and most probably around 1700 - 1750 AD. There is consistent evidence for this event in the trenches in the central section of the fault. The surface rupture has extended into the north section of the fault as far as the Haupiri River area, which is 25 km northeast of the Alpine Fault junction with the Hope Fault. An earlier event at around 1600 AD can be recognised throughout the study area, and this is the most recent event in the trench locations north of the Haupiri River. An updated record of landslide and aggradation terrace ages is consistent with two earthquakes over this period, but this does not significantly refine the estimates of their timing. However, the analysis of indigenous forest age in Westland and Buller reveals two periods of synchronous regional forest damage at 1625 ± 15 AD and 1715 ± 15 AD. I infer that these two episodes of forest damage correspond to the two earthquakes revealed in the trenches for this same time period. Analysis of growth rings in trees which are old enough to have survived these earthquakes indicates that the most recent event occurred in 1717 AD. The growth ring anomalies also indicate a northeast earthquake limit near the Haupiri River. The most recent 1717 AD event appears to have been a synchronous rupture for a distance of over 375 km, from Milford Sound in the south Westland section of the fault, northeast to the Haupiri River. Based on the forest disturbance record, the earlier earthquake at 1625 ± 15 AD had a rupture length of at least 250 km, but further work is required to determine the southwest and northeast limits of this event. A range of methods is used here to estimate the probability of the next earthquake occurring on the central section of the Alpine Fault and all the calculated probabilities are relatively high. The most robust method, that of Nishenko and Buland 1987, suggests a conditional fifty-year probability in the order of 65 ± 15%. A sensitivity analysis indicates that the conditional probabilities of rupture are not significantly affected by assumptions regards the exact timing of the last earthquake, or even the number of most recent earthquakes, and conditional fifty-year probabilities of rupture remain at around 50% or higher. Based on the previous earthquake events, the next Alpine Fault earthquake is likely to have a Moment Magnitude of 8 ± 0.25, and will have a widely felt regional impact. Very strong ground shaking will occur in the epicentral area of the Southern Alps and central Westland. For most of the central South Island the ground shaking is likely to be stronger than that experienced in any other historical earthquake. Landslides and liquefaction will cause the greatest immediate damage to the natural environment, and in the longer-term increased sediment loads will cause aggradation, channel avulsion, and flooding in the numerous rivers which drain the epicentral region. There will also be substantial and widespread damage to the built environment, in some cases at a considerable distance from the epicentre. Because of the rugged nature of the topography of the central South Island, and the expected regional extent of the earthquake shaking, one of the greatest problems during the post earthquake recovery phase will be difficulty in communication and access.

An Alpine Fault Earthquake has the potential to cause significant disruption across the Southern Alps of the South Island New Zealand. In particular, South Island river systems may be chronically disturbed by the addition of large volumes of sediment sourced from coseismic landsliding. The Taramakau River is no exception to this; located north of Otira, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is exposed to natural hazards resulting from an earthquake on the Alpine Fault, the trace of which crosses the river within the study reach. The effects of an Alpine Fault Earthquake (AFE) have been extensively studied, however, little attention has been paid to the effects of such an event on the Taramakau River as addressed herein. Three research methods were utilised to better understand the implications of an Alpine Fault Earthquake on the Taramakau River: (1) hydraulic and landslide data analyses, (2) aerial photograph interpretation and (3) micro-scale modelling. Data provided by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research were reworked, establishing relationships between hydraulic parameters for the Taramakau River. Estimates of landslide volume were compared with data from the Poerua landslide dam, a historic New Zealand natural event, to indicate how landslide sediment may be reworked through the Taramakau valley. Aerial photographs were compared with current satellite images of the area, highlighting trends of avulsion and areas at risk of flooding. Micro-scale model experiments indicated how a braided fluvial system may respond to dextral strike-slip and thrust displacement and an increase in sediment load from coseismic landslides. An Alpine Fault Earthquake will generate a maximum credible volume of approximately 3.0 x 108 m3 of landslide material in the Taramakau catchment. Approximately 15% of this volume will be deposited on the Taramakau study area floodplain within nine years of the next Alpine Fault Earthquake. This amounts to 4.4 x 107 m3 of sediment input, causing an average of 0.5 m of aggradation across the river floodplains within the study area. An average aggradation of 0.5 m will likely increase the stream height of a one-in-100 year flood with a flow rate of 3200 m3/s from seven metres to 7.5 m overtopping the road and rail bridges that cross the Taramakau River within the study area – if they have survived the earthquake. Since 1943 the Taramakau River has shifted 500 m away from State Highway 73 near Inchbonnie, moving 430 m closer to the road and rail. Paleo channels recognised across the land surrounding Inchbonnie between the Taramakau River and Lake Brunner may be reoccupied after an earthquake on the Alpine Fault. Micro-scale modelling showed that the dominant response to dextral strike-slip and increased ‘landslide’ sediment addition was up- and downstream aggradation separated by a localised zone of degradation over the fault trace. Following an Alpine Fault Earthquake the Taramakau River will be disturbed by the initial surface rupture along the fault trace, closely followed by coseismic landsliding. Landslide material will migrate down the Taramakau valley and onto the floodplain. Aggradation will raise the elevation of the river bed promoting channel avulsion with consequent flooding and sediment deposition particularly on low lying farmland near Inchbonnie. To manage the damage of these hazards, systematically raising the low lying sections of road and rail may be implemented, strengthening (or pre-planning the replacement of) the bridges is recommended and actively involving the community in critical decision making should minimise the risks of AFE induced fluvial hazards. The response of the Taramakau River relative to an Alpine Fault Earthquake might be worse, or less severe or significantly different in some way, to that assumed herein.

The Alpine Fault is the major structure of the Pacific-Australian plate boundary through New Zealand�s South Island. During dextral reverse fault slip, a <5 million year old, ~1 km thick mylonite zone has been exhumed in the hanging-wall, providing unique exposure of material deformed to very high strains at deep crustal levels under boundary conditions constrained by present-day plate motions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the fault zone rheology and mechanisms of strain localisation, to obtain further information about how the structural development of this shear zone relates to the kinematic and thermal boundary constraints, and to investigate the mechanisms by which the viscously deforming mylonite zone is linked to the brittle structure, that fails episodically causing large earthquakes. This study has focussed on the central section of the fault from Harihari to Fox Glacier. In this area, mylonites derived from a quartzofeldspathic Alpine Schist protolith are most common, but slivers of Western Province-derived footwall material, which can be differentiated using mineralogy and bulk rock geochemistry, were also incorporated into the fault zone. These footwall-derived mylonites are increasingly common towards the north. At amphibolite-facies conditions mylonitic deformation was localised to the mylonite and ultramylonite subzones of the schist-derived mylonites. Most deformation was accommodated by dislocation creep of quartz, which developed strong Y-maximum crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) patterns by prism (a) dominant slip. Formation of this highly-oriented fabric would have led to significant geometric softening and enhanced strain localisation. During this high strain deformation, pre-existing Alpine Schist fabrics in polyphase rocks were reconstituted to relatively well-mixed, finer-grained aggregates. As a result of this fabric homogenisation, strong syn-mylonitic object lineations were not formed. Strain models show that weak lineations trending towards ~090� and kinematic directions indicated by asymmetric fabrics and CPO pattern symmetry could have formed during pure shear stretches up-dip of the fault of ~3.5, coupled with simple shear strains [greater than or equal to]30. The preferred estimate of simple:pure shear strain gives a kinematc vorticity number, W[k] [greater than or equal to]̲ 0.9997. Rapid exhumation due to fault slip resulted in advection of crustal isotherms. New thermobarometric and fluid inclusion analyses from fault zone materials allow the thermal gradient along an uplift path in the fault rocks to be more precisely defined than previously. Fluid inclusion data indicate temperatures of 325+̲15�C were experienced at depths of ~45 km, so that a high thermal gradient of ~75�C km⁻� is indicated in the near-surface. This gradient must fall off to [ less than approximately]l0�C km⁻� below the brittle-viscous transition since feldspar thermobarometry, Ti-inbiotite thermometry and the absence of prism(c)-slip quartz CPO fabrics indicate deformation temperatures did not exceed ~ 650�C at [greater than or equal to] 7.0-8.5�1.5 kbar, ie. 26-33 km depth. During exhumation, the strongly oriented quartzite fabrics were not favourably oriented for activation of the lower temperature basal(a) slip system, which should have dominated at depths [less than approximately]20 km. Quartz continued to deform by crystal-plastic mechanisms to shallow levels. However, pure dislocation creep of quartz was replaced by a frictional-viscous deformation mechanism of sliding on weak mica basal planes coupled with dislocation creep of quartz. Such frictional-viscous flow is particularly favoured during high-strain rate events as might be expected during rupture of the overlying brittle fault zone. Maximum flow stresses supported by this mechanism are ~65 Mpa, similar to those indicated by recrystallised grain size paleopiezometry of quartz (D>25[mu]m, indicating [Delta][sigma][max] ~55 MPa for most mylonites). It is likely that the preferentially oriented prism (a) slip system was activated during these events, so the Y-maximum CPO fabrics were preserved. Simple numerical models show that activation of this slip system is favoured over the basal (a) system, which has a lower critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) at low temperatures, for aggregates with strong Y-maximum orientations. Absence of pervasive crystal-plastic deformation of micas and feldspars during activation of this mechanism also resulted in preservation of mineral chemistries from the highest grades of mylonitic deformation (ie. amphibolite-facies). Retrograde, epidote-amphibolite to greenschist-facies mineral assemblages were pervasively developed in ultramylonites and cataclasites immediately adjacent to the fault core and in footwall-derived mylonites, perhaps during episodic transfer of this material into and subsequently out of the cooler footwall block. In the more distal protomylonites, retrograde assemblages were locally developed along shear bands that also accommodated most of the mylonitic deformation in these rocks. Ti-in-biotite thermometry suggests biotite in these shear bands equilibrated down to ~500+̲50�C, suggesting crystal-plastic deformation of this mineral continued to these temperatures. Crossed-girdle quartz CPO fabrics were formed in these protomylonites by basal (a) dominant slip, indicating a strongly oriented fabric had not previously formed at depth due to the relatively small strains, and that dislocation creep of quartz continued at depths [less than or equal to]20 km. Lineation orientations, CPO fabric symmetry and shear-band fabrics in these protomylonites are consistent with a smaller simple:pure shear strain ratio than that observed closer to the fault core (W[k] [greater than approximately] 0.98), but require a similar total pure shear component. Furthermore, they indicate an increase in the simple shear component with time, consistent with incorporation of new hanging-wall material into the fault zone. Pre-existing lineations were only slowly rotated into coincidence with the mylonitic simple shear direction in the shear bands since they lay close to the simple shear plane, and inherited orientations were not destroyed until large finite strains (<100) were achieved. As the fault rocks were exhumed through the brittle-viscous transition, they experienced localised brittle shear failures. These small-scale seismic events formed friction melts (ie. pseudotachylytes). The volume of pseudotachylyte produced is related to host rock mineralogy (more melt in host rocks containing hydrated minerals), and fabric (more melt in isotropic host rocks). Frictional melting also occurred within cataclastic hosts, indicating the cataclasites around the principal slip surface of the Alpine Fault were produced by multiple episodes of discrete shear rather than distributed cataclastic flow. Pseudotachylytes were also formed in the presence of fluids, suggesting relatively high fault gouge permeabilities were transiently attained, probably during large earthquakes. Frictional melting contributed to formation of phyllosilicate-rich fault gouges, weakening the brittle structure and promoting slip localisation. The location of faulting and pseudotachylyte formation, and the strength of the fault in the brittle regime were strongly influenced by cyclic hydrothermal cementation processes. A thermomechanical model of the central Alpine Fault zone has been defined using the results of this study. The mylonites represent a localised zone of high simple shear strain, embedded in a crustal block that underwent bulk pure shear. The boundaries of the simple shear zone moved into the surrounding material with time. This means that the exhumed sequence does not represent a simple 'time slice' illustrating progressive fault rock development during increasing simple shear strains. The deformation history of the mylonites at deep crustal P-T conditions had a profound influence on subsequent deformation mechanisms and fabric development during exhumation.

A dense network of strong motion seismometers is being developed for the central South Island of New Zealand in order to investigate the complexities of the upper crustal rupture process and propagation of major seismogenic sources such as the Alpine Fault and strands of the Marlborough Fault System defining the South Island sector of the Australia-Pacific plate boundary zone. Dense array analysis allows one to measure directly fault rupture parameters such as the rupture direction, velocity, and fault rupture area. This study develops and applies dense array analysis to determine an optimal array for the Alpine Fault region. The dense array analysis is based on the frequency-analysis MUSIC method (Multiple Signal Characterization) developed by Goldstein and Archuleta (1991a&b). MUSIC was chosen for its ability to resolve seismic signals with low signal-to-noise ratios. Careful programming, thorough data pre-processing and an innovative optimal time window determination were essential in obtaining reliable results. The proposed network is designed as a dense array comprising approximately 12 accelerographs utilising the University of Canterbury CUSP instrument. It will be deployed immediately to the East of the East-dipping Alpine Fault in the central West Coast region of the South Island, with coverage extending across to the Alpine-Hope Fault junction. The search for an optimal network for the region is dependant not only on finding an optimal array configuration but also and more significantly on optimal site locations, which because of the mountainous terrain provides a severe limitation. In order to assess the efficiency of dense array analysis, synthetic data were generated for known rupture scenarios. The synthetic strong-motion records were computed using an empirical Green's function synthetic seismogram program EMPSYN (Hutchings, 1987). Comparison of computed rupture parameters with synthetic known inputs has proven that the technique is efficient in reproducing fault rupture scenarios. The analysis provides rupture velocities and directions consistent with input values. These results are an important outcome to validate dense array analysis performed on real data sets. However, dense array analysis could reveal no sign of an asperity in the synthetic scenario. The method is applied to a real dataset recorded at the dense SMART-1 array in Taiwan. Important rupture parameters such as the direction of propagation, velocity and rupture area were successfully measured. In addition, an interesting feature of the real rupture is also identified. The fault rupture initiates at a super-shear velocity and eventually slows to a "cruising" velocity closer to the shear-wave velocities. This result supports the emerging theory that a fault rupture velocity is not constant.

The Wairau Fault, the northern extension of the Alpine Fault, has not ruptured historically. Bounding the Marlborough Fault System to the north the Wairau Fault is over 100 km long and capable of generating a large earthquake rupture. From Cloudy Bay SW to Lake Rotoiti the fault is defined by a linear valley-bound trace and narrow zone of deformation. The main objective of this paleoseismic investigation of a section of this fault was to establish the pre-historic rupture history. Trenching excavations, geomorphic mapping, differential GPS surveying and weathering rind dating techniques were used to investigate the rupture history of the Wairau Fault. From trenching data at Tophouse, one earthquake rupture on the Wairau Fault is recorded since AD 200. No upper limit bounds this rupture date. Integration with a similar paleoseismological study of Zachariasen et al, (2001) refines the last rupture event on the Wairau Fault to between AD 200 - 1000. A branch caught in the shear zones indicates a dated event approximately 12 500 years ago but other events intervene on stratigraphic evidence. Liquefaction deposits are recognised in the trenches, in conjunction with small thrust flaps on the footwall side, suggesting seismic rupture as the dominant translation mechanism, with no significant aseismic creep based on offset linear terraces. Dextral slip rates on the fault of 4.2 ± 1.4 mm/yr compares well with pre-existing data. A single event offset of 4.4 ± 0.5 m is consistent with others further NE along the Wairau Valley. A temporal disparity exists between the last rupture brackets at the Tophouse and Matakitaki River trenches (Yetton, 2002), indicating that, at least for the last rupture event an earthquake segment boundary was operational between the two trench sites. Defining an earthquake rupture segment boundary by a specific structure or location is difficult as any number of faults could dissipate radiated seismic energy and several possibilities are reviewed. If a rupture segment does exist between Matakitaki River and Tophouse, it is most likely about Lake Rotoiti. An estimated earthquake magnitude for the onland section of the Wairau Fault for this rupture segment is M = 7.4 ± 0.25. In addition to aspects of seismicity of the fault strike, both the large scale topographic setting and detailed morphology of the fault zone are discussed. In particular the complexity of interaction between fluvial processes and secondary deformation associated with the fault zone has lead to some insights into both the evolution of secondary structures and to the response of rivers behaviour to seismic cycles. On the basis of elapsed time since the last fault rupture, and slip rates on the fault, an earthquake rupture on the Wairau Fault in the near future is a distinct possibility.

The Alpine Fault in western South Island ruptures every 300±100 years in large magnitude (7.8 ± 3) earthquakes and presents a major seismic hazard to New Zealand. The Deep Alpine Fault Drilling Project (DFDP) aims to drill, sample, and monitor the Alpine Fault in order to investigate the processes of earthquake genesis, rock deformation, and fault gouge formation for a tectonically active fault late in the seismic cycle. Rapid dextral reverse movements and exhumation rates on the central section of the Alpine Fault at Whataroa Valley make this a geologically favourable setting to drill and sample fault rocks at depth that can be correlated with surface exposures. The suitability of a site for stationing a major drilling operation depends upon practical issues such as the engineering geological characteristics of the proposed site, possible geohazards, and drilling logistics. This thesis presents new engineering geological, geophysical, and geomorphic investigations of the Whataroa Valley for the DFDP-2 drill site in order to provide a framework for proposed future operations. MASW, GPR and basic geotechnical methods such as test pits and face logs were conducted at various locations at the site to gain geotechnical properties and attempt to find depth to bedrock. Results showed bedrock is at least 25m deep as it was not seen in any of the GPR surveys. Correlation of the MASW and GPR profiles with freshly eroded and face logged outcrops permitted assignment of s-wave velocities to each of the gravels present and confirmation of features seen in the geophysical surveys. Vs30 values gained from the MASW classed the gravels as a soft soil in Site Class D in NZS 1170.5. Expected peak ground accelerations at the study site during an Alpine Fault earthquake are estimated at ≥0.8g. The Whataroa River is actively eroding the southern edge of the investigation area. Comparison of historic aerial photos and newly obtained LiDAR showed the river bank has moved a total of 165 m since 1948, a majority of that occurring in the past decade, 35 m of erosion occurring over a few days during early January 2011. Little correlation between heavy rainfall periods and increased erosion rates suggest changing channel dynamics play a major part in the channel migration. Modelling of the threshold discharges required to overtop the Whataroa terraces results in return periods several orders of magnitude larger than Alpine Fault earthquake recurrence intervals that result in major sediment pulses, implying that inundation from river flooding under current channel conditions is highly unlikely. Debris flows originating from the west valley wall have been identified as a possible hazard to drilling operations. Recent debris flows were easily mapped due to the changes in vegetation, whereas the remnants of historic debris flows were able to be mapped using the LiDAR. Studies of these show that they have a minimal run out distance (<100 m), and can be easily avoided by ensuring the drill site is located outside the proposed debris flow risk zone plus a 50 m buffer that has been added for caution. Current uncertainty of the fault dip and target depth of the hole causes large variation in proposed drill rig locations at the surface. All of the investigations are summarised on a hazard map used to suggest a range of favoured drill sites based on varied angle dips and drilling depths, minimizing flood, erosion and sediment inundation hazards, and specifying access routes.

L'objectif de l'etude est de discuter la cinematique des etapes precoces de la collision (evenement eoalpin) dans les alpes occidentales et de definir l'histoire de l'epaississement dans la partie interne de l'arc alpin. L'unite choisie est la zone sesia-lanzo qui represente la partie distale de la marge apulienne. Apres une description des unites, l'evolution p-t-t des trois unites de la zone (gneiss minuti, seconde zone diorito-kinzigitique iidk, micaschistes eclogitiques) est etudiee. Deux deformations alpines majeures sont identifiees. On montre que la zone sesia-lanzo est le resultat de deux empilements. Enfin, un schema d'evolution tectonique est propose pour les alpes occidentales et la cinematique de collision est discutee

Within the bends region of the Alpine Fault two structural trends have been identified. These are a D1-D2 “Rangitata” trend and a D3 “Kaikoura” trend. The D1 - D2 trend maintains a northeasterly strike of both bedding and S2 schistosity which is independent of the Alpine Fault, intersecting in such a way as to verge into the Fault from the south at an acute angle. Within the Glenroy section, the relative angle changes such that this trend approaches obliquely from the north. The D3 trend overprints D2 close to the Alpine Fault and is subparallel to the fault. Two metamorphisms (M2 and M3) are identified, M2 being associated with D2 and M3 with D3. S3 schistosity, L3 lineations and F3 folds are associated with strain in, and adjacent to the Alpine Fault Zone. There is no direct evidence that the Haast Schists slip around and past a fixed bend in the Alpine Fault Zone. The double bend of the Alpine Fault is thus fixed with respect to the “Wairau Block” (that area between the Alpine/Wairau and Awatere Faults), and forms the leading edge of a wedge shaped body of Haast Schist and Torlesse Zone metasediments. L3 lineations including quartz rodding, trend and plunge at approximately 060/50° northeast, and are assumed to reflect the transport direction in non-coaxial plane strain within the Alpine Fault Zone. The Haast Schists are being thrust over the Western Province with the vector direction and rate of movement of the rock mass remaining relatively constant at all points around the curve of the Alpine Fault. Likely orientations of the XY plane of strain in the Alpine Fault Zone are discussed. It is concluded that a distinctly separate schistosity will not form unless pre-existing metamorphic layering is suitably oriented with respect to the shear zone. Consequently, transition from M2 (Rangitata Phase) schists to M3 (Alpine Fault generated) schists may be subtle and difficult to determine either in the field or in thin section. Rotation of the D2 structural trend by ductile drag on a macroscopic scale within the Alpine Fault Zone appears to be counterclockwise. This is to be expected if (as is the case in the bends region) the early anisotropy has a more northerly strike than the convergence vector. Equal area projection plots of post-metamorphic brittle shear surfaces cluster strongly, defining dominant shear sets oriented west-northwest to northwest and east-northeast respectively. Those shears which strike northwest exhibit minor movement of sinistral sense, whereas those striking northeast show a dextral movement. No large brittle offsets have been demonstrated, and cumulative offset on these shear systems has not altered the gross structural trends.

The Wanganui-Wilberg landslide lies between Hokitika and Franz Josef townships, at the entrance of Harihari, on the true left bank of the Wanganui River, by State Highway 6. This apparently co-seismic landslide belongs to the class of events called rock avalanches - powerful destructive agents (Keefer, 1984) in the landscape. Other rock avalanches are numerous (Whitehouse, 1983), and widespread over the Southern Alps of New Zealand, and many appear to be co-seismic. De Mets et al. (1994) used the model NUVEL-1A to characterize the motion of the Alpine fault: 37 mm/year at an azimuth of 071° for the strike-slip and a dip-slip of 10 mm/year normal to the strike direction. Although linear when seen from the sky, the detailed morphology of the fault is more complex, called en échelon (Norris and Cooper, 1997). It exhibits metamorphosed schists (mylonite series) in its hanging wall (McCahon, 2007; Korup, 2004). Earthquakes on the Alpine fault have a recurrence time of c. 200-300 years and a probability of occurrence within 100 years of 88% (Rhoades and Van Dissen, 2002). Thought to have been triggered by the AD1220 event (determined by dendrochronology), the Wanganui-Wilberg rock avalanche deposit represents only 20% of its original volume, which was c. 33 million cubic metres. The deposit probably dammed the Wanganui River and, as a result, created a small and short-lived lake upstream. The next earthquake capable of triggering such events is likely to occur fairly soon (Yetton, 1998). Knowledge of historic catastrophic events such as the Wanganui-Wilberg rock avalanche is of crucial importance in the development of future hazard and management plans.

Cette thèse est centrée sur la caractérisation des traceurs des fluides qui interagissent avec les roches du socle et les roches sédimentaires dans les systèmes riftés hyper-amincis exposés dans la Téthys alpine, les Pyrénées et Ibérie-Terre Neuve. L’étude de ces fluides est basée sur les observations géologiques, les analyses géochimiques et les données géophysiques. Deux types de fluides ont été identifiés : les fluides associés à la croûte continentale, avec une signature caractérisée par Si et Ca, ainsi que les fluides liés au manteau en exhumation, avec une signature caractérisée par Si, Mg, Fe, Mn, Ca, Ni, Cr et V. La percolation des fluides est fortement liée à la formation des failles de détachement et à l’évolution des systèmes hyper-amincis. Le flux de fluides dans ces systèmes a des implications importantes pour les changements rhéologiques, pour la nature des sédiments et pour les modifications chimiques des réservoirs de la Terre
This thesis focus in the identification of geochemical tracers and effects of fluid that interact with basement and sedimentary rocks in hyperextended systems. The investigation of such fluids is based on geological observation, geochemical analyses and geophysical data from fossil hyperextended rift systems exposed in the Alps and in the West Pyrenees, and the present-day distal margins of Iberia and Newfoundland. Two types of fluids were identified during this study. The first type, referred to as continental crust-related fluids, has a signature of Si and Ca. The second type, referred to as mantle-related fluids, has a signature of Si, Mg, Fe, Mn, Ca, Ni, Cr and V. The fluid percolation is strongly related to the formation of extensional detachment faults and the evolution of hyperextended systems. Fluid flow in these systems has major implications for the nature of sediments, rheological changes and chemical modifications of the Earth’s reservoirs throughout its evolution

The plate-boundary Alpine Fault runs immediately offshore of the popular tourist destination of Milford Sound, which is visited by more than half a million tourists each year. Glaciers retreated from the fiord between ~24-16 ka, leaving behind a legacy of extreme topography, including some of the world's highest sea cliffs, which tower nearly 2 km above the fiord. Visitors come to view the spectacularly steep and rugged landscape, with many cruising the fiord by boat. This project utilizes surface exposure dating (TCND) of glacially modified surfaces, to gain further insight into the glacier retreat history of Milford Sound. Exposure dates from strategic locations near the entrance to the fiord indicate that the main trunk glacier had retreated about 9 km from its peak LGM position by ~18 ka. Additional TCND and calibrated Schmidt Hammer data from a range of positions within the Milford catchment provide strong evidence that the main trunk glacier receded rapidly after about 18 ka, retreating a further 16 km to a position near the present-day confluence of the Tutoko and Cleddau rivers, by ~16 ka. Available seismic reflection data suggest that post-glacial sediment infill has been strongly influenced by massive deposits of rock avalanche debris. New high-resolution bathymetric and seismic reflection data reveals the presence of at least 18 very large post-glacial rock avalanche deposits which blanket ~40% of the fiord bottom. Geomorphic mapping and field investigation reveal the presence of at least ten additional very large to giant terrestrial landslide deposits in the lower Milford catchment; radiocarbon and surface exposure dating indicate that these events occurred during the Holocene, between ~9-1 ka. Ages of six of these deposits are in agreement with published rupture dates on the southern on-shore portion of the Alpine Fault.

L'etude de la deformation et des recristallisations associees dans deux ensembles de nappes synmetamorphiques (mascate, oman; rif, maroc) a abouti a montrer que, dans les deux exemples, il apparait que les isogrades du metamorphisme sont perturbes par des chevauchements tardi- a post-metamorphiques, qui jouent un role important dans les dernieres phases de l'evolution thermique des piles tectoniques considerees. Les nappes de mascate (oman) representent un element tres interne, en fenetre, sous les nappes oceaniques chainees sur la plateforme arabe. En ce qui concerne les nappes de federico (rif, maroc), on montre que le plissement synmetamorphique est un pli isoclinal couche, et que l'empilement des unites semble s'etre fait du sud vers le nord, en sens contraire de celui du chevauchement tardif (miocene)

Le but de cette étude est de caractériser par une approche multi-disciplinaire les déformations tectoniques Plio-Quaternaire associées au système de failles de Belledonne (Alpes de l'Ouest).Ce système de faille est composé de plusieurs décrochements qui sont des Bauges au Vercors, la faille dextre NE-SW de l'Arcalod, la faille bordière de Belledonne, dextre et NE-SW, la faille sénestre NW-SE du Brion et la faille NE-SW dextre du Jasneuf.La détermination des états de contraintes tardi-Cénozoique montre que le champ de contrainte actuel responsable de la cinématique en décrochement le long du système de faille de Belledonne date de la fin du Pliocène supérieur/début du Pléistocène et a succédé au champ de contrainte causé par la collision alpine.Les failles de l'Arcalod et du Brion présentent des marqueurs morphologiques décalés mais ambiguës et d'âge incertain (probablement anté-Rissiens). La trace de la faille bordière de Belledonne n'a pu être déterminée, suggérant que la déformation associée à cette dernière soit accommodée dans une large bande de cisaillement.La faille du Jasneuf décale des morphologies d'âges supposés messiniens et anté-Rissiens. La vitesse de cette faille intégrée depuis le messinien serait de 0,13±0,03 mm/an. Considérant que cette faille est limitée à la couverture elle pourrait générer des séismes de magnitude 5,7 tous les ~500 ans.L’accommodation de la déformation actuelle dans l'avant-pays a été étudié dans la vallée de Toulaud (SW de Valence) où une faille tardi-hercynienne recoupe le canyon messinien du Rhône. Les premiers résultats indiquent que la faille décale verticalement le canyon, attestant d'une tectonique Plio-Quaternaire
The aim of this study is to characterize the Plio-Quaternary tectonic deformations related to the Belledonne fault system (western Alps). The low deformation rates and high erosion rates in the study area imply that a multi-disciplinary approach.From the Bauges to the Vercors massif this fault system is composed of strike-slip faults that are the NE trending right-lateral strike-slip Arcalod fault, the NE trending right-lateral strike-slip Belledonne border fault, the NW trending left-lateral strike-slip Brion fault and the NE trending right-lateral strike-slip Jasneuf fault.The determination of the late Cenozoic stress states revealed that the modern stress field responsible for the Belledonne fault system strike-slip kinematics dates from late upper Pliocene/early Pleistocene and came after the stress field caused by alpine collision.Unclear and undated (but probably pre Rissian) offset morphologic markers are described along the Arcalod and Brion faults. Belledonne border fault trace is not determined suggesting that deformation is accommodated in a wide shearing band.The Jasneuf fault offset morphologies whom ages are supposed Messinian and pre Rissian. Fault slip rate integrated since Messinian would be of 0.13±0.03 mm/yr. Considering that this fault appears limited to the sedimentary cover and excluding an aseismic behavior, she can generate 5.7 Mw earthquake each ~500 years.Modern deformation in the foreland is studied in the Toulaud valley (SW of Valence city) where a late Hercinian fault cross-cut the Messinian canyon of the Rhône river. First results show that the fault offset vertically the canyon, attesting aof Plio-Quaternary tectonics along it

Le domaine valaisan dessine une suture qui marque la limite entre les zones internes et externes des Alpes occidentales. Cette suture est constituée de roches magmatiques d'affinité tholéïtique (le complexe du Versoyen) dont l'interprétation géodynamique était controversée. En effet, suivant les auteurs, cette suture pourrait représenter: 1) une klippe d'origine piémontaise (suture d'hyper-collision), 2) une écaille ophiolitique située au front d'un prisme d'accrétion (suture océanique), 3) un complexe magmatique lié à un amincissement crustal (inversion structurale). Le but de ce travail était de trouver des arguments qui permettaient de résoudre cette controverse. Ainsi les résultats acquis au cours de cette thèse montrent que: ― Le magmatisme tholéïtique du Versoyen, dans les régions du col du Petit Saint Bernard (frontière franco-italienne) et de Visp (Suisse), présente des caractères géochimiques et isotopiques identiques qui sont intermédiaires entre ceux des N-MORB et des T-MORB. Ces tholéïtes dériveraient de la fusion partielle d'un manteau appauvri (de type N-MORB), avec probablement la participation d'une source enrichie (de type OIB). ― Dans la région du col du Petit Saint Bernard, certaines tholéïtes sont recoupées par des filons leucocrates qui correspondent à des liquides différenciés, cogénétiques du magmatisme. Les datations U/Pb sur les zircons contenus dans l'un de ces filons indiquent un âge Carbonifère supérieur pour le magmatisme du Versoyen. ― Le complexe du Versoyen est affecté par un métamorphisme polyphasé de type éclogitique, schiste bleu et schiste vert. La paragénèse éclogitique correspond à des conditions de Haute-Pression et Basse-Température qui traduisent un enfouissement à grande profondeur, lié à une subduction. Les datations Ar/Ar réalisées sur les phengites donnent des âges de refroidissement proches de 33 Ma et permettent d'affiner le chemin P-T-t de ce complexe au cours de l'exhumation des éclogites. ― Le complexe du Versoyen est affecté par une déformation syn-schiste vert qui correspond à un jeu normal vers le SE. Cette déformation apparait dès l'Èocène supérieur ― Oligocène et explique en partie l'exhumation des éclogites. Ce jeu normal est contemporain de chevauchements dans la zone externe et pourrait accomoder un réamincissement crustal au cours de la collision alpine. Ces données permettent une réinterprétation de la signification géodynamique du complexe du Versoyen dont l'individualisation est liée au cycle hercynien alors que son évolution tectonométamorphique est contrôlée par l'orogénèse alpine

This thesis presents new insights into Alpine Fault structures at the drill site of the Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP)-2B at Whataroa in New Zealand. Despite the challenging conditions for seismic imaging within a glacial valley filled with sediments and steeply dipping valley flanks, several structures related to the valley itself as well as the tectonic fault system are imaged. The Alpine Fault at the West Coast in New Zealand is a major plate boundary forming a significant geohazard as large earthquakes (magnitude 7-8) occur regularly and the next earthquake is expected relatively soon. A major effort has been made to study the fault characteristics through scientific drilling in the Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP) Alpine Fault with the deepest DFDP-2B borehole located in the Whataroa Valley. A great variety of seismic data are newly acquired. First, the WhataDUSIE (Whataroa Detailed University Seismic Imaging Experiment) data set is a ~5 km long 2D profile acquired in 2011 prior to the drilling. As the 2D profile could not fully explain the 3D structures in the Whataroa Valley, an extended surface and borehole data set was acquired in 2016 after the drilling. This data set consists of shorter 2D lines (< 3 km), a dense 3D-array, and vertical seismic profiling (VSP) using the DFDP-2B borehole including the fibre-optic cable. 3D seismic data proved to be essential to understand the complex 3D structures of the glacial valley and the major fault. First-arrival travel time tomography and prestack depth migration (PSDM) are applied to obtain a P-wave velocity model and seismic images of the subsurface (<5 km). In this complex setting, the Fresnel volume migration (a focusing PSDM method) proved to best obtain structural information about the subsurface. Analysing the results of the seismic data processing, two major outcomes are achieved: improved knowledge about the glacial structures of the Whataroa Valley and structural images of the Alpine Fault zone. The Whataroa Valley is an overdeepened glacial valley with details of the basement topography visible in the seismic images. A deep trough is identified south of the DFDP-2B borehole with horizontal layering of the sediments. Valley flanks are identified in both the seismic images and the P-wave velocity model, particularly the western valley flank. Thus, Quaternary and glacial processes can be analysed with the help of the newly derived seismic images. The Alpine Fault is directly imaged with the seismic data, which is the first time in this region at shallow depths (<5 km). Several shorter fault segments between depths of 0.2 km and 2.2 km dipping 40-56° to the southeast are directly imaged. Further identified reflectors and faults are interpreted to represent Alpine Fault structures in the form of a damage zone and induced faults adding further complexity to the fault zone. In conclusion, the 3D seismic results presented in this thesis provide new insights into the Whataroa subsurface. Hence, the new results form a good basis for a deeper understanding of the Alpine Fault structures and underlying processes which is important for potential future drilling but also for the estimation of the geohazard in the region.

Two examples of Pacific rim plate boundary deformation are presented. In the first part of the thesis crustal models are derived for the northwestern part of the Vizcaino block in California using marine seismic and gravity data collected by the Mendocino Triple Junction Seismic Experiment. A northwest-southeast trending kink in the Moho is imaged and interpreted to have formed under compression by reactivation of preexisting thrust faults in the paleoaccretionary prism at the seaward margin of the Vizcaino block. The study suggests that the deformation resulted from mainly north-south compression between the Pacific-Juan de Fuca plates across the Mendocino transform fault and predates late Pliocene Pacific-North America plate convergence. In the second part, 195 earthquakes recorded during the duration of the Southern Alps Passive Seismic Experiment (SAPSE) are analysed. Precise earthquake locations and focal mechanisms provide unprecedented detail of the seismotectonics in the central South Island. The short term (6 month) SAPSE seismicity is compared with long term (8 years) seismicity recorded by the New Zealand National Seismic network and the Lake Pukaki network. The seismicity rate of the Alpine fault is low, but comparable to locked sections of the San Andreas fault, with large earthquakes expected. Changes of the depth of the seismogenic zone, generally uniform at about 10-12 km, occur only localised over distances smaller than 30 km, suggesting that thermal perturbations must be of similar scale. This implies that the thermal effects of the uplift of the Southern Alps do not change the seismogenic depth significantly and are not in accordance with most of the present thermal models. Both the Hope and Porters Pass fault zones are seismically active and deformation is accommodated near the fault zones and in the adjacent crust. North of Mt Cook, a triangular shaped region along the Alpine fault is characterised by absence of earthquakes. We interpret this as the result of the plate boundary shift from the Alpine fault to the Hope and Porters Pass fault zones. The study region shows distributed deformation in a 60-100 km wide zone on NNE-SSW trending thrust faults and strike-slip mechanisms on transfer faults.
Graduation date: 2000
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W pracy przedstawiono wyniki badań stref ścinania kruchego i krucho-podatnego w skałach krystalicznych Tatr Zachodnich. W wielu przypadkach stwierdzono znaczną złożoność więźby skały, w tym współwystępowanie przejawów deformacji kruchych i podatnych. Analizę kształtów ziaren w skałach uskokowych (morfometrię ziaren) zastosowano jako metodę pomocniczą w opisie przejawów płynięcia kataklastycznego. Trójetapowy model rozwoju kruchych stref ścinania: 1 - początkowe porozdzielanie deformacji z rozwojem sieci powierzchni kruchego ścinania i domen skał słabo zdeformowanych; 2 - rozwój kataklazytów ze strefowym osłabianiem lub wzmacnianiem deformacyjnym skały uskokowej w wyniku migracji krzemionki w roztworach hydrotermalnych; 3 - rozwój struktur kierunkowych w części najintensywniej zdeformowanych stref kataklazy części stref ścinania kruchego i krucho-podatnego stwierdzono, relikty starszych, waryscyjskich i (lub) eoalpejskich struktur deformacyjnych. Stwierdzono, że prawdopodobne okresy rozwoju stref ścinania, w zmiennych warunkach ciśnienia i temperatury to: metamorfizm późnokredowy z rozwojem skał mylonitycznych i paleogeński (eoceński) rozwój skał mylonitycznych i kataklastycznych, z dalszym powstawaniem skał uskokowych i (lub) reaktywowaniem starszych stref ścinania. Przeprowadzono analizy kinematyczną i dynamiczną. Otrzymane wyniki wskazują na dominację w badanych strefach ścinania zespołów uskoków nasuwczych o zwrocie przemieszczenia "strop ku" głównie SE, S, SW. Uzyskane tensory paleonaprężeń są zgodne z danymi literaturowymi z innych obszarów, oraz regionu tatrzańskiego.
Developed during non-coaxial deformation in brittle and brittle-ductile conditions, shear zones are common in the Western Tatra Mts. crystalline rocks. The evolution of these shear zones yielded in differentiation of the fault rocks, which are a product of these deformation. The following fault rocks were distinguished: crackle and chaotic breccias, proto-, meso-, ultracataclasites, S-C cataclasites, proto-, meso-, ultra- mylonites, mylonitic shists and mylonitic gneisses and phyllonites. 15 structural domains with fault rocks were delimited in the selected regions of the Western Tatra Mts. In the thin sections 14 types of textural microdomains were distinguished, according to the proportion of matrix derived of grain reduction and to the presence of the directional fabric elements such as: foliation planes, porphyroclasts and mineral fish, shape preferred orientation of grains and matrix layering. The following kinematic indicators were described: mylonitic S-C type foliation, asymmetric \sigma and \sigma porphyroclasts and mesofaults Y-P-R systems. In many cases the fault rocks fabric were composed, involving traces of the brittle deformation of ductile structures. Analyze of grain shape indicators (grain morphometry) was used as an auxiliary tool to describe cataclastic flow advance. The following model of the brittle shear zones evolution was proposed: stage 1 - preliminary deformation partitioning with develop of the brittle shear planes and hardly deformed rock domains, stage 2 - development of the cataclasites in the processes of cataclastic flow and sericitization with selective hardening and softening of the rock, due to silica migration in hydrothermal fluids, stage 3 - development of the directional structures in the some of cataclastic zones. Certain determination of the shear zones in question age is not possible, due to lack of the radiometric dating of the fault rocks. It is not also possible, to find if the deformation was sequential or progressive. There are some brittle and brittle-ductile shear zones with relics of older (probably Variscian and/or Eo-Alpine) ductile deformation structures. Literature data on the Alpine orogeny as well as own observations, especially of the brittle/ductile structures relationship, the thesis, that most of the investigated shear zones are of an Alpine age, was formulated. These zones could be developed in the following periods: Eo-Alpine late Cretaceous metamorphism with an episode of a mylonites generation and Paleogene (Eocene) development of the mylonitic rocks and/or reactivation of the older shear zones. These last stage was associated with thermal event in the Tatricum. In the selected structural domains, kinematic analysis and reconstruction of the paleostress tensor was carried out, basing on the measurement of the fault surfaces with striae. Results shows domination of the reverse faults, with tectonic transport direction "top-to-the" SE, S, SW. The compression (\sigma1) axes were oriented mainly to N-S, NW-SE or NE-SW, and are almost horizontal. Such results of the paleostress tensor are in the concordance with data of \sigma1 (\sigma1>\sigma2>\sigma3) orientation for the Western Tatra Mts. and neighboring areas. Such results are an additional argument for an Alpine age of the shear zones.

Le domaine valaisan dessine la suture majeure qui marque la limite entre les zones internes et externes des Alpes occidentales et dont l'interprétation géodynamique était controversée. Cette suture est constituée d'une série de flysch (le flysch valaisan) et d'un complexe magmatique et sédimentaire (le complexe du Versoyen). Suivant les auteurs, les roches magmatiques d'affinité tholéïtique pourraient représenter: 1) une klippe d'origine piémontaise (suture d'hyper-collision), 2) une écaille ophiolitique située au front d'un prisme d'accrétion (suture océanique), 3) un complexe magmatique lié à un amincissement crustal (inversion structurale). Le but de ce travail était de trouver des arguments qui permettaient de résoudre cette controverse. Ainsi les résultats de ce travail montrent que : - Dans la région du col du Petit-Saint-Bernard (frontière franco-italienne), certaines tholéïtes sont recoupées par des filons leucocrates qui correspondent à des liquides différenciés, cogénétiques du magmatisme. Les datations UlPb sur les zircons contenus dans l'un de ces filons indiquent un âge Carbonifère supérieur- Permien inférieur pour le magmatisme du Versoyen. - Ce magmatisme présente des caractères géochimiques et isotopiques, intermédiaires entre ceux des N-MORB et des T-MORB, dans les régions du col du Petit-Saint-Bernard et de Visp (Suisse). Ces tholéïtes dériveraient de la fusion partielle d'un manteau appauvri (de type N-MORB), avec probablement la participation d'une source enrichie (de type OIB), ce qui est en accord avec une mise en place dans un domaine en cours d'océanisation. - Le complexe du Versoyen est affecté par un métamorphisme polyphasé éclogitique, puis schiste bleu et enfin schiste vert. La paragénèse éclogitique correspond à des conditions de Haute-Pression et Basse-Température (P > 13Kb, 425 < T < 475°C) qui traduisent un enfouissement à grande profondeur, lié à une subduction. Les datations Ar/Ar réalisées sur les phengites donnent des âges de refroidissement proches de 33 Ma et permettent d'établir le chemin P-T-t de ce complexe au cours de l'exhumation des éclogites. - Le complexe du Versoyen est affecté par une déformation syn-schiste vert qui correspond à un jeu normal vers le SE. La comparaison entre les données de terrain et les données sismiques ECORS suggère que les failles normales se prolongent en profondeur et s'applatissent vers 10-15 km. Cette déformation postérieure à 38 Ma explique en partie l'exhumation des éclogites. Ce jeu normal est contemporain de chevauchements dans la zone externe et pourrait accommoder un réamincissement crustal au cours de la collision alpine. Ces données montrent que l'individualisation du substratum du domaine valaisan est liée au cycle hercynien et que ses relations complexes avec le flysch sus-jacent sont liées à une inversion structurale anté-flysch, alors que son évolution tectono-métamorphique est controlée par une extension succèdant aux phases compressives.