Earthquake-induced Soft-sediment Deformation Research Articles

Earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformation in the Pleistocene succession, Noarlunga Embayment, South Australia

ABSTRACT A suite of soft-sediment deformation structures occurs within the basal sands and gravels in the non-marine Pleistocene succession in the Noarlunga Embayment of the Cenozoic St Vincent Basin south of Adelaide, South Australia, the significance of which has hitherto gone unrecognised. The inclusion of large, isolated blocks of well-bedded sands randomly encased within fluidised, structureless clayey sands indicates that the soft-sediment deformation was intense, occurring soon after deposition by liquefaction of a still saturated sediment. Seismic activity has been, and continues to be, a regular occurrence along the adjacent Adelaide fold belt. The intensity of the deformation is comparable to the thixotropic response to earthquake activity observed during the Christchurch (New Zealand) earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, the earthquakes and aftershocks near Quorn, South Australia, in January 1887, in the southeast of South Australia in May 1899, and west of Adelaide in April 1954. This, however, is the first record of an interpreted seismite in the St Vincent Basin, although its full extent is yet to be mapped.

Earthquake-induced soft sediment deformation (SSD) structures from the Bilara limestone formation, Marwar basin, India

The Neoproterozoic Bilara limestone Formation of the Marwar Group, Rajasthan, India exposes metres-thick layers of soft sediment deformation (SSD) structures at different stratigraphic levels which could be traced over hundreds of metres on the outcrop scale. The SSD structures include disharmonic folds, low-angle thrusts, distorted laminae, fluidisation pipes, slump and load structures, homogeneities, diapirs, etc. Whereas SSD structures suggesting tensional stress, viz., intrastriatal graben, fluidisation, slump, etc. dominate in the lower part of the Bilara succession, features implicating compression, viz., folds, low-angle thrust are prevalent in the uppermost part. Since SSD structures are mostly confined within the algal laminites, we interpret that enhanced micritic fluid pressure below early cemented algal carbonate played a major role in laminae deformation. Depending on the degree of lithification and pore-water pressure, deformation features formed either plastically or led to diapiric injection at enhanced pore water pressure. Separated by near-horizontal underformed strata, the SSD layers, traceable over hundreds of metres, are interpreted as products of seismic shacking. Considering the time frame of the Marwar basin, i.e., the Precambrian–Cambrian transition, the SSD horizons present within the Bilara succession may hold the potential for the correlation with SSD structures reported from the time-correlative stratigraphic successions present in erstwhile adjoining tectonic terrains, e.g., China, Siberia, etc.

Earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformation structures in Late Pleistocene lacustrine deposits of Issyk-Kul lake (Kyrgyzstan)

This paper discusses the composition and distribution of soft-sediment deformation structures induced by liquefaction in Late Pleistocene lacustrine terrace deposits on the southern shore of Issyk-Kul Lake in the northern Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan. The section contains seven deformed beds grouped in two intervals. Five deformed beds in the upper interval contain load structures (load casts and flame structures), convolute lamination, ball-and-pillow structures, folds and slumps. Deformation patterns indicate that a seismic trigger generated a multiple slump on a gentle slope. The dating of overlying subaerial deposits suggests correlation between the deformation features and strong earthquakes in the Late Pleistocene.

Typical earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformation structures in the Mesoproterozoic Wumishan Formation, Yongding River Valley, Beijing, China and interpreted earthquake frequency

AbstractThe Mesoproterozoic Wumishan Formation, composed of dolomite is a widely distributed stratigraphic unit in the Beijing area. It was formed over a long period of time in the Yan-Liao aulacogen, a stable peritidal environment that was ideal for recording earthquakes in the form of soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDS). Numerous examples occur in the upper part of the Wumishan Formation, along the Yongding River Valley. In addition, brittle structures include intrastratal fault and seismically cracked breccias. The soft-sediment deformation structures include liquefied features (diapirs, clastic dykes, convolute bedding), compressional deformation features (accordion folds, plate-spine breccias, mound-and-sag structures), and extensional plastic features (loop-bedding). Based on the regional geological setting and previous research, movements along the main axial fault of the Yan-Liao aulacogen are considered as the triggers for earthquakes since the Early Mesoproterozoic. The number and distribution of the SSDS suggest the major earthquake frequency in the Wumishan Formation of 20 to 32 thousand years.

Traces of paleoearthquakes in the Quaternary deposits of intermontane basins in central Gorny Altai

Study of the sections of Neopleistocene–Holocene deposits filling the basins in central Gorny Altai has revealed earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformation (seismites). They formed as a result of the brittle deformation of deposits and liquefaction of loose water-saturated sediments under vibration seismic impact. The paleoearthquakes resulting in such seismites had the minimum intensity I = 6 and magnitude M = 5–6. Hence, the study region underwent strong earthquakes in the Neopleistocene–Holocene.

The EEE Catalogue: a global catalogue of Earthquake Environmental Effects

In this paper, we provide a review of the properties and behavior of active faults in the Borborema Province, northeastern Brazil, using instrumental, historical and paleoseismological records. The Borborema Province is one of the most seismically active parts of the South American stable continental region (the South American Platform). The Province encompasses an area ~ 900 km long and ~ 600 km wide. It is composed of a branching system of Neoproterozoic orogens, encompassing Archean and Proterozoic inliers deformed during the Brasiliano orogeny at ~ 750–500 Ma. Active faults reactivate shear zones or regional foliation and quartz veins or cut across the preexisting fabric. Active faults are usually strike–slip and generate events ≤ 5.2 mb, which we interpret as the lower limit for maximum possible earthquakes. Seismicity is concentrated in the upper crust down to a depth of 12 km. Earthquake sequences illuminated naturally occurring faults up to 40 km long and segments in the order of 0.5–2.6 km in faults related to induced seismicity. Earthquakes have a recurrence interval of ~ 15 years for Ms = 4. Paleoseismological data indicate that although earthquakes associated with surface ruptures have not occurred in the last 200 years, they struck the region in the last ~ 100 ka. Paleoearthquakes have a recurrence interval of ~ 15.8 ka for magnitudes of ~ 5.5 Mw in individual faults. Moreover, earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformation caused by events of at least 5.5–6.0 Ms have occurred at least six times in the last 400–10 ka in one alluvial valley. Seismically defined faults are concentrated along the continental margin at the border of sedimentary basins as far as 250–300 km inland in areas of extended crust; faults in the paleoseismic record are also found in rift basins along this margin. Both records also reveal that active faults tend to be hydraulically conductive.

Neotectonics and paleoseismicity of the lower Katun’ valley (Gorny Altai)

The lower Katun’ area has a complex neotectonic framework, with the largest fault zone of Katun’ consisting of several en-echelon graben segments. Late Pleistocene sediments that fill the Katun’ Fault bear signature of earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformation (seismites). Deformation due to seismic triggers can be discriminated from nonseismic one on the basis of special features and be related to prehistoric earthquakes according to a number of criteria. The observed deformation inside and outside burial mounds of the Chultukov Log-1 group may result from an earthquake that occurred in the end of the first millennium BC. Fault scarps in Late Pleistocene sediments, as well as deformed Iron Age tomb patterns, indicate that the Katun’ lower reaches can have experienced past earthquakes of intensity at least 5 or 6 and magnitudes from 4.5 to 6.0.

Earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformation structures in Upper Jurassic open-marine microbialites (Neuquén Basin, Argentina)

Penecontemporaneous decimetre-scale soft-sediment deformation structures are reported from the basal part of the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous Vaca Muerta Formation, in the Malargüe–Las Leñas area of the back-arc Neuquén Basin (Mendoza Province, Central Andes). The deformed interval (Amarillas bed) is only 0.3 to 0.9 m thick but occurs in a wide area, larger than 1500 km 2. Its age, determined by ammonite biostratigraphy, is Early Tithonian. The soft-sediment deformation structures were generated in finely laminated, partially consolidated, organic-rich, carbonate microbialites that were deposited in open-marine, poorly oxygenated settings, apparently devoid of any significant slope. Those structures include boudins of different sizes and complexity, a variety of folds, normal (listric) dm-scale faults, sub-horizontal detachment surfaces and other features, which are part of several larger-scale, complex slump structures. Deformation was dominantly plastic but near to the ductile–brittle field transition. On the basis of the observed soft-deformation structures, their geographic distribution, their lateral homogeneity, and the geodynamic framework of the basin in which it was generated, the Amarillas bed can be tentatively attributed to a large, intermediate-depth earthquake that occurred within the plate that subducted beneath the Andean continental margin and the Neuquén back-arc basin.

Seismites in Quaternary sediments of southeastern Altai

We study earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformation (seismites) in reference Quaternary sections of southeastern Altai. Sediments in the sections bear signature of liquefaction and fluidization and deformation is localized in thin (few centimeters to 0.5–1.0 m) continuously striking and frequently repeated layers sandwiched between undeformed sediments. The soft-sediment deformation records coseismic motion of different slip geometries. Seismic origin is also inferred for layers and lenses of coarse colluvium slid into the lake bottom from the slopes, which intrude plane-bedded silt and sand and vary in thickness from a few centimeters to one meter. The occurrence of seismic soft-sediment deformation at different stratigraphic levels of the Quaternary and in the Upper Pliocene Beken Formation confirms the high seismicity of southeastern Altai in Quaternary time.

Earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformation structures in the Mesoproterozoic Wumishan Formation, North China, and their geologic implications

Soft-sediment structures are key to defining seismites. Two soft-sediment deformation horizons, bounded by undeformed carbonate strata, have been found in the Wumishan Formation in the Jumahe region, 175 km southwest of Beijing. One is in the lowest part of Wumishan Formation; and the other is in the uppermost part of Litho-member I. The soft-sediment structures in these two horizons fall into three categories: mould-and-sag structures, hydraulic shatterings and liquefaction dikes. The mould-and-sag structures are divided into two types: one developed in tidal-flat sediments, accompanied by many liquefaction-related structures and characterized by autochthonous post-earthquake sediments in sags, and the other type developed in deep-water environments, is not associated with liquefaction structures, and is overlain immediately by seismogenic tsunamites. The hydraulic shatterings are composed of pockets of fluidization conglomerate, sand intrusions, and syndepositional faults. The liquefaction dikes fall into two categories: hydraulic-fracturing dikes and lateral-spreading dikes. The former are steep, planar, and pinch out upwards. The latter are snake-like and characterized by no diapir-related drag structures in surrounding rocks. Examination of the attitudes and stratigraphic positions of these structures suggests that these soft-sediment structures are seismogenic, and consequently, are seismites. Most seismites in the Wumishan Formation are developed near the former western, margin fault of Yanliao rift. This occurrence suggests that they could be related to movements on this fault. Other geological implications are discussed.

Earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformation in the lower Shyok river valley, northern Ladakh, India

Soft-sediment deformation structures occur in the ∼150 m thick Pliocene–Quaternary fluvio-lacustrine sediments exposed around the Khalsar and Tirit areas in the lower Shyok river valley, northern Ladakh and eastern Karakoram, India. These structures vary in morphology and pattern and occur at different stratigraphic horizons. They satisfy the criteria for attributing them to seismic events and it is proposed that these structures were formed as a result of earthquake-induced liquefaction. The deformation structures are thus interpreted to represent pre-historic seismic events which occurred up to ∼5 Ma ago and were associated with tectonic activity along the Karakoram fault.

Earthquake magnitude-frequency, epicentral distance, and soft-sediment deformation in sedimentary basins

Empirical equations available for earthquake magnitude-frequency and the maximum epicentral distance of liquefied sites versus magnitude are combined with the characteristic instantaneous sediment deposition rate at a station in a sedimentary basin to form a model for the local stratigraphic frequency of earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformation structures. Both the style of sedimentation and the characteristics of the earthquake source combine to determine the pattern of incidence of the structures in a basin. The model is probably most directly applicable to the geodynamic interpretation of fluvial basins, in which substantial volumes of readily liquefied sands accumulate at high, local, short-term rates.