Negative Version Research Articles

Structural inheritance in the Chukchi shelf, Alaska

Interpretation of over 100,000 line-km of reprocessed 2D, time-migrated, seismic-reflection data from the U.S. Chukchi shelf documents at least four tectonic events in the last 400 m.y. that generated distinct inherited structures. A well stratified economic basement whose internal geometry clearly defines a pre-Mississippian, thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belt represents the earliest recognizable tectonism in the area, one that accommodated west-east (present-day coordinates) shortening, probably in the Devonian. (1) The first inversion event, and dominant crustal feature in the Chukchi shelf, is the Hanna Trough, a north-south, failed rift system that accommodated more than 10 km of Carboniferous-Jurassic syn-rift and post-rift (sag) strata. Carboniferous extensional collapse of the previous orogenic belt to form the Hanna Trough was influenced heterogeneously by the pre-Mississippian contractional fabrics. Many rift-phase normal faults detach along pre-Mississippian thrust faults in discrete negative inversion, creating distinctive synthetic growth strata that constrain the geometry of extension. Other normal faults cut across pre-Mississippian stratigraphy showing more typical rollover geometries in growth strata and dissection of contractional structures in the pre-rift strata in more distributed negative inversion. (2) After a period of Pennsylvanian to Early Jurassic subsidence, in the south-central Chukchi shelf several north-south, rift-phase normal faults were inverted in a second event in the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, forming local, asymmetric, positive inversion structures due to west-east shortening likely associated with far-field effects of the Chukotkan orogeny. The Hanna Trough then was buried beneath >2 km of Cretaceous and Cenozoic foreland-basin deposits during which complex additional deformation occurred in the region. (3) The North Chukchi high resulted from Late Cretaceous-Paleogene deep thrusting, both south- and north-directed, and possible transpressional inversion across a complex older structural fabric. (4) Cenozoic east-west extension and strike-slip faulting in the northern Hanna Trough reactivated Carboniferous rift structures, in the west as dominantly discrete motion on the older faults, and in the east in more distributed fashion coalescing near older rifts and cutting Late Cretaceous-Paleogene contractional structures during a final negative inversion. Documentation of multi-phase structural inheritance in the Chukchi shelf is vital to unraveling the tectonic history and influences on petroleum systems in the area.

Polarimetry of M-type asteroids in the context of their surface composition

Aims. We aim to investigate how polarimetric observations can improve our understanding of the nature and diversity of M/X-type asteroids. Methods. Polarimetric observations of the selected M/X-type asteroids were carried out at the Tohoku 0.6-m telescope at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii (simultaneously in BVR filters), the 2-m telescope of the Bulgarian National Astronomical Observatory in Rozhen (in R filter), and the 2.15-m telescope of the Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito (CASLEO), Argentina (in V filter). We analysed the polarimetric characteristics of M/X-type asteroids along with the available data obtained by other techniques. Results. New polarimetric observations of 22 M/X-type asteroids combined with published observations provide a data set of 41 asteroids for which the depth of a negative polarisation branch and/or inversion angle were determined. We found that the depth of the negative polarisation branch tends to increase with decreasing steepness of the near-infrared spectra. Asteroids with a deeper negative polarisation branch tend to have a higher radar circular polarisation ratio. We show that, based on the relationship of the depth of the negative polarisation branch and inversion angle, two main sub-types can be distinguished among M-type asteroids. We suggest that these groups may be related to different surface compositions similar to (1) irons and stony-irons and (2) enstatite and iron-rich carbonaceous chondrites.

On the CP shell

The system of feature inheritance from C to T entails the syntactic presence of C in any tensed clause where Agree and Case assignment take place. However, the complementizer that, which is conventionally assumed to head a tensed clause, never appears in a main clause in English, and this empirical fact implies that the complementizer occupies a higher syntactic position than C. Here emerges the necessity to postulate a CP shell above CP. The author suggests labeling this shell as cP, headed by the complementizer that. The specifier of little c is the target of wh-movement in embedded clauses whereas the null head C contains various features associated with such syntactic operations as feature inheritance, negative inversion, and wh-movement in main clauses.

Shear zone fabrics and their significance in curved, inverted basin-derived thrust systems

In this study, we report how criteria inferred from structural and kinematic analysis of shear zone fabrics can be instrumental in deciphering events of positive or negative inversion tectonics. Mesoscopic structural and kinematic analyses are performed on well-exposed brittle-ductile thrust shear zones within curved thrust systems in the Central-Northern Apennines of Italy.The structural and kinematic features of thrust-related tectonites make it possible to outline a history of positive inversion. S/C- and S-tectonites/fabrics are distinctive of frontal or oblique thrust ramps, respectively. In particular, S-fabrics result from selective transpressional-reactivation of pre-thrusting normal faults. By contrast, more complex composite fabrics, characterized by folded cleavage, reveal a history of negative inversion tectonics. Mesocopic cleavage folding is ascribed to shear-sense reversal along the shear surfaces during extensional reactivation of pre-existing thrusts; or to synthetic reactivation by listric foreland-dipping normal faults, merging downwards on former thrust surfaces during protracted episodes of gravitational collapse.Shear zone fabrics identification criteria, here illustrated from thrusts of different size, if systematically used, may be diagnostic of different deformation paths, and hence provide useful tools to elucidate the tectonic history of curved thrust systems in orogens that have experienced multiple episodes of inversion.

Gain-of-function p.F28S variant in RAC3 disrupts neuronal differentiation, migration and axonogenesis during cortical development, leading to neurodevelopmental disorder

BackgroundRAC3 encodes a Rho family small GTPase that regulates the behaviour and organisation of actin cytoskeleton and intracellular signal transduction. Variants in RAC3 can cause a phenotypically heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder...

The origin of boulders in the Neoproterozoic of Eastern Sayan Ranges, south‐west Siberia: Glacial transport versus winnowed concretions

AbstractThe Cryogenian geological record of Siberia is scarce and ambiguous. Late Neoproterozoic strata of presumed glaciogenic origin of the Marnya Formation, Oselok Group cropping out along the Uda River in the Eastern Sayan Ranges, south‐western Siberia has received considerable attention due to the presence of at least three distinctive diamictite units. The lower diamictite unit (Karapchetui Member) is in subvertical contact (previously interpreted as a glacial valley) with stratigraphically older strata of the Tagul and Ipsit formations of the Karagas Group, and is represented by a wedge‐shaped unit of breccia that hosts numerous ellipsoidal sandstone bodies (previously thought to be boulders). The boulders are here reinterpreted as early diagenetic quartz and feldspar‐cemented sandstone concretions exhumed and redeposited from the Ipsit Formation when the latter was still uncemented and easily erodible. Tectonic compression, reverse faulting and localised continuous syndepositional uplift led to exhumation of the concretions, whereas subsequent extension, reactivation of the fault and ‘negative inversion’ of the basin produced accommodation space for redeposition of the exhumed concretions. In the process of redeposition, exfoliating concretions produced abundant debris that provided clasts for the breccia deposit. The Karapchetui diamictite, therefore, can serve as a sedimentary archive of late Neoproterozoic tectonic activity at the south‐western margin of the Siberian Craton.

Late Triassic basin inversion of the Qiangtang Basin in northern Tibet: Implications for the closure of the Paleo-Tethys and expansion of the Neo-Tethys

Sedimentologic and tectonic records in the Qiangtang Basin, northern Tibet, indicate a negative basin inversion during the Late Triassic, which reveals Paleo-Tethys closure and Neo-Tethys expansion. In the Triassic sedimentary succession, there is a clear sedimentary facies shift. The Middle Triassic to Carnian (Late Triassic) sequence displays typically shallowing-upward changes related to regional uplift and terrestrial erosion. On the other hand, the Norian (Late Triassic) to Middle Jurassic sequence has typically deepening-upward changes due to the tectonic subsidence and transgression. The negative basin inversion underwent a transition from previous marine environment to terrestrial erosion in the North Qiangtang depression but a terrestrial erosion to marine environment transition in the South Qiangtang depression during the Late Triassic. Elemental data show bimodal volcanic rocks for the Nadi Kangri Formation with intracontinental rift setting. The initial negative inversion started with the Nadi Kangri bimodal volcanic eruption and alluvial/fluvial basal conglomerate that overlapped angular unconformably, disconformably, or conformably on the underlying formations. The U-Pb ages of volcanic samples from the Nadi Kangri Formation range from ∼220 to 201 Ma, and its initial eruption age (∼220 Ma) represents the onset time of negative basin inversion. Our data reveal that the exhumation of northern Qiangtang foreland basin during the early Late Triassic recorded the closure of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean and its branches along the Hoh Xil–Jinshajiang and the Longmu Co–Shuanghu, respectively. The initiation of Qiangtang rifting during the late Late Triassic could be related with the rapid expansion of the Neo-Tethys Ocean along the Bangong–Nujiang.

Hobbes, Constant, and Berlin on Liberty

ABSTRACT Isaiah Berlin’s ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’ regards both Hobbes and Constant as supporting the negative version. Both took a favourable view of the freedom to live as one pleases. But this shared preference arose from radically different overall philosophies. Hobbes’s support for freedom as ‘the silence of the laws’ reflected his view of happiness as preference-satisfaction. Constant’s support for freedom as a sphere of absolute rights was supplemented by support for active citizenship and connected with belief in ‘perfectibility’ that was itself linked to religion. These theories involve altogether different understandings of the image of an ‘area’ preserved from interference. Berlin takes over from Constant an appeal to human nature without the idea of progress that had supported it.

Isaiah 39 and the Motif of Human Trust in First Isaiah

Abstract A standard view suggests that Isa 39 occupies its present location in chapters 36–39 for ideological reasons, providing a link with exile presupposed in chapters 40–66. Without denying Isa 39's connection with Isa 40–66, I show that Isa 39 also belongs to the motif of human trust prevalent in First Isaiah by tracking the triad “silver, gold, and treasures” in chapters 2, 30–31, and 39. I further argue that chapter 39 was purposefully assigned its current literary location to round off First Isaiah's political critique of foreign alliances. As a necessary implication, Isa 39 does not present a pious Hezekiah. Instead, First Isaiah ends with a paradigmatic negative version of the Davidic dynasty, highlighting its failure to trust YHWH as the main reason for the reality of exile.

Surfaces, Subjectivity, and Self-Denial

Surfaces, Subjectivity, and Self-Denial Amber Jamilla Musser (bio) NONE LIKE US: BLACKNESS, BELONGING, AESTHETIC LIFE BY STEPHEN BEST Durham: Duke University Press, 2018 None Like Us begins with a story of familial cleavage. Though he does not explicitly delve into its contours, Stephen Best describes a graduation dinner that reveals (to him) a distance between him and his father. Another attendee describes this separation (on the part of father) as having been born from a conflict between pride and disgust—the father is proud of his son's success, but it also announces an unassimilable difference between the two. Best likens this to an injunction to community within Black studies, which he describes as not only uncomfortable but problematic: "the feeling that I am being invited to long for the return of a sociality that I never had, one from which I suspect (had I ever shown up) I might have been excluded" (1). This narrative is meant to explain Best's project, which is to decouple Black studies' relationship between the archive and community. However, this is not just any archive but that of the transatlantic slave trade, which has traditionally undergirded the idea of a Black diaspora, a term that itself has been understood to refer not only to a shared history but to common cultural, aesthetic, and religious practices. Best bristles not only at the mandate to think with slavery when thinking about Blackness but also the assumption that this history provides a useful form of commonality. Ultimately, Best aims to uncover and work with a productive version of negation: "This coveted alienation would entail a gesture best parsed as a kind of doubled movement: away from the 'clenched little [End Page 153] history of our selves' and into a language we would not naturally speak" (37). The first part of the book draws on visual art (El Anatsui, Mark Bradford), poetry (Gwendolyn Brooks), and fiction (Toni Morrison) to show how artists and writers have already been producing these unnatural languages of freedom. This section gives texture to Best's politics while also giving insight into his method of analysis. The second part uses the techniques and politics already honed to return to moments in the archive that have not coalesced into productivity; they neither align with possibilities of resistance or generate new lineages. Rumor and suicide simply are. Here, Best rewrites our understanding of these practices of negation as moments of freedom, even and especially because they don't go anywhere. By announcing that None Like Us intervenes into Black studies' oscillation between subjection and belonging, Best asks us to look specifically at the parameters of selfhood as it stretches along the axes of projection and expression. Though he does not announce it as such, the perspective that Best is grappling with has psychoanalytic undertones, which we can parse through his indebtedness to Lee Edelman even as psychoanalysis might be said to be a form of symptomatic reading par excellence. Beyond the language of the symbolic, however, psychoanalysis gives us language to think about space between belonging and subjectivity in which Best is interested. When we return to the scene of separation that inaugurates the text, alienation is not merely a condition of queerness but seemingly compelled by a psychoanalytic (glancing at Oedipus) reading of the scene in which renunciation of the father inaugurates a version of selfhood and produces its own scene of fraught belonging. Best acknowledges some of these coordinates—"I have chosen to begin in conversation with Baldwin, in an autobiographical meditation on fathers, sons, and the intimate kinship shadowed from both sides of the relation by its imminent severance, because I am seeking to understand the filial world of subjects and the ethics of subjectivity" (8)—but does not bring this to bear on the book's overall schema. Best's tiptoeing around psychoanalysis is puzzling on the one hand but also, given his investment in surface reading, is understandable. In addition to making more transparent the mechanisms between the making of subjectivity and belonging, thinking psychoanalytically also allows us to plumb the gendered dimensions of Best's argument. [End Page 154] There are several ways to think about Best's...

Selected Articles from This Issue

Despite previous assumptions that constitutively high Wnt signaling promotes colorectal cancer in each stage of disease, recent studies have demonstrated that reduced Wnt signaling is associated with colorectal cancer invasiveness and poor prognoses. However, little work has been done to elucidate how diminished Wnt signaling underlies aggressive colorectal cancer phenotypes. Chen and colleagues used genetic manipulation strategies and orthotopic mouse models to show that abrogating Wnt signaling increases colorectal cancer invasiveness and decreases immune responsiveness in vivo. Disrupting Wnt signaling by targeting Wnt coreceptor LDL receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6) with CRISPR/Cas9 or transducing a dominant negative version of Wnt transcriptional effector lymphoid enhancer binding factor 1 (LEF1) increases tumor submucosal invasion and dissemination in mice. Using RNA-Seq, the authors revealed that reducing Wnt signaling elevates expression of markers associated with stemness and a mesenchymal phenotype, while repressing expression of immune-stimulatory molecules and collagens. The authors used TCGA data to demonstrate that the low Wnt signaling expression profile corresponds with poor survival in colorectal cancer patients, underscoring the potential clinical relevance of dampened Wnt signaling in colorectal cancer progression.Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is an aggressive biliary tract cancer for which effective therapeutics are lacking. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)-mediated inflammation is a critical component of CCA carcinogenesis and progression. 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH) chemically modifies and inactivates PGE2, but its expression is often diminished in CCA. In their work, Zhang and colleagues leveraged public data to show that expression of histone methyltransferase G9a negatively correlates with 15-PGDH expression. The authors validated the G9a-15-PGDH relationship in a mouse model of CCA in which the Notch intracellular domain and constitutively active Akt are expressed via hydrodynamic injection of sleeping beauty transposase-based plasmids. shRNA-mediated G9a silencing increases 15-PGDH expression in CCA cell lines, limiting cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. ChIP assays demonstrated that G9a is recruited to the 15-PGDH promoter by the Myc/Max/E-box complex, which prevents signal transducer and activator of transcription 4 (STAT4) from binding the promoter and inducing 15-PGDH expression. The work presented elucidates a previously unknown mechanism underlying CCA development and progression and reveals a novel potential target for CCA therapeutic strategies.Neurofibromatosis type 2 is characterized by growth of benign nervous system tumors, such as schwannomas, which can lead to deafness, brain stem compression, and death. Neurofibromatosis type 2 is caused by mutations in tumor suppressor gene NF2. Previously, Cho and colleagues demonstrated that NF2 loss promotes elevated TβR1 signaling, resulting in phosphorylation and degradation of tumor suppressor Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP). While TGF-β inhibitors halt schwannoma growth, they are not ideal therapeutics given schwannomas occur around adolescence and TGF-β is required for development. Here, Cho and colleagues developed a novel TβR1 inhibitor, Nf18001, that abrogates TβR1-mediated RKIP degradation while maintaining canonical TGF-β signaling. The authors used human and mouse schwannoma cell lines to demonstrate that Nf18001 disrupts TβR1-RKIP interactions to sustain RKIP expression and lower NF2-mutant cell viability while not influencing normal fibroblast survival. Nf18001 arrests cell cycle progression in schwannoma cells, and augments Schwann cell differentiation marker expression while diminishing expression of markers associated with cell stemness. Nf18001 also displayed efficacy in a schwannoma allograft mouse model, where treatment slowed tumor growth.The pro-tumorigenic role of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in multiple myeloma has been established, but therapeutically targeting STAT3 has proven challenging. Similarly, given its canonical role in DNA damage repair, checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) inhibition has been tested in anti-cancer therapeutic regimens, but with ambiguous results. In their study, Zhou and colleagues employed a gene expression array to demonstrate that Chk1 inhibition diminishes expression of oncogenic STAT3 target genes in multiple myeloma cells, suggesting Chk1 inhibition may also effectively inhibit STAT3 activity. Subsequent work showed that Chk1 directly binds to STAT3 and phosphorylates it at tyrosine 705, enabling STAT3 dimerization and DNA binding. Chk1 inhibition — pharmacologically and via shRNA silencing — diminishes STAT3 tyrosine 705 phosphorylation and inhibits STAT3 DNA binding, reducing expression of STAT3 transcriptional targets. Chk1 inhibition abrogates STAT3 tyrosine 705 phosphorylation in IL-6–dependent, -independent, and bortezomib-resistant cells, as well as in patient primary myeloma mononuclear cells and multiple myeloma cells implanted into mice, suggesting Chk1 inhibition may provide therapeutic efficacy against multiple myeloma through a STAT3-related mechanism.

Aberrant cortical surface and cognition function in drug-naive first-episode schizophrenia

ObjectiveImpaired cognitive function is a central symptom of schizophrenia and is often correlated with inferior global functional outcomes. However, the role of some neurobiological factors such as cortical structure alterations in the underlying cognitive damages in schizophrenia remains unclear. The present study attempted to explore the neurobiomarkers of cognitive function in drug-naive, first-episode schizophrenia by using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).MethodsThe present study was conducted in patients with drug-naive, first-episode schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy controls (HCs). MRI T1 images were pre-processed using CAT12. Surface-based morphometry (SBM) was utilised to evaluate structural parameters such as cortical thickness and sulcus depth. The positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) and Chinese version of the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) consensus cognitive battery (MCCB) were employed to estimate the psychotic symptoms and cognition, respectively.ResultsA total of 117 patients with drug-naive first-episode schizophrenia (SZ) and 98 healthy controls (HCs) were included. Both the cortical thickness and sulcus depth in the frontal lobe were lower in patients with SZ than in the HCs under family-wise error correction (p < 0.05). Attention and visual learning in MCCB were positively correlated with the right lateral orbitofrontal cortical thickness in the patients with SZ (p < 0.01).ConclusionsThe reduced surface value of multiple cortical structures, particularly the cortical thickness and sulcus depth in the frontal lobe, could be the potential biomarkers for cognitive impairment in SZ.

Variability and reliability of 2-dimensional vs. 3-dimensional glenoid version measurements with 3-dimensional preoperative planning software.

Preoperative planning for total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) may change according to the measured degree of glenoid version. Both 2-dimensional (2D) and 3-dimensional (3D) computed tomographic (CT) scans are used to measure glenoid version, with no consensus on which method is more accurate. However, it is generally accepted that 3D measurements are more reliable, yet most 3D reconstruction software currently in clinical use have never been directly compared to 2D. The purpose of this study is to directly compare 2D and 3D glenoid version measurements and determine the differences between the two. CT scans were performed preoperatively on 315 shoulders undergoing either anatomic or reverse TSA. 2D measurements of glenoid version were obtained manually using the Friedman method, whereas 3D measurements were obtained using the Equinoxe Planning Application (Exactech Inc.) 3D-reconstruction software. Negative version values indicate retroversion, whereas positive values indicate anteversion. Two observers collected the 2D measurements 2 separate times, and intra- and interobserver measurements were calculated. Groups were compared for variability using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), and for differences in sample means using Student t tests. Additionally, samples were stratified by version value in order to better understand the potential sources of error between measurement techniques. For the 2D measurements, intraobserver variability indicated excellent reproducibility for both observer 1 (ICC = 0.928, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.911-0.942) and observer 2 (ICC = 0.964, 95% CI 0.955-0.971). Interobserver variability measurements also indicated excellent reproducibility (ICC = 0.915, 95% CI 0.778-0.956). The overall 2D version measurement average (-4.9° ± 10.3°) was significantly less retroverted than the 3D measurement average (-8.4° ± 9.1°) (P < .001), with 3D measurements yielding a more retroverted value 73% of the time. When stratified on the basis of version value with outliers excluded, there was no significant difference in the distribution of high-error samples within the data. There was excellent reproducibility between the 2 observers in terms of both intra- and interobserver variability. The 3D measurement techniques were significantly more likely to return a more retroverted measurement, and high-error samples were evenly distributed throughout the data, indicating that there were no discernable trends in the degree of error observed. Shoulder surgeons should be aware that different glenoid version measurement strategies can yield different version measurements, as these can affect preoperative planning and surgeon decision making.

The Clock:Cycle complex is a major transcriptional regulator of Drosophila photoreceptors that protects the eye from retinal degeneration and oxidative stress.

The aging eye experiences physiological changes that include decreased visual function and increased risk of retinal degeneration. Although there are transcriptomic signatures in the aging retina that correlate with these physiological changes, the gene regulatory mechanisms that contribute to cellular homeostasis during aging remain to be determined. Here, we integrated ATAC-seq and RNA-seq data to identify 57 transcription factors that showed differential activity in aging Drosophila photoreceptors. These 57 age-regulated transcription factors include two circadian regulators, Clock and Cycle, that showed sustained increased activity during aging. When we disrupted the Clock:Cycle complex by expressing a dominant negative version of Clock (ClkDN) in adult photoreceptors, we observed changes in expression of 15-20% of genes including key components of the phototransduction machinery and many eye-specific transcription factors. Using ATAC-seq, we showed that expression of ClkDN in photoreceptors leads to changes in activity of 37 transcription factors and causes a progressive decrease in global levels of chromatin accessibility in photoreceptors. Supporting a key role for Clock-dependent transcription in the eye, expression of ClkDN in photoreceptors also induced light-dependent retinal degeneration and increased oxidative stress, independent of light exposure. Together, our data suggests that the circadian regulators Clock and Cycle act as neuroprotective factors in the aging eye by directing gene regulatory networks that maintain expression of the phototransduction machinery and counteract oxidative stress.

To be Direct or not: Reversing Likert Response Format Items.

Likert items are often used in social and health sciences. However, the format is strongly affected by acquiescence and reversed items have traditionally been used to control this response bias, a controversial practice. This paper aims to examine how reversed items affect the psychometric properties of a scale. Different versions of the Grit-s scale were applied to an adult sample (N = 1,419). The versions of the scale had either all items in positive or negative forms, or a mix of positive and negative items. The psychometric properties of the different versions (item analysis, dimensionality and reliability) were analyzed. Both negative and positive versions demonstrated better functioning than mixed versions. However, the mean total scores did not vary, which is an example of how similar means could mask other significant differences. Therefore, we advise against using mixed scales, and consider the use of positive or negative versions preferable.

Control Negative

“Control Negative” is an exercise in loss. Using the techniques of VR, Monika Masłoń tries to situate the viewer in an emotional state where frustration, helplessness, anger, and sadness are able to reveal basic human assumptions, especially the conviction of being fully in control of one's own life. The unreal world of the experience — a negative version of the real world — is a training space where you can better understand yourself and your emotions. The user is guided through seven chapters, which gradually move from physical activity to contemplation.

Meso-Cenozoic negative inversion model for the Linhe Depression of Hetao Basin, China

AbstractThe Linhe Depression is the largest tectonic unit in the Hetao Basin. The recently discovered commercial oil flow in the structural trap of wells JH2X and S5 has proved that the Meso-Cenozoic strata in the Linhe Depression have great exploration potential. Research on the kinematic model for the Mesozoic–Cenozoic Linhe Depression is important for analysing the geological conditions of hydrocarbon accumulation. In this study, field observations, seismic interpretation and scaled analogue modelling are performed. The results prove that the Linhe Depression experienced different stages of tectonic evolution, such as compressional depression (K1l), conversion from contraction to uniform subsidence (K1g), extensional rifting (E2–N2) and strike-slip deformation (Q), during the Mesozoic–Cenozoic eras. The kinematic model of negative inverted basins was first established with the early differential compression superimposed by the late extension. The seismic interpretation and analogue modelling results show that Jilantai Sag in the southern part of the Linhe Depression was subjected to compression from the Bayanwulashan fold–thrust belt on the NW side and the Helanshan fold–thrust belt on the SE side during Early Cretaceous time. Meanwhile, the Hanghou Sag in the northern part of the Linhe Depression was only compressed by the Langshan fold–thrust belt from the NW direction. The rifted structure generated by the extension from the SE direction during the Cenozoic Era resulted in the negative inversion of the pre-existing thrusts in different patterns. The intensity of negative inversion is controlled by several key factors, such as dip angle and the patterns of thrust faults, along with different basement textures. The morphological changes in the forebulge zone developed during Early Cretaceous time are responsible for the development of the segmented Central fault zones in the Hanghou Sag.

Coeval Miocene development of thrust belt-backarc and forearc extension during the subduction of a continental margin (Western-Central Mediterranean Sea)

The position of the middle-upper Miocene volcanic arc, encompassing the Maghrebides, the Sardinia Channel and the Sardinia-Corsica block, implies that the Algerian and Tyrrhenian basins developed, respectively, as backarc and forearc extensional zones in the Western-Central Mediterranean. The opening of the Western-Central Mediterranean Neogene extensional basin has been commonly interpreted as a two-step process: the opening of the Provençal-Algerian basin during the early-middle Miocene, followed, in the late Miocene, by the formation of the Tyrrhenian Basin. This article is an attempt to synthesize knowledge about the hinge zone between Algerian and Tyrrhenian basins by combining the analysis of seismic reflection profiles with dredge and borehole data in order to investigate how the transition between the eastern Algerian backarc and Tyrrhenian forearc geodynamic settings took place. We identified three sectors: the western Tyrrhenian characterized by a Tortonian forearc extension; the Sardinia Channel, which preserves the architecture of the lower Miocene Maghrebian thrust belt formed during the collision between Europe and Africa plates; and the easternmost Algerian basin-Sicily Channel where a backarc–thrust belt system developed during the Tortonian stage. During the extensional events, we hypothesize the re-activation of inherited structures during Tortonian rifting, (that is a negative tectonic inversion of pre-existing Eocene and early Miocene thrust faults). The contemporaneity of two different geodynamic environments, the forearc extension in the northern area and backarc–thrust belt system in the southern area, can be directly related with a lateral variation of the lower plate paleogeography of the Africa continental margin. This evidence contributes to the understanding of how the paleogeography of the lower plate can control, to a certain extent, the tectonic evolution of the upper plate in a subduction setting.

Moon , David Breyfogle , Nicholas B. Bekasova , Alexandra Place and Nature: Essays in Russian Environmental History (review)

SEER, 99, 4, OCTOBER 2021 782 in 1945, Tito aggressively pressed his ‘imperial’ ambitions: by advocating the incorporation of Trieste and later with his support to the Communists in the Greek Civil War (1946–49). What is problematic here is that the authors’ claims about Tito’s intent to export revolution to other parts of Europe are not new. When in September 1947 Stalin summoned the first meeting of the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers’ Parties (Cominform), and subsequently moved its headquarters to Yugoslavia, Tito appeared to emerge as the Comintern’s de facto leader. Tito may have erroneously assumed that Stalin supported the Yugoslav leadership’s commitment to a revolutionary offensive in Greece, Italy and elsewhere. Ivo Banac (1988) and Geoffrey Swain (1992), among others, have demonstrated that it was Tito’s efforts to support the Greek Communists and his decision, in January 1948, to station troops in Albania (at that time, a satellite of Communist Yugoslavia) which led to the Tito-Stalin split of 1948. Tito’s revolutionary hubris and ‘imperial’ ambitions ultimately clashed with Stalin’s restrained approach, which was concerned above all with avoiding a military conflict between the Soviet Union and the Western allies. Despite its limitations, Tito’s Secret Empire is often insightful, contains interesting background information about Tito’s relationship with the members of his inner circle, and mostly makes for compelling reading. Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies Mark Biondich Carleton University Moon, David; Breyfogle, Nicholas B. and Bekasova, Alexandra (eds). Place and Nature: Essays in Russian Environmental History. The White Horse Press, Winwick, 2021. xxi + 343 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. £70.00: $95.00: €75.00. Place and Nature is a beautifully-produced and theoretically challenging addition to the burgeoning field of Russian environmental history. The result of an impressively international and multidisciplinary research effort, the book mostly deals with the Russian North and Siberia, some of the regions most neglected by Russian historians. On the whole, it delivers a varied and sensitive portrayal of these places, attentive both to local difference and global connections. The editors introduce several thematic and methodological signposts that guide the essays. There is a substantial focus on watery environments, mostly seas and lakes, the latter of which Andy Bruno identifies as particularly under-researched by historians. The editors also see the collected essays as a REVIEWS 783 corrective to the overly negative versions of Russian, and especially Soviet, environmental histories that have marked the field. Finally, the volume’s authors have a strong commitment to ‘place-based environmental history’ (p. 5) the idea that to know an environment — even a historical environment — one needs to see and experience it. This commitment is reflected in the fact that all of the authors were involved in several group field trips to the places profiled in the book. Place and Nature has mixed success in fulfilling its editorial goals. Surprisingly few authors directly reference their interactions with the Russian environment. The middle section of photo essays is an exception. There, the beautiful colour photographs (congratulations to White Horse Press for allowing these) powerfully convey the emotional power of Russia’s lands and seas. Nicholas Breyfogle’s photo essay on the northern islands of Solovki is particularly effective, as he poignantly juxtaposes tranquil landscapes with the place’s hard history as one of the founding fathers of the gulag. David Moon, in his own photo essay on Lake Baikal, ponders the implications of starting Russian environmental histories in the country’s remote locations: perhaps the wealth of healthy forests and waters would rebalance evaluations of that country’s history in favour of the positive? At the same time, the group’s photographs from Baikal that year show dense smoke from nearby forest fires shrouding the lake’s shores, reminders of Siberia’s connections with global environmental histories and futures. Five of the book’s fourteen chapters deal directly with Lake Baikal, and they render an ambivalent judgment on the editors’ hope for a more positive Russian environmental history. Elena Kochetkova, in a deeply researched chapter on the Soviet state’s plans for Baikal, shows how the Irkutsk Academy of Sciences emerged as a...

Impact of inversion tectonics on the spatial distribution of hydrocarbon traps in the NW Persian Gulf and the southern Dezful Embayment, SW Iran

Inversion tectonics has a major impact on distribution of fault-controlled hydrocarbon traps in the fold-and-thrust belts. In order to characterize the spatial distribution of several fault-controlled hydrocarbon traps adjacent to the Nourooz-Hendijan-Izeh Fault, this study describes the structural and tectono-sedimentary evolution of the fault based on the geological interpretation and tectono-sedimentary analysis of seven seismic sections in the Bahregansar, Hendijan, Tangu, and Rag-e-Sefid oilfields in the NW Persian Gulf and the southern Dezful Embayment. The results indicate that the Nourooz-Hendijan-Izeh Fault is a segmented pre-existing basement fault with steep dip, which reactivated to at least seven tectonic phases. Three-phase inversion tectonics along the Nourooz-Hendijan-Izeh Fault occurred at the Late Devonian-Carboniferous (positive inversion), Permian-Early Triassic (negative inversion), and Late Cenomanian-Early Turonian (positive inversion) boundaries and modified the evolutionary history of the sedimentary basin. Inversion affected hydrocarbon trap development at the Late Cretaceous and controlled their current conditions in the NW Persian Gulf and the southern Dezful Embayment along the northeastern margin of African-Arabian plates. Considering the hydrocarbon migration at the Late Miocene in these regions up to now, the N–S trending anticlines (Arabian trend) have a larger share of oil and gas in their hydrocarbon traps and lower hydrocarbon exploration risk than the NW-SE trending anticlines (Zagros trend). Mild to moderate inversion structures can be considered as preferred petroleum exploration targets.