New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter

New Concepts in Global Tectonics NEWSLETTER
No. 49, December, 2008 ISSN: 1833-2560 Editor: Dong R. CHOI (editor@ncgt.org) www.ncgt.org
Editorial board Ismail BHAT, India (bhatmi@hotmail.com); Peter JAMES, Australia (pmjgeotech@yahoo.com.au); Leo MASLOV, Russia (ms_leo@hotmail.com); Cliff OLLIER, Australia (cliffol@cyllene.uwa.edu.au); Nina PAVLENKOVA, Russia (ninapav@ifz.ru); David PRATT, Netherlands (davidpratt05@cs.com); Giancarlo SCALERA, Italy (scalera@ingv.it); N. Christian SMOOT, USA (christiansmoot532@gmail.com); Karsten STOREDVEDT, Norway (Karsten@gfi.uib.no); Yasumoto SUZUKI, Japan (yasu-suzuki@vega.ocn.ne.jp); Boris I. VASILIEV, Russia (tesla@poi.dvo.ru) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
From the Editor Changing tide is irreversible. ..2 Letters to the Editor Basic intrusives of great age in the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, Chris PRATCH......2 Freedom of scientific thought, Peter JAMES.........3 Articles Similarities of a martian dome with terrestrial salt domes, Davide BAIONI and Forese Carlo WEZEL..4
A dome in the eastern part of a canyon in Tithonium Chasma, the northern trough of the western grabens of Valles Marineris (Mars) has been investigated in detail using HRSC, MOC and THEMIS data. Analysis of the dome surface highlighted some landforms that strongly resemble karst landforms that occur on the Earth. A comparison of the features displayed by the martian dome with the features of a terrestrial salt diapir located in the area of the Persian Gulf indicates that from the morphological point of view martian and terrestrial domes show noticeable similarities.
Some paradoxes of plate-tectonic palaeogeodynamic models and reconstructions (Russian Southeast), Alexander GAVRILOV......................................................................................................................................19
Analysis of regional geological data for the southern part of the Russian Far East reveals many contradictions with plate-tectonic geodynamic models and reconstructions. Ideas about intensive horizontal displacements (from many hundreds to 1,600 kilometers) of lithospheric plates and separate blocks (terranes) in the region are in conflict with the data on the existence of a stable regional network or pattern of magma-controlling deep faults, on the prolonged endogenous activity of separate tectono-magmatic rises and median massifs formed during hundreds of millions years, and on the significant duration of the development of ore-magmatic systems. Proposed plate tectonic models cannot explain the domination of vertical tectonic motions in the Late Cenozoic, the stability of Late Permian volcano-tectonic structures and the presence of little disturbed Mesozoic platform covers.
300-day seismic cycles in the southern segment of the San Andreas Fault, California, Valentino STRASER.......30
'Twin Earthquakes (TE)' are earthquakes that recur at a regular interval of about 300 days, and appear to be related to peculiar configurations of planetary orbits, in specific seismic regions on the Earth. Already studied with reference to the North-Western and Central Italian Apennines, the model is now applied to the San Andreas fault system in Southern California, the Sierra Nevada zone, the Mojave region, and the Los Angeles area, showing evidence that there the seismic phenomena regularly recur approximately every 300 days, with focuses roughly at the same depth. The regularity with which TE occur allows seismic phenomena to be forecast with a limited margin of error for latitude, longitude and epicentre, without specifying the earthquakes magnitude, possibly enabling the mitigation of their impact on human lives and economic damage.
Geoid tectonics. Chapter 3. General effects of polar wander, Peter JAMES................54

The effects associated with (geographical) polar wander are twofold: geoid stress imposed on the Earths crust by changes in latitude; the effect of the change in centripetal acceleration on the distribution of the oceans. Some introductory discussion of the former shows that a migration of an element of crust from pole to equator, or vice versa, can be expected to cause deformation or, in certain cases, failure of the Earths crust. Massive changes in oceanic distribution, under polar wander, are evidenced by some boreholes from DSDP drilling program and by features such as submarine valleys. Fluctuation in ocean depths of some 4 km is implied.
NCGT Briefs Earthquakes and their tsunamis, Pencho BINEV.67 Publications Earthquake clouds in Iran, Guangmeng GUO and Bin WANG.....67 Book review David Archibald: Solar Cycle 24, Cliff OLLIER.......68 Financial support......70
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For contact, correspondence, or inclusion of material in the Newsletter please use the following methods: NEW CONCEPTS IN GLOBAL TECTONICS. 1. E-mail: editor@ncgt.org, ncgt@ozemail.com.au, or ncgt@hotmail.com, each file less than 5 megabytes; 2. Fax (small amount of material): +61-2-6254 4409; 3. Mail, air express, etc., 6 Mann Place, Higgins, ACT 2615, Australia (files in MS Word format, and figures in jpg or tif format); 4. Telephone, +61-26254 4409. DISCLAIMER: The opinions, observations and ideas published in this newsletter are the responsibility of the contributors and do not necessary reflect those of the Editor and the Editorial Board. NCGT Newsletter is a quarterly international online journal and appears in March, June, September and December.
New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008
FROM THE EDITOR

CHANGING TIDE IS IRREVERSIBLE
s you are already aware through the report of the 33rd International Geological Congress by Prof. Karsten Storetvedt in the last NCGT issue (no. 48, p. 2-3), our NCGT session experienced unprecedented difficulties: 1) cancellation of one of the invited speakers without consultation with session organizers, 2) change of session date several weeks before the congress without notifying the organizers when most of the session participants had already booked flights and hotels, and 3) unknown session room until one day before the session date. This indicates that the IGC Oslo was either very poorly organized, or, though we dont want to believe it, the difficulties were created intentionally by some of the high-level IGC organizers. We reported the problems to IUGS (International Union of Geological Sciences). In response to our complaints, the organizers expressed regret but no apologies (communication on 30 Sept., 2008). We will pursue this matter further with IUGS. As support for the NCGT group continues to grow and indisputable hard evidence against plate tectonics accumulates, we expect to face increased censorship and discrimination as well as overt or covert intimidation from the establishment. IGC33s incidents can be understood in this context. Publication of papers that do not conform to plate tectonics will become more difficult in mainstream journals. Some open NCGT supporters may find their jobs threatened, under the pretext of the harsh economic environment.
Since the early days of the struggle against plate-tectonic dogma by our predecessors such as Art Meyerhoff in 1970s and 80s we have collected and tabulated cases of censorship and discrimination. This was one of the reasons for founding the NCGT group in 1996. We will keep a close eye on this area. If our readers encounter censorship, discrimination, victimization or intimidation, we would encourage them to fully document each case and report it to us. Just as Al Gore and IPCC scientists were recently sued by the Weather Channel Founder supported by 30,000 scientists over the global warming issue, the time will come in the near future when the NCGT group will also need to pursue legal avenues as well as other available means. However hard the establishments may try to stymie and suffocate the NCGT group and its activities, they cannot reverse the changing tide of geological thinking which has already started to turn in our favour. Recently we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of NCGT Newsletter readers, and enthusiastic support continues to flow in. It was heart-warming to see a letter from one of my old friends in USA saying, Your work is very important to keep the plate pushers honest. Other encouraging comments are introduced in the Letters-to-the-Editor section of this issue (pages 2-3) as well as in many past issues. We hear news from various sources that the oil and mining industries have started to seriously look for alternatives to plate tectonics. We are confident that the truth will prevail in the end. _________________________________________________________________________________________
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

am quite impressed by the description of so many marine dredges in the Pacific, in this case by Russian expeditions, in the last NCGT publication (no. 48). Apart from geochemical differences that may be there (related to different magmas) one basic fact seems to be present in both Pacific and Atlantic: Basic intrusives of great age (in the Atlantic proven to be partly at least of pre-Cambrian ages) underlie Paleozoic (Atlantic), Mesozoic or, locally, Tertiary marine rocks (Pacific and Atlantic), these often shallow marine. For me the question arises: Where are and what were the country rocks into which these old basics intruded? There must have been ?50,000 m of overburden if a harzburgite etc. crystallizes. Therefore, huge uplifts and erosion cycles must have existed between ?pre-Cambrian and Mesozoics in the Pacific, between pre-Cambrian and Paleozoics in the Atlantic (fossiliferous Paleozoics were dredged by British expeditions from the Atlantic mid-oceanic ridge system although never published for fear to get tangled up in plate tectonic/anti-plate tectonic discussions and apparently for fear by the British paleontologists to endanger their careers). If one could age-date these basement rocks one may be able to establish a relation between times of regional uplifts and regional downwarps of oceanic areas vs. continents. Just an idea, definitely worth a place in the long list of antiplate tectonic facts.
Regards, and thanks for the excellent last edition. J. Chris PRATSCH Houston, TX (well washed but unharmed by hurricane Ike!) jcp@hal-pc.org *******************
recently came across a statement written seventy years ago by Bertrand Russel (Power, Routledge Classics, 2004, p. 123) that seemed relevant to present conditions in the Earth Sciences. The statement reads: In a community where men have to accept at least outwardly some obviously absurd doctrine, the best men become either stupid or disaffected. There will be, in consequence, a lowering of the intellectual level which must, in the end, interfere with technical progress It is impossible for science to flourish where there is no freedom of thought.
In reading this, my own bias inserted mobile plate tectonics for the obviously absurd doctrine, and the inability to publish considered interpretations of hard data in mainstream journals when the interpretations do not conform to editorial policy I interpret as a bar to freedom of thought. On the impediments to technical progress, one might point to the pressure on young researchers to begin with the premise that plate tectonics solves all; only some mopping-up operations are required. One might also point to the many official geological survey reports that have opened with a slogan such as: The geology of XYZ region provides proof of the theory of plate tectonics. The matter is then often not referred to again in the remainder of the text. Research, like philosophy, has to be open ended. To set out with an already-reached conclusions is not the way science works except, perhaps, in rare cases. For instance, Copernicus might well have begun his studies on a millennium of astronomical data with the aim of proving the concept of geocentricity, as held by the Church of Rome. But fortunately for science, his work was meticulous and his conclusions were honest, despite the conflict with his religious beliefs. There is a second inference to be drawn from Bertrand Russells statement, regarding freedom of thought. This is sometimes confused with the need to give wild speculation an equal footing with reasoned argument. Not that wild speculation should be debarred, but the speculator is under an obligation to take his/her ideas a step or two further and provide some solid reasoning/mechanism as a back-up. Moreover, the assumptions on which the speculations are based also need to be provided. On this latter point, the problem that I personally encounter with continental drifters and, indeed, with expanding earthers, is the presumption that the continents must have all been contiguous at one stage in Earth history. There is no law which states that. The view is based on little more than the similarities in the shape of (some) opposing coastlines/continental shelves at least if one uses the geometries as they presently stand. However, even this jig-saw fit is not as ideal as one might wish: in order to get South America to fit snugly beneath Africas armpit, one has to do something about a 100 km or more overlap of the Pre-Cambrian shields in mid-fit. Other proposed fits between continents, or fragments of continents, might be compared with the fits between artificially produced rock clasts in, say, a rock wall. A plethora of continuities can be identified between individual clasts, but this does not imply that the rock fragments all came from one large block, insitu, in the quarry. Drifting continents also require mechanisms such as subduction and ocean spreading, mechanisms which have been demonstrated in these pages by the editor, et al - to be non-existent. That such papers are not welcome in present day mainstream journals is then, of course, to be expected. After the confusion/inconveniences put upon the NCGT sessions at the recent Oslo Conference as described by Professor Storedvedt in the last issue perhaps it is time for an independent symposium on the New Global Tectonics? Any suggestions on the matter? Peter JAMES Tasmania, Australia pmjgeotech@yahoo.com.au
ARTICLES
SIMILARITIES OF A MARTIAN DOME WITH TERRESTRIAL SALT DOMES
Davide BAIONI and Forese Carlo WEZEL Istituto di Scienze della Terra, Universit di Urbino Carlo Bo, Campus Scientifico Sogesta - 61029 Urbino (PU), Italy.
Tel. & fax. +39 0722 304295. E-mail address: dvbgeo@uniurb.it
ABSTRACT Tithonium Chasma is the northern trough of the western grabens of Valles Marineris (Mars). In the eastern part of the canyon system an elevated body that displays dome shape morphology is located. According to OMEGA mineralogical data the dome appears to be constituted by magnesium sulphate (kieserite). The main features of the dome have been investigated in detail using HRSC, MOC and THEMIS data. Several of the morphologies characterising the surface of the dome such as gully excavation and lobe-shaped deposits are connected to a slow flowage motion caused by the partial melting of interstitial ice in a periglacial environment or permafrost rich soil. Analysis of the dome surface highlighted some landforms that strongly resemble karst landforms that occur on the Earth. We carried out a comparison of the features displayed by the martian dome with the features of a terrestrial salt diapir located in the area of the Persian Gulf. The results of our study indicate that from the morphological point of view martian and terrestrial domes show noticeable similarities. Considering the different characteristics of the environment between Mars and Earth the similarities displayed in martian and terrestrial domes seem remarkable, and it allows us to suppose that both domes could also be similar from the mineralogical composition point of view. Keywords: Mars, Tithonium Chasma, terrestrial analogues, salts, karst
INTRODUCTION ithin the research for terrestrial sites showing geological and geomorphological similarities with respect to the martian landforms, we tried to understand the nature and origin of some domal hills that rise from the floor at both ends of the Tithonium Chasma (TC), focusing our study particularly on the dome located in the eastern part. The Tithonium Chasma is comprised in the Valles Marineris troughs, a rift system that belongs to the Tharsis radial pattern of fractures (Carr, 1981; Fig. 1). The trough is located near to the martian equator, stretching about 850 km along an E-W direction.
In order to investigate the nature and the origin of the elevated dome in the eastern part of the TC we have performed: (i) a detailed morphological analysis of the surface features, landforms and the morphogenetic processes; (ii) a study of OMEGA data to obtain useful information on the mineralogical characteristics of the outcrop material of the dome; (iii) a comparison with terrestrial analogues. TITHONIUM CHASMA SETTING The Tithonium Chasma cuts through the surrounding plateau of Hesperian age (Scott and Tanaka, 1986) displaying a depth of around 2,600 m relative to the average Martian MOLA radius datum. In the western part it is characterized by a wider opening with greater depths than in the eastern one. From the western side the canyon becomes narrower eastward, forming another chasma-like depression. The western part of the TC forms a linear trough and may be interpreted as graben structure, in which a recent tectonic activity occurred on the northern wall only, while the other parts of the trough show a morphology that seems to be primarily related to erosional processes and secondarily to tectonics (Peulvast et al., 2001). The chasma walls display numerous finger-shaped side canyons created by groundwater sapping and high slope angles (up to 40) indicating that they consist of consolidated material. The TC floor is not smooth but rugged and it also displays areas where its floor is covered with landslide debris or is cracked by movements along the faults, suggesting that the topography was produced by the floor subsidence. On the floor of the TC, spectra taken with the OMEGA spectrometer provide evidence of sulphate minerals
associated with bright interior layered deposits (ILD). These domes, that were previously considered as a geological unit of late Amazonian age (Popa, 2006) and are now proven to bear magnesium sulphate (Birbring et al., 2006), are located at both ends of the TC with the widest exposure in the western part, and have an elongate attitude parallel to the main tectonic lineation (Popa, 2006).
Fig. 1 (A) Location of Tithonium Chasma (TC), Mars (white box). (B) Image of Tithonium Chasma, showing the magnesium sulphate dome (ETD) on the eastern side (white circle). (C) Tectonic sketch of Red Sea Rift, for comparison; black spots represents salt domes, black lines are faults and numbers are Glomar Challenger coreholes (modified after Mulder et al., 1975).
The eastern part of the TC is 150 km wide and over 6 km deep. Its evolution was dominated by geomorphological processes similar to those responsible for the scalloped troughs (Tanaka and Golombek, 1989). Here landslides have enlarged the chasma walls and created hummocky debris deposits on the floor. The trough floor shows impact craters, some sets of lineaments, which might represent tectonic fracture systems, and wind related morphology. At the beginning of the canyon system, next to the rim that joins the opposite chasma walls and represents the northern border of the easternmost depression of the TC (at about latitude 5 S and longitude 280 E), is located a dome that rises from the floor, which is referred to as the East Tithonium Dome (ETD; Fig. 1B) in the following. The term dome is used from the morphological point of view and it is related to the shape of the hill. It does not imply any interpretation about the processes that built the relief.
MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF ETD The ETDs morphological features have been investigated in detail using HRSC, MOC and THEMIS data, while the morphometric characteristics have been measured on a topographic map (50 m contours lines) built using HRSC and MOLA data (Fig. 2). The dome rises from the chasma floor to an altitude of about 3,400 m and shows an elongate, elliptical plane shape. The longest axis displays a NW-SE trend with a length of about 23.5 km, while the widths vary between 10 and 14 km. The crestal region (2,550-2,750 m) lies in the central part of about 7 km long moderate vaulted summit plateau that displays a very gentle slope of about 6%, and is surrounded by steep slope flanks. The dome shows an asymmetric flank topography (Fig. 2), with the western and southern sides that generally have a steeper slope. The main flank slopes range between 8% and 33% and they are quite similar only in the central part of the dome, while they are different in all the other parts. The base borderlines of the dome and its transition to the surrounding chasms floor are not clear on all sides. On the southern, eastern and northern sides the margins of the dome are evident and quite linear, especially on the northern and southern sides, while they are unclear on the north-western, and in particular on the western sides.
Fig. 2 Topographic map of ETD (left; 50 m contours lines) and profile sections (right; vertical exaggeration 2X; distance and elevation are expressed in meters).
Distinct zones of erosion can been seen (Fig. 3), in particular we can observe that the north-western part of the dome displays shallower erosion features than in all the other parts, while the southern part displays heavier erosion features. This variation, that the dome highlights in its morphology which is due to the intensity of erosive processes, seems to be unrelated to a variation of the characteristics of the surface material. In fact the entire dome surface appears to be characterized by the same kind of material represented by kieserite, MgSO4.H2O (Popa, 2006). The differences displayed in the surface may be due to other factors. Observing the
area at the foot of the northwestern side of the dome, a sector covered by debris rock can be seen (Fig. 3C). In the same area we can also observe some ridges which seem to be joined to the dome structure. They appear to belong to the main dome body (Fig. 3A). The transition between the dome and the floor is unclear. These elements allow us to suppose that it is possible that in this part the dome was bigger than that which can now be observed. Its original morphology may have been partially destroyed or modified by one or more, or some episodic, catastrophic, landslide or flood events. The dome flanks are characterized by deep gullies that display a radial system that develops from the margins of the summit plateau (Fig. 3A). The morphology of the gullies seems to show some differences that can be observed especially in the southern part where the dome flanks are heavily eroded. Some parts, as in the southern flank of the dome, display aligned gullies that are characterized by a straight course and with Vshaped walls (Fig. 3B), while other parts display gullies characterized by steep walls at both sides but a larger and shallower bottom. Depositional forms are present at the foot of the slopes, while they seem to be lacking along the dome flanks. Deposits showing a lobate morphology are found at the base of the flanks. At the south-western corner of the dome, fan systems of multiple lobe-shaped deposits can be observed (Fig. 4A1-4B1). At the western side of the dome a deposit that appears to display periglacial rock glacier features (Marchant and Head, 2003) such as, tongue shapes, steep sides and fronts can be seen (Fig. 4C). Solifluction lobes can be observed at the southeastern corner of the dome. These display arcuate-shaped ridges and are thought to be due to very slow movements (Fig. 4A2-4B2).
Fig. 3 (A) HRSC image of the ETD (Mars) showing the north-western area characterized by shallower erosion (A1), the summit plateau (A2) and the ridges which seem to be joined to the dome structure (white arrows). Image taken from ESA Web site http://www.esa.int, ID number: SEMLGXXEM4E. (B) Image of the ETD (Mars) displaying V-shaped gully (B1) in the southern flank (Themis image V15643001). (C) HRSC image of the ETD (Mars) looking north-west showing the area at the foot of the north-western side of the dome covered by debris rock (white arrows). Image taken from ESA Web site http://www.esa.in, ID number: SEM9IXXEM4E.
The features of gully system and of down-slope deposits, that are indicative of a viscous flow, are thought to be connected to a slow flowage motion probably caused by the partial melting of interstitial ice in a periglacial environment, or permafrost rich soil, suggesting that either the material is ice-rich or was so at one time. Tectonic signatures such as lineaments and faults can be observed long the dome (Fig. 5). The dome appears to be cut by three main groups of lineaments with SW-NE, WSW-ENE and N-S directions. Only the northernmost part is characterized by a WNW-ESE trending set of lineaments. The observation of the faults on the flanks dissected by gullies show a correlation between the fault and gully systems, especially in the southern part of the dome. It is also possible to see that apparent strike-slip faulting continued after the gully process ended as in the south-western part of the dome. Here a fault plane that shows typical triangular facets, displays the offset of a gully, showing the strike-slip movement (Fig. 5A).
Fig. 4 (A) HRSC image of the ETD (Mars). (B) HRSC image of the ETD looking north-west. The images show the fan systems of multiple lobe-shaped deposits located at south-western corner of the dome (A1-B1), the arcuate-shaped features (white arrows) located at the southeastern corner (A2-B2) and the rock glacier located at the base of the west side (C). (Images A and B are taken from ESA Web site http://www.esa.int, ID number: SEMLGXXEM4E and SEM9IXXEM4E; C image MOC r0300573c).
KARSTIFICATION The dome surface is characterized by landforms that show features typical of a karst-like morphology. We have chosen to use the term karst-like because the landforms we observed strongly appear to be karst landforms but we are not able to establish clearly the nature of the processes which are involved. We can suppose that probably the melting or sublimation of ice or both, might have driven the processes of solution and, or, collapse on the evaporitic rock just as it happens on the Earth. The development of evaporite karst on Mars is triggered by the melting of frozen groundwater that provided the necessary liquid water for stimulating dissolution processes. It has also been assumed that this process could explain the karst-like topography found in some regions of Mars (Berczi, 2005; Preuschmann et al., 2006).
Fig. 5 (Top) HRSC image of the ETD (Mars) showing the main lineaments, interpreted as faults (white and black arrows highlight the direction and the limits of the lineaments) displayed by the surface. (Bottom) Particular of the southern flank of the dome (white box) showing a fault plane, typical triangular facets and the off set of a gully, highlighting the strike-slip movement. (Image taken from ESA Web site http://www.esa.int, ID number: SEMLGXXEM4E).
Analysis of the surface morphology shows that the closed surface depressions that we have interpreted as dolines and as uvala-like landforms cover a substantial part of the surface. The summit plateau is characterized by doline and uvala depressions of different sizes and show mostly circular, bowl or oval shapes (Fig. 6). Some of these circular depressions are located along linear features that connect the landforms, as in the northwestern margin, and are often positioned to form alignments. On the margins of the plateau, rounded or elliptic depression surfaces break the plain and the slope. On the western side we can observe a large closed depression surface with a down-slope elongate shape, which is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom (Fig. 7C-7D). Along the flanks, collapse-doline landforms of various sizes can be observed (Fig. 7). The depressions are bowl-shaped or with an elongate shape, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, or mostly drop-like shaped
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Fig. 6 Image of ETD (Mars) plateau area, and of karst-like landforms (dolines and uvalas) that characterize the surface. (top left corner) Location of the landforms displayed. (A-D) Isolate doline landforms elliptical-bowl-shaped. (E) Uvala landforms with rounded (up right) and elongate (left) shapes. (F-L) Doline landforms rounded-bowl-shaped. It is also possible to observe some landforms that develop on lineaments (F) (L). (image taken from ESA Web site http://www.esa.int, ID number: SEMLGXXEM4E).
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that strongly resemble those found on the Earth. They are located along the alignments mainly along the slope direction. Western and eastern flanks also display depression surfaces characterized by elongate shape steep side walls and flat floors, while on the southern flank landforms that could be interpreted as giant cleft karren or grikes (White, 1988; Ford and Williams, 2007) can be observed in the central area. Here, the karrens occur on the steeply sloping surface and appear to develop along a set of parallel joints, showing sizes and characteristics that resemble the hydraulic controlled karrenfeld found on the Earth (Ford and Williams, 2007). They might be formed by intense dissolution due to ice melting along fractures, caused by tectonic and/or mechanical processes or evaporate dissolution. Landforms with positive relief interpreted as tower karst landforms (White, 1988; Ford and Williams, 2007) can be seen on the north-western flank (down slope part), on the summit plateau (central part) and on the southern flank (Fig. 7). These structures that rise clearly from the surrounding morphology do not appear to be exotic blocks carried from somewhere else by physical processes. Instead, the structures seem to belong to the surface material, indicating that they could have been formed by the erosive processes that probably built their shape by acting in selective way. The morphologies observed, display circular (Fig. 7L) or square (Fig. 7I) shapes with vertical wall sides and flat summits, or a mushroom-like shape with an almost flat summit and the sides are characterized by hanging rocks (Fig. 7M). These landforms might also be due to the presence of layers with different resistance to erosive processes. Wind erosion might have played a role in their shaping too. Landscape displaying polygonal karst (Williams, 1972; White, 1988; Ford and Williams, 2007) can be observed in the down slope of the south-western part of the dome (Fig. 7N). Here dolines totally pock some parts of the surface, occupying almost all the space. Viewed from the top the landscape resembles an egg-boxlike topography (Ford and Williams, 2007) with the divides between adjoining depressions forming a cellular mesh pattern just as it happens in the evaporite terrains on the Earth (Fig. 7O). On the surface, pits, interpreted as rock-holes (Jennings, 1985; Neuendorf et al., 2005) can also be observed. These rounded, shallow depressions are located in almost every part of the dome and their location and shape seem to be unrelated to the surface slope. Generally they are smaller in size than the other closed depression landforms observed, and show a high density, displaying a field-like distribution as can be observed in particular on the western flank and summit plateau areas. These landforms might represent the result of erosive and corrosive processes of the evaporitic rock on the surface. ETD MINERALOGICAL DATA The mineralogical characteristics of the ETD have been indicated by the OMEGA image spectrometer data that mapped it as a sulphate deposit (OMEGA data orbit 531_3; Birbring et al., 2006). Further studies on the spectral characteristic absorptions for the hydrated magnesium sulphates carried out on the deposits within the TC (Popa, 2006), showed in detail the mineralogical components displayed by the ETD. According to these results the ETD shows clear signatures of kieserite (Mg SO4.H2O) which are intensified on the western side (Popa, 2006; Popa et al., 2007a; Popa et al., 2007b; Popa et al., 2007c). Kieserite can easily be converted to hexahydrite (MgSO4 6H2O) and epsomite (MgSO4 7H2O) when exposed to water and these minerals do not transform back into kieserite (Gendrin et al., 2005). In fact when desiccated hexahydrite and epsomite become amorphous rather than transforming back to kieserite. This indicates that kieserite might not be formed and preserved in deposits that have experienced cycles of hydratation and dissecation (Vaniman et al., 2004). Recent research has also shown that kieserite can hydrate to polyhydrated sulphate under current Martian conditions with 100% relative humidity and is not expected to be stable anywhere water ice is present (Roach et al., 2008). Once crystallized kieserite is more resilient than other Mg sulphate hydrates, thus it can remain metastable for long periods in the dry, cold, martian regolith (Papike et al., 2007).
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Fig. 7 Karst-like landforms located along the flanks of the ETD. (top left corner) Location of the landforms displayed. (A) Drop-like shaped doline. (B) Bowl shaped doline elongate down slope. (C) Closed depression with a down-slope elongate shape, which is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom at the western margin of the summit plateau. (D) Closed depression with a down-slope elongate shape at the northeastern margin of the summit plateau (E) Bowl shaped doline. (F) Two closed depressions aligned and connected forming an uvala landform. (G) Drop-like shaped doline. (H) Irregular elongate down slope doline. (I) Tower karst landform square-shaped with vertical sides and flat summit. (L) Tower karst landform oval-shaped with vertical walls and flat summit. (M) Tower karst landform displaying mushroom-like morphology with flat elliptical summit. (N) Polygonal karst in the down slope area in the south-western part of the ETD formed by doline depressions (white circle). (O) Aerial view of poligonal karst landscape on Treskavica Mountain, Herzegovina, (Earth), (modified by Ford and Williams, 2007). (Images A, B, C, D, I, L, M, N, are taken by HRSC image ID number: SEMLGXXEM4E available on the ESA Web site http://www.esa.int; images E, F, G, H, are taken from Mars Orbiter Camera image ID: e16-02173, available on the Malin Space Science System Mars Orbiter Camera Images Gallery web site (http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/e13_e18/images/E16/E1602173.html).
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On Mars kieserite cannot be formed from the direct dehydration of epsomite or hexahydrite (Freeman et al., 2007). On the Earth kieserite cannot be produced directly from solution and it is a typical alteration mineral of salt beds and can also be secondary after carnallite and kainite (Sonnefeld, 1984). The high solubility and reactivity of most evaporite minerals and the frequent occurrence of metastable primary phases, however, commonly permits extensive alterations to occur at a very early stage in their post-depositional history. The salts that on the Earth alter to form kieserite can be carnallite, kainite and langbeinite. Diagenetic changes of these salts can also produce sylvite, halite and, due to dehydration processes, water. If the ETD was totally constituted by kieserite, the part on the surface that was exposed to water (as witnessed by the observed landforms) had to convert to hexahydrite or epsomite. OMEGA data does not provide any sign of hexahydrite or epsomite on the surface of the ETD and it is improbable that they were totally removed by erosion. For these reasons we suppose that the ETD cannot be constituted entirely by kieserite alone, but quite probably it is constituted mainly by salts such as carnallite, kainite and halite (a mineral without spectral signatures that might be present in the dome). We presume that the kieserite displayed on the surface does not represent the main dome material, but could only be the result of surface alteration processes of the subsurface material. It could be represented by the same salts that on the Earth alter to kieserite. This is probably due to environmental changes (melting of water from interstitial ice, climatic variations) and/or physical characteristics. SALT DOMES AS TERRESTRIAL ANALOGUES OF ETD Mineralogical characteristics of the ETD induced us to select as terrestrial analogue Earth salt domes. An area that presents many examples of well preserved salt domes is represented by the Persian Gulf. Here about 120 salt domes of the Hormoz Complex are located close to the coast within the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Kent, 1958; Gansser, 1960; Trusheim, 1974; Bosak et al., 1993). The Hormoz Complex area belongs to the eastern Zagros fold belt system that is composed of huge, elongated whale back or box-shaped anticlinal folds, penetrated by salt domes (or plugs). The structures generally trend in the NW-SE direction. Besides gently dipping overthrusts, folds are also dissected by sub-vertical normal and wrench faults. From the morphological point of view the Zagros Mountains are the classic example of a morphostructural fold style with breached antiform and synform valleys. The fold belt is cut by the NNW-SSE lineaments, normally associated with salt domes. Most of the domes are located on faults or plunges of folds (Kent, 1958) and their position is strongly influenced, and/or predisposed, by basement tectonics (Bosak et al., 1998). In particular, in the study area the salt domes occur in or between anticlinal structures. We focused our analysis on a salt diapir located in the Chiru Peninsula (2647' N, 5355' E) that is known as the Chiru salt diapir (Bosak et al., 1998; Bosak et al., 1999) and can serve as an excellent terrestrial analogue to the ETD. The morphological features of the Chiru salt diapir (below referred to as CSD) have been investigated using available images on Google Earth, and available images on the web site of Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov). The Hormoz Complex region is eminently suitable for satellite image analysis because of its low vegetation coverage and well exposed outcrops in an arid climate. Therefore, structures and landforms are not obscured by vegetation and the morphological features can be seen in great detail. The analysis of the images has been integrated with the study of the previous existing works and field data published by various authors (Harrison, 1931; Player, 1965; Kent, 1979; Poosty, 1985; Talbot and Alavi, 1996; Bosak et al., 1998; Bosak et al., 1999). The CSD rises from sea level to an altitude of about 700 m showing an elongate, elliptical plane shape (Fig. 8). The longest axis displays a NNW-SSE elongate trend with a length of about 13 km, while the width varies between 5 and 10 km. The crestal region (689 to 700 m a.s.l.) lies in the central part of the 4 km long vaulted summit plateau that displays a gentle slope of about 5.5%. The base borderlines of the dome and the transition of the main body to the surrounding morphology are evident. The margins are quite linear on the northern,
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western and north-eastern sides, while in the southern and south-eastern ones they are more rounded and less clear. The dome is characterized by a rugged morphology and a typical periclinal network (Bosak et al., 1998) that slopes downwards, parallel to the surface in all directions from the crestal area. It is heavily gullied, displaying a radial gully system that develops from the margins of the summit plateau. Most of the valleys are V-shaped with steep walls and are aligned particularly on the eastern and western flanks where some gullies, interpreted as cleft karren, can be observed (Fig. 8C1). This kind of karren also called grike is solutionally widened and develops along joints. Deposits with lobate morphology interpreted as salt glaciers can be observed along the flanks and at the foot of the slopes. The northern and southern parts of the dome are characterized by salt glacier. The transition of the dome center to the glaciers is gradual, while the transition to the margins is rapid (Bosak et al., 1998). In particular, on the southern side of the dome before the alluvial fans, that are evident in the foreland of the dome, tongue shaped bodies can be observed (Fig. 8B). Their morphology is characterized by repeated transverse or bow-shaped ridges with furrow-like depressions produced by the removal of material and steep sides and fronts. Tectonic signatures such as lineaments that cut the dome can be observed. The surface is characterized by three very distinct sets of main lineaments with NNW-SSE, NNE-SSW and WSW-ENE directions (Bosak et al., 1998). At the eastern, northern and north-western flank bases it is possible to recognize peripheral faults that border the dome. In its central part the dome is cut by two main lineaments with a WSW-ENE direction that also seem to continue in the adjacent structures (Bosak et al., 1999). As observed on the ETD, surface karstification of the CSD is evident. On the greater part of the dome surface karst landforms such as, doline and uvala depressions represent a distinct part of the surface morphology, covering a substantial part of the dome surface. Generally on the summit plateau, karst landforms display circular or ovate shape, while on the flanks they show mostly an elongated (wide top and narrow bottom) to irregular bowl, or drop-like shape (Fig. 8). In particular, rock-holes are the landforms which are mostly found on the entire surface, showing areas characterized by such a high density that displays typical field distribution. Rounded or elliptic surface depressions that break the plane and their slopes, which can be interpreted as numerous large uvala elongate depressions (Bosak et al., 1998) or as caprock-protected dolines that developed at the margin of plateau, can be found both surrounding the summit plateau and also along the flanks (Fig. 8). CONCLUSIONS The morphological comparison points out similarities between the ETD and CSD, concerning both the morphological features of the dome structures and surface landforms. Both domes display an elliptical summit plateau with similar slopes, and are characterized by an elongateelliptic plane shape, showing some remarkable resemblance to the borderline-shapes as can be observed in the northern parts (Fig. 9A-9B). The domes also show some morphometric similarities such as the ratio between the longest axis and the average width (ETD 1.958, CSD 1,928) and the ratio between the longest axis and the length of the summit plateau (ETD 3.357, CSD 3,343). From the morphological point of view, surface landforms found in the ETD show strong similarities with the CSD displaying features that deeply resemble solution or collapse terrestrial landforms. Both dome surfaces are characterized by karstification processes showing landforms such as dolines, uvalas and rock-holes, with similarity in shapes and distribution (Fig. 9). The analogies displayed in the ETD and CSD are remarkable if we consider the different characteristics of the environment between Mars and Earth (the atmosphere on Mars is thinner, colder and drier than on the Earth and gravity is about one-third). It allows us to suppose that the domes could be characterized by an analogue mineralogical composition represented mainly by salt.
In addition, we note a remarkable similarity of tectonic setting between TC graben and terrestrial rift troughs as for instance the Red Sea Rift (Mulder et al., 1975; Fig. 1c). In our opinion the Red Sea Rift
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could represent an interesting terrestrial analogue to study and understand the origin and evolution of the TC evaporite deposits.
Fig. 8 (A) Satellite image of CSD (Iran). (B) Satellite image of the southern half part of the CSD, showing tongue shaped bodies interpreted as salt glaciers. (B1) Particular of the southern half part of the CSD surface (white box in Fig. B) where karst morphologies such as dolines and uvalas (white arrows) can be seen. (Images courtesy of Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center., http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov, Frame ISS014-E-20507). (C) Aerial image of the salt dome showing the morphology and the landform features of the summit plateau and the southeastern upper part of the CSD. (C1) Particular of the aerial image of the northern part of the summit plateau and upper flank. It is possible to observe a rounded doline depression (white arrow), elongate and narrowed doline depressions (black arrows) and cleft karren (white discontinuous arrows). (C2) Particular of the aerial image of the southern part of the summit plateau showing doline depressions. (Image available on the Majid Mirkazemian web site, http://flickr.com/photos/mirkazemian/190680275). (D) Image of a salt dome flank, where karst landforms elongate and drop-like shaped can be seen along the surface. (D1) Collapse dolines bowl shaped (up) and elongate shaped (down) in the salt dome flank. (D2) Collapse dolines drop-like shaped in the salt dome flank. (Image courtesy of National Geoscience Database of Iran Photo Gallery, http://ngdir.ir/PhotoGallery).
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Fig. 9 ETD morphology and landforms (left) that resemble features found in CSD (right). (A) Shape and borderlines features of ETD (northern part). (B) Shape and borderlines features of the CSD (northern part). (Image available on the Google Earth web site http://earth.google.com). (C) Elongate depressions (wide top and narrow bottom) kite-shaped in the side of the ETD. (D) Elongate depressions (wide top and narrow bottom) kite-shaped in the CSD flank. (E) Droplike shaped landform on the western flank of the ETD. (F) Drop-like shaped landform of terrestrial salt dome. (G) (H) Drop-like shaped dolines located on the southern flank of the ETD. (I) Drop-like shaped dolines located on the flank of CSD.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research has been supported by the project PRIN 2006 (study of Mars evaporites, local responsible Forese Carlo Wezel). We thank the reviewers for their constructive comments that greatly helped to improve the paper. REFERENCES
Berczi, S., 2005. Possibility of karst morphology on the martian surface at the Meridiani Landing site from comparison with terrestrial analogos. XXXVI Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Paper no. 1051. Birbring, J.P., Langevin, Y., Mustard, J.F., Poulet, F., Arvidson, R., Gendrin, A., Gondet, B., Mangold, N., Pinet, P., Forget, F. and The Omega Team, 2006. Global Mineralogical and Aqueous Mars History Derived from OMEGA/Mars Express Data. Science, v. 312, p. 400-404. Bosak, P., Spudil, J., Sulovky, P. and Vaclavek, V., 1993. Regional Geological Reconnaissance of Salt Plugs in the eastern Zagros. Final Report, MS, GMS, 1-190+1-254, Praha. Bosak, P., Jaro, J., Spudil, J., Sulovksky, P. and Vaclavek, V., 1998. Salt Plugs in the Eastern Zagros, Iran: Results of Regional Geological Reconnaissance. GeoLines, v. 7, p. 1-174. Inst. Geol. Acad. Sci. Cz. Rep. Praha. Bosak, P., Bruthans, J., Filippi, M., Svobod, T. and Smid, J., 1999. Karst and caves in salt Diapirs, SE Zagros Mts. (Iran). Acta Carsologica, v. 28, p. 41-75, Ljubljana. Carr, M.H., 1981. The Surface of Mars. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 232p. Ford, D. and Williams, 2007. Karst Hydrogeology and Geomorphology. Wiley & Sons Ltd, West Sussex, England, 562p. Freeman, J.J., Wang, A. and Jolliff, B.L., 2007. Pathways to form kieserite from epsomite at mid to low temperatures, with relevance to Mars. XXXVIII Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Paper no. 1534. Gansser, A., 1960. ber Schlammvulkane und Salzdome. Vjrschr Naturforsch. Gesel. Zrich, v. 105, p. 1-46. Gendrin, A., Mangold, N., Bibring, J.P., Langevin, Y., Gondet, B., Poulet, F., Bonello, G., Quantin, C., Mustard, J., Arvidson, R. and Lemouelics, S., 2005. Sulfates in Martian Layered Terrains: The OMEGA/Mars Express View. Science, v. 307, p. 1587-1590. Harrison, J.V., 1931. Salt domes in Persia. Jour. Inst. Petrol. Technol., v. 17, p. 300-320. Kente, P.E., 1958. Recent studies of south Persian salt plugs. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., v. 42, p. 2951-2979. Kent, P.E., 1979. The emergent Hormuz salt plugs of southern Iran. J. Petrol. Geol., v. 2, p. 117-144. Jennings, J.N., 1985. Cave and Karst Terminology. In: Matthews, P.G., Eds., Australian Karst Index. Australian Speleological Federation Inc, Melbourne, p. 14-1 to 14-13. Marchant, D.D. and Head, J.W., 2003. Tongue-shaped lobes on Mars: Morphology, nomenclature and relation to rock glacier deposits. Sixth International Conference on Mars, Paper no. 3091. Mulder, C.J., Lehner, P. and Allen, D.C.K., 1975. Structural evolution of the Neogene salt basins in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Geol. Mijnbouw, v. 54, p. 208-221. Neuendorf, K.K.E., Mehl, J.P. and Jackson, J.A., 2005. Glossary of Geology. American Geological Institute, Alexandria, Virginia. Papike, J.J., Burger, P.V., Karner, J.M. and Shearer, C.K., 2007. Mars surface mineralogy: Implications of kieserite group 2+ 2+ crystal chemistry (Mg, Fe , Mn , Zn, Ni, Co). Seventh International Conference on Mars, Paper no. 3004. Peulvast, J.P., Mege, D., Chiciak, J., Costard, F. and Massons, P.L., 2001. Morphology, evolution and tectonics of Valles Marineris wallslopes Mars. Geomorphology, v. 37, p. 329-352. Player, R.A., 1965. The salt plugs of southern Iran. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., v. 49, Pt. 1, p. 356 (abs). Popa, C.I., 2006. Spectral analysis of Martian evaporite environments and implications to geological processes. Ph.D Thesis, G. DAnnunzio University, Chieti-Pescara. Popa, C.I., Esposito, F., Ori, G.G., Marinangeli, L. and Colangeli, L., 2007a. Tithonuim chasma domes: a result of salt diapirism by means of thin-skinned extension? XXXVIII Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Paper no. 1848. Popa, C.I., Esposito, F., Ori, G.G. and Colangeli, L., 2007b. Tithonium Chasma salt bearing outcrops, stratigraphic Markers for Martian water span. European Mars Science and Exploration Conference: Mars Express & ExoMars, ESTEC, Noordwijk, the Nederland. Popa, C.I., Esposito, F., Ori, G.G. and Colangeli, L., 2007c. Tithonium Chasma sulfate bearing deposits as a result of nd pre-rift aqueous activity. Exploring Mars and its Earth Analogues, 2 International Workshop, Trento, Italy. Poosty, A.A., 1985. Description of salt domes of Zagros area. MS, AEOI Internal Rep. no. 170. Tehran. Preuschmann, S., Benkert, D., Wagner, R., Neukum, G. and The HRSC Co-investigator-Team, 2006. Karst-like topography within the Ganges Chasma Region. Geophysical Research Abstract, v. 8, p. 983. Roach, L.H., Mustard, J.F., Murchie, S.L., Bibring, J-P., Arvidson, R.E., Bishop, J.L., Milliken, R.E, Seelos, F. and The CRISM Science Team, 2008. Constraints on the rate of sulfate phase changes in Valles Marineris Interior Layered Deposits. XXXIX Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Paper no. 1823.
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Scott, D.H. and Tanaka, K.L., 1986. Geological Map of the Western Equatorial Region of Mars, scale 1:15,000,000. U.S.G.S. Misc. Inv. Ser. Map I-1802-A. Sonnenfeld, P., 1984. Brines and Evaporites. Academic Press, London, 613p. Talbot, C.J. and Alavi, M., 1996. The past of a future Syntaxis across the Zagros. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, v. 100, p. 89-109. Tanaka, K.L. and Golombek, M.P., 1989. Martian tension fractures and the formation of grabens and collapse features at Valles Marineris. Proc. 19th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, p. 383-396. Trusheim, T., 1974. Zur Tektogenese der Zagros-Ketten Sd-Irans. Z. Dtsch. Geol. Ges., v. 125, p. 119-150. Vaniman, D.T., Bish, D.L., Chipera, S.J., Fialips, C.I., Carey, J.W. and Feldman, W.C., 2004. Magnesium sulfate salts and the history of water on Mars. Letters to Nature, p. 663-665. Williams, P.W., 1972. Morphometric analysis of polygonal karst in New Guinea. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 83, p. 761-796. White, W.B., 1988. Geomorphology and Hydrology of Karst Terrain. Oxford University Press, New York, 469p.
Editors note: This paper was reproduced from Bollettino della Societa Geologica Italiana (Italian Journal of Geosciences), v. 127, no. 3, p. 453-465, October, 2008, Roma with permission by the authors and the publisher.
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SOME PARADOXES OF PLATE-TECTONIC PALAEOGEODYNAMIC MODELS AND RECONSTRUCTIONS (RUSSIAN SOUTHEAST)

Alexander A. GAVRILOV V. I. Ilichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Vladivostok, Russia gavrilov@poi.dvo.ru
ABSTRACT Analysis of regional geological data for the southern part of the Russian Far East reveals many contradictions with platetectonic geodynamic models and reconstructions. Ideas about intensive horizontal displacements (from few hundreds to 1,600 kilometers) of lithospheric plates and separate blocks (terranes) in the region, related to the paleostructural elements of the Earth's crust, are in conflict with the data on the existence of a stable regional network or pattern of magmacontrolling deep faults, on the prolonged endogenous activity of separate tectono-magmatic rises and median massifs, formed (with interruptions) during hundreds of millions years, and on the significant duration (tens of millions of years) of the development of ore-magmatic systems. Within the framework of the proposed paleogeodynamic models, the domination of vertical tectonic motions in the Late Cenozoic, the stability of Late Permian volcano-tectonic structures at the Khanka Massif margin and the presence of fragments of the weakly dislocated platform layers (Mesozoic structural layer) against the background of the supposed active collision processes in the Mesozoic, and other facts cannot be explained. The point of view of specialists who consider that the maximum amplitude of horizontal displacements in zones of regional shear-faults during the Mesozoic-Cenozoic does not exceed 150-200 km, is more adequate. Keywords: Southern part of the Russian Far East, plate tectonics, reconstruction, vertical motions, magmatic center, deep fault, ore-magmatic system.
INTRODUCTION he principal features of the geological structure of the Russian Southeast are connected with the existence of ancient median massifs, areas of Late Paleozoic (Hercynian) tectogenesis, Mongol-Okhotsk and Sikhote-Alin Mesozoic orogenic belts, Cenozoic basins and areas of Late Cenozoic basaltoids (Fig. 1). Present-day geodynamic reconstructions, based on neomobilist ideas, postulate the high intensity of tectonic motions and large-scale (many hundreds to thousands of kilometers) displacements of lithosphere plates and separate blocks in the Russian Far East (RFE). According to plate-tectonic models, allegedly based on paleomagnetic, paleogeographic and geological data, it is claimed for example that the Sergeevsky massif in the southern Primorye (south of Vladivostok, Fig. 1; considered earlier as a fragment of the Khanka Precambrian massif) only reached its present position in the Early Cretaceous. During the Valanginian-Albian it moved along the sinistral shear-fault system from south to north over a distance of more than 1,600 km. At the end of the Jurassic, the mid-oceanic ridge supposedly subducted under the eastern continental margin of Asia. The terranes of the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous accretionary prism moved northward over a distance of approximately 1,000 km and were then joined at the continental margin during the Albian epoch. In this case, it is emphasized that the continental crust of Sikhote-Alin has formed in a relatively short time (Middle Jurassic - Albian) of about 60 Ma (Khanchuk, 2001; Kemkin, 2006; and others). The Anyuysky microcontinent (block) was disconnected with the Amurian palaeocontinent (Natalin, 1991). The problems with the structures, tectonic and geodynamic inconsistencies and numerous discrepancies in the interpretation of planetary and regional geological data in neomobilist constructions were earlier examined in the papers by Belousov (1976), Rezanov (1985), Vlasov (1989) and other researchers. Within the framework of this short article, the author would like to concentrate on some obvious facts and contradictions which are not explained in the regional plate-tectonic reconstructions.
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Figure 1
Tectonic scheme of the Russian Southeast (from Krasny et al., 1986). Study areas: 1 - Mamynsky, 2 - Komsomolsky, 3 - Sergeevsky.
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1.
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT
Horizontal tectonic motions prevail in many paleogeodynamic plate models of the RFE territory (Natalin, 1991; Khanchuk, 2001; Kemkin, 2006). In their models, with rare exceptions, the role of vertical components and their interrelations with horizontal displacements are in essence ignored. However, the entire history of the geological development of the eastern Eurasia margins including the neotectonic stage (Late Cenozoic) which formed marginal sea basins and intermountain basins unambiguously point to a different scenario. Their sediments are characterized by the total lack of collision dislocations. Note that the thickness of the sediment layer in the Japan Sea basin (with a maximum depth of 3,700 m) reaches 2,500 m while sedimentary lenses 10,000 m or more thick in the Okhotsk Sea are not uncommon, and the thickness of sediments in the Yellow Sea is more than 8,000 m (Udintsev, 2003). According to data from the repeated leveling carried out in three stages (1901-1915, 1936-1943, 1963-1971) along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Achinsk town to Vladivostok, the present-day vertical motions of the Earth's crust are intensive and differentiated in time and space. For the period 1901-1943, descending motions with a speed of up to 50 mm per year and amplitude of 900 mm have prevailed while, for the period of 1943 to 1971, ascending motions with a speed of 13 mm per year and an amplitude of up to 350 mm were observed. The change in directions and intensity of tectonic motions reflects their wave-like, oscillatory nature (Tuezov and Zolotarskaya, 1987). Epeirogenetic movements and wave processes in the lithosphere are widely known. They are confirmed by numerous data on the rhythm and cyclicity of sediment formation and magmatism within the region. 2. VERTICAL TECTONIC MOVEMENT The speed of vertical motions is 13 mm a year on average and the stability of development trends suggests that the formation of a mountain with a height of up to 2 km (characteristic heights of the RFE ridges) takes about 150,000 years even under conditions where an ever larger layer is removed by erosion. In accordance with these data, the age of mountains in the region may be, from the standpoint of tectonics, very young. The correlation of morphology and heights of mountain ranges in the RFE with intrusive dislocations of the Late Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic granitoids is well known (Lishnevsky, 1965; Khudyakov, 1977). Geophysical data proving the deep roots of the mountain ranges in the region have been repeatedly published (Romanovsky, 1999, and others). The formation of hundreds of thousands of cubic kilometers of effusive and intrusive rocks with a semibasic and acid (felsic) composition, the regional rise of territory due to the overcompensated accumulation of volcanic rocks, and other geological and geomorphological data indicate that Late Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic magmatism has played a part in the creation of the regional mountains. The data on the deep nature of orogenic processes and their connection with the transregional magmacontrolling faults which are responsible for the Late Cretaceous continental margin orogenesis, the formation of the East Asian volcano-plutonic belts and other events are in poor agreement with the terrane collisionaccretion models, chaotic orogenesis and subduction magmatism. Contradictions exist between the high speeds of present vertical tectonic motions and the stability of the regional structural plan for a period of 70 Ma, which can only be explained by the periodic change in the direction of tectonic motions and, less probably, by an abrupt change in their intensity during the Pleistocene-Holocene. 3. ANTIQUITY AND DEEP ROOT OF TECTONIC PROCESSES There is no reason to consider the Late Cenozoic as a special and exceptional stage in the geological development of the territory. Moreover, it is indisputable that periods of the active manifestation of riftogenicdestructive processes were repeated earlier in the history of the region. There is a sufficient number of
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structural, magmatic and metallogenic signs of riftogenic processes which manifested in East Asia in the Late Archean (Sukhov, 2000, for example). The ideas on the relationship of the geosynclinal process with the riftogenic transformations of the Earth's crust deserve attention. In this case, besides the linear types of geosynclinal troughs and basins of a riftogenic nature, there are oval concentric-zonal types of geosynclines (Saytsev, 1984); present-day analogs are the marginal sea basins of East Asia, the basins of the Mexican Gulf and Caspian Sea, and other isometric depressions. The available geological-geophysical data suggest that deep tectogenesis occurs at the center of the concentric structures, with the active participation of mantle diapirs or plumes. The antiquity and deep root of tectogenesis do not support the regional plate-tectonic models. 4. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT Another puzzle in plate-tectonic reconstruction is how to solve the problem of geological space when considering large-scale horizontal movements. It is obvious that the transition zone between the Eurasian, North American and Pacific Ocean mega-plates develops as a united buffer geodynamic system. During the shear-faulting, displacement or relative rotation of mega-plates, the entire network of faults and blocks in transition zones is transformed as a single entity. Therefore, the independent motions of separate blocks or terranes (Sergeev terrane for example) over distances of thousand kilometers outside the general ensemble of transition zone structures (Khanchuk, 2001; Kemkin, 2006) are entirely hypothetical. It is unlikely that separate terrane displacements can be reconstructed without an analysis of the tectonic transformations of adjacent regions and without taking into account the hierarchy of tectonic motions and factors (planetary, regional and local). It is impossible to deny the presence of horizontal motions of blocks and shear-fault and overthrust deformations. However, the scales of displacements should be evaluated on the basis of concrete geological evidence. The amplitudes of maximum displacement of 150-200 km are found only in zones of separate regional shear faults (Central-Sikhote-Alin fault) (Utkin, 1989). Within the zones of many other regional faults, they do not exceed some tens of kilometers and do not exceed the limits of several hundred meters when forming local faults (Gavrilov, 2002). The assumed sinistral shear-fault displacements of regional blocks along the faults which are parallel to the Pacific margins during the Mesozoic-Cenozoic are no more than 10 percent of the total length of fold-orogenic and volcanic belts of the RFE, which is far less than the platetectonic reconstructions. The same care is necessary in relation to the tectonic interpretation of the special features of the localization of olistolithes and olistostromes, which can often be gravitational in nature. Due to the high degree of forest and grass cover of the territory, the majority of geological exposures in the RFE are confined to the river valley beds on sea coasts. At present, the majority of river valleys are confined to the fault zones, and the coastlines in the region are tectonically controlled. Thus, the vast majority of sections used as the basis for plate-tectonic models and geodynamic reconstructions are located in the fault zones in various hierarchies. This probably created the erroneous impression that a general, large-scale dislocation of rocks exists, and led to the extrapolation of groundless large-scale horizontal motions.
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Figure 2
Fault pattern of South Primorye.
5. LINEAR STRUCTURES AND DEEP FAULTS Many researchers (Radkevich, 1977; Kosygin, 1983; Krasny et al., 1986; and others) have noted the existence of an ordered spatial-hierarchical network or pattern of fracture dislocations which determine the common macro- and microblock structure of the transition zone between Eurasia and the Pacific Ocean, the linearity and boundaries of the regional elements of the structural plan (continental margin orogens, volcano-plutonic belts, deep-water trenches, island arcs etc.). The presence of deep, long-lived faults contradicts the idea of large-scale and chaotic displacements of terranes in East Asia. Many transregional and planetary lineaments can be considered as tectonic markers since they intersect different and uneven-aged structures and provide information on their relative displacements. Some fragments of regional faults, which have been found to be principal features of the South Primorye structural plan are shown in Fig. 2. The investigations conducted by the author (Gavrilov, 2002) confirm the disjunctive nature of the boundaries of the East Asian marginal sea basins which are isolated depression-block morphostructures with a specific mode of development. It seems that their formation is related to the combined action of tension, expansion or dilatation processes within regional shear faults, rifting and mantle diapirism where the deep structural-substantial transformations of the Earth's crust are of decisive importance. The integrity of the framework fault systems during the active manifestation of deep injective tectogenesis processes suggests that the Late Cenozoic mantle diapirs utilized the network of the magma-controlling channels developed in the transition zone lithosphere, which resulted in the dominant vertical displacements with relatively small-scale horizontal motions.
24
6. SATELITE GEODETIC DATA At first sight, the appearance of satellite geodesy data (SLR, DORIS, GPS etc.) (Peltzer, Saucier, 1996; Heki et al., 1999; and others) (Fig. 3) has unambiguously solved the principal tectonic problem in favor of mobilism, and plate tectonics has been further substantiated. In reality, however, the situation remains indeterminate. The observations are obviously too short-term to carry decisive weight. Instrumental observations in the geodynamic testing areas of Sakhalin, the Kurile Islands and Kamchatka (Tsakharov et al., 1982) indicate that the recorded motions of plates and separate blocks can be of a reciprocating or oscillatory nature, reflecting alternations in the directions of the stress field vectors and periodical changes in the compression-extension modes in the upper parts of the lithosphere, connected primarily with rotary factors (Gavrilov et al., 2005).
Figure 3
Velocities of Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements with respect to EU and their 1 error ellipses (Heki et al., 1999)
25
7. PLATFORM COVERS As for conditions of bedding and the relationship with the underlying formations, the Mesozoic stratified rock masses (Triassic-Early Cretaceous) located at the margins of the Khanka Massif (Fig. 1), within the LaoelinGrodekovskaya Epihercynian areas, form a clearly defined, weakly dislocated structural stage as seen in platform cover in the Putyatin (Fig. 4), Askold and Russky (Fig. 5) Islands and on the west coast of Amur Bay, and the east coast of Ussuriysky Bay (Fig. 6). The sequence of formational series of layered Mesozoic rocks of the northern Sikhote-Alin (Kaydalov, 2003) also does not correspond to the models for the formation of accretionary prisms and terrane tectonics.
Figure 4
Section of the Late Permian (folded and faulted) and Early Triassic (horizontal attitude) series on Putyatin Island. For locality see Fig. 2.
Figure 5
Section of the Early Triassic rock mass on Russky Island. For locality see Fig. 2.
26
Figure 6
Early Cretaceous rock mass on the east coast of Ussuriysky Bay. See Fig. 2 for locality.
Figure 7 Mamyn ring system of tectonic-magmatic rises (from Krasny et al., 1986 with interpretation by the author). 1 Archean complex, 2 Archean granitoids, 3 Late Proterozoic complex, 4 Late Proterozoic gabbro, 5 Late Proterozoic granitoids, 6 Early-Middle Devonian complex, 7 granites of Late Paleozoic age, 8 Late Paleozoic gabbro-diorites, 9 granites of Early Triassic age, 10 Jurassic complex, 11 Early Cretaceous granodiorites, 12 Early Cretaceous igneous rocks, 13 cover of loose rocks, 14 - geological borders, 15 faults, 16 radial faults of tectonic-magmatic rises, 17 geomorphologic-geological borders, connected with arc fault zones. For locality of the figure see Fig. 1.
27
8. REPEATED MAGMATIC ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE PHANEROZOIC Against the background of the postulated active displacements of plates and terranes during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic, the presence of the fixed centers of endogenous (magmatic) activity is paradoxical. The Bureinskiy median massif is very revealing in this respect as, within its limits, magmatic activity occurred during the Late Archean, Early Proterozoic, Early and Late Paleozoic, Early Triassic, and Early and Late Cretaceous. Moreover, the Kuldurskiy geothermal field is still located here today. Tectono-magmatic domes are also identified at the eastern margin of the Khanka Massif where the granitoid intrusions of Early Proterozoic, Late Silurian, Late Permian and Early Cretaceous ages are spatially conjugate. In the Gonzhinsky and Mamynsky (Fig. 7) tectono-magmatic domes of the central type are located at the northern margins of the Amur -Zeya plate, where the bodies of Late Archean, Early Proterozoic, Late Paleozoic and Early Cretaceous magmatic rocks of different composition are concentrated. The local Kondersky magmatic center where three stages of endogenous activity (Late Riphean, Late Carboniferous-Permian-Triassic, and Early Cretaceous) were established (Karetnikov, 2006) is characterized by a wide chronological range and heterogeneous development. The numerous investigations (Shcheglov and Govorov, 1985; Rodionov, 2005; and others) allow us to state that the period of the active development of the Late MesozoicEarly Cenozoic ore-magmatic systems in Sikhote-Alin is, as a rule, several tens of millions of years. For example, according to the data from isotopic dating of igneous and metasomati rocks, the period of intense formation of the Kavalerovsky ore field magmatic systems lasted approximately 80 Ma (from the Albian to the Oligocene), in the Badzhalsky ore field, this period is 60 Ma, within Komsomolsky ore field it is more than 30 Ma while the Mnogovershinnoe deposits formed more than 40 Ma and so on. Similar data on the prolonged formation of the intrusive complexes in the tin ore areas were obtained for Khinganskaya, Kolymskaya and other provinces of the Far East. The total duration of the functioning of the potentially tin-bearing ore-magmatic systems in East Asian territory covers a period from the end of the Triassic to the Oligocene, i.e. more than 200 Ma (Fig. 8). The clearly defined peak of the intensity of tin-deposit formation processes falls in the period of 96-63 Ma (Rodionov, 2005).
Figure 8
Age of tin deposits and associated magmatic rocks in Eastern Russia (Rodionov, 2005).
28
Not only the tectono-magmatic rises as stated above, but also the long, continuous development of sedimentary basins is seen in the East Asian region. In the riftogenic hydrocarbon-rich Songliao basin, sediment accumulation continued (with some interruptions) from Middle Jurassic to Cenozoic. There the thickness of sedimentary cover exceeds 10 km, and, according to seismic, gravimetric and other data, the presence of reduced thickness of the Earth's crust and protrusion of asthenospheric layer are noted (Karsakov et al., 2005). The similar regional riftogenic structures with prolonged development (from the Mesozoic to the present day) have been confirmed in the Udsko-Zeyskaya, Amur-Zeyskaya, UdylKizinskaya, Razdolninskaya and other basins; their sedimentary covers do not bear the tracks of the proclaimed active collision processes during the Late Mesozoic-Early Cenozoic. It is obvious that the above and other contradictions and discrepancies between empirical data and theoretical premises reject the application of plate-tectonic models when searching for and forecasting endogenous mineralization in the region.
REFERENCES Belousov, V.V., 1976. Geotectonics. MGU, 334p (in Russian). Gavrilov, A.A., 2002. Faults systems of Japan and Okhotsk sea regions. Comparative analysis by geological and remote sensing data. Proceedings of the 6th Pan Ocean Remote Sensing Conference (PORSEC, 2002), Bali, 3-6, September, p. 140-144. Gavrilov, A.A., Kolomiets, A.G., Shestakov, N.V., Gerasimenko, M.D., Kasahara, M. and Kato, T., 2005. Last processing Results of the GPS measurement in Primorsky Krai and morphotectonic zoning of the East Eurasia. Regularities of the Structure and Evolution of Geospheres VII. Proceedings of VII International Interdiscip. Symposium and Intern. Geoscience Programme (IGCP-476). Vladivostok, p. 103-109. Heki, K., Miyazaki, S., Takahashi, H. et al., 1999 The Amurian plate motions and current plate kinematics in eastern Asia. Jour. Geophys. Res., v. 104, no. B12. P 29,147-29,155. Kaidalov, V.A., 2003. General regularities of the structure of Mesozoic sediments sections of the Lower Priamurye and the North Sikhote-Alin. Tectonics, deep structure and geodynamics of East Asia. Khabarovsk, p. 17-30 (in Russian). Karetnikov, A.S., 2006. About the new conception of massif Konder formation. Tectonics, deep structure and geology of mineral deposits of the East Asia. Khabarovsk, p. 154-158 (in Russian). Karsakov, I.P., Zhao, C., Malyshev, Yu.F. and Goroshko, M.V. [Ch. Eds.], 2005. Tectonics, deep structure, metallogeny of the Central Asian-Pacific belt junction areas. Tectonic map, scale 1:1,500,000 with explanatory text, 264p., Vladivostok-Khabarovsk, FEB RAS. Kemkin, I.V., 2006. Geodynamic evolution of the Sikhote-Alin and the Sea-of-Japan region in Mesozoic. M. Nauka, 257p (in Russian). Khanchuk, A.I., 2001. Pre-Neogene tectonics of the Sea-of-Japan region: a view from Russian side. Earth Sci. (Chikyu Kagaku), v. 55, p. 275-291. Khudyakov, G.I., 1977. Geomorphotectonics of the South of Far East. M. Nauka, 255p (in Russian). Kosygin, Yu.A., 1983. Tectonics. M. Nedra, 536p (in Russian). Krasny,L.I., 1984. Global system of geoblocks. M. Nedra, 224p (in Russian). Krasny, L.I., Putinizev, V.K. and Vasiliev, B.I [Ch. Eds.], 1986. Geological Map of the Far East 19. Scale 1:1500 000, VSEGEI. Lishnevsky, E.N., 1965. On the active role of granite intrusives in mountain-building processes. Jour. Geotectonics, no. 3, p. 76 -83 (in Russian). Natalin, B.A., 1991. Mesozoic collision and accretion tectonics in the South of the Far East of the USSR. Tikhookeanskaya Geologiya (Pacific Geology), no. 5, p. 3-23 (in Russian). Peltzer, G. and Saucier F., 1996. Present-day kinematics of Asia derived from geologic fault rates. Jour. Geophys. Res., v. 101, P27, 943-27, 956. Radkevich, E.A. ,1977. Metallogenic provinces of the Pacific ore belt. M. Nauka, 176p (in Russian). Rezanov, I.A., 1985. Evolution of the Earths crust. M. Nauka, 144p (in Russian). Rodionov, S.M., 2005. Metallogeny of tin in the East of Russia. M. Nauka, 327p (in Russian). Romanovsky, N.P., 1999. The Earths Pacific segment: deep structure granitoid ore-magmatic systems. Khabarovsk, 164p (in Russian). Saitsev, Yu.A., 1984. The evolution of geosynclines (oval-concentrically-zonal type). M. Nedra, 208p (in Russian). Shcheglov, A.D. and Govorov, I.N., 1985. Nonlinear metallogeny and depths of the Earth. M. Nauka, 325p (in Russian). Sukhov, V.I., 2000. Metallogenic zoning of territory of the Russian Far East. Tikhookeanskaya Geologiya (Pacific
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Geology), v. 19, no. 5, p. 7-20 (in Russian). Tsakharov, V.K., Vasilenko, N.P. and Naumov, N.V., 1982. Horizontal deformations of Earths surface within Sakhalin and Shikotan Islands. Tikhookeanskaya Geologiya (Pacific Geology), no. 1, p. 119-122 (in Russian). Tuezov, I.K. and Zolotarskaya, G.V., 1987. Special features of the present-day motions in the Earth's crust in Southeast Siberia and the Far East according to the data on the repeated leveling. Tikhookeanskaya Geologiya (Pacific Geology), no. 3, p. 23-32 (in Russian). Udintsev, G.B. [Ch. Ed.], 2003. International Geological-Geophysical Atlas of the Pacific Ocean. Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. Moscow - St-Petersburg, 192p. Utkin, V.P., 1989. Shear fault dislocations, magmatism and ore formation. M. Nauka, 164p (in Russian). Vlasov, G.M., 1989. Why doesnt everybody accept plate tectonics? Tikhookeanskaya Geologiya (Pacific Geology), no. 2, p. 125-130 (in Russian).
30
300-DAY SEISMIC CYCLES IN THE SOUTHERN SEGMENT OF THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT, CALIFORNIA
Valentino STRASER 94, Localita Casarola 43040 Terenzo PR, Italy fifurnio@tiscali.it
ABSTRACT 'Twin Earthquakes (TE)' are earthquakes that recur at a regular interval of about 300 days, and appear to be related to peculiar configurations of planetary orbits, in specific seismic regions on Earth. Already studied with reference to the North-Western and Central Italian Apennines, the model is now applied to the San Andreas fault system in Southern California, the Sierra Nevada zone, the Mojave region, and the Los Angeles area, showing evidence that there the seismic phenomena regularly recur approximately every 300 days, with focuses roughly at the same depth. The regularity with which TE occur allows seismic phenomena to be forecast with a limited margin of error for latitude, longitude and epicentre, without specifying the earthquakes magnitude, possibly enabling the mitigation of their impact on human lives and economic damage. Keywords: earthquakes, Twin Earthquakes (TE), planetary disturbances, correlations, San Andreas Fault, regular seismic cycles, earthquake prediction.
INTRODUCTION he San Andreas Fault, whose seismic activity is often described as 'tick-tocking' by seismologists, is considered a pilot area for method experimentation and seismic risk modelling (Bakun and McEvilly, 1984; Ben-Zion et al., 2003; Ruth, 1990; Nadeau and McEvilly, 1999-2004; Niu et al., 2008). Similar recurrences were observed in Central Italy and in the Northern Apennine Val Taro seismic zone (Straser, 2008), where earthquakes occur in the same area approximately every 300 days, in correspondence with particular planetary configurations of celestial bodies the Sun and Moon included. The epicentres are from several kilometres to fifty kilometres apart. The author defined these seisms as 'Twin Earthquakes (TE)' (Straser, 2008). A peculiarity of these earthquakes is that they have comparable focuses and magnitudes, depending on the different seismic zones. For instance, magnitude values are low in the Northern Apennine zone (Italy), and medium-high in the California area. The San Andreas Fault earthquakes present a range of occurrence types. Some are triggered by particular physical mechanisms related to the presence of fluids or gravimetric 'reflows' (Di Toro et al., 2004). Some occur at intensified frequency, concentrating at a three-year rate. Some occur every 22 years and can be ascribed to the sunspots influence (Bakun and McEvilly, 1984). Some may be related to the moon phases (Kilston and Knopoff, 1983; Kokus, 1988 - 2006). All such recurrences invite experimenting with the TE Method in such areas. And, as suggested (see: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/parkfield/repeat.php), considering earthquake history, regular repetitions of the same rupture event, called a "characteristic earthquake" may be occurring at Parkfield (Ellsworth, 1995). Indeed, this repetition was part of the basis for developing the Parkfield experiment. Again, the similarity of the first few cycles of the P- and S-waves means that these events ruptured the same part of the fault (Bakun and McEvilly, 1979a & b; Bakun and Lindh, 1985). Adding to the sense of repetition, similar-sized foreshocks of almost the same magnitude occurred 17 minutes before both the 1934 and 1966 Parkfield earthquakes. The 1992 and November 1993 events (Cole and Ellsworth, 1995) fitted the formal criteria for potential Parkfield foreshocks and prompted public warnings of heightened probability of the occurrence of an M 6.0 earthquake.
31
The connection of these events to the characteristic earthquakes at Parkfield is suggested by the fact that waveforms from the November 1993 event were identical to those from a foreshock three days before the 1966 Parkfield main shock. However, none of the earthquakes appear to be a repeat of the "17-minute foreshocks". The most encouraging element of interest that brought the author to apply the TE Method here is the 281-day time interval between the San Simeon and the Parkfield earthquakes in Central California. The first seism occurred 11km NE of San Simeon and 39km WNW of Paso Robles on December 22, 2003 (Hardebeck et al., 2004). The latter is near Parkfield town, in the San Andreas Fault central segment on September 28, 2004 (Langbein et al., 2004). In coincidence with the two earthquakes, the planetary configurations (Table 1) were similar to those observed for the seisms in the Gran Sasso Mt., Central Italy (Straser, 2008). Both seisms had a similar magnitude (>M6). The time interval between them, the focuses at similar depth, the particular configurations of celestial bodies that accompanied the earthquakes (the planets were near to alignment in the Parkfield case), and the distance of about 50km between the two epicentres are reminiscent of the Twin Earthquakes already studied in Italy, magnitudes apart. TWIN EARTHQUAKES AND PLANETARY CONFIGURATIONS The aim of this study is to verify the TE Method by applying it to past earthquakes in the Southern California faults system, in representative seismic zones (Figure 1). This study is divided into two parts: The first part explores the coincidence of planetary disturbances with the earthquakes occurrence over a period of about 245 years (from 1769 to 1915). Historical data (Table 2) are taken from the USGS database. The second part concerns the application of the TE Method. The seismic zones considered are those of Sierra Nevada, the Mojave region, and the Los Angeles area. The time period runs from 1981 to 2008. Historical data (Tables 3, 4 & 5) are taken from the SCEC database. The Twin Earthquakes Method enables the long-term prediction of earthquakes that recur in a limited zone and usually have epicentres within a radius of 50km: it expresses an empirical link among seisms and celestialbody configurations with a 300-day time interval between the precursor earthquake (PE) and the twin one (TE). In several cases, as with the zones studied in Italy, the PE/TE periodicity is repeated with regularity at time intervals varying from few years to several centuries. The sequence of occurrence can be summarized as follows: Celestial-body configuration (near to alignment) > Precursor Earthquake (PE) (Near to alignment) celestialbody configuration > Twin Earthquake The TE method can be applied with the following procedure: 1) Determine the nearest planetary alignment. 2) Detect in the seismic areas of interest the 'significant' earthquakes that occurred approx. 300 days before (PE) and in coincidence with planetary alignments. 3) Calculate the forecast of the twin earthquakes considering a time interval of +/- 3 days with regard to the calculated alignment date. The time interval variation depends on the seismic area. CORRELATION AMONG PLANETARY CONFIGURATIONS AND EARTHQUAKES The analysis of the planetary disturbances shows that the earthquakes preferably occur with <5 lags in height and azimuth that in this study appear to represent the earthquake triggering 'critical angle' (Tables 2 5).
32
In most cases, the decrease of the 'critical angle' up to the alignment of two or more celestial bodies was not proportional to the energy released by the earthquake (magnitude), but it appears as 'the switch' that triggers the earthquake. Out of the earthquakes studied from 1769 to 1915 (Table 2), only 16 showed no correlation at all with the celestial-body configurations and the earthquakes occurrence. In percentage terms, the number of earthquakes related to the planetary configurations exceeds 94%. A similar percentage (about 90%) was shown by the study concerning Central Italy. The application of the TE Method to the seismic zones of Sierra Nevada, the Mojave region, and the Los Angeles area provided evidence that the earthquakes recur and concentrate mainly every 295, 300 and 305 days (Figures 2, 3 & 4), the average being 298 days and coinciding with the same value obtained in the study carried out in Italy. DISCUSSION Seisms occurred with time lags ranging from a few minutes to several days. The sequences of occurrences in the three considered areas followed random directions, even if the Mojave/Los Angeles/Sierra Nevada sequence recurs in 25% of the studied cases. The Twin Earthquakes (Tables 2, 3 & 4) happened when the planetary configurations angles were generally <5 in terms of right ascension and declination. Besides the correlation among earthquakes and planetary configurations, even the focus depth was verified for each seismic zone. The Sierra Nevada TEs are concentrated at an average depth of about 5-6 km. Those of the Mojave region and Los Angeles area have a 10 km average depth, with focus variations from 2 to 18 km. The 1906 Los Angeles earthquake ranges among the 16 earthquakes having no correlation with the celestial-body configurations. Conversely, this is not the case for the Parkfield and the San Simeon earthquakes, as well as the Loma Prieta one (October 17, 1989). The difference in these two different cases can be interpreted as follows: 1 - The stresses of the rock mass evolve rapidly (Figure 5) and the influence of a planetary configuration, usually of third or fourth order with respect to the Sun or Moons gravitational influence, becomes negligible. In such cases, due to the rapid evolution, the earthquake can release a remarkable amount of energy, as with the 1906 Los Angeles seism. 2 The stresses evolve more slowly and the celestial-body configuration disturbances can affect more significantly the triggering of the earthquake in rocks that are near to the maximum stress value (Figure 5) as with the 2004 Parkfield earthquake or the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (McNutt, 1990). The planetary disturbance affects rocks under slow stresses (Figure 5) and subject to seismic cyclicity, acting as an 'on-off' switch to trigger the earthquake, for both low and high magnitudes. This method can be applied successfully to other zones such as Alaska (such data are not present in this paper), in particular for seisms that occur along the 51st parallel, even if earthquakes with larger distances and deeper focuses (as in the Pacific Ocean) are compared with the ones studied in Italy. Although the earthquakes with magnitudes lower than 2.5 appear to be due mainly to elastic reflows (or anthropic activities) rather than rock fractures such as for seisms with magnitudes of 5.5 or higher, the interval of about 300 days between PE and TE is surprising in the areas under consideration. For this reason, even if the recurring magnitude is generally low (from 1.0 to 1.5), the value was considered in this paper because it refers to just a 'single' earthquake (298 days after PE), rarely concomitant with other seisms.
33
The TE Method can be utilized for the Parkfield segment, too, as was done for the Southern California earthquakes. The TE from 2002 to 2008 had a magnitude of M1 to M3, and a time interval near to 300 days.
YYY/MM/DD
1 2002/01/09
HH:mm:SS.ss
10:59:07.80
M
1.91
LAT
36.290
LON
-120.290
Depth
2.71
Planet
Mercury Neptune Venus Sun Mercury Sun Mercury Venus Mercury Mars Moon Sun Mercury Sun Mercury Sun Jupiter Pluto Jupiter Moon
Azimuth
+14224' +14222' +16439' +16316' +12618' +12517' +34334' +34500' +32905' +32600' +34028' +33754' +33109' +32223' +24551' +24748' +22818' +22710' +13312' +13324'
Height
+2704' +2819' +3131' +3206' +1952' +1718' -5308' -4913' -2843' -2829' -3450' -3513' -5303' -5153' -0650' -0626' +1459' +2339' +1554' +1156'
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
2002/11/09 2003/09/09 2004/07/07 2005/05/07 2006/03/13 2007/01/07 2007/11/07 2008/09/09
07:58:29.41 23:11:36.55 23:29:32.65 22:35:00.79 13:07:25.83 17:32:39.99 15:16:51.31 16:11:11.09
1.79 1.16 1.64 1.07 1.90 1.43 2.07 1.46
36.039 36.025 36.227 35.926 36.139 36.220 36.030 36.026
-120.598 -120.564 -120.282 -120.474 -120.169 -120.280 -120.040 -120.105
1.58 4.99 12.74 6.53 10.75 11.46 21.90 8.0
The TE mechanism, interpreted as 'added value' to the 'limit' stress of a rock, can be found overlapping in the case of both superficial and deep rocks. It should be noted that the relationship between PE and TE is not always a univocal one. TE can manifest even as seismic swarms in the case of high magnitudes: an example is given by the swarms of the mid-September 2007 Sumatra big earthquake. In the case of Southern California, 298 days is the most frequently repeating value, closest to the 300 days between PE and TE as per the TE Method. This interval represents the 'constant' value to be applied in order to carry out an earthquake forecast in Southern California. That earthquake which corresponds to the PE respecting the 298-day interval with a magnitude comparable to the precursor's is considered as 'predominant' over others in the same seismic region. The application of the Twin Earthquakes Method is strictly connected with a concept of cyclicity and repetitivity of the seisms occurring in a certain zone. Of course, not all earthquakes belong to this category. In fact, such being the case, the number of seisms would always be the same in a given interval of time for a certain zone. Anyway, in the studied area, the number of earthquakes that occur within 50 km each year is comparable, even on a yearly and a monthly scale, and this may express a non-casual dependence on geophysical or geo-astronomical factors. For instance, in the Southern California region, in the months of January from 2004 to 2008, the number of earthquakes was, respectively: 765, 815, 732, 781, 781, the last two values being equal. Since the TE method is strictly connected with planetary disturbances, during a year one can find different time intervals as well coincidence elements between the earthquakes and the planetary disturbances. Also, considering the Southern California seismic zone TEs, one can see seismic concatenations, 30-day intervals or repeated sequences of earthquakes affected by planetary positions that oscillate for several days around the alignment position. This is the case with the intervals spanning from December 12 to 28, 2007 (Sun, Jupiter, Saturn), from January 19 to 29, 2008 (Mercury, Neptune), or from January 29 to February 10, 2008 (Jupiter, Venus, Mercury), and others.
34
Excluding the month of February, the regularity of about 30 days noted in the studied zone constitutes a new element for the TE interpretation. Since the two values 30 and 300 are in clear mutual relationship, the research is oriented towards the verification of a monthly type regularity between earthquakes and particular planetary configurations. This regularity is true for seisms occurring on the 19th day of each month in correspondence with near to alignment planetary configurations or of celestial bodies present within the 'critical angle'.
YYY/MM/DD
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2007/12/19 2008/01/19 2008/02/19 2008/03/19 2008/04/19 2008/05/19 2008/06/19 2008/07/19 2008/08/19 2008/09/19 2008/10/19 2008/11/19
HH:mm:SS.ss
09:51:05.52 10:55:50.46 05:48:11.21 23:45:31.51 02:17:12.26 13:58:24.54 03: 14:29.89 20:52:44.66 08:34:06.47 06:03:24.06 12:59:15.15 10:53:53.47
M
1.7 1 2 2 1 1 1.4 2.2 1.1 1 1.7 1
LAT
34.025 34.030 34.283 34.009 34.044 33.954 34.034 34.045 34.279 34.201 34.038 34.013
LON
-117.236 -117.266 -117.046 -117.210 -117.265 -117.060 -117.307 -117.246 -117.049 -117.440 -117.258 -117.106
Depth
13.3 15.8 7.4 6.8 6.0 5.7 18.9 14.6 5.2 10.4 16.1 7.0
Planet
Jupiter Sun Mercury Mercury Neptune Mercury Venus Mercury Venus Mercury Sun Sun Venus Sun Venus Mars Saturn Mercury Venus Mercury Mars Venus Mars Sun Mars Sun Mercury
Azimuth
+14648' +14935' +14914' +13956' +13600' +11308' +11921' +3600' +3255' +3940' +4346' +25209' +25410' +4650' +4418' +27701' +28122' +9705' +9608' +9023' +8639' +8541' +18853' +20716' +17056' +16706' +16213'
Height
+2451' +2601' +2407' +2913' +2838' +0502' +0646' -6145' -6100' -3319' -3221' +5814' +5251' -1447' -1616' +0432' +0234' -2111' -2038' -2008' -1758' -2206' +4031' +4137' +3640' +3517' +3300'
In 2008, the coincidence happened even for other days of the month, such as the 5th or the 6th or the 7th. This new value the 30-day constant makes it possible to give short-term forecasts (a month) and long-term ones (a year, or more), and verify the regularity of the phenomenon over a period of several months. The recurrence of the phenomenon persisting in a certain seismic zone on a month or year scale makes it possible to spot with precision the 'predominant' earthquakes in accordance with the TE Method, and to distinguish them from any other in such region, as is the case of Southern California. The low magnitude values recurring in these earthquakes may depend on the frequency of their manifestation. This allows a regular release of built-up stresses and prevents the triggering of disastrous seisms. For such reason in this study all the magnitudes were considered, even if generally lower than M 2.5. Therefore, the TE Method represents an interpretational model and one of several possible regularities observed in a seismic zone in order to make a long-term forecast, in advance of about ten months with respect to the earthquake occurrence date. As already demonstrated for the zones studied in Italy, even for the Southern California ones the possibility of successful application of this method is about 90%. METHOD OF APPLICATION The Twin Earthquakes recurrence in the three zones is calculated in about 298 days. This value represents the specific constant (Ke) for the seismic area in reference, to be used for the earthquakes forecast in accordance with the empiric relation: PE + Ke = TE
35
Once the TE repetitivity from 1981 to present date has been verified, a trial forecast of earthquakes is done and announced a few days before relevant occurrence. The reference point is in the Los Angeles seismic zone, having geographical coordinates 34N and 117W. The TE Method is applied by choosing as precursor (PE) the earthquake that occurred on January 27, 2008. Adding the 298 days (Ke) constant to such date we obtain November 21, 2008 (TE).
Type PE TE
Date Jan.27, 2008 M=? Nov.21, 2008 M=1
Time 17:28:48 17:13:38
EARTHQUAKE Lat 34.04N 34.05N
Long -117.24W -117.34W
Depth -
Configuration Neptune Mercury Sun Mercury
PLANET Right Ascension +22943' +22948' +23959' +24132'
Declination +2440' +2745' +700' +536'
Both earthquakes occurred at the same time and the forecast was precise. The PE/TE relationship is not restricted to just one earthquake on a certain seismic date, but is valid for other earthquakes, too. For example, if we consider the 7-day interval, we can remark that other seisms (ten, at least) occur in the same zone within a radius of about 50 km, and even for them we can record a Ke = 298 days.
Type PE TE
EARTHQUAKE
Date
Jan.27, 2008 M=1 Nov.21, 2008 M=1
PLANET
Long
-117.26W -117.07W
Time
06:03:41 14:43:13
Lat
34.02N 33.87N
Depth
17.3 -
Configuration
Neptune Mercury Sun Mercury
Right Ascension
+22943' +22948' +23959' +24132'
Declination
+2440' +2745' +700' +536'
Type PE TE
EARTHQUAKE
Date
Jan.27, 2008 M=1.4 Nov.21, 2008 M=1
PLANET
Long
-117.22W -117.16W
Time
00:52:35 10:02:33
Lat
34.02N 33.92N
Depth
17.4 14.7
Configuration
Right Ascension
+22943' +22948' +23959' +24132'
Declination
+2440' +2745' +700' +536'
Type PE TE
EARTHQUAKE
Date
Jan. 25, 2008 M=1.5 Nov.19, 2008 M=1.1
PLANET
Long
-117.14W -116.85W
Time
02:25:53 18:44:34
Lat
34.05N 34.04N
Depth
11.6 21.2
Configuration
Right Ascension
+32951' +32846' +4404' +4959'
Declination
-5624' -5451' -7021' -6721'
Type PE TE
EARTHQUAKE
Date
Jan,25, 2008 M=1.3 Nov.19, 2008 M=2.8
PLANET
Long
-117.22W -117.03W
Time
16:07:34 19:00:54
Lat
34.01N 34.13N
Depth
15.6 4.3
Configuration
Right Ascension
+32951' +32846' +4404' +4959'
Declination
-5624' -5451' -7021' -6721'
Type PE TE
EARTHQUAKE
Date
Jan.24, 2008 M=1.3 Nov.18, 2008 M=1.4
PLANET
Long
-117.24W -117.08W
Time
10:12:55 21:34:11
Lat
34.02N 34.30N
Depth
16.8 10.3
Configuration
Right Ascension
+33155' +33058' +4346' +5013'
Declination
-6759' -6650' -7008' -6635'
Type PE
EARTHQUAKE
Date
Jan.22, 2008
PLANET
Long
-117.05W
Time
05:18:09
Lat
34.28N
Depth
6.4
Configuration
Neptune
Right Ascension
+32725'
Declination
-6713'
36
TE
M=1.7 Nov.16, 2008 M=1.1 16:05:08

34.03N -117.13W 9.5 Mercury Sun Mercury +32851' +4307' +5034' -6736' -6941' -6501'
Such data show that the TE incidence in a certain seismic zone can even exceed 50% of the total earthquakes. Another forecast, announced some days in advance upon occurrence, turned out to be correct.
Type PE TE
EARTHQUAKE
Date
Jan.29, 2008 M=2.4 Nov.23, 2008 M=2.1
PLANET
Long
-117.27W -117.10W
Time
16:19:05 02:39:15
Lat
34.27N 34.01N
Depth
13.1 15.8
Configuration
Right Ascension
+22140' +22130' +5410' +5616'
Declination
+2027' +2346' -5516' -5418'
CONCLUSIONS The TE Method is shown to be applicable to the three seismic zones of Sierra Nevada and Basin and Range, the Mojave region, and the Los Angeles area, besides the Gran Sasso/Central Italy and the Val Taro/Northern Apennine zones in Italy. It remains to be said that, even if the Method of the Twin Earthquakes proved to be exportable and applicable to different tectonic environments in case of earthquakes caused by stresses with slow evolution, there is still a need to investigate the generating mechanics and to individuate methods that can be applied to zones where stresses quickly exceed the maximum stress value of the rocks and can evolve into high magnitude earthquakes. The various methods already applied for the earthquakes forecast through instrumental data and coincidence elements (Venkatanathan et al., 2005; Kolvankar, 2007-2008; Shou, 2006; Bapat, 2007; Blot et al., 2003; Blot et al., 2007; Straser, 2007-2008; Dolitsky and Sergeyeva, 2002; Freund et al., 2006; Schulemberg, 2006; StLaurent et al., 2006; Ondo, 2003; Tertyshinikov, 1996; and others), together with the TE Method, represent the many aspects of the same problem. The future comprehension of the mechanism that governs earthquakes and its elaboration into a geophysical and geo-astronomical model would open up new perspectives for long-term earthquake prediction. Acknowledgements: Acknowledgements is given to the reviewers for their critical and constructive comments that stimulated my further investigation of the TE Method; Prof. Martin Kokus, Physics and Engineering Technology, Bloomsburg University, USA; Prof. Nicholas Pinter, Southern Illinois University Department of Geology Southern Illinois University; Prof. Giorgio Zanzucchi, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universit di Parma, for their most valuable information and support in view of this study. References cited
Bakun, W.H., and McEvilly, T.V, 1984. Recurrence models and Parkfield, California, earthquakes. Jour. Geophys. Res., v. 89, p. 3051-3058. Bakun, W.H., and Lindh, A.G., 1985. The Parkfield, California earthquake prediction experiment. Science, v. 229, p. 619-624. Bakun, W.H., and McEvily, T.V., 1979a. Are foreshocks distinctive? Evidence from the 1966 Parkfield and the 1975 Oroville, California sequences. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., v. 69, p. 1027-1038. Bakun, W.H., and McEvily, T.V., 1979b. Earthquakes near Parkfield, California: Comparing the 1934 and 1966 sequence. Science, v. 205, p. 1375-1377. Bapat A., 2007. Seismo-electro-magnetic and other precursory observations from recent earthquake vapour clouds. New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 43, p. 34-38. Ben-Zion, Y., Rice, J.R., and Dmowska, R., 2003. Interaction of the San Andreas Fault creeping segment with adjacent great rupture zones and earthquake recurrence at Parkfield. Jour. Geophys. Res., v. 98 (B2), p. 2135-2144. Blot, C., Choi, D.R., and Grover, J.C., 2003. Energy transmigration from deep to shallow earthquakes: a phenomenon Applied to Japan - Toward scientific earthquakes prediction. New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 29,
37
p. 3-16. Blot, C., Choi, D.R., and Vasiliev, I., 2007. The great twin earthquakes in late 2006 to early 2007 in the Kuril Arc: their forerunners and the seismicity-tectonics relationship. New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 43, p. 22-33. Cole, A.T., and Ellsworth, W.L., 1995. Earthquake clustering and the long-term evolution of seismicity near Parkfield, California, 1931-1994 (abs.). Seis. Res. Lett., v. 66, p. 28. Di Toro, G., Goldsby, D.L., Tullis, T.E., 2004. Friction falls towards zero in quartz rock as slip velocity approaches Seismic rates. Nature, v. 427, p. 436-439. www.geoscienze.unipd.it/docs/ditoro/DiToro_etal_Nature2004.pdf Dolitsky, A. and Sergeyeva, A., 2002. Global stress of the Earth, its variations and prediction of the earthquakes. New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 25, p. 22-29. Ellsworth, W. L., 1995. Characteristic earthquakes and long-term earthquake forecasts: implications of central California Seismicity. In, Cheng, F. Y. and Sheu, M. S. [eds.], Urban Disaster Mitigation: the Role of Science and Technology. Elsevier Science Ltd., p. 1-14. Freund, F., Takeuchi, A., and Lau, B., 2006. Electric Currents Streaming Out of Stressed Igneous Rocks - A step towards understanding pre-earthquake low frequency EM emissions. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, v. 31, p. 389-396 Hardebeck, J. L., Boatwright, J., Dreger, D., Goel, R.,Graizer, V., Hudnut, K., Ji, C., Jones, L, Langbein, J., Lin, J., Roeloffs, E., Simpson, R., Stark, K., Stein, R. and Tinsley, J.C., 2004. Preliminary report on the 22 December 2003 M6.5 San Simeon, California, earthquake. Seism. Res. Lett., v. 75, p. 155-172. http://www.data.scec.org/index.html http://www.usgs.gov/ Kilston, S., and Knopoff, L., 1983. Lunar-solar periodicities of large earthquakes in Southern California. Nature, v. 304, p. 21-25. Kokus, M., 1988. From Earth's rotation to commodities. The 9.2-to-9.6-Year Cycles, Cycles, Dec. 1988, v. 39, p. 288-289. Kokus, M., 2002. Alternate theories of geology and gravity in earthquakes prediction. Edwards, M. [ed.], Pushing Gravity. Apeiron Press, Montreal. Kokus, M., 2006. Earthquakes on the Parkfield segment of the San Andreas Fault and lunar phase, proceedings of the Natural Philosophy Alliance, 12th Annual Conference, U of Connecticut, Storrs, 23-27 May 2005. Kolvankar, V.G., 2007. RF emissions, types of earthquake precursors: possibly caused by the planetary alignments. Jour. Ind. Geophys. Union, v. 11, p. 157-170. Kolvankar, V.G., 2008. Sun induced semi-diurnal stresses on earths surface, which trigger earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 47, p. 12-23. Langbein, J., Borcherdt, R., Dreger, D., Fletcher J., Hardebeck, J. L., Hellweg, M., Malcolm Johnston, C. J., Murray, J. R., Nadeau, R.M., Rymer J. M., and Jerome Treiman, A. J., 2004. Preliminary Report on the 28 September 2004, M 6.0 Parkfield, California Earthquake,
http://quake.usgs.gov/research/deformation/modeling/papers/2005/Langbein_parkfield.pdf
Ruth L. R., 1990. Earthquake Prediction. http://www.geophys.washington.edu/SEIS/PNSN/INFO_GENERAL/eq_prediction.html McNutt, S., 1990. Loma Prieta Earthquake, October 17, 1989 Santa Cruz County, California. California Geology, v. 43, no. 1, p. 3-7. Nadeau, R.M. and McEvilly, T.V., 1999. Fault slip rates at depth from recurrence intervals of repeating microearthquakes. Science, v. 285, p. 718-721. Nadeau, R. M. and McEvilly, T.V., 2004. Periodic pulsing of characteristic microearthquakes on the San Andreas Fault. Science, v. 303, no. 5655, p. 220-222. Niu, F., Silver, G. P., Daley, T. M., Cheng, X. and Majer, E. L., 2008. Preseismic velocity changes observed from active source monitoring at the Parkfield SAFOD drill site. Nature, v. 454, p. 204-208. Ondo, T., 2003. Anomalous sporadic-E layers observed before M1, Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake; Terrestrial gas emanation model. Adv. Polar Upper Atomos. Res., v. 17, p. 96-108. National Institute of Polar Research. http://www.meteoquake.org/anomalous%20sporadic%20e%20layers.pdf Schulemberg, K., 2006. Correlation between Time-Specific Solar Activity and Subsequent Earthquakes. Presented at WPGM 2006 in Beijing, China, on Thursday July 27th. http://theraproject.com/db5/00472/theraproject.com/_download/wpgmpresentation.pdf Shou Z., 2006. Precursor of the largest earthquake in the last forty years. New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 41, p. 6-15. St-Laurent, F., Derr, J. and Freund, F., 2006. Earthquake lights and the stress-activation of positive hole charge carriers in the rocks. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, v. 31, p. 305-312. Straser, V., 2007. Precursory luminous phenomena used for earthquake prediction. The Taro Valley, North-Western Apennines, Italy. New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 44, p. 17-31. Straser, V., 2008. Planetary perturbations and 'twin earthquakes': A model for the long-term prediction of earthquakes. New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 46, p. 35-50.
38
Tertyshinikov, A.V., 1996. The variations of ozone content in the atmosphere above strong earthquake epicenter. Physics of the Solid Earth, v. 31, no. 9, p. 789-794. http://www.meteoquake.org/tertyshinikov_ozone_above_eq_epicenter.pdf Venkatanathan, N., Rajeshwara, R.N., Sharma, K.K. and Periakali, P., 2005. Planetary configuration: implication for earthquake prediction and occurrence in Southern Peninsular India. Jour. Indian Geophys. Union, v. 9, p. 263-276.
Figure 1 Index map (source: Southern California Earthquake Data Center, http://www.data.scec.org/index.html) The three considered areas are coloured as follows: Green for Sierra Nevada; Yellow for Mojave region; Blue-violet for Los Angeles area. The remaining visible areas, not studied in this work, are: Southern Coast Ranges and Central Valley (orange colour); Extreme Southern end of California (red colour).
Figures 2, 3 & 4 (following two pages) Data were analyzed by calculating the temporal difference between the occurrence of PE and of TE, respectively. The considered seismic events were grouped according to such temporal difference. The graphs show the result of these calculations, and highlight the frequency of the recorded time intervals between PE and TE.
39
Frequency of the intervals recorded among PE and TE in Sierra Nevada 10 9 8 7 occurrences 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 275 280 285 290 295 days
Figure 2 Sierra Nevada
300
305
310
315
320
Frequency of the intervals recorded among PE and TE in Los Angeles area 10 9 8 7 occurrences 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 275 280 285 290 295 days
Figure 3 Los Angeles area
300
305
310
315
320
40
Frequency of the intervals recorded among PE and TE in Mojave region 10 9 8 occurrences 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 275 280 285 290 295 days 300 305 310 315 320
Figure 4
Mojave region
106 104 102 100 98 96 94 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Figure 5 This figure schematizes the time-related theoretical trends of a rock in near-to-failure conditions. In abscissa: values indicate the days in a two-lunation period. The sinusoid peaks that oscillate through an ideal straight line of rock stress load, coincide with the disturbance peak of the Moon or the celestial bodies. In ordinate: percentage values indicate the disturbance strength, where 100 represents the value corresponding to the load limit of a rock undergoing stress. The sinusoidal oscillations represent two types of tectonic stresses: slow motion (blue colour), and quick stress evolutions (fuchsia colour). We can hypothesize two trends: Trend 1 Blue-coloured sinusoid; The graphic trend shows that, when values are near to rock failure, even a small external disturbance (given in the graphic at 1%) can exceed the limit value and trigger an earthquake. This situation is most possible when the stress built-up in the rock is slow (as for the earthquakes of San Simeon, 2003, and Parkfield, 2004, or Loma Prieta, 1989). Trend 2 Red-coloured sinusoid; The graphic trend shows that, in the case of a quick stress, an external disturbance, i.e. caused by celestial bodies, could not affect the earthquake occurrence, and this may happen in an almost casual way (as for the Los Angeles earthquake, 1906).
41
TABLE 1
Type PE TE
EARTHQUAKE
Date
Dec.12, 2003 Sept. 28, 2004
PLANET
Long
-121.101W -120.364W
Time
19:15:56 17:15:14
Lat
35.705N 35.819N
Depth
7.59 km 8.8 km
Configuration
Moon Sun Mars Jupiter Mercury
Right Ascension
+1423' +0437' +29329' +29420' +29458'
Declination
-8201' -7844' -2105' -2108' -2040'
TABLE 2 Planetary disturbances and earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault from 1769 and 1915. Dates in brackets indicate the planetary disturbance. Table seismic data from: National Earthquake Information Center NEIC http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/neic/. Planetary data by the author of this study. EARTHQUAKE
N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 YEAR 1769 1775 1800 1803 1806 1808 1812 1812 1827 1836 1841 1851 MO 07 12 11 05 03 06 12 12 09 06 07 05 DA 28 27 22 25 25 21 08 (05) 21 (20) 24 10 03 15 TIME 01 2130 08 15 19 04 1530 2207 1610 LAT 33.90 33.60 33.00 32.80 34.40 37.80 33.70 34.20 34.00 37.80 36.60 37.80 LONG -117.80 -116.60 -117.30 -117.10 -119.70 -122.50 -117.90 -119.90 -119.00 -122.20 -122.00 -122.40 Magnitude 6.5 6.9 7.1 5.5 6.8 Alignment Saturn Mercury Pluto Mars No correlation Mars Moon Saturn Uranus Mars Venus Neptune Sun Jupiter Moon Sun Venus Mercury Mars Moon No correlation Mars Venus Saturn Uranus Jupiter Sun Mars Sun Saturn Moon Mercury Jupiter Sun Saturn Mars Moon Mercury Sun Mercury Sun Mercury Sun Mercury Sun Moon Uranus Saturn Moon Venus Saturn Saturn Moon Venus Sun Mercury Sun
PLANET
Azimut +32140' +32022' +25919' +26008' +27257' +27148' +10653' +10936' +32644' +32301' +27538' +27310' +7414' +7557' +29710' +30128' +29734' +34842' +34303' +34357' +33839' +32923' +32740' +27826' +27436' +27536' +27631' +8020' +7817' +18403' +18452' +18859' +25944' +26008' +26742' +20935' +21733' +20121' +20413' +18847' +19036' +18704' +18934' +31722' +31440' +2042' +1518' +26614' +27015' +30222' +30602' +19809' +19243' +31157' +30645' Height -2327' -2717' -2746' -2448' +3249' +3303' +1038' +1209' -2426' -2243' -4654' -4701' +1035' +0911' -3413' -3410' -3251' -3954' -3739' -4901' -4715' -4143' -3746' -4920' -4708' -4116' -3935' +1840' +1749' +3551' +3713' +3634' +5521' +5845' +5602' +7111' +7528' +6552' +6412' +3046' +3219' +4744' +4247' -2017' -2206' -2955' -2640' +4215' +3949' -1232' -1352' +3228' +3134' -3539' -3624'
13 14 15 16 17
1852 1853 1853 1855 1855
11 02 10 01 07
29 01 23 (19) 25 11
20 21 11 06 0415
32.50 35.60 40.80 39.50 34.10
-115.00 -121.10 -124.20 -120.30 -118.10
6.5 5.5 -
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
1855 1856 1856 1856 1857 1857 1858 1858 1859
08 01 02 09 01 09 11 12 10
27 02 15 21 (18) 09 03 (01) 26 (25) 16 05
11 1815 1325 0730 16 0305 0835 10 2016
38.10 37.50 37.50 33.00 35.30 39.30 37.50 34.00 37.80
-122.50 -122.50 -122.30 -117.00 -119.80 -120.00 -121.90 -117.50 -122.40
4.90 5.30 5.50 7.90 6.00 6.10 -
42
27 28 29 30 1860 1860 1860 1861 01 03 11 07 27 (26) 15 13 04

0830 19 34.10 39.50 40.80 0011 37.80 -118.20 -119.50 -124.20 -122.00 6.30 5.60 Venus Moon Neptune Neptune Sun Mercury Moon Venus Mars Mercury Moon Uranus Saturn Jupiter Moon Sun Neptune Moon Moon Saturn Moon Mercury Mercury Sun Venus Sun No correlation Mars Uranus Mercury Venus Sun Moon No correlation Mars Saturn Mercury Jupiter No correlation Moon Mercury Saturn Mercury Uranus Moon Moon Saturn Venus Mercury Jupiter Neptune Mars Uranus Jupiter Neptune Moon Mars Uranus Neptune Jupiter Neptune Jupiter Sun Moon Venus Mars Mercury Sun Sun Mercury Sun Mercury Uranus Moon Mars Sun Uranus Moon Mercury +30435' +28333' +27806' +31847' +32114' +27429' +27708' +32124' +31902' +31228' +1450' +1033' +25640' +25419' +34308' +33751' +25314' +25837' +11541' +10949' +0754' +34922' +33501' +33735' +33335' +33453' +28054' +27552' +0327' +0600' +33744' +33126' +30101' +29544' +27717' +27745' +30201' +30551' +31208' +32032' +29600' +29055' +14841' +15035' +33044' +33304' +7551' +7308' +2129' +1855' +10035' +9647' +9807' +2600' +3055' +10511' +11041' +11155' +11911' +29910' +29730' +26114' +26259' +27051' +27657' +27652' +27026' +27652' +27026' +15231' +16519' +30956' +30810' +20756' +20325' +32642' -3446' -1849' -1634' -5021' -5022' -5412' -5911' -2243' -2158 -2232' -2944' -3207' +3146' +3159' -3131' -3039' +2308' +2555' +1804' +1947' -6551' -7024' -3146' -3137' -2955' -3111' +3130' +3623' -4344 -4022' -3106' -3225' -5046 -4652' -5304' -5429' -2136' -1738' -6658' -6816' +0343' +0235' +3341' +3201' -3432' -3204' -1206' -1354' -2853' -3006 +2115' +1855' +1558' -2815' -2549' +2928' +3210' +3633' +3920' -4817 -4325' -2355' -2430' -5017' -5357' -5351' -4937' -5351' -4937' +7722' +7646' -3920' -3455' +7640' +7736' -2311'
31
1862
05
27
20
32.70
-117.20
5.90
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
1863 1864 1864 1864 1864 1864 1865 1865
12 02 03 05 07 08 03 05
19 (17) 26 (25) 05 21 22 18 08 24
2238 1347 1649 0201 0641 1318 1430 1121
37.50 37.10 37.70 37.60 37.60 39.30 38.40 37.10
-122.20 -121.70 -122.00 -122.10 -122.00 -121.00 -122.60 -121.80
4.80 5.90 5.70 5.30 4.70 4.50 4.70 5.50
40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48
1865 1865 1865 1866 1866 1867 1868 1868 1868
10 10 12 03 07 12 (11) 05 06 07
01 08 16 26 15 02 (25) 30 (24) 02 (03) 25
1715 2046 05 2012 0630 0820 0510 1730 0230
40.80 37.30 38.80 37.10 37.50 39.60 39.30 39.50 36.30
-124.10 -121.90 -123.10 -121.60 -121.30 -120.90 -119.70 -120.80 -119.30
5.40 6.30 4.00 5.40 5.80 4.00 5.80 4.00 -
49
1868
09
04
36.60
118.40
50
1868
09
17
1655
38.60
-119.70
5.20
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
1868 1868 1869 1869 1869 1869 1870 1870 1871 1871
09 10 10 12 12 12 02 04 03 07
26 21 (15) 08 21 27 (23) 27 17 (12) 02 02 05
0840 1553 0930 04 0155 10 2012 1948 2105 2106
39.20 37.70 39.10 39.50 39.40 39.10 37.20 37.90 40.40 36.40
-123.20 -122.10 -123.10 -120.60 -119.70 -119.80 122.10 -122.30 -124.20 -118.00 6.80 5.00 4.80 6.10 5.90 -5.80 5.30 5.90 5.20

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 1872 1872 1872 1872 1872 1872 1872 03 03 03 04 04 04 05 26 26 28 03 11 18 03 1030 1406 13 1215 19 12 01 36.70 36.90 39.50 37.00 37.50 36.50 33.00 -118.10 -118.20 -120.40 -118.20 -118.50 -117.80 -115.00 7.80 6.50 4.90 6.10 6.60 5.50 Jupiter Mars Mercury Neptune Mars Mercury Neptune Mars Mercury Neptune Neptune Mars Sun Neptune Mars Mercury Sun Mars Jupiter Uranus Jupiter Uranus Saturn Mars Mercury Saturn Sun Venus Mercury Jupiter Mars Mercury Moon Uranus Saturn Venus No correlation Mercury Sun Moon Venus Saturn Neptune Venus Sun Neptune Saturn Sun Venus Sun Moon Venus Neptune Mercury Sun Moon Neptune Mercury Saturn Sun Mercury Venus Sun Mars Mars Venus Mars Venus Venus Sun Saturn Mars Venus Mercury Jupiter Saturn Venus Neptune +32402' +29936' +29956' +29649' +29936' +29956' +29649' +30031' +30026' +29813' +30239' +30312' +31133' +30911' +30935' +31101' +31735' +31523' +27733' +27439' +28254' +28114' +24902' +24710' +27530' +27546' +30415' +30211' +27500' +27515' +30451' +30700' +25312' +25127' +1527' +0857' +27857' +28328' +27731' +27209' +9332' +8840' +29343' +29655' +29027' +28808' +31024' +31532' +28136' +28833' +31040' +30740' +34718' +34426' +34436' +2147' +1757' +35423' +35126' +4823' +4505' +32536' +31859' +0006' +35655' +0104' +35629' +35431' +34809' +3029' +3217' +31841' +31432' +31336' +31337' +31102' +0933' -2250' -2510' -2142' -2200' -2510' -2142' -2200' -2510' -1952' -2323' -2724 -2510' -3236' -3225' -2500' -2209' -2726' -2445' +2956' +3308' +2020' +2210' -0544' -0359' -4307' -3910' -4319' -4124' -3302' -2859' -0513' -0757' +4453' +4755' -5628' -5444' -4308' -4733' -0500 -0300' +2805' +2524' -3813' -4106' -0157' +0325' -3441' -3424' -4834' -4729' -1823' -2013' -5427' -5128' -5027' -3553' -3817' -3402' -3202' -7228' -7317' -6925' -6825' -5536' -5524' -5458' -5424' -4922' -4529' -2619' -2358' -3348' -3523' -3314' -1708' -1257' -3638'
43
68 69 70 71
1872 1873 1875 1875
05 11 01 09
17 23 24 30
21 05 12 1230
36.60 42.00 40.20 40.70
-118.10 -124.00 -120.50 -124.00
6.70 5.80 5.50
72 73
1876 1878
05 05
29 09
1855 0425
38.40 40.10
-122.90 -124.00
4.20 5.80
74 75
1881 1881
01 02
07 02 (01) 10 06 30 05 28 26
0225 0011
40.00 36.00
-122.00 -120.50
5.00 5.60
76 77 78 79 80 81
1881 1882 1883 1883 1884 1884
04 03 03 09 01 03
10 2145 1545 1230 0730 0040
37.40 36.90 36.90 34.20 41.10 37.10
-121.40 -121.20 -121.60 -119.90 -123.60 -122.20
5.90 5.70 5.60 6.00 5.70 5.90
82
1884
06
06
09
40.30
-122.30
4.20
83
1885
01
31
0545
40.40
-120.60
5.70
84 85 86 87
1885 1885 1885 1885
03 04 04 08
31 02 12 01
0756 1525 0405 0010
36.70 36.80 36.40 38.80
-121.30 -121.40 -121.00 -123.00
5.50 5.40 6.20 4.00
88
1887
06
03
1048
39.20
-119.80
6.30
44
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 1887 1887 1888 1888 1888 1888 1888 1888 1889 1889 1889 1889 1889 1889 1889 12 12 02 02 04 04 09 11 02 04 05 06 07 08 09 03 16 (12) 18 29 14 29 17 18 07 15 (14) 19 20 31 (29) 28 (27) 30

1855 1215 1050 2250 0330 0448 1151 2228 0520 0328 1110 06 1247 0215 0520 39.30 39.20 39.20 38.30 41.50 39.70 37.10 37.90 34.10 37.10 38.00 40.50 37.80 34.10 37.20 -123.60 -123.70 -123.60 -122.70 -120.50 -120.70 -121.80 -122.30 -116.70 -121.90 -121.90 -120.70 -122.20 -117.90 -118.70 4.90 4.40 4.90 4.20 4.60 5.90 4.50 4.30 5.30 4.80 6.00 5.90 5.20 5.20 5.60 Mars Jupiter Mercury Moon Mercury No correlation Moon Uranus Mercury Venus Uranus Mars Mercury Venus Uranus Neptune Moon Neptune Moon Moon Uranus Sun Neptune Sun Mars Mercury Mars Mercury Moon Mercury Venus Mars Saturn Moon Jupiter Jupiter Mercury Venus Sun Mercury Venus Mars Moon No correlation Saturn Mars Mars Moon Sun Mercury Sun Mercury Venus Moon Sun Neptune Moon Venus Neptune Mercury Saturn Venus Venus Mercury Mercury Jupiter Mars Mercury Mercury Sun Venus Moon Saturn Mercury Sun Saturn Sun Jupiter Saturn +0302' +4232' +4016' +3747' +4138' +11857' +12456' +2218' +2212' +20601' +20433' +31554' +31708' +31400' +15109' +14206' +27635' +27527' +17620' +17532' +35138' +34804' +35046' +35156' +35328' +0315' +35951' +31941' +32230' +3226' +3205' +3641' +25250' +25055' +4426' +3007' +33012' +32844' +33352' +33232' +23221' +23525' +2739' +2804' +9745' +10032' +34920' +35133' +34937' +35534' +31210' +31117' +35139' +35039' +31341' +31224' +0657' +0143' +5420' +5226' +35509' +35809' +1237' +1123' +32631' +32320' +35327' +34809' +2445' +2229' +31611' +31053' +34909' +35351' +34802' +35337' +21224' -3413' -6802' -6639' -6724' -7026' +3011' +3219' -5444' -5340' +4747' +4831' -5356' -5236' -5227' +7250' +6927' +2415' +1749' +5316' +4847' -3451' -3528' -3119' -3043 -3550' -3308' -3341' -4107' -4515' -3855' -3841' -3425' -1547' -1324' -7203' -7040' -6915' -6658' -3051' -3224' +1011' +1326' -4734' -4826' -3022' -3218' -4301' -4219' -4222' -4336' -0924 -0925' -3310' -3430' -1150' -1217' -3440' -3257' -4216' -4602' -5305' -5022' -4046' -3941' -2624' -2530' -4259' -3902' -2837' -2401' -5548' -5831' -6647' -6401' -4137' -4002' +3226'
104
1890
02
09
1206
33.40
-116.30
6.30
105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113
1890 1890 1891 1891 1892 1892 1892 1892 1892
04 07 01 10 02 04 04 04 05
24 26 02 12 24 (21) 19 21 30 28
1136 0940 20 0628 0720 1050 1743 0009 1115
36.90 40.50 37.30 38.30 32.70 38.40 38.50 38.40 33.20
-121.60 -124.20 -121.80 -122.40 -116.30 -122.00 -121.90 -121.80 -116.20
6.00 6.00 5.50 5.50 6.70 6.40 6.20 5.50 6.30
114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124
1892 1892 1893 1893 1893 1893 1894 1894 1894 1896 1897
06 11 04 05 06 08 07 09 10 08 06
14 (12) 13 04 19 30 09 30 (29) 30 23 17 20
1325 1245 1940 0035 1330 0915 0512 1736 2303 1130 2014
34.20 36.80 34.30 34.10 38.00 38.40 34.30 40.30 32.80 36.70 37.00
-117.50 -121.50 -118.60 -119.40 -122.40 -122.60 -117.60 -123.70 -116.80 -118.30 -121.50
4.90 5.60 5.40 5.50 4.60 5.10 5.90 5.80 5.70 5.90 6.20

125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 1898 1898 1899 1899 1899 1899 1899 1899 1899 03 04 04 04 06 07 07 07 10 31 15 16 (14) 30 (27) 02 06 22 22 13 0743 0707 1340 2241 0719 2010 0046 2032 05 38.20 39.20 41.00 36.90 37.70 37.20 34.20 34.30 38.40 -122.40 -123.80 -124.40 -121.70 -122.50 -121.50 -117.40 -117.50 -122.70 6.20 6.40 5.70 5.60 5.40 5.80 5.50 6.50 4.00 Uranus Venus Mercury Mercury Venus Moon Neptune Uranus Moon No correlation Venus Neptune Saturn Moon Saturn Moon Mercury Venus Jupiter Mars Uranus Mercury Sun Mercury Moon Neptune Jupiter Uranus Jupiter Uranus Mercury Mars Uranus Jupiter Jupiter Uranus Saturn Jupiter Sun Uranus Jupiter Mars Saturn Mars Saturn Jupiter Mercury Sun Saturn Jupiter Sun Mars No correlation Moon Uranus Moon Uranus Neptune Mercury Mercury Neptune Mars Venus Neptune Mars Venus Venus Mars Sun Mercury Uranus Moon Uranus Moon No correlation Uranus Venus +21114' +33217' +33018' +33219' +33231' +30022' +30106' +14139' +14111' +1232' +1313' +21409' +20948' +21409' +20948' +32841' +33242' +30012' +29622' +27159' +27150' +25738' +25549' +11436' +11807' +32606' +31700' +8555' +8509' +29003' +29038' +20236' +20645' +21243' +20938' +29909' +30626' +25452' +25612' +23456' +23638' +23613' +24913' +25033' +24922' +26102' +26107' +25615' +25432' +29230' +29329' +10806' +11143' +10806' +11143' +29444' +29134' +31116' +31016' +32301' +32347' +32506' +32337' +32259' +2206' +2206' +34619' +34508' +24652' +24804' +24652' +24804' +32039' +31206' +3038' -4324' -3854' -3123' -3600' -0141' -0442' +2407' +2008' -3122' -3203' +2622' +2451' +2622' +2451' -6349' -6256' -5814' -5821' -3322' -3040' -0743 -0841' +5243' +5424' -6210' -6128' -3358 -3635' -1429' -1053' +2027' +2020' +1747' +1802' -5424' -5848' -1704 -1819' +0214' -0026' +0134' -1054' -1038' -0912' -3324' -3007' -1927' -1636' -1123' -1555' -0803 -0840' -0803 -0840' +0343' +0757' -1830' -1343' -2117' -2321' -2420' -2144' -2254' -2932' -2809' -3900' -3720' -0610' -0143' -0610' -0143' -7554' -7442'
45
134 135
1899 1900
12 02
25 09
1225 1230
33.80 38.20
-117.00 -122.70
6.60 -
136
1900
04
30
2241
36.90
-121.60
4.50
137 138 139 140
1900 1900 1901 1901
09 09 03 12
20 28 03 11
0755 1217 0745 2158
37.90 37.00 36.00 37.30
-122.30 -121.60 -120.50 -121.60
5.50 -
141 142
1901 1901
12 12
14 27
1613 11
37.90 34.10
-122.30 -117.30
143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156
1902 1902 1902 1902 1902 1902 1902 1902 1902 1902 1902 1902 1902 1902
04 05 05 05 06 07 07 07 08 08 09 09 09 12
19 19 21 (23) 22 11 08 28 31 01 11 11 (9) 11 (9) 18 12
1609 1831 0620 0740 0245 0945 0657 0920 0330 1410 0530 07 1151 -
37.80 38.30 38.20 33.80 33.70 33.70 34.60 34.70 34.60 37.80 34.80 34.80 37.90 34.80
-122.20 -121.90 -122.00 -117.90 -117.10 -117.90 -120.40 -120.30 -120.40 -122.40 -120.30 -120.30 -122.60 -120.40
5.50 4.00 4.50 5.50 -
46
157 158 159 160 1903 1903 1903 1903 01 06 07 07 08 11 (9) 24 29

0030 1312 2026 0713 35.30 37.60 39.50 35.70 -119.00 -121.80 -122.00 -121.30 5.50 4.50 Sun Venus Saturn Moon Uranus Sun Mercury Mars Moon Sun Mercury Uranus Moon Moon Neptune Uranus Mercury Saturn Mars Venus Jupiter Venus Jupiter Jupiter Venus Venus Sun No correlation Moon Jupiter Mercury Sun Saturn Venus Mercury Uranus Sun Mercury Sun Moon Moon Saturn Moon Uranus Mercury Sun Uranus Mercury Mars Saturn Uranus Sun Mercury Venus Moon Pluto Venus Sun Saturn Moon Saturn Moon Saturn Moon Saturn Moon Saturn Moon Saturn Moon Saturn Moon Saturn Moon Saturn Moon Saturn Moon Saturn +32454' +29626' +29728' +16604' +16328' +34707' +34859' +26305' +26550' +34651' +34150' +21956' +21854' +6506' +5854' +30127' +29241' +27802' +27608' +1720' +0722' +28741' +28746' +29115' +28930' +28559' +28902' +15005' +14618' +25752' +25334' +23632' +23342' +26322' +26029' +27055' +26900' +27814' +27454' +0952' +1221' +12101' +12508' +28203' +28057' +24242' +24252' +22447' +22334' +25209' +25342' +26559' +26100' +17254' +17216' +26415' +26629' +29447' +29659' +29447' +29659' +29447' +29659' +29447' +29659' +29447' +29659' +29447' +29659' +29447' +29659' +29447' +29659' +29538' +29119' +29538' +29119' +29538' -7620' -6625' -6507' +3536' +3042' -3423' -3247' -0807' -0832' -3528' -3348' +2046' +2633' -0400' -0414' -7125' -7055' -4600' -4246' -5328' -5137' -1850' -1717' -2033' -1623' +1058' +0636' +5631' +5827' -1828' -1641' +1625' +2030' -2701' -2945' -0422' +0053' -0113' -0126' -6524' -6645' +0854' +0725' -0515' -0013' -0135' -0405' +2950' +3038' -1540' -1748' -3006' -2825' +7411' +7058' -0224' -0623' -4435' -4929' -4435' -4929' -4435' -4929' -4435' -4929' -4435' -4929' -4435' -4929' -4435' -4929' -4435' -4929' -4514' -3848' -4514' -3848' -4514'
161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171
1903 1903 1903 1903 1904 1904 1904 1904 1904 1904 1905
08 09 12 12 04 04 05 (04) 07 08 12 01
03 16 (14) 09 25 16 21 01 (27) 30 (26) 27 14 (16) 01
0649 1210 1644 1745 0920 1150 1830 1026 2058 1510 2338
37.30 33.80 40.80 34.00 40.50 37.30 34.30 38.50 37.30 37.90 37.70
-121.80 -117.60 -124.20 -118.00 -122.40 -121.90 -119.30 -122.00 -121.60 -122.30 -122.50
5.50 4.00 4.50 4.00 4.50 4.00 4.00
172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179
1905 1905 1905 1905 1905 1905 1905 1905
01 03 04 05 07 09 (8) 12 12
06 19 (15) 04 26 (25) 15 (14) 03 (31) 03 23
1430 0440 1023 0250 2041 0540 1930 2223
35.50 34.00 37.30 37.70 34.10 34.00 37.80 35.30
-118.70 -119.50 -121.90 -119.60 -117.30 -118.30 -122.50 -118.80
5.00 4.00 5.00
180
1906
03
03
2025
33.00
-117.00
4.50
181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191
1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906
04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04
18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 19 19 19
1312 1614 1615 1619 19 2230 2235 23 0028 0030 0930
37.70 37.70 37.70 37.70 37.70 37.70 37.70 37.70 32.70 32.50 42.70
-122.50 -122.50 -122.50 -122.50 -122.50 -122.50 -122.50 -122.50 -117.20 -115.50 -120.60
8.25 6.00 -

192 193 194 195 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 1906 04 04 04 04 05 05 05 05 05 05 05 05 05 06 12 20 23 (24) 25 25 02 07 07 10 15 15 17 18 19 05 07 0415 0848 20 2315 0530 0410 05 1457 0120 0932 0818 0421 0454 0751 0640 39.60 41.00 37.70 37.70 38.50 39.20 39.20 41.00 37.70 39.20 37.70 37.70 40.00 37.70 35.30 -119.30 -124.00 -122.50 -122.50 -123.00 -122.90 -122.90 -123.00 -122.50 -121.10 -122.50 -122.50 -124.00 -122.50 -120.70 4.00 4.00 Moon Mercury Moon Moon Venus Mars Venus Mars Venus Venus Mars Mars Venus Mars Venus Jupiter Mars Venus Jupiter Mars Jupiter Mars Jupiter Mars Jupiter Mars Jupiter Mars Neptune Venus Jupiter Neptune Mercury Venus Sun Uranus Sun Uranus Jupiter Neptune Mercury Sun Jupiter Neptune Jupiter Mercury Sun Venus Moon Pluto No correlation Saturn Sun Venus Mars Saturn Moon Mercury Moon Mercury Mars Mercury Venus Sun Neptune Jupiter Mercury Mars Mars Sun Jupiter Venus No correlation Mercury Sun Moon Neptune +29119' +28749' +28717' +27538' +28007' +27906' +28018' +27906' +28018' +28126' +28101' +28217' +28159' +28217' +28159' +28041' +28300' +28211' +28239' +28407' +28239' +28407' +0228' +0302' +0318' +0318' +0407' +0334' +35212' +34926' +15953' +14826' +7254' +7428' +6151' +6439' +6040' +6827' +33549' +33528' +2605' +2315' +34641' +34922' +3914' +4023' +3402' +3101' +15723' +16807' +29905' +29957' +28203' +27859' +33302' +33436' +31512' +31312' +29947' +29545' +31007' +30855' +31351' +31048' +30908' +31031' +30723' +31032' +30534' +35720' +35156' +29233' +28657' +19422' +18824' -3848' -2044' -2803' +1401' +1801' +2353' +1824' +2353' +1824' +2105' +2255' +2212' +2256' +2212' +2256' +2427' +2145' +2402' +2130' +2100' +2130' +2100' -3319' -3215' -3315' -3209' -3311' -3203' -3241' -3004' +7822' +7612' -5228' -5616' -6922' -6842' -6928' -6636' -2807' -2904' -3110' -3138' -3113' -3227' -2339' -2526' -4830' -4843' +7634' +7118' -2745' -2447' +1341' +1735' -4132' -4705' -2310' -2713' +0645' +0856' -1028' -0839' -0724' -0635' -1503' -1424' -1413' -2100' -2108' -3500' -3642' -3520' -3440' +6908' +6707'
47
206 207 208
1907 1907 1907
01 01 05
01 08 (04) 22
12 2345 0652
41.50 37.00 34.00
-122.90 -122.10 -117.4
209 210 211 212 213 214
1907 1907 1907 1907 1908 1908
06 08 09 11 01 03
05 11 20 22 27 23
0827 1219 0154 0930 02 1357
37.60 40.80 34.20 39.50 40.30 33.00
-122.00 -124.20 -117.10 -119.90 -120.30 -115.50
4.00 6.00 -
215 216 217 218
1908 1908 1908 1908
04 04 05 07
25 (27) 29 30 03
1133 0841 1938 1255
36.60 37.00 38.80 34.00
-121.80 -122.10 -121.10 -117.50
4.50 4.00 4.00
219 220 221 222 223 224
1908 1908 1908 1908 1909 1909
08 09 10 11 02 03
18 04 18 04 14 (12) 03 (01)
1059 0821 0837 1555 12
40.80 35.30 36.80 36.00 38.10 39.40
-124.00 -119.00 -121.40 -117.00 -121.70 -120.90
5.00 6.50 4.50 5.00
48
225 226 1909 1909 05 06 18 23

0119 0724 41.00 39.40 -124.00 -120.80 5.50 Sun Venus Neptune Venus Jupiter Moon Moon Saturn Venus Uranus Mars Moon Sun Moon Neptune Moon Saturn Sun Mercury Moon Venus Neptune Moon Jupiter Moon Neptune Venus Moon Mercury Jupiter Mars Venus Mercury Sun Uranus Moon Sun Venus Mercury Sun Venus Sun Venus Sun Venus Mercury Uranus Mercury Uranus Moon Venus Mars Uranus Venus Saturn Sun Moon Mercury Saturn Sun Mercury Mars Saturn Mars Saturn Sun Jupiter Venus Jupiter Venus Mars Venus Mars Sun Mars Uranus Venus Jupiter Sun +31328' +30939' +30156' +30234' +25544' +25533' +13521' +13441' +24642' +24748' +19431' +19449' +29541' +28848' +22010' +21829' +30114' +30546' +30213' +35045' +35054' +29005' +29401' +21635' +21957' +35335' +0022' +31433' +30754' +33832' +33408' +31314' +30852' +30323' +24841' +24440' +29732' +30109' +28903' +29634' +29909' +29605' +29810' +29605' +29810' +27220' +27306' +27536' +27528' +27309' +27742' +5849' +5916' +30140' +30014' +31738' +31646' +33604' +33512' +33009' +33252' +6350' +6151' +6350' +6151' +29612' +30409' +4626' +4242' +26537' +26052' +25929' +26059' +26257' +26033' +23004' +22758' +25028' +25157' -1114' -0727' +0006' +0142' +2711' +3053' +3906' +4100' -1158' -0910' +4356' +3803' -2802' -2648' +6225' +6711' -1713' -1955' -1422' -5035' -4552' +0914' +1050' +4918' +5120' -3344' -3304' -2356' -2459' -6408' -6442' -6230' -6217' -6128' -0728' -0951' -6315' -6344' -6100' -6327' -6344' -6332' -6342' -6332' -6342' -4439' -4517' -4614' -4820' -5751' -5417' -6751' -6714' -1659' -1940' -4254' -4814' -3808' -3843' -2555' -2542' -0941' -1120' -0941' -1120' -6331' -6503' -6749' -7151' +1258' +1509' +1050' +0929' -1100' -0855' +1644' +1655' -1159' -1436'
227 228
1909 1909
10 11
29 (27) 22
0645 1521
40.50 36.70
-124.20 -121.40
6.00 4.50
229 230 231 232 233 234 235
1910 1910 1910 1910 1910 1910 1910
03 03 04 05 05 05 08
11 19 11 06 (05) 13 (12) 15 (18) 05
0652 0011 0757 1640 0620 1547 0127
36.90 40.00 33.70 37.33 33.70 33.70 40.83
-121.80 -125.00 -117.40 -118.42 -117.40 -117.40 -124.17
5.50 6.00 5.00 5.50 5.00 6.00 -
236
1910
11
07
1720
37.50
-117.00
237 238 239 240 241 242
1910 1910 1910 1910 1910 1910
11 11 11 11 12 12
19 21 22 22 27 31
0225 2323 0030 0605 1715 1211
38.00 38.00 38.00 38.00 33.25 36.83
-118.00 -118.00 -118.00 -118.00 -115.50 -121.42
5.00
243 244
1911 1911
03 03
11 29
2130 0425
36.83 34.00
-121.42 -120.40
4.50 -
245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254
1911 1911 1911 1911 1911 1912 1912 1912 1912 1912
05 07 08 08 11 01 08 09 10 12
10 01 11 11 22 05 31 12 25 14
1340 22 1820 2340 0257 0354 0453 1727 0316 -
34.10 37.25 33.80 33.80 34.10 37.33 38.92 37.33 36.83 34.00
-118.80 -121.75 -116.70 -116.70 -117.30 -118.42 -120.33 -122.17 -121.42 -119.00
4.00 6.60 4.00 4.50 5.50 4.50 4.50 -

Mercury Mars Neptune Moon Moon Mars Moon Mars Venus Moon Uranus Sun Mercury Venus Jupiter Uranus Jupiter Jupiter Uranus Mars Neptune Neptune Venus Sun Saturn Sun Mercury Pluto Saturn Pluto Saturn Mercury Sun Mercury Sun Mars Mercury Sun Mars Mercury Sun Mars Mars Uranus Mars Uranus Mars Mercury Mars Mercury Mars Mercury Mars Mercury Mars Mercury Jupiter Venus Mercury Sun Saturn Pluto Saturn Pluto Venus Mars Saturn Pluto Mercury Saturn Pluto Mercury Saturn Pluto Mercury Saturn Pluto +26233' +25912' +17402' +17534' +1235' +1403' +1235' +1403' +28549' +27943' +25142' +25318' +25122' +25352' +25405' +26356' +26444' +26538' +26456' +20232' +20543' +27040' +27312' +29036' +29103' +25915' +26222' +4837' +4542' +4923' +4628' +26404' +25859' +25206' +25106' +25101' +25141' +25105' +25107' +24752' +25140' +25253' +26058' +26147' +26232' +26416' +26454' +26838' +26619' +27020' +27916' +27740' +27916' +27740' +27942' +27755' +28827' +28729' +28315' +28306' +26212' +25406' +26326' +25544' +29452' +29514' +26925' +26328' +28103' +27731' +27331' +28103' +27731' +27331' +30719' +30828' +30629' -2336' -2441' +7654' +8229' -2757' -3046' -2757' -3046' -2427' -2555' -0616' -0902' -0953' -1322' -1225' -2449' -2655' -2806' -2620' +7759' +7521' +3738' +3838' +1129' +0827' -1322' -1529' -2041' -1715' -2004' -1638' -1650' -1330' -1747' -1318' -1448' -1713' -1311' -1454' -0739' -1108' -1611' -1810' -1925' -1824' -2312' -1844' -1610' -1855' -2115' -2020' -1945' -2020' -1945' -2023' -1903' -3414' -3205' +0250' +0555' +5352' +5314' +5225' +5141' -2303' -2125' +4431' +4302' +3142' +3145' +2842' +3142' +3145' +2842' -0759' -1130' -1552'
49
255 256 257 258 259
1913 1913 1913 1913 1914
04 10 10 10 01
13 20 (21) 21 25 (27) 24
1045 1125 0938 0945 0333
34.20 35.20 33.80 37.67 37.58
-117.30 -120.60 -118.00 -122.42 -122.42
4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00
260 261 262 263
1914 1914 1914 1914
02 02 04 06
18 20 24 16
1817 10 0834 1052
39.50 39.50 39.50 34.20
-119.80 -120.00 -119.80 -119.20
5.00
6.40 -
264
1914
11
08
1140
34.00
-118.50
4.50
265
1914
11
09
0231
37.17
-122.00
5.50
266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277
1914 1914 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915 1915
12 12 01 02 02 02 03 04 04 04 04 04
28 29 12 16 22 (21) 28 04 05 05 06 17 28
1042 10 0431 1330 1044 1250 2140 2311 1628 0627 0310
37.17 33.00 34.70 33.10 40.58 36.58 33.10 38.60 38.58 36.92 38.67 33.00
-122.17 -117.00 -120.30 -116.60 -121.82 -121.92 -116.60 -119.50 -119.50 -121.75 -119.75 -115.50
4.50 5.50 4.50 5.00 4.00 -
278 279
1915 1915
04 05
30 11
0820 1145
33.00 33.10
-115.50 -116.60
280 281 282
1915 1915 1915
05 05 06
29 29 04
0646 0830 2110
36.08 36.08 40.50
-118.82 -118.83 -124.00
5.00 4.50 -
50
283 284 285 1915 1915 1915 06 06 07 18 23 03

1505 0456 2345 33.80 32.80 32.80 -118.50 -115.50 -115.50 6.25 Mercury Saturn Mercury Saturn Mercury Pluto Sun Saturn Pluto Mercury Pluto Mercury Neptune Venus Mercury Mars Moon Sun Mercury Pluto Mars Pluto Mars Pluto Mars Mars Saturn Sun Venus Mars Saturn Sun Venus Moon Saturn Sun Venus Neptune Mars Neptune Mars No correlation No correlation +31239' +31659' +31746' +32020' +33123' +33008' +32325' +32732' +33106' +33243' +33106' +33243' +33239' +33052' +32932' +1849' +1958' +31717' +31225' +2157' +2224' +2157' +2224' +2300' +2240' +32014' +31835' +26741' +26921' +32014' +31835' +26741' +26921' +33935' +33734' +26122' +25733' +32550' +32815' +32741' +32854' -1753' -1845' -2307' -2105' -3121' -3119' -2237' -2514' -3142' -3149' -3142' -3149' -3044' -2918' -2834' -2946' -2543' -3049' -2746' -3404' -2812' -3404' -2812' -3346' -2807' -2014' -2037' +1353' +1430' -2014' -2037' +1353' +1430' -2753' -3001' +0717' +1057' -2812' -2722' -2905' -2754' -
286 287 288
1915 1915 1915
07 07 08
04 04 05
0045 05 1630
32.80 32.80 40.42
-115.50 -115.50 -121.57
289 290 291 292 293
1915 1915 1915 1915 1915
08 08 08 08 09
18 19 19 20 08
2240 04 2240 04 0742
32.80 32.80 32.80 32.80 32.70
-115.50 -115.50 -115.50 -115.50 -117.20
294
1915
09
08
1245
35.67
-120.67
295
1915
10
01
1526
37.50
-122.33
4.00
296 297 298 299
1915 1915 1915 1915
10 10 11 11
08 10 21 21
0526 0506 0013 0410
37.83 34.20 32.00 32.00
-122.25 -116.90 -115.00 -115.00
4.50 7.10 -
TABLE 3 - Sierra Nevada

YYY/MM/DD
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 2008/01/22 2007/03/21 2006/05/18 2005/07/23 2004/09/28 2003/12/26 2003/02/23 2002/04/29 2001/06/19 2000/08/19 1999/10/15 1998/12/11 1998/02/08 1997/04/08 1996/06/10
HH:mm:SS.ss
11:52:59.83 00:36:26.33 09:31:08.03 15:29:22.59 03:02:33.73 06:02:32.39 03:21:10.31 17:02:23.70 20:32:36.52 02:00:59.88 12:09:12.37 15:34:59.33 17:24:46.76 20:01:51.75 14:48:27.75
M
1 1 0.0 1.7 1 1 1.3 1.2 1.7 1.5 1.6 1.2 1.2 1.1 1
LAT
36.023 36.038 36.007 36.069 36.085 36.027 36.083 36.074 36.024 36.044 36.079 36.075 36.069 36.088 36.017
LON
-117.792 -117.769 -117.798 -117.631 -117.850 -117.877 -117.896 -117.646 -117.886 -117.712 -117.849 -117.881 -117.867 -117.658 -117.814
Depth
2.8 1.9 0.8 2.7 4.7 5.4 3.5 4.4 5.3 2.1 3.1 2.1 3.7 2.4 6.0
Planet
Neptune Mercury Mars Neptune Mercury Sun Sun Saturn Mars Mercury Jupiter Sun Mercury Neptune Mercury Mars Saturn Moon Saturn Mercury Sun Mars Moon Mars Moon Mercury Uranus Sun Venus Venus Sun
Azimuth
+26824' +26841' +32813' +32527' +31116' +31117' +30929' +30959' +30139' +30246' +30248' +27301' +27607' +29749' +29204' +29235' +28932' +32542' +32938' +30729' +30456' +23416' +24042' +3337' +3353' +28142' +28411' +30149' +29954' +31303' +31253'
Height
-2152' -2140' -6508' -6239' -1425' -1458' -1322' -1318' -3321' -3250' -3328' -4329' -4237' -5500' -5152' +0829' +0920' -2439' -2537' -1834' -1931' +0330' +0345' -4813' -4612' -4550' -4630' -2320' -2216' -1255' -1153'

16 17 18 1995/08/05 1994/10/06 1993/12/08 15:01:14.56 11:52:12.85 08:51:07.46 1 1 1.1 36.061 36.022 36.017 -117.873 -117.801 -117.791 3.5 2.6 2.8 Venus Sun Neptune Uranus Neptune Uranus Mercury Venus Neptune Uranus Sun Saturn Venus Mercury Moon Saturn Neptune Moon Neptune Saturn Sun Mercury Saturn Uranus Jupiter Sun Sun Moon Mars Sun Mars Neptune Moon Saturn Jupiter Uranus Mercury Sun Jupiter Saturn +31152' +30732' +21255' +21036' +25555' +25436' +29045' +28455' +29733' +29532' +27857' +27616' +30835' +30956' +9557' +9345' +15702' +15638' +21830' +21955' +27635' +27510' +34329' +34106' +30136' +29955' +31250' +31100' +31200' +30913' +22623' +22748' +31937' +31859' +5045' +5022' +30148' +30201' +22032' +21727' -1626' -1544' +2339' +2349' -1632' -1625' -5437' -5137' -6053' -6125' -3647' -3317' -4115' -3818' -2323' -2630' +2647' +2245' +1937' +1805' -4500' -4513' -7323' -7432' -3036' -2436' -1213' -0526' -1350' -1340' +1000' +1308' -5837' -5854' -6511' -6631' -2509' -2312' +4536' +4657'
51
19
1993/02/04
08:59:17.70
1.2
36.012
-117.924
3.7
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
1992/04/04 1991/06/01 1990/08/03 1989/10/01 1988/12/01 1988/02/05 1987/04/03 1986/06/07 1985/07/25 1984/10/01 1983/12/01 1983/02/06 1982/04/09 1981/06/10
08:32:47.45 09:12:58.70 01:11:58.99 11:53:39.70 03:47:07.11 00:36:28.79 06:05:24.21 19:14:57.33 12:11:11.53 01:34:39.80 15:07:41.02 16:15:05.64 15:48:04.48 07:53:04.22
1.3 1.5 0.0 0.0 1.3 2.4 1.4 1.4 0.0 2.5 1 1 1 1
36.035 36.017 36.091 36.011 36.088 36.005 36.197 36.004 36.060 36.020 36.062 36.036 36.010 36.002
-117.888 -117.539 -117.872 -117.741 -117.842 -116.735 -117.888 -117.896 -117.862 -117.361 -117.733 -117.791 -117.843 -117.778
5.3 8.1 8.6 7.1 2.4 6.0 2.8 4.5 6.0 6.0 0.2 4.1 5.4 6.0
TABLE 4 - Los Angeles area

YYY/MM/DD
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 2008/01/18 2007/03/20 2006/05/20 2005/07/23 2004/09/28 2003/12/26 2003/02/24 2002/04/29 2001/06/19 2000/08/19 1999/10/15 1998/12/11 1998/02/08 1997/04/08 1996/06/10 1995/08/05
HH:mm:SS.ss
02:06:09.90 11:34:50.35 20:52:32.90 11:52:55.89 08:43:13.68 03:42:09.79 05:58:27.66 22:34:07.58 10:32:45.36 01:08:05.78 01:41:46.97 17:24:42.17 00:47:58.12 01:08:08.82 00:14:46.74 05:44:39.58
M
2.9 1.4 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.8 2 1.9 1.8 1.5 1.4 1.8 1.6 1.1 1.3 1.5
LAT
34.884 34.527 34.412 34.408 34.229 34.237 33.878 34.298 34.247 34.247 34.389 34.653 34.270 34.345 34.247 34.375
LON
-118.971 -118.790 -118.617 -118.588 -118.480 -118.701 -118.789 -118.400 -118.081 -118.617 -118.527 -118.950 -118.726 -118.673 -118.487 -118.621
Depth
7.2 14.0 4.0 7.7 13.3 11.2 19.2 7.7 9.3 9.1 14.9 15.0 24.1 14.4 16.0 6.4
Planet
Mercury Neptune Mars Neptune Sun Mercury Sun Saturn Mars Mercury Jupiter Sun Mercury Mercury Neptune Mars Saturn Moon Saturn Mercury Sun Mars Moon Mars Moon Mercury Uranus Sun Venus Venus Sun Venus
Azimuth
+12549' +12035' +20239' +19943' +13513' +12906' +30929' +30959' +30139'+30 246' +30248' +27301' +27607' +17559' +18236' +29235' +28932' +32542' +32938' +30729' +30456' +23416' +24042' +3337' +3353' +28142' +28411' +30149' +29954' +31303' +31253' +31152'
Height
+0939' +0830' +3226' +3517' +6655' +6623' -1322' -1318' -3321' -3250' -3328' -4329' -4237' +3440' +3457' +0829' +0920' -2439' -2537' -1834' -1931' +0330' +0345' -4813' -4612' -4550' -4630' -2320' -2216' -1255' -1153' -1626'
52
17 1994/10/06

01:28:44.11 1.2 34.307 -118.478 5.0 Sun Mercury Moon Neptune Uranus Uranus Neptune Mercury Venus Neptune Uranus Sun Saturn Venus Mercury Mars Jupiter Uranus Neptune Saturn Moon Neptune Saturn Mercury Sun Saturn Uranus Uranus Saturn Jupiter Sun Mercury Moon Mars Sun Mars Neptune Uranus Sun Moon Jupiter Uranus Mercury Sun Jupiter Saturn +30732' +10342' +11018' +27422' +27135' +13203' +13204' +17806' +17307' +29733' +29532' +27857' +27616' +30835' +30956' +8321' +8245' +27513' +27446' +0951' +0814' +21830' +21955' +16321' +16346' +14226' +14456' +20405' +20507' +15551' +14739' +9935' +9142' +31200' +30913' +10830' +10544' +16621' +16341' +16015' +28016' +28014' +14811' +14614' +6644' +6439' -1544' +5413' +5354' -4025' -3810' +1255' +1410' +3155' +3045' -6053' -6125' -3647' -3317' -4115' -3818' +2519' +2134' -4545' -4217' -7314' -7500' +1937' +1805' +2718' +2829' +1937' +1952' +2442' +2543' +5147' +5258' +5511' +5102' -1350' -1340' -1749' -1550' +2915' +2818' +2616' -4653' -4806' +5508' +5600' -2452' -2644'
18
1993/12/09
13:23:38.61
2.4
34.491
-118.683
15.0
19
1993/02/04
03:13:22.02
1.6
34.503
-118.581
5.2
20 21
1992/04/04 1991/06/05
21:18:01.75 18:43:24.05
1.8 1.8
34.045 34.474
-118.690 -118.528
21.7 5.8
22 23 24
1990/08/04 1989/10/01 1988/12/02
18:36:18.39 07:13:43.37 01:44:32.96
1.9 0.0 2.0
34.011 34.580 34.377
-118.867 -118.503 -118.557
2.1 9.0 4.7
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
1988/02/01 1987/04/02 1986/06/09 1985/07/25 1984/10/03 1983/12/04 1983/02/05 1982/04/10 1981/06/06
06:55:04.98 09:16:27.68 00:20:49.27 07:42:21.79 10:12:12.63 21:28:18.61 17:19:39.44 14:38:30.57 07:14:12.31
2.5 1.7 1.2 1.2 1.8 2.4 0.0 1 1.8
34.634 33.813 34.456 34.436 34.398 34.642 34.150 34.461 34.130
-118.593 -118.506 -118.854 -118.550 -118.690 -118.511 -118.996 -118.005 -118.122
9.9 12.8 16.1 4.1 2.6 9.6 4.5 10.3 14.8
TABLE 5 - Mojave region

YYY/MM/DD
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 2008/01/21 2007/03/20 2006/05/18 2005/07/23 2004/09/28 2003/12/26 2003/02/23 2002/04/28 2001/06/19 2000/08/19 1999/10/14 1998/12/13 1998/02/08
HH:mm:SS.ss
09:13:23.05 03:29:19.04 10:11:52.14 11:28:35.52 12:58:11.64 01:14:01.67 08:01:15.33 03:42:42.30 22:14:28.94 11:42:59.53 20:54:43.88 06:12:54.47 21:20:44.24
M
1.1 1.3 3.3 1.4 1.8 1.6 1 1 1.7 1.1 2.0 1.6 1
LAT
34.047 34.005 34.043 34.087 34.035 34.059 34.005 34.031 33.949 34.016 34.020 34.110 34.017
LON
-117.264 -117.180 -117.028 -117.298 -117.254 -117.251 -117.575 -117.115 -117.224 -117.146 -117.556 -117.474 -117.211
Depth
15.8 6.8 12.2 15.7 16.5 14.2 4.4 9.5 15.1 12.5 6.9 6.2 16.2
Planet
Neptune Mercury Mars Neptune Mercury Sun Sun Saturn Mars Mercury Jupiter Sun Mercury Neptune Mercury Mars Saturn Moon Saturn Mercury Sun Moon Mars Sun Venus Mercury Sun
Azimuth
+13543' +13701' +20239' +19943' +31116' +31117' +30929' +30959' +30139' +30246' +30248' +27301' +27607' +29749' +29204' +9440' +9419' +32542' +32938' +30729' +30456' +11425' +11404' +16255' +15153' +30729' +30456'
Height
+2459' +2517' +3226' +3517' -1425' -1458' -1322' -1318' -3321' -3250' -3328' -4329' -4237' -5500' -5152' +4500' +4117' -2439' -2537' -1834' -1931' -0028' -0933' +2710' +2235' -1834' -1931'

14 15 16 17 1997/04/07 1996/06/10 1995/08/05 1994/10/06 10:08:16.03 23:48:15.54 23:52:45.29 09:12:37.95 1 1.2 1.5 1.2 34.041 34.022 34.057 34.006 -117.246 -117.097 -117.304 -117.012 16.9 6.0 13.9 6.0 Sun Venus Moon Venus Sun Venus Sun Mercury Moon Neptune Uranus Neptune Uranus Mercury Venus Neptune Uranus Venus Mercury Moon Saturn Saturn Moon Neptune Saturn Sun Mercury Saturn Uranus Sun Jupiter Sun Moon Mars Sun Mars Neptune Uranus Sun Jupiter Uranus Mercury Sun Jupiter Saturn +14642' +14434' +13932' +31303' +31253' +31152' +30732' +10342' +11018' +27422' +27135' +25555' +25436' +29045' +28455' +18719' +18656' +17603' +17531' +9557' +9345' +0951' +0814' +21830' +21955' +27635' +27510' +34329' +34106' +14748' +15445' +31250' +31100' +13350' +13146' +22623' +22748' +16817' +16332' +22915' +22744' +30148' +30201' +6644' +6439' +5503' +5346' +5148' -1255' -1153' -1626' -1544' +5413' +5354' -4025' -3810' -1632' -1625' -5437' -5137' +3036' +2934' +5005' +5231' -2323' -2630' -7314' -7500' +1937' +1805' -4500' -4513' -7323' -7432' +5235' +5126' -1213' -0526' +6739' +6454' +1000' +1308' +2933' +2800' +1401' +1401' -2509' -2312' -2452' -2644'
53
18
1993/12/08
15:04:13.99
1.2
34.015
-117.254
17.2
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
1993/02/05 1992/04/05 1991/06/01 1990/08/04 1989/10/01 1988/12/01 1988/02/05 1987/04/01 1986/06/07 1985/07/26 1984/10/01 1983/12/06 1983/02/05 1982/04/09 1981/06/06
12:37:42.27 00:40:01.27 13:16:21.91 00:58:23.38 02:40:56.56 21:43:57.63 22:51:37.04 08:27:15.74 07:15:54.63 20:45:01.09 11:58:17.08 09:38:53.36 11:29:32.29 00:00:36.57 01:54:31.21
1.2 1.6 2.3 1.7 1.2 0.0 0.0 1 2.1 1.2 1.9 1 1.4 0.0 1.8
34.018 34.075 34.048 34.030 34.000 34.001 34.123 34.022 34.042 34.107 34.041 34.034 34.026 34.074 34.049
-117.113 -117.285 -117.538 -117.574 -117.240 -117.082 -117.495 -117.272 -117.499 -117.284 -117.224 -117.125 -117.603 -117.137 -117.253
11.6 19.5 13.8 2.6 18.1 23.0 3.9 12.5 4.2 6.0 14.6 16.7 14.6 8.7 16.6
54
GEOID TECTONICS CHAPTER 3 GENERAL EFFECTS OF POLAR WANDER

Peter JAMES PO Box 95, Dunalley, Tasmania 7177, Australia pmjgeotech@yahoo.com.au
ABSTRACT The effects associated with (geographical) polar wander are twofold: geoid stress imposed on the Earths crust by changes in latitude; the effect of the change in centripetal acceleration on the distribution of the oceans. Some introductory discussion of the former shows that a migration of an element of crust from pole to equator, or vice versa, can be expected to cause deformation or, in certain cases, failure of the Earths crust. Massive changes in oceanic distribution, under polar wander, are evidenced by some boreholes from DSDP drilling program and by features such as submarine valleys. Fluctuation in ocean depths of some 4 km is implied. A relationship between oceanic redistribution and extinction events is mooted. Keywords: polar wander, geoid stress, ocean redistribution, extinction events
INITIAL DISCUSSION he Earth responds to the centripetal forces of its daily rotation in a quasi-hydrostatic fashion, by bulging at the equator and flattening at the poles. The resulting shape is described as an ellipsoid with a polar flattening of approximately 1/300. This is a simple way of saying that the equatorial radius is longer than the polar radius by just over 20 km, a difference of just over 0.3%: or that one degree of latitude corresponds to 110.6 km at the equator and to 111.7 km at the poles, a difference of 1%. This difference becomes important when we consider the response of an element of brittle crust moving across the latitudes. In doing so, the element encounters a changing radius of curvature associated with latitude change. This change need not be completely gradual, but probably more noticeable at the extremes: approaching the equatorial bulge and/or approaching the zones of polar flattening. For the purposes of simplicity in the model, however, a reasonably gradual change is assumed. If the element of crust were to move from a high, or polar, latitude to the equatorial zone, 1 the element would experience a sensation similar to being on the surface of a slowly expanding balloon. The element would have to increase its surface area, or stretch to accommodate the change (Figure 1). Stretching would be required both normal to, and parallel to, the equatorial alignment. The reverse would be true for any element moving from the equator to the high latitudes, in that the element would need to be compressed to adjust to a smaller surface area. The significant geological point of either eventuality is that the adjustments take place in the brittle materials of the Earths crust. Thus, whether one chooses the framework of mobile plate tectonics or that of (geographic) polar wander, one is inevitably faced with this situation of surface area changes in a brittle crust. The question has to be asked: How does the brittle, and non-homogeneous, crust accommodate itself to the changes? To date, plate tectonics has chosen not to pursue this matter to any degree, assuming that what we observe on the surface is diagnostic, not of brittle material behaviour, but of processes related to generally ductile materials at depth. This is somewhat akin to comparing chalk with cheese. A useful start on the effects of latitude change on the brittle crust can be made by looking at the stresses involved in the migration of an element of crust across the latitudes.
Here, committed mobilists could think of this as a result of continental drift, if they wish; it makes little difference to the initial argument.
55
The problem appears to have been first addressed by Heiskanen and Meinesz (1958), by developing a solution for the elastic deformation of a spherical shell under the required conditions of polar flattening. For the model chosen, the authors found that the stresses induced were independent of the thickness of the crust and dependent only on the magnitude of the latitude shift. Small shifts naturally produced small shear stresses in the crust, but a full polar-to-equatorial shift imposed shear stresses calculated to be of the order of 1.28 x 109 dyne/sq.cm, or 1.28 x 105 kPa (kiloPascals). This stress is referred to below as geoid stress and its maximum value can also be arrived at from a simple application of Hookes Law, using the strains involved in a full latitude shift combined with a reasonable deformation modulus for hard rock.
Figure 1
Stretching of element A under equatorial conditions, exaggerated.
Figure 2
Finite elements simulation of the effects of equatorial stretching, vectorially, on an interface area between two crustal units. Maximum stresses occur in the thinner oceanic crust, adjacent to the interface.
56
On reaching their conclusions, the above authors assumed a crust that was isotropic and homogeneous, but conditions are obviously not so simple in reality. The brittle skin of the Earth comprises patches of thick continental shield, sometimes with fringing fold mountains and/or sedimentary regimes, spotting broad expanses of thin oceanic crust. This, again, is a simplification but, for the purpose of developing the model, the crust could be treated as essentially bi-modal. The relevance of the bi-modal crust is that different behaviour is to be expected from each mode, under the imposed stresses. It is also highly likely that stresses become exacerbated at the interface of any two crustal elements. A simple finite element analysis was run some thirty years ago to simulate the stresses involved in the equatorial stretching of a bi-modal crust. The results were described in The Tectonics of Geoid Change but, briefly, the analysis indicated that stresses in the thinner oceanic crust were greatly exacerbated near the interface with the thicker element (Figure 2). This finding should be kept in mind later in the book, when discussing the conditions required for geosynclinal development. Now the relevance of the analysis by Heiskanen and Meinesz is this: the stress level produced by a maximum latitude change (pole to equator) exceeds the estimated creep strength of most rocks at the Moho, as described in the following Chapter (James, 2009). Thus, one could reasonably postulate at the outset that major shifts in latitude would set up creep processes in the asthenosphere and perhaps also the upper mantle, obliging these levels of the Earth to adjust to polar wander by some form of ductile creep process. The maximum geoid stress level is also slightly greater than that required to initiate failure in granites so that, under maximum compression, granites could well be injected into the crust. The adjustment of the brittle crust, itself, is amenable to analysis and is treated in some detail in following chapters. There is another consideration. Studies on fossil corals, described briefly in Chapter 1 (James, 2006a), indicate that there has been a slowing down in the rate of spin of the Earth over geological time. If this rate of deceleration is extrapolated backwards to early pre-Cambrian times, a rate of spin of something like twice the present rate is indicated. Being proportional to the square of the angular velocity, the kinetic energy of spin in early pre-Cambrian would then have been much higher than in more recent times. On this basis, the aforesaid authors, Heiskanen and Meinesz, postulated that there would have been a greater Earth ellipticity in preCambrian times and consequently greater shear stresses imposed on the crust under any changes in latitude. They went on to propose that the pattern of pre-Cambrian (Sonder) shears, still recognisable on the Earths surface today, may be the result of these earlier shear stress conditions. Certainly, the Earth contains many old fault systems that have been preserved from Cambrian and earlier times and these still exert influence on the geology of today (Choi, 2002 & 2003). The above approach deals with the stresses involved in latitude change. The problem can also be looked at from the point of view of the strains involved. The maximum strain that could be imposed on an element of crust would again be that of the full latitude shift from pole to equator. A crustal element of plan dimensions, d = 3,000 km, would subtend an angle of about half a radian at the centre of the earth. At the pole, d ( = 3,000 km) = rp . , where rp is the polar diameter. At the equator the element would be expected to accommodate to a value of re . , where the equatorial radius is some 20 - 25 km longer than the polar one. The adjustment that the element of crust would have to make in a journey from the pole to the equator would then be this difference in radius, r, multiplied by , assuming this is a relatively constant parameter, to a first order of accuracy. This stretching comes as just in excess of 12 km. For the 3000 km dimensions of the element of crust, this gives a strain of the order of 0.4%. Alternatively, one could take the differences between the polar and equatorial circumferences as an approximate form of strain and this gives much the same value. Strains of this order fall well within the pre-failure range of many brittle rocks under compression, particularly under moderate confining pressures, that is, at moderate depths. However, near the surface, and in tension, such strains can be disruptive. Basalts, for instance, can fail at strains as low as 0.2% in tension. Studies of mining subsidence also indicate that appreciable damage is obvious at the ground surface when ground strains reach a value of 0.2% To summarise the above:- The more ductile levels of the Earth - the lithosphere and perhaps the upper mantle might be amenable to geoid adjustment by creep processes, under large imposed stresses, but the same can not
57
be assumed, a priori, for the Earths brittle crust. Both the maximum stresses and the maximum strains imposed by geoid migration are capable of causing deformation beyond the elastic range and, under fairly extreme circumstances, failure of the crust. These effects will be analysed in more detail in the following chapter. Before that, however, it is convenient to look at some other general effects of polar wander and, indeed, of Earth wobbles - on the distribution of the Earths seas.
POLAR WANDER AND THE EARTHS OCEANS Distribution of the Waters Every point on the Earths surface is subject to centripetal accelerations by dint of the Earths rotation. Points along the equator experience the maximum and the magnitude decreases with the effective radius of rotation, that is, with latitude, to become virtually zero at the poles. A rough analogy might be made with the large spinning wheels one used to find in amusement parks, before the age of litigation. The further one moved out from the centre of these, the greater the radius of spin and the harder it was to hold onto ones position. Moving out from the centre of one of these wheels would be the equivalent of moving from pole to equator on the spinning Earth, although the centrifugal forces are, of course, relatively less for us. We do not notice any change in centrifugal forces when crossing the latitudes since gravity provides us with a much greater force. However, the same is not true for the veneer of water covering the planet. If the Earth were a spherical body, but otherwise identical to its present form, the forces of rotation would cause the oceans to amass at the equator and drain away from the poles. To a first approximation, this effect can be quantified by equating kinetic and potential energy of the situation and neglecting secondary effects such as changes in gravity and tidal effects. Thus, the height to which a column of water would rise at any latitude is given by: Potential energy m.g.h Or h g v Where h = = = = = Kinetic energy m.v2 v2 / 2g height of water column gravitational constant angular velocity, . r (i)
The term equals 2 radians in 24 hours and r is the effective radius of spin: zero at the poles and equal to the Earths radius at the equator. If one inserts these values into the above equation (i), the results are: Height of a column of water at the pole: 0 km Height of column of water at the equator: 11.9 km This variation in depth sounds large, but if the Earth were the size of a 30 cm diameter desk globe, the difference would amount to little more than a couple of millimetres, or the thickness of a postcard. Such a distribution of water on a spherical Earth does, however, assume that there is adequate water to cover the full surface area and, if so, the distribution would look like Line A on Figure 3. The actual distribution of the oceans is quite different and more orthogonal in shape, line B. 2 The Earths own quasi-hydrostatic response to the same rotational forces plays a large part in this regular oceanic distribution. It might be noted, however, that the actual ocean volume, given by the area under line B, is considerably less than the hypothetical line A. This means that, if the Earth were spherical, the present ocean volumes would be insufficient to cover the whole surface as shown by Line A and the higher latitudes would be generally dry. This deficient oceanic volume is important for the polar wander model. Under polar wander there would be an
2
This relates to an average ocean depth of approximately 4 km, covering two thirds of the surface.
58
immediate response in the seas to any change in the pattern of centripetal forces. Water would attempt to amass at the new equatorial location(s) while draining away from the new polar areas. The effect can be predicted for a sphere, but an Earth with continental masses and major geoidal features such as the equatorial bulge and the zones of polar flattening complicates the picture. Frictional effects need also to be taken into account. Furthermore, the major geoidal features themselves would attempt to adjust to the same changes, but presumably would take longer to respond. This delay would provide another complication although, with time, if a new equatorial bulge was able to establish itself ocean levels might be expected to return more or less to their previous datum. Let us take the example of a 45 shift in the geographic poles. Apart from nodal areas, the equatorial bulge would now find itself partly in mid latitudes, while a former pole would also be in the mid latitudes on the other side of the globe. The new equatorial region, prior to the development of its bulge, should thus become deep ocean as the waters amass along it again neglecting nodal points. Those parts of the former equatorial bulge location, now in mid-latitudes, could become quite dry as the seas gravitated away. By contrast, former polar areas would not only become warmer but also inundated by the seas, if they were not already under water. The new polar areas, not yet flattened, should experience emergence from the oceans.
Figure 3
Relationship between theoretical distribution of water on a spherical Earth, and the actual distribution.
In other words, relatively rapid polar wander should induce varying and massive sea level changes around the globe, depending on the relevant latitude changes for any region. These imposed changes should persist until the Earths geoidal features adjusted to the new situation. How long this adjustment would take is a matter for further consideration. The above is pretty hypothetical, so what sort of evidence do we have to back it up? The most obvious place to begin is with submarine valleys. These features form a fascinating study in themselves and some references for introductory are given at the end.
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Submarine Valleys Submarine valleys are present in all the worlds seas and oceans and almost ninety percent of them can be traced back to existing drainage systems on land. Often the linkage is disturbed or lost where the drainage system crosses the continental shelf but it can be picked up once more on the continental slope, from where a majority continue down onto the abyssal plain at depths of four or more kilometres. Large alluvial-type fans are not uncommon on the abyssal plains and, in some cases, new channels have been incised in the surfaces of these fans. As well as having an intimate connection with terrestrial drainage systems, submarine valleys also exhibit most of the major characteristics of terrestrial systems: gorges cut in hard rock; tributaries; bedded fan deposits; incised drainage patterns; levees. Their only problem is that, under water, submarine valleys are not exposed to the gravitational forces (hydraulic gradients) that produce all these features on land. According to Shepard and Dill, the most logical explanation to fit all the features of submarine valleys would be a drowned river origin. That is to say, valleys formed in the manner of normal rivers and then subsequently submerged. At least, the authors state that a drowned river origin would be the most logical explanation if only there were some mechanism to explain the huge changes in sea level necessary. This is a daunting challenge. Most of the sea level fluctuations would have to be of the order of 3 4 km and oceanographers therefore tend to look for alternative explanations. Turbidity currents, or waters supercharged with suspended solids, are typically invoked despite the fact that no one has ever successfully demonstrated how an intermittent, superficial, turbidity current has the power to erode an underwater canyon in hard rock. There is another point. Turbidity currents tend to produce graded deposits: sediments grading horizontally from, say, gravely sands, into sands, into silts, without the definite horizons that separate beds of different grain size in normal river systems. Yet the sediments that are deposited on the abyssal fans, in the ocean depths, typically do exhibit horizontal bedding, just as the sediments of normal river systems. Some further characteristics of submarine valleys, mentioned below, strongly militate against any origin associated with turbidity currents. Let us then look at some examples of submarine canyons to illustrate the above argument. Those of the Mediterranean make a useful starting point, since it is known that the Mediterranean has been dry on a couple of occasions since Tertiary times. 3 This provides us with a perfectly satisfactory mechanism for the formation of the Mediterranean submarine valleys: normal fluviatile processes at a time when this enclosed sea was dry. The precipitous canyons found on Corsica neatly fit this explanation. The Corsican canyons begin as little more than notches in the rocky coastline, almost at present sea level where there is absolutely no potential for any turbidity current activity. Below sea level, the notches develop rapidly into canyons in hard rock, in which form they continue down to the base of the Mediterranean at several kilometres depth. At the base, the sediment load spills out onto the sea floor as a small fan deposit containing shallow water materials such as sea grass. No enigmas here, but let us compare these submerged canyons in other canyons in other larger bodies of water where removal of the water is less easy to explain. The east coast of Sri Lanka has several canyons, the largest being the Trincomalee Canyon extending off the countrys largest river, the Mahaweli. The canyon runs a twisting, precipitous course in a V-shaped valley cut into hard pre-Cambrian granites and quartzites. It extends some 60 km from land and to a depth of 4 km. Now, the Mahaweli River has the potential to carry a reasonable sediment load and hence an origin related to turbidity currents can not be entirely ruled out - if this canyon were an only child. But there are several more canyons to the south, each of similar magnitude to the Trincomalee Canyon, each similarly eroded into hard rocks. But, in these cases, there is no major stream at the head of the canyon and hence no basis for expecting any assistance from turbidity current activity. Like the Corsican examples, these canyons could have developed under very low sea level conditions which would explain why they are identical to the Trincomalee feature: that is, turbidity current activity does not have any influence whatever on the size of canyon produced.
3
Mythology does speak of a more recent occasion when Hyperion, the sun god, agreed to let his incompetent nephew drive the sun chariot across the sky one day. The unruly steeds became uncontrollable and the chariot crashed to earth, causing the Mediterranean to boil dry and the Ethiopians to turn black.
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One needs only to travel out in the Bay of Bengal to find further supporting evidence for this interpretation. The Bengal submarine system extends out from the mouth of the Ganges River for a distance of 2,500 km (Figure 4). The system commences as discrete canyons in the rock of the continental slope and ends as a meandering and braided network of valleys incised in a huge sediment fan. Four major pulses of sedimentation have been identified through the presence of coarse layers interbedded within predominant silts. The ages of these pulses range from the Cretaceous, though the Miocene and Pliocene, to the Quaternary, with the youngest deposit, of Pleistocene Age, overlain by deep sea ooze. The present ocean depth increases from about 3 km in the north of the fan to almost 5 km in the south, representing a sea bed gradient of less than 1 : 1000. Attempting to explain this extensive sediment fan by turbidity current activity is beyond any known principles of hydraulics: particularly when one is asking the turbidity currents to deposit their extensive sediments in horizontally bedded sequences, and subsequently erode the fan surface by deep ocean currents a couple of thousand kilometres distant from where any turbidity current activity could be generated. On the other hand, there is independent evidence that the Bay of Bengal has been dry at least on one occasion in the past, just as the Mediterranean Sea. DSDP Borehole 217, drilled in deep water on the 90 E Ridge, recovered Cretaceous Age sediments containing dried out mud cracks. 4 Thus, one could easily postulate similar sea level changes subsequently and as recently as the Pleistocene.
Figure 4
The submarine valley system of the Bay of Bengal. Elongate shaded areas represent incised channels in the sediment fan.
The Congo submarine valley, at 6 S, begins some 20 km up the estuary and can be traced some 400 km out to sea. Features of this system include major underwater tributaries and a sediment fan at depth containing - as in the case of the Bengal fan - incised channels. Here, however, there is the added feature of levees containing sand grains with haematite coatings. Twigs have been also been recovered from the deep sediments. The base of this sediment fan appears to be Cretaceous in age and, significantly, rests on evaporate deposits. Again, the evidence suggests that the ocean floor here was dry at the time of the original formation of the abyssal fan and it may well have experienced subsequent dry periods.
There is no peripheral evidence of any massive subsidence associated with the Bay of Bengal.
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In the Bahamas, one of the longest and deepest of the worlds submarine valleys is to be found: a feature rivalling the grandeur of the Grand Canyon, with a length of 200 km and side walls several kilometres in height at inclinations of 9 - 12. The flat valley floor, at depths of 4 5 km, is not composed of deep sea oozes as might be expected, but of cobbles and boulder deposits interbedded with sands. The sands sometimes exhibit current bedding, typical of shallow water deposition. The submarine valley systems off the west coast of North America are also instructive with regard to origin. From Canada to the Mexican border, all are unequivocally sited off the mouths of terrestrial streams, except possibly the Delgada, which is located just south of Cape Mendocino where a branch of the San Andreas fault is tangential to the coast. Offshore from the States of Washington and Oregon, the Cascadia, Tarzana, Delgada and Astoria Canyons, among others, begin by cutting through rocks of the continental slope in their descent to the abyssal plains of the Pacific (Figure 5). On the abyssal plain, the systems are traceable as valleys incised in their own sediment fans. The size of the canyons along this coastline is again not reflected in the size of the counterpart terrestrial streams. There is no obvious source of large scale sedimentation in the case of the Delgada Canyon, yet it has been able to form a sediment fan on the ocean depths like others with larger terrestrial counterparts. Borehole DSDP 32, drilled in 4.5 km depth of water on the distal parts of this fan, recovered fresh water diatoms and wood of Pleistocene age. The cores also revealed sharp contacts between beds of mud and sand, a situation that rules out a turbidity current origin. Further to the north, the Columbia River is a couple of orders of magnitude larger than the next three rivers, Figure 6, yet its canyon is no greater than any of these. Off northern California, the Eel Canyon actually detours around a sea floor high, as a normal terrestrial stream would do (Figure 7). It would require a liberal imagination to explain how this might occur under turbidity current activity.
Figure 5
Some of the submarine valleys of the north east Pacific. Shaded zones represent incised valleys in the abyssal fans.
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Figure 6
The size of the submarine canyons bears no relations to the sediment load of the associated terrestrial stream.
Figure 7
The Eel submarine valley detours around a topographical high in the sea floor, just as a terrestrial stream would do.
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One of the largest canyons on the west coast, which rivals the Grand Canyon in relief, begins in Monterey Bay. It is joined on its descent to the abyssal plain by two large tributary canyons that form hanging valleys at the junctions an indication of massive differential erosion. Between the two confluences, at almost 2 km depth, weathered granites are exposed in the main canyon wall (Martin, 1964). At 3 km depth, near the far end of the canyons sediment fan, there are gravels up to 7 cm in diameter. One could hardly expect these to have been moved by deep sea currents or, indeed, by turbidity currents from the continental slope. The Monterey Canyon also crosses a major feature sympathetic to the main trace of the San Andreas Fault, as shown on the figure. At this point the canyon contains Pliocene age sediments. Had this fault been moving at anything like todays recorded rates, there should be a large kink in the canyon, with a displacement of a couple of hundred kilometres here. On the other side of the Americas, the submarine valleys of the Atlantic are typically longer than those of the Pacific. The Amazon Canyon, Figure 8, continues up almost as far as Puerto Rico. In the Hudson Canyon, sedimentary sequences ranging back from the Recent through the Pleistocene to the Pliocene/Miocene transition have been recorded on the sides of the channel. Cobbles, gravels and shallow water shells have been found along the channel floor, now at 3.5 km depth.
Figure 8
Some submarine systems of the western Atlantic.
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The longest and deepest of the North Atlantic features is the Mid-Ocean Submarine Valley, which runs between Canada and Greenland and down the abyssal plain (Figure 8). Shallow water Tertiary deposits are present along its length, overlying Cretaceous sediments; these appear to have been deposited in sequences. DSDP Borehole 185 encountered Pliocene beds resting unconformably on older sediments. This submarine valley incidentally runs down the median strip of what is alleged to be an ocean spreading zone between Greenland and Labrador. To the south of Greenland, the valley crosses the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone without any noticeable displacement, although admittedly there is a kink in the course of the valley several hundred metres to the south of this fracture zone. Nonetheless, one could anticipate that, had ocean spreading been in operation here, surely it should have resulted in some obvious offsets in the course of the canyon. A final example comes from Hawaii. Here, submarine canyons are found off a precipitous and rocky coastline, as in Corsica again with no obvious source of sediment to produce turbidity currents. The canyons typically occur as extensions of erosion notches in the steep basalt terrains and continue at relatively constant gradients of 100 m per kilometre, to depths of almost 2 km. Sequences of discrete clay beds, overlain by gravels and subsequently by coarse sands, have been recovered from depths of 1 km, together with shallow water shells. Moreover, Pleistocene reefs have been found at depths of 2 km on the submarine slopes. Later, it will be argued that subsidence of the sea mount is not a factor to be considered in explaining occurrences of this nature and that very large changes in sea level provide a more logical interpretation. It should be reiterated that such sea level changes, when induced by polar wander, are not global changes but changes that reflect the form of polar movement. Pertinent Deep Sea Drilling Results If sea level change has taken place to the extent described above, direct evidence of it should be anticipated from the Deep Sea Drilling Program (DSDP). Much of this program has been aimed at supporting various plate tectonics predictions and this aspect often receives its fair share of publicity, sometimes to the extent a basalt sill present within a sedimentary sequence is taken to represent ocean basement. But what is of interest in the DSDP program are those boreholes that have recovered coarse sediments, terrigenous materials, wood and even leaves, in the deep ocean, hundreds of kilometres from land. To date, these anomalous features have generally been labelled the result of turbidity current activity. More difficult to explain are some other unusual findings. Borehole 156 (Galapagos area) recovered oxidised basalt at a depth of 2.5 km below the surface of the ocean. Normally, oxidation (weathering) of rock requires exposure to air. If sea level change is excluded from the equation, one would have to propose either massive subsidence of the land in this locality or some new way of producing oxidation of rock under deep water. The exploration program associated with this borehole incidentally revealed that the sea floor in the region was deeply dissected and eroded in an east-west direction. Borehole 240 was drilled in the Indian Ocean some 500 km from the equatorial African coast. Evidence of land detritus in sand deposits, together with reef materials, was recovered from the upper stratigraphic units, now at a depth of 5 km. Borehole 518 recorded an erosional disconformity at the Miocene/Pliocene boundary, at a depth of 4 km, with the unconformity overlain by deep water sediments. Borehole 661, drilled in the Atlantic off Africas northwest coastline, encountered a deposit of Cretaceous anhydrite. Evapourites are, of course, indicative of a shallow, enclosed, tropical basin and such deposits occur in the Mediterranean and in the Red Sea. But the Mediterranean, at least, is known to have dried out in the past. One could speculate whether the Cretaceous anhydrite in the Atlantic might have been reasonably contemporaneous with a dry period of the Mediterranean or perhaps with the dried mud cracks of Cretaceous age recovered from the 90 E Rise, in the Indian Ocean. Indications of massive changes in sea level are once again implied. Other Evidence for Sea Level Change Exploratory oil drilling in the ocean between Sulawesi and Borneo has revealed thick sedimentary sequences dating back to the Pliocene. But the interesting fact here is that the sediments were deposited, not by the large Mahakan River of Borneo, but by westerly flowing streams: that is, stream(s) flowing over an area that is now deep ocean. In Barbados, there is a Tertiary coal deposit overlain by globigerina ooze. The interpretation for this is that a once shallow, subtropical and freshwater, environment was then covered by deep ocean for a period long
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enough to allow for the deposition of ooze. The region then returned from the ocean depths to the surface once more. All this happened in the last 10 12 ma. Now, Barbados lies close to the boundary of the Caribbean Plate and this is sometimes used as a self-sufficient explanation for the massive environmental changes. But if land subsidence/uplift is proposed, it would mean complete reversibility in the crust, at an on-going rate of at least 1 mm per year, which is the sort of rate measured for uplift in active volcanic regions. There is really no evidence for us to prefer oscillation of the land over oscillation of the sea level, except long standing prejudice against the concept of major sea level changes. A similar geological situation has been recorded in Indonesia, where deep sea radiolarian ooze occurs above sea level, sandwiched between shallow water Tertiary sediments. Thus, the Barbados case is not unique. With regard to the above discussion of submarine valleys, we were talking predominantly of low sea levels. On the model of sea level change proposed, one should expect that, if there were low sea levels in one part of the globe, there should be compensatory high sea levels in another part. Evidence of high sea levels is less likely to be preserved, however, since it would be subject to more continued erosion processes than evidenced under water. But it has been recorded. On the Malayan Peninsula, erosion platforms at elevations of 200 m or more in postTertiary granites have been reported by the geological survey. On the Alberta prairie the Saskatchewan Gravels represent elevated beach broadcasts, up to a kilometre above the present sea level. The same rounded quartzite boulders of this unit are also to be found deposited on the western side of the Rocky Mountains as well, for example near Revelstoke, Hunt (1989). Massive tsunamis following major meteorite impacts have been proposed as the origin of these boulder broadcasts, but they could equally well fit the explanation of (transient) high sea levels. Wave cut platforms on the east coast of Australia and in the north west of the country, together with similar features at 300m elevation in Hawaii, have likewise been attributed to tsunamis. However, it would be the experience of most people who have visited the sites of tsunami events, that these leave little or no trace of their passing in the form of semi-permanent geological features, such as wave cut platforms. Along the coastline of South America are marine platforms termed tablazos, first recorded in scientific literature by Charles Darwin and subsequently discussed by Sheppard (1927). They stand as isolated coastal plateaus, extending from Peru to Tierra del Fuego. The marine sediments forming the caps have been dated from the Pliocene to Recent times, De Vries (1988) and Cantalamessa and Di Celma (1988). Elevations of 300 m or more occur in the north but the elevations gradually decrease southwards. If these were to be explained by uplift of South America, there would surely be some evidence of the uplift in the geomorphology of the rivers of the continental west coast. There is no such evidence and the logical explanation for these features, once again, lies in sea level change. A very recent example of sea level change in historical times is available in the history of the former port of Rye on the coast of south east England. The changes at Rye have been relatively small but are included herein because they show some affinity with climate change, as predicted by the polar wander model outlined above. In the Middle Ages, Rye was a virtual island, joined to the mainland by a narrow neck of land. It is now 2 miles inland. The history goes something like this. In the 11th C, during the warming-up period of northern Europe, when the Scandinavians colonised Greenland and vineyards were planted in the south of England, the town of Winchelsea had been located to the south of Rye, on a shingle barrier. This was eroded in a storm surge in 1250 and Winchelsea was eventually submerged in 1280 and relocated to a hilltop not far to the west. At about this time, sea water rose up to cover the land as far inland as Appeldore, some 15 km to the north of Rye. A sea crossing was necessary between Rye and Lydd, located to the east where an airport is now in use. The river on which Rye was situated originally had its mouth at New Romney, about 17 km to the east, but this was changed to its present position in 1290. A century later, much of the Brede River valley, east of the relocated Winchelsea, was under water.
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These events took place in the aftermath of the warm period, but things began to change in the 1400s when viniculture had to be abandoned. By 1596, during the Little Ice Age, the channel of the Rother River, through Rye, had silted up and was too shallow for ships. The harbour was abandoned at the end of the 17th C and, by 1730, the channel was all but gone. In 1635, some 20,000 acres in the district had been reclaimed from the sea and more land was similarly reclaimed in 1699. Thus, the retreat of the sea corresponds to the cooler period in northern Europe. By 1931, however, the sea level of the English Channel was rising again and in the 1960s the rate of rise was some 2mm per year. This rise again corresponds to a warming period that predates any serious global warming by human efforts. But, as already mentioned earlier, this is not meant to discredit present day recordings that herald climate change as a result of human efforts. Finally, there is the example of the massive Missoula Floods in Washington, discussed by the author in these pages (James, 2008). This discussion also introduces the idea of polar wander and associated sea level changes as an extinction mechanism. POLAR WANDER (AND EARTH WOBBLES) AS AN EXTINCTION MECHANISM The climate change associated with polar wander could obviously be a source of discomfort to life in any part of the Earth, particularly should the polar wander be rapid. What might be more traumatic, however, would be the associated sea level changes for the situation of slow polar migration. One could imagine the effect of an advance in sea level across a land mass: migration of animal and plant life to higher ground. But the time could come when the whole of some land mass would be covered and all terrestrial life on that land mass would then cease. Alternatively, a sea level regression would cause the drying out of fresh water bodies, thereby placing both land and aquatic animals under severe stress. Marine life should be able to follow the changing distribution of the oceans more successfully than terrestrial fauna, if the polar wander was a slow one. But marine life need be no more successful under a rapid migration except, perhaps, for those species inhabiting the ocean deeps. True polar wander process might also be associated with other changes in the Earths mode of spin, such as large precessional wobbles. These would probably have even more alarming effects on both marine and terrestrial life, since wobbles could be expected to cause a sloshing-about effect in the oceans. Only those species inhabiting the very high ground or the ocean deeps might then be safe. Indeed, in the authors book Earth in Chaos a connection has been established between periods of large precessional wobble in pre-history and cataclysmic events typified by Dark Ages, Biblical Floods and, inevitably, extinctions. But these matters lie slightly outside the present focus on geoid stresses. References Cited
Cantalamessa, G. and Di Celma, C., 2004. Origin and chronology of marine terraces of Isla de la Plata. Jour. South American Earth Sciences, v. 16, p. 633-648 Choi, D.R., 2002. Deep earthquakes and deep structures, S.E. Asia. NCGT Newsletter, no. 25, p. 9-21. Choi, D.R., 2003. Deep earthquakes and deep structures, S.W. Pacific. NCGT Newsletter, no. 26, p. 16-32. De Vries, T.J., 1988. The geology of Late Cenozoic marine terraces in northwestern Peru. Jour. South American Earth Sciences, v. 1, p. 121-136. Heiskanen, W.A. and Meinesz, V., 1958. The Earth and its gravity field. McGraw Hill. Hunt, C.W., 1989. Environment of violence. Polar Publ., Calgary. James, P.M., 1993. Earth in chaos. Boolarong Publ., Brisbane. James, P.M., 1994. The tectonics of geoid change. Polar Publ., Calgary. James, P.M., 2006a. Geoid tectonics. Chapter 1. How polar wander shapes the Earth. NCGT Newsletter, no. 40, p. 5-13. James, P.M., 2006b. Geoid tectonics. Chapter 2. The case for polar wander. NCGT Newsletter, no. 41, p. 29-41 James, P.M., 2008. The massive Missoula Floods. NCGT Newsletter, no. 48, p. 5-19. James, P.M., 2009. Geoid tectonics. Chapter 4. State of stress in the Earths crust. NCGT Newsletter, no. 50 (in press). Martin, B.D., 1964. Geology of the Monterey Canyon. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of S. California. Shepard, F.P. and Dill, R.F., 1966. Submarine canyons and other sea valleys. Rand McNalley. Sheppard, G., 1927. Geological observations on Isla de la Plata, Ecuador. Amer. Jour. Science, v. 13, p. 480-486.
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NCGT BRIEFS
EARTHQUAKES AND THEIR TSUNAMI WAVES*
Pencho BINEV, Union of Bulgarian Chemists (pbinev@abv.bg) *) The detailed analysis is in the book Fallacies in the Realm of Natural Sciences. See: http://penchobinev.com he dominant concept about the genesis of tsunamis is of abrupt (chiefly vertical) upheavals on the ocean floor, caused by strong submarine quakes or volcanic eruptions, which is in contradiction with many of their characteristics [1, 2]: (1) Mechanically generated tsunami tidal waves are expected to propagate radially and have a similar impact upon equidistant coasts of the affected continents and islands. In fact, their velocities and amplitudes vastly differ. After the Chilean earthquake in 1960, the time lag in Japan was 6 h 15 min, while at the more distant Washington state coast of USA it was 4 h 5 min. Even along the Chilean coast itself amplitudes varied from 1.5 to 25 m. (2) Still more inexplicable are the initial receding waves, e.g. along the western coast of Sri Lanka after the Sumatra earthquake in 2004, while the consequent advancing waves encircled almost the entire island. (3) After a strong earthquake, several big tsunami waves hit the coast, but the first one is not always the greatest, and there is no gradual attenuation after the earthquake. The long-term water retention on the coast before receding is also unexplained by the mechanical hypothesis. Undoubtedly, tsunamis are related to earthquakes or volcanic action, but only as initiating agents for more powerful forces, which we find to be of an electrostatic and electrodynamic nature. The minerals of the Earths crust have an ionic-crystalline structure, and the strong mechanical and thermal impacts of quakes or eruptions produce myriads of electrically charged particles. They move along natural conducting paths in the depths of the Earth, determined by the composition of the rocks. Their accumulation in certain zones of the ocean floor or the coast generates potential differences, creating in effect huge condensers of steadily increasing capacity. In contrast to ordinary condensers, with poles separated by a dielectric medium, here it is the oceanic electrolyte. Thus, the process is not an instant electric discharge. Instead, the rapidly generated electric and electromagnetic poles attract or repel the oceanic electrolyte and create the turbulent waves, known as tsunamis. The magnitude of the assaults depends on the potential differences, and the periodicity of the waves is linked with the duration of the charging/discharging cycle. [1] Physics of Tsunami: http://fiz.1september.ru/articlef.php?ID=200501107; [2] G. Mardirosian: Natural calamities and environmental catastrophes, Prof. Marin Drinov, Sofia, 2007.
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PUBLICATIONS
The following abstract is from an article which appeared in International Journal of Remote Sensing, v. 29, no. 7, 10 April 2008, p. 19211928. Citation permitted by the publisher, Taylor and Francis Group.
CLOUD ANOMALY BEFORE IRAN EARTHQUAKE

Guangmeng GUO and Bin WANG Nanyang Normal University, Henan, 473064, China guogm@igsnrr.ac.cn
n the 1980s Russian scientists found a thermal anomaly before an earthquake and abnormal cloud above an active fault. In the following 20 years, though thermal anomalies were widely studied, abnormal cloud was
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seldom reported. Here geostationary satellite sensor data was used to study the abnormal cloud above the Iran active fault. The linear traces with high temperature in thick clouds spread along the main tectonic structures. Sixty-nine days later an M6.3 earthquake occurred close to the abnormal clouds. The same clouds appeared on 25 December 2005 and 64 days later a M6.0 earthquake occurred. In these two cases, the abnormal clouds indicated the rough area of the future epicentre. If geophysical measurement data, satellite thermal data and abnormal cloud data are combined, it is possible that it will contribute to earthquake studies. _________________________________________________________________________________________
BOOK REVIEW
SOLAR CYCLE 24
David Archibald. Rhaetian Management, Perth. 70 pages. A$25
his book ignores the relationship between tectonics and climate, but many geologists will be grateful for its explanation of the basic facts of climate change and their causes.
The 70-page booklet is in landscape format, ideal for the elegant, simple graphs and diagrams accompanied by a clear explanation that make up about half the pages. The book leads the reader in easy stages, page by page, from the climate record on all scales, through details showing the Sun as the main driver of climate changes, and explains the role of carbon dioxide. The conclusion is that Solar Cycle 24 has started, and we can expect serious cooling by 2030. The effects of carbon dioxide are entirely beneficial. Here are a few interesting facts revealed along the way: Atmospheric temperature rose 0.7o C in the 20th century; it has also fallen by the same amount in the last 18 months. The longer a solar cycle lasts, the cooler the following solar cycle will be. Solar cycles are normally 11 years long, but the present one (23) is near its end and lasted just over 12 years. July 2009 might be the month of solar cycle minimum, and if so the cooling will be 2o C. The last time this happened was the Dalton Minimum of 1796 to 1820, which led to crop failures. The satellite record is the highest quality temperature data we have, but only goes back to 1978. 1998 was the hottest year in this period, due to El Nino. Data from the rural US go back to 1893, and avoids heat islands. The hottest year was 1936. Central England has the longest record of thermometer readings, back to 1661. It shows the Little Ice Age, including the Dalton Minimum (the last time the River Thames froze over) and the even colder Maunder Minimum around 1700. The rise of 2.2o C in 36 years after this was four times as large and three times as fast as the 0.6o C rise over the 20th century. Of course it was quite natural, before the anthropogenic increase in carbon dioxide. For pre-thermometer records, proxies like tree rings and isotopes are used. A temperature graph going back to 700 AD clearly shows the Medieval Warm Period, which was 2oC warmer than today, and the Little Ice Age which reached 2o C colder than today. The range is 4oC compared with 0.7o C for the 20th century warming which is the cause of all the fuss today. A graph going back over 10,000 years, from the end of the last Glacial shows the Holocene Climate Optimum (when sea level was about 2 m higher than today) and the Roman Climatic Optimum.
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Vostok Ice core records temperature for 450,000 years, and the history of glacials and interglacials. An interesting diagram superimposes the last five interglacials, aligned on the peak temperature. It looks as if the Holocene warming is about to end with a plunge into perhaps a few thousand years of Little Ice Age conditions. Solar cycles are explained in detail, with the records since 1700. The magnetic field is described, as are sunspots, polar faculae, and other aspects of solar science. Solar Cycle 23 seems to resemble most closely Solar Cycle 4, and if the trend continues we should be heading for a Dalton Minimum. It could be worse, and Ken Schatten the solar physicist with the best track record in predicting solar cycles suggests we could be heading for a Maunder Minimum. The warming effect of CO2 is not arithmetic, but falls off rapidly after 20 ppm, so any further increase has a negligible effect on temperature. So why does the IPCC get a runaway greenhouse effect? They use the StefanBoltzmann Law (which is inappropriate as the Earth is not a perfect blackbody) and apply an enormous amount of compounding water vapour feedback. At their worst, the IPCC models take one degree of heating and turn it into 6.4 degrees. Archibald asks not if CO2 increase is a calamity, but if CO2 can save us from cooling. If CO2 gets too low, plant growth shuts down. The more we take carbon dioxide above that minimum critical level, the safer life on this planet will be. The present CO2 level is 384 ppm and the pre-industrial level 280 ppm. A CO2 level of 1,000 ppm is the level at which commercial operators like to run their greenhouses. The climate alarmists usually try to take the high moral ground when they claim to Save the Planet, so it is interesting to read the conclusion here: The more carbon dioxide you put into the atmosphere, the more you are helping all living things on the planet and of course that makes you a better person. This is my message. David Bellamy provides a passionate Foreword reviewing the change from the Ice Age Myth to the Global Warming Myth, and the decline of real investigation into what he calls a state of McCarthyism in Science. Appendix is a literary gem In praise of Carbon by John Brigness. Appendix 2 is an address by David Archibald on Failure to Warm. Appendix 3 is a detailed discussion of the nature of IPCC fraud, and especially the infamous Hockey Stick. The brief biography lists 26 references. The book will be in shops in March, 2009, but for early orders or discounts on multiple copies contact david.archibald@westnet.com.au. Cliff OLLIER cliffol@cyllene.uwa.edu.au Editors note: Relevant information can be obtained by visiting the following websites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfHW7KR33IQ http://earthchangesmedia.com/secure/3247.326/article-9162522779.php http://earthchangesmedia.com/secure/3247.326/article-9162523581.php
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ABOUT THE NCGT NEWSLETTER This newsletter was initiated on the basis of discussion at the symposium Alternative Theories to Plate Tectonics held at the 30th International Geological Congress in Beijing in August 1996. The name is taken from an earlier symposium held in association with 28th International Geological Congress in Washington, D. C. in 1989. Aims include: 1. Forming an organizational focus for creative ideas not fitting readily within the scope of Plate Tectonics. 2. Forming the basis for the reproduction and publication of such work, especially where there has been censorship or discrimination. 3. Forum for discussion of such ideas and work which has been inhibited in existing channels. This should cover a very wide scope from such aspects as the effect of the rotation of the earth and planetary and galactic effects, major theories of development of the Earth, lineaments, interpretation of earthquake data, major times of tectonic and biological change, and so on. 4. Organization of symposia, meetings and conferences. 5. Tabulation and support in case of censorship, discrimination or victimization.
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Geoid tectonics. Chapter 3. General effects of polar wander, Peter JAMES................54

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

FROM THE EDITOR

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

SOME PARADOXES OF PLATE-TECTONIC PALAEOGEODYNAMIC MODELS AND RECONSTRUCTIONS (RUSSIAN SOUTHEAST)

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

Fault pattern of South Primorye.

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

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New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

2002/11/09 2003/09/09 2004/07/07 2005/05/07 2006/03/13 2007/01/07 2007/11/07 2008/09/09

07:58:29.41 23:11:36.55 23:29:32.65 22:35:00.79 13:07:25.83 17:32:39.99 15:16:51.31 16:11:11.09

1.79 1.16 1.64 1.07 1.90 1.43 2.07 1.46

36.039 36.025 36.227 35.926 36.139 36.220 36.030 36.026

-120.598 -120.564 -120.282 -120.474 -120.169 -120.280 -120.040 -120.105

1.58 4.99 12.74 6.53 10.75 11.46 21.90 8.0

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

Date Jan.27, 2008 M=? Nov.21, 2008 M=1

Time 17:28:48 17:13:38

EARTHQUAKE Lat 34.04N 34.05N

Long -117.24W -117.34W

Configuration Neptune Mercury Sun Mercury

PLANET Right Ascension +22943' +22948' +23959' +24132'

Declination +2440' +2745' +700' +536'

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

106 104 102 100 98 96 94 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

New Concepts in Global Tectonics Newsletter, no. 49, December, 2008

1852 1853 1853 1855 1855

32.50 35.60 40.80 39.50 34.10

-115.00 -121.10 -124.20 -120.30 -118.10