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The study of fracture systems is of paramount importance for economic applications, such as CO2 storage in rock successions, geothermal and hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation, and also for a better knowledge of seismogenic fault formation. Understanding the origin of joints can be useful for tectonic studies and for a geotechnical characterisation of rock masses. Here, we illustrate a joint pattern discovered in ignimbrite deposits of South America, which can be confused with conjugate tectonic joint sets but which have another origin. The pattern is probably common, but recognisable only in plan view and before tectonic deformation obscures and overprints it. Key sites have been mostly studied by field surveys in Bolivia and Chile. The pattern is represented by hundreds-of-meters up to kilometre-long swarms of master joints, which show circular to semi-circular geometries and intersections that have “X” and “Y” patterns. Inside each swarm, joints are systematic, rectilinear or curvilinear in plan view, and as much as 900 m long. In section view, they are from sub-vertical to vertical and do not affect the underlying deposits. Joints with different orientation mostly interrupt each other, suggesting they have the same age. This joint architecture is here interpreted as resulting from differential contraction after emplacement of the ignimbrite deposit above a complex topography. The set of the joint pattern that has suitable orientation with respect to tectonic stresses may act to nucleate faults.

Volcanism in compressional tectonic settings presents several unclear relations, especially between faulting, volcano locations, and local stress fields. The Central Andes comprise one of the most important volcanic provinces in the world, where these relations can be studied. We investigate the Miocene-Quaternary faulting and the tectonic stress evolution of the Western Cordillera of Chile, between 24 and 26°S, and how they dictate the orientation of magma feeding fractures, to understand the relations between deformation and volcanism. We calculated 68 new stress tensors from faults of recognized age and reconstructed magma paths by analyzing the morphostructural characteristics of 130 monogenetic and polygenetic volcanoes of known age. Moreover, we integrated the database with previously published data from the Western Cordillera to carry out a regional comparison. Results allow us to recognize three main volcano-tectonic events. The oldest occurred in the Early Miocene and was characterized by an E-W greatest principal stress ( σ 1 ) expressed by N-S-striking reverse faults and NW–SE left-lateral strike-slip faults. Volcanoes belonging to this stage show morphometric characteristics that indicate dominant N-S magma feeding systems. The second event, active during the Upper Miocene-Pliocene, was characterized by NW–SE to NNW-SSE σ 1 , WNW-ESE right-lateral strike-slip faults, and NW–SE preferential direction of volcanic feeding systems. The last event was active in the Upper Pliocene–Pleistocene, mainly in the northern part of the study area, with N-S to NE-SW normal and right-lateral strike-slip faults with NNE-SSW-trending least principal stress ( σ 3 ). Volcanism in this stage is characterized by NW–SE and N-S magma feeding systems. Our results suggest that volcano distribution has been mainly controlled by variations of the stress field related to the growth and collapse of the Puna Plateau. Magma emplacement was mainly guided by fractures parallel to the compression direction, irrespectively of the horizontal stress being σ 3 or the intermediate principal stress σ 2 . Anyway, magma emplacement occurred also through fractures oblique to σ 1 , along strike-slip faults, or by exploitation of inherited weak structures, such as reverse faults.

Volcanoes within monogenetic volcanic fields often are arranged in alignments and clusters, which are related to effects of magma source geometry in the upper mantle, principal stress orientations, and crustal structures on their magma feeding systems. We use cluster analysis with dendrogram, vent morphometric analysis, and field structural data to explore the relationships between volcanoes and tectonic features in the Plio-Pleistocene part of the Lunar Crater Volcanic Field (LCVF; Pancake Range, Nevada, USA), which includes 96 monogenetic volcanic edifices totaling 119 vents. Structural analysis identified three main sets of faults with dip-slip kinematics (mostly normal with a few examples of thrust faults), striking N-S, E-W, and NE-SW. The NE-SW set comprises dip-slip faults with a dominant normal component of movement which are consistent with the modern state of stress based upon the World Stress Map database. Spatial distribution pattern analysis suggests a clustered distribution of vents in the LCVF, and GIS-based spatial density analysis shows that these clusters trend mostly NE-SW. Morphometric study of the monogenetic cones, which provides information on feeder dike orientation where dikes are not directly exposed, suggests dominant NNE-SSW to NE-SW orientations of near-surface inferred dikes. An amount of 27 out of 31 inferred feeder dikes within the LCVF is parallel to the present orientation of the greatest principal horizontal stress ( σ Hmax ) as suggested by World Stress Map data derived from hydrofracturing and earthquake focal mechanisms. In some cases, dike strike is parallel with that of pre-existing Quaternary dip-slip faults. We suggest that the spatial distribution of vents is related to domains of different scales of partial melting and compositional heterogeneity in the upper mantle source, which is substantiated by geochemical data. The relationship of feeder dikes with respect to shallow tectonic structures, although somewhat ambiguous at LCVF, is consistent with behavior that is intermediate between volcanic fields with high- and low-long-term magma fluxes.

This paper presents an experimental and theoretical study on the impact of doping and recombination mechanisms on quantum dot solar cells based on the InAs/GaAs system. Numerical simulations are built on a hybrid approach that includes the quantum features of the charge transfer processes between the nanostructured material and the bulk host material in a classical transport model of the macroscopic continuum. This allows gaining a detailed understanding of the several physical mechanisms affecting the photovoltaic conversion efficiency and provides a quantitatively accurate picture of real devices at a reasonable computational cost. Experimental results demonstrate that QD doping provides a remarkable increase of the solar cell open-circuit voltage, which is explained by the numerical simulations as the result of reduced recombination loss through quantum dots and defects.

Although a relationship between the occurrence of large earthquakes and the eruptions of close mud volcanoes is well known, several uncertainties remain on understanding the triggering mechanisms. In the present study, we evaluate both the static and dynamic strains induced by earthquakes in the substratum of mud volcanoes. We studied the effects of two earthquakes of M w 6.18 and 6.08 occurred in the Caspian Sea on 25 November 2000 close to Baku city, Azerbaijan. A total of 33 eruptions occurred at 24 mud volcanoes within a maximum distance of 108 km from the epicentres in the 5 years following the earthquakes. The overall eruption rate in the studied area of the 50 years before the 2000 earthquakes was 1.24 that is much smaller than the eruption rate of 6.6 of the 5 years following these earthquakes. The largest number of eruptions occurred within 2 years from the earthquakes with the highest frequency within 6 months. Our calculated earthquake-induced static effects show that crustal dilatation might have triggered only seven eruptions at a maximum distance of about 60 km from the epicentres and within 3 years. Based on our data, dynamic rather than static strain is likely to have been the dominating “promoting” factor because it affected all the studied unrest volcanoes and its magnitude was much larger.

Our work is intended to present the new macroseismic intensity database for the Republic of Georgia—hereby named GeoInt—which includes earthquakes from the historical (from 1250 B.C. onwards) to the instrumental era. Such database is composed of 111 selected earthquakes and related 3944 intensity data points (IDPs) for 1509 different localities, reported in the Medvedev-Sponheuer-Karnik scale (MSK). Regarding the earthquakes, the MS is in the 3.3–7 range and the depth is in the 2–36 km range. The entire set of IDPs is characterized by intensities ranging from 2–3 to 9–10 and covers an area spanning from 39.508° N to 45.043° N in a N-S direction and from 37.324° E to 48.500° E in an E-W direction, with some of the IDPs located outside the Georgian border, in the (i) Republic of Armenia, (ii) Russian Federation, (iii) Republic of Turkey, and (iv) Republic of Azerbaijan. We have revised each single IDP and have reevaluated and homogenized intensity values to the MSK scale. In particular, regarding the whole set of 3944 IDPs, 348 belong to the Historical era (pre-1900) and 3596 belong to the instrumental era (post-1900). With particular regard to the 3596 IDPs, 105 are brand new (3%), whereas the intensity values for 804 IDPs have been reevaluated (22%); for 2687 IDPs (75%), intensities have been confirmed from previous interpretations. We introduce this database as a key input for further improvements in seismic hazard modeling and seismic risk calculation for this region, based on macroseismic intensity; we report all the 111 earthquakes with available macroseismic information. The GeoInt database is also accessible online at http://www.enguriproject.unimib.it and will be kept updated in the future.

Structural data were collected on 1100 cone sheets and dykes with the aim of reconstructing the geometry of the complex, recognizing emplacement phases, and contributing to understanding this classical area and the evolution of cone sheets in general. Mean sheet dip angles are 40°, 43°, 47° and 50° in four sections transecting the complex. Sheet thickness ranges from a few centimetres to 5 m, with a dominant thickness of <1 m. Intrusion intensity ranges from 1% to 35%, increasing towards the central zone. Initial cone sheet emplacement occurred within a gabbroid pluton that was hot enough to amalgamate the sheets. Dykes striking N155-165° were then emplaced, followed by shallow-dipping cone sheets, dykes striking N135-145°, steep-dipping cone sheets, dykes striking roughly east-west and, finally, dykes striking N150-165°. The NW-SE-striking dykes were emplaced during re-establishment of regional stresses, after perturbation by local magma-induced stresses when cone sheets were emplaced, interspersed with magma escaping horizontally from the volcano conduit to feed local dykes. Two successive magma chambers at different depths, with flat geometries and different volumes, may explain sheet architecture and location. The whole cone sheet system consists of a stack of parallel concentric sheets, rather than a model of convergence towards a single focus.

This paper demonstrates that four large sector collapses have affected the NW flank of the Stromboli volcano in the past 13 ka, alternating with growth phases, in order to contribute to the evaluation of the critical conditions which trigger lateral collapses, a reconstruction of the geometry of each collapse of the volcano edifice in the four stages that preceded the relative collapse events is also presented, and a computation of the landslide volume. This reconstruction is based on new field data plotted in three dimensions. Prior to the initial 13-ka collapse, the volcano was 1125±100 m high above sea level. The collapse had a volume of 2.23±0.87 km3, whereas the pre-collapse volcano volume was 218.8±7.7 km3. The next edifice that failed was 900±70 m high a.s.l. The collapse volume was 1±0.54 km3, with a precollapse volcano volume of 201.4±5.4 km3. The edifice then grew to 1000±60 m a.s.l. The third collapse had a volume of 1.08±0.39 km3 and occurred within a volcano with a volume of 209.1±4.6 km3. This was followed by a new growth phase followed by the last collapse with a volume of 0.73±0.22 km3. The volcano volume was about the same as the present one. The present active crater zone is at 780 m a.s.l. in the first three collapses, sliding surfaces cut the main magma conduit. In the last collapse, the upper scarp coincided with the conduit location. Dyking along a main NE-trending weakness zone across the volcano summit exerted a lateral force for collapse inception. The decrease of the landslide volumes with the age, and the concentric scarps of the four collapses, suggest that the younger sliding planes tended to become more superficial and to decrease the areal extent. This is interpreted as due to: (a) successively weaker eruptive products from dominantly lavas to dominantly pyroclastics; and (b) the feedback effects between collapses and dykes that injected along the lateral segments of the first collapse slide plane.

A space problem can arise in a resurgent caldera when the resurgent block is non-cylindrical, such as, for example, when it is bounded by inward- or outward-dipping faults. Ischia caldera (Italy) is an excellent case study because it is well exposed and resurgence is ongoing. On the western and eastern flanks of the Ischia resurgent horst, uplift occurred along NNW-striking normal faults with inclination from sub-vertical to vertical (>85°). The geometry of these faults suggests negligible extension within the horst. Along the northern flank, uplift was accomplished by ENE-striking normal faults that dip 60-85° outward; a few bear striae which indicate almost pure dip-slip. The southern flank of the horst is a monocline trending ENE associated with vertical faults. In a NNW-SSE section, the resulting resurgent horst has a wedge shape with an upward apex. The uplift of this wedge can be accommodated by contemporaneous regional extension along NE- to east-west striking normal faults whose motions create space for resurgence without deformation of the caldera floor. Similar interaction with regional tectonics could exist in other calderas, such as Yellowstone (USA) in an extensional setting, Los Azufres (Mexico) in a transtensional regime and Chalupas (Ecuador) in a transpressional one. At other calderas, resurgence was accommodated by caldera-floor arching as at Valles (USA) or by shortening deformations between the caldera rim and the uplifting block as at Latera (Italy).[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

A paleoseismological study in the Talas-Fergana Fault Zone of the Tien Shan was accompanied by age determination of ancient seismic events. The calibrated radiocarbon datings of recent and buried soils allowed us to recognize the fault segments reactivated during strong earthquakes that occurred in the 14th- 16th centuries A.D. The magnitude of the paleoseismological event in the 16th century was no lower than 7.0 and no lower than IX in seismic intensity.