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Major earthquake at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Lake Vattern, southern Sweden

Jakobsson, Martin ; Björck, Svante LU ; O'Regan, Matt ; Floden, Tom ; Greenwood, Sarah L. ; Sward, Henrik ; Lif, Arne ; Ampel, Linda ; Koyi, Hemin and Skelton, Alasdair (2014) In Geology 42(5). p.379-382
Abstract
Lake Vattern, Sweden, is within a graben that formed through rifting along the boundary between two Precambrian terrains. Geophysical mapping and geological coring show that substantial tectonic movements along the Lake Vattern graben occurred at the very onset of the Holocene. This is evident from deformation structures in the soft sediment accumulated on the lake floor. Our interpretation of these structures suggests as much as 13 m of vertical tectonic displacements along sections of a >80-km-long fault system. If these large displacements are from one tectonic event, Lake Vattern must have had an earthquake with seismic moment magnitudes to 7.5. In addition, our geophysical mapping shows large landslides along sections of the steep... (More)
Lake Vattern, Sweden, is within a graben that formed through rifting along the boundary between two Precambrian terrains. Geophysical mapping and geological coring show that substantial tectonic movements along the Lake Vattern graben occurred at the very onset of the Holocene. This is evident from deformation structures in the soft sediment accumulated on the lake floor. Our interpretation of these structures suggests as much as 13 m of vertical tectonic displacements along sections of a >80-km-long fault system. If these large displacements are from one tectonic event, Lake Vattern must have had an earthquake with seismic moment magnitudes to 7.5. In addition, our geophysical mapping shows large landslides along sections of the steep lake shores. Pollen analysis of sediment infillings of some of the most prominent sediment deformation structures places this major seismic event at the Younger Dryas-Preboreal transition, ca. 11.5 ka. We suggest that this event is mainly related to the rapid release of ice-sheet load following the deglaciation. This paleoseismic event in Lake Vattern ranks among the larger known intraplate tectonic events in Scandinavia and attests to the significance of glacio-isostatic unloading. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Geology
volume
42
issue
5
pages
379 - 382
publisher
Geological Society of America
external identifiers
  • wos:000339960700006
  • scopus:84898920980
ISSN
0091-7613
DOI
10.1130/G35499.1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7ffcfd7e-0fdc-4236-9493-2c750937fdef (old id 4665536)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:27:44
date last changed
2022-03-29 21:08:17
@article{7ffcfd7e-0fdc-4236-9493-2c750937fdef,
  abstract     = {{Lake Vattern, Sweden, is within a graben that formed through rifting along the boundary between two Precambrian terrains. Geophysical mapping and geological coring show that substantial tectonic movements along the Lake Vattern graben occurred at the very onset of the Holocene. This is evident from deformation structures in the soft sediment accumulated on the lake floor. Our interpretation of these structures suggests as much as 13 m of vertical tectonic displacements along sections of a >80-km-long fault system. If these large displacements are from one tectonic event, Lake Vattern must have had an earthquake with seismic moment magnitudes to 7.5. In addition, our geophysical mapping shows large landslides along sections of the steep lake shores. Pollen analysis of sediment infillings of some of the most prominent sediment deformation structures places this major seismic event at the Younger Dryas-Preboreal transition, ca. 11.5 ka. We suggest that this event is mainly related to the rapid release of ice-sheet load following the deglaciation. This paleoseismic event in Lake Vattern ranks among the larger known intraplate tectonic events in Scandinavia and attests to the significance of glacio-isostatic unloading.}},
  author       = {{Jakobsson, Martin and Björck, Svante and O'Regan, Matt and Floden, Tom and Greenwood, Sarah L. and Sward, Henrik and Lif, Arne and Ampel, Linda and Koyi, Hemin and Skelton, Alasdair}},
  issn         = {{0091-7613}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{379--382}},
  publisher    = {{Geological Society of America}},
  series       = {{Geology}},
  title        = {{Major earthquake at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Lake Vattern, southern Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G35499.1}},
  doi          = {{10.1130/G35499.1}},
  volume       = {{42}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}