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Available online at www.sciencedirect.com TECTONOPHYSICS DIRECT* SCIENCE ELSEVIER Tectonophysics 380 (2004) 287-294 www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto Active faulting and human environment V.G. Trifonov a’*, A.S. Karakhanianb Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 7 Pyzhevsky, Moscow 11901 7, Russia b "Georisk" Scientific Research Company, 24a Bagranyan,Yerevan 37019, Armenia Accepted 28 September 2003 Abstract Active faulting, a source of seismic disasters and ground deformation, may be also accompanied with the effects that can result in rapid or slow changes in the environment capable of affecting, either negatively or positively, living conditions of a man and in general evolution of animals and plants. Existing data still rare and uncertain show that these effects may be, first of all, specific fault-related landscapes and various geophysical and geochemical anomalies above and around active fault planes. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Active faults; Human communities and other landscape features suitable for agriculture, either providing migration routes for ancient man and thus facilitating communication between differ¬ ent groups of people or impeding free passage from one territory to another. There are also some data yet vague and unverified that suggest some corre¬ lation between location of long-existing settlements and linear tectonic zones and their intersections within platformic areas, as it was found for a number of presently large cities on the East Euro¬ pean platform founded before 1300 AD (Zhidkov et al., 1999). Principally, faults and fault zones, first of all active, may be thought to provide channels of vertical migration of different elements and thus expected to be accompanied by various geochemical anomalies or in some way change otherwise regular distribution of the elements in ground, soil, surficial or ground water. (Trifonov, 1997). Some of the evidences that this may take place were obtained in 1. Active faults and the environment It is written a lot about seismic hazard active fault zones may cause. Commonly cited effects of active faulting and related strong seismicity are ground shaking, tsunamies and liquefaction each of them alone capable of destroying houses and killing people. At the same time, there are many other consequences of active faulting, the role of which could make a point of detailed examination. First of all, this is specific topography of the land surface affected by active fault movements. Thus, within tectonically unquiet regions, as for example the Alpine-Himalayan belt is, wide-spread active faults created numerous relatively steep slopes, linear depressions, closed or semi-closed basins * Corresponding author. Fax: +7-095-951-0443. E-mail address: [email protected] (V.G. Trifonov). 0040-1951/$ - see front matter © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2003.09.025

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Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

TECTONOPHYSICSDIRECT*SCIENCE

ELSEVIER Tectonophysics 380 (2004) 287-294www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto

Active faulting and human environmentV.G. Trifonova’*, A.S. Karakhanianb

Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 7 Pyzhevsky, Moscow 119017, Russiab "Georisk" Scientific Research Company, 24a Bagranyan,Yerevan 37019, Armenia

Accepted 28 September 2003

Abstract

Active faulting, a source of seismic disasters and ground deformation, may be also accompanied with the effects that canresult in rapid or slow changes in the environment capable of affecting, either negatively or positively, living conditions of aman and in general evolution of animals and plants. Existing data still rare and uncertain show that these effects may be, firstof all, specific fault-related landscapes and various geophysical and geochemical anomalies above and around active faultplanes.© 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Active faults; Human communities

and other landscape features suitable for agriculture,either providing migration routes for ancient manand thus facilitating communication between differ¬ent groups of people or impeding free passage fromone territory to another. There are also some datayet vague and unverified that suggest some corre¬lation between location of long-existing settlementsand linear tectonic zones and their intersectionswithin platformic areas, as it was found for anumber of presently large cities on the East Euro¬pean platform founded before 1300 AD (Zhidkov etal., 1999).

Principally, faults and fault zones, first of allactive, may be thought to provide channels ofvertical migration of different elements and thusexpected to be accompanied by various geochemicalanomalies or in some way change otherwise regulardistribution of the elements in ground, soil, surficialor ground water. (Trifonov, 1997). Some of theevidences that this may take place were obtained in

1. Active faults and the environment

It is written a lot about seismic hazard activefault zones may cause. Commonly cited effects ofactive faulting and related strong seismicity areground shaking, tsunamies and liquefaction eachof them alone capable of destroying houses andkilling people. At the same time, there are manyother consequences of active faulting, the role ofwhich could make a point of detailed examination.First of all, this is specific topography of the landsurface affected by active fault movements. Thus,within tectonically unquiet regions, as for examplethe Alpine-Himalayan belt is, wide-spread activefaults created numerous relatively steep slopes,linear depressions, closed or semi-closed basins

* Corresponding author. Fax: +7-095-951-0443.E-mail address: [email protected] (V.G. Trifonov).

0040-1951/$ - see front matter © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2003.09.025

V.G. Trifonov, A.S. Karakhanian / Tectonophysics 380 (2004) 287-294288 1

(a) % A1>< Si0 1 2 km 1°1N S6 -CaMg1!4TiHg

0112 -MnVо.оь0 Ni

14 16 182 4 6 8 10 12 Cr(b) 0.0011 Co.I N6 - S

0.000b

4Rn r'\ 0.0000b\ 400 M6-400 200200 я2 -

Hg

о Fig. 3. Changes of different chemical element contents in soilsacross the Spitak 1988 earthquake fault to the SW of town of Spitak(compiled by Karakhanian).

10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Fig. 1. Anomalies of the mercury Fig (10 12 g/1) and radon Rncontents in active zones of the Talas-Fergana strike-slip fault (a)and the Chon-Kurchak thrust (b) in the Tien Shan, according to theAbdullaev’s data. Numbers in the horizontal axis show points ofmeasurements. In the narrow Chon-Kurchak zone, the abnormalcontents almost correspond to the fault outcrop in the land surface;the small difference between the content maxima is caused byrelatively gentle fault dip and larger depth of the Rn source than theHg one. The zone of the steeply dipped Talas-Fergana fault is wideand its central part is drained by water. So, it is characterized by thenormal Hg contents and the higher contents are concentrated in themargins of the zone.

1988 during the experiment “Tien Shan-Intercos-mos-88” (Trifonov and Makarov, 1989) when vari¬able magnetic and electrical conductivity anomaliesin the active fault zones of the region were found.Abdullaev measured abnormally high contents ofmercury and radon above the Chon-Kurchak activethrust, the northern Tien Shan, and the Talas-Fer¬gana dextral active fault in the central Tien— Shan(Fig. 1). The most convincing results were obtained

1

% -i %A! 10] MgFe10] CaCa SiNa 1! FeTiVMg1! 0.1] MnTi

Mn VООН0.11 r; NaCui0.0011Ga

ООН Sc Mo0.0001rCo

0.0000b0.001400 M~0 200200 400 м-400 -200 -400 -200

Я яFig. 2. Changes of different chemical element contents in rocksacross the Spitak 1988 earthquake fault to the SW of town of Spitak(compiled by Karakhanian).

Fig. 4. Changes of different chemical element contents in plantsacross the Spitak 1988 earthquake fault to the SW of town of Spitak(compiled by Karakhanian).

V.G. Trifonov, AS. Karakhanian / Tectonophysics 380 (2004) 287-294 289

relatively larger in the southern side. These differ¬ences are however less distinct (and even indistin¬guishable for Ca) in soils and plants. Concentrationsof some elements show increase toward the fault zoneand then a sudden drop within 10 m from its plane(Na, Mn, Co, Se, Ga and more gently Fe and Ti). Theshortage of Co decreases from rocks to soils, and thatof Na and Si increases in plants. At the same time,contents of Mg and Ca closer to the fault are lower inrocks and soils within the fault zone, but increase inplants. V behaves reversely. It may be suggested thatthe main factors controlling variation of chemicalelements here are fracturing and water circulationalong the fault zone.

Some negative ions may also penetrate into thefault zone together with deep-source fluids. In¬creased concentrations of _C1 and 4S04 were

for the Surkhob-Ilyak boundary fault zone betweenthe Tien Shan and Pamirs: lucerne growing in fields,the fault zone goes across, contains about three timeshigher concentrations of Mn, As, Zr, Nb and otherheavy metals than lucerne further from the zone does(Lukina et al., 1991).

More various data were obtained in the profileacross the Spitak 1988 earthquake fault in the northernArmenia several years after the earthquake. At thesame points in the profile, concentrations of severalelements were measured in rocks, soil and plants(Figs. 2-4). Their variations partly reflect bedrockcomposition differences of the fault sides: the northernuplifted fault side contains the Meso-Tethys ophioliteswhile the southern fault side is mostly Upper Creta¬ceous carbonates. So, the Mg and Fe contents arehigher in the northern side, and the Ca content is

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Fig. 5. Abnormal concentrations of the -Cl and -S04 anions in bottom sediments and CH4 in surficial waters of the Sevan Lake (Karakhanianet at, 2001). (1 — 4) Sites with abnormally high CHj concentrations; according to the Satian’s data, the site three is also characterized by high(up to the 300 mg/100 g) concentration of the -S04 anion. Contours and tone intensity show contents of the -Cl anion (mg/lOOg): >100;50-100; 30-50; <30.

<

V.G. Trifonov, A.S. Karakhanian / Tectonophysics 380 (2004) 287-294290

discovered in the bottom sediments of the SevanLake in Armenia, along the trace of the Khanarasaractive fault zone. Intensive CH4 emission was foundabove this and some other active faults (Fig. 5).Some correlation between weak seismicity andamount of plankton in the lake waters shows sig¬nificance of the fault activity for biota (Karakhanianet al., 2001).

close to active fault zones in Armenia. Even in therelatively stable area of the city of Saint Petersburg,the detailed investigation of faults in the sedimentarycover and their correlation with the environmentalparameters revealed the oppression of biota (concen¬tration of ill trees is three to four times higher withinthe fault zones than far from them) and increase innumber of the cancer diseases (Fig. 6) (Mel’nikov etal., 1994). These biological and medical anomaliesare probably caused in the Saint Petersburg area byhigh concentration of radioactive elements in theVendian weathered rocks. The elements could reachthe land surface along fractures above the faultsdirectly from the Vendian or being redeposited inthe Quaternary interglacial deposits of valleys con¬trolled by the fractures.

'

2. Active faults and human life

Perhaps, the anomalies described above mayexplain the way active faulting can influence biotaand human health. Karakhanian found the abnormal¬ly high rate of some illnesses in population living

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fcuusj Wethering layer of Vendian deposits

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Fault

Location of residences on the landsurface

И Boreholes

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i \ \ \j Loam and sandy loal4 \ \1 glaciation moraine

I I and sand deposites of interglacial I м I*1 paleochannels 11

m of the last CD

Fig. 6. Comparing of the geological section along the subway line in the Kalininskii District of Sity of Saint Petersburg (A) with the yearlynumber of oncological patients per 1000 men (B) and with the soil radon contents in kBq/m (C) (Mel’nikov et al., 1994).

KG. Trifonov, A.S. Karakhanian / Tectonophysics 380 (2004) 287-294 291

stant NF = 56: 24 karyomorphs with 2n=31-54 wereidentified there (Fig. 7). Vorontsov considered this asone of ways of the new species formation. It was thesaltational genetic mutation that was manifested by thechromosomal variability and was followed by theperiod of divergence and fast fixation of the changes.

The same Robertsonian variation was found formole rats Microspalax leucodon in active zones ofBulgaria, Yugoslavia and Turkey and M. ehrenbergiin the Levant fault zone of Israel, Lebanon andSyria. The house mouse Mus musculus (stablekaryotype is 2n = NF = 40) demonstrated chromo¬somal variation near active zones in Italy (Capanna,

More serious influence of active faults to biota wasfound by Vorontsov and Lyapunova (1984). Theystudied chromosomal characteristics of the fossorialrodents of the Ellobius talpinus superspecies. Therange of the superspecies extends from the southUkraine up to the north China and from the Kara-Kum desert up to the western Siberia. Two allopatrickaryomorphs represent the superspecias. They are E.talpinus s. str. (2n = NF = 54) in the west and E. tancrei(2« = 54; NF = 56) in the east. However, near theSurkhob-Ilyak active fault zone in the Pamirs-TienShan boundary, the E. talpinus superspecies showuniquely wide chromosomal variability with the con-

71070°40'70°20'70°

Robertsonian polymorphism

2n=54 (normal)

2n=49-53

A 2n=44-48

|), 29”20'(ÿ29°20'IIО 2n=35-43 If Dj

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O, ,1+ +

V<1 20 km JL1<V<528°40'28°40' V>5

70°40' 71°70° 70°20'

Fig. 7. Active faults in the Pamirs — Tien Shan boundary (Trifonov, 1997) and chromosomal variability of the fossorial rodents of the E. talpinussuperspecies in the region, after (Vorontsov and Lyapunova, 1984). The Robertsonian variation is characteristic for the Surkhob-Ilyak thrustzone, but not for the Darvaz-Alai strike-slip zone (probably, because of absence of the detailed studies in the latter).

292 KG. Trifonov, A.S. Karakhanian / Tectonophysics 380 (2004) 287-294 1

1982) and the subalpine voles Pitymys daghestani-cus showed the same in the Transcaucasus, particu¬larly near the Khanarassar active fault zone(Lyapunova et al., 1988). The mutant form of Y-chromosome and some other chromosome anomaliesof voles were found in active zones in the southernItaly, Yugoslavia, the Tien Shan, the Altai, the southof the Baikal rift, Kunashir and Shikotan islands of

the Kuriles, Hokkaido, Honsu, and the northernAndes; and the pocket gophers demonstrated thevariation near active zones of California, Oregonand Washington states (Vorontsov and Lyapunova,1984).

Karakhanian found a concentration of the endemicplants near active zones in Armenia that also may beinterpreted as their mutation effect (Fig. 8).

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★ Seseli leprokladum WoronowCentaurea hajastana TzwclCentaurea arpensis (Czer) WargenitzlThlaspi zangezurum TzwelAlyssum hajastanum V. AvetIsatis Arnoldiana N. BischIsatis sewangensis N. BischSameraria odontophora BordzMerendera Mirzoevae Gabr.Centaurea Takhtajanii Gabr. et TonjanSmyrmopsis Armena Schischk.Sonchus araraticis Naz. et Bars.Bupleurum Koso-Poljanskyi Grossh.Sambucus tigrani Troizk.Ribes armenium Pojark.Ribes achurjani Mulk.Saalso/a Tamamschjani Iljin.

Gipsophila Takhtajanii Schischk.

♦♦▲A AД

0♦☆

☆ f

Л

♦Fig. 8. Active faults and distribution of the endemic species of plants in Armenia (compiled by Karakhanian with using the “Red Book ofArmenia”).

V.G. Trifonov, A.S. Karakhanian / Tectonophysics 380 (2004) 287-294 293

Active faulting can influence the human life andsocial development, first of all, as a source of strongearthquakes and accompanied phenomena such asground deformation, landslides and sometimes volca-nism. At the same time, active faulting has been anatural source of not only disasters. In Fig. 9, the activefaults of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle Eastare shown together with the archaeological sites withevidence of the oldest agriculture. They are dated backto the second part of IX and VIII millennia BC(Mellaart, 1965). All the sites (except that of ChatalHuyuk in Turkey) are located near active fault zones or

(as partially in Zagros) in basins, which are bounded byactive anticlines with blind thrusts in cores. The gen¬eration of agriculture was the principal step in thehuman history and is often named “the Neolithicrevolution”. It had been prepared by the climaticimprovement that followed the last glaciation andappearance of permanent settlements and necessaryimplements during the previous collecting of plants.However, the presence of good soils in suitable fields,sources of water and the seed material for planting,which were also necessary for the agriculture, is relatedto active tectonism. Active faults formed steep bounds

45”30” 35° 40”

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Fig. 9. Active faults and sites of ancient agriculture (circles) in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Symbols of the faults are thesame as in Fig. 1 in the Trifonov’s paper “Active faults in Eurasia: A review” in this volume. The archaeological sites: (1) Ain-Mellakha(Einan); (2) Ali Kosh; (3) Beidha; (4) Bus Morde; (5) Ganj Dere; (6) Jarmo; (7) Jebel Magzalia; (8) Jericho; (9) Ras Sharma (Ugarit); (10)Tepe Asyab; (11) Tepe Guran; (12) Tepe Sarah; (13) Flacilar; (14) Chatal Fluyuk; (15) Shanidar and Zavi-Chemi; (16) Shimshara; (17)Yabrud.

294 KG. Trifonov, A.S. Karakhanian / Tectonophysics 380 (2004) 287—294 1

of intermountain basins and foredeeps with springs andgood soils on alluvium. The adjacent uplifting ridgesdelayed the western cyclones and caused raining overthe basins. All the sites of the oldest agriculture werefound in the regions with wide distribution of wildancestors of the cultivated plants (Vavilov, 1965).Vavilov distinguished some areas within the regionswhere different eatable plants of many species andforms grow together. The areas were situated withinor close to the active fault zones that may have beensources of mutation effects. It helped the ancient farm¬ers to find plants which are most productive.

References

Capanna, E., 1982. Robertsonian numerical variation in animalspeciation: Mus musculus, an emblematic model. Mechanismsof Evolution. Liss, N.Y., pp. 155-177.

Karakhanian, A.S., Tozalakyan, P., Grillot, J.C., et al., 2001. Tec¬tonic impact on the Lake Sevan environment (Armenia). Envi¬ron. Geol. 40 (3), 279-288.

Lukina, N.V., Lyalko, V.I., Makarov, V.I., et al., 1991. Prelimi¬nary results of spectrometry in fault zones of the Zayzabadand Frunze research sites (Intern. Air-Satellite Experiment“Tien Shan-Intercosmos-88”). Russ. J. Remote Sens. 6,82-92.

Lyapunova, E.A., Ahverdian, M.R., Vorontsov, N.N., 1988. Rober-sonian fan of chromosomal variability of the subalpine voles inthe Caucasus (Pitymys, Microtinae, Rodentia). Dokl. Akad.Nauk SSSR 298, 480-483 (in Russian).

Mellaart, J., 1965. Earliest Civilizations of the Near East. Thamesand Hudson, London.

Mel’nikov, E.K., Rudnik, V.A., Musiychuk, Yu.I., Rymnikov, V.I.,1994. Pathogenic influence of active fault zones in the SaintPetersburg area. Geoecology 4, 50-69 (in Russian).

Trifonov, V.G., 1997. World map of active faults, their seismic andenvironmental effects. In: Giardini, D., Balassanian, S.Yu.(Eds.), Historical and Prehistorical Earthquakes in the Caucasus.Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 169-180.

Trifonov, V.G., Makarov, V.I., 1989. The experiment “TienShan-Intercosmos-88”. Zemlya i Vselennaya 4, 30-34 (inRussian).

Vavilov, N.I., 1965. Problems of Generation, Geography, Genetics,Selection, and Agriculture. Proceedings, vol. 5. Nauka Press,Moscow-Leningrad, 786 pp. (in Russian).

Vorontsov, N.N., Lyapunova, E.A., 1984. Explosive chromosomalspeciation in seismic active region. Chromosomes Today 8,289-294.

Zhidkov, M.P., Likhacheva, E.A., Trifonov, V.G., 1999. Estimationof location of towns relative to active faults in the Russian Plain.Izv. Ros. Akad. Nauk, Ser. Geogr. 2, 51-57 (in Russian).

3. Conclusion

iActive faulting is accompanied by variable geo¬physical and hydro-geochemical anomalies that canprovoke an oppression of the biota including thecultivated plants, appearance of the specific diseasesof people and the increase in distribution of some otherillnesses depending on the geodynamic, geophysicaland geochemical peculiarities of the fault zones. On theother hand, the neotectonic development of the faultzones produces particular landscapes rich in under¬ground water sources and suitable for inhabiting andagriculture, especially in the arid regions of Asia. Themutation effects of the active zones can be dangerousfor the biota and people. At the same time, theypromoted generation of the oldest agriculture. All thesepeculiarities and effects of active faults should be takeninto account in the planning of constructions, land use,prophylactic medical measures, and population activ¬ities on particular territories.

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