In many highly extended rifts on the Earth, tectonic removal of the upper crust exhumes mid-crustal rocks, producing metamorphic core complexes. These structures allow the upper continental crust to accommodate tens of kilometres of extension, but it is not clear how the lower crust and underlying mantle respond. Also, despite removal of the upper crust, such core complexes remain both topographically high and in isostatic equilibrium. Because many core complexes in the western United States are underlain by a flat Moho discontinuity, it has been widely assumed that their elevation is supported by flow in the lower crust or by magmatic underplating. These processes should decouple upper-crust extension from that in the mantle. In contrast, here we present seismic observations of metamorphic core complexes of the western Woodlark rift that show the overall crust to be thinned beneath regions of greatest surface extension. These core complexes are actively being exhumed at a rate of 5-10 km Myr(-1), and the thinning of the underlying crust appears to be compensated by mantle rocks of anomalously low density, as indicated by low seismic velocities. We conclude that, at least in this case, the development of metamorphic core complexes and the accommodation of high extension is not purely a crustal phenomenon, but must involve mantle extension.

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Aeolian sand transport was studied at the Lanphere Dunes, a coastal dune complex in northern California, by comparing slipface advance rates with transport predicted based on local wind data. The slipfaces of a 2Á5 m high transverse ridge and 10 m high parabolic dune were monitored over a period of three months to estimate sand discharge. The study was performed during the dry season, which has the maximum sand-driving potential. Over the three month study period, average sand discharge was 12Á5 m 3 per m width per year at the transverse ridge and 8Á8 m 3 per m width per year at the parabolic dune. A method was developed for modelling slipfaces that are sinuous and where sediment transport rates are not constant across the width of the slipface. Field measurements were used to generate three-dimensional representations of dune slipfaces. Periodic measurements over the course of three months were used to compute the volume of displaced sediment.Theoretical sand transport was computed from local wind data using the Bagnold model and compared with the observed transport rates. Predicted rates were substantially lower than observed rates. Wind velocities rarely exceeded the threshold velocity. Discrepancies between the observed and predicted values appear to be caused by a combination of wind data recording procedures and differences between wind velocities at the anemometer location and the site where sand transport was measured.Wind data collected by weather bureaux have been utilized in numerous studies for modelling sediment transport. Such data typically have sample intervals of one hour or greater and are often averaged prior to reporting. The effect of averaging was investigated by comparing sand transport estimates based on daily average wind velocities with those based on the original hourly observations. The daily average data were depleted of high velocity winds and sand transport estimates were accordingly much lower than those based on the hourly data.

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