Dr. Magda Patyniak

Reasearch Interests

Paleoseismology, Field Geology, Earthquake Geology, Geomorphology, Quaternary Geology, Geological Mapping, Field Geology, Neotectonics, Structural Geology, Quaternary Geochronology

Current Project
Unraveling the history of Quaternary faults in an active orogen: Paleoseismology and neotectonics of the Subandean foreland fold-and-thrust belt in southern Bolivia

Actively deforming orogens are significant seismic hazard zones, especially in areas with steadily growing populations and infrastructure. An essential and yet oftentimes poorly understood attribute for a coherent hazard and risk assessment is whether the responsible tectonic fault systems are subject to permanent, creeping deformation or episodic, seismogenic rupture processes. Recent regional geodetic surface velocity measurements in the southern Bolivian Subandes indicate that the décollement beneath the eastern orogen is the primary contributor to its lateral and vertical growth. The surface manifestation of the décollement is the Mandeyapecua fault system at the leading edge of the Subandean thrust belt that records Quaternary surface offsets. These major several tens of meter high fault scarps document repeatedly occurring surface ruptures yet neither instrumental nor historical archives record large-magnitude earthquakes in the Subandes. Further, the present-day GPS-derived rate of contraction in this region is low and studies of the deformation rate are mainly based on the tectonic evolution on geologic 106-year timescales. This creates a major gap in knowledge regarding the relationship between faulting processes acting over timescales of several hundreds to thousands of years and large-scale offsets in the recent past. To obtain a holistic assessment of faulting and the lack of pronounced seismicity in recent times, the key focus of this project is to decipher the rupture history and seismogenic behavior of the Mandeyapecua fault system. In this multi-scale study spaceborne-lidar and high-resolution topographic assessment will be combined with near-surface geophysics, paleoseismologic trenching and exposure-surface dating to obtain a 4-D picture. Through active cooperation with local authorities the expected results of this study will lead to a better evaluation of regional seismic hazards, an increased awareness of seismic hazards, and new insights into the recent tectonic evolution of the Subandean frontal thrust system. In a global context, it is expected that the study will contribute to the understanding of seismotectonic segmentation of thrust fronts in active non-collisional mountain belts.

Phd-Thesis
Seismotectonic Segmentation, Paleoerathquakes and Style of Deformation along the Northern Pamir Thrust System, South Kyrgyzstan

The Pamir Frontal Thrust (PFT) located in the Trans Alai range in Central Asia is the principal active fault of the intracontinental India-Eurasia convergence zone and constitutes the northernmost boundary of the Pamir orogen at the NW edge of this collision zone. Frequent seismic activity and ongoing crustal shortening reflect the northward propagation of the Pamir into the intermontane Alai Valley. Quaternary deposits are being deformed and uplifted by the advancing thrust front of the Trans Alai range. The Alai Valley separates the Pamir range front from the Tien Shan mountains in the north; the Alai Valley is the vestige of a formerly contiguous basin that linked the Tadjik Depression in the west with the Tarim Basin in the east. GNSS measurements across the Central Pamir document a shortening rate of ~25 mm/yr, with a dramatic decrease of ~10-15 mm over a short distance across the northernmost Trans Alai range. This suggests that almost half of the shortening in the greater Pamir – Tien Shan collision zone is absorbed along the PFT. The short-term (geodetic) and long-term (geologic) shortening rates across the northern Pamir appear to be at odds with an apparent slip-rate discrepancy along the frontal fault system of the Pamir. Moreover, the present-day seismicity and historical records have not revealed great Mw > 7 earthquakes that might be expected with such a significant slip accommodation. In contrast, recent and historic earthquakes exhibit complex rupture patterns within and across seismotectonic segments bounding the Pamir mountain front, challenging our understanding of fault interaction and the seismogenic potential of this area, and leaving the relationships between seismicity and the geometry of the thrust front not well understood.

Publications

Patyniak, M., Landgraf, A., Dzhumabaeva, A., Baikulov, S., Williams, A.M., Weiss, J.R., Hilley, G.E., Preusser, F., Abdrakhmatov, K.E., Arrowsmith, R.J. and Strecker, M.R., 2021. The Pamir Frontal Thrust Fault: Holocene Full‐Segment Ruptures and Implications for Complex Segment Interactions in a Continental Collision Zone. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 126(12). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JB022405

Schneider, K.P., Hoffmann, J.E., Münker, C., Patyniak, M., Sprung, P., Roerdink, D., Schönberg, D.G. and Kröner, A., 2019. Petrogenetic evolution of metabasalts and metakomatiites of the lower Onverwacht Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt (South Africa).Chemical Geology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2019.02.020

Patyniak, M., Landgraf, A., Dzhumabaeva, A., Abdrakhmatov, K.E., Rosenwinkel, S., Korup, O., Preusser, F., Fohlmeister, J., Arrowsmith, J.R. and Strecker, M.R., 2017. Paleoseismic Record of Three Holocene Earthquakes Rupturing the Issyk‐Ata Fault near Bishkek, North KyrgyzstanPaleoseismic Record of Three Holocene Earthquakes Rupturing the Issyk‐Ata Fault near Bishkek. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 107(6), pp.2721-2737. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120170083

Pérez-López, R., Martín-Velázquez, S., Sánchez-Moral, S., Patyniak, M., López-Gutiérrez, J., Cuezva, S., Lario, J., Silva, P.G., Rodríguez-Pascua, M.A. and Giner-Robles, J.L., 2017. New insights on speleoseismology: The geothermal gradient and heat flow values in caves for the study of active faults. Quaternary International. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.11.026

Conference Contributions

Patyniak, M., Landgraf, A., Dzhumabaeva, A., Williams, A. M., Baikulov, S., Arrowsmith, R., Abdrakhmatov, K., Strecker, M., 2020, Mai. Seismic Behavior Along a Fault Segment in an Active Continental Collision Zone: New Paleoseismic and Structural Data of the Pamir Frontal Thrust in the Alai Valley, Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. In EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts (Vol. 22, p. 4599), Vienna, Austria. Display.

Patyniak, M., Landgraf, A., Dzhumabaeva, A., Abdrakhmatov, K., Williams, A. M., Strecker, M., Arrowsmith, R., 2018, September. The Hidden Past of the Alai Valley: Understanding the Seismic History and Behavior of the Central Pamir Frontal Thrust System through Paleoseismology. 2018 SCEC Annual Meeting, Plam Springs, USA. Poster presentation.  

Patyniak, M., Landgraf, A., Ramón Arrowsmith, J., Dzhumabaeva, A., Abdrakhmatov, K., & Strecker, M. 2018, April. Unraveling the Quaternary deformation history of the North Pamir collision zone: New paleoseismological data from the Pamir Frontal Thrust (39.5° N, 72.5° E), Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. In EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts (Vol. 20, p. 18736), Vienna, Austria. Poster presentation.

Patyniak, M., Landgraf, A., Dzhumabaeva, A., Abdrakhmatov, K., Rosenwinkel, S., Strecker, M., Korup, O. and Arrowsmith, R., 2017, November. Paleoseismic Study with Advanced Chronology by using U-Series Dating of Pedogenic Carbonate from Displaced Fluvial Gravel Deposits, Issyk-Ata Fault, North Kyrgyzstan. PATA Days 2017, Blenheim, New Zealand. Oral presentation.

Patyniak, M., Landgraf, A., Dzhumabaeva, A., Abdrakhmatov, K., Rosenwinkel, S., Strecker, M., Korup, O. and Arrowsmith, R., 2017, September. Paleoseismic Record of Three Holocene Earthquakes Rupturing the Issyk-Ata Fault near Bishkek, North Kyrgyzstan. 2017 SCEC Annual Meeting, Plam Springs, USA. Poster presentation.

Patyniak, M., Landgraf, A., Dzhumabaeva, A., Abdrakhmatov, K., Rosenwinkel, S., Strecker, M., Korup, O. and Arrowsmith, R., 2017, April. Boosting the trench: Paleoseimic Record of Three Holocene Earthquakes Rupturing the Issyk-Ata Fault near Bishkek, North Tien Shan, Kyrgyzstan. In EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts (Vol. 19, p. 15740), Vienna, Austria. Oral presentation.