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1.
A re-compilation of magnetic data in the Weddell Sea is presented and compared with the gravity field recently derived from retracked satellite altimetry. The previously informally named ‘Anomaly-T,’ an east–west trending linear positive magnetic and gravity anomaly lying at about 69°S, forms the southern boundary of the well-known Weddell Sea gravity herringbone. North of Anomaly-T, three major E–W linear magnetic lows are shown, and identified with anomalies c12r, c21–29(r) and c33r. On the basis of these, and following work by recent investigators, isochrons c13, c18, c20, c21, c30, c33 and c34 are identified and extended into the western Weddell Sea. Similarly, a linear magnetic low lying along the spine of the herringbone is shown and provisionally dated at 93–96 Ma. Anomaly-T is tentatively dated to be M5n, in agreement with recent tectonic models.Although current tectonic models are generally in good agreement to the north of T, to the south interpretations differ. Some plate tectonic models have only proposed essentially north–south spreading in the region, whilst others have suggested that a period of predominantly east–west motion (relative to present Antarctic geographic coordinates) occurred during the mid-Mesozoic spreading between East and West Gondwana. We identify an area immediately to the south of T which appears to be the southerly extent of N–S spreading in the herringbone. Following recent work, the extreme southerly extent of the N–S directed spreading of the herringbone is provisionally dated M9r/M10. In the oldest Weddell Sea, immediately to the north and east of the Antarctic shelf, we see subtle features in both the magnetic and gravity data that are consistent with predominantly N–S spreading in the Weddell Sea during the earliest opening of East and West Gondwana. In between, however, in a small region extending approximately from about 50 km south of T to about 70°S and from approximately 40° to 53°W, the magnetic and gravity data appear to suggest well-correlated linear marine magnetic anomalies (possible isochrons) perpendicular to T, bounded and offset by less well-defined steps and linear lows in the gravity (possible fracture zones). These magnetic and gravity data southwest of T suggest that the crust here may record an E–W spreading episode between the two-plate system of East and West Gondwana prior to the initiation of the three-plate spreading system of South America, Africa and Antarctica. The E–W spreading record to the east of about 35°W would then appear to have been cut off at about M10 time during the establishment of N–S three-plate spreading along the South American–Antarctic Ridge and then subducted under the Scotia Ridge.  相似文献   

2.
High resolution seafloor studies of the Peru Trench between 10°S and 14°S with the GLORIA long-range side-scan sonar system show that the Nazca plate is broken by numerous normal faults as it bends into the trench. These bending-induced faults strike subparallel to the trench axis and overprint and cut across spreading fabric structures of the plate. They commonly form grabens having widths and spacings of 3–5 km and extend for as much as 100 km along strike. Vertical displacements are generally 200 m or more by the time they reach the trench axis. Turbidite deposits are found in the trench north of 11.5°S. Both turbidite and pelagic sediments are folded and temporarily accreted to the base of the overriding plate along the length of the trench axis. They are apparently subsequently implaced in the grabens by slumping and subducted with the Nazca plate. The Mendaña Fracture Zone, which intersects the trench between 9°40′S and 10°35′S, appears to be the locus of a seaward propagating rift that is forming in response to subduction-induced extensional stresses in the Nazca plate.  相似文献   

3.
Kachishige Sato   《Tectonophysics》1993,220(1-4):69-87
We inverted 76 rates of change of baseline lengths measured with very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) during the period 1979–1989 to estimate the parameters of motions of the North American (noam) and Eurasian (eura) plates relative to the Pacific (pcfc) plate. We considered two types of plate motion models, namely, rigid and non-rigid models. In the non-rigid models, we simultaneously determined the non-rigid motions of several stations near plate boundaries due to intraplate deformation. Intraplate deformation in the regions far away from plate boundaries is assumed to be negligible.Among several models considered, a non-rigid model called M2 is found to fit most closely to the observed data. In this model, six stations are assumed to be capable of the non-rigid motion; those are goldvenu, hatcreek, mojave12, ovro 130 and vndnberg, in the southwestern United States and kashima, in Japan. M2 gives parameter sets of 0.827 ± 0.035°/m.y., about 50.5 ± 1.2°N, 78.5 ± 5.3°W and 0.889 ± 0.049°/m.y., about 59.7 ± 1.9°N, 85.1 ± 7.4 °W, representing the noam-pcfc and eura-pcfc relative motions. The plate motion parameters of M2 are nearly identical to those of the newest global-scale plate motion model nuvel-1. The noam-pcfc and eura-pcfc rotation rates of M2 respectively deviate only 0.044°/m.y. and 0.010°/m.y. from those of nuvel-1 (these deviations are only about 6% and 1%, respectively, of the rotation rates themselves). The noam-pcfc and eura-pcfc poles of M2 both lie only 2° from those of nuvel-1 (within a 2σ error ellipse of each pole). nuvel-1 is determined from spreading rates at mid-ocean ridges, azimuths of transform faults and earthquake slip vectors. Since the spreading rates are estimated from marine magnetic anomalies integrated over a geological timescale, nuvel-1 gives the plate motions averaged over this timescale. Thus, we may conclude that there is no appreciable difference between the plate motions averaged over a geological timescale (millions of years) and those in a recent short period ( ~ 10 yr).M2 also gives the horizontal non-rigid motions of VLBI stations in the southwestern United States at rates of 6–9 mm/yr and roughly in opposite direction to the rigid motion of each station associated with plate motion. hatcreek, located near the northern part of the Basin and Range Province (B&R), also shows additional westward motion of about 9 mm/yr, suggesting crustal stretching in the northern B&R. The US VLBI stations show subsidence at rates of about 5–7 mm/yr, except for goldvenu and ovro 130, whose subsidence is negligible. The Japanese VLBI station, kashima, has a horizontal non-rigid motion of about 20 mm/yr in the west-northwest direction, roughly opposite to the direction of the rigid motion. kashima also shows subsidence at a rate of about 12 mm/yr, which is larger than that deduced from geodetic data but consistent with the result from GPS.  相似文献   

4.
A Seabeam-based reconnaissance of the 500 km of the East Pacific Rise crest between 7°N and 2°40′N shows that the axial ridge is segmented by four 4–13 km non-transform offsets into an en echelon string of distinctively different linear volcanoes. These axial volcanoes are oriented orthogonal to relative plate motion, except where their overlapping ends veer 15° toward each other and where small intra-volcano offsets of their crestal rift zones create abrupt kinks. Longitudinal gradients of the crestlines are less than 5 m/km, except where they plunge at rift-zones' overlapped ends and where they rise locally to small axial peaks. Transverse profiles vary from trapezoidal to triangular, with a steep shield-shaped cross-section being most common. Conventional sounding data indicate that this pattern continues to the 140 km-offset Siqueiros transform fault system at 8.2°N. Within this fault system is a short spreadingcenter volcano contained in a rift valley that links two strike-slip fault zones. Immediately to the north is the shallow 9.0°–8.3°N axial volcano, with unusual relief mapped by a deeply towed instrument package. At the southern end of the plate boundary, as the rise crest enters the region of the Pacific-Cocos-Nazca triple junction, the axial ridge narrows, deepens, and acquires a more irregular long profile. South of 2°30′N the rise crest has a 15 km-wide rift valley that contains multiple volcanic ridges with north-south strikes. Structural hypotheses suggested or supported by these morphologic observations include a point-source magma supply to the spreading center from mantle diapirs, the along-strike continuity of axial magma chambers on fast-spreading rises, even across small rift-zone offsets, and the importance of magma intrusion as well as eruption for building the axial ridge. Hypotheses inconsistent with the new data include magma supply and long-distance dispersal from a few widely spaced plumes, primary control of the topographic, volcanic, and tectonic characteristics of the rise crest by distance from transform faults, and localization of triple junctions over major mantle upwellings.  相似文献   

5.
The Philippine Sea plate, located between the Pacific, Eurasian and Australian plates, is the world's largest marginal basin plate. The motion of the Philippine Sea plate through time is poorly understood as it is almost entirely surrounded by subduction zones and hence, previous studies have relied on palaeomagnetic analysis to constrain its rotation. We present a comprehensive analysis of geophysical data within the Parece Vela and Shikoku Basins—two Oligocene to Miocene back-arc basins—which provide independent constraints on the rotational history of the Philippine Sea plate by means of their seafloor spreading record. We have created a detailed plate model for the opening of the Parece Vela and Shikoku Basins based on an analysis of all available magnetic, gravity and bathymetric data in the region. Subduction along the Izu–Bonin–Mariana trench led to trench roll-back, arc rupture and back-arc rifting in the Parece Vela and Shikoku Basins at 30 Ma. Seafloor spreading in both basins developed by chron 9o (28 Ma), and possibly by chron 10o (29 Ma), as a northward and southward propagating rift, respectively. The spreading orientation in the Parece Vela Basin was E–W as opposed to ENE–WSW in the Shikoku Basin. The spreading ridges joined by chron 6By (23 Ma) and formed a R–R–R triple junction to accommodate the difference in spreading orientations in both basins. At chron 6No (20 Ma), the spreading direction in the Parece Vela Basin changed from E–W to NE–SW. At chron 5Ey (19 Ma), the spreading direction in the Shikoku Basin changed from ENE–WSW to NE–SW. This change was accompanied by a marked decrease in spreading rate. Cessation of back-arc opening occurred at 15 Ma, a time of regional plate reorganisation in SE Asia. We interpret the dramatic change in spreading rate and direction from E–W to NE–SW at 20±1.3 Ma as an expression of Philippine Sea plate rotation and is constrained by the spacing between our magnetic anomaly identifications and the curvature of the fracture zones. This rotation was previously thought to have begun at 25 Ma as a result of a global change in plate motions. Our results suggest that the Philippine Sea plate rotated clockwise by about 4° between 20 and 15 Ma about a pole located 35°N, 84°E. This implies that the majority of the 34° clockwise rotation inferred to have occurred between 25 and 5 Ma from paleomagnetic data may have in fact been confined to the period between 15 and 5 Ma.  相似文献   

6.
Shear wave splitting measurements in South Kamchatka during the 3-year period (1996–1998) in which the Kronotsky Earthquake (M=7.7, December 5, 1997) occurred are used to determine anisotropic parameters of the subduction zone and shear wave splitting variations with time. The local small seismic events recorded at the Petropavlovskaya IRIS station (PET) were analyzed. The dominant azimuths of the fast shear wave polarizations for the 3-year period are defined within N95±15°E, which are consistent with the general Pacific Plate motion direction. Modeling of fast shear wave polarizations shows that HTI model with the symmetry axis oriented along N15°E±10° fit well the observed data for events the focal depths of which are less than 80 km. For the greater depths, the orthorhombic symmetry of medium is not excluded. The anisotropy coefficient increases generally with depth from 1–2% in the crust to 4–7.5% in the subducting plate. Variations in time delays show a general increase up to 10–15 ms/km during 1996–1997 before the large crustal earthquake series (M≈5.5–7) in the Avacha Bay and before the Kronotsky Earthquake. Analysis of fast S-wave azimuths of mantle events reveals a temporal cyclic variation. The most regular variations are observed for fast azimuths of deep events with a period of about 172 days over the 3-year period. The fast polarizations of crustal events behave comparatively stable. It is assumed that the major instabilities in stress state are localized in the descending slab and influenced the upper mantle and comparatively stable crust.  相似文献   

7.
East Asia plate tectonics since 15 Ma: constraints from the Taiwan region   总被引:4,自引:0,他引:4  
15 Ma ago, a major plate reorganization occurred in East Asia. Seafloor spreading ceased in the South China Sea, Japan Sea, Taiwan Sea, Sulu Sea, and Shikoku and Parece Vela basins. Simultaneously, shear motions also ceased along the Taiwan–Sinzi zone, the Gagua ridge and the Luzon–Ryukyu transform plate boundary. The complex system of thirteen plates suddenly evolved in a simple three-plate system (EU, PH and PA). Beneath the Manila accretionary prism and in the Huatung basin, we have determined magnetic lineation patterns as well as spreading rates deduced from the identification of magnetic lineations. These two patterns are rotated by 15°. They were formed by seafloor spreading before 15 Ma and belonged to the same ocean named the Taiwan Sea. Half-spreading rate in the Taiwan Sea was 2 cm/year from chron 23 to 20 (51 to 43 Ma) and 1 cm/year from chron 20 (43 Ma) to 5b (15 Ma). Five-plate kinematic reconstructions spanning from 15 Ma to Present show implications concerning the geodynamic evolution of East Asia. Amongst them, the 1000-km-long linear Gagua ridge was a major plate boundary which accommodated the northwestward shear motion of the PH Sea plate; the formation of Taiwan was driven by two simple lithospheric motions: (i) the subduction of the PH Sea plate beneath Eurasia with a relative westward motion of the western end (A) of the Ryukyu subduction zone; (ii) the subduction of Eurasia beneath the Philippine Sea plate with a relative southwestward motion of the northern end (B) of the Manila subduction zone. The Luzon arc only formed south of B. The collision of the Luzon arc with Eurasia occurred between A and B. East of A, the Luzon arc probably accreted against the Ryukyu forearc.  相似文献   

8.
Sakhalin has been affected by several phases of Cretaceous and Tertiary deformation due to the complex interaction of plates in the northwest Pacific region. A detailed understanding of the strain is important because it will provide constraints on plate-scale processes that control the formation and deformation of marginal sedimentary basins. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) data were obtained from fine-grained mudstones and siltstones from 22 localities in Sakhalin in order to provide information concerning tectonic strain. AMS data reliably record ancient strain tensor orientations before significant deformation of the sediments occurred. Paleomagnetically determined vertical-axis rotations of crustal rocks allow rotation of the fabrics back to their original orientation. Results from southwest Sakhalin indicate a N035°E-directed net tectonic transport from the mid-Paleocene to the early Miocene, which is consistent with the present-day relative motion between the Okhotsk Sea and Eurasian plates. Reconstruction of early–late Miocene AMS fabrics in east Sakhalin indicates a tectonic transport direction of N040°E. In west Sakhalin, the transport direction appears to have remained relatively consistent from the Oligocene to the late Miocene, but it has a different attitude of N080°E. This suggests local deflection of the stress and strain fields, which was probably associated with opening of the northern Tatar Strait. A northward-directed tectonic transport is observed in Miocene sediments in southeast Sakhalin, mid-Eocene sediments in east Sakhalin, and in Late Cretaceous rocks of west and northern Sakhalin, which may be associated with northwestward motion and subduction of the Pacific Plate in the Tertiary period. The boundaries of the separate regions defined by the AMS data are consistent with present-day plate models and, therefore, provide meaningful constraints on the tectonic evolution of Sakhalin.  相似文献   

9.
Yu J. Gu   《Tectonophysics》2006,424(1-2):41-51
This paper investigates the shear velocity structure under the northern East Pacific Rise at the latitude range of 9–18°N, using intermediate-period Rayleigh and Love waves. The selected ocean-bottom seismic records provide source–receiver paths that ideally constrain the lithospheric mantle structure beneath the southern Rivera plate and the Mathematician paleoplate. The Rayleigh wave data infer a relatively thin ( 30 km) lithosphere under the eastern side of the present-day East Pacific Rise. The associated shear velocities are consistent with existing models of oceanic mantle beneath this region, and the estimated plate age of 2–3 million years agrees with results from magnetic dating. The west of the rise axis is characterized by a thicker and faster lithosphere than the eastern flank, and such structural differences suggest the presence of a relatively old Mathematician paleoplate. The discontinuous change in mantle structure across the East Pacific Rise spreading center are observed in both isotropic and anisotropic velocities. The young oceanic lithosphere east of the rise axis shows strong polarization anisotropy, where the dominant orientation of crystallographic axes roughly parallels the spreading direction. However, the western flank of the rise axis is approximately isotropic, and the lack of anisotropy suggests complex deformation mechanisms associated with earlier episodes of ridge segmentation, propagation and dual-spreading on and around the Mathematician paleoplate.  相似文献   

10.
The Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb experience moderate earthquake activity and oblique,  NW–SE convergence between Africa and Eurasia at a rate of  5 mm/yr. Coeval extension in the Alboran Basin and a N35°E trending band of active, left-lateral shear deformation in the Alboran–Betic region are not straightforward to understand in the context of regional shortening, and evidence complexity of deformation at the plate contact. We estimate 86 seismic moment tensors (MW 3.3 to 6.9) from time domain inversion of near-regional waveforms in an intermediate period band. Those and previous moment tensors are used to describe regional faulting style and calculate average stress tensors. The solutions associated to the Trans-Alboran shear zone show predominantly strike-slip faulting, and indicate a clockwise rotation of the largest principal stress orientation compared to the regional convergence direction (σ1 at N350°E). At the N-Algerian and SW-Iberian margins, reverse faulting solutions dominate, corresponding to N350°E and N310°E compression, respectively. Over most of the Betic range and intraplate Iberia, we observe predominately normal faulting, and WSW–ENE extension (σ3 at N240°E). From GPS observations we estimate that more than 3 mm/yr of African (Nubian)–Eurasian plate convergence are currently accommodated at the N-Algerian margin,  2 mm/yr in the Moroccan Atlas, and  2 mm/yr at the SW-Iberian margin. 2 mm/yr is a reasonable estimate for convergence within the Alboran region, while Alboran extension can be quantified as  2.5 mm/yr along the stretching direction (N240°E). Superposition of both motions explains the observed left-lateral transtensional regime in the Trans-Alboran shear zone. Two potential driving mechanisms of differential motion of the Alboran–Betic–Gibraltar domain may coexist in the region: a secondary stress source other than plate convergence, related to regional-scale dynamic processes in the upper mantle of the Alboran region, as well as drag from the continental-scale motion of the Nubian plate along the southern limit of the region. In the Atlantic Ocean, the  3.5 mm/yr, westward motion of the Gibraltar Arc relative to intraplate Iberia can be accommodated at the transpressive SW-Iberian margin, while available GPS observations do not support an active subduction process in this area.  相似文献   

11.
The South China Sea (SCS) is a region of interaction among three major plates: the Pacific, Indo-Australian and Eurasian. The collision of the Indian subcontinent with the Eurasian plate in the northwest, back-arc spreading at the center, and subduction beneath the Philippine plate along Manila trench in the east and the collision along Palawan trough in the south have produced complex tectonic features within and along the SCS. This investigation examines the satellite-derived gravity anomalies of the SCS and compares them with major tectonic features of the area. A map of Bouguer gravity anomaly is derived in conjunction with available seafloor topography to investigate the crustal structure. The residual isostatic gravity anomaly is calculated assuming that the Cenozoic sedimentary load is isostatically compensated. The features in the gravity anomalies in general correlate remarkably well with the major geological features, including offsets in the seafloor spreading segments, major faults, basins, seamounts and other manifestations of magmatism and volcanism on the seafloor. They also correlate with the presumed location of continental-oceanic crust boundary. The region underlain by oceanic crust in the central part of the SCS is characterized by a large positive Bouguer gravity anomaly (220–330 mgal) as well as large free-air and residual isostatic anomalies. There are, however, important differences among spreading segments. For example, in terms of free-air gravity anomaly, the southwest section of mid-ocean has an approximately 50 km wide belt of gravity low superimposed on a broad high of 45 mgal running NW–SE, whereas there are no similar features in other spreading segments. There are indications that gravity anomalies may represent lateral variation in upper crustal density structure. For instance, free air and isostatic anomalies show large positive anomalies in the east of the Namconson basin, which coincide with areas of dense volcanic material known from seismic surveys. The Red River Fault system are clearly identified in the satellite gravity anomalies, including three major faults, Songchay Fault in the southwest, Songlo Fault in the Northeast and Central Fault in the center of the basin. They are elongated in NW–SE direction between 20±30'N and 17°N and reach to Vietnam Scarp Fault around 16°30'N. It is also defined that the crustal density in the south side of the Central Basin is denser than that in the north side of the Central Basin.  相似文献   

12.
Creation of the Cocos and Nazca plates by fission of the Farallon plate   总被引:4,自引:0,他引:4  
Peter Lonsdale   《Tectonophysics》2005,404(3-4):237-264
Throughout the Early Tertiary the area of the Farallon oceanic plate was episodically diminished by detachment of large and small northern regions, which became independently moving plates and microplates. The nature and history of Farallon plate fragmentation has been inferred mainly from structural patterns on the western, Pacific-plate flank of the East Pacific Rise, because the fragmented eastern flank has been subducted. The final episode of plate fragmentation occurred at the beginning of the Miocene, when the Cocos plate was split off, leaving the much reduced Farallon plate to be renamed the Nazca plate, and initiating Cocos–Nazca spreading. Some Oligocene Farallon plate with rifted margins that are a direct record of this plate-splitting event has survived in the eastern tropical Pacific, most extensively off northern Peru and Ecuador. Small remnants of the conjugate northern rifted margin are exposed off Costa Rica, and perhaps south of Panama. Marine geophysical profiles (bathymetric, magnetic and seismic reflection) and multibeam sonar swaths across these rifted oceanic margins, combined with surveys of 30–20 Ma crust on the western rise-flank, indicate that (i) Localized lithospheric rupture to create a new plate boundary was preceded by plate stretching and fracturing in a belt several hundred km wide. Fissural volcanism along some of these fractures built volcanic ridges (e.g., Alvarado and Sarmiento Ridges) that are 1–2 km high and parallel to “absolute” Farallon plate motion; they closely resemble fissural ridges described from the young western flank of the present Pacific–Nazca rise. (ii) For 1–2 m.y. prior to final rupture of the Farallon plate, perhaps coinciding with the period of lithospheric stretching, the entire plate changed direction to a more easterly (“Nazca-like”) course; after the split the northern (Cocos) part reverted to a northeasterly absolute motion. (iii) The plate-splitting fracture that became the site of initial Cocos–Nazca spreading was a linear feature that, at least through the 680 km of ruptured Oligocene lithosphere known to have avoided subduction, did not follow any pre-existing feature on the Farallon plate, e.g., a “fracture zone” trail of a transform fault. (iv) The margins of surviving parts of the plate-splitting fracture have narrow shoulders raised by uplift of unloaded footwalls, and partially buried by fissural volcanism. (v) Cocos–Nazca spreading began at 23 Ma; reports of older Cocos–Nazca crust in the eastern Panama Basin were based on misidentified magnetic anomalies.There is increased evidence that the driving force for the 23 Ma fission of the Farallon plate was the divergence of slab-pull stresses at the Middle America and South America subduction zones. The timing and location of the split may have been influenced by (i) the increasingly divergent northeast slab pull at the Middle America subduction zone, which lengthened and reoriented because of motion between the North America and Caribbean plates; (ii) the slightly earlier detachment of a northern part of the plate that had been entering the California subduction zone, contributing a less divergent plate-driving stress; and (iii) weakening of older parts of the plate by the Galapagos hotspot, which had come to underlie the equatorial region, midway between the risecrest and the two subduction zones, by the Late Oligocene.  相似文献   

13.
The morphotectonic features of the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) provide information regarding the development of the basin. Multibeam mapping of the CIOB reveals presence of abundant isolated seamounts and seamount chains sub-parallel to each other and major fracture zones along 73° E, 79° E and 75°45′ E. Morphological analyses were carried out for 200 seamounts that occur either as isolated edifies or along eight sub-parallel chains. The identified eight parallel seamount chains that trend almost north–south and reflecting the absolute motion of the Indian plate, probably originated from the ancient propagative fractures. Inspite of the differences in their height, the seamounts of these eight chains are morphologically correlatable. In the study area the seamounts are clustered north and south of 12° S latitude. Interestingly, in the area north of 12° S (area II: 9°–12° S) the seamounts are distinctly smaller (≤ 400 m height) whereas, the area south of 12° S (area I: 12°–15° S) has a mixed population of seamounts. The normalized abundance of the CIOB seamount is 976 seamounts/106 km2 but on a finer scale this value varies from 500 to 1600 seamounts/106 km2, which is less than the seamount concentrations of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans (9000 to 16,000 seamounts/106 km2). Three categories of seamounts are present in the CIOB e.g. (1) single-peaked (2) multi-peaked and (3) composite. The study indicate that single-peaked seamounts are dominant (89%) while multi-peaked is less (8%) and composite ones are rare (3%) in the CIOB.The progressive northward movement of the Indian continent caused collision between India and Asia at around 62 Ma ago. A majority of the near-axis originated seamounts in the CIOB seemed to have formed as a consequence of the temporally widespread (Cretaceous  65 Ma to late Eocene < 49 Ma) collision between India and Eurasia. The regional stress patterns in the Indian plate vary N to NE in the continent and N to NW in Indian Ocean areas. The combined effect of the regional stress patterns maintained the orientation of the seamount chains and the local stress regime helped in the upwelling of magma and formation of seamounts. The low heat flow, morphological features and geochemical signature indicate that the morphotectonic structures formed contemporaneously with the oceanic crust.  相似文献   

14.
The Archaean and Early–Middle Proterozoic (1.8–1.5 Ga) terranes of the North Australian Craton and the South Australian Craton are separated by 400 km of ca. 1.33–1.10-Ga orogenic belts and Phanerozoic sediments. However, there is a diverse range of geological phenomena that correlate between the component terranes of the two cratons and provide evidence for a shared tectonic evolution between approximately 1.8 and 1.5 Ga. In order to honour these correlations, we propose a reconstruction in which the South Australian Craton is rotated 52° counterclockwise about a pole located at 136°E and 25°S (present-day coordinates), relative to its current position. This reconstruction aligns the ca. 1.8–1.6-Ga orogenic belts preserved in the Arunta Inlier and the Gawler Craton and the ca. 1.6–1.5-Ga orogenic belts preserved in the Mount Isa Block and the Curnamona Province. Before 1.5 Ga, the South Australian Craton was not a separate entity but part of a greater proto-Australian continent which was characterised by accretion along a southward-migrating convergent margin (ca. 1.8–1.6 Ga) followed by convergence along the eastern margin (ca. 1.6–1.5 Ga). After 1.5 Ga, the South Australian Craton broke away from the North Australian Craton only to be reattached in its current position during the ca. 1.33–1.10 Ga-Albany–Fraser and Musgrave orogenies.  相似文献   

15.
A statistical analysis was carried out to investigate spatial associations between natural seismicity and faults in southeastern Ontario and north-central New York State (between 73°18′ and 77°00′W and 43°30′ and 45°18′N). The study area is situated to the west of the seismically active St. Lawrence fault zone, and to the east of the Lake Ontario basin where recently documented geological and geophysical evidence points to possible neotectonic faulting. The weights of evidence method was used to judge the spatial associations between seismic events and populations of faults in eight arbitrarily defined orientation groups. Spatial analysis of data sets for seismic events in the periods 1930–1970 and post-1970 suggest stronger spatial associations between earthquake epicentres and faults with strikes that lie in the NW–SE quadrants, and weaker spatial associations of epicentres with faults that have strikes in the NE–SW quadrants. The strongest spatial associations were determined for groups of faults with strikes between 101° and 146°. The results suggest that faults striking broadly NW–SE, at high angles to the regional maximum horizontal compressive stress, are statistically more likely to be spatially associated with seismic events than faults striking broadly NE–SW. If the positive spatial associations can be interpreted as indicating genetic relationships between earthquakes and mapped faults, then the results may suggest that, as a population, NW–SE trending faults are more likely to be seismically active than NE–SW striking faults. Detailed geological studies of faults in the study area would be required to determine possible neotectonic displacements and the kinematics of the displacements.  相似文献   

16.
In response to at least one change in the direction of sea-floor spreading, the Juan de Fuca Ridge and Gorda Rise have rotated approximately 20° clockwise with respect to geographic North during the last 10 million years. The rotation histories of these ridge segments have been determined from the ages and azimuths of linear magnetic anomalies within the corresponding “zed” patterns. In each case the rotations were systematic and occurred between about 9 and 3 Ma B.P. Significantly, the rotations occurred in a number of discrete stages during each of which the rates of rotation were approximately constant; rotation rates range from 1.3 to 8.6°/Ma.Though the rotation histories of these spreading centers are generally similar, some changes in the rotation rates are not synchronous, and until 3 Ma B.P., the Juan de Fuca Ridge had a 5–10° more easterly trend than the Gorda Rise. For the last 3 million years both ridge segments have had stable trends near 19°E of North.On a time scale of millions of years, ridge reorientation may be regarded as a continuous process wherein the rotation of the spreading center results from asymmetric spreading. Discontinuous changes in the degree of asymmetric spreading are required to account for observed changes in rotation rate. If the orthogonal arrangement of spreading centers and transform faults represents a least-work condition in which the resistance to plate motions is minimized by minimizing the lengths of ridge segments, as suggested previously, and if the rate at which the system seeks to reduce the total resistance after a change in spreading direction is maximum, it follows that the degree of asymmetric spreading, and hence the rate of rotation, are inversely proportional to the resistance to motion on transform faults. Thus, the various stages of rotation of the Juan de Fuca Ridge and Gorda Rise probably reflect different stress conditions on the Blanco Fracture Zone.It is difficult to account for the different trends of the Juan de Fuca Ridge and Gorda Rise largely because the Gorda Block is not behaving as a rigid plate and because the Mendocino Fracture Zone is not a transform fault. However, the fact that the Gorda Rise has had a stable trend for 3 million years, in spite of the deformation of an adjacent plate, suggests that the motion of the Gorda Block is not controlled by the motions of the vast Pacific and North American Plates, and that the Driving mechanism is “felt” directly at the ridge.  相似文献   

17.
Field analyses of compressional faulting and folding in the Foothills of western Taiwan enable us to reconstruct paleostress trajectories over a large area and to establish the relative chronology of tectonic events. Two main compressional events have contributed to the present structure of the fold-thrust belt. Stratigraphic data show that these events are Plio-Pliocene in age. Older normal faulting indicates NNW-SSE extension across the Chinesse passive continental margin during the Neogene. The two main compressional events of the Taiwan collision correspond to similar fan-shaped distributions of maximum compressive stress trajectories, with a counterclockwise shift of 30°–50° between the two events. Using the relationship between recent stress trajectories and the direction of recent plate motion as a guide, we reconstruct the direction of plate convergence for the older event. We suspect that the relative motion Philippine Sea plate-Eurasia has rotated counterclockwise of at least 35°–45° in Taiwan during collision. This conclusion is in agreement with independent plate tectonic reconstructions. Several problems provide objectives to further tectonic and paleomagnetic studies, including the duration and diachronism of compressional events as well as possible clockwise rotation of northernmost Taiwan.  相似文献   

18.
Magnetic anomaly and seismological data define segments of active seafloor spreading and associated magnetic lineations trending ENE in the Woodlark Basin. The total opening rate has been approximately 6 cm/yr for the last 1 m.y. Spreading rates diminish by over 10% from east to west along the Woodlark spreading system implying a pole of current opening 15°–20° to the west. Commencement of seafloor spreading in the basin has apparently been time-transgressive, beginning prior to 3.5 m.y. in the east, and at successively later times to the west. Earthquake focal mechanisms and geological evidence suggest that the land areas bounding the western end of the Woodlark Basin are undergoing tensional deformation. We believe that eventually the Woodlark Basin plate boundary will propagate westward through the d'Entrecasteaux Islands into the Papuan peninsula. Hitherto unreported shallow seismicity associated with the northern margin of the NE-trending section of the Woodlark Rise probably reflects partial decoupling of the Woodlark and Solomon basins, possibly due to mechanical difficulties in subducting the young Woodlark lithosphere.Analysis of the relative motions between the Solomon, Indo-Australian, and Pacific plates shows that the Woodlark spreading system has been subducted at high rates (> 10 cm/yr) beneath the Solomon Islands during the opening of the Woodlark Basin. Several tectonic and geological features limited to the region of interaction of the Woodlark Basin with the Solomon Trench and arc may be symptomatic of ridge subduction. These features include high heat flow in the Solomon Trench, which shoals to 4 km; low levels of seismicity and only shallow hypocenters; and voluminous eruptions of high olivine basalts and basaltic andesites extremely close to the trench axis. This close association in space and time of an unusual volcanic suite with ridge subduction implies a strong dependence of the petrogenesis on the tectonic regime.A combination of this study of the Woodlark Basin and the previous study of the Bismarck Basin (Taylor, 1979) provides a reconstruction of the positions of the continents, ocean basins, and island chains in northern Melanesia for mid-Pliocene time. In accepting the existence of a Solomon plate, we can explain the trench-like structure off the Trobriand margin of New Guinea, the occurrence of Late Cenozoic calc-alkaline volcanism along the Papuan peninsula, and the presence of intermediate depth seismicity beneath the north Papuan peninsula. The rapid changes in relative motions along or across the New Ireland-Solomons chain over the past 3.5 m.y. may explain the spatial and temporal changes in igneous activity observed on these islands.  相似文献   

19.
Subduction zones with deep seismicity are believed to be associated with the descending branches of convective flows in the mantle and are subordinated to them. Therefore, the position of subduction zones can be considered as relatively fixed with respect to the steady-state system of convective flows. The lithospheric plate overhanging a subduction zone (as a rule of continental type) may:
1. (1) either move away from the subduction zone; or
2. (2) move onto it. In the first case extensional conditions originate behind the subduction zone and the new oceanic crust of back-arc basins forms. In the second case active Andean-type continental margins with thickening of the crust and lithosphere are observed.
Behind the majority of volcanic island-arcs, along the boundary with marginal-sea basins, independent shallow seismicity belts can be traced. They are parallel to the main seismicity belts coinciding with the Benioff zones. The seismicity belts frame island-arc microplates. Island-arc microplates are assumed to be a frame of reference to calculate relative movements of the consuming and overhanging plates. Using slip vector azimuths for shallow seismicity belts in the frontal parts of the Kurile, Japan, Izu-Bonin, Mariana and Tonga—Kermadec arcs, the position of the pole of rotation of the Pacific plate with respect to the western Pacific island-arc microplates was computed. Its coordinates are 66.1°N, 119.2°W. From the global closure of plate movements it has been determined that for the past 10 m.y. the Eurasian and Indian plates have been moving away from the Western Pacific island-arc system, both rotating clockwise, around poles at 31.1°N, 164.2°W and 1.3°S, 157.5°W, respectively. This provides for the opening of the back-arc basins. At the same time South America is moving onto the subduction zone at the rate of 4 cm/yr. Some “hot spots”, such as Hawaiian, Tibesti, and those of the South Atlantic, are moving relative to the island-arc system at a very low rate, viz. 0.5–0.7 cm/yr. Presumably, the western Pacific subduction zone and “hot spots” form a single frame of reference which can generally be used for the analysis of absolute motions.  相似文献   

20.
A total of 400 samples (33 sites) were collected from the earliest Cretaceous to early Late Cretaceous sandstones of the Khorat Group in the Indochina block for paleomagnetic study to unravel the tectonic evolution of the region. The sites were adopted from 3 traverses located in the northern edge of the Khorat Plateau, northeastern Thailand. Results indicate that almost all the sandstones exhibit similar magnetic values with an average declination (D) = 31.7°, inclination (I) = 30.3°, λ = 59.7°,  = 190.9°, K = 54.4, and A95 = 3.7 at reference point 17°30′N and 103°30′E. The calculated paleolatitude points are inferred to deviate from the present latitude point by 1.2 ± 2.3°. Only the lowermost part of the Cretaceous sandstones can pass a positive fold test at 95% confidence level. The relationship between the virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) of Cretaceous rocks of the Indochina plate in Thailand and those of the South China plate advocate that there is a major displacement of Indochina along the northwest-trending Red River and associated faults by about 950 ± 150 km with a 16.0–17.0° clockwise rotation relative to the South China plate during earliest Cretaceous times. Paleomagnetic results of the early Late Cretaceous Indochina plate point to a 20–25° clockwise rotation relative to the present occurring since very Late Cretaceous (65 Myrs)–Early Neogene times which may be due to the collision between India and Asia.  相似文献   

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