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1.
《Quaternary Science Reviews》2003,22(8-9):823-837
Some syntheses of lake-level data for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in East Africa (10°N and 30°S, East of 25°E) show apparently wetter conditions than present for some basins, whereas palaeovegetation reconstruction indicates a generally dry climate. PMIP GCM simulations for the LGM support both scenarios for this region when run under different boundary conditions. Here, we compare three new records from lakes in the data-poor southern part of East Africa; Lake Malawi, Lake Massoko, and Lake Rukwa. We also re-assess previously published lake-level data and apply a salinity transfer function to the diatom record from Lake Manyara. Our results show that in contrast to previous interpretations, these lakes were at least as low as today at the LGM and are thus in agreement with the palaeovegetation data. Relative drought across East Africa is best simulated by GCMs that use computed SSTs rather than the higher CLIMAP values. Lower SSTs and the presence of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets must have been dominant over any monsoon precipitation rise caused by astronomically induced summer insolation enhancement in the southern African tropics. 相似文献
2.
V. G. Trifonov 《Geotectonics》2013,47(6):418-430
It has been shown for particular seismic zones and the Alpine-Himalayan Orogenic Belt as a whole that in addition to Fedotov cycles, the long-period hypercycles of seismicity are distinguished. Long-period variations were revealed in Syria, in southern and central segments of the El-Ghab Fault Zone of the Dead Sea Transform (EG DST), and at the southwestern end of the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ). The EG DST demonstrates a ～1800-year hypercycle with a maximum in the 3rd-7th and the 19th-20th centuries A.D. To reveal variations in seismicity in the entire central part of the orogenic belt, we have corrected evidence for historical earthquakes, taking into account the probability of missing events and the area of their regular recording domains. As a result, we displayed maximums of seismic energy release from the mid-17th to mid-20th century A.D.; from the mid-4th to the end of the 6th century; and in the 15th-13th centuries B.C. When interpreting hypercycles, it is important to keep in mind that variation of seismicity in EG DST correlates with variation of the rate of elastic deformation accumulation, probably reflecting variability of the stress-and-strain state in the region and of velocity of tectonic movements in active domains. After additional investigations, hypercycles could be taken into account for to refine the seismic hazard estimate. 相似文献
3.
Basement fault reactivation is now recognized as an important control on sedimentation and fault propagation in intracratonic basins. In southern Ontario, the basement consists of complexly structured mid-Proterozoic (ca. 1.2 Ga) crystalline rocks and metasedimentary rocks that are overlain by up to 1500 m of Paleozoic sedimentary strata. Reactivation of basement structures is suspected to control the location of Paleozoic fault and fracture systems, but evaluation has been hindered by a limited understanding of the regional structural characteristics of the buried basement. New aeromagnetic- and gravimetric-lineament mapping presented in this paper better resolves the location of basement discontinuities and provides further evidence for basement controls on the distribution of Paleozoic fault and fracture systems. Lineament mapping was facilitated by reprocessing and digital image enhancement (micro-levelling, regional residual separation, derivative filtering) of existing regional gravity and aeromagnetic datasets. Reprocessed images identify new details of the structural fabric of the basement below southern Ontario and delineate several previously unrecognized aeromagnetic and gravity lineaments and linear zones. Linear zones parallel the projected trends of mid-Proterozoic terrane boundaries identified by field mapping on the exposed shield to the north of the study area, and are interpreted as zones of shearing and basement faulting. Mapped aeromagnetic and gravity lineaments show similar trends to Paleozoic faults and fracture networks and broad zones of seismicity in southern Ontario. These new data support an ‘inheritance model’ for Paleozoic faulting, involving repeated reactivation and upward propagation of basement faults and fractures into overlying cover strata. 相似文献
4.
Many of the major lineaments in southern Africa are major ductile shear zones with large displacement, occurring within, though often bounding orogenic belts. An example is the boundary to the Limpopo belt in Botswana and Zimbabwe. However, some of these shear zones only record slight displacement when considered on a crustal scale; they are merely planes recording differential movement on much larger, flat to gently dipping, shear zones where the boundary to the orogenic belt is a low-angle thrust zone. These different types of shear zones are clearly shown in the Pan-African belt of Zambia where large ENE-trending lineaments have been recorded. Recent work has shown the northern group of shears to be large lateral ramps; for example, the rocks of the copper belt are part of an ENE-verging thrust package, the southern boundary of which is a major, oblique to lateral ramp. In southern Zambia shears are more analogous to major transform faults; they form as tear faults separating zones of different thrust vergence. A possible plate tectonic model is given for this part of Africa, showing the different relative plate movement vectors estimated from the geometry of the Pan-African shear zones. 相似文献
5.
Temporary local seismic networks were installed in western Crete, in central Crete, and on the island Gavdos south of western Crete, respectively, in order to image shallow seismically active zones of the Hellenic subduction zone.More than 4000 events in the magnitude range between −0.5 and 4.8 were detected and localized. The resulting three-dimensional hypocenter distribution allows the localization of seismically active zones in the area of western and central Crete from the Mediterranean Ridge to the Cretan Sea. Furthermore, a three-dimensional structural model of the studied region was compiled based on results of wide-angle seismics, surface wave analysis and receiver function studies. The comparison of the hypocenter distribution and the structure has allowed intraplate and interplate seismicity to be distinguished.High interplate seismicity along the interface between the subducting African lithosphere and the Aegean lithosphere was found south of western Crete where the interface is located at about 20 to 40 km depth. An offset between the southern border of the Aegean lithosphere and the southern border of active interplate seismicity is observed. In the area of Crete, the offset varies laterally along the Hellenic arc between about 50 and 70 km.A southwards dipping zone of high seismicity within the Aegean lithosphere is found south of central Crete in the region of the Ptolemy trench. It reaches from the interface between the plates at about 30 km depth towards the surface. In comparison, the Aegean lithosphere south of western Crete is seismically much less active including the region of the Ionian trench. Intraplate seismicity within the Aegean plate beneath Crete and north of Crete is confined to the upper about 20 km. Between 20 and 40 km depth beneath Crete, the Aegean lithosphere appears to be seismically inactive. In western Crete, the southern and western borders of this aseismic zone correlate strongly with the coastline of Crete. 相似文献
6.
The Aysén Region, southern Chile, is the area located at the southern end of the Nazca-South America subduction zone, to the east of the Chile Triple Junction. This region has historically presented low levels of seismicity mostly related to volcanism. Nonetheless, a seismic sequence occurred in 2007, related to the reactivation of the strike-slip Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault System (LOFS), confirmed that this region is not exempt from major seismic activity M ∼ 7. Here we present results from background local seismicity of two years (2004–2005) preceding the sequence of 2007. Event magnitudes range between 0.5 and 3.4 ML and hypocenters occur at shallow depths, mostly within the upper 10 km of crust, in the overriding South American plate. No events were detected in the area locus of the 2007 sequence, and the Wadati–Benioff (WB) plane is not observable given the lack of subduction inter-plate seismicity in the area. A third of the seismicity is related to Hudson volcano activity, and sparse crustal events can be spatially associated with the trace of the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault, showing the largest detected magnitudes, in particular at the place where the two main branches of the LOFS meet. Other minor sources of seismicity correspond to glacial calving in the terminal zones of glaciers and mining explosions. 相似文献
7.
《地学前缘(英文版)》2022,13(4):101399
The Pamir-Hindu Kush region at the western end of the Himalayan-Tibet orogen is one of the most active regions on the globe with strong seismicity and deformation and provides a window to evaluate continental collision linked to two intra-continental subduction zones with different polarities. The seismicity and seismic tomography data show a steep northward subducting slab beneath the Hindu Kush and southward subducting slab under the Pamir. Here, we collect seismic catalogue with 3988 earthquake events to compute seismicity images and waveform data from 926 earthquake events to invert focal mechanism solutions and stress field with a view to characterize the subducting slabs under the Pamir-Hindu Kush region. Our results define two distinct seismic zones: a steep one beneath the Hindu Kush and a broad one beneath the Pamir. Deep and intermediate-depth earthquakes are mainly distributed in the Hindu Kush region which is controlled by thrust faulting, whereas the Pamir is dominated by strike-slip stress regime with shallow and intermediate-depth earthquakes. The area where the maximum principal stress axis is vertical in the southern Pamir corresponds to the location of a high-conductivity low-velocity region that contributes to the seismogenic processes in this region. We interpret the two distinct seismic zones to represent a double-sided subduction system where the Hindu Kush zone represents the northward subduction of the Indian plate, and the Pamir zone shows southward subduction of the Eurasian plate. A transition fault is inferred in the region between the Hindu Kush and the Pamir which regulates the opposing directions of motion of the Indian and Eurasian plates. 相似文献
8.
《Gondwana Research》2010,17(3-4):401-413
We present new pieces of evidence from seismology and mineral physics for the existence of low-velocity zones in the deep part of the upper mantle wedge and the mantle transition zone that are caused by fluids from the deep subduction and deep dehydration of the Pacific and Philippine Sea slabs under western Pacific and East Asia. The Pacific slab is subducting beneath the Japan Islands and Japan Sea with intermediate-depth and deep earthquakes down to 600 km depth under the East Asia margin, and the slab becomes stagnant in the mantle transition zone under East China. The western edge of the stagnant Pacific slab is roughly coincident with the NE–SW Daxing'Anling-Taihangshan gravity lineament located west of Beijing, approximately 2000 km away from the Japan Trench. The upper mantle above the stagnant slab under East Asia forms a big mantle wedge (BMW). Corner flow in the BMW and deep slab dehydration may have caused asthenospheric upwelling, lithospheric thinning, continental rift systems, and intraplate volcanism in Northeast Asia. The Philippine Sea slab has subducted down to the mantle transition zone depth under Western Japan and Ryukyu back-arc, though the seismicity within the slab occurs only down to 200–300 km depths. Combining with the corner flow in the mantle wedge, deep dehydration of the subducting Pacific slab has affected the morphology of the subducting Philippine Sea slab and its seismicity under Southwest Japan. Slow anomalies are also found in the mantle under the subducting Pacific slab, which may represent small mantle plumes, or hot upwelling associated with the deep slab subduction. Slab dehydration may also take place after a continental plate subducts into the mantle. 相似文献
9.
10.
R. Sallares 《Quaternary International》2006,150(1):21
This article proposes the hypothesis that environmental changes altering mosquito breeding sites in coastal wetlands had a substantial influence on the history of malaria in many parts of Europe during the Holocene. The effects of both climatic and landscape changes on malaria itself and its vector mosquitoes are considered. It is argued that the forms of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum that occurred in southern Europe in the past actually evolved in North Africa and the Near East and that its most important vectors in southern Europe in the past (Anopheles labranchiae and A. sacharovi) also came from North Africa and the Near East. It is suggested that the establishment of these mosquitoes in many parts of southern Europe was facilitated by substantial landscape changes which coincided with the spread of the disease as documented by written sources. The relationship of malaria to environmental change in northern Europe is also reviewed briefly. 相似文献
11.
The distribution of relocated seismicity and the evolving shape of fracture zones through time in the oceanic crust of the Australian Plate adjacent to the Australia:Pacific plate boundary south of New Zealand are used to constrain the deformation of this region of the Australian Plate, here called the Puysegur Block. Relocated seismicity reveals a broad distribution of earthquakes in the Puysegur Block on both inter- and intraplate structures, including two great (M8+) earthquakes in the region over the past twenty years, one of which occurred over 130 km from the plate boundary. Plate reconstructions from the Late Oligocene through Early–Mid Miocene allow us to determine the undeformed shape of fracture zones in the Puysegur Block, formed during the Paleogene when the plate boundary was dominantly a divergent mid-ocean ridge system. Comparing these reconstructions to the present-day shape of the fracture zones allows us to map the deformation that has occurred within the Puysegur Block since the fracture zones formed. These two sets of independent observations delineate a broad zone of deformation extending ~ 150 km into the plate interior from the Macquarie Ridge Complex, the modern plate boundary structure through the region. The persistence of this deformation through time indicates a link with the evolution of the plate boundary over the past ~ 25 Ma from divergence to translation and subduction of the Australian Plate further north at the Puysegur Trench. We infer that this deformation may be a result of stresses in the Puysegur Block resulting from the impingement of the subducting plate on the thickened lithosphere of southern New Zealand. Such a collision may resist subduction, and if resistance remains substantial, further deformation internal to the Puysegur Block may lead to a southward migration of the Australia:Pacific subduction interface and the capturing of this section of lithosphere onto the Pacific Plate. 相似文献
12.
Structure of the Transkei Basin and Natal Valley, Southwest Indian Ocean, from seismic reflection and potential field data 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Marine geophysical data from the southern Natal Valley and northern Transkei Basin, offshore southeast Africa, were used to study the structure of the crust and sedimentary cover in the area. The data includes seismic reflection, gravity and magnetics and provides information on the acoustic basement geometry (where available), features of the sedimentary cover and the basin's development. Previously mapped Mesozoic magnetic anomalies over a part of the basin are now recognized over wider areas of the basin. The ability to extend the correlation to the southeast within the Natal Valley further confirms an oceanic origin for this region and provides an opportunity to amplify the existing plate boundary reconstructions.The stratigraphic structure of the southern Natal Valley and the northern Transkei Basin reflects processes of the ocean crust formation and subsequent evolution. The highly variable relief of the acoustic basement may relate to the crust formation in the immediate vicinity of the continental transform margin. Renewed submarine seismicity and neotectonic activity in the area is probably related to the diffuse boundary between the Nubia and Somalia plates.2.5-D crustal models show that a 1.7–3.2-km-thick sediment sequence overlies a 6.3±1.2-km-thick normal oceanic crust in the deep southern Natal Valley and Transkei Basin. The oceanic crust in the study area is heterogeneous, made up of blocks of laterally varying remanent magnetization (0.5–3.5 A/m) and density (2850–2900 kg/m3). Strong modifications of accretionary processes near ridge/fracture zone intersections may be a reason of such heterogeneity. 相似文献
13.
Alan S. Collins Alfred Krner Ian C. W. Fitzsimons Thodore Razakamanana 《Tectonophysics》2003,375(1-4):77
The southern East African Orogen is a collisional belt where the identification of major suture zones has proved elusive. In this study, we apply U–Pb isotopic techniques to date detrital zircons from a key part of the East African Orogen, analyse their possible source region and discuss how this information can help in unravelling the orogen.U–Pb sensitive high-mass resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) and Pb evaporation analyses of detrital zircons from metasedimentary rocks in eastern Madagascar reveal that: (1) the protoliths of many of these rocks were deposited between 800 and 550 Ma; and (2) these rocks are sourced from regions with rocks that date back to over 3400 Ma, with dominant age populations of 3200–3000, 2650, 2500 and 800–700 Ma.The Dharwar Craton of southern India is a potential source region for these sediments, as here rocks date back to over 3400 Ma and include abundant gneissic rocks with protoliths older than 3000 Ma, sedimentary rocks deposited at 3000–2600 Ma and granitoids that crystallised at 2513–2552 Ma. The 800–700 Ma zircons could potentially be sourced from elsewhere in India or from the Antananarivo Block of central Madagascar in the latter stages of closure of the Mozambique Ocean. The region of East Africa adjacent to Madagascar in Gondwana reconstructions (the Tanzania craton) is rejected as a potential source as there are no known rocks here older than 3000 Ma, and no detrital grains in our samples sourced from Mesoproterozoic and early Neoproterozoic rocks that are common throughout central east Africa. In contrast, coeval sediments 200 km west, in the Itremo sheet of central Madagascar, have detrital zircon age profiles consistent with a central East African source, suggesting that two late Neoproterozoic provenance fronts pass through east Madagascar at approximately the position of the Betsimisaraka suture. These observations support an interpretation that the Betsimisaraka suture separates rocks that were derived from different locations within, or at the margins of, the Mozambique Ocean basin and therefore, that the suture is the site of subduction of a strand of Mozambique Ocean crust. 相似文献
14.
中生代巴彦喀拉-松潘甘孜地体向东昆仑地体斜向俯冲,在东昆仑南缘形成一条巨型的韧性剪切带。剪切带中发育的旋转碎斑、书斜构造、解理阶步、云母鱼、S-C组构、不对称褶皱、雁列脉等宏微观构造,显示剪切带兼具右行和左行的特征,且右行早于左行剪切,但总体以左行剪切为主。对西大滩糜棱岩化花岗岩和小南川未变形花岗岩进行了LA-ICP-MS锆石UPb测年,西大滩岩体侵位于199.3±2.2Ma,小南川岩体形成于196.4±1.3Ma。西大滩与小南川岩体中的锆石为典型的岩浆锆石,其年龄代表了岩体侵位的时代。鉴于2个岩体的变形程度完全不同,东昆仑南缘在199~196Ma之间发生了左行韧性剪切。 相似文献
15.
A probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) for the Horn of Africa is presented. Our seismicity database consists of a revised and up-to-date regional catalogue compiled from different agencies, checked for completeness with respect to time and homogenized with respect to magnitude (Ms). The seismic source zones are based on our present day knowledge of the regional seismotectonics. Among the results we present regional hazard maps for 0.01 annual probability for intensity and Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) and hazard curves and response spectra for six economical significant sites within the region. The model uncertainties with respect to seismicity are analysed in a novel approach and form part of a sensitivity analysis that quantifies our PSHA modelling uncertainties.
For 0.01 annual probability we find randomly oriented horizontal PGA that exceed just 0.2 g and MM-scale intensity VIII in the Afar depression and southern Sudan. Uncertainties amount to 20% g PGA in some cases, mainly due to attenuation uncertainties. Intensity uncertainties seldom exceed 0.5 intensity units. Relatively large seismic hazard is found for Djibouti (VIII for 0.01 annual probability), slightly lower for the port of Massawa (between VII and VIII for 0.01 annual probability) and low for the port of Assab (between VI and VII for 0.01 annual probability). 相似文献
16.
Characteristics of the seismicity in depth ranges 0–33 and 34–70 km before ten large and great (M
w
= 7.0−9.0) earthquakes of 2000–2008 in the Sumatra region are studied, as are those in the seismic gap zones where no large
earthquakes have occurred since at least 1935. Ring seismicity structures are revealed in both depth ranges. It is shown that
the epicenters of the main seismic events lie, as a rule, close to regions of overlap or in close proximity to “shallow” and
“deep” rings. Correlation dependences of ring sizes and threshold earthquakes magnitudes on energy of the main seismic event
in the ring seismicity regions are obtained. Identification of ring structures in the seismic gap zones (in the regions of
Central and South Sumatra) suggests active processes of large earthquake preparation proceed in the region. The probable magnitudes
of imminent seismic events are estimated from the data on the seismicity ring sizes. 相似文献
17.
Seismic potential of Southern Italy 总被引：1，自引：2，他引：1
To improve estimates of the long-term average seismic potential of the slowly straining South Central Mediterranean plate boundary zone, we integrate constraints on tectonic style and deformation rates from geodetic and geologic data with the traditional constraints from seismicity catalogs. We express seismic potential (long-term average earthquake recurrence rates as a function of magnitude) in the form of truncated Gutenberg–Richter distributions for seven seismotectonic source zones. Seismic coupling seems to be large or even complete in most zones. An exception is the southern Tyrrhenian thrust zone, where most of the African–European convergence is accommodated. Here aseismic deformation is estimated to range from at least 25% along the western part to almost 100% aseismic slip around the Aeolian Islands. Even so, seismic potential of this zone has previously been significantly underestimated, due to the low levels of recorded past seismicity. By contrast, the series of 19 M6–7 earthquakes that hit Calabria in the 18th and 19th century released tectonic strain rates accumulated over time spans up to several times the catalog duration, and seismic potential is revised downward. The southern Tyrrhenian thrust zone and the extensional Calabrian faults, as well as the northeastern Sicilian transtensional zone between them (which includes the Messina Straits, where a destructive M7 event occurred in 1908), all have a similar seismic potential with minimum recurrence times of M ≥ 6.5 of 150–220 years. This potential is lower than that of the Southern Apennines (M ≥ 6.5 recurring every 60 to 140 years), but higher than that of southeastern Sicily (minimum M ≥ 6.5 recurrence times of 400 years). The high seismicity levels recorded in southeastern Sicily indicate some clustering and are most compatible with a tectonic scenario where the Ionian deforms internally, and motions at the Calabrian Trench are small. The estimated seismic potential for the Calabrian Trench and Central and Western Sicily are the lowest (minimum M ≥ 6.5 recurrence times of 550–800 years). Most zones are probably capable of generating earthquakes up to magnitudes 7–7.5, with the exception of Central and Western Sicily where maximum events sizes most likely do not exceed 7. 相似文献
18.
现代地震学是一门年轻的学科,但人类对地震现象的观察、记录和思索已有数千年历史。特别是在中国,很早就有灾害性地震的详细历史记载。最近40多年,我国、东亚及世界其他大陆地区的多次大地震的发生,推动了地震构造研究的发展,加深了对地震分布规律性及其地球动力环境的认识。从地质背景和发生机制看,全球地震构造可分为三大类:第一是太平洋海底地壳与陆缘地壳浅、中、深俯冲构成的地震带;第二是南半球离散地壳块体对北半球大地块边缘碰撞浅俯冲带;第三是全球三大洋脊张裂转换构造带。地球北半部内陆的中纬度地带有4个多震密布区,它们都处于N25°～55°的纬向大陆带内,与大陆会聚所造成的陆内变形有关。4个多震密布区的东半部则是相对少震区,显示出相对稳定的地壳结构。全球表壳GPS矢量场和北南两个极区各有不同,北半球欧亚大陆是向北呈弓字形运动;南半球是南美、非洲、阿拉伯、印度、澳大利亚等5块离散的大陆块,除南美大陆,其他4块大陆都是向NE和NNE方向运动。这4块大陆都是依次运动加速,澳大利亚陆块运动最快,向NNE方向约10 cm/a;同时从南太平洋南部沿NWW方向左型转换断层的运动也是高速的,这两个方向运动的交叉相碰,现已处在全球最为强烈的地震活动区域。北冰洋内群岛GPS站点向阿留申岛弧推进;南极冰陆的9个GPS站点则呈现旋扭状彼此相差约90°,可能表明北/南半球彼此有明显的1/4左右表壳的扭动。从卫星重力数据推测的地球的形状、全球热流的和地内热散失量的分布、地球磁场的西漂以及大地震引起的地球振荡特征等证据推测,地球的内部结构具有一定程度的非对称性和非均匀性,它们对全球板块运动、板块变形以及大地震的空间分布可能有一定的控制作用。 相似文献
19.
A. A. Stepashko 《Russian Journal of Pacific Geology》2011,5(1):1-12
The role of the lateral structure of the lithospheric mantle in the seismotectonics and seismicity of the southern part of
the Russian Far East has been investigated. The positions of the epicenters of all the major earthquakes in Sakhalin (M ≥
6.0), as well as in the Amur region and the Primorye zones (M ≥ 5.0), are defined by the boundaries of the Anyui block of
highly ferruginous mantle, which lies at the base of the Sikhote-Alin area. Three cycles of large earthquakes are recognized
in the region: the end of the 19th-beginning of the 20th century, the mid-20th century, and end of the 20th-beginning of the
21st century. In the seismic zone of the Amur region (hereafter, the Amur seismic zone), the epicenters of the large earthquakes
in each cycle migrate from the SW to NE along the Tan-Lu fault megasystem at a rate of 30–60 km/yr. The specific features
of the seismicity of the region are explained by the repeated arrival of strain waves from the west. The waves propagate in
the upper part of the mantle and provoke the activation of the deep structure of the region. The detailed analysis of the
earthquakes in the Sikhote-Alin area (M ≥ 4.0) in 1973–2009 confirmed the clockwise tectonic rotation of the mantle block.
The characteristics of the Primorye zone of deep-focus seismicity at the Russia-China boundary are stated. Since 1973, 13
earthquakes with M ≥ 6.0 have been recorded in the zone at a depth of 300–500 km. This number of earthquakes is at least twice
as many as the number of large deep-focus earthquakes elsewhere in the Sea of Japan-Sea of Okhotsk transition zone. The unique
genesis of the Primorye seismic zone is related to the additional compression in the seismofocal area due to the creeping
of the Anyui mantle block onto the subduction zone during its rotation. The geodynamic implications of the seismotectonic
analysis are examined, and the necessity of division of the Amur plate into three geodynamically independent lithospheric
blocks is substantiated. 相似文献
20.
Deep slab subduction and dehydration and their geodynamic consequences: Evidence from seismology and mineral physics 总被引：14，自引：9，他引：5
We present new pieces of evidence from seismology and mineral physics for the existence of low-velocity zones in the deep part of the upper mantle wedge and the mantle transition zone that are caused by fluids from the deep subduction and deep dehydration of the Pacific and Philippine Sea slabs under western Pacific and East Asia. The Pacific slab is subducting beneath the Japan Islands and Japan Sea with intermediate-depth and deep earthquakes down to 600 km depth under the East Asia margin, and the slab becomes stagnant in the mantle transition zone under East China. The western edge of the stagnant Pacific slab is roughly coincident with the NE–SW Daxing'Anling-Taihangshan gravity lineament located west of Beijing, approximately 2000 km away from the Japan Trench. The upper mantle above the stagnant slab under East Asia forms a big mantle wedge (BMW). Corner flow in the BMW and deep slab dehydration may have caused asthenospheric upwelling, lithospheric thinning, continental rift systems, and intraplate volcanism in Northeast Asia. The Philippine Sea slab has subducted down to the mantle transition zone depth under Western Japan and Ryukyu back-arc, though the seismicity within the slab occurs only down to 200–300 km depths. Combining with the corner flow in the mantle wedge, deep dehydration of the subducting Pacific slab has affected the morphology of the subducting Philippine Sea slab and its seismicity under Southwest Japan. Slow anomalies are also found in the mantle under the subducting Pacific slab, which may represent small mantle plumes, or hot upwelling associated with the deep slab subduction. Slab dehydration may also take place after a continental plate subducts into the mantle. 相似文献