Seismic scattering at the top of the mantle Transition Zone     

H. Thybo  L. Nielsen 《Earth and Planetary Science Letters》2003,216(3):259-269

We document strong seismic scattering from around the top of the mantle Transition Zone in all available high resolution explosion seismic profiles from Siberia and North America. This seismic reflectivity from around the 410 km discontinuity indicates the presence of pronounced heterogeneity in the depth interval between 320 and 450 km in the Earth’s mantle. We model the seismic observations by heterogeneity in the form of random seismic scatterers with typical scale lengths of kilometre size (10-40 km by 2-10 km) in a 100-140 km thick depth interval. The observed heterogeneity may be explained by changes in the depths to the α-β-γ spinel transformations caused by an unexpectedly high iron content at the top of the mantle Transition Zone. The phase transformation of pyroxenes into the garnet mineral majorite probably also contributes to the reflectivity, mainly below a depth of 400 km, whereas we find it unlikely that the presence of water or partial melt is the main cause of the observed strong seismic reflectivity. Subducted oceanic slabs that equilibrated at the top of the Transition Zone may also contribute to the observed reflectivity. If this is the main cause of the reflectivity, a substantial amount of young oceanic lithosphere has been subducted under Siberia and North America during their geologic evolution. Subducted slabs may have initiated metamorphic reactions in the original mantle rocks.  相似文献   

A comment on “The nitrogen record of crust-mantle interaction and mantle convection from Archean to Present” by B. Marty and N. Dauphas [Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 206(2003) 397-410]     

Pierre Cartigny  Magali Ader 《Earth and Planetary Science Letters》2003,216(3):425-432

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Seismic evidence for deep low-velocity anomalies in the transition zone beneath West Antarctica   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Anne Sieminski  Eric Debayle  Jean-Jacques Lévêque 《Earth and Planetary Science Letters》2003,216(4):645-661

We present a three-dimensional (3D) SV-wave velocity model of the upper mantle beneath the Antarctic plate constrained by fundamental and higher mode Rayleigh waves recorded at regional distances. The good agreement between our results and previous surface wave studies in the uppermost 200 km of the mantle confirms that despite strong differences in data processing, modern surface wave tomographic techniques allow to produce consistent velocity models, even at regional scale. At greater depths the higher mode information present in our data set allows us to improve the resolution compared to previous regional surface wave studies in Antarctica that were all restricted to the analysis of the fundamental mode. This paper is therefore mostly devoted to the discussion of the deeper part of the model. Our seismic model displays broad domains of anomalously low seismic velocities in the asthenosphere. Moreover, we show that some of these broad, low-velocity regions can be more deeply rooted. The most remarkable new features of our model are vertical low-velocity structures extending from the asthenosphere down to the transition zone beneath the volcanic region of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica and a portion of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge close to the Balleny Islands hotspot. A deep low-velocity anomaly may also exist beneath the Ross Sea hotspot. These vertical structures cannot be explained by vertical smearing of shallow seismic anomalies and synthetic tests show that they are compatible with a structure narrower than 200 km which would have been horizontally smoothed by the tomographic inversion. These deep low-velocity anomalies may favor the existence of several distinct mantle plumes, instead of a large single one, as the origin of volcanism in and around West Antarctica. These hypothetical deep plumes could feed large regions of low seismic velocities in the asthenosphere.  相似文献   

Explosion seismic reflections from the Earth’s core     

H Thybo  A.R Ross 《Earth and Planetary Science Letters》2003,216(4):693-702

Recent seismological studies have presented evidence for the existence of a layer with ultra-low seismic velocities at the core-mantle boundary at ca. 2900 km depth. We report high-amplitude, high-frequency, and laterally coherent seismic arrivals from three nuclear explosions in Siberia. With recording station intervals of 15 km, the seismic phases are readily correlated and show the presence of a thin, ultra-low velocity zone in a region where it was not previously reported. The duration and complexity of the arrivals are inconsistent with a simple core-mantle boundary and require a hitherto unidentified, kilometre-scale, fine structure in the ultra-low velocity zone. The observations may be explained by a ca. 7 km thick, two-layer, ultra-low velocity zone with exceptional low velocities, which indicate the presence of high percentages of melt (>15%), in particular in the lower part of the zone. Waveform variation implies lateral change in the thickness and physical properties of the ultra-low velocity zone with a wavelength of less than 100 km.  相似文献   

冀北地区金矿床He、Ar、Pb同位素组成及其成矿物质来源   总被引：13，自引：0，他引：13  

王宝德  牛树银  孙爱群  李红阳 《地球化学》2003,32(2):181-187

成矿物质来源一直是成矿理论研究和找矿实践的焦点问题。选择了冀北地区3个幔枝构造金矿集中区11个金矿床黄铁矿及部分围岩进行了He、Ar同位素测定。研究表明,冀北地区主要金矿的3He/4He的值域为(0.93～7.30)×10-6,平均3.55×10-6;R/Ra=0.66～4.93,平均2.53;40Ar/36Ar=426～2073,40Ar平均为8.20×10-7cm3/g,4He/40Ar平均为2.17。矿区外围片麻岩和花岗岩的3He/4He值仅为(0.001～0.55)×10-6,反映来源上有明显差别。3He和4He在He同位素浓度图上落于地幔区附近。64个Pb同位素数据表现为矿质以幔源为主,确有部分壳源物质加入。研究认为,本区成矿物质应源于地球深部,随地幔柱多级演化,深部成矿流体由地球深部迁移到浅部,期间不可避免地存在壳幔流体的混合作用,故其值域往往界于地幔和地壳之间。  相似文献   

Petrological feature of spinel lherzolite xenolith from Oki-Dogo Island: An implication for variety of the upper mantle peridotite beneath southwestern Japan     

Natsue Abe  Masao Takami  Shoji Arai 《Island Arc》2003,12(2):219-232

Abstract   Spinel lherzolite is a minor component of the deep-seated xenolith suite in the Oki-Dogo alkaline basalts, whereas other types of ultramafic (e.g. pyroxenite and dunite) and mafic (e.g. granulite and gabbro) xenoliths are abundant. All spinel lherzolite xenoliths have spinel with a low Cr number (Cr#; < 0.26). They are anhydrous and are free of modal metasomatism. Their mineral assemblages and microtextures, combined with the high NiO content in olivine, suggest that they are of residual origin. But the Mg numbers of silicate minerals are lower (e.g. down to Fo₈₆) in some spinel lherzolites than in typical upper mantle residual peridotites. The clinopyroxene in the spinel lherzolite shows U-shaped chondrite-normalized rare-earth element (REE) patterns. The abundance of Fe-rich ultramafic and mafic cumulate xenoliths in Oki-Dogo alkali basalts suggests that the later formation of those Fe-rich cumulates from alkaline magma was the cause of Fe- and light REE (LREE)-enrichment in residual peridotite. The similar REE patterns are observed in spinel peridotite xenoliths from Kurose and also in those from the South-west Japan arc, which are non-metasomatized in terms of major-element chemistry (e.g. Fo > 89), and are rarely associated with Fe-rich cumulus mafic and ultramafic xenoliths. This indicates that the LREE-enrichment in mantle rocks has been more prominent and prevalent than Fe and other major-element enrichment during the metasomatism.  相似文献   

攀西裂谷存在吗？   总被引：12，自引：0，他引：12  

何斌 徐义刚肖龙  王雅玫 《地质论评》2003,49(6):572-582

大陆裂谷以地幔上隆、岩石圈伸展、减薄、断陷和沉降为特征，伸展构造环境是大陆裂谷形成的必要条件和本质特征。中国学者以前所认为攀枝花-西昌裂谷的主要标志是海西期层状堆晶杂岩、晚二叠世峨眉山玄武岩、印支期环状碱性杂岩和晚三叠世裂谷盆地沉积。最近一系列研究成果表明攀西地区海西期-印支期构造岩浆热事件是地幔柱和岩石圈相互作用的结果，不是裂谷作用的产物。进一步对上扬子西缘二叠纪-三叠纪的沉积作用和构造特征综合分析表明攀西地区不存在裂谷盆地沉积。该区晚二叠世-中三叠世为古陆隆起遭受剥蚀，晚三叠世断陷型类磨拉石建造是前陆走滑复合盆地的产物。本文根据对攀西地区二叠纪-三叠纪的岩浆活动、沉积作用、构造特征和地球物理资料等方面综合研究对攀西裂谷的存在提出质疑，并以峨眉山地幔柱活动为主线探讨了攀西地区古生代和中生代的地质构造演化历史。  相似文献   

羌塘岩带碰撞后超钾质火山岩地球化学特征及成因探讨   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

刘燊  胡瑞忠  迟效国  李才  冯彩霞  王天武 《大地构造与成矿学》2003,27(2):167-175

羌塘超钾质火山岩为板块碰撞后的产物,地球化学特征表明,其同时具有板内火山岩和俯冲带岛弧火山岩的双重地球化学特性。化学组成上富含轻稀土和大离子亲石元素而亏损Cr、Ni等相容元素。在成因上受分离结晶作用和源区混合作用共同制约。源区为受古俯冲上地壳物质和下地幔上升流体交代混合的EMII型富集地幔端元,可能富含角闪石和金云母等矿物。  相似文献   

Tectonic controls on metamorphism, partial melting, and intrusion: timing and duration of regional metamorphism and magmatism in the Ni de Massif, Turkey     

Donna L. Whitney  Christian Teyssier  Annia K. Fayon  Michael A. Hamilton  Matt Heizler 《Tectonophysics》2003,376(1-2):37-60

Mafic high-pressure granulite, eclogite and pyroxenite xenoliths have been collected from a Mesozoic volcaniclastic diatreme in Xinyang, near south margin of the Sino-Korean Craton (SKC). The high-pressure granulite xenoliths are mainly composed of fine-grained granoblasts of Grt+Cpx+Pl+Hbl±Kfs±Q±Ilm with relict porphyritic mineral assemblage of Grt+Cpx±Pl±Rt. P–T estimation indicates that the granoblastic assemblage crystallized at 765–890 °C and 1.25–1.59 GPa, corresponding to crustal depths of ca. 41–52 km with a geotherm of 75–80 mW/m². Calculated seismic velocities (V_p) of high-pressure granulites range from 7.04 to 7.56 km/s and densities (D) from 3.05 to 3.30 g/cm³. These high-pressure granulite xenoliths have different petrographic and geochemical features from the Archean mafic granulites. Elevated geotherm and petrographic evidence imply that the lithosphere of this craton was thermally disturbed in the Mesozoic prior to eruption of the host diatreme. These samples have sub-alkaline basaltic compositions, equivalent to olivine– and quartz–tholeiite. REE patterns are flat to variably LREE-enriched (La_N/Yb_N=0.98–9.47) without Eu anomaly (Eu/Eu*=0.95–1.11). They possess 48–127 ppm Ni and 2–20 ppm Nb with Nb/U and La/Nb ratios of 13–54 and 0.93–4.75, respectively, suggesting that these high-pressure granulites may be products of mantle-derived magma underplated and contaminated at the base of the lower crust. This study also implies that up to 10 km Mesozoic lowermost crust was delaminated prior to eruption of the Cenozoic basalts on the craton.  相似文献   

Flat mantle reflectors in Eastern China: possible evidence of lithospheric thinning   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

Wencai Yang   《Tectonophysics》2003,369(3-4):219-230

Recent 24 s deep seismic reflection records revealed five flat reflectors in the lithospheric mantle in Eastern China. With increasing depth, they are named M1 to M5 and can be seen on both field single-shot and stacked records. Reflector M1 corresponds to the Moho discontinuity, whereas M5 may be the reflection from the bottom of the current lithosphere, which is about 78 km deep according to geothermal measurements. The other three reflectors seem peculiar and might result from interactions between the lithosphere and deeper mantle. Based on lithological and geochemical data, it is suggested that the lithosphere has been thinned from about 150 km to about 60 km in the Late Mesozoic, and then has been thickened to about 78 km during the Cenozoic. The thinning process produced a granulite layer in the old lower crust caused by magmatic underplating, whereas an eclogite layer formed beneath owing to the subduction of the Paleo-Tethys and Yangtze Craton during the Permian and Early Mesozoic. Reflector M2 at about 12 s two-way traveltime (TWT) might result from the Paleozoic Moho, which represents the boundary between the previous granulite and eclogite facies. Reflector M3 at about 14 s might correspond to the bottom of the eclogite layer, beneath which the old lithospheric mantle remained. The old and the newly developed mantle may have different compositions, resulting in reflector M4. The multi-layered mantle reflectors demonstrate a mantle structure that possibly correlates with the lithospheric thinning process that occurred in Eastern China during the Late Mesozoic. The discovery of multi-layered mantle reflectors in the studied areas indicates a high heterogeneity of the upper mantle. Reflection seismology with improved technology, together with velocity and resistivity imaging and rock-physics measurements, can provide more details of the heterogeneity and related dynamic processes that occurred in the lithospheric mantle.  相似文献