Dynamics of the mid-ocean ridge plate boundary: Recent observations and theory     

Yongshun John Chen 《Pure and Applied Geophysics》1996,146(3-4):621-648

The global mid-ocean ridge system is one of the most active plate boundaries on the earth and understanding the dynamic processes at this plate boundary is one of the most important problems in geodynamics. In this paper I present recent results of several aspects of mid-ocean ridge studies concerning the dynamics of oceanic lithosphere at these diverging plate boundaries. I show that the observed rift valley to no-rift valley transition (globally due to the increase of spreading rate or locally due to the crustal thickness variations and/or thermal anomalies) can be explained by the strong temperature dependence of the power law rheology of the oceanic lithosphere, and most importantly, by the difference in the rheological behavior of the oceanic crust from the underlying mantle. The effect of this weaker lower crust on ridge dynamics is mainly influenced by spreading rate and crustal thickness variations. The accumulated strain pattern from a recently developed lens model, based on recent seismic observations, was proposed as an appealing mechanism for the observed gabbro layering sequence in the Oman Ophiolite. It is now known that the mid-ocean ridges at all spreading rates are offset into individual spreading segments by both transform and nontransform discontinuities. The tectonics of ridge segmentation are also spreading-rate dependent: the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge is characterized by distinct bulls-eye shaped gravity lows, suggesting large along-axis variations in melt production and crustal thickness, whereas the fast-spreading East-Pacific Rise is associated with much smaller along-axis variations. These spreading-rate dependent changes have been attributed to a fundamental differences in ridge segmentation mechanisms and mantle upwelling at mid-ocean ridges: the mantle upwelling may be intrinsically plume-like (3-D) beneath a slow-spreading ridge but more sheet-like (2-D) beneath a fast-spreading ridge.  相似文献   

初论地幔热柱与成矿——以冀西北金银多金属成矿区为例   总被引：22，自引：8，他引：14  

李红阳  阎升好  王金锁  张建珍  王国富 《矿床地质》1996,15(3):249-256

作者通过对冀两北金、银多金属矿化集中区成矿规律和物探航磁、重力及遥感信息的综合研究,提出冀西北地区存在一个超越内蒙地轴与燕山褶皱带两个不同历史大地构造单元之上的中生代地幔热柱构造。文中例举了地幔热梓构造标志特征,探讨了地幔热柱构造地质作用（超变质作用、岩浆作用、成矿作用）及其时空演化规律,建立了地幔热柱构造的壳幔成矿模式。  相似文献   

南海北部陆缘新生代玄武岩地球化学特征及成因     

曹楚奇  熊发挥  杨胜标  徐向珍  刘飞  牛晓露  冯光英  邱添  杨经绥 《地质学报》2022,96(8):2683-2704

南海盆地及周缘地区新生代玄武岩对揭示南海盆地的演化历史至关重要，然而这些玄武岩的成因还存在争议。本文研究了位于南海北部陆缘的海南岛临高县多文组玄武岩岩石地球化学和矿物地球化学特征，并探讨其成因和构造背景。多文组玄武岩主要由橄榄石、单斜辉石、斜长石、斜方辉石、铬尖晶石和铁钛氧化物等组成。橄榄石Fo值变化于55. 5~71. 1之间，Ni的含量较低， Fe/Mn比值较高。铬尖晶石Cr#值为74. 1~82. 7，Mg#值为45. 5~63. 8， Ti的含量较高。斜方辉石Mg#值为63. 9~79. 6，单斜辉石为66. 0~80. 6。单斜辉石稀土配分曲线富集MREE，亏损LREE和HREE，呈拱形分布。斜长石以中- 拉长石为主(Ab36. 56~52. 78), 富集LREE、Ba、Sr和Eu。铁钛氧化物的TiO2含量为50. 19%~51. 46%。多文组玄武岩原始岩浆的主量和微量元素组成与夏威夷、峨眉山、塔里木等玄武岩组成一致，地幔源区包含了辉石岩的成分，而且其地幔潜在温度(＞1400℃)和氧逸度(ΔNNO)要高于大洋中脊玄武岩(N- MORB)，表明多文组玄武岩的形成与海南地幔柱活动有关。由于海南地幔柱形成时代明显晚于南海盆地的扩张时代，认为南海地幔柱是南海盆地伸展的被动响应。  相似文献   

短周期仪器记录在远震分析中的应用     

许康生 《地震地磁观测与研究》1992,13(2):15-19

地震泼由多种频率成份组成,在其传播过程中。由于地球介质的滤波作用,随着传播距离的增大。高频成份逐渐被衰减。周期越大的成份传播越远。因此,在地震观测上,不同频带的地震仪用于观测不同震中距范围的地震,使仪器较好地响应,就我国台网而言,短周期仪用于地方震、近震的监测,中长周期仪和长周期仪用于远震,极远震的监测,其中长周期仪偏重于记录极远震。但作者在实际分析工作中注意到,短周期仪的记录应用于远震,极远震的分析,显示出独特的作用,充分挖掘和利用短仪资料,将会更加丰富远震、极远震的震相资料。本文以高台地震台的资料为依据,从震中距和震级角度,与中长仪和长仪作比较,对短仪记录远震、极远震的震相及特征作了统计分析与初步探讨,并对新疆地区“影区”地震S波的记录、日本地区地震_PPcP等震相的出现提出了现象的存在,给出了相应的观测结果,以待步一步研究。  相似文献   

Na depletion in modern adakites via melt / rock reaction within the sub-arc mantle     

X.L. Xiong  B. Xia  J.F. Xu  H.C. Niu  W.S. Xiao 《Chemical Geology》2006,229(4):273-292

Interaction between slab-derived melt and mantle peridotite and the role of slab melt as a metasomatizing agent in the sub-arc mantle is being increasingly recognized. Adakite, the slab melt erupted on the surface, usually exhibits anomalously high MgO, CaO, Cr and Ni contents that indicate interaction with mantle peridotitite. Here we note that Cenozoic adakites have Na₂O contents below 5.8 wt.% with ∼95% samples lower than 5.0 wt.%, and are generally depleted in this component relative to experimental basalt partial melts (mostly beyond 5.0 wt.% and up to 9.0 wt.% Na₂O) produced under 1.5-3.0 GPa conditions that are most relevant to adakite production. We interpret the adakite Na depletion to be also a consequence of the melt / rock reaction that takes place within the hot mantle wedge. During ascent and reaction with mantle peridotite, primary adakite melts gain mantle components MgO, CaO, Cr and Ni but lose Na₂O, SiO₂ and perhaps K₂O to the mantle, leading to Na-rich mantle metasomatism. Selective assimilation of predominately mantle clinopyroxene, some spinel and minor olivine at high T/P has been considered to be an important process in producing high-Mg adakites from primary low-Mg slab melts [Killian, R., Stern, C. R., 2002. Constraints on the interaction between slab melts and the mantle wedge from adakitic glass in peridotite xenoliths. Eur. J. Mineral. 14, 25-36]. In such a process, Na depletion in the assimilated melt is the result of dilution due to the increase in melt mass. Phase relationships in the reaction system siliceous melt + peridotite and quantitative calculation suggest that assimilation of mantle clinopyroxene, olivine and spinel and fractional crystallization of sodic amphibole and orthopyroxene, under conditions of moderate T/P and increasing melt mass, is also an important process that modifies the composition of adakites and causes the Na depletion.  相似文献   

Mantle plumes from top to bottom   总被引：5，自引：0，他引：5  

Norman H. Sleep 《Earth》2006,77(4):231-271

Hotspots include midplate features like Hawaii and on-axis features like Iceland. Mantle plumes are a well-posed hypothesis for their formation. Starting plume heads provide an explanation of brief episodes of flood basalts, mafic intrusions, and radial dike swarms. Yet the essence of the hypothesis hides deep in the mantle. Tests independent of surface geology and geochemistry to date have been at best tantalizing. It is productive to bare the current ignorance, rather than to dump the plume hypothesis. One finds potentially fruitful lines of inquiry using simple dynamics and observations. Ancient lithospheric xenoliths may reveal heating by plumes and subsequent thermal equilibration in the past. The effect at the base of the chemical layer is modest 50-100 K for transient heating by plume heads. Thinning of nonbuoyant platform lithosphere is readily observed but not directly attributable to plumes. The plume history in Antarctica is ill constrained because of poor geological exposure. This locality provides a worst case on what is known about surface evidence of hotspots. Direct detection of plume tail conduits in the mid-mantle is now at the edge of seismic resolution. Seismology does not provide adequate resolution of the deep mantle. We do not know the extent of a chemically dense dregs layer or whether superplume regions are cooler or hotter than an adiabat in equilibrium with the asthenosphere. Overall, mid-mantle seismology is most likely to give definitive results as plume conduits are the guts of the dynamic hypothesis. Finding them would bring unresolved deep and shallow processes into place.  相似文献   

Upper mantle structure of the Northern Eurasia from peaceful nuclear explosion data   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

G.A. Pavlenkova  N.I. Pavlenkova   《Tectonophysics》2006,416(1-4):33

Several long-range seismic profiles were carried out in Russia with Peaceful Nuclear Explosions (PNE). The data from 25 PNEs recorded along these profiles were used to compile a 3-D upper mantle velocity model for the central part of the Northern Eurasia. 2-D crust and upper mantle models were also constructed for all profiles using a common methodology for wavefield interpretation. Five basic boundaries were traced over the study area: N1 boundary (velocity level, V = 8.35 km/s; depth interval, D = 60–130 km), N2 (V = 8.4 km/s; D = 100–140 km), L (V = 8.5 km/s; D = 180–240 km) and H (V = 8.6 km/s; D = 300–330 km) and structural maps were compiled for each boundary. Together these boundaries describe a 3-D upper mantle model for northern Eurasia. A map characterised the velocity distribution in the uppermost mantle down to a depth of 60 km is also presented. Mostly horizontal inhomogeneity is observed in the uppermost mantle, and the velocities range from the average 8.0–8.1 km/s to 8.3–8.4 km/s in some blocks of the Siberian Craton. At a depth of 100–200 km, the local high velocity blocks disappear and only three large anomalies are observed: lower velocities in West Siberia and higher velocities in the East-European platform and in the central part of the Siberian Craton. In contrast, the depths to the H boundary are greater beneath the craton and lower beneath in the West Siberian Platform. A correlation between tectonics, geophysical fields and crustal structure is observed. In general, the old and cold cratons have higher velocities in the mantle than the young platforms with higher heat flows.Structural peculiarities of the upper mantle are difficult to describe in form of classical lithosphere–asthenosphere system. The asthenosphere cannot be traced from the seismic data; in contrary the lithosphere is suggested to be rheologically stratified. All the lithospheric boundaries are not simple discontinuities, they are heterogeneous (thin layering) zones which generate multiphase reflections. Many of them may be a result of fluids concentrated at some critical P–T conditions which produce rheologically weak zones. The most visible rheological variations are observed at depths of around 100 and 250 km.  相似文献   

Seismic lamination and anisotropy of the Lower Continental Crust   总被引：2，自引：3，他引：2  

Rolf Meissner  Wolfgang Rabbel  Hartmut Kern 《Tectonophysics》2006,416(1-4):81

Seismic lamination in the lower crust associated with marked anisotropy has been observed at various locations. Three of these locations were investigated by specially designed experiments in the near vertical and in the wide-angle range, that is the Urach and the Black Forrest area, both belonging to the Moldanubian, a collapsed Variscan terrane in southern Germany, and in the Donbas Basin, a rift inside the East European (Ukrainian) craton. In these three cases, a firm relationship between lower crust seismic lamination and anisotropy is found. There are more cases of lower-crustal lamination and anisotropy, e.g. from the Basin and Range province (western US) and from central Tibet, not revealed by seismic wide-angle measurements, but by teleseismic receiver function studies with a P–S conversion at the Moho. Other cases of lamination and anisotropy are from exhumed lower crustal rocks in Calabria (southern Italy), and Val Sesia and Val Strona (Ivrea area, Northern Italy). We demonstrate that rocks in the lower continental crust, apart from differing in composition, differ from the upper mantle both in terms of seismic lamination (observed in the near-vertical range) and in the type of anisotropy. Compared to upper mantle rocks exhibiting mainly orthorhombic symmetry, the symmetry of the rocks constituting the lower crust is either axial or orthorhombic and basically a result of preferred crystallographic orientation of major minerals (biotite, muscovite, hornblende). We argue that the generation of seismic lamination and anisotropy in the lower crust is a consequence of the same tectonic process, that is, ductile deformation in a warm and low-viscosity lower crust. This process takes place preferably in areas of extension. Heterogeneous rock units are formed that are generally felsic in composition, but that contain intercalations of mafic intrusions. The latter have acted as heat sources and provide the necessary seismic impedance contrasts. The observed seismic anisotropy is attributed to lattice preferred orientation (LPO) of major minerals, in particular of mica and hornblende, but also of olivine. A transversely isotropic symmetry system, such as expected for sub-horizontal layering, is found in only half of the field studies. Azimuthal anisotropy is encountered in the rest of the cases. This indicates differences in the horizontal components of tectonic strain, which finally give rise to differences in the evolution of the rock fabric.  相似文献   

An investigation of upper mantle heterogeneity beneath the Archaean and Proterozoic crust of western Canada from Lithoprobe controlled-source seismic experiments     

Andrew R. Gorman  Balzs Nmeth  Ron M. Clowes  Zoltan Hajnal 《Tectonophysics》2006,416(1-4):187

Observations of upper mantle reflectivity at numerous locations around the world have been linked to the presence of a heterogeneous distribution of rock types within a broad layer of the upper mantle. This phenomenon is observed in wide-angle reflection data from Lithoprobe's Alberta Basement Transect [the SAREX and Deep Probe experiments of 1995] and Trans-Hudson Orogen Transect [the THoRE experiment of 1993]. SAREX and Deep Probe image the Archaean lithosphere of the Hearne and Wyoming Provinces, whereas THoRE images the Archaean and Proterozoic lithosphere of the Trans-Hudson Orogen and neighbouring areas.Finite-difference synthetic seismograms are used to constrain the position and physical properties of the reflective layer. SAREX/Deep Probe modelling uses a 2-D visco-elastic finite-difference routine; THoRE modelling uses a pseudospectral algorithm. In both cases, the upper mantle is parameterized in terms of two media. One medium is the background matrix; the other is statistically distributed within the first as a series of elliptical bodies. Such a scheme is suitable for modelling: (1) variations in lithology (e.g., a peridotite matrix with eclogite lenses) or (2) variations in rheology (e.g., lenses of increased strain within a less strained background).The synthetic seismograms show that the properties of heterogeneities in the upper mantle do not change significantly between the two Lithoprobe transects. Beneath the Trans-Hudson Orogen in Saskatchewan, the layer is best modelled to lie at depths between 80 and 150 km. Based on observations from perpendicular profiles, anisotropy of the heterogeneities is inferred. Beneath the Precambrian domains of Alberta, 400 km to the west, upper mantle heterogeneities are modelled to occur between depths of 90 and 140 km. In both cases the heterogeneous bodies within the model have cross-sectional lengths of tens of kilometers, vertical thicknesses less than 1 km, and velocity contrasts from the background of − 0.3 to − 0.4 km/s. Based on consistency with complementary data and other results, the heterogeneous layer is inferred to be part of the continental lithosphere and may have formed through lateral flow or deformation within the upper mantle.  相似文献   

GGR Critical Review of Analytical Developments in 2004–2005     

Janet M. Hergt  L. Paul Bédard  Etienne Deloule  Klaus Peter Jochum  Kathryn L. Linge  Paul J. Sylvester  Matthias Willbold  Jon D. Woodhead 《Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research》2006,30(3):141-142

In 2005 Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research embarked upon a new initiative for its readers. Key researchers in various fields of geoanalytical technique development and their application were identified and invited to provide reviews pertinent to their expertise. As noted in the first of these publications "…instead of revisiting the historical context or decades of development in each analytical technique, the goal here has been to capture a snapshot of "hot topics" across a range of fields as represented in the… literature" (Hergt et al . 2005). Rather than prepare an annual review, a decision was taken earlier this year to provide a biennial summary of progress and accomplishments, in this case for the years 2004–2005. The principal techniques employed in Earth and environmental sciences are covered here, and include laser ablation and multicollector ICP-MS, ICP-AES, thermal ionisation and secondary ion mass spectrometry, as well as neutron activation analysis, X-ray fluorescence and atomic absorption spectrometry. A comprehensive review of the development of reference materials, often essential to these techniques, is also provided. The contributions assembled serve both to keep readers informed of advances they may be unfamiliar with, but also as a means of showcasing examples of the breadth and depth of work being conducted in these fields.  相似文献