Seismic tomography showing subduction and slab breakoff of the Yangtze block beneath the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt

Seismic tomography reveals that a subducted ancient block has been preserved beneath the Moho of the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt. Taking into account of geological and geochronological data, we inferred from the tomographic images that the Yangtze block was subducted northward beneath the Sino-Korean block and broken off at the depth <200 km during 200—190 Ma. The slab breakoff of the Yangtze block is the most important dynamic mechanism to control the exhumation of UHP rocks.     

四川黑水-台湾花莲断面岩石圈与软流圈结构

运用现代构造解析理论和方法,对四川黑水-台湾花莲人工地震测深剖面与天然地震面波层析成像进行系统分析基础上,结合地质学、地球化学以及其它地球物理学标志等多学科综合研究显示,高速块体或幔块构造的几何结构样式是控制该区岩石圈构造格局和岩石圈表层构造变形最基本条件之一,首次建立起该断面岩石圈与软流圈结构模型,划分出岩石圈四种几何结构样式:克拉通陆根状结构,造山带楔状结构、碎块状结构和藕节状结构,以及岩石圈四类构造演化类型:克拉通型岩石圈、增厚型岩石圈、减薄型岩石圈和大洋型岩石圈.在系统论述断面及邻区岩石圈结构类型特征基础上,探讨了该断面软流圈结构特征、岩石圈与软流圈相互作用及其大陆动力学基本型式.     

The subducted slab of Yangtze continental block beneath the Tethyan orogen in western Yunnan

The western Yunnan area is a natural laboratory with fully developed and best preserved Tethyan orogen in the world. Seismic tomography reveals a slab-like high velocity anomaly down to 250 km beneath the western Yunnan Tethyan orogen, to its west there is a low-velocity column about 300 km wide. In the region from Lancangjiang to Mojiang an obvious low velocity in the lower crust and uppermost mantle overlies on the slab. Synthesizing the available geological and geochemical results, the present paper demonstrates that this slab-like high velocity anomaly is a part of the subducted plate of Yangtze continental segment after the closure of Paleotethys. The collision of India and Eurasia continent starting from 50–60 MaBP might trigger thermal disturbance in the upper mantle and cause the uprising of asthenosphere, in that case the subducted Yangtze plate could be broken off, causing Cenozoic magmatic activities and underplating in the Lancangjiang-Mojiang region.     

The subducted slab of Yangtze Continental block beneath the Tethyan orogen in western Yunnan

The western Yunnan area is a natural laboratory with fully developed and best preserved Tethyan orogen in the world. Seismic tomography reveals a slab-like high velocity anomaly down to 250 km beneath the western Yunnan Tethyan orogen, to its west there is a low-velocity column about 300 km wide. in the region from Lancangjiang to Mojiang an obvious low velocity in the lower crust and uppermost mantle overlies on the slab. Synthesizing the available geological and geochemical results, the present paper demonstrates that this slab-like high velocity anomaly is a part of the subducted plate of Yangtze Continental segment after the closure of Paleotethys. The collision of India and Eurasia continent starting from 50-60 MaBP might trigger thermal disturbance in the upper mantle and cause the uprising of asthenosphere, in that case the subducted Yangtze plate could be broken off, causing Cenozoic magmatic activities and underplating in the Lancangjiang-Mojiang region.     

东秦岭岩石圈热流变学结构初探

目的研究秦岭造山带的岩石圈流变学结构以探索其地球动力学意义。方法通过岩石圈温度结构约束，计算了岩石圈流变学结构。结果秦岭北半部的后陆冲断褶带和厚皮叠瓦逆冲带的莫霍界面温度为305℃，以冷地温、厚岩石圈和流变分层不明显的C模型为特征；南秦岭莫霍界面平均温度642℃，最高达826℃，具有显著的热地温、薄岩石圈和中下地壳及其上地幔顶部强烈流变的H模型特点。结论在后造山阶段，北秦岭是华北和扬子二地块相向向秦岭造山带陆内俯冲的前锋会聚区域，现今处于以岩石圈加厚为主、拆沉作用初始发动的共存状态；南秦岭可能在地幔柱作用下发生新的拆沉作用和部分底侵作用，其轴部区域的地壳内现今存在部分熔融，壳-幔之间正在进行物质、能量（热传导和热对流方式）等的再循环。     

Finding of Neoproterozoic （～775 Ma） magmatism recorded in metamorphic complexes from the North Qilian orogen： Evidence from SHRIMP zircon U-Pb dating

The Qilian Mountain is considered a part of the Cen- tral Orogenic Belt of China[1]. The Central Orogenic Belt of China, extending for a distance of about 4000 km long in the E-W direction from the east coast west- ward through the mainland China all the …     

Decoupling of surface and subsurface sutures in the Dabie orogen and a continent-collisional lithospheric-wedging model：Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic evidences of Mesozoic igneous rocks in eastern China

Based on the distribution of UHPM rocks on the surface in Sulu terrane, the surface suture between the NCB and SCB should be located along the Wulian fault (see Fig. 1, S1). However, based on the aeromagnetic data of eastern China, Li[1] first indicated that the subsurface suture between the NCB and SCB in the region east of the Tan-Lu fault should be located to the east of Nanjing City (see Fig. 1, S2), which south displaced about 400 km from the surface suture. This is contradicto…     

Some basic concepts and problems on the petrogenesis of intra-plate ocean island basalts

Basaltic magmatism that builds intra-plate ocean islands is often considered to be genetically associated with ＂hotspots＂ or ＂mantle plumes＂. While there have been many discussions on why ocean island basalts （OIB） are geochemically highly enriched as an integral part of the mantle plume hypothesis, our current understanding on the origin of OIB source material remains unsatisfactory, and some prevailing ideas need revision. One of the most popular views states that OIB source material is recycled oceanic crust （ROC）. Among many problems with the ROC model, the ocean crust is simply too depleted （e.g., [La/Sm]PM 〈1） to be source material for highly enriched （e.g., [La/Sm]pM 〉〉 1） OIB, Another popular view states that the enriched component of OIB comes from recycled continental crust （RCC, i.e.; terrigenous sediments）. While both CC and OIB are enriched in many incompatible elements （e.g., both have [La/Sm]PM 〉〉1）, the CC has characteristic enrichment in Pb and deletion in Nb, Ta, P and Ti. Such signature is too strong to be eliminated such that CC is unsuitable as source material for OIB. Plate tectonics and mantle circulation permit the presence of ROC and RCC materials in mantle source regions of basalts, but they must be volumetrically insignificant in contributing to basalt magmatism. The observation that OIB are not only enriched in incompatible elements, but also enriched in the progressively more incompatible elements indicates that the enriched component of OIB is of magmatic origin and most likely associated with low-degree melt metasomatism. H2O and CO2 rich incipient melt may form in the seismic low velocity zone （LVZ）. This melt will rise because of buoyancy and concentrate into a melt rich layer atop the LVZ to metasomatize the growing lithosphere, forming the metasomatic vein lithologies. Erupted OIB melts may have three components： （1） fertile OIB source material from depth that is dominant, （2） the melt layer, and （3） assimilation of the metasomatic vein lithologies formed earlier in the growing/grown lithosphere. It is probable that the fertile source material from depth may be （or contain） recycled ancient metasomatized deep portions of oceanic lithosphere. In any attempt to explain the origin of mantle isotopic end-members as revealed from global OIB data, we must （1） remember our original assumptions that the primitive mantle （PM） soon after the core separation was compositionally uniform/homogeneous with the core playing a limited or no role in causing mantle isotopic heterogeneity; （2） not use OIB isotopes to conclude about the nature and compositions of ultimate source materials without understanding geochemical consequences of subduction zone metamorphism; and （3） ensure that models and hypotheses are consistent with the basic petrology and major/trace element geochemistry.     

S-wave velocity of the crust around Tianshan Mountains inverted from seismic ambient noise tomography

We process ambient noise data from seismic stations deployed in central Asia to determine the crustal shear wave velocity structure beneath the Tianshan Mountians and surrounding area. About 748 inter-station Rayleigh wave empirical Green’s functions have been recovered to estimate the phase velocity dispersions over periods from 6 to 50 s using the image transformation technique. Results show that for short periods (6–20 s), the distribution of Rayleigh wave phase velocities is generally consistent with surface geology, with high velocities corresponding to mountain ranges and low velocities to sedimentary basins. Along two profiles, which trend from NE-SW and NW-SE, the shear wave velocity shows a pair of high velocity anomalies dipping in opposite directions beneath the Tianshan Mountains. At shallow depths, those high velocity anomalies roughly correlate with areas where the mountain front and the surrounding basin are connected. The profiles also show a narrow zone beneath the Tianshan Mountains, which may represent a route for the upwelling from upper mantle. Those observations suggest that the underthrusting of the Tarim Basin and Kazakh Shield combine with the weakness of the crust, which is heated by the upwelling from upper mantle, may play an important role on the reactivation of the Tianshan Mountains associated with the India-Eurasia collision.     

Seismic P-wave tomography in eastern Tibet: Formation of the rifts

For better studying the relationship between the rifts and deep structure, a detailed P-wave velocity structure under eastern Tibet has been modeled using 4767 arrival times from 169 teleseismic events recorded by 51 portable stations. In horizontal slices through the model, a prominent low-velocity anomaly was detected under the rifts from the surface to a depth of ~250 km; this extends to a depth of ~400 km in the vertical slice. This low-velocity anomaly is interpreted as an upper mantle upwelling. The o...     

龙门山岩石圈地壳三维结构及汶川大地震成因浅析

地质构造研究和地震测深剖面的构造解析显示,龙门山碰撞遣山带岩石圈存在既有显著差异又有密切联系的两套断裂系统:一是以地壳表层脆性剪切带为主的浅层断裂系统;另一是以切割莫霍界面或壳幔过渡带的壳幔韧性剪切带为主的深部断裂系统.根据地质构造和地震测深成果的综合研究,在建立起龙门山遣山带及邻区岩石圈地壳结构模型的基础上,论述了两套断裂系统的特征与相互关系,提出岩石圈壳幔韧性剪切带可能是四川汶川8.0级强烈地震的发震构造之一,以及强烈地震形成的动力学模式等.