Thickness constraints on the icy shells of the galilean satellites from a comparison of crater shapes

A thin outer ice shell on Jupiter's large moon Europa would imply easy exchange between the surface and any organic or biotic material in its putative subsurface ocean. The thickness of the outer ice shell is poorly constrained, however, with model-dependent estimates ranging from a few kilometres to ten or more kilometres. Here I present measurements of depths of impact craters on Europa, Ganymede and Callisto that reveal two anomalous transitions in crater shape with diameter. The first transition is probably related to temperature-dependent ductility of the crust at shallow depths (7 8 km on Europa). The second transition is attributed to the influence of subsurface oceans on all three satellites, which constrains Europa's icy shell to be at least 19 km thick. The icy lithospheres of Ganymede and Callisto are equally ice-rich, but Europa's icy shell has a thermal structure about 0.25 0.5 times the thicknesses of Ganymede's or Callisto's shells, depending on epoch. The appearances of the craters on Europa are inconsistent with thin-ice-shell models and indicate that exchange of oceanic and surface material could be difficult.     

Active formation of 'chaos terrain' over shallow subsurface water on Europa

Europa, the innermost icy satellite of Jupiter, has a tortured young surface and sustains a liquid water ocean below an ice shell of highly debated thickness. Quasi-circular areas of ice disruption called chaos terrains are unique to Europa, and both their formation and the ice-shell thickness depend on Europa's thermal state. No model so far has been able to explain why features such as Conamara Chaos stand above surrounding terrain and contain matrix domes. Melt-through of a thin (few-kilometre) shell is thermodynamically improbable and cannot raise the ice. The buoyancy of material rising as either plumes of warm, pure ice called diapirs or convective cells in a thick (>10 kilometres) shell is insufficient to produce the observed chaos heights, and no single plume can create matrix domes. Here we report an analysis of archival data from Europa, guided by processes observed within Earth's subglacial volcanoes and ice shelves. The data suggest that chaos terrains form above liquid water lenses perched within the ice shell as shallow as 3?kilometres. Our results suggest that ice-water interactions and freeze-out give rise to the diverse morphologies and topography of chaos terrains. The sunken topography of Thera Macula indicates that Europa is actively resurfacing over a lens comparable in volume to the Great Lakes in North America.     

Supercontinent cycles and the calculation of absolute palaeolongitude in deep time

Traditional models of the supercontinent cycle predict that the next supercontinent--'Amasia'--will form either where Pangaea rifted (the 'introversion' model) or on the opposite side of the world (the 'extroversion' models). Here, by contrast, we develop an 'orthoversion' model whereby a succeeding supercontinent forms 90° away, within the great circle of subduction encircling its relict predecessor. A supercontinent aggregates over a mantle downwelling but then influences global-scale mantle convection to create an upwelling under the landmass. We calculate the minimum moment of inertia about which oscillatory true polar wander occurs owing to the prolate shape of the non-hydrostatic Earth. By fitting great circles to each supercontinent's true polar wander legacy, we determine that the arc distances between successive supercontinent centres (the axes of the respective minimum moments of inertia) are 88° for Nuna to Rodinia and 87° for Rodinia to Pangaea--as predicted by the orthoversion model. Supercontinent centres can be located back into Precambrian time, providing fixed points for the calculation of absolute palaeolongitude over billion-year timescales. Palaeogeographic reconstructions additionally constrained in palaeolongitude will provide increasingly accurate estimates of ancient plate motions and palaeobiogeographic affinities.     

Diapir-induced reorientation of Saturn's moon Enceladus

Enceladus is a small icy satellite of Saturn. Its south polar region consists of young, tectonically deformed terrain and has an anomalously high heat flux. This heat flux is probably due to localized tidal dissipation within either the ice shell or the underlying silicate core. The surface deformation is plausibly due to upwelling of low-density material (diapirism) as a result of this tidal heating. Here we show that the current polar location of the hotspot can be explained by reorientation of the satellite's rotation axis because of the presence of a low-density diapir. If the diapir is in the ice shell, then the shell must be relatively thick and maintain significant rigidity (elastic thickness greater than approximately 0.5 km); if the diapir is in the silicate core, then Enceladus cannot possess a global subsurface ocean, because the core must be coupled to the overlying ice for reorientation to occur. The reorientation generates large (approximately 10 MPa) tectonic stress patterns that are compatible with the observed deformation of the south polar region. We predict that the distribution of impact craters on the surface will not show the usual leading hemisphere-trailing hemisphere asymmetry. A low-density diapir also yields a potentially observable negative gravity anomaly.     

Absolute plate motions and true polar wander in the absence of hotspot tracks

The motion of continents relative to the Earth's spin axis may be due either to rotation of the entire Earth relative to its spin axis--true polar wander--or to the motion of individual plates. In order to distinguish between these over the past 320 Myr (since the formation of the Pangaea supercontinent), we present here computations of the global average of continental motion and rotation through time in a palaeomagnetic reference frame. Two components are identified: a steady northward motion and, during certain time intervals, clockwise and anticlockwise rotations, interpreted as evidence for true polar wander. We find approximately 18 degrees anticlockwise rotation about 250-220 Myr ago and the same amount of clockwise rotation about 195-145 Myr ago. In both cases the rotation axis is located at about 10-20 degrees W, 0 degrees N, near the site that became the North American-South American-African triple junction at the break-up of Pangaea. This was followed by approximately 10 degrees clockwise rotation about 145-135 Myr ago, followed again by the same amount of anticlockwise rotation about 110-100 Myr ago, with a rotation axis in both cases approximately 25-50 degrees E in the reconstructed area of North Africa and Arabia. These rotation axes mark the maxima of the degree-two non-hydrostatic geoid during those time intervals, and the fact that the overall net rotation since 320 Myr ago is nearly zero is an indication of long-term stability of the degree-two geoid and related mantle structure. We propose a new reference frame, based on palaeomagnetism, but corrected for the true polar wander identified in this study, appropriate for relating surface to deep mantle processes from 320 Myr ago until hotspot tracks can be used (about 130 Myr ago).     

Evidence for an ancient martian ocean in the topography of deformed shorelines

A suite of observations suggests that the northern plains of Mars, which cover nearly one third of the planet's surface, may once have contained an ocean. Perhaps the most provocative evidence for an ancient ocean is a set of surface features that ring the plains for thousands of kilometres and that have been interpreted as a series of palaeoshorelines of different age. It has been shown, however, that topographic profiles along the putative shorelines contain long-wavelength trends with amplitudes of up to several kilometres, and these trends have been taken as an argument against the martian shoreline (and ocean) hypothesis. Here we show that the long-wavelength topography of the shorelines is consistent with deformation caused by true polar wander--a change in the orientation of a planet with respect to its rotation pole--and that the inferred pole path has the geometry expected for a true polar wander event that postdates the formation of the massive Tharsis volcanic rise.     

对鲁西旋卷构造的质疑

过去所谓的鲁西诸多弧形断裂,实际上是几组断裂的交切;所谓弧形的凸起和凹陷实际是由几组断裂控制的呈不同几何形态的中生代断块凸起和凹陷;所谓的尼山穹窿实际是中生代的一个断块凹起,它既不是太古代的穹状古隆起,也不是古生代的水下隆起;因此鲁西旋卷构造难以成立。鲁西的基本构造格架,是在NW和NEE向两组断裂组成棋盘格的基础上,经后期构造的迭加改造所形成的“x”型断裂体系。     

贵州某机场场地岩溶发育特征及成因分析

通过对贵州某机场初步勘察资料的统计分析,探讨了整个场区的岩溶发育特征、分布规律以及成因机理。场区构造相对稳定,多发育揉皱、压性小断层,场区地表溶蚀现象明显,发育的溶沟溶槽、漏斗、落水洞的展布走向基本与构造方向和优势节理方向相近。而钻孔揭露地下0.5~20 m范围有透水性差的薄层泥岩,该地层下部岩体相对完整,由此可以推断,隔水层以上岩体在水流作用下,沿岩体节理、裂隙溶蚀现象明显,地表岩溶发育,在该隔水层之下,岩溶弱发育。场区虽处Ⅲ级剥夷面上,地表水流除沿岩体裂隙下渗外,绝大部分水流沿地表向地势低洼处径流,而后通过溶斗、落水洞等统一向侵蚀基准面排泄,无大面积积水区域。总体来说,场区以垂向岩溶为主,隔水层表面多发育横向小型溶洞,隔水层上下溶蚀差异较大,钻探过程中未发现厅堂式溶洞,因此场区出现大规模塌陷灾害的可能性很小。研究结果不仅为详勘提供了基础资料,对后期机场的设计和建设均具有重要的指导意义。     

中国南方泥盆纪、石炭纪深水沉积环境沉积特征、构造活动及含油气性

中国南方在泥盆、石炭纪时,裂陷运动在被动陆缘和陆内产生许多裂陷槽,形成相对于浅水碳酸盐台地的台间斜坡—海槽深水沉积环境。台间海槽可分为继承性深水台间海槽和泥盆纪时发育起来的台间海槽;台缘斜坡分为跌积边缘型和沉积边缘型。文章描述了上述各深水环境相特征。从区域构造背景和海槽分布方向性、分组性、火山活动、断裂差异升降方面论述了斜坡—海槽的构造活动性。斜坡—海槽的深水沉积环境和岩相,提供了油气生成、储集、运移、圈闭、聚集和保存的有利条件。     

Plate-wide stress relaxation explains European Palaeocene basin inversions

During Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic times, many Palaeozoic and Mesozoic rifts and basin structures in the interior of the European continent underwent several phases of inversion (the process of shortening a previously extensional basin). The main phases occurred during the Late Cretaceous and Middle Palaeocene, and have been previously explained by pulses of compression, mainly from the Alpine orogen. Here we show that the main phases differed both in structural style and cause. The Cretaceous phase was characterized by narrow uplift zones, reverse activation of faults, crustal shortening, and the formation of asymmetric marginal troughs. In contrast, the Middle Palaeocene phase was characterized by dome-like uplift of a wider area with only mild fault movements, and formation of more distal and shallow marginal troughs. A simple flexural model explains how domal, secondary inversion follows inevitably from primary, convergence-related inversion on relaxation of the in-plane tectonic stress. The onset of relaxation inversions was plate-wide and simultaneous, and may have been triggered by stress changes caused by elevation of the North Atlantic lithosphere by the Iceland plume or the drop in the north-south convergence rate between Africa and Europe.     

Subcontinental-scale crustal velocity changes along the Pacific-North America plate boundary

Transient tectonic deformation has long been noted within approximately 100 km of plate boundary fault zones and within active volcanic regions, but it is unknown whether transient motions also occur at larger scales within plates. Relatively localized transients are known to occur as both seismic and episodic aseismic events, and are generally ascribed to motions of magma bodies, aseismic creep on faults, or elastic or viscoelastic effects associated with earthquakes. However, triggering phenomena and systematic patterns of seismic strain release at subcontinental (approximately 1,000 km) scale along diffuse plate boundaries have long suggested that energy transfer occurs at larger scale. Such transfer appears to occur by the interaction of stresses induced by surface wave propagation and magma or groundwater in the crust, or from large-scale stress diffusion within the oceanic mantle in the decades following clusters of great earthquakes. Here we report geodetic evidence for a coherent, subcontinental-scale change in tectonic velocity along a diffuse approximately 1,000-km-wide deformation zone. Our observations are derived from continuous GPS (Global Positioning System) data collected over the past decade across the Basin and Range province, which absorbs approximately 25 per cent of Pacific-North America relative plate motion. The observed changes in site velocity define a sharp boundary near the centre of the province oriented roughly parallel to the north-northwest relative plate motion vector. We show that sites to the west of this boundary slowed relative to sites east of it by approximately 1 mm yr(-1) starting in late 1999.     

塔里木盆地石炭-第四纪构造演化与地层组合特征

塔里木盆地石炭 -第四纪概括为一次大构造旋回。盆地构造演化可分为 4个阶段 ,即克拉通边缘坳陷、前陆盆地、断陷 -坳陷、复合前陆盆地阶段。地层组合明显受构造作用控制 ,依据该盆地构造、沉积发育特征可划分出 4个构造 -地层组合     

马朗凹陷哈尔加乌组烃源岩分布和生烃演化与石炭系成藏关系

通过井震结合烃源岩预测技术、盆地模拟技术和油源对比、原油运移示踪技术,对马朗凹陷石炭系火山岩系哈尔加乌组烃源岩分布与烃源岩(灶)生烃演化规律、石炭系原油和烃源岩地球化学特征及原油运移特征等方面进行研究。结果表明:马朗凹陷石炭系火山岩系烃源岩主要有正常沉积型和火山碎屑沉积型两种赋存型式,烃源岩与火山岩具有4类共生关系;马中构造带石炭系原油为高成熟度原油,牛东构造带石炭系原油主要为成熟油;牛东构造带石炭系原油主要为马朗凹陷北斜坡带牛东本地成熟烃源岩所生,于白垩纪中晚期开始大量生烃,自东向西运移成藏;马中构造带油气来自凹陷中心高成熟烃源岩。     

Dynamics of Mid-Palaeocene North Atlantic rifting linked with European intra-plate deformations

The process of continental break-up provides a large-scale experiment that can be used to test causal relations between plate tectonics and the dynamics of the Earth's deep mantle. Detailed diagnostic information on the timing and dynamics of such events, which are not resolved by plate kinematic reconstructions, can be obtained from the response of the interior of adjacent continental plates to stress changes generated by plate boundary processes. Here we demonstrate a causal relationship between North Atlantic continental rifting at approximately 62 Myr ago and an abrupt change of the intra-plate deformation style in the adjacent European continent. The rifting involved a left-lateral displacement between the North American-Greenland plate and Eurasia, which initiated the observed pause in the relative convergence of Europe and Africa. The associated stress change in the European continent was significant and explains the sudden termination of a approximately 20-Myr-long contractional intra-plate deformation within Europe, during the late Cretaceous period to the earliest Palaeocene epoch, which was replaced by low-amplitude intra-plate stress-relaxation features. The pre-rupture tectonic stress was large enough to have been responsible for precipitating continental break-up, so there is no need to invoke a thermal mantle plume as a driving mechanism. The model explains the simultaneous timing of several diverse geological events, and shows how the intra-continental stratigraphic record can reveal the timing and dynamics of stress changes, which cannot be resolved by reconstructions based only on plate kinematics.     

复杂应力状态下岩石弹性波传播特性的研究

本文以探讨地下岩体处于三向不同应力状态下其内部弹性波的传播规律为目的,研究了两种不同致密程度的岩石(沙岩、灰岩),在单轴压力和三轴不同压力下,弹性波的传播特性和波速与应力的关系。结果表明,不同应力状态下岩石的弹性波速随应力的变化阶段与应变随应力的变化阶段大致相同,可分为三个变化阶段;对于处于弹性应力状态下的岩石,应力与弹性波速的关系可用不同的依赖系数线性表示。同时,对用弹性波法确定岩体地应力及水平构造应力进行了探讨。     

Global warming and climate forcing by recent albedo changes on Mars

For hundreds of years, scientists have tracked the changing appearance of Mars, first by hand drawings and later by photographs. Because of this historical record, many classical albedo patterns have long been known to shift in appearance over time. Decadal variations of the martian surface albedo are generally attributed to removal and deposition of small amounts of relatively bright dust on the surface. Large swaths of the surface (up to 56 million km2) have been observed to darken or brighten by 10 per cent or more. It is unknown, however, how these albedo changes affect wind circulation, dust transport and the feedback between these processes and the martian climate. Here we present predictions from a Mars general circulation model, indicating that the observed interannual albedo alterations strongly influence the martian environment. Results indicate enhanced wind stress in recently darkened areas and decreased wind stress in brightened areas, producing a positive feedback system in which the albedo changes strengthen the winds that generate the changes. The simulations also predict a net annual global warming of surface air temperatures by approximately 0.65 K, enhancing dust lifting by increasing the likelihood of dust devil generation. The increase in global dust lifting by both wind stress and dust devils may affect the mechanisms that trigger large dust storm initiation, a poorly understood phenomenon, unique to Mars. In addition, predicted increases in summertime air temperatures at high southern latitudes would contribute to the rapid and steady scarp retreat that has been observed in the south polar residual ice for the past four Mars years. Our results suggest that documented albedo changes affect recent climate change and large-scale weather patterns on Mars, and thus albedo variations are a necessary component of future atmospheric and climate studies.     

郯庐断裂带两侧坳陷、烃源岩及成烃演化的差异性

中国大陆东部的一系列中新生代含油气盆地分布于郯庐断裂两侧或位于郯庐断裂带内,显然,这些含油气盆地的形成演化和分布与郯庐断裂带的活动密切相关.作者以郯庐断裂两侧主要坳陷的构造沉降历史恢复为基础,分析了郯庐断裂两侧各坳陷古热场演化的差异性、主要烃源岩发育及品质的差异性,探讨了郯庐断裂活动与两侧坳陷成烃演化的内在联系,认为郯庐断裂对两侧坳陷的成烃、成藏具有宏观控制作用,而坳陷周缘及内部的构造(断裂)活动则对其在坳陷内的分布有重要的影响.     

中国东南部晚中生代伸展应力体制的岩石学标志

在中国东南部晚中生代时期（J2－K2），发育着大规模岩墙群、广泛的岩浆混合作用（包括侵入杂岩中的岩浆混合和火山岩中的复合岩流／双峰式火山岩）、大范围玄武岩浆的底侵、巨型链状火山岩带、晶洞花岗岩－A型花岗岩带、变质核杂岩，以及玄武岩的无斑隐晶－细粒结构和花岗岩的均匀块状结构。对它们的研究表明，它们形成于伸展应力体制，是伸展构造的岩石学标志，发生在晚中生代整个地质时期，并认为这一伸展构造由古太平洋库拉板块对欧亚板块的消减作用诱发。     

采场底板突水的跨层应力壳力学模型

利用实验室大型非线性三维计算机数值模拟对煤层底板应力分布特征进行了深入研究,发现采场底板存在由集中应力形成的跨层应力壳,应力壳是承载上覆岩体压力的临时结构,壳基是椭球应力壳应力较集中的区域,椭球应力壳的形态及应力集中情况与采场结构有关.根据数值模拟试验得出了应力壳的形态方程,分析了跨层应力壳壳基、壳肩及壳顶的失稳模式,指出壳肩处经历联合破断,底板的最大破断深度则处于壳肩的位置,当壳肩达到最大破坏深度,采动裂隙和原始导升裂隙贯通,此时则容易形成突水;壳顶则随着高度的不断发展,跨层应力壳形成一个处于半封闭状态的半壳结构,此时采动裂隙导通煤层底板含水层,从而形成突水.     

Tectonic geomorphology of the Ryukyu Trench-Arc-Backarc System： geological-geophysical exploration and mapping

Based on an analysis of full-cover multi-beam bathymetric data, seismic and sub-bottom profiling data, and other geological-geophysical data sets, the geomorphologic features of the Ryukyu trench-arc-backarc (T-A-BA) system are delineated, and a geomorphologic map of the system is compiled. The results show that the evolution and spatial distribution patterns of the geomorphologic types of the Ryukyu T-A-BA system are controlled mainly by tectonic movements. The tectonic geomorphologic characteristics of the Ryukyu Arc (RA) differ distinctly from those of the East China Sea (ECS) continental shelf and slope. In term of geological structures, RA consists of the Tokara volcanic ridge, the Ryukyu folded ridge, the fore-arc accretion-wedge ridge and the Amami Depression and the fore-arc depressions between the ridges, which is composed of a complex of alternating island-slope ridges and fault basins. The slope of the ECS is a passive continental margin with stepwise faults. The Okinawa Trough (OT) is a backarc rift in which tectonicmovements are intensive, with active volcanic and hydro-thermal eruptions and sea floor spreading. The development of geomorphic features of the OT is controlled by the central en echelon spreading axes, the faults along the ECS slope and the marginal faults to the west of the Tokara volcanic ridge. The geomorphic complex of the OT is arranged in the following pattern: the en echelon grabens and volcanic chains formed by rifting and spreading lie in the central part of the trough, the turbidite plains incliningwards from the slope foot of the ECS lie in the westeru-northwesteru parts of the OT, and the volcaniclastic deposit plains inclining westward-northwestwards from the western slope foot of the RA lie in the easteru-southeasteru parts of the OT. In term of tectonic geomorphology, the OT forms a natural division between the sheff of the ECS and the RA.