Magma-assisted rifting in Ethiopia

The rifting of continents and evolution of ocean basins is a fundamental component of plate tectonics, yet the process of continental break-up remains controversial. Plate driving forces have been estimated to be as much as an order of magnitude smaller than those required to rupture thick continental lithosphere. However, Buck has proposed that lithospheric heating by mantle upwelling and related magma production could promote lithospheric rupture at much lower stresses. Such models of mechanical versus magma-assisted extension can be tested, because they predict different temporal and spatial patterns of crustal and upper-mantle structure. Changes in plate deformation produce strain-enhanced crystal alignment and increased melt production within the upper mantle, both of which can cause seismic anisotropy. The Northern Ethiopian Rift is an ideal place to test break-up models because it formed in cratonic lithosphere with minor far-field plate stresses. Here we present evidence of seismic anisotropy in the upper mantle of this rift zone using observations of shear-wave splitting. Our observations, together with recent geological data, indicate a strong component of melt-induced anisotropy with only minor crustal stretching, supporting the magma-assisted rifting model in this area of initially cold, thick continental lithosphere.     

Boundary-layer mantle flow under the Dead Sea transform fault inferred from seismic anisotropy

Lithospheric-scale transform faults play an important role in the dynamics of global plate motion. Near-surface deformation fields for such faults are relatively well documented by satellite geodesy, strain measurements and earthquake source studies, and deeper crustal structure has been imaged by seismic profiling. Relatively little is known, however, about deformation taking place in the subcrustal lithosphere--that is, the width and depth of the region associated with the deformation, the transition between deformed and undeformed lithosphere and the interaction between lithospheric and asthenospheric mantle flow at the plate boundary. Here we present evidence for a narrow, approximately 20-km-wide, subcrustal anisotropic zone of fault-parallel mineral alignment beneath the Dead Sea transform, obtained from an inversion of shear-wave splitting observations along a dense receiver profile. The geometry of this zone and the contrast between distinct anisotropic domains suggest subhorizontal mantle flow within a vertical boundary layer that extends through the entire lithosphere and accommodates the transform motion between the African and Arabian plates within this relatively narrow zone.     

Seismic evidence for catastrophic slab loss beneath Kamchatka

In the northwest Pacific Ocean, a sharp corner in the boundary between the Pacific plate and the North American plate joins a subduction zone running along the southern half of the Kamchatka peninsula with a region of transcurrent motion along the western Aleutian arc. Here we present images of the seismic structure beneath the Aleutian-Kamchatka junction and the surrounding region, indicating that: the subducting Pacific lithosphere terminates at the Aleutian-Kamchatka junction; no relict slab underlies the extinct northern Kamchatka volcanic arc; and the upper mantle beneath northern Kamchatka has unusually slow shear wavespeeds. From the tectonic and volcanic evolution of Kamchatka over the past 10 Myr (refs 3-5) we infer that at least two episodes of catastrophic slab loss have occurred. About 5 to 10 Myr ago, catastrophic slab loss shut down island-arc volcanic activity north of the Aleutian-Kamchatka junction. A later episode of slab loss, since about 2 Myr ago, seems to be related to the activity of the world's most productive island-arc volcano, Klyuchevskoy. Removal of lithospheric mantle is commonly discussed in the context of a continental collision, but our findings imply that episodes of slab detachment and loss are also important agents in the evolution of oceanic convergent margins.     

Seismic evidence for convection-driven motion of the North American plate

Since the discovery of plate tectonics, the relative importance of driving forces of plate motion has been debated. Resolution of this issue has been hindered by uncertainties in estimates of basal traction, which controls the coupling between lithospheric plates and underlying mantle convection. Hotspot tracks preserve records of past plate motion and provide markers with which the relative motion between a plate's surface and underlying mantle regions may be examined. Here we show that the 115-140-Myr surface expression of the Great Meteor hotspot track in eastern North America is misaligned with respect to its location at 200 km depth, as inferred from plate-reconstruction models and seismic tomographic studies. The misalignment increases with age and is consistent with westward displacement of the base of the plate relative to its surface, at an average rate of 3.8 +/- 1.8 mm yr(-1). Here age-constrained 'piercing points' have enabled direct estimation of relative motion between the surface and underside of a plate. The relative displacement of the base is approximately parallel to seismic fast axes and calculated mantle flow, suggesting that asthenospheric flow may be deforming the lithospheric keel and exerting a driving force on this part of the North American plate.     

基于变形分解与斜向汇聚理论的秦岭--大别造山带构造变形研究

板块汇聚碰撞过程中,常常造成应力矢量与板块边缘的非直交关系,导致平移分量和缩短分量的产生,它们并非不同时期、不同应力场的产物;这种斜向汇聚产生大陆造山带的不对称扇型结构及花状构造,也可能是大陆增生保存的重要形式之一;变形分解作用使得岩石在变形过程中产生纯剪变形分量和单剪变形分量,且不受尺度控制;该理论常被应用于解释造山带尺度的许多构造问题,在秦岭造山带中进行变形分解和板块斜向汇聚研究,有望在理论上有所突破.     

Deep origin and hot melting of an Archaean orogenic peridotite massif in Norway

The buoyancy and strength of sub-continental lithospheric mantle is thought to protect the oldest continental crust (cratons) from destruction by plate tectonic processes. The exact origin of the lithosphere below cratons is controversial, but seems clearly to be a residue remaining after the extraction of large amounts of melt. Models to explain highly melt-depleted but garnet-bearing rock compositions require multi-stage processes with garnet and clinopyroxene possibly of secondary origin. Here we report on orogenic peridotites (fragments of cratonic mantle incorporated into the crust during continent-continent plate collision) from Otr?y, western Norway. We show that the peridotites underwent extensive melting during upwelling from depths of 350 kilometres or more, forming a garnet-bearing cratonic root in a single melting event. These peridotites appear to be the residue after Archaean aluminium depleted komatiite magmatism.     

Evidence for mechanical coupling and strong Indian lower crust beneath southern Tibet

How surface deformation within mountain ranges relates to tectonic processes at depth is not well understood. The upper crust of the Tibetan Plateau is generally thought to be poorly coupled to the underthrusting Indian crust because of an intervening low-viscosity channel. Here, however, we show that the contrast in tectonic regime between primarily strike-slip faulting in northern Tibet and dominantly normal faulting in southern Tibet requires mechanical coupling between the upper crust of southern Tibet and the underthrusting Indian crust. Such coupling is inconsistent with the presence of active 'channel flow' beneath southern Tibet, and suggests that the Indian crust retains its strength as it underthrusts the plateau. These results shed new light on the debates regarding the mechanical properties of the continental lithosphere, and the deformation of Tibet.     

喜马拉雅碰撞造山作用与(超)大型矿集区的形成:科学问题与思考

青藏高原及邻区是中国唯一的一块具有世界规模级的成矿富集区 ,迄今所发现的大型、超大型矿床 /矿集区 ,在时间抑或空间上均与喜马拉雅碰撞造山作用有着密切的联系 ,反映了与喜马拉雅碰撞造山作用过程相伴随的青藏高原周边及内部岩石圈薄弱地带的壳幔置换过程、层圈交换作用、流体活动及其地球化学分馏过程 ,是控制大型、超大型矿床 /矿集区形成的主要因素。青藏高原成矿大陆动力学研究是阐明该区矿产资源分布规律和进一步发现大型、超大型矿床 (矿集区 )的科学基础     

Making continental crust: The sanukitoid connection

The average continental crust possesses intermediate compositions that typify arc magmatism and as a result it is believed to have been created at ancient convergent plate boundaries. One possible mechanism for intermediate continental crust formation is the direct production of andesitic melts in the upper mantle. Sanukitoids, which characterize the Setouchi volcanic belt, SW Japan, include unusually high-Mg andesites （HMA）. They were generated by slab melting and subsequent melt-mantle interactions under unusual tectonic settings such as where warm lithosphere subducts into hot upper mantle. Such conditions would have existed in the Archean. Hydrous HMA magmas are likely to have solidified within the crust to form HMA plutons, which were then remelted to produce differentiated sanukitoids. At present, generation and differentiation of HMA magmas may be taking place in the Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc-trench system （IBM）, because （1） HMA magmatism characterizes the initial stages of the IBM evolution and （2） the IBM middle crust exhibits Vp identical to that of the bulk conti- nental crust. Vp estimates for plutonic rocks with HMA compositions support this. However tonalitic composition for middle-crust-forming rocks cannot be ruled out, suggesting an alternative possibility that the continental crust has been created by differentiation of mantle-derived basaltic magmas.     

Continuing Colorado plateau uplift by delamination-style convective lithospheric downwelling

The Colorado plateau is a large, tectonically intact, physiographic province in the southwestern North American Cordillera that stands at ～1,800-2,000?m elevation and has long been thought to be in isostatic equilibrium. The origin of these high elevations is unclear because unlike the surrounding provinces, which have undergone significant Cretaceous-Palaeogene compressional deformation followed by Neogene extensional deformation, the Colorado plateau is largely internally undeformed. Here we combine new seismic tomography and receiver function images to resolve a vertical high-seismic-velocity anomaly beneath the west-central plateau that extends more than 200?km in depth. The upper surface of this anomaly is seismically defined by a dipping interface extending from the lower crust to depths of 70-90?km. The base of the continental crust above the anomaly has a similar shape, with an elevated Moho. We interpret these seismic structures as a continuing regional, delamination-style foundering of lower crust and continental lithosphere. This implies that Pliocene (2.6-5.3?Myr ago) uplift of the plateau and the magmatism on its margins are intimately tied to continuing deep lithospheric processes. Petrologic and geochemical observations indicate that late Cretaceous-Palaeogene (～90-40?Myr ago) low-angle subduction hydrated and probably weakened much of the Proterozoic tectospheric mantle beneath the Colorado plateau. We suggest that mid-Cenozoic (～35-25?Myr ago) to Recent magmatic infiltration subsequently imparted negative compositional buoyancy to the base and sides of the Colorado plateau upper mantle, triggering downwelling. The patterns of magmatic activity suggest that previous such events have progressively removed the Colorado plateau lithosphere inward from its margins, and have driven uplift. Using Grand Canyon incision rates and Pliocene basaltic volcanism patterns, we suggest that this particular event has been active over the past ～6?Myr.     

The possible subduction of continental material to depths greater than 200 km

Determining the depth to which continental lithosphere can be subducted into the mantle at convergent plate boundaries is of importance for understanding the long-term growth of supercontinents as well as the dynamic processes that shape such margins. Recent discoveries of coesite and diamond in regional ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks has demonstrated that continental material can be subducted to depths of at least 120 km (ref. 1), and subduction to depths of 150-300 km has been inferred from garnet peridotites in orogenic UHP belts based on several indirect observations. But continental subduction to such depths is difficult to trace directly in natural UHP metamorphic crustal rocks by conventional mineralogical and petrological methods because of extensive late-stage recrystallization and the lack of a suitable pressure indicator. It has been predicted from experimental work, however, that solid-state dissolution of pyroxene should occur in garnet at depths greater than 150 km (refs 6-8). Here we report the observation of high concentrations of clinopyroxene, rutile and apatite exsolutions in garnet within eclogites from Yangkou in the Sulu UHP metamorphic belt, China. We interpret these data as resulting from the high-pressure formation of pyroxene solid solutions in subducted continental material. Appropriate conditions for the Na2O concentrations and octahedral silicon observed in these samples are met at depths greater than 200 km.     

Lithospheric structure of the Rio Grande rift

A high-resolution, regional passive seismic experiment in the Rio Grande rift region of the southwestern United States has produced new images of upper-mantle velocity structure and crust-mantle topography. Synthesizing these results with geochemical and other geophysical evidence reveals highly symmetric lower-crustal and upper-mantle lithosphere extensional deformation, suggesting a pure-shear rifting mechanism for the Rio Grande rift. Extension in the lower crust is distributed over a region four times the width of the rift's surface expression. Here we propose that the laterally distributed, pure shear extension is a combined effect of low strain rate and a regionally elevated geotherm, possibly abetted by pre-existing lithospheric structures, at the time of rift initiation. Distributed extension in the lower crust and mantle has induced less concentrated vertical mantle upwelling and less vigorous small-scale convection than would have arisen from more localized deformation. This lack of highly focused mantle upwelling may explain a deficit of rift-related volcanics in the Rio Grande rift compared to other major rift systems such as the Kenya rift.     

Subduction erosion along the Middle America convergent margin

'Subduction erosion' has been invoked to explain material missing from some continents along convergent margins. It has been suggested that this form of tectonic erosion removes continental material at the front of the margin or along the underside of the upper (continental) plate. Frontal erosion is interpreted from disrupted topography at the base of a slope and is most evident in the wake of subducting seamounts. In contrast, structures resulting from erosion at the base of a continental plate are seldom recognized in seismic reflection images because such images typically have poor resolution at distances greater than approximately 5 km from the trench axis. Basal erosion from seamounts and ridges has been inferred, but few large subducted bodies--let alone the eroded base of the upper plate--are imaged convincingly. From seismic images we identify here two mechanisms of basal erosion: erosion by seamount tunnelling and removal of large rock lenses of a distending upper plate. Seismic cross-sections from Costa Rica to Nicaragua indicate that erosion may extend along much of the Middle America convergent margin.     

青藏高原新生代构造研究最新进展和构造发展的阶段性

从逆冲推覆构造、走滑构造、伸展构造3个方面对喜马拉雅-青藏高原造山带内的新生代(印度-亚洲大陆碰撞之后)构造最新进展进行了总结和分析.基于这些资料,提出青藏高原内部变形的3个阶段:始新世(50~33 Ma),青藏地区总体呈刚性,变形集中在造山带的南北周缘;渐新世-中新世初(33~22 Ma),高原中西部以逆冲断层形式的散布式挤压变形,以东部大型走滑断层为边界的块体挤出与块体旋转3种变形方式共存;中新世初至今(22~0 Ma),高原块体的强度进一步变弱,以遍及高原整体的连续散布变形为主,出现共轭走滑断层与伸展构造.认为南北走向的地堑(正断层)是同样处于东西伸展应力体系下的藏中共轭走滑断层向造山带南北延伸扩展的产物.此外,还对造山带内会聚量的调节方式进行了定量的分析和估算.     

25 years of continental deep subduction

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the discovery of coesite in metamorphic rocks of supracrustal origin. This initiated a revolution of the plate tectonics theory due to intensive studies of ultrahigh pressure metamorphism and continental deep subduction. The occurrence of coesite was first reported in 1984 by two French scientists, C. Chopin and D.C. Smith,     

Depth-dependent extension, two-stage breakup and cratonic underplating at rifted margins

Uniform lithospheric extension predicts basic properties of non-volcanic rifted margins but fails to explain other important characteristics. Significant discrepancies are observed at 'type I' margins (such as the Iberia-Newfoundland conjugates), where large tracts of continental mantle lithosphere are exposed at the sea floor, and 'type II' margins (such as some ultrawide central South Atlantic margins), where thin continental crust spans wide regions below which continental lower crust and mantle lithosphere have apparently been removed. Neither corresponds to uniform extension. Instead, either crust or mantle lithosphere has been preferentially removed. Using dynamical models, we demonstrate that these margins are opposite end members: in type I, depth-dependent extension results in crustal-necking breakup before mantle-lithosphere breakup and in type II, the converse is true. These two-layer, two-stage breakup behaviours explain the discrepancies and have implications for the styles of the associated sedimentary basins. Laterally flowing lower-mantle cratonic lithosphere may underplate some type II margins, thereby contributing to their anomalous characteristics.     

The long-term strength of Europe and its implications for plate-forming processes

Field-based geological studies show that continental deformation preferentially occurs in young tectonic provinces rather than in old cratons. This partitioning of deformation suggests that the cratons are stronger than surrounding younger Phanerozoic provinces. However, although Archaean and Phanerozoic lithosphere differ in their thickness and composition, their relative strength is a matter of much debate. One proxy of strength is the effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere, Te. Unfortunately, spatial variations in Te are not well understood, as different methods yield different results. The differences are most apparent in cratons, where the 'Bouguer coherence' method yields large Te values (> 60 km) whereas the 'free-air admittance' method yields low values (< 25 km). Here we present estimates of the variability of Te in Europe using both methods. We show that when they are consistently formulated, both methods yield comparable Te values that correlate with geology, and that the strength of old lithosphere (> or = 1.5 Gyr old) is much larger (mean Te > 60 km) than that of younger lithosphere (mean Te < 30 km). We propose that this strength difference reflects changes in lithospheric plate structure (thickness, geothermal gradient and composition) that result from mantle temperature and volatile content decrease through Earth's history.     

The Dabie-Sulu UHP rocks belt: review and prospect

The new results in the studies of the Dabie-Sulu UHP rocks belt during the past 5 years were summarized and discussed. The discussion included the following key points: ( i ) UHP eclogite has two kinds of country rocks, with one being UHP eclogite facies rocks and the other non-UHP granitic gneiss. ( ii ) The FeTiO₃ in olivine indicated exsolution at depth of 300–400 km. However, the key point is to prove the peridotite in which the FeTlO₃ in olivine was found once had been subducted down that depth. ( iii ) UHP hydrous phase evidenced that fluids had taken part in the UHP metamorphism, while the meter-scale inhomogeneous distribution of O-, C-isotope indicated no fluid activity in the deep subduction environment. ( IV ) No agreement has been arrived on many problems related to the tectonic background of the UHP rocks, such as “whether or not ophiolitic rocks there exist now?”, “when did UHP metamorphism proceed?”, “what is the subdution polarity?”, etc. ( V ) How did the UHP rocks exhume from mantle depth? The future studies will focus on the following three subjects: ( i ) thermal dynamics of the UHP metamorphism, ( ii ) relationship between UHP metamorphism and collision orogeny, as well as their geodynamics, and ( iii ) interactions between crust and mantle, and between continental lithosphere and asthenosphere during the collision orogenic process, as well as their constraints to the evolution of continental lithosphere.     

郯庐断裂带演化动力学——多力源多时期分段作用模式

提出了郯庐断裂带的演化动力学--多力源多时期分段作用模式.早-中侏罗世,扬子与华北地块碰撞后的持续会聚力、古太平洋板块的挤压力(安第斯型)联合作用于郯庐断裂带,产生了左旋压扭活动.晚侏罗世,西太平洋型的古太平洋板块挤压力作用机制率先作用于中国大陆边缘的北部地区,并一直持续到古近纪.其在郯庐断裂带中、北段诱发出上地幔上涌力,使其产生了右旋拉张活动;郯庐断裂带南段直至晚白垩世才受到这种机制作用.晚新生代以来,西太平洋俯冲带后退,上地幔上涌力作用已退到边缘海地区,郯庐断裂带全段受到边缘海地区上地幔上涌力诱发的次级挤压作用力,形成了右旋挤压活动.     

3104铝合金流变应力行为

根据3104铝合金在加工过程中所要求的不同变形条件,设计了不同的变形温度、应变速率,进行热轧过程的模拟实验,分析了合金变形时变形抗力、流变应力与应变速率、变形温度之间的关系.通过对实验数据的数理统计分析,结果表明,该合金流变应力对应变速率和变形温度敏感,应变速率和变形温度是3104铝合金变形工艺控制的主要因素.