http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987116000311

Greenstone basalts and komatiites provide a means to track both mantle composition and magma generation temperature with time.Four types of mantle are characterized from incompatible element distributions in basalts and komatiites:depleted,hydrated,enriched and mantle from which komatiites are derived.Our most important observation is the recognition for the first time of what we refer to as a Great Thermal Divergence within the mantle beginning near the end of the Archean,which we ascribe to thermal and convective evolution.Prior to 2.5 Ga,depleted and enriched mantle have indistinguishable thermal histories,whereas at 2.5-2.0 Ga a divergence in mantle magma generation temperature begins between these two types of mantle.Major and incompatible element distributions and calculated magma generation temperatures suggest that Archean enriched mantle did not come from mantle plumes,but was part of an undifferentiated or well-mixed mantle similar in composition to calculated primitive mantle.During this time,however,high-temperature mantle plumes from dominantly depleted sources gave rise to komatiites and associated basalts.Recycling of oceanic crust into the deep mantle after the Archean may have contributed to enrichment of Ti,Al,Ca and Na in basalts derived from enriched mantle sources.After 2.5 Ga,increases in Mg~# in basalts from depleted mantle and decreases in Fe and Mn reflect some combination of growing depletion and cooling of depleted mantle with time.A delay in cooling of depleted mantle until after the Archean probably reflects a combination of greater radiogenic heat sources in the Archean mantle and the propagation of plate tectonics after 3 Ga.     

地幔过渡带和下地幔组成与深部热源研究进展

受时空不可及性的制约,地质学家在探究地球深部物质组成方面仍显得很被动,尤其是在探究地幔物质组成方面显得更加艰难.目前,科学家们探测地幔物质主要依靠地球物理学和实验矿物学、岩石学方法相结合的手段来进行.结果表明,地幔过渡带主要的矿物组成有瓦士利石、林伍德石、超硅石榴子石以及少量的CaSiO3.下地幔主要矿物组成有钙钛矿(Pv)、后钙钛矿(PPv)和镁方铁矿(Mw).在讨论过渡带和下地幔物质组成的基础上,归纳总结了地球内部热源的三种来源,分别是放射性元素的衰变热和初始熔融硅酸盐地球长期冷却放出的热、核幔边界在地磁场和高电导率物质的作用下产生的热以及来自地核的热.这些结论对研究地球深部动力学和热力学过程有重要意义.     

Mesozoic thermal evolution of the southern African mantle lithosphere

The thermal structure of Archean and Proterozoic lithospheric terranes in southern Africa during the Mesozoic was evaluated by thermobarometry of mantle peridotite xenoliths erupted in alkaline magmas between 180 and 60 Ma. For cratonic xenoliths, the presence of a 150–200 °C isobaric temperature range at 5–6 GPa confirms original interpretations of a conductive geotherm, which is perturbed at depth, and therefore does not record steady state lithospheric mantle structure.

Xenoliths from both Archean and Proterozoic terranes record conductive limb temperatures characteristic of a “cratonic” geotherm (40 mW m⁻²), indicating cooling of Proterozoic mantle following the last major tectonothermal event in the region at 1 Ga and the probability of thick off-craton lithosphere capable of hosting diamond. This inference is supported by U–Pb thermochronology of lower crustal xenoliths [Schmitz and Bowring, 2003. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 144, 592–618].

The entire region then suffered a protracted regional heating event in the Mesozoic, affecting both mantle and lower crust. In the mantle, the event is recorded at 150 Ma to the southeast of the craton, propagating to the west by 108–74 Ma, the craton interior by 85–90 Ma and the far southwest and northwest by 65–70 Ma. The heating penetrated to shallower levels in the off-craton areas than on the craton, and is more apparent on the southern margin of the craton than in its western interior. The focus and spatial progression mimic inferred patterns of plume activity and supercontinent breakup 30–100 Ma earlier and are probably connected.

Contrasting thermal profiles from Archean and Proterozoic mantle result from penetration to shallower levels of the Proterozoic lithosphere by heat transporting magmas. Extent of penetration is related not to original lithospheric thickness, but to its more fertile character and the presence of structurally weak zones of old tectonism. The present day distribution of surface heat flow in southern Africa is related to this dynamic event and is not a direct reflection of the pre-existing lithospheric architecture.     

Mantle convection with continental drift and heat source around the mantle transition zone

Geological studies have suggested that a significant amount of crustal material has been lost from the surface due to delamination, continental collision, and subduction at oceanic–continental convergent margins. If so, then the subducted crustal materials are expected to be trapped in the mid-mantle due to the density difference from peridotitic materials induced by the phase transition from coesite to stishovite. In order to study the effect of the subducted granitic materials floating around the mantle transition zone, we conducted two-dimensional numerical experiments of mantle convection incorporating a continental drift with a heat source placed around the bottom of the mantle transition zone. The simulations deal with a time-dependent convection of fluid under the extended Boussinesq approximation in a model of a two-dimensional rectangular box with a height of 2900 km and a width of 11,600 km, where a continent with a length of 2900 km and heat source below the continent are imposed. We found that the addition of heat source in the mantle transition zone considerably enhances the onset of upwelling plumes in the upper mantle, which further reduces the time scale of continental drift. The heat source also causes massive mechanical mixing, especially in the upper mantle. The results suggest that the heat source floating around the mantle transition zone can be a possible candidate for inducing the supercontinent cycle.     

Thermal structure of active thrust belts

Abstract In order to study the thermal structure of active thrust belts, we have developed a numerical model of conductive heat transfer between thrust sheets during deformation. Our finite difference approach alternates small, instantaneous increments of displacement and isotherm translation with conductive relaxation of perturbed isotherms. In each step, conduction occurs for a length of time equal to the displacement increment divided by the thrust velocity. Computer simulations demonstrate that conductive heat transfer is significant during deformation and that temperatures in hanging-wall rocks decrease while temperatures in foot-wall rocks increase over distances of up to 10 km from the thrust surface. When the effects of internal heat production are also calculated, heating of foot-wall rocks exceeds cooling of hanging-wall rocks. Rocks located between two thrusts may experience a complicated temperature–time path of early heating followed by cooling. These models help to explain the rapid metamorphism of rocks in the Taconian thrust belt in the northern Appalachians of New England soon after deposition of the youngest sediments.     

Asteroidal processes recorded by polyphase deformation in a harzburgitic diogenite NWA 5480

Expectations regarding structural deformation of asteroidal meteorites have typically revolved around impact-induced shock metamorphism or the gravity-driven axial compression of cumulates at the base of magma chambers. Recent structural analyses, however, of several olivine-rich diogenites (harzburgites) reveal solid-state plastic deformation not attributable to either scenario and propose dynamic mantle movements in the parent body, assumed to be Vesta. In this study we examine the microstructures of pyroxene and olivine in the olivine-rich diogenite NWA 5480. Coarse-grained, poikilitic texture, exsolution lamellae and plastic deformation attest to polyphase deformation and a re-heating event, followed by relatively slow cooling. Observations suggest that impact events alone are insufficient to generate and sustain the thermal and deformation conditions required to achieve all of the observed features. The proposed dynamic mantle movements in the Vestan interior may offer a means of heat transport to the system to provide a thermal environment inducive to slow cooling as well as generate the incremental stress fields required for the polyphase plastic deformation observed in the olivine.     

Speculations on evolution of the terrestrial lithosphere–asthenosphere system—Plumes and plates

In the early Earth, accretionary impact heating, including collision with a large, Mars-sized object, decay of short-lived radioisotopes, and (after an initial thermal run-up) continuous segregation of the liquid Fe–Ni core resulted in extensive the melting of the silicate mantle and in the formation of a near-surface magma mush ocean. Progressive, continuous degassing and chemical–gravitational differentiation of the crust–mantle system accompanied this Hadean stage, and has gradually lessened during the subsequent cooling of the planet. Mantle and core overturn was vigorous in the Hadean Earth, reflecting deep-seated chemical heterogeneities and concentrations of primordial heat. Hot, bottom-up mantle convection, including voluminous plume ascent, efficiently rid the planet of much thermal energy, but gradually decreased in importance with the passage of time. Formation of lithospheric scum began when planetary surface temperatures fell below those of basalt and peridotite solidi. Thickening and broadening of lithospheric plates are inferred from the post-Hadean rock record. Developmental stages of mantle circulation included: (a) 4.5–4.4 Ga, early, chaotic magma ocean circulation involving an incipient or pre-plate regime; (b) 4.4–2.7 Ga, growth of small micro-oceanic and microcontinental platelets, all returned to the mantle prior to 4.0 Ga, but increasing in size and progressively suturing sialic crust-capped lithospheric amalgams at and near the surface over time; (c) 2.7–1.0 Ga, assembly of cratons surmounting larger, supercontinental plates; and (d) 1.0 Ga–present, modern, laminar-flowing asthenospheric cells capped by gigantic, Wilson-cycle lithospheric plates. Restriction of komatiitic lavas to the Archean, and of ophiolite complexes ± alkaline igneous rocks, high-pressure and ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic terranes to progressively younger Proterozoic–Phanerozoic orogenic belts supports the idea that planetary thermal relaxation promoted the increasingly negative buoyancy of cooler oceanic lithosphere. The Thickening of oceanic plates enhanced the gravitational instability and the consequent overturn of the outer Earth as cold, top-down oceanic mantle convection. The scales and dynamics of deep-seated asthenospheric circulation, and of lithospheric foundering + shallow asthenospheric return flow evidently have evolved gradually over geologic time in response to the progressive cooling of the Earth.     

Geodynamics of heterogeneous gold mineralization in the North China Craton and its relationship to lithospheric destruction

The North China Craton (NCC) hosts some of the world-class gold deposits on the globe, which can be classified into distinct types as the “Jiaodong type”, explosive breccia type and skarn type. The “Jiaodong type” gold deposits were formed at ca. 120–130 Ma both in the margins and interior of the NCC. Two explosive breccia gold deposits formed at ac. 180 Ma and 120 Ma and are located in the southern margin and the interior of the NCC. Important skarn gold deposits of ca. 128 Ma formed within the interior of the NCC. Although the formation and distribution of these gold deposits are temporally and spatially heterogeneous, they are commonly related with the lithospheric destruction of the NCC. The interplay of several factors such as basement architecture, inhomogeneous decratonization, crust-mantle interaction, mantle dynamics, magmatic characteristics, high heat flow and massive flux of deep-derived ore-forming fluids operated in generating the gold endowment. All the three types of gold systems are closely related with granitoid plutons and different types of dykes, the magmas for which were sourced from the lower crust near the Moho discontinuity and involved the mixing and mingling of felsic and mafic magmas. The ore forming fluids display prominent magmatic signature and were largely derived from deep domains, with probable input from the asthenosphere mantle. The heterogeneous distribution of the giant gold systems in the NCC was geodynamically controlled by the destruction of the craton. The regions at the confluence of two or three Precambrian micro-continental-blocks are generally characterized by thinned lithosphere and high heat flow, constituting the potential sites of giant gold deposits. The mantle beneath these regions shows EM2 characteristics implying the involvement of subducted oceanic components. The magmatic intrusions associated with the gold systems crystallized under high oxygen fugacity conditions and were rich in volatiles.     

High-pressure phase transitions of anorthosite crust in the Earth's deep mantle

We investigated phase relations, mineral chemistry, and density of lunar highland anorthosite at conditions up to 125 GPa and 2000 K. We used a multi-anvil apparatus and a laser-heated diamond-anvil cell for this purpose. In-situ X-ray diffraction measurements at high pressures and composition analysis of recovered samples using an analytical transmission electron microscope showed that anorthosite consists of garnet, CaAl₄Si₂O₁₁-rich phase (CAS phase), and SiO₂ phases in the upper mantle and the mantle transition zone. Under lower mantle conditions, these minerals transform to the assemblage of bridgmanite, Ca-perovskite, corundum, stishovite, and calcium ferrite-type aluminous phase through the decomposition of garnet and CAS phase at around 700 km depth. Anorthosite has a higher density than PREM and pyrolite in the upper mantle, while its density becomes comparable or lower under lower mantle conditions. Our results suggest that ancient anorthosite crust subducted down to the deep mantle was likely to have accumulated at 660–720 km in depth without coming back to the Earth's surface. Some portions of the anorthosite crust might have circulated continuously in the Earth's deep interior by mantle convection and potentially subducted to the bottom of the lower mantle when carried within layers of dense basaltic rocks.     

The role of viscous heating in Barrovian metamorphism of collisional orogens: thermomechanical models and application to the Lepontine Dome in the Central Alps

Thermal models for Barrovian metamorphism driven by doubling the thickness of the radiogenic crust typically meet difficulty in accounting for the observed peak metamorphic temperature conditions. This difficulty suggests that there is an additional component in the thermal budget of many collisional orogens. Theoretical and geological considerations suggest that viscous heating is a cumulative process that may explain the heat deficit in collision orogens. The results of 2D numerical modelling of continental collision involving subduction of the lithospheric mantle demonstrate that geologically plausible stresses and strain rates may result in orogen‐scale viscous heat production of 0.1 to >1 μW m^?3, which is comparable to or even exceeds bulk radiogenic heat production within the crust. Thermally induced buoyancy is responsible for crustal upwelling in large domes with metamorphic temperatures up to 200 °C higher than regional background temperatures. Heat is mostly generated within the uppermost mantle, because of large stresses in the highly viscous rocks deforming there. This thermal energy may be transferred to the overlying crust either in the form of enhanced heat flow, or through magmatism that brings heat into the crust advectively. The amplitude of orogenic heating varies with time, with both the amplitude and time‐span depending strongly on the coupling between heat production, viscosity and collision strain rate. It is argued that geologically relevant figures are applicable to metamorphic domes such as the Lepontine Dome in the Central Alps. We conclude that deformation‐generated viscous dissipation is an important heat source during collisional orogeny and that high metamorphic temperatures as in Barrovian type metamorphism are inherent to deforming crustal regions.     

Structure and metamorphism of the Gran Paradiso massif, western Alps, Italy

The pressure-temperature-time trajectory and structural history of high-pressure rocks presently exposed in the Gran Paradiso massif provide constraints on the processes that caused their thermal evolution and exhumation. High-pressure metamorphism of the rocks is found to have culminated at temperatures around 525 °C and pressures of 12 to 14 kbar. After high-pressure metamorphism, the rocks cooled during initial decompression, while undergoing top-to-the-west shear on chlorite-bearing shear bands and larger scale shear zones. Biotite-bearing shear bands and larger shear zones related to top-to-the-east deformation affected the Gran Paradiso massif during reheating to temperatures of around 550 °C at 6 to 7 kbar. Further exhumation occurred at relatively high temperatures. A potentially viable explanation of the observed stage of reheating before final cooling and exhumation is breakoff of a subducting slab in the upper mantle, allowing advective heat transfer to the base of the crust. Electronic supplementary material to this paper can be obtained by using the Springer LINK server located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00410-001-0357-6.     

Conjectures on the thermal and tectonic evolution of the Earth

The tectonic modes operating at any given time in the Earth are intimately related to the thermal evolution, since tectonics is driven by heat removal from the Earth's interior. Conversely, the viability of a proposed tectonic mode depends on its ability to remove heat from the interior as well as on its inferred consistency with geological evidence. On this basis it seems that plate tectonics may have been dominant only in the later part of Earth history, and that proposed earlier modes involving only a subcrustal thermal boundary layer may never have been dominant unless the effects of the basalt-eclogite transition or of latent heat removal were able to enhance their heat transport efficiency. More generally, the tectonic mode driven by the cool thermal boundary layer at the top of the mantle may have depended very sensitively on the effects of composition and latent heat on density.

Calculations indicate that plumes could have operated through most of Earth history at about the present level of activity, unless heat conduction from the core into the mantle has been inhibited in later times, in which case they would have been hotter and more active in earlier times. Plumes could not have substituted for plate tectonics because plumes and plates are driven by different thermal boundary layers that operate largely independently.     

Thermal history of the upper mantle beneath a young back-arc extensional zone: ultramafic xenoliths from San Luis Potosí, Central Mexico

At the San Luis Potosí (SLP) volcanic field (Central Mexico), Quaternary basanites and tuff breccias have sampled a suite of ultramafic xenoliths, predominately spinel lherzolites, spinel-olivine websterites, spinel pyroxenites, and hornblende-rich pyroxenites. Spinel lherzolites from the La Ventura maars have protogranular to equigranular textures, those from the Santo Domingo maars are strongly sheared. Both spinel-lherzolite types show similar whole-rock major and trace-element abundances. They are fertile to slightly depleted with mineralogical and geochemical heterogeneities induced by partial melting processes. Pyroxenites with either magmatic or metamorphic textures are high-pressure cumulates. Hornblende-rich pyroxenites are genetically linked to the host basanites. Most of the protogranular spinel lherzolites contain veinlets of glass along grain boundaries. These glasses are chemically homogeneous and have trachybasaltic to trachyandesitic compositions. Mg- and Fe²⁺-partitioning between olivine and glass suggests chemical equilibrium between the melts represented by the glasses and the spinel-lherzolite mineral assemblage at about 1,000°C and 10 to 15 kbar. The melts are interpreted to be of upper mantle origin. They may have been formed by in-situ partial melting in the presence of volatiles or represent percolating melts chemically buffered by the spinel-lherzolite mineral assemblage at uppermost mantle conditions. Mineral chemistry in all rock types of the whole xenolith suite reveals distinct disequilibrium features reflecting partial re-equilibration stages towards lower temperatures estimated to be from 1,050°C to 850°C at 9 to 15 kbar. The presence of similar zoning and exsolution features mainly documented in pyroxenes along with similar maximum and minimum temperatures requires all sampled xenoliths to have undergone the same temperature regime within the upper mantle. The sheared spinel lherzolites from the Sto. Domingo field are interpreted as formerly protogranular material which was sheared during uplift and cooling. The estimated mantle temperatures are higher than those predicted by low heat-flow measurements at the SLP fild, indicating that surface heat flow has not equilibrated to elevated temperatures at depth. This strongly supports a young perturbation event beneath the SLP area and connects the onset of uplift and cooling of the SLP-mantle segment with the back-arc extensional regime of the Quaternary volcanic cycle of the Transmexican Volcanic Belt.     

Global geodynamic evolution of the Earth and global geodynamic models

The paper is a synthesis of models for basic geodynamic processes (spreading, subduction transient into collision, mantle plumes) in relation with the Earth's evolution and regularly changing geodynamic parameters. The main trends and milestones of this evolution record irreversible cooling of the Earth's interior, oxidation of the surface, and periodic changes in geodynamic processes. The periodicity consists of cycles of three characteristic sizes, namely 700–800 Myr global cycles, 120, 90, and 30 Myr smaller cycles, and short-period millennial to decadal oscillations controlled by changing Earth's orbital parameters and, possibly, also by other extraterrestrial factors. Major events and estimates of mantle and surface temperatures, heat flow, viscosity, and the respective regimes of convection and plume magmatism have been reported for the largest periods of the Earth's history: Hadean (4.6–3.9 Ga), Early Archean (3.9–3.3 Ga), Late Archean (3.3–2.6 Ga), Early Proterozoic (2.6–1.9 Ga), Middle Proterozoic (1.9–1.1 Ga), Neoproterozoic (1.1–0.6 Ga), and Phanerozoic with two substages of 0.6–0.3 and 0.3–0 Ga.Current geodynamics is discussed with reference to models of spreading, subduction, and plume activity. Spreading is considered in terms of double-layered mantle convection, with focus on processes in the vicinity of mid-ocean ridges. The problem of mafic melt migration through the upper mantle beneath spreading ridges is treated qualitatively. Main emphasis is placed on models of melting, comparison of experimental and observed melt compositions, and their variations in periods of magmatic activity (about 100 kyr long) and quiescence. The extent and ways of interaction of fluids and melts rising from subduction zones with the ambient mantle remain the most controversial. Plume magmatism is described with a “gas torch” model of thermochemical plumes generated at the core-mantle boundary due to local chemical doping with volatiles (H₂, CH₂, KH, etc.) which are released from the metallic outer core, become oxidized in the lower mantle, and decrease the melting point of the latter. The concluding section concerns periodicities in endogenous processes and their surface consequences, including the related biospheric evolution.     

Thermal structure of lithosphere in Central Asian and Pacific belts and their adjacent cratons,from data of geoscience transects

We investigate the 2D thermal structure of lithosphere in the Central Asian and Pacific tectonic belts and adjacent cratonic areas of Siberia and North China using a synthesis of geothermal data from six geoscience transects covered by seismic, resistivity, and gravity surveys. The patterns of rock density, radiogenic heat production derived from U and Th abundances, thermal conductivity, temperatures, and respective heat flows reveal a layered structure. The model with layers distinguished according to density and thermal parameters includes well pronounced dome-shaped features in the crust which correlate with upwarps of the asthenospheric top. The domes are marked by high heat flows of 60–90 mW/m² with a mantle component higher than the crustal one (30–60 mW/m² against 20–30 mW/m²) and temperatures as high as 800–1100 °C at the Moho. Many of these features correspond to known and potential petroleum basins.     

Metamorphic petrology of a high‐T/low‐P granulite terrane (Damara belt,Namibia) – Constraints from pseudosection modelling and high‐precision Lu–Hf garnet‐whole rock dating

Migmatites comprise a minor volume of the high‐grade part of the Damara orogen of Namibia that is dominated by granite complexes and intercalated metasedimentary units. Migmatites of the Southern Central Zone of the Damara orogen consist of melanosomes with garnet+cordierite+biotite+K‐feldspar, and leucosomes, which are sometimes garnet‐ and cordierite‐bearing. Field evidence, petrographic observations, and pseudosection modelling suggest that, in contrast to other areas where intrusion of granitic magmas is more important, in situ partial melting of metasedimentary units was the main migmatite generation processes. Pseudosection modelling and thermobarometric calculations consistently indicate that the peak‐metamorphic grade throughout the area is in the granulite facies (~5 kbar at ~800°C). Cordierite coronas around garnet suggest some decompression from peak‐metamorphic conditions and rare andalusite records late, near‐isobaric cooling to <650°C at low pressures of ~3 kbar. The inferred clockwise P–T path is consistent with minor crustal thickening through continent–continent collision followed by limited post‐collisional exhumation and suggests that the granulite facies terrane of the Southern Central Zone of the Damara orogen formed initially in a metamorphic field gradient of ~35–40°C/km at medium pressures. New high‐precision Lu–Hf garnet‐whole rock dates are 530 ± 13 Ma, 522.0 ± 0.8 Ma, 520.8 ± 3.6 Ma, and 500.3 ± 4.3 Ma for the migmatites that record temperatures of ~800°C. This indicates that high‐grade metamorphism lasted for c. 20–30 Ma, which is compatible with previous estimates using Sm–Nd garnet‐whole rock systematics. In previous studies on Damara orogen migmatites where both Sm–Nd and Lu–Hf chronometers have been applied, the dates (c. 520–510 Ma) agree within their small uncertainties (0.6–0.8% for Sm–Nd and 0.1–0.2% for Lu–Hf). This implies rapid cooling after high‐grade conditions and, by implication, rapid exhumation at that time. The cause of the high geothermal gradient inferred from the metamorphic conditions is unknown but likely requires some extra heat that was probably added by intrusion of magmas from the lithospheric mantle, i.e., syenites that have been recently re‐dated at c. 545 Ma. Some granites derived from the lower crust at c. 545 Ma are the outcome rather than the cause of high‐T metamorphism. In addition, high contents of heat‐producing elements K, Th, and U may have raised peak temperatures by 150–200°C at the base of the crust, resulting in the widespread melting of fertile crustal rocks. The continuous gradation from centimetre‐scale leucosomes to decametre‐scale leucogranite sheets within the high‐grade metamorphic zone suggests that leucosome lenses coalesced to form larger bodies of anatectic leucogranites, thereby documenting a link between high‐grade regional metamorphism and Pan‐African magmatism. In view of the close association of the studied high‐T migmatites with hundreds of synmetamorphic high‐T granites that invaded the terrane as metre‐ to decametre‐wide sills and dykes, we postulate that crystallization of felsic lower crustal magma is, at least partly, responsible for heat supply. Late‐stage isobaric cooling of these granites may explain the occurrence of andalusite in some samples.     

中国东南地区岩石圈热结构特征及其构造意义

中国东南地区地质演化复杂,中—新生代构造变形强烈,岩石圈深部热力学状态及其对构造活动的影响有待深入。文章结合最新的大地热流数据与地壳结构Crust 1.0模型,利用稳态热传导方程,以岩石捕虏体温压数据和地震学观测为约束,构建了华南地区扬子克拉通、华夏地块以及南海北缘等不同单元的岩石圈热结构。结果表明该区岩石圈热结构存在强烈的不均一性：除了上扬子地区（四川盆地）为“温壳温幔”的热结构,华南其他大部分地区都表现为“热壳热幔”的特征;同一深度下,华夏地块与南海北缘的深部温度显著高于扬子克拉通;热岩石圈厚度从克拉通内部向沿海地区（NWSE）逐渐降低,也即由四川盆地的~200 km减少到华夏地块的~110 km,再到南海的~70 km。此外,我们还发现陆内地震的分布与岩石圈温度密切相关,地震活动集中分布于600℃等温线以内。总体而言,扬子克拉通中西部岩石圈热结构具有冷而厚的特征,而华夏地块和南海北缘受古太平洋平板俯冲和新生代大陆边缘构造—岩浆作用的改造,表现为热且薄的特征,岩石圈的热弱化进而加速了华南大陆边缘的裂解及随后的南海扩张过程。     

High-T, low-P metamorphism in the Palaeoproterozoic Halls Creek Orogen, northern Australia: the middle crustal response to a mantle-related transient thermal pulse

High‐T, low‐P metamorphic rocks of the Palaeoproterozoic central Halls Creek Orogen in northern Australia are characterised by low radiogenic heat production, high upper crustal thermal gradients (locally exceeding 40 °C km^?1) sustained for over 30 Myr, and a large number of layered mafic‐ultramafic intrusions with mantle‐related geochemical signatures. In order to account for this combination of geological and thermal characteristics, we model the middle crustal response to a transient mantle‐related heat pulse resulting from a temporary reduction in the thickness of the mantle lithosphere. This mechanism has the potential to raise mid‐crustal temperatures by 150–400 °C within 10–20 Myr following initiation of the mantle temperature anomaly, via conductive dissipation through the crust. The magnitude and timing of maximum temperatures attained depend strongly on the proximity, duration and lateral extent of the thermal anomaly in the mantle lithosphere, and decrease sharply in response to anomalies that are seated deeper than 50–60 km, maintained for <5 Myr in duration and/or have half‐widths <100 km. Maximum temperatures are also intimately linked to the thermal properties of the model crust, primarily due to their influence on the steady‐state (background) thermal gradient. The amplitudes of temperature increases in the crust are principally a function of depth, and are broadly independent of crustal thermal parameters. Mid‐crustal felsic and mafic plutonism is a predictable consequence of perturbed thermal regimes in the mantle and the lowermost crust, and the advection of voluminous magmas has the potential to raise temperatures in the middle crust very quickly. Although pluton‐related thermal signatures significantly dissipate within <10 Myr (even for very large, high‐temperature intrusive bodies), the interaction of pluton‐ and mantle‐related thermal effects has the potential to maintain host rock temperatures in excess of 400–450 °C for up to 30 Myr in some parts of the mid‐crust. The numerical models presented here support the notion that transient mantle‐related heat sources have the capacity to contribute significantly to the thermal budget of metamorphism in high‐T, low‐P metamorphic belts, especially in those characterised by low surface heat flow, very high peak metamorphic geothermal gradients and abundant mafic intrusions.     

壳-幔动力学与活化构造(地洼)理论

壳-幔动力学是地球内部物理学和大地构造演化的重要研究方向之一。本文从地球物理角度出发,以物理概念和数学描述相结合的定量方式,对陈国达院士生前所创建的活化构造(地洼)理论研究中的某些地球深部动力学问题进行了较系统的综合评述和探讨。主要论题包括岩石圈的性质与物理学、地幔流变学、重力与均衡理论、地球的温度和热传递,诸如热传导、物质的物理运动所引起的热传输、地球内部的热对流及地幔柱的形成和作用等。作者特别强调了构造演化的定量分析问题,如热时间常数、热应力与其它力源、水平运动与垂直运动的关系,以及地壳断裂作用。岩石圈的构造作用与演化是与深部热运动有关的水平 (压缩和扩张)应力和由地壳厚度差异所导致的垂直应力差的共同结果。热应力的构造意义主要表现为短时间尺度的脆性断裂或柔性应变松弛过程。局部对流机制对活化构造(地洼)研究值得重视。     

Thermal and redox state of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle of NE Spain from thermobarometric data on mantle xenoliths

Mantle xenoliths in within-plate Cenozoic alkaline mafic lavas from NE Spain are used to assess the local subcontinental lithospheric mantle geotherm and the influence of melting and metasomatism on its oxidation state. The xenoliths are mainly anhydrous spinel lherzolites and harzburgites and gradations between, with minor pyroxenites. Most types show protogranular textures, but transitional protogranular–porphyroclastic and equigranular lherzolites also exist. Different thermometers used in the estimates provide higher subsolidus equilibrium temperatures for harzburgites (1,062 ± 29°C) than for lherzolites (972 ± 89°C), although there is overlap; the lowest temperatures correspond to porphyroclastic lherzolites, whereas pyroxenites give the highest temperatures (up to 1,257°C). Maximum pressures for subsolidus equilibrium of peridotites are at 2.0–1.8 GPa. Later they followed adiabatic decompression and harzburgites registered lower pressures (1.02 ± 0.19 GPa) than lherzolites (1.41 ± 0.27 GPa). One pyroxenite gives values consistent with the spinel lherzolite field (1.08 GPa). The shallowest barometric data are in agreement with the highest local conductive geotherms, which implies that the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary is at 70–60 km minimum depth. Higher equilibrium temperatures for the harzburgites could be explained by the existence of mafic magma bodies or dykes at the lower crust–mantle boundary. Paleo-fO₂ conditions during partial melting as inferred from the covariation between V and MgO concentrations are mainly between QFM−1 and QFM−2 in log units. However, most thermobarometric fO₂ estimates are between QFM−1 and QFM+1, suggesting oxidation caused by later metasomatism during uplift and cooling.