Supercontinent tectonics and biogeochemical cycle： A matter of ‘life and death＇

<正>The formation and disruption of supercontinents have significantly impacted mantle dynamics,solid earth processes,surface environments and the biogeochemical cycle.In the early history of the Earth,the collision of parallel intra-oceanic arcs was an important process in building embryonic continents.Superdownwelling along Y-shaped triple junctions might have been one of the important processes that aided in the rapid assembly of continental fragments into closely packed supercontinents. Various models have been proposed for the fragmentation of supercontinents including thermal blanket and superplume hypotheses.The reassembly of supercontinents after breakup and the ocean closure occurs through "introversion","extroversion" or a combination of both,and is characterized by either Pacific-type or Atlantic-type ocean closure.The breakup of supercontinents and development of hydrothermal system in rifts with granitic basement create anomalous chemical environments enriched in nutrients, which serve as the primary building blocks of the skeleton and bone of early modern life forms. A typical example is the rifting of the Rodinia supercontinent,which opened up an N—S oriented sea way along which nutrient enriched upwelling brought about a habitable geochemical environment.The assembly of supercontinents also had significant impact on life evolution.The role played by the Cambrian Gondwana assembly has been emphasized in many models,including the formation of 'Trans-gondwana Mountains' that might have provided an effective source of rich nutrients to the equatorial waters,thus aiding the rapid increase in biodiversity.The planet has witnessed several mass extinction events during its history,mostly connected with major climatic fluctuations including global cooling and warming events,major glaciations,fluctuations in sea level,global anoxia,volcanic eruptions, asteroid impacts and gamma radiation.Some recent models speculate a relationship between superplumes,supercontinent breakup and mass extinction.Upwelling plumes cause continental rifting and formation of large igneous provinces.Subsequent volcanic emissions and resultant plume-induced "winter" have catastrophic effect on the atmosphere that lead to mass extinctions and long term oceanic anoxia.The assembly and dispersal of continents appear to have influenced the biogeochemical cycle,but whether the individual stages of organic evolution and extinction on the planet are closely linked to Solid Earth processes remains to be investigated.     

Superplume, supercontinent, and post-perovskite: Mantle dynamics and anti-plate tectonics on the Core–Mantle Boundary

The Western Pacific Triangular Zone (WPTZ) is the frontier of a future supercontinent to be formed at 250 Ma after present. The WPTZ is characterized by double-sided subduction zones to the east and south, and is a region dominated by extensive refrigeration and water supply into the mantle wedge since at least 200 Ma. Long stagnant slabs extending over 1200 km are present in the mid-Mantle Boundary Layer (MBL, 410–660 km) under the WPTZ, whereas on the Core–Mantle Boundary (CMB, 2700–2900 km depth), there is a thick high-V anomaly, presumably representing a slab graveyard. To explain the D″ layer cold anomaly, catastrophic collapse of once stagnant slabs in MBL is necessary, which could have occurred at 30–20 Ma, acting as a trigger to open a series of back-arc basins, hot regions, small ocean basins, and presumably formation of a series of microplates in both ocean and continent. These events were the result of replacement of upper mantle by hotter and more fertile materials from the lower mantle.The thermal structure of the solid Earth was estimated by the phase diagrams of Mid Oceanic Ridge Basalt (MORB) and pyrolite combined with seismic discontinuity planes at 410–660 km, thickness of the D″ layers, and distribution of the ultra-low velocity zone (ULVZ). The result clearly shows the presence of two major superplumes and one downwelling. Thermal structure of the Earth seems to be controlled by the subduction history back to 180 Ma, except in the D″ layer. The thermal structure of the D″ layer seems to be controlled by older slab-graveyards, as expected by paleogeographic reconstructions for Laurasia, Gondwana and Rodinia back to 700 Ma.Comparison of mantle tomography between the Pacific superplume and underneath the WPTZ suggests the transformation of a cold slab graveyard to a large-scale mantle upwelling with time. The Pacific superplume was born from the coldest CMB underneath the 1.0–0.75 Ga supercontinent Rodinia where huge amounts of cold slabs had accumulated through collision-amalgamation of more than 12 continents. A high velocity P-wave anomaly on a whole-mantle scale shows stagnant slabs restricted to the MBL of circum-Pacific and Tethyan regions. The high velocity zones can be clearly identified within the Pacific domain, suggesting the presence of slab graveyards formed at geological periods much older than the breakup of Rodinia. We speculate that the predominant subduction occurred through the formation period of Gondwana, presumably very active during 600 to 540 Ma period, and again from 400 to 300 Ma during the formation of the northern half of Pangea (Laurasia). We correlate the three dominant slab graveyards with three major orogenies in earth history, with the emerging picture suggesting that the present-day Pacific superplume is located at the center of the Rodinian slab graveyard.We speculate the mechanism of superplume formation through a comparison of the thermal structure of the mantle combined with seismic tomography under the Western Pacific Triangular Zone (WPTZ), Laurasia (Asia), Gondwana (Africa), and Rodinia (Pacific). The coldest mantle formed by extensive subduction to generate a supercontinent, changes with time of the order of several hundreds of million years to the hottest mantle underneath the supercontinent. The Pacific superplume is tightly defined by a steep velocity gradient on the margin, particularly well documented by S-wave velocity. The outermost region of the superplume is characterized by the Rodinia slab graveyard forming a donut-shape. We develop a petrologic model for the Pacific superplume and show how larger plumes are generated at shallower depths in the mantle. We link the mechanism of formation of the superplume to the presence of the mineral post-perovskite, the phase transformation of which to perovskite is exothermic, and thus aids in transporting core heat to mantle, and finally to planetary space by plumes.We summarize the characteristics of tectonic processes operating at the CMB to propose the existence of an “anti-crust” generated through “anti-plate tectonics” at the bottom of the mantle. The chemistry of the anti-crust markedly contrasts with that of the continental crust overlying the mantle. Both the crust and the anti-crust must have increased in volume through geologic time, in close relation with the geochemical reservoirs of the Earth. The process of formation of a new superplume closely accompanies the process of development of anti-crust at the bottom of mantle, through the production of dense melt from the partial melting of recycled MORB, observed now as the ULVZ. When CMB temperature is recovered to near 4000 K through phase transformation, the recycled MORB is partially melted imparting chemical buoyancy of the andesitic residual solid which rises up from CMB, leaving behind the dense melt to sink to CMB and thus increase the mass of anti-crust. These small-scale plumes develop to a large-scale superplume through collision and amalgamation with time. When all recycled MORBs are consumed, it is the time of demise of superplume. Immediately above the CMB, anti-plate tectonics operates to develop anti-crust through the horizontal movement of accumulated slab and their partial melting. Thus, we speculate that another continent, or even a supercontinent, has developed through geologic time at the bottom of the mantle.We also evaluate the heating vs. cooling models in relation to mantle dynamics. Rising plumes control not only the rifting of supercontinents and continents, but also the Atlantic stage as seen by anchored ridge by hotspots in the last 200 Ma in the Atlantic. Therefore, we propose that the major driving force for the mantle dynamics is the heat supplied from the high-T core, and not the slab pull force by cooling. The best analogy for this is the atmospheric circulation driven by the energy from Sun.     

Conditioned duality between supercontinental 'assembly' and 'breakup' LIPs

A compilation of 178 more precise ages on 10 potential Large Igneous Provinces(LIPs) across southern Africa,is compared to Earth's supercontinental cycles,where 5 more prominent LIP-events all formed during the assembly of supercontinents,rather than during breakup.This temporal bias is confirmed by a focused review of field relationships,where these syn-assembly LIPs formed behind active continental arcs;whereas,the remaining postassembly-and likely breakup-related-LIPs never share such associations.Exploring the possibility of two radically different LIP-types,only the two younger breakup events(the Karoo LIP and Gannakouriep Suite) produced basalts with more enriched asthenospheric OIB-signatures;whereas,all assembly LIPs produced basalts with stronger lithospheric,as well as more or less primitive asthenospheric,signatures.A counterintuitive observation of Precambrian breakup LIPs outcropping as smaller fragments that are more peripherally located along craton margins,compared to assembly LIPs as well as the Phanerozoic Karoo breakup LIP,is explained by different preservation potentials during subsequent supercontinental cycles.Thus,further accentuating radical differences between(1) breakup LIPs,preferentially intruding along what evolves to become volcanic rifted margins that are more susceptible to deformation within subsequent orogens,and(2) assembly LIPs,typically emplaced along backarc rifts within more protected cratonic interiors.A conditioned duality is proposed,where assembly LIPs are primarily sustained by thermal blanketing(as well as local arc hydration and rifting) below assembling supercontinents and breakup LIPs more typically form above impinging mantle plumes.Such a duality is further related to an overall dynamic Earth model whereby predominantly supercontinent-orientated ocean lithospheric subduction establishes/revitalizes large low shear velocity provinces(LLSVPs) during assembly LIP-activity,and heating of such LLSVPs by the Earth's core subsequently leads to a derivation of mantle plumes during supercontinental breakup.     

Mantle convection modeling of the supercontinent cycle： Introversion,extroversion, or a combination？

The periodic assembly and dispersal of continental fragments,referred to as the supercontinent cycle,bear close relation to the evolution of mantle convection and plate tectonics.Supercontinent formation involves complex processes of"introversion"(closure of interior oceans),"extroversion"(closure of exterior oceans),or a combination of these processes in uniting dispersed continental fragments.Recent developments in numerical modeling and advancements in computation techniques enable us to simulate Earth’s mantle convection with drifting continents under realistic convection vigor and rheology in Earth-like geometry(i.e.,3D spherical-shell).We report a numerical simulation of 3D mantle convection,incorporating drifting deformable continents,to evaluate supercontinent processes in a realistic mantle convection regime.Our results show that supercontinents are assembled by a combination of introversion and extroversion processes.Small-scale thermal heterogeneity dominates deep mantle convection during the supercontinent cycle,although large-scale upwelling plumes intermittently originate under the drifting continents and/or the supercontinent.     

Modern volcanism in the Earth’s northern hemisphere and its relations with the evolution of the North Pangaea modern supercontinent and with the spatial distribution of hotspots on the Earth: The hypothesis of relations between mantle plumes and deep subduction

The paper reports results of the analysis of the spatial distribution of modern (younger than 2 Ma) volcanism in the Earth’s northern hemisphere and relations between this volcanism and the evolution of the North Pangaea modern supercontinent and with the spatial distribution of hotspots of the Earth’s mantle. Products of modern volcanism occur in the Earth’s northern hemisphere in Eurasia, North America, Greenland, in the Atlantic Ocean, Arctic, Africa, and the Pacific Ocean. As anywhere worldwide, volcanism in the northern hemisphere of the Earth occurs as (a) volcanism of mid-oceanic ridges (MOR), (b) subduction-related volcanism in island arcs and active continental margins (IA and ACM), (c) volcanism in continental collision (CC) zones, and (d) within-plate (WP) volcanism, which is related to mantle hotspots, continental rifts, and intercontinental belts. These types of volcanic areas are fairly often neighboring, and then mixed volcanic areas occur with the persistent participation of WP volcanism. Correspondingly, modern volcanism in the Earth’s northern hemisphere is of both oceanic and continental nature. The latter is obviously related to the evolution of the North Pangaea modern supercontinent, because it results from the Meso-Cenozoic evolution of Wegener’s Late Paleozoic Pangaea. North Pangaea in the Cenozoic comprises Eurasia, North and South America, India, and Africa and has, similar to other supercontinents, large sizes and a predominantly continental crust. The geodynamic setting and modern volcanism of North Pangaea are controlled by two differently acting processes: the subduction of lithospheric slabs from the Pacific Ocean, India, and the Arabia, a process leading to the consolidation of North Pangaea, and the spreading of oceanic plates on the side of the Atlantic Ocean, a process that “wedges” the supercontinent, modifies its morphology (compared to that of Wegener’s Pangaea), and results in the intervention of the Atlantic geodynamic regime into the Arctic. The long-lasting (for >200 Ma) preservation of tectonic stability and the supercontinental status of North Pangaea are controlled by subduction processes along its boundaries according to the predominant global compression environment. The long-lasting and stable subduction of lithospheric slabs beneath Eurasia and North America not only facilitated active IA + ACM volcanism but also resulted in the accumulation of cold lithospheric material in the deep mantle of the region. The latter replaced the hot mantle and forced this material toward the margins of the supercontinent; this material then ascended in the form of mantle plumes (which served as sources of WP basite magmas), which are diverging branches of global mantle convection, and ascending flows of subordinate convective systems at the convergent boundaries of plates. Subduction processes (compressional environments) likely suppressed the activity of mantle plumes, which acted in the northern polar region of the Earth (including the Siberian trap magmatism) starting at the latest Triassic until nowadays and periodically ascended to the Earth’s surface and gave rise to WP volcanism. Starting at the breakup time of Wegener’s Pangaea, which began with the opening of the central Atlantic and systematically propagated toward the Arctic, marine basins were formed in the place of the Arctic Ocean. However, the development of the oceanic crust (Eurasian basin) took place in the latter as late as the Cenozoic. Before the appearance of the Gakkel Ridge and, perhaps, also the oceanic portion of the Amerasian basin, this young ocean is thought to have been a typical basin developing in the central part of supercontinents. Wegener’s Pangaea broke up under the effect of mantle plumes that developed during their systematic propagation to the north and south of the Central Atlantic toward the North Pole. These mantle plumes were formed in relation with the development of global and local mantle convection systems, when hot deep mantle material was forced upward by cold subducted slabs, which descended down to the core-mantle boundary. The plume (WP) magmatism of Eurasia and North America was associated with surface collision- or subduction-related magmatism and, in the Atlantic and Arctic, also with surface spreading-related magmatism (tholeiite basalts).     

Supercontinent formation from stochastic collision and mantle convection models

The large-scale tectonics in the last billion years (Ga) are predominated by the assembly and breakup of supercontinents Rodinia and Pangea. The mechanisms controlling the assembly of supercontinents are not clear. Here, we investigate the assembly of a supercontinent with 1) stochastic models of randomly-moving continental blocks and 2) 3-D spherical models of mantle convection with continental blocks. For the stochastic models, we determined the time required for all the blocks to assemble into a single supercontinent on a spherical surface. We found that the assembly time from our stochastic models is significantly longer than inferred for Pangea and Rodinia. However, our study also suggests that the assembly time from stochastic models is sensitive to the rules for randomly assigning continental motion in the models. In our dynamic models of mantle convection, continental blocks are modeled as deformable and compositionally distinct materials from the mantle. We found that mantle convective planform has significant effects on supercontinent assembly. For models with moderately strong lithosphere and the lower mantle relative to the upper mantle that lead to degree-1 mantle convection, continental blocks always assemble to a supercontinent in  250 million years (Ma) and this assembly time is consistent with inferred for Pangea and Rodinia. However, for models with intrinsically small-scale mantle flows, we found that even when continental blocks merge to form a supercontinent, the assembly times are too long and the convective structures outside of supercontinent regions are of too small wavelengths, compared with observed.     

Deep slab subduction and dehydration and their geodynamic consequences: Evidence from seismology and mineral physics

We present new pieces of evidence from seismology and mineral physics for the existence of low-velocity zones in the deep part of the upper mantle wedge and the mantle transition zone that are caused by fluids from the deep subduction and deep dehydration of the Pacific and Philippine Sea slabs under western Pacific and East Asia. The Pacific slab is subducting beneath the Japan Islands and Japan Sea with intermediate-depth and deep earthquakes down to 600 km depth under the East Asia margin, and the slab becomes stagnant in the mantle transition zone under East China. The western edge of the stagnant Pacific slab is roughly coincident with the NE–SW Daxing'Anling-Taihangshan gravity lineament located west of Beijing, approximately 2000 km away from the Japan Trench. The upper mantle above the stagnant slab under East Asia forms a big mantle wedge (BMW). Corner flow in the BMW and deep slab dehydration may have caused asthenospheric upwelling, lithospheric thinning, continental rift systems, and intraplate volcanism in Northeast Asia. The Philippine Sea slab has subducted down to the mantle transition zone depth under Western Japan and Ryukyu back-arc, though the seismicity within the slab occurs only down to 200–300 km depths. Combining with the corner flow in the mantle wedge, deep dehydration of the subducting Pacific slab has affected the morphology of the subducting Philippine Sea slab and its seismicity under Southwest Japan. Slow anomalies are also found in the mantle under the subducting Pacific slab, which may represent small mantle plumes, or hot upwelling associated with the deep slab subduction. Slab dehydration may also take place after a continental plate subducts into the mantle.     

Mantle dynamics of Western Pacific and East Asia: Insight from seismic tomography and mineral physics

Recent results of high-resolution seismic tomography and mineral physics experiments are used to study mantle dynamics of Western Pacific and East Asia. The most important processes in subduction zones are the shallow and deep slab dehydration and the convective circulation (corner flow) processes in the mantle wedge. The combination of the two processes may have caused the back-arc spreading in the Lau basin, affected the morphology of the subducting Philippine Sea slab and its seismicity under southwest Japan, and contributed to the formation of the continental rift system and intraplate volcanism in Northeast Asia, which are clearly visible in our tomographic images. Slow anomalies are also found in the mantle under the subducting Pacific slab, which may represent (a) small mantle plumes, (b) upwellings associated with the slab collapsing down to the lower mantle, or (c) sub-slab dehydration associated with deep earthquakes caused by the reactivation of large faults preserved in the slab. Combining tomographic images and earthquake hypocenters with phase diagrams in the systems of peridotite + water, we proposed a petrologic model for arc volcanism. Arc magmas are caused by the dehydration reactions of hydrated slab peridotite that supply water-rich fluids to the mantle wedge and cause partial melting of the convecting mantle wedge. A large amount of fluids can be released from hydrated MORB at depths shallower than 55 km, which move upwards to hydrate the wedge corner under the fore-arc, and never drag down to the deeper mantle along the slab surface. Slab dehydration reactions at 120 km depth are the antigorite-related 5 reactions which supply water-rich fluids for forming the volcanic front. Phase A and Mg-surssasite breakdown reactions at 200 and 300 km depths below 700 °C cause the second and third arcs, respectively. Moreover, the dehydration reactions of super-hydrous phase B, phases D and E at 500–660 km depths cause the fluid transportation to the mantle boundary layer (MBL) (410–660 km depth). The stagnant slabs extend from Japan to Beijing, China for over 1000 km long, indicating that the arc–trench system covers the entire region from the Japan trench to East Asia. We propose a big mantle wedge (BMW) model herein, where hydrous plumes originating from 410 km depth cause a series of intra-continental hot regions. Fluids derived from MBL accumulated by the double-sided subduction zones, rather than the India–Asia collision and the subsequent indentation into Asia, are the major cause for the active tectonics and mantle dynamics in this broad region.     

前寒武纪的超大陆旋回及其板块构造演化意义

太古代末早古生代存在４次超大陆或大陆聚合时期,超大陆的聚合与裂解造成全球性的重大构造热事件,成为全球板块构造演化的主线,威尔逊旋回在早前寒武纪已明显起作用。超大陆的聚合表现为克拉通的增生与陆块的碰撞造山作用;超大型的裂解表现为非造山岩浆活动、大规模基性岩墙群侵位及大陆裂谷的爆发等。超大陆的裂解可能与地幔柱上涌或超大陆下放射性物质积聚造成的热能积累有关,或地外物质冲击的触发有关。华北克拉通与世界古陆块的前寒武纪构造演化对比,及其在超大陆中的拼合模式成为我国大陆地质学研究面临的挑战性重大科学问题。     

True polar wander in mantle convection models with multiple, mobile continents

The geologic record supports numerous instances during which continents apparently moved at speeds significantly faster than any of today's tectonic plates. While the time dependence of convective driving forces likely explains some such observations, rapid motions of large continents in particular are often attributed to true polar wander (TPW). In order to gauge the potential for connections between continents, mantle temperature anomalies, and polar motion, we present the first calculations of TPW derived from models that couple mantle convection with multiple, mobile continents. We find that the aggregation and dispersal of supercontinents can lead to two types of TPW, driven either by a well developed hot upwelling axis that creates a stable maximum moment of inertia, or by the homogenization of mantle thermal structure following continent dispersal that leads to destabilization of the principal axis and possible large magnitude polar wander. These supercontinent-modulated thermal heterogeneities drive model TPW events as large as 90° at rates of up to 2.5° Ma^− 1. Such magnitudes and speeds are greater than those attained in similar models lacking continents, but comparable to those for episodes inferred from paleomagnetic data for some large continents in the past.     

Variable involvements of mantle plumes in the genesis of mid-Neoproterozoic basaltic rocks in South China: A review

Ca. 825–720 Ma global continental intraplate magmatism is generally linked to mantle plumes or a mantle superplume that caused rifting and fragmentation of the supercontinent Rodinia. Widespread Neoproterozoic igneous rocks in South China are dated at ca. 825–760 Ma. There is a hot debate on their petrogenesis and tectonic affiliations, i.e., mantle plume/rift settings or collision/arc settings. Such competing interpretations have contrasting implications to the position of South China in the supercontinent Rodinia and in Rodinia reconstruction models.Variations in the bulk-rock compositions of primary basaltic melts can provide first order constraints on the mantle thermal–chemical structure, and thus distinguish between the plume/rift and arc/collision models. Whole-rock geochemical data of 14 mid-Neoproterozoic (825–760 Ma) basaltic successions are reviewed here in order to (1) estimate the primary melts compositions; (2) calculate the melting conditions and mantle potential temperature; and (3) identify the contributions of subcontinental lithosphere mantle (SCLM) and asenthospheric mantles to the generation of these basaltic rocks.In order to quantify the mantle potential temperatures and percentages of decompression melting, the primary MgO, FeO, and SiO₂ contents of basalts are calculated through carefully selecting less-evolved samples using a melting model based on the partitioning of FeO and MgO in olivine. The mid-Neoproterozoic (825–760 Ma) potential temperatures predicted from the primary melts range from 1390 °C to 1630 °C (mostly > 1480 °C), suggesting that most 825–760 Ma basaltic rocks in South China were generated by melting of anomalously hot mantle sources with potential temperatures 80–200 °C higher than the ambient Middle Ocean Ridge Basalt (MORB)-source mantle.The mantle source regions of these Neoproterozoic basaltic rocks have complex histories and heterogeneous compositions. Enriched mantle sources (e.g., pyroxenite and eclogite) are recognized as an important source for the Bikou and Suxiong basalts, suggesting that their generations may have involved recycled components. Trace elements variations show that interactions between asthenospheric mantle (OIB-type mantle) and SCLM played a very important role in generation of the 825–760 Ma basalts. Our results indicate that the SCLM metasomatized by subduction-induced melts/fluids during the 1.0–0.9 Ga orogenesis as a distinct geochemical reservoir that contributed significantly to the trace-elements and isotope inventory of these basalts.The continental intraplate geochemical signatures (e.g., OIB-type), high mantle potential temperatures and recycled components suggest the presence of a mantle plume beneath the Neoproterozoic South China block. We use the available data to develop an integrated plume-lithosphere interaction model for the ca. 825–760 Ma basalts. The early phases of basaltic rocks (825–810 Ma) were most likely formed by melting within the metasomatized SCLM heated by the rising mantle plume. The subsequent continental rift allowed adiabatic decompression partial melting of an upwelling mantle plumes at relatively shallow depth to form the widespread syn-rifting basaltic rocks at ca. 810–800 Ma and 790–760 Ma.     

Relationship between plume and plate tectonics

The relationship between plate- and plume-tectonics is considered in view of the growth and breakdown of supercontinents, active rifting, the formation of passive volcanic-type continental margins, and the origin of time-progressive volcanic chains on oceanic and continental plates. The mantle wind phenomenon is described, as well as its effect on plume morphology and anisotropy of the ambient mantle. The interaction of plumes and mid-ocean ridges is discussed. The principles and problems of plume activity analysis in subduction- and collision-related foldbelts are considered and illustrated with examples.     

Late paleozoic-Early Mesozoic within-plate magmatism in North Asia: traps, rifts, giant batholiths, and the geodynamics of their origin

A number of large areas of igneous provinces produced in North Asia in the Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic include Siberian and Tarim traps and giant rift systems. Among them, the Central Asian Rift System (CARS) has the most complicated structure, evolved during the longest time, and is a large (3000 × 600 km) latitudinally oriented belt of rift zones extending from Transbaikalia and Mongolia to Middle Asia and including the Tarim traps in western China. CARS was produced in the Late Carboniferous, and its further evolution was associated with the lateral migration of rifting zones; it ended in the Early Jurassic and lasted for approximately 110 Ma. CARS was produced on an active continental margin of the Siberian continent and is noted for largest batholiths, which were emplaced simultaneously with rifting. The batholiths are surrounded by rift zones and compose, together with them, concentrically zoned magmatic areas, with crustal (granitoid) magmatism focused within their central portions, whereas mantle (rift-related) magmatism is predominant in troughs and grabens in peripheral zones. The batholiths show geological and isotopic geochemical evidence that their granitoids were produced by the anatexis of the host rocks at active involvement of mantle magmas. Zonal magmatic areas of the type are viewed as analogues of large igneous provinces formed in the environments characteristic of active continental margins. Large within-plate magmatic provinces in North Asia are thought to have been generated in relation to the overlap of at least two mantle plumes by the Siberian continent during its movement above the hot mantle field. In the continental lithosphere, mantle plumes initiated within-plate magmatic activity and facilitated rifting and the generation of traps and alkaline basite and alkali-salic magmatic associations. Because of the stressed states during collision of various type in the continental margin, the mantle melts did not ascend higher than the lowest crustal levels. The thermal effect of these melts on the crustal rocks induced anatexis and eventually predetermined the generation of the batholiths.     

The continental mantle as a source for hotspot volcanism

The source of hotspot volcanism lies in metasomatized regions of the continental mantle proximal to ancient sutures and failed rifts. Such regions are prone to melting under hotcell conditions on continental rifting, and to erosion into the deeper mantle by asthenospheric flow. In opening basins, rifting parallel to such sutures or failed rifts delaminates and cycles continental mantle into the MORB source. Rifting at some angle to a suture or failed rift generates a hotspot track by preferential melting of the metasomatized mantle as it is cycled toward the rift axis. Continental mantle eroded into the asthenosphere becomes displaced from the continent by net westward drift of the lithosphere relative to the deep mantle to give rise to hotspot volcanism in long-lived ocean basins.     

Speculations on the nature and cause of mantle heterogeneity

Hotspots and hotspot tracks are on, or start on, preexisting lithospheric features such as fracture zones, transform faults, continental sutures, ridges and former plate boundaries. Volcanism is often associated with these features and with regions of lithospheric extension, thinning, and preexisting thin spots. The lithosphere clearly controls the location of volcanism. The nature of the volcanism and the presence of ‘melting anomalies’ or ‘hotspots’, however, reflect the intrinsic chemical and lithologic heterogeneity of the upper mantle. Melting anomalies—shallow regions of ridges, volcanic chains, flood basalts, radial dike swarms—and continental breakup are frequently attributed to the impingement of deep mantle thermal plumes on the base of the lithosphere. The heat required for volcanism in the plume hypothesis is from the core. Alternatively, mantle fertility and melting point, ponding and focusing, and edge effects, i.e., plate tectonic and near-surface phenomena, may control the volumes and rates of magmatism. The heat required is from the mantle, mainly from internal heating and conduction into recycled fragments. The magnitude of magmatism appears to reflect the fertility, not the absolute temperature, of the asthenosphere. I attribute the chemical heterogeneity of the upper mantle to subduction of young plates, aseismic ridges and seamount chains, and to delamination of the lower continental crust. These heterogeneities eventually warm up past the melting point of eclogite and become buoyant low-velocity diapirs that undergo further adiabatic decompression melting as they encounter thin or spreading regions of the lithosphere. The heat required for the melting of cold subducted and delaminated material is extracted from the essentially infinite heat reservoir of the mantle, not the core. Melting in the upper mantle does not requires the instability of a deep thermal boundary layer or high absolute temperatures. Melts from recycled oceanic crust, and seamounts—and possibly even plateaus—pond beneath the lithosphere, particularly beneath basins and suture zones, with locally thin, weak or young lithosphere. The characteristic scale lengths—150 to 600 km—of variations in bathymetry and magma chemistry, and the variable productivity of volcanic chains, may reflect compositional heterogeneity of the asthenosphere, not the scales of mantle convection or the spacing of hot plumes. High-frequency seismic waves, scattering, coda studies and deep reflection profiles are needed to detect the kind of chemical heterogeneity and small-scale layering predicted from the recycling hypothesis.     

祁连山新元古代中—晚期至早古生代火山作用与构造演化

祁连山地区的新元古代中—晚期至早古生代火山作用显示系统地时、空变化,其乃是祁连山构造演化的火山响应。随着祁连山构造演化从Rodinia超大陆裂谷化—裂解,经早古生代大洋打开、扩张、洋壳俯冲和弧后伸展,直至洋盆闭合、弧-陆碰撞和陆-陆碰撞,火山作用也逐渐从裂谷和大陆溢流玄武质喷发,经大洋中脊型、岛弧和弧后盆地火山活动,转变为碰撞后裂谷式喷发。850~604 Ma的大陆裂谷和大陆溢流熔岩主要分布于祁连和柴达木陆块。从大约550 Ma至446 Ma,在北祁连和南祁连洋-沟-弧-盆系中广泛发育大洋中脊型、岛弧和弧后盆地型熔岩。与此同时,在祁连陆块中部,发育约522~442 Ma的陆内裂谷火山作用。早古生代洋盆于奥陶纪末(约446 Ma)闭合。随后,从约445 Ma至约428 Ma,于祁连陆块北缘发育碰撞后火山活动。此种时-空变异对形成祁连山的深部地球动力学过程提供了重要约束。该过程包括:(1)地幔柱或超级地幔柱上涌,导致Rodinia超大陆发生裂谷化、裂解、早古生代大洋打开、扩张、俯冲,并伴随岛弧形成;(2)俯冲的大洋板片回转,致使弧后伸展,进而形成弧后盆地;(3)洋盆闭合、板片断离,继而发生软流圈上涌,诱发碰撞后火山活动。晚志留世至早泥盆世(420~400 Ma),先期俯冲的地壳物质折返,发生强烈的造山活动。400 Ma后,山体垮塌、岩石圈伸展,相应发生碰撞后花岗质侵入活动。     

亚洲3个大火成岩省(峨眉山、西伯利亚、德干)对比研究

峨眉山(～260 Ma)、西伯利亚(～250 Ma)和德干(～66 Ma)大陆溢流玄武岩是世界上3个重要的大火成岩省.大火成岩省至少具有4个通常被用于识别古地幔柱的标志:(1)先于岩浆作用的地表隆升;(2)与大陆裂谷化和裂解事件相伴;(3)与生物灭绝事件联系密切;(4)地幔柱源玄武岩的化学特征.虽然这3个大火成岩省都是来源于原始地幔柱,但是它们的地球化学特征有本质上的差异,反映其地幔柱曾与不同的上地幔库相互作用.(1)峨眉山和西伯利亚大陆溢流玄武岩的母岩浆,在上升过程中经受了与地球化学上和古老克拉通岩石圈地幔相同的上地幔库(EM1型幔源)的相互作用;(2)而德干大火成岩省没有受到地壳(或岩石圈)混染的原生玄武岩则显示地幔柱和EM2之间的Sr-Nd同位素变化.这种差异有可能制约了3个大火成岩省的成矿潜力.峨眉山和西伯利亚大火成岩省含有世界级岩浆矿床,而德干大火成岩省则不含矿.     

Global warming of the mantle beneath continents back to the Archaean

Throughout its history, the Earth has experienced global magmatic events that correlate with the formation of supercontinents. This suggests that the distribution of continents at the Earth's surface is fundamental in regulating mantle temperature. Nevertheless, most large igneous provinces (LIPs) are explained in terms of the interaction of a hot plume with the lithosphere, even though some do not show evidence for such a mechanism. The aggregation of continents impacts on the temperature and flow of the underlying mantle through thermal insulation and enlargement of the convection wavelength. Both processes tend to increase the temperature below the continental lithosphere, eventually triggering melting events without the involvement of hot plumes. This model, called mantle global warming, has been tested using 3D numerical simulations of mantle convection [Coltice, N., Phillips, B.R., Bertrand, H., Ricard, Y., Rey, P. (2007) Global warming of the mantle at the origin of flood basalts over supercontinents. Geology 35, 391–394.]. Here, we apply this model to several continental flood basalts (CFBs) ranging in age from the Mesozoic to the Archaean. Our numerical simulations show that the mantle global warming model could account for the peculiarities of magmatic provinces that developed during the formation of Pangea and Rodinia, as well as putative Archaean supercontinents such as Kenorland and Zimvaalbara.     

Mantle plumes of Central Asia (Northeast Asia) and their role in forming endogenous deposits

The Phanerozoic within-plate magmatism and the related deposits of Siberia are reviewed. The formation of post-perovskite at about 2.5 Ga in the Earth’s interior and the isotope characteristics of within-plate igneous rocks have shown that plate tectonics and deep geodynamics started to operate at about 2–2.5 Ga. The assembly and breakup of supercontinents under the effect of the superplumes formed in layer D″ is considered. Thus, the supercontinent–superplume cycles spanning about 700 Ma are recognized in the Earth’s history.The manifestations of the within-plate magmatic activity are found throughout the whole Phanerozoic. It was demonstrated earlier that between 570 and 160 Ma, the Siberian continent drifted within the African hot mantle field or large low shear velocity province (LLSVP). At least four plumes, excluding the superplume leading to the breakup of Rodinia at 750 Ma, interacted with the Siberian continent. The superplume leading to the breakup of Rodinia was also responsible for the origin of ultramafic intrusions with carbonatites hosting rare-metal (Nb, Ta, REE) mineralization as well as ultramafic–mafic intrusions with Cu–Ni–Pt mineralization localized along the rift zones.The plumes originated in other Phanerozoic cycles formed most likely at the lower-upper mantle boundary, where most of the stagnant slabs is accumulated. Those plumes were responsible for the origin of within-plate igneous rocks. The granitic batholiths formed in the centers of zonal area surrounded by rift zones containing abundant rare-metal intrusions with rare-metal mineralization. Gold, tin, base metal, and porphyry copper deposits are also related to these zonal area.The studies have shown that the formation of folded zones and related deposits which surround these zones as well as the structures of cratons and their metallogenic specialization should be considered in terms of both plate tectonics and plume tectonics.     

Mantle plumes and plate motions

This paper elaborates the hypothesis that convection plumes may be rising from the lower mantle to spread out in the asthenosphere and drive lithospheric plates about and thus possibly provide the primary mechanism which governs the behaviour of the earth's surface. The paper notes some characteristics of plumes and identifies more than thirty by the hot spots which overlie them. Most lie close to mid-ocean ridges and have produced aseismic ridges trending away from them on either plate. A few have been overridden by plates to produce single, isolated chains of seamounts and islands. One plume may have uplifted the Colorado Plateau. Such distinctions serve to identify five types of hot spots.Most plates are in motion over the lower mantle. They are considered to be driven by the plumes, but their paths are influenced by interactions with other plates. Some temporarily become more or less stationary relative to the lower mantle. It is held that stationary plates, of which Africa and Southeast Asia may be present examples, develop special characteristics among which much volcanism, epeirogenic uplift, rifting and the development of basins and swells are diagnostic.It is well-known that if two plates approach one another at a subduction zone that a continental plate generally overrides an oceanic one. It is here suggested that the question of which plate is more nearly stationary over the mantle is important and determines the character of the continental margin. It is held that, if a continental plate advances over an oceanic one which is fixed over the mantle, a migrating marginal trench and mountains of Andean type with huge batholiths will form on the leading edge of the continent. On the other hand, if a continental plate is fixed and one or more oceanic plates are advancing and sliding under it, island arcs (and, when a collision with another continent occurs, mountains of Appalachian type) will form along each coast towards which a plate is advancing.