Tectonic evolution and geodynamics of the Neo-Tethys Ocean

The Neo-Tethys Ocean was an eastward-gaping triangular oceanic embayment between Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the south.The Neo-Tethys Ocean was initiated from the Early Permian with mircoblocks rifted from the northern margin of Gondwana.As the microblocks drifted northwards,the Neo-Tethys Ocean was expanded.Most of these microblocks collided with the Eurasia continent in the Late Triassic,leading to the final closure of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean,followed by oceanic subduction of the Neo-Tethys oceanic slab beneath the newly formed southern margin of the Eurasia continent.As the splitting of Gondwana continued,African-Arabian,Indian and Australian continents were separated from Gondwana and moved northwards at different rates.Collision of these blocks with the Eurasia continent occurred at different time during the Cenozoic,resulting in the closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean and building of the most significant Alps-Zagros-Himalaya orogenic belt on Earth.The tectonic evolution of the Neo-Tethys Ocean shows different characteristics from west to east:Multi-oceanic basins expansion,bidirectional subduction and microblocks collision dominate in the Mediterranean region;northward oceanic subduction and diachronous continental collision along the Zagros suture occur in the Middle East;the Tibet and Southeast Asia are characterized by multi-block riftings from Gondwana and multi-stage collisions with the Eurasia continent.The negative buoyancy of subducting oceanic slabs can be considered as the main engine for northward drifting of Gondwana-derived blocks and subduction of the Neo-Tethys Ocean.Meanwhile,mantle convection and counterclockwise rotation of Gondwana-derived blocks and the Gondwana continent around an Euler pole in West Africa in non-free boundary conditions also controlled the evolution of the Neo-Tethys Ocean.     

The subduction of the west Pacific plate and the destruction of the North China Craton

While a general concensus has recently been reached as to the causal relationship between the subduction of the west Pacific plate and the destruction of the North China Craton, a number of important questions remain to answer, including the initial subduction of west Pacific plate beneath the eastern Asian continent, the position of west Pacific subduction zone during the peak period of decratonization(i.e., Early Cretaceous), the formation age of the big mantle wedge under eastern Asia, and the fate of the subducted Pacific slab. Integration of available data suggests that the subduction of the western Pacific plate was initiated as early as Early Jurrasic and the subduction zone was situated to 2,200 km west of the present-day trench in the Early Creataceous, as a result of eastward migration of the Asian continent over a distance of ca. 900 km since the Early Cretaceous.The retreat of the subducting west Pacific plate started ～145 Ma ago, corresponding to the initial formation of the big mantle wedge system in the Early Cretaceous. The subduction of the Pacific slab excerted severe influence on the North China Craton most likely through material and energy echange between the big mantle wedge and overlying cratonic lithosphere. The evolution history of the west Pacific plate was reconstructed based on tectonic events. This allows to propose that the causes of phases A and B for the Yanshanian orogeny were respectively related to rapid low-angle subduction and to lowering subduction angle of the west Pacific plate. At ca. 130–120 Ma, the subduction of the west Pacific plate was characterized by increasing subducting angle, slab rollback and rapid trench retreat, leading to the final stagnation of the subducting slab within the mantle transition zone. This process may have significantly affected the physical property and viscosity of the mantle wedge above the stagnant slab, resulting in non-steady mantle flows. The ingression of slab-released melts/fluids would significantly lower the viscosity of the mantle wedge and overlying lithosphere, inducing decratonization. This study yields important bearings on the relationship between the subduction of the west Pacific plate and the evolution of the lithospheric mantle beneath the North China Craton.     

Cyclical one-way continental rupture-drift in the Tethyan evolution: Subduction-driven plate tectonics

Numerous continents have rifted and drifted away from Gondwana to repeatedly open ocean basins over the past-500 millionyears.These Gondwana-derived continents drifted towards and collided with components of the Eurasian continent to successively close the preexisting oceans between the two.Plate tectonics satisfactorily describes the continental drift from Gondwana to Eurasia but does not define the geodynamic mechanism of continuously rifting to collisions of continents in the Tethy an Realm.After reappraisal of geological records of the rift,collision and subduction initiation from the surface and various geophysical observations from depth,we propose that Eurasia-directed subducting oceanic slabs would have driven Tethyan system in the Phanerozoic.The Eurasia-directed subduction would have dragged the passive Gondwana margin to rift and drift northwards,giving birth to new oceans since the Paleozoic.The closure of preexisting oceans between the Gondwana-derived continents and Eurasia led to continental collisions,which would have induced the initiation of oceanic subduction in the Tethyan Realm.Multiple episodic switches between collision-subduction-rift repeatedly led to the separation of continental fragments from Gondwana and dragged them to drift towards Eurasia.The final disappearance of Neo-Tethy s would have induced collision of the Gondwana-derived continents with the Eurasian continent,giving rise to the Cenozoic Alpine-Zagros-Himalayan collisional system.Therefore,the Eurasia-directed oceanic subduction would have acted as a 'one-way train' that successively transferred the ruptured Gondwana continental fragments in the south,into the terminal in the north.In this regard,the engine of this "Tethyan one-way train" is the negative buoyancy of subducting oceanic slabs.     

Detrital zircon provenance analysis in the Zagros Orogen,SW Iran: implications for the amalgamation history of the Neo-Tethys

International Journal of Earth Sciences - The Zagros Orogen developed as a result of Arabia–Eurasia collision. New in situ detrital zircon U–Pb and Hf isotopic analyses from a Cenozoic...     

Comparative Planetary Space Physics

It has been 60 years since the space physics as new branch of geophysics started to grow in 1957 when the space age was opened by a small satellite called sputnik. The knowledge of Earth and planetary space has been significantly extended and deepened, but the questions we are facing today are more challenging. A consensus reached is that we have to regard the Earth (planet) as an integrated system including all spheres from the inner core to the magnetosphere, and we should try to investigate some questions standing on the ground of interdisciplinary study, especially those questions related to Earth’s (planetary) evolution. Space environment as the outer part of a planetary system, commonly exists in all planets but also exhibits strong diversity. Here, we introduce the short history of basic ideas and methods of comparative study, the advantages on understanding of some issues of global scale, and the prospect from comparative perspective.     

扬子地块古生代大地构造演化及古地磁学研究综述

本文简要地论述了扬子地块古生代大地构造研究现状，扬子与华夏地块之间的华南裂谷盆地于奥陶纪初发生收缩，直到加里东末期基本封闭，古生代扬子地块与华北地块之间的秦岭海槽以拉张为主，扬子地块西缘古生代期间处于相对稳定的构造环境，古生代末进入特提斯构造域，发生活化。     

环境磁学研究现状和进展

环境磁学是八十年代逐步发展起来的具有学科交叉特点的边缘学科。它主要应用岩石和矿磁学研究磁性颗粒的搬运、沉积以及转化受大气圈、水圈和岩石圈环境变化影响的过程。近年来，环境磁学已提供了大量有关全球变化过程以及人类活动对环境影响等重要资料，其研究范畴迅速扩展，已成为当今地学的前沿学科之一。     

大陆岩石圈研究进展

从地震学、地球化学、岩石学等不同学科的角度,对大陆岩石圈研究进展做了简要介绍。不同学科的最新研究成果表明,岩石圈在热状态、化学成分和力学行为等方面具有高度非均匀性。这不仅表现为岩石圈性质和结构随深度的变化,而且还反映在不同时代、大陆与海洋以及克拉通和造山带岩石圈结构特征的显著差异上。性质和结构的差异体现了岩石圈形成和长期演化过程的复杂性。我们认为,不同岩石圈块体之间、岩石圈与深部对流地幔之间普遍存在着相互作用。这种相互作用被认为是稳定克拉通岩石圈遭受改造甚至破坏的深部机制,同时还是地球深、浅部物质交换的重要方式,因而显著影响着地球深部的对流和地表的构造过程。值得注意的是,由于岩石圈本身定义的模糊性及其厚度的不确定性,地震活动与岩石圈强度之间的关系以及大陆岩石圈演化的规律性等问题仍有待于进一步的研究和探索。     

从亚洲大陆块体拼贴过程看大陆造山带的形成与演化

本文就亚洲大陆喜马拉雅造山带和大别-苏鲁造山带构造演化模式进行详细评述,并据大地构造学和古地磁学最新研究成果讨论并总结大陆造山带形成与演化模式,即大陆碰撞造山带的演化可能涉及以下5个连续的过程: 碰撞旋转拼合陆内挤压反弹.     

中国对虾血淋巴蛋白质、葡萄糖含量的研究

于１９９２－１９９３年５月和１０月，在胶州湾捕捞中国对虾亲虾，９月在莱州和胶南采集的人工养殖中国对虾，采用双缩脲法测定其血淋巴中的血清总蛋白含量，用０－ＴＢ法测定血清葡萄糖含量，并研究注射灭菌海水、海洋弧菌后，对中国对虾血清总蛋白含量和血清葡萄糖含量的影响规律。