Crustal structures of the Canada basin near Alaska, the Lomonosov ridge and adjoining basins near the North Pole

Seismic refraction surveys conducted in 1976 and 1979 over the broken ice surface of the Arctic Ocean, reveal distinctly different crustal structures for the Fram, Makarov and Canada basins. The Canada Basin, characterized by a 2–4 km thick sedimentary layer and a distinct oceanic layer 3B of 7.5 km/s velocity has the thickest crust and is undoubtedly the oldest of the three. The crust of the Makarov Basin has a thin sedimentary layer of less than 1 km and is about 9 km in total thickness. The Fram Basin has a similarly thin sedimentary layer but is 3–4 km thicker than the Makarov as it approaches the Lomonosov Ridge near the North Pole. The ridge itself is cored by material with a velocity of 6.6 km/s and may be a metagabbro similar to oceanic layer 3A. This ridge root material extends to a depth of about 27 km, where a change occurs to upper-mantle material with a velocity of 8.3 km/s. The core is overlain by up to 6 km of material with a velocity of about 4.7 km/s which could be oceanic layer 2A basalts or continental crystalline rocks with some sedimentary material.The Fram Basin probably began to open contemporaneously with the North Atlantic about 70 m.y. ago, by spreading along the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge. Although not yet dated, the Makarov Basin is probably no older than the initiation of the Fram Basin and may be much younger. The Alpha Ridge may once have been part of the Lomonosov Ridge, splitting off to form the Makarov Basin between 70 and 25 m.y. ago and possibly contributing to the Eurekan Orogeny of 25 m.y. ago, evident on Ellesmere Island. In contrast, the likely age of the Canada Basin lies in the 125–190 m.y. range and may have been formed by the counter-clockwise rotation of Alaska and the Northwind Ridge away from the Canadian Arctic Islands. The Lomonosov Ridge emerges from this scenario as a block resulting from a strike-slip shear zone on the European continental shelf, related to the opening of the Canada basin (180-120 my) and then becomes an entity broken from this shelf by the opening of the Eurasia Basin (70-0 m.y.).     

Typification of the Earth’s crust of Central Arctic Uplifts in the Arctic Ocean

The modern views on the structure of the oceanic and continental crust are discussed. The presented geological-geophysical information on the deep structure of the Earth’s crust of the Lomonosov Ridge, Mendeleev Rise, and Alpha Ridge, which make up the province of the Central Arctic Uplifts in the Arctic Ocean, is based on CMP, seismic-reflection, and seismic-refraction data obtained by Russian and Western researchers along geotraverses across the Amerasia Basin. It is established that the crust thickness beneath the Central Arctic Uplifts ranges from 22 to 40 km. Comparison of the obtained velocity sections with standard crust sections of different morphostructures in the World Ocean that are underlain by the typical oceanic crust demonstrates their difference with respect to the crustal structure and to the thickness of the entire crust and its individual layers. Within the continental crust, the supercritical waves reflected from the upper mantle surface play the dominant role. Their amplitude exceeds that of head and refracted waves by one to two orders of magnitude. In contrast, the refracted and, probably, interferential head waves are dominant within the oceanic crust. The Moho discontinuity is the only first-order boundary. In the consolidated oceanic crust, such boundaries are not known. The similarity in the velocity characteristics of the crust of the Alpha Ridge and Mendeleev Rise, on the one hand, and the continental crust beneath the Lomonosov Ridge, on the other, gives grounds to state that the crust of the Mendeleev Rise and Alpha Ridge belongs to the continental type. The interference mosaic pattern of the anomalous magnetic field of the Central Arctic Uplifts is an additional argument in favor of this statement. Such patterns are typical of the continental crust with intense intraplate volcanism. Interpretation of seismic crustal sections of the Central Arctic Uplifts and their comparison with allowance for characteristic features of the continental and oceanic crust indicate that the Earth’s crust of the uplifts has the continental structure.     

The superdeep North Chukchi Basin: formation by eclogitization of continental lower crust,with petroleum potential implications

The large North Chukchi Basin in the northeastern Eurasian shelf is filled with up to 22 km of sediments, which is far thicker than filling a basin upon oceanic crust would require. The basin sedimentation began 380 Myr ago, and about 16 km of sediments have been deposited for the past 125 Myr, long after the oceanic crust would have completed its subsidence. This fact is in favor of the continental instead of oceanic crust origin. Rapid basin subsidence appears to be driven by a mechanism other than crustal stretching as the latter has no evidence over the greatest part of the basin area. The suggested basin formation model implies a transformation of gabbro into denser eclogite in the lower crust and related contraction of mafic rocks. To sustain consolidated crust beneath 22 km thick sediments, the layer of dense eclogites under the granitic layer must be at least ～25 km thick. The presence of basement flexures formed at several stages of the basin evolution indicates a considerable loss of lithospheric rigidity under the effect of fluid infiltration from small mantle plumes. The fluids catalyzed the eclogitization and thus increased the subsidence rate. Rapid subsidence apparently occurred in Barremian-Albian time when the basin had accumulated up to 11.5 km of sediments. Besides the Early Cretaceous event, there were, possibly several older events of rapid subsidence. This basin subsidence history, along with the evidence of steep lithospheric flexure, is a known feature of large petroleum basins. Therefore, the North Chukchi Basin may be expected to be an oil and gas producer.     

西藏南部晚侏罗世—白垩纪沉积与构造背景探讨

根据岩石组合特征、沉积构造和沉积相序的分析,结合岩石化学测试数据和粒度分析结果,将西藏南部的晚侏罗世一白垩纪地层划分为5个沉积区,从南往北依次为:喜马拉雅陆棚-外陆棚沉积区;拉轨岗日斜坡沉积区;雅鲁藏布深海盆地沉积区;日喀则弧前盆地沉积区;拉萨弧间盆地沉积区。进一步确定了西藏南部沉积与构造演化的时空关系。     

The Lomonosov Ridge as a natural extension of the Eurasian continental margin into the Arctic Basin

The inregrated geological and geophysical studies carried out in recent years in the Lomonosov Ridge and at its junction with the Eurasian shelf revealed evidence for thinned (reduced) crust in the ridge (20–25 km) and its relationship with shelf structures. We compared the parameters of deep seismic cross-sections of the shelf and Lomonosov Ridge, thus proving the existence of continental crust in the latter. Also, we analyzed the deep structure of the junction between the Lomonosov Ridge and the shelf and established a genetic geologic relationship, with no evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge moved as a terrane with respect to the shelf. In addition, seismological studies independently confirm the relationship between the Lomonosov Ridge and the adjacent shelf.The Lomonosov Ridge is a continental-crust block of a craton. The craton was reworked during the Caledonian tectonomagmatic activity with the formation of a Precambrian–Caledonian seismically unsegmented basement (upper crust) and an epi-Caledonian platform cover. Afterward, the block subsided to bathyal depths in the Late Alpine. This block and the adjacent areas of the Eastern Arctic shelf developed in the platform regime till the Late Mesozoic.     

The rift origin of the Vilyui basin (East Siberia), from reconstructions of sedimentation and mechanical mathematical modeling

Results of modeling of the formation of the Vilyui sedimentary basin are presented. We combine backstripping reconstructions of sedimentation and thermal regime during the subsidence with a numerical simulation based on the deformable solid mechanics. Lithological data and stratigraphic sections were used to “strip” the sedimentary beds successively and calculate the depth of the stratigraphic units during the sedimentation. It is the first time that the evolution of sedimentation which is nonuniform over the basin area has been analyzed for the Vilyui basin. The rift origin of the basin is proven. We estimate the spatial distribution of the parameters of crustal and mantle-lithosphere extension as well as expansion due to dike intrusion. According to the reconstructions, the type of subsidence curves for the sedimentary rocks of the basin depends on the tectonic regime of sedimentation in individual basins. The backstripping analysis revealed two stages of extension (sediments 4–5 km thick) and a foreland stage (sediments > 2 km thick). With the two-layered lithosphere model, we conclude that the subcrustal layer underwent predominant extension (by a factor of 1.2–2.0 vs. 1.1–1.4 in the crust). The goal of numerical experiments is to demonstrate that deep troughs can form in the continental crust under its finite extension. Unlike the oceanic rifting models, this modeling shows no complete destruction or rupture of the continental crust during the extension. The 2D numerical simulation shows the possibility of considerable basement subsidence near the central axis and explains why mafic dikes are concentrated on the basin periphery.     

Types of crust beneath the Ligurian Sea

The structural setting beneath the Ligurian Sea resuJts from several tectonic events reflected in the nature of the crust. The central-western sector, called the Ligurian basin, is part of the northwestern Mediterranean. It is a marginal basin that was generated in Oligocene-Miocene time by subduction of the Adriatic plate beneath the European plate and by the eastward drift of the Corsica-Sardinia block. The eastern sector belongs to the Tyrrhenian basin system and is characterized by extensional activity which since Tortonian time superimposed an earlier compressional regime. Our effort has been addressed in particular towards simplifying the complex nature of the crust of the Ligurian basin by modelling its genesis using uniform extension and sea-floor depth variation with age. In the rift stage of the basin's evolution, the initial subsidence reaches the isostatic equilibrium level of the asthenosphere by a thinning factor of 3.15. The additional passive process, corresponding to the cooling of the lithosphere since 21 Ma, leads to a total tectonic subsidence of 3.4 km, representing the boundary of the extended continental crust. For values up to 4.1 km a transitional-type crust is expected, whereas for higher tectonic subsidence values a typical oceanic crust should exist. After setting these constraints, the boundaries of the different crust types have been drawn based on total tectonic subsidence observations deduced from bathymetry and post-rift sediment thickness. Although there is a general agreement with the previous reconstructions deduced from other experimental data, the oceanic realm has wider extent and more complex shape. The northernmost part of this realm shows crust of sub-oceanic type altemating basement highs with lower subsidence values. The observed surface heat flux is consistent with the predicted geothermal held in the Alpine-Provençal continental margin and in the oceanic domain. However, a characteristic thermal asymmetry is clearly visible astride the basin, due to the enhanced heat flux of the Corsica margin. Even if the uniform extension model accounts well at a regional level for the present basement depth, a remarkable tectonic subsidence excess has been found in the Alpine-Provençal continental margin. This evidence agrees with the reprise in compression of the margin; the direction of the greatest principal stress is N120°E on average.     

Uppermost Cretaceous–Lower Tertiary Ulukışla Basin,south-central Turkey: sedimentary evolution of part of a unified basin complex within an evolving Neotethyan suture zone

The Ulukışla Basin, the southerly and best exposed of the Lower Tertiary Central Anatolian Basins, sheds light on one of the outstanding problems of the tectonic assembly of suture zones: how large deep-water basins can form within a zone of regional plate convergence. The oldest Ulukışla Basin sediments, of Maastrichtian age, transgressively overlie mélange and ophiolitic rocks that were emplaced southwards onto the Tauride microcontinent during the latest Cretaceous time. The Niğde-Kirşehir Massif forming the northern basin margin probably represents another rifted continental fragment that was surrounded by oceanic crust during Mesozoic time. The stratigraphic succession of the Ulukışla Basin begins with the deposition of shallow-marine carbonates of Maastrichtian–Early Palaeocene age, then passes upwards into slope-facies carbonates, with localised sedimentary breccias and channelised units, followed by deep-water clastic turbidites of Middle Palaeocene–Early Eocene age. This was followed by the extrusion of c. 2000 m of basic volcanic rocks during Early to Mid Eocene time. After volcanism ended, coral-bearing neritic carbonates and nummulitic shelf sediments accumulated along the northern and southern margins of the basin, respectively. Deposition of the Ulukışla Basin ended with gypsum deposits including turbidites, debris flows, and sabkhas, followed by a regional Oligocene unconformity.The Ulukışla Basin is interpreted as the result of extension (or transtension) coupled with subsidence and basic volcanism. After post-volcanic subsidence, the basin was terminated by regional convergence, culminating in thrusting and folding in Late Eocene time. Comparisons of the Ulukışla Basin with the adjacent central Anatolian basins (e.g. Tuzgölü, Sivas and Şarkişla) support the view that these basins formed parts of a regional transtensional (to extensional) basin system. In our preferred hypothesis, the Ulukışla Basin developed during an intermediate stage of continental collision, after steady-state subduction of oceanic crust had more or less ended (“soft collision”), but before the opposing Tauride and Eurasian continental units forcefully collided (“hard collision”). Late Eocene forceful collision terminated the basinal evolution and initiated uplift of the Taurus Mountains.     

Continental ridges in the Arctic Ocean: Lorex constraints

Recent multidisciplinary geophysical measurements over the Lomonosov Ridge close to the North Pole support the widely held belief that it was formerly part of Eurasia. The known lithologies, ages, P-wave velocity structure and thickness of the crust along the outer Barents and Kara continental shelves are similar to permitted or measured values of these parameters newly acquired over the Lomonosov Ridge. Seismic, gravity and magnetic data in particular show that the ridge basement is most likely formed of early Mesozoic or older sedimentary or low-grade metasedimentary rocks over a crystalline core that is intermediate to basic in composition. Short-wavelength magnetic anomaly highs along the upper ridge flanks and crest may denote the presence of shallow igneous rocks. Because of the uncertain component of ice-rafted material, seafloor sediments recovered from the ridge by shallow sampling techniques cannot be clearly related to ridge basement lithology without further detailed analysis. The ridge is cut at the surface and at depth by normal faults that appear related to the development of the Makarov Basin. This and other data are consistent with the idea that the Makarov Basin was formed by continental stretching rather than simple seafloor spreading. Hence the flanking Alpha and Lomonosov ridges may originally have been part of the same continental block. It is suggested that in Late Cretaceous time this block was sheared from Eurasia along a trans-Arctic left-lateral offset that may have been associated with the opening of Baffin Bay. The continental block was later separated from Eurasia when the North Altantic rift extended into the Arctic region in the Early Tertiary. The data suggest that the Makarov Basin did not form before the onset of rifting in the Artic.     

Formation mechanisms of ultradeep sedimentary basins: the North Barents basin. Petroleum potential implications

Consolidated crust in the North Barents basin with sediments 16–18 km thick is attenuated approximately by two times. The normal faults in the basin basement ensure only 10-15% stretching, which caused the deposition of 2–3 km sediments during the early evolution of the basin. The overlying 16 km of sediments have accumulated since the Late Devonian. Judging by the undisturbed reflectors to a depth of 8 s, crustal subsidence was not accompanied by any significant stretching throughout that time. Dramatic subsidence under such conditions required considerable contraction of lithospheric rocks. The contraction was mainly due to high-grade metamorphism in mafic rocks in the lower crust. The metamorphism was favored by increasing pressure and temperature in the lower crust with the accumulation of a thick layer of sediments. According to gravity data, the Moho in the basin is underlain by large masses of high-velocity eclogites, which are denser than mantle peridotites. The same is typical of some other ultradeep basins: North Caspian, South Caspian, North Chukchi, and Gulf of Mexico basins. From Late Devonian to Late Jurassic, several episodes of rapid crustal subsidence took place in the North Barents basin, which is typical of large petroleum basins. The subsidence was due to metamorphism in the lower crust, when it was infiltrated by mantle-source fluids in several episodes. The metamorphic contraction in the lower crust gave rise to deep-water basins with sediments with a high content of unoxidized organic matter. Along with numerous structural and nonstructural traps in the cover of the North Barents basin, this is strong evidence that the North Barents basin is a large hydrocarbon basin.     

Crustal structure beneath the Faroe Islands and the Faroe–Iceland Ridge

We have mapped the transition from the continental Faroe block (the Faroe Islands and surrounding shelf) to the thickened oceanic crust of the Faroe–Iceland Ridge in the North Atlantic using the results of a detailed sea-to-land seismic profile with wide-angle to normal-incidence recordings of explosive and airgun shots fired at sea along the Faroe–Iceland Ridge. Interpretation of all available seismic and gravity data indicates that this aseismic ridge is composed of 30±3-km-thick oceanic crust, with a gradual transition to ancient continental crust from 100 to 40 km northwest of the Faroe Islands, close to the shelf edge. This confirms that the crust beneath the Faroe Islands, which may be up to 46 km thick, comprises continental material in agreement with previous seismic and geochemical results. Results suggest that the upper 5.2±0.7 km of the Faroe crust consists of Tertiary basalts generated during continental breakup, overlying the continental crust beneath. The lower crust, where seismic constraint is poor, may exhibit high seismic velocities (7.1–7.6 km s⁻¹) which we attribute to underplating or intrusion by mafic melts during continental breakup in the early Tertiary.     

Formation of the superdeep South Caspian basin: subsidence driven by phase change in continental crust

The large hydrocarbon basin of South Caspian is filled with sediments reaching a thickness of 20–25 km. The sediments overlie a 10–18 km thick high-velocity basement which is often interpreted as oceanic crust. This interpretation is, however, inconsistent with rapid major subsidence in Pliocene-Pleistocene time and deposition of 10 km of sediments because the subsidence of crust produced in spreading ridges normally occurs at decreasing rates. Furthermore, filling a basin upon a 10–18 km thick oceanic crust would require twice less sediments. Subsidence as in the South Caspian, of ≥20 km, can be provided by phase change of gabbro to dense eclogite in a 25–30 km thick lower crust. Eclogites which are denser than the mantle and have nearly mantle P velocities but a chemistry of continental crust may occur beneath the Moho in the South Caspian where consolidated crust totals a thickness of 40–50 km. The high subsidence rates in the Pliocene-Pleistocene may be attributed to the effect of active fluids infiltrated from the asthenosphere to catalyze the gabbro-eclogite transition. Subsidence of this kind is typical of large petroleum provinces. According to some interpretations, historic seismicity with 30–70 km focal depths in a 100 km wide zone (beneath the Apsheron-Balkhan sill and north of it) has been associated with the initiation of subduction under the Middle Caspian. The consolidated lithosphere of deep continental sedimentary basins being denser than the asthenosphere, can, in principle, subduct into the latter, while the overlying sediments can be delaminated and folded. Yet, subduction in the South Caspian basin is incompatible with the only 5–10 km shortening of sediments in the Apsheron-Balkhan sill and south of it and with the patterns of earthquake foci that show no alignment like in a Benioff zone and have mostly extension mechanisms.     

Deep Structure and Dynamics of Passive Continental Margin from Shelf to Ocean of the Northern South China Sea

To study the deep dynamic mechanism leading to the difference in rifting pattern and basin structure from shelf to oceanic basin in passive continental margin,we constructed long geological sections across the shelf,slope and oceanic basin using new seismic data.Integrated gravity-magnetic inversion and interpretation of these sections were made with the advanced dissection method.Results show that the basement composition changes from intermediate-acid intrusive rocks in the sheff to intermediate-basic rocks in the slope.The Moho surface shoals gradually from 31 km in the sheff to 22.5 km in the uplift and then 19 km in the slope and finally to 13 km in the oceanic basin.The crust thickness also decreases gradually from 30 km in the northern fault belt to 9 km in the oceanic basin.The crustal stretching factor increases from the shelf toward the oceanic basin,with the strongest extension under the sags and the oceanic basin.The intensity of mantle upwelling controlled the style of basin structures from sheff to oceanic basin.In the Zhu 1 depression on the shelf,the crust is nearly normal,the brittle and cold upper crust mainly controlled the fault development;so the combinative grabens with single symmetric graben are characteristic.In the slope,the crust thinned with a large stretching factor,affected by the mantle upwelling.The ductile deformation controlled the faults,so there developed an asymmetric complex graben in the Baiyun (白云) sag.     

Crustal Structure across the Northwestern Margin of South China Sea: Evidence for Magma‐poor Rifting from a Wide‐angle Seismic Profile

We present results from a 484 km wide-angle seismic profile acquired in the northwest part of the South China Sea (SCS) during OBS2006 cruise. The line that runs along a previously acquired multi-channel seismic line (SO49-18) crosses the continental slope of the northern margin, the Northwest Subbasin (NWSB) of the South China Sea, the Zhongsha Massif and partly the oceanic basin of the South China Sea. Seismic sections recorded on 13 ocean-bottom seismometers were used to identify refracted phases from the crustal layer and also reflected phases from the crust-mantle boundary (Moho). Inversion of the traveltimes using a simple start model reveals crustal images in the study area. The velocity model shows that crustal thickness below the continental slope is between 14 and 23 km. The continental part of the line is characterized by gentle landward mantle uplift and an abrupt oceanward one. The velocities in the lower crust do not exceed 6.9 km/s. With the new data we can exclude a high-velocity lower crustal body (velocities above 7.0 km/s) at the location of the line. We conclude that this part of the South China Sea margin developed by a magma-poor rifting. Both, the NWSB and the Southwest Sub-basin (SWSB) reveal velocities typical for oceanic crust with crustal thickness between 5 and 7 km. The Zhongsha Massif in between is extremely stretched with only 6–10 km continental crust left. Crustal velocity is below 6.5 km/s; possibly indicating the absence of the lower crust. Multi-channel seismic profile shows that the Yitongansha Uplift in the slope area and the Zhongsha Massif are only mildly deformed. We considered them as rigid continent blocks which acted as rift shoulders of the main rift subsequently resulting in the formation of the Northwest Sub-basin. The extension was mainly accommodated by a ductile lower crustal flows, which might have been extremely attenuated and flow into the oceanic basin during the spreading stage. We compared the crustal structures along the northern margin and found an east-west thicken trend of the crust below the continent slope. This might be contributed by the east-west sea-floor spreading along the continental margin.     

Ultrapotassic Volcanism of the Valagin Ridge,Kamchatka

New isotopic-geochemical data are reported on the Late Cretaceous–Paleocene ultrapotassic volcanic rocks of the alkaline–ultrabasic complex of the Valagin Ridge, Eastern Kamchatka. The high Mg, low Ca and Al contents at high K/Na ratios in these rocks make them similar to the Mediterranean-type lamproites and ultrapotassic rocks. The low contents of high-field strength (HFSE) and heavy rare-earth (HREE) elements relative to the MORB composition, and the low Sr and high Nd isotopic ratios indicate the formation of their primary melts from a depleted mantle source. The enrichment of the ultrapotassic rocks in the large-ion lithophile elements (LILE) can be explained by the fluid influx in melts during melting of subsided oceanic crust.     

Geodynamic Evolution Model of the Major Structures of Amerasian Basin

We have analyzed the geodynamic evolution of the lithosphere and upper mantle of the Amerasian basin based on the stress-strain state simulation. It is shown that the asthenospheric spreading in the return upflow region of the mantle convection, results in formation of two local uplifts, which can be interpreted as Lomonosov Ridge and Mendeleev/Alfa Ridge. The further long-term action of the mantle convection leads to formation of Makarov and Podvodnikov Basins.     

The building blocks of continental crust: Evidence for a major change in the tectonic setting of continental growth at the end of the Archean

Oceanic arcs are commonly cited as primary building blocks of continents, yet modern oceanic arcs are mostly subducted. Also, lithosphere buoyancy considerations show that oceanic arcs (even those with a felsic component) should readily subduct. With the exception of the Arabian–Nubian orogen, terranes in post-Archean accretionary orogens comprise < 10% of accreted oceanic arcs, whereas continental arcs compose 40–80% of these orogens. Nd and Hf isotopic data suggest that accretionary orogens include 40–65% juvenile crustal components, with most of these (> 50%) produced in continental arcs.Felsic igneous rocks in oceanic arcs are depleted in incompatible elements compared to average continental crust and to felsic igneous rocks from continental arcs. They have lower Th/Yb, Nb/Yb, Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios, reflecting shallow mantle sources in which garnet did not exist in the restite during melting. The bottom line of these geochemical differences is that post-Archean continental crust does not begin life in oceanic arcs. On the other hand, the remarkable similarity of incompatible element distributions in granitoids and felsic volcanics from continental arcs is consistent with continental crust being produced in continental arcs.During the Archean, however, oceanic arcs may have been thicker due to higher degrees of melting in the mantle, and oceanic lithosphere would be more buoyant. These arcs may have accreted to each other and to oceanic plateaus, a process that eventually led to the production of Archean continental crust. After the Archean, oceanic crust was thinner due to cooling of the mantle and less melt production at ocean ridges, hence, oceanic lithosphere is more subductable. Widespread propagation of plate tectonics in the late Archean may have led not only to rapid production of continental crust, but to a change in the primary site of production of continental crust, from accreted oceanic arcs and oceanic plateaus in the Archean to primarily continental arcs thereafter.     

CDP seismic sections of the western Beaufort continental margin

The continental rise, slope, and shelf in the Beaufort Sea off northern Alaska were surveyed with 5600 km of common-depth-point (CDP) seismic data by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1977. The lower continental rise consists of a wedge of at least 4.5 km of low-velocity, generally flat-lying, parallel-bedded sediments. Slump-related diapiric folds, probably cored by shale, occur on the upper rise and lower slope. The observed minimum depth to oceanic basement in the Canada Basin requires an age for this basin of at least 120 m.y., assuming it to be floored by oceanic crust with a subsidence history similar to that of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.     

On sheared passive continental margins

Studies in intra-continental and intra-oceanic shear zones reveal structures that may be developed during the formation of a sheared passive continental margin.During the intra-continental shear stage of margin development, rapid vertical movement of the crust may occur resulting in small, tectonically-active basins containing thick sedimentary sequences. At deeper levels in the continental crust, more plastic deformation may lead to a zone of strongly sheared rocks that widens downwards. The tectonic fabric in this zone may exert some control over the subsequent development of the continent-ocean transition under the influence of regional stresses.The thermal event related to asthenosphere upwelling at sheared margins is a transient one and thus of less effect than the event on rifted margins. Nevertheless, following the event the cooling and contraction of oceanic crust against the continent may throw the oceanic crust into tension and lead to normal, block faulting in the oceanic regions analogous to the faulting seen in oceanic fracture zones. The subsidence of oceanic crust as it ages at the margin will either drag down the adjacent continental crust or, more likely, cause the oceanic crust to slip down by normal faulting along the continent-ocean boundary. The kinds of compressional features observed in oceanic fracture zones may also occur at sheared margins.     

南海南部地壳结构的重力模拟及伸展模式探讨

对南海南部地壳结构研究有助于揭示南海完整的演化历史。本研究对南海南部获取的两条多道地震剖面进行了地震 解释,并对重力数据进行了壳幔密度反演。其中 NH973-1 测线始于南海西南次海盆,覆盖了南沙中部的北段;NH973-2 测 线始于南海东部次海盆,穿越礼乐滩东侧。反演结果显示,莫霍面埋深在海盆区 10~11 km,陆缘区 15~21 km 左右,洋壳向 陆壳莫霍面深度迅速增加。海盆区厚度在 6~7 km,为典型的洋壳;陆缘区地壳厚度在 15~19 km,为减薄型地壳。进一步研 究表明(1)在西南次海盆残余扩张脊之下,莫霍面比两侧略深;(2)在礼乐滩外侧海盆区有高值重力异常体,推测为洋壳与深 部岩浆混合的块体;(3)南沙区域上地壳存在高密度带,且横向上岩性可能变化。南海南部陆缘未发现有下地壳高速层,有 比较一致的构造属性和拉张样式,为非火山型陆缘。我们对两条测线陆缘的伸展因子进行了计算,发现上地壳脆性拉伸因 子与全地壳拉伸因子存在差异,其陆缘的拉张模式在纵向上是不均匀一的。