Structure of the earth''s crust on the territory of the U.S.S.R.

The compilation of statistical data for 269 seismic crustal sections (total length: 81,000 km) which are available in the U.S.S.R. has shown that the preliminary conclusions drawn on relations between the elevation of the surface relief and Bouguer anomalies on one hand and crustal thickness (depth to the M-discontinuity) on the other hand are not fulfilled for the continental part of the U.S.S.R. The level of isostatic compensation has been found to be much deeper than the base of the earth's crust due to density inhomogeneities of the crust and upper mantle down to a depth of 150 km.

The results of seismic investigations have revealed a great diversity of relations between shallow geological and deep crustal structures:

Changes in the relief of the M-discontinuity have been found within the ancient platforms which are conformable with the Precambrian structures and which can exceed 20 km. In the North Caspian syneclise, extended areas devoid of the “granitic” layer have been discovered for the first time in continents. The crust was found to be thicker in the syneclises and anteclises of the Turanian EpiHercynian plate. In the West Siberian platforms these relations are reversed to a great extent.

Substantial differences in crustal structure and thickness were found in the crust of the Palaeo zoides and Mesozoides. Regions of substantial neotectonic activity in the Tien-Shan Palaeozoides do not greatly differ in crustal thickness if compared to the Kazakhstan Palaeozoides which were little active in Cenozoic time. The same is true for the South Siberian Palaeozoides.

The Alpides of the southern areas in the U.S.S.R. display a sharply differing surface relief and a strongly varying crustal structure. Mountains with roots (Greater Caucasus, Crimea) and without roots (Kopet-Dagh, Lesser Caucasus) were found there.

The Cenozoides of the Far East are characterized by a rugged topography of the M-discontinuity, a thinner crust and a less-pronounced “granitic” layer. A relatively small thickness of the crust was discovered in the Baikal rift zone.

The effective thickness of the magnetized domains of the crust as well as other calculations show that the temperature at the depth of the M-discontinuity (i.e., at depths of 40–50 km) is not higher than 300–400° C for most parts of the U.S.S.R.     

Seismic inhomogeneities in the upper mantle beneath the Siberian craton (Meteorite profile)

The upper-mantle structure was studied from first-arrival data along the Meteorite profile, run using underground nuclear explosions. Unlike the layered, slightly inhomogeneous models in the previous works, emphasis was laid on lateral inhomogeneity at the minimum possible number of abrupt seismic boundaries. We used forward ray tracing of the traveltimes of refracted and overcritical reflected waves. The model obtained is characterized by considerable velocity variations, from 7.7 km/s in the Baikal Rift Zone to 8.0–8.45 km/s beneath the Tunguska syneclise. A layer of increased velocity (up to 8.5–8.6 km/s), 30–80 km thick, is distinguished at the base of seismic lithosphere. The depth of the layer top varies from 120 km in the northern Siberian craton to 210 km in its southeastern framing. It has been shown that, with crustal density anomalies excluded, the reduced gravity field is consistent with the upper-mantle velocity model.     

A review of crust and upper mantle structure studies of the Snake River Plain-Yellowstone volcanic system: A major lithospheric anomaly in the western U.S.A.

The Snake River Plain-Yellowstone volcanic system is one of the largest, basaltic, volcanic field in the world. Here, there is clear evidence for northeasterly progression of rhyolitic volcanism with its present position in Yellowstone. Many theories have been advanced for the origin of the Snake River Plain-Yellowstone system. Yellowstone and Eastern Snake River Plain have been studied intensively using various geophysical techniques. Some sparse geophysical data are available for the Western Snake River Plain as well. Teleseismic data show the presence of a large anomalous body with low P- and S-wave velocities in the crust and upper mantle under the Yellowstone caldera. A similar body in which compressional wave velocity is lower than in the surrounding rock is present under the Eastern Snake River Plain. No data on upper mantle anomalies are available for the Western Snake River Plain. Detailed seismic refraction data for the Eastern Snake River Plain show strong lateral heterogeneities and suggest thinning of the granitic crust from below by mafic intrusion. Available data for the Western Snake River Plain also show similar thinning of the upper crust and its replacement by mafic material. The seismic refraction results in Yellowstone show no evidence of the low-velocity anomalies in the lower crust suggested by teleseismic P-delay data and interpreted as due to extensive partial melting. However, the seismic refraction models indicate lower-than-normal velocities and strong lateral inhomogeneities in the upper crust. Particularly obvious in the refraction data are two regions of very low seismic velocities near the Mallard Eake and Sour Creek resurgent domes in the Yellowstone caldera. The low-velocity body near the Sour Creek resurgent dome is intepreted as partially molten rock. Together with other geophysical and thermal data, the seismic results indicate that a sub-lithospheric thermal anomaly is responsible for the time-progressive volcanism along the Eastern Snake River Plain. However, the exact mechanism responsible for the volcanism and details of magma storage and migration are not yet fully understood.     

The crust and upper mantle of continents

Models of continental crust and of geosynclinal processes, in their historical perspective, and generalized views on composition and structure of the tectonosphere are presented and discussed, particularly in reference to the local inversion stage, regional metamorphism, and granitization in geosynclines. Because of the known variations of the tectonosphere, depending on its position (e.g., under geosynclines, platforms, or zones of tectonic activation), it stands to reason that it varies also depending on the stage of the evolution of the overlying zones. -- V.P. Sokoloff.     

Structure of the crust and upper mantle in Canada

The seismic probing of the crust and upper mantle in Canada started in 1938 and since then has involved many government and university groups using a wide variety of techniques. These have included simple profiling with both wide and narrow station spacing, areal time-term surveys, detailed deep reflection experiments, very long-range refraction studies and the analysis of surface wave dispersion between stations of the Canadian Standard Network.

A review of the published interpretation leads to the general conclusion that:

1. (1) P_n-velocities vary from a value possibly as low as 7.7 km/sec under Vancouver Island to 8.6 km/sec and higher in the extreme eastern part of the shield and some parts of the Atlantic coast.

2. (2) Large areas of Canada have a crustal thickness of 30–40 km, with Vancouver Island, the southwestern Prairies, the Lake Superior basin and parts of the eastern shield of Quebec being thicker. No continental area in Canada is known to have a crust thinner than 29 km.

3. (3) The Riel discontinuity — a deep intra-crustal reflector and sometime refractor, is widely reported in the Prairies and Manitoba. It is not seen to the north in the vicinity of Great Slave Lake, nor in the Hudson Bay, Lake Superior and Maritime regions, nor in the interior of British Columbia. It may be present in some areas of the eastern shield.

4. (4) As experiments have become more detailed, crustal structures of greater complexity have been revealed. The concept that crustal structure becomes simpler with increasing depth is apparently unfounded.

Long-range refraction studies suggest that the Gutenberg P-wave low-velocity channel is poorly developed under the Canadian Shield. The analysis of the dispersion of surface waves, however, suggests that the channel is better developed for S-waves, and is present throughout the country. The lid of the channel is deepest under the central shield and shallowest under the Cordillera.     

Horizontal inhomogeneities in the upper mantle of the carpathians and caucasus

The travel-times of waves coming from distant earthquakes, recorded by seismological stations in the Carpathians and the Caucasus were used to construct a model of horizontal inhomogeneities in the upper layer of the mantle in these regions. In comparison with the adjoining platform, the East Carpathians are characterized by higher velocity, the South Carpathians and the Carpathian foredeep by lower velocity, while the West Carpathians have a velocity similar to that of the platform. The Vrinci earthquakes originate in the high-velocity block of the East Carpathians, at its boundary with the low-velocity block of the South Carpathians. The Caucasian territory can be divided into several different mantle blocks. The western part of the Great Caucasus has a higher velocity. A submeridional belt of low velocities, extending west of the line Piatigorsk—Tiflis, has been determined; the belt passes through the Stavropol part of the Great Caucasus, the Transcaucasian central massif and part of the Little Caucasus. More to the east there extends a parallel belt of greater velocities, which also intersects a series of different structures. In the East Caucasus, a low-velocity block has been established in the Caucasian foredeep and the Great Caucasus regions; the boundary between this block and a high-velocity block lying west of it passes through the Caspian Sea.The mantle earthquakes of 1935 occurring NE of Derbent seem to be connected with this boundary. The low-velocity region of the mantle also exists in the Caspian Sea, in the vicinity of the Apsheron Peninsula. A relationship between the determined velocity variations and other geophysical fields has been discussed; some known gravity anomalies in the Caucasus, interpreted as being connected with the earth's crust, are believed to be due to the vertical inhomogeneities of density in the upper mantle.     

Rheology of Indian continental crust and upper mantle

A rheological model of the Indian shield has been constructed using the thermal structure derived from available surface heat flow and heat generation data and the flow properties of characteristic minerals and rocks like quartz, diabase and olivine which respectively represent the upper crust, lower crust and upper mantle. Lateral variations in the thicknesses of the brittle and ductile crust and of the brittle upper mantle have thus been obtained for different tectonic environments. Implications of these results to interpretation of the seismic structure of the Indian shield have been pointed out.     

Thermal structure of the crust and upper mantle of Romania

A synthesis of the heat-flow data for Romania enabled a study of the thermal regime of the crust and upper mantle to be made. This showed lateral thermal differences between various tectonic units. The thermal structure of the crust and upper mantle appears to be mainly the result of mantle convection and plate interaction in the studied area.     

Viscosity and dynamic processes in the crust and upper mantle

A mechanism responsible for the “range-basin” topography is suggested, on the assumption of a high (fluid)viscosity of the asthenosphere, and hence a significant difference between the densities on either side of the Benioff surface sufficient for a development of the vertical component of the pressure against the lithosphere.– V. P. Sokoloff.     

The crust and upper mantle of the Sulu UHPM belt

All results from integrated geophysical investigations in the Sulu region are summarized in this paper, trying to reconstruct the Sulu UHPM processes. New seismic S-wave tomographic results suggest a velocity-abnormal zone occurs beneath the Sulu crust, revealing detailed upper mantle structures that high-velocity lumps within the abnormal zone are sequentially distributed beneath the bottom of the asthenosphere. These high-velocity lumps might represent delaminated eclogites or residuals of the subducted oceanic plate. Based on integrated interpretation of the geophysical data, we propose a working model for tectonic reconstruction of the Sulu UHPM processes, which can explain the crust and upper mantle structures of the area. The involved tectonic processes are related to north-eastward escaping of the Sulu terrane, subduction and delamination cycles of the Dabie-Sulu oceanic plate, and post-orogenic lithospheric thinning and magma underplating. The UHPM rocks are believed to have syn-subduction delaminated down to the bottom of the asthenosphere during 245-180 Ma, and the delamination process seemed smooth and nearly continuous without extensive violence.     

Tectonosphere of the Earth: upper mantle and crust interaction

The endogenic geological processes, which include tectonic, magmatic and metamorphic processes, form regular combinations called endogenic regimes. These regimes are: géosynclinal, orogenic, platform, rift, tectonic-magmatic activation (diwa), taphrogenic, plateau-basalt, oceanic basins and mid-oceanic ridges. The endogenic regimes are connected with the peculiarities of the structure, composition and state of the entire tectonosphere, i.e. not only of the crust but of the upper mantle as well.

Heat flow is a major factor controlling the type of the regime. The other conditions are the temperature distribution in the tectonosphere and the degree and type of penetrability of the tectonosphere to melts and fluids. There is a certain regular succession of regimes. The structural evolution of the tectonosphere and the transformation of the matter in it are in close relationship.

The main trend in the development of the tectonospheric material is directed towards geochemical depletion of the upper mantle by fractioning. At the initial stages, fractioning occurred mostly by degassing, and under these conditions the continental crust was formed, rich in non-compatible elements. At that stage the calc-alkaline magmas prevailed. As the upper mantle was depleted and began to lose its volatiles, the mechanism of fractioning changed: degassing was substituted for selective melting, and in this environment most of the tholeiitic magmas were formed. This change in magma composition and in fractioning mechanism was combined with the destruction of the continental crust and the formation of the oceanic crust. The diwa regime and the rifts were the first steps in the destruction of continental crust. The stages that followed were represented by taphrogenic regimes at various levels. These kinds of regimes were manifested in deep continental and marine depressions, compensated and not compensated by sediments.

Taphrogenic regimes are advancing from the east and west onto the Eurasian continent: in the east they form marginal seas and cause subsidence of the eastern parts of the Chinese platform; in the west they produce collapses of the crust in the Mediterranean area.

The major crisis occurred between the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic and since that time the process of substitution of the continental crust by the oceanic crust has proceeded over increasingly large territories.

The evolution of the tectonosphere, instigated by the changes in its matter, was further complicated by temporal and spatial irregularities in deep heat escape, which caused the alternation of excited and quiescent endogenic regimes (tectonomagmatic periodicity) and their co-existence. The combination of all these phenomena creates the structural inhomogeneity of the Earth's crust at any stage of its history.     

P,S wave velocity model of the crust and upper most mantle of Albania region

This paper describes the one-dimensional (1D) velocity model computed by VELEST in the SEISAN seismic analysis system, inverting re-picked P-wave and S-wave arrival times recorded during 2002–2006 by the Albanian, Montenegro, Thessalonica and Macedonia seismic networks. The re-picked data yield P-wave and S-wave velocities proved to be more suitable compared to bulletin data for this detailed inversion study. Seismic phases recorded by the Albania seismic network and integrated with data from the Montenegro, Thessalonica and Macedonia networks are used to prepare the Albanian seismic bulletin. Earthquake hypocenters from the Albanian bulletins have also location errors that are negligible for civil protection purposes, large scale seismotectonic analyses and more accurate hypocentral determinations which are necessary for detailed seismotectonic and geodynamic studies.It was noted that the smoothness of the velocity variation increased with depth. A velocity of 5.5 km/s was calculated for the upper crust, 6.1 km/s was calculated for the middle crust and 6.9 km/s was computed for the lower crust. P wave velocity was 7.85 km/s at depth of 50 km and for the upper mantle it is 8.28 km/s. Using the improved velocity model, the earthquakes which occurred in Albania in the past 5 years were able to be relocated, achieving constrained hypocentral determinations for events in Albania. The interpretation of the 1 D velocity models infers interesting features of the deep structure of Albania. These results represent an important step towards more detailed seismotectonic analyses.     

New data on relationship between earth's crust and upper mantle

New data on velocities of elastic waves in rocks and minerals under pressures, anisotropism of elastic properties of monocrysts, oceanic volcanism, deep seismic profiles, isotopic composition of strontium and distribution-abundance of Sr⁸⁷ in ancient and in young rocks, and others, tend to show that the "M" discontinuity is but an expression of the state of compaction of the rocks, devoid of any petrographic or geochemical connotations, that the sialitic shell of the Earth, with its heterogeneities, extends to depths exceeding 100 km (i.e. deeper than the "M"), and that the two types of the crust, "oceanic" and "continental," created by geophysicists, are actually one and the same type. Tentatively drawn analogies between the terrestrial and the lunar crust, on the assumption of a lunar origin of tektites, and the.crust of Mars, with regard to densities and planetary size relationships, are used as illustrations of the re-evaluated ratios between the crust and the upper mantle of the earth. — IGR Staff.     

Thermal and chemical heterogeneity of the upper mantle beneath the Baikal-Mongolia territory

Mineralogical, petrochemical, and geochemical characteristics and the crystallization conditions (T, P, and \(f_{O_2 } \)) of mantle xenoliths in alkaline basalts from the Baikal-Mongolia area indicated: (1) that the compositional heterogeneity of the mantle beneath southeastern and central parts of Mongolia, the Khamar-Daban, and Transbaikalia reflects variations in the degree of melting of the primitive mantle (10% and more for southeastern Mongolia, 0–15% for central Mongolia, and 0–10% for Transbaikalia and the Khamar-Daban) and, perhaps, also the compositional heterogeneity of the mantle source material; (2) the dependence of the concentrations of Y, Zr, Ti, Sc, and REE (from Nd to Lu) on the contents of major oxides (Al₂O₃ and MgO) and on their ratios (MgO/SiO₂ and Al₂O₃/MgO) in the xenoliths testifies that the distribution of trace elements and REE in the mantle was controlled by its partial melting; (3) the thermal state of the mantle varies beneath the Vitim area (geothermal gradient TG = 9.4 ± 0.3°C/km), central Mongolia (TG = 10.2 ± 0.2°C/km), and southeastern Mongolia (TG = 9.4 ± 0.3°C/km); (4) the Pb-Pb model age of the material represented by the primitive mantle xenoliths is 4457 ± 12 Ma and is consistent with the evaluated duration of the development of the core and its complementary primitive mantle calculated for the U-Th-Pb system (Galer and Golddstein, 1996).     

Rheological gravity model of the crust and upper mantle of Transbaikalia

Based on rheological interpretation of formalized gravity models, earlier known deep-seated structures in the Earth’s crust and mantle of Transbaikalia have been detailed and new ones discovered. The structures are asymmetric and transverse relative to the Baikal rift zone. Their presence explains the peculiar features of the Baikal rift, including the one-way southeasterly direction of horizontal displacement of tectonic masses and northwestern migration of the Earth’s crust extension processes. The prolonged history (more than 250 Ma) of the Baikal rift zone and Transbaikalia mountainous country involved gravity or rotational detachments of rigid tectonic slabs from the craton and their sliding along intracrustal and subcrustal decollement zones into the above-dome area of the Transbaikalia asthenolith.     

Average structure of the crust and upper mantle in East Africa

An average crust-mantle model has been derived for the East African Rift system based on a number of presently available seismic data. The inversion of experimentally determined spectral transfer ratios of long-period body waves recorded at stations AAE (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), NAI (Nairobi, Kenya) and LWI (Lwiro, Zaïre) requires at least a two-layer crust. Except for station AAE. the observed P-wave delays can be accounted for by differences in the deduced crustal structure. Phase- and group-velocity measurements of Rayleigh waves along the path AAE-NAI provide additional information on the gross structure of the crust and upper mantle. Only a well-developed asthenosphere channel can explain the observed surface-wave dispersion. It is shown that the average model MS-71 permits a satisfactory interpretation of all the data presented in this paper.     

Resistivity pattern of crust and upper mantle in Southern Urals

A resistivity model of the southern Urals to depths of 120 km was obtained by numerical simulation of natural- and controlled-source EM soundings at 160 kHz to 4⋅10⁻⁴ Hz. The structure of crust and upper mantle was imaged along a transect running ∼800 km across the East European Platform, the Ural foredeep, and the Ural mountains. The new data on geology and tectonics of the southern Urals enlarge the knowledge gained through URSEIS-95 reflection profiling along one of best representative cross-orogen profiles. We discovered a large conductor traceable to depths at least 100–120 km at the junction between the East European Platform and the Ural foredeep. It indicates that the Ural foredeep originated in a weak tectonic zone at the platform edge. The Ural orogen is imaged as a nearly bivergent structure to depths of 70–80 km producing a mosaic pattern of conductors rooted deep beneath the Magnitogorsk greenstone province and the granitic belt of the central East Ural uplift where it is 150 km wide at a depth of ∼120 km. We interpret the discovered deep roots in the context of the geological history of the Urals.     

A granite window to the lower electrical crust and upper mantle

The structure and properties of the deep crust and upper mantle can be investigated using magnetotelluric observations. Near-surface and upper crustal complexities may distort or limit the capability of the data to adequately resolve deep structure. Granite batholiths have been regarded as windows into the lower crust in the context of seismic reflection data although the granite bodies themselves are not usually detected. Magnetotelluric data from SW England are here used to demonstrate that, in addition to imaging the internal structure and base of a granite, the batholith itself provides a suitable environment for the effective estimation of the resistivity structure to lower crustal and upper mantle depths.     

Structure of the crust and upper mantle of the Black and Caspian Seas

Many geophysical characteristics of the Caspian and Black Seas' deep basins are similar, having: suboceanic type of the crust, low average seismic velocity, absence of earthquakes and relatively small variation of magnetic anomalies. However, the sediments in the Caspian Sea deep basin are folded whereas in the Black Sea they are approximately horizontal. The Caspian Sea also has a far greater thickness of sediment accumulation.

The deep basins of the Caspian, Black and Mediterranean seas represent a sequence having similar crustal structures but with a decreasing thickness of sediments and consolidated layer, in that order. It is possible that the intensive sinking and accumulation of sediments began earliest in the Caspian Sea and spreaded continuously to the Black Sea and then the Mediterranean Sea. The Caspian and Black Sea deep basins have existed for long time (perhaps from Paleozoic time or even earlier) as areas with a specific and related type of evolution.     

The problem of the mechanism of deformation of the crust and upper mantle

A tectonic interpretation of data on the mechanism of earthquake foci enables us to clarify the mechanism of deformation of the earth's crust and upper mantle. The association between the stressed state and the physicomechanical properties of the deformed material ts emphasized. The source of the tectonic deformations is considered to be gravitational differentiation of material of the deep parts of the mantle. —Authors.