The westward lithospheric drift,its role on the subduction and transform zones surrounding Americas:Andean to cordilleran orogenic types cyclicity

We investigate the effect of the westerly rotation of the lithosphere on the active margins that surround the Americas and find good correlations between the inferred easterly-directed mantle counterflow and the main structural grain and kinematics of the Andes and Sandwich arc slabs.In the Andes,the subduction zone is shallow and with low dip,because the mantle flow sustains the slab;the subduction hinge converges relative to the upper plate and generates an uplifting doubly verging orogen.The Sandwich Arc is generated by a westerly-directed SAM(South American) plate subduction where the eastward mantle flow is steepening and retreating the subduction zone.In this context,the slab hinge is retreating relative to the upper plate,generating the backarc basin and a low bathymetry single-verging accretionary prism.In Central America,the Caribbean plate presents a more complex scenario:(a) To the East,the Antilles Arc is generated by westerly directed subduction of the SAM plate,where the eastward mantle flow is steepening and retreating the subduction zone.(b) To the West,the Middle America Trench and Arc are generated by the easterly-directed subduction of the Cocos plate,where the shallow subduction caused by eastward mantle flow in its northern segment gradually steepens to the southern segment as it is infered by the preexisting westerly-directed subduction of the Caribbean Plateau.In the frame of the westerly lithospheric flow,the subduction of a divergent active ridge plays the role of introducing a change in the oceanic/continental plate's convergence angle,such as in NAM(North American)plate with the collision with the Pacific/Farallon active ridge in the Neogene(Cordilleran orogenic type scenario).The easterly mantle drift sustains strong plate coupling along NAM,showing at Juan de Fuca easterly subducting microplate that the subduction hinge advances relative to the upper plate.This lower/upper plate convergence coupling also applies along strike to the neighbor continental strike slip fault systems where subduction was terminated(San Andreas and Queen Charlotte).The lower/upper plate convergence coupling enables the capture of the continental plate ribbons of Baja California and Yakutat terrane by the Pacific oceanic plate,transporting them along the strike slip fault systems as para-autochthonous terranes.This Cordilleran orogenic type scenario,is also recorded in SAM following the collision with the Aluk/Farallon active ridge in the Paleogene,segmenting SAM margin into the eastwardly subducting Tupac Amaru microplate intercalated between the proto-LiquineOfqui and Atacama strike slip fault systems,where subduction was terminated and para-autochthonous terranes transported.In the Neogene,the convergence of Nazca plate with respect to SAM reinstalls subduction and the present Andean orogenic type scenario.     

The contemporary North Pangea supercontinent and the geodynamic causes of its formation

The supercontinental status of the contemporary aggregation of continents called North Pangea is substantiated. This supercontinent comprises all continents with the probable exception of Antarctica. In addition to the spatial contiguity of continents, the supercontinent is characterized by the prevalence of the continental crust that combines North America and Eurasia, Eurasia and Africa, and Eurasia and Australia. Over the course of the 300–250-Ma evolution from Wegener’s Pangea to contemporary North Pangea, the aggregation of continents has not lost its supercontinental status, despite modification of the supercontinent shape and opening and closure of the newly formed Paleotethys, Tethys, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. Over the last 250–300 Ma, all movements of the lithospheric plates have most likely occurred within the Indo-Atlantic segment of the Earth, whereas the Pacific segment has remained oceanic. In short, the formation of the North Pangea supercontinent can be outlined in the following terms. The long and deep subduction of the lithospheric plates beneath Eurasia and North America gave rise to the stabilization of the continents and accumulation of huge bodies of the cold lithosphere commensurable in volume with the upper mantle at the deeper mantle levels. This brought about compensation ascent of hot mantle (mantle plumes) near the convergent plate boundaries and far from them. A special geodynamic setting develops beneath the supercontinent. Due to encircling subduction of the lithospheric plates and related squeezing of the hot mantle, an ascending flow, or plume (superplume) formed beneath the central part of the supercontinent. In our view, the African superplume broke up Wegener’s Pangea in the Atlantic region, caused the opening of the Atlantic and Indian oceans, and migrated to the Arctic Region 53 Ma ago.     

长白山火山下方地幔转换带中滞留的俯冲太平洋板块存在空缺吗?

针对近年来长白山火山下方地幔转换带中是否存在低波速异常指示的太平洋板块"空缺"而引起的不同科学认识的热烈辩论,本文主要回顾了我国东北地区地幔转换带的体波成像结果。使用相对走时残差的远震体波成像结果显示,长白山火山以西地幔转换带中存在低波速异常指示的太平洋板块"空缺";而使用绝对走时残差的区域成像和全球成像结果,尽管展示出长白山火山以西比以东略低的波速异常,但长白山火山以东至我国东北重力梯度带区域下方的地幔转换带均展示出明显的连续的高波速异常。在接收函数分析时,如果以全球平均值660km而非我国东北地区平均值670km作为基准,来分析660km间断面是抬升还是下沉;以全球平均值250km而非我国东北地区平均值260km作为基准,来分析地幔转换带是增厚还是减薄的话,则可以得到长白山火山以东至我国东北重力梯度带区域660km间断面下沉与地幔转换带增厚的认识。这种与绝对走时残差成像结果展示的地幔转换带为连续的高波速异常结果相一致的结果,说明太平洋板块俯冲前缘已由日本海沟抵达我国东北松辽盆地与大兴安岭交界处。结合高温高压实验、数值模拟与岩石地球化学研究结果,本文并不支持长白山火山以西的地幔转换带存在低波速异常指示的板块"空缺"和地幔转换带"减薄"的认识。长白山火山的深部起源与太平洋板块深俯冲至我国东北松辽盆地与大兴安岭交界处形成的"大地幔楔"结构动力学相关。     

Recent volcanism in relation to plate interaction and deep-level geodynamics

The spatial distribution of recent (under 2 Ma) volcanism has been studied in relation to mantle hotspots and the evolution of the present-day supercontinent which we named Northern Pangea. Recent volcanism is observed in Eurasia, North and South America, Africa, Greenland, the Arctic, and the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Several types of volcanism are distinguished: mid-ocean ridge (MOR) volcanism; subduction volcanism of island arcs and active continental margins (IA + ACM); continental collision (CC) volcanism; intraplate (IP) volcanism related to mantle hotspots, continental rifts, and transcontinental belts. Continental volcanism is obviously related to the evolution of Northern Pangea, which comprises Eurasia, North and South America, India, Australia, and Africa. The supercontinent is large, with predominant continental crust. The geodynamic setting and recent volcanism of Northern Pangea are determined by two opposite processes. On one hand, subduction from the Pacific Ocean, India, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa consolidates the supercontinent. On the other hand, the spreading of oceanic plates from the Atlantic splits Northern Pangea, changes its shape as compared with Wegener’s Pangea, and causes the Atlantic geodynamics to spread to the Arctic. The long-lasting steady subduction beneath Eurasia and North America favored intense IA + ACM volcanism. Also, it caused cold lithosphere to accumulate in the deep mantle in northern Northern Pangea and replace the hot deep mantle, which was pressed to the supercontinental margins. Later on, this mantle rose as plumes (IP mafic magma sources), which were the ascending currents of global mantle convection and minor convection systems at convergent plate boundaries. Wegener’s Pangea broke up because of the African superplume, which occupied consecutively the Central Atlantic, the South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean and expanded toward the Arctic. Intraplate plume magmatism in Eurasia and North America was accompanied by surface collisional or subduction magmatism. In the Atlantic, Arctic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, deep-level plume magmatism (high-alkali mafic rocks) was accompanied by surface spreading magmatism (tholeiitic basalts).     

Mantle peridotites from the Western Pacific

We review petrographical and petrological characteristics of mantle peridotite xenoliths from the Western Pacific to construct a petrologic model of the lithospheric mantle beneath the convergent plate boundary. The peridotite varies from highly depleted spinel harzburgite of low-pressure origin at the volcanic front of active arcs (Avacha of Kamchatka arc and Iraya of Luzon–Taiwan arc) to fertile spinel lherzolite of high-pressure origin at the Eurasian continental margin (from Sikhote-Alin through Korea to eastern China) through intermediate lherzolite–harzburgite at backarc side of Japan island arcs. Oxygen fugacity recorded by the peridotite xenoliths decreases from the frontal side of arc to the continental margin. The sub-arc type peridotite is expected to exist beneath the continental margin if accretion of island arc is one of the important processes for continental growth. Its absence suggests replacement by the continental lherzolite at the region of backarc to continental margin. Asthenospheric upwelling beneath the continental region, which has frequently occurred at the Western Pacific, has replaced depleted sub-cratonic peridotite with the fertile spinel lherzolite. Some of these mantle diapirs had opened backarc basins and strongly modified the lithospheric upper mantle by metasomatism and formation of Group II pyroxenites.     

Magmatic evolution of a dying spreading axis: Evidence for the interaction of tectonics and mantle heterogeneity from the fossil Phoenix Ridge,Drake Passage

New ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar ages of 5.6 to 1.3 Ma for lavas from the fossil Phoenix Ridge in the Drake Passage show that magmatism continued for at least 2 Ma after the cessation of spreading at 3.3 ± 0.2 Ma. The Phoenix Ridge lavas are incompatible element-enriched relative to average MORB and show an increasing enrichment with decreasing age, corresponding to progressively decreasing degrees of partial melting of spinel peridotite after spreading stopped. The low-degree partial melts increasingly tap a mantle source with radiogenic Sr and Pb but unradiogenic Nd isotope ratios implying an ancient enrichment. The post-spreading magmas apparently form by buoyant ascent of enriched and easily fusible portions of the upper mantle. Only segments of fossil spreading ridges underlain by such enriched and fertile mantle show post-spreading volcanism frequently forming bathymetric highs. The Phoenix Ridge lavas belong to the Pacific, rather than the Atlantic, mantle domain in regional Sr–Nd–Pb space. Our new data show that the southern Pacific Ocean mantle is heterogeneous containing significant enriched portions that are preferentially tapped at low melt fractions. Isotopic mapping reveals that Pacific-type upper mantle flows eastward through Drake Passage and surrounds the subducting Phoenix Plate beneath the Bransfield Basin.     

Highly depleted oceanic lithosphere in the Rheic Ocean: Implications for Paleozoic plate reconstructions

The Rheic Ocean formed at ca. 500 Ma, when several peri-Gondwanan terranes (e.g. Avalonia and Carolinia) drifted from the northern margin of Gondwana, and were consumed during the Late Carboniferous collision between Laurussia and Gondwana, a key event in the formation of Pangea. Several mafic complexes ranging in age from ca. 400–330 Ma preserve many of the lithotectonic and/or chemical characteristics of ophiolites. They are characterized by anomalously high εNd values that are typically either between or above the widely accepted model depleted mantle curves. These data indicate derivation from a highly depleted (HD) mantle and imply that (i) the mantle source of these complexes displays time-integrated depletion in Nd relative to Sm, and (ii) depletion is the result of an earlier melting event in the mantle from which basalt was extracted. The extent of mantle depletion indicates that this melting event occurred in the Neoproterozoic, possibly up to 500 million years before the Rheic Ocean formed. If so, the mantle lithosphere that gave rise to the Rheic Ocean mafic complexes must have been captured from an adjacent, older oceanic tract. The transfer of this captured lithosphere to the upper plate enabled it to become preferentially preserved. Possible Mesozoic–Cenozoic analogues include the capture of the Caribbean plate or the Scotia plate from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceanic realm. Our model implies that virtually all of the oceanic lithosphere generated during the opening phase of the Rheic Ocean was consumed by subduction during Laurentia–Gondwana convergence.     

Tectonic denudation of the upper mantle along passive margins: a model based on drilling results (ODP leg 103, western Galicia margin,Spain)

During ODP Leg 103, serpentinized peridotite (clinopyroxene-spinel harzburgite) was cored within the basement approximatively at the boundary between the North Atlantic oceanic curst to the west, and the thinned continental crust of the Galicia passive margin (Spain) to the east. The exposure of mantle derived peridotite on the seafloor occurred at the end of the period of rifting, roughly 110 Ma ago. Ductile shear zones observed in the cored peridotite are consistent with movements along a deep low-angle, normal fault rooted within the upper mantle and dipping eastward, beneath the Galicia margin. To explain the tectonic denudation of the mantle at the ocean-continent boundary, we use a non-uniform stretching model for the lithosphere, set up from the Wernicke's model (1985).     

全球幔源岩Pb-Sr-Nd同位素体系

根据各种同位素数据库得到的3万多个晚古生代以来的幔源岩(包括洋中脊玄武岩、洋岛玄武岩、岛弧火山岩、大陆与大洋溢流玄武岩以及大陆板内玄武岩)Pb-Sr-Nd同位素资料和图解分析,对各类火山岩的源区以及地幔的垂向与横向不均一性问题作了进一步讨论。笔者认为不存在具有公共性质的EM1、EM2和HIMU地幔端员,它们的源区可能来自上、下地幔过渡带,只在局部地区出现,独一无二。PREMA(FOZO)则是洋岛玄武岩和溢流玄武岩公共端员。DUAPAL异常现象不只是在洋中脊玄武岩中出现,在洋岛玄武岩、岛弧火山岩和大洋溢流玄武岩中也存在同步的地球化学分区现象。溢流玄武岩的同位素体系特征表明它们的源区涉及再循环地幔的壳幔混合、岩石圈减压熔融、上—下地幔过渡带和似原始-略亏损的下地幔。Pb同位素体系为鉴别俯冲带的存在提供了更严格的证据,这种鉴别表明,安第斯弧火山作用不是洋陆俯冲带产生的。     

Radiating 1.0 Ga Mafic Dyke Swarms of Eastern Brazil and Western Africa: Evidence of Post-Assembly Extension in the Rodinia Supercontinent?

Several mafic dyke swarms of similar composition and age (tholeiite- ca.1.0 Ga) occur on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in eastern South America and western Africa. When assembled to their pre-drift position in the Mesozoic, the Brazilian coastal dyke province of Bahia, and the African dykes in Cameroun (Ebolowa suite) and Congo (Comba and Sembe-Ouesso provinces) define a giant radiating pattern (1200 km × 800 km) similar to other dyke swarms elsewhere associated with large-scale continental rifting. Magma flow indicators of the Brazilian dykes and branching propagation styles of their African counterparts indicate that the dyke conduits were fed with magmas diverging from a source beneath the long axis of the Meso-Neoproterozoic West-Congolian Basin in Africa. There, MORB-like metabasalts have been described in the La Bikossi Group of the Mayombian Supergroup. Whether the rifting event and intrusion of dyke swarms were triggered or not by a mantle plume beneath part of the Rodinia subcontinental lithosphere remain to be confirmed.     

Derivation of the Chortis and Chiapas blocks from the western Gulf of Mexico in the latest Cretaceous–Cenozoic: the Pirate model

Currently, two basic models describe the genesis of the Caribbean Plate: (i) a Pacific model that derives the Caribbean Plate off southern Mexico and (ii) an in situ model. The Pacific model requires the 1100–1400 km sinistral displacement recorded across the Cayman Trough to pass through the Gulf of Tehuantepec into the Middle America Trench, but no evidence of such a connection exists. The in situ model is inconsistent with the 1100–1400 km displacement across the Cayman Trough. A way through this impasse is indicated by the northwestward curvature of active oblique reverse to sinistral transcurrent faulting in southeast Mexico. Extending this potential solution back to ca. 80 Ma forms the basis of the new Pirate model, in which the Caribbean Plate and the Chortis and Chiapas blocks are derived from the northwest by anticlockwise rotation during the latest Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Following passage of the Chortis Block, the northern and southern parts of the Yucatan block collided along the intra-Yucatan suture, producing the 11–9 Ma Chiapas fold-and-thrust belt. The Pirate model accounts for the N-trending segment of the Laramide Sierra Madre Oriental–Zongolica foldbelts by anticlockwise drag, Palaeogene palaeocanyons, the second, 66–40 Ma phase of rifting in the western Gulf of Mexico, and post-10 Ma extension in the Chortis Block (Chortis–Sula rift province). Impingement of the East Pacific Rise on the Middle America Trench led to modification of the Pirate model involving subduction erosion of the ～200 km-wide, Eocene–Oligocene forearc at ca. 25 Ma, opening of the Gulf of California at ca. 6 Ma, and birth and ESE movement of the Southern Mexico block (<5 Ma) followed by its fragmentation. The Pirate mechanism indicates that the North American Plate is relatively weak and so tears and rotates into the trailing edge of the Caribbean Plate.     

玄武岩浆起源和演化的一些基本概念以及对中国东部中-新生代基性火山岩成因的新思路

以全球大地构造为背景讨论了玄武岩浆起源和演化的一些基本概念.这些概念的正确理解有助于合理解释各种环境中火成岩的形成机制,也有助于依据野外岩石组合来判别古构造环境.在此基础上结合已有资料和观察,对中国东部中生代岩石圈减薄及中-新生代基性火山岩成因提出了一些新解释.这些解释与地质观察相吻合,且符合基本的物理学原理.虽然中国东部基性火山活动可称为"板内"火山活动,但它实际上是板块构造的特殊产物.中国东部中生代岩石圈减薄是其下部被改造为软流层的缘故.这种改造是加水"软化"所致.水则源于中国东部地幔过渡带(410～660 km)内古太平洋(或其前身)俯冲板块脱水作用.其将岩石圈底部改造为软流层的过程,实际上就是岩石圈减薄的过程.因为软流层是地幔对流的重要部分,而大陆岩石圈则不直接参与地幔对流.中生代玄武岩具有εNd＜0的特征,说明其源于新近改造而成的软流层,亦即原古老岩石圈之底部.中国大陆北北东-南南西向的海拔梯度突变界线与东-西部重力异常,陆壳厚度变化,以及地幔地震波速变化梯度吻合.因此可将北北东-南南西向梯度线称为"东-西梯度界".该界东-西海拔高差(西部高原与东部丘陵平原),陆壳厚度差异(西部厚而东部薄)和100～150 km的深度范围地幔地震波速差异(西部快而东部慢),均受控于上地幔重力均衡原理.这表明西部高原岩石圈厚度＞150～200 km,而东部丘陵平原岩石圈厚度＜80km."遥远"的西太平洋俯冲带具有自然的地幔楔吸引作用.此吸引作用可引起中国东部"新生"软流层东流.软流层东流必将引起西部高原底部软流层的东向补给(流动).这一过程必然导致东移软流层的减压,即从西部的深源(岩石圈深度＞150～200 km处)到东部的浅源(岩石圈深度～80km处).东移软流层的减压分熔可合理解释具有软流圈地球化学特征(εNd＞0)的新生代中国东部基性火山活动及玄武岩的成因.这些对中国东部中-新生代地质过程的解释,将为更加细致的,以岩石学和地球化学为主的讨论所验证.     

U–Pb zircon dating of post-obduction volcanic-arc granitoids and a granulite-facies xenolith from New Caledonia. Inference on Southwest Pacific geodynamic models

In New Caledonia, the occurrence of one of the World’s largest and best-exposed subduction/obduction complex is a key point for the understanding of the geodynamic evolution of the whole Southwest Pacific region. Within the ophiolite, pre-and post-obduction granitoids intrude the ultramafic allochthon and provide new time constraints for the understanding of obduction processes. At 27.4 Ma, a new East-dipping subduction generated the active margin magmatism along the western coast of the island (Saint-Louis massif). At 24.3 Ma, the eastward shift of the magma activity and slightly different geochemical features (Koum-Borindi massif) was either related to the older slab break-off; or alternatively, due to the eastward migration of the mantle wedge following the collision of the eastern margin of the Low Howe rise. Finally, the occurrence of a granulite-facies xenolith in the Koum-Borindi massif with comparable 24.5 Ma U–Pb zircon age and isotopic features (initial ε_Nd = 5.1) suggests that these evolved magmas were generated within the lithospheric mantle beneath a continental crust of normal thickness. Geochronological evidence for continuous convergence during the Oligocene infers an East-dipping Eocene-Oligocene subduction/obduction system to have existed in the Southwest Pacific from the d’Entrecasteaux zone to the North Island of New Zealand.     

Geochemical and Nd–Pb isotopic characteristics of the Tethyan asthenosphere: implications for the origin of the Indian Ocean mantle domain

It is unclear why the Pb, Nd, and Sr isotopic composition of the modern mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) from the Indian Ocean is different from that of the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. A possible explanation for this is that the Indian MORB-type isotopic signature is a long-lived regional feature of the mantle, as evidently shown by the isotopic composition of the 350 Ma MORB-like Mian-Lue northern ophiolite, which was formed in the same region presently occupied by the Indian Ocean. However, this hypothesis is in conflict with the lack of Indian MORB-type isotopic signature in a number of 150 Ma Tethyan and Indian Ocean crusts. To further constrain the origin of the Indian MORB-type isotopic signature, we analyze the geochemical and Pb, Nd, and Sr isotopic composition of representative mafic rocks from four Tethyan ophiolites ranging in age from 90 to 360 Ma. The Sr isotopic composition of the samples is unreliable due to alteration, but the age-corrected Nd and Pb isotopic ratios and geochemical data indicate that these Tethyan rocks were derived from a geochemically depleted asthenospheric source that had a clear Indian MORB-type isotopic signature. We therefore conclude that the bulk of the Indian suboceanic mantle was most probably inherited from the Tethyan asthenosphere. A few regions in both the Tethyan and Indian Oceans, however, are most probably underlain by Pacific and North Atlantic MORB-type mantle (and vice-versa) because of the flow of the asthenosphere in response to tectonic plate reorganizations that lead to openings and closures of ocean basins. The Indian MORB-type isotopic signature of the western Pacific marginal basin crusts could be due to either flow of the Indian Ocean mantle into the western Pacific or to endogenous production of such an isotopic signature from delaminated East-Asian sublithospheric materials during closure of the Tethys Ocean.     

吉林东部大蒲柴河adakites锆石U-Pb年龄、Hf同位素特征及其意义

地球化学研究表明,大蒲柴河岩体具有典型的埃达克岩特征,来自加厚下地壳的部分熔融作用.本文采用激光等离子质谱对该岩体进行了U-Pb同位素定年,结果表明该岩体为晚侏罗世(165Ma)岩浆活动的产物.锆石的LA-MC-ICPMS Hf同位素研究结果显示,ε_(Hf)(165Ma)范围为-5.02～5.43,二阶段Hf模式年龄(t_(DM2))范围为965～1622Ma,暗示原始母岩浆为两种不同源区岩浆的混合.另外,Hf同位素研究表明,研究区在中-新元古代时(965～1304Ma)曾经历了一次重要的地壳增生事件.     

Tectonics and magmatism in eastern South America and the Brazil basin of the Atlantic in the Phanerozoic

The magmatic and tectonic activity of eastern South America and the western South Atlantic shows that extension of the continental crust is the determinant factor of magmatism. Heating of the upper mantle is a necessary condition of its manifestation. Ascending plume material is a source of additional heat. In the Early Mesozoic, Eastern Brazil was situated above a large, ascending and probably ramifying plume, which has supplied heat and material since the Triassic, creating favorable conditions for continental magmatism. Magmatic activity continued, gradually waning, until the Neogene as evidence for long-term retention of heat energy beneath the continental lithosphere after the plume ascent. It has been shown that heated mantle material can be displaced from the continent to the ocean for a significant distance beneath the lithosphere with the formation of linear tectonomagmatic rises of the oceanic crust. The structural elements inherited certain directions on the continent and in the ocean, beginning from the Neoproterozoic. These directions were reactivated and continued to control the younger structural grain and magmatic activity. In Southeastern Brazil, these were the structural units striking in the southeastern (about 120° SE) and northeastern directions parallel to the continent-ocean boundary. In Northeastern Brazil, the W-E- and N—S-trending structural units are predominant. All these directions are manifested in oceanic structural units (Rio Grande, Vitória-Trindadi, Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco rises, etc.).     

Growth of the Andes by Rejuvenated Subduction

Subduction-zone magmatism became extensive along the west coast of South America during the Ordovician, soon after Gondwana was assembled. During the remainder of the Paleozoic and the early Mesozoic, eastward subduction of the Farallon plate led to emplacement of a succession of granitic and volcanic rocks. During the Cretaceous, when South America broke away from Africa and began moving independently toward the Pacific Basin, the resulting opposite motions of the South American and Farallon plates toward the subduction zone caused vigorous tectonic mountain building. But by the Oligocene, South America had advanced more than 2000 km beyond the position of the Cretaceous subduction zone's root in the lower mantle. The South American plate, moving westward over the subducting plate, pushed down and flattened the curved top of the subducting slab, as indicated by today's flattened earthquake zone under South America. I hypothesize that this flattening increased the subducting slab's resistance with the underlying lower mantle. Crustal deformation slowed, and the mountains built during the Cretaceous and later were eroded to a peneplane.

During the Oligocene, about 25 Ma, the Farallon plate broke into the Cocos and Nazca plates, and I suggest that along the west coast of South America a shear at a slope of about 30° cut through the subducting slab. The oceanic (Nazca) part of the slab then entered the lower mantle below the Andes with a steeper dip than before. As the newly sheared obtuse upper corner of the Nazca plate pushed eastward and downward, it buckled the rigid edge of the continent and began the folding and thrusting of the Andean (Quechua) orogeny. The orogeny continues, but earthquake foci indicate that as South America continues to move westward, the subduction zone once again is flattening; in the future we can expect the Nazca slab to shear once more and its new wedge-shaped end to enter the lower mantle again.     

智利北部—阿根廷西北部两类斑岩铜矿成矿方式

智利北部和阿根廷西北部的中新生代斑岩铜矿形成于古生代地体拼贴造山带背景。随着大西洋的张开,南美大陆向西漂移,中新生代期间,南美克拉通块体俯冲到古生代造山带之下形成加厚或双倍地壳。智利北部作为南美活动大陆边缘的组成部分,不断"吞食"向东俯冲的太平洋（纳斯卡）板块,斑岩铜矿成矿作用发生在俯冲板块断离后导致的大规模岩浆活动,并沿再活化岩石圈不连续（先存的古生代拼接带、区域断裂）反复就位,形成安第斯型斑岩铜矿。阿根廷西北部大规模铜（金、钼）成矿与加厚的造山带垮塌有关,大规模成矿受控于造山岩石圈去根、软流圈物质和热上涌引发的大规模岩浆活动。总体而言,智利北部、阿根廷西北部安第斯型和造山带垮塌型斑岩铜矿,乃至南美安第斯山铜（金）矿成矿带形成,与中新生代以来南美大陆向西漂移、大西洋张开事件关系密切。     

亚洲东部“大三角”地震构造区的周边和深部动力环境

亚洲东部存在一个巨大的三角形地震构造区域,大体上,喜马拉雅山脉、帕米尔—天山—阿尔泰山—贝加尔和东经105°线是它的3个边界,主要覆盖中国和蒙古国西部众多高原、山脉及山间盆地。三角区内现今构造活动和地震广泛强烈,地壳破碎,显示不均匀的块体边界和块内变形;区外基本上是稳定的刚性陆块,地震很少,变形较弱,处于整体缓慢运动之中。这个宽阔的板内变形区起源于印度、菲律宾海—西太平洋和欧亚三大板块之间的动力作用以及深部地幔流的影响。向北快速运动的印度次大陆已近水平地插入到西藏板块下,沿喜马拉雅弧产生多种运动和变形,并向亚洲内部远距离地扩散。沿东经95°～100°,向北的地壳运动向东和东南方向偏转,阻截了喜马拉雅弧东端的北向运动;而在喜马拉雅弧西端,帕米尔继续向北挤进中亚,受天山—阿尔泰山—贝加尔一线西北側稳定地壳的限制,扩散的变形被中国、蒙古、俄罗斯边境地区一系列EW向和NW向的老断层吸收并在它们的西端终止。菲律宾海—西太平洋向欧亚大陆的消减-俯冲导致沿海沟-岛弧的漫长而狭窄的地震带,但对亚洲大陆的水平挤压较小,未能阻挡亚洲大陆东部向东移动。其部分原因可能是俯冲板片受到来自欧亚大陆下的ES向地幔流的推挤,这个ES向地幔流与来自印度下面的N向地幔流在西藏中部汇合并向东偏转,在大尺度上与GPS观测到的地表移动图像一致。     

Upper mantle structure of the South American continent and neighboring oceans from surface wave tomography

We present a new three-dimensional SV-wave velocity model for the upper mantle beneath South America and the surrounding oceans, built from the waveform inversion of 5850 Rayleigh wave seismograms. The dense path coverage and the use of higher modes to supplement the fundamental mode of surface waves allow us to constrain seismic heterogeneities with horizontal wavelengths of a few hundred kilometres in the uppermost 400 km of the mantle.The large scale features of our tomographic model confirm previous results from global and regional tomographic studies (e.g. the depth extent of the high velocity cratonic roots down to about 200–250 km).Several new features are highlighted in our model. Down to 100 km depth, the high velocity lid beneath the Amazonian craton is separated in two parts associated with the Guyana and Guapore shields, suggesting that the rifting episode responsible for the formation of the Amazon basin has involved a significant part of the lithosphere. Along the Andean subduction belt, the structure of the high velocity anomaly associated with the sudbduction of the Nazca plate beneath the South American plate reflects the along-strike variation in dip of the subducting plate. Slow velocities are observed down to about 100 km and 150 km at the intersection of the Carnegie and Chile ridges with the continent and are likely to represent the thermal anomalies associated with the subducted ridges. These lowered velocities might correspond to zones of weakness in the subducted plate and may have led to the formation of “slab windows” developed through unzipping of the subducted ridges; these windows might accommodate a transfer of asthenospheric mantle from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean. From 150 to 250 km depth, the subducting Nazca plate is associated with high seismic velocities between 5°S and 37°S. We find high seismic velocities beneath the Paraná basin down to about 200 km depth, underlain by a low velocity anomaly in the depth range 200–400 km located beneath the Ponta Grossa arc at the southern tip of the basin. This high velocity anomaly is located southward of a narrow S-wave low velocity structure observed between 200 and 500–600 km depth in body wave studies, but irresolvable with our long period datasets. Both anomalies point to a model in which several, possibly diachronous, plumes have risen to the surface to generate the Paraná large igneous province (LIP).