A simple model for thermal instability in the asthenosphere

Summary. Motion of the lithosphere over a low viscosity asthenosphere concentrates shear and thus energy dissipation in the asthenosphere. This heat source warms the asthenosphere and, in extreme circumstances, may lead to thermal instabilities. The conditions for thermal stability have been investigated by Melosh who supposed that constant stress acted on the plate, and by Yuen & Schubert who assumed constant velocity boundary conditions. In this paper we investigate a simple analytical model which behaves qualitatively like the more complex systems. This model reproduces the results of Melosh for constant stress and of Yuen & Schubert for constant velocity. The velocity—shear stress characteristic curve for this model shows three branches. The stability of solutions on each branch is a function of the boundary conditions, whether constant stress or constant velocity. The simplicity of the model allows us to investigate stability when neither constant stress nor constant velocity apply and to study the structure of the solutions as these limits are approached. A relation between the velocity of a plate and the driving force is constructed. A loading-line analysis specifies the actual stress and velocity of the plate. Although the solutions are unique for many combinations of the loading-line parameters, there is a region of multiple solutions. These solutions exhibit the characteristics of a 'cusp catastrophe' both a low velocity and a high velocity state are stable, while an intermediate state is unstable. Continental lithosphere may lie in this region, leading to epirogenic movements when the plate changes its velocity with respect to the mantle. Oceanic lithosphere almost certainly moves in the low velocity state.     

A dislocation model of microplate boundary ruptures n the presence of a viscoelastic asthenosphere

Summary. A microplate is modelled as an elastic plate with two long strike-slip boundaries, lying over a Maxwell-type viscoelastic asthenosphere. The microplate is subjected to a constant and uniform shear strain rate by the opposite motions of two adjoining larger plates. After the occurrence of an earthquake at one of the microplate boundaries, the time evolution of shear stress at the other boundary is studied. It is found that stress build-up at the second boundary is delayed due to stress diffusion governed by the asthenosphere relaxation. Earthquake occurrence at this latter boundary would be delayed depending upon both the microplate width and the ratio between the Maxwell relaxation time of the asthenosphere and a characteristic time required for tectonic strain to recover rupture conditions. It turns out that the parameters which determine the occurrence of seismic activity along the microplate boundaries are more strictly constrained in the presence of a viscoelastic asthenosphere than in the case of an elastic half-pace model.     

Implications of stress concentration on a strike-slip fault in an elastic plate subject to basal shear stress

Summary We consider a long strike-slip fault in a lithosphere modelled as an elastic slab. To the base of the slab a shear stress distribution is applied which simulates the viscous drag exerted by the asthenosphere. The resulant stress on the fault plane may directly fracture the lithosphere in its brittle upper portion; alternatively it may give rise at first to a stable aseismic sliding in the lower portion. In the latter case, stress concentration due to the deep aseismic slip is the relevant feature of the pre-seismic stress acting on the upper section of the lithosphere. The two cases are examined by use of dislocation theory and their observable effects compared. Different depths of the aseismic slip zone and the presence or absence of a uniform friction on the seismic fault are allowed for. If the model is applied to the San Andreas fault region, where a steady sliding condition actually seems to be present at shallow depth, it turns out that the slip amplitudes commonly associated with large earthquakes are consistent with average basal stress values which can be substantially lower than a few bars, a value often quoted as the steady state basal stress due to a velocity gradient in the upper asthenosphere.     

Ductile shear zones: some aspects of constant slip velocity and constant shear stress models

Summary The thermomechanical differential equations governing deformation in viscous shear zones have been solved for both constant velocity and constant stress boundary conditions. The solutions show that the inertial term in these equations can be neglected everywhere.
The starting condition of the constant velocity model has been shown to be a constant velocity gradient and not a Heaviside function. The temperature anomaly produced by shear heating at the centre of the shear zone is shown to increase gradually and continuously with time, not reaching an asymptotic value. Conclusions for the constant velocity boundary condition are otherwise generally similar to those presented by Yuen et al , and agree with Fleitout & Froidevaux. The temperatures reached by constant velocity shears are sufficient for partial melting.
Constant stress boundary condition shear zone models show an initially broad shear zone with uniform shear velocity gradient. Depending on the level of applied shear stress and ambient temperature, localized intense shear heating may develop followed by thermal runaway. At lower ambient temperatures relatively high stresses are required to produce thermal runaway.
The broadening of the constant velocity shear zone proceeds more rapidly with increased ambient temperature. This can be used to show that shear zones broaden with depth. The merging of parallel shear zone pairs has been investigated and shear zones separated by distances of less than 10km coalesce to form a single shear zone within 3 Myr. Only shear zones separated by 50km or more remain distinct over periods of tens of millions of years.     

Orogenic volcanism caused by thermal runaways?

Summary. Quartz eclogite as source rock seems capable of explaining the chemistry of calc-alkaline volcanics. This model requires partial melting of quartz eclogite in the depth range 100–200 km. Shear heating of the subducting crust is one of the most debated models. The problem may be treated with two different boundary conditions: constant strain rate or constant shear stress. In the former case an increase in temperature tends to reduce the heat production thus stabilizing the shear flow; the result is a moderate increase in temperature which will remain constant during flow. The latter case may lead to a thermal feedback instability and thus temperature and strain rate may suddenly grow to very high values. This phenomenon is termed a runaway and will be discussed in this paper using an adiabatic approximation. It is shown that for a runaway to occur the local energy density must amount to a common value independent of the rheology. In contrast to the constant strain rate case, shear heating is negligible until just before the instability occurs. When the melting point is reached shear stress will break down but the stored local energy will be set free and supply the latent heat of melting. The possibility of a runaway occurring is strongly dependent on the ambient temperature. In subduction shear zones neither shear stress nor strain rate are likely to be constant throughout, but if the former is constant or changes little on a 1–10 km scale a runaway is liable to occur at a depth of around 150 km thus possibly being the cause of calcalkaline volcanism.     

A Wind Tunnel Investigation of the Shear Stress with A Blowing Sand Cloud

In a blowing sand system,the wind provides the driving forces for the particle movement while the moving particles exert the opposite forces to the wind by extracting its momentum.The wind-sand interaction that can be characterized by shear stress and force exerted on the wind by moving particles results in the modification of wind profiles.Detailed wind pro-files re-adapted to blown sand movement are measured in a wind tunnel for different grain size populations and at differ-ent free-stream wind velocities.The shear stress with a blowing sand cloud and force exerted on the wind by moving par-ticles are calculated from the measured wind velocity profiles.The results suggest that the wind profiles with presence of blowing sand cloud assume convex-upward curves on the u(z)-ln(z) plot compared with the straight lines characterizing the velocity profiles of clean wind,and they can be better fitted by power function than log-linear function.The exponent of the power function ranging from 0.1 to 0.17 tends to increase with an increase in wind velocity but decrease with an increase in particle size.The force per unit volume exerted on the wind by blown sand drift that is calculated based on the empirical power functions for the wind velocity profiles is found to decrease with height.The particle-induced force makes the total shear stress with blowing sand cloud partitioned into air-borne stress that results from the wind velocity gradient and grain-borne stress that results from the upward or downward movement of particles.The air-borne stress in-creases with an increase in height,while the grain-borne stress decreases with an increase in height.The air-borne shear stress at the top of sand cloud layer increases with both wind velocity and grain size,implying that it increases with sand transport rate for a given grain size.The shear stress with a blowing sand cloud is also closely related to the sand transport rate.Both the total shear stress and grain-borne stress on the grain top is directly proportional to the squ     

Effectiveness of monsoon floods on the Tapi River, India: role of channel geometry and hydrologic regime

Geomorphic effects of floods are a function of several controlling factors, such as magnitude, frequency, rate of sediment movement, flood power, duration of effective flows, sequence of events and the channel geometry. In this paper, these measures of effectiveness have been evaluated for the monsoon-dominated, flood-controlled and incised Tapi River, India by defining four flow categories: low flows, moderate flows, floods and large floods. Ratios between effectiveness parameters of moderate flows on one hand and the floods, large floods and maximum floods on the other, were computed to understand the relative importance of moderate and large flows. In addition to this, stream-power graphs for large floods were constructed, and the changes in channel form were analyzed by using multi-date cross-sections. The results of the study indicate that the morphological characteristics of the bedrock as well as the alluvial channels of the monsoonal and incised Tapi River are maintained by large-magnitude, but low frequency floods that occur at long intervals. Because the channel is incised the effectiveness of large flows is accentuated. The incised channel form enhances the role of large floods by reducing the width–depth ratio, and by increasing the velocity as well as the energy per unit area. The low and moderate flows are superior to high-magnitude flows, only in terms of suspended sediment transport and frequency of occurrence. Another conclusion is that the suspended sediment carried by flows may not be the most appropriate criterion for measuring the geomorphic effectiveness of flows, particularly for monsoonal rivers.     

Regional vertical tectonics in the Eastern Mediterranean

Summary. New gravity observations from a systematic survey of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and from a reconnaissance land survey in Central and Western Turkey have been compiled with existing data. Lack of sufficient geological and geophysical information precludes an analysis of the local anomalies or crustal structure; however, implications of the topography and gravity field at long wavelengths have been examined. Negative free-air anomalies characterize almost the entire Eastern Mediterranean basin and positive anomalies predominate in Turkey and the Aegean Sea. The change in sign coincides with the northern boundary of the African plate, and the wavelength and amplitude of the gravity variation are of the order of 1000 km and 100 mgal respectively. The lithosphere is probably unable to support such anomalies because the implied shear stresses are too large. The source of the anomalies is concluded to be in the asthenosphere where the low finite strength of material suggests that some sort of flow must exist to maintain the stresses. A good correlation is observed between the gravity and topography at wavelengths greater than 300 km; and the relationship is the same as that observed in the North Atlantic and the Central Pacific, as well as that computed for simple models of mantle convection. The gravity and topography of the Eastern Mediterranean can be explained in terms of flow in the upper mantle. This is the first region of subsidence for which this interpretation has been made.     

The spatial characterization of turbulence around large roughness elements in a gravel-bed river

This study characterizes the flow field above and around multiple instream submerged cobbles, boulders, and pebble clusters in order to obtain a better understanding of the hydrodynamics associated with large roughness elements (LREs) in gravel-bed rivers. Spatially distributed high frequency, three-dimensional velocity measurements were recorded in situ using acoustic Doppler velocimeters at different flow stages. The spatial distributions of turbulent kinetic energy, k_e, longitudinal component integral timescales, ITS_u, and Reynolds shear stresses were characterized and are presented for selected sites. The longitudinal–vertical Reynolds shear stress increased with flow stage more strongly than the longitudinal–lateral or lateral–vertical Reynolds shear stresses and dominate at the highest measured flows. Canonical redundancy analysis was used to relate LRE morphometrics and mean flow conditions to the turbulence parameters estimated in the LRE wakes (i.e., k_e, ITS_u, and Reynolds shear stresses). LRE size and mean unobstructed velocity explained the highest proportion of the variance in the turbulent wake statistics. Multivariate regression models based on LRE width, mean unobstructed longitudinal velocity and flow depth are presented offering a tool to predict LRE wake turbulence.     

Lithospheric structure of the continent–continent collision zone: eastern Turkey

We infer the lithospheric structure in eastern Turkey using teleseismic and regional events recorded by 29 broad-band stations from the Eastern Turkey Seismic Experiment (ETSE). We combine the surface wave group velocities (Rayleigh and Love) with telesesimic receiver functions to jointly invert for the S -wave velocity structure, Moho depth and mantle-lid (lithospheric mantle) thickness. We also estimated the transverse anisotropy due to Love and Rayleigh velocity discrepancies. We found anomalously low shear wave velocities underneath the Anatolian Plateau. Average crustal thickness is 36 km in the Arabian Plate, 44 km in Anatolian Block and 48 km in the Anatolian Plateau. We observe very low shear wave velocities at the crustal portion (30–38 km) of the northeastern part of the Anatolian Plateau. The lithospheric mantle thickness is either not thick enough to resolve it or it is completely removed underneath the Anatolian Plateau. The shear velocities and anisotropy down to 100 km depth suggest that the average lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary in the Arabian Plate is about 90 and 70 km in Anatolian block. Adding the surface waves to the receiver functions is necessary to constrain the trade-off between velocity and the thickness. We find slower velocities than with the receiver function data alone. The study reveals three different lithospheric structures in eastern Turkey: the Anatolian plateau (east of Karliova Triple Junction), the Anatolian block and the northernmost portion of the Arabian plate. The boundary of lithospheric structure differences coincides with the major tectonic boundaries.     

Instabilities of fluid conduits in a flowing earth — are plates lubricated by the asthenosphere?

Summary A laboratory and theoretical study of the stability of conduits of buoyant fluid in a viscous shear flow has been conducted. The object of the study is to explain the formation of discrete islands in island chains such as the Hawaiian Emperor seamount chain, and to investigate a new method by which the variation of shear with depth in the mantle may be determined. The conduits were made by injecting oil into a more viscous oil of greater density. Initially a growing chamber of lower viscosity oil formed near the injector, but when the chamber got sufficiently large it rose as a buoyant spheroid. Behind this trailed a vertical cylindrical conduit through which fluid could continue to rise to the surface as long as the source continued. If the more viscous fluid was sheared laterally the conduit was gradually rotated to a more horizontal position. The diameter of the conduit increased with time due to a decreasing component of gravitational force along the axis of the conduit. When the conduit was tilted to more than 60° with the vertical, it began to go unstable by developing bumps which ultimately initiated a new chamber which rose to a new spot. In addition, if the Reynolds number of the conduit was greater than approximately ten, an axisymmetric wavy instability appeared in the walls of the conduit and the conduit had to be tilted less before a new chamber was initiated. If shear under the Pacific plate has to tilt buoyant mantle plumes to as much as 60° to form the relatively regular island chains associated with hot spots, most of the shear would be found in a zone with a vertical extent of less than 200 km.     

2003年中国西南山区典型灾害性暴雨泥石流运动堆积特征

2003年发生在中国西南山区的大规模泥石流为典型的灾害性暴雨泥石流,造成了巨大的经济损失和人员伤亡。作者实地考察其中7条造成较大损失的典型泥石流沟,分析得出,这一地区泥石流的流速一般都比较大,流量变化也比较大,流量大小与流域面积相关,总体上流量随流域面积的增大有增加的趋势,但流量与面积并非正相关关系。同时,在这些流域的堆积物的组成中,粗大颗粒极多,最大的颗粒普遍比较大,另外漂石含量很高。粘性泥石流中砾石含量相对于中国西南山区其它粘性泥石流较低,砂砾含量相对较高,大部分泥石流堆积物的有效粒径(d₁₀)。     

Stress and temperature in subduction shear zones: Tonga and Mariana

Summary. Because there is secondary sea-floor spreading in the Tonga and Mariana subduction systems, the island arcs are separate plates. Horizontal forces on the two sides of the arc must balance, and the maximum force on the back-arc side can be calculated from a lithostatic ridge model. This, in combination with gravity data, allows calculation of the average shear stress in the top 100 km of the subduction shear zone. Stress in Tonga is 220±100 bar, and in the Mariana it is 165±75 bar. These low stresses are probably made possible by a fluid pore pressure almost equal to the least compressive stress.
Knowledge of stress allows approximate calculation of temperature in the shear zone by integration of a single differential equation. These temperatures are too low to activate most dehydration reactions in the subducted crust. As it approaches the volcanic line, this crust is at 150–350°C in Tonga and 150–300°C in the Mariana. Shear melting of the crust is ruled out, and conductive melting of the slab by contact with the asthenosphere meets with geochemical objections. Magmas in these systems are probably produced by partial melting of asthenosphere, triggered by a sudden release of water from the slab.     

Scales of boundary resistance in coarse-grained channels: turbulent velocity profiles and implications

Gravel-bed surfaces are characterized by morphological features occurring at different roughness scales. The total shear stress generated by the flow above such surfaces is balanced by the sum of friction drag (grain stress) and form drag components (created by bed forms). To facilitate a better understanding of total resistance and bed load transport processes, there is a need to mathematically separate shear stress into its component parts. One way to do so is to examine the properties of vertical velocity profiles above such surfaces. These profiles are characterized by an inner layer that reflects grain resistance and an outer layer that reflects total resistance. A flume-based project was conducted to address these concerns through systematically comparing different roughness scales to ascertain how increased roughness affects the properties of vertical velocity profiles. Great care was taken to create natural roughness features and to obtain flow data at a high spatial and temporal resolution using an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter.Average vertical velocity profiles above each roughness scale were clearly segmented. The vertical extent of the inner flow region was directly related to the scale of roughness present on the bed (and independent of flow depth), increasing with increased roughness. On a rough but rather uniform “plane” bed made of heterogeneous coarse sediments (with no bed forms), the shape of the velocity profile was clearly dominated by the local variations in grain characteristics. When pebble clusters were superimposed, the average shear stress in the outer flow region increased by 100% from the plane bed conditions. The ratio of inner grain shear stress to outer total shear stress for this pebble cluster experiment was 0.18 under shallow flow conditions and 0.3 under deep flow conditions. The grain stress component that should be used in bed load transport equations therefore appears to vary in these experiments between 15% and 30% of the total channel stress, increasing with decreased resistance. Roughness height (K_s/D₅₀) values at the grain scale for the plane bed and pebble cluster experiments were 0.73 and 0.63, respectively. These are values that should be used in flow resistance equations to predict grain resistance and grain stress for bed load transport modeling.     

Dynamic rupture and stress change in a normal faulting earthquake in the subducting Cocos plate

A large nearly vertical, normal faulting earthquake ( M _w = 7.1) took place in 1997 in the Cocos plate, just beneath the ruptured fault zone of the great 1985 Michoacan thrust event ( M _w = 8.1). Dynamic rupture and resultant stress change during the 1997 earthquake have been investigated on the basis of near-source strong-motion records together with a 3-D dynamic model.
Dynamically consistent waveform inversion reveals a highly heterogeneous distribution of stress drop, including patch-like asperities and negative stress-drop zones. Zones of high stress drop are mainly confined to the deeper, southeastern section of the vertical fault, where the maximum dynamic stress drop reaches 280 bars (28 MPa). The dynamically generated source time function varies with location on the fault, and yields a short slip duration, which is caused by a short scalelength of stress-drop heterogeneities. The synthetic seismograms calculated from the dynamic model are generally consistent with the strong-motion velocity records in the frequency range lower than 0.5 Hz.
The pattern of stress-drop distribution appears, in some sense, to be consistent with that of coseismic changes in shear stress resulting from the 1985 thrust event. This consistency suggests that the stress transfer from the 1985 event to the subducting plate could be one of the possible mechanisms that increased the chance of the occurrence of the 1997 earthquake.     

新月形沙丘迎风坡形态及沉积物对表面气流的响应

对孤立新月形沙丘迎风坡风速的野外实测和计算表明,沙丘迎风坡表面风速廓线呈非对数关系,近地面剪切风速和输沙强度由坡脚至丘顶总体呈递增趋势,但同时随断面坡度的增减而发生相应的变化;沿断面输沙率的变化导致蚀积强度的改变,表现为沙丘迎风坡坡度变缓的部位沉积大于侵蚀,其它部位侵蚀大于沉积,其中丘顶输沙率和侵蚀强度最大。在沙丘形态上,表现为坡度减缓的部位沉积变凸、其它部位因侵蚀变凹以及坡脚和丘顶的前移。变凸和变凹部位反过来又制约着表面剪切风速的相应变化。粒度分析也表明,沙丘迎风坡表面粒度特征主要取决于表面蚀积状况,同断面形态表现出密切的相关性。     

A study of shallow global mantle flow due to the accretion and subduction of lithospheric plates

Summary. Models of shallow, global mantle circulation due to the accretion and subduction of lithospheric plates are formulated as potential theory problems on a sphere. Subducting and accreting plate boundaries represent sources and sinks respectively for the sublithospheric flow. Solutions, which are obtained by finite difference approximations, give the instantaneous flow velocities within the asthenosphere compatible with plate boundaries and relative plate motions. Results are presented for present-day plate boundaries and relative plate motions for the case of a uniform viscosity asthenosphere and for that of a low viscosity zone at the base of the lithosphere. These results are discussed in terms of available geophysical data. Some of the implications of a shallow, mantle-wide circulation are also considered.     

不同砾石覆盖度戈壁床面风蚀速率定量模拟

通过风洞实验,利用称重传感器自动记录风蚀观测样方重量变化过程,对供沙条件下不同砾石覆盖度戈壁床面风蚀速率进行了定量模拟研究。结果表明:砾石覆盖度是影响戈壁风蚀速率的关键因子,戈壁床面风蚀速率随砾石覆盖度增加按指数规律递减。各实验风速下,砾石覆盖度>50%时,戈壁床面风蚀速率随砾石覆盖度增加而减小量有限,甚至无风蚀发生;而盖度从10%到50%时,风蚀速率显著减小。因此,两种实验粒径砾石(3 cm与4 cm)至少在50%盖度时才能达到较好的风蚀防治效果。戈壁风蚀防护机理主要是砾石覆盖度的增加增大了砾石间沙粒的临界起动剪切风速,而且减少了作用在砾石间可蚀地表的剪切压。与沙质对照床面相比,10%~90%砾石盖度戈壁床面沙粒临界起动剪切风速增大了0.8~3.4倍,只有0.5％~28%的剪切压作用在砾石间可蚀地表。     

The characteristics of turbulence in a shear zone downstream of a channel constriction in a coarse-grained forced pool

A field-based project was initiated to characterize the influence of varying discharge and bed topography along a pool exit-slope on the strength of turbulence generated by vortex shedding. Velocities were measured with an ADV downstream of a boulder constriction within a shear zone of a large pool. Measurements were repeated for four flows that varied from 20% to 50% of bankfull discharge. An additional longitudinal profile was conducted along the pool thalweg. Plots of velocity demonstrate high near-bed velocities and turbulence levels in the pools. Turbulence levels were highest closer to the constriction in the shear zone. Turbulent kinetic energy decayed in the downstream direction in response to the bed topography and at lower discharges. Instantaneous velocities are large enough to temporarily lift pebbles at this depth. It appears that instantaneous forces created by vortex shedding may play an important role in scouring pools downstream of constrictions. The turbulence may also respond to changes in bed topography in a manner that encourages feedbacks among bed topography, characteristics of turbulence, and sediment transport.     

Modeling forced pool–riffle hydraulics in a boulder-bed stream, southern California

The mechanisms which control the formation and maintenance of pool–riffles are fundamental aspects of channel form and process. Most of the previous investigations on pool–riffle sequences have focused on alluvial rivers, and relatively few exist on the maintenance of these bedforms in boulder-bed channels. Here, we use a high-resolution two-dimensional flow model to investigate the interactions among large roughness elements, channel hydraulics, and the maintenance of a forced pool–riffle sequence in a boulder-bed stream. Model output indicates that at low discharge, a peak zone of shear stress and velocity occurs over the riffle. At or near bankfull discharge, the peak in velocity and shear stress is found at the pool head because of strong flow convergence created by large roughness elements. The strength of flow convergence is enhanced during model simulations of bankfull flow, resulting in a narrow, high velocity core that is translated through the pool head and pool center. The jet is strengthened by a backwater effect upstream of the constriction and the development of an eddy zone on the lee side of the boulder. The extent of flow convergence and divergence is quantified by identifying the effective width, defined here as the width which conveys 90% of the highest modeled velocities. At low flow, the ratio of effective width between the pool and riffle is roughly 1:1, indicating little flow convergence or divergence. At bankfull discharge, the ratio of effective width is approximately 1:3 between the pool and downstream riffle, illustrating the strong flow convergence at the pool head. The effective width tends to equalize again with a ratio of 1:1 between the pool and riffle during a modeled discharge of a five-year flood, as the large roughness elements above the pool become drowned out. Results suggest that forced pool–riffle sequences in boulder-bed streams are maintained by flows at or near bankfull discharge because of stage-dependent variability in depth-averaged velocity and tractive force.