Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic palaeomagnetism of Australia – III. Bias-corrected pole paths for Australia, Antarctica and India

Summary. Palaeomagnetic results from Part I of this study and their analysis in Part II are combined to eliminate bias from the Cenozoic apparent polar wander path for Australia – a bias due to non-dipole components in past geomagnetic fields or, for poles calculated from hot-spot data, due to the motion of hot spots relative to the Earth's rotational axis. This path is extended in approximately bias-free form to the late Mesozoic, and indicates a significant change in the drift direction of the continent between 26 and about 60 Ma.
The bias-corrected Australian path is used, first, with seafloor spreading data for the Southern Ocean to derive a corresponding late Mesozoic–Cenozoic pole path for Antarctica. The latter shows that the Antarctic drift direction reversed in the early Tertiary. It is suggested that the early Tertiary directional changes of both Australia and Antarctica are part of a global reorganization of plates during the Eocene, postulated by Rona & Richardson, Cande & Mutter and Patriat & Achache.
Next, the Australian path is compared with hot-spot data from the African and Australian plates, indicating a movement of the hot spots relative the Earth's rotational axis during the Cenozoic. The direction of this movement is found to be consistent with previous results from other parts of the world.
Finally, the Australian path is used together with non-dipole components in the geomagnetic field to explain a prominent westward displacement of the mid- and late Cenozoic poles of India relative to those of Australia.
Because of uncertainties in the original poles and in the analysis, the present results are likely to contain appreciable errors. Nevertheless, their consistency with independent findings supports the dipole-quadrupole model of Part II for mid- and late Cenozoic geomagnetic fields.     

Palaeomagnetism and K—Ar age of the Upper Ordovician Alcaparrosa Formation, Argentina

Summary. Palaeomagnetic data from 71 hand samples of igneous rocks of Late Ordovician age exposed in western Argentina (31.3°S, 69.4°W, Alcaparrosa Formation) are given. Stable remanent magnetization was isolated in the majority of samples; they yield a palaeomagnetic pole at 56°S 33°E ( N = 8, α₉₅= 16°). Whole rock K-Ar age determinations yield an age of 416 ± 10 Myr for a pillow lava of the Alcaparrosa Formation.
Palaeomagnetic data for South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica and India suggest that Gondwana was a unit at least as far back as 1000 Myr. The palaeomagnetic data define a rapid polar migration for Gondwana in Ordovician time which is consistent with the widespread occurrences of Late Ordovician glacial deposits across this supercontinent.     

环南极区域古水深演化初探

重构南极区域的古水深和历史地质格局,首先需要对研究区域进行板块重构,即在特定的时间点将洋壳和陆壳恢复到他们原来的地理位置上。本文采用Greiner阐述的欧拉旋转法进行板块重构。欧拉极参数主要参考Muller等基于大西洋-印度洋热点参考系的有限欧拉极,并将部分参数进行了必要的转换和统一。对于指定的重构年代,地壳年龄比重建年代年轻的区域需被移除。本文借助于Matlab等编程工具,恢复了南极及周边区域自130 Ma以来15个特定时间段的位置。综合多种数据,将现代水深根据热驱动地壳沉降、沉积作用和均衡作用的影响进行调整,对30°S以南区域的古水深进行重构,绘制了研究区域不同年代的古水深图,分析了南大洋自130 Ma以来的形成演化过程。     

南极搜救体系现状与影响及我国的对策研究

伴随各类南极活动的增多, 如何尽可能地减少和避免遇险、遇难事件并更好地进行搜救成为南极活 动各国重点关注的问题之一。在国际海事组织(IMO)和国际民航组织(ICAO)所划分搜救区域的基础上, 南极 地区形成了以距离南极最近的5 个国家为主导的南极搜救体系。各国的搜救职责依4 个国际公约确立。承 担搜救责任的5 个国家基于本国的搜救体系, 开展国际合作, 在南极搜救方面发挥了重要的作用和贡献。在 现有南极条约体系框架下, 南极搜救活动难免会对相关国家在南极的实质性存在、极地安全等问题产生一 定的影响。我国作为参与南极活动的主要国家之一, 在南极有着重要的利益诉求, 有必要通过完善相关的硬 件设施、提升搜救软实力等途径来提高我国的南极搜救活动参与度, 强化我国在南极的实质性存在与影响, 增强对南极事务的话语权。     

Improved magnetic anomalies of the Antarctic lithosphere from satellite and near-surface data

The Antarctic magnetic anomaly map compiled marine and airborne surveys collected south of 60°S through 1999 and used Magsat data to help fill in the regional gaps between the surveys. Ørsted and CHAMP satellite magnetic observations with greatly improved measurement accuracies and temporal and spatial coverage of the Antarctic, have now supplanted the Magsat data. We combined the new satellite observations with the near-surface survey data for an improved magnetic anomaly map of the Antarctic lithosphere. Specifically, we separated the crustal from the core and external field components in the satellite data using crustal thickness variations estimated from the terrain and the satellite-derived free-air gravity observations. Regional gaps in the near-surface surveys were then filled with predictions from crustal magnetization models that jointly satisfied the near-surface and satellite crustal anomalies. Comparisons in some of the regional gaps that also considered newly acquired aeromagnetic data demonstrated the enhanced anomaly estimation capabilities of the predictions over those from conventional minimum curvature and spherical harmonic geomagnetic field models. We also noted that the growing number of regional and world magnetic survey compilations involve coverage gaps where these procedures can contribute effective near-surface crustal anomaly estimates.     

Palaeomagnetism of the Cretaceous Pirgua Subgroup (Argentina) and the age of the opening of the South Atlantic

Palaeomagnetic data for the Cretaceous Pirgua Subgroup from 14 different time units of basalts and red beds exposed in the north-western part of Argentina (25° 45' S 65° 50' W) are given.
After cleaning all the units show normally polarized magnetic remanence and yield a palaeomagnetic pole at 222° E 85° S ( d Φ= 7°, d χ= 10°).
The palaeomagnetic poles for the Pirgua Subgroup (Early to Late Cretaceous, 114–77 Myr), for the Vulcanitas Cerro Rumipalla Formation (Early Cretaceous,<118 Myr, Valencio & Vilas) and for the Poços de Caldas Alkaline Complex (Late Cretaceous, 75 Myr, Opdyke & McDonald) form a 'time-group' reflecting a quasi-static interval (mean pole position, 220° E 85° S, α₉₅= 6°) and define a westward polar wander in Early Cretaceous time for South America.
Comparison of the positions of the Cretaceous palaeomagnetic poles for South America with those for Africa suggests that the separation of South America and Africa occurred in late Early Cretaceous time, after the effusion of the Serra Geral basalts.
The K-Ar ages of basalts of the Pirgua Subgroup (114 ± 5; 98 ± 1 and 77 ± 1 Myr) fix points of reference for three periods of normal polarity within the Cretaceous palaeomagnetic polarity column.     

Geomagnetic Variation Anomalies In Peninsular India

Summary. Geomagnetic substorms recorded by an array of magnetometers over peninsular India have been analysed to investigate the subsurface electric configuration of the area. the study considered only night-time events when the external inducing field is uniform over the Indian peninsula and the conventional interpretational techniques of geomagnetic deep sounding can be readily applied. Contour maps of Fourier transform amplitudes and phases along with real and quadrature Parkinson arrows are presented. Their features reveal a complex anomaly pattern. the observed anomalies can be classified into: (i) southern peninsular anomalies, (ii) Palk Strait anomalies, (iii) Pondicherry rift anomalies, and (iv) anomalies in the central region. A large-scale induction process seems to be disturbed by localized perturbations. the prominent anomaly observed over the southern tip seems to have a direct relevance to the tectonic setting of the Indian ocean and adjoining areas.     

Effect of the presence of a conducting channel between India and Sri Lanka Island on the features of the equatorial electrojet

Summary. Transient geomagnetic variations like SSCs, Bays, Sq and storm-time variations show anomalously large Z amplitudes at the three permanent magnetic observatories in India under the equatorial electrojet. Our earlier studies have shown that these anomalies cannot be explained in terms of the usual coastal effect. Another unique feature of this area is the small equatorial enhancement of all magnetic fluctuations, which still remains to be completely understood. It is also noticed that Z/H ratio at Annamalainagar is very large for night-time variations but becomes insignificant for day-time fluctuations, whereas no such large difference is seen at Trivandrum, the other coastal station. All the above features have been explained here by introducing the presence of a conducting channel in the lower crust or upper mantle between India and Sri Lanka Island. The anomalies of the equatorial electrojet in the Indian region thus do not necessitate the conducting surface of the mantle to be deeper in this area as has been suggested by earlier workers. A less conducting mantle in the Indian region otherwise could be difficult to incorporate in the present theories of mantle convection when this area is known to be tectonically active. The presence of the conducting channel is further confirmed by analogue model experiments of Papamastorakis. We further observe that the equatorial electrojet does have an associated internal part in the Indian region.     

Tectonic evolution of sedimentary basins of northern Somalia

Regional seismic reflection profiles tied to lithological and biostratigraphic data from deep exploration wells have been used to determine the structure and evolution of the poorly known basins of northern Somalia. We recognize six major tectonostratigraphic sequences in the seismic profiles: Middle‐Late Jurassic syn‐rift sequences (Adigrat and Bihen Group), ?Cenomanian‐Campanian syn‐rift sequences (Gumburo Group), Campanian‐Maastrichtian syn‐rift sequences (Jesomma Sandstones), Palaeocene post‐rift sequences (Auradu Limestones), Early‐Middle Eocene post‐rift sequences (Taleh Formation) and Oligocene‐Miocene (Daban Group) syn‐rift sequences. Backstripping of well data provides new constraints on the age of rifting, the amount of crustal and mantle extension, and the development of the northern Somalia rifted basins. The tectonic subsidence and uplift history at the wells can be explained by a uniform extension model with three episodes of rifting punctuated by periods of relative tectonic quiescence and thermal subsidence. The first event initiated in the Late Jurassic (~156 Ma) and lasted for ~10 Myr and had a NW‐SE trend. We interpret the rift as a late stage event associated with the break‐up of Gondwana and the separation of Africa and Madagascar. The second event initiated in the Late Cretaceous (~80 Ma) and lasted for ~20–40 Myr. This event probably correlates with a rapid increase in spreading rate on the ridges separating the African and Indian and African and Antarctica plates and a contemporaneous slowing down of Africa's plate motion. The backstripped tectonic subsidence data can be explained by a multi‐rift extensional model with stretching factor, β, of 1.09–1.14 and 1.05–1.28 for the first and second rifting events, respectively. The model, fails, however, to completely explain the slow subsidence and uplift history of the margin during Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous. We attribute this slow subsidence to the combined effect of a sea‐level fall and regional uplift, which caused a major unconformity in northern Somalia. The third and most recent event occurred in the Oligocene (~32 Ma) and lasted for ~10 Myr. This rift developed along the Gulf of Aden and reactivated the Guban, Nogal and Daroor basins, and is related to the opening of the Gulf of Aden. As a result of these events the crust and upper mantle were thinned by up to a factor of two in some basins. In addition, several distinct petroleum systems developed. The principal exploration play is for Mesozoic petroleum systems with the syn‐rift Oligocene‐Miocene as a subordinate objective owing to low maturity and seal problems. The main seals for the different plays are various shales, some of which are also source rocks, but the Early Eocene evaporites of the Taleh formations can also perform a sealing role for Palaeogene or older generated hydrocarbons migrating vertically.     

Gravity studies of the Rockall and Exmouth Plateaux using SEASAT altimetry

Abstract SEASAT altimetric measurements are used to determine the gravity anomalies across two passive continental margins: the western margin of the Rockall Plateau, UK, and the Exmouth Plateau off north-west Australia. The small gravity anomalies observed over the starved western margin of the Rockall Plateau require the existence of a major density contrast within the crust, as well as the Moho, and show that the elastic thickness is less than 5 km at the time of rifting. The gravity anomaly over the Exmouth Plateau is compared with the gravity anomaly calculated from the sediment loading of a thin elastic plate, taking account of the variation in crustal thickness. This comparison shows that the Exmouth Plateau also has a small effective elastic thickness of 5 km, even for loads emplaced between 60 and 120 Myr after rifting. Elastic thicknesses of about 5 km have also been reported for other sedimentary basins, and are to be expected if the rheological properties of the crust and mantle depend on the ratio of the present temperature to the melting temperature. Flexural effects are therefore likely to be of minor importance in sedimentary basins.     

A Bouguer anomaly map of India and its relation to broad tectonic elements of the sub-continent

Summary. A new Bouguer anomaly map of India and its generalized interpretation is presented in this paper. Bouguer anomalies in India show good correlation with the geology and tectonics. Isostatic anomalies in India are primarily geologic anomalies caused by intracrustal inhomogeneities. For example, the negative isostatic anomalies in southern India arise from large thicknesses of granitic bodies in the upper crust and the positive anomaly over the Himalaya may be attributed to a possible thickening of the basalt layer in the lower crust. The gravity data suggest that an overall isostatic equilibrium generally prevails in India and the Himalayan region. Crustal thickness estimates from DSS data in India are comparable to the values obtained from gravity data based on the Ahy's concept of isostatic compensation.     

Calculating palaeomagnetic poles for oceanic plates

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The information available for determining palaeopoles for oceanic plates includes data of four types: (1) palaeomagnetic measurements of inclinations but not declinations from core samples; (2) palaeopoles determined from magnetic anomalies over seamounts; (3) phase shifts of linear magnetic anomalies; and (4) palaeoequators determined from geological analysis of sediment cores. A method is presented which combines these different kinds of data and their respective confidence limits to yield a best fit pole, a confidence ellipse, estimates of the data importances and goodness of fit parameters. Using this method we calculate the Campanian pole position for the Pacific plate which is shown by a chi-squared test to be a reasonable fit to the data. We conclude that the method should be a useful tool for calculating pole paths for oceanic plates such as the Pacific and Indian plates.     

南极布兰斯菲尔德海峡海磁异常和深部地质

文章导出了南半球ΔＴ表达式，测区约位于６３°Ｓ，故异常以正值为主，负异常在其南侧。以化极、匹配滤波等方法处理数据得深浅源异常。深源异常自北向南以正负相间的三个条带状异常分别对应着南设得兰群岛、布兰斯菲尔德海峡和南极半岛，浅源异常则对应着海峡南北缘的两条断裂。深部异常认为是磁性基底隆拗所致，因太平洋板块对南设得兰群岛的俯冲，那里深部基性成分多，故北部的深浅源异常幅值皆比南部的高。据浅源异常还识别出了与海峡延伸方向垂直的断裂，结合地貌、岩浆岩年龄及地震波速分布，进一步认为南极半岛地区可能发生过西向漂移。     

澳大利亚南极利益——现实挑战与政策应对

地理空间上的相对邻近性与最为广阔的领土主张,使得南极一直都是澳大利亚最为重要的战略重点之一。在积极参与南极事务的过程中,澳大利亚通过对其南极利益与面临的挑战所形成的明确具体的认识,逐渐建立起一系列完善、健全的政策机制,并将维护领土主权、加大科研投入、保护南极环境、获取经济收益作为现阶段的主要目标。     

~(10)Be exposure ages of Quaternary Glaciers in Antarctica

In situ terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides(TCN) have been widely applied to date the ages of Quaternary glacial deposits in Antarctica and plays an important role in reconstructing the glacial evolution and climate change. It helps to understand the Antarctic ice sheet's evolution process in Quaternary and shed light on the application of Cosmogenic Nuclide exposure dating technique in glacial geomorphology. In this paper, we retrieved 49510 Be age samples in Antarctica from literature published between 2004 and 2020 and recalculated the TCN ages using version 3.0 online calculator of Cosmic-Ray Produced Nuclide Systematics on Earth(CRONUS-Earth). Several conclusions can be drawn from the results:(1) 75% of the exposure ages are younger than 400 ka, and 91% younger than 1, 100 ka. Northern Antarctic Peninsula exposure result is visibly younger than the main glaciers area in East Antarctica due to climate change and geological evaluation since the LGM(Last Glacial Maximum).(2) TCN ages are relevant to the samples' relative positions in the Antarctic continent, but a relationship between their ages and elevations is yet to be determined based on the collected data.     

Palaeomagnetism of some Indian Rocks

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Hitherto, no palaeomagnetic data for India are available earlier than the Jurassic, 130 M.y. The remanent magnetic directions of oriented samples from one Jurassic and four pre-Cambrian rock formations in India have now been determined. One pre-Cambrian formation gave very scattered direction: the other four formations gave well-defined directions and their magnetic stability was demonstrated by a.c. and thermal demagnetization. The three pre-Cambrian results enable values of the ancient latitude and orientation of India to be estimated at 500, 600 and 750 M.y., assuming the ancient field to have been an axial dipole.
By making use of these new results, together with similar data by other workers for Australia, North America and Europe, it can be shown that, as far as the scanty data goes, the rate of drift in latitudes and orientation of the four continents has been of roughly the same magnitude throughout the period since 750 M.y.     

南极冰架-海洋相互作用研究综述

本文介绍了近期南极冰架-海洋相互作用的研究进展。冰架底部融化速率大于前缘崩解通量,成为南极冰盖质量损失的首要途径。冰架下的海洋按照底部融化驱动因素的不同,可以分为由高密度陆架水驱动的冷冰腔和由变性绕极深层水驱动的暖冰腔。威德尔海的菲尔希纳-龙尼冰架和罗斯海的罗斯冰架属于冷冰腔,占南极冰架总面积的2/3,却只贡献了15%的净融化;东南太平洋扇区阿蒙森海和别林斯高晋海等若干属于暖冰腔的小型冰架,虽然只占南极冰架总面积的8%,却贡献了超过一半的冰架融水。以往看做冷冰腔的东南极托滕冰架和埃默里冰架,也相继发现有变性绕极深层水进入冰腔并造成底部融化。冰架对海洋有冷却和淡化的作用。冷冰腔输出的冰架水具有海洋中最低的温度,对南极陆架水性质乃至南极底层水的形成都有影响。冰架融化加剧,可能是近期观测到的南极底层水淡化的原因。     

热带与南极海域表层海水N2O饱和度异常差异性比较

本文比较了从北纬30?西太平洋至南纬30?东印度洋等热带海域与南大洋至东南极普里兹湾等南极海域的大气和表层海水N2O分压分布特征,表层海水pNO2饱和异常,分析引起异常差异性的主要影响因子。南极海域普里兹湾表层水中N2O分压（pN2O）平均为311.9 ± 7.6 nL/L (14.1 ± 0.4 nM),与大气中N2O混合比（318.5 nL/L）相比显略不饱和,融冰水的输入是导致不饱和的主要原因。海气N2O通量为-0.3 ± 0.8μmol m-2 d-1。而热带海域多数表层海水中N2O饱和度异常值都高于10%,在赤道海域发现最高值达54.7%,次高值为10°N的苏禄海为31%,计算出在赤道和苏禄海的海气通量分别为~12.4 μmol m-2 d-1和~4μmol m-2 d-1。表明高纬度的普里兹湾既不是大气中N2O源也不是汇,而低纬度热带海域表现为大气中N2O的源。造成热带与南极海域海洋N2O饱和度异常的影响因素,可能低纬度的热带海域由于海气间的气体交换较弱、上升流影响强,而高纬度的南极海域由于融冰分层和强偏西风影响;而海表面风速是影响N2O的海气交换N2O通量的重要因素。     

Rates of active deformation in the Aegean Sea and surrounding regions

Abstract Average strain rates are calculated from earthquakes in the period 1908-81 that occurred in the Aegean Sea extensional region, and in the convergent zone associated with the Hellenic Trench. In spite of large uncertainties resulting from the use of an M_S : M_o relationship, seismic N-S extensional rates in the Aegean are in the region 20–60 mm yr^-1 whereas seismic shortening rates in the Hellenic Trench are less than about 15 mm yr^-1. This is surprising because Africa and Eurasia are known to be converging, not separating. This apparent anomaly is caused by most of the convergence in the Hellenic Trench occurring aseismically. By contrast, the seismic extensional rates in the Aegean agree quite well with those expected from other arguments. The present day extensional rates are sufficiently high for McKenzie's instantaneous stretching model to be applicable. There is some evidence that these high extensional rates have operated throughout the last 5 Myr.     

南极冰盖物质平衡与海平面变化研究新进展

本文在简要介绍冰盖物质平衡及其对海平面影响的基础上,从整体法和分量法两个方面总结了南极冰盖物质平衡研究的最新进展,并分析了影响其物质平衡的不确定因素。研究表明,整个南极冰盖物质平衡呈现负增长的趋势,其中西南极Amundsen海湾附近的冰盖物质流失最为明显。另外,南极冰盖边缘的大部分地区还呈现变薄的趋势。南极冰盖物质流失是引起海平面上升的最大潜在因素之一,其冰架的缓冲作用、冰盖的不稳定性和冰盖底部融水的作用等不确定因素对南极冰盖物质平衡具有重要的影响。未来随着观测技术和数据处理技术的不断提高,南极冰盖物质平衡的估算及其不确定因素有望得到进一步的认识,从而为预测海平面的上升范围提供更多的理论和技术支撑。