Mantle flow with existence of plates and generation of the toroidal field

The observed plate velocities contain two types of motions. The poloidal component is related to the formation of ridges and subduction zones and the toroidal field expresses the shearing of surface plates. One very important consideration in modeling flow in the earth's mantle is the existence and motion of the lithospheric plates. The motion of plates represents a large-scale circulation with strong viscous coupling to the mantle underneath. The mantle flow probably is neither a purely free convection driven by buoyancy forces due to nonadiabatic temperature gradients in the mantle nor a forced convection generated by boundary forces, but a mixed convection that combines the effects of boundary and buoyancy forces. We present, in this paper, the mixed convection model resulting in a surface velocity field that contains both the observed poloidal and toroidal components.     

地幔对流与岩石层板块的相互耦合及影响──（Ⅰ）球腔中的自由热对流

板块运动是地幔对流的主要证据之一．同时，作为地球动力系统中一个相对独立部分，板块自身的存在和运动对地幔内部物质的流动形态有巨大影响．地幔内部的流动由两部分组成：一是由内部非绝热温度差异造成的自由对流解；另一部分是由在地表运动的板块所激发．作为系列工作的第一部分，本文研究球腔中的自由热对流问题．得到了对地幔对流研究有实际意义的下边界为自由、上边界为刚性情况下的临界瑞利数值，不同的瑞利数时球腔内流场和温度场的分布形态等．     

Detecting thermal boundary control in surface flows from numerical dynamos

The geomagnetic field and secular variation exhibit asymmetrical spatial features which are possibly originating from an heterogeneous thermal control of the Earth's lower mantle on the core. The identification of this control in magnetic data is subject to several difficulties, some of which can be alleviated by the use of core surface flow models. Using numerical dynamos driven by heterogeneous boundary heat flux, we confirm that within the parameter space accessible to simulations, time average surface flows obey a simple thermal wind equilibrium between the Coriolis and buoyancy forces, the Lorentz, inertial and viscous forces playing only a secondary role, even for Elsasser numbers significantly larger than 1. Furthermore, we average the models over the duration of three vortex turnovers, and correlate them with a longer time average which fully reveals the signature of boundary heterogeneity. This allows us to quantify the possibility of observing mantle control in core surface flows averaged over a short time period. A scaling analysis is performed in order to apply the results to the Earth's core. We find that three vortex turnovers could represent between 100 and 360 years of Earth time, and that the heat flux heterogeneity at the core-mantle boundary could be large enough to yield an observable signature of thermal mantle control in a time average core surface flow within reach of the available geomagnetic data.     

Numerical model for the generation of the ensemble of lithospheric plates and their penetration through the 660-km boundary

In the kinematic theory of lithospheric plate tectonics, the position and parameters of the plates are predetermined in the initial and boundary conditions. However, in the self-consistent dynamical theory, the properties of the oceanic plates (just as the structure of the mantle convection) should automatically result from the solution of differential equations for energy, mass, and momentum transfer in viscous fluid. Here, the viscosity of the mantle material as a function of temperature, pressure, shear stress, and chemical composition should be taken from the data of laboratory experiments. The aim of this study is to reproduce the generation of the ensemble of the lithospheric plates and to trace their behavior inside the mantle by numerically solving the convection equations with minimum a priori data. The models demonstrate how the rigid lithosphere can break up into the separate plates that dive into the mantle, how the sizes and the number of the plates change during the evolution of the convection, and how the ridges and subduction zones may migrate in this case. The models also demonstrate how the plates may bend and break up when passing the depth boundary of 660 km and how the plates and plumes may affect the structure of the convection. In contrast to the models of convection without lithospheric plates or regional models, the structure of the mantle flows is for the first time calculated in the entire mantle with quite a few plates. This model shows that the mantle material is transported to the mid-oceanic ridges by asthenospheric flows induced by the subducting plates rather than by the main vertical ascending flows rising from the lower mantle.     

上通流对大陆岩石圈地幔-地壳热结构模式的潜在影响

本文以多孔介质中大尺度传热问题为基础,结合热平衡理论分析与数值计算,探讨了上通流对大陆岩石圈地幔-地壳热结构模式的潜在影响.根据大陆岩石圈中孔隙波传热概念模型的初步理论分析结果,指出了采用理论分析和数值模拟相结合的方法在研究大陆岩石圈地幔-地壳热结构模式时的重要性.理论分析方法可用来确定岩石圈尺度范围内大陆岩石圈的厚度和大陆地壳相关的边界条件,从而为地壳范围内数值模型的建立提供一些重要信息.数值模拟方法可以用来模拟地壳尺度范围内地壳的详细结构和复杂几何形状.如果地壳内的热分布是所考虑的主要因素,采用具有地壳尺度的合理数值模型可以有效减少计算机工作量.利用理论分析方法求出的岩石圈尺度范围内大陆岩石圈厚度与地幔传导热流之间关系的理论解,不仅可以用来验证模拟大陆岩石圈内传热问题所采用的数值方法, 而且可以用来初步研究大陆岩石圈内热分布的基本规律,为研究岩石圈地幔热事件中大陆岩石圈热减薄过程提供相应的边界条件.本文从理论分析的观点初步探讨了中国大陆不同构造背景下大陆岩石圈的热结构模式,其结果与从地球物理和地质资料中获得的大陆岩石圈热结构模式十分吻合.研究结果表明由大陆岩石圈中孔隙波传播所导致的上通流是影响大陆岩石圈地幔-地壳热结构模式及大陆岩石圈地幔与地壳之间物质和能量交换的可能机制之一.     

Three-dimensional mantle lithosphere deformation at collisional plate boundaries: A subduction scissor across the South Island of New Zealand

The continental plate collision across the South Island of New Zealand is highly oblique (dextral) and bounded by oppositely verging ocean plate subduction zones. As such, the region can be considered as a type of ‘subduction scissor’. Within this tectonic context, we use three-dimensional computational geodynamic models to consider how convergent mantle lithosphere can be modified by scissor and strike–slip effects. Bounding subduction at both ends of the continental collision causes flow of the descending mantle lithosphere in the direction along strike of the model plate boundary, with thinning in the centre and thickening towards the subduction zones that bifurcates the continental mantle lithosphere root. With dipping bounding subduction, the mantle lithosphere root takes on a more complex morphology that folds over from one subduction polarity to the other, but remains as a continuous feature as it folds under the collision zone. In the absence of bounding subduction, the plate convergence causes a linear (along strike) mantle lithosphere root to develop. A rapid strike–slip motion between the converging plates transfers material in the plate boundary-parallel direction and tends to blur out features that develop in this direction—such as descending viscous instabilities. The along-strike variations in the morphology of the mantle lithosphere root that develop in the models—viz., thickening of the root towards the subduction edges, thinning in the centre—are consistent with recent, albeit poorly constrained, geophysical interpretations of the large-scale lithospheric structure of the South Island. We speculate that this reflects the nature of the evolution of the South Island collision as a limited continental segment of the plate boundary that it is dominated and guided by adjacent well-developed/developing ocean plate subduction.     

亚洲中东部地区塑性流动波(“慢波”)与地震活动

根据先前相似模型实验的结果 ,在板块边界驱动下 ,沿岩石圈下层 (含下地壳和岩石圈地幔 )传播的塑性流动波包括“快波”和“慢波” ,二者均属于黏性重力波 ,并分别由主波和辅波叠加而成。“快波”以 10 0 ～ 10 2 km/a量级的速度传播 ,已为塑性流动波控制下地震迁移的研究所证实。文中根据 7级以上强震的条带状分布图像 ,证明在喜马拉雅弧驱动下还存在着波速仅为 10 0 ～ 10 1m/a量级的“慢波” ,其中对 7级以上强震起控制作用的主要是“慢波”的辅波 ,其平均波长为 4 45km ,波速为 0 81～ 2 80m/a ,周期为 0 .16～ 0 .5 5Ma。“慢波”的边界起波时间距今约 1.34～ 4 .6 6Ma ,相当于上新世中期至早更新世中期 ,与喜马拉雅构造运动的主要活跃期 (幕 )之一相吻合。以喜马拉雅弧西段和东段为波源所形成的2个“慢波”系统的波峰带相互重叠 ,为 7级以上强震的发生提供了必要的能量背景     

U-Pb isotopic geochemistry of the post-collisional mafic-ultramafic rocks from the Dabie Mountains——Crust-mantle interaction and LOMU component

Geochronological studies of mafic-ultramafic intrusions occurrence in the northern Dabie zone (NDZ) suggest that these pyroxenite-gabbro intrusions formed 120—130 Ma ago should be post-collisional magmatic rocks[1—4]. These mafic-ultramafic rocks provid…     

Upper mantle flow beneath the Northwest of China and its lithospheric dynamics

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俯冲带的负浮力及其影响因素

基于Ｍｕｒｎａｇｈａｎ－Ｂｉｒｃｈ状态方程，计算了密度Ｐ、热膨胀系数ａｖ、定压比热ｃｐ等物性参数在上地幔温压条件下的分布，给出了热传导系数ｋ在上地幔温压条件下的分布．采用准动力学计算方案，用有限元方法计算了板块不同俯冲速度、角度、不同厚度及不同俯冲深度情况下俯冲带的温度分布和密度分布．计算了不同俯冲模型下俯冲带的负浮力及其对岩石层板块形成的等效应力，发现负浮力在俯冲过程中是变化的，俯冲速度和板块厚度对其有明显的影响，在稳定俯冲状态，负浮力约为（１．５－２．３）×１０^１３Ｎｍ^－１，等效张应力约为０．２５－０．２９Ｇｐａ．     

U-Pb isotopic geochemistry of the post-collisional mafic-ultramafic rocks from the Dabie Mountains

The U-Pb isotope geochemical study of the pyroxenite-gabbro intrusion in the Dabie Mountains shows that the post-collisional mafic-ultramafic rocks of the Dabie Mountains are characterized by relative high Pb contents, low U contents and low U/Pb ratios. These characters may be results of interaction between lithosphere or depleted asthenospheric mantle (DMM) and lower crust, but have nothing to do with mantle plume and subducted continental crust. It was first observed that some samples with lower ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb and higher ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios show typical characters of the LOMU component. The Pb, Sr, and Nd isotopic tracing shows that three components are needed in the source of the Zhujiapu pyroxenite-gabbro intrusion. They could be old enriched sub-continental lithospheric mantle (LOMU component), lower crust and depleted asthenospheric mantle. The crust-mantle interaction process producing primitive magma of post-collisional mafic-ultramafic rocks in the Dabie Mountains could be described by a lithospheric delamination and magma underplating model. After continent-continent collision, delamination of the thickened lithosphere induced the upwelling of depleted asthenospheric mantle, which caused partial melting of asthenospheric mantle and residual sub-continental lithospheric mantle. The basaltic magma produced in this process underplated in the boundary between the crust and mantle and interacted with lower crust resulting in the geochemical characters of both enriched lithospheric mantle and lower crust.     

根据地球热历史研究得到的地幔温度模型(英文)

通过求解全球能量平衡方程 ,得到地幔温度剖面。中地幔过渡带有一个温度突然增加 ,因此不能根据近地表数据向下做简单的外推。这个问题可以通过研究地球的冷却过程解决。目前地幔底部的温度值是 2 94 0K ,中地幔过渡带温度为 2 0 4 0K ,穿过这个带有一个 310K的突变。上部边界层底部的温度为     

地幔岩石圈热结构差异与中国大陆岩石圈均衡分析

观测表明,大陆地区存在很多传统均衡模型无法解释的现象,其根本原因在于传统均衡理论中没有考虑地幔岩石圈部分由于热结构差异导致密度差异的影响.本文基于岩石圈尺度的质量平衡模型研究了中国大陆20个构造单元地壳及地幔岩石圈对地形海拔的贡献,以及各块体的均衡状态.计算结果表明,在一些地区,如塔里木盆地、北山和柴达木盆地,尽管岩石圈均衡模型和Airy模型得到了一致的海拔值,但岩石圈均衡模型更能体现均衡过程的物理本质;除青藏高原造山带外的多数块体,岩石圈均衡模型的计算结果更接近观测海拔和地表垂直运动状态;总体上,考虑地幔岩石圈热结构影响后,中国大陆各地区的均衡结果普遍优于传统的均衡模型.通过对均衡状态分析,我们得到以下主要结论：(1)构造稳定地区均衡程度较高;(2) 青藏高原及周边造山带现今地壳运动主要为区域构造过程及深部动力学过程所控制,均衡调整过程不是主要控制因素;(3) 现今地壳垂直运动比较明显的块体处于均衡调整阶段,地表垂直运动的大小反映了该区所受的均衡力作用的程度;(4) 构造稳定地区基于岩石层均衡的理论计算海拔与观测海拔之差值和现今地壳垂直运动速率有较好的相关性,据此我们可以通过均衡分析研究构造块体的运动趋势和动力学性质;(5) 地幔热结构对现今地形、海拔及地壳垂直运动有显著影响,在处理均衡问题时,地幔岩石圈热结构是我们必须考虑的重要因素.     

Subduction tectonics vs.plume tectonics——Discussion on driving forces for plate motion

Plate tectonics describes the horizontal motions of lithospheric plates,the Earths outer shell,and interactions among them across the Earths surface.Since the establishment of the theory of plate tectonics about half a century ago,considerable debates have remained regarding the driving forces for plate motion.The early"Bottom up"view,i.e.,the convecting mantledriven mechanism,states that mantle plumes originating from the core-mantle boundary act at the base of plates,accelerating continental breakup and driving plate motion.Toward the present,however,the"Top down"idea is more widely accepted,according to which the negative buoyancy of oceanic plates is the dominant driving force for plate motion,and the subducting slabs control surface tectonics and mantle convection.In this regard,plate tectonics is also known as subduction tectonics."Top down"tectonics has received wide supports from numerous geological and geophysical observations.On the other hand,recent studies indicate that the acceleration/deceleration of individual plates over the million-year timescale may reflect the effects of mantle plumes.It is also suggested that surface uplift and subsidence within stable cratonic areas are correlated with plumerelated magmatic activities over the hundred-million-year timescale.On the global scale,the cyclical supercontinent assembly and breakup seem to be coupled with superplume activities during the past two billion years.These correlations over various spatial and temporal scales indicate the close relationship and intensive interactions between plate tectonics and plume tectonics throughout the history of the Earth and the considerable influence of plumes on plate motion.Indeed,we can acquire a comprehensive understanding of the driving forces for plate motion and operation mechanism of the Earth's dynamic system only through joint analyses and integrated studies on plate tectonics and plume tectonics.     

Latent heat effects of the major mantle phase transitions on low-angle subduction

Very low to zero shallow dip angles are observed at several moderately young subduction zones with an active trenchward moving overriding plate. We have investigated the effects of latent heat for this situation, where mantle material is pushed through the major mantle phase transitions during shallow low-angle subduction below the overriding plate. The significance of the buoyancy forces, arising from the latent heat effects, on the dynamics of the shallowly subducting slab is examined by numerical modeling. When a 32-Ma-old slab is overridden with 2.5 cm/yr by a continent, flat subduction occurs with a 4–5 cm/yr convergence rate. When latent heat is included in the model, forced downwellings cause a thermal anomaly and consequently thermal and phase buoyancy forces. Under these circumstances, the flat slab segment subducts horizontally about 350 km further and for about 11 Ma longer than in the case without latent heat, before it breaks through the 400-km phase transition. The style of subduction strongly depends on the mantle rheology: increasing the mantle viscosity by one order of magnitude can change the style of subduction from steep to shallow. Similarly, an overriding velocity of less than 1 cm/yr leads to steep subduction, which gradually changes to flat subduction when increasing the overriding velocity. However, these model parameters do not change the aforementioned effect of the latent heat, provided that low-angle subduction occurs. In all models latent heat resulted in a substantial increase of the flat slab length by 300–400 km. Varying the olivine–spinel transition Clapeyron slope γ from 1 to 6 MPa/K reveals a roughly linear relation between γ and the horizontal length of the slab. Based on these results, we conclude that buoyancy forces due to latent heat of phase transitions play an important role in low-angle subduction below an overriding plate.     

How to anchor hotspots in a convecting mantle?

Laboratory experiments were performed to study the influence of density and viscosity layering on the formation and stability of plumes. Viscosity ratios ranged from 0.1 to 6400 for buoyancy ratios between 0.3 and 20, and Rayleigh numbers between 10⁵ and 2.10⁸. The presence of a chemically stratified boundary layer generates long-lived thermochemical plumes. These plumes first develop from the interface as classical thermal boundary layer instabilities. As they rise, they entrain by viscous coupling a thin film of the other layer and locally deform the interface into cusps. The interfacial topography and the entrainment act to further anchor the plumes, which persist until the chemical stratification disappears through entrainment, even for Rayleigh numbers around 10⁸. The pattern of thermochemical plumes remains the same during an experiment, drifting only slowly through the tank. Scaled to an Earth’s mantle without plate tectonics, our results show that: (1) thermochemical plumes are expected to exist in the mantle, (2) they could easily survive hundreds of millions of years, depending on the size and magnitude of the chemical heterogeneity on which they are anchored, and (3) their drift velocity would be at most 1-2 mm/yr. They would therefore produce long-lived and relatively fixed hotspots on the lithosphere. However, the thermochemical plumes would follow any large scale motion imposed on the chemical layer. Therefore, the chemical heterogeneity acts more as a ‘floating anchor’ than as an absolute one.     

华北地区上地幔温度及岩石圈厚度分布研究

上地幔温度是控制地幔流变性和动力学过程的关键参数之一.本文利用高分辨率S波地震层析成像速度结果,基于岩石温度与地震波速度的关系,研究了华北地区上地幔50~300 km深度范围内的温度分布和"热"岩石圈厚度.为了验证结果的可靠性,本文用计算的上地幔60 km深度处的温度作为底面约束,得到了相应的地表热流.计算地表热流与观测地表热流之间符合程度较好,相对误差大部分都在地表热流观测误差范围之内.通过对上地幔的温度分布进行分析,我们研究发现:(1)在上地幔浅部,温度与地表构造之间有很好的对应关系.在小于170 km的深度上,温度呈现东高西低的分布态势.温度较高的区域集中在东部的河淮盆地、渤海湾盆地、华北平原和中部陆块的交界处、西部鄂尔多斯高原北缘的银川―河套地堑以及阴山地区,同时,这些地区的岩石圈厚度也相应较薄,大约为80~100 km;(2)西部的鄂尔多斯高原是整个华北地区岩石圈地幔温度最低的地区,比东部地区低200~400 ℃,岩石圈厚度相应最厚,平均岩石圈厚度达到140~150 km,最厚处超过160 km.(3)在170 km以下的软流圈地幔部分,温度分布发生反转,西部温度高于东部,表明东、西部陆块在地质历史时期经历了不同的深部地幔动力学过程.     

Influence of the Load Wavelength on the Permeability of a Viscosity Interface in the Mantle

Assuming a radially stratified Newtonian mantle in a steady-state approximation, we demonstrate that the permeability of a viscosity interface at 660-km depth strongly depends on the wavelength of buoyancy forces driving the flow. The flow induced by long-wavelength loads penetrates through the boundary freely even if the viscosity increases by two orders. In contrast, the boundary is practically impermeable for short-wavelength loads located in the upper mantle. Thus, a stepwise increase of viscosity is a significant obstacle for small descending features in the upper mantle, but huge upper mantle downwellings, or upwellings formed in the-lower mantle can overcome it easily. This indicates that certain care is necessary in interpreting the seismic structure of the mantle by means of flow models. The global tomographic image includes only the first few degrees of the harmonic series and, consequently, its interpretation in terms of a present-day flow field results in a predominantly whole-mantle circulation even for extreme viscosity contrasts.     

Variation of Uplift Velocit y in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: Its Occasion and Consequences

The velocity of uplift in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau has been changed in a remarkable sense by the continental collision.In this paper the buoyancy variation,which occurred in the crustal shortening and thickening process,was used to explain the varied velocities.In the initial stage subcrustal material came from anomalous mantle with high temperature,then the density contrast between crust and mantle was small; in turn both the buoyancy and the surface uplift were gentle.When the thickened crust was squeezed into normal mantle in the later stage,the significant buoyancy would cause a rapid uplift.The variation of buoyancy also affected the stress regime around the plateau.     

黏滞分层地幔中密度异常驱动对流模型的研究

在地震层析成像计算的地幔密度异常直接驱动地幔对流的新方法的基础上,发展了在上、下地幔不同黏性结构框架下,密度异常驱动地幔对流的物理模型.利用 Grands和S12 WM13等地震层析成像模型推得的地幔密度异常分布,设置板块绝对运动极型场为运动上边界,考虑深度660km地震波不连续面为界的上、下地幔之间存在黏滞性的差异,直接反演了不同黏滞系数的双层地幔结构下地幔对流的模式.研究中选取地幔平均密度为ρ=5500kg/m3, 上层地幔平均黏滞系数为μ=1021Pa·s,计算了上、下地幔黏滞系数之比为1∶1, 1∶10, 1∶100和1∶1000时地幔大圆剖面、以及区域剖面上的流场.结果表明,两种模型在球谐展开1～13阶的范围内其对流的基本格局相似.当下地幔黏滞性超过上地幔的100倍时,下地幔流场速度与上地幔的流场速度相比显著减小,但是对流仍然表现出单层对流环的基本格局.论文还用 240km深度球面上的对流格局讨论了对流和全球构造之间的关系.