The earth's thermal profile: Is there a mid-mantle thermal boundary layer?

Shock observations on melting of iron by Brown and McQueen with the inner core boundary (ICB) density contrast estimated by Masters are used with the assumption that the light ingredient of the outer core is oxygen to calculate the boundary temperature T_ICB = (5000 ± 900) K. Adiabatic extrapolation to the core-mantle boundary (CMB) gives T_ICB = (3800 ± 800) K. The temperature increment across the D″ layer is not well constrained, but is estimated to be T_D″ = (800 ± 400) K and a slightly superadiabatic extrapolation to 670 km gives T_{670 +} = (2300 ± 950) K. This is only about 300 K higher than the extrapolation to the same level from the upper mantle, T_670? = (1970 ± 150) K. The difference is far too small to make a viable mid-mantle boundary layer. Remaining unceertainties are too large to discount such a boundary layer with certainty, but agreement of our new temperature profile with temperatures deduced from equation of state studies on the lower mantle and core encourages the view that we are converging to a well-determined temperature profile for the Earth.     

The structure of thermal convection and geotherms beneath a continent and ocean

The formation of the thermal cross section of the lithosphere and mantle upon the interaction between the mantle convection and the immobile continent surrounded by the oceanic lithosphere is studied by numerical modeling. The convective temperature and velocity fields and then the averaged geotherms for subcontinental and suboceanic regions up to the boundary with the core are calculated from the solution of convection equations with a jump in viscosity in the continental zone. Using the experimental data on the solidus temperature in the rocks of the upper mantle, the average thickness of the continental and oceanic lithosphere is estimated at 190 and 30 km, respectively. The effect of a hot spot formed in the subcontinental upper mantle at a depth of 250–500 km, which has not been previously noted, is revealed. Although the temperature in this zone is typically assumed to be close to adiabatic, the calculations show that it is actually higher than adiabatic by up to 200°C. The physical mechanism responsible for this effect is associated with the accumulation of convective heat beneath the thermally insulating layer of the continental lithosphere. The revealed anomalies can be important in studying the phase and mineral transformations at the base of the lithosphere and in the regional geodynamical reconstructions.     

Thermal structure and thickness of the lithospheric mantle underlying the Siberian Craton from the kraton and kimberlit superlong seismic profiles

A self-consistent approach is proposed for the investigation of the thermal conditions, chemical composition, and internal structure of the upper mantle of the Earth. Using this approach, the thermal state of the lithospheric mantle beneath the Siberian Craton (SC) is reconstructed from P velocities, taking into account the phase transitions, anharmonicity, and the effects of anelasticity. The velocities of seismic waves are more sensitive to temperature than to the composition of the mantle rocks, which allows the velocity models to be effectively used for reconstruction of the thermal regime of the mantle. The temperature at depths 100–300 km is reconstructed by inversion of the Kraton and Kimberlit superlong seismic profiles for compositions of the garnet harzburgite, lherzolite, and intermediate composition of garnet peridotite. The averaged temperature in the normal continental mantle is reconstructed by inversion of the IASP91 reference model for depleted and fertile substance. One-dimensional models and two-dimensional thermal fields undergo a substantial fall in temperature (～300–600°C) beneath the Siberian Craton as compared to the temperatures of the continental mantle and paleotemperatures inferred from the thermobarometry of xenoliths. Temperature profiles of the Siberian Craton deduced from seismic data lie between the conductive geotherms of 32.5–40.0 mW/m² and below the P(H)-T values obtained for low- and high-temperature xenoliths from the Mir, Udachnaya, and Obnazhennaya kimberlite pipes. The thickness of the thermal lithosphere estimated from the intersection with the potential adiabat is 300–320 km, which is consistent with the data on heat flows and seismotomographic observations. This provides grounds for the assumption that the low-temperature anomalies (thermal roots of continents) penetrate down to a depth of 300 km. The analysis of the sensitivity of seismic velocity and density to the variations in temperature, pressure, and chemical and phase composition of petrological models shows that recognition of fine differences in chemical composition of the lithospheric rocks by seismic methods is impossible.     

Thermal regime of the Earth's core

The outer core is assumed to consist of iron and sulfur, with a small amount of potassium that generates heat by radioactive decay of sim||pre|40 K. Two cases are considered, corresponding respectively to a high rate of heat production (Q = 2 · 10¹² cal./sec, about 0.1% K), and to a low rate (Q = 2 · 10¹¹ cal./sec). The temperature at a depth of 2800 km in the mantle is taken to be 3300°K (Wang, 1972). The temperature T_c at the core-mantle boundary depends on whether or not a density gradient in the lowermost layer D″ of the mantle prevents convection in that layer. In the first case, and for high Q, T_c = 4500–5000°K. In the second case, or for low Q, T_c ≈ 3500°K.The heat-conduction equation is used to calculate the temperature T_i at the inner-core boundary in the absence of convection. For high Q, T_i ? T_c ≈ 1600°K; for low Q, T_i ? T_c ≈ 160°K. Corresponding temperature gradients at r = r_c and r = r_i are listed in Table I.The adiabatic gradient at the top of the core is calculated by the method of Stewart (1970). It strongly depends on the parameters (ρ₀, c₀, γ₀, etc.) that characterize core material at low pressure. Stewart has drawn graphs that allow the selection of sets of parameters that are consistent with seismic velocities and a given density distribution in the core. Some acceptable sets of parameters are listed in Table II. Many sets yield temperatures T_c in the range 3500–5000°K; some give an adiabatic gradient steeper than the conductive gradient and are compatible with convection; others do not. Since properties of FeS melts remain unknown, there is at present no way of selecting any set in preference to another.Properties of the FeS system at low pressure suggest the possible appearance of immiscibility at high temperature in liquids of low sulfur content; accordingly, the inner-core boundary is thought to represent equilibrium between a solid (FeNi) inner core and a liquid layer containing only a small amount of sulfur; layer F in turn is in equilibrium with another liquid (forming layer E) containing more sulfur, and slightly less dense, than F. The temperature T_i at the inner-core boundary is about 6000–6500°K for high Q and T_c ≈ 4500–5000°K. It is consistent with Alder's (1966) and Leppaluoto's (1972) estimates of the melting point of iron at 3.3 Mbar, but not with that of Higgins and Kennedy (1971).     

Geological,tomographic, kinematic and geodynamic constraints on the dynamics of sinking slabs

We use geodynamic models with imposed plate velocities to test the forward-modeled history of subduction based on a particular plate motion model against alternative seismic tomography models. We utilize three alternative published reference frames: a hybrid moving hotspot-palaeomagnetic, a hybrid moving hotspot-true polar wander corrected-palaeomagnetic, and a Subduction Reference Frame, a plate model including longitudinal shifts of subduction zones by matching subduction volumes imaged by P-wave tomography, to assess which model best predicts present day mantle structure compared with seismic tomography and volumetrically derived subduction history. Geodynamic modeling suggests paleo-longitudinal corrections applied to the Subduction Reference Frame result in lower mantle slab material beneath North America and East Asia accumulating up to 10–15° westward of that imaged by tomography, whereas the hybrid models develop material offset by 2–9°. However, the Subduction Reference Frame geodynamic model produces slab material beneath the Tethyan Domain coinciding with slab volumes imaged by tomography, whereas the hybrid reference frame models do not, suggesting regional paleo-longitudinal corrections are required to constrain slab locations. We use our models to test inferred slab sinking rates in the mantle focusing on well-constrained regions. We derive a globally averaged slab-sinking rate of 13 ± 3 mm/yr by combining the ages of onset and cessation of subduction from geological data and kinematic reconstructions with images of subducted slabs in the mantle. Our global average slab-sinking rate overlaps with the 15–20 mm/yr rate implied by mantle convection models using a lower mantle viscosity 100 times higher than the upper mantle.     

地幔上涌对鄂尔多斯西缘岩石圈的改造:来自远震多尺度层析成像的证据

本文利用喜马拉雅二期科学探测台阵的678个地震台站及26个固定台站记录到的9,641个地震共约160000条远震P波走时数据,采用基于稀疏约束的多尺度层析成像方法,获得了鄂尔多斯西缘及邻区上地幔800 km深度范围内P波速度结构.结果显示,在东经104°附近阿拉善地块与鄂尔多斯盆地间存在岩石圈深度的构造边界,这表明阿拉善地块与鄂尔多斯可能分别从属于不同的大地构造单元.以北纬38°线为界,鄂尔多斯地块西缘在岩石圈范围内南北存在明显的速度差异,鄂尔多斯南部上地幔200~300 km深度范围显示为高速异常,而鄂尔多斯北部上地幔显示大面积的低速异常.这一现象表明,鄂尔多斯地块南北两部分经历了不同的构造演化过程.根据本文的结果可以进一步推断,由于青藏高原、阿拉善地块向东北方向推挤以及岩石圈的拆离引起的上地幔扰动导致了地幔上涌,上涌的热物质改造了鄂尔多斯西北缘地区的岩石圈,并使该区的岩石圈减薄.地幔上涌也可能是东经104°边界带和北纬38°构造带形成的深部动力学因素.

     

The seismogenic zone of subduction thrust faults

Abstract Subduction thrust faults generate earthquakes over a limited depth range. They are aseismic in their seaward updip portions and landward downdip of a critical point. The seaward shallow aseismic zone, commonly beneath accreted sediments, may be a consequence of unconsolidated sediments, especially stable-sliding smectite clays. Such clays are dehydrated and the fault may become seismogenic where the temperature reaches 100--150°C, that is, at a 5--15 km depth. Two factors may determine the downdip seismogenic limit. For subduction of young hot oceanic lithosphere beneath large accretionary sedimentary prisms and beneath continental crust, the transition to aseismic stable sliding is temperature controlled. The maximum temperature for seismic behavior in crustal rocks is ～ 350°C, regardless of the presence of water. In addition, great earthquake ruptures initiated at less than this temperature may propagate with decreasing slip to where the temperature is ～ 450°C. For subduction beneath thin island arc crust and beneath continental crust in some areas, the forearc mantle is reached by the thrust shallower than the 350°C temperature. The forearc upper mantle probably is aseismic because of stable-sliding serpentinite hydrated by water from the underthrusting oceanic crust and sediments. For many subduction zones the downdip seismogenic width defined by these limits is much less than previously assumed. Within the narrowly defined seismic zone, most of the convergence may occur in earthquakes. Numerical thermal models have been employed to estimate temperatures on the subduction thrust planes of four continental subduction zones. For Cascadia and Southwest Japan where very young and hot plates are subducting, the downdip seismogenic limit on the subduction thrust is thermally controlled and is shallow. For Alaska and most of Chile, the forearc mantle is reached before the critical temperature, and mantle serpentinite provides the limit. In all four regions, the seismogenic zones so defined agree with estimates of the extent of great earthquake rupture, and with the downdip extent of the interseismic locked zone.     

Three-dimensional thermal structure of the Chinese continental crust and upper mantle

We invert S-wave velocities for the 3D upper-mantle temperatures, in which the position with a temperature crossing the 1300℃ adiabat is corresponding to the top of the seismic low velocity zone. The temperatures down to the depth of 80 km are then calculated by solving steady-state thermal conduction equation with the constraints of the inverted upper-mantle temperatures and the surface temperatures, and then surface heat flows are calculated from the crustal temperatures. The misfit between the calculated and observed surface heat flow is smaller than 20% for most regions. The result shows that, at a depth of 25 km, the crustal temperature of eastern China (500―600℃) is higher than that of western China (<500℃). At a depth of 100 km, temperatures beneath eastern and southeastern China are higher than the adiabatic temperature of 1300℃, while that beneath west China is lower. The Tarim craton and the Sichuan basin show generally low temperature. At a depth of 150 km, temperatures beneath south China, eastern Yangtze craton, North China craton and around the Qiangtang terrane are higher than the adiabatic temperature of 1300℃, but is the lowest beneath the Sichuan basin and the regions near the Indian-Eurasian collision zone. At a depth of 200 km, very low temperature occurs beneath the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the south to the Tarim craton.     

Thermal histories of the core and mantle

Recognition that the cooling of the core is accomplished by conduction of heat into a thermal boundary layer (D″) at the base of the mantle, partly decouples calculations of the thermal histories of the core and mantle. Both are controlled by the temperature-dependent rheology of the mantle, but in different ways. Thermal parameters of the Earth are more tightly constrained than hitherto by demanding that they satisfy both core and mantle histories. We require evolution from an early state, in which the temperatures of the top of the core and the base of the mantle were both very close to the mantle solidus, to the present state in which a temperature increment, estimated to be ～ 800 K, has developed across D″. The thermal history is not very dependent upon the assumption of Newtonian or non-Newtonian mantle rheology. The thermal boundary layer at the base of the mantle (i.e., D″) developed within the first few hundred million years and the temperature increment across it is still increasing slowly. In our preferred model the present temperature at the top of the core is 3800 K and the mantle temperature, extrapolated to the core boundary without the thermal boundary layer, is 3000 K. The mantle solidus is 3860 K. These temperatures could be varied within quite wide limits without seriously affecting our conclusions. Core gravitational energy release is found to have been remarkably constant at ～ 3 × 10¹¹ W. nearly 20% of the core heat flux, for the past 3 × 10⁹ y, although the total terrestrial heat flux has decreased by a factor of 2 or 3 in that time. This gravitational energy can power the “chemical” dynamo in spite of a core heat flux that is less than that required by conduction down an adiabatic gradient in the outer core; part of the gravitational energy is used to redistribute the excess heat back into the core, leaving 1.8 × 10¹¹ W to drive the dynamo. At no time was the dynamo thermally driven and the present radioactive heating in the core is negligibly small. The dynamo can persist indefinitely into the future; available power 10¹⁰ y from now is estimated to be 0.3 × 10¹¹ W if linear mantle rheology is assumed or more if mantle rheology is non-linear. The assumption that the gravitational constant decreases with time imposes an implausible rate of decrease in dynamo energy. With conventional thermodynamics it also requires radiogenic heating of the mantle considerably in excess of the likely content of radioactive elements.     

青藏高原东北缘上地幔多尺度层析成像

利用布设在青藏高原东北缘地区的甘肃宽频带地震台阵记录到的远震P波走时数据,采用小波域参数化和基于L1范数的稀疏约束反演算法的多尺度层析成像方法,得到了该地区400 km深度范围内上地幔的P波速度结构.本文采用的多尺度层析成像方法可以自适应数据非均匀采样的情况,有效降低谱泄漏效应和反问题的多解性,明显提高解的分辨率和可靠性.层析成像结果表明青藏高原东北缘上地幔整体上显示为低速特征,扬子地块上地幔则显示为高速特征,两者之间上地幔存在清晰的块体边界带,该边界带位于东经104°-105°之间并且随深度的增加逐渐东移.该特征暗示了青藏高原上地幔物质向东扩张的机制,但在西秦岭上地幔顶部不存在物质运移的通道.青藏高原东北缘内部也具有明显的分区特征,松潘-甘孜地块上地幔P波速度整体呈低速特征,而柴达木地块的上地幔顶部具有相对高速特征,而在上地幔200 km以下这两个地块间的差别逐渐减小.1654年天水地震和1879年武都地震都发生在扬子地块与青藏高原的碰撞交汇区,其震中下方上地幔显示为高低速转换结构.

     

Introductory remarks on standard earth model

The interpretation of magnetotelluric data from southwest Iceland provides three constraints on regional temperatures for the crust and upper mantle. First, it appears that temperature gradients from boreholes one or two kilometers deep (60–120°C/km) can be linearly extrapolated to the base of the crust. Second, the temperature at the crust-mantle interface (10–15 km) is in the range 1000 ± 200°C. Third, the temperature gradient in the upper mantle (15–100 km) is remarkably small and must be close to 1°C/km.Although the absolute value of temperature is uncertain, a distinct difference emerges between the range of temperatures estimated from the magnetotelluric interpretation and the range of temperatures theoretically calculated from the conventional heat-flow equation. These differences, we feel, are a direct manifestation of the tectonic setting of Iceland.     

Composition,temperature, and thickness of the lithosphere of the Archean Kaapvaal craton

A new model is proposed for the structure of the Kaapvaal craton lithosphere. Based on chemical thermodynamics methods, profiles of the chemical composition, temperature, density, and S wave velocities are constructed for depths of 100–300 km. A solid-state zone of lower velocities is discovered on the S velocity profile in the depth interval 150–260 km. The temperature profiles are obtained from absolute values of P and S velocities, taking into account phase transformations, anharmonicity, and anelastic effects. The examination of the sensitivity of seismic models to the chemical composition showed that relatively small variations in the composition of South African xenoliths result in lateral temperature variations of ～200°C. Inversion of some seismic profiles (including IASP91) with a fixed bulk composition of garnet peridotites (the primitive mantle material) leads to a temperature inversion at depths of 200–250 km, which is physically meaningless. It is supposed that the temperature inversion can be removed by gradual fertilization of the mantle with depth. In this case, the craton lithosphere should be stratified in chemical composition. The depleted lithosphere composed by garnet peridotites exists to depths of 175–200 km. The lithospheric material at depths of 200–250 km is enriched in basaltoid components (FeO, Al₂O₃, and CaO) as compared with the material of garnet peridotites but is depleted in the same components as compared with the fertile substance of the underlying primitive mantle. The material composing the craton root at a depth of ～275 km does not differ in its physical and chemical characteristics from the composition of the normal mantle, and this allows one to estimate the thickness of the lithosphere at 275 km. The results of this work are compared with data of seismology, thermal investigations, and thermobarometry.     

On the thermal evolution of the earth

The two principal contributions to the surface heat flow of the earth are the cooling of the earth and the heat production of radioactive isotopes. As the rate of heat production decreases with time the temperature of the interior of the earth also decreases. The rate of decrease is determined by the ability of solid-state mantle convection to transport the heat to the surface. The dominant effect is the exponential temperature dependence of the mantle viscosity. The non-dimensional mantle temperature can be parameterised in terms of the Rayleigh number for mantle convection. It is found that the mantle is currently cooling at a rate of 36°K/10⁹ years and that three billion years ago the mean temperature was 150°K higher than it is today; 83% of the present surface heat flow is attributed to the decay of radioactive isotopes and 17% to the cooling of the earth. The corresponding mean concentration of uranium in the mantle is 32 ppb.     

华北克拉通及东邻西太平洋活动大陆边缘地区的P波速度结构：对岩石圈减薄动力学过程的探讨

本文通过地震层析成像研究获得了华北克拉通及其东邻地区（30°N-50°N,95°E -145°E）1°×1°的P波速度扰动图像.结果显示,在西太平洋俯冲带地区,上地幔中西倾的板片状高速异常体与其上方的低速异常区构成俯冲带与上覆地幔楔的典型速度结构式样.俯冲板片高速体在约300~400 km深度范围内被低速物质充填,暗示俯冲板片可能发生了断离.在华北克拉通地区的上地幔中发现三个东倾排列的高速异常带.在此基础上,本文构建了华北克拉通及其东邻西太平洋活动大陆边缘地区的上地幔速度结构模式图,并据此探讨克拉通岩石圈减薄与西太平洋活动大陆边缘的深部动力学联系.本文认为,太平洋板片的俯冲（断离）,触发热地幔物质上涌并在上覆地幔楔中形成对流,使克拉通岩石圈受到改造（底侵与弱化）.随着俯冲板片后撤,地幔楔中的对流场以及对岩石圈改造的影响范围均随之东移,最终导致华北克拉通岩石圈自下而上、从西向东分三个阶段依次拆沉减薄.这一模式能很好地解释现今克拉通岩石圈自西向东呈台阶状减薄的深部现象.     

溧阳震区地壳深部结构的探测与研究

本文利用天然地震转换波法所测得的漂阳震区地壳深部主要界面的构造图。简要地讨论了溧阳震区深部构造与震中分布的关系,认为溧阳两次中强地震都发生在较厚的花岗岩质层中,其深部构造特征表现为上地幔隆起、或界面埋深变化剧烈的梯度带,同时又处于两组以上深断裂交汇的特殊部位     

How flat is the lower-mantle temperature gradient?

The temperature gradient in the lower mantle is fundamental in prescribing many transport properties, such as the viscosity, thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity. The adiabatic temperature gradient is commonly employed for estimating these transport properties in the lower mantle. We have carried out a series of high-resolution 3-D anelastic compressible convections in a spherical shell with the PREM seismic model as the background density and bulk modulus and the thermal expansivity decreasing with depth. Our purpose was to assess how close under realistic conditions the horizontally averaged thermal gradient would lie to the adiabatic gradient derived from the convection model. These models all have an endothermic phase change at 660 km depth with a Clapeyron slope of around −3 MPa K⁻¹, uniform internal heating and a viscosity increase of 30 across the phase transition. The global Rayleigh number for basal heating is around 2×10⁶, while an internal heating Rayleigh number as high as 10⁸ has been employed. The pattern of convection is generally partially layered with a jump of the geotherm across the phase change of at most 300 K. In all thermally equilibrated situations the geothermal gradients in the lower mantle are small, around 0.1 K km⁻¹, and are subadiabatic. Such a low gradient would produce a high peak in the lower-mantle viscosity, if the temperature is substituted into a recently proposed rheological law in the lower mantle. Although the endothermic phase transition may only cause partial layering in the present-day mantle, its presence can exert a profound influence on the state of adiabaticity over the entire mantle.     

Seismic tomography of the crust and upper mantle in the Bohai Bay Basin and its adjacent regions

In the Bohai Bay Basin and its adjacent regions(112°―124°E,34°―42°N),there exists abundant gas-petroleum while modern inter-plate seismic activity is robust.Although the tectonic structure of this region is very complicated,plenty of geological,geophysical and geochemical data and results are obtained through previous researches.On the basis of absorbing previous results,especially various kinds of geological and geophysical results,we collect and process the arrival time of P-wave phases of local events and tele-seismic events recorded by the station within this region from 1978 to 2004,build the responding initial model,and image the velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle of this region via tomography.The perturbation images of various depths and velocity profiles imply that the velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle in the Bohai Bay Basin and its adjacent regions is mainly influenced by the surface tectonic units,and is characterized by "Stripped along east-west,and zoned along south-north";some large-scaled faults penetrate Moho and lithosphere,and provide the channels for the basic lava or hot mass upwelling from the mantle.     

京津唐地区地壳上地幔立体构造

本文介绍在京津唐地区利用地震转换波法所测得的地壳、上地幔主要深部界面构造图以及地壳下层(玄武岩层)厚度分布图。将深部构造与本区震中分布进行了对比,指出了强震震源区的深部构造特征     

The effect of sloped isotherms on melt migration in the shallow mantle: a physical and numerical model based on observations in the Oman ophiolite

Field observations in the Oman ophiolite and petrological data are used to constrain a model of melt segregation at the top of the mantle beneath an oceanic spreading centre. Foliations and lineations in outcrops of mantle-derived peridotites oriented at high angle relative to the crust–mantle boundary have been interpreted as the footprint of a former axial asthenospheric convective upwelling several kilometers in cross-section that reached Moho levels. Basaltic melts migrating through this upwelling reacted with their host harzburgites and suffered fractional crystallization. The mantle–crust transition zone at the top of the upwelling is characterized by an very thick (about 400 m) dunite layer whose detailed structure and composition point to the development by compaction of a former “mantle mush”. The more important structures (in terms of volume of crystallization products) found in the underlying harzburgites are dunitic–troctolitic horizons a few meters thick and of lateral extent reaching 1 km and more. They crystallized at high temperature (>1190 °C) from melts similar to mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB). These are called “sills” because they are sub-parallel to the crust–mantle boundary, but they can present a moderate dip (15° to 20° at most) relative to this paleo-horizontal surface. These observations have motivated the modelling of melt segregation by compaction within the crystallization domain inside the top convective boundary layer of the mantle upwelling. Two original inputs to the modelling are considered here: (i) the slope of the iso-curves of melt concentration due to the progressive cooling of the mantle in the boundary layer away from the axis of the rising convective flow; (ii) the reduction in permeability caused by the crystallization of the inter-granular melt. Modelling shows that a unique condition is required to generate the troctolite sills and the thick dunite layer nested at the top of the Maqsad diapir: namely a dramatic drop of the interstitial melt concentration at the top of the mantle. Besides, the model developed here allows to scale the time, volume and velocity of the melt segregation.