Global geodynamic evolution of the Earth and global geodynamic models

The paper is a synthesis of models for basic geodynamic processes (spreading, subduction transient into collision, mantle plumes) in relation with the Earth's evolution and regularly changing geodynamic parameters. The main trends and milestones of this evolution record irreversible cooling of the Earth's interior, oxidation of the surface, and periodic changes in geodynamic processes. The periodicity consists of cycles of three characteristic sizes, namely 700–800 Myr global cycles, 120, 90, and 30 Myr smaller cycles, and short-period millennial to decadal oscillations controlled by changing Earth's orbital parameters and, possibly, also by other extraterrestrial factors. Major events and estimates of mantle and surface temperatures, heat flow, viscosity, and the respective regimes of convection and plume magmatism have been reported for the largest periods of the Earth's history: Hadean (4.6–3.9 Ga), Early Archean (3.9–3.3 Ga), Late Archean (3.3–2.6 Ga), Early Proterozoic (2.6–1.9 Ga), Middle Proterozoic (1.9–1.1 Ga), Neoproterozoic (1.1–0.6 Ga), and Phanerozoic with two substages of 0.6–0.3 and 0.3–0 Ga.Current geodynamics is discussed with reference to models of spreading, subduction, and plume activity. Spreading is considered in terms of double-layered mantle convection, with focus on processes in the vicinity of mid-ocean ridges. The problem of mafic melt migration through the upper mantle beneath spreading ridges is treated qualitatively. Main emphasis is placed on models of melting, comparison of experimental and observed melt compositions, and their variations in periods of magmatic activity (about 100 kyr long) and quiescence. The extent and ways of interaction of fluids and melts rising from subduction zones with the ambient mantle remain the most controversial. Plume magmatism is described with a “gas torch” model of thermochemical plumes generated at the core-mantle boundary due to local chemical doping with volatiles (H₂, CH₂, KH, etc.) which are released from the metallic outer core, become oxidized in the lower mantle, and decrease the melting point of the latter. The concluding section concerns periodicities in endogenous processes and their surface consequences, including the related biospheric evolution.     

For the deep biosphere,the present is not always the key to the past: what we can learn from the geological record

Microbial life below the Earth's surface (the deep biosphere) has probably varied significantly since the Archaean. Reconstructing changes in deep biosphere activity over geological timescales is necessary to understand its role in biogeochemical cycling. Even for the last few million years, such changes are often not captured by studying the distribution of present activity. However, several studies using samples from scientific drilling have revealed mineralogical, geochemical, isotopic and fossil organic molecule imprints in the sedimentary record that document rather different past deep biosphere conditions. Changing deep biosphere conditions can also be simulated using geochemical models. While some processes occurring in the past can be understood by comparing them with the present deep biosphere, others lack any modern analogue – they are defined as non‐actualistic. A non‐actualistic consideration of the deep biosphere is therefore essential for a better understanding of how Earth and life co‐evolved through time.     

太古宙富铁苦橄岩与太古宙早期深部地幔不均一性

富铁苦橄岩是一类特殊的高镁地幔来源岩浆岩,具有高的FeOT含量(＞14％)和MgO含量(＞12％),并富集不相容元素和具有轻重稀土强烈分异的稀土元素配分模式.富铁苦橄岩通常与科马提岩产出于绿岩带中,或产出于大火成岩省中,因此富铁苦橄岩的形成与地幔柱活动有着密切的联系,与其他高镁地幔来源岩浆岩(科马提岩、苦橄岩)一道成为...     

Conductive cooling of spherical bodies with emphasis on the Earth

To explore planetary evolution, we provide conductive cooling profiles that account for planet size, phonon diffusivity and various internal heating scenarios. Our new analytical solution for simple cooling of spheres reveals that heat is removed from only Earth's outermost ~1000 km over geological time. Numerical models with decaying heat production show that any upward concentration of radionuclides causes high temperatures at shallow depths, forcing interior temperatures to increase with time while producing a thermal gradient that forbids lower mantle convection. Hence, differentiation drives upper mantle magmatism and tectonics, leaving a quiescent but hot deep interior, while slowly melting the core.     

地幔柱的识别和演化研究述评

地幔柱的研究已逐渐成为人类认识地球深部动力学机制的重要手段，其诞生-演化与LIPs形成、超大陆裂解以及生物大灭绝事件密切相关。近几十年来，对地幔柱的研究和探索取得了重要进展，尤其是动态地幔柱模式（t ime-dependent）的提出将这一研究热点推向了新的台阶。综合了近些年在地幔柱识别和演化方面的研究资料对前人工作进行总结，归结为以下几个主要方面：地幔柱的时空尺度及其与热点、溢流玄武岩、地壳抬升间的联系；地幔柱的热和物质起源；地幔柱上升和演化的动力学基础。目前仍存在的问题包括：地幔柱是主动还是被动上涌？地幔柱起源于上-下地幔还是核-幔边界？OIB是否代表原始地幔柱的熔融岩浆？无疑这些问题的深入探索将拓宽人类对核幔耦合、地幔对流及浅部物质-能量响应等动力学机制的认识。     

Properties of iron alloys under the Earth's core conditions

The Earth's core is constituted of iron and nickel alloyed with lighter elements. In view of their affinity with the metallic phase, their relative high abundance in the solar system and their moderate volatility, a list of potential light elements have been established, including sulfur, silicon and oxygen. We will review the effects of these elements on different aspects of Fe–X high pressure phase diagrams under Earth's core conditions, such as melting temperature depression, solid–liquid partitioning during crystallization, and crystalline structure of the solid phases. Once extrapolated to the inner–outer core boundary, these petrological properties can be used to constrain the Earth's core properties.     

The persistent mantle plume myth

Seismology, thermodynamics and classical physics—the physics associated with the names of Fourier, Debye, Born, Grüneisen, Kelvin, Rayleigh, Rutherford, Ramberg and Birch—show that ambient shallow mantle under large long-lived plates is hundreds of degrees hotter than in the passive upwellings that fuel the global spreading ridge system, that potential temperatures in mantle below about 200 km generally decrease with depth and that deep mantle low shear wave-speed features are broad, sluggish and dome-like rather than narrow and mantle-plume-like. The surface boundary layer of the mantle is more voluminous and potentially hotter than regions usually considered as sources for intraplate volcanoes. This means that the ‘mantle plume’ explanation for Hawaii and large igneous provinces is unnecessary. In isolated systems, heated from within and cooled from above, upwellings are passive and large, which suggests that tomographic features, and upwellings, are responses to plate tectonics, spreading and subduction, at least until melting introduces a small intrinsic buoyancy at shallow depths. Melting anomalies, or ‘hotspots,’ are side-effects of plate tectonics and are fed primarily by shear-driven processes in the boundary layer (BL), not by deep buoyant upwellings. A dense basal melange (BAM) component further stabilises the lower boundary layer of the mantle. Mid-ocean ridges and associated broad passive depleted mantle (DM) upwellings probably originate in the transition region. Deeper mantle upwellings are broad domes that stay in the lower mantle.     

俯冲板片的脱碳机制及通量估算:问题与进展SCIEI北大核心CSCD

地球98%以上的碳赋存在地球深部地幔和地核中。地球深部储库(地幔和地核)中的碳以各类岩浆作用释放到地表,而地球表层系统(大气圈、水圈、生物圈)中的碳又可以伴随板块俯冲作用进入地球深部地幔。然而俯冲过程中不同的脱碳机制会将俯冲板片中部分乃至全部碳带出板片,而后经由岛弧岩浆作用、流体扩散作用等途径返回地表。因此,板片俯冲过程中的脱碳机制及其通量深刻地影响了地质时间尺度中地表系统的二氧化碳浓度,进而改变地球的宜居性。本文总结了目前主流观点认可的五种俯冲板片脱碳机制:变质反应脱碳、流体溶解脱碳、熔融脱碳、底辟脱碳和氧化还原脱碳。另一方面,目前对于俯冲板片各种脱碳机制对应的脱碳效率还有很大的争议,因此本文进一步梳理了板片俯冲过程中不同脱碳机制相关的通量估算的研究进展与存在的问题,建议将来综合多种方法对比研究俯冲带碳循环问题,以期在俯冲带深部碳循环过程和通量方面取得突破性进展。     

On the implications of the coupled evolution of the deep planetary interior and the presence of surface ocean water in hydrous mantle convection

We investigate the influence of the deep mantle water cycle incorporating dehydration reactions with subduction fluxes and degassing events on the thermal evolution of the Earth as a consequence of core–mantle thermal coupling. Since, in our numerical modeling, the mantle can have ocean masses ∼12 times larger than the present-day surface ocean, it seems that more than 13 ocean masses of water are at the maximum required within the planetary system overall to partition one ocean mass at the surface of the present-day Earth. This is caused by effects of water-dependent viscosity, which works at cooling down the mantle temperature significantly so that the water can be absorbed into the mantle transition zone and the uppermost lower mantle. This is a result similar to that without the effects of the thermal evolution of the Earth's core (Nakagawa et al., 2018). For the core's evolution, it seems to be expected for a partially molten state in the deep mantle over 2 billion years. Hence, the metal–silicate partitioning of hydrogen might have occurred at least 2 billion years ago. This suggests that the hydrogen generated from the phase transformation of hydrous-silicate-hosted water may have contributed to the partitioning of hydrogen into the metallic core, but it is still quite uncertain because the partitioning mechanism of hydrogen in metal–silicate partitioning is still controversial. In spite of many uncertainties for water circulation in the deep mantle, through this modeling investigation, it is possible to integrate the co-evolution of the deep planetary interior within that of the surface environment.     

记录地幔中存在氧元素的自然铁-方铁矿组合

笔者在西藏蛇绿岩的铬铁矿石中发现了十分复杂的地幔矿物群,其中包括自然铁-方铁矿的共生组合,它们被认为是外地核和下地幔的物质通过地幔柱作用携带到上地幔的。新发现的自然铁-方铁矿组合表明,外地核液态铁溶解有部分氧,当液态铁由外地核上升时,氧从液态铁中析出并呈不混溶状态存在于液态铁中。随着乳滴状自然铁球粒向上运移,在降压条件下液态铁和氧元素发生化学反应生成方铁矿(包括NI AS结构)。当氧耗尽时,在方铁矿中遗留下氧耗尽的空洞,形成眼球状构造。因此,眼球构造可能是外地核向地幔释放氧,下地幔内存在氧元素的历史记录。     

On the evolution of terrestrial planets:Bi-stability,stochastic effects,and the non-uniqueness of tectonic states

The Earth is the only body in the solar system for which significant observational constraints are accessible to such a degree that they can be used to discriminate between competing models of Earth's tectonic evolution.It is a natural tendency to use observations of the Earth to inform more general models of planetary evolution.However,our understating of Earth's evolution is far from complete.In recent years,there has been growing geodynamic and geochemical evidence that suggests that plate tectonics may not have operated on the early Earth,with both the timing of its onset and the length of its activity far from certain.Recently,the potential of tectonic bi-stability(multiple stable,energetically allowed solutions)has been shown to be dynamically viable,both from analytical analysis and through numeric experiments in two and three dimensions.This indicates that multiple tectonic modes may operate on a single planetary body at different times within its temporal evolution.It also allows for the potential that feedback mechanisms between the internal dynamics and surface processes(e.g.,surface temperature changes driven by long term climate evolution),acting at different thermal evolution times,can cause terrestrial worlds to alternate between multiple tectonic states over giga-year timescales.The implication within this framework is that terrestrial planets have the potential to migrate through tectonic regimes at similar‘thermal evolution times'(e.g.,points were they have a similar bulk mantle temperature and energies),but at very different'temporal times'(time since planetary formation).It can be further shown that identical planets at similar stages of their evolution may exhibit different tectonic regimes due to random variations.Here,we will discuss constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Earth and present a novel framework of planetary evolution that moves toward probabilistic arguments based on general physical principals,as opposed to particular rheologies,and incorporates the potential of tectonic regime transitions and multiple tectonics states being viable at equivalent physical and chemical conditions.     

The Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic Carbon Cycle Promoted the Evolution of a Habitable Earth

The carbon cycle is an important process that regulates Earth’s evolution. We compare two typical periods, in the Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic, in which many geological events occurred. It remains an open question when modern plate tectonics started on Earth and how it has influenced the carbon cycle through time. In the Paleoproterozoic, intense weathering in a highly CO₂ and CH₄ rich atmosphere caused more nutritional elements to be carried into the ocean.Terrestri...     

地幔柱构造、大火成岩省及其地质效应

地幔柱是源于核幔边界或上下地幔边界的热异常物质 ,其隐含的巨大能量导致地幔的大规模熔融和大火成岩省的形成。不同时代的科马提岩和苦橄岩的地球化学性质表明地幔柱源区经历了由太古宙时的亏损源区向现代OIB型源区演化的历程 ,可能与壳幔再循环强度的不断增加有关。地幔柱活动和大火成岩事件与大陆裂解 ,全球气候变迁 ,生物灭绝事件 ,磁极倒转和一些大型矿产资源的形成均有密切的联系。文中还介绍了中国开展地幔柱和大火成岩省研究的概况。     

Mantle convection modeling of the supercontinent cycle： Introversion,extroversion, or a combination？

The periodic assembly and dispersal of continental fragments,referred to as the supercontinent cycle,bear close relation to the evolution of mantle convection and plate tectonics.Supercontinent formation involves complex processes of"introversion"(closure of interior oceans),"extroversion"(closure of exterior oceans),or a combination of these processes in uniting dispersed continental fragments.Recent developments in numerical modeling and advancements in computation techniques enable us to simulate Earth’s mantle convection with drifting continents under realistic convection vigor and rheology in Earth-like geometry(i.e.,3D spherical-shell).We report a numerical simulation of 3D mantle convection,incorporating drifting deformable continents,to evaluate supercontinent processes in a realistic mantle convection regime.Our results show that supercontinents are assembled by a combination of introversion and extroversion processes.Small-scale thermal heterogeneity dominates deep mantle convection during the supercontinent cycle,although large-scale upwelling plumes intermittently originate under the drifting continents and/or the supercontinent.     

铀钍的地球化学及对地壳演化和生物进化的影响

本文论述了在含挥发份和贫挥发份条件下Ｕ、Ｔｈ的迁移行为及其对地球和行星演化的影响,并阐述了造成地球独特地质演化历史的原因。提出了Ｕ、Ｔｈ在地球中的迁移模式以及该模式对地壳形成、演化的控制作用和对生物发展演化的可能影响。     

地幔动力系统与演化最新进展评述

评述了９０年代以来地幔动力学研究的一些最新的观测和理论模拟的进展,探讨该领域的几个主要热点问题,包括地幔内部转换带和核幔边界的物理化学性质与演化,俯冲板片热结构及其与地幔的相互作用,热点物理化学性质与地幔柱动力学模拟,地幔对流系统及其对表层地质过程的影响等。这些结果是在多学科交叉研究的背景下取得的。地震层析的结果超越了８０年代取得的大尺度地幔结构,得到了越来越精细的结构,如俯冲板片的结构,６６０ｋｍ间断面的起伏,ＣＭＢ的超低速层和各向异性等。俯冲板片在某些区域平躺在上地幔底部,造成６６０ｋｍ间断面的凹陷。已有明显的迹象表明,俯冲板片至少在某些区域达到了地幔底部,说明下地幔是驱动地表板块运动的地幔对流不可分隔的一部分。全地幔对流模式对地幔中存在不同的地幔地球化学源区的看法提出重大挑战,计算机模拟三维球坐标地幔对流已经成为现实,新的研究正试图把地表板块加入到对流的模拟之中,并再造板块运动的动力学演化史。最后,对这些领域的最新进展提出自己的分析和看法,认为地球动力系统演化研究所面临的难题是地球内部动力状态演变的历史记录问题。而这样的记录,尤其是早期记录,只能从地球表面的造山带和盆地记录中去寻找。认为建立地质记录与?     

西藏蛇绿岩中不寻常的地幔矿物群

在西藏雅鲁藏布江蛇绿岩的铬铁矿中，首次发现由100余种（亚种）矿物组成的地幔矿物群，其中包括：自然元素，合金，氧化物，硫（砷）化物和硅酸盐。根据实验资料，其中一部分是超高压成因矿物。可能来自地球核-幔边界，是地球外核与下地幔底部硅酸盐之间化学反应的产物，另一部分矿物可能来自下地幔，过渡带和上地幔。西藏地幔矿物群，无论在矿物学和地球动力学上均有重要意义。     

沉积盆地形成的地球动力学机制及其分类

沉积盆地的形成主要与地球内部的热和物质的对流密切相关,它是沉积盆地形成和演化的原始动力。软流圈上涌高谋划在面或地幔羽的位置是地幔对 具体的表现。     

动高压物理在地球与行星科学研究中的应用

综述了动高压物理应用于地球和行星科学研究中的一些最新进展,包括地球内部的物质组成与热力学状态,巨行星的物质组成模型,太阳系中的碰撞成坑与吸积相互作用等。依据铁的冲击波数据,结合其他热力学数据,可以得到一条统一的铁的熔化曲线,将动高压与静高压数据完全统一,初步解决了长期困扰高压界的动、静压关于铁的熔化温度存在系统偏差的诘难。外推到ICB处(330 GPa),铁的熔化温度(亦称锚定温度)约为(5 950±100) K。冲击Hugoniot 数据,结合地震学模型可以约束地幔与地核的物质组成。冲击压缩下钙钛矿型(Mg0 9,Fe0 1)SiO3的高压声速测量结果表明,1 770 km深度的不连续面不仅是一个相变界面而且是一个化学成分或矿物学分界面。低温可凝聚气体(H2、He)或冰(H2 O, CH4, CO2, NH3 和N2 )的冲击波数据,及Jeffrey 数等其他数据可以用来构建巨行星(如木星和土星)的物质组成模型。地球深部矿物的冲击温度测量可以用来研究它们的高压熔化行为,据此建立的高压相图可以为控制地幔对流的地幔物质的准静态蠕变提供约束条件。熔融硅酸盐在上地幔压力条件下的冲击压缩数据,可以约束地幔熔岩稳定存在的深度,在此深度地幔熔岩不会因固体围岩提供的浮力而向上运移到地表,从而在此深度形成稳定的低速带。冲击波数据在描写行?     

Geological significance of anisotropy of seismic velocities in Earth's crust

Anisotropism of seismic velocities is at its minimum in rocks consisting mainly of feldspar and quartz, is appreciable in pyroxenes and amphiboles (chain-structured silicates), and is at its maximum in mica-rich rocks (sheef-structured silicates). Inasmuch as the difference between the formation and boundary velocities has been established by the DSS for the Earth's crust, as a whole, and is recognizable also in the tops of the mantle, the crust and the tops of the mantle probably consist of seismically anistropic rocks. -- IGR Staff.