Crustal structure beneath exposed accreted terranes of Southern Alaska

Summary. The crustal structure beneath the exposed terranes of southern Alaska has been explored using coincident seismic refraction and reflection profiling. A wide-angle reflector at 8–9 km depth, at the base of an inferred low-velocity zone, underlies the Peninsular and Chugach terranes, appears to truncate their boundary, and may represent a horizontal decollement beneath the terranes. The crust beneath the Chugach terrane is characterized by a series of north-dipping paired layers having low and high velocities that may represent subducted slices of oceanic crust and mantle. This layered series may continue northward under the Peninsular terrane. Earthquake locations in the Wrangell Benioff zone indicate that at least the upper two low-high velocity layer pairs are tectonically inactive and that they appear to have been accreted to the base of the continental crust. The refraction data suggest that the Contact fault between two similar terranes, the Chugach and Prince William terranes, is a deeply penetrating feature that separates lower crust (deeper than 10 km) with paired dipping reflectors, from crust without such reflectors.     

Crustal thickening under the palaeo-meso-Proterozoic Delhi Fold Belt in northwestern India: evidence from deep reflection profiling

The results of deep reflection profiling studies carried out across the palaeo-meso-Proterozoic Delhi Fold Belt (DFB) and the Archaean Bhilwara Gneissic Complex (BGC) in the northwest Indian platform are discussed in this paper. This region is a zone of Proterozoic collision. The collision appears to be responsible for listric faults in the upper crust, which represent the boundaries of the Delhi exposures. In these blocks the lower crust appears to lie NW of the respective surface exposures and the reflectivity pattern does not correspond to the exposed blocks. A fairly reflective lower crust northwest of the DFB exposures appears to be the downward continuation of the DFB upper crust. The poorly reflective lower crust under the exposed DFB may be the westward extension of the BGC upper crust at depth. Thus, the lower crust in this region can be divided into the fairly reflective Marwar Basin (MB)-DFB crust and a poorly reflective BGC crust. Vertically oriented igneous intrusions may have disturbed the lamellar lower-crustal structure of the BGC, resulting in a dome-shaped poorly reflective lower crust whose base, not traceable in the reflection data, may have a maximum depth of about 50 km, as indicated by the gravity modelling.
The DFB appears to be a zone of thick (45-50 km) crust where the lower crust has doubled in width. This has resulted in three Moho reflection bands, two of which are dipping SE from 12.5 to 15.0 s two-way time (TWT) and from 14.5 to 16.0 s TWT. Another band of subhorizontal Moho reflections, at ≈ 12.5 s TWT, may have developed during the crustal perturbations related to a post-Delhi tectonic orogeny. The signatures of the Proterozoic collision, in the form of strong SE-dipping reflections in the lower crust and Moho, have been preserved in the DFB, indicating that the crust here has not undergone any significant ductile deformation since at least after the Delhi rifting event.     

Possible mid-crustal shears at the edge of the London Platform

Summary. A reflection survey across part of the southern North Sea has revealed SW-dipping bands of reflection segments in the midcrust under the edge of the London Platform. The upper limit of each group of reflection segments has been contoured in TWT to give a three dimensional impression of the shape of the features. The shape, position and orientation of these groups, together with the reflection character within each group, suggest that they represent large-scale extensional, probably dilatant shear zones. It is proposed that they developed at the edge of the North Sea Basin due to relative movement between an undeformed brittle upper crust and a more ductile lower crust which has been stretched towards the basin to the NE. The shears are thus caused by heterogeneous crustal stretching.     

On the estimation of the vertical distribution of radiogenic heat production in the crust

Summary. A differential-difference equation governing the distribution of radiogenic heat in the crust has been obtained. The solution of this equation gives the exponential model of the heat production distribution with the logarithmic decrement as determined in Singh & Negi.     

Hatton Bank (northwest U.K.) continental margin structure

Summary. The continent-ocean transition near Hatton Bank was studied using a dense grid of single-ship and two-ship multichannel seismic (mcs) profiles. Extensive oceanward dipping reflectors in a sequence of igneous rocks are developed in the upper crust across the entire margin. At the landward (shallowest) end the dipping reflectors overlie continental crust, while at the seaward end they are formed above oceanic crust. Beneath the central and lower part of the margin is a mid-crustal layer approximately 5 km thick that could be either stretched and thinned continental crust or maybe newly formed igneous crust generated at the same time as the dipping reflector sequence. Beneath this mid-crustal layer and above a well defined seismic Moho which rises from 27 km (continental end) to 15 km (oceanic end) across the margin, the present lower crust comprises a 10–15 km thick lens of material with a seismic velocity of 7.3 to 7.4 km/s. We interpret the present lower crustal lens as underplated igneous rocks left after extraction of the extruded basaltic lavas, A considerable quantity of new material has been added to the crust under the rifted margin. The present Moho is a new boundary formed during creation of the margin and cannot, therefore, be used to determine the amount of thinning.     

Crustal structure of the Whipple Mountains, southeastern California: a refraction study across a region of large continental extension

Summary. Closely spaced refraction profiling across the Whipple Mountains metamorphic core complex in southeastern California yields a complex picture of crustal structure in this region of large continental extension. A NE-directed profile, parallel to the extension direction, reveals a high-velocity mid-crustal layer (6.6–6.8 km s⁻¹) at 16-18 km depth, bounded above and below by laterally discontinuous low-velocity zones (<6.0 km s⁻¹). In marked contrast, a NW-directed profile shows a more uniform 6.0 km s⁻¹ crust down to the crust-mantle boundary. The apparent contrast between these two perpendicular profiles may be related not only to a more complex geologic structure in the NW-SE direction, but also to velocity anisotropy associated with mid-crustal mylonites. Despite the differences between the two refraction profiles, both define a flat Moho at 26-27 km depth with an associated upper mantle-velocity of 7.8 km s⁻¹. This observation is significant as it suggests that, although the amount of extension has been highly variable regionally, the crust is no thinner beneath the Whipple Mountains (where extension has been extreme) than the surrounding mountain ranges. Such an observation requires either that the crust was considerably thicker prior to extension, or that lateral flow in the lower crust and/or inflation of the crust via magmatism occurred contemporaneous with extension.     

Structural effects of the crust on the geoid modelled using deep seismic sounding interpretations

According to the theory of isostasy, the Earth has a tendency to deform its surface in order to reach an equilibrium state. The land-uplift phenomenon in the area of the Fennoscandian Shield is thought to be a process of this kind. The geoid, as an equipotential surface of the Earth's gravity field, contains information on how much the Earth's surface departs from the equilibrium state. In order to study the isostatic process through geoidal undulations, the structural effects of the crust on the geoid have to be investigated.
  The structure of the crust of the Fennoscandian Shield has been extensively explored by means of deep seismic sounding (DSS). The data obtained from DSS are used to construct a 3-D seismic-velocity structure model of the area's crust. The velocity model is converted to a 3-D density model using the empirical relationship that holds between seismic velocities and crustal mass densities. Structural effects are then estimated from the 3-D density model.
  The structural effects computed from the crustal model show that the mass deficiency of the crust in Fennoscandia has caused a geoidal depression twice as deep as that observed from the gravimetric geoid. It proves again that the crust has been isostatically compensated by the upper mantle. In other words, an anomalously high-density upper mantle must exist beneath Fennoscandia.     

干旱、半干旱地区微生物结皮土壤水文学的研究进展

微生物结皮与土壤水文过程的关系一直是微生物结皮研究中最具争议性的热点问题。文章对国内外这一领域的研究进展进行了综述, 系统地介绍了微生物结皮在降雨入渗、水分保持和土面蒸发等土壤水文过程中的功能, 总结了微生物结皮土壤水文学研究中的各种观点, 针对不同观点之间产生的争议, 作者认为微生物结皮的时空特殊性、复杂性以及研究手段和方法的多样性是产生争议的主要原因。最后, 从试验方法和研究目标上对该研究领域进行了展望。     

Analysis of gravity fields in the northwestern Himalayas and Kohistan region using deep seismic sounding data

A Bouguer gravity anomaly map of the NW Himalayas and parts of the Kohistan/Hindukush region has been prepared using all available gravity data. Analysis of the gravity field has been carried out along a profile extending from Gujranwala (located near the edge of the Indian shield) to the Haramosh massif in a NNE–SSW direction. The gravity profile is located close to the DSS profile shot under the USSR–India scientific collaborative programme. Velocity information available along different parts of the profile has been used to infer values of crustal and upper mantle density.
The observed gravity field (Bouguer) has been interpreted in terms of Moho depth and density contrast between the crust and the mantle. The Moho depth is interpreted as increasing from nearly 35 km near the edge of the Indian shield to 75 km (below sea-level) underneath the Haramosh massif. A similar model is applicable to a profile passing to the west of Nanga Parbat massif, from Gujranwala to Ghizar, through the Kohistan region. However, along this profile high-density lower-crustal rocks appear to have been emplaced in the upper part along the main mantle thrust. The nature of isostatic compensation prevailing underneath the Himalayas has been discussed, as has the theory of lithospheric flexure proposed by Karner & Watts and Lyon-Caen & Molnar. It is felt that although these ideas explain the broad features of the Moho configuration as observed in the NW Himalayas, there are significant departures. The role of tectonic forces in shaping the Moho and causing changes in the density of the crust cannot be denied.     

Wide-angle deep crustal reflections in the northern Appalachians

Summary. Seismic refraction data collected in the northern Appalachians provide an unusual opportunity to use wide-angle reflections to examine the lower crust and upper mantle. The PmP phase, clearly identified on several hundred records, has been used to construct an isopach map of the crust which shows a stepwise regional thickening of the crust beneath the axis of the Appalachians. The data have been examined to times of up to 40 s two-way travel time to investigate the possibility of coherent upper-mantle reflections such as those recently observed by BIRPS on near-vertical data northwest of Britain. Although substantial coherent energy appears after the PmP phase, synthetic seismogram modelling shows that all of these arrivals are explicable by S-phases, converted phases and multiples from within the crust. We conclude that in this region of the northern Appalachians we have not detected any significant regionally extensive reflecting horizons within the upper mantle.     

Magnetotelluric interpretation of crustal and mantle structure in the Grenville Province

Summary Accurate determinations of depths and conductivities of electrical structures in shield regions are often difficult because of the inhomogeneity of the uppermost crust. A magnetotelluric (MT) station (BAT) in the Grenville Province of the Precambrian Shield in eastern Canada has been in operation since 1975 for time-dependency studies of electrical resistivity changes related to earthquakes. The MT response of the station displays low skew with small to moderate anisotropy. One-dimensional inversion of the apparent resistivity and phase reveals two well-defined conductors in the crust, one at 10 km and the second at the base of the crust. The latter has a resistivity less than 50 Ω m. These results are substantiated by three additional MT stations located up to 40 km distant.
Data from other new MT stations and from stations previously published in the literature are compared with two-dimensional computer model results and with the three-dimensional analogue scale model results of Dosso et al. While additional data for periods less than 100 s would be desirable the results from a number of the MT stations are not inconsistent with a widespread occurrence of a conducting zone at the base of the crust in the Grenville. The inversion analysis also indicates the existence of a conductor at some depth greater than 100 km with a resistivity less than 30 Ω m. This may coincide with a seismic low-velocity zone observed in the mantle under the Canadian Shield.     

艾比湖干涸湖底不同地表类型风蚀强度及粉尘输移通量的风洞试验研究

以新疆准格尔盆地西部艾比湖干涸湖底及相关邻近地区7种不同形态的原状土为研究对象,通过风洞模拟试验,揭示干涸湖底不同地表类型的风蚀强度和沙/盐尘低空输送通量。结果表明：粉状盐漠和含盐量较低的淤泥-粘土混合物临界启动风速最低,硬质盐壳的临界启动风速最大;大于16 m·s-1的大风是造成艾比湖干涸湖底风蚀的主要动力,7种地表类型中湖相沉积物、风积物、粉状盐漠的风蚀率最大,是风蚀尘暴的主要尘源;风蚀过程中颗粒的初始运动主要集中在0~10 cm高度范围内,以近地面跃移为主,风积物、湖相沉积物和粉状盐漠的输移通量最大。     

藓类结皮层人工培养试验和维持机制研究

 2006年开始在库布齐沙漠选择4种藓类植物进行人工培养促进结皮层形成实验,发现人工结皮层中藓类成活率、盖度与土壤基质、降雨量、小生境和藓类植物的生长和繁殖特性密切相关。双色真藓（Bryum dichotomum）成活率和盖度最高,密度与盖度相关,可形成大面积藓类结皮层。单位面积内土生对齿藓（Didymodon vinealis）密度最大,对结皮层的稳定具有重要作用。在培养初期藓类植物生长和繁殖速度较快的原因是消耗繁殖体内营养的结果,以后稳定在一个水平上不会出现生长的高峰期。本项研究为人工培养藓类植物促进结皮层的形成提供了实验依据,并为深入探讨生物结皮层的形成和维持机制提供基础科学资料。     

The extension of the Vøring margin (NE Atlantic) in case of different degrees of magmatic underplating

The nature of the Lower Crustal Body (LCB) underneath the western part of the Vøring margin (NE Atlantic) is studied with three scenarios of its extension history: (a) The LCB is Caledonian crust. (b) Half the LCB is Caledonian crust and the other half is emplaced as magmatic underplating in Late Palaeocene. (c) The entire LCB is emplaced as magmatic underplating. The extension of the margin transect is obtained with a procedure that accounts for the extension and thinning of the sedimentary basins. This procedure has been extended to include magmatic underplating. The lithosphere is modelled with deposition of sediments and four rift phases since the Early Devonian until today. The forward modelling is mass conservative and the present‐day thicknesses of the formations, crust, LCB and magmatic underplate are reproduced. The state of the lithosphere and the sedimentary basins are shown and compared at the beginning and at the end of the rift phases. It is concluded that the scenario with the LCB as only underplating requires an unrealistic amount of extension. A scenario where underplating accounts for maximum half the LCB is more likely. Two different interpretations for the Moho underneath the Utgard High are tested: one with a shallow base‐crust and another with a deeper and flatter base‐crust. Tectonic modelling of the two versions favours the latter interpretation. The modelling shows that the Late Jurassic rift phase was much more prominent than the Late Cretaceous and Palaeocene rift phase for all cases of underplating. A strong Late Jurassic rift phase is consistent with the accumulation space needed for the thick Cretaceous formations. There are no observations of magmatism from the Late Jurassic, although this rift phase is stronger than the Cretaceous and Palaeocene rift phase.     

Crustal reflection seismics: the contributions of oblique, low frequency and shear wave illuminations

Summary. Continuous vertical seismic reflection profiling, the use of which has been extended by COCORP, BIRPS, ECORS, DEKORP and other programmes (Barazangi & Brown 1986) from stratified sedimentary basins to the entire crust, provides a high resolution cross section of reflectivity. A similar extension of oblique or variable offset sounding would be expected only to provide complementary velocity information. However, combined use of the two methods at crustal scale is new, and we show that refractions and wide angle reflections do contribute original and relevant information, but generally in areas other than velocities - the reason being that interfaces and layers may have a different nature in the crystalline crust from that in sediments.     

Interpretation of migrated seismic reflection profiles across the northern Appalachians in Maine

Summary. A simple line-migration technique has been developed and applied to deep crustal reflection data collected in the northern Appalachians of Quebec and central Maine. Preliminary interpretation of these data, combined with the results of gravity and refraction studies, shows thinning of the crust in two distinct steps beneath the Silurian-Devonian Merrimack synclinorium and shows evidence for Mesozoic crustal stretching and dike intrusion.     

Ivrea seismic array: a study of continental crust and upper mantle

A seismic-array study of the continental crust and upper mantle in the Ivrea-Yerbano and Strona-Ceneri zones (northwestern Italy) is presented. A short-period network is used to define crustal P - and S -wave velocity models from earthquakes. The analysis of the seismic-refraction profile LOND of the CROP-ECORS project provided independent information and control on the array-data interpretation.
Apparent-velocity measurements from both local and regional earthquakes, and time-term analysis are used to estimate the velocity in the lower crust and in the upper mantle. The geometry of the upper-lower crust and Moho boundaries is determined from the station delay times.
We have obtained a three-layer crustal seismic model. The P -wave velocity in the upper crust, lower crust and upper mantle is 6.1±0.2 km s⁻¹, 6.5±0.3 km s⁻¹ and 7.8±0.3 km s⁻¹ respectively. Pronounced low-velocity zones in the upper and lower crust are not observed. A clear change in the velocity structure between the upper and lower crust is documented, constraining the petrological interpretation of the Ivrea-type reflective lower continental crust derived from small-scale petrophysical data. Moreover, we found a V _P/ V _S ratio of 1.69±0.04 for the upper crust and 1.82±0.08 for the lower crust and upper mantle. This is consistent with the structural and petrophysical differences between a compositionally uniform and seismically transparent upper crust and a layered and reflective lower crust. The thickness of the lower crust ranges from about 8 km in front of the Ivrea body (ARVO, Arvonio station) in the northern part of the array to a maximum of about 15 km in the southern part of the array. The lower crust reaches a minimum depth of 5 km below the PROV (Provola) station.     

High to low velocity succession in the upper crust related to tectonic emplacement: Tras os Montes-Galicia (Iberia), Brittany and Limousin (France)

Summary. Seismic probing of the upper crust in a catazonal massif in Tras os Montes, Hercynian Iberia, demonstrates the absence of a root towards the lower crust and favours a mechanism of thrust and nappe emplacement. Similar high to low velocity successions in the upper crust are evidenced in particular segments of the Hercynian domain of France. All these occurrences are related to a type region to which a particular meaning has been given in a recent plate tectonics interpretation of the Hercynian orogenesis. This model, implying large-scale nappe displacement and intracrustal thrusts furnishes in turn a general mechanism for the tectonic formation of upper crustal high and low velocity layers of limited extent in orogenic cycles.     

A three-dimensional image of shallow subduction: crustal structure of the Raukumara Peninsula, New Zealand

Earthquake arrival time data from a 36-station deployment of portable seismographs on the Raukumara Peninsula have been used to determine the 3-D Vp and Vp/Vs structure of this region of shallow subduction. A series of inversions have been performed, starting with an inversion for 1-D structure, then 2-D, and finally 3-D. This procedure ensures a smooth regional model in places of low resolution. The subducted plate is imaged as a northwest-dipping feature, with Vp consistently greater than 8.5  km  s⁻¹ in the uppermost mantle of the plate. Structure in the overlying plate changes significantly along strike. In the northeast, there is an extensive low-velocity zone in the lower crust underlying the most rapidly rising part of the Raukumara Range. It is bounded on its arcward side by an upwarp of high velocity. A viable explanation for the low-velocity zone is that it represents an accumulation of underplated subducted sediment, while serpentinization of the uppermost mantle may be responsible for the adjacent high-velocity region. The low-velocity zone decreases and the adjacent high-velocity region is less extensive in the southwest. This change is interpreted to be related to a change in the thickness of the crust of the overlying plate. In the northeast the crust is thinner, and subducted sediment ponds against relatively strong uppermost mantle, while in the southwest the crust is thicker, and the relatively weak lower crust allows sediment subduction to greater depths. A narrow zone of high Vp/Vs parallels the shallow part of the plate interface. This suggests elevated fluid pressures, with the distribution of earthquakes about this zone further suggesting that these pressures may be close to lithostatic. The plate interface at 20  km depth beneath the Raukumara Peninsula may thus be a closed system for fluid flow, similar to that seen at much shallower depths in other subduction décollements.     

沙坡头人工植被区微生物结皮对地表蒸发影响的试验研究

微生物结皮是干旱半干旱地区生态系统的重要组成部分,其生态水文过程受到了广泛关注,但对微生物结皮在地表蒸发过程中的作用存在较大的争议。笔者利用微型Lysimeter对沙坡头地区几种典型微生物结皮和流沙地表的蒸发过程进行了试验观测,并与水面蒸发进行了对比分析。结果表明,结皮和流沙地表的蒸发速率随时间的变化趋势基本相同,但在不同的蒸发阶段具有各自不同的特点,总的说来,发育良好的苔藓结皮导致相对较少的无效降水,但在更长的时间维持较高的蒸发速率;流沙和初步发育的降尘结皮导致了较多的无效降水,但由于降水的入渗深度相对较深,需要更长的时间完成蒸发过程。