Regional seismic observations of the Ontong Java plateau and East Mariana Basin

P-waves recorded on Ponape Island at the northern end of the Ontong Java plateau have been investigated. Different modes of propagation in the distance range 12° to 17° Δ between paths from Melanesian earthquakes across the Ontong Java plateau and paths from Mariana earthquakes across the eastern Mariana basin suggest that the mantle underlying the regions is not homogeneous. Travel-times of P-waves beneath the Ontong Java plateau are slower than for paths beneath the east Mariana basin. The frequency content of the first-arriving P-waves is lower for paths across the Ontong Java plateau than for the east Mariana basin. The disparate crustal thicknesses of the Ontong Java plateau and east Mariana basin may influence the relative amplitude of oceanic Pn, with smaller amplitudes corresponding to a thicker crust. Pn-P differential times for the Ontong Java plateau show a general decrease with the depth of earthquake focus but no comparable trend is seen in the Mariana data, possibly because of the scatter. The observation of high-frequency oceanic Pn propagation across the Ontong Java Plateau is suggestive that the plateau is not of continental origin.     

Compressive tectonism along the eastern margin of Malaita Island (Solomon Islands)

New bathymetric and geophysical data were collected in the region east of the island of Malaita during the SOPACMAPS II cruise of the French research vessel L'ATALANTE. This region, part of the Malaita Anticlinorium was interpreted as a piece of oceanic crust from the Ontong Java Plateau obducted over the old Solomon Islands arc during collision between the Pacific and Australian plates. It has been generally accepted that convergent motion between the Australia and Pacific plates since the Late Miocene was absorbed exclusively along the San Cristobal trench, southwest of the Solomon Islands Arc.Bathymetry, imagery, and geophysical data (magnetism, gravity, seismic) acquired during the SOPACMAPS II survey allow us to classify the successive parallel ridges mapped within the region as being recent volcanic, oceanic crust, or deformed sedimentary ridges.Seismic profiling provides evidence of successive compressive events along the Malaita margin caused by the relative motion between the Solomon Islands and the Pacific plate. The main phase of convergence probably occurred during Oligocene-early Miocene time, but some relative motion between the two domains are still being absorbed along the East Malaita boundary. The existence of active faulting in the sedimentary cover throughout the region and the present-day deformation of the outer sedimentary ridge is a good illustration of this phenomenon.     

全球三大洋底高原重力异常与地壳厚度特征及对比研究*

翁通爪哇高原、凯尔盖朗高原与沙茨基海隆是全球三大洋底高原, 是大量岩浆喷发到地表的结果, 火山面积分别达1.90×10⁶、1.25×10⁶、0.53×10⁶km²。本文详细分析了该三大洋底高原的地形、剩余地幔布格重力异常(residual mantle Bouguer anomaly, RMBA)与重力反演的相对地壳厚度, 并结合地质与地球化学特征约束进行对比研究。结果显示, 翁通爪哇高原、凯尔盖朗高原与沙茨基海隆分别高出周围海底约4.3、5、4km, 相应的地幔布格重力异常最大变化值分别为250、330、200mGal, 以及相应的相对地壳厚度变化分别为11、13、9km, 表明形成三大洋底高原的岩浆量远远大于正常洋中脊的岩浆量。此外, 三大洋底高原皆形成于洋中脊附近。Nd、Pb、Hf同位素比值分析表明, 翁通爪哇高原的玄武岩组分为洋岛玄武岩; 凯尔盖朗高原大部分类似于洋岛玄武岩, 并含有洋中脊玄武岩组分; 沙茨基海隆的玄武岩组分主要为东太平洋海隆正常洋中脊玄武岩, 却又存在少量位于全球洋岛玄武岩范围内。这些特征揭示了三大洋底高原可能形成于“地幔柱-洋中脊相互作用”。对此本文提出了两种模式: 一为洋中脊被地幔柱拖拽至其上方; 二为洋中脊之下的软流圈受到地幔柱影响, 从而产生超常熔融与超厚地壳。     

地磁场相对强度研究方法

主要介绍了地磁场相对强度研究的两种方法:常规归一化方法和假-Thellier方法的基本原理和做法,探讨了前者选择不同归一化参数的一般原则,并对比了两种方法的差异,指出地磁场相对强度研究方法在目前海洋沉积物定年研究中的应用方向和前景。     

Glacial deep-water properties in the west-equatorial Pacific: bathyal thermocline near a depth of 2000 m

The stable isotope stratigraphy of Planulina wüllerstorfi in three box cores from Ontong Java Plateau in the western equatorial Pacific shows that there existed a bathyal thermocline near the depth of 2000 m during glacial time. Waters below the boundary were colder by about 1°C, those above were about the same as now. The deep waters were slightly enriched and the upper waters depleted in nutrients, compared with present values. The differences in δ¹³C to the present (after correcting for the global change) are of the order of 0.1‰ more positive (above 2000 m) and 0.1‰ more negative (below), corresponding to changes in phosphate of the order of 0.1 μmol/kg (less phosphate above, and more below the boundary).     

Physical properties of calcareous ooze: Control by dissolution at depth

Eighteen box cores of pelagic calcareous ooze from the Ontong Java Plateau in the western equatorial Pacific were subsampled and analyzed for the following physical properties: grain size, porosity, saturated density, mean grain density, compressional sound velocity and shear strength. In addition, weight percent CaCO₃ was determined, and micropaleontological analyses of the Foraminifera were performed to determine preservation and sedimentation rates. Mean grain size of the sediments decreases at deeper depositional sites, primarily because of dissolution and fragmentation of calcareous microfossils. This, in turn, results in the sediments in deeper water having lower sound velocities and less shear strength. The physical properties of calcareous ooze are not significantly affected by any reprecipitation or incipient cementation of calcite that may occur soon after deposition.     

白垩纪以来太平洋上地幔组成和温度变化

The geological evolution of the Earth during the mid-Cretaceous were shown to be anomalous, e.g., the pause of the geomagnetic field, the global sea level rise, and increased intra-plate volcanic activities, which could be attributed to deep mantle processes. As the anomalous volcanic activities occurred mainly in the Cretaceous Pacific, here we use basalt chemical compositions from the oceanic drilling(DSDP/ODP/IODP) sites to investigate their mantle sources and melting conditions. Based on locations relative to the Pacific plateaus, we classified these sites as oceanic plateau basalts, normal mid-ocean ridge basalts, and near-plateau seafloor basalts. This study shows that those normal mid-ocean ridge basalts formed during mid-Cretaceous are broadly similar in average Na8, La/Sm and Sm/Yb ratios and Sr-Nd isotopic compositions to modern Pacific spreading ridge(the East Pacific Rise). The Ontong Java plateau(125–90 Ma) basalts have distinctly lower Na8 and143Nd/144 Nd, and higher La/Sm and 87Sr/86 Sr than normal seafloor basalts, whereas those for the near-plateau seafloor basalts are similar to the plateau basalts, indicating influences from the Ontong Java mantle source. The super mantle plume activity that might have formed the Ontong Java plateau influenced the mantle source of the simultaneously formed large areas of seafloor basalts. Based on the chemical data from normal seafloor basalts, I propose that the mantle compositions and melting conditions of the normal mid-ocean ridges during the Cretaceous are similar to the fast spreading East Pacific Rise. Slight variations of mid-Cretaceous normal seafloor basalts in melting conditions could be related to the local mantle source and spreading rate.     

Age estimation of the Solomon Sea based on heat flow data

Several heat flow measurements were made during the NAT83 cruise in the central part of the Solomon Sea Basin. The average value of 87 mW/m² (2.08 HFU) calculated from these and other data indicates that the age of the Solomon Sea Basin may range from 24 to 44 Ma. This is supported by the water depth, of approximately 4,500 m, versus age relationship. There is a possibility that the Solomon Sea Basin is not a back-arc basin associated with an arc but was formerly a relatively large oceanic plate. The agreement in age from both heat flow and water depth data favors the latter hypothesis.     

Age estimation of the Solomon Sea based on heat flow data

Several heat flow measurements were made during the NAT83 cruise in the central part of the Solomon Sea Basin. The average value of 87 mW/m² (2.08 HFU) calculated from these and other data indicates that the age of the Solomon Sea Basin may range from 24 to 44 Ma. This is supported by the water depth, of approximately 4,500 m, versus age relationship. There is a possibility that the Solomon Sea Basin is not a back-arc basin associated with an arc but was formerly a relatively large oceanic plate. The agreement in age from both heat flow and water depth data favors the latter hypothesis.     

Pliocene calcium carbonate sedimentation patterns of the Ontong Java Plateau: ODP Sites 804 and 806

Two deep-sea cores from the northeastern slope of the Ontong Java Plateau, Ocean Drilling Program Site 806 (2520 mbsl) and Site 804 (3861 mbsl), has been studied with the purpose of investigating Pliocene (Site 806, 2.4–3.8 Ma; Site 804, 1.8–4.4 Ma) sub- and supralysoclinal changes in calcium carbonate accumulation, based on CaCO₃, coarse-fraction and faunal data. At the shallower site, Site 806, there is a slight decrease in carbonate content and a distinct long-term trend in decreasing accumulation rate throughout the studied interval. Small-scale changes in density, hence accumulation rate, are related to grain-size changes due to winnowing at this site, but the overall pattern of decreasing carbonate accumulation seems to be the result of both winnowing and a decrease in productivity. The deeper site, Site 804, exhibits a general increase in carbonate content after about 3.15 Ma as well as a long-term increase in mass accumulation rate throughout the Pliocene interval studied. Detailed comparison of the records of density and carbonate content emphasizes the strong relationship between carbonate content and accumulation rate at this site. The observed pattern of decreasing accumulation rate at shallow depth parallel to enhanced preservation at greater depths may be explained by a decrease in the production of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). A reduction of the volume of NADW pumped into the Pacific would reduce the supply of nutrients and deep-water CO₂. This could account for both the decrease in accumulation rate at the shallower site, due to decreased productivity, and the enhanced preservation at the deeper site, due to a decrease in the corrosiveness of deep waters.     

Plate boundaries and evolution of the Solomon Sea region

The Solomon Sea Plate was widely developed during late Oligocene, separating the proto-West Melanesian Arc from the proto-Trobriand Arc. Spreading in the Bismarck Sea and in the Woodlark Basin resulted from interaction between the Pacific and Australian Plates, specifically from the collision of the proto-West Melanesian Arc with north New Guinea, which occurred after arc reversal. This model explains the extensive Miocene, Pliocene, and Quaternary volcanism of the Papua New Guinea mainland as it related to southward subduction of the Trobriand Trough. Our interpreted plate motions are concordant with the geological evidence onshore and also with complex tectonic features in the Solomon Sea Basin Region.     

Ocean variability along the southern coast of Java and Lesser Sunda Islands

The sea surface height data from 1992 through 2012 in the Eastern Indian Ocean, the 6 sets of hydrographic data sparsely spanning 1990–2001 in water south of Java–Bali, and the 24 shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) data across the Ombai Strait during 1997–2000 were used as a combined dataset to understand sea level and current variability along the southern coast of Java and Lesser Sunda Islands. The first two dominant empirical orthogonal function (EOF) modes capture combined seasonal with interannual and seasonal variability that account for 44.5 and 19.9 % of the total variances caused by El Niño Southern Oscillation and Indian Ocean Dipole events, and by the seasonal change of the Asian monsoon, respectively. The geostrophic current and ADCP data show that the eastward and westward currents are distinguishable via the vertical profiles of current velocity. The eastward-flowing South Java Current (SJC) is characterized by a large vertical shear and shallower diminishing depth of about 150 m and it is increased to 300 m in the presence of the Indian Ocean Kelvin Waves (IOKWs). In contrast, the westward current is dominated by the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) with no vertical shear and has uniform current in the upper 300 m layer. The coastally trapped SJC and IOKWs are responsible for the eastward current. The SJC is not observed in the westward current because of non-existence of coastally trapped modes. The ITF and SJC generate persistent cyclonic (cold) and anticyclonic (warm) mesoscale eddies, respectively, in waters south of eastern Java.     

Seismic stratigraphy and structure of the Northland Plateau and the development of the Vening Meinesz transform margin,SW Pacific Ocean

The Northland Plateau and the Vening Meinesz “Fracture” Zone (VMFZ), separating southwest Pacific backarc basins from New Zealand Mesozoic crust, are investigated with new data. The 12–16 km thick Plateau comprises a volcanic outer plateau and an inner plateau sedimentary basin. The outer plateau has a positive magnetic anomaly like that of the Three Kings Ridge. A rift margin was found between the Three Kings Ridge and the South Fiji Basin. Beneath the inner plateau basin, is a thin body interpreted as allochthon and parautochthon, which probably includes basalt. The basin appears to have been created by Early Miocene mainly transtensive faulting, which closely followed obduction of the allochthon and was coeval with arc volcanism. VMFZ faulting was eventually concentrated along the edge of the continental shelf and upper slope. Consequently arc volcanoes in a chain dividing the inner and outer plateau are undeformed whereas volcanoes, in various stages of burial, within the basin and along the base of the upper slope are generally faulted. Deformed and flat-lying Lower Miocene volcanogenic sedimentary rocks are intimately associated with the volcanoes and the top of the allochthon; Middle Miocene to Recent units are, respectively, mildly deformed to flat-lying, calcareous and turbiditic. Many parts of the inner plateau basin were at or above sea level in the Early Miocene, apparently as isolated highs that later subsided differentially to 500–2,000 m below sea level. A mild, Middle Miocene compressive phase might correlate with events of the Reinga and Wanganella ridges to the west. Our results agree with both arc collision and arc unzipping regional kinematic models. We present a continental margin model that begins at the end of the obduction phase. Eastward rifting of the Norfolk Basin, orthogonal to the strike of the Norfolk and Three Kings ridges, caused the Northland Plateau to tear obliquely from the Reinga Ridge portion of the margin, initiating the inner plateau basin and the Cavalli core complex. Subsequent N115° extension and spreading parallel with the Cook Fracture Zone completed the southeastward translation of the Three Kings Ridge and Northland Plateau and further opened the inner plateau basin, leaving a complex dextral transform volcanic margin.     

Distribution and morphology of large submarine sediment slides and slumps on Atlantic continental margins

Abstract

Numerous large sediment slides and slumps have been discovered and surveyed on the continental margins of Northwest Africa, Southwest Africa, Brazil (Amazon Cone), the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico, and North America over the past 10 years. The mass movements are of two primary types: (1) translational slides, and (2) rotational slumps. Translational slides are characterized by a slide scar and a downslope zone of debris flows, after traveling in some areas for several hundreds of kilometers on slopes of less than 0.5°. Rotational slumps are bounded by steep scarps, but they do not involve large‐scale translation of sediments, although seismic records indicate disturbance in the down‐dropped block. Many of the slides and slumps have occurred in water depths greater than 2000 m on initial slopes of less than 1.5°. The largest slide so far discovered is off Spanish Sahara; in this case, the slide scar is 18,000 km² in area, at least 600 km³ in volume of translated sediments. No apparent consistent relationship has yet been observed between the presence of the slides and the sedimentary environment in which they occurred. The slides off Southwest Africa and Spanish Sahara occurred in pelagic sediments rich in planktonic organic matter. In contrast, the slides off North America, Senegal‐Mauritania, and Brazil (Amazon Cone) occurred in sediments containing a high percentage of terrigenous material from nearby landmasses. Large sediment slides have also occurred in pelagic sediments on isolated oceanic rises such as the Madeira Rise (East‐Central Atlantic) and the Ontong‐Java Plateau (Pacific), where sedimentation rates are less than 2 cm/1000 years. The failure mechanism of the slides initiated near the shelf edge can probably be explained by sediment overloading during low glacio‐eustatic sea level, which allowed rivers to debouch sediments directly onto the outer shelf or upper slope. Possible mechanisms of failure of the deepwater slides and slumps include earthquakes, undercutting of the slope by bottom currents, and changes in porewater pressures induced as a direct or indirect result of glacio‐eustatic changes in sea level.     

青藏高原东部边缘"成都黏土"粒度记录的约500 kaBP的干旱化增强事件

亚洲内陆干旱化是新生代青藏高原隆升和全球气候恶化的重要标志。对位于青藏高原东部边缘的成都黏土粒度记录的研究,及与黄土高原地区粒度记录的对比,表明该地区的粒度记录都在约500kaBP时发生了一次明显的粒度增大、粗颗粒含量增加的变化,表明东亚地区约500kaBP以来发生了一次明显的干旱化增强事件,推测青藏高原在中更新世强烈隆升进入冰冻圈,导致中下层西风环流显著分叉绕流以及随后的进一步强化,是亚洲内陆干旱化阶段性增强的重要原因。     

The antipodes fracture zone,a major structure of the south‐west pacific

The steep Antipodes Scarp, along the eastern boundary of the Campbell Plateau south‐east of New Zealand, is attributed to dextral tear‐faulting within a NE‐SW belt, the Antipodes Fracture Zone, which also truncates the eastern end of the Chatham Rise. A complementary zone of sinistral movement, the Waipounamu Fracture, separates the Campbell Plateau and Chatham Rise from mainland New Zealand.

The origin of these fracture zones is linked with that of the parallel Alpine Fault of South Island, and is related to a phase of NE‐SW crustal compression that dominated the New Zealand region during the Mesozoic era. It is suggested that this compression resulted from the north‐eastward “drift” of the Australian craton and the simultaneous elevation of the Darwin Rise in the central Pacific.     

The sea-floor spreading history of the eastern Indian Ocean

The geologic history of the eastern Indian Ocean between northwest Australia and the Java Trench is known to involve two separate events of rifting and sea-floor spreading. Late Jurassic spreading in the Argo Abyssal Plain off northwest Australia was followed by Early Cretaceous spreading in the Cuvier and Perth Abyssal Plains off west Australia. However, the evolution and interaction of these events has not been clear. Mesozoic sea-floor spreading anomalies have been identified throughout the Argo Abyssal Plain that define a rifting event and subsequent northward spreading on the northwestern Australian margin at 155 m.y.b.p. Magnetic anomalies northwest of the Argo Abyssal Plain indicate a ridge jump to the south at about 130 m.y.b.p. that is approximately synchronous with east-west rifting along the southwestern Australian margin. The Joey Rise in the Argo Plain was probably formed by volcanism at the intersection of this new rift and the spreading ridge to the north. The southern and northern spreading systems were connected through the Exmouth Plateau which was stretched and faulted as spreading progressed. The RRR triple junction was formed at the intersection of the two spreading systems and appears to have migrated west along the northern edge of the Gascoyne Abyssal Plain. Spreading off northwest Australia cannot be easily related to simultaneous spreading in the west central Pacific via any simple tectonic scheme.     

Petrography,petrology and tectonic implications of Mitre Island,northern Fiji Plateau

Mitre Island samples, Pliocene in age, can be classified together with Anuda samples, of unknown age, as island-arc basaltic andesites with tholeiitic tendencies. The presence of morphologically unusual iron—titanium oxides and of probably xenocrystic plagioclase suggest that at least part of the observed minerals crystallized in a magma chamber underlying the island. The samples apparently represent a mixture of magma fluid, cumulate plagioclase, pyroxene, and iron—titanium oxides which were ponded in a crater lava lake where they were reheated by subsequent eruptions. Many of them show symplectic magnetite formed by high-temperature oxidation of olivine. The morphological complexity and compositional homogeneity of the iron—titanium oxides cannot be explained at present.The presence of sulfide droplets inside olivine, magnetite and ilmenite crystals suggests a formation of an immiscible sulfide liquid in the magma chamber. Droplets of this liquid were overgrown by minerals crystallizing at that time and thus protected against oxidation during and after eruption.Mitre Island is a part of a currently inactive Vitiaz island arc associated in the past with a westward subduction of Pacific plate along the Vitiaz trench. Increased difficulty in subducting the large mass of the Pacific Border Plateau under the northern Fiji Plateau apparently produced counterclockwise rotation of the Vitiaz island arc. Oblique subduction was active until a steep angle was reached between the Vitiaz trench and the motion vector of the Pacific plate. Then a strike-slip fault developed in the Vitiaz trench and the subducted plate was sheared off. Recently the strike-slip zone migrated south from the Vitiaz trench across the northern Fiji Plateau and is presently extending from Aoba Island, in the New Hebrides, northeastward toward the Pacific Border Plateau.     

Morphological characteristics in the area off eastern Taiwan Island and their tectonic implications

On the basis of bathymetric data and other geological and geophysical data obtained during the first survey conducted by Chinese Mainland in the area off eastern Taiwan Island from May to June in 2000, the morphological features of the region, the tectonic control to the seafloor topography and their tectonic implication are studied and discussed. The results have revealed that both the slope zone of the Ryukyu arc and the Ryukyu Trench present a typical morphotectonic characteristics controlled by the trench-arc system in the West Pacific Ocean. At the slope of eastern Taiwan Island the isobathic lines parallel to the coastline and distribute densely in nearly N-S direction and the slope gradient of topography is large. Such a unique feature is attributed to the collision of the Luzon arc and Eurasia continent. In the Huatung Basin, turbidity fans and submarine canyons are well developed, the formations of which are mainly related to the steep topography of the slope of the Luzon arc and the abundant s     

台湾岛以东海域海底地形特征及其构造控制

基于2000年5~6月在台湾岛以东海域调查获得的多波束全覆盖测深等地质和地球物理资料,对该海域海底地形特征进行了研究,探讨了构造对海底地形的控制作用及其构造地质意义.研究表明,琉球岛弧岛坡区和琉球海沟表现为典型的西太平洋沟-弧-盆体系控制下的构造地形;台湾岛东部岛坡等深线近南北向平行密集排列,地形坡度大,弧陆碰撞造就了该区独特的地形特征;花东盆地海底峡谷发育,其形成主要受基底起伏和走滑断裂的控制;加瓜海脊东西两侧水深和地形特征明显不同,但其基底可能属于花东盆地,加瓜海脊的东侧对应了两个不同性质板块的边界;西菲律宾海盆表现为北西向线状脊-槽相间排列,并遭受北东向转换断层的切割,根据海底地形、转换断层和磁异常条带的方向推测,研究区海底形成于距今60~45Ma的西菲律宾海盆北东-南西向扩张期.