Inversion of magnetic anomalies and sea-floor spreading in the Cayman Trough

For some time, sea-floor spreading has been hypothesized for the Mid-Cayman Rise based on inferences from seismicity, heat flow, topography and plate geometry. Here we present magnetic anomaly inversions from which a reasonable record of sea-floor spreading emerges. We obtain total opening rates of 20 ± 2 mm/yr for 0–2.4 m.y. B.P. and 40 ± 2 mm/yr for 2.4–6.0 m.y. B.P. Data on the west flank extend the half-opening rate of 20 mm/yr back to 8.3 m.y. B.P. Spreading has been very nearly symmetric. These new observations place important constraints on plate tectonic reconstructions by defining the relative motion between the North American and Caribbean plates. They also shed some light on sea-floor spreading processes in which the spreading center is a secondary feature in the sense that it is over an order of magnitude shorter than the adjoining transform faults.     

Asymmetric fracture zones and sea-floor spreading

An asymmetric pattern is observed in the orientation of minor fracture zones about the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at five sites where relatively detailed studies have been made between latitudes 22°N and 51°N. The minor fracture zones intersect the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in an asymmetric V-shaped configuration. The V's point south north of the Azores triple junction (38°N latitude) and point north south of that junction.The rates and directions of sea-floor spreading are related to the asymmetric pattern of minor fracture zones at the sites studied. Half-rates of sea-floor spreading averaged between about 0 and 10 m.y. are unequal measured perpendicular to the ridge axis. The unequal half-rates of spreading are faster to the west north of the Azores triple junction and faster to the east south of that junction. The half-rates of sea-floor spreading calculated in the directions of the asymmetric minor fracture zones are equal about the ridge axis within the uncertainty of the direction determinations.A discrepancy exists between minor fracture zones that form an asymmetric V about the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and major fracture zones that follow small circles symmetric about the ridge axis. To reconcile this discrepancy it is proposed that minor fracture zones are preferentially reoriented under the influence of a stress field related to interplate and intraplate motions. Major fracture zones remain symmetric about the Mid-Atlantic Ridge under the same stress field due to differential stability between minor and major structures in oceanic lithosphere. This interpretation is supported by the systematic variation in the orientation of minor fracture zones and the equality of sea-floor spreading half-rates observed about lithospheric plate boundaries.     

New estimates of rapid sea-floor spreading rates and the identification of young magnetic anomalies on the East Pacific rise, 6° and 11° S

Detailed surveys of the crest of the East Pacific Rise at 6° and 11°S form the basis for estimates of sea-floor spreading rates of 8.2 and 8.3 cm/yr, respectively. These estimates are significantly higher than previous ones of 6.5 to 7.5 cm/yr. The high quality of the magnetic profile at 6°S allows identification of shorter magnetic events such as the two Olduvai events of Cox. DSDP drill-hole data indicate that the present spreading rates have persisted throughout the Cenozoic.     

Early spreading history of the Indian Ocean between India and Australia

A revised model of seafloor spreading between India and Australia from the inception of spreading 125 m.y. to the change to a new system at 90 m.y. stems from the wider recognition of the M-series of magnetic anomalies off the southwestern margin of Australia, from a revised pole of opening between Australia and Antarctica, and by the extension in the central Wharton Basin of the Late Cretaceous set of magnetic anomalies back to 34. The phase of spreading represented by the later anomalies has been extended back to 90 m.y. in order to give a resolved pole that describes the rotation of India from Australia consistent with the M-series anomalies, DSDP site ages, and fracture zone trends. An abandoned spreading ridge in the Cuvier Abyssal Plain indicates a ridge jump within the first ten million years of spreading. Elsewhere, two kinds of ridge jump (one to the continental margin of Australia or India, the other by propagation of the spreading ridge into adjacent compartments thereby causing them to fuse), are postulated to account for other observations.     

Upwelling flow in Earth's mantle and sea-floor spreading

Upwelling flows in the Earth's mantle are accompanied by mass, momentum and energy transports from deep to upper layers. Those flows beneath the mid-ocean ridges give rise to sea-floor spreading. Mantle plumes, on the other hand, cause hot spots to be formed on the Earth's surface. Using the basic equations of fluid dynamics, temperature and velocity distributions in two-dimensional upwelling and cylindrical plumes can be obtained by an integral-relation method. Then the mass, momentum and energy transported to the lithosphere by these upwelling flows can readily be calculated. Based on those results we can more thoroughly discuss problems of plate dynamics, such as the driving mechanism of plate motion, the causes of formation of rift valleys over mid-ocean ridges, and the effect of mantle plumes on sea-floor spreading.     

Magnetic anomalies — India and Antarctica

Magnetic anomalies over the continental shelf off the east coast of India (Orissa) suggest the presence of a highly magnetic rock type magnetized with an intensity of 900 nT in a direction, azimuth(A) = 150° and inclination(I) = +65°. This suggest the occurrence of igneous volcanic rocks which is confirmed from samples found below Tertiary sediments from a few boreholes in this region. The depth of this rock type as estimated from magnetic anomalies varies from approximately 1–2 km near the coast to 4–4.5 km towards the shelf margin. This direction of magnetization is the reverse of the reported direction of magnetization for the Rajmahal Traps of the Cretaceous period (100–110 m.y). A small strip of the body near the continental shelf margin appears, however, to possess normal magnetization suggesting the occurrence of normal and reversed polarities side by side, a characteristic typical for oceanic magnetic anomalies. The reversed polarity of the rocks on the continental shelf suggests that they correspond probably to the MO reversal (115 m.y.) on world magnetostratigraphic scale and provide a paleolatitude of 47°S for the land mass of India which agrees with the palaeoreconstruction of India and Antarctica. In this reconstruction, the Mahanadi Gondwana graben on the Indian subcontinent falls into line with the Lambert Rift in Antarctica, suggesting a probable common ancestry. The volcanic rocks on the continental shelf off the east coast of India might represent a missing link, that is, rocks formed between India and Antarctica at the time of the break-up of Gondwanaland. Satellite magnetic anomalies (MAGSAT) recorded over the Indian shield and interpreted in terms of variations in the Curie point geotherm provide a direction of magnetization which also places this continent close to Antarctica. As such MAGSAT anomalies recorded over eastern Antarctica are found compatible with those recorded over the Indian shield.     

Oceanic magnetic anomaly amplitudes: variation with sea-floor spreading rate and possible implications

A qualitative examination of oceanic magnetic anomalies suggests that their amplitudes increase with the spreading rate of the ocean floor. This suggestion has been investigated quantitatively by inversion of the anomalies. A variance matching technique has been used to calculate the average magnetisation of the crust with crustal thickness held constant or to calculate the thickness with the magnetisation fixed. In spite of variations in the computed intensities of magnetisation and thickness when compared to spreading rates the results show an over-all increase in the intensities with the rate of spreading. The mechanisms responsible for this could include greater irregularity in distribution of magnetic polarities within the crust at slow spreading ridges, greater intensity of magnetisation in crust produced at fast spreading due to initial chemical properties or enhanced hydrothermal alteration, and a dependence of crustal thickness on spreading rate.     

A model for the relation between spreading rate and oblique spreading

Atwater and Macdonald have suggested that oblique spreading occurs at mid-ocean ridges which spread slowly (half rate less than 3 cm/yr), while the spreading is perpendicular at faster-spreading ridges. This paper explores this relation using the ratio of the power dissipated at ridges to that on transform faults to find the angle of oblique spreading (θ). The dependence of the energy dissipation rate on spreading rate is included in simple models of a ridge and transform. These arguments suggest that θ is related to the half spreading rate approximately by sin θ ～ V^?1.     

Inversion of gravity anomalies over spreading oceanic ridges

Models of spreading ocean ridges are derived by Bayesian gravity inversion with geophysical and geodynamic a priori information. The aim is to investigate the influence of spreading rate, plate dynamics and tectonic framework on crust and upper mantle structure by comparing the Mid Atlantic Ridge (MAR), the Indian Ocean Ridge (IND) and the East Pacific Rise (PAC). They differ in mean spreading rate, dynamic settings, as attached slabs, and plume interaction. Topography or bathymetry, gravity, isostasy, seismology and geology, etc. are averaged along the ridges and guide the construction of initial 2D models, including features as mean plumes, i.e. averaged along the ridge. This is a gross simplification, and the results are considered preliminary.Three model types are tested: (a) the temperature anomaly; (b) asthenospheric rise into thickening lithosphere; (c) a crustal root as had been anticipated before seafloor spreading was discovered. Additional model components are a mean plume, a non-compensated ridge uplift, an under-compensated asthenospheric rise, e.g. of partially molten material, and seismic velocity models for P and S waves. Model type (c), tends to permute to model type (b) from thick crust to thin axial lithosphere. Model type (a) renders ‘realistic’ values of the thermal expansivity, but is insufficient to fit the gravity data; partial melt may disturb the simple temperature effect. A combination of (a) and (b) is most adequate. Exclusive seismic velocity models of S or P waves do not lead to acceptable densities nor to adequate gravity fitting. The different ridges exhibit significant differences in the best models: ATL and IND show an axial mass excess fostering enhanced ridge push, and ATL, in addition, suggests a mean plume input, while PAC shows an axial mass deficit reducing ridge push, most probably due to dominance of slab pull in the force balance.Goodness of the gravity fit alone is no justifiable criterion for goodness of model, indeed minor modifications to each model within the uncertainties of the assumptions can make the fit arbitrarily good. Goodness of model is quantified exclusively by a priori information.     

南海新生代海底扩张的构造演化模式: 来自高分辨率地球物理数据的新认识

根据高分辨率重、磁测网数据的分析,结合多波束海底地貌的构造解释,南海海盆新生代经历了两期不同动力特征的海底扩张,25 Ma的沉积-构造事件是其重要分界.早期扩张从约33.5 Ma开始至25 Ma停止,在东部海盆南、北两侧和西北海盆形成了具有近E-W向或NEE向磁条带的老洋壳,是近NNW-SSE向扩张的产物;晚期扩张从25 Ma开始至16.5 Ma结束,在东部海盆中央区和西南海盆形成了具有NE向磁条带的新洋壳,是NW-SE向扩张的产物.南海海盆分区特点明显,南北分区,东西分段.从南到北可进一步分为3个亚区,南、北亚区由早期扩张产生,而晚期扩张的中央亚区从东到西又可进一步分为6个洋段,中间均由NNW或NW向断裂分割,是扩张中脊分段性的表现.南海晚期扩张具有渐进式扩张的特点,虽然它们均于磁条带异常C5c停止扩张,但开始扩张的时间从东部的C6c(23.5 Ma),到中部的C6b(22.8 Ma),一直变新到西部的C5e(18.5 Ma).东部海盆与西南海盆之间的NNW向断裂是分割两海盆的边界断裂,不仅切割了磁条带异常,控制了两海盆不同的地球物理场特征,而且还使扩张中脊左行平移约95km,造成扩张中心和磁条带不连续.南海海盆扩张期间,其东部没有菲律宾群岛封闭,当时是一个面向大洋的港湾,与亚丁湾洋盆可以对比,是洋中脊向大陆边缘入侵的产物.     

Seismic evidence for deep low-velocity anomalies in the transition zone beneath West Antarctica

We present a three-dimensional (3D) SV-wave velocity model of the upper mantle beneath the Antarctic plate constrained by fundamental and higher mode Rayleigh waves recorded at regional distances. The good agreement between our results and previous surface wave studies in the uppermost 200 km of the mantle confirms that despite strong differences in data processing, modern surface wave tomographic techniques allow to produce consistent velocity models, even at regional scale. At greater depths the higher mode information present in our data set allows us to improve the resolution compared to previous regional surface wave studies in Antarctica that were all restricted to the analysis of the fundamental mode. This paper is therefore mostly devoted to the discussion of the deeper part of the model. Our seismic model displays broad domains of anomalously low seismic velocities in the asthenosphere. Moreover, we show that some of these broad, low-velocity regions can be more deeply rooted. The most remarkable new features of our model are vertical low-velocity structures extending from the asthenosphere down to the transition zone beneath the volcanic region of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica and a portion of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge close to the Balleny Islands hotspot. A deep low-velocity anomaly may also exist beneath the Ross Sea hotspot. These vertical structures cannot be explained by vertical smearing of shallow seismic anomalies and synthetic tests show that they are compatible with a structure narrower than 200 km which would have been horizontally smoothed by the tomographic inversion. These deep low-velocity anomalies may favor the existence of several distinct mantle plumes, instead of a large single one, as the origin of volcanism in and around West Antarctica. These hypothetical deep plumes could feed large regions of low seismic velocities in the asthenosphere.     

Basement morphology and rift geometry near the former junction of India,Australia, and Antarctica

Magnetic and gravity anomaly data, together with features of the basement topography presented here show that the continental margin of western Australia, including the Naturaliste plateau, was shaped by NE-SW-trending rift segments offset by nearly orthogonal transform faults. A steep landward gradient of the isostatic gravity field and a lineated magnetic anomaly which occur together at the continental slope are interpreted as marking the ocean-continent boundary of the rifted margin off Perth and the sheared margin between Perth and the Wallaby plateaus. Anomalies diagnostic of the ocean-continent boundary are not observed at the margins of the Naturaliste plateau; the geometry of the rift zone here is adduced from the disposition of magnetic lineations, fracture zones, and basement features. A geophysical survey of the Naturaliste fracture zone shows it to be a continuous basement trough extending from the Diamantina fracture zone 800 km northwest to Dirck Hartog ridge. Similar basement troughs west of and orthogonal to the fracture zone imply that the region west/southwest of the Naturaliste plateau was, like the region north of it, formerly occupied by Greater India. Marine magnetic anomaly and basement trends suggest that the oceanic crust between the plateau and Diamantina fracture zone could be substantially older than Paleocene, heretofore the oldest crust identified between Australia and Antarctica.     

A model for the sea-floor coast effect in H-polarization — further results

Improved theoretical results have been obtained for an induction model involving vertical electric currents through the earth's upper layers, which was previously analysed by a method involving severe approximations. A numerical method has been used for this H-polarisation problem, which is described in detail. This type of induction is important when the half-width of the ocean is greater than the skin-depth in the sub-oceanic crust, which should be obtained from the average resistivity of the crust, rather than the average conductivity.     

The present relative motion between Africa and Antarctica

Movement between the Africa and Antarctica plates is at present accomplished by sea-floor spreading on the Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge. This movement may be described in terms of an angular rotation vector. Bathymetric and magnetic observations from marine geophysical surveys near the Bouvet triple junction, at 52°S, 15°E and in the environs of the Prince Edward Islands are combined with spreading azimuths derived from earthquake fault plane solutions to define this vector. The rotation pole which describes the motion is located at 10.7°N, 40.9°W and the angular velocity is 1.44 × 10^?7 deg/yr. This pole is significantly different from some other poles obtained by global closure or vector addition. The possibility that the differences may be due to Africa being split into two plates is investigated but there would have to be convergence across the African Rift system for this possibility to be true. Closure of the vector velocity triangle around the Central Indian triple junction is checked by using the pole derived in this study and published poles and rates for the Africa/India and Antarctica/India motions to determine this triangle. The triangle is found to close when errors in the Africa/India and Antarctica/India motions are taken into account. This suggests that it is errors in the data that cause the differences between the observed and predicted poles.     

Relationships between volcano gravitational spreading and magma intrusion

Volcano spreading, with its characteristic sector grabens, is caused by outward flow of weak substrata due to gravitational loading. This process is now known to affect many present-day edifices. A volcano intrusive complex can form an important component of an edifice and may induce deformation while it develops. Such intrusions are clearly observed in ancient eroded volcanoes, like the Scottish Palaeocene centres, or in geophysical studies such as in La Réunion, or inferred from large calderas, such as in Hawaii, the Canaries or Galapagos volcanoes. Volcano gravitational spreading and intrusive complex emplacement may act simultaneously within an edifice. We explore the coupling and interactions between these two processes. We use scaled analogue models, where an intrusive complex made of Golden syrup is emplaced within a granular model volcano based on a substratum of a ductile silicone layer overlain by a brittle granular layer. We model specifically the large intrusive complex growth and do not model small-scale and short-lived events, such as dyke intrusion, that develop above the intrusive complex. The models show that the intrusive complex develops in continual competition between upward bulging and lateral gravity spreading. The brittle substratum strongly controls the deformation style, the intrusion shape and also controls the balance between intrusive complex spreading and ductile layer-related gravitational spreading. In the models, intrusive complex emplacement and spreading produce similar structures to those formed during volcano gravitational spreading alone (i.e. grabens, folds, en échelon fractures). Therefore, simple analysis of fault geometry and fault kinetic indicators is not sufficient to distinguish gravitational from intrusive complex spreading, except when the intrusive complex is eccentric from the volcano centre. However, the displacement fields obtained for (1) a solely gravitational spreading volcano and for (2) a gravitational spreading volcano with a growing and spreading intrusive complex are very different. Consequently, deformation fields (like those obtained from geodetic monitoring) can give a strong indication of the presence of a spreading intrusive complex. We compare the models with field observations and geophysical evidence on active volcanoes such as La Réunion Island (Indian Ocean), Ometepe Island (Nicaragua) and eroded volcanic remnants such as Ardnamurchan (Scotland) and suggest that a combination between gravitational and intrusive complex spreading has been active.     

地磁低点位移异常界线交汇现象与地震关系研究

利用国家地磁台网中心产出的观测资料,研究中国大陆地区低点位移现象与强震之间的关系,认为地磁低点位移异常与强震之间具有较好的关联性。多次5级以上地震发生前两月内会出现一次或多次低点位移异常,地震往往发生在低点位移异常分界线300 km内。2022年1月8日青海门源6.9级地震、2016年1月21日青海门源6.4级地震和2019年9月16日甘肃肃南5.0级地震前两月内均出现了3次明显的地磁低点位移异常。将多次低点位移异常分界线叠加到同一幅图上,形成了1个或多个交汇区域,发现地震发生在低点位移分界线的交汇区域附近。综合活动构造断裂分布、历史大地震发生情况、中长期预测的强震潜在危险区及年度全国地震危险区进一步判断可能发震的区域,此项研究明显缩小了用地磁低点位移法预测地震发生地点的范围。     

Correlation between gravity anomalies and the crust-mantle boundary in central Europe

Summary Methods of simple and multiple linear correlation have been used in investigating the mutual statistical dependence of Bouguer anomalies, terrain elevations and the depths of the crust-mantle boundary determined by the method of Deep Seismic Sounding. Numerical results show a considerable degree of correlation among the quantities mentioned in Central Europe.Dedicated to Academician Alois Zátopek on His 65th Birthday     

The identification of radial velocity anomalies in the lower mantle using an interference method

A radial velocity anomaly in the lower mantle may cause a triplication in the travel-time curve for short-period P waves, but the first two arrivals may not be separable visually on seismograms over a distance range of about 4–10°. However, the changes of slowness and azimuth as a function of time can be used to infer the presence of interfering signals. Some of the interference effects that can be generated synthetically are often observed on seismograms of earthquakes recorded at the Yellowknife array at distances close to 50°, 80° and 90°. The data from Yellowknife provide evidence for the presence of regions of high velocity gradients at depths of about 1250, 2400 and 2730 km that also show rapid lateral variations. Numerous P arrivals from South American earthquakes that traverse the lowest 500 km of the mantle beneath the Caribbean region have been used to illustrate the main features of the interference method.