Petrogenesis of Songshugou dunite body in the Qinling orogenic belt,Central China: Constraints from geochemistry and melt inclusions

The chemical variation of the Earth’s mantle rocks has been interpreted to reflect multiple episodes of partial melting. With the increasing of melt generation and extraction, the readily molten minerals and incompatible elements decrease in the residual mantle peridotite. The present-day gladiate of the Earth, however, cannot cause mantle batch melting[1], nor 40% partial melting that allows pyroxenes to be completely dissolved into melt and forms dunite[2,3]. Recent studies show that mantl…     

An experimental study of structures arising in convective roll flows of magma melts in peripheral chambers of volcanoes

The morphology and internal convective structure of continuous roll flows in magma melts were experimentally studied with regard to peripheral (shallow) magma chambers and downgoing circular gravity flows in conduits. We found properties of continuous convective mixing in a magma melt in a peripheral chamber due to convective roll flows. We investigated the mechanism that is responsible for cumulus generation at the bottom of a peripheral chamber when homogeneous and heterogeneous melts are emplaced. We conducted an experimental study of how the contact surface is formed at the cumulus-melt boundary. We made a qualitative study of the mechanism that affects the composition of magma melts over time in a peripheral and a mantle (deeper) chamber owing to crystallization, as well as the special mechanism that is responsible for cumulus generation in the peripheral chamber.     

Petrology of the Yugu peridotites in the Gyeonggi Massif,South Korea: Implications for its origin and hydration process

Peridotites exposed in the Yugu area in the Gyeonggi Massif, South Korea, near the boundary with the Okcheon Belt, exhibit mylonitic to strongly porphyroclastic textures, and are mostly spinel lherzolites. Subordinate dunites, harzburgites, and websterites are associated with the lherzolites. Amphiboles, often zoned from hornblende in the core to tremolite in the rim, are found only as neoblasts. Porphyroclasts have recorded equilibrium temperatures of about 1000°C, whereas neoblasts denote lower temperatures, about 800°C. Olivines are Fo_90–91 in lherzolites and Fo₉₁ in a dunite and a harzburgite. The Cr# (= Cr/(Cr + Al) atomic ratio) of spinels varies together with the Fo of olivines, being from 0.1 to 0.3 in lherzolites and around 0.5 in the dunite and harzburgite. The Na₂O content of clinopyroxene porphyroclasts is relatively low, around 0.3 to 0.5 wt% in the most fertile lherzolite. The Yugu peridotites are similar in porphyroclast mineral chemistry not to continental spinel peridotites but to sub‐arc or abyssal peridotites. Textural and mineralogical characteristics indicate the successive cooling with hydration from the upper mantle to crustal conditions for the Yugu peridotites. Almost all clinopyroxenes and amphiboles show the same U‐shaped rare earth element (REE) patterns although the level is up to ten times higher for the latter. The hydration was associated with enrichment in light REE, resulting from either a slab‐derived fluid or a fluid circulating in the crust. The mantle‐wedge or abyssal peridotites were emplaced into the continental crust as the Yugu peridotite body during collision of continents to form a high‐pressure metamorphic belt in the Gyeonggi Massif. The peridotites from the Gyeonggi Massif exhibit lower‐pressure equilibration than peridotites, with or without garnets, from the Dabie–Sulu Collision Belt, China, which is possibly a westward extension of the Gyeonggi Massif.     

Compaction in a mantle with a very small melt concentration: Implications for the generation of carbonatitic and carbonate-bearing high alkaline mafic melt impregnations

Xenoliths entrained in alkaline basalts and kimberlites give strong evidence that mantle carbonatitic and carbonated high alkaline mafic silicate melts, which are initially produced at very low degrees of partial melting (?1%), percolate and accumulate to form impregnations with a melt concentration of up to 10%. At present no compaction model has explained such huge local amplification of melt concentration. Recently, Bercovici et al. [1] have shown that the commonly used equations of compaction are not sufficiently general to describe all melt percolation processes in the mantle. In particular, they show that, when the melt concentration in the mantle is very low, the pressure jump ΔP between the solid and liquid fractions of the mantle mush is very important and plays a driving role during compaction. 1-D compaction waves generated with two different systems of equations are computed. Three types of wave-trains are observed, i.e. (1) sinusoidal waves; (2) periodic waves with flat minima and very acute maxima (‘witch hat waves’); (3) periodic solitary waves with flat maxima and extremely narrow minima (‘bowler hat waves’). When the initial melt distribution in the mantle is quite homogeneous, the compaction waves have sinusoidal shapes and can locally amplify the melt concentration by a factor less than two. When there is a drastic obstruction at the top of the wetted domain, the pressure jump ΔP between solid and liquid controls the shape of the waves. If the computation assumes the equality of pressure between the two phases (ΔP=0), the compaction wave has a ‘bowler hat shape’, and locally amplifies the melt concentration by a factor less than 5. Alternatively, simulations taking into account the pressure jump between phases ΔP predict compaction waves with ‘witch hat shape’. These waves collect a large quantity of melt promoting the development of magmons with local melt concentration exceeding 100× the background melt concentration. It is inferred that in a mantle with very low concentrations of carbonatitic or high alkaline mafic silicate melt the magmons are about 1 km thick and reach, in less than 1 Ma, a melt concentration of about 10%. The magmons are likely generated below the lithosphere at some distance away from the center of hot spots. This can explain the development of mantle carbonatitic eruptions in the African rift and the carbonatite and high alkaline mafic silicate volcanic activity in oceanic islands.     

Lattice-preferred orientation and microstructure of peridotites from ODP Hole 1274A (15°39′N), Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Testing models of mantle upwelling and tectonic exhumation

Eleven harzburgites and one dunite from Ocean Drilling Program Leg 209 Hole 1274A preserve high-temperature mantle textures. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis shows moderately developed crystal lattice preferred orientations (LPOs) in olivine and orthopyroxene (M-indices ≈ 0.1) indicative of crystal-plastic deformation at ~ 1250 °C. These rocks preserve a protogranular texture with a weak olivine foliation, a very weak or absent orthopyroxene foliation that may be decoupled from the orthopyroxene LPO, and minor interstitial clinopyroxene and spinel. Olivine grain size distributions, along with melt-related microstructures in orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and spinel suggest that high-temperature deformation textures have been overprinted by pervasive post-deformation melt-rock interaction. Paleomagnetic data constrain the olivine [100] axes to be subhorizontal and oriented at low angle (≤ 28.6° ± 10.6°) to the ridge axis at the onset of serpentinization. This orientation is consistent with either complex 3-D mantle upwelling or 2-D mantle upwelling coupled with complex 3-D tectonic emplacement to the seafloor.     

Dunite channels within a harzburgite layer from the Horoman peridotite complex,Japan: Possible pathway for magmas

Two discordant dunite channels in a polished slab were collected from a harzburgite layer in the Horoman orogenic lherzolite massif, Hokkaido, Japan. The dunite channels show extreme grain‐size variations, and include very large olivine megacrysts up to 1.6 m long. Spinel‐rich pyroxenite veins or veinlets occasionally cross‐cut the olivine megacrysts. Mineral compositions differ between channels, and the mineral compositions and textures of the dunite channels and the host harzburgite suggest a replacive origin for the dunites. The Sr and Nd isotopic ratios of clinopyroxene separates from the pyroxenite veins in two dunite channels are different, but these ratios are generally similar to those of mid‐ocean ridge basalts. Assuming the channels formed by the through‐flow of melts, then the trace element compositions of the melts estimated from the clinopyroxenes are broadly similar. The melts have similar features such as enriched in incompatible elements and depleted in heavy rare earth elements, but there are differences in the depletions in Ti and Ba, indicating melts that were different but of similar origins. A Rb–Sr crystallization age (~ 52 Ma) was obtained for clinopyroxene–orthopyroxene pairs in a dunite channel and its host harzburgite. The distinctive dunite channels with megacrysts formed as a result of the through‐flow of mafic magma(s), and those magmas had trace and minor element contents that are indicative of contributions of a melt derived from subducted oceanic lithosphere.     

Experimental studies of melt-peridotite reactions at 1–2 GPa and 1250–1400°C and their implications for transforming the nature of lithospheric mantle and for high-Mg signatures in adakitic rocks

Experiments of the melt-peridotite reaction at pressures of 1 and 2 GPa and temperatures of 1250–1400°C have been carried out to understand the nature of the peridotite xenoliths in the Mesozoic high-Mg diorites and basalts of the North China Craton,and further to elucidate the processes in which the Mesozoic lithospheric mantle in this region was transformed.We used Fuxin alkali basalt,Feixian alkali basalt,and Xu-Huai hornblende-garnet pyroxenite as starting materials for the reacting melts,and lherzolite xenoliths and synthesized harzburgite as starting materials for the lithospheric mantle.The experimental results indicate that:(1)the reactions between basaltic melts and lherzolite and harzburgite at 1–2 GPa and 1300–1400°C tended to dissolve pyroxene and precipitate low-Mg#olivine(Mg#=83.6–89.3),forming sequences of dunite-lherzolite(D-L)and duniteharzburgite(D-H),respectively;(2)reactions between hornblende-garnet pyroxenite and lherzolite at 1 GPa and 1250°C formed a D-H sequence,whereas reactions at 2 GPa and 1350°C formed orthopyroxenite layers and lherzolite;and(3)the reaction between a partial melt of hornblende-garnet pyroxenite and harzburgite resulted in a layer of orthopyroxenite at the boundary of the pyroxenite and harzburgite.The reacted melts have higher MgO abundances than the starting melts,demonstrating that the melt-peridotite reactions are responsible for the high-Mg#signatures of andesites or adakitic rocks.Our experimental results support the proposition that the abundant peridotite and pyroxenite xenoliths in western Shandong and the southern Taihang Mountains might have experienced multiple modifications in reaction to a variety of melts.We suggest that melt-peridotite reactions played important roles in transforming the nature of the Mesozoic lithospheric mantle in the region of the North China Craton.     

中国西部及邻区岩石圈S波速度结构面波层析成像

本文利用瑞利波群速度频散资料和层析成像方法,研究了中国西部及邻近区域(20°N—55°N,65°E—110°E)的岩石圈S波速度结构.结果表明这一地区存在三个以低速地壳/上地幔为特征的构造活动区域:西蒙古高原—贝加尔地区,青藏高原,印支地区.西蒙古高原岩石圈厚度约为80 km,上地幔低速层向下延伸至300 km深度,说明存在源自地幔深部的热流活动.缅甸弧后的上地幔低速层下至200 km深度,显然与印度板块向东俯冲引起俯冲板片上方的热/化学活动有关.青藏高原地壳厚达70 km,边缘地区厚度也在50 km以上并且具有很大的水平变化梯度,与高原平顶陡边的地形特征一致.中下地壳的平均S波速度明显低于正常大陆地壳,在中地壳20~40 km深度范围广泛存在速度逆转的低速层,这一低速层的展布范围与高原的范围相符.这些特征说明青藏高原中下地壳的变形是在印度板块的北向挤压下发生塑性增厚和侧向流动.地幔的速度结构呈现与地壳显著不同的特点.在高原主体和川滇西部地区上地幔顶部存在较大范围的低速,低速区范围随深度迅速减小;100 km以下滇西低速消失,150 km以下基本完全消失.青藏高原上地幔速度结构沿东西方向表现出显著的分段变化.在大约84°E以西的喀喇昆仑—帕米尔—兴都库什地区,印度板块的北向和亚洲板块的南向俯冲造成上地幔显著高速;84°E—94°E之间上地幔顶部速度较低,在大约150~220 km深度范围存在高速板片,有可能是俯冲的印度岩石圈,其前缘到达昆仑—巴颜喀拉之下;在喜马拉雅东构造结以北区域,存在显著的上地幔高速区,可能阻碍上地幔物质的东向运动.川滇西部岩石圈底界深度与扬子克拉通相似,约为180 km,但上地幔顶部速度较低.这些现象表明青藏高原岩石圈地幔的变形/运动方式可能与地壳有本质的区别.     

Reaction experiments between tonalitic melt and mantle olivine and their implications for genesis of high-Mg andesites within cratons

High-Mg (Mg#>45) andesites (HMA) within cratons attract great attention from geologists. Their origin remains strongly debated. In order to examine and provide direct evidence for previous assumptions about HMA’s genesis inferred from petrological and geochemical investigations, we performed reaction experiments between tonalitic melt and mantle olivine on a six-anvil apparatus at high-temperature of 1250–1400°C and high-pressure of 2.0–5.0 GPa. Our experiments in this work simulated the interaction between the tonalitic melt derived from partial melting of eclogitized lower crust foundering into the Earth’s mantle and mantle peridotite. The experimental results show that the reacted melts have very similar variations in chemical compositions to the HMAs within the North China Craton. Therefore, this interaction is probably an important process to generate the HMAs within crations.     

Implications of melting for stabilisation of the lithosphere and heat loss in the Archaean

The increased depth and volume of melting induced in a higher temperature Archaean mantle controls the stability of the lithosphere, heat loss rates and the thickness of the oceanic crust. The relationship between density distributions in oceanic lithosphere and the depth of melting at spreading centres is investigated by calculating the mineral proportions and densities of residual mantle depleted by extraction of melt fractions. The density changes related to compositional gradients are comparable to those produced by thermal effects for lithosphere formed from a mantle which is 200°C or more hotter than modern upper mantle. If Archaean continental crust formed initially above oceanic lithosphere, the compositional density gradients may be sufficient to preserve a thick Archaean continental lithosphere within which the Archaean age diamonds are preserved. The amount of heat advected by melts at mid-ocean ridges today is small but heat advected by melting becomes proportionally more important as higher mantle temperatures lead to a greater volume of melt and as the rate of production of oceanic plates increases. Archaean tectonics could have been dominated by spreading rates 2–3 times greater than now and with mantle temperatures between ca. 1600°C and 1800°C at the depth of the solidus. Mid-ocean ridge melting would produce a relatively thick but light refractory lithosphere on which continents could form, protected from copious volcanism and high mantle temperatures.     

Geodynamic evolution of a forearc rift in the southernmost Mariana Arc

The southernmost Mariana forearc stretched to accommodate opening of the Mariana Trough backarc basin in late Neogene time, erupting basalts at 3.7–2.7 Ma that are now exposed in the Southeast Mariana Forearc Rift (SEMFR). Today, SEMFR is a broad zone of extension that formed on hydrated, forearc lithosphere and overlies the shallow subducting slab (slab depth ≤ 30–50 km). It comprises NW–SE trending subparallel deeps, 3–16 km wide, that can be traced ≥ ∼30 km from the trench almost to the backarc spreading center, the Malaguana‐Gadao Ridge (MGR). While forearcs are usually underlain by serpentinized harzburgites too cold to melt, SEMFR crust is mostly composed of Pliocene, low‐K basaltic to basaltic andesite lavas that are compositionally similar to arc lavas and backarc basin (BAB) lavas, and thus defines a forearc region that recently witnessed abundant igneous activity in the form of seafloor spreading. SEMFR igneous rocks have low Na₈, Ti₈, and Fe₈, consistent with extensive melting, at ∼23 ± 6.6 km depth and 1239 ± 40°C, by adiabatic decompression of depleted asthenospheric mantle metasomatized by slab‐derived fluids. Stretching of pre‐existing forearc lithosphere allowed BAB‐like mantle to flow along the SEMFR and melt, forming new oceanic crust. Melts interacted with pre‐existing forearc lithosphere during ascent. The SEMFR is no longer magmatically active and post‐magmatic tectonic activity dominates the rift.     

Komatiites and the structure of the Archaean mantle

The existence of Archaean komatiites with eruption temperatures greater than 1650°C requires that the mantle be vertically differentiated by the time of komatiite eruption. If in the unlikely event that undifferentiated mantle had survived primordial planetary differentiation and had been hot enough to deliver 1650°C komatiite, it would have been extensively molten to depths of ～250 km, resulting in rapid, profound, vertical differentiation anyway. During primordial differentiation (or Archaean komatiite petrogenesis) the high density and compressibility of ultrabasic melt allowed storage of a global melt layer beneath a buoyant residue of dunite and/or harzburgite. This refractory cap segregated by extraction of melt both upwards and downwards from the depth at which the density contrast between crystals and liquid vanishes. Eruption of komatiite from the melt layer by corrosion of the cap was the Archaean earth's principal means of dissipating excess heat. This subterranean magma ocean precluded vertical homogenization of the Archaean mantle by convection but effectively absorbed lateral mantle heterogeneities and imposed the relative uniformity of maximum eruption temperature and MgO contents (～32%) seen in primitive Archaean komatiites on all continents.Verification of the postulated density relations of liquids and crystals to 100 kbar becomes a pressing concern in view of the expected consequences these relations may have had.     

New constraints on lithospheric thickness of the Iranian plateau using converted waves

The study of mantle lithosphere plays a key role to reveal predominant tectonic setting process of a region. The current geological and tectonic setting of Iran is due to the ongoing continental–continental collision of the Arabian and Eurasian plates. We applied a combined P and S receiver function analysis to the teleseismic data of nine permanent broadband seismic stations of the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology located in different tectonic zones of Iranian plateau. More than 4 years of data were used to estimate the thickness of the crust and mantle lithosphere. According to our results, the crust is 50 km thick beneath the Zagros fold and thrust belt (ZFTB). We found the maximum Moho depth of approximately 70 km under the Sanandaj-Sirjan zone (SSZ) indicating the overthrusting of the crust of Central Iran onto the Zagros crust along the main Zagros thrust (MZT). Below the northeasternmost part of the Urumieh–Dokhtar Magmatic Arc (UDMA) and Central Iran, the Moho becomes shallower and lies at 40 km depth. Towards northeast, beneath the Alborz zone, the crust is 55 km thick. Based on S receiver functions, we provided new insights into the thickness of the Arabian and Eurasian lithospheres. The location of the boundary between these plates was estimated to be beneath the SSZ, which is slightly shifted northeastward relative to the surficial expression of the MZT. Furthermore, the Arabian plate is characterized by the relatively thick lithosphere of about 130 km beneath the ZFTB reaching 150 km beneath the SSZ, where the thickest crust was also observed. This may imply that the shortening across the Zagros is accommodated by lithospheric thickening. In contrast, UDMA and Central Iran are recognized by the thin lithosphere of about 80–85 km. This thin lithosphere may be associated with the asthenospheric upwelling caused by either lithospheric delamination or Neo-Tethys slab detachment beneath the Zagros collision zone.     

New insights on the origin of troctolites from the breakaway area of the Godzilla Megamullion (Parece Vela back‐arc basin): The role of melt‐mantle interaction on the composition of the lower crust

The troctolites and olivine‐gabbros from the Dive 6 K‐1147 represent the most primitive gabbroic rocks collected at the Godzilla Megamullion, a giant oceanic core complex formed at an extinct spreading segment of the Parece Vela back‐arc basin (Philippine Sea). Previous investigations have shown that these rocks have textural and major elements mineral compositions consistent with a formation through multistage interaction between mantle‐derived melts and a pre‐existing ultramafic matrix. New investigations on trace element mineral compositions basically agree with this hypothesis. Clinopyroxenes and plagioclase have incompatible element signatures similar to that of typical‐MORB. However, the clinopyroxenes show very high Cr contents (similar to those of mantle clinopyroxene) and rim having sharply higher Zr/REE ratios with respect to the core. These features are in contrast with an evolution constrained by fractional crystallization processes, and suggest that the clinopyroxene compositions are controlled by melt‐rock interaction processes. The plagioclase anorthite versus clinopyroxene Mg#[Mg/(Mg + Fe^Tot)] correlation of the Dive 6 K‐1147 rocks shows a trend much steeper than those depicted by other oceanic gabbroic sections. Using a thermodynamic model, we show that this trend is reproducible by fractionation of melts assimilating 1 g of mantle peridotite per 1 °C of cooling. This model predicts the early crystallization of high Mg# clinopyroxene, consistent with our petrological observation. The melt‐peridotite interaction process produces Na‐rich melts causing the crystallization of plagioclase with low anorthite component, typically characterizing the evolved gabbros from Godzilla Megamullion.     

Water and partial melting of Earth’s mantle

Water plays a crucial role in the melting of Earth’s mantle. Mantle magmatisms mostly occur at plate boundaries (including subduction zones and mid-ocean ridges) and in some intraplate regions with thermal anomaly. At oceanic subduction zones, water released by the subducted slab may induce melting of the overlying mantle wedge or even the slab itself, giving rise to arc magmatism, or may evolve into a supercritical fluid. The physicochemical conditions for the formation of slab melt and supercritical fluid are still under debate. At mid-ocean ridges and intraplate hot zones, water and CO₂ cause melting of the upwelling mantle to occur at greater depths and in greater extents. Low degree melting of the mantle may occur at boundaries between Earth’s internal spheres, including the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB), the upper mantletransition zone boundary, and the transition zone-lower mantle boundary, usually attributed to contrasting water storage capacity across the boundary. The origin for the stimulating effect of water on melting lies in that water as an incompatible component has a strong tendency to be enriched in the melt (i.e., with a mineral-melt partition coefficient much smaller than unity), thereby lowering the Gibbs free energy of the melt. The partitioning of water between melt and mantle minerals such as olivine, pyroxenes and garnet has been investigated extensively, but the effects of hydration on the density and transport properties of silicate melts require further assessments by experimental and computational approaches.     

Magma chambers beneath the Klyuchevskoy volcanic group (Kamchatka)

A 3D velocity model of the Earth’s crust beneath the Klyuchevskoy volcanic group has been constructed using the seismic tomography method. Anomalies of the velocity parameters related to the zones of magma supply to active volcanoes have been distinguished. Petrological data on the composition, temperature, and pressure of generation and crystallization of parental melts of Klyuchevskoy volcano magnesian basalts have been obtained. The parental melt corresponds to picrite (MgO = 13–14 wt %) with an ultimate saturation of SiO₂ (49–50 wt %), a high H₂O content (2.2–2.9%), and incompatible elements (Sr, Rb, Ba). This melt is formed at pressures of 15–20 kbar and temperatures of 1280–1320°C. Its further crystallization proceeds in intermediate magma chambers at two discrete pressure levels (i.e., greater than 6, and 1–2 kbar). The results of the petrological studies are in good agreement with the seismotomographic model.     

Melt-filled hybrid fractures in the oceanic mantle: Melt enhanced deformation during along-axis flow beneath a propagating spreading ridge axis

Mid-ocean ridges represent important locations for understanding the interactions between deformation and melt production, transport, and emplacement. Melt transport through the mantle beneath mid-ocean ridges is closely associated with deformation. Currently recognized transport and emplacement processes at ridges include: 1) dikes and sills filling stress-controlled fractures, 2) porous flow in a divergent flow field, 3) self-organizing porous dunite channels, and 4) shear zones. Our recent observations from the sub-oceanic mantle beneath a propagating ridge axis in the Oman ophiolite show that gabbronorite and olivine gabbro dikes fill hybrid fractures that show both shear and extensional components of strain. The magnitudes of shear strain recorded by the dikes are significant and comparable to the longitudinal extensions across the dikes. We suggest that the hybrid dikes form from the interactions between shear deformation and pressurized melt in regions of along-axis flow at mid-ocean ridges. The displacement across the dikes is kinematically compatible with high temperature flow recorded by plastic fabrics in host peridotites. Field observations and mechanical considerations indicate that the dikes record conditions of higher stress and lower temperature than those recorded by the plastic flow fabrics. The features of hybrid dikes suggest formation during progressive deformation as conditions changed from penetrative plastic flow to strain localization along melt-filled fractures. The combined dataset indicates that the dikes are formed during along-axis flow away from regions of diapiric upwelling at propagating ridge segments. Hybrid dikes provide a potentially powerful kinematic indicator and strain recorder and define a previously unrecognized mechanism of melt migration. Our calculations show that hybrid dikes require less melt pressure to form than purely tensile dikes and thus may provide a mechanism to tap melt reservoirs that are under-pressurized with respect to lithostatic pressure.     

Multi-oriented and layered structures of lith osphere in orogenic belt and their effects on Cenozoic magmatism

Integrating the surface structures with the reinterpretations of 3-D velocity images, this paper puts forward a kind of multi-oriented and layered structure for those of the upper and mid-lower crust, lithospheric and asthenospheric mantle in Tethyan orogenic belt of western Yunnan and Sichuan, China (Sanjiang belt). There exists a detachment between upper and mid-lower crust. The lithospheric mantle is a rigid and competent body unable to be deformed which preserved the older tectonic framework. The asthenosphere is an imcompetent layer that is easy to be deformed, and behaves as an initiation region of deformation, and its structural patterns reflect younger tectonics. The Cenozoic intracontinental magmatism of this region is controlled by: (i) sub-meridional and NNE trending asthenospheric upwelling around the western margin of Yangtze block; (ii) crust-mantle transitional layer formed by underplating of ascending melts; and (iii) intersection or transformation of regional structures such as major faults.     

Topography on the D′′ region from analysis of a thin dense layer beneath a convecting cell

In this study, we examine the development of topography on a thin dense layer at the base of the lower mantle. The effect of the convecting mantle above is represented as a traction acting on the upper surface of the layer. Topography on the layer boundaries is predicted by a balance of dynamic flow stress and external traction. The nature of boundary topography depends on the magnitude of the driving tractions and the density variation within the layer. If we assume that the layer density is greatest beneath areas of mantle downwelling and decreases to a minimum beneath areas of mantle upwelling (the layer is thermally coupled to the convection in the overlying mantle) then its upper boundary develops a cusp-like peak beneath the upwelling mantle. The height of this peak is potentially much greater than the layer thickness. If, however, the layers are effectively coupled by viscous shear then internal density gradients of the opposite sign may be established. In this case, we observe solutions where the layer is completely swept away beneath areas of mantle downwelling leaving steep-sided ‘islands’ of dense material. This mechanism therefore provides a possible explanation for steep-sided anomalously slow regions at the base of the mantle observed by seismic methods (e.g. beneath south Africa) or for discrete ultralow velocity zones detected at the core-mantle boundary beneath locations of surface hotspots. The magnitude of the upper boundary driving tractions compared to the density gradient within the layer is the key parameter that determines the nature of flow in, and consequently boundary topography of, the layer. The deflection of the core-mantle boundary is small compared with that of the top of the dense layer, but a change in sign of the ratio of these deflections is observed as the magnitude of the driving tractions changes relative to the magnitude of the internal density gradient. We compare seismic measurements of core-mantle boundary topography and D′′ topography with the predictions of this model in an attempt to constrain model parameters, but no clear correlation seems to exist between D′′ thickness and CMB topography.