Nonlinear geodynamics of the Baikal rift system: An evolution scenario with triple equilibrium bifurcation

This is an attempt to analyze the current lithospheric stress pattern in the Baikal rift in terms of nonlinear dynamics as an open self-organizing system in order to gain more insights into the general laws of regional seismicity. According to the suggested approach, the stress pattern inferred from seismic moments of 70,000 M_LH ≥ 2.0 events that occurred in the region between 1968 and 1994 is presented as a phase portrait in the phase spaces of the seismic moments. The obtained phase portrait of the system evolution fits well a scenario with triple equilibrium bifurcation where stress bifurcations account for the frequency of M > 5.5 earthquakes. Extrapolation of the results into the nearest future indicates probability of such a bifurcation (a catastrophe of stress), i.e., there is growing risk that M ≈ 7 events may happen in the region within a few years.     

Batisite,Na2BaTi2(Si4O12)O2, from Inagli massif,Aldan, Russia: crystal-structure refinement and high-temperature X-ray diffraction study

Mineralogy and Petrology - The crystal structure of batisite, Na2BaTi2 (Si4O12)O2, from the Inagli massif (Aldan, Yakutia, Russia) was refined to R 1 = 0.032 for 1449 unique...     

Geophysical Evidence of a Relict Oceanic Crust in the Southwestern Scotia Sea

The southwestern part of the Scotia Sea, at the corner of the Shackleton Fracture Zone with the South Scotia Ridge has been investigated, combining marine magnetic profiles, multichannel seismic reflection data, and satellite-derived gravity anomaly data. From the integrated analysis of data, we identified the presence of the oldest part of the crust in this sector, which tentative age is older than anomaly C10 (28.7 Ma). The area is surrounded by structural features clearly imaged by seismic data, which correspond to gravity lows in the satellite-derived map, and presents a rhomboid-shaped geometry. Along its southern boundary, structural features related to convergence and possible incipient subduction beneath the continental South Scotia Ridge have been evidenced from the seismic profile. We interpret this area, now located at the edge of the south-western Scotia Sea, as a relict of ocean-like crust formed during an earlier, possibly diffuse and disorganized episode of spreading at the first onset of the Drake Passage opening. The successive episode of organized seafloor spreading responsible for the opening of the Drake Passage that definitively separated southern South America from the Antarctic Peninsula, instigated ridge-push forces that can account for the subduction-related structures found along the western part of the South Scotia Ridge. This seafloor accretion phase occurred from 27 to about 10 Ma, when spreading stopped in the western Scotia Sea Ridge, as resulted from the identification of the marine magnetic anomalies.     

Mud volcanoes and gas vents in the Okhotsk Sea area

Gas emissions from mud volcanoes on Sakhalin Island and water-column gas flares arising from cold seeps in the Okhotsk Sea appear to be related. They are likely activated by tectonic movements along the transform plate boundary separating the Okhotsk Sea Plate from the Eurasian and Amur plates. Gas vents (flares) and methane anomalies occur in the waters offshore Sakhalin Island, along with NE-SW-trending mounds and fluid escape structures on the seafloor. The intersection of the NE-striking transverse faults on land with the Central Sakhalin and Hokkaido-Sakhalin shear zones apparently determines the sites of mud volcanoes, a pattern that continues offshore where the intersection with the East Sakhalin and West Derugin shear zones determines the sites of the submarine gas vents.     

Chronology of multiphase emplacement of the Salmi rapakivi granite-anorthosite complex, Baltic Shield: implications for magmatic evolution

The U-Pb dating of 18 samples, representing the principal rock types of the 4000 km² Salmi anorthosite-rapakivi granite complex and its satellite Uljalegi pluton, southeastern Baltic (Fennoscandian) Shield, reveals that six temporally distinct episodes of igneous activity occurred in a timespan of 17 million years. From oldest to youngest they are: (1) gabbronorite and monzonite at 1546.7 Ma; (2) syenogranite at 1543.4 Ma; (3) early wiborgite and pyterlite at 1540.6–1537.9 Ma; (4) biotite granite and more evolved granite at 1538.4–1535 Ma; (5) late pyterlite at 1535.2 Ma; (6) olivine gabbro and biotite-amphibole granite at 1530 Ma. The resolvable intervals between magmatic episodes are 3.5–5.0 million years. Early wiborgite and pyterlite (3, above) and biotite granite (4, above) probably crystallized from multiple magma intrusions. Age differences of 3.4±1.5 million years between zircon and baddeleyite in olivine gabbro (6, above) are probably a result of xenocrystic origin of baddeleyite extracted from an earlier mafic phase of the Salmi complex. The ages and chemical features of early and late zircon populations, together with our modeling of magma crystallization and zircon growth, show that the duration of magma crystallization and Pb-diffusion in zircon was short lived and insignificant compared to the precision of dating of about ±1–2 million years. Hence, the range of U-Pb ages for each of the major rock types may approximate the emplacement intervals of their respective magmas. Average rate of magma emplacement was about 0.01 km³/year for the most voluminous phase of early biotite-amphibole rapakivi granite, and about 0.0024 km³/year for the Salmi complex as a whole. Compositional changes of the Salmi magmas over time are in agreement with the model of magmatism related to lithospheric extension. Received: 2 August 1996 / Accepted 19 December 1996     

Land Aridization in the Context of Global Warming - a Case Study of Transbaikalia

An increase in the extremality of natural processes is a consequence of warming, aridization, and desertification. The authors consider the processes of warming, aridization, and desertification to be the parts of a single system and major destabilizing factors of ecological balance. Destabilization is expressed in the growth of natural processes extremality. Ecosystems of Transbaikalia were once characterized by a different natural contrast and amplitude. Warming, aridization and desertification have led to an increase of environmental regimes tensions. This is demonstrated quantitatively by the root-mean-square difference of atmospheric and soil parameters. Quantitative indicators of aridization are estimated using Walter-Gossen climate charts. Permafrost zone response information to the long-term warming is provided as well.     

Mid–Cretaceous Episodic Magmatism and Tin Mineralization in Khingan-Okhotsk Volcano–Plutonic Belt, Far East Russia

Abstract: Age of magmatism and tin mineralization in the Khingan‐Okhotsk volcano–plutonic belt, including the Khingan, Badzhal and Komsomolsk tin fields, were reviewed in terms of tectonic history of the continental margin of East Asia. This belt consists mainly of felsic volcanic rocks and granitoids of the reduced type, being free of remarkable geomagnetic anomaly, in contrast with the northern Sikhote‐Alin volcano–plutonic belt dominated by oxidized‐type rocks and gold mineralization. The northern end of the Khingan‐Okhotsk belt near the Sea of Okhotsk, accompanied by positive geomagnetic anomalies, may have been overprinted by magmatism of the Sikhote‐Alin belt. Tin–associated magmatism in the Khingan‐Okhotsk belt extending over 400 km occurred episodically in a short period (9510 Ma) in the middle Cretaceous time, which is coeval with the accretion of the Kiselevka‐Manoma complex, the youngest accretionary wedge in the eastern margin of the Khingan‐Okhotsk accretionary terranes. The episodic magmatism is in contrast with the Cretaceous‐Paleogene long–lasted magmatism in Sikhote–Alin, indicating the two belts are essentially different arcs, rather than juxtaposed arcs derived from a single arc. The tin‐associated magmatism may have been caused by the subduction of a young and hot back‐arc basin, which is inferred from oceanic plate stratigraphy of the coeval accre‐tionary complex and its heavy mineral assemblage of immature volcanic arc provenance. The subduction of the young basin may have resulted in dominance of the reduced‐type felsic magmas due to incorporation of carbonaceous sediments within the accretionary complex near the trench. Subsequently, the back‐arc basin may have been closed by the oblique collision of the accretionary terranes in Sikhote–Alin, which was subjected to the Late Cretaceous to Paleogene magmatism related to another younger subduction system. These processes could have proceeded under transpressional tectonic regime due to oblique subduction of the paleo‐Pacific plates under Eurasian continent.