“构造地质学”发展方向的一些思考

构造地质学是地质学的核心基础学科,其发展方向是目前构造地质学家面临的挑战之一。本文从构造作用的本质出发,试图对构造地质学的发展方向进行思考。构造作用本质上是岩石和矿物对应力作用的响应,包括物理响应和化学响应,进而用数学方法进行表达:(1)物理响应主要表现为变形,包括脆性变形和韧性变形。岩石的力学性能决定了其变形特征。岩石圈力学性能在时间和空间上的不均一性一直是研究岩石圈变形行为的巨大挑战。需要结合野外观测、岩石力学和流变学研究,并借助多尺度模拟方法来建立不同时间尺度和空间尺度下岩石的变形行为和变形准则。(2)化学响应主要指构造应力作用下岩石和矿物发生化学变化的过程,即应力化学作用。变形变质作用、剪切带成矿作用、剪切带石墨化、应力生气和生烃等方面都可能存在应力化学过程,但其详细过程和反应机理还需要进一步探究。(3)运用数值模拟、量子计算对以上这些构造过程进行数学表达,也是构造地质学未来发展值得关注的方向。总之,构造地质学未来的发展方向应是与物理学、化学乃至数学等基础学科的深度融合。     

Potential impact of climate change and reindeer density on tundra indicator species in the Barents Sea region

Climate change is expected to alter the distribution of habitats and thus the distribution of species connected with these habitats in the terrestrial Barents Sea region. It was hypothesised that wild species connected with the tundra and open-land biome may be particularly at risk as forest area expands. Fourteen species of birds were identified as useful indicators for the biodiversity dependent upon this biome. By bringing together species distribution information with the LPJ-GUESS vegetation model, and with estimates of future wild and domestic reindeer density, potential impacts on these species between the present time and 2080 were assessed. Over this period there was a net loss of open land within the current breeding range of most bird species. Grazing reindeer were modelled as increasing the amount of open land retained for nine of the tundra bird species.     

Photometric mapping of Asteroid (4) Vesta’s southern hemisphere with Hubble Space Telescope

We present the surface mapping of the southern hemisphere of Asteroid (4) Vesta obtained from Hubble Space Telescope (HST). From 105 images of Vesta through four filters in the wavelengths best to characterize the 1-μm pyroxene band, we constructed albedo and color-ratio maps of Vesta. These new maps cover latitudes −50° to +20°. The southern hemisphere of Vesta displays more diverse albedo and color features than the northern hemisphere, with about 15 new albedo and color features identified. The overall longitudinal albedo and color variations in the southern hemisphere are comparable with that of the northern hemisphere, with a range of about ±20% and ±10%, respectively. The eastern hemisphere is brighter and displays more diogenitic minerals than the western hemisphere. Correlations between 1-μm band depth and band width, as well as between 1-μm band depth and albedo, are present on a global scale, attributed to pyroxene composition variations. The lack of correlations between albedo and the spectral slope indicates the absence of globalized space weathering. The lack of a global correlation between 1-μm band depth and topography suggests that the surface composition of Vesta is not completely controlled by a single impact. The distribution of compositional variation on Vesta suggests a possible large impact basin. Evidence of space weathering is found in regions, including the bright rim of the south-pole crater where the steepest gravitational slope on Vesta is, and a dark area near a gravitationally flat area. We propose to divide the surface of Vesta into six geological units different from the background according to their 1-μm absorption features and spectral slopes, including two eucrite-rich units, a low-Ca eucrite unit, a diogenite-rich unit, a space weathered unit, and a freshly exposed unit. No evidence of olivine-rich area is present in these data.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987110000034

<正>We synthesize significant recent results on the deep structure and origin of the active volcanoes in mainland China.Magmatism in the western Pacific arc and back-arc areas is caused by dehydration of the subducting slab and by corner flow in the mantle wedge,whereas the intraplate magmatism in China has different origins.The active volcanoes in Northeast China(such as the Changbai and Wuda-lianchi) are caused by hot upwelling in the big mantle wedge(BMW) above the stagnant slab in the mantle transition zone and deep slab dehydration as well.The Tengchong volcano in Southwest China is caused by a similar process in the BMW above the subducting Burma microplate(or Indian plate). The Hainan volcano in southernmost China is a hotspot fed by a lower-mantle plume which may be associated with the Pacific and Philippine Sea slabs' deep subduction in the east and the Indian slab's deep subduction in the west down to the lower mantle.The stagnant slab finally collapses down to the bottom of the mantle,which can trigger the upwelling of hot mantle materials from the lower mantle to the shallow mantle beneath the subducting slabs and may cause the slab—plume interactions.     

Paleomagnetic evidence for Jurassic deformation of the McCoy Mountains Formation,southeastern California and southwestern Arizona

The Mesozoic McCoy Mountains Formation is a 7.3-km-thick deformed clastic sequence exposed in six mountain ranges in southeastern California and southwestern Arizona. Interbedded with Jurassic volcanic rocks at its base, the McCoy Mountains Formation had been assigned a Cretaceous age based upon fossil angiosperm wood found in the upper third of the section. Characteristic natural remanent magnetism (NRM) from 145 oriented samples from 18 sites within the sedimentary terrane yield an in situ mean direction:I = 20.6°, D = 335.1°, α₉₅ = 7.7° (uncorrected for structural tilting). Opaque mineralogy and a failed fold test indicate that the NRM is a chemical remanence acquired post-folding. The paleomagnetic pole position calculated from the in situ mean direction falls adjacent to poles from the Summerville Formation and Canelo Hills Volcanics. We interpret these data to indicate that deformation, mild metamorphism, and resultant magnetization of the McCoy Mountains Formation occurred during Jurassic time. It is suggested that the McCoy Mountains Formation and underlying Jurassic volcanics were deposited adjacent to, and then deformed between, the North American craton and an outlying allochthonous terrane during Jurassic time.     

Water Materialities and Citizen Engagement: Testing the Implications of Water Access and Quality for Community Engagement in Ghana and South Africa

We analyze the relationship between perceptions of domestic water access, and quality, in relation community engagement. While others have suggested linkages between material conditions of water access and engagement (e.g., that poor water access might spur engagement), to date there have been no studies those test these relationships using statistical methods. Based on a quantitative analysis of survey data from underserved sites in Accra, Ghana, and Cape Town, South Africa, our results show that water access and quality are both predictive of community engagement. The analysis also makes a strong case that there are different dimensions when considering the material conditions of water—in this case, water access and quality each condition engagement in opposite directions. Furthermore, consistent with other studies, our study also shows different demographics (notably gender) mediate these relationships in important ways.     

Large grains matter: contrasting bed stability and morphodynamics during two nearly identical experiments

While the stabilizing function of large grains in step‐pool streams has long been recognized, the role they play in gravel‐bed streams is less clear. Most researchers have ignored the role of large grains in gravel‐bed streams, and have assumed that the median bed surface size controls the erodibility of alluvial boundaries. The experiments presented herein challenge this convention. Two experiments were conducted that demonstrate the significant morphodynamic implications of a slight change to the coarse tail of the bed material. The two distributions had the same range of particle sizes, and nearly identical bulk d₅₀ values (1.6 mm); however the d₉₀ of experiment GSD1 was slightly finer (3.7 mm) than that for experiment GSD2 (3.9 mm). Transport rates during GSD1 were nearly four times greater than during GSD2 (even though the dimensionless shear stress was slightly lower), and the channel developed a sinuous pattern with well‐developed riffles, pools and bars. During GSD2 the initial rectangular channel remained virtually unchanged for the duration of the experiment. The relative stability of GSD2 seems to be associated with a slightly larger proportion of stable (large) grains on the bed surface: at the beginning of GSD1, 3.5% of the bed was immobile, while almost twice as much of it (6.1%) was immobile at the beginning of GSD2. The results demonstrate that the largest grains (not the median size) exert first‐order control on channel stability. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

青藏高原东部上地幔各向异性及相关的壳幔耦合型式

对国家数字地震台网和云南、四川、甘肃、青海区域数字地震台网, 以及布设在川、滇、藏地区的宽频带流动地震台网共116个台站所记录的远震SKS波形资料作偏振分析, 采用叠加分析方法求得每一个台站的SKS快波偏振方向和快慢波的时间延迟, 获得青藏高原东部及其邻近地区的上地幔各向异性图像. 将该地区全球定位系统(GPS)的观测结果与上地幔各向异性分布相结合作地壳-地幔耦合变形的分析, 研究表明青藏高原内部和高原外部的云南地区具有不同的壳幔变形特征, 在高原的东缘地区(大致位于川滇西部的26°~27°N之间)存在一个壳幔变形的横向过渡带. 过渡带以南地区的快波偏振方向从滇西南的S60°~70°E逐渐转变到滇东南的近东西向, 以北的滇西北部和川西南部, 快波偏振方向为近似的南北向. 高原内部表现为强壳幔耦合型, 高原外部则属于壳幔解耦型. 这一横向过渡带与地表的断裂走向不一致, 但在地壳和上地幔, 其地球物理场(如: 地壳厚度, 布格重力异常和构造应力方向等)都具有横向过渡的特征. 该横向过渡带邻近东喜马拉雅构造结, 在板块边界动力学上有着重要的意义.