Early deformation fabrics of melange in the Mesozoic Waipapa Terrane, North Island, New Zealand

Abstract The Waipapa Terrane in northern North Island, New Zealand, is a Mesozoic accretion-ary complex formed along the Gondwana margin. It contains abundant melange rocks with distinctive characteristics. Precise analyses of their mesoscopic fabrics in Waiheke Island near Auckland have revealed the following sequence of deformation. The earliest phase of deformation of the sandstone/mudstone association, which is the main constituent of this terrane, originated by chaotic mixing of sand and mud due to liquidization of water-saturated, poorly consolidated sediments. The second phase was characterized by hydrofracturing and subsequent forceful injection of ductile mud into rather brittle sand. Local intrusions of sand forming dykes and sills followed these events, as well as intrusions of pelagic/hemipelagic green argillite originally underlying the sandstone/mudstone association. An abundant occurrence of these mixing and multi-stage injection/intrusion fabrics strongly suggest that the Waipapa Terrane around the study area was a site of high pore-fluid pressure. Scaly-foliated melange fabrics with monoclinic symmetry, originating from layer-parallel shearing, were then locally superimposed on the pre-existing melange fabrics. Similar scaly-foliated fabrics also developed in the chert beds originally intercalated between the green argillite and the uppermost part of the oceanic crust. These scaly fabrics might have been related to the regional stacking and juxtaposition of the accreted sediments. The sequence and variation in style of deformation forming the melange fabrics presumably reflected changes in porosity and state of compaction of accreted sediments in a shallow tectonic level.     

Geomorphological study on a clastic accretionary prism: The Nankai Trough

Abstract The Nankai Trough, off southwest Japan, is one of the best sites for the study of geomorphic characteristics of a clastic accretionary prism. A recent multibeam survey over the central and eastern parts of the Nankai accretionary prism has revealed a large variation of the topography along the trough axis. Analysis of the bathymetric data suggests the existence of prism deformational features of different scales, such as depressions, embayment structures and cusps. These structures are the results of slope instability caused by basement relief of subducted oceanic plate. Unstable slopes recover by new accretion and development of a low angle thrust. Small-scale deformation due to the subduction of a small isolated seamount is then adjusted to the regional trend. By contrast, a 30 km indentation of the wedge observed in the eastern part of the Nankai Trough, the Tenryu Cusp, has seemed to retain its geometry. The subducted Philippine Sea plate has deformed greatly near the eastern end of the Nankai Trough, because of the collision between the Izu-Ogasawara (Bonin) arc and central Japan. Therefore, the indentation may be the result of the continuous subduction of a basement high, such as the Zenisu Ridge, which has been formed under north-south compression due to the arc-arc collision.     

Thermal evolution of the Tertiary Shimanto Belt, Muroto Peninsula, Shikoku, Japan

Abstract The Shimanto accretionary complex on the Muroto Peninsula of Shikoku comprises two major units of Tertiary strata: the Murotohanto Sub-belt (Eocene-Oligocene) and the Nabae Sub-belt (Oligocene-Miocene). Both sub-belts have been affected by thermal overprints following the peak of accretion-related deformation. Palaeotemperatures for the entire Tertiary section range from ～ 140 to 315°C, based upon mean vitrinite reflectance values of 0.9–5.0%R_m. Values of illite crystallinity index are consistent with conditions of advanced diagenesis and anchimetamorphism. Illite/mica b₀ lattice dimensions indicate that burial pressures were probably no greater than 2.5kbar. In general, levels of thermal maturity are higher for the Murotohanto Sub-belt than for the Nabae Sub-belt. The Eocene-Oligocene strata also display a spatial decrease in thermal maturity from south to north and this pattern probably was caused by regional-scale differential uplift following peak heating. Conversely, the palaeothermal structure within the Nabae Sub-belt is fairly uniform, except for the local effects of mafic intrusions at the tip of Cape Muroto. There is a paleotemperature difference of ～ 90°C across the boundary between the Murotohanto and Nabae Sub-belts (Shiina-Narashi fault), and this contrast is consistent with approximately 1200 m of post-metamorphic vertical offset. Subduction prior to Middle Miocene probably involved the Kula or fused Kula-Pacific plate and the background geothermal gradient during the Eocene-Oligocene phase of accretion was ～ 30–35°C/km. Rapid heating of the Shimanto Belt evidently occurred immediately after a Middle Miocene reorganization of the subduction boundary. Hot oceanic lithosphere from the Shikoku Basin first entered the subduction zone at ～ 15 Ma; this event also coincided with the opening of the Sea of Japan and the rapid clockwise rotation of southwest Japan. The background geothermal gradient at that time was ～ 70°C/km. Whether or not all portions of the inherited (Eocene-Oligocene) palaeothermal structure were overprinted during the Middle Miocene remains controversial.     

Anomalous structural evolution of the Shimanto Accretionary Prism at Murotomisaki, Shikoku Island, Japan

Abstract The Late Oligocene-Early Miocene Nabae Sub-belt of the Shimanto Accretionary Prism was created coevally (ca 25-15 Ma) with the opening of the Shikoku back-arc basin, located to the south of the southwest Japan convergent margin. The detailed geology of the sub-belt has been controversial and the interaction of the Shimanto accretionary prism and the opening of the Shikoku Basin has been ambiguous. New structural analysis of the sub-belt has led to a new perception of its structural framework and has significant bearing on the interpretation of the Neogene tectonics of southwest Japan. The sub-belt is divided into three units: the Nabae Complex; the Shijujiyama Formation; and the Maruyama Intrusive Suite. The Nabae Complex comprises coherent units and mélange, all of which show polyphase deformation. The first phase of deformation appears to have involved landward vergent thrusting of coherent units over the mélange terrane. The second phase of deformation involved continued landward vergent shortening. The Shijujiyama Formation, composed mainly of mafic volcanics and massive sandstone, is interpreted as a slope basin deposited upon the Nabae Complex during the second phase of deformation. The youngest deformational pulse involved regional flexing and accompanying pervasive faulting. During this event, mafic rocks of the Maruyama Intrusive Suite intruded the sub-belt. Fossil evidence in the Nabae Complex and radiometric dates on the intrusive rocks indicate that this tectonic scheme was imprinted upon the sub-belt between ～23 and ～14 Ma. The timing of accretion and deformation of the sub-belt coincides with the opening of the Shikoku Basin; hence, subduction and spreading operated simultaneously. Accretion of the Nabae Sub-belt was anomalous, involving landward vergent thrusting, magmatism in newly accreted strata and regional flexing. It is proposed that this complex and anomalous structural history is largely related to the subduction of the active Shikoku Basin spreading ridge and associated seamounts.     

黄土孔隙性分类判别的人工神经网络方法

运用人工神经网络的一典型模型——“反向传播”神经网络,对洛川黄土孔隙性的实测数据进行了分析,建立了洛川黄土孔隙性预测的计算机智能专家系统。结果表明,神经网络方法性能良好,可望成为黄土孔隙性分类、判别的有效辅助手段。     

多源异质遥感影像的分形特征分析

分形理论已经在影像压缩、分割、去噪等方面表现出了较大的优势,其特点是能够准确地描述影像的空间结构信息和变化规律.分别采用分线法和三角棱柱法对同一实验地区的多种分辨率不同波段的遥感卫星影像进行分析,分别计算了图像中不同地形区域(如城区、湖泊、田地等)的分形维数,并根据两种算法的特性对图像进行了特征分析.多源遥感影像的实验结果证明,分形维数确实可以作为影像特征分析的一个重要工具,并可以指导分析遥感影像的应用情况.此外,在计算分形维数的过程中,采用三折线拟合法自适应地确定影像的无标度区间,提高了分形维数计算结果的可靠性.     

New concepts on the composition, structure, and age of the Lower Amur fragment of the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous accretionary prism, Russian Far East

On the basis of geological observations and the study of conodont and radiolarian microfauna, a new stratigraphic scheme was proposed for the Mesozoic deposits of the Komsomolsk district of the Amur region. The lower Khorpy Group (T₂-J₃) consists of two units: the Boktor (T₂-J₂) and Kholvasi (J_2–3). The Boktor Sequence (400 m thick) is represented by pelagic cherts with an admixture of cherty-clayey shales and volcanic rocks. The Kholvasi Sequence (500 m thick) is built up of the predominant siltstones and clayey shales with rare intercalations and lenses of clayey cherts and cherty-clayey shales. The upper Komsomolskaya Group (K₁) has a terrigenous composition and includes the Gorin, Pionerskaya, and Pivan formations of 5 km total thickness. It is made up of intercalated sandstones, siltstones, mudstones, and often turbidites (proximal to distal). The rocks contain abundant buchia fauna of Volgian-Valanginian age, as well as carbonized plant detritus and flora of the Early Cretaceous habit. The described complex is characterized by a nappe-fold structure typical of the accretionary prisms in the ocean-continent convergence zones. The predominance of the coherent type of accretionary prisms reflects the simple morphology of the oceanic plate.     

Granular experiments of thrust wedges: Insights relevant to methane hydrate exploration at the Nankai accretionary prism

The accumulation mechanism of methane hydrates has been a central issue in previous hydrate research regarding the Nankai accretionary prism, southwest of Japan. Expulsion of formation fluids is significant during the prism accretion process, and the migration of these methane-bearing fluids exerts a strong control on the accumulation of hydrates. Two types of fluid pathways, inter-granular porosity and faults, need to be evaluated to understand hydrate accumulation. Fluid migration along faults can be partly modeled by examining faulting activity. Our study modeled the accretion process by using two granular methods that approximated the geologic body as an assemblage of particles: (1) analog experiments using granular materials, and (2) a numerical simulation based on the distinct element method. The analog experiments closely reproduced the prism geometry observed in seismic profiles across the Nankai accretionary prism. Digital image correlation analysis indicated that the frontal thrust is generally active but older structures are also frequently reactivated. The numerical simulations produced prism geometries similar to those of the analog experiments. The velocity distributions of the particles showed evidence of episodic faulting and reactivation, but the internal stress field exhibited little change in the deeper part of the prism during deformation. The frequent and substantial changes in fault activity displayed by the models indicate episodic fluid flow along fault surfaces. Active frontal thrusting suggests that formation fluids generally migrate from deep within the prism to the deformation front, but may move along reactivated older faults. Inter-granular permeability also fluctuates, as it is controlled by temporal and spatial variations in the internal stress field. However, fluid flow is likely to be relatively stable in the deeper segment of the prism.     

Structural analysis of a newly emerged accretionary prism along the Jinlun-Taimali coast,southeastern Taiwan: From subduction to arc-continent collision

In southern Taiwan the initial collision of the Luzon volcanic arc with the passive continental margin of China results in the emergence of an accretionary prism of, predominantly, turbidites in composition, thus providing an appropriate place to study the temporal and spatial variation of deformation during the transition of subduction to arc-continent collision. Field surveys have recently been carried out in slightly metamorphosed rocks along the well-exposed Jinlun-Taimali coast in southeastern Taiwan. Three folding phases are identified in the area. The first phase is characterized by gently dipping but widely distributed phyllitic cleavage (S₁). The second phase is represented by sparsely distributed crenulation cleavage (S₂) that folded the phyllitic cleavage. The third phase is characterized by E–W trending antiforms (F₃) that involved both types of pre-existing cleavages. Restoration of such an antiform in the north using a method proposed in this paper reveals that phyllitic cleavage in the overturned beds dips gently towards the southeast or east-southeast before the antiform, in relation to the first-phase thrusting or folding under regional ESE-WNW compression. From the first to third phase, the maximum horizontal compression underwent an about 90° anticlockwise rotation from ESE-WNW to E–W or NE–SW to N–S, and the deformation depth seems to decrease drastically, in terms of the decreasing proportion of pervasive deformation. All these variations are attributed to the oblique arc-continent collision that exhumed the whole accretionary prism and induced a local stress perturbation in southeastern Taiwan.     

Geochemistry of mafic rocks and melt inclusions and their implications for the heat source of the 14.0°S hydrothermal field,South Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Fresh rocks sampled from the 14.0°S hydrothermal field of the South Atlantic Ridge can be divided into two categories： olivine-gabbro and basalt. The olivine-gabbro is composed mainly of three types of minerals： olivine, clinopyroxene and plagioclase, while a multitude of melt inclusions occur in the plagioclase phenocrysts of the basalts. We analyzed the whole-rock, major and trace elements contents of the basaks, the mineral chemistry of phenocrysts and melt inclusions in the basalts, and the mineral chemistry of olivine-clinopyroxene-plagioclase in the olivine-gabbro, then simulated magma evolution within the crust using the COMAGMAT program. The whole-rock geochemistry shows that all the basalts exhibit typical N-MORB characteristics. In addition, the mineral chemistry characteristics of the olivine-gabbro （low-Fo olivine, low-Mg# clinopyroxene, high-TiO2 clinopyroxene, low-An plagioclase）, show that strong magma differentiation occurred within the crust. Nevertheless, significant discrepancies between those minerals and phenocrysts in the basalts （high-Fo olivine, high-An plagioclase） reflect the heterogeneity of magma differentiation. High Mg# （-~0.72） melt inclusions isobaric partial crystallization simulations suggest that the magma differentiation occurred at the depth shallower than 13.03 km below the seafloor, and both the vertical differentiation column shows distinct discrepancies from that of a steady-state magma chamber. Instead, a series of independent magma intrusions probably occurred within the crust, and their corresponding crystallized bodies, as the primary high-temperature thermal anomalies within the off-axis crust, probably act as the heat source for the development of the 14.0°S hydrothermal system.