Role of water in the origin of podiform chromitite deposits

We report experiments in basalt oversaturated with water to duplicate the nodular ore textures of podiform chromitite ores. In immiscible basalt-water systems saturated with olivine and chromite, olivine will reside in the melt while chromite will collect in the fluid phase. Fractionation is physical and is driven by differential wetting properties of melt and fluid against silicate and oxide surfaces. There is no need to suppress olivine from the liquidus of a primitive basaltic melt as suggested by Irvine [Irvine, T.N., Geology 5 (1977) 273-277], to achieve chromite accumulations as observed in natural podiform ore deposits. The results imply that podiform chromitite ores will form where a primitive olivine-chromite-saturated mantle melt is sufficiently water-rich to exsolve a fluid phase during passage through the uppermost mantle. The most likely geodynamic environment for podiform chromite mineralization to take place is a supra-subduction zone setting.     

中国大陆及其邻域的瑞利波群速度分布图象与地壳上地幔速度结构

利用中国数字化地震台网（CDSN）11个台站和周边地区的11个IRIS数字化地震台站记录的长周期面波资料,用多重滤波方法测定了在647条不同路径上周期从10～92ｓ的基阶瑞利波群速度频散曲线．采用Dimtar Yanovskaya方法,反演得到北纬18～54、东经70～140范围内,25个中心周期的群速度分布图象．结果表明：在10～15.9s周期范围内,群速度分布存在着明显的横向不均匀性．其分区分块特征与大地构造单元有着密切的对应关系,两个明显的低速区域分别位于塔里木盆地和东海及北部邻域;从21～33ｓ逐渐显示出深部构造块体的格局;在36.6～40ｓ周期附近的群速度分布图象中,十分清晰地显示出中国大陆岩石圈结构的分区特征,南北地震带、青藏高原、华北、华南块体及东北地块的边界非常明显．本文给出了沿30N、38N 纬线和沿90E、120E 经线剖面的群速度随周期分布图象．在这些剖面上,较明显地展示出中国大陆及其邻域地壳上地幔速度结构的基本特征．各构造块体的深部速度结构差异较大,在青藏高原东部地区的地壳中部存在局部低速区域;塔里木盆地、扬子地台的上地幔速度较高,显示出稳定地台特征;华北平原上地幔低速层的埋深浅、厚度大;东海及日本海的上地幔速度较低,这可能与菲律宾板块下插产生的摩擦热与喜山期以来受强烈拉张有密切的关系．     

深层地震勘探的地震波传传播理论研究前景

深层地震勘探为地震波传播理论研究提出了新的挑战和机遇。深层地震勘探的主要难点是上覆层的影响甚大，使后续的处理有隔靴挠痒之感，必须应用波场延拓消除上覆层影响。深层波速的高速性和横向不均匀性决定了大角散射和弹性波处理方法的重要性。本文具体评述了深层地震勘探的主要方法对策，深入探讨了波场延拓的李群方法和弹性反演的某些问题，目的在于为深化深层地震提供新的研究手段和方法。     

Segregation structures in vapor-differentiated basaltic flows

 Vesicle cylinders represent a spectacular kind of segregation structure involving residual liquids formed in situ during the cooling of lava flows. These vertical pipes, commonly found within basalt flows typically 2–10 m thick, are interpreted as the product of a vapor-driven differentiation process. The olivine phenocrysts and the earliest generation of groundmass olivines found in cylinder-bearing basalts appear to have been generally affected by magmatic oxidation, resulting in high-temperature iddingsite (HTI) alteration. This feature is also observed within cylinder-free basalt flows which exhibit other kinds of vesicular segregation structures, such as vesicle-rich pegmatoid segregation sheets and/or segregation vesicles. Detailed textural, petrological, and geochemical characteristics of two types of cylinders, three types of vesicle sheets, and five types of segregation vesicles are described, based on the study of 12 occurrences of HTI-bearing basalt flows from oceanic shield volcanoes or continental basalt plateaus. We propose a general classification of these segregation structures likely to derive from vapor differentiation. Flow thickness is probably the main factor influencing their morphology. Finally, we suggest that the concomitant occurrence of olivine oxidation and vapor-differentiation effects results from the late persistence of water oversaturation after eruption, perhaps due to a high rate of magma ascent. Received: 27 March 1999 / Accepted: 15 February 2000     

Group velocity distribution of Rayleigh waves and crustal and upper mantle velocity structure of the Chinese mainland and its vicinity

Introduction A lot of results have been achieved on the study of crust and upper mantle structure in Chinese mainland by the surface wave dispersion. The seismometer can be classified into three types based on the development from the analog to digital instrument. FENG, et al (1981) measured the dispersion curves of group and phase velocity along 28 paths, with 19 earthquakes recorded by 15 base analog seismic stations, subdivided the Chinese mainland into 5 blocks and obtained the average c…     

Small-scale convection under the back-arc occurring in the low viscosity wedge

Water released from subducting slabs through a dehydration reaction may lower the viscosity of the mantle significantly. Thus, we may expect a low viscosity wedge (LVW) above the subducting slabs. The LVW coupled with a large-scale flow induced by the subducting slabs may allow the existence of roll-like small-scale convection whose axis is normal to the strike of the plate boundary. Such a roll structure may explain the origin of along-arc variations of mantle temperature proposed recently in northeast Japan. We study this possibility using both 2D and 3D models with/without pressure- and temperature-dependent viscosity. 2D models without pressure and temperature dependence of viscosity show that, with a reasonable geometry of the LVW and subduction speed, small-scale convection is likely to occur when the viscosity of the LVW is less than 10¹⁹ Pa s. Corresponding 3D model studies reveal that the wavelength of rolls depends on the depth of the LVW. The inclusion of temperature-dependent viscosity requires the existence of further low viscosity in the LVW, since temperature dependence suppresses the instability of the cold thermal boundary layer. Pressure (i.e. depth) dependence coupled with temperature dependence of the viscosity promotes short wavelength instabilities. The model, which shows a relatively moderate viscosity decrease in the LVW (most of the LVW viscosity is 10¹⁸∼10¹⁹ Pa s) and a wavelength of roll ∼80 km, has a rather small activation energy and volume (∼130 kJ/mol and ∼4 cm³/mol) of the viscosity. This small activation energy and volume may be possible, if we regard them as an effective viscosity of non-linear rheology.     

成组地震前兆异常特征

以华北2组成组地震为例,分析了成组地震的异常特征.成组地震的异常特征主要表现为(1)成组地震前兆异常时间跨度大,一般贯穿整个地震组始终,表现为长期的趋势异常.(2)成组地震前兆异常在大趋势背景下还会有小的阶段性波动,在每一次单一地震前又有新的响应.3)存在成组地震前兆异常的观测曲线在地震组开始前往往有较大转折或突跳变化.(4)不同学科成组地震前兆异常之间存在相关性.     

华北地区成组地震前后的地电阻率异常特征

分析了自有地电阻率观测资料以来华北地区发生的三次成组地震前后的异常特征,其中包括1976年唐山地震组、1989年大同地震组和1998年张北地震组.结果发现(1)成组地震的地电阻率异常持续时间都比较长,主震发生后异常一般会继续下降或维持低值异常不恢复,整个成组地震的趋势背景非常清楚;(2)主震前异常台站范围比较广,异常台站数目比较多,后续地震的异常多集中在震源区;(3)成组地震结束后,异常一般都很快恢复.最后探讨了成组地震的地电阻率异常发展特征与孕震机理的关系.     

Insights into operation of the subduction factory from the oxygen isotopic values of the southern Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc

Abstract Oxygen is the most abundant element in the earth, and isotopic analysis of this element in island arc lavas potentially provides sensitive constraints on the proportion of oxygen recycled from subducted material, relative to that extracted from the mantle. Here we report on 225 new oxygen isotopic analyses of whole‐rock and glass samples, and clinopyroxene separates, from lavas collected from the southernmost 1500 km of the Izu–Bonin–Mariana (IBM) convergent margin. Whole‐rock samples clustered around a mean of 6.11 ± 0.47‰, whereas Mariana Trough glasses and mafic melts, calculated to be in equilibrium with mafic phenocrysts, clustered narrowly around a mean of 5.7‰. These data demonstrate that unequivocal identification of magmatic oxygen requires analysis of fresh glass or mafic minerals, and that the source of southern IBM Arc melts is entirely, or almost entirely, in equilibrium with normal mantle oxygen. If the elemental enrichments characteristic of the subduction component originate in subducted materials, these oxygen isotopic data are most consistent with the interaction of a small amount of sediment melt (<4%; mostly less than 1%) with mantle peridotite to yield the hybrid mantle that melts to form IBM Arc magmas.     

杭州湾北岸持续热浪天气特点及城市化发展的影响

伴随21世纪的到来,杭州湾北岸持续热浪事件出现频率高、持续时间长、影响范围广、强度强、出现的气温极值高。使用NCEP资料和天气学方法,对4次持续热浪过程进行分析,在副高持续增强脊线北移至30°N,当高层南亚高压分裂东移,高低空负涡度出现垂直叠加,或因台风外围环流影响,出现强烈的下沉和晴空辐射增温,再加上平流增温、以及前期持续高温的累积效应等综合因素,杭州湾北岸出现持续区域热浪。21世纪以来,持续热浪期间,白天高温和酷热时长都出现延长,且酷热时长延长得更明显。此外,嘉兴日照时数出现减少,而气温仍较快升高的现象可能与城市化快速发展导致的城市＂热岛效应＂有关。目前,杭州湾北岸城市群＂热岛效应＂已经综合影响到热浪期间城市间的温差关系上。