Subducted slabs beneath the eastern Indonesia-Tonga region: insights from tomography

Tomographic images of mantle structure beneath the region north and northeast of Australia show a number of anomalously fast regions. These are interpreted using a recent plate tectonic reconstruction in terms of current and former subduction systems. Several strong anomalies are related to current subduction. The inferred slab lengths and positions are consistent with Neogene subduction beneath the New Britain and Halmahera arcs, and at the Tonga and the New Hebrides trenches where there has been rapid rollback of subduction hinges since about 10 Ma. There are several deeper flat-lying anomalies which are not related to present subduction and we interpret them as former subduction zones overridden by Australia since 25 Ma. Beneath the Bird’s Head and Arafura Sea is an anomaly interpreted to be due to north-dipping subduction beneath the Philippines-Halmahera arc between 45 and 25 Ma. A very large anomaly extending from the Papuan peninsula to the New Hebrides, and from the Solomon Islands to the east Australian margin, is interpreted to be the remnant of south-dipping subduction beneath the Melanesian arc between 45 and 25 Ma. This interpretation implies that a flat-lying slab can survive for many tens of millions of years at the bottom of the upper mantle. In the lower mantle there is a huge anomaly beneath the Gulf of Carpentaria and east Papua New Guinea. This is located above the position where the tectonic model interprets a change in polarity of subduction from north-dipping to south-dipping between 45 and 25 Ma. We suggest this deep anomaly may be a slab subducted beneath eastern Australian during the Cretaceous, or subducted north of Australia during the Cenozoic before 45 Ma. The tomography also supports the tectonic interpretation which suggests little Neogene subduction beneath western New Guinea since no slab is imaged south of the New Guinea trench. However, one subduction zone in the tectonic model and many others, that associated with the Trobriand trough east of Papua New Guinea and the Miocene Maramuni arc, is not seen in the tomographic images and may require reconsideration of currently accepted tectonic interpretations.     

关于全球板块运动模型ITRF2000VEL若干问题探讨

利用最新的国际地球自转服务（IERS）发布的国际地球参考架ITRF2000速度场，建立了一个独立于任何其它模型、安全基于现代空间大地测量实测结果的现今全球板块运动模型ITRF2000VEL，较百万年平均地质模型NNR－NUVELIA更能真正反映全球板块现今运动特征，相比ITRF96,晚接近于百万年地质模型NNR－NUVELIA，而且ITRF2000参考架在定向、原点和尺度的定义较ITRF96和ITRF97参考架有了改进，但ITRF200VEL模型存在诸多问题：总角动量|L|=0.127，即不为零，与协议参考架（CTRF）不符，存在整体旋转，并建立无旋转NNR－ITRF2000VEL模型，台站不均匀分布全球板块、部分板块界线不明确以及有的板块不满足刚性特征等，这些对ITRF2000的高精度应用和长期维持、地球自转参数的长期变化都将产生一定的影响。     

华北板内深部构造

华北板块的形成经历了早前寒武纪、燕山期及喜马拉雅期3个主要构造发展期，由于华北板块自身运动及所受应力场的作用，加之上地幔岩石圈的不均一性等因素，在中、新生代形成许多特殊的板内构造块。综合应用地质、地球物理和地球化学的成果，对华北板内深部结构进行了研究。从深部构造角度划分出6个金及金金属成矿带、4个金刚石成矿带，并对华北地区的地震及地热资源与新生事大陆裂谷的关系进行了探讨。     

位移监测在滑坡时空运动研究中的应用

滑坡时空运动特征是滑坡地质体在内因和外因共同作用下，自一种状态向另一种状态转化的地质过程。滑坡位移监测是研究滑坡变形影响因素、动态规律及预测预报的主要途径，特别是滑坡深部位移监测，又为研究滑坡体的时空运动过程提供了重要信息。本文结合几个滑坡的深部位移监测实践，综合分析位移监测信息，研究滑坡体的时空运动特征及发展趋势，为滑坡时空运动系统研究及稳定性预测提供依据。     

Global heat budget, plate tectonics and climatic change

For the past 2000 Ma, the temperature of the Earth's surface has fluctuated around a mean similar to that of today, although individual locations have undergone long-term changes of ∼30°C at different times in different places. Water bodies absorb at least five times as much solar radiation as land surfaces, and ocean currents transport the excess heat absorbed in the tropics towards the poles. Changes in the distribution of land and sea due to plate tectonics explain the major temperature fluctuations (>25°C) around the globe in the last 350 Ma, and are first-order controls. Large-scale changes in ocean currents and thermohaline circulations are probably second-order controls (15–25°C). The Milankovitch orbital cycles are third-order controls producing variations in air temperature of the order of 10°C, while massive volcanic eruptions and changes in carbon dioxide are amongst the fourth-order controls producing minor perturbations (<5°C). The major climatic fluctuations are continuous but regional in effect and not global. Extraterrestrial factors may not cause major changes in climate when viewed from a geological perspective.     

Digital effects in the spatial economy of film: towards a research agenda

A new assemblage of digital technologies, organized around compressed software formats and broadband Internet infrastructures, is reconfiguring the motion picture industry. In this paper, I review the impacts of digitization upon the spatial economy of film in the United States via a commodity chain framework. The discussion raises some important themes for conceptual debate in economic geography.