1983–2003 decaying rate of deflation at Askja caldera: Pressure decrease in an extensive magma plumbing system at a spreading plate boundary

New deformation data from the Askja volcano, Iceland, show that the volcano's caldera has been deflating continuously for over 20 years, and confirm that the rate of subsidence is slowing down. The decay in subsidence rate can be fitted with a function of the form e ^{− t / τ} , where τ is 39 years. Reanalysis of GPS data from 1993–1998 show that these data can be fitted with a model calling for two Mogi point sources, one shallow, and another one much deeper (16.2 km depth). Pressure decrease occurs in both sources. The deeper source is responsible for observed horizontal contraction towards Askja at distances that cannot be explained by the shallower source. Plate spreading of 19 mm/year distributed evenly over about 100-km-wide zone is also favoured by the data.     

Prime controls on Archaean–Palaeoproterozoic sedimentation: Change over time

Although the principle of uniformitarianism may be applied to the Precambrian sedimentary record as a whole, certain periods of the Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic witnessed a changing pattern of prime influences controlling the depositional systems. This paper examines the major controls on sedimentation systems and environments during the Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic within the broader perspective of Earth evolution. Earth's earliest sedimentary system (4.4?-3.7 Ga) was presumably comprised of deep oceanic realms and probably influenced primarily by bolide impacts, major tsunamis, localized traction and global contour current patterns, and bathymetry. As continental crust began to form, the impact-dominated, tsunami type sedimentation gave way to wider varieties of sedimentary environments, known from the oldest sedimentary records. During early continental crustal evolution (c. 3.7–2.7 Ga), sedimentation was essentially of greenstone-type. Volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks were the major components of the greenstone belts, associated with thin carbonates, stromatolitic evaporites, BIF, pelites and quartzites and lesser synorogenic turbidites, conglomerates and sandstones. Volcanism and active tectonism (reflecting dynamic depositional settings during island arc and proto-continental nucleus formation) were the predominant factors influencing sedimentation during this phase of Earth evolution. Transgressions and regressions under the combined influence of tectonics and eustasy are reflected in fining- and coarsening-upwards successions from the proto-cratonic settings; low freeboard enabled the transgression to affect large areas of the proto-cratons. As the earliest, relatively stable craton formed, through a combination of plate tectonic and mantle-thermal processes, continents and supercontinents with the potential for supercontinental cycles started to influence sedimentation strongly. Major controls on Neoarchaean–Palaeoproterozoic sedimentation systems (2.7–1.6 Ga) were provided by a combination of superplume events and plate tectonics. Two global-scale ‘superevents’ at c. 2.7 Ga and c. 2.2–1.8 Ga were accompanied by eustatic rise concomitant with peaks in crustal growth rates, and large epeiric seas developed. The operation of first-order controls leading to development of vast chemical sedimentary platforms in these epeiric seas and concomitant palaeo-atmospheric and palaeo-oceanic evolution combined to provide a second-order control on global sedimentary systems in the Neoarchaean–Palaeoproterozoic period. The supercontinental cycle had become well established by the end of the Palaeoproterozoic, with the existence of large cratons across broad spectrums of palaeolatitude enabling erg development. The entire spectrum of sedimentary systems and environments came into existence by c. 1.8 Ga, prime influences on sedimentation and depositional system possibly remaining essentially uniform thereafter.     

The Mesoarchean emergence of modern-style subduction

Well-preserved volcanic sequences span the Paleoarchean to Neoarchean evolution of the Pilbara Craton, in northwestern Australia. This region provides the best physical evidence bearing on the stage of Earth's history when modern-style tectonic processes began. Paleoarchean assemblages in the eastern nucleus of the craton (the 3.51–3.24 Ga Pilbara Supergroup) show few features that can reasonably be interpreted as evidence for modern-style subduction processes. Incompatible trace element-enriched felsic volcanic horizons show geochemical evidence for the interaction between mafic magmas and crust, but this evidence, on its own, can equally well be interpreted in terms of either a subduction-enriched mantle source or local and limited assimilation of felsic crust into the voluminous tholeiitic magmas that dominate the Pilbara Supergroup. Viewed in context within the thick autochthonous and consistently upward-younging Pilbara Supergroup, these felsic units are most likely related to the same plume-dominated processes that formed the basalts that dominate the supergroup. It is very unlikely that modern-style plate tectonic processes played any role in the Paleoarchean evolution of the Pilbara Craton, although some form of non-uniformitarian (e.g. flat) subduction process may have operated.In stark contrast, the Mesoarchean units of the West Pilbara Terrane and the late-tectonic basins that cover that boundary between the West and East Pilbara Terranes, show clear evidence for modern-style convergent margin processes. Igneous rocks in this belt, which flanks the old eastern cratonic nuclei, have enriched geochemical signatures that cannot be accounted for by crustal contamination. This region is also characterised by a linear magmatic and structural fabric, by the presence of lithologically and geochronologically exotic belts, and by the presence of a broad belt of isotopically more juvenile crust. The collective strength of these arguments provides compelling evidence that a modern-style oceanic arc fringed the East Pilbara Terrane at 3.12 Ga and accreted to that terrane by 2.97 Ga. These assemblages mark the minimum age for the birth of modern-style plate subduction process.     

亚澳季风各子系统气候学特征的异同研究 II. 夏季风水汽输送

利用1979~2002年的ERA-40和NCEP/NCAR逐日再分析资料以及CMAP降水资料探讨了亚澳季风各夏季风子系统(南亚夏季风、东亚夏季风、北澳夏季风)水汽输送的气候学特征及其与夏季降水的关系。分析表明:各夏季风子系统水汽输送通量主要取决于低层季风气流,南亚夏季风和北澳夏季风以纬向水汽输送为主,而东亚夏季风有很强的经向水汽输送。分析也证实,亚澳季风区的夏季风降水主;要源于水汽输送的辐合,而且ERA-40资料对夏季风水汽输送辐合的描述能力强于NCEP/NCAR资料。此外,受低层季风气流结构的影响,三夏季风子系统水汽输送辐合的动力机理存在明显差异,南亚夏季风和北澳夏季风的水汽输送辐合主要由低层西风气流的风场辐合所造成,而东亚夏季风的水汽输送辐合则由低层南风气流的风场辐合和季风湿平流共同作用造成。因此,东亚夏季风降水有别于南亚夏季风降水和北澳夏季风降水。     

Some things do change: indigenous rights,geographers and geography in Australia

Using a recent editorial comment in this journal as a focus, this paper reviews the extent to which geography has been implicated in the ‘colonial project’ in Australia. It argues that recent work amongst geographers involved with indigenous Australians reflects a commitment to transcend this colonial past. The paper calls for geographers to work toward a wide‐reaching decolonisation of the discipline, and to develop a better understanding of the contemporary legacies of geography's colonial past.     

西南太平洋地区地震序列的特征

共搜集到１９８４￣１９９０年西南太平洋地区１２个板缘地震序列。多数地震序列的特征是：震中分布区域的长轴较长并且随主震震级和序列中强震次数而增加;震中分布区域的长、短轴长度的比值较高;地震序列的余震震源机制和主震的差异不大;震源深度下限超过地壳,可达７０ｋｍ以上。走滑型主震占的比例低,高倾角滑动面的走向既有与俯冲带走向平行的也有横切的,个别逆冲型地震的断层面走向横切俯冲带。它们显示出与板块俯冲带主体     

Seismic gaps and plate tectonics: Seismic potential for major boundaries

The theory of plate tectonics provides a basic framework for evaluating the potential for future great earthquakes to occur along major plate boundaries. Along most of the transform and convergent plate boundaries considered in this paper, the majority of seismic slip occurs during large earthquakes, i.e., those of magnitude 7 or greater. The concepts that rupture zones, as delineated by aftershocks, tend to abut rather than overlap, and large events occur in regions with histories of both long- and short-term seismic quiescence are used in this paper to delineate major seismic gaps.In detail, however, the distribution of large shallow earthquakes along convergent plate margins is not always consistent with a simple model derived from plate tectonics. Certain plate boundaries, for example, appear in the long term to be nearly aseismic with respect to large earthquakes. The identification of specific tectonic regimes, as defined by dip of the inclined seismic zone, the presence or absence of aseismic ridges and seamounts on the downgoing lithospheric plate, the age contrast between the overthrust and underthrust plates, and the presence or absence of back-arc spreading, have led to a refinement in the application of plate tectonic theory to the evaluation of seismic potential.The term seismic gap is taken to refer to any region along an active plate boundary that has not experienced a large thrust or strike-slip earthquake for more than 30 years. A region of high seismic potential is a seismic gap that, for historic or tectonic reasons, is considered likely to produce a large shock during the next few decades. The seismic gap technique provides estimates of the location, size of future events and origin time to within a few tens of years at best.The accompanying map summarizes six categories of seismic potential for major plate boundaries in and around the margins of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean, South Sandwich and Sunda (Indonesia) regions for the next few decades. These categories range from what we consider high to low potential for being the site of large earthquakes during that period of time. Categories 1, 2 and 6 define a time-dependent potential based on the amount of time elapsed since the last large earthquake. The remaining categories, 3, 4, and 5, are used for areas that have ambiguous histories for large earthquakes; their seismic potential is inferred from various tectonic criteria. These six categories are meant to be interpreted as forecasts of the location and size of future large shocks and should not be considered to be predictions in which a precise estimate of the time of occurrence is specified.Several of the segments of major plate boundaries that are assigned the highest potential, i.e., category 1, are located along continental margins, adjacent to centers of population. Some of them are hundreds of kilometers long. High priority should be given to instrumenting and studying several of these major seismic gaps since many are now poorly instrumented. The categories of potential assigned here provide a rationale for assigning prorities for instrumentation, for future studies aimed at predicting large earthquakes and for making estimates of tsunami potential.Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory Contribution No. 2906.     

A lithospheric model to interpret focal properties of intermediate and shallow shocks in central greece

Summary An attempt has been made to interpret the striking difference, in focal properties, between the intermediate and shallow earthquakes in Central Greece and an observed time sequence of these shocks by a lithospheric model. This model consists of a lithospheric slab descending from the Ionian to the Aegean and a back-arc expanding Aegean lithosphere. Thrust faulting near the top surface of the slab, caused by the sinking of the slab, triggers spreading and normal faulting in the back-arc Aegean region.     

华北板块南缘安徽青白口纪-早奥陶世层序地层与格架

华北地台南缘,主要出露青白口纪—早古生代地层,属被动大陆稳定克拉通盆地发育过程,以台地碳酸盐沉积为主。通过对十余条实测剖面及主干、辅助路线的观察研究,青白口纪—早古生代奥陶纪早期,测区可区分出二个巨层序、十二个三级层序。本文通过三级层序的划分,建立了华北地台南缘青白口纪—早古生代奥陶纪早期层序地层格架、探讨了各岩石地层单位的变化规律。     

Lopingian mixed floras from Linxi Formation in Soron area,Inner Mongolia

A lot of well-preserved plants from the Linxi Formation are collected in the Soron area,Inner Mongolia,consisting of 34 species of 16 genera. They are Late Permian in age. The flora is characterized by a lot of Angaran plants,such as Paracalamites,Comia,Rhachiphyllum,Iniopteris,Rufloria,etc. Some Cathaysian elements,such as Lobatannularia lingulata,L. multifolia,Fascipteris Cathaysiantus,F. densata,Taeniopteris szei,Cladophlebis liulinensis and C. permica,are also mixed within the present flora. This indicates that the Soron of Inner Mongolia was located in the sector between the Angaran and Cathysian floristic provinces in Lopingian. It is beneficial for depicting the location and the evolution of the Solenker--Xar Moron suture zone in the phytogeographic view. The transmigration of tropical and subtropical Cathaysian plants to the north indicates that the Paleoasian Ocean was closed during the late Permian along the suture zone.