Probabilities of occurrence of great earthquakes in the Himalaya

Long-term conditional probabilities of occurrence of great earthquakes along the Himalaya plate boundary seismic zone have been estimated. The chance of occurrence of at least one great earthquake along this seismic zone over a period of 100 years (beginning the year 1999) is estimated to be about 0.89. The 100-year probability of such an earthquake occurring in the Kashmir seismic gap is about 0.27, in the central seismic gap about 0.52 and in the Assam gap about 0.21. The 25-year probabilities of their occurrence in these gaps are 0.07, 0.17, and 0.05 respectively. These probability estimates may be used profitably to assess the seismic hazard in the Himalaya and the adjoining Ganga plains.     

吉林红旗岭铜镍硫化物矿床的成矿时代讨论

通过对红旗岭铜镍硫化物矿床1号含矿超镁铁质岩体和8号不含矿镁铁-超镁铁质岩体进行单矿物40Ar-39Ar法测年,得到与铜镍硫化物矿床相关的角闪石与黑云母结晶年龄分别为250 Ma和225 Ma,这一结果与前人所报道的K-Ar法年龄有明显的差异.结合与热液矿化相关的斜长伟晶岩锆石SHRIMP法年龄216 Ma,认为镁铁-超镁铁质岩形成于250 Ma左右的印支早期,铜镍硫化物矿床的形成时间晚于含矿岩体,大约为225 Ma前后的印支中期.216 Ma前后的岩浆期后热液叠加对成矿具有积极作用.     

地幔上涌对鄂尔多斯西缘岩石圈的改造:来自远震多尺度层析成像的证据

本文利用喜马拉雅二期科学探测台阵的678个地震台站及26个固定台站记录到的9,641个地震共约160000条远震P波走时数据,采用基于稀疏约束的多尺度层析成像方法,获得了鄂尔多斯西缘及邻区上地幔800 km深度范围内P波速度结构.结果显示,在东经104°附近阿拉善地块与鄂尔多斯盆地间存在岩石圈深度的构造边界,这表明阿拉善地块与鄂尔多斯可能分别从属于不同的大地构造单元.以北纬38°线为界,鄂尔多斯地块西缘在岩石圈范围内南北存在明显的速度差异,鄂尔多斯南部上地幔200~300 km深度范围显示为高速异常,而鄂尔多斯北部上地幔显示大面积的低速异常.这一现象表明,鄂尔多斯地块南北两部分经历了不同的构造演化过程.根据本文的结果可以进一步推断,由于青藏高原、阿拉善地块向东北方向推挤以及岩石圈的拆离引起的上地幔扰动导致了地幔上涌,上涌的热物质改造了鄂尔多斯西北缘地区的岩石圈,并使该区的岩石圈减薄.地幔上涌也可能是东经104°边界带和北纬38°构造带形成的深部动力学因素.     

2015年尼泊尔MS8.1大地震孕育的深层过程与发生的动力学响应

2015年4月25日发生在尼泊尔博克拉M_S8.1大地震的深层动力过程与“地中海-喜马拉雅-南亚地震带”的中段喜马拉雅地震活动带密切相关.这次大地震是该地震强烈活动带上长期以来深部物质与能量强烈交换、运动,并导致构造活动和应力积累的产物.综合分析与研究提出：（1）博克拉M_S8.1大地震的孕育、发生和发展具有长期活动和近年来相邻地带地震活动频繁的背景;这一地带自1505年-2015年,即500多年来相继发生多次M_S≥8.0的大地震.（2）这一地带具有特异的地球物理边界场响应和深层动力过程,显示深部物质的重新分异、调整与能量交换.（3）大地震发生与周边地带应力场分布特异,壳、幔结构与介质属性变异及破裂响应与断层面解的属性相关.（4）喜马拉雅地带的三条北倾断裂带以不同角度向深部延伸、震源位置及浅表层的变形特征尚应深化理解.（5）M_S8.1大地震的发生对相邻地带的波场影响强烈,故应强化高精度地球物理场的观测和探测,以“捕捉”未来可能大地震的孕育与发生.     

Mantle plumes,triple junctions and transforms:A reinterpretation of Pacific Cretaceous-Tertiary LIPs and the Laramide connection

The Shatsky and Hess Rises,the Mid-Pacific Mountains and the Line Islands large igneous provinces(LIPs) present different challenges to conventional plume models.Resolving the genesis of these LIPs is important not only for a more complete understanding of mantle plumes and plume-generated magmatism,but also for establishing the role of subducted LIP conjugates in the evolution of the Laramide orogeny and other circum-Pacific orogenic events,which are related to the development of large porphyry systems.Given past difficulties in developing consistent geodynamic models for these LIPs,it is useful to consider whether viable alternative geodynamic scenarios may be provided by recent concepts such as melt channel networks and channel-associated lineaments,along with the "two mode"model of melt generation,where a deeply-sourced channel network is superimposed on the plume,evolving and adapting over millions of years.A plume may also interact with transform faults in close proximity to a mid ocean ridge,with the resultant bathymetric character strongly affected by the relative age difference of lithosphere across the fault.Our results suggest that the new two-mode melt models resolve key persistent issues associated with the Shatsky Rise and other LIPs and provide evidence for the existence of a conduit system within plumes that feed deeply-sourced material to the plume head,with flow maintained over considerable distances.The conduit system eventually breaks down during plume-ridge separation and may do so prior to the plume head being freed from the triple junction or spreading ridge.There is evidence for not only plume head capture by a triple junction but also for substantial deformation of the plume stem as the distance between the stem and anchored plume head increases.The evidence suggests that young transforms can serve as pathways for plume material migration,at least in certain plume head-transform configurations.A fortuitous similarity between the path of the Shatsky and Sio plumes,with respect to young spreading ridges and transforms,helps to clarify previously problematic bathymetric features that were not readily ascribed to fixed plumes alone.The Line Island Chain,which has been the subject of a vast number of models,is related mainly to several plumes that passed beneath the same region of oceanic crust,a relatively rare event that has resulted in LIP formation rather than a regular seamount track.Our findings have important implications for the timing and mechanism for the Laramide Orogeny in North America,demonstrating that the Hess Rise conjugate may be much smaller than traditionally thought.The Mid Pacific Mountains conjugate may not exist at all,given large parts of these LIPs were formed at an ‘off-ridge' site.This needs to be taken into account while considering the effects of conjugate collision on mineralization and orogenic events.     

Rhyacian and Neoproterozoic magmatic associations of the Gurupi Belt,Brazil: Implications for the tectonic evolution,and regional correlations

The Gurupi Belt, in north-northeastern Brazil, is a mobile belt developed in the south-southwestern margin of the São Luís cratonic fragment and crops out as a tectonic and erosional window within the Phanerozoic cover. Field, petrographic, geochemical, geochronological, and Nd isotopic information (new and published) constrain the timing and types of magmatic associations present in the belt and the tectonic settings in which they formed. The Rhyacian was the main period of magmatic activity, which can be grouped into two main stages. (1) ~2185–2130 ​Ma: pre-collisional, juvenile, calc-alkaline magnesian and calcic ferroan granitoid suites, and minor calc-alkaline and tholeiitic mafic plutonism (now amphibolites), formed in intra-oceanic to transitional/continental arcs; and intra- or back-arc volcano-sedimentary basin. (2) ~2125–2070 ​Ma: syn- (two-mica granites) to late-collisional (potassic to shoshonitic granites and quartz-syenite) plutonic suites produced after crustal thickening and melting, with localized migmatization, that intruded during the compressive D₁ deformational phase and concomitantly with greenschist to amphibolite metamorphism. There is a zonation of the Rhyacian episodes, with intra-oceanic stages occurring to the northeast, and the continental arc and collisional phases occurring to the southwest, indicating the presence of an active continental margin to the southwest, and subduction from NE to SW (present-day configuration). This magmatic framework is a continuation to the south of what is described for the São Luís cratonic fragment to the north, and the orogenic scenario is identical to what is observed for the same period in the West African Craton (Eburnean/Birrimian orogen), which additionally supports previous geological correlations. In the Neoproterozoic, a few magmatic occurrences are recognized. An extensional event allowed the intrusion of an anorogenic, nepheline syenite at ca. 730 Ma, which was followed by the intrusion of a crustal, calc-alkaline microtonalite, of uncertain tectonic setting, at 624 ​Ma. Both intrusions underwent greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphism between 580 Ma and 529 ​Ma. This metamorphic event is probably related to crustal thickening, which produced crustal melting and intrusion of two-mica granites between 595 Ma and 549 ​Ma. The absence of oceanic and arc-related assemblages, along with geophysical information about the basement of the Phanerozoic cover indicates an intracontinental setting for the Neoproterozoic–Early Cambrian evolution of the Gurupi Belt, with rifting and posterior closure of the basin, without oceanization. Rifting and closure correlate in time with the onset of Rodinia breakup and West Gondwana assembly, respectively, but we interpret the events in the Gurupi Belt as having no direct role in these two global supercontinent-related events, but, instead, as being related to orogenic events occurring in the periphery of the West African and Amazonian cratons at that time.     

Northward cooling of the Kuncha nappe and downward heating of the Lesser Himalayan autochthon distributed to the south of Mt. Annapurna,western central Nepal

We investigated the tectonothermal history of the Lesser Himalayan sediments (LHS), which are tectonically overlain by the Higher Himalayan Crystalline. Fission‐track dating and the track length measurement of detrital zircons obtained from the Kuncha nappe and the Lesser Himalayan autochthonous sediments in western central Nepal revealed northward cooling of the nappe and possible downward heating of the autochthon by the overlying hot nappe. Nine zircon fission‐track (ZFT) ages of the nappe showed northward‐younging linear distribution from 11.6 Ma in the front at Tamghas, 6 Ma in the central at Naudanda, and 1.6 Ma in the northernmost point at Tatopani. Thermochronological invert calculation of the ZFT length elucidated that the Kuncha nappe gradually cooled down (30 °C/Myr) at the front and rapidly cooled down (120 °C/Myr) at the root zone. In contrast, the ZFT age of the Chappani Formation, located just beneath the Kuncha nappe in the central part, demonstrated a totally reset age of 6.8 Ma, whereas the Virkot Formation, structurally far from the nappe, yielded a partially reset age of 457.3 Ma. This suggests that the LHS underwent downward heating, resulting in a thermal print on the upper part of the LHS; however, the thermal effect was not sufficient to anneal ZFT totally in the deeper part. Presently, the nappe cover is eroded and denuded from this area. Detrital zircons from the Chappani Formation in Tansen area to the south of the Bari Gad Fault did not show any evidence of annealing, suggesting that nappe never covered the LHS distributed to the south of the fault.     

Northward younging zircon fission‐track ages from 13 to 2 Ma in the eastern extension of the Kathmandu nappe and underlying Lesser Himalayan sediments distributed to the south of Mt. Everest

This study is concerned with the tectono‐thermal history of the Kathmandu nappe and the underlying Lesser Himalayan sediments (LHS) that are distributed in eastern Nepal. We carried out zircon fission‐track(ZFT) dating and obtained 16 ZFT ages from the eastern extension of the Kathmandu nappe, the Higher Himalayan Crystalline, Kuncha nappe, and the Main Central Thrust (MCT) zone. The ZFT ages of the frontal part of the Kathmandu nappe range from 13.0 ±0.8 Ma to 10.7 ±0.7 Ma and exhibit a northward‐younging tendency. These Middle Miocene ZFT ages indicate that the frontal part of the Kathmandu nappe remained at a temperature above 240 °C until the termination of its southward emplacement at 12–11 Ma. The ZFT ages of the LHS range from 11.1 ±0.9 Ma in the southern part of the Okhaldhunga Window to 2.4 ±0.3 Ma of the augen gneiss in the northern margin and also exhibit a northward‐younging age distribution. The ZFT ages show the northward‐younging linear distribution pattern (?0.16 Ma/km) along the across‐strikesection from the frontal part of the Kathmandu nappe to the root zone, without a significant age gap. This distribution pattern indicates that the Kathmandu nappe, the underlying MCT zone, and the Kuncha nappe cooled from the frontal zone to the root zone as a thermally united geologic body at a temperature below 240 °C. An older ZFT age (456.3 ±24.3 Ma), which was partially reset at the axial part of the Midland anticlinorium in the central part of the Okhaldhunga Window, was explained by downward heating from the “hot” Kathmandu nappe. The above evidence supported a model that southward emplacement of the hot Kathmandu nappe resulted in a thermal imprint on the upper part of the LHS; however, the lower part did not reach 240 °C.     

土耳其-高加索-喜马拉雅一线白垩纪大洋红层对比

通过收集土耳其、高加索和特提斯喜马拉雅地区的白垩纪地层资料,着重对比研究上白垩统大洋红层的分布格局和沉积特征,为进一步进行全球大洋红层对比提供基础数据和资料。对比分析表明:它们具有环特提斯该时代近于同期地层的一般特征,其时代一般为Turonian Campanian期,在特提斯喜马拉雅地区跨度较大,为Albian Campanian期,岩性主体为灰岩,颜色与Fe2O3 的含量密切相关,富含浮游有孔虫及其组合,沉积速率低,沉积环境一般为半深海,沉积深度为500~1 000 m。     

东喜马拉雅构造结气候构造作用下热史演化的40Ar/39Ar年代学记录

以喜马拉雅山系为典型实例,究竟是气候作用还是构造作用引起山体隆升的问题已经成为地球系统科学研究中的重要前沿问题。无论是气候因素还是构造因素引起山体隆升,二者都与一个共同的地表过程——剥蚀作用相关,剥蚀作用对山体中地质体的影响可以用岩石矿物经历的热史演化来描述,所以,在造山作用研究中,山体或山脉的热史演化是揭开地质体经历地质过程、山体隆升研究的重要途径。利用河砂组成矿物来研究流域的地质过程和构造演化已经成为现代地质科学的重要手段。本文采集了雅鲁藏布江下游墨脱县以南约50 km处地东河段内的现代河砂,对其中的角闪石、白云母、黑云母及钾长石等四种矿物进行了高精度单颗粒激光⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar年代学测试,并进行了概率统计。地东河段河砂中富钾矿物⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar年代学统计结果显示,大峡谷流域的热史演化可以确定有多个阶段,分别可以识别出70~69、61~60、43~42、35~34、26~25、25~23、22~20、20~18、17~14、12~11、8~6、5~4及<2Ma等13个热史演化阶段。通过将上述热史信息与印度大陆与欧亚大陆碰撞角度和碰撞速率变化曲线的对比,可以确定70~69、61~60、43~42、35~34、22~20和12~11Ma等6个阶段的年代学信息是两大陆碰撞角度和碰撞速率变化事件在东喜马拉雅构造结热史上的记录;通过与全球深海氧、碳同位素记录曲线的对比,可以认为26~25、25~23、17~14、8~6、5~4和<2Ma等6个阶段的年代学信息是气候变化在东喜马拉雅构造结热史上的记录。东喜马拉雅构造结地质体热史演化是构造与气候相互作用的结果。