Tectonic framework of the Precambrian of Madagascar and its Gondwana connections: a review and reappraisal

The Precambrian of Madagascar is divided into two sectors by the north-west trending sinistral Ranotsara shear zone, which continues in the Mozambique belt, probably as the Surma shear zone, and in Southern India as the Achankovil shear zone. South of Ranotsara six north-south trending tectonic belts are recognized that consist largely of granulite and high amphibolite facies paragneisses, phlogopite diopsidites, concordant granites and granulites. North of Ranotsara the central-northern segment is traversed by a north-trending axial 100–150 km wide dextral shear zone of probable Pan-African age, which was metamorphosed under granulite and high amphibolite facies conditions and which has reworked older basement. This shear zone continues across southern India as the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone. Major stratiform basic -ultrabasic complexes occur in the axial zone and in the basement to the west. Well preserved low grade continental margin-type sediments (quartzites, mica schists and stromatolitic marbles) of Kibaran age are present in western Madagascar. Two partly greenschist grade sedimentary groups lie unconformably on high grade basement in north-east Madagascar. Isotopic age data suggest the presence in Madagascar of Archaean, Early and Mid-Proterozoic crustal material that was extensively reworked in Pan-African times.     

Nonequilibrium thermodynamics of pressure solution

This paper is concerned with the thermodynamic theory of solution and precipitation processes in wet crustal rocks and with the mechanism of steady pressure-solution slip in contact zones, such as grain-to-grain contacts, fracture surfaces, and permeable gouge layers, that are infiltrated by a mobile aqueous solution phase. A local dissipation jump condition at the phase boundary is fundamental to identifying the thermodynamic force driving the solution and precipitation process and is used here in setting up linear phenomenological relations to model near-equilibrium phase transformation kinetics. The local thermodynamic equilibrium of a stressed pure solid in contact with its melt or solution phase is governed by Gibbs's relation, which is rederived here, in a manner emphasizing its independence of constitutive assumptions for the solid while neglecting surface tension and diffusion in the solid. Fluid-infiltrated contact zones, such as those formed by rough surfaces, cannot generally be in thermodynamic equilibrium, especially during an ongoing process of pressure-solution slip, and the existing equilibrium formulations are incorrect in overlooking dissipative processes tending to eliminate fluctuations in superficial free energies due to stress concentrations near asperities, defects, or impurities. Steady pressure-solution slip is likely to exhibit a nonlinear dependence of slip rate on shear stress and effective normal stress, due to a dependence of the contact-zone state on the latter. Given that this dependence is negligible within some range, linear relations for pressure-solution slip can be derived for the limiting cases of diffusion-controlled and interface-reaction-controlled rates. A criterion for rate control by one of these mechanisms is set by the magnitude of the dimensionless quantityk/2C _pD, wherek is the interfacial transfer coefficient, is the mean diffusion path length,C _p is the solubility at pressurep, andD is the mass diffusivity.     

Hypocenter distribution and focal mechanism of AE events during two stress stage creep in Yugawara andesite

More than a thousand acoustic-emission (AE) hypocenters were determined in a cylindrical andesite specimen under two-stage uniaxial creep at stresses of 204 and 214 MPa. Strains were monitored for 6 peripheral points at the middle part of the cylindrical specimen's wall. The strain data indicate gradual increase of nonuniform deformation during steady creep and strong intensification of the nonuniformity during acceleration creep and, therefore, biased stress distribution within the specimen. The correlation between dilatant strain and AE hypocenters was investigated for whether or not tensile cracks emit AE. The region with high AE activity shows only a small dilatant strain. This negative correlation between AE and the dilatant region may eliminate tensile cracks as possible AE sources. A composite focal-mechanism solution of local AE events, covering a wide solid angle of the focal hemisphere, indicates that shear fractures emit AE waves. The direction of the compressional axis in this solution shows a significant deviation from that inferred from the applied external force, suggesting that the local stress field is governed by preexisting weak zones that are, presumably, produced by tensile cracks within the specimen. AE hypocenters tended to form clusters during steady creep under the constant compressional stress. During acceleration creep caused by a small step increase of the external stress, the preceding clusters disappeared while a new cluster appeared in an incipient fault plane. This suggests that changes in seismicity pattern such as migrations or quiescences of swarm—important clues for earthquake predictions—may be caused by an instantaneous change in the tectonic-stress levels.     

Anomalous hydrogen emissions from the San Andreas fault observed at the Cienega Winery,central California

We began continuous monitoring of H₂ concentration in soil along the San Andreas and Calaveras faults in central California in December 1980, using small H₂/O₂ fuel-cell sensors. Ten monitoring stations deployed to date have shown that anomalous H₂ emissions take place occasionally in addition to diurnal changes. Among the ten sites, the Cienega Winery site has produced data that are characterized by very small diurnal changes, a stable baseline, and remarkably distinct spike-like H₂ anomalies since its installation in July 1982. A major peak appeared on 1–10 November 1982, and another on 3 April 1983, and a medium peak on 1 November 1983. The occurrences of these peaks coincided with periods of very low seismicity within a radius of 50 km from the site. In order to methodically assess how these peaks are related to earthquakes, three H₂ degassing models were examined. A plausible correlational pattern was obtained by using a model that (1) adopts a hemicircular spreading pattern of H₂ along an incipient fracture plane from the hypocenter of an earthquake, (2) relies on the FeO–H₂O reaction for H₂ generation, and (3) relates the accumulated amount of H₂ to the mass of serpentinization of underlying ophiolitic rocks; the mass was tentatively assumed to be proportional to the seismic energy of the earthquake.     

Effects of temperature and sliding rate on frictional strength of granite

Layers of artificial granite gouge have been deformed on saw-cut granite surfaces inclined 30° to the sample axes. Samples were deformed at a constant confining pressure of 250 MPa and temperatures of 22 to 845°C. The velocity dependence of the steady-state coefficient of friction (^ss) was determined by comparing sliding strengths at different sliding rates. The results of these measurements are consistent with those reported bySolberg andByerlee (1984) at room temperature andStesky (1975) between 300 and 400°C. Stesky found that the slip-rate dependence of (^ss) increased above 400°C. In the present study, however, the velocity dependence of (^ss) was nearly independent of temperature.     

近年来我国冰流动研究进展

本简要介绍我国学１９８７年以来在国内外冰流动理论和试验研究中取得的进展，包括晶粒长大规律、异向性冰的第三蠕变、压剪联合作用下冰的流动以及全新世冰和冰期冰流动性质的差别等，并加以评论。     

伊通地堑上地幔剪切带

通过研究糜棱岩型幔源包体的变形显微构造、位错亚构造及组构特征，确定它是上地幔剪切带的代表物质。该带形成温度为７２９～８２８℃、压力为１．１０～１．３８ＧＰａ、差异应力为９７～１５０ＭＰａ、应变速率为ＩＯ￣（－１４）～１Ｏ￣（－１２）ｓ￣（－１）、等效粘滞度为１０～１０００ＥＰａ·ｓ和深度为３７～４５ｋｍ。这是一种与地幔底辟作用有关的规模较小的缓倾斜剪切带，也是应变集中带，能导致上地幔地震波速各向异性，并与地震活动有关     

则木河断裂的现今活动方式及其地形变鉴别标志探讨

根据地壳形变测量资料，探讨了则木河断裂的现今活动方式及其定性的地形变鉴别标志问题。结果表明：则木河断裂的现今活动具有明显的分段性特征，即以大箐为界分为南北两段，北段以粘滑活动为主，南段以蠕滑活动为主；沿则木河断裂带垂直位移速率空间分布特征的显著差异，可以作为鉴别断裂现今活动方式的标志之一，其位移速率的相对大小，可作为鉴别断裂现今活动方式的一种参考标志     

大灰厂跨断层形变资料的地震信息识别

利用具有明显物理意义的断层蠕动模型在充分考虑可能存在的干扰因素影响的基础上，对大灰石台跨断层地形变资料在１９８９年大同地震前后出现的较大幅度变化进行了异常属性分析。结果表明，这个时期的异常变化尽管叠加有一定的降雨影响，但蠕动模型计算得出的地表变化理论值与实际变化有一定程度的符合，显示出在区域应力场作用下，八宝山断层局部地段在大同地震前后可能存在着与区域应力场应力增强及应力调理有关的构造活动。     

Direct Measurement Of Shear Stress During Snow Saltation

Wind-tunnel experiments were carried out to measure the shear stressduring snow saltation. Shear stress acting on the snow surface, measured directly with a newly developed drag meter system, revealedthat the shear stress increased with the development ofsaltation. This result supports Owen's hypothesis that the saltationlayer acts as an increased roughness to the flow above the saltationlayer, leading to an increase in surface shear stress. To investigate the contribution of the grain borne shear stress_g and the fluid shear stress _f to the increment of the total shear stress _total, _g was calculated from the loss of horizontal momentum of saltating snowparticles. Since _g is the largest contribution to theincrement of _total, the collision of thesaltating particles is dominant for the shear stressmodification. The results qualitatively support the numericalsimulation reported by McEwan and Willetts.