Active crustal deformation beyond the SE margin of the Tibetan Plateau: Constraints from the evolution of fluvial systems

An integrated explanation is proposed for the Late Cenozoic crustal deformation in Yunnan, SW China, using sedimentary and geomorphological evidence from the Yangtze and Red River systems. The observed fluvial incision indicates up to ~ 15 km of crustal thickening, associated with ~ 3 km of uplift, apparently triggered at ~ 8 Ma by monsoon-induced erosion drawing mobile lower crust from beneath Tibet to the northwest. The mobile lower-crustal layer beneath Yunnan was initially very thin, but a positive feedback loop developed, whereby each incremental influx of lower-crust widened and heated this layer, facilitating the next increment. At ~ 5 Ma, the shear tractions exerted on the brittle upper-crust by this flowing lower crust became sufficient to reactivate pre-existing lines of weakness, dragging blocks of the brittle layer southward and creating the region′s modern active fault systems. This region thus provides a dramatic example of crustal deformation induced by Late Cenozoic climate change, notwithstanding its location adjoining the India–Eurasia plate boundary.     

Quaternary uplift of northern England

Upland flats, attributable to erosion, have long been recognised in the landscape of the Lake District region of NW England, at altitudes of up to ~ 800 m O.D. Extrapolation using uplift rates derived from dated Pleistocene sites (karstic caves and other features) in the adjacent Pennine uplands suggests that if this succession of flats formed close to sea-level they date from the Middle Pliocene onwards, indicating a subsequent time-averaged uplift rate of almost 0.3 mm a^− 1. Numerical modelling indicates that erosion of surrounding areas at a typical rate of 0.2 mm a^− 1 since 3.1 Ma could have caused this uplift, as well as constraining the local effective viscosity of the lower crust as ~ 4 × 10¹⁸ Pa s and the typical local Moho temperature as ~ 650 °C. It is thus feasible that most of the topography of northern England has developed since the Middle Pliocene, as a consequence of coupling between erosion and the resulting induced flow in the lower continental crust. The much faster vertical crustal motions indicated in this part of northern England, compared with SE England, are thus mainly a consequence of much greater mobility of the lower crust in the north, due to its younger thermal age and the heating effect of radioactive Palaeozoic granites. Uplift of this magnitude, which has previously gone unrecognised, may have affected post-Pliocene global climate.     

Tectonics and Mechanisms of Uplift in the Central Uplift Belt of the Huimin Depression

The Huimin (惠民) depression is a third-level tectonic element of the Bohai (渤海) Bay basin in eastern China. The central uplift belt is the most important oil and gas accumulation zone in the depression, but the lack of adequate geological studies in the area has greatly hindered exploration and development. In this article, using seismic data, fracture mechanics, and a combination of data on fault growth indices and fault throws, we present an analysis of tectonic activity in the central uplift belt and adja...     

青藏高原西北缘祁漫塔格山中新世快速抬升的磷灰石裂变径迹证据

对祁漫塔格山体不同海拔高度所取的9个磷灰石样品的裂变径迹分析结果表明,东昆仑西段中新世早中期为主要的隆升期且隆升速率较高,早期隆升速率为111m／Ma,晚期隆升速率为98m／Ma,总体隆升速率为100m／Ma。样品显示出磷灰石裂变径迹长度大致分2类,一类磷灰石裂变径迹长度为（12．21±10．20）-（13．75±0．30）μm,径迹长度分布图基本上为窄而对称的正态分布,反映具有快的剥露冷却速率,未受到后期热事件的干扰。另一类磷灰石裂变径迹长度为（11．88±0．33）～（13．32±0．27）μm,较前一类具有稍慢的剥露冷却速率,并且受到了后期热事件的干扰。     

高压超高压变质岩抬升—剥露的一种动力学机制分析

综述了高压超高压变质岩带的基本构造特征，认为运用体粘滞性流变学理论可以很好地解释高压超高压变质岩的发育过程及其抬升－剥露动力学机制。     

黄陵隆起中-新生代隆升作用的裂变径迹证据

通过对8个样品磷灰石裂变径迹年龄和3个样品锆石裂变径迹年龄的测定以及时间-温度热演化历史的反演,研究黄陵隆起中新生代的隆升作用过程,结果表明：黄陵隆起自晚三叠世200Ma开始隆升,表现为持续的隆升过程,经历了4个阶段：200Ma～160Ma±的缓慢隆升冷却作用阶段;160Ma～98．4Ma的快速隆升冷却阶段,岩体进入磷灰石部分退火带中;之后进入了一个构造相对稳定的阶段,样品滞留在部分退火带中;随后36．7Ma～28．4Ma以来,再次快速隆升剥蚀冷却。两次快速的隆升作用指示了中扬子地区两次强烈的构造活动和构造变革。作为印支期以来持续的古隆起,黄陵隆起周缘地区是中扬子地区海相油气运聚有利的指向区。     

华北地块中部新构造运动

由于印度板块持续向北运动,引起青藏高原的挤出,并于中新世末引起华北地块的向东挤出。大约在7.3 Ma,太行山西侧渭河盆地唐县面首先解体,继而向北、向东发展;到5 Ma左右,太行山东麓断裂带的右行走滑,导致华北中部唐县面全面解体,形成多个太行山内部山间盆地,以及太行山西侧山西地堑系。这些断陷盆地的断陷幅度各不相同,太行山西侧山西地堑系断陷幅度较大,太行山内部山间盆地断陷幅度较小,太行山东部的渤海湾盆地断陷活动不明显。伴随着盆地的形成,太行山相对进入快速隆升阶段。山西地堑系控盆断裂以及太行山东麓断裂带第四纪以来仍存在明显活动,切割并控制第四系,局部在地表形成地裂缝。华北地块中部的应力场恢复以及深部构造分析表明,深部地幔上涌对浅部伸展构造的形成具有重要的影响,深部构造演变与浅部构造演变具有高度的一致性和耦合性。太行山东部渤海湾盆地自中新世以来就进入拗陷阶段,断裂活动弱,构造演化与西侧差异较大,表明这期构造运动动力源于西侧,太行山东麓断裂带作为两侧差异演变的边界,调节着两侧的差异构造活动。     

A quantitative evaluation of Playfair's law and its use in testing long‐term stream erosion models

Playfair's law (J. Playfair, illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth, 1802) requires any two tributaries in a river network to lower at the same rate near their junction. Although this law holds exactly at the junction, it is unclear how well it holds in the vicinity of the junction. This issue has practical importance because Playfair's law has been used to estimate parameters for detachment‐limited models of erosion. If the incision rate of a stream is modelled as βA^mSⁿ, where β is an erodibility parameter, A is the area drained by the stream, and S is the local gradient of the channel, then the ratio of the parameters m/n can be estimated from junctions by assuming that Playfair's law holds over the distance used to determine S for each tributary. In this paper, Playfair's law and associated m/n estimates are evaluated for simulated basins with constant and temporally varying uplift rates (or baselevel lowering rates). The results demonstrate that estimates of m/n may be biased for basins with upward‐concave stream profiles because the local slope must be approximated with an average upstream slope. In addition, when uplift rate varies temporally, knickpoints are shown to travel through the basins with constant vertical velocity. Because incision rates vary within the basin, Playfair's law only holds exactly at the junctions. These effects are more important when slopes are measured over longer distances. Finally, measurement techniques are presented which address these potential biases. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

安徽绩溪伏岭岩体隆升时代的磷灰石裂变径迹证据

安徽绩溪伏岭岩体位于安徽省南部、黄山花岗岩体的东部。伏岭岩体裂变径迹（AFT）热年代分布于51±5～68±7 Ma之间,围限径迹长度为11.9～12.9μm。岩体形成之后,所在山系经历了速率波动较大的隆升过程,至55 Ma期间为一加速隆升过程,到55 Ma时速度达到最大的73 mm/ka;随后速度减缓,54 Ma左右时的平均抬升速率为60 mm/ka;54～51 Ma间又是一个快速加速隆升时期,到51 Ma时,速度达到70 mm/ka。研究区具有三个主要的冷却剥露阶段：130～116 Ma左右,冷却速率约为1.34℃/Ma;70～60 Ma左右,进入第二个较为快速冷却阶段,冷却速率约为25℃/Ma;在7～8 Ma左右发生突然加剧冷却事件,持续至今,速率达到8℃/km。总体来说,伏岭岩体经历了速率逐渐增加的冷却过程。由于黄山山体与伏岭岩体在大地构造位置、岩性特征及侵入时间上具有很大的相似性,二者的隆升时代、速率以及抬升剥蚀量是大致相当的。     

羌塘盆地中央隆起带的重磁场证据及其构造意义

对于羌塘盆地是否存在横贯东西的中央隆起带,目前学术界仍有分歧.本文提供的最新高精度航空重、磁资料证实存在呈东西向贯通羌塘盆地的中央隆起带,并对该带的构造特征进行了精细刻画.隆起带受南北两侧深大断裂控制,其空间跨度（宽度）由西向东逐渐收敛,并被一组近南北向的隐伏断裂系切割、左滑错动.重、磁场资料还显示中央隆起带在双湖东、西两侧存在明显差异：西段基底大规模隆起,基岩深度一般在3~5 km以内,明显浅于南北羌塘坳陷7~15 km的基底埋深;东段基底隆起幅度明显降低,主要表现为潜伏的低隆起,其中双湖—雅曲段基底埋深5~7 km,雅曲—岗尼段基底埋深7~9 km;即中央隆起带基底自西向东"台阶状"降低,隆起的幅度和分布范围受到近南北向断裂控制.构造分层表明,与南羌塘地块相比,北羌塘地块的基底隆起幅度小、稳定性更好.南北羌塘基底地球物理属性的显著差异说明羌塘盆地并不存在统一的前寒武系变质基底,中央隆起带的形成应该与古特提斯洋关闭时形成的混杂岩带有关.