Numerical prediction of ground vibrations induced by high-speed trains including wheel–rail–soil coupled effects

A simplified analytical model including the coupled effects of the wheel–rail–soil system and geometric irregularities of the track is proposed for evaluation of the moving train load. The wheel–rail–soil system is simulated as a series of moving point loads on an Euler–Bernoulli beam resting on a visco-elastic half-space, and the wave-number transform is adopted to derive the 2.5D finite element formulation. The numerical model is validated by published data in the literature. Numerical predictions of ground vibrations by using the proposed method are conducted at a site on the Qin-Shen Line in China.     

A new metallogenic model of the Panzhihua giant V–Ti–iron oxide deposit (Emeishan Large Igneous Province) based on high-Mg olivine-bearing wehrlite and new field evidence

The Panzhihua layered intrusion hosts a giant V–Ti–iron oxide deposit with ore reserves estimated at 1333 Mt. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) U–Pb zircon dating of comagmatic anorthosite yields a crystallization age of 259.77 ± 0.79 million years, coeval with the Emeishan flood basalts. Recently, we identified a small wehrlite dike in microgabbroic rocks and marbles. The wehrlite consists of high-Mg olivine phenocrysts with up to 90.44 wt.% Fo. Incompatible element-normalized patterns between bulk wehrlite and clinopyroxenes in gabbro suggest that they are cogenetic. The Panzhihua parental magma is estimated to have been picritic (～10 wt.% FeO and ～16 wt.% MgO), produced by partial fusion of garnet peridotite. Much of the melting occurred in garnet-facies mantle at an initial melting temperature of about 1530°C and pressure of ～3.4 GPa, suggesting involvement of a mantle plume. The degree of partial melting was rather modest and could have been generated by plume–lithosphere interaction or ascending plume-derived melting contaminated by lithospheric mantle. Field relationships show sharp contacts between the massive ores and gabbro, between wehrlite and fine-grained gabbro, and between disseminated ores and gabbro. Considering the entire intrusion, which is locally cut by dikes or veins of anorthosite, together with the occurrence of a breccia made up of gabbro clasts cemented by disseminated ores, we suggest that different types of magmas were generated by liquid differentiation in a deeper-level chamber. This differentiation could have resulted from double-diffusive convection cells, with melt later intruding into a higher-level chamber, rather than by crystal settling or in situ growth on the floor of the intrusion. However, rhythmic layering produced by in situ crystallization only occurs in the middle of the Panzhihua intrusion and was caused by periodic fluctuation in water pressure.     

Sm–Nd geochronology and geochemistry of a Neoproterozoic gabbro in the Kuluketage block,north-western China

In this article, we report whole-rock and mineral Sm–Nd isotopic and whole-rock elemental and Sr–Nd isotopic data of Xingdi No. 1 mafic–ultramafic intrusion in the western Kuluketage block, north-eastern Tarim. Xingdi No. 1 mafic–ultramafic intrusion is the largest in the Xingdi mafic–ultramafic belt, with an exposed area of ca. 20 km². It intruded into the Palaeoproterozoic basement. Gabbro is the major rock type and there is minor olivine pyroxenite. Sm–Nd geochronometry of the gabbro gives an isochron age of 761.2 ± 31.2 million years, identical to the intrusive age of Xingdi No. 2 pluton (760 ± 6 million years). The gabbro is systematically enriched in large ion lithosphile elements and light rare earth elements and depleted in high field strength elements and heavy rare earth elements. The studied rocks are characterized by low whole-rock and mineral ?Nd_(t) values (?7.8 to??7.1) and elevated (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) _i values (0.7066–0.7073). These geochemical characteristics, together with the presence of abundant hornblende, biotite, bladed biotite enclosed in amphibole, and crescent-shaped Palaeoproterozoic wall-rock xenoliths in the intrusion, are key features of magma mixing in the source or assimilation during its emplacement. The rocks have a Zr/Y ratio of 3.81–13, which falls in the within-plate basalt area. As Xingdi No. 1 and No. 2 plutons formed at the same period and display similar geochemical characteristics, we propose that they formed within the same tectonic setting and were derived from the same source, but No. 1 pluton experienced a higher extent of evolution and contamination. Previous studies have shown that the Neoproterozoic tectonic and magmatic events in Kuluketage comprise syn-collisional granite around TC (ca. 1.0–0.9 Ga), post-collisional K-rich granite and alkaline mafic–ultramafic intrusions (ca. 830–800 Ma), and rifting-related mafic–ultramafic plutons, dikes, and bimodal volcanic rocks (ca. 774–744 Ma).     

Geochemistry of 1.78 Ga A-type granites along the southern margin of the North China Craton: implications for Xiong'er magmatism during the break-up of the supercontinent Columbia

The Palaeoproterozoic Luoling granites occur along the southern margin of the North China Craton. They are rich in silica and total alkalis with SiO₂ contents ranging from 65.18 to 72.72 wt.%, K₂O from 4.68 to 6.62 wt.%, and Na₂O from 1.35 to 4.88 wt.%. They have high Fe*[FeO_t/(FeO_t + MgO)] ranging from 0.84 to 0.95 wt.% and low MnO (0.03–0.09 wt.%), MgO (0.27–1.55 wt.%), CaO (0.36–2.04 wt.%), TiO₂ (0.4–1.12 wt.%), and P₂O₅ (0.04–0.36 wt.%). Geochemically, they show typical characteristics of A-type granites, such as high contents of alkalis (i.e. high K₂O + Na₂O, with K₂O/Na₂O > 1), Rb, Y, Nb, and REEs (except for Eu); high FeO_t/MgO and Ga/Al ratios; and low CaO, Al₂O₃, and Sr contents. New secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) zircon U–Pb ages reveal that the Luoling granites were emplaced at 1786 ± 7 Ma and thus were approximately coeval with Xiong'er volcanic rocks in the area. Their negative bulk-rock initial Nd and zircon initial Hf isotopic ratios suggest that they have affinities to EM-I-type mantle and both are the products of Xiong'er magmatism during the Palaeoproterozoic. We regard them as produced under a continental rift setting during the Palaeoproterozoic, genetically related to the break-up of the Columbia supercontinent.     

Late Cretaceous subduction initiation and Palaeocene–Eocene slab breakoff magmatism in South-Central Anatolia,Turkey

The Late Cretaceous Alihoca ophiolite in the Inner Tauride suture zone (ITSZ) of South-Central Turkey represents part of a single ophiolitic thrust sheet that originated from the Inner Tauride ocean. The ophiolite contains upper mantle peridotites, cumulate wehrlites, layered-to-isotropic gabbros, and microgabbroic-to-doleritic dikes. An ophiolitic mélange beneath the Alihoca ophiolite includes blocks of limestone, peridotite, dolerite, basalt, and deep-sea sedimentary rocks (radiolarite, chert) in a matrix comprising sheared serpentinite and mudstone. Isotropic gabbro and dolerite dike rocks show enrichment in Sr, K, Rb, Ba, and Th (LILE) and depletion of Ta, Nb, Zr, Ti, and Y (HFSE), indicating an island arc tholeiite (IAT) affinity. Relatively younger dolerite rocks display low TiO₂ (<0.5 wt.%) contents, concave REE profiles with low HREE concentrations, and high LREE values, typical of boninitic affinities. The Alihoca ophiolite, hence, displays an IAT to boninitic geochemical progression in its magmatic evolution, reminiscent of many other Tethyan ophiolites in the region. It represents the remnant of a forearc oceanic crust, which developed during the early stages of subduction within the Inner Tauride ocean. Volcanic, volcano-sedimentary, and sedimentary rocks of the Uluk??la–Çamard? basin north of the ITSZ disconformably overlie the mafic-ultramafic rocks of the Alihoca ophiolite. Pillowed and massive lavas of the latest Cretaceous–Palaeocene Uluk??la Formation have alkaline basalt-to-basaltic andesite compositions, displaying relatively enriched LILE and LREE patterns with negative Nb and Ta anomalies. These geochemical features suggest that magmas of the Uluk??la–Çamard? volcanic rocks formed from partial melting of a metasomatized lithospheric mantle. This melting event was triggered by the influx of asthenospheric heat through a slab breakoff-induced window in the downgoing Tethyan oceanic lithosphere.     

Porphyry copper deposits: strike–slip faulting and throttling cupolas

Porphyry copper deposits sometimes form during the solidification of stocks of relatively oxidized magma of intermediate composition. Most workers have assumed ore-forming systems have special chemical attributes, but none has been found that is useful to guide exploration efforts. Stocks can form where strike–slip movements generate pull-apart pathways into which intrusions can rise from batholithic magma chambers. Upwelling of buoyant, bubble-bearing magma along the sides of a stock brings magmatic fluid to shallow depths where large bubbles can separate and pool under the cupola separating solidified igneous rock from mobile magma. Where rapid seismogenic movement on the bounding strike–slip fault ruptures the solidified, but hot and ductile carapace, downward propagating extension fractures can drain an accumulation of magmatic fluid. Decompression and cooling of fluid that jets upward into extension fractures causes mineral precipitation. Where strike–slip movements cause pull-aparts to dilate with sufficient recurrences – from decades to perhaps a century or so, throttling of the fluid accumulation acts as a safety valve that prevents explosive detonation of the system. Concurrently, the upward infiltration of magmatic fluid from the cupola is strongly focused into the pull-apart and generates the characteristic concentric alteration zones that guide exploration drilling. We conclude that porphyry copper ore deposits form where strike–slip movements are concurrent with the early stages of deep-seated bubbling (?6 km) along the walls of a rapidly cooling stock of magma. Supergiant deposits form where the bubbling front extends into the top of a parent batholith.     

Petrogenesis and evolution of late Mesozoic granitic magmatism in the Hohhot metamorphic core complex,Daqing Shan,North China

Late Mesozoic granitoid plutons of four distinct ages intrude the lower plate of the Hohhot metamorphic core complex along the northern margin of the North China craton. The plutons belong to two main groups: (1) Group I, deformed granitoids (148 and 140 Ma subgroups) with high Sr, LREE, and Na₂O, low Y and Yb contents, high Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios, weak or no Eu anomalies, low Rb/Ba ratios, similar initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values (0.7064–0.7071) and low Mg^# (<37 mostly, 100?×?molar MgO/MgO + FeO _t ); (2) Group II, non-deformed granitoids (132 and 114 Ma subgroups) with low Sr, relatively low Na₂O, high Y and Yb contents, pronounced negative Eu anomalies, high Rb/Ba ratios, and initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values (0.7098–0.7161). The two groups share geochemical similarities in ?_Nd(t) (–11.3 to –15.4) and T _DM2 ages (1.85–2.18 thousand million years) as well as Hf isotopic ratios in zircons. Geochemical modelling (using the MELTS code) suggests that similar sources but different depths of magma generation produced the early, high-pressure low-Mg adakitic granitoids and late, low-pressure granitoids with A-type characteristics. The early granitoids likely represent a partially melted, deep-seated, thickened lower continental crust that involved a minor contribution from young materials, whereas the later group partially melted at shallower depths. This granitic magmatic evolution coincided with the tectonic transition from crustal contraction to extension.     

Links between Mesozoic intermediate–felsic igneous rocks and lower crustal granulite xenoliths,North China Craton: O and Pb isotopic evidence

We present and compare whole-rock and zircon O and Pb isotopic compositions for the Hannuoba granulite xenoliths and Mesozoic intermediate-to-felsic igneous rocks from the Zhangjiakou region, northern margin of the North China Craton, northeast China. The xenoliths have an overall Pb isotopic range similar to rocks from the regionally exposed Neoarchaean granulite terrain. Mesozoic zircons from different types of granulite xenoliths have a narrow range of δ¹⁸O values (6.0–7.7‰) higher than normal mantle δ¹⁸O values (～5.7‰). Mesozoic intermediate–felsic igneous rocks have O and Pb isotopic compositions indistinguishable from the Hannuoba intermediate–mafic granulite xenoliths. Our new data suggest that the Mesozoic igneous rocks and granulite xenoliths are genetically linked and that both were derived from the late Neoarchaean lower crust. This argues against previous proposals that the granulite xenoliths are either products of Mesozoic basaltic underplating or formed by mixing between mantle-derived and pre-existing crustal magmas.     

Microthermometric and O‐ and H‐isotope characteristics of the mineralizing fluid in the Akgüney copper–lead–zinc deposit,NE Turkey

We use updated rotations within the Pacific-Antarctica-Africa-North America plate circuit to calculate Pacific-North America plate reconstructions for times since chron 13 (33 Ma). The direction of motion of the Pacific plate relative to stable North America was fairly steady between chrons 13 and 4, and then changed and moved in a more northerly direction from chron 4 to the present (8 Ma to the present). No Pliocene changes in Pacific-North America plate motion are resolvable in these data, suggesting that Pliocene changes in deformation style along the boundary were not driven by changes in plate motion. However, the chron 4 change in Pacific-North America plate motion appears to correlate very closely to a change in direction of extension documented between the Sierra Nevada and the Colorado Plateau. Our best solution for the displacement with respect to stable North America of a point on the Pacific plate that is now near the Mendocino triple junction is that from 30 to 12 Ma the point was displaced along an azimuth of ～N60°W at rate of ～33 mm/yr; from 12 Ma to about 8 Ma the azimuth of displacement was about the same as previously, but the rate was faster (～52 mm/yr); and since 8 Ma the point was displaced along an azimuth of N37°W at a rate of ～52 mm/yr.

We compare plate-circuit reconstructions of the edge of the Pacific plate to continental deformation reconstructions of North American tectonic elements across the Basin and Range province and elsewhere in order to evaluate the relationship of this deformation to the plate motions. The oceanic displacements correspond remarkably well to the continental reconstructions where deformations of the latter have been quantified along a path across the Colorado Plateau and central California. They also supply strong constraints for the deformation budgets of regions to the north and south, in Cascadia and northern Mexico, respectively.

We examine slab-window formation and evolution in a detailed re-analysis of the spreading geometry of the post-Farallon microplates, from 28 to 19 Ma. Development of the slab window seems linked to early Miocene volcanism and deformation in the Mojave Desert, although detailed correlations await clarification of early Miocene reconstructions of the Tehachapi Mountains. We then trace the post-20 Ma motion of the Mendocino slab window edge beneath the Sierran-Great Valley block and find that it drifted steadily north, then stalled just north of Sutter Buttes at ～4 Ma.     

Water as a Petrologic Catalyst Driving 18O/16O Homogenization and Anatexis of the Middle Crust in the Metamorphic Core Complexes of British Columbia

In the Thor-Odin and Valhalla metamorphic core complexes, we have documented a remarkable uniformity of mineral δ¹⁸O values in the middle continental crust beneath the detachment faults. For example, in the Thor-Odin Complex, throughout an 8 km thick section of metasedimentary rocks and early Tertiary leucogranites in the hanging wall of the Monashee decollement (MD), quartz δ¹⁸O = 12.3 ± 0.5% (lσ S.D.) for metapelite (N = 11), 12.0 ± 0.1% for quartzite (N = 2), 12.6 ± 0.6% (N = 4) for < 1 m thick amphibolite layers, and 12.1 ± 0.4% (N = 24) for the concordant leucogranites. No exceptions have been found to this remarkable ¹⁸O/¹⁶O homogeneity except locally in a couple of thick amphibolites and within a ductile, relatively impermeable, marble-rich section. Similar zones of ¹⁸O/¹⁶O homogeneity associated with leucogranite genesis are observed throughout the mid-crustal section of the Valhalla Complex and just beneath the MD in the Monashee Complex, the only difference being that those rocks are overall 0.5 to 1.5% lower in δ¹⁸O than in the middle crust at Thor-Odin. These zones of pervasive homogenization in ¹⁸O/^l6O must be a result of exchange with magmatic or metamorphic H₂O, and these same volatiles appear to have been responsible for the leucogranite anatexis. A wide range in quartz δ¹⁸O from +8 to +16 within and below the MD suggests that this major thrust fault was impermeable to aqueous fluid flow during the partial melting stage; at that time, the basement appears to have been isolated from the mid-crustal metamorphichydrothermal system.

LITHOPROBE crustal seismic profiles establish the MD as a W-dipping, crustal-scale ramp with 20 km of vertical relief, and Carr (1992) proposed an anatectic origin for the leucogranites during decompression melting associated with tectonic shortening as the mid-crustal section moved up this thrust ramp. Partial melting of metapelites and feldspathic grits from the Late Precambrian Windermere Supergroup began in response to influx of metamorphic H₂O, aided by internal muscovite dehydration at ?8 kbar and ?750°C at the base of the Monashee ramp. Metapelites are volatile rich, but feldspar poor, whereas the opposite is true for the grit lithologies. Thus, at the base of the Monashee ramp large-scale (?30°) partial melting of the metapelites produced magmas near H₂O saturation (10 tol4 wt°), whereas the intercalated arkosic grit-derived magmas were undersaturated (5 to 6 wt°). As these H₂O-rich, pelite-derived leucogranite melts moved upward to shallower depths, they cooled adiabatically and underwent decompressive exsolution of H₂O. The released H₂O was then able to exchange oxygen with lithologies infertile to melting as it concurrently migrated through the section toward the feldspathic grit layers, where it could act as a catalyst and be re-used, promoting further hydrothermal melting of the arkosic grits. Continued decompression melting and exsolution occurred simultaneously in different parts of the section during uplift, tectonic shortening, and buoyant uprise of the magma bodies, until final crystallization of all of the leucogranites took place much higher in the crust, where almost all of the H₂O was released and again re-used for a final episode of ¹⁸O/^l6O exchange with the unmelted metamorphic lithologies. In addition to the direct ^l8O/¹⁶O exchange that takes place between the metamorphic rocks and the migrating leucogranite magmas, this use and re-use of the same H₂O during repeated episodes of partial melting and exsolution in different parts of the section seems adequate to explain the pervasive oxygen isotopic homogenization of these metasedimentary rocks. It is estimated that 25 to 30° partial melting of a typical section of the Windermere Supergroup occurred as a result of these cumulative processes, and this probably played a pivotal role in determining the susceptibility of this orogen to subsequent extensional collapse along the detachment faults.