地幔柱假说及地质意义

文章介绍了地幔柱理论研究的一系列进展，诸如地幔柱特征、动力学模式及其地质意义。在重力分异过程中，随着地球质量不断向地心集中，地球自转动能也不断向地核集中，从而产生圈层分化和差异旋转。地核相对地壳、地幔高速旋转，具有巨大动能，旋转阻力不断将其转化为热能，在核幔边界聚积起来，为液核对流和热幔柱提供足够的能量。核幔边界是产生热幔柱的位置。阐明了地幔柱构造与板块构造的关系。地幔柱理论涉及地幔深部物质垂直运动的机制，对了解地球深部动力学机制有重大意义。     

Late Neogene low-angle thrusting on the northwestern margin of the South Carpathians (Poiana Rusca, West Romania)

Mineral exploration drillholes and geoelectric prospecting provide for the first time evidence for thrusting of the South Carpathian Paleozoic basement over northerly adjacent Middle Miocene sediments. Investigations were carried out in two locations, 30 km apart, along the northern margin of the Poiana Rusca Mountains, Romania, southwestern Carpathians. Drill holes in both locations encountered weakly consolidated Middle Miocene clay, sand, and fine gravel below Paleozoic low-grade metamorphic rocks. Intersections from various drill holes demonstrate the presence of low-angle thrusting. Kinematic indicators are so far lacking, but with a thrust direction oriented roughly normal to strike of the Poiana Rusca Mountains, minimum displacement is 1–1.4 km in northwestern or northern direction, respectively. Thrusting occurred most likely during the Late Miocene–Pliocene, whereafter Quaternary regional uplift dissected the thrust plane. In the tectonic framework of Neogene dextral translation of the Tisza–Dacia Block against the southerly adjacent Moesian Platform, transtension appears responsible for Middle Miocene basin formation along the northern margin of the Poiana Rusca region. Proceeding collision of the Tisza–Dacia Block with the East European Craton introduced stronger impingement of the Tisza–Dacia Block against the Moesian Platform, leading to a Late Miocene–Pliocene transpressional regime, in which the northern Poiana Rusca basement was thrust over its adjacent Middle Miocene sediments.     

Plate kinematics of the Western Mediterranean region during the Oligocene and Early Miocene

The tectonic history of the Western Mediterranean region during the Oligocene and Early Miocene is illustrated through a series of plate reconstructions, from chron C13n to chron C6n. The reconstructions are based on a new interpretation of published magnetic anomaly data and two-ships seismic data, and their integration with known geological constraints, in order to determine style and timing of the backarc extension processes in the Liguro-Provençal, Valencia and Algerian basins. In particular, a reinterpretation of the regional magnetic anomaly field allowed the calculation of the instantaneous Euler poles associated with the motion of 11 microplates relative to Eurasia and Iberia. Furthermore, a quantitative analysis of the acoustic basement morphology and the balancing of deep crustal profiles were used to estimate the closure and pre-rift rotation angles associated with the Euler poles of opening of the Ligurian, Provençal, Valencia and Algerian basins. This rigorous reconstruction of the geometry of the pre-rift continental margins of Iberia and Eurasia could furnish important insights into the study of Mediterranean tectonics for older times.     

金的活动态分析方法及其应用

在金相态分析方法的基础上,对金活动态分析方法进行了如下改进:用5 μm孔径的滤膜取代2 μm孔径的滤膜抽滤;将加入提取剂溶液提取黏土吸附相、有机结合相和铁锰氧化物相改为直接加入固体提取剂;将泡沫塑料吸附-原子吸收法改为甲基异丁基酮(MIBK)萃取-原子吸收法测定金。介绍了改进后的金活动态分析方法及其在东北高寒森林覆盖景观某金矿区的一个应用实例。结果表明,除水提取相异常相对不明显外,其余3个相在矿体上方均有清晰、明显的异常指示。其中有机结合相的异常强度最大,是在该景观条件下寻找隐伏矿的最有利相态。重复样分析的相对误差小于50%,满足金的活动态分析要求。     

青藏高原东缘龙门山 晚新生代走滑-逆冲作用的地貌标志*

文章以青藏高原东缘龙门山活动构造的地貌标志为切入点,在汶川-茂汶断裂、北川断裂、彭灌断裂和大邑断裂等主干活动断裂的关键部位,对断错山脊、洪积扇、河流阶地、边坡脊、断层陡坎、河道错断、冲沟侧缘壁位错、拉分盆地、断层偏转、砾石定向带、坡中槽、弃沟和断塞塘等活动构造地貌和断裂带开展了详细的野外地质填图和地貌测量,利用精确的地貌测量数据和测年数据,定量计算了龙门山主干断裂的逆冲速率和走滑速率,结果表明在晚新生代时期龙门山构造带仅具有微弱的构造缩短作用,其中逆冲速率的速度值小于1.1mm/a,走滑速率的速度值小于1.46mm/a,表明走滑分量与逆冲分量的比率介于6 ∶ 1~1.3 ∶ 1之间,以右行走滑作用为主。在此基础上,对各主干活动断裂的逆冲速率和走滑速率进行了定量的对比研究,结果表明自北西向南东4条主干断裂的最大逆冲分量滑动速率具有变小的趋势,而走滑分量的滑动速率则具有逐渐变大的趋势,显示了从龙门山的后山带至前山带主干断裂的走滑作用越来越强。由此推测现今的龙门山及其前缘盆地不完全是由于构造缩短作用形成的,而主要是走滑作用和剥蚀卸载作用的产物。另外,根据沉积、构造、盆地充填体的几何形态、地貌、古地磁等标定和对比了龙门山在中生代和新生代的走滑方向,表明龙门山构造带在中生代与新生代之交走滑方向发生了反转,即由中生代时期的左行变为新生代时期的右行。     

Analytical Solutions for Pore-Fluid Flow Focusing Within Inclined Elliptic Inclusions in Pore-Fluid-Saturated Porous Rocks: Solutions Derived in an Elliptical Coordinate System

Exact analytical solutions have been derived rigorously for the pore-fluid velocity, pore-fluid-flow focusing factor, stream function and excess pore-fluid pressure around and within a buried inclined elliptic inclusion in pore-fluid-saturated porous rocks. The geometric characteristics of the buried inclined elliptic inclusion are represented by the aspect ratio and dip angle of the inclusion, while the hydrodynamic characteristic is represented by the permeability ratio of the elliptic inclusion to its surrounding rock. Since an elliptic inclusion of any aspect ratio can be used to approximately represent geological faults and cracks, the present analytical solutions can be used to investigate the pore-fluid-flow patterns around buried faults and cracks within the crust of the Earth. Therefore, the present analytical solution not only provides a better understanding of the physics behind the pore-fluid-flow focusing problem around and within buried faults and cracks, but also provides a valuable benchmark solution for validating any numerical method in dealing with this kind of pore-fluid-flow focusing problem. The pore-fluid-flow focusing factor of a buried elliptic inclusion is demonstrated to be dependent on the aspect ratio, the permeability ratio and the dip angle.     

Thrusting and faulting in metamorphic and sedimentary units of Ligurian Alps: an example of integrated field work and geochemical analyses

In a sector placed in the SE part of the Alps–Apennine junction, a kilometre-scale shear zone has been identified as the Grognardo thrust zone (GTZ), which caused the NE-directed thrusting of metaophiolites (Voltri Group) and polymetamorphic continental crust slices (Valosio Unit) of Ligurian Alps onto Oligocene sediments of an episutural basin known as “Tertiary Piemonte Basin”. The structural setting of the GTZ is due to syn- to late-metamorphic deformation, followed by a brittle thrusting that occurred in the Late Aquitanian times and can thus be related to one of the main contractional tectonic events suffered by northern Apennines. The GTZ was then sealed by Lower Burdigalian carbonate platform sediments (Visone Formation). Transtensive faulting followed in post-Burdigalian times along NW–SE regional faults and displaced the previously coupled sedimentary and metamorphic units. The GTZ thus underwent a plastic-to-brittle evolution, during which carbonate-rich fluids largely sustained the deformation. In these stages, a complex vein network originated within both the metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Field data and stable isotopic analyses (¹³C and ¹⁸O) of bulk rocks and veins show that fluid–rock interaction caused the carbonatisation of the rocks in the late-metamorphic stages and the cataclasis and recementation, by the action of isochemical cold carbonate groundwater during the thrusting events. Carbonate veins largely developed also during the transtensive faulting stages, with composition clearly different from that of the veins associated to thrust faults, as indicated by the strong depletion in ¹³C of carbonate fillings, suggesting the presence of exotic fluids, characterised by a high content of organic matter.     

The recent fault scarps of the Western Alps (France): Tectonic surface ruptures or gravitational sackung scarps? A combined mapping, geomorphic, levelling, and Be dating approach

In the Western Alps, some recent scarps were previously interpreted as surface ruptures of tectonic reverse and normal faults that agree with microseismicity and GPS measurements. Our analysis shows that in fact there are hundreds of recent scarps, up to 30 m high and 2.1 km long, with only pure normal motions. They share the same characteristics as typical sackung scarps. The scarps are mainly uphill facing, parallel to the ridge crests and the contour lines. They are relatively short (less than 2.1 km) with respect to tectonic fault ruptures, and organized in swarms. They cut screes and relict rock glaciers with a slow (commonly 1 mm/year) average slip rate. In the Aiguilles Grives massif these sackung scarps clearly express the gravitational toppling of sub-vertical bedding planes in hard rocks. In contrast, the Belledonne Outer Crystalline Massif exhibits scarps that stem from the gravitational reactivation of conjugate tectonic faults. The recent faults extend to about 1600 m beneath the Rognier ridge crest, but are always above the valley floor. The main scarp swarm is 9.2 km long and constitutes the largest sackung ever described in the Western Alps. ¹⁰Be dating of a scarp and offset surfaces shows that > 4 m slip may have occurred rapidly (in less than 3800 years) sometimes between the end of the glaciation and 8800 ± 1900 years ago. This dating, together with the location of some faults far from the deep glacial valleys, suggests that sagging might have been triggered by strong earthquakes during a post-glacial period of probably enhanced seismicity. The Belledonne and Synclinal Median faults (just beneath the Rognier sackung) could have been the sources of this seismicity.     

Modes of thickening of analogue weak lithospheres

Several compressional contexts, such as those involving juvenile or thickened crust, are expected to be associated with rather hot lithospheres whose mechanical behaviour remains poorly documented. In this paper, we present a series of analogue models dedicated to compression of lithospheres characterized by a thin upper brittle crust overlying a weak ductile crust and a ductile sub-Moho mantle. The models show that (1) deformation is controlled by the ductile layers that undergo distributed thickening, (2) thrust systems are limited to the upper brittle crust, (3) thrusting induces burial and stacking of upper crust pop-downs. The overall deformation patterns can be basically interpreted in terms of pop-down thrusting of the brittle crust and pure-shear type ductile flow of crust and mantle. Moreover, the models show that the sinking of supracrustal units does not require inverse density profiles but can be simply driven by compression. Model deformation patterns are consistent with those shared by many ancient belts, including not only Archaean granite–greenstone belts, but also more generally Paleoproterozoic ones. They provide also insights on deformation modes that may characterize modern thickened and abnormally hot domains like High Plateaus.     

Active transfer fault zone linking a segmented extensional system (Betics, southern Spain): Insight into heterogeneous extension driven by edge delamination

Pliocene and Quaternary tectonic structures mainly consisting of segmented northwest–southeast normal faults, and associated seismicity in the central Betics do not agree with the transpressive tectonic nature of the Africa–Eurasia plate boundary in the Ibero-Maghrebian region. Active extensional deformation here is heterogeneous, individual segmented normal faults being linked by relay ramps and transfer faults, including oblique-slip and both dextral and sinistral strike-slip faults. Normal faults extend the hanging wall of an extensional detachment that is the active segment of a complex system of successive WSW-directed extensional detachments which have thinned the Betic upper crust since middle Miocene. Two areas, which are connected by an active 40-km long dextral strike-slip transfer fault zone, concentrate present-day extension. Both the seismicity distribution and focal mechanisms agree with the position and regime of the observed faults. The activity of the transfer zone during middle Miocene to present implies a mode of extension which must have remained substantially the same over the entire period. Thus, the mechanisms driving extension should still be operating. Both the westward migration of the extensional loci and the high asymmetry of the extensional systems can be related to edge delamination below the south Iberian margin coupled with roll-back under the Alborán Sea; involving the asymmetric westward inflow of asthenospheric material under the margins.