Migrating sand waves

A simple mathematical model is described, which reproduces the major features of sand waves' appearance and growth and in particular predicts their migration speed. The model is based on the linear stability analysis of the flat configuration of the sea bottom subject to tidal currents. Attention is focused on the prediction of the complex growth rate that bottom perturbations undergo because of both oscillatory fluid motions and residual currents. While the real part _r of controls the amplification or decay of the amplitude of the bedforms, the imaginary part _i is related to their migration speed. Previous works on the migration of the sand waves (Németh etal. 2002) consider a forcing tide made up by the M2 constituent (oscillatory period equal to 12 h) plus the residual current Z0 and predict always a downcurrent migration of the bedforms. However, field cases exist of upcurrent-migrating sand waves (downcurrent/upcurrent-migrating sand waves mean bedforms moving in the direction of the steady residual tidal current or in the opposite direction, respectively). The inclusion of a tide constituent characterized by a period of 6 h (M4) is the main novelty of the present work, which allows for the prediction of the migration of sand waves against the residual current Z0. Indeed, the M4 tide constituent, as does also the residual current Z0, breaks the symmetry of the problem forced only by the M2 tide constituent, and induces sand-wave migration. The model proposed by Besio etal. (2003a) forms the basis for the present analysis. Previous works on the subject (Gerkema 2000; Hulscher 1996a,b; Komarova and Hulscher 2000) are thus improved by using a new solution procedure (Besio etal. 2003a) which allows for a more accurate evaluation of the growth rate for arbitrary values of the parameter r, which is the ratio between the horizontal tidal excursion and the perturbation wavelength. Responsible Editor: Jens Kappenberg     

埃达克岩研究的几个问题

在简略分析中国埃达克岩研究情况的基础上,讨论了新近在有关埃达克岩研究方面取得的主要进展,探讨了先前埃达克岩研究中很少或者没有注意到的特殊的地球动力学意义。强调O型埃达克岩的出现标志着大洋萎缩消减的开始,C型埃达克岩的出现则暗示地壳在此之前就已经加厚,同时认为要解决埃达克岩研究中存在的一些问题,在很大程度上还有赖于青藏高原的埃达克岩研究。     

内蒙古好老鹿场地区晚古生代超基性-基性岩的发现及意义

在内蒙古东部好老鹿场地区1∶5万区调工作中,发现了一套新的岩石组合,分别由铁镁质堆积岩、基性岩墙群、蚀变基性火山岩等组成。该套岩石组合经较强的构造破坏,呈大小不等的岩块产于本巴图组砂板岩之中。总体延伸方向呈近东西向展布,明显受区域性构造控制。岩石化学、岩石地球化学等方面的资料表明,辉石橄榄岩、辉长岩具有低A l、贫Ca和富Na的特点,MgO/(MgO FeO)比值为0.25,MgO含量偏低。稀土元素总量偏低,为76.03×10-6~114.81×10-6,轻重稀土富集不明显,分馏作用较弱。∑L/∑H为0.73~0.8,配分曲线呈平坦的“W”型,δEu=1.03~1.23,略显正异常。基性火山岩具明显的富Fe、Mg、Na,贫A l、Ti、K的特征,微量元素显示形成于洋中脊环境。同时在辉长岩中获得单颗粒锆石U Pb年龄为362.4 M a,时代为早泥盆世晚期。其形成环境为洋中脊,属于泥盆纪古亚洲洋消减部分的残留体。     

斜坡上异重流的三维数值模拟

针对异重流的流动特征,建立了适用于具有各向异性浮力紊动特征的三维异重流运动的数学模型,并模拟了异重流在15°斜坡底面上的潜行过程。计算结果准确地模拟了异重流的运动特征和形态,其前锋的潜行速度与实验结果相当吻合。该模型采用非结构同位网格上的SIMPLEC算法能适应复杂边界和地形,可应用于自然界实际环境中异重流的演进计算。     

The complex-image method for calculating the magnetic and electric fields produced at the surface of the Earth by the auroral electrojet

For studying the auroral electrojet and for examining the effects it can produce in power systems on the ground, it is useful to be able to calculate the magnetic and electric fields that the electrojet produces at the surface of the Earth. Including the effects of currents induced in the Earth leads to a set of integral expressions, the numerical computation of which is complicated and demanding of computer resources. An approximate solution can be achieved by representing the induced currents by an image current at a complex depth. We present a simple derivation of the complex-image expressions and use them to calculate the fields produced by the auroral electrojet at the surface of an earth represented by layered conductivity models. Comparison of these results with ones obtained using the exact integral solution show that the errors introduced are insignificant compared to the uncertainties in the parameters used. The complex-image method thus provides a simple, fast and accurate means of calculating the magnetic and electric fields.     

The Canary Islands swell: a coherence analysis of bathymetry and gravity

The Canary Archipelago is an intraplate volcanic chain, located near the West African continental margin, emplaced on old oceanic lithosphere of Jurassic age, with an extended volcanic activity since Middle Miocene. The adjacent seafloor does not show the broad oceanic swell usually observed in hotspot-generated oceanic islands. However, the observation of a noticeable depth anomaly in the basement west of the Canaries might indicate that the swell is masked by a thick sedimentary cover and the influence of the Canarian volcanism. We use a spectral approach, based on coherence analysis, to determine the swell and its compensation mechanism. The coherence between gravity and topography indicates that the swell is caused by a subsurface load correlated with the surface volcanic load. The residual gravity/geoid anomaly indicates that the subsurface load extends 600 km SSW and 800 km N and NNE of the islands. We used computed depth anomalies from available deep seismic profiles to constrain the extent and amplitude of the basement uplift caused by a relatively low-density anomaly within the lithospheric mantle, and coherence analysis to constrain the elastic thickness of the lithosphere ( T_e ) and the compensation depth of the swell. Depth anomalies and coherence are well simulated with T_e =28–36 km, compensation depth of 40–65 km, and a negative density contrast within the lithosphere of ∼33 kg m⁻³. The density contrast corresponds to a temperature increment of ∼325°C, which we interpret to be partially maintained by a low-viscosity convective layer in the lowermost lithosphere, and which probably involves the shallower parts of the asthenosphere. This interpretation does not require a significant rejuvenation of the mechanical properties of the lithosphere.     

Separation of local and regional information in distorted GDS response functions by hypothetical event analysis

Electromagnetic investigations are usually intended to examine regional structures where induction takes place at a given period range. However, the regional information is often distorted by galvanic effects at local conductivity boundaries. Bahr (1985) and Groom & Bailey (1989) developed a physical distortion model for decomposing the MT impedance tensor, based upon local galvanic distortion of a regional 2-D electromagnetic field. We have extended their method to predict the magnetic variation fields created at an array of sites. The magnetic response functions at periods around 1000 s may be distorted by large-scale inhomogeneities in the upper or middle crust. In this period range, the data measured by a magnetometer array contain common information that can be extracted if the data set is treated as a unit, for example by using hypothetical event analysis. With this technique it is always possible to recover the regional strike direction from distorted data, even if a strong, spatially varying regional vertical field component is present in the data set. The determination of the regional impedance phases, on the other hand, is far more sensitive to deviations from the physical distortion model.
The approach has been used to investigate the Iapetus data set. For the array, which covers an area of 200  km × 300  km in northern England/southern Scotland, the technique revealed a common regional strike azimuth of ca . N125° E in the period range 500–2000  s. This direction differs from the strike indicated by the induction arrows, which seem influenced mainly by local current concentrations along the east–west-striking Northumberland Trough and a NE–SW-striking mid-crustal conductor. Both impedance phases are positive and differ by ca . 10°, which supports the assumptions of distortion fields in the data set and that the regional structure is 2-D.     

Five-Stage Model of the Palaeozoic Crustal Evolution in Xinjiang

The great majority of the Palaeozoic orogenjc belts of Central Asia are of the intercontinental type, whose evolution always follows a five-stage model, i.e. the basal continental crust-extensional transitional crust-oceanic crust-convergent transitional crust-new continental crust model. The stage for the extensional transitional crust is a pretty long, independent and inevitable phase. The dismembering mechanism of the basal continental crust becoming an extensional continental crust is delineated by the simple shear model put forward by Wernike (1981). The continental margins on the sides of a gently dipping detachment zone and moving along it are asymmetric: one side is of the nonmagmatic type and the other of the magmatic type with a typical bimodal volcanic formation. In the latter case, however, they were often confused with island arcs. This paper discusses the five-stage process of the crustal evolution of some typical orogenic belts in Xinjiang.