Effect of viscosity structure on fault potential and stress orientations in eastern Canada

Previous investigations of the causal relationship between postglacial rebound and earthquakes in eastern Canada have focused on the mode of failure and the observed timing of the pulse of earthquake/faulting activity following deglaciation. In this study, the observational database has been extended to include observed orientations of the contemporary stress field and the rotation of stress since deglacial times. It is shown that many of these observations can be explained by a realistic ice history and a viscoelastic earth with a uniform 10²¹ Pa s mantle.
The effects of viscosity structure on the above predictions are also examined. It is shown that, since most of the above observations are found within the ice margin, they are not very sensitive to lithospheric thickness. Also, the inclusion of a 25 or 50 km ductile layer within the lithosphere will not decouple the seismogenic upper crust. High viscosity (10²² Pa s) in the lower mantle is rejected by the stress orientation and rotation observations. A low-viscosity (6 times 10²⁰Pa s) upper mantle with 1.6 times 10²¹ Pa s in the upper part of the lower mantle and 3 times 10²¹ Pa s in the lower part of the lower mantle below 1200 km depth has been found to give predictions that are in general agreement with the observations.     

风浪场波生横向彻体切应力的分析

使用风浪经验公式和风浪传入近岸的小振幅波动理论计算并分析了地转条件下波生横向彻体切应力随风速、风区、水深等因素的变化规律。结果表明，彻体切应力随风速、风区的增大而增大，直到波浪达到完全成长状态，但增长速度并不规则；为更加直观的显示彻体切应力的海流驱动作用，将其与定常Ekman漂流中的风生湍粘性力进行了有意义的比较，结果表明，在中、高纬度的通常海况下两者具有相同量级，因此，在有波浪场存在的条件下，由风、浪共生海流的总体强度将比理论Ekman漂流大，并且不会完全符合Ekman漂流理论的转向规律，在表层尤其明显。由此说明，在一定情况下在风生漂流研究中考虑由地转引起的波生横向彻体切应力是非常必要的。     

Inter-manufacturer Difference and Temperature Dependency of the Fall-Rate of T-5 Expendable Bathythermograph

The fall-rate of the T-5 expendable bathythermograph (XBT) produced by Tsurumi Seiki (TSK) Co., Ltd and that by Sippican Inc., are intercompared by a series of contemporaneous and colocated measurements with conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profilers. It is confirmed that the fall-rates of the two manufacturers' T-5 differ by about 5 percent, despite the fact that they had been believed to be identical for many years. The cause of the difference is discussed on the basis of a detailed cross-examination of the two T-5 models. It is found for the first time that the two models are different in several respects. The manufacturer's fall-rate equation is only applicable to the Sippican T-5, for which Boyd and Linzell's (1993) equation seems to be slightly more accurate. Kizu et al.'s (2005) equation gives a clearly less biased depth than the manufacturers' equation for the TSK T-5. It is also found that the fall-rates of both T-5 models are dependent on water temperature, perhaps because of viscosity. The temperature-dependency of the fall-rate of the TSK T-5 is larger than that of the Sippican T-5.     

Time-dependent density anomalies in a stratified,viscoelastic mantle: Implications for the geoid,Earth's rotation and sea-level fluctuations

The effects on the = 2 geoid component and Earth's rotation due to internal mass anomalies are analyzed for a stratified viscoelastic mantle described by a Maxwell rheology. Our approach is appropriate for a simplified modeling of subduction. Sea-level fluctuations induced by long-term rotational instabilities are also considered. The displacement of the Earth's axis of rotation, called true polar wander (TPW) and the induced eustatic sea-level fluctuations, are extremely sensitive to viscosity and density stratification at the 670 km seismic discontinuity. Phase-change models for the transition zone generally allow for huge amount of TPW, except for large viscosity increases; the dominant contribution in Liouville equations comes from a secular term that reflects the viscous behaviour of the mantle. In chemically stratified models, TPW is drastically reduced due to dynamic compensation of the mass anomalies at the upper-lower mantle interface. When the source is embedded in the upper mantle close to the chemical density jump, transient rotational modes are the leading terms in the linear Liouville equations. Long-term rotation instabilities are valuable contributors to the third order cycles in the eustatic sea-level curves. Rates of sea-level fluctuations of the order of 0.05–0.1 mm/yr are induced by displacements of the Earth's axis of rotation compatible with paleomagnetic data.     

The Frequency (or Time) -Temperature Equivalence of Relaxation in Saturated Rocks

Laboratory data on dry and saturated rocks show that pore fluid has the most important effect on rock attenuation. It is known that viscous and inertial coupling between the frame of a porous rock and its pore fluid dissipates seismic energy by conversion to heat and hence cause attenuation. We show that attenuation peaks, in saturated rock have the same property as that of typical thermally activated relaxations. In the frequency domain, a plot of attenuation versus frequency shows an obvious systematic shift to higher frequencies with increasing temperatures. Similarly, the attenuation versus temperature curve moves to higher temperature with increasing frequencies. The attenuation peaks are somewhat broader than that for a Zener relaxation. A Cole-Cole distribution of relaxation times closely matches the attenuations. This behavior can be explained theoretically by local flow mechanisms.     

Model evaluation of the atmospheric boundary layer and mixed-layer evolution

In the present study, an attempt is made to assess the atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL) depth over an urban area, as derived from different ABL schemes employed by the mesoscale model MM5. Furthermore, the relationship of the mixing height, as depicted by the measurements, to the calculated ABL depth or other features of the ABL structure, is also examined. In particular, the diurnal evolution of ABL depth is examined over the greater Athens area, employing four different ABL schemes plus a modified version, whereby urban features are considered. Measurements for two selected days, when convective conditions prevailed and a strong sea-breeze cell developed, were used for comparison. It was found that the calculated eddy viscosity profile seems to better indicate the mixing height in both cases, where either a deep convective boundary layer develops, or a more confined internal boundary layer is formed. For the urban scheme, the incorporation of both anthropogenic and storage heat release provides promising results for urban applications.     

Magnetic and viscous coupling at the core–mantle boundary: inferences from observations of the Earth's nutations

Dissipative core–mantle coupling is evident in observations of the Earth's nutations, although the source of this coupling is uncertain. Magnetic coupling occurs when conducting materials on either side of the boundary move through a magnetic field. In order to explain the nutation observations with magnetic coupling, we must assume a high (metallic) conductivity on the mantle side of the boundary and a rms radial field of 0.69 mT. Much of this field occurs at short wavelengths, which cannot be observed directly at the surface. High levels of short-wavelength field impose demands on the power needed to regenerate the field through dynamo action in the core. We use a numerical dynamo model from the study of Christensen & Aubert (2006) to assess whether the required short-wavelength field is physically plausible. By scaling the numerical solution to a model with sufficient short-wavelength field, we obtain a total ohmic dissipation of 0.7–1 TW, which is within current uncertainties. Viscous coupling is another possible explanation for the nutation observations, although the effective viscosity required for this is 0.03 m² s⁻¹ or higher. Such high viscosities are commonly interpreted as an eddy viscosity. However, physical considerations and laboratory experiments limit the eddy viscosity to 10⁻⁴ m² s⁻¹, which suggests that viscous coupling can only explain a few percent of the dissipative torque between the core and the mantle.     

Radial resolving power of far-field differential sea-level highstands in the inference of mantle viscosity

For two decades leading to the late 1980s, the prevailing view from studies of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) data was that the viscosity of the Earth's mantle increased moderately, if at all, from the base of the lithosphere to the core–mantle boundary. This view was first questioned by Nakada & Lambeck , who argued that differential sea-level (DSL) highstands between pairs of sites in the Australian region preferred an increase of approximately two orders of magnitude from the mean viscosity of the upper to the lower mantle, in accord with independent inferences from observables related to mantle convection. We use non-linear Bayesian inference to provide the first formal resolving power analysis of the Australian DSL data set. We identify three radial regions, two within the upper mantle (110–270 km and 320–570 km depth) and one in the lower mantle (1225–2265 km depth), over which the average of viscosity is well constrained by the data. We conclude that: (1) the DSL data provide a resolution in the inference of upper mantle viscosity that is better than implied by forward analyses based on isoviscous regions above and below the 670 km depth discontinuity and (2) the data do not strongly constrain viscosity at either the base or top of the lower mantle. Finally, our inversions also quantify the significant bias that may be introduced in inversions of the DSL highstands that do not simultaneously estimate the thickness of the elastic lithosphere.     

Effect of lateral viscosity variations in the core-mantle boundary region on predictions of the long-wavelength geoid

Seismic studies of the lowermost mantle suggest that the core-mantle boundary (CMB) region is strongly laterally heterogeneous over both local and global scales. These heterogeneities are likely to be associated with significant lateral viscosity variations that may influence the shape of the long-wavelength non-hydrostatic geoid. In the present paper we investigate the effect of these lateral viscosity variations on the solution of the inverse problem known as the inferences of viscosity from the geoid. We find that the presence of lateral viscosity variations in the CMB region can significantly improve the percentage fit of the predicted data with observations (from 42 to 70% in case of free-air gravity) while the basic characterisics of the mantle viscosity model, namely the viscosity increase with depth and the rate of layering, remain more or less the same as in the case of the best-fitting radially symmetric viscosity models. Assuming that viscosity is laterally dependent in the CMB region, and radially dependent elsewhere, we determine the largescale features of the viscosity structure in the lowermost mantle. The viscosity pattern found for the CMB region shows a high density of hotspots above the regions of higher-than-average viscosity. This result suggests an important role for petrological heterogeneities in the lowermost mantle, potentially associated with a post-perovskite phase transition. Another potential interpretation is that the lateral viscosity variations derived for the CMB region correspond in reality to lateral variations in the mechanical conditions at the CMB boundary or to large-scale undulations of a chemically distinct layer at the lowermost mantle.