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.     

Preliminary study on the spore-pollen assemblages found in the Cenozoic sedimentary rocks in Grove Mountains, east Antarctica and its climatic implications

Glaciogene sedimentary rocks have been found in modem tills of the Grove Mountains, east Antarctica during the 1998 - 1999 Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition （CHNARE）. Based on the lithilogic and sedimentary features, these sedimentary rocks are correlated with Cenozoic sedimentary strata of the Pagodroma Group in the neighboring Prince Charles Mountains and the Sorsdal Formation in VestFold Hills. Sedimentary clasts contain sparsely Late Tertiary spores and pollens, including ： Toroisporis （ Lygodiaceae）, Osmunda, Granulatisporites （ Pteridaceae？） , Polypodiaceae, Podocarpus , Araucariaceae, Artemisia , Rhus , Nothofagidites , Proteacidites （Proteaceae） , Quercus , Fraxinoipollenites （ Oleaceae ） , Oleoidearumpollenites（ Oleaceae ）, Operculumpollis, and Tricolpopollenites. Most of the pollen and spores contained in these samples originate from local sources according to the conditions of their preservations as well as correlations with the microfossil assemblages found in the neighboring areas. The majority of the pollen assemblages, as represented by Podocarpus and Nothofagus, belong to the Weddellian biogeocenose, however some exotic components from the old sedimentary basement rocks may have been included during erosion of the proximal ice sheet. If the source areas of glaciogenic sedimentary rocks that bear the pollen and spores are assumed to be local, or in the up glacier areas, the pollen assemblages in these samples might represent an inland flora during a warmer period of the ice-sheet evolutionary history. The finding of the Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae in the pollen assemblages implies that they may belong to late Tertiary （most probably Pliocene）. The absence of diatoms in the samples analyzed may indicate that there are no Cenozoic marine strata in the interior of the east Antarctica beyond the Grove Mountains. The significances of the finding of the Nothofagus in these pollen assemblages are discussed on the basis of current knowledge about the age, distribution and ecological conditions of this kind of fossils found in Sirius Group or other strata outcropped in Antarctica. As a preliminary conclusion, we think that the existence of the Cenozoic glaciogenenic rocks and their pollen assemblages present new evidence for a large scale glacial retreat history in Grove Mountains of east Antarctica, and thus support a dynamic East Antarctic Ice Sheet （EAIS）. This is consistent with the interpretations of Webb et al. （1984）.     

吉林省新生代玄武岩中红、蓝宝石矿找矿方向

通过收集前人资料和野外地质调查及地球化学分析,对中国东部发育红、蓝宝石矿的不同地区进行了对比研究,进而从寄主岩类型、寄主岩形成时代和火山机构四周发育的第四系沉积物特征角度,提出了吉林省应将伊舒带、敦密带、东宁-宽甸带作为首选的红、蓝宝石找矿方向。     

青藏高原东北缘龙首山晚新生代多阶段构造隆升的盆地记录

龙首山地区位于青藏高原与阿拉善地块的结合部位,其盆山演化过程和断裂带扩展模式的恢复对揭示青藏高原新生代北东向生长具有重要意义。本文基于龙首山南北两麓3个新近系沉积剖面的构造特征和5个砂岩样品的碎屑锆石U-Pb同位素LA-ICP-MS年龄结果,重建了青藏高原东北缘龙首山地区晚新生代的盆山演化过程。研究结果显示,龙首山地区晚新生代沉积-构造演化经历了3个主要阶段：（1）~14Ma,龙首山南缘断裂带活化,阿拉善地块南缘沿此断裂逆冲于张掖盆地之上,张掖盆地开始接收阿拉善地块的物源;（2）~5Ma,龙首山南缘断裂带的次级断裂开始发育,使龙首山南侧山麓白垩系开始剥露并为张掖盆地提供物源,同时,龙首山北缘断裂带活化并导致潮水盆地发生挠曲沉降,接收龙首山的物源;（3）5~2.5Ma,龙首山北缘断裂带的次级断裂开始发育,导致龙首山北麓白垩系开始剥露并为潮水盆地提供物源。通过对龙首山周缘盆地沉积相和物源开展分析,本研究反演了龙首山地区中新世以来的断裂带活动和山体隆升过程,表明在14~2.5Ma,随着龙首山南缘断裂、北缘断裂的活化和次级断裂的发育,龙首山经历了3次强烈的隆升,这对揭示青藏高原北东向的扩展过程具有重要的指示意义。

     

柴达木盆地东北缘中中新世以来古气候变化

全球变冷、青藏高原隆升以及特提斯洋海退被认为是控制亚洲大陆新生代气候变化的三大因素,然而由于长时间尺度古气候记录的匮乏,对于三者影响的认识并不清晰。柴达木盆地是青藏高原北部最大的一个封闭盆地,发育巨厚且连续的新生代地层,详细记录了周缘山体构造隆升过程和区域气候演化历史。本文通过柴达木盆地东北缘怀头他拉剖面的中中新世-早更新世沉积物气候代用指标碳酸盐、硫酸根和氯离子含量分析,显示该研究区中中新世以来气候变化经历了15.3~13.0Ma相对湿润、13.0~6.6Ma半干旱-半湿润和6.6~1.8Ma干旱的3个演化阶段。结合生物特征和前人研究成果,认为柴达木盆地干旱化历史可能从中中新世13Ma左右开始逐步发展,而真正意义上的干旱化始于6.6Ma以来。全球变冷是控制柴达木盆地干旱气候形成和发展的主导因素,同时青藏高原晚期持续阶段性的强烈隆升起到了催化剂的作用。     

基于程函方程与三维速度模型的中国东北地区地幔过渡带接收函数研究

本文利用中国东北地区NECESSArray记录到的45505条接收函数,结合该区域最新三维速度模型,采用快速行进法求解程函方程,计算了P-S转换波相对走时,并通过共转换点叠加成像方法获得了该地区下方地幔间断面起伏情况.结果显示,在长白山—五大连池连线一带东西约300 km,南北约900 km的狭长形区域内,660-km间断面下陷幅度达20~40 km.其结构可细分为南北两部分,南部更为狭窄且与日本海沟走向一致,对应于从日本海沟俯冲的太平洋板块在地幔过渡带的滞留区;北部对应于从千岛海沟俯冲的太平洋板块在地幔过渡带的滞留区.同时,在长白山西部,存在与长白山—五大连池下陷区形状类似的南北向狭长形抬升区,660-km间断面抬升幅度约为10 km,显示俯冲太平洋板块只延伸至松辽盆地东侧;而在盆地西侧,660-km间断面的下陷区可能与该地区岩石圈拆沉有关.同时,410-km间断面在松辽盆地—渤海一带,以及长白山火山西南和东北方向存在明显的下陷区;另外,在阿巴嘎及阿尔山也有小范围的下陷区.所有这些下陷区,均与地表新生代火山活动区/拉伸区有很好的对应关系,表明这些地表构造与深部热物质上涌有关.

     

Climate sensitivity to changes in land surface characteristics

Using a recently developed global vegetation distribution, topography, and shorelines for the Early Eocene in conjunction with the Genesis version 2.0 climate model, we investigate the influences that these new boundary conditions have on global climate. Global mean climate changes little in response to the subtle changes we made; differences in mean annual and seasonal surface temperatures over northern and southern hemispheric land, respectively, are on the order of 0.5°C. In contrast, and perhaps more importantly, continental scale climate exhibits significant responses. Increased peak elevations and topographic detail result in larger amplitude planetary 4 mm/day and decreases by 7–9 mm/day in the proto Himalayan region. Surface temperatures change by up to 18°C as a direct result of elevation modifications. Increased leaf area index (LAI), as a result of altered vegetation distributions, reduces temperatures by up to 6°C. Decreasing the size of the Mississippi embayment decreases inland precipitation by 1–2 mm/day. These climate responses to increased accuracy in boundary conditions indicate that “improved” boundary conditions may play an important role in producing modeled paleoclimates that approach the proxy data more closely.     

甘肃西秦岭新生代钾霞橄黄长岩中的球状分凝体及地幔流体反演

地幔流体在地质过程中的作用日益受到人们的重视,成为地球科学研究的一个前缘课题。提供了甘肃西秦岭新生代钾霞橄黄长岩中各种形态分凝体详细的岩相学、矿物学和矿物化学的资料,对分凝体的性质、深部地幔流体的成分及成因机制进行了讨论。研究表明,钾霞橄黄长岩中分凝体是软流圈地幔流体活动的记录,其成因机制与岩浆作用对软流圈的开放和软流圈上涌的条件下,原生钾霞橄黄长岩浆的分异作用（特别是液态不混熔作用）,以及岩浆的抽提作用、动态熔融作用等综合作用有关。     

Periodicity of magnetic intensities in magnetic anomaly profiles: the Cenozoic of the South Atlantic

Spectral analyses of several published magnetic anomaly profiles from Candé & Kent (1992a) were undertaken prior to analysing, in the same way, raw magnetic anomaly data from similar parts of the South Atlantic. It was found that similar and distinct medium and short wavelengths were present in both the published and raw data. When these are converted into the time domain using the average rate of spreading for each profile, these periodicities appear similar, possibly identical, to those expected from the long-term eccentricity orbital parameters (Fischer, DeBoer & Premoli Silva 1990). While such correlations are not necessarily causative, they suggest that magnetohydro-dynamical processes near the core-mantle boundary may be affected by gravitational changes due to planetary orbital perturbations.