Seismic image of the deep crust at the eastern margin of the Alps (Austria): indications for crustal extension in a convergent orogen

A 39-km-long deep seismic reflection profile recorded during two field campaigns in 1996 and 2002 provides a first detailed image of the deep crust at the eastern margin of the Eastern Alps (Austria). The ESE–WNW-trending, low-fold seismic line crosses Austroalpine basement units and extends approximately from 20 km west of the Penninic window group of Rechnitz to 60 km SSE of the Alpine thrust front.The explosive-source seismic data reveals a transparent shallow crust down to 5 km depth, a complexly reflective upper crust and a highly reflective lowermost crust. The upper crust is dominated by three prominent west-dipping packages of high-amplitude subparallel reflections. The upper two of these prominent packages commence at the eastern end of the profile at about 5 and 10 km depth and are interpreted as low-angle normal shear zones related to the Miocene exhumation of the Rechnitz metamorphic core complex. In the western portion of the upper crust, east-dipping and less significant reflections prevail. The lowermost package of these reflections is suggested to represent the overall top of the European crystalline basement.Along the western portion of the line, the lower crust is characterised by a 6–8-km-thick band of high-amplitude reflection lamellae, typically observed in extensional provinces. The Moho can be clearly defined at the base of this band, at approximately 32.5 km depth. Due to insufficient signal penetration, outstanding reflections are missing in the central and eastern portion of the lower crust. We speculate that the result of accompanying gravity measurements and lower crustal sporadic reflections can be interpreted as an indication for a shallower Moho in the east, preferable at about 30.5 km depth.The high reflectivity of the lowermost part of the lower crust and prominent reflection packages in the upper crust, the latter interpreted to represent broad extensional mylonite zones, emphasises the latest extensional processes in accordance with eastward extrusion.     

Large‐scale poroelastic fractured reservoirs modeling using the fast multipole displacement discontinuity method

An effective approach to modeling the geomechanical behavior of the network and its permeability variation is to use a poroelastic displacement discontinuity method (DDM). However, the approach becomes rather computationally intensive for an extensive system of cracks, particularly when considering coupled diffusion/deformation processes. This is because of additional unknowns and the need for time‐marching schemes for the numerical integration. The Fast Multipole Method (FMM) is a technique that can accelerate the solution of large fracture problems with linear complexity with the number of unknowns both in memory and CPU time. Previous works combining DDM and FMM for large‐scale problems have accounted only for elastic rocks, neglecting the fluid leak‐off from the fractures into the matrix and its influence on pore pressure and stress field. In this work we develop an efficient geomechanical model for large‐scale natural fracture networks in poroelastic reservoirs with fracture flow in response to injection and production operations. Accuracy and computational performance of the proposed method with those of conventional poroelastic DDM are compared through several case studies involving up to several tens of thousands of boundary elements. The results show the effectiveness of the FMM approach to successfully evaluate field‐scale problems for the design of exploitation strategies in unconventional geothermal and petroleum reservoirs. An example considering faults reveals the impact of reservoir compartmentalization because of sealing faults for both geomechanical and flow variables under elastic and poroelastic rocks. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Terrestrial heat flow and lithospheric thermal structure in the Chagan Depression of the Yingen-Ejinaqi Basin,north central China

The Chagan Depression in the Yingen-Ejinaqi Basin, located at the intersection of the Paleo-Asian Ocean and the Tethys Ocean domains is an important region to gain insights on terrestrial heat flow, lithospheric thermal structure and deep geodynamic processes. Here, we compute terrestrial heat flow values in the Chagan Depression using a large set of system steady-state temperature data from four representative wells and rock thermal conductivity. We also estimate the “thermal” lithospheric thickness, mantle heat flow, ratio of mantle heat flow to surface heat flow and Moho temperature to evaluate the regional tectonic framework and deep dynamics. The results show that the heat flow in the Chagan Depression ranges from 66.5 to 69.8 mW/m², with an average value of 68.3 ± 1.2 mW/m². The Chagan Depression is characterized by a thin “thermal” lithosphere, high mantle heat flow, and high Moho temperature, corresponding to the lithospheric thermal structure of “cold mantle and hot crust” type. We correlate the formation of the Yingen-Ejinaqi Basin to the Early Cretaceous and Cenozoic subduction of the western Pacific Plate and the Cenozoic multiple extrusions. Our results provide new insights into the thermal structure and dynamics of the lithospheric evolution in central China.     

三门峡断陷盆地及邻区深部结构及成因——来自深地震反射与大地电磁测深的证据

近年来,围绕三门峡断陷盆地中的油气、地热资源做了大量的工作,成因机制研究较少,严重制约了矿产资源的勘探开发。本文在前人研究工作基础上,结合野外地质调查并利用高精度深反射地震剖面、大地电磁（MT）、重磁等地球物理探测技术,对三门峡盆地进行综合研究。发现三门峡盆地主要由东、西2个负花状构造构成,西花状构造体大于东花状构造体;盆地东部边缘以观音堂隆起与洛阳凹陷相邻,观音堂隆起发育有壳内透镜状低速体,其东、西两侧均发育有规模较大的隐伏逆断层。研究区内莫霍面为大约5 km厚度滑脱层,在深反射地震剖面上表现为蚯蚓状反射特征,指示滑脱层为西向运动。莫霍面滑脱层上部与下部新发现多条弧形断层。地质与地球物理资料综合研究表明,莫霍面滑脱层的解耦作用是三门峡断陷盆地花状构造形成的主因;在不同时空构造力系作用下,形成研究区新生代全地壳旋转花状构造盆地。     

深反射地震成像揭示的班公湖 怒江缝合带中段Moho断阶及其大地构造意义

揭示班公湖- 怒江(班怒)缝合带Moho(莫霍面)结构对于认识中特提斯洋壳俯冲和南羌塘坳陷成因具有重要地球动力学意义。基于横跨班怒缝合带的深反射地震数据(88°30′E),本文采用了中长波长静校正、噪声压制、优化叠加和叠前深度偏移(PSDM)等地震处理技术,获得了深度域地震反射偏移剖面、层速度场和高分辨率Moho结构。由深度域剖面显示,班怒缝合带Moho位于地表以下65～80 km,呈不连续北向抬升趋势,指示在拉萨地块与南羌塘地块之间存在岩石圈上地幔断阶,最大阶步可达15 km。综合分析缝合带两侧的Moho形态认为,这些断阶受南侧拉萨地体的岩石圈上地幔以19. 5°北倾俯冲与北侧南羌塘地块的上地壳抬升驱动,可能与深部存在局部熔融相关。班怒缝合带下的Moho结构表明,随着晚侏罗世—早白垩世中特提斯洋闭合,南羌塘地体由边缘海沉积向前陆盆地转换,形成南羌塘坳陷。     

对橄榄石相变形核率的估算

地幔主要矿物橄榄石［(Mg089Fe011)2SiO4］的相变与深源地震的解释以及俯冲带和周围地幔的相互作用相关. 其中,形核率和长大率是刻画其相变动力学的两个重要参数. 因为实验技术的原因,目前人们还没有基于实验数据给出橄榄石的形核率. 本文首先通过对挤碰物理图像的分析,对边界形核情形的相变动力学理论中表征挤碰程度的无量纲参数进行了修正. 在此基础上,根据已有的实验资料,首次对橄榄石相变的形核率进行了估计. 通过对形核率数据的拟合,可以得到形核率参数K0和γ1/3. 得到两个形核率参数的变化范围分别为K0=55×1021～87×1027s-1·m-2·K-1,γ1/3=0～020 J·m-2,最佳拟合值为：K0=69×1024s-1·m-2·K-1,γ1/3=016 J·m-2.     

江南造山带中段地壳结构特征——来自武宁—吉安深反射地震随机介质相关长度分析的认识

江南造山带位于扬子和华夏地块中间,受华南陆块及其周缘多期次的碰撞、裂解及再造过程影响,经历了复杂的构造运动和变形,于中生代期间受区域构造-岩浆事件影响,发生成矿“大爆发”,是研究陆内深部过程、成矿作用的关键地区。受沉积覆盖、出露较少等因素影响,江南造山带中段地壳结构、深部过程及其边界范围等还存在争议。为进一步提高对江南造山带中段中生代深部构造背景、动力学过程及成矿作用的认识,本文利用武宁—吉安深反射地震数据,进行随机介质参数的计算,获得了相关长度剖面。结果发现江南造山带中段地壳厚度沿剖面由北向南逐渐减薄,结合前人研究推测研究区受控于燕山期晚期伸展构造体制,在伸展构造背景下,导致地壳减薄,诱发幔源物质上涌,受地幔上涌影响由南往北逐渐减弱。同时揭示了宜丰—景德镇断裂深大断裂极性,进一步证明了萍乡—广丰断裂为江南造山带中段与华夏地块的边界。最后综合分析了中生代区域构造对成矿的影响,认为在伸展构造背景下,幔源物质沿断裂上涌控制了该区金、钨等矿床的形成。     

Crustal complexity in the Lachlan Orogen revealed from teleseismic receiver functions

There is an ongoing debate about the tectonic evolution of southeast Australia, particularly about the causes and nature of its accretion to a much older Precambrian core to the west. Seismic imaging of the crust can provide useful clues to address this issue. Seismic tomography imaging is a powerful tool often employed to map elastic properties of the Earth's lithosphere, but in most cases does not constrain well the depth of discontinuities such as the Mohorovi?i? (Moho). In this study, an alternative imaging technique known as receiver function (RF) has been employed for seismic stations near Canberra in the Lachlan Orogen to investigate: (i) the shear-wave-velocity profile in the crust and uppermost mantle, (ii) variations in the Moho depth beneath the Lachlan Orogen, and (iii) the nature of the transition between the crust and mantle. A number of styles of RF analyses were conducted: H-K stacking to obtain the best compressional–shear velocity (V _P /V _S) ratio and crustal thickness; nonlinear inversion for the shear-wave-velocity structure and inversion of the observed variations in RFs with back-azimuth to investigate potential dipping of the crustal layers and anisotropy. The thick crust (up to 48 km) and the mostly intermediate nature of the crust?mantle transition in the Lachlan Orogen could be due to the presence of underplating at the base of the crust, and possibly to the existing thick piles of Ordovician mafic rocks present in the mid and lower crust. Results from numerical modelling of RFs at three seismic stations (CAN, CNB and YNG) suggest that the observed variations with back-azimuth could be related to a complex structure beneath these stations with the likelihood of both a dipping Moho and crustal anisotropy. Our analysis reveals crustal thickening to the west beneath CAN station which could be due to slab convergence. The crustal thickening may also be related to the broad Macquarie volcanic arc, which is rooted to the Moho. The crustal anisotropy may arise from a strong N–S structural trend in the eastern Lachlan Orogen and to the preferred crystallographic orientation of seismically anisotropic minerals in the lower and middle crust related to the paleo-Pacific plate convergence.     

上海地区深部构造特征和地震活动趋势探讨

本文介绍由重磁资料计算上海地区居里面、莫霍面、均衡重力异常及地幔流应力场的方法和成果,并在对成果初步分析的基础上,探讨了深部地质构造特征及其与地震活动趋势的关系,其中着重讨论了居里面及其与地震活动的关系。文章最后提出了对上海地区地震活动趋势的几点认识。