The allochthonous genesis model about the extra-thick and high-quality coalbed in Xianfeng basin, Yunnan Province, China

An extra-thick high-quality brown coal was found to have accumulated in the Xianfeng basin in Yunnan Province, China. There are also abundant sedimentary marks of allochthonous genesis in the extra-thick coalbeds. These genesis indicators reveal a new submodel about allochthonous accumulation, which is: the long-distance river transportation of detrital plant and inorganic matter → the sedimentation of detrital plant fan delta + the hypautochthony accumulation of local lakeshore swamp peat → the autochthonous accumulation of local lacustrine peat + the sedimentation of fine inorganic matter → the mixing and transportation by flood current or weak storm flow or underwater gravity flow → the mechanical differentiation and their resedimentation between detrital plant and inorganic matter. This submodel can be called “the double accumulation of lacustrine detrital plant fan delta and underwater gravity flow” or “Xianfeng submodel”, which supplements the “allochthonous-hypautochthony lacustrine combination accumulation model” of the extra-thick coalbeds. The combination accumulation model is based on the Fuxin submodel and Fushun submodel in the Chinese Mesozoic and Cenozoic intarcontinental fault basin. Translated from Acta Sedimentologica Sinica, 2006, 24(1): 1–9 [译自: 沉积学报]     

东海陆架盆地西缘南北向深大断裂

通过对航磁资料的深入研究,首次在东海陆架盆地西缘圈定出1条南北向深大断裂,为陆架盆地控盆深大断裂;推断了该断裂的形成时期,并就这条断裂对火成岩及构造走向的控制作用、地质意义进行了分析.     

河西走廊黑河流域地下水化学特征研究

黑河流域地处西北内陆干旱区,受径流蒸发和溶滤作用的控制,地下水水化学最重要的特征是自补给区至排泄区具有典型的水平分带性和垂直倒置分异规律。水平方向从祁连山山前洪积扇顶部到冲、洪积细土平原北部的盐沼(盐地),表层地下水的矿化度随着径流长度的增加而增高,由淡水过渡为咸水并达到卤水阶段,化学组分亦相应的由HCO3--Na -Ca 型递变为SO42--HCO3--Na -Ca2 型、SO42--Cl--Na -Ca2 型直到Cl--SO42--Na 型、Cl--Na 型,每个水化学带与一定的地貌单元相联系。垂向上在淡承压水分布的区域,上部潜水矿化度0.5～4.0g/L,下部承压水矿化度小于1g/L,且随着深度的增加矿化度降低。     

Fluid flow during exhumation of deeply subducted continental crust: zircon U-Pb age and O-isotope studies of a quartz vein within ultrahigh-pressure eclogite

Quartz veins in high‐pressure to ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphic rocks witness channelized fluid flow that transports both mass and heat during collisional orogenesis. This flow can occur in the direction of changing temperature/pressure during subduction or exhumation. SHRIMP U‐Pb dating of zircon from a kyanite‐quartz vein within ultrahigh‐pressure eclogite in the Dabie continental collision orogen yields two age groups at 212 ± 7 and 181 ± 13 Ma, which are similar to two groups of LA‐ICPMS age at 210 ± 4 and 180 ± 5 Ma for the same sample. These ages are significantly younger than zircon U‐Pb ages of 224 ± 2 Ma from the host eclogite. Thus the two age groups from the vein date two episodes of fluid flow involving zircon growth: the first due to decompression dehydration during exhumation, and the second due to heating dehydration in response to a cryptic thermal event after continental collision. Laser fluorination O‐isotope analyses gave similar δ¹⁸O values for minerals from both vein and eclogite, indicating that the vein‐forming fluid was internally derived. Synchronous cooling between the vein and eclogite is suggested by almost the same quartz–mineral fractionation values, with regularly decreasing temperatures that are in concordance with rates of O diffusion in the minerals. While the quartz veining was caused by decompression dehydration at 700–650 °C in a transition from ultrahigh‐pressure to high‐pressure eclogite‐facies retrogression, the postcollisional fluid flow was retriggered by heating dehydration at ～500 °C without corresponding metamorphism. In either case, the kyanite–quartz vein formed later than the peak ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphic event at the Middle Triassic, pointing to focused fluid flow during exhumation rather than subduction. The growth of metamorphic zircon in the eclogite appears to have depended on fluid availability, so that their occurrence is a type of geohygrometer besides geochronological applicability to dating of metamorphic events in orogenic cycles.     

Shear wave splitting as a diagnostic of variable anisotropic structure of the upper mantle beneath central Fennoscandia

We analyze splitting of shear waves recorded during the SVEKALAPKO passive seismic experiment in south-central Finland to study fabrics of the mantle lithosphere of the Precambrian region and thus to bring information into a debate on existence of plate tectonics or its forms in the early stage of continent formation. Geographical variations of the splitting parameters and their distinct dependence on direction of wave propagation through the upper mantle allow us to identify six domains of the central Fennoscandian mantle lithosphere, including the Proterozoic–Archean transition, and to model their fabrics by joint inversion of body wave anisotropic parameters. Fabrics of the Archean mantle lithosphere can be approximated by a peridotite aggregate with lineation a dipping to the NE. On the other hand, anisotropy of the Proterozoic mantle lithosphere is weaker and we model its fabric by the (a, c) foliations dipping to the SE. We present a 3D self-consistent anisotropic model of the Proterozoic and Archean upper mantle along the SW-NE profile in the south-central Finland. Boundaries of inter-growing wedges of the Proterozoic and Archean mantle lithospheres explain the longitudinal and shear wave propagation and polarization, mantle xenolith ages, surface wave tomography and location of the upper mantle reflectors. We interpret the six anisotropic domains as fragments of mantle lithosphere retaining an old fossil olivine fabric which was created before these micro-continents assembled.     

Rock material from the Weddell Sea Floor of the South Ocean

This work is devoted to the results of the joint Russian-German geodynamic research carried out in the Weddell Sea and West Antarctica during cruise ANT-XXII/3 of the R/V Polarstern in 2005. The study of rock samples collected from the sea floor showed that a heterogeneous structure of the Weddell Sea was formed by spatiotemporal combination of the destruction of continental crust, progressive thalassogenesis (oceanization-taphrogenesis), and rifting, as opposed to a spreading origin. High postconsolidation mobility during the destruction stage led to the areal dismembering and high permeability of the continental crust, as well as to tectonomagmatic activation. The main mechanism of reworking of the continental crust is recognized to be the magmatic replacement by basic-ultrabasic mantle material with formation of a secondary oceanic crust and preservation of relics of the continental crust. The Earth’s endogenous activity was driven by transmagmatic fluid flows, which ascended from the melted core and caused transformation of the Earth’s crust and mantle.     

Cenozoic graben facies in the Middle Amur sedimentary basin as inferred from seismic and electrical exploration

Most of the grabens of the Middle Amur sedimentary basin (MASB) are usually characterized by similar structures typical of continental rifts. Based on models elaborated for the sedimentary infill in well-studied rift basins, seismic facies developed in grabens of the MASB are first analyzed. The analysis revealed seismic facies characteristic of different parts of asymmetrical basins: facies of fans developed on steep slopes and facies of coastal shoals, alluvial plains, and deltas occurring on gentle slopes. Seismic facies peculiar of deep lacustrine settings that are considered promising with respect to oil-and gas-bearing source rocks is recognized. Correlation of seismic and drilling data confirms the correctness of the interpretations and shows that boreholes penetrated a thin sequence of deep-water lacustrine sediments. Using the vertical electrical sounding method, a low-resistivity sequence that is most promising for discovery of lacustrine sediments is defined in the southwestern and eastern parts of the MASB. The lowest values of the specific resistivity in this sequence (7–8 Ohm · m) are recorded in its southeastern part, where a borehole partly recovered a relatively thick silty-clayey sequence.     

地震动力学:震源分布与岩石圈流变特性(英文)

地震震源分布强烈依赖于构造环境的温度和压力条件。震源机制可使大陆地壳脆性-韧性转换带(下部稳定性过渡边界)的温压条件复杂化。该过渡边界伴随速度弱化作用(有震活动)向速度强化作用(无震活动)的转化。在岩石圈流变和壳幔动力学的基础上研究了与板块边界有关的地震活动,包括板缘地震和俯冲板片地震。俯冲带板缘地震的深度分布受约于脆性摩擦动力机制,而摩擦剪切机制不能满意地解释深震活动,包括俯冲板片地震。这是因为深震震源机制可能与高压、高温条件下的固一固相变有关,而用脆性破裂或摩擦作用来解释就不近合理。以理论与实验研究为依据,本文对与震源物理和震源分布有关的岩石圈流变特性进行了较为深入的论述。     

Niobium-tantalum Fractionation During Slab Subduction:Implications for the Formation of Continental Crust

Compared with the oceanic crust, knowledge about the formation of the continental crust (CC) is relatively poor. Although melting of subducted slabs in the early history of the Earth has been considered as the major way that shaped the chemical characteristics of the CC by most geologists, as the CC shares many characteristics with modern adakites, some geologists argued that Archean TTG was formed in the same way as modern arcs rather than slab melting, whereas others proposed that melting at the bottom of the thickened oceanic crust was more important. Recently,the debate is mainly focused on the unique subchondritic Nb/Ta value of the CC, and particularly, how Nb and Ta fractionated from each other and consequently how, in detail, the CC was built.     

Thermal evolution of the Earth: Secular changes and fluctuations of plate characteristics

The average secular cooling rate of the Earth can be deduced from compositional variations of mantle melts through time and from rheological conditions at the onset of sub-solidus convection at the end of the initial magma ocean phase. The constraint that this places on the characteristics of mantle convection in the past are investigated using the global heat balance equation and a simple parameterization for the heat loss of the Earth. All heat loss parameterization schemes depend on a closure equation for the maximum age of oceanic plates. We use a scheme that accounts for the present-day distribution of heat flux at Earth's surface and that does not depend on any assumption about the dynamics of convection with rigid plates, which remain poorly understood. We show that heat supply to the base of continents and transient continental thermal regimes cannot be ignored. We find that the maximum sea floor age has not changed by large amounts over the last 3 Ga. Calculations lead to a maximum temperature at an age of about 3 Ga and cannot be extrapolated further back in time. By construction, these calculations are based on the present-day tectonic regime characterized by the subduction of large oceanic plates and hence indicate that this regime did not prevail until an age of about 3 Ga. According to this interpretation, the onset of rapid continental growth occurred when the current plate regime became stable.