Numerical models of mantle convection with secular cooling

A 2-D time-dependent finite-difference numerical model is used to investigate the thermal character and evolution of a convecting layer which is cooling as it convects. Two basic cooling modes are considered: in the first, both upper and lower boundaries are cooled at the same rate, while maintaining the same temperature difference across the layer; in the second, the lower boundary temperature decreases with time while the upper boundary temperature is fixed at 0°C. The first cooling mode simulates the effects of internal heating while the second simulates planetary cooling as mantle convection extracts heat from, and thereby cools, the Earth's core. The mathematical analogue between the effects of cooling and internal heating is verified for finite-amplitude convection. It is found that after an initial transient period the central core of a steady but vigorous convection cell cools at a constant rate which is governed by the rate of cooling of the boundaries and the viscosity structure of the layer. For upper-mantle models the transient stage lasts for about 30 per cent of the age of the Earth, while for the whole mantle it lasts for longer than the age of the Earth. Consequently, in our models the bulk cooling of the mantle lags behind the cooling of the core-mantle boundary. Models with temperature-dependent viscosity are found to cool in the same manner as models with depth-dependent viscosity; the rate of cooling is controlled primarily by the horizontally averaged variation of viscosity with depth. If the Earth's mantle cools in a similar fashion, secular cooling of the planet may be insensitive to lateral variations of viscosity.     

Invariants in toroidal and tangentially geostrophic frozen-flux velocity fields

We derive two new types of invariant that must be obeyed by the radial magnetic field at the core-mantle boundary if the hypothesis of frozen flux is valid and the fluid motion is either toroidal or tangentially geostrophic there. These general invariants incorporate specific invariants that are already known and can, in principle, be tested using magnetic data that cover an interval of time.     

乌鲁木齐河源1号冰川积累区透底冰芯地层及冰结构分析

对乌鲁木齐河源１号冰川积累区一支深达９１．６４ｍ的透底冰芯进行了详细的层位及冰结构分析，结果表明，在２０ｍ深度以内，很好地保存了原始沉积的特征，但在７０￣８０ｍ深处还发现小密度的乳白色冰占优势的冰层，可能形成于小冰期，中层具有动力变质及再结晶作用共存及反复消长的结构特征（冰晶尺寸、气泡），未见单极大型组构，但出现弱竖环形组构，底层出现弱宝石状的多极大组构。     

Rapid Variscan exhumation and the role of magma in core complex formation: southern Brittany metamorphic belt, France

ABSTRACT The high-grade migmatitic core to the southern Brittany metamorphic belt has mineralogical and textural features that suggest high-temperature decompression. The chronology of this decompression and subsequent cooling history have been constrained with ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹ Ar ages determined for multigrain concentrates of hornblende and muscovite prepared from amphibolite and late-orogenic granite sheets within the migmatitic core, and from amphibolite of the structurally overlying unit. Three hornblende concentrates yield plateau isotope correlation ages of c. 303–298 Ma. Two muscovite concentrates record well-defined plateau ages of c. 306–305 Ma. These ages are geologically significant and date the last cooling through temperatures required for intracrystalline retention of radiogenic argon. The concordancy of the hornblende and muscovite ages suggest rapid post-metamorphic cooling. Extant geochronology and the new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data suggest a minimum time-integrated average cooling rate between c. 725 °C and c. 125 °C of c. 14 ± 4°C Ma^-1, although below 600 °C the data permit an infinitely fast rate of cooling. Mineral assemblages and reaction textures in diatexite migmatites suggest c. 4 kbar decompression at 800–750 °C. This must have pre-dated the rapid cooling. Emplacement of two-mica granites into the metamorphic belt occurred between 345 and 300 Ma. The youngest plutons were emplaced synkinematically along shallow-dipping normal faults interpreted to be reactivated Eo-Variscan thrusts. A penetrative, west-plunging stretching lineation developed in these granites suggests that extension was orogen-parallel. Extension was probably related to regional uplift and gravitational collapse of thermally weakened crust during constrictional (escape) tectonics in this narrow part of the Variscan orogen. This followed slab breakoff during the terminal stages of convergence between Gondwana and Laurasia; detachment may have been consequent upon a change in kinematics leading to dextral displacement within the orogen. Dextral ductile strike-slip displacement was concentrated in granites emplaced synkinematically along the South Armorican Shear Zone. Rapid cooling is interpreted to have resulted from tectonic unroofing with emplacement of granite along decollement surfaces. The high-grade migmatitic core of the southern Brittany metamorphic belt represents a type of metamorphic core complex formed during orogen-parallel extensional unroofing and regional-scale ductile flow.     

我国地质岩心钻探设备发展历程及方向

通过回顾我国地质岩心钻探设备发展历程，分析岩心钻探设备的现状，优势和不足，提出了对其今后发展的几点看法。     

三维溶质运移问题的分步广义迎风解法

对对流占优的三维溶质运移问题提出了分步广义迎风解法，首先利用Ｎ．Ｎ．Ｙａ－ｎｅｎｋｏ对水动力弥散方程分步求解的思想，将原来的一个定解问题分解为两个定解问题即对流定解问题和扩散定解问题，对对流定解问题采用广义迎风对偶单元均衡法求解，对扩散定解问题采用一般的Ｇａｌｅｒｋｉｎ有限元法求解，不仅避免了用一般有限元法和有限差分法求解对流占优的地下水水质数学模型时常出现数值弥散和过量问题，而且避免了求节点速度这一步，节省运算步骤，对井点的浓度变化给出了更合适的求解方法。     

钻孔岩芯饼状断裂破坏机制

本文首先阐述岩芯饼状断裂及其特征, 进而用断裂力学的理论与方法对岩饼破坏进行了断裂扩张机制的分析, 不但合理地解释了断裂特征及断裂破坏机制, 且以二滩坝址为例, 分析了产生钻孔岩饼的微裂纹条件及应力条件, 为定量地评价坝址地应力状态, 包括其大小及方向提供了一种新的方法。上述不仅具有重要的理论意义, 而且具有重要的工程实际意义。     

岩浆活动旋回与地球多层对流系统

从地球历史的节律角度讨论岩浆活动旋回。岩浆活动旋回可按时间与空间分出相互对应的不同尺度，进而可与深度尺度不同的地球多层对流系统相互对应，从而给予了岩浆活动旋回的动力学意义。岩浆活动的时间周期愈长，空间尺度亦愈大，需要的维持岩浆源存在的热能、挥发分供给的数量与深度亦愈大。     

Crystal morphologies in pillow basalts: implications for mid-ocean ridge processes

We present the results of a detailed petrological study of a sparsely phyric basalt (MAPCO CH98-DR11) dredged along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (30°41′N). The sample contains microphenocrysts of olivine that display four different rapid-growth morphologies. Comparison of these morphologies with those obtained in dynamic crystallization experiments allows us to constrain the thermal history of the sample. The dendritic morphology (swallowtail, chain and lattice olivine) is directly related to the final quenching during magma–seawater interaction. In contrast, the three other morphologies, namely the complex polyhedral crystal, the closed hopper and the complex swallowtail morphology result from several cycles of cooling–heating (corresponding to a maximum degree of undercooling of 20–25°C) during crystal growth. These thermal variations occurred before eruption and are interpreted to be the result of turbulent convection in a small magmatic body beneath the ridge. The results suggest that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is underlain by a mush zone that releases batches of liquid during tectonic segregation. Aphyric basalts are emitted during eruptions controlled by the tectonic activity, whereas phyric basalts correspond to small fractions of magma from the mush zone mobilized by reinjections of primitive magmas.     

Magmatic effects of the lunar late heavy bombardment

Large volumes of mare basalts are present on the surface of the moon, located preferentially in large impact basins. Mechanisms relating impact basins and mare basalt eruptions have previously been suggested: lunar impacts removed low-density material that may have inhibited eruption, and created cracks for fluid flow [Icarus 139 (1999) 246], and lunar basins have long been described as catchments for magma (e.g., [Rev. Geophys. Space Phys. 18 (1980) 107] and references therein). We present a new model for melt creation under near side lunar basins that is triggered by the impacts themselves. Magma can be produced in two stages. First, crater excavation depressurizes underlying material such that it may melt in-situ. Second, the cratered lithosphere rises isostatically, warping isotherms at the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary which may initiate convection, in which adiabatic melting can occur. The first stage produces by far the largest volume of melt, but convective melting can continue for up to 350 Ma. We propose that giant impacts account for a large portion of the volume and longevity of mare basalt volcanism, as well as for several compositional groups, including high alumina, high titanium, KREEP-rich, and picritic magmas.