An integral approach to bedrock river profile analysis

Bedrock river profiles are often interpreted with the aid of slope–area analysis, but noisy topographic data make such interpretations challenging. We present an alternative approach based on an integration of the steady‐state form of the stream power equation. The main component of this approach is a transformation of the horizontal coordinate that converts a steady‐state river profile into a straight line with a slope that is simply related to the ratio of the uplift rate to the erodibility. The transformed profiles, called chi plots, have other useful properties, including co‐linearity of steady‐state tributaries with their main stem and the ease of identifying transient erosional signals. We illustrate these applications with analyses of river profiles extracted from digital topographic datasets. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rifting process and thermal evolution of the continental margin of Eastern Canada determined from subsidence curves

The subsidence history of the Nova Scotia and Labrador shelves, determined from deep exploratory well data, indicates that these regions underwent extension during rifting in the Early Jurassic and Late Cretaceous, respectively, and have since subsided passively due to conductive cooling of the lithosphere. The timing of the extension process is consistent with the ages of oldest sea floor adjacent to these margins. Extension parameters determined from the subsidence history of the Nova Scotian margin indicate both crustal and subcrustal material extended by approximately the same amount. For Labrador, the extension parameters indicate that the mantle lithosphere was extended considerably more than the crust. The magnitudes of extension on both margins are in good agreement with observed crustal thickness determined from seismic refraction data. Profiles depicting the sedimentary stratigraphies and depth to basement were constructed across each margin. The temperature distribution within the sediments was calculated from the extension parameters using a two-dimensional model with sediment units of varying thickness, radioactive heat production, and conductivity. The calculated temperature distribution across the margins is in good agreement with bottom hole temperatures measured in deep exploratory wells, and with surface heat flow measurements where they are available. Similar plots of temperature paleotemperature within the sediments suggest that thermal conditions have been favorable for hydrocarbon generation in some of the older strata.     

中国四川2008年5月12日汶川地震的地质与地球物理背景

2008年5月12日, 在青藏高原东缘的龙门山, 发生了MW7.9地震. 这一地震是在青藏高原长期隆升和向东推挤的背景下形成的. 发生地震的区域有以下典型的地质特征: 不是陡峭山前的活动汇聚造山带(包括地形起伏大于4 km的情况), 而是缺少高活动强度的低角度逆冲断层;虽拥有年轻的高地形(距今15 Ma)和加厚的地壳, 但是却只有低的GPS缩短率(小于3 mm/a), 并且缺少同时代的前陆沉积. 在我们看来, 青藏高原东部下面的地壳加厚不是因为上部地壳的大范围缩短, 而是由于位于软弱层(低速层)中的深部地壳的韧性增厚. 横跨龙门山的晚新生代缩短量可能仅有10～20 km, 且伴有主要造成青藏高原和四川盆地差异抬升的褶皱和断裂. 5月12日的地震可能反映了青藏高原东部相对四川盆地的带有缓慢的汇聚和右旋走滑的长期抬升. 5月12日地震邻区内GPS确定的速率表明, 该地震的平均复发间隔大约为2 000～10 000年.     

Thermobarometric and40Ar/39Ar geochronologic constraints on Eohimalayan metamorphism in the Dinggyê area,southern Tibet

Mineral assemblages in the Dinggyê area of southern Tibet (28°N; 88°E) provide new insights regarding the poorly understood Eohimalayan metamorphic event in the eastern Himalayan orogen. Major element partitioning thermobarometry of pelitic rocks indicates temperatures of 750–830 K at depths of 14±3 km, consistent with the presence of kyanite, sillimanite, and andalusite schists in the area. Laser and resistance furnace⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analyses of hornblendes from intercalated amphibolites yield closure ages of 25 Ma. Overlap between the probable range of Ar closure temperatures for these hornblendes and the metamorphic temperatures estimated through thermobarometry suggests that Eohimalayan metamorphism in the Dinggyê area occurred in Late Oligocene time, no more than about 10 million years before the main or Neohimalayan phase of metamorphism in Early to Middle Miocene time. Muscovite, biotite, and K-feldspar⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages indicate an important episode of rapid cooling between 16 and 13 Ma, which is interpreted as a signature of tectonic denudation related to movement on N-dipping extensional structures of the South Tibetan detachment system.     

Flexural uplift of the Stara Planina range, central Bulgaria

The Stara Planina is an E–W-trending range within the Balkan belt in central Bulgaria. This topographically high mountain range was the site of Mesozoic through early Cenozoic thrusting and convergence, and its high topography is generally thought to have resulted from crustal shortening associated with those events. However, uplift of this belt appears to be much younger than the age of thrusting and correlates instead with the age of Pliocene–Quaternary normal faulting along the southern side of the range. Flexural modelling indicates the morphology of the range is consistent with flexural uplift of footwall rocks during Pliocene–Quaternary displacement on S-dipping normal faults bounding the south side of the mountains, provided that the effective elastic plate thickness of 12  km under the Moesian platform is reduced to about 3  km under the Stara Planina. This small value of elastic plate thickness under the Stara Planina is similar to values observed in the Basin and Range Province of the western United States, and suggests that weakening of the lithosphere is due to heating of the lithosphere during extension, perhaps to the point that large-scale flow of material is possible within the lower crust. Because weakening is observed to affect the Moesian lithosphere for ≈10  km beyond (north of) the surface expression of extension, this study suggests that processes within the uppermost mantle, such as convection, play an active role in the extension process. The results of this study also suggest that much of the topographic relief in thrust belts where convergence is accompanied by coeval extension in the upper plate (or 'back arc'), such as in the Apennines, may be a flexural response to unloading during normal faulting, rather than a direct response to crustal shortening in the thrust belt.     

The effects of accretion, erosion and radiogenic heat on the metamorphic evolution of collisional orogens

Petrological and thermochronological data provide our best record of the thermal structure of deeply eroded orogens, and, in principle, might be used to relate the metamorphic structure of an orogen to its deformational history. In this paper, we present a two-dimensional thermal model of collisional orogens that includes the processes of accretion and erosion to examine the P – T  evolution of rocks advected through the orogen. Calculated metamorphic patterns are similar to those observed in the field; metamorphic temperatures, depths and ages generally increase with distance from the toe of the orogen; P – T  paths are anti-clockwise, with rocks heating during burial and early stages of unroofing, followed by cooling during late-stage unroofing. The results indicate that peak metamorphic temperatures within the core of a collisional orogen and the distance from the toe of an orogen to the metamorphic core can be related to the relative rates of accretion, erosion and plate convergence. Model orogens displaying high metamorphic temperatures (>600  °C) are associated with low ratios of accretion rate to plate convergence velocity and with high heat flow through the foreland. Model orogens with metamorphic cores far from the toe of the orogen are associated with high ratios of accretion rate to erosion rate. Calculated metamorphic gradients mimic steady-state geotherms, and inverted thermal gradients can be preserved in the metamorphic record, suggesting reconsideration of the concept that the metamorphic record does not closely reflect geothermal gradients within an orogen.     

青藏高原东部及周边现时地壳运动

通过1991—2001年期间在青藏高原东部及周边地区的GPS测量,获得该地区不同参考框架下的地壳运动速度场,其测量的速度精度高于2mm／yr。印度板块与华北地块之间的地壳形变分为喜马拉雅及高原南部、高原中部(拉萨—格尔木)和高原北部(格尔木—金塔)三部分,它们分别吸收了印度板块与欧亚板块汇聚速率的43％、24％和32％。在欧亚框架下和相对于成都,印度板块和华南地块之间存在着以东喜马拉雅构造结为轴心的顺时针巨型涡旋构造——滇藏涡旋构造,运动速度分别为26～6mm／yr和24～7mm／yr,总体上从北东方向转变为南东和南西方向,有别于青藏高原中部的北东方向。滇藏涡旋和东喜马拉雅构造结的形成与南迦巴瓦—阿萨姆“犄角”的楔入作用有关。