The influence of crustal rheology on plate subduction based on numerical modeling results

Computer simulation of subduction was performed using nonlinear equations of deformable solid mechanics encompassing all types of nonlinearity: geometric, physical, and contact. This study presents a numerical model of subduction with allowance for the gabbro-to-eclogite phase transition. The model rheology is a plastic compressible material (Mohr-Coulomb law for a deformed rock material). It was shown that deep subduction can be modeled well with the selection of appropriate parameters of rock plasticity providing the initial thickening in the subducting slab nose.     

Computer modeling of granite magma diapirism in the Earth’s crust

A new point of view describing processes of partial melting and development of gravitational instability in a thickening crust with increased thickness of the granite layer is suggested. Numeral experiments support the following main conclusions. The critical volume of partially melted material should be formed for the beginning of flotation in a gravitational field. Due to model estimations, the height of the melting area in the granite crust should be not less than 6–7 km. A mushroom-shaped form of the floating body was observed in all models regardless of the thermal source size (fixed or variable width): the high temperature channel (magma leader) and head body of the diapir are formed. The height of diapir floating depends on rheological features of the surrounding crust: 10 times increase in the yield strength (from 1 to 10 MPa) while temperature decrease confines the possible level of rising to a depth of 15–16 km. An elevation of about 750 m is formed in the day surface relief above the axis part of the diapir.     

The nature of the heat source of mafic magmatism during the formation of the Vilyui rift based on the ages of dike swarms and results of numerical modeling

Possible mechanisms of rifting and the thermal regime of the lithosphere beneath the rift zone of the Vilyui sedimentary basin are considered based on the available isotopic ages of dike swarms, rates of sedimentation, and results of numerical modeling. Temporal correlations between the intrusion of mafic magma and a sharp increase in the rate of subsidence and sedimentation in the rift basin prove the contribution of both plate-tectonic and magmatic factors to the formation of the Vilyui rift. The results show a relationship between the rapid extension of the lithosphere and the formation of mafic dike swarms in the Yakutsk-Vilyui Large Igneous Province of the Siberian Platform at the Frasnian-Famennian boundary, with a peak at ~ 374.1 Ma, and at the end of the Late Devonian, with a peak at ~ 363.4 Ma. There were two pulses of dike formation during rapid subsidence of the basin basement in the period 380-360 Ma, with a sedimentation rate of 100-130 m/Myr, at a background rate of 10-20 m/Myr. Analysis of numerical thermomechanical models revealed that the best-fit model is that combining the mechanisms of intraplate extension (passive rifting) and the ascent of a mantle magmatic diapir (active rifting). A conclusion about the nature of the heat source of trap magmatism has been drawn: The plume-driven regime of the lithosphere can better explain the dynamics of extension during rifting than the decompression melting mechanism.     

Numerical modeling of mantle diapirism as a cause of intracontinental rifting

The numerical model of mantle diapirism and active rifting is developed. The model describes the possibility of extension and thinning of the Earth’s crust under the action of a local 100-km long heat source in the sublithospheric mantle, which causes melting and rising of the magmatic diapir through the cratonic lithosphere. The model combines the mechanisms of the uplifting of the anomalously hot material due to its gravitational instability, underplating of magma beneath the continental crust, and its extension by the forces of the convective flows at the base of the plate. The obtained results shed light on some geological features of the joint formation of the large Vilyui igneous province and Vilyui sedimentary basin.