Controls on low-pressure anatexis

Low-pressure anatexis, whereby rocks melt in place after passing through the andalusite stability field, develops under more restricted conditions than does low-pressure metamorphism. Our thermal modelling and review of published work indicate that the following mechanisms, operating alone, may induce anatexis in typical pelitic rocks without inducing wholesale melting in the lower crust: (i) magmatic advection by pervasive flow; (ii) crustal-scale detachment faulting; and (iii) the presence of a high heat-producing layer. Of these, only magmatic advection by pervasive flow and crustal-scale detachment faulting have been shown quantitatively to provide sufficient heat to cause widespread melting. Combinations of the above mechanisms with pluton-scale magmatic advection, shear heating, removal of the lithospheric mantle, or with each other provide additional means of developing suitable high temperatures at shallow crustal levels to generate low-pressure anatexis.     

北秦岭二郎坪群低压变质作用研究

在对二郎坪群低压变质带进行相图分析后发现，二郎坪群低压变质带是叠加变质带，低压变质作用是在早期中压变质的抬升过程中发生的，中压变质的温压条件为0．5-0．6GPa、560～580℃，低压变质的压力为0．3-0．45GPa，红柱石-十字石带的温度为510～580℃，堇青石带为590-620℃。pT视剖面图在区分岩石中不同条件和期次的矿物组合及分析岩石温压演化历史和温压条件时显得更行之有效。     

Multiple intrusions and low-pressure metamorphism in the central Old Woman Mountains, south-eastern California: constraints from thermal modelling

The Old Woman Mountains in south-eastern California are a Late Cretaceous low-pressure metamorphic terrane where multiple magmatic intrusions generated broad regions of elevated metamorphic temperatures. In the Scanlon Gulch area, two sheet-like, Late Cretaceous granitoid plutons are in contact with the Scanlon shear zone, a 1-km-thick sheet of isoclinally folded and transposed metamorphic rocks. The metaluminous Old Woman granodiorite underlies the shear zone and the peraluminous Sweetwater Wash granite overlies it. Both plutons record emplacement ages of ∼74 Ma. Thermobarometry and phase relations in the shear zone suggest that peak metamorphism was at 650 ± 50† C and 4.3 ± 0.5 kbar. Late Cretaceous metamorphic temperatures were less elsewhere in the Old Woman Mountains, away from the intrusions.
One-dimensional thermal models are used to investigate how differences in the time between the emplacement of plutons would affect the thermal evolution of the central Old Woman Mountains. The prediction of a thermal history inferred from petrological and thermochronological data requires the rapid emplacement of the two plutons around the shear zone; simulations with delays of more than 1 Myr in the emplacement of the second pluton failed to predict peak metamorphic temperatures. Calculations which consider only the emplacement of a single pluton yield metamorphic temperatures that are too low. The time separating the intrusions is by far the most sensitive parameter in the calculations; assumptions concerning the treatment of the initial geothermal gradient and the latent heat of crystallization have relatively small effects on the predicted thermal histories. Our results suggest that for certain geometries, relatively short-lived magmatic events involving rapid emplacement of multiple intrusions can produce low-pressure metamorphism.     

Thermal evolution of the Ryoke metamorphic belt, southwestern Japan: Tectonic and numerical modeling

Abstract The Ryoke metamorphic belt of southwestern Japan is composed of Cretaceous Ryoke granitoids and associated metamorphic rocks of low-pressure facies series. The Ryoke granitoids are divided into sheet-like bodies (e.g. Gamano granodiorite) and stock-like bodies. The Gamano granodiorite intruded concordantly into the high-grade metamorphic rocks without development of a contact metamorphic aureole, and the intrusion ages of the granodiorite are similar to the ages of thermal peak of the low pressure (low-P) metamorphism. It is suggested that the low-P Ryoke metamorphism resulted from the intrusion of the Gamano granodiorite. In this study, a simple 1-D numerical model of conductive heat transfer was used to evaluate the thermal effects of emplacement of the Gamano granodiorite. Calculated temperature-time ( T-t ) paths are characterized by a rapid increase of metamorphic temperature and a relatively short-lived period of high temperature. For example, the T-t path at the 15-km depth is characterized by a rapid average increase in temperature of 1.4 × 10-³°C/year and high temperatures for < ca 0.5 Ma. The calculated peak temperature for each depth is nearly equal to the petrologically estimated value for each correlated metamorphic zone. The results suggest that the magma-intrusion model is one possible thermal model for low-pressure facies series metamorphism.     

Low-pressure regional metamorphism in the Omeo Metamorphic Complex, Victoria, Australia

The Omeo Metamorphic Complex forms the southern end of the Wagga Metamorphic Belt, which is the main locus of Palaeozoic low-pressure metamorphism in the Lachlan Fold Belt, south-eastern Australia. It comprises metamorphosed Ordovician quartz-rich turbidites originally derived from Precambrian cratonic rocks. Prograde regional metamorphism occurred in the early Silurian, very soon after sedimentation had ceased. The sequence of metamorphic zones, with increasing grade, is: chlorite, biotite, cordierite, andalusite–K-feldspar and sillimanite–K-feldspar. Migmatites occur in the sillimanite–K-feldspar zone, but large bodies of S-type granite were derived from rocks underlying the exposed Ordovician sequence. P and T estimates for the highest grade rocks are T = 700°C and P = 3.5 kbar, indicating a very high P–T gradient of 65°C/km.
The high heat flow during prograde metamorphism probably resulted from a combination of a thermal anomaly persisting from a pre-metamorphic back-arc basin environment, and intrusion of hot, mantle-derived magmas into the lower and middle crust.
Regional retrograde metamorphism coincided with a general reheating of the crust in the Siluro-Devonian, accompanied by intrusion of many I-type plutons and resetting of the K–Ar dates of some earlier plutons. The Omeo Metamorphic Complex was exposed to erosion at this time.     

THE LOW-PRESSURE SYSTEM IN THE VERTICAL VELOCITY OMEGA ON THE SCALE OF SYSTEM SENSITIVITY

In this study, the relationship between scale and vertical velocity in a low-pressure system is explored using the wave characteristics of atmospheric disturbances and the structural characteristics of low-pressure systems. The ω differential equation, as determined by the transient geopotential height field Φ, is solved to obtain an analytical solution composed only of wavelength, horizontal speed, and atmospheric stability, i.e., the ω diagnostic equation of a low-pressure system. This equation also shows that vertical velocity in the low-pressure system is very sensitive to the horizontal scale, i.e., a smaller horizontal scale means a larger vertical velocity.     

低压密闭消解-电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法测定地质样品中的硼

采用酸溶-电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法(ICP-OES)测定地质样品中的全硼量,关键环节在于如何防止样品消解过程中硼元素的损失,降低测量过程中的基体干扰、光谱干扰和记忆效应。基于以上问题,本文采用氢氟酸-硝酸-高氯酸-磷酸在低压密闭溶样罐中消解样品,溶出的硼元素与少量磷酸充分络合,防止硼的挥发损失;以基体及主成分浓度与样品相类似的地质类固体标准物质绘制标准曲线做线性校准,有效匹配和降低样品的基体干扰;采用仪器自带的操作软件,观察分析谱线附近是否存在其他元素的干扰,来确定背景扣除最佳的位置及宽度,降低ICP-OES测量中的光谱干扰;以10%的王水作为进样系统的冲洗液,有效消减测量过程中的记忆效应。当稀释因子为200时,方法的检出限(3SD)为1.2μg/g,定量限(10SD)为4.0μg/g;用岩石、土壤及水系沉积物国家一级标准物质对精密度及准确度进行分析验证,11次测定相对标准偏差为1.8%～7.9%,相对误差为-3.6%～6.3%;以外检分析结果为参考,对硼含量在定量限以上的样品测定,相对误差为-9.3%～12.5%。     

Application of low-pressure gas adsorption to nanopore structure characterisation of organic-rich lower Cambrian shale in the Upper Yangtze Platform,South China

The pores in shales are mainly on a nanometer scale, and the pore-size distribution is vital with regard to the preservation and exploitation of shale gas. This study focuses on the organic-rich lower Cambrian black shale in the Upper Yangtze Platform, South China and investigates their TOC, mineralogical composition and nanopore structure. Low-pressure N₂ and CO₂ adsorption experiments were conducted at 77.35 K and 273.15 K, respectively, and the nanopore structures were characterised by the modified Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, Dubinin–Radushkevich, t-plot, Barrett–Joyner–Halenda and density functional theory (DFT) methods. The results indicate the following. (1) The lower Cambrian shale has a high TOC content (1.77–7.23 wt%) and a high quartz content (27.7–51.6 vol%). The total specific surface area varies from 12.02 to 28.87 m²/g. Both the total specific surface area and quartz content are positively associated with the TOC content. (2) Shale samples with a higher TOC content have a greater number of micropores, resulting in more complicated nanopore structures. Micropore volumes/surface areas and non-micropore surface areas all increase with increasing TOC content, indicating that TOC is the key factor determining the nanopore structure of the lower Cambrian shale. (3) A combination of N₂ and CO₂ adsorption provides the most suitable detection range (～0.3–60 nm) and is both highly reliable and accurate with regard to nanopore structure characterisation.     

From Celsius to Chaos to Cyclones: Using Temperature-Conversion Equations to Introduce Advanced Mathematical Concepts in Earth Science Courses

The Fahrenheit-to-Celsius temperature-conversion equation is a basic component of many introductory earth science courses. Despite its simplicity, it presents a challenge to students and instructors alike because residents of the United States are unfamiliar with the Celsius scale. By solving for the point at which these two temperature scales are equal, it is possible to use the equations for temperature conversion as a springboard to more advanced topics. It is demonstrated that temperature-conversion equations and chaotic equations can be solved using identical numerical and graphical techniques. As a result, the fundamental concepts of chaos theory and numerical methods can be introduced to students in the context of the simplest equations in the earth sciences. These solution methods are applied to the quantitative theory of the extratropical cyclone as an example of the utility and broad scope of this educational approach.     

Palaeozoic Intraplate Crustal Anatexis in the Mount Painter Province, South Australia: Timing, Thermal Budgets and the Role of Crustal Heat Production

The effect of radiogenic heat production within the crust onthermal processes such as crustal anatexis is generally disregardedas bulk geochemical models suggest that crustal heat generationrates are too low to effect significant heating. However, theMount Painter Province in northern South Australia is characterizedby a total crustal contribution to surface heat flow of morethan twice the global average. The province is composed dominantlyof Proterozoic granites and granite gneisses with an area averageheat production of 16·1 µW/m³; individual lithologieshave heat production >60 µW/m³. These Proterozoic rocksare intruded by the British Empire Granite, a younger intrusivewhose origin has remained enigmatic. Isotope geochemistry suggestscrustal sources for the melt and it has a crystallization ageof 440–450 Ma, which places the setting >750 km inboardof the nearest active plate boundary zone at this time. Phaseequilibria calculations suggest that temperatures of at least720–750°C are required to produce the granite butthe intensity of crustal thickening during Palaeozoic deformation(12%) cannot account for these conditions. Here we describea model for the generation of the British Empire Granite inwhich the primary thermal perturbation for mid-crustal anatexiswas provided by the burial of the high heat-producing MountPainter basement rocks beneath the known thickness of Neoproterozoiccover sediments. The high heat-producing rocks at Mount Painterimply that the natural range and variability of crustal heatproduction is much greater than previously believed, with importantconsequences for our understanding of temperature-dependentcrustal processes including the exploitation of geothermal energyresources. KEY WORDS: geothermal energy; low-pressure anatexis; thermal conductivity; thermal regime