http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000905

Although there has been significant progress in the seismic imaging of mantle heterogeneity,the outstanding issue that remains to be resolved is the unknown distribution of mantle temperature anomalies in the distant geological past that give rise to the present-day anomalies inferred by global tomography models.To address this question,we present 3-D convection models in compressible and self-gravitating mantle initialised by different hypothetical temperature patterns.A notable feature of our forward convection modelling is the use of self-consistent coupling of the motion of surface tectonic plates to the underlying mantle flow,without imposing prescribed surface velocities(i.e.,plate-like boundary condition).As an approximation for the surface mechanical conditions before plate tectonics began to operate we employ the no-slip(rigid) boundary condition.A rigid boundary condition demonstrates that the initial thermally-dominated structure is preserved,and its geographical location is fixed during the evolution of mantle flow.Considering the impact of different assumed surface boundary conditions(rigid and plate-like) on the evolution of thermal heterogeneity in the mantle we suggest that the intrinsic buoyancy of seven superplumes is most-likely resolved in the tomographic images of present-day mantle thermal structure.Our convection simulations with a plate-like boundary condition reveal that the evolution of an initial cold anomaly beneath the Java-Indonesian trench system yields a long-term,stable pattern of thermal heterogeneity in the lowermost mantle that resembles the presentday Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces(LLSVPs),especially below the Pacific.The evolution of subduction zones may be,however,influenced by the mantle-wide flow driven by deeply-rooted and longlived superplumes since Archean times.These convection models also detect the intrinsic buoyancy of the Perm Anomaly that has been identified as a unique slow feature distinct from the two principal LLSVPs.We find there is no need for dense chemical ’piles’ in the lower mantle to generate a stable distribution of temperature anomalies that are correlated to the LLSVPs and the Perm Anomaly.Our tomography-based convection simulations also demonstrate that intraplate volcanism in the south-east Pacific may be interpreted in terms of shallow small-scale convection triggered by a superplume beneath the East Pacific Rise.     

基于热点参考系的板块绝对运动模型

本文在最新一代板块相对运动模型(MORVEL模型)的基础上,通过最小二乘反演观测热点方向数据建立板块绝对运动模型.经过对前人用于约束板块绝对运动模型的所有热点数据与MORVEL模型的一致性作系统的统计学检验,发现存在离群数据.相应地,提出两种系统剔除离群数据的新方法:逐一剔除法和全局搜索法.结合对总残差的卡方检验和对残差频率分布的正态检验,逐步筛选最优模型,最终得到一个基于热点参考系的板块绝对运动新模型(T87模型).该模型能够合理拟合全球分布的87个热点方向数据,而模型预测的板块绝对运动速率比观测热点火山的迁移速率系统偏小,最大偏差达到4 cm·a~(-1).这样的偏差可由观测热点速率的系统误差或地幔返回流造成的热点间运动解释.不论是哪种解释成立,本文结果表明热点方向数据能够独立、有效地定义全球热点参考系.这样定义的热点参考系可方便地应用于板块绝对运动、地幔对流及真极移的研究.     

Agricultural lands are hot-spots for annual runoff polluting the southern Great Barrier Reef lagoon

The world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), continues to be degraded from land-based pollution. Information about the source of pollutants is critical for catchment management to improve GBR water quality. We report here on an 11-year source to sea study of pollutant delivery in runoff from the Fitzroy River Basin (FRB), the largest GBR catchment. An innovative technique that relates land use to pollutant generation is presented. Study results indicate that maximum pollutant concentrations at basin and sub-catchment scales are closely related to the percentage area of croplands receiving heavy rain. However, grazing lands contribute the majority of the long-term average annual load of most common pollutants. Findings suggest improved land management targets, rather than water quality targets should be implemented to reduce GBR pollution. This study provides a substantial contribution to the knowledge base for the targeted management of pollution ‘hot-spots’ to improve GBR water quality.     

Seamount volcanism associated with the Xigaze ophiolite, Southern Tibet

Basaltic lavas at Renbu, Southern Tibet are associated with the Xigaze ophiolite in the Yarlung-Zangbo suture zone. They are alkaline lavas rich in large ion lithophile elements (LILE, Ba, Rb and Sr) and high field strength elements (HFSE, Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf), but poor in Cr, Co and Ni. All of the rocks have chondrite-normalized REE patterns enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE), comparable to modern basalts of the Society Islands, Kerguelen Plateau and Broken Ridge. Abundances of some immobile or moderately immobile elements (Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, Y, Ti and REE) are also comparable to Kerguelen alkaline basalts. The Renbu basalts are geochemically similar to oceanic island basalts (OIB) and have some elemental ratios, such as Nb/Ta ratios = 15.7–18.1, Th/Nb =  0.06–0.10, La/Nb = 0.59–0.83 and Th/Ta = 1.03–1.52, similar to the primitive mantle. Their ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (0.70453–0.70602) are relatively high, similar to OIB. In the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr vs. εNd(t) diagram, the Renbu basalts plot along a trend from N-MORB to EMII (enriched mantle II), suggesting the involvement of at least two mantle sources in their generation. The Renbu basalts represent seamount volcanism associated with the Xigaze ophiolite. They formed from an OIB-type mantle source within the Neo-Tethyan Ocean that had a composition similar to the modern Indian Ocean mantle.     

How deep is your love – Of nature? A psychological and spatial analysis of the depth of feelings towards Dutch nature areas

The most binding nature protection policy in the Netherlands and the EU primarily designates areas based on ecological value, ensuring their sustained protection. Of less concern to these policies are the current and future needs of the average citizen, who is experiencing increases in education, income, and health. This paper argues that although existing policies protect biodiversity needs, the spatialemotional needs of the public are of similarly high importance. We analyze the spatial and emotional characteristics of favorite natural places in the Netherlands selected on the Hotspotsmonitor survey. Content analysis of the open question, "Why is this place important to you?" identified three categories: peace & quiet, explore, and peak. These were mapped using GIS to identify predominant hotspots and compared against the most binding nature protection policy - Natura 2000. The important societal benefits of augmenting ecologically based nature protection policies with emotional valuation are discussed.     

Hotspots vs. harmspots: Shifting the focus from counts to harm in the criminology of place

The prevailing pattern in much of the social sciences, including geography and criminology, relies on count data. “Hotspots” — geospatial areas with disproportionally more crime than the rest of the city — are usually identified by the number of events in these areas. Yet no attention is given to their severity, or any other weighting system of harm, despite the common-sense view that not all crimes are created equal. To illustrate the value of focusing on harm in addition to count data, we turn to a spatial analysis of crime by observing crime concentrations (hotspots) against harm concentrations (harmspots), across fifteen councils in the United Kingdom. The definition of “harm” is based on the Sentencing Guidelines for England and Wales, as each crime category (n = 415) attracts a different severity weight. Both “hotspots” and “harmspots” are defined as being at least 2 standard deviations from the mean distribution within each city: This procedure creates comparable datasets. The data suggest that half of all crime events are concentrated within 3% of all street segments in the selected councils, yet harm is even more heavily concentrated, with half of all harm located in just 1% of each council [OR = 3.49; 95% CI 3.268–3.728]. The intra-unit variance was also reduced by approximately half — from 0.75% to 0.45%. We discuss the implications of using harm, in addition to counts, for research and policy by arguing that a shift in focus is required both for the development of theories and for cost-effective prevention strategies.     

Fishers sharing real-time information about “bad” fishing locations. A tool for quota optimisation under a regime of landing obligations

There is an increasing pressure on the fisheries to avoid bycatch and discards. In the EU this is seen in landing obligations in the new Common Fisheries Policy. The European fisheries are thus under pressure to be highly selective both in adjusting catches to the individual or collective quota combinations and to be size selective in order to optimise the economic outcome of the available quota. This paper proposes a strategy of time-place selectivity by sharing real-time data and information between vessels about areas with high abundance of unwanted species and sizes (hotspots). The paper examines use of time-place regulation, risks/benefits of sharing knowledge and experiences from a previous real-time information sharing system as basis for developing the four models for fisher's sharing of information. The models differ with regard to data and information collection methods, who owns and access the data and hotspot warnings. The models are tested through a discussion of the possible application of the models in the context of the nephrops trawl fishery in Kattegat and Skagerrak. Based on this the models are proposed as possible tools for the fishing industry and managers when adjusted to specific local conditions, and a recommendation for policy support of development of information sharing systems is outlined.     

A comparison of selected global disaster risk assessment results

We compare country risk rankings derived from two recently published global disaster risk analyses. One set of country rankings is based on the Disaster Risk Index (DRI) developed by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Division of Early Warning and Assessment Global Resource Information Database project under a contract to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The other is based on an index of disaster mortality risk developed by the Global Natural Disaster Risk Hotspots project implemented by Columbia University, the World Bank and associated partners. We convert data from these sources into two comparable indexes of disaster mortality risk and rank countries according to the resulting values for a set of natural hazards common to both studies. The country rankings are moderately correlated, ranging from .41 to .56 for individual hazards to .31 for multi-hazard mortality risks. We identify the top 25 countries according to the mortality risk values we recomputed from each study’s results to show the degree to which countries are highly ranked in common. The numbers of countries common to both lists for individual hazards range from 7 to 16 out of 25. The correspondence among the top 25 ranked countries is lowest for earthquakes and floods. Only 6 out of 25 countries are common to both lists in the multi-hazard case. We suggest that while the convergence in the results for some hazards is encouraging, more work is needed to improve data and methods, particularly with respect to assessing the role of vulnerability in the creation of risk and the calculation of multi-hazard risks. The views expressed are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of SM2 Consulting Multi-Hazards and Risk Holistic Solutions or the United Nations Development Program.     

Multiscale seismic tomography and mantle dynamics

In this article we first introduce the methodology of multiscale seismic tomography and the way to interpret the obtained tomographic images, and then review the significant recent results of multiscale seismic tomography with emphasis on mantle plumes and subducting slabs. Global and regional tomography shows that most of the slab materials under Western Pacific and East Asia are stagnant in the mantle transition zone before finally collapsing down to the core–mantle boundary as a result of large gravitational instability from phase transitions. Local and teleseismic tomography studies have imaged clearly the subducting slabs and arc magma chambers in the upper-mantle wedge, indicating that geodynamic systems associated with arc magmatism and back-arc spreading are related to deep processes, such as convective circulation in the mantle wedge and dehydration reactions of the subducting slab. Because most hotspots are located in poorly instrumented continental and oceanic regions, 3-D crust and upper-mantle structure is determined for only a few hotspots such as Iceland, Yellowstone and Eifel which are covered by seismic networks, and plume-like slow anomalies are revealed under those hotspots. Global tomography has revealed deep mantle plumes under the major hotspots such as Hawaii, Iceland, Kerguelen, South Pacific and Africa. Strong lateral heterogeneities are revealed at the bottom of the mantle, which are associated with the deeply subducted slabs and the birth of mantle plumes. A thorough understanding of the deep Earth structure will only be achieved by a combination of more effective seismic imaging techniques and dense coverage of global seismic networks, particularly in the oceans.     

Seismic images under 60 hotspots: Search for mantle plumes

The mantle plume hypothesis is now widely known to explain hotspot volcanoes, but direct evidence for actual plumes is weak, and seismic images are available for only a few hotspots. In this work, we present whole-mantle tomographic images under 60 major hotspots on Earth. The lateral resolution of the tomographic images is about 300 km under the continental hotspots and 400–600 under the oceanic hotspots. Twelve plume-like, continuous low-velocity (low-V) anomalies in both the upper and lower mantle are visible under Hawaii, Tahiti, Louisville, Iceland, Cape Verde, Reunion, Kerguelen, Amsterdam, Afar, Eifel, Hainan, and Cobb hotspots, suggesting that they may be 12 whole-mantle plumes originating from the core–mantle boundary (CMB). Clear upper-mantle low-V anomalies are visible under Easter, Azores, Vema, East Australia, and Erebus hotspots, which may be 5 upper-mantle plumes. A mid-mantle plume may exist under the San Felix hotspot. The active intra-plate volcanoes in Northeast Asia (e.g., Changbai, Wudalianchi, etc.) are related to the stagnant Pacific slab in the mantle transition zone. The Tengchong volcano in Southwest China is related to the subduction of the Burma microplate under the Eurasian plate. Although low-V anomalies are generally visible in some depth range in the mantle under other hotspots, their plume features are not clear, and their origins are still unknown. The 12 whole-mantle plumes show tilted images, suggesting that plumes are not fixed in the mantle but can be deflected by the mantle flow. In most cases, the seismic images under the hotspots are complex, particularly around the mantle transition zone. A thin low-V layer is visible right beneath the 660-km discontinuity under some hotspots, while under a few other hotspots, low-V anomalies spread laterally just above the 660-km discontinuity. These may reflect ponding of plume materials in the top part of the lower mantle or the bottom of the upper mantle. The variety of behaviors of the low-V anomalies under hotspots reflects strong lateral variations in temperature and viscosity of the mantle, which control the generation and ascending of mantle plumes as well as the flow pattern of mantle convection.