Volcanic activity and great earthquakes at convergent plate margins

Volcanoes are unusually quiet for periods of a few years to a few decades prior to great shallow-thrust earthquakes. This is the most obvious part of an apparent pattern of volcanic activity related to the occurrence of great earthquakes at some convergent plate margins.     

Plate tectonics 2.5 billion years ago: evidence at kolar, South India

The Archean Kolar Schist Belt, south India, is a suture zone where two gneiss terranes and at least two amphibolite terranes with distinct histories were accrted. Amphibolites from the eastern and western sides of the schist belt have distinct incompatible element and isotopic characteristics sugesting that their volcanic protoliths were derived from dint mantle sources. The amphibolite and gneiss terranes were juxtaposed by horizontal compression and shearing between 2530 and 2420 million years ago (Ma) along a zone marked by the Kolar Schist Belt. This history of accretion of discrete crustal terranes resembles those of Phanerozoic convergent margins and thus suggests that plate tectonics operated on Earth by 2500 Ma.     

Trench-parallel anisotropy produced by foundering of arc lower crust

Many volcanic arcs display fast seismic shear-wave velocities parallel to the strike of the trench. This pattern of anisotropy is inconsistent with simple models of corner flow in the mantle wedge. Although several models, including slab rollback, oblique subduction, and deformation of water-rich olivine, have been proposed to explain trench-parallel anisotropy, none of these mechanisms are consistent with all observations. Instead, small-scale convection driven by the foundering of dense arc lower crust provides an explanation for the trench-parallel anisotropy, even in settings with orthogonal convergence and no slab rollback.     

Volcanism in response to plate flexure

Volcanism on Earth is known to occur in three tectonic settings: divergent plate boundaries (such as mid-ocean ridges), convergent plate boundaries (such as island arcs), and hot spots. We report volcanism on the 135 million-year-old Pacific Plate not belonging to any of these categories. Small alkalic volcanoes form from small percent melts and originate in the asthenosphere, as implied by their trace element geochemistry and noble gas isotopic compositions. We propose that these small volcanoes erupt along lithospheric fractures in response to plate flexure during subduction. Minor extents of asthenospheric melting and the volcanoes' tectonic alignment and age progression in the direction opposite to that of plate motion provide evidence for the presence of a small percent melt in the asthenosphere.     

Accelerated plate tectonics

The concept of a stressed elastic lithospheric plate riding on a viscous asthenosphere is used to calculate the recurrence interval of great earthquakes at convergent plate boundaries, the separation of decoupling and lithospheric earthquakes, and the migration pattern of large earthquakes along an arc. It is proposed that plate motions accelerate after great decoupling earthquakes and that most of the observed plate motions occur during short periods of time, separated by periods of relative quiescence.     

50-Ma initiation of Hawaiian-Emperor bend records major change in Pacific plate motion

The Hawaiian-Emperor bend has played a prominent yet controversial role in deciphering past Pacific plate motions and the tempo of plate motion change. New ages for volcanoes of the central and southern Emperor chain define large changes in volcanic migration rate with little associated change in the chain's trend, which suggests that the bend did not form by slowing of the Hawaiian hot spot. Initiation of the bend near Kimmei seamount about 50 million years ago (MA) was coincident with realignment of Pacific spreading centers and early magmatism in western Pacific arcs, consistent with formation of the bend by changed Pacific plate motion.     

Forearc deformation and great subduction earthquakes: implications for cascadia offshore earthquake potential

The maximum size of thrust earthquakes at the world's subduction zones appears to be limited by anelastic deformation of the overriding plate. Anelastic strain in weak forearcs and roughness of the plate interface produced by faults cutting the forearc may limit the size of thrust earthquakes by inhibiting the buildup of elastic strain energy or slip propagation or both. Recently discovered active strike-slip faults in the submarine forearc of the Cascadia subduction zone show that the upper plate there deforms rapidly in response to arc-parallel shear. Thus, Cascadia, as a result of its weak, deforming upper plate, may be the type of subduction zone at which great (moment magnitude approximately 9) thrust earthquakes do not occur.     

Subduction and slab detachment in the Mediterranean-Carpathian region

Seismic tomography models of the three-dimensional upper mantle velocity structure of the Mediterranean-Carpathian region provide a better understanding of the lithospheric processes governing its geodynamical evolution. Slab detachment, in particular lateral migration of this process along the plate boundary, is a key element in the lithospheric dynamics of the region during the last 20 to 30 million years. It strongly affects arc and trench migration, and causes along-strike variations in vertical motions, stress fields, and magmatism. In a terminal-stage subduction zone, involving collision and suturing, slab detachment is the natural last stage in the gravitational settling of subducted lithosphere.     

拱顶油罐罐顶设计中应注意的问题

扇形板形式的拱顶是国内拱顶油罐普遍采用的拱顶结构，其展开图按惯例都设计成两侧为直线，两端为圆弧的形状。但在实际安装中常出现扇形板中部搭接宽度达不到设计要求的问题，造成拱顶的返修，施工周期延长，经济效益下降。从剖析现有文献中给出的扇形板几何计算公式入手，对这一问题进行了深入研究，找到了扇形板中部搭连宽度不足的原因，通过对拱顶对接结构（不搭接）的扇形板几何计算，得出了扇形板侧边不是直线而是曲线的结论，     

Neptune's partial rings: action of galatea on self-gravitating arc particles

Numerical simulations of Neptune's arcs show that self-gravity between macroscopic arc particles can prevent interparticle impacts and thereby stabilize their resonant confinement by Galatea, a satellite of Neptune. Stable subkilometer arc particles provide a source for replenishing the observed dust and explain the clumpy substructure seen in arcs. A few confining kilometer-sized particles between the major arc components can account for the observed arc widths spanning several resonance sites. The modeled distribution of dust is consistent with observations and helps to explain how embedded satellites may affect the structure and evolution of planetary ring systems.     

Growth and sintering of fullerene nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes produced in arcs have been found to have the form of multiwalled fullerenes, at least over short lengths. Sintering of the tubes to each other is the predominant source of defects that limit the utility of these otherwise perfect fullerene structures. The use of a water-cooled copper cathode minimized such defects, permitting nanotubes longer than 40 micrometers to be attached to macroscopic electrodes and extracted from the bulk deposit. A detailed mechanism that features the high electric field at (and field-emission from) open nanotube tips exposed to the arc plasma, and consequent positive feedback effects from the neutral gas and plasma, is proposed for tube growth in such arcs.     

Rapid continental subsidence following the initiation and evolution of subduction

Dynamic topography resulting from initiation of slab subduction at an ocean-continent margin causes the continental lithosphere to subside rapidly. As subduction continues and the slab shallows, a basin depocenter and forebulge migrate in toward the continental interior. Finally, closure of the ocean basin leads to regional uplift. These active margin processes have commonly been ascribed to supracrustal loading, but numerical modeling shows that dynamic subsidence rates can exceed 100 meters per million years and are similar to rates of sediment accumulation along convergent North American plate margins over the Phanerozoic.     

寄生蜂在不同农业景观生境中的多样性

以福建武夷山的农业景观为背景,于2007年8月-10月在稻田、田埂和毗邻杂草地对寄生蜂进行系统调查和鉴定．结果表明：稻田中有86种寄生蜂,隶属16科;田埂中有113种寄生蜂,隶属18科;毗邻杂草地中有152种寄生蜂,隶属17科．分别采用Rarefaction曲线和多样性三维度量对稻田、田埂及其毗邻杂草地寄生蜂物种多样性进行比较研究．结果表明：田埂和稻田周围杂草地寄生蜂群落的物种丰度、多样性、优势集中度指数均比稻田高,而均匀性指数比稻田低．     

Tectonics and volcanism of eastern aphrodite terra, venus: no subduction, no spreading

Eastern Aphrodite Terra, a deformed region with high topographic relief on Venus, has been interpreted as analogous to a terrestrial extensional or convergent plate boundary. However, analysis of geological and structural relations indicates that the tectonics of eastern Aphrodite Terra is dominated by blistering of the crust by magma diapirs. The findings imply that, within this region, vertical tectonism dominates over horizontal tectonism and, consequently, that this region is neither a divergent nor a convergent plate boundary.     

ECONOMIC GEOLOGY: Lessons Learned from Deep-Sea Mining

The first attempt to exploit deep-sea manganese nodules ended in failure as a result of the collapse of world metal prices, the onerous provisions imposed by the U. N. Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the overoptimistic assumptions about the viability of nodule mining. Attention then focused on cobalt-rich manganese crusts from seamounts. Since the mid-1980s, a number of new players have committed themselves to long-term programs to establish the viability of mining deep-sea manganese nodules. These programs require heavy subsidy by host governments. Gold-rich submarine hydrothermal deposits located at convergent plate margins are now emerging as a more promising prospect for mining than deep-sea manganese deposits.     

Effect of water on the composition of partial melts of greenstone and amphibolite

Closed-system partial melts of hydrated, metamorphosed arc basalts and andesites (greenstones and amphibolites), where only water structurally bound in metamorphic minerals is available for melting (dehydration melting), are generally water-undersaturated, coexist with plagioclase-rich, anhydrous restites, and have compositions like island arc tonalites. In contrast, water-saturated melting at water pressures of 3 kilobars yields strongly peraluminous, low iron melts that coexist with an amphibolebearing, plagioclase-poor restite. These melt compositions are unlike those of most natural silicic rocks. Thus, dehydration melting over a range of pressures in the crust of island arcs is a plausible mechanism for the petrogenesis of islands arc tonalite, whereas water-saturated melting at pressure of 3 kilobars and above is not.     

Fallout of pyroclastic debris from submarine volcanic eruptions

Volcanic fallout deposits on land, being widespread and accessible for study, have received much attention and have revealed a great deal about subaerial eruption mechanisms. In contrast, virtually nothing is known about equivalent deposits produced by submarine volcanoes, despite the probable abundance of such material in today's oceans and in accreted volcanic arc terrains. Many submarine deposits may form by the fallout of debris to the sea floor downcurrent from the umbrella region of submarine eruption columns. Experiments on water-saturated pumice and pieces of rock (lithics) show that particles settling to the sea floor at terminal velocities of 10 to 50 centimeters per second will display conspicuous bimodality of particle diameters: pieces of pumice may be five to ten times as large as codeposited lithic fragments. Similar material, erupted into the air and deposited on land, displays less well-developed bimodality; pumice diameters are generally two to three times as large as associated lithics. Submarine fallout deposits are therefore distinctive and may be used to indicate a subaqueous origin for some of the great thicknesses of nonfossiliferous volcanic debris contained in ancient volcanic terrains worldwide whose environment of deposition has been uncertain.     

Strain accumulation in the shumagin and yakataga seismic gaps, alaska

Strain accumulation during the 1980-85 interval has been measured by means of trilateration surveys in the Shumagin and Yakataga seismic gaps, which are the two regions identified as the most likely sites for the next great thrust earthquakes along the Alaska-Aleutian arc. No significant strain accumulation was detected in the Shumagin gap, but experience at similar subduction zones and simple models of the subduction process suggest that a measurable amount of strain should have accumulated. The most likely explanation of the observation is that subduction there is either aseismic or episodic. The strain accumulation measured in the Yakataga gap is consistent with that expected for the plate convergence rate, although the direction of maximum compression may suggest a somewhat more oblique convergence than expected.     

The Archean Dongwanzi ophiolite complex, North China craton: 2.505-billion-year-old oceanic crust and mantle

We report a thick, laterally extensive 2505 +/- 2.2-million-year-old (uranium-lead ratio in zircon) Archean ophiolite complex in the North China craton. Basal harzburgite tectonite is overlain by cumulate ultramafic rocks, a mafic-ultramafic transition zone of interlayered gabbro and ultramafic cumulates, compositionally layered olivine-gabbro and pyroxenite, and isotropic gabbro. A sheeted dike complex is rooted in the gabbro and overlain by a mixed dike-pillow lava section, chert, and banded iron formation. The documentation of a complete Archean ophiolite implies that mechanisms of oceanic crustal accretion similar to those of today were in operation by 2.5 billion years ago at divergent plate margins and that the temperature of the early mantle was not extremely elevated, as compared to the present-day temperature. Plate tectonic processes similar to those of the present must also have emplaced the ophiolite in a convergent margin setting.     

Magma Beneath Yellowstone National park

The Yellowstone plateau volcanic field is less than 2 million years old, lies in a region of intense tectonic and hydrothermal activity, and probably has the potential for further volcanic activity. The youngest of three volcanic cycles in the field climaxed 600,000 years ago with a voluminous ashflow eruption and the collapse of two contiguous cauldron blocks. Doming 150,000 years ago, followed by voluminous rhyolitic extrusions as recently as 70,000 years ago, and high convective heat flow at present indicate that the latest phase of volcanism may represent a new magmatic insurgence. These observations, coupled with (i) localized postglacial arcuate faulting beyond the northeast margin of the Yellowstone caldera, (ii) a major gravity low with steep bounding gradients and an amplitude regionally atypical for the elevation of the plateau, (iii) an aeromagnetic low reflecting extensive hydrothermal alteration and possibly indicating the presence of shallow material above its Curie temperature, (iv) only minor shallow seismicity within the caldera (in contrast to a high level of activity in some areas immediately outside), (v) attenuation and change of character of seismic waves crossing the caldera area, and (vi) a strong azimuthal pattern of teleseismic P-wave delays, strongly suggest that a body composed at least partly of magma underlies the region of the rhyolite plateau, including the Tertiary volcanics immediately to its northeast. The Yellowstone field represents the active end of a system of similar volcanic foci that has migrated progressively northeastward for 15 million years along the trace of the eastern Snake River Plain (8). Regional aeromagnetic patterns suggest that this course was guided by the structure of the Precambrian basement. If, as suggested by several investigators (24), the Yellowstone magma body marks a contemporary deep mantle plume, this plume, in its motion relative to the North American plate, would appear to be "navigating" along a fundamental structure in the relatively shallow and brittle lithosphere overhead. The concept that a northeastwardpropagating major crustal fracture controls the migration path of the major foci of volcanisim is at least equally favored by existing data, as Smith et al. (19) noted.