横贯南极山脉的幕式隆起

1 绪言实际上横跨整个南极洲的横贯南极山脉是一条巨大的内陆山脉,延伸达3500km,海拔高度大于4000m(图1),成为东南极洲与西南极洲的分界线,该山脉被认为是隆起在一个内板块背景上的巨大裂谷肩构造。横贯南极山脉向海侧(西南极洲一侧)有一个陡峭而壮观的悬崖(图2),该处被直落到海岸的陡峭的正断层所限定;沿这一侧也有一条在山脉下面为40～45km厚的地壳,到向海区变薄约为17～25km厚陆壳的过渡带。在其向陆侧(东南极大陆一侧)。

The Active Yakutat （Kula？） Plate and Its Southcentral Alaska Megathrust and Intraplate Earthquakes

Alaska geology and plate tectonics have not been well understood due to an active Yakutat plate, believed to be part of the remains of an ancient Kula plate, not being acknowledged to exist in Alaska. It is positioned throughout most of southcentral Alaska beneath the North American plate and above the NNW subducting Pacific plate. The Kula？ plate and its eastern spreading ridge were partially ＂captured＂ by the North American plate in the Paleocene. Between 63 Ma and 32 Ma, large volumes of volcanics erupted from its subducted N-S striking spreading ridge through a slab window. The eruptions stopped at 32 Ma, likely due to the Pacific plate fiat-slab subducting from the south beneath this spreading ridge. At 28 Ma, magmatism started again to the east; indicating a major shift to the east of this ＂refusing to die＂ spreading ridge. The captured Yakutat plate has also been subducting since 63 Ma to the WSW. It started to change to WSW fiat-slab subduction at 32 Ma, which stopped all subduction magmatism in W and SW Alaska by 22 Ma. The Yakutat plate subduction has again increased with the impact/joining of the coastal Yakutat terrane from the ESE about 5 Ma, resulting in the Cook Inlet Quaternary volcanism of southcentral Alaska. During the 1964 Alaska earthquake, sudden movements along the southcentral Alaska thrust faults between the Yakutat plate and the Pacific plate occurred. Specifically, the movements consisted of the Pacific plate moving NNW under the buried Yakutat plate and of the coastal Yakutat terrane, which is considered part of the Yakutat plate, thrusting WSW onto the Pacific plate. These were the two main sources of energy release for the E part of this earthquake. Only limited movement between the Yakutat plate and the North American plate occurred during this 1964 earthquake event. Buried paleopeat age dates indicate the thrust boundary between the Yakutat plate and North American plate will move in about 230 years, resulting in a more ＂continental＂ type megathrust earthquake for southcentral Alaska. There are, therefore, at least two different types ofmegathrust earthquakes occurring in southcentral Alaska： the more oceanic 1964 type and the more continental type. In addition, large ＂active＂ WSW oriented strike-slip faults are recognized in the Yakutat plate, called slice faults, which represent another earthquake hazard for the region. These slice faults also indicate important oil/gas and mineral resource locations.

Biogeographic characteristics of Zhesi brachiopod fauna and reconstruction of tectonopaleogeography of Jiamusi-Mongolia Block

The Kungurian-Capitanian （Permian） Zhesi branchiopod fauna is mainly composed of cold-water typed taxa with high diversity and abundance. This fauna is similar with the coeval brachiopod faunas from Ti- man-Pechora, Svalbard, and Queen Elizabeth Islands of the Boreal Realm, with no real ＂warm-water＂ species. Zhesi brachiopod fauna is a cold-water fauna and should be assigned to the Boreal Realm. Considering the paleogeographic characteristics of this fauna and the basic rationale of paleobiogeographie provinces being controlled by latitude-temperate, and that the above areas were located at 50°N -70°N in the global paleoclimate reconstruction map compiled by Boucot et al. , the paleo-latitude of the southern margin of Jiamusi-Mongolia Block, where developed the Zhesi brachiopod fauna, is suggested ranging from 40°N to 60°N. Zhesi brachiopod fauna is an endemic fauna, containing more than 75% endemic species and self-grouped as a biogeographic province, termed Inner Mongolia Province. These characteristics indicate that this area was closed or semiclosed at that time. On the Jiamusi-Mongolia Block, the Herlen-Jiamusi Old-land as an obvious ＂continental barrier＂ hindered the northward migration of the Zhesi brachiopod fauna and the immigration of brachiopod species from other areas. The Tarim plate has collided with the Kazakhstan plate and the western part of South Tianshan-Beishan-Xar Moron Ocean has been closed. At the same time, the western margin of Jiamusi-Mongolia Block was joined with the Tarim plate. The Xar Moron Ocean in south of Jiamusi-Mongolia Block was wide e- nough and the ocean temperature rose gradually southward, so that it is not suitable for the cold-water brachiopods to survive and thrive on the northern margin of the North China plate. Thus, the ocean with large width and high temperature formed another natural barrier for the southward migration of the cold-water brachiopods.

A Discussion on Correlations of Plate Motion with Seismic Anisotropy and Stress Field in Plate Boundary Zones

In many parts of the global plates,including subduction zones,mid-ocean ridges and even the interior of the continental plates,seismic anisotropy has a certain correlation with image of absolute plate motion( APM),or is in accord with the predominant direction of the intraplate stress field. In our study,a statistical analysis is done on the correlations of plate motion with seismic anisotropy as well as a stress field within nine plate boundaries which contain major subduction zones in the globe. Results indicate that absolute or relative plate motion( RPM) controls the seismic anisotropy and stress field of the plate boundary,which is especially obvious for the RPM. It can also be inferred that the correlation of RPM is better than that of APM. Because of the complexity of subduction mechanism and diversity of controlling factors at plate boundaries containing subduction zones,the correlation becomes much complex. Sources of anisotropy at various depths show different characteristics,and stress state is controlled by many factors,thus further discussions on the correlations are required.

Tectonics of South China Continent and its implications

This paper aims at exploring the tectonic characteristics of the South China Continent （SCC） and extracting the universal tec- tonic rules from these characteristics,to help enrich the plate tectonic theory and better understand the continental dynamic system. For this purpose, here we conduct a multi-disciplinary investigation and combine it with the previous studies to reas- sess the tectonics and evolution of SCC and propose that the tectonic framework of the continent comprises two blocks, three types of tectonic units, four deformation systems, and four evolutionary stages with distinctive mechanism and tectonic characteris- tics since the Neoproterozoic. The four evolutionary stages are： （1） The amalgamation and break-up of the Neoproterozoic plates, typically the intracontinental rifting. （2） The early Paleozoic and Mesozoic intracontinental orogeny confined by plate tectonics, forming two composite tectonic domains. （3） The parallel operation of the Yangtze cratonization and intracontinental orogeny, and multi-phase reactivation of the Yangtze craton. （4） The association and differentiation evolution of plate tectonics and intraconti- nental tectonics, and the dynamic characteristics under the Meso-Cenozoic modem global plate tectonic regime.

Water and partial melting of Earth's mantle

Water plays a crucial role in the melting of Earth's mantle. Mantle magmatisms mostly occur at plate boundaries(including subduction zones and mid-ocean ridges) and in some intraplate regions with thermal anomaly. At oceanic subduction zones, water released by the subducted slab may induce melting of the overlying mantle wedge or even the slab itself, giving rise to arc magmatism, or may evolve into a supercritical fluid. The physicochemical conditions for the formation of slab melt and supercritical fluid are still under debate. At mid-ocean ridges and intraplate hot zones, water and CO_2 cause melting of the upwelling mantle to occur at greater depths and in greater extents. Low degree melting of the mantle may occur at boundaries between Earth's internal spheres, including the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary(LAB), the upper mantletransition zone boundary, and the transition zone-lower mantle boundary, usually attributed to contrasting water storage capacity across the boundary. The origin for the stimulating effect of water on melting lies in that water as an incompatible component has a strong tendency to be enriched in the melt(i.e., with a mineral-melt partition coefficient much smaller than unity), thereby lowering the Gibbs free energy of the melt. The partitioning of water between melt and mantle minerals such as olivine, pyroxenes and garnet has been investigated extensively, but the effects of hydration on the density and transport properties of silicate melts require further assessments by experimental and computational approaches.