Abstract
The geomedium block concept envisages that stresses in the medium composed of rotating blocks have torque and thus predetermine the medium's energy capacity (in terms of [Ponomarev, 2008]). The present paper describes the wave nature of the global geodynamic process taking place in the medium characterized by the existence of slow and fast rotation strain waves that are classified as a new type of waves. Movements may also occur as rheid, superplastic and/or superfluid motions and facilitate the formation of vortex geological structures in the geomedium. Our analysis of data on almost 800 strong volcanic eruptions shows that the magma chamber’s thickness is generally small, about 0.5 km, and this value is constant, independent of the volcanic process and predetermined by properties of the crust. A new magma chamber model is based on the idea of 'thermal explosion’/‘self-acceleration' manifested by intensive plastic movements along boundaries between the blocks in conditions of the low thermal conductivity of the geomedium. It is shown that if the solid rock in the magma chamber is overheated above its melting point, high stresses may occur in the surrounding area, and their elastic energy may amount to 1015 joules per 1 km3 of the overheated solid rock. In view of such stresses, it is possible to consider the interaction between volcano’s magma chambers as the migration of volcanic activity along the volcanic arc and provide an explanation of the interaction between volcanic activity and seismicity within the adjacent parallel arcs. The thin overheated interlayer/magma chamber concept may be valid for the entire Earth's crust. In our hypothesis, properties of the Moho are determined by the phase transition from the block structure of the crust to the nonblock structure of the upper mantle.
Highlights
The Baikal region and its neighbouring territories are the best studied among many areas subject to traditional geodynamic studies, including comprehensive geological and geophysical observations with regards to tectonophysical concepts
In terms of physics, the geodynamics of block interactions in the rotation model can be viewed as a manifestation of the general physical principle of corpuscular–wave dualism envisaging that movements of geophysical blocks, tectonic plates and geological structures have both corpuscular and wave features, as discussed below
Recent instrumental geophysical studies conducted at volcanoes in the Kuril-Kamchatka region show that their magma chambers are generally located at depths from 5 to 30 km [Anosov et al, 1990; Balesta, 1981; Fedotov, 1984; Ermakov, Shteinberg, 1999; Fedotov, Masurenkov, 1991], i.e. within the crust composed of blocks
Summary
The Baikal region and its neighbouring territories are the best studied among many areas subject to traditional geodynamic studies, including comprehensive geological and geophysical observations with regards to tectonophysical concepts. In the regional tectonophysical models, including the model of Central Asia, the concept envisaging the block structure of the geomedium is applied formally or 'rhetorically' – such models are typically constructed with reference to boundaries between the blocks and block length values rather than blocks themselves and their volumes, and the models consider waves propagating along the boundaries between the blocks (i.e. along the faults), but not the waves propagating inside the block medium This terminological ‘swapping’ – ‘speaking about blocks, while thinking about faults’– is not just a habitual use of ‘fault’ as a commonly accepted term with a ‘standard’ reference to the local stress accumulation mechanism A more general approach can facilitate finding original pathways to reviewing and solving geodynamic problems in the Earth sciences [Vikulin et al, 2012a, 2012b]
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