Hot Mantle Material Research Articles

Age and petrogenesis of the Andagul granodiorite and its implications on gold mineralization of the Kassan region, western Kyrgyzstan Tian Shan

A number of significant gold deposits in the Kassan region in west Kyrgyzstan are associated with the Andagul granitic intrusion. These gold deposits share similarities with the class of “intrusion-related gold deposits”, implying that the gold mineralization may be genetically related to the intrusion. In order to evaluate this potential relationship, it is important to study the petrogenesis of the intrusion. This paper examines the sources and physiochemical conditions of magma generation and crystallization of the Andagul intrusion and their implications for gold mineralization, through an integrated study involving zircon geochronology, mineral chemistry, whole-rock chemistry and isotopic geochemistry. The Andagul intrusion consists mainly of granodiorite, which is characterized by metaluminous and median-K calc-alkaline compositions, high LREE and LILE, low HFSE, right-inclined REE pattern with a flat HREE pattern, and insignificant Eu anomalies ((Eu/Eu∗)N = 0.79–0.85). These geochemical characteristics, together with relatively low positive εNd(t) values (+2.1–+4.3), moderately low (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios (0.7049–0.7059), relatively low initial Pb isotopic ratios ((206Pb/204Pb)t = 17.76–18.51, (207Pb/204Pb)t = 15.56–15.62, and (208Pb/204Pb)t = 37.89–38.33), juvenile εHf(t) (+2.29–+4.80) but relatively old model ages (T2DM(Hf) = 1026–1175 Ma, T2DM(Nd) = 728–907 Ma) indicate that the magma was mainly sourced from partial melting of juvenile basaltic lower crust with the involvement of a small proportion (ca. 5%–10%) of Precambrian basement rocks. The high Zr saturation temperatures (807 °C to 825 °C), relatively high Mg# values (43–52) and presence of mafic enclaves, and development of acicular apatite and oscillatory plagioclase and titanite, suggest that the magmatism was related to injection of hot mantle material. The magma generation and intrusion took place during 299–310 Ma based on LA-ICPMS zircon U-Pb dating, suggesting a post-collisional setting. Remelting of sulfide accumulate residual with high Au/Cu ratios in the juvenile lower crust, formed in the pre-collisional plate subduction-related magmatic arc stage, is proposed to account for the Au mineralization in the Kassan region. The high water contents (4.0–5.2 wt% H2O) and weakly oxidized or slightly reduced redox state (ΔFMQ = −0.33 ∼ +0.49) deduced from mineral composition and zircon Ce anomaly are favorable for the transport and enrichment of gold in the magmatic fluids. These geochemical characteristics suggest that the Andagul granodiorite and related granitic rocks in the Kassan region have the potential to provide ore-forming materials and fluids for gold mineralization.

Deep thermal structure of Southeast Asia constrained by S-velocity data

Southeast Asia, located in the southeastern part of the Eurasian Plate, is surrounded by tectonically active margins, exhibiting intense seismicity and volcanism, contains complex geological units with a perplexing evolution history. Because tectonic evolution is closely related to the deep thermal structure, an accurate estimation of the lithosphere thermal structure and thickness is important in extracting information on tectonics and geodynamics. However, there are significant uncertainties in the calculated deep thermal state constrained only by the observed surface heat flow. In this study, in order to obtain a better-constrained deep thermal state, we first calculate the deep thermal structure of Southeast Asia by employing an empirical relation between S-velocity and temperature, and then we estimate the base of the thermal lithosphere from the calculated temperature-depth profiles. The results show that, in general, the temperature is higher than the dry mantle solidus below the top of the seismic low-velocity zone, possibly indicating the presence of partial melt in the asthenosphere, particularly beneath oceanic basins such as the South China Sea. The temperature at a depth of 80 km in rifted and oceanic basins such as the Thailand Rift Basin, Thailand Bay, Andaman Sea, and South China Sea is about 200 °C higher than in plateaus and subduction zones such as the Khorat Plateau, Sumatra Island, and Philippine Trench regions. We suggest that the relatively cold and thick lithosphere block of the Khorat Plateau has not experienced significant internal deformation and might be extruded and rotated as a rigid block in response to the Indo-Eurasia collision. Our results show that the surface heat flow in the South China Sea is mainly dominated by the deep thermal state. There is a thermal anomaly in the Leiqiong area and in the areas adjacent to the northern margin of the South China Sea, indicating the presence of a high-temperature and thin lithosphere in the area of the well-known and controversial Hainan plume. The thermal lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary uplift area along the Xisha and southeastern Vietnam margin, in the western margin of South China Sea, which corresponds to the volcanic belt around this area, might indicate upwelling of hot mantle materials. The temperature values at 100 and 120 km depths through most regions of Southeast Asia are about 1400–1500 and 1550–1600 °C, respectively, which are nearly uniform with a small temperature difference. Our results also show that the lithosphere becomes thinner from the continent blocks toward the oceanic basins, with the smaller thickness values of 65–70 km in the South China Sea. The estimated base of the lithosphere corresponds approximately to the 1400 °C isotherm and shows good correlation with the tectonic setting.

Origin of ultra rear‐arc magmatism at Rishiri Volcano, Kuril Arc

AbstractThe Rishiri Volcano is located at the very rear of the Kuril Arc at its junction with the NE Japan Arc, and its 300 km depth to the slab surface is one of the deepest among the active arc volcanoes in the world. In this study, the origin of this ultra rear‐arc magmatism was investigated by analyzing the basaltic lavas from the volcano. The lavas consist of low‐K and high‐K groups, with the low‐K lavas predating the high‐K lavas. Since it is unlikely that the high‐K magmas are derivatives of the low‐K magmas, the two magmas are thought to be derived from different source mantle materials. Analyses using multicomponent thermodynamics suggest that these magmas were both generated through the ∼2% melting of a source mantle with 0.04–0.11 wt.% H2O at 1280–1340°C and ∼2.3 GPa. The temperatures at the surface of the subducting Pacific slab, from which the slab fluids were released, were estimated to be 860–960°C for the low‐K magmas and 930–1040°C for the high‐K magmas. These temperatures of the slab surface are remarkably higher than those predicted by thermal models. The estimated high temperatures of the slab surface and the latest detailed seismic tomography results suggest that the low‐K and high‐K magmatism resulted from the progressive production of fluids at the slab surface due to heating by the injection of hot mantle materials into a relatively large‐scale fracture in the distorted portion of the subducting Pacific plate.

Three-dimensional conductivity model of crust and uppermost mantle at the northern Trans North China Orogen: Evidence for a mantle source of Datong volcanoes

While the Eastern Block of North China Craton (NCC) had experienced significant lithospheric destruction in the Mesozoic, the Western Block of NCC and the Trans North China Orogen (TNCO) have undergone localized lithospheric modification since the Cenozoic. The northern TNCO is highlighted by the Cenozoic magmatic activities including Hannuoba basalts and Datong volcanoes and is a seismically active region. In this study 3-D electrical conductivity model of the crust and uppermost mantle is derived by the 3-D inversion technique using data from 72 broadband magnetotelluric (MT) stations. The final model shows that a 15 km thick resistive layer of about 3000 Ω m dominates the upper crust, which may represent the intact Archean and Paleoproterozoic terrains. Whereas in the mid-crust there are marked high conductivity anomalies of about 10 Ω m beneath Shanxi rifting basin, which may result from the interconnected saline fluid of 0.2% to 6% volume fraction. The most important finding is that one significant conductor extended into the mantle is located between Hannuoba field and Datong volcanoes and it connects with the mid-crust conductor beneath the Datong volcanoes. We suggest that this could be the mantle source (partial melting region) for the Quaternary volcanic activities of Datong volcanoes and the melt fraction is estimated as 6.6%. Its location inside the Western Block suggests that the volcanic activities at Datong volcanoes are irrelevant to the tectonic process to the east of TNCO. It is likely to be related to the mantle flows from the Tibetan Plateau around the Ordos block which converges at the northeastern corner of the Ordos block and local upward flow along the slope of the thinning lithosphere resulted in decompression partial melting and the melt percolated upward through the crust to feed the lava eruptions at the Datong volcanoes to the east. Finally, large crustal earthquakes in this region are generally located in resistive zones with high conductivity anomalies beneath. The fluids brought up by hot mantle material may play an important role in fault strength weakening and rupture nucleation at mid-crust depths.

Cenozoic volcanism in the Bohemian Massif in the context of P‐ and S‐velocity high‐resolution teleseismic tomography of the upper mantle

AbstractNew high‐resolution tomographic models of P‐ and S‐wave isotropic‐velocity perturbations for the Bohemian upper mantle are estimated from carefully preprocessed travel‐time residuals of teleseismic P, PKP and S waves recorded during the BOHEMA passive seismic experiment. The new data resolve anomalies with scale lengths 30–50 km. The models address whether a small mantle plume in the western Bohemian Massif is responsible for this geodynamically active region in central Europe, as expressed in recurrent earthquake swarms. Velocity‐perturbations of the P‐ and S‐wave models show similar features, though their resolutions are different. No model resolves a narrow subvertical low‐velocity anomaly, which would validate the “baby‐plume” concept. The new tomographic inferences complement previous studies of the upper mantle beneath the Bohemian Massif, in a broader context of the European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS) and of other Variscan Massifs in Europe. The low‐velocity perturbations beneath the Eger Rift, observed in about 200km‐broad zone, agree with shear‐velocity models from full‐waveform inversion, which also did not identify a mantle plume beneath the ECRIS. Boundaries between mantle domains of three tectonic units that comprise the region, determined from studies of seismic anisotropy, represent weak zones in the otherwise rigid continental mantle lithosphere. In the past, such zones could have channeled upwelling of hot mantle material, which on its way could have modified the mantle domain boundaries and locally thinned the lithosphere.

Fault distribution and formation mechanism of a magnetic quiet zone in the northern South China Sea

A magnetic quiet zone (MQZ) is located in the ocean–continent transition zone in the northern South China Sea (SCS), according to ΔT magnetic anomaly data. Features of the gravity and magnetic anomalies in the MQZ are discussed by the multi‐scale wavelet decomposition method. Comprehensive boundary identification and fault analysis by analytic signal and normalized total horizontal derivative methods achieve some good effects in the northern SCS. The inversion results suggest a deep magnetic basement, a shallow Curie isothermal interface and thin magnetic layers. The average depth of the Curie isothermal interface is about 14–28 km in the northern SCS, and the thickness of the magnetic layer is about 6–10 km in the MQZ. The formation mechanism of the MQZ is discussed, and the thinning of the magnetic layer is considered as the origin of the MQZ in the northern SCS. The deep hot mantle materials were upwelled during the extension of the SCS, and the magnetic layer was demagnetized. In addition, the magnetic anomaly caused by thick Mesozoic sediments was very weak, and the NW–SE‐trending faults made the magnetic bodies fragmental. The distribution of major faults is consistent with the fluctuating changes of the Curie isothermal interface, and the faults in the MQZ are the upward intrusion channels of the deep hot materials. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Lithospheric structure across the central Tien Shan constrained by gravity anomalies and joint inversions of receiver function and Rayleigh wave dispersion

Shear wave velocity structure across the central Tien Shan orogeny was generated by jointly inverting Rayleigh wave phase and group velocity with teleseismic P-wave receiver functions at 40 broadband seismic stations. The inferred seismic structure was validated by forward modeling of the complete Bouguer anomaly data. The joint inversion result reveals larger crust thicknesses beneath the Kokshaal (∼68–72km) and Kyrgyz ranges (∼62–64km), while other units have crustal thicknesses between 48 and 58km. A fast velocity layer (Vs=3.6–3.9km/s) in the upper crust is found in some seismic stations within the Kazakh Shield. Our models show the presence of high velocity and density layers in the lowermost crust throughout the region, consistent with the presence of mafic/ultramafic lithologies. The large crustal thickness is associated with a thickened mafic layer in the lower crust, indicating that the thickened crust may be partly caused by magmatic underplating. The low velocity and density anomaly in the middle crust, and low upper mantle velocity observed in our model beneath the middle Tien Shan reflect the presence of partial melt in the crust due to the intrusion of hot mantle material. The lack of correlation between Moho depth and topography, together with the gravity results, suggests that the topographic compensation in the central Tien Shan is not confined to the crust. This requires significant support from the mantle to account for the relative high elevation of the middle Tien Shan.

P-wave velocity structure beneath Mt. Melbourne in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica: Evidence of partial melting and volcanic magma sources

Mt. Melbourne is a late Cenozoic intraplate volcano located ∼30 km northeast of Jang Bogo Station in Antarctica. The volcano is quiescent with fumarolic activity at the summit. To monitor volcanic activity and glacial movements near Jang Bogo Station, a seismic network was installed during the 2010–11 Antarctic summer field season. The network is maintained during the summer field season every year, and the number of stations has been increased. We used continuous seismic data recorded by the network and an Italian seismic station (TNV) at Mario Zucchelli Station to develop a 3-D P-wave velocity model for the Mt. Melbourne area based on the teleseismic P-wave tomographic method. The new 3-D model presented a relative velocity structure for the lower part of the crust and upper mantle between depths of 30 and 160 km and revealed the presence of two low-velocity anomalies beneath Mt. Melbourne and the Priestley Fault. The low-velocity anomaly beneath Mt. Melbourne may be caused by the edge flow of hot mantle material at the lithospheric step between the thick East Antarctic Craton and thin Ross Sea crust. The other low-velocity anomaly along the Priestley Fault may have been beneath Mt. Melbourne and moved to the southern tip of the Deep Freeze Range, where the crustal thickness is relatively thin. The anomaly was trapped on the fault line and laterally flowed along the fault line in the northwest direction.

The role of mantle plumes in the evolution of the African segment of Pangea and the formation of the Atlantic Ocean

In this paper, we discuss a broad range of issues related to the formation of large igneous provinces in the African segment of Pangea on the basis of modern seismic tomography data. The formation of older igneous provinces (Central American and Karoo) is attributed to a prolonged phase of upwelling of hot mantle material or fluids in separate jets within a much larger area than the supposed plume head. Owing to its huge size and the thick, dense continental crust, Pangea acted as a shield promoting the accumulation and lateral channeling of heat energy beneath the lithosphere. The changes in global Earth dynamics and the generation of extensional stresses alone may have led to the breakup of Pangea, triggering the eruption of large volumes of magma over short period of time. The same factors led to the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. We provide arguments that the African superplume represents a Cenozoic structure not associated with the emplacement of the Karoo province. At the same time, the hot material brought under the lithosphere by this superplume synchronously with the start of magmatism in east Africa then spread out to the northwest to form local melting areas in Central and Northwestern Africa. We suggest that magmatic activity within the same region may have lasted, with interruptions, over tens of millions of years. Because of plate motion, these lowvelocity zones acting as heat sources appear to have lost their deep-seated roots, so that mantle reservoirs surviving at the base of the lithosphere may have fed magmatism and drifted together with the lithosphere.

Crustal structure of northwest Namibia: Evidence for plume-rift-continent interaction

The causes for the formation of large igneous provinces and hotspot trails are still a matter of considerable dispute. Seismic tomography and other studies suggest that hot mantle material rising from the core-mantle boundary (CMB) might play a significant role in the formation of such hotspot trails. An important area to verify this concept is the South Atlantic region, with hotspot trails that spatially coincide with one of the largest low-velocity regions at the CMB, the African large low shear-wave velocity province. The Walvis Ridge started to form during the separation of the South American and African continents at ca. 130 Ma as a consequence of Gondwana breakup. Here, we present the first deep-seismic sounding images of the crustal structure from the landfall area of the Walvis Ridge at the Namibian coast to constrain processes of plume-lithosphere interaction and the formation of continental flood basalts (Parana and Etendeka continental flood basalts) and associated intrusive rocks. Our study identified a narrow region (<100 km) of high-seismic-velocity anomalies in the middle and lower crust, which we interpret as a massive mafic intrusion into the northern Namibian continental crust. Seismic crustal reflection imaging shows a flat Moho as well as reflectors connecting the high-velocity body with shallow crustal structures that we speculate to mark potential feeder channels of the Etendeka continental flood basalt. We suggest that the observed massive but localized mafic intrusion into the lower crust results from similar-sized variations in the lithosphere (i.e., lithosphere thickness or preexisting structures)

Pn anisotropic tomography under the entire Tienshan orogenic belt

We present a new anisotropic tomography of the uppermost mantle under the Tienshan orogenic belt and surrounding regions using a number of Pn arrival-time data hand-picked from portable seismic stations and chosen from the Xinjiang provincial observation bulletins and the EHB datasets. Our results exhibit prominent lateral heterogeneities in the study region. Distinct low-velocity anomalies are visible under the tectonically active regions, such as the Tienshan orogenic belt and western Kunlun Mountains, whereas pronounced high-velocity anomalies are imaged beneath the stable blocks, such as the Kazakh shield, the Junggar, Tarim, Qaidam, and Turpan-Hami basins, and the Tajik depression. Most strong earthquakes (Ms>7.0) are mainly distributed along the transition zone of high to low velocity anomalies, suggesting a possible correlation between the strong earthquakes and the upper mantle structure. The fast directions of Pn anisotropy beneath the Tienshan orogenic belt are generally parallel to its striking orientation, whereas those beneath Pamir show a northward arc-shaped distribution. The Pn fast-velocity directions on the boundaries of the Kazakh shield and the Tarim and Junngar basins are approximately perpendicular to the strike of the Tienshan orogenic belt. By integrating with previous findings, our results suggest that the Tarim and Kazakh lithospheric materials could have underthrusted beneath the Tienshan orogenic belt that leads to the hot mantle material upwelling under the Tienshan orogenic belt, which is attributable to the Indo-Asian collision. These dynamic processes could play important roles in the Tienshan mountain building.

Development of passive volcanic margins of the Central Atlantic and initial opening of ocean

Geological and geophysical data on the Central Atlantic are discussed in order to elucidate the tectonic setting of the initial magmatic activity, rifting, and breakup resulting in the origination of Mesozoic ocean. The structural, magmatic, and historical aspects of the problem are considered. It has been established that the initial dispersed rifting and low-capacity magmatism at proximal margins was followed by the migration of the process toward the central part of region with the formation of distal zones and the development of vigorous magmmatism, further breakup of the lithosphere and ocean opening. Magmatism, its sources, and the features of newly formed magmatic crust at both the rifting and breakup stages of margin development are discussed and compared with subsequent spreading magmatism. Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopic compositions show that the magmatic evolution of the Central Atlantic proximal margins bears the features of two enriched components, one of which is related to the EM-1 source, developing only at the North American margin. Another enriched component typical of the province as a whole is related to the EM-2 source. To a lesser extent, this component is expressed in igneous rocks of Guyana, which also bear the signature of the MORB-type depleted source typical of spreading tholeiites in the Atlantic Ocean. Similar conditions are assumed for subsequent magmatism at the distal margins and for the early spreading basalts in the adjacent Atlantic belt, which also contain a small admixture of enriched material. A comparison of the magmatism at the margins of Central and North Atlantic reveals their specificity distinctly expressed in isotopic compositions of igneous rocks. In contrast to the typical region of the North Atlantic, the immediate melting of the enriched lithospheric source without the participation of plume-related melts is reconstructed for the proximal margins of the Central Atlantic. At the same time, decompression and melting in the lithosphere could have been determined by the thermal effect of the Central Atlantic hot plume. This is testified by the intense melting in a short time interval over a vast area; the generation of rather homogeneous melts and creation of the thick magmatic crust; the radial arrangement of the dikes intruded in the course of plume ascent; as well as by the data of seismic tomography indicating the occurrence of the hot upper mantle material, which has kept the “memory” of the action of a shallow-seated Mesozoic plume. The formation of the Central Atlantic plume can be presumably regarded as a result of upwelling remobilisation adove the ancient African superplume and the rearrangement of the deep structure in Triassic and Jurassic times.

On the origin of recent intraplate volcanism in Australia

Many intraplate volcanic provinces do not appear to originate from plate-boundary processes or upwelling mantle plumes. Edge-driven convection (EDC), where a small-scale convective instability (induced by local variations in lithospheric thickness) displaces hot mantle material upward, provides an alternative hypothesis for such volcanism. Recently, EDC has been postulated as the trigger for Quaternary intraplate volcanism in Australia, due to the proximity of a craton edge. However, the Precambrian shield region of the Australian continent has a boundary that is at least 10,000 km long, yet the Newer Volcanics Province (NVP) is contained within a 400 × 100 km region. This brings into question EDC as a causal mechanism, unless nucleation at a single location can be explained. Here, we use a combination of seismic tomography and geodynamic modeling to show, for the first time, that (1) the source of the NVP is restricted to the upper mantle, and (2) mantle upwelling triggered by EDC is localized and intensified beneath the NVP as a result of three-dimensional variations in lithospheric thickness and plate motion–induced shear flow. This study helps to solve the global puzzle of why step changes in lithospheric thickness, which occur along craton edges and at passive margins, produce volcanism only at isolated locations.

On cause hypotheses of earthquakes with external tectonic plate and/or internal dense gas loadings

This paper examines and compares the two loading systems and their associated energy and basic stress fields in elastic crustal rock mass for the cause of tectonic earthquakes. The first loading system is an external loading system and associated with the conventional earthquake cause hypothesis of active fault elastic rebounding. The second is a combined loading system where the first external loading system is added with a dense gas loading in the interior of deep crustal rock faults/defects. It is associated with the methane gas hypothesis for the cause of tectonic earthquakes. Five elastic stresses in rock solids with some idealized faults and caverns are presented to illustrate the similarities and differences of the stress fields and the possible rupture failure modes in association of the two loading systems. The theoretical results can show that any changes in the local stress concentrations due the external loading alone can be reflected and noticed in the corresponding stresses at the far field. On the other hand, any changes in the local stress concentrations due to the internal gas loading cannot be observed and distinguished in the tectonic stress field at the far distance. These theoretical results can be used to well explain the consensus of earthquake unpredictability with present technology. The theoretical results can further show that the external tectonic loading alone can only cause shear ruptures in crustal fault rocks with high compressive stresses, and such shear rupture or frictional failure is also difficult to occur because its shear plane has extremely high compressive normal stress. The combined loading can cause not only shear ruptures, but also tensile ruptures in crustal fault rocks, and such shear and tensile ruptures occur much easier since the rupture plane can have very low compressive or even high-tensile normal stress. It is argued that the earthquake energy is the volumetric expansion energy of dense gas mass escaped from the deep traps along crustal rock faults. The migration and expansion of the escaped dense gas mass in the crustal rock faults and defects cause the seismic body waves, the ground sounding, the seismic surface waves, the ground co-seismic ruptures and damages. Its rapid migration and expansion in thick water cause tsunamis in lakes and oceans. Its rapid migration and expansion in the atmosphere cause the sky to become cloudy. The dense methane gas is produced every day in the mantle and core of the Earth, migrates outward and accumulates and stores beneath the lower crustal rock in high compression. It forms a thin spherical layer of dense methane gas separating the cold crustal rocks and the hot mantle materials. Its leaking along deep faults or plate boundaries causes earthquakes and supplies to shallow gas and oil reservoirs beneath secondary traps in adjacent basins of the upper crustal rock mass.

Receiver function structures beneath the deep large faults in the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Using the teleseismic P- and S-wave receiver functions of the dense linear temporary seismic array, the crust and uppermost mantle structures beneath the deep large faults in the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau were imaged. The images of the first converted wave and the multiples indicated that the North Fault Zone of West Qinling (NWQ) Mountain and Diebu–Lueyang (DBL) faults cut the Mohorovicic (Moho) Discontinuity and cause an obvious difference feature for the Moho in the two sides of the faults. The higher Vp/Vs ratio and lower velocity layer is found beneath the west portion of the array near the Tibetan Plateau, which implies a lower crust channel flow coming from the Tibetan Plateau. The weak Moho and higher Vp/Vs ratio beneath the eastern portion of the array near the Ordos suggest the upwelling of the hot mantle material. The results also indicate an obvious deformation in the upper crust with the lower Vp/Vs ratio beneath the middle of the array. Such upper crust deformation is closely related to the topography of the surface; therefore, we deduce that the deformation of the brittle upper crust is accompanied by the formation of the local topography during the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, which is also the primary reason for the active seismicity in the study region. The deformation of the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) can also be associated with the formation of the diapir caused by the upwelling hot materials in the upper mantle due to the uprising of the thrusting plate caused by the subduction of the India Plate. The existence of the lower crust channel flow, the crust shortening, and the mantle diapir in the local region simultaneously implies that the elevation and formation of the Tibetan Plateau cannot be explained with a single model. The higher resolution results for the crust and the mantle, especially beneath the block boundary region, are necessary to construct the completed geodynamic model to understand the formation of the Tibetan Plateau.

Short-lived, fast erosional exhumation of the internal western Alps during the late early Oligocene: Constraints from geothermochronology of pro- and retro-side foreland basin sediments

Apatite and zircon fission-track analysis and single zircon fission-track–U/Pb double dating of Oligocene to Miocene pro- and retro-side foreland basin sedimentary rocks provide evidence for short-lived but fast erosional exhumation of at least 1.5–2 km/m.y. in the internal western Alps between ca. 30 and 28 Ma. This period of fast erosion is seen as a result of rapid surface uplift coupled with increasing orographic precipitation during this phase of orogenesis. Surface uplift may have been caused and sustained by different plate-tectonic processes such as a change in convergence direction, intermediate-depth slab breakoff, and emplacement of the Ivrea body during continental collision. The occurrence of contemporaneous volcanic activity on the pro-side of the western Alps on the subducting European plate between ca. 36 Ma and 30 Ma is seen in connection with slab rollback of the Apennine slab and upwelling of hot mantle material beneath the western Alps. Single zircon double dating shows that the exhumational signal in the detrital thermochronologic data is not compromised by volcanically derived zircons, as volcanic grains can be identified and removed from the zircon fission-track data set to obtain a pure exhumational signal. The signal of fast exhumation is observed in the zircon fission-track data of the pro-side foreland basin and in the apatite fission-track data and published 40Ar-39Ar data in the retro-side foreland basin. During late Oligocene times, erosion rates slowed down to rates similar to present-day erosion rates in the western Alps.

Constraints on the crustal structure beneath the Sinai subplate, SE Mediterranean, from analysis of local and regional travel times

The Sinai Peninsula has been recognized as a subplate of the African Plate located at the triple junction of the Gulf of Suez rift, the Dead Sea Transform fault, and the Red Sea rift. The upper and lower crustal structures of this tectonically active, rapidly developing region are yet poorly understood because of many limitations. For this reason, a set of P- and S-wave travel times recorded at 14 seismic stations belonging to the Egyptian National Seismographic Network (ENSN) from 111 local and regional events are analyzed to investigate the crustal structures and the locations of the seismogenic zones beneath central and southern Sinai. Because the velocity model used for routine earthquake location by ENSN is one-dimensional, the travel-time residuals will show lateral heterogeneity of the velocity structures and unmodeled vertical structures. Seismic activity is strong along the eastern and southern borders of the study area but low to moderate along the northern boundary and the Gulf of Suez to the west. The crustal Vp/Vs ratio is 1.74 from shallow (depth ≤ 10 km) earthquakes and 1.76 from deeper (depth > 10 km) crustal events. The majority of the regional and local travel-time residuals are positive relative to the Preliminary Reference Earth Model (PREM), implying that the seismic stations are located above widely distributed, tectonically-induced low-velocity zones. These low-velocity zones are mostly related to the local crustal faults affecting the sedimentary section and the basement complex as well as the rifting processes prevailing in the northern Red Sea region and the ascending of hot mantle materials along crustal fractures. The delineation of these low-velocity zones and the locations of big crustal earthquakes enable the identification of areas prone to intense seismotectonic activities, which should be excluded from major future development projects and large constructions in central and southern Sinai.

The sedimentary fill of the Baikal Basin: Implications for rifting age and geodynamics

Synthesis of the available stratigraphic data on the Baikal basin sediments exposed around the lake and their correlation with offshore lake sediments and with onshore sections in the Baikal Foredeep allows a new perspective of the Baikal rift history. The basin sediments on the Baikal shore comprise three tectonic–lithological–stratigraphic complexes (TLSC) which correspond to three seismic stratigraphic sequences (SSS) in the lake sediments and to three complexes in the Baikal Foredeep.The oldest unit, TLSC-1, has a particular lithology being deposited in an environment which never repeated in the later history of the area. This proves the validity of its lithostratigraphic correlation with Masstraichtian–Early Oligocene sediments of the Baikal Foredeep constrained by biostratigraphy. Further support comes from isotope dating, paleontology, and other evidence.Unlike seismostratigraphy-derived models, SSS-1 is correlated in the new model with TLSC-1 rather than with the Tankhoi Formation (which actually represents TLSC-2), and the onset of rifting is placed at the Late Cretaceous–Paleogene rather than at the Oligocene (or Miocene). Thus, the Baikal rifting began prior to the India–Eurasia collision, and the first rifting pulse originally had other causes. This inference agrees with fission-track apatite thermochronology indicating Cretaceous ages of samples from the Barguzin rift basin in the northeastern flank of the rift system.Rifting developed successively in three different tectonic settings and was driven by different geodynamic mechanisms at each stage. First it was a passive response to Late Cretaceous–Eocene distributed continent-wide extension in Asia (purely passive rifting). At the second stage spanning Late Oligocene–Early/Late Pliocene time, the area was subject to compressive impact from the India–Eurasia collision, which propagated from the southwest since the Eocene and reached the region about 30 Ma ago to take control over its geodynamics (conventionally passive “impactogenic” rifting). Finally, the Pliocene–Quaternary evolution has been driven by extension from a local source associated with hot mantle material rising to the base of the rifted crust (active rifting).The major rifting stages are further subdivided into substages: two substages in the second stage with the boundary at ~ 10 Ma (Middle–Late Miocene) and three substages in the third stage, with boundaries at 1.0–0.8 and 0.15–0.12 Ma. The stages and substages of rifting are separated by events of tectonic activity and stress reversal when additional compression produced folds and shear structures. The events that mark the stage boundaries show up as gaps, unconformities, and deformation features in the deposition patterns.Thus, the three units of synrift sediments composed of eluvium, early molasse, and late molasse, respectively, were deposited during preorogenic, early orogenic, and postorogenic stages of rifting driven by passive (first purely passive and then “impactogenic”) and active mechanisms.The new model of the Baikal rift history agrees with data obtained by different other methods.

A new perspective on evolution of the Baikal Rift

A new model is suggested for the history of the Baikal Rift, in deviation from the classic two-stage evolution scenario, based on a synthesis of the available data from the Baikal Basin and revised correlation between tectonic–lithological–stratigraphic complexes (TLSC) in sedimentary sections around Lake Baikal and seismic stratigraphic sequences (SSS) in the lake sediments. Unlike the previous models, the revised model places the onset of rifting during Late Cretaceous and comprises three major stages which are subdivided into several substages. The stages and the substages are separated by events of tectonic activity and stress reversal when additional compression produced folds and shear structures. The events that mark the stage boundaries show up as gaps, unconformities, and deformation features in the deposition patterns. The earliest Late Cretaceous–Oligocene stage began long before the India–Eurasia collision in a setting of diffuse extension that acted over a large territory of Asia. The NW–SE far-field pure extension produced an NE-striking half-graben oriented along an old zone of weakness at the edge of the Siberian craton. That was already the onset of rift evolution recorded in weathered lacustrine deposits on the Baikal shore and in a wedge-shaped acoustically transparent seismic unit in the lake sediments. The second stage spanning Late Oligocene–Early Pliocene time began with a stress change when the effect from the Eocene India–Eurasia collision had reached the region and became a major control of its geodynamics. The EW and NE transpression and shear from the collisional front transformed the Late Cretaceous half-graben into a U-shaped one which accumulated a deformed layered sequence of sediments. Rifting at the latest stage was driven by extension from a local source associated with hot mantle material rising to the base of the rifted crust. The asthenospheric upwarp first induced the growth of the Baikal dome and the related change from finer to coarser molasse deposition. With time, the upwarp became a more powerful stress source than the collision, and the stress vector returned to the previous NW–SE extension that changed the rift geometry back to a half-graben. The layered Late Pliocene–Quaternary subaerial tectonic–lithological–stratigraphic and the Quaternary submarine seismic stratigraphic units filling the latest half-graben remained almost undeformed. The rifting mechanisms were thus passive during two earlier stages and active during the third stage. The three-stage model of the rift history does not rule out the previous division into two major stages but rather extends its limits back into time as far as the Maastrichtian. Our model is consistent with geological, stratigraphic, structural, and geophysical data and provides further insights into the understanding of rifting in the Baikal region in particular and continental rifting in general.

Modern volcanism in the Earth’s northern hemisphere and its relations with the evolution of the North Pangaea modern supercontinent and with the spatial distribution of hotspots on the Earth: The hypothesis of relations between mantle plumes and deep subduction

The paper reports results of the analysis of the spatial distribution of modern (younger than 2 Ma) volcanism in the Earth’s northern hemisphere and relations between this volcanism and the evolution of the North Pangaea modern supercontinent and with the spatial distribution of hotspots of the Earth’s mantle. Products of modern volcanism occur in the Earth’s northern hemisphere in Eurasia, North America, Greenland, in the Atlantic Ocean, Arctic, Africa, and the Pacific Ocean. As anywhere worldwide, volcanism in the northern hemisphere of the Earth occurs as (a) volcanism of mid-oceanic ridges (MOR), (b) subduction-related volcanism in island arcs and active continental margins (IA and ACM), (c) volcanism in continental collision (CC) zones, and (d) within-plate (WP) volcanism, which is related to mantle hotspots, continental rifts, and intercontinental belts. These types of volcanic areas are fairly often neighboring, and then mixed volcanic areas occur with the persistent participation of WP volcanism. Correspondingly, modern volcanism in the Earth’s northern hemisphere is of both oceanic and continental nature. The latter is obviously related to the evolution of the North Pangaea modern supercontinent, because it results from the Meso-Cenozoic evolution of Wegener’s Late Paleozoic Pangaea. North Pangaea in the Cenozoic comprises Eurasia, North and South America, India, and Africa and has, similar to other supercontinents, large sizes and a predominantly continental crust. The geodynamic setting and modern volcanism of North Pangaea are controlled by two differently acting processes: the subduction of lithospheric slabs from the Pacific Ocean, India, and the Arabia, a process leading to the consolidation of North Pangaea, and the spreading of oceanic plates on the side of the Atlantic Ocean, a process that “wedges” the supercontinent, modifies its morphology (compared to that of Wegener’s Pangaea), and results in the intervention of the Atlantic geodynamic regime into the Arctic. The long-lasting (for >200 Ma) preservation of tectonic stability and the supercontinental status of North Pangaea are controlled by subduction processes along its boundaries according to the predominant global compression environment. The long-lasting and stable subduction of lithospheric slabs beneath Eurasia and North America not only facilitated active IA + ACM volcanism but also resulted in the accumulation of cold lithospheric material in the deep mantle of the region. The latter replaced the hot mantle and forced this material toward the margins of the supercontinent; this material then ascended in the form of mantle plumes (which served as sources of WP basite magmas), which are diverging branches of global mantle convection, and ascending flows of subordinate convective systems at the convergent boundaries of plates. Subduction processes (compressional environments) likely suppressed the activity of mantle plumes, which acted in the northern polar region of the Earth (including the Siberian trap magmatism) starting at the latest Triassic until nowadays and periodically ascended to the Earth’s surface and gave rise to WP volcanism. Starting at the breakup time of Wegener’s Pangaea, which began with the opening of the central Atlantic and systematically propagated toward the Arctic, marine basins were formed in the place of the Arctic Ocean. However, the development of the oceanic crust (Eurasian basin) took place in the latter as late as the Cenozoic. Before the appearance of the Gakkel Ridge and, perhaps, also the oceanic portion of the Amerasian basin, this young ocean is thought to have been a typical basin developing in the central part of supercontinents. Wegener’s Pangaea broke up under the effect of mantle plumes that developed during their systematic propagation to the north and south of the Central Atlantic toward the North Pole. These mantle plumes were formed in relation with the development of global and local mantle convection systems, when hot deep mantle material was forced upward by cold subducted slabs, which descended down to the core-mantle boundary. The plume (WP) magmatism of Eurasia and North America was associated with surface collision- or subduction-related magmatism and, in the Atlantic and Arctic, also with surface spreading-related magmatism (tholeiite basalts).