Linking deep CO2 outgassing to cratonic destructionOA

Outgassing of carbon dioxide from the Earth’s interior regulates the surface climate through deep time.Here we examine the role of cratonic destruction in mantle CO₂ outgassing via collating and presenting new data for Paleozoic kimberlites, Mesozoic basaltic rocks and their mantle xenoliths from the eastern North China Craton(NCC), which underwent extensive destruction in the early Cretaceous. High Ca/Al and low Ti/Eu and δ²⁶ Mg are widely observed in lamprophyres and mant...     

Massive lithospheric delamination in southeastern Tibet facilitating continental extrusion

Significant left-lateral movement along the Ailao Shan-Red River fault accommodated a substantial amount of the late Eocene to early Miocene India-Asia convergence. However, the activation of this critical strike-slip fault remains poorly understood. Here, we show key seismic evidence for the occurrence of massive lithospheric delamination in southeastern Tibet. Our novel observation of reflected body waves (e.g. P₄₁₀P and P₆₆₀P) retrieved from ambient noise interferometry sheds new light on the massive foundered lithosphere currently near the bottom of the mantle transition zone beneath southeastern Tibet. By integrating the novel seismic and pre-existing geochemical observations, we highlight a linkage between massive lithospheric delamination shortly after the onset of hard collision and activation of continental extrusion along the Ailao Shan-Red River fault. This information provides critical insight into the early-stage evolution of the India-Asia collision in southeastern Tibet, which has significant implications for continental collision and its intracontinental response.     

The onset of deep recycling of supracrustal materials at the Paleo-Mesoarchean boundary

The recycling of supracrustal materials, and in particular hydrated rocks, has a profound impact on mantle composition and thus on the formation of continental crust, because water modifies the physical properties of lithological systems and the mechanisms of partial melting and fractional fractionation. On the modern Earth, plate tectonics offers an efficient mechanism for mass transport from the Earth''s surface to its interior, but how far this mechanism dates back in the Earth''s history is still uncertain. Here, we use zircon oxygen (O) isotopes to track recycling of supracrustal materials into the magma sources of early Archean igneous suites from the Kaapvaal Craton, southern Africa. The mean δ¹⁸O values of zircon from TTG (tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite) rocks abruptly increase at the Paleo-Mesoarchean boundary (ca. 3230 million years ago; Ma), from mantle zircon values of 5‰–6‰ to approaching 7.1‰, and this increase occurs in ≤3230 Ma rocks with elevated Dy/Yb ratios. The ¹⁸O enrichment is a unique signature of low-temperature water–rock interaction on the Earth''s surface. Because the later phase was emplaced into the same crustal level as the older one and TTG magmas would derive from melting processes in the garnet stability field (>40 km depth), we suggest that this evident shift in TTG zircon O isotopic compositions records the onset of recycling of the mafic oceanic crust that underwent seawater hydrothermal alteration at low temperature. The onset of the enhanced recycling of supracrustal materials may also have developed elsewhere in other Archean cratons and reflects a significant change in the tectonic realm during craton formation and stabilization, which may be important processes for the operation of plate tectonics on early Earth.     

Water transport to the core–mantle boundary

Water is transported to Earth''s interior in lithospheric slabs at subduction zones. Shallow dehydration fuels hydrous island arc magmatism but some water is transported deeper in cool slab mantle. Further dehydration at ∼700 km may limit deeper transport but hydrated phases in slab crust have considerable capacity for transporting water to the core-mantle boundary. Quantifying how much remains the challenge.

Water can have remarkable effects when exposed to rocks at high pressures and temperatures. It can form new minerals with unique properties and often profoundly affects the physical, transport and rheological properties of nominally anhydrous mantle minerals. It has the ability to drastically reduce the melting point of mantle rocks to produce inviscid and reactive melts, often with extreme chemical flavors, and these melts can alter surrounding mantle with potential long-term geochemical consequences. At the base of the mantle, water can react with core iron to produce a super-oxidized and hydrated phase, FeO₂H_x, with the potential to profoundly alter the mantle and even the surface and atmosphere redox state, but only if enough water can reach such depths [1].Current estimates for bulk mantle water content based on the average H₂O/Ce ratio of oceanic basalts from melt inclusions and the most un-degassed basalts, coupled with mass balance constraints for Ce, indicate a fraction under one ocean mass [2], a robust estimate as long as the basalts sampled at the surface tap all mantle reservoirs. The mantle likely contains some primordial water but given that the post-accretion Earth was very hot, water has low solubility and readily degasses from magma at low pressures, and its solubility in crystallizing liquidus minerals is also very low, the mantle just after accretion may have been relatively dry. Thus, it is plausible that most or even all of the water in the current mantle is ‘recycled’, added primarily by subduction of hydrated lithospheric plates. If transport of water to the core–mantle boundary is an important geological process with planet-scale implications, then surface water incorporated into subducting slabs and transported to the core–mantle boundary may be a requirement.Water is added to the basaltic oceanic crust and peridotitic mantle in lithospheric plates (hereafter, slab crust and slab mantle, respectively) at mid-ocean ridges, at transform faults, and in bending faults formed at the outer rise prior to subduction [3]. Estimates vary but about 1 × 10¹² kg of water is currently subducted each year into the mantle [4], and at this rate roughly 2–3 ocean masses could have been added to the mantle since subduction began. However, much of this water is returned to the surface through hydrous magmatism at convergent margins, which itself is a response to slab dehydration in an initial, and large, release of water. Meta-basalt and meta-sediments comprising the slab crust lose their water very efficiently beneath the volcanic front because most slab crust geotherms cross mineral dehydration or melting reactions at depths of less than 150 km, and even if some water remains stored in minerals like lawsonite in cooler slabs, nearly complete dehydration is expected by ∼300 km [5].Peridotitic slab mantle may have much greater potential to deliver water deeper into the interior. As shown in Fig. 1a, an initial pulse of dehydration of slab mantle occurs at depths less than ∼200 km in warmer slabs, controlled primarily by breakdown of chlorite and antigorite when slab-therms cross a deep ‘trough’, sometimes referred to as a ‘choke point’, along the dehydration curve (Fig. 1a) [6]. But the slab mantle in cooler subduction zones can skirt beneath the dehydration reactions, and antigorite can transform directly to the hydrated alphabet silicate phases (Phases A, E, superhydrous B, D), delivering perhaps as much as 5 wt% water in locally hydrated regions (e.g. deep faults and fractures in the lithosphere) to transition zone depths [6]. Estimates based on mineral phase relations in the slab crust and the slab mantle coupled with subduction zone thermal models suggest that as much as 30% of subducted water may have been transported past the sub-volcanic dehydration front and into the deeper mantle [4], although this depends on the depth and extent of deep hydration of the slab mantle, which is poorly constrained. Coincidentally, this also amounts to about one ocean mass if water subduction rates have been roughly constant since subduction began, a figure tantalizingly close to the estimated mantle water content based on geochemical arguments [2]. But what is the likely fate of water in the slab mantle in the transition zone and beyond?Open in a separate windowFigure 1.(a) Schematic phase relations in meta-peridotite modified after [6,10,12]. Slab geotherms are after those in [4]. Cold slabs may transport as much as 5 wt% water past ‘choke point 1’ in locally hydrated regions of the slab mantle, whereas slab mantle is dehydrated in warmer slabs. Colder slab mantle that can transport water into the transition zone will undergo dehydration at ‘choke point 2’. How much water can be transported deeper into the mantle and potentially to the core depends on the dynamics of fluid/melt segregation in this region. (b) Schematic showing dehydration in the slab mantle at choke point 2. Migration of fluids within slab mantle will result in water dissolving into bridgmanite and other nominally anhydrous phases with a bulk storage capacity of ∼0.1 wt%, potentially accommodating much or all of the released water. Migration of fluids out of the slab into ambient mantle would also hydrate bridgmanite and other phases and result in net fluid loss from the slab. Conversely, migration of hydrous fluids into the crust could result in extensive hydration of meta-basalt with water accommodated first in nominally anhydrous phases like bridgmanite, Ca-perovskite and NAL phase, but especially in dense SiO₂ phases (stishovite and CaCl₂-type) that can host at least 3 wt% water (∼0.6 wt% in bulk crust).Lithospheric slabs are expected to slow down and deform in the transition zone due to the interplay among the many factors affecting buoyancy and plate rheology, potentially trapping slabs before they descend into the lower mantle [7]. If colder, water-bearing slabs heat up by as little as a few hundred degrees in the transition zone, hydrous phases in the slab mantle will break down to wadsleyite or ringwoodite-bearing assemblages, and a hydrous fluid (Fig. 1a). Wadselyite and ringwoodite can themselves accommodate significant amounts of water and so hydrated portions of the slab mantle would retain ∼1 wt% water. A hydrous ringwoodite inclusion in a sublithospheric diamond with ∼1.5 wt% H₂O may provide direct evidence for this process [8].But no matter if slabs heat up or not in the transition zone, as they penetrate into the lower mantle phase D, superhydrous phase B or ringwoodite in the slab mantle will dehydrate at ∼700–800 km due to another deep trough, or second ‘choke point’, transforming into an assemblage of nominally anhydrous minerals dominated by bridgmanite (∼75 wt%) with, relatively, a much lower bulk water storage capacity (< ∼0.1 wt%) [9] (Fig. 1a). Water released from the slab mantle should lead to melting at the top of the lower mantle [10], and indeed, low shear-wave velocity anomalies at ∼700–800 km below North America may be capturing such dehydration melting in real time [11].The fate of the hydrous fluids/melts released from the slab in the deep transition zone and shallow lower mantle determines how much water slabs can carry deeper into the lower mantle. Presumably water is released from regions of the slab mantle where it was originally deposited, like the fractures and faults that formed in the slab near the surface [3]. If hydrous melts can migrate into surrounding water-undersaturated peridotite within the slab, then water should dissolve into bridgmanite and coexisting nominally anhydrous phases (Ca-perovskite and ferropericlase) until they are saturated (Fig. 1b). And because bridgmanite (water capacity ∼0.1 wt%) dominates the phase assemblage, the slab mantle can potentially accommodate much or all of the released water depending on details of how the hydrous fluids migrate, react and disperse. If released water is simply re-dissolved into the slab mantle in this way then it could be transported deeper into the mantle mainly in bridgmanite, possibly to the core–mantle boundary. Water solubility in bridgmanite throughout the mantle pressure-temperature range is not known, so whether water would partially exsolve as the slab moves deeper stabilizing a melt or another hydrous phase, or remains stable in bridgmanite as a dispersed, minor component, remains to be discovered.Another possibility is that the hydrous fluids/melts produced at the second choke point in the slab mantle at ∼700 km migrate out of the slab mantle, perhaps along the pre-existing fractures and faults where bridgmanite-rich mantle should already be saturated, and into either oceanic crust or ambient mantle (Fig. 1b). If the hydrous melts move into ambient mantle, water would be consumed by water-undersaturated bridgmanite, leading to net loss of water from the slab to the upper part of the lower mantle, perhaps severely diminishing the slab’s capacity to transport water to the deeper mantle and core. But what if the water released from slab mantle migrates into the subducting, previously dehydrated, slab crust?Although slab crust is expected to be largely dehydrated in the upper mantle, changes in its mineralogy at higher pressures gives it the potential to host and carry significant quantities of water to the core–mantle boundary. Studies have identified a number of hydrous phases with CaCl₂-type structures, including δ-AlOOH, ϵ-FeOOH and MgSiO₂(OH)₂ (phase H), that can potentially stabilize in the slab crust in the transition zone or lower mantle. Indeed, these phases likely form extensive solid solutions such that an iron-bearing, alumina-rich, δ-H solid solution should stabilize at ∼50 GPa in the slab crust [12], but only after the nominally anhydrous phases in the crust, (aluminous bridgmanite, stishovite, Ca-perovskite and NAL phase) saturate in water. Once formed, the δ-H solid solution in the slab crust may remain stable all the way to the core mantle boundary if the slab temperature remains well below the mantle geotherm otherwise a hydrous melt may form instead [12] (Fig. 1a). But phase δ-H solid solution and the other potential hydrated oxide phases, intriguing as they are as potential hosts for water, may not be the likely primary host for water in slab crust. Recent studies suggest a new potential host for water—stishovite and post-stishovite dense SiO₂ phases [13,14].SiO₂ minerals make up about a fifth of the slab crust by weight in the transition zone and lower mantle [15] and recent experiments indicate that the dense SiO₂ phases, stishovite (rutile structure—very similar to CaCl₂ structure) and CaCl₂-type SiO₂, structures that are akin to phase H and other hydrated oxides, can host at least 3 wt% water, which is much more than previously considered. More importantly, these dense SiO₂ phases apparently remain stable and hydrated even at temperatures as high as the lower mantle geotherm, unlike other hydrous phases [13,14]. And as a major mineral in the slab crust, SiO₂ phases would have to saturate with water first before other hydrous phases, like δ-H solid solution, would stabilize. If the hydrous melts released from the slab mantle in the transition zone or lower mantle migrate into slab crust the water would dissolve into the undersaturated dense SiO₂ phase (Fig. 1b). Thus, hydrated dense SiO₂ phases are possibly the best candidate hosts for water transport in slab crust all the way to the core mantle boundary due to their high water storage capacity, high modal abundance and high-pressure-temperature stability.Once a slab makes it to the core–mantle boundary region, water held in the slab crust or the slab mantle may be released due to the high geothermal gradient. Heating of slabs at the core–mantle boundary, where temperatures may exceed 3000°C, may ultimately dehydrate SiO₂ phases in the slab crust or bridgmanite (or δ-H) in the slab mantle, with released water initiating melting in the mantle and/or reaction with the core to form hydrated iron metal and super oxides, phases that may potentially explain ultra-low seismic velocities in this region [1,10]. How much water can be released in this region from subducted lithosphere remains a question that is hard to quantify and depends on dynamic processes of dehydration and rehydration in the shallower mantle, specifically at the two ‘choke points’ in the slab mantle, processes that are as yet poorly understood. What is clear is that subducting slabs have the capacity to carry surface water all the way to the core in a number of phases, and possibly in a phase that has previously seemed quite unlikely, dense SiO₂.     

Magnesium isotope geochemistry of the carbonate-silicate system in subduction zonesOA

The lighter magnesium(Mg) isotopic signatures observed in intraplate basalts are commonly thought to result from deep carbonate recycling, provided that the sharp difference in Mg isotopic composition between surface carbonates and the normal mantle is preserved during plate subduction. However, deep subduction of carbonates and silicates could potentially fractionate Mg isotopes and change their chemical compositions. Subducting silicate rocks that experience metamorphic dehydration lose a smal...     

南海中央海盆热结构及其地球动力学意义

依据南海中央海盆大地热流观测值及地壳结构资料 ,利用地热学方法计算了海盆及周缘壳内温度和热流分布 ,并得出壳幔热结构配分比例 .计算结果表明 ,中央海盆洋壳层内垂向热流变化不大 ,但垂向温度变化较大 ,这是地幔上涌所致 .海盆内成片分布的地热区 ,则是局部地区地幔上涌 ,导致多期次、多方向海底扩张的反映 .海盆区地幔热流在地表实测大地热流中所占比例高于 80 %,地壳下部热流在地壳总热流中所占比例小于 2 0 %.由此推测 ,中央海盆洋壳层 3厚度过薄 ,可能是后期热事件减缓了上地幔的冷却过程 ,而初始地壳熔融程度较低 ,2种因素综合所致     

海洋和大陆岩石圈下的混合地幔对流模型

运用参量化模型方法,建立了海洋岩石圈板块和大陆岩石圈板块下混合地幔对流模型．计算结果表明：板块构造和地幔对流的相互作用,造成在地球演化的晚期海洋岩石圈板块和大陆岩石圈板块下的地幔幕式翻转不同步,导致海洋板块和大陆板块之间的边缘地带成为构造活跃地区．     

Will Earth's next supercontinent assemble through the closure of the Pacific Ocean?

Earth''s known supercontinents are believed to have formed in vastly different ways, with two endmembers being introversion and extroversion. The former involves the closure of the internal oceans formed during the break-up of the previous supercontinent, whereas the latter involves the closure of the previous external superocean. However, it is unclear what caused such diverging behavior of supercontinent cycles that involved first-order interaction between subducting tectonic plates and the mantle. Here we address this question through 4D geodynamic modeling using realistic tectonic set-ups. Our results show that the strength of the oceanic lithosphere plays a critical role in determining the assembly path of a supercontinent. We found that high oceanic lithospheric strength leads to introversion assembly, whereas lower strength leads to extroversion assembly. A theoretically estimated reduction in oceanic crustal thickness, and thus its strength, during Earth''s secular cooling indicates that introversion was only possible for the Precambrian time when the oceanic lithosphere was stronger, thus predicting the assembling of the next supercontinent Amasia through the closure of the Pacific Ocean instead of the Indian-Atlantic oceans. Our work provides a new understanding of the secular evolution of plate tectonics and geodynamics as the Earth cooled.     

吉林蛟河地幔橄榄岩捕虏体的Sr-Nd-Hf-Os同位素特征与岩石圈地幔时代

吉林省蛟河市境内大石河新生代玄武岩中含有丰富的地幔橄榄岩包体,详细的岩石学与矿物学研究显示,这些包体的主要岩石类型为尖晶石二辉橄榄岩-方辉橄榄岩,未发现石榴石橄榄岩.岩相学及地球化学资料显示它们都是经历过熔体抽取而形成的岩石圈地幔残留.矿物平衡温度计算发现,本区的这些地幔橄榄岩包体来自地下40～60km深度,且下部以二辉橄榄岩为主,而上部以贫单斜辉石的二辉橄榄岩和方辉橄榄岩为主,显示明显的岩石圈地幔分层现象.Sr-Nd-Hf同位素资料反映这些地幔包体均表现为亏损性质,而Re-Os同位素资料确定上述岩石圈地幔形成于中元古代,明显老于上覆地壳的新元古宙时代,反映壳幔年龄上的解耦.因此我们推测,该区曾经历过华北克拉通类似的早期岩石圈地幔的整体丢失事件,然后形成于其它地区的中元古宙岩石圈地幔在本区增生.     

Large shift of the Pacific Walker Circulation across the Cenozoic

Fluctuations in the Pacific Walker Circulation (PWC), a zonally oriented overturning cell across the tropical Pacific, can cause widespread climatic and biogeochemical perturbations. It remains unknown how the PWC developed during the Cenozoic era, with its substantial changes in greenhouse gases and continental positions. Through a suite of coupled model simulations on tectonic timescales, we demonstrate that the PWC was ∼38° broader and ∼5% more intense during the Early Eocene relative to present. As the climate cooled from the Early Eocene to the Late Miocene, the width of the PWC shrank, accompanied by an increase in intensity that was tied to the enhanced Pacific zonal temperature gradient. However, the locations of the western and eastern branches behave differently from the Early Eocene to the Late Miocene, with the western edge remaining steady with time due to the relatively stable geography of the western tropical Pacific; the eastern edge migrates westward with time as the South American continent moves northwest. A transition occurs in the PWC between the Late Miocene and Late Pliocene, manifested by an eastward shift (both the western and eastern edges migrate eastward by >12°) and weakening (by ∼22%), which we show here is linked with the closure of the tropical seaways. Moreover, our results suggest that rising CO₂ favors a weaker PWC under the same land-sea configurations, a robust feature across the large spread of Cenozoic climates considered here, supporting a weakening of the PWC in a warmer future.     

中国大陆热流分布特征及热-构造分区

根据中国大陆822个实测热流数据,研究了中国大陆主要构造单元的深部地热特征,包括40km深度的地温值、热岩石圈厚度、岩石圈累积强度和有效弹性层厚度(EET)等.结果显示,中国大陆热流的空间分布以及岩石圈热状态和流变学特征均表现出明显的横向非均匀性.这源于太平洋板块俯冲和印度-亚洲碰撞导致的新生代构造热活动.根据热流值和深部地热参数,中国大陆可以划分为东部、中部和西部三个大尺度热-构造区.     

东北和华北地区上地幔成分和热状态对比及对中国东部岩石圈减薄的启示

地幔成分与其上覆地壳年龄存在相关关系,年龄越老,地幔越亏损玄武质组分.本文对产于东北和华北地区的尖晶石相橄榄岩包体的成分进行了统计分析,结果显示东北地区橄榄岩包体比华北地区包体更亏损玄武质组分.这说明东北岩石圈地幔比华北上地幔更难熔,但其上覆地壳年龄却远小于华北地区地壳的年龄.这种地壳年龄和地幔组分之间的解耦暗示东北和华北地区的岩石圈地幔形成之后发生了大规模的改造.华北地区的壳幔解耦与中生代岩石圈减薄和增生有关,而东北地区的壳幔解耦则是该区地壳的多期改造和中生代岩石圈减薄和增生等过程综合作用的结果.两地区地幔成分的差异显然与部分熔融程度的不同有关,但影响部分熔融程度的因素很多,目前尚不能确定.包体的平衡温度统计和地温线对比显示东北岩石圈的地温梯度低于华北的地温梯度,可能是东北地区岩石圈减薄的时间要早于华北地区,或者华北岩石圈减薄程度可能大于东北地区的结果,因此中国东部岩石圈减薄存在时空不均一性.     

青藏高原的核心来自南半球冈瓦纳大陆

羌塘与拉萨地块处于青藏高原的核心位置。青藏高原北羌塘及拉萨地块的年代学及古地磁学研究表明,北羌塘地块在距今约3亿年前位于南半球(21.9o±4.7oS)冈瓦纳大陆附近,因而不支持北羌塘地块来自北方劳亚大陆。北羌塘随后开始其持续的北向漂移过程,在约2.1亿年前到达当前纬度位置(34oN),形象地表明其是一只"冈瓦纳大陆的早飞鸟"。拉萨地块从冈瓦纳大陆裂离后的漂移演化史则与北羌塘地块差别明显。自晚古生代—中生代(石炭纪—三叠纪)拉萨地块从冈瓦纳大陆北缘裂离后,其运动学演化过程更显得"犹豫不决"。最新的古地磁研究表明拉萨地块自冈瓦纳大陆裂离后并未显示出明显的快速北向漂移趋势,而是呈现出较为慢速的漂移,直到距今约1.8亿年前(早侏罗世)到达位于南半球赤道附近(3.7o±3.4oS),随后与北面的羌塘地块在晚侏罗世首先从东部发生碰撞,随后于早白垩世时期两个地块完成拼贴。之后的印度次大陆快速向北漂移并在早新生代(距今6 500万年前)发生印度-亚洲大陆碰撞,继而对新生代时期欧亚大陆地形地貌格局产生了深远影响。     

Potential role of strike-slip faults in opening up the South China Sea

Radiometric dates of key rock units indicate that a remnant Late Mesozoic ocean of the Huatung Basin is still preserved today east of the South China Sea (SCS). We integrate regional geology with a Cretaceous oceanic basement in the vicinity of the Huatung Basin to reconstruct the Huatung Plate east of the Eurasian continent. Results of geophysical investigations, four expeditions of deep-sea drilling and a renaissance of regional geology allow us to propose a hypothesis that the mechanism responsible for the SCS opening was raised from strike-slip fault on the east. The hypothesis suggests that the SCS opening could highly relate to the strike-slip faults inherited from Late Mesozoic structures onshore–offshore the SE Cathaysia Block to develop rhombic-shaped extensional basins en echelon on the thinned Eurasian continental crust in the Early Cenozoic. It was followed by sinistral strike-slip movements along the boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Huatung Plate driven by oblique subduction of the Huatung Plate to the northwest coupled with slab-pull force by southward subduction of the Proto-SCS to open up the triangle-shaped oceanic East Sub-basin in the Early Oligocene (33/34 Ma). The spreading ridge then propagated southwestward in the step-over segment between the Zhongnan-Lile and the Red River strike-slip fault systems to open the triangle-shaped oceanic Southwest Sub-basin by 23 Ma. The plate boundary fault was subsequently converted into the Manila Trench when the Eocene Sierra Madre arc of the Huatung Plate had moved from the south to its present latitude by the Middle Miocene.     

Rapid drift of the Tethyan Himalaya terrane before two-stage India-Asia collision

The India-Asia collision is an outstanding smoking gun in the study of continental collision dynamics. How and when the continental collision occurred remains a long-standing controversy. Here we present two new paleomagnetic data sets from rocks deposited on the distal part of the Indian passive margin, which indicate that the Tethyan Himalaya terrane was situated at a paleolatitude of ∼19.4°S at ∼75 Ma and moved rapidly northward to reach a paleolatitude of ∼13.7°N at ∼61 Ma. This implies that the Tethyan Himalaya terrane rifted from India after ∼75 Ma, generating the North India Sea. We document a new two-stage continental collision, first at ∼61 Ma between the Lhasa and Tethyan Himalaya terranes, and subsequently at ∼53−48 Ma between the Tethyan Himalaya terrane and India, diachronously closing the North India Sea from west to east. Our scenario matches the history of India-Asia convergence rates and reconciles multiple lines of geologic evidence for the collision.     

Olivine-norite rock detected by the lunar rover Yutu-2 likely crystallized from the SPA-impact melt pool

Chang’E-4 landed in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, providing a unique chance to probe the composition of the lunar interior. Its landing site is located on ejecta strips in Von Kármán crater that possibly originate from the neighboring Finsen crater. A surface rock and the lunar regolith at 10 sites along the rover Yutu-2 track were measured by the onboard Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer in the first three lunar days of mission operations. In situ spectra of the regolith have peak band positions at 1 and 2 μm, similar to the spectral data of Finsen ejecta from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper, which confirms that the regolith''s composition of the landing area is mostly similar to that of Finsen ejecta. The rock spectrum shows similar band peak positions, but stronger absorptions, suggesting relatively fresh exposure. The rock may consist of 38.1 ± 5.4% low-Ca pyroxene, 13.9 ± 5.1% olivine and 48.0 ± 3.1% plagioclase, referred to as olivine-norite. The plagioclase-abundant and olivine-poor modal composition of the rock is inconsistent with the origin of the mantle, but representative of the lunar lower crust. Alternatively, the rock crystallized from the impact-derived melt pool formed by the SPA-impact event via mixing the lunar crust and mantle materials. This scenario is consistent with fast-cooling thermal conditions of a shallow melt pool, indicated by the fine to medium-sized texture (<3 mm) of the rock and the SPA-impact melting model [Icarus 2012; 220: 730–43].     

中国省域农业科技创新能力评价——基于绿色发展视角

基于绿色发展视角,运用熵值法对近年来全国及各省域的农业科技创新能力进行测度评价。结果显示,我国农业科技创新能力及各组成要素整体呈上升趋势;各省区市农业科技创新能力整体不高且发展不平衡,东部省区市的农业科技创新能力普遍强于中西部省区市;农业绿色发展存在较大的省域差异,西部大部分省区市在环境友好和资源利用方面优于东部省区市,科技创新对全国尤其是东部省区市农业绿色发展的支撑效果不明显。     

工业用水库兹涅茨曲线分析

水资源稀缺是21世纪社会经济增长乃至人类生存所面临的重大挑战之一,探索工业水资源利用情况是进一步研究工业水资源节约利用的基础。基于2000-2013年中国31个省份的面板数据,在单位根检验以及协整检验的基础上,对全国以及东、中、西部地区工业水资源利用与工业经济增长之间的关系进行实证检验,结果显示：东部地区二者关系曲线呈现为倒“U”型,且拐点出现在人均工业增加值28 612.150元/人时;中部地区二者关系曲线呈现为“N”型,且拐点分别出现在人均工业增加值15 546.048元/人和35 733.952元/人时;而全国和西部地区二者近似地满足单调递增的关系。经分析,技术创新、结构调整是使工业用水倒“U”型库兹涅茨曲线拐点出现的技术层面的原因,水价提升、水权交易则是其经济激励措施。最后提出应积极进行技术创新、推进产业结构调整以及工业内部行业结构调整,同时适当提升工业用水价格、完善水权交易制度以最终实现工业水资源节约等政策建议。     

考虑非期望产出的中国东部沿海地区的能源效率研究

东部沿海地区是中国整体经济发展水平最高的区域,其能源消耗量占全国的比重较大。以中国东部沿海12个省(区、市)2000—2012年的面板数据为样本,运用非参数数据包络分析的DEA-SBM模型和DEAMalmquist指数模型,在考虑非期望产出的背景下,从静态和动态两个层面测算东部沿海地区的能源效率。研究结果表明:(1)中国东部沿海地区的能源效率在2001—2012年间呈现出整体上升的趋势,各省市经济发达程度与能源效率成正向关系。(2)非期望产出对于各省市的能源效率影响较大;(3)中国东部沿海地区节能减排的潜力巨大;(4)技术进步是促进提高中国东部沿海地区能源效率的最重要因素。     

青藏高原能量、水分循环影响效应

青藏高原是世界上总辐射量最高的地区,也是全球超太阳常数的极值区域之一。此处形成了一个"嵌入"对流层中部大气的巨大的热源,可以伸展到自由大气,其超越了世界上任何超级城市群落所产生的中空热岛效应,对全球与区域大气环流系统变化的动力"驱动"产生了难以估计的效应。与地形热力过程季节变化密切相关的亚洲夏季风是世界上范围最广和强度最强的季风;从冬季到早春季节转换过程中,由于太阳辐射的影响造成青藏高原大地形感热的"快速响应"及其相对高值动态移动,在盛夏梅雨及其云降水带前沿线恰好停滞于中国"三阶梯"地形分布山地—平原过渡区。此现象表明,青藏高原可能扮演着夏季风过程陆地—海洋—大气相互作用的关键角色。中国区域低云量与总云量极值区均与青藏高原大江大河的源头(长江、澜沧江、雅鲁藏布江等)、中东部湖泊群与冰川集中区空间分布几乎吻合,这表明"亚洲水塔"形成的关键因素与"世界屋脊"特有的云降水结构不可分割。研究表明,青藏高原大气热源对局地与下游区域云降水过程水汽输送流型等均有显著影响。长江流域降水与全国低云量存在一个明显沿长江流域的带状高相关结构,充分表明长江流域降水与上游"亚洲水塔""热驱动"以及对流系统具有重要相关关系。从跨赤道经向环流的视角可发现,夏季南、北半球跨赤道气流低层强偏南、高层强偏北气流出现在东亚地区和北美区域两大地形对应的赤道区,这2个跨赤道极值区恰与青藏高原、落基山高原位置相对应。青藏高原纬向与经向环流圈结构与区域-全球大气环流相关机制,印证了"世界屋脊"隆起大地形的"热驱动"及其对流活动在全球能量、水分循环的作用。青藏高原特殊水汽三维结构分布和跨半球的纬向和经向大气垂直环流图表明青藏高原对全球尺度大气环流变化的贡献显著。文章进一步以东亚、全球水循环的视角,提出了青藏高原作为全球性大气"水塔"的观念,认为在高原地区一个水塔的"供水"和"蓄水"循环体系,特别是高原地表冰川、积雪和湖泊作为"蓄水池"系统,使得所有的河流可作为"输水管道",将"水塔"的水向周边区域输送出去,高层大气也提供向外输送的渠道。青藏高原特殊的跨半球大气水分循环可构建"世界水塔"与其周边地区独特的水文功能概念,综合描绘了青藏高原"世界水塔"及其地球上一个完整的行星尺度陆地—海洋—大气水分循环物理图像。