中国华北和美国加州地区地震层析成像研究

In recent years seismic tomography has become a powerful tool for studying the three-dimensional crust and mantle structure. In this study, we collected a large number of regional and teleseismic travel-time data and used seismic tomography method to study the relationship between earthquake occurrence and crustal heterogeneity for the 1992 Landers earthquake, heterogeneity and evolution of lithosphere under North China Craton and Southern California, and deep structure and origin of the Changbai intraplate volcano in Northeast China. Our results show a correlation between the seismic rupture zone and crustal heterogeneity. The distribution of the Landers aftershocks is cluster-like and separated or terminated in areas where low-velocity anomalies exist．Most of the large earthquakes with magnitudes >4.0 occurred in or around areas with high P-wave velocity．The possibility is that high-velocity areas are brittle and strong parts which can sustain seismogenic stress，and so can generate earthquakes. Our tomographic images show a very heterogeneous structure in the crust and upper mantle beneath Southern California. Three major anomalies in the upper mantle are revealed clearly beneath the southern Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges and Salton Trough. We consider that the high-velocity anomaly beneath the Transverse Ranges was formed through asymmetrical two-side convergence of subcrustal lithosphere and sinking to asthenosphere. Formation of the dense crust root and “drip structure” caused the high-velocity anomaly under the southern Sierra Nevada. The Salton Trough low is the response to the lithospheric extension when the Pacific plate was rifted away from the North American Plate. The tomograpic images beneath the North China Craton show that there exist different lithospheric structures under the different blocks. Complex, prominent low-velocity and high-velocity anomalies are imaged beneath the North China Basin, Trans-North China Orogen (TNCO), and Ordos Block which correspond to rifted, orogenic and cratonic lithospheres, respectively. The thickness of the three-type lithospheres is about 70, 90 and >250 km, respectively. Our results suggest that lithospheric thinning under the eastern part of North China Craton is due to long-term replacement and chemical and thermal erosion of the ancient lithosphere by the hot asthenosphere. The remains of ancient lithosphere exist either in the present upper mantle or have sunk into the mantle transition zone. Our tomographic result of the Changbai volcanic area suggests that the origin of the Changbai volcano is related to the deep dehydration of the subducted Pacific slab and corner flow in the big mantle wedge (BMW) above the stagnant Pacific slab.

南海张裂大陆边缘数值模拟研究

The South China Sea (SCS) is one of the largest marginal seas in the western Pacific, which is located at the junction of Eurasian plate, Pacific plate and Indian-Australian plate. It was formed by continent breakup and sea-floor spreading in Cenozoic. The complicated interaction among the three major plates made tectonic movement complex and geological phenomena very rich in this area. The SCS is an ideal place to study the formation and evolution of rifted continental margin and sea-floor spreading since it is old enough to have experienced the major stages of the basin evolution but still young enough to have preserved its original nature. As the demand for energy grows day by day in our country, the deep water region of the northern continental margin in the SCS has become a focus of oil and gas exploration because of its huge hydrocarbon potential. Therefore, to study the rifted continental margin of the SCS not only can improve our understanding of the formation and evolution processes of rifted continental margin, but also can provide theoretical support for hydrocarbon exploration in rifted continental margin. This dissertation mainly includes five topics as follows: (1) Various classic lithosphere stretching models are reviewed, and the continuous non-uniform stretching model is modified to make it suitable for the case where the extension of lithopheric mantle exceeds that of the crust. Then simple/pure shear flexural cantilever model is applied to model the basement geometries of SO49-18 profile in the northern continental margin of the SCS. By fitting the basements obtained by using 2DMove software with modeling results, it is found that the reasonable effective elastic thickness is less than 5km in this region. According to this result, it is assumed that there is weak lower crust in the northern continental margin in the SCS. (2) We research on the methods for stretching factor estimation based on various lithosphere stretching models, and apply the method based on multiple finite rifting model to estimate the stretching factors of several wells and profiles in the northern continental margin of the SCS. (3) We improve one-dimension strain rate inversion method with conjugate gradient method, and apply it to invert the strain rate of several wells in the northern continental margin of the SCS. Two-dimension strain rate forward modeling is carried out, and the modeling results show that effective elastic thickness is a key parameter to control basin’s geometry. (4) We simulate divergent upwelling mantle flow model using finite difference method, and apply this newly developed model to examine the formation mechanism of the northwest and central sub-basin in the SCS. (5) We inverse plate thickness and basal temperature of oceanic lithosphere using sea-floor ages and bathymetries of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic based on varied-parameters plate model, in which the heat conductivity, heat capacity and coefficient of thermal expansion depend on temperature or depth. A new empirical formula is put forward based the inversed parameters, which depicts the relation among sea-floor age, bathymetry and heat flow. Then various similar empirical formulae, including the newly developed one, are applied to examine the sea-floor spread issue in the SCS based on the heat flow and bathymetry data of the abyssal sub-basin.

南海北部大陆边缘盆地热演化史及其与油气关系

This thesis focuses on the present-day thermal field features, evolution and their connections to hydrocarbon generation of the three continental margin basins-the Yinggehai (Yingge Sea), Qiongdongnan(southeast Qiong), and Pear River Mouth basins-in northern South China Sea, based on available data from drillings, loggings, seismic cross-sections, BHTs, thermal indicators (Ro%, inclusion, etc) and geopressure measurements. After studying of present-day distribution of geothermal field and thermal disturbance of fluid in the sedimentary strata, the author discovered that the distribution of gas fields in Yinggehai Basin are closely related to the distribution of anomalously high thermal gradient area, whereas it is not the case for the Pear River Mouse Basin. And detailed processing of the fluid inclusion data indicates that geothermal fluids activated frequently in this area, and they may mainly be derived upward from the overpressure and hydrocarbon-generating beds, 3000-4500 m in depth. Therefore, the abnormal gradients in sedimentary beds were mainly caused by the active geothermal fluids related to hydrocarbon migrating and accumulating in this area. Because of the effect of overpressure retarding on vitrinite reflectance, the thermal indicators for thermal history reconstruction should be assessed before put into use. Although some factors, such as different types of kerogen, heating ratio, activities of thermal fluids and overpressure, may have effects on the vitrinite reflectance, under the circumstance that thermal fluids and overpressure co-exist, overpressure retarding is dominant. And the depth and correction method of overpressure retarding were also determined in this paper. On the basis of reviewing the methods of thermal history studies as well as existing problems, the author believes that the combination of thermal-indicator-inversion and tectono-thermal modeling is an effective method of the thermal history reconstruction for sedimentary basins. Also, a software BaTherMod for modeling thermal history of basins was successfully developed in this work. The Yinggehai Basin has been active since Tertiary, and this was obviously due to its tectonic position-the plate transition zone. Under the background of high thermal flow, long-term quick subsidence and fluid activities were the main reasons that lead to high temperature and overpressure in this basin. The Zhujiangkou Basin, a Tertiary fault-basin within the circum-Pacific tectonic realm, was tectonically controlled by the motion of the Pacific Plate and resembles the other petroliferous basins in eastern China. This basin developed early, and characterized intensive extension in the early stage and weak activity in the later stage of its development. Whereas the Qiongdongnan Basin was in a weak extension early and intensity of extension increased gradually. The relative geographical locations and the extensional histories of three basins ilustrate that the northern continental margin of South China Sea spread from south to north. On the other hand, the Qiongdongnan and Yinggehai Basins may have been controlled by the same tectonic regime since later Tertiary, whereas the Zhujiangkou Basin was not meaningfully influenced. So, the tectono-thermal evolution character of the Qiongdonnan basin should be closely to the other two. It may be concluded that the three basins have been developed within the active continental margin since Tertiary, and the local lithosphere might undergo intensive extension-perhaps two or three times of episodic extension occurred. Extension lead to large tectonoc subsidence and extreme thick Tertiary sediments for hydrocarbon generation in the basins. In response to the periodic extension of the basins, the palaeothermal flow were also periodical. The three basins all have the characteristics of multi-phase thermal evolutions that is good for oil-gas generation. And the overpressure expands the depth range of oil-gas habitat, which is meaningful to petroleum exploration in this region.