Purpose In many scientific and engineering fields, large‐scale heat transfer problems with temperature‐dependent pore‐fluid densities are commonly encountered. For example, heat transfer from the mantle into the upper crust of the Earth is a typical problem of them. The main purpose of this paper is to develop and present a new combined methodology to solve large‐scale heat transfer problems with temperature‐dependent pore‐fluid densities in the lithosphere and crust scales. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical approach is used to determine the thickness and the related thermal boundary conditions of the continental crust on the lithospheric scale, so that some important information can be provided accurately for establishing a numerical model of the crustal scale. The numerical approach is then used to simulate the detailed structures and complicated geometries of the continental crust on the crustal scale. The main advantage in using the proposed combination method of the theoretical and numerical approaches is that if the thermal distribution in the crust is of the primary interest, the use of a reasonable numerical model on the crustal scale can result in a significant reduction in computer efforts. Findings From the ore body formation and mineralization points of view, the present analytical and numerical solutions have demonstrated that the conductive‐and‐advective lithosphere with variable pore‐fluid density is the most favorite lithosphere because it may result in the thinnest lithosphere so that the temperature at the near surface of the crust can be hot enough to generate the shallow ore deposits there. The upward throughflow (i.e. mantle mass flux) can have a significant effect on the thermal structure within the lithosphere. In addition, the emplacement of hot materials from the mantle may further reduce the thickness of the lithosphere. Originality/value The present analytical solutions can be used to: validate numerical methods for solving large‐scale heat transfer problems; provide correct thermal boundary conditions for numerically solving ore body formation and mineralization problems on the crustal scale; and investigate the fundamental issues related to thermal distributions within the lithosphere. The proposed finite element analysis can be effectively used to consider the geometrical and material complexities of large‐scale heat transfer problems with temperature‐dependent fluid densities.
Abstract Combining the single-grain low-temperature apatite fission track with high-temperature zircon U-Pb dating of sandstone can better reveal the temporal association between the source and depositional site, and identify both the age component of the source terrain and subsequent thermo-tectonic events after deposition. This paper introduces the single-grain zircon U-Pb dating and fission track (FT) dating of sediments from the Beipiao basin in Northeast China. The U-Pb ages of 18 single zircon grains collected from the early Jurassic Beipiao Formation range from 194.3±2.9 to 233.8±4.2 Ma and most of apatite FT ages are about 30–40 Ma, indicating that the eastern part of the Yan-Liao orogenic belt experienced an obvious tectonic seesawing during Meso-Cenozoic time. The eastern part of Liaoning Province (the Liaodong block) uplifted in the early Mesozoic (230–190 Ma) and formed a geological landscape of high mountains, while the western part of the province (the Liaoxi area) subsided relatively and thousand-meter-scale sediments were deposited. During the Cenozoic (30–40 Ma), the Liaoxi area uplifted as a whole, and the Xialiaohe Basin sank intensively. The topographic landscape had a great change: high mountains in the west and east of Liaoning Province and low plains in the central area.
As an open system the crust-mantle transition layer is an important layer where materialand energy exchange between crust and mantle takes place. The different styles of transitionlayer observed in seismic reflection profiles, which are associated with different lock-mineralcompositions indicate different tectonic settings. The transition layer in Tibet, China, acomplex geological unit constituted by random and reticular high and lower seismic velocitylamellae with qrid shaped reflection layer and big thickness, the rock-mineral associationsbearing a dual nature of both mafic granulite factes and ultramafic factes rocks which are thetypical upper mantle rocks, indicates that the crust movement is very intense in this regionnow. The transition layer in North China is usually composed of a thinner strong positive velocity gradient layer, and its rock-mineral associations also bear a dual nature. This suggeststhat the crust is still active though the intense mobile period is over. The transition layer inthe remaining platform basin of China is characterized by a relatively sharp seismic discontinuity inferred the feature of the deep geological processes in the platform is more stable.
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