Brine mobilization during lithospheric heating on Europa: Implications for formation of chaos terrain, lenticula texture, and color variations
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The background lineated plains on Europa are locally highly modified and destroyed in regions known as chaos and lenticulae. Produced there are (1) isolated fragments and polygons of background material which rotate and translate, (2) matrix, which fills in the areas between the fragments and polygons, and (3) surface discolorations. Using observations and constraints from high‐resolution Galileo images, we find that a model for the formation of these terrains which involves mobilization and migration of brines, and a possible percolation phase transition as the Europan lithosphere is warmed, can readily explain the vast majority of their characteristics. In addition, the presence of melt fractions of a few percent in the adjacent ice framework may enhance the creep rate and the accompanying deformation rates. The characteristics and distribution of lenticulae suggest that among the strong candidates for heat sources for brine migration and ice mobilization processes is diapirism linked to solid‐state convection in a layer underlying a brittle lid and possibly overlying a liquid water layer.Keywords:
Brittleness
Brine
Mobilization
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Abstract In the Okinawa Trough, a number of mud diapirs were observed by the seismic datasets from several different cruises. In this paper, based on the seismic profiles, we separated three different types of mud diapirs according to their configuration. All the mud diapirs are associated with free gas or gas hydrates, indicating that the mud diapirs could sever good migration pathways for free gas migrating upwards. Mud diapirs are distributed in the middle and south of the Okinawa Trough. Most of them are located to the south of the Miyako Fault zone. The triggering mechanisms were discussed in a large scale, which suggests the mud diapirs might be triggered by the collision between the Eurasian Plate and the northward subducting Philippine Luzon arc. The distribution of mud diapirs was mainly controlled by the compression during the Late Miocene and the Miyako Fault zone. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Seismic zone
Striation
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Extrusive
Salt dome
Salt tectonics
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Extensional tectonics
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As one of the most important offshore basins in China,there exist many different kinds of fluid diapirs in the Pearl River Mouth basin,which have been introduced in some papers.However,the systemic study of these diapirs is still to be expected on its classification and origin,which can understand fluid migration better.Fluid diapir structure is a special style of fluid migrating upwards.The aim of this paper is to identify and classify the fluid diapir structure,to analyze the messages implied by the fluid diapir structure,to find out a new method of evaluating the fluid diapir structure characterized by the blank seismic reflection,and to discuss the origin of the diapirs according to basin modeling and structure analysis.On the basis of the investigation,we can come to the following conclusions:(1)There are four kinds of diapirs in the Pearl River Mouth basin including the turtleback-like arch,mud diapir,gas seepage,fault(or crack),which indicate different geological messages;(2)Structure activity rather than the overpressure is the primary driving pressure on diapirs.
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Extrusive
Salt tectonics
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Lateral shortening is expressed in unique ways in salt basins, especially if pre-shortening diapirs are present. We present an overview and new 3-D conceptual models capturing the evolution of shortening structures formed in salt provinces dominated by precursor isolated diapirs (termed isolated-diapir provinces). In such provinces, isolated diapirs form only a minor volumetric component of a sedimentary basin, however, due to the relative weakness of rock salt and their ability to localize strain, during shortening they have a disproportionately large influence on structural development. We find three key mechanical principles govern the processes and structural styles developed during shortening of isolated-diapir provinces. First, salt diapirs shorten before surrounding sedimentary rocks due to their relative weakness, and so form salients in the thrust front during early shortening. Second, diapirs tend to nucleate folds and faults, which radiate out from the diapirs. Third, as diapir walls converge, the roof must shorten. Extrusive salt sheets are expelled through thin roofs, but thicker roofs resist piercement and so tend to undergo complex folding and faulting. As a result of these principles, the first-order controls on the structural styles expressed across a shortened isolated-diapir province are the pre-shortening configuration of diapirs, the connectivity of the diapirs prior to shortening, total strain magnitude, and diapir roof thickness. Second-order controls include the initial cross-sectional and map-view geometry of diapirs, diapir size, and diapir orientation with respect to the shortening direction.
Extrusive
Salt tectonics
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