An explosive component in a December 2020 Milan earthquake suggests outgassing of deeply recycled carbon

Carbon dragged at sub-arc depths and sequestered in the asthenospheric upper mantle during cold subduction is potentially released after millions of years during the breakup of continental plates. However, it is unclear whether these deep-carbon reservoirs can be locally remobilized on shorter-term timescales. Here we reveal the fate of carbon released during cold subduction by analyzing an anomalously deep earthquake in December 2020 in the lithospheric mantle beneath Milan (Italy), above a deep-carbon reservoir previously imaged in the mantle wedge by geophysical methods. We show that the earthquake source moment tensor includes a major explosive component that we ascribe to carbon-rich melt/fluid migration along upper-mantle shear zones and rapid release of about 17,000 tons of carbon dioxide when ascending melts exit the carbonate stability field. Our results underline the importance of carbon-rich melts at active continental margins for emission budgets and suggest their potential episodic contributions to atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Comparison of 3D, 2D, and 1D Magnetotelluric Inversion Results on the Example of Data from Fore-Sudetic Monocline

This study’s main objective is to better define and understand results for the most commonly used inversion algorithms in magnetotelluric data interpretation as part of geological exploration of the region of the Dolsk fault and the Odra fault. The data obtained from the eastern part of Fore-Sudetic Monocline measurements were used to describe the boundaries of lithospheric blocks (terranes) and recognize their origin. The magnetotelluric (MT) soundings were carried out to achieve this goal. There were conducted 51 soundings on five quasiparallel profiles. That allows constructing a quasiregular mesh in the area of the Fore-Sudetic Monocline. This arrangement of the measuring grid allowed reducing the influence of the largest sources of disturbances on MT data. 1D and 2D models were created by using the inverse algorithms. The models were prepared for each profile separately. Further, parallel (ModEM) 3D inversion codes were applied. The area where the investigation was done involves the region of the Dolsk fault and the Odra fault. These zones are essential geologic borders of a regional nature, and they pull apart the crust blocks with different origins. It was vitally needed to correctly identify the crust and upper mantle structure around a part of the Fore-Sudetic Monocline. The paper shows how these key features of the geological structures are revealed using 1D, 2D, and 3D algorithms.

Regional mantle viscosity constraints for North America reveal upper mantle strength differences across the continent

We present regional constraints of mantle viscosity for North America using a local Bayesian joint inversion of mantle flow and glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models. Our localized mantle flow model uses new local geoid kernels created via spatio-spectral localization using Slepain basis functions, convolved with seismically derived mantle density to calculate and constrain against the regional free-air gravity field. The joint inversion with GIA uses two deglaciation of ice sheet models (GLAC1D-NA and ICE-6G-NA) and surface relative sea level data. We solve for the local 1D mantle viscosity structure for the entire North America (NA) region, the eastern region including Hudson Bay, and the western region of North America extending into the Pacific plate. Our results for the entire NA region show one order of magnitude viscosity jump at the 670 km boundary using a high seismic density scaling parameter (e.g., δlnp/δlnvs = 0.3). Seismic scaling parameter demonstrates significant influence on the resulting viscosity profile. However, when the NA region is further localized into eastern and western parts, the scaling factor becomes much less important for dictating the resulting upper mantle viscosity characteristics. Rather the respective local mantle density heterogeneities provide the dominate control on the upper mantle viscosity. We infer local 1D viscosity profiles that reflect the respective tectonic settings of each region's upper mantle, including a weak and shallow asthenosphere layer in the west, and deep sharp viscosity jumps in the eastern transition zone, below the suggested/proposed depth range of the eastern continental root.

GEODYNAMICS

In order to study the deep structure of the southwestern Ukrainian Carpathians, where the Carpathian conductivity anomaly is located, in 2015 and 2020, modern synchronous magnetotelluric studies were carried out on the profiles of Mukachevo-Skole, Seredne-Borynya and Karpatsky at twenty-three points and the spatiotemporal distribution and the electric field on the Earth's surface, which can be used to assess the conductivity and geoelectrical structure of the region, was obtained. Processing of experimental data was performed using the software PRC_MTMV, which provides a common noise-canceling impedance estimation for synchronous magnetotellurical recordings. Curves of apparent electrical resistivity (amplitude values and phases of impedance) from 10 to 10000 s were obtained reliably. A joint analysis of the apparent resistivity and impedance phases and the formal interpretation of the deep magnetotellurical sounding curves using the Niblett transformation indicate the presence of the spatially inhomogeneous conductor both in the earth's crust and in the upper part of the upper mantle. The chain of local conductive sections in the earth's crust coincides with the axial part of the Carpathian conductivity anomaly. High conductivity of the upper mantle was recorded in the Ukrainian Carpathians from the Transcarpathian Depression to the Skiba cover. It is shown that it is not a homogeneous layer, there is a general deepening of the upper edge to the northeast from 40-60 km (Transcarpathian depression) to 90-100 km (Krosno cover). Sharp deepening along the Porkulets and Dukla covers is revealed. Information about the existence of a deep conductor and its parameters should be the basis for quantitative interpretation and construction of the 3D deep geoelectrical model.

A proposed model for Mantle upwelling in the Syrian coastal: نموذج مقترح لتقبب المعطف في الساحل السوري

The aim of the research is to develop a conception of the proposed model for Mantle upwelling (diapering) in the coastal region, as the results of this research showed the occurrence of Mantle upwelling regression under the coastal region during the Pliocene period, and this led to the occurrence of basaltic deposits in the Syrian coast during the Pliocene, where we note the center of the vaulting was under Qardaha and Safita, and the Mantle upwelling reached a depth of 35 km within the continental crust, where basalt rocks were formed as a result of partial melting of the upper mantle, and it is upwelled with low melting and differential degrees. Basalt rocks in the initial differential phase of the original basaltic silage.