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Abstract Molnar and England (1990,https://doi.org/10.1029/JB095iB04p04833) introduced equations using a semianalytical approach that approximate the thermal structure of the forearc regions in subduction zones. A detailed new comparison with high‐resolution finite element models shows that the original equations provide robust predictions and can be improved by a few modifications that follow from the theoretical derivation. The updated approximate equations are shown to be quite accurate for a straight‐dipping slab that is warmed by heat flowing from its base and by shear heating at its top. The approximation of radiogenic heating in the crust of the overriding plate is less accurate but the overall effect of this heating mode is small. It is shown that the previous and updated approximate equations become increasingly inaccurate with decreasing thermal parameter and increasing variability of slab dip. It is also shown that the approximate equations cannot be extrapolated accurately past the brittle‐ductile transition. Conclusions in a recent paper (Kohn et al., 2018,https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1809962115) that modest amount of shear heating can explain the thermal conditions of past subduction from the exhumed metamorphic rock record are invalid due to a number of compounding errors in the application of the Molnar and England (1990,https://doi.org/10.1029/JB095iB04p04833) equations past the brittle‐ductile transition. The use of the improved approximate equations is highly recommended provided their limitations are taken into account. For subduction zones with variable dip and/or low thermal parameter finite element modeling is recommended.
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Investigating the Accuracy, Precision, and Cooling Rate Dependence of Laboratory‐Acquired Thermal Remanences During Paleointensity Experiments
Abstract We examine the behavior of natural basaltic and trachytic samples during paleointensity experiments on both the original and laboratory‐acquired thermal remanences and characterize the samples using proxies for domain state including curvature (k) and the bulk domain stability parameters of Paterson (2011,https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JB008369) and Paterson et al. (2017,https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1714047114), respectively. A curvature value of 0.164 (suggested by Paterson, 2011,https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JB008369) as a critical threshold that separates single‐domain‐like remanences from multidomain‐like remanances on the original paleointensity data was used to separate samples into “straight” (single‐domain‐like) and “curved” (multidomain‐like) groups. Specimens from the two sample sets were given a “fresh” thermal remanent magnetization in a 70 μT field and subjected to an infield‐zerofield, zerofield‐infield (IZZI)‐type (Yu et al., 2004,https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GC000630) paleointensity experiment. The straight sample set recovered the laboratory field with high precision while the curved set had much more scattered results (70.5 ± 1.5 and 71.9 ± 5.2 μT, respectively). The average intensity of both sets for straight and curved was quite close to the laboratory field of 70 μT, however, suggesting that if experiments contain a sufficient number of specimens, there does not seem to be a large bias in the field estimate. We found that the dependence of the laboratory thermal remanent magnetization on cooling rate was significant in most samples and did not depend on domain states inferred from proxies based on hysteresis measurements and should be estimated for all samples whose cooling rates differ from that used in the laboratory.
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- PAR ID:
- 10456662
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1525-2027
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 383-397
- Size(s):
- p. 383-397
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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