Structure of the mantle beneath the A lboran B asin from magnetotelluric soundings

Autor: A. Marcuello, Anna Martí, Xavier Garcia, H. Seille, Sebastian Hölz, Rob L. Evans, Andrea Lovatini, Marion Jegen, César R. Ranero, J. Elsenbeck, Carlo Ungarelli, Juanjo Ledo, Pilar Queralt
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 16 . pp. 4261-4274.
Dipòsit Digital de la UB
Universidad de Barcelona
Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname
ISSN: 1525-2027
DOI: 10.1002/2015gc006100
Popis: García, Xavier... et. al.-- 14 pages, 9 figures, supporting information http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GC006100
We present results of marine MT acquisition in the Alboran sea that also incorporates previously acquired land MT from southern Spain into our analysis. The marine data show complex MT response functions with strong distortion due to seafloor topography and the coastline, but inclusion of high resolution topography and bathymetry and a seismically defined sediment unit into a 3-D inversion model has allowed us to image the structure in the underlying mantle. The resulting resistivity model is broadly consistent with a geodynamic scenario that includes subduction of an eastward trending plate beneath Gibraltar, which plunges nearly vertically beneath the Alboran. Our model contains three primary features of interest: a resistive body beneath the central Alboran, which extends to a depth of ∼150 km. At this depth, the mantle resistivity decreases to values of ∼100 Ohm-m, slightly higher than those seen in typical asthenosphere at the same depth. This transition suggests a change in slab properties with depth, perhaps reflecting a change in the nature of the seafloor subducted in the past. Two conductive features in our model suggest the presence of fluids released by the subducting slab or a small amount of partial melt in the upper mantle (or both). Of these, the one in the center of the Alboran basin, in the uppermost-mantle (20-30 km depth) beneath Neogene volcanics and west of the termination of the Nekkor Fault, is consistent with geochemical models, which infer highly thinned lithosphere and shallow melting in order to explain the petrology of seafloor volcanics
This project was initiated as a result of and supported by NSF project-EAR080- 9074 (Evans, lead P.I.) and Spanish National Projects CTM2009-07039-E/ MAR, CTM2011-30400-C02-02 and Repsol funded CO-DOS project
Databáze: OpenAIRE