There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the conti... more There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the continental lithosphere Te based upon admittance or coherence relationships between gravity and topography. This paper compares multitaper and wavelet methods to analyse the coherence between Bouguer gravity and bathymetric data over the Irish Atlantic margin. The analyses show that similar lateral Te variations can be recovered from the data, but demonstrate that the size of the data window can give rise to a significant downward bias in Te estimates. A seismically constrained 3-D gravity inversion over the Rockall basin shows the presence of surface and subsurface loads whose ratio is loosely correlated with load ratio variations generated from the wavelet coherence method. The Te and load ratio, f variations can be plausibly related to major geological structures on the margin. If the load ratio variations can be interpreted geologically, it implies that spectral based methods to estimate effective elastic thickness must incorporate subsurface loads within the underlying theoretical model. On the Irish Atlantic margin, Te is generally low (6-18 km) and is associated with a NE-SW Caledonian trend. The weakest lithosphere is in the southern Rockall basin, Porcupine bank and Porcupine basin and the strongest lithosphere is along the Rockall-Hatton region. The low Te values are consistent with results from other passive margins. The reasons for such low Te values on the Irish Atlantic margin remain unclear, but may be the consequence of Te being frozen into the lithosphere when loads were emplaced during continental breakup and temperature gradients were high. The process of sedimentation and the presence of fluids may be contributory factors. There is an indication of a geological and rheological divide between the Rockall-Hatton region and the Rockall basin, possibly associated with the Caledonian orogenic front.
The nature and extent of the regional lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction beneath Ireland and B... more The nature and extent of the regional lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction beneath Ireland and Britain remains unclear. Although it has been established that ancient Caledonian signatures pervade the lithosphere, tertiary structure related to the Iceland plume has been inferred to dominate the asthenosphere. To address this apparent contradiction in the literature, we image the 3-D lithospheric and deeper upper-mantle structure beneath Ireland via non-linear, iterative joint teleseismic-gravity inversion using data from the ISLE (Irish Seismic Lithospheric Experiment), ISUME (Irish Seismic Upper Mantle Experiment) and GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) experiments. The inversion combines teleseismic relative arrival time residuals with the GRACE long wavelength satellite derived gravity anomaly by assuming a depth-dependent quasilinear velocity-density relationship. We argue that anomalies imaged at lithospheric depths probably reflect compositional contrasts, either due to terrane accretion associated with Iapetus Ocean closure, frozen decompressional melt that was generated by plate stretching during the opening of the north Atlantic Ocean, frozen Iceland plume related magmatic intrusions, or a combination thereof. The continuation of the anomalous structure across the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary is interpreted as possibly reflecting sub-lithospheric small-scale convection initiated by the lithospheric compositional contrasts. Our hypothesis thus reconciles the disparity which exists between lithospheric and asthenospheric structure beneath this region of the north Atlantic rifted margin.
There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the conti... more There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the continental lithosphere Te based upon admittance or coherence relationships between gravity and topography. This paper compares multitaper and wavelet methods to analyse the coherence between Bouguer gravity and bathymetric data over the Irish Atlantic margin. The analyses show that similar lateral Te variations can be recovered from the data, but demonstrate that the size of the data window can give rise to a significant downward bias in Te estimates. A seismically constrained 3-D gravity inversion over the Rockall basin shows the presence of surface and subsurface loads whose ratio is loosely correlated with load ratio variations generated from the wavelet coherence method. The Te and load ratio, f variations can be plausibly related to major geological structures on the margin. If the load ratio variations can be interpreted geologically, it implies that spectral based methods to estimate effective elastic thickness must incorporate subsurface loads within the underlying theoretical model.
1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatu... more 1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatures should be too high for brittle failure to occur. Here we present accurately located earthquakes in central Ethiopia, covering an incipient oceanic plate boundary in the Main Ethiopian Rift. Seismicity is evaluated using the combination of exceptionally well resolved seismic structure of the crust and upper mantle, electromagnetic properties of the crust, rock geochemistry, and geological data. The combined data sets provide evidence that lower crustal earthquakes are focused in mafic lower crust containing pockets of the largest fraction of partial melt. The pattern of seismicity and distribution of crustal melt also correlates closely with presence of partial melt in the upper mantle, suggesting lower crustal earthquakes are induced by ongoing crustal modification through magma emplacement that is driven by partial melting of the mantle. Our results show that magmatic processes control not only the distribution of shallow seismicity and volcanic activity along the axis of the rift valley but also anomalous earthquakes in the lower crust away from these zones of localized strain.
1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatu... more 1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatures should be too high for brittle failure to occur. Here we present accurately located earthquakes in central Ethiopia, covering an incipient oceanic plate boundary in the Main Ethiopian Rift. Seismicity is evaluated using the combination of exceptionally well resolved seismic structure of the crust and upper mantle, electromagnetic properties of the crust, rock geochemistry, and geological data. The combined data sets provide evidence that lower crustal earthquakes are focused in mafic lower crust containing pockets of the largest fraction of partial melt. The pattern of seismicity and distribution of crustal melt also correlates closely with presence of partial melt in the upper mantle, suggesting lower crustal earthquakes are induced by ongoing crustal modification through magma emplacement that is driven by partial melting of the mantle. Our results show that magmatic processes control not only the distribution of shallow seismicity and volcanic activity along the axis of the rift valley but also anomalous earthquakes in the lower crust away from these zones of localized strain.
In this study we image crustal structure beneath a magmatic continental rift to understand the in... more In this study we image crustal structure beneath a magmatic continental rift to understand the interplay between crustal stretching and magmatism during the late stages of continental rifting: the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER). The northern sector of this region marks the transition from continental rifting in the East African Rift to incipient seafloor spreading in the southern Red Sea and western Gulf of Aden. Our local tomographic inversion exploits 172 broad-band instruments covering an area of 250 × 350 km of the rift and adjacent plateaux. The instruments recorded a total of 2139 local earthquakes over a 16-month period. Several synthetic tests show that resolution is good between 12 and 25 km depth (below sea level), but some horizontal velocity smearing is evident along the axis of the Main Ethiopian Rift below 16 km. We present a 3-D P-wave velocity model of the mid-crust and present the first 3-D Vp/Vs model of the region. Our models show high P-wave velocities (6.5 km s −1 ) beneath the axis of the rift at a depth of 12-25 km. The presence of high Vp/Vs ratios (1.81-1.84) at the same depth range suggest that they are cooled mafic intrusions. The high Vp/Vs values, along with other geophysical evidence, suggest that dyking is pervasive beneath the axis of the rift from the mid-crustal depths to the surface and that some portion of partial melt may exist at lower crustal depths. Although the crustal stretching factor across the Main Ethiopian Rift is ∼1.7, our results indicate that magma intrusion in narrow zones accommodates a large proportion of extensional strain, with similarities to slow-spreading mid-ocean ridge processes.
There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the conti... more There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the continental lithosphere Te based upon admittance or coherence relationships between gravity and topography. This paper compares multitaper and wavelet methods to analyse the coherence between Bouguer gravity and bathymetric data over the Irish Atlantic margin. The analyses show that similar lateral Te variations can be recovered from the data, but demonstrate that the size of the data window can give rise to a significant downward bias in Te estimates. A seismically constrained 3-D gravity inversion over the Rockall basin shows the presence of surface and subsurface loads whose ratio is loosely correlated with load ratio variations generated from the wavelet coherence method. The Te and load ratio, f variations can be plausibly related to major geological structures on the margin. If the load ratio variations can be interpreted geologically, it implies that spectral based methods to estimate effective elastic thickness must incorporate subsurface loads within the underlying theoretical model. On the Irish Atlantic margin, Te is generally low (6-18 km) and is associated with a NE-SW Caledonian trend. The weakest lithosphere is in the southern Rockall basin, Porcupine bank and Porcupine basin and the strongest lithosphere is along the Rockall-Hatton region. The low Te values are consistent with results from other passive margins. The reasons for such low Te values on the Irish Atlantic margin remain unclear, but may be the consequence of Te being frozen into the lithosphere when loads were emplaced during continental breakup and temperature gradients were high. The process of sedimentation and the presence of fluids may be contributory factors. There is an indication of a geological and rheological divide between the Rockall-Hatton region and the Rockall basin, possibly associated with the Caledonian orogenic front.
The nature and extent of the regional lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction beneath Ireland and B... more The nature and extent of the regional lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction beneath Ireland and Britain remains unclear. Although it has been established that ancient Caledonian signatures pervade the lithosphere, tertiary structure related to the Iceland plume has been inferred to dominate the asthenosphere. To address this apparent contradiction in the literature, we image the 3-D lithospheric and deeper upper-mantle structure beneath Ireland via non-linear, iterative joint teleseismic-gravity inversion using data from the ISLE (Irish Seismic Lithospheric Experiment), ISUME (Irish Seismic Upper Mantle Experiment) and GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) experiments. The inversion combines teleseismic relative arrival time residuals with the GRACE long wavelength satellite derived gravity anomaly by assuming a depth-dependent quasilinear velocity-density relationship. We argue that anomalies imaged at lithospheric depths probably reflect compositional contrasts, either due to terrane accretion associated with Iapetus Ocean closure, frozen decompressional melt that was generated by plate stretching during the opening of the north Atlantic Ocean, frozen Iceland plume related magmatic intrusions, or a combination thereof. The continuation of the anomalous structure across the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary is interpreted as possibly reflecting sub-lithospheric small-scale convection initiated by the lithospheric compositional contrasts. Our hypothesis thus reconciles the disparity which exists between lithospheric and asthenospheric structure beneath this region of the north Atlantic rifted margin.
There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the conti... more There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the continental lithosphere Te based upon admittance or coherence relationships between gravity and topography. This paper compares multitaper and wavelet methods to analyse the coherence between Bouguer gravity and bathymetric data over the Irish Atlantic margin. The analyses show that similar lateral Te variations can be recovered from the data, but demonstrate that the size of the data window can give rise to a significant downward bias in Te estimates. A seismically constrained 3-D gravity inversion over the Rockall basin shows the presence of surface and subsurface loads whose ratio is loosely correlated with load ratio variations generated from the wavelet coherence method. The Te and load ratio, f variations can be plausibly related to major geological structures on the margin. If the load ratio variations can be interpreted geologically, it implies that spectral based methods to estimate effective elastic thickness must incorporate subsurface loads within the underlying theoretical model.
1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatu... more 1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatures should be too high for brittle failure to occur. Here we present accurately located earthquakes in central Ethiopia, covering an incipient oceanic plate boundary in the Main Ethiopian Rift. Seismicity is evaluated using the combination of exceptionally well resolved seismic structure of the crust and upper mantle, electromagnetic properties of the crust, rock geochemistry, and geological data. The combined data sets provide evidence that lower crustal earthquakes are focused in mafic lower crust containing pockets of the largest fraction of partial melt. The pattern of seismicity and distribution of crustal melt also correlates closely with presence of partial melt in the upper mantle, suggesting lower crustal earthquakes are induced by ongoing crustal modification through magma emplacement that is driven by partial melting of the mantle. Our results show that magmatic processes control not only the distribution of shallow seismicity and volcanic activity along the axis of the rift valley but also anomalous earthquakes in the lower crust away from these zones of localized strain.
1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatu... more 1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatures should be too high for brittle failure to occur. Here we present accurately located earthquakes in central Ethiopia, covering an incipient oceanic plate boundary in the Main Ethiopian Rift. Seismicity is evaluated using the combination of exceptionally well resolved seismic structure of the crust and upper mantle, electromagnetic properties of the crust, rock geochemistry, and geological data. The combined data sets provide evidence that lower crustal earthquakes are focused in mafic lower crust containing pockets of the largest fraction of partial melt. The pattern of seismicity and distribution of crustal melt also correlates closely with presence of partial melt in the upper mantle, suggesting lower crustal earthquakes are induced by ongoing crustal modification through magma emplacement that is driven by partial melting of the mantle. Our results show that magmatic processes control not only the distribution of shallow seismicity and volcanic activity along the axis of the rift valley but also anomalous earthquakes in the lower crust away from these zones of localized strain.
In this study we image crustal structure beneath a magmatic continental rift to understand the in... more In this study we image crustal structure beneath a magmatic continental rift to understand the interplay between crustal stretching and magmatism during the late stages of continental rifting: the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER). The northern sector of this region marks the transition from continental rifting in the East African Rift to incipient seafloor spreading in the southern Red Sea and western Gulf of Aden. Our local tomographic inversion exploits 172 broad-band instruments covering an area of 250 × 350 km of the rift and adjacent plateaux. The instruments recorded a total of 2139 local earthquakes over a 16-month period. Several synthetic tests show that resolution is good between 12 and 25 km depth (below sea level), but some horizontal velocity smearing is evident along the axis of the Main Ethiopian Rift below 16 km. We present a 3-D P-wave velocity model of the mid-crust and present the first 3-D Vp/Vs model of the region. Our models show high P-wave velocities (6.5 km s −1 ) beneath the axis of the rift at a depth of 12-25 km. The presence of high Vp/Vs ratios (1.81-1.84) at the same depth range suggest that they are cooled mafic intrusions. The high Vp/Vs values, along with other geophysical evidence, suggest that dyking is pervasive beneath the axis of the rift from the mid-crustal depths to the surface and that some portion of partial melt may exist at lower crustal depths. Although the crustal stretching factor across the Main Ethiopian Rift is ∼1.7, our results indicate that magma intrusion in narrow zones accommodates a large proportion of extensional strain, with similarities to slow-spreading mid-ocean ridge processes.
There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the conti... more There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the continental lithosphere Te based upon admittance or coherence relationships between gravity and topography. This paper compares multitaper and wavelet methods to analyse the coherence between Bouguer gravity and bathymetric data over the Irish Atlantic margin. The analyses show that similar lateral Te variations can be recovered from the data, but demonstrate that the size of the data window can give rise to a significant downward bias in Te estimates. A seismically constrained 3-D gravity inversion over the Rockall basin shows the presence of surface and subsurface loads whose ratio is loosely correlated with load ratio variations generated from the wavelet coherence method. The Te and load ratio, f variations can be plausibly related to major geological structures on the margin. If the load ratio variations can be interpreted geologically, it implies that spectral based methods to estimate effective elastic thickness must incorporate subsurface loads within the underlying theoretical model. On the Irish Atlantic margin, Te is generally low (6-18 km) and is associated with a NE-SW Caledonian trend. The weakest lithosphere is in the southern Rockall basin, Porcupine bank and Porcupine basin and the strongest lithosphere is along the Rockall-Hatton region. The low Te values are consistent with results from other passive margins. The reasons for such low Te values on the Irish Atlantic margin remain unclear, but may be the consequence of Te being frozen into the lithosphere when loads were emplaced during continental breakup and temperature gradients were high. The process of sedimentation and the presence of fluids may be contributory factors. There is an indication of a geological and rheological divide between the Rockall-Hatton region and the Rockall basin, possibly associated with the Caledonian orogenic front.
The nature and extent of the regional lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction beneath Ireland and B... more The nature and extent of the regional lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction beneath Ireland and Britain remains unclear. Although it has been established that ancient Caledonian signatures pervade the lithosphere, tertiary structure related to the Iceland plume has been inferred to dominate the asthenosphere. To address this apparent contradiction in the literature, we image the 3-D lithospheric and deeper upper-mantle structure beneath Ireland via non-linear, iterative joint teleseismic-gravity inversion using data from the ISLE (Irish Seismic Lithospheric Experiment), ISUME (Irish Seismic Upper Mantle Experiment) and GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) experiments. The inversion combines teleseismic relative arrival time residuals with the GRACE long wavelength satellite derived gravity anomaly by assuming a depth-dependent quasilinear velocity-density relationship. We argue that anomalies imaged at lithospheric depths probably reflect compositional contrasts, either due to terrane accretion associated with Iapetus Ocean closure, frozen decompressional melt that was generated by plate stretching during the opening of the north Atlantic Ocean, frozen Iceland plume related magmatic intrusions, or a combination thereof. The continuation of the anomalous structure across the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary is interpreted as possibly reflecting sub-lithospheric small-scale convection initiated by the lithospheric compositional contrasts. Our hypothesis thus reconciles the disparity which exists between lithospheric and asthenospheric structure beneath this region of the north Atlantic rifted margin.
There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the conti... more There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the continental lithosphere Te based upon admittance or coherence relationships between gravity and topography. This paper compares multitaper and wavelet methods to analyse the coherence between Bouguer gravity and bathymetric data over the Irish Atlantic margin. The analyses show that similar lateral Te variations can be recovered from the data, but demonstrate that the size of the data window can give rise to a significant downward bias in Te estimates. A seismically constrained 3-D gravity inversion over the Rockall basin shows the presence of surface and subsurface loads whose ratio is loosely correlated with load ratio variations generated from the wavelet coherence method. The Te and load ratio, f variations can be plausibly related to major geological structures on the margin. If the load ratio variations can be interpreted geologically, it implies that spectral based methods to estimate effective elastic thickness must incorporate subsurface loads within the underlying theoretical model.
1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatu... more 1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatures should be too high for brittle failure to occur. Here we present accurately located earthquakes in central Ethiopia, covering an incipient oceanic plate boundary in the Main Ethiopian Rift. Seismicity is evaluated using the combination of exceptionally well resolved seismic structure of the crust and upper mantle, electromagnetic properties of the crust, rock geochemistry, and geological data. The combined data sets provide evidence that lower crustal earthquakes are focused in mafic lower crust containing pockets of the largest fraction of partial melt. The pattern of seismicity and distribution of crustal melt also correlates closely with presence of partial melt in the upper mantle, suggesting lower crustal earthquakes are induced by ongoing crustal modification through magma emplacement that is driven by partial melting of the mantle. Our results show that magmatic processes control not only the distribution of shallow seismicity and volcanic activity along the axis of the rift valley but also anomalous earthquakes in the lower crust away from these zones of localized strain.
1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatu... more 1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatures should be too high for brittle failure to occur. Here we present accurately located earthquakes in central Ethiopia, covering an incipient oceanic plate boundary in the Main Ethiopian Rift. Seismicity is evaluated using the combination of exceptionally well resolved seismic structure of the crust and upper mantle, electromagnetic properties of the crust, rock geochemistry, and geological data. The combined data sets provide evidence that lower crustal earthquakes are focused in mafic lower crust containing pockets of the largest fraction of partial melt. The pattern of seismicity and distribution of crustal melt also correlates closely with presence of partial melt in the upper mantle, suggesting lower crustal earthquakes are induced by ongoing crustal modification through magma emplacement that is driven by partial melting of the mantle. Our results show that magmatic processes control not only the distribution of shallow seismicity and volcanic activity along the axis of the rift valley but also anomalous earthquakes in the lower crust away from these zones of localized strain.
In this study we image crustal structure beneath a magmatic continental rift to understand the in... more In this study we image crustal structure beneath a magmatic continental rift to understand the interplay between crustal stretching and magmatism during the late stages of continental rifting: the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER). The northern sector of this region marks the transition from continental rifting in the East African Rift to incipient seafloor spreading in the southern Red Sea and western Gulf of Aden. Our local tomographic inversion exploits 172 broad-band instruments covering an area of 250 × 350 km of the rift and adjacent plateaux. The instruments recorded a total of 2139 local earthquakes over a 16-month period. Several synthetic tests show that resolution is good between 12 and 25 km depth (below sea level), but some horizontal velocity smearing is evident along the axis of the Main Ethiopian Rift below 16 km. We present a 3-D P-wave velocity model of the mid-crust and present the first 3-D Vp/Vs model of the region. Our models show high P-wave velocities (6.5 km s −1 ) beneath the axis of the rift at a depth of 12-25 km. The presence of high Vp/Vs ratios (1.81-1.84) at the same depth range suggest that they are cooled mafic intrusions. The high Vp/Vs values, along with other geophysical evidence, suggest that dyking is pervasive beneath the axis of the rift from the mid-crustal depths to the surface and that some portion of partial melt may exist at lower crustal depths. Although the crustal stretching factor across the Main Ethiopian Rift is ∼1.7, our results indicate that magma intrusion in narrow zones accommodates a large proportion of extensional strain, with similarities to slow-spreading mid-ocean ridge processes.
There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the conti... more There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the continental lithosphere Te based upon admittance or coherence relationships between gravity and topography. This paper compares multitaper and wavelet methods to analyse the coherence between Bouguer gravity and bathymetric data over the Irish Atlantic margin. The analyses show that similar lateral Te variations can be recovered from the data, but demonstrate that the size of the data window can give rise to a significant downward bias in Te estimates. A seismically constrained 3-D gravity inversion over the Rockall basin shows the presence of surface and subsurface loads whose ratio is loosely correlated with load ratio variations generated from the wavelet coherence method. The Te and load ratio, f variations can be plausibly related to major geological structures on the margin. If the load ratio variations can be interpreted geologically, it implies that spectral based methods to estimate effective elastic thickness must incorporate subsurface loads within the underlying theoretical model. On the Irish Atlantic margin, Te is generally low (6-18 km) and is associated with a NE-SW Caledonian trend. The weakest lithosphere is in the southern Rockall basin, Porcupine bank and Porcupine basin and the strongest lithosphere is along the Rockall-Hatton region. The low Te values are consistent with results from other passive margins. The reasons for such low Te values on the Irish Atlantic margin remain unclear, but may be the consequence of Te being frozen into the lithosphere when loads were emplaced during continental breakup and temperature gradients were high. The process of sedimentation and the presence of fluids may be contributory factors. There is an indication of a geological and rheological divide between the Rockall-Hatton region and the Rockall basin, possibly associated with the Caledonian orogenic front.
The nature and extent of the regional lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction beneath Ireland and B... more The nature and extent of the regional lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction beneath Ireland and Britain remains unclear. Although it has been established that ancient Caledonian signatures pervade the lithosphere, tertiary structure related to the Iceland plume has been inferred to dominate the asthenosphere. To address this apparent contradiction in the literature, we image the 3-D lithospheric and deeper upper-mantle structure beneath Ireland via non-linear, iterative joint teleseismic-gravity inversion using data from the ISLE (Irish Seismic Lithospheric Experiment), ISUME (Irish Seismic Upper Mantle Experiment) and GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) experiments. The inversion combines teleseismic relative arrival time residuals with the GRACE long wavelength satellite derived gravity anomaly by assuming a depth-dependent quasilinear velocity-density relationship. We argue that anomalies imaged at lithospheric depths probably reflect compositional contrasts, either due to terrane accretion associated with Iapetus Ocean closure, frozen decompressional melt that was generated by plate stretching during the opening of the north Atlantic Ocean, frozen Iceland plume related magmatic intrusions, or a combination thereof. The continuation of the anomalous structure across the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary is interpreted as possibly reflecting sub-lithospheric small-scale convection initiated by the lithospheric compositional contrasts. Our hypothesis thus reconciles the disparity which exists between lithospheric and asthenospheric structure beneath this region of the north Atlantic rifted margin.
There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the conti... more There have been some inconsistencies in estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the continental lithosphere Te based upon admittance or coherence relationships between gravity and topography. This paper compares multitaper and wavelet methods to analyse the coherence between Bouguer gravity and bathymetric data over the Irish Atlantic margin. The analyses show that similar lateral Te variations can be recovered from the data, but demonstrate that the size of the data window can give rise to a significant downward bias in Te estimates. A seismically constrained 3-D gravity inversion over the Rockall basin shows the presence of surface and subsurface loads whose ratio is loosely correlated with load ratio variations generated from the wavelet coherence method. The Te and load ratio, f variations can be plausibly related to major geological structures on the margin. If the load ratio variations can be interpreted geologically, it implies that spectral based methods to estimate effective elastic thickness must incorporate subsurface loads within the underlying theoretical model.
1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatu... more 1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatures should be too high for brittle failure to occur. Here we present accurately located earthquakes in central Ethiopia, covering an incipient oceanic plate boundary in the Main Ethiopian Rift. Seismicity is evaluated using the combination of exceptionally well resolved seismic structure of the crust and upper mantle, electromagnetic properties of the crust, rock geochemistry, and geological data. The combined data sets provide evidence that lower crustal earthquakes are focused in mafic lower crust containing pockets of the largest fraction of partial melt. The pattern of seismicity and distribution of crustal melt also correlates closely with presence of partial melt in the upper mantle, suggesting lower crustal earthquakes are induced by ongoing crustal modification through magma emplacement that is driven by partial melting of the mantle. Our results show that magmatic processes control not only the distribution of shallow seismicity and volcanic activity along the axis of the rift valley but also anomalous earthquakes in the lower crust away from these zones of localized strain.
1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatu... more 1] Lower crustal earthquakes are commonly observed in continental rifts at depths where temperatures should be too high for brittle failure to occur. Here we present accurately located earthquakes in central Ethiopia, covering an incipient oceanic plate boundary in the Main Ethiopian Rift. Seismicity is evaluated using the combination of exceptionally well resolved seismic structure of the crust and upper mantle, electromagnetic properties of the crust, rock geochemistry, and geological data. The combined data sets provide evidence that lower crustal earthquakes are focused in mafic lower crust containing pockets of the largest fraction of partial melt. The pattern of seismicity and distribution of crustal melt also correlates closely with presence of partial melt in the upper mantle, suggesting lower crustal earthquakes are induced by ongoing crustal modification through magma emplacement that is driven by partial melting of the mantle. Our results show that magmatic processes control not only the distribution of shallow seismicity and volcanic activity along the axis of the rift valley but also anomalous earthquakes in the lower crust away from these zones of localized strain.
In this study we image crustal structure beneath a magmatic continental rift to understand the in... more In this study we image crustal structure beneath a magmatic continental rift to understand the interplay between crustal stretching and magmatism during the late stages of continental rifting: the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER). The northern sector of this region marks the transition from continental rifting in the East African Rift to incipient seafloor spreading in the southern Red Sea and western Gulf of Aden. Our local tomographic inversion exploits 172 broad-band instruments covering an area of 250 × 350 km of the rift and adjacent plateaux. The instruments recorded a total of 2139 local earthquakes over a 16-month period. Several synthetic tests show that resolution is good between 12 and 25 km depth (below sea level), but some horizontal velocity smearing is evident along the axis of the Main Ethiopian Rift below 16 km. We present a 3-D P-wave velocity model of the mid-crust and present the first 3-D Vp/Vs model of the region. Our models show high P-wave velocities (6.5 km s −1 ) beneath the axis of the rift at a depth of 12-25 km. The presence of high Vp/Vs ratios (1.81-1.84) at the same depth range suggest that they are cooled mafic intrusions. The high Vp/Vs values, along with other geophysical evidence, suggest that dyking is pervasive beneath the axis of the rift from the mid-crustal depths to the surface and that some portion of partial melt may exist at lower crustal depths. Although the crustal stretching factor across the Main Ethiopian Rift is ∼1.7, our results indicate that magma intrusion in narrow zones accommodates a large proportion of extensional strain, with similarities to slow-spreading mid-ocean ridge processes.
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