| Abstract: | Topographic and associated gravity signals often result from the interference of several phenomena. In the present paper, an admittance function for the superposition of several physical mechanisms acting in the same waveband is derived. If the processes are not phase related, the resulting admittance function is the average of the individual admittance functions weighted by the squared amplitude of the topography for each process.We use this concept of superposition of different processes to understand the compensation of the Atlantic ridge valley. Classical transfer function studies applied to slow-spreading ridges have concluded that the topography was emplaced on an elastic plate about 10 km thick. These analyses of gravity and topography seem to contradict the physical models explaining the median rift valley, which is thought to be due to dynamical effects and thus to be uncompensated. We obtain an “average axial valley” gravity and topography profile by stacking several profiles perpendicular to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and subtracting a long-wavelength thermal effect. We find that the gravity over topography spectral ratio of the “average axial valley signal” is consistent with an uncompensated process. Our study thus confirms that the mode of formation of the axial valley of a slow-spreading ridge involves an uncompensated mechanism. The presence of an additional process characterized by low admittance values, uncorrelated from one profile to the other, is also suggested in order to explain the observed admittance function. The study of the long wavelength (λ > 300 km) gravity and topography signal leads us to invoke the cooling of the upper portion of the crust by water circulation and to exclude the presence of a large amount of partial melt at depth (more than 5% over a 20 km thick layer at a mean depth of 60 km). |
