Elastic thickness estimates at northeast passive margin of North America and its implications |
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| Authors: | R T RATHEESH KUMAR TANMAY K MAJI SURESH CH KANDPAL D SENGUPTA RAJESH R NAIR |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Parks Road, OX13PR Oxford, UK |
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| Abstract: | Global estimates of the elastic thickness (Te) of the structure of passive continental margins show wide and varying results
owing to the use of different methodologies. Earlier estimates of the elastic thickness of the North Atlantic passive continental
margins that used flexural modelling yielded a Te value of ~20–100 km. Here, we compare these estimates with the Te value
obtained using orthonormalized Hermite multitaper recovered isostatic coherence functions. We discuss how Te is correlated
with heat flow distribution and depth of necking. The E–W segment in the southern study region comprising Nova Scotia and
the Southern Grand Banks show low Te values, while the zones comprising the NE–SW zones, viz., Western Greenland, Labrador,
Orphan Basin and the Northern Grand Bank show comparatively high Te values. As expected, Te broadly reflects the depth of
the 200–400°C isotherm below the weak surface sediment layer at the time of loading, and at the margins most of the loading
occurred during rifting. We infer that these low Te measurements indicate Te frozen into the lithosphere. This could be due
to the passive nature of the margin when the loads were emplaced during the continental break-up process at high temperature
gradients. |
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