Magmatic and geodynamic evolution of the King’s Trough Complex – the “Grand Canyon” of the North Atlantic ...

• Main Authors: Dürkefälden, Antje, Geldmacher, Jörg, Hauff, Folkmar, Garbe-Schönberg, Dieter, Portnyagin, Maxim, Schenk, Johanna, Stipp, Michael, Hoernle, Kaj
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Deutsche Geologische Gesellschaft - Geologische Vereinigung e.V. (DGGV) 2023
• Subjects: Mid-Atlantic Ridge; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48380/6gn0-eq52; https://www.dggv.de/e-publikationen/magmatic-and-geodynamic-evolution-of-the-kings-trough-complex-the-grand-canyon-of-the-north-atlantic

The King’s Trough Complex (KTC) is a major canyon-like structure in the eastern North Atlantic and consists of several deep basins: The huge King’s Trough in the west is flanked by elongated ridges, while at its eastern opening the smaller Peake and Freen Deeps are separated by the Palmer Ridge. The King’s Trough is located in an area of elevated seafloor covered with numerous seamounts, which transitions to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) flank toward the west. Here we present major and trace element and Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotope data from submarine volcanic rock samples obtained during RV METEOR cruise M168. Whereas lavas from the eastern deeps show N- and E-MORB signatures and moderately depleted isotope compositions, samples from the western King’s Trough and surrounding seamounts display predominantly enriched OIB-like compositions. This geographic transition would be consistent with involvement of a mantle plume that was located beneath or near the MAR resulting in elevated seafloor of relatively enriched ...