Magma flow in the East Greenland dyke swarm inferred from study of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility: magmatic growth of a volcanic margin

• Published in: Geophysical Journal International
• Main Authors: Callot, Jean-Paul, Geoffroy, Laurent
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2004
• Subjects: Volcanology; Geothermics; Fluids and Rocks; Greenland; East Greenland
• Online Access: http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/159/2/816; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2004.02426.x

Volcanic passive margins (VPMs) are characterized by large volumes of melt emplaced within the lithosphere during break-up processes. Several data and a recently proposed conceptual model of volcanic margin development suggest that VPMs are fed from localized crustal zones of magma storage, underlying large polygenetic volcanoes localized above diapir-like instabilities of the asthenosphere. We investigated the magma flow pattern within the coast-parallel dyke swarm of the East Greenland VPM, which is the only outcropping VPM, over a distance of 125 km. The 44 sampled dykes are representative of the successive families of intrusions. Igneous petrofabrics are constrained by the measurements of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility. The magnetic fabrics are of medium to low anisotropy ( P ′ < 1.08) and show moderately oblate ellipsoids ( T > 0). Flow-related fabrics are recorded in 75 per cent of the sampled dykes. We infer the flow directions from the imbrication geometry of the magnetic foliation planes at the dyke margins, and check the results by measuring the preferred orientation of plagioclase in thin sections cut in the magnetic principal planes. Due to probable fabric superposition, the magnetic lineation represents the zone axis for the distribution of magnetic foliation plane. We obtained 23 reliable flow directions that are predominantly horizontal and directed away from identified crustal reservoirs. This flow pattern supports the proposed model of VPM growth, and emphasizes the localized nature of the magma sources in the mantle. The entire flood basalt sequence appears to have been fed by a restricted number of crustal reservoirs and associated dyke swarms.