Continent--ocean-transition across a trans-tensional margin segment: off Bear Island, Barents Sea

• Published in: Geophysical Journal International
• Main Authors: Czuba, Wojciech, Grad, Marek, Mjelde, Rolf, Guterch, Aleksander, Libak, Audun, Krüger, Frank, Murai, Yoshio, Schweitzer, Johannes, IPY Project Group
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2011
• Subjects: Geodynamics and Tectonics; Barents Sea; Bear Island; Hornsund; Knipovich Ridge; Vestbakken
• Online Access: http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/184/2/541; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04873.x

A 410 km long Ocean Bottom Seismometer profile spanning from the Bear Island, Barents Sea to oceanic crust formed along the Mohns Ridge has been modelled by use of ray-tracing with regard to observed P -waves. The northeastern part of the model represents typical continental crust, thinned from ca . 30 km thickness beneath the Bear Island to ca . 13 km within the Continent—Ocean-Transition. Between the Hornsund FZ and the Knølegga Fault, a 3–4 km thick sedimentary basin, dominantly of Permian/Carboniferous age, is modelled beneath the ca . 1.5 km thick layer of volcanics (Vestbakken Volcanic Province). The P -wave velocity in the 3–4 km thick lowermost continental crust is significantly higher than normal ( ca . 7.5 km s−1). We interpret this layer as a mixture of mafic intrusions and continental crystalline blocks, dominantly related to the Paleocene-Early Eocene rifting event. The crystalline portion of the crust within the south-western part of the COT consists of a ca . 30 km wide and ca . 6 km thick high-velocity (7.3 km s−1) body. We interpret the body as a ridge of serpentinized peridotites. The magmatic portion of the ocean crust accreted along the Knipovich Ridge from continental break-up at ca . 35 Ma until ca . 20 Ma is 3–5 km thicker than normal. We interpret the increased magmatism as a passive response to the bending of this southernmost part of the Knipovich Ridge. The thickness of the magmatic portion of the crust formed along the Mohns Ridge at ca. 20 Ma decreases to ca. 3 km, which is normal for ultra slow spreading ridges.