Imaging igneous rocks on the North Atlantic rifted continental margin
Extruded basalt flows with thicknesses of several kilometres occur ubiquitously along the rifted continental margins of the northern North Atlantic. Their total volume exceeds 1 million km3, and may reach several million cubic kilometres. Intruded igneous rock comprising the complementary melt fract...
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ftucambridgeesc:oai:eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk:900 2023-05-15T16:10:40+02:00 Imaging igneous rocks on the North Atlantic rifted continental margin Roberts, A. W. White, R. S. Christie, P. A. F. 2009-11 text image http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/900/ http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/900/1/Roberts_et_al_GJI_2009.pdf http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/900/2/F1.small.gif https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04306.x en eng http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/900/1/Roberts_et_al_GJI_2009.pdf http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/900/2/F1.small.gif Roberts, A. W. and White, R. S. and Christie, P. A. F. (2009) Imaging igneous rocks on the North Atlantic rifted continental margin. Geophysical Journal International, 179 (2). pp. 1024-1038. DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04306.x <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04306.x> 02 - Geodynamics Geophysics and Tectonics Article PeerReviewed 2009 ftucambridgeesc https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04306.x 2020-08-27T18:08:43Z Extruded basalt flows with thicknesses of several kilometres occur ubiquitously along the rifted continental margins of the northern North Atlantic. Their total volume exceeds 1 million km3, and may reach several million cubic kilometres. Intruded igneous rock comprising the complementary melt fraction to that extruded at the surface should exist in the lower crust with a volume at least as large as that of the extrusive basalts. To image the extrusive and intrusive igneous rocks on the continental margin near the Faroe Islands, in 2002 we shot a 375 km long deep-penetration seismic profile across the margin using 85 ocean bottom seismometers for wide-angle acquisition and shot a separate reflection profile using a 12 km streamer for optimal imaging. By using large airgun sources tuned to produce low frequency energy we were able to constrain the seismic velocity structure of the whole crust. We imaged not only layering and structure within the extrusive basalts, but also lower-crustal intrusions on the continent–ocean transition (COT). Combination of good velocity control on the lower-crust together with direct imaging of the extrusive basalts enables us to constrain the volumes of extrusive and intrusive igneous rocks produced near the Faroe Islands to be 340–420 and 560–780 km3 per kilometre along strike, respectively. The COT marked both by high-velocity intrusions and lower-crustal layering is surprisingly narrow, with only 50 km separating unstretched continental crust from fully oceanic crust. In contrast, the extruded basalts flow up to 150 km landward at the paleo-surface. Article in Journal/Newspaper Faroe Islands North Atlantic University of Cambridge, Department of Earth Sciences: ESC Publications Faroe Islands Geophysical Journal International 179 2 1024 1038 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Cambridge, Department of Earth Sciences: ESC Publications |
op_collection_id |
ftucambridgeesc |
language |
English |
topic |
02 - Geodynamics Geophysics and Tectonics |
spellingShingle |
02 - Geodynamics Geophysics and Tectonics Roberts, A. W. White, R. S. Christie, P. A. F. Imaging igneous rocks on the North Atlantic rifted continental margin |
topic_facet |
02 - Geodynamics Geophysics and Tectonics |
description |
Extruded basalt flows with thicknesses of several kilometres occur ubiquitously along the rifted continental margins of the northern North Atlantic. Their total volume exceeds 1 million km3, and may reach several million cubic kilometres. Intruded igneous rock comprising the complementary melt fraction to that extruded at the surface should exist in the lower crust with a volume at least as large as that of the extrusive basalts. To image the extrusive and intrusive igneous rocks on the continental margin near the Faroe Islands, in 2002 we shot a 375 km long deep-penetration seismic profile across the margin using 85 ocean bottom seismometers for wide-angle acquisition and shot a separate reflection profile using a 12 km streamer for optimal imaging. By using large airgun sources tuned to produce low frequency energy we were able to constrain the seismic velocity structure of the whole crust. We imaged not only layering and structure within the extrusive basalts, but also lower-crustal intrusions on the continent–ocean transition (COT). Combination of good velocity control on the lower-crust together with direct imaging of the extrusive basalts enables us to constrain the volumes of extrusive and intrusive igneous rocks produced near the Faroe Islands to be 340–420 and 560–780 km3 per kilometre along strike, respectively. The COT marked both by high-velocity intrusions and lower-crustal layering is surprisingly narrow, with only 50 km separating unstretched continental crust from fully oceanic crust. In contrast, the extruded basalts flow up to 150 km landward at the paleo-surface. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Roberts, A. W. White, R. S. Christie, P. A. F. |
author_facet |
Roberts, A. W. White, R. S. Christie, P. A. F. |
author_sort |
Roberts, A. W. |
title |
Imaging igneous rocks on the North Atlantic rifted continental margin |
title_short |
Imaging igneous rocks on the North Atlantic rifted continental margin |
title_full |
Imaging igneous rocks on the North Atlantic rifted continental margin |
title_fullStr |
Imaging igneous rocks on the North Atlantic rifted continental margin |
title_full_unstemmed |
Imaging igneous rocks on the North Atlantic rifted continental margin |
title_sort |
imaging igneous rocks on the north atlantic rifted continental margin |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/900/ http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/900/1/Roberts_et_al_GJI_2009.pdf http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/900/2/F1.small.gif https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04306.x |
geographic |
Faroe Islands |
geographic_facet |
Faroe Islands |
genre |
Faroe Islands North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Faroe Islands North Atlantic |
op_relation |
http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/900/1/Roberts_et_al_GJI_2009.pdf http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/900/2/F1.small.gif Roberts, A. W. and White, R. S. and Christie, P. A. F. (2009) Imaging igneous rocks on the North Atlantic rifted continental margin. Geophysical Journal International, 179 (2). pp. 1024-1038. DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04306.x <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04306.x> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04306.x |
container_title |
Geophysical Journal International |
container_volume |
179 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
1024 |
op_container_end_page |
1038 |
_version_ |
1765995838428938240 |