Deep electrical resistivity sounding across a major ice covered fault belt in Northern Victoria Land (East Antarctica)

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: ARMADILLO, EGIDIO, BOZZO, EMANUELE, FERRACCIOLI F., TABELLARIO G.
• Other Authors: Armadillo, Egidio, Ferraccioli, F., Tabellario, G., Bozzo, Emanuele
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: East Antarctica; Victoria Land; Pacific; Bowers; Rennick; Robertson Bay; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11567/246723; https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019903

A Geomagnetic Depth Sounding profile was performed across the glaciated Rennick Graben and the adjacent fault-bounded terranes of northern Victoria Land in East Antarctica. Induction arrows analysis and a 2D inversion model provide a unique deep electrical resistivity window beneath these fault zones. The electrical resistivity break across the Lanterman Fault is apparently restricted to the upper crust, suggesting that this strike-slip fault may not represent a deep lithospheric suture. Further east, a westward-dipping conductor is traced to a depth of 40 km beneath the Robertson Bay Terrane. It may image a remnant of the paleo-Pacific oceanic plate, which subducted beneath the Bowers Terrane. Within the Wilson Terrane, the Rennick Graben is an upper-crust resistive block. The Rennick Graben lacks a deep crustal or upper mantle conductor, in contrast to several continental rifts. However, similar resistive lower crust underlies some other major strike-slip fault belts.