scholarly journals Insights on the Indian Ocean Tectonics and Geophysics Supported by GMT.

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-83
Author(s):  
Polina Lemenkova

This paper presented analyzed and summarized data on geological and geophysical settings about the tectonics and geological structure of the seafloor of the Indian Ocean by thematic visualization of the topographic, geophysical and geological data. The seafloor topography of the Indian Ocean is very complex which includes underwater hills, isolated mountains, underwater canyons, abyssal and accumulative plains, trenches. Complex geological settings explain seismic activity, repetitive earthquakes, and tsunami. Understanding and prognosis of the disastrous and catastrophic geological events is strongly based on correct data analysis, modelling and visualization. An important feature of this paper is mapping multi-source high-resolution data by GMT. Data include raster grids in NetCDF and GRD formats: ETOPO1, geologic and marine free-air gravity data, EGM96, age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the ocean crust by NOAA, total sediment thickness. Data were visualized by GMT modules to compare and analyze geophysical and geological settings of the Indian Ocean. Visualization reveled correlations between high bathymetric variations of the oceanic seafloor, distribution of main geological seafloor fabric: Southwest, Southeast, Mid and Carlsberg ridges. Tectonic maps were plotted to perform comparative analysis of several variables: crust age, spreading half rates (mm/yr), asymmetries in crustal accretion on conjugate ridge flanks (%), variations in the geopotential and gravimetric models. Being the warmest of the world’s ocean, Indian Ocean has specific climatic conditions (repetitive monsoons, tsunamis, cyclones and storms), complex geologic seafloor structure with triple junction and unique geographic settings. Presented paper contribut ed to the regional studies of the Indian Ocean.

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (209) ◽  
pp. 540-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Cochran ◽  
Robin E. Bell

AbstractA possible cause for accelerated thinning and break-up of floating marine ice shelves is warming of the water in the cavity below the ice shelf. Accurate bathymetry beneath large ice shelves is crucial for developing models of the ocean circulation in the sub-ice cavities. A grid of free-air gravity data over the floating Larsen C ice shelf collected during the IceBridge 2009 Antarctic campaign was utilized to develop the first bathymetry model of the underlying continental shelf. Independent control on the continental shelf geologic structures from marine surveys was used to constrain the inversion. Depths on the continental shelf beneath the ice shelf estimated from the inversion generally range from about 350 to 650 m, but vary from <300 to >1000 m. Localized overdeepenings, 20-30 km long and 900-1000 m deep, are located in inlets just seaward of the grounding line. Submarine valleys extending seaward from the overdeepenings coalesce into two broad troughs that extend to the seaward limit of the ice shelf and appear to extend to the edge of the continental shelf. The troughs are generally at a depth of 550-700 m although the southernmost mapped trough deepens to over 1000 m near the edge of the ice shelf just south of 68° S. The combination of the newly determined bathymetry with published ice-draft determinations based on laser altimetry and radar data defines the geometry of the water-filled cavity. These newly imaged troughs provide a conduit for water to traverse the continental shelf and interact with the overlying Larsen C ice shelf and the grounding lines of the outlet glaciers.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Seoane ◽  
Benjamin Beirens ◽  
Guillaume Ramillien

&lt;p&gt;We propose to cumulate complementary gravity data, i.e. geoid height and (radial) free-air gravity anomalies, to evaluate the 3-D shape of the sea floor more precisely. For this purpose, an Extended Kalman Filtering (EKF) scheme has been developed to construct the topographic solution by injecting gravity information progressively. The main advantage of this sequential cumulation of data is the reduction of the dimensions of the inverse problem. Non linear Newtonian operators have been re-evaluated from their original forms and elastic compensation of the topography is also taken into account. The efficiency of the method is proved by inversion of simulated gravity observations to converge to a stable topographic solution with an accuracy of only a few meters. Real geoid and gravity data are also inverted to estimate bathymetry around the New England and Great Meteor seamount chains. Error analysis consists of comparing our topographic solutions to accurate single beam ship tracks for validation.&lt;/p&gt;


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-143
Author(s):  
Sajjad Sajjadi ◽  
Zdeněk Martinec ◽  
Patrick Prendergast ◽  
Jan Hagedoorn ◽  
Libor Šachl ◽  
...  

The systematic biases and errors associated with gravity data in Ireland and Northern Ireland and the conversion of gravity to a consistent and unified system are analyzed. The gravity data in Ireland and Northern Ireland are given in different coordinate systems (Irish Grid and Irish Transverse Mercator), different gravity base stations (Dunsink and Cambridge), and different vertical datums (Malin Head and Belfast tide gauge). The conversion of the gravity data to a consistent system, which refers to unified coordinates, base station, and vertical datum, is essential in geophysics and geodesy, especially in geoid determination. A new standardized and unified data format is computed and proposed for the supply of gravity data for Ireland and Northern Ireland to minimize the potential of misinterpreting the data. As part of this study, simple Bouguer and free-air gravity anomaly maps are produced for Ireland and Northern Ireland to give an example of how to integrate the data.


Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 340 (6140) ◽  
pp. 1552-1555 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J. Melosh ◽  
Andrew M. Freed ◽  
Brandon C. Johnson ◽  
David M. Blair ◽  
Jeffrey C. Andrews-Hanna ◽  
...  

High-resolution gravity data from the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory spacecraft have clarified the origin of lunar mass concentrations (mascons). Free-air gravity anomalies over lunar impact basins display bull’s-eye patterns consisting of a central positive (mascon) anomaly, a surrounding negative collar, and a positive outer annulus. We show that this pattern results from impact basin excavation and collapse followed by isostatic adjustment and cooling and contraction of a voluminous melt pool. We used a hydrocode to simulate the impact and a self-consistent finite-element model to simulate the subsequent viscoelastic relaxation and cooling. The primary parameters controlling the modeled gravity signatures of mascon basins are the impactor energy, the lunar thermal gradient at the time of impact, the crustal thickness, and the extent of volcanic fill.


2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Tryjanowski ◽  
NC Stenseth ◽  
B Matysioková

Geofizika ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-261
Author(s):  
Fan Luo ◽  
Xin Tao ◽  
Guangming Fu ◽  
Chong Zhang ◽  
Kun Zhang ◽  
...  

Satellite gravity data are widely used in the field of geophysics to study deep structures at the regional and global scales. These data comprise free-air gravity anomaly data, which usually need to be corrected to a Bouguer gravity anomaly for practical application. Bouguer reduction approaches can be divided into two methods based on the coordinate system: the spherical coordinates method (SBG) and the Cartesian coordinates method; the latter is further divided into the CEBG and CBG methods, which do and do not include the Earth’s curvature correction. In this paper, free-air gravity anomaly data from the eastern Tibetan Plateau and its adjacent areas were used as the basic data to compare the CBG, CEBG, and SBG Bouguer gravity correction methods. The comparison of these three Bouguer gravity correction methods shows that the effect of the Earth’s curvature on the gravitational effect increases with increasing elevation in the study area. We want to understand the inversion accuracy for the data obtained by different Bouguer gravity reduction approaches. The depth distributions of the Moho were obtained by the interface inversion of the Bouguer gravity anomalies obtained by the CBG, CEBG, and SBG, and active seismic profiles were used as references for comparison and evaluation. The results show that the depths of the Moho obtained by the SBG inversion are more consistent with the measured seismic profile depths. Therefore, the SBG method is recommended as the most realistic approach in the process of global or regional research employing gravity data.


Author(s):  
Polina Lemenkova ◽  

This paper explores the geomorphological features of the Ninety East Ridge (NER), Indian Ocean. NER presents especially long and linear topographic structure formed as a result of complex regional geophysical and geologic development. The research is based on high precision bathymetric, geological and gravity data. The submarine geomorphology of NER was digitized as three cross-sectional profiles. The profiles were selected in northern, central and southern segments. The depths were visualized in graphs, compared and statistically analyzed by histograms. The study contributes to the geophysical studies of the Indian Ocean.


The Afar triangle is bordered, to the west, by a seismic belt running along and on top of the escarpment. Seventy-five percent of the seismic energy of the area is released along this belt. The epicentre distribution along the western escarpment coincides either with major north-south marginal tectonic features or with cross-rift faulting. A second epicentre lineation runs at N 15° E through central Afar. To the south-east, in the region of the Gulf of Tadjura, epicentre locations offer no distinct lineation. The sum of the free-air gravity anomalies over Afar is almost zero; Bouguer values are generally negative and strictly proportional to elevation. Absolute Bouguer positive values are found only over volcanic centres and along the northeastern coast; their maximum does not compare with the positive values found over the nearby Red Sea trough. Evidence based on attenuation and dispersion of seismic surface waves and on gravity profiles suggests a continental crustal structure of relatively ‘standard’ thickness under the Afar triangle.


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