Electrical imaging of the Mohns Ridge in the Greenland Sea

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ståle Johansen ◽  
Martin Panzner ◽  
Rune Mittet ◽  
Hans Amundsen ◽  
Anna Lim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Joint Inversion ◽  
Crustal Thickness ◽  
Spreading Rate ◽  
High Porosity ◽  
Mantle Upwelling ◽  
Magnetotelluric Data ◽  
Electrical Imaging ◽  
Plumbing Systems ◽  
Fluid Convection ◽  
Thin Crust

<p>A detailed 120 km deep electromagnetic joint inversion model for the ultra-slow Mohns Ridge was constructed combining controlled source- and magnetotelluric data. About one third of mid-ocean ridges have a spreading rate less than 20 mm/yr<sup>1</sup>, but due to lack of deep imaging, factors controlling melting and mantle upwelling, depth to the lithosphere – asthenosphere boundary (LAB), crustal thickness and hydrothermal venting are not well understood for this class of ridges. Modern electromagnetic data have significantly improved understanding of fast-spreading ridges, but have not been available for the ultra-slow ridges. The new inversion images show mantle upwelling focused along a narrow, oblique and strongly asymmetric zone coinciding with asymmetric surface uplift. Though the upwelling pattern shows several of the characteristics of a dynamic system, instead it likely reflects passive upwelling controlled by slow and asymmetric plate movements.</p><p>Upwelling asthenosphere and melt are enveloped by the 100 Ωm contour denoted the electrical LAB (eLAB). This transition may represent a rheological boundary defined by a minimum melt content. We also find that a model where crustal thickness is directly controlled by the melt-producing rock volumes created by the separating plates can explain the thin crust below the ridge. Fluid convection extends for long lateral distances exploiting high porosity at mid crustal levels. The magnitude and long-lived nature of such plumbing systems could promote venting at ultra-slow ridges. Further, active melt emplacement into ca 3 km thick oceanic crust culminates in an inferred crustal magma chamber draped by fluid convection cells emanating at Loki´s Castle hydrothermal field.</p>

Cooperative joint inversion of 3D seismic and magnetotelluric data: With application in a mineral province

Geophysics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. R175-R187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric M. Takam Takougang ◽  
Brett Harris ◽  
Anton Kepic ◽  
Cuong V. A. Le
Keyword(s):  
Joint Inversion ◽  
3D Seismic ◽  
Magnetotelluric Data

From slow to ultra-slow: How does spreading rate affect seafloor roughness and crustal thickness?

Geology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 911-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Sauter ◽  
Heather Sloan ◽  
Mathilde Cannat ◽  
John Goff ◽  
Philippe Patriat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crustal Thickness ◽  
Spreading Rate

Scaling laws for stagnant-lid convection with a buoyant crust

2021 ◽  
Vol 228 (1) ◽  
pp. 631-663
Author(s):  
Kyle Batra ◽  
Bradford Foley
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Scaling Laws ◽  
Thermal Evolution ◽  
Crustal Thickness ◽  
Plate Motion ◽  
Crustal Layer ◽  
Lithospheric Thickness ◽  
Thin Crust ◽  
Mantle Temperature ◽  
Thick Crust

SUMMARY Stagnant-lid convection, where subduction and surface plate motion is absent, is common among the rocky planets and moons in our solar system, and likely among rocky exoplanets as well. How stagnant-lid planets thermally evolve is an important issue, dictating not just their interior evolution but also the evolution of their atmospheres via volcanic degassing. On stagnant-lid planets, the crust is not recycled by subduction and can potentially grow thick enough to significantly impact convection beneath the stagnant lid. We perform numerical models of stagnant-lid convection to determine new scaling laws for convective heat flux that specifically account for the presence of a buoyant crustal layer. We systematically vary the crustal layer thickness, crustal layer density, Rayleigh number and Frank–Kamenetskii parameter for viscosity to map out system behaviour and determine the new scaling laws. We find two end-member regimes of behaviour: a ‘thin crust limit’, where convection is largely unaffected by the presence of the crust, and the thickness of the lithosphere is approximately the same as it would be if the crust were absent; and a ‘thick crust limit’, where the crustal thickness itself determines the lithospheric thickness and heat flux. Scaling laws for both limits are developed and fit the numerical model results well. Applying these scaling laws to rocky stagnant-lid planets, we find that the crustal thickness needed for convection to enter the thick crust limit decreases with increasing mantle temperature and decreasing mantle reference viscosity. Moreover, if crustal thickness is limited by the formation of dense eclogite, and foundering of this dense lower crust, then smaller planets are more likely to enter the thick crust limit because their crusts can grow thicker before reaching the pressure where eclogite forms. When convection is in the thick crust limit, mantle heat flux is suppressed. As a result, mantle temperatures can be elevated by 100 s of degrees K for up to a few Gyr in comparison to a planet with a thin crust. Whether convection enters the thick crust limit during a planet’s thermal evolution also depends on the initial mantle temperature, so a thick, buoyant crust additionally acts to preserve the influence of initial conditions on stagnant-lid planets for far longer than previous thermal evolution models, which ignore the effects of a thick crust, have found.

Joint inversion of potential-fields data over the DO-27 kimberlite pipe using a Gaussian mixture model prior

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. SS47-SS62
Author(s):  
Thibaut Astic ◽  
Dominique Fournier ◽  
Douglas W. Oldenburg
Keyword(s):  
Gaussian Mixture Model ◽  
Mixture Model ◽  
Joint Inversion ◽  
Gravity Data ◽  
Physical Property ◽  
Gaussian Mixture ◽  
Kimberlite Pipe ◽  
Magnetic Data ◽  
High Porosity ◽  
Rock Types

We have carried out petrophysically and geologically guided inversions (PGIs) to jointly invert airborne and ground-based gravity data and airborne magnetic data to recover a quasi-geology model of the DO-27 kimberlite pipe in the Tli Kwi Cho (also referred to as TKC) cluster. DO-27 is composed of three main kimberlite rock types in contact with each other and embedded in a granitic host rock covered by a thin layer of glacial till. The pyroclastic kimberlite (PK), which is diamondiferous, and the volcanoclastic kimberlite (VK) have anomalously low density, due to their high porosity, and weak magnetic susceptibility. They are indistinguishable from each other based upon their potential-field responses. The hypabyssal kimberlite (HK), which is not diamondiferous, has been identified as highly magnetic and remanent. Quantitative petrophysical signatures for each rock unit are obtained from sample measurements, such as the increasing density of the PK/VK unit with depth and the remanent magnetization of the HK unit, and are represented as a Gaussian mixture model (GMM). This GMM guides the PGI toward generating a 3D quasi-geology model with physical properties that satisfies the geophysical data sets and the petrophysical signatures. Density and magnetization models recovered individually yield volumes that have physical property combinations that do not conform to any known petrophysical characteristics of the rocks in the area. A multiphysics PGI addresses this problem by using the GMM as a coupling term, but it puts a volume of the PK/VK unit at a location that is incompatible with geologic information from drillholes. To conform to that geologic knowledge, a fourth unit is introduced, PK-minor, which is petrophysically and geographically distinct from the main PK/VK unit. This inversion produces a quasi-geology model that presents good structural locations of the diamondiferous PK unit and can be used to provide a resource estimate or decide the locations of future drillholes.

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