Combined use of the GGSFT data base and on board marine collected data to model the Moho beneath the Powell Basin, Antarctica

Authors

  • R. CHÁVEZ SEGURA Instituto de Geofísica, UNAM. Cd. Universitaria, Circuito Exterior, 04510, México, D.F.
  • E. L. FLORES MÁRQUEZ Instituto de Geofísica, UNAM. Cd. Universitaria, Circuito Exterior, 04510, México, D.F.
  • E. SURIÑACH CORNET Departament de Geodinàmica i Geofisica, Universitat de Barcelonac/ Martí i Franquès, s/n, 08028, Barcelona, España.
  • J. GALINDO ZALDÍVAR Departamento de Geodinámica, Universidad de Granada18071 Granada, España.
  • J. RODRÍGUEZ FERNÁNDEZ Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada. Facultad de Ciencias, Campus Fuentenueva, s/n, 18002-Granada.
  • A. MALDONADO Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada. Facultad de Ciencias, Campus Fuentenueva, s/n, 18002-Granada.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1344/105.000000293

Keywords:

Gravity, Inverse theory, Antarctic Peninsula, Powell Basin, Marine geophysics

Abstract

The Powell Basin is a small oceanic basin located at the NE end of the Antarctic Peninsula developed during the Early Miocene and mostly surrounded by the continental crusts of the South Orkney Microcontinent, South Scotia Ridge and Antarctic Peninsula margins. Gravity data from the SCAN 97 cruise obtained with the R/V Hespérides and data from the Global Gravity Grid and Sea Floor Topography (GGSFT) database (Sandwell and Smith, 1997) are used to determine the 3D geometry of the crustal-mantle interface (CMI) by numerical inversion methods. Water layer contribution and sedimentary effects were eliminated from the Free Air anomaly to obtain the total anomaly. Sedimentary effects were obtained from the analysis of existing and new SCAN 97 multichannel seismic profiles (MCS). The regional anomaly was obtained after spectral and filtering processes. The smooth 3D geometry of the crustal mantle interface obtained after inversion of the regional anomaly shows an increase in the thickness of the crust towards the continental margins and a NW-SE oriented axis of symmetry coinciding with the position of an older oceanic spreading axis. This interface shows a moderate uplift towards the western part and depicts two main uplifts to the northern and eastern sectors.

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Published

2007-01-14

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