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

R.E. Chávez

Description

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.

Sujets

• Gravity
• Inverse problem
• Antarctic Peninsula
• Powell Basin

Informations

• Publié par: erevistas
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2007
• Nombre de lectures: 64
• Langue: English

Extrait

Geologica Acta, Vol.5, Nº 4, 2007, 323-335
Available online at www.geologica-acta.com
Combined use of the GGSFT data base and on board marine collected
data to model the Moho beneath the Powell Basin, Antarctica
1 1 2 3 4 4* R.E. CHÁVEZ E.L. FLORES-MÁRQUEZ E. SURIÑACH J.G. GALINDO-ZALDÍVAR J.R. RODRÍGUEZ-FERNÁNDEZ and A. MALDONADO
1 Instituto de Geofísica, UNAM
Cd. Universitaria, Circuito Exterior, 04510, México, D.F.
Chávez E-mail: [e-mail] Flores-Márquez E-mail: [e-mail]
2 Departament de Geodinàmica i Geofisica, Universitat de Barcelona
c/ Martí i Franquès, s/n, 08028, Barcelona, España. E-mail: [e-mail]
3 Departamento de Geodinámica, Universidad de Granada
18071 Granada, España. E-mail: [e-mail]
4 Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada
Facultad de Ciencias, Campus Fuentenueva, s/n, 18002-Granada
Rodriguez-Fernández E-mail: [e-mail] Maldonado E-mail: [e-mail]
*Corresponding author
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 inver-
sion 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 symme-
try 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.
KEYWORDS Gravity. Inverse theory. Antarctic Peninsula. Powell Basin. Marine geophysics.
© UB-ICTJA 323R.E. CHÁVEZ et al. The Moho beneath the Powell Basin, Antarctica
INTRODUCTION the Scotia Plate to the north (Fig.1B). This small oceanic
basin is slightly elongated in a NE-SW direction. The
The Powell Basin originated during the Cenozoic chronology of the major events in the development of
fragmentation of the NE extremity of the Antarctic Penin- this basin and its relationship with the surrounding con-
sula near the boundary between the Antarctic and South tinental blocks, such as the South Shetland Block and
American plates (Fig. 1). This basin can be described as South Orkney Microcontinent (SOM; Fig1B), are rela-
episutural basin (Bally and Snelson, 1980). The Scotia tively well known (Larter and Barker, 1991; Livermore
Sea was also formed by this fragmentation because of the and Woollett, 1993; Lawver et al., 1994; Barker, 1995).
drifting of South America and the northern Antarctic Rodríguez-Fernández et al., (1997) and Maldonado et
Peninsula and the wide-spreading of the continental frag- al., (1998) using MCS, gravimetric and magnetic data
ments that connected the two main continents (Barker et from Russian, Italian and Spanish cruises studied the
al., 1991; Barker, 1995). development of this basin in the context of the whole
surrounding area. More recently, Eagles and Livermore
The Powell Basin is a small ocean basin (approxi- (2002) described an opening history of the Powell basin
4 2mately 5x10 km ) located within the Antarctic Plate, to from the interpretation of linear sea floor magnetic
the NE of the Antarctica Peninsula, close to the limit of anomalies.
FIGURE 1 A) The bathymetry map in m obtained from
GGSFT database (Sandwell and Smith, 1997) is dis-
played in a gray tone scale; gxxx are SCAN97 gravity
profiles. B) Simplified geological chart of the Powell
Basin in the frame of the main tectonic features of the
area (Modified after Livermore et al., 1994; Galindo-
Zaldívar et al., 1994; Aldaya and Maldonado, 1996).
Geologica Acta, Vol.5, Nº 4, 2007, 323-335 324R.E. CHÁVEZ et al. The Moho beneath the Powell Basin, Antarctica
The basin bottom is practically horizontal reaching an Scotia Arc, which began more than 29 Ma ago (Barker et
average depth of 3,200 m, and slightly deepening to the al., 1991). This sea contains two plates, the small Sand-
SE (Fig. 1A). The platforms surrounding the basin pos- wich Plate located in the eastern part, which thrusts over
sess an average depth of 500 m. The northern margins are the South America Plate, and the larger Scotia Plate sepa-
very steep, whereas the eastern and western margins have rated by a N-S trending ridge (Barker and Hill, 1981;
gentle slopes. An inactive spreading ridge has been identi- Barker, 1995). Prior to 7 Ma, the Scotia Plate was restricted
fied located towards the center of the basin with a NW-SE to the western sector, with a NE-SW trending spreading
direction. Evidence of this was found from seismic studies ridge. Currently, the northern and southern boundaries of
carried out in this area (King et al., 1997; Rodríguez-Fer- both two plates are sinistral transcurrent faults, where the
nández et al., 1997). relative motion of South American and Antarctic plates to
the W of 25° is accommodated (Barker and Lawver,
A survey of multichannel seismic profiles (MCS) was 1988; Livermore et al., 1993).
carried out during the HESANT 92/93 and SCAN97
cruises with the R/V Hespérides. In addition, gravity data The South Shetland block located between the Brans-
were acquired in the latter cruise. The existing MCS pro- field Strait and the South Shetland trench, represents the
files in the area (Coren et al., 1997; Rodríguez-Fernández portion of the Antarctic plate thrusting over the extinct
et al., 1997; Howe et al., 1998; Viseras and Maldonado, Phoenix plate (Maldonado et al., 1993; Aldaya and Mal-
1999) and that obtained in SCAN97 cruise allowed a donado, 1996). The Phoenix Plate has been incorporated
detailed analysis of the Powell Basin to obtain the struc- into the Antarctic Plate since the cessations of the spread-
ture and the depositional sequences of the continental ing process at the Phoenix Antarctic ridge at about 3.3 to
margins as a whole. 5.5 Ma (Larter and Barker, 1991; Livermore et al., 2000).
The Shetland Trench is the last remnant of the larger
The aim of this study is to determine the 3D crust- Pacific active margin of the Antarctic Peninsula which
mantle interface (CMI) in the oceanic crust of the Powell was active during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic (Herron
Basin, by applying numerical inversion of the gravity and Tucholke, 1976; Larter and Barker, 1991; Maldonado
data. The Global Gravity Data and the Sea Floor Topogra- et al., 1994). The South Shetland block extends eastwards
phy databases (Sandwell and Smith, 1997) were into the South Scotia Ridge (Aldaya and Maldonado,
employed in combination with the gravity data collected 1996). This ridge separates the oceanic domains of the
from the ship transects carried out during the SCAN 97 Powell Basin and the Scotia Sea and forms a structural
cruise. Thickness of the depositional sequences obtained relief composed of grabens and horsts of continental frag-
from detailed study of the available MCS profiles were ments bounded by strike-slip and transtensional faults
also used to correct the Free Air gravity data. (Dalziel, 1984; Maldonado et al., 1993; Galindo-Zaldívar
et al., 1994). The South Orkney Microcontinent (SOM in
Fig. 1), located towards the northeastern end of the study
REGIONAL TECTONICS area, is the most important fragment of continental crust
in the South Scotia Ridge (King and Barker, 1988), and is
Important crustal fragmentation processes have considered to be a fragment of the Antarctic Peninsula. It
occurred since the Paleogene in the study area, leading to drifted eastwards probably in Late Eocene-Oligocene
the rifting and separation of the Antarctic Peninsula from times, giving rise to the formation of the Powell Basin
South America. This evolution produced a changing sce- (King and Barker, 1988; King et al., 1997).
nario of oceanic plates and continental blocks bounded by
transcurrent faults, trenches and spreading ridges (Barker The outcropping formations indicate that mainly low-
and Burrell, 1977; Henriet et al., 1992; Fig. 1B). The grade metamorphic rocks make up the upper part of the
Antarctic, South American and Scotia plates are the main continental crust. The formation age is comprised
present-day plates in the study area. Moreover, several between the Paleozoic and the Cretaceous ages (Scotia
independent major tectonic elements which were Metamorphic Complex: Greywacke-shale and Miers
deformed during the complex process of fragmentation of Bluff formations, Trinity Peninsula and LeMay groups;
the northern Antarctic Peninsula are also present (Fig. B.A.S., 1985). Bodies of basic igneous rocks of Creta-
1B). Most of these elements are now d