crustal structure of the northern nova scotia rifted continental margin eastern canada 1 the nova scotia continental margin off eastern canada marks a transition from a volcanic to a nonvolcanic style of rifting the northern nonvolcanic segment of the margin was studied by a 490 km long refraction seismic line with dense air gun shots coincident with previous deep reflection profiles a p wave velocity model was developed from forward and inverse modeling of the wide angle data from 19 ocean bottom seismometers and coincident normal incidence reflection profiles the continental crust has a maximum thickness of 36 km and is divided into three layers with velocities of 5 7 6 9 km s crustal thinning down to 3 km occurs in a 180 km wide zone and the sediment cover in this area is up to 15 km thick farther seaward a 150 km wide transition zone is observed with a 5 km thick lower layer 7 2 7 6 km s interpreted as partially serpentinized mantle at the landward end this layer is overlain by highly altered continental crust 5 4 km s extending up to the seaward limit of the jurassic salt province farther seaward the upper layer is interpreted as exhumed and highly serpentinized mantle 5 1 km s separated from the lower layer by subhorizontal reflectivity which probably represents a serpentinization front oceanic crustal thickness is 4 km with layer 2 velocities of 4 6 5 0 km s layer 3 velocities of 6 4 6 55 km s are lower than typical lower oceanic crust velocities but consistent with a low magma supply and increased tectonism as observed on the reflection profile this reduced magma production might be related to the proximity of the newfoundland transform margin

discrete element modeling of stress and strain evolution within and outside a depleting reservoir stress changes within and around a depleting petroleum reservoir can lead to reservoir compaction and surface subsidence affect drilling and productivity of oil wells and influence seismic waves used for monitoring of reservoir performance currently modeling efforts are split into more or less coupled geomechanical normally linearly elastic fluid flow and geophysical simulations there is evidence from e g induced seismicity that faults may be triggered or generated as a result of reservoir depletion the numerical technique that most adequately incorporates fracture formation is the dem discrete element method this paper demonstrates the feasibility of the dem here pfc particle flow code to handle this problem using an element size of 20 m 2 d and 3 d simulations have been performed of stress and strain evolution within and around a depleting reservoir within limits of elasticity the simulations largely reproduce analytical predictions the accuracy is however limited by the element size when the elastic limit is exceeded faulting is predicted particularly near the edge of the reservoir simulations have also been performed to study the activation of a pre existing fault near a depleting reservoir

crustal structure and surface zonation of the canadian appalachians implications of deep seismic reflection data in 1986 1181 km of marine seismic reflection data was collected to 18 20 s of two way traveltime in the gulf of st lawrence area the seismic profiles sample all major surface tectono stratigraphic zones of the canadian appalachians they complement the 1984 deep reflection survey northeast of newfoundland together the seismic profiles reveal the regional three dimensional geometry of the orogen three lower crustal blocks are distinguished on the seismic data they are referred to as the grenville central and avalon blocks from west to east the grenville block is wedge shaped in section and its subsurface edge follows the form of the appalachian structural front the grenville block abuts the central block at mid crustal to mantle depths the avalon block meets the central block at a steep junction that penetrates the entire crust consistent differences in the seismic character of the moho help identify boundaries of the deep crustal blocks the moho signature varies from uniform over extended di

along axis variability in crustal accretion at the mid atlantic ridge results from the ocean study the ocean experiment is an integrated geophysical study of a region of the cape verde abyssal plain that formed at 140 ma deep seismic reflection and ocean bottom hydrophone obh refraction data were acquired along lines parallel and perpendicular to the paleoridge axis trend identified from a detailed magnetic anomaly survey the igneous basement is overlain by about 1 3 km of sediment which enables improved imaging of intracrustal structure beyond that possible near the mid atlantic ridge axis we describe the results of a 150 km long profile oriented parallel to magnetic anomalies m15 and m16 along which deep seismic reflection data collected by the british institutions reflection profiling syndicate are complemented by refraction data constrained by four obhs the line spans an entire spreading segment between two fracture zones the northern of which has an offset of 40 km and the other central has an offset of only 10 km away from the fracture zones the mean igneous crustal thickness is 7 2 km near both fracture zones thinning of up to 4 km is observed giving a mean igneous crustal thickness over the whole segment of approximately 6 5 km differences are seen between the two fracture zones in their seismic velocity structure in the associated basement topography and in the presence of a strong reflection extending into the mantle beneath the northern fracture zone the boundary between oceanic layers 2 and 3 correlates with variably coherent normal incidence reflections and a change in the character of the reflectivity a number of planar reflections up to 10 km in length are present within the middle and lower crust dipping outward from beneath low amplitude basement highs at 15 these appear to be present only within layer 3 the moho has several expressions in the reflection data including isolated reflection events a local increase in reflected amplitudes and a downward decrease in coherent reflections at the center of the segment there is a zone at the base of the crust within which both high and low velocity materials are present this zone shows an enhanced level of discontinuous normal incidence reflectivity and may represent an initial fractionation event as melt was emplaced at the spreading ridge

geophysical studies of the structure of the appalachian orogen in the atlantic borderlands of canada results of 6000 km of crustal seismic profiling are presented with gravity and aeromagnetic maps for the appalachian orogen in eastern canada wide angle seismic surveys show that the central mobile belt of the orogen has a thinner crust than its margins high velocity lower crust attributed to underplating is found below the former laurentian continental margin in newfoundland and below the magdalen basin potential field data are used to trace the surface zones of the orogen from the northeast newfoundland shelf to cape breton but extrapolation to new brunswick and quebec is unclear because of late paleozoic basin development the central mobile belt of the orogen is only a few tens of kilometres wide in southwest newfoundland and cape breton but broadens substantially to around 200 km elsewhere reflection images show a strong deep crustal fabric that runs along the orogen with a margin that crosses into the avalon zone in southern newfoundland but coincides with the avalon gander zone boundary el

a deep seismic reflection profile across the nova scotia continental margin offshore eastern canada results from two deep seismic reflection lines are presented when combined these lines span the rifted continental margin off nova scotia from crust unaltered by rifting to the ocean basin these data provide crustal and upper mantle reflection geometry to depths of over 50 km and elucidate the rifting process on this margin which occurred during the mesozoic breakup of pangaea the continental crust below the continental shelf and slope becomes progressively thinner toward the ocean continent boundary in the upper crust normal faults accommodated mesozoic extension and these flatten and terminate at 5 6 s two way time in the lower crust and upper mantle mesozoic rifting may be reflected in dipping events which are interpreted to be normal faults all mesozoic extensional faulting could be controlled by the preexisting fabric of the crust which in this region would be related to appalachian compression within the meguma terrane below the continental rise there is some evidence for magmatic un

crustal structure of the labrador sea conjugate margin and implications for the formation of nonvolcanic continental margins wide angle seismic studies have determined the detailed velocity structure along a 350 km long profile across the labrador margin combination of this model with a previously published cross section for the southwestern greenland margin constitutes the first combined conjugate margin study based on seismic velocity structure the results indicate three distinct zones across the labrador margin similar to the structure of the conjugate greenland margin zone 1 represents 27 to 30 km thick continental crust thinning gradually seaward over 100 km distance farther seaward zone 2 is 70 80 km wide characterized by a distinct lower crust 4 5 km thick in which velocity increases with depth from 6 4 to 7 7 km s interpretation for this lower crustal block favors an origin by serpentinized peridotite rather than by magmatic under plating zone 3 represents two layered normal oceanic crust the cross sections from both margins are reconstructed to an early drift stage at chron 27 this demonstrates that the serpentinites in zone 2 are symmetrically distributed between previous identifications of chrons 31 and 33 on both margins zone 1 shows a marked asymmetry with a gradual thinning of continental crust off labrador contrasted with a rapid thinning off greenland the abundant serpentinization of upper mantle peridotite in zone 2 and the asymmetric shape of zone 1 are both probably related to a very slow rate of continental rifting which produced little if any melt

crustal anatomy of a transform continental margin abstract this paper describes new deep seismic reflection results across the major transform margin southwest of the grand banks off eastern canada an interpretation of these results is presented supplemented with previous seismic refraction gravity and magnetic measurements the results show a fairly sharp transition between oceanic and continental regions at the transform margin a narrow zone about 40 km wide separates the two regions and is interpreted to be a zone in which shearing has destroyed the original fabric of the continental crust faults in this region extend throughout the crust and there is some evidence that a major strike slip fault may extend some tens of kilometres into the upper mantle magmatism may have further modified the crust in this shear zone which is bounded on the oceanic side by a small seamount the continental crust is thinned by a factor of 3 or more in this zone which may be due to erosion or to flow in the lower crust during shearing the oceanic crust does not appear to thin significantly as the transform margin is approached crustal scale dipping reflectors over a confined region below the shelf are interpreted to represent the contact between two appalachian terranes the meguma and avalon terranes this supports earlier interpretations of a large magnetic lineament in the region as marking this boundary these crustal seismic data crossing a large transform margin are the first of their kind and will help us to constrain evolutionary models of transform margins the picture they provide is different in many respects from that across rifted margins and similar in others in some cases it might be difficult to distinguish between these two classes of atlantic type margins on the basis of crustal structure

crustal structure seismic stratigraphy and rift processes of the continental margin off eastern canada ocean bottom seismic refraction results off nova scotia two crustal seismic refraction profiles were obtained on the continental margin of eastern canada these lines were located on the upper continental rise and on the outer continental shelf off nova

listric faults imaged in oceanic crust deep seismic reflection profiling has provided exceptional images of listric faulting in oceanic basement of jurassic age off the coast of nova scotia the faults dip toward the mid atlantic ridge and sole near the base of the crust at a common depth of about 4 km presumably the brittle ductile transition at the time of deformation at least five rotated fault blocks with dips ranging from 0 at the surface to 45 at the base are observed along a 36 km flow line segment suggesting a stretching factor of 1 5 2 5 the faults can be traced upward with small displacement in the overlying sedimentary strata to approximately the middle cretaceous strata implying continued movement or consolidation for about 70 m y after crustal formation

marine geology of sohm basin canadian atlantic margin multichannel seismic reflection seismic refraction and magnetic anomaly data are used to interpret the mesozoic sea floor spreading history and subsequent sedimentary evolution of the sohm basin southeast of nova scotia observed m series mesozoic magnetic anomalies show that oceanic crust in the sohm basin was generated at very slow rates of sea floor spreading 5 15 mm yr half rates the slow spreading created very rough crustal topography but the crustal thickness and seismic velocity structure are typical of normal oceanic basement basement depths corrected for sediment loading fall below the predicted age depth curve in the anomaly m25 m4 interval these depth anomalies and an associated regional negative geoid anomaly suggest that the sohm basin is underlai by asthenosphere denser and possibly colder than normal correlation of seismic reflection profiles in the basin to regional seismic stratigraphy together with age constraints from reflection pinch outs on dated oceanic crust provides a chronology for interpreting the seismic sequences the jurassic to lower cretaceous sequences are similar in thickness and acoustic character to sequences observed along the united states atlantic margin suggesting that the new england seamount chain had little effect on sediment distribution patterns within the early western north atlantic basin upper cretaceous sediments in the sohm basin are thin probably because seaward transport of sediment was restricted by eustatic sea level rise and by a sedimentary ridge uplifted because of salt tectonics along the central and upper continental rise progradati nal sedimentary wedges and erosional unconformities characterize the tertiary and quaternary sedimentary record along the lower continental rise the prograding sequences generally correlate to sea level lowstands repeated episodes of erosion by abyssal currents are marked by seismic unconformities horizon au lower oligocene lm lower miocene mm middle miocene and l upper pliocene the deep currents also controlled local patterns of deposition and modified cross slope sediment transport and accumulation patterns thick supra horizon l sediments cover the sohm basin and reflect rapid sediment influx caused by glacio eustatic fluctuations in sea level during the quaternary

deep structure of the u s atlantic continental margin offshore south carolina from coincident ocean bottom and multichannel seismic data we present the results of a combined multichannel seismic reflection mcs and wide angle ocean bottom seismic profile collected in 1988 across the carolina trough on the u s atlantic continental margin inversion of vertical incidence and wide angle travel time data has produced a velocity model of the entire crust across the continent ocean transition the margin consists of three structural elements 1 rifted continental crust comprising 1 4 km of post rift sedimentary rocks overlying a 30 34 km thick subsedimentary crust 2 transitional crust a 70 to 80 km wide zone comprising up to 12 km of postrift sedimentary rocks overlying a 10 to 24 km thick subsedimentary crust and 3 oceanic crust comprising 8 km of sedimentary rocks overlying an 8 km thick crystalline crust the boundary between rifted continental and transitional crust marked by the brunswick magnetic anomaly represents an abrupt change in physical properties with strong lateral increases in seismic velocity density and magnetic susceptibility the transitional crust contains mid crustal seaward dipping reflections observed on the mcs section and has seismic velocities of 6 5 6 9 km s in the midcrust and 7 2 7 5 km s in the lower crust modeling of potential field data shows that transitional crust also produces the prominent margin parallel gravity anomaly and the brunswick and east coast magnetic anomalies these observations support the interpretation that the transitional crust was formed by magmatism during continental breakup the prodigious thickness up to 24 km of igneous material rivals that interpreted on continental margins of the north atlantic e g hatton bank and voring plateau which formed in the vicinity of the iceland hotspot these observations when combined with other transects across the margin confirm previous suggestions that the u s atlantic margin is strongly volcanic and further imply that the magmatism was not the result of a long lived mantle plume

large igneous province on the us atlantic margin and implications for magmatism during continental breakup rifted continental margins commonly include sections of igneous rock more than twice as thick as normal oceanic crust explanations for this voluminous magmatic accretion during rifting include plume models1 3 which require a deep seated thermal or chemical anomaly in upwelling mantle and non plume models4 7 which call on broad shallow thermal anomalies and or rapid upwelling of mantle through the melting zone new seismic models from two transects across the continent ocean transition on the us atlantic margin8 10 confirm the presence of a 20 25 km thick igneous section here we argue that the similarity of the crustal structure on these and two previous transects spanning 1 000 km of the margin and the association of thick igneous crust with the east coast magnetic anomaly11 imply that the thick igneous section extends along the entire margin and may have a volume of as much as 3 2 106 km3 the distribution of volcanic and plutonic rocks details of the seismic structure and lack of independent evidence for a hotspot are difficult to reconcile with plume models and suggest that non plume processes created the thick igneous crust

anomalous seismic crustal structure of oceanic fracture zones summary the seismic structure of crust found within fracture zones falls outside the range of velocity structures observed for normal oceanic crust in the north atlantic the crust in fracture zones is frequently very thin and is characterized by low crustal velocities and by the conspicuous absence of a refractor with a velocity typical of oceanic layer 3 anomalous crust is present in both large and small offset fracture zones since they are among the most common tectonic features in the ocean basins and are particularly closely spaced on slow spreading ridges fracture zones represent a major source of seismic crustal heterogeneity we interpret the anomalous crust as a thin intensely fractured faulted and hydrothermally altered basaltic and gabbroic section overlying ultramafics that in places are extensively serpentinized the unusually thin crust found within fracture zones and the gradual crustal thinning over a distance of several tens of kilometres on either side of the fracture zones can be explained by two main processes firstly the cold lithosphere edge opposite the spreading centre at the ridgetransform intersection modifies the normal intrusive and extrusive processes of the spreading centre leading to the accretion of an anomalous and thin igneous section and secondly each spreading ridge segment is fed from a separate subcrustal magma supply point so as the magma flows laterally down the spreading centre it generates a crustal section of decreasing thickness culminating in the very thin crust of the fracture zones at either end of the ridge segment

crustal structure across the southwest newfoundland transform margin a seismic refraction survey providing deep crustal structure information of the continent ocean boundary across the south west newfoundland transform margin was carried out using large air gun sources and ocean bottom seismometer receivers continental crust 30 km thick beneath the southern grand banks p wave velocity 6 2 6 5 km s thins oceanward to a 25 km wide transition zone in the transition zone paleozoic basement of the grand banks 5 5 5 7 km s is replaced by a basement of oceanic volcanics and synrift sediments 4 5 5 5 km s seaward of the transition zone the crust is oceanic in character with a velocity gradient from 4 7 to 6 5 km s and a thickness of 7 8 km oceanic layer 3 is absent no significant thickness of intermediate velocity 7 km s material is present at the continent ocean transition indicating that no under plating of continental crust has taken place the continent ocean transition across the transform margin is much narrower than across rifted margins supporting the

crustal structure of a nonvolcanic rifted margin east of newfoundland a detailed seismic refraction study was undertaken of the rifted continental margin southeast of the grand banks of newfoundland along a preexisting deep multichannel seismic reflection profile the primary objectives were to determine the topography of moho across the margin to detect any evidence for crustal underplating and to determine the position of the continent ocean boundary data were obtained from nine ocean bottom seismometers deployed along the profile with an array of six 1000 inch3 air guns as the source two additional refraction lines were shot parallel to structure over the continental slope the resultant velocity model is well constrained and consistent with the observed gravity the crust thins abruptly beneath the continental slope to a major structural transition identified as the continent ocean boundary there is no significant magmatic underplating of the thinned continental crust seaward of the transition the seismic velocity structure is characterized by a 50 km wide zone of intermediate velocity 7 2 7 6 km s beyond this is a thin 3 5 km crust with low velocity 4 5 5 km s and high gradient over mantle with a velocity of 7 7 km s increasing to 8 0 km s the zone of intermediate velocity is interpreted to be highly serpentinized mantle material beneath a very thin crust suggesting little or no magmatic activity during and immediately after rifting this interpretation is consistent with results from adjacent and conjugate margins

structure of the se greenland margin from seismic reflection and refraction data implications for nascent spreading center subsidence and asymmetric crustal accretion during north atlantic opening 1 seismic reflection and refraction data from the se greenland margin provide a detailed view of a volcanic rifted margin from archean continental crust to near to average oceanic crust over a spatial scale of 400 km the sigma iii transect located 600 km south of the greenland iceland ridge and the presumed track of the iceland hot spot shows that the continent ocean transition is abrupt and only a small amount of crustal thinning occurred prior to final breakup initially 18 3 km thick crust accreted to the margin and the productivity decreased through time until a steady state ridge system was established that produced 8 10 km thick crust changes in the morphology of the basaltic extrusives provide evidence for vertical motions of the ridge system which was close to sea level for at least 1 m y of subaerial spreading despite a reduction in productivity from 17 to 13 5 km thick crust over this time interval this could be explained if a small component of active upwelling associated with thermal buoyancy from a modest thermal anomaly provided dynamic support to the rift system the thermal anomaly must be exhaustible consistent with recent suggestions that plume material was emplaced into a preexisting lithospheric thin spot as a thin sheet exhaustion of the thin sheet led to rapid subsidence of the spreading system and a change from subaerial to shallow marine and finally to deep marine extrusion in 2 m y is shown by the morphological changes in addition comparison to the conjugate hatton bank shows a clear asymmetry in the early accretion history of north atlantic oceanic crust nearly double the volume of material was emplaced on the greenland margin compared to hatton bank and may indicate east directed ridge migration during initial opening

heat flow and depth versus age for the mesozoic northwest atlantic ocean results from the sohm abyssal plain and implications for the bermuda rise abstract heat flow in the sohm abyssal plain is measured to be 53 mw m 2 at an age of 163 ma this is 25 higher than predicted by conductive cooling models even though the sediment corrected basement depth of 6 5 km at this location is normal for its age an analysis of existing heat flow depth and geoid anomalies in the northwest atlantic shows that there is little correlation between heat flow and depth throughout the entire region depth and geoid are clearly related to the bermuda swell while the associated heat flow anomaly once adjusted for variations with age is limited to 5 mw m 2 and only decays to the south this means that the bermuda swell is probably not caused by extensive thermal reheating within the lithosphere but instead by dynamic uplift at its lower boundary due to the convective upwelling of a mantle plume the regionally high heat flow in the northwest atlantic may be a thermal remanent of previous plumes which passed beneath this region early in its history therefore depth and heat flow anomalies from this region cannot be used to provide constraints on steady state parameters of the lithosphere such as the presence or absence of a long term boundary layer at its base

the crustal structure across the transform continental margin off ghana eastern equatorial atlantic forward modeling of a suite of wide angle seismic lines across the transform continental margin at the eastern end of the romanche fracture zone off ghana has shown the transition from continental to oceanic crust to be confined to a narrow 6 to 11 km wide zone located at the foot of the steep continental slope the structure of the adjacent oceanic and continental crusts has also been resolved these results are confirmed and enhanced by gravity and magnetic models the crust of the ocean continent transition zone is characterized by high velocities 5 8 7 3 km s 1 a high density 3 10 mg m 3 and high magnetizations 1 1 1 25 a m 1 this rules out a purely continental origin for the zone and suggests that it may be formed of basic igneous rocks intruded when the hot oceanic spreading center migrated along the margin the oceanic crust within 70 km of the margin is abnormally thin compared to normal atlantic oceanic crust and shows an average thickness of just 4 4 km we suggest that the region of abnormally thin oceanic crust is the result of a reduced magma supply due to a combination of closely spaced fracture zones and the conductive loss of heat from the upwelling oceanic mantle in small basins surrounded on at least three sides by cold continental lithosphere the preferred seismic model also shows a new fracture zone 30 km southeast of the ocean continent transition which is characterized by low velocities in the upper crust a lens shaped layer with velocities of 7 2 7 4 km s 1 at the base of the crust and a crustal thickness of just 3 4 km the continental crust appears largely unaffected by the proximity of the adjacent oceanic crust there is no evidence for underplating of the continental crust adjacent to the ocean continent transition zone

crustal structure of the ocean continent transition at flemish cap seismic refraction results 1 we conducted a seismic refraction experiment across flemish cap and into the deep basin east of newfoundland canada and developed a velocity model for the crust and mantle from forward and inverse modeling of data from 25 ocean bottom seismometers and dense air gun shots the continental crust at flemish cap is 30 km thick and is divided into three layers with p wave velocities of 6 0 6 7 km s across the southeast flemish cap margin the continental crust thins over a 90 km wide zone to only 1 2 km the ocean continent boundary is near the base of flemish cap and is marked by a fault between thinned continental crust and 3 km thick crust with velocities of 4 7 7 0 km s interpreted as crust from magma starved oceanic accretion this thin crust continues seaward for 55 km and thins locally to 1 5 km below a sediment cover 1 9 3 1 km s oceanic layer 2 4 7 4 9 km s is 1 5 km thick while layer 3 6 9 km s seems to disappear in the thinnest segment of the oceanic crust at the seawardmost end of the line the crust thickens to 6 km mantle with velocities of 7 6 8 0 km s underlies both the thin continental and thin oceanic crust in an 80 km wide zone a gradual downward increase to normal mantle velocities is interpreted to reflect decreasing degree of serpentinization with depth normal mantle velocities of 8 0 km s are observed 6 km below basement there are major differences compared to the conjugate galicia bank margin which has a wide zone of extended continental crust more faulting and prominent detachment faults crust formed by seafloor spreading appears symmetric however with 30 km wide zones of oceanic crust accreted on both margins beginning about 4 5 m y before formation of magnetic anomaly m0 118 ma

insight into the nature of the ocean continent transition off west iberia from a deep multichannel seismic reflection profile a high quality multichannel seismic reflection profile across the west iberia margin confirms the existence of a 130 km wide transition zone between tilted continental fault blocks and unequivocal oceanic crust the zone is characterized by a 1 0 2 5 km thick seismically unreflective upper basement layer lying over reflective basement that contains major landward dipping reflectors that mostly truncate against the base of the upper layer and penetrate to depths of 10 19 km below the basement surface and minor seaward dipping reflectors moho reflections are absent in this zone we suggest that the unreflective layer represents tectonically exposed upper mantle that has undergone extensive serpentinization enhanced by vigorous seawater circulation about 40 km farther north the transition zone narrows to 35 km and the unreflective layer is less continuous and widespread

evolution of nonvolcanic rifted margins new results from the conjugate margins of the labrador sea the crust across each margin of the labrador sea a conjugate rift margin pair consists of three well defined zones thinned continental crust 70 80 km wide transitional crust and oceanic crust the transition zone is characterized by a low velocity upper crust 4 5 km s underlain by a 6 4 7 7 km s layer we propose that the lower layer is serpentinized upper mantle it is less likely to be gabbroic igneous lower crust the low velocity upper crust may be either an oceanic basaltic layer or very thin 2 km continental crust results from this first combined seismic reflection and refraction study of a conjugate margin pair support very slow initial continental rifting 1 mm yr on average resulting in an asymmetric crustal thinning profile with breakup occurring against the west greenland shelf this asymmetry may be an important feature of rifting at nonvolcanic margins and may be related to strain hardening of the cooling and thinning lithosphere or to small scale convection in the lower lithosphere and asthenosphere at the sides of the rift the thin crust in the transition zone implies that the amount of melt generated in the upwelling mantle is negligible consistent with slow spreading or rifting the transition from this slow formational period to normal oceanic accretion processes is marked by a sharp decrease in basement depth signaling an increase to normal oceanic crustal thickness

crustal structure of the continent ocean transition off the cote d ivoire ghana transform margin implications for thermal exchanges across the palaeotransform boundary summary crustal structure of the continent ocean transition off the cote d ivoire ghana transform margin is determined by 2 d modelling of wide angle seismic data and gravity data the resulting models together with geological data recently collected by drilling on the margin are compared with available thermomechanical models of transform margins in particular we test the predicted effects on the transform margin crust of continental heating by the adjacent oceanic lithosphere these effects include i ductile flow of the lower continental crust either parallel to the transform direction or perpendicular to it from the continent towards the ocean and ii thermal uplift of the transform margin in the region of the cote d ivoire ghana transform margin the seismic and gravity data indicate that the continental crust remains uniform in thickness as the continent ocean boundary is approached the interpreted models lack a transitional domain between continental and oceanic crusts and abnormally thin oceanic crust is found along the margin these results exclude large scale ductile flow of lower continental crust during the margin formation the geological data are moreover not consistent with thermal uplift of the margin during the period of contact between the transform margin and the spreading centre our geophysical and geological data thus infer only moderate heating of the transform continental margin by the adjacent oceanic lithosphere moderate heating of the cote d ivoire ghana transform margin during margin formation implies that the thermal exchange between the transform margin and the adjacent spreading centre were lower than predicted by available thermal models two main factors may have contributed to reduce thermal exchanges across the continent ocean boundary the first factor is that the oceanic edge may have been colder than assumed by thermal models an abnormally cold spreading axis along the transform margin when the oceanic crust was emplaced is supported by the atypical structure of the oceanic crust along the cote d ivoire ghana transform margin the oceanic crustal structure is similar to that found along oceanic fracture zones where oceanic crust is also emplaced near a ridge transform intersection in both cases abnormally low thermal gradients at the spreading centre along the transform margin may be explained by the cumulative effect of i a cold edge effect of the adjacent continental lithosphere ii accretion at the end of a ridge segment away from the main magma supply point along the spreading axis and iii an efficient upward cooling of the oceanic lithosphere owing to deep hydrothermal circulation within the faulted lithosphere the second factor causing moderate thermal exchanges is the possibility of large amounts of water in oceanic lithospheric faults which reduces the lateral thermal conduction in the lithosphere since water is much less conductive than rock during the margin formation the oceanic edge thus seems to have acted as a thermal buffer between the cold continental margin and the hot spreading centre we propose that this thermal buffer hypothesis may be generalized to most transform margins implying a lower amount of continental heating than assumed by the available thermomechanical models

tectono stratigraphic terranes in cape breton island nova scotia implications for the configuration of the northern appalachian orogen cape breton island is divided into four terranes on the basis of contrasts in pre carboniferous geology the blair river complex in the north is an exposure of north american grenvillian basement analogous to the humber zone basement in newfoundland ordovician to devonian metavolcanic metasedimentary gneissic and granitic rocks of the aspy terrane are correlative with parts of the gander terrane of newfoundland and new brunswick the bras d9or terrane characterized by low pressure gneisses a carbonate clastic platform sequence and late precambrian early cambrian plutons may be correlative with units previously included in the gander terrane in southern newfoundland and the avalon terrane in southern new brunswick the mira terrane in southeastern cape breton island including late precambrian to early cambrian volcanic and sedimentary sequences and fossiliferous cambrian ordovician units is clearly part of the avalon terrane therefore with the exception of the dunnage terrane which is not represented in cape breton island the terranes of newfoundland continue through cape breton island they are offset to the northwest to the mainland part of the appalachian orogen in new brunswick

seismic structure of oceanic crust in the western north atlantic we examine the seismic structure of cretaceous aged ocean crust north of the blake spur fracture zone in the western north atlantic by using a combination of multichannel seismic and wide angle reflection refraction data although the oceanic crust in this area is characterized by a relatively uniform thickness and seismic velocity structure it displays large variations in crustal reflectivity on both ridge normal and ridge parallel profiles the upper crust is highly reflective and contains both subhorizontal or shallow dipping events and more steeply dipping reflectors subhorizontal reflectors are typically present between 1 5 and 2 km depth and are in some cases laterally continuous for distances of 15 to 20 km generally these events do not correlate with the depth of the seismic layer 2 layer 3 boundary determined from refraction data and their origin is still poorly understood the steeply dipping events are generally confined to the upper 2 5 km of the crust we interpret these reflectors as the subsurface expression of ridge parallel extensional faults commonly mapped at mid ocean ridges the lower crust in this area exhibits alternating regions of high and low reflectivity the highly reflective zones are made up of packages of linear or concave upward dipping reflectors that flatten out in a diffuse zone of high reflectivity near the base of the crust some of these dipping reflectors appear to cut through the whole crustal section although most fade out in the acoustically transparent midcrust on ridge normal profiles the majority of these events dip to the east toward the paleo spreading center whereas on ridge parallel profiles the events typically dip south toward the blake spur fracture zone the base of the crust is generally not associated with a strong discrete moho reflection but is a comparatively indistinct boundary usually associated with a 1 to 2 km thick band of diffuse high reflectivity we interpret the lower crustal and whole crustal dipping events as the subsurface expression of major fault systems that have ruptured the entire crustal section down to depths of 8 10 km with the available data we cannot unambiguously determine the geometrical relationship between the dipping lower crustal reflectors on the ridge normal and ridge parallel profiles we may be imaging a single major detachment surface that dips both toward the ridge axis and away from accommodation zones linking major boundary faults alternatively these events may represent two different classes of fault systems that form during different stages of the emplacement and aging of oceanic lithosphere

the transition from a volcanic to a nonvolcanic rifted margin off eastern canada three multichannel seismic reflection profiles were collected on the rifted continental margin southeast of nova scotia eastern canada the profiles cross the east coast magnetic anomaly ecma which parallels much of the margin of eastern north america south of the grand banks and which is usually associated with the transition from continental to oceanic crust studies to the south of the work reported here suggest that the ecma may be related to the emplacement of large thicknesses of late rift stage or early drift stage igneous material which is characterized by seaward dipping reflections in basement and a high velocity lower crustal layer the seismic data show that seaward dipping reflections sdr continue northward into the study area and support the correlation between the sdr unit and the presence of a well developed ecma magnetic modeling confirms this association although it does not rule out an additional contribution to the magnetic anomaly from an edge effect or suture just north of the study area the ecma diminishes and is no longer well developed the sdr unit also terminates and it is not observed over most of the nova scotian margin if our understanding of the origin of these features is correct then their disappearance marks a transition from a volcanic margin in the south to a nonvolcanic margin in the north the association of the transition with significant changes in the prerift fabric of the adjacent continental crust in the trend of synrift extensional structures and in the width of the zone of thinned continental crust below the margins must be clues to the deeper processes controlling the amount of volcanism produced we suggest that these clues are consistent with small scale convection as a mechanism for delivering large melt volumes to crustal depths during rifting

deep structure of the ocean continent transition in the southern iberia abyssal plain from seismic refraction profiles the iam 9 transect at 40 20 n we present a crust and mantle velocity structure for the west iberia passive continental margin derived from a 320 km long wide angle seismic profile acquired in the southern iberia abyssal plain we observe a 170 km wide ocean continent transition zone which includes a pair of overlapping peridotite ridges and is bounded by oceanic crust and landward by fault bounded blocks of continental crust the profile lies 40 km south of the transect sampled by ocean drilling program odp legs 149 and 173 the transition zone structure can be divided into an upper layer 2 4 km thick with velocities of between 4 5 and 7 0 km s 1 and generally a high velocity gradient 1 s 1 and a lower layer up to 4 km thick with a velocity of 7 6 km s 1 and a low velocity gradient a weak moho reflection in this zone was seen only on wide angle profiles at an offset of 30 km the upper layer has a distinctly lower velocity than thinned continental crust adjacent to the continental slope conversely the lower layer has too high a velocity to be magmatically intruded or underplated lower continental crust on the coincident seismic reflection profile fault bounded crustal blocks identified in unequivocal extended continental crust are not observed in the transition zone the upper layer has velocity bounds and gradient similar to oceanic layer 2 observed west of the peridotite ridges but no oceanic layer 3 velocity structure is present while magnetic anomalies have been identified within the transition zone they have not been modeled successfully as seafloor spreading magnetic anomalies nor do they generally form long linear margin parallel features finally odp boreholes 40 km north of our profile and within the interpreted transition zone have recovered up to 140 m thick sections of serpentinite and serpentinized peridotites with little evidence of mafic igneous material we conclude that the transition zone cannot be dominantly composed of either extended continental crust or oceanic crust although current melting models predict a considerably thicker crust of decompression melt products we interpret this region as exposed upper mantle peridotite with little or no synrift extrusive material and limited amounts of synrift material intruded within the serpentinized peridotite

a deep seismic reflection profile across the extinct mid labrador sea spreading center in 1990 a deep multichannel seismic reflection line was shot along a flow line across the labrador sea the results from the central portion of this line between magnetic anomalies 25 and across the extinct central ridge are described here spreading rates in this part of the labrador sea are very low from 10 mm yr to less than 3 mm yr so that the line provides a unique opportunity to examine the relationship between very slow spreading and crustal structure a clear division is observed between two types of crust the oldest crust between dirons 21 and 25 which formed at a mean half spreading rate of 10 mm yr exhibits smoothly undulating basement with only minor normal faulting this region shares many of the reflection characteristics of north atlantic crust formed at moderate to low spreading rates in contrast the younger central region between chrons 21 and 13 which formed at a mean half spreading rate of 3 mm yr displays evidence of intense normal faulting of the crust giving a total extension of about 70 inward facing normal faults on both sides of the extinct ridge with large offsets many of which extend to lower crust or moho depths dominate the seismic section the axial region is characterized by a deep fault bounded median valley these results suggest that mechanical extension plays a more important role in seafloor spreading at low spreading rates than previously documented integration of the reflection data with previous refraction measurements and with gravity modeling of the region shows variations in crustal thickness which can be correlated with spreading rates the region formed at a mean spreading rate of 10 mm yr where about 15 extension is observed exhibits slightly thinner than normal crust 4 8 km or less versus a normal thickness of about 7 km at a lower spreading rate of 3 mm yr across the axial region where extension is about 70 an average crustal thickness of 3 km is obtained thus lower spreading rates are associated with regions of thinner crust and greater amounts of extension while many studies suggest that thin crust at slow spreading rates may result from a reduced magma supply this study suggests that extension is at least equally important and may be responsible for most of the variations in crustal thickness the increased cooling of young oceanic lithosphere formed at these very low spreading rates approximately 3 mm yr may have amplified brittle failure in response to plate separation however the timing of extension is still uncertain and some of it may be related to postextinction tectonics and not to the spreading process the role of extension as a control on crustal thickness needs to be considered further in studies of crustal generation and magmatism at slow spreading ridges extension will decrease the importance of magmatism in generating thin oceanic crust and will favor models of magmatic processes which produce thicker crust

deep seismic reflection data of edge u s mid atlantic continental margin experiment implications for appalachian sutures and mesozoic rifting and magmatic underplating the edge seismic experiment across the virginia continental margin delineated a paleozoic suture buried appalachian terranes and mesozoic rifting and magmatic events the seismic grid revealed that the mesozoic norfolk rift basin exists only in the northern one third of the previously mapped area the north striking listric border fault of the norfolk basin half graben parallels seismic laminations in the basement the jurassic volcanic wedge pinches out just landward of the baltimore canyon trough hinge zone and downlaps on the hummocky oceanic basement under the continental rise under the continental slope the volcanic wedgereaches depths 9 s 20 km two distinct intracrustal reflections at 4 0 5 0 s and at 7 0 s twit two way traveltime dip southeastward at low angles 15 the moho reflection is disrupted where it is intersected by the 7 0 s reflection northwest of this point the moho dips landward seaward it is horizontal seaward of this point the lower crustal boundary laminations exist in a narrow interval 10 5 11 0 s and are of strong amplitude these changes in the moho and lower crust represent the seaward edge of the grenville age north american crust and the landward edge of jurassic magmatic underplating a northwest dipping reflection observed for the first time on the u s atlantic margin may be the top of the jurassic magmatic underplating layer the northwest dipping reflection truncates the southeast dipping 7 0 s twtt reflection landward projection of the 7 0 s reflection yields a north south trace on the postrift unconformity under the center of lower chesapeake bay this trace is near a basement fault between low grade metamorphic rocks carolina slate avalonia on the east and high grade rocks goochland terrane on the west this fault boundary and the southeastdipping 7 0 s reflection probably represent the taconic suture

continental breakup and the onset of ultraslow seafloor spreading off flemish cap on the newfoundland rifted margin prestack depth migrated seismic reflection data collected off flemish cap on the newfoundland margin show a structure of abruptly thinning continental crust that leads into an oceanic accretion system within continental crust there is no clear evidence for detachment surfaces analogous to the s reflection off the conjugate galicia bank margin demonstrating a first order asymmetry in final rift development anomalously thin 3 4 km magmatically produced oceanic crust abuts very thin continental crust and is highly tectonized this indicates that initial accretion of the oceanic crust was in a magma limited setting similar to present day ultraslow spreading environments seaward oceanic crust thins to 1 3 km and exhibits an unusual highly reflective layering we propose that a period of magma starvation led to exhumation of mantle in an oceanic core complex that was subsequently buried by deep marine sheet flows to form this layering subsequent seafloor spreading formed normal 6 km thick oceanic crust this interpretation implies large fluctuations in the available melt supply during the early stages of seafloor spreading before a more typical slow spreading system was established

dynamical weakening by fluidization under oscillatory viscous flows dynamical weakening of granular materials plays a critical role on diverse geological events such as seismic faulting and landslides a common feature in the dynamics of these processes is the development of fluid solid relative flows which could lead to fluidization by hydrodynamic viscous stresses this work is focused on analyzing hydrodynamic fluidization under oscillatory viscous flows as a possible driving mechanism for dynamical weakening the theoretical estimations and experimental observations presented and reviewed suggest that fluidization can be greatly promoted by oscillatory viscous flows which are usually expected in geological events involving vibration of granular materials in viscous fluids fluidization under oscillatory viscous flows may occur at not excessively large vibration velocities of fine particles in gases or relatively larger particles in liquids or supercritical fluids in particular the enhancement of fluidization by high frequency vibrations would be a powerful mechanism to promote dynamical weakening of fine powders in dry fault gouges failure of liquid or supercritical fluid saturated beds and sustained fluidization of pyroclastic flows and lahars

formation and evolution of the nova scotian rifted margin evidence from deep seismic reflection data a deep marine seismic reflection profile was obtained across the mesozoic rifted continental margin off nova scotia eastern canada this profile crosses the seotian basin one of the deepest basins on the margin of eastern north america and it complements other deep crustal seismic data on this margin the seismic data have been interpreted in conjunction with gravity anomaly and subsidence data they show significant thinning of the continental crust over a zone about 200 km wide the mode of extensional deformation is probably a combination of pure and simple shear there is evidence for simple shear in the crust the continent ocean boundary lies near the seaward edge of synrift salt below the continental rise a 100 km wide zone of very thin approximately 9 km or less continental or transitional crust extends seaward from the outer shelf to this boundary reflectivity of the oceanic crust adjacent to the margin shows evidence of progressive igneous construction perhaps modified by extensional faulting this margin is nonvolcanic and the transition to the volcanic margin off the eastern united states occurs about 500 km southwest of the seismic line the width of the zone of crustal extension is much greater on this nonvolcanic margin segment than it is on the volcanic margin to the south it seems likely that the prerift fabric of the continental lithosphere controls this width a narrow rift may be prone to vigorous asthenospheric convection and therefore to more voluminous volcanism however significantly narrower zones of crustal extension occur on other nonvolcanic margins so factors in addition to rift width such as the rate of rifting may also be important

inhibiting magmatism on nonvolcanic rifted margins the conditions under which continental rifting may occur without an accompanying protracted period of synextensional magmatism are explored with a series of finite element models that dynamically simulate continental extension the models demonstrate that 5 7 km of new oceanic crust can be generated at the time of breakup while restricting synextensional magmatism to less than 2 m y prior to the end of the rifting episode if the extension rate exceeds 15 mm yr and the crust contains only minor lateral variations in strength under these conditions extensional strain in the mantle is localized during the early stages of rifting preventing diffuse lithospheric thinning melting does not begin until lithospheric necking is well established resulting in a narrow zone of melt production that limits magmatism to within 30 km of the ocean continent boundary once melting begins rifting progresses rapidly to breakup restricting the period of synextensional magmatism to as little as 1 6 m y prior to the onset of sea floor spreading because the models do not require either a cool mantle prior to rifting or pronounced conductive cooling of the mantle during rifting they are able to account for the generation of new oceanic crust at the time of breakup the model predictions are consistent with the structure and magmatic history of nonvolcanic rifted margins in the north atlantic ocean

crustal structure of a super slow spreading centre a seismic refraction study of mohns ridge 72 n summary a series of eight high resolution seismic refraction profiles from the ultra slow spreading 16 mm yr 1 full spreading rate mohns ridge in the norwegian greenland sea has been treated with modern inversion methods the profiles were shot parallel to the ridge at an off axis distance of 0 135 km corresponding to crustal ages of 0 22 ma the resulting models are constrained by synthetic seismograms and gravity modelling the crustal thickness in all profiles is well below the global average for typical oceanic crust and shows a high variability with a mean thickness of 4 0 0 5 km this is mainly due to a very thin and variable lower crustal layer layer 3 generally the crust is thicker beneath basement highs and thinner beneath basins implying local isostatic compensation the top of the basement layer 2a consists of a zone with low p wave velocities 2 5 3 0 km s 1 the mean thickness of this layer decreases with distance from the ridge beneath it lies a layer with slightly higher velocities layer 2b its thickness shows less variability along a given profile and an overall increase with age the combined average thickness of the upper two layers remains nearly constant indicating that the boundary between layer 2a and 2b may represent an alteration front upper mantle velocities are generally slow around 7 5 km s 1 for the profile directly within the rift valley a model without a third layer incorporating a constant gradient up to upper mantle velocities and a model with a moho depth inferred from neighbouring profiles and upper mantle velocity as slow as 7 2 km s 1 fit the seismic and gravity data equally well the crustal structure is not mature below the ridge these observations support previous models suggesting the presence of low densities and velocities at about 2 km below the rift axis poisson s ratios determined from converted s wave modelling are incompatible with a layer 3 consisting of purely serpentinized peridotite however a volume fraction of 10 40 per cent serpentinite cannot be ruled out

modeling wide angle seismic data for crustal structure southeastern grenville province a modeling methodology for obtaining two dimensional 2 d crustal structure from wide angle seismic data is applied to data from the southeastern grenville province pre modeling steps include 1 assignment of arrival pick uncertainties for appropriate data fitting and weighting using an empirical relationship based on signal to noise ratio 2 using a modified form of travel time reciprocity to avoid unreasonable levels of model heterogeneity and 3 identifying data unsuitable for 2 d modeling the goal of the travel time inversion amplitude modeling approach is to obtain a minimum structure and minimum parameter model that takes into account both horizontal and vertical variations in the resolution of typical wide angle data each step of a layer stripping procedure involves a series of inversions in which a one dimensional or simple starting model is improved with additional velocity and or interface nodes until a satisfactory trade off between travel time fit parameter resolution and complete ray coverage of all source receiver pairs is achieved using zero vertical velocity gradient layers and head waves during preliminary first arrival inversion can 1 decrease the number of intermediate models 2 allow greater lateral heterogeneity to be imaged and 3 simplify incorporation of amplitude modeling constraints into the final model using amplitude distance curves allows quantitative modeling of the relative amplitude and offset variations of phases discrepancies between observed and calculated reflection amplitudes are used to infer fundamental non step like velocity changes at layer boundaries later arrivals due to unresolved velocity anomalies are modeled using reflecting segments that float within the model without an associated velocity structure these reflectors provide a spatial image like that obtained from vertical incidence reflection data as opposed to a velocity image the model of grenville crustal structure is more detailed than a model obtained from a previous interpretation of the data and includes elements analogous to those imaged in nearby deep reflection data a crustal scale zone of wide angle reflectors with an average easterly apparent dip of 13 defines a major grenvillian terrane boundary

mantle thermal structure and active upwelling during continental breakup in the north atlantic seismic reflection and refraction data acquired on four transects spanning the southeast greenland rifted margin and greenland iceland ridge gir provide new constraints on mantle thermal structure and melting processes during continental breakup in the north atlantic maximum igneous crustal thickness varies along the margin from s 30 km in the near hotspot zone 6 500 km from the hotspot track to v18 km in the distal zone 500 1100 km magmatic productivity on summed conjugate margins of the north atlantic decreases through time from 1800 300 to 600 50 km 3 km ma in the near hotspot zone and from 700 200 to 300 50 km 3 km ma in the distal zone comparison of our data with the british faeroe margins shows that both symmetric and asymmetric conjugate volcanic rifted margins exist joint consideration of crustal thickness and mean crustal seismic velocity suggests that along margin changes in magmatism are principally controlled by variations in active upwelling rather than mantle temperature the thermal anomaly vt at breakup was modest v100 125 c varied little along the margin and transient data along the gir indicate that the potential temperature anomaly 125 50 c and upwelling ratio v4 times passive of the iceland hotspot have remained roughly constant since 56 ma our results are consistent with a plume impact model in which 1 a plume of radius v300 km and vt of v125 c impacted the margin around 61 ma and delivered warm material to distal portions of the margin 2 at breakup 56 ma the lower half of the plume head continued to feed actively upwelling mantle into the proximal portion of the margin and 3 by 45 ma both the remaining plume head and the distal warm layer were exhausted with excess magmatism thereafter largely confined to a narrow 6 200 km radius zone immediately above the iceland plume stem alternatively the warm upper mantle layer that fed excess magmatism in the distal portion of the margin may have been a pre existing thermal anomaly unrelated to the plume fl 2001 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

crustal structure of north atlantic fracture zones seismic studies have established that large offset transforms along the slow spreading mid atlantic ridge exhibit anomalous crustal structures that fall well outside the range typically associated with oceanic crust seismically fracture zone crust in the north atlantic is extremely heterogeneous in both thickness and internal structure it is frequently quite thin 1 2 km thick and is characterized by low compressional wave velocities and the absence of a normal seismic layer 3 a more gradual crustal thinning can extend up to several tens of kilometers from these fracture zones anomalously thin crust has also been inferred from both seismic and gravity studies at smaller ridge axis discontinuities along the mid atlantic ridge the geological nature of the seismically anomalous crust found within atlantic fracture zones and how this crust forms are still controversial one interpretation consistent with available seismic observations is that the crust within north atlantic fracture zones consists of a thin intensely fractured and hydrothermally altered basaltic section overlying ultramafics that are extensively serpentinized in places variations in apparent seismic crustal thickness along fracture zones may reflect different degrees of serpentinization of the upper mantle section or changes in the thickness of the igneous crust the existence of a thinner crustal section in fracture zones can be explained by a reduced magma supply within a broad region near ridge offsets due to the three dimensional nature of upwelling beneath a segmented spreading center and by tectonic dismemberment of the crust by large scale detachment faults that form preferentially in the cold brittle lithosphere near the ends of segments