TY - JOUR
T1 - The oceanic crustal structure at the extinct, slow to ultraslow Labrador Sea spreading center
AU - Delescluse, Matthias
AU - Funck, Thomas
AU - Dehler, Sonya A.
AU - Louden, Keith E.
AU - Watremez, Louise
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
©2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2015/7/1
Y1 - 2015/7/1
N2 - Two seismic refraction lines were acquired along and across the extinct Labrador Sea spreading center during the Seismic Investigations off Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador 2009 cruise. We derived two P wave velocity models using both forward modeling (RAYINVR) and traveltime tomography inversion (Tomo2D) with good ray coverage down to the mantle. Slow-spreading Paleocene oceanic crust has a thickness of 5 km, while the Eocene crust created by ultraslow spreading is as thin as 3.5 km. The upper crustal velocity is affected by fracturation due to a dominant tectonic extension during the waning stage of spreading, with a velocity drop of 0.5 to 1 km/s when compared to Paleocene upper crustal velocities (5.2-6.0 km/s). The overall crustal structure is similar to active ultraslow-spreading centers like the Mohns Ridge or the South West Indian Ridge with lower crustal velocities of 6.0-7.0 km/s. An oceanic core complex is imaged on a 50 km long segment of the ridge perpendicular line with serpentinized peridotites (7.3-7.9 km/s) found 1.5 km below the basement. The second, ridge-parallel line also shows extremely thin crust in the extinct axial valley, where 8 km/s mantle velocity is imaged just 1.5 km below the basement. This thin crust is interpreted as crust formed by ultraslow spreading, which was thinned by tectonic extension.
AB - Two seismic refraction lines were acquired along and across the extinct Labrador Sea spreading center during the Seismic Investigations off Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador 2009 cruise. We derived two P wave velocity models using both forward modeling (RAYINVR) and traveltime tomography inversion (Tomo2D) with good ray coverage down to the mantle. Slow-spreading Paleocene oceanic crust has a thickness of 5 km, while the Eocene crust created by ultraslow spreading is as thin as 3.5 km. The upper crustal velocity is affected by fracturation due to a dominant tectonic extension during the waning stage of spreading, with a velocity drop of 0.5 to 1 km/s when compared to Paleocene upper crustal velocities (5.2-6.0 km/s). The overall crustal structure is similar to active ultraslow-spreading centers like the Mohns Ridge or the South West Indian Ridge with lower crustal velocities of 6.0-7.0 km/s. An oceanic core complex is imaged on a 50 km long segment of the ridge perpendicular line with serpentinized peridotites (7.3-7.9 km/s) found 1.5 km below the basement. The second, ridge-parallel line also shows extremely thin crust in the extinct axial valley, where 8 km/s mantle velocity is imaged just 1.5 km below the basement. This thin crust is interpreted as crust formed by ultraslow spreading, which was thinned by tectonic extension.
KW - Labrador Sea
KW - Monte Carlo analysis
KW - oceanic core complex
KW - refraction seismics
KW - spreading ridges
KW - ultraslow spreading
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84939266630&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/2014JB011739
DO - 10.1002/2014JB011739
M3 - Article
VL - 120
SP - 5249
EP - 5272
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
SN - 2169-9313
IS - 7
ER -