![]() RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES VOL. 3, NO. 6, PAGES 395–404, doi:10.2205/2001ES000076, 2001
Migration of the Azores superplume: Geophysical and petrologic evidenceL. V. Dmitriev Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences (GEOKhI), Moscow, Russia S. Yu. Sokolov Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia N. S. Sokolov Lomonosov State University, Moscow, RussiaAbstract
[1] A detailed study of the best understood portion of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR)
between
0o and 80o N latitude, which involved a comparison of petrologic and
geochemical parameters of magmatism against satellite altimetry, seismology, deep
tomography, and geoid surface data, reveals a persistent correlation of these parameters
along the MAR's zero-age axial zone. In this zone, coexistence of plume- and
spreading-related basaltic associations (PB and SB, respectively), originating in two fundamentally
contrasting geodynamic settings, has been shown to occur. The way these associations
are distributed within the ridge is in accordance with its tectono-magmatic segmentation
and corresponds to the correlation of petrologic and geophysical parameters.
Results thus obtained provided an incentive to reconstruct the tectono-magmatic
conditions of genesis of the Atlantic lithosphere through time using along-isochron
gravity variations overlain on magnetic lineations.
It was at this angle that we approached the portion of the Atlantic between 15o N
and 40o N latitude. Here, the PB/SB boundary runs near 30o N along the MAR, which
corresponds to the south terminus of the Azores megaplume.
Along the M5, M13, M21, and M30 (west and east) magnetic lineation pairs after
[Sandwell and Smith, 1997\link14],
isochron profiles of free-air gravity anomalies were
constructed with a
2 Received 3 December 2001; published 27 December 2001. Keywords: Azores superplume, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, correlation of petrologic and geophysical parameters. ![]() Citation: Dmitriev, L. V., S. Yu. Sokolov, and N. S. Sokolov (2001), Migration of the Azores superplume: Geophysical and petrologic evidence, Russ. J. Earth Sci., 3, No.6, 395-404, doi:10.2205/2001ES000076. Version of this paper in Russian Copyright 2001 by the Russian Journal of Earth SciencesPowered by TeXWeb (Win32, v.2.0). |