University of Leicester
Browse

Crustal properties of the northern Scandinavian mountains and Fennoscandian shield from analysis of teleseismic receiver functions

Download (27.44 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2018-04-26, 14:25 authored by Walid Ben Mansour, Stewart Fishwick, Richard England, Max Moorkamp
The presence of high mountains along passive margins is not unusual, as shown by their presence in several regions (Scandinavia, Greenland, East US, SW Africa, Brazil, West India and SE Australia). However, the origin of this topography is not well understood. The mountain range between the Scandinavian passive margin and the Fennoscandian shield is a good example. A simple Airy isostatic model would predict a compensating root beneath the mountains but existing seismic measurements of variations in crustal thickness do not provide evidence of a root of sufficient size to produce the necessary compensation. In order to better constrain the physical properties of the crust in northern Scandinavia, two broad-band seismic networks were deployed between 2007 and 2009 and between 2013 and 2014. A new map of crustal thickness has been produced from P-receiver function analysis of teleseismic data recorded at 31 seismic stations. The map shows an increase in crustal thickness from the Atlantic coast (38.7 ± 1.8  km) to the Gulf of Bothnia (43.5 ± 2.4  km). This gradient in thickness demonstrates that the Moho topography does not mirror the variation in surface topography in this region. Thus, classical Airy isostatic models cannot explain how the surface topography is supported. New maps showing variation in Poisson’s ratio and Moho sharpness together with forward and inverse modelling provide new information about the contrasting properties of the Fennoscandian shield and crust reworked by the Caledonian orogeny. A sharp Moho transition (R > 1) and low value of Vs (3.5 ± 0.2  km s−1) are observed beneath the orogen. The shield is characterized by a gradual transition across the Moho (R < 1) and Vs of 3.8 ± 0.1  km s−1 which is more typical of average continental crust. These observations are explained by a Fennoscandian shield underplated with a thick layer of high velocity, high density material. It is proposed that this layer has been removed or reworked beneath the orogen.

History

Citation

Geophysical Journal International, 2018, 214(1), pp. 386–401

Author affiliation

/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/School of Geography, Geology and the Environment

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Published in

Geophysical Journal International

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP), Royal Astronomical Society

issn

0956-540X

eissn

1365-246X

Acceptance date

2018-03-13

Copyright date

2018

Available date

2018-09-07

Publisher version

https://academic.oup.com/gji/article/214/1/386/4963746

Language

en

Usage metrics

    University of Leicester Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC