Seismic structure of the upper crust from 0-75 Ma in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean on the African plate using ultralong offset seismic data

The uppermost oceanic crust composes of Layers 2A and 2B, and the boundary between them is debated to be a lava/dike transition or a hydrothermal alteration boundary within the lava unit. Here, we present the analyses of ultralong multichannel seismic data along a 1,500 km long profile covering 0–75...

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Main Authors: Audhkhasi, P., Singh, Satish C.
Other Authors: Earth Observatory of Singapore
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/149035
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1490352021-05-22T20:11:00Z Seismic structure of the upper crust from 0-75 Ma in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean on the African plate using ultralong offset seismic data Audhkhasi, P. Singh, Satish C. Earth Observatory of Singapore Science::Geology Equatorial Atlantic Ocean 0-75 Ma The uppermost oceanic crust composes of Layers 2A and 2B, and the boundary between them is debated to be a lava/dike transition or a hydrothermal alteration boundary within the lava unit. Here, we present the analyses of ultralong multichannel seismic data along a 1,500 km long profile covering 0–75 Ma of the oceanic lithosphere on the African plate in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. We find that the Layer 2A is observed along the whole profile, with its urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-0001 velocity increasing from 2.5 km/s near the ridge axis to urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-00024 km/s at urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-00034 Ma with slight variations thereafter. We also find that the sediment thickness increases rapidly from 0 m at the ridge axis to 170 m at 4 Ma, suggesting that there is a link between the high sedimentation rate and the increase in Layer 2A velocity. These observations indicate that crust younger than 4 Myr may be influenced by active hydrothermal circulation. The observed thickness of Layer 2A decreases from urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-0004850 m near the ridge axis to urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-0005600 m at 15 Ma with no significant changes beyond. We also find an increase in Layer 2B velocity from 5.1 km/s at 4 Myr to 5.5 km/s at 46 Myr, suggesting that passive hydrothermal circulation may extend deeper than Layer 2A/2B boundary. We propose Layer 2A/2B boundary to be a lava/dike transition at the ridge axis and a hydrothermal alteration boundary within the extrusive section away from the ridge axis. Published version 2021-05-18T04:44:20Z 2021-05-18T04:44:20Z 2019 Journal Article Audhkhasi, P. & Singh, S. C. (2019). Seismic structure of the upper crust from 0-75 Ma in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean on the African plate using ultralong offset seismic data. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 20(12), 6140-6162. https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2019GC008577 1525-2027 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/149035 10.1029/2019GC008577 2-s2.0-85076901571 12 20 6140 6162 en Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems © 2019 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Science::Geology
Equatorial Atlantic Ocean
0-75 Ma
spellingShingle Science::Geology
Equatorial Atlantic Ocean
0-75 Ma
Audhkhasi, P.
Singh, Satish C.
Seismic structure of the upper crust from 0-75 Ma in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean on the African plate using ultralong offset seismic data
description The uppermost oceanic crust composes of Layers 2A and 2B, and the boundary between them is debated to be a lava/dike transition or a hydrothermal alteration boundary within the lava unit. Here, we present the analyses of ultralong multichannel seismic data along a 1,500 km long profile covering 0–75 Ma of the oceanic lithosphere on the African plate in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. We find that the Layer 2A is observed along the whole profile, with its urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-0001 velocity increasing from 2.5 km/s near the ridge axis to urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-00024 km/s at urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-00034 Ma with slight variations thereafter. We also find that the sediment thickness increases rapidly from 0 m at the ridge axis to 170 m at 4 Ma, suggesting that there is a link between the high sedimentation rate and the increase in Layer 2A velocity. These observations indicate that crust younger than 4 Myr may be influenced by active hydrothermal circulation. The observed thickness of Layer 2A decreases from urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-0004850 m near the ridge axis to urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-0005600 m at 15 Ma with no significant changes beyond. We also find an increase in Layer 2B velocity from 5.1 km/s at 4 Myr to 5.5 km/s at 46 Myr, suggesting that passive hydrothermal circulation may extend deeper than Layer 2A/2B boundary. We propose Layer 2A/2B boundary to be a lava/dike transition at the ridge axis and a hydrothermal alteration boundary within the extrusive section away from the ridge axis.
author2 Earth Observatory of Singapore
author_facet Earth Observatory of Singapore
Audhkhasi, P.
Singh, Satish C.
format Article
author Audhkhasi, P.
Singh, Satish C.
author_sort Audhkhasi, P.
title Seismic structure of the upper crust from 0-75 Ma in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean on the African plate using ultralong offset seismic data
title_short Seismic structure of the upper crust from 0-75 Ma in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean on the African plate using ultralong offset seismic data
title_full Seismic structure of the upper crust from 0-75 Ma in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean on the African plate using ultralong offset seismic data
title_fullStr Seismic structure of the upper crust from 0-75 Ma in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean on the African plate using ultralong offset seismic data
title_full_unstemmed Seismic structure of the upper crust from 0-75 Ma in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean on the African plate using ultralong offset seismic data
title_sort seismic structure of the upper crust from 0-75 ma in the equatorial atlantic ocean on the african plate using ultralong offset seismic data
publishDate 2021
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/149035
_version_ 1701270458381369344