Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T14:27:55.221Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Crustal structure beneath Discovery Bank in the Scotia Sea from group velocity tomography and seismic reflection data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2005

A. VUAN
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Borgo Grotta Gigante 42/c, 34010 Sgonico, Trieste, Italy avuan@inogs.it
E. LODOLO
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Borgo Grotta Gigante 42/c, 34010 Sgonico, Trieste, Italy avuan@inogs.it
G.F. PANZA
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita' degli Studi di Trieste, via E. Weiss 4, 34127 Trieste, Italy Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera, Trieste, Italy
C. SAULI
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Borgo Grotta Gigante 42/c, 34010 Sgonico, Trieste, Italy avuan@inogs.it

Abstract

The Bruce, Discovery, Herdman and Jane banks, all located along the central-eastern part of the South Scotia Ridge, represent isolated topographic highs, surrounded by young oceanic crust (∼5–23 Ma), whose petrological and structural nature is still the subject of speculation due to the lack of relevant data. Surface wave tomography in and around the Scotia Sea region, performed using eight broadband seismic stations and 300 events, shows that the central-eastern part of the South Scotia Ridge is characterized by negative surface wave group velocity anomalies as large as 6% in the period range from 15 s to 50 s. The spatial resolution of our data set (∼300 km) makes it possible to study a specific area (centred at 61°S and 36°W) that includes Discovery Bank and appears to show dispersion characteristics similar to those found beneath the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and southern South America. Surface wave dispersion curves are inverted to obtain 1-D isotropic shear wave velocity profiles that suggest a continental nature of Discovery Bank. Crustal thickness is in the range 23–28 km with a sub-Moho velocity of 4.1–4.2 km s−1. The boundaries of the negative group velocity anomalies are marked by a high level of seismic activity. The depth of the events and their large seismic moment suggest the presence of continental lithosphere. The continental-type crust of this topographic relief is supported by our interpretation of multichannel seismic reflection profiles acquired across this rise, where the observed seismic structures are interpreted as thinned and faulted continental plateau.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)