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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 8, 1446, doi:10.1029/2003GL017126, 2003

Structure of oceanic core complexes: Constraints from seafloor gravity measurements made at the Atlantis Massif

Scott L. Nooner

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA


Glenn S. Sasagawa

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA


Donna K. Blackman

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA


Mark A. Zumberge

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA


Abstract

Using the DSV Alvin, the relative seafloor gravimeter ROVDOG was deployed at 18 sites on the Atlantis Massif (located at the ridge-transform intersection of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Atlantis Transform Fault near 30°N, 42°W). These data along with previously collected shipboard gravity and bathymetry provide constraints on the density structure of this oceanic core complex. A series of quasi 3-D forward models suggests that symmetric east and west-dipping density interfaces bound the core of the massif with dip angles of 16°–24° in the east and 16°–28° in the west, creating a wedge with a density of 3150–3250 kg/m3. The dip angle in the east is steeper than that of the surface slope, suggesting that the detachment fault surface does not coincide with the density boundary. The resulting low-density layer is interpreted as a zone of serpentinization.

Published 30 April 2003.

Index Terms: 3010 Marine Geology and Geophysics: Gravity; 3094 Marine Geology and Geophysics: Instruments and techniques; 1219 Geodesy and Gravity: Local gravity anomalies and crustal structure; 8150 Tectonophysics: Plate boundary—general (3040); 9325 Information Related to Geographic Region: Atlantic Ocean.

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Citation: Nooner, S. L., G. S. Sasagawa, D. K. Blackman, and M. A. Zumberge (2003), Structure of oceanic core complexes: Constraints from seafloor gravity measurements made at the Atlantis Massif, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(8), 1446, doi:10.1029/2003GL017126.