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An integrated geophysical study of Vestbakken Volcanic Province, western Barents Sea continental margin, and adjacent oceanic crust

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Abstract

This paper describes results from a geophysical study in the Vestbakken Volcanic Province, located on the central parts of the western Barents Sea continental margin, and adjacent oceanic crust in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. The results are derived mainly from interpretation and modeling of multichannel seismic, ocean bottom seismometer and land station data along a regional seismic profile. The resulting model shows oceanic crust in the western parts of the profile. This crust is buried by a thick Cenozoic sedimentary package. Low velocities in the bottom of this package indicate overpressure. The igneous oceanic crust shows an average thickness of 7.2 km with the thinnest crust (5–6 km) in the southwest and the thickest crust (8–9 km) close to the continent-ocean boundary (COB). The thick oceanic crust is probably related to high mantle temperatures formed by brittle weakening and shear heating along a shear system prior to continental breakup. The COB is interpreted in the central parts of the profile where the velocity structure and Bouguer anomalies change significantly. East of the COB Moho depths increase while the vertical velocity gradient decreases. Below the assumed center for Early Eocene volcanic activity the model shows increased velocities in the crust. These increased crustal velocities are interpreted to represent Early Eocene mafic feeder dykes. East of the zone of volcanoes velocities in the crust decrease and sedimentary velocities are observed at depths of more than 10 km. The amount of crustal intrusions is much lower in this area than farther west. East of the Knølegga Fault crystalline basement velocities are brought close to the seabed. This fault marks the eastern limit of thick Cenozoic and Mesozoic packages on central parts of the western Barents Sea continental margin.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financed by Vista, the research cooperation between Statoil and The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, project number 6253. Data acquisition was funded by the Research Council of Norway as a part of the IPY project “The Dynamic Continental Margin Between the Mid-Atlantic-Ridge System (Mohns Ridge, Knipovich Ridge) and the Bear Island Region” lead by Johannes Schweitzer (NORSAR). We would like to thank the captain and crew on R/V Håkon Mosby. Participants from Hokkaido University are acknowledged for their effort during acquisition and processing of OBS data. Ole Meyer, Helge Johnsen, Aleksander Kandilarov and Alexander Minakov from University of Bergen and Stephen A. Clark from University of Oslo are thanked for their contribution during OBS acquisition. Our Polish colleagues from Polish Academy of Sciences and University of Warsaw fired the TNT shots and acquired the Texan land station data on Bear Island. The group from University of Potsdam acquired the broadband land data on Bear Island and Alfred Wegener Institute was responsible for the broadband OBS data. Arne Gidskehaug processed the gravity data. Comments from Atle Austegard, Berit Hjelstuen, Christian Eide and Trond Kvarven improved the paper. GMT (Wessel and Smith 1998) was used to create many of the figures. Finally we thank the editor, Shu-Kun Hsu, together with Bob White and an anonymous reviewer for constructive feedback on our manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Allegaten 41, 5007, Bergen, Norway

    Audun Libak, Rolf Mjelde & Henk Keers

  2. Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, PO box 1047, Blindern, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Jan Inge Faleide

  3. Institute of Seismology and Volcanology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    Yoshio Murai

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  1. Audun Libak
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Correspondence to Audun Libak.

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Libak, A., Mjelde, R., Keers, H. et al. An integrated geophysical study of Vestbakken Volcanic Province, western Barents Sea continental margin, and adjacent oceanic crust. Mar Geophys Res 33, 185–207 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-012-9155-3

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