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Image of Mantle Plume Processes in the Satellite Magnetic Field over Africa

  • USE OF SPACE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EARTH GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOLOGICAL RESEARCH FROM SPACE
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Abstract

The spatial distribution of the field of lithospheric magnetic anomalies carries information about its sources—deep tectonic structures—and reflects the processes occurring at mantle depths. Based on the geomagnetic data measured by the CHAMP satellite at an observation altitude of ~290 km, the lithospheric magnetic field parameters over the territory of Africa were calculated. A series of lithospheric magnetic anomalies of the total intensity Ta maps of various scales and degrees have been constructed. The distribution of Ta over the territories of Southern and East Africa is given. An analysis of lithospheric magnetic anomalies maps over the territories of African superplume influence showed good agreement with the existing hypothesis about the passage of the mantle superplume flow from the lower mantle to the upper mantle in the northeast direction and its further continuation under the East African rift zone. The parameters of the anomalous lithospheric magnetic field contain information about the magnetization of the lithosphere deep layers, reflecting the magnetic properties of large regional tectonic structures and the topography of the Curie surface, which is associated with the geothermal regime and tectonic setting at different levels of the lithosphere. This work shows the perspective of the geomagnetic field satellite observations using in the study of the tectonics of active zones and mapping of deep lithosphere heterogeneities in hard-to-reach areas.

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Funding

This work was supported by ongoing institutional funding. No additional grants to carry out or direct this particular research were obtained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geoelectromagnetic Research Centre, Shmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Troitsk, Russia

    L. M. Abramova & I. M. Varentsov

  2. Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radio Wave Propagation, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Troitsk, Russia

    D. Yu. Abramova

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  1. L. M. Abramova
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  2. I. M. Varentsov
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Correspondence to L. M. Abramova.

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Abramova, L.M., Varentsov, I.M. & Abramova, D.Y. Image of Mantle Plume Processes in the Satellite Magnetic Field over Africa. Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 59, 1045–1054 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433823090025

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