Nilgun Okay
Marine Heat Flow and Thermal
Modeling in theNorwegian-Greenland Sea
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Heat flow
analyses suggest that the thermal
interactions between the Aegir and paleo-Mohns Ridges with the East Jan
Mayen Fracture Zone System (including the Vøring, Lofoten and Vesterålen
Fracture Zones) created the Vøring Plateau and rejuvenated the adjacent
continental crust (to a thermal age of 16 my). The subsequent northward propagation of the
paleo-Mohns Ridge into/and along the paleo-Senja Shear Zone, probably
underplated the Svalbard Platform, and thus caused a broad thermal swell in
the region. Multiple intrusions from
this northward propagating asthenosphere probably occurred along deep-seated
faults (once part of the broad-complex Spitsbergen Shear Zone System) in and
adjacent to the Svalbard Platform and the northern Svalbard-Nordaustlandet
Margin. One of these intrusions
evolved into the highly oblique Knipovich Ridge in the process. In addition, heat flow analyses suggest
that recent northward propagation of the Knipovich Ridge caused rejuvenation
of the southern Yermak Plateau (35-11 mybp).
Thermal modeling results also reveal that a secondary detachment fault
system cuts the southern Yermak Plateau and intersects the Spitsbergen Shear
Zone and could have acted as a conduit for the deep-seated propagation of the
Knipovich Ridge-related asthenosphere.
SeaMARC-II, magnetic, and earthquake seismic data also suggest diffuse
intrusion and thermal rejuvenation along the northern Svalbard-Nordaustlandet
Margin creating the Yermak Seamount, Mosby Peak and the Nordaustlandet
Volcanic Terrain from 20-37 mybp in the process (Okay, 1995). |
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Okay, N.,
Thermal modeling of the Yermak Plateau within the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, Master’s Thesis (Unpubl.),
Brooklyn College, New York City University, New York, 117 p., 1990. |