Publication Date:
2020-02-12
Description:
Passive continental margins offer the unique opportunity to study the processes involved in continental extension and break up as well as the role of hot-spot related magmatism. We conducted combined on- and offshore seismic experiments in Northern Namibia designed to characterize the Southern African passive margin at the interaction with the Walvis Ridge, to assess the interaction of the presumed plume with continental lithosphere and to determine the deep structure of the transition from the coastal fold belt to the stable craton, where the Walvis Ridge hits the African continent. The seismic project integrated three experiments, (A) an onshore, coast-parallel refraction seismic profile, (B) two onshore-offshore wide-angle seismic transects, and (C) a combined on- and offshore seismic experiment to image the sub-Moho velocity (Pn tomography) at the ocean-continent transition (Fig. 1). The knowledge of the lithospheric structure of the margin together with results from other geoscientific studies (e.g., conducted within the SPPSAMPLE, DFG Priority Program 1375, South Atlantic Margin Processes and Links with onshore Evolution) will help to address fundamental questions such as, how continental crust and plume head interact, what the extent and volumes of magmatic underplating is, and how and which inherited (continental) structures might have been involved and utilized in the break-up process.
Language:
English
Type:
info:eu-repo/semantics/report
Format:
application/pdf
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