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Upper mantle structure of the southern Arabian margin: Insights from teleseismic tomography

Upper mantle structure of the southern Arabian margin: Insights from teleseismic tomography
Upper mantle structure of the southern Arabian margin: Insights from teleseismic tomography
We image the lithospheric and upper asthenospheric structure beneath the central and eastern parts of the northern Gulf of Aden rifted passive continental margin with 59 broadband stations to evaluate the role of transform fault zones on the evolution of magma-poor continental margins. We used teleseismic tomography to compute a relative P wave velocity model in eastern Yemen and southern Oman down to 400 km depth. Our model shows low-velocity anomalies located in the vicinities of five major fracture zones and regions of recent volcanism. These low-velocity anomalies are likely caused by localized asthenospheric upwelling and partial melting, caused by small-scale convection promoted by gradients in the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary topography near the fracture zones. In addition, low velocities underlie regions of elevated topography between major sedimentary basins. We suggest that locally buoyant mantle creates uplift and dynamic topography on the rift margin that affects the course of seasonal rivers and the sedimentation at the mouth of those rivers. Our new P wave velocity model suggests that the dynamic topography and recent volcanism in the central and eastern Gulf of Aden could be due to small-scale convection at the edge of the Arabian plate and/or in the vicinity of fracture zones.
1553-040X
1262-1278
Korostelev, Félicie
9b376c67-6e61-4ccc-b565-cd6ef0b34535
Leroy, Sylvie
627c503b-1036-41fc-a24c-3d09954fab0a
Keir, Derek
5616f81f-bf1b-4678-a167-3160b5647c65
Ahmed, Abdulhakim
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Boschi, Lapo
db7e9753-3eac-4f4d-af53-4ac6eb4cc485
Rolandone, Frédérique
5adfaa49-10e8-40d8-bace-bee9dd39f95a
Stuart, Graham W.
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Obrebski, Mathias
bbdec40a-7767-4f25-9c7b-f2fc5bee5c4f
Khanbari, Khaled
21e828b7-c37b-4e78-90c8-2cefcb71012b
El-Hussain, Issa
3c374931-9a1b-4871-8382-682b637ec6f9
Korostelev, Félicie
9b376c67-6e61-4ccc-b565-cd6ef0b34535
Leroy, Sylvie
627c503b-1036-41fc-a24c-3d09954fab0a
Keir, Derek
5616f81f-bf1b-4678-a167-3160b5647c65
Ahmed, Abdulhakim
97c6ca5b-955e-4227-8b21-e13f225524f6
Boschi, Lapo
db7e9753-3eac-4f4d-af53-4ac6eb4cc485
Rolandone, Frédérique
5adfaa49-10e8-40d8-bace-bee9dd39f95a
Stuart, Graham W.
284b1edc-0fc8-4479-b491-c4fc52e3cb03
Obrebski, Mathias
bbdec40a-7767-4f25-9c7b-f2fc5bee5c4f
Khanbari, Khaled
21e828b7-c37b-4e78-90c8-2cefcb71012b
El-Hussain, Issa
3c374931-9a1b-4871-8382-682b637ec6f9

Korostelev, Félicie, Leroy, Sylvie, Keir, Derek, Ahmed, Abdulhakim, Boschi, Lapo, Rolandone, Frédérique, Stuart, Graham W., Obrebski, Mathias, Khanbari, Khaled and El-Hussain, Issa (2015) Upper mantle structure of the southern Arabian margin: Insights from teleseismic tomography. Geosphere, 11 (5), 1262-1278. (doi:10.1130/GES01159.1).

Record type: Article

Abstract

We image the lithospheric and upper asthenospheric structure beneath the central and eastern parts of the northern Gulf of Aden rifted passive continental margin with 59 broadband stations to evaluate the role of transform fault zones on the evolution of magma-poor continental margins. We used teleseismic tomography to compute a relative P wave velocity model in eastern Yemen and southern Oman down to 400 km depth. Our model shows low-velocity anomalies located in the vicinities of five major fracture zones and regions of recent volcanism. These low-velocity anomalies are likely caused by localized asthenospheric upwelling and partial melting, caused by small-scale convection promoted by gradients in the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary topography near the fracture zones. In addition, low velocities underlie regions of elevated topography between major sedimentary basins. We suggest that locally buoyant mantle creates uplift and dynamic topography on the rift margin that affects the course of seasonal rivers and the sedimentation at the mouth of those rivers. Our new P wave velocity model suggests that the dynamic topography and recent volcanism in the central and eastern Gulf of Aden could be due to small-scale convection at the edge of the Arabian plate and/or in the vicinity of fracture zones.

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Published date: 15 September 2015
Organisations: Geology & Geophysics

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 381780
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/381780
ISSN: 1553-040X
PURE UUID: 2f78a7f5-b966-42fa-b937-327d9ca6ec80
ORCID for Derek Keir: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8787-8446

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Date deposited: 22 Sep 2015 08:50
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:38

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Contributors

Author: Félicie Korostelev
Author: Sylvie Leroy
Author: Derek Keir ORCID iD
Author: Abdulhakim Ahmed
Author: Lapo Boschi
Author: Frédérique Rolandone
Author: Graham W. Stuart
Author: Mathias Obrebski
Author: Khaled Khanbari
Author: Issa El-Hussain

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