Correlation between the Palaeozoic structures from West Iberian and Grand Banks margins using inversion of magnetic anomalies

摘要

The Ibero-Armorican Arc (IAA) is a huge geological structure of Pre-Cambrian origin, tightened during hercynian times and deeply affected by the opening of the Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Biscay. Its remnants now lie in Iberia, north-western France and the Canadian Grand Banks margins. The qualitative correlation between these three blocks has been attempted by several authors (e.g. Lefort, J.P., 1980. Un 'Fit' structural de l'Atlantique Nord: arguments geologiques pour correler les marqueurs geophysiques reconnus sur les deux marges. Mar. Geol. 37, 355-369; Lefort, J.P., 1983. A new geophysical criterion to correlate the Acadian and Hercynian orogenies of Western Europe and Eastern America. Mem. Geol. Sec. Am. 158, 3-18; Galdeano, A., Miranda, J.M., Matte, P., Mouge, P., Rossignol, C., 1990. Aeromagnetic data: A tool for studying the Variscan are of Western Europe and its correlation with transatlantic structures. Tectonophysics 177, 293-305) using magnetic anomalies, mainly because they seem to preserve the hercynian zonation, in spite of the strong thermal and mechanical processes that took place during rifting and ocean spreading. In this paper, we present a new contribution to the study of the IAA structure based on the processing of a compilation of magnetic data from Iberia and Grand Banks margins. To interpret the magnetic signature, a Fourier-domain-based inversion technique was applied, considering a layer with a constant thickness of 10 km, and taking into account only the induced field. The digital terrain model was derived from ETOPO5 (ETOPO5, 1986. Relief map of the earth's surface. EOS 67, 121) and TerrainBase (TerrainBase, 1995. In: Row III, L.W., Hastings, D.A., Dunbar, P.K. (Eds.), Worldwide Digital Terrain Data, Documentation Manual, CD-ROM Release 1.0. GEODAS-NGDC Key to Geophysical Records. Documentation N. 30, April) databases. The pseudo-susceptibility distribution obtained was repositioned for the 156.5 Ma epoch, using the Srivastava and Verhoef [Srivastava, S.P., Verhoef, J., 1992. Evolution of Mesozoic sedimentary basins around the North Central Atlantic: a preliminary plate kinematic solution. In: Parnell, J. (Ed.), Basins on the Atlantic Seaboard: Petroleum Geology Sedimentology and Basin Evolution, Geological Society Special Publication No. 62, pp. 397-420] pole. Using this coherent magnetic framework, we can verify that the continuity between adjacent blocks is quite good, in terms of the amplitude, wavenumber and magnetic susceptibility pattern. If we accept that the magnetic properties can be taken as a marker of the hercynian zonation, as was verified in previous studies (Miranda, J.M., Galdeano, A., Rossignol, J.C., Mendes-Victor, L.A., 1989. Aeromagnetic anomalies in mainland Portugal and their tectonic implications. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 95, 161-177; Galdeano, A., Miranda, J.M., Matte, P., Mouge, P., Rossignol, C., 1990. Aeromagnetic data: A tool for studying the Variscan are of Western Europe and its correlation with transatlantic structures. Tectonophysics 177, 293-305; Socias, I., 1994. Estudios de los Elementos del Campo Magnetico en la Espana Peninsular a partir de Dates Aeromagmaneticos. Ph.D. thesis, University of Madrid), we can conclude that (1) the characteristic magnetic signature of Ossa Morena Zone is absent on the Iberian Margin and west of it; (2) no eastward continuation of the Collector Anomaly is found in Iberia; (3) only the inner zones of the Variscan Belt can be followed towards NW France; (4) there is a major (left lateral ?) strike-slip fault along the northern Portuguese shoreline that cuts the IAA and significantly displaces the once-contiguous variscan units. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. [References: 46]