Crustal structure across the Grand Banks-Newfoundland Basin Continental Margin - I. Results from a seismic refraction profile

Abstract

A P-wave velocity model along a 565-km-long profile across the Grand Banks-Newfoundland Basin rifted margin is presented. Continental crust 36 km thick beneath the Grand Banks is divided into upper (5.8-6.25 km s -1 ), middle (6.3-6.53 km s -1 ) and lower crust (6.77-6.9 km s -1 ), consistent with velocity structure of Avalon zone Appalachian crust. Syn-rift sediment sequences 6-7 km thick occur in two primary layers within the Jeanne d'Arc and the Carson basins (3 km s -1 in upper layer; 5 km s -1 in lower layer). Abrupt crustal thinning (Moho dip 35 ) beneath the Carson basin and more gradual thinning seaward forms a 170-km-wide zone of rifted continental crust. Within this zone, lower and middle continental crust thin preferentially seawards until they are completely removed, while very thin (<3 km) upper crust continues 60 km farther seawards. Adjacent to the continental crust, high-velocity gradients (0.5-1.5 s -1 ) define an 80-km-wide zone of transitional basement that can be interpreted as exhumed, serpentinized mantle or anomalously thin oceanic crust, based on its velocity model alone. We prefer the exhumed-mantle interpretation after considering the non-reflective character of the basement and the low amplitude of associated magnetic anomalies, which are atypical of oceanic crust. Beneath both the transitional basement and thin (<6 km) continental crust, a 200-km-wide zone with reduced mantle velocities (7.6-7.9 km s -1 ) is observed, which is interpreted as partially (<10 per cent) serpentinized mantle. Seawards of the transitional basement, 2-to 6-km-thick crust with layer 2 (4.5-6.3 km s -1 ) and layer 3 (6.3-7.2 km s -1 ) velocities is interpreted as oceanic crust. Comparison of our crustal model with profile IAM-9 across the Iberia Abyssal Plain on the conjugate Iberia margin suggests asymmetrical continental breakup in which a wider zone of extended continental crust has been left on the Newfoundland side.