RT Journal Article
T1 The Mechanical Nature of the Lithosphere Beneath the Eastern Central Atlantic Hotspots
A1 Jiménez Díaz, Alberto
A1 Negredo Moreno, Ana María
A1 Kirby, John F.
A1 Sánchez Pastor, Pilar
A1 Fullea Urchulutegui, Javier
A1 Ruiz Pérez, Javier
A1 Pérez Gussinyé, Marta
A1 Yu, Chuanhai
AB The Eastern Central Atlantic (ECA) region includes the Azores, Canary, Cape Verde, Great Meteor, and Madeira hotspots. These hotspots exhibit a large variety of characteristics and are rooted in the lithosphere ranging in age from newly created at the Mid Atlantic Ridge to Jurassic at the NW Africa Atlantic margin. Therefore, the ECA region represents an excellent scenario to investigate in an integrated way the effects of hotspots on the mechanical structure of oceanic lithosphere. Here, we calculate the effective elastic thickness (Te) of the lithosphere from an analysis of gravity and topography. Azores hotspot is characterized by a Te < 10 km, whereas the Great Meteor, Cape Verde, and Madeira hotspots have intermediate Te (15–30 km) values. In contrast, the Canary hotspot is characterized by a much higher Te (>50 km), forming the largest and most prominent mechanical feature in the ECA. All the hotspots except Canary show standard elastic thickness values when compared to average values for the same age lithosphere and to other oceanic areas in the world. The high strength of the Canary hotspot may be related to the highly depleted mantle composition in the area. The comparison between the elastic thickness distribution and the upper mantle seismic velocity structure shows no correlation between the Te estimated at the ECA hotspots (with the exception of Azores) and the presence of low shear-wave velocity anomalies in the underlying mantle. This lack of correlation suggests a negligible effect of upper mantle temperature anomalies on the flexure of the ECA region.
PB AmerAmerican Geophysical Union
SN 1525-2027
YR 2023
FD 2023-03
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/73398
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/73398
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
NO Comunidad de Madrid
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid
DS Docta Complutense
RD 13 abr 2025