Abstract:Geophysical evidence is presented for an episode of active delamination of a piece of continental lithosphere. Observations of earthquake hypocentre locations, seismic wave velocities and attenuation, Bouguer gravity, seismic reflection, and drill hole data are combined with surface geology to infer the presence of a high-velocity, seismically active, rigid body in the upper mantle beneath the Alboran Sea and surrounding Betic and Rif mountain belts of the western Mediterranean region. This upper-mantle body, inferred to be the delaminating continental lithosphere, is overlain by a low-velocity, aseismic and strongly attenuating uppermost mantle, inferred to be the asthenospheric material replacing the delaminating lithosphere.
We integrate observations based on teleseismic P wave travel times and available geologic data to infer that the lithosphere beneath the intraplate Atlas mountains is thin and/or it is characterized by lower P wave velocities, while beneath the interplate Rif mountains and the adjacent Alboran Sea a previously thickened lithosphere has been delaminated into the upper mantle. Using surface geology and geochronology data, previous studies have proposed that lithospheric delamination took place in this region. In this study we show through analysis of teleseismic P wave residuals the existence of a high‐velocity (>3%) upper mantle body, which is interpreted to be the delaminated, rigid lithosphere. This high‐velocity layer is overlain by a very low velocity uppermost mantle material (Pn velocities of about 7.6–7.7 km s−1) interpreted to be asthenospheric material replacing the delaminated lithosphere. Teleseismic P waves recorded by a recently installed digital seismic network and an older analog network in Morocco provide the residuals database. A total of 734 P wave residuals from 92 selected teleseismic earthquakes are used to document the spatial pattern of upper mantle velocity structure beneath northern Morocco and the Alboran Sea. Subsequent use of these residuals in a tomographic inversion scheme produced a three‐dimensional velocity image of the upper mantle. We infer from the P residuals that strong upper mantle velocity anomalies exist beneath both the Rif and Atlas regions. The Rif stations show negative residuals (∼1–1.5 s) for ray paths from the east and northeast and show positive residuals (∼1–1.5 s) for ray paths from the northwest and southwest. Tomographic results indicate the existence of a high‐velocity body (∼3% higher velocities) in the upper mantle beneath the eastern Rif and Alboran Sea, extending approximately from subcrustal depths down to a depth of at least 350 km. In the western Rif, however, 1–2% lower velocity material is imaged in the upper mantle. The residuals of the Atlas stations also show azimuthal variations. In general, most of the P waves that travel beneath the High and Middle Atlas have about 0.5–1.0 s delays. In contrast, the rays that travel beneath the northwestern margin of the Atlas mountains and the adjacent Moroccan Meseta area show negative residuals (∼1 s), suggesting that higher velocity material exists beneath the platform area adjacent to the Atlas mountains. Tomographic results indicate that beneath most of the Atlas system the uppermost mantle has about 1% lower velocities. Beneath the Alboran Sea region, however, reported low uppermost mantle Pn velocities contrast strongly with higher velocity upper mantle velocities obtained by our analysis. Low‐velocity uppermost mantle beneath the Alboran Sea underlain by a high‐velocity upper mantle material is used to support earlier interpretations of lithospheric delamination beneath the Rif and Alboran Sea regions. The enigmatic occurrence of subcrustal earthquakes in these regions is also consistent with this active...
[1] An eleven-month deployment of 25 ocean bottom seismometers provides an unprecedented opportunity to study low-magnitude local earthquakes in the complex transpressive plate boundary setting of the Gulf of Cadiz, known for the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and tsunami. 36 relocated earthquakes (ML 2.2 to 4.8) concentrate at 40-60 km depth, near the base of the seismogenic layer in ∼140 Ma old oceanic mantle lithosphere, and roughly align along two perpendicular, NNE-SSW and WNW-ESE striking structures. First motion focal mechanisms indicate compressive stress for the cluster close to the northern Horseshoe fault termination which trends perpendicular to plate convergence. Focal mechanisms for the second cluster near the southern termination of the Horseshoe fault indicate a strike-slip regime, providing evidence for present-day activity of a dextral shear zone proposed to represent the Eurasia-Africa plate contact. We hypothesize that regional tectonics is characterized by slip partitioning. Citation: Geissler, W. H., et al. (2010), Focal mechanisms for sub-crustal earthquakes in the Gulf of Cadiz from a dense OBS deployment, Geophys.
The three-dimensional P and S wave velocity stmctures and hypocenters of 420 events beneath the westem Hazara Arc are obtained simultaneously by inverting travel time data observed at fifteen Tarbela seismic stations. In general, the P and S wave velocity distribution of the top layer (0-6 km depth) correlates well with surface geology. Within this layer we find a low-velocity region beneath the Hazara Thrust Zone (HTZ) corresponding to the underthmsted Murree Formation, and there are high-velocity regions south of the Main Mantle Thrust (MMT) which are associated with the exposed Cambrian, late Paleozoic, and Tertiary granites. A low-velocity zone immediately to the west of the Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis (HKS) indicates the existence of a Miocene foreland basin which is covered by late stage southeasterly directed thrusts along the Hazara Arc and is consistent with the idea that the HKS is detached from the lower cmst. From the Salt Range to the HTZ, the Indian plate dips at a shallow angle, about 20-3 ø to the noaheast. North of the HTZ the underthrusting Indian plate dips gently to the northeast with an increased slope of 5 ø to 8 ø until it reaches the Indus-Kohistan Seismic Zone (IKSZ). Along the NW trending IKSZ the Indian plate bends more steeply to the northeast beneath a seismically active midcmstal wedge directed to the southwest. The larger events in the IKSZ are interpreted as occurring on a major thmst zone that can be followed to a depth of 24 km. The IKSZ appears to consist of an upper seismic zone (from the surface to about 8 km) and a lower seismic zone (12 km to 24 km) separated by an aseismic region about 4 km thick. The lower IKSZ may represent the leading edge of a southwestward directed slab which has not yet ruptured the surface. Hypocenters of relocated earthquakes indicate that the HTZ is about 30 km wide with most of the larger microemthquakes occurring at 12-14 km. Seismicity along the HTZ suggests that the Panjal, and Murree thrusts are active.
Abstract:An area of about 30 km 2 located in Ain Jouhra, south of Rabat, Morocco, was the subject of a geoelectric resistivity investigation. The main goal of the investigation was the assessment of the groundwater potential of the uppermost aquifer. The aquifer conditions such as depth, thickness and boundaries were also investigated. The obtained apparent resistivity curves were first analysed qualitatively and classified using simple curve shapes. Thereafter, the data were converted to resistivity and thickness pairs semi-quantitatively by means of master curves and then quantitatively by computer modelling using ATO and Winsev software (Zohdy, 1989; Zohdy and Bisdrof, 1989). Lithological control from the available single well with a stratigraphic log aided in the correlation of the resistivity values to different rock units. Three different AB-spacing iso-resistivity maps, an isopach map of the main groundwater-bearing horizon, the depth to the aquifer substratum map and five geoelectric cross-sections were constructed.The interpretation of these soundings indicates the presence of an unconfined to semi-confined sandy aquifer with relatively important extent and varying thickness. The maximal thickness of the aquifer is recorded in the central part of the investigated area and is thinning southwards to pinch out farther to the south. Geophysical as well as field data indicate a hydraulic connection between the upper and deeper aquifers. Indeed, the two aquifers are separated from each other by a marly substratum that is indicated throughout the area by the lowest values of the interpreted true resistivity. The value of this resistivity varies laterally, most likely due to the lateral variation in the shale-to-sand ratio. The altitude of the substratum decreases towards the north, and increases southwards.Regarding the availability of the groundwater in the study area, zones with high potential are theoretically expected to occur in the central part where the transversal resistance is greatest. However, sufficient water supply and high flow rates from wells intended to produce restrictively from the most upper aquifer are not likely to exist. This conclusion, which seems to be very pessimistic, is evidenced from two real field and experimental observations. The first is the rapid fall of the level of Gharnoug lake, despite the ongoing feeding by three wells. Hence, the amount of water level drop cannot be accounted for by the evaporation alone. That means that the deeper aquifer is continuously draining the upper aquifer at a high flow rate. Very low rates are recorded in all the wells that penetrated only the upper aquifer, the exception being the well that reached deeper into the lower aquifer. The flow rate in this lower aquifer measured 18 litre s 1 .
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