Intraplate volcanism off South Greenland: caused by glacial rebound?

Gabriele Uenzelmann-Neben*, Daniela N. Schmidt, Frank Niessen, Ruediger Stein

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Plate tectonic mechanisms explain most of the dominant types of volcanism. Intraplate volcanism has been attributed to hotspots associated with mantle plumes, although alternative explanations have been proposed for settings not fed by plumes. We report young intraplate volcanism in an amagmatic margin south of Greenland in a 40-Myr-old plate. An elongated structure with a length of 110 km and a height of 2500 m above basement extends at an oblique angle to the Mid Atlantic ridge and the fracture zones. We propose that this structure is related to reactivation of a rudimentary fracture zone by edge-driven convection across Minna Fracture Zone and partial melting caused by glacial rebound during the periodic melting of ice on Greenland in the last 3 Myr.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-7
Number of pages7
JournalGeophysical Journal International
Volume190
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2012

Keywords

  • Intraplate processes
  • Continental margins: divergent
  • Oceanic hotspots and intraplate volcanism
  • Submarine tectonics and volcanism
  • Arctic region
  • SATELLITE ALTIMETRY
  • NORTH-ATLANTIC
  • MANTLE
  • DEGLACIATION
  • CONVECTION
  • ICELAND
  • MARGIN
  • ZONE

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