Rice Univesrity Logo
    • FAQ
    • Deposit your work
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Rice Scholarship Home
    • Faculty & Staff Research
    • Faculty Publications
    • View Item
    •   Rice Scholarship Home
    • Faculty & Staff Research
    • Faculty Publications
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Crustal structure beneath the Rif Cordillera, North Morocco, from the RIFSIS wide-angle reflection seismic experiment

    Thumbnail
    Name:
    ggge20622.pdf
    Size:
    22.29Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    View/Open
    Author
    Gil, Alba; Gallart, Josep; Diaz, Jordi; Carbonell, Ramon; Torne, Montserrat; More... Levander, Alan; Harnafi, Mimoun Less...
    Date
    2014
    Abstract
    The different geodynamic models proposed since the late 1990s to account for the complex evolution of the Gibraltar Arc System lack definite constraints on the crustal structure of the Rif orogen. Here we present the first well-resolved P-wave velocity crustal models of the Rif Cordillera and its southern continuation toward the Atlas made using controlled-source seismic data. Two 300+ km-long wide-angle reflection profiles crossed the Rif along NS and EW trends. The profiles recorded simultaneously five land explosions of 1Tn each using ~850 high frequency seismometers. The crustal structure revealed from 2-D forward modeling delineates a complex, laterally varying crustal structure below the Rif domains. The most surprising feature, seen on both profiles, is a ∼50 km deep crustal root localized beneath the External Rif. To the east, the crust thins rapidly by 20 km across the Nekkor fault, indicating that the fault is a crustal scale feature. On the NS profile the crust thins more gradually to 40 km thickness beneath Middle Atlas and 42 km beneath the Betics. These new seismic results are in overall agreement with regional trends of Bouguer gravity and are consistent with recent receiver function estimates of crustal thickness. The complex crustal structure of the Rif orogen in the Gibraltar Arc is a consequence of the Miocene collision between the Iberian and African plates. Both the abrupt change in crustal thickness at the Nekkor fault and the unexpectedly deep Rif crustal root can be attributed to interaction of the subducting Alboran slab with the North African passive margin at late Oligocene-early Miocene times.
    Citation
    Gil, Alba, Gallart, Josep, Diaz, Jordi, et al.. "Crustal structure beneath the Rif Cordillera, North Morocco, from the RIFSIS wide-angle reflection seismic experiment." Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, (2014) American Geophysical Union: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014GC005485.
    Published Version
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014GC005485
    Keyword
    seismic profiling; Western Mediterranean; Rif Cordillera; crustal structure; Moho depth variations
    Type
    Journal article
    Publisher
    American Geophysical Union
    Citable link to this page
    https://hdl.handle.net/1911/78903
    Rights
    Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Collections
    • Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences Publications [232]
    • Faculty Publications [4988]

    Home | FAQ | Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Accessibility Statement
    Managed by the Digital Scholarship Services at Fondren Library, Rice University
    Physical Address: 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005
    Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O.BOX 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892
    Site Map

     

    Searching scope

    Browse

    Entire ArchiveCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Home | FAQ | Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Accessibility Statement
    Managed by the Digital Scholarship Services at Fondren Library, Rice University
    Physical Address: 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005
    Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O.BOX 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892
    Site Map