Effect of thermal contrasts on gravity modeling at passive margins: Results from the western Barents Sea

Abstract

The western Barents Sea passive margin is a key locality to demonstrate the effect of the thermal structure of the lithosphere on forward gravity modeling. This margin developed by shear motion between the Eurasian and Greenland plates during the early Tertiary, and it is a significant border zone between young, hot oceanic lithosphere and cooler continental lithosphere. We construct two‐dimensional gravity models of 125 km thick lithosphere based on expansion of mantle rocks determined from thermal modeling. The approach has a substantial impact over traditional shallow gravity models, here demonstrated on a previously published model. On the basis of a 140 mGal free‐air anomaly, the old model proposes an anomalous, high‐density oceanic crust emplaced in a leaky transform adjacent to the continent during early margin development. However, the lithospheric models predict a homogeneous oceanic crust, while preserving regional isostasy at base lithosphere from continent to ocean. Two further tests agree with this conclusion: A map of Bouguer corrected ERS‐1 satellite data reveals no residual anomalies originating from the oceanic crust at the margin. Admittance analysis shows a strong oceanic lithosphere, and the high coherence between bathymetry and free‐air gravity discounts a significant subsurface load. The high gravity anomalies at the margin are thus an edge effect, enhanced by sedimentation onto the strong oceanic lithosphere, and shaped by the effect of the lithospheric thermal field. Other results of this work include a new continent‐ocean boundary map and two crustal transects across the margin.