Electrical conductivity investigation of the Corso-Sardinian microplate area

Abstract

The analysis of magnetovariational data from an array quasi- simultaneously covering Sardinia (Italy) and Corsica (France), from summer 1988 to spring 1991, indicates the existence of two major conducting bodies, one north of Corsica, the other south of Sardinia. Fourier maps also show local conductivity anomalies along the Campidano Graben (Sardinia), across the Bonifacio Straits and in the northernmost part of Corsica. Two-dimensional (2D) modelling and inversion procedures have been carried out in order to find the optimum conductivity and geometrical characteristics of the conductive bodies deduced from Fourier maps, induction arrows and pseudosections studies. As a result of the 2D inversion, two zones with enhanced electrical conductivity are found, respectively, in the Sardinia Channel and in the Bonifacio Straits. The former can be related to the thermal characteristics of the area; the latter, shallower, can be ascribed to an accumulation of sediments. Some short-period magnetovariational anomalies in northern Corsica can be related to recent reheating processes that occurred there, as well as to the crustal thinning in the Ligurian sea.