Magnetotelluric soundings across the Taubaté Basin, Southeast Brazil

Abstract

Thirteen magnetotelluric (MT) soundings were carried out in Neoproterozoic crystalline terrains and Tertiary sediments of the Taubate basin, southeastern Brazil. The soundings were deployed in a cross-strike profile bisecting the basin along one of its thickest sub-basins and extending over mountain plateaus to the southeast and the northwest. Occurrences of numerous alkaline plugs and aligned tectonic grabens in the region are records of intense Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic activity. MT analysis techniques were used to evaluate data quality, infer strike direction, and correct for near-surface distortion. As the studied area is located only some tens of kilometers away from the Atlantic Ocean and in one of the most densely populated regions of the country, the data are severely distorted by industrial interference and the coast effect. Because of such effects, the data are modelled using a 2D inversion scheme within periods shorter than 0.1 s for the Taubate Basin sites and shorter than 1–10 s for the off-basin sites, the latter depending on the distance of the site from the coast. The main result observed in the modelling is the identification of a conducting zone below 10 km depths beneath the region. There is poor resolution in the data of structures below this conductor, which is also not imaged beneath the basin. Studies carried out in different tectonic regions of the world have also reported conductive layers at about the same depth but in the studied area it is impossible to reach any conclusion about the total conductance of the layer with the available MT data.