Structural architecture of the ocean–continent boundary at an oblique transform margin through deep-imaging seismic interpretation and gravity modelling: Equatorial Guinea, West Africa

Abstract

Along the Rio Muni transform margin, the transition from continental to oceanic crust occurs across a region of approximately 75-km width. The crust in this transition region, termed proto-oceanic crust (POC), is neither purely oceanic nor continental in composition and structure. Improved seismic reflection images from the PROBE deep-imaging dataset, combined with gravity modelling, have shed new light on the structural architecture of the margin and the composition of the POC. On these newly migrated seismic reflection sections, four fracture zones associated with large steps in the Moho are identified, splitting the POC into three segments. Models in which these segments are composed of oceanic or stretched continental crust do not provide satisfactory predictions of the gravity anomaly. A model of serpentinized peridotite for two segments of POC, with the third segment composed of oceanic crust in between, does satisfy the observed gravity anomaly. Three alternative geological scenarios are proposed to explain the segmentation and composition of the POC: (a) serpentinized upper mantle becoming unroofed and emplaced at basement surface level along detachment surfaces confined to discrete segments by the fracture zones, (b) oblique-slip on transform faults that allow the circulation of water into the mantle and emplacement of serpentinized upper mantle material; or (c) intense faulting of anomalous oceanic crust as a result of magma depletion allowing hydrothermal circulation and the emplacement of serpentinized peridotites.