Sveconorwegian igneous complexes beneath the Norwegian–Danish Basin

Abstract

Gravity and magnetic anomalies have previously been interpreted to indicate strongly magnetic Permian or even Tertiary intrusive bodies beneath the Skagerrak waterway (such as the ‘Skagerrak volcano’) and beneath Silkeborg in Denmark. Our combined modelling of the magnetic and gravity anomalies over these rock bodies indicates that a steep upward magnetisation is required to explain the magnetic anomalies at the surface, reminiscent of the magnetic direction in the Sveconorwegian rocks of the Rogaland Igneous Province in southern Norway. The younger rocks of the Permian Oslo Rift region have intermediate and flat magnetisation that is inadequate to explain the observed magnetic field. The positive part of the Skagerrak aeromagnetic anomaly is continuous with the induced anomalies associated with the eastward extension of the Rogaland Igneous Province. This relation also suggests that rocks of the Rogaland Igneous Province and its offshore extension are responsible for the Skagerrak anomalies. Both the negative, remanence-dominated aeromagnetic anomaly and the positive gravity anomaly can be modelled using constraints from seismic reflection lines and available density data and rock-magnetic properties. A 7 km thick complex of ultramafic/mafic intrusions is located below a southward dipping 1–4 km thick section of Mesozoic sediments and 1–2 km of Palaeozoic sediments. The enormous body of dense, ultramafic/mafic rocks implied by the modelling could be the residue of the parental magma that produced the voluminous Rogaland anorthosites. The application of similar petrophysical properties in the forward modelling of the Silkeborg source body provides an improved explanation of the observed gravity and magnetic anomalies compared with earlier studies. The new model is constrained by magnetic depth estimates (from the Located Euler method) ranging between 6 and 8 km. Forward modelling shows that a model with a reverse magnetic body (anorthosite?) situated above a dense, mafic/ultramafic body may account for the Silkeborg anomalies. The anorthosites may have formed by differentiation of the underlying mafic intrusion, similar to the intrusive relations in the Rogaland Igneous Province. We conclude that there is strong evidence for a Sveconorwegian age for both the Skagerrak and the Silkeborg anomalous rock bodies.