Abstract
The August 2010 earthquake swarm at North FAMOUS–FAMOUS segments, Mid-Atlantic Ridge: geophysical evidence of dike intrusion
Highlights
Mid-Ocean Ridge (MOR) volcanic activity is a fundamental process for creation of new ocean crust, yet the dynamics of magma emplacement along the slow-spreading (∼25 mm yr−1) northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) is largely unknown
We suggest that the two earthquake migration patterns observed during the North French American Mid-Ocean Undersea Study (FAMOUS)–FAMOUS swarm, propagating southwards and northwards are caused by two different magma dike intrusions, reaching approximate lengths of 30 and 10 km, respectively
The swarm reported in this paper is one of the largest magmatic T-phase earthquake sequences recorded on the northern MAR, and may be the first intrusion event detected along the northern MAR since the Lucky Strike segment intrusion in 2001
Summary
Mid-Ocean Ridge (MOR) volcanic activity is a fundamental process for creation of new ocean crust, yet the dynamics of magma emplacement along the slow-spreading (∼25 mm yr−1) northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) is largely unknown. In August 2010, a remarkable swarm of more than 700 earthquakes was recorded at the FAMOUS and North FAMOUS segments of the MAR, 350 km south of the Azores (Fig. 1). This area is well studied as it was the focus site of the French American Mid-Ocean Undersea Study (FAMOUS) project from 1971 to 1974. We suggest that the spatio-temporal distribution of the earthquake activity derived from the combined observation of the teleseismic and hydroacoustic events, as well as the presence of the long-duration, high-energy, broad-band acoustic energy at the swarm onset, are consistent with a magmatic intrusion event along the FAMOUS and North FAMOUS segments. A high-resolution gravity model of the Non-Transform Offset’s (NTO) density structure between these two segments indicates the presence of a low-density area within the earthquake cluster
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