The structure and nature of the Moho beneath Central Iberia

Abstract

The Moho is the most conspicuous feature in the ALCUDIA deep normal incidence and wide-angle seismic reflection datasets acquired across the Central Iberia Zone. This discontinuity appears to be sub-horizontal with a slight dip toward the center of the Iberian Peninsula, beneath the Tajo Basin. Densely spaced wide-angle seismic reflection data reveal conspicuous PmP and SmS reflections in the shot records. These reflections, arriving over a 1.5s time window and characterized by a relatively low frequency content, are used to infer the internal structure and characteristics of this crustal boundary in an effort to place constraints on its nature beneath the studied area. The wide-angle shot records were processed in order to generate low-fold stacks that reveal gradual deepening of Moho PmP phases from 10.2s TWT (~31km) in the Central Iberian Zone to 11.8s TWT (~36km) beneath the Tajo Basin. The Moho seismic signature was the main objective of a series of 1-D and 2-D synthetic modeling simulations. Reflectivity modeling was used as the 1-D modeling approach and an elastic finite difference scheme was used for the 2-D modeling. The Moho can be considered to be a self-similar/fractal heterogeneous media with a bimodal velocity distribution, alternating crustal and mantle values, with horizontal correlation lengths that range between 1 and 4km and vertical correlation lengths that range from 0.2 to 1km. The depth of this boundary is most probably the result of late to post-variscan re-equilibration processes affecting a previously deformed and laminated lower crust. The mechanisms that took part in this process might have differed to the north and south of the sampled Central Iberian Zone, being more thermally induced to the north, near the Central System. Processes leading to the layered structure of the Moho boundary, either tectonic or magmatic, should be further investigated.