TY - JOUR A1 - Gholamrezaie, Ershad A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena A1 - Bott, Judith A1 - Heidbach, Oliver A1 - Strecker, Manfred T1 - 3-D crustal density model of the Sea of Marmara JF - Solid Earth N2 - Abstract. The Sea of Marmara, in northwestern Turkey, is a transition zone where the dextral North Anatolian Fault zone (NAFZ) propagates westward from the Anatolian Plate to the Aegean Sea Plate. The area is of interest in the context of seismic hazard of Istanbul, a metropolitan area with about 15 million inhabitants. Geophysical observations indicate that the crust is heterogeneous beneath the Marmara basin, but a detailed characterization of the crustal heterogeneities is still missing. To assess if and how crustal heterogeneities are related to the NAFZ segmentation below the Sea of Marmara, we develop new crustal-scale 3-D density models which integrate geological and seismological data and that are additionally constrained by 3-D gravity modeling. For the latter, we use two different gravity datasets including global satellite data and local marine gravity observation. Considering the two different datasets and the general non-uniqueness in potential field modeling, we suggest three possible “end-member” solutions that are all consistent with the observed gravity field and illustrate the spectrum of possible solutions. These models indicate that the observed gravitational anomalies originate from significant density heterogeneities within the crust. Two layers of sediments, one syn-kinematic and one pre-kinematic with respect to the Sea of Marmara formation are underlain by a heterogeneous crystalline crust. A felsic upper crystalline crust (average density of 2720 kgm⁻³) and an intermediate to mafic lower crystalline crust (average density of 2890 kgm⁻³) appear to be cross-cut by two large, dome-shaped mafic highdensity bodies (density of 2890 to 3150 kgm⁻³) of considerable thickness above a rather uniform lithospheric mantle (3300 kgm⁻³). The spatial correlation between two major bends of the main Marmara fault and the location of the highdensity bodies suggests that the distribution of lithological heterogeneities within the crust controls the rheological behavior along the NAFZ and, consequently, maybe influences fault segmentation and thus the seismic hazard assessment in the region. KW - North Anatolian Fault KW - Shear Zone KW - Northwestern Anatolia KW - Geomechanical Model KW - Tectonic Evolution KW - Slip Distribution KW - Middle Strand KW - Pull-Apart KW - Long-Term KW - NW Turkey Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-785-2019 SN - 1869-9510 SN - 1869-9529 VL - 10 SP - 785 EP - 807 PB - Copernicus Publ. CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gholamrezaie, Ershad A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena A1 - Sippel, Judith A1 - Strecker, Manfred T1 - Variability of the geothermal gradient across two differently aged magma-rich continental rifted margins of the Atlantic Ocean BT - the Southwest African and the Norwegian margins JF - Solid Earth N2 - Abstract. The aim of this study is to investigate the shallow thermal field differences for two differently aged passive continental margins by analyzing regional variations in geothermal gradient and exploring the controlling factors for these variations. Hence, we analyzed two previously published 3-D conductive and lithospheric-scale thermal models of the Southwest African and the Norwegian passive margins. These 3-D models differentiate various sedimentary, crustal, and mantle units and integrate different geophysical data such as seismic observations and the gravity field. We extracted the temperature–depth distributions in 1 km intervals down to 6 km below the upper thermal boundary condition. The geothermal gradient was then calculated for these intervals between the upper thermal boundary condition and the respective depth levels (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 km below the upper thermal boundary condition). According to our results, the geothermal gradient decreases with increasing depth and shows varying lateral trends and values for these two different margins. We compare the 3-D geological structural models and the geothermal gradient variations for both thermal models and show how radiogenic heat production, sediment insulating effect, and thermal lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) depth influence the shallow thermal field pattern. The results indicate an ongoing process of oceanic mantle cooling at the young Norwegian margin compared with the old SW African passive margin that seems to be thermally equilibrated in the present day. KW - radiogenic heat-production KW - European basin system KW - lower crustal bodies KW - north-atlantic KW - subsidence analysis KW - sedimentary basins KW - tectonic evolution KW - Argentine margine KW - thermal field KW - voring basin Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-139-2018 SN - 1869-9529 SN - 1869-9510 VL - 9 IS - 1 SP - 139 EP - 158 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER -