Lower crustal high-velocity bodies along North Atlantic passive margins, and their link to Caledonian suture zone eclogites and Early Cenozoic magmatism

Abstract In this study we use crustal-scale Ocean Bottom Seismic models to infer the presence of two types of lower crustal bodies at North Atlantic passive margins; Type I, primarily interpreted as Early Eocene magmatic intrusions, and Type II, interpreted as Caledonian eclogites. We discuss how these eclogites might be related to the main Caledonian Suture Zone and other tectonic features in a conjugate North Atlantic setting. Based on the first-order approximation that P-wave velocities can be related to rock strength, the narrower continental margin at the southern (More) transect may be explained by stronger lower crust there, compared with the northern (Voring) transect. This difference in strength, possibly resulting in a steeper dip in the subducting Baltica Plate south of the proto-Jan Mayen Lineament, may explain the asymmetry in extensional style observed across this lineament. Our interpretation locates the main suture off mid-Norway close to the More Trondelag Fault Zone on the More Margin, along the western boundary of the Trondelag Platform on the Voring Margin, and further northwards beneath the Lofoten Ridge. The Lower Crustal Body Type I is about 60% thicker on the Greenland side, for both transects, and its thickness along the northern transect is more than twice that of the southern transect. These differences are consistent with sub-lithospheric interaction between the Icelandic hotspot and the continental rift/oceanic accretion system around the time of continental break-up.