ON GEOID HEIGHTS AND FLEXURE OF THE LITHOSPHERE AT SEAMOUNTS
Preliminary studies have been carried out of how oceanic volcanoes, which rise above the ocean floor as isolated seamounts and oceanic islands or linear ridges, contribute to the marine geoid. Simple 1- and 2-D models have been constructed in which it is assumed that the oceanic lithosphere responds...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1984
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| Summary: | Preliminary studies have been carried out of how oceanic volcanoes, which rise above the ocean floor as isolated seamounts and oceanic islands or linear ridges, contribute to the marine geoid. Simple 1- and 2-D models have been constructed in which it is assumed that the oceanic lithosphere responds to volcanic loads as a thin elastic plate overlying a weak fluid substratum. Results indicate that geoid anomalies over bathymetric features depend not only on the crustal structure prior to loading and the overall shape and density of the features but also on their tectonic setting. We examine the implications of these results to studies which attempt; 1) to separate temporal variations to the sea surface due to oceanographic effects; 2) to predict seamounts directly from satellite-derived gravity and geoid data; and 3) to isolate the geoid effects of deep processes occurring beneath the lithosphere such as those due to mantle convection.-from Authors |
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