36 research outputs found

    Constraints on the resistivity of the oceanic lithosphere and asthenosphere from seafloor ocean tidal electromagnetic measurements

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    Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2019. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Oxford University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International, 219(1), (2019): 464-478, doi:10.1093/gji/ggz315.The electromagnetic (EM) field generated by ocean tidal flow is readily detectable in both satellite magnetic field data, and in ocean-bottom measurements of electric and magnetic fields. The availability of accurate charts of tidal currents, constrained by assimilation of modern satellite altimetry data, opens the possibility of using tidal EM fields as a source to image mantle electrical resistivity beneath the ocean basins, as highlighted by the recent success in defining the globally averaged lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) with satellite data. In fact, seafloor EM data would be expected to provide better constraints on the structure of resistive oceanic lithosphere, since the toroidal magnetic mode, which can constrain resistive features, is a significant component of the tidal EM field within the ocean, but is absent above the surface (in particular in satellite data). Here we consider this issue in more detail, using a combination of simplified theoretical analysis and 1-D and 3-D numerical modelling to provide a thorough discussion of the sensitivity of satellite and seafloor data to subsurface electrical structure. As part of this effort, and as a step toward 3-D inversion of seafloor tidal data, we have developed a new flexible 3-D spherical-coordinate finite difference scheme for both global and regional scale modelling, with higher resolution models nested in larger scale solutions. We use the new 3-D model, together with Monte Carlo simulations of errors in tidal current estimates, to provide a quantitative assessment of errors in the computed tidal EM signal caused by uncertainty in the tidal source. Over the open ocean this component of error is below 0.01 nT in Bz at satellite height and 0.05 nT in Bx on the seafloor, well below typical signal levels. However, as coastlines are approached error levels can increase substantially. Both analytical and 3-D modelling demonstrate that the seafloor magnetic field is most sensitive to the lithospheric resistance (the product of resistivity and thickness), and is more weakly influenced (primarily in the phase) by resistivity of the underlying asthenosphere. Satellite data, which contain only the poloidal magnetic mode, are more sensitive to the conductive asthenosphere, but have little sensitivity to lithospheric resistance. For both seafloor and satellite data’s changes due to plausible variations in Earth parameters are well above error levels associated with source uncertainty, at least in the ocean interior. Although the 3-D modelling results are qualitatively consistent with theoretical analysis, the presence of coastlines and bathymetric variations generates a complex response, confirming that quantitative interpretation of ocean tidal EM fields will require a 3-D treatment. As an illustration of the nested 3-D scheme, seafloor data at five magnetic and seven electric stations in the northeastern Pacific (41○N, 165○W) are fit with trial-and-error forward modelling of a local domain. The simulation results indicate that the lithospheric resistance is roughly 7 × 108 Ωm2. The phase of the seafloor data in this region are inconsistent with a sharp transition between the resistive lithosphere and conductive asthenosphere.This work has been supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China grants 41804072 and 41574104, and NSF grant EAR-1447109. Special thanks to Dr Benjamin Murphy who provided the conductivity-depth profile for 1-D earth model, Dr Min Ding who provided valuable discussion about the oceanic lithosphere and Dr Jeffery Love who provided comments on the stylistics of the manuscript

    Lithospheric geometry of the Wopmay orogen from a Slave craton to Bear Province magnetotelluric transect

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    Two‐dimensional inversions of lithospheric‐probing magnetotelluric (MT) data at a total of 20 sites acquired along an approximately east–west 300‐km‐long profile across the Wopmay orogen in the Northwest Territories, Canada, provide electrical resistivity models of the boundary between the Archean Slave craton and the adjacent Proterozoic Bear Province. An analysis of distortion effects and structural dimensionality indicates that the MT responses are primarily one‐dimensional or only weakly two‐dimensional with a depth‐independent geoelectric strike angle of N32°E, consistent with regional structural geology. The regional‐scale model, generated from the longer period responses from all of the sites along the profile, reveals significant lateral variations in the lithospheric mantle. Resistive cratonic roots are imaged to depths of ∼200 km beneath both the Slave craton and the Hottah terrane of the Bear Province. These are separated by a less resistive region beneath the Great Bear magmatic zone, which is speculatively interpreted as a consequence of a decrease in the grain size of olivine in the Wopmay mantle, caused by localized shearing, compared to its neighboring cratonic roots. Focused two‐dimensional models, from higher frequency responses at sites on specific sections of the profile, reveal the resistivity structure at crustal depths beneath the region. These suggest that the root of the Slave craton crosses beneath the Wopmay orogen, and that the Wopmay fault zone does not penetrate into the lower crust. A comparison of these results with those obtained during the Lithoprobe project farther south shows striking along strike variations in the conductivity structure associated with the Wopmay orogen

    Eva Hesse : A Retrospective

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    Reflecting on the artist's tragic personal life, five authors contribute essays analyzing the evolution of Hesse's paintings, drawings, and sculptures (1936-1970). Elements of homour, absurdity, eroticism, contradiction, and the manifestation of pain/disease in the work are highlighted along with the artist's identity as a woman and rebellious attitude towards the prevailing aesthetics of her contemporaries. Includes a chronology incorporating excerpts from Hesse's diaries, notebooks, and letters. 64 bibl. ref

    Power : Its Myths and Mores in American Art, 1961-1991

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    Focusing on both social power relations and on the ways that these power relations are encoded through visual representations, the authors analyse American artists' visual and critical strategies from 1961 to 1991 in terms of their socio-political context and their effectivity. Includes notes on 28 artists' work. Circa 105 bibl. ref
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