COSC geophysical and geological site investigations

Drilling of the first borehole, about 2.5 km deep, for the continental scientific deep drilling project COSC (Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides) is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2013. Here we present the project, a 3D interpretation of seismic data, combined with surface geology and potential field data, used for locating the most suitable drill site and planning of the drilling. An evaluation of the seismic interpretations by constrained 3D inverse modeling of potential field data shows a good fit to observed data, further supporting the choice of the drill site

3D interpretation by integrating seismic and potential field data in the vicinity of the proposed COSC-1 drill site, central Swedish Caledonides

The scientific drilling project COSC (Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides), designed to study key questions concerning orogenic processes, aims to drill two fully cored boreholes to depths of c. 2.5 km each at carefully selected locations in west-central Sweden. The first of these, COSC-1, is scheduled for start late spring 2014 and will target the Seve Nappe Complex, characterized by inverted metamorphism and with parts that have evidently been subjected to hot ductile extrusion. In this study available seismic sections have been combined with surface geology to produce a 3D interpretation of the tectonic structures in the vicinity of the COSC-1 borehole. Constrained 3D inverse gravity modelling over the same area supports the interpretation, and the high-density Seve Nappe Complex stands out clearly in the model. Interpretation and models show that the maximum depth extent of the Seve Nappe Complex is less than 2.5 km, consistent with reflection seismic data. The gravity modelling also requires underlying units to comprise low-density material, consistent with the Lower Allochthon, but the modelling is unable to discern the décollement separating the allochthons from the crystalline Precambrian basement

Forward modelling of geophysical survey data using cylindrical elemental volumes

A simple model is presented for the gravitational field due to a finite cylinder, and this is elaborated so that (in principle) the gravitational field from a body of any shape may be found in terms of the field of such primitive cylinders. The primitive field is described as a moment-expansion in terms of odd-order Legendre polynomials P-2p+1 (cos theta), p=0, 1, 2,..., where theta is the angle between the field point and the cylinder's axis, and in terms of the radial distance R of the field point from the centre of mass of the cylinder, such that the parameters describing the shape of the cylinder, and the field point parameters, are separated. This allows gravitational field modelling calculations to be carried out extremely quickly in the space domain for gravitational sources of any shape. Moreover, the form of the solutions-due to the separation mentioned above-allows a clear insight into the underlying physical mechanisms involved in the synthesis of such fields, making such elements suitable in the solution of inverse gravitational problems in the space domain, as well

The crustal structure of central East Greenland - II: From the Precambrian shield to the recent mid-oceanic ridges

We present a 3-D crustal model of the East Greenland Fjord Region between 69°N and 74°N. The model covers the Precambrian shield and the Caledonian orogenic belt, the adjoining Devonian and Mesozoic basins, the continent-ocean transition and the Cenozoic oceanic areas as far as the Kolbeinsey and the Mohns mid-oceanic ridges. Existing seismic models of the crustal structure are extrapolated into adjacent areas using 3-D gravity modelling. For this purpose, we compile a new regional-scale Bouguer anomaly map. The Precambrian shield, west of the Caledonian orogen (approximately west of 32°W), shows a mean thickness of 35 km with only small-scale undulations. This thickness is at the lower limit of the global range in shield thickness. The Caledonian orogen exhibits a pronounced mountain root with overall crustal thicknesses up to 51 km. Beside the Urals, the East Greenland Caledonides are one of the two Palaeozoic mountain belts where a crustal root has preserved to the present day. Continuation of the crustal model to the east, beyond the continent-ocean transition, yielded thicknesses of the crystalline oceanic crust from 9 km near the Kolbeinsey Ridge to 3 km west of the Mohns Ridge. Differences in the thermal structures of the old continental and the young oceanic lithosphere are responsible for the low-density mantle beneath the oceanic crust, which is also demonstrated by 3-D gravity modelling