The structure and subsidence of Rockall Trough from two‐ship seismic experiments

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Abstract
Coincident multichannel seismic reflection and refraction profiles acquired northwest of Britain during a two‐ship seismic experiment in the southern Rockall Trough provide evidence for a thin (6 km) syn‐rift crust below Rockall Trough. The variation of seismic velocity with depth is consistent with either oceanic crust similar to that found in other parts of the North Atlantic or with thinned continental crust heavily intruded by syn‐rift igneous rocks. The syn‐rift crust beneath Rockall Trough is now buried by nearly 5 km of sediments that are intruded by Tertiary volcanics varying in extent from isolated sills to a large sill complex extending 100 km laterally. The basement imaged on seismic profiles exhibits a band of subhorizontal reflectors that extend laterally over distances of up to 40 km which we interpret as sediments intercalated with submarine lava flows generated during the opening of the Trough. Estimates of stretching from crustal thinning and from subsidence indicate that Rockall Trough has undergone extensive rifting (β > 6). Upwelling asthenosphere beneath the thinned lithosphere generated at least 1–3 km thickness of melt as it decompressed. The molten rock rose upward from the mantle until it was in part extruded as lava flows and in part intruded into the crust.