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Ophiolites and Oceanic Crust |
Department of Earth Sciences, Sultan Quaboos University, PO Box 32486 Al-Khod, Sultanate of Oman
Eighty new gravity stations have been established to define the intense gravity low reported by Gass & Masson-Smith in 1963. The anomaly is confirmed as circular; the implications of this, against a background 200 mGal positive with an E-W trend, are explored.
The residual anomaly has been isolated and an anomalous mass determined. From this, permissible volumes have been calculated assuming serpentinization of mantle material to be solely responsible for the anomaly. Within these constraints, modelling of the residual reveals a solution with a northerly dip consistent with the underlying subduction polarity. The modelling excludes causative bodies other than those near-surface, equidimensional in plan and having a high density contrast.
The anomalous mass allows an estimate of the uplift forces acting beneath the summit of Mt Olympus. These are shown to be three times the mass of the topography above the level of 1000 m. Implications for the rate of uplift are discussed.
