Open AccessStructural effects of the crust on the geoid modelled using deep seismic sounding interpretations
Author(s) -
Kakkuri J.,
Wang Z. T.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
geophysical journal international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0956-540X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-246x.1998.00696.x
Subject(s) - geoid , geology , isostasy , equipotential surface , crust , geodesy , geophysics , gravity anomaly , figure of the earth , depth sounding , structure of the earth , seismology , lithosphere , tectonics , geometry , paleontology , measured depth , oceanography , mathematics , oil field
According to the theory of isostasy, the Earth has a tendency to deform its surface in order to reach an equilibrium state. The land‐uplift phenomenon in the area of the Fennoscandian Shield is thought to be a process of this kind. The geoid, as an equipotential surface of the Earth’s gravity field, contains information on how much the Earth’s surface departs from the equilibrium state. In order to study the isostatic process through geoidal undulations, the structural effects of the crust on the geoid have to be investigated. The structure of the crust of the Fennoscandian Shield has been extensively explored by means of deep seismic sounding (DSS). The data obtained from DSS are used to construct a 3‐D seismic‐velocity structure model of the area’s crust. The velocity model is converted to a 3‐D density model using the empirical relationship that holds between seismic velocities and crustal mass densities. Structural effects are then estimated from the 3‐D density model. The structural effects computed from the crustal model show that the mass deficiency of the crust in Fennoscandia has caused a geoidal depression twice as deep as that observed from the gravimetric geoid. It proves again that the crust has been isostatically compensated by the upper mantle. In other words, an anomalously high‐density upper mantle must exist beneath Fennoscandia.