The consequences of hotspots on continental lithosphere : a thermal case study on the Arabian Plate.

Abstract:

Hotspots are thermal instabilities coming from various depths in the mantle. Their activity is often revealed by surface and sub-surface phenomena such as volcanic trapps or oceanic plateaus, and volcanic island tracks on the seafloor. The two first are often linked to the eruption of a hotspot head, while the third is due to the volcanic material fed by the subsequent tail. Consequences of a hotspot tail on the oceanic lithosphere are well known, while its effect on the continental lithosphere is most often masked by the thickness of the lithosphere. The aim of our study is to try and link hotspot tracks with geological events in the continental lithosphere. Hotspot tracks are first built using a modified version of the hybrid reference frame of Seton et al. (2012), and their effect on the continental lithosphere is then evaluated using geological markers issued from petroleum wells, in particular the sedimentary record, backstripping, heat flux anomaly and temperature data. A case study is performed on the Arabian Plate, potentially crossed by two hotspots (Afar and Comores). Several W-E heat flux profiles display a large thermal anomaly close to the Red Sea, while a smaller N-S elongated heat flow anomaly more to the E suggests that a hotspot track could impact the thermal history of the Arabian plate.