Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Measuring the pulse of a plume with the sedimentary record

Nature volume 387, pages 888–891 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

Magmatic underplating associated with mantle plume activity is an important mechanism for driving regional surface uplift and denudation of large portions of the continents1,2. Such uplift occurs rapidly because substantial volumes of basaltic melt are added to the crust over geologically short periods of time (1–10 Myr)2, and can lead to large amounts of clastic sediment being shed into surrounding basins3. An intensively studied example of this process occurred in the North Sea basin during the Palaeogene period, where discrete pulses of deposition were triggered when sands were remobilized downslope from the shelf by turbidity currents and debris flows as a result of episodic changes of relative sea level3. Here we correlate the timing of these sediment pulses with the timing of surface uplift inferred to have been caused by episodic magmatic underplating on the continental shelf of northwestern Europe. This magmatism was related to activity of the Iceland plume, suggesting that individual pulses of sedimentation provide a potentially sensitive measure of plume activity, and so may be used to resolve time-dependent fluctuations in mantle plume activity predicted by theoretical studies of mantle convection.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Satellite free-air gravity map of the British Isles (see fig. 3 legend).
Figure 2: Stratigraphic chart based on timescale of Berggren et al.20 and showing temporal relationship between intrusive igneous activity5,6,7, offshore volcanic ash beds8,11, and submarine fan deposition in North Sea13.
Figure 3: Satellite-derived free-air gravity map of Sandwell and Smith28 for the North Atlantic Ocean (equal area projection).
Figure 4: Age of V-shaped ridges plotted as a function of distance from the plume centre (updated from Vogt22).

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Cox, K. G. Continental magmatic underplating. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 342, 155–166 (1993).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. White, R. S. & McKenzie, D. Magmatism at rift zones: The generation of volcanic continental margins and flood basalts. J. Geophys. Res. 94, 7685–7729 (1989).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Parker, J. (ed.) Petroleum Geology of Northwest Europe (Geol. Soc., London, (1993)).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Brodie, J. A. Early Tertiary magmatism in the North Atlantic.Thesis, Univ. Cambridge(1995).

  5. Mussett, A. E., Dagley, P. & Skelhorn, R. R. Time and Duration of Activity in the British Tertiary Igneous Province 337–348 (Spec. Publ. 39, Geol. Soc., London, (1988)).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Mussett, A. E. & McCormack, A. G. Magnetic Polarity Timescales: a New Test 27–37 (Spec. Publ. 70, Geol. Soc., London, (1992)).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Pearson, D. G., Emeleus, C. H. & Kelly, S. P. Precise 40Ar/39Ar age for the initiation of Palaeogene volcanism in the Inner Hebrides and its regional significance. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 153, 815–818 ((1996)).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Knox, R. W. O'B., Corfield, R. M. & Dunay, R. E. Correlation of the Early Paleogene in Northwest Europe (Spec. Publ. 101, Geol. Soc., London, (1996)).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  9. Milton, N. J., Bertram, G. T. & Vann, I. R. Early Palaeogene Tectonics and Sedimentation in the Central North Sea 339–351 (Spec. Publ. 55, Geol. Soc., London, (1990)).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Shannon, P. M. Early Tertiary Submarine Fan Deposits in the Porcupine Basin, Offshore Ireland 351–373 (Spec. Publ. 62, Geol. Soc., London, (1992)).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Knox, R. W. O'B. Tectonic Controls on Sequence Development in the Palaeocene and Earliest Eocene of Southeast England: Implications for North Sea Stratigraphy 209–230 (Spec. Publ. 103, Geol. Soc., London, (1996)).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Stewart, I. J. in Petroleum Geology of North West Europe (eds Brookes, J. & Glennie, K.) (Graham & Trotman, London, (1987)).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Neal, J. E. in Correlation of the Early Paleogene in Northwest Europe (eds Knox, R. W. O.'B., Corfield, R. M. & Dunay, R. E.) 15–42 (Spec. Publ. 101, Geol. Soc., London, (1996)).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Mitchell, S. M. et al. in Petroleum Geology of Northwest Europe: Proc. 4th Conf. (ed. Parker, J. R.) 1025–1034 (Geol. Soc., London, (1993)).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Brodie, J. & White, N. Sedimentary basin inversion caused by igneous underplating: Northwest European continental shelf. Geology 22, 147–150 (1994).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Scarrow, J. H. & Cox, K. G. Basalts generated by decompressive adiabatic melting of a mantle plume: a case study from the Isle of Skye, NW Scotland. J. Petrol. 366, 3–22 (1995).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Nadin, P. A., Kusznir, N. J. & Toth, J. Transient regional uplift in the early Tertiary of the northern North Sea and the development of the Iceland Plume. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 152, 953–958 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Green, P. F., Duddy, I. R., Bray, R. J. & Lewis, C. L. E. in Petroleum Geology of Northwest Europe: Proc. 4th Conf. (ed. Parker, J. R.) 1067–1074 (Geol. Soc., London, (1993)).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Barton, P. J. LISPB revisited: a new look under the Caledonides of northern Britain. Geophys. J. Int. 110, 371–391 (1992).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Berggren, W. A., Kent, D. V., Aubry, M.-P. & Hardenbol, J. Geochronology, Time Scales and Stratigraphic Correlation: Framework for an Historical Geology. (Spec. Publ. 54, Soc. Econ. Geol. Palaeontol., Tulsa, (1995)).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  21. Summerfield, M. A. & Hulton, N. J. Natural controls of fluvial denudation rates in major world drainage basins. J. Geophys. Res. 99, 13871–13883 (1994).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Vogt, P. R. Asthenosphere motion recorded by the ocean floor south of Iceland. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 13, 153–160 (1971).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Vogt, P. R. in Structure and Development of the Geeenland-Scotland Ridge (eds Bott, M. H. P., Saxov, S., Talwani, M. & Thiede, J.) 191–213 (Plenum, (1983)).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  24. White, R. S., Bown, J. W. & Smallwood, J. R. The temperature of the Iceland plume and origin of outward-propagating V-shaped ridges. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 152, 1039–1045 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Ito, G., Lin, J. & Gable, C. W. Dynamics of mantle flow and melting at a ridge-centred hotspot: Iceland and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 144, 53–74 (1996).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Morton, A. C., Hallsworth, C. R. & Wilkinson, G. C. in Petroleum Geology of Northwest Europe: Proc. 4th Conf. (ed. Parker, J. R.) 73–84 (Geol. Soc., London, (1993)).

    Google Scholar 

  27. Reynolds, T. Quantitative analysis of submarine fans in the Tertiary of the North Sea Basin. Mar. Petrol. Geol. 11, 202–207 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Sandwell, D. T. & Smith, W. H. F. Global marine gravity from ERS-1, Geosat and Seasat reveals new tectonic fabric. Eos 73, 133 (1992).

    Google Scholar 

  29. Müller, R. D., Roest, W. R., Royer, J.-Y., Gahagan, L. M. & Sclater, J. G. ADigital Age Map of the Ocean Floor. (Ref. Ser. 93–30, Scripps Inst. Oceanogr., La Jolla, (1993)).

  30. Doré, A. G. & Lundin, E. R. Cenozoic compressional structures on the NE Atlantic margin: nature, origin and potential significance for hydrocarbon exploration. Petrol. Geosci. 2, 299–311 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Wright, J. D. & Miller, K. G. Control of North Atlantic Deep Water circulation by the Greenland-Scotland ridge. Paleoceanography 11, 157–170 (1996).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank D. Aslanian, S. Bergman, J. Brodie, R. England, R. Knox, D. Lyness, S.Lewis, D. McKenzie, F. Nimmo, R. Rickaby and former colleagues of B.L. in BP Exploration, for their help. We also thank K. Cox and K. Gallagher for reviews. Figures were made using Generic Mapping Tools of P. Wessel and W. Smith. This work forms part of the PULSE (Paleogene Uplift Linked to Sediment Efflux) project funded by The British Petroleum Company plc and the Natural Environment Research Council.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Bryan Lovell

    Present address: Bullard Laboratories, Madingley Rise, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0EZ, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. *Bullard Laboratories, Madingley Rise, Madingley Road, CB3 0EZ, Cambridge, UK

    Nicky White

  2. †BP Exploration, Britannic House, 1 Finsbury Circus, EC2M 7BA, London, UK

    Bryan Lovell

Authors
  1. Nicky White
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bryan Lovell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicky White.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

White, N., Lovell, B. Measuring the pulse of a plume with the sedimentary record. Nature 387, 888–891 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/43151

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/43151

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing