Lithospheric structure across the western Eurasian plate from a wide-angle seismic and gravity study: evidence for a regional thermal anomaly

Crustal structure along a 1100 km seismic profile between Ireland and the Iceland Basin is tested with satellite gravity data and used to isolate the long wavelength gravity field due to sub-crustal sources. Plate cooling models constrain the gravity contribution of the oceanic lithosphere and, together with the crustal seismic geometry, define the thermal structure of the continental lithosphere across the western Eurasian plate. Low density lithosphere is required below much of the continental plate, suggesting that it is thermally perturbed. The thermal anomaly may have had a major impact on Late Mesozoic to Recent magmatism, tectonics and sedimentation across the NE Atlantic.