Abstract:
According to classical plume theory, the Tristan da Cunha hotspot, located ∼400 km east off the MidAtlantic
Ridge, is thought to have played a major role in the rifting while creating an aseismic Walvis
Ridge during and after the breakup of the South Atlantic margins. Volcanic activity on the Tristan da
Cunha Island shows that the hotspot might still be there influencing the upper mantle and crustal
structure. In this study we present ambient noise data from 24 broadband OBS around Tristan da Cunha
and a seismic station on Nightingale Island, which provide first constraints on the crustal and uppermost
mantle structure around the island. By combining ambient noise techniques, dispersion curve analysis of
Rayleigh waves, 2D tomographic inversion of travel times and 3D depth inversion of dispersion data we
derived a 3D VS velocity model around the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha. The model shows an isolated,
vertically sharp bounded thickened and modified crust beneath the islands surrounded by thin oceanic
crust (<5 km). The velocity anomaly shows a typical volcanic structure with a shallow high velocity
body and a low velocity root reaching into the upper mantle, which we interpret as shallow solidified
magmatic material and volcanic feeding system/magmatic underplating, respectively. The observed simple
and localized volcanic structure, embedded in a rather homogeneous crust and upper mantle indicates
only minor and very localized magmatic overprinting of the existing lithosphere by the Tristan da Cunha
hotspot. The uppermost mantle S wave velocity beneath nearby seamounts and to the SW of the islands
is also slow and could indicate a thermal influence from a deeper source, whereas the Tristan da Cunha
Fracture Zone shows no signs of modification.
