Magnetometer array study in North-Northeast Brazil: conductivity image building and functional induction modes

Abstract

Magnetovariational fields recorded by an array of magnetometers in the equatorial region of north-northeast Brazil are analyzed to infer the configuration of internal induced currents in and around the extensive intracratonic Parnaíba basin. Only nighttime magnetovariational fields were used because of the prevailing uniform source field conditions. For periods exceeding 40 min. the vertical fields at all inland sites are dominated by the effects of electric currents originating in the northeast, in the deep Atlantic Ocean. Below this period, although best developed in the 12–15 min. period range, the anomalous signatures are principally controlled by two distinct continental current paths. The first is associated with a N60°E trending graben-like structure in the southeastern part of the basin (named the Parnaíba Basin Conductivity Anomaly—PBCA) and the second appears as a subsurface sedimentary channel, from the NW corner of the array to the central part of the basin. This is named the LINK anomaly, as it connects the northwestern Marajó basin with the Parnaíba basin. While the PBCA is shown to highlight the importance of basement tectonics in the geological evolution of the Parnaíba basin, the LINK anomaly provides strong geophysical evidence of the direction of the sea intrusion into the region of the basin and possibly indicates the connectivity of the Parnaíba basin to the adjoining Amazon basin through the Marajó basin. Frequency and polarization dependence suggest that the induction response of individual structures is not determined by the local conductivity alone but also by their interconnectivity as well as by their linkage to the continental shelf and deep oceanic region.