EGU21-14677
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14677
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

The Central-East Atlantic Anomaly: its role in the genesis of the Canary and Madeira volcanic provinces

Susana Custódio1, Chiara Civiero2, João Mata1, Graça Silveira1,3, Marta Neres1,4, and David Schlaphorst1
Susana Custódio et al.
  • 1University of Lisbon, Instituto Dom Luiz, Instituto Dom Luiz, Lisboa, Portugal (susanacustodio@campus.ul.pt)
  • 2Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS), Dublin D02 Y006, Ireland
  • 3Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Lisboa 1959-007, Portugal
  • 4Instituto Portugûes do Mar e da Atmosfera, Lisboa, Portugal

The Canary and Madeira provinces, located in the central-east Atlantic Ocean, are characterized by irregularly distributed hotspot tracks displaying large age differences and variable distances between volcanoes. For this reason, the geodynamic mechanism(s) that control the spatio-temporal patterns of volcanism are still unclear. Here, we use results from seismic tomography, shear-wave splitting, and gravity to show that the Central-East Atlantic Anomaly (CEAA), rising from the African large low-shear-velocity province and stalled in the topmost lower mantle, is the source of distinct upper-mantle diapirs feeding those provinces. The diapirs detach intermittently from the CEAA and seem to be at different evolutionary stages. Geochemistry data confirm the lower-mantle origin of the diapirs, and plate reconstructions constrain their temporal evolution. Our observations suggest that the accumulation of deep plume material in the topmost lower mantle can play a significant role in governing the spatio-temporal distribution of hotspot volcanism.

This is a contribution to project SIGHT (Ref. PTDC/CTA-GEF/30264/2017). The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support FCT through project UIDB/50019/2020 – IDL.

How to cite: Custódio, S., Civiero, C., Mata, J., Silveira, G., Neres, M., and Schlaphorst, D.: The Central-East Atlantic Anomaly: its role in the genesis of the Canary and Madeira volcanic provinces, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-14677, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14677, 2021.

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