Crust and upper mantle in Dronning Maud Land/Antarctica retrieved from shear-wave splitting, receiver functions, seismic refraction and 3-D gravity modelling
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The crust and upper mantle of Dronning Maud Land (DML), Antarctica, have been investigated using teleseismic data from broadband seismograph stations deployed at temporary and permanent locations and recordings from a seismic refraction experiment. For shear-wave splitting analyses the observed anisotropy can in most cases be related to major tectonic events that formed the geological features of the present-day Antarctic continent. We rule out an anisotropic contribution from recent asthenospheric flow. An abrupt change in fast axis direction of the shear-waves as well as a remarkable Moho jump beneath the Kottas mountains appears to mark a suture between the Grunehogna craton, a fragment of the Kalahari-Kaapvaal craton in southern Africa, and the Mesoproterozoic Namaqua-Natal belt. In general, the Moho increases from the coast towards the mountain ranges of Wohlthatmassif and Kottas, where thick crust between 45-53 km is found. The Vp/Vs-ratio are similar within geological units but different throughout DML.
![](/images/orcid_16x16.png)
![](/images/orcid_16x16.png)