Tracing the Iceland plume and North East Atlantic breakup in the lithosphere

Abstract

Abstract Plumes are domains where hotter material rises through Earth´s mantle, heating also the moving lithospheric plates that may experience thinning or even continental breakup. In particular, the Iceland plume in the NE Atlantic (NEA) could have been instrumental in facilitating the breakup between Europe and Laurentia in the earliest Eocene. Here we present an open access three-dimensional density model of the NEA crust and uppermost mantle that is consistent with previously un-integrated available data. We propose that high-density anomalies in the crust represent the preserved modifications of the lithosphere in consequence of the plate’s journey over the hot mantle plume. Besides, low-density anomalies in the uppermost mantle would represent the present-day effect of the mantle plume and its interaction with the mid-ocean ridges. Overall, the model indicates that the presence of the plume together with the pre-existing crustal configuration controlled the timing, mechanisms and localization of the NEA breakup.