GEOSTAR deep seafloor missions: magnetic data analysis and 1D geoelectric structure underneath the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea

Abstract

From 2000 to 2005 two geophysical exploration missions were undertaken in the Tyrrhenian deep seafloor at<br />depths between -2000 and -3000 m in the framework of the European-funded GEOSTAR Projects. The considered<br />missions in this work are GEOSTAR-2 and ORION-GEOSTAR-3 with the main scientific objective of investigating<br />the deep-seafloor by means of an automatic multiparameter benthic observatory station working continuously<br />from around 5 to 12 months each time. During the two GEOSTAR deep seafloor missions, scalar and<br />vector magnetometers acquired useful magnetic data both to improve global and regional geomagnetic reference<br />models and to infer specific geoelectric information about the two sites of magnetic measurements by means of<br />a forward modelling.

Keywords

• GEOSTAR – Tyrrhenian Sea – deep seafloor – electrical conductivity – lithosphere