Trans-Atlantic imaging of the Lithosphere - Asthenosphere Boundary

The European Research Council (ERC), the main European Union funding body, has awarded an ERC Advanced Grant to Professor Satish Singh, to study the oceanic lithosphere down to its base, at up to 100 km depth. The data were acquired aboard WesternGeco’ IsoMetrix vessel M/V Western Trident during March-April 2015. A total of 2810 km ultra-deep seismic reflection data was acquired starting from Greenwich Meridian at 1º S, at about 75 Ma of oceanic lithosphere in nearly E-W direction, crossing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 1.3º S, corresponding to zero age of the lithosphere. The profile extends ~500 km west of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and transects 0-25 Ma of the oceanic lithosphere on the South American Plate.  

 

The lithosphere is the main building block of plate tectonic, and Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary (LAB) is most prevalent plate boundary on the Earth. The objectives of the TransAtlanticIlab project are to charatrise the nature of the lithosphere from its formation at mid-ocean ridges to up to 75 Ma old crust and image the LAB using a combination of different geophysical methods across the Atlantic Ocean.

TransAtlantic iLAB

SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME “Ideas” Specific Programme European Research Council

Principal Investigator:
SATISH SINGH

Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris

Type of funding scheme: European Research Council Advanced Grant

Grant Agreement No: 339442

Duration:
5 years

Starting Date:
1 November 2014

End Date: 31 October 2019

Total Budget: 3,499,000