Preliminary Results of the 3-D Inversion of Magnetotelluric Data in the Southern Sub province of Borborema Province, Northeast Brazil

Abstract

The present work shows a preliminary interpretation of the deep tectonic structures of the continental lithosphere in the southern sub province of the Borborema Province, in northeast Brazil. Information on the subsurface distribution of electrical conductivity was derived from 102 magnetotelluric (MT) stations disposed along 5 profiles that cut the main tectonic units of this sub province. These data were processed and modeled by advanced 3D techniques currently available for studies of electromagnetic induction within the Earth. Preliminary interpretation suggests that several of the observed anomalies are correlated mainly to effects of Neoproterozoic oceanic crust subduction and subsequent collision in at least two regions of the study area. One of them is located under the central region of the Tucano Basin, probably related to the subduction of an oceanic basin to the east, and the other under the Central domain of the Borborema Province, preliminarily interpreted as a subduction zone to the north.