Explaining the thick crust in Parana basin, Brazil, with satellite GOCE gravity observations

Seismologic observations in the last decades have shown that the crustal thickness in Parana basin locally is over 40 km thick, which is a greater value than expected by the simple isostatic model considering the topographic load. The goal of this work is to explain this apparent discrepancy by modeling the internal crustal density anomalies through the gravity field. We use the latest Earth Gravity Model derived from the observations of the GOCE satellite mission, to retrieve the gravity anomaly and correct it for topographic effects, thus obtaining the Bouguer field. We then model the gravity effect of known stratigraphic units and of the seismological crustal thickness. The large Parana basin comprises over 3500 m of Paleozoic sedimentary sequence with density between 2400 and 2600 kg/m(3). During the Early Cretaceous the same basin was affected by a large amount of igneous activity with a volume of over 0.1 Mkm(3). The flood basalt volcanism is known as the Serra Geral Formation, and has a maximum thickness of 1500 m. The stratigraphic units of the basin are topped by post-volcanic deposits of the Bauru Group, of about 300 m thickness, located in the northern part of the basin. The density and thickness of the sedimentary sequence are constrained by sonic logs of drill-holes and exploration seismic. We use the crustal thickness estimated from the newest seismological results for South America to calculate its gravity effect. Further we model the isostatic crustal thickness variation, allowing the comparison between a seismological Moho, an isostatic Moho, and a gravity-based Moho. We find that there is a clear positive Bouguer residual anomaly located in the northern and southern part of the Parana basin, indicating the presence of a hidden mass, not considered up to now. We propose a model that explains this mass as magmatic rock, probably gabbro in lower crust, with density contrast of 200 kg/m(3) and thickness of more than 10 km, thus demonstrating that the flood basalt layer constitutes only a part of the melted material, the rest being emplaced into the lower crust. The presence of the magmatic material in the crust presumably has altered the thermal state, consequently changing the maturation process of the hydrocarbons in the pre-volcanic and post-volcanic rocks of the Parana basin. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.