Mapping the thermal structure of southern Africa from Curie depth
estimates based on wavelet analysis of magnetic data with uncertainties
Abstract
Surface heat flow provides essential information on the thermal state
and thickness of the lithosphere. Southern Africa is a mosaic of the
best-preserved and exposed crustal blocks, assembled in the early late
Archean and then modified by a series of major tectono-thermal events,
both of Precambrian and Phanerozoic. Understanding the thermal and
compositional structure of the southern African lithosphere provides
crucial information for the actual causes, processes of lithospheric
stability, and modification. Temperature plays a major role in the
distribution of the long-wavelength crustal magnetic anomalies. Curie
depth, interpreted as the depth to $580^{\circ}$C,
provides a valuable constraint on the thermal structure of the
lithosphere. Due to the sparse distribution of surface heat flow data,
we examine the degree to which the thermal structure of the crust can be
constrained from the Curie depth in southern Africa. The Curie depth is
estimated from magnetic anomaly data using spectral methods in
combination wavelet analysis; a Bayesian approach is applied to address
the uncertainty. Subsequently, the obtained Curie depth is used to
estimate the surface heat flow, and the outcome is compared to available
heat flow measurements. Unlike other cratonic regions, the shallowest
Curie depth and low effective elastic thickness values observed over the
Kaapvaal Craton suggest thermal reworking of the cratonic lithosphere in
this region.