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Lithospheric Erosion in the Patagonian Slab Window, and Implications for Glacial Isostasy
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  • Hannah Mark,
  • Douglas Wiens,
  • Erik Ivins,
  • Andreas Richter,
  • Walid Ben Mansour,
  • Maria Beatrice Magnani,
  • Eric Marderwald,
  • Rodrigo Adaros,
  • Sergio Barrientos
Hannah Mark
Washington University in St Louis

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Douglas Wiens
Washington University in St Louis
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Erik Ivins
JPL
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Andreas Richter
Laboratorio MAGGIA
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Walid Ben Mansour
Washington University in Saint Louis
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Maria Beatrice Magnani
Southern Methodist University
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Eric Marderwald
Laboratorio MAGGIA
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Rodrigo Adaros
ENAP Magallanes
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Sergio Barrientos
Centro Sismológico Nacional
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Abstract

The Patagonian slab window has been proposed to enhance the solid Earth response to ice mass load changes in the overlying Northern and Southern Patagonian Icefields (NPI and SPI, respectively). Here we present the first regional seismic velocity model covering the entire north-south extent of the slab window. A slow velocity anomaly in the uppermost mantle indicates warm mantle temperature, low viscosity, and possibly partial melt. Low velocities just below the Moho suggest that the lithospheric mantle has been thermally eroded over the youngest part of the slab window. The slowest part of the anomaly is north of 49°S, implying that the NPI and the northern SPI overlie lower viscosity mantle than the southern SPI. This comprehensive seismic mapping of the slab window provides key evidence supporting the previously hypothesized connection between post-Little Ice Age anthropogenic ice mass loss and rapid geodetically observed glacial isostatic uplift (≥ 4 cm/yr).
28 Jan 2022Published in Geophysical Research Letters volume 49 issue 2. 10.1029/2021GL096863