S U M M A R YThe dynamic and melting processes of a ridge-centred plume have been investigated in a companion paper by Ruedas et al. (hereafter referred to as Paper I) in a set of 3-D numerical fluid dynamic models with varying plume excess temperatures and melt extraction thresholds. In Paper I, the modelled thickness of the generated crust has been compared to observations of the Icelandic crust. Using the results of those plume models magnetotelluric (MT) transfer functions and seismic velocity anomalies are predicted in this paper. Together with Paper I, a dynamically consistent set of geophysical observables of a ridge-centred plume is presented and applied to Iceland.Temperature, partial melting and the connectivity of the melt phase influence the electrical conductivity of crust and mantle rocks. The temperature and melt fraction of our plume models are used to calculate 3-D conductivity models for MT modelling. For the melt geometry ellipsoidal inclusions with appropriate aspect ratios were assumed to control melt connectivity. The resulting transfer functions are compared to each other and to models not including a plume to separate signals from the ridge and the plume. They may be applied to observed MT measurements. If the plume head contains only 1 per cent of melt, the plume signal cannot be distinguished from the ridge signal, at least 3 per cent melt is needed for such distinction. The other predicted observables calculated from the different numerical models are seismic velocity anomalies. The temperature-induced V P and V S anomalies were estimated including anharmonic and anelastic effects as well as the water induced increase of dislocation mobility that lowers seismic velocities. Realistic melt geometries, as observed in laboratory experiments, were used to calculate the effect of partial melts on the seismic velocities. V S anomaly distributions are synthesized from the different plume models and compared to seismic observations. To reconcile seismic anomalies of the plume head and plume stem, a wet plume stem overlain by a partially molten, dehydrated plume head is favoured.The combined interpretation of available observations, crustal thicknesses (Paper I) and seismic results, with our dynamic plume models (Paper I) leads to a favoured plume model with 135 K excess temperature and a vertical velocity of approximately 13 cm yr −1 at 200 km depth, with 1 per cent melt extraction threshold, and a melting zone of approximately 500 km width and 100 km depth extent.

S U M M A R YIn this study and a companion paper, numerical models of convection and melt generation in a ridge-centred plume system are developed for plumes with different temperature anomalies T P and varying fractions of retained melt ϕ ex . The produced melt in excess of the retention threshold is used to generate ridge and plume crust respectively, whose thickness is found to be sensitive to changes in T P and ϕ ex . Comparison of calculated crustal thicknesses with observations from mid-oceanic ridges and from Iceland confirms earlier findings that T P of the Iceland plume in the upper mantle is about 150-200 K and that the Icelandic crust is thick. It also suggests that the retained melt fraction in partially molten mantle is at most 1 per cent. In the preferred model, plume melting occurs between ca. 25 and 110 km depth, at up to ∼250 km from the spreading centre. The temperature and melt fraction fields from the numerical models are used as input for the derivation of seismic velocity anomalies and magnetotelluric response functions in the companion paper. Furthermore, the models reveal that the high temperatures of plumes result in a superlinear increase of crustal thickness with plume excess temperature through the combined effects of enhanced melting, active upwelling and the extent and geometry of the melting zone.

A large‐scale international electromagnetic experiment has been carried out in northwest Poland and northeast Germany. The main goal was to study the deep conductivity structure across the Trans‐European Suture Zone, which is the most prominent tectonic structure of Phanerozoic age in Europe. Electromagnetic measurements were carried out mainly along seismic profiles P2, LT‐7, and LT‐2 crossing the suture zone and running in the northeastern direction. Strike and dimensionality analyses indicate that a geo‐electrical strike of N60°W common to both profiles LT‐7 and P2 can be estimated. This strike direction was used to project and rotate all transfer functions and both profiles were subjected to 2D inversion using three different approaches. The results show the presence of highly conductive Cenozoic‐Mesozoic sedimentary cover reaching depths up to 3 km. A significant conductivity anomaly beneath the central part of the TESZ, called the Central Polish Anticlinorium, has been well resolved at mid‐crustal depths. The upper mantle of the Precambrian East European Craton is more resistive than, adjacent to the West, the younger Paleozoic Platform.

The Trans‐European Suture Zone (TESZ) is the largest tectonic boundary in Europe, crossing northwest‐southeast through central Europe from the North Sea to the Black Sea. More than 2000 kilometers long, it constitutes a complex transition between the thick and cold East European Craton (EEQ/Baltic Shield, created more than 650 million years ago (Ma) during the Precambrian, and the warmer, younger Paleozoic (650 to 250 Ma) central European mobile belts.

No abstract