Density and Thermal Structure of the Southern Andes and Adjacent Foreland from 32° to 55°S Using Earth Gravity Field Models

Abstract

GOCE satellite data and EGM2008EGM2008model are used to calculate the gravity anomaly and the vertical gravity gradient, both corrected by the topographic effect, in order to delineate main tectonicTectonicfeatures related to density variations. In particular, using the Bouguer anomaly from GOCE, we calculated the crust–mantle discontinuity Crust-mantle discontinuityobtaining elastic thicknesses in the frame of the isostatic lithospheric flexure model Isostatic lithospheric flexure modelapplying the convolution method approach. Results show substantial variations in the density, compositional and thermal structure, and isostatic and flexural behavior of the continental lithosphere along the Southern AndesSouthern Andesand adjacent foreland region.