Upper mantle viscosity and lithospheric thickness under Iceland

Abstract

Deglaciation during the Holocene on Iceland caused uplift due to glacial isostatic adjustment. Relatively low estimates for the upper mantle viscosity and lithospheric thickness result in rapid uplift responses to the deglaciation cycles on Iceland. The relatively high temperatures of the upper mantle under the newly formed mid-ocean ridge under Iceland are responsible for the low upper mantle viscosity values. In this study, estimates for lithospheric thickness and upper mantle viscosity under Iceland from glacial isostatic adjustment studies are complemented by a microphysical modelling approach using the theoretical temperature distribution under mid-ocean ridges combined with olivine diffusion and dislocation creep flow laws. The lithospheric thickness (27–40 km) and upper mantle viscosity (2 × 1018–1019 Pa s) outcomes for the upper mantle recent glaciation under the Vatnajökull glacier are consistent with previous reports of viscosity and lithospheric thickness from glacial isostatic adjustment studies. A combination of a 40 km thick elastic lithosphere and an average upper mantle viscosity of 5 ×1018 Pa s would suggest that the upper mantle under Iceland is most likely dry. The earlier and larger Weichselian glaciation event (∼10,000 BP) on Iceland is predicted to have had a slightly larger upper mantle viscosity ∼1019 Pa s and a lithospheric thickness of ∼100 km. Large lateral variations in upper mantle viscosity and especially lithospheric thickness are expected for Iceland perpendicular to the ridge axis.