AEROMAGNETIC RESULTS AND THE PRESENCE OF AN EXTINCT RIFT-ZONE IN WESTERN ICELAND

Aeromagnetic surveys over western Iceland including Breidafjordur and Faxafloi bays reveal linear features which mostly have a northeasterly trend. However, this trend changes to a northerly direction as the li neations cross the Northwestern peninsula. Over the southern part of t he area, the anomaly pattern may be fitted to a simple propagating-rif t model. This model is consistent with results from geological mapping in western Iceland in the 1960s and 1970s which yielded evidence for an extinct (>7 Ma old) rift zone west of the currently active rift zon es. The magnetic data provide constraints on the process of rift zone movement and on the age of the bedrock offshore. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd.