Analysis and Interpretation of Magnetic Anomalies Observed in North-Central California
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AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF JOANNE L. HUPPUNEN for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in GEOPHYSICS presented on NOVEMBER 1, 1983 Title: ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF MAGNETIC ANOMALIES OBSERVED IN NORTH-CENTRAL CALIFORNIA Abstract approved: Redacted for Privacy Richard W. Couc To assist in the assessment of the geothermal potential of north- central California and to aid in defining the geologic transitions between the physiographic provinces of the Kiamath Range, the Cascade Range, the Modoc Plateau, the Great Valley, and the Sierra Nevada Range, personnel from the Geophysics Group in the College of Ocean- ography at Oregon State University conducted a detailed aeromagnetic survey extending from 400151 to 42°OO'N latitude and from 1200451 to l22°451W longitude. Two forms of spectral analysis, the energy spectrum and the expo- nential methods, were used to make source-top and source-bottom depth calculations. The magnetic source-bottom depths were interpreted as Curie-point isotherm depths. Based on the energy spectrum analysis, several regions with elevated Curie-point isotherm depthswere mapped: (1) the Secret Spring Mountain-National Lava Beds Monumentarea, (2) the Mount Shasta area, (3) the Big Valley Mountains area, and (4) an area northeast of Lassen Peak. The elevated Curie-point isotherm depths within these areas, as shallow as 4 to 7 km below sea level (BSL) in the Secret Spring Mountain-National Lava Beds Monument area, the Mount Shasta area, and the area northeast of Lassen Peak, and 4 to 6 km BSL in the Big Valley Mountains area, imply vertical temperature gradients in excess of 70°C/km and heat flow greater than 100mW/rn2 when assuming a Curie-point temperature of 580°C. Shallow source- bottom depths of 4 to 5 km BSL were mapped in the Eddys Mountain area and interpreted to be the depth of a lithologic contact. Source-top depths show that the magnetic basement varies from about 3.5 km BSL, beneath the sedimentary assemblages of the Great Valley and the east- ern Klamath Range, to near sea level in the Cascade Range. The expo- nential approximation method yielded source-bottom depths which agreed, in general, with depths determined by the energy spectrum method. However, this method appears less reliable and its depth estimates less accurate compared to the energy spectrum method. A broad negative anomaly, observed on the total field magnetic intensity map and low-pass filtered anomaly maps, suggests the sedi- mentary rocks of the Kiamath Complex underlie Mount Shasta and the Medicine Lake Highlands. Magnetic lineations are oriented mainly NW. Analysis and Interpretation of Magnetic Anomalies Observed in North-Central California by JoAnne L. Huppunen A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Completed on November 1, 1983 Commencement June 1984 APPROVED: Redacted for Privacy sociafe Professorof Geophysics in chàr'ge of major Redacted for Privacy Dean of College of Oceanograp Redacted for Privacy ean Or Lraute Date Thesis is presented 1 November 1983 Typed by Donna Moore for JoAnne Louise Huppunen ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks to Dr. Richard Couch, my major professor, for his support, suggestions, and advice. His critical review of this work was very much appreciated. To Mike Gemperle, Jeb Bowers, Gerry Connard, and Bill McLain, among others, who collected the field data,I extend my thanks. Many thanks, as well, to Steve Troseth for his drafting skills, to Sean Shanahan for his computer know-how, and to Bill McLain for paving the way, so to speak. I also owe the completion of parts of this work to Amoco Oil Company in Denver, and professors Dale Bibee and Mike Fehier. My special thanks to Donna Moore for herinvaluable typing and taping skills but more so for her friendship, and to my friend, Jon Hanson, for his suggesting that I return to the "pineywoods" of Oregon to complete my doctorate. Thanks also to my fellow students in Geophysics for their company and humor. My deepest thanks go to Steve Ganoe. Steve gave generously of his time and self and his good-natured attitude was a greathelp to me in times of distress, both realand imagined. Finally,I thank my parents for enduring with me my long career as a student. Their support and help did not go unnoticed or unap- preciated and soI dedicate this thesis to them. This research was funded by the U.S. GeologicalSurvey's Geothermal Research Program under Grant Numberl4-O8-0001-G-623. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. GEOLOGY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY OF NORTH-CENTRAL CALIFORNIA 10 The Cascade Mountain Range 13 The Modoc Plateau Province 17 The Klaniath Mountains 20 The Great Valley 21 The Sierra Nevada Range 22 III. TOTAL FIELD MAGNETIC ANOMALY MAPS 23 IV. LOW-PASS FILTERED MAPS 49 V. MAGNETIC SOURCE-DEPTHS FROM ENERGY SPECTRUM ANALYSIS 56 VI. CURIE-POINT ISOTHERM DEPTHS FROM ENERGY SPECTRUM 90 ANALYSIS VII. MAGNETIC SOURCE-DEPTHS FROM EXPONENTIAL APPROXIMATION 121 ANALYS IS Spectra of a Magnetic Field 122 Centroid of a Magnetic Body 125 Top of a Magnetic Body 129 Curie-Point Depth 131 Top and Bottom of a Magnetic Body 131 VIII. CURIE-POINT ISOTHERM DEPTHS FROM EXPONENTIAL 136 APPROXIMATION ANALYSIS Selection of Frequency Bands 138 Examination of Equation (28) Using Models 141 Examination of Equations (19) and (22) Using 148 Models Generalizations from Model Studies Applied to 149 Survey Study Results for Survey from Equation (28) 150 Results for Survey from Equations (19) and (22) 154 Concluding Remarks 159 IX. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION OF REGIONAL STRUCTURE AND 161 CURIE-POINT ISOTHERM DEPTHS OF NORTH-CENTRAL CALIFORNIA X. REFERENCES 188 Page XI. APPENDICES A. THE NORTH-CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AEROMAGNETIC 197 SURVEY Data Collection 197 Data Processing 200 B. TECHNIQUES OF ANALYSIS OF THE NORTH-CENTRAL 211 CALIFORNIA AEROMAGNETIC DATA Two-Dimensional Fourier Transform 213 Mean Depth-to-Source Calculations from 215 the Energy Spectrum Mean Depth-to-Bottom Calculations 218 from the Energy Spectrum Filter Operations in the Frequency 223 Domain Rotation-to-the-Pole 223 Upward Continuation 224 Low-Pass Filter 224 C. DATA PREPARATION IN MODEL AND SURVEY 226 STUDIES EMPLOYING THE EXPONENTIAL APPROXIMATION METHOD Data Generation and Source 226 Configurations Survey Data Processing 228 D. LISTINGS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS 232 LINSYS 233 SIMUL 236 ZCDRIVER 239 ZCALT 241 QUADRANT 242 AMPLITUDE 243 CENTOP 245 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Physiographic provinces of the north-central 3 California survey area. 2 Topographic map of north-central California. 11 3 Flight lines of the north-central California 24 aeromagnetic survey. 4 Flight lines for the Mt. Shasta survey area. 25 5 Flight lines for the Lassen Peak survey area. 26 6 Total field aeromagnetic anomaly map of 28 north-central California. 7 Total field aeromagnetic anomaly map of 29 Mount Shasta area. Numbered locations of anomalies are listed in Table 1. 8 Total field aeromagnetic anomaly map of 30 Lassen Peak area. Numbered locations of anomalies are listed in Table 1. 9 Index of magnetic anomalies and topographic 33 features and locations of anomaly trends. 10 Aeromagnetic anomaly map of north-central 50 California in which anomalies with wave- lengths less than 35 km have been suppressed. 11 4eromagnetic anomaly map of north-central 53 California in which anomalies with wave- lengths less than 65 km have been suppressed. 12 Aeromagnetic anomaly map of north-central 54 California in which anomalies with wave- lengths less than 85 km have been suppressed. 13 Boundaries of the 594 x 681 main grid. 60 14 Radially averaged spectrum of aeromagnetic 61 data over the northern two-thirds of the entire survey area. 15 Radially averaged spectrum of aeromagnetic 62 data over the southern two-thirds of the entire survey area. Figure Page 16 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 63 data overthe subareaNd. 17 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 64 data overthe subareaNC2-W. 18 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 65 data overthe subareaNC2. 19 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 66 data overthe subarea Medicine Lake. 20 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 67 data overthe subareaNC3. 21 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 68 data overthe subareaNC4. 22 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 69 data overthe subareaNC5. 23 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 70 data overthe subareaNC6. 24 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 71 data overthe subareaNC7. 25 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 72 data overthe subareaNC8. 26 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 73 data overthe subareaNC9-NW. 27 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 74 data overthe subareaNCY. 28 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 75 data overthe subareaNC9-S. 29 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 76 data overthe subareaNC1O. 30 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 77 data overthe subareaNC11. 31 Radiallyaveraged spectrumofaeromagnetic 78 data overthe subareaNC12-W. 32 Radially averaged spectrumofaeromagnetic 79 data overthe subareaNC12. Figure Page 33 Calculation of minimum Curie-point depths 99 for (a) subareas Nd, NC4, NC5, NC6, NC7, NC8, NC1O, NC11, (b) subareas NC9-S, NC12-W, NC12, and (c) areas where 128 x 128 subgrids did not exhibit spectral peaks. 34 Calculation of (a) Curie-point depths for 100 south 512 x 512 subarea, and (b) minimum Curie-point depth for north 512 x 512 subarea. 35 Calculation of Curie-point depths for (a) the 102 t'ledicine Lake Highlands subarea, (b) the NC2 subarea, and (c) the NC2-W subarea. 36 Calculation of Curie-point depths for the 103 NC3 subarea. 37 Calculation of Curie-point depths for (a) the 104 NC9-NW subarea and (b) the NC9 subarea. 38 Representative radially averaged spectrum 107 for the Secret Spring Mountain-National Lava Beds Park area. 39 Representative radially averaged spectrum 108 for the Mount Shasta area. 40 Representative radially averaged spectrum 110 for the Eddys Mountain area. 41 Representative radially averaged spectrum 111 for the Big Valley Mountains area. 42 Representative radially averaged spectrum 113 for the area northeast of Lassen Peak. 43 Single prism model of fixed source-top depth 143 and variable thickness shown oriented with respect to the observation plane.