Three‐Dimensional Magnetic Models of La Gomera (Canary Islands): Insights Into the Early Evolution of an Ocean Island Volcano

Abstract

An aeromagnetic data set from the island of La Gomera was studied through two inverse modeling approaches that produced complementary views of the inner structure of this volcanic island: (1) a variable magnetization model that identified the main lateral magnetization contrasts and (2) a constant magnetization model that imaged the main magnetic source by assuming that it was a uniformly magnetized body. The modeling reveals intense magnetizations beneath the northern part of La Gomera, which occupy an important portion of the northern submarine edifice, correspond well with outcrops of the submarine volcano (Basal Complex), and confirm that most of the magnetic signal revealed by aeromagnetic mapping in the Canary Islands is due to the intense magnetizations of the intrusive complexes (plutonic bodies and dike complexes) emplaced during the initial stages of growth of the volcanic edifices. The consistency of our models with the results of a previous gravimetric study suggests that these intrusive complexes are denser and more magnetic than the surrounding rocks. The location of the main magnetic source reinforces the interpretation, first suggested by geological evidence, that the submarine and early subaerial growth of La Gomera started to the north of the present island. The elongated shape of these intrusive complexes with a nearly E‐W strike agrees with the orientation of analogous structures on Tenerife and Gran Canaria, suggesting that the initial formation of the central islands of the Canary Archipelago was controlled by a set of regional fractures in a strike‐slip tectonic framework.