Electrical resistivity of the Northern Australian lithosphere: Crustal anisotropy or mantle heterogeneity?

Copyright © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Interpretations of continental magnetotelluric (MT) data are increasingly invoking electrical resistivity anisotropy in the crustal and/or mantle lithosphere, or deeper in the asthenosphere to explain non-uniform responses. In this paper, we show that seven shallow marine (10 000 ω m in the Proterozoic western end of the survey grading to ∼1000 ω m beneath the eastern Australian Phanerozoic. Shear-wave velocity tomographic models show 10% higher velocities beneath the Proterozoic craton compared with Phanerozoic continental lithosphere, suggesting that the variations in resistivity may be due to higher temperatures beneath the eastern side and/or an increased volatile content. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Graham Heinson and Antony Whitehttp://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/503328/description#descriptio