Aeromagnetic surveys in the Aleutian, Marshall, and Bermuda Islands

Abstract

Total‐intensity aeromagnetic surveys of the Aleutian Marshall , and Bermuda Islands were completed in 1948. The anomalies associated with the Aleutian volcanoes are attributed mainly to topographic relief and are not an indication of the degree of volcanic activity. Eniwetok presents a magnetic pattern that would be produced by an irregular‐shaped rimmed depression in the basement, modified by the two adjoining seamounts, and differs from Bikini, whose magnetic features would be produced by a broad seamount with irregular surface relief. The Bermuda survey demonstrated magnetic features typical of volcanic rocks. Comparison of an observed and a theoretical profile computed by Press and Ewing indicates that their assumptions are reasonably correct. The Aleutian Trench survey shows anomalies that are attributed to susceptibility contrasts but none that can be correlated with the trench. A traverse from Adak, Aleutian Islands , to Kwajalein, Marshall Islands , exhibited several large anomalies that are presumed to be caused by susceptibility contrasts but may be indications of uncharted seamounts. Two traverses, one from Cape May, N.J., to Bermuda and the other from Bermuda to Long Island , N.Y., reveal a change in the magnetic field approximately 300 miles from the Atlantic Coast that indicates a possible thinning of the sial and an exposure of sima.