Evaluation of mafic dyke swarm continuity under the Joaquina dune field with ground magnetic survey

ABSTRACT: A ground magnetic survey in a Central-East area of the Santa Catarina Island tested the continuity of the Cretaceous mafic dykes beneath the aeolic sediments of the Joaquina plain. Vertical gradient measurements taken in 1880 stations did not detect any magnetic anomaly related to subsurface dykes. Four magnetic profiles located to the north and south of the main area showed the magnetic signature of various dykes some of them already mapped (north profiles), but also some in subsurface (south profiles). These results suggest that the dykes probably were shallow and truncated, and were already eroded along with the crystalline basement.