india madagascar paleo fit based on flexural isostasy of their rifted margins the present study contributes new constraints on and definitions of the reconstructed plate margins of india and madagascar based on flexural isostasy along the western continental margin of india wcmi and the eastern continental margin of madagascar ecmm we have estimated the nature of isostasy and crustal geometry along the two margins and have examined their possible conjugate structure here we utilize elastic thickness te and moho depth data as the primary basis for the correlation of these passive margins we employ the flexure inversion technique that operates in spatial domain in order to estimate the spatial variation of effective elastic thickness gravity inversion and flexure inversion techniques are used to estimate the configuration of the moho crust mantle interface that reveals regional correlations with the elastic thickness variations these results correlate well with the continental and oceanic segments of the indian and african plates the present study has found a linear zone of anomalously low te 1 5 km along the wcmi similar to 1680 km which correlates well with the low te patterns obtained all along the ecmm we suggest that the low te zones along the wcmi and ecmm represent paleo rift inception points of lithosphere thermally and mechanically weakened by the combined effects of the marion hotspot and lithospheric extension due to rifting we have produced an india madagascar paleo fit representing the initial phase of separation based on the te estimates of the rifted conjugate margins which is confirmed by a close fit correlation of moho geometry and bathymetry of the shelf margins the matching of tectonic lineaments lithologies and geochronological belts between india and madagascar provide an additional support for the present plate reconstruction c 2014 international association for gondwana research published by elsevier b v all rights reserved

pliocene uplift of the eastern iberian margin inferences from quantitative modelling of the valencia trough we present the results of quantitative modelling of subsidence in the valencia trough and associated uplift in the catalan coastal ranges and the balearic islands basement subsidence moho depth and gravity anomalies are calculated for different effective elastic thicknesses eet and durations of rifting along two profiles constrained by recently collected multichannel seismic and gravity data the tectonic evolution of the catalan coastal ranges cannot be explained with traditional two layer lithospheric stretching models for the valencia trough but is consistent with a thermomechanical model invoking lithospheric necking combined with a late stage uplift event the modelling of the topography of the balearic islands suggests an interaction of extension in the valencia trough with extension in the south balearic basin our study supports a rifting model with low values for the flexural rigidity an intermediate level of necking and one finite duration stretching event propagating from the northeast towards the southwestern part of the valencia trough the modelling provides constraints on the magnitude of a large scale pliocene uplift of the eastern margin of the iberian peninsula

rift flank uplift at the gulf of california no requirement for asthenospheric upwelling continental rifts are commonly flanked by zones of high elevation but the cause of uplift remains controversial proposed uplift mechanisms include active and induced asthenospheric upwelling and isostatically driven lithospheric flexure discrimination between these hypotheses requires close constraint of the timing of rift flank uplift and crustal extension here we focus on the well preserved neogene gulf of california rift the western rift margin is characterized by a prominent east facing kilometer scale escarpment which bounds a west tilted topographically asymmetric rift flank we exploit west draining canyons incised into the rift flank to constrain the timing of uplift to between ca 5 6 and 3 2 ma using 40ar 39ar dating of lavas which show cut and fill relationships to the canyons rift flank uplift closely followed the onset of slip on the principal fault of the loreto rift segment at ca 8 6 ma the age of which we obtain from apatite u th he and fission track thermochronologic analysis of rift escarpment exhumation uplift was therefore coeval with lithospheric rupture and the onset of oceanic spreading between ca 6 and 3 ma but post dates a proposed asthenospheric upwelling event by 8 10 ma the timing of uplift is inconsistent with either active or induced upwelling as uplift mechanisms and we conclude that rift flank uplift was driven by the flexural response to lithospheric unloading

multiple 3 8 3 1 ga tectono magmatic events in a newly discovered area of ancient rocks the shengousi complex anshan north china craton abstract near anshan city in the north china craton the oldest rocks in asia 3300 ma have been thoroughly documented at two localities baijiafen and dongshan in this paper we report the full geological context for more ancient rocks from a third anshan locality the polyphase migmatite shengousi complex shrimp u pb zircon dating indicates a protracted tectono magmatic history for the shengousi complex the oldest recognised component is banded trondhjemitic gneiss 3773 6 ma which is veined by strongly deformed granitic pegmatite these occur with a second generation of trondhjemitic rocks 3454 8 and 3448 9 ma the next generation of plutonic rocks is a composite suite of iron enriched mafic dykes 3332 6 and 3331 8 ma with broadly coeval felsic veins 3311 4 ma finally there was intrusion of monzogranite 3129 6 ma strong deformation has generally brought these 3773 3129 ma plutonic phases into close concordance to form banded rocks however locally cross cutting relationships are preserved in small lower strain domains that give a relative chronology agreeing with the absolute zircon u pb chronology all of this complex history is recorded in a single some of the the 3450 ma igneous phases discovered in the shengousi complex are new ages for igneous rocks in the anshan area the precambrian geology of the anshan area is thus marked by polyphase eoarchaean orthogneisses the newly recognised 3450 ma phases widespread 3360 3300 magmatic activity found in association with mesoarchaean plutonic rocks and the neoarchaean anshan group and palaeoproterozoic liaohe group metasedimentary rocks this shows that the geology of the anshan area has a strong similarity with the narryer gneiss complex of western australia which contains the polyphase eoarchaean meeberrie gneisses the 3490 3440 ma eurada gneiss association 3300 ma granites and migmatisation and is intercalated with younger precambrian metasedimentary rocks of different ages containing hadean detrital zircons no other ancient gneiss complexes in the world show such a close match in their history with the anshan area rocks this means that the anshan area is prospective for locating new occurrences of hadean crustal components intercalated with younger sedimentary rocks

mantle temperature as a control on the time scale of thermal evolution of extensional basins abstract extension of the lithosphere the thermo mechanical boundary layer above the convecting mantle is followed by cooling and subsidence the timescale of oceanic basin subsidence is 100 myr whereas basins of the continental interior often subside continuously for more than 200 myr after rifting using numerical modelling we show how these diverse rifting scenarios are unified when accounting for varying mantle potential temperature at a temperature of 1300 c cooling is plate like with nearly exponential subsidence as observed in oceanic basins at 1200 c subsidence is almost linear and continues for more than 800 myr the longevity of basin subsidence in the continental interior can therefore be explained by variation of mantle temperature an additional cause of the longevity of subsidence is related to the equilibrium thickness of the lithosphere which is increased by the local reduction of heat producing elements due to crustal thinning consequently the thermally mature lithosphere of an extensional basin can be thicker than the surrounding lithosphere this mechanism contributes to additional thermal subsidence compared to the case where the base of the lithosphere is assumed held at a constant depth

a recipe for microcontinent formation accreted slivers of continental margins are common in the geologic record but the processes that lead to their formation are poorly understood we observe an association of plume related microcontinent isolation and subsequent long term asymmetries in oceanic crustal accretion based on four recent examples the seychelles in the indian ocean jan mayen in the norwegian greenland sea and the east tasman plateau and the gilbert seamount complex in the tasman sea these microcontinents formed by rerifting of a young continental margin 25 m y old in the vicinity of a mantle plume stem followed by asymmetric seafloor spreading two dimensional numerical stochastic basin modeling suggests that a yield strength minimum along the landward edge of a rifted margin thermally enhanced by heating from a mantle plume may cause a spreading ridge to jump onto this zone of weakness this action isolates a passive margin segment the association of large igneous provinces and microcontinents should be useful for identifying similar events in the geological record

a physical explanation of the relation between flank uplifts and the breakup unconformity at rifted continental margins rift flank uplifts and the breakup or postrift unconformity are characteristic features of many rifted passive or atlantic type continental margins but are not predicted as primary features of simple lithospheric stretching models the explanations that have been proposed for their origin remain controversial either because they call upon special circumstances or because they are difficult to test plane strain finite element models are used in this paper to explore the dynamics of lithospheric necking during rifting and rupture the results agree with the conceptual interpretation that uplift of the rift boundaries to form flank mountains and uplift of the basin responsible for the breakup unconformity are related consequences of regional isostatic compensation of mass that is redistributed during the necking and rupture phases although the amplitudes of these uplifts depend on the model parameter values the relations between and relative signs of these two effects appear to be fundamental the explanation we propose may have been missed in recent studies because there has been a tendency to concentrate on kinematic stretching models which assume local isostatic equilibrium through out the rifting process such an approach is predicated on the assumption that the lithosphere has an insignificant strength or flexural rigidity during extension which is not true if our explanation is correct

contourite drifts on early passive margins as an indicator of established lithospheric breakup the albian cenomanian breakup sequence bs offshore northwest iberia is mapped described and characterised for the first time in terms of its seismic and depositional facies the interpreted dataset comprises a large grid of regional 2d seismic reflection profiles complemented by industry and odp dsdp borehole data within the bs are observed distinct seismic facies that reflect the presence of a black shales and fine grained turbidites b mass transport deposits mtds and coarse grained turbidites and c contourite drifts borehole data show that these depositional systems developed as mixed carbonate siliciclastic sediments proximally and as organic carbon rich mudstones black shales distally on the northwest iberia margin mtds and turbidites tend to occur on the continental slope frequently in association with large scale olistostromes distally these change into interbedded fine grained turbidites and black shales showing widespread evidence of deep water current activity towards the top of the bs current activity is expressed by intra bs erosional surfaces and sediment drifts the results in this paper are important as they demonstrate that contourite drifts are ubiquitous features in the study area after aptian albian lithospheric breakup therefore we interpret the recognition of contourite drifts in northwest iberia as having significant palaeogeographic implications contourite drifts materialise the onset of important deep water circulation marking the establishment of oceanic gateways between two fully separated continental margins as a corollary we postulate the generation of deep water geostrophic currents to have had significant impact on north atlantic climate and ocean circulation during the albian cenomanian with the record of such impacts being preserved in the contourite drifts analysed in this work

the stratigraphic record of prebreakup geodynamics evidence from the barrow delta offshore northwest australia the structural and stratigraphic evolution of rift basins and passive margins has been widely studied with many analyses demonstrating that delta systems can provide important records of postrift geodynamic processes however the apparent lack of ancient synbreakup delta systems and the paucity of seismic imaging across continent ocean boundaries mean that the transition from continental rifting to oceanic spreading remains poorly understood the early cretaceous barrow group of the north carnarvon basin offshore nw australia was a major deltaic system that formed during the latter stages of continental rifting and represents a rich sedimentary archive documenting uplift subsidence and erosion of the margin we use a regional database of 2 d and 3 d seismic and well data to constrain the internal architecture of the barrow group our results highlight three major depocenters the exmouth and barrow subbasins and southern exmouth plateau overcompaction of pre cretaceous sedimentary rocks in the south carnarvon basin and pervasive reworking of permian and triassic palynomorphs in the offshore barrow group suggests that the onshore south carnarvon basin originally contained a thicker sedimentary succession which was uplifted and eroded prior to breakup backstripping of sedimentary successions encountered in wells in the exmouth plateau depocenter indicates that anomalously rapid tectonic subsidence 0 24 mm yr 1 accommodated barrow group deposition despite evidence for minimal contemporaneous upper crustal extension our results suggest that classic models of uniform extension cannot account for the observations of uplift and subsidence in the north carnarvon basin and may indicate a period of depth dependent extension or dynamic topography preceding breakup

isostatic and dynamic support of high topography on a north atlantic passive margin abstract substantial controversy surrounds the origin of high topography along passive continental margins here we focus on the well documented elevated passive margin in southwestern scandinavia and quantify the relative contributions of crustal isostasy and dynamic topography in controlling the present topography we find that majority of the topography is compensated by the crustal structure suggesting a topographic age that is in accord with the 400 myr old caledonian orogenesis in addition we propose that dynamic uplift of 300 m has rejuvenated existing topography locally in the coastal region over the last 10 myr such uplift combined with a general sea level fall can help explain a variety of observations that have traditionally been interpreted in favor of a peneplain uplift model we conclude that high topography along the scandinavian margin cannot represent remnants of a peneplain uplifted within the last 20 myr the topography must have been high since the caledonian orogeny

intraplate stresses and dynamical aspects of rifted basins abstract intraplate stresses play a important role during the syn and post rift evolution of sedimentary basins deviations from long term thermal patterns of post rift subsidence as well as the development of unconformities within rifted basins reflect to a large extent the temporal fluctuations of the regional stress fields in the lithosphere it appears that incorporation of intraplate stresses in dynamical models for basin development together with a quantification of the role of petrological changes in the crust lithosphere system can explain some of the observed shortcomings of thermal models of post rift basin subsidence late neogene accelerations in tectonic subsidence in the deeper parts of rifted basins in the northern atlantic and mediterranean regions could reflect a change in the level of intraplate stress over large areas of the globe non thermal contributions to the subsidence record affect estimates of crustal extension and consequently influence the depth at which hydrocarbon source rocks enter the maturity window stress induced changes in basement topography have also important consequences for the budget of fluid flow in the deeper parts of the sediment fill of the rifted basins as well as on the dynamics of diapirism

some remarks on the relation between vertical motions of the lithosphere during extension and the necking depth parameter inferred from kinematic modeling studies a well established fact of continental stretching is that during the extension phase the lithosphere retains a finite flexural strength vertical loads caused by the redistribution of material with crustal and mantle densities during lithospheric thinning can therefore be supported by the lithosphere whether these loads cause flexural uplift or subsidence depends on the strength distribution within the continental lithosphere in kinematic model studies stratigraphic and other data acquired in the vicinity of sedimentary basins and passive margins are inverted for these loads in these models vertical rebound loads are parameterized in terms of a necking depth parameter we use thermal mechanical finite element simulations to investigate whether rheological information about the continental lithosphere can be extracted from the necking depth parameter derived from kinematic models we conclude that spatial and temporal variations in necking depths near basin edges and passive margins as derived from our dynamic simulations are not consistent with the uniform and stationary necking depth that is usually assumed in kinematic models this is very important since typically the stratigraphic data used in kinematic model studies are acquired in these regions we therefore conclude that there is no one to one relation between the necking depth parameter and the strength distribution in the lithosphere

scandinavia s north atlantic passive margin 1 the tectonics of the eastern passive margin of the north atlantic are reexamined the scandinavian north atlantic passive margin includes not only the offshore exploration and basin domain but also large portions of the onshore domains of the scandinavian caledonides combined information from structural geology potential field data regional geology basin development and geomorphology made it possible to propose a new definition of the passive margin the rift shoulder is formed by linked faults defining the present rift flank these faults are the extensional structures located furthest to the east onshore norway sweden that can be linked to the rifting that led to the formation of the north atlantic this innermost boundary fault system ibf is formed by a set of normal west dipping crustal faults it extends over a distance exceeding 2000 km from the north sea across the caledonian mountain belt to the barents sea the passive margin width between the continent ocean boundary and the ibf ranges from 550 km in the south to over 700 km in mid norway to 165 km north of lofoten rifting and faulting on the ibf started in permo carboniferous and a succession of rift phases eventually culminated in continental breakup and the formation of the north atlantic basin development between permian and cretaceous was toward the future breakaway fault but faulting was also active on land from mesozoic to present onshore offshore crustal scale cross sections show the geometry of the passive margin the dip orientation of the major faults and the changes in crustal thickness

ion microprobe analysis of graphite from ca 3 8 ga metasediments isua supracrustal belt west greenland relationship between metamorphism and carbon isotopic composition in situ ion microprobe measurements of carbon isotopic compositions of graphite were made in seven metasediments and two carbonate rocks from the ca 3 8 ga isua supracrustal belt west greenland the 13c values of micron scale graphite globules in the metasediments and the carbonate rocks vary from 18 to 2 and from 7 to 3 respectively the maximum 13c value of graphite globules in the metasediment rises from 14 to 5 as the metamorphic grade increases from epidote amphibolite to upper amphibolite facies in a single hand specimen the 13c values of graphite inclusions in garnet are 7 lower on average than those outside garnet similarly graphite armored by quartz apparently shows a few permil lower 13c values than those on grain boundaries between noncarbonate minerals the fact that early crystallized minerals include relatively 13c depleted graphite indicates that the regional metamorphism increased the 13c values of the isua graphite this is consistent with the regional trend of 13c enrichment accompanied by the increase of metamorphic grade the minimum fractionation between graphite and carbonate is consistent with the equilibrium fractionation at about 400 to 550 c these observations indicate that isotopic exchange with isotopically heavy carbonate caused 13c enrichment of isua graphite the 13c values of graphite reported here 13c 18 were produced either as a metamorphic modification of organic carbon with initially much lower 13c values or as an abiological reaction such as decomposition of carbonate if the isotopic exchange between carbonate and graphite during regional metamorphism controlled the 13c enrichment of isua graphite previously reported large 13c depletion of graphite especially armored by apatite mojzsis et al 1996 was probably premetamorphic in origin this supports the existence of life at isua time ca 3 8 ga

polyphase rift evolution of the voring margin mid norway constraints from forward tectonostratigraphic modeling the mid norwegian voring margin bounding the northern atlantic underwent several rift episodes after the caledonian orogeny permo triassic extension concentrated at the eastern inner margin followed by jurassic cretaceous extension at the center of the margin finally more westward the last rift episode led to continental breakup in the earliest eocene although the general architecture of the margin may be clear the timing and distribution of particularly the oldest rift structures are poorly constrained we use two dimensional forward tectonostratigraphic modeling for better quantitative understanding of the tectonic evolution of the margin two regional profiles crossing the margin have been analyzed modeling of the two profiles integrates the basin shape and fill as well as the underlying crustal structure of the margin the modeling allows us 1 to quantify the distribution and timing of extension of subsequent rift episodes 2 to predict the basin and crustal architecture at deep levels and 3 to test different interpretations of the seismic data the level of lithospheric necking during basin formation is constrained by basement topography and moho depth and lies within the middle crust 20 km furthermore we investigate the migration of the rift axes and the elastic lithospheric strength during the different rift episodes locations of previous extension are not reactivated during renewed rifting instead renewed rifting occurs preferentially in regions where the lithosphere has experienced less extension

plate reorganization a cause of rapid late neogene subsidence and sedimentation around the north atlantic subsidence analysis of wells in the central north sea and labrador grand banks and oft the west greenland scotian shelf and united states atlantic margin shows distinct quantitative stratigraphic correlation patterns of circum north atlantic sites a significant departure from the overall decrease in subsidence for the pliocene occurs in many wells when the rate is found to have increased one or more orders of magnitude from oligocence miocene rates wells were selected along transects from shore to basin to find if relative basin position is influenced by differential basin subsidence although stratigraphic resolution is not detailed more basinward sites experienced up to four times larger subsidence rates in the late neogene than in the oligocene miocene with a peak in the pliocene wells at the basin edge experienced much less subsidence or showed uplift the observations are consistent with a rapid change of intraplate stress at the cause for this observed transition in neogene subsidence major reorganizations of spreading direction and rate occurred during the pliocene along the entire atlantic spreading system possibly in conjunction with more global changes in plate motions we propose that the associated changes in intraplate stress caused the excess margin subsidence relative uplift along basin edges is consistent with this mechanism of relative movement and may explain apparent eustatic changes in sea level

lithospheric strength and rift migration controls on synrift stratigraphy and breakup unconformities at rifted margins examples from numerical models the atlantic and south china sea margins synrift stratigraphy and the distribution of breakup related erosional unconformities vary vastly between passive margins and cannot be explained by classical rifting models here we use numerical modeling to predict their spatiotemporal distribution we show that synrift stratigraphy mimics rift architecture which is controlled by lithospheric strength basinward rift migration during extension produces 1 oceanward younging syntectonic and posttectonic sequences 2 rift migration unconformities rmus predating breakup and 3 a breakup unconformity bu that only extends over the outermost margins since breakup is not linked with a sudden stress drop with small synrift sedimentation the rmus and bu laterally merge to form a margin wide unconformity in symmetric wide conjugate margins which arise for weak lithospheres such as the south china sea a long phase of distributed deformation with little subsidence results in early synrift sediment over most of the margins rmus merge into a single event that marks the subsequent focusing of deformation into a narrow breakup area which experiences short lived intense thinning and subsidence in asymmetric conjugate margins lateral rift migration transports shallowly deposited early synrift sediments from the narrow to the wide hyperextended margin leading to a condensed syntectonic sequence and a single bu in the narrow margin and a series of rmus in the wide one for very weak lower crusts lateral rift migration generates large synrift sag basins in the wide margin as in angola and congo margins our models resemble the observed margins tectonic diversity and may be used as templates for interpreting their distal unexplored areas

dynamic interactions between the gulf of guinea passive margin and the congo river drainage basin 2 isostasy and uplift 1 the gulf of guinea continental margin is paralleled by a coastal relief that isolates the congo drainage basin and can play a subsequent role in interactions between margin deposits and continental denudation migration of depocenters from the ogooe and kwanza rivers to the congo fan in the oligocene low present day sediment delivery or pleistocene submarine channels instabilities are possible evidences for this interaction in order to test this hypothesis we examine successively margin isostasy regional uplift erosional unloading and flexural bulge created by sediment loads satellite free air gravity and two dimensional thermomechanical modeling including depth of necking are used to determine the structure of continental margin and strength conditions for two selected sections across south gabon and congo fan both verify similar conditions for extension geometry depth of necking 10 20 km and strength equivalent elastic thickness of 20 30 km differences in observed gravity are explained mainly by differences in sediment volumes regional uplift during miocene of at least 450 m is attributed for both continent and margin as evidenced by the elevated base level of the congo drainage basin and the uplift of shelf break and coastal plains topography corrected for regional uplift valley erosion below relics surfaces and corresponding erosion unloading has been determined as a proxy of oligocene topography it shows a typical rift shoulder topography isolating congo drainage basin from margin in such conditions small amplitude flexural uplift related to sediment loads can possibly have negative feedbacks for both oligocene and present time

the effect of rift shoulder erosion on stratal patterns at passive margins implications for sequence stratigraphy abstract numerical modelling indicates that the erosion of uplifted rift flanks at passive margins has a profound effect on offshore stratigraphic patterns flexural uplift due to isostatic rebound in response to erosion extends far into the basin and causes uplift of the shelf as a result the contemporaneously deposited sedimentary wedge displays a characteristic offlap pattern when the rift shoulder is largely eroded onlap promoting mechanisms related to cooling of the lithosphere enable sediments to onlap onto the basin margin the initial offlapping and subsequent onlapping strata form one complete second order depositional sequence comprising a shelf margin transgressive and highstand systems tract the modelling inferences are in broad agreement with stratal patterns and basin geometries observed on the u s east coast the southeastern brazilian and southeastern australian passive margins and the transantarctic mountains ross sea shelf system the initial offlaps caused by erosion of rift shoulders have important implications for the deriviation of eustatic signals from coastal onlap patterns

geodynamics of rifting and implications for hydrocarbon habitat abstract rifting activity is probably mainly governed by frictional forces exerted on the base of the lithosphere by the convecting sub lithospheric upper mantle combined with deviatoric tensional stresses developing over upwelling branches of the asthenospheric convection system and by far filed stresses controlling the interaction of lithospheric plates moving relative to each other mantle plumes rising from the deep mantle do not appear to be a major driving force of rifting therefore it is questioned whether a distinction between active and passive rifts is still justified lithospheric extension triggers by decompression partial melting of the lower lithosphere and upper asthenosphere magmatic processes contribute materially to thinning of the subcrustal lithosphere and probably also of the lower crust this could explain the frequently observed discrepancy between upper crustal extension by faulting and lower crustal attenuation as defined by refraction and deep reflection seismic data the duration of the rifting stage of palaeorifts and passive margins is highly variable depending on plate interaction crustal separation can be achieved after as little as 7 ma and as much as 280 ma of rifting activity the availability of crustal discontinuities does not appear to play a significant role in the time required for crustal separation to be achieved the structural style of rifts is controlled by the physical state of the lithosphere the mode and amount of its extension and the lithological composition of pre and syn rift sediments subsidence of rift basins is controlled by the balance between isostatic adjustment of the crust to lithospheric stretching and uplift induced by mechanical and thermal attenuation of the subcrustal lithosphere post rift basin subsidence is mainly governed by the decay of rift induced thermal anomalies densification of the lower crust and intra plate stresses provide overprinting effects in view of this it is unlikely that quantitative analyses of post rift basin subsidence give a direct measure of lithospheric extension tectonically active rifts palaeorifts and passive margin basins contain major hydrocarbon provinces their hydrocarbon charge can rely exclusively on pre rift syn rift or post rift sedimentary sequences or a combination thereof maturation of source rocks can be achieved during the syn and or post rift stage of basin evolution during rifting conductive and convective heat transfer accounts for elevated geothermal gradients these play an important role in the maturation of pre and syn rift source rocks thermal gradients decrease asymptotically during the post rift stage

western versus eastern black sea tectonic evolution pre rift lithospheric controls on basin formation abstract we demonstrate the key role of pre rift rheology on the kinematics of basin formation in the western and eastern black sea basins constraints on modelling results are provided by a large data set based on more than 50 000 km of multichannel seismics offshore and onshore wells regional gravity and magnetic surveys refraction seismics and field studies the model supports the presence of important differences in the thickness and in the thermal state of the lithosphere which rifted to form the western middle barremian and the eastern middle paleocene black sea subbasins a 200 km and a 80 km thick pre rift lithosphere appear to have driven the deformation in the western and in the eastern black sea respectively differences in the geometry and in the mechanical properties of the pre rift lithosphere have a strong control on the depth of necking and thus on the basin morphology the model sheds light on palaeotectonic and palaeogeographic reconstructions duration of rifting events location of subsiding areas and erosional surfaces the western and the eastern parts of the black sea appear to be two distinct basins characterised by different evolutionary paths determined by different pre rift conditions

postextensional mantle healing and episodic extension in the canning basin regions of the lithosphere that undergo finite crustal extension but are subsequently allowed to thermally relax during a period of reduced tectonic activity may become regions of relative strength and therefore resist any further extension the strengthening is a consequence of the temperature dependence of rock rheology and the local thinning of the crust bringing strong upper mantle olivine rich rocks closer to the surface where they replace weaker lower crustal plagioclase feldspar amphibole bearing rocks this concept which i call postextensional mantle healing is illustrated by the predictions of a numerical model although the model is based on the results of rock testing in the laboratory the results do not depend on a particular choice of creep parameters for the lower crust the palaeozoic tectonic history of the canning basin northwestern australia is characterized by a series of extensional episodes separated by periods of relative quiescence in this paper i suggest that postextensional mantle healing is responsible for the continuous shifting through time of tectonic activity between the several major depocenters the tectonic development of the east african rift system follows a scenario similar to that of the canning basin extensional structures inherited from two bursts of extension in the early mesozoic and cretaceous have not been reactivated during the tertiary rifting which is responsible for the present day rift morphology

introduction to special issue on integrated basin studies ibs a european commission dgxii project this issue contains papers issued from the integrated basin studies project ibs which is part of a larger program of the european commission dgxii entitled geosciences ii the ibs project ec contract jou2 ct92 0110 originated in geosciences consultation meetings the first of them being held in strasbourg in june 1989 under the auspices of mr hubert curien former french minister for research and technology and the subsequent meeting being held in brussels these consultation meetings have resulted in the conclusion that a main axis of future research in geosciences should be the study of sedimentary basins upstream of industrial activities mainly the oil and gas industry but also water resources management the mining industry the storage of undesirable products and coastal engineering they also resulted in the conclusion that future research on sedimentary basins should fulfill two requirements integration of disciplines and modelling such a conclusion may now seem trivial but was not so generally accepted at that time in this spirit the ibs project was designed to provide the oil and gas industry with a new generation of models for basin formation basin evolution and basin fill architecture from basin scale to reservoir scale its main objectives are the linkage of crust thermomechanical behaviour to basin formation and deformation mechanics and the corresponding modelling the quantification of tectonic control on the sedimentary record and the analysis of compaction and mass and heat transfer the ibs strategy is to link subsurface data to field data and an important part of the project is devoted to thematic field studies in european sedimentary basins of different tectonic styles taken as natural laboratories basin research has gone through a rapid evolution during the last decade in particular through the development of new acquisition and processing methods for seismic data and advances in drilling technology modelling provides an important tool to analyse different aspects of basin formation processes and find their tectonic expression in the basin fill the need for 3 d modelling techniques and models capable of linking processes operating on basinwide to subbasin scales is increasingly recognized and a significant effort has been made in the ibs project to develop a new generation of basin formation models coping with these needs see also cloetingh et al 1993a van wees and cloetingh 1994 as many data required to test these models reside in industrial companies ibs has promoted a closer link between academic research and basin studies carried out by industry the participation of the petroleum industry has been vital in this project and ibs has been able to establish a well functioning system of cooperation that not only facilitated data access but most important guaranteed the suitability of the end products of the project this has led to an intensive exchange of modelling concepts and data sets between industry and academia the ibs project has also used extensively the international lithosphere program task force origin of sedimentary basins see cloetingh sassi and task force team 1994 cloetingh et al 1993a b 1994 to implement planning and to discuss preliminary results it also builds partly on joint research through the european commission tempus and peco programs on pannonian basin studies horvath 1993 van balen and cloetingh 1995 van balen et al 1995 horvath and cloetingh 1995 a stimulating aspect of the activity of the ibs group is the creation of a research network in the corresponding field of knowledge which comprises now 30 teams belonging to eight european countries england france germany hungary norway spain switzerland and the netherlands this demonstrates the capacity of the procedures used by the dgxii of the european community to formulate a really european research space phd students and young researchers form an important component of the research groups

evolution of pinch and swell structures in a power law layer analytical and finite element fem solutions for the necking of a single power law layer up to large finite amplitude are obtained continuous necking of the layer produces pinch and swell structures the layer is either a free plate or embedded in a homogeneous medium an analytical solution for finite amplitude necking based on the assumption that plane sections remain plane psrp agrees well with the fem result for a layer power law stress exponent n 5 and for a ratio of layer to medium effective viscosities m 100 fem simulations for embedded layers verify that psrp for m 20 the presented numerical experiments generate localized necking and pinch and swell structures similar to natural ones for n 5 and m 20 additional weakening mechanisms such as strain softening although likely to be operative in nature are not required to generate natural pinch and swell structures fem experiments with random perturbation of the layer interfaces show that even with strong necking instability the layer is thinned at the swell as well as at the necks affecting strain estimation from pinch and swell geometry 2008 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

the diversity of tectonics from fluid dynamical modeling of the lithosphere mantle system abstract numerical modeling of the lithosphere has been carried out from many points of view most popular and prevalent is the use of the kinematic boundary conditions to move the lithosphere about in the dynamics we have approached the numerical modeling of the lithosphere mantle system by treating this as a fluid dynamical system in which crustal and mantle rheologies and thermal and compositional buoyant forces play dominant roles in delivering the dynamics in a self consistent manner we have investigated the development of extensional and compressional tectonic regimes from variations of the crustal density and compare their temporal evolutions in comparing with kinematically driven thickening of the lithosphere we find that the timescales are more self consistently determined in a full fluid dynamical treatment than in kinematic models we emphasize the delicate nature of balancing the chemical buoyancy of the crust with the thermal negative buoyancy of the mantle lithosphere as the modes and associated timescales of the delamination process are controlled critically by their relative importance the role of an actively participating buoyant crust cannot by ignored in the overall lithosphere mantle dynamics

two dimensional inverse modeling of sedimentary basin subsidence recently developed mathematical models of subsidence in extensional basins provide a good basis for forward modeling however the large number of parameters to be specified by the user makes it difficult not only to do the modeling itself but also to judge the meaning of the results we present a new method for automatic searching of the best fitting parameter set of a 2d basin formation model weighted goal functions are used in the minimization process by the inverse problem solver algorithm the nominal parameter set in the present case includes profiles of the crustal and subcrustal thinning factors and the level of lithosphere necking the method was tested on synthetic data with parameters that were perturbed beforehand with some restrictions the algorithms are capable of resolving such perturbations the inversion technique has been applied to two profiles crossing the dnieper donets basin ukraine the crustal thinning factors obtained argue for a scissors like style of basin opening high subcrustal thinning values are necessary in order to explain the abnormally thick carboniferous section in the basin these values should be treated as cumulative ones due to the currently unresolvable influence of other rifting related processes particularly phase transitions

dynamics of intracontinental extension in the north baikal rift from two dimensional numerical deformation modeling we model the recent deformation along a lithospheric scale cross section perpendicular to the northern part of the baikal rift zone brz with two dimensional finite element models using realistic lithospheric structure and rheological properties and imposing extension as a far field boundary condition we find a model that matches reasonably well the topography observed deformation pattern gravity anomalies and age of formation of the northern brz our results suggest that 1 extensional strain can occur away from the main rift basin in the sayan baikal range and create depending on the rheological properties of the lithosphere a large off rift basin analogous to the barguzin basin or a series of basins and ranges as observed in the southern part of the sayan baikal range 2 anelasticity plays a major role by participating in the uplift of rift shoulders and hanging wall deformation and allowing the subsidence and tilting of the hanging wall along high angle planar normal faults 3 the lower crust accommodates differential strain between the brittle upper crust and upper mantle by horizontal shear and lateral flow towards the regions of crustal and mantle thinning 4 far field extensional stress and a lithospheric discontinuity inherited from paleozoic tectonic events are sufficient to initiate rifting and basin subsidence and 5 there is no or very little dynamic contribution of a hypothetic asthenospheric plume under the brz at least in the recent phase of its evolution fast rifting stage 3 5 myr

origin and paleogeography of an immense nonmarine miocene salt deposit in the basin and range western usa this is the publisher s version which is also available electronically from http www jstor org stable 30079883

the role of rheology in extensional basin formation modelling the rheology of the lithosphere determines its deformation under given initial and boundary conditions this paper presents a critical discussion on how rheological properties are taken into account in extensional basin modelling since strength envelopes are often used in models we review the uncertainties in temperature and rheological parameters and assumptions in type of rheology and mode of deformation involved in their construction models of extensional basins are classified into three groups kinematic kinematic with rheological constraints and dynamic rheology enters kinematic models only implicitly in the assumption of an isostatic compensation mechanism we show that there is a critical level of necking that reconciles local isostasy with the finite strength of the lithosphere which requires a flexural response kinematic models with rheological constraints make use of strength envelopes to assess the initial lateral variations of lithospheric strength and its evolution with time at the site of extension dynamic models are the only ones to explicitly introduce rheological constitutive equations usually in plane strain or plane stress they usually however require the presence of an initial perturbation thickness variations pre existing faults thermal inhomogeneities rheological inhomogeneities the mechanical boundary conditions kinematic and dynamic and the thermal boundary conditions constant temperature or constant heat flux at the lower boundary of the lithosphere may result in negative positive feedbacks leading to cessation acceleration of extension we conclude that while kinematic models with rheological constraints if possible are very successful in accounting for the observed characteristics of sedimentary basins dynamic models are necessary to gain insight into the physical processes underlying basin formation and evolution

relationship between deeper lithospheric processes and near surface tectonics of sedimentary basins interactions between upper lithosphere deformation as manifested in the structure and evolution of sedimentary basins and lower lithospheric deformation presumably reflect large scale regional or global tectonic events we review the current state of knowledge regarding these interactions and suggest areas of research which may lead to an improvement in this knowledge understanding the development of sedimentary basins requires insight into the processes responsible both for basin subsidence and also for distribution and preservation of sediments within the basins while some classes of basins are better understood than others there remain significant gaps both in our ability to account for available data and also in the data available to test current models and develop new ones subsidence in some classes of basins can be related to lithospheric scale processes occurring as part of the overall plate tectonic paradigm for example it is widely accepted that passive margin basins subside as a result of lithospheric extension mckenzie 1978 and that foreland basins are flexural consequences of collision between a continent and outboard terranes beaumont 1981 on the other hand models for the origin of intracratonic forearc and trans tensional basins are essentially still at cartoon level involving processes that are difficult to quantify and evaluate in the following we review a number of fundamental questions of vital interest for understanding of the relationship between deeper lithospheric processes and near surface tectonics

a new multilayered model for intraplate stress induced differential subsidence of faulted lithosphere applied to rifted basins in plane horizontal stresses acting on predeformed lithosphere induce differential flexural vertical motions a high precision record of these motions can be found in the sedimentary record of rifted basins originally it was proposed that rifted basins experience flank uplift and basin center subsidence in response to a compressive change of in plane stress which agrees well with observed differential motions subsequently published models predicted that the vertical motions may be opposite because of the flexural state of the lithosphere induced by necking during extension however the total flexural and permanent geometry of the lithosphere underlying the rifted basin is the controlling parameter for the in plane stress caused vertical motions the largest part of this preexisting geometry is caused by faulting in the uppermost brittle part of the crust and ductile deformation in the underlying parts of the lithosphere we present a new multilayered model for stress induced differential subsidence taking into account the technically induced preexisting geometry of the lithosphere including faults in the upper crust as continental lithosphere may exhibit flexural decoupling due to a weak lower crustal layer the new multilayer in plane stress model discriminates the geometries of the separate competent layers at a basin wide scale the new model predicts that a compressive change of in plane force results in basin center subsidence and flank uplift confirming the original hypothesis compared to all previous models the new model requires a lower horizontal stress level change to explain observed differential vertical motions

thermo mechanical modeling of the tyrrhenian sea lithospheric necking and kinematics of rifting we present the results of quantitative forward modeling of the sardinian rifted margin of the tyrrhenian sea the purpose of this study is to investigate the thermo mechanical structure that affects the thinning of the lithosphere across the margin the role of lithospheric necking during basin formation constrained by basement topography moho depth and gravity anomalies is modeled for different compensation models independent constraints are obtained from the analysis of the predicted thermal structure a deep level of necking 25 km is required to explain the observed crustal geometries and gravity anomaly signature the model predicts spatial and temporal variations in rheology during extension with important implications for kinematics of lithospheric thinning prerift lithospheric conditions strain rate and temperature during extension appear to be the key controls on the style of lithospheric rifting and necking in the tyrrhenian sea a forward model for basin stratigraphy is presented for the polyphase history of the tyrrhenian rifting this model provides quantitative estimates of time space dependent crustal thinning and rates of extension

3800 to 2500 ma crustal evolution in the anshan area of liaoning province northeastern china shrimp u pb zircon geochronology has revealed several generations of granitoids and gneisses from the anshan area of northeastern china two samples of the baijiafen granite sensu lato 3804 5 and 3812 4 ma chentaigou granite 3306 13 ma lishan granite 3142 7 ma east and west anshan granites 3001 4 and 2994 8 ma tiejiashan granite 2962 4 and 2964 6 ma and qidashan granite 2475 ma the 3800 ma baijiafen granite consists of banded migmatitic trondhjemitic gneisses and forms only a small part of the area nonetheless they are the oldest known rocks in asia and are one of very few locations in the world where rocks of this antiquity have been found the younger suites are predominantly granite sensu stricto in composition and although foliated they have not been transformed into banded gneisses nd isotopic data suggest that the 3800 ma granites were produced at least in part by remelting of very ancient lree enriched sources perhaps like the exposed remnants of the 3800 ma rocks the chentaigou supracrustals contain layered mafic and ultramafic rocks banded iron formation bif and siliceous layered rocks of probable volcanogenic origin a sample of the latter has yielded a concordant u pb zircon age of 3362 5 ma interpreted as the age of deposition a trondhjemitic sheet cutting these rocks has yielded a u pb zircon age of 3342 6 ma the chentaigou supracrustals are the oldest recognised in the area younger supracrustal sequences collectively known as the anshan group contains the main economic bif units in the area bif is intruded by the 2475 ma qidashan granite indicating that the anshan group is archaean or earliest proterozoic in age

effect of lithospheric geometry on rift valley relief 1 continental and mid oceanic rifts commonly show a rift valley bounded by normal faults and uplifted shoulders in this paper we numerically model the evolution of rift valley relief in a notched brittle lithosphere results show that the rift valley has a maximum valley relief which is controlled by the competition between isostasy and lithospheric geometry if the axial lithosphere is much thinner than the flanking lithosphere the isostatic force will break outward dipping faults on the axis and stop the deepening of the rift valley we call this the axial failure mode on the other hand if the thickness of axial lithosphere is close to that of the flanks flexural bending will break new faults on the flanks and stop the valley deepening we call this the flanking failure mode triggering of either mode gives the maximum valley depth and the selection is controlled by the interplay between isostasy and lithospheric geometry on the basis of these mechanisms we propose a scaling equation that relates the maximum valley depth to the geometry flanking thickness axial thickness and notch width and strength friction angle and cohesion of the lithosphere the model explains along axis variation of valley relief at mid oceanic ridges by changes of the axial lithosphere thickness

the scotian basin offshore nova scotia thermal history and provenance of sandstones from apatite fission track and 40ar 39ar data apatite fission track and 40ar 39ar age spectrum data from sandstone drill core minerals taken from depths of 2 5 km in nine wells from the scotian basin are presented and interpreted in terms of the thermal history of the basin and the provenance of its sediments the focus of the study is a comparison of the data from these thermochronometers with each other and with previously published vitrinite reflectance and aromatization isomerization a i reactions in biomarker compounds from the same or nearby wells apatite fission track ages are generally in agreement with expectations in that they trend to zero at a depth of 4 km corrected bottom hole temperature 120 c shallower lower present temperature samples are partially annealed the degree of partial annealing correlates closely with the degree of a i reactions both thermal indicators are activated over the temperature range 60 120 c samples from two wells mic mac j 77 and erie d 26 are anomalous they are more annealed than present formati

numerical simulation of rifting in the northern viking graben the mutual effect of modelling parameters numerous basin modelling studies have been performed on the viking graben in the northern north sea during the past decades in order to understand the driving mechanisms for basin evolution and palaeo temperature estimations in such modelling it is important to include lithospheric flexure the values derived for the lithospheric strength by these studies vary considerably i e up to a factor of 30 in this study which is based on new interpretation of a regional transect we show that both the estimated value of the effective elastic thickness and the derived b profile are dependent on the assumed value of the depth of necking the use of models that implicitly set the level of necking at a depth of 0 km generally leads to an underestimation of the lithospheric strength and an overestimation of the thinning factors in the northern viking graben a necking depth at intermediate crustal levels gives results comparable to the observations extension by faulting is modelled to be a significant factor in conclusion rifting in the northern viking graben can be explained with various models of effective elastic thicknesses eet varying from 1 km for a zero necking depth to the depth of the 450 jc isotherm for an intermediate level of necking it is also shown that the development of the basin during the post rift phase cannot be explained by pure shear simple shear extension two mechanisms are proposed here to explain the post rift subsidence pattern namely intra plate stress and phase boundary migration the two extreme models for eet mentioned above 1 km for a zero necking depth to the depth of the 450 jc isotherm for an intermediate level of necking give very different responses to compressional stress the latter gives basically no response for realistic intra plate stress d 2004 elsevier b v all rights reserved

the effects of the spinel garnet phase transition on the formation of rifted sedimentary basins summary we have examined the effects of the spinel garnet phase transition on subsidence of extensional sedimentary basins for a constant positive clapeyron slope dp dt the phase boundary moves downwards in the syn rift and upwards in the post rift phase for a non linear clapeyron curve dp dt 0 above 900 c and dp dt 0 below 900 c theory predicts for the reaction of the spinel garnet phase transition the direction of phase boundary movement is dependent on the stretching factor the position of the clapeyron curve and the lithospheric thickness a smaller syn rift and larger post rift subsidence are predicted for a deeper phase boundary and a thicker lithosphere the model with a non linear clapeyron curve is applied to the subsidence histories of a young extensional basin gulf of lion and an old continental margin eastern canada the observed syn rift uplift and the larger post rift subsidence can be reasonably explained by this model where the optimum depth of the phase boundary for eastern canada 90 km is consistent with the estimate from seismic observations and is larger than that for the gulf of lion 50 km the depth of the spinel garnet phase boundary is sensitive to the composition of mantle rocks and increases with the extraction of basaltic components from the lithosphere compatible with our result that the phase boundary is deeper for an older and thicker lithosphere thus the surface movement associated with the rifting for these areas may reflect the chemical evolution of the continental lithosphere

structural controls on sedimentary basin evolution introduction this volume contains a collection of papers on structural controls on sedimentary basin evolution presented at the sixth annual workshop of the international lithosphere program task force origin of sedimentary basins in sitges at the rim of the ebro basin september 1995 previous workshops of the ilp task force had been in rueil malmaison france 1990 in matrahaza hungary 1991 on the rim of the pannonian basin in sundvollen norway 1992 in the oslo graben in benevento italy 1993 in the southern apennines fold andthrust belt and in the dead sea rift of israel 1994 the task force also organized a number of sessions during the 1992 and 1996 european geophysical society and the 1993 and 1995 european union of geosciences conferences reports of these meetings have been published in a number of special volumes and papers cloetingh et al 1993a b 1994 1995a b 1996 stephenson 1993 stephenson et al 1996 a position paper cloetingh sassi and task force team 1994 published in m a r i n e a n d p e t r o l e u m geo logy has outlined the task force strategy to pursue the development of a new generation of basin models using natural laboratories with high quality data sets obtained through close partnership with industry the 7th task force workshop was held on the faroe islands northern atlantic in 1996 with the aim of examining the dynamics of rifting

uplift history of a transform continental margin revealed by the stratigraphic record the case of the agulhas transform margin along the southern african plateau the south and southeast coast of southern africa from 28 s to 33 s forms a high elevated transform passive margin bounded to the east by the agulhas falkland fracture zone affz we analysed the stratigraphic record of the outeniqua and durban thekwini basins located on the african side of the affz to determine the evolution of these margins from the rifting stage to present day the goal was to reconstruct the strike slip evolution of the agulhas margin and the uplift of the inland high elevation south african plateau the agulhas transform passive margin results from four successive stages 1 rifting stage from late triassic to early cretaceous 200 134 ma punctuated by three successive rifting episodes related to the gondwana breakup 2 wrench stage 134 131 ma evidenced by strike and dip slip deformations increasing toward the affz 3 active transform margin stage 131 92 ma during which the falkland malvinas plateau drifts away along the affz with an uplift of the northeastern part of the outeniqua basin progressively migrating toward the west 4 thermal subsidence stage 92 0 ma marked by a major change in the configuration of the margin onset of the shelf break passive margin morphology two main periods of uplift were documented during the thermal subsidence stage of the agulhas margin 1 a 92 ma short lived margin scale uplift followed by a second one at 76 ma located along the outeniqua basin and 2 a long lasting uplift from 40 to 15 ma limited to the durban thekwini basin this suggests that the south african plateau is an old upper cretaceous relief 90 70 ma reactivated during late eocene to early miocene times 40 15 ma

seismic expression and geological significance of a lacustrine delta in neogene deposits of the western snake river plain idaho high resolution seismic reflection profiles and well data from the western snake river plain basin are used to identify a buried lacustrine delta system within neogene idaho group sediments near caldwell idaho the delta system is detected 305 m 1000 ft deep near the center of the basin by progradational clinoform reflections having dips of 2 5 a slope typical of prodelta surfaces of modern lacustrine delta systems the prodelta slope relief corrected for compaction indicates the delta system prograded northwestward into a lake basin 255 m 837 ft deep resistivity logs in the prodelta mud and clay facies are characterized by gradual upward increase in resistivity and grain size over a thickness of about 100 m 300 ft lithology of the prodelta is mostly c lcareous claystone with several layers of fine sand some of which fine upward indicating a density flow mechanism of transport and deposition delta plain and front sediments are mostly very fine grained well sorted sand separated by thin mud layers these sediments produce several to five cycles of horizontal high amplitude reflections with a toplap relationship to prodelta clinoforms the sands have an abrupt lower contact with prodelta muds and have high resistivity on logs in this study permeable lacustrine sands within a predominantly mud and clay section are located by using high resolution seismic reflection data identification of a delta system in the idaho group provides insight into the history of pliocene lake idaho the present depth of the delta prodelta facies contact of 305 m 1000 ft is 445 to 575 m 1460 1900 ft below the lake deposits on the margins estimated subsidence from compaction is 220 m 656 ft and the remaining 225 to 325 m 740 1066 ft is attributed to tectonic downwarping and faulting the original lake area had been reduced to one third of the original 13 000 km2 5000 mi2 by the time the delta front prograded to the caldwell area the original lake area may have been sufficient to evaporate most of the inflow and the lake may have only occasionally spilled into other basins diminished area for evaporation later in the history of the lake combined with reduced evaporation accompanying onset of the ice ages may have caused the lake to rise and overtop a basin sill about 2 ma and subsequently deepen hells canyon

apatite fission track results from ireland and the porcupine basin and their significance for the evolution of the north atlantic abstract apatite fission track analysis was applied to samples from the irish mainland and exploration boreholes 13 3 1 26 26 1 and 26 28 1 in the northern porcupine and donegal basins to study the regional thermal and tectonic history of the irish continental margin samples from the irish mainland have apatite ages ranging from 301 25 to 56 5 ma with mean track lengths in the range 13 89 0 25 to 11 19 0 22 m and indicate higher temperatures during the middle jurassic about 160 180 ma and during the late cretaceous to early tertiary about 50 80 ma these two periods of increased palaeotemperatures correlate with major reorganizations in plate movements and suggest that uplift and erosion after the maximum palaeotemperatures was achieved as a consequence of a variation in the regional pattern of crustal stress the results from borehole 26 28 1 indicate that within the resolution of the data all samples are presently at their maximum post depositional burial temperatures to produce the mean track length results in the range 11 24 0 49 to 11 81 0 20 m from borehole 26 26 1 it is necessary to invoke post palaeocene geothermal gradients in excess of 50 c km increased relative to the present day gradient 28 c km similar increased geothermal gradients are recognized during the early tertiary in adjacent sedimentary basins and may be explained as a result of heat advection by gravity driven fluid flow established in response to tectonic uplift of the basin margins

evolution of the south china sea revised ages for breakup and seafloor spreading abstract the continental breakup which gave way to the formation of the oceanic south china sea scs basin began in the latest cretaceous in the northeastern scs and propagated in southern and western direction over a long period of time possibly more than 40 m y the seafloor spreading history of the south china sea has been interpreted in different ways in the past and the debate over the correct timing of the major tectonic events continues we review the different models that have been published and present a revised interpretation of seafloor spreading anomalies based on three datasets with documented high quality which cover all of the scs but the northernmost and southernmost parts we can precisely date the onset of seafloor spreading in the central part of the scs at 32 ma after a ridge jump at 25 ma spreading also began in the southwestern sub basin and spreading ended at 20 5 ma in the entire basin followed by a phase of magmatic seamount formation mainly along the abandoned spreading ridge spreading rates vary from 56 mm yr in the early stages to 72 mm yr after the ridge jump to 80 mm yr in the southwestern sub basin we find indications for a stepwise propagation of the seafloor spreading from northeast to southwest in segments bounded by major fracture zones seafloor spreading ended abruptly probably because the subduction zone along the eastern and southern boundary of the scs of which today the manila trench remains was blocked by collision with a continental fragment possibly the northern part of palawan or a part of the dangerous grounds

transform margins development controls and petroleum systems an introduction this paper provides an overview of the existing knowledge of transform margins including their dynamic development kinematic development structural architecture and thermal regime together with the factors controlling these this systematic knowledge is used for describing predictive models of various petroleum system concept elements such as source rock seal rock and reservoir rock distribution expulsion timing trapping style and timing and migration patterns the paper then introduces individual contributions to this volume and their focus supplementary material location table and map of specific transform examples structural elements of the romanche transform margin and glossary of terms used in this article is available at https doi org 10 6084 m9 figshare c 3276407 gold open access this article is published under the terms of the cc by 3 0 license this volume shows dynamic linkage between new transform margin research and increasing transform margin exploration it offers a critical set of predictive tools via an understanding of the mechanisms involved in the development of play concept elements at transform margins and their controlling factors our introduction to this volume reviews the current knowledge of the transform margins focusing on their dynamic development kinematic development structural architecture thermal regimes and petroleum systems the last part of this paper introduces the contributions to this volume

the role of pre existing faults in basin evolution constraints from 2d finite element and 3d flexure models the lithospheric driving forces which cause intraplate basin deformation are relatively constant over large areas consequently lateral variations in deformation and stress and strain concentrations seem to be primarily caused by pre existing heterogenities in the rheological signature of the continental lithosphere underlying the sedimentary basins in this paper we explore the weak character of upper crustal faults and their control on basin shape for a number of case studies on intraplate phanerozoic basin settings using a 2d finite element and a 3d flexure model of key importance is the integration of seismic data and field observations with the tectonic modelling allowing the investigation of deformation processes and their expressions on different scales operating on different levels of the lithosphere finite element models for sub basin scales incorporating weak upper crustal faults predict strong control of these weak zones on local stress distributions and subsequent deformation in agreement with observed deformation patterns slip along upper crustal faults control stress distribution and subsequent faulting in overlying sedimentary rocks the effect of weak upper crustal fault movements on basin wide regional upper crustal flexure is looked at in two case studies on 1 extensional tectonics in the lake tanganyika rift zone east africa and 2 compressional tectonics in the central system and tajo basin central spain both settings indicate that basement warpings are controlled by large amounts of slip along so called weak crustal scale border faults which are mostly planar adopting border fault displacements in the 3d flexure model the results indicate low effective elastic thickness eet values in a range of 3 7 km for induced basement deflection patterns in accordance with observations the low eet values most likely reflect a partly decoupling of upper crustal and subcrustal deformation facilitated by the weak lower crust and in agreement with standard rheological assumptions for phanerozoic lithosphere in contrast the inferred weakness of upper crustal faults relative to surrounding rock is not evident from uniform rheological assumptions however observations of reactivations of faults which are not preferably aligned with the stress field and reactivations of basin deformation on long time scales are in support of this feature

recent mafic volcanism on mars the evidence for volcanism on mars is commonly accepted but none has been documented in the valles marineris equatorial rift system a recent survey of the troughs in this valley revealed dark patches that are interpreted to be volcanic vents the configuration and association of these patches with tectonic structures suggest that they are of internal origin their albedo and color ratios indicate a mafic composition and their stratigraphic position crispness of morphologic detail and low albedo imply that they are young perhaps even recent

the influence of rifting on escarpment migration on high elevation passive continental margins 1 using numerical models that couple surface processes flexural isostasy faulting and the thermal effects of rifting we show that fault bounded escarpments created at rift flanks by mechanical unloading and flexural rebound have little potential to survive as retreating escarpments if the lower crust under the rift flank is substantially stretched in this configuration a drainage divide that persists through time appears landward of the initial escarpment in a position close to a secondary bulge that is created during the rifting event at a distance that depends on the flexural rigidity of the upper crust moreover the migration of the escarpment to the secondary bulge occurs when the pre rift topography dips landward otherwise the evolution of the escarpment is guided by the pre existing inland drainage divide to illustrate this new mechanism for the evolution of passive margins we study the examples of southeastern australia and southeastern brazil we propose that a pre existing inland drainage divide with rift related flank uplift can produce the double drainage divide observed in southeastern australia on the other hand we conclude that it is possible that the serra do mar escarpments on the southeastern brazilian margin originated as a secondary flexural bulge during rifting that persisted through time in both cases the retreating escarpment scenario is unlikely and the present day margin morphology can be explained as resulting from rift related vertical motions alone without requiring significant post rift rejuvenation

tectonic controls on rift basin morphology evolution of the northern malawi nyasa rift radiometric k ar and ar 40 ar 39 age determinations of volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks combined with structural gravity and seismic reflection data are used to constrain the age of sedimentary strata contained within the seismically and volcanically active northern malawi nyasa rift and to characterize changes in basin and flank morphologies with time faulting and volcanism within the tukuyu karonga basin began at approximately 8 6 ma when sediments were deposited in abroad initially asymmetric lake basin bounded on its northeastern side by a border fault system with minor topographic relief extensions primarily by a slip along the border fault and subsequent regional isostatic compensation led to the development of a 5 km deep basin bounded by broad uplifted flanks along the low relief basin margin opposite border fault younger stratigraphic sequences commonly onlap older wedge shaped sequences although their internal geometry is often progradational intrabasinal faulting flankuplift and basaltic and felsic volcanism from centers at the northern end of the basin became more important at about 2 5 ma when cross rift transfer faults developed to link the tukuyu karonga basin to the rukwa basin local uplift and volcanic construction at the northern end of the basin led to a southeastward shift in the basin s depocenter sequence boundaries are commonly erosional along this low relief hanging wall margin and conformable in the deep lake basin the geometry of stratigraphic sequences and the distribution of the erosion indicate that horizontal and vertical crustal movements both across and along the length of the rift basin led to changes in levels of the lake irrespective of paleoclimatic fluctuations