breakup of the newfoundland iberia rift abstract the newfoundland iberia rift is considered to be a type example of a non volcanic rift key features of the conjugate margins are transition zones tzs that lie between clearly continental crust and presumed normal penrose type oceanic crust that appears up to 150 180 km farther seaward basement ridges drilled in the iberia tz consist of exhumed serpentinized peridotite of continental affinity consistent with seismic refraction studies although the boundaries between continental crust and the tzs can be defined with relative confidence there are major questions about the position and nature of the change from rifting to normal sea floor spreading at the seaward edges of the tzs notably drilling of presumed oceanic crust in the young m series anomalies to investigate and potentially resolve these conflicts we analysed the tectonic history and deep pre cenomanian stratigraphy of the rift using seismic reflection profiles and drilling results rifting occurred in two main phases late triassic earliest jurassic and late jurassic early cretaceous the first phase formed continental rift basins without significant thinning of continental crust the second phase led to continental breakup with extension concentrated in three episodes that culminated near the end of berriasian hauterivian and aptian time the first two episodes appear to correlate with separation of continental crust in the southern and northern parts of the rift respectively suggesting that the rift opened from south to north in a two step process the third episode persisted through barremian and aptian time we suggest that during this period there was continued exhumation of subcontinental mantle lithosphere at the plate boundary and that elevated in plane tensile stress throughout the rift caused intraplate extension primarily within the exhumed mantle this rifting may have been interrupted for a time during the barremian when melt was introduced from the southern edge of the rift by plume magmatism that formed the southeast newfoundland ridge and j anomaly ridge and the conjugate madeira tore rise we propose that the rising asthenosphere breached the subcontinental mantle lithosphere in latest aptian earliest albian time initiating sea floor spreading this resulted in relaxation of in plane tensile stress i e a pulse of relative compression that caused internal plate deformation and enhanced mass wasting this aptian event produced a strong rift wide reflection that is unconformably onlapped by post rift sediments that were deposited as a stable sea floor spreading regime was established although previously considered to be a breakup unconformity associated with separation of continental crust the event instead marks the final separation of the subcontinental mantle lithosphere our analysis indicates that interpretation of tectonic events in a non volcanic rift must consider the rheology of the full thickness of the continental lithosphere in addition to spatial and temporal changes in extension that may occur from segment to segment along the rift

influence of cohesion on river bed scour in the wake region of piers abstractstudies on scour in the wake region of piers in cohesive sediments containing gravel were not reported in literature to the best of our knowledge results from the laboratory experiments based study on the process of wake scour are presented here the sediment used for the experiment were of two types 1 fine gravel mixed with clay in proportions varying from 20 to 60 by weight and 2 fine gravel and fine sand in equal proportion by weight mixed with clay in proportions varying from 20 to 60 by weight the experiments revealed that the process of scour as well as depth shape and geometry of scour hole developed in such cohesive sediment were significantly different from that of cohesionless sediments proportion of clay fraction and unconfined compressive strength of cohesive sediment mixture were found to be the most significant variables controlling the depth of scour in the wake of piers on the basis of dimensional considerations relationships have been proposed for the estimation

getting over continent ocean boundaries the idea of a simple linear boundary between continental and oceanic crust at extended continental margins is widely recognized to be an oversimplification despite this such boundaries continue to be mapped because of their perceived utility in palinspastic and plate kinematic reconstructions to examine whether this perception is justified we review the data and models on which basis continent ocean boundaries are interpreted and map a set of such interpretations worldwide from more than 150 publications the maps show that the location of the continent ocean boundary is rarely consistently estimated within the 10 100 km observational uncertainty that might be expected of the geophysical data used for doing so that this is the case regardless of whether the transition zone behind the boundary is classified as magma rich or magma poor and that the geographical separation of estimates exceeds the width of single study continent ocean transition zones the average of global maximum separations across sets of three or more estimates is large 167 km and mostly a consequence of interpretations published over the last decade we interpret this to indicate an extra component of uncertainty that is related to authors understanding of the range of features that are interpretable at extended continental margins we go on to discuss the implications of this uncertainty for palinspastic and plate kinematic modelling using examples from the literature and from the south atlantic ocean we conclude that a precise continent ocean boundary concept with locational uncertainty defined from the ensembles is of limited value for palinspastic reconstructions because the reconstruction process tends to bunch the ensemble within a region that is i of similar width to the observational uncertainties associated with continent ocean boundary estimates ii narrower than the regions of uncertainty about rotated features implied by the propagation of uncertainties from plate rotation parameters and iii coincident within all the above uncertainties with the more easily mapped continental shelf gravity anomaly secondly we conclude that estimated continent ocean boundaries are of limited use in developing or testing plate kinematic reconstructions because i reconstructions built using them as markers do not within uncertainty limits defined from the ensembles differ greatly from those using more easily determined bathymetric or gravity anomaly contours and ii because it is impossible to segment and date them with useful precision to use as markers of the edges of rigid oceanic lithosphere outside of the constraints of a pre existing plate kinematic model

the tectonic evolution of the south atlantic from late jurassic to present an improved tectonic database for the south atlantic has been compiled by combining magnetic anomaly geosat altimetry and onshore geologic data we used this database to obtain a revised plate kinematic model starting with a new fit reconstruction for the continents around the south atlantic we present a high resolution isochron map from chron m4 to present fit reconstructions of south america and africa that require rigid continental plates result in substantial misfits either in the southern south atlantic or in the equatorial atlantic to achieve a fit without gaps we assume a combination of complex rift and strike slip movements 1 along the south american parana chacos basin deformation zone 2 within marginal basins in south america salado colorado basin and 3 along the benue trough niger rift system in africa these faults are presumed to have been active before or during the breakup of the continents our model describes a successive unzipping of rift zones starting in the southern south atlantic between 150 ma tithonian and approximately 130 ma hauterivian rifting propagated to 38 s causing tectonic movements within the colorado and salado basins subsequently between 130 ma and chron m4 126 5 ma the tip of the south atlantic rift moved to 28 s resulting in intracontinental deformation along the parana chacos basin deformation zone between chron m4 and chron mo 118 7 ma rifting propagated into the benue trough and niger rift inducing rift and strike slip motion after chron mo the equatorial atlantic began to open while rifting and strike slip motion still occurred in the benue trough and niger rift since chron 34 84 ma the opening of the south atlantic is characterized by simple divergence of two rigid continental plates

influence of rift obliquity on fault population systematics results of experimental clay models abstract we use clay models to simulate how fault population systematics vary as a function of rift obliquity rift obliquity is related to the acute angle between the rift trend and the displacement direction so that the value of is inverse to the degree of obliquity the range of azimuths in a fault population increases as rift obliquity increases i e as decreases the length of the longest faults the sum of fault lengths and the width of the deformed zone all increase as rift obliquity decreases i e as increases the majority of faults in our models are segmented and have highly tortuous traces tortuosity is maximum when 30 as segments of widely varying azimuth link during fault growth significant changes occur in the fault patterns between 30 and 45 at 30 two fault populations of equal importance develop in the center of the rift zone one approximately rift parallel and the other displacement normal between 30 and 45 the number of faults more than doubles and between 45 and 60 summed fault length more than doubles fault patterns for all models are fractal with fractal dimensions that increase with increasing and that are comparable to those found in the field fault populations are not multi fractal because the cumulative frequency distributions of fault lengths do not generally follow a power law relationship an exponential distribution best describes the data for whole faults with the characteristic length increasing with increasing segment lengths also follow an exponential distribution with characteristic length varying very little with the fault patterns in our models resemble the spatial pattern of brittle deformation observed at oblique mid ocean ridge segments and are similar in geometry to those in oblique continental rift basins at the rift margins tensional stresses are modulated and reoriented by a secondary stress field related to a change in boundary conditions resulting in the formation of two distinct sub populations of faults during oblique rifting

upwind conservative scheme for the saint venant equations an upwind conservative scheme with a weighted average water surface gradient approach is proposed to compute one dimensional open channel flows the numerical scheme is based on the control volume method the intercell flux is computed by the one sided upwind method the water surface gradient is evaluated by the weighted average of both upwind and downwind gradients the scheme is tested with various examples including dam break problems in channels with rectangular and triangular cross sections hydraulic jump partial dam break problem overtopping flow a steady flow over bump with hydraulic jump and a dam break flood case in a natural river valley comparisons between numerical and exact solutions or experimental data demonstrated that the proposed scheme is capable of accurately reproducing various open channel flows including subcritical supercritical and transcritical flows the scheme is inherently robust stable and monotone the scheme does not require any special treatment such as artificial viscosity or front tracking technique to capture steep gradients or discontinuities in the solution

tectono magmatic evolution of the west coast of india abstract the west and east coasts of india wci eci have distinct histories of their own the wci originated subsequent to eci which has the imprint of two hotspots marion and reunion evolved through several stages of rifting magmatism and isostatic movements important among them are felsic magmatism associated with doming 93 ma mafic magmatism related to rifting 88 ma origin of the western ghats of india and the east facing scarp of madagascar all the three related to separation of madagascar from india mafic deccan volcanism in the north western parts of india 67 ma rifting of seychelles micro continent and lava cover from the north western parts of india along the carlsberg ridge 62 ma a 27 isostatic subsidence relating to loading of deccan basalts subsidence of bombay offshore region due to reactivation of sonata rift separation of laccadive chagos ridge from the southern part of mascarene plateau because of shifting of the central indian ridge 40 ma buckling of south india and tilting of the peninsula northward due to collision and subduction these events make the wci unique and endowed with a great deal of dynamism

formation of a jump by the dam break wave over a granular bed a previously unreported shock feature associated with the scouring of a horizontal granular bed by a dam break wave is discussed near the wave centre the present study shows the free surface breaks backward and a hydraulic jump forms this behaviour is described from the standpoint of shallow water theory suitably extended to deal with non equilibrium sediment transport the shock formation involves a particularly strong coupling between flow free surface evolution and bed morphodynamics support for our conclusions is sought through experimental and numerical approaches in order to magnify the observed phenomena measurements were performed for the case of light bed particles moving in sheet and debris flow modes a detailed picture of the transient two phase flow is presented based on whole field acquisition of the grain motions by particle tracking techniques corresponding shallow water solutions are constructed numerically using a shock capturing scheme finally an interpretation of the jump formation is proposed based on the theory of characteristics

crustal taper and topography at passive continental margins terra nova 23 349 361 2011 abstract the long term evolution of kilometre s high seaward facing escarpments at passive margins is linked directly to the crustal thinning gradient the development of post rift faults in the onshore parts of the margin and the associated distribution of drainage patterns landscape types and sediment dispersal patterns reflect this linkage for the seismically well imaged norwegian margin as well as for a number of passive margins worldwide we identify a scaling relationship that correlates escarpment height with the distance to the highly extended distal margin or more specifically the taper break the highest escarpments and the most asymmetric margin topography are found inboard of sharply tapering crystalline crust independent of margin age conversely escarpments are lower where the taper is gentle thus the topography of passive margins does not primarily reflect age magmatism climate or mantle convection but more probably the response to loading of the laterally variable fault controlled architecture of the crystalline crust

pulling apart the mid to late cenozoic magmatic record of the gulf of california is there a comondu arc the composition of the lithosphere can be fundamentally altered by long lived subduction processes such that subduction modified lithosphere can survive for 100 s myrs incorrect petrotectonic interpretations result when spatial temporal compositional trends of and source contributions to magmatism are not properly considered western mexico has had protracted cenozoic magmatism developed mostly in board of active oceanic plate subduction beneath western north america a broad range of igneous compositions from basalt to high silica rhyolite were erupted with intermediate to silicic compositions in particular showing calc alkaline and other typical subduction related geochemical signatures a major oligocene rhyolitic ignimbrite flare up 300 000 km3 switched to a bimodal volcanic phase in the early miocene 100 000 km3 associated with distributed extension and opening of numerous grabens extension became more focussed 18 ma resulting in localised volcanic activity along the future site of the gulf of california this localised volcanism known as the comondu arc was dominantly effusive and andesite dacite in composition past tectonic interpretations of comondu age volcanism may have been incorrect as these regional temporal compositional changes are alternatively interpreted as a result of increased mixing of mantle derived basaltic and crust derived rhyolitic magmas in an active rift environment rather than fluid flux melting of the mantle wedge above the subducting guadalupe plate

computational dam break hydraulics over erodible sediment bed this paper presents one of the first dedicated studies on mobile bed hydraulics of dam break flow and the induced sediment transport and morphological evolution a theoretical model is built upon the conservative laws of shallow water hydrodynamics and a high resolution numerical solution of the hyperbolic system is achieved using the total variation diminishing version of the second order weighted average flux method in conjunction with the hllc approximate riemann solver and superbee limiter it is found that a heavily concentrated and eroding wavefront first develops and then depresses gradually as it propagates downstream in the early stage of the dam break a hydraulic jump is formed around the dam site due to rapid bed erosion which attenuates progressively as it propagates upstream and eventually disappears while the backward wave appears to migrate at the same speed as over a fixed bed the propagation of the forward wavefront shows a complex picture compared to its fixed bed counterpart as a result of the domination of rapid bed erosion initially the density difference between the wavefront and the downstream ambient water in the intermediate period and the pattern of the deformed bed profile in the long term it is also found that the free surface profiles and hydrographs are greatly modified by bed mobility which has considerable implications for flood prediction the computed wave structure in the intermediate period exhibits great resemblance to available experiments qualitatively and yet the existence of a shear wave is found in lieu of a secondary rarefaction postulated in an existing analysis finally the use of the complete rather than simplified conservation equations is shown to be essential for correct resolution of the wave and bed structures which suggests that previous models need reformulating

modeling suggests that oblique extension facilitates rifting and continental break up 1 in many cases the initial stage of continental break up was and is associated with oblique rifting that includes break up in the southern and equatorial atlantic separation from eastern and western gondwana as well as many recent rift systems like gulf of california ethiopia rift and dead sea fault using a simple analytic mechanical model and advanced numerical thermomechanical modeling techniques we investigate the influence of oblique extension on the required tectonic force in a three dimensional setting while magmatic processes have been already suggested to affect rift evolution we show that additional mechanisms emerge due to the three dimensionality of an extensional system focusing on non magmatic rift settings we find that oblique extension significantly facilitates the rift process this is due to the fact that oblique deformation requires less force in order to reach the plastic yield limit than rift perpendicular extension the model shows that in the case of two competing non magmatic rifts with one perpendicular and one oblique to the direction of extension but otherwise having identical properties the oblique rift zone is mechanically preferred and thus attracts more strain

the composition and emplacement of basaltic magmas produced during the development of continental margin basins the gulf of california mexico the gulf of california is a region of active ensialic basin development and transform faulting legs 64 and 65 of the deep sea drilling project have demonstrated the diversity of basement stratigraphy drilling at sites 474 482 483 and 485 at the mouth of the gulf recovered massive basaltic flows and occasional pillow lavas and sills whereas drilling in the central part of the gulf in the guaymas basin recovered a sequence of sediments and massive doleritic sills very high sedimentation rates over 1000 m ma are characteristic of the guaymas basin and prevent extrusion of the basaltic magma onto the seafloor thus resulting in at least partial intercalation of oceanic layers 1 and 2 such a process of ocean crust formation could be locally important during the early stages of ocean and marginal basin development when sedimentation rates may be very high over 200 samples of basalts and dolerites from the gulf of california have been analysed by x ray fluorescence and neutron activation techniques basalts from the mouth of the gulf are tholeiitic and contain very low abundances of the more hygromagmatophile more hyg elements k rb ba th ta nb and light ree relative to the hyg elements y zr ti and heavy ree thus resembling depleted n type morb from elsewhere along the e pacific rise epr dolerites from the guaymas basin also have a tholeiitic chemistry and some epr basalt characteristics e g la n sm n

a two fluid model for avalanche and debris flows geophysical mass flows debris flows avalanches landslides can contain o 10 6 10 10 m 3 or more of material often a mixture of soil and rocks with a significant quantity of interstitial fluid these flows can be tens of meters in depth and hundreds of meters in length the range of scales and the rheology of this mixture presents significant modelling and computational challenges this paper describes a depth averaged thin layer model of geophysical mass flows containing a mixture of solid material and fluid the model is derived from a two phase or two fluid system of equations commonly used in engineering research phenomenological modelling and depth averaging combine to yield a tractable set of equations a hyperbolic system that describes the motion of the two constituent phases if the fluid inertia is small a reduced model system that is easier to solve may be derived

palaeoproterozoic metamorphism in the jeori wangtu gneissic complex jwgc western himalayas abstract the jeori wangtu gneissic complex jwgc exposed as a tectonic window in the lesser himalayas represents one of the oldest gneissic complex of the himalayas foliated granite and the metapelite constitute the dominant lithologies of the jwgc the western margin of the jwgc is bounded by a brittle shear while in the east the tectonic surface is a ductile shear zone kyanite schist chloritoid schist staurolite schist st 1 garnet schist and staurolite schist st 2 are present in a west to east sequence beginning from near to the jhakhri thrust and up to the contact with the jwgc granite mica schist is intermittently present and is the dominant metapelite low to medium grade regional metamorphic conditions has been inferred for these rocks calc silicate enclaves within the jwgc granite preserve the contact metamorphic effects these are reflected in development of narrow zones of disequilibrium assemblages of calcareous garnet grs 53 clinopyroxene k feldspar calcic plagioclase an86 quartz zoned sphene zoned allanite amphiboles calcite and epidote recording of contact metamorphic assemblage of 1 80 ga granite witin the enclave calc silicates and in the host metapelites over an earlier relict low to medium grade assemblage indicates that the jwgc preserves palaeoproterozoic metamorphic imprints

the crustal structure across the transform continental margin off ghana eastern equatorial atlantic forward modeling of a suite of wide angle seismic lines across the transform continental margin at the eastern end of the romanche fracture zone off ghana has shown the transition from continental to oceanic crust to be confined to a narrow 6 to 11 km wide zone located at the foot of the steep continental slope the structure of the adjacent oceanic and continental crusts has also been resolved these results are confirmed and enhanced by gravity and magnetic models the crust of the ocean continent transition zone is characterized by high velocities 5 8 7 3 km s 1 a high density 3 10 mg m 3 and high magnetizations 1 1 1 25 a m 1 this rules out a purely continental origin for the zone and suggests that it may be formed of basic igneous rocks intruded when the hot oceanic spreading center migrated along the margin the oceanic crust within 70 km of the margin is abnormally thin compared to normal atlantic oceanic crust and shows an average thickness of just 4 4 km we suggest that the region of abnormally thin oceanic crust is the result of a reduced magma supply due to a combination of closely spaced fracture zones and the conductive loss of heat from the upwelling oceanic mantle in small basins surrounded on at least three sides by cold continental lithosphere the preferred seismic model also shows a new fracture zone 30 km southeast of the ocean continent transition which is characterized by low velocities in the upper crust a lens shaped layer with velocities of 7 2 7 4 km s 1 at the base of the crust and a crustal thickness of just 3 4 km the continental crust appears largely unaffected by the proximity of the adjacent oceanic crust there is no evidence for underplating of the continental crust adjacent to the ocean continent transition zone

crustal structure of the ocean continent transition at flemish cap seismic refraction results 1 we conducted a seismic refraction experiment across flemish cap and into the deep basin east of newfoundland canada and developed a velocity model for the crust and mantle from forward and inverse modeling of data from 25 ocean bottom seismometers and dense air gun shots the continental crust at flemish cap is 30 km thick and is divided into three layers with p wave velocities of 6 0 6 7 km s across the southeast flemish cap margin the continental crust thins over a 90 km wide zone to only 1 2 km the ocean continent boundary is near the base of flemish cap and is marked by a fault between thinned continental crust and 3 km thick crust with velocities of 4 7 7 0 km s interpreted as crust from magma starved oceanic accretion this thin crust continues seaward for 55 km and thins locally to 1 5 km below a sediment cover 1 9 3 1 km s oceanic layer 2 4 7 4 9 km s is 1 5 km thick while layer 3 6 9 km s seems to disappear in the thinnest segment of the oceanic crust at the seawardmost end of the line the crust thickens to 6 km mantle with velocities of 7 6 8 0 km s underlies both the thin continental and thin oceanic crust in an 80 km wide zone a gradual downward increase to normal mantle velocities is interpreted to reflect decreasing degree of serpentinization with depth normal mantle velocities of 8 0 km s are observed 6 km below basement there are major differences compared to the conjugate galicia bank margin which has a wide zone of extended continental crust more faulting and prominent detachment faults crust formed by seafloor spreading appears symmetric however with 30 km wide zones of oceanic crust accreted on both margins beginning about 4 5 m y before formation of magnetic anomaly m0 118 ma

pattern and tempo of great escarpment erosion extensive geological geophysical structural and geochronological data suggest that the locations of great escarpments bordering passive margins are exceptionally stable and are probably determined by crustal structure together the data do not support the established paradigm of ongoing significant and parallel escarpment retreat rather thermochronologic data and sedimentary sequences in ocean basins suggest that initial tectonically controlled rift escarpments undergo rapid and significant erosion only during the earliest stages of seafloor spreading development of stable passive margin escarpments follows this period of intense erosion escarpments increase in sinuosity as embayments retreat more rapidly than interfluves measurements of 24 escarpments suggest that sinuosity and the rate at which it increases depends upon the location of maximum uplift the geometry of the preescarpment drainage system and margin age all data suggest that the location of passive margin escarpments does not change significantly over time

ocean basin evolution and global scale plate reorganization events since pangea breakup we present a revised global plate motion model with continuously closing plate boundaries ranging from the triassic at 230 ma to the present day assess differences among alternative absolute plate motion models and review global tectonic events relatively high mean absolute plate motion rates of approximately 9 10 cm yr 1 between 140 and 120 ma may be related to transient plate motion accelerations driven by the successive emplacement of a sequence of large igneous provinces during that time an event at 100 ma is most clearly expressed in the indian ocean and may reflect the initiation of andean style subduction along southern continental eurasia whereas an acceleration at 80 ma of mean rates from 6 to 8 cm yr 1 reflects the initial northward acceleration of india and simultaneous speedups of plates in the pacific an event at 50 ma expressed in relative and some absolute plate motion changes around the globe and in a reduction of global mean plate speeds from about 6 to 4 5 cm yr 1 indicates that an increase in collisional forces such as the india eurasia collision and ridge subduction events in the pacific such as the izanagi pacific ridge play a significant role in modulating plate velocities

pre breakup continental extension in east gondwanaland and the early opening of the eastern indian ocean abstract extension of continental crust by up to 360 km on a north northeast azimuth in the great australian bight occurred prior to the middle cretaceous 96 ma onset of seafloor spreading between australia and antarctica this large amount of continental extension is constrained to the late jurassic 160 ma middle cretaceous interval about a pole estimated to lie about 40 southeastward of southeastern australia using bathymetric data combined with seismic and magnetic determinations of the continent ocean boundaries off australia india and antarctica we determine a revised fit of east gondwanaland prior to continental extension and at various stages thereafter in the first stage from 160 to 132 5 ma m11 india australia rotated from antarctica with continental crustal extension between australia and antarctica and largely transform motion between the coromandel coast margin of india and the kron prins olav kyst margin of antarctica in the second stage from 132 5 to 96 ma india rotated northwestward away from australia antarctica producing m10 and younger magnetic anomalies along the western margin of australia continental extension was greatest between australia and antarctica during this stage the newly determined 132 5 96 ma rotation between india and australia provides an improved fit between the orientation of observed m10 m0 magnetic anomalies and the southward decrease in spreading rate off the western australian margin together with bathymetry the new rotation parameters lead to identification of the abandoned 96 ma spreading ridge along the lost dutchmen and dirck hartog ridges the naturaliste fracture zone is found to lie nearly parallel to the early cretaceous transform direction between india and antarctica suggesting that slow seafloor spreading required between australia and antarctica to accommodate the continental extension further east occurred between naturaliste fracture zone and the m4 m0 anomalies adjacent to the naturaliste plateau the revised fit of india in east gondwanaland reduces the eastward extent of greater india to 95 e but does not change its extent as far north as the cape range fracture zone the new pole determined for the early cretaceous rotation between india and australia antarctica lies within 15 of the southern tip of india significantly closer than in previous determinations thereby reducing the amount of seafloor spreading generated between africa and antarctica by the india antarctica rotation and thus offering a possible solution to the perceived spreading rate problems between m11 and m0 in the somali mozambique and antarctic basins

manaslu leucogranite a collision signature of the himalaya a model for its genesis and emplacement the manaslu pluton is one of 10 leucogranites that formed in the overthrusted higher himalaya after the indo eurasian collision field and analytical data indicate that the underlying migmatites of the tibetan slab may be where the leucogranitic melts were generated the himalayan crustal thrusting of a hot slab over a rather cold volcano sedimentary pile le fort 1975a provides the necessary release of fluids these fluids cross the main central thrust mct induce the partial anatexis of the overheated tibetan slab and produce a leucogranitic magma the emplacement of the magma at first is located along the main disharmonic plane above the mct between the infrastructure and the superstructure there it generates a convective hydrothermal system extending very far laterally according to the stratification of permeabilities progressive emplacement of the granite proceeds as the convected fluids including the fluids released by the saturated magma dissolve the mainly calcareous host rocks of tibetan sedimentaries a frozen image of this caving out progression is given by the extensive network of granitic dikes outside the pluton the two quite independant fluid cycles of the generation and of the emplacement were triggered or guided by the tectonics due to collision this two fold model dominated by fluid activity may be of importance for other leucogranites and granites

entrainment of bed material by earth surface mass flows review and reformulation of depth integrated theory earth surface mass flows such as debris flows rock avalanches and dam break floods can grow greatly in size and destructive potential by entraining bed material they encounter increasing use of depth integrated mass and momentum conservation equations to model these erosive flows motivates a review of the underlying theory our review indicates that many existing models apply depth integrated conservation principles incorrectly leading to spurious inferences about the role of mass and momentum exchanges at flow bed boundaries model discrepancies can be rectified by analyzing conservation of mass and momentum in a two layer system consisting of amoving upper layer and static lower layer our analysis shows that erosion or deposition rates at the interface between layers must in general satisfy three jump conditions these conditions impose constraints on valid erosion formulas and they help determine the correct forms of depth integrated conservation equations two of the three jump conditions are closely analogous to rankine hugoniot conditions that describe the behavior of shocks in compressible gasses and the third jump condition describes shear traction discontinuities that necessarily exist across eroding boundaries grain fluid mixtures commonly behave as compressible materials as they undergo entrainment because changes in bulk density occur as the mixtures mobilize and merge with an overriding flow if no bulk density change occurs then only the shear traction jump condition applies even for this special case however accurate formulation of depth integrated momentum equations requires a clear distinction between boundary shear tractions that exist in the presence or absence of bed erosion

riemann wave description of erosional dam break flows this work examines the sudden erosional flow initiated by the release of a dam break wave over a loose sediment bed extended shallow water equations are formulated to describe the development of the surge accounting for bed material inertia a transport layer of finite thickness is introduced and a sharp interface view of the morphodynamic boundary is adopted approximations are sought for an intermediate range of wave evolution in which equilibration of the sediment load can be assumed instantaneous but momentum loss due to bed friction has not yet been felt the resulting homogeneous hyperbolic equations are mathematically tractable using the riemann techniques of gas dynamics dam break initial conditions give rise to self similar flow profiles the wave structure features piecewise constant states two smoothly varied simple waves and a special type of shock an erosional bore forming at the forefront of the wave profiles are constructed through a semi analytical procedure yielding a geomorphic generalization of the stoker solution for dam break waves over rigid bed for most flow properties the predictions of the theoretical treatment compare favourably with experimental tests visualized using particle imaging techniques

novel numerical approach for 1d variable density shallow flows over uneven rigid and erodible beds abstractthe numerical modeling of hyperconcentrated shallow flows is a challenging task because they exhibit special features such as propagation over dry beds profound bed elevation modifications owing to erosion or deposition phenomena and flow discontinuities in this paper a novel depth positivity preserving harten lax and van leer contact hllc riemann solver is devised in order to approximate the solution of the riemann problem for the 1d one dimensional hyperconcentrated shallow flows equations over horizontal beds the solver is used as a building block for the construction of hyperconcentrated shallow flows hcsf a well balanced finite volume scheme for the solution of the hyperconcentrated shallow flows equations with variable elevation hcsf is able to handle the case of dry beds to take into account the variability of the topography also in the presence of bed discontinuities considering the flow resistance and the mass exchange between the flowing mixture and the mobile bed the

butte detachment how pre rift geological structure and drainage integration drive escarpment evolution at rifted continental margins the erosional pattern of passive margins often follows the fabric of ancient compressional geological structures exposed by the topographic energy of rifting as erosion cuts into these belted outcrop systems they impose initial and boundary conditions that steer drainage recession into the plateau edge and control escarpment forming conditions pattern therefore controls process although generic surface process models predict scarp patterns and retreat in settings devoid of geological heterogeneity they tend to do so only at isolated locations and for periods shorter than the lifespan of the escarpments thus to focus on relatively narrow strike perpendicular swaths of passive margin topography misses important aspects of drainage integration which involves mobile drainage basin boundaries shifting across but also along the strike of inherited geological structures and through continental scale bioclimatic zones space for time substitution along three passive margin escarpments blue ridge western ghats eastern ghats reveals the significance of escarpment jumps and the detachment of topographic outliers here generically termed buttes as key processes of escarpment evolution the examples show that these continental escarpments are strongly patterned after pre rift structural and lithological heterogeneities as seaward sloping drainages cut into the rift margin they extend their drainage heads in a non uniform and unsteady fashion as a result escarpments can form be destroyed reform and leave topographic vestiges buttes of the retreating escarpment given the pre rift geological heterogeneities there are no a priori reasons why escarpment landscape change should be uniform steady or self similar copyright 2010 john wiley sons ltd

continental lithospheric thinning and breakup in response to upwelling divergent mantle flow application to the woodlark newfoundland and iberia margins abstract depth uniform stretching is not the dominant deformation process for thinning continental lithosphere leading to breakup it cannot explain the observed depth dependent lithosphere stretching and mantle exhumation at rifted continental margins depth dependent lithosphere thinning in which stretching of the lower crust and lithosphere mantle greatly exceeds that of the upper crust has been observed at many non volcanic and volcanic rifted continental margins including conjugate margin pairs passive continental margins show a paucity of brittle deformation in the upper crust during continental lithosphere thinning leading to breakup and sea floor spreading initiation a new model of rifted continental margin formation has been developed that assumes that deformation and thinning of continental lithosphere leading to breakup occurs in response to an upwelling divergent flow field within continental lithosphere and asthenosphere and that this deformation evolves into sea floor spreading the new model successfully predicts depth dependent stretching of continental margin lithosphere for both non volcanic and volcanic margins and mantle exhumation at non volcanic margins both of which are observed but are not explained by existing depth uniform continental lithosphere stretching models the new model provides a balance of extensional strain supplies an explanation for the paucity of synrift brittle deformation and offers a simple transition from prebreakup lithosphere thinning to sea floor spreading the observed diversity of rifted continental margin structure and width of the ocean continent transition can be explained by variability in the form of the upwelling divergent flow field the new upwelling divergent flow model of continental lithosphere thinning leading to continental breakup successfully predicts the observed bathymetry and margin geometry for the most recent segment of sea floor spreading initiation in the woodlark basin in the western pacific and the observed bathymetry and free air gravity anomaly for the newfoundland and iberian margins

exact discontinuous solutions of exner s bed evolution model simple theory for sediment bores determining the evolution of the bed of a river or channel due to the transport of sediment was first examined in a theoretical context by exner in 1925 in his work exner presents a simplified bed evolution model derived from the conservation of fluid mass and an erosion equation that is commonly referred to as the sediment continuity or exner equation given that exner s model takes the form of a nonlinear hyperbolic equation one expects depending on the given initial condition of the bed the formation of discontinuities in the solution in finite time the analytical solution provided by exner for his model is the so called classical or genuine solution of the initial value problem which is valid while the solution is continuous in this paper using the general theory of nonlinear hyperbolic equations we consider generalized solutions of exner s classic bed evolution model thereby developing a simple theory for the formation and propagation of discontinuities in the bed or so called sediment bores

1d finite volume model of unsteady flow over mobile bed summary a one dimensional 1d finite volume method fvm model was developed for simulating unsteady flow such as dam break flow and flood routing over mobile alluvium the governing equation is the modified 1d shallow water equation and the exner equation that take both bed load and suspended load transport into account the non equilibrium sediment transport algorithm was adopted in the model and the van rijn method was employed to calculate the bed load transport rate and the concentration of suspended sediment at the reference level flux terms in the governing equations were discretised using the upwind flux scheme harten et al 1983 hll and hllc schemes roe s scheme and the weighted average flux waf schemes with the double minmod and minmod flux limiters the model was tested under a fixed bed condition to evaluate the performance of several different numerical schemes and then applied to an experimental case of dam break flow over a mobile bed and a flood event in the rillito river tucson arizona for dam break flow over movable bed all tested schemes were proved to be capable of reasonably simulating water surface profiles but failed to accurately capture the hydraulic jump the waf schemes produced slight spurious oscillations at the water surface and bed profiles and over estimated the scour depth when applying the model to the rillito river the simulated results generally agreed well with the field measurements of flow discharges and bed elevation changes modeling results of bed elevation changes were sensitive to the suspended load recovery coefficient and the bed load adaptation length which require further theoretical and experimental investigations

stable numerical model for transcritical flow and sediment transport on uneven bathymetry a stable and well balanced finite volume method was proposed to solve the shallow water equations coupled with a sediment transport equation an approximate riemann solver with a monotone upstream centered schemes for conservation laws muscl reconstruction was used for the computation of the flux terms a special but relatively simple treatment of source terms made it possible to ensure numerically and physically balanced computational results on very steep sloped beds various numerical simulations conducted on rigid beds have demonstrated that the proposed numerical scheme could provide stable computational results in the cases of flat and nonflat bottoms from the comparisons of experiments on erodible beds in one and two dimensional channels good agreement was obtained when proper parameters for turbulent flow and sediment transport were provided lastly the effects of the parameters in relation to hydraulic characteristics included in the flow and the sediment transport models were investigated

sequential faulting explains the asymmetry and extension discrepancy of conjugate margins rifted continental margins are the sites that record the thinning and break up of continents to form new oceans cesar ranero and marta perez gussinye use seismic imaging to accurately measure fault extension at the conjugate west iberia and newfoundland margins and compare this to crustal thinning they use these observations to create a balanced kinematic model of rifting that resolves the extension discrepancy in which crustal thinning appears to be greater than the extension caused by brittle faulting by producing both fault controlled crustal thinning which progresses from a rift basin to the asymmetric structure and extreme thinning of conjugate rifted margins these authors use seismic imaging to accurately measure fault extension at the conjugate west iberia and newfoundland margins and compare this with crustal thinning they use these observations to create a balanced kinematic model of rifting that resolves the extension discrepancy where crustal thinning seems to be greater than the extension caused by brittle faulting during early extension cold continental lithosphere thins and subsides creating rift basins if extension continues to final break up the split and greatly thinned plates subside deep below sea level to form a conjugate pair of rifted margins although basins and margins are ubiquitous structures the deformation processes leading from moderately extended basins to highly stretched margins are unclear as studies consistently report that crustal thinning is greater than extension caused by brittle faulting1 2 3 4 this extension discrepancy might arise from differential stretching of brittle and ductile crustal layers2 but that does not readily explain the typical asymmetric structure of conjugate margins5 6 in cross section one margin displays gradual thinning accompanied by large faults and the conjugate margin displays abrupt thinning but smaller scale faulting5 whole crust detachments active from early in the rifting could in theory create both thinning and asymmetry1 but are mechanically problematical furthermore the extension discrepancy occurs at both conjugate margins leading to the apparent contradiction that both seem to be upper plates to a detachment fault7 8 alternative models propose that much brittle extension is undetected because of seismic imaging limitations caused either by subseismic resolution faulting9 invisible deformation along top basement 100 km scale detachments8 or the structural complexity of cross cutting arrays of faults3 here we use depth migrated seismic images to accurately measure fault extension and compare it with crustal thinning the observations are used to create a balanced kinematic model of rifting that resolves the extension discrepancy by producing both fault controlled crustal thinning which progresses from a rift basin to the asymmetric structure and extreme thinning of conjugate rifted margins contrary to current wisdom the observations support the idea that thinning is to a first degree explained by simple andersonian faulting that is unambiguously visible in seismic data

the role of fault reactivation and growth in the uplift of western fennoscandia new structural data published aft data and topographic data suggest that the latest cretaceous cenozoic uplift of western norway was associated with normal reactivation of the more trondelag fault complex reactivation focused along the base of today9s topographic rise with maximum displacements in the order of 2 3 km structural and aft data indicate that reactivation occurred along a displacement gradient with least normal displacement in the ne and increasing displacements towards the sw reactivation commenced in connection with the triassic to earliest cretaceous phases of rifting on the norwegian margin and probably continued through most of the tertiary the late cretaceous to cenozoic topographic development of the scandes mountains followed structurally induced templates such as those described from other areas of active normal faulting a fault model for the cenozoic uplift of the norwegian mainland provides a framework for provenance erosion and transport of sediments eventually deposited in the offshore post rift basins in the latest cretaceous palaeogene and neogene the asymmetric topographic profile of fennoscandia is reflected in the aft data and suggests that lithospheric flexure places a first order control on the shape of the scandes mountains and the central fennoscandian craton

one dimensional model for transient flows involving bed load sediment transport and changes in flow regimes this study presents a novel simple but rather accurate approximation of the eigenvalues of the system formed by the saint venant exner equations based on the comparison between eigenvalues for the complete system and eigenvalues for the water phase only moreover a strategy is proposed to compute efficiently the intercell fluxes by properly adapting a harten lax and van leer scheme for each equation two examples of transient transcritical flows are developed the erosive migration of a knickpoint induced by an increase in the bed slope and the evolution of a hydraulic jump over a mobile bed

development of the mozambique and ruvuma sedimentary basins offshore mozambique two major sedimentary basins have been identified on the continental margin of mozambique mozambique basin and ruvuma basin the formation of the basins is related to the break up of gondwana and opening of the western part of the indian ocean the basins are relatively young having developed discordantly to the structural plan of gondwana sedimentary basins the history of the formation of the east african continental margin sedimentary basins within mozambique has been studied on the basis of the present day concept of gondwana break up and madagascar s drift with respect to africa two stages in the history of the east african basins can be recognized late gondwana and post gondwana the late gondwana stage 303 157 ma is typified by sedimentary and volcanogenic rocks of the karoo group the post gondwana stage 157 0 ma corresponds to the period of active gondwana break up and the formation of indian ocean marginal basins the mozambique basin occupies both central and southern parts of the coastal plain of mozambique extending onto the continental shelf and slope the sedimentary fill is composed of upper jurassic cretaceous and cenozoic rocks which discordantly overly the karoo basalts the upper jurassic occurs as continental red beds mostly distributed within buried grabens cretaceous rocks occur as terrigenous sediments of continental and marine genesis cenozoic deposits are of predominantly marine and deltaic origin the ruvuma basin situated in the north of mozambique is part of an extended east african marginal basin which includes parts of the coastal plains and continental margins of tanzania and kenya the basement of the basin is composed of crystalline and metamorphic rocks of pre cambrian age the sedimentary fill is represented by continental terrigenous karoo sediments marine and lagoonal jurassic deposits and marine and deltaic rocks of cretaceous and cenozoic age the main difference between the sedimentary fill of the mozambique and ruvuma basins is related to the changing sedimentary environment in the period of gondwana break up jurassic and early cretaceous when the drift of madagascar and sea floor spreading took place and the marine basin gradually extended southwards between the east african margin and madagascar from the late cretaceous on the sedimentary environment within both basins was similar the mozambique and ruvuma basins forming a single system on the east african continental margin the main stages of the basins development are illustrated by a series of palaeogeographic reconstruction maps

a quantitative analysis of transtensional margin width abstract continental rifted margins show variations between a few hundred to almost a thousand kilometres in their conjugated widths from the relatively undisturbed continent to the oceanic crust analogue and numerical modelling results suggest that the conjugated width of rifted margins may have a relationship to their obliquity of divergence with narrower margins occurring for higher obliquity we here test this prediction by analysing the obliquity and rift width for 26 segments of transtensional conjugate rifted margins in the atlantic and indian oceans we use the plate reconstruction software gplates www gplates org for different plate rotation models to estimate the direction and magnitude of rifting from the initial phases of continental rifting until breakup our rift width corresponds to the distance between the onshore maximum topography and the last identified continental crust we find a weak positive correlation between the obliquity of rifting and rift width highly oblique margins are narrower than orthogonal margins as expected from analogue and numerical models we find no relationships between rift obliquities and rift duration nor the presence or absence of large igneous provinces lips

full fit palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate australian antarctic margins 1 despite decades of study the prerift configuration and early rifting history between australia and antarctica is not well established the plate boundary system during the cretaceous includes the evolving kerguelen broken ridge large igneous province in the west as well as the conjugate passive and transform margin segments of the australian and antarctic continents previous rigid plate reconstruction models have highlighted the difficulty in satisfying all the available observations within a single coherent reconstruction history we investigate a range of scenarios for the early rifting history of these plates by developing a deforming plate model for this conjugate margin pair potential field data are used to define the boundaries of stretched continental crust on a regional scale integrating crustal thickness along tectonic flow lines provides an estimate of the prerift location of the continental plate boundary we then use the prerift plate boundary positions along with additional constraints from geological structures and large igneous provinces within the same australian and antarctic plate system to compute full fit poles of rotation for australia relative to antarctica our preferred model implies that the leeuwin and vincennes fracture zones are conjugate features within gondwana but that the direction of initial opening between australia and antarctica does not follow the orientation of these features rather the geometry of these features is likely related to the earlier rifting of india away from australia antarctica previous full fit reconstructions based on qualitative estimates of continental margin overlaps generally yield a tighter fit than our preferred reconstruction based on palinspastic margin restoration

wide and narrow margins of the brazilian south atlantic two contrasting end members of passive continental margins here referred to as wide and narrow margins are present in the south atlantic although some margin segments are intermediate between these two styles narrow margins are characterized by a large bounding fault 4 km throw near the shelf edge a sharp transition zone 10 20 km wide from normal thickness to substantially thinned continental crust or oceanic crust where the total width of extended continental crust is usually less than 100 km wide continental margins are characterized by a broad continental shelf and a wide zone 50 600 km of thinned crust with an even distribution of faults wide margins usually have a more gentle continental shelf and slope narrow narrow wide wide and wide narrow conjugate margin pairs exist in the south atlantic and are suggested to be controlled mainly by the opening kinematics and the thermal structure of the lithosphere during rifting basement structure and strain rate appear to have exerted little control on the style of margin extension although basement architecture appears to control the trend of the initial rifts the positions of fracture zones which separate narrow and wide segments and the rate of lateral rift propagation

one dimensional modeling of dam break flow over movable beds a one dimensional model has been established to simulate the fluvial processes under dam break flow over movable beds the hydrodynamic model adopts the generalized shallow water equations which consider the effects of sediment transport and bed change on the flow the sediment model computes the nonequilibrium transport of bed load and suspended load the effects of sediment concentration on sediment settling and entrainment are considered in determining the sediment settling velocity and transport capacity in particular a correction factor is proposed to modify the van rijn formulas of equilibrium bed load transport rate and near bed suspended load concentration for the simulation of sediment transport under high shear flow conditions the governing equations are solved by an explicit finite volume method with the first order upwind scheme for intercell fluxes the model has been tested in two experimental cases with fairly good agreement between simulations and measurements the sensitivities of the model results to parameters such as the sediment nonequilibrium adaptation length manning s roughness coefficient and the proposed correction factor have been verified the proposed model has also been compared to an existing model and the results indicate the new model is more reliable

metamorphism and tectonics of the himalaya metamorphism connected with the main growth and deformation stages of the himalaya ranges from mid cretaceous to the quaternary northward subduction gave rise in the early to mid cretaceous to an island are complex with greenschists amphibolites granulites and blueschists in the w kohistan ladakh and an andean type margin with greenschist amphibolite grade metamorphism in the e india and tibet ophiolitic nappes were thrust southwards over the indian continental margin in the palaeogene during the final stages of closure of the southern arm of tethys the indus zangbo suture bifurcates westwards and between the two sutures lies the kohistan ladakh island arc which was converted to an andean type arc in the palaeocene eocene the karakorum range underwent northward subduction at least during the late cretaceous to give rise to a complex and prominent calc alkaline batholith post collisional southward thrusting of crustal slabs over the indian continental margin took place in the early miocene with production of high grade metamorphism inverted isograds and crustal melt granites later southward thrusting in the pliocene to quaternary gave rise to localized low grade recrystallization against the thrusts

structural state transformation in alkali feldspar evidence for post crystallization deformation from proterozoic granite kumaun himalaya india the paleoproterozoic amritpur granite series ags constitutes a cogenetic magmatic suite of s type granites the granitic complex shows variation with respect to chemical and mineralogical properties however it shows uniformity in the structural state of alkali feldspars homogenization experiments on alkali feldspars of the ags indicate o700 8c magmatic melt temperatures the alkali feldspars are intermediate to maximum microcline dz0 604 0 833 with al concentrations ranging from 0 738 1 00 in the t1o tetrahedral site this indicates a higher degree of ordering following an ideal one step ordering path the two feldspar thermometry for granite suggests a temperature of 400g50 8c which is the inversion temperature of orthoclase into microcline due to deformation this suggests that the structural state transformation of alkali feldspar in the amritpur granite took place during a post crystallization thermal event subsequent to the crystallization of ags in the himalayas an early palaeozoic and a tertiary himalayan event associated with a low temperature event are recognized the p t conditions of the himalayan event are more conducive for the phase transformation of the alkali feldspar q 2004 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

time relationships between magmatism tectonics and metamorphism in three plutonic belts in southern tibet new k ar data from north to south the three plutonic belts in southern tibet are the transhimalaya or kangdese the north himalaya or lhagoi kangri and the high himalaya 25 new mineral and whole rock k ar dates added to previous data enable a precise analysis to be made of the time relationships between different magmatic tectonic and metamorphic events that occurred on both sides of the indus tsangpo suture zone these include 1 the emplacement of a large part of the eastern transhimalaya magmatism occurred during eocene time suggesting a close relationship between this emplacement and the late stages of conver gence between india and eurasia 2 south of the suture the ages obtained fall mainly between 11 and 15 ma the greatest age allows us to fix a lower limit on the timing of metamorphic recrystallization of the paleozoic north himalaya granites an intermediate age may correspond to a minimum age of emplacement of the high himalaya and part of the north himalaya cenozoic granitoids finally the youngest age may characterize the northernmost cenozoic granitoids of the north himalaya belt the consistency of these tenuous age variations with field and structural data suggests that they may be significant 3 our determinations give ages often significantly younger than those usually proposed for the same events as suggested by some authors such a discrepancy might reflect relatively late india eurasia collision in this eastern part of the suture

heat capacities and entropies of andalusite and sillimanite the influence of fibrolitization on the phase diagram of the al 2 sio 5 polymorphs

late cretaceous magmatism in madagascar palaeomagnetic evidence for a stationary marion hotspot late cretaceous basaltic volcanics in the morondava basin sw madagascar possess high quality and pre fold palaeomagnetic data declination 353 5 inclination 54 8 95 2 4 the palaeomagnetic data are all of normal magnetic polarity and remanence acquisition is linked to the terminal stages of the cretaceous normal superchron 83 ma this is sustained by an 40ar 39ar age of 83 6 1 6 ma from one of the tested basaltic flows a precise u pb zircon baddeleyite age from northeast madagascar demonstrates magmatism at least back to 91 6 0 3 ma thus reliable isotope ages for the madagascar cretaceous igneous province span a range of 8 million years late cretaceous palaeomagnetic data obtained from volcanics and dolerites all over madagascar are directionally concordant and the combined palaeomagnetic pole latitude 68 5 n longitude 230 3 e a95 5 5 n 8 studies sampling age range ca 84 90 ma represents one of the best late cretaceous poles for the former gondwanan elements the collective palaeomagnetic data yield a palaeolatitude of 45 3 s 5 3 4 7 for the proposed focal point of the marion plume volcan de l androy southeast madagascar during the late cretaceous this is in perfect agreement with hotspot controlled reconstructions that place the marion hotspot 46 0 s beneath southeast madagascar during the late cretaceous setting true polar wander aside hotspot movements in the indian ocean do not appear to exceed ca 0 75 cm yr and the marion hotspot appears stationary within the resolution power of palaeomagnetic data

breakup of pangaea and plate kinematics of the central atlantic and atlas regions summary a new central pangaea fit type a is proposed for the late ladinian 230 ma together with a plate motions model for the subsequent phases of rifting continental breakup and initial spreading in the central atlantic this model is based on 1 a reinterpretation of the process of formation of the east coast magnetic anomaly along the eastern margin of north america and the corresponding magnetic anomalies at the conjugate margins of northwest africa and the moroccan meseta 2 an analysis of major rifting events in the central atlantic atlas and central mediterranean and 3 a crustal balancing of the stretched margins of north america moroccan meseta and northwest africa the process of fragmentation of central pangaea can be described by three major phases spanning the time interval from the late ladinian 230 ma to the tithonian 147 7 ma during the first phase from the late ladinian 230 ma to the latest rhaetian 200 ma rifting proceeded along the eastern margin of north america the northwest african margin and the high saharan and tunisian atlas determining the formation of a separate moroccan microplate at the interface between gondwana and laurasia during the second phase from the latest rhaetian 200 ma to the late pliensbachian 185 ma oceanic crust started forming between the east coast and blake spur magnetic anomalies whereas the morrocan meseta simply continued to rift away from north america during this time interval the atlas rift reached its maximum extent finally the third phase encompassing the time interval from the late pliensbachian 185 ma to chron m21 147 7 ma was triggered by the northward jump of the main plate boundary connecting the central atlantic with the tethys area therefore as soon as rifting in the atlas zone ceased plate motion started along complex fault systems between morocco and iberia whereas a rift drift transition occurred in the northern segment of the central atlantic between morocco and the conjugate margin of nova scotia the inversion of the atlas rift and the subsequent formation of the atlas mountain belt occurred during the oligocene early miocene time interval in the central atlantic this event was associated with higher spreading rates of the ridge segments north of the atlantis fz an estimate of 170 km of dextral offset of morocco relative to northwest africa in the central atlantic is required by an analysis of marine magnetic anomalies five plate tectonic reconstructions and a computer animation are proposed to illustrate the late triassic and jurassic process of breakup of pangaea in the central atlantic and atlas regions

geochemical investigations of the origin of the manaslu leucogranite himalaya nepal the himalayan orogeny is characterized by an intraplate subduction zone the thrusting of the tibetan slab over the foreland is probably responsible for the origin of the manaslu type leucogranites this geochemical study tries to examine the crustal origin of the granite to verify whether the paragneisses of the tibetan slab are the most probable parent material and to determine the subsequent petrogenetic processes the rb sr systematics suggest that 1 1 the scatter of data points in the 87sr86srvs 87rb86sr diagram may be due to the heterogeneity of the initial 87sr86sr ratios 2 2 the initial isotopic ratios are very high 0 730 0 760 and are in agreement with those of the gneisses of the tibetan slab at the time of the melting pb isotopic ratios are homogeneous they are also consistent with a crustal prehistory the ree and th contents are unexpectedly low in comparison with the much higher contents of the parent material monazite left in the residue of melting or more probably extracted in an early stage of the magmatic history may explain the observed ree and th abundances alternatively field observations show that the emplacement of the granite has been accompanied by a very strong hydrothermal activity in consequence the low ree and th contents of the granite could also be due to the loss by solution during prolonged fluid circulation throughout the granitic melt and the sr and pb isotope distribution to the effect of late to post magmatic fluids the isotopic character of which was determined by the underlying tibetan slab

tectonosedimentary evolution of the deep iberia newfoundland margins evidence for a complex breakup history most of the conceptual ideas concerning sedimentary architecture and tectonic evolution of deep rifted margins are based on either intracontinental rift basins or proximal margins both of which underwent only small amounts of crustal thinning in this paper we investigate the tectonosedimentary and morphotectonic evolution related to continental breakup of the highly extended deep iberia newfoundland margins our results show that continental breakup is a complex process distributed in time and space on the basis of mapping of dated seismic units and borehole data we are able to identify two major phases of extension during a first phase dated as tithonian to barremian 145 128 ma deformation is related to exhumation of mantle rocks basins become younger oceanward and fault geometry changes from upward to downward concave resulting in complex sedimentary structures and basin geometries a second phase dated as latest aptian 112 ma overprints previously exhumed mantle and accreted juvenile oceanic crust over more than 200 km leading to the formation of basement highs the observed complex breakup history challenges classical concepts of rifting and leads to new interpretations for the tectonosedimentary evolution of deep rifted margins

the gravity field of the red sea and east africa abstract reevaluation of all gravity data from the red sea the gulf of aden and east africa permitted the compilation of a new bouguer anomaly map the intensity of the gravity field and its regional pattern correlate closely with the topographic features of the region the maximum bouguer values 100 mgal are located over the median troughs of the red sea and gulf of aden dense juvenile oceanic crust in these rifts and intruding magmas in stretched continental areas produce excess mass responsible for the anomaly highs in the red sea the orientation of the gravity highs is nw se in the south turning to ne sw in the north almost parallel to the aqaba dead sea strike this pattern reveals that the present basin axis is not identical with that which formed the tertiary coastal margins and the pre red sea zones of crustal weakness in the gulf of aden new oceanic crust along the tadjura trench and its eastward extension is also expressed in the bouguer anomaly map by gravity highs and a sharp bending of the isolines a maximum of approx 150 mgal is located over the central section of the sheba ridge bouguer gravity values over the east african and yemen plateaus are of the order of 180 to 240 mgal indicating significant crustal thickening on the somali plateau the marda fault also has a strong gravity signature that can be traced towards somalia by constraining crustal thickness and structure with seismic data and density values from the velocity distribution by means of the nafe drake and birch relationships we computed density models for the crust and upper mantle the crustal thickness is of the order of 40 km beneath the plateaus and only 5 to 6 km at the oceanized parts in the central and southern portions of the red sea median trough the flanks of the southern red sea and the corresponding arabian side are underlain by 12 to 16 km thick stretched continental type crust oceanization offshore sudan and egypt is asymmetrical the continental crust terminates abruptly at about 20 km off the coastline followed by an oceanic crust of early miocene age that was produced in pull apart basins by contrast the eastern side of the red sea trough offshore saudi arabia is floored by stretched continental crust that extends far into the sea seafloor spreading and the generation of oceanic crust in organized spreading centres are limited to the median troughs off sudan and the northern part of ethiopia and commenced approx 5 m y bp they are absent in the northern red sea where crustal fracturing occurs only in pull apart basins of dead sea aqaba orientation distributed in en echelon pattern

landscape dissection isostatic uplift and the morphologic development of orogens we examine the morphologic factors that determine the isostatic response to landscape dissection in orogenic terrains in order to quantify the relative contributions of active tectonic uplift and passive isostatic uplift in generating mountain topography we demonstrate that although peaks many times the elevation of an assumed initial plateau can theoretically be generated only moderate amounts of peak uplift can be explained by isostatic rebound in real terrains analysis of topographic data from the european alps and other orogens indicates that isostatic uplift in response to dissection can account for about one fourth of the elevation of the highest peaks if local isostatic compensation is assumed and less if the lithosphere has significant flexural rigidity we conclude that although isostatic uplift can be significant in orogens high peaks are predominantly a consequence of tectonic processes in convergent settings

the origin of along rift variations in faulting and magmatism in the ethiopian rift the geological record at rifts and margins worldwide often reveals considerable along strike variations in volumes of extruded and intruded igneous rocks these variations may be the result of asthenospheric heterogeneity variations in rate and timing of extension alternatively pre existing plate architecture and or the evolving kinematics of extension during breakup may exert first order control on magmatism the main ethiopian rift mer in east africa provides an excellent opportunity to address this dichotomy it exposes along strike several sectors of asynchronous rift development from continental rifting in the south to incipient oceanic spreading in the north here we perform studies of volcanic cone density and rift obliquity along strike in the mer by synthesizing these new data in light of existing geophysical geochemical and petrological constraints on magma generation and emplacement we are able to discriminate between tectonic and mantle geodynamic controls on the geological record of a newly forming magmatic rifted margin the timing of rift sector development the three dimensional focusing of melt and the ponding of plume material where the rift dramatically narrows each influence igneous intrusion and volcanism along the mer however rifting obliquity plays an important role in localizing intrusion into the crust beneath en echelon volcanic segments along strike variations in volumes and types of igneous rocks found at rifted margins thus likely carry information about the development of strain during rifting as well as the physical state of the convecting mantle at the time of breakup