Deep structure of the Demerara Plateau and its two-fold tectonic evolution: from a volcanic margin to a transform marginal plateau, insights from the Conjugate Guinea Plateau

Abstract

Abstract Transform marginal plateaus (TMPs) are large and flat structures commonly found in deep oceanic domains, but their origin and relationship to adjacent oceanic lithosphere remain poorly understood. This paper focuses on two conjugate TMPs, the Demerara Plateau off Suriname and French Guiana and the Guinea Plateau, located at the junction of the Jurassic Central Atlantic and the Cretaceous Equatorial Atlantic oceans. The study helps to understand (1) the tectonic history of both Demerara and Guinea plateaus and (2) the relationship between the Demerara Plateau and the adjacent oceanic domains, and finally, (3) throws light on the formation of TMPs. We analyse two existing wide-angle seismic-derived velocity models from the MARGATS seismic experiment (Demerara Plateau), and adjacent composite industrial seismic lines covering the Demerara and Guinea plateaus. The Demerara Plateau displays a 30 km thick crust, subdivided into three layers, including a high-velocity lower crust. The velocities and velocity gradients do not fit the values of typical continental crust but instead correspond to volcanic margin- or large igneous province-type crusts. We propose that the, possibly continental, lower crust is intruded by magmatic material and that the upper crustal layer is made from extrusive volcanic rocks of the same magmatic origin, forming thick seaward (westward)-dipping reflectors (SDRs) sequences. This SDR complex extends to the Guinea Plateau as well and was emplaced during hotspot (Sierra Leone)-related volcanic rifting preceding the Jurassic opening of the Central Atlantic and forming the western margin of the plateau. North–south composite lines linking the Demerara and Guinea plateaus reveal the spatial extent of the SDR complex but also a pre-existing basement ridge separating the two plateaus. The entire Demerara–Guinea margin would therefore be an inherited Jurassic volcanic margin bordering the Central Atlantic Ocean to the east, with a possible conjugate being the Bahamas Plateau on the other side of the ocean. This margin was then reworked during a non-coaxial Cretaceous second phase of rifting potentially accompanied by a magmatic event. Opening of the northern margin occurred in a transform mode splitting the Jurassic volcanic margin into two parts (the Guinea and Demerara TMPs), conceivably along a pre-existing basement ridge. Rifting of the eastern part of the Demerara Plateau occurred surprisingly along the eastern limit of the Jurassic SDR complex, forming the present-day eastern divergent margin of the Demerara Plateau. After that stage, the Demerara and Guinea plateaus are individualized on each side of the Equatorial Atlantic. This study also highlights the major contribution of thermal anomalies related to hotspots and superposed tectonic phases in the case of other TMPs that share numerous characteristics with the Demerara Plateau.