Rifting evolution in geological history

Abstract

Rift and rift-like zones, global linear extensional structures of the crust, have appeared during most periods of the Earth's history. Rifting as a geological process has undergone a complex evolution, with its historical “roots” in the early Precambrian. The development of the oldest linear mobile tectonic zones—Archean greenstone belts and granulite belts—combined the features of both rift and geosynclinal processes in the following epochs. Early Proterozoic mobile zones—protogeosynclinal regions and protorift zones—evolved under similar tectonic regimes of crustal destruction in the early stages and compression in the late stages of their development, but different in size, scale and intensity of the deformations and thermal processes experienced. Typical rift structures have existed since the late Proterozoic. In the late Proterozoic and Paleozoic, continental intracratonic rifting, in the form of aulacogen and aulacogeosynclinal zone development, was a process related and subordinated to a geosynclinal process in the adjacent mobile belts. In the Paleozoic, the first “epiorogenic” (postorogenic) rift zones appeared within the epigeosynclinal folded belts. During the Meso-Cenozoic epoch of the Earth's history rifting increased considerably and became independent of geosynclinal processes. It is believed to be one of the main forms of continental crust destruction and formation of the oceanic basins and probably occurred under conditions of some general expansion of the Earth.