Abstract
The importance of nonrigid geological features (such as orogens) inside tectonic plates on Earthâs dynamic evolution lacks thorough investigation. In particular, the influence of continent-spanning orogens on (super)continental break-up remains unclear. Here we reconstruct global orogens and model their controlling effects on Pangea break-up. We show that while loci of Pangea break-up are linked to mantle plumes, development of continental rifts is guided by orogens. Rifting at Central Atlantic is driven by the modelled plume responsible for the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) within Pangea-forming orogens. South Atlantic rifting is controlled by necking between Pangea- and Gondwana-forming orogens with the assistance of plume-induced lithospheric weakening. Without CAMP-induced weakening, South Atlantic rifting fails between the West African and Amazonian cratons, but occurs between the West African and Saharan cratons instead. Our modeling on Pangea break-up is able to recreate present-day continental geometry through the combined effect of orogens and plume center-locations.
Highlights
The importance of nonrigid geological features inside tectonic plates on Earthâs dynamic evolution lacks thorough investigation
Recent studies focus primarily on the relative importance of the drag force due to subduction retreat[8,9,10], the slab pull force due to far-field subduction[11,12], and the push force of mantle plumes[7,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]. Other key factors such as non-rigid features that control the loci of continental rifting are not widely discussed, it has been recognized that the loci of supercontinent break-up are influenced by the positions of both mantle plumes[18,19,20,21] and nonrigid features of the continental lithosphere, e.g. the global network of orogenic belts[22,23,24]
Our standard model (Case 1) accounting for orogenic belts (Fig. 2) shows that the subducting slabs drive hot instabilities to rise at the boundary of African Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs)
Summary
The importance of nonrigid geological features (such as orogens) inside tectonic plates on Earthâs dynamic evolution lacks thorough investigation. Recent studies focus primarily on the relative importance of the drag force due to subduction retreat[8,9,10], the slab pull force due to far-field subduction[11,12], and the push force of mantle plumes[7,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21] Other key factors such as non-rigid features that control the loci of continental rifting are not widely discussed, it has been recognized that the loci of supercontinent break-up are influenced by the positions of both mantle plumes[18,19,20,21] and nonrigid features of the continental lithosphere, e.g. the global network of orogenic belts[22,23,24]. It splits the West African and Amazonian cratons, which were considered a coherent craton since at least the Mesoproterozoic[36]
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