North South Trending Rifts Research Articles

Geology of the Shelves surrounding the New Siberian Islands, Russian Arctic

Abstract. A total of 11 700 km of multichannel seismic reflection data were acquired during recent reconnaissance surveys of the wide, shallow shelves of the Laptev and western East Siberian Seas around the New Siberian Islands. To the north of the Laptev Sea, the Gakkel Ridge, an active mid-ocean ridge which separates the North American and Eurasian Plates, meets abruptly the steep slope of the continental shelf. Extension has affected the Laptev Shelf since at least the Early Tertiary and has resulted in the formation of three major, generally north-south trending rift basins: the Ust' Lena Rift, the Anisin Basin, and the New Siberian Basin. Our data indicate that the rift basins on the Laptev Shelf are not continuous with those on the East Siberian Shelf. The latter shelf can best be described as an epicontinental platform which has undergone continuous subsidence since the Late Cretaceous. The greatest subsidence occurred in the NE, manifested by a major depocentre filled with inferred (?)Late Cretaceous to Tertiary sediments up to 5 s (twt) thick. On the basis of deep reflection data we revise and adjust Mesozoic domain boundaries around the New Siberian Islands.

Finite frequency tomography in southeastern Tibet: Evidence for the causal relationship between mantle lithosphere delamination and the north–south trending rifts

While several mechanisms have been suggested to explain the evolution of the Tibetan Plateau, observational constraints on the deep lithospheric processes have been sparse, and previous seismic studies were mostly along profiles perpendicular to the collision front of the Indian and Eurasian plates. In this study, we show tomographic evidence for the delamination of the mantle lithosphere beneath southeastern Tibet, a process in which the entire mantle lithosphere peels away from the crust along the Moho and thus is a mechanism for rapid thinning of the lithosphere. Our P and S wave velocity models show the presence of a low‐velocity anomaly in the crust and upper mantle down to ∼300 km depth beneath a north–south trending rift zone in southeastern Tibet. This low‐velocity anomaly is situated above a tabular, high‐dipping‐angle, high‐velocity anomaly that extends into the upper mantle transition zone. The VP/VS ratio of this high‐velocity anomaly suggests that temperature variations are not the only cause of the anomaly and a highly melt‐depleted mantle is required. These observations suggest a causal relationship between the delamination of mantle lithosphere and the formation of the north–south trending rift in southeastern Tibet.

Structures, kinematics, thermochronology and tectonic evolution of the Ramba gneiss dome in the northern Himalaya

The Ramba gneiss dome, one of the north Himalayan gneiss domes, is composed of three tectono-lithologic units separated by an upper and a lower detachment fault. Low-grade metamorphic Tethyan Himalayan sedimentary sequence formed the upper unit above the brittle upper detachment fault. Mylonitic gneiss and a leucogranite pluton made up the lower unit beneath the ductile lower detachment fault. Mylonitic middle-grade garnet-, staurolite- and andalusite-schist constituted the middle unit between the two faults, which may be that the basal part of the upper unit experienced detachment shear. The Ramba dome underwent three episodes of deformation in its tectonic evolution. The first episode was a top-down-to-north-northwest sliding possibly related to the activity of the south Tibetan detachment system (STDS). The second episode was the dominant deformation related to a east–west extension, which resulted in a unique top-down-to-east kinematics and the major tectonic features of the dome. The third episode was a collapse sliding toward the outsides of the dome. The Ramba gneiss dome is possibly a result of the east–west extension and magmatic diapir. The lower detachment fault is probably the main detachment fault separating the sedimentary sequence from the crystalline basement during the east–west extension in the dominant deformation episode. The diapir of the leucogranite pluton formed the doming shape of the Ramba gneiss dome. This pluton intruded in the core of the dome in a late stage of the dominant deformation, and its Ar–Ar cooling ages are about 6 Myr. This indicates that the dominant deformation of the dome happened at the same time of the east–west extension represented by the north–south trending rifts throughout the northern Himalaya and southern Tibet. Therefore, the formation of the Ramba gneiss dome should be related to this east–west extension.

Structure and geochronology of the southern Xainza-Dinggye rift and its relationship to the south Tibetan detachment system

The Xainza-Dinggye rift is one of several north-south trending rifts in central and southern Tibet created by Cenozoic east-west extension during Indo-Asian convergence. The southern part of the rift cuts through the Tethyan and High Himalayas. In the Tethyan Himalaya, this rift consists of an early domal structure and a late normal fault developed during the progressive deformation. The dome is cored by leucogranitic plutons that intruded during extension. Muscovite 40Ar/ 39Ar ages of the mylonitic leucogranite indicate that extension in the Tethyan Himalaya began at ∼8 Ma or before. In the High Himalaya, the rift is controlled by a normal fault dipping to the southeast. This fault has a structural constitution similar to a detachment fault. Its lower block is made up of mylonitic High Himalayan gneiss, intruded by early mylonitic leucogranite sills and late less-deformed biotite-bearing leucogranite dikes. Mica 40Ar/ 39Ar ages of these leucogranites and the retrograded metamorphosed gneiss of the lower block range from ∼13 to ∼10 Ma. In the study area, the south Tibetan detachment system (STDS) is a ductile shear zone composed of mylonitic leucogranite that is intruded by less-deformed leucogranite and overlain by low grade metamorphic rocks. Mica 40Ar/ 39Ar ages of leucogranites in the shear zone and schist from the detachment hanging wall indicate a protracted deformation history of the STDS from ∼19 to ∼13 Ma. The Xainza-Dinggye rift is younger than the STDS because it offsets the STDS; this north-south trending rift belongs to a different tectonic system from the east-west striking STDS, and may be caused by geological process related to India–Asia convergence. This temporal and spatial relationship of the STDS to the rift may indicate an important change in tectonic regime at ∼13 Ma in the building of the plateau.

THE STRUCTURAL STYLE OF SEDIMENTARY BASINS ON THE SHELVES OF THE LAPTEV SEA AND WESTERN EAST SIBERIAN SEA, SIBERIAN ARCTIC

A total of 11,700 km of multichannel seismic reflection data were acquired during three recent reconnaissance surveys of the wide, shallow shelves of the Laptev and western East Siberian Seas in the Siberian Arctic Ocean. Three seismic marker horizons were defined and mapped in both shelf areas. Their nature and age were predicted on the basis of regional tectonic and palaeoenvironmental events and corroborated using onshore geology. To the north of the Laptev Sea, the Gakkel Ridge, an active mid‐ocean ridge which separates the North American and Eurasian Plates, abruptly meets the steep slope of the continental shelf which is curvilinear in plan view. Extension has affected the Laptev Shelf since at least the Early Tertiary and has resulted in the formation of three major, generally north‐south trending rift basins: the Ust’Lena Rift, the Anisin Basin and the New Siberian Basin.The Ust’Lena Rift has a minimum east‐west width of 300km at latitude 75°N and a Cenozoic infill up to 6 s (twt) in thickness. Further to the NW of the Laptev Shelf, the downthrown and faulted basement is overlain by a sub‐parallel layered sedimentary succession with a thickness of 4 s (twt) that thins towards the west. Although this area was affected by extension as shown by the presence of numerous faults, it is not clear whether this depression on the NW Laptev Shelf is continuous with the Ust’Lena Rift.The Anisin Basin is located in the northern part of the Laptev Shelf and has a Cenozoic sedimentary fill up to 5 s (twt) thick. The deepest part of the basin trends north‐south. To the west is a secondary, NW‐SE trending depression which is slightly shallower than the main depocentre. The overall structure of the basin is a half‐graben with the major bounding fault in the east.The New Siberian Basin is up to 70 km wide and has a minimum NW‐SE extent of 300 km. The sedimentary fill is up to 4.5 s (twt) thick. Structurally, the basin is a half‐graben with the bounding fault in the east.Our data indicate that the rift basins on the Laptev Shelf are not continuous with those on the East Siberian Shelf. The latter shelf can best be described as an epicontinental platform which has undergone continuous subsidence since the Late Cretaceous. The greatest subsidence occurred in the NE, as manifested by a major depocentre filled with inferred (?)Late Cretaceous to Tertiary sediments up to 5 s (twt) thick.

Chronology and volcanology of the 1949 multi-vent rift-zone eruption on La Palma (Canary Islands)

The compositionally zoned San Juan eruption on La Palma emanated from three eruptive centers located along a north–south-trending rift zone in the south of the island. Seismic precursors began weakly in 1936 and became strong in March 1949, with their foci progressing from the north of the rift zone towards its south. This suggests that magma ascended beneath the old Taburiente shield volcano and moved southward along the rift. The eruption began on June 24, 1949, with phreatomagmatic activity at Duraznero crater on the ridgetop (ca. 1880 m above sea level), where five vents erupted tephritic lava along a 400-m-long fissure. On June 8, the Duraznero vents shut down abruptly, and the activity shifted to an off-rift fissure at Llano del Banco, located at ca. 550 m lower elevation and 3 km to the northwest. This eruptive center issued initially tephritic aa and later basanitic pahoehoe lava at high rates, producing a lava flow that entered the sea. Two days after basanite began to erupt at Llano del Banco, Hoyo Negro crater (ca. 1880 m asl), located 700 m north of Duraznero along the rift, opened on July 12 and produced ash and bombs of basanitic to phonotephritic composition in violent phreatomagmatic explosions (White and Schmincke, 1999). Llano del Banco and Hoyo Negro were simultaneously active for 11 days and showed a co-variance of their eruption rates indicating a shallow hydraulic connection. On July 30, after 3 days of quiescence at all vents, Duraznero and Hoyo Negro became active again during a final eruptive phase. Duraznero issued basanitic lava at high rates for 12 h and produced a lava flow that descended towards the east coast. The lava contains ca. 1 vol.% crustal and mantle xenoliths consisting of 40% tholeiitic gabbros from the oceanic crust, 35% alkaline gabbros, and 20% ultramafic cumulates. The occurrence of xenoliths almost exclusively in the final lava is consistent with their origin by wall-rock collapse at depth near the end of the eruption. The volcanic evolution of the 1949 eruption is typical of La Palma eruptions generally. Considerable shallow magma migration prior to and during eruption is manifested by strong seismicity, intense faulting, and the almost unpredictable opening of specific vents which can be spaced three or more km apart.