Rifted Continental Margin Research Articles

The epilog of the western paleo-Pacific subduction: Inferred from spatial and temporal variations and geochemistry of the Late Cretaceous to Early Cenozoic silicic magmatism in coastal South China

The Late Cretaceous to Early Cenozoic magmatism in the South China coastal area produced some amounts of rhyolitic rocks in two phases, which may be used to unravel the geohistory of the epilog of the paleo-Pacific plate subduction system. Essence of the Phase I rocks is the high temperature rhyolite (A-type)-trachydacite association in north Fujian (95–91Ma) that was coeval with regional A-type granites. They succeeded the vast rhyolite–dacite–andesite (RDA) associations and I-type granitoids (113.5–96Ma) and preceded the silicic-dominating rhyolite/basalt bimodal suites or monolithologic rhyolite in Zhejiang (89–86Ma). Phase II rocks include (a) the RDA association or rhyolite alone in some drifted continental fragments nearby (83–56Ma) and (b) the following rift-basin related rhyolite–trachyte/basalt bimodal suites in Guangdong and west Taiwan (56–38Ma). The silicic volcanism, spatially changed from a NE–SW to the nearly E–W direction after 83Ma, may reflect tectonic-driven eruptions occurred in the post-orogenic extensional (Phase I), resumed plate subducting (Phase IIa) and continental margin rifting (Phase IIb) stages. Rhyolitic rocks basically are shoshonitic to high-K calc-alkaline affinities while the Phase IIa RDA associations are mostly concentrated in the high-K to medium-K calc-alkaline series. All these rocks generally possess a continental arc character in tectonic discrimination diagrams, except shoshonitic rocks that have within-plate signatures. Based on the trace element and Nd–Pb isotope data, A-type rocks are suggested to have derived from mixing between trachydacitic (or syenitic) magmas and crustal melts of various sources under the high temperature condition (±metasomatism), and the succeeding silicic rocks are derivatives of the contaminated lithospheric mantle melts through crystal fractionation. On the other hand, Phase II silicic rocks are mainly the fractionation products of mafic magmas originated either from the lithospheric or the asthenospheric mantle. In reflection to such magmatotectonics with time, break-off of the subducted slab shortly before 113.5Ma, change of the plate-moving direction between 86 and 83Ma, and termination of plate movement probably at ∼56Ma signify the epilog of the paleo-Pacific plate.

Geochemistry of the metavolcanic rocks in the vicinity of the MacLellan Au–Ag deposit and an evaluation of the tectonic setting of the Lynn Lake greenstone belt, Canada: Evidence for a Paleoproterozoic-aged rifted continental margin

The Paleoproterozoic (ca. 1900Ma) Lynn Lake greenstone belt of northern Manitoba, Canada, has been previously characterized as comprising a series of tectonically juxtaposed intra-oceanic-derived metavolcanic rocks. The results of more recent local and regional studies, however, support a significant contribution of continental crust during formation of the metasedimentary, metavolcanic, and intrusive igneous rocks that comprise the majority of the Lynn Lake greenstone belt. The tectonic model previously proposed for the Lynn Lake greenstone belt, however, did not consider the geodynamics of the Lynn Lake greenstone belt in the context of all available data. In this study, we report the results of outcrop mapping and petrographic analysis, as well as major, minor, and trace element geochemical analyses for 54 samples from the Northern terrane, and integrate and compare the results with data from previously published studies. These data are used to recharacterize the metavolcanic rocks and to develop a new geodynamic model for the formation of the Lynn Lake greenstone belt.Ultramafic to intermediate rocks in the vicinity of the MacLellan Au–Ag deposit are characterized primarily by E-MORB-like trace element characteristics and Th–Nb–La systematics, which are interpreted to be the result of a primary, plume-derived melt interacting with continental lithosphere at a thinned (i.e., rifted) continental margin. Similarly, the majority of the mafic to intermediate rocks that comprise the Lynn Lake greenstone belt are characterized by flat to E-MORB-like trace element patterns and Th–Nb–La systematics, which are consistent with mantle plume-derived, contaminated, oceanic continental rift or rifted margin setting rocks. This study suggests that the metavolcanic rocks of the Lynn Lake greenstone belt were derived via rifting between the Superior and Hearne Cratons, which resulted in the formation and growth of the Manikewan Ocean. Alternatively, the metavolcanic rocks could have been derived from an upwelling plume generated from a back-arc-style subduction zone that formed between the Rae and Hearne Cratons during the closure of the Snowbird Ocean, which resulted in rifting of the passive Hearne margin.

The origins of the Mengye potash deposit in the Lanping–Simao Basin, Yunnan Province, Western China

The Lanping–Simao Basin (LSB) is a Mesozoic–Cenozoic continental margin rift basin in Western China. It formed during the opening and closing of the Tethys Ocean. This basin is also known as a “metal belt” as it hosts several metal deposits, besides, the Mengye potash deposit. However, the exact dates of the formation either in the Paleocene or the Cretaceous, and thus the origins of the marine, continental or mixed origins of the Mengye deposits, remain disputed. Based on the basin's evolution, materials of marine origin and/or remnant seawater should be present, but instead the salt layers of the Mengye potash deposit present typically continental lithological features. This study examines and reviews evaporative minerals, Br/Cl and I/Cl molar ratios, and isotopes of S, B, and Sr·I and I/Cl data for this area has not been previously reported. The basin's evaporative minerals are dominated by halite and sylvite. The amounts of anhydrite, chlorocalcite, langbeinite, glaserite, tachyhydrite and glauberite are small. All of these form in both marine and continental environments. The values of I and the I/Cl molar ratios of halite and sylvite are from 0.07 to 0.27ppm, and from 0.03 to 0.11×10−6, respectively, dependent on organic substances. Br and molar Br/Cl values are from 89.08 to 555.45ppm and from 0.06×10−3 to 0.38×10−3, respectively. All of the Br/Cl molar ratios are lower than those of seawater, and most of them are <0.1, suggesting continental or mixed origin. Previously published δ34S, δ11B and 87Sr/86Sr values for evaporative minerals indicate a continental origin for the Mengye potash deposit. However, materials of hydrothermal origin are widely distributed in the basin and may have played an active role for the formation of the potash deposit. Thus the Mengye potash deposit could be of continental origin, with a remnant seawater trace.

Ophiolitic rocks of the Indo-Myanmar Ranges, NE India: relicts of an inverted and tectonically imbricated hyper-extended continental margin basin?

Abstract The Indo-Myanmar Ranges (IMR) of NE India are host to various ophiolitic rocks, including metamorphosed Alpine-type harzburgite and lherzolite. Compared to abyssal peridotites of normal oceanic lithosphere, these ultramafic rocks are enriched in trace and rare earth elements. Spilitic pillow lavas along with mafic dykes and sills locally intruded into the serpentinized ultramafic rocks and associated pelagic sediments exhibit alkaline compositional affinities. Ophiolite formation and emplacement were by a process analogous to that described for mantle exhumation in hyper-extended continental margin settings and ophiolites in parts of the European Alps, involving very slow passive continental margin rifting accompanied by slow upwelling or extensional unroofing of the subcontinental upper mantle up to the seafloor. Preliminary palaeomagnetic measurements conducted on ultramafic rocks within the IMR ophiolite belt give a virtual geomagnetic pole (VGP) at 47° N, 045° E for thermal demagnetization (TDM) measurements and 33° N, 013° E for the alternating field demagnetization (AfD) measurements, requiring an anticlockwise rotation of the ultramafic bodies by 14° during the subduction process. The original trend of the spreading axis of the ophiolites was probably NE–SW, with spreading directed NW–SE. Computation of palaeolatitude of the ultramafic rocks gives an average value of 24.67°. Comparison between the palaeolatitude and the present latitude of the sample sites provides a mere latitudinal shift of less than 1°. Field studies, combined with an analysis of structural and tectonic features in the IMR, suggest a generalized WNW–ESE (east–west) compression and NNE–SSW (north–south) extension contradictory to the NNE–SSW contraction indicated by seismic data. Area balancing techniques employed along sections orientated perpendicular to regional tectonic strike in the IMR reveal systematic variations in the amount of crustal shortening, with a maximum of approximately 60% recorded in the Nagaland–Manipur segment along 25.644° N, 93.826° E–25.076° N, 95.897° E. The amount of shortening gradually decreases away from the axis of maximum shortening and on both sides. Calculations of relative plate motion based on rotation vectors given by different workers for various plate pairs represented in the region reveal that the interaction between the Indian and Myanmar plates can ideally produce the structural and tectonic features of this range. Dextral shear coupled to oblique subduction of the Indian Plate below the Myanmar Plate can best explain all of the structural and tectonic features present in the IMR.

Characterizing and identifying structural domains at rifted continental margins: application to the Bay of Biscay margins and its Western Pyrenean fossil remnants

Abstract We use the Bay of Biscay and Western Pyrenees as a natural laboratory to develop and apply an approach to characterize and identify distinctive rifted margin domains in offshore and onshore settings. The Bay of Biscay and Western Pyrenees offer access to seismically imaged, drilled and exposed parts of one and the same hyperextended rift system. Offshore, we use gravity inversion and flexural backstripping techniques combined with seismic interpretation to provide estimates of accommodation space, crustal thickness and lithosphere thinning. Onshore, we focus on key outcrops of the former rift domain to describe the nature of sediment and basement rocks, and of their interface. This qualitative and quantitative characterization provides diagnostic elements for the identification of five distinct structural domains at magma-poor rifted margins and their fossil analogues (proximal, necking, hyperthinned, exhumed mantle and oceanic domains). This new approach can be used to reconcile offshore and onshore observations, and to aid interpretation when only local observations are available. Onshore remnants can be placed in an offshore rifted-margin context, enabling the prediction of first-order crustal architecture. For the interpretation of offshore seismic reflection sections, geological insights into rift structures and basement nature can be suggested based on onshore analogies. Supplementary material: Sensitivity of backstripping results to flexural rigidity is available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18778 .

Magnetotelluric evidence for serpentinisation in a Cambrian subduction zone beneath the Delamerian Orogen, southeast Australia

The Delamerian Orogen in southeast Australia represents a Proterozoic continental rift margin, overprinted by convergent margin Andean-style subduction in the Cambrian. A detailed 150km east–west magnetotelluric transect was collected across the orogen to investigate the electrical resistivity structure. The magnetotelluric transect follows an existing full crustal reflection seismic transect, of which interpretations support a westward-dipping Cambrian subduction model as derived from field mapping and geochemistry. A 2D inversion of the data from the 68 station broadband magnetotelluric transect imaged a heterogeneous crust with lateral changes as large as 10,000Ωm occurring over ~15km. The crust within the western Glenelg Zone is resistive, in contrast to the eastern Glenelg Zone and the Grampians–Stavely Zone (above the paleo-subduction zone), which host three conductive pathways. The main low resistivity regions (~1–10Ωm) reside at mid-lower crustal depths (~10–30km), extending up to the surface with a higher resistivity (~300Ωm), but still much less than surrounding resistivity (mantle~1000Ωm, crust~10,000Ωm). Fluids released from the upper mantle during the Cambrian west-dipping subduction are interpreted to have moved up crustal faults to create the observed low resistivity pathways by serpentinisation and magnetite creation in mafic–ultramafic rocks. The electrical conductivity of hand samples of serpentinised mafic–ultramafic rocks in the region was found to be much greater than most other rock types present. In addition to adding insight into the crustal structure, the magnetotelluric data also supports geological surface mapping, as the major Lawloit and Yarramyljup Faults that bound different geological domains also mark domains of different electrical structure.

Different expressions of rifting on the South China Sea margins

Rifting of continental margins is generally diachronous along the zones where continents break due to various factors including the boundary conditions which trigger the extensional forces, but also the internal physical boundaries which are inherent to the composition and thus the geological history of the continental margin. Being opened quite recently in the Tertiary in a scissor-shape manner, the South China Sea (SCS) offers an image of the rifting structures which varies along strike the basin margins. The SCS has a long history of extension, which dates back from the Late Cretaceous, and allows us to observe an early stretching on the northern margin onshore and offshore South China, with large low angle faults which detach the Mesozoic sediments either over Triassic to Early Cretaceous granites, or along the short limbs of broad folds affecting Palaeozoic to Early Cretaceous series. These early faults create narrow troughs filled with coarse polygenic conglomerate grading upward to coarse sandstone. Because these low-angle faults reactivate older trends, they vary in geometry according to the direction of the folds or the granite boundaries. A later set of faults, characterized by generally E–W low and high angle normal faults was dominant during the Eocene. Associated half-graben basement deepened as the basins were filling with continental or very shallow marine sediments. This subsequent direction is well expressed both in the north and the SW of the South China Sea and often reactivated earlier detachments. At places, the intersection of these two fault sets resulting in extreme stretching with crustal boudinage and mantle exhumation such as in the Phu Khanh Basin East of the Vietnam fault. A third direction of faults, which rarely reactivates the detachments is NE–SW and well developed near the oceanic crust in the southern and southwestern part of the basin. This direction which intersects the previous ones was active although sea floor spreading was largely developed in the northern part, and ended by the Late Miocene after the onset of the regional Mid Miocene unconformity known as MMU and dated around 15.5 Ma. Latest Miocene is marked by a regional basement drop and localized normal faults on the shelf closer to the coast. The SE margin of the South China Sea does not show the extensional features as well as the Northern margin. Detachments are common in the Dangerous Grounds and Reed Bank area and may occasionally lead to mantle exhumation. The sedimentary environment on the extended crust remained shallow all along the rifting and a large part of the spreading until the Late Miocene, when it suddenly deepened. This period also corresponds to the cessation of the shortening of the NW Borneo wedge in Palawan, Sabah, and Sarawak. We correlate the variation of margin structure and composition of the margin; mainly the occurrence of granitic batholiths and Mesozoic broad folds, with the location of the detachments and major normal faults which condition the style of rifting, the crustal boudinage and therefore the crustal thickness.

A volcanic province near the western termination of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone at the rifted margin, offshore northeast Newfoundland

A mid-Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous volcanic province, named here the Charlie-Gibbs Volcanic Province, is described near the western termination of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone, against the rifted continental margin northeast of Newfoundland. We used seismic data to map 14 volcanic seamounts, now buried below younger sediments. They rise 0.7 to 2 s two-way time (twt) above the surrounding basement level and are about 8–30 km wide. Some are conical while others are more flat-topped. Underlying igneous units resembling flows and sills are also observed. Based on magnetic modeling of the large positive magnetic anomalies associated with the seamounts, the total thickness of igneous rocks can locally reach about 8 km. This magmatism occurred in the vicinity of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone and extends about 150 km to the north along the rifted continental margin. The volcanic province also forms the northern boundary of the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Orphan Basin, along a major transform margin there. Truncation of rift-related structures which extend to deep crustal levels is observed at the transform, along trends similar to those of prerift Appalachian terrane boundaries on the adjacent shelf. This suggests the existence of a preexisting weak zone in the continental lithosphere within which a complex strike-slip fault system developed and may have controlled the location of final continental breakup between the Rockall and North American plates in the Late Cretaceous.

Valle d'Aosta section of the Sesia Zone: multi-stage HP metamorphism and assembly of a rifted continental margin

The spectrum characteristic of the EMC ranges from eclogites (containing omphacite and/or jadeite, garnet, phengite, glaucophane, zoisite, chloritoid, rutile) to phengite schists, calcschists, and marbles, as well as a variety of orthogneisses. Despite the intense polyphase deformation and HP-metamorphic recrystallization, it is possible in some locations to recognize pre-Alpine characteristics in some of the protoliths. For instance, two types of felsic orthogneiss can be distinguished in the Aosta Valley, one derived from Permian granitoids (with local preservation of intrusive contacts, magmatic inclusions, leucocratic veins and other magmatic structures; Stop 3), the other derived from pre-Variscan leuco-monzogranite, such as the building stone mined at the “Argentera” quarry near Settimo Vittone / Montestrutto (Stop 2; so-called “Verde Argento” contains jadeite, phengite, K-feldspar, quartz). Polycyclic and more rarely monocyclic metasediments contain evidence of a complex Alpine PTDt-evolution, locally including relics of their prograde history from blueschist, one or more stages at eclogite facies. Recent petrochronological studies have dated this HP-evolution of the Sesia Zone in some detail. In the area visited, clear evidence of HP-cycling has been identified in one km-size tectonic slice (Stop 1), but not in adjacent parts of the EMC, indicating “yo-yo tectonics”. Partial retrogression and attendant ductile to brittle deformation of the HP-rocks is evident in one of the outcrops (Stop 4). Apart from the four localities in the Sesia Zone, a final outcrop introduces HP-rocks of the adjacent Piemonte oceanic unit, specifically calc-schists and ophiolite members of the “Zermatt-Saas” zone. The hilltop outcrop (Stop 5) displays foliated antigorite schist with peridotite relics (clinopyroxene, spinel) containing lenses derived from doleritic dykes. These fine-grained metarodingites and the folded veins containing Mg-chlorite and titanoclinohumite within serpentinite once again indicate equilibration under low-temperature eclogite facies conditions. However, these units reached that HP stage more than 20 Ma after the youngest eclogite facies imprint recognized in the Sesia Zone. Despite nearly half a century of intense study in the Sesia Zone, the complex assembly of its HP-terranes and their relation to more external parts of the Western Alps remains incompletely understood. This field guide merely introduces a few of the classic outcrops and discusses some of the critical evidence they contain, but it could not incorporate details on each stage of the evolution recognized so far.

Crustal structure and inferred rifting processes in the northeast South China Sea

TAIGER project deep-penetration seismic reflection profiles acquired in the northeastern South China Sea (SCS) provide a detailed view of the crustal structure of a very wide rifted continental margin. These profiles document a failed rift zone proximal to the shelf, a zone of thicker crust 150 km from the shelf, and gradually thinning crust toward the COB, spanning a total distance of 250–300 km. Such an expanse of extended continental crust is not unique but it is uncommon for continental margins. We use the high-quality images from this data set to identify the styles of upper and lower crustal structure and how they have thinned in response to extension and, in turn, what rheological variations are predicted that allow for protracted crustal extension. Upper crustal thinning is greatest at the failed rift (βuc ≈ 7.5) but is limited farther seaward (βuc ≈ 1–2). We interpret that the lower crust has discordantly thinned from an original 15–17 km to possibly less than 2–3 km thick beneath the central thick crust zone and more distal areas. This extreme lower crustal thinning indicates that it acted as a weak layer allowing decoupling between the upper crust and the mantle lithosphere. The observed upper crustal thickness variations and implied rheology (lower crustal flow) are consistent with large-scale boudinage of continental crust during protracted extension.

Mapping crustal thickness using marine gravity data: Methods and uncertainties

Crustal thickness is a critical parameter for understanding the processes of continental rifting and breakup and the evolution of petroleum systems within passive margins. However, direct measurements of crustal thickness are sparse and expensive, highlighting the need for methodologies using gravity anomaly data, jointly with other geophysical data, to estimate crustal thickness. We evaluated alternative gravity inversion methodologies to map crustal thickness variations at rifted continental margins and adjacent oceanic basins, and we tested our methodology in the South China Sea (SCS). Different strategies were investigated to estimate and remove the gravity effect of density variations of sediments and the temperature and pressure variations of the lithospheric mantle from the observed free air gravity anomaly data. Sediment density was calculated using a relationship between sediment thickness, porosity, and density. We found that this method is essential for crustal thickness inversion in the presence of a thick sedimentary cover by comparing the Moho depths obtained from gravity inversion and seismic interpretation in the Yinggehai Basin where sediments are up to 13 km thick; the inversion accuracy depended on the parameters of the exponential equation between porosity and the buried depth. We modeled the lithospheric mantle temperature field based on oceanic crustal age, continental crustal stretching factors, and other boundary conditions. We tested three different methods to calculate the thermal expansion coefficient, which is either held constant or is a linear/polynomial function of temperature, for applying a thermal correction and found that the inversion results were relatively insensitive to alternative methods. We compared inversion results with two recent deep seismic profiles that image the rifted continental edge at the northern margin of the SCS and the continental Liyue Bank (Reed Bank) at the southern margin, and we found that the inversion accuracy was improved considerably by removing sediment, thermal, and pressure gravity effects.

Crustal thinning in the northern Tyrrhenian Rift: Insights from multichannel and wide‐angle seismic data across the basin

AbstractExtension of the continental lithosphere leads to the formation of rift basins or rifted continental margins if breakup occurs. Seismic investigations have repeatedly shown that conjugate margins have asymmetric tectonic structures and different amount of extension and crustal thinning. Here we compare two coincident wide‐angle and multichannel seismic profiles across the northern Tyrrhenian rift system sampling crust that underwent different stages of extension from north to south and from the flanks to the basin center. Tomographic inversion reveals that the crust has thinned homogeneously from ~24 km to ~17 km between the Corsica Margin and the Latium Margin implying a β factor of ~1.3–1.5. On the transect 80 km to the south, the crust thinned from ~24 km beneath Sardinia to a maximum of ~11 km in the eastern region near the Campania Margin (β factor of ~2.2). The increased crustal thinning is accompanied by a zone of reduced velocities in the upper crust that expands progressively toward the southeast. We interpret that the velocity reduction is related to rock fracturing caused by a higher degree of brittle faulting, as observed on multichannel seismic images. Locally, basalt flows are imaged intruding sediment in this zone, and heat flow values locally exceed 100 mW/m2. Velocities within the entire crust range 4.0–6.7 km/s, which are typical for continental rocks and indicate that significant rift‐related magmatic underplating may not be present. The characteristics of the pre‐tectonic, syn‐tectonic and post‐tectonic sedimentary units allow us to infer the spatial and temporal evolution of active rifting. In the western part of the southern transect, thick postrift sediments were deposited in half grabens that are bounded by large fault blocks. Fault spacing and block size diminish to the east as crustal thinning increases. Recent tectonic activity is expressed by faults cutting the seafloor in the east, near the mainland of Italy. The two transects show the evolution from the less extended rift in the north with a fairly symmetric conjugate structure to the asymmetric margins farther south. This structural evolution is consistent with W‐E rift propagation and southward increasing extension rates.

Petrography and geochemistry of Jumara Dome sediments, Kachchh Basin: Implications for provenance, tectonic setting and weathering intensity

In the Kachchh Mainland, the Jumara Dome mixed carbonate-siliciclastic succession is represented by the Jhurio and Patcham formations and siliciclastic-dominating Chari Formation (Bathonian to Oxfordian). The Jumara Dome sediments were deposited during sea-level fluctuating, and were interrupted by storms in the shallow marine environment. The sandstones are generally medium-grained, moderately sorted, subangular to subrounded and of low sphericity. The sandstones are mineralogically mature and mainly composed of quartzarenite and subarkose. The plots of petrofacies in the Qt-F-L, Qm-F-Lt, Qp-Lv-Ls and Qm-P-K ternary diagrams suggest mainly the basement uplift source (craton interior) in rifted continental margin basin setting. The sandstones were cemented by carbonate, iron oxide and silica overgrowth. The Chemical Index of Alteration values (73% sandstone and 81% shale) indicate high weathering conditions in the source area. Overall study suggests that such strong chemical weathering conditions are of unconformity with worldwide humid and warm climates during the Jurassic period. Positive correlations between Al2O3 and Fe2O3, TiO2, Na2O, MgO, K2O are evident. A high correlation coefficient between Al2O3 and K2O in shale samples suggests that clay minerals control the major oxides. The analogous contents of Si, Al, Ti, LREE and TTE in the shale to PAAS with slightly depleted values of other elements ascribe a PAAS like source (granitic gneiss and minor mafics) to the present study. The petrographic and geochemical data strongly suggest that the studied sandstones/shales were deposited on a passive margin of the stable intracratonic basin.

Cenozoic deformation in the Otway Basin, southern Australian margin: implications for the origin and nature of post‐breakup compression at rifted margins

AbstractThere is growing recognition that pulses of compressive tectonic structuring punctuate the post‐breakup subsidence histories of many ‘passive’ rifted continental margins. To obtain new insights into the nature and origin of compression at passive margins, we have conducted a comprehensive analysis of the post‐breakup (&lt;43 Ma) deformation history of the offshore Otway Basin, southern Australian margin, using a regional seismic database tied to multiple wells. Through mapping of a number of regional intra‐Cenozoic unconformities we have determined growth chronologies for a number of major anticlinal structures, most of which are ˜NE–SW‐trending folds that developed during mild inversion of syn‐rift normal faults or through buckling of the post‐rift succession. These chronologies are supplemented by onshore structural evidence and by thermochronological data from key wells. Whilst our analysis confirms the occurrence of a well‐documented pulse of late Miocene–early Pliocene compression, post‐breakup deformation is not restricted to this time interval. We highlight the growth of a number of structures during the mid‐late Eocene and the Oligocene‐early Miocene, with evidence for considerable temporal and spatial migration of strain within the basin. Our results indicate a long‐lived ˜NW–SE maximum horizontal stress orientation since the mid‐late Eocene, consistent with contemporary stress observations but at variance with previous suggestions that this stress orientation was initiated in the late Miocene by increased coupling of the Australian‐Pacific plate boundary. We attribute the observed record of deformation to a compressional intraplate stress field, coupled to the progressive evolution of the boundaries of the Indo‐Australian Plate, ensuring that this margin has been subject to ongoing compressional forcing since mid‐Eocene breakup. Our results indicate that compressional deformation at passive margins may be more common than is generally assumed, and that passive margin basins with evidence for protracted post‐breakup deformation histories can provide useful natural laboratories for obtaining improved understanding of the evolution of intraplate stress fields over geological timescales.

Heat flow in the rifted continental margin of the South China Sea near Taiwan and its tectonic implications

Temperature measurements carried out on 9 hydrocarbon exploration boreholes together with Bottom Simulating Reflectors (BSRs) from reflection seismic images are used in this study to derive geothermal gradients and heat flows in the northern margin of the South China Sea near Taiwan. The method of Horner plot is applied to obtain true formation temperatures from measured borehole temperatures, which are disturbed by drilling processes. Sub-seafloor depths of BSRs are used to calculate sub-bottom temperatures using theoretical pressure/temperature phase boundary that marks the base of gas hydrate stability zone. Our results show that the geothermal gradients and heat flows in the study area range from 28 to 128°C/km and 40 to 159mW/m2, respectively. There is a marked difference in geothermal gradients and heat flow beneath the shelf and slope regions. It is cooler beneath the shelf with an average geothermal gradient of 34.5°C/km, and 62.7mW/m2 heat flow. The continental slope shows a higher average geothermal gradient of 56.4°C/km, and 70.9mW/m2 heat flow. Lower heat flow on the shelf is most likely caused by thicker sediments that have accumulated there compared to the sediment thickness beneath the slope. In addition, the continental crust is highly extended beneath the continental slope, yielding higher heat flow in this region. A half graben exists beneath the continental slope with a north-dipping graben-bounding fault. A high heat-flow anomaly coincides at the location of this graben-bounding fault at the Jiulong Ridge, indicating vigorous vertical fluid convection which may take place along this fault.

Deep‐water continental margins: geological and economic frontiers

AbstractDeep‐water margins have been the focus of considerable research during the past decade. They comprise vast, underexplored regions, in which only recently have improvements in seismic imaging and drilling technology allowed the discovery of significant hydrocarbon accumulations. This volume comprises of a series of manuscripts based on studies from continental margins bordering India, East Africa, Australia, China, Norway, the United Kingdom, Iberia, Newfoundland, the southern US, West Africa and Brazil, thus offering a global perspective on the evolution and economic significance of deep‐water margins. The articles in this volume examine: (i) the quantification of extension and hyperextension in distal parts of continental margins, and their relationship with regional subsidence, (ii) the importance of magmatism in the structural and thermal evolution of rifted continental margins, (iii) the processes driving and the significance of regional exhumation during and after syn‐rift stretching, (iv) the tectonic setting of salt basins and (v) depositional patterns along deep‐water margins. To complement this work, we present a personal view of some of the specific questions that need to be addressed in the next few years of deep‐water continental margin research.

Lithospheric expression of geological units in central and eastern North America from full waveform tomography

The EarthScope TA deployment has provided dense array coverage throughout the continental US and with it, the opportunity for high resolution 3D seismic velocity imaging of both lithosphere and asthenosphere in the continent. Building upon our previous long-period waveform tomographic modeling in North America, we present a higher resolution 3D isotropic and radially anisotropic shear wave velocity model of the North American lithospheric mantle, constructed tomographically using the spectral element method for wavefield computations and waveform data down to 40 s period. The new model exhibits pronounced spatial correlation between lateral variations in seismic velocity and anisotropy and major tectonic units as defined from surface geology. In the center of the continent, the North American craton exhibits uniformly thick lithosphere down to 200–250 km, while major tectonic sutures of Proterozoic age visible in the surface geology extend down to 100–150 km as relatively narrow zones of distinct radial anisotropy, with Vsv>Vsh. Notably, the upper mantle low velocity zone is present everywhere under the craton between 200 and 300 km depth. East of the continental rift margin, the lithosphere is broken up into a series of large, somewhat thinner (150 km) high velocity blocks, which extend laterally 200–300 km offshore into the Atlantic Ocean. Between the craton and these deep-rooted blocks, we find a prominent narrow band of low velocities that roughly follows the southern and eastern Laurentia rift margin and extends into New England. We suggest that the lithosphere along this band of low velocities may be thinned due to the combined effects of repeated rifting processes and northward extension of the hotspot related Bermuda low-velocity channel across the New England region. We propose that the deep rooted high velocity blocks east of the Laurentia margin represent the Proterozoic Gondwanian terranes of pan-African affinity, which were captured during the Rodinia formation but left behind after the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. Our results suggest that recurring episodes of tectonic events that are well exposed at the surface also leave persistent scars in the continental lithosphere mantle, marked by isotropic and radially anisotropic velocity anomalies that reach as deep as 100–150 km.

New insights into the magmatic plumbing system of the South Australian Quaternary Basalt province from 3D seismic and geochemical data

Recent seismic reflection studies of large-volume, anorogenic basaltic provinces at passive continental margins have challenged the traditional viewpoint that erupted magmas predominantly ascend through the lithosphere via dykes that exploit high-angle faults. However, such seismic-based methods are yet to be applied to identify the magmatic plumbing systems of low-volume basaltic provinces, such as the Cretaceous–Cenozoic Newer Volcanic Province (NVP) in southeastern Australia (total volume <20 000 km3). The South Australian Quaternary Basalt (SAQB) represents the most recent phase of activity both within the NVP and on the Australian continent. This province is located within the Otway Basin, and a large amount of seismic data from gas exploration is available for this region. Consequently, the SAQB represents a superb natural laboratory in which geochemical and seismic data can be combined in order to study the magmatic plumbing system of a low-volume continental basalt province and discriminate between the competing hypotheses for magma transport through the Earth's crust. Geochemical analyses and thermodynamic modelling suggests that the magma that fed the SAQB was generated by adiabatic decompressional melting of a secondary mantle plume. These models imply that melt segregation took place at successively lower pressures from about ∼4000 to 3000 MPa during the ca 1 Ma SAQB eruptive history that culminated in the Northern Group, Mt Schank and Mt Gambier eruptions. During ascent, the magma underwent 34–41% fractional crystallisation and cooled ∼200 °C, while residing in the crust for a time period on the order of days to weeks. Interpretation of a 3D seismic survey that overlaps with the northeastern part of the SAQB reveals a saucer-shaped sill with an unusual morphology, exhibiting a series of vertical concentric steps towards its outer rim. This sill appears to be fed by magma that intruded along steep normal faults from a feeder dyke that is hosted by the regional, NW–SE-trending Hungerford-Kalangadoo Fault. Our results suggest that the melt that fed the SAQB rose through the crust via dykes and high-angle normal faults, with less evidence for significant horizontal transport of magma than observed in large-volume basaltic provinces in sedimentary basins at rifted continental margins, possibly highlighting a correlation between the extent, volume and magma supply rate within a basaltic province and the nature of magma ascent.

Initiation of transform faults at rifted continental margins: 3D petrological-thermomechanical modeling and comparison to the Woodlark Basin

This work presents high-resolution 3D numerical model of transform fault initiation at rifted continental margins. Our petrological-thermomechanical visco-plastic model allows for spontaneous nucleation of oceanic spreading process in a continental rift zone and takes into account new oceanic crust growth driven by decompression melting of the asthenospheric mantle. Numerical model predicts that ridge-transform spreading pattern initiate in several subsequent stages: crustal rifting (0–1.5 Myr), spreading centers nucleation and propagation (1.5–3 Myr), proto-transform fault initiation and rotation (3–5 Myr) and mature ridge-transform spreading (> 5 Myr). Comparison of modeling results with the natural data from the Woodlark Basin suggests that the development of this region closely matches numerical predictions. Similarly to the model, the Moresby (proto-) Transform terminates in the oceanic rather than in the continental crust. This fault associates with a notable topographic depression and formed within 0.5–2 Myr while linking two offset overlapping spreading segments. Model reproduces well characteristic “rounded” contours of the spreading centers as well as the presence of a remnant of the broken continental crustal bridge observed in the Woodlark Basin. Proto-transform fault traces and truncated tip of one spreading center present in the model are also documented in nature. Numerical results are in good agreement with the concept of Taylor et al. (2009) which suggests that spreading segments nucleate en echelon in overlapping rift basins and that transform faults develop as or after spreading nucleates. Our experiments also allow to refine this concept in that (proto)-transform faults may also initiate as oblique rather than only spreading-parallel tectonic features. Subsequent rotation of these faults toward the extension-parallel direction is governed by space accommodation during continued oceanic crust growth within offset ridge-transform intersections.

Seismic images of the sliver strike‐slip fault and back thrust in the Andaman‐Nicobar region

AbstractThe sliver strike‐slip Great Sumatra Fault (GSF) traverses mainland Sumatra from the Sunda Strait in the southeast to Banda Aceh in the northwest, and defines the present day plate boundary between the Sunda Plate in the north and the Burmese Sliver Plate in the south. It has been well studied on mainland Sumatra but poorly north of Banda Aceh in the Andaman Sea. Here we present deep seismic reflection images along the northward extension of the GSF over 700 km until it joins the Andaman Sea Spreading Centre, and we interpret these images in the light of earthquake, gravity, and bathymetry data. We find that the GSF has two strands between Banda Aceh and Nicobar Island: a transpression in the south and a deep narrow active rift system in the north, dotted with volcanoes in the center, suggesting that the volcanic arc is coincident with rifting. Farther north of Nicobar Island, an active strike‐slip fault, the Andaman‐Nicobar Fault, cuts through a rifted deep basin until its intersection with the Andaman Sea Spreading Centre. The volcanic arc lies just east of the rift basin. The western margin of this basin seems to be a rifted continental margin, tilted westward, and flooring the Andaman‐Nicobar fore‐arc basin. The Andaman‐Nicobar fore‐arc basin is bounded in the west by back thrusts similar to the West Andaman and Mentawai faults. The cluster of seismicity after the 2004 great Andaman‐Sumatra earthquake just north of Nicobar Island coincides with the intersection of two strike‐slip fault systems.