South and Equatorial Atlantic Margins

• Main Authors: Aslanian, Daniel, Moulin, Maryline
• Other Authors: Geo-Ocean (GEO-OCEAN), Université de Bretagne Sud (UBS)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Newfoundland; North Atlantic; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04309705; https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119986959.ch3

The margins of the North Atlantic Ocean, including the Newfoundland and Iberian Margins, present two distinct episodes of rifting: at Permian–Trias times and in the middle Cretaceous. In the South Atlantic Ocean, rifting occurred on the location of the Pan-African suture, more than 450 Ma after its formation, and the two events are clearly dissociated. At first order, the geodynamic segmentation of the South and Equatorial Atlantic Oceans leads to the formation of different types of passive margins, showing a relationship between the regional geodynamic context and the structural architecture of passive margins. The Central Segment of the South Atlantic Ocean is characterized by sedimentary basins with pre- and syn-break-up magmatism, and the presence of an approximately 1–2 km-thick salt layer in the so-called continent-ocean transition, overlying a mainly non-marine sequence.