ARCHITECTURE OF RIFTED CONTINENTAL MARGINS AND BREAKUP EVOLUTION: INSIGHTS FROM THE SOUTH ATLANTIC, NORTH ATLANTIC AND RED SEA – GULF OF ADEN CONJUGATE MARGINS

The tectono-sedimentary development of the South Atlantic is compared with the Central Atlantic margins, which are associated with major episodes of magmatism during the Mesozoic continental breakup. Subsequently, the Cenozoic breakup in the North Atlantic led to the formation of the volcanic Norweg...

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Conjugate margins
extensional tectonics
continental breakup models
Atlantic Ocean
Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
Greenland
Newfoundland
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.410.1208
http://hal.inria.fr/docs/00/73/08/44/PDF/Mohriak_LeroyGSL2012.pdf
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Summary:The tectono-sedimentary development of the South Atlantic is compared with the Central Atlantic margins, which are associated with major episodes of magmatism during the Mesozoic continental breakup. Subsequently, the Cenozoic breakup in the North Atlantic led to the formation of the volcanic Norwegian-Greenland conjugate margins. However, the DSDP boreholes in the magma-poor Iberian-Newfoundland margins have confirmed the occurrence of exhumed mantle at the ocean-continent transition. This possibility has been suggested for the South Atlantic margins, but still lacks confirmation by drilling. The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden may be considered as natural laboratories to study breakup processes and formation of divergent continental margins. Using key geological and geophysical data, we compare some of the structures observed in incipient stages of basin formation between the African and the Arabian plates with the structures observed in older sedimentary basins associated with the Gondwana breakup. We also analyze deep seismic reflection profiles and potential field data at the continent-ocean boundary of these conjugate margins, using palinspastic reconstructions to define the corresponding seismic pairs. We conclude the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden display remarkable differences from the Iberian-Newfoundland margins and notable similarities with the South Atlantic margins.

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