Lithospheric structure of an incipient rift basin: Results from receiver function analysis of Bransfield Strait, NW Antarctic Peninsula ...
Bransfield Basin (BB), located northwest of the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) and southeast of the South Shetland Islands (SSI), is the most active section of the Antarctic continental margin. The region has long been (50 Ma) a convergent plate boundary where the Phoenix plate was subducting beneath the...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier B.V.
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.17615/3bhr-8642 https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/articles/ww72bm92v |
| Summary: | Bransfield Basin (BB), located northwest of the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) and southeast of the South Shetland Islands (SSI), is the most active section of the Antarctic continental margin. The region has long been (50 Ma) a convergent plate boundary where the Phoenix plate was subducting beneath the Antarctic Plate and is characterized by long-lived arc magmatism and accretion. However, the collision of the Antarctic-Phoenix spreading center with the subduction front near SSI (ca. 4 Ma) gave way to the opening of slab windows and dramatic decrease in the subduction rate of the Phoenix plate beneath AP and SSI. Consequently, the Phoenix slab began to rollback slowly along the South Shetland Trench (SST), giving way to slow extension in the back-arc region and rifting along the BB. Although there is consensus on the factors that control the current deformation and extension of the BB, the origin of the BB and the tectonic configuration of the basin are still unclear. Most of the controversy stems from ... |
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