Microcontinents and Continental Fragments Associated With Subduction Systems
Microcontinents and continental fragments are small pieces of continental crust that are surrounded by oceanic lithosphere. Although classically associated with passive margin formation, here we present several preserved microcontinents and continental fragments associated with subduction systems. T...
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ftoslouniv:oai:www.duo.uio.no:10852/81785 2023-05-15T18:16:01+02:00 Microcontinents and Continental Fragments Associated With Subduction Systems van den Broek, Joost Martijn Gaina, Carmen 2020-12-07T13:01:20Z http://hdl.handle.net/10852/81785 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-84818 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020TC006063 EN eng NFR/223272 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-84818 van den Broek, Joost Martijn Gaina, Carmen . Microcontinents and Continental Fragments Associated With Subduction Systems. Tectonics. 2020, 39(8) http://hdl.handle.net/10852/81785 1856956 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Tectonics&rft.volume=39&rft.spage=&rft.date=2020 Tectonics 39 8 29 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020TC006063 URN:NBN:no-84818 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/81785/1/2020TC006063.pdf Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY 0278-7407 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed PublishedVersion 2020 ftoslouniv https://doi.org/10.1029/2020TC006063 2020-12-23T23:31:03Z Microcontinents and continental fragments are small pieces of continental crust that are surrounded by oceanic lithosphere. Although classically associated with passive margin formation, here we present several preserved microcontinents and continental fragments associated with subduction systems. They are located in the Coral Sea, South China Sea, central Mediterranean and Scotia Sea regions, and a “proto‐microcontinent,” in the Gulf of California. Reviewing the tectonic history of each region and interpreting a variety of geophysical data allows us to identify parameters controlling the formation of microcontinents and continental fragments in subduction settings. All these tectonic blocks experienced long, complex tectonic histories with an important role for developing inherited structures. They tend to form in back‐arc locations and separate from their parent continent by oblique or rotational kinematics. The separated continental pieces and associated marginal basins are generally small and their formation is quick (<50 Myr). Microcontinents and continental fragments formed close to large continental masses tend to form faster than those created in systems bordered by large oceanic plates. A common triggering mechanism for their formation is difficult to identify, but seems to be linked with rapid changes of complex subduction dynamics. The young ages of all contemporary pieces found in situ suggest that microcontinents and continental fragments in these settings are short lived. Although presently the amount of in‐situ subduction‐related microcontinents is meager (an area of 0.56% and 0.28% of global, non‐cratonic, continental crustal area and crustal volume, respectively), through time microcontinents contributed to terrane amalgamation and larger continent formation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Scotia Sea Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) Scotia Sea Tectonics 39 8 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) |
op_collection_id |
ftoslouniv |
language |
English |
description |
Microcontinents and continental fragments are small pieces of continental crust that are surrounded by oceanic lithosphere. Although classically associated with passive margin formation, here we present several preserved microcontinents and continental fragments associated with subduction systems. They are located in the Coral Sea, South China Sea, central Mediterranean and Scotia Sea regions, and a “proto‐microcontinent,” in the Gulf of California. Reviewing the tectonic history of each region and interpreting a variety of geophysical data allows us to identify parameters controlling the formation of microcontinents and continental fragments in subduction settings. All these tectonic blocks experienced long, complex tectonic histories with an important role for developing inherited structures. They tend to form in back‐arc locations and separate from their parent continent by oblique or rotational kinematics. The separated continental pieces and associated marginal basins are generally small and their formation is quick (<50 Myr). Microcontinents and continental fragments formed close to large continental masses tend to form faster than those created in systems bordered by large oceanic plates. A common triggering mechanism for their formation is difficult to identify, but seems to be linked with rapid changes of complex subduction dynamics. The young ages of all contemporary pieces found in situ suggest that microcontinents and continental fragments in these settings are short lived. Although presently the amount of in‐situ subduction‐related microcontinents is meager (an area of 0.56% and 0.28% of global, non‐cratonic, continental crustal area and crustal volume, respectively), through time microcontinents contributed to terrane amalgamation and larger continent formation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
van den Broek, Joost Martijn Gaina, Carmen |
spellingShingle |
van den Broek, Joost Martijn Gaina, Carmen Microcontinents and Continental Fragments Associated With Subduction Systems |
author_facet |
van den Broek, Joost Martijn Gaina, Carmen |
author_sort |
van den Broek, Joost Martijn |
title |
Microcontinents and Continental Fragments Associated With Subduction Systems |
title_short |
Microcontinents and Continental Fragments Associated With Subduction Systems |
title_full |
Microcontinents and Continental Fragments Associated With Subduction Systems |
title_fullStr |
Microcontinents and Continental Fragments Associated With Subduction Systems |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microcontinents and Continental Fragments Associated With Subduction Systems |
title_sort |
microcontinents and continental fragments associated with subduction systems |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10852/81785 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-84818 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020TC006063 |
geographic |
Scotia Sea |
geographic_facet |
Scotia Sea |
genre |
Scotia Sea |
genre_facet |
Scotia Sea |
op_source |
0278-7407 |
op_relation |
NFR/223272 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-84818 van den Broek, Joost Martijn Gaina, Carmen . Microcontinents and Continental Fragments Associated With Subduction Systems. Tectonics. 2020, 39(8) http://hdl.handle.net/10852/81785 1856956 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Tectonics&rft.volume=39&rft.spage=&rft.date=2020 Tectonics 39 8 29 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020TC006063 URN:NBN:no-84818 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/81785/1/2020TC006063.pdf |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020TC006063 |
container_title |
Tectonics |
container_volume |
39 |
container_issue |
8 |
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1766189423217606656 |