Necking of the Lithosphere: A Reappraisal of Basic Concepts With Thermo-Mechanical Numerical Modeling

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
• Main Authors: Chenin, Pauline, Schmalholz, Stefan Markus, Manatschal, Gianreto, Karner, Garry
• Other Authors: Institut de physique du globe de Strasbourg (IPGS), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA), Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne (UNIL), Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre (EOST), Now at ExxonMobil Exploration Company
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: Rift; Necking; Numerical modeling; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; [SDU.STU.TE]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Tectonics; Newfoundland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01893589; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01893589/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01893589/file/2017JB014155.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JB014155

International audience We investigate lithosphere necking using two-dimensional thermo-mechanical numerical simulations without strain softening or weakening mechanisms. The models have an initial small sinusoidal perturbation of the Moho depth, whose wavelength corresponds to the model width. Applied boundary conditions (constant extension velocity or bulk extension rate) and initial model width significantly impact the necking dynamics. For constant bulk extension rates, wider models generate more intense necking with locally higher strain rates, whereas for constant velocity extension, models evolution is similar independent on their initial width. However, the width of the final necking zones ranges consistentlybetween 45 and 105 km, independent on the type of applied boundary conditions and the initial Moho wavelength. The modeled widths are similar to along dip necking zones widths of natural rifted margins that formed during a single, unidirectional, and relatively continuous extensional event(e.g., Iberia-Newfoundland margins, Porcupine Basin, Gulf of Aden). When the crust is mechanically decoupled from the mantle by a weak ductile lower crust, models exhibit three characteristic stages: (1) distributed thinning and extension associated with progressive subsidence; (2) upper mantle necking compensated by flow of the weak lower crust, which hampers both crustal thinning and subsidence at the rift center; and (3) crustal necking associated with fast subsidence after the mantle has necked. Decoupled models display regions of relatively thick crust on one or both sides of the rift center, comparable to the Galicia, Rockall, Hatton, and Porcupine Banks along the North Atlantic rifted margins.