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Letter to Nature. Evolution of magma-poor continental margins from rifting to seafloor spreading

Letter to Nature. Evolution of magma-poor continental margins from rifting to seafloor spreading
Letter to Nature. Evolution of magma-poor continental margins from rifting to seafloor spreading
The rifting of continents involves faulting (tectonism) and magmatism, which reflect the strain-rate and temperature dependent processes of solid–state deformation and decompression melting within the Earth. Most models of this rifting have treated tectonism and magmatism separately, and few numerical simulations have attempted to include continental break-up and melting, let alone describe how continental rifting evolves into seafloor spreading. Models of this evolution conventionally juxtapose continental and oceanic crust. Here we present observations that support the existence of a zone of exhumed continental mantle, several tens of kilometres wide, between oceanic and continental crust on continental margins where magma-poor rifting has taken place. We present geophysical and geological observations from the west Iberia margin, and geological mapping of margins of the former Tethys ocean now exposed in the Alps. We use these complementary findings to propose a conceptual model that focuses on the final stage of continental extension and break-up, and the creation of a zone of exhumed continental mantle that evolves oceanward into seafloor spreading. We conclude that the evolving stress and thermal fields are constrained by a rising and narrowing ridge of asthenospheric mantle, and that magmatism and rates of extension systematically increase oceanward.
continental margins, rifting, iberia waters, geology
0028-0836
150-154
Whitmarsh, R.B.
8a17394e-90a9-404a-a40c-f0099e9bfc1f
Manatschal, G.
2f438cbf-10fb-41ab-9a44-c45fdbeaf66c
Minshull, T.A.
bf413fb5-849e-4389-acd7-0cb0d644e6b8
Whitmarsh, R.B.
8a17394e-90a9-404a-a40c-f0099e9bfc1f
Manatschal, G.
2f438cbf-10fb-41ab-9a44-c45fdbeaf66c
Minshull, T.A.
bf413fb5-849e-4389-acd7-0cb0d644e6b8

Whitmarsh, R.B., Manatschal, G. and Minshull, T.A. (2001) Letter to Nature. Evolution of magma-poor continental margins from rifting to seafloor spreading. Nature, 413 (6852), 150-154. (doi:10.1038/35093085).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The rifting of continents involves faulting (tectonism) and magmatism, which reflect the strain-rate and temperature dependent processes of solid–state deformation and decompression melting within the Earth. Most models of this rifting have treated tectonism and magmatism separately, and few numerical simulations have attempted to include continental break-up and melting, let alone describe how continental rifting evolves into seafloor spreading. Models of this evolution conventionally juxtapose continental and oceanic crust. Here we present observations that support the existence of a zone of exhumed continental mantle, several tens of kilometres wide, between oceanic and continental crust on continental margins where magma-poor rifting has taken place. We present geophysical and geological observations from the west Iberia margin, and geological mapping of margins of the former Tethys ocean now exposed in the Alps. We use these complementary findings to propose a conceptual model that focuses on the final stage of continental extension and break-up, and the creation of a zone of exhumed continental mantle that evolves oceanward into seafloor spreading. We conclude that the evolving stress and thermal fields are constrained by a rising and narrowing ridge of asthenospheric mantle, and that magmatism and rates of extension systematically increase oceanward.

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More information

Published date: 2001
Keywords: continental margins, rifting, iberia waters, geology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 7901
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/7901
ISSN: 0028-0836
PURE UUID: 260d0efe-258a-4e9f-b37a-eaa199ce40fd
ORCID for T.A. Minshull: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8202-1379

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Date deposited: 22 Jul 2004
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:11

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Contributors

Author: R.B. Whitmarsh
Author: G. Manatschal
Author: T.A. Minshull ORCID iD

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