Modeling suggests that oblique extension facilitates rifting and continental break-up

Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth

Volumn 117, Issue 8, 2012, Pages

  Brune, Sascha ^a   Popov, Anton A ^a,b   Sobolev, Stephan V ^a  

^a GFZ GERMAN RESEARCH CENTRE FOR GEOSCIENCES   (Germany)

^b JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITY   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ANALYTICAL METHOD; CONTINENTAL BREAKUP; GONDWANA; MECHANICAL PROPERTY; NUMERICAL MODEL; RIFTING; THERMOMECHANICS;

DEAD SEA; EAST AFRICAN RIFT; ETHIOPIAN RIFT; GULF OF CALIFORNIA; PACIFIC OCEAN;

EID: 84864851356     PISSN: 21699313     EISSN: 21699356     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1029/2011JB008860     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. Agostini, A., G. Corti, A. Zeoli, and G. Mulugeta (2009), Evolution, pattern, and partitioning of deformation during oblique continental rifting: Inferences from lithospheric-scale centrifuge models, Geochem. Geo-phys. Geosyst, 10, Q11015, doi:10.1029/2009GC002676.
2. Allken, V., R. S. Huismans, and C. Thieulot (2011), Three-dimensional numerical modeling of upper crustal extensional systems, J. Geophys. Res., 116, B10409, doi:10.1029/2011JB008319.
3. Artemieva, I. M., (2006), Global 1° x 1° thermal model TC1 for the continental lithosphere: Implications for lithosphere secular evolution, Tecto-nophysics, 416, 245-277.
4. Artyushkov, E. V. (1973), Stresses in the lithosphere caused by crustal thickness inhomogeneities, J. Geophys. Res., 78, 7675-7708, doi:10.1029/ JB078i032p07675.
5. Autin, J., N. Bellahsen, L. Husson, M. Beslier, S. Leroy, and E. d'Acremont (2010), Analog models of oblique rifting in a cold lithosphere, Tectonics, 29, TC6016, doi:10.1029/2010TC002671.
6. Bellahsen, N., C. Faccenna, F. Funiciello, J. Daniel, and L. Jolivet (2003), Why did Arabia separate from Africa? Insights from 3-D laboratory experiments, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett, 216, 365-381. (Pubitemid 37453855)
7. Bialas, R. W., W. R. Buck, and R. Qin, (2010), How much magma is required to rift a continent?, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett, 292, 68-78.
8. Braun, J., and C. Beaumont, (1989), A physical explanation of the relation between flank uplifts and the breakup unconformity at rifted continental margins, Geology, 17, 760-764.
9. Buck, W. R. (1991), Modes of continental lithospheric extension, J. Geophys. Res., 96, 20,161-20,178, doi:10.1029/91JB01485.
10. Buck, W. R. (2004), Consequences of asthenospheric variability on continental rifting, in Rheology and Deformation of the Lithosphere at Continental Margins, edited by G. D. Karner et al., pp. 1-30, Columbia Univ. Press, New York.
11. Buck, W. R. (2007), Dynamic processes in extensional and compressional settings-the dynamics of continental breakup and extension, in Treatise on Geophysics, vol, 6, Crust and Lithosphere Dynamics, edited by A. B. Watts, pp. 335-376, Elsevier, New York.
12. Chemenda, A., J. Déverchère, and E. Calais (2002), Three-dimensional laboratory modelling of rifting: application to the Baikal Rift, Russia, Tectonophysics, 356, 253-273. (Pubitemid 35288971)
13. Clifton, A. E., R. W. Schlische, M. O. Withjack, and R. V. Ackermann (2000), Influence of rift obliquity on fault-population systematics: results of experimental clay models, J. Struct. Geol, 22, 1491-1509.
14. Corti, G. (2008), Control of rift obliquity on the evolution and segmentation of the main Ethiopian rift, Nat. Geosci. 1, 258-262.
15. Corti, G., M. Bonini, S. Conticelli, F. Innocenti, P. Manetti, and D. Sokoutis (2003), Analogue modelling of continental extension: A review focused on the relations between the patterns of deformation and the presence of magma, Earth Sci. Rev., 63, 169-247. (Pubitemid 37379607)
16. de Wit, M. J. (2003), Madagascar: Heads it's a continent, tails it's an island, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 31, 213-248.
17. Edwards, R. A., R. B. Whitmarsh, and R. A. Scrutton (1997), The crustal structure across the transform continental margin off Ghana, eastern equatorial Atlantic, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 747-772, doi:10.1029/96JB02098. (Pubitemid 127748554)
18. Engen, Ø., J. I. Faleide, and T. K. Dyreng (2008), Opening of the Fram Strait gateway: A review of plate tectonic constraints, Tectonophysics, 450, 51-69.
19. Gaina, C., R. D. Müller, B. Brown, T. Ishihara, and S. Ivanov, (2007), Breakup and early seafloor spreading between India and Antarctica, Geophys. J. Int., 170, 151-169. (Pubitemid 47039659)
20. Gleason, G. C., and J. Tullis, J. (1995), A flow law for dislocation creep of quartz aggregates determined with the molten-salt cell, Tectonophysics, 247, 1-23. (Pubitemid 26455660)
21. Hempton, M. R. (1987), Constraints on Arabian plate motion and exten-sional history of the Red Sea, Tectonics 6, 687-705.
22. Hirth, G., and D. Kohlstedt (2003), Rheology of the upper mantle and the mantle wedge: A view from the experimentalists, in Inside the Subduction Factory, Geophys. Monogr. Ser., vol. 138, edited by J. Eiler, pp. 83-105, AGU, Washington, D. C., doi:10.1029/138GM06.
23. Huismans, R. S., and C. Beaumont (2003), Symmetric and asymmetric lithospheric extension: Relative effects of frictional-plastic and viscous strain softening, J. Geophys. Res., 108(B10), 2496, doi:10.1029/2002JB002026.
24. Huismans, R., and C. Beaumont (2011), Depth-dependent extension, two-stage breakup and cratonic underplating at rifted margins, Nature, 473, 74-78.
25. Kameyama, M., D. A. Yuen, and S. I. Karato (1999), Thermal-mechanical effects of low-temperature plasticity (the peierls mechanism) on the deformation of a viscoelastic shear zone, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 168, 159-172. (Pubitemid 29306336)
26. Kusznir, N. J., and R. G. Park (1987), The extensional strength of the continental lithosphere: its dependence on geothermal gradient, and crustal composition and thickness, Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ., 28, 35-52.
27. Lizarralde, D., et al. (2007), Variation in styles of rifting in the Gulf of California, Nature, 448, 466-469. (Pubitemid 47123525)
28. Macdonald, D., et al. (2003), Mesozoic break-up of SW Gondwana: Implications for regional hydrocarbon potential of the southern South Atlantic, Mar. Pet. Geol., 20, 287-308.
29. McKenzie, D. (1978), Some remarks on the development of sedimentary basins, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 40, 25-32.
30. Moulin, M., D. Aslanian, and P. Unternehr (2010), A new starting point for the South and Equatorial Atlantic Ocean, Earth Sci. Rev., 98, 1-37.
31. Müller, R. D., M. Sdrolias, C. Gaina, and W. R. Roest (2008), Age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the world's ocean crust, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 9, Q04006, doi:10.1029/2007GC001743.
32. Nürnberg, D., and R. D. Müller (1991), The tectonic evolution of the South-Atlantic from late jurassic to present, Tectonophysics, 191, 27-53.
33. Parsiegla, N., J. Stankiewicz, K. Gohl, T. Ryberg, and G. Uenzelmann-Neben (2009), Southern African continental margin: Dynamic processes of a transform margin, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 10, Q03007, doi:10.1029/2008GC002196.
34. Popov, A. A., and S. V. Sobolev (2008), SLIM3D: A tool for three-dimensional thermo mechanical modeling of lithospheric deformation with elasto-visco-plastic rheology, Phys. Earth Planet. Interiors 171, 55-75.
35. Provost, A., and H. Houston (2003), Stress orientations in northern and central California: Evidence for the evolution of frictional strength along the San Andreas plate boundary system, J. Geophys. Res. 108(B3), 2175, doi:10.1029/2001JB001123.
36. Regenauer-Lieb, K., G. Rosenbaum, and R. F. Weinberg (2008), Strain localisation and weakening of the lithosphere during extension, Tectono-physics, 458, 96-104.
37. Royden, L., and C. Keen (1980), Rifting process and thermal evolution of the continental margin of eastern Canada determined from subsidence curves, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 51, 343-361.
38. Schenk, O., and K. Gärtner (2004), Solving unsymmetric sparse systems of linear equations with PARDISO, Future Generation Comput. Syst., 20, 475-487.
39. Sibson, R. H. (1974), Frictional constraints on thrust, wrench and normal faults, Nature, 249, 542-544.
40. Simo, J. C., and T. J. R. Hughes (2000), Computational Inelasticity, 2nd ed., Springer, New York.
41. Sobolev, A. V., S. V. Sobolev, D. V. Kuzmin, K. N. Malitch, and A. G. Petrunin (2009), Siberian meimechites: Origin and relation to flood basalts and kimberlites, Russ. Geol. Geophys., 50, 999-1033.
42. Sobolev, S. V., A. Petrunin, Z. Garfunkel, A. Y. Babeyko, and DESERT Group (2005), Thermomechanical model of the Dead Sea transform, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 238, 78-95. (Pubitemid 41472182)
43. Sobolev, S. V., A. V. Sobolev, D. V. Kuzmin, N. A. Krivolutskaya, A. G. Petrunin, N. T. Arndt, V. A. Radko, and Y. R. Vasiliev (2011), Linking mantle plumes, large igneous provinces and environmental catastrophes, Nature, 477, 312-316.
44. Sokoutis, D., G. Corti, M. Bonini, J. P. Brun, S. Cloetingh, T. Mauduit, and P. Manetti (2007), Modelling the extension of heterogeneous hot litho-sphere, Tectonophysics, 444, 63-79. (Pubitemid 47528152)
45. Storey, M., J. J. Mahoney, A. D. Saunders, R. A. Duncan, S. P. Kelley, and M. F. Coffin (1995), Timing of hot spot-related volcanism and the break-up of Madagascar and India, Science, 267, 852-855.
46. Suckro, S. K., K. Gohl, T. Funck, I. Heyde, A. Ehrhardt, B. Schreckenber-ger, J. Gerlings, V. Damm, and W. Jokat (2012), The crustal structure of southern Baffin Bay: Implications from a seismic refraction experiment, Geophys. J. Int., 190, 37-58, doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05477.x.
47. Tommasi, A., and A. Vauchez (2001), Continental rifting parallel to ancient collisional belts: An effect of the mechanical anisotropy of the litho-spheric mantle, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 185, 199-210. (Pubitemid 32305205)
48. Torsvik, T. H., S. Rousse, C. Labails, and M. A. Smethurst (2009), A new scheme for the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean and the dissection of an Aptian salt basin, Geophys. J. Int., 177, 1315-1333.
49. Tron, V., and J. Brun (1991), Experiments on oblique rifting in brittle-ductile systems, Tectonophysics, 188, 71-84.
50. Turcotte, D. L., and G. Schubert (2002), Geodynamics, 2nd ed., Cambridge Univ. Press, New York.
51. Van Wijk, J. W. (2005), Role of weak zone orientation in continental litho-sphere extension, Geophys. Res. Lett. 32, L02303, doi:10.1029/ 2004GL022192. (Pubitemid 40473019)
52. Weber, M., et al. (2009), Anatomy of the Dead Sea transform from litho-spheric to microscopic scale, Rev. Geophys., 47, RG2002, doi:10.1029/2008RG000264.
53. Whittaker, J. M., R. D. Müller, G. Leitchenkov, H. Stagg, M. Sdrolias, C. Gaina, and A. Goncharov (2007), Major Australian-Antarctic plate reorganization at Hawaiian-Emperor bend time, Science, 318, 83-86. (Pubitemid 47538035)
54. Wilks, K. R., and N. L. Carter (1990), Rheology of some continental lower crustal rocks, Tectonophysics, 182, 57-77.
55. Withjack, M. O., and W. R. Jamison (1986), Deformation produced by oblique rifting, Tectonophysics, 126, 99-124.
56. Ziegler, P. A., and S. Cloetingh (2004), Dynamic processes controlling evolution of rifted basins, Earth Sci. Rev. 64, 1-50. (Pubitemid 37502876)
57. Zoback, M. D., et al. (1987), New evidence on the state of stress of the San Andreas fault system, Science, 238, 1105-1111.