Aeromagnetic Map Constrains Jurassic–Early Cretaceous Synrift, Break Up, and Rotational Seafloor Spreading History in the Gulf of Mexico

2016 ◽  
pp. 123-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Pindell ◽  
Ernesto C. Miranda ◽  
Alejandro Cerón ◽  
Leopoldo Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Seafloor Spreading ◽  
Break Up

Geochemical characterization of black shales from the Río Mayer Formation (Early Cretaceous), Austral-Magallanes Basin, Argentina: Provenance response during Gondwana break-up

2019 ◽  
Vol 93 ◽  
pp. 67-83
Author(s):  
Sebastián Richiano ◽  
Lucía E. Gómez-Peral ◽  
Augusto N. Varela ◽  
Alejandro R. Gómez Dacal ◽  
Claudia E. Cavarozzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Black Shales ◽  
Geochemical Characterization ◽  
Magallanes Basin ◽  
Break Up

scholarly journals A fresh look at Gulf of Mexico tectonics: Testing rotations and breakup mechanisms from the perspective of seismically constrained potential-fields modeling and plate kinematics

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. SS31-SS45
Author(s):  
Daniel Minguez ◽  
E. Gerald Hensel ◽  
Elizabeth A. E. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Seismic Data ◽  
Gravity Data ◽  
Seafloor Spreading ◽  
Plate Motion ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
Satellite Gravity ◽  
Spreading Model ◽  
Breakup Mechanism ◽  
Mantle Exhumation

Interpretation of recent, high-quality seismic data in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has led to competing hypotheses regarding the basin’s rift to drift transition. Some studies suggest a fault-controlled mechanism that ultimately results in mantle exhumation prior to seafloor spreading. Others suggest voluminous magmatic intrusion accommodates the terminal extension phase and results in the extrusion of volcanic seaward dipping reflectors (SDRs). Whereas it has been generally accepted that the plate motions between the rift and drift phases of the GOM are nearly perpendicular to each other, it has not been greatly discussed if the breakup mechanism plays a role in accommodating the transition in plate motion. We have developed a plate kinematic and crustal architecture hypothesis to address the transition from rift to drift in the GOM. We support the proposition of a fault-controlled breakup mechanism, in which slip on a detachment between the crust and mantle may have exhumed the mantle. However, we stress that this mechanism is not exclusive of synrift magmatism, though it does imply that SDRs observed in the GOM are not in this case indicative of a volcanic massif separating attenuated continental and normal oceanic crust. We support our hypothesis through a geometrically realistic 2D potential field model, which includes a magnetic seafloor spreading model constrained by recent published seismic data and analog rock properties. The 2D model suggests that magnetic anomalies near the continent-ocean transition may be related to removal of the lower continental crust during a phase of hyperextension prior to breakup, ending in mantle exhumation. The kinematics of breakup, derived from recent satellite gravity data and constrained by our spreading model and the global plate circuit, suggests that this phase of hyperextension accommodated the change in plate motion direction and a diachronous breakup across the GOM.

scholarly journals Full-fit reconstruction of the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 917-962 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hosseinpour ◽  
R. D. Müller ◽  
S. E. Williams ◽  
J. M. Whittaker
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
Seafloor Spreading ◽  
Labrador Sea ◽  
Gravity Inversion ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
Baffin Bay ◽  
Davis Strait ◽  
Break Up ◽  
Magnetic Lineations

Abstract. Reconstructing the opening of the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay between Greenland and North America remains controversial. Recent seismic data suggest that magnetic lineations along the margins of the Labrador Sea, originally interpreted as seafloor spreading anomalies, may lie within the crust of the continent–ocean transition. These data also suggest a more seaward extent of continental crust within the Greenland margin near the Davis Strait than assumed in previous full-fit reconstructions. Our study focuses on reconstructing the full-fit configuration of Greenland and North America using an approach that considers continental deformation in a quantitative manner. We use gravity inversion to map crustal thickness across the conjugate margins, and assimilate observations from available seismic profiles and potential field data to constrain the likely extent of different crustal types. We derive end-member continental margin restorations following alternative interpretations of published seismic profiles. The boundaries between continental and oceanic crust (COB) are restored to their pre-stretching locations along small circle motion paths across the region of Cretaceous extension. Restored COBs are fitted quantitatively to compute alternative total-fit reconstructions. A preferred full-fit model is chosen based on the strongest compatibility with geological and geophysical data. Our preferred model suggests that (i) the COB lies oceanward of magnetic lineations interpreted as magnetic anomaly 31 (70 Ma) in the Labrador Sea, (ii) all previously identified magnetic lineations landward of anomaly 27 reflect intrusions into continental crust, and (iii) the Ungava fault zone in Davis Strait acted as a leaky transform fault during rifting. This robust plate reconstruction reduces gaps and overlaps in the Davis Strait and suggests that there is no need for alternative models proposed for reconstructions of this area including additional plate boundaries in North America or Greenland. Our favored model implies that break up and formation of continent–ocean transition (COT) first started in the southern Labrador Sea and Davis Strait around 88 Ma and then propagated north and southwards up to onset of real seafloor spreading at 63 Ma in the Labrador Sea. In the Baffin Bay, continental stretching lasted longer and actual break up and seafloor spreading started around 61 Ma (Chron 26).

Crustal structure and lateral variations in the Gulf of Mexico conjugate margins: From rifting to break-up

2021 ◽  
pp. 105484
Author(s):  
E. Izquierdo-Llavall ◽  
J.C. Ringenbach ◽  
F. Sapin ◽  
T. Rives ◽  
J.P. Callot
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Crustal Structure ◽  
Break Up ◽  
Conjugate Margins ◽  
Lateral Variations

Contrasting styles of magmatism and rifting in the High Arctic LIP, Sverdrup Basin, Canadian Arctic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Claude Williamson ◽  
Grace E. Shephard ◽  
Dawn A. Kellett
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Seafloor Spreading ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Lava Flows ◽  
Mantle Flow ◽  
Alkaline Lava ◽  
Sverdrup Basin ◽  
Axel Heiberg Island

<p>Located along the Canadian polar continental margin, the Sverdrup Basin is an elongated, intracontinental sedimentary basin that originated during Carboniferous-Early Permian rifting. Starting in the Early Cretaceous, volcanic complexes (VC) were emplaced throughout the basin, which are associated with the High Arctic Large Igneous Province (HALIP). Geochronological and geochemical data on HALIP rocks exposed on Axel Heiberg Island and northern Ellesmere Island suggest several discrete stages of emplacement; (1) voluminous mafic intrusive activity of tholeiitic character accompanied by minor extrusive volcanism at <em>ca</em>. 125-110 Ma (VC1a<strong>); </strong>the eruption of tholeiitic flood basalts on Axel Heiberg Island at <em>ca</em>. 100-90 Ma (VC1b); the emplacement of mildly alkaline lava flows, sills and dykes on Ellesmere Island at <em>ca</em>. 100-90 Ma (VC2);<strong> </strong>and the eruption of a suite of alkaline lava flows from central volcanoes at <em>ca</em>. 85-75 Ma (VC3). Each magmatic episode is characterized by a distinctive eruptive style and coherent geochemical signature regardless of the mode of emplacement. In this context, onshore manifestations of the HALIP can be viewed as time-markers in the evolution of the adjacent polar continental margin.</p><p>We use digital plate tectonic models, constructed via the <em>GPlates</em> software, to explore the parallel development of the Sverdrup Basin and proto-Arctic Ocean (Amerasia Basin) during the Early Cretaceous, and the transition from a sedimentary to volcanic Sverdrup Basin. Plate reconstructions of the Amerasia Basin at <em>ca</em>. 125 Ma suggest two zones of extension; one within the Canada Basin, which may include seafloor spreading, (Zone 1, more distal to the Sverdrup Basin) and the second further northwards in the Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge and Makarov Basin domains offshore northern Ellesmere Island (Zone 2, proximal to the northeastern portion of the Sverdrup Basin). The potential for enhanced melting caused by mantle flow (possibly related to the arrival of a mantle plume) towards the Sverdrup Basin depocentre could explain widespread magmatism of tholeiitic character from <em>ca</em>. 125-90 Ma (VC1). The transition to mildly alkaline (VC2) and alkaline magmatism (VC3) at <em>ca</em>. 100 Ma may have signaled the end of extension in Zone 1. The persistence of localized extension in Zone 2 could explain the shift in magmatic style and compositional diversity of igneous rocks emplaced at intrusive complexes (VC2) vs constructional volcanic edifices (VC3). In addition, greater depth to Moho along the northeastern Sverdrup Basin may have contributed to restricted mantle flow in Zone 2. We propose that the spatio-temporal evolution of HALIP magmatism in the Sverdrup Basin during the Cretaceous relates to (1) different styles of tectonic extension (distal vs proximal, protracted vs discrete, widespread vs narrow, seafloor spreading vs hyper-extensional rifting), and (2) the presence of hot, thin lithosphere close to the basin depocentre vs cold and thick lithosphere in the northeastern part of the basin.</p>

Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous: Break-up of Pangaea II and First Phase of Opening of Young Oceans

2021 ◽  
pp. 94-179
Author(s):  
V.E. Khain ◽  
A.N. Balukhovsky ◽  
K.B. Seslavinsky
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Late Jurassic ◽  
Break Up
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