<p>Located in SE Asia in between the Palawan and the Philippine islands, the lozenge-shaped Sulu Sea corresponds to a marginal sea that displays a complex seafloor morphology. The NE-SW trending Cagayan Ridge separates a southeastern deep-water domain, which is bounded by the Sulu Trench towards the east, from a shallower and narrower northwestern domain. Interpretations of low-resolution 2D streamer datasets, ODP Leg 124 drilling results, magnetic, geochemical, and geochronological studies, and gravity inversion results led to distinctive tectonic models, with contrasting basin formation mechanisms, and ages of opening and subsequent contractional reactivation. The debates remain because the structure of most of the Sulu Sea and its along-strike structural variability remain underexplored to date.</p><p>We focus on this work on the first detailed analysis of the structure and seismo-stratigraphy of the NW Sulu Sea. Based on the reprocessing, calibration of the Silangan-1 exploration borehole, and interpretation of > 5384 km of 2D seismic data along 19 regional profiles of an irregular grid that covers the whole NW Sulu Sea, we identify, map and interpret the seismo-stratigraphic horizons and units, major structures, and rift-related and syn-orogenic depocenters and structural domains. We define six seismo-stratigraphic units in the NW Sulu Sea, consisting of Quaternary to Paleogene sediments, which developed during an early phase of Paleogene to early Miocene extension, a following early to Middle Miocene phase of contraction, and a late Miocene to Quaternary stage of relative tectonic quiescence. While transpressional faults core uplifted basement areas, strike-slip, high-angle and low-angle oblique extensional faults crosscut continental crystalline basement of variable thickness and bound pull-apart basins, half-grabens and sags respectively. The distribution and trend of rift-related depocenters describe a strong structural segmentation and vary along NW-SE and NE-SW oriented zones. Thrust-cored anticlines, inverted transtensional and transpressional faults and mud diapirs deform the sediment pile and control the geometry of syn-orogenic depocenters distinctively across the NW Sulu Sea.</p><p>Normal and oblique trending sets of faults controlled the extension and compartmentalized the NW Sulu Sea. Subsequent contractional reactivation differentiated NE and SW basement and sedimentary domains, separated by the NW Sulu Break Elevation. These domains show a contrasting overall architecture, basement thickness, contractional structures and distribution of rift-related and syn-orogenic depocenters. Rift segmentation, and particularly, basement thickness variations, may have conditioned the type and distribution of contractional deformation.</p>

<p>The structure of Iberian Atlantic margins resulted from multiple Mesozoic rift events and subsequent contractional deformation occurring from the Upper Cretaceous to Cenozoic during the Alpine Orogeny. Along the southern Bay of Biscay, the North Iberian margin shows various styles of contractional deformation, ranging from mild reactivation of pre-existing extensional structures, halokynetic-related processes, to wedging and underthrusting. The Biscay accretionary wedge developed as the major structure at the base of the continental slope in the central and western parts of the North Iberian margin, which are part of the western branch of the Pyrenean-Cantabrian Orogen, together with the Cantabrian Mountains onshore. The wedge is interpreted to continue from the western North Iberian margin, where incipient subduction has been proposed, to the Galicia Margin further to the southwest. Along the West Iberian margin, thrusting and related folding and halokynetic-related processes focused contractional deformation.</p> <p>In this work, we describe the seismo-stratigraphy, and we map contractional structures along the North Iberian and West Iberian margins based on the interpretation of 2D seismic reflection profiles. We identify and describe structural domains along the extinct subduction zone along the North Iberian margin, describe the structure of the fossil Biscay accretionary wedge, and identify and map different styles of Alpine contractional deformation along the North Iberian and West Iberian margins. We also describe the pre-existing Mesozoic rift structure in order to analyse the overprint between different rift architectures and contractional styles of deformation. The overall goal is to define different styles and stages of Alpine contractional deformation along Iberian Atlantic margins during the first phases of the convergent cycle preceding or leading to subduction.</p> <p> </p>

<p>There is a long-standing mystery regarding how subduction zones enter internal Atlantic-type oceans to complete their Wilson cycle. While the process of subduction initiation is challenging to tackle, the Atlantic is a natural laboratory that allows understanding of some of the different stages of the process of invasion of new subduction zones. Three different subduction zones seem to be entering the Atlantic from different edges: the Caribbean Arc, the Scotia Arc and around the Iberia Peninsula. While the first two examples constitute fully developed subduction zones, it is unknown how they will propagate in the future. Will they spread intra-oceanically or will the subduction migrate along the Atlantic passive margins? Iberia is a good place to investigate the processes involved in the formation of new subduction zones. There have been places of aborted subduction (along the Cantabrian margin), places of incipient subduction (North, West and Southwest Iberia) and there is a subduction arc currently propagating into the Atlantic Ocean (the Gibraltar Arc). We will focus on this last case. Last year, we presented a numerical model that showed that the Gibraltar Arc may indeed further propagate into the Atlantic. This year, we present new models that investigate the factors controlling such propagation. We test different parameters such as the presence of weak zones in the adjacent margins and in the oceanic lithosphere (fracture zones) to obtain insights into the main factors controlling the first stages of propagation of new subduction zones in Atlantic-type oceans.</p> <p> </p> <p>This work was funded by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) I.P./MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC) – UIDB/50019/2020- IDL</p>

<p class="p1">Large igneous systems form either in areas of thin lithosphere at or near <em>plate boundaries</em> or by mantle-melting anomalies in <em>intraplate settings</em> with comparatively thicker lithosphere. Decompression melting or flux melt dominate at <em>plate boundaries</em>. <em>Intraplate magmatism</em> relates to thermal or compositional anomaly in the mantle. Although questions remain open, our understanding of the fundamental driving processes of these systems has dramatically improved during the last 50 years. However, some <em>intraplate large volcanic </em>regions display a complex distribution of magmatic activity that spans a large age range and does not appear easily explained by semi-stable mantle-melting anomalies.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p1">The Madeira-Tore Rise (MTR) is often associated to excess magmatism forming thick oceanic crust at Cretaceous time. However, the ~1000 km long MTR broad bathymetric swell contains numerous individual volcanic constructions of different dimensions and age, across a hundreds-of-km wide swath. The MTR and volcanic constructions origin is unclear. The MTR magmatic event is inferred to be associated to the seafloor-spreading magnetic lineation named the J-anomaly, and the MTR is often referred as J-anomaly ridge. However, when analysed in detail, the magnetic J-anomaly is located east of the rise. Many volcanoes are inferred hot-spot related.</p> <p class="p1">Seismic data collected in 2018 & 2022 show that the basement ridge of the MTR swell is unrelated to thick crust but to long-wavelength lithospheric flexure. The lithospehre deformation is expressed by folding, faultiong and large-scale tilting indicated by regional angular stratigraphical uncorformities. The spatial and temporal coincident of deformation with the MTR volcanic region support that long-lived volcanism may be related to lithospheric-scale intraplate deformation unrelated to hot spot activity.</p>