Structure and evolution of the Demerara Plateau, offshore French Guiana: Rifting, tectonic inversion and post-rift tilting at transform–divergent margins intersection

Basile, Christophe; Maillard, Agnès; Patriat, M.; Gaullier, Virginie; Loncke, Lies; Roest, W. R.; Lépinay, M. Mercier de; Pattier, F.

doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2012.01.010

Cited by 66 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(44 reference statements)

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“…Rifting was aborted in the early to the late Barremian (125 Ma), which is coeval with the oldest sediments of the African margin in the Benue Basin (Matos, 1992;Nóbrega et al, 2005). After that period, the equatorial and Southern Atlantic oceans united in the late Albian (105 Ma) (Koutsoukos, 1992) and a subsequent thermal subsidence occurred, allowing the deposition of a transitional unit that was capped by siliciclastic and carbonate postrift sedimentary units (Bertani et al, 1990).…”

Section: Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main axis of the onshore Potiguar rift is NE-SW ( Fig. 2) (Bertani et al, 1990). The NE-SW-oriented flat to lystric normal faults control the rift internal geometry, whereas NW-SE-trending faults acted as accommodation zones and transfer faults in response to the extensional deformation (Matos, 1992).…”

Section: Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These margins are characterized by abrupt ocean-continent transition, steep continental slopes, and high bathymetric gradients inherited from the nearly vertical transform plate boundary (Basile et al, 2013). Classic models of rifting and lithospheric thinning (McKenzie, 1978) cannot explain the evolution of these transform margins, which are characterized by oblique rifting and often postrift tectonic inversions (e.g., Vagnes et al, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1b), is a key point for both piercing points and continental breakup evolution (Ponte et al, 1977). The Potiguar Basin, however, developed along a triple junction, which encompasses faults both parallel and oblique to the margin (Bertani et al, 1990). In addition, this basin has links with the Benue Basin in Nigeria in the counterpart African plate (De Castro et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The geophysical and geological knowledge of this rift's internal geometry and boundaries were established by Bertani et al (1990), Matos (1992), and Borges (1993), and few changes have been added to the rift architecture proposed more than 20 years ago. Here, we examine how faults evolve at rift terminations and whether their geometry is inherited from basement fabric.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fault evolution in the Potiguar rift termination, equatorial margin of Brazil

Castro

Bezerra

2015

Solid Earth

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Abstract. The transform shearing between South American and African plates in the Cretaceous generated a series of sedimentary basins on both plate margins. In this study, we use gravity, aeromagnetic, and resistivity surveys to identify architecture of fault systems and to analyze the evolution of the eastern equatorial margin of Brazil. Our study area is the southern onshore termination of the Potiguar rift, which is an aborted NE-trending rift arm developed during the breakup of Pangea. The basin is located along the NNE margin of South America that faces the main transform zone that separates the North and the South Atlantic. The Potiguar rift is a Neocomian structure located at the intersection of the equatorial and western South Atlantic and is composed of a series of NE-trending horsts and grabens. This study reveals new grabens in the Potiguar rift and indicates that stretching in the southern rift termination created a WNW-trending, 10 km wide, and ∼ 40 km long right-lateral strike-slip fault zone. This zone encompasses at least eight depocenters, which are bounded by a left-stepping, en echelon system of NW-SE-to NS-striking normal faults. These depocenters form grabens up to 1200 m deep with a rhomb-shaped geometry, which are filled with rift sedimentary units and capped by postrift sedimentary sequences. The evolution of the rift termination is consistent with the right-lateral shearing of the equatorial margin in the Cretaceous and occurs not only at the rift termination but also as isolated structures away from the main rift. This study indicates that the strike-slip shearing between two plates propagated to the interior of one of these plates, where faults with similar orientation, kinematics, geometry, and timing of the major transform are observed. These faults also influence rift geometry.

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Section: Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fault evolution in the Potiguar rift termination, equatorial margin of Brazil

Castro

Bezerra

2015

Solid Earth

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Significance of Northeast‐Trending Features in Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean

Hutchinson

Jackson

Houseknecht

et al. 2017

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Synthesis of seismic velocity, potential field, and geological data from Canada Basin and its surrounding continental margins suggests that a northeast‐trending structural fabric has influenced the origin, evolution, and current tectonics of the basin. This structural fabric has a crustal origin, based on the persistence of these trends in upward continuation of total magnetic intensity data and vertical derivative analysis of free‐air gravity data. Three subparallel northeast‐trending features are described. Northwind Escarpment, bounding the east side of the Chukchi Borderland, extends ∼600 km and separates continental crust of Northwind Ridge from high‐velocity transitional crust in Canada Basin. A second, shorter northeast‐trending zone extends ∼300 km in northern Canada Basin and separates inferred continental crust of Sever Spur from magmatically intruded crust of the High Arctic Large Igneous Province. A third northeast‐trending feature, here called the Alaska‐Prince Patrick magnetic lineament (APPL) is inferred from magnetic data and its larger regional geologic setting. Analysis of these three features suggests strike slip or transtensional deformation played a role in the opening of Canada Basin. These features can be explained by initial Jurassic‐Early Cretaceous strike slip deformation (phase 1) followed in the Early Cretaceous (∼134 to ∼124 Ma) by rotation of Arctic Alaska with seafloor spreading orthogonal to the fossil spreading axis preserved in the central Canada Basin (phase 2). In this model, the Chukchi Borderland is part of Arctic Alaska.

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Multiphased tectonic evolution of the Central Algerian margin from combined wide‐angle and reflection seismic data off Tipaza, Algeria

et al. 2013

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[1] The origin of the Algerian margin remains one of the key questions still discussed in the Western Mediterranean sea, due to the imprecise nature and kinematics of the associated basin during the Neogene. For the first time, the deep structure of the Maghrebian margin was explored during the SPIRAL seismic survey. In this work, we present a N-S transect off Tipaza (west of Algiers), a place where the margin broadens due to a topographic high (Khayr-al-Din Bank). New deep penetration seismic profiles allow us to image the sedimentary sequence in the Algerian basin and the crustal structure at the continent-ocean boundary. Modeling of the wide-angle data shows thinning of the basement, from more than 15 km in the continental upper margin to only 5-6 km of oceanic-type basement in the Algerian basin, and reveals a very narrow or absent transitional zone. Analysis of the deep structure of the margin indicates features inherited from its complex evolution: (1) an oceanic-type crust in the deep basin, (2) similarities with margins formed in a transform-type setting, (3) a progressive deepening of the whole sedimentary cover, and the thickening of the Plio-Quaternary sediments at the margin foot, coeval with (4) a downward flexure of the basement in the basin. These features argue for a multiphased evolution of the margin, including (1) an early stage of rifting and/or spreading, (2) a late transcurrent episode related to the westward migration of the Alboran domain, and (3) a diffuse Plio-Quaternary compressional reactivation of the margin.

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Structure and evolution of the Demerara Plateau, offshore French Guiana: Rifting, tectonic inversion and post-rift tilting at transform–divergent margins intersection

Cited by 66 publications

References 40 publications

Fault evolution in the Potiguar rift termination, equatorial margin of Brazil

Fault evolution in the Potiguar rift termination, equatorial margin of Brazil

Significance of Northeast‐Trending Features in Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean

Multiphased tectonic evolution of the Central Algerian margin from combined wide‐angle and reflection seismic data off Tipaza, Algeria

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