Propagating Rifts in the North Fiji Basin (Southwest Pacific)

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Tectonic Test of Instantaneous Kinematics of the Easter Microplate

    A Tectonic Test of Instantaneous Kinematics of the Easter Microplate

    OCEANOLOGICA ACTA. 1990. VOL. SPÉCIAL 10 ~ ---~~ Microplate Eastcr island A tectonic test Plate kinematics Rap.ll1ui expcdition Ridge tcctonics of instantaneous kinematics of the Mic roplaquc Ile de Pâques Cinématiqu~.des plaquel! Expe<1mon Rapam.n Easter microplate Tcclomque des dorsales Janet H. ZUKIN, Jean FRANCHETEAU Inslitut de Physique du Globe, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France. Received 03/11/89, in rcviscd fonn 09/04/90, accepted 1O/O5!90. ABSTRACT Oetailed studies of the Easler microplate, and other contemporary microplates located along the world's mid-oceanic ridge system, are considered of primary importance to our understanding of the kinematic evolution of the major oceanic plates. The focus of the Rapanu i expedition, pan of the "Tour du monde" of the French research vessel Jean CluJrcol, was to collee! detailed structural and geophysical data along the nonhem and southem Easter microplate boundaries in order to test, in a rigorous manner, the most recent tectonic and kinematic models for Ihe micro plaie. ln developing detailed bathymetric, morphoteclonic and magnelic maps of Ihese boundaries, we have found lhal our new plate boundaries differ considerably from Ihose of Hey et al. (1985). These new boundaries arc characterized by complex defonnational structures, particularly at Ihe northern and soulhern triple junctions. The norlhern boundary is dominated by compression and right lateral shear, paftÎCularly to the west, and leaùs 10 extension in the east. The southem boundary is dominaled by extension, particularly
  • Geological Evolution of the Red Sea: Historical Background, Review and Synthesis

    Geological Evolution of the Red Sea: Historical Background, Review and Synthesis

    See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277310102 Geological Evolution of the Red Sea: Historical Background, Review and Synthesis Chapter · January 2015 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-45201-1_3 CITATIONS READS 6 911 1 author: William Bosworth Apache Egypt Companies 70 PUBLICATIONS 2,954 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Near and Middle East and Eastern Africa: Tectonics, geodynamics, satellite gravimetry, magnetic (airborne and satellite), paleomagnetic reconstructions, thermics, seismics, seismology, 3D gravity- magnetic field modeling, GPS, different transformations and filtering, advanced integrated examination. View project Neotectonics of the Red Sea rift system View project All content following this page was uploaded by William Bosworth on 28 May 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are added to the original document and are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately. Geological Evolution of the Red Sea: Historical Background, Review, and Synthesis William Bosworth Abstract The Red Sea is part of an extensive rift system that includes from south to north the oceanic Sheba Ridge, the Gulf of Aden, the Afar region, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, the Gulf of Suez, and the Cairo basalt province. Historical interest in this area has stemmed from many causes with diverse objectives, but it is best known as a potential model for how continental lithosphere first ruptures and then evolves to oceanic spreading, a key segment of the Wilson cycle and plate tectonics.
  • Subduction Controls the Distribution and Fragmentation of Earth’S Tectonic Plates Claire Mallard, Nicolas Coltice, Maria Seton, R.D

    Subduction Controls the Distribution and Fragmentation of Earth’S Tectonic Plates Claire Mallard, Nicolas Coltice, Maria Seton, R.D

    Subduction controls the distribution and fragmentation of Earth’s tectonic plates Claire Mallard, Nicolas Coltice, Maria Seton, R.D. Müller, Paul J. Tackley To cite this version: Claire Mallard, Nicolas Coltice, Maria Seton, R.D. Müller, Paul J. Tackley. Subduction controls the distribution and fragmentation of Earth’s tectonic plates. Nature, Nature Publishing Group, 2016, 535 (7610), pp.140-143. 10.1038/nature17992. hal-01355818 HAL Id: hal-01355818 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01355818 Submitted on 24 Aug 2016 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Subduction controls the distribution and fragmentation of Earth’s tectonic plates Claire Mallard1, Nicolas Coltice1,2, Maria Seton3, R. Dietmar Müller3, Paul J. Tackley4 1. Laboratoire de géologie de Lyon, École Normale Supérieure, Université de Lyon 1, 69622 Villeurbanne, France. 2. Institut Universitaire de France, 103, Bd Saint Michel, 75005 Paris, France 3. EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, Madsen Building F09, University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia 4. Institute of Geophysics, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland The theory of plate tectonics describes how the surface of the Earth is split into an organized jigsaw of seven large plates1 of similar sizes and a population of smaller plates, whose areas follow a fractal distribution2,3.
  • Telepresence-Enabled Exploration of The

    Telepresence-Enabled Exploration of The

    ! ! ! ! 2014 WORKSHOP TELEPRESENCE-ENABLED EXPLORATION OF THE !EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN WHITE PAPER SUBMISSIONS ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! TABLE OF CONTENTS ! ! NORTHERN PACIFIC! Deep Hawaiian Slopes 7 Amy Baco-Taylor (Florida State University) USS Stickleback (SS-415) 9 Alexis Catsambis (Naval History and Heritage Command's Underwater Archaeology Branch) Sunken Battlefield of Midway 10 Alexis Catsambis (Naval History and Heritage Command's Underwater Archaeology Branch) Systematic Mapping of the California Continental Borderland from the Northern Channel Islands to Ensenada, Mexico 11 Jason Chaytor (USGS) Southern California Borderland 16 Marie-Helene Cormier (University of Rhode Island) Expanded Exploration of Approaches to Pearl Harbor and Seabed Impacts Off Oahu, Hawaii 20 James Delgado (NOAA ONMS Maritime Heritage Program) Gulf of the Farallones NMS Shipwrecks and Submerged Prehistoric Landscape 22 James Delgado (NOAA ONMS Maritime Heritage Program) USS Independence 24 James Delgado (NOAA ONMS Maritime Heritage Program) Battle of Midway Survey and Characterization of USS Yorktown 26 James Delgado (NOAA ONMS Maritime Heritage Program) Deep Oases: Seamounts and Food-Falls (Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary) 28 Andrew DeVogelaere (Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary) Lost Shipping Containers in the Deep: Trash, Time Capsules, Artificial Reefs, or Stepping Stones for Invasive Species? 31 Andrew DeVogelaere (Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary) Channel Islands Early Sites and Unmapped Wrecks 33 Lynn Dodd (University of Southern
  • Mantle Plume Capture, Anchoring, and Outflow During Galápagos

    Mantle Plume Capture, Anchoring, and Outflow During Galápagos

    PUBLICATIONS Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems RESEARCH ARTICLE Mantle plume capture, anchoring, and outflow during 10.1002/2015GC005723 Galapagos plume-ridge interaction Key Points: S. A. Gibson1, D. J. Geist2, and M. A. Richards3 Recycled oceanic crust contributes to Galapagos Spreading Center basalts 1Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, 2Department of Geological Sciences, University On-axis capture and anchoring of of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA, 3Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, Galapagos plume stem during ridge migration California, USA Deep melt channels may connect Galapagos plume and adjacent ridge Abstract Compositions of basalts erupted between the main zone of Galapagos plume upwelling and Supporting Information: adjacent Galapagos Spreading Center (GSC) provide important constraints on dynamic processes involved Supporting Information S1 in transfer of deep-mantle-sourced material to mid-ocean ridges. We examine recent basalts from central and northeast Galapagos including some that have less radiogenic Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopic compositions Correspondence to: than plume-influenced basalts (E-MORB) from the nearby ridge. We show that the location of E-MORB, S. A. Gibson, greatest crustal thickness, and elevated topography on the GSC correlates with a confined zone of low- [email protected] velocity, high-temperature mantle connecting the plume stem and ridge at depths of 100 km. At this site on the ridge, plume-driven upwelling involving deep melting of partially dehydrated, recycled ancient oce- Citation: Gibson, S. A., D. J. Geist, and anic crust, plus plate-limited shallow melting of anhydrous peridotite, generate E-MORB and larger amounts M. A.
  • Project XXX Acronym of the Proposal PEPS

    Project XXX Acronym of the Proposal PEPS

    PROGRAMME BLANC Project XXX INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENT B EDITION 2009 Acronym of the proposal PEPS - Chile Title of the proposal in Physique des mécanismes de Tremblements de Terre French de la Subduction Andine au Chili Title of the proposal in Physics of Earthquake processes on the Andean English Subduction in Chile Theme (principal)1 1 2 3 4 5 5 6 7 8 9 Theme (secondary) 1 2 3 5 4 5 6 7 8 9 Type of research 5 Basic Research Industrial Research Experimental Development International Agency : CONYCIT Cooperation Country : Chile Total requested funding Project Duration 36 months ANR 376 781 € CONICYT 218 200 € 1 Voir comité scientifique disciplinaire en annexe 7.4 ANR‐GUI‐AAP‐02 1/78 PROGRAMME BLANC Project XXX INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENT B EDITION 2009 1. CONTEXT AND RELEVANCE TO THE CALL 2 1.1. Context, economic and societal issues .......................................................................... 2 1.2. Relevance of the proposal ........................................................................................... 3 2. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION ..................................... 5 2.1. State of the Art ......................................................................................................... 5 2.2. S & T objectives, progress beyond the state of the art .................................................... 8 3. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION .............................. 10 3.1. Scientific Programme, Project structure 10 Task 1 Analysis of the co- and post-seismic
  • Tectonic and Magmatic Segmentation of the Global Ocean Ridge System: a Synthesis of Observations

    Tectonic and Magmatic Segmentation of the Global Ocean Ridge System: a Synthesis of Observations

    Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ at Duke University on February 9, 2015 Tectonic and magmatic segmentation of the Global Ocean Ridge System: a synthesis of observations SUZANNE M. CARBOTTE1*, DEBORAH K. SMITH2, MATHILDE CANNAT3 & EMILY M. KLEIN4 1Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA 2Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole Massachusetts 02543, USA 3Equipe de Ge´osciences Marines, CNRS-UMR 7154, Institut de Physique du Globe, 1 rue Jussieu, 75238 Paris cedex 05, France 4Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA *Corresponding author (e-mail: [email protected]) Abstract: Mid-ocean ridges display tectonic segmentation defined by discontinuities of the axial zone, and geophysical and geochemical observations suggest segmentation of the underlying mag- matic plumbing system. Here, observations of tectonic and magmatic segmentation at ridges spreading from fast to ultraslow rates are reviewed in light of influential concepts of ridge segmen- tation, including the notion of hierarchical segmentation, spreading cells and centralized v. multiple supply of mantle melts. The observations support the concept of quasi-regularly spaced principal magmatic segments, which are 30–50 km long on average at fast- to slow-spreading ridges and fed by melt accumulations in the shallow asthenosphere. Changes in ridge properties approaching or crossing transform faults are often comparable with those observed at smaller offsets, and even very small discontinuities can be major boundaries in ridge properties. Thus, hierarchical segmen- tation models that suggest large-scale transform fault-bounded segmentation arises from deeper level processes in the asthenosphere than the finer-scale segmentation are not generally supported.
  • Young Tracks of Hotspots and Current Plate Velocities

    Young Tracks of Hotspots and Current Plate Velocities

    Geophys. J. Int. (2002) 150, 321–361 Young tracks of hotspots and current plate velocities Alice E. Gripp1,∗ and Richard G. Gordon2 1Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97401, USA 2Department of Earth Science MS-126, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA. E-mail: [email protected] Accepted 2001 October 5. Received 2001 October 5; in original form 2000 December 20 SUMMARY Plate motions relative to the hotspots over the past 4 to 7 Myr are investigated with a goal of determining the shortest time interval over which reliable volcanic propagation rates and segment trends can be estimated. The rate and trend uncertainties are objectively determined from the dispersion of volcano age and of volcano location and are used to test the mutual consistency of the trends and rates. Ten hotspot data sets are constructed from overlapping time intervals with various durations and starting times. Our preferred hotspot data set, HS3, consists of two volcanic propagation rates and eleven segment trends from four plates. It averages plate motion over the past ≈5.8 Myr, which is almost twice the length of time (3.2 Myr) over which the NUVEL-1A global set of relative plate angular velocities is estimated. HS3-NUVEL1A, our preferred set of angular velocities of 15 plates relative to the hotspots, was constructed from the HS3 data set while constraining the relative plate angular velocities to consistency with NUVEL-1A. No hotspots are in significant relative motion, but the 95 per cent confidence limit on motion is typically ±20 to ±40 km Myr−1 and ranges up to ±145 km Myr−1.
  • Origin and Models of Oceanic Transform Faults

    Origin and Models of Oceanic Transform Faults

    Tectonophysics 522–523 (2012) 34–54 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Tectonophysics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto Review Article Origin and models of oceanic transform faults Taras Gerya ⁎ Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Department of Geosciences, Zurich, Switzerland article info abstract Article history: Mid-ocean ridges sectioned by transform faults represent prominent surface expressions of plate tectonics. A Received 22 March 2011 fundamental problem of plate tectonics is how this pattern has formed and why it is maintained. Gross-scale Received in revised form 30 June 2011 geometry of mid-ocean ridges is often inherited from respective rifted margins. Indeed, transform faults seem Accepted 7 July 2011 to nucleate after the beginning of the oceanic spreading and can spontaneously form at a single straight ridge. Available online 22 July 2011 Both analog and numerical models of transform faults were investigated since the 1970s. Two main groups of analog models were developed: thermomechanical (freezing wax) models with accreting and cooling plates Keywords: – Transform faults and mechanical models with non-accreting lithosphere. Freezing wax models reproduced ridge ridge Mid-ocean ridges transform faults, inactive fracture zones, rotating microplates, overlapping spreading centers and other Analog models features of oceanic ridges. However, these models often produced open spreading centers that are dissimilar Numerical models to nature. Mechanical models, on the other hand, do not accrete the lithosphere and their results are thus only applicable for relatively small amount of spreading. Three main types of numerical models were investigated: models of stress and displacement distribution around transforms, models of their thermal structure and crustal growth, and models of nucleation and evolution of ridge-transform fault patterns.
  • Reykjanes Ridge Evolution Effects of Plate Kinematics, Small-Scale Upper Mantle Convection and a Regional Mantle Gradient

    Reykjanes Ridge Evolution Effects of Plate Kinematics, Small-Scale Upper Mantle Convection and a Regional Mantle Gradient

    Earth-Science Reviews xxx (xxxx) xxxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Earth-Science Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/earscirev Reykjanes Ridge evolution: Effects of plate kinematics, small-scale upper mantle convection and a regional mantle gradient Fernando Martineza,⁎, Richard Heya, Ármann Höskuldssonb a Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA b Nordic Volcanological Center, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: The Reykjanes Ridge is a key setting to study plate boundary processes overlaid on a regional mantle melting Slow-spreading ridges anomaly. The ridge originated as one arm of a ridge-ridge-ridge triple junction that separated Greenland, Small-scale mantle convection Eurasia, and North America. It initially formed a linear axis, spreading orthogonally at slow rates without Ridge segmentation transform faults or orthogonal crustal segmentation. Stable spreading continued in this configuration for ∼18 Mantle melting anomaly Myr until Labrador Sea spreading ceased, terminating the triple junction by joining Greenland to North America Mantle gradient and causing a rapid ∼30° change in opening direction across the ridge. The ridge abruptly became segmented Transform faults ff Ridge-hot spot interaction and o set by a series of transform faults that appear to decrease in length and spacing toward Iceland. Without further changes in opening direction, the ridge promptly began to reassemble its original linear configuration systematically and diachronously from north to south, even though this required the ridge to spread obliquely as it became linear again.
  • Geology: Fast Rift Propagation at a Slow-Spreading Ridge

    Geology: Fast Rift Propagation at a Slow-Spreading Ridge

    Fast rift propagation at a slow-spreading ridge Martin C. Kleinrock Department of Geology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235 Brian E. Tucholke Jian Lin Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Maurice A. Tivey Massachusetts 02543 ABSTRACT Bathymetric, magnetic, gravity, and morphologic data from the Figure 1. Schematic dia- flank of the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge reveal obliquely ori- gram of tectonic elements ented features that offset magnetic isochrons and morphological pat- of propagating rift/mi- terns within individual ridge segments. These features form angles of grating offset located ~10°–40° with the isochrons and are inferred to result from rift propa- between two larger off- gation at rates several times the spreading rate, representing the fastest sets, showing propagat- ing (lengthening) rift, propagators yet observed at a slow-spreading ridge. These fast propa- doomed (shortening) rift, gators appear to have formed as a result of tectonic extension migrat- V-shaped pattern formed ing along ridge segments as the segments change from more magmatic by outer pseudofault and to less magmatic periods of spreading. inner pseudofault sys- tem (including failed rift, inner pseudofault, and INTRODUCTION: RIFT PROPAGATION AT MID-OCEAN transferred lithosphere). RIDGES After Hey et al. (1986). Rift propagation along mid-ocean ridge spreading axes has been rec- ognized for ~20 years (e.g., Hey, 1977). This process generally involves the lengthening of one spreading segment at the expense of its neighbor as the offset between them migrates along the strike of the ridge with respect to relatively fixed points on the ridge such as transform faults (Fig.
  • The Propagation of Seafloor Spreading in the Southwestern Subbasin, South China Sea

    The Propagation of Seafloor Spreading in the Southwestern Subbasin, South China Sea

    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Springer - Publisher Connector Article Progress of Projects Supported by NSFC August 2012 Vol.57 No.24: 31823191 SPECIAL TOPIC: Deep Sea Processes and Evolution of the South China Sea doi: 10.1007/s11434-012-5329-2 SPECIAL TOPICS: The propagation of seafloor spreading in the southwestern subbasin, South China Sea LI JiaBiao1,2*, DING WeiWei1,2, WU ZiYin1,2, ZHANG Jie1,2 & DONG ChongZhi1,2 1 Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou 310012, China; 2 Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences, State Oceanography Administration, Hangzhou 310012, China Received November 20, 2011; accepted April 28, 2012 On the basis of the summary of basic characteristics of propagation, the dynamic model of the tectonic evolution in the South- western Subbasin (SWSB), South China Sea (SCS), has been established through high resolution multi-beam swatch bathymetry and multi-channel seismic profiles, combined with magnetic anomaly analysis. Spreading propagates from NE to SW and shows a transition from steady seafloor spreading, to initial seafloor spreading, and to continental rifting in the southwest end. The spread- ing in SWSB (SCS) is tectonic dominated, with a series of phenomena of inhomogeneous tectonics and sedimentation. Southwestern Subbasin, South China Sea, propagation of seafloor spreading, morphotectonics, tectonic divisions, dynamic mechanism Citation: Li J B, Ding W W, Wu Z Y, et al. The propagation of seafloor spreading in the southwestern subbasin, South China Sea. Chin Sci Bull, 2012, 57: 31823191, doi: 10.1007/s11434-012-5329-2 Recent studies on continental rifting and oceanic spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) [9], but there is no evidence for point out that not all the rifting and spreading occur syn- propagating spreading at ultra-slow spreading mid-ocean chronously along strike [1], and propagating spreading of ridges (e.g.