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Rifting Stage (rifting + stage)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Earth and Environmental Science100%

Selected Abstracts

Pb, Nd, and Sr isotopic constraints on the origin of Miocene basaltic rocks from northeast Hokkaido, Japan: Implications for opening of the Kurile back-arc basin

ISLAND ARC, Issue 2 2000
Yasuo Ikeda
Abstract Late Miocene (7,9 Ma) basaltic rocks from the Monbetsu-Kamishihoro graben in northeast Hokkaido have chemical affinities to certain back-arc basin basalts (referred to herein as Hokkaido BABB). Pb-, Nd- and Sr-isotopic compositions of the Hokkaido BABB and arc-type volcanic rocks (11,13 Ma and 4,4.5 Ma) from the nearby region indicate mixing between the depleted mantle and an EM II-like enriched component (e.g. subducted pelagic sediment) in the magma generation. At a given 87Sr/86Sr, Hokkaido BABB have slightly lower 143Nd/144Nd and slightly less radiogenic 206Pb/204Pb compared with associated arc-type lavas, but both these suites are difficult to distinguish solely on the basis of isotopic compositions. These isotopic data indicate that while generation of the Hokkaido BABB involves smaller amounts of the EM II-like enriched component than do associated arc lavas, Hokkaido BABB are isotopically distinct from basalts produced at normal back-arc basin spreading centers. Instead, northeast Hokkaido BABB are more similar to basalts erupted during the initial rifting stage of back-arc basins. The Monbetsu-Kamishihoro graben may have developed in association with extension that formed the Kurile Basin, suggesting that opening of the basin continued until late Miocene (7,9 Ma). [source]

Stratigraphic evolution of the Triassic,Jurassic succession in the Western Southern Alps (Italy): the record of the two-stage rifting on the distal passive margin of Adria

BASIN RESEARCH, Issue 3 2009
Fabrizio Berra
ABSTRACT The Triassic,Lower Jurassic succession of the Southern Alps is characterized by rapid thickness changes, from an average of about 5000 m east of Lago Maggiore to about 500 m in the Western Southern Alps. The stratigraphy reflects the Triassic evolution of the Tethyan Gulf and the Early Jurassic rifting responsible for the Middle Jurassic break-up of Adria from Europe. The succession of the Western Southern Alps starts with Lower Permian volcanics directly covered by Anisian sandstones. The top of the overlying Ladinian dolostones (300 m) records subaerial exposure and karstification. Locally (Gozzano), Upper Sinemurian sediments cover the Permian volcanics, documenting pre-Sinemurian erosion. New biostratigraphic data indicate a latest Pliensbachian,Toarcian age for the Jurassic synrift deposits that unconformably cover Ladinian or Sinemurian sediments. Therefore, in the Western Southern Alps, the major rifting stage that directly evolved into the opening of the Penninic Ocean began in the latest Pliensbachian,Toarcian. New data allowed us to refine the evolution of the two previously recognized Jurassic extensional events in the Southern Alps. The youngest extensional event (Western Southern Alps) occurred as tectonic activity decreased in the Lombardy Basin. During the Sinemurian the Gozzano high represents the western shoulder of a rift basin located to the east (Lombardy). This evolution documents a transition from diffuse early rifting (Late Hettangian,Sinemurian), controlled by older discontinuities, to rifting focused along a rift valley close to the Pliensbachian,Toarcian boundary. This younger rift bridges the gap between the Hettangian,Sinemurian diffuse rifting and the Callovian,Bathonian break-up. The late Pliensbachian,Toarcian rift, which eventually lead to continental break-up, is interpreted as the major extensional episode in the evolution of the passive margin of Adria. The transition from diffuse to focused extension in the Southern Alps is comparable to the evolution of the Central Austroalpine during the Early Jurassic and of the Central and Northern Atlantic margins. [source]

Comparative Analysis of Sequence Characteristics among Different Superimposed Stages of the Chelif Basin, Algeria

ACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 6 2009
ZHANG Yuanfu
Abstract: Superimposed basins were investigated with respect to tectonic evolution, sediment deposition and petroleum characteristics within a single superposition stage generally. The comparative study was seldom seen. Sequence characteristics were compared for two different superimposed stages , an expanding rifting stage and a depression-foreland transition stage , in the Chelif Basin during the Miocene in this paper. A model and mechanism for sequence evolution of superimposed basins in different dynamic situations are discussed with respect to sequence similarities and differences. The compared characters include sequence thickness, sequence boundaries and system tracts, as well as sediment deposition within sequences and sequence development patterns. Finally, some typical features of sequence development concomitant with changes of superimposed stages in the Chelif Basin are discussed. [source]

Ophiolite-bearing mélanges in southern Italy

GEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2009
Luigi Tortorici
Abstract In southern Italy two ophiolite-bearing belts, respectively involved in the Adria-verging southern Apennines and in the Europe-verging thrust belt of the northern Calabrian Arc, represent the southward extension of the northern Apennines and of ,Alpine Corsica' ophiolitic units, respectively. They form two distinct suture zones, which are characterized by different age of emplacement and opposite sense of tectonic transport. The ophiolite-bearing units of the southern Apennines are represented by broken formation and tectonic mélange associated with remnants of a well-developed accretionary wedge emplaced on top of the Adria continental margin, with an overall NE direction of tectonic transport. These units consist of a Cretaceous-Oligocene matrix, which includes blocks of continental-type rocks and ophiolites with remnants of their original Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous pelagic cover. The innermost portion of the accretionary wedge is represented by a polymetamorphosed and polydeformed tectonic units that underwent a Late Oligocene high pressure/low temperature (HP/LT) metamorphism. The northern Calabria ophiolitic-belt is indeed composed of west-verging tectonic slices of oceanic rocks which, embedded between platform carbonate units of a western continental margin at the bottom and the basement crystalline nappes of the Calabrian Arc at the top, are affected by a Late Eocene-Early Oligocene HP/LT metamorphism. The main tectonic features of these two suture zones suggest that they can be interpreted as the result of the closure of two branches of the western Neotethys separated by a continental block that includes the crystalline basement rocks of the Calabrian Arc. We thus suggest that the north-east verging southern Apennine suture constituted by a well-developed accretionary wedge is the result of the closure of a large Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous oceanic domain (the Ligurian Ocean) located between the African (the Adria Block) and European continental margins. The northern Calabria suture derives indeed from the deformation of a very narrow oceanic-floored basin developed during the Mesozoic rifting stages within the European margin separating a small continental ribbon (Calabrian Block) from the main continent. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]