Mantle exhumation at slow-spreading ridges is favoured by extensional tectonics through low-angle detachment faults, and, along transforms, by transtension due to changes in ridge/transform geometry. Less common, exhumation by compressive stresses has been proposed for the large-offset transforms of the equatorial Atlantic. Here we show, using high-resolution bathymetry, seismic and gravity data, that the northern transform fault of the St Paul system has been controlled by compressive deformation since ∼10 million years ago. The long-lived transpression resulted from ridge overlap due to the propagation of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge segment into the transform domain, which induced the migration and segmentation of the transform fault creating restraining stepovers. An anticlockwise change in plate motion at ∼11 million years ago initially favoured extension in the left-stepping transform, triggering the formation of a transverse ridge, later uplifted through transpression, forming the St Peter and St Paul islets. Enhanced melt supply at the ridge axis due to the nearby Sierra Leone thermo chemical anomaly is responsible for the robust response of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge segment to the kinematic change. The long-lived process at the origin of the compressive stresses is directly linked to the nature of the underlying mantle and not to a change in the far-field stress regime

Among the elements exhibiting non-mass dependent isotopic variations in meteorites, chromium (Cr) has been central in arguing for an isotopic homogeneity between the Earth and the Moon, thus questioning physical models of Moon formation. However, the Cr isotopic composition of the Moon relies on two samples only, which define an average value that is slightly different from the terrestrial standard. Here, by determining the Cr isotopic composition of 17 lunar, 9 terrestrial and 5 enstatite chondrite samples, we re-assess the isotopic similarity between these different planetary bodies, and provide the first robust estimate for the Moon. In average, terrestrial and enstatite samples show similar ε 54 Cr. On the other hand, lunar samples show variables excesses of 53 Cr and 54 Cr compared to terrestrial and enstatite chondrites samples with correlated ε 53 Cr and ε 54 Cr (per 10,000 deviation of the 53 Cr/ 52 Cr and 54 Cr/ 52 Cr ratios normalized to the 50 Cr/ 52 Cr ratio from the NIST SRM 3112a Cr standard). Unlike previous suggestions, we show for the first time that cosmic irradiation can 2 affect significantly the Cr isotopic composition of lunar materials. Moreover, we also suggest that rather than spallation reactions, neutron capture effects are the dominant process controlling the Cr isotope composition of lunar igneous rocks. This is supported by the correlation between ε 53 Cr and ε 54 Cr, and 150 Sm/ 152 Sm ratios. After correction of these effects, the average ε 54 Cr of the Moon is indistinguishable from the terrestrial and enstatite chondrite materials reinforcing the idea of an Earth-Moon-Enstatite chondrite system homogeneity. This is compatible with the most recent scenarios of Moon formation suggesting an efficient physical homogenization after a high-energy impact on a fast spinning Earth, and/or with an impactor originating from the same reservoir in the inner proto-planetary disk as the Earth and enstatite chondrites and having similar composition.

Radiogenic isotopes in oceanic basalts provide a window into the different geochemical components defining the composition of Earth's mantle. Here we report the discovery of a novel geochemical signature in volcanic glasses sampled at a sub-kilometre scale along the East Pacific Rise between 15°37 0 N and 15°47 0 N.

The circa 14 km diameter Pantasma circular structure in Oligocene volcanic rocks in Nicaragua is here studied for the first time to understand its origin. Geomorphology, field mapping, and petrographic and geochemical investigations all are consistent with an impact origin for the Pantasma structure. Observations supporting an impact origin include outward‐dipping volcanic flows, the presence of former melt‐bearing polymict breccia, impact glass (with lechatelierite and low H2O, <300 ppm), and also a possible ejecta layer containing Paleozoic rocks which originated from hundreds of meters below the surface. Diagnostic evidence for impact is provided by detection in impact glass of the former presence of reidite in granular zircon as well as coesite, and extraterrestrial ε54Cr value in polymict breccia. Two 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages with a combined weighted mean age of 815 ± 11 ka (2 σ; P = 0.17) were obtained on impact glass. This age is consistent with geomorphological data and erosion modeling, which all suggest a rather young crater. Pantasma is only the fourth exposed crater >10 km found in the Americas south of N30 latitude, and provides further evidence that a significant number of impact craters may remain to be discovered in Central and South America.

Non-mass dependent chromium isotopic signatures have been successfully used to determine the presence and identification of extra-terrestrial materials in terrestrial impact rocks.Paleoproterozoic spherule layers from Greenland (Graensesø) and Russia (Zaonega), as well as some distal ejecta deposits (Lake Superior region) from the Sudbury impact (1,849±0.3 Ma) event, have been analyzed for their Cr isotope compositions. Our results suggest that 1) these distal ejecta deposits are all of impact origin, 2) the Graensesø and Zaonega spherule layers contain a distinct carbonaceous chondrite component, and are possibly related to the same impact event, which could be Vredefort (2,023±4 Ma) or another not yet identified large impact event from that of similar age, and 3) the Sudbury ejecta record a complex meteoritic signature, which is different from the Graensesø and Zaonega spherule layers, and could indicate the impact of a heterogeneous chondritic body.

Chemical fingerprints of impacts are usually compromised by extreme conditions in the impact plume, and the contribution of projectile matter to impactites does not often exceed a fraction of per cent. Here we use chromium and oxygen isotopes to identify the impactor and impact-plume processes for Zhamanshin astrobleme, Kazakhstan. ε54Cr values up to 1.54 in irghizites, part of the fallback ejecta, represent the 54Cr-rich extremity of the Solar System range and suggest a CI-like chondrite impactor. Δ17O values as low as −0.22‰ in irghizites, however, are incompatible with a CI-like impactor. We suggest that the observed 17O depletion in irghizites relative to the terrestrial range is caused by partial isotope exchange with atmospheric oxygen (Δ17O = −0.47‰) following material ejection. In contrast, combined Δ17O–ε54Cr data for central European tektites (distal ejecta) fall into the terrestrial range and neither impactor fingerprint nor oxygen isotope exchange with the atmosphere are indicated.

The existence of mass‐independent chromium isotope variability of nucleosynthetic origin in meteorites and their components provides a means to investigate potential genetic relationship between meteorites and planetary bodies. Moreover, chromium abundances are depleted in most surficial terrestrial rocks relative to chondrites such that Cr isotopes are a powerful tool to detect the contribution of various types of extra‐terrestrial material in terrestrial impactites. This approach can thus be used to constrain the nature of the bolide resulting in breccia and melt rocks in terrestrial impact structures. Here, we report the Cr isotope composition of impact rocks from the ~0.57 Ma Lonar crater (India), which is the best‐preserved impact structure excavated in basaltic target rocks. Results confirm the presence of a chondritic component in several bulk rock samples of up to 3%. The impactor that created the Lonar crater had a composition that was most likely similar to that of carbonaceous chondrites, possibly a CM‐type chondrite.

We investigate in details helium isotope data reported in Mougel et al. (2014) for 14 basaltic samples collected on the East Pacific Rise by submersible (15°4′N) where the ridge interacts with the Mathematician seamounts. Samples locations are separated by only few hundred meters across a 15 km along-axis profile. The data reveal a strong geochemical variability that has never been observed at such high spatial resolution for helium isotope compositions. Moreover, they reveal an unusually high 4 He/ 3 He mantle component also characterized by unradiogenic lead, atypical in oceanic basalts. He-Pb systematics suggests a mixture between a nonradiogenic lead and radiogenic helium pyroxenitic component, recycled from the deep continental lithosphere and the ambient peridotitic mantle. The He isotope difference between these two end-members can be interpreted as a time evolution of two distinct mantle sources after a slight (U + Th)/ 3 He fractionation, likely due to some ancient degassing during the formation of deep continental pyroxenites.