We present a revised global plate motion model with continuously closing plate boundaries ranging from the Triassic at 230 Ma to the present day, assess differences among alternative absolute plate motion models, and review global tectonic events. Relatively high mean absolute plate motion rates of approximately 9–10 cm yr−1 between 140 and 120 Ma may be related to transient plate motion accelerations driven by the successive emplacement of a sequence of large igneous provinces during that time. An event at ∼100 Ma is most clearly expressed in the Indian Ocean and may reflect the initiation of Andean-style subduction along southern continental Eurasia, whereas an acceleration at ∼80 Ma of mean rates from 6 to 8 cm yr−1 reflects the initial northward acceleration of India and simultaneous speedups of plates in the Pacific. An event at ∼50 Ma expressed in relative, and some absolute, plate motion changes around the globe and in a reduction of global mean plate speeds from about 6 to 4–5 cm yr−1 indicates that an increase in collisional forces (such as the India–Eurasia collision) and ridge subduction events in the Pacific (such as the Izanagi–Pacific Ridge) play a significant role in modulating plate velocities.

Currently, there are several published end-member plate models that describe the evolution of Iberia during the Mesozoic. We review key geological and geophysical data sets previously used as constraints on these models including (1) geological interpretations of Pyrenean geology; (2) end-member interpretations of magnetic anomalies along the West Iberian and Newfoundland margins and Bay of Biscay;(3) the paleomagnetic data set of Iberia; and (4) seismic tomography models, which have previously been used to support Cretaceous subduction between Iberia and Eurasia. From this review we identify key constraints and argue that a reasonable plate kinematic model of Iberia should satisfy all of these. Instead, we determine inconsistencies between these key constraints and several published end-member plate models through a kinematic analysis using the GPlates software. We also analyze published seismic tomography models, not previously considered, across northern Africa and Iberia, and identify no slab preserved within the mantle supposedly linked to Cretaceous subduction between Iberia and Eurasia. A lack of published geological evidence along the Pyrenees supporting this subduction history also casts doubt on this scenario. Our kinematic analysis highlights that, first, the cessation in transtensional motion between Iberia and Eurasia by the Albian cannot be kinematically reconciled with the concurrent breakup between Iberia and Newfoundland in the Atlantic when reconstructing existing continent-ocean boundary interpretations along their respective margins. Second, either fit of the contentious end-member M 0 interpretations (~120.6 Ma) between Iberia and Newfoundland implies plate velocities of Iberia that results in its undocumented transpressional or compressional motion relative to Eurasia until C 34 .

The stretched continental margins of the North Atlantic region record a plate kinematic history dominated by major episodes of extension since the Late Palaeozoic. Accounting for the restoration of this stretched continental crust across the region, and the subsequent derivation of plausible full-fit configurations between these continents, prior to extension, still remains unresolved. Previous plate reconstructions have highlighted difficulties such as determining the amount of extension to be distributed across the multiple episodes of rifting, or defining the distribution of extension across intraplate deformation occurring adjacent to the rifting of two major continents. Here, we implement a new approach to derive a set of total reconstruction poles based on a full-fit, palinspastic restoration of the conjugate margins that considers the rifting evolution of the North Atlantic in a regional plate kinematic context since the Earliest Jurassic. Gravity inversion forms the basis of our regional crustal thickness estimates, and aids in the identification of thinned continental crust. Our crustal restoration estimates are computed in multiple phases along margin segments in accordance with the timing of their major rifting episodes. Our model predicts a full-fit, prerift, palaeogeographic position of all the major continents across the North Atlantic; and predicts a time-dependent evolution of multiple phases of extension including regional divergence directions, consistent with previous observations. Our plate model represents a new approach to plate kinematic reconstructions incorporating the application of a multiphase restoration methodology applied in a major regional context, constrained by the synthesis of several different geological and geophysical data sets.

Northern Africa underwent widespread inundation during the Late Cretaceous. Changes in eustasy do not explain the absence of this inundation across the remainder of Africa, and the timing and location of documented tectonic deformation do not explain the large‐scale paleogeographic evolution. We investigate the combined effects of vertical surface displacements predicted by a series of mantle flow models and eustasy on northern African paleoenvironmental change. We compare changes in base level computed as the difference between eustasy and long‐wavelength dynamic topography arising from sources of buoyancy deeper than 350 km to the evolution of paleoshorelines derived from two interpolated global data sets since the mid‐Cretaceous. We also compare the predicted mantle temperature field of these mantle flow models at present‐day to several seismic tomography models. This approach reveals that dynamic subsidence, related to Africa's northward motion away from the buoyant regions overlying the African large low shear velocity province, amplified sea level rise, resulting in maximum inundation of northern Africa during the Cenomanian and Turonian. By the Cenozoic, decreased magnitudes of dynamic subsidence, reflecting the reduced drawdown effects of slab material beneath northern Africa associated with the impact of the Africa‐Eurasia collision, combined with a comparatively pronounced progressive sea level fall resulted in ongoing region‐wide regression along coastal regions. The temporal match between our preferred model and the paleoshoreline data sets suggests that the paleogeographic evolution of this region since the Late Cretaceous has mainly been influenced by the interplay between eustasy and long‐wavelength dynamic topography arising from large‐scale, subduction‐driven, lower mantle convection.

The relative tectonic quiescence of the Australian continent during the Cenozoic makes it an excellent natural laboratory to study recent large--scale variations in surface topography, and processes that influence changes in its elevation.Embedded within this topography is a fluvial network that is sensitive to variations in horizontal and vertical motions. The notion that a river acts as a 'tape recorder' for vertical perturbations suggests that changes in spatial and temporal characteristics of surface uplift can be deduced through the analysis of longitudinal river profiles. We analyse 20 longitudinal river profiles around the Australian continent. Concave upward profiles in northeast Australia indicate an absence of recent surface uplift. In contrast, the major knickzones within longitudinal profiles of rivers in southwest Australia suggest recent surface uplift. Given the lack of recent large--scale tectonic activity in that region, this uplift requires an explanation. Applying an inverse algorithm to river profiles of south Western Australia reveals that this surface uplift started in the Eocene and culminated in the mid--late Neogene. The surface uplift rates deduced from this river profile analysis generally agree with independent geological observations including preserved shallow--marine sediment outcrops across the Eucla Basin and south Western Australia. We show that the interplay between global sea level and long--wavelength dynamic topography associated with south Western day geometry of longitudinal river profiles contains time--dependent information pertaining to the evolution of landscape vertical motions over larger spatial and temporal scales (i.e., ~1-100+ Myr, 10-1000 km; Roberts et al., 2012) in tectonically quiescent regions. In this method, time--dependent surface uplift rates are estimated by parameterizing the elevation of a river profile as a function of its length (Pritchard et al., 2009). Indeed, surface uplift results in rapid changes in gradient near the river mouth that, over time, migrate upstream as knickpoints (Whipple and Tucker, 1999). Depending on retreat rate, knickpoints may be preserved in present--day longitudinal river profiles, providing information on past uplift events.