Continental rupture and the creation of new crust in the Salton Trough rift, Southern California and northern Mexico: Results from the Salton Seismic Imaging Project

Han, Liang; Hole, J. A.; Stock, J. M.; Fuis, Gary S.; Kell, A. M.; Driscoll, Neal W.; Kent, G. M.; Harding, A. J.; Rymer, M. J.; González‐Fernández, Antonio; Lázaro-Mancilla, O.

doi:10.1002/2016jb013139

Cited by 43 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…This part of the history is better documented and corresponds to the subduction of the ELT and the Maghrebian Tethys below the drifted AlKaPeCa and Corsica-Sardinia blocks (Doglioni et al, 1999;Handy et al, 2010;Lacombe and Jolivet, 2005;Michard et al, 2002;see Figs. 13-15).…”

Section: The Oligocene-miocene Reorganizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In all the recent kinematic and palaeogeographic restorations (Dercourt et al, 2000;Handy et al, 2010;Schettino and Turco, 2009;Sibuet et al, 2012, Nirrengarten et al, 2018Biari et al, 2017), Iberia was located far east of its present position relatively to Africa at the beginning of the Jurassic (Fig. 5A).…”

Section: Oceanization Steps In the Tethys Realmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…5A). The western branch has received different names in the literature: West Ligurian ocean (Handy et al, 2010), Penninic ocean (Vitale-Brovarone et al, 2013) and Betic ocean (Puga et al, 2011). We will keep the term West Ligurian Tethys (WLT) to denominate this oceanic domain.…”

Section: Oceanization Steps In the Tethys Realmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Equivalent ages for oceanic accretion characterize the Ligurian Tethys (Puga et al, 2011;Tortorici et al, 2009). Following different authors (Andrieux, 1971;Carminati et al, 2012;Doglioni et al, 1997;Guerrera et al, 1993;Handy et al, 2010;Puga et al, 2011;Vitale-Brovarone et al, 2013), it is pertinent to distinguish two branches in the Ligurian oceanic realm with the intervening AlKaPeCa continental domain (Fig. 5A).…”

Section: Oceanization Steps In the Tethys Realmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10-11) The convergence between Africa and Eurasia follows a counter-clockwise rotation for fixed Eurasia around a pole located in the Central Atlantic, at small distance from the Moroccan margin (Handy et al, 2010;Rosenbaum et al, 2002;Fig. 9).…”

Section: The First Tectonic Inversions Of the Southernmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Tell-Rif orogenic system (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) and the structural heritage of the southern Tethys margin

Leprêtre

Lamotte

Combier

et al. 2018

BSGF - Earth Sci. Bull.

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-The Tell-Rif (Tell in Algeria and Tunisia; Rif in Morocco) is the orogenic system fringing to the south the West Mediterranean basins. This system comprises three major tectonic-palaeogeographic zones from north to south: (1) the internal zones (AlKaPeCa for Alboran, Kabylies, Peloritan, Calabria) originating from the former northern European margin of the Maghrebian Tethys, (2) the "Flyschs zone" regarded as the former cover of the oceanic domain and (3) the external zones, forming the former southern Maghrebian Tethys margin more or less inverted. The Tell-Rif is interpreted as the direct result of the progressive closure of the Maghrebian Tethys until the collision between AlKaPeCa and Africa and, subsequently, the propagation of the deformation within Africa. This gives a consistent explanation for the offshore Neogene geodynamics and most authors share this simple scenario. Nevertheless, the current geodynamic models do not completely integrate the Tell-Rif geology. Based on the analysis of surface and sub-surface data, we propose a reappraisal of its present-day geometry in terms of geodynamic evolution. We highlight its non-cylindrical nature resulting from both the Mesozoic inheritance and the conditions of the tectonic inversion. During the Early Jurassic, we emphasize the development of NE-SW basins preceding the establishment of an E-W transform corridor connecting the Central Atlantic Ocean with the Ligurian Tethys. The Maghrebian Tethys developed just after, as the result of the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous left-lateral spreading between Africa and Iberia. By the Late Cretaceous, the occurrence of several tectonic events is related to the progressive convergence convergence between the two continents. A major pre-Oligocene (pre-35 Ma) compressional event is recorded in the Tell-Rif system. The existence of HP-LT metamorphic rocks associated with fragments of mantle in the External Metamorphic Massifs of the Eastern Rif and Western Tell shows that, at that time, the western part of the North-African margin was involved in a subduction below a deep basin belonging to the Maghrebian Tethys. At the same time, the closure of the West Ligurian Tethys through east-verging subduction led to a shift of the subduction, which jumped to the other side of AlKaPeCa involving both East Ligurian and Maghrebian Tethys. Slab rollback led to the development of the Oligo-Miocene back-arc basins of the West-Mediterranean, reworking the previous West Ligurian Tethys suture. The docking of AlKaPeCa against Africa occurred during the Late Burdigalian (17 Ma). Subsequently, the slab tearing triggered westward and eastward lateral movements that are responsible for the formation of the Gibraltar and Tyrrhenian Arcs respectively. The exhumation of the External Metamorphic Massifs occurred through tectonic underplating during the westward translation of the Alboran Domain. It resulted in the formation of both foredeep and wedge-top basins younger and younger westward. The lack of these elements in the eastern part ...

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Section: The Oligocene-miocene Reorganizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Oceanization Steps In the Tethys Realmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Oceanization Steps In the Tethys Realmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Oceanization Steps In the Tethys Realmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The First Tectonic Inversions Of the Southernmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Tell-Rif orogenic system (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) and the structural heritage of the southern Tethys margin

Leprêtre

Lamotte

Combier

et al. 2018

BSGF - Earth Sci. Bull.

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San Andreas Fault dip, Peninsular Ranges mafic lower crust and partial melt in the Salton Trough, Southern California, from ambient‐noise tomography

Barak

Klemperer

Lawrence

2015

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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We use ambient-noise tomography to improve CVM-H11.9, a community velocity model of southern California. Our new 3-D shear-velocity model with 0:05 x 0:05 lateral and 1 km vertical blocks reveals new structure beneath the San Andreas Fault (SAF), Peninsular Ranges batholith (PRB), southern Sierra Nevada batholith (SNB), and the Salton Trough (ST). We use 4 years of data recorded on 849 broadband stations, vastly more than previous studies and including our own broadband Salton Seismic Imaging Project, a 40 station transect across the ST, as well as other campaign stations in both Mexico and the United States. Mean lower crust and upper mantle wave speeds (3.6 km/s at 20 km, 4.2 km/s at 40 km) are low by global standards. Across the SAF, southeast of San Gorgonio Pass, we observe vertical to steeply dipping lateral velocity contrasts that extend beneath the Moho. Beneath the western PRB and westernmost southern SNB, we observe relatively high shear velocities (!3.8 km/s) in the lower crust that we interpret as the mafic roots of the overlying arc. Relatively high-velocity upper mantle (up to $4.5 km/s) may be part of the intact arc, or possibly a remnant of the Farallon plate. Beneath the ST, we observe zones of low shearvelocity in the lower crust and upper mantle which permit up to $4.5% melt in the lower crust and up to $6% melt in the upper mantle, depending on the assumed composition and pore geometry. Our results preclude the existence of older continental crust beneath the ST and support the creation of new crust beneath the ST.

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Seismic imaging of the metamorphism of young sediment into new crystalline crust in the actively rifting Imperial Valley, California

Han

Hole

Stock

et al. 2016

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Plate-boundary rifting between transform faults is opening the Imperial Valley of southern California and the rift is rapidly filling with sediment from the Colorado River. Three 65-90 km long seismic refraction profiles across and along the valley, acquired as part of the 2011 Salton Seismic Imaging Project, were analyzed to constrain upper crustal structure and the transition from sediment to underlying crystalline rock. Both first arrival travel-time tomography and frequency-domain full-waveform inversion were applied to provide P-wave velocity models down to 7 km depth. The valley margins are fault-bounded, beyond which thinner sediment has been deposited on preexisting crystalline rocks. Within the central basin, seismic velocity increases continuously from 1.8 km/s sediment at the surface to >6 km/s crystalline rock with no sharp discontinuity. Borehole data show young sediment is progressively metamorphosed into crystalline rock. The seismic velocity gradient with depth decreases approximately at the 4 km/s contour, which coincides with changes in the porosity and density gradient in borehole core samples. This change occurs at 3 km depth in most of the valley, but at only 1.5 km depth in the Salton Sea geothermal field. We interpret progressive metamorphism caused by high heat flow to be creating new crystalline crust throughout the valley at a rate comparable to the 2 km/Myr sedimentation rate. The newly formed crystalline crust extends to at least 7-8 km depth, and it is shallower and faster where heat flow is higher. Most of the active seismicity occurs within this new crust.

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Continental rupture and the creation of new crust in the Salton Trough rift, Southern California and northern Mexico: Results from the Salton Seismic Imaging Project

Cited by 43 publications

References 73 publications

The Tell-Rif orogenic system (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) and the structural heritage of the southern Tethys margin

The Tell-Rif orogenic system (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) and the structural heritage of the southern Tethys margin

San Andreas Fault dip, Peninsular Ranges mafic lower crust and partial melt in the Salton Trough, Southern California, from ambient‐noise tomography

Seismic imaging of the metamorphism of young sediment into new crystalline crust in the actively rifting Imperial Valley, California

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