High-resolution Neogene and Quaternary estimates of Nubia-Eurasia-North America Plate motion

A New Southern North Atlantic Isochron Map: Insights Into the Drift of the Iberian Plate Since the Late Cretaceous

“…Iberia has been studied extensively since the 1980s through models describing the southern North Atlantic kinematics. These models were based on the analysis of marine magnetic anomalies and bathymetric or gravity data (DeMets et al, ; Kerr et al, ; Klitgord & Schouten, ; Merkouriev & DeMets, , , ; Miles & Kidd, ; Müller & Roest, ; Müller et al, , , ; Olivet et al, ; Olivet, ; Roest & Srivastava, ; Srivastava & Tapscott, ; Srivastava & Roest, , , ; Srivastava, Roest, et al, ; Srivastava, Schouten, et al, ; Srivastava et al, ; Sibuet & Collette, ; Sibuet, Srivastava, & Spakman, ; Sibuet, Monti, et al, ; Torsvik et al, ; Verhoef et al, ; Vogt, ) or on the reinterpretation of previously published data sets (e.g., rotation poles) to remove inconsistencies in the kinematic reconstructions (Rosenbaum, Lister, & Duboz, ; Vissers & Meijer, , ). The seafloor spreading history of the southern North Atlantic between Iberia and Newfoundland and its relationship to the formation of the Pyrenees and Betic‐Rif system (Figure ) has been described involving successive jumps of the plate boundary between Iberia, Europe, and Africa from north (Bay of Biscay axis, B and King's Trough, KT; Figure ) to south (Azores Gibraltar Fracture Zone, AGFZ; Figure ) (Klitgord & Schouten, ; Olivet, ; Roest & Srivastava, ; Rosenbaum et al, ; Sibuet, Srivastava, & Spakman, ; Srivastava, Roest, et al, ; Srivastava, Schouten, et al, ; Vissers & Meijer, , ).…”

From ocean depths to mountain tops: Uplift of the Troodos ophiolite (Cyprus) constrained by low‐temperature thermochronology and geomorphic analysis

“…The earlier initiation of Troodos uplift, during the late Miocene–early Pliocene, as indicated here, is inconsistent with uplift as a result of the Eratosthenes subduction/collision along the Cyprean Arc. Paleogeographic reconstructions indicate that at the time of the initiation of Troodos uplift, in the late Miocene, a strip of about 100 km of remnant Neo‐Tethys oceanic lithosphere, which persisted since Late Cretaceous time, still existed between Cyprus and the Eratosthenes Seamount [ DeMets et al ., ; Kempler , ]. The early initiation of Troodos uplift may thus be temporally related to the late Miocene reactivation of the Cyprean Arc to the south of Cyprus, which have been dormant since the Late Cretaceous, and to the renewal of oceanic subduction [ Kempler , ; Robertson , ].…”

Late Neogene changes in North America and Antarctica absolute plate motions inferred from the Mid‐Atlantic and Southwest Indian Ridges spreading histories

“…DeMets et al [] have recently put forth high‐resolution, independent Neogene/Quaternary reconstructions of the EU/NA and NB/NA plate motions that build on the previous work of Merkouriev and DeMets [, ], but benefit from noise reduction through the Redback open‐source software [ Iaffaldano et al , ]. Redback implements Bayesian inference [ Bayes , ] in the transdimensional hierarchical fashion [e.g., Malinverno and Briggs , ; Sambridge et al , ], which has been applied to a wide range of geoscientific problems [e.g., Bodin and Sambridge , ; Gallagher , ; Tkalčić et al , ; Iaffaldano et al , ; Baumann and Kaus , ].…”

“…In Figure , we show the probabilities estimated by Redback for changes in NB/NA (in blue) and EU/NA (in red) plate motions determined using stage Euler vectors and Redback parameter values from DeMets et al []. Solid and hatched profiles show the probability of a change in angular velocity of relative motion and location of the stage Euler pole, respectively.…”

“…Recent progress in reconstructing relative plate motions at 1 Myr or better resolutions [e.g., Croon et al , ; Merkouriev and DeMets , , , , Eagles and Wibisono , ], together with the emergence of numerical tools for mitigating the impact of noise in marine magnetic data [ Iaffaldano et al , , ], now permit the timing and magnitude of changes in relative plate motions to be described more accurately than before. Here we use high‐resolution sequences of finite rotations that quantify Nubia/North America (NB/NA) and Eurasia/North America (EU/NA) plate motions since 20 Ma from the well‐mapped magnetic reversals flanking seafloor spreading centers in the Arctic and North Atlantic Basins [ DeMets et al , ] and high‐resolution rotations that describe motion between the Nubia and Somalia (SO) plates relative to Antarctica (AN) across the Southwest Indian Ridge [ DeMets et al , ] to infer temporal changes in absolute plate motions. We present evidence that NB/NA and EU/NA relative motions changed coevally by the same amount and additional, albeit weaker evidence for similar, coeval changes in NB/AN and SO/AN plate motions.…”