Speculations on the formation of cratons and cratonic basins

McKenzie, Dan

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2015.12.010

Cited by 82 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Although the validity of this tomographic interpretation needs verifying, we should not neglect these studies in explaining the syncollisional granitoid magmatism in southern Tibet. Figure 4b shows the mantle seismic shear velocity (Vs) structure beneath the Greater Tibetan Plateau [17]. The high Vs layer of ~ 100 km thick at depth of ~ 100 -200 km extends continuously from beneath India northward throughout the Tibetan plateau, which is most consistent with the underthrust of the Indian continental lithosphere beneath the Tibetan plateau lithosphere [16].…”

Section: Observations That Do Not Support Slab-breakoffmentioning

confidence: 58%

“…We should also note the low Vs layer underneath the crust and atop the mantle lithosphere beneath the Tibetan Plateau (Fig. 4b) is consistent with radiogenic heat accumulation [17], which can effectively explain the volumetrically small but widespread Cenozoic high potassic volcanism on the Plateau [18].…”

Section: Observations That Do Not Support Slab-breakoffmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Importantly, this recent study [17] also emphasizes that the lithospheric mantle beneath the Tibetan Plateau has not been thinned through the process of "delamination" or "convective removal" as popularly favored [1][2][3], but rather has been thickened, suggesting that continental collision zones may be potential sites of cratonic lithosphere nucleation [17]. This totally reversed interpretation, "thickened" [17] vs. "delaminated and thinned" [2] lithosphere beneath the Tibetan plateau results from new seismic observations and the objective and open-minded thinking. We should also note the low Vs layer underneath the crust and atop the mantle lithosphere beneath the Tibetan Plateau (Fig.…”

Section: Observations That Do Not Support Slab-breakoffmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4 a, Topographic elevation and mantle seismic (Vp) tomography of the Tibetan Plateau (modified from [15]). b, Topographic elevation, crust and mantle seismic (Vs) tomography of the Tibetan Plateau (modified form [17]). …”

Section: Observations That Do Not Support Slab-breakoffmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Slab breakoff: a causal mechanism or pure convenience?

Niu

2017

Science Bulletin

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Section: Observations That Do Not Support Slab-breakoffmentioning

confidence: 58%

Section: Observations That Do Not Support Slab-breakoffmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Observations That Do Not Support Slab-breakoffmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Observations That Do Not Support Slab-breakoffmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Slab breakoff: a causal mechanism or pure convenience?

Niu

2017

Science Bulletin

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“…As a result the lithosphere is less dense than the underlying undepleted upper mantle, even though it is colder. The process that Houseman et al modeled may well occur elsewhere where lithosphere is shortened, but I do not believe it is responsible for the structure of Tibet (M c Kenzie & Priestley 2016). In the last example the mistake was not mine but Don Forsyth's, and concerns his and his colleagues' estimates of the elastic thickness, T e , in old continental shields.…”

Section: Mistakes (Of Mine and Others)mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Geologist Reflects on a Long Career

McKenzie

2018

Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci.

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Fifty years ago Jason Morgan and I proposed what is now known as the theory of plate tectonics, which brought together the ideas of continental drift and sea floor spreading into what is probably their final form. I was twenty-five and had just finished my PhD. The success of the theory marked the beginning of a change of emphasis in the Earth sciences, which I have spent the rest of my career exploring. Previously geophysicists had principally been concerned with using ideas and techniques from physics to make measurements. But the success of plate tectonics showed that it could also be used to understand and model geological processes. This essay is concerned with a few such efforts in which I have been involved: determining the temperature structure and rheology of the oceanic and continental lithosphere, and with how mantle convection maintains the plate motions and the longwavelength part of the Earth's gravity field. It is also concerned with how such research is supported.

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Crustal structure, gravity anomalies, and subsidence history of the Parnaíba cratonic basin, Northeast Brazil

2017

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Cratonic basins cover more than 10% of Earth's continental surface area, yet their origin remains enigmatic. Here we use a 1400 km long, deep (20 s two‐way travel time) seismic reflection profile, five wide‐angle split‐spread receiver gathers, gravity anomaly, and well data to constrain the origin of the Parnaíba Basin, a cratonic basin in Northeast Brazil. In the center of the basin, the depth to pre‐Paleozoic basement is ~3.3 km, a zone of midcrustal reflectivity (MCR) can be traced laterally for ~250 km at depths between 17 and 25 km and Moho depth is ~42 ± 2 km. Gravity and P wave modeling suggests that the MCR represents the upper surface of a high density (2985 kg m−3) and Vp (6.75–7.0 km s−1) lower crustal body, likely of magmatic origin. Backstripping of well data shows a concave up decreasing tectonic subsidence, similar in form to that observed in rift‐type basins. We show, however, that our seismic and gravity data are inconsistent with an extensional origin. Other basin forming mechanisms are therefore required. We show that an intrusive body in the lower crust that has loaded and flexed the surface of the crust, combined with sediment loading, provides a satisfactory fit to the observed gravity anomaly. A buried load model is consistent with seismic data, which suggest that the Moho is as deep or deeper beneath the basin center than its flanks and accounts for at least part of the tectonic subsidence through a viscoelastic stress relaxation that occurs in the lithosphere following load emplacement.

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Speculations on the formation of cratons and cratonic basins

Cited by 82 publications

References 50 publications

Slab breakoff: a causal mechanism or pure convenience?

Slab breakoff: a causal mechanism or pure convenience?

A Geologist Reflects on a Long Career

Crustal structure, gravity anomalies, and subsidence history of the Parnaíba cratonic basin, Northeast Brazil

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