Structural, stratigraphic and sedimentological characterisation of a wide rift system: The Triassic rift system of the Central Atlantic Domain

Leleu, Sophie; Hartley, Adrian J.; Oosterhout, Cees van; Kennan, Lorcan; Ruckwied, Katrin; Gerdes, Keith D.

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.03.008

Cited by 75 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 179 publications

(265 reference statements)

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“…Note that the regional relief and the formation of the depositional basins during the two periods are controlled by almost the same structural directions. Regional paleogeography based on Stampfli and Kozur (2006), Sibuet et al (2012) and Leleu et al (2016) …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rifting probably developed later in West Iberia, where, the oldest sedimentary unit associated with break-up is the Triassic Silves Group of the Lusitanian, Alentejo and Algarve basins (Palain, 1976;Pinheiro et al, 1996;Soares et al, 2012;Leleu et al, 2016). Permian rift basins formed following the collapse of the thickened Variscan orogen, and were controlled by the reactivation of earlier Variscan structures (Simancas et al, 1983;García-Navarro and Sierra, 1998;Arche and López-Gómez, 1996).…”

Section: Tectonic Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the Lusitanian and Alentejo basins along with others located offshore), whereas the Algarve Basin is usually considered to have resulted from left-lateral motion between Africa and Iberia (Ziegler, 1988;Terrinha et al, 2002;Leleu et al, 2016). The majority of the structures that controlled Triassic rifting were also inherited from the Variscan and pre-Variscan deformation (Pinheiro et al, 1996;Soares et al, 2012;Leleu et al, 2016). The Porto-Tomar Shear Zone, which underlies the eastern border of the Lusitanian Basin in the north ( Fig.…”

Section: Tectonic Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). Late Permian rifting led to the Iberian Basin on the eastern margin of the Iberian microplate (Arche and López-Gómez, 1996), while along western Iberia it just took place during the Triassic (e.g., Pinheiro et al, 1996;Leleu et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The transition from Pangea amalgamation to fragmentation: Constraints from detrital zircon geochronology on West Iberia paleogeography and sediment sources

Dinis

Fernandes

Jorge

et al. 2018

Sedimentary Geology

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Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology data from late Carboniferous to Triassic clastic sedimentary rocks in SW Iberia were used to investigate the regional paleogeography during the transition from Pangea amalgamation to breakup. The major U-Pb zircon age peaks are middle Devonian to Carboniferous (~390-300 Ma), CambrianOrdovician (~530-440 Ma), Cryogenian-Ediacaran (~750-540 Ma), Stenian-Tonian (~1.2-0.9 Ga) and Paleoproterozoic (~2.3-1.8 Ga). Rapid exhumation of Variscan crystalline rocks at the contact between the South Portuguese zone and Ossa Morena Zone, explains the abundance of late Paleozoic ages in the upper Carboniferous-lower Permian continental successions. The U-Pb zircon data constrain the maximum depositional age of the Santa Susana Basin to c. 304 Ma and the Viar Basin to c. 297 Ma. The Triassic sequences, despite being c. 100 Ma younger than the Variscan tectonothermal events, contain low proportions of late Paleozoic zircon. The major peaks in all zircon spectra closely resemble those found in the adjacent basement rocks, indicating small source areas, mainly located near the rift shoulders. Longer travelled fluvial systems are postulated for the eastern portions of the Algarve Basin, which was closer to the westward advancing Tethys Ocean than the rift basins of West Iberia. Sequences that contain significant proportions of~1.2-0.9 Ga zircon are probably recycled from post-collisional Carboniferous-Permian continental deposits that were more extensive than those found today.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Tectonic Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Tectonic Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The transition from Pangea amalgamation to fragmentation: Constraints from detrital zircon geochronology on West Iberia paleogeography and sediment sources

Dinis

Fernandes

Jorge

et al. 2018

Sedimentary Geology

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“…They developed firstly during the Upper Triassic at the same time as the rifting in Central Atlantic (Leleu et al, 2016;Olsen, 1997;Withjack et al, 1998 and references therein) and in the Alpine domain (Bertotti et al, 1993). Then, whereas slow oceanic accretion or mantle exhumation began in the Central Atlantic (Labails, 2007;Sibuet et al, 2012), they recorded a new rifting phase in the Lower Jurassic.…”

Section: Oceanization Steps In the Tethys Realmmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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Kinematic Evolution of the Southern North Atlantic: Implications for the Formation of Hyperextended Rift Systems

et al. 2018

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We focus on the southern North Atlantic rifted margins to investigate the partitioning and propagation of deformation in hyperextended rift systems using plate kinematic modeling. The kinematic evolution of this area is well determined by oceanic magnetic anomalies after the Cretaceous normal polarity superchron. However, the rift and early seafloor spreading evolution (200–83 Ma) remains highly disputed due to contentious interpretations of the J magnetic anomaly on the Iberia‐Newfoundland conjugate margins. Recent studies highlight that the J anomaly is probably polygenic, related to polyphased magmatic events, and therefore does not correspond to an isochron. We present a new palinspastic restoration without using the J magnetic anomaly as the chron M0. We combine 3‐D gravity inversion results with local structural, stratigraphic, and geochronological constraints on the rift deformation history. The restoration of the southern North Atlantic itself is not the primary aim of the study but rather is used as a method to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution of hyperextended rift systems. We include continental microblocks that enable the partitioning of the deformation between different rift segments, which is of particular importance for the evolution of the Iberia‐Eurasia plate boundary. Our modeling highlights the following: (1) the segmentation of the Iberia‐Newfoundland rift system during continental crust thinning, (2) the northward V‐shape propagation of mantle exhumation and seafloor spreading, (3) the complex partitioning of deformation along the Iberia‐Eurasia plate boundary, and (4) a three‐plate propagation model which implies transtension.

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Structural, stratigraphic and sedimentological characterisation of a wide rift system: The Triassic rift system of the Central Atlantic Domain

Cited by 75 publications

References 179 publications

The transition from Pangea amalgamation to fragmentation: Constraints from detrital zircon geochronology on West Iberia paleogeography and sediment sources

The transition from Pangea amalgamation to fragmentation: Constraints from detrital zircon geochronology on West Iberia paleogeography and sediment sources

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

Kinematic Evolution of the Southern North Atlantic: Implications for the Formation of Hyperextended Rift Systems

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