scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

The breakup of East Gondwana: Assimilating constraints from Cretaceous ocean basins around India into a best‐fit tectonic model

01 Mar 2013-Journal of Geophysical Research (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd)-Vol. 118, Iss: 3, pp 808-822
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors link East Gondwana spreading corridors by integrating magnetic and gravity anomaly data from the Enderby Basin off East Antarctica within a regional plate kinematic framework to identify a conjugate series of east-west-trending magnetic anomalies, M4 to M0.
Abstract: Published models for the Cretaceous sea!oor-spreading history of East Gondwana result in unlikely tectonic scenarios for at least one of the plate boundaries involved and/or violate particular constraints from at least one of the associated ocean basins. We link East Gondwana spreading corridors by integrating magnetic and gravity anomaly data from the Enderby Basin off East Antarctica within a regional plate kinematic framework to identify a conjugate series of east-west-trending magnetic anomalies, M4 to M0 (~126.7–120.4 Ma). The mid-ocean ridge that separated Greater India from Australia-Antarctica propagated from north to south, starting at ~136Ma northwest of Australia, and reached the southern tip of India at ~126 Ma. Sea!oor spreading in the Enderby Basin was abandoned at ~115 Ma, when a ridge jump transferred the Elan Bank and South Kerguelen Plateau to the Antarctic plate. Our revised plate kinematic model helps resolve the problem of successive two-way strike-slip motion between Madagascar and India seen in many previously published reconstructions and also suggests that sea!oor spreading between them progressed from south to north from 94 to 84 Ma. This timing is essential for tectonic !ow lines to match the curved fracture zones of the Wharton and Enderby basins, as Greater India gradually began to unzip from Madagascar from ~100 Ma. In our model, the 85-East Ridge and Kerguelen Fracture Zone formed as conjugate !anks of a "leaky" transform fault following the ~100Ma spreading reorganization. Our model also identi"es the Afanasy Nikitin Seamounts as products of the Conrad Rise hotspot.
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper presented 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.
Abstract: 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.

723 citations

Book
16 Jan 2017
TL;DR: Using full-colour palaeogeographical maps from the Cambrian to the present, this interdisciplinary volume explains how plate motions and surface volcanism are linked to processes in the Earth's mantle, and to climate change and the evolution of Earth's biota.
Abstract: Using full-colour palaeogeographical maps from the Cambrian to the present, this interdisciplinary volume explains how plate motions and surface volcanism are linked to processes in the Earth's mantle, and to climate change and the evolution of the Earth's biota. These new and very detailed maps provide a complete and integrated Phanerozoic story of palaeogeography. They illustrate the development of all the major mountain-building orogenies. Old lands, seas, ice caps, volcanic regions, reefs, and coal beds are highlighted on the maps, as well as faunal and floral provinces. Many other original diagrams show sections from the Earth's core, through the mantle, and up to the lithosphere, and how Large Igneous Provinces are generated, helping to understand how plates have appeared, moved, and vanished through time. Supplementary resources are available online, making this an invaluable reference for researchers, graduate students, professional geoscientists and anyone interested in the geological history of the Earth.

361 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors presented a global Mesozoic-Cenozoic deforming plate motion model that captures the progressive extension of all continental margins since the initiation of rifting within Pangea at ~240 Ma.
Abstract: Global deep‐time plate motion models have traditionally followed a classical rigid plate approach, even though plate deformation is known to be significant. Here we present a global Mesozoic–Cenozoic deforming plate motion model that captures the progressive extension of all continental margins since the initiation of rifting within Pangea at ~240 Ma. The model also includes major failed continental rifts and compressional deformation along collision zones. The outlines and timing of regional deformation episodes are reconstructed from a wealth of published regional tectonic models and associated geological and geophysical data. We reconstruct absolute plate motions in a mantle reference frame with a joint global inversion using hot spot tracks for the last 80 million years and minimizing global trench migration velocities and net lithospheric rotation. In our optimized model, net rotation is consistently below 0.2°/Myr, and trench migration scatter is substantially reduced. Distributed plate deformation reaches a Mesozoic peak of 30 × 10^6 km^2 in the Late Jurassic (~160–155 Ma), driven by a vast network of rift systems. After a mid‐Cretaceous drop in deformation, it reaches a high of 48 x 10^6 km^2 in the Late Eocene (~35 Ma), driven by the progressive growth of plate collisions and the formation of new rift systems. About a third of the continental crustal area has been deformed since 240 Ma, partitioned roughly into 65% extension and 35% compression. This community plate model provides a framework for building detailed regional deforming plate networks and form a constraint for models of basin evolution and the plate‐mantle system.

305 citations


Cites background from "The breakup of East Gondwana: Assim..."

  • ...…between Africa, East Antarctica, and India initiates around 180 Ma and ceases with the onset of seafloor spreading around 148 Ma, while rifting between India, West Australia, and Antarctica is active from about 160 to 126 Ma (Figure 5); see Gibbons et al. (2013) for a summary of constraints....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the UU-P07 model to detect subduction-related seismic P-wave velocity anomalies in the upper and lower mantle of the Earth's mantle.

254 citations


Cites background from "The breakup of East Gondwana: Assim..."

  • ...…2004; Cloos et al., 2005; Heine and Muller, 2005; Hinschberger et al., 2005; Quarles van Ufford and Cloos, 2005; Hafkenscheid et al., 2006; Gaina and Muller, 2007; Whittaker et al., 2007; Keep and Haig, 2010; Harris, 2011; Gibbons et al., 2012, 2013; Whittaker et al., 2013; Zahirovic et al., 2014.)...

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a new regional plate model was proposed, which takes into account terrane suturing and accretion histories, the location of subducted slabs imaged in mantle tomography, as well as plausible absolute and relative plate velocities and tectonic driving mechanisms.
Abstract: . Tectonic reconstructions of Southeast Asia have given rise to numerous controversies that include the accretionary history of Sundaland and the enigmatic tectonic origin of the proto-South China Sea. We assimilate a diversity of geological and geophysical observations into a new regional plate model, coupled to a global model, to address these debates. Our approach takes into account terrane suturing and accretion histories, the location of subducted slabs imaged in mantle tomography in order to constrain the evolution of regional subduction zones, as well as plausible absolute and relative plate velocities and tectonic driving mechanisms. We propose a scenario of rifting from northern Gondwana in the latest Jurassic, driven by northward slab pull from north-dipping subduction of Tethyan crust beneath Eurasia, to detach East Java, Mangkalihat, southeast Borneo and West Sulawesi blocks that collided with a Tethyan intra-oceanic subduction zone in the mid-Cretaceous and subsequently accreted to the Sunda margin (i.e., southwest Borneo core) in the Late Cretaceous. In accounting for the evolution of plate boundaries, we propose that the Philippine Sea plate originated on the periphery of Tethyan crust forming this northward conveyor. We implement a revised model for the Tethyan intra-oceanic subduction zones to reconcile convergence rates, changes in volcanism and the obduction of ophiolites. In our model the northward margin of Greater India collides with the Kohistan–Ladakh intra-oceanic arc at ∼53 Ma, followed by continent–continent collision closing the Shyok and Indus–Tsangpo suture zones between ∼42 and 34 Ma. We also account for the back-arc opening of the proto-South China Sea from ∼65 Ma, consistent with extension along east Asia and the formation of supra-subduction zone ophiolites presently found on the island of Mindoro. The related rifting likely detached the Semitau continental fragment from South China, which accreted to northern Borneo in the mid-Eocene, to account for the Sarawak Orogeny. Rifting then re-initiated along southeast China by 37 Ma to open the South China Sea, resulting in the complete consumption of proto-South China Sea by ∼17 Ma when the collision of the Dangerous Grounds and northern Palawan blocks with northern Borneo choked the subduction zone to result in the Sabah Orogeny and the obduction of ophiolites in Palawan and Mindoro. We conclude that the counterclockwise rotation of Borneo was accommodated by oroclinal bending consistent with paleomagnetic constraints, the curved lithospheric lineaments observed in gravity anomalies of the Java Sea and the curvature of the Cretaceous Natuna paleo-subduction zone. We complete our model by constructing a time-dependent network of topological plate boundaries and gridded paleo-ages of oceanic basins, allowing us to compare our plate model evolution to seismic tomography. In particular, slabs observed at depths shallower than ∼1000 km beneath northern Borneo and the South China Sea are likely to be remnants of the proto-South China Sea basin.

249 citations


Cites background or methods from "The breakup of East Gondwana: Assim..."

  • ...…of the NW Australian margin, representing the latest Jurassic rifting and subsequent seafloor spreading, is highlighted by the magnetic anomalies (Gibbons et al., 2013; Heine and Müller, 2005) and the reactivated structures on the continental shelf (Keep and Harrowfield, 2005) with a northeast–…...

    [...]

  • ...The Hall (2012) model uses motions of India and Australia based on the model of Royer and Sandwell (1989) that did not have the benefit of marine magnetic anomaly data collected over the last two decades, while our model is based on compilations of more modern data and re-interpretations of magnetic anomalies (Gibbons et al., 2013; Müller 5 et al., 2008) and the consideration of continental stretching and deformation during initial Australia-Antarctica rifting (Williams et al....

    [...]

  • ...11) that are consistent with geological constraints (such evidence of seafloor spreading, shallow marine sedimentation and generation of ophiolites) and the Meso-Tethyan models of Gibbons et al. (2012) and Gibbons et al. (2013)....

    [...]

  • ...…collected over the last 2 decades, while our model is based on compilations of more modern data and re-interpretations of marine magnetic anomalies (Gibbons et al., 2013; Müller et al., 2008) and the consideration of continental stretching and deformation during initial Australia–Antarctica…...

    [...]

References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: GMT allows users to manipulate (x,y,z) data, and generate PostScript illustrations, including simple x-y diagrams, contour maps, color images, and artificially illuminated, perspective, and/or shaded-relief plots using a variety of map projections.
Abstract: Version 31 of the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) has been released More than 6000 scientists worldwide are currently using this free, public domain collection of UNIX tools that contains programs serving a variety of research functions GMT allows users to manipulate (x,y) and (x,y,z) data, and generate PostScript illustrations, including simple x-y diagrams, contour maps, color images, and artificially illuminated, perspective, and/or shaded-relief plots using a variety of map projections (see Wessel and Smith [1991] and Wessel and Smith [1995], for details) GMT has been installed under UNIX on most types of workstations and both IBM-compatible and Macintosh personal computers

6,819 citations


"The breakup of East Gondwana: Assim..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...All figures were made using GMT [Wessel and Smith, 1998], with reconstruction geometries extracted from GPlates [Boyden et al....

    [...]

  • ...All figures were made using GMT [Wessel and Smith, 1998], with reconstruction geometries extracted from GPlates [Boyden et al., 2011]....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: MORVEL as discussed by the authors is a new closure-enforced set of angular velocities for the geologically current motions of 25 tectonic plates that collectively occupy 97 per cent of Earth's surface.
Abstract: SUMMARY We describe best-fitting angular velocities and MORVEL, a new closure-enforced set of angular velocities for the geologically current motions of 25 tectonic plates that collectively occupy 97 per cent of Earth's surface. Seafloor spreading rates and fault azimuths are used to determine the motions of 19 plates bordered by mid-ocean ridges, including all the major plates. Six smaller plates with little or no connection to the mid-ocean ridges are linked to MORVEL with GPS station velocities and azimuthal data. By design, almost no kinematic information is exchanged between the geologically determined and geodetically constrained subsets of the global circuit—MORVEL thus averages motion over geological intervals for all the major plates. Plate geometry changes relative to NUVEL-1A include the incorporation of Nubia, Lwandle and Somalia plates for the former Africa plate, Capricorn, Australia and Macquarie plates for the former Australia plate, and Sur and South America plates for the former South America plate. MORVEL also includes Amur, Philippine Sea, Sundaland and Yangtze plates, making it more useful than NUVEL-1A for studies of deformation in Asia and the western Pacific. Seafloor spreading rates are estimated over the past 0.78 Myr for intermediate and fast spreading centres and since 3.16 Ma for slow and ultraslow spreading centres. Rates are adjusted downward by 0.6–2.6 mm yr−1 to compensate for the several kilometre width of magnetic reversal zones. Nearly all the NUVEL-1A angular velocities differ significantly from the MORVEL angular velocities. The many new data, revised plate geometries, and correction for outward displacement thus significantly modify our knowledge of geologically current plate motions. MORVEL indicates significantly slower 0.78-Myr-average motion across the Nazca–Antarctic and Nazca–Pacific boundaries than does NUVEL-1A, consistent with a progressive slowdown in the eastward component of Nazca plate motion since 3.16 Ma. It also indicates that motions across the Caribbean–North America and Caribbean–South America plate boundaries are twice as fast as given by NUVEL-1A. Summed, least-squares differences between angular velocities estimated from GPS and those for MORVEL, NUVEL-1 and NUVEL-1A are, respectively, 260 per cent larger for NUVEL-1 and 50 per cent larger for NUVEL-1A than for MORVEL, suggesting that MORVEL more accurately describes historically current plate motions. Significant differences between geological and GPS estimates of Nazca plate motion and Arabia–Eurasia and India–Eurasia motion are reduced but not eliminated when using MORVEL instead of NUVEL-1A, possibly indicating that changes have occurred in those plate motions since 3.16 Ma. The MORVEL and GPS estimates of Pacific–North America plate motion in western North America differ by only 2.6 ± 1.7 mm yr−1, ≈25 per cent smaller than for NUVEL-1A. The remaining difference for this plate pair, assuming there are no unrecognized systematic errors and no measurable change in Pacific–North America motion over the past 1–3 Myr, indicates deformation of one or more plates in the global circuit. Tests for closure of six three-plate circuits indicate that two, Pacific–Cocos–Nazca and Sur–Nubia–Antarctic, fail closure, with respective linear velocities of non-closure of 14 ± 5 and 3 ± 1 mm yr−1 (95 per cent confidence limits) at their triple junctions. We conclude that the rigid plate approximation continues to be tremendously useful, but—absent any unrecognized systematic errors—the plates deform measurably, possibly by thermal contraction and wide plate boundaries with deformation rates near or beneath the level of noise in plate kinematic data.

2,089 citations


"The breakup of East Gondwana: Assim..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The slowest spreading ridge documented today is the Arctic’s magma-starved Gakkel Ridge, with full-spreading rates ~12mm/yr [DeMets et al., 2010]....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compile all known in situ LIPs younger than 250 Ma and analyze dimensions, crustal structures, ages, and emplacement rates of representatives of the three major LIP categories: Ontong Java and Kerguelen-Broken Ridge oceanic plateaus, North Atlantic volcanic passive margins, and Deccan and Columbia River continental flood basalts Crustal thickness ranges from 20 to 40 km, and the lower crust is characterized by high (70-76 km s?1) compressional wave velocities.
Abstract: Large igneous provinces (LIPs) are a continuum of voluminous iron and magnesium rich rock emplacements which include continental flood basalts and associated intrusive rocks, volcanic passive margins, oceanic plateaus, submarine ridges, seamount groups, and ocean basin flood basalts Such provinces do not originate at “normal” seafloor spreading centers We compile all known in situ LIPs younger than 250 Ma and analyze dimensions, crustal structures, ages, and emplacement rates of representatives of the three major LIP categories: Ontong Java and Kerguelen-Broken Ridge oceanic plateaus, North Atlantic volcanic passive margins, and Deccan and Columbia River continental flood basalts Crustal thicknesses range from 20 to 40 km, and the lower crust is characterized by high (70-76 km s?1) compressional wave velocities Volumes and emplacement rates derived for the two giant oceanic plateaus, Ontong Java and Kerguelen, reveal short-lived pulses of increased global production; Ontong Java’s rate of emplacement may have exceeded the contemporaneous global production rate of the entire mid-ocean ridge system The major part of the North Atlantic volcanic province lies offshore and demonstrates that volcanic passive margins belong in the global LIP inventory Deep crustal intrusive companions to continental flood volcanism represent volumetrically significant contributions to the crust We envision a complex mantle circulation which must account for a variety of LIP sizes, the largest originating in the lower mantle and smaller ones developing in the upper mantle This circulation coexists with convection associated with plate tectonics, a complicated thermal structure, and at least four distinct geochemical/isotopic reservoirs LIPs episodically alter ocean basin, continental margin, and continental geometries and affect the chemistry and physics of the oceans and atmosphere with enormous potential environmental impact Despite the importance of LIPs in studies of mantle dynamics and global environment, scarce age and deep crustal data necessitate intensified efforts in seismic imaging and scientific drilling in a range of such features

1,367 citations


"The breakup of East Gondwana: Assim..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...The Kerguelen Plateau outline [Coffin and Eldholm, 1994] is shown in red....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
06 Oct 1989-Science
TL;DR: Continental flood basalt eruptions have resulted in sudden and massive accumulations of basaltic lavas in excess of any contemporary volcanic processes, thought to result from deep mantle plumes.
Abstract: Continental flood basalt eruptions have resulted in sudden and massive accumulations of basaltic lavas in excess of any contemporary volcanic processes. The largest flood basalt events mark the earliest volcanic activity of many major hot spots, which are thought to result from deep mantle plumes. The relative volumes of melt and eruption rates of flood basalts and hot spots as well as their temporal and spatial relations can be explained by a model of mantle plume initiation: Flood basalts represent plume "heads" and hot spots represent continuing magmatism associated with the remaining plume conduit or "tail." Continental rifting is not required, although it commonly follows flood basalt volcanism, and flood basalt provinces may occur as a natural consequence of the initiation of hot-spot activity in ocean basins as well as on continents.

1,180 citations


"The breakup of East Gondwana: Assim..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Mantle plumes are associated with continental breakup [Richards et al., 1989] and the Kerguelen Plume has been linked to the breakup of East Gondwana, the formation of the 132Ma Bunbury Basalts of southwest Australia [Frey et al., 1996], the 118Ma Rajmahal Traps in northeast India [Kent et al.,…...

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an integrated geomagnetic polarity and stratigraphic time scale for the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods of the Mesozoic Era, with age estimates and uncertainty limits for stage boundaries, is presented.
Abstract: We present an integrated geomagnetic polarity and stratigraphic time scale for the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods of the Mesozoic Era, with age estimates and uncertainty limits for stage boundaries. The time scale uses a suite of 324 radiomenc dates, including high-resolution 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age estimates. This framework involves the observed ties between (1) radiometric dates, biozones, and stage boundaries, and (2) between biozones and magnetic reversals on the seafloor and in sediments. Interpolation techniques include maximum likelihood estimation, smoothing cubic spline fitting, and magnetochronology

838 citations