Articles | Volume 14, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-389-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-389-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
13 Apr 2023
Research article |
| 13 Apr 2023
| 13 Apr 2023
Tectonic interactions during rift linkage: insights from analog and numerical experiments
Timothy Chris Schmid
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Sascha Brune
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Anne Glerum
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
Guido Schreurs
Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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The Araripe Basin in NE Brazil was originally formed during Cretaceous times, as South America and Africa broke up. The basin is an important analogue to offshore South Atlantic break-up basins; its sediments were uplifted and are now found at 1000 m height, allowing for studies thereof, but the cause of the uplift remains debated. Here we ran a series of tectonic laboratory experiments that show how a specific plate tectonic configuration can explain the evolution of the Araripe Basin.
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High-value zinc–lead deposits formed in sedimentary basins created when tectonic plates rifted apart. We use computer simulations of rifting and the associated sediment erosion and deposition to understand why they formed in some basins but not in others. Basins that contain a metal source, faults that focus fluids, and rocks that can host deposits occurred in both narrow and wide rifts for ≤ 3 Myr. The largest and the most deposits form in narrow margins of narrow asymmetric rifts.
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Short summary
Continental rifts form by linkage of individual rift segments and disturb the regional stress field. We use analog and numerical models of such rift segment interactions to investigate the linkage of deformation and stresses and subsequent stress deflections from the regional stress pattern. This local stress re-orientation eventually causes rift deflection when multiple rift segments compete for linkage with opposingly propagating segments and may explain rift deflection as observed in nature.
Continental rifts form by linkage of individual rift segments and disturb the regional stress...
