Articles | Volume 9, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1187-2018
© Author(s) 2018. 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-9-1187-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| Highlight paper
| 
26 Oct 2018
Research article | Highlight paper |
| 26 Oct 2018
| 26 Oct 2018
Oblique rifting: the rule, not the exception
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of
Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
Simon E. Williams
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales
2006, Australia
R. Dietmar Müller
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales
2006, Australia
Sydney Informatics Hub, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,
Australia
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Alessandro La Rosa, Pauline Gayrin, Sascha Brune, Carolina Pagli, Ameha A. Muluneh, Gianmaria Tortelli, and Derek Keir
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1215, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1215, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Solid Earth (SE).
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We propose a new method to map faults automatically in DEMs and measure long-term crustal deformation in rift contexts. By combining our data with rock ages, we reconstruct rift evolution in Afar during the last 4.5 Myrs. We show that the rift axis is most active, with rifting propagating northwest over time. Here magma promotes crustal deformation and faulting caused by dike opening. In the southern sector Afar, two fault systems respond to different motions of diverging tectonic plates.
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Rifting and the break-up of continents are key aspects of Earth’s plate tectonic system. A thorough understanding of the geological processes involved in rifting, and of the associated natural hazards and resources, is of great importance in the context of the energy transition. Here, we provide a coherent overview of rift processes and the links with hazards and resources, and we assess future challenges and opportunities for (collaboration between) researchers, government, and industry.
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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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We need to understand where faults are to do the following: (1) assess their seismic hazard, (2) explore for natural resources and (3) store CO2 safely in the subsurface. Currently, we still map subsurface faults primarily by hand using seismic reflection data, i.e. acoustic images of the Earth. Mapping faults this way is difficult and time-consuming. Here, we show how to use deep learning to accelerate fault mapping and how to use networks or graphs to simplify fault analyses.
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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.
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-139, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-139, 2022
Preprint archived
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Continental rifts can form when and where continents are stretched. Rifts are characterised by faults, sedimentary basins, earthquakes and/or volcanism. If rifting can continue, a rift may break a continent into conjugate margins such as along the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In some cases, however, rifting fails, such as in the West African Rift. We discuss continental rifting from inception to break-up, focussing on the processes at play, and illustrate these with several natural examples.
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The former Piemont–Liguria Ocean, which separated Europe from Africa–Adria in the Jurassic, opened as an arm of the central Atlantic. Using plate reconstructions and geodynamic modeling, we show that the ocean reached only 250 km width between Europe and Adria. Moreover, at least 65 % of the lithosphere subducted into the mantle and/or incorporated into the Alps during convergence in Cretaceous and Cenozoic times comprised highly thinned continental crust, while only 35 % was truly oceanic.
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Earth's surface is constantly warped up and down by the convecting mantle. Here we derive geodynamic rules for this so-called
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Short summary
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Solid Earth, 15, 989–1028, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-15-989-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-15-989-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Rifting and the break-up of continents are key aspects of Earth’s plate tectonic system. A thorough understanding of the geological processes involved in rifting, and of the associated natural hazards and resources, is of great importance in the context of the energy transition. Here, we provide a coherent overview of rift processes and the links with hazards and resources, and we assess future challenges and opportunities for (collaboration between) researchers, government, and industry.
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Short summary
Short summary
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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We need to understand where faults are to do the following: (1) assess their seismic hazard, (2) explore for natural resources and (3) store CO2 safely in the subsurface. Currently, we still map subsurface faults primarily by hand using seismic reflection data, i.e. acoustic images of the Earth. Mapping faults this way is difficult and time-consuming. Here, we show how to use deep learning to accelerate fault mapping and how to use networks or graphs to simplify fault analyses.
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Preprint archived
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Continental rifts can form when and where continents are stretched. Rifts are characterised by faults, sedimentary basins, earthquakes and/or volcanism. If rifting can continue, a rift may break a continent into conjugate margins such as along the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In some cases, however, rifting fails, such as in the West African Rift. We discuss continental rifting from inception to break-up, focussing on the processes at play, and illustrate these with several natural examples.
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Short summary
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Related subject area
Subject area: Tectonic plate interactions, magma genesis, and lithosphere deformation at all scales | Editorial team: Structural geology and tectonics, paleoseismology, rock physics, experimental deformation | Discipline: Geodynamics
Impact of upper mantle convection on lithosphere hyperextension and subsequent horizontally forced subduction initiation
Pore-scale permeability prediction for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids
The effect of obliquity on temperature in subduction zones: insights from 3-D numerical modeling
Lorenzo G. Candioti, Stefan M. Schmalholz, and Thibault Duretz
Solid Earth, 11, 2327–2357, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-2327-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-2327-2020, 2020
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With computer simulations, we study the interplay between thermo-mechanical processes in the lithosphere and the underlying upper mantle during a long-term (> 100 Myr) tectonic cycle of extension–cooling–convergence. The intensity of mantle convection is important for (i) subduction initiation, (ii) the development of single- or double-slab subduction zones, and (iii) the forces necessary to initiate subduction. Our models are applicable to the opening and closure of the western Alpine Tethys.
Philipp Eichheimer, Marcel Thielmann, Anton Popov, Gregor J. Golabek, Wakana Fujita, Maximilian O. Kottwitz, and Boris J. P. Kaus
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Prediction of rock permeability is of crucial importance for several research areas in geoscience. In this study, we enhance the finite difference code LaMEM to compute fluid flow on the pore scale using Newtonian and non-Newtonian rheologies. The accuracy of the code is demonstrated using several analytical solutions as well as experimental data. Our results show good agreement with analytical solutions and recent numerical studies.
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The thermal state of the Earth's crust determines how it reacts to tectonic forces and to fluid flow responsible for ore formation. We hypothesize that the angle between plate motion and convergent boundaries determines the thermal regime of subduction zones (where a plate goes under another one). Computer models and a geological reconstruction of Turkey were used to validate this hypothesis.
This research was done to validate a hypothesis made on the basis of nonquantitative field data.
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Short summary
Fragmentation of continents often involves obliquely rifting segments that feature a complex three-dimensional structural evolution. Here we show that more than ~ 70 % of Earth’s rifted margins exceeded an obliquity of 20° demonstrating that oblique rifting should be considered the rule, not the exception. This highlights the importance of three-dimensional approaches in modelling, surveying, and interpretation of those rift segments where oblique rifting is the dominant mode of deformation.
Fragmentation of continents often involves obliquely rifting segments that feature a complex...
