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The Sheahan Diamond Literature Reference Compilation - Scientific and Media Articles based on Major Keyword - Rifting
The Sheahan Diamond Literature Reference Compilation is compiled by Patricia Sheahan who publishes on a monthly basis a list of new scientific articles related to diamonds as well as media coverage and corporate announcements called the Sheahan Diamond Literature Service that is distributed as a free pdf to a list of followers. Pat has kindly agreed to allow her work to be made available as an online digital resource at Kaiser Research Online so that a broader community interested in diamonds and related geology can benefit. The references are for personal use information purposes only; when available a link is provided to an online location where the full article can be accessed or purchased directly. Reproduction of this compilation in part or in whole without permission from the Sheahan Diamond Literature Service is strictly prohibited. Return to Diamond Keyword Index
Sheahan Diamond Literature Reference Compilation - Scientific Articles by Author for all years
Each article reference in the SDLRC is tagged with one or more key words assigned by Pat Sheahan to highlight the main topics of the article. In an effort to make it easier for users to track down articles related to a specific topic, KRO has extracted these key words and developed a list of major key words presented in this Key Word Index to which individual key words used in the article reference have been assigned. In most of the individual Key Word Reports the references are in crhonological order, though in some such as Deposits the order is first by key word and then chronological. Only articles classified as "technical" (mainly scientific journal articles) and "media" (independent media articles) are included in the Key Word Index. References that were added in the most recent monthly update are highlighted in yellow.
Rifting occurs when a plate, namely a part of the lithosphere, undergoes stretching. This takes place constantly at oceanic spreading centers where the convection cells that drive plate tectonics force oceanic plates to drift away from each other. The result is a thinning of the oceanic crust which enables a magmatic upwelling that fills the space created as the plates drift away from each other, in effect creating new lithospheric crust. Articles tagged as "rifting", however, tend to be about cases where poorly defined forces cause continental crust to develop its own "spreading center" where the crust thins along an axis, as depicted by this rifting animation. The thinning of the crust enables magmas to ascend and exploiting structural zones of weakness, often the boundaries of the "graben" that forms as the crust pulls part. Although mantle plumes are sometimes invoked in articles tagged as "rifting", mantle plumes appear to have a mantle root that it is stationary and blasts any oceanic or continental plates that drift along. Crustal rifting, however, appears to take place independently of the mantle, with mantle magmas rushing in to fill the resulting void. Articles about rifting have little relevance to diamonds other than to signal that where a rift is present, do not expect to find any diamondiferous kimberlites that erupted after the rifting event. Areas of rifting, because they generate intrusive activity, are excellent locations for precious and/or base metals deposits to form.
Decennie de ; 'etude du Rift Africain et de Son Soubassement precambrien Par le Laboratoire de Petrologie- Universite Delumbumbashi (zaire) Bilan et Perspective.
Benue trough oblique rifting, northeast Brasil interior basins and the geodynamic evolution of the equatorial domainof the south Atlantic.(in Portugese).
Revista Brasileira de Geociencias, (in Portugese)., Vol. 18, No. 3, September p. 315. (abstract.)
Non-depleted sub-continental mantle beneath the Superior Province of the Canadian shield: neodymium-Sr isotopic and trace element evid. from Midcont. rift basalts
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 53, pp. 2023-2035
Proterozoic supercontinent, its latest Precambrian rifting, breakup, dispersal into smaller continents, and subsidence of their margins: evidence from Asia
Trace element and neodymium isotopic variations in Early Proterozoic dyke swarms emplaced in the vicinity of the Kapuskasing structural zone. enriched mantleAFC.
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, Vol. 28, pp. 26-36.
Ontario
Assimilation fractional crystallization, Tectonics, rifting, dike swarms
Paleooceano graphic and tectonic implications of a regionally extensive Early Mississippian hiatus in the Ouachita system southern mid-continental United States.
Melting of subducted continent: element and isotopic evidence for a genetic relationship between Neoproterozoic and Mesozoic granitoids in the Sulu orogen.
Chemical Geology, Vol. 229, 4, May 30, pp. 227-256.
Abstract: The causes for the formation of large igneous provinces and hotspot trails are still a matter of considerable dispute. Seismic tomography and other studies suggest that hot mantle material rising from the core-mantle boundary (CMB) might play a significant role in the formation of such hotspot trails. An important area to verify this concept is the South Atlantic region, with hotspot trails that spatially coincide with one of the largest low-velocity regions at the CMB, the African large low shear-wave velocity province. The Walvis Ridge started to form during the separation of the South American and African continents at ca. 130 Ma as a consequence of Gondwana breakup. Here, we present the first deep-seismic sounding images of the crustal structure from the landfall area of the Walvis Ridge at the Namibian coast to constrain processes of plume-lithosphere interaction and the formation of continental flood basalts (Paraná and Etendeka continental flood basalts) and associated intrusive rocks. Our study identified a narrow region (<100 km) of high-seismic-velocity anomalies in the middle and lower crust, which we interpret as a massive mafic intrusion into the northern Namibian continental crust. Seismic crustal reflection imaging shows a flat Moho as well as reflectors connecting the high-velocity body with shallow crustal structures that we speculate to mark potential feeder channels of the Etendeka continental flood basalt. We suggest that the observed massive but localized mafic intrusion into the lower crust results from similar-sized variations in the lithosphere (i.e., lithosphere thickness or preexisting structures).
Abstract: The cooling history of rift shoulders and the subsidence history of rift basins are cornerstones for reconstructing the morphotectonic evolution of extensional geodynamic provinces, assessing their role in paleoenvironmental changes and evaluating the resource potential of their basin fills. Our apatite fission track and zircon (U-Th)/He data from the Samburu Hills and the Elgeyo Escarpment in the northern and central sectors of the Kenya Rift indicate a broadly consistent thermal evolution of both regions. Results of thermal modeling support a three-phased thermal history since the early Paleocene. The first phase (~65 50?Ma) was characterized by rapid cooling of the rift shoulders and may be coeval with faulting and sedimentation in the Anza Rift basin, now located in the subsurface of the Turkana depression and areas to the east in northern Kenya. In the second phase, very slow cooling or slight reheating occurred between ~45 and 15?Ma as a result of either stable surface conditions, very slow exhumation, or subsidence. The third phase comprised renewed rapid cooling starting at ~15?Ma. This final cooling represents the most recent stage of rifting, which followed widespread flood-phonolite emplacement and has shaped the present-day landscape through rift shoulder uplift, faulting, basin filling, protracted volcanism, and erosion. When compared with thermochronologic and geologic data from other sectors of the East African Rift System, extension appears to be diachronous, spatially disparate, and partly overlapping, likely driven by interactions between mantle-driven processes and crustal heterogeneities, rather than the previously suggested north south migrating influence of a mantle plume.
Abstract: Rifted margins are formed by persistent stretching of continental lithosphere until breakup is achieved. It is well known that strain-rate-dependent processes control rift evolution1, 2, yet quantified extension histories of Earth’s major passive margins have become available only recently. Here we investigate rift kinematics globally by applying a new geotectonic analysis technique to revised global plate reconstructions. We find that rifted margins feature an initial, slow rift phase (less than ten millimetres per year, full rate) and that an abrupt increase of plate divergence introduces a fast rift phase. Plate acceleration takes place before continental rupture and considerable margin area is created during each phase. We reproduce the rapid transition from slow to fast extension using analytical and numerical modelling with constant force boundary conditions. The extension models suggest that the two-phase velocity behaviour is caused by a rift-intrinsic strength-velocity feedback, which can be robustly inferred for diverse lithosphere configurations and rheologies. Our results explain differences between proximal and distal margin areas3 and demonstrate that abrupt plate acceleration during continental rifting is controlled by the nonlinear decay of the resistive rift strength force. This mechanism provides an explanation for several previously unexplained rapid absolute plate motion changes, offering new insights into the balance of plate driving forces through time.
Abstract: Two recent co-ordinated research programs - the SAMPLE (South Atlantic Margin Processes and Links with onshore Evolution) program of the German Science Foundation and the French Topo-Africa program - have focused attention on the interaction of the lithosphere with sublithospheric processes. With a main thrust on the West-Gondwana break up and the subsequent post-rift evolution of the South Atlantic passive margins and their hinterlands, SAMPLE and Topo-Africa made concerted efforts to advance models and observations of vertical motions (MoveOn) in the South Atlantic region as a probe into mantle convection/lithosphere interaction. In this special issue of Gondwana Research we assemble a set of contributions that stem from these programs aimed to gain insights on rifting in a geodynamic context with a particular focus on models and observations of the vertical motions of the lithosphere induced by mantle flow. Anderson (1982) suggested that breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana owed to forces in the sublithospheric mantle. However, despite much progress in mantle flow modeling (see Zhong and Liu, 2016 for a recent review), linking mantle convection forces and motion of the lithosphere in quantitative terms has remained elusive. It is generally accepted that plate tectonics is a surface expression of mantle convection and that mantle flow drives horizontal plate motion (Davies, 1999). However, plate tectonic motion reflects a balance of poorly known sublithospheric forces related to mantle flow, and of shallow plate-boundary forces (see Iaffaldano and Bunge, 2015 for a recent review). The latter involve topographic loads from mountain belts and fault friction along convergent plate boundaries (Iaffaldano and Bunge, 2009). Rates of change of plate velocities connect to changes in orogenic topography (Iaffaldano et al., 2006; Austermann and Iaffaldano, 2013) or plate boundary strength (Iaffaldano, 2012), making it possible to reduce some uncertainty on plate boundary forces from the analysis of plate motion changes. But the superposition of sublithospheric forces and shallow plate-boundary forces inhibits interpretations of horizontal plate motions solely in terms of mantle flow related forces. It is also believed that substantial vertical deflections of the earth's surface are induced by viscous stresses from the mantle (e.g., Pekeris, 1935). Such deflections were recognized early on in the sedimentary record through unconformities and missing sections (e.g., Stille, 1919, 1924). Termed ‘Dynamic Topography’ by Hager et al. (1985) > 30 years ago, this topic has received much attention lately (see Braun, 2010 for a recent review). The essential role of dynamic topography in dynamic earth models is well understood, because the mass anomalies associated with surface deflections yield gravity anomalies of comparable amplitude to the flow inducing mantle density variations. Therefore, Geoid interpretations have long been performed with dynamic earth models that account for dynamic topography as well as mantle density heterogeneity (e.g., Ricard et al., 1984; Richards and Hager, 1984; Forte and Mitrovica, 2001). The dynamic topography response of earth models to internal loads (e.g., hot rising plumes or cold sinking slabs) is commonly expressed through kernels (see Colli et al., 2016, for a recent review). They imply that the earth's surface sustains deflections on the order of ± 1 km. For a plume rising through a uniform viscosity mantle the kernels predict the deflections to grow continuously during plume ascend. This is borne out in laboratory models of isoviscous mantle flow (Griffith et al., 1989). However, in the presence of a weak upper mantle much of the surface deflection develops in the final phase of the plume ascend, in a time span of a few million years (Myrs) associated with vertical transit of the plume through the low viscosity upper mantle (Fig. 1). This makes rapid surface uplift events geodynamically plausible.
Abstract: The stunningly increased resolution of the deep crustal levels in recent industrial seismic profiles acquired along most of the world's rifted margins leads to the unraveling of an unexpected variety of structures. It provides unprecedented access to the processes occurring in the middle and lower continental crust. We present a series of so far unreleased profiles that allows the identification of various rift-related geological processes such as crustal boudinage, ductile shear and low-angle detachment faulting, and a rifting history that differs from the classical models of oceanward-dipping normal faults. The lower crust in rifted margins appears much more intensely deformed than usually represented. At the foot of both magma-rich and magma-poor margins, we observe clear indications of ductile deformation of the deep continental crust along large-scale shallow dipping shear zones. These shear zones generally show a top-to-the-continent sense of shear consistent with the activity of Continentward Dipping Normal Faults (CDNF) observed in the upper crust. This pattern is responsible for a migration of the deformation and associated sedimentation and/or volcanic activity toward the ocean. We discuss the origin of these CDNF and investigate their implications and the effect of sediment thermal blanketing on crustal rheology. In some cases, low-angle shear zones define an anastomosed pattern that delineates boudin-like structures. The maximum deformation is localized in the inter-boudin areas. The upper crust is intensely boudinaged and the highly deformed lower crust fills the inter-boudins underneath. The boudinage pattern controls the position and dip of upper crustal normal faults. We present some of the most striking examples from the margins of Uruguay, West Africa, South China Sea and Barents Sea, and discuss their implications for the time-temperature history of the margins.
Abstract: The Tanzania?North Mozambique continental margin is a transform segment associated with Davie Fracture Zone (DFZ). The DFZ is described as an elongated linear oceanic fracture zone, commonly linked with the breakup between Eastern and Western Gondwana. We conducted a synthesized study using gravity, magnetic and seismic data presenting the crustal architecture, geometry and the kinematic nature of continental breakup along a transform margin. The Crustal nature of DFZ, its role in forming kinematic linkage between two extensional margins during continental breakup processes is focus of our study. The two extensional margins, Somalia?Majunga and North Mozambique?Antarctica were linked via a 2600 km long dextral transform segment, partially overlapping with DFZ. Absence of classical rift indicators, weak signs of hyperextension, abrupt ocean?continent boundary (OCB) suggests transform margin architecture. We redefined this feature as the Davie Transform System (DTS). The nature of deformation varies form transtensional pull?apart in Tanzania to almost pure strike?slip in North Mozambique. The southern transform segment exhibits abrupt change in ocean continent transition with a narrow zone of continental extension. This variation is recognized through the newly interpreted OCB along this entire transform segment. Notably, within large pull?apart systems in the north, presence of fossilized incipient spreading center suggest that the extension had reached at quite advanced stages, characterized by significant thermal weakening as a consequence of strong magmatic activity. Through a series of reconstruction snapshots, we show the geodynamic evolution along the Tanzania?North Mozambique margin explaining the role of DTS in the southward movement of Madagascar.
Abstract: Unusually deep earthquakes occur beneath rift segments with and without surface expressions of magmatism in the East African Rift system. The Tanganyika rift is part of the Western rift and has no surface evidence of magmatism. The TANG14 array was deployed in the southern Tanganyika rift, where earthquakes of magnitude up to 7.4 have occurred, to probe crust and upper mantle structure and evaluate fault kinematics. Four hundred seventy?four earthquakes detected between June 2014 and September 2015 are located using a new regional velocity model. The precise locations, magnitudes, and source mechanisms of local and teleseismic earthquakes are used to determine seismogenic layer thickness, delineate active faults, evaluate regional extension direction, and evaluate kinematics of border faults. The active faults span more than 350 km with deep normal faults transecting the thick Bangweulu craton, indicating a wide plate boundary zone. The seismogenic layer thickness is 42 km, spanning the entire crust beneath the rift basins and their uplifted flanks. Earthquakes in the upper mantle are also detected. Deep earthquakes with steep nodal planes occur along subsurface projections of Tanganyika and Rukwa border faults, indicating that large offset (?5 km) faults penetrate to the base of the crust, and are the current locus of strain. The focal mechanisms, continuous depth distribution, and correlation with mapped structures indicate that steep, deep border faults maintain a half?graben morphology over at least 12 Myr of basin evolution. Fault scaling based on our results suggests that M > 7 earthquakes along Tanganyika border faults are possible.