97 research outputs found

    Основні напрямки маркетингу і менеджменту в архівній справі

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    Gondwana breakup since the Jurassic and the northward motion of India toward Eurasia were associated with formation of ocean basins and ophiolite obduction between and onto the Indian and Arabian margins. Here we reconcile marine geophysical data from preserved oceanic basins with the age and location of ophiolites in NW India and SE Arabia and seismic tomography of the mantle below the NW Indian Ocean. The North Somali and proto-Owen basins formed due to 160-133-Ma N-S extension between India and Somalia. Subsequent convergence destroyed part of this crust, simultaneous with the uplift of the Masirah ophiolites. Most of the preserved crust in the Owen Basin may have formed between 84 and 74-Ma, whereas the Mascarene and the Amirante basins accommodated motion between India and Madagascar/East Africa between 85 and circa 60-Ma and 75 and circa 66-Ma, respectively. Between circa 84 and 45-Ma, oblique Arabia-India convergence culminated in ophiolite obduction onto SE Arabia and NW India and formed the Carlsberg slab in the lower mantle below the NW Indian Ocean. The NNE-SSW oriented slab may explain the anomalous bathymetry in the NW Indian Ocean and may be considered a paleolongitudinal constraint for absolute plate motion. NW India-Asia collision occurred at circa 20-Ma deforming the Sulaiman ranges or at 30-Ma if the Hindu Kush slab north of the Afghan block reflects intra-Asian subduction. Our study highlights that the NW India ophiolites have no relationship with India-Asia motion or collision but result from relative India-Africa/Arabia motions instead. Key Points We present a new tectonic model for the evolution of NW Indian Ocean Subducted slab under the Carlsberg Ridge resulted from Arabia-India convergenc

    Global Cenozoic Paleobathymetry with a focus on the Northern Hemisphere Oceanic Gateways

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    The evolution of the Northern Hemisphere oceanic gateways has facilitated ocean circulation changes and may have influenced climatic variations in the Cenozoic time (66 Ma–0 Ma). However, the timing of these oceanic gateway events is poorly constrained and is often neglected in global paleobathymetric reconstructions. We have therefore re-evaluated the evolution of the Northern hemisphere oceanic gateways (i.e. the Fram Strait, Greenland–Scotland Ridge, the Central American Seaway, and the Tethys Seaway) and embedded their tectonic histories in a new global paleobathymetry and topography model for the Cenozoic time. Our new paleobathymetry model incorporates Northeast Atlantic paleobathymetric variations due to Iceland mantle plume activity, updated regional plate kinematics, and models for the oceanic lithospheric age, sediment thickness, and reconstructed oceanic plateaus and microcontinents. We also provide a global paleotopography model based on new and previously published regional models. In particular, the new model documents important bathymetric changes in the Northeast Atlantic and in the Tethys Seaway near the Eocene–Oligocene transition (~34 Ma), the time of the first glaciations of Antarctica, believed to be triggered by the opening of the Southern Ocean gateways (i.e. the Drake Passage and the Tasman Gateway) and subsequent Antarctic Circumpolar Current initiation. Our new model can be used to test whether the Northern Hemisphere gateways could have also played an important role modulating ocean circulation and climate at that time. In addition, we provide a set of realistic global bathymetric and topographic reconstructions for the Cenozoic time at one million-year interval for further use in paleo-ocean circulation and climate models.publishedVersio

    A Tracer-Based Algorithm for Automatic Generation of Seafloor Age Grids from Plate Tectonic Reconstructions

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    The age of the ocean floor and its time-dependent age distribution control fundamental features of the Earth, such as bathymetry, sea level and mantle heat loss. Recently, the development of increasingly sophisticated reconstructions of past plate motions has provided models for plate kinematics and plate boundary evolution back in geological time. These models implicitly include the information necessary to determine the age of ocean floor that has since been lost to subduction. However, due to the lack of an automated and efficient method for generating global seafloor age grids, many tectonic models, most notably those extending back into the Paleozoic, are published without an accompanying set of age models for oceanic lithosphere. Here we present an automatic, tracer-based algorithm that generates seafloor age grids from global plate tectonic reconstructions with defined plate boundaries. Our method enables us to produce the first seafloor age models for the Paleozoic's lost ocean basins. Estimated changes in sea level based on bathymetry inferred from our new age grids show good agreement with sea level record estimations from proxies, providing a possible explanation for the peak in sea level during the assembly phase of Pangea. This demonstrates how our seafloor age models can be directly compared with observables from the geologic record that extend further back in time than the constraints from preserved seafloor. Thus, our new algorithm may also aid the further development of plate tectonic reconstructions by strengthening the links between geological observations and tectonic reconstructions of deeper time

    Seamounts and oceanic igneous features in the NE Atlantic: a link between plate motions and mantle dynamics

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    A new regional compilation of seamount-like oceanic igneous features (SOIFs) in the NE Atlantic points to three distinct oceanic areas of abundant seamount clusters. Seamounts on oceanic crust dated 54–50 Ma are formed on smooth oceanic basement, which resulted from high spreading rates and magmatic productivity enhanced by higher than usual mantle plume activity. Late Eocene–Early Miocene SOIF clusters are located close to newly formed tectonic features on rough oceanic crust in the Irminger, Iceland and Norway basins, reflecting an unstable tectonic regime prone to local readjustments of mid-ocean ridge and fracture zone segments accompanied by extra igneous activity. A SOIF population observed on Mid-Miocene–Present rough oceanic basement in the Greenland and Lofoten basins, and on conjugate Kolbeinsey Ridge flanks, coincides with an increase in spreading rate and magmatic productivity. We suggest that both tectonic/kinematic and magmatic triggers produced Mid-Miocene–Present SOIFs, but the Early Miocene westwards ridge relocation may have played a role in delaying SOIF formation south of the Jan Mayen Fracture Zone. We conclude that Iceland plume episodic activity combined with regional changes in relative plate motion led to local mid-ocean ridge readjustments, which enhanced the likelihood of seamount formation

    The tectonic history of the Tasman Sea: A puzzle with 13 pieces

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    We present a new model for the tectonic evolution of the Tasman Sea based on dense satellite altimetry data and a new shipboard data set. We utilized a combined set of revised magnetic anomaly and fracture zone interpretations to calculate relative motions and their uncertainties between the Australian and the Lord Howe Rise plates from 73.6 Ma to 52 Ma when spreading ceased. From chron 31 (67.7 Ma) to chron 29 (64.0 Ma) the model implies, transpression between the Chesterfield and the Marion plateaus, followed by strike-slip motion. This transpression may have been responsible for the formation of the Capricorn Basin south of the Marion Plateau. Another major tectonic event took place at chron 27 (61.2 Ma), when a counterclockwise change in spreading direction occurred, contemporaneous with a similar event in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The early opening of the Tasman Sea cannot be modeled by a simple two-plate system because (1) rifting in this basin propagated from south to north in several stages and (2) several rifts failed. We identified 13 continental blocks which acted as microplates between 90 Ma and 64 Ma. Our model is constrained by tectonic lineaments visible in the gravity anomaly grid and interpreted as strike-slip faults, by magnetic anomaly, bathymetry and seismic data, and in case of the South Tasman Rise, by the age and affinity of dredged rocks. By combining all this information we derived finite rotations that describe the dispersal of these tectonic elements during the early opening of the Tasman Sea

    Global plate motion frames: Toward a unified model

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    Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94772/1/rog1664.pd

    The tilted Iceland Plume and its effect on the North Atlantic evolution and magmatism

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    Iceland and the encompassing Northeast Atlantic are characterized by abun- dant volcanism, anomalously high topography and, in many places, anoma- lously thick basaltic crust. This has been attributed to the Iceland Plume, rising from the deep mantle, though its structure and very existence are de- bated. Using seismic waveform tomography with massive datasets, we compute a new, detailed model of the crust and upper mantle beneath Iceland and the surrounding North Atlantic region. The model reveals a large, low-velocity anomaly, indicative of high temperatures, at 400-660 kilometers depth beneath eastern Greenland, where seismic receiver functions also indicate an extensive high-temperature region. The anomaly rises upwards and eastwards toward Ice- land, deflecting around the thick lithosphere of Greenland’s cratons, which we also image in detail. We interpret the major low-velocity anomaly as the Ice- land Plume, ascending from under Greenland and captured by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The ascent of the plume beneath the western Northeast Atlantic is con- sistent with its thin lithosphere, documented by our tomography, and abundant seamounts. Our results reconcile previously contrasting views on the structure of the Iceland Plume: while the plume is clearly visible in the transition zone beneath Greenland, it is confined to the upper mantle beneath Iceland

    Seismic volcanostratigraphy of the western Indian rifted margin: The pre-Deccan igneous province

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    The Indian Plate has been the focus of intensive research concerning the flood basalts of the Deccan Traps. Here we document a volcanostratigraphic analysis of the offshore segment of the western Indian volcanic large igneous province, between the shoreline and the first magnetic anomaly (An 28 ∼63 Ma). We have mapped the different crustal domains of the NW Indian Ocean from stretched continental crust through to oceanic crust, using seismic reflection and potential field data. Two volcanic structures, the Somnath Ridge and the Saurashtra High, are identified, extending ∼305 km NE-SW in length and 155 km NW-SE in width. These show the internal structures of buried shield volcanoes and hyaloclastic mounds, surrounded by mass-wasting deposits and volcanic sediments. The structures observed resemble seismic images from the North Atlantic and northwest Australia, as well as volcanic geometries described for Runion and Hawaii. The geometry and internal seismic facies within the volcanic basement suggest a tholeiitic composition and subaerial to shallow marine emplacement. At the scale of the western Indian Plate, the emplacement of this volcanic platform is constrained by structural lineations associated with rifting. By reviewing the volcanism in the Indian Ocean and plate reconstruction of the area, the timing of the volcanism can be associated with eruption of a pre-Deccan continental flood basalt (∼75-65.5 Ma). The volcanic platform in this study represents an addition of 19-26.5% to the known volume of the West Indian Volcanic Province. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union

    Community infrastructure and repository for marine magnetic identifications

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    Magnetic anomaly identifications underpin plate tectonic reconstructions and form the primary data set from which the age of the oceanic lithosphere and seafloor spreading regimes in the ocean basins can be determined. Although these identifications are an invaluable resource, their usefulness to the wider scientific community has been limited due to the lack of a central community infrastructure to organize, host, and update these interpretations. We have developed an open-source, community-driven online infrastructure as a repository for quality-checked magnetic anomaly identifications from all ocean basins. We provide a global sample data set that comprises 96,733 individually picked magnetic anomaly identifications organized by ocean basin and publication reference, and provide accompanying Hellingerformat files, where available. Our infrastructure is designed to facilitate research in plate tectonic reconstructions or research that relies on an assessment of plate reconstructions, for both experts and nonexperts alike. To further enhance the existing repository and strengthen its value, we encourage others in the community to contribute to this effort

    The NE Atlantic region: a reappraisal of crustal structure, tectonostratigraphy and magmatic evolution: an introduction to the NAG-TEC project

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    The NE Atlantic region and its continental margins (Fig. 1) hold unique information for understanding many aspects of Earth science, from global geodynamics to palaeoceanography and global environmental change. It also holds some of the world's most important hydrocarbon reserves from the North Sea, along the Atlantic margins of Ireland, Britain and Norway, and into the Arctic in the Barents Sea. Historically, studies in the NE Atlantic were important for establishing many of the key ideas during the early part of the plate tectonic revolution. Linear magnetic anomalies along the Reykjanes Ridge were identified as early as in the 1960s (Heirtzler et al. 1966) and provided strong evidence for the seafloor spreading hypothesis (Dietz 1961), which by then had been established as a new and holistic theory (Ewing & Heezen 1956). At the same time, Iceland was already recognized as an intriguing anomalous entity (Böðvarsson & Walker 1964) and contributed to knowledge about how Earth's magnetic field reversed its polarity through time. The fact that rifting occurs in close association with old sutures and orogenic belts led Wilson to propose that the Atlantic Ocean closed and opened again, establishing the concept of the ‘Wilson tectonic cycle’ (Wilson 1966; Dewey 1969). The North Atlantic continental margins have long been considered as archetypal, and divergent margins world-wide are commonly described as ‘Atlantic-type passive margins’. However, it is now accepted that these so-called ‘passive’ margins remain dynamic long after break-up, including post-rift vertical movements of up to kilometre scale. The type examples for such epeirogenic movements being, once again, the North Atlantic margin
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