Thinning mechanisms of heterogeneous continental lithosphere

The mechanisms responsible for the formation of extremely thinned continental crust (<10 km thick) and lithosphere during rifting remains debated. Observations from present-day and fossil passive margins highlight the role of deep-seated deformation, likely controlled by heterogeneities within the continental lithosphere, such as changing lithologies, mechanical anisotropies and inherited structures. We investigate the mechanisms of lithospheric thinning by exploring the role of pre-existing heterogeneities on the architecture and evolution of rifted margins. We estimate pre-rift pressure conditions (P0) vs. depth diagrams of crustal to lithospheric sections, to quantify rift-related modifications on inherited lithostatic pressure gradients. Two field examples from the Alpine Tethys margins in the Eastern and Southern Alps (SE Switzerland and N Italy) were selected to characterize: (1) the pre-rift architecture of the continental lithosphere; (2) the localization of rift-related deformation in distinct portions of the lithosphere; and (3) the interaction between pre-existing heterogeneities of the lithosphere and rift-related structures. These observations are compared with high-resolution, two-dimensional thermo-mechanical numerical models. The design of the models takes into account pre-existing mechanical heterogeneities representing the initial pre-rift architecture of the continental lithosphere. Extensional structures consist of high-angle and low-angle normal faults, anastomosing shear-zones and decoupling horizons. Such structures accommodate the lateral extraction of mechanically stronger levels derived from the middle to lower crust. As a result, the extremely thinned continental crust in Tethyan passive margins represents the juxtaposition and amalgamation of distinct strong levels of the crust separated by major extensional structures identified by sharp pressure gradients. Future work should determine the applicability of these results to other present-day and fossil rifted margins

What is the tectono-sedimentary record of hyper-extended, magma-poor rifted margins ?

International audienc

What is the tectono-sedimentary record of hyper-extended, magma-poor rifted margins ?

International audienc

Lower crustal bodies in the Møre volcanic rifted margin: Geophysical determination and geological implications

International audienceUnderstanding nature, structure and age of Lower Crustal Bodies (LCBs) and their relation to the crustal structure of the Møre margin (Mid-Norwegian margin), and in a more general way, of magma-rich rifted margins, is a key issue to decipher the tectono-magmatic processes found in volcanic rifted margins. In light of 2D potential field modelling combined with reflection and refraction seismic data, we reinvestigated the crustal nature of the Møre margin and adjacent Jan Mayen corridor. In the proximal domain, our study shows that the LCBs most likely rep-resent inherited crustal bodies and not necessarily rift-related serpentinised mantle as previously proposed. To fit all geophysical observations, both lower and middle crustal layers need to be preserved over a large part of the Møre Basin. For the distal margin, the interpretation of the LCBs is more difficult. Our preferred interpretation is that they are mainly made of boudins of hyper-extended, pre-rift lower continental crustal rocks more or less intruded by Early Tertiary magmatic material. Our seismic, magnetic and gravity data does not easily support large scale exhumation of serpentinised mantle in the inner and is unlikely in the outer parts of the Møre Basin. The deep structures of the Mid-Norwegian magma rich rifted margin result from the poly-phase stretching and thinning of complex inherited crustal structures, locally intruded by Early Tertiary magmatic material

Unravelling the interaction between tectonic and sedimentary processes during lithospheric thinning in the Alpine Tethys margins

The discovery of exhumed continental mantle and hyper-extended crust in present-day magma-poor rifted margins is at the origin of a paradigm shift within the research field of deep-water rifted margins. It opened new questions about the strain history of rifted margins and the nature and composition of sedimentary, crustal and mantle rocks in rifted margins. Thanks to the benefit of more than one century of work in the Alps and access to world-class outcrops preserving the primary relationships between sediments and crustal and mantle rocks from the fossil Alpine Tethys margins, it is possible to link the subsidence history and syn-rift sedimentary evolution with the strain distribution observed in the crust and mantle rocks exposed in the distal rifted margins. In this paper, we will focus on the transition from early to late rifting that is associated with considerable crustal thinning and a reorganization of the rift system. Crustal thinning is at the origin of a major change in the style of deformation from high-angle to low-angle normal faulting which controls basin-architecture, sedimentary sources and processes and the nature of basement rocks exhumed along the detachment faults in the distal margin. Stratigraphic and isotopic ages indicate that this major change occurred in late Sinemurian time, involving a shift of the syn-rift sedimentation toward the distal domain associated with a major reorganization of the crustal structure with exhumation of lower and middle crust. These changes may be triggered by mantle processes, as indicated by the infiltration of MOR-type magmas in the lithospheric mantle, and the uplift of the Brianconnais domain. Thinning and exhumation of the crust and lithosphere also resulted in the creation of new paleogeographic domains, the Proto Valais and Liguria-Piemonte domains. These basins show a complex, 3D temporal and spatial evolution that might have evolved, at least in the case of the Liguria-Piemonte basin, in the formation of an embryonic oceanic crust. The re-interpretation of the rift evolution and the architecture of the distal rifted margins in the Alps have important implications for the understanding of rifted margins worldwide, but also for the paleogeographic reconstruction of the Alpine domain and its subsequent Alpine compressional overprint