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| Tectonics and Structural Geology |
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Information - TS5.1 Failed vs. successful rifts: mechanisms for rift evolution
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Event Information |
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Not all continental rifts eventually evolve to the stage of continental breakup. The so-called ‘failed’ rifts were once loci of strain localization and crustal extension, but are now no longer considered active. Other rifts proceed more successfully to their final stage and result in continental separation and seafloor spreading with oceanic crust formation. Why are some rifts successful, while others fail? Aim of this session is to explore mechanisms that control rift development, and are responsible for failure or success of a rift zone. The session focuses on all stages of rift development: from the onset (and ending) of continental extension to the formation and evolution of rifted margins.
Examples of topics that we would like to address include the role of magma injections during rifting, mantle plumes & mantle heterogeneities, lithosphere rheology and deformation mechanisms, inherited weaknesses, passive vs active rifting, and far-field plate boundary forces.
Welcome are data and models on failed and successful rifts, ancient and modern passive margins (such as Atlantic margins, exposed margins of the Alpine Tethys), but also for example the East African Rift System, which is of special interest to the topic since, along its length, all the different stages of the rifting process -from rift initiation to continental breakup- can be identified.
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