Depth-dependent extension, two-stage breakup.pdf

LETTER doi:10.1038/nature09988 Depth-dependent extension, two-stage breakup and cratonic underplating at rifted margins Ritske Huismans1 Christopher Beaumont2 Uniform lithospheric extension1 predicts basic properties of non- volcanic rifted margins but fails to explain other important characteristics2,3. Significant discrepancies are observed at ‘type I’ margins (such as the Iberia–Newfoundland conjugates), where large tracts of continental mantle lithosphere are exposed at the sea floor4, and ‘type II’ margins (such as some ultrawide central South Atlantic margins), where thin continental crust spans wide regions below which continental lower crust and mantle litho- sphere have apparently been removed5,6. Neither corresponds to uniform extension. Instead, either crust or mantle lithosphere has been preferentially removed. Using dynamical models, we demon- strate that these margins are opposite end members: in type I, depth-dependent extension results in crustal-necking breakup before mantle-lithosphere breakup and in type II, the converse is true. These two-layer, two-stage breakup behaviours explain the discrepancies and have implications for the styles of the associated sedimentary basins. Laterally flowing lower-mantle cratonic litho- sphere may underplate some type II margins, thereby contributing to their anomalous characteristics. Passive margins produced by continental rifting and ocean-floor spreading have a wide range of characteristics, many of which remain enigmatic. We focus on two styles of non-volcanic (magma-poor) margins, which we term types I and II. We list their primary charac- teristics and show that they are end members with respect to the way the lithosphere stretched as they formed. Type Imargins (Fig. 1a), such as the Iberia–Newfoundland conjugate margins7–9, usually develop after distributed extension, which finally becomes focused on one location10. The defining characteristics of the focused regions of type I (Fig. 1a and 2a–c) include9: