The tectonic style of the atlantic mesozoic rift system

Author:

Uchupi   Elezar  

Journal:

Journal of African Earth Sciences

Issue Date:

1989

Abstract(summary):

The Atlantic Mesozoic rift system consists of four branches separated from one another by fracture zones. Morphologically it resembles the ridge-transform-ridge topography of mid-ocean ridges. The fundamental structure along the shear zones is the graben, and within the rift branches the half graben. Rifting began in the Late Triassic at the northern end of the Northern North Atlantic Branch and in the Early Jurassic at the South Atlantic Branch. The rifts propagated toward one another cutting through the equatorial region in the latest Middle Jurassic. Seafloor spreading at the northern end of the Northern North Atlantic Branch began in the Middle Jurassic reaching the Bahama/Guinea Fracture Zone toward the end of Middle Jurassic. Seafloor spreading in the South Atlantic Branch in the early Aptian and in the Equatorial Atlantic Branch in the Albian. A continuous North/South Atlantic oceanic basin was formed with the separation of the African and South American continents in the Turonian

Page:

143-164