T41E:
Breaking Up Is Never Easy: Why Do Some Rifts Fail and Others Succeed?

Submit an Abstract to this Session



Session ID#: 31235

Session Description:
The breakup of continents is a fundamental process of plate tectonics. However, we have not yet identified the crucial ingredients that permit complete rupture of strong continental lithosphere. Studies of continental breakup are biased towards success stories - rifts that evolve to oceanic spreading. Some extension episodes cease before this point, presumably in the absence of some fundamental process, initial condition(s), or forcing. Investigations of “failed rifts” may help isolate key processes or conditions that enable continental breakup, particularly when compared to successful examples. Outstanding questions include: Does rift success/failure depend on intrinsic or far-field properties? How do pre-existing structure, magma, and volatiles influence rift initiation, continuation, and extinction? Are failed rifts actually “paused rifts” that can later be reactivated? Do analogous mechanical controls apply to extinct seafloor spreading centers? We solicit contributions from diverse geoscience perspectives, including geodesy, geodynamics, geochemistry/petrology, volcanology, structural geology and seismology.
Primary Convener:  Zachary Eilon, University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Earth Science, Santa Barbara, United States
Conveners:  Natalie J Accardo, Columbia University of New York, Palisades, NY, United States, James D Muirhead, Syracuse University, Earth Sciences, Syracuse, NY, United States and Dr. D. Sarah Stamps, PhD
Chairs:  Natalie J Accardo, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Geosciences, University Park, PA, United States and Zachary Eilon, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Department of Earth Science, Santa Barbara, United States
OSPA Liaison:  James D Muirhead, Syracuse University, Earth Sciences, Syracuse, NY, United States

Cross-Listed:
  • DI - Study of the Earth's Deep Interior
  • G - Geodesy
  • S - Seismology
  • V - Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology
Index Terms:

1209 Tectonic deformation [GEODESY AND GRAVITY]
7230 Seismicity and tectonics [SEISMOLOGY]
8109 Continental tectonics: extensional [TECTONOPHYSICS]
8178 Tectonics and magmatism [TECTONOPHYSICS]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Thermomechanical Controls on the Success and Failure of Continental Rift Systems (Invited) (207568)
Carolina Pagli, University of Sydney, EarthByte Group, Sydney, Australia
Lithospheric drip magmatism and magma-assisted rifting: a case study in the Western Rift, East Africa (279157)
Erica Pitcavage, Pennsylvania State University Main Campus, University Park, PA, United States, Tanya Furman, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Geosciences, University Park, United States and Wendy R Nelson, Towson University, Department of Physics, Astronomy & Geosciences, Towson, MD, United States
Normal-Faulting in Madagascar: Another Round of Continental Rifting? (226737)
Michael Edward Wysession1, Martin J Pratt2, Rakotondraibe Tsiriandrimanana3,4, Fenitra Andriampenomanana3,4, Andrew Nyblade5, Raymond J Durrheim6, Frederik J Tilmann7, Georg Rumpker8, Gérard Rambolamanana4, Ghassan I Aleqabi1 and Patrick Shore9, (1)Washington University in St Louis, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, St. Louis, MO, United States, (2)Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, United States, (3)University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, (4)Institute and Observatory of Geophysics Antananarivo-University of Antananarivo, Physics, Antananarivo, Madagascar, (5)Pennsylvania State University, Department of Geosciences, University Park, United States, (6)University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, (7)Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Potsdam, Germany, (8)Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany, (9)Washington University in St Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States
Timing of mafic magmatism VS localization of the deformation: the Ivrea Zone (Italian Alps) (269230)
Marie Bidault1, Laurent Geoffroy1, Laurent Arbaret2 and Charles T Aubourg3, (1)IUEM Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Plouzané, France, (2)Université d'Orléans, OSUC / ISTO, Orléans Cedex 2, France, (3)University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour, Pau, France
The Magmatic Budget of Rifted Margins: is it Related to Inheritance? (250634)
Gianreto Manatschal, IPG, Strasbourg, France, Julie Tugend, EOST, Strasbourg, France, Morgane Gillard, CNRS, Paris Cedex 16, France and Daniel Sauter, Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre, Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg, UMR 7516-CNRS, Strasbourg, France
Rift systems in the southern North Atlantic: why did some fail and others not? (228527)
Michael Nirrengarten, EOST École et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre, Strasbourg Cedex, France, Gianreto Manatschal, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, ITES UMR 7063, Strasbourg Cedex, France, Julie Tugend, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Nicholas J Kusznir, Univ Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom and Daniel Sauter, Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg; UMR7516, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Strasbourg, France
A Surface Wave’s View of the Mid-Continent Rift (259571)
Anna E Foster, GEOTOP-UQAM, Montreal, QC, Canada, Fiona Ann Darbyshire, University of Quebec at Montreal UQAM, Centre de recherche GEOTOP, Montreal, QC, Canada and Andrew J Schaeffer, University of Ottawa, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Insights into Rift Initiation, Evolution, and Failure from North America's Midcontinent Rift (Invited) (242050)
Carol A Stein, University of Illinois Chicago, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Chicago, United States, Seth Stein, Northwestern University, Earth & Planetary Sciences and Institute for Policy Research, Evanston, IL, United States, Reece Phillip Elling, Northwestern University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Evanston, IL, United States, G. Randy Keller, University of Oklahoma Norman Campus, Norman, OK, United States, Jonas Kley, University of Göttingen, Department of Structural Geology and Geothermics, Göttingen, Germany and Michael Edward Wysession, Washington University in St Louis, Saint Louis, United States

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