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Magmatic loading mechanism and relation with magma-rich passive margins. (a) Section of the WAM, showing the typical marginal grabens and antithetic faulting, as a result of magmatic loading. Note the volcanic layers that may form the equivalent of seaward-dipping reflectors (SDR) on seismic lines. Modified after Wolfenden et al. (2005) and Corti et al. (2015b). (b) Interpreted seismic section offshore Uruguay, showing a potential marginal graben (MG), SDRs above antithetic faults. Note the similarity with the transitional crust in (a). Modified after Tugend et al. (2018).

Magmatic loading mechanism and relation with magma-rich passive margins. (a) Section of the WAM, showing the typical marginal grabens and antithetic faulting, as a result of magmatic loading. Note the volcanic layers that may form the equivalent of seaward-dipping reflectors (SDR) on seismic lines. Modified after Wolfenden et al. (2005) and Corti et al. (2015b). (b) Interpreted seismic section offshore Uruguay, showing a potential marginal graben (MG), SDRs above antithetic faults. Note the similarity with the transitional crust in (a). Modified after Tugend et al. (2018).

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The Afar region in East Africa is a key locality for studying continental break-up. Within Afar proper, passive margins are developing, of which the Southern Afar Margin (SAM) contains synthetic (basinward) faulting, whereas crustal flexure, antithetic faulting and marginal grabens occur along the Western Afar Margin (WAM). Numerous conflicting sce...

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... et al. 2013;Stab et al., 2016 and references therein). These processes may not only have weakened the Afar lithosphere as simulated in our experiments, but may have locally added mass through intrusion of mafic material, causing (additional) subsidence and flexure (Wolfenden et al., 2005, Corti et al., 2015b , Fig. 11a). Instead, we induce flexure by differential stretching of the lower crust rather than by a localized (magmatic) loading. ...
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... WAM displays antithetic faulting, basinward tilted blocks, as well as the overlying lava flows that dip towards the basin (Figs. 1b and 11a), similar to the characteristic seaward dipping reflectors (SDRs) observed on seismic sections of magma-rich passive margins (e.g. those offshore Norway and in the south Atlantic. Buck, 2017;Paton et al., 2017;Norcliffe et al., 2018, Tugend et al., 2018 , Fig. 11b). Along the margin of Uruguay, there is also evidence for the presence ...
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... offshore Norway and in the south Atlantic. Buck, 2017;Paton et al., 2017;Norcliffe et al., 2018, Tugend et al., 2018 , Fig. 11b). Along the margin of Uruguay, there is also evidence for the presence of marginal grabens (Fig. 11b). ...
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... to the characteristic seaward dipping reflectors (SDRs) observed on seismic sections of magma-rich passive margins (e.g. those offshore Norway and in the south Atlantic. Buck, 2017;Paton et al., 2017;Norcliffe et al., 2018, Tugend et al., 2018 , Fig. 11b). Along the margin of Uruguay, there is also evidence for the presence of marginal grabens (Fig. ...

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... (d) 3D-view of the photogrammetric procedure to monitor deformation (see Maestrelli et al. (2021a), Maestrelli et al. (2021b) and the text for details). 4 of 21 Milazzo et al., 2021;Philippon et al., 2015;Zwaan et al., 2020), the UC was simulated by using a FS900SF K-feldspar sand characterized by a linear increase in strength with depth to reproduce natural brittle behavior (Del Ventisette et al., 2019). The LC was modeled by using a ductile mixture of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and plasticine with a % weight ratio of 100:45, hereafter referred to as PP45. ...
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... Corti et al. (2015) suggests that the flexing of continental necking zone is caused by flexural loading due to magmatic intrusions. Analogue modeling by Zwaan et al. (2020) suggests that differential extension of a weak lower crust, potentially enhanced by magmatic additions, can plausibly explain margin flexure. However, the modelling results show faults that are dominated by seaward-dipping rather than landward-dipping faults, different from observations in field exposures and submarine data (Geoffroy et al., 1998;Stab et al., 2016). ...
... Corti et al. (2015) proposed that magmatic intrusion could thermally weaken crust strength and result in significant downward flexing. Zwaan et al. (2020) explained that differential extension of a weak crust aided by magmatic loading could result in crustal-scale marginal flexure. In the northeastern South China Sea, our seismic data show no obvious evidence of fault reactivation of inherited contractional faults. ...
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... The boudinage affecting the sand layer within the viscous layer uniquely highlights the internal deformation (i.e. stretching) of the viscous material above the basal footwall, whereas internal deformation in the thin sand layer allows it to accommodate downward warping above the basal fault (similar to thin brittle overburden layers in Withjack & Callaway, 2000;Zwaan et al., 2020). Although boudinage has been studied in previous modelling studies (e.g. ...
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... rials, acids, and other substances (e.g. Schellart and Strak, 2016;Di Giuseppe, 2018;Reber et al., 2020;Zwaan et al., 2020a). When deformed, these viscous materials flow rather than forming discrete fault structures, and in contrast to the granular materials, their behaviour is strongly strain rate dependent. ...
... Lithospheric-scale modelling of rifting in a normal gravity field (in contrast to centrifuge methods with enhanced gravity conditions, e.g. Corti et al., 2003;Agostini et al., 2009;Zwaan et al., 2020a) is generally done with set-ups involving mobile sidewalls (Allemand et al., 1991;Brun and Beslier, 1996;Nestola et al., 2013Nestola et al., , 2015Beniest et al., 2018;Zwaan and Schreurs, 2022a, b). By moving the sidewalls apart, the model, with layers representing the whole lithosphere floating on a dense liquid or weak viscous layer simulating the underlying asthenospheric mantle (Fig. 4e), is stretched. ...
... 3.6.4), photogrammetry on stereoscopic photographs (Maestrelli et al., 2020(Maestrelli et al., , 2021Zwaan et al., 2020aZwaan et al., , 2021Zwaan et al., , 2022, and fringe projection analysis (Barrientos et al., 2008;Martínez et al., 2016). The technique that has been generally used for topography analysis of basin inversion models is surface scanning through laser or white light methods (Bonini et al., 2012;Likerman et al., 2013;Jara et al., 2015Jara et al., , 2018Granado et al., 2017;Deng et al., 2019, Fig. 7d). ...
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... Drawbacks include the small size of the model and the challenges of observing the rotating model within the closed centrifuge, yet the centrifuge method is still being used today, yielding highly relevant results in the field of rift tectonics (e.g. Corti et al. 2003;Agostini et al. 2009;Corti 2012;Philippon et al. 2015;Zwaan et al. 2020a). ...
... By using laser/structured light scanners or stereoscopic camera configurations and photogrammetry software, it is possible to reconstruct detailed digital elevation models and capture vertical displacements and 3D surface deformation (e.g. Donnadieu et al. 2003;Michon and Sokoutis 2005;Schlagenhauf et al. 2008;Nestola et al. 2015;Maestrelli et al. 2020;Zwaan et al. 2020a). Yet more sophisticated is 3D surface analysis by means of PIV software. ...
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This chapter describes how analogue modeling techniques have been used to study a wide variety of aspects associated with rifting processes, from normal fault development to lithospheric necking towards continental breakup. When using analogue modeling techniques, proper scaling is necessary to guarantee geometrical, kinematic and dynamic similarity between a model and its natural equivalent. Researchers have been using increasingly sophisticated techniques to monitor deformation in their analogue experiments. The most basic option, used since the early days of modeling, is photography. The chapter provides an overview of various examples, ranging from quasi‐2D models of crustal and lithospheric scale experiments, to models involving 3D rift processes, such as oblique extension, rift segment interaction and rotational rifting. When zooming out and applying brittle‐viscous layers representing the entire brittle‐ductile crust, researchers have found various influences of lithospheric strength as well as model boundary conditions on the mode of rifting.
... Drawbacks include the small size of the model and the challenges of observing the rotating model within the closed centrifuge, yet the centrifuge method is still being used today, yielding highly relevant results in the field of rift tectonics (e.g. Corti et al. 2003;Agostini et al. 2009;Corti 2012;Philippon et al. 2015;Zwaan et al. 2020a). ...
... By using laser/structured light scanners or stereoscopic camera configurations and photogrammetry software, it is possible to reconstruct detailed digital elevation models and capture vertical displacements and 3D surface deformation (e.g. Donnadieu et al. 2003;Michon and Sokoutis 2005;Schlagenhauf et al. 2008;Nestola et al. 2015;Maestrelli et al. 2020;Zwaan et al. 2020a). Yet more sophisticated is 3D surface analysis by means of PIV software. ...
Chapter
Rifted margins are major geological objects that mark the transition between continents and oceans, the two first‐order types of land masses present on Earth. Rifted margins and offshore rift basins are of high interest for many various reasons. Rifted margins include several morphologically distinct entities: continental shelf, continental slope, continental rise, and abyssal plain. Rifted margins are extremely diverse, and encompass a variety of geometries, basement compositions and sedimentary architectures that, in turn, indicate differences in temporal and spatial evolution. The chapter reviews the evolution of knowledge on rift and rifted margin evolution and architecture, from the pioneering models that defined the fundamental physical rules governing lithospheric extension to modern conceptual models and today's consensus and debates. Modern concepts now include polyphase, in‐and‐out of sequence fault‐systems, concave‐downward detachments, zones of newly accreted basement with low‐angle top‐basement fault surface, among others.
... Drawbacks include the small size of the model and the challenges of observing the rotating model within the closed centrifuge, yet the centrifuge method is still being used today, yielding highly relevant results in the field of rift tectonics (e.g. Corti et al. 2003;Agostini et al. 2009;Corti 2012;Philippon et al. 2015;Zwaan et al. 2020a). ...
... By using laser/structured light scanners or stereoscopic camera configurations and photogrammetry software, it is possible to reconstruct detailed digital elevation models and capture vertical displacements and 3D surface deformation (e.g. Donnadieu et al. 2003;Michon and Sokoutis 2005;Schlagenhauf et al. 2008;Nestola et al. 2015;Maestrelli et al. 2020;Zwaan et al. 2020a). Yet more sophisticated is 3D surface analysis by means of PIV software. ...
Chapter
Rifts can be summarized as geographical regions consisting of extensional sedimentary basins of various sizes, with various tectonic and sedimentary geometries that are linked in various structural contexts. This chapter provides a list of the main types of rifts and case examples. It provides the definition of the active and passive rifting categories, as these are regularly mentioned in the literature and are the primary designations of extensional rift settings. The chapter lists the major tectonic structures and basin types encountered in rifts and rifted margins. Subsidence is the stage that leads to the progressive deepening of the basin floor and hence allows the accumulation of sediments in rift basins. It is the process by which the lithosphere regains isostatic equilibrium. Sedimentation, although always present in rift basins, is extremely variable from one system to the other. Traditionally, sedimentary sequences of rift basins are subdivided into three categories: pre‐, syn‐ and post‐rifts.
... However, Zwaan et al. (2021a) did not test the impact of multiphase rifting, which previous work has shown to be important during continental rifting (Bonini et al., 1997;Brune et al., 2018;Dubois et al., 2002;Henza et al., 2010Henza et al., , 2011Heron et al., 2019;Wang et al., 2021;Withjack et al., 2017). Traditionally, multiphase rifting is associated with changing plate divergence directions, as has been proposed for, for example the Main Ethiopian Rift (Bonini et al., 1997), the Turkana Depression in East Africa (Wang et al., 2021), the Labrador Sea (Heron et al., 2019) and the Afar Rift (Chorowicz et al., 1999;Zwaan et al., 2020b, Zwaan, Corti, et al., 2020. These changes in divergence direction are associated with a reactivation of previous rift structures, or even a clear rearrangement of structural orientations to fit the new tectonic situation, depending on the prominence of structures formed during the first phase (Henza et al., 2010(Henza et al., , 2011Wang et al., 2021). ...
... Series D and E were intended to simulate changing divergence directions over time rather than changing divergence rates, as proposed for various rift systems around the world (e.g. Bonini et al., 1997;Chorowicz et al., 1999;Heron et al., 2019;Zwaan et al., 2020b, Zwaan, Corti, Sani, et al., 2020). The initial model set-ups of Series D and E were the same as those used for Series A-C, but rifting was split into two phases with different directions. ...
... The results from our models with changing divergence directions suggest that structures formed during an initial phase of rifting will strongly control the localisation of deformation during a subsequent rift phase that involves a different divergence direction. A good example of such changing divergence directions reactivating rift structures from a previous phase is the Afar Rift in East Africa (Chorowicz et al., 1999;Zwaan et al., 2020b, Zwaan, Corti, et al., 2020. Yet, as observed in other modelling studies, as well as in the Turkana Depression in East Africa, a previous minor rifting phase may not build structures impactful enough to significantly control where subsequent deformation localises (e.g. ...
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The competition between the impact of inherited weaknesses and plate kinematics determines the location and style of deformation during rifting, yet the relative impacts of these “internal” and “external” factors remain poorly understood, especially in 3D. In this study we used brittle-viscous analogue models to assess how multiphase rifting, i.e., changes in plate divergence rate or direction, and the presence and orientation of weaknesses in the competent mantle and crust, influences rift evolution. We find that the combined reactivation of mantle and crustal weaknesses without any kinematic changes already creates complex rift structures. Divergence rates affect the strength of the weak lower crustal layer and hence the degree of mantle-crustal coupling; slow rifting decreases coupling, so that crustal weaknesses can dominate deformation localization and surface structures, whereas fast rifting increases coupling and deformation related to mantle weaknesses can have a dominant surface expression. Through a change from slow to fast rifting mantle-related deformation can overprint structures that previously formed along (differently oriented) crustal weaknesses. Conversely, a change from fast to slow rifting may shift deformation from mantle-controlled towards crust-controlled. When changing divergence directions, structures from the first rifting phase may control where subsequent deformation occurs, but only when they are sufficiently well developed. We furthermore place our results in a larger framework of brittle-viscous rift modelling results from previous experimental studies, showing the importance of general lithospheric layering, divergence rate, the type of deformation in the mantle, and finally upper crustal structural inheritance. The interaction between these parameters can produce a variety of deformation styles that may, however, lead to comparable end products. Therefore, careful investigation of the distribution of strain localization, and to an equal extent of basin depocenter locations over time is required to properly determine the evolution of complex rift systems, providing an incentive to revisit various natural examples.
... Densmore et al., 2004), northeast Afro-Arabia is thought to have been low-lying and topographically subdued at the beginning of the Oligocene (Bohannon et al., 1989;Hughes et al., 1991;Bosworth, 2015;Pickford et al., 2014;Menzies et al., 1992;Davison et al., 1994;Baker et al., 1996). Therefore, significant variation in modern Gulf of Aden-Red Sea rift morphology along-strike and between conjugate margins reflect the complex interplay of varying tectonic inheritance, magmatic histories, extension obliquity, flexural rigidity, mantle lithosphere buoyancy, structural asymmetry, post-rift deformation and climate Nichols and Watchorn, 1998;Zwaan et al., 2020;Petit et al., 2007;Autin et al., 2010;Pik et al., 2013;Bellahsen et al., 2013;Bellahsen et al., 2013;Leroy et al., 2012;Bache et al., 2011;Watremez et al., 2013). While the uneven distribution of data and sensitivity limitations in the low temperature AFT and AHe systems preclude resolving the impact of these factors in detail using thermochronology alone, important insights into the geomorphological evolution of the Gulf of Aden-Red Sea rifts can still be gained from regional trends in upper crustal cooling histories Szymanski et al., 2016;Abbate et al., 2002;Balestrieri et al., 2005). ...
Article
Low-temperature thermochronology has long been utilised in the Red Sea-Gulf of Aden rift systems and adjacent hinterlands to examine exhumation cooling histories of basement blocks, particularly where datable syn-tectonic strata and/or markers are often absent. Such data have provided insights into the spatio-temporal evolution of rift basins, morphotectonic rift shoulder development and timing and rate of surface uplift. However, the relatively limited number of samples and confined areas involved in many individual case studies have precluded insights into the longer wavelength tectonic and geodynamic phenomena responsible for the latest Eocene-Oligocene to Recent separation of the Arabian plate from African and its subsequent collision with Eurasia. We present a synthesis of a large array of titanite, zircon and apatite fission track and (U-Th-Sm)/He analyses (12 TFT, 12 THe, 32 ZFT, 392 ZHe, 465 AFT and 267 AHe) from across northeast Africa and Arabia, which provide novel insights into the Phanerozoic thermo-tectonic evolution of the Arabian plate that were previously difficult to decipher from an otherwise cumbersome and intractably large dataset. Eocene to Recent cooling-heating maps have been constructed through a regional interpolation protocol of standardised thermal history models generated from the thermochronology data coupled with burial histories produced from vitrinite reflectance and well data. The interpolations, referred to here as thermo-tectonic images, record a series of pronounced episodes of upper crustal thermal regime fluctuation related to development of the latest Eocene-Oligocene-Recent Gulf of Aden and Red Sea rift systems and Cenozoic formation of the Al Hajar Mountains of Oman and the United Arab Emirates. They also provide insights into the inherited tectono-thermal histories of these regions, which controlled the spatial and temporal distribution of subsequent strain. Integration of the thermo-tectonic images, compiled with paleogeographic reconstructions and the regional igneous and strain history, offer a fresh regional perspective allowing the interrelationship between tectonism, geodynamic activity and exhumation history of the land surface to be visualised and explored on a plate scale.
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Basin inversion involves the reversal of subsidence in a basin due to compressional tectonic forces, leading to uplift of the basin’s sedimentary infill. A thorough understanding of basin inversion is of great importance for scientific, societal and economic reasons. Analogue tectonic modelling forms a key part our efforts to improve our understanding of basin inversion processes, and researchers have conducted numerous studies on this topic. In this review paper we recap the advances in knowledge of basin inversion tectonics acquired through analogue modelling studies, providing an up-to-date summary of the state of analogue modelling of basin inversion. We describe the different definitions of basin inversion that are being applied by researchers, why basin inversion has been historically an important research topic, and what the general mechanics involved in basin inversion are. We subsequently treat the wide range of different experimental approaches used for basin inversion modelling, with attention to the various materials, set-ups and techniques used for monitoring and analysing the model results. Our new systematic overviews of generalized results reveal the diversity of model results, depending greatly on the chosen set-up, model layering and (oblique) kinematics of inversion, as well as 3D along-strike structural and kinematic variations in the system. We show how analogue modelling results are in good agreement with numerical models, and how these results help to better understand natural examples of basin inversion. In addition to reviewing the past efforts in the field of analogue modelling, we also shed light on future modelling challenges and identify a number of opportunities for follow-up research. These include the testing of force-boundary conditions, adding geological processes such as sedimentation, transport and erosion, applying state-of-the-art modelling and quantification techniques, and establishing best modelling practices. We also suggest expanding the scope of basin inversion modelling beyond the traditional upper crustal "North Sea style" of inversion, which may contribute to the on-going search for clean energy resources. It follows that basin inversion modelling can bring valuable new insights, providing a great incentive to continue our efforts in this field. We therefore hope that this review paper will form an inspiration for future analogue modelling studies of basin inversion.