Fracturing and fluid‐flow during post‐rift subsidence in carbonates of the Jandaíra Formation,Potiguar Basin,NE Brazil

Pervasive fracture networks are common in many reservoir‐scale carbonate bodies even in the absence of large deformation and exert a major impact on their mechanical and flow behaviour. The Upper Cretaceous Jandaíra Formation is a few hundred meters thick succession of shallow water carbonates deposited during the early post‐rift stage of the Potiguar rift (NE Brazil). The Jandaíra Formation in the present onshore domain experienced <1.5 km thermal subsidence and, following Tertiary exhumation, forms outcrops over an area of >1000 km². The carbonates have a gentle, <5?, dip to the NE and are affected by few regional, low displacement faults or folds. Despite their simple tectonic history, carbonates display ubiquitous open fractures, sub‐vertical veins, and sub‐vertical as well as sub‐horizontal stylolites. Combining structural analysis, drone imaging, isotope studies and mathematical modelling, we reconstruct the fracturing history of the Jandaíra Formation during and following subsidence and analyse the impact fractures had on coeval fluid flow. We find that Jandaíra carbonates, fully cemented after early diagenesis, experienced negligible deformation during the first few hundreds of meters of subsidence but were pervasively fractured when they reached depths >400–500 m. Deformation was accommodated by a dense network of sub‐vertical mode I and hybrid fractures associated with sub‐vertical stylolites developed in a stress field characterised by a sub‐horizontal σ₁ and sub‐vertical σ₂. The development of a network of hybrid fractures, rarely reported in the literature, activated the circulation of waters charged in the mountainous region, flowing along the porous Açu sandstone underlying the Jandaíra carbonates and rising to the surface through the fractured carbonates. With persisting subsidence, carbonates reached depths of 800–900 m entering a depth interval characterised by a sub‐vertical σ₁. At this stage, sub‐horizontal stylolites developed liberating calcite which sealed the sub‐vertical open fractures transforming them in veins and preventing further flow. During Tertiary exhumation, several of the pre‐existing veins and stylolites opened and became longer, and new fractures were created typically with the same directions of the older features. The simplicity of our model suggests that most rocks in passive margin settings might have followed a similar evolution and thus display similar structures.     

Connecting the local and the global in post‐secular urban settings

Postsecular geographies seek to examine how place is linked with identity and how religious identities in turn can be accommodated in public space. Postsecular practices in urban contexts have been researched extensively, but they do not always fully engage with a relational approach to place‐making. This paper argues that through the place‐making practices seen at Virgin Mary statues in Dublin city, Ireland, a relational approach to examining postsecular practices and representations provides a more productive way to understand how the secular and the religious coexist in cities. The paper uses archival and contemporary data gathered from a sample of Marian statues in Dublin city to locate the relational geographies of the religious and the secular. By focussing on the ways that the statues remain uncontested within a changing urban landscape, the paper re‐examines the political significance of religious place‐making practices. It concludes that if geographies of religion in the postsecular city are to have a broader relevance to geography, they need a relational approach to place‐making.     

疏勒河流域泥沙分布规律及水沙关系研究

泥沙是影响河流健康和水环境的重要因素之一,受气候变化和人类活动的影响,流域水文要素和下垫面条件发生了较大变化,尤其是实施大规模的水土保持措施后,部分河流的泥沙含量大幅减少,但在河西内陆河流域发源于祁连山西端的疏勒河流域,受降水条件和人类活动的影响,河流泥沙呈增加趋势。本文应用疏勒河流域实测长系列水文资料,采用水文统计法、差积曲线法、趋势检验法、突变检验法、非线性复相关模型法等方法,分析了流域泥沙时空分布规律及水沙关系,结果表明：疏勒河干流昌马堡站年输沙量为333.5×104 t,至下游潘家庄站减少到223.5×104 t;党河党城湾站年输沙量为76.56×104 t,至下游沙枣园站增加到121.3×104 t;疏勒河干流输沙量主要集中在汛期7～8月,占全年的81.9 %～84.0 %,党河流域输沙量主要集中在4-8月,占全年的92.3 %;流域泥沙变化总体呈增加趋势,突变点1998年以后,年输沙量增加了86.3 %～148.2 %。建立了潘家庄站降水～泥沙、径流～泥沙以及年输沙量～年径流量～年最大洪峰流量关系模型,相关关系较好,相关系数达到0.717～0.858。流域出山口以上对泥沙的影响因素主要是降水,出山口以下主要是修建水库、水电站、引水工程、河道采砂等人类活动影响。随着国家对内陆河流域祁连山和河西走廊的日益关注,以及全国河长制的推行,河流生态健康已经提上日程,研究疏勒河流域泥沙分布规律及水沙关系,对国家实施西部生态安全战略、区域生态环境修复治理、水资源可持续利用等具有重要意义。     

印度河流域气温、降水、蒸发及干旱变化特征

基于印度河流域及周围54个地面气象站气温、降水资料,结合CRU气温和GPCC降水全球格点化陆面再分析资料,通过插值构建了一套0.5°×0.5°分辨率1980—2016年逐月格点数据集。采用Thornthwaite方法计算了潜在蒸散发,基于标准化降水蒸散指数(SPEI),探讨了印度河流域气候变化及干旱演变特征。结果表明:(1)1980—2016年,印度河流域年平均气温以0.30℃·(10 a)^-1的速率呈显著上升趋势,21世纪初增温幅度最大;干季(11月～次年4月)升温速率较快,达0.36℃·(10 a)^-1,湿季(5～10月)增速0.25℃·(10 a)^-1。年降水量呈现少雨—多雨—少雨—多雨年代际振荡。伴随着持续升温,年和各季的潜在蒸发量增加显著。干季干旱频率较多,但湿季干旱强度高,各季干旱频率与降水呈现较一致的年代际波动;干旱的影响面积在干季呈现微弱地增加趋势,湿季却略有减少趋势。(2)空间上,除西北局部,流域其他区域的年和季平均气温、潜在蒸发量增加趋势显著,均达到95%置信水平。其中南部平原和东北山区升温幅度较高,...     

George Jobberns,freemasonry, geopolitics and the post‐WWII world

The article suggests Jobberns’ view of geopolitics ultimately rested on the work of British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder overlain by the writing of American political geographers. Jobberns’ geopolitical thinking was, however, also strongly informed by his being a Freemason. WWII, as the overshadowing external event of Jobberns’ early years at Canterbury, amplified his interest in geopolitics both as a way of understanding the world and, at a time when geography was not universally accepted as a university discipline, as a means of promoting to a wider public the utility of a geographical perspective on world affairs.     

Post‐tropical/post‐tsunami: Climate and architectural discourse in South and Southeast Asia

Following the Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004, scenes of destruction overwrote representations of a benign tropical landscape on the eastern periphery of the Indian Ocean. The incongruous coupling of luxury resort hotels with devastated indigent fisher settlements in international media coverage had exposed the global inequities embedded in a tropical tourism industry subscribed to and abetted by states, institutions, developers and architects. As post‐tsunami reconstruction commenced, it became evident that the climatic trope through which regionalist aesthetics had been filtered thus far was incapable of providing expedient solutions to real social problems. In academia and in the profession, the complex discourse of so‐called tropical architecture shaping the debates has yet to be untangled and problematized. Implicating and haunted by colonial, nationalist, developmental and political renderings, and more recently by issues of globalization, such representations continue to undergird architectural debates and production. In the wake of recent reconstruction projects and provoked by related architectural student designs in Sri Lanka, this paper reviews the politics of the tropical agenda in architecture and some considerations for its demise.     

Sediment partitioning,continental slopes and base‐of‐slope systems

Deciphering the role slope topography plays in partitioning sediment on siliciclastic continental slope and base‐of‐slope systems helps our understanding of slope depositional processes in significant ways: (1) by validation of large‐scale depositional process models for continental margins, (2) by validation of numerical basin‐scale stratigraphic forward models used to test and deploy source‐to‐sink (S2S) concepts and (3) by creating models for setting reservoir presence and quality expectations in frontier areas poorly constrained by wells and seismic. A global database consisting of >700 km of drilled stratigraphy provide empirical rock data lacking from most S2S studies. Analysis of calibrated seismic stratigraphic units characterised using the contextual framework laid out in this paper show that both gross depositional environments (GDEs) and sand content occur across slope profiles in systematic ways. The challenge in using these observations to quantify reservoir risk and uncertainty lies with relating the observations to depositional processes that can be used to characterise frontier basins that lack calibration. Depositional process‐based understanding encoded in 3D stratigraphic forward models (SFM) can simulate both lithologies and GDEs providing broad predictions for exploration at the scale of an entire basin or slope system. Stratigraphic forward models allow the integration of S2S understanding and provide a framework for testing sediment‐partitioning hypotheses in frontier settings. Valid S2S models must balance sediment yield from the source catchments with sinks, and be consistent with basin specific observations. The proportions of GDEs across the slope provide additional validation criteria to ensure the models are plausible.     

Late Ediacaran syn‐rift/post‐rift transition and related fault‐driven hydrothermal systems in the Anti‐Atlas Mountains,Morocco

The syn‐rift/post‐rift transition of the late Ediacaran‐mid Cambrian Atlas rift is characterized by the interplay of several processes, such as a widespread episode of fracturing and tilting, associated with encasement of fault‐controlled vein metallic ore deposits of economic importance, and carbonate production and phosphogenesis (Taguedit Bed, Tabia Member) bordering rift‐flank uplifts. A correlatable unconformity marks the end of these processes and the beginning of a thermal subsidence‐dominated regime with development of a more stable, carbonate, peritidal‐dominated platform (Tifnout Member). Late Ediacaran microbial carbonate production and phosphogenesis extended in discontinuous belts around the periphery of uplifted rift shoulders and flanks. Karst development is interpreted to have formed along synsedimentary faults and fractures during abrupt tectonic uplift associated with emplacement of polymetallic hydrothermal dikes (rich in Cu, Fe and subsidiary Pb, Zn). Isotopic analysis indicates that speleothem precipitation in karstic palaeocaves displays significantly lighter δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values as compared to the host dolomite, implying calcite precipitation by terrestrial fluids rich in decomposing organic matter and/or microbial activity in the cave system.     

Enlivening development: Water management in post‐conflict Baucau city,Timor‐Leste

This paper explores how the state and others involved in the ‘development enterprise’ in Timor‐Leste are (mis)recognizing the potential of the existing environmental governance and exchange capacities of local customary institutions and practices in relation to water supply and management. Examining the problematic of water supply in a particular place‐based instance – more specifically, the intermesh of the customary, state and market sectors – it ponders how customary institutions might be better supported to extend their range of political and economic credibility and contribute to a reconfiguration of dominant community managed water supply models. Drawing out the workings of a ‘diverse economy’ where a customary economy is enmeshed with, and to some extent undermining, a weak capitalist sector, the paper argues that a failure to address issues of resource ownership and control and to engage the strengths and import of local customary institutions will have serious ramifications for the successful implementation of national development objectives in post‐conflict Baucau city and elsewhere in Timor‐Leste. Instead, it argues for an enlivened development approach wherein locally socialized landscapes are recognized as credible political sites with which ‘development’ can engage and power relations can shift.     

Models of the rapid post‐rift subsidence in the eastern Qiongdongnan Basin,South China Sea: implications for the development of the deep thermal anomaly

The Qiongdongnan Basin is one of the largest Cenozoic rifted basins on the northern passive margin of the South China Sea. It is well known that since the Late Miocene, approximately 10 Ma after the end of the syn‐rift phase, this basin has exhibited rapid thermal subsidence. However, detailed analysis reveals a two‐stage anomalous subsidence feature of the syn‐rift subsidence deficit and the well‐known rapid post‐rift subsidence after 10.5 Ma. Heat‐flow data show that heat flow in the central depression zone is 70–105 mW m^?2, considerably higher than the heat flow (<70 mW m^?2) on the northern shelf. In particular, there is a NE‐trending high heat‐flow zone of >85 mW m^?2 in the eastern basin. We used a numerical model of coupled geothermal processes, lithosphere thinning and depositional processes to analyse the origin of the anomalous subsidence pattern. Numerical analysis of different cases shows that the stretching factor β_s based on syn‐rift sequences is less than the observed crustal stretching factor β_c, and if the lithosphere is thinned with β_c during the syn‐rift phase (before 21 Ma), the present basement depth can be predicted fairly accurately. Further analysis does not support crustal thinning after 21 Ma, which indicates that the syn‐rift subsidence is in deficit compared with the predicted subsidence with the crustal stretching factor β_c. The observed high heat flow in the central depression zone is caused by the heating of magmatic injection equivalently at approximately 3–5 Ma, which affected the eastern basin more than the western basin, and the Neogene magmatism might be fed by the deep thermal anomaly. Our results suggest that the causes of the syn‐rift subsidence deficit and rapid post‐rift subsidence might be related. The syn‐rift subsidence deficit might be caused by the dynamic support of the influx of warmer asthenosphere material and a small‐scale thermal upwelling beneath the study area, which might have been persisting for about 10 Ma during the early post‐rift phase, and the post‐rift rapid subsidence might be the result of losing the dynamic support with the decaying or moving away of the deep thermal source, and the rapid cooling of the asthenosphere. We concluded that the excess post‐rift subsidence occurs to compensate for the syn‐rift subsidence deficit, and the deep thermal anomaly might have affected the eastern Qiongdongnan Basin since the Late Oligocene.     

Small valley glaciers and the effectiveness of the glacial buzzsaw in the northern Basin and Range, USA

The glacial buzzsaw hypothesis suggests that efficient erosion limits topographic elevations in extensively glaciated orogens. Studies to date have largely focussed on regions where large glaciers (tens of kilometres long) have been active. In light of recent studies emphasising the importance of lateral glacial erosion in lowering peaks and ridgelines, we examine the effectiveness of small glaciers in limiting topography under both relatively slow and rapid rock uplift conditions. Four ranges in the northern Basin and Range, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, USA, were chosen for this analysis. Estimates of maximum Pleistocene slip rates along normal faults bounding the Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains (~ 0.14 mm y^− 1), Lemhi Range (~ 0.3 mm y^− 1) and Lost River Range (~ 0.3 mm y^− 1) are an order of magnitude lower than those on the Teton Fault (~ 2 mm y^− 1). We compare the distribution of glacial erosion (estimated from cirque floor elevations and last glacial maximum (LGM) equilibrium line altitude (ELA) reconstructions) and fault slip rate with three metrics of topography in each range: the along-strike maximum elevation swath profile, hypsometry, and slope-elevation profiles. In the slowly uplifting Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains, and Lemhi and Lost River Ranges, trends in maximum elevation parallel ELAs, independent of variations in fault slip rate. Maximum elevations are offset ~ 500 m from LGM ELAs in the Lost River Range, Lemhi Range, and northern Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains, and by ~ 350 m in the southern Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains, where glacial extents were less. The offset between maximum topography and mean Quaternary ELAs, inferred from cirque floor elevations, is ~ 350 m in the Lost River and Lemhi Ranges, and 200–250 m in the Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains. Additionally, slope-elevation profiles are flattened and hypsometry profiles show a peak in surface areas close to the ELA in the Lemhi Range and Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains, suggesting that small glaciers efficiently limit topography. The situation in the Lost River Range is less clear as a glacial signature is not apparent in either slope-elevation profiles or the hypsometry. In the rapidly uplifting Teton Range, the distribution of ELAs appears superficially to correspond to maximum topography, hypsometry, and slope-elevations profiles, with regression lines on maximum elevations offset by ~ 700 and ~ 350 m from the LGM and mean Quaternary ELA respectively. However, Grand Teton and Mt. Moran represent high-elevation “Teflon Peaks” that appear impervious to glacial erosion, formed in the hard crystalline bedrock at the core of the range. Glacier size and drainage density, rock uplift rate, and bedrock lithology are all important considerations when assessing the ability of glaciers to limit mountain range topography. In the northern Basin and Range, it is only under exceptional circumstances in the Teton Range that small glaciers appear to be incapable of imposing a fully efficient glacial buzzsaw, emphasising that high peaks represent an important caveat to the glacial buzzsaw hypothesis.     

Peat layer accumulation and post‐burial deformation during the mid‐late Holocene in the Po coastal plain (Northern Italy)

Peat horizons are characteristic features of delta plains worldwide. In this study, we tested the use of peat‐based correlations to assess the deformation of Holocene strata in the Po coastal plain (Northern Italy). The Holocene stratigraphy, about 30 km inland from the modern coastline consists of a peat‐bearing, estuarine and deltaic succession, up to 23 m thick. Through the analysis of 31 core data and 100 piezocone penetration tests, we identified and mapped three 10–40 cm‐thick peat layers (T1–T3) dated to 6.6–5.8, 5.5–5.0 and 3.3–2.7 cal kyr BP respectively. These peat horizons were found to be suitable stratigraphic markers within the Holocene succession over an area of about 200 km². The mid‐late Holocene palaeogeography, reconstructed through high‐resolution peat correlation, supported by 72 radiocarbon dates, highlights a typical upper delta plain environment, with ribbon‐shaped distributary channels and swamp interdistributary areas. Peat layers are inclined towards E‐NE with gradients that increase downsection from ~0.016% (T3) to 0.021% (T1). The gradient of the oldest peat horizon is one order of magnitude larger than the slope of the modern delta plain (~0.0025%). We infer that peat horizons accumulated during periods of low sediment supply mainly controlled by autogenic processes and were deformed after deposition. Differential compaction of underlying sedimentary strata and recent tectonic activity of the buried Apenninic thrust systems are the most likely drivers of strata deformation. Based on isochore maps, we document that higher sedimentation rates in topographically depressed areas compensated, in part at least, the ongoing deformation, keeping unaltered the topographic gradient and the depositional environment. This study demonstrates that peat‐based correlation and mapping can shed lights on the mechanisms of strata accumulation and deformation in deltaic settings, constituting a robust basis for reconstructing delta evolution.     

印度河上游Bagrot山谷降水稳定同位素变化及与水汽来源的关系

利用2015年8月至2016年7月在印度河上游流域Bagrot山谷降水稳定同位素（δ18O和δD）观测结果以及当地气象资料,利用同位素示踪及统计分析方法,并结合HYSPLIT模型,对研究区降水稳定同位素变化特征、大气水线以及水汽来源进行了分析。结果表明,观测期间Bagrot山谷降水稳定同位素的季节变化明显,δ18O与δD秋冬季偏低,春夏季偏高,且与气温变化一致,存在显著的温度效应,而降水量效应不明显。而且发现,研究区局地大气水线截距和斜率均低于全球的,反映了降水过程中云下二次蒸发作用较为强烈,特别是,不同的降水形态导致该研究区局地大气水线的斜率和截距不同。当液态降水（降雨）发生时,由于在较为干旱的气候环境下,雨滴在降落的过程中受到二次蒸发相对较强,使得局地大气水线的斜率和截距偏低;而当固态降水（降雪）发生时,由于温度较低,受再循环水汽和二次蒸发的影响较小,导致局地大气水线的斜率和截距均偏高。Bagrot山谷及其周边地区,从南到北局地大气水线的斜率相差不大,而其截距总体上随着纬度升高而降低,可能与云下二次蒸发导致稳定同位素发生的不平衡分馏逐渐强烈有关。通过Bagrot山谷站点降水稳定同位素观测结果并结合HYSPLIT模型的后向追踪,研究还发现,研究区全年主要受西风环流以及局地环流的影响。但与研究区以北的临近站点（慕士塔格、和田等）相比有所不同,由于Bagrot山谷位置更靠南,其仍然偶尔受到来自南方的海洋性水汽影响。这一研究结果可能对该地区树轮稳定同位素记录的解译具有一定的指示意义。     

长江上游重点产沙区产沙量对人类活动的响应

对金沙江屏山站、嘉陵江北碚站、宜昌站20世纪50年代以来的输沙量和含沙量进行分析。结果表明,在年径流量相同的情况下,由于大规模矿山、钢铁工业、交通建设增加水土流失,屏山站1976~1996年年产沙量要高于1954~1976年。与此相反,由于修筑水库、塘坝拦沙,修建梯田、恢复植被减少侵蚀,北碚站1983~1996年年产沙量要大大低于1954~1982年;宜昌站1985~1996年年产沙量也低于1954~1984年。北碚、宜昌两站都存在一个使水利、水土保持减沙量为0的年径流量临界值,北碚站和宜昌站这一临界值分别为1142×10⁸m³和4800×10⁸m³。     

黄河中游地区流域产沙中的地貌临界现象

地貌现象的演化常常存在着由量变到质变的临界条件.地貌临界是地貌学研究的重要理论问题之一.本文利用黄河中游地区近60个水文测站资料,探讨了流域产沙量随降雨、植被和流域面积变化过程中的地貌临界现象.结果表明,流域产沙量与年降雨量之间关系遵循Langbein-Schumm曲线,最大产沙量大致出现在年降雨量400mm左右的半干旱草原区,即无定河以北的皇甫川、孤山川、佳芦河流域.同时,由沙黄土、砒砂岩流域向基岩山地流域过渡,流域产沙量峰值趋于减小,而峰值出现所需要的降雨量渐趋增大,显示出不同自然地理地带和地域最大产沙区位置和产沙强度的不同.流域产沙量与植被之间呈现为相当好的非线性负相关关系.流域产沙量随植被变化存在着二个临界值,一是当流域植被覆盖度等于30%时,另一是当植被覆盖度等于70%时.这一现象以往只是在试验小区或试验流域见到,本研究表明,类似的现象在天然河流流域也存在.受流域上下游不同生物气候及下垫面特性的控制,流域产沙量随流域面积的增大呈现出复杂多样的变化,可以是增加,也可以是减少.然而,对于大多数复合流域来说,随着流域面积的增大,流域产沙量一开始趋于增加,当流域面积接近1000 km2左右时,流域产沙量达到最大,而当流域超过1000 km2以后,流域产沙量反而趋于减少,呈现出明显的地貌临界现象.     

四川盆地寒武系盐卤沉积特征及找钾前景

四川盆地寒武系盐卤资源开发历史悠久,而固矿石盐层乃是20世纪80年代后期从油气探井中才发现的,它为我国卤化物矿物增添了一个新的成盐地质年代,与此同时也极大的改变了华南寒武系古地理面貌,为我国盐砂勘查及找钾预测提供了新的资料。然而至今四川盆地寒武纪盐类工作程度仍然有限,就现有少量资料对四川盆地寒武系成盐古地理背景、盐系沉积剖面特征、石盐矿物特征及盐卤水化学特征等方面作一概略简介和论述。     

Truncated dunes as evidence of the 2004 tsunami in North Sumatra and environmental recovery post‐tsunami

The 2004 tsunami transformed the coast of Indonesia. This research investigates a sand dune area in Lampuuk, Sumatra, that was scoured by tsunami flow. We assessed geomorphology one‐year post‐event and examine the timescale of vegetation recovery. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) evidence shows an eroded succession of thin dipping units, overlain by aeolian layers 0 to 50 cm thick. Incipient dunes were absent, indicating limited dune rebuilding at one‐year post‐tsunami, possibly resulting from channelised airflow and the absence of vegetation. Recolonisation by vegetation was initially limited but progressed rapidly between 2005 and 2011, highlighting the temporal non‐linearity of recovery processes.     

Moraine-dammed glacial lake changes during the recent 40 years in the Poiqu River Basin, Himalayas

Glacier retreat is not only a symbol of temperature and precipitation change, but a dominating factor of glacial lake changes in alpine regions, which are of wide concern for high risk of potential outburst floods. Of all types of glacial lakes, moraine-dammed lakes may be the most dangerous to local residents in mountain regions. Thus, we monitored the dynamics of 12 moraine-dammed glacial lakes from 1974 to 2014 in the Poiqu River Basin of central west Himalayas, as well as their associated glaciers with a combination of remote sensing, topographic maps and digital elevation models (DEMs). Our results indicate that all monitored moraine-dammed glacial lakes have expanded by 7.46 km² in total while the glaciers retreated by a total of 15.29 km² correspondingly. Meteorological analysis indicates a warming and drying trend in the Nyalam region from 1974 to 2014, which accelerated glacier retreat and then augmented the supply of moraine-dammed glacial lakes from glacier melt. Lake volume and water depth changed from 1974 to 2014 which indicates that lakes Kangxico, Galongco, and Youmojanco have a high potential for outburst floods and in urgent need for continuous monitoring or artificial excavation to release water due to the quick increase in water depths and storage capacities. Lakes Jialongco and Cirenmaco, with outburst floods in 1981 and 2002, have a high potential risk for outburst floods because of rapid lake growth and steep slope gradients surrounding them.     

Timing of depth‐dependent lithosphere stretching on the S. Lofoten rifted margin offshore mid‐Norway: pre‐breakup or post‐breakup?

Depth‐dependent stretching, in which whole‐crustal and whole‐lithosphere extension is significantly greater than upper‐crustal extension, has been observed at both non‐volcanic and volcanic rifted continental margins. A key question is whether depth‐dependent stretching occurs during pre‐breakup rifting or during sea‐floor spreading initiation and early sea‐floor spreading. Analysis of post‐breakup thermal subsidence and upper‐crustal faulting show that depth‐dependent lithosphere stretching occurs on the outer part of the Norwegian volcanic rifted margin. For the southern Lofoten margin, large breakup lithosphere β stretching factors approaching infinity are required within 100 km of the continent–ocean boundary to restore Lower Eocene sediments and flood basalt surfaces (～54 Ma) to interpreted sub‐aerial depositional environments at sea level as indicated by well data. For the same region, the upper crust shows no significant Palaeocene and Late Cretaceous faulting preceding breakup with upper‐crustal β stretching factors <1.05. Further north on the Lofoten margin, reverse modelling of post‐breakup subsidence with a β stretching factor of infinity predicts palaeo‐bathymetries of ～1500 m to the west of the Utrøst Ridge and fails to restore Lower Eocene sediments and flood basalt tops to sea level at ～54 Ma. If these horizons were deposited in a sub‐aerial depositional environment, as indicated by well data to the south, an additional subsidence event younger than 54 Ma is required compatible with lower‐crustal thinning during sea‐floor spreading initiation. For the northern Vøring margin, breakup lithosphere β stretching factors of ～2.5 are required to restore Lower Eocene sediments and basalts to sea level at deposition, while Palaeocene and Late Cretaceous upper‐crustal β stretching factors for the same region are < 1.1. The absence of significant Palaeocene and late Cretaceous extension on the southern Lofoten and northern Vøring margins prior to continental breakup supports the hypothesis that depth‐dependent stretching of rifted margin lithosphere occurs during sea‐floor spreading initiation or early sea‐floor spreading rather than during pre‐breakup rifting.