Radiogenic trigger and driver for continental rifting and initial ocean spreading

Closure and opening of oceans on time‐scales of a few hundred million years is a fundamental tectonic process on Earth, typically referred to as a “Wilson cycle”. Subduction of oceanic and continental crust leading up to and during continent–continent collision can refertilize and enrich the orogenic continental lithospheric mantle in heat‐producing elements. The resulting thermal anomaly weakens the lithosphere and, along with structural weaknesses (e.g. sutures), make this orogenic lithosphere more prone to rifting given an extensional stress field. Thermal modelling shows that anomalously hot lithosphere can focus asthenospheric upwellings over time‐scales of a few hundred million years. Processes related to closure of oceans thus provide a mechanism for later localization of rifting and an extensional driving force.     

Gondwana breakup via double-saloon-door rifting and seafloor spreading in a backarc basin during subduction rollback

A model has been developed where two arc-parallel rifts propagate in opposite directions from an initial central location during backarc seafloor spreading and subduction rollback. The resultant geometry causes pairs of terranes to simultaneously rotate clockwise and counterclockwise like the motion of double-saloon-doors about their hinges. As movement proceeds and the two terranes rotate, a gap begins to extend between them, where a third rift initiates and propagates in the opposite direction to subduction rollback. Observations from the Oligocene to Recent Western Mediterranean, the Miocene to Recent Carpathians, the Miocene to Recent Aegean and the Oligocene to Recent Caribbean point to a two-stage process. Initially, pairs of terranes comprising a pre-existing retro-arc fold thrust belt and magmatic arc rotate about poles and accrete to adjacent continents. Terrane docking reduces the width of the subduction zone, leading to a second phase during which subduction to strike-slip transitions initiate. The clockwise rotated terrane is caught up in a dextral strike-slip zone, whereas the counterclockwise rotated terrane is entrained in a sinistral strike-slip fault system. The likely driving force is a pair of rotational torques caused by slab sinking and rollback of a curved subduction hingeline.By analogy with the above model, a revised five-stage Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Gondwana dispersal model is proposed in which three plates always separate about a single triple rift or triple junction in the Weddell Sea area. Seven features are considered diagnostic of double-saloon-door rifting and seafloor spreading:

i) earliest movement involves clockwise and counterclockwise rotations of the Falkland Islands Block and the Ellsworth Whitmore Terrane respectively;

ii) terranes comprise areas of a pre-existing retro-arc fold thrust belt (the Permo-Triassic Gondwanide Orogeny) attached to an accretionary wedge/magmatic arc; the Falklands Islands Block is initially attached to Southern Patagonia/West Antarctic Peninsula, while the Ellsworth Whitmore Terrane is combined with the Thurston Island Block;

iii) paleogeographies demonstrate rifting and extension in a backarc environment relative to a Pacific margin subduction zone/accretionary wedge where simultaneous crustal shortening occurs;

iv) a ridge jump towards the subduction zone from east of the Falkland Islands to the Rocas Verdes Basin evinces subduction rollback;

v) this ridge jump combined with backarc extension isolated an area of thicker continental crust — The Falkland Islands Block;

vi) well-documented EW oriented seafloor spreading anomalies in the Weddell Sea are perpendicular to the subduction zone and propagate in the opposite direction to rollback;

vii) the dextral strike-slip Gastre and sub-parallel faults form one boundary of the Gondwana subduction rollback, whereas the other boundary may be formed by inferred sinistral strike-slip motion between a combined Thurston Island/Ellsworth Whitmore Terrane and Marie Byrd Land/East Antarctica.

From rifting to spreading in the eastern Gulf of Aden: a geophysical survey of a young oceanic basin from margin to margin

A geophysical survey in the eastern Gulf of Aden, between the Alula–Fartak (52°E) and the Socotra (55°E) transform faults, was carried out during the Encens–Sheba cruise. The conjugate margins of the Gulf are steep, narrow and asymmetric. Asymmetry of the rifting process is highlighted by the conjugate margins (horst and graben in the north and deep basin in the south). Two transfer fault zones separate the margins into three segments, whereas the present‐day Sheba Ridge is divided into two segments by a transform discontinuity. Therefore segmentation of the Sheba Ridge and that of the conjugate margins did coincide during the early stages of oceanic spreading. Extensive magma production is evidenced in the central part of the western segment. Anomaly 5d was identified in the northern and southern parts of the oceanic basin, thus confirming that seafloor spreading in this part of Gulf of Aden started at least 17.6 Ma ago.     

Distinct continental margins and associated stratigraphic architecture patterns during the seafloor spreading of South China Sea

In this paper we compare four types of stratigraphic architectures around the continental margins in the South China Sea (SCS) based on a plentiful of seismic profiles. The results indicate that stratigraphic patterns are not only related closely to structure regimes of peripheral of the SCS, but also are restrained by crust structure from continental crust to oceanic crust. In the extensional setting, depositional centres during the syn‐spreading stage are located in the strong extensional area. A wedge‐decrease continental crust represented by the Pearl River Mouth type is characterized by high deposition and subsidence rate during the syn‐rifting and syn‐spreading stages in the distal zone. And in the Zhongjiannan type with a continental ribbon, high deposition and subsidence rate during the syn‐rifting and syn‐spreading stages are present in the proximal zone. However, in the southern and eastern margins with compressional setting, the Liyue and Zengmu microcontinent blocks are separated from the South China with the seafloor spreading of SCS, in which a confined or relative thin syn‐spreading deposits are presence. High deposition and subsidence rate is closely related to the collision or subduction condition during the post‐spreading stage in the Liyue bank type and the Zengmu type, a huge progradational clinoforms are present along the subduction and collision margin. Therefore, this study shows distinct stratigraphic architecture in different continental rifted margins, distinct depositional and subsidence characteristics formed during the process of lithospheric rupture can provide an effective method for the study on the continental marginal sea in the western Pacific.     

Lithospheric extension from rifting to continental breakup at magma-poor margins: rheology,serpentinisation and symmetry

The symmetry or asymmetry of the process of continental breakup has been much debated over the last 20 years, with various authors proposing asymmetric simple shear models, others advocating more symmetric, pure shear models and some combinations of the two. The unroofing of vast expanses of sub-continental mantle at non-volcanic margins has led some authors to argue in favour of simple shear models, but supporting evidence is lacking. Subsidence evidence from conjugate margin pairs is equivocal, and the detailed crustal and lithospheric structure of such pairs not generally well enough known to draw firm conclusions. In the Porcupine Basin, where the final stages of break-up are preserved, the development of structural asymmetry is demonstrable, and apparently related to late stage coupling of the crust to the mantle following the complete embrittlement of the crust. This agrees with theoretical modelling results, which predict that asymmetric models can develop only on a lithospheric scale when the crust and mantle are tightly coupled. However, whether such asymmetry is maintained during continued exhumation of the mantle is unclear.     

The transition from rifting to sea-floor spreading within a magma-poor rifted margin: field and isotopic constraints

We provide new geological and isotope geochemical constraints on the evolution from continental rifting to sea-floor spreading along a segment of the Jurassic Tethyan margin exposed in the Platta and Err nappes (eastern Central Alps). Field observations show that the ocean–continent transition zone is characterized by oceanward-dipping detachment faults leading to the exhumation of subcontinental mantle rocks subsequently intruded by gabbro bodies and dolerite dikes, and covered by pillow basalts and radiolarites. Zircons extracted from gabbros and albitite yield concordant U–Pb ages of 161 ± 1 Ma; their initial ɛ_Hf (+ 14.4 to + 14.9) as well as bulk rock ɛ_Nd values of from gabbros and basalts (+ 7.3 to + 9.5) point to a MORB-type depleted mantle source. These data suggest that the onset of magmatic activity coincides with the latest phase of mantle exhumation along low-angle detachment faults and may be controlled by upwelling asthenosphere beneath a zone of exhumed continental mantle.     

苏北东台坳陷阜宁组沉积演化数模物源分析

采用国际最先进的三维地层沉积数值模拟的方法,充分利用地层沉积演化相关研究资料,以验证苏北东台坳陷目前存在争议的物源问题为目标,开展了物源位置单因素数值对比模拟,探讨不同物源观点下的地层沉积演化特征,以及以北部滨海隆起为物源的苏北盆地整体沉积地层演化特征,在此基础上讨论中央建湖隆起是否为阜宁组提供物源。最终,建立了北偏东、南西两支物源输入的苏北盆地东台坳陷三维地层沉积演化数值模型,模拟了阜宁组二段-阜宁组四段地层沉积演化过程,得出与地质模型匹配良好的地层岩相展布特征,并通过多口井岩性、地层厚度验证了模型的合理性。综合多组模拟结果,分析讨论得出苏北盆地东台坳陷阜宁期物源来自于中央建湖隆起和西南张八岭隆起。     

Post-mid-Cretaceous eastern North Sea evolution inferred from 3D thermo-mechanical modelling

The Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic evolution of the eastern North Sea region is investigated by 3D thermo-mechanical modelling. The model quantifies the integrated effects on basin evolution of large-scale lithospheric processes, rheology, strength heterogeneities, tectonics, eustasy, sedimentation and erosion.

The evolution of the area is influenced by a number of factors: (1) thermal subsidence centred in the central North Sea providing accommodation space for thick sediment deposits; (2) 250-m eustatic fall from the Late Cretaceous to present, which causes exhumation of the North Sea Basin margins; (3) varying sediment supply; (4) isostatic adjustments following erosion and sedimentation; (5) Late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic Alpine compressional phases causing tectonic inversion of the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone (STZ) and other weak zones.

The stress field and the lateral variations in lithospheric strength control lithospheric deformation under compression. The lithosphere is relatively weak in areas where Moho is deep and the upper mantle warm and weak. In these areas the lithosphere is thickened during compression producing surface uplift and erosion (e.g., at the Ringkøbing–Fyn High and in the southern part of Sweden). Observed late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic shallow water depths at the Ringkøbing–Fyn High as well as Cenozoic surface uplift in southern Sweden (the South Swedish Dome (SSD)) are explained by this mechanism.

The STZ is a prominent crustal structural weakness zone. Under compression, this zone is inverted and its surface uplifted and eroded. Contemporaneously, marginal depositional troughs develop. Post-compressional relaxation causes a regional uplift of this zone.

The model predicts sediment distributions and paleo-water depths in accordance with observations. Sediment truncation and exhumation at the North Sea Basin margins are explained by fall in global sea level, isostatic adjustments to exhumation, and uplift of the inverted STZ. This underlines the importance of the mechanisms dealt with in this paper for the evolution of intra-cratonic sedimentary basins.     

Initiation of transform faults at rifted continental margins: 3D petrological-thermomechanical modeling and comparison to the Woodlark Basin

This work presents high-resolution 3D numerical model of transform fault initiation at rifted continental margins. Our petrological-thermomechanical visco-plastic model allows for spontaneous nucleation of oceanic spreading process in a continental rift zone and takes into account new oceanic crust growth driven by decompression melting of the asthenospheric mantle. Numerical model predicts that ridge-transform spreading pattern initiate in several subsequent stages: crustal rifting (0–1.5 Myr), spreading centers nucleation and propagation (1.5–3 Myr), proto-transform fault initiation and rotation (3–5 Myr) and mature ridge-transform spreading (> 5 Myr). Comparison of modeling results with the natural data from the Woodlark Basin suggests that the development of this region closely matches numerical predictions. Similarly to the model, the Moresby (proto-) Transform terminates in the oceanic rather than in the continental crust. This fault associates with a notable topographic depression and formed within 0.5–2 Myr while linking two offset overlapping spreading segments. Model reproduces well characteristic “rounded” contours of the spreading centers as well as the presence of a remnant of the broken continental crustal bridge observed in the Woodlark Basin. Proto-transform fault traces and truncated tip of one spreading center present in the model are also documented in nature. Numerical results are in good agreement with the concept of Taylor et al. (2009) which suggests that spreading segments nucleate en echelon in overlapping rift basins and that transform faults develop as or after spreading nucleates. Our experiments also allow to refine this concept in that (proto)-transform faults may also initiate as oblique rather than only spreading-parallel tectonic features. Subsequent rotation of these faults toward the extension-parallel direction is governed by space accommodation during continued oceanic crust growth within offset ridge-transform intersections.     

Mesoproterozoic rifting and Pan-African continental collision in SE India: evidence from the Khariar alkaline complex

The suture zone between the Bhandara craton and the granulite-facies rocks of the Eastern Ghats Province in SE India contains a number of deformed alkaline and tholeiitic intrusives. The Khariar alkaline complex is one of the several occurrences which intruded in the Mesoproterozoic (1,480±17 Ma, 2σ) and was deformed during the Pan-African tectonothermal event. The geochemical signatures indicate a rift-related setting for the magmatic activity. The nepheline syenite parent magma may have been produced by in-mantle fractionation of clinopyroxene and Ti-rich amphibole from a basanitic primary magma derived from an enriched spinel lherzolite mantle source in the sub-continental lithosphere. Geochemical variations in the Khariar alkaline suite can be modeled by the fractionation of clinopyroxene, amphibole, titanite, zircon, apatite and allanite. The Mesoproterozoic alkaline magmatism at Khariar marks the initiation of a NE-SW rift which formed several craton margin basins and opened an ocean towards the south. The sediments of the cratogenic basins and the Eastern Ghats Province were deposited in these rift-related basins. A K-Ar age of 1,330±53 Ma from glauconites in sandstone suggests that the NW-SE trending Godavari–Pranhita graben formed at approximately the same time as the rift at the craton margin. If the two are related, the Godavari–Pranhita graben may represent the failed arm of a rift system in which the NE-SW arm was the active segment. The granulite-facies deformation and metamorphism of the Eastern Ghats Province sediments may be related to an episode of Grenvillian basin inversion. The Mesoproterozoic rifting and Grenvillian basin closure may thus represent two well-defined parts of a Wilson cycle i.e. the opening and closure of an ocean. The Khariar and other alkaline bodies were, however, deformed during a Pan-African collisional event associated with the westward thrusting of the Eastern Ghats Province granulites over the cratonic foreland.     

From Jurassic rifting to Cretaceous subduction in NW Iranian Azerbaijan: geochronological and geochemical signals from granitoids

Previous interpretations of a Jurassic subduction in Iran were based on trace element classification diagrams for granitoids, but their reliability is questionable, underscored by modern examples of continental break-up zones such as the Baja California. We present new field observations, bulk rock geochemistry, Sr and Nd isotope analyses and U–Pb zircon geochronology to assess the age and tectonic setting of previously undated intermediate to felsic magmatic rocks cropping out in the Precambrian basement of NW Iranian Azerbaijan. The geochronology revealed an uneven distribution in space and time: Late Jurassic (159–154 Ma) intrusions and dikes are alkaline to calc-alkaline. Their melt source is mantle dominated with a distinct continental contribution disclosed by radiogenic isotopes and abundant inherited zircon cores. Mid-Cretaceous (112–96 Ma) plutonic bodies and associated volcanic rocks occur only to the east of the major Siah Cheshmeh–Khoy Fault. They have geochemical signatures typical of a metasomatized mantle. In consistence with the sedimentation history of the area, our new interpretation attributes the Late Jurassic magmatism to thinning of a continental lithosphere in a rift-related setting. Mid-Cretaceous magmatism was produced by oceanic subduction beneath the Central Iran continent. We interpret the 40-Ma age gap between the two magmatic episodes as the time of opening of the oceanic basin witnessed by the Khoy ophiolite in the study area.     

地震预测:从芦山地震到大陆地震

自从1990年以来,通过对青藏高原的调查和研究,认识到下地壳流动同步形成盆地和造山带,并受控于相关洋盆地幔软流圈向大陆的顺层流动和底辟作用。下地壳不均匀流动通过韧脆性中地壳热能-应变能转换孕育地震,部分发震能量通过上地壳脆性断层释放。在地震孕育过程中通常会伴生跨年度干旱和异常降雨,构成热灾害链。近5年内青藏高原东部连续发生汶川、玉树、芦山大地震,形成于从亚东流经羊八井、安多、玉树并分支流向汶川和芦山—康定的下地壳"热河"的仰冲式和侧冲式撞击作用。从2008年9月以来连续发表5篇论文,根据地壳热构造和热灾害链的时空结构对芦山地震的三要素进行了长期和中期预测。2008年9月预测从2013年开始可能发生大地震,2012年9月将鲜水河—安宁河—小江异常热流构造带5年内将发生多个7级地震的首个大震锁定在芦山或西昌。芦山地震只释放了亚东—羊八井—安多—玉树—鲜水河—安宁河—小江"热河"剩余热能中的一小部分,在西昌—会理—昭通地区、道孚—康定地区、通海—石屏地区近5年内很可能发生4个7级左右的地震。此外,华北典型的热灾害链结构表明震情严峻,环渤海地区近3年内很可能发生大地震。从地震热流体撞击机理与地震异常之间的关联性出发,提出了动态立体监测及短临预测地震的思路和方法。     

The Red Sea depositional architecture: insights from 3D modeling

More than half a century of geological and exploration studies have taken place in the Red Sea area, and still very limited information is available to the geological community in regard to the lithological distribution and the stratigraphic architecture. In this study, extensive well data was used to build the first lithologic and stratigraphic 3D models of the entire Red Sea to better understand the lithological distribution. The potential models have been constrained by bathymetric and geophysical data. Studied data demonstrate that up to 5 km of sediments were deposited in the Red Sea. It is mainly comprised of limestones, evaporites, and shales. Our models show that the evaporite body represents more than 70% of the Red Sea succession. In particular, the evaporite succession seems to be well developed in the southern region. Salt dome features are present and developed close to the margins. The models suggest that domal formation did not enable thick carbonate accumulation in some parts of the basin but the carbonate generally follows the evaporite trend. The models help to identify the main controls leading to salt diapir by highlighting the distribution of this body and the geometry of geological structures. Syn-rift faulting and rifting has been one of the most prominent structural features. Complex interplay of tectono-stratigraphic events played a significant role in shaping the stratigraphic evolution of the Red Sea basin with multiple evolution phases of paleoenvironment and paleogeographic were recognized based on the models. Our synthesis and interpretation support that moderately deep marine conditions dominated in the Miocene, whereas shallow seas dominated the whole basin during the Plio-Pleistocene period as a result of episodic marine invasion. However, lacustrine environment may have prevailed at the Oligocene time in isolated half grabens.     

Syn-depositional continental rifting of the Southeastern Neo-Tethys margin during the Albian–Cenomanian: evidence from stratigraphic correlation

ABSTRACT

Albian–Cenomanian successions (Kazhdumi and Sarvak formations) represent remarkable variations in thickness, facies, fauna, and environments throughout the Zagros area. In the Coastal Fars (Charmu section), sedimentological and paleontological data evidence an intrashelf, with depths of 10s–100s m, surrounded by a shallow carbonate platform. Due to its depth, deposition of sequences in this setting has been controlled by eustatic sea-level changes rather than eurybathic changes, and several condensation episodes occurred related to marine transgressions. These observations are different from those in the adjacent sections in the Coastal Fars which recorded subaerial exposures instead. Combined with previous studies, this study denotes several intrashelf basins enclosed by a shallow carbonate platform on the southeastern margin of the Neo-Tethys during the Albian–Cenomanian. Development of intrashelf basins corresponds to basement faults in the Fars Salient. Likely, an extensional tectonic regime associated with a rifting event created horst–graben architecture by exerting extension along the basement faults and reactivating salt structures. Deposition on these troughs and highs led to the facies and thickness variations of the concomitant sequences. Development of several intrashelf basins on the southeastern margin of the Neo-Tethys indicates that syn-depositional continental rifting event could occur during the Albian–Cenomanian, prior to the tectonic inversion around the earliest Turonian.     

大洋橄榄岩的蛇纹石化过程:从海底水化到俯冲脱水SCIEI北大核心CSCD

蛇纹石化是海底最重要的水岩相互作用之一,指基性岩和超基性岩中的橄榄石和辉石等镁铁质矿物在相对低温条件下发生水热蚀变产生蛇纹石等矿物的热液变质作用。蛇纹石族矿物主要有三种,分别是利蛇纹石、纤蛇纹石和叶蛇纹石。低温状态蛇纹石族矿物主要以利蛇纹石和纤蛇纹石的形式存在,高温状态下主要以叶蛇纹石的形式存在。影响大洋蛇纹石化过程的因素不容忽视,温度、氧化还原程度、pH值、水岩比(W/R)等都在其中扮演着重要的角色。总的来说,地幔物质易出露在地壳减薄区域和断裂构造处,这有利于与流体充分接触反应,从而决定了大洋蛇纹石化作用发生的可能位置。对蛇纹石化程度的描述,当前人们大多通过岩石微观结构、地球化学指标来定性指示,磁学指标有望实现对蛇纹石化程度的定量解释。蛇纹石化作用对海底磁异常、地球生命演化进程、成矿作用等都有一定的贡献。此外,俯冲带脱水及弧岩浆的形成都与之有联系。总之,基性与超基性岩石蛇纹石化与俯冲带蛇纹岩脱水过程是地球水循环过程的重要机制,但未来揭示蛇纹岩的磁学性质和俯冲变质过程,仍需进一步探索。     

Syn-rift to post-rift tectonic transition and drainage reorganization in continental rifting basins: Detrital zircon analysis from the Songliao Basin,NE China

Tectonic transition from a syn-rift stage to subsequent post-rift stage is an important mechanism in the evolution of extensional basins. The sedimentary infill records the crustal response to this process. We have obtained new detrital zircon U-Pb and Lu-Hf signatures from the Lower Cretaceous stratigraphic successions encompassing the commonly accepted syn- to post-rift transition boundary, the T4 unconformity, in the Songliao Basin, NE China. These constrain the Songliao Basin’s evolution from its center to distal margins, providing insights into the sediment provenance and dispersal pattern over the tectonic transition. Analysis of zircons from the syn-rift (the Shahezi and Yingcheng formations) and immediate post-rift (the Lower and Middle Denglouku Formation) stages reveals Phanerozoic age populations with positive ?_Hf(t) values, which were derived from the proximal juvenile mantle-derived melt origin bedrocks of the Songliao Block. In contrast, the overlying samples from the Upper Denglouku Formation deposited in the subsequent post-rift stage contain exotic and ancient zircon populations with ages of 2.5 Ga & 1.8 Ga and complex hafnium signatures, characteristic of a mixed origin. These are interpreted to be transported from distant cratonic terranes via larger drainage networks. It is obvious that the sediment dispersal pattern switched from being a local and hydrologically closed “intraregional” pattern to a “transcontinental” pattern during the transition. The time lag between the development of the T4 unconformity and the drainage reorganization also ensures a distinguishable ～3 Myr (106103 Ma, Late Albian) transition period of regional extent. During this transition stage, syn-rift faulting was replaced by post-rift thermal subsidence, exhibiting a uniform sag configuration. Our new findings are important for understanding other continental rift basins during syn- to post-rift transition, which often demonstrates a complex interaction between the linkage and integration of sub-basins, and the reorganization of fluvial drainages and catchment systems.     

成矿预测:从二维到三维

随着矿产资源勘探方法以及计算机科学技术的不断发展,成矿预测的理论和方法已从定性发展至定量,从二维拓展到三维。近十年来,随着深部矿产资源勘探工作的推进,三维成矿预测研究得到了迅猛发展,相关理论与方法也已逐步走向成熟。本文总结了国内外二维成矿预测研究的现状,同时对近十年来国内外学者在三维地质建模技术、三维成矿预测方法等方面的主要成果和进展做了系统总结和分析。目前,国内外多个地区已相继开展了三维成矿预测工作,并成功圈定多个深部找矿靶区,相关成果为深部找矿勘探工作提供了新的方法和方向。在此基础上,本文对未来三维成矿预测的发展趋势进行展望,相较于传统的二维成矿预测,三维成矿预测往往受限于三维预测信息的缺乏。如何更好的挖掘二维数据在深度方向的指示能力,将二维数据推演至三维环境,利用数值模拟、机器学习等方法开展数据挖掘、充分发挥已有数据的内蕴信息将在未来推动三维成矿预测理论的深入发展,提高三维成矿预测的理论方法及应用实践水平。     

Geochemistry of mafic dikes in the Adirondack mountains: implications for late Proterozoic continental rifting

Mafic dikes of late Proterozoic age which cut Grenvillian crust in the northeastern Adirondack Mountains are mostly mildly alkaline basalts except for a few tholeiitic examples. All dikes are high in Ti, P, K, Zr, Y, and LREE, and plot in within-plate fields on tectonic discriminant diagrams. The dikes are similar in composition to Hudson Highland dikes in southern New York and New Jersey and to the Bakersville dike swarm in the southern Appalachians. They differ from the Grenville dike swarm in Ontario and Quebec in being alkaline and having higher Ti and P contents. Mesozoic alkaline dikes in the same geographic area as the Proterozoic ones are strongly enriched in Ba, K, Rb and LREE, and approach lamprophyre in composition. The Proterozoic dikes have low La/Nb and La/Ta ratios, suggesting that subduction-modified mantle lithosphere was not substantially involved in their genesis. This contrasts with certain Mesozoic tholeiitic dikes, associated with the opening of the Atlantic, which show sharp negative Nb or Ta anomalies relative to La indicating they were derived from subduction-modified lithospheric mantle. The trace element chemistry suggests that the source for the Proterozoic dikes was trace element-enriched asthenosphere (OIB-like source), as postulated for certain basalts erupted in the East African Rift system, and in parts of the Basin and Range Province of the southwestern United States of America. Finally, the Proterozoic dikes are chemically similar to rift volcanics from the western Vermont Appalachians, and thus they are thought to represent magmatism associated with extension of the Grenvillian crust prior to opening of the Iapetus ocean.