Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T08:15:45.628Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Beyond ‘crumple zones’: recent advances, applications and future directions in deformable plate tectonic modelling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2021

Alexander L Peace Open the ORCID record for Alexander L Peace [Opens in a new window]
Alexander L Peace*
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Environment and Society, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
*
*Author for correspondence: Alexander L. Peace, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The recent proliferation of deformable plate tectonic modelling techniques has provided a new direction in the study of plate tectonics with substantial implications for our understanding of plate deformation and past kinematics. Such models account for intraplate deformation, yet are highly variable in their inputs, capabilities and applications. The aim of this commentary is to review recent contributions to this topic, and to consider future directions and major omissions. Through this review it is apparent that the current published deformable models can be subdivided into those that as an input either: (1) solely use plate motions to drive deformation, or (2) require stretching or beta factor. Deformable models are resolving some outstanding issues with plate reconstructions, but major simplifications and modelling assumptions remain. Primarily, obtaining model constraints on the spatio-temporal evolution of deformation is an outstanding problem. Deformable plate models likely work best when the kinematics of smaller plates are included. However, questions remain regarding how to define such blocks, and their kinematic histories, whilst some work suggests that inclusion of such entities is negated through quantitative restorations.

Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 158 , Issue 9 , September 2021 , pp. 1704 - 1710
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ady, BE and Whittaker, RC (2019) Examining the influence of tectonic inheritance on the evolution of the North Atlantic using a palinspastic deformable plate reconstruction. In Fifty Years of the Wilson Cycle Concept in Plate Tectonics (eds Wilson, RW, Houseman, GA, McCaffrey, KJW, Doré, AG and Butler, SJH), pp. 245–64. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, K, Franke, D, Trumbull, R, Schnabel, M, Heyde, I, Schreckenberger, B, Koopmann, H, Bauer, K, Jokat, W and Krawczyk, CM (2014) Asymmetry of high-velocity lower crust on the South Atlantic rifted margins and implications for the interplay of magmatism and tectonics in continental breakup. Solid Earth 5, 1011–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biari, Y, Klingelhoefer, F, Franke, D, Funck, T, Loncke, L, Sibuet, JC, Basile, C, Austin, JA, Rigoti, CA, Sahabi, M, Benabdellouahed, M and Roest, WR (2021) Structure and evolution of the Atlantic passive margins: a review of existing rifting models from wide-angle seismic data and kinematic reconstruction. Marine and Petroleum Geology 126, 104898.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cao, X, Zahirovic, S, Li, S, Suo, Y, Wang, P, Liu, J and Müller, RD (2020) A deforming plate tectonic model of the South China Block since the Jurassic. Gondwana Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2020.11.010 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coltice, N, Husson, L, Faccenna, C and Arnould, M (2019) What drives tectonic plates? Science Advances 5, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunbar, JA and Sawyer, DS (1987) Implications of continental crust extension for plate reconstruction: an example from the Gulf of Mexico. Tectonics 6, 739–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagles, G, Pérez-Díaz, L and Scarselli, N (2015) Getting over continent ocean boundaries. Earth-Science Reviews 151, 244–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbing, J, Dilixiati, Y, Haas, P, Ferraccioli, F and Scheiber-Enslin, S (2021) East Antarctica magnetically linked to its ancient neighbours in Gondwana. Scientific Reports 11, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foulger, GR, Doré, T, Emeleus, CH, Franke, D, Geoffroy, L, Gernigon, L, Hey, R, Holdsworth, RE, Hole, M, Höskuldsson, Á, Julian, B, Kusznir, N, Martinez, F, McCaffrey, KJW, Natland, JH, Peace, AL, Petersen, K, Schiffer, C, Stephenson, R and Stoker, M (2020) The Iceland Microcontinent and a continental Greenland-Iceland-Faroe Ridge. Earth-Science Reviews 206, 102926.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gac, S, Minakov, A, Shephard, GE, Faleide, JI and Planke, S (2020) Deformation analysis in the Barents Sea in relation to Paleogene transpression along the Greenland-Eurasia plate boundary. Tectonics 39, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gion, A, Williams, S and Muller, D (2017) A reconstruction of the Eurekan Orogeny incorporating deformation constraints. Tectonics 36, 304–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, RG and Stein, S (1992) Global tectonics and space geodesy. Science 256, 333–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greiner, B (1999) Euler rotations in plate-tectonic reconstructions. Computers and Geosciences 25, 209–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurnis, M, Van Avendonk, H, Gulick, SPS, Stock, J, Sutherland, R, Hightower, E, Shuck, B, Patel, J, Williams, E, Kardell, D, Herzig, E, Idini, B, Graham, K, Estep, J and Carrington, L (2019) Incipient subduction at the contact with stretched continental crust: the Puysegur Trench. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 520, 212–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurnis, M, Yang, T, Cannon, J, Turner, M, Williams, S, Flament, N and Müller, RD (2018) Global tectonic reconstructions with continuously deforming and evolving rigid plates. Computers and Geosciences 116, 32–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, MT, Welford, JK and Peace, AL (2020) Investigating the role of the Galicia Bank on the formation of the North West Iberian margin using deformable plate tectonic models. Tectonophysics 789, 228537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kneller, EA, Albertz, M, Karner, GD and Johnson, CA (2013) Testing inverse kinematic models of paleocrustal thickness in extensional systems with high-resolution forward thermo-mechanical models. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 14, 2383–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kneller, EA, Johnson, CA, Karner, GD, Einhorn, J and Queffelec, TA (2012) Inverse methods for modeling non-rigid plate kinematics: application to Mesozoic plate reconstructions of the Central Atlantic. Computers and Geosciences 49, 217–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreemer, C, Blewitt, G and Klein, EC (2014) A geodetic plate motion and Global Strain Rate Model. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 15, 3849–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, S, Ma, P, Zhang, B and Gurnis, M (2021) The horizontal slab beneath East Asia and its subdued surface dynamic response. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126, 1–19.Google Scholar
Lobkovsky, LI (2016) Deformable plate tectonics and regional geodynamic model of the Arctic region and Northeastern Asia. Russian Geology and Geophysics 57, 371–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, KJ, Maloney, KT, Zahirovic, S, Williams, SE, Seton, M and Müller, RD (2016) Global plate boundary evolution and kinematics since the late Paleozoic. Global and Planetary Change 146, 226–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazzotti, S and Adams, J (2005) Rates and uncertainties on seismic moment and deformation in eastern Canada. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 110, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazzotti, S and Gueydan, F (2018) Control of tectonic inheritance on continental intraplate strain rate and seismicity. Tectonophysics 746, 602–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKenzie, DP and Parker, RL 1967. The North Pacific: an example of tectonics on a sphere. Nature 216, 1276–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merdith, AS, Williams, SE, Collins, AS, Tetley, MG, Mulder, JA, Blades, ML, Young, A, Armistead, SE, Cannon, J, Zahirovic, S and Müller, RD (2020) Extending full-plate tectonic models into deep time: linking the Neoproterozoic and the Phanerozoic. Earth-Science Reviews 214, 103477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merdith, AS, Williams, SE, Sascha, B, Collins, AS and Muller, D (2019) Rift and plate boundary evolution across two supercontinent cycles. Global and Planetary Change 173, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, WJ (1968) Rises, trenches, great faults, and crustal blocks. Journal of Geophysical Research 73, 1959–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, RD, Cannon, J, Qin, X, Watson, RJ, Gurnis, M, Williams, S, Pfaffelmoser, T, Seton, M, Russell, SHJ and Zahirovic, S (2018) GPlates: building a virtual Earth through deep time. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 19, 2243–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, RD, Zahirovic, S, Williams, SE, Cannon, J, Seton, M, Bower, DJ, Tetley, M, Heine, C, Le Breton, E, Liu, S, Russell, SHJ, Yang, T, Leonard, J and Gurnis, M (2019) A global plate model including lithospheric deformation along major rifts and orogens since the Triassic. Tectonics 38, 1884–1907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neuharth, D, Brune, S, Glerum, A, Heine, C and Welford, JK (2021) Formation of continental microplates through rift linkage: numerical modelling and its application to the Flemish Cap and Sao Paulo Plateau. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 22, e2020GC009615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nirrengarten, M, Manatschal, G, Tugend, J, Kusznir, N and Sauter, D (2018) Kinematic evolution of the southern North Atlantic: implications for the formation of hyper-extended rift systems. Tectonics 37, 89–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peace, AL, McCaffrey, KJW, Imber, J, Phethean, J, Nowell, G, Gerdes, K and Dempsey, E (2016) An evaluation of Mesozoic rift-related magmatism on the margins of the Labrador Sea: implications for rifting and passive margin asymmetry. Geosphere 12, 1701–1724. https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01341.1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peace, AL and Welford, JK (2020) ‘Conjugate margins’ – an oversimplification of the complex southern North Atlantic rift and spreading system? Interpretation 8, SH33–SH49. https://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2019-0087.1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peace, AL, Welford, JK, Ball, PJ and Nirrengarten, M (2019) Deformable plate tectonic models of the southern North Atlantic. Journal of Geodynamics 128, 11–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peron-Pinvidic, G, Gernigon, L, Gaina, C and Ball, P (2012) Insights from the Jan Mayen system in the Norwegian-Greenland sea-I. Mapping of a microcontinent. Geophysical Journal International 191, 385–412. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05639.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peron-Pinvidic, G and Manatschal, G (2010) From microcontinents to extensional allochthons: witnesses of how continents rift and break apart? Petroleum Geoscience 16, 189–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phethean, J, Kalnins, L, van Hunen, J, Biffi, PG, Davies, RJ and McCaffrey, KJW (2016) Madagascar’s escape from Africa: a high-resolution plate reconstruction for the Western Somali Basin and implications for supercontinent dispersal. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 17, 2825–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romagny, A, Jolivet, L, Menant, A, Bessière, E, Maillard, A, Canva, A, Gorini, C and Augier, R (2020) Detailed tectonic reconstructions of the Western Mediterranean region for the last 35 Ma: insights on driving mechanisms. BSGF – Earth Sciences Bulletin 191, 1–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schiffer, C, Peace, AL, Phethean, J, Gernigon, L, McCaffrey, KJW, Petersen, KD and Foulger, GR (2019) The Jan Mayen Microplate Complex and the Wilson Cycle. In Fifty Years of the Wilson Cycle Concept in Plate Tectonics (eds Wilson, RW, Houseman, GA, McCaffrey, KJW, Doré, AG and Butler, SJH), pp. 393–414. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 470.Google Scholar
Scotese, CR (2009) Late Proterozoic plate tectonics and palaeogeography: a tale of two supercontinents, Rodinia and Pannotia. In Global Neoproterozoic Petroleum Systems: The Emerging Potential in North Africa (eds Le Heron, DP, Howard, JP, Alhassi, AM, Anderson, LM, Morton, AC and Fanning, CM), pp. 67–83. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 326.Google Scholar
Seton, M, Müller, RD, Zahirovic, S, Gaina, C, Torsvik, T, Shephard, G, Talsma, A, Gurnis, M, Turner, M, Maus, S and Chandler, M (2012) Global continental and ocean basin reconstructions since 200 Ma. Earth-Science Reviews 113, 212–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M, Kurtz, J, Richards, S, Forster, M and Lister, G (2007) A re-evaluation of the breakup of South America and Africa using deformable mesh reconstruction software. Journal of the Virtual Explorer 25, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srivastava, SP and Verhoef, J (1992) Evolution of Mesozoic sedimentary basins around the North Central Atlantic: a preliminary plate kinematic solution. In Basins on the Atlantic Seaboard (ed. Parnell, J), pp. 397–420. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 62.Google Scholar
Stephenson, R, Schiffer, C, Peace, A, Nielsen, SB and Jess, S (2020) Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic basin inversion and palaeostress fields in the North Atlantic-western Alpine-Tethys realm: implications for intraplate tectonics. Earth-Science Reviews 210, 103252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vérard, C (2019) Plate tectonic modelling: review and perspectives. Geological Magazine 156, 208–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voight, B (1974) Deformable-plate tectonics: ductile deformation of old and new lithosphere: geologic notes. AAPG Bulletin 58, 1403–6.Google Scholar
Welford, JK, Peace, AL, Geng, M, Dehler, SA and Dickie, K (2018) Crustal structure of Baffin Bay from constrained three-dimensional gravity inversion and deformable plate tectonic models. Geophysical Journal International 214, 1281–1300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittaker, JM, Williams, SE, Halpin, JA, Wild, TJ, Stilwell, JD, Jourdan, F and Daczko, NR (2016) Eastern Indian Ocean microcontinent formation driven by plate motion changes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 454, 203–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, SE, Whittaker, JM and Müller, RD (2011) Full-fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate Australian-Antarctic margins. Tectonics 30, TC6012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoshida, M (2010) Preliminary three-dimensional model of mantle convection with deformable, mobile continental lithosphere. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 295, 205–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoshida, M (2013) Mantle temperature under drifting deformable continents during the supercontinent cycle. Geophysical Research Letters 40, 681–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zatman, S, Gordon, RG and Mutnuri, K (2005) Dynamics of diffuse oceanic plate boundaries: insensitivity to rheology. Geophysical Journal International 162, 239–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zatman, S, Gordon, RG and Richards, MA (2001) Analytic models for the dynamics of diffuse oceanic plate boundaries. Geophysical Journal International 145, 145–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhu, Y, Liu, S, Zhang, B, Gurnis, M and Ma, P (2021) Reconstruction of the Cenozoic deformation of the Bohai Bay Basin, North China. Basin Research 33, 364–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar