This multi-author book has been prepared by an international group of geoscientists that have been active in rift research since the late 1960s. In 1984, an informal, grass-roots study group was initiated to compare individual research results and to explore in greater depth the apparent differences and similarities in the interpretations from various rift systems. The group became known as the CREST working group, an acronym of Continental Rifts: Evolution, Structure and Tectonics, which not surprisingly became the title of this book.Continental Rifts: Evolution, Structure, Tectonics presents an overview of the present state of understanding and knowledge of the processes of continental rifting from a multidisciplinary, lithospheric scale perspective. The chapters have been structured on each rift system in approximately the same synoptic sequence, so as to facilitate comparisons of rifts by the reader. The book complements its predecessors by presenting a more unified picture. It succeeds in presenting the status of a representative majority of the continental rift systems that have been at the forefront of recent research. For students and experienced researchers alike, this book will be of significant value in assessing the current state of knowledge and in serving as a framework for future research.

This work reviews the mechanism of rifting with a focus on pre-existing tectonic weaknesses in pre-rift and/or basement rocks, i.e., on tectonic inheritance. The passive margins that are studied in this book are the Norwegian Continental Shelf, the Eastern North America and the East and West Indian Continental Margins. The continental rifts that have been analysed are the East African Rift System, the Brazilian Continental Rift Systems and the European Cenozoic Rift System. It states how rifts and passive margins serve as valuable locations for hydrocarbon exploration. Tectonic inheritance/heritage examines the influence of pre-existing/pre-rift elements on the geometry, genesis and propagation of rift-related faults. Such elements include anisotropies in the shallow crustal levels, as well as the rheology of the lithosphere. Inheritance greatly influences the architecture of rifted passive margins including the attitude of faults and geometry of horsts, (half-) grabens, transfer zones etc. Inheritance is also a determining factor in the width of rifts and rift shoulder topography.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Oslo, Norway, July 27-August 5, 1977

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Oslo, Norway, July 27-August 5, 1977

Translation of the Russian edition of 1988 on peculiarities of the Arabian-Nubian Shield in the Precambrian, prerift magmatism in the Red Sea Rift zone, evolution of the crust in rift forming zones.

Non-continental margins lack thick lavas that are generated as continental crust thins immediately prior to the onset of seafloor spreading. They may form up to 30 per cent of passive margins around the world. This volume contains papers examining an active margin, fossil margins that border present day oceans, and remnants of margins exposed today in the Alps. The papers present evidence across a range of scales, from individual mineral grains, through borelide cores and outcrop, to whole margins at the crustal scale.

The East African Rift System: Geodynamics and Natural Resource Potentials provides state-of-the-art knowledge and skills on how to explore, model, and extract the resources, using the East African Rift System (EARS) as a model. Each aspect to be discussed in the East African Rift System shall have its equivalent case study and readers interested in each rift of the world will find something connected or linked to his/her rift system of interest, be it a sub-chapter on earthquakes, geothermal energy models, etc. The East African Rift System: Geodynamics and Natural Resource Potentials also describes rifting models of all other known rifts (especially continental rifts) of the world such as the Basin and Range Province, Rio Grande (USA); Rhine Graben (France and Germany); the Tibetan Rohai (Tibet); the Shaanxi Bohai (China); Lake Baikal (Russia); North Island (Australia); and the Aegean Sea Rift (Turkey). Key aspects to be presented shall be: rift type, rift age, rift physical dimensions, geothermal gradient models, natural resources, and models of exploration. - Connects the science of rift systems to their economic potentials using the East African Rift System as the prime example - Includes discussions and case studies from rift systems around the world - Features chapters dedicated to natural resources, such as mineral deposit types (Au, He, REE, U) and the basic principles of their exploration?