This volume contains papers giving an interdisciplinary review of 12 major rift systems from North and South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. These papers are written by an international group of academic and industrial specialists each of whom is most knowledgeable about the respective rift. The analyzed rifts were selected on the basis of availability of an as-complete-as-possible geological and geophysical data base. Thirteen papers deal with geodynamic processes governing the evolution of rifts.A comprehensive digest of the available stratigraphic, structural, geophysical and petrological data, together with an extensive list of references, is provided for each of the analyzed rift systems. The megatectonic setting and dynamics of evolution of each basin is discussed. Geodynamic models are tested against the record of the analyzed rifts.The question of "active" as against "passive" rifting is addressed. The rifts analyzed range in age from Precambrian to Recent and cover a wide spectrum of megatectonic settings. There is discussion of the evolution of rifts in a plate-tectonic frame. The case histories are followed by discussions addressing the global setting of rifts and geodynamic processes active during the development of rifted basins.

This volume discusses the importance of rift systems and the structural evolution of the Earth. It analyses active rifts in East Africa, China and Siberia, and presents overviews of sequence stratigraphy in rifts and structural controls on clastic and carbonate sedimentation.

The seismically and volcanically active East African Rift System is an ideal laboratory for continental break-up processes: it encompasses all stages of rift development. Its northernmost sectors within the Afar volcanic province include failed rifts, nascent sea-floor spreading, and youthful passive continental margins associated with one or more mantle plumes. A number of models have been proposed to explain the success and failure of continental rift zones, but there remains no consensus on how strain localizes to achieve rupture of initially 125-250 km-thick plates, or on the interaction between the plates and asthenospheric processes. This collection of papers provides new structural, stratigraphic, geochemical and geophysical data and numerical models needed to resolve fundamental questions concerning continental break-up and mantle plume processes. The focus is on how mantle melt intrudes and is distributed through the plate, and how this magma intrusion process controls along-axis segmentation and facilitates break-up.

This user-friendly reference for students and researchers presents the basic mathematical theory, before introducing modelling of key geodynamic processes.

This book summarizes the geological knowledge accumulated on Afar in the last 60 years, demonstrating that it is, and will remain, a real “hot spot” for geological and geophysical research. It provides insights into the Earth processes along diverging plate boundaries, the study of both the continental and oceanic lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere, and margins and transitions including magmatic, volcanic, tectonic, sedimentary, hydrothermal and geodynamic processes. The Afar triangle is a geological depression that developed where the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and East African Rift Valley meet. It is considered to be one of the Earth system’s most important mantle plumes. In 1967, when the first expedition was organized, there was little information on the geology of the area, and even geographic base maps were lacking. However, the first satellite photographs from the Apollo and Gemini space missions offered a complete picture of the Red Sea-Gulf of Aden region, providing a new vision of the Afar triangle. The book describes the unique geological features that make Afar the only place in the world where an oceanic plate boundary with all its successive steps of development can be observed in the open air. It also presents the Afar triangle as one of the cradles of first, now extinct hominids. The Middle Awash area contains sites of several fossil discoveries, such as the well-known Lucy. The hydrothermal processes in Afar provide conditions suitable for the study of the most primitive forms of life (archaebacterial) and it is also one of the few places where significant quantities of telluric energy are available at the surface for geothermal development. Further, the area has economically interesting mineral deposits and illustrates a number of current climate change issues. In addition to providing geological information, the book shows that Afar is an area where an individual human population developed with its own language and culture, and which adapted to the rugged landscape and extremely dry and hot climate. It is a valuable resource for scientists and students, and also serves the needs of the Afar nation, currently split in three different countries as a result of recent historical events.

This volume presents an up-to-date account of the development of the North Sea Rift system and its associated sedimentary basins, with contributions by leading researchers. The work examines tectonic and palaeogeographic development, using evidence from proposed crustal models, and discusses the geological mechanism of rifting and its influence on the structure and patterns of sedimentation in the basins and their bearing on the potential for oil and gas accumulation. A comprehensive gravity map is included.

Investigating the complex interplay between tectonics and sedimentation is a key endeavor in modern earth science. Many of the world's leading researchers in this field have been brought together in this volume to provide concise overviews of the current state of the subject. The plate tectonic revolution of the 1960's provided the framework for detailed models on the structure of orogens and basins, summarized in a 1995 textbook edited by Busby and Ingersoll. Tectonics of Sedimentary Basins: Recent Advances focuses on key topics or areas where the greatest strides forward have been made, while also providing on-line access to the comprehensive 1995 book. Breakthroughs in new techniques are described in Section 1, including detrital zircon geochronology, cosmogenic nuclide dating, magnetostratigraphy, 3-D seismic, and basin modelling. Section 2 presents the new models for rift, post-rift, transtensional and strike slip basin settings. Section 3 addresses the latest ideas in convergent margin tectonics, including the sedimentary record of subduction intiation and subduction, flat-slab subduction, and arc-continent collision; it then moves inboard to forearc basins and intra-arc basins, and ends with a series of papers formed under compessional strain regimes, as well as post-orogenic intramontane basins. Section 4 examines the origin of plate interior basins, and the sedimentary record of supercontinent formation. This book is required reading for any advanced student or professional interested in sedimentology, plate tectonics, or petroleum geoscience. Additional resources for this book can be found at: www.wiley.com/go/busby/sedimentarybasins.

Pinxian Wang and Qianyu Li The South China Sea (SCS) (Fig. 1. 1) offers a special attraction for Earth scientists world-wide because of its location and its well-preserved hemipelagic sediments. As the largest one of the marginal seas separating Asia from the Paci?c, the largest continent from the largest ocean, the SCS functions as a focal point in land-sea int- actions of the Earth system. Climatically, the SCS is located between the Western Paci?c Warm Pool, the centre of global heating at the sea level, and the Tibetan Plateau, the centre of heating at an altitude of 5,000m. Geomorphologically, the SCS lies to the east of the highest peak on earth, Zhumulangma or Everest in the Himalayas (8,848m elevation) and to the west of the deepest trench in the ocean, Philippine Trench (10,497m water depth) (Wang P. 2004). Biogeographically, the SCS belongs to the so-called “East Indies Triangle” where modern marine and terrestrial biodiversity reaches a global maximum (Briggs 1999). Among the major marginal sea basins from the west Paci?c, the SCS presents some of the best conditions for accumulating complete paleoclimatic records in its hemipelagic deposits. These records are favorable for high-resolution pa- oceanographic studies because of high sedimentation rates and good carbonate preservation. It may not be merely a coincidence that two cores from the southern 14 SCS were among the ?rst several cores in the world ocean used by AMS C dating for high-resolution stratigraphy (Andree et al. 1986; Broecker et al. 1988).