This is a past event
Please join us on Thursday, 26th of January for a research seminar presented by Dr Christian Schiffer of Durham University on “A model for the formation of the Jan Mayen Microplate”. All are welcome to attend.
Abstract:
The opening of the North Atlantic is one of the dominant geodynamic events that have shaped the present-day passive margins of Europe, Greenland and North America. Although well-studied, the evolution of the North Atlantic remains partly enigmatic, including the origin and meaning of the Jan Mayen Microplate (JMMP). Recent geophysical studies have imaged the crustal structure of this microplate, north of Iceland and allowed a detailed palaeogeographic reconstruction of the rift and spreading history. However, the understanding of the mechanisms leading to separation of microplates in between two conjugate margins is still incomplete. We discuss a possible scenario that have led to the formation of the JMMP. We conclude that its separation may have been triggered by regional plate-tectonic reorganisations (i.e. change of stress field) and the influence of different inherited structures. We suggest that the axis of rifting and continental breakup, and thereby the lateral extent of the JMMP, was determined by Caledonian suture zones. Its length (north-south extent) may be linked to the presence of different E-W oriented deformation zones (e.g. fracture zones, transform margins, highly oblique rift systems), the location of which may have been controlled by the presence of Precambrian terrane boundaries in Scandinavia and Greenland.
- Venue
- Fraser Noble FN2