Lyell Collection
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Smallwood, J. R.
Right arrow Articles by White, R. S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2002; v. 197; p. 15-37;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2002.197.01.02
© 2002 Geological Society of London

North Atlantic Tectonics

Ridge-plume interaction in the North Atlantic and its influence on continental breakup and seafloor spreading

J. R. Smallwood1 & R. S. White2

1 Amerada Hess Limited, 33 Grosvenor Place, London SW1X 7HY, UK
2 Bullard Laboratories, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0EZ, UK rwhite{at}esc.cam.ac.uk

Development of the rifted continental margins and subsequent seafloor spreading in the North Atlantic was dominated by interaction between the Iceland mantle plume and the continental and oceanic rifts. There is evidence that at the time of breakup a thin sheet of particularly hot asthenospheric mantle propagated beneath the lithosphere across a 2500 km diameter region. This event caused transient uplift, massive volcanism and intrusive magmatism, and a rapid transition from continental stretching to seafloor spreading. Subsequently, the initial plume instability developed to an axisymmetric shape, with the c. 100 km diameter central core of the Iceland plume generating 30–40 km thick crust along the Greenland-Iceland-Faroes Ridge. The surrounding 2000 km diameter region received the lateral outflow from the plume, causing regional elevation and the generation of thicker and shallower than normal oceanic crust. We document both long-term (10–20 Ma) and short-term (3–5 Ma) fluctuations in the temperature and/or flow rate of the mantle plume by their prominent effects on the oceanic crust formed south of Iceland. Lateral ridge jumps in the locus of rifting are frequent above the regions of hottest asthenospheric mantle, occurring in both the early history of seafloor spreading, when the mantle was particularly hot, and throughout the generation of the Greenland-Iceland-Faroes Ridge.





This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Journal of the Geological SocietyHome page
R. Mjelde, A.J. Breivik, T. Raum, E. Mittelstaedt, G. Ito, and J.I. Faleide
Magmatic and tectonic evolution of the North Atlantic
Journal of the Geological Society, 2008; 165: 31 - 42.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
J. R. Smallwood
Uplift, compression and the Cenozoic Faroe-Shetland sediment budget
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2008; 306: 137 - 152.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of the Geological SocietyHome page
D. W. Jolley and A. C. Morton
Understanding basin sedimentary provenance: evidence from allied phytogeographic and heavy mineral analysis of the Palaeocene of the NE Atlantic
Journal of the Geological Society, 2007; 164: 553 - 563.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]