Processes of Continental Rifting

Dedication to S. Thomas Crough (1947-1982)

Preface

List of Authors

Introduction—Processes of Continental Rifting

Models of Rifting

Mechanism of Graben Formation—the Wedge Subsidence Hypothesis

Rifts and Swells: Geophysical Constraints on Causality

Mechanisms of Active and Passive Rifting

Mechanisms of Uplift Preceding Rifting

Convective Thinning of the Lithosphere: A Mechanism for Rifting and Mid-Plate Volcanism on Earth, Venus, and Mars

Mechanical Aspects of Continental Rifting

Submarine Rifting at Mid-Ocean Ridges

Hotspot Tracks and the Early Rifting of the Atlantic

Mechanism of Subsidence of Ancient Cratonic Rift Basins

Phenomena of Pulsation Tectonics Related to the Breakup of the Eastern North America Continental Margin

Geophysical Constraints on Rifting

Gravity Study of the Central African Rift System: A Model of Continental Disruption. 1. The Ngaoundere and Abu Gabra Rifts

Gravity Study of the Central African Rift System: A Model of Continental Disruption. 2. The Darfur Domal Uplift and Associated Cainozoic Volcanism

Baikal Rift: Active or Passive? — Comparison of the Baikal and Kenya Rift Zones

Processes of Planetary Rifting as Seen in the Rifting and Break Up of Africa

The Distribution and Implications of Heat Flow from the Gregory Rift in Kenya

Constraints on Rift Thermal Processes from Heat Flow and Uplift

Magnetotelluric Results Opposing Magma Origin of Crustal Conductors in the Rio Grande Rift

Crustal Structure of the Northern Mississippi Embayment and a Comparison with Other Continental Rift Zones

The Role of Seismic Refraction Data for Studies of the Origin an Evolution of Continental Rifts

Geological and Geochemical Constraints on Rifting

Crustal Structure of Rifted Continental Margins: Geological Constraints from the Proterozoic Rocks of the Canadian Shield

The Role of Rifting in the Tectonic Development of the Midcontinent, U.S.A.

Geologic and Geochemical Evidence for the Nature and Development of the Middle Proterozoic (Keweenawan) Midcontinent Rift of North America

Timing and Chemistry of Igneous Events Associated with the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen

Origin of the Oslo Graben in Relation to the Hercynian-Alleghenian Orogeny and Lithospheric Rifting in the North Atlantic

Active Versus Passive Continental Rifting: Evidence from the West African Rift System

Tectonic and Geologic Evolution of the Española Basin, Rio Grande Rift: Structure, Rate of Extension, and Relation to the State of Stress in the Western United States

The Morton-Black Hypothesis for the Thinning of Continental Crust—Revisited in Western Afar

Continental Rift Jumps

Surface Deformation in Volcanic Rift Zones

The Chemical and Thermal Evolution of Rifts

Major Stages of Rifting Evolution in the Earth's History

Resources Associated with Rifting

Continental Rifting and Porphyry-Molybdenum Occurrences in the Oslo Region, Norway

Accumulation of Fossil Fuels and Metallic Minerals in Active and Ancient Rift Lakes

Geothermal Resources of Rifts: A Comparison of the Rio Grande Rift and the Salton Trough

Subject Index