Rifted margins mark the transition between continents and oceans, which are the two first-order types of land masses on Earth. Rifted margins contribute to our understanding of lithospheric extensional processes and are studied by various disciplines of Earth Science (geology, geophysics, geochemistry). Thanks to better and wider public access to high-quality data, our understanding in these areas has improved significantly over these last two decades. This book summarizes this knowledge evolution and details where we stand today, with a series of case examples included. It is structured in a practical way, with concise text descriptions and comprehensive diagrams. Continental Rifted Margins 2 is a useful resource for students and newcomers to the rifted margin community – a "cookbook” of sorts to facilitate the reading of scientific publications and provide basic definitions and explanations.

Rifted margins mark the transition between continents and oceans, which are the two first-order types of land masses on Earth. Rifted margins contribute to our understanding of lithospheric extensional processes and are studied by various disciplines of Earth Science (geology, geophysics, geochemistry). Thanks to better and wider public access to high-quality data, our understanding in these areas has improved significantly over these last two decades. This book summarizes this knowledge evolution and details where we stand today, with a series of case examples included. It is structured in a practical way, with concise text descriptions and comprehensive diagrams. Continental Rifted Margins 1 is a useful resource for students and newcomers to the rifted margin community - a "cookbook" of sorts to facilitate the reading of scientific publications and provide basic definitions and explanations.

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.

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.

This textbook explains how mountains are formed and why there are old and young mountains. It provides a reconstruction of the Earths paleogeography and shows why the shapes of South America and Africa fit so well together. Furthermore, it explains why the Pacific is surrounded by a ring of volcanos and earthquake-prone areas while the edges of the Atlantic are relatively peaceful. This thoroughly revised textbook edition addresses all these questions and more through the presentation and explanation of the geodynamic processes upon which the theory of continental drift is based and which have led to the concept of plate tectonics. It is a source of information for students of geology, geophysics, geography, geosciences in general, general natural sciences, as well as professionals, and interested layman.