ALBERT

Description: The continental margins of East Africa and West Madagascar are a frontier for hydrocarbon exploration. However, the links between the regional tectonic history of sedimentary basins and margin evolution are relatively poorly understood. We use a plate kinematic model built by joint inversion of seafloor spreading data as a starting point to analyse the evolution of conjugate margin segments and corresponding sedimentary basins. By correlating megasequences in the basins to the plate model we produce a margin-scale tectono-stratigraphic framework comprising four phases of tectonic development. During Phase 1 (183–133 Ma) Madagascar/India/Antarctica separated from Africa, first by rifting and later, after breakup (at ca. 170–165 Ma), by seafloor spreading in the West Somali and Mozambique basins and dextral strike-slip movement on the Davie Fracture Zone. Mixed continental/marine syn-rift megasequences were deposited in rift basins followed by shallow-marine early postrift sequences. In Phase 2 (133–89 Ma) spreading ceased in the West Somali basin and Madagascar became fixed to the African plate. However, spreading continued between the African and Antarctic plates and deposition of the early postrift megasequence continued. The onset of spreading on the Mascarene Ridge separated India from Madagascar in Phase 3 (89–60 Ma). Phase 3 was characterized by the onset of deposition of the late postrift megasequence with continued deep marine sedimentation. At the onset of Phase 4 (60 Ma onward) spreading on the Mascarene ridge ceased and the Carlsberg Ridge propagated south to form the Central Indian Ridge, separating India from the Seychelles and the Mascarene Plateau. Late postrift deposition continued until a major unconformity linked to the development of the East African Rift System marked the change to deposition of the modern margin megasequence. © 2018 The Authors. Basin Research © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of Sedimentologists

Description: The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) is underlain by a series of low‐lying subglacial sedimentary basins. The extent, geology, and basal topography of these sedimentary basins are important boundary conditions governing the dynamics of the overlying ice sheet. This is particularly pertinent for basins close to the grounding line wherein the EAIS is grounded below sea level and therefore potentially vulnerable to rapid retreat. Here we analyze newly acquired airborne geophysical data over the Pensacola‐Pole Basin (PPB), a previously unexplored sector of the EAIS. Using a combination of gravity and magnetic and ice‐penetrating radar data, we present the first detailed subglacial sedimentary basin model for the PPB. Radar data reveal that the PPB is defined by a topographic depression situated ~500 m below sea level. Gravity and magnetic depth‐to‐source modeling indicate that the southern part of the basin is underlain by a sedimentary succession 2–3 km thick. This is interpreted as an equivalent of the Beacon Supergroup and associated Ferrar dolerites that are exposed along the margin of East Antarctica. However, we find that similar rocks appear to be largely absent from the northern part of the basin, close to the present‐day grounding line. In addition, the eastern margin of the basin is characterized by a major geological boundary and a system of overdeepened subglacial troughs. We suggest that these characteristics of the basin may reflect the behavior of past ice sheets and/or exert an influence on the present‐day dynamics of the overlying EAIS.

Description: Digital grids of basement age of the world’s oceans are essential for modern geodynamic and paleoceanographic studies. Any such grid is built using a plate kinematic model, whose accuracy and reli- ability directly influence the accuracy and reliability of the grid. We present a seafloor age grid for the South Atlantic based on a recent high-resolution plate kinematic model. The grid is built from a data set of points whose ages are defined in or for the plate kinematic model, incorporating breaks at tectonic boundaries like fracture zones where the age function is discontinuous. We compare predictions of the new grid and of a previously published one, which is based on an older plate kinematic model, to magnetic isochron pick data sets. The comparison shows the new grid to provide a more reliable depiction of seafloor age in the South Atlantic. Numerical estimates of the new grid’s uncertainty are determined by interpolation between (1) misfits at grid cells coinciding with magnetic isochron ages, (2) misfits implied by locational uncertainties in predicted isochrons propagated from uncertainties in the plate kinematic model, and (3) by the proxim- ities of cells to fracture zone traces or ridge-jump scars. Estimated total uncertainty is 〈10 My for 94% of the grid and 〈5 My for 72%, but much larger in areas where magnetic anomaly data are scarce (such as the Cretaceous Normal Superchron) and in the vicinity of long-offset fracture zones.

Description: Antarctica is the largest reservoir of ice on Earth. Understanding its ice sheet dynamics is crucial to unraveling past global climate change and making robust climatic and sea level predictions. Of the basic parameters that shape and control ice flow, the most poorly known is geothermal heat flux. Direct observations of heat flux are difficult to obtain in Antarctica, and until now continent-wide heat flux maps have only been derived from low-resolution satellite magnetic and seismological data. We present a high-resolution heat flux map and associated uncertainty derived from spectral analysis of the most advanced continental compilation of airborne magnetic data. Small-scale spatial variability and features consistent with known geology are better reproduced than in previous models, between 36% and 50%. Our high-resolution heat flux map and its uncertainty distribution provide an important new boundary condition to be used in studies on future subglacial hydrology, ice sheet dynamics, and sea level change.