[1] Extension of the continental lithosphere leads to the formation of rift basins and ultimately may create passive continental margins. The mechanisms that operate during the early stage of crustal extension are still intensely debated. We present the results from coincident multichannel seismic and wide-angle seismic profiles that transect across the northern Tyrrhenian Sea Basin. The profil...

Introduction: One of the major and outstanding problem in Venus geology is: Does Venus possess a non-basaltic crustal component which may be an analog to the continental crust of Earth [e.g. 1]? Detailed photogeologic analysis of plains units that make up the majority of the surface of Venus strongly suggests that the plains were formed by eruptions of low-viscosity lavas [2-4]. Such a morpholo...

The Precambrian Dullstroom Formation of South Africa, which is predominantly composed of basaltic andesites interbedded with subordinate sedimentary and felsic volcanic strata, represents the ®rst phase of an extended period of magmatism that was responsible for the Bushveld Magmatic Province, including the extrusive Rooiberg Group and the intrusive Bushveld Complex. New geochemical and isotopi...

Subducted sediments play an important role in arc magmatism and crust–mantle recycling. Models of continental growth, continental composition, convergent margin magmatism and mantle heterogeneity all require a better understanding of the mass and chemical fluxes associated with subducting sediments. We have evaluated subducting sediments on a global basis in order to better define their chemica...

Abstract Break-off of part the down-going plate during continental collision occurs due to tensile stresses built-up between deep and shallow slab, for which buoyancy is increased because continental-crust subduction. governs subsequent orogenic evolution but real-time observations are rare as it happens over geologically short times. Here we present a finite-frequency tomography, based on join...

In the southern Tibetan plateau, which is considered to be the ongoing India–Eurasia continental collision zone, tracing of the Indian crustal front beneath Tibet is still controversial. We conducted deep subsurface electrical modeling in southern Tibet and discuss the geometry of the front of the Indian crust. Three areas along the Yarlung-Zangbo river zone for which previous magnetotelluric (...