Fundamental crustal lineaments and transverse structural zones in continental rifts

Abstract

Seismic interpretation and structural mapping of transverse zones in the North Sea Rift have revealed a connection between the transverse zones and fundamental basement lineaments in N.W. Europe. Major offsets of the Mesozoic North Sea Rift are all directly aligned with lineaments of Caledonian and Tornquistian affinity. Moreover, a review of patterns of major basement faulting in the Rio Grande, East African, Rhine and Baikal Rifts has shown that a more general relationship holds between transverse rift structures and intersecting basement lineaments. The additional observation that magmatic centers are preferentially located along the traces of the basement lineament, often for great distances away from the rifts, suggests that the transverse zones developed in direct response to deep-seated dislocations along the lineaments. This in turn points to a more active role for the basement lineaments in the early processes of rift propagation than hitherto suspected. -from Author