Active rift systems

Figure 1.164. Distribution of Cenozoic basalts and active rift systems in the northeast China region. Arrows indicate the horizontal convective current in the upper mantle associated with the upwelling of the asthenosphere beneath the region. A Baikal Rift B Shanxi Graben C Tancheng-Lujiang Fault D Okinawa Trough (Tatsumi et al., 1990).

Schmidt and Rowley (1986) assumed that a continental rift formed between East and West Antarctica and subsequently widened into the Transantarctic Rift System by extension and thinning of the continental crust. At about the same time, continental flood basalts were erupted and dolerite sills were intruded into the flat-lying sedimentary Beacon rocks of the Transantarctic Mountains on the East Antarctic side of the rift. This tectono-magmatic activity was an immediate precursor to the break-up of Gondwana. 

Weinlich FH, Brauer K, Kampf H, Strauch G, Tesar J, Weise SM (1999) An active subcontinental mantle volatile system in the western Eiger rift, Central Europe Gas flux, isotopic (He, C, and N) and compositional fingerprints. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 63 3653-3671 Wellman P, McDougall 1 (1974) Cainozoic igneous activity in eastern Australia. Tectonophysics 23 49-65 Wiens RC, Lai D, Rison W, Wacker JF (1994) Helium isotope diffusion in natural diamonds. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 58 1747-1757... 

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