Tectonics

Do microcontinents nucleate subduction initiation?

Subduction initiation is a pivotal process in plate tectonics. Models of subduction initiation include the collapse of passive margins, oceanic transform faults, inversion of oceanic core complexes, and ridge failure but have ignored the potential …

Cretaceous to Miocene NW Pacific Plate Kinematic Constraints: Paleomagnetism and Ar–Ar Geochronology in the Mineoka Ophiolite Mélange (Japan)

The Mineoka Ophiolite Mélange is located at the intersection of the Pacific, Philippine Sea, Eurasian, and North American plates. The Mineoka ophiolite origin is disputed, and it has been ascribed to a fully subducted plate or part of the Pacific and …

Avalonia, get bent! – Paleomagnetism from SW Iberia confirms the Greater Cantabrian Orocline

The amalgamation of Pangea formed the contorted Variscan-Alleghanian orogen, suturing Gondwana and Laurussia during the Carboniferous. From all swirls of this orogen, a double curve in Iberia stands out, the coupled Cantabrian Orocline and Central …