The Atlantic Ocean was born 200 million years ago. It happened when the supercontinent Pangea began to break apart. oceanic crust took its place when continental crust stretched and fractured. Scientists analysed the structure of the present-day eastern North American margin, to investigate this rifting process.
Scientists analyses, it where North America and the Atlantic Ocean meet. The composition of the crust and upper mantle provides clues about geological processes. It was accompanied by continental breakup.
Magmatism is an important activity in this process. The portion of the eastern North American margin associated with the eastern United States. It has thick sections of igneous rock that classify it as magma-rich.
There are also magma-poor parts of the margin offshore of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Scientists used advanced data analysis approach. They have developed a high-resolution seismic model to investigate the magma-poor Nova Scotia margin.
Scientists used a technique known as full-wave inversion. They wanted to analyse seismic waves captured by 78 ocean bottom seismometers in response to pulses from an array of air guns. They included all the information in the seismic waveforms. Scientists produced a high-resolution velocity model. They used it to produce a detailed image indicating how seismic waves were reflected at different positions and depths.
Researchers identified distinct domains across the margin, representing stages of rift formation. Scientists uncovered features suggesting that a magmatic event accompanied the final continental breakup at the Nova Scotia margin. It formed a boundary between thinned continental crust and oceanic crust. These provide a new picture about what happened in a region offshore of north eastern Nova Scotia. It has been thought to be magmatic. This research support evidence of a role for magmatism in continental breakup at magma-poor margins.
