Gondwana breakup: messages from the North Natal Valley

The Natal Valley, offshore Mozambique, is a key area for understanding the evolution of East Gondwana. Within the scope of the integrated multidisciplinary PAMELA project, we present new wide‐angle seismic data and interpretations, which considerably alter Geoscience paradigms. These data reveal the presence of a 30 km‐thick crust that we argue to be of continental nature. This falsifies all the most recent paleo‐reconstructions of the Gondwana. This 30 km‐thick continental crust 1000 m below sea level implies a complex history with probable intrusions of mantle‐derived melts in the lower crust, connected to several occurrences of magmatism, which seems to evidence the crucial role of the lower continental crust in passive margin genesis.

Full Text

FilePagesSizeAccess
Author's final draft
235 Mo
FigS1
-25 Mo
Suppinfo
5174 Ko
Publisher's official version
104 Mo
How to cite
Moulin Maryline, Aslanian Daniel, Evain Mikael, Leprêtre Angelique, Schnurle Philippe, Verrier Fanny, Thompson Joseph Offei, de Clarens P., Leroy S., Dias N., The Pamela‐moz35 Team (2020). Gondwana breakup: messages from the North Natal Valley. Terra Nova. 32 (3). 205-214. https://doi.org/10.1111/ter.12448, https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00598/71055/

Copy this text