Early-mid Cretaceous tectonic evolution of eastern Gondwana : from silicic LIP magmatism to continental rupture

The Early–mid Cretaceous marks the confluence of three major continental-scale events in eastern Gondwana: (1) the emplacement of a Silicic Large Igneous Province (LIP) near the continental margin; (2) the volcaniclastic fill, transgression and regression of a major epicontinental seaway developed over at least a quarter of the Australian continent; and (3) epeirogenic uplift, exhumation and continental rupturing culminating in the opening of the Tasman Basin c. 84 Ma. The Whitsunday Silicic LIP event had widespread impact, producing both substantial extrusive volumes of dominantly silicic pyroclastic material and coeval first-cycle volcanogenic sediment that accumulated within many eastern Australian sedimentary basins, and principally in the Great Australian Basin system (>2 Mkm3 combined volume). The final pulse of volcanism and volcanogenic sedimentation at c. 105–95 Ma coincided with epicontinental seaway regression, which shows a lack of correspondence with the global sea-level curve, and alternatively records a wider, continental-scale effect of volcanism and rift tectonism. Widespread igneous underplating related to this LIP event is evident from high paleogeothermal gradients and regional hydrothermal fluid flow detectable in the shallow crust and over a broad region. Enhanced CO2 fluxing through sedimentary basins also records indirectly, large-scale, LIP-related mafic underplating. A discrete episode of rapid crustal cooling and exhumation began c. 100–90 Ma along the length of the eastern Australian margin, related to an enhanced phase of continental rifting that was largely amagmatic, and probably a switch from wide–more narrow rift modes. Along-margin variations in detachment fault architecture produced narrow (SE Australia) and wide continental margins with marginal, submerged continental plateaux (NE Australia). Long-lived NE-trending cross-orogen lineaments controlled the switch from narrow to wide continental margin geometries.

New insights into magmatism and changing rift styles in the evolution of the Gulf of California

The Gulf of California (GoC) has been an important focus site for understanding the spatial and temporal evolution of rifts, with recent studies concluding: 1) rapid crustal rupturing within 10 Myrs; 2) surprisingly abrupt variations in rifting style and magmatism with apparently wide magma-poor and narrow, magmatic rift segments; and 3) that high sedimentation rates may promote switching from wide to narrow rift modes or thermally blanket the crust to enhance rift magmatism. Critical to these conclusions is the onset of rifting at~12 Ma following the cessation of subduction. New field-based volcanostratigraphic and geochronologic studies along the southeastern GoC margin reveal Early Miocene (~25-18 Ma) bimodal volcanism in wide rifting mode (~400 km width), followed by a mid-Miocene (~18-12 Ma) phase of dominantly intermediate composition magmatism in and around the nascent GoC with lavas/domes often emplaced into actively subsiding basins, but contemporaneous with bimodal volcanism regionally. Flat-lying intraplate basaltic lava fields emplaced ~12-10 Ma along the GoC east coast abut tilted blocks of ~20 Ma ignimbrites onshore, and also occur offshore. The reduction in crustal thickness from ~55 to 20 km along the eastern GoC edge must have been largely achieved by 12 Ma. Extension has demonstrably began earlier than previously thought, downplaying rapid rifting and any thermal effects from <6 Ma sedimentation. New age data from onshore indicate significant structurally controlled corridors of magmatism during 18-12 Ma extension in apparently magma-poor rift segments, and this magmatism temporally coincides with the switch from wide to narrow rifting.

How do supercontinents break up? — assessing the continental large igneous province (LIP) record of the break-up of Pangea

LIP emplacement is linked to the timing and evolution of supercontinental break-up. LIP-related break-up produces volcanic rifted margins, new and large (up to 108 km2) ocean basins, and new, smaller continents that undergo dispersal and potentially reassembly (e.g., India). However, not all continental LIPs lead to continental rupture. We analysed the <330 Ma continental LIP record(following final assembly of Pangea) to find relationships between LIP event attributes (e.g., igneous volume, extent, distance from pre-existing continental margin) and ocean basin attributes (e.g., length of new ocean basin/rifted margin) and how these varied during the progressive break up of Pangea. No correlation exists between LIP magnitude and size of the subsequent ocean basin or rifted margin. Our review suggests a three-phased break-up history of Pangea: 1) “Preconditioning” phase (∼330–200 Ma): LIP events (n=7) occurred largely around the supercontinental margin clustering today in Asia, with a low (<20%) rifting success rate. The Panjal Traps at ∼280 Ma may represent the first continental rupturing event of Pangea, resulting in continental ribboning along the Tethyan margin; 2) “Main Break-up” phase (∼200–100 Ma): numerous large LIP events(n=10) in the supercontinent interior, resulting in highly successful fragmentation (90%) and large, new ocean basins(e.g., Central/South Atlantic, Indian, >3000 km long); 3) “Waning” phase (∼100–0 Ma): Declining LIP magnitudes (n=6), greater proximity to continental margins (e.g., Madagascar, North Atlantic, Afro-Arabia, Sierra Madre) producing smaller ocean basins (<2600 km long). How Pangea broke up may thus have implications for earlier supercontinent reconstructions and LIP record.

Characterization of tight gas reservoir pore structure using USANS/SANS and gas adsorption analysis

Small-angle and ultra-small-angle neutron scattering (SANS and USANS) measurements were performed on samples from the Triassic Montney tight gas reservoir in Western Canada in order to determine the applicability of these techniques for characterizing the full pore size spectrum and to gain insight into the nature of the pore structure and its control on permeability. The subject tight gas reservoir consists of a finely laminated siltstone sequence; extensive cementation and moderate clay content are the primary causes of low permeability. SANS/USANS experiments run at ambient pressure and temperature conditions on lithologically-diverse sub-samples of three core plugs demonstrated that a broad pore size distribution could be interpreted from the data. Two interpretation methods were used to evaluate total porosity, pore size distribution and surface area and the results were compared to independent estimates derived from helium porosimetry (connected porosity) and low-pressure N2 and CO2 adsorption (accessible surface area and pore size distribution). The pore structure of the three samples as interpreted from SANS/USANS is fairly uniform, with small differences in the small-pore range (<2000 Å), possibly related to differences in degree of cementation, and mineralogy, in particular clay content. Total porosity interpreted from USANS/SANS is similar to (but systematically higher than) helium porosities measured on the whole core plug. Both methods were used to estimate the percentage of open porosity expressed here as a ratio of connected porosity, as established from helium adsorption, to the total porosity, as estimated from SANS/USANS techniques. Open porosity appears to control permeability (determined using pressure and pulse-decay techniques), with the highest permeability sample also having the highest percentage of open porosity. Surface area, as calculated from low-pressure N2 and CO2 adsorption, is significantly less than surface area estimates from SANS/USANS, which is due in part to limited accessibility of the gases to all pores. The similarity between N2 and CO2-accessible surface area suggests an absence of microporosity in these samples, which is in agreement with SANS analysis. A core gamma ray profile run on the same core from which the core plug samples were taken correlates to profile permeability measurements run on the slabbed core. This correlation is related to clay content, which possibly controls the percentage of open porosity. Continued study of these effects will prove useful in log-core calibration efforts for tight gas.

Geologic map of the Valley Mountain 15’ quadrangle, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, California: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ–1767, scale 1:62,500

The Valley Mountain 15’ quadrangle straddles the Pinto Mountain Fault, which bounds the eastern Transverse Ranges in the south against the Mojave Desert province in the north. The Pinto Mountains, part of the eastern Transverse Ranges in the south part of the quadrangle expose a series of Paleoproterozoic gneisses and granite and the Proterozoic quartzite of Pinto Mountain. Early Triassic quartz monzonite intruded the gneisses and was ductiley deformed prior to voluminous Jurassic intrusion of diorite, granodiorite, quartz monzonite, and granite plutons. The Jurassic rocks include part of the Bullion Mountains Intrusive Suite, which crops out prominently at Valley Mountain and in the Bullion Mountains, as well as in the Pinto Mountains. Jurassic plutons in the southwest part of the quadrangle are deeply denuded from midcrustal emplacement levels in contrast to supracrustal Jurassic limestone and volcanic rocks exposed in the northeast. Dikes inferred to be part of the Jurassic Independence Dike Swarm intrude the Jurassic plutons and Proterozoic rocks. Late Cretaceous intrusion of the Cadiz Valley Batholith in the northeast caused contact metamorphism of adjacent Jurassic plutonic rocks...

High P-T granulite relicts from the Imjingang belt, South Korea:Tectonic significance

This study presents a detailed description on crustal metamorphic signatures of garnet-clinopyroxene-quartz-rutile-bearing high P-T granulites, Samgot unit, Imajingang belt, northwestern Korean Peninsula that formed during Permo-Triassic regional metamorphism related to the amalgamation of East Asian continental fragments. Lenses and blocks of high P-T granulites and garnet-bearing leucosomes occur within mafic metamorphic rocks (mainly amphibolites). The mafic blocks comprise relicts of granoblastic garnet and clinopyroxene with medium-grained quartz and rutile. These relict mineral assemblages are confined to local micro-domains and constitute remnants of peak metamorphism. Plagioclase and amphibole form only as retrograde phases in medium ton coarse-grained moats that rim grain boundaries between relict peak mineral assemblages. This microstructure represents the reaction between garnet, clinopyroxene, quartz and rutile in the presence of melt to form amphibole, plagioclase and titanite with minor biotite. The leucosome domains consist of euhedral garnets within the quartz-K feldspar-plagioclase (granitic) matrix, probably representing peritectic garnet growth along with melting. The rare earth element (REE) composition of minerals also support the peritectic garnet growth with a positive Eu/Eu* (positive Eu anomaly), while the relict garnet shows a slight negative anomaly typical for high-grade granulites. The peak-metamorphic conditions calculated from thermodynamic modeling and compositional isopleths indicate a temperature around c. 900 degrees C at a pressure around c. 20 kbar. The present P-T path indicates a clear multi-stage decompression history with initial decompression and cooling followed by a stage of decompression during hydration possibly during Late Triassic exhumation. The results from this study together with the presence of eclogites from the Hongsung area suggest that the Imjingang area and the western Gyeonggi massif likely resided at crustal levels deeper than those of the eastern and southern part of the Gyeonggi massif. (C) 2009 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Palu Metamorphic Complex, NW Sulawesi, Indonesia: Origin and evolution of a young metamorphic terrane with links to Gondwana and Sundaland

The Palu Metamorphic Complex (PMC) is exposed in a late Cenozoic orogenic belt in NW Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is a composite terrane comprising a gneiss unit of Gondwana origin, a schist unit composed of meta-sediments deposited along the SE Sundaland margin in the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary, and one or more slivers of amphibolite with oceanic crust characteristics. The gneiss unit forms part of the West Sulawesi block underlying the northern and central sections of the Western Sulawesi Province. The presence of Late Triassic granitoids and recycled Proterozoic zircons in this unit combined with its isotopic signature suggests that the West Sulawesi block has its origin in the New Guinea margin from which it rifted in the late Mesozoic. It docked with Sundaland sometime during the Late Cretaceous. U–Th–Pb dating results for monazite suggest that another continental fragment may have collided with the Sundaland margin in the earliest Miocene. High-pressure (HP) and ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks (granulite, peridotite, eclogite) are found as tectonic slices within the PMC, mostly along the Palu–Koro Fault Zone, a major strike-slip fault that cuts the complex. Mineralogical and textural features suggest that some of these rocks resided at depths of 60–120 km during a part of their histories. Thermochronological data (U–Th–Pb zircon and 40Ar/39Ar) from the metamorphic rocks indicate a latest Miocene to mid-Pliocene metamorphic event, which was accompanied by widespread granitoid magmatism and took place in an extensional tectonic setting. It caused recrystallization of, and new overgrowths on, pre-existing zircon crystals, and produced andalusite–cordierite–sillimanite–staurolite assemblages in pelitic protoliths, indicating HT–LP (Buchan-type) metamorphism. The PMC was exhumed as a core complex at moderate rates (c. 0.7–1.0 mm/yr) accompanied by rapid cooling in the Plio-Pleistocene. Some of the UHP rocks were transported to the surface at significantly higher rates (⩾16 mm/yr). The results of our study do not support recent plate tectonic reconstructions that propose a NW Australia margin origin for the West Sulawesi block (e.g. Hall et al., 2009).

Current kinematics and dynamics of Africa and the East African Rift System

Although the East African Rift System (EARS) is an archetype continental rift, the forces driving its evolution remain debated. Some contend buoyancy forces arising from gravitational potential energy (GPE) gradients within the lithosphere drive rifting. Others argue for a major role of the diverging mantle flow associated with the African Superplume. Here we quantify the forces driving present-day continental rifting in East Africa by (1) solving the depth averaged 3-D force balance equations for 3-D deviatoric stress associated with GPE, (2) inverting for a stress field boundary condition that we interpret as originating from large-scale mantle tractions, (3) calculating dynamic velocities due to lithospheric buoyancy forces, lateral viscosity variations, and velocity boundary conditions, and (4) calculating dynamic velocities that result from the stress response of horizontal mantle tractions acting on a viscous lithosphere in Africa and surroundings. We find deviatoric stress associated with lithospheric GPE gradients are similar to 8-20 MPa in EARS, and the minimum deviatoric stress resulting from basal shear is similar to 1.6 MPa along the EARS. Our dynamic velocity calculations confirm that a force contribution from GPE gradients alone is sufficient to drive Nubia-Somalia divergence and that additional forcing from horizontal mantle tractions overestimates surface kinematics. Stresses from GPE gradients appear sufficient to sustain present-day rifting in East Africa; however, they are lower than the vertically integrated strength of the lithosphere along most of the EARS. This indicates additional processes are required to initiate rupture of continental lithosphere, but once it is initiated, lithospheric buoyancy forces are enough to maintain rifting.

India-Madagascar paleo-fit based on flexural isostasy of their rifted margins

The present study contributes new constraints on, and definitions of, the reconstructed plate margins of India and Madagascar based on flexural isostasy along the Western Continental Margin of India (WCMI) and the Eastern Continental Margin of Madagascar (ECMM). We have estimated the nature of isostasy and crustal geometry along the two margins, and have examined their possible conjugate structure. Here we utilize elastic thickness (Te) and Moho depth data as the primary basis for the correlation of these passive margins. We employ the flexure inversion technique that operates in spatial domain in order to estimate the spatial variation of effective elastic thickness. Gravity inversion and flexure inversion techniques are used to estimate the configuration of the Moho/Crust-Mantle Interface that reveals regional correlations with the elastic thickness variations. These results correlate well with the continental and oceanic segments of the Indian and African plates. The present study has found a linear zone of anomalously low-Te (1-5 km) along the WCMI (similar to 1680 km), which correlates well with the low-Te patterns obtained all along the ECMM. We suggest that the low-Te zones along the WCMI and ECMM represent paleo-rift inception points of lithosphere thermally and mechanically weakened by the combined effects of the Marion hotspot and lithospheric extension due to rifting. We have produced an India-Madagascar paleo-fit representing the initial phase of separation based on the Te estimates of the rifted conjugate margins, which is confirmed by a close-fit correlation of Moho geometry and bathymetry of the shelf margins. The matching of tectonic lineaments, lithologies and geochronological belts between India and Madagascar provide an additional support for the present plate reconstruction. (C) 2014 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tracking the migration of the Indian continent using the carbonate clumped isotope technique on Phanerozoic soil carbonates

Approximately 140 million years ago, the Indian plate separated from Gondwana and migrated by almost 90 degrees latitude to its current location, forming the Himalayan-Tibetan system. Large discrepancies exist in the rate of migration of Indian plate during Phanerozoic. Here we describe a new approach to paleo-latitudinal reconstruction based on simultaneous determination of carbonate formation temperature and delta O-18 of soil carbonates, constrained by the abundances of C-13-O-18 bonds in palaeosol carbonates. Assuming that the palaeosol carbonates have a strong relationship with the composition of the meteoric water, delta O-18 carbonate of palaeosol can constrain paleo-latitudinal position. Weighted mean annual rainfall delta O-18 water values measured at several stations across the southern latitudes are used to derive a polynomial equation: delta(18)Ow = -0.006 x (LAT)(2) - 0.294 x (LAT) - 5.29 which is used for latitudinal reconstruction. We use this approach to show the northward migration of the Indian plate from 46.8 +/- 5.8 degrees S during the Permian (269 M. y.) to 30 +/- 11 degrees S during the Triassic (248 M. y.), 14.7 +/- 8.7 degrees S during the early Cretaceous (135 M. y.), and 28 +/- 8.8 degrees S during the late Cretaceous ( 68 M. y.). Soil carbonate delta O-18 provides an alternative method for tracing the latitudinal position of Indian plate in the past and the estimates are consistent with the paleo-magnetic records which document the position of Indian plate prior to 135 +/- 3 M. y.

I. Geology of the Southwest quarter of the Elsinore Quadrangle. II. Geochemical properties of the waters of the Elsinore Quadrangle [= Geology of the Lake Elsinore Quadrangle, California. Mineral deposits of Lake Elsinore Quadrangle, California]

The Lake Elsinore quadrangle covers about 250 square miles and includes parts of the southwest margin of the Perris Block, the Elsinore trough, the southeastern end of the Santa Ana Mountains, and the Elsinore Mountains.

The oldest rocks consist of an assemblage of metamorphics of igneous effusive and sedimentary origin, probably, for the most part, of Triassic age. They are intruded by diorite and various hypabyssal rocks, then in turn by granitic rocks, which occupy over 40 percent of the area. Following this last igneous activity of probable Lower Cretaceous age, an extended period of sedimentation started with the deposition of the marine Upper Cretaceous Chico formation and continued during the Paloecene under alternating marine and continental conditions on the margins of the blocks. A marine regression towards the north, during the Neocene, accounts for the younger Tertiary strata in the region under consideration.

Outpouring of basalts to the southeast indicates that igneous activity was resumed toward the close of the Tertiary. The fault zone, which characterizes the Elsinor trough, marks one of the major tectonic lines of southem California. It separates the upthrown and tilted block of the Santa Ana Mountains to the south from the Perris Block to the north.

Most of the faults are normal in type and nearly parallel to the general trend of the trough, or intersect each other at an acute angle. Vertical displacements generally exceed the horizontal ones and several periods of activity are recognized.

Tilting of Tertiary and older Quaternary sediments in the trough have produced broad synclinal structures which have been modified by subsequent faulting.

Five old surfaces of erosion are exposed on the highlands.

The mineral resources of the region are mainly high-grade clay deposits and mineral waters.

Arquitetura crustal da bacia de Almada no contexto das bacias da margem lesste da América do Sul

A Bacia de Almada, localizada no estado da Bahia, compartilha características similares com as outras bacias da margem leste do Brasil, quando é analisada segundo aspectos como os processos sedimentares e o regime de esforço dominante durante a sua formação. Observa-se uma diferença marcante em relação as outras bacias quando é analisada sob a ótica da composição da crosta transicional, uma vez que não se registra atividade vulcânica durante a fase rifte. A aquisição de um extenso levantamento sísmico 3D, com cabos de 6 km de comprimento e 9.2 segundos de tempo de registro (tempo sísmico duplo), resultaram em imagens sísmicas de boa qualidade das estruturas profundas do rifte. Adicionalmente, estudos de modelagem gravimétrica foram integrados com a análise sísmica para corroborar o modelo geológico. A Bacia de Almada é parte dos sistemas de rifte continentais, desenvolvidos durante o Berriasiano até o Aptiano, que antecederam a quebra do continente do Gondwana, evoluindo posteriormente para uma margem passiva divergente. O processo do rifteamento desenvolveu cinco sub-bacias de orientação NNE-SSO, desde posições terrestres até marinhas profundas, produzindo um arcabouço estrutural complexo. Os perfis da sísmica profunda mostram o afinamento progressivo da crosta continental até espessuras da ordem de 5 km, abaixo da sub-bacia mais oriental, com fatores de estiramento crustal próximo a 7 antes do desenvolvimento de crosta oceânica propriamente dita. As imagens sísmicas de boa qualidade permitem também o reconhecimento de sistemas de falhas lístricas que se iniciam na crosta superior, evoluem atravessando a crosta e conectando as sub-bacias para finalizar em um descolamento horizontal na crosta inferior estratificada. Adicionalmente, a bacia apresenta um perfil assimétrico, compatível com mecanismos de cisalhamento simples. As margens vulcânicas (VM) e não vulcânicas (NVM), são os extremos da análise composicional das margens divergentes continentais. Na Bacia de Almada não se reconhecem os elementos arquiteturais típicos das VM, tais como são as grandes províncias ígneas, caracterizadas por cunhas de refletores que mergulham em direção ao mar e por intenso vulcanismo pré- e sin-rifte nas bacias. Embora a margem divergente do Atlântico Sul seja interpretada tradicionalmente como vulcânica, o segmento do rifte ao sul do Estado da Bahia apresenta características não-vulcânicas, devido à ausência destes elementos arquiteturais e aos resultados obtidos nas perfurações geológicas que eventualmente alcançam a seqüência rifte e embasamento. Regionalmente a margem divergente sul-americana é majoritariamente vulcânica, embora a abundância e a influência do magmatísmo contemporâneo ao rifte seja muito variável. Ao longo da margem continental, desde a Bacia Austral no sul da Argentina, até a Bacia de Pernambuco no nordeste do Brasil, podem ser reconhecidos segmentos de caráter vulcânico forte, médio e não vulcânico. Nos exemplos clássicos de margens não vulcânicas, como a margem da Ibéria, a crosta transicional é altamente afinada podendo apresentar evidências de exumação de manto. Na Bacia de Almada, a crosta transicional apresenta importante estiramento embora não haja evidências concretas de exumação de manto. Os mecanismos responsáveis pela geração e intrusão dos grandes volumes de magma registrados nas margens divergentes são ainda sujeitos a intenso debate. Ao longo da margem divergente sul-americana há evidências da presença dos mecanismos genéticos de estiramento litosférico e impacto de plumas. Alternativamente estes dois mecanismos parecem ter tido um papel importante na evolução tectônica da margem sudeste e sul, diferenciando-as da margem continental onde foi implantada a Bacia de Almada.

Análise da tectônica de colocação de diques cretácicos na região de São Sebastião, SP

O trabalho foi desenvolvido no litoral norte do estado de São Paulo, onde ocorrem boas exposições de rochas intrusivas da porção meridional do Enxame de Diques da Serra do Mar, de idade eocretácica. O objetivo principal da dissertação é caracterizar os regimes tectônicos associados à colocação e à deformação de diques máficos na área de São Sebastião (SP) e sua distribuição espacial, a partir de interpretações de imagens de sensores remotos, análise de dados estruturais de campo e descrição petrográfica das rochas ígneas. A área apresenta grande complexidade no tocante ao magmatismo, uma vez que ocorrem diques de diabásios toleítico e alcalino, lamprófiro e rochas alcalinas félsicas como fonolitos, traquitos e sienitos, estes sob a forma diques, sills e plugs. Os diabásios toleíticos tem idades em torno 134 Ma, correlatas com o início do rifteamento sul-atlântico, enquanto que as rochas alcalinas datam de 86 Ma e estão relacionadas com um magmatismo intraplaca posterior. Os lineamentos estruturais orientam-se majoritariamente na direção ENE-WSW, paralela às foliações metamórficas e zonas de cisalhamento observadas no campo e descritas na literatura, referentes ao Domínio Costeiro da Faixa Ribeira. Os diques se orientam na direção NE-SW, com azimute semelhante porém ângulos de mergulho discordantes da foliação em grande parte da área, onde as foliações são de baixo ângulo. Um segundo conjunto de lineamentos orientado NW-SE ocorre como um importante conjunto de fraturas que cortam tanto as rochas do embasamento proterozóico quanto as rochas alcalinas neocretácicas. Diques com esta orientação são escassos. Um terceiro conjunto NNE-SSW ocorre na porção oeste da área, associado à presença de diques de diabásio que por vezes mostram indicadores de movimentação sinistral. A análise cinemática dos diques mostra um predomínio de distensão pura durante sua colocação, com um tensor de compressão mínima de orientação NW-SE, ortogonal ao principal trend dos diques. Componentes direcionais, por vezes ambíguas, são comumente observadas, com um discreto predomínio de componente sinistral. O mesmo padrão cinemático é observado para os diques toleíticos e para os alcalinos, sugerindo que o campo de tensões local pouco variou durante o Cretáceo. Embora o embasamento não tenha sido diretamente reativado durante a colocação dos diques, sua anisotropia pode ter controlado de certa forma a orientação do campo de tensões local durante o Cretáceo. Os mapas geofísicos da bacia de Santos existentes na literatura sugerem certo paralelismo entre as estruturas observadas na área de estudo e aquelas interpretadas na bacia. As estruturas NNE-SSW são paralelas ao trend das sub-bacias e ao gráben de Merluza, enquanto que as estruturas NW-SE são paralelas a zonas de transferência descritas na literatura.