Extensional tectonics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Extensional tectonics is concerned with the structures formed, and the tectonic processes associated with, the stretching of the crust or lithosphere.

Areas of extensional tectonics are typically associated with:

• The development of continental rifts, with or without the effects of mantle upwelling
• The gravitational spreading of zones of thickened crust formed during continent-continent collision
• Tensional flexures along strike-slip faults
• On passive margins where an effective basal detachment layer is present at the upper end of a linked system

[edit] Extensional structures

The main structures formed in areas of extensional tectonics are normal faults and graben structures.

Prominent examples include:

• The East African Rift, a major continental rift system
• The Basin and Range province of western North America
• The global mid-ocean ridge system
• The Dead Sea basin formed at a releasing bend along a continental transform boundary