The acquisition of new datasets at Continent-Ocean-Transition (COT) of rifted margins show significant variability, highlighting the diversity of parameters controlling the rift-to-drift transition during continental breakup. This session aims at gathering new observations, concepts, and techniques to investigate deformation mechanisms, dynamics of continental breakup, and generation of the first oceanic crust. We invite presentations focusing on topics from rifting up to incipient seafloor spreading, including studies discussing the structure and nature of COT, tectonic, magmatic, rheological and thermal evolution, melt initiation, sedimentary records, deformation mechanisms, and alteration processes. We encourage contributions using multidisciplinary and innovative methods including marine geosciences, seismology, sedimentology, field geology, geochemistry, thermochronology, plate reconstruction, and modelling. We welcome studies based on worldwide natural examples from active rifts, fossil and present-day rifted margins. Special emphasis will be given to presentations that integrate comparisons of tectonic and magmatic processes between continental and oceanic settings that could improve our understanding of continental breakup and mid-oceanic ridge initiation.