A recipe for continental fragment formation: big data analysis of rift models

Former plate boundaries (sutures) are usually considered to be future locations for continental breakup, but this is not always the case. For example, continental rifting can generate a crustal fragment, where a sliver of a plate diverges from its component part and remains attached to another plate. Despite the prevalence of continental fragments and accreted terranes in the geological record, the underlying tectonic processes leading to their formation remain poorly understood. Previous geodynamic models have indicated structural and rheological heterogeneities inherited from past tectonic events as a key mechanism driving the initiation of continental breakup. Most of these studies have primarily focused on the styles of rifted margins, but limited attention is given to the mechanism of continental fragment formation.

In this study, we present a suite of over 100 different numerical models of inherited structures with the tectonic potential to generate a new continental fragment during continental extension. Our models show the first-order impact of structural inheritance on the evolution of rifting and continental fragmentation. Here, the size of the fragment is influenced by the extent and geometry of the inherited structures. By analyzing our models using novel data science techniques, we are able to quantify the impact of different initial conditions on generating a continental fragment. Our models provide a range of new physical constraints for the formation of continental fragments. Most importantly, they highlight the potential role of different forms of structural inheritance in controlling deformation within complex tectonic plate margins. Finally, we apply these findings to some real-world examples of continental fragments.