Tuesday, 28 August 2007 - 10:10 AM
2.A.C-1
Continental transform faults - break-up examples from the Antarctic and the Arctic
Franz Tessensohn, Polar Research, Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (retired), Lindenring 6, 29352 Adelheidsdorf, Germany
Continental transform faults (for example the San Andreas Fault or Dead Sea transform) link plate boundaries by traversing continental crust. Other continental transforms existed in the past, but were later modified into oceanic spreading features. The sinistral Balleny transform system between Tasmania and the Ross Sea is such a complex in the Antarctic. In the Arctic, the comparable dextral de Geer fault system separated Spitsbergen from Greenland. Cenozoic fold-and-thrust-belts were taken as related onshore features. This relation, however could be ruled out later in corresponding North Greenland. Therefore no clear onshore effects of the transform remain today. In the Antarctic on the contrary, there is a possibly related set of faults in northern Victoria Land. However, these faults are dextral in character and differ therefore from the “cumulative” sinistral offset between Tasmania and Victoria Land.