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TS4.7/GD4.5/GMPV41 

Convener: G. Rümpker

Co-Conveners: M. Hinderer, U. A. Glasmacher, D. Mertz

Link: http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2010/session/2620

Recent studies on the deep structure beneath East Africa show that dynamic processes in the mantle may influence rifting and climate

change. We encourage submissions from a wide range of disciplines that deal with observations and numerical modeling in relation to the East Africa rift system. This session brings together geophysicists, petrologists, structural geologists, sedimentologists, geochemists,

paleoclimatologists, climate and geodynamic modelers to discuss tectonics-climate interactions in a complex geologic setting. 

GD4.2/TS5.5 South Atlantic Margin Processes and Links with Onshore Evolution

Convener: Dr. Glasmacher

Co-Conveners: H.-P. Bunge, M. Scheck-Wenderoth, R. Trumbull

Link: http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2010/session/2794

Passive continental margins are long-term and large-scale geo-archives of Earth processes related to mantle dynamics, the break-up of

continents and the creation of sedimentary basins, changes in ocean circulation patterns and their effect on climate. Passive margins are

also of paramount economic importance in terms of hydrocarbon resources. For this interdisciplinary session we seek contributions from natural case studies and from geodynamic or geomaterials modelling which address the interplay of deep mantle processes and their consequences on surface expressions in passive margin systems. The emphasis should be on the South Atlantic system. But exemplary case studies from other margin settings are also welcome. Some of the most important questions to be addressed are: - How do mantle and surface processes interact during rifting, and during the post break-up evolution of the continental margins? And how does this influence onshore-offshore feed-back processes? - What is origin of the extreme fluxes of magma in volcanic rifted margins like the South Atlantic? What is their role in continental rifting andlithospheric thinning? What impact do they have on the subsequent evolution of passive margins?- To what degree is the formation and 4-D evolution of sedimentary basins, both on- and offshore, a function of uplift, erosion, sedimentation and diagenesis processes, and how is this evolution connected with mantle flow and global climate? - How does rifting and  continental separation modify ocean circulation patterns and what are the resulting global implications for biodiversity and climate change? The South Atlantic and its conjugate rifted margins are ideally suited to contribute answers to these questions. The session will try to tackle

the complex interacting feedback cycles involving thermal and mechanical forces that acted over the ca. 200 million years since the beginning of break-up.

GM5.1 Long-term landscape evolution and interactions between tectonic and surface processes

Convener: J. Alvarez-Marron

Co-Conveners: Dr. Glasmacher, F. Stuart

Link: http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2010/session/3045

The understanding of the detailed coupling between tectonics and surface processes is fundamental for unravelling how mountainous landscapes develop and evolve. The response times and rates at which landscape processes occur may vary in relation to rates of tectonic interactions and settings, climate, and also due to inherited lithologies and structures at shallow crustal levels. This session is intended to have a multidisciplinary approach, and to integrate numerical, experimental and field research on tectonic/surface processes. We encourage contributions that explore comparisons between rates of tectonic processes and rates of surface processes during long-term landscape evolution in any geological scenario from fast to slow and moderately active tectonic settings. We are also keen to see studies that consider the interactions between denudation/erosion rates with lithology and inherited shallow crustal structures. We welcome contributions that integrate techniques to constrain both the timing and rates at intermediate to long time scale such as low-temperature thermochronology, cosmogenic nuclides or other techniques applicable.

GD4.3/TS5.4 Elevated, passive continental margins: timing and mechanisms of uplift

Convener: P. Japsen

Co-Conveners: H. Thybo, N. White, J. M. Bonow, U. A. Glasmacher

Link: http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2010/session/2538

Many passive continental margins around the world are characterized by an elevated plateau, often separated from an adjacent coastal plain by a pronounced escarpment; e.g. on both sides of the Atlantic, south-east Africa, western India and in eastern Australia. In many areas, e.g. Scandinavia, the timing and extent of uplift movements are difficult to determine because the uplifted area consists almost exclusively of

ancient metamorphic rocks. However, during recent years evidence has been accumulating that a major component of the relief is of Neogene age. Some offshore sedimentary basins on the passive margins have been exhumed during the Neogene uplift (e.g. around the northern North Atlantic) and petroleum systems can be radically affected by this process. This symposium investigates the uplift history of the passive margins around the world and the mechanism behind these enigmatic movements -- the presentations will included studies based on geological, geomorphological as well as geophysical observations. Is the mechanism behind the uplift movements a patchwork of different effects, or is there a major underlying lithospheric paradigm behind passive margin uplift?