Por Tiago Alves (University of Cardiff, UK).

To understand the evolution of North Atlantic rift basins is key to gauge their potential as future areas for GeoEnergy production, and seafloor mining, in a ‘net zero’ world. This talk will review the current geodynamic models for divergent continental margins and how well they apply (or not!) to West Iberia. Seismic profiles, borehole data, and tectonic-subsidence models will highlight the presence of thick salt intervals, carbonate units and slope-fed depositional systems outboard of the continental shelf. As most DSDP/ODP wells were previously drilled in distal, sediment-starved basins, and future IODP expeditions are being proposed in similar areas, this talk will reflect on why the regions thus far drilled cannot be directly compared with the ‘outer proximal margin’. As a corollary, the stratigraphy of Breakup Sequences and new data on the South China Sea will show that sediment-starved conditions are limited to the loci of continental breakup.

Transmissão via Zoom (password: 2021_RG234).