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Modification of the Western Gondwana craton by plume–lithosphere interaction

Nature Geoscience volume 11, pages 203–210 (2018)Cite this article

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A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 05 June 2018

Abstract

The longevity of cratons is generally attributed to persistence of neutrally-to-positively buoyant and mechanically strong lithosphere that shields the cratonic crust from underlying mantle dynamics. Here we show that large portions of the cratonic lithosphere in South America and Africa, however, experienced significant modification during and since the Mesozoic era, as demonstrated by widespread Cretaceous uplift and volcanism, present-day high topography, thin crust, and the presence of seismically fast but neutrally buoyant upper-mantle anomalies. We suggest that these observations reflect a permanent increase in lithospheric buoyancy due to plume-triggered delamination of deep lithospheric roots during the Late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic periods. Lithosphere in these regions has been thermally reestablished since then, as confirmed by its present-day low heat flow, high seismic velocities and realigned seismic anisotropy. We conclude that the original lowermost cratonic lithosphere is compositionally denser than the asthenospheric mantle and can be removed when perturbed by underlying mantle upwelling. Therefore, it is the buoyancy of the upper lithosphere that perpetuates stabilization of cratons.

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Fig. 1: Topography and tectonic history of the South Atlantic margins.
Fig. 2: Lithospheric residual topography and gravity.
Fig. 3: Seismic structure of the lithosphere and underlying mantle in the study region.
Fig. 4: Comparison of observed and mantle-flow-induced seismic anisotropy.
Fig. 5: Schematic illustration of proposed cratonic lithosphere evolution since the Cretaceous.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Jordan, W. Mooney, S. Gao and L. Chen for helpful comments on the manuscript. L.L. acknowledges NSF grants EAR-1345135, 1554554, 1565640 and supercomputing allocation on Blue Waters through ACI-1516586. M.F. acknowledges the grant Progetto di Ateneo FACCPTRAT12 from Università di Padova.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA

    Jiashun Hu, Lijun Liu, Quan Zhou, Stephen Marshak & Craig Lundstrom

  2. Department of Geoscience, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Manuele Faccenda

  3. Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Karen M. Fischer

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Contributions

J.H. and L.L. conceived the project and performed the analysis. M.F. contributed to anisotropy and mineral physics. Q.Z., K.F., S.M. and C.L. contributed to gravity, seismology, geology and petrology, respectively. All authors participated in manuscript preparation.

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Correspondence to Lijun Liu.

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Hu, J., Liu, L., Faccenda, M. et al. Modification of the Western Gondwana craton by plume–lithosphere interaction. Nature Geosci 11, 203–210 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0064-1

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