5/26/2023 0 Comments Rifts south america 2 pdfOne extends southwestward at least as far as Oklahoma, and the other extends southeastward through Michigan to Alabama. This fossil rift, which is similar in length to the present East African and Baikal rifts, has two major arms meeting in the Lake Superior region. The rift failed, leaving a 3000 km long belt of volcanic and sedimentary rocks left from the early rifting stage. To explore these issues, I and other researchers are studying the spectacular 1.1 billion year old Mid-Continent Rift (MCR). The problem is that when rifting succeeds in forming a new ocean, not much remains from its early stages so it’s hard to see what happened. Understanding how rifting works is important for both science and society, because rifting provides conditions for the deposition of hydrocarbons and other mineral resources. ![]() It even looks like similar rifting may have happened on other planets. ![]() Throughout earth’s history, continents have split along rifts, long zones of volcanism and stretching, which become spreading centers along which new ocean basins form and can grow to the size of the Atlantic and Pacific. Lake Superior and the spectacular scenery around it, as seen in places like Isle Royale National Park, Pictured Rocks and Apostle Islands National Lakeshores, Tettegouche and Interstate State Parks, and Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park, result from one of the more important processes shaping our planet – the breaking apart of continents to form new oceans.
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