Geodynamic Processes in North Atlantic Margins

The North Atlantic margins record a complex interplay of plate tectonics, mantle dynamics and surface processes that have shaped the region from late Palaeozoic rifting through to modern passive margins. Break-up of Pangaea initiated a series of rift pulses and volcanic episodes, culminating in seafloor spreading driven in part by interaction with the Iceland plume. Variations in magmatic productivity, crustal thinning and inherited structural weaknesses have produced asymmetric conjugate margins, segmented spreading systems and scattered continental fragments. Overprinting of magmatic rifting by mantle-driven uplift and sedimentary loading has led to episodic uplift, subsidence and exhumation across Greenland, Fennoscandia and adjacent continental shelves. The region remains a natural laboratory for understanding how mantle plumes, lithospheric architecture and far-field plate forces combine to control margin evolution, crustal structure and basin formation. Insights into geothermal flux, intraplate stresses and isostatic responses are vital for reconstructing past climates, assessing natural resources and gauging long-term landscape stability.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have quantified the imprint of the Iceland plume on lithospheric architecture by constructing a three-dimensional density model of crust and uppermost mantle beneath the North East Atlantic. Integrated geophysical datasets reveal high-density anomalies in lower crust reflecting plume-modified lithosphere during plate transit, while low-density zones in the shallow mantle record present-day thermal anomalies. This work shows that plume presence, combined with pre-existing crustal heterogeneity, governed the timing, localisation and mechanisms of continental break-up and early seafloor spreading. Such models enhance our ability to predict margin segmentation and magmatic distribution in complex rift settings.

Geodynamic Processes in North Atlantic Margins publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in geodynamic processes in north atlantic margins across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Lithosphere: The rigid outer shell of Earth comprising the crust and uppermost mantle.

Mantle plume: Upwelling of anomalously hot mantle material that can thermally erode and thin overlying lithosphere.

Isostasy: Gravitational equilibrium between Earth’s lithosphere and asthenosphere that governs vertical movements in response to loading or unloading.

Continental rifting: Extension and thinning of continental lithosphere leading to fault-bounded basins and eventual break-up.

Conjugate margins: Complementary continental edges on either side of an ocean basin formed during the same rifting event.

Exhumation: The process by which buried rocks are brought to the surface through uplift and erosion.

References

1. Episodes of post-Caledonian burial and exhumation in Greenland and Fennoscandia. Earth-Science Reviews (2024).
2. Tracing the Iceland plume and North East Atlantic breakup in the lithosphere. Communications Earth & Environment (2023).
3. Crustal fragmentation, magmatism, and the diachronous opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. Earth-Science Reviews (2020).
4. The Moho Architecture and Its Role for Isostasy—Insights From the Lofoten‐Vesterålen Rifted Margin, Norway. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (2023).