Imaging and characterization of rifted continental margin structures using geophysical methods: seeking deeper constraints and their tectonic implications

加拿大在东海岸和北极的海底边界的特点是大陆边缘断裂，这是现代海洋开放的产物。尽管由于拥有大量的能源储备，它们在领土和经济上具有重要意义，但这些边际在很大程度上仍未得到充分开发，创造它们的过程也没有得到充分了解。裂谷大陆边缘通常被归类为富岩浆/火山边缘或岩浆贫乏/非火山边缘。加拿大东海岸拥有这两种类型的边缘以及它们之间的过渡，为研究裂谷过程及其沿裂谷大陆边缘的变化提供了一个天然的实验室。通过将海洋缝合在一起，研究共轭边缘匹配得有多好，不对称性是如何发展的，以及这些不对称性是否在海洋打开之前很久就存在了，也可以获得伟大的洞察力。这些裂谷过程对随后的沉积物沉积和盆地演化产生了深远的影响，因此，更好地了解它们下方的地壳变异性可以降低勘探风险和成本。

Canada’s submarine limits on the East Coast and in the Arctic are characterized by rifted continental margins, the products of the opening of modern oceans. Despite their territorial and economic importance due to hosting significant energy reserves, these margins remain largely underexplored and the processes that created them are not fully understood. Rifted continental margins are generally classified as magma-rich/volcanic margins or magma-poor/non-volcanic margins. Canada’s East Coast hosts both types of margins as well as the transitions between them, providing a natural laboratory for studying rifting processes and how they vary along a rifted continental margin. Great insight can also be obtained by stitching the oceans back together to study how well the conjugate margins match, how asymmetries develop, and whether those asymmetries existed long before the oceans opened. These rifting processes have a profound impact on subsequent sediment deposition and basin evolution, such that developing a better understanding of the crustal variability beneath them can reduce exploration risk and cost.