EXPLANATORY NOTES
By Philippe Bouysse

GEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE WORLD

3rd revised edition at the 1:35 000 000 scale
July 2014

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©CCGM/CGMW July 2014

ISBN 978-2-917310-24-3- Geological Map of the World at 1:35 000 000, 3rd revised edition
World

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COMMISSION FOR HE GEOLOGICAL MAP OF HE WORLD

GEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE WORLD AT 1:35 000 000

(Third revised edition)

2014

EXPLANATORY NOTES

 by

Philippe BOUYSSE
(CGMW)

Translation by Philippe Bouysse & Clara Cardenas (CGMW),

reviewed by Peter Miles (CGMW) and Françoise Cadet (University Paris VI)
 

«Ce qui est simple est toujours aux. Ce qui ne l’est pas est inutilisable »
  Paul Valéry
Valéry (Mauvaises pensées et autres, 1942)
 

SUMMARY

Foreword, p. 4

Preface, p. 5

INRODUCION, p. 5

1- ONSHORE AREAS, p.5

1.1- Chronostratigraphic units, p. 5
1.2- Ophiolites, p. 6
1.3- Large Igneous Provinces: traps, p. 6
1.4- Glaciers, inlandsis, p. 7
1.5- Structural eatures, p. 7
1.6- Iceland’s case, p. 7
2- OFFHORE AREAS, p. 7
2.1 Continental margins, p. 7
2.1.1- Continent/Ocean Boundary (COB), p. 7
2.1.2- Microcontinent, p. 7
2.1.3- Island arcs, p. 8
2.1.4- Continental shel, p. 8
2.1.5- Continental slope, p. 8
2.1.6- Antarctic margin, p. 8
2.1.7- Ice shel, p. 8
2.2 Oceanic basins, p. 8
2.2.1- Age o the oceanic crust, p. 8
2.2.2- Abyssal plains, p. 9
2.2.3- Mid-oceanic ridge, p. 9
2.2.4- Axis o mid-oceanic ridges, p. 9
2.2.5- ransorm
ransorm ault, racture zones,
z ones, p. 10
2.2.6- Subduction zone, subduction trench, other trenches, p. 10
2.2.7- «Anomalous» submarine eatures (seamounts, oceanic plateaus, hotspot tracks), p. 11
2.2.8- Distributed plate boundary, p. 12
2.2.9- Submarine volcanism and the opening o the North Atlantic Ocean (SDRs), p. 12
2.2.10- SDR’s related to the
t he opening o the South Atlantic Ocean, p. 12
3- HOSPOS, p. 13
By way o conclusion…, p. 13
 

Foreword

Te 3rd edition o the Geological Map o the World was published as ollows:

Sheet 1. Physiography, volcanoes, astroblemes. Scale 1:50 000 000 (2009); centred on the
Pacific.
Sheet 2. Geology, structure. Scale 1:50 000 000 (2009); centred on the Atlantic.
Single release, Geology Structure. Scale 1:25 000 000 (2010). Tree sheets allowing to centre
the map either on the Pacific or the Atlantic oceans. Te data on this map are identical to
those eatured in the map at the smaller scale.
Both editions o the Geology, structure map having run out o print, it was decided to print a
new one that keeps almost the entirety o the geological and structural data with the changes
detailed hereafer.
intermediate scale between the two maps for-
• A single sheet at the 1:35 000 000 scale, an intermediate
merly released, and centred on the Atlantic. Tis scale allows a better
b etter legibility in relation
to the 2009 edition and a handling much easier than the larger map published in 2010.
• A monoch
monochrome
rome sshaded
haded relie
relieff map th
that
at highligh
highlights
ts the structural features
features,, in particular th
thee
oceanic area.
• Changes in the colour o off some geologica
geologicall units of major interest such as: Cenozoic volca-
major
nism; traps; oceanic plateaus; hotspot tracks and seamounts. An homogeneous represen-
tation o the thrust ron
 ronts
ts o all kinds (subduction zones, accretionary prisms, thrusts,…).
• Finall
Finallyy, from a point of view of the content, the new map amends the infographic mistakes
o the 2010 edition.
Te Physiography, volcanoes, astroblemes map o the 2009 edition at the 1:50 000 000 is still
available and is an useul supplement to this new map or three reasons: 1) the world physio-
graphy is complete
complete and detailed, including isobaths every 1000 m; 2) centred on the Pacific,
this sheet gives a full view of this ocean where are found the majority of the subduction zones
and hotspots o the planet; 3) it acilitates the visual correlation o the representation o the
active volcanoes with the subduction zones.

4
 

Te Geological Map of the World at 1: 35 000 000

(2014)
Explanatory Notes
by 
Philippe BOUYSSE
(CGMW)

Preface

Tese Notesproessionals
Notes
geoscience presented in –a normal
somew hat
somewhat heterogeneous
users o geologicalmanner,
manner
maps –, combine
with moreregular peer-reviewed
basic inormation inormation
inorma
intended tion
or dedi cated
dedicated
a wider to
public
including high school and college students who cons
c onstituted
tituted a large section
sect ion o the users o the ormer editions o this map.
map.
It was not possible to address in these notes all the geologic, structural or geodynamic aspects that may be raised by the
careul examination o the Map. Te text, consisting mainly o comments
comments on the legends, is aimed at shedding some light
lig ht
on a selection o examples that are, in our view, illustrative o each element o the Map.
It should be noted that a particular attention was given to the oceanic areas, the large magmatic events, and to the
geodynamics.

INRODUCION 1- ONSHORE AREAS

Tis bilingual document (English-French) is the result of a 1.1- Chronostratigraphic units

highly synthetic compilation given both the small scale o the Te onshore areas represent 29.2% o our planet’s surace
map and its educational purpose.
purpos e. It is a tentative
tentative and (very) and correspond mainly to the rock ormations o continental
simplified representation o the entire solid surace o our planet origin (or continentalized in the case o island arcs). Tey
and includes both continental and oceanic domains. Tis map are classified using 8  broad chronostratigraphic units2: 1=
takes into account the state o the geologic knowledge at the Cenozoic; 2=  Meso zoic; 3= Upper Paleozoic; 4= Lower Paleozoic;
 Mesozoic
beginning o the XXIst century. 5= Neoproterozoic ; 6=  Meso
 Mesopro
proterozoic; 7= Paleoproterozoic ; 8=
terozoic
 Archea
 Ar n. A number o regroupings were made when necessary
chean necessar y by
Tis map shows the distribution o the main lithostratigraphic the geological or cartographic contexts. In comparison with the
units and the main structural eatures that make up the mosaic previous edition, and or the sake o o coherence, the Quaternary
o the present-day surace o our planet, the result o 4.5 billion1  and the riassic Periods respectively within the Cenozoic and
years o unremitting “resuracing”. Tis map consists o a main Mesozoic eras have not been shown individually. Also the 3 eras
map in Mercator projection, with the 2 polar areas in polar o the Proterozoic Eon have been introduced as units 5, 6 and 7.  
stereographic projections. Te dra was carried out in vectorial Within these time units 3 main lithological facies  ensembles
mode. were distinguished: • sedimentary formations or those of an
Te Mercator  projection has only a true scale representation undierentiated nature (uneasy to dene); • extrusive volcanic
along the equator but allows an optimal visualization that does ormations (V), corresponding to subaerial magmatism; •
not avour the continents at the expenses o the oceans or vice- endogenous ormations (P), representing rocks originating in
 versa, unlike many other projections
projections used for world maps. Te the Earth
Ear th’’s interior at depth and having undergone
und ergone signifi
significant
cant
main drawback o Mercator comes rom the deormation that metamorphism or that correspond to plutonic magmatic rocks.
increases with the
t he latitude to become
be come innite at the poles. For this Te last two rock categories are illustrated by a scattering o
reason, in this edition,
e dition, the
t he “upper”
“upper” and “lower” latitude limits have
have superimposed
superim posed dots (red or extrusive, blue or the endogenous).
been set at 72°N and 72°S or the main map. map. As a consequence, a One exception was made or the Cenozoic volcanism (V1) that
large extent o the Antarctic continental coastline is visible with is identified by a uniorm strong red hue. Actually,
Actually, the volcanism
a better delimitation o the southern ocean. As or Greenland, o this era (which includes Quaternary and Present times) is,
only its southern hal is  visible. On the other hand, the aymir in many cases (e.g. subduction volcanism), the consequence o
peninsula has been severed rom the ar north o the Eurasian on-going geodynamic activity.
activity. It is thereore important that this
continent. Te circum-polar projections  extend to the 60°N  volcanism be clearly
cl early perceptible to the eye. Anothe
Anotherr exception
and 60°S parallels. Greenla
Greenlandnd is now
now displayed in its entirety . was also made or the oldest ormations, the Archean (“8  (“8””, olde
ol derr
than 2.5 billion years/Ga), as here they are not differentiated
or the sake o simplification. It should be noted that the largest
Nota: In the text that ollows, words typed
ty ped in bold characters
correspond to the different
different items o the legends. Archean outcrops are located in Canada.

1 Te abbreviation or billion years (10 9 years) is Ga (rom  giga-annum, 2 i.e. geologic time slices. In the corresponding legend’s table as well as in
the oceanic crust ages (c. 2.2.1), the dates indicated are those validated by
official designation o international
international geological bo dies). Te author the International Commission on Stratigraphy in the Geologic Time Scale 
wonders why the accus ative orm “annum”
“annum” was chosen instead o t he published in 2008. Te margin
margin o error (2σ) was not mentioned or the sake
nominative one “annus”. o simplification.

5
 

1.2- Ophiolites competition with (but also later associated to) the big meteoritic
impact thesis, exemplified by the Chicxulub crater in the north
Te ophiolites are remnants o oceanic lithosphere (rom top to
o Yucatan in Mexico, or the K/ limit (see Physiography  map).
 map).
bottom: submarine
submarine basalts, gabbros, peridotites) which, in a final
phase o subduction ollowing the collision o two continental In order to deal with these issues, we chose or this new edition
blocks (or continentalized in the case o island arcs), escaped to assign the same color (deep purple) to all the traps, with an
rom their usual recycling within the Earth’s mantle to become indication in white o their averag
averagee age in Ma (e.g. “16 Ma” or the
exposed inside mountain chains. Tey are the evidence o a “lost Columbia
Columbi a River/Snake River traps in north-western USA). It is to
ocean” (Jean Aubouin) and punctuate large suture zones. Tey be noted that the Parana traps in southern Brazil have the same
can also be the product o an obduction , as in Oman, where a age (133 Ma, earliest part o Cretaceous) as the less extensive
slice o oceanic lithosphere overthrusts the edge o a continen
continental
tal Etendeka traps in Namibia. Initially, these two eatures ormed
basement. At the scale o the Map, the extent o the ophiolitic a single entity, but are now separated by several thousand o
ormations (bright green hue) is relatively small and quite ofen kilometres o ocean floor. Tey were originally produced by the
hardly visible. Te ophiolites plotted on this map are restricted ristan da Cunha “hotspot” (identified as HG in the inset at the
to the Meso-Cenozoic times (younger than 250 million years 3). botton o the map) and separated during the opening o South
Particularly noticeable are the ophiolites o the Alpine arc, the Atlantic
Atlan tic which started shortly afer, during the Early Cretaceous.
Dinarides/Hellenides,
Dinarides/He llenides, the Zagros (Iran) and the Himalaya
Himalayas.s. Not too ar rom the Etendeka  traps exists another slightly older
ensemble o traps (183 Ma, Early Jurassic), the Karoo, that
As an example o an island o ophiolitic origin, it is worth
outcrop in southern Arica and were subsequently
subsequently dismantled by
mentioning the tiny Gorgona Island located on the continental
erosion. A third large “LIP” in Arica
Arica are the Ethiopian traps (30
Pacific margin o Colombia. Also Macquarie island (some
Ma, Oligocene) including also those o SW Yemen that are only
thousand kilometers to the SSW o New Zealand) is the result
separated by the narrow entrance o the Red Sea (Bab el Mandeb
o a tranpressive motion along the large dextral transorm ault
straits). Almost coeval with the Karoo traps, the remnants o the
(see note 16) that separates the Indian Ocean (Indian-Australian
Ferrar traps (175 Ma) are associated with the sills o same age
plate) rom the Pacific Ocean (Pacific plate) and uplifed
(marked on the Antarctic Polar projection by a purple asterisk ). ).
a slice o Cenozoic oceanic crust. Also we note Zabargad 
Tese are scattered along the large ransantarctic Mountains
island (ormerly called St. John island) in the Red Sea (Egypt),
range. Te temporal and geographic proximity o these two
known since Antiquity (Egyptians, Greeks and Romans) or its
ensembles, when part o the Gondwana supercontinent, might
peridotite intrusion containing beautiul olivines (marked by a
green asterisk ).
). indicate that they were generated by the same hotspot. wo
small traps located to the NE o the Deccan traps do not belong
1.3- Large igneous provinces:
provinces: the traps to the latter; in the NE corner o the Indian shield is the Rajmahal  
(118 Ma, Early Cretaceous) and slightly to the east, Sylhet  (116
  (116
During some periods in the history o our planet large eruptive
Ma), near the Assam/Bangladesh boundary. Te source o these
pulses o a relatively short duration (in some cases less than 1
two traps is thought to be the Kerguelen hotspot (HI). In later
million years) occurred in the Earth at mantle mantle depth.
depth. Tese
time this may have also generated the Ninetyeast Ridge (or
magmatic “crises” led to the vast and voluminous outpouring
90° E Ridge, c.c. II.2.2.7). Te Emeishan traps ormed in China
o basalts at the surace o the continents (traps) as well as on
towards 260 Ma (Paleozoic, at the limit Middle Permian/Late
the ocean floor (oceanic plateaus). Tese huge lava flows are
Permian). Te huge Siberia  traps mentioned above presently
interpreted as the consequence o the ascent o a large mantle
outcrop over the majority of the eastern part of the Siberian
plume up to the base o the lithosphere to produce the head o a
craton. Some remnants are ound urther to the north in the
strong “hotspot”, during the first phases o its lie (c. 2.2.7 et 3).
southern part o the aymir peninsula (only visible in the Artic
Tese surace eatures are labelled “Large Igneous Provinces4”
map in polar projection). Originally, these traps covered a much
(abbreviation LIP). Te lavas o the traps, very fluid, are also
larger area (some authors give an estimate o about 4 million
basalt s”.. In the 1st (1990) and 2nd (2000) editions o
termed “flood basalts”
km², or even more). Te red dashed-dotted line drawn on the
this map the traps
corresponding to were merged into the too large
the chronostratigraphic l arge
unitstime slices
o the used
legend West Siberian plain corresponds to a minimal estimate o their
western extension beneath the Meso-Cenozoic sedimentary
(e.g. Upper Paleozoic or the Siberian traps, or Mesozoic or the
deposits (Reichow et al., 2002). Finally, a large red dashed line 
Deccan ones in India). On the other other hand, a number o traps
figures the boundary (that one can ollow rom the east o North
straddle the large main stratigraphic boundaries o these units,
America and the NE o South America to the west o Arica and
e.g. Upper Paleozoic/Mesozoic (250 Ma) in Siberia; Mesozoic/
Europe, drawn afer J.G. McHone, 2003) o a sole large magmatic
Cenozoic boundary (65.5 Ma, also called K/ boundary 5) or
province. Tis boundary outlines the traps o the CAMP (Central
the Deccan event, in India. Tis might not be coincidental since,
Province) generated by a hotspot 200 million
 Atlantic Magmatic Province
 Atlantic
or a number o geologists (e.g. Courtillot and co-workers), the
years ago (limit riassic/Jurassic) shortly beore the opening
great mass extinctions that affected a number o living species6 
o the Central Atlantic dislocated this ensemble. Although the
might be due to massive gas and noxious aerosols produced
erosion caused the disappearance o piling-up o lava flows, the
by these cataclysmic eruptions. Tis hypothesis is however in
abbreviation or million years (106 years) is Ma rom the latin “mega-
3  Te abbreviation
CAMP was reconstructed thanks to the occurrence
occ urrence o related sills
annum”, see
s ee note 1. and dykes (volcanic intrusive bodies), that underlay the surace
4  Tis term and its abbreviation LIP are
are currently used in the international outpourings. A last point to explain concerning the continental
geoscience community and were coined in 1994 by Millard
Mil lard Coffin and Olav LIP: the Seychelles Islands  are made o Neoproterozoic (P5)
Eldholm. Rev. Geophysics, 32 :1-36.
5 “K/” or Cretaceous/ertiary. Te use o the term «ertiary» that granites marked by an arrow because these islands are hardly
corresponded to the Cenozoic without the Quaternary
Qu aternary,, should be avoided distinguishable
disting uishable on the Map.
Map. Tese granites are intruded by 65
rom now on. Ma old dykes (figured also by an arrow and a red asterisk ).
). Tis
6 Te large chronostratigraph
chronostratigraphicic delimitations (eras, periods, epochs) were is the evidence that the Seychelles micro-continent was part o
created in the XIXth century afer the observation o sudden, very  important
and generalized changes, in the association o ossils and micro-ossils
India during the times o the Deccan traps eruption.
contained in the sedimentary deposits, mainly marine acies.
6
 

1.4- Glaciers, inlandsis 1.6- Te Iceland case

Glaciers o some importance were mapped in the ar south o Te entirely volcanic island o Iceland covers a significant area
the Andes, along with those covering islands o the ar North (103 000 km2) and has an exclusively oceanic origin. It was built
Canada and Eurasia. Tey were assigned the same color as the on a substratum o oceanic crust modified by a powerul hotspot
Greenland and Antarctica ice caps (light grey ).
). For the latter
latter (marked HD) and is linked to the opening o the North AtlanticAtlantic
inlandsis, the zero meter level contour (sea level) was drawn. (north o 60°N). Te axis o the Mid-Atlantic (spreading) Ridge
Te areas outlined by these contours represent the subglacial runs across the island to separate two distinct geodynamic
bedrock lowered by the ice loading were distinguished rom the domains; the Eurasian plate to the east, and the North American
ice caps using a darker hue ( light purple). plate to the west. Instead o mapping this island in the same way
as the rest o the onshore areas (i.e. in “V1”), as in the ormer
1.5- Structural features editions, it was decided to represen
representt it as a surace o oceanic crust
With the exception o Iceland (c. 1.6), the Aar (2.2.4) and the where Plio-Quaternary and Miocene basalts are distinguished
Makran (2.2.6), the onshore areas show only two structural rom each side o the
t he spreading axis.
eatures: the large normal faults and those o undertermined
nature  (black line); the large thrust ronts  ( jagged black line)
2- OFFSHORE AREAS
curving round the large orogenic belts; “Alpine” (Alpes-
Carpathian Mountains, Caucasus, Himalayas, Maghrebides, Te world ocean represents more than two thirds o our planet’s
Rocky Mountains, Andes) or the older Hercynian (= Variscan: surace (70.8%). It covers, on one hand, the submerged edges
Urals, etc.), Caledonian (Appalachian, northern British Isles, o the continents, the continental margins, and also the deep
western Scandinavia, ...) and even the roots o Precambrian seafloor whose substratum consists o oceanic crust “produced” at
belts (Canadian shield, etc.). Among the many large structural the axes o the spreading ridges, also called “ Mid-Oceani
 Mid-Oceanicc Ridges”.
lineaments on the map, it is worth noting the ollowing: Te average depth o the ocean is 3 680 m, a value much higher
– A line extending rom the south o o Norway
Norway to the Black Sea than the 840 m average elevation o the continents. Te drawing
(Tornquist-Teisseyre line) that separates the “Precambrian Eo- o the offshore o the Map was constructed, or some elements
Europe”, including the Baltic
Bal tic shield (more appropriately called
ca lled (spreading axes, transorm aults/racture zones, subduction
Fenno-Scandian shield), and the Archean and Proterozoic zone axes, oceanic plateaus, hotspot tracks and other anomalous
outcrops in Ukraine, rom the pattern seen in more recent relies), by superposing the tracing draf o this sheet over the
original draf o the Physiography map.
European structures (Paleo-, Meso-, Neo-Europe).
– Te continental
continental rif system
system emplaced
emplaced since the Oligocene 2.1- CONINEN
CONINENAL
AL MARGIN
which stretches across Western Europe rom the northern
2.1.1- Continent/Ocean Boundary (COB)
North Sea to the Gul o Lion via the Rhine valley and the
Rhodanian corridor.
corridor. It is punctuated
punctuated locally by volcanic
volcanic Te boundary between the continental crust and the oceanic
complexes (i.e. Vogelsberg and Eiel in Rhineland-Hesse, crust (COB) is shown by a blue line. Tis outlines the passive
Cantal and Chaîne des Puys in Auvergne). continental margins generated by the rifing o two separating
– Te large Amazon graben which isolates the two Guyana continental blocks to orm an ocean. Actually, this boundary
shields rom the Brazilian cratons (Central Amazonas and is not that precise and one should include a transitional zone
São-Francisco) to the south. (OC) between a well identified continental crust and a
“normal”” oceanic crust characterized by well identified magnetic
“normal
– A large
large and old SW-NE
SW-NE racture cutting the Arica in two rom
anomalies. Te transiti
transition
on zone ofen displays a stretched and
the Gul o Guinea across to the middle part o the Red Sea.
thinned continental crust intruded by peridotites that rise rom
– Te great
great East-Arican rif valley system,
system, emplaced
emplaced during the underlying mantle (exhumation).
the Cenozoic, and its relationship to the Aar hotspot (H1)
and the opening o the Gul o Aden and the Red Sea. Te Along the active continental margins, characterized by a
ris are oen occupied by great lakes. From north to south subduction zone, the COB is well defined (corresponding to the
are: urkana, Albert, Edward, Kivu, anganyika and Malawi subduction trench axis) and the above mentioned COB blue line
lakes ofen punctuated by important volcanism. Should this is completely overwritten in this cartograph
c artographyy by the specific line
continental rif and spreading persist, the East-Arican Rif depicting the subduction (c. 2.2.6).
will progressively become an oceanic lineament similar to the
t he
Considering the legal (and thereore political and economic)
Red Sea and eventually be o the orm o the Gul o Aden and
implications arising rom the delimitation o the COB in the
separate the “Somalia” plate rom the rest o Arica, named rame o the United Nations Convention on the Law o the Sea
“Nubia” plate by some geologists. (UNCLOS), it is expressly stated that the drawing o the COB limit
– Te large aults that extend rom the Pamir in a an-like on this Map is only approximate
approximate and sometimes
s ometimes conjectural, and
pattern between China and SE Asia. Tese wrench aults that it does not have any legal status and neither is any implied.
worked in response to the continuous push that the Indian
sub-continent has been exerting against the east o the 2.1.2- Microcontinents
Eurasian continent
continent for some
some 50 million years. Faults such Some tiny « rafs » o continental crust (thereore encircled by
as Altyn-agh (SW-NE) and Kunlun (W-E) carved out great a specific blue line) are shown on this Map isolated within an
basins such as arim (in the Xin Jian or Chinese urkestan). oceanic basin. Tey are named microcontinents and result rom
– Again in Arica, it is worth noting
noting the existence o the “Great
“Great the complex history o the break-up and seafloor spreading in
Zimbabwe Dyke”,
Dyke”, a narrow strip o intrusive Paleoproterozoic,
Pale oproterozoic, the ormation o an ocean. Tis is the case: (1) or the Seychelles
S eychelles
stretching N-S or 550 km, whose width does not exceed ten platorm (granites o 750 Ma, marked P5) in the Indian Ocean;
kilometers. (2) o the Jan Mayen microcontinent in the ar North Atlantic;
(3) o the Bollons seamount (60° S, 177° W) close to the New

7
 

Zealand continental margin in the Pacific; (4) the

t he South caps in northern North America (up to 4 km thick above the
Orkneys microcontinent
microcontinent detached rom the tip o the Antarctic Hudson Bay) and NW Eurasia. At that time, the English Channel
Peninsula among others. On the contrary, in this edition the and its Western
Western Approaches were completely emerged. It was
Agulhas Bank (25°E, 40°S) to the south o South Arica, has no also possible to travel
t ravel overland
overland rom the ar north o the Gul o
longer been assigned a continental nature. Tis is on the basis Siam to Bali, and rom New Guinea to Australia.
o recent works that suggest a volcanic origin o this quite large
morphostructure built
built up on oceanic crust, as with the other 2.1.5- Continental slope
large submarine relies o the SW Indian Ocean. Te part o the continental margin located seaward o the shel
break and extending down to the contact with the oceanic crust
2.1.3- Island arcs (i.e. COB) is called continental slope. Tis term applies also to
Te island arcs ollow the same mapping principle used or the the island arc margins,
margins, as explained above. Tis element o the
continents and are bounded by the same medium blue line. offshore morphology is represented in a greenish grey . Te
It is known that they are the product o magmatic processes continental slope can be quite extensive, such as off southern
peculiar to the subduction events that lead to the ormation o South America where the spur bearing the Falkland/Malvinas
a “continentalized” crust (becoming thicker and lighter than the Islands projects itself to the east towards the South Sandwich
oceanic crust). It is probable that
that in a number o cases, such as in island arc over more than 1500 km.
the Japanese archipelago, their substratum was detached rom the
nearby continent. Tis occurs through a general characteristic 2.1.6- Te Antarctic margin

o the subducti
subduction
on mechanism known as “slab roll-back” that Te continental margin o Antarctica presents specific
initiates the opening o a back-arc basin (or marginal basin; c. morphological characteristics owing to the isostatic loading
2.2.4 et 2.2.6). excerted on the continental lithosphere or some 30 Ma by its
huge ice cap. Te most salient character
characteristics
istics are: the requent
2.1.4- Continental shelf  presence o a near shore depression (down to 1 000 m deep)
Te continental shelves (or “continental platorm”, or “con
“continental
tinental and a continental terrace abnormally lowered (rom –400 to
terrace”) represent the innermost part o the continental margins. –700) in ront o
o the shel break. Tereore the continental shel
Tey extend rom the coastline to the shel break which tops the and continental slope have been merged into a single map unit
continental slope. Te external limit o this shel has an average
average shown in a light yellowish green to differentiate it rom that o
depth of –132 m. For practical reason
reasons,
s, and given the scale of the continental slope.
the Map, the commonly assigned –200 m isobath is used here
to delineate the continental shel since this depth is generally 2.1.7- Ice-shelf 
close to the shel break. On this Sheet, and rom a mapping For glaciologists, an ice-shel is a thick volume o ice creeping
point o view, the continental shel was considered only rom (“flowing” slowly) rom the ice cap to beyond the coast and has
a morphologic point o view (a terrace) and conceals all other the orm o a glacial sheet floating above a continental terrace.
cartographic
cartogr aphic units it might overlay. Tus, the “continental” shel Its thickness varies rom 100 to 1000 m. Tese platorms are
o the Niger delta obliterates the oceanic nature o the underlying characterized on the Map by a bluish grey  color. Te ice-shelves
oceanic crust upon which the sedimentary an o this large o Greenland and Canadian
Canadian Arctic Islands, too small at the scale
Arican river is prograding (i.e.
(i.e. it builds up seawards).
seawards). Te same o the Map, were not plotted. Te Antarctic ice-shelves have
applies to the “continental” shel o Iceland, actually an island a total surace o about 1.5 million km2 and could be highly
entirely generated by oceanic volcanism (c. 1.6). affected by the ongoing climate change. Te largest ice-shelves
All the continental (and island arc) shel areas represents about are the Ronne to the “north”, and the Ross to the “south”, the
7.5% o the oceans surace. On the Map, the continental shel is latter partially encircling Ross Island, location o the active
characterized by a  very light
lig ht beige color. For practical reasons
reasons  volcano Erebus (c. Physiography Map). Ice-shelves should not be
this cartographic unit also encompasses the shelves or terraces o mistaken or pack ice, the latter being a thin ice sheet (ew meters
atolls and volcanic islands that are not “genetically” continental thickness) o rozen seawater and their size significantly changes
but o oceanic origin (e.g. the uamotu
uamotu Archipelago). Indeed, during the seasons o the year.
the term “continental shel” has a broader meaning in the
ormulation o the Law o the Sea (UNCLOS). 2.2- OCEANIC BASINS
Oceanic basins are that part o the seafloor whose basaltic
Te continental platorm is very narrow along many sectors o
substratum is made up o oceanic crust. Tey are overlain by
the Arican coast (only a ew kilometers
ki lometers off Mogadishu,
Mogadishu, Somalia)
sediments, except in the axial zones o the mid-oceanic ridges.
and along the Brazilian margin south o the equator.
equator. On the
Teir history and structure differ drastically rom that o the
island arcs, it is not well developed either. On the contrary, it is
continents.
continen ts. Oceanic basins cover about 59% o the planet surace.
 very wide off the coast o SE Asia (East China Sea, Sunda shel
Five main types of morphostructures are to be distinguished:
), off Argentine Patagonia (up to 600 km wide) and a maximum
• abyssal plains; • mid-oceanic ridges; • large fracture zones;
extension can be observed along the Arctic ront o Northern
• subduction trenches; • “anomalous” oceanic features, i.e.
Eurasia (up to some 900 km on the continental shel o Eastern
structure o volcanic origin whose genesis postdates the age o
Siberia). Te mapping o the continental shel is one o the
the oceanic crust on which they have been built up.
innovations o this third edition o the Map.
Map. It is an important
element when considering the Quaternary palaeogeography o
the world. It allows us to consider the withdrawal o sea level that 2.2.1- Age of the oceanic crust
occurred during the great Würm regression (ca. 20,000 years ago), In comparison with the age o the continents, whose oldest
the Last Glacial Maximu
Maximum m during which the sea level dropped by outcropping nuclei have been dated at some 4 Ga (billion years),
about 130 m. During this event, the volume o water removed the age o the oceanic basins substratum never exceeds 200 Ma
rom the oceans was transerred to build up the huge glacial ice (million
(milli on years). In the present state o knowledge the oldest ages
are Middle Jurassic (starting at 175.6 Ma). Tese are ound off the
8
 

eastern margin of the United States and o its conjugat

conjugated
ed margin branch running up to the Red Sea 10, generates a “triple junction”
junction”
o Western Arica (both margins fitted into each other beore the o ridges to the SE o Réunion island), then rounds the southern
opening o the Central Atlantic). Tey also exist in the Central tip o New Zealand continental margin to step into the Pacific.
part o Western Pacific. As Earth volume is constant 7, every piece In this latter ocean, the oceanic ridge is not in a mid-oceanic
o oceanic crust ormed at the axes o mid-oceanic ridges prior position but is largely oset to the east (justifying thereby its
to this limit o 200 Ma was necessarily entirely “swallowed” by East-Pacific Ridge/Rise or EPR label) beore “dying” in the Gul
the subduction process, trapped as slivers within continental of California (or Cortes Sea). From this long ridge, originate
collision or overthrust during an obduction (c. 1.2). Te mapping two branches extending to South America: the South Chile Ridge
o the age o the oceanic crust was made by interpolation o the and the Galapagos Ridge.
Ridge. Farther to the north, the
the Juan
 Juan de Fuca
position o the magnetic anomalies generated by the effect o Ridge is located at some distance rom the
t he coast extending rom
periodic inversion o the Earth magnetic field on newly ormed the north o Caliornia to British Columbia. Tis small oceanic
crust (c. Müller et al., 1997). In this Map we have displayed only ridge is linked to the Gul o Caliornia along the San Andreas
the limits o the chronostratigraphic units: Plio-Quaternary – ault system (c. 2.2.5). Te  Juan de Fuca and the
transorm ault
 Miocene – Oligocene – Eocene – Paleocene – Upper Cretaceous EPR ormed a single continuous ridge beore the now missing
– Lower Cretaceous – Upper Jurassic – Middle Jurassic (c. the segment was “swallowed” beneath present-day Caliornia by the
relevant legend). Te colours or the different oceanic units are ormer subduction zone. With a width varying rom 1 000 to 3
those currently used for CGMW seaoor
s eaoor maps. For the enclosed 000 km, the oceanic ridges rise 2 500 to 3 000 m above the abyssal
basins such as the Arctic basins, the remnants o the ancient plains. Te mean depth o the crest o these ridges is about 2 500
ethys Ocean (Eastern Mediterranean) and back-arcs basins, m beneath the sea level. Tey occupy nearly a third o the surace
where the age o the crust is sometimes not precisely known, o the seafloor. Te Mid-Atlantic Ridge, with its winding outline
a larger age range was used (e.g. Undifferentiated Jurassic- similar to that of the two sets of conjugated continental margins,
Cretaceous or the Eastern Mediterranean, or Neogene or the is the type example o seafloor spreading and related continental
marginal basin located to the south o the Banda Sea, Indonesia). fit.
Moreover in some sectors, where the colors might not be clearly
discernible, the age is also given by the corresponding symbol 2.2.4- Axis of mid-oceanic ridges
in the legend (e.g. “j3” for the South Caspian basin, or “g” for Te axis o active mid-oceanic ridges marks the boundary
the Celebes basin). Finally, shown in grey   are a number o between two divergent lithospheric plates. Tis boundary is
oceanic areas where the magnetic anomalies have so ar not characterized by seismic activity. Te axes are represented by a
been identified by geophysicists and where the age of the crust continuous red line, a color that recalls the act that they are a
remains undetermined. Tey are to be ound mainly around key element o the Earth volcanism since they are, geologically
Antarctica, and to the east and SE o Australia. speaking, continuously providing magma. Depending on
whether the divergence rate is low or high11, the morphology o
2.2.2- Abyssal plains the ridge differs. At low spreading rates (2 to 3 cm/year), as in the
Te abyssal plains are characterized
characterized by a very flat sea bed with a, Atlantic, the topography is rough and shows a deep axial valley
sometimes quite thick, sedimentary cover that extends to both (rif). At high spreading
spreading velocities (about
(about 15 cm/year), as in the
sides o the mid-oceanic
mid-oceanic ridges. Teir depth (blue(blue hues
hues which East-Pacific Rise, the topography is smoother without deep axial
can be seen on the Physiography Map) increases imperceptibly  valleys. Tis contrast is strikingly noticeable on the Physiogra
Physiography
phy
rom some 4000 m to a little over 6 000 m. Schematically, the Map).
age, the density and the depth o the basaltic substratum increase Te particular case o Iceland , with its subaerial oceanic
with the distance rom the axis o the mid-oceanic ridge. accretionary rifs, was mentioned
mentioned above
above (1.6). As or the  Aar
Likewise, the thickness o the sedimentary cover increases with “triangle” (also located above a hotspot, marked HA),this
the distance rom the mid-oceanic ridge 8. A good example o a represents a “triple junction” where the Gulf of Aden (a
well individualized abyssal plain, ree
 ree o anomalous relies, is the continuation o the active
active Carlsberg ridge in the northern hal o
Argentine basin – whose centre deepens to more than 6 000 m Indian Ocean), the Red Sea oceanic rif and the Great East Arican
depth – surrounded by the South Atlantic mid-oceanic ridge, the Rif converge.
converge. Although the Aar
Aar is still largely o continental
continental
Falkland spur and the continental margin of Argentina. 12
nature, three small segments   o oceanic accretionary axes
are plotted somewhat schematically to figure the (possible)
2.2.3- Mid-oceanic ridges
beginnings o a uture oceanization (i the present geodynamic
Te mid-oceanic ridges (or oceanic accretionary ridges) orm the context remains unmodified, c. 1.5).
largest mountain range in the world with a total length o nearly
Concerning the back-arc basins (or “marginal basins) that
80 000 km9 that extends through the our oceans. Starting at the
open “behind” an island arc (i.e. on the opposite side to the
base o the continental margin o the Lena river delta (Eastern
subduction trench), a micro-ocean orms and thereore the
Siberia) in the Arctic, this system runs through the Atlantic
oceanic accretionary axis is represented by the same red line 
rom north to south, enters the Indian Ocean (with a northern
as or the oceans. Tis can be seen in the marginal basin o
the  Mariana island arc (Western Pacific), the Lau Basin that
7 From the end of Fiies onward, the Australian geologist Samuel Warren
Carey proposed
proposed the theory o the expanding Earth where the surace o our opens behind the onga island arc (SW Pacific) and the South
planet must have been increasing or the last 200 Ma which is correlative
to the break-up o the supercontinent Pangea and to the continental drif. 10 Tis branch heads first northwards with the Central Indian Ridge, then
Consequently,, he dismissed the existence o subduction zones. Tis theory
Consequently turns off north-westward with the Carlsberg Ridge, then runs westwards
was (almost) definitively abandoned.
abandoned. with the Gul o Aden oceanic Ridge beore connecting in a complex way
way,,
8 Teir thickness can reach several thousand meters when approaching
approaching  via the Aar zone,
zone, to the Red Sea.
the oot o certain continen
continental
tal margins, in particular those w here the 11 Te figures correspond to average values over a certain time lapse; they
terrigenous supply comes rom the high sedimentary input o very large don
don’t
’t necessarily mean the spreading occurs
o ccurs regularly every year
year..
river systems (Amazon, Ganges/Brahmaputra, Indus...). 12 Because o the local superimposition o the red accretionary axes on the red
9 Te length goes down to some 60 000 km when taking into account only Cenozoic volcanic units o the Aar, these 3 segments have been highlighted
the cumulated length o the segments o oceanic accretionary axes. with a thin white border in the digital version o the Map.
9
 

Sandwich back-arc basin (ormerly named Southern Lesser Indus valley and connecting to the Himalayan collision belts.
Antilles), a part o the loop linking southernmost Andes to the Te Owen transorm ault with its dextral motion16, constitutes
Antarctic Peninsula. An incipient stage o back-arc spreading the boundary between the Indo-Australian and the Arabian
is occurring in the Okinawa Basin to the NW o the Ryukyu plates. On this map, only 22 examples o movements o large
island arc (southernmost Japan archipelago), with a series transorm aults (or simply large wrench aults) are plotted
o small active en echelon segments that begin to cut out the (double hal black arrows in opposite directions) either in
continental margin o the East China Sea. A more advanced an oceanic or
or continental domains.
domains. Only 3 examples will be
stage is ound in the (very narrow) Bransfield marginal basin mentioned here: 1- the transorm aults that constitute the
located at the rear o the South Shetland subduction zone northern (lef-lateral) and southern (right-lateral) boundaries
within the Antarctic Peninsula. o the Caribbean Plate; 2- the right-lateral transorm ault o
o
Te extinct axes of oceanic accretion are figured like the active San Andreas (sensu lato) linking the opening system o the Gul
axes (by way o a red dashed line), as e.g. in the Scotia Sea o Caliornia, cutting through all the west o Caliornia and
(between South America and Antarctica), or in the asman ending up at Mendocino Cape, to the axis of the Juan de Fuca
Sea east o Australia. Tese are are zones where the divergence oceanic ridge; and 3- the lef-lateral Levant fault joining the
stopped inside an ocean or a back-arc basin. One o the most Red Sea to the collision
coll ision zone o the Arabian plate with Anatolia,
interesting examples is that in an area o the North Atlantic and where its locally step-like shape opens the small Dead Sea
where the spreading process began between Canada and and Sea o Galilee basins 17.
Greenland in the Paleocene, then hesitated between west and
2.2.6- Subduction zones, subduction trenches and other
east o Greenland in the Eocene. Eventually, this divergence
trenches
ceased in the Labrador Sea and the Baffin Basin, and the
opening jumped east to separate Greenland from northwestern Like all  plate boundaries ,  subduction zones are seismically
Europe. Te Labrador Sea is an aborted ocean with Greenland
Greenland active18. However, in the tectonics o convergence , the (heavier)
that afer a stage o dissociation rom the North American oceanic lithosphere o a subducting plate dips as a more or less
plate, reintegrated the latter. slanting slab beneath the edge o the overlying plate whose
lithosphere is made o either the lighter continental crust
2.2.5- ransform faults and fracture
fracture zones (case o an arc-cordillera) or continentalized crust (case o an
One o the salient characteristics o the morphology o the island arc behind which one finds a back- arc basin, or marginal
basin, o oceanic origin). Tis is the reason why subduction
oceanic basinslines
aults (black is their
  on sectioning,
the Map) or slicing,
that by a set o long
cut perpendicular to zones are also denominated as active margins, in contrast to
the mid-oceanic ridges. Between the ends o two successive non-seismically active  passive margins which result rom the
segments o active axes, the ault undergoes strike-slip motion drifing o two continental blocks rom either side o an initial
and is seismically
seismically active. Tis part is called a transform fault. rif (as in the case o the Atlantic). Te subduction o oceanic
Beyond and along the ault, there is no longer any lateral crust generally produces a volcanic line that is at the origin
displacement between the two sides o the ault and it becomes o island or cordillera arcs (c. also 2.1.3). Tese volcanoes
a seismically inactive fracture zone  (F.Z.) representing the (characterized by explosive, hence dangerous, eruptions) are
“scar” o the transorm ault. Tis type o complex ault ault13  located above a strip o the subduction slab, starting at a depth
requently reaches a length o several thousand kilometers 14. As o some 100 km, where it begins to become dehydrated 19.
one might expect, the largest racture zones (some 6 000 km) Te total length o the subduction zones is approximatively y
are located in the Pacic
Pacic Ocean: the Mendocino F.Z.
F.Z. (touching 55 000 km, a size comparable to that o the mid-oceanic ridges
the eponymous cape, near the border between Caliornia and (c. note 9).
Oregon), the Clipperton F.Z., the Eltanin F.Z. system (between Te active subduction zones are shown by a black line  with
the Antarctica Peninsula and the continental margin o New solid black triangles  whose tops are situated on the leading
Zealand) among
among others. Fracture zones are the
the markers
markers of
of (overlying) plate to indicate the direction o the subduction.
the rotation between two divergent plates controlled by plate Te convexity o island arcs is always acing the subduction
tectonic geometries. Te most remarkable
remarkable example
example is provided trench (e.g. Lesser Antilles in the Atlantic, Mariana in the
by the Agulhas-Falkland F.Z. joining the tip of Southern Africa Western Pacific), but a rectilinear shape may occur (e.g. the
to the southern extremity of South
South Africa. Tis F.Z.
F.Z. traces a onga-Kermadec in the SW Pacific). On the concave side o the
near perect small circle arc that aids reconstruction o the island arcs, a back-arc basin opens by separating itsel either
anlike opening o the South Atlantic. A good example o an rom a continent (as in the case o Japan where a small oceanic
important transform fault is the Owen FZ, in the NW Indian basin within the Japan Sea partially separates
sep arates it rom the eastern
Ocean. Tis offsets the active ridge o the Gul o Aden relative continental margin o Asia), or rom another island arc that has
to that o Carlsberg Ridge15  (located in the middle o the become a remnant arc, i.e. extinct. Te latter is illustrated in
northern area o this ocean), and then links this accretionary the case o the Mariana active arc → West Mariana (opening
system to the Makran subduction zone along the Pakistani marginal) basin → West Mariana (remnant arc) ridge, or the
and Iranian Baluchistans. Tis ault “ transorms” thereore a
16 Te strike-slip movement is defined by standing on either side o the ault
divergent movement into a convergent
convergent one (c. also 2.2.6). Tis and observing the direction o the motion o the opposite side. I it moves
SW-NE racture ends up in ront o Karachi, directly acing to the right, the movement is dextral or right-lateral , i it moves to the lef, it
the thrust ront o the orogenic belts bordering the west o the is sinistral or lef lateral .
17 Tese small basins generated by strike-slip aults are more commonly called
13 For English-speaking authors, the terms of transform fault and fracture “ pull-apa rt basins”.
 pull-apart
zone seem somewhat synonymous. 18 A part o the earthquakes generated by the subduction are distributed
14 In spherical geometry, any movement corresponds to a rotation movement along the dipping lithosphere. Tis seismic slab is called
call ed “Wa
“Wadati-
dati- Benioff
whose axis passes through the center o the Earth. Te racture
 racture zones zone”, afer the name o the two geophysicists who discovered this
consequently ollow small circles centered on the plates’ rotation
rotation poles phenomenon.
(which are to be distinguished
di stinguished rom the planet’
planet’ss rotation axis poles). 19 Te part o the dipping “slab” “slab” generating the subduction volcanoes is
15 See note 11. located at a depth rarely exceeding 150 km.
10
 

active onga arc → opening Lau Basin → remnant Lau Ridge. by volcanic cordilleras (Andes,  volcanic ranges o Central
Te convergence zones are generally characterized in the America, Rocky Mountains). Outside the Pacific only two
submarine morphology by a subduction trench, a long and subduction systems exist in the Indian Ocean, those in ront
narrow depression normally delineated by the 5 000 or 6 000 m o the Sunda Islands and that o the Makran, and two in the
isobath. Te greatest depth recorded is 10 920 m in the southern Atlantic, with the subduction o the Lesser Antilles and in the
part o the Mariana rench (see Physiography Map). renches Scotia arc (between South America and Antarctica).
are not always visible because, in some areas, voluminous Not all submarine trenches are exclusively related to subduction.
sedimentary input is released into the ocean by large river Some exist along transorm aults that cut across the axis o
systems that fill up part o the trench lengthwise. Te upper mid-oceanic ridges, particularly when the spreading rate is
part o the sedimentary cover o the dipping plate abuts against low. Te Romanche Trench, in Central Atlantic (centered on the
the backstop (i.e. the rim o the leading plate) instead o being equator by 18° W, 300 km long) has the record or this type o
swallowed by the subduction, and is hence “scraped o ff ” (thus eature with 7 758 m depth.
escaping absorption into the Earth’s mantle). Tis becomes
2.2.7- “Anomalous”
“Anomalous” submarine features (seamounts, oceanic
piled up as imbricate thrust slices in ront o the arc.
arc. Hence
plateaus, hotspots tracks)
an accretionary sedimentary prism  orms, the deormation
ront o which is indicated on the Map by a symbol similar to Tese are a large ensemble o all sized relies that affects the
that o the subduction, but with small open black triangles. In oceans and is represented by the same greyish purple recalling,
the region between this thrust ront and the axis o the filled in a subdued way, the colour o the traps on continents 20.
part o the subduction trench it was decided to show the age Actually, all these eatures result rom a generally powerul
o the underlying oceanic crust, as yet to be subducted but, magmatic activity postdating the age o the “normal” oceanic
concealed by the sedimentary prism that would have otherwise crust. Tis magmatism affects the oceanic crust initiall initiallyy
been shown as part o the arcarc margin. Te most remarkable
remarkable produced at the axis o the mid-oceanic ridges. I the structure
illustration is provided by the Barbados accretionary prism, o the oceanic basins were controlled only by the plate tectonics
located in ront o the southern hal o the Lesser Antilles arc. principles, the ocean would only display mid-oceanic ridges,
As a consequence o a huge sedimentary input coming rom racture zones, abyssal plains, and subduction trenches with
the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, the maximum thickness o their associated island arcs. All these eatures, thus being o
this accretionary sedimentary prism reaches some 20 km activityy o a hotspot 21 
 volcanic origin, are generated by the activit
beneath the island o Barbados. wo other prisms are drawn (whatever the signification attached to this concept) having,
on the Map: the Mediterranean complex located to the south o with some exceptions, a relatively stationary position . Tey are
Calabria and Greece, and the  Makran. An interesting eature o three types:
o the latter is that the inner part o the prism has emerged and - submarine seamounts, relatively small, mainly covered by
constitutes the coastal region o Baluchistan. Tis is the reason sediments, and whose summit is sometimes flat (in this case
why, in this case, the axis o the subduction is plotted onshore called “guyots”), resulting rom the erosion o a subaerial
and indicates the contact between, on one side, the “backstop”  volcano sinking progressively beneath the sea under the
represented by the lithosphere o the leading plate (Eurasia), effect o normal thermal subsidence.
and on the other side the lithosphere o the subducting plate - oceanic plateaus (c. also 1.3).
(Arabia). - hotspots tracks (or trails)¸ ormerly denominated “ aseismic
Tere are very ew places where an incipient subduction  ridges ” because these ridges lack o seismic activity compared
presently occurs. It represented on the Map by the symbol to the mid-oceanic ridges located at plate boundaries.
o active subduction (but with large black open triangles). Geologically speaking an oceanic plateau is generally built up
Tis is the case o the  Mussau Tr ench (about 149° E, 05° N)
Trench during a short period o time rom a pulse o intense hotspot
where the Caroline plate begins to dip beneath the large Pacific activity. A number in red ollowed by Ma indicates the average
plate. Tis also occurs the north o the Lesser Sunda island age  o the plateau (e.g. “123 Ma” or the age o the Manihiki
arc (subducting southwards) in order to accommodate the plateau, to the NE o Samoa), or as two numbers separated by
docking o the Australian continental margin as a result o its & when the build-up is believed to have occurred in 2 main
northward convergence toward the Sunda arc. pulses. When the age is uncertain inside a time lapse, the range
It is worth noting a case o extinct subduction  (represented is given by
by two hyphenated numbers.
numbers. Te age, age, sometimes
by a similar symbol, but in purple dashed/dotted line) in quite approximate, is given only or 10 oceanic plateaus: in
the Vitiaz Trench whose maximum depth is only 5 600 m the Indian Ocean, the  Maud Rise
Ris e (73 Ma; 0°E/W, 65.5° S), the
and stretches rom the Solomon Archipelago to the northern Kerguelen Plateau (119 Ma & 100 Ma), Broken Ridge Plateau
tip o the onga arc. During the Miocene, the arrival o the (95 Ma; 95°E, 30°S); in the Pacific Ocean: the Shatsky Rise
Ontong Java oceanic plateau blocked the whole system (c. (145 Ma; 160°E, 35°N), the Hess Rise (99 Ma; 180° E/WE/W,, 35°N),
2.2.7) because it was not dense enough (buoyancy effect) to the  Manihiki Plateau (123 Ma; 165°W, 10°S), the Ontong Java
be absorbed by the subduction o the Pacific Plate which was Plateau (121 Ma & 90 Ma), the Hikurangi Plateau (120-100 Ma,
previously subducting southwards under the Indian-Australian close to the east o New Zealand); in the Atlantic Ocean, the
plate. Tis caused reorganization o the subduction as it now Caribbean Plateau (90 Ma & 76 Ma), and the Sierra Leone Rise
dips in an opposite direction under the New Hebrides arc. (73 Ma; 20°W, 05°N).
Te Ontong-Java oceanic plateau, named afer the atoll
Te subduction zones are mainly concentrated around the located north o the Solomon Archipelago, is by ar the most
Pacific rim and are the modern expression o the old ashioned
remarkable. It has the largest surace area, estimated at some 2
term “Pacific ring o fire ”. In this ocean, there is a striking
20 Deep blue contours drawn inside these structures correspond to second
contrast between the island arcs (active or remnant) and their order relies.
marginal basins which are exclusively distributed to the west, 21 See the reservations to be considered in relation to this statement in
while to the east the subduction zones are only dominated section 3.

11
 

million km2, and a volume o some 40-45 million km 3 with an - Louisville hotspot (HE) whose trail (Louisville Ridge) ends
anomalous crust whose thickness can reach more than 30 km. up at the onga-Kermadec subduction zone (and maybe at the
It was ormed in the middle o the Cretaceous Period, ca. 121 t he Ontong Java Plateau, as seen above26).
origin o the
Ma, and probably also during a second magmatic pulse around - Tristan da Cunha hotspot (HG), at the origin o the Rio Grande
90 Ma. Some authors believe that this plateau
plateau was generated
generated Rise to the west, and o the Walvis Ridge to the east, that are
by the “plume” o the Louisville hotspot (marked HE on this connected to the
t he Parana and Etendeka traps respectively that, as
Sheet) situated in the south o the Pacific (140° W, 50°S) 22. seen beore (c. 1.3), ormed a single LIP unit 133 Ma years ago,
As mentioned above (2.2.6), this plateau reached the ormer beore the opening o the South Atlantic.
Vitiaz subduction zone some 20 Ma ago, then collided with the - Easter Island hotspot (HB) that produced the Sala y Gomez
Solomon island arc about 4 Ma ago. Tis caused the blocking Ridge continued by the Nazca Ridge whose eastern extremity is
o the subduction because o its lower density compared to the subducted into the Peru Trench.
normal oceanic crust (buoyancy effect).
According to the classical theory, a hotspot is located more 2.2.8- Distributed or diffuse plate boundaries
or less deep beneath a lithospheric plate that is moving over A grey hatching  covers
 covers some oceanic areas where
w here the transorm
it with a velocity and direction controlled by the accretionary boundary (strike-slip motion) between two lithospheric plates
axis where that plate
plate is being generated.
generated. In its early existence,
existence, is ill-defined. It is distributed over an area o variable width, e.g.
the hotspot generates a large plume. When reaching the between the North America and South America plates, or on
overlying lithosphere, it produces a voluminous and relatively a part o the transform ault to the east o Azores separating
fluid volcanism at the surace in quite a short time lapse in Eurasia rom the Arican plate. Te largest region displaying
geological terms. Subsequently
Subsequently,, large outpourings are ormed in this kind o diffuse boundary is located in the middle o the
contained, but somehow large, geographic areas: traps, onshore, Indian Ocean where it links a segment o the Central Indian
and oceanic plateaus, offshore23. Afer dissipation o the plume, (accretionary) mid- oceanic ridge to the Sunda subduction
only the “tail” o the hotspot remains active, evidently at a zone (rom the north o Sumatra to the middle o Java). Tis
lower rate but or a much more extended period o time. Tis crosses the whole width o the so-called Indian-Australian plate.
activity is recorded in the moving overlying plate by a chain o Actually,, it is not yet a true boundary showing a clear separation
Actually
 volcanoes that drif away rom the eeding hotspot, first as an between an Indian plate and an Australian plate, but a zone
active volcanic center, then extinct, and finally subsiding below where the basaltic substratum is deormed by a compressive
the ocean surace.
progressively Tethe
older with links in this
distance volcanic
rom chain become stress (in response to the collision o India against ibet) and
the hotspot. where diffuse seismicity also occurs.
Te whole set o this linear chain orms the hotspot track   (or
2.2.9- Submarine volcanism related to to the opening of the
hotspot trail). Te most illustrative example is given by the Hawaii
North Atlantic Ocean
hotspot (code HC on this map) where the  volcanic activity is at
present located beneath Te Big Island (Mauna Loa and Kilauea A red hatching  overprint  overprint shows the presence o SDRs (Seaward
shield-volcanoes, and the submarine Loihi volcano24 marked by Dipping Reflector sequences), located from seismic reflection
a small blue triangle on the Physiography Map). Te oldest part surveys, or submarine basalt  bodies. Te latter can be both
o this hotspot track still visible is the Meiji seamount (dated outcropping or buried and all provide evidence o an extensive
at 85 Ma), located just in front o the Kuriles subduction zone  volcanic province related to the opening o the North Atlantic
which will eventually subduct it. Notice that at halway halw ay along its Ocean during the Paleogene (c.2.2.4), and to the activity o
length (ca. 40 Ma), the orientation o the hotspot track changes the powerul Iceland (HD) hotspot. Tese dynamics had an
from SE-NW to S-N direction, evidence o the reorientation of effect on the conjugate continental margins o Greenland (and
the motion o the Pacific Plate at that t hat time. sometimes beyond), on one hand, and o the British Isles and
Norway, on the other. Tis eruptive activity is known onshore
In addition to the above mentioned Hawaii hotspot track, the
(volcanism “V 1” in the legend) in Greenland, as well as in the
age of some different progression steps   or 5 other trails is Faroe Islands and Ireland (Giant’s Causeway). It is interpreted
indicated in the map with a red number without the “Ma”:
that the SDRs correspond to a series o strata with alternated
- La Réunion (HF). A trail that links this island to the Deccan  volcanic flows (lava and pyroclastic pyroclasti c deposits) and non-volcanic
traps via Mauritius Island, Nazareth Bank, Chagos Bank, sedimentary layers.
Maldives and Laccadives ridge. Te subsequent opening o the
Arabian Sea rom the creation o the Carlsberg mid-oceanic 2.2.10- SDRs related to the opening of the South Atlantic
ridge has cut this trail in two and offset the original alignment Ocean
that also included the Saya de Malha and Seychelles banks (c. In the South Atlantic Ocean, oil exploration has more recently
also I.3). located SDRs  (blue hatching ) on the conjugated continental
- Kerguelen hotspot (Hi) probably at the origin o the Broken margins o Argentina and Namibia-South Arica. Te presence
Ridge Plateau and the Ninetyeast Ridge25  and perhaps o the o these reflectors is related to the opening o the South Atlantic
Rajmahal and Sylhet remnant traps. Ocean and the presence of the Tristan da Cunha (HG) hotspot.
22 Te ormation o the Ontong Java plateau by a hotspot was recently
Te two examples o these Atlantic basins show that the passive
questioned by the hypothesis o a very large meteoritic impact triggering a continental margins (i.e. generated by an earlier continental
cataclysmic magmatic output (c. Ingle S. & Coffin M., 2004, E.P.S.L.,
E.P.S.L., 218 rif and no longer constituting a plate boundary) are not solely
:123-134).
At present, there are not known examples o trap or oceanic plateau in “non
SDRs.volcanic”, as previously beore the discovery o
23 presumed
ormation. It might
might give some evidence or the presence o a hotspot
24 Te Loihi, located 34 km to the SE o Big Island and culminating
cu lminating at a depth being required in the initial rifing o a continental block and
o –1000 m (at the “Pelé Pit”), is the most recent expression o the Hawaii the subsequent opening of an ocean.
hotspot (see Physiography Map).
25 Te name o the ridge was coined afer its specific geographic position 26 In this case, the missing segment would have been progressively absorbed
located along meridian 90° E. by this subduction, since the motion o the Pacific Plate was westwards.
12
 

3 – HOTSPOTS attributed to dynamics related only to the plate tectonics sensu

stricto, which induce shear stress in the lithosphere avoured
Te hotspot theory (c. 1.3; 2.2.7) was proposed by the Canadian
by pre-existing lines o weakness such as racture zones.  Tis
geophysicist John uzo Wilson
Wilson who first proposed
prop osed it in 1963 (two
case seems to apply to the Central Pacific — see
s ee in particular the
years beore he developed the transorm ault theory) taking
works o IRD/IPGP (Valérie Clouard and Alain Bonneville) and
Hawaii as a base model, and improved by the American
Amer ican W.
W. Jason
USGS (Marcia McNutt and collaborators)— with the hotspot
Morgan in 1971. Tis attractive theory had enormous success
track segment o Samoa(H27)-Rarotonga(H25)-Arago(H1)-
in consistently explaining the distribution o specific volcanism
Mcdonald(H21)-Foundation(H15), and with the ahiti (H30)-
generally seen outside the plate boundaries (hence its name o
Pitcairn(H24) segment. Tis current controversy is hosted by the
intra- plate volcanism) and
and is particularly
partic ularly evident in the oceanic
 very interesting web site: www.mantleplumes.org
www.mantleplumes.org>, >, managed by
domain. Te initial hotspot list included a score o cases, but its
the British geophysicist Gillian R. Foulger, who also published
number rapidly expanded to 130 units, even more indeed (about
27 the authoritative book Plates vs Plumes. A Geological Controversy
5at200
thisaccording to Malamud
point, quoting and urcotte
Don Anderson   in 1999).
and Kimberly However
Schramm 28
,  (2010, Wiley-Blackwell). Whateve
Whateverr it might be, it was considered
o informative interest to plot the exact or inferred position  
“this brings up the question of semantics”. oday, the list has been
o 45 hotspots  on the map (list given in the inset placed in the
brought down to a more reasonable number varying between
bottom o the Map).
40 and 50 hotspots. But not all o them meet the basic criteria
o the original model (without addressing the geochemical Tey are categorized
categorized in 4 types o hotspots, taking into
domain). Tese are: a deep origin or the mantle plume and a consideration
consideration the criteria
cr iteria o Vincent Courtillot and co-workers
long duration o the activity (several tens o million years) which (2003) in particular:
determines the progressio
progressionn of a volcanic track in surace. Tose
cases, disagreeing with the classic model, are labelled shallow, 1/ “primary” hotspots interpreted to correspond to a powerul
weak hotspots or hotlines , etc. Te latter is exemplified by the plume, deeply rooted in the lower mantle and with a long
NE-SW Cameroon volcanic line where the age o the volcanism duration, marked HA to HG (large red continuous circle);
is not distributed according to a regular migration throughout 2/ hotspots that might be
b e considered as primary, shown Hh to Hi
time. It shows a more or less random mode, with the currently (large red dotted circle);
most active volcano being the coastal Mount Cameroon (+4 095
m) hal-way between the extremities of the line located one at 3/ less characteristic, problematic or controversial hotspots,
the north o the Cameroon Republic, and the other beyond the noted H1 to H34 (small red circle);
small Pagalu Island (ex-Annobon). 4/ hotspots supposed to have been extinct since much over 1
Ma, but which would have lef traces in the seafloor morphology
Te polemics around the hotspot concept has been hardening (small blue circle). Tis would include the Great Meteor Bank
since the early 2000s, when some researchers (anti-plumers, (eH1) to the south o Azores that would have built the New
see e.g. the recent works o Don L. Anderson) denied the England seamount alignment and Saint Helena (eH2).
existence o a number o plumes. Tey proposed an explanation
or the origin o LIP (Large Igneous Provinces, c. 1.3) mainly Te first three categories, considered as “alive” with an active,
27 C. D. Anderson and J. Natland, (p.134), see complete reer
reerence
ence in oot or recent (as in Hoggar) volcanism are mainly located at one
note 28. extremity o the trail. Most hotspots are
are to be ound in the oceans.
28 D. Anderson & K. Schramm use in their paper « Te complete hotspot Only 6 are onshore: Aar (HA), Cameroon (H17), Darfur/Djebel
catalogue » in: Plates Plumes & Paradigms (Geol. Soc.
S oc. Amer., Special Paper
no. 558, 2005, p. 19-29), with some humour
humour,, the neologisms «Notspots»
Marra (H13), Hoggar (H17), ibesti (H32), Yellowstone (H34).
and « Crackspots » to reer to these “dethroned” hotspots.

By way o conclusion….

… It is to be noted that this Map can be used as a basis to explicitly trace the contours o the
different lithospheric plates, sub-plates, and micro-plates that make up the present surace o our
planet through a relentless conrontation between creation dynamics and destructive
de structive processes.
wo maps ormerly published at the 1:50,000,000 scale by CGMW useully supplement the
reading o this Map:
Plate tectonics from space (2006, N. Chamot-Rooke & A. Rabaute) displaying the present-day
motions o the lithospheric plates, one in respect to the others;
Seismotectonic Map of the World  (2002,
 (2002, A. Haghipour and coll.) showing the distribution o the
earthquakes, particularly along plate boundaries, with different categories o magnitudes and
ocal depths o earthquakes.

13
 

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