Kinematics of the South Atlantic rift

The South Atlantic rift basin evolved as a branch of a large Jurassic-Cretaceous intraplate rift zone between the African and South American plates during the final break-up of western Gondwana. We have compiled and assimilated data from these intraplated rifts and constructed a revised plate kinematic model for the prebreak- up evolution of the South Atlantic. Based on structural restoration of the conjugate South Atlantic margins and intracontinental rift basins in Africa and South America, we achieve a tight-fit reconstruction which eliminates the need for previously inferred large intracontinental shear zones, in particular in Patagonian South America. We conclude that such a multi-velocity, multi-directional rift history exerts primary control on the evolution of these conjugate passive-margin systems and can explain the first-order tectonic structures along the South Atlantic and possibly other passive margins.