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CONTINENTAL RUPTURE [1 record]

Record 1 2021-07-14

English

Subject field(s)
  • Plate Tectonics
CONT

Continental rupture begins with the formation of a rift valley and tilted block mountains. As the continental crust recedes, oceanic crust fills the gap. The motion of lithospheric plates is thought to result from convection currents of upwelling plastic mantle rock that lift the plates and cause them to split apart.

OBS

Despite their similarity, continental rupture differs from continental rifting as the former refers to the splitting apart of a continental plate, while the latter refers to the spreading of a plate, which may or may not lead to actual splitting of the plate.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Tectonique des plaques
CONT

L'écartement de deux plaques lithosphériques commence par une déchirure [...] qui se propage au travers d'un continent. Lorsque la séparation est achevée, les deux fragments continentaux s'éloignent l'un de l'autre en donnant naissance à un nouvel océan. La rupture continentale est donc un événement capital dans le cycle de la tectonique des plaques.

OBS

Les termes «rupture continentale» et «rifting continental» ne sont pas interchangeables puisque le premier fait référence à la cassure d'une plaque continentale, tandis que le second fait plutôt référence à l'amincissement de la plaque, qui peut, ou pas, mener à la cassure de la plaque.

Spanish

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