CentralRockall

UK Offshore

Central Rockall Trough Offshore

On this tentative interpretation of a Canvas autotrace of a seismic line of the Central Rockall Trough offshore, the breakup unconformity is, easily, recognized. It separates the lengthened and thinned Pangea continental crust, in which Mesozoic rift-type basins developed, from the aborted margin Cenozoic sediments that comprehend the lava flows (SDRs). Similarly, the pre-rifting unconformity, which separates Paleozoic sediments from the basement, is, also, easily recognized. Dykes of mantle material infused the lava-flows (SDRs) that form the lower volcanic Atlantic-type divergent margin (volcanic sector). Locally, volcanic sills are recognized on the sediments filling the aborted upper clastic margin. The fact of no oceanic crust is recognized suggested the spreading centers were outcropping and not immersed at the time of westward shift of the mantle upwelling.