Because of their great depth and distance from the shore, continental rises have been relatively insulated from geological explorations. Distinguished international experts offer new interpretations of continental-rise deposition at several different locations along the margins of the Atlantic Ocean in Geological Evolution of Atlantic Continental Rises. They provide findings generated by new measurement and imaging technology, complete with fold-out maps that display a panorama of erosional features for comparison with other ocean regions. New techniques for detecting and dating tectonic episodes that affect continental rise deposition will be especially useful to petroleum engineers involved in offshore oil exploration. Information is included on the role of massive slides in forming continental-rise deposits and interaction of sedimentation on modern continental rises.
Part I: Prerift and synrift evolution: Galicia continential margin: Constraints on formation of non-volcanic passive margins
- Southwest Africa plate margin: Thermal history and geodynamical implications
Part II: Early postrift evolution: Antarctic continental margin: Geologic image of the Bransfield Trough, an incipient oceanic basin
- Southwestern Africa continental rise: Structural and sedimentary evolution
- Angola basin: Geohistory and construction of the continental rise
- U.S. Middle Atlantic continental rise: Provenance, dispersal, and deposition of Jurassic to Quaternary sediments
- Norweigan Continental margin: Structural and stratigraphical styles
Part III: Late postrift evolution: Southern Brazil basin: Sedimentary processses and features and implications for continental rise evolution
- Southeastern New England continental rise: origin and history of slide complexes
- Western Nova Scotia continental rise: Relative importance of mass wasting and deep boundary-current activity
- Guinea and Ivory Coast-Ghana transform margins: Combined effects of synrift structure and postrift bottom currents on evolution and morphology
- Northwest African continental rise: Effects of near-bottom processes inferred from high-resolution seismic data
- Saharan continental rise: Facies distribution and sediment slides
Part IV: Synthesis
- Index