Relative timing of eastern North America magmatism, rifting, drifting, and inversion
Abstract--Eastern North America (ENA) magmatism provides an excellent temporal benchmark for assessing the relative timing of rifting, drifting, and inversion.  The intrusion of diabase dikes and sills and the extrusion of basalt flows occurred throughout eastern North America during the Early Jurassic (200 ± 5 Ma).  The duration of the magmatic activity, at least in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, was extremely short, about 600,000 years.
 In the southeastern United States, rifting ceased and inversion began before the ENA magmatism.  A massive volcanic/volcaniclastic wedge formed near the continent-ocean boundary during the rift-drift transition.  ENA magmatism lead to the emplacement of diabase sills and NW-striking dikes, and the eruption of postrift basalt flows that blanketed the southern rift basins.

In the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, rifting continued during and after the ENA magmatism. In fact, normal faulting and basin subsidence accelerated shortly before, during, and after the ENA magmatic activity.  ENA magmatism lead to the emplacement of diabase sills and NE-striking dikes, and the eruption of synrift basalt flows.  Rifting ceased in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada by the early Middle Jurassic, long after ENA magmatic activity.  A volcanic/volcaniclastic wedge formed near the continent-ocean boundary of the northeastern United States during the rift-drift transition.  Inversion occurred in southeastern Canada before or during the Early Cretaceous during the rift-drift transition and/or during the early stages of seafloor spreading.
 The inversion and widespread magmatism are related to active asthenospheric upwelling that culminated during the rift-drift transition. We propose that inversion may be a common feature along many volcanic passive margins and is associated with change in strain state from margin-perpendicular extension to margin-perpendicular shortneing.  The presence of dikes oriented at a high angle to the trend of the margin (e.g., the dike swarms in the southeastern United States, southeastern U.S., southeastern Greenland, offshore northwest Europe, and South America)  reflects inversion.

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