Extensional tectonics
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Extensional tectonics is concerned with the structures formed, and the tectonic processes associated with, the stretching of the crust or lithosphere.
Areas of extensional tectonics are typically associated with:
- The development of continental rifts, with or without the effects of mantle upwelling
- The gravitational spreading of zones of thickened crust formed during continent-continent collision
- Tensional flexures along strike-slip faults
- On passive margins where an effective basal detachment layer is present at the upper end of a linked system
[edit] Extensional structures
The main structures formed in areas of extensional tectonics are normal faults and graben structures.
Prominent examples include:
- The Great Rift Valley of east Africa
- The Basin and Range province of western North America
- The global mid-ocean ridge system
- The Dead Sea basin
