The creation of new plates, plate boundaries, and ocean basins begins with continental rifting. However, the underlying processes that drive initiation, lifespan, and style of rifting are not fully understood. Perturbation of lithospheric thermo-mechanical structure, melt generation, seismicity, volcanic activity, and drainage reorganization are examples of what form the disparate record of rifting. Our ability to understand this record relies on the precision and accuracy of the tools used to interrogate it, such as geodynamic modeling and our understanding of lithospheric attenuation, or igneous chemistry revealing the character of magma source.

This session will focus on the processes underlying continental rifting, their interaction, and the fidelity of that record. We encourage earth scientists across diverse disciplines investigating modern and ancient continental rift systems to submit abstracts. Examples of relevant fields of research in rifting include basin modeling, geodynamics, geomorphology, geophysics, igneous geochemistry, numerical modeling, sedimentology, structural geology, thermochronology, and volcanology.