A model of oceanic development by ridge jumping: Opening of the Scotia Sea

摘要

Ona Basin is a small intra-oceanic basin located in the southwestern corner of the Scotia Sea. This region is crucial for an understanding of the early phases of opening of Drake Passage, since it may contain the oldest oceanic crust of the entire western Scotia Sea, where conflicting age differences from Eocene to Oligocene have been proposed to date. The precise timing of the gateway opening between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, moreover, has significant paleoceanographic and global implications. Two sub-basins are identified in this region, the eastern and western Ona basins, separated by the submarine relief of the Ona High. A dense geophysical data set collected during the last two decades is analyzed here. The data include multichannel seismic reflection profiles, and magnetic and gravimetric data.