Abstract

The role of tectonic and thermal inheritance on rifting is widely recognised. While tectonic inheritance is known to survive many millions of years, it is questionable whether thermal inheritance, such as variations of the depth of the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary, does. Yet, this represents essential initial conditions of thermo-mechanical models of rifting. Here, we investigate the effect of heterogeneous heat production distribution on continental rifting and focus on two different geological examples: the South China Sea and the European Cenozoic Rift System. Both examples are located on the lower plate of a former subduction system, with rifting of post-orogenic crust that displays lateral variation in lithologies and heat production. They mainly differ by the time lag between the last thermo-tectonic event and the onset of rifting, which allows us to discriminate the lithospheric and crustal effects.