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New multichannel seismic reflection data were collected over a 565 km transect covering the non-volcanic rifted margin of the central eastern Grand Banks and the Newfoundland Basin in the northwestern Atlantic. Three major crustal zones are interpreted from west to east over the seaward 350 km of the profile: (1) continental crust; (2) transitional basement and (3) oceanic crust. Continental crust thins over a wide zone (∼160 km) by forming a large rift basin (Carson Basin) and seaward fault block, together with a series of smaller fault blocks eastwards beneath the Salar and Newfoundland basins. Analysis of selected previous reflection profiles (Lithoprobe 85-4, 85-2 and Conrad NB-1) indicates that prominent landward-dipping reflections observed under the continental slope are a regional phenomenon. They define the landward edge of a deep serpentinized mantle layer, which underlies both extended continental crust and transitional basement. The 80-km-wide transitional basement is defined landwards by a basement high that may consist of serpentinized peridotite and seawards by a pair of basement highs of unknown crustal origin. Flat and unreflective transitional basement most likely is exhumed, serpentinized mantle, although our results do not exclude the possibility of anomalously thinned oceanic crust. A Moho reflection below interpreted oceanic crust is first observed landwards of magnetic anomaly M4, 230 km from the shelf break. Extrapolation of ages from chron M0 to the edge of interpreted oceanic crust suggests that the onset of seafloor spreading was ∼138 Ma (Valanginian) in the south (southern Newfoundland Basin) to ∼125 Ma (Barremian–Aptian boundary) in the north (Flemish Cap), comparable to those proposed for the conjugate margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We calculate the anomalous basement topography for the North Atlantic Ocean from 30° to 70°N latitude and from 0° to 70°W longitude at a resolution of roughly 6×6 km, using grids of total sediment thickness and observed and predicted sea-floor bathymetry to correct for the effects of isostatic sediment loading and lithospheric age. Plotting this residual topography for various plate reconstructions during opening of the North Atlantic, we delineate consistent patterns of basement highs related to variations in hotspot-related volcanism. In addition to Iceland and the Azores, we recognize three centers of excess volcanism at the mid-Atlantic ridge: the Milne Seamounts and Azores-Biscay Rise (∼75–40 Ma), the Southeast Newfoundland Ridge and Madeira-Tore Rise (∼130–110 Ma), and the East and West Thulean Rises (∼60–50 Ma). The duration of volcanic activity ranges from 8 to 10 m.y. (Thulean Rises) to 60 m.y. (Iceland) and thus it appears that both long- and short-lived hotspots coexist, even in relatively close proximity. In contrast, during the period 110–60 Ma we observe little excess volcanism during either continental breakup or seafloor spreading.We estimate isostatic crustal thickness from the anomalous basement depths, after first removing dynamic effects created by mantle flow. Maximum thicknesses of volcanic features, from 30 km beneath the Greenland–Iceland–Faeroe ridge to ∼15 km beneath the Azores-Biscay Rise, are broadly consistent with seismic data and predictions of decompression melting. Widths of volcanic features indicate that thickening primarily occurs within 100–200 km of hotspots except along continental margins that rifted at the time of the hotspot activity (i.e. East Greenland and the Hatton-Rockall Bank). We observe conjugate structures south of Greenland and Edoras Bank, where excess volcanism appears to have extended beyond the margin proper and into oceanic crust. Similar conjugate features appear in the Labrador Sea south of Davis Strait. Finally, we identify anomalous oceanic regions adjacent to some continental margins, where unusually low values of predicted crustal thickness suggest either additional variations in plate properties or non-isostatic effects within the mantle. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]