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he provenance of Early Cretaceous sandstones dredged on the northern margin of the Demerara Plateau, offshore French Guiana and Suriname, reveals the sediment routing system that prevailed through the Equatorial Atlantic rifting. Fission-track analysis and U-Pb dating of 310 and 111 detrital zircons, respectively, have been performed. Microfacies analysis and inherited cooling ages suggest that the sandstones were deposited in shallow marine environments during the Early Cretaceous, before the Late Albian drowning of the marginal plateau. Most of the U-Pb zircon crystallisation ages are comprised between 700 and 600 Ma and attributed to the Pan-African-Brasiliano orogeny. Statistical and chronological evidences suggest that the zircon fission-track cooling ages were inherited from source material. Triassic peak ages (>50% of the population) are attributed to the early phase of Central Atlantic rifting. One sample records a cooling phase at ca. 170 Ma, presumably following volcanic hotspot activity and the opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean. Two other samples record the rapid exhumation of the French Guiana transform margin during the Equatorial Atlantic rifting (127 ± 11 and 106 ± 8 Ma). We propose a source-to-sink model in which the Pan-African-Brasiliano basement of the margin was eroded as a result of flexural uplift along the French Guiana margin, and the detrital material funnelled in the Cacipore graben sustained the Early Cretaceous syn-rift sedimentation on the marginal plateau.

During the end of the lower Cretaceous, the connection between the South and the Central Atlantic accretionary axis led to the oblique opening of the Equatorial Atlantic, and to the separation of Africa and South America by alternating transform and rift margins. At the western end of the Equatorial Atlantic, we investigate the structure of the Cretaceous margins surrounding the Demerara plateau, north of French Guiana and Suriname. These margins were previously described as transform northward and divergent eastward. From the bathymetry and deep structures, we propose to divide the northern transform into three margin segments, with two transform segments separated by a divergent one. These two transform margins are very different, the north-western one being linear and associated with a steep and erosive continental slope, the north-eastern one consisting of several faults and ridges en echelon disposed. In between, the divergent margin appear to be a pull-apart basin localised by structures inherited from the previous Jurassic rifting. Additionally, the eastern divergent margin can have been localised by a thermal anomaly tentatively related to a hotspot. It is proposed that the deformation has been first localised in divergent (rift) basins, subsequently connected by transform faults. The structure of the transform fault varies with the offset between adjacent rift basins: large offset forms a linear transform, short (less than 200 km) offset forms en echelon structures.

Transform marginal plateaus (TMPs) are submarine seafloor highs located at the continental slope, often at the boundary of two ocean basins of different ages and associated to at least one transform or highly oblique margin. The systematic study of TMPs can, therefore, answer questions about rifting and continental margin development. The Demerara TMP (offshore Suriname and French Guiana) is located at the border between the Central Atlantic, which opened during the Lower Jurassic and the Equatorial Atlantic, which opened during the Lower Cretaceous. This study, based on wide-angle seismic data modeling from the northern and western section of the Demerara Plateau, provides information on both the lower volcanic unit of this TMP and the adjacent oceanic crust. The results confirm that the crust of the Demerara Plateau is around 30 km thick and consists of lava flows possibly mixed with crust of continental origin in its deeper layers. Seismic velocities (exceeding 7 km/s) are compatible with those of volcanic oceanic plateaus. To the west, a relatively wide transition zone separates the plateau from the Jurassic oceanic crust, which is composed of two layers, and is much thicker than normal oceanic crust (~11 km). During the Cretaceous, the plateau was sharply cut by transform and highly oblique structures, separating the Demerara Plateau from its transform conjugate, the Guinea Plateau. As a result, the Demerara Plateau is flanked to the north by a magma-poor/strongly tectonized Cretaceous oceanic domain with thin (2–3 km) crust, likely partially consisting of serpentinized mantle. In contrast, the oceanic crust located towards the south-east appears to be more characteristic of typical oceanic crust in composition though slightly thinner than normal (4–6 km) thickness. Our analysis allows us to propose a new 3D vision of the crustal structure of the Demerara TMP and its borders.

Deep seismic data and plate kinematic reconstructions help understand the mechanisms of rifting and opening of new oceans, basic principles of plate tectonic cycles. In this study, available deep wide-angle seismic velocity models from the Atlantic margins are reviewed and plate reconstructions used to define conjugate model pairs. The main objective was to study the question of how magma-rich and magma-poor margins develop and the role of inheritance in the break-up. We also studied the question of the mechanism of formation and the origin of transform marginal plateaus, which are typically found at the border of two ocean basins of different ages and are mostly characterized by at least one volcanic phase during their formation. The results of the study include the comparison of crustal thickness, oceanic plate thickness and the influence of volcanism along the Atlantic margins. The conjugate profiles image different degrees of asymmetry of the Atlantic Margin rifts. Marginal plateaus might form when rifting stops at barriers leading to the accumulation of heat in the mantle and increased volcanism directly before or after halting of the rifting.

Off French Guiana and Surinam, NADW and AABW oceanic currents contour the Demerara marginal plateau, which promotes the formation of contourites. We have studied these contourites thanks to a new compilation of high-resolution sub-bottom profiles calibrated by sedimentary cores. The echo-facies and isopach maps we constructed highlight a sedimentary distribution parallel to the isobaths. The presence of moats along the slope is confirmed by the observation of parallel, elongated, sedimentary depleted zones and echo-facies strongly affected by diffraction hyperbola and transparent echo-facies. We interpret these features to be related to eroded slopes and Mass Transport Deposits. In contrast, the sedimentary drifts we mapped are characterized by elongated and thick slope-parallel depocentres displaying bedded echo-facies with wave-like bedforms. According to our interpretation, they result from interactions between currents and the seafloor. Seismic wipe-outs frequently affect those drifts, possibly resulting from high water or organic contents.

The Demerara Plateau, off the French Guiana and Surinam margin, corresponds to a prominent sub-horizontal marginal plateau. The interpretation of a large set of seismic data acquired along the Demerara Plateau and integration with previous seismic stratigraphy and drill studies enables a better understanding of the sedimentary evolution of the outer Demerara marginal plateau. Since the end of the transform activity (late Albian), three sedimentary evolutionary stages have been identified. 1) The Pre-contourite Stage (late Albian to early Miocene) is strongly controlled by the structure of the margin that influences the distribution pattern of post-transform deposits through differential thermal subsidence between transform and divergent segments. 2) The Transitional Stage (middle Miocene to early Pliocene) is expressed as a current-controlled erosive surface resulting from the onset of bottom-current interactions due to the establishment and strengthening of the modern thermohaline circulation that is coeval with the progressive closure of the Isthmus of Panama. 3) The Contourite Stage (middle Pliocene to Holocene) is characterized by the development of a contourite depositional system that is linked to the activity of the North Atlantic Deep Water circulation and by a complex interaction between alongslope and downslope processes. Our study highlights that marginal plateaus might be particularly prone to develop contourite features since they regionally influence ocean current dynamics in guiding and accelerating bottom contour currents. Marginal plateaus should thus be considered as a key target to study bottom current dynamics and paleocirculation patterns.