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Campos basin seismic experiment: from continental extension to oceanic spreading revealed by wide-angle seismic data imaging

Magma-poor rifting, where lithospheric thinning evolves with limited magmatic supply, has been recognised as a fundamental extensional mode. Due to the vast structural diversity of magma-poor margins, many aspects of their evolution are still not clear. Since the discovery of vast expanses of exhumed mantle at the continent-ocean transition, COT, of the West Iberia-Newfoundland margins, it has been questioned whether all magma-poor margins present similar transitions to seafloor spreading. Here we propose to survey a very wide, magma-poor margin that rifted at ultra-slow velocities in the Campos basin offshore Brazil. Current controversy  surrounds the extent of the continental crust, the nature of the COT and the timing of seafloor spreading. Using highly sampled wide-angle, magnetic and gravity data we will determine the extent of the continental crust, nature of the COT and onset of magmatic seafloor spreading. This will provide key constraints on current models of magma-poor rifting and the kinematic evolution of the South Atlantic. This is a joint programme of German, French and Brazilian universities and the company Petrobras.