Development of a passive transform margin: Cote d'Ivoire Ghana transform margin - ODP Leg 159 preliminary results

The Cote: d'Ivoire-Ghana transform margin is bounded to the south by a prominent marginal ridge. ODP Leg 159 shipboard analyses on sediments from four sites document three distinct transform margin sedimentary and tectonic stages of evolution: (1) an intracontinental stage of transform faulting recorded in deformed lacustrine to marine siliciclastic sequences; (2) a marginal ridge uplift stage, recorded by shallow water limestones, appears coeval with the passing of a hot, oceanic spreading center just south of the sediment wedge; and (3) cooling subsidence of the transform margin recorded in bathyal to abyssal sediments emphasizes a passive margin stage, These results are consistent with previously published models of evolution.