The role of lithospheric heterogeneities in continental rifting: Implications for rift diversity in the North China Craton

Widespread heterogeneities exist in the continental lithosphere, but their role in continental rifting is poorly understood. Here we investigate the influence of lithospheric heterogeneities on the pattern of continental rifting using 2D thermo-mechanical simulations. The heterogeneities are mainly manifest in a laterally inhomogeneous continental lithosphere, which has a cold west (CW) half and a hot east (HE) half. A series of experiments were...