| Abstract: | Kaiko surveys over the Nankai Trough made available new magnetic and structural data for the northern Shikoku Basin. A survey of the oceanic lithosphere subducting below Southwest Japan along the central Nankai Trough revealed the existence of several north-south basement troughs. They are probably transform faults related to a north-south spreading system. We examine the possibility of a late phase of north-south spreading limited to the axial northernmost Shikoku Basin, active between 14 and 12 Ma. If this system was already active before that time, i.e. during the N55° opening of the southeastern basin, then a triple junction should be found between both areas.Based on these data and previous studies we present a new interpretation of magnetic anomalies over the whole basin. From early east-west rifting to late north-south spreading, opening of the Shikoku Basin proceeded through multiple episodes of spreading. The analysis of magnetic anomalies constrains the kinematic evolution of the basin through time and space. Two successive counter-clockwise rotations of the spreading direction are postulated, at anomaly 6 (19 Ma) and at anomaly 5B (14 Ma), involving segmentation and rotation of the spreading ridge. |
