The Borborema and Benin–Nigeria Provinces are composed of a complex network of Neoproterozoic mobile belts, and large-scale shear zones. The evolution of the South Atlantic Cretaceous Rift System was controlled by the structural inheritance of the Borborema and Benin–Nigeria Provinces. The process of lithospheric rupture began and ended around the Borborema and Benin–Nigeria Provinces, which behaved as a “lithospheric relay ramp” and act as the main obstacle to the opening of the South Atlantic. The onset of rifting, and the onset of sea floor spreading are diachronic complex, and spatiotemporal. At the spatial domain, the basins can be described by groups of marginal basins with genetic links to eleven oceanic transform faults, distributed along three rift branches and twelve rift zones, grouped at six structural segments and aborted rift arms. In the time domain, five chronological rift stages are here identified as the result of sorting 33 “tectonic-related events”, that affect the tectono-stratigraphic record of each one of these basins. Oceanic crust initiation was diachronic with emplacement initiating at three times from south to north: (i) at 130 Ma, seafloor spreading begin south of Florianópolis fracture zone; (ii) after salt deposition (113 Ma), between Florianópolis and Bode Verde fracture zone; and (iii) at the end of Albian (~110 Ma), between Bode Verde and Chain fracture zone, and at the entire Equatorial Branch. Not until the end of Albian (~110 Ma) a full, continuous, and stable mid-ocean ridge was established. The time and space distribution of LIP's and the St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha hotspots trails on the Brazilian side allowed us to corroborate these timings within our model. Upper crustal structures did not play a decisive role in the rift compartmentation at the Equatorial and Orthogonal branches, where lithospheric processes controlled the final plate boundaries.

博尔博雷马省和贝宁-尼日利亚省由新元古代移动带和大范围剪切带组成的复杂网络组成。南大西洋白垩纪裂谷系统的演化是由Borborema和贝宁－尼日利亚两省的结构遗传所控制的。岩石圈破裂的过程始于和结束于Borborema和贝宁-尼日利亚两省，它们起着“岩石圈接力斜坡”的作用，是南大西洋开放的主要障碍。裂谷的发生和海床扩张的发生是历时复杂的，并且是时空的。在空间域上，这些盆地可以用边缘盆地群来描述，这些边缘盆地与11个海洋转换断层有遗传联系，沿着三个裂谷分支和十二个裂谷区域分布，分为六个结构部分和裂谷裂谷臂。在时域中，由于对33个“构造相关事件”进行分类，在此确定了五个时间上的裂谷阶段，这些事件影响了这些盆地中每个盆地的构造地层记录。大洋地壳萌发是历时性的，从南到北发生了三次侵位：（i）在130 Ma，Florianópolis断裂带以南开始海底扩散；（ii）在Florianópolis和Bode Verde断裂带之间沉积盐（113 Ma）之后；（iii）在Albian的末端（〜110 Ma），位于Bode Verde和Chain断裂带之间，以及整个赤道分支。直到Albian（〜110 Ma）结束，才建立了完整，连续且稳定的中洋脊。LIP和St.的时间和空间分布 巴西方面的海伦娜（Helena）和特里斯坦·达库尼亚（Tristan da Cunha）热点足迹使我们能够在模型中证实这些时间安排。上地壳结构在赤道和正交分支的裂谷分隔中没有决定性的作用，那里的岩石圈过程控制了最终的板块边界。