Geologic map.
Major tectonic features within the North American midcontinent. The red and purple stars mark the locations of the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, with igneous intrusions at around 270 million years ago (Ma), and the Lake Ellen (Michigan) kimberlites with an age of 186-206 Ma. The inset diagram shows the geometry and Carboniferous faulting along the Ste. Genevieve Fault Zone. IB, MB, and WB mark the Illinois, Michigan, and Williston basins, respectively. MCR, RR, and LSDB indicate Midcontinent Rift, Reelfoot Rift, and La Salle Deformation Belt. WD, OD, and ND indicate the Wisconsin Dome, Ozark Dome, and Nashville Dome, respectively.  Credit: Yang et al. [2026], Figure 2a
Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors.
Source: AGU Advances

The study of tectonic modifications is essential to understand how Earth’s surface changes over time, shaping mountains, oceans, and continents. It is also crucial for predicting natural hazards like earthquakes and volcanoes. The lithosphere of cratons – ancient and stable continental regions – carry a long history of tectonic modifications that are revealed by increasingly available Earth observations.

Yang et al. [2026] use ambient noise tomography to reveal deep (about 60 kilometers) seismic low velocity anomalies beneath the Illinois and Michigan basins. These perturbations are attributed to lithospheric modifications leading to an uplift of the terrestrial crust of about 3.5 kilometers in the late Paleozoic to the early Mesozoic. The findings present links between geodynamic drivers and geological records and offer implication to improve our understanding of how deep Earth processes shape the surface environment and therefore landscape evolution.

Citation: Yang, X., Peng, L., Stevens Goddard, A., & Liu, L. (2026). Lithospheric delamination below the North American midcontinent ceased subsidence in cratonic basins. AGU Advances, 7, e2025AV002051. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025AV002051

—Alberto Montanari, Editor-in-Chief, AGU Advances

Text © 2026. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
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