Imaging, mapping and modelling continental lithosphere extension and breakup: an introduction, G D Karner, G Manatschal and L M Pinheiro • Break-up of the Newfoundland-Iberia rift, B E Tucholke, D S Sawyer and J-C Sibuet • Structure of the Flemish Cap margin, Newfoundland: insights into mantle and crustal processes during continental breakup, J R Hopper, T Funck and B E Tucholke • Early Cretaceous motion of Flemish Cap with respect to North America: implications on the formation of Orphan Basin and SE Flemish Cap-Galicia Bank conjugate margins, J-C Sibuet, S P Srivastava, M Enachescu and G D Karner • The formation of non-volcanic rifted margins by the progressive extension of the lithosphere: the example of the West Iberian margin, T J Reston • Roles of lithospheric strain softening and heterogeneity in determining the geometry of rifts and continental margins, R S Huismans and C Beaumont • The role of gravitational instabilities, density structure, and extension rate in the evolution of continental margins, E Burov • A dynamic model of rifting between Galicia Bank and Flemish Cap during opening of the North Atlantic Ocean, D L Harry and S Grandell • A kinematic modelling approach to lithosphere deformation and basin formation: application to the Black Sea, S S Egan and D J Meredith • Early kinematic history of the Goban Spur rifted margin derived from a new model of continental breakup and sea-floor spreading initiation, D Healy and N J Kusznir • The boundary between continental rifting and seafloor spreading in the Woodlark Basin, Papua New Guinea, A M Goodliffe and B Taylor • Nature of the continent-ocean transition zone along the southern Australian continental margin: a comparison of the Naturaliste Plateau, SW Australia, and the central Great Australian Bight sectors, N G Direen, I Borissova, H M J Stagg, J B Colwell and P A Symonds • Constraints on the deformation and rupturing of continental lithosphere of the Red Sea: the transition from rifting to drifting, J R Cochran and G D Karner • Observations from the Alpine Tethys and Iberia Newfoundland margins pertinent to the interpretation of continental breakup, G Manatschal, O Muntener, L L Lavier, T A Minshull and G Peron-Pinvidic • Overview of tectonic settings related to the rifting and opening of Mesozoic ocean basins in the Eastern Tethys: Oman, Himalayas and Eastern Mediterranean regions, A H F Robertson • Continental lithospheric thinning and breakup in response to upwelling divergent mantle flow: application to the Woodlark, Newfoundland, and Iberia margins, N J Kusznir G D Karner • Observations from the Basin and Range Province (western United States) pertinent to the interpretation of regional detachment faults, N Christie-Blick, M H Anders, S Wills, C D Walker and B Renik • Effects of initial weakness on rift architecture, S Dyksterhuis, P Rey, R D Müller and L Moresi • Incompressible viscous formulations for deformation and yielding of the lithosphere, L Moresi, H-B Muhlhaus, V Lemiale and D May