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1.
Rift basin tectono‐stratigraphic models indicate that normal fault growth controls the sedimentology and stratigraphic architecture of syn‐rift deposits. However, such models have rarely been tested by observations from natural examples and thus remain largely conceptual. In this study we integrate 3D seismic reflection, and biostratigraphically constrained core and wireline log data from the Vingleia Fault Complex, Halten Terrace, offshore Mid‐Norway to test rift basin tectono‐stratigraphic models. The geometry of the basin‐bounding fault and its hangingwall, and the syn‐rift stratal architecture, vary along strike. The fault is planar along a much of its length, bounding a half‐graben containing a faultward‐thickening syn‐rift wedge. Locally, however, the fault has a ramp‐flat‐ramp geometry, with the hangingwall defined by a fault‐parallel anticline‐syncline pair. Here, an unusual bipartite syn‐rift architecture is observed, comprising a lower faultward‐expanding and an upper faultward‐thinning wedge. Fine‐grained basinfloor deposits dominate the syn‐rift succession, although isolated coarse clastics occur. The spatial and temporal distribution of these coarse clastics is complex due to syn‐depositional movement on the Vingleia Fault Complex. High rates of accommodation generation in the fault hangingwall led to aggradational stacking of fan deltas that rapidly (<5 km) pinch out basinward into offshore mudstone. In the south of the basin, rapid strain localization meant that relay ramps were short‐lived and did not represent major, long‐lived sediment entry points. In contrast, in the north, strain localization occurred later in the rift event, thus progradational shorefaces developed and persisted for a relatively long time in relay ramps developed between unlinked fault segments. The footwall of the Vingleia Fault Complex was characterized by relatively low rates of accommodation generation, with relatively thin, progradational hangingwall shorelines developed downdip of the fault block apex, sometime after the onset of sediment supply to the hangingwall. We show that rift basin tectono‐stratigraphic models need modifying to take into account along‐strike variability in fault structure and basin physiography, and the timing and style of syn‐rift sediment dispersal and facies, in both hangingwall and footwall locations.  相似文献   

2.
ABSTRACT This paper investigates syn‐rift stratigraphic architecture and facies relationships along a 7 km long strike section towards the tip of a major, basin‐bounding normal fault segment (Thal Fault) in the Suez Rift, Egypt. In this location, the fault is composed of two precursor fault strands, Gushea and Abu Ideimat, linked by a jog or transfer fault. We document a Miocene syn‐rift succession, deposited more than c. 5.5 Myr after rift initiation, that is composed of a range of carbonate‐clastic facies associated with coarse‐grained deltaic, shoreface and offshore depositional systems. Key regionally correlatable stratal surfaces within this succession define time equivalent stratal units that exhibit variability in thickness and architecture, related to the interplay of both regional and local controls, in particular, the evolution of two, small‐scale (<6 km long) precursor fault strands (Gushea and Abu Ideimat). Integration of structural and stratigraphic data indicates that the boundary (relay ramp) between these two fault strands was a relative high during much of the rift event, with hard‐linkage and considerable displacement accumulation not occurring until at least c. 7.5 Myr after rift initiation. This is because: (i) the preserved stratigraphy is thinner in the hanging wall of the strand boundary; (ii) a eustatic sea‐level fall with an amplitude of 100 m generated more than 25 m of incision at the strand boundary, a region that has a final fault displacement of c. 600 m; and (iii) the fault strand boundary persisted as a footwall low and transport pathway for coarse‐grained deltas entering the basin. This study indicates that variability in stratal thickness and stratigraphic architecture towards the tip of the Thal Fault was related to the linkage history of two small‐scale (c. 6 km long) precursor fault segments. We suggest that similar, small‐scale stratal variability may occur repeatedly along the entire length of major basin‐bounding fault segments due to the process of fault growth by the linkage of smaller scale precursor strands.  相似文献   

3.
The thickness and distribution of early syn‐rift deposits record the evolution of structures accommodating the earliest phases of continental extension. However, our understanding of the detailed tectono‐sedimentary evolution of these deposits is poor, because in the subsurface, they are often deeply buried and below seismic resolution and sparsely sampled by borehole data. Furthermore, early syn‐rift deposits are typically poorly exposed in the field, being buried beneath thick, late syn‐rift and post‐rift deposits. To improve our understanding of the tectono‐sedimentary development of early syn‐rift strata during the initial stages of rifting, we examined quasi‐3D exposures in the Abura Graben, Suez Rift, Egypt. During the earliest stage of extension, forced folding above blind normal fault segments, rather than half‐graben formation adjacent to surface‐breaking faults, controlled rift physiography, accommodation development and the stratigraphic architecture of non‐marine, early syn‐rift deposits. Fluvial systems incised into underlying pre‐rift deposits and were structurally focused in the axis of the embryonic depocentre, which, at this time, was characterized by a fold‐bound syncline rather than a fault‐bound half graben. During this earliest phase of extension, sediment was sourced from the rift shoulder some 3 km to the NE of the depocentre, rather than from the crests of the flanking, intra‐basin extensional forced folds. Fault‐driven subsidence, perhaps augmented by a eustatic sea‐level rise, resulted in basin deepening and the deposition of a series of fluvial‐dominated mouth bars, which, like the preceding fluvial systems, were structurally pinned within the axis of the growing depocentre, which was still bound by extensional forced folds rather than faults. The extensional forced folds were eventually locally breached by surface‐breaking faults, resulting in the establishment of a half graben, basin deepening and the deposition of shallow marine sandstone and fan‐delta conglomerates. Because growth folding and faulting were coeval along‐strike, syn‐rift stratal units deposited at this time show a highly variable along‐strike stratigraphic architecture, locally thinning towards the growth fold but, only a few kilometres along‐strike, thickening towards the surface‐breaking fault. Despite displaying the classic early syn‐rift stratigraphic motif recording net upward‐deepening, extensional forced folding rather than surface faulting played a key role in controlling basin physiography, accommodation development, and syn‐rift stratal architecture and facies development during the early stages of extension. This structural and stratigraphic observations required to make this interpretation are relatively subtle and may go unrecognized in low‐resolution subsurface data sets.  相似文献   

4.
The Southern Tail‐End Graben, Danish Central Graben, is characterized by a lateral variation in the thickness and mobility of pre‐rift Zechstein Supergroup evaporites, allowing investigation of how supra‐basement evaporite variability influences rift structural style and tectono‐stratigraphy. The study area is divided into two structural domains based on interpretations of the depositional thickness and mobility of the Zechstein Supergroup. Within each domain, we examine the overall basin morphology and the structural styles in the pre‐Zechstein and supra‐Zechstein (cover) units. Furthermore, integration of two‐way travel‐time (TWT)‐structure and ‐thickness maps allows fault activity and evaporite migration maps to be generated for pre‐ and syn‐rift stratal units within the two domains, permitting constraints to be placed on: (i) the timing of activity on pre‐Zechstein and cover faults and (ii) the onset, duration and migration direction of mobile evaporites. The northern domain is interpreted to be free from evaporite‐influence, and has developed in a manner typical of brittle‐only, basement‐involved rifts. Syn‐rift basins display classical half‐graben geometries bounded by thick‐skinned faults. In contrast, the southern domain is interpreted to be evaporite‐influenced, and cover structure reflects a southward increase in the thickness and mobility of the Zechstein Supergroup evaporites. Fault‐related and evaporite‐related folding is prominent in the southern domain, together with variable degrees of decoupling of sub‐Zechstein and cover fault and fold systems. The addition of mobile evaporites to the rift results in: (i) complex and spatially variable modes of tectono‐stratigraphic evolution; (ii) syn‐rift stratal geometries which are condensed above evaporite swells and over‐thickened in areas of withdrawal; (iii) compartmentalized syn‐rift depocentres; and (iv) masking of rift‐related megasequence boundaries. Through demonstrating these deviations from the characteristics of rifts free from evaporite influence, we highlight the first order control evaporites may exert upon rift structural style and the distribution and thicknesses of syn‐rift units.  相似文献   

5.
Extensional faults and folds exert a fundamental control on the location, thickness and partitioning of sedimentary deposits on rift basins. The connection between the mode of extensional fault reactivation, resulting fault shape and extensional fold growth is well‐established. The impact of folding on accommodation evolution and growth package architecture, however, has received little attention; particularly the role‐played by fault‐perpendicular (transverse) folding. We study a multiphase rift basin with km‐scale fault displacements using a large high‐quality 3D seismic data set from the Fingerdjupet Subbasin in the southwestern Barents Sea. We link growth package architecture to timing and mode of fault reactivation. Dip linkage of deep and shallow fault segments resulted in ramp‐flat‐ramp fault geometry, above which fault‐parallel fault‐bend folds developed. The folds limited the accommodation near their causal faults, leading to deposition within a fault‐bend synclinal growth basin further into the hangingwall. Continued fold growth led to truncation of strata near the crest of the fault‐bend anticline before shortcut faulting bypassed the ramp‐flat‐ramp structure and ended folding. Accommodation along the fault‐parallel axis is controlled by the transverse folds, the location and size of which depends on the degree of linkage in the fault network and the accumulated displacement on causal faults. We construct transverse fold trajectories by tracing transverse fold hinges through space and time to highlight the positions of maximum and minimum accommodation and potential sediment entry points to hangingwall growth basins. The length and shape of the constructed trajectories relate to the displacement on their parent faults, duration of fault activity, timing of transverse basin infill, fault linkage and strain localization. We emphasize that the considerable wavelength, amplitudes and potential periclinal geometry of extensional folds make them viable targets for CO2 storage or hydrocarbon exploration in rift basins.  相似文献   

6.
The Sagaing Fault zone is the largest active fault in SE Asia, whose current displacement rate of around 1.8 cm year?1 is well‐established from GPS data. Yet determining the timing of initiation and total displacement on the fault zone has proven controversial. The timing problem can potentially be resolved through a newly identified syn‐kinematic sedimentary section directly related to displacement on the Sagaing Fault in the northern Minwun Ranges. The northern part of the western strand of the Sagaing Fault has a releasing splay geometry that sets up a syn‐kinematic oblique‐extensional basin in its hangingwall, here called the North Minwun Basin. A series of thick ridges probably composed of alluvial fan and fluvial sandstones dipping between 20 and 70° to the north, and younging northwards comprise the basin fill over a distance of 40 km. Total stratigraphic thickness (not vertical thickness) is estimated at 25 km. The basin in terms of depositional geometries, large displacements, and large stratigraphic thickness and appearance on satellite images has parallels with the extensional Hornelen basin, Norway and the strike‐slip Ridge Basin, California. Minimum likely displacement on the fault strand is 40 km, and may possibly be in excess of 100 km. The remote and inaccessible basin has yet to be properly dated, likely ages range between Eocene and Miocene. When dated the basin will provide an important constraint on the timing of deformation. The potential for this basin to constrain the timing and displacement along the northern part of the Sagaing Fault has not been previously recognised.  相似文献   

7.
The southern South African continental margin documents a complex margin system that has undergone both continental rifting and transform processes in a manner that its present‐day architecture and geodynamic evolution can only be better understood through the application of a multidisciplinary and multi‐scale geo‐modelling procedure. In this study, we focus on the proximal section of the larger Bredasdorp sub‐basin (the westernmost of the five southern South African offshore Mesozoic sub‐basins), which is hereto referred as the Western Bredasdorp Basin. Integration of 1200 km of 2D seismic‐reflection profiles, well‐logs and cores yields a consistent 3D structural model of the Upper Jurassic‐Cenozoic sedimentary megasequence comprising six stratigraphic layers that represent the syn‐rift to post‐rift successions with geometric information and lithology‐depth‐dependent properties (porosities and densities). We subsequently applied a combined approach based on Airy's isostatic concept and 3D gravity modelling to predict the depth to the crust‐mantle boundary (Moho) as well as the density structure of the deep crust. The best‐fit 3D model with the measured gravity field is only achievable by considering a heterogeneous deep crustal domain, consisting of an uppermost less dense prerift meta‐sedimentary layer [ρ = 2600 kg m?3] with a series of structural domains. To reproduce the observed density variations for the Upper Cenomanian–Cenozoic sequence, our model predicts a cumulative eroded thickness of ca. 800–1200 m of Tertiary sediments, which may be related to the Late Miocene margin uplift. Analyses of the key features of the first crust‐scale 3D model of the basin, ranging from thickness distribution pattern, Moho shallowing trend, sub‐crustal thinning to shallow and deep crustal extensional regimes, suggest that basin initiation is typical of a mantle involvement deep‐seated pull‐apart setting that is associated with the development of the Agulhas‐Falkland dextral shear zone, and that the system is not in isostatic equilibrium at present day due to a mass excess in the eastern domain of the basin that may be linked to a compensating rise of the asthenospheric mantle during crustal extension. Further corroborating the strike‐slip setting is the variations of sedimentation rates through time. The estimated syn‐rift sedimentation rates are three to four times higher than the post‐rift sedimentation, thereby indicating that a rather fast and short‐lived subsidence during the syn‐rift phase is succeeded by a significantly poor passive margin development in the post‐rift phase. Moreover, the derived lithospheric stretching factors [β = 1.5–1.75] for the main basin axis do not conform to the weak post‐rift subsidence. This therefore suggests that a differential thinning of the crust and the mantle‐lithosphere typical for strike‐slip basins, rather than the classical uniform stretching model, may be applicable to the Western Bredasdorp Basin.  相似文献   

8.
We describe the tectono‐sedimentary evolution of a Middle Jurassic, rift‐related supra‐detachment basin of the ancient Alpine Tethys margin exposed in the Central Alps (SE Switzerland). Based on pre‐Alpine restoration, we demonstrate that the rift basin developed over a detachment system that is traced over more than 40 km from thinned continental crust to exhumed mantle. The detachment faults are overlain by extensional allochthons consisting of upper crustal rocks and pre‐rift sediments up to several kilometres long and several hundreds of metres thick, compartmentalizing the distal margin into sub‐basins. We mapped and restored one of these sub‐basins, the Samedan Basin. It consists of a V‐shape geometry in map view, which is confined by extensional allochthons and floored by a detachment fault. It can be restored over a minimum distance of 11 km along and about 4 km perpendicular to the basin axis. Its sedimentary infill can be subdivided into basal (initial), intermediate (widening) and top (post‐tectonic) facies tracts. These tracts document (1) formation of the basin initially bounded by high‐angle faults and developing into low‐angle detachment faults, (2) widening of the basin and (3) migration of deformation further outboard. The basal facies tract is made of locally derived, poorly sorted gravity flow deposits that show a progressive change from hangingwall to footwall‐derived lithologies. Upsection the sediments develop into turbidity current deposits that show retrogradation (intermediate facies tract) and starvation of the sedimentary system (post‐tectonic facies tract). On the scale of the distal margin, the syn‐tectonic record documents a thinning‐ and fining‐upward sequence related to the back stepping of the tectonically derived sediment source, progressive starvation of the sedimentary system and migration of deformation resulting in exhumation and progressive delamination of the thinned crust during final rifting. This study provides valuable insights into the tectono‐sedimentary evolution and stratigraphic architecture of a supra‐detachment basin formed over hyper‐extended crust.  相似文献   

9.
This paper investigates the tectono‐stratigraphic development of a major, segmented rift border fault (Thal Fault) during ca. 6 Myr of initial rifting in the Suez Rift, Egypt. The Thal Fault is interpreted to have evolved by the progressive linkage of at least four fault segments. We focus on two contrasting structural settings in its hangingwall: Gushea, towards the northern tip of the fault, and Musaba Salaama, ca. 20 km along‐strike to the south, towards the centre of the fault. The early syn‐rift stratigraphic succession passes upwards from continental facies, through a condensed marginal marine shell‐rich facies, into fully marine shoreface sandstone and offshore mudstone. Regionally correlatable stratal surfaces within this succession define time‐equivalent stratal units that exhibit considerable along‐strike variability in thickness and facies architecture. During the initial ca. 6 Myr of rifting, the thickest stratigraphy developed towards the centre of the array of fault segments that subsequently hard linked to form the Thal Fault. Thus, a displacement gradient existed between fault segments at the centre and tip of the fault array, suggesting that the fault segments interacted, and a fixed length was established for the fault array, at an early stage in rifting. Towards the centre of the Thal Fault the early syn‐rift succession shows pronounced thickening away from the fault and towards a series of intra‐block antithetic faults that were active for up to ca. 6 Myr. This indicates that a large proportion of fault‐controlled subsidence during the initial ca. 6 Myr of rifting occurred in the hangingwalls of antithetic intra‐block faults, and not the present‐day Thal Fault. The antithetic faults progressively switched off during rifting such that after ca. 6 Myr of rifting, fault‐activity had localised on the Thal Fault enabling it to accrue to the present‐day high level of displacement. Aspects of the development of the Thal Fault appear to be in contrast to many models of fault evolution that predict large‐displacement rift‐climax faults to have always had the greatest displacement during fault population evolution. This study has implications for tectono‐stratigraphic development during early rift basin evolution. In particular, we stress that caution must be taken when relating final rift‐climax fault structure to the early tectono‐stratigraphy, as these may differ considerably.  相似文献   

10.
The attenuation of the continental crust during rifting and the subsequent filling of the rift‐related accommodation alter the long‐term thermal and mechanical state of the lithosphere. This is primarily because the Moho is shallowed due to density contrasts between the sediment fill and the crust, but also reflects the attenuation of the pre‐existing crustal heat production and its burial beneath the basin, as well the thermal properties of the basin fill. Moho shallowing and attenuation of pre‐existing heat production contribute to long‐term cooling of the Moho and thus lithospheric strengthening, as has been pointed out in many previous studies. In contrast, basin filling normally contributes to significant Moho heating allowing the possibility of long‐term lithospheric weakening, the magnitude of which is dependent on the thermal properties of the basin‐fill and the distribution of heat sources in the crust. This paper focuses on the thermal property structure of the crust and basin‐fill in effecting long‐term changes in lithospheric thermal regime, with particular emphasis on the distribution of heat producing elements in the crust. The parameter space appropriate to typical continental crust is explored using a formalism for the heat production distributions that makes no priori assumptions about the specific form of the distribution. The plausible parameter space allows a wide range in potential long‐term thermal responses. However, with the proviso that the accommodation created by the isostatic response to rifting is essentially filled, the long‐term thermal response to rift basin formation will generally increase average crustal thermal gradients beneath basins but cool the Moho due to its reduction in depth. The increase in the average crustal thermal gradient induces lateral heat flow that necessarily heats the Moho along basin margins, especially in narrow rift basins. Using coupled thermo‐mechanical models with temperature sensitive creep‐parameters, we show that such heating may be sufficient to localise subsequent deformation in the vicinity of major basin bounding structures, potentially explaining the offset observed in some stacked rift basin successions.  相似文献   

11.
The China–Mongolia border region contains many late Mesozoic extensional basins that together constitute a regionally extensive basin system. Individual basins within the system are internally composed of a family of sub‐basins filled with relatively thin sedimentary piles mostly less than 5 km in thickness. There are two types of sub‐basins within the basins, failed and combined, respectively. The failed sub‐basins are those that failed to continue developing with time. In contrast, the combined ones are those that succeeded in growing by coalescing adjacent previously isolated sub‐basins. Thus, a combined sub‐basin is bounded by a linked through‐going normal fault that usually displays a corrugated trace on map view and a shallower dip on cross‐section. Along‐strike existence of discrete depocenters and alternation of sedimentary wedges of different types validate the linkage origin of combined sub‐basins. Localized high‐strain extension resulted in large‐amount displacement on linked faults, but contemporaneously brought about the cessation of some isolated fault segments and the formation of corresponding failed sub‐basins in intervening areas between active linked faults. Some combined sub‐basins might have evolved into supradetachment basins through time, concurrent with rapid denudation of footwall rocks and formation of metamorphic core complexes in places. A tectonic scenario of the broad basin system can be envisioned as an evolution from early‐stage distributed isolated sub‐basins to late‐stage focused combined or/and supradetachment sub‐basins bounded by linked faults, accompanied by synchronous cessation of some early‐formed sub‐basins. Initiation of the late Mesozoic extension is believed to result from gravitational collapse of the crust that had been overthickened shortly prior to the extension. Compression, arising from collision of Siberia and the amalgamated North China–Mongolia block along the Mongol–Okhotsk suture in the time interval from the Middle to Late Jurassic, led to significant shortening and thickening over a broad area and subsequent extensional collapse. Pre‐ and syn‐extensional voluminous magmatism must have considerably reduced the viscosity of the overthickened crust, thereby not only facilitating the gravitational collapse but enabling the lower‐middle crust to flow as well. Flow of a thicker crustal layer is assumed to have occurred coevally with upper‐crustal stretching so as to diminish the potential contrast of crustal thickness by repositioning materials from less extended to highly extending regions. Lateral middle‐ and lower‐crustal flow and its resultant upward push upon the upper crust provide a satisfying explanation for a number of unusual phenomena, such as supracrustal activity of the extension, absence or negligibleness of postrift subsidence of the basin system, less reduction of crustal thickness after extension, and non‐compression‐induced basin inversion, all of which have been paradoxical in the previous study of the late Mesozoic basin tectonics in the China–Mongolia border region.  相似文献   

12.
Ultra‐large rift basins, which may represent palaeo‐propagating rift tips ahead of continental rupture, provide an opportunity to study the processes that cause continental lithosphere thinning and rupture at an intermediate stage. One such rift basin is the Faroe‐Shetland Basin (FSB) on the north‐east Atlantic margin. To determine the mode and timing of thinning of the FSB, we have quantified apparent upper crustal β‐factors (stretching factors) from fault heaves and apparent whole‐lithosphere β‐factors by flexural backstripping and decompaction. These observations are compared with models of rift basin formation to determine the mode and timing of thinning of the FSB. We find that the Late Jurassic to Late Palaeocene (pre‐Atlantic) history of the FSB can be explained by a Jurassic to Cretaceous depth‐uniform lithosphere thinning event with a β‐factor of ~1.3 followed by a Late Palaeocene transient regional uplift of 450–550 m. However, post‐Palaeocene subsidence in the FSB of more than 1.9 km indicates that a Palaeocene rift with a β‐factor of more than 1.4 occurred, but there is only minor Palaeocene or post‐Palaeocene faulting (upper crustal β‐factors of less than 1.1). The subsidence is too localized within the FSB to be caused by a regional mantle anomaly. To resolve the β‐factor discrepancy, we propose that the lithospheric mantle and lower crust experienced a greater degree of thinning than the upper crust. Syn‐breakup volcanism within the FSB suggests that depth‐dependent thinning was synchronous with continental breakup at the adjacent Faroes and Møre margins. We suggest that depth‐dependent continental lithospheric thinning can result from small‐scale convection that thins the lithosphere along multiple offset axes prior to continental rupture, leaving a failed breakup basin once seafloor spreading begins. This study provides insight into the structure and formation of a generic global class of ultra‐large rift basins formed by failed continental breakup.  相似文献   

13.
The stratigraphic, subsidence and structural history of Orphan Basin, offshore the island of Newfoundland, Canada, is described from well data and tied to a regional seismic grid. This large (400 by 400 km) rifted basin is part of the non‐volcanic rifted margin in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, which had a long and complex rift history spanning Middle Jurassic to Aptian time. The basin is underlain by variably thinned continental crust, locally <10‐km thick. Our work highlights the complex structure, with major upper crustal faults terminating in the mid‐crust, while lower crustal reflectivity suggests ductile flow, perhaps accommodating depth‐dependent extension. We describe three major stratigraphic horizons connected to breakup and the early post‐rift. An Aptian–Albian unconformity appears to mark the end of crustal rifting in the basin, and a second, more subdued Santonian unconformity was also noted atop basement highs and along the proximal margins of the basin. Only minor thermal subsidence occurred between development of these two horizons. The main phase of post‐rift subsidence was delayed until post‐Santonian time, with rapid subsidence culminating in the development of a major flooding surface in base Tertiary time. Conventional models of rifting events predict significant basin thermal subsidence immediately following continental lithospheric breakup. In the Orphan Basin, however, this subsidence was delayed for about 25–30 Myr and requires more thinning of the mantle lithosphere than the crust. Models of the subsidence history suggest that extreme thinning of the lithospheric mantle continued well into the post‐rift period. This is consistent with edge‐driven, small‐scale convective flow in the mantle, which may thin the lithosphere from below. A hot spot may also have been present below the region in Aptian–Albian time.  相似文献   

14.
The Qiongdongnan Basin is one of the largest Cenozoic rifted basins on the northern passive margin of the South China Sea. It is well known that since the Late Miocene, approximately 10 Ma after the end of the syn‐rift phase, this basin has exhibited rapid thermal subsidence. However, detailed analysis reveals a two‐stage anomalous subsidence feature of the syn‐rift subsidence deficit and the well‐known rapid post‐rift subsidence after 10.5 Ma. Heat‐flow data show that heat flow in the central depression zone is 70–105 mW m?2, considerably higher than the heat flow (<70 mW m?2) on the northern shelf. In particular, there is a NE‐trending high heat‐flow zone of >85 mW m?2 in the eastern basin. We used a numerical model of coupled geothermal processes, lithosphere thinning and depositional processes to analyse the origin of the anomalous subsidence pattern. Numerical analysis of different cases shows that the stretching factor βs based on syn‐rift sequences is less than the observed crustal stretching factor βc, and if the lithosphere is thinned with βc during the syn‐rift phase (before 21 Ma), the present basement depth can be predicted fairly accurately. Further analysis does not support crustal thinning after 21 Ma, which indicates that the syn‐rift subsidence is in deficit compared with the predicted subsidence with the crustal stretching factor βc. The observed high heat flow in the central depression zone is caused by the heating of magmatic injection equivalently at approximately 3–5 Ma, which affected the eastern basin more than the western basin, and the Neogene magmatism might be fed by the deep thermal anomaly. Our results suggest that the causes of the syn‐rift subsidence deficit and rapid post‐rift subsidence might be related. The syn‐rift subsidence deficit might be caused by the dynamic support of the influx of warmer asthenosphere material and a small‐scale thermal upwelling beneath the study area, which might have been persisting for about 10 Ma during the early post‐rift phase, and the post‐rift rapid subsidence might be the result of losing the dynamic support with the decaying or moving away of the deep thermal source, and the rapid cooling of the asthenosphere. We concluded that the excess post‐rift subsidence occurs to compensate for the syn‐rift subsidence deficit, and the deep thermal anomaly might have affected the eastern Qiongdongnan Basin since the Late Oligocene.  相似文献   

15.
The Hazar Basin is a 25 km‐long, 7 km‐wide and 216 m‐deep depression located on the central section of the East Anatolian Fault zone (eastern Turkey) and predominantly overlain by Lake Hazar. This basin has been described previously as a pull‐apart basin because of its rhombic shape and an apparent fault step‐over between the main fault traces situated at the southwestern and northeastern ends of the lake. However, detailed structural investigation beneath Lake Hazar has not been undertaken previously to verify this interpretation. Geophysical and sedimentological data from Lake Hazar were collected during field campaigns in 2006 and 2007. The analysis of this data reveals that the main strand of the East Anatolian Fault (the Master Fault) is continuous across the Hazar Basin, connecting the two segments previously assumed to be the sidewall faults of a pull‐apart structure. In the northeastern part of the lake, an asymmetrical subsiding sub‐basin, bounded by two major faults, is cross‐cut by the Master Fault, which forms a releasing bend within the lake. Comparison of the structure revealed by this study with analogue models produced for transtensional step‐overs suggests that the Hazar Basin structure represents a highly evolved pull‐apart basin, to the extent that the previous asperity has been bypassed by a linking fault. The absence of a step‐over structure at the Hazar Basin means that no significant segmentation boundary is recognised on the East Anatolian Fault between Palu and Sincik. Therefore, this fault segment is capable of causing larger earthquakes than recognised previously.  相似文献   

16.
Studies of salt‐influenced rift basins have focused on individual or basin‐scale fault system and/or salt‐related structure. In contrast, the large‐scale rift structure, namely rift segments and rift accommodation zones and the role of pre‐rift tectonics in controlling structural style and syn‐rift basin evolution have received less attention. The Norwegian Central Graben, comprises a complex network of sub‐salt normal faults and pre‐rift salt‐related structures that together influenced the structural style and evolution of the Late Jurassic rift. Beneath the halite‐rich, Permian Zechstein Supergroup, the rift can be divided into two major rift segments, each comprising rift margin and rift axis domains, separated by a rift‐wide accommodation zone – the Steinbit Accommodation Zone. Sub‐salt normal faults in the rift segments are generally larger, in terms of fault throw, length and spacing, than those in the accommodation zone. The pre‐rift structure varies laterally from sheet‐like units, with limited salt tectonics, through domains characterised by isolated salt diapirs, to a network of elongate salt walls with intervening minibasins. Analysis of the interactions between the sub‐salt normal fault network and the pre‐rift salt‐related structures reveals six types of syn‐rift depocentres. Increasing the throw and spacing of sub‐salt normal faults from rift segment to rift accommodation zone generally leads to simpler half‐graben geometries and an increase in the size and thickness of syn‐rift depocentres. In contrast, more complex pre‐rift salt tectonics increases the mechanical heterogeneity of the pre‐rift, leading to increased complexity of structural style. Along the rift margin, syn‐rift depocentres occur as interpods above salt walls and are generally unrelated to the relatively minor sub‐salt normal faults in this structural domain. Along the rift axis, deformation associated with large sub‐salt normal faults created coupled and decoupled supra‐salt faults. Tilting of the hanging wall associated with growth of the large normal faults along the rift axis also promoted a thin‐skinned, gravity‐driven deformation leading to a range of extensional and compressional structures affecting the syn‐rift interval. The Steinbit Accommodation Zone contains rift‐related structural styles that encompass elements seen along both the rift margin and axis. The wide variability in structural style and evolution of syn‐rift depocentres recognised in this study has implications for the geomorphological evolution of rifts, sediment routing systems and stratigraphic evolution in rifts that contain pre‐rift salt units.  相似文献   

17.
The Corinth rift (Greece) is one of the world's most active rifts. The early Plio‐Pleistocene rift is preserved in the northern Peloponnese peninsula, south of the active Corinth rift. Although chronostratigraphic resolution is limited, new structural, stratigraphic and sedimentological data for an area >400 km2 record early rift evolution in three phases separated by distinct episodes of extension rate acceleration and northward fault migration associated with major erosion. Minimum total N–S extension is estimated at 6.4–7.7 km. The earliest asymmetrical, broad rift accommodated slow extension (0.6–1 mm a?1) over >3 Myrs and closed to the west. North‐dipping faults with throws of 1000–2200 m defined narrow blocks (4–7 km) with little footwall relief. A N‐NE flowing antecedent river system infilled significant inherited relief (Lower group). In the earliest Pleistocene, significant fluvial incision coincided with a 15 km northward rift margin migration. Extension rates increased to 2–2.5 mm a?1. The antecedent rivers then built giant Gilbert‐type fan deltas (Middle group) north into a deepening lacustrine/marine basin. N‐dipping, basin margin faults accommodated throws <1500 m. Delta architecture records initiation, growth and death of this fault system over ca. 800 ka. In the Middle Pleistocene, the rift margin again migrated 5 km north. Extension rate increased to 3.4–4.8 mm a?1. This transition may correspond to an unconformity in offshore lithostratigraphy. Middle group deltas were uplifted and incised as new hangingwall deltas built into the Gulf (Upper group). A final increase to present‐day extension rates (11–16 mm a?1) probably occurred in the Holocene. Fault and fault block dimensions did not change significantly with time suggesting control by crustal rheological layering. Extension rate acceleration may be due to strain softening or to regional tectonic factors.  相似文献   

18.
The Barmer Basin is a poorly understood rift basin in Rajasthan, northwest India. Exposures in the Sarnoo Hills, situated along the central eastern rift margin of the Barmer Basin, reveal a sedimentary succession that accumulated prior to the main Barmer Basin rift event, and a rift‐oblique fault network that displays unusual geometries and characteristics. Here, we present a comprehensive study of Lower Cretaceous sedimentology on the basin margin, along with a detailed investigation of rift‐oblique faults that are exposed nowhere else in the region and provide critical insights into Barmer Basin evolution. Lower Cretaceous sediments were deposited within a rapidly subsiding alluvial plain fluvial system. Subsequent to deposition, the evolving Sarnoo Hills fault network was affected by structural inheritance during an early, previously unrecognised, rift‐oblique extensional event attributed to transtension between India and Madagascar, and formed a juvenile fault network within the immediate rift‐margin footwall. Ghaggar‐Hakra Formation deposition may have been triggered by early rifting which tectonically destabilised the Marwar Craton prior to the main northeast–southwest Barmer Basin rift event. The identification of early rifting in the Barmer Basin demonstrates that regional extension and the associated rift systems were established throughout northwest India prior to the main phase of Deccan eruptions. Inheritance of early oblique fault systems within the evolving Barmer Basin provides a robust explanation for poorly understood structural complications interpreted in the subsurface throughout the rift. Critically, the presence of syn‐rift sedimentary successions within older oblique rift systems obscured beneath the present‐day Barmer Basin has significant implications for hydrocarbon exploration.  相似文献   

19.
Interpretation of long‐offset 2D depth‐imaged seismic data suggests that outer continental margins collapse and tilt basinward rapidly as rifting yields to seafloor spreading and thermal subsidence of the margin. This collapse post‐dates rifting and stretching of the crust, but occurs roughly ten times faster than thermal subsidence of young oceanic crust, and thus is tectonic and pre‐dates the ‘drift stage’. We term this middle stage of margin development ‘outer margin collapse’, and it accords with the exhumation stage of other authors. Outer continental margins, already thinned by rifting processes, become hanging walls of crustal‐scale half grabens associated with landward‐dipping shear zones and zones of low‐shear strength magma at the base of the thinned crust. The footwalls of the shear zones comprise serpentinized sub‐continental mantle that commonly becomes exhumed from beneath the embrittled continental margin. At magma‐poor margins, outer continental margins collapse and tilt basinward to depths of about 3 km subsea at the continent–ocean transition, often deeper than the adjacent oceanic crust (accreted later between 2 and 3 km). We use the term ‘collapse’ because of the apparent rapidity of deepening (<3 Myr). Rapid salt deposition, clastic sedimentation (deltaic), or magmatism (magmatic margins) may accompany collapse, with salt thicknesses reaching 5 km and volcanic piles 1525 km. This mechanism of rapid salt deposition allows mega‐salt basins to be deposited on end‐rift unconformities at global sea level, as opposed to deep, air‐filled sub‐sea depressions. Outer marginal collapse is ‘post‐rift’ from the perspective of faulting in the continental crust, but of tectonic, not of thermal, origin. Although this appears to be a global process, the Gulf of Mexico is an excellent example because regional stratigraphic and structural relations indicate that the pre‐salt rift basin was filled to sea level by syn‐rift strata, which helps to calibrate the rate and magnitude of collapse. We examine the role of outer marginal detachments in the formation of East India, southern Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico, and how outer marginal collapse can migrate diachronously along strike, much like the onset of seafloor spreading. We suggest that backstripping estimates of lithospheric thinning (beta factor) at outer continental margins may be excessive because they probably attribute marginal collapse to thermal subsidence.  相似文献   

20.
Because salt can decouple sub‐ and supra‐salt deformation, the structural style and evolution of salt‐influenced rifts differs from those developed in megoscopically homogenous and brittle crust. Our understanding of the structural style and evolution of salt‐influenced rifts comes from scaled physical models, or subsurface‐based studies that have utilised moderate‐quality 2D seismic reflection data. Relatively few studies have used high‐quality 3D seismic reflection data, constrained by borehole data, to explicitly focus on the role that along‐strike displacement variations on sub‐salt fault systems, or changes in salt composition and thickness, play in controlling the four‐dimensional evolution of supra‐salt structural styles. In this study, we use 3D seismic reflection and borehole data from the Sele High Fault System (SHFS), offshore Norway to determine how rift‐related relief controlled the thickness and lithology of an Upper Permian salt‐bearing layer (Zechstein Supergroup), and how the associated variations in the mechanical properties of this unit influenced the degree of coupling between sub‐ and supra‐salt deformation during subsequent extension. Seismic and borehole data indicate that the Zechstein Supergroup is thin, carbonate‐dominated and immobile at the footwall apex, but thick, halite‐dominated and relatively mobile in high accommodation areas, such as near the lateral fault tips and in the immediate hangingwall of the fault system. We infer that these variations reflect bathymetric changes related to either syn‐depositional (i.e. Late Permian) growth of the SHFS or underfilled, fault scarp‐related relief inherited from a preceding (i.e. Early Permian) rift phase. After a period of tectonic quiescence in the Early Triassic, regional extension during the Late Triassic triggered halokinesis and growth of a fault‐parallel salt wall, which was followed by mild extension in the Jurassic and forced folding of Triassic overburden above the fault systems upper tip. During the Early Cretaceous, basement‐involved extension resulted in noncoaxial tilting of the footwall, and the development of an supra‐salt normal fault array, which was restricted to footwall areas underlain by relatively thick mobile salt; in contrast, at the footwall apex, no deformation occurred because salt was thin and immobile. The results of our study demonstrate close coupling between tectonics, salt deposition and the style of overburden deformation for >180 Myr of the rift history. Furthermore, we show that rift basin tectono‐stratigraphic models based on relatively megascopically homogeneous and brittle crust do not appropriately describe the range of structural styles that occur in salt‐influenced rifts.  相似文献   

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