Deep basins of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea as remnants of Mesozoic back-arc basins

We review the geological and geophysical structural framework of the deep Black Sea and Caspian Sea basins. Based on seismic evidence and subsidence history, we conclude that the deep basins have an oceanic crust formed in a marginal sea environment. We propose that the present deep basins are remnants of a much greater marginal sea formed during three separate episodes during the Mesozoic: in the Middle Jurassic, Upper Jurassic and Late Cretaceous. A tentative sketch of the geologic evolution of the area is presented. The marginal sea reached its greatest extent in the Early Tertiary when it was about 900 km wide and 3000 km long. The central part of the marginal sea has since disappeared during the collision between the Arabian promontory and the Eurasian margin.     

Correlation of upper quaternary deposits and paleogeography of the Black and Caspian seas

The evolution of the Black and Caspian seas is considered based on the analysis of new stratigraphic and paleogeographic data. Three transgression stages (Karangatian, Surozh, Black-Sea) and two regression stages (Post-Karangatian and New-Euxinian) were characterized for the Black Sea, as well as four transgression stages (late Khazarian, early Khvalynian, late Khvalynian, and New-Caspian) and three regression stages (Atelian, Enotaevkan, Mangyshlakian), for the Caspian Sea. The analysis of data on the absolute age of deposits allowed correlation of paleogeographic events for the basins, between them and with the stages of the Last (Valdai) Glaciation: the Karangatian and late Khazarian transgressions were correlated with the Mikulinian Interglacial; the post-Karangatian and Atelian regressions, with the Kalininan glaciation; the early Khvalynian and Surozh transgressions, with the middle Valdai Interstadial; the New-Euxinian and Enotaevkan regressions, with the Ostashkovian glaciation; the Black Sea, late Khvalynian, and New-Caspian transgression, with the late glaciation — post-glaciation periods; the Mangyshlakian regression, with the Older Dryas (?). The last connections between the Caspian and Black seas are dated to the middle Valdai time when waters of the early Khvalynian basin drained down to the Surozh basin.     

Topography of the crust–mantle boundary beneath the Black Sea Basin

A map of Moho depth for the Black Sea and its immediate surroundings has been inferred from 3-D gravity modelling, and crustal structure has been clarified. Beneath the basin centre, the thickness of the crystalline layer is similar to that of the oceanic crust. In the Western and Eastern Black Sea basins, the Moho shallows to 19 and 22 km, respectively. Below the Tuapse Trough (northeastern margin, adjacent to the Caucasus orogen), the base of the crust is at 28 km, whereas in the Sorokin Trough, it is as deep as 34 km. The base of the crust lies at 29 and 33 km depths respectively below the southern and northern parts of the Mid-Black Sea Ridge. For the Shatsky Ridge (between the Tuapse Trough and the Eastern Black Sea Basin), the Moho plunges from the northwest (33 km) to the southeast (40 km). The Arkhangelsky Ridge (south of the Eastern Black Sea Basin) is characterised by a Moho depth of 32 km. The crust beneath these ridges is of continental type.     

CLIMATE AND OIL GENESIS

Studies of the Caspian Sea, the Barents Sea and others, show that the rate of accumulation of organic matter in sediments and the nature of its initial change is largely dependent on climate. All known large oil pools are located in basins which had a warm environment at the time of deposition. Occurrences of gas in colder zones were associated with coal rather than oil. Exploration for. oil in polar areas should be restricted to rocks known to have been deposited in warm paleoclimatic conditions. All evidence denies the inorganic theories for the origin of oil. — M. Russell     

Formation of the superdeep South Caspian basin: subsidence driven by phase change in continental crust

The large hydrocarbon basin of South Caspian is filled with sediments reaching a thickness of 20–25 km. The sediments overlie a 10–18 km thick high-velocity basement which is often interpreted as oceanic crust. This interpretation is, however, inconsistent with rapid major subsidence in Pliocene-Pleistocene time and deposition of 10 km of sediments because the subsidence of crust produced in spreading ridges normally occurs at decreasing rates. Furthermore, filling a basin upon a 10–18 km thick oceanic crust would require twice less sediments. Subsidence as in the South Caspian, of ≥20 km, can be provided by phase change of gabbro to dense eclogite in a 25–30 km thick lower crust. Eclogites which are denser than the mantle and have nearly mantle P velocities but a chemistry of continental crust may occur beneath the Moho in the South Caspian where consolidated crust totals a thickness of 40–50 km. The high subsidence rates in the Pliocene-Pleistocene may be attributed to the effect of active fluids infiltrated from the asthenosphere to catalyze the gabbro-eclogite transition. Subsidence of this kind is typical of large petroleum provinces. According to some interpretations, historic seismicity with 30–70 km focal depths in a 100 km wide zone (beneath the Apsheron-Balkhan sill and north of it) has been associated with the initiation of subduction under the Middle Caspian. The consolidated lithosphere of deep continental sedimentary basins being denser than the asthenosphere, can, in principle, subduct into the latter, while the overlying sediments can be delaminated and folded. Yet, subduction in the South Caspian basin is incompatible with the only 5–10 km shortening of sediments in the Apsheron-Balkhan sill and south of it and with the patterns of earthquake foci that show no alignment like in a Benioff zone and have mostly extension mechanisms.     

Source-Contacting Gas： Accumulation Mechanism and Distribution in China

Source-contacting gas, which is also called basin-center gas, deep basin gas, is the tightsand gas accumulation contacting closely to its source rocks. Having different accumulation mechanisms from conventional gas reservoirs that are formed by replacement way, the typical source-contacting gas reservoirs are formed by piston-typed migration forward way. Source-contacting gas accumulations exhibit a series of distinctly mechanic characteristics. According to the valid combination of these characteristics, the estimation for the type of discovered gas reservoirs or distributions of source-contacting gas reservoirs can be forecasted. The source-contacting gas is special for having no edge water or bottom water for gas and complicated gas-water relationships, which emphasizes the intimate association of reservoir rocks with source rocks, which is called the root of the gas reservoir. There are many basins having the mechanic conditions for source-contacting gas accumulations in China, which can be divided into three regions. Most of the basins with favorable accumulation conditions are located mainly in the central and western China. According to the present data, basins having source-contacting gas accumulations in China can be divided into three types, accumulation conditions and configuration relationships are the best in type A basins and they are the larger basins in central China. Type B basins with plain accumulation conditions exist primarily in eastern China and also the basins in western China. Accumulation conditions and exploration futures are worse in type C basins, which refer mainly to the small basins in southern China and China Sea basins. Main source-contacting gas basins in China are thoroughly discussed in this paper and the distribution patterns of source-contacting gas in five huge basins are discussed and forecasted.     

First results of investigation into the relation between magnetic properties of bottom sediments in the Northern Caspian and variations in the Caspian Sea level in the Late Neo-Pleistocene

The first data of investigation into the relation between changes in magnetic properties of the Northern Caspian sediments and variations in the Caspian Sea level in the Late Neo-Pleistocene are presented. It is shown that there is a certain correlation between magnetic characteristics of sediments and variations in the Caspian Sea level that cause changes in the lithological and faunistic composition of sediments.     

Age, thermal evolution and history of the Black Sea Basin based on heat flow and multichannel reflection data

Multichannel reflection data (Tugolessov et al., 1985) have revealed two deeps in the basement topography of the Black Sea which are filled with sediments from 12 to 15 km thick. The deeps lack the “granitic layer” and are underlain by oceanic-type crust which we assume to be generated by seafloor spreading processes. The age of the deeps was interpreted previously, in a highly controversial manner, as being from the Paleozoic — Early Mesozoic to the Recent. In the paper, age estimations were undertaken using surficial heat flow data, assuming that they are related to deep-seated age-dependent heat flow generated by the cooling oceanic lithosphere, but that they are strongly distorted by the heating of continuously accumulating sediments as well as by additional heat input from radiogenic production within sediments. Using reliable thermophysical parameters of compacting sediments, the distorted heat flow in the sediments was evaluated numerically. This allowed us to estimate the age of the Black Sea deeps floor. The results show that the West Black Sea deep is 130 to 95 m.y. old, and the East Black Sea deep is nearly 110 m.y. old. These figures support an interpretation of the Black Sea deeps as remnants of a Late Mesozoic back-arc basin that evolved behind the Lesser Caucasian — Pontide island arc. The inferred Middle Cretaceous age of the deeps is the first estimate obtained quantitatively, and corresponds well with available heat flow and multichannel reflection data.     

Late Cretaceous-Eocene marginal seas in the Black Sea-Caspian region: Paleotectonic reconstructions

A series of seven reconstructions is presented to illustrate the evolution of marginal seas in the Black Sea-South Caspian segment of the margin of the Tethys Ocean from the Late Jurassic to the middle Eocene. After Middle Jurassic inversion and until the Aptian Age, no marginal (backarc) basins were formed in the region, while the Pontides-Rhodope margin developed in the passive regime. The retained relict of the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic backarc basin includes the southeastern part of the Greater Caucasus, the northern part of the South Caspian Basin, and the shallow-water Kopetdagh Basin. The basins of the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus, Balkans (Nish-Trojan Trough), and Dobrogea developed as flexural foredeeps in front of the Middle Jurassic fold systems. The next, Aptian-Turonian epoch of opening of marginal seas was related to the origination of subduction zones at the Pontides-Rhodope margin and to the incipient consumption of the Vardar Basin lithosphere with formation of the West Black Sea Basin and its western continuation in the Bulgarian Srednogorie. The backarc rifting in the Greater Caucasus resulted in transformation of the foredeep into the backarc basin. Two basins approximately 2000 km in total extent were separated by the bridge formed by the Shatsky and Andrusov rises. The last, late Paleocene-middle Eocene epoch of the formation of backarc basins was associated with the newly formed subduction zone south of the Menderes-Taurus Terrane that collided with the active margin in the early Paleocene. The Greater Caucasus Basin widened and deepened, while to its south the East Black Sea Basin, the grabens in the Kura Depression, and the Talysh Basin, all being separated by a chain of uplifts, opened. The Paleogene South Caspian Basin opened in the course of the southward motion of the Alborz volcanic arc at the late stage of closure of the Iranian inner seas.     

Rock salt in deep grabens and in basins with crust of oceanic type

Oceanological (seismic sounding and deep-sea drilling) research in recent years has revealed the presence of salt-containing bodies and salt-dome structures beneath the floors of deep-water marine basins (such as the Gulf of Mexico, the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean Sea). Using comparative data on old and more recent basins of salt-deposition, along with calculations of the water-salts balance in such basins, it is concluded that these salt-bearing bodies can be accumulated in deep-sea basins with a primary oceanic crust. The probable mechanism of the accumulation of salts in deep trenches and basins is considered. — Authors     

Comparison of elemental composition of recent and ancient carbonaceous sediments

The concentrations of 13 macroelements and 36 microelements are determined in calcareous deposits from recent basins, namely, the Black Sea (coccolith and sapropel oozes), the Namibian shelf (diatomaceous oozes), and the Peruvian shelf (diatomaceous-terrigenous oozes). The essential similarity of the composition of the microelements is established for all three types of sediments, including calcareous, terrigenous, and siliceous sediments. The comparison of these data with the average composition of the world shales reveals similar trends of microelement distribution, which supports the former hypothesis about the comparable environment of formation of both ancient and some modern basins.     

Mud volcanic natural phenomena in the South Caspian Basin: geology,fluid dynamics and environmental impact

The South Caspian sedimentary basin is a unique area with thick Mesozoic-Cenozoic sediments (up to 30–32 km) characterized by an extremely high fluid generation potential. The large amount of active mud volcanoes and the volumes of their gas emissions prove the vast scale of fluid generation. Onshore and offshore mud volcanoes annually erupt more than 10⁹ cubic meters of gases consisting of CH₄ (79–98%), and a small admixture of C₂H₆, C₃H₈, C₄H₁₀, C₅H₁₂, CO₂, N, H₂S, Ar, He. Mud volcanism is closely connected to the processes occurring in the South Caspian depression, its seismicity, fluctuations of the Caspian Sea level, solar activity and hydrocarbon generation.The large accumulations of gas hydrates are confined to the bottom sediments of the Caspian Sea, mud volcanoes crater fields (interval 0–0.4 m, sea depth 480 m) and to the volcanoes body at the depth of 480–800 from the sea bottom. Resources of HC gases in hydrates saturated sediments up to a depth of 100 m and are estimated at 0.2×10¹⁵–8×10¹⁵ m³. The amount of HC gases concentrated in them is 10¹¹–10¹² m³.The Caspian Sea, being an inland closed basin is very sensitive to climatic and tectonic events expressed in sea level fluctuations. During regressive stages as a result of sea level fall and the reducing of hydrostatic pressure the decomposition of gas hydrates and the releasing of a great volume of HC gases consisting mainly of methane are observed.From the data of deep drilling, seismoacoustics, and deep seismic mud volcanic activity in the South Caspian Basin started in the Lower Miocene. Activity reached its highest intensity at the boundary between the Miocene and Pliocene and was associated with dramatic Caspian Sea level fall in the Lower Pliocene of up to 600 m, which led to the isolation of the PaleoCaspian from the Eastern ParaTethys. Catastrophic reduction of PaleoCaspian size combined with the increasing scale of mud volcanic activity caused the oversaturation and intoxication of water by methane and led to the mass extinction of mollusks, fishes and other groups of sea inhabitants. In the Upper Pliocene and Quaternary mud volcanism occurred under the conditions of a semi-closed sea periodically connected with the Pontian and Mediterranean Basins. Those stages of Caspian Sea history are characterized by the revival of the Caspian organic world.Monitoring of mud volcanoes onshore of the South Caspian demonstrated that any eruption is predicted by seismic activation in the region (South-Eastern Caucasus) and intensive fluid dynamics on the volcanoes.     

Modern diversity of the macroalgae of the Sea of Azov,the Black Sea,and the Caspian Sea

Currently, the species list of the macroalgae (excluding Charales) inhabiting the southern seas of Russia includes 388 species, specifically, 362 species in the Black Sea, 46 species in the Sea of Azov, and 70 species in the Caspian Sea. The species list has been increased by approximately 30% (96 species, most of them are registered in the Black Sea), compared to the data obtained 30 years ago. The green and red macroalgae of warm-water Mediterranean and tropical origin (Ceramium, Polysiphonia, Laurencia, Ulva, and Chaetomorpha) and brown algae (Sargassum and Cytoseira) were the key invaders. Nowadays the maximal species diversity is found on the Crimean coast and the Turkish coast of the Black Sea; and the species list of the Turkish coast differs significantly from all the other studied sites of the Black Sea. The number of the algae of the warm-water complex increased the most in 1990s–2000s in the Black Sea; species of boreal-tropical and subtropical origin dominate. However, such a tendency was not observed in the Sea of Azov and in the Caspian Sea, but expansion of the habitats of the brackish green algae has been registered.     

Mollusks from the lower quaternary Chauda sediments of the Black Sea

The analysis of paleontological remains in many samples from the Lower Quaternary Chauda sediments drilled and cored on the Bulgarian shelf of the Black Sea revealed widespread mollusks of the genera Didacna and Dreissena (Didacna tschaudae guriana, D. tschaudae, D. pleistopleura, D. crassa guriensis, Dreissena rostriformis tschaudae, D. rostriformis abchasica) accompanied by reworked Neogene representatives of the genus Digressodacna. In numerous places of a continental slope and an adjacent deep-sea depressions near Crimea and Caucasus the similar mollusc assemblage is described in the redeposited state for the first time. The composition of palynological spectra and diatom assemblages in shelf sediments indicates climate changes during the Chaudan period. The Chaudan mollusk fauna from the Black Sea sediments, which is lacking Caspian Bakuan species characteristic of the Chauda stratotype, is compositionally close to the mollusk assemblage from basal layers of the Chauda Horizon in the Guriya area of Georgia (“Gurian” Chauda). These data imply repeated changes in the level of the Chaudan basin between present-day isobaths of −30...−50 to −140 m.     

南海岩石圈结构与油气资源分布

南海是中国唯一发育有洋壳的边缘海,是世界四大海洋油气聚集中心之一。油气勘探表明,南海的油气田分布在北部、西部和南部陆缘沉积盆地内,而大中型油气田集中分布在西部海域盆地中,自北而南有莺歌海—琼东南盆地、万安盆地、湄公盆地、曾母盆地和文莱—沙巴盆地,且以含气为主,含油次之。此外,这一区域深水区还存在多个潜在的大型含油气盆地。研究发现,南海的油气分布与深部岩石圈结构有密切关系。在构造上,南海的含油气盆地位于岩石圈块体边缘或之上,受控于大型岩石圈断裂的发育与演化。在油气富集的盆地中,莫霍面显著凸起,与盆地基底形成镜像,地壳厚度最薄处仅数千米厚,热流值明显较周围地区高,热岩石圈厚度大大减薄。地震层析成像结果反映,这些盆地深部发育一条规模宏大的北西向上地幔隆起带,自红河口向东南穿越南海西部海盆,一直延伸到婆罗州东北部地区,在宏观上控制了南海的油气分布与富集。     

On the character of Black Sea level rise during the Holocene

The character of changes in the mollusk fauna in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene sediments within the Bulgarian, Northwestern, Crimean, and Kerch segments of the Black Sea shelf has been examined. A bed containing fossil remains of brackish-water and marine mollusks was recognized in these sediments; the bed accumulated, based on results of radiocarbon datings, 500–1000 years ago. The obtained data do not support the existing notion of a catastrophic fill-up of the Black Sea Basin by marine Mediterranean water [19].     

REE systematics in modern bottom sediments of the Caspian Sea and river deltas worldwide: Experience of comparison

The results of comparison of a number of main parameters of the chondrite-normalized REE distribution spectra in modern bottom, mainly pelitic, sediments of various sedimentary subsystems of the Caspian Sea and marginal filters of the Volga and Ural rivers with those characteristic of the pelitic fraction of modern bottom sediments of different river deltas worldwide are discussed. According to the features of the REE distribution spectra, as well as the ε_Nd(0) values, it has been established that most samples of the Caspian bottom sediments are similar to those of large rivers and rivers, draining watersheds composed of sedimentary formations.     

Glacial drainage towards the Mediterranean during the Middle and Late Pleistocene

To a varying degree the Middle and Late Pleistocene ice sheets in northern Eurasia redirected the drainage of major catchments in Europe and western Siberia from the North Sea and Arctic Ocean south to the Caspian, Black Sea, and ultimately the Mediterranean. During the Late Weichselian, glacial meltwater reached the Mediterranean through the Dniepr and Don catchments and to a minor extent through the Danube. During the Warthe Substage of the Saalian, meltwater from the Volga was most likely added. During the Drenthe Substagc of the Saalian the watershed shifted Par to the east, and meltwater reached the Mediterranean also from the Oh. Irtysh, Yenisei, and Tunguska catchments in Siberia. Depending on the extent of the ice sheets, the increase in freshwater supply during deglaciations resulted in reductions of Mediterranean overflow into the North Atlantic. Such overflow reductions may have reduced vapour transport to the ice sheets and thus accelerated wastage.     

中国海域区古近纪含煤盆地与煤系分布研究

新近纪和古近纪是全球重要的聚煤期。中国古近纪聚煤盆地分布在东部沿海省区,是全球性环太平洋聚煤带的组成部分。中国海域区含煤沉积盆地虽然也属于断陷盆地和坳陷盆地类型,且成群出现,但总体构造背景有利于含煤沉积的持续发展,盆地群连续性好,含煤沉积厚度大,如琼东南盆地、东海海域西湖凹陷,含煤沉积厚度达1 km以上,这是陆上区古近纪含煤盆地所不能相比的。研究表明,海域区的聚煤盆地内大多由若干凹陷组成,为聚煤凹陷,可分为两大类,即半地堑凹陷和地堑凹陷。根据成煤盆地的水体深浅又可分为深水半地堑凹陷和浅水半地堑凹陷,地堑凹陷均为深水凹陷。盆地内表现为明显的两个聚煤带：缓坡聚煤带和陡坡聚煤带,缓坡聚煤带占绝对优势。在潮坪体系的潮上带和潮间带沼泽,利于聚煤作用的广泛发生。泥炭的堆积可能存在两种形式：原地堆积和异地堆积。由于盆地构造的频繁活动异地堆积可能是海域区聚煤盆地成煤作用的重要形式。海域区巨厚的含煤沉积为海域区煤成气成藏提供了丰厚的物质基础。又由于含煤地层埋深大,煤的变质作用程度相对较高,成为良好的烃源岩。     

A critical look at iron paleoredox proxies: New insights from modern euxinic marine basins

Enrichments in reactive iron occur under euxinic marine conditions, that is, where dissolved sulfide is present in the water column. These enrichments result primarily from the export of remobilized iron from the oxic shelf, which is scavenged from the euxinic water column during syngenetic pyrite formation and deposited in the underlying sediments. Strongly elevated ratios of highly reactive iron to total iron (Fe_HR/Fe_T) and total iron to aluminum (Fe_T/Al) and high degrees of pyritization (DOP) are each products of this enrichment process. These paleoredox proxies are among the most faithful recorders of ancient euxinia.Contrary to previous arguments, iron enrichment is decoupled from biogenic sediment inputs, but it does appear to be a uniquely euxinic phenomenon. In other words, we can rule out a major contribution from preferential physical transport of Fe_HR-rich detrital sediment to the deep basin, which could also operate under oxic conditions. Furthermore, enrichment via the shuttling of iron remobilized from oxic shelves appears to be limited by inefficient transport and trapping processes in deep oxic basins. Elevated Fe_T/Al ratios in the euxinic sediments also cannot be a product of internal enhancement of the reactivity of the detrital iron pool without net Fe_HR addition. These conclusions are supported by observations in the modern Black Sea, Orca Basin, and Effingham Inlet.Fe_T/Al ratios are unambiguous recorders of paleoredox even in sediments that have experienced high degrees of metamorphic alteration. However, this study suggests that high siliciclastic accumulation rates can swamp the enrichment mechanism, resulting in only intermediate DOP values for euxinic sediments and Fe_T/Al ratios that mimic the oxic shelf. Such dilution effects are well expressed in Black Sea basinal turbidites and rapidly accumulating muds on euxinic basin margins. Under conditions of persistent euxinia, varying extents of Fe_HR enrichment can illuminate spatial and temporal gradients in siliciclastic sedimentation. The magnitude of enrichment is a function of the source (shelf) to sink (ocean basin) areal ratio, suggesting that iron proxies can also record ocean-scale paleoenvironmental properties through muted enrichments at times of very widespread euxinia. For the first time, manganese data are interpreted in light of the redox shuttle model. As for the iron data, the Black Sea, Orca Basin, and Effingham Inlet show enrichments in total manganese in the deep euxinic basin, suggesting export from the suboxic porewaters of the oxic shelf and scavenging and burial in the basin. The Black Sea data reveal iron and manganese enrichment across the broad, deep euxinic basin, suggesting efficient lateral transport and deep-water mixing tied to the physical properties of the water column.