库车前陆盆地与波斯湾盆地盐构造对比研究

通过对库车前陆盆地和波斯湾盆地的盐层发育状况、盐构造特征以及盐构造与油气关系的对比研究,认为盐底辟构造与油气密切相关。库车前陆盆地勘探程度较低,应注重寻找盐底辟构造,以及与其相关的圈闭。库车前陆盆地盐构造的形成机制与波斯湾盆地下法尔斯组/加奇萨兰组相似,与霍尔姆兹组不同。根据波斯湾盆地下法尔斯组/加奇萨兰组盐构造在油气成藏中的作用,认为库车前陆盆地南部盐层较厚的地区应加强盐下勘探的力度,寻找盐下圈闭。北部山前盐层欠发育地区应注重寻找盐上圈闭,同时兼顾盐下圈闭。库车前陆盆地具有良好的三叠系和侏罗系烃源岩,应该有很广阔的勘探前景。     

Depositional sequences in a foreland basin (north-western domain of the continental Duero basin,Spain)

The Cenozoic record of the north-western domain of the Duero basin is articulated at the surface through a set of continental depositional sequences called, from base to top, the Vegaquemada sequence, the Candanedo sequence, and the Barrillos sequence. These depositional sequences were deposited in continental sedimentary environments. The deposition of the first sequence occurred through a fluvial system with floodplains cut by low-sinuosity channels. The Vegaquemada sequence was developed between the Middle Eocene and the Early Agenian. The second sequence was formed by a set of highly efficient transport alluvial fans that evolved laterally towards fluvial systems with low-sinuosity fluvial channels and an extensive floodplain, where several types of palaeosols were formed. This sequence developed between the Early Agenian and the Late Vallesian. The third unit–the Barrillos sequence (between the Late Vallesian and the Turolian/Ruscinian transition), was generated by a set of highly efficient transport alluvial fans dominated by low-sinuosity fluvial channels.In subsurface geology, seismic and well data are used to rebuild the stratigraphic architecture. The two basal depositional sequences can be identified with two seismic units: the Palaeogene Seismic Unit (PgSU) and the Neogene Seismic Unit (NgSU), respectively. In the present work, we obtained the isovelocity, isochron, and isobath maps for the top and base of the two Cenozoic units. The Palaeozoic (PzSU) and Mesozoic (MzSU) seismic units are found under these two units. Through study of the logs of the various boreholes, it was only possible to analyse the upper 700 m of the Candanedo Sequence (NgSU), without encompassing the total thickness of the unit. Several middle-order sequences were differentiated, in general showing a sequential fining-upwards evolutionary character. Additionally, for the boreholes analysed two main types of electrofacies were identified, both representing fluvial channels and floodplain deposits.The north-western domain of the Duero basin is interpreted to have been formed in response to the tectonic uplifting of the Cantabrian Mountains since Middle-Eocene times. Integration of the data concerning the surface and subsurface geology in this domain reveals that this basin edge behaved as a foreland basin during Cenozoic stages. The foredeep, with a depth of 2800 m, is oriented east–west and has a sediment thickness of up to 3500 m. The forebulge is located in the southwestern zone and represents an area of basement uplifting in which a minimum thickness of materials from the Cenozoic depositional sequences has accumulated.     

Structure and tectonics along the inner edge of a foreland basin: The Hunter Coalfield in the northern Sydney Basin,New South Wales

From the early Late Permian onwards, the northeastern part of the Sydney Basin, New South Wales, (encompassing the Hunter Coalfield) developed as a foreland basin to the rising New England Orogen lying to the east and northeast. Structurally, Permian rocks in the Hunter Coalfield lie in the frontal part of a foreland fold‐thrust belt that propagated westwards from the adjacent New England Orogen. Thrust faults and folds are common in the inner part of the Sydney Basin. Small‐scale thrusts are restricted to individual stratigraphic units (with a major ‘upper decollement horizon’ occurring in the mechanically weak Mulbring Siltstone), but major thrusts are inferred to sole into a floor thrust at a poorly constrained depth of approximately 3 km. Folds appear to have formed mainly as hangingwall anticlines above these splaying thrust faults. Other folds formed as flat‐topped anticlines developed above ramps in that floor thrust, as intervening synclines ahead of such ramp anticlines, or as decollement folds. These contractional structures were overprinted by extensional faults developed during compressional deformation or afterwards during post‐thrusting relaxation and/or subsequent extension. The southern part of the Hunter Coalfield (and the Newcastle Coalfield to the east) occupies a structural recess in the western margin of the New England Orogen and its offshore continuation, the Currarong Orogen. Rocks in this recess underwent a two‐stage deformation history. West‐northwest‐trending stage one structures such as the southern part of the Hunter Thrust and the Hunter River Transverse Zone (a reactivated syndepositional transfer fault) developed in response to maximum regional compression from the east‐northeast. These were followed by stage two folds and thrusts oriented north‐south and developed from maximum compression oriented east‐west. The Hunter Thrust itself was folded by these later folds, and the Hunter River Transverse Zone underwent strike‐slip reactivation.     

Geophysical investigation of a sinkhole in the northern Harz foreland (North Germany)

The creek Jerstedter Bach is part of the Ringelheimer Mulde along the northern rim of the Harz Mountains in Northern Germany, a trough structure comprising steeply dipping limestones. The limestones are well karstified and drain parts of the region efficiently via sub-surface flow. As the entire region is intensively used by agriculture, contamination of the fast-flowing karst aquifer is a potential problem. During 2006, a small sinkhole (Windmühlenweg) developed alongside the Jerstedter Bach close to the city of Goslar. The sinkhole enlarged rapidly, with a small cave within the gravel cover diverting part of the creek to the subsurface karst catchment. Geophysical methods (gravimetry, geoelectrics) were used around the sinkhole to determine its extent and possible evolution. A negative Bouguer anomaly was found over the sinkhole, indicating more voids further downstream. The geoelectric survey helped to identify the old meandering course of the small river, which was straightened during the cultural land reform in the twentieth century.     

The Ruhr coal basin (Germany): structural evolution of an autochthonous foreland basin

The Ruhr coal basin is part of the external fold and thrust belt of the Variscan orogen in Central Europe. Information from extensive coal mining, outcrops in the south of the Ruhr district, reflection seismic surveys and about 800 exploration boreholes in the north, support the interpretation of a mostly molasse-type sequence, more than 6000 m thick, of Namurian and Westphalian age. Both the southwest-northeast trending sedimentary basin structures and the fold structures of the Ruhr Carboniferous were caused by the compressive regime of the Variscan folding in its hinterland, but there is no direct relationship between sedimentary basin structures and the later folding structures. Coal formation started in the Namurian C, reached its maximum during the Westphalian A and B and ended during the Westphalian D. In total, about 250 coal seams were formed, but only 50 of them are of economic importance at present.Strata thicknesses and coal content are generally greater in the southeast of the Ruhr coalfield than in the northwest. An important exception can be observed in the lower part of the Westphalian A, where, in contrast, strata thicknesses are greatest in the northwest (in the Münsterland region), although the coal content remains the greatest in the southeast.Detailed isopach maps covering 100–200 m thick stratigraphic intervals reveal the existence of a southwest-northeast trending zone of reduced subsidence in the Ruhr coalfield that moved from southwest-northeast during the Westphalian. This structure can be interpreted as a peripheral bulge. Coal seems are purer and thicker in the area of this structure, which therefore must have been a paleogeographic element within the Ruhr basin.The general effect of a general decrease in the coal content of the Upper Carboniferous towards the northwest is superimposed on the migration of the coal content maxima of individual formations towards the northwest. During the Namurian C and Westphalian A the coal content maxima were situated in the area of the River Ruhr and during the Westphalian B and C in the area of the River Lippe.The deformation of the Ruhr coal basin is of post-Westphalian age, as demonstrated by the concordant folding of the Devonian and Carboniferous strata. The tectonic structure is mainly characterised by the following elements: stockwerk tectonics, axial elevations and a succession of compressional and extensional tectonics.Due to the general dip of the Ruhr coal basin towards the north, different structural levels (“stockwerks”) can be observed. The southern area displays the lowermost stockwerk, with many minor folds of about constant wavelength and low amplitudes. Thrusts are mainly small and some of them show increasing displacement upwards. The central part of the mining area displays the intermediate stockwerk with large, tight anticlinoria with minor folds separated by open synclines. These are accompanied by folded northwest- and southeast-vergent thrusts. In the northern Ruhr district, high anticlines and broad, trough-shaped synclinoria with only few thrusts represent the uppermost stockwerk. Large fold controlled thrusts die out at this level. Axial culminations and depressions have strongly influenced the structural style of the folding as well.According to this model of stockwerk tectonics, excess volume created by disharmonic folding is redistributed by thrusts. Thrusts dying out downwards at different stratigraphic and structural levels give evidence that there is no regional basal detachment below the Ruhr coal basin. This interpretation fits very well to new results achieved by the deep seismic reflection profile DEKORP 2-N. The section clearly shows thick-skinned tectonics in the Rhenish massif, with a shortening of the whole thickness of crust. The Ruhr coal basin can, therefore, be interpreted in terms of an autochthonous foreland basin in front of a buried thrust front to the south.Investigations on the post-Carboniferous strata of the Ruhr basin indicate different periods of active faulting. Cross and diagonal faults were formed partly at the end of the Variscan folding and partly before and during deposition of the Zechstein strata. A further important period of tectonic movements occurred during the early Kimmerian phase in the Late Triassic. Furthermore, earlier extensional faults in the Ruhr basin have been affected by Late Cretaceous transpression.     

Seismic stratigraphy of the Mianwali and Bannu depressions,north-western Indus foreland basin

International Journal of Earth Sciences - Regional seismic reflection profiles, deep exploratory wells, and outcrop data have been used to study the structure and stratigraphic architecture of the...     

The South Westland Basin: seismic stratigraphy, basin geometry and evolution of a foreland basin within the Southern Alps collision zone, New Zealand

This paper develops further the case for a foreland basin origin of South Westland Basin, located adjacent to the Southern Alps mountain belt. Geohistory analyses show Middle Miocene initiation of subsidence in the basin, with marked increases at 5–6 Ma. Five seismic reflection horizons, including basement, Middle Miocene (top Awarua Limestone), top Miocene, mid-Pliocene (PPB) and mid-Pleistocene (PPA) have been mapped through the grid of seismic data. A series of five back-stripped structure contour maps taken together with five isopach maps show that prior to the Middle Miocene, subsidence and sedimentation occurred mainly along the rifted continental margin of the Challenger Plateau facing the Tasman Sea; subsequently it shifted to a foredeep trending parallel to the Southern Alps and located northwest of them. Through the Late Miocene–Recent this depocentre has progressively widened, and the loci of thickest sediment accumulation have moved northwestward, most prominently during the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene with the progradation of a shelf–slope complex. At the northern end of the basin the shelf–slope break is currently located over the forebulge, which appears not to have migrated significantly, probably because the mountain belt is not advancing significantly northwestwards. Modelling of the lithospheric flexure of the basement surface normal to the trend of the basin establishes values of 3.1 to 9.8×10²⁰ N m for the flexural rigidity of the Australia Plate. This is at the very low end of rigidities for plates, and 1–2 orders of magnitude less than for the Australia Plate beneath the Taranaki Basin. Maps of tectonic subsidence where the influence of sediment loading is removed also clearly identify the source of the loading as lying within or beneath the mountain belt. The basin fill shows a stratigraphic architecture typical of underfilled ancient peripheral foreland basins. This comprises transgressive (basal unconformity, thin limestone, slope-depth mudstone, flysch sequence) and regressive (prograding shelf–slope complex followed by molasse deposits) components. In addition the inner margin of the basin has been inverted as a result of becoming involved in the mountain building, as revealed earlier by fission track thermochronological data. The timing and degree of inversion fits well with the geometrical and stratigraphic development of the basin. That the inversion zone and the coastal plain underlain by molasse deposits are narrow, and most of the basin is beneath the sea, highlights this as an underfilled active foreland basin. The basin is geodynamically part of the Southern Alps collision zone.     

Linked sequence stratigraphy and tectonics in the Sichuan continental foreland basin,Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation,southwest China

Intracontinental subduction of the South China Block below the North China Block in the Late Triassic resulted in formation of the transpressional Sichuan foreland basin on the South China Block. The Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation was deposited in this basin and consists of an eastward-tapering wedge of predominantly continental siliciclastic sedimentary rocks that are up to 3.5 km thick in the western foredeep depocenter and thin onto the forebulge and into backbulge depocenters.Five facies associations (A–E) make up the Xujiahe Formation and these are interpreted, respectively, as alluvial fan, transverse and longitudinal braided river, meandering river, overbank or shallow lacustrine, and deltaic deposits. This study establishes a sequence stratigraphic framework for the Xujiahe Formation which is subdivided into four sequences (SQ1, 2, 3 and 4). Sequence boundaries are recognized on the basis of facies-tract dislocations and associated fluvial rejuvenation and incision, and systems tracts are identified based on their constituent facies associations and changes in architectural style and sediment body geometries. Typical sequences consist of early to late transgressive systems tract deposits related to a progressive increase in accommodation and represented by Facies Associations A, B and C that grade upwards into Facies Association D. Regionally extensive and vertically stacked coal seams define maximum accommodation and are overlain by early highstand systems tract deposits represented by Facies Associations D, E and C. Late highstand systems tract deposits are rare because of erosion below sequence boundaries. Sequence development in the Xujiahe Formation is attributed to active and quiescent phases of thrust-loading events and is closely related to the tectonic evolution of the basin. The Sichuan Basin experienced three periods of thrust loading and lithospheric flexure (SQ1, lower SQ2 and SQ3), two periods of stress relaxation and basin widening (upper SQ 2 and SQ3) and one phase of isostatic rebound (SQ4). Paleogeographic reconstruction of the Sichuan Basin in the Late Triassic indicates that the Longmen Mountains to the west, consisting of metamorphic, sedimentary and pre-Neoproterozoic basement granitoid rocks, was the major source of sediment to the foredeep depocenter. Subordinate sediment sources were the Xuefeng Mountains to the east to backbulge depocenters, and the Micang Mountains to the northwest during the late history of the basin. This study has demonstrated the viability of sequence stratigraphic analysis in continental successions in a foreland basin, and the influence of thrust loading on sequence development.     

Sequence stratigraphy of the Dakota Formation (Cenomanian), southern Utah: interplay of eustasy and tectonics in a foreland basin

The Dakota Formation in southern Utah (Kaiparowits Plateau region) is a succession of fluvial through shallow-marine facies formed during the initial phase of filling of the Cretaceous foreland basin of the Sevier orogen. It records a number of relative sea-level fluctuations of different frequency and magnitude, controlled by both tectonic and eustatic processes during the Early to Late Cenomanian. The Dakota Formation is divided into eight units separated by regionally correlatable surfaces that formed in response to relative sea-level fluctuations. Units 1–6B represent, from bottom to top, valley-filling deposits of braided streams (unit 1), alluvial plain with anastomosed to meandering streams (2), tide-influenced fluvial and tide-dominated estuarine systems (3A and 3B), offshore to wave-dominated shoreface (4, 5 and 6A) and an estuarine incised valley fill (6A and 6B). The onset of flexural subsidence and deposition in the foredeep was preceded by eastward tilting of the basement strata, probably caused by forebulge migration during the Early Cretaceous, which resulted in the incision of a westward-deepening predepositional relief. The basal fluvial deposits of the Dakota Formation, filling the relief, reflect the onset of flexural subsidence and, possibly, a eustatic sea-level rise. Throughout the deposition of the Dakota Formation, flexure controlled the long-term, regional subsidence rate. Locally, reactivation of basement faults caused additional subsidence or minor uplift. Owing to a generally low subsidence rate, differential compaction locally influenced the degree of preservation of the Dakota units. Eustasy is believed to have been the main control on the high-frequency relative sea-level changes recorded in the Dakota. All surfaces that separate individual Dakota units are flooding surfaces, most of which are superimposed on sequence boundaries. Therefore, with the exception of unit 6B and, possibly, 3B, most of the Dakota units are interpreted as depositional sequences. Fluvial strata of units 1 and 2 are interpreted as low-frequency sequences; the coal zones at the base and within unit 2 may represent a response to higher frequency flooding events. Units 3A to 6B are interpreted as having formed in response to high-frequency relative sea-level fluctuations. Shallow-marine units 4, 5 and 6A, interpreted as parasequences by earlier authors, can be divided into facies-based systems tracts and show signs of subaerial exposure at their boundaries, which allows interpretation as high-frequency sequences. In general, the Dakota units are good examples of high-frequency sequences that can be misinterpreted as parasequences, especially in distal facies or in places where signs of subaerial erosion are missing or have been removed by subsequent transgressive erosion. Both low- and high-frequency sequences represented by the Dakota units are stacked in an overall retrogradational pattern, which reflects a long-term relative sea-level rise, punctuated by brief periods of relative sea-level fall. There is a relatively major fall near the end of the M. mosbyense Zone, whereas the base of the Tropic shale is characterized by a major flooding event at the base of the S. gracile Zone. A similar record of Cenomanian relative sea-level change in other regions, e.g. Europe or northern Africa, suggests that both high- and low-frequency relative sea-level changes were governed by eustasy. The high-frequency relative sea-level fluctuations of ≈100 kyr periodicity and ≈10–20 m magnitude, similar to those recorded in other Cenomanian successions in North America and Central Europe, were probably related to Milankovitch-band, climate-driven eustasy. Either minor glacioeustatic fluctuations, superimposed on the overall greenhouse climate of the mid-Cretaceous, or mechanisms, such as the fluctuations in groundwater volume on continents or thermal expansion and contraction of sea water, could have controlled the high-frequency eustatic fluctuations.     

The lower marine to lower freshwater Molasse transition in the northern Alpine foreland basin (Oligocene; central Switzerland–south Germany): age and geodynamic implications

The Wilhelmine Alpe section near Immenstadt (Allgäu, south Germany), which represents one of the best continuously exposed outcrops within the northern Alpine foreland basin, has been analyzed for magnetostratigraphic and palynostratigraphic signals. The section comprises the marine-to-terrestrial transition from Lower Marine (UMM) to Lower Freshwater Molasse (USM) sediments. Based on the correlation of the local magnetic pattern with the geomagnetic polarity timescale (GPTS) and palynostratigraphic data, an age of about 31 Ma is suggested for the UMM–USM transition in the Wilhelmine Alpe section. A comparison with coeval magnetostratigraphic sections from central and eastern Switzerland indicates that the regression of the UMM sea along the southern margin of the Molasse basin occurred strongly heterochronously between 31.5 and 30 Ma. The heterochroneity is attributed to the deposition of fan-delta and alluvial fan sediments which document that the overall marine conditions during the UMM were accompanied by strong clastic input derived from the rising Alps. This clastic contribution had a much stronger influence on the depositional pattern than previously thought.     

Intra- and extrabasinal controls on fluvial deposition in the Miocene Indo-Gangetic foreland basin, northern Pakistan

The Miocene Siwalik Group (upsection, the Chinji, Nagri, and Dhok Pathan Formations) in northern Pakistan records evolving fluvial systems within the Himalayan foreland basin. Sedimentological variations are evaluated with respect to local, regional, and global controls on fluvial deposition and basin filling. Thick (5 m to tens of metres) sandstones are composed of channel bar and fill deposits of low-sinuosity, meandering and braided rivers which formed large, low-gradient sediment fans (or ‘megafans'). River flow was dominantly toward the south-east. The proportion of thick sandstones varies in all Siwalik sections on three scales, and reflects similar variations in palaeochannel size and grain size: (1) small-scale variations are generally tens of metres thick, and reflect the alternation of thick sandstones (channel-belt deposits) and mudstone-dominated strata (overbank deposits) through the section; (2) medium-scale variations are roughly one-hundred to a few hundreds of metres thick, and primarily correspond to changes in channel-deposit thickness, but also to the degree of superposition of channel deposits and/or to changes in the number of channel-belt deposits per unit of section; and (3) large-scale variations (formation-scale) are greater than one km thick, and primarily correspond to changes in channel-deposit thickness. Time-scales of small-, medium-, and large-scale variations appear to be on the order of 10⁴, 10⁵ and 10⁶ years, respectively. The Chinji-Nagri transition is characterized by increases in channel-deposit proportion, sandstone thickness, palaeochannel size and discharge, mean grain size of sandstones, and sediment accumulation rates; and a decrease in avulsion period. The Nagri-Dhok Pathan transition is characterized by decreases in channel-deposit proportion, sandstone thickness, palaeochannel size and discharge, mean grain size of sandstones, and avulsion period; and a further increase in sediment accumulation rates. Formation boundaries across the Potwar Plateau decrease in age toward the west. The Chinji-Nagri transition ranges in age from ～ 10·9–12·7 Ma, and the Nagri-Dhok Pathan transition ranges in age from ～9·3–10·1 Ma. Small-scale variations are attributable to repeated river avulsions triggered by autocyclic processes and/or mountain-front tectonism (e.g. faulting, earthquakes). Medium-scale variations are attributable to local changes in the position of large sediment fans, also triggered by autocyclic processes and/or mountain-front tectonism. The Chinji-Nagri transition records the diversion or establishment (possibly due to river piracy) of a larger river system in the area. River diversion or piracy probably took place within the mountain belt and is attributable to increasing and spatially variable mountain-belt uplift rates, and possibly the development of associated mountain-front deformational structures. The Nagri-Dhok Pathan transition records the diversion of the larger river system out of the area and the establishment of a smaller river system. This diversion is attributable to progressively increasing rates of mountain-belt uplift and basin subsidence. The regional palaeoclimate throughout the time interval studied was apparently constant, and eustatic sea level changes apparently had no effect on deposition in the area.     

Sedimentary environment dynamics and the formation of coal in the Pennsylvanian Variscan foreland in the Ruhr Basin (Germany, Western Europe)

During the Pennsylvanian, formation of coal was a phenomenon that was spread over many continents. It is the aim of this paper to illustrate factors that led to the formation of coal seams in paralic clastic sedimentary environments in the Ruhr Basin (German Variscan foreland) during the Pennsylvanian in terms of sequence stratigraphy and the structural evolution of the basin. Lithostratigraphic sections from exploration wells in the currently explored zone of the coal basin allowed the generation of volumetric lithofacies models, using geostastical methods. These models support the analysis of sedimentary facies and a sequence stratigraphic interpretation of the successions that are widely correlated throughout the basin. We then evaluate the relation of the sequence stratigraphic elements derived from the facies models with the abundance of coal seams.     

An allostratigraphic approach to a non-marine basin: the north-western part of Cretaceous Kyongsang Basin, SE Korea

The north-western part of the Cretaceous Kyongsang Basin, south-east Korea, comprises alluvial deposits of conglomerate, gravelly sandstone, sandstone and mudstone which can be grouped into four allomembers bounded by stratigraphic discontinuities. The discontinuities trend NW–SE and are marked by distinct facies transitions, abrupt emplacement of conglomerate and thin but persistent mudstone beds. Sedimentary facies and architectural analyses reveal that each allomember formed a depositional system of fluvial channel networks draining toward the south-east with alluvial fans on the northern margin. Each allomember can be characterized by distinctive architecture of channel-fills, clast composition of conglomerate and sandstone/mudstone ratio. Successive units show an eastward shift in the locus of deposition, suggesting basinward relocations of alluvial systems. Such variations with time and space are interpreted to reflect changes in accommodation space and sediment supply during basin evolution, probably caused by fault movements. This study shows that detailed mapping, combined with architectural analysis, and the establishment of alluvial allostratigraphy can help assess changes in alluvial systems and structural development of the basin.     

Loading fractures and Liesegang laminae: new sedimentary structures found in the north-western North Alpine Foreland Basin (Oligocene–Miocene, south-west Germany)

Abstract Spectacular sedimentary structures recently found in the Molasse Basin (Oligocene–Miocene) in southern Germany were produced by soft‐sediment deformation under highly unusual conditions. These large, apparently wedge‐like structures –‘loading fractures’– cut down into beds of marl and are filled with coarse sand and intraclasts of shale. Wrapping the sides of the structures is a thin, continuous bed of layered dark claystone – the ‘DCB’. The upper and lower layers of this bed are an organic‐rich clay; the middle layer is a laminated quartzite. The precursor of the DCB was a lacustrine gyttja rich in diatom frustules. It was supersaturated in silica as it was buried. Subsequent diffusion of oxygen into this gyttja at a burial depth of only a few metres resulted in the formation of Liesegang laminae of quartz. These laminae grew and amalgamated, forming the layer of laminated quartzite. The sediments overlying the DCB were eventually removed by erosion, probably in a high‐energy marine environment. This erosion cut down to the DCB but was unable to penetrate it. The DCB remained exposed on the sea floor until a sudden depositional event occurred – the deposition of a 2·5 metre thick bed of coarse sand with shale intraclasts. Although the DCB had been able to resist the submarine erosion, it could not support the load of this new bed. The quartzite layer in it therefore fractured, transferring that load down onto the underlying, still‐unconsolidated marl. The intraclast‐rich sands were forced down into this marl, carrying ahead of them the partly broken remains of the DCB.     

新疆库车盆地晚三叠世-早侏罗世沉积碎屑矿物成分及其物源区示踪与构造意义

通过同构造沉积物质记录了解物源区剥蚀作用过程进而探索盆山构造相互关系,是大陆构造动力学研究的一个重要方面。砂岩骨架成分分析和重矿物及部分标型矿物分析方法,已被较多地用来探索新疆天山造山带与其南部库车盆地晚中生代以来的相互关系和构造演变过程,但是关于中生代较早时期库车盆地构造属性及北部造山带隆升剥蚀过程的认识仍存在较大分歧。本文运用电子探针微区成分分析方法,对库车盆地北缘中段晚三叠世和早侏罗世砂岩中具代表性的15个砂岩样品中的38颗碎屑长石和26颗碎屑白云母矿物进行了矿物化学成分分析。结果表明,长石主要来自变质岩物源区,25颗碎屑白云母均属多硅白云母,表明其源区岩石曾经历了高压变质作用。这些多硅白云母中Si原子含量显示它们比目前保留在天山造山带高压变质带蓝片岩和榴辉岩中的多硅白云母形成的压力要低,可能反映了源区高压变质岩的正常剥露顺序。这项研究结果表明,至少在晚三叠世-早侏罗世时期,库车盆地北部天山造山带中的高压变质岩已经剥露于地表并遭受剥蚀成为物源供给区。具体是中天山南缘早古生代高压变质带还是晚古生代南天山高压变质带作为重要物源区,尚需进一步的研究工作。     

Stratigraphic resolution of a multiphase intracratonic basin system: The McArthur Basin,northern Australia

The Broadmere Structure is a concealed complex inversion structure that developed in a well preserved part of the Batten Trough in the southern McArthur Basin of northern Australia. The structure formed in response to a number of major tectonic events over a period of at least 600 million years. Evaluation of more than 300 km of seismic data gathered across the structure has provided significant insight into the evolution of the basin architecture which, in turn, has provided a framework for understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of mineralisation. The Palaeoproterozoic McArthur Basin, a polyphase basin with a long and complex evolutionary history, was initiated some time after 1.8 Ga as a sag basin following mantle activity associated with supercontinent assembly. This shallow sag then began to accumulate a relatively mature clastic sedimentary succession with interspersed basic volcanics. Subsequent extension of the weakened crust, beginning at approximately 1730 Ma, led to the development of a series of normal faults and half grabens within zones (e.g. Batten Trough) defined laterally by major strike slip fault complexes. The half grabens were filled initially by volcaniclastic sediments with associated bimodal volcanics that were later followed by mixed carbonate and clastic sediments exceeding 8 km in thickness. A major change in basinal and regional dynamics between 1575 and 1500 Ma (Isan Orogeny) led to the inversion of the thickened succession overlying the half grabens and extensive erosion of earlier depositional units, followed by deposition of a further 3 km of shallow marine clastic sediments. The analysis of the Broadmere Structure has provided a simple framework in which to evaluate prospectivity. The primary northwest striking half grabens formed localised anoxic, sediment starved depocentres in which organic rich sediments that potentially host mineralisation accumulated. The distribution of subsequent ore bodies is a function of the timing of fluid movement and the nature of fluid pathways, as determined by the evolving basin architecture. Fluids moved laterally through the permeable channels into the Batten Trough in two stages. Spatial data show that Pb and Zn occurrences lie close to the bounding faults, while Cu occurrences are distributed across the width of the Batten Trough, supporting a more or less syngenetic origin for the former and a much later, post inversion, epigenetic origin, for the latter. Mineralisation thus occurred in association with inversion structures formed above the primary half grabens that were generally concealed by later sedimentation. Because the half grabens occur at regularly spaced intervals along the Batten Trough there may well be more mineral occurrences similar to the McArthur River deposit. Clearly, these conclusions must be integrated into any exploration strategy.     

Depositional and structural evolution of a foreland basin margin in a magnetostratigraphic framework: the eastern Swiss Molasse Basin

 This integrated study of the sedimentology, magnetostratigraphic chronology and petrography of the mostly continental clastics of the Oligocene to Miocene Swiss Molasse Basin underpins a reconstruction of facies architecture and delineates relationships between the depositional evolution of a foreland-basin margin and exhumation phases and orogenic events in the adjacent orogen. A biostratigraphically based high-resolution magnetostratigraphy provides a detailed temporal framework and covers nearly the whole stratigraphic record of the Molasse Basin (31.5–13 Ma). Three transverse alluvial fan systems evolved at the southern basin margin. They are characterized by distinct petrographic compositions and document the exhumation and denudation history of the growing eastern Swiss Alps. Enhanced northward propagation of the orogenic wedge is interpreted to have occurred between 31.5 and 26 Ma. During the period 24–19 Ma, intense in-sequence and out-of-sequence thrusting took place as Molasse strata were accreted to the orogenic wedge. A third active tectonic phase, possibly caused by backthrusting of the Plateau Molasse, probably occurred between ca. 15 and 13 Ma. Fan head migration between 31.5 and 13 Ma is probably controlled by the structural evolution of the thrust front due to Molasse accretion and backthrusting. Received: 11 March 1998 / Accepted: 12 March 1999     

Cenozoic sedimentary dynamics of the Ouarzazate foreland basin (Central High Atlas Mountains, Morocco)

Cenozoic continental sedimentary deposits of the Southern Atlas named "Imerhane Group" crop out (a) in the Ouarzazate foreland basin between the Precambrian basement of the Anti Atlas and the uplifted limestone dominated High Atlas, and (b) in the Aït Kandoula and Aït Seddrat nappes where Jurassic strata detached from the basement have been thrust southwards over the Ouarzazate Basin. New biostratigraphic and geochronological data constraining the final Eocene marine regression, the characterization of the new "Aït Ouglif Detrital Formation" presumed to be of Oligocene age, and the new stratigraphic division proposed for the Continental Imerhane Group clarify the major tectonogenetic alpidic movements of the Central High Atlas Range. Four continental formations are identified at regional scale. Their emplacement was governed principally by tectonic but also by eustatic controls. The Hadida and Aït Arbi formations (Upper Eocene) record the major Paleogene regression. They are composed of margino-littoral facies (coastal sabkhas and fluviatile systems) and reflect incipient erosion of the underlying strata and renewed fluvial drainage. The Aït Ouglif Formation (presumed Oligocene) had not been characterized before. It frequently overlies all earlier formations with an angular unconformity. It includes siliciclastic alluvial deposits and is composed predominantly of numerous thin fining-upward cycles. The Aït Kandoula Formation (Miocene-Pliocene) is discordant, extensive, and represents a thick coarsening-upward megasequence. It is composed of palustro-lacustrine deposits in a context of alluvial plain with localized sabkhas, giving way to alluvial fans and fluviatile environments. The Upper Conglomeratic Formation (Quaternary) is the trace of a vast conglomeratic pediment, forming an alluvial plain and terraces. The second and third formations correspond to two megasequences engendered by the uplift of the Central High Atlas in two major compressive phases during late Oligocene and Miocene-Pliocene times. These two geodynamic events were separated by a tectonically calm phase, materialized by palustro-lacustrine sedimentation (Görler et al. 1988). Tectono-sedimentary analysis of the two megasequences shows that the basin structure and depositional processes were controlled by the compressive tectonic context generated by the collision of North Africa and Iberia in Tertiary times (Jacobshagen et al. 1988). The Quaternary Formation was apparently controlled by a tectonic continuum and by climatic variations.     

Sequence stratigraphy of a carbonate-evaporite succession (Zechstein 1, Hessian Basin, Germany)

The evaporitic Hessian Zechstein Basin is a sub‐basin of the Southern Zechstein Basin, situated at its southern margin. Twelve facies groups were identified in the Zechstein Limestone and Lower Werra Anhydrite in order to better understand the sequence‐stratigraphic evolution of this sub‐basin, which contains economically important potassium salts. Four different paleogeographic depositional areas were recognized based on the regional distribution of facies. Siliciclastic‐carbonate, carbonate, carbonate‐evaporite and evaporite shallowing‐upward successions are developed. These allow the establishment of parasequences and sequences, as well as correlation throughout the Hessian Basin and into the Southern Zechstein Basin. Two depositional sequences are distinguished, Zechstein sequence 1 and Zechstein sequence 2. The former comprises the succession from the Variscan basement up to the lowermost part of the Werra Anhydrite, including the Kupferschiefer as part of the transgressive systems tract. The highstand systems tract is defined by the Zechstein Limestone, in which two parasequences are developed. In large parts of the Hessian Basin, Zechstein sequence 1 is capped by a karstic, subaerial exposure surface, interpreted as recording a type‐1 sequence boundary that formed during a distinct brine level fall. Low‐lying central areas (Central Hessian Sub‐basin, Werra Sub‐basin), however, were not exposed and show a correlative conformity. Topography was minimal at the end of sequence 1. Widely developed perilittoral, sabkha and salina shallowing‐upward successions indicate a renewed rise of brine level (interpreted as a transgressive systems tract), because of inflow of preconcentrated brines from the Southern Zechstein Basin to the north. This marks the initiation of Zechstein sequence 2, which comprises most of the Lower Werra Anhydrite. In the Central Hessian Sub‐basin, situated proximal to the brine inflow and on the ridges within the Hessian Basin, physico‐chemical conditions were well suited for sulphate precipitation to form a thick cyclic succession. It consists of four parasequences that completely filled the increased accommodation space. In contrast, only minor sulphate accumulation occurred in the Werra Sub‐basin, situated further southwards and distal to the inflow. As a result of substantially different sulphate precipitation rates during increased accommodation, water depth in the region became more variable. The Werra Sub‐basin, characterized by very low sedimentation rates, became increasingly deeper through time, trapping dense halite brines and precipitating rock salt deposits (Werra Halite). This ‘self‐organization’ model for an evaporitic basin, in which depositional relief evolves with sedimentation and relief is filled by evaporite thereafter, contradicts earlier interpretations, that call upon the existence of a tectonic depression in the Werra area, which controlled sedimentation from the beginning of the Zechstein.