Modelling of drainage dynamics influence on sediment routing system in a fold‐and‐thrust belt

Drainage networks link erosional landscapes and sedimentary basins in a source‐to‐sink system, controlling the spatial and temporal distribution of sediment flux at the outlets. Variations of accumulation rates in a sedimentary basin have been classically interpreted as changes in erosion rates driven by tectonics and/or climate. We studied the interactions between deformation, rainfall rate and the intrinsic dynamics of drainage basins in an experimental fold‐and‐thrust belt subjected to erosion and sedimentation under constant rainfall and shortening rates. The emergence of thrust sheets at the front of a prism may divert antecedent transverse channels (perpendicular to the structural grain) leading to the formation of longitudinal reaches, later uplifted and incorporated in the prism by the ongoing deformation. In the experiments, transverse incisions appear in the external slopes of the emerging thrust sheets. Headward erosion in these transverse channels results in divide migration and capture of the uplifted longitudinal channels located in the inner parts of the prism, leading to drainage network reorganization and modification of the sediment routing system. We show that the rate of drainage reorganization increases with the rainfall rate. It also increases in a nonlinear way with the rate of uplift. We explain this behaviour by an exponent > 1 on the slope variable in the framework of the stream power erosion model. Our results confirm the view that early longitudinal‐dominated networks are progressively replaced by transverse‐dominated rivers during mountain building. We show that drainage network dynamics modulate the distribution of sedimentary fluxes at the outlets of experimental wedges. We propose that under constant shortening and rainfall rates the drainage network reorganization can also modulate the composition and the spatial distribution of clastic fluxes in foreland basins.     

Formation and fragmentation of a late Miocene supradetachment basin in central Crete: implications for exhumation mechanisms of high‐pressure rocks in the Aegean forearc

We present a new lithostratigraphy and chronology for the Miocene on central Crete, in the Aegean forearc. Continuous sedimentation started at ～10.8 Ma in the E–W trending fluvio‐lacustrine Viannos Basin, formed on the hangingwall of the Cretan detachment, which separates high‐pressure (HP) metamorphic rocks from very low‐grade rocks in its hangingwall. Olistostromes including olistoliths deposited shortly before the Viannos Basin submerged into the marine Skinias Basin between 10.4 and 10.3 Ma testifies to significant nearby uplift. Uplift of the Skinias Basin between 9.7 and 9.6 Ma, followed by fragmentation along N–S and E–W striking normal faults, marks the onset of E–W arc‐parallel stretching superimposed on N–S regional Aegean extension. This process continued between 9.6 and 7.36 Ma, as manifested by tilting and subsidence of fault blocks with subsidence events centred at 9.6, 8.8, and 8.2 Ma. Wholesale subsidence of Crete occurred from 7.36 Ma until ～5 Ma, followed by Pliocene uplift and emergence. Subsidence of the Viannos Basin from 10.8 to 10.4 Ma was governed by motion along the Cretan detachment. Regional uplift at ～10.4 Ma, followed by the first reworking of HP rocks (10.4–10.3 Ma) is related to the opening and subsequent isostatic uplift of extensional windows exposing HP rocks. Activity of the Cretan detachment ceased sometime between formation of extensional windows around 10.4 Ma, and high‐angle normal faulting cross‐cutting the detachment at 9.6 Ma. The bulk of exhumation of the Cretan HP‐LT metamorphic rocks occurred between 24 and 12 Ma, before basin subsidence, and was associated with extreme thinning of the hangingwall (by factor ～10), in line with earlier inferences that the Cretan detachment can only explain a minor part of total exhumation. Previously proposed models of buyoant rise of the Cretan HP rocks along the subducting African slab provide an explanation for extension without basin subsidence.     

Mass‐transport complexes as markers of deep‐water fold‐and‐thrust belt evolution: insights from the southern Magdalena fan,offshore Colombia

Mass wasting is an important process in the degradation of deep‐water fold‐and‐thrust belts. However, the relationship between mass‐transport complex (MTC) emplacement and the timing and spatial progression of contractional deformation of the seabed have not been extensively studied. This study uses high‐quality, 3D seismic reflection data from the southern Magdalena Fan, offshore Colombia to investigate how the growth of a deep‐water fold‐and‐thrust belt (the southern Sinú fold belt) is recorded in the source, distribution and size of MTCs. More than nine distinct, but coalesced MTCs overlie a major composite basal erosion surface. This surface formed by multiple syn‐ and post‐tectonic mass‐wasting events and is thus highly diachronous, thereby recording a protracted period of tectonism, seascape degradation and associated sedimentation. The size and source location of these MTCs changed through time: the oldest ‘detached’ MTCs are relatively small (over 9–100 km² in area) and sourced from the flanks of growing anticlines, whereas the younger ‘shelf‐attached’ MTCs are considerably larger (more than 200–300 km²), are sourced from the shelf, and post‐date the main phase of active folding and thrusting. Changes in the source, distribution and size of MTCs are tied to the sequential nucleation, amplification and along‐strike propagation of individual structures, showing that MTCs can be used to constrain the timing and style of contractional deformation, and seascape evolution in time and space.     

Tectono‐sedimentary evolution of the northern Iranian Plateau: insights from middle–late Miocene foreland‐basin deposits

Sedimentary basins in the interior of orogenic plateaus can provide unique insights into the early history of plateau evolution and related geodynamic processes. The northern sectors of the Iranian Plateau of the Arabia–Eurasia collision zone offer the unique possibility to study middle–late Miocene terrestrial clastic and volcaniclastic sediments that allow assessing the nascent stages of collisional plateau formation. In particular, these sedimentary archives allow investigating several debated and poorly understood issues associated with the long‐term evolution of the Iranian Plateau, including the regional spatio‐temporal characteristics of sedimentation and deformation and the mechanisms of plateau growth. We document that middle–late Miocene crustal shortening and thickening processes led to the growth of a basement‐cored range (Takab Range Complex) in the interior of the plateau. This triggered the development of a foreland‐basin (Great Pari Basin) to the east between 16.5 and 10.7 Ma. By 10.7 Ma, a fast progradation of conglomerates over the foreland strata occurred, most likely during a decrease in flexural subsidence triggered by rock uplift along an intraforeland basement‐cored range (Mahneshan Range Complex). This was in turn followed by the final incorporation of the foreland deposits into the orogenic system and ensuing compartmentalization of the formerly contiguous foreland into several intermontane basins. Overall, our data suggest that shortening and thickening processes led to the outward and vertical growth of the northern sectors of the Iranian Plateau starting from the middle Miocene. This implies that mantle‐flow processes may have had a limited contribution toward building the Iranian Plateau in NW Iran.     

Basin evolution of Upper Cretaceous–Lower Cenozoic strata in the Malargüe fold‐and‐thrust belt: northern Neuquén Basin,Argentina

The Andean Orogen is the type‐example of an active Cordilleran style margin with a long‐lived retroarc fold‐and‐thrust belt and foreland basin. Timing of initial shortening and foreland basin development in Argentina is diachronous along‐strike, with ages varying by 20–30 Myr. The Neuquén Basin (32°S to 40°S) contains a thick sedimentary sequence ranging in age from late Triassic to Cenozoic, which preserves a record of rift, back arc and foreland basin environments. As much of the primary evidence for initial uplift has been overprinted or covered by younger shortening and volcanic activity, basin strata provide the most complete record of early mountain building. Detailed sedimentology and new maximum depositional ages obtained from detrital zircon U–Pb analyses from the Malargüe fold‐and‐thrust belt (35°S) record a facies change between the marine evaporites of the Huitrín Formation (ca. 122 Ma) and the fluvial sandstones and conglomerates of the Diamante Formation (ca. 95 Ma). A 25–30 Myr unconformity between the Huitrín and Diamante formations represents the transition from post‐rift thermal subsidence to forebulge erosion during initial flexural loading related to crustal shortening and uplift along the magmatic arc to the west by at least 97 ± 2 Ma. This change in basin style is not marked by any significant difference in provenance and detrital zircon signature. A distinct change in detrital zircons, sandstone composition and palaeocurrent direction from west‐directed to east‐directed occurs instead in the middle Diamante Formation and may reflect the Late Cretaceous transition from forebulge derived sediment in the distal foredeep to proximal foredeep material derived from the thrust belt to the west. This change in palaeoflow represents the migration of the forebulge, and therefore, of the foreland basin system between 80 and 90 Ma in the Malargüe area.     

Late Miocene – Recent exhumation of the central Himalaya and recycling in the foreland basin assessed by apatite fission-track thermochronology of Siwalik sediments, Nepal

Thermochronological analysis of detrital sediments derived from the erosion of mountain belts and contained in the sedimentary basins surrounding them allows reconstructing the long-term exhumation history of the sediment source areas. The effective closure temperature of the thermochronological system analysed determines the spatial and temporal resolution of the analysis through the duration of the lag time between closure of the system during exhumation and its deposition in the sedimentary basin. Here, we report apatite fission-track (AFT) data from 31 detrital samples collected from Miocene to Pliocene stratigraphic sections of the Siwalik Group in western and central Nepal, as well as three samples from modern river sediments from the same area, that complement detrital zircon fission-track (ZFT) and U–Pb data from the same samples presented in a companion paper. Samples from the upper part of the stratigraphic sections are unreset and retain a signal of source-area exhumation; they show spatial variations in source-area exhumation rates that are not picked up by the higher-temperature systems. More deeply buried samples have been partially reset within the Siwalik basin and provide constraints on the thermal and kinematic history of the fold-and-thrust belt itself. The results suggest that peak source-area exhumation rates have been constant at ∼1.8 km Myr⁻¹ over the last ∼7 Ma in central Nepal, whereas they ranged between 1 and ∼1.5 km Myr⁻¹ in western Nepal over the same time interval; these spatial variations may be explained by either a tectonic or climatic control on exhumation rates, or possibly a combination of the two. Increasing lag times within the uppermost part of the sections suggest an increasing component of apatites that have been recycled within the Siwalik belt and are corroborated by AFT ages of modern river sediment downstream as well as the record of the distal Bengal Fan. The most deeply buried and most strongly annealed samples record onset of exhumation of the frontal Siwaliks along the Himalayan frontal thrust at ∼2 Ma and continuous shortening at rates comparable with the present-day shortening rates from at least 0.3 Ma onward.     

Syn‐orogenic fluid flow in the Jaca basin (south Pyrenean fold and thrust belt) from fracture and vein analyses

This study aims at understanding the origin and nature of syn‐orogenic fluid flow in the Jaca basin from the South Pyrenean fold and thrust‐belt, as recorded in calcite and quartz veins of the Sierras Interiores (Spain) and the turbiditic basin, which cover upper Cretaceous to Late Eocene syntectonic deposits. The fracture network consists of a classical pattern of transverse and longitudinal fractures related to Layer Parallel Shortening (LPS) and folding respectively. Veins filled equally about the third of fractures in the carbonate shelf and turbidites. Carbon and oxygen isotopes of calcite veins mostly indicate precipitation from isotopically buffered water, consistent with high water‐rock interaction. In the Sierras Interiores, petrographical observations and fluid inclusion microthermometry are consistent with two distinct stages of precipitation. The first stage is characterized by relatively low Th and low salinities (155–205 °C and 0.5–3.2 wt% eq. NaCl). The second stage, which was characterized both by the formation of mode‐I joints and by mode‐I reactivation of pre‐existing veins, shows higher Th and salinities (215–270 °C and 2.2–5.7 wt% eq. NaCl). Waters recorded in the second stage are interpreted to have interacted with underlying Triassic evaporites and flowed along major thrusts before vein precipitation, which are locally in thermal disequilibrium with host‐rocks. We suggest the transition from a rather closed hydrological system during the first stage of vein formation, interpreted to have occurred during Eaux‐chaudes thrusting (upper Lutetian‐Bartonian), to a more open hydrological system during the second stage, which likely occurred during Gavarnie thrusting (Priabonian‐early Rupelian). Finally, we also document the migration in space and time of hydrothermal pulses along the South Pyrenean Foreland Basin, related to the westward propagation of major thrusts during the Pyrenean orogeny.     

Morphology and origin of major Cenozoic sequence boundaries in the eastern North Sea Basin: top Eocene,near‐top Oligocene and the mid‐Miocene unconformity

Unconformities in sedimentary successions (i.e. sequence boundaries) form in response to the interplay between a variety of factors such as eustasy, climate, tectonics and basin physiography. Unravelling the origin of sequence boundaries is thus one of the most pertinent questions in the analysis of sedimentary basins. We address this question by focusing on three of the most marked physical discontinuities (sequence boundaries) in the Cenozoic North Sea Basin: top Eocene, near‐top Oligocene and the mid‐Miocene unconformity. The Eocene/Oligocene transition is characterized by an abrupt increase in sediment supply from southern Norway and by minor erosion of the basin floor. The near‐top Oligocene and the mid‐Miocene unconformity are characterized by major changes in sediment input directions and by widespread erosion along their clinoform breakpoints. The mid‐Miocene shift in input direction was followed by a marked increase in sediment supply to the southern and central North Sea Basin. Correlation with global δ¹⁸O records suggests that top Eocene correlates with a major long‐term δ¹⁸O increase (inferred climatic cooling and eustatic fall). Near‐top Oligocene does not correlate with any major δ¹⁸O events, while the mid‐Miocene unconformity correlates with a gradual decrease followed by a major long‐term increase in δ¹⁸O values The abrupt increases in sediment supply in post‐Eocene and post‐middle Miocene time correlate with similar changes worldwide and with major δ¹⁸O increases, suggesting a global control (i.e. climate and eustasy) of the post‐Eocene sedimentation in the North Sea Basin. Erosional features observed at near‐top Oligocene and at the mid‐Miocene unconformity are parallel to the clinoform breakpoints and resemble scarps formed by mass wasting. Incised valleys have not been observed, indicating that sea level never fell significantly below the clinoform breakpoint during the Oligocene to middle Miocene.     

Permian exhumation of the Montagne Noire core complex recorded in the Graissessac‐Lodève Basin,France

The paleogeographic reconstruction of the Variscan Mountains during late Carboniferous‐Permian post‐orogenic extension remains poorly understood, owing to the subsequent erosion and/or burial of most associated sedimentary basins during the Mesozoic. The Graissessac‐Lodève Basin (southern France) preserves a thick and exceptionally complete record of continental sedimentation spanning late Carboniferous through late Permian time. This section records the localized tectonic and paleogeographic evolution of southern France in the context of the low‐latitude Variscan Belt of Western Europe. This study presents new detrital zircon and framework mineralogy data that address the provenance of siliciclastic strata exposed in the basin. The ages and compositions of units that constitute the Montagne Noire metamorphic core complex (west of the basin) dictate the detrital zircon age populations and sandstone compositions in Permian strata, recording rapid exhumation and unroofing of the Montagne Noire dome. Cambrian‐Archean zircons and metamorphic lithic‐rich compositions record derivation from recycled detritus of the earliest Paleozoic sedimentary cover and Neoproterozoic‐early Cambrian metasedimentary Schistes X, which formerly covered the Montagne Noire dome. Ordovician zircons and subarkosic framework compositions indicate erosion of orthogneiss units that formed a large part of the dome. The youngest zircon population (320–285 Ma) reflects derivation from late Carboniferous‐early Permian granite units in the axial zone of the Montagne Noire. This population appears first in the early Permian, persists throughout the Permian section and is accompanied by sandstone compositions dominated by feldspar, polycrystalline quartz and metamorphic lithic fragments. The most recent migmatization, magmatism and deformation occurred ca. 298 ± 2 Ma, at ca. 17 km depth (based on peak metamorphic conditions). Accordingly, these new provenance data, together with zircon fission‐track thermochronology, demonstrate that exhumation of the Montagne Noire core complex was rapid (1–17 mm year⁻¹) and early (300–285 Ma), reflecting deep‐seated uplift in the southern Massif Central during post‐orogenic extension.     

Chronology of Chilean Frontal Cordillera building from geochronological,stratigraphic and geomorphological data insights from Miocene intramontane‐basin deposits

The Chilean Frontal Cordillera, near 28°45′S, provides a remarkable example to explore the evolution of the Central Andes; this area provides conspicuous pediment surfaces and continental deposits, which allowed us to analyse the timing and propagation of deformation which controlled the Andes building during the Cenozoic using structural, geomorphological, sedimentological, stratigraphic and geochronological data. The study area is characterized by outcrops of the Cerro del Burro Gravels, a continental deposit which is surrounded by four morphostructural mountain systems. Based on a 46 Ma tuff affected by a syncline, which is sealed by a 44 Ma tuff, we recognized an Eocene fault activity that contributed to the uplift of the western and northern systems, which have remained inactive during the last 44 Ma. The deformed lithologies during the last pulse of activity of the western fault and the youngest lithology carved by pediment processes (21 Ma) indicate a pediment surface developed during the Late Eocene and Oligocene. This pediment extended below the Cerro del Burro Gravels associated to a base level which drained to the east. We also recognized Miocene fault activity that played a main role in the uplift of the eastern and southern systems. Geochronological, stratigraphic and geomorphological data suggest a first pulse of fault activity between 19 and 13 Ma, which interrupted the pedimentation processes, developed an intramontane depocenter, and forced the accumulation of the Laguna Grande Succession in an alluvial‐braided fluvial environment. After 13 Ma, an erosive event evidenced by the incision of valleys, resulted after the change in the extension and configuration of the hydric network.     

Tectono‐climatic evolution of a Neogene intramontane basin (Late Miocene Carboneras subbasin,southeast Spain): revelations from basin mapping and biofacies analysis

Exceptional 3‐D exposures of fault blocks forming a 5 km × 10 km clastic sediment‐starved, marine basin (Carboneras subbasin, southeast Spain) allow a test of the response of carbonate sequence stratigraphic architectures to climatic and tectonic forcing. Temperate and tropical climatic periods recorded in biofacies serve as a chronostratigraphic framework to reconstruct the status of the basin within three time‐slices (late Tortonian–early Messinian, late Messinian, Pliocene). Structural maps and isopach maps trace out the distribution of fault blocks, faults, and over time, their relative motions, propagational patterns and life times, which demonstrate a changing layout of the basin because of a rotation of the regional transtensional stress field. Progradation of early Messinian reefal systems was perpendicular to the master faults of the blocks, which were draped by condensed fore‐slope sediments. The hangingwall basins coincided with the toe‐of‐slope of the reef systems. The main phase of block faulting during the late Tortonian and earliest Messinian influenced the palaeogeography until the late Pliocene (cumulative throw < 150–240 m), whereas displacements along block bounding faults, which moved into the hangingwall, died out over time. An associated shift of the depocentres of calciturbidites, slump masses and fault scarp degradation breccias reflects 500–700 m of fault propagation into the hangingwall. The shallow‐water systems of the footwall areas were repeatedly subject to emergence and deep peripheral erosion, which imply slow net relative uplift of the footwall. In the dip‐slope settings, erosional truncations of tilted proximal deposits prevail, which indicate rotational relative uplift. Block movements were on the order of magnitude of third order sea‐level fluctuations during the late Tortonian and earliest Messinian. We suggest that this might be the reason for the common presence of offlapping geometries in early Messinian reef systems of the Betic Cordilleras. During the late Pliocene, uplift rates fell below third order rates of sea‐level variations. However, at this stage, the basin was uplifted too far to be inundated by the sea again. The evolution of the basin may serve as a model for many other extensional basins around the world.     

Insights in the exhumation history of the NW Zagros from bedrock and detrital apatite fission‐track analysis: evidence for a long‐lived orogeny

We present the first fission‐track (FT) thermochronology results for the NW Zagros Belt (SW Iran) in order to identify denudation episodes that occurred during the protracted Zagros orogeny. Samples were collected from the two main detrital successions of the NW Zagros foreland basin: the Palaeocene–early Eocene Amiran–Kashkan succession and the Miocene Agha Jari and Bakhtyari Formations. In situ bedrock samples were furthermore collected in the Sanandaj‐Sirjan Zone. Only apatite fission‐track (AFT) data have been successfully obtained, including 26 ages and 11 track‐length distributions. Five families of AFT ages have been documented from analyses of in situ bedrock and detrital samples: pre‐middle Jurassic at ～171 and ～225 Ma, early–late Cretaceous at ～91 Ma, Maastrichtian at ～66 Ma, middle–late Eocene at ～38 Ma and Oligocene–early Miocene at ～22 Ma. The most widespread middle–late Eocene cooling phase, around ～38 Ma, is documented by a predominant grain‐age population in Agha Jari sediments and by cooling ages of a granitic boulder sample. AFT ages document at least three cooling/denudation periods linked to major geodynamic events related to the Zagros orogeny, during the late Cretaceous oceanic obduction event, during the middle and late Eocene and during the early Miocene. Both late Cretaceous and early Miocene orogenic processes produced bending of the Arabian plate and concomitant foreland deposition. Between the two major flexural foreland episodes, the middle–late Eocene phase mostly produced a long‐lasting slow‐ or nondepositional episode in the inner part of the foreland basin, whereas deposition and tectonics migrated to the NE along the Sanandaj‐Sirjan domain and its Gaveh Rud fore‐arc basin. As evidenced in this study, the Zagros orogeny was long‐lived and multi‐episodic, implying that the timing of accretion of the different tectonic domains that form the Zagros Mountains requires cautious interpretation.     

Along‐strike structural linkage and interaction in an active thrust fault system: A case study from the western Sichuan foreland basin,China

Along‐strike structural linkage and interaction between faults is common in various compressional settings worldwide. Understanding the kinematic history of fault interaction processes can provide important constraints on the geometry and evolution of the lateral growth of segmented faults in the fold‐and‐thrust belts, which are important to seismic hazard assessment and hydrocarbon trap development. In this study, we study lateral structural geometry (fault displacement and horizon shortening) of thrust fault linkages and interactions along the Qiongxi anticline in the western Sichuan foreland basin, China, using a high‐resolution 3D seismic reflection dataset. Seismic interpretation suggests that the Qiongxi anticline can be related to three west‐dipping, hard‐linked thrust fault segments that sole onto a regional shallow detachment. Results reveal that the lateral linkage of fault segments limited their development, affecting the along‐strike fault displacement distributions. A deficit between shortening and displacement is observed to increase in linkage zones where complex structural processes occur, such as fault surface bifurcation and secondary faulting, demonstrating the effect of fault linkage process on structural deformation within a thrust array. The distribution of the geometrical characteristics shows that thrust fault development in the area can be described by both the isolated fault model and the coherent fault model. Our measurements show that new fault surfaces bifurcate from the main thrust ramp, which influences both strain distribution in the relay zone and along‐strike fault slip distribution. This work fully describes the geometric and kinematic characteristics of lateral thrust fault linkage, and may provide insights into seismic interpretation strategies in other complex fault transfer zones.     

Quantifying multiple Permian–Recent exhumation events during the break‐up of eastern Gondwana: sonic transit time analysis of the central and southern Perth Basin

The central and southern Perth Basin in southwestern Australia has a geological history involving multiple regional unconformity‐forming events from the Permian to Recent. This study uses sonic transit time analysis to quantify the magnitudes of net and gross exhumation for four stratigraphic periods from 43 wells. Most importantly, we quantify gross exhumation of the Permian–Triassic, Triassic–Jurassic, Valanginian break‐up and post‐Early Cretaceous events. Post‐Early Cretaceous gross exhumation averages 900‐m offshore and 600‐m onshore. Up to 200 m of this exhumation may be attributed to localized fault block rotation during extension in the Late Cretaceous and/or reverse fault re‐activation due to the compressive stresses in Australia in the last 50 Ma. The remainder is attributed to regional exhumation caused by epeirogenic processes either during the Cenozoic or at the Aptian–Albian boundary. Maximum burial depths prior to the Valanginian unconformity‐forming event were less than those reached subsequently, so that the magnitude of Valanginian break‐up exhumation cannot be accurately quantified. Gross exhumation prior to the break‐up of Gondwana was defined by large magnitude differences (up to 2500 m) between adjoining sub‐basins. At the end of Triassic, exhumation is primarily attributed to reverse re‐activation of faults that were driven by short‐wavelength inversion and exhumation at the end Permian is likely caused by uplift of rotated fault blocks during extension. The evidence from quantitative exhumation analysis indicates a switch in regime, from locally heterogeneous before break‐up to more regionally homogeneous after break‐up.     

Thermal history and exhumation of the Northern Apennines (Italy): evidence from combined apatite fission track and vitrinite reflectance data from foreland basin sediments

ABSTRACT Apatite fission track ages of 20 samples collected from turbidite successions deposited in foreland basins adjacent to the Northern Apennines range between ∼3 and ∼10 Ma. The youngest fission track ages are concentrated in a NW–SE elongated belt, which approximately runs through the centre of the study area, while gradually increasing ages are distributed towards the south-western and north-eastern borders. Integration of apatite fission track data and published vitrinite reflectance values indicate this region of the Apennines experienced continuous but variable exhumation starting from ∼14 Ma. The extent of exhumation and uplift range between 5 and 6 km at the south-western and north-eastern borders of the study area, and ∼7 km in the central part. Exhumation was driven mainly by erosion, with minor faulting in response to structural readjustment related to differential exhumation. Regional exhumation and erosion are interpreted as the result of isostatic rebound following crustal thickening in the lower part of the orogen.     

Normal faulting, extension and uplift in the outer thrust belt of the central Apennines (Italy): role of the Caramanico fault

The outer Adriatic zones of the central Apennines (Italy) provide good conditions for analysing geometry and kinematics of the earliest normal faults, superposed onto the thrust belt. During the latest stages of thrusting onto the Adriatic foreland (late Pliocene–early Pleistocene), the outermost imbricates of the thrust belt were subjected to normal faulting, coeval with differential uplift. Crosscutting normal faults get younger towards the foreland, thus the easternmost normal faults record the latest stages of fault propagation and growth. The Caramanico fault, on the western flank of Mt. Maiella, is the largest outcropping normal fault of the outer zones. This high‐angle fault (dip > 70°) has cumulative offsets ≤ €4.2 km, and propagated with slip rates of 2.6 mm/year in a short time interval (≤ 1.6 Ma), concomitant with intense uplift of Mt. Maiella. In contrast with normal faults in a more internal position, the Caramanico fault maintains a high‐angle planar geometry, and does not reach the major basal detachment of the thrust belt. Thus the fault did not cause large extensional displacements; its major role was rather to accommodate ongoing components of vertical uplift of the overthickened thrust wedge. Downfaulting of the thrust belt on the western flank of Mt. Maiella represents the youngest end member of the same processes that have operated since 11 Ma in the Tyrrhenian hinterland, where large extensional strains and crustal thinning of the orogenic belt were achieved by long‐lasting activity of listric normal faults detached at lower crustal depths.     

Supersequences, superbasins, supercontinents – evidence from the Neoproterozoic–Early Palaeozoic basins of central Australia

Neoproterozoic sedimentary basins cover a large area of central Australia. They rest upon rigid continental crust that varies from c. 40–50 km in thickness. Whilst the crust was in part formed during the Archaean and early Palaeoproterozoic, its final assembly occurred at approximately 1.1 Ga as the Neoproterozoic supercontinent, Rodinia, came into being. The assembly process left an indelible imprint on the region producing a strong crustal fabric in the form of a series of north dipping thrusts that pervade much of the thick craton and extend almost to the Moho. Following a period of stability (1.1–0.8 Ga), a large area of central Australia, in excess of 2.5 × 10⁶ km², began to subside in synchroneity. This major event was due to mantle instability resulting from the insulating effect of Rodinia. Initially, beginning c. 900 Ma, a rising superplume uplifted much of central Australia leading to peneplanation of the uplifted region and the generation of large volumes of sand‐sized clastic materials. Ultimately, the decline of the superplume led to thermal recovery and the development of a sag basin (beginning at c. 800 Ma), which in turn resulted in the redistribution of the clastic sediments and the development of a vast sand sheet at the base of the Neoproterozoic succession. The superbasin generated by the thermal recovery was short lived (c. 20 M.y.) but, in conjunction with the crustal fabric developed during supercontinent assembly, it set the stage for further long‐term basin development that extended for half a billion years well into the Late Palaeozoic. Following the sag phase at least five major tectonic episodes influenced the central Australian region. Compressional tectonics reactivated earlier thrust faults that had remained dormant within the crust, disrupting the superbasin, causing uplift of basement blocks and breaking the superbasin into the four basins now identified within the central Australian Neoproterozoic succession (Officer, Amadeus, Ngalia and Georgina Basin). These subsequent tectonic events produced the distinctive foreland architecture associated with the basins and were perhaps the trigger for the Neoproterozoic ice ages. The reactivated basins became asymmetric with major thrust faults along one margin paralleled by deep narrow troughs that formed the main depocentres for the remaining life of the basins. The final major tectonic event to influence the central Australian basins, the Alice Springs Orogeny, effectively terminated sedimentation in the region in the Late Palaeozoic (c. 290 Ma). Of the six tectonic episodes recorded in the basinal succession only one provides evidence of extension, suggesting the breakup of east Gondwana at the end of the Rodinian supercontinent cycle may have occurred at close to the time of the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary. The central Australian basins are thus the products of events surrounding the assembly and dispersal of Rodinia.     

Middle Eocene‐Oligocene broken‐foreland evolution in the Andean Calchaqui Valley,NW Argentina: insights from stratigraphic,structural and provenance studies

Two end‐member models have been proposed for the Paleogene Andean foreland: a simple W‐E migrating foreland model and a broken‐foreland model. We present new stratigraphic, sedimentological and structural data from the Paleogene Quebrada de los Colorados (QLC) Formation, in the Eastern Cordillera, with which to test these two different models. Basin‐wide unconformities, growthstrata and changes in provenance indicate deposition of the QLC Formation in a tectonically active basin. Both west‐ and east‐vergent structures, rooted in the basement, controlled the deposition and distribution of the QLC Formation from the Middle Eocene to the Early Miocene. The provenance analysis indicates that the main source areas were basement blocks, like the Paleozoic Oire Eruptive Complex, uplifted during Paleogene shortening, and that delimits the eastern boundary of the present‐day intraorogenic Puna plateau. A comparison of the QLC sedimentary basin‐fill pattern with those of adjacent Paleogene basins in the Puna plateau and in the Santa Bárbara System highlights the presence of discrete depozones. These reflect the early compartmentalization of the foreland, rather than a stepwise advance of the deformation front of a thrust belt. The early Tertiary foreland of the southern central Andes is represented by a ca. 250‐km‐wide area comprising several deformation zones (Arizaro, Macón, Copalayo and Calchaquí) in which doubly vergent or asymmetric structures, rooted in the basement, were generated. Hence, classical foreland model is difficult to apply in this Paleogene basin; and our data and interpretation agree with a broken‐foreland model.     

Modern and ancient fluvial megafans in the foreland basin system of the central Andes, southern Bolivia: implications for drainage network evolution in fold-thrust belts

ABSTRACT Fluvial megafans chronicle the evolution of large mountainous drainage networks, providing a record of erosional denudation in adjacent mountain belts. An actualistic investigation of the development of fluvial megafans is presented here by comparing active fluvial megafans in the proximal foreland basin of the central Andes to Tertiary foreland‐basin deposits exposed in the interior of the mountain belt. Modern fluvial megafans of the Chaco Plain of southern Bolivia are large (5800–22 600 km²), fan‐shaped masses of dominantly sand and mud deposited by major transverse rivers (Rio Grande, Rio Parapeti, and Rio Pilcomayo) emanating from the central Andes. The rivers exit the mountain belt and debouch onto the low‐relief Chaco Plain at fixed points along the mountain front. On each fluvial megafan, the presently active channel is straight in plan view and dominated by deposition of mid‐channel and bank‐attached sand bars. Overbank areas are characterized by crevasse‐splay and paludal deposition with minor soil development. However, overbank areas also contain numerous relicts of recently abandoned divergent channels, suggesting a long‐term distributary drainage pattern and frequent channel avulsions. The position of the primary channel on each megafan is highly unstable over short time scales. Fluvial megafans of the Chaco Plain provide a modern analogue for a coarsening‐upward, > 2‐km‐thick succession of Tertiary strata exposed along the Camargo syncline in the Eastern Cordillera of the central Andean fold‐thrust belt, about 200 km west of the modern megafans. Lithofacies of the mid‐Tertiary Camargo Formation include: (1) large channel and small channel deposits interpreted, respectively, as the main river stem on the proximal megafan and distributary channels on the distal megafan; and (2) crevasse‐splay, paludal and palaeosol deposits attributed to sedimentation in overbank areas. A reversal in palaeocurrents in the lowermost Camargo succession and an overall upward coarsening and thickening trend are best explained by progradation of a fluvial megafan during eastward advance of the fold‐thrust belt. In addition, the present‐day drainage network in this area of the Eastern Cordillera is focused into a single outlet point that coincides with the location of the coarsest and thickest strata of the Camargo succession. Thus, the modern drainage network may be inherited from an ancestral mid‐Tertiary drainage network. Persistence and expansion of Andean drainage networks provides the basis for a geometric model of the evolution of drainage networks in advancing fold‐thrust belts and the origin and development of fluvial megafans. The model suggests that fluvial megafans may only develop once a drainage network has reached a particular size, roughly 10⁴ km²– a value based on a review of active fluvial megafans that would be affected by the tectonic, climatic and geomorphologic processes operating in a given mountain belt. Furthermore, once a drainage network has achieved this critical size, the river may have sufficient stream power to prove relatively insensitive to possible geometric changes imparted by growing frontal structures in the fold‐thrust belt.     

The response of a basin‐scale Miocene barrier reef system to long‐term,strong subsidence on a passive continental margin,Barcoo Sub‐basin,Australian North West Shelf

The Miocene sedimentary succession of the southern Browse Basin records the response of a tropical reef system to long‐term, strong subsidence on a passive continental margin. Geological interpretation of a comprehensive two‐dimensional (2D) seismic reflectivity data set documents for the first time the development of a continuous Miocene barrier reef on the Australian North West Shelf. With a length of over 250 km, this barrier reef is among the Earth's largest in the Neogene record. A sequence stratigraphic analysis tied to well data shows that the main controls for the evolution, growth and demise of the reef system were subsidence, third‐order global‐scale eustatic variations and antecedent topography. The generally very high Miocene subsidence rates estimated for the study area cannot be explained by typical passive‐margin subsidence controlled by lithospheric cooling and sedimentary loading alone. Additional dynamic subsidence induced by mantle convection, though documented as unusually large on the northern margin of Australia during the Neogene, can be also regarded as being of only minor importance. Therefore, accelerated tectonic subsidence related to the collision of the Australian and Eurasian Plates 250–500 km north of the study area seems to exert an important influence on reef development and demise, complicated by local tectonic inversion. The Miocene tectonic reactivation and inversion of an older structural grain is interpreted to have controlled the reef development considerably by providing localized topographic highs along transpressional anticlines above basement‐rooted faults that served as preferential sites for reef growth and retreat during times of rapidly rising sea level. This exemplarily shows that the far‐field effects of collision‐induced tectonic subsidence can significantly influence carbonate systems on passive margins.