上扬子西部地区新生代构造活动的低温热年代学特征

上扬子西部地区磷灰石裂变径迹年龄数据的统计为该区的新生代构造活动建立了宏观的图景,初步构建了区域上新生代构造活动和陆内变形的时空联系。揭示新生代构造活动在时间上存在大约61～43 Ma和大约24 Ma以来两个阶段的显著差异,约24 Ma是上扬子板块西部地区新生代构造活动显著增强的一个重要转折时期。在空间上大致以松潘-安县为界构成南、北分段。构造活动和区域抬升-剥露总体表现为南强北弱,西强东弱的格局。南段是新生代活动的主控区,以强烈地构造抬升和构造改造为主,而北段总体上受制于白垩纪的抬升-剥露,新生代以来主要表现出剥蚀和弱构造改造的特征。新生代的构造活动受制于青藏高原抬升作用向东扩展的影响。上扬子西部地区新生代构造活动在一定程度上制约了该区油气的圈闭环境和成藏条件。     

The palynology and provenance of the coal fragments contained in the late-Pleistocene Lleiniog gravels of Anglesey,North Wales

The numerous coal clasts in the late-Pleistocene fluvioglacial Lleiniog Gravels of eastern Anglesey contain a varied assemblage of Westphalian A (and possibly also early Westphalian B) spores. Directional sedimentary structures indicate that the meltwater currents which deposited the gravels came mainly from the north and east, while glacial striae and erratic trains indicate that the parent (? Devensian) glacier flowed from the northeast. Consideration is given to the possibility that the coal clasts were derived from the breaking-up, fairly locally, of far-travelled rafts of Coal Measures. It is concluded, however, that the most probable explanation is still Greenly's (1919) postulate that the source is a yet-to-be-identified submarine outcrop situated only a few kilometres northeast of Lleiniog.     

Victoria Carbonate-Base Metal Gold Deposit and Its Significance in the Mankayan Mineral District, Luzon, Philippines

Abstract. The Victoria gold deposit is a low-sulfidation style epithermal carbonate-base metal gold deposit discovered in 1995 in the Mankayan mineral district, northern Luzon, Philippines. It occurs just south of a high-sulfidation copper-gold orebody (Lepanto enargite deposit) and a porphyry copper-gold orebody (Far Southeast (FSE) deposit). Radiometric dating of the Victoria mineralization yields ages from 1.6 to 1.1 Ma, similar to ages of the Lepanto enargite deposit. Mineralogical, geochemical, fluid inclusion and sulfur isotope studies suggest that the Victoria deposit is not directly related to the late stage of hydrothermal activity that produced the FSE porphyry copper-gold and the Lepanto enargite deposits. The hydrothermal fluids from which Victoria was formed appear to have been derived from the south, and not from the FSE intrusive center to the northeast. This would suggest a regional south to north hydrothermal gradient, consistent with the similar flow within the FSE porphyry-Lepanto enargite system. On a district scale, structures similar to those of the Victoria deposit in trend and nature would be highly prospective, especially if they occur north of identified plutons and volcanic centers.     

豫皖交界中新生代地层特征及盆地演化

豫皖交界地段中新生代盆地位于合肥盆地的南缘。该区中新生界划分方案不一。通过超覆不整合的厘定及区域对比将其自下而上划分为中侏罗统三尖铺组、凤凰台组，上侏罗统金刚台组，下白垩统段集组、陈棚组，第三系戚家桥组和第四系。中新生界沉积物以陆相红色类磨拉石建造和陆相火山碎屑岩建造为主，陆相红色类磨拉石的建造分析表明其形成于洪积扇和扇前河湖环境，碎屑来源是沉积区南侧的大别隆起和向北逆冲的浅变质岩带。其盆地类型为复合盆地，具有由南向北、由西向东迁移的特点，而盆地的性质则发生了从前陆盆地向断陷盆地的转变     

The stratigraphy and structure of the Galley Head culmination zone: An area of enhanced shortening related to basin geometry within the Irish Variscides

In southwest Ireland an Upper Devonian to Lower Carboniferous clastic succession was deposited in an ENE–WSW trending half-graben, known as the South Munster Basin. Across the Galley Head peninsula on the south coast, this stratigraphical succession is attenuated due to the presence of a palaeogeographical feature called the Glandore High. Evidence suggests that the Glandore High was an east–west feature, faulted to the north and east, which was part of the southern flank (hangingwall rollover) of the South Munster Basin. During post-Carboniferous Variscan deformation the relatively thin stratigraphy of Galley Head underwent prolonged folding, causing a local periclinal fold pair to develop within the hinge zone of a regional syncline. The main cleavage then developed parallel to bedding on the overturned south limb of the anticline of this fold pair. The local enhanced shortening caused the development of a structural culmination, and south facing, tight to isoclinal folds. The culmination was enhanced and tightened by a fault system of contractional, strike-parallel faults linked by cross faults. Secondary folds occur across the hinges of regional anticlines and also on major fold limbs as isolated fold pairs and in monoclinal fold zones, some of which may have nucleated on irregular sandstone bodies. Local crenulation cleavages are related to late fault movements. Syn-cleavage, conjugate, wrench faults record 10 per cent to 15 per cent strike-parallel extension in the culmination. The deformation chronology of the Galley Head area is somewhat anomalous for the Irish Variscides in that the folds were well established before the onset of the main cleavage development. The enhanced shortening across the area was compartmentalized by major cross faults and a minor component of north–south sinistral shear was also active across the area causing a swing in strike and a late set of minor cross faults. Structural facing directions in southwest Ireland appear to be directly linked with the geometry of the deformed basins. Hence the southward facing along the south coast is due to the proximity of the southern margin of the South Munster Basin. Structural facing directions fan northwards across the basin and major folds are overturned to the north at the northern margin of the basin.     

Evolution of an ancient (Lower Cretaceous) marginal‐marine system from tide‐dominated to wave‐dominated deposition,McMurray Formation

Regionally extensive parasequences in the upper McMurray Formation, Grouse Paleovalley, north‐east Alberta, Canada, preserve a shift in depositional processes in a paralic environment from tide domination, with notable fluvial influence, through to wave domination. Three stacked parasequences form the upper McMurray Formation and are separated by allogenic flooding surfaces. Sediments within the three parasequences are grouped into three facies associations: wave‐dominated/storm‐dominated deltas, storm‐affected shorefaces to sheltered bay‐margin and fluvio‐tidal brackish‐water channels. The two oldest parasequences comprise dominantly tide‐dominated, wave‐influenced/fluvial‐influenced, shoreface to bay‐margin deposits bisected by penecontemporaneous brackish‐water channels. Brackish‐water channels trend approximately north‐west/south‐east, which is perpendicular to the interpreted shoreline trend; this implies that the basinward and progradational direction was towards the north‐west during deposition of the upper McMurray Formation in Grouse Paleovalley. The youngest parasequence is interpreted as amalgamated wave‐dominated/storm‐dominated delta lobes. The transition from tide‐dominated deposition in the oldest two parasequences to wave‐dominated deposition in the youngest is attributed mainly to drowning of carbonate highlands to the north and north‐west of the study area, and potentially to relative changes in accommodation space and deposition rate. The sedimentological, ichnological and regional distribution of the three facies associations within each parasequence are compared to modern and Holocene analogues that have experienced similar shifts in process dominance. Through this comparison it is possible to consider how shifts in depositional processes are expressed in the rock record. In particular, this study provides one of few ancient examples of preservation of depositional process shifts and showcases how topography impacts the character and architecture of marginal‐marine systems.     

Fluid–rock interactions associated with regional tectonics and basin evolution

An integrated approach consisting of fracture analysis, petrography, carbon, oxygen and strontium‐isotope analyses, as well as fluid‐inclusion micro‐thermometry, led to a better understanding of the evolution of fluid–rock interactions and diagenesis of the Upper Permian to Upper Triassic carbonates of the United Arab Emirates. The deposited carbonates were first marked by extensive early dolomitization. During progressive burial, the carbonates were affected by dolomite recrystallization as well as precipitation of vug and fracture‐filling dolomite, quartz and calcite cements. After considerable burial during the Middle Cretaceous, sub‐vertical north–south oriented fractures (F1) were cemented by dolomite derived from mesosaline to hypersaline fluids. Upon the Late Cretaceous maximum burial and ophiolite obduction, sub‐vertical east–west fractures (F2) were cemented by dolomite (Dc2) and saddle dolomite (Ds) derived from hot, highly saline fluids. Then, minor quartz cement has precipitated in fractures from hydrothermal brines. Fluid‐inclusion analyses of the various diagenetic phases imply the involvement of increasingly hot (200°C) saline brines (20 to 23% NaCl eq.). Through one‐dimensional burial history numerical modelling, the maximum temperatures reached by the studied rocks are estimated to be in the range of 160 to 200°C. Tectonically‐driven flux of hot fluids and associated diagenetic products are interpreted to have initiated during the Late Cretaceous maximum burial and lasted until the Oligocene–Miocene compressional tectonics and related uplift. The circulation of such hydrothermal brines led to partial dissolution of dolomites (Dc2 and Ds) and to precipitation of hydrothermal calcite C1 in new (mainly oriented north–south; F3) and pre‐existing, reactivated fractures. The integration of the obtained data confirms that the diagenetic evolution was controlled primarily by the interplay of the burial thermal evolution of the basin and the regional tectonic history. Hence, this contribution highlights the impacts of regional tectonics and basin history on diagenetic processes, which may subsequently affect reservoir properties.     

塔里木盆地北部断裂格架分析

通过对塔北６条区域性主干断理解力学性质及发育历史的分析，论述了控制本区构造变形的基本断裂格局，认为：（１）分地北缘南天山和西南缘昆仑山两板块边缘活动产生的挤压应力在塔联合和叠加，造成了该区现今“南北分带、东西分块”的构造格局，（２）挤压应力是塔北构造变形的主导应力，海西－印支期ＮＥＥ和ＮＷ向两组区域断裂分别平行于两板块边缘，均属压性逆冲断裂，平移分量极小，ＮＷ向断理解主体不是扭断裂，只是喜山期叠加     

North‐eastward subduction followed by slab detachment to explain ophiolite obduction and Early Miocene volcanism in Northland,New Zealand

Oligocene–Miocene models for northern New Zealand, involving south‐westward subduction to explain Early Miocene Northland volcanism, do not fit within the regional Southwest Pacific tectonic framework. A new model is proposed, which comprises a north‐east‐dipping South Loyalty basin slab that retreated south‐westward in the Eocene–earliest Miocene and was continuous with the north‐east‐dipping subduction zone of New Caledonia. In the latest Oligocene, the trench reached the Northland passive margin, which was pulled it into the mantle by the slab, resulting in obduction of the Northland allochthon. During and after obduction, the slab detached from the unsubductable continental lithosphere, inducing widespread calc‐alkaline volcanism in Northland. The new model further explains contemporaneous arc volcanism along the Northland Plateau Seamount Chain and sinking of the Northland basement, followed by uplift and extension in Northland.     

中国西北近45a来极端低温事件及其对区域增暖的响应

利用中国西北五省(区)1960-2004年100个台站逐日最低温度资料,通过百分位法定义了不同台站的逐日极端低温阈值,对近45 a来西北地区逐年极端低温事件发生频次进行了时空诊断,并分析其同西北区域性增暖的响应.结果表明:一致性异常分布是中国西北年极端低温事件发生频次的最主要空间模态;中国西北年极端低温事件发生频次的空间分布可分为以下5个关键区:北疆区、青海北部区、西北东部区、南疆区及青南高原区;年极端低温事件发生频次除了青南高原区表现为微弱的减少趋势外,北疆区、青海北部区、西北东部区和南疆区均表现为显著的减少趋势,并且发生了突变现象.在年极端低温事件发生频次的各主要空间分区中,13～15 a和7～8 a的周期在所有分区中反映得比较清楚;年极端低温事件发生频次对西北区域性增暖呈显著负响应.     

Structural geology of the eastern Nadaleen trend,Yukon Territory,Canada: Implications for recently discovered sedimentary rock-hosted gold

Recently discovered gold-rich mineral deposits in the eastern Nadaleen trend of northeastern Yukon Territory occur in unmetamorphosed Neoproterozoic carbonate and siliciclastic rocks and their location is partly controlled by structures. Regional deformation largely resulted from mid-Cretaceous NNE-vergent, thin-skinned fold-thrust activity. However, structures in the eastern Nadaleen trend are more complex and include strike-slip and reverse faults, and SSW-, W-, and E-plunging folds. Local structures are cospatial with regional geologic features, including (1) an E-striking structural triangle zone defined by oppositely dipping reverse faults that verge toward the eastern Nadaleen trend, (2) a transition zone between Paleozoic Ogilvie platform rocks in the north to Selwyn basin rocks in the south, and (3) a change in regional deformation character from west to east, whereby to the west, rocks in the south are more deformed than rocks in the north, whereas to the east, rocks show no obvious change in deformation style. The structural complexity within the eastern Nadaleen trend probably resulted from these regional geological features and was further complicated by local competency contrasts between rock units. The cospatial location of the regional geological features may have been caused by a pre-existing, W-trending subsurface basement structure. Reverse faults bounding the E-striking triangle zone may have acted as low permeability aquitards that directed mineralizing fluids up-dip into reactive carbonate stratigraphy in the eastern Nadaleen trend. Gold-rich mineral deposits in the eastern Nadaleen trend occur preferentially in SSW-plunging anticlines and near faults, both of which probably influenced the migration of mineralizing fluid.     

Fluvial channel and overbank deposits from the Westphalian of the Durham coalfield, NE England

The Westphalian (Upper Carboniferous) Coal Measures of the Durham coalfield in NE England were deposited in lower and upper delta plain environments. Distributary channels crossed the plain and were separated by shallow, interdistributary lakes and bays. Detailed observation of three-dimensional (3-D) opencast (surface) mine exposures, in collaboration with subsurface borehole analysis, has revealed the existence of five varieties of channel deposits and two associated overbank facies within the Durham Coal Measures. Major distributary channels were the major avenues of sediment transport across the Coal Measures plain, were variably sinuous, mostly 1–2 km wide and deposited elongate belts of sand mostly up to 5 km wide. Proximal, major crevasse splay channels formed by the breaching of major channel banks during flood events, were straight, sand-filled and up to 400 m wide. Minor distributary channels formed by the sustained operation of such crevasses, varied from straight to highly sinuous, and deposited ‘shoestring’ sand/mud belts up to a few hundred metres wide. Minor crevasse channels, generally straight and up to 50 m wide, were formed through bank breaching of minor, and in a few cases major, distributaries. Distal feeder channels formed down-palaeocurrent extensions of minor distributaries which supplied interdistributary minor delta subsystems, were generally straight and up to 200 m wide. Of the two types of channel overbank (levee) deposits recognized, one, comprising thinly interbedded fine-grained sandstone and siltstone/claystone, is mostly, though not exclusively, associated with major distributary channels. The other, consisting of ‘massive’ siltstones with regularly spaced, thin claystone bands, is uniquely developed at the margins of minor distributary channels. The lower part of the Westphalian A succession in the northern Pennines records a change in the depositional environment upwards from a lower to upper delta plain. Through this transition, major channel deposits show evidence of having evolved from being of dominantly low sinuosity to being more variable in morphology. Channel sedimentation was profoundly influenced by regular, possibly seasonal, variations in flow stage and sediment load.     

Regional lithofacies and pedofacies variations along a north to south climatic gradient during the Last Glacial period in the central Loess Plateau,China

Five lateral sand–loess–palaeosol continua occur within the last glacial sediments of the central Loess Plateau of China along a 500 km north to south climatic gradient. The continua shift southward or northward in concert with desert expansion or contraction, respectively. Lateral lithofacies (desert sand to loess) variations are evident at the north end of the gradient and follow Walther's Law of the correlation of facies. Lateral pedofacies (loess to palaeosol) variations are present near the south end of the gradient, where the climate was warmer and wetter. The lateral stratigraphic changes from sand to loess or loess to soil are driven by variations in the rate of sedimentation along a climatic gradient.Vertical stratigraphic profiles at the north end of the gradient reveal alternating sand and loess beds. In contrast, alternating loess and palaeosols occur within the same stratigraphic interval in the southern Loess Plateau, where dust accretion rates were lower. However, in high resolution studies of climate change vertical profiles of alternating loess and palaeosols (especially weak palaeosols) may not reflect regional or global climate change. Alternating loess and weak palaeosols may reflect local variations in the balance between the rates of dust accretion and pedogenesis. Local fluctuations in either of these rates could result in the presence of time equivalent loess and palaeosols at high resolutions. Thus, some of the high resolution loess-palaeosol alternations may reflect local climatic variation rather than global or hemispherical climate change.     

Architecture and evolution of the Paine channel complex, Cerro Toro Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Silla Syncline, Magallanes Basin, Chile

The Upper Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation in the Silla Syncline, Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, Magallanes Basin, Chile, includes over 1100 m of mainly thin‐bedded mud‐rich turbidites containing three thick divisions of coarse conglomerate and sandstone. Facies distributions, stacking patterns and lateral relationships indicate that the coarse‐grained sandstone and conglomerate units represent the fill of a series of large south to south‐east trending deep‐water channels or channel complexes. The middle coarse division, informally named the Paine member, represents the fill of at least three discrete channels or channel complexes, termed Paine A, B and C. The uppermost of these, Paine C, represents a channel belt about 3·5 km wide and its fill displays explicit details of channel geometry, channel margins, and the processes of channel development and evolution. Along its northern margin, Paine C consists of stacked, laterally offset channels, each eroded into fine‐grained mudstone and thin‐bedded sandy turbidites. Along its southern margin, the Paine C complex was bounded by a single, deeply incised but stepped erosional surface. The evolution of the Paine C channel occurred through multiple cycles of activity, each involving: (i) an initial period of channel erosion into underlying fine‐grained sediments; (ii) deposition of coarse‐grained pebble to cobble conglomerate and sandstone within the channel; and (iii) waning of coarse sediment deposition and accumulation of a widespread sheet of fine‐grained, thin‐bedded turbidites inside and outside the channel. The thin‐bedded turbidites deposited within, and adjacent to, the channel along the northern margin of the Paine C complex do not appear to represent levée deposits but, rather, a separate fine‐grained turbidite system that impinged on the Paine C channel from the north. The Cerro Toro channel complex in the Silla Syncline may mark either an early axial zone of the Magallanes Basin or a local slope mini‐basin developed behind a zone of slope faulting and folding now present immediately east of the syncline. If the latter, flows moving downslope toward the basin axis further east were diverted to the south by this developing structural high, deposited part of their coarse sediment loads, and exited the mini‐basin at a point located near the south‐eastern edge of the present Silla Syncline.     

Plate and intraplate processes of Hercynian Europe during the late paleozoic

It is speculated that until Late Carboniferous time the region of Hercynian Europe was occupied by an elongated island arc system underlain by a segment of continental crust. In the Upper Carboniferous, two subduction zones are assumed to have extended from the north and south beneath Hercynian Europe. An extensive zone of hot, partially molten upper mantle lay above and between these, and diapiric uprise of portions of this material led to separation of mafic magmas, widespread partial melting in the lower and middle crust, high temperature-low pressure metamorphism in crustal rocks, and regional uplift and extension of the crust, as indicated by intermontane troughs and their associated volcanic rocks.In Visean to Westphalian time Hercynian Europe collided with both the large neighbouring plates North America-Europe and Africa. During these diachronous collisions and owing to reduced rigidity of the relatively hot island arc crust, the irregular continental margins of the larger and thicker continental plates induced oroclinal bending of Hercynian Europe. After the collision processes had been terminated, processes of upper mantle activity continued, causing further crustal uplift and even, enhanced crustal extension for several tens of million years into the Lower Permian. Decline of the upper mantle activity beneath Hercynian Europe is indicated by crustal subsidence and formation of a peneplain in Permian time followed by the Upper Permian transgression of both the Zechstein sea and the Tethys sea which mark the end of the Hercynian geodynamic cycle.     

扬子区石炭纪黄龙期沉积相

扬子区石炭纪黄龙期海侵主要由南而北,晚时海水北来明显。早、中时扬子海实为一东西向狭长形海湾,地形西高东低,低潮线约在皖南铜陵、巢县向;海水除由下扬子湾可随潮而溯流入中扬子湾外,并可由荆江潮口随潮而进入中扬子湾,再西而入上扬子湾,此即早、中时潮坪沉积分布特宽的原因。晚时江南古陆下沉,南北海水大侵,使海侵达到高潮,改早、中时局限海为正常浅海沉积,岩性单一,生物繁茂,厚度较大。早、中时中、上扬子区潮间带准同生白云岩发育,易为后期淡水溶蚀而多孔,是有利于油气储集的沉积相。     

红河断裂的GPS监测

红河断裂带(RRFZ)是一条大型的走滑断裂带,本文利用1999年和2003年的GPS观测,通过数据反演,获得在欧亚参考框架下的速度矢量图。结果表明:在欧亚框架下,东向分量平均速度为3.726mm/a;北向分量平均速度为-9.013mm/a;由北向南,各测站的北向分量速率值逐渐减小;由西向东,各测站的东向分量速率值逐渐减小;测区内呈现明显的右旋拉张走滑运动。分析表明云南红河地区地壳水平运动的特征以及断裂活动性质与构造地质相当一致。     

鄂尔多斯盆地二叠系山西组及下石盒子组盒8段南北物源沉积汇水区与古地理

在对鄂尔多斯盆地目的层段总体资料了解的基础上,对盆地南部4个露头剖面、18口井岩心的砂岩进行了切片分析,根据长石含量变化和其他岩矿特征、测井曲线与岩石组合特征、连井剖面以及露头沉积相分析,明确了山西组-下石盒子组盒8段沉积物在盆地南部的汇水区位置。“汇水区”指搬运南北物源沉积物的流水汇聚区,它大体上是南北物源沉积物分布的分界区、大致呈东西向分布。汇水区南北的长石含量存在明显差异。提出了在汇水区局部又存在南北物源沉积“交互区”的认识,“交互区”指南北物源沉积物抵达汇水区并在局部地段发生交互的地区,它是南北物源沉积物的连通区。交互区位于汇水区并分隔汇水区。在盒8段交互区发现了还原条件下形成的早期成岩矿物--菱铁矿结核。盆地南部山西期-盒8沉积期的沉积古地理受南部和北部物源沉积物的双重影响,连井剖面显示汇水区南北沉积相带具有对称分布的特征,其沉积单元和相带包括：（1）汇水区,含3个交互区;（2）汇水区南缘三角洲相带,含来自南部物源的3个三角洲;（3）汇水区北缘三角洲相带,含来自北部物源的4～5个三角洲;（4）与南、北三角洲相带过渡的河流相带。在上述认识的基础上,绘制了研究区目的层段沉积模式图。     

Evolution of contourite systems in the late Cretaceous Chalk Sea along the Tornquist Zone

Based on integration of seismic reflection and well data analysis this study examines two major contourite systems that developed during the late Cretaceous in the southern Baltic Sea. The evolution of these Chalk Sea contourite systems between the Kattegat and the southern Baltic Sea started when Turonian to Campanian inversion tectonics overprinted the rather flat sea floor of the epeiric Chalk Sea. The Tornquist Zone and adjacent smaller blocks were uplifted and formed elongated obstacles that influenced the bottom currents. As a consequence of the inversion, the sea floor west of the Tornquist Zone tilted towards the north‐east, creating an asymmetrical sub‐basin with a steep marginal slope in the north‐east and a gentle dipping slope in the south‐west. A south‐east directed contour current emerged in the Coniacian or Santonian along the south‐western basin margin, creating contourite channels and drifts. The previously studied contourite system offshore Stevns Klint is part of this system. A second, deeper and north‐west directed counter‐flow emerged along and parallel to the Tornquist Zone in the later Campanian, but was strongest in the Maastrichtian. This bottom current moderated the evolution of a drift‐moat system adjacent to the elevated Tornquist Zone. The near surface Alnarp Valley in Scania represents the Danian palaeo‐moat that linked the Pomeranian Bay with the Kattegat. The previously studied contourite system in the Kattegat represents the north‐western prolongation of this system. This study links previous observations from the Kattegat and offshore Stevns Klint to the here inferred two currents, a more shallow, south‐east directed and a deeper, north‐west directed flow.     

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.