Structure of the Maikop complex of the Caspian Sea region based on seismic stratigraphic research

The paper reports on the structure of the Oligocene–Lower Miocene Maikop complex of the Caspian Sea and its margin on the basis of seismic and geological data. It is shown that the regional structure of Maikop deposits of Ciscaucasia and the Middle Caspian is characterized by large clinoform sedimentary bodies. New data on formation, structure, and occurrence of clinoforms in Maikop deposits are generalized for the researched region. Two main systems of clinoforms were defined in the Maikop complex: the single large cone located in the Middle Caspian and Eastern Ciscaucasia and the southeastern system of clinoforms located in the area of Kazakh Bay. Structural characteristics and sedimentogenesis of a clinoform formation are revealed using seismic and sequence stratigraphic methods.     

Contour Currents and Contourites of the Middle Caspian

Experimental data have shown that the cyclonic circulation in the Middle Caspian is a seasonal contour current surrounding the Middle Caspian megabasin along the slope during the cold half of the year. This current and the enormous influx of suspended particulate matter on the western slope of the Middle Caspian Basin provide conditions for the formation of contourites near the slope foot. In addition, the joint action of the contour current and slope gravity flows led to the formation of specific accumulative structures, sedimentary waves, on the western slope of the Middle Caspian.

     

New data on mantle seismicity of the Caspian region and their geological interpretation

The results of detailed seismological observations with bottom recording systems carried out in 2004 and 2006 near the Dagestan coast of the Middle Caspian are considered. The records of more than 550 micro- and weak earthquakes with M_L = 0.1–4.7 (M_LH = ?0.7 to 4.3) were obtained during 165 days of recording; a fifth of these earthquakes occurred in the upper mantle at a depth of 50–200 km. Over the entire period of instrumental recording since the 1930s, only 10 mantle earthquakes with M_LH = 3.5?6.3 have been recorded by on-land systems. The highest density of earthquake epicenters with source depths down to 50 km is established on the Middle Caspian coast between Derbent and Izberbash and in the adjacent water area. The mantle earthquakes with hypocenters at a depth of 60–80 km cluster beneath the western wall of the Derbent Basin, whereas deeper hypocenters are located beneath both the wall of this basin and the Middle Caspian coast. The sporadic mantle earthquakes recorded in 2004 (about 30 shocks), determined by a network of systems with a small aperture, depicted a zone plunging beneath the Greater Caucasus with indications of a peculiar “subduction” of the Scythian Plate beneath the Caucasus. Subsequent observations based on a more extensive network were carried out in 2006. They substantially changed the pattern of mantle earthquake hypocenters. According to this evidence, the sources of mantle earthquakes make up a dispersed cloud extended in the vertical direction beneath the Middle Caspian coast and water area, which may be regarded as a relic of tectonic activity of a bygone tectonic epoch. A comprehensive tectonic interpretation of the detected seismological phenomenon is given.     

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

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

Detrital zircon U–Pb ages of Late Triassic–Late Jurassic deposits in the western and northern Sichuan Basin margin: constraints on the foreland basin provenance and tectonic implications

Upper Triassic to Upper Jurassic strata in the western and northern Sichuan Basin were deposited in a synorogenic foreland basin. Ion–microprobe U–Pb analysis of 364 detrital zircon grains from five Late Triassic to Late Jurassic sandstone samples in the northern Sichuan Basin and several published Middle Triassic to Middle Jurassic samples in the eastern Songpan–Ganzi Complex and western and inner Sichuan Basin provide an initial framework for understanding the Late Triassic to Late Jurassic provenance of western and northern Sichuan Basin. For further understanding, the paleogeographic setting of these areas and neighboring hinterlands was constructed. Combined with analysis of depocenter migration, thermochronology and detrital zircon provenance, the western and northern Sichuan Basin is displayed as a transferred foreland basin from Late Triassic to Late Jurassic. The Upper Triassic Xujiahe depocenter was located at the front of the Longmen Shan belt, and sediments in the western Sichuan Basin shared the same provenances with the Middle–Upper Triassic in the Songpan–Ganzi Complex, whereas the South Qinling fed the northern Sichuan Basin. The synorogenic depocenter transferred to the front of Micang Shan during the early Middle Jurassic and at the front of the Daba Shan during the middle–late Middle Jurassic. Zircons of the Middle Jurassic were sourced from the North Qinling, South Qinling and northern Yangtze Craton. The depocenter returned to the front of the Micang Shan again during the Late Jurassic, and the South Qinling and northern Yangtze Craton was the main provenance. The detrital zircon U–Pb ages imply that the South and North China collision was probably not finished at the Late Jurassic.     

赣闽粤地区早、中侏罗世构造地层研究

对中国东南部浙闽赣湘粤地区侏罗纪以来的沉积地层和赣闽粤一带的早侏罗世—中侏罗世的地层特征和沉积规律进行了研究,结果表明:1)晚三叠世—早侏罗世时赣闽粤地区为东南高西北低的古地理格局,沉积环境差异明显;2)中侏罗世时受古太平洋板块在日本一带俯冲作用的影响,中国东南部发生了构造转换,构造格局发生了明显变动,以再一次的挤压隆升和山前快速堆积为特征,并使区域地层和构造格局从原先的近东西方向展布变成北东方向,尤以南岭东段的武夷山西部表现最明显,使早侏罗世的山地范围朝西北方向扩展,但是在南岭地区的闽西—赣南—粤北一带则以陆内裂谷和双峰式火山作用为特征,其成因可能与其深部动力学背景密切相关;3)从中侏罗世开始,在古太平洋板块强烈俯冲作用下,研究区逐步发生了从古亚洲—特提斯构造体制向古太平洋构造体制的转换,早白垩世已经完成这一构造转换,原先的近东西向构造域已经基本被北东向构造域所取代。中侏罗世是构造体制转换的重要时期,转换位置可能在南岭东段。     

Tectonics of the Devonian Complex of the Southern Sector of the Caspian Basin (Kazakhstan): A Set of Geological and Geophysical Methods

The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of new data for drilling and seismic survey of the oil and gas potential of deep-seated Paleozoic horizons of the Caspian Basin in Kazakhstan. The features of the development and occurrence of large Paleozoic uplifts and sedimentary strata promising for prospecting are specified. A set of geological and geophysical methods was applied, and magnetic and gravitational anomalies of potential fields were analyzed in the southern, southeastern, and eastern marginal parts of the southeastern sector of the Caspian Basin. This is supplemented with new data obtained by a set of reconnaissance methods, and the section attributed to the Paleozoic at depths up to 5.5–8.0 km and its Devonian–Lower Carboniferous sequence are specified. New data were obtained on the area of distribution and occurrence of Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous sediments, geological conditions and prerequisites were revealed that refined the trace of the pre-Devonian complex and of the Lower–Middle Devonian sediments. Analysis of the distribution of large local prospecting objects has confirmed the presence and development of megauplifts, which are zones of hypsometrically elevated Devonian–Lower Carboniferous sediments. In the contour of the megauplift, structural elements have developed that are less significant, but promising in terms of hydrocarbon content. Based on the results of studying and refining the distribution patterns of large Devonian‒Lower Carboniferous objects and identifying megauplifts, it is possible to optimize regional studies in the Caspian Basin for the period of 2020–2030.

     

The deep structure of the lithosphere along the Caucasus-South Caspian Basin-Apsheron Threshold-Middle-Caspian Basin-Turan plate seismic profile

On the basis of reflected wave hodographs interpreted by the method of homogeneous functions, the section of the lithosphere across the Caucasus, Caspian Sea and Turan Plate was obtained without the use of any preliminary section model. In a section of more than 1000 km, mantle and crustal structures and junction patterns between them are seen down to 60 km within the limits of the Kura Basin and the South and Middle Caspian basins and the Turan Plate. The section of the South Caspian Basin is generally consistent with the ideas of E.V. Artyushkov concerning its structure. A sedimentary layer of up to 30 km thick is underlain by a thinned crust about 10 km thick and by high-velocity mantle. The Turan Plate consists of three layers, which are typical for cratons that are about 50 km thick.     

Late Triassic sauropodomorph and Middle Jurassic theropod tracks from the Xichang Basin,Sichuan Province,southwestern China:First report of the ichnogenus Carmelopodus

Upper Triassic and Middle Jurassic strata of the Xichang Basin in Sichuan Province, southwestern China, yielded important dinosaur ichnofossils. From the Xujiahe Formation of the Yiguojiao tracksite, we report a Late Triassic footprint assemblage in China and the first discovery of diagnostic Triassic sauropodomorph tracks in this region. The tracks share a number of features in common with the ichnogenera Eosauropus(Late Triassic) and Liujianpus(Early Jurassic). The neighboring Bingtu tracksite is stratigraphically younger(Shaximiao Formation, Middle Jurassic) and preserves small tridactyl theropod tracks that represent the first occurrence of the ichnotaxon Carmelopodus in China and Asia. While these tracks are morphologically comparable to those from the Middle Jurassic type locality in North America, the specimens from China show the proximal margin of the digit IV impression in a more cranial position, which may indicate a trackmaker with a relatively short metatarsal IV. In addition to the skeletal record, the Carmelopodus footprints document the presence of small theropods in the dinosaur fauna of the Middle Jurassic Shaximiao Formation.     

柴达木盆地北缘侏罗纪古生态特征及其古地理意义

根据多门类化石古生态和岩相、沉积构造等资料,分析了柴达木盆地北缘侏罗纪的古气候和沉积环境。介形类、轮藻、叶肢介、双壳类和植物等化石在地层中的产出特征反映了当时以湖沼及滨浅湖为主的沉积环境,广泛分布的植物及孢粉化石组合面貌的变化揭示出盆地北缘早、中侏罗世为热带－亚热带温湿气候,早侏罗世晚期和中侏罗世晚期古气候两度明显干热化。陆生植物与湖沼相动物化石的交替出现,反映了盆地北缘侏罗纪湖泊、沼泽与低山相间分布的古地理面貌。早侏罗世湖泊多期发育但规模较小,中侏罗世中晚期湖泊规模最大。     

The eastern flank of the Caspian Basin: Sedimentary complexes and sedimentation conditions in the Early-Middle Carboniferous

Carboniferous and Lower Permian Carbonate and terrigenous rocks with the total thickness of >4000 m serve as the productive units in the Paleozoic subsalt complex at the eastern flank of the basin surrounding the northern area of the present-day Caspian Sea (hereafter, Caspian Basin in the broad sense). In recent years, several large oil and gas-condensate fields were discovered in these rocks. The complexity of geological evolution of this region, which is situated at the junction between the East European Platform and the Ural orogen, as well as multiple changes of sedimentation conditions during the Middle and Late Paleozoic, are reflected in the diversity of types of terrigenous and carbonate sediments and their facies alterations. Reconstruction of these environments makes it possible to elucidate specific features of the location of reservoir rocks in vertical and horizontal sections, as well as regularities of variations in their filtration-capacitive properties.     

Devonian Reef Formation in the Caspian Basin Framing

The Devonian reef formation in the Caspian Basin framing is related to two different formations. The Middle Devonian reefs are confined to an autochthonous terrigenous?carbonate sequence of the Eifelian–lower Frasnian interval marked by the appearance of isolated domal reefs. The middle–upper Frasnian reefs are related to the carbonate formation and represented by two types: (i) asymmetric reefs on walls of the deep-water bays opening toward the Caspian microcean-bay; and (ii) solitary, relatively symmetric (in transverse section) reefs within these bays. The reef formation was characterized by prominent cyclic pattern. The framework reef formation ended before the terminal Frasnian, i.e., before the Kellwasser Event, with which the biotic crisis and faunal mass extinction was related.     

黑龙江龙江盆地中侏罗统万宝组时代确定新证据及其地质意义

黑龙江西部大兴安岭地区侏罗纪地层研究程度不高,以往中侏罗世含煤地层的确定主要借助于与吉林西部万宝组的对比。近年来随着新一轮大兴安岭地区含煤及油气地层的区域地质调查工作的开展,笔者在大兴安岭地区中段的龙江盆地（黑龙江省龙江县以西）发现一套新的中侏罗世含煤地层,该地层由砂砾岩和火山碎屑岩夹煤层组成。文中对龙江盆地万宝组火山岩夹层内2件凝灰岩进行了LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb定年分析,获得凝灰岩形成时代,其年龄分别为(165.2±1.7) Ma和(162.1±1.6) Ma;笔者采得的植物大化石为Neocalamites Coniopteris Raphaelia组合,时代显示为早-中侏罗世;孢粉化石经初步鉴定,时代倾向于早-中侏罗世;综合同位素年龄及地层古生物研究,笔者认为龙江盆地万宝组的形成时代为中侏罗世晚期。地球化学分析显示：万宝组凝灰岩具有高Si、Al,低Ca、P过铝质钙碱性火山岩特点,富集轻稀土元素,配分曲线呈平缓右倾型,并具有明显负Eu异常;富集大离子亲石元素Cs、Th、U,亏损高场强元素Nb、Ti、Zr,反映火山岩为壳源成因类型。万宝期火山活动可能与古太平洋板块俯冲作用和蒙古-鄂霍茨克缝合带演化双重作用有关,而与蒙古-鄂霍茨克缝合带演化联系更密切。目前中侏罗统万宝组是油气勘探的重要新层系,本研究不仅为大兴安岭东坡地区中侏罗世含煤地层的划分、对比提供同位素年代学和生物地层学依据,而且为龙江盆地形成演化历史及油气资源勘查提供了基础地质新资料。     

From Tethys to Eastern Paratethys: Oligocene depositional environments, paleoecology and paleobiogeography of the Thrace Basin (NW Turkey)

The Oligocene depositional history of the Thrace Basin documents a unique paleogeographic position at a junction between the Western Tethys and the Eastern Paratethys. As part of the Tethys, shallow marine carbonate platforms prevailed during the Eocene. Subsequently, a three-staged process of isolation started with the Oligocene. During the Early Rupelian, the Thrace Basin was still part of the Western Tethys, indicated by typical Western Tethyan marine assemblages. The isolation from the Tethys during the Early Oligocene is reflected by oolite formation and endemic Eastern Paratethyan faunas of the Solenovian stage. The third phase reflects an increasing continentalisation of the Thrace Basin with widespread coastal swamps during the Late Solenovian. The mollusc assemblages are predominated by mangrove dwelling taxa and the mangrove plant Avicennia is recorded in the pollen spectra. The final continentalisation is indicated by the replacement of the coastal swamps by pure freshwater swamps and fluvial plains during the Late Oligocene (mammal zone MP 26). This paleogeographic affiliation of the Thrace Basin with the Eastern Paratethys after ~32 Ma contrasts all currently used reconstructions which treat the basin as embayment of the Eastern Mediterranean basin.     

鄂尔多斯盆地东北缘中侏罗统延安组植物群与古气候分析

鄂尔多斯盆地东北缘中侏罗统延安组为一套以河流滨湖相沉积为主的中粒中细粒长石砂岩、粉砂岩(泥质粉砂岩)、黑色页岩、粘土岩夹煤层。其中产大量的植物化石,计20属39种。经分析认为,这个植物群是一个属于我国北方区以Coniopteris-Phoenicopsis为代表的中侏罗世早期植物群,植物群组合反映鄂尔多斯盆地东北缘中侏罗世为偏潮湿的暖温带气候。     

Petroleum Geology of the Southern Pre-Uralian Foredeep with Reference to the Northeastern Pre-Caspian Basin

The southern Pre-Uralian Foredeep and the northeastern Pre-Caspian Basin of southern Russia and Kazakhstan are at the juncture of two major oil-producing regions, the Volga-Ural Basin and the new fields of the Northern Caspian Basin (e.g., Tengiz). The southern Pre-Uralian Foredeep has produced little oil; nevertheless, the Permian-Carboniferous stratigraphy and the general fold-thrust structure of the Pre- Uralian Foredeep, and adjacent Pre-Caspian Basin, afford the possibility for classic and largely untested sub-salt and sub-thrust plays.

Prior to the onset of Uralian orogenic activity, Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous rifting disrupted the East European continent, forming a series of rift basins including the Kama-Kinel troughs and the Pre- Caspian Basin. The Middle Carboniferous to Early-Middle Triassic Uralian Orogenic Belt consists of a complicated series of lower Paleozoic continental margin sequences, basement nappes, and accreted terranes, structurally interleaved via large-scale folding and thrusting. The orogen formed as a result of a progressive series of collisions between the East European continent and microcontinental plates and island arcs (the Tagil-Magnitogorsk and Eastern Uralian megazones), and the Kazakhstan and Siberian continents. N-S and W-E divisions of the Uralian Orogenic Belt and Pre-Uralian Foredeep reflect the basic tectonic structure of the orogen.

The Pre-Uralian Foredeep is not a simple flexural foreland basin, but the exact structural configuration is unresolved. In general, the regional stratigraphy and structure of the foredeep is more complicated than depicted in the literature and on published maps; the biostratigraphy critically needs to be updated. The foredeep developed as a series of regional depressions with up to fourth-order sub-basins. Within these sub-basins, both tectonic and eustatic mechanisms appear to control the sequence stratigraphy. Because of the tectonic influence, subsurface correlation based on sequence stratigraphic concepts may be valid only within each sub-basin. In part, the present structure of the Pre-Uralian Foredeep may reflect the structurally controlled Permian-Carboniferous paleogeography. This complex paleogeography also suggests that application of a simple “balanced cross-section” methodology could lead to erroneous results. Also unresolved are the paleogeographic, stratigraphic, and structural relationships between the Pre- Caspian Basin and the Pre-Uralian Foredeep.     

Jurassic - Early Cretaceous paleogeography and paleoenvironments of the north-eastern margin of Gondwana: Insights from the Carpentaria Basin,Australia

Although Jurassic-Early Cretaceous sedimentary systems were extensively developed on northeastern Gondwana, deciphering their paleogeography has been complicated by poor exposure and the lack of a robust chronostratigraphic framework. The southeastern margin of the Carpentaria Basin, northeastern Australia is one of the few regions where these sedimentary systems are extensively exposed. Employing a combination of facies analysis and new data from paleontology and detrital zircon geochronology, we present a temporally and environmentally refined paleogeographic framework for this region. A Late Jurassic, southeasterly directed marine incursion invaded northeastern Gondwana, extending inland across the Carpentaria Basin, as demonstrated by a thin (~30 m), marine influenced (fluvio-estuarine) stratigraphic succession capped by a sequence bounding ~30 myr paraconformity. The depositional hiatus marked the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous uplift of the Euroka Arch, with loss of sedimentary and fluvial connectivity between the Carpentaria Basin and adjoining Eromanga Basin. Subsequent deposition by low-accommodation fluvial systems resulted in a thin, fluviatile depositional package developing during the Early Cretaceous. Paleocurrent and provenance data indicate that the Middle to Late Jurassic (c. 170–160 Ma) fluvial systems predating the paraconformity extended from the Eromanga Basin to the south across the southeastern Carpentaria Basin, transporting sediment from distal sources in the Lachlan Orogen of southeastern Australia. Fluvial systems of the southeastern Carpentaria Basin post-dating the paraconformity and Euroka Arch uplift show a provenance shift to easterly sources in the Mossman Orogen and Kennedy Igneous Association. Previously unrecognised Jurassic-Early Cretaceous igneous activity provided a persistent source of sediment to the southeastern Carpentaria Basin succession due to reworking of air fall tuff from an active magmatic arc located on the continental margin of northeastern Gondwana.     

Origin of oils in the Eastern Papuan Basin,Papua New Guinea

The geochemical characteristics of 16 oils/condensates/seep oil/oil shows (collectively called oils) from the Eastern Papuan Basin (EPB) and one seep oil from the Western Papuan Basin (WPB) are integrated with data from previous studies of oils, fluid inclusion oils and solid bitumens from the EPB and WPB, Papua New Guinea. The combined set of samples can be divided in two major families of hydrocarbons. The Family A oils, mostly occurring in the WPB region, were generated from clay rich marine source rocks, containing predominantly terrigenous higher plant derived organic matter (OM) deposited in a sub-oxic to oxic environment. Source rock(s) for Family A oils are likely to be of Middle to Upper Jurassic, e.g., the Upper Jurassic Imburu Formation. The Family B oils, distributed mainly in the EPB region, were generated from Cretaceous or younger marine carbonate source rock(s) deposited under anoxic to sub-oxic conditions, and containing predominantly prokaryotic OM with some terrigenous higher plant inputs. The EPB natural gases analyzed in this study may be co-genetic to the co-occurring Family B oils in the EPB. Both Family A and B oils were generated at similar thermal maturities of 1.0–1.3% vitrinite reflectance equivalent. Although no source interval to date has been firmly identified in the EPB, post-Jurassic strata are a viable option, because (1) Late Cretaceous and Paleogene carbonate and clastic marine sediments including possible source lithologies are present, and (2) this section of the Papuan Basin sustained rapid sedimentation and tectonic loading, particularly in the Cenozoic.     

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

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

柴达木盆地北缘东部侏罗系发育特征

侏罗系是柴达木盆地主力生油层,主要分布于盆地北缘。通过对柴北缘侏罗系标志层、岩性特征和沉积体系的综合研究,明确了主要露头剖面侏罗纪不同时期的沉积相类型。本区侏罗系主要发育 5 种类型沉积相,包括冲积扇、辫状河、扇三角洲、辫状河三角洲和湖泊,相带的展布和古地理演化均与区域构造运动密切相关。根据侏罗系内部及其与上下地层的接触关系和沉积旋回演化,柴达木盆地北缘东部经历了早--中侏罗世断陷湖盆沉积到晚侏罗世挤压坳陷沉积两大沉积演化阶段。