柴达木盆地及邻区侏罗纪原型盆地恢复及油气勘探前景

侏罗系是柴达木盆地最重要的源储层系之一。通过野外地质、剖面实测、地震解释、显微构造分析等大量系列资料的综合应用与分析,认为研究区自中生代以来,经历了印支期右行逆冲-走滑构造运动、早—中侏罗世伸展运动、早白垩世北西-南东向挤压及新生代南北向挤压运动,它们与早侏罗世至中侏罗世早期(小煤沟组至大煤沟组)在NE向伸展应力场作用下形成的断陷盆地、中侏罗世晚期至晚侏罗世(彩石岭组—洪水沟组)热力沉降坳陷盆地、早白垩世南北向挤压坳陷盆地密切相关。侏罗纪原型盆地发育三类沉积边界,即盆缘不整合边界(缓坡型和陡坡型边界)、盆内正断层边界、后期逆断层改造边界。不同的现存盆地边界类型对原型盆地恢复的作用不同。侏罗纪盆地以东昆仑构造带为界具有"北陆南洋"的古地理格局,柴达木地区的侏罗纪盆地主要发育在沿岸造山带和岛弧带的山前坳陷以及薄弱的柴北缘加里东俯冲碰撞带之上,形成相对分隔的独立盆地群。柴达木早、中、晚侏罗世原型盆地的分布因受到古特提斯洋向北偏东方向的俯冲作用和阿尔金断裂左旋走滑作用的影响,其沉积中心和沉积范围呈现出从早到晚向东北方向逐渐迁移的规律。早侏罗世盆地的沉积沉降中心主要位于柴北缘西部的冷湖—马海一带,中侏罗世盆地的沉积沉降中心主要位于柴北缘中段的大柴旦—怀头他拉一带,而晚侏罗世盆地的沉积沉降中心主要位于德令哈—乌兰一带。     

The Neogene Fohnsdorf Basin: basin formation and basin inversion during lateral extrusion in the Eastern Alps (Austria)

The evolution of the early/middle Miocene Fohnsdorf Basin has been studied using borehole data, reflection seismic lines, and vitrinite reflectance. The basin is located along the sinistral Mur-Mürz fault system and probably formed as an asymmetric pull-apart basin, which was subsequently modified by halfgraben tectonics, as a consequence of eastward lateral extrusion. Sedimentation started with the deposition of fluvio-deltaic sediments. Thick coal accumulated in the northwestern basin. Thereafter subsidence rates increased dramatically with the formation of a lake several hundred meters deep. The lake was filled mainly from the north with more than 1500?m of sediments showing a coarsening-upward trend due to southward prograding deltaic lobes. A sequence of more than 1000?m of boulder gravels (Blockschotter) in the southeastern part of the basin are interpreted as the upper part of a coarse-grained fan delta succession, which accumulated along a normal fault along the southern basin margin. Fan deltas reached the central basin only during the early stages of sedimentation and during the late stages of basin formation. Miocene heat flow was approximately 65–70?mW/m², which is significantly lower than in other basins along the Mur-Mürz fault system. The present-day southwestern basin margin is a recent feature, which is related to transpression along the dextral Pöls-Lavanttal fault system. It is formed by reverse faults constituting the northeastern part of a flower structure. Miocene sediments in the Feeberg valley are preserved along its southwestern part. Uplift of the central part of the flower structure was at least 2.4?km. North–south compression resulted in the deformation of the basin fill, uplift of the E/W-trending basement ridge separating the Fohnsdorf and Seckau basins, and in the erosion of 1750?m of sediments along the northern basin margin.     

Notes de lecture

Abstract

3D stratigraphic geometries of the intracratonic Meso- Cenozoic Paris Basin were obtained by sequence stratigraphic correlations of around 1 100 wells (well-logs). The basin records the major tectonic events of the western part of the Eurasian Plate, i.e. opening and closure of the Tethys and opening of the Atlantic. From earlier Triassic to Late Jurassic, the Paris Basin was a broad subsiding area in an extensional framework, with a larger size than the present-day basin. During the Aalenian time, the subsidence pattern changes drastically (early stage of the central Atlantic opening). Further steps of the opening of the Ligurian Tethys (base Het- tangian, late Pliensbachian;...) and its evolution into an oceanic domain (passive margin, Callovian) are equally recorded in the tectono-sedimentary history. The Lower Cretaceous was characterized by NE-SW compressive medium wavelength unconformities (late Cimmerian-Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary and intra- Berriasian and late Aptian unconformities) coeval with opening of the Bay of Biscay. These unconformities are contemporaneous with a major decrease of the subsidence rate. After an extensional period of subsidence (Albian to Turanian), NE-SW compression started in late Turanian time with major folding during the Late Cretaceous. The Tertiary was a period of very low subsidence in a com- pressional framework. The second folding stage occurred from the Lutetian to the Lower Oligocene (N-S compression) partly coeval with the E-W extension of the Oligocene rifts. Further compression occurred in the early Burdigalian and the Late Miocene in response to NE-SW shortening. Overall uplift occurred, with erosion, around the Lower/Middle Pleistocene boundary. © 2000 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS     

Sequence stratigraphic architectures and responses to syndepositional tectonic evolution in the Paleogene Lingshui Sag,Qiongdongnan Basin,northwestern South China Sea

ABSTRACT

The syndepositional tectonic evolution and sequence stratigraphic architecture of the Paleogene Lingshui Sag, Qiongdongnan Basin, South China Sea, are investigated with seismic profiles, boreholes and well logs. First, according to the recognized sequence boundaries, the Paleogene sequence stratigraphic framework is established. Then, based on analyzing the subsidence history and paleogeomorphology evolution, the Paleogene Lingshui Sag is clarified to present episodic tectonic evolution, showing tectonic stage-I, stage-II and stage-III. From stage-I to stage-III, the major basin-marginal faults gradually lost control over the subsidence center, which moved away from the initial basin margin to the late central basin. Structural slope break belts, such as fault slope break belts and gentle slope break belts, formed through the above three tectonic stages and controlled the formation of four types of relevant distinct sequence stratigraphic architectures, namely, Types A1, A2, B1 and B2. Finally, the responses of sequence stratigraphic architectures to tectonic evolution are described, and the favorable hydrocarbon reservoirs in the different architectures are discussed, which constitute stratigraphic traps, fault traps, lenticular lithologic traps and updip wedge-out traps. This information is beneficial in prospecting for subtle traps in basins located in deepwater areas.     

Mesozoic paleostress evolution in the Saharian platform (southern Tunisia)

Abstract

A detailed analysis of brittle deformations in the Saharian platform of southern Tunisia is based on studies of fault-slip data sets and joint sets. It allows reconstruction of the Mesozoic paleostress evolution. During the Permo-Triassic, N-S extensions occurred with high late Permian subsidence rates. During the Norian, strike-slip movements reactivated former normal faults. During the Jurassic and the Cretaceous a succession of extensional events was characterized by : (1) a N-S extension which dominated from late Triassic to early Aptian. We relate this extension to the Africa-Eurasia divergence; (2) a ENE-WSW extension during the Cenomanian. We relate this extension to the opening of «he African basins ; (3) a NE-SW Senonian extension that continued during the Cenozoic in the Jeffara and in the Gabes Gulf, during the further evolution of the northern African margin. The various compressional trends recorded in the platform are attributed to Cenozoic events.     

Neotectonic and volcanic characteristics of the Karasu fault zone (Anatolia,Turkey): The transition zone between the Dead Sea transform and the East Anatolian fault zone

Abstract

The Karasu Rift (Antakya province, SE Turkey) has developed between east-dipping, NNE-striking faults of the Karasu fault zone, which define the western margin of the rift and westdipping, N-S to N20°-30°E-striking faults of Dead Sea Transform fault zone (DST) in the central part and eastern margin of the rift. The strand of the Karasu fault zone that bounds the basin from west forms a linkage zone between the DST and the East Anatolian fault zone (EAFZ). The greater vertical offset on the western margin faults relative to the eastern ones indicates asymmetrical evolution of the rift as implied by the higher escarpments and accumulation of extensive, thick alluvial fans on the western margins of the rift. The thickness of the Quaternary sedimentary fill is more than 465 m, with clastic sediments intercalated with basaltic lavas. The Quaternary alkali basaltic volcanism accompanied fluvial to lacustrine sedimentation between 1.57 ± 0.08 and 0.05 ± 0.03 Ma. The faults are left-lateral oblique-slip faults as indicated by left-stepping faulting patterns, slip-lineation data and left-laterally offset lava flows and stream channels along the Karasu fault zone. At Hacilar village, an offset lava flow, dated to 0.08 ± 0.06 Ma, indicates a rate of leftlateral oblique slip of approximately 4.1 mm?year^?1. Overall, the Karasu Rift is an asymmetrical transtensional basin, which has developed between seismically active splays of the left-lateral DST and the left-lateral oblique-slip Karasu fault zone during the neotectonic period. © 2001 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS     

Spacial and energetic trends of the microearthquakes activity in the Central Betics

Abstract

Since early 1983, when the Andalusian Seismic Network began to operate, to late 1987, 4198 microearthquakes have been located in the Central Betics. This activity is quite nonuniform in space and time. The most important fault systems drawn by the geologic cartography and the observed lineaments by Landsat images are N20-40E N60-80E and N120-140E. Those fault systems which have shown activity during the period of study have been identified through the alignment of microearthquake epicentres and the diagrams of consecutive earthquakes relative azimuths. The most active systems in the whole region have been N70-80E and N90-100E. In the south zone appear lineaments N0-30E. There seems to be a gap zone in the area near Arenas del Rey, where the earthquake of December 24, 1984 (I₀ = X.M.S.K.) occurred, and during the studied period only one earthquake of m₁ = 5.0 has been detected, with neither precursors nor aftershocks. In the Granada Basin, the wellknown fracture system cabia-Santa Fé-Pinos Puente have shown little activity, while the N30-35E of the east border of Sierra Elvira and that of the N60-70E and the N80-90E have been more active; this latter has been identified through gravimetric data as well. In the west side of the Granada Basin and in the Axarquía of Málaga, lineaments of direction N40-60E, N70-80W and N70-90E have been observed. In the southern Central Betics there occur subcrustal earthquakes with depths up to 120 Km, with a trend NE-SW from Sierra Tejeda to the east of Fuengirola, whereas on the surface the trend E-W is dominant.

The linear fitting of the magnitude-frequency law shows two different slopes for magnitudes under and above approximately m₁ = 3. This discontinuity may be related to another in the seismic moment-spectral corner frequency relation for about M₀ = 10²¹ dyn.cm (corresponding approximately to m₁ = 3). The value of coefficient « b » is of 0.95 for earthquakes greater than m₁ = 3, of the same order as those obtained for broader regions including the studied zone.     

Sedimentation rate and subsidence history of the southeastern Karoo Basin,South Africa,using 1D backstripping method

Backstripping analysis has been carried out on five boreholes and one outcrop section of the Ecca Group in the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa to determine the sedimentation rate and subsidence history of the basin. The result shows that the rate of sedimentation in the Prince Albert, Whitehill, Collingham, Ripon and Fort Brown Formations range between 0.003–0.03, 0.02–0.05, 0.01–0.05, 0.03–0.22, and 0.15–0.025 mm year^?1, respectively. The backstripped subsidence curves that are constructed by removing the effects of decompaction to the water column and sediment loads show subsidence rates decreasing with time, resembling the typical thermal subsidence curves of passive continental margins. Three major subsidence episodes characterized the Ecca Group, namely, (1) rapid subsidence in an extensional regime, (2) slow subsidence in the middle of basin development and (3) another rapid subsidence in a compressional regime. The aforementioned subsidence episodes show that the southeastern Karoo Basin was located on a passive continental margin, suggesting that the subsidence was initiated and mainly controlled by mechanical (gravitational loading) or tectonic events, with little contribution of thermal events. The average rate of tectonic subsidence in the Prince Albert, Whitehill, Collingham, Ripon and Fort Brown Formations are 63, 28, 25, 215 and 180 m Ma^?1, respectively. It is also inferred that the southeastern Karoo Basin evolved from a passive continental margin into an Andean-type continental foreland basin; thus, portraying a completely evolved post-rift setting along the southeastern Gondwana margin.     

Mountain front migration and drainage captures related to fault segment linkage and growth: The Polopos transpressive fault zone (southeastern Betics,SE Spain)

The Polopos E–W- to ESE–WNW-oriented dextral-reverse fault zone is formed by the North Alhamilla reverse fault and the North and South Gafarillos dextral faults. It is a conjugate fault system of the sinistral NNE–SSW Palomares fault zone, active from the late most Tortonian (≈7 Ma) up to the late Pleistocene (≥70 ky) in the southeastern Betics. The helicoidal geometry of the fault zone permits to shift SE-directed movement along the South Cabrera reverse fault to NW-directed shortening along the North Alhamilla reverse fault via vertical Gafarillos fault segments, in between. Since the Messinian, fault activity migrated southwards forming the South Gafarillos fault and displacing the active fault-related mountain-front from the north to the south of Sierra de Polopos; whilst recent activity of the North Alhamilla reverse fault migrated westwards. The Polopos fault zone determined the differential uplift between the Sierra Alhamilla and the Tabernas-Sorbas basin promoting the middle Pleistocene capture that occurred in the southern margin of the Sorbas basin. Continued tectonic uplift of the Sierra Alhamilla-Polopos and Cabrera anticlinoria and local subsidence associated to the Palomares fault zone in the Vera basin promoted the headward erosion of the Aguas river drainage that captured the Sorbas basin during the late Pleistocene.     

珠江口盆地西部陆缘伸展-减薄机制

为揭示珠江口盆地西部陆缘伸展-减薄过程，进行盆地断裂构造样式识别、断层活动速率和一维空盆构造沉降定量计算和综合分析.珠江口盆地西部以铲式断层和拆离断层为主并继承性发育.张裂一幕断层活动和构造沉降集中于开平凹陷，最大速率分别达到239 m/myr和108.6 m/myr.张裂二幕断层活动和构造沉降向洋盆迁移，最大速率分别达到192 m/myr和210.7 m/myr.张裂一幕岩石圈减薄集中在开平凹陷，以地壳脆性薄化为主.张裂二幕减薄中心向洋盆迁移，岩石圈地幔可能发生了局部薄化和软流圈上涌，导致陆架和上陆坡区凹陷内部构造沉降减弱；洋陆过渡带处上地壳快速减薄，且薄化速度比下地壳快.对比西北次海盆南侧上地壳较厚及下地壳较薄或缺失的情况，推测西北次海盆在破裂前发生了不对称的单剪薄化.      

南海北部陆缘的构造属性问题

以1号断裂为界,南海北部陆缘可分为东,西两段：东段包括北部湾盆地,琼东南盆地,珠江口盆地和台西盆地等,西段包拓莺歌海盆地。两者构造形变特征存在一定的差异性：东段盆地边界断层主要为NE－EW向,为分支断层通过不同类型转换坡连接而成的多支正断层系,因断层位移沿走向有规律变化,在其上盘发育相关褶皱,如横向褶皱;西段盆地边界断层也是由多条分支断层连接的多支断层系,但方向为NW向,以走滑作用为主,上盘没有发育断层相关褶皱。结合新生代岩浆作用,沉降和充填作用及地壳结构等特征分析,南海北部陆缘东段在构造活动上可以分成三个相对活跃时期,即50－40,30－28和10－5Ma左右。每一期拥有各自的特点,并具有不同的动力学来源,前两期与南海的扩张关系密切,3则与南海扩张无成因联系。南海北部陆缘虽然有一定的岩浆活动,但不是张烈的同期产物,因而它在形成机制上属于非火山型被动大陆边缘,其活动性因素是受周边板块相互作用的叠加所致。西段从成因机制上来讲并不属于南海北部陆缘,可能与印－藏碰撞关系更为密切。     

Sedimentary record of the northward flight of India and its collision with Eurasia (Ladakh Himalaya,India)

Abstract

— Stratigraphic and petrographic analysis of the Cretaceous to Eocene Tibetan sedimentary succession has allowed us to reinterpret in detail the sequence of events which led to closure of Neotethys and continental collision in the NW Himalaya.

During the Early Cretaceous, the Indian passive margin recorded basaltic magmaüc activity. Albian volcanic arenites, probably related to a major extensional tectonic event, are unconformably overlain by an Upper Cretaceous to Paleocene carbonate sequence, with a major quartzarenite episode triggered by the global eustatic sea-level fall at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. At the same time, Neotethyan oceanic crust was being subducted beneath Asia, as testified by calc-alkalic volcanism and forearc basin sedimentation in the Transhimalayan belt.

Onset of collision and obduction of the Asian accretionary wedge onto the Indian continental rise was recorded by shoaling of the outer shelf at the Paleocene/Eocene boundary, related to flexural uplift of the passive margin. A few My later, foreland basin volcanic arenites derived from the uplifted Asian subduction complex onlapped onto the Indian continental terrace. All along the Himalaya, marine facies were rapidly replaced by continental redbeds in collisional basins on both sides of the ophiolitic suture. Next, foreland basin sedimentation was interrupted by fold-thrust deformation and final ophiolite emplacement.

The observed sequence of events compares favourably with theoretical models of rifted margin to overthrust belt transition and shows that initial phases of continental collision and obduction were completed within 10 to 15 My, with formation of a proto-Himalayan chain by the end of the middle Eocene.     

Structure of the Cobar Basin,New South Wales,based on seismic reflection profiling

The Cobar Basin in central western New South Wales is a mineral‐rich Early Devonian basin typical of those that characterize the Siluro‐Devonian history of the Lachlan Orogen of southeastern Australia. One hundred and seventy kilometres of seismic profiling in three lines across the basin have shown it to be asymmetrical in shape with an east‐dipping western margin that is steeper than the moderately west‐dipping eastern margin. Maximum basin thickness is around 6 km, but there are significant thickness changes, especially from south to north, which reflect the effect of synsedimentary faulting. Seismic profiling suggests that the basin deformed by thin‐skinned tectonics; postulated strike‐slip effects were not visible on the sections. The seismic profiling has, for the first time, imaged the western synrift basin margin which is generally not exposed. Strain variations during deformation along this edge were taken up by the formation of a major jog ('dog‐leg') which has propagated into the basin as a tear fault. Intrabasinal tears, as well as thrusts, which link into one or more detachments, provide potential pathways for mineralizing fluids during basin inversion.     

Types of crust beneath the Ligurian Sea

The structural setting beneath the Ligurian Sea resuJts from several tectonic events reflected in the nature of the crust. The central-western sector, called the Ligurian basin, is part of the northwestern Mediterranean. It is a marginal basin that was generated in Oligocene-Miocene time by subduction of the Adriatic plate beneath the European plate and by the eastward drift of the Corsica-Sardinia block. The eastern sector belongs to the Tyrrhenian basin system and is characterized by extensional activity which since Tortonian time superimposed an earlier compressional regime. Our effort has been addressed in particular towards simplifying the complex nature of the crust of the Ligurian basin by modelling its genesis using uniform extension and sea-floor depth variation with age. In the rift stage of the basin's evolution, the initial subsidence reaches the isostatic equilibrium level of the asthenosphere by a thinning factor of 3.15. The additional passive process, corresponding to the cooling of the lithosphere since 21 Ma, leads to a total tectonic subsidence of 3.4 km, representing the boundary of the extended continental crust. For values up to 4.1 km a transitional-type crust is expected, whereas for higher tectonic subsidence values a typical oceanic crust should exist. After setting these constraints, the boundaries of the different crust types have been drawn based on total tectonic subsidence observations deduced from bathymetry and post-rift sediment thickness. Although there is a general agreement with the previous reconstructions deduced from other experimental data, the oceanic realm has wider extent and more complex shape. The northernmost part of this realm shows crust of sub-oceanic type altemating basement highs with lower subsidence values. The observed surface heat flux is consistent with the predicted geothermal held in the Alpine-Provençal continental margin and in the oceanic domain. However, a characteristic thermal asymmetry is clearly visible astride the basin, due to the enhanced heat flux of the Corsica margin. Even if the uniform extension model accounts well at a regional level for the present basement depth, a remarkable tectonic subsidence excess has been found in the Alpine-Provençal continental margin. This evidence agrees with the reprise in compression of the margin; the direction of the greatest principal stress is N120°E on average.     

南海地质构造与油气资源

文章对南海海盆的边缘构造、盆内的断裂构造以及岛弧与弧后盆地的构造特征进行了论述。指出南海海盆喜马拉雅期构造层、基底及盖层特点。根据陆缘扩张观点将珠江口盆地的沉积盖层在扩张型陆缘演化阶段划分为第1扩张旋回(K2-E13)、第2扩张旋回(E23-N11)和第3扩张旋回(N21),上述3个旋回控制着生、储．盖的分布。东沙断隆亦是如此。南沙断块区的礼乐断块盆地以及曾母地堑带的曾母地堑盆地和万安地堑盆地均具有含油气远景。     

柴北缘大柴旦地区山前带构造建模及演化研究

针对柴北缘大柴旦地区北东、北西向两组逆冲推覆断裂交汇,构造变形极其复杂,构造解析困难的问题,充分利用野外地质调查、地震、重磁电、钻井(孔)等资料,理清了研究区主要断裂体系及其组合特征与展布规律。采用地表和地下构造、浅部和深部构造、地震和非震资料相结合的方法,开展了山前带构造建模研究与构造解析。通过研究,确定了研究区发育NW和近WE向两组断层和盆缘逆冲、盆内逆冲、盆内挤压走滑等3类断裂体系,平面上具有分区、分带性;建立了盆缘、盆内不同构造变形机制的构造解释模型;共识别出了挤压、伸展和走滑等3大类8种构造样式,明确了构造样式组合模式及其分布规律,理清了研究区“南北分带、东西分区”的构造变形特征;南西北东向构造演化剖面分析明确了盆缘、盆内推覆构造与盆内反冲构造后展式演化时序及其对中生界残留分布的控制作用。     

塔里木盆地东北缘盖层不整合序列及其构造演化

塔里木盆地东北缘新元古界-新生界中分布多期不整合界面。它们是不同地球动力学背景的产物,也是研究塔里木盆地东北缘乃至整个盆地构造演化的重要依据。通过野外地质调查和盆地内地震资料的综合研究,进一步阐述Nh₂/Nh₁、∈/Z 、O₃/O₂、S/O₃、C/AnC、T/AnT、J/AnJ、E/AnE和N₂/N₁重要的不整合面特征及其形成的地球动力学背景,建立了研究区完整的盖层不整合演化序列。根据不整合面特征,结合地层、沉积和构造特征将塔里木盆地东北缘盖层构造演化划分为3个旋回、6个阶段：（1）南华纪-泥盆纪克拉通内裂解和闭合旋回,（2）石炭纪-三叠纪克拉通边缘裂解-闭合旋回,（3）侏罗纪-第四纪拉张-挤压旋回;①南华纪-奥陶纪克拉通内坳拉槽阶段,②志留纪-泥盆纪挤压隆升阶段,③石炭纪-早二叠世克拉通内坳陷盆地阶段,④早二叠世末期冲断走滑-三叠纪前陆盆地阶段,⑤侏罗纪-古近纪断陷-坳陷盆地阶段,⑥新近纪-第四纪再生前陆盆地阶段。     

The geological and geodynamic evolution of the eastern Black Sea basin: insights from 2-D and 3-D tectonic modelling

Subsidence mechanisms that may have controlled the evolution of the eastern Black Sea have been studied and simulated using a numerical model that integrates structural, thermal, isostatic and surface processes in both two- (2-D) and three-dimensions (3-D). The model enables the forward modelling of extensional basin evolution followed by deformation due to subsequent extensional and compressional events. Seismic data show that the eastern Black Sea has evolved via a sequence of interrelated tectonic events that began with early Tertiary rifting followed by several phases of compression, mainly confined to the edges of the basin. A large magnitude (approximately 12 km) of regional subsidence also occurred in the central basin throughout the Tertiary. Models that simulate the magnitude of observed fault controlled extension (β=1.13) do not reproduce the total depth of the basin. Similarly, the modelling of compressional deformation around the edges of the basin does little to enhance subsidence in the central basin. A modelling approach that quantifies lithosphere extension according to the amount of observed crustal thinning and thickening across the basin provides the closest match to overall subsidence. The modelling also shows that deep crustal and mantle–lithosphere processes can significantly influence the rate and magnitude of syn- to post-rift subsidence and shows that such mechanisms may have played an important role in forming the anomalously thin syn-rift and thick Miocene–Quaternary sequences observed in the basin. It is also suggested that extension of a 40–45 km thick pre-rift crust is required to generate the observed magnitude of total subsidence when considering a realistic bathymetry.     

Tectonics and sedimentation in the Fohnsdorf-Seckau Basin (Miocene, Austria): from a pull-apart basin to a half-graben

The Miocene intramontane Fohnsdorf-Seckau Basin is situated at the junction of the sinistral Mur-Mürz-fault system and the dextral Pöls-Lavanttal fault system. The basin comprises a 2,400-m-thick coal-bearing fluviodeltaic-lacustrine succession (Lower to Middle Miocene, Upper Karpatian?/Lower Badenian) which is overlain by a 1,000-m-thick alluvio-deltaic conglomeratic succession (Apfelberg Formation, ?Middle/Upper Badenian) in the south. A three-stage model for the basin evolution has been reconstructed from structural analysis and basin fill geometries. During a first pull-apart phase, subsidence occurred along ENE-trending, sinistral strike-slip faults of the Mur-Mürz fault system and NE-SW to N-S-trending normal faults, forming a composite pull-apart basin between overstepping en-echelon strike-slip faults. The Seckau and Fohnsdorf sub-basins are considered as two adjacent pull-aparts which merged into one basin. During the second phase, N-S to NNW-SSE extension and normal faulting along the southern basin margin fault formed a half-graben, filled by wedge-shaped alluvial strata (Apfelberg Formation). During the third phase, after the end of basin sedimentation, the dextral Pöls-Lavanttal fault system reshaped the western basin margin into a positive flower structure.     

Meso-Cenozoic geodynamic evolution of the Paris Basin: 3D stratigraphic constraints

3D stratigraphic geometries of the intracratonic Meso-Cenozoic Paris Basin were obtained by sequence stratigraphic correlations of around 1 100 wells (well-logs). The basin records the major tectonic events of the western part of the Eurasian Plate, i.e. opening and closure of the Tethys and opening of the Atlantic. From earlier Triassic to Late Jurassic, the Paris Basin was a broad subsiding area in an extensional framework, with a larger size than the present-day basin. During the Aalenian time, the subsidence pattern changes drastically (early stage of the central Atlantic opening). Further steps of the opening of the Ligurian Tethys (base Hettangian, late Pliensbachian;...) and its evolution into an oceanic domain (passive margin, Callovian) are equally recorded in the tectono-sedimentary history. The Lower Cretaceous was characterized by NE–SW compressive medium wavelength unconformities (late Cimmerian–Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary and intra-Berriasian and late Aptian unconformities) coeval with opening of the Bay of Biscay. These unconformities are contemporaneous with a major decrease of the subsidence rate. After an extensional period of subsidence (Albian to Turonian), NE–SW compression started in late Turonian time with major folding during the Late Cretaceous. The Tertiary was a period of very low subsidence in a compressional framework. The second folding stage occurred from the Lutetian to the Lower Oligocene (N–S compression) partly coeval with the E–W extension of the Oligocene rifts. Further compression occurred in the early Burdigalian and the Late Miocene in response to NE–SW shortening. Overall uplift occurred, with erosion, around the Lower/Middle Pleistocene boundary.