Segmentation and differential post-rift uplift at the Angola margin as recorded by the transform-rifted Benguela and oblique-to-orthogonal-rifted Kwanza basins

We analyse tectonic and sedimentary field and subsurface data for the Angola onshore margin together with free-air gravity anomaly data for the offshore margin. This enables us to characterize the mode of syn-rift tectonism inherited from the Precambrian and its impact on the segmentation of the Angola margin. We illustrate that segmentation by the progressive transition from the Benguela transform-rifted margin segment to the oblique-rifted South Kwanza and orthogonal-rifted North Kwanza margin segments. The spatial variation in the intensity of post-rift uplift is demonstrated by the study of a set of geomorphic markers detected in the post-rift succession of the coastal Benguela and Kwanza Basins: Upper Cretaceous to Cenozoic uplifted palaeodeltas, erosional unconformities, palaeovalleys, Quaternary marine terraces and perched Gilbert deltas. The onshore Benguela transform margin has a distinctive, mainly progradational stratigraphic architecture with long-term sedimentary gaps and high-elevation marine terraces resulting from moderate Upper Cretaceous–Cenozoic to major Quaternary uplifting (i.e. 775–1775 mm/ky or m/Ma). By contrast, repeated synchronous episodes of minor Cenozoic to Quaternary uplift occurred along the orthogonal-rifted North Kwanza segment with its Cenozoic aggradational architecture, short-term sedimentary gaps and low-elevation Pleistocene terraces. Margin style likewise governs spatial variations in the volume of offshore sediment dispersed in the associated deep-sea fans. Along the low-lying North Kwanza margin, sedimentation of the broad Cenozoic to Pleistocene Kwanza submarine fan was probably governed by the width of the Kwanza interior palaeodrainage basin combined with the wet tropical Neogene climate. Along the high-rising Benguela margin, the small size of the Benguela deep-sea fan is related to the interplay between moderate continental sediment dispersal from long-lived small catchments and a warm, very arid Neogene climate. However, the driving forces behind the epeirogenic post-rift uplift of the Angola coastal bulge remain a matter of speculation.     

Controls on turbidite sand deposition during gravity-driven extension of a passive margin: examples from Miocene sediments in Block 4, Angola

In recent years, exploration of the Lower Congo Basin in Angola has focused on the Neogene turbidite sand play of the Malembo Formation. Gravity tectonics has played an important role during deposition of the Malembo Formation and has imparted a well-documented structural style to the post-rift sediments. An oceanward transition from thin-skinned extension through mobile salt and eventually to thin-skinned compressional structures characterises the post-rift sediments. There has been little discussion, however, regarding the influence of these structures on the deposition of the Malembo Formation turbidite sands. Block 4 lies at the southern margin of the Lower Congo Basin and is dominated by the thin-skinned extensional structural style. Using a multidisciplinary approach we trace the post-rift structural and stratigraphic evolution of this block to study the structural controls on Neogene turbidite sand deposition.In the Lower Congo Basin the transition from terrestrial rift basin to fully marine passive margin is recorded by late Aptian evaporites of the Loeme Formation. Extension of the overlying post-rift sequences has occurred where the Loeme Formation has been utilised as a detachment surface for extensional faults. Since the late Cretaceous, the passive margin sediments have moved down-slope on the Loeme detachment. This history of gravity-driven extension is recorded in the post-rift sediments of Block 4. Extension commenced in the Albian in the east of the block and migrated westwards with time. In the west, the extension occurred mainly in the Miocene and generated allochthonous fault blocks or “rafts”, separated by deep grabens. The Miocene extension occurred in two main phases with contrasting slip vectors; in the early Miocene the extension vector was to the west, switching to southwest-directed extension in the late Miocene. Early Miocene faults and half-grabens trend north–south whereas late Miocene structures trend northwest–southeast. The contrast in slip vectors between these two phases emphasises the differences in driving mechanisms: the early Miocene faulting was driven by basinward tilting of the passive margin, but gravity loading due to sedimentary progradation is considered the main driver for the late Miocene extension. The geological evolution of the late Miocene grabens is consistent with southwest-directed extension due to southwest progradation of the Congo fan.High-resolution biostratigraphic data identifies the turbidite sands in Block 4 as early Miocene (17.5–15.5 Ma) and late Miocene (10.5–5.5 Ma) in age. Deposition of these sands occurred during the two main phases of gravity-driven extension. Conditions of low sedimentation rates relative to high fault displacement rates were prevalent in the early Miocene. Seafloor depressions were generated in the hangingwalls of the main extensional faults, ultimately leading to capture of the turbidity currents. Lower Miocene turbidite sand bodies therefore trend north–south, parallel to the active faults. Cross-faults and relay ramps created local topographic highs capable of deflecting turbidite flows within the half grabens. Flow-stripping of turbidity currents across these features caused preferential deposition of sands across, and adjacent to, the highs. Turbidite sands deposited in the early part of the late Miocene were influenced by both the old north–south fault trends and by the new northwest–southeast fault trends. By latest Miocene times turbidite channels crosscut the active northwest–southeast-trending faults. These latest Miocene faults had limited potential to capture turbidity currents because the associated hangingwall grabens were rapidly filled as pro-delta sediments of the Congo fan prograded across the area from the northeast.     

Anomalous Cenozoic subsidence along the ‘passive’ continental margin from Ireland to mid-Norway

Two-dimensional flexural backstripping and thermal modelling (assuming uniform stretching and cooling) is applied to four interpreted, depth-converted seismic profiles across the Rockall, Faroe–Shetland and Vøring basins, along 1600 km of the Atlantic continental margin of NW Europe. The results reveal a significant discrepancy between the modelled palaeo-depths for the base of the Cenozoic succession and those proven by geological evidence at control points (subaerial conditions or depositional depth ranges in wells). The discrepancy is of Rm-scale, much larger than the possible range of parameter error determined by sensitivity tests (up to 0.5 km). Assuming a Cretaceous rift episode (100 Ma), the discrepancy is at least 1.7 km in the Rockall Basin, up to 2.1 km in the Faroe–Shetland Basin and at least 1 km in the Vøring Basin (which also contains evidence of kilometre-scale uplift of the inner margin). Assuming (unproven) a second rift in the early Cenozoic (60 Ma), the discrepancy remains of kilometre-scale in the Rockall and Faroe–Shetland basins. The restorations also provide evidence of uplift, both above compressive structures and across the modelled profiles as seaward rotations of palaeo-bathymetric records. The palaeo-bathymetric discrepancy corresponds to an anomaly in subsidence that is the cumulative product of all the tectonic episodes that have affected the NW European margin, and may incorporate both permanent effects of the last episode of lithospheric extension and transient responses to the interaction of the margin with mantle convective flow. Any explanation must accommodate both the large magnitude of anomalous subsidence along the margin and evidence of its episodic character.     

Neogene stratigraphy and the sedimentary and oceanographic development of the NW European Atlantic margin

A regional correlation of Neogene stratigraphy has been attempted along and across the NW European Atlantic continental margin, between Mid-Norway and SW Ireland. Two unconformity-bounded successions are recognised. These are referred to as the lower and upper Neogene successions, and have been dated as Miocene–early Pliocene and early Pliocene–Holocene, respectively, in age. Their development is interpreted to reflect plate-wide, tectonically driven changes in the sedimentary, oceanographic and latterly climatic evolution of the NE Atlantic region. The lower Neogene succession mainly preserves a record of deep-water sedimentation that indicates an expansion of contourite sediment drifts above submarine unconformities, within this succession, on both sides of the eastern Greenland–Scotland Ridge from the mid-Miocene. This is interpreted to record enhanced deep-water exchange through the Faroe Conduit (deepest part of the Southern Gateway), and can be linked to compressive inversion of the Wyville–Thomson Ridge Complex. Thus, a pervasive, interconnected Arctic–North Atlantic deep-water circulation system is a Neogene phenomenon. The upper Neogene succession records a regional change, at about 4 Ma, in the patterns of contourite sedimentation (submarine erosion, new depocentres) coeval with the onset of rapid seaward-progradation of the continental margin by up to 100 km. This build-out of the shelf and slope is inferred to record a marked increase in sediment supply in response to uplift and tilting of the continental margin. Associated changes in deep-water circulation may be part of an Atlantic-wide reorganisation of ocean bottom currents. Glacial sediments form a major component of the prograding shelf margin (shelf-slope) sediment wedges, but stratigraphic data indicate that the onset of progradation pre-dates significant high-latitude glaciation by at least 1 Ma, and expansive Northern Hemisphere glaciation by at least 3 Ma.     

The dynamic mechanism of post-rift accelerated subsidence in Qiongdongnan Basin, northern South China Sea

A 1-D unloaded tectonic subsidence (air-loaded tectonic subsidence) model is proposed and applied to the Qiongdongnan Basin. Results show that three episodes of subsidence exist in Cenozoic, that is, syn-rift rapid subsidence (Eocene–Oligocene) with subsidence rate at 20–100 m/m.y., post-rift slow thermal subsidence (early-middle Miocene) around 40 m/m.y., and post-rift accelerated subsidence (since late Miocene) 40–140 m/m.y., which is substantially deviated from the exponentially decayed thermal subsidence model. For exploring the mechanism of post-rift accelerated subsidence, the faulting analyses are conducted and results show that there is a dramatically decrease in the numbers of active faults and fault growth rate since 21 Ma, which indicates that no active brittle crust extension occurred during post-rift period. Furthermore, previous studies have demonstrated that the stretching of the upper crust is far less than that affecting the whole crust. Therefore, we infer that the lower crust thinned during the post-rift period and a new model of basin development and evolution is put forward to explain the post-rift accelerated subsidence and depth-dependent crust thinning in the Qiongdongnan Basin, which is supported by gravity data.     

Mesozoic rift to post-rift tectonostratigraphy of the Sverdrup Basin,Canadian Arctic

Jurassic-Cretaceous rift successions and basin geometries of the Sverdrup Basin are reconstructed from a review and integration of stratigraphy, igneous records, outcrop maps, and subsurface data. The rift onset unconformity is in the Lower Jurassic portion of the Heiberg Group (approximately 200–190 Ma). Facies transgress from early syn-rift sandstones of the King Christian Formation to marine mudstones of the Jameson Bay Formation. The syn-rift succession of marine mudstones in the basin centre, Jameson Bay to Deer Bay formations, ranges from Early Jurassic (Pleinsbachian) to Early Cretaceous (Valanginian). Early post-rift deposits of the lower Isachsen Formation are truncated by the sub-Hauterivian unconformity, which is interpreted as a break up unconformity at approximately 135–130 Ma. Cessation of rift subsidence allowed for late post-rift sandstone deposits of the Isachsen Formation to be distributed across the entire basin. Marine deposition to form mudstone of the Christopher Formation throughout the Canadian Arctic Islands and outside of the rift basin records establishment of a broad marine shelf during post-rift thermal subsidence at the start of a passive margin stage. The onset of the High Arctic Large Igneous Province at approximately 130 Ma appears to coincide with the breakup unconformity, and it is quite typical that magma-poor rifted margins have mainly post-rift igneous rocks. We extend the magma-poor characterization where rifting is driven by lithospheric extension, to speculatively consider that the records from Sverdrup Basin are consistent with tectonic models of retro-arc extension and intra-continental rifting that have previously been proposed for the Amerasia Basin under the Arctic Ocean.     

Superposed deformation straddling the continental-oceanic transition in deep-water Angola

The Angolan margin is the type area for raft tectonics. New seismic data reveal the contractional buffer for this thin-skinned extension. A 200-km-long composite section from the Lower Congo Basin and Kwanza Basin illustrates a complex history of superposed deformation caused by: (1) progradation of the margin; and (2) episodic Tertiary epeirogenic uplift. Late Cretaceous tectonics was driven by a gentle slope created by thermal subsidence; extensional rafting took place updip, contractional thrusting and buckling downdip; some distal folds were possibly unroofed to form massive salt walls. Oligocene deformation was triggered by gentle kinking of the Atlantic Hinge Zone as the shelf and coastal plain rose by 2 or 3 km; relative uplift stripped Paleogene cover off the shelf, provided space for Miocene progradation, and steepened the continental slope, triggering more extension and buckling. In the Neogene, a subsalt half graben was inverted or reactivated, creating keystone faults that may have controlled the Congo Canyon; a thrust duplex of seaward-displaced salt jacked up the former abyssal plain, creating a plateau of salt 3–4 km thick on the present lower slope. The Angola Escarpment may be the toe of the Angola thrust nappe, in which a largely Cretaceous roof of gently buckled strata, was transported seawards above the thickened salt by up to 20 km.     

珠江口盆地白云凹陷裂后异常沉降研究及成因分析

南海北部大陆边缘的许多盆地都发现了裂后沉降异常,位于深水陆坡区的白云凹陷是其中的典型代表。本文采用盆模软件Temis Suite 2007对穿过白云凹陷的3条地震剖面进行回剥分析,观测其不同时间基底的垂向运动特征,并将其与MCKENZIE经典拉张模型计算的理论裂后沉降值进行对比,发现白云主凹中心的裂后异常沉降量最大超过2.6 km,白云南凹最大异常沉降量接近2 km,高于白云凹陷北部边缘的异常沉降。凹陷东部的裂后沉降作用强于凹陷西部。对沉降曲线的研究发现,白云凹陷在中中新世(16.5～10.5 Ma)期间有一段沉降明显加速的过程,白云南凹尤为明显,可能与南海扩张停止事件有关。白云凹陷发育了巨厚的沉积,并且呈韧性伸展状态,本文认为下地壳流可能是导致白云凹陷裂后异常沉降最主要的因素。     

Pleistocene glacial history of the NW European continental margin

In this paper new and previously published data on the Pleistocene glacial impact on the NW European margin from Ireland to Svalbard (between c. 48°N–80°N) are compiled. The morphology of the glaciated part of the European margin strongly reflects repeated occurrence of fast-moving ice streams, creating numerous glacial troughs/channels that are separated by shallow bank areas. End-moraines have been identified at several locations on the shelf, suggesting shelf-edge glaciation along the major part of the margin during the Last Glacial Maximum. Deposition of stacked units of glacigenic debris flows on the continental slope form fans at a number of locations from 55°N and northwards, whereas the margin to the south of this is characterised by the presence of submarine canyons. Glaciation curves, based primarily on information from the glacial fed fan systems, that depict the Pleistocene trends in extent of glaciations along the margin have been compiled. These curves suggest that extensive shelf glaciations started around Svalbard at 1.6–1.3 Ma, while repeated periods of shelf-edge glaciations on the UK margin started with MIS 12 (c. 0.45 Ma). The available evidence for MIS 2 suggest that shelf-edge glaciation for the whole margin was reached between c. 28 and 22 ¹⁴C ka BP and maximum positions after this were more limited in some regions (North Sea and Lofoten). The last glacial advance on the margin has been dated to 15–13.5 ¹⁴C ka BP, and by c. 13 ¹⁴C ka BP the shelf areas were completely deglaciated. The Younger Dryas (Loch Lomond) advance reached the coastal areas in only a few regions.     

The flexural margin,the foredeep,and the orogenic margin of a northern Cordilleran foreland basin: Cretaceous tectonostratigraphy and detrital zircon provenance,northwestern Canada

Reconstructions of the Albian to Campanian foreland basin adjacent to the northern Canadian Cordillera are based on outcrop and well log correlations, seismic interpretation, and reconnaissance-level detrital zircon analysis. The succession is subdivided into two tectonostratigraphic units. First is an Albian tectonostratigraphic unit that was deposited on the flexural margin of a foreland basin. At the base is a shallow marine sandstone interval that was deposited during transgressive reworking of sediment from cratonic sources east of the basin that resulted in a dominant 2000–1800 Ma detrital zircon age fraction. Subsequent deposition in a west-facing muddy ramp setting was followed by east-to-west shoreface progradation into the basin.Near the Albian–Cenomanian boundary, regional uplift and exhumation resulted in an angular unconformity at the base of the Cenomanian–Campanian tectonostratigraphic unit. Renewed subsidence in the Cenomanian resulted in deposition of organic-rich, radioactive, black mudstone of the Slater River Formation in a foredeep setting. Cenomanian–Turonian time saw west-to-east progradation of a shoreface-shelf system from the orogenic margin of the foreland basin over the foredeep deposits. Detrital zircon age peaks of approximately 1300 Ma, 1000 Ma, and 400 Ma from a Turonian sample are consistent with recycling of Mississippian and older strata from the Cordillera west of the study area, and show that the orogen-attached depositional system delivered sediment from the orogen to the foreland basin. A near syndepositional detrital zircon age of ca. 93 Ma overlaps with known granitoid ages from the Cordillera. After the shelf system prograded across the study area, subsequent pulses of subsidence and uplift resulted in dramatic thickness variations across an older structural belt, the Keele Tectonic Zone, from the Turonian to the Campanian.The succession of depositional systems in the study area from flexural margin to foredeep to orogenic margin is attributed to coupled foreland propagation of the front of the Cordilleran orogen and the foreland basin. Propagation of crustal thickening and deformation toward the foreland is a typical feature of orogens and so the distal to proximal evolution of the foreland basin should also be considered as typical.     

Tectonic evolution of the Cape and Karoo basins of South Africa

The Cape and Karoo basins formed within the continental interior of Gondwana. Subsidence resulted from the vertical motion of rigid basement blocks and intervening crustal faults. Each basin episode records a three-stage evolution consisting of crustal uplift, fault-controlled subsidence, and long periods of regional subsidence largely unaccompanied by faulting or erosional truncation. The large-scale episodes of subsidence were probably the result of lithospheric deflection due to subduction-driven mantle flow. The early Paleozoic Cape basin records the combined effects of a north-dipping intra-crustal décollement (a late Neoproterozoic suture) and a right-stepping offset between thick Rio de la Plata craton and Namaqua basement. Following the Saldanian orogeny, a suite of small rift basins and their post-rift drape formed at this releasing stepover. Great thicknesses of quartz sandstone (Ordovician–Silurian) and mudstone (Devonian) accumulation are attributed to subsidence by rheological weakening and mantle flow. In contrast, the Karoo basin is a cratonic cover that mimics the underlying basement blocks. The Permian Ecca and lower Beaufort groups were deposited in a southward-deepening ramp syncline by extensional decoupling on the intra-crustal décollement. Reflection seismic and deep-burial diagenetic studies indicate that the Cape orogeny started in the Early Triassic. Deformation was partitioned into basement-involved strike-slip faults and thin-skinned thrusting. Uplift of the Namaqua basement resulted in erosion of the Beaufort cover. East of the Cape fold belt, contemporaneous subsidence and tilting of the Natal basement created a late Karoo transtensional foreland basin, the Stormberg depocentre. Early Jurassic tectonic resetting and continental flood basalts terminated the Karoo basin.     

琼东南盆地新生代构造研究现状及展望

琼东南盆地属于南海北部陆缘拉张盆地,但是由于其不同的发育历史及红河断裂的影响,具有与东部陆缘盆地不同的构造特征。琼东南盆地和珠江口盆地在地壳结构、基底特征等方面存在差异,但是这种差异的原因还不清楚。新生代沉降速率发生多期变化,并存在裂后异常沉降、沉降延迟等现象,其形成机制尚需要进一步研究;平面上,构造具有迁移性,但是对不同地质时期的构造迁移方向仍存在不同的看法。盆地沉降中心和沉积中心经历了由裂陷期和裂后早期的较好重合到裂后晚期的逐步分离,直至完全分离的过程。盆地形成与地幔流的关系,以及红河断裂对盆地裂后沉降迁移的影响,也都是需要进一步确定的工作。鉴于以上各方面存在的问题,对琼东南盆地与南沙的共轭关系、盆地异常沉降、红河断裂及内部构造转换带对构造迁移的影响、以及琼东南盆地与珠江口盆地的比较等方面的研究是下一步工作的重点。     

Structural evolution of the Orange Basin gravity-driven system,offshore Namibia

The Orange Basin records the development of the Late Jurassic to present day volcanic-rifted passive margin of Namibia. Regional extension is recorded by a Late Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Syn-rift Megasequence, which is separated from a Cretaceous to present day post-rift Megasequence by the Late Hauterivian (ca. 130 Ma) break-up unconformity. The Late Cretaceous Post-rift evolution of the basin is characterized by episodic gravitational collapse of the margin. Gravitational collapse is recorded as a series of shale-detached gravity slide systems, consisting of an up-dip extensional domain that is linked to a down-dip zone of contraction domain along a thin basal detachment of Turonian age. The extensional domain is characterized by basinward-dipping listric faults that sole into the basal detachment. The contractional domain consists of landward-dipping listric faults and strongly asymmetric basinward-verging thrust-related folds. Growth stratal patterns suggest that the gravitational collapse of the margin was short-lived, spanning from the Coniacian (ca. 90 Ma) to the Santonian (ca. 83 Ma). Structural restorations of the main gravity-driven system show a lack of balance between up-dip extension (24 km) and down-dip shortening (16 km). Gravity sliding in the Namibian margin is interpreted to have occurred as a series of episodic short-lived gravity sliding between the Cenomanian (ca. 100 Ma) and the Campanian (ca. 80 Ma). Gravity sliding and spreading are interpreted to be the result of episodic cratonic uplift combined with differential thermal subsidence. Sliding may have also been favoured by the presence of an efficient detachment layer in Turonian source rocks.     

The continental margin of the Mesozoic Tethys in the Western Alps

Most of the structural units of the Western Alps were derived from the European Continental margin of the Ligurian Ocean, a segment of the Mesozoic Tethys ocean. Their Mesozoic palaeotectonic and stratigraphic evolution bears witness of the following main stages: (1) Deposition of the Triassic platform carbonates, essentially prerift but nevertheless bearing the imprint of some extensional movements. (2) The Liassic-Middle Jurassic rifting corresponds to the creation of a horst-and-graben system with especially tilted blocks and hence a shoal-and-basin palaeogeography, but without a preliminary doming event. (3) The late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous opening and spreading of the Ligurian ocean began with a general collapse of the continental margin (‘thermal’ subsidence, latest Middle Jurassic and Earliest Late Jurassic).In this paper, emphasis is given to the refting-derived structures, more especially to the major tilted crustal blocks, a few tens of kilometres wide, which can be either reconstructed or directly observed. The rifting stage lasted roughly 40 m.y., with the alternation of extensional tectonic phases and of relatively ‘quiet’ periods. During the extensional phases, movements along fault-planes and related episodes of tilting were followed by sudden and rapid episodes of subsidence: the latter may be interpreted as resulting from the isostatic and thermal readjustment that follows a phase of stretching of the crust and of the lithosphere. The tectonic evolution of the margin continued, but decreased, during the late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous oceanspreading stage. Tectonic activity resumed in the late Cretaceous: this probably resulting from the beginning of contraction of both the ocean and the continental margin, leading progressively to the continental collision in the Tertiary.     

南沙海区万安盆地构造演化与成因机制

本文基于地震、钻井和区域地质资料,运用回剥法和平衡剖面技术定量研究了万安盆地的构造沉降和伸展程度,重建盆地的构造演化史并探讨其成因机制。模拟结果表明,万安盆地构造沉降曲线为多段式,其南北部构造沉降差异明显,且沉降中心逐渐向南发展的趋势。晚始新世-渐新世（37.8~23.03 Ma BP）盆地中、北部快速沉降,存在两个沉降中心;早中新世（23.03~16.0 Ma BP）盆地南部也发生快速沉降,整个盆地存在3个沉降中心;中中新世（约16.0~11.63 Ma BP）沉降作用减弱,盆地进入裂后热沉降期。万安盆地的伸展和形成演化呈现北早南晚的特征,与南海海底扩张密切相关,同时受控于万安断裂带交替地右旋-左旋走滑作用,是伸展和走滑双重作用的结果。盆地的构造演化过程可细分为4个阶段:初始裂谷期、主要裂谷期、走滑改造期和裂后加速沉降期。     

Late Cenozoic prograding wedges on the NW European continental margin: their formation and relationship to tectonics and climate

During late Pliocene to Pleistocene times, prominent prograding wedges were deposited along the continental margin of NW Europe, resulting in seaward shelf break migration of up to 150 km. Much of the sediment accumulation occurred marginal to the former mid- to high-latitude ice sheets. The geographical distribution, and stratigraphical and chronological data may suggest that the instigation of the wedges was variously related to tectonic uplift as well as a response to the late Pliocene to Pleistocene climate deterioration and onset of major northern hemisphere glaciations. The onset of wedge growth on the NW UK and Irish margins was initiated at about 4 Ma in response to tectonic tilting of the margin in that region. However, glacially derived sediments here comprise a significant proportion of the wedges, especially since 0.44 Ma. For the Faroe margin, no detailed chronology is available; however, it may be inferred that onset of glacigenic wedge growth here did not post-date that observed on the NW UK and Irish margins. Offshore Norway, wedge growth has largely occurred since ca. 2.7 Ma in response to northern hemisphere glaciations, also recording a major change in sediments transport routes at 0.8–1.1 Ma (reflecting larger Fennoscandian Ice Sheets). Presently, it is uncertain whether the glacigenic wedge growth was preceded by a fluvial phase (in response to uplift) in this area. In the western Barents Sea, an early phase of wedge growth was (glacio) fluvial in character. Off western Spitsbergen, the development was similar to that of the Barents Sea although the glacigenic wedge-growth phase may have started somewhat earlier.The wedges commonly display gently inclined seaward prograding clinoforms, and transparent to chaotic internal acoustic facies. Sampling of their sediments reveals that they are mainly composed of glacigenic diamicton interbedded with marine and glaciomarine sediments that, to various extents, have been affected by bottom-current action. The clinoforms of these wedges vary in geometry from oblique to sigmoidal, and they also show varying degrees of aggradation throughout their development. The resulting stratal stacking pattern can be attributed to a combination of variations in sediment supply, sedimentary processes, and accommodation space, the latter being a function of tectonic movements and/or loading induced subsidence as well as eustatic sea-level fluctuations.     

Jurassic subsidence history in the Hebrides,N.W. Scotland

Geohistory analyses have been applied to the generally well-dated Triassic-Jurassic successions of three areas in the Hebrides Basin, north-west Scotland, and the importance of making corrections for decompaction, palaeobathymetry and eustatic changes of sea level are assessed. The thermo-tectonic subsidence patterns in the Skye areas (north) suggest a three-phase history of crustal stretching, though only the first phase is well developed in the Mull area (south).Episodes of relatively rapid subsidence are:

• 1.(1) Late Triassic (c210 Ma) until earliest Toarcian (186 Ma);
• 2.(2) Latest Toarcian (180 Ma) until late Bathonian (c161 Ma);
• 3.(3) Early Oxfordian (154) Ma) until at least early Kimmeridgian (incomplete.).

These are separated by Toarcian (186-180 Ma) and latest Bathonian-Callovian(c161-154 Ma) episodes of either little subsidence or of uplift (but at slower rates than eustatic rise of sea level). The intervals between phases, at 30 Ma and 26 Ma, are remarkably similar but the wider significance of this remains to be established.     

Outcrop and seismic expression of stratigraphic patterns driven by accommodation and sediment supply turnarounds: Implications on the meaning and variability of unconformities in syn-orogenic basins

Tectonically-complex settings present accommodation and sediment supply changes with patterns and rates for which the current sequence stratigraphy paradigms are not designed. In the Tertiary Piedmont Basin (TPB) and Peri-Adriatic Basin (PAB), outcrop and seismic examples demonstrate that the observed stratal and stacking patterns cannot be entirely explained using conventional sequence-stratigraphic models. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to use a model-independent more comprehensive approach encompassing advanced sequence-stratigraphic concepts combined with process changes, while being able to consider the morphostructural complexity that characterizes these margins and their changes induced by basin reshaping.Abrupt relative sea level falls generated by uplift or basin inversion may exceed several hundreds of meters, resulting in wedge-margin progressive unconformities characterized by subaerial and subaqueous erosional truncation. A progressive increase in sediment supply occurs, expressed by increasing volume and size of mass-transport complexes overlain by forced-regressive deltas, as the maximum sediment supply is delayed until after the main uplift. Different accommodation/sediment supply ratios may also occur at the same time along different margins of the same basin, generating a diachronism in the T-R or R-T cycles, adding further complexity to the variability produced by autogenesis.On clastic shelf margins characterized by an increasing rate of relative sea level rise, such as in case of increasing rollback velocities and related flexural tilting, or following an orogenic collapse, sediment supply may not keep pace with increasing accommodation so that initially retrogradation and basinward condensation occur, marked by omission surfaces. However, when the rate of subsidence increases, the succession is punctuated by multiple subaqueous erosional unconformities marking phases of basinward tilting leading to the oversteepening of basin margins and abrupt deepening. The downwarping usually produces large-scale subaqueous erosional surfaces passing laterally into paraconformities, so hinged-margin drowning unconformities affecting clastic shelves occur, associated with regional stratigraphic gaps.The re-establishment of the slope equilibrium profile implies high volume of sediments eroded from drowned deltas and shelves, feeding turbidites deposited at the toe of above-grade slopes. These turbidites can be therefore considered as high accommodation-high sediment supply systems. This suggests that turbidites are delivered basinward not only due to bypass at sequence boundaries or during the highstand progradation of supply-driven deltas, but also due to abrupt accommodation creation on hinged-shelf margin wedges.The great variability of tectonically-driven unconformities generated under either decreasing or increasing accommodation suggests that the features described in the TPB and the PAB are probably not uncommon, controlled by linked dynamic turnarounds of accommodation, sediment supply and stratigraphy taking place throughout the development of basin reorganizations.     

Allochthonous salt, structure and stratigraphy of the north-eastern Gulf of Mexico. Part I: Stratigraphy

Major sequence boundaries associated with eustatic sea level changes are correlated to the general stratigraphy of the north-eastern Gulf of Mexico. The details of a Middle Cretaceous Flooding Surface, marking a major break in sedimentation, are documented. The sequence stratigraphic work provides an example of the ‘stratigraphic signature of the Neogene’. Three major episodes of sediment accumulation are represented by: (1) Late Jurassic (150.5 Ma) to Middle Cretaceous (94 Ma) aggradation and progradation of sediments with significant sediment accumulation in the present shelf and slope areas; (2) an extended period of starved sedimentation during 94-30 Ma corresponding to Middle Cretaceous flooding events (93.5 and 91.5 Ma) and the lack of sediment supply; and (3) since Late Oligocene time, unusually rapid sedimentation rates that characterize the deep water study area. These patterns of sediment accumulation directly affect the formation of allochthonous salt in the study area.