Sequence stratigraphy of a Middle to Upper Ordovician foreland succession (Ottawa Embayment,central Canada): Evidence for tectonic control on sequence architecture along southern Laurentia

The Middle to Upper Ordovician foreland succession of the Ottawa Embayment in central Canada is divided into nine transgressive‐regressive sequences that defines net deepening of a platform succession over ~15 m.y. from peritidal to outer ramp settings, then a return to peritidal conditions over ~3 m.y. related to basin filling by orogen‐derived siliciclastics. With a backdrop of net eustatic rise through the Middle to Late Ordovician, there are several different expressions of structural influence on sequence development in the embayment. During the Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian), foreland‐basin initiation was marked by regional onlap with abundant synsedimentary deformation across a faulted trailing‐margin platform interior; subsequent craton‐interior uplift resulted in voluminous influx of siliciclastics contemporary with local structurally influenced local channelization; then, a formation of a platform‐interior shale basin defines continued intrabasin tectonism. During the Late Ordovician (Sandbian, early Katian), structural influence was superimposed on sea‐level rise as indicated by renewed local development of a platform‐interior shale basin; differential subsidence and thickness variation of platform carbonate successions; abrupt deepening across shallow‐water shoal facies; and, micrograben development coincident with foreland‐platform drowning. These stratigraphic patterns are far‐field expressions of distal orogen development amplified in the platform interior through basement reactivation along an inherited buried Precambrian fault system. Comparison of Upper Ordovician (Sandbian‐lower Katian) sequence stratigraphy in the Ottawa Embayment with eustatic frameworks defined for the Appalachian Basin reveals greater regional variation associated with Sandbian sequences compared to regional commonality in base level through the early Katian.     

Tectono‐sedimentary Evolution of Early Pennsylvanian Alluvial Systems at the Onset of the Alleghanian Orogeny,Pocahontas Basin,Virginia

Foreland basin strata provide an opportunity to review the depositional response of alluvial systems to unsteady tectonic load variations at convergent plate margins. The lower Breathitt Group of the Pocahontas Basin, a sub‐basin of the Central Appalachian Basin, in Virginia preserves an Early Pennsylvanian record of sedimentation during initial foreland basin subsidence of the Alleghanian orogeny. Utilizing fluvial facies distributions and long‐term stacking patterns within the context of an ancient, marginal‐marine foreland basin provides stratigraphic evidence to disentangle a recurring, low‐frequency residual tectonic signature from high‐frequency glacioeustatic events. Results from basin‐wide facies analysis, corroborated with petrography and detrital zircon geochronology, support a two end‐member depositional system of coexisting transverse and longitudinal alluvial systems infilling the foredeep during eustatic lowstands. Provenance data suggest that sediment was derived from low‐grade metamorphic Grenvillian‐Avalonian terranes and recycling of older Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks uplifted as part of the Alleghanian orogen and Archean‐Superior‐Province. Immature sediments, including lithic sandstone bodies, were deposited within a SE‐NW oriented transverse drainage system. Quartzarenites were deposited within a strike‐parallel NE‐SW oriented axial drainage, forming elongate belts along the western basin margin. These mature quartzarenites were deposited within a braided fluvial system that originated from a northerly cratonic source area. Integrating subsurface and sandstone provenance data indicates significant, repeated palaeogeographical shifts in alluvial facies distribution. Distinct wedges comprising composite sequences are bounded by successive shifts in alluvial facies and define three low‐frequency tectonic accommodation cycles. The proposed tectonic accommodation cycles provide an explanation for the recognized low‐frequency composite sequences, defining short‐term episodes of unsteady westward migration of the flexural Appalachian Basin and constrain the relative timing of deformation events during cratonward progression of the Alleghanian orogenic wedge.     

Stratigraphic evidence for a Late Devonian possible back-bulge basin in the Appalachian basin, United States

Isopach and sedimentary facies maps of Upper Devonian (upper Frasnian and lower Famennian) strata deposited in a part of the central Appalachian foreland basin (eastern United States) during the Acadian orogeny show a significant change in depositional style over time. Maps of two successive upper Frasnian intervals show steady thickening to the east towards the hinterland. Coarser‐grained sediment was deposited in distinct tongues in front of the Augusta lobe, a previously recognized locus of sediment input in the central Appalachian basin. Maps of two subsequent lower Famennian stratigraphic intervals show distinct depocentres in the study area. Famennian strata thin eastward (by about 50%) over a distance of about 90 km from these depocentres to the limit of mapping at the Allegheny structural front. This is towards the Acadian sediment source and in contrast to general Upper Devonian thickening in that direction. The axes of these lower Famennian depocentres are stacked on top of each other. Also, coarser‐grained lower Famennian sediment is concentrated in strike trends just east of the axes of the depocentres, and no coarser tongues exist in front of the Augusta lobe, in contrast to the underlying (upper Frasnian) strata. The duration of each of the four study intervals is estimated to be between 0.5 and 3.0 Myr. The early Famennian depocentres may be in a back‐bulge basin, with a forebulge uplifted to the east of the study area. Earlier deposition may have occurred in a basin with a subtle, subdued, and longer wavelength forebulge (perhaps located west of the study area). Previously published regional isopachs of Upper Devonian strata suggest that the main axis of subsidence of the Acadian foreland basin (foredeep depozone) at this time was over 350 km east of the study area. Examination of published quantitative flexural models of other foreland basins with flexural rigidities close to published rigidities calculated for the Appalachian basin suggests that the proposed back‐bulge basin is in the correct location, relative to the suggested position of the foredeep at that time. Several previously recognized structural features of the northern Appalachian basin support the interpretations presented herein. Much of the Acadian foreland basin may be eroded in the central Appalachian basin. The present study demonstrates the difficulties in recognizing foreland basin depozones in partially preserved orogens.     

Evolution of the late Cenozoic Chaco foreland basin, Southern Bolivia

Eastward Andean orogenic growth since the late Oligocene led to variable crustal loading, flexural subsidence and foreland basin sedimentation in the Chaco basin. To understand the interaction between Andean tectonics and contemporaneous foreland development, we analyse stratigraphic, sedimentologic and seismic data from the Subandean Belt and the Chaco Basin. The structural features provide a mechanism for transferring zones of deposition, subsidence and uplift. These can be reconstructed based on regional distribution of clastic sequences. Isopach maps, combined with sedimentary architecture analysis, establish systematic thickness variations, facies changes and depositional styles. The foreland basin consists of five stratigraphic successions controlled by Andean orogenic episodes and climate: (1) the foreland basin sequence commences between ～27 and 14 Ma with the regionally unconformable, thin, easterly sourced fluvial Petaca strata. It represents a significant time interval of low sediment accumulation in a forebulge‐backbulge depocentre. (2) The overlying ～14–7 Ma‐old Yecua Formation, deposited in marine, fluvial and lacustrine settings, represents increased subsidence rates from thrust‐belt loading outpacing sedimentation rates. It marks the onset of active deformation and the underfilled stage of the foreland basin in a distal foredeep. (3) The overlying ～7–6 Ma‐old, westerly sourced Tariquia Formation indicates a relatively high accommodation and sediment supply concomitant with the onset of deposition of Andean‐derived sediment in the medial‐foredeep depocentre on a distal fluvial megafan. Progradation of syntectonic, wedge‐shaped, westerly sourced, thickening‐ and coarsening‐upward clastics of the (4) ～6–2.1 Ma‐old Guandacay and (5) ～2.1 Ma‐to‐Recent Emborozú Formations represent the propagation of the deformation front in the present Subandean Zone, thereby indicating selective trapping of coarse sediments in the proximal foredeep and wedge‐top depocentres, respectively. Overall, the late Cenozoic stratigraphic intervals record the easterly propagation of the deformation front and foreland depocentre in response to loading and flexure by the growing Intra‐ and Subandean fold‐and‐thrust belt.     

Pro- vs. retro-foreland basins

Alpine‐type mountain belts formed by continental collision are characterised by a strong cross‐sectional asymmetry driven by the dominant underthrusting of one plate beneath the other. Such mountain belts are flanked on either side by two peripheral foreland basins, one over the underthrust plate and one over the over‐riding plate; these have been termed pro‐ and retro‐foreland basins, respectively. Numerical modelling that incorporates suitable tectonic boundary conditions, and models orogenesis from growth to a steady‐state form (i.e. where accretionary influx equals erosional outflux), predicts contrasting basin development to these two end‐member basin types. Pro‐foreland basins are characterised by: (1) Accelerating tectonic subsidence driven primarily by the translation of the basin fill towards the mountain belt at the convergence rate. (2) Stratigraphic onlap onto the cratonic margin at a rate at least equal to the plate convergence rate. (3) A basin infill that records the most recent development of the mountain belt with a preserved interval determined by the width of the basin divided by the convergence rate. In contrast, retro‐foreland basins are relatively stable, are not translated into the mountain belt once steady‐state is achieved, and are consequently characterised by: (1) A constant tectonic subsidence rate during growth of the thrust wedge, with zero tectonic subsidence during the steady‐state phase (i.e. ongoing accretion‐erosion, but constant load). (2) Relatively little stratigraphic onlap driven only by the growth of the retro‐wedge. (3) A basin fill that records the entire growth phase of the mountain belt, but only a condensed representation of steady‐state conditions. Examples of pro‐foreland basins include the Appalachian foredeep, the west Taiwan foreland basin, the North Alpine Foreland Basin and the Ebro Basin (southern Pyrenees). Examples of retro‐foreland basins include the South Westland Basin (Southern Alps, New Zealand), the Aquitaine Basin (northern Pyrenees), and the Po Basin (southern European Alps). We discuss how this new insight into the variability of collisional foreland basins can be used to better interpret mountain belt evolution and the hydrocarbon potential of these basins types.     

Evolution of salt structures in the northern Paradox Basin: controls on evaporite deposition,salt wall growth and supra‐salt stratigraphic architecture

The northern Paradox Basin evolved during the Late Pennsylvanian–Permian as an immobile foreland basin, the result of flexural subsidence in the footwall of the growing Uncompahgre Ancestral Rocky Mountain thick‐skinned uplift. During the Atokan‐Desmoinesian (～313–306 Ma) fluctuating glacio‐eustatic sea levels deposited an ～2500 m thick sequence of evaporites (Paradox Formation) in the foreland basin, interfingering with coarse clastics in the foredeep and carbonates around the basin margins. The cyclic deposition of the evaporites produced a repetitive sequence of primarily halite, with minor clastics, organic shales and anhydrite. Sediment loading of the evaporites subsequently produced a series of salt walls and minibasins, through the process of passive diapirism or downbuilding. Faults at the top Mississippian level localised the development of linear salt walls (up to 4500 m high) along a NW–SE trend. A crosscutting NE–SW structural trend was also important in controlling the evaporite facies and the abrupt termination of the salt walls. Seismic, well and field data define the proximal Cutler Group (Permian) as a basinward prograding sequence derived from the growing Uncompahgre uplift that drove salt basinwards (towards the southwest), triggering the growth of the salt walls. Sequential structural restorations indicate that the most proximal salt walls evolved earlier than the more distal ones. The successive development of salt‐withdrawal minibasins associated with each growing salt wall implies that parts of the Cutler Group in one minibasin may have no chronostratigraphic equivalent in other minibasins. Localised changes in along‐strike salt wall growth and evolution were critical in the development of facies and thickness variations in the late Pennsylvanian to Triassic stratigraphic sequences in the flanking minibasins. Salt was probably at or very close to the surface during the downbuilding process leading to localised thinning, deposition of diapir‐derived detritus and rapid facies changes in sequences adjacent to the salt wall structures.     

Palaeovalleys in foreland ramp settings: what happens as accommodation decreases down dip?

Recent advances in our understanding of palaeovalleys are largely guided by examples from passive margins, in which accommodation increases down depositional dip. This study tests these models against a dataset from the Pennsylvanian Breathitt Group of the central Appalachian foreland basin, USA. This fluvio‐deltaic succession contains extensive erosionally based fluvio‐estuarine sand bodies that can be tracked over 80 km down depositional dip from a proximal zone of high accommodation close to the orogenic margin to a distal, lower accommodation zone close to the cratonic margin of the basin. The sand bodies are up to 25 m thick, multi‐storey and characterized in their lower parts by strongly amalgamated storeys containing sandy fluvial to estuarine bar accretion elements, and in their middle to upper parts by more fully preserved storeys up to 10 m thick and laterally extensive over 100s of metres. The upper storeys include abandonment channel‐fills of heterolithic marine or marginal marine deposits or muddy to sandy point‐bar elements. Three major regional‐scale architectures include: (i) Tabular sand bodies that everywhere incise open marine prodelta and mouth bar facies and are interpreted as palaeovalleys formed during falling stage and lowstand systems tracts, when eustatic sea‐level fall outpaced tectonic subsidence across the entire study area. (ii) Sand bodies that incise genetically related floodplain lake and/or bay‐fill minor mouth bar deposits up depositional dip and open marine prodelta and mouth bar facies down dip. These stacked distributary channel deposits map down dip into palaeovalleys and formed when up dip subsidence rate resulted in positive, but reduced rate of accommodation creation, while lower tectonic subsidence rate down‐dip resulted in incision. (iii) Sand bodies that incise genetically related floodplain, lake and/or bay‐fill minor mouth bars up dip and pass down‐dip into genetically related unconfined floodplain, prodelta and mouth bar deposits. These sand bodies represent stacked distributary channel fills and channel amalgamation was the product of high rates of lateral migration, typical of the behaviour of channels above their backwater reach. Case (2) sand bodies demonstrate that in rapidly subsiding foreland basins, cross‐shelf palaeovalleys may form down depositional dip from aggradational, distributive fluival strata. Additionally, the genetic relationship between stacked distributary channels and palaeovalleys supports recent models for palaeovalley formation that emphasize diachronous, cut‐and‐fill during falling stage and lowstands of relative sea level.     

Fluvial deposition during transition from flexural to dynamic subsidence in the Cordilleran foreland basin: Ericson Formation,Western Wyoming,USA

The Ericson Formation was deposited in the distal foredeep of the Cordilleran foreland basin during Campanian time. Isopach data show that it records early dynamic subsidence and the onset of basin partitioning by Laramide uplifts. The Ericson Formation is well exposed around the Rock Springs uplift, a Laramide structural dome in southwestern Wyoming; the formation is thin, regionally extensive, and does not display the wedge‐shaped geometry typical of foredeep deposits. Sedimentation in this area was controlled both by activity in the thrust belt and by intraforeland tectonics. The Ericson Formation is ideally situated both spatially and temporally to study the transition from Sevier to Laramide (thin‐ to thick‐skinned) deformation which corresponded to the shift from flexural to dynamic subsidence and the demise of the Cretaceous foreland basin system. We establish the depositional age of the Ericson Formation as ca. 74 Ma through detrital zircon U–Pb analysis. Palaeocurrent data show a generally southeastward transport direction, but northward indicators near Flaming Gorge Reservoir suggest that the intraforeland Uinta uplift was rising and shedding sediment northward by late Campanian time. Petrographic data and detrital zircon U–Pb ages indicate that Ericson sediment was derived from erosion of Proterozoic quartzites and Palaeozoic and Mesozoic quartzose sandstones in the Sevier thrust belt to the west. The new data place temporal and geographic constraints on attempts to produce geodynamic models linking flat‐slab subduction of the oceanic Farallon plate to the onset of the Laramide orogenic event.     

Stratigraphic signatures of translation of thrust-sheet top basins over low-angle detachment faults

Abstract Low‐angle detachment faults and thrust‐sheet top basins are common features in foreland basins. However, in stratigraphic analysis their influence on sequence architecture is commonly neglected. Usually, only eustatic sea level and changing flexural subsidence are accounted for, and when deformation is considered, the emphasis is on the generation of local thrust‐flank unconformities. This study analyses the effects of detachment angle and repetitive detachment activation on stratigraphic stacking patterns in a large thrust‐sheet top basin by applying a three‐dimensional numerical model. Model experiments show that displacement over low‐angle faults (2–6°) at moderate rates (～5.0 m kyr^?1) results in a vertical uplift component sufficient to counteract the background flexural subsidence rate. Consequently, the basin‐wide accommodation space is reduced, fluvio‐deltaic systems carried by the thrust‐sheet prograde and part of the sediment supply is spilled over towards adjacent basins. The intensity of the forced regression and the interconnectedness of fluvial sheet sandstones increases with the dip angle of the detachment fault or rate of displacement. In addition, the delta plain is susceptible to the formation of incised valleys during eustatic falls because these events are less compensated by regional flexural subsidence, than they would be in the absence of fault displacement.     

A flexural model for the Paradox Basin: implications for the tectonics of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains

The Paradox Basin is a large (190 km × 265 km) asymmetric basin that developed along the southwestern flank of the basement‐involved Uncompahgre uplift in Utah and Colorado, USA during the Pennsylvanian–Permian Ancestral Rocky Mountain (ARM) orogenic event. Previously interpreted as a pull‐apart basin, the Paradox Basin more closely resembles intraforeland flexural basins such as those that developed between the basement‐cored uplifts of the Late Cretaceous–Eocene Laramide orogeny in the western interior USA. The shape, subsidence history, facies architecture, and structural relationships of the Uncompahgre–Paradox system are exemplary of typical ‘immobile’ foreland basin systems. Along the southwest‐vergent Uncompahgre thrust, ～5 km of coarse‐grained syntectonic Desmoinesian–Wolfcampian (mid‐Pennsylvanian to early Permian; ～310–260 Ma) sediments were shed from the Uncompahgre uplift by alluvial fans and reworked by aeolian‐modified fluvial megafan deposystems in the proximal Paradox Basin. The coeval rise of an uplift‐parallel barrier ～200 km southwest of the Uncompahgre front restricted reflux from the open ocean south and west of the basin, and promoted deposition of thick evaporite‐shale and biohermal carbonate facies in the medial and distal submarine parts of the basin, respectively. Nearshore carbonate shoal and terrestrial siliciclastic deposystems overtopped the basin during the late stages of subsidence during the Missourian through Wolfcampian (～300–260 Ma) as sediment flux outpaced the rate of generation of accommodation space. Reconstruction of an end‐Permian two‐dimensional basin profile from seismic, borehole, and outcrop data depicts the relationship of these deposystems to the differential accommodation space generated by Pennsylvanian–Permian subsidence, highlighting the similarities between the Paradox basin‐fill and that of other ancient and modern foreland basins. Flexural modeling of the restored basin profile indicates that the Paradox Basin can be described by flexural loading of a fully broken continental crust by a model Uncompahgre uplift and accompanying synorogenic sediments. Other thrust‐bounded basins of the ARM have similar basin profiles and facies architectures to those of the Paradox Basin, suggesting that many ARM basins may share a flexural geodynamic mechanism. Therefore, plate tectonic models that attempt to explain the development of ARM uplifts need to incorporate a mechanism for the widespread generation of flexural basins.     

Subsidence and exhumation of the Mesozoic Qiangtang Basin: Implications for the growth of the Tibetan plateau

The subsidence and exhumation histories of the Qiangtang Basin and their contributions to the early evolution of the Tibetan plateau are vigorously debated. This paper reconstructs the subsidence history of the Mesozoic Qiangtang Basin with 11 selected composite stratigraphic sections and constrains the first stage of cooling using apatite fission track data. Facies analysis, biostratigraphy, palaeo‐environment interpretation and palaeo‐water depth estimation are integrated to create 11 composite sections through the basin. Backstripped subsidence calculations combined with previous work on sediment provenance and timing of deformation show that the evolution of the Mesozoic Qiangtang Basin can be divided into two stages. From Late Triassic to Early Jurassic times, the North Qiangtang was a retro‐foreland basin. In contrast, the South Qiangtang was a collisional pro‐foreland basin. During Middle Jurassic‐Early Cretaceous times, the North Qiangtang is interpreted as a hinterland basin between the Jinsha orogen and the Central Uplift; the South Qiangtang was controlled by subduction of Meso‐Tethyan Ocean lithosphere and associated dynamic topography combined with loading from the Central Uplift. Detrital apatite fission track ages from Mesozoic sandstones concentrate in late Early to Late Cretaceous (120.9–84.1 Ma) and Paleocene–Eocene (65.4–40.1 Ma). Thermal history modelling results record Early Cretaceous rapid cooling; the termination of subsidence and onset of exhumation of the Mesozoic Qiangtang Basin suggest that the accumulation of crustal thickening in central Tibet probably initiated during Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous times (150–130 Ma), involving underthrusting of both the Lhasa and Songpan–Ganze terranes beneath the Qiangtang terrane or the collision of Amdo terrane.     

Post glacial lacustrine event sedimentation in an ancient mountain setting: Carboniferous Lake Malanzán (Western Argentina)

Lacustrine deposits of the Malanzán Formation record sedimentation in a small and narrow mountain paleovalley. Lake Malanzán was one of several water bodies formed in the Paganzo Basin during the Late Carboniferous deglaciation. Five sedimentary facies have been recognized. Facies A (Dropstones-bearing laminated mudstones) records deposition from suspension fall-out and probably underflow currents coupled with ice-rafting processes in a basin lake setting. Facies B (Ripple cross-laminated sandstones and siltstones) was deposited from low density turbidity currents in a lobe fringe environment. Facies C (Massive or graded sandstones) is thought to represent sedimentation from high and low density turbidity currents in sand lobes. Facies D (Folded sandstones and siltstones) was formed from slumping in proximal lobe environments. Facies E (Wave-rippled sandstones) records wave reworking of sands supplied by turbidity currents above wave base level.The Lake Malanzán succession is formed by stacked turbidite sand lobe deposits. These lobes were probably formed in proximal lacustrine settings, most likely relatively high gradient slopes. Paleocurrents indicate a dominant direction from cratonic areas to the WSW. Although the overall sequence shows a regressive trend from basin fine-grained deposits to deltaic and braided fluvial facies, individual lobe packages lack of definite vertical trends in bed thickness and grain size. This fact suggests aggradation from multiple-point sources, rather than progradation from single-point sources. Sedimentologic and paleoecologic evidence indicate high depositional rate and sediment supply. Deposition within the lake was largely dominated by event sedimentation. Low diversity trace fossil assemblages of opportunistic invertebrates indicate recolonization of event beds under stressed conditions.Three stages of lake evolutionary history have been distinguished. The vertical replacement of braided fluvial deposits by basinal facies indicates high subsidence and a lacustrine transgressive episode. This flooding event was probably linked to a notable base level rise during postglacial times. The second evolutionary stage was typified by the formation of sand turbidite lobes from downslope mass-movements. Lake history culminates with the progradation of deltaic and braided fluvial systems     

Foreland basin systems

A foreland basin system is defined as: (a) an elongate region of potential sediment accommodation that forms on continental crust between a contractional orogenic belt and the adjacent craton, mainly in response to geodynamic processes related to subduction and the resulting peripheral or retroarc fold-thrust belt; (b) it consists of four discrete depozones, referred to as the wedge-top, foredeep, forebulge and back-bulge depozones – which of these depozones a sediment particle occupies depends on its location at the time of deposition, rather than its ultimate geometric relationship with the thrust belt; (c) the longitudinal dimension of the foreland basin system is roughly equal to the length of the fold-thrust belt, and does not include sediment that spills into remnant ocean basins or continental rifts (impactogens). The wedge-top depozone is the mass of sediment that accumulates on top of the frontal part of the orogenic wedge, including ‘piggyback’ and ‘thrust top’ basins. Wedge-top sediment tapers toward the hinterland and is characterized by extreme coarseness, numerous tectonic unconformities and progressive deformation. The foredeep depozone consists of the sediment deposited between the structural front of the thrust belt and the proximal flank of the forebulge. This sediment typically thickens rapidly toward the front of the thrust belt, where it joins the distal end of the wedge-top depozone. The forebulge depozone is the broad region of potential flexural uplift between the foredeep and the back-bulge depozones. The back-bulge depozone is the mass of sediment that accumulates in the shallow but broad zone of potential flexural subsidence cratonward of the forebulge. This more inclusive definition of a foreland basin system is more realistic than the popular conception of a foreland basin, which generally ignores large masses of sediment derived from the thrust belt that accumulate on top of the orogenic wedge and cratonward of the forebulge. The generally accepted definition of a foreland basin attributes sediment accommodation solely to flexural subsidence driven by the topographic load of the thrust belt and sediment loads in the foreland basin. Equally or more important in some foreland basin systems are the effects of subduction loads (in peripheral systems) and far-field subsidence in response to viscous coupling between subducted slabs and mantle–wedge material beneath the outboard part of the overlying continent (in retroarc systems). Wedge-top depozones accumulate under the competing influences of uplift due to forward propagation of the orogenic wedge and regional flexural subsidence under the load of the orogenic wedge and/or subsurface loads. Whereas most of the sediment accommodation in the foredeep depozone is a result of flexural subsidence due to topographic, sediment and subduction loads, many back-bulge depozones contain an order of magnitude thicker sediment fill than is predicted from flexure of reasonably rigid continental lithosphere. Sediment accommodation in back-bulge depozones may result mainly from aggradation up to an equilibrium drainage profile (in subaerial systems) or base level (in flooded systems). Forebulge depozones are commonly sites of unconformity development, condensation and stratal thinning, local fault-controlled depocentres, and, in marine systems, carbonate platform growth. Inclusion of the wedge-top depozone in the definition of a foreland basin system requires that stratigraphic models be geometrically parameterized as doubly tapered prisms in transverse cross-sections, rather than the typical ‘doorstop’ wedge shape that is used in most models. For the same reason, sequence stratigraphic models of foreland basin systems need to admit the possible development of type I unconformities on the proximal side of the system. The oft-ignored forebulge and back-bulge depozones contain abundant information about tectonic processes that occur on the scales of orogenic belt and subduction system.     

Tectonic controls on Cenozoic foreland basin development in the north‐eastern Andes,Colombia

In order to evaluate the relationship between thrust loading and sedimentary facies evolution, we analyse the progradation of fluvial coarse‐grained deposits in the retroarc foreland basin system of the northern Andes of Colombia. We compare the observed sedimentary facies distribution with the calculated one‐dimensional (1D) Eocene to Quaternary sediment‐accumulation rates in the Medina wedge‐top basin and with a three‐dimensional (3D) sedimentary budget based on the interpretation of ～1800 km of industry‐style seismic reflection profiles and borehole data. Age constraints are derived from a new chronostratigraphic framework based on extensive fossil palynological assemblages. The sedimentological data from the Medina Basin reveal rapid accumulation of fluvial and lacustrine sediments at rates of up to ～500 m my^?1 during the Miocene. Provenance data based on gravel petrography and paleocurrents reveal that these Miocene fluvial systems were sourced from Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene sedimentary units exposed to the west in the Eastern Cordillera. Peak sediment‐accumulation rates in the upper Carbonera Formation and the Guayabo Group occur during episodes of coarse‐grained facies progradation in the early and late Miocene proximal foredeep. We interpret this positive correlation between sediment accumulation and gravel deposition as the direct consequence of thrust activity along the Servitá–Lengupá faults. This contrasts with one class of models relating gravel progradation in more distal portions of foreland basin systems to episodes of tectonic quiescence.     

Autoacceleration of clinoform progradation in foreland basins: theory and experiments

Understanding the relationship between sedimentation and tectonics is critical to the analysis of stratigraphic evolution in foreland basins. Previous models of foreland basins have explained stratal development, but were done generally under the assumption that steady allogenic forcing produces a steady stratigraphic response. They did not consider autogenic shoreline behaviour during the development of the subsidence pattern characteristic of foreland basins. We present a mathematical model and flume experiments that explore how subsidence and sediment‐supply rates control the shoreline trajectory and the stratal patterns that fill foreland basins. Through these models, we found differing autogenic responses in the rate and direction of shoreline migration, and these generated three distinct styles of stratal architecture, despite the constant external forcing (i.e. constant sediment discharge and basin substrate tilting). The first response was ‘autoretreat’, where shoreline migration switched from initial progradation to retrogradation. The second response was progradation followed by constant aggradation of the shoreline. The third response was maintained progradation with a markedly accelerating rate. We termed this latter newly observed autogenic behaviour ‘shoreline autoacceleration’. These three modes of shoreline behaviour and their accompanying stratal architecture provide a basic framework for the relationship between sedimentation and tectonic activity in foreland basins under the simplified conditions presented here.     

Foredeep palaeobathymetry and subsidence trends during advancing then retreating subduction: the Northern Apennine case (Oligocene‐Miocene,Italy)

The Northern Apennines provide an example of long‐term deep‐water sedimentation in an underfilled pro‐foreland basin first linked to an advancing orogenic wedge and then to a retreating subduction zone during slab rollback. New palaeobathymetric and geohistory analyses of turbidite systems that accumulated in the foredeep during the Oligocene‐Miocene are used to unravel the basin subsidence history during this geodynamic change, and to investigate how it interplayed with sediment supply and basin tectonics in controlling foredeep filling. The results show an estimated ca. 2 km decrease in palaeowater depth at ca. 17 Ma. Moreover, a change in basin subsidence is documented during Langhian time, with an average decompacted subsidence rate, during individual depocentre life, that increased from <0.3 to 0.4–0.6 mm y^?1, together with the appearance of a syndepositional backstripped subsidence bracketed between 0.1 and 0.2 mm y^?1. This change prevented the basin from complete filling during late Miocene and is interpreted as the foredeep response to initial rollback of the downgoing Adriatic slab. Thus, the Northern Apennine system provides an example of a pro‐foreland basin that experienced both a slow‐ and high‐subsidence regime as a consequence of the advancing then retreating evolution of the collisional system.     

Deposition and diagenesis of the lacustrine-fluvial Cangfanggou Group (uppermost Permian to Lower Triassic), southern Junggar Basin,NW China: a contribution from sequence stratigraphy

The Junggar Basin in NW China contains lacustrine hydrocarbon source rocks which are among the highest quality of hydrocarbon potential in the world. Oil reservoirs in the basin are very substantial: target reservoirs span Carboniferous to Tertiary strata and include Permo-Triassic lacustrine and fluvial sandstones. The Junggar Basin was a foreland basin during the late Permian to Cenozoic, possibly with strike-slip tectonics at the southern margin during Mesozoic time. The Cangfanggou Group, as one of the major reservoirs, is well-exposed in the eastern part of the southern Junggar Basin. A measured outcrop section and a number of borehole logs coupled with resistivity logs were used to attempt sequence stratigraphic analysis. Detailed sedimentological studies on the outcrops and borehole cores have demonstrated that the Cangfanggou Group is characterized by alternating lacustrine and fluvial deposits. Four depositional sequences have been recognized. For each sequence, the basal boundary is marked by erosional truncation of fluvial channel conglomeratic sandstones in sharp contact with underlying lacustrine or floodplain mudstones. The top of each lowstand systems tract is normally overlain by the transition to lacustrine or maximum flooding surface. The transgressive systems tract is normally not identifiable at the basin margin, but was developed in the basinward area and characterized by interbedded fining-upward distal fluvial and shallow lacustrine deposits. The highstand systems tract at the basin margin is characterized by very thick floodplain mudstones or shallow lacustrine deposits, and by typical coarsening-upward parasequences of shallow lacustrine deposits in more basinward areas. Sediment input to the basin was controlled by tectonics and climate. Depositional sequences were probably controlled by fluctuating change of lake level: this was in turn controlled by climate (runoff), modified by tectonics in specific areas.The sandstones studied are exclusively volcanic litharenites. Diagenetic studies suggest that the calcite cementation, pore-filling clay minerals and zeolites occluded substantial porosity in the sandstones examined because they are compositionally immature. However, notable secondary porosity in varying proportions is present in the sandstones of the Cangfanggou Group, resulting from the dissolution of unstable detrital grains. The lowstand fluvial/distal fluvial sandstones recorded the highest average porosity and highest permeability, in which some primary porosity may remain because early formed clay coatings inhibited further compaction. The combination of residual primary porosity and significant amount of secondary porosity in the sandstones of the Cangfanggou Group may constitute moderate to good reservoirs. In contrast, the lacustrine fine-grained sandstones is characterized by clay authigenesis and zeolitization, in which the porosity was obliterated by the zeolites and extensive illitization; the lowstand fluvial channel sandstones in the basin margin areas are characterized by extensive calcite cementation which greatly reduced the porosity and permeability.This is the fifth paper in a series of papers published in this issue on Climatic and Tectonic Rhythms in Lake Deposits.     

Factors controlling stratal pattern and facies distribution of fluvio‐lacustrine sedimentation in the Sivas mini‐basins,Oligocene (Turkey)

The Sivas Basin, located in the Central Anatolian Plateau of Turkey, is a foreland basin that records a complex interaction between sedimentation, salt tectonics and regional shortening during the Oligo‐Miocene leading to the formation of numerous mini‐basins. The Oligocene sedimentary infill of the mini‐basins consists of a thick continental succession, the Karayün Formation, comprising a vertical succession of three main sub‐environments: (i) playa‐lake, (ii) fluvial braided, and (iii) saline lacustrine. These sub‐environments are seen as forming a large Distributive Fluvial System (DFS) modified through time as a function of sediment supply and accommodation related to regional changes in climate and tectonic regime. Within neighbouring mini‐basins and despite a similar vertical stratigraphic succession, subtle variations in facies assemblages and thickness are observed in stratigraphic units of equivalent age, thus demonstrating the local control exerted by halokinesis. Stratigraphic and stratal patterns reveal in great detail the complex interaction between salt tectonics and sedimentation including different types of halokinetic structures such as hooks, wedges and halokinetic folds. The regional variations of accommodation/sediment supply led to coeval changes in the architectural patterns recorded in the mini‐basins. The type of accommodation regime produces several changes in the sedimentary record: (i) a regime dominated by regional accommodation limits the impact of halokinesis, which is recorded as very small variations in stratigraphic thickness and facies distribution within and between mini‐basins; (ii) a regime dominated by localized salt‐induced accommodation linked to the subsidence of each individual mini‐basin enhances the facies heterogeneity within the DFS, causing sharp changes in stratigraphic thickness and facies assemblages within and between mini‐basins.     

Grain-size trends, basin subsidence and sediment supply in the Campanian Castlegate Sandstone and equivalent conglomerates of central Utah

Reconstructions of grain-size trends in alluvial deposits can be used to understand the dominant controls on stratal architecture in a foreland basin. Different initial values of sediment supply, tectonic subsidence and base-level rise are investigated to constrain their influence on stratal geometry using the observed grain-size trends as a proxy of the goodness of fit of the numerical results to the observed data. Detailed measurements of grain-size trends, palaeocurrent indicators, facies and thickness trends, channel geometries and palynological analyses were compiled for the middle Campanian Castlegate Sandstone of the Book Cliffs and its conglomerate units in the Gunnison and Wasatch plateaus of central Utah. They define the initial conditions for a numerical study of the interactions between large-scale foreland basin and small-scale sediment transport processes. From previous studies, the proximal foreland deposits are interpreted as recording a middle Campanian thrusting event along the Sevier orogenic belt, while the stratal architecture in the Book Cliffs region is interpreted to be controlled by eustatic fluctuation with local tectonic influence. Model results of stratal geometry, using a subsidence curve with a maximum rate of ≈45 m Myr^?1 for the northern Wasatch Plateau region predict the observed grain-size trends through the northern Book Cliffs. A subsidence curve with a maximum rate of ≈30 m Myr^?1 in the Gunnison–Wasatch Plateaus best reproduces the observed grain-size trends in the southern transect through the southern Wasatch Plateau. Eustasy is commonly cited as controlling Castlegate deposition east of the Book Cliffs region. A eustatic rise of 45 m Myr^?1 produces grain-size patterns that are similar to the observed, but a rate of eustatic rise based on Haq et al. (1988) will not produce the observed stratal architecture or grain-size trends. Tectonic subsidence alone, or a combined rate of tectonic subsidence and a Haq et al. (1988) eustatic rise, can explain the stratal and grain-size variations in the proximal and downstream regions.     

Growth fold controls on carbonate distribution in mixed foreland basins: insights from the Amiran foreland basin (NW Zagros,Iran) and stratigraphic numerical modelling

The evolution from Late Cretaceous to early Eocene of the well dated Amiran foreland basin in the NW Iranian Zagros Mountains is studied based on the reconstruction of successive thickness, palaeobathymetry and subsidence maps. These maps show the progressive forelandwards migration of the mixed carbonate‐siliciclastic system associated with a decrease in creation of accommodation. Carbonate facies variations across the basin suggest a structural control on the carbonate distribution in the Amiran foreland basin, which has been used as initial constraint to study the control exerted by syndepositional folding in basin architecture and evolution by means of stratigraphic numerical modelling. Modelled results show that shallow bathymetries on top of growing folds enhance carbonate production and basin compartmentalization. As a consequence, coarse clastics become restricted to the internal parts of the basin and only the fine sediments can by‐pass the bathymetric highs generated by folding. Additionally, the development of extensive carbonate platforms on top of the anticlines favours the basinwards migration of the depositional system, which progrades farther with higher fold uplift rates. In this scenario, build‐ups on top of anticlines record its growth and can be used as a dating method. Extrapolation of presented modelling results into the Amiran foreland basin is in agreement with an early folding stage in the SE Lurestan area, between the Khorramabad and Kabir Kuh anticlines. This folding stage would enhance the development of carbonate platforms on top of the anticlines, the south‐westward migration of the system and eventually, the complete filling of the basin north of the Chenareh anticline at the end of the Cuisian. Incremental thickness maps are consistent with a thin (0.4–2 km) ophiolite complex in the source area of the Amiran basin.