A 1.5D model of the steady-state thermal structure of detachment folds

We present a 1.5D steady-state model of thermal perturbations in the core of detachment anticlines. The model incorporates the effects of heat conduction, advection by folding, radiogenic sources, and conversion of work into heat by viscous dissipation. We work out analytical solutions of model's equations for heat flow and temperature field for the case of low amplitude detachment folds growing in a thick homogeneous stratigraphy.Our analytical solutions for the simplest case of no heat sources show that detachment folds develop a thermal boundary layer. Conduction of heat dominates inside the layer, whereas advection of heat by folding prevails outside the boundary layer. We also find that heat flow in a growing detachment fold decays exponentially with the square of the thickness of the detached stratigraphic section. When heat sources are included into the problem we find that radiogenic heat generates thermal anomalies at the crest of the anticlines whereas viscous dissipation produces thermal anomalies at the core of the detachment fold.We analyze three cases of geological interest: detachment folds growing in evaporitic sequences, marine carbonates, and shaley sediments. For a typical uplift rate of 2 mm/yr conduction dominates in the first class of rocks. Viscous dissipation dominates in folds growing in limestone due to its high viscosity. Advection and the generation of heat by radiogenic isotopes dominate the growth of detachment folds in shale. Additionally, the cooling histories of Lagrangian particles embedded in the fold for the last two cases are analyzed. The core of the fold is characterized by rapid cooling whereas the limbs cool at slower rates than the core. Thus, the development of detachment anticlines may either accelerate maturation of source rocks and expand the maturation window or halt it by removing source rocks from the generating window.     

川西盆地演化及盆地叠合特征研究

川西盆地位于青藏高原松潘甘孜构造带东缘龙门山前陆地带,是四川盆地的一部分。自震旦纪以来,川西盆地经历了海相盆地与陆相盆地两个时期的演化,其中陆相盆地演化与松潘-甘孜构造带及龙门山的形成发展密切相关。晚三叠世以来,川西盆地与松潘-甘孜构造带、龙门山构造带之间经历了盆岭耦合与盆山耦合两期构造动力学演化过程,形成了结构复杂、多期演化的叠合盆地,其盆地性质、类型在不同地质时期各不相同。总的说来,川西盆地经历稳定克拉通海盆发展时期(震旦纪-中三叠世)、海陆交互相断陷盆地发展时期(上三叠世须家河组一段-须家河组三段)、陆相坳陷盆地发展时期(须家河组四段-中侏罗纪世)、前陆盆地发展时期(晚侏罗世-现今),最终形成了4期单型盆地的有序叠置。     

Tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Morichito piggyback basin, Eastern Venezuelan Basin

The Morichito piggyback basin (MPB) is a SW-NE-oriented depocenter in the Eastern Venezuelan Foreland Basin (EVFB). This piggyback basin formed by overlying the Pirital thrust during the middle to late Miocene as a result of oblique collision between the Caribbean and South-American Plates. The MPB covers an area encompassing approximately 1000 km² between the Serrania del Interior range and the Pirital high, which is a hanging wall uplift along the Pirital thrust that acts as a confining barrier on the southern boundary of the MPB. Previous studies have tried to address the tectonostratigraphic significance of the MPB, but new biostratigraphic information and recently acquired 3D seismic data have allowed us to expand the understanding of this basin. The MPB occupies a relatively small area of the EVFB; however, the MPB contains a valuable stratigraphic record that can be used to unveil the timing of the main deformational events that took place in the EVFB.This work presents the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the MPB by defining four tectonostratigraphic sequences (T1-T4). Each sequence was defined on the basis of integration of well logs, biostratigraphy, and seismic geomorphological interpretations. T1 (24-16 Ma) (late Oligocene to middle Miocene), which was deposited in shallow-marine environments, extends to the south of the Pirital high beyond the boundaries of the MPB. T1 is equivalent to the early foredeep stage of the EVFB, having been formed when structural deformation and uplifting were already occurring to the north on the proto-Serrania del Interior range (∼24-16 Ma) and the Pirital thrust was active (∼22 Ma). T2 (16-11 Ma) (middle to late Miocene) is composed of alluvial-fan deposits derived from the proto-Serrania del Interior range. The geometry and internal configuration of T2 indicate that during this time the basin was transitioning from an open-foreland basin to a confined piggyback basin. During deposition of T2, the Pirital fault was active as an out-of-sequence thrusting event (16-∼11 ma). T3 (late Miocene) and T4 (early Pliocene to Recent), composed of shallow-marine and fluvial deposits, were deposited in an already restricted piggyback basin. The Pirital high was already in place during deposition of T3 (∼11-9.3 ma). T3 and T4 represent the final phases of MPB infilling, when tectonic activity and subsidence were at their lowest rates. MPB sedimentary infilling dates the activity of thrusting events in the proto-Serrania del Interior (∼24-16 Ma), timing of maximum deformation associated with the Pirital out-of-sequence thrusting event (16-∼11 Ma), timing of final emplacement of the Pirital high (∼11-9.3 Ma), and the beginning of tectonic quiescence (<5.2 Ma).     

Stratigraphic evolution of a submarine channel-lobe complex system in a narrow fairway within the Magallanes foreland basin, Cerro Toro Formation, southern Chile

This study integrates newly acquired stratigraphic data, geologic mapping, and paleocurrent data to constrain the stratigraphic evolution of the oldest channel-lobe complex in the Upper Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation in the Silla Syncline area of the Magallanes Basin, termed the Pehoe member. The Pehoe member ranges in thickness from 60 m in the north to at least 410 m farther down system and comprises three separate divisions (A, B, and C). A lower conglomerate unit and an upper one, termed Pehoe A and C divisions respectively, represent the fill of major incised submarine channels or channel complexes. These are separated by stratified sandstone of the Pehoe B division, representing a weakly confined lobe complex, either transient or terminal.The integration of new data with observations from previous studies reveal that the three main coarse-grained conglomerate and sandstone members in the Cerro Toro Formation in the Silla Syncline include at least seven distinct submarine channels or channel complexes and two major lobe complexes. The thinning and disappearance of these units along the eastern limb of the syncline reflect confinement of the flows to a narrow trough or mini-basin bounded to the east by a topographic high. This confinement resulted in unidirectional paleocurrents to the south and southeast in all deposits. Changes in depositional geometries are interpreted as reflecting changes in sediment supply and relative confinement. Submarine channels were from 700 m to 3.5 km wide and occupied a fairway that was 4-5 km wide. Flows moving south and southeast in this mini-basin probably crossed the eastern topographic high south of the present exposures and joined those moving southward along the axis of the foreland basin at least 16 km to the east.     

Development of tectonostratigraphy in distal part of foreland basin in southwestern Taiwan

In the young and active tectonic belt of southwestern Taiwan, reconstructed stratigraphy in the distal part of the foreland basin reveals at least two regional unconformities with the younger ones covering the areas farther from the mountain belt. In contrast with the previously proposed monotonous basin development, the temporal–spatial distribution of the unconformities indicates the back-and-forth migration of the foreland basin margin. Three distinct episodes of rapid subsidence during the foreland basin development have also been identified. The onset of the basin development can be well constrained by the initial rapid subsidence at 4.4–4.2 Ma, which happened only in the proximal part of the basin. This was followed by two younger episodes of rapid subsidence events at 2–1.8 Ma and 0.45 Ma, which were encountered initially in the areas progressively farther from the orogenic belt.We propose a model of episodic tectonic evolution in the distal part of the foreland basin in southwestern Taiwan. During each episode of rapid subsidence, uplifting that corresponds to the forebulge began with a concurrent rapid subsidence in the areas closer to the basin center and was followed by rapid subsidence and deposition of widespread strata onlapping toward the basin margin. Part of the widespread strata and its overlying deposits would be eroded in the beginning of the next episode when the forebulge shifted toward the orogenic belt. In general, rate of forebulge migrating away from the orogenic belt during the early stage was slower than that derived from a previously proposed kinematic model of a steady migration of the orogenic belt. This might be due to a rifted and weaker lithosphere beneath the foreland basin. Once the foreland basin migrated onto the less stretched lithosphere, the basin would expand rapidly into the craton.     

鄂尔多斯盆地西缘南北差异及其形成机制

鄂尔多斯盆地西缘晚三叠世南北两段存在着明显差异,北段发育由伸展正断层控制的裂陷盆地,南段发育由逆冲断层控制的前陆盆地。它们分别与阿拉善挤压构造带及东祁连褶皱逆冲带相邻。盆地沉积充填前者主要为扇三角洲体系、冲积扇-辫状河平原体系,后者主要为陡坡三角洲体系、冲积扇体系。两类盆地和盆缘构造带一起组合成非限制性侧向挤出构造,该类构造控制了研究区晚三叠世构造作用和成盆作用过程。     

前陆盆地异常流体压力: 地质作用及其增压效率

在前陆盆地形成过程中,强烈挤压构造应力场和特殊的盆-山关系造成极为复杂的沉积环境和构造形变,多种地质作用都可能对地层内异常流体压力的产生及演化起到十分重要的作用。通过对准噶尔盆地南缘地区中段的地质条件及压力分布的分析,利用数值盆地模型方法,模拟分析了在前陆盆地构造挤压和盆地沉降过程中压实作用、断裂开启、褶皱、剥蚀等地质过程对流体压力的作用和影响,定量讨论了压力异常的成因机制及其效率。模拟分析结果表明,构造应力在水平方向上派生的侧向压实作用、强烈的褶皱作用及伴随的快速沉积-剥蚀作用等是前陆盆地中特有的增压作用,都可造成较高压力异常。准噶尔盆地南缘中新生界地层中广泛分布的高异常压力是新生代以来,特别是第四纪以来,在快速的压实作用、构造挤压作用所形成的高地层压力背景下,叠加了近期因断裂活动和背斜构造快速形成所引起的他源高压而形成的。     

大巴山前陆叠加构造力学特征的模拟研究

摘要：采用非线性有限元数值模拟技术和方法,研究大巴山前陆构造带应力场、位移场和形变场的流变学特征,分析叠加褶皱的相干形式和联合弧的形态特征,展现了大巴山弧形构造的发育、演化过程,提供了一组与大巴山前陆叠加构造相适应的边界外力和约束条件。研究表明:(1)模型选用的蠕变材料在变形过程中,应力场的变化非常缓慢,使得我们有条件通过应力迹线去研究构造变形的形态特征。(2)大巴山弧形构造带早晚两期褶皱的干涉形式大致为构造横跨叠加、斜跨叠加和共轴叠加三种。(3)大巴山弧形构造带形成的关键条件是北东向区域应力的作用和东西两个基底构造结的存在;而与大巴山弧联合构成收敛双弧的川东弧形构造带主要为来自南东方向的动力作用所致。