Evolution of a Neoproterozoic to Palaeozoic intracratonic setting, Officer Basin, South Australia

The Neoproterozoic basins of central Australia share many features of architecture and sedimentary fill, suggesting common large-scale extrinsic causal mechanisms. In an attempt to improve understanding of these mechanisms we have gathered and analysed new deep seismic reflection data and re-evaluated existing seismic and well-log data from the eastern Officer Basin, the largest and most poorly known of Australia's intracratonic basins. The Officer Basin is asymmetric and has a steep thrust-controlled northern margin paralleled by sub-basins as much as 10 km in depth. Further south the basin shallows gradually onto a broad platform. The basin rests on a thick crust (≈42 km) that is pervaded by a complex of northward-dipping surfaces most of which terminate erosionally against the sediments of the Officer Basin and are interpreted as prebasinal features, possibly faults. Some appear to have been zones of crustal weakness which were reactivated as thrust complexes and played a major role in basin evolution. The sedimentary succession can be subdivided into six megasequences separated by major tectonically and erosionally enhanced sequence boundaries. The megasequences have distinctive sequence stacking patterns suggesting that they were deposited in response to episodic subsidence induced by a major extrinsic tectonic event. The basin initially formed as part of a giant sag basin which incorporated all the present-day intracratonic basins (Amadeus, Georgina, Ngalia, Officer and Savory Basins) in a single large ‘superbasin’ perhaps as a response to mantle processes. Subsidence then ceased for ≈100 Myr producing a regional erosion surface. Beginning in the Torrensian or Sturtian five more major events of varying regional significance influenced the basin's evolution. Four were compressional events, the first of which activated major thrust complexes along the present basin margins, forming deep foreland sub-basins with elevated intervening basement blocks. Once activated, the thrust complexes and sub-basins persisted throughout the life of the intracratonic basins. From this epoch the intracratonic basins of central Australia were decoupled from the giant sag basin and became interrelated but independent features. Available information suggests that the Officer, Amadeus, Georgina, Ngalia and Savory Basins are related and are perhaps products of major tectonic events associated with the assembly and ultimate dispersal of the Proterozoic supercontinent. The closing phases of these basins were strongly influenced by events occurring along the newly created active eastern margin of the Australian continent in the Palaeozoic.     

Tectonostratigraphic framework and depositional history of the deepwater Ulleung Basin,East Sea/Sea of Japan

The Ulleung Basin, East Sea/Japan Sea, is a Neogene back-arc basin and occupies a tectonically crucial zone under the influence of relative motions between Eurasian, Pacific and Philippine Sea plates. However, the link between tectonics and sedimentation remains poorly understood in the back-arc Ulleung Basin, as it does in many other back-arc basins as well, because of a paucity of seismic data and controversy over the tectonic history of the basin. This paper presents an integrated tectonostratigraphic and sedimentary evolution in the deepwater Ulleung Basin using 2D multichannel seismic reflection data. The sedimentary succession within the deepwater Ulleung Basin is divided into four second-order seismic megasequences (MS1 to MS4). Detailed seismic stratigraphy interpretation of the four megasequences suggests the depositional history of the deepwater Ulleung Basin occurred in four stages, controlled by tectonic movement, volcanism, and sea-level fluctuations. In Stage 1 (late Oligocene through early Miocene), syn-rift sediment supplied to the basin was restricted to the southern base-of-slope, whereas the northern distal part of the basin was dominated by volcanic sills and lava flows derived from initial rifting-related volcanism. In Stage 2 (late early Miocene through middle Miocene), volcanic extrusion occurred through post-rift, chain volcanism in the earliest time, followed by hemipelagic and turbidite sedimentation in a quiescent open marine setting. In Stage 3 (late middle Miocene through late Miocene), compressional activity was predominant throughout the Ulleung Basin, resulting in regional uplift and sub-aerial erosion/denudation of the southern shelf of the basin, which provided enormous volumes of sediment into the basin through mass transport processes. In Stage 4 (early Pliocene through present), although the degree of tectonic stress decreased significantly, mass movement was still generated by sea-level fluctuations as well as compressional tectonic movement, resulting in stacked mass transport deposits along the southern basin margin. We propose a new depositional history model for the deepwater Ulleung Basin and provide a window into understanding how tectonic, volcanic and eustatic interactions control sedimentation in back-arc basins.     

Evolution of the intracratonic Officer Basin, central Australia: implications from subsidence analysis and gravity modelling

ABSTRACT The intracratonic basins of central Australia are distinguished by their large negative Bouguer gravity anomalies, despite the absence of any significant topography. Over the Neoproterozoic to Palaeozoic Officer Basin, the anomalies attain a peak negative amplitude in excess of 150 mGal, amongst the largest of continental anomalies observed on Earth. Using well data from the Officer and Amadeus basins and a data grid of sedimentary thicknesses from the eastern Officer Basin, we have assessed the evolution of these intracratonic basins. One-dimensional backstripping analysis reveals that Officer and Amadeus basin tectonic subsidence was not entirely synchronous. This implies that the basins evolved as discrete geological features once the Centralian Superbasin was dismembered into its constituent basins. Two- and three-dimensional backstripping and gravity modelling suggest that the eastern Officer Basin evolved from a broad continental sag into a region of intracratonic flexural subsidence from the latest Neoproterozoic, when flexure of the lithosphere deepened the northern basin. The results from gravity modelling improve when the crust is thickened beneath the northern margin of the basin and thinned at the southern margin, as has been suggested by recent deep seismic data. The crustal thickening beneath the basin's northern margin abuts the region of greatest topographic relief and is consistent with the observed structure at the edges of many orogenic belts. If the Officer Basin evolved as a foreland-type basin from the late Proterozoic and has retained those features to the present, then one implication is that in the absence of any significant topography, cratonic lithosphere must be able to support stresses over very long periods of geological time.     

Hinterland basin development and infilling through tectonic and eustatic processes: latest Messinian‐Gelasian Valdelsa Basin,Northern Apennines,Italy

This article reports a stratigraphic and structural analysis of the Neogene‐Quaternary Valdelsa Basin (Central Italy), filled with up to 1000 m of uppermost Miocene to lower Pleistocene strata. The succession is subdivided into seven unconformity‐bounded stratigraphic units (synthems, or large‐scale depositional sequences) that include fluvio‐deltaic and shallow‐marine deposits. Structures related to basin shoulders and internal boundaries controlled the Neogene location and geometry of different depocentres. During the Tortonian‐Messinian, a buried NE‐trending high related to regional, basin‐transverse lineaments separated two adjacent sub‐basins. During the lower Pliocene, compressional displacement along NW‐trending, thrust‐related highs controlled the distribution of depocentres and dispersal of sediment. Extensional tectonics, although previously considered the dominant deformation style affecting the rear of the Northern Apennines since the late Miocene, is no longer considered a dominant control on tectono‐sedimentary development of the Valdelsa basin. Instead, the Valdelsa Basin shares features with continental hinterland basins of orogenic belts where compression, extension, and transcurrent stress fields determine a complex spatial and temporal record of accommodation and sediment supply. In the Valdelsa Basin tectonics and eustatic sea‐level fluctuations were dominant in forcing the deposition of sedimentary cycles at several scales. Zanclean and Gelasian large‐scale depositional sequences were mainly controlled by crustal shortening, whereas a eustatic signal was preferentially recorded during the Piacenzian. Smaller scale depositional sequences, common to most synthems, were controlled by orbitally forced glacio‐eustatic cycles.     

Simple equations of sedimentation: applications to sequence stratigraphy

Abstract An equation to relate the thickness of sediment deposited (ΔSed), eustatic sea-level change (ΔE), and subsidence (ΔSub), to changes in depth of water (ΔD) is: ΔSub +ΔE-ΔSed =ΔD.
Using existing sea-level curves, the equation shows that some transgressive-regressive sequences in a foreland basin and a composite seismic facies sequence on a passive margin cannot result solely from eustatic variation. In each case, the space created by subsidence is greater than that provided by eustatic rise. However, eustatic variation could have triggered sequence development if superimposed on a basin with relatively constant values of the other parameters. Short-period sea-level fluctuations with high rates of change, exceeding 70–100 m Myr^-1 for periods less than 2–3 Myr, affect the stratigraphy and sedimentology more than longer period, higher amplitude variations.
Clinoforms are generated because of lateral variations in sedimentation rate compared to the rate of creation of accommodation space. These variations may result from differing sedimentation rates, subsidence rates, or rates of eustatic change, superimposed on a basin with lateral sediment supply. Clinoform slopes and curvatures are interpre table in terms of these variables as well as the type of sediment supplied and the energy distribution in the basin.
These equations put some well-known geological principles on a simple quantitative basis. They force precision in definition of variables, and may lead to further development of quantitative techniques in stratigraphy and sedimentology.     

The Central Australian seismic experiment, 1985: preliminary results

Summary. The major objective of the Central Australian seismic experiment is to investigate the structural evolution of the Arunta Block and the Ngalia and Amadeus Basins. A regional north-south reflection line of 420 km length from the Northern Arunta Province to the southern part of the Amadeus Basin was recorded in 1985. The most significant basement features are prominent bands of reflectors from beneath the Northern Arunta Province and the Ngalia Basin at times of between 4 and 10 s that dip towards the north. Deep crustal features south of the Ngalia Basin are less clear except in the Redbank Zone. Bands of deep reflectors similar to those observed in the north occur at times of between 5 and 10 s beneath the southern part of the Amadeus Basin. Additional seismic profiling included a reflection line of 40 km length recorded across the northern margin of the Redbank Zone, three expanding spread reflection profiles and a tomographic experiment. An east-west seismic refraction profile of 400 km length was recorded within the Arunta Block, and suggests an average crustal thickness of 55 km.     

Subsidence, sedimentation and sea-level changes in the Eromanga Basin, Australia

Abstract The Jurassic-Cretaceous subsidence history of the Eromanga Basin, a large intracratonic sedimentary basin in central eastern Australia, has been examined using standard backstripping techniques, allowing for porosity reduction by compaction and cementation. Interpretation of the results suggests that during the Jurassic the basin was subsiding in a manner consistent with the exponentially decreasing form predicted by simple thermally based tectonic models. By the Early Cretaceous, the rate of subsidence was considerably higher than that expected from such models and nearly half of the total sediment thickness was deposited over the final 20 Myr of the basin's 95 Myr Mesozoic depositional history. The Early Cretaceous also marks the first marine incursion into the basin, consistent with global sea-level curves. Subsequently, however, the sediments alternate between marine and non-marine, with up to 1200 m of fluvial sediments being deposited, and this was followed by a depositional hiatus of about 50 Myr in the Late Cretaceous. This occurred at a time when global sea-level was rising to its peak. A model is presented which is consistent with the rapid increase in tectonic subsidence rate and the transgressive-regressive nature of the sediments. The model incorporates a sediment influx which is greater than that predicted by the thermally based tectonic models implied by the Jurassic subsidence history. The excess sedimentation results in the basin region attaining an elevation which exceeds that of the contemporary sea-level, and thereby giving the appearance of a regression. The present day elevation of the region predicted by the model is about 100–200 m above that observed. This discrepancy may arise because the primary tectonic subsidence is better represented by a linear function of time rather than an exponentially decreasing form.     

Role of crustal anisotropy in modifying the structural and sedimentological evolution of extensional basins: the Gamtoos Basin, South Africa

Through the investigation of crustal heterogeneities, sedimentary basin architecture and seismic stratigraphy, we demonstrate how a crust‐scale anisotropy controls the initiation of rifting and the subsequent structural and sedimentological evolution of the Mesozoic Gamtoos Basin, southern South Africa. The results demonstrate that the >90‐km‐long Gamtoos Fault established its length very early in its syn‐rift phase (within ～5 Ma of rift initiation) before accruing over 6 s (two‐way‐travel time (TWT)), or >12 km, of displacement without any significant subsequent increase in length. In addition, there is no evidence at the resolution of the data of fault segmentation, isolated depocentres nor of intra‐basin faults progressively coalescing during the syn‐rift interval. The early establishment of length resulted in a rapid transition from a terrestrial depositional environment to anoxic, deep marine conditions. The Gamtoos Fault has a 90° bend in the fault trace that we propose is inherited from the underlying structure. Immediately adjacent to the bend the basin‐fill is significantly deformed and a high‐amplitude (>1.7s TWT) monoclinal fold is observed. Previous workers proposed that the fold was a consequence of a complex interplay between compression and extension. Through a restoration of the basin‐fill deformation we produce a model that suggests that the fold is a consequence of the accommodation of extension by the unusual plan‐view trace of the fault. The evolution of the basin does not conform to current fault growth models and it is proposed that its unusual and complex development can be attributed to the underlying crustal‐scale anisotropy, a fact that is likely to be important in other areas in which crustal stretching is superimposed on heterogeneous continental crust.     

Changes in Cenozoic depositional environment and sediment provenance in the Danube Basin

The Danube Basin is situated between the Eastern Alps, Western Carpathians and Transdanubian mountain ranges and represents a classic petroleum prospection site. The basin fill is known from many 2D reflection seismic lines and deep wells with measured e‐logs which provided a good opportunity for theories about its evolution. New analyses of deep wells situated in the Danube Basin northeastern margin allowed us to refine stratigraphy and to interpret various depositional systems. This also allowed us to outline changes in provenance of sediment during the Cenozoic. The performed interpretation of the Palaeogene and Neogene depositional systems also confirmed the Oligocene–Early Miocene exhumation of the basin pre‐Neogene basement. Opening and development of the Middle to Late Miocene basin depocentres above the boundary between the Western Carpathians and Northern Pannonian domain was recognized. Our analysis contributed to a better understanding of the Hurbanovo–Diösjenő fault which acts as an inherited weakness zone along the boundary of two crustal fragments with different provenance. We document various basin types stacked one on another (retro‐arc, back‐arc and extensional hinterland basin). The analysis of sediment sources reveals intricate geodynamic processes during the Eastern Alpine–Western Carpathian orogenic system collision with European platform (formation of ALCAPA microplate) and its successive tectonics escape during the Pannonian Basin System origination.     

Differential response of a Devonian-Carboniferous platform-deeper basin system to sea-level change and tectonics, N. Chilean Andes

Deposition of a 2700-m-thick clastic platform succession in a N-S striking basin in northern Chile began in the Early Devonian during a global sea-level rise. A transition to terrestrial facies took place at the Early-Late Carboniferous boundary when the Gondwana glaciation began and global sea-level dropped. On the platform, interbedded cross-bedded or bioturbated sandstones, offshore tidal dunes and sand waves, and mudstones and tempestites suggest switching intertidal and shallow or deep subtidal environments. However, evidence for subaerial erosion indicates a significant regression during the Early Devonian. In an adjacent and deeper N-S striking sub-basin to the W, up to 3600 m of turbidites were deposited from the Late Devonian to the Late Carboniferous by mainly southerly palaeocurrents. Turbidites accumulated in coarse-grained proximal sand lobes in the N, and in fine-grained lobe fringe and basin plain environments in the S, with alternating upward-thinning and upward-thickening cycles typical of tectonically controlled aggradational turbidite systems. The sedimentological data indicate that the deeper basin depositional system evolved to a large extent independently from the platform system. Sediment in the deeper basin is less mature and more poorly sorted than that on the platform, suggesting that detritus bypassed the platform and was shed directly from the source areas into the western basin. The only depositional link between the platform and deeper basin systems seems to be longshore platform currents which may have funnelled minor quantities of mature sand into the deeper basin via bypass canyons. Although platform and deeper basin evolved in a common extensional tectonic setting, the platform reflects eustatic changes of sea-level whereas deposition in the deeper basin records syndepositional tectonics.     

Extension and subsidence of the Pearl River Mouth Basin, northern South China Sea

Abstract The uniform stretching model has been applied to seismic reflection profiles and well-log information from the Pearl River Mouth Basin on the northern flank of the South China Sea. Stretching factors were calculated from subsidence curves determined from the stratigraphy by using the backstripping technique to remove the effects of compaction and sediment loading. Variations in rift topography, palaeobathymetry and global sea-level v/ere taken into account. We argue that the Pearl River Mouth Basin formed by lithospheric extension by a factor of about 1.8, lasting from Late Cretaceous to late Oligocene times. Stretching factors calculated from subsidence agree with those determined from the geometry of normal faulting and from crustal thinning. Thus there is no indication of a significant discrepancy between the different estimates of stretching. The geometry of faulting suggests that considerable amounts of local footwall uplift occurred during the rifting period. Small differences between the observed and calculated subsidence curves (∽ 400 m in the middle Miocene) are best explained by minor amounts of extension ( β ∽ 1.1). The time-temperature history of sediments within the basin has also been calculated so that expected vitrinite reflectance and oil abundance could be determined. The results are consistent with each other and are in reasonable agreement with observations from wells.     

Upper Triassic – Jurassic sequence stratigraphy and its structural controls in the western Ordos Basin, China

Upper Triassic, Lower–Middle Jurassic and Upper Jurassic strata in the western Ordos Basin of North China are interpreted as three unconformity-bounded basin phases, BP-4, BP-5 and BP-6, respectively. The three basin phases were deposited in three kinds of predominantly continental basin: (1) a Late Triassic composite basin with a south-western foreland subbasin and a north-western rift subbasin, (2) an Early–Middle Jurassic sag basin and (3) a Late Jurassic foreland molasse wedge. Within the Late Triassic composite basin BP-4 includes three sequences, S4-1, S4-2 and S4-3. In the south-western foreland subbasin, the three sequences are the depositional response to three episodes of thrust load subsidence, and are mainly composed of alluvial fan, steep-sloped lacustrine delta and fluvial systems in front of a thrust fault-bounded basin flank. In the north-western rift subbasin, the three sequences are the depositional response to three episodes of rift subsidence, and consist of alluvial fan – braid plain and fan delta systems basinward of a normal fault-bounded basin margin. In the sag basin BP-5 includes four sequences, S5-1, S5-2, S5-3 and S5-4, which reflect four episodes of intracratonic sagging events and mainly consist of fluvial, gentle-gradient lacustrine delta and lacustrine systems sourced from peripheral uplifted flanks. BP-6, deposited in the foreland-type basin, includes one sequence, S6-1, which is the depositional response to thrust load subsidence and is composed of alluvial fan systems. The formation and development of these three kinds of basins was controlled by Late Triassic and Jurassic multi-episode tectonism of basin-bounding orogenic belts, which were mainly driven by collision of the North China and South China blocks and subduction of the western Pacific plate.     

Sequence architecture and depositional evolution of the Ordovician carbonate platform margins in the Tarim Basin and its response to tectonism and sea‐level change

The sequence architecture and depositional evolution of the Ordovician carbonate platform margins in the Tarim Basin, China, were formed in response to the interplay of tectonism and sea‐level change, their history being documented by the integrated analysis of many seismic lines, drilling and outcrop data. The Ordovician carbonate system in the basin is divided into four composite sequences defined by major unconformities. Each sequence consists of a regional depositional cycle from transgression with an onlapping transgressive systems tract (TST) to regression with a prograding highstand systems tract (HST), and can be further subdivided into 10 third‐order sequences based on subordinate discontinuous boundaries at the carbonate platform marginal zones. Constrained by the marginal slope of the early‐rifted Manjiaer aulacogen, the carbonate platform margins of the Lower and Middle Ordovician that prograded eastward in an arcuate belt extending generally north‐south across the northern part of the basin. The development of the Tazhong uplift due to compression resulted in an extensive paleokarst hiatus between the Middle and the Upper Ordovician in the south‐central basin, and subsequently constrained the formation of a peninsula‐shaped carbonate platform whose margins were controlled by marginal thrust‐fault belts of the paleo‐uplift during the Late Ordovician. In the northern basin, the Late Ordovician carbonate platform margin developed around the marginal slope of the Tabei paleouplift. The transgressive–regressive cycles of the carbonate system are comparable and seem to have occurred simultaneously across the entire basin, suggesting that the cyclic sequence architecture was fundamentally controlled by eustatic fluctuations. Stacking patterns of the composite sequences varied due to the interplay between the accommodation produced by tectonism and sea‐level change, and the carbonate production rate. The reef–shoal facies complexes that developed along the platform margins, with paleokarst development at unconformities, constitute the major reservoir of large petroleum reserves in the basin.     

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.     

Rifting and pre‐rift lithosphere variability in the Orphan Basin,Newfoundland margin,Eastern Canada

The Orphan Basin, lying along the Newfoundland rifted continental margin, formed in Mesozoic time during the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean and the breakup of Iberia/Eurasia from North America. To investigate the evolution of the Orphan Basin and the factors that governed its formation, we (i) analysed the stratigraphic and crustal architecture documented by seismic data (courtesy of TGS), (ii) quantified the tectonic and thermal subsidence along a constructed geological transect, and (iii) used forward numerical modelling to understand the state of the pre‐rift lithosphere and the distribution of deformation during rifting. Our study shows that the pre‐rift lithosphere was 200‐km thick and rheologically strong (150‐km‐thick elastic plate) prior to rifting. It also indicates that extension in the Orphan Basin occurred in three distinct phases during the Jurassic, the Early Cretaceous and the Late Cretaceous. Each rifting phase is characterized by a specific crustal and subcrustal thinning configuration. Crustal deformation initiated in the eastern part of the basin during the Jurassic and migrated to the west during the Cretaceous. It was coupled with a subcrustal thinning which was reduced underneath the eastern domain and very intense in the western domains of the basin. The spatial and temporal distribution of thinning and the evolution of the lithosphere rheology through time controlled the tectonic, stratigraphic and crustal architecture that we observe today in the Orphan Basin.     

Rift-phase extensional fabrics of the back-arc Drummond Basin, eastern Australia

The base of the Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous Drummond Basin, a major backarc extensional feature in eastern Australia which formed in response to detachment faulting, is extensively exposed in central Queensland. Here a crystalline basin floor is overlain by the Silver Hills Volcanics, a synrift sequence of predominantly silicic ash flow tuffs and lavas ranging to over 2 km in thickness. Detailed mapping of faults and stratigraphic logging of thickness changes within the Silver Hills Volcanics have allowed the rift-phase structural architecture that accompanied initial subsidence near the basin margin to be resolved. A complex mosaic of block faults with throws of up to 1 km is indicated. Locally developed mosaics may conform to, or depart from, the configuration predicted by the detachment faulting model. Structural fabric of the basement was a critical determinant of the extensional geometry. Distributed shear along pre-existing penetrative planar fabrics is considered to have accommodated hangingwall extension at lower strain rates whereas the propagation of tension fractures and the development of block faults by failure on pre-existing, brittle, basement dislocations facilitated extension at higher strain rates. The detachment fault inferred to lie beneath the extended hangingwall carapace has not been mapped at the surface and is thought to dissipate into a broad zone of distributed shear within basement to the east of the basin. Volcanism coincided with the initiation of extensional movements at which time deep crustal repositories for evolved magma were tapped by extensional fractures. The main extensional faults cutting the basinal succession were not used as conduits for magmatic products which were sourced from the basin margin and from extended hinterland to the east.     

Impact of structural and autocyclic basin-floor topography on the depositional evolution of the deep-water Valparaiso forearc basin, central Chile

The Valparaiso Basin constitutes a unique and prominent deep‐water forearc basin underlying a 40‐km by 60‐km mid‐slope terrace at 2.5‐km water depth on the central Chile margin. Seismic‐reflection data, collected as part of the CONDOR investigation, image a 3–3.5‐km thick sediment succession that fills a smoothly sagged, margin‐parallel, elongated trough at the base of the upper slope. In response to underthrusting of the Juan Fernández Ridge on the Nazca plate, the basin fill is increasingly deformed in the seaward direction above seaward‐vergent outer forearc compressional highs. Syn‐depositional growth of a large margin‐parallel monoclinal high in conjunction with sagging of the inner trough of the basin created stratal geometries similar to those observed in forearc basins bordered by large accretionary prisms. Margin‐parallel compressional ridges diverted turbidity currents along the basin axis and exerted a direct control on sediment depositional processes. As structural depressions became buried, transverse input from point sources on the adjacent upper slope formed complex fan systems with sediment waves characterising the overbank environment, common on many Pleistocene turbidite systems. Mass failure as a result of local topographic inversion formed a prominent mass‐flow deposit, and ultimately resulted in canyon formation and hence a new focused point source feeding the basin. The Valparaiso Basin is presently filled to the spill point of the outer forearc highs, causing headward erosion of incipient canyons into the basin fill and allowing bypass of sediment to the Chile Trench. Age estimates that are constrained by subduction‐related syn‐depositional deformation of the upper 700–800 m of the basin fill suggest that glacio‐eustatic sea‐level lowstands, in conjunction with accelerated denudation rates, within the past 350 ka may have contributed to the increase in simultaneously active point sources along the upper slope as well as an increased complexity of proximal depositional facies.     

Controls on Late Jurassic seismic sequences, Inner Moray Firth, UK North Sea: a critical test of a key segment of Exxon's original global cycle chart

A new interpretation of a comprehensive seismic- and well-database has resulted in the subdivision of the Mesozoic into four, basin-wide, seismo-stratigraphic depositional megasequences in the Inner Moray Firth (IMF) basin. Regional mapping of the megasequences has led to the construction of a new model for Mesozoic-Recent basin development in the IMF. It now appears that extensional tectonics was the main control on the basin's evolution during the Mesozoic. Structural geometries suggest that both the Triassic (Tr) and Rhaetian-mid Oxfordian (Jl) megasequences were controlled by regional broad-based subsidence associated with local extensional fault activity prior to the onset of renewed rifting in the IMF. In contrast, the late Oxfordian-Ryazanian (Berriasian; J2) megasequence developed in response to active extension characterised by half-graben development. Subsequent Early Cretaceous (Kl) deposition appears to have occurred during a further period of broad regional (thermal) subsidence. It is evident that strike-slip movement on the Great Glen Fault played a negligible role in Mesozoic basin development and it appears only to have had a local control on structural styles during its reactivation in the Tertiary as it accommodated regional uplift and basin inversion. Further subdivision of the J2 megasequence was possible using biostratigraphically-controlled seismic reflector terminations and led to the definition of five regional seismo-stratigraphic sequences (J2.1–2.5). Their geometric, thickness and sedimentary facies variations imply that the onlap-defined sequence boundaries within the late Oxfordian-Ryazanian (Berriasian; J2) megasequence were caused by syn-sedimentary extensional tectonism in a fully marine domain, rather than by fluctuations in global sea-level in a basin that was relatively quiescent tectonically. The new interpretation has particular significance in view of the fact that the Late Jurassic of the IMF was used by Exxon workers to construct part of their chart demonstrating relative changes of coastal onlap and global eustatic sea levels. As they considered that data from the area showed ‘no evidence that tectonics caused the unconformities’, the new interpretation casts doubt on the global applicability of the Late Jurassic section of Exxon's original sea-level chart. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that reflector terminations within both tectonically active and/or fully marine sequences should be treated with extreme caution and not be used to define either periods of apparent low-stand or coastal onlap. Indeed, their appearance may sometimes only represent relatively local, auto- and allo-cyclic sedimentary processes such as submarine fan avulsion or channel switching, unrelated to changes in sea-level. Finally, the work shows that care must be taken in the selection of seismic lines used to establish and illustrate the nature of depositional sequences and their geometries if pitfalls are to be avoided.     

The Tajik Basin: A composite record of sedimentary basin evolution in response to tectonics in the Pamir

Investigation of a >6-km-thick succession of Cretaceous to Cenozoic sedimentary rocks in the Tajik Basin reveals that this depocentre consists of three stacked basin systems that are interpreted to reflect different mechanisms of subsidence associated with tectonics in the Pamir Mountains: a Lower to mid-Cretaceous succession, an Upper Cretaceous–Lower Eocene succession and an Eocene–Neogene succession. The Lower to mid-Cretaceous succession consists of fluvial deposits that were primarily derived from the Triassic Karakul–Mazar subduction–accretion complex in the northern Pamir. This succession is characterized by a convex-up (accelerating) subsidence curve, thickens towards the Pamir and is interpreted as a retroarc foreland basin system associated with northward subduction of Tethyan oceanic lithosphere. The Upper Cretaceous to early Eocene succession consists of fine-grained, marginal marine and sabkha deposits. The succession is characterized by a concave-up subsidence curve. Regionally extensive limestone beds in the succession are consistent with late stage thermal relaxation and relative sea-level rise following lithospheric extension, potentially in response to Tethyan slab rollback/foundering. The Upper Cretaceous–early Eocene succession is capped by a middle Eocene to early Oligocene (ca. 50–30 Ma) disconformity, which is interpreted to record the passage of a flexural forebulge. The disconformity is represented by a depositional hiatus, which is 10–30 Myr younger than estimates for the initiation of India–Asia collision and overlaps in age with the start of prograde metamorphism recorded in the Pamir gneiss domes. Overlying the disconformity, a >4-km-thick upper Eocene–Neogene succession displays a classic, coarsening upward unroofing sequence characterized by accelerating subsidence, which is interpreted as a retro-foreland basin associated with crustal thickening of the Pamir during India–Asia collision. Thus, the Tajik Basin provides an example of a long-lived composite basin in a retrowedge position that displays a sensitivity to plate margin processes. Subsidence, sediment accumulation and basin-forming mechanisms are influenced by subduction dynamics, including periods of slab-shallowing and retreat.     

Early Tertiary palaeoenvironments and sedimentation in the NE Main Porcupine Basin (well 35/13–1), offshore western Ireland?evidence for global change in the Tertiary

Shell-Agip 35/13–1 well drilled 2445 m of Tertiary sediments in the Main Porcupine Basin situated offshore west of Ireland. Early Tertiary sediments and microfossils indicate a major cycle from deep-sea to marginal marine and terrestrial palaeoenvironments returning to deep water. By means of seismic and lithostratigraphy and petrophysical logs, three deltaic cycles can be distinguished within this major cycle. The microfaunal zonation indicates that these cycles are of late Palaeocene, early Eocene and mid/late Eocene age and, therefore, correlate broadly with the Thanet Cycle, London Clay Cycle and the Bracklesham Cycles of the Anglo-French type sections, although they are up to an order of magnitude thicker due to rapid basin subsidence. Three major unconformities can be distinguished together with a disconformity that becomes an unconformity in the North Porcupine Basin. These surfaces are associated with both local and regional tectonic and igneous events. Detailed microfossil and lithological analyses across the major unconformities allows a reasonable matching with the global sea-level curve and recognition of the major and medium sequence boundaries. Discrepancies during the late Eocene may relate to local faulting. The pattern of sedimentation reflects the restriction of North Atlantic circulation and the tendency to euxinic bottom conditions during the early Palaeogene. In the middle Thanetian these conditions invaded the shelf, an event recorded elsewhere in NW Europe. Discontinuous seismic reflectors indicate ‘chaotic’ sedimentation connected with more vigorous circulation and erosion in the early Oligocene. This was followed by a change to parallel bedded contourites and drifts after the cutting of the early Miocene unconformity. The study reveals the complex interplay of eustatic and oceanographic change with local and regional tectonics in the development of the basin.