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- Volume 22, Issue 3, 2010
Basin Research - Volume 22, Issue 3, 2010
Volume 22, Issue 3, 2010
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Late Cenozoic structural and stratigraphic evolution of the northern Chinese Tian Shan foreland
Authors Honghua Lu, Douglas W. Burbank, Youli Li and Yunming LiuABSTRACTThree successive zones of fault‐related folds disrupt the proximal part of the northern Tian Shan foreland in NW China. A new magnetostratigraphy of the Taxi He section on the north limb of the Tugulu anticline in the middle deformed zone clarifies the chronology of both tectonic deformation and depositional evolution of this collisional mountain belt. Our ∼1200‐m‐thick section encompasses the upper Cenozoic terrigenous sequence within which ∼300 sampling horizons yield an age span of ∼8–2 Ma. Although the basal age in the Taxi He section of the Xiyu conglomerate (often cited as an indicator of initial deformation) is ∼2.1 Ma, much earlier growth of the Tugulu anticline is inferred from growth strata dated at ∼6.0 Ma. Folding of Neogene strata and angular unconformities in anticlines in the more proximal and distal deformed zones indicate deformation during Miocene and Early Pleistocene times, respectively. In the Taxi He area, sediment‐accumulation rates significantly accelerate at ∼4 Ma, apparently in response to encroaching thrust loads. Together, growth strata, angular unconformities, and sediment‐accumulation rates document the northward migration of tectonic deformation into the northern Tian Shan foreland basin during the late Cenozoic. A progradational alluvial–lacustrine system associated with this northward progression is subdivided into two facies associations at Tugulu: a shallow lacustrine environment before ∼5.9 Ma and an alluvial fan environment subsequently. The lithofacies progradation encompasses the time‐transgressive Xiyu conglomerate deposits, which should only be recognized as a lithostratigraphic unit. Along the length of the foreland, the locus of maximum shortening shifts between the medial and proximal zones of folding, whereas the total shortening across the foreland remains quite homogeneous along strike, suggesting spatially steady tectonic forcing since late Miocene times.
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Pliocene onset of rapid exhumation in Taiwan during arc–continent collision: new insights from detrital thermochronometry
Authors L. A. Kirstein, M. G. Fellin, S. D. Willett, A. Carter, Y.‐ G. Chen, J. I. Garver and D. C. LeeABSTRACTThe Coastal Range in eastern Taiwan contains the remnants of the Pliocene–Pleistocene retro‐foredeep basin of the ongoing Penglai orogeny. These sedimentary successions record the earliest exhumation of the Central Range, Taiwan. We dated detrital Plio‐Pleistocene sediments in the Coastal Range using multiple thermochronometers [fission‐track, zircon (U–Th)/He and U/Pb dating] to document changes in exhumation rate through time. Fission‐track grain ages in 2–4‐Myr‐old sediments were not reset by the Penglai orogeny and reflect the early stage removal of the sedimentary cover. This early stage, when exhumation rates were low, could encompass both the accretionary wedge phase of the orogen and the early arc–continent collision. Sediments younger than 2‐Myr‐old yield Pliocene zircon fission‐track grain ages and suggest that exhumation, transport and deposition occurred within 0.4–1.5 Myr. The recorded onset of rapid exhumation in the Pliocene is contemporaneous with other major tectonic changes in the region, including an increase in subsidence rate in both the pro‐ and retro‐foredeep basins and a change in the wedge kinematics from internal shortening to underplating.
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Steering of experimental channels by lateral basin tilting
Authors Wonsuck Kim, Ben A. Sheets and Chris PaolaABSTRACTA major issue in tectonics and sedimentation is the role of cross‐stream tectonic tilting in steering channels. The general idea is that channels will be attracted to lateral maxima in subsidence rate. A physical experiment performed in 1999 at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, however, was in conflict with the idea and showed that fluvial channels and resulting stratigraphy can be insensitive to even relatively strong lateral variation in subsidence. Here, we present results from an experiment which uses a simplified relay‐ramp geometry with laterally variable uplift and subsidence to test a hypothesis developed from the earlier experiment: Tectonic tilting steers channels only when the ratio of the time scales describing lateral channel mobility to tectonic deformation is sufficiently large. Occupation time by experimental channels and sand fraction in the deposit (a proxy for channel deposition) both increase with subsidence rate indicating strong steering of channels by tectonic forcing. We also found that, due to local incision, uplift lengthened the time scale for lateral channel migration relative to subsidence. Comparing channel mobility at the beginning of the experiment, with no tectonic forcing, to later tectonic stages of the experiment indicates that active tectonics increased the channel time scale. The interplay of channel steering with uplift and subsidence led to cyclic appearance and disappearance of an autogenic lake in the hanging‐wall basin. This lake was associated with alternation between channels going around vs. across the adjoining upstream uplifted footwall region. This creation and filling of the lake under constant tectonic forcing (constant fault slip rate) in the hanging wall created subaerial fan‐delta parasequences separated by fluvial deposits.
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Basin evolution, diagenesis and uranium mineralization in the Paleoproterozic Thelon Basin, Nunavut, Canada
Authors Eric E. Hiatt, Sarah E. Palmer, T. Kurt Kyser and Terrence K. O'ConnorABSTRACTThe Paleoproterozoic (Statherian) Thelon Basin is located in the Churchill Province of the Canadian Shield, formed following the Trans‐Hudson Orogeny. Basin formation followed an interval of felsic volcanism and weathering of underlying bedrock. The diagenetic evolution of the Thelon lasted about one billion years and was punctuated by fluid movement influenced by tectonic events. Early quartz cements formed in well‐sorted, quartz‐rich facies during diagenetic stage 1; fluids in which these overgrowths formed had δ18O values near 0‰ (Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water). Uranium‐rich apatite cement (P1) also formed during diagenetic stage 1 indicating that oxygenated, uranium‐bearing pore water was present in the basin early in its diagenetic history. Syntaxial quartz cement (Q1) formed in water with δ18O from −4 to −0.8‰ in diagenetic stage 2. Diagenetic stage 3 occurred when the Thelon Formation was at ca. 5 km depth, and was marked by extensive illitization, alteration of detrital grains, and uranium mineralization. Basin‐wide, illite crystallized at ∼200 °C by fluids with δ18O values of 5–9‰ and δD values of −60 to −31‰, consistent with evolved basinal brines. Tectonism caused by the accretion of Nena at ca. 1600 Ma may have provided the mechanism for brine movement during deep burial. Diagenetic stage 4 is associated with fracturing and emplacement of mafic dikes at ca. 1300 Ma, quartz cement (Q3) in fractures and vugs, further illitization, and recrystallization of uraninite (U2). Q3 cements have fluid inclusions that suggest variable salinities, δ18O values of 1.5–9‰, and δD values of −97 to −83‰ for stage 4 brines. K‐feldspar and Mg‐chlorite formed during diagenetic stage 5 at ca. 1000 Ma in upper stratigraphic sequences, and in the west. These phases precipitated from low‐temperature, isotopically distinct fluids. Their distribution indicates that the basin hydrostratigraphy remained partitioned for >600 Ma.
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Mudstone compaction curves in basin modelling: a study of Mesozoic and Cenozoic Sediments in the northern North Sea
Authors Ø. Marcussen, J. I. Faleide, J. Jahren and K. BjørlykkeABSTRACTBasin modelling studies are carried out in order to understand the basin evolution and palaeotemperature history of sedimentary basins. The results of basin modelling are sensitive to changes in the physical properties of the rocks in the sedimentary sequences. The rate of basin subsidence depends, to a large extent, on the density of the sedimentary column, which is largely dependent on the porosity and therefore on the rate of compaction. This study has tested the sensitivity of varying porosity/depth curves and related thermal conductivities for the Cenozoic succession along a cross‐section in the northern North Sea basin, offshore Norway. End‐member porosity/depth curves, assuming clay with smectite and kaolinite properties, are compared with a standard compaction curve for shale normally applied to the North Sea. Using these alternate relationships, basin geometries of the Cenozoic succession may vary up to 15% from those predicted using the standard compaction curve. Isostatic subsidence along the cross‐section varies 2.3–4.6% between the two end‐member cases. This leads to a 3–8% difference in tectonic subsidence, with maximum values in the basin centre. Owing to this, the estimated stretching factors vary up to 7.8%, which further gives rise to a maximum difference in heat flow of more than 8.5% in the basin centre. The modelled temperatures for an Upper Jurassic source rock show a deviation of more than 20 °C at present dependent on the thermal conductivity properties in the post‐rift succession. This will influence the modelled hydrocarbon generation history of the basin, which is an essential output from basin modelling analysis. Results from the northern North Sea have shown that varying compaction trends in sediments with varying thermal properties are important parameters to constrain when analysing sedimentary basins.
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Volumes & issues
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Volume 36 (2024)
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Volume 35 (2023)
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Volume 34 (2022)
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Volume 33 (2021)
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Volume 32 (2020)
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Volume 31 (2019)
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Volume 30 (2018)
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Volume 29 (2017)
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Volume 28 (2016)
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Volume 27 (2015)
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Volume 26 (2014)
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Volume 25 (2013)
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Volume 24 (2012)
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Volume 23 (2011)
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Volume 22 (2010)
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Volume 21 (2009)
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Volume 20 (2008)
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Volume 19 (2007)
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Volume 18 (2006)
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Volume 17 (2005)
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Volume 16 (2004)
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Volume 15 (2003)
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Volume 14 (2002)
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Volume 13 (2001)
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Volume 12 (2000)
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Volume 11 (1999)
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Volume 10 (1998)
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Volume 9 (1997)
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Volume 8 (1996)
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Volume 7 (1994)
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Volume 6 (1994)
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Volume 5 (1993)
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Volume 4 (1992)
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Volume 3 (1991)
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Volume 2 (1989)
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Volume 1 (1988)