Basin Research - Volume 28, Issue 2, 2016

The continuous Cenozoic strata in the Xining Basin record the growth and evolution of the northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Here, the mechanisms and evolution of the Xining Basin during the Cenozoic were investigated by studying the sedimentary facies of 22 Cenozoic sections across the basin and detrital zircon U‐Pb ages of three Cenozoic sections located in the eastern, central and western basin, respectively. In the Eocene (ca. 50–44 Ma), the India‐Eurasia Collision affected the northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. The Central Qilian Block rotated clockwise by ca. 24° to form the Xining Basin. The Triassic flysch sediments surrounding the basin were the primary sources of sediment. Between ca. 44–40 Ma, the basin enlarged and deepened, and sedimentation was dominated by saline lake sediments. Between ca. 40–25.5 Ma, the Xining Basin began to shrink and dry, resulting in the deposition of saline pan and saline mudflat sediments in the basin. After ca. 20 Ma, the Laji Shan to the south of the Xining Basin was uplifted due to the northward compression of the Guide Basin to the south. Clasts that eroded from this range dominated the sediments as the basin evolved from a lacustrine environment into a fluvial system. The Xining Basin was an extensional basin in the Early Cenozoic, but changed into a compressive one during the Late Cenozoic, it was not a foreland basin either to the Kunlun Shan or to the western Qinling Shan in the whole Cenozoic. The formation and deformation of the Xining Basin are the direct responses of the India‐Eurasia Collision and the growth of the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau.

The Andean Orogen is the type‐example of an active Cordilleran style margin with a long‐lived retroarc fold‐and‐thrust belt and foreland basin. Timing of initial shortening and foreland basin development in Argentina is diachronous along‐strike, with ages varying by 20–30 Myr. The Neuquén Basin (32°S to 40°S) contains a thick sedimentary sequence ranging in age from late Triassic to Cenozoic, which preserves a record of rift, back arc and foreland basin environments. As much of the primary evidence for initial uplift has been overprinted or covered by younger shortening and volcanic activity, basin strata provide the most complete record of early mountain building. Detailed sedimentology and new maximum depositional ages obtained from detrital zircon U–Pb analyses from the Malargüe fold‐and‐thrust belt (35°S) record a facies change between the marine evaporites of the Huitrín Formation (ca. 122 Ma) and the fluvial sandstones and conglomerates of the Diamante Formation (ca. 95 Ma). A 25–30 Myr unconformity between the Huitrín and Diamante formations represents the transition from post‐rift thermal subsidence to forebulge erosion during initial flexural loading related to crustal shortening and uplift along the magmatic arc to the west by at least 97 ± 2 Ma. This change in basin style is not marked by any significant difference in provenance and detrital zircon signature. A distinct change in detrital zircons, sandstone composition and palaeocurrent direction from west‐directed to east‐directed occurs instead in the middle Diamante Formation and may reflect the Late Cretaceous transition from forebulge derived sediment in the distal foredeep to proximal foredeep material derived from the thrust belt to the west. This change in palaeoflow represents the migration of the forebulge, and therefore, of the foreland basin system between 80 and 90 Ma in the Malargüe area.

A revised stratigraphic framework for the Messinian succession of Cyprus is proposed demonstrating that the three‐stage model for the Messinian salinity crisis recently established for the Western Mediterranean also applies to the Eastern Mediterranean, at least for its marginal basins. This analysis is based on a multidisciplinary study of the Messinian evaporites and associated deposits exposed in the Polemi, Pissouri, Maroni/Psematismenos and Mesaoria basins. Here, we document for the first time that the base of the unit usually referred to the ‘Lower Evaporites’ in Cyprus does not actually correspond to the onset of the Messinian salinity crisis. The basal surface of this unit rather corresponds to a regional‐scale unconformity, locally associated with an angular discordance, and is related to the erosion and resedimentation of primary evaporites deposited during the first stage of the Messinian salinity crisis. This evidence suggests that the ‘Lower Evaporites’ of the southern basins of Cyprus actually belong to the second stage of the Messinian salinity crisis; they can be thus ascribed to the Resedimented Lower Gypsum unit that was deposited between 5.6 and 5.5 Ma and is possibly coeval to the halite deposited in the northern Mesaoria basin. Primary, in situ evaporites of the first stage of the Messinian salinity crisis were not preserved in Cyprus basins. Conversely, shallow‐water primary evaporites deposited during the third stage of the Messinian salinity crisis are well preserved; these deposits can be regarded as the equivalent of the Upper Gypsum of Sicily. Our study documents that the Messinian stratigraphy shows many similarities between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean marginal basins, implying a common and likely coeval development of the Messinian salinity crisis. This could be reflected also in intermediate and deep‐water basins; we infer that the Lower Evaporites seismic unit in the deep Eastern Mediterranean basins could well be mainly composed of clastic evaporites and that its base could correspond to the Messinian erosional surface.

Located at the southern edge of the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, the Central Myanmar Basin (CMB) is divided into several Tertiary sub‐basins that have been almost continuously filled since the Indo‐Asia collision. They are currently drained by the Irrawaddy River, which flows down the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the Sino‐Burman Ranges. Tracing sediment provenance from the CMB is thus critical for reconstructing the past denudation of the Himalayan‐Tibetan orogen; it is especially relevant since a popular drainage scenario involves the capture of the Tsangpo drainage system in Tibet by a precursor to the Irrawaddy River. Here, we document the provenance of sediment samples from the Minbu Sub‐Basin at the southern edge of the CMB, which is traversed by the modern stream of the Irrawaddy River. Samples ranging in age from middle Eocene to Pleistocene were investigated using Nd isotopes, trace element geochemistry and sandstone modal compositions. Our data provide no evidence of a dramatic provenance shift; however, sandstone petrography, trace element ratios and isotopic values display long‐term trends indicating a gradual decrease of the volcanic input and its replacement by a dominant supply from the Burmese basement. These trends are interpreted to reflect the progressive denudation of the Andean‐type volcanic arc that extended onto the Burmese margin, along the flank of the modern Sino‐Burman Ranges, where most of the post‐collisional deformation of central Myanmar is located. Though our results do not exclude an ephemeral or diluted contribution from a past Tsangpo‐Irrawaddy connection, sedimentation rates suggest that this hypothesis is unlikely before the development of a stable Tsangpo‐Brahmaputra River in the Miocene. These results thus suggest that the central Myanmar drainage basin has remained restricted to the Sino‐Burman Ranges since the beginning of the India‐Asia collision.

Geothermal resources hosted within sedimentary basins with high natural permeability have been targeted for the production of energy in Australia. The Hutton Sandstone (Cooper‐Eromanga Basin) – a prolific oil and gas producer known to have good reservoir quality and high reservoir volume – was recently tested for its geothermal potential in the Cooper Region. However, recent exploratory drilling did not produce the anticipated flow rates, raising the question of the impact of diagenesis on the reservoir quality of this sedimentary formation. The combined characterization of the petrology, diagenesis and petrophysical properties of the Hutton Sandstone at Celsius‐1 and other surrounding wells indicates variable reservoir properties in the Cooper Region. This integrated study demonstrates that low formation permeability occurs at geothermal target depth and explains the negligible flow rates obtained at Celsius‐1. These low permeabilities are the results of the preservation of widespread detrital clayey matrix and the extensive occurrence of authigenic kaolinite, illite and silica cements at the top and base of the Hutton Sandstone. This aspect is confirmed by NMR T2 transversal relaxation time becoming shorter at similar depths. Petrography analysis also reveals that sandstones are affected by diagenetic processes of the eogenetic and mesogenetic phases. However, the Hutton Sandstone at Celsius‐1 is presently at pressure‐temperature conditions that are below the mesogenetic conditions, which suggests a late episode of uplift and cooling from maximum palaeotemperatures.

The North Sakhalin Basin in the western Sea of Okhotsk has been the main site of sedimentation from the Amur River since the Early Miocene. In this article, we present regional seismic reflection data and a Neogene–Recent sediment budget to constrain the evolution of the basin and its sedimentary fill, and consider the implications for sediment flux from the Amur River, in particular testing models of continental‐scale Neogene drainage capture. The Amur‐derived basin‐fill history can be divided into five distinct stages: the first Amur‐derived sediments (>21–16.5 Ma) were deposited during a period of transtension along the Sakhalin‐Hokkaido Shear Zone, with moderately high sediment flux to the basin (71 Mt year⁻¹). The second stage sequence (16.5–10.4 Ma) was deposited following the cessation of transtension, and was characterised by a significant reduction in sediment flux (24 Mt year⁻¹) and widespread retrogradation of deltaic sediments. The third (10.4–5.3 Ma) and fourth (5.3–2.5 Ma) stages were characterised by progradation of deltaic sediments and an associated increase in sediment flux (48–60 Mt year⁻¹) to the basin. Significant uplift associated with regional transpression started during this time in southeastern Sakhalin, but the north‐eastward propagating strain did not reach the NE shelf of Sakhalin until the Pleistocene (<2.5 Ma). This uplift event, still ongoing today, resulted in recycling of older deltaic sediments from the island of Sakhalin, and contributed to a substantially increased total sediment flux to the adjacent basinal areas (165 Mt year⁻¹). Adjusted rates to discount these local erosional products (117 Mt year⁻¹) imply an Amur catchment‐wide increase in denudation rates during the Late Pliocene–Pleistocene; however, this was likely a result of global climatic and eustatic effects, combined with tectonic processes within the Amur catchment and possibly a smaller drainage capture event by the Sungari tributary, rather than continental‐scale drainage capture involving the entire upper Amur catchment.