Biofaciological zonation of benthic foraminifera of the continental shelf of Campos Basin, SE Brazil

The results of identifying and studying micropaleontological samples from the Quaternary sediments in the Tu Chinh - Vung May marine areas (1) and some coral reef islands of Truong Sa archipelago (2) have found more than 300 species of Benthic foraminifera, in which 291 species have been studied and described in detail, belonging to 112 genera, 43 families, 5 orders and 3 classes of the phylum Foraminifera. Among them, there are 19 new species, 3 new subspecies and 3 new genera. In the first region there are 195 species and the second one - 121 species (including 25 common species for both regions). They have important significations in the stratigraphic-biostratigraphic, ecological, paleogeographic studies, in sedimentary lithology... Regarding stratigraphy, the characteristic of Pleistocene is the first emergence of four genera: Baculogypsina, Cymbaloporetta, Parasorites, and Schlumbergerella; for Holocene - the appearance of the following genera: Ammomassilina, Baulogypsinoides, Cymbaloporella, Falsotextularia, Fijiella, Flintina, Gyroidina, Lugdunum, Neoconorbina, Planoperculina, Ptychomiliolata, Pseudoflintina, Pseudomassilina, Sahulia, Schlumbergerina, Septotextularia, Siphoniferoides, Tawitawia and Truongsaia. These fossils are the basis for dating sediment age, Quaternary stratigraphic division and correlation. In terms of paleoecology, benthic Foraminifera in the region (1) characterize the shallow offshore environment of the continental shelf, where there are the high and stable salinity, and the relatively strong environmental dynamics; in some places there are coral reef Foraminifera populations. In the region (2), they characterize the coral reef ecosystem of shallow and warm sea areas in the belt of tropical-subtropical climate of the Earth, where the salinity is high and stable, the transparency of water is high, and the environmental dynamics is relatively strong to strong... In addition, the paper also mentioned some other issues such as paleogeography (sea-level fluctuation), value of creating sediments of Foraminifera, environmental monitoring (for modern Foraminifera).

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Pre-salt rift morphology controls salt tectonics in the Campos Basin, offshore SE Brazil

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-3263 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Francyne B. Amarante ◽

Christopher A-L. Jackson ◽

Leonardo M. Pichel ◽

Claiton M. S. Scherer ◽

Juliano Kuchle

Keyword(s):

Hydrocarbon Exploration ◽

Passive Margin ◽

Salt Tectonics ◽

Borehole Data ◽

Temporal And Spatial Distribution ◽

South Central ◽

Campos Basin ◽

Se Brazil ◽

Gravity Driven ◽

Base Salt

<p>Salt-bearing passive margin basins offshore SE Brazil have been and remain attractive for hydrocarbon exploration and production. In the Campos Basin, major reservoir types include post-salt turbidites, which are located in structural traps related to thin-skinned faulting above salt anticlines and rollers. Classic models of gravity-driven salt tectonics commonly depict kinematically linked zones of deformation, characterised by updip extension and downdip contraction, separated by a weakly deformed zone associated with downdip translation above a relatively smooth base-salt surface. We use 2D and 3D seismic reflection and borehole data from the south-central Campos Basin to show that this does not adequately capture the styles of salt-detached gravity-driven deformation above relict, rift-related relief. The base-salt surface is composed of elongated, broadly seaward-dipping ramps with structural relief reaching c. 2 km. These ramps define the boundary between the External High and the External Low, basement structures related to the rift tectonics. Local deformation associated with the base-salt ramps can overprint and/or influence regional, margin-scale patterns of deformation producing kinematically-variable and multiphase salt deformation. We define three domains of thin-skinned deformation: an updip extensional domain, subdivided into subdomains E1 and E2, an intermediate multiphase domain and a downdip contractional domain. The multiphase domain is composed of three types of salt structures with a hybrid extensional-contractional origin and evolution. These are: (i) contractional anticlines that were subjected to later extension and normal faulting; (ii) diapirs with passive and active growth later subjected to regional extension, developing landward-dipping normal faults on the landward flank; and, lastly, (iii) an extensional diapir that was subsequently squeezed. We argue that this multiphase style of deformation occurs as a consequence of base-salt geometry and relief creating local variations of salt flow that localize extension at the top and along the ramps, and contraction at the base. Translation and extension of salt and its overburden across major base-salt ramps resulted in three ramp syncline basins northeast of the study area, partially bounded by salt-detached listric faults. The temporal and spatial distribution and evolution of these and other key salt and overburden structures, and their relationship to base-salt relief, suggest 30 to 60 km of horizontal gravity-driven translation of salt and overburden.</p>

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