Magnetostratigraphic study of a Late Cretaceous−Paleogene succession in the eastern Xining basin, NE Tibet: Constraint on the timing of major tectonic events in response to the India-Eurasia collision

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi-Cheng He ◽  
Yue-Qiao Zhang ◽  
Shao-Kai Li ◽  
Kai Wang ◽  
Jian-Qing Ji
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Early Miocene ◽  
Foreland Basins ◽  
Southern Tibet ◽  
Tectonic Transition ◽  
History Of ◽  
Xining Basin

Cretaceous-Cenozoic basins developed in the NE Tibetan Plateau contain key archives to unravel the growth history of the plateau in response to the India-Eurasia collision. Here we present magnetostratigraphic results of a Late Cretaceous to Paleogene succession of the Zhongba section outcropping at the southern margin of the eastern Xining basin. This succession consists of three lithological units punctuated by two stratigraphic unconformities, which best recorded the deformation history of this foreland basin. Detailed magnetostratigraphic investigation show that the lower terrestrial sedimentary rock unit, the Minhe Group, was deposited in latest Cretaceous in the time span of ca. 74.5−69.2 Ma; the middle unit was deposited in Paleogene in the time span of ca. 49.3−22 Ma; and the upper conglomeratic unit, not dated, possibly was deposited in early Miocene. Accordingly, the Cretaceous−Paleogene unconformity, widely observed in the foreland basins of NE Tibet, represents a sedimentary hiatus duration of ∼19.9 m.y., from ca. 69.2 Ma to ca. 49.3 Ma, which possibly recorded the far-field response to the tectonic transition from Neo-Tethys oceanic plate subduction to the India-Eurasia collision in southern Tibet. Changes in provenance, sedimentary accumulation rate, and mean susceptibility value at ca. 33−30 Ma, and the total prolate anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) ellipsoids and provenance shifting since ca. 23−19 Ma, point to the pulsed growth of West Qinling, and rapid uplift of Laji Shan, respectively, indicating an enhanced effect of the India-Eurasia collision in Oligocene and early Miocene. AMS results show a clockwise rotation of the shortening direction from NEN-SWS in latest Cretaceous to NE-SW in Paleogene.

REGIONAL SUBSURFACE MAPPING AND 3D FLEXURAL MODELING OF THE OBLIQUELY-CONVERGING PUTUMAYO FORELAND BASIN, SOUTHERN COLOMBIA

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-115
Author(s):  
Luis Pachón-Parra ◽  
Paul Mann ◽  
Nestor Cardozo
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
South American ◽  
Foreland Basins ◽  
Mountain Front ◽  
Early Paleocene ◽  
Exploratory Wells ◽  
Basement High ◽  
Mountain Chain ◽  
Flexural Modeling

The Putumayo foreland basin (PFB) is an underexplored, hydrocarbon-bearing basin located in southernmost Colombia. The PFB forms a 250-km long segment of the 7000-km-long corridor of Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic foreland basins produced by eastward thrusting of the Andean mountain chain over Precambrian rocks of the South American craton. We use ∼4000 km of 2D seismic data tied to 28 exploratory wells to describe the basin-wide structure and stratigraphy of an underexplored hydrocarbon basin. Based on seismic interpretation and comparison with published works from the southward continuation of the PFB into Peru and Ecuador, three main across-strike, structural zones include: 1) the 20-km-wide, Western structural zone closest to the Andean mountain front characterized by inversion of older, Jurassic half-grabens during the late Miocene; 2) the 45-km-wide, Central structural zone characterized by moderately-inverted Jurassic half-grabens; and 3) the 120-km-wide, Eastern structural zone characterized by the 40-km-wide, N-S trending Caquetá arch. The five mainly clastic tectonosequences of the PFB include: 1) Lower Cretaceous pre-foreland basin deposits; 2) Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene foreland basin deposits; 3) Eocene foreland basin deposits related to the early uplift of the Eastern Cordillera; 4) Oligocene-Miocene underfilled, foreland basin deposits; and 5) Plio-Pleistocene overfilled, foreland basin deposits. We used 3D flexural modeling to identify the elastic thickness (Te) of the lithosphere below the PFB, in order to model the location of the sedimentary-related and tectonically-related forebulges of Cretaceous to Oligocene age. Flexural analysis shows two pulses of rapid, foreland-related subsidence first during the Late Cretaceous-early Paleocene and later during the Oligocene-Miocene. Despite the present-day oblique thrusting of the mountain front, flexure of the PFB basement has produced a tectonic forebulge now located in the Eastern structural zone and controls a basement high that forms the eastern, updip limit for most hydrocarbons found in the PFB.

Stratigraphy and sediment signal transmission in a flexural foreland basin dynamically linked to an uplifting range

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laure Guerit ◽  
Delphine Rouby ◽  
Cécile Robin ◽  
François Guillocheau ◽  
Brendan Simon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Models ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Surface Processes ◽  
Precipitation Rate ◽  
Foreland Basins ◽  
Uplift Rate ◽  
Mountain Belts ◽  
Aquitaine Basin ◽  
Topographic Evolution

<p>Foreland basins that develop at the foot of collisional mountain belts accumulate sediments eroded from the ranges. They thus represent valuable archives of the evolution of orogenic systems through time. A few numerical models have investigated the infilling of foreland basins during the growth of an orogenic range and they provide conceptual frameworks for foreland stratigraphy. However, surface processes (erosion, sediment transport and deposition) are often quite basic in these models, and in the last decade, progress has been made in the description of surface processes and its implementation in numerical models. Recently, we developed a landscape evolution model able to describe the evolution of an eroding source coupled to a flexural sedimentary basin (Yuan et al, 2019, JGR; Guerit et al, 2019, Geology). This model takes into account erosion and deposition at the same time, and it thus allows a full dynamical coupling of the range and its foreland. We take advantage of this efficient numerical model to take another look at the stratigraphic evolution of a foreland basin and at the transmission of sediment signal from source to sink. <br>We use the model to simulate the evolution of a flexural retro-foreland basin coupled to an uplifting range and subjected to temporal variations in uplift and precipitation rates. Such variations affect the topography of the range: a lower uplift rate or an higher precipitation lead to a lower range. As a result, because the accommodation space available in the foreland is purely flexural, a decrease in uplift rate or an increase in precipitation rate will be marked by an erosional surface in the foreland basin. On the contrary, an increase in uplift rate or a decrease in precipitation rate will be preserved in the stratigraphy. Interestingly, although the two scenarios induce a different sediment signal from the sources, they are both recorded in the foreland basin as a transient increase in accumulation rate. Such a signal alone can therefore not be used to decipher the type of perturbation that affected the source.<br>Finally, we discuss the evolution of a natural range and coupled foreland basin, the Pyrenees and the Aquitaine Basin. We show that the spatial pattern of sediment deposition in the Aquitaine Basin is very consistent with the topographic evolution of the Pyrenees. However, this topographic evolution is not consistent with the climatic and tectonic reconstruction in the area since the Eocene, opening discussions among others about local vs regional effects. This work is part of the COLORS project, funded by Total.</p>

scholarly journals Late Cretaceous to Paleogene post-obduction extension and subsequent Neogene compression in the Oman Mountains

GeoArabia ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Fournier ◽  
Claude Lepvrier ◽  
Philippe Razin ◽  
Laurent Jolivet
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Miocene ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Zagros Mountains ◽  
Lower Eocene ◽  
Oman Mountains ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Arabian Platform

ABSTRACT After the obduction of the Semail ophiolitic nappe onto the Arabian Platform in the Late Cretaceous, north Oman underwent several phases of extension before being affected by compression in the framework of the Arabia-Eurasia convergence. A tectonic survey, based on structural analysis of fault-slip data in the post-nappe units of the Oman Mountains, allowed us to identify major events of the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic tectonic history of northern Oman. An early ENE-WSW extensional phase is indicated by synsedimentary normal faults in the Upper Cretaceous to lower Eocene formations. This extensional phase, which immediately followed ductile extension and exhumation of high-pressure rocks in the Saih Hatat region of the Oman Mountains, is associated with large-scale normal faulting in the northeast Oman margin and the development of the Abat Basin. A second extensional phase, recorded in lower Oligocene formations and only documented by minor structures, is characterized by NNE (N20°E) and NW (N150°E) oriented extensions. It is interpreted as the far-field effect of the Oligocene-Miocene rifting in the Gulf of Aden. A late E-W to NE-SW directed compressional phase started in the late Oligocene or early Miocene, shortly after the collision in the Zagros Mountains. It is attested by folding, and strike-slip and reverse faulting in the Cenozoic series. The direction of compression changed from ENE-WSW in the Early Miocene to almost N-S in the Pliocene.

scholarly journals Eocene-early Miocene foreland basin development and the history of Himalayan thrusting, western and central Nepal

Tectonics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 741-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter G. DeCelles ◽  
George E. Gehrels ◽  
Jay Quade ◽  
T. P. Ojha
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Early Miocene ◽  
Central Nepal ◽  
Basin Development ◽  
History Of

Tracking dinosaurs in BLM canyon country, Utah

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 67-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
ReBecca K. Hunt-Foster ◽  
Martin G. Lockley ◽  
Andrew R.C. Milner ◽  
John R. Foster ◽  
Neffra A. Matthews ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Salt Tectonics ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Paradox Basin ◽  
Cedar Mountain Formation ◽  
History Of ◽  
San Rafael ◽  
San Rafael Swell ◽  
Biological History

Although only recognized as a discrete stratigraphic unit since 1944, the Cedar Mountain Formation represents tens of millions of years of geological and biological history on the central Colorado Plateau. This field guide represents an attempt to pull together the results of recent research on the lithostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, and biostratigraphy of these medial Mesozoic strata that document the dynamic and complex geological history of this region. Additionally, these data provide a framework by which to examine the history of terrestrial faunas during the final breakup of Pangaea. In fact, the medial Mesozoic faunal record of eastern Utah should be considered a keystone in understanding the history of life across the northern hemisphere. Following a period of erosion and sediment bypass spanning the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary, sedimentation across the quiescent Colorado Plateau began during the Early Cretaceous. Thickening of these basal Cretaceous strata across the northern Paradox Basin indicate that salt tectonics may have been the predominant control on deposition in this region leading to the local preservation of fossiliferous strata, while sediment bypass continued elsewhere. Thickening of overlying Aptian strata west across the San Rafael Swell provides direct evidence of the earliest development of a foreland basin with Sevier thrusting that postdates geochemical evidence for the initial development of a rain shadow.

Late Cretaceous stratigraphy and vertebrate faunas of the Markagunt, Paunsaugunt, and Kaiparowits plateaus, southern Utah

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 229-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan L. Titus ◽  
Jeffrey G. Eaton ◽  
Joseph Sertich
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Alluvial Plain ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrate ◽  
The North ◽  
Single Region ◽  
The World ◽  
Kaiparowits Plateau ◽  
Fossil Preservation ◽  
Fossil Records

The Late Cretaceous succession of southern Utah was deposited in an active foreland basin circa 100 to 70 million years ago. Thick siliciclastic units represent a variety of marine, coastal, and alluvial plain environments, but are dominantly terrestrial, and also highly fossiliferous. Conditions for vertebrate fossil preservation appear to have optimized in alluvial plain settings more distant from the coast, and so in general the locus of good preservation of diverse assemblages shifts eastward through the Late Cretaceous. The Middle and Late Campanian record of the Paunsaugunt and Kaiparowits Plateau regions is especially good, exhibiting common soft tissue preservation, and comparable with that of the contemporaneous Judith River and Belly River Groups to the north. Collectively the Cenomanian through Campanian strata of southern Utah hold one of the most complete single region terrestrial vertebrate fossil records in the world.

Tracking dinosaurs in BLM canyon country, Utah

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 67-100
Author(s):  
ReBecca Hunt-Foster ◽  
Martin Lockley ◽  
Andrew Milner ◽  
John Foster ◽  
Neffra Matthews ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Salt Tectonics ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Paradox Basin ◽  
Cedar Mountain Formation ◽  
History Of ◽  
San Rafael ◽  
San Rafael Swell ◽  
Biological History

Although only recognized as a discrete stratigraphic unit since 1944, the Cedar Mountain Formation represents tens of millions of years of geological and biological history on the central Colorado Plateau. This field guide represents an attempt to pull together the results of recent research on the lithostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, and biostratigraphy of these medial Mesozoic strata that document the dynamic and complex geological history of this region. Additionally, these data provide a framework by which to examine the history of terrestrial faunas during the final breakup of Pangaea. In fact, the medial Mesozoic faunal record of eastern Utah should be considered a keystone in understanding the history of life across the northern hemisphere. Following a period of erosion and sediment bypass spanning the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary, sedimentation across the quiescent Colorado Plateau began during the Early Cretaceous. Thickening of these basal Cretaceous strata across the northern Paradox Basin indicate that salt tectonics may have been the predominant control on deposition in this region leading to the local preservation of fossiliferous strata, while sediment bypass continued elsewhere. Thickening of overlying Aptian strata west across the San Rafael Swell provides direct evidence of the earliest development of a foreland basin with Sevier thrusting that postdates geochemical evidence for the initial development of a rain shadow.

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