Formation and forward propagation of the Indosinian Nanpanjiang foreland basin and foreland thrust belt in SW China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Xin Yang ◽  
Dan-Ping Yan ◽  
Liang Qiu ◽  
Michael. L Wells ◽  
Jian-Meng Dong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Carbonate Platforms ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
Clastic Rocks ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt ◽  
Marine Carbonate ◽  
Icp Ms ◽  
Youjiang Basin

<p>Nanpanjiang Basin (also called the Youjiang Basin or Dian-Qian-Gui Basin in literatures), the foreland basin of the Indosinian orogenic belt, is located on the boundary belt between the South China and Indochina Blocks. This foreland basin is characterized by a transition from the Early Triassic shallow-marine carbonate platforms to Middle and Upper Triassic continental facies clastic rocks and reworked by the subsequent Indosinian foreland thrusting and deformations. The development of the Indosinian foreland fold-and-thrust belt remains underappreciated in part because of the loose constraints of the transition from basin deposition to deformation and erosion. In this study, we present two geological cross-sections that synthesized field geological investigations, together with the structural interpretation of three seismic profiles, and LA-ICP-MS detrital zircon age constraints. The results reveal that the thrust belt is characterized by fault-related folds with duplex and imbricate thrusts, which yield the NNE-trending regional shortening estimate of ~36%. The new constraints indicate that the Nanpanjiang foreland basin formed before 237 Ma (D<sub>1</sub><sup>1</sup>) was overridden by the following NNE-ward progressive deformations, including 237-225 Ma thick-skinned thrusts (D<sub>1</sub><sup>2</sup>), 223-183 Ma thin-skinned thrusts (D<sub>1</sub><sup>3</sup>), and after that entire basin-involved deformation (D<sub>1</sub><sup>4</sup>). Subsequently, D<sub>1</sub> was re-deformed and superimposed by the Middle to Late Jurassic NNE-striking fault-related fold system (D<sub>2</sub>). D<sub>1</sub><sup>1-4</sup> reveals a NNE-verging propagation in-sequence foreland thrusting which overrode the foreland basin and the corresponded NNE-ward progressive foreland basin during the Indosinian.</p>

Structure of the Gare Kakheti foothills using seismic reflection profiles: implications for kinematic evolution of the Georgian part of Kura foreland fold-and-thrust belt

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Razmadze
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Structural Evolution ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Fault Propagation ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Growth Strata ◽  
Kinematic Evolution ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt

<p>Gare Kakheti foothills are located between Lesser Caucasus and Kakheti Ridge and are mainly represented by the series of NEN dipping thrust faults, most of which are associated with fault‐related folds. Gare Kakheti foothills as a part of the Kura foreland fold-and-thrust belt developed formerly as a foreland basin (Oligocene-Lower Miocene) (e.g. Alania et al., 2017). Neogene shallow marine and continental sediments in the Gare Kakheti foothills keep the record on the stratigraphy and structural evolution of the study area during the compressive deformation. Interpreted seismic profiles and structural cross-sections across the Udabno, Tsitsmatiani, and Berebisseri synclines show that they are thrust-top basins. Seismic reflection data reveal the presence of growth fault-propagation folds and some structural wedges (or duplex). The evolution of the Udabno, Tsitsmatiani, and Berebisseri basins is compared with simple models of thrust-top basins whose development is controlled by the kinematics of competing for growth anticlines. Growth anticlines are mainly represented by fault-propagation folds. The geometry of growth strata in associated footwall synclines and the sedimentary infill of thrust-top basins provide information on the thrusting activity in terms of location, geometry, and age.<br>This work was supported by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation (SRNSF - #PHDF-19-268).</p><p> </p>

Unraveling the contribution of the western margin of the Altiplano plateau in North Chile (20°S) to Andean mountain-building

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Habel ◽  
Robin Lacassin ◽  
Martine Simoes ◽  
Daniel Carrizo
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Crustal Thickening ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
Mountain Building ◽  
Buried Structures ◽  
Common View ◽  
Western Margin ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt

<p><span>The Andes are the case example of an active Cordilleran-type orogen. It is generally admitted that, in the Central Andes (~20°S), mountain-building started ~50-60 Myr ago, close to the subduction margin, and then propagated eastward. Though suggested by some early geological cross-sections, the structures sustaining the uplift of the western flank of the Altiplano have been largely dismissed, and the most common view theorizes that the Andes grow only by east-vergent deformation along its eastern margin. However, recent studies emphasize the significant contribution of the West Andean front to mountain-building and crustal thickening, in particular at the latitude of Santiago de Chile (~33.5°S). The contribution of similar structures elsewhere along the Andes to the kinematics of the orogen is still poorly solved, because not yet well synthesized nor quantified. Here, we focus on the western margin of the Altiplano at 20°S, in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. We focus our work on two sites where structures are well exposed. <br>Our results confirm two main structures: (1) a major west-vergent thrust placing Andean Paleozoic basement over Mesozoic strata, and (2) a west-vergent fold-and-thrust-belt involving Mesozoic units. Once restored, we calculate a minimum of ~4 km of shortening across the sole ~10 km-wide outcropping fold-and-thrust-belt. Further west, structures of this fold-and-thrust-belt are unconformably buried under slightly deformed Cenozoic units, as revealed from seismic profiles. By comparing the scale of these buried structures to those investigated previously, we propose that the whole fold-and-thrust-belt has most probably absorbed ~15-20 km of shortening, sometime between ~68 Ma (youngest folded Mesozoic layers) and ~29 Ma (oldest unconformable Cenozoic layer). Preliminary (U-Th)/He thermochronological data suggest that basement exhumation by thrusting happened at the beginning of this ~40 Ma time span. Minor shortening affecting the mid-late Cenozoic deposits indicates that deformation continued after 29 Ma along the western Andean fold-and-thrust-belt, but remained limited compared to the more intense deformation during the Paleogene. Altogether, the data presented here will provide a quantitative evaluation of the contribution of the western margin of the Altiplano plateau to mountain-building at this latitude.</span></p>

Relationships between oblique convergence partitioning and plate kinematics. A case study from the western Betics external zones and foreland (southern Spain)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Díaz-Azpiroz ◽  
Inmaculada Expósito ◽  
Alejandro Jiménez-Bonilla ◽  
Juan Carlos Balanyá
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Southern Spain ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Strain Partitioning ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
Tectonic Plates ◽  
Upper Miocene ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt ◽  
Oblique Convergence

<p>Displacement between tectonic plates is normally partitioned into different tectonic domains accommodating specific components of the bulk strain, such that no single domain can possibly be regarded as representative of the overall kinematics. Eventually, this partitioning can be produced at different scales. Therefore, plate kinematic motion estimations based on the surface geological record should ideally rely on detailed multiscale, structural analyses of all different tectonic domains involved.</p><p>The Betic-Rif orogen was formed during the Cenozoic by the convergence and subsequent collision of the Alboran domain and the South Iberian and Maghrebian paleomargins. After the main Miocene event, oblique convergence has been still active up to present times in both branches of the resulting Gibraltar Arc. In this work we analyze how dextral oblique convergence in the northern Betic branch is partitioned into different tectonic domains of the orogen external zones and foreland, where contrasting strain fields are deduced. These domains present distinctive rheologies, thus showing also specific structural styles. As such, we present data of upper Miocene-Present structures from four different tectonic domains along a complete transect of the western Betics (southern Spain), from the internal-external zones boundary outwards. In the inner fold and thrust belt, the detached South Iberian paleomargin and Flysch trough units (mostly limestones and other carbonatic rocks) are deformed mainly by upright and double-verging folds as well as reverse faults, both registering mostly orthogonal shortening. The outer fold and thrust belt progressed toward the foreland incorporating block-in-matrix formations, with evaporite-rich marly matrix, formed ahead the mountain front; its main deformation is resolved at a strike-slip dominated, dextral transpressional zone. The upper Miocene deposits of the foreland basin (calcarenites and marls) are affected by weak deformation combining some shortening and an unconstrained strike-slip component, as deduced from seismic profiles. Finally, Paleozoic structures of the foreland, formerly developed at non- to medium-grade metamorphic conditions, were likely reactivated under a dextral transpressional strain field, which acts in combination with forebulge bending.</p><p>The strongly arcuate shape of the Gibraltar Arc likely imposes contrasting kinematics along strike within the same tectonic domain. Indeed, the inner fold and thrust belt shows nearly orthogonal shortening to the west, in a more frontal position, and a strike-slip dominated high-strain zone (the so-called Torcal shear zone) to the east. By contrast, preliminary studies show no significant differences in the kinematics of the foreland eastward from the analyzed transect.</p><p>All of our kinematic results from the studied domains are compatible with an overall dextral oblique convergence. However, more accurate strain estimations are needed to constrain the plate displacements responsible for the upper Miocene-Recent deformation in the Gibraltar Arc northern branch. Moreover, detailed analyses of strain partitioning modes will shed light into the relationships between these plate displacements and the resulting strain patterns.</p>

scholarly journals Sandstone Petrology and Provenance in Fold Thrust Belt and Foreland Basin System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Critelli ◽  
Sara Criniti
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt ◽  
Continental Block ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Geodynamic Processes ◽  
Dual Plate ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sandstone Composition ◽  
Main Producer

The sandstone composition of foreland basin has a wide range of provenance signatures, reflecting the interplay between flexed underplate region and abrupt growth of the accreted upper plate region. The combination of contrasting detrital signatures reflects these dual plate interactions; indeed, several cases figure out that the earliest history of older foreland basin infilling is marked by quartz-rich sandstones, with cratonal or continental-block provenance of the flexed underplate flanks. As upper plate margin grows over the underplate, the nascent fold-and-thrust belt starts to be the main producer of grain particles, reflecting the space/time dependent progressive unroofing of the subjacent orogenic source terranes. The latter geodynamic processes are mainly reflected in the nature of sandstone compositions that become more lithic fragment-rich and feldspar-rich as the fold-thrust belt involves the progressive deepest portions of upper plate crustal terranes. In this context sandstone signatures reflect quartzolithic to quartzofeldspathic compositions.

Thrust sequences in the central part of the External Hellenides

2003 ◽  
Vol 140 (6) ◽  
pp. 661-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
SPILIOS SOTIROPOULOS ◽  
EVANGELOS KAMBERIS ◽  
MARIA V. TRIANTAPHYLLOU ◽  
THEODOR DOUTSOS
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Late Oligocene ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
Additional Load ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Thrust Load

The model of a foreland propagating sequence already presented for the External Hellenides is significantly modified in this paper. New data are used, including structural maps, cross-sections, stratigraphic determinations and seismic profiles. In general, thrusts formed a foreland propagating sequence but they acted simultaneously for a long period of time. Thus, during the Middle Eocene the Pindos thrust resulted in the formation of the Ionian–Gavrovo foreland and acted in tandem with the newly formed Gavrovo thrust within the basin until the Late Oligocene. The Gavrovo thrust consists of segments, showing that out-of-sequence thrusting was important. Thrust nucleation and propagation history is strongly influenced by normal faults formed in the forebulge region of the Ionian–Gavrovo foreland basin. Shortening rates within the Gavrovo–Ionian foreland are low, about 1 mm/year. Although thrust load played an important role in the formation of this basin, the additional load of 3500 m thick clastics in the basin enhanced subsidence and underthrusting.

scholarly journals Structure and tectonic evolution of hybrid thick- and thin-skinned systems in the Malargüe fold–thrust belt, Neuquén basin, Argentina

2016 ◽  
Vol 153 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1066-1084 ◽  
Author(s):  
FACUNDO FUENTES ◽  
BRIAN K. HORTON ◽  
DANIEL STARCK ◽  
ANDRÉS BOLL
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Kinematic Evolution ◽  
Basement Faults ◽  
Neuquen Basin ◽  
Structural Relief ◽  
Basement Structures ◽  
Neuquén Basin

AbstractAndean Cenozoic shortening within the Malargüe fold–thrust belt of west-central Argentina has been dominated by basement faults largely influenced by pre-existing Mesozoic rift structures of the Neuquén basin system. The basement contractional structures, however, diverge from many classic inversion geometries in that they formed large hanging-wall anticlines with steeply dipping frontal forelimbs and structural relief in the order of several kilometres. During Cenozoic E–W shortening, the reactivated basement faults propagated into cover strata, feeding slip to shallow thrust systems that were later carried in piggyback fashion above newly formed basement structures, yielding complex thick- and thin-skinned structural relationships. In the adjacent foreland, Cenozoic clastic strata recorded the broad kinematic evolution of the fold–thrust belt. We present a set of structural cross-sections supported by regional surface maps and industry seismic and well data, along with new stratigraphic information for associated Neogene synorogenic foreland basin fill. Collectively, these results provide important constraints on the temporal and geometric linkages between the deeper basement faults (including both reactivated and newly formed structures) and shallow thin-skinned thrust systems, which, in turn, offer insights for the understanding of hydrocarbon systems in the actively explored Neuquén region of the Andean orogenic belt.

scholarly journals Thrust tectonics in the central part of the External Hellenides, the case of the Gavrovo thrust

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 540
Author(s):  
E. Kamberis ◽  
S. Sotiropoulos ◽  
F. Marnelis ◽  
N. Rigakis
Keyword(s):  
Structural Deformation ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
The West ◽  
Thrust Faulting ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt ◽  
Thrust Tectonics ◽  
Extensional Faulting ◽  
Surface Geology ◽  
Flat Geometry

Thrust faulting plays an important role in the structural deformation of Gavrovo and Ionian zones in the central part of the ‘External Hellenides’ fold-and-thrust belt. The Skolis mountain in NW Peloponnese as well as the Varassova and Klokova mountains in Etoloakarnania are representative cases of ramp anticlines associated with the Gavrovo thrust. Surface geology, stratigraphic data and interpretation of seismic profiles indicate that it is a crustal-scale thrust acted throughout the Oligocene time. It is characterized by a ramp-flat geometry and significant displacement (greater than 10 km). Out of sequence thrust segmentation is inferred in south Etoloakarnania area. Down flexure and extensional faulting in the Ionian zone facilitated the thrust propagation to the west. The thrust emplacement triggered halokenetic movement of the Triassic evaporites in the Ionian zone as well as diapirisms that were developed in a later stage in the vicinity of the Skolis mountain.

Integrated Cretaceous–Cenozoic plate tectonics and structural geology in southern Mexico

2020 ◽  
pp. SP504-2020-70
Author(s):  
Rod Graham ◽  
James Pindell ◽  
Diego Villagómez ◽  
Roberto Molina-Garza ◽  
James Granath ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Tectonic Evolution ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Structural Evolution ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Cocos Plate ◽  
Southern Mexico ◽  
Arc Volcanism ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt

AbstractThe structural evolution of southern Mexico is described in the context of its plate tectonic evolution and illustrated by two restored crustal scale cross-sections through Cuicateco and the Veracruz Basin and a third across Chiapas. We interpret the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous opening of an oblique hyper-stretched intra-arc basin between the Cuicateco Belt and Oaxaca Block of southern Mexico where Lower Cretaceous deep-water sediments accumulated. These rocks, together with the hyper-stretched basement beneath them and the Oaxaca Block originally west of them, were thrust onto the Cretaceous platform of the Cuicateco region during a Late Cretaceous–Eocene orogenic event. The mylonitic complex of the Sierra de Juárez represents this hyper-stretched basement, perhaps itself an extensional allochthon. The Chiapas fold-and-thrust belt is mainly Neogene in age. Shallowing of the subduction angle of the Cocos Plate in the wake of the Chortis Block, suggested by seismicity and migrating arc volcanism, is thought to play an important role in the development of the Chiapas fold-and-thrust belt itself, helping to explain the structural dilemma of a vertical transcurrent plate boundary fault (the Tonalá Fault) at the back of an essentially dip-slip fold-and-thrust belt.

Syn-folding remagnetization events in the French-Belgium Variscan thrust front as markers of the fold-and-thrust belt kinematics

2003 ◽  
Vol 174 (5) ◽  
pp. 511-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafal Szaniawski ◽  
Marek Lewandowski ◽  
Jean-Louis Mansy ◽  
Olivier Averbuch ◽  
Frederic Lacquement
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Natural Remanent Magnetization ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
High Temperature Component ◽  
Set Constraints ◽  
Thrust Front ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt ◽  
Temperature Component ◽  
Major Strike

Abstract New paleomagnetic studies have been carried out within the Ardennes segment of the N France - S Belgium Variscan fold-and-thrust belt to set constraints on the fold-thrust belt kinematics and reveal the casual relationships between vertical-axis rotations and major strike deviated zones localised along the general trend of the belt. Magnetite-bearing Devonian and Carboniferous limestones yielded two characteristic, secondary components of the natural remanent magnetization : a low temperature component recorded most probably during the late stages of folding and a high temperature component, acquired during incipient stages of deformation. Both post- and synfolding magnetizations were identified in the Lower Devonian hematite bearing sandstones. Ages of magnetization, inferred from the analysis of characteristic remanence inclinations compared to the reference curves for the stable parts of the Old Red Sandstones Continent (ORC), suggest the previous remagnetization event to be due to the burial of sedimentary rocks under the thick molassic foreland basin of Namurian-Westphalian age and the second to the final out-of-sequence activation of the thrust front in Stephanian times. Irrespective of the age of the magnetizations, orientations of paleomagnetic directions are dominantly governed by second-order structural trends. Clockwise rotations are observed in relatively narrow zones featuring deviated orientations of fold axes, other sites show paleomagnetic directions akin to those known from the ORC. We interpret this feature as a result of local transpressive deformations and related rotations, which occurred at lateral borders of propagating thrust-sheets. The latter deformation zones are suggested to be controlled by deep-seated discontinuities inherited from the Devonian Rheno-hercynian basin development. The Ardennes thrust belt was thus not rotated as a whole unit with respect to the ORC after the Namurian, preserving the initial orientation of the continental margin.

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