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Plate tectonics and basin subsidence history

Xiangyang Xie^1,,* and Paul L. Heller¹

¹ Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071, USA

View larger version (41K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. Locations of subsidence data by tectonic settings. Numbers refer to specific subsidence curves. First value is figure number, and second value is curve number in that figure (e.g., 2–3 = Figure 2, curve 3).

View larger version (21K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 2. Tectonic subsidence curves for passive margin settings. Locations shown on Figure 1. Solid curves correspond to time scale at top of graph and dotted lines to time scale at bottom of graph. Thermal decay curve (dashed) for subsidence of cooling seafloor (Stein and Stein, 1992), minus (i.e., shallowed) 500 m, is shown for comparison. 1—Paleozoic Miogeocline, southern Canadian Rocky Mountains (Bond and Kominz, 1984); 2—Moroccan Basin (Ellouz et al., 2003); 3—Campos Basin (Mohriak et al., 1987); 4—Gippsland Basin (Falvey and Mutter, 1981; P. Yin, 1985, personal commun.); 5—Gulf of Lion (Benedicto et al., 1996); 6—U.S. Cordilleran Miogeocline (Bissell, 1974; Armin and Mayer, 1983; Devlin et al., 1986; Devlin and Bond, 1988); 7—Lusitanian Basin (Stapel et al., 1996); 8—U.S. Atlantic margin (Steckler and Watts, 1978; Swift et al., 1987).

View larger version (18K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 3. Tectonic subsidence curves for strike-slip basins. Locations shown in Figure 1. Thermal decay curve (dashed) for subsidence of cooling seafloor (Stein and Stein, 1992), minus 500 m, is shown for comparison. 1—Chuckanut Basin (Johnson, 1984, 1985); 2—Ridge Basin (Crowell and Link, 1982; Karner and Dewey, 1986); 3—Death Valley (Hunt and Mabey, 1966); 4—Salinian block (Graham, 1976); 5—Los Angeles Basin (Rumelhart and Ingersoll, 1997); 6—Gulf of California (Curray and Moore, 1984); 7—Cuyama Basin (Dickinson et al., 1987); 8—Bozhang Depression (Hu et al., 2001); 9—Salton Trough (Kerr et al., 1979).

View larger version (13K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 4. Tectonic subsidence of intracontinental basins. Locations shown in Figure 1. See thermal decay curve (dashed) for subsidence of cooling seafloor (Stein and Stein, 1992), minus 1500 m, is shown for comparison. 1—Illinois Basin, Farley well (Bond and Kominz, 1984); 2—Michigan Basin (Bond and Kominz, 1984); 3—Williston Basin, North Dakota (Bond and Kominz, 1984); 4—Williston Basin, Saskatchewan (Fowler and Nisbet, 1985); 5—Northeast German Basin (Scheck and Bayer, 1999); 6—Southwest Ordos Basin (Xie, 2007); 7—Paris Basin (Prijac et al., 2000); 8—Parana Basin (Zalan et al., 1990).

View larger version (26K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 5. Comparison of intracontinental basin subsidence curves (numbered heavy lines from Fig. 4) with post-rift thermal subsidence curves calculated from the McKenzie (1978) stretching model. Time (m.y.) is shown since basin formation. Thin solid lines assume lithosphere thickness of 125 km; dashed lines assume lithosphere thickness of 200 km. Stretching factors (β) from 1.1 to 1.5 are shown.

View larger version (19K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 6. Tectonic subsidence of foreland basins. Locations shown in Figure 1. Thermal decay curve (dashed) for subsidence of cooling seafloor (Stein and Stein, 1992), minus 1500 m, is shown for comparison. 1—Eastern Avalonia, Anglo-Brabant fold belts (van Grootel et al., 1997); 2—Southern Alberta Basin (Gillespie and Heller, 1995); 3—San Rafael Swell, Utah (Heller et al., 1986); 4—Pyrenean foreland basin, Gombrèn (Vergés et al., 1998); 5—Swiss Molasse basin (Burkhard and Sommaruga, 1998) modified from total subsidence using water:sediment density contrast); 6—Hoback Basin, Wyoming (Cross, 1986); 7—Green River Basin, Wyoming (Cross, 1986; Heller et al., 1986); 8—Magallanes Basin (Biddle et al., 1986).

View larger version (18K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 7. Tectonic subsidence curves of forearc basins. Locations shown in Figure 1. Thermal decay curve (dashed) for subsidence of cooling seafloor (Stein and Stein, 1992), minus 1500 m, is shown for comparison. 1—Great Valley (Moxon and Graham, 1987); 2—Sacramento Basin (Dickinson et al., 1987); 3—Peninsular Ranges (Kimbrough et al., 2001); 4—Tonga forearc (Clift and MacLeod, 1999); 5—Japan forearc, Deep Sea Drilling Project sites 438 and 439 (von Huene, 1982; Ingle, 1992); 6—Southern Lesser Antilles, northwest of Tabago (Ysaccis, 1997); 7—Oregon Coast Range (Angevine et al., 1990; Heller, 1983); 8—Luzon Central Valley (Bachman et al., 1983); 9—Kazusa forearc basin (Ito, 1995).