Te~tonophysics, 225 (1993) vii-x Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

, Amsterdam

vii

The origin of sedimentary basins: state of the art and first results of the task force
S. Cloetingh, W. Sassi and F. Horvith
Introduction and background The origin of sedimentary basins is a key element of the geological evolution of the continental lithosphere. During the last decade substantial progress has been made in understanding the thermo-mechanical aspects of sedimentary basin formation and the isostatic response of the lithosphere to surface loads such as basins. Most of this progress has been made not so much in terms of the development of new modelling methodologies and insights into the rheological makeup of the lithosphere but rather in the processing of substantial, new, high-quality data sets from previously unexplored areas of the globe. Virtually all modelling carried out so far has been in terms of lithospheric displacements, thus refraining from a full examination of dynamic controls exerted by lithospheric stresses. This is because stresses are very sensitive to adopted lithospheric rheologies and these rheologies have been, by convention, unrealistically simple. This is true of models for both extensional and compressional sedimentary basins. For example, most models for extensional basin formation (Roberts et al., 1991) are keyed to lithospheric strain due to an unknown and unspecified stress field rather than to the strain response of the lithosphere to a known and/or realistic stress state. Moreover, changes in plate tectonic regimes and associated stress fields have been shown to be quite important in controlling the subsidence record and stratigraphic architecture of extensional basins. Similarly, models of basins developed in compressional environments (e.g., McClay, 1991) have been conventionally related to flexure profiles
0040-1951/93/$06.00

(displacement patterns), again not invoking the dynamic control of the compressional stresses intrinsic to this particular tectonic setting. Another reason that the relationship between lithospheric stresses and displacements in tectonic modelling has not received full attention is because little has been known about the actual stress state in the lithosphere. This situation has recently changed drastically as the result of the successful World Stress Map Project carried out in the framework of the International Lithosphere Program @back, 1992). Further, the application of structural techniques to establish the temporal evolution of paleo-stress fields has begun in a number of sedimentary basins (Letouzey, 1990). Not only has the dynamic element of lithospheric deformation been inadequately addressed but present quantitative models of the origin of basins are incapable of solving problems related to subsequent structural developments that may be intrinsically coupled with the basin formation. For example, late-stage compression during the post-rift evolution of extensional basins can largely explain current discrepancies between estimates of crustal thinning derived from structural analyses and subsidence data of rifted basins (Kooi and Cloetingh, 1989). Further progress in understanding the role of extensional faults in offshore areas like the North Sea requires detailed structural studies and modelling of exposed successions such as those found in intramontane transpressional basins. Post-rift compression of extensional or transtensional sedimentary basins leads to complex near-surface deformation patterns. In such cases of structural inversion, inher-

0 1993 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved

VIII

...

ited faults from the previous extensional phase (basement normai faults, frontal and lateral ramps, growth faults) become reactivated and can strongly influence the deformation of the basin sediments. These mechanisms can explain, for example, various structures in foreland fold-andthrust belts or telescoped wrench furrows. In order to successfully develop dynamic modeIs in which realistic constitutive relationships in the lithosphere are incorporated, it is obvious that more complicated rheologies, including the inclusion of structural and transient material non-Cnearities, are necessary. We now are in the position of having sufficient distributed computing power for these purposes. Themes for frontier research Sedimentary basin evolution and the geometry of structures that are formed during the deformation of basins depend on many factors. In the present project we propose to carry out interactive tectonic modelling with firm constraints from geological and geophysical data sets. The research program of the Task Force Origin of Sedimentary Basins aims at three closely interrelated major themes that are fundamental for our understanding of the dynamics of basins.
(1) Appraisal of lithospheric deformation in basin formation and basin evolution in the context of the temporal and spatial evolution of stresses in the lithosphere. (2) eon-linear rheo~o~ and basin fo~ation (3) ~e~tionship between deeper lithosphe~~ processes and near-surface tectonics,

ized by an emphasis both on the development of new modeiling technology as well as a data-oriented approach. We are convinced that such a direct confrontation of data and models is essential for the development of a new generation of basin models with enhanced predictive capabilities on sub-basin scales. Acknowledgements We thank the International Lithosphere Programme for partial funding. IFP and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences are thanked for hosting the first and second task force meetings. Strong participation of research students in the Task Force activities forms an essential component of our research strategy. The reafization of this objective was supported by a TEMPUS grant from the European Community to the Eijtvos University of Budapest and the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam for advanced teaching and research in basin analysis. We are also aware of the old European wisdom that there is no future without a past. We would like to thank two personalities whose former activity strongly predestinated the future of our Task Force. They are Peter Ziegler and Lev Zonenshain. Peter has been one of the European pioneers who broke through the traditional boundary between geology and geophysics and, hence, can be considered the father of integrated basin research. Lev was a sohtary fighter in the former Soviet Union who made a major ~ntribution to plate tectonics and, thus, paved the way for the young generation in that part of the world to pursue basin studies in a modern interdisciplinary approach. References
Cloetingh, S. Sassi, W. and Task Force Team, 1993. The origin of sedimentary basins: A status report from the Task Force of the International Lithosphere Programme. Marine and Petroleum Geology, in press. Kooi, H. and Cioetingh, S. 1989. Some consequences of late stage compression on extensional models for basin formation. Geot. Rundsch., 78: 183-195. Letouzey, J. (Editor), 1990. Petroleum and Tectonics in Mobile Belts. Edition Technip, Paris, 209 pp. McClay, K. (Editor), 1991. Thrust Tectonics. Chapman, Lendon. Roberts, A.M., Yielding, G. and Freeman, B. (Editors), 1991. The geometry of normal faults. Geol. Sot. London, Spec. Publ., 56.

A detailed outline of the objectives of the Task Force will be published elsewhere (Cloetingh, Sassi and others, 1993). This special volume presents the first results of the Task Force activities. The contents of this special volume reflect the research interests of the Task Force in iithospheric stress, rheology and the connection between deeper lithospheric processes and nearsurface tectonics. The papers are grouped in three sections, each preceded by a position paper on the research themes defined above, followed by a section on the Pannonian basin area which was selected as one of the key natural laboratories. A number of these papers have been presented at the second Task Force fieldworkshop in Matrahaza, Hungary. The papers are character-

ix

Group picture ILP Task Force Origins of Sedimentary Septen tber-2 October 1991. REVIE WERS J.R.L. Allen (Oxford) J.F. Angelier (Paris) C. Beaumont (Halifax) D. Bernoulli (Zurich) G. Bertotti (~sterdam) C. Biermann (Amsterdamf R.G. Bohannon (Palo Alto) C. Bois (Rueil-Malmaison) J. Bull (Southampton) S. Cloetingh (Amsterdam) C. Dogiioni (Ferrara) P. Faugl (Wien) L. Fodor (Budapest) A. Fortuin (Amsterdam) R.H. Gabrielsen (Bergen) B. Gauthier (Rijssvijk) T. Gee1 (~sterdam) A. Gibbs (Glasgow) R. Guiraud (Montpellier) P. Heller (Laramie) F. Horvlth (Budapest) J. Klerckx (Tervuren) J.M. Lardeaux (Lyon) J.M. Larroque (The Hague) H. Laubscher (Base0 Y. Leroy (The Hague) Ph. Lovelock (The Hague)

Basins meeting in M&ah&a

(Pannonian

Basin, Hungary), 26

F. Lucazeau (Montpellier) P.G. Mandle (Feldkirch) R. Meissner (Kiel) J. Melosh (Tucson) J.L. Mugnier (Grenoble) W. Nijman (Utrecht) T. Peper (Amsterdam) C. Puigdefabregas (Barcelona) G. Ranalli (Ottawa) L. Ratschbacher (Tubingen) B. Ricketts (Vancouver) M. Sanduiescu (Bucharest) W. Sassi (Rue&Malmaison) F. Schneider (Rueil-Malmaison) A. Slaczka (Krakow) R. Steel (Bergen) R.A. Stephenson (~sterd~) H. Stel (Amsterdam) R.L.M. Vissers (Utrecht) J.D. van Wees (Amsterdam) N. White (Cambridge) F. Winkler (Zurich) M. Wilson (Leeds) D.V. Wiltschko (College Station) P.A. Ziegler (Base11 M.D. Zoback (Stanford)

60%

BOON

18oW

120-w

60-w

60E studies of the International

120E Lithosphere

1 Programme Task

Areas<natural la~rato~es) selected for integrated basin m~eiling Force Origin of Sedimentary Basins. THEME 1: STRESS AND BASIN FORMATION 1. Hyppolyte et al. (Provence) .................... 2. Van der Meer and Cloetingh (Sirte Basin) ......... 3. Nikishin et al. (Central Asia, Indian Ocean) ........ Burov et al. (Central Asia) .................... THEME 2: RHEOLOGY AND BASIN FORMATION

,.,.........,.............,.........,......

. 15. 375973-

35 58 72 87

4. Gillespie et al. (Northern North Sea) .................................... 5. Nieuwland and Walters (South Furious Field) ............................. 6. Potiakov et al. (Central Iran, Gulf of Mexico) .............................. THEME 3: DEEPER LITHOSPHERIC PROCESSES AND NEAR-SURFACE

.................... ....................
....................

.113-141

.143-166 .199-216

TECTONICS

7. Bois (Southwestern Europe) . . . . . . . 8. Zoetemeijer et al. (PO plain) . . . . . . , . 9. Bertotti et al. (Southern Alps1 . . . . . . . 10. Stei et al. (Finland) _, . . , . . . . . . . . . 11. Peper (Western Canada Foreland Basin) 12. Ben-Avraham and Tibor (Gulf of Elat) NATURAL LABORATORIES:

.................... ... ..
. . . . . . .................... . ....................

.227-252

.253-269
.271-284

....................

.285-299
.301-318

....................

...
AREAS

.319-331

THE PANNONIAN 3ASIN AND SURROUNDING

13. Horvath (Pannonian Basin) . . . . . . . . _. . . Chat6(Pannonian Basin) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KovaE et al, (Western Carpathians) . . ... Tomek (Western Carpathians) . . . . . ... Tari et al. (Pannonian Basin) . . . . . . . . . . . Nagymarosy and Bbldi-Beke (SzoInok Unit) . . Ratschbacher et al. (Western Ca~athians) . . . Sztantj and Tari (northern Hungary) . . . . . . . Pamif (Periadriatic zone, Pannonian Basin) . . 14. Morley (Rif-Betic Cordillera, Carpathians) . . .

.. .

.333-357

.377-400 .401-415
.417-431

.433-455 .457-470
.471-483

.485-502 .503-518
.359-376