PART ONE Fundamentals of Thrustbeltsassets.cambridge.org/97805218/22947/excerpt/... · Rocky...

PART ONE

Fundamentals ofThrustbelts

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Cambridge University Press978-0-521-82294-7 - Thrustbelts: Structural Architecture, Thermal Regimes and Petroleum SystemsMichal Nemcok, Steven Schamel and Rod GayerExcerptMore information

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For the purposes of this book the term ‘thrustbelt’ isgiven a broad meaning to encompass any deformed beltin which contractional or transpressional brittle andbrittle/ductile structural styles dominate over othertypes of structures, including conventional thrustbelts,transpressional ranges, toe thrusts and accretionaryprisms (Figs. 1.1–1.6, Tables 1.1–1.6).

Conventional thrustbeltsConventional thrustbelts evolve out of either passivemargin or intracratonic rift systems and their consequentsedimentary basins (Fig. 1.7). Examples of passivemargin sediments involved in a thrustbelt are seen in theAppalachians, Andes or Alps. Examples of orogenicbelts evolved out of intracratonic rifts are the AtlasMountains, Palmyrides or the northern Andes. The riftsystems, whether of pure extensional or transtensionalorigin, form the fundamental crustal weaknesses thatfocus compressional stress and provide the volume ofrocks that subsequently become incorporated into thethrustbelt. Nice examples of extensional and transten-sional rifts later involved in thrusting come from the

Urals. Their different geometries in relation to the direc-tion of compression determined different structuralstyles in different parts of the Urals. Passive marginbasins, with their broad post-rift sedimentary prismstapering out onto the nonrifted cratons favour ‘thin-skin’structural styles in which the sedimentary cover strata aredetached and deformed independently of the underlyingbasement (Fig. 1.8). Intracratonic rift systems, on theother hand, tend to produce ‘thick-skin’, or basement-involved thrustbelts in which inverted half-grabens oruplifted basement blocks are a dominant feature (Figs.1.9 and 1.10). However, the distinctions between thin-and thick-skin thrustbelt styles are not rigid. Even in thethin-skin variety, the basal thrust surfaces root withindisplaced basement elements, many of which can bedemonstrated to have been older normal faults (Fig.1.11). Elements of thin-skin styles are frequently encoun-tered in inverted graben systems, especially where salt orthick shale deposits flank the precursor intracratonicbasin. A nice example of the salt thickness controllingthin-skin versus thick-skin structural style comes fromthe inverted Broad Fourteens basin in the North Sea.

3

1 Introduction to the topic of thrustbelts

Fig. 1.1. Thrustbelt map of the North American continent. The topographic map is taken from Smith and Sandwell (1997).






4 1 Introduction to the topic of thrustbelts

Fig. 1.2. Thrustbelt map of the SouthAmerican continent. The topographicmap is taken from Smith and Sandwell(1997).

Fig. 1.3. Thrustbelt map of Europe and adjoining North Africa. The topographic map is taken from Smith and Sandwell (1997).






For a conventional thrustbelt to develop, basementrocks must be shortened somewhere within the width ofthe belt. In some instances, this involves partial restora-tion of the extension accompanying rifting, resultingin an inverted rift system (Fig. 1.9). In other casesthe shortening results in contractional translation ofthe original rift elements for very large distances and thegeneration of thin-skin structural styles where thethrusts cut up into and displace thin slabs of the sedi-

mentary cover (Fig. 1.12). Many thrustbelts exhibitboth thin- and thick-skin structural styles in differentportions of the belt (Figs. 1.13a and b). Some, such asthe Andes, change style along strike (Fig. 1.13a;Allmendinger et al., 1997), whereas others, such as theUS Cordillera-Rocky Mountains, exhibit thin-skinstyles in their interior and inverted basement styles intheir exterior (Fig. 1.13b; Hamilton, 1988), or vice-versa.

Conventional thrustbelts 5

Fig. 1.4. Thrustbelt map of the African continent. The topographic map is taken from Smith and Sandwell (1997).







Fig. 1.5. Thrustbelt map of the Asian continent. The topographic map is taken from Smith and Sandwell (1997).

Fig. 1.6. Thrustbelt map of theAustralian continent. The topographicmap is taken from Smith and Sandwell(1997).







Table 1.1. Names, ages, prevailing structural styles and vergency of thrustbelts on the North American continent.

Thrustbelt name Thrustbelt age Structural style Vergency

Alaska Range Late Cretaceous–Tertiary (Eisbacher, Thick-skin Roughly to N and NW1976; Fischer and Byrne, 1990; Dover,1994; Nokleberg et al., 1994)

Anadyr Range (Chukotka) Late Paleocene–Eocene (Zonenshain et al., 1990; Bocharova et al., 1995)

Antler thrustbelt Mississippian Probably thin-skin E-vergent (?)

Appalachians Late Paleozoic (Rodgers, 1995; Thin-skin West- to NW-vergent,Mitra, 1987) NE-vergent (Spraggins

and Dunne, 2002)

Arctic (Parry) fold belt Middle Devonian–Early Carboniferous (Harrison, 1995)

Brooks Range Two main phases: early Brookian Thin-skin NNE-vergentorogeny (Jurassic–Early Cretaceous),late Brookian orogeny (Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary, Tertiary tectonics predominated in northern Brooks Range,but compressive stresses present until now (Kelley and Foland, 1987; Grantz et al., 1987, 1990, 1994; Dover, 1994;Moore et al., 1994; Plafker and Berg,1994; De Vera et al., 2001; Wallace, 2003)

California Coast Range Late Miocene–Quaternary Transpressional Both W- to SW-vergent(Medwedeff, 1989) (some structures and E- to NE-vergent

inverted)

Chihuahua tectonic belt Paleocene (Drewes, 1988)

Chugach–Saint Elias Mts. 30 Ma–present (Plafker and Berg, 1994) Predominately S-vergent (Plafker and thin-skin Berg, 1994)

Eastern Sierra Madre Range Early Tertiary (Davis and Engelder, 1985) NE-vergent

Innuitian fold and thrustbelt Probably Late Cretaceous–early Tertiary Probably thin-skin SE-vergent

Ketilidian mobile belt Proterozoic (Stendal and Frei, 2000;Garde et al., 2002)

Kuskokwim Mountains Late Cretaceous–Middle Eocene (Oldow et al., 1989; Grantz et al., 1990)

Mackenzie fold belt Late Cretaceous–Middle Eocene Thin-skin E-vergent(Lane, 1996)

Nagssugtoqidian mobile belt Proterozoic (Marker et al., 1999;Connelly and Mengel, 2000)

North Greenland fold belt Middle Devonian–Early Carboniferous (Harrison, 1995), Late Paleocene–Eocene (Tessensohn and Piepjohn, 1998)

Northern Ellesmere fold belt Middle Devonian–Early Carboniferous Thin-skin N-vergent(Trettin and Balkwill, 1979; Trettin, 1989;Harrison, 1995)

Ogilvie Mountains Late Cretaceous–Middle Eocene Predominately U-shaped belt with SE (Charley River thrustbelt) (Lane, 1996), main phase: Cenomanian– thin-skin and NE-vergencies

Campanian (Dover, 1994) (Dover, 1994)

Oregon accretionary prism Late Miocene–Quaternary Thin-skin W-vergent(MacKay et al., 1995)







Table 1.1 (cont.)


Ouachitas Late Mississippian–Early Permian Thick- and thin-skin NW-vergent(Arbenz, 1989b; Shumaker, 1992)

Richardson Mountains Late Cretaceous–Middle Eocene Thin-skin E-vergent(Lane, 1996)

Rinkian mobile belt Proterozoic (Grocott and Pulverlaft,1990; Kalsbeek et al., 1998)

Rocky Mountain basement Paleocene–Middle Eocene Thick-skin Both SW- to W-vergent uplifts (Oldow et al., 1989) and NE- to E-vergent

Selwyn fold belt Late Cretaceous–Middle Eocene (Lane, 1996)

South Canadian Rockies Late Jurassic–Eocene (Monger et al., Thin-skin E-vergent1982; Brown et al., 1992; Rubin and Saleeby, 1992)

Western Sierra Cretaceous–Eocene (Weislogel, 1998;Madre Range Lawton and Giles, 2000)

Wyoming–Utah thrustbelt Late Jurassic–Middle Eocene Thin-skin E-vergent(North Sevier thrustbelt) (Royse et al., 1975; Dixon, 1982;

McMechan and Thompson, 1989;Royse, 1993)

Table 1.2. Names, ages, prevailing structural styles and vergency of thrustbelts on the South American continent.


Andean Cordillera–northern part Mesozoic–Tertiary Thin-skin S- vergent

Andean Cordillera–N. Peru Eocene–Quaternary (Lamb et al., Thick-skin NE- to E-vergent1997; Jaillard et al., 2002)

Andean Cordillera–Central and Eocene–Quaternary Thin-skin E-vergentSouthern Peru–Bolivia

Austral-Magallenes Late Cretaceous–Quaternary Thin-skin E- and NE-vergent

Barbados accretionary prism Eocene–Quaternary (Speed et al., Thin-skin E-vergent1991; Mascle et al., 2003)

Brasiliano orogenic belt Late Proterozoic (Almeida et al., Thick- and thin-skin W-vergent1981; de Azevedo, 1991)

Chilean accretionary prism Late Miocene–Quaternary Thin-skin W-vergent(Jaillard et al., 2002)

Coastal Cordillera Eocene–Quaternary (Eva et al., Thick-skin S-vergent1989; Golonka, 2000)

Cordillera Central (N. Andes) Paleogene Thick-skin E-vergent

Cordillera Occidental (N. Andes) Cretaceous–Quaternary Doubly vergent,(Chigne et al., 1996) both E- and W-ward

Cordillera Oriental (N. Andes) Late Miocene–Quaternary Doubly vergent,both E- and W-ward

Espinhaco fold belt Late Proterozoic (Almeida et al.,1981; de Azevedo, 1991)

Merida Andes Miocene (Chigne et al., 1996) Thick-skin Doubly vergent,N- and S-ward







Table 1.2. (cont.)


Peru accretionary prism Pliocene–Quaternary Thin-skin W-vergent(Von Huene et al., 1988)

Sierra de Perija Middle Miocene–Quaternary Thin- and thick-skin S-vergent (doubly vergent?)

Sub-Andean Zone (Central Andes) Late Oligocene–Quaternary Thin-skin E-vergent(Baby et al., 1992)

Table 1.3. Names, ages, prevailing structural styles and vergency of thrustbelts on European continent.


Apennines Oligocene–Quaternary (Doglioni, 1993a, b; Pialli Thick- and thin-skin NE- to E- to and Alvarez, 1997; Albouy et al., 2003) SE-vergent

Balkans Middle Jurassic–Oligocene (Sengor and Natalin, Thin-skin in Forebalkan NNE to 1996; Sinclair et al., 1997; Tari et al., 1997; Unit, thin- and thick-skin NE-vergentVangelov, personal communication, 2003) in Balkan Unit

Betic Chain Oligocene–Miocene (Desegaulx et al., 1991; Thin- and thick-skin N-vergentVissers et al., 1995)

British Variscides Devonian–Carboniferous (Raoult and Meilliez, Thin-skin NW-vergent1987; Franke, 1989; Gayer et al., 1993, Gayer and Nemcok, 1994)

Caledonides Silurian–Devonian (Dewey et al., 1993; Harrison, Thick- and thin-skin NE-vergent1995; Torsvik et al., 1996; Milnes et al., 1997)

Carpathians Cretaceous–Quaternary (Nemcok et al., 1998a; Both thick- and thin-skin NE- to E-vergentPlasienka, 1999)

Catalonian Paleogene (Burbank et al., 1996) Thick-skin NW-vergentCoastal Range

Dinarides Jurassic–Late Early Cretaceous (Yilmaz et al., Both thin- and thick-skin SW-vergent1996), Paleocene–Miocene (Doglioni, 1993a, b)

East Greenland Silurian–Devonian (Dewey et al., 1993;fold belt Harrison, 1995; Torsvik et al., 1996)

Eastern Alps Two main phases: Late Lower Cretaceous–Late Thin-skin in Northern NW-vergent and Eocene dextral transpression and Miocene Calcareous Alps E-vergent during sinistral wrenching (Ratschbacher et al., 1991; first and second Linzer et al., 1997) phases

Hellenides Early Cretaceous (Yilmaz et al., 1996), Oligocene Thin-skin SW-vergent– Quaternary (Davis and Engelder, 1985;Robertson et al., 1991)

Jura Mountains Eocene–Miocene (Butler, 1992; Laubscher, Thin-skin W-vergent1986, 1992)

Iberian Cordillera Late Paleozoic (Navarro, 1991), Alpine strike-slip faulting (Bergamin et al., 1996), Neogene (Simon Gomez and Cardona, 1988)

Kanin fold belt Proterozoic (Valasis and Gornostay, 1989)

Novaya Zemlya Late Proterozoic–Cambrian (Golonka, 2000), Thin-skin W-vergentfold belt Late Carboniferous–Early Jurassic

(Zonenshain et al., 1990; Puchkov, 1991, 1997;Nikishin et al., 1996)







Table 1.3 (cont.)


Pay-Khoy Ridge Late Proterozoic–Cambrian (Golonka, 2000), Thick- and thin-skin S-vergentLate Carboniferous–Early Cretaceous (Zonenshain et al., 1990; Puchkov, 1991, 1997;Nikishin et al., 1996)

Pechora fold belt Early Carboniferous–Middle Triassic Thick-skin Doubly vergent,both NE- and SW-ward

Pyrenees Aptian–Oligocene (Roure et al., 1989; Dinares Both thick- and Doubly-vergent,et al., 1992; Munoz, 1992; Puigdefabregas et al., thin-skin, mainly S- and N-ward1992; Verges et al., 1992) thick-skin

Southern Alps Cretaceous–Pleistocene (Doglioni, 1993a, b; Thick- and thin-skin S-vergentCarminati and Siletto, 1997)

Spitzbergen Paleogene (Bergh et al., 1997) Thick- and thin-skin E-vergentthrustbelt

Ural fold belt Late Devonian–Triassic (Davis and Engelder, Thick- and thin-skin W-vergent1985; Golonka, 2000)

Western Alps Late Cretaceous–Miocene (Debelmas, 1989; Thick-skin W-vergentButler, 1992; Laubscher, 1992; Froitzheim et al.,1996; Kley and Eisbacher, 1999)

Table 1.4. Names, ages, prevailing structural styles and vergency of thrustbelts on the African continent.


Anti-Atlas Cretaceous–Paleogene

Beninian belt Late Proterozoic–Ordovician (Clauer et al., 1982) Thin-skin (?) W-vergent

Cape Range Late Carboniferous–Permian (Golonka, 2000) Thin-skin (?) N-vergent

Congo fold belt Proterozoic (Affaton et al., 1995) NW-vergent

Damara belt Late Proterozoic–Cambrian (Miller, 1983; Henry et al., 1990;Tankard et al., 1995)

High Atlas Cretaceous–Eocene (Beauchamp et al., 1996; Ricou, 1996; Thick-skin Doubly vergent,(Morocco) Frizon de Lamotte et al., 1998) N- and S-vergent

Mauretanides Late Carboniferous–Permian (Clauer et al., 1982; Black and Thin-skin E-vergentFabre, 1983; Lecorche et al., 1989)

Reguibat-Eglab Archaic–Proterozoic (Feybesse and Milesi, 1994;Massif Potrel et al., 1998)

Rif Eocene–Miocene (Morley, 1992, 1993) Thin-skin Generally S-vergent

Saharan Atlas Eocene–Recent (Beauchamp et al., 1996; Ricou, 1996; Thick-skin S-vergentFrizon de Lamotte et al., 1998)

Tellian Atlas Jurassic–Paleogene (Beauchamp et al., 1996) Thick- and S-vergentthin-skin







Table 1.5. Names, ages, prevailing structural styles and vergency of thrustbelts on the Asian continent.


Alborz Range Late Triassic–Early Jurassic (Golonka, 2000), SW-vergentEocene–Oligocene (Dercourt et al., 1986)

Altai fold belt Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous (Wang et al., 1999; Cunningham et al., 2000;Golonka, 2000)

Baikal fold belt Late Proterozoic–Cambrian (Zonenshain et al., 1990), L. Devonian–E. Carboniferous (Cowgill and Kapp, 2001), Late Carboniferous–M Jurassic (S-ward thrusting) (Mattern and Schneider, 2000), M–L. Jurassic (Zorin, 1999),Tertiary–Quaternary (Cunningham et al., 2000)

Central Kunlun Carboniferous–E Jurassic (Delville et al., 2001; Thick-skin fold belt Wenjiao et al., 2002), Tertiary–Quaternary (Yin and

(Treloar et al., 1992; Searle, 1996), Paleogene Harrison, 2000)(strike-slips) (Jolivet et al., 2001), Oligocene–Miocene (major compression) (Jolivet et al., 2001)

Cherskiy fold Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous (Parfenov et al.,belt 1993; Golonka, 2000)

East Pontides Late Carboniferous–Eocene (Ustaomer and Roughly N-vergent, later Robertson, 1997; Yilmaz et al., 1996; (20 Ma) NE-vergentGolonka, 2000)

Eastern Triassic–Jurassic (Jolivet et al., 2001), Paleogene Kunlun (strike-slips) (Jolivet et al., 2001), Oligocene–fold belt Miocene (major compression) (Jolivet et al., 2001)

Gobi fold belt Late Paleozoic (Zheng et al., 2000), Late Triassic–Jurassic (Davis et al., 2001; Zheng et al., 2000),Tertiary–Quaternary (Cunningham et al., 2000),

Greater Paleocene–Quaternary (Sobornov, 1996; Doubly vergent, S- to Caucasus Golonka, 2000; Schelling et al., 2003) SE-vergent in the south and

N-vergent in the north

Great Khingan Jurassic accretionary wedge (Gonevchuk et al.,fold belt 2000), Albian-Cenomanian (Natalin and

Chernysh, 1992; Markevich et al., 1996)

Hindukush– Jurassic–E. Cretaceous (Zanchi et al., 2000), Early dextral transpression Karakorum– Late Cretaceous–Quaternary (Liu et al., 1996), controlled by SE–NW�1,Central and Tertiary–Quaternary (Treloar et al., 1992; then S- to SE-ward thrusting South Pamir- Searle, 1996), Miocene (Hubbard et al., 1999) (Ratschbacher, 2003,Thangla fold personal communication)belts

Cenozoic Central Pamirs:doubly vergent under N–S contraction with sub-vertical and E–W extension, associated with Oligocene–Miocene metamorphism and magmatism

South Pamirs: Jurassic to Early Cretaceous emplacement of ophiolite-bearing nappes probably rooting in the Rushan Phart






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PART ONE Fundamentals of Thrustbeltsassets.cambridge.org/97805218/22947/excerpt/... · Rocky...

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