Mesozoic-Cenozoic basins of Western China as example of partitioned retro-arc foreland basin system

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6776650

Graham, S A; Zuchang, X; Carroll, A; McKnight, C

Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary basins of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, western China, occupy a retro-arc foreland position with respect to the southern Eurasian convergent continental margin. Yet these basins differ in many ways from retro-arc foreland basins in other parts of the world. In North America, for instance, the Cretaceous Rocky Mountain foreland basin overlies basement that has been an integral part of cratonal North America since the Precambrian. The region had a long early Paleozoic history as a divergent continental margin and was later modified by relatively modest continental growth through accretionary tectonics. Once established in the Mesozoic, the Rocky Mountain foreland basin was a structurally simple, large, integrated basin, with the exception of the Laramide time-space segment of the foreland system. In contrast, the Mesozoic-Cenozoic foreland basins of Xinjiang are markedly partitioned, reflecting the process and architecture of major tectonic accretion from the Paleozoic through the collision of India in the Tertiary. The stage was set for a partitioned Mesozoic foreland with the Paleozoic suturing of the Siberia and Tarim cratons and intervening terranes. Although the margins of these blocks were deformed and uplifted during collision, their interiors persisted as depocenters into the foreland basin phase during the Mesozoic. The foreland basins of western China apparently represent poorly documented end members in the spectrum of retro-arc foreland basins. The Chinese examples occur in a region characterized by extreme continental growth through tectonic accretion. Reactivation of structural trends inherited from pre-foreland history were key factors in segmentation of the foreland.

• OSTI ID: 6776650
• Report Number(s): CONF-880301-
• Resource Relation: Conference: Annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Houston, TX, USA, 20 Mar 1988
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
CHINA
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
BASEMENT ROCK
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
EXPLORATION
PRECAMBRIAN ERA
ROCKY MOUNTAINS
TECTONICS
ASIA
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
MOUNTAINS
RESOURCES
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration