Rift and Drift in the Dampier Sub-Basin, a Seismic and Structural Interpretation

Veenstra, Elizabeth

doi:10.1071/aj84016

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…comm., 1991). The latter age compares well with earlier estimates from DSDP data (Falvey, 1974;Exon et al, 1982;Veenstra, 1985) that provided an age of 155 Ma (Callovian) for the onset of spreading north of the Exmouth Plateau.…”

Section: Stratigraphic Record Of the Northwestern Australian Marginsupporting

confidence: 87%

Continental Margin Stratigraphy, Deformation, and Intraplate Stresses for the Indo-Australian Region

Cloetingh¹,

Stein²,

Reemst³

et al. 1992

Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program

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The stratigraphic record along the northwestern Australian continental margin provides constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Indo-Australian region, which is characterized by an extremely high level of intraplate deformation, presumably reflecting high levels of regional stress. The patterns of folding and faulting in the northeastern Indian Ocean (shown by focal mechanisms, gravity, and seismic-reflection data) are consistent with predictions of a stress model based on age-dependent driving forces on the lithosphere. Separate compressional and extensional stress provinces are found, each characterized by regionally consistent stress orientations. For example, folding occurs only within the region of predicted deviatoric compression. The evolution of the stress field can be inferred from the stratigraphic data of ODP Leg 116. An unconformity dated at 7.5 Ma marks the end of the recent major phase of folding since which deformation has occurred primarily through faulting. Here, we examine the stratigraphic record of the northwestern margin of Australia using data from Legs 122 and 123 to investigate whether the continental margin stratigraphy records the spatial and temporal variations in stress inferred from the folding in the northeastern Indian Ocean. With the exception of the Pliocene unconformities, the major unconformities inferred from Leg 122 coincide with lowstands in sea level on regional sea-level curves proposed for the northwestern Australian margin, while the major unconformities found during Leg 116 show a lack of correlation with lowstands in these regional curves. Although the correlation of the unconformities from Legs 116 and 122 with lowstands in the Haq et al. (1987) eustatic curve is sometimes good, the major unconformities drilled during Legs 116 and 122 also coincide with plate-tectonic changes of a global character. The Neogene stratigraphic record of the Northwest Shelf can be explained by a paleostress field characterized by an overall tensional stress regime during middle Miocene time to a regime with an increasing level of intraplate compression from late Miocene time onward. The paleostress field inferred from the stratigraphic modeling of the Northwest Shelf is consistent with observed tectonic activity, including middle Miocene fault reactivation in the Browse and Carnarvon basins and Pliocene tilting of the Wombat Plateau. The inferred increase in the level of compression for the northwestern margin occurs at a time corresponding with the onset of compressional folding in the northeastern Indian Ocean, which was documented during Leg 116. The tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the northwestern Australian margin seems to reflect both the changes of intraplate tectonics associated with the unique dynamic situation of the Indo-Australian Plate, as well as the interplay between a major global plate reorganization in Neogene time with eustatic contributions to the sea-level record.

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Section: Stratigraphic Record Of the Northwestern Australian Marginsupporting

confidence: 87%

Continental Margin Stratigraphy, Deformation, and Intraplate Stresses for the Indo-Australian Region

Cloetingh¹,

Stein²,

Reemst³

et al. 1992

Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program

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“…7). The rapid formation of accommodation, as evidenced by the abrupt transition from progradational fluviodeltaic clastics of the Mungaroo Formation to the open-marine silts and clays of the lower Dingo claystone within the Exmouth, Barrow and Dampier Sub-basins, marks the onset of renewed extension beginning in late Triassic-early Jurassic time (Kopsen & McGann 1985;Veenstra 1985;Boote & Kirk 1989).…”

Section: Late Triassic Extensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The upper Dingo claystone, which consists of a thick succession of silty claystone deposited below wavebase (water depths of hundreds of metres), records this Callovian episode of fault reactivation (e.g. Figs 11 and 12; Kopsen & McGann 1985;Veenstra 1985;Boote & Kirk 1989). Only minor faulting occurred across the Kangaroo Trough and Exmouth Plateau during the late Triassic-early Jurassic and Callovian reactivation of the sub-basins, evidenced by small wedges of lower and upper Dingo claystone deposition across the region ( Fig.…”

Section: Callovian and Kimmeridgian Extensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Style, timing and distribution of tectonic deformation across the Exmouth Plateau, northwest Australia, determined from stratal architecture and quantitative basin modelling

Karner

Driscoll

1999

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By combining a kinematic and flexural model for the deformation of the lithosphere with sequence stratigraphy, the distribution amplitude, depth-partitioning and interaction of the tectonic events responsible for the formation of the Exmouth Plateau, northwest Australia, have been determined. The style of deformation varied continually as a function of space and time. Initially, the deformation was characterized by a broadly distributed late Permian event. During late Triassic-middle Jurassic time, deformation became more localized and formed a series of sub-basins; the Exmouth, Barrow and Dampier Sub-basins. This localized phase of deformation was followed by a substantially more regional deformation event in the Tithonian-Valanginian that generated large, post-Valanginian regional subsidence across the Exmouth Plateau, with only minor accompanying brittle deformation and erosion. After the initiation of seafloor spreading, a phase of inversion occurred, which correlated with the reorganization of the Indo-Australian plates during magnetic anomaly M0-34 time. This inversion induced minor reactivation of fault systems within the sub-basins and adjacent areas.The style and distribution of each tectonic event are recorded by a diagnostic stratal architecture. For example, the late Permian event is recorded by the deposition of the broadly distributed and monotonous sequences of the Locker Shales and Mungaroo Formation. These units are more appropriately described as intracratonic in character. In contrast, the localized early Triassic and Callovian rifting events are characterized by regressive packages of thick shales (the upper and lower Dingo claystones). Crucial in the development of the upper and lower Dingo claystones was the segmented nature of the border faults that delineated the Exmouth, Barrow and Dampier Sub-basins. En echelon fault patterns and a basin synform structure, within which the pre-rift stratigraphy dips subparalM to or away from the fault trace, strongly implies a wrench influence in the development of the northern sub-basins (central Barrow and Dampier Sub-basins). This wrenching is consistent with the difference in regional trend of both the central Barrow and Dampier Sub-basins relative to the spreading fabric within either the Argo and/or Cuvier oceanic crust.The regional distribution and amplitude of the post-Valanginian subsidence is not consistent with the minor amounts of Tithonian-Valanginian brittle upper crustal extension observed on the margin. Facies and microfossil analyses suggest that, prior to extension, large portions of the platform were emergent, or at shallow water depths. To match the distribution and magnitude of the post-Valanginian thermal-type subsidence requires significant lower crustal and mantle extension across the Exmouth Plateau Basin. Such a distribution of extension implies the existence of an intracrustal detachment having a rampflat-ramp geometry that effectively thinned the lower crust and lithospheric mantle. A large injection of heat should accompany t...

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“…The southern margin of the plateau formed along an incipient transform fault at the same time as the western margin (Larson et al, 1979). The dominant fault trend on the plateau, northeast-southwest, is probably coeval with the Gondwanan dispersal in Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic time, as it was in the Dampier sub-basin to the east (Veenstra, 1985); it culminated in the Callovian breakup of the northern margin. A second, east-west, direction of faulting evident on the northern part of the plateau produced the "North Exmouth hinge zone" (Exon et al, 1982;Exon and Williamson, 1988) that separates the northern part from the rest of the plateau.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Exmouth Plateau

Haq¹,

Rad²,

O'Connell³

1988

ODP Preliminary Report

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This informal report was prepared from the shipboard files by the scientists who participated in the cruise. The report was assembled under time constraints and is not considered to be a formal publication which incorporates final works or conclusions of the participating scientists. The material contained herein is privileged proprietary information and cannot be used for publication or quotation.

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Rift and Drift in the Dampier Sub-Basin, a Seismic and Structural Interpretation

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Continental Margin Stratigraphy, Deformation, and Intraplate Stresses for the Indo-Australian Region

Continental Margin Stratigraphy, Deformation, and Intraplate Stresses for the Indo-Australian Region

Style, timing and distribution of tectonic deformation across the Exmouth Plateau, northwest Australia, determined from stratal architecture and quantitative basin modelling

Exmouth Plateau

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