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Publications (269)
The origin of the Exmouth and Dampier sub-basins in the inner rift system of the North West Shelf (NWS), Australia, remain poorly understood, despite intensive industrial exploration for over 50 years. By integrating deep 2D and basin-wide 3D seismic reflection data, it is concluded that the Exmouth and Dampier sub-basins are primarily controlled b...
The structural style of deformation, both under extension and compression, is highly influenced by the thicknesses and distribution of the salt and the overbur-den successions. This research investigates, by means of analogue modelling, how a pre-rift salt layer influences the evolution of basins developed in a domino style system but also how inhe...
The Neuquén Basin is a major Mesozoic sedimentary depocentre located in the retroarc foreland of the Argentinian Andes. The basin hosts world renowned inversion systems that have been the target of georesource exploration for the last three decades. The Huincul High is a structurally and economically prominent ca. 270 km long, E–W trending feature...
The geometries of inverted rift systems are different depending on a large variety of factors that include, among others, the presence of decoupling layers, the thickness of the pre- and syn-extension successions, or structural inheritances. Our study focuses on the inversion of an extensional domino-style basement-fault system with a pre-extension...
The structural style of inverted rift basins is controlled by the inherited structures and stratigraphic elements but also by the presence of salt layers or welded equivalents. Salt acts as a main detachment during extension and, depending on its thickness, different degrees of linkage develop between the basement and overburden. The presence and d...
A systematic analogue modeling program of domino-like basement extensional faults with a prekinematic decoupling layer is presented. Extension, acting at the basement level, is decoupled from the overburden by salt causing the development of mono-cline folds above basement faults, salt-detached syncline basins, and grabens or diapirs at the upper m...
Inversion of an extensional domino-like basement faults system with a pre-extension decoupling layer is presented as a set of analogue models to understand the role of pre-existing structural features during inversion. The present study expands the experimental program by Ferrer et al. (2022a) in which, models were carried out with different salt a...
This study is the first detailed investigation of the tectono-stratigraphy, regional structure and mesoscopic fractures of the Zagros fold-thrust belt in the Duhok region, Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, and is based on field studies, remote sensing-GIS analyses, cross-section restorations, and tectonic analysis of key structures. The Duhok fold belt is...
This paper presents a semi‐quantitative analysis of gravity‐driven deformation along the Namibian margin using extensive 2D depth converted seismic data. The geometries, internal characters and distribution of gravity‐driven systems were investigated through regional and detailed seismic studies. The research shows that surficial slumps are typical...
Late Paleozoic rifting of the NW Shelf of Australia formed a wide basin that fundamentally controlled the Mesozoic continental rifting and passive margin development; however, structural style associated with this extensional process remains poorly constrained. Here, we integrate high‐resolution seismic data with well data from the proximal domain...
Modern seismic techniques are employed to investigate prime examples of slope collapse systems to infer evolutionary paths and to explore the potential of their products as petroleum system elements. The seabed failures presented in this work are located in the Exmouth Plateau (deepwater of North West Shelf of Australia) and affected Jurassic rift...
Gravitational collapse of delta systems is thin-skinned deformation due to sedimentary loading that induces spreading or sliding above a very weak detachment layer and typically consists of up-dip listric extensional faults linked to down-dip a compressional system of toe-thrusts. Detailed mapping and analysis of a modern high-quality, 3D depth-mig...
A detailed tectono-stratigraphic analysis of the Mesozoic through Present-day structures and sedimentary sequences has been carried-out on a very large merged 3-D seismic survey that covers the great part of the central Exmouth Plateau, northern Carnarvon Basin, NW Shelf of Australia. Four main megasequences bounded by regional unconformities have...
Basement fault reactivation, and the growth, interaction, and linkage with new fault segments are fundamentally three-dimensional and critical for understanding the evolution of fault network development in sedimentary basins. This paper analyses the evolution of a complex, basement-involved extensional fault network on the Enderby Terrace on the e...
Investigating the timing, structural style, and development of multiphase extensional fault systems is essential for understanding rift basin evolution and for assessment of structural trap integrity. Borehole-controlled interpretation and analysis of 2D/3D seismic datasets from the eastern Dampier Sub-basin indicate that a NE-trending basement wea...
Insights of spatial and temporal development of fault network in 3D is crucial for understanding the process evolution of complex fault network and for evaluating the regional and local stresses control on structure development. We demonstrate a fault network on the eastern Dampier Sub-basin, North West Shelf of Australia, which consists of (1) a E...
The NW Borneo deep-water fold-and-thrust belt, offshore Sabah, southern South China Sea, contains a structurally complex region of three to four seafloor ridges outboard of the shelf-slope break. Previous studies have suggested the seafloor ridges formed either above shale diapirs produced by mass movement of overpressured shales (i.e., mobile shal...
The central equatorial Brazilian margin is divided into the Amazon and Barreirinhas divergent segments separated by the Pará-Maranhão transform segment. Analysis of regional 2D seismic lines allowed the definition of the crustal architecture of the margin. In the study area, the Barreirinhas segment has a proximal domain with a 30–35 km-thick conti...
This research presents a seismic geomorphological analysis of slope failures in the Exmouth Plateau, offshore Northwest Shelf of Australia, using high‐quality 3D seismic data. Seismic visualization techniques and seismic attribute analysis were employed to investigate the internal architecture of the failures to infer the processes that control the...
The Dampier Sub-basin, an inboard rift system of the Northern Carnarvon Basin in the North West Shelf, Australia, underwent two major phases of continental rifting in the Late Paleozoic and in the Latest Triassic to Late Jurassic. Six tectono-stratigraphic megasequences separated by regional unconformities have been identified, including 1) Pre-Lat...
extensional fault-related folding has been widely observed in rift systems that are characterized by basement-involved fault reactivation. On the Enderby Terrace, NW Shelf of Australia, oblique reactivation of a basement structure resulted in a depth-branched fault system that consists of six splay faults in the cover stratigraphy. Extensional faul...
Segmented, planar, domino-style extensional fault arrays and their associated hanging wall fault-related folds form complex linked basins along the onshore margin of the northwestern Red Sea, Egypt. The extensional fault systems form half-graben basins with kilometre-scale, asymmetrical, doubly plunging longitudinal synclines and narrow, plunging t...
In the Mesozoic extensional basins around the Iberian Peninsula as well as in their equivalent North-American Atlantic margin basins and in other western European basins the development of salt-detached ramp-syncline basins are common (e.g. Jeanne d’Arc, Orpheus, Broad Fourteens, Slyne, Matalles, Parentis, Cameros, Organyà, Lusitanian or Columbrets...
This chapter focuses on the role of basement fabrics and inverted extensional faults that strongly affect the frontal zones of the fold-and-thrust faults of sub-Andean basins in Peru and Bolivia. This review examines the relationships of hinterland deformation in the basement with the Present Day topography from the Andean plateau to the sub-Andean...
Latest Triassic–earliest Late Jurassic domino-style extensional faulting in the central Exmouth Plateau, North West Shelf of Australia, exhibits footwall degradation scarps with up to 1.8 km of scarp retreat of the Upper Triassic Mungaroo Formation. Extensional fault-propagation folding, rotation and uplift produced gravitationally driven scarp col...
The regional tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the offshore SE Mediterranean passive margin is evaluated using detailed 2D seismic interpretations. New models for the development of the margin are proposed in the context of the break-up of northern Gondwana and the subsequent evolution of the southern Neotethys Ocean. The SE Mediterranean margin i...
Interpretation of the Canning TQ3D three-dimensional seismic survey identified four populations of faults comprising (1) latest-Triassic to Early Cretaceous north-south-striking normal faults (Fault Population I); (2) latest-Triassic to Early Cretaceous northeast-southwest-striking normal faults (Fault Population II); (3) Cretaceous polygonal fault...
A tectono-stratigraphic analysis of a broadband 3D seismic survey over the outer slope of Côte d'Ivoire margin, west Africa, revealed that Cenomanian and younger strata seal well-developed rift fault blocks up to 15 km across. Growth strata indicate that these were formed during rifting that culminated in seafloor spreading in the late Albian, chal...
Salt-detached ramp-syncline basins are developed in extensional settings and are characterized by wide synclinal sedimentary basins detached on salt and formed above the hanging wall of active ramp-flat-ramp extensional faults. They are rarely fault bounded, instead they are bounded by salt structures that are in general parallel to the major sub-s...
Scaled analog models based on extensional basins with synrift salt show how basement topography exerts a control factor on weld kinematics during the extension and inversion phases. In the case of basement-involved extension, syn-rift salt thickness differences may lead to variable degrees of extensional decoupling between basement topography and o...
The Exmouth Plateau is a major NE-trending Mesozoic to Cenozoic marginal deep-water plateau within the prolific Northern Carnarvon Basin on the Northwest Shelf of Australia. Detailed analyses of three merged 3D seismic surveys that cover greater part of the Central Exmouth plateau were undertaken to understand the 4D tectono-stratigraphic evolution...
Inversion of pre-existing extensional fault systems is common in rift systems, back-arc basins, and passive margins. It can significantly influence the development of structural traps in hydrocarbon basins. The analogue models of domino-style basement fault systems shown in this paper produced, on extension, characteristic hangingwall growth strata...
Fault-related folds are common structural features found at a variety of scales in extensional settings, and have been recognized in both outcrop and subsurface studies. However, the detailed geometry and origin of complex 3D folds adjacent to normal faults are poorly known, and, in some cases, are interpreted to be due to strike-slip tectonics and...
Salt is mechanically weaker than other sedimentary rocks in rift basins. It commonly acts as a strain localizer, and decouples supra- and sub-salt deformation. In the rift basins discussed in this paper, sub-salt faults commonly form wide and deep ramp synclines controlled by the thickness and strength of the overlying salt section, as well as by t...
This study applies modern seismic geomorphology techniques to deep-water collapse features in the Orange Basin (Namibian margin, Southwest Africa) in order to provide unprecedented insights into the segmentation and degradation processes of gravity-driven linked systems. The seismic analysis was carried out using a high-quality, depth-migrated 3D v...
The Maari Field is a large oil and gas field located in the Southern Inversion Zone of the S. Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. The field is bounded by two major structures, the Eastern Mobile Belt and Western Stable Platform and produces 40,000 BOPD (Barrels of Oil per Day) from reservoirs in the Moki Formation. The field is distributed along the south...
The Maari Field is a large oil and gas field located in the Southern Inversion Zone of the S. Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. The field is bounded by two major structures, the Eastern Mobile Belt and Western Stable Platform and produces 40,000 BOPD (Barrels of Oil per Day) from reservoirs in the Moki Formation. The field is distributed along the south...
Igneous intrusions and volcanic complexes are well developed in the Exmouth sub-basin and Exmouth Plateau of the North-West Shelf. Detailed interpretation of 2D and 3D seismic data particularly using multi-attribute analyses has enabled documentation of their distributions, forms, timings and interactions with the surrounding sedimentary sections....
Modern high-resolution seismic data across deepwater fold and thrust belts has provided new insights into their geometries, fault-fold structures and how they form in space and time. These fold and thrust belts form critically-tapered Coulomb wedges and display dynamic interactions with both syntectonic sedimentation as well as syntectonic erosion....
Critically tapered Coulomb thrust wedges are characteristically formed in deepwater fold and thrust belts such as in delta systems on passive margins such as the Niger delta as well as in contractional terranes such as offshore NW Borneo. These fold and thrust belts display dynamic interactions with both syntectonic sedimentation as well as syntect...
The Ainsa Basin in the southern Pyrenees comprises up to 4km of deep-marine sedimentary rocks. The Ainsa basin offers excellent outcrops that have provided key observations for the understanding of deep-water depositional systems. However, little is known about the kinematic 3-D evolution of the structures that developed during the sedimentation of...
The Niger Delta is a classic example of a passive margin delta that has gravitationally deformed above an overpressured shale decollement. The outboard Niger Delta clastic wedge, including the Akata Formation overpressured shale decollement, is differentially thickened across relict oceanic basement steps formed at the Chain and Charcot fracture zo...
Scaled 3D sandbox models have been used to investigate the 3D geometry and evolution of transtensional pull-apart basins. In this paper two representative analogue models were constructed to simulate the evolution of a 5° transtensional pull-apart basin formed above an underlapping, 45° strike-slip releasing bend basement stepover. Model 1 had 1:1...
A new interpretation on three-dimensional seismic data from the Flett and Muckle sub-basins of the Faroe–Shetland Basin has shown dyke and sill emplacement influencing the Paleocene turbidite deposition. Sill and dyke emplacement in the study area created significant inflation anticlines during Paleocene time and affected palaeotopography at the se...
Analysis of 3D seismic data shows that the Neogene to near seabed section along the NW flank of the Exmouth Plateau Arch has been affected by numerous slope failures. Seabed collapses originated at water depths of ~1000 m and extend down dip to depths well in excess of 1500 m. A wide spectrum of slope failures have been identified, from coherent sl...
Weakly magmatic passive margins record large amounts of extensional strain prior to breakup, but the role of magma intrusion and the along-strike variability of strain remain poorly understood. We re-evaluate existing onshore and offshore gravity, magnetic, seismic reflection, and well data from the Australo-Antarctic margins to probe the evolution...
A re-evaluation of existing onshore and offshore gravity, magnetic, seismic reflection, and well data from the Australo-Antarctic margins suggests that magmatism and along-strike lithospheric heterogeneities have influenced the localization of initial rifting. The 3-D crustal architecture of the Australian and Antarctic margins, which formed during...
This paper presents a detailed picture of the petroleum systems that may occur within the detachment folds of the Dohuk region. This region is situated within the Zagros orogenic belt near the north-eastern boundary of Arabian Plate in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. The field data combined with remote sensing interpretations were used to de...
Detailed analysis of the upper four seconds of a 3D seismic set acquired in BP's largest ever survey (17,000 km 2) in the offshore Sirt Basin, Libya, has identified two distinct depositional elements attributed to gravitational collapse events within the Late Miocene to Recent sequences. They are cohesive slump complexes, and a slide body character...
This paper presents a structural and stratigraphic analysis of the foreland-fold-belt of the Eastern Venezuelan Basin and the main conclusions about shale tectonic mechanisms in the area. The deformation of the foreland-fold-belt has been investigated analyzing the growth strata architecture preserved on the structure fold limbs. Three contractiona...
The effects of syncontractional sedimentation and erosion on simple, critically tapered Coulomb wedges were evaluated by conducting twelve two-dimensional analog model sandbox experiments. All 12 models produced critically tapered Coulomb wedges with topographic slopes of 6-10° above horizontal basal detachments. The model without syncontractional...
The 16 chapters presented in this memoir cover some of the recent advances made in the descriptions and analysis of thrust-related fold systems. The chapters include kinematic and geometric analyses of fault-propagation folding, trishear folding, detachment folding, wedgethrust fold systems, and basement-involved thrust systems. Examples are given...
Tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Duhok region, Kurdistan, northern Iraq
Tectonic inversion is a common phenomenon in island arc settings, especially in back-arc basins. The reactivation of normal faults as thrusts, triggered by tectonic inversion, produces typical inversion fault-related folds and thrusts in the hangingwall. These hangingwall inversion geometries are affected by two factors: the geometry of the underly...
A detailed structural analysis of the Zone of Cooperation A-2 (ZOCA-2) three-dimensional (3-D) seismic survey on the outer northwestern edge of the Sahul Platform, northern Bonaparte Basin, outer North West Shelf, Australia, has identified three major populations of extensional faults. From oldest to youngest, these are (1) Jurassic north-south-tre...
The Orange Basin records the development of the Late Jurassic to present day volcanic-rifted passive margin of Namibia. Regional extension is recorded by a Late Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Syn-rift Megasequence, which is separated from a Cretaceous to present day post-rift Megasequence by the Late Hauterivian (ca. 130Ma) break-up unconformity. The...
Scaled sandbox models were used to investigate the 4D evolution of pull-apart basins formed above underlapping releasing stepovers in both pure strike-slip and transtensional basement fault systems. Serial sectioning and 3D volume reconstruction permitted analysis of the full 3D fault geometries. Results show that very different pull-apart basins a...
This paper shows the evolution of time-constrained two-dimensional scaled analogue models of doubly vergent thrust systems in the presence of syntectonic sedimentation. Two sets of experiments were considered: (1) the addition of a syntectonic layer composed of a polymer and overlying sand in the prowedge; and (2) the addition to the previous condi...
A discrete-element model is used to investigate the manner in which deformation and fault activity change in space and time during the development of a doubly vergent thrust wedge in the upper crust. Deformation is a result of shortening at a subduction slot in the base of the model, a configuration which produces a dynamic backstop within the cohe...
Detailed field mapping of a 120-km-long segment of the northwestern Red Sea margin reveals the existence of a number of sediment-input sites where Lower Miocene sediments form coarse-grained fan delta systems. Localizations of the fan deltas at the sediment-input sites (Wadis Gassus, Guesis, Quwyh and Sharm El Bahari) are controlled by structural a...
This study summarizes the regional structure of the Zagros fold and thrust belt in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. The fold and thrust belt is dominated by a 10 to 12 km thick suc-cession of Late Proterozoic to present-day strata that have been deformed into a series of NW-SE-to E-W-trending and SW-to NE-verging doubly-plunging folds and ass...
