Journal
TECTONOPHYSICS
Volume 614, Issue -, Pages 91-99Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.tecto.2013.12.017
Keywords
Deep-water fold and thrust belts; Extensional-contractional; EARS; Fold-belts; Gravity-driven deformation; Imbricate thrusts
Categories
Funding
- management of the Instituto Nacional de Petroleo (INP)
- German Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF) [03G0231A]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We interpret two-dimensional seismic reflection data from the Rovuma Delta basin deep-water fold-and-thrust belts. Two major arcuate complexes with different architecture and extent are identified. While in the northern Palma arcuate complex a multitude of steep, east-dipping thrust-related fold anticlines formed above a single main detachment, in the southern Mocimboa arcuate complex multiple detachments resulted in the formation of thrust duplexes. In between the two arcuate domains, only few thrust-related fold anticlines developed. Our interpretation of the Rovuma basin is a linked system of up-dip extension and down-dip compression that is mainly driven by gravity tectonics. Sediment loading and a hinterland uplift due to the development of the East African Rift System since the Oligocene is proposed as origin of the delta. It is shown that the main, seaward-dipping detachment in Early Cenozoic strata is likely under-compacted and overpressured shale. Conversely, shale diapirism is questionable since the shape and location of such structures in the fold-and-thrust-belts appear simply indicating steeply dipping imbricated folds, rooted by a near vertical thrust. We suggest that mainly a different rheology and thickness and thus efficiency of the shale detachment across the delta resulted in different morphologies and geometries of the deep-water fold-and-thrust-belts. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available