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Abstract
Golonka, J.,
DOI:10.1306/1205844St551463
Geodynamic Evolution of the South Caspian Basin
Jan Golonka1
1AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakw, Poland
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I express my gratitude to Pinar O. Yilmaz from ExxonMobil for encouragement to present and publish this paper. I am grateful to Lisa Gahagen from the University of Texas at Austin for help in constructing the regional plate model, as well as to my numerous former Mobil co-workers, especially Dave Ford, Mary Edrich, Paul Frydl, Aart Dronkers, Joel Cline, Wim Burgers, Joel Collins, Jeff Sawlan, and Jack Carter, as well as my academia colleagues Chris Scotese from the University of Texas at Arlington; Larry Lawver, Ian Dalziel, and Mike Coffin from the University of Texas at Austin; Malcolm Ross from Rice University; Erik Flgel and Wolfgang Kiessling from the University of Erlangen; Andrzej lczka and Nestor Oszczypko from Jagiellonian University; Anatoliy Nikishin from Moscow State University; and Natasha Bocharova, Lev Natapov, and Vladimir Kazmin from the Russian Academy of Sciences, for sharing their ideas about the paleogeography, paleoclimatology, and plate tectonics of this region. My gratitude goes to Akademia Grniczo-Hutnicza University of Science and Technology for financial support of this paper (grant No.11.11.140.159).
ABSTRACT
The South Caspian Basin was formed as a result of the interaction of the Eurasia, India, Arabia, and numerous microplates starting from the Triassic. During the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic, several microplates were sutured to the Eurasian margin, closing the Paleotethys Ocean. A Jurassic–Cretaceous north-dipping subduction was developed along this new continental margin south of the Pontides, Trans-Caucasus, and Iranian plates. This subduction zone trench-pulling effect caused rifting, creating the back-arc basin of the Greater Caucasus–proto-South Caspian Sea, which achieved a maximum width during the Late Cretaceous–early Paleogene.
During the Eocene, the Lesser Caucasus, Sanandaj-Sirjan, and Makran plates were sutured to Trans-Caucasus–Talesh–South Caspian–Lut system. The subduction zone jumped to the Scythian-Turan margin. The South Caspian underwent reorganization during the Oligocene–Neogene. Northward movement of the South Caspian microcontinent (SCM) resulted in rifting between SCM and Alborz plate. The southwestern part of the South Caspian Basin was reopened, whereas the northwestern part was gradually reduced in size. The source rocks of the Maikop Formation were deposited in the South Caspian Basin during the Oligocene–early Miocene.
The collision of India and the Lut plate with Eurasia caused the deformation of Central Asia and created a system of northwest–southeast wrench faults. The remnants of the Jurassic–Cretaceous back-arc system oceanic and attenuated crust, as well as Tertiary oceanic and attenuated crust, were locked between adjacent continental plates and orogenic systems. Thick molasse-type sediments that accumulated during the Pliocene–Quaternary provided reservoir rocks and contributed to the burial and maturation of source rocks.
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