Sedimentary

Basins
 Sedimentary Basins
•Sedimentary basins are the subsiding areas
where sediments accumulate to form
stratigraphic successions
•The tectonic setting is the premier criterion to
distinguish different types of sedimentary
basins
Types of sedimentary basins
• Extensional basins occur within or
between plates and are associated with
increased heat flow due to hot mantle
plumes
• Collisional basins occur where plates
collide, either characterized by subduction of
an oceanic plate or continental collision
• Transtensional basins occur where plates
move in a strike-slip fashion relative to each
other
 Passive margin
• A passive margin is the transition between
oceanic and continental crust which is not an
active plate margin. It is constructed by
sedimentation above an ancient rift, now marked
by transitional crust.
• Continental rifting creates new ocean basins.
Eventually the continental rift forms a mid-
oceanic ridge and the locus of extension moves
away from the continent-ocean boundary.
• The transition between the continental and
oceanic crust that was originally created by
rifting is known as a passive margin
 Formation of passive margin

There are three main stages of formation of passive margins:

o Continental rift is established due to stretching and thinning of the

crust and lithosphere by plate movement. This is the beginning of the
continental crust subsidence. Drainage is usually away from the rift at this
stage.

o The second stage leads to the formation of an oceanic basin similar to

modern Red Sea. The subsiding continental crust undergoes normal faulting
as transitional marine conditions are established. Areas with restricted sea
water circulation coupled with arid climate create evaporite deposits.

o In last stage crustal stretching ceases and transitional crust and

lithosphere subsides as a result of cooling and thickening (thermal
subsidence). Drainage starts flowing towards the passive margin causing
sediments to accumulate over it .
 Morphology
• Passive margins consist of both onshore coastal plain and offshore
continental shelf-slope-rise triads. Coastal plains are often
dominated by fluvial processes, while the continental shelf is
dominated by deltaic and longshore current processes.
• The great rivers (Amazon. Orinoco, Congo, Nile, Ganges, Yellow,
Yangtze, and Mackenzie rivers) drain across passive margins.
• Extensive estuaries are common on mature passive margins.
Although there are many kinds of passive margins, the
morphologies of most passive margins are remarkably similar.
Typically they consist of a continental shelf, continental slope,
continental rise, and abyssal plain.
• The morphological expression of these features are largely defined
by the underlying transitional crust and the sedimentation above it.
• Passive margins defined by a large fluvial sediment budget and
those dominated by coral and other biogenous processes generally
have a similar morphology.
 Classification of passive margins
• There are four different perspectives needed to classify
passive margins:
1. Map-view formation geometry (rifted, sheared and
transtensional),
2. Nature of transitional crust (volcanic and non volcanic),
3. Whether the transitional crust represents a continuous
change from normal continental to normal oceanic
crust or this includes isolated rifts and stranded
continental blocks( simple and complex), and
4. Sedimentation (carbonate-dominated, clastic-
dominated, or sediment starved)
 Global distribution
• Passive margins are found at every ocean and
continent boundary that is marked by a strike-
slip fault or subduction zone.
• Passive margins define the region around the
Atlantic ocean, Arctic ocean, and western Indian
ocean, and define the entire coast of Africa,
Greenland, India, and Australia.
• They are also found on the east coast of North
America and South America, in western Euorope
and Antartica.
• East Asia also contains some passive margins.
 Economic Significance
• Passive margins are important reservoirs of oil and gas. Gasoline,
diesel oil, and kerosene all come increasingly from deposits buried
beneath passive margins.
• A large proportion of oil and gas are found at passive margins.
Mann et al. (2001) examined 592 giant oil fields (which contain
proved reserves >500 million barrels of oil or >3 trillion cubic feet of
natural gas) and are estimated to contain ~65% of oil. Mann et al.
(2001) classified 592 giant oil fields into six basin and tectonic-
setting categories, and noted that continental passive margins
account for 31% of giants. Continental rifts (which are likely to
evolve into passive margins with time) contain another 30% of the
world's giant oil fields. Basins associated with collision zones and
subduction zones are where most of the remaining giant oil fields
are found.
• Passive margins are petroleum storehouses because these are
associated with favorable conditions for accumulation and
maturation of organic matter. Early continental rifting conditions led
to the development of anoxic basins, large sediment and organic
flux, and the preservation of organic matter that led to oil and gas
deposits. Crude oil will form from these deposits. These are the
localities in which petroleum resources are most profitable and
productive. Productive fields are found in passive margins around
the globe, including the Gulf of Mexico, western Scandinavia, and
Western Australia.
 References
• "Diapir". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007.
• "Petroleum". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007
• A. Scrutton, ed (1982). Dynamics of Passive Margins. USA: American Geophysical
Union
• Gernigon, L.; J.C Ringenbach, S. Planke, B. Le Gall (2004). "Deep structures and
breakup along volcanic rifted margins: Insights from integrated studies along the
outer Vøring Basin (Norway)". Marine and Petroleum Geology 21-3: 363–372
• Bird, Dale (February 2001). "Shear Margins". The Leading Edge (Society of
Exploration Geophysicists) 20 (2): 150–159.
• Fraser, S.I. (2007). "Return to rifts - the next wave: Fresh insights into the
Petroleum geology of global rift basins". Petroleum Geoscience .
• www.google.com
• http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=1500#toc
• North, F. K., Petroleum Geology.
• Selley, R , C., Elements of Petroleum Geology. (2nd Edition)