Basin and Structural Dynamics

QCB4123/QBB4053 (BSc, Petroleum Geoscience)

Lecture
Rift & Passive Margins basin
Ts. Dr. Siti Nur Fathiyah Jamaludin
Geosciences Department
 Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lecture students should be able to:
 Explain the tectonic setting of a rift basin.
 Examine the concept of the different rifting models.
 Justify crustal responds when the rifting is ongoing.

QBM 5013 Basin and Structural Dynamics

 Rift basin: Introduction
• A rift basin is defined as
– Long, narrow continental trough that is
bounded by normal extensional faults.
– A graben of regional extend.
– The entire thickness of the lithosphere
has ruptured under extensional stress
– Tensile deviatoric stresses are sufficient
to overcome rock strength and breaks.
– Bulk strain and strain rates vary widely
from narrow-slow, localized rifts, to
wide-fast, diffuse extensional provinces
and supradetachment basins.

http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/afar/websitepages/structurepages/
geolafardepression.htm
Rift basin:
Introduction
• Failed rifts occur where
the brittle stretching
stops before reaching a
critical value necessary
for the formation of an
ocean basin, and
subsequent subsidence
takes place due to
cooling.
• The early stages of
ocean opening in failed
rifts are termed as
aulacogens and usually
form in triple junction
zone.
Rift basin: Introduction
• The stratigraphy of many
continental rift basins shows a
vertical transition from:
– an early fluvial, shallow lake/
shallow-marine succession ->
a deep lake or deep-marine
succession (Lambiase and
Bosworth, 1995).
 Models of rifting
• Early: 2 layers model (common for oceanic crust)
• Recent: 4 layers model (common for continental crust)

2 layers model:
- Composed of crust and
mantle only

- Pure shear condition

- Lower crust and upper
mantle become thinner,
which behave ductile
- Simple shear condition
- Major shear fault in crust
cut into mantle
 Model of rifting
4 layers model composed of: brittle and ductile crusts and,
brittle and ductile mantle
- Brittle layers developed normal faults
- Ductile layers become thinner
 Rift basin: history of development
Important steps:
– Lithosphere (crust + uppermost mantle) and
asthenosphere
– Thermal convection & upwelling of hot mantle material
– Lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB) rises
– Bottom of lithosphere thinner
– Normal faults (NF) formed in brittle crust
– NF blocks tilted/rotated due to NF
– Crust experienced more rotation when closer to rift
– Volcanoes formed (sometimes)
 Rift basin: formation
0km

30-60km

Uppermost mantle
LAB 140km
(asthenosphere)
http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/continental-rifting

• Even thickness of lithosphere (continental crust and

uppermost mantle)
• Asthenosphere overlaid by lithosphere
 Rift basin: formation

LAB
http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/continental-rifting

• Thermal convection –> upwelling of hot mantle material

• LAB rises
• Extension in lithosphere:
– normal faults tilted blocks and thinning
• Magma can be generated form the decompression of upwelling mantle
material.
 Rift basin: formation

http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/continental-rifting
• Thermal convection continue
• Lithosphere become thinner
– More rotation of tilted block when closed to rift center
• Thinner stretched crust subsides relative to thicker crust
– Create accommodation space for sediments to deposit
– Rift basin formed
 Development of rift
• Rift – STOP -> Sag basin • Rift – CONTINUE-> Passive margin
• Thermal convection stopped • Thermal convection continue
• Crust cooled down and lithosphere • Blocks rotated; crust become thinner
contracted • Crust separated/broken into 2
• Thermal subsidence • Asthenosphere emerge on surface and
• Formed sag basin formed mafic lithologies (oceanic crust)
• Doming /volcanic might be • Crust cooled down when away from
secondary. spreading center -> Thermal subsidence
• Formed passive margin basin

http://economicgeology.org/content/105/3/593/F5.expansion.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rifting_to_Spreading_Transition.jpg
 Passive and active rifting

Allen & Allen (2013)

Allen & Allen (2013)

(a) Passive rifting driven by a distant (b) Impingement on the base of the
tensile deviatoric force σxx causing lithosphere of a mantle plume causes long-
thinning of the lithosphere and passive wavelength topographic doming and
upwelling of hot gravitationally driven extension of the
asthenosphere. lithosphere.
 Allen & Allen (2013)
Remember Practical 2- Calculation of
Crustal Extension learnt last week)
 Rifts and Heat Flow
• The presence of active volcanoes • Values are higher in volcanic rifts
and elevated heat flows in rift such as the Eastern Rift, Kenya,
zones demonstrates active thermal and lower in non-volcanic rifts
processes. such as those of Malawi,
• However, the measured values of Tanganyika and the Jordan–Dead
heat flow are often difficult to Sea rift zone of the Middle East.
interpret, owing to complications
caused by shallow magmatic
intrusions, groundwater
convection and spatial/temporal
variability of conductive sediments
and rocks.
• Average surface heat flows of 90–
110 mW m−2.
Rifts and Heat Flow

Allen & Allen (2013)

 Rift & Stratigraphy
• Reflect underlying fault patterns.
• Isolated continental, hydrologically closed basins with lakes
evolving into open rifts, connecting to ocean with shallow and
deep marine sediments, fringed by fan deltas.
 Rift: seismic stratigraphy
Basement: Normal faults
->Tilting blocks

Deposition -> Diff. rifting phase:

Syn-rift stage
- fan-shaped sequence
- Sediments deposit while rifting

Post-rift stage
- even-thickness strata
- Overlying syn-rift sequence
Ding, W., Franke D., et al. 2012
 Rift: seismic stratigraphy

Madon et al., 2013

 Rift: seismic stratigraphy

Madon et al., 2013

Rift & Stratigraphy

Madon et al., 2013

Rift: seismic example
Rifting topography
 Rifting: topography
crap
ult s volcano
Fa • Normal fault scrap
• Volcano on the trough
• Lake can be developed

lake
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/EarthObservatory/EastAfricaRiftValley.htm

Parallel fault scrap

Landsat Digital elevation model

Location of volcanoes controlled by faults

Corti G. (2009)
 East African Rift
• The East African
Rift is the largest
continental rift
system on Earth.
It extends from
Lebanon in the
north, along the
Red Sea and
through Sudan,
Ethiopia, Kenya,
Tanzania to
Mozambique.
 Crustal transect of Viking Group Rift
Gravity and
Basin shape,
thickness.

(1) crustal thinning, assuming an initial crustal thickness of 36 km; (2)

reverse modelling; and (3) forward tectonostratigraphic modelling.
 Conclusions
• Rift: extensional, long narrow troughs, normal
faults, horst and graben
• Rift model: 2 layers and 4 layers
• Development Process: Upwelling of hot
mantle material -> extension in crust ->
thermal subsidence -> basin formed
• Rifting stopped -> sag basin; continue ->
passive margin