Basin stratigraphy and subsidence

Geohistory analysis
(i.e. Backstripping)
A quantitative analysis of subsidence rates
through time requires the following
corrections:
decompaction of stratigraphic units to their
correct thickness at the time of interest;
corrections for the variations in depositional
water depth through time
corrections for absolute fluctuations of sea
level (eustacy).

Corrections that need to be made

when doing geohistory analysis
(1) compaction;
(2) variations in depositional water depth
through time;
(3) absolute fluctuations of sea level
(eustasy) relative to the present sea-level
datum.

In isostatic equilibrium (i.e. local

compensation)
The summed masses of any column of the earth
above an equipotential surface in the astenosphere
must equal that of all other colums:
-if two locations are compared the sum for all the
layers of the individual mass differences must be
zero; i.e.
An equipotential surface in the astenosphere exists because it has a low enough
viscosity to flow

i
0

( h)i 0

hi

elevation

(differences in thicknesses of layers in a column produce differences in elevation)

0-i: levels of different densities; : difference between colums; : density; h: thickness of each level

Airy backstripping
(i.e. local isostatic compensation)

Considering two colums of the

crust and upper mantle that
are in isotatic equilibrium and
balancing the pressure at the
base:
w g Wdi + si g Si* + c g T =
Yi w g + c g T + x m g

Decompacted sed thick

Mean crustal thickness

Tectonic subsidence

Water depth

Sea-level loading
sediment loading

Decompaction of stratigraphic units

In order to decompact we need to know the
variation of porosity with depth:

-cy

Where
is the porosity at any depth y,
is the surface porosity and c is the
coefficient that is dependent on lithology and describes the rate at which the
exponential decrease in porosity takes place with depth

Simple model for decompaction

The porosity of the
sediments is given by
the ratio of the volume of
water (VW) to the total
volume (Vt).
Assuming that the cylinder
is of uniform cross
sectional area:
hw + h g
So if hg is the height of the
sediment grains then:
hg = ht (1-

Decompaction exercise
Assuming that during de-compaction hg is
constant and therefore as ht changes the
porosity will change too.
Consider a stratigraphic unit ith that during burial
at a certain depth has a compacted thickness of
Si (th) and a porosity
The height of the decompacted sediments will
be (?):
where Si* and
sediments

i*

are the thickness and porosity of the decompacted

Decompaction exercise
Assuming that the
equivalent height of
the grains is the same
before and after
compaction then:

Si*

Si(1 i)
(1 i*)

Decrease in porosity with depth for

different lithologies

Decompaction excercise
Consider a 100m thick shale horizon that
is now at a depth of 3km. The porosity of
shale is (?; use the porosity curve) at 3km
and (?; use the porosity curve) at the
surface.
What is the decompacted thickness of the
unit?

Solution
The porosity of shale is 0.12 at depth 3km
and 0.7 at the surface.
What is the decompacted thickness of the
unit?

Solution
Following the equation:

Si*

Si(1 i)
(1 i*)

Si*= 100 x (1-0.12)/(1-0.70)=293m

Backstripping multiple layers

When doing backstripping we need to unload a
de-compact layers and, therefore, we need to
know their thicknesses as well as an estimate of
their densities ( s)
When decompacting multiple layers we need to
restore all the stratigraphic units for each time
step- de-compacting the younger unit and
compacting the older ones.

Backstripping multiple layers

After correcting for water depth and sea level change the Tectonic
subsidence (Y) is calculated from the sediment thickness and the
average of the entire sedimentary sequence at a particular time.

Backstripping multiple layers

The total thickness, S*, is easily obtained
by summing all the individual thicknesses

i.e. the mass of the total thickness = the sum of the masses of
all individual stratigraphic units

Where n is the total number of stratigraphic units

(e.g. Formations) in a sequence at a certain time

By substitution in the backstripping equation

The final tectonic subsidence (Y) will be:

Tectonic subsidence signature

Stretching and flexure of the lithosphere
are the most important mechanisms of
subsidence and they produce very
different signals:

Tectonic subsidence signature

Stretching produces:
Rapid synrift subsidence followed by an
exponential decreasing postrift subsidence
(concave-up phase) due to thermal relaxation;
the duration of the susbidence is 10->102My;
subsidence rates are in the order of
<0.2mm/yr to <0.05mm/yr.

Tectonic subsidence signature

Flexure produces:
Accelerating subsidence through time
(convex-up phase); the duration of
subsidence is 20-40My; subsidence rates are
in the order of 0.2-0.5mm/yr

Tectonic subsidence signature

Cratonic basins:
Are characterized by long periods (>102My) of
slow susbidence, characterized by regional
unconformities; subsidence rates are in the
order of 0.01-0.04mm/yr

Tectonic subsidence signature

Strike-slip basins:
Are characterized by short subsidence
duration (ca. 10My) and very high susbidence
rates (>0.5mm/yr).

Subsidence for different tectonic settings

After Xie and Heller (2009)

After Xie and Heller (2009)

Tectonic subsidence signature:

excercise

Tectonic subsidence signature:

excercise
Strike-Slip basins

late
early
synrift

Foreland basins
Rift basins
postrift

Cratonic basins

Which kind of basin are we looking at?

3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5

km

Subsidence

28
20
Rup. Ch. Early

Olig.

12
Mid. Late

Miocene

Literature
Chapter 9; in Basin Analysis, Principle and
Application, Allen and Allen Eds., 2005.
Extra material on backstripping is from T.
Watts (Oxford University); see
photocopies.