1 / 12

Maria Sdrolias Dietmar Muller Carmen Gaina

A Geodynamic Framework for Petroleum Exploration in the SW Pacific. Maria Sdrolias Dietmar Muller Carmen Gaina Division of Geology & Geophysics, School of Geosciences University of Sydney. Back-arc Basins. Why study back-arcs?.

torgny
Download Presentation

Maria Sdrolias Dietmar Muller Carmen Gaina

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. A Geodynamic Framework for Petroleum Exploration in the SW Pacific Maria Sdrolias Dietmar Muller Carmen Gaina Division of Geology & Geophysics, School of Geosciences University of Sydney

  2. Back-arc Basins

  3. Why study back-arcs? • They are a poorly understood component of the plate tectonic theory • Counter-intuitive that there is extension in a convergent margin setting • Spatial and temporal pattern of back-arc basin formation is enigmatic • Back-arc basins are associated with a diverse suite of mineral deposits

  4. Where?

  5. SW Pacific

  6. SW Pacific

  7. Outcomes • Episodicity of back-arc formation: Back-arc basin formation from 45 Ma to the present with a break from 25 Ma to 8 Ma. • Why is there an anomalous amount of intra-plate volcanism in the SW Pacific at ~20 Ma? Could this be a surface representation of processes occurring at the transition zone? • Why is there such complex spreading in the back-arc basins of the SW Pacific? Is this related to a thermal anomaly?

  8. Episodic backarc basin formation (Facenna et al. 2001, EPSL)

  9. Petroleum Exploration • Our model predicts the timing and location of extensional and compressional tectonics within oceanic and continental lithosphere • fault structures • sedimentation • subsidence and uplift • thermal anomalies • Influx of volcanogenic sedimentation in sedimentary basins can be predicted and dated

  10. Conclusion • Need an understand of fundamental processes at convergent margin settings • Need to interpret these regions to extract necessary observational information • SW Pacific provides an example: long history of convergence and opening and the present convergent margin is well studied • Important for potential hydrocarbon targets and mineral exploration

More Related