Abstract
Intraplate basin/structural inversion (indicating tectonic shortening) is a good marker of (“far-field”) tectonic stress regime changes that are linked to plate geometries and interactions, a premise that is qualitatively well-established in the literature. There is also quantitative evidence that Late Cretaceous-Palaeocene inversion of sedimentary basins in north-central Europe was explicitly driven by an intraplate, relaxational response to forces developed during rapid reconfigurations of the Alpine-Tethys (Europe-Africa) convergent plate boundary. Although with a degree of temporal ambiguity, three main periods of intraplate tectonics (marked primarily by structural inversion in initially extensional sedimentary basins) are indicated in the North Atlantic-western Alpine-Tethys realm. These are in the Late Cretaceous-Palaeocene, the Eocene-Oligocene and the Miocene. Examples recording these periods are primarily interpreted seismic reflection profiles (of varying quality and resolution) from the published literature. Additional examples where seismic data are not present, but timing constraints are robust from other observations, have also been considered. The schematic distribution and orientation of the literature-compiled intraplate inversion structures are compared to the model palaeostress fields derived from Late Cretaceous-Palaeocene, Eocene-Oligocene and Miocene tectonic reconstructions of the North Atlantic-western Alpine-Tethys realm. The modelled palaeostress fields include geopotential effects from palaeobathymetry and palaeotopography of the Earth’s surface as well as laterally variable lithosphere and crustal palaeo-thicknesses but do not include any component of the stress field produced by processes occurring at contiguous convergent plate margins. The former satisfactorily provides the background stress field of most of the Earth’s plate interiors and it is inferred that the latter is paramount in producing “stress trauma” in the interior of plates resulting in permanent intraplate deformation such as basin inversion.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 103252 |
Number of pages | 80 |
Journal | Earth Science Reviews |
Volume | 210 |
Early online date | 20 Jun 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2020 |
Bibliographical note
The authors wish to acknowledge the feedback of two anonymous reviewers, whose comments and suggestions have led to a substantially improved manuscript. CS's (now at Uppsala University, Sweden) postdoctoral fellowship at Durham University was financed by the Carlsberg Foundation. AP's (now at McMaster University, Canada) postdoctoral fellowship at Memorial University of Newfoundland was funded by the Hibernia project geophysics support fund. SJ's postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary is funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.Keywords
- intraplate deformation
- basin inversion
- continental lithosphere
- lithosphere stress
- North Atlantic
- Alpine-Tethys
- Basin inversion
- Alpine-Tethys belt
- Continental lithosphere
- Intraplate deformation
- Lithosphere stress
- COMPRESSIONAL STRUCTURES
- STRESS-FIELD
- BARENTS SEA MARGIN
- CONTINENTAL DEFORMATION
- PHYSICAL EXPLANATION
- MID-POLISH TROUGH
- SEDIMENTARY BASINS
- CRUSTAL STRUCTURE
- CENTRAL AUSTRALIA
- TERTIARY INVERSION