Tectono-thermal evolution of central Transcaucasia: Thermal modelling, seismic interpretation, and low-temperature thermochronology of the eastern Adjara-Trialeti and western Kura sedimentary basins (Georgia)

Thomas Gusmeo; Andrea Schito; Sveva Corrado; Victor Alania; Onise Enukidze; Massimiliano Zattin; Paolo Pace; William Cavazza

doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2022.105355

Tectono-thermal evolution of central Transcaucasia: Thermal modelling, seismic interpretation, and low-temperature thermochronology of the eastern Adjara-Trialeti and western Kura sedimentary basins (Georgia)

Thomas Gusmeo^*
, Andrea Schito
, Sveva Corrado
, Victor Alania
, Onise Enukidze
, Massimiliano Zattin
, Paolo Pace
, William Cavazza

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geology and Geophysics

University of Bologna
Roma Tre University
Tbilisi State University
University of Padua
Gabriele d'Annunzio University
PACE Geoscience

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

4 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Structural interference along the boundaries of adjacent tectonic domains generates complex subsidence and exhumation patterns. In this paper we study a key segment of the convergence zone between the interfering south-verging Greater Caucasus and north-verging Lesser Caucasus retro-wedge. The study area comprises the along-strike transition between the Paleogene Adjara-Trialeti back-arc basin and the Oligocene-Neogene Kura foreland basin of eastern Georgia. During the Neogene, despite their difference in age and subsidence mechanisms, both basins have been progressively inverted to various extent within the overall context of the Arabia-Eurasia continental collision. Thermal modelling of borehole data from the Adjara-Trialeti basin allowed to reconstruct two phases of rapid subsidence, late Paleocene-Early Eocene and Middle-Late Eocene, respectively correlated to flexural loading by the Lesser Caucasus retro-wedge and continental rifting. Integration of thermal modelling, apatite fission-track statistical inverse modelling, and seismic interpretation detected a third subsidence phase in the Early Miocene, possibly related to strike-slip tectonics. Thermal maturity data dictate that 1.0–1.3 km of the Adjara-Trialeti sedimentary succession has been eroded since the onset of structural inversion in the mid-Miocene. The burial history of the western Kura Basin outlines intermittent and asymmetrical episodes of flexural subsidence from the Oligocene to the Late Miocene, due to competing loading by the Lesser Caucasus, the Adjara-Trialeti fold-and-thrust belt and the Greater Caucasus. Finally, during latest Miocene times southward propagation of deformation from the Greater Caucasus induced an additional tectonic loading (1.3–1.8 km) due to the emplacement of thin-skinned thrust sheets, mostly eroded during the Plio-Quaternary.

Original language	English
Article number	105355
Number of pages	22
Journal	Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
Volume	237
Early online date	5 Aug 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2022.105355
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank GOGC (Georgian Oil & Gas company) for kindly providing part of the lithological and thermal maturity data used in this study. Platte River Associates, Inc. is acknowledged for providing an academic licence for the Basin Mod 2-D software package. Reinhard Sachsenhofer (Montanuniversität Leoben) provided useful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We thank JAES Associate Editor Michel Faure and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive input. Irene Albino assisted in sample preparation for fission-track analysis. This research was funded by the PRIN Program of the Italian Ministry of University and Research 2017-2020.

Funding Information:
We thank GOGC (Georgian Oil & Gas company) for kindly providing part of the lithological and thermal maturity data used in this study. Platte River Associates, Inc. is acknowledged for providing an academic licence for the Basin Mod 2-D software package. Reinhard Sachsenhofer (Montanuniversität Leoben) provided useful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We thank JAES Associate Editor Michel Faure and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive input. Irene Albino assisted in sample preparation for fission-track analysis. This research was funded by the PRIN Program of the Italian Ministry of University and Research 2017-2020.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Data Availability Statement

Data will be made available on request.

Funding

We thank GOGC (Georgian Oil & Gas company) for kindly providing part of the lithological and thermal maturity data used in this study. Platte River Associates, Inc. is acknowledged for providing an academic licence for the Basin Mod 2-D software package. Reinhard Sachsenhofer (Montanuniversität Leoben) provided useful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We thank JAES Associate Editor Michel Faure and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive input. Irene Albino assisted in sample preparation for fission-track analysis. This research was funded by the PRIN Program of the Italian Ministry of University and Research 2017-2020. We thank GOGC (Georgian Oil & Gas company) for kindly providing part of the lithological and thermal maturity data used in this study. Platte River Associates, Inc. is acknowledged for providing an academic licence for the Basin Mod 2-D software package. Reinhard Sachsenhofer (Montanuniversität Leoben) provided useful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We thank JAES Associate Editor Michel Faure and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive input. Irene Albino assisted in sample preparation for fission-track analysis. This research was funded by the PRIN Program of the Italian Ministry of University and Research 2017-2020.

Keywords

Fission-track thermochronology
Kura Basin
Structural interference
Thermal maturity
Thermal modelling
Transcaucasus

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jseaes.2022.105355Licence: Unspecified

Gusmeo_etal_AES_Tectono-thermal_evolution_of_AAMProof, 6.95 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Tectono-thermal evolution of central Transcaucasia: Thermal modelling, seismic interpretation, and low-temperature thermochronology of the eastern Adjara-Trialeti and western Kura sedimentary basins (Georgia)'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this

Gusmeo, T., Schito, A., Corrado, S., Alania, V., Enukidze, O., Zattin, M., Pace, P., & Cavazza, W. (2022). Tectono-thermal evolution of central Transcaucasia: Thermal modelling, seismic interpretation, and low-temperature thermochronology of the eastern Adjara-Trialeti and western Kura sedimentary basins (Georgia). Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 237, Article 105355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2022.105355

Tectono-thermal evolution of central Transcaucasia: Thermal modelling, seismic interpretation, and low-temperature thermochronology of the eastern Adjara-Trialeti and western Kura sedimentary basins (Georgia). / Gusmeo, Thomas; Schito, Andrea; Corrado, Sveva et al.
In: Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, Vol. 237, 105355, 01.10.2022.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Gusmeo, T, Schito, A, Corrado, S, Alania, V, Enukidze, O, Zattin, M, Pace, P & Cavazza, W 2022, 'Tectono-thermal evolution of central Transcaucasia: Thermal modelling, seismic interpretation, and low-temperature thermochronology of the eastern Adjara-Trialeti and western Kura sedimentary basins (Georgia)', Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, vol. 237, 105355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2022.105355

Gusmeo T, Schito A, Corrado S, Alania V, Enukidze O, Zattin M et al. Tectono-thermal evolution of central Transcaucasia: Thermal modelling, seismic interpretation, and low-temperature thermochronology of the eastern Adjara-Trialeti and western Kura sedimentary basins (Georgia). Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. 2022 Oct 1;237:105355. Epub 2022 Aug 5. doi: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2022.105355

@article{5ceb88e2840443bea0aa25117f8791d7,

title = "Tectono-thermal evolution of central Transcaucasia: Thermal modelling, seismic interpretation, and low-temperature thermochronology of the eastern Adjara-Trialeti and western Kura sedimentary basins (Georgia)",

abstract = "Structural interference along the boundaries of adjacent tectonic domains generates complex subsidence and exhumation patterns. In this paper we study a key segment of the convergence zone between the interfering south-verging Greater Caucasus and north-verging Lesser Caucasus retro-wedge. The study area comprises the along-strike transition between the Paleogene Adjara-Trialeti back-arc basin and the Oligocene-Neogene Kura foreland basin of eastern Georgia. During the Neogene, despite their difference in age and subsidence mechanisms, both basins have been progressively inverted to various extent within the overall context of the Arabia-Eurasia continental collision. Thermal modelling of borehole data from the Adjara-Trialeti basin allowed to reconstruct two phases of rapid subsidence, late Paleocene-Early Eocene and Middle-Late Eocene, respectively correlated to flexural loading by the Lesser Caucasus retro-wedge and continental rifting. Integration of thermal modelling, apatite fission-track statistical inverse modelling, and seismic interpretation detected a third subsidence phase in the Early Miocene, possibly related to strike-slip tectonics. Thermal maturity data dictate that 1.0{\textendash}1.3 km of the Adjara-Trialeti sedimentary succession has been eroded since the onset of structural inversion in the mid-Miocene. The burial history of the western Kura Basin outlines intermittent and asymmetrical episodes of flexural subsidence from the Oligocene to the Late Miocene, due to competing loading by the Lesser Caucasus, the Adjara-Trialeti fold-and-thrust belt and the Greater Caucasus. Finally, during latest Miocene times southward propagation of deformation from the Greater Caucasus induced an additional tectonic loading (1.3{\textendash}1.8 km) due to the emplacement of thin-skinned thrust sheets, mostly eroded during the Plio-Quaternary.",

keywords = "Fission-track thermochronology, Kura Basin, Structural interference, Thermal maturity, Thermal modelling, Transcaucasus",

author = "Thomas Gusmeo and Andrea Schito and Sveva Corrado and Victor Alania and Onise Enukidze and Massimiliano Zattin and Paolo Pace and William Cavazza",

note = "Funding Information: We thank GOGC (Georgian Oil \& Gas company) for kindly providing part of the lithological and thermal maturity data used in this study. Platte River Associates, Inc. is acknowledged for providing an academic licence for the Basin Mod 2-D software package. Reinhard Sachsenhofer (Montanuniversit{\"a}t Leoben) provided useful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We thank JAES Associate Editor Michel Faure and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive input. Irene Albino assisted in sample preparation for fission-track analysis. This research was funded by the PRIN Program of the Italian Ministry of University and Research 2017-2020. Funding Information: We thank GOGC (Georgian Oil \& Gas company) for kindly providing part of the lithological and thermal maturity data used in this study. Platte River Associates, Inc. is acknowledged for providing an academic licence for the Basin Mod 2-D software package. Reinhard Sachsenhofer (Montanuniversit{\"a}t Leoben) provided useful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We thank JAES Associate Editor Michel Faure and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive input. Irene Albino assisted in sample preparation for fission-track analysis. This research was funded by the PRIN Program of the Italian Ministry of University and Research 2017-2020. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Elsevier Ltd",

year = "2022",

month = oct,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.jseaes.2022.105355",

language = "English",

volume = "237",

journal = "Journal of Asian Earth Sciences",

issn = "1367-9120",

publisher = "Elsevier Limited",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Tectono-thermal evolution of central Transcaucasia

T2 - Thermal modelling, seismic interpretation, and low-temperature thermochronology of the eastern Adjara-Trialeti and western Kura sedimentary basins (Georgia)

AU - Gusmeo, Thomas

AU - Schito, Andrea

AU - Corrado, Sveva

AU - Alania, Victor

AU - Enukidze, Onise

AU - Zattin, Massimiliano

AU - Pace, Paolo

AU - Cavazza, William

N1 - Funding Information: We thank GOGC (Georgian Oil & Gas company) for kindly providing part of the lithological and thermal maturity data used in this study. Platte River Associates, Inc. is acknowledged for providing an academic licence for the Basin Mod 2-D software package. Reinhard Sachsenhofer (Montanuniversität Leoben) provided useful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We thank JAES Associate Editor Michel Faure and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive input. Irene Albino assisted in sample preparation for fission-track analysis. This research was funded by the PRIN Program of the Italian Ministry of University and Research 2017-2020. Funding Information: We thank GOGC (Georgian Oil & Gas company) for kindly providing part of the lithological and thermal maturity data used in this study. Platte River Associates, Inc. is acknowledged for providing an academic licence for the Basin Mod 2-D software package. Reinhard Sachsenhofer (Montanuniversität Leoben) provided useful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We thank JAES Associate Editor Michel Faure and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive input. Irene Albino assisted in sample preparation for fission-track analysis. This research was funded by the PRIN Program of the Italian Ministry of University and Research 2017-2020. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2022/10/1

Y1 - 2022/10/1

N2 - Structural interference along the boundaries of adjacent tectonic domains generates complex subsidence and exhumation patterns. In this paper we study a key segment of the convergence zone between the interfering south-verging Greater Caucasus and north-verging Lesser Caucasus retro-wedge. The study area comprises the along-strike transition between the Paleogene Adjara-Trialeti back-arc basin and the Oligocene-Neogene Kura foreland basin of eastern Georgia. During the Neogene, despite their difference in age and subsidence mechanisms, both basins have been progressively inverted to various extent within the overall context of the Arabia-Eurasia continental collision. Thermal modelling of borehole data from the Adjara-Trialeti basin allowed to reconstruct two phases of rapid subsidence, late Paleocene-Early Eocene and Middle-Late Eocene, respectively correlated to flexural loading by the Lesser Caucasus retro-wedge and continental rifting. Integration of thermal modelling, apatite fission-track statistical inverse modelling, and seismic interpretation detected a third subsidence phase in the Early Miocene, possibly related to strike-slip tectonics. Thermal maturity data dictate that 1.0–1.3 km of the Adjara-Trialeti sedimentary succession has been eroded since the onset of structural inversion in the mid-Miocene. The burial history of the western Kura Basin outlines intermittent and asymmetrical episodes of flexural subsidence from the Oligocene to the Late Miocene, due to competing loading by the Lesser Caucasus, the Adjara-Trialeti fold-and-thrust belt and the Greater Caucasus. Finally, during latest Miocene times southward propagation of deformation from the Greater Caucasus induced an additional tectonic loading (1.3–1.8 km) due to the emplacement of thin-skinned thrust sheets, mostly eroded during the Plio-Quaternary.

AB - Structural interference along the boundaries of adjacent tectonic domains generates complex subsidence and exhumation patterns. In this paper we study a key segment of the convergence zone between the interfering south-verging Greater Caucasus and north-verging Lesser Caucasus retro-wedge. The study area comprises the along-strike transition between the Paleogene Adjara-Trialeti back-arc basin and the Oligocene-Neogene Kura foreland basin of eastern Georgia. During the Neogene, despite their difference in age and subsidence mechanisms, both basins have been progressively inverted to various extent within the overall context of the Arabia-Eurasia continental collision. Thermal modelling of borehole data from the Adjara-Trialeti basin allowed to reconstruct two phases of rapid subsidence, late Paleocene-Early Eocene and Middle-Late Eocene, respectively correlated to flexural loading by the Lesser Caucasus retro-wedge and continental rifting. Integration of thermal modelling, apatite fission-track statistical inverse modelling, and seismic interpretation detected a third subsidence phase in the Early Miocene, possibly related to strike-slip tectonics. Thermal maturity data dictate that 1.0–1.3 km of the Adjara-Trialeti sedimentary succession has been eroded since the onset of structural inversion in the mid-Miocene. The burial history of the western Kura Basin outlines intermittent and asymmetrical episodes of flexural subsidence from the Oligocene to the Late Miocene, due to competing loading by the Lesser Caucasus, the Adjara-Trialeti fold-and-thrust belt and the Greater Caucasus. Finally, during latest Miocene times southward propagation of deformation from the Greater Caucasus induced an additional tectonic loading (1.3–1.8 km) due to the emplacement of thin-skinned thrust sheets, mostly eroded during the Plio-Quaternary.

KW - Fission-track thermochronology

KW - Kura Basin

KW - Structural interference

KW - Thermal maturity

KW - Thermal modelling

KW - Transcaucasus

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85135719839

U2 - 10.1016/j.jseaes.2022.105355

DO - 10.1016/j.jseaes.2022.105355

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85135719839

SN - 1367-9120

VL - 237

JO - Journal of Asian Earth Sciences

JF - Journal of Asian Earth Sciences

M1 - 105355

ER -

Tectono-thermal evolution of central Transcaucasia: Thermal modelling, seismic interpretation, and low-temperature thermochronology of the eastern Adjara-Trialeti and western Kura sedimentary basins (Georgia)

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this