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The Primary Mechanisms of Basin Subsidence

The document discusses three primary mechanisms of basin subsidence: 1) Isostasy - Adjacent blocks of different thickness or density will have different elevations due to buoyancy forces. Basins filled with denser materials like sediment or water will subside more. 2) Flexure - The lithosphere bends under load like an elastic beam, causing regional isostatic balancing. A more rigid plate creates broader but shallower basins. 3) Thermal processes - Heating or cooling of the lithosphere changes its density structure and buoyancy, causing subsidence or uplift. Basins subside exponentially as the lithosphere cools after stretching thins and steeps its ge

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Soledad Sayuri Mendoza
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53 views4 pages

The Primary Mechanisms of Basin Subsidence

The document discusses three primary mechanisms of basin subsidence: 1) Isostasy - Adjacent blocks of different thickness or density will have different elevations due to buoyancy forces. Basins filled with denser materials like sediment or water will subside more. 2) Flexure - The lithosphere bends under load like an elastic beam, causing regional isostatic balancing. A more rigid plate creates broader but shallower basins. 3) Thermal processes - Heating or cooling of the lithosphere changes its density structure and buoyancy, causing subsidence or uplift. Basins subside exponentially as the lithosphere cools after stretching thins and steeps its ge

Uploaded by

Soledad Sayuri Mendoza
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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2.

THE PRIMARY MECHANISMS OF BASIN SUBSIDENCE

A. ISOSTASY

The application of Archimedes' principle to the earth suggests that


continents are buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the displaced
mantle (Turcotte and Schubert, 1982). Adjacent blocks of different
thickness and/or density structure will have different relative relief (Fig.
2.1). Typical lithospheric structure beneath the continents and the oceans
are shown in Figure 2.2, these values will be used in most of our
discussions. Below some depth, there is no density contrast between the
two adjacent columns, and asthenosphere of equal density underlies both
columns (Fig. 2.2). The weight of the columns above this depth of
compensation must be equal.

In this model of isostasy, we can calculate the relative relief


between two adjacent continental columns of differing density structure
(Fig. 2.3):
If Z is filled with water (density = 1.0 g/cm3):

mass of column 1 = mass of column 2


30 (2.8) + 90 (3.4) - Z (1.0) + 15 (2.8) + 45 (3.4) + (60-Z) (3.3)
390 - Z (1.0) + 15 (2.8) + 45 (3.4) + (60 - Z) (3.3)
390 - Z + 42 + 153 + 198-3.3 (Z)
3.3 (Z) - Z - 393 - 390
2.3 (Z) = 3
Z = 1.3 km

If Z is filled with air (density = 0 g/cm3) instead of water:

3.3 (Z) = 3

Z - 0.9 km

If Z is filled with sediment (density - 2.3 g/cm3):

Z =3

3
Therefore, a basin filled with water will be about 1.5 times deeper than
the same basin filled with air. Also, a basin filled with sediment will be
about 2.3 times deeper than the same basin filled with water, depending
upon the densities used.

Isostasy will be an important factor in basin subsidence if you change


the thickness or density structure of the lithospheric column. These
changes can take place if you stretch the lithosphere or just the crust (the
above example shows lithosphere that was stretched by 100%), remove the
crust by erosion or tectonic processes, emplace dense material into the
column (e.g., inject dikes, thrust ophiolites), or fill a hole in with denser
material (e.g., replace water with sediment). Similarly, uplift will occur
if you remove the mantle lid and replace it by relatively lighter
asthenosphere, or add more buoyant crust to the column.

B. FLEXURE

Isostasy, as previously discussed, assumes local compensation as if


the earth consists of a series of free-floating pistons (Fig. 2.4) and
adjacent pistons are compensated at a common depth. However, the
lithosphere has finite strength and so is relatively rigid. When a load is
placed upon the lithosphere, the plate bends as an elastic beam (Fig. 2.4).
The underlying mantle is displaced, and following Archimedes' principle,
the bent plate is buoyed up by the weight of the displaced mantle. The
region beneath the load is held up by the strength of the surrounding
lithosphere, and the surrounding lithosphere is held down by the weight of
the nearby load. The net effect is for the entire region affected by flexure
to be in regional isostatic balance.

The lithosphere behaves approximately as an elastic beam of some


assumed or calculated rigidity (Fig. 2.5). The more rigid the beam, the
broader but shallower the basin. The less rigid the beam, the deeper but
narrower the basin. Emplacing identical loads on two plates of differing
rigidity will result in two basins of differing geometry but identical
volume (Fig. 2.5).

4
C. THERMAL

Thermal effects lead to subsidence by changing the density structure


of the lithosphere so that the isostatic balance is changed. The
lithosphere can heat up quite quickly (e.g., via intrusions) but cools more
slowly by conduction. If conduction is the primary means of cooling, the
lithosphere cools first as a function of the square-root of time {V&), and
then after a few tens of millions of years it cools as an exponential (e-T^).
As the lithosphere cools, it subsides because colder rock is more dense
and less buoyant than warm rock. The total amount of time for the
lithosphere to cool by conduction is about 150-200 My.

Everything else being equal, the total amount of subsidence during


cooling is exactly equal to the total amount of uplift during heating.
Therefore, there is no net subsidence (Fig. 2.6A). Other events must
occur to create a basin by thermal processes. These processes include:
erosion of uplifted areas (Fig. 2.6B), thickening of the mantle lid during
cooling, or thinning of the crust.

An example of thermal effects can be described qualitatively here


(Fig. 2.7) but will be dealt with in a more quantitative manner later in
the course. Our example starts prior to time 1 with a lithospheric column
of one-unit height composed of crust (C), mantle lid (L), and asthenosphere
(A). The column has a simple geothermal gradient from the surface to the
base of the lithosphere below which the temperature stays relatively
fixed at about 1300°C (Fig. 2.5, top row). At this time, the basin has not
yet subsided. If between time 1 and time 2 we stretch the lithosphere by
some factor p, the lithosphere thickness will thin to 1/p (McKenzie,
1978). The geothermal gradient will become steeper, and the column will
subside due to the isostatic effects of thinning the lithosphere and
replacing dense mantle lid with slightly less dense asthenosphere (see
Fig. 2.3). This subsidence is not thermal subsidence but local isostatic
compensation to thinning of the lithosphere. Following time 2, the
lithosphere cools and thickens (Fig. 2.8) as warm asthenosphere converts
to cool lithosphere. At the end of this process, the original geothermal
gradient is restored. As less dense asthenosphere converts to slightly
more dense mantle lid, the column will continue subsiding until the

5
original geothermal gradient is obtained. The rate of cooling will be
exponential and so will the subsidence.

In this example (Fig. 2.7) there are two stages of subsidence. An


initial phase of subsidence occurs during extension of the lithosphere.
The rate and amount of this subsidence directly follows the rate and
amount of extension. The second phase of thermal subsidence occurs at an
exponential rate, following the cooling of the lithosphere once extension
is complete. Thus, the total amount of subsidence is a function of
isostasy, the net effect of thinning the crust and mantle lid, but the rate
of subsidence is controlled by the thermal decay equation.

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