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Confidential Manuscript Submitted to Tectonics Title: the Stratigraphic Confidential manuscript submitted to Tectonics 1 Title: The Stratigraphic Record of Pre-breakup Geodynamics: Evidence from the Barrow 2 Delta, offshore Northwest Australia 3 Authors: Matthew T. Reeve, Christopher A.-L. Jackson, Rebecca E. Bell, Craig Magee & 4 Ian D. Bastow 5 Affiliation (all authors): Basins Research Group (BRG), Department of Earth Science and 6 Engineering, Royal School of Mines, Prince Consort Road, Imperial College London, SW7 7 2BP, England, UK. 8 Corresponding author: Matthew T. Reeve ([email protected]) 9 Key points: 10 • Delta systems represent an important sedimentary archive of geodynamic processes 11 • Anomalously rapid uplift and subsidence shown to have taken place in the last stages 12 of breakup 13 • A phase of depth-dependent extension or dynamic topography is suggested to precede 14 breakup 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 1 Confidential manuscript submitted to Tectonics 23 Abstract 24 The structural and stratigraphic evolution of rift basins and passive margins has been widely 25 studied, with many analyses demonstrating that delta systems can provide important records 26 of post-rift geodynamic processes. However, the apparent lack of ancient syn-breakup delta 27 systems and the paucity of seismic imaging across continent-ocean boundaries means the 28 transition from continental rifting to oceanic spreading remains poorly understood. The Early 29 Cretaceous Barrow Group of the North Carnarvon Basin, offshore NW Australia was a major 30 deltaic system that formed during the latter stages of continental rifting, and represents a rich 31 sedimentary archive, documenting uplift, subsidence and erosion of the margin. We use a 32 regional database of 2D and 3D seismic and well data to constrain the internal architecture of 33 the Barrow Group. Our results highlight three major depocenters: the Exmouth and Barrow 34 sub-basins, and southern Exmouth Plateau. Over-compaction of pre-Cretaceous sedimentary 35 rocks in the South Carnarvon Basin, and pervasive reworking of Permian and Triassic 36 palynomorphs in the offshore Barrow Group, suggests that the onshore South Carnarvon 37 Basin originally contained a thicker sedimentary succession, which was uplifted and eroded 38 prior to breakup. Backstripping of sedimentary successions encountered in wells in the 39 Exmouth Plateau depocenter indicate anomalously rapid tectonic subsidence (≤0.24 mm yr-1) 40 accommodated Barrow Group deposition, despite evidence for minimal, contemporaneous 41 upper crustal extension. Our results suggest that classic models of uniform extension cannot 42 account for the observations of uplift and subsidence in the North Carnarvon Basin, and may 43 indicate a period of depth-dependent extension or dynamic topography preceding breakup. 44 45 1. Introduction 2 Confidential manuscript submitted to Tectonics 46 Although the structural and stratigraphic evolution of rift basins and passive margins has 47 been widely studied, the transition from continental rifting to oceanic spreading, which is 48 highly variable in terms of the timing and distribution of extension, uplift, subsidence and 49 magmatism, remains a relatively poorly understood process [Dunbar & Sawyer, 1989; Taylor 50 et al., 1999; Rosenbaum et al., 2008]. The sedimentary and stratigraphic record of continental 51 breakup is influenced by uplift, subsidence and erosion and may therefore provide important 52 insights into how continents break up. However, isolating the tectonic signal in the 53 stratigraphic record from climatic and eustatic signals is challenging [Schumm et al., 2000; 54 Catuneanu, 2006; Espurt et al., 2009]. Understanding the tectonic processes prior to break up 55 and how they are expressed in the sedimentary record is key to constraining the final stages 56 of continental rifting, and ultimately in understanding how continents break up. 57 Along continental margins, large deltaic systems perhaps represent the best available records 58 of sedimentary basin evolution, because they are highly sensitive to changes in allogenic 59 controls (e.g. climate, tectonics, sediment supply) over comparatively short timescales 60 [Catuneanu, 2006; Plint & Wadsworth, 2006]. As a result, deltas deposited in the last stages 61 of continental rifting can potentially record the sedimentary expression of geodynamic 62 processes taking place prior to breakup. However, many large-scale deltas on passive 63 continental margins have evolved post-breakup, such as the Niger Delta [Cohen & McClay, 64 1996], the Cenozoic deltas of the Gulf of Mexico [Galloway 1989; Sydow & Roberts 1994] 65 and the Orinoco Delta [Van Andel, 1967; Aslan et al., 2003]. The Ceduna Delta system of the 66 southern Australian Bight Basin formed during breakup but our understanding of its 67 sedimentological and stratigraphic evolution is limited due to a lack of high-quality seismic 68 reflection and well data, compromising attempts to constrain the geodynamic processes 69 operating during its deposition on a regional scale [e.g. Espurt et al., 2009; King & Backé, 70 2010; MacDonald et al., 2010]. The North Carnarvon Basin, offshore NW Australia (Figure 3 Confidential manuscript submitted to Tectonics 71 1), however, is an ideal study area in which to investigate how the stratigraphic architecture 72 of a large-scale delta system (i.e. the Early Cretaceous Barrow Delta) evolved during the final 73 stages of continental rifting. 74 Fundamental questions remain unanswered concerning the processes and mechanisms that 75 operated during the deposition of the Barrow Delta and contemporaneous break up [AGSO 76 North West Shelf Study Group, 1994; Stagg & Colwell, 1994] and how these processes are 77 expressed in terms of uplift [e.g. Rohrman, 2015], subsidence, magmatism and distribution of 78 extension [e.g. Driscoll & Karner, 1998; Huismans & Beaumont, 2011]. In particular, despite 79 considerable academic and exploration interest, the source area of the Barrow Group remains 80 controversial [e.g. Veevers & Powell, 1979; Exon & Buffler, 1992; Ross & Vail, 1994]. 81 Discriminating between the proposed source area models is therefore important in order to 82 constrain the distribution and timing of pre-breakup uplift, which in turn provides crucial 83 information for elucidating mechanisms of rifting and breakup. This study aims to constrain 84 the structural and stratigraphic evolution of the Barrow Delta, to gain insights into the 85 geodynamic processes operating in the final stages of continental rifting in the North 86 Carnarvon Basin. We investigate the structural architecture and distribution of the Barrow 87 Group using an extensive dataset of high-resolution, 2D and 3D seismic reflection surveys 88 and borehole data (Figure 2). Onshore borehole data constrains the uplift history of the South 89 Carnarvon Basin, and we use data from offshore boreholes on the Exmouth Plateau to 90 perform 1D isostatic backstripping to understand the subsidence history of this area (Figure 91 2). 92 2. Geological Setting 93 2.1. Regional geology 4 Confidential manuscript submitted to Tectonics 94 The Palaeozoic-to-Recent North Carnarvon Basin forms the southwestern part of Australia’s 95 Northwest Shelf (Figure 1), covering ~535,000 km2, and is sub-divided into a number of 96 smaller tectonic elements: the thick Mesozoic depocenters of the Exmouth, Barrow, Dampier, 97 Dixon and Beagle sub-basins, and the Exmouth Plateau to the northwest, which lacks a thick 98 Mesozoic section (Figures 3 & 4) [Stagg & Colwell, 1994; Longley et al., 2002]. We here 99 focus on the Exmouth and Barrow sub-basins, and the southern Exmouth Plateau. The 100 Exmouth and Barrow sub-basins are NE-trending, en-échelon, principally Jurassic 101 depocenters, separated by the N-trending Alpha Arch, which comprises horst blocks of 102 Triassic age (Figure 3) [Stagg & Colwell, 1994; Tindale et al. 1998]. In contrast, the 103 Exmouth Plateau is a block of thin crystalline crust (c. 10km thickness), overlain by a thick 104 sedimentary sequence [Stagg et al., 2004]. Previous authors have suggested the crystalline 105 basement of the Exmouth Plateau comprises continental crust on the basis of geophysical 106 evidence, such as gravity, magnetic and velocity data, although the composition of basement 107 in this area has not been directly confirmed by sampling by drilling or dredging [Stagg et al. 108 2004]. The Exmouth Plateau is bound on its northern and northwestern margins by oceanic 109 crust of the Argo and Gascoyne Abyssal Plains respectively, and to the south by the Cuvier 110 Abyssal Plain, from which it is separated by the Cape Range Fracture Zone (CRFZ) (Figure 111 1) [Purcell & Purcell 1988; Hopper et al. 1992; Longley et al. 2002]. The CRFZ has been 112 interpreted as a sheared rifted margin that accommodated continent-continent transform 113 motion during breakup along the Cuvier segment of the margin [Lorenzo & Vera 1992; 114 Lorenzo 1997]. 115 The structural and stratigraphic architecture of the North Carnarvon Basin developed during 116 multiple phases of rifting between Australia and Greater India that intermittently occurred 117 from the Late Carboniferous until the Early Cretaceous [Stagg & Colwell, 1994; Longley et 118 al., 2002; Gibbons et al., 2012]. Significant discrepancies exist in the literature concerning 5 Confidential manuscript submitted to Tectonics 119 the timing of these rifting events, although most authors suggest that Mesozoic rifting in the 120 Exmouth and Barrow sub-basins commenced in the Rhaetian [e.g.
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