Tracing tectonic deformation using the sedimentary record: an overview

TLDR

Tectonic activity across plate, basin, and internal scales fundamentally controls sedimentary processes, yet its relationship with sedimentation is complicated by erosion, transport, lithology, climate, and other factors. This paper offers a selective overview of the interlinked themes of tectonics and sedimentation, focusing on the main basin types in extensional and compressional plate settings. We review local and basin‑scale sedimentation models for these selected basins to illustrate how tectonic and sedimentary processes interact.

Abstract

Abstract Tectonic activity, on a range of scales, is a fundamental control on sedimentary activity. The range of structural deformation within a region extends from the plate tectonic scale, governing, for example, rift initiation, to the basin scale, with the formation of basinbounding faults. Internal basin configuration is also strongly influenced by tectonic activity. However, the relationship between tectonic activity and sedimentation is a complex one, given the many additional factors which can also influence sedimentary activity, including erosion, sediment transport, source area lithology, groundwater chemistry, range of depositional environments, climate, eustasy, and the relative location of an area and its distality to marine influences. In this paper we provide a selective overview of the issues associated with the interlinked themes of tectonics and sedimentation, examining the main basin types forming in both extensional and compressional plate settings. We then review the various models of sedimentation in the selected basins, both on a local and a basinal scale. Finally, we look to the future — providing a series of possible research areas, almost exclusively multidisciplinary, which would help to improve existing models of interlinked sediment-tectonics systems.