Journal article

Growth and demise of a Paleogene isolated carbonate platform of the Offshore Indus Basin, Pakistan : effects of regional and local controlling factors

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    01.04.2018
Published in:
  • International Journal of Earth Sciences. - 2018, vol. 107, p. 481-504
English Based on high-resolution seismic and well datasets, this paper examines the evolution and drowning history of a Paleocene–Eocene carbonate platform in the Offshore Indus Basin of Pakistan. This study uses the internal seismic architecture, well log data as well as the microfauna to reconstruct factors that governed the carbonate platform growth and demise. Carbonates dominated by larger benthic foraminifera assemblages permit constraining the ages of the major evolutionary steps and show that the depositional environment was tropical within oligotrophic conditions. With the aid of seismic stratigraphy, the carbonate platform edifice is resolved into seven seismic units which in turn are grouped into three packages that reflect its evolution from platform initiation, aggradation with escarpment formation and platform drowning. The carbonate factory initiated as mounds and patches on a Cretaceous–Paleocene volcanic complex. Further, the growth history of the platform includes distinct phases of intraplatform progradation, aggradation, backstepping and partial drownings. The youngest succession as late-stage buildup records a shift from benthic to pelagic deposition and marks the final drowning in the Early Eocene. The depositional trend of the platform, controlled by the continuing thermal subsidence associated with the cooling of volcanic margin lithosphere, was the major contributor of the accommodation space which supported the vertical accumulation of shallow water carbonate succession. Other factors such as eustatic changes and changes in the carbonate producers as a response to the Paleogene climatic perturbations played secondary roles in the development and drowning of these buildups.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Géosciences
Language
  • English
Classification
Geology
License
License undefined
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/306605
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