Abstract
This paper discusses the geodynamic evolution of the Makran accretionary prism from a new field investigation in the Pakistani area and from the interpretation of reprocessed seismic lines in the offshore area. The field reconnaissance has provided new structural data about the general structure of the prism and a rejuvenated stratigraphic chart based on new datings. This work outlines that the sediment input in the Makran originated from various origins during Cenozoic times: (1) direct influx from the Indus River conveying eroded series from the Indian shield or Himalayas, (2) strong erosion of the growing inner prism. En-échelon elongated anticlines which are cross-cut by strike-slip faults developed along the eastern Makran Range. Recent out-of-sequence thrust propagation has been evidenced in the onshore area in relation to recent erosion. A large un-deformed platform responsible for a huge trap for sedimentation developed during Miocene and Pliocene times between the emerged part of the Makran and the offshore active compressive front. The internal architecture of the prism is also strongly influenced by the propagation of the deformation with in secondary décollement levels. These upper detachments are hosted with in the Miocene slope-to-basin prograding wedges, upon which a recent normal growth fault system developed in the near offshore area, at the same time when compression occurred at the front of the prism.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Arthuron R.S., Farah A. & Ahmed W., 1982. The late Cretaceous-Cenozoic history of western Baluchistan, Pakistan the northern margin of the Makran subduction complex. In: J.K. Legett, (eds) Trench-Forearc geology, Special Publication Geological Society of London, no 10, pp 373–385.
Bannert D., Cheemaa A., Ahmed A., and Schaffer U., 1992. The structural development of the Western Fold Belt, Pakistan. Geologisches Jahrbuch B80, pp. 3–60.
Biswas S.K. & Thomas J., 1990. The Deccan Traps and Indian Ocean volcanism. In: Plummer Ph.S. (ed.), First Indian Ocean Petroleum Seminar Proceeding UN Seminary Seychelles, pp. 187–209.
Byrne D.E. and Sykes L.R., 1992. Great thrust Earth quakes and aseismic slip along the plate boundary of the Makran subduction zone. Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 97, no B1, pp. 449–478.
Burgarth K. P., von rad U., Van Der LiInden W. Block M. Khan A.A., Roeser H. A. & Weiss W. 2002. Basalt and peridotite recovered from Murray Ridge: are they of supra-subduction type?. In: The tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian sea region. Ed: Clift P., Kroon D. Gaedicke C. & Craig J. Geological Society of London No 195.
Clift P.D., Shimizu N., Layne G.D., Blustajn J.S., Gaedicke C., Sschluter H.-U., Clarck M.K. & Amjad S., 2001. Development of the Indus Fan and its significance for the erosional history of the Western Himalaya and Karakoram. Geological Society of America, v. 113, no. 8, pp1039–1051, August 2001.
CliftP. D., Carter A., Krol M. Kirby E. 2002. Constraints on India-Eurasia collision in the Ararbian sea region taken from the Indus Group, Ladakh Himalaya, India. In: The tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian sea region. Ed: Clift P., Kroon D. Gaedicke C. & Craig J. Geological Society of London No 195.
Clift P. 2002. A brief history of the Indus River. In: The tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian sea region. Ed: Clift P., Kroon D. Gaedicke C. & Craig J. Geological Society of London No 195.
Coumes F. Kolla V., 1984. Indus fan: seismic structure, channel migration and sediment-thikness in the upper fan. In: Haq B.U. and Milliman J.D. (eds.), Marine geology and oceanography of Arabian Sea and coastal Pakistan, pp. 101–110.
Crame J.A., 1984. Neogene and quaternary mollusca from the Makran coast, Pakistan.. In: Haq B.U. and Milliman J.D. (eds.), Marine geology and oceanography of Arabian Sea and coastal Pakistan, pp. 45–64.
Critelli S., De rosa R. & Platt J.P. 1990. Sandstone detrital modes in the Makran accretionary wedge. Southwest pakistan; implications for tectonic setting and long-distance turbidite transportation. Sedimentary Geology, v. 187, pp. 241–260.
Delisle G., von Rad U., Andruleit H., von Daniels C.H., Tabrez A.R. & Inam A., 2001. Active mud volcanoes on-and off-shore eastern Makran, Pakistan. Int J. Earth Sciences (Geol Rundsch), v. 91, pp 93–100.
Demmets C., Gordon R.G., Argus D.F., & Stein S., 1990. Current plate motions. Geophys. J. v. 101, v. 2, pp. 425–478.
Dykstraj J.D. & Birnie R.W., 1979. Reconnaissance geologic maping in Chagai hills, Baluchistan, Pakistan, by computer processing of landsat data. AAPG bulletin, v. 63, no 9, pp. 1490–1503.
Edwards R.A., Minshull T.A. & White R.S., 2000. Extension across the Indian-Arabian plate boundary: the Murray Ridge. Geophysical Journal Internationnal, v. 142, pp. 461–477.
Ellouz N., Letouzey J., Müller C. Lafargue E., Mallick A., Jaswal T., & Maqsood T. 1994. Tectonic style and Petroleum system of the Sulaiman and N. Kirthar Ranges. IFP Internal report.
Ellouz N, Benard F., Letouzey J., Muller C., Roure F., Malik A., Jaswal T., Maqsood T., 1995. Tectonic style of the Sulaiman Range (Pakistan), a view from analog modeling. AAPG international conference and exhibition, abstracts. AAPG Bulletin. v. 79, no 8, pp. 1210–1211.
Ellouz et al. 2002. The Makran accretionary Prism-a regional report. IFP Internal report.
Farah A. & Dejong K.A., (eds), 1979. Geodynamics of Pakistan, Geological Survey of Pakistan, Quetta, 361 pages.
Farah A., Lawrence R.D. & Dejong K.A., 1984. An overview of the tectonics of Pakistan.. In: Haq B.U. and Milliman J.D. (eds.), Marine geology and oceanography of Arabian Sea and coastal Pakistan, pp. 161–176.
Fruehn J., White R.S. & Minshull T.A., 1997. Internal deformation and compaction of the Makran accretionary wedge. Terra nova, v. 9, pp. 101–104.
Fournier M., Patriat P. & Leroy S., 2001. Reapraisal of the Arabia-India-Somalia triple junction kinematics. Earth and planetary science letters, v. 189, pp.103–114.
Gaedicke C., Schluter H.U., Roeser H.A., Prexl A., Schreckenberger B., Meyer H., Reichert C., Clift P. & Amjad S.. New insight into the continent-ocean boundary of the Indian Plate, Northern Arabian sea. Tectonophysics, article in press.
Gaedicke C. Prexl A. Schlüter H. U., Meyer H. Roeser H. & Clift P. 2002. Seismic stratigraphy and cprrelation of Major regional uncomformities in the norther Arabian Sea. In: The tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian sea region. Ed: Clift, Kroon D. Gaedicke C. & Craig J. Geological Society of London no 195.
Garzantie E., Critelli S. & Ingersoll R.V., 1996. Paleogeographic And Paleotectonic Evolution Of The Himalayan Range as reflected by detrital modes of tertiary sandstones and modern sands (Indus transect, India and Pakistan. Geological society of america bulletin, v. 108, no6, pp. 631–642.
Gnos E., Immenhauser A. & Peters TJ., 1997. Late cretaceous/early Tertiary convergence between the Indian and Arabian plates recorded in ophiolites and related sediments. Tectonophysics, v. 271, pp.1–19.
Gordon R.G. & Demets C., 1989. Present-day motion along the Owen Fracture Zone and Dalrymple Trough in the Arabian sea. Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 94, pp. 5560–5570.
Grando G., & McClay. Morphotectonic domains and structural styles in the Makran accretionary prism, offshore Iran.. Sedimentary Geology in press
Harms J.C., Cappel H.N., & Francis D.C., 1984. The Makran coast of Pakistan: it’s stratigraphy and hydrocarbon potential. In: Haq B.U. and Milliman J.D. (eds.), Marine geology and oceanography of Arabian Sea and coastal Pakistan, pp. 3–26.
Iqbal M.W.A. & Shah S.M.I., 1980. A guide to the stratigraphy of Pakistan. Records of the geological survey of Pakistan, v. 53.
Jacob K.H. & Quittemeyer R.L., 1979. The Makran region of Pakistan and Iran: Trench-arc system with active plate subduction. In: Farah A. and DeJong K. A. (eds), Geodynamics of Pakistan, pp.305–317.
Kazmi A.H., 1984. Geology of the Indus fan.. In: Haq B.U. and Milliman J.D. (eds.), Marine geology and oceanography of Arabian Sea and coastal Pakistan, pp. 71–84.
Kazmi A.H. & Jan M.Q. 1997. Geology and tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic publishers (eds.).
Kazmi A.H. & Rana R.A. 1982. Tectonic Map of Pakistan. Geological survey of Pakistan, Quetta. Scale 1: 2000000.
Kolla V. & Coumes F., 1990. Extension of structural and tectonic trends from the Indian subcontinent into the Eastern Arabian Sea. Marine and petroleum Geology, v. 7, pp.188–196.
Kopp C., Fruehn J., Flueh E.R., Reichert C., Kukowski N., Bialas J. & Klaeschen D., 1999. Structure of the Makran subduction zone from wide-angle and reflection seismic data. Tectonophysics, v. 329, pp. 171–191.
Kukowski N., Schillhorn, E., Flueh E.R. & Huhn K., 2000. Newly identified strike-slip plate boundary in the northeastern Arabian Sea. Geology, v. 28, no 4, pp. 355–358, April 2000.
Laughton A.S., Mattews D.H. & Fischer R.L., 1971. The structure of the Indian ocean. In: The Sea. A. Maxwell (eds): New York (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) v.4, no 2, pp.543–586.
Lawrence R.D., & Yeats R.S., 1979. Geological reconnaissance of the Chaman fault in Pakistan. In: Farah A. and DeJong K. A. (eds), Geodynamics of Pakistan, pp. 351–357.
Lawrence R.D., Khan S.H., Dejong K.A., Farah A. & Yeats R.S., 1981. Thrust and strike slip fault interaction along the Chaman transform zone, Pakistan. In: Thrust and Nappe tectonics. The Geological Society of London, pp. 363–370.
Legett J.K. & Platt J., 1984. Structural features of the Makran forearc on Landsat imagery.. In: Haq B.U. and Milliman J.D. (eds.), Marine geology and oceanography of Arabian Sea and coastal Pakistan, pp. 33–44.
Leroy S, Gente P, Fournier M, D’Acremont E, Patriat P, Beslier M-O, Bellahsen N, Maia M, Blais A, Perrot J, Al-Kathiri A, Merkouriev S, Fleury J-M, Ruellan P-Y, Lepvrier C, Huchon P (2004) From rifting to spreading in the eastern Gulf of Aden: a geophysical survey of a young oceanic basin from margin to margin. Terra Nova, v. 16, no 4, pp. 185–192.
MCcall G. J. H. 2002. A summary of the geology of the Iranian border. In: The tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian sea region. Ed: Clift P., Kroon D. Gaedicke C. & Craig J. Geological Society of London no 195
Miles P.R., Munschy M. & Segoufin J., 1998. Structure and early evolution of the Arabian sea and east Somali basin. Geophysical Journal International, v.134, pp. 876–888, 1998.
Miles P.R. & Roest W.R., 1993. Earliest seafloor spreading magnetic anomalies in the north Arabian Sea and the ocean-continent transition, Geophysical Journal International, v. 115, pp. 1025–1031.
Minshull T.A., White R.S., Barton P.J. & Collier J.S., 1992. Deformation at plate boundaries around the Gulf of Oman. Marine Geology, v. 104, pp. 265–277.
Müller C., 2002. Nannoplankton biostratigraphy of the Kirthar and Sulaiman ranges, Pakistan. Cour. Forsch.-Inst. Senckenberg, v. 237: pp. 15–24.
Pascoe E.H., 1964. A manual of the geology of India and Burma, v. III (ed3), pp. 1345–2130.
Patriat P. & Achache J. 1984. India-Eurasia collision chronology and its implications for crustal shortening and driving mechanisms of plates. Nature, v. 311, pp 615–621.
Platt J.P., Legett J.K., Yong J., Raza H. & Alam S., 1985. Large scale sediment underplating in the Makran accretionnary prism, southwest Pakistan. Geology, v.13, no 7, pp.507–511.
Platt J.P. & Legett J.K., 1986. Stratal extension in thrust footwalls, Makran accretionary prism: implications for thrust tectonics. The American Association of petroleum geologists bulletin V. 70, NO.2, pp. 191–203.
PowelL C.McA., 1979. A speculative tectonic history of Pakistan and surroundings: some constraints from the Indian ocean. In: Farah A. and DeJong K. A. (eds), Geodynamics of Pakistan, pp. 5–24.
Qayyum M., Lawrence R.D. & Niem A., 1997. Molasse-deltaflysch continuum of the Himalayan orogeny and closure of the Paleogene Katawaz remnant ocean, Pakistan. International geology review, v. 39, pp. 861–875.
Qayyum M., Niem A.R. & Lawrence R.D. 1994. Closure of the Neo-Tethys and evolution of newly discovered delta in §Tertiary Katawaz Basin, Pakistan. Geological society of America, abstracts, v.26, pp.A-242.
Qhueshri M.J., Tariq M.A. & Abid Q.Z., 1993. Geological map of Pakistan (1:10000000). Geological Survey Pakistan, Quetta.
Roeser H.A. & Scientific party, 1997. MAKRAN I: The Makran accretionary wedge off Pakistan-tectonic evolution and fluid migration (part 1). Cruise Report, BGR, Archive No 116 643
Royer JY, Chaubey AK, Dyment J, Bhattacharya GC, Srinivas K, Yatheesh V and Ramprasad T, (2002) Paleogene plate tectonic evolution of the Arabian and eastern Somali Basin. In: Clift PD, Gaedicke C, Craig J (eds). The tectonic & climatic evolution of the Arabian Sea region. Geological Society of London, pp 71–85.
Schlich R., 1982. The Indian Ocean: aseismic ridges, spreading centers and basins. In: Nairn A.E. and Stehli F.G. (eds.), The ocean basins and margins, v. 6. The Indian ocean. Plenum, New York, N.Y., pp. 51–147.
Scotese Cahagan L.M. & Larson R.L., 1988. Plate tectonic reconstructions of the Cretaceous and Cenozoic ocean basins. Tectonophysics, v. 155, pp. 27–48.
Searle R.C., 1990. Imaging the seafloor, new views of plate tectonics. Geophysical Journal International, v.101, no 1, pp.265-.
Searle M.P., Windley B.F., Coward M.P., Cooper D.J.W., Rex A. J., Rex D., Tingdong LI, Xuchang Xiao, Jan M.Q., Thakur V. C. & Kumar S., 1987. The closing of Tethys and the tectonics of the Himalaya. Geological Society of America bulletin, v. 98, pp. 678–701.
Sharland P.R., Archer R., Casey D.M., Davies R.B., Hall. S.H., Heward A.P., Horbury A.D. & Simmons M.D., 2001. Gulf PetroLink, Bahrain (eds.), Arabian plate sequence stratigraphy, GeoArabia Special Publication 2.
Smewing J. D. Warbuton J. daley, T. Copestake P. & Ul Haq N. 2002. Sequence stratigraphy of the Soutern Kirthar Foldbelt and Middle Indus basin, Pakistan. In: The tectonic and In: Climatic Evolution of the Arabian sea region. Ed: Clift P., Kroon D. Gaedicke C. & Craig J. Geological Society of London no 195.
Smith W & Sandwell D., 1997. Measured and Estimated Sea-floor Topography, 1:31270000 Chart, v. 4.2, World data center for Marine Geology and Geophysics, Boulder.
Treloar P.J. & Izatt C.N., 1993. Tectonics of the Himalayan collision between the Indian Plate and the Afghan Block: a synthesis. In: Treloar P.J. and Searle M.P. (eds.), Geological Society Special Publication no 74, pp. 69–87.
Wiedicke M., Neben S. & Speiss V., 2001. Mud volcanoes at the front of the Makran accretionary complex, Pakistan. Mar. Geol., v. 172, pp. 57–73.
White R. S., 1979. Deformation of the Makran continental margin. In: Farah A. and DeJong K. A. (eds), Geodynamics of Pakistan, pp. 295–304.
White R.S., 1982. Deformation of the Makran accretionary sediment prism in the Gulf of Oman (North-West Indian Ocean). In: Trench-Forearc geology, sedimentation and tectonics on modern and ancient active plate margins, conference. Special publication-geological society of london, v. 10, pp.357–372.
Whitmarsh R.B., 1974. Some aspects of plate tectonics in the Arabian sea: Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, v. 23, pp. 527–555.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Ellouz-Zimmermann, N., Deville, E., Müller, C., Lallemant, S., Subhani, A.B., Tabreez, A.R. (2007). Impact of Sedimentation on Convergent Margin Tectonics: Example of the Makran Accretionary Prism (Pakistan). In: Lacombe, O., Roure, F., Lavé, J., Vergés, J. (eds) Thrust Belts and Foreland Basins. Frontiers in Earth Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69426-7_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69426-7_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-69425-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69426-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)