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Two layer model of lithospheric compression and uplift/exhumation in an intracratonic setting: an example from the Cooper–Eromanga Basins, Australia

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Abstract

Seismic reflection profiles indicate the compressive nature of the structural style associated with the major uplift events in the Cooper–Eromanga Basins. Inversion geometries and reactivated features attest to a period of compression during Late Triassic–Early Jurassic times. In the Eromanga Basin, compressional structural styles associated with Late Cretaceous–Tertiary are apparent. Many of the Late Cretaceous–Tertiary structures coincide with exhumation highs in Late Cretaceous–Tertiary times. The two-layer lithospheric compression model is considered as the most complete explanation of both the uplift of areas subject to compression and crustal thickening, and of the regional uplift of areas not subject to any apparent Late Cretaceous–Tertiary compression. In the model, compression and thickening in the lower lithosphere is decoupled and laterally displaced from that in the upper crust. Thickening of the mantle lithosphere without thickening of the overlying crust can account for the initial subsidence then uplift of not inverted platform areas. The opening of the Tasman Sea and the Coral Seas can lead to stress transmission in the interior of the continent. These stresses are likely to generate uplift but cannot explain the distribution of uplift in areas not subject to compression.

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Acknowledgements

The present work has been made possible thanks to Santos Ltd., for providing the data and the well completion reports. Comments from two anonymous reviewers and Prof. R. O. Greiling are sincerely appreciated and greatly improved the manuscript.

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  1. Petroleum Development Oman LLC, P.O. Box 81, Muscat, 113, Sultanate of Oman

    Angelos Mavromatidis

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Mavromatidis, A. Two layer model of lithospheric compression and uplift/exhumation in an intracratonic setting: an example from the Cooper–Eromanga Basins, Australia. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 97, 623–634 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-007-0260-5

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