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Sedimentation rate and subsidence history of the southeastern Karoo Basin, South Africa, using 1D backstripping method

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Abstract

Backstripping analysis has been carried out on five boreholes and one outcrop section of the Ecca Group in the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa to determine the sedimentation rate and subsidence history of the basin. The result shows that the rate of sedimentation in the Prince Albert, Whitehill, Collingham, Ripon and Fort Brown Formations range between 0.003–0.03, 0.02–0.05, 0.01–0.05, 0.03–0.22, and 0.15–0.025 mm year−1, respectively. The backstripped subsidence curves that are constructed by removing the effects of decompaction to the water column and sediment loads show subsidence rates decreasing with time, resembling the typical thermal subsidence curves of passive continental margins. Three major subsidence episodes characterized the Ecca Group, namely, (1) rapid subsidence in an extensional regime, (2) slow subsidence in the middle of basin development and (3) another rapid subsidence in a compressional regime. The aforementioned subsidence episodes show that the southeastern Karoo Basin was located on a passive continental margin, suggesting that the subsidence was initiated and mainly controlled by mechanical (gravitational loading) or tectonic events, with little contribution of thermal events. The average rate of tectonic subsidence in the Prince Albert, Whitehill, Collingham, Ripon and Fort Brown Formations are 63, 28, 25, 215 and 180 m Ma−1, respectively. It is also inferred that the southeastern Karoo Basin evolved from a passive continental margin into an Andean-type continental foreland basin; thus, portraying a completely evolved post-rift setting along the southeastern Gondwana margin.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa (UID: 101980) and Govan Mbeki Research and Development Centre (GMRDC) of the University of Fort Hare for the financial support.

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  1. Faculty of Science and Agriculture, Department of Geology, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice, Eastern Cape Province, 5700, South Africa

    Christopher Baiyegunhi, Kuiwu Liu & Oswald Gwavava

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  1. Christopher Baiyegunhi
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Correspondence to Christopher Baiyegunhi.

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Baiyegunhi, C., Liu, K. & Gwavava, O. Sedimentation rate and subsidence history of the southeastern Karoo Basin, South Africa, using 1D backstripping method. Arab J Geosci 10, 225 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-3009-x

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