A New Model of the Palaeogeographic and Tectonic Evolution of Tethys from 150Ma to Present: Implications for Depositional Systems and Source-to-Sink Relationships

Galsworthy, Amanda M.¹; Raynham, Lauren K.¹; Markwick, Paul J.¹; Campanile, Daniel ¹; Bailiff, Robert G.¹; Benny, Kate ¹; Harland, Melise ¹; Eue, Dorothea ¹; Bonne, Kathelijne ¹; Hagan, Laura ¹; Edgecombe, Emma ¹; Wrobel, Neil ¹
(1)GETECH Group plc., Leeds, United Kingdom.

A new model of the tectonic and landscape evolution of Southern Europe and Tethys is presented. This comprises 32 stage level maps for the Cretaceous and Cenozoic and forms a part of an ongoing integrated, geodynamic and palaeoenvironmental mapping project designed to reconstruct the tectonic and geographic framework of the world back to the Late Proterozoic.

Tectonics and palaeolandscape reconstruction provide critical inputs for any understanding of the hydrocarbon potential of a region. They give explorationists the contemporary spatial context for examining known plays and predicting robustly their potential extension beyond existing well and seismic control. They also provide the tectonic framework (nature and timing) for basin modelling.

Numerous tectonic models exist for the Tethyan region, largely differentiated by alternative definitions of the individual tectonic plates and the timing of rifting and collisions. Our model examined and analysed these models through time comparing them with available geological data across the region. As a rigid plate model our result has some similarities with the model of Schettino and Scotese (2002), though derived independently. Of importance, our model fits within a self-consistent global plate model. This plate model then forms the basis for the reconstruction of contemporary base-level: depositional areas and sediment source areas designated according to their last thermo-mechanical event. These are then converted into landscape maps which include the palaeodrainage systems with elevation and bathymetry as a palaeoDEM. These are then used to investigate regional and local source to sink relationships and the distribution of source, reservoir and seal facies across the region.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90135©2011 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Milan, Italy, 23-26 October 2011.