--> Structure and Prospects of the Urals Thrust Belt, by K. Sobornov; #90986 (1994).

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Abstract: Structure and Prospects of the Urals Thrust Belt

Konstantin Sobornov

New seismic data, supplemented by drilling and field mapping, show that the Urals thrust belt, which flanks the eastern margin of East Europe, is characterized by considerable strike-parallel changes in structural style. In the north and south of the belt, the data provide evidence for a delamination of the Paleozoic sedimentary section, multiple thrust stacking and an extensive occurrence of buried wedge-shaped thrust sheets. The central part of the Urals is dominated by gently folded emergent overthrust structures. The remarkable difference in structural style is interpreted to be controlled mostly by a greater thickness and prominent rheological stratification of the sedimentary cover of the northern and southern segments of the belt. Structural evolution of the central segment was influenced by reactivation of the Late Proterozoic Ural-Timan fold belt. Deep-seated thrusting and tectonic thickening in the Proterozoic section in front of the Central Urals accommodated much of compression and caused deep erosion of the Paleozoic section.

The recognition of previously unknown buried structural closures within the triangle zones in the northern and southern parts of the Urals suggests new promising targets for petroleum exploration. In the Central Urals the most important traps are normal fault-bounded rotated blocks in the autochthonous section.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90986©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 12-15, 1994