S.N. Bolotov

Late Precambrian to Triassic history of the East European Craton: dynamics of sedimentary basin evolution

Abstract During its Riphean to Palaeozoic evolution, the East European Craton was affected by rift phases during Early, Middle and Late Riphean, early Vendian, early Palaeozoic, Early Devonian and Middle-Late Devonian times and again at the transition from the Carboniferous to the Permian and the Permian to the Triassic. These main rifting cycles were separated by phases of intraplate compressional tectonics at the transition from the Early to the Middle Riphean, the Middle to the Late Riphean, the Late Riphean to the Vendian, during the mid-Early Cambrian, at the transition from the Cambrian to the Ordovician, the Silurian to the Early Devonian, the Early to the Middle Devonian, the Carboniferous to Permian and the Triassic to the Jurassic. Main rift cycles are dynamically related to the separation of continental terranes from the margins of the East European Craton and the opening of Atlantic-type palaeo-oceans and/or back-arc basins. Phases of intraplate compression, causing inversion of extensional basins, coincide with the development of collisional belts along the margins of the East European Craton. The origin and evolution of sedimentary basins on the East European Craton was governed by repeatedly changing regional stress fields. Periods of stress field changes coincide with changes in the drift direction, velocity and rotation of the East European plate and its interaction with adjacent plates. Intraplate magmatism was controlled by changes in stress fields and by mantle hot-spot activity. Geodynamically speaking, different types of magmatism occurred simultaneously.

Northern Caucasus basin: thermal history and synthesis of subsidence models

Abstract Burial histories of the eastern, central and western parts of the Northern Caucasus basin are reconstructed on the basis of well data and seismic sections. Subsidence began in the Early Triassic after the Late Carboniferous–Permian orogeny. Triassic sediments were mainly removed during Late Triassic–Early Jurassic uplift and erosion. Platform cover began to form in the Middle Jurassic and Albian sediments covered the whole territory of the basin. Thermal modelling shows that Jurassic–Eocene subsidence was mainly controlled by Late Triassic–Early Jurassic intrusive warming. This heating event induced thermal uplift of the whole territory followed by exponentially decelerating subsidence due to cooling of the lithosphere. In the southern areas adjacent to Great Caucasus, subsidence was also affected by Caucasian extensional and compressional events. In the Oligocene–Early Miocene, the eastern and the central basins underwent rapid long wavelength subsidence (Maikopian subsidence). The geodynamic cause of this subsidence is probably associated with the mantle flow appearance after cessation of the Tethyan subduction, due to reequilibration of subducted slab. While in the Late Miocene–Quaternary times, the eastern and the western basins underwent foreland-type asymmetrical subsidence due to loading of the Great Caucasus orogen; the central basin was uplifted. According to flexural modelling, the main component of orogen loading was the lithospheric root load; delamination of the latter under the Central Caucasus caused rapid uplift of the orogen and adjacent basin.

A sedimentation model of the maikop deposits of the Tuapse Basin in the Black Sea according to the results of 2-D and 3-D seismic surveys and field works in the Western Caucasus and Crimea

This work is based on the results of 2-D and 3-D surveys in the Tuapse Basin and field works in the Crimea-Caucasus region. Seven zones were outlined in the model of sedimentation starting from the eroded mountain structure of the Greater Caucasus down to deep water sediments of the Tuapse Basin. The slope and deep-water sediments of channels and fan complexes are characterized. Volume models of the sedimentation system in the Black Sea are shown for the first time.

The Structure of the Miocene Sediments in the Southeastern Escarp of the Fiolent Cape in Southwest Crimea

Structural and morphological analysis of the Miocene sediments that build up the Mekenzievi rock sequence at the Fiolent Cape made it possible to define the major characteristics of its inner structure. The largely homogeneous carbonate sediments are composed of clinoform complexes and bodies that fill in erosion paleochannels. The Mekenzievi rock sequence was formed under tectonic activity in the basin with intensive hydrodynamics. Most of the Mekenzievi rock sequence is dated as Early Chokrakian.