Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
10
Deep controls on intraplate basin inversion
SØREN B. NIELSEN RANDELL STEPHENSON CHRISTIAN SCHIFFER
Abstract
Basin inversion is an intermediate-scale manifestation of continental intraplate
deformation, which produces earthquake activity in the interior of continents.
The sedimentary basins of central europe, inverted in the Late Cretaceous-
Paleocene, represent a classic example of this phenomenon. It is known that
inversion of these basins occurred in two phases: an initial one of transpres-
sional shortening involving reverse activation of former normal faults and a
subsequent one of uplift of the earlier developed inversion axis and a shift of
sedimentary depocentres, and that this is a response to changes in the regional
intraplate stress field. This European intraplate deformation is considered in the
context of a new model of the present-day stress field of Europe (and the North
Atlantic) caused by lithospheric potential energy variations. Stresses causing
basin inversion of Europe must have been favourably orientated with respect
to pre-existing structures in the lithosphere. Furthermore, stresses derived from
lithospheric potential energy variations as well as those from plate boundary
forces must be taken into account in order to explain intraplate seismicity and
deformation such as basin inversion.
10.1 Introduction
The focus of this chapter is intraplate stress and deformation in the European continent
and the adjacent North Atlantic area. By “deep controls” we understand the involvement
of the whole crust and mantle lithosphere, i.e., the lithosphere-scale processes involved in
intraplate deformations such as basin inversion, which includes dynamic interactions with
the underlying mantle. We will not be concerned with the relationship between basement
faulting and the related folding and faulting of the overlying sediments. An extensive
literature covers this subject from an observational, experimental, and modelling point of
