The first-approximation model showing the occurrence of epicontinental sedimentary basins due to convective instability of the thermal lithosphere

Modern computational technologies make it possible to simulate practically any concept developed by geologists to investigate the processes of formation of the structures under study, including diametrically opposed ones. Today’s trend is to create complex ‘realistic’ models. Such models are based on a large number of parameters with properly set values and simulate the settings that can be viewed similar to the real situations. However, the adequacy of both the models themselves and the concepts used as the basis for simulation remains the issue of debate. Apparently, it is required to specify a general approach to theoretical constructions in geodynamics, which should ensure that the scope of applicability of the models can be correctly evaluated. Such an approach can be implemented by successive approximations based on the fundamental results of the theory of simple liquids with damping memory, the most general description of irreversible deformation of materials under non-isotropic stress. It is critical to correctly formulate a model in the first approximation. It should be fairly simple and based on reliably established experimental facts, give adequate and clearly interpretable non-trivial results and allow further logical refinement of the details, i.e. the next approximations. This article presents an attempt to strictly follow the requirements and consistently construct a model that can show the occurrence of large epicontinental sedimentary basins, the origin of which has been in the focus of geological studies for many years. Our model is based on the following reliably established facts: (1) at the surface of the planet, in continental areas there is an approximately 300-km-thick thermal boundary layer (TBL), wherein the temperature drop amounts to ~1300–1500 °C; (2) the material of the lithosphere, including the crust, is irreversibly deformed during slow geological processes; (3) the continental crust is the thick layer that is less dense than the material of the mantle. The numerical experiments demonstrate free convection in the upper mantle, which induces countercurrents in the light crust and leads to the occurrence of sedimentary basins above the ascending flows and uplifts above the descending flows, which form platform shields during the transition to the quasi-stationary mode. The parameters of the typical structures formed in the lithosphere and the crust and the sedimentary basins proper are estimated. Revealed are the stages of their evolution, which correlate with the available geological and geophysical data, except for the effects caused, in our opinion, by the higher temperature of the mantle and the dynamics of the resultant melt. (Our next publications will describe modeling with account of decompression melting of the mantle material and separation, migration and freezing of the resultant melt.) The proposed first-approximation model can be used to describe a wide variety of geodynamic processes of similar scales.

1. Artyushkov E.V., 1993. Physical Tectonics. Nauka, Moscow, 455 p. (in Russian).

2. Artyushkov E.V., 2010. Mechanism of formation of superdeep sedimentary basins: lithospheric stretching or eclogitization? Russian Geology and Geophysics 51 (12), 1304–1313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rgg.2010.11.002.

3. Astarita G., Marucci G., 1974. Principles of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. Mc Graw-Hill Book Company, New York, 289 p.

4. Burov E., Poliakov A., 2001. Erosion and rheology controls on synrift and postrift evolution: Verifying old and new ideas using a fully coupled numerical model. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 106 (B8), 16461–16481. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000433.

5. Buslov M.M., 2012. Geodynamic nature of the Baikal rift zone and its sedimentary filling in the Cretaceous–Cenozoic: the effect of the far-range impact of the Mongolo-Okhotsk and Indo-Eurasian collisions. Russian Geology and Geophysics 53 (9), 955–962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rgg.2012.07.010.

6. De Grave J., Buslov M.M., Van den haute P., 2007. Distant effects of India–Eurasia convergence and Mesozoic intracontinental deformation in Central Asia: Constraints from apatite fission-track thermochronology. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 29 (2–3), 188–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2006.03.001.

7. Dobretsov N.L., Polyansky O.P., 2010. On formation mechanisms of deep sedimentary basins: Is there enough evidence for eclogitization? Russian Geology and Geophysics 51 (12), 1314–1321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rgg.2010.11.006.

8. Evison F.F., 1960. On the growth of continents by plastic flow under gravity. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 3 (2), 155–190. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1960.tb00386.x.

9. Getling A.V., 1999. Rayleigh-Benard Convection. Structures and Dynamics. Editorial URSS, Moscow, 247 p. (in Russian)

10. Harbaugh J.W., Bonham-Carter G., 1974. Computer Simulation in Geology. Mir, Moscow, 312 p. (in Russian).

11. Haskell N.A., 1935. The motion of a viscous fluid under a surface load. Physics 6 (8), 265–269. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1745329.

12. Haskell N.A., 1936. The motion of a viscous fluid under a surface load. Part II. Physics 7 (2), 56–61. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1745362.

13. Haskell N.A., 1937. The viscosity of the asthenosphere. American Journal of Science 33 (193), 22–28. https://doi.org/10.2475/ajs.s5-33.193.22.

14. Heiskanen W., Vening-Meinesz F.A., 1958. The Earth and Its Gravity Field. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 470 p.

15. Huismans R.S., Beaumont C., 2003. Symmetric and asymmetric lithospheric extension: Relative effects of frictional‐plastic and viscous strain softening. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 108 (B10), 2496. https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JB002026.

16. Huismans R.S., Podladchikov Y.Y., Cloetingh S., 2001. Transition from passive to active rifting: Relative importance of asthenospheric doming and passive extension of the lithosphere. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 106 (B6), 11271–11291. https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JB900424.

17. Ikon E.V., Konyukhov V.I., Moroz M.L., 2009. Regularities of changes in the reservoir properties of the neocom rocks that occur in the Frolov mega-basin. Bulletin of Subsoil Users (20) (in Russian).Available from: http://www.oilnews.ru/20-20/zakonomernosti-izmeneniya-kollektorskix-svojstv-porod-neokoma-s-glubinoj-ix-zaleganiya-vo-frolovskoj-megavpadine/.

18. Ismail-Zade A.T., Lobkovsky L.I., Naimark B.M., 1994. Hydrodynamic model of formation of a sedimentary basin as a result of formation and subsequent phase transition of a magmatic lens in the upper mantle. In: Geodynamics and earthquake prediction. Computational Seismology, vol. 26. Nauka, Moscow, p. 139–155 (in Russian).

19. Kaula W.M., 1977. Problems in understanding vertical movements and earth rheology. In: Proceedings of “Earth rheology and Late Cenozoic isostatic movements”: an interdisciplinary symposium held in Stockholm, Sweden, July 31 – August 8, 1977. Stockholm, p. 577–588.

20. Krass M.S., 1973. Possible causes of lowering of guyots. In: M.E. Artemiev (Ed.), Isostasia. Nauka, Moscow, p. 139–151 (in Russian).

21. Kulagin A.V., Mushin I.A., Pavlova T.Yu., 1994. Modeling of Geological Processes During Geophysical Data Interpretation. Nedra, Moscow, 250 p. (in Russian).

22. Lunev B.V., 1986. Isostasia as dynamic equilibrium of viscous fluid. Doklady AN SSSR 290 (1), 72–76 (in Russian).

23. Lunev B.V., 1996. The upper mantle density anomaly above the Mid-Atlanтic Ridge: its nature and role in rifting and spreading. Geologiya i Geofizika (Russian Geology and Geophysics) 37 (9), 87–101 (in Russian).

24. Mitrovica J.X., 1996. Haskell [1935] revisited. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 101 (B1), 555–569. https://doi.org/10.1029/95JB03208.

25. Myasnikov V.P., Fadeev V.E., 1980. Models of the evolution of the Earth and terrestrial planets. VINITI. Results of Science and Technology. Physics of the Earth. Vol. 5. VINITI, Moscow, 232 p. (in Russian).

26. Nikonov A.A., 1977. Holocene and Modern Movements of the Earth's Crust. Nauka, Moscow, 240 p. (in Russian).

27. Niskanen E., 1948. On the viscosity of the Earth’s interior and crust. Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae. Series A III, Geologica – geographica 15, 22 p.

28. Prokofiev A.A., Kronrod V.A., Kuskov O.L., 2009. Distribution of temperature and density in the lithospheric mantle of the Siberian craton according to regional seismic models. Bulletin of the Earth Sciences Division of RAS 1 (27) (in Russian). Available from: http://www.scgis.ru/russian/cp1251/h_dgggms/1-2009/informbul-1_2009/planet-20.pdf.

29. Saxena S.K., Eriksson A.G., 1985. Anhydrous phase equilibria in Earth's upper mantle. Journal of Petrology 26 (2), 378–390. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/26.2.378.

30. Smyslov A.A., Surikov S.N., Vainblat A.B., 1996. Geothermal Map of Russia. Scale 1:10000000 (Explanatory Note). Goskomvuz Publishing House, SPbGGI, Roskomnedra, VSEGEI, Moscow – St. Petersburg, 92 p. (in Russian).

31. Sobolev S.V., Babeyko A.Yu., 1994. Modeling of mineralogical composition, density and elastic wave velocities in anhydrous magmatic rocks. Surveys in Geophysics 15 (5), 515–544. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00690173.

32. Surkov V.S., Zhero O.G., 1981. The Basement and Development of the Platform Shield of the West Siberian Plate. Nedra, Moscow, 143 p. (in Russian).

33. Timofeev V.Y., Ardyukov D.G., Timofeev A.V., Boiko E.V., Lunev B.V., 2014. Block displacement fields in the Altai-Sayan region and effective rheologic parameters of the Earth’s crust. Russian Geology and Geophysics 55 (3), 376–389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rgg.2014.01.019.

34. Trubitsyn V.P., 2008. Equations of thermal convection for a viscous compressible mantle of the earth including phase transitions. Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth 44 (12), 1018–1026. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1069351308120045.

35. Ushakov S.A., 1966. Dynamics of the crust in the zones of transition from continents to the Atlantic-type oceans. Doklady AN SSSR 171 (1), 10–15 (in Russian).

36. Yashchenko I.G., Polishchuk Yu.M., 2007. Analysis of the relationship of physico-chemical properties of heavy oils and the level of heat flow in the territories of the Volga-Ural, West Siberian and Timan-Pechora basins. Oil and Gas Business (2) (in Russian). Available from: http://ogbus.ru/article/view/analiz-vzaimosvyazi-fiziko-ximicheskix-svojstv-tyazhelyx-neftej-i-urovnya-teplovogo-potoka-na-territoriyax-volgo-uralskogo-zapadno-sibirskogo-i-timano-pechorskogo-bassejnov.

37. Zharkov V.N., Trubitsyn V.P., 1980. Physics of Planetary Interiors. Nauka, Moscow, 448 p. (in Russian).