Miocene semidiurnal tidal rhythmites in Madre de Dios, Peru: Reply

Hoorn et al. commented on the following aspects of our 2005 Geology article: 1) the age of the sediments, 2) the interpreted brackish water affi nity of the studied deposits, and 3) the possible connection between Paraná and western Amazonia depositional systems during the late Miocene

Thrust tectonics, crustal thickening, hydrocarbon and ore deposits in northern Central Andes

Thanks to numerous studies realized in cooperation with Peruvian institutions, we propose for the first time in the northern Peruvian Andes a crustal-scale balanced cross-section through the entire orogen to better understand structural architecture, crustal thickening and hydrocarbon-ore deposits genesis. Abundant industrial seismic data provided by Perupetro S.A. allowed to properly constrain the geometry of the forearc and retro-foreland basins (Calderon et al., 2017; Prudhomme et al., in press). Deep crustal structures and Moho geometries are constrained by a recent teleseismic receiver function study (Condori et al., 2017). The restoration, calibrated from new geochronological data and basins analysis, highlight an intermediate stage between the Incaic (late Cretaceous-early Eocene) and Andean (Neogene) orogenies corresponding to a phase of tectonic relaxation and extension. Shortening budgets established from surface and sub-surface data in the upper crust, and from crustal thickening in the middle-lower crust, make it possible to discriminate between the importance and role of each orogeny in the mountain building. The present stage of the balanced cross-section highlights a double-verging orogen, which could result from a total amount of shortening of 180 km fairly distributed between the Incaic and Andean orogenies. Important hydrocarbon and ore deposits located along the balanced cross-section are related to the geodynamic evolution of the successive Incaic and Andean thrust systems. In the forearc (Tumbes-Salaverry) and retro-foreland (Huallaga-Marañon) basins, 2D petroleum modellings have been done using sequential restorations in order to better target exploration. In the Western and Eastern cordilleras and the Subandean zone, significant ore deposits (Cu, Pb, Zn, Au, Ag…) are concentrated in sedimentary reservoirs of Incaic and/or Andean thrust anticlines. We explore and develop an innovative hypothesis, i.e., that there are strong interactions between mineralizing fluids (of both magmatic and sedimentary origin) and petroleum systems (oil shales and reservoirs). Indeed, both ore and oil types of deposits can be found in the same basins, with similar fluid migration and storage processes in sedimentary reservoirs

Middle Miocene vertebrates from the Amazonian Madre de Dios Subandean Zone, Perú

A new middle Miocene vertebrate fauna from Peruvian Amazonia is described. It yields the marsupials Sipalocyon sp. (Hathliacynidae) and Marmosa (Micoureus) cf. laventica (Didelphidae), as well as an unidentified glyptodontine xenarthran and the rodents Guiomys sp. (Caviidae), “Scleromys” sp., cf. quadrangulatus-schurmanni-colombianus (Dinomyidae), an unidentified acaremyid, and cf. Microsteiromys sp. (Erethizontidae). Apatite Fission Track provides a detrital age (17.1 +- 2.4 Ma) for the locality, slightly older than its inferred biochronological age (Colloncuran-early Laventan South American Land Mammal Ages: ~15.6e13.0 Ma). Put together, both the mammalian assemblage and lithology of the fossil-bearing level point to a mixture of tropical rainforest environment and more open habitats under a monsoonal-like tropical climate. The fully fluvial origin of the concerned sedimentary sequence suggests that the Amazonian Madre de Dios Subandean Zone was not part of the Pebas mega-wetland System by middle Miocene times. This new assemblage seems to reveal a previously undocumented “spatiotemporal transition” between the late early Miocene assemblages from high latitudes (Patagonia and Southern Chile) and the late middle Miocene faunas of low latitudes (Colombia, Perú, Venezuela, and ?Brazil)

Transition des stades alimentés à suralimentés dans les systèmes de rétro-bassin d'avant-pays (du bassin amazonien)

TOULOUSE3-BU Sciences (315552104) / SudocSudocFranceF

Influence de la subduction d'une ride asismique sur la dynamique de la plaque continentale chevauchante (exemple de la ride de Nazca et du bassin amazonien)

TOULOUSE3-BU Sciences (315552104) / SudocSudocFranceF

Three-dimensional geologic imaging and tectonic control on stratigraphic architecture: Upper Cretaceous of the Tremp Basin (south-central Pyrenees, Spain)

International audienceIn the Tremp Basin area (south Pyrenean foreland, Spain), the Campanian–Maastrichtian Orcau-Vell and Santa Engracia depositional sequences onlap the western termination of the Sant Corneli anticline. The precise mapping of the different systems tracts belonging to these depositional sequences, their spatial arrangement, and the structural control of the anticline on the sedimentation still remained unclear. To accurately interpret the geometry of the depositional sequences and to determine the factors influencing the sedimentation, we have developed a method that aims to build a three-dimensional (3-D) geological picture of this area. The originality of our approach is that the 3-D map, which consists of the volume and shape of all the systems tracts, has been produced mainly from the interpretation and combination of surface data, including a mosaic of aerial photographs at 50-cm (20-in.) pixel size and a digital elevation model at 10-m (33-ft) resolution. We have additionally constrained the model by integrating bedding dip and strike data and balanced cross sections. With respect to the 2-D, the 3-D visualization and field observations reveal the structural control at different scales of the lateral propagation of a fault-propagation fold (Sant Corneli anticline) on the stratigraphic architecture. The Orcau-Vell depositional sequence was controlled by the rise of the base level and was characterized by differences in the sedimentation rates. The emplacement of a north-south–trending gravitational normal fault, located at the western tip of the Sant Corneli anticline, was coeval with the emplacement of the Santa Engracia depositional sequence. This fault resulted from the westward propagation of the Sant Corneli anticline, generating a local slope and a depression that channeled the turbidites and the Gilbert-type delta deposits of the Santa Engracia depositional sequence. Uplift of the Sant Corneli anticline may have subsequently stopped, and the area subsided, inducing a rapid rise of the base level

Dynamique tectono-sédimentaire et restauration séquentielle du rétro-bassin d'avant-pays des Andes centrales

TOULOUSE3-BU Sciences (315552104) / SudocSudocFranceF

Architecture tectonique et stratigraphique du bassin d'avant-arc de Tumbes (Nord Pérou) (implications pour l'exploration des hydrocarbures)

Les bassins de l'avant-arc sont relativement peu connus à l'échelle globale. Au point de vue des ressources en hydrocarbures, leur étude est souvent délaissée car leur variabilité ne permet pas d'établir des règles précises pour l'exploration. Le seul gisement d'hydrocarbures considérés comme géant par les industries pétrolières, est situé au Pérou : le bassin de Talara. Nous avons étudié le bassin de Tumbes qui est situé au nord de cet important bassin pétrolifère dans le but d'en écrire la structure tectonique et l'architecture stratigraphique. Pour ce faire, nous l'avons étudié de manière pluridisciplinaire à partir de données de surface et de subsurface (sections sismiques, puits). Au point de vue structural, ce bassin longtemps considéré comme un bassin associé à des mouvements extensifs et transcurrents, montre une structure de prisme d'accrétion où les chevauchements dominent dans la partie inférieure tandis que la partie supérieure est essentiellement structurée par des failles normales gravitaires Un modèle tectonique est proposé qui consiste en la propagation de structures compressives en direction de la fosse depuis l'Éocène jusqu'à l'actuel. De grandes familles de failles normales sont rencontrées : un système à regard sud-est qui se branche sur un niveau de décollement profond et un système présentant de direction majeure s'entrecoupant dont le niveau de décollement demeure superficiel. Ce modèle tectonique suggère des structures piège de grande amplitude (plurikilométriques) qui n'ont jusqu'à présent jamais fait l'objet de puits d'exploration. Au point de vue de l'architecture stratigraphique du bassin de Tumbes, 15 cycles de variation du niveau de base ont été identifiés dans le remplissage oligocène-miocène. Il apparaît que l'amplitude de ces mouvements est variable. Cependant, cette méthodologie permet de corréler les observations sédimentologiques réalisées à terre et les informations fournies par la sismique en mer. Nous montrons qu'au niveau du champ Corvina, les niveaux cibles pour l'industrie pétrolière sont des ensembles turbiditiques qui se développent pendant les régressions forcées ou normales, séparés par des niveaux peu épais de granulométrie fine mise en place pendant les transgressions. Cette architecture stratigraphique en mer suggère une répétition réservoir-couverture permettant d'envisager des ressources nouvelles.Forearc basins are under explored areas by academic or industrials research. They are not considered as potential area by oil industry because only one giant oil field belongs to this type of basin. Such a oil field is located in the northern Peruvian forearc system: The Talara basin. Our research focuses on the Tumbes forearc basin located north of the oil bearing Talara basin. The aim of this work is to provided for oil industry skills about the tectonic style and the stratigraphic architecture of this basin in order to decipher its petroleum potential using a multisource approach of surface and subsurface data (seismic lines, well-logs). On a tectonic view point, we demonstrate that the basin structure is not a pull-apart one but an accretionary prism built by deep-seated north-verging thrusts reworked by shallow gravitational normal faults. A tectonic model is developed corresponding to the northwestward propagation since Eocene times, of thrust-related culminations bounded by south-east facing normal faults. This tectonic model suggests that anticline traps, which have never been explored, should become a new target for future exploration. Sequence stratigraphy allows us deciphering the stratigraphic architecture of the Tumbes basin. In the Oligocene-Miocene succession, 15 base level cycles have been identified onshore and have been correlated using seismic data to the offshore portion of the basin. The Corvina gas field has been the depositional area of thick turbiditic body (channels and fans) which have been deposited during periods of forced and normal regressions. These good reservoirs rocks are interbedded with thin fines which have been deposited during transgressive periods. Such a stratigraphic architecture suggests a alternation of good to fair reservoir topped by transgressive seals, which may increase significantly the hydrocarbon resources of the Tumbes forearc basin.TOULOUSE3-BU Sciences (315552104) / SudocTOULOUSE-Observ. Midi Pyréné (315552299) / SudocSudocFranceF

Seismic evidence of gas hydrates, multiple BSRs and fluid flow offshore Tumbes Basin, Peru

International audienceIdentification of a previously undocumented hydrate system in the Tumbes Basin, localized off the north Peruvian margin at latitude of 3°20′—4°10′S, allows us to better understand gas hydrates of convergent margins, and complement the 36 hydrate sites already identified around the Pacific Ocean. Using a combined 2D–3D seismic dataset, we present a detailed analysis of seismic amplitude anomalies related to the presence of gas hydrates and/or free gas in sediments. Our observations identify the occurrence of a widespread bottom simulating reflector (BSR), under which we observed, at several sites, the succession of one or two BSR-type reflections of variable amplitude, and vertical acoustic discontinuities associated with fluid flow and gas chimneys. We conclude that the uppermost BSR marks the current base of the hydrate stability field, for a gas composition comprised between 96% methane and 4% of ethane, propane and pure methane. Three hypotheses are developed to explain the nature of the multiple BSRs. They may refer to the base of hydrates of different gas composition, a remnant of an older BSR in the process of dispersion/dissociation or a diagenetically induced permeability barrier formed when the active BSR existed stably at that level for an extended period. The multiple BSRs have been interpreted as three events of steady state in the pressure and temperature conditions. They might be produced by climatic episodes since the last glaciation associated with tectonic activity, essentially tectonic subsidence, one of the main parameters that control the evolution of the Tumbes Basin

Miocene tidal-influenced sedimentation to continental Pliocene sedimentation in the forebulge backbulge depozones of the Beni Mamore foreland Basin (northern Bolivia)

International audienceMio-Pliocene deposits of the forebulge backbulge depozones of the Beni-Mamore foreland Basin indicate tidally to fluvially dominated sedimentation. Seven facies assemblages have been recognized: FAA FAG. FAA represents a distal bottom lake assemblage, FAB and FAD are interpreted as tidal flat deposits, FAC and FAG are interpreted as fluvial systems, FAE sediments are deposited in a subtidal/shoreface setting, and FAG represents a meandering fluvial system. The identification of stratigraphic surfaces (SU, MFS, and MRS) and the relationship among the facies assemblages permit the characterization of several systems tracts: a falling-stage systems tract (FSST) followed by a lowstand systems tract (LST), a transgressive systems tract (TST), and a highstand systems tract (HST). The FSST and LST may have been controlled by the uplift of the Beni-Mamore forebulge, whereas TST may result from a quiescent stage in the forebulge. Subaerial unconformity two (SU2) records the passage from a tide-influenced depositional system to a fully continental depositional system. The Miocene tidal-influenced deposits in the Beni Mamore Basin suggest that it experienced a connection, either with the South Atlantic Ocean or the Caribbean Sea or both