Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic evolution of the Amu Darya Basin (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan)

International audienceThe Amu Darya Basin (ADB) has been studied primarily for its important hydrocarbonreserves and to a lesser extent for its geodynamic evolution. The ADB is located on the SE portionof the Turan Platform, between the sutures of the Turkestan and Palaeo-Tethys oceans, whichclosed during the Late Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic, respectively. Blocks and island arcsaccreted to Eurasia during the Palaeozoic form a poorly defined, heterogeneous basement underlyingthe ADB. They played an important role in shaping its composite structure into variouslyorientated sub-basins and highs. In this paper, depth–structure and isopach maps, and regionalcross-sections, are analysed to unravel the location and origin of the main structural elementsand to characterize the subsidence evolution of the ADB. The main tectonic events leading tothe formation and evolution of the ADB took place: (1) in the Late Palaeozoic–Early Triassic(back-arc, rollback and extension/strike-slip); (2) from the Middle Triassic to the Triassic–Jurassicboundary (Eo-Cimmerian collision of Gondwana-derived continental blocks with Eurasia); and(3) during the Early–Middle Jurassic (post-collision extensional event). The last part of this evolutionreflects shortening and flexure due to Cenozoic collisions to the south. Palaeotectonic mapsare used to relate these events to the geodynamics of the Tethyan domain