Sunday, March 16, 2014

Possible Mechanisms of Crustal Subsidence

Mechanisms that can generate sufficient subsidence to create basins:

Crustal thinning    extensional stretching, erosion during uplift, and magmatic withdrawal
Mantle-lithospheric thickening    cooling of lithosphere following either cessation of stretching or heating due to adiabatic melting or rise of asthenospheric melts
Sedimentary and volcanic loading    local isostatic compensation of crust and regional lithospheric flexure, dependent on flexural rigidity of lithosphere, during sedimentation and volcanism
Tectonic loading    local isostatic compensation of crust and regional lithospheric flexure, dependent on flexural rigidity of underlying lithosphere, during overthrusting and/or underpulling
Subcrustal loading    lithospheric flexure during underthrusting of dense lithosphere
Asthenospheric flow    dynamic effects of asthenospheric flow, commonly due to descent or delamination of subducted lithosphere
Crustal densification    increased density of crust due to changing pressure/temperature conditions and/or emplacement of higher-density melts into lower-density crust



Principles of Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (5th ed.), Sam Boggs, Jr.

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