Basin Formation Processes, Sedimentation and Linked Climate Change in the South China Sea (Fri, Mar 5, 2010)
Basin Formation Processes, Sedimentation and Linked Climate Change in the South China Sea
Presented by Professor Peter D. Clift
Department of Geology & Petroleum Geology, University of Aberdeen
Venue: 2/F, Mariners’ Club, Middle Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Time: Friday 5 March 2010, 6.00 for 6.30pm
Synopsis:
The total amount of subsidence on many passive rifted margins greatly exceeds that predicted
from the degree of upper crustal faulting and extension on those margins. This discrepancy is
not explicable by application of simple shear models, but instead reflects preferential thinning
of the lower crust by ductile flow prior to the onset of seafloor spreading. Subsidence analysis
of the Yinggehai and Baiyun Sag basins shows that anomalous tectonic subsidence can occur
far from the continent-ocean transition (COT). Crustal flow and subsidence follows enhanced
sediment flux to the basin triggered by climatically driven erosion onshore most notably in
the Oligocene-Middle Miocene, when new climatic records from the South China Sea point
to initial monsoon intensification. Sediment loading of pre-existing sub-basins can cause
deepening of the basin by forcing thinning of the ductile mid and lower crust, bringing brittle,
faulted crust close to the Moho in regions of extreme extension.
About the Speaker:
Professor Clift obtained his geology degree at the University of Oxford and completed his
PhD in the University of Edinburgh. He then worked as a scientist in Texas A&M University
and Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA.
He is currently Kilgour Professor of Geology at the University of Aberdeen.
Professor Clift is especially interested in research in the sedimentary and tectonic evolution of
active and collisional plate margins. He has been developing new applications for isotope
chemistry in provenance work. In addition, he has been compiling a regional database of
isotopic data for Asia to help more generally in the understanding of sediment dispersal in the
area. He actively builds working relationships with earth scientists in Iran, Pakistan, India
and China, as well as within Europe.
CPD Certificates will be provided