Abstract
Surface geology, seismic reflection, and well data from the eastern Sulaiman fold-and-thrust belt (SFTB) were integrated to analyze its structural geometry, deformation style, foreland structure development, and tectonic shortening. The N-S oriented fold belt's deformation front has a monoclinal expression over ∼350 km along the eastern edge of the SFTB. The cross-section shows a ∼9 km thickness of platform sequences that are detached from the basement by an inferred decollement in Paleozoic strata. The base of Cretaceous strata is ∼6 km deep in the foredeep syncline, rising ∼7 km in the foreland in the absence of a major thrust, and is interpreted as a thin-skinned, passive-roof duplex style of deformation. The duplex sequence of Jurassic and older strata are separated from the Cretaceous and younger roof sequence, which is intact over foreland structures for ∼60 km. A balanced structural cross-section of this area restores to an original length of 172 km, implying ∼112 km (65%) of shortening since 6 ± 2 Ma, with rates of 18 mm/yr. This is greater than the ∼50% shortening along a 359 km long N-S balanced cross-section across the SFTB, but is likely to occur along stacked duplexes with high relief along the eastern SFTB.
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