Rheological controls on extensional styles and the structural evolution of the Northern Carnarvon Basin, North West Shelf, Australia

Abstract

The extensional architecture of the Northern Carnarvon Basin can be explained in terms of changes in lithospheric rheology during multiphase extension and lower crustal flow. Low‐angle detachments, while playing a minor role, are not considered to have been the primary mechanism for extension as suggested in previous models. Early extension (Cambrian‐Ordovician) in the Northern Carnarvon Basin is characterised by low‐angle detachment structures of limited regional extent. These structures have a spatial association with a Proterozoic mobile belt on the margin of the Pilbara Craton. Thermo‐mechanical conditions in the mobile belt may have predisposed the highly deformed crust to thin‐skinned extension and detachment development. Permo‐Carboniferous extension generated an extensive wide rift basin, suggesting ductile rheologies associated with intermediate lithospheric temperatures and crustal thickness. Thick Upper Permian to Upper Triassic post‐rift sequences and marked thinning of the lower crust occurred in association with only a small amount of extension in the upper crust. This observation can be reconciled by considering outward lower crustal flow, from beneath the basin towards the basin margin, following extension. Strong mid‐crustal reflectors, which occur over large areas of the Northern Carnarvon Basin, probably represent a boundary between flow and non‐flow regimes rather than detachment fault surfaces as in previous models. Crustal thinning and thermal decay following Permo‐Carboniferous extension contributed to the increased strength and brittle behaviour of the lithosphere. Consequently, Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous extension resulted in the development of far more localised narrow rift systems on the margins of the preceding wide rift basin. Diapiric intrusions are associated with the narrow rift basin development, resulting from either remobilisation of ductile lower crustal rock or the initial formation of sea‐floor spreading centres.