Numerous isolated carbonate platforms developed in the Central Luconia Province of offshore Sarawak (during Middle to Late Miocene time). Fault-bounded highs produced largely by extensional deformation and later overprinted by strike-slip deformation provided substrates for the platforms and affected their growth histories. Flooding of these structural highs at ~16.5 Ma initiated carbonate sedimentation nearly simultaneously across the area. Later, third-order sea-level fluctuations and extrinsic factors such as differential subsidence, paleowind patterns and siliciclastic influx then controlled the internal architecture of the platforms. 2-D regional seismic lines, publicdomain data and published literature were used to analyze growth patterns and demise of carbonate platforms across the study area. Five Growth Stages were recognized in the carbonate platforms based on seismic facies analysis and stratigraphic relationships between reflectors. Platforms from the southeastern part of Central Luconia are thicker and larger than platforms located toward the central and northwestern areas, which reflect greater long-term tectonic subsidence to the southeast. Additionally, northwestward prograding siliciclastic sediments from mainland Borneo caused additional flexural subsidence in the eastern part of the area and environmental deterioration for platforms located beyond the range of active siliciclastic sedimentation. Both of these factors reduced the growth potential of platforms and thus subdued carbonate development. Platform termination was regionally diachronous and was produced in two steps. The first platforms drowned (~12.5-9.7 Ma) were in the eastern parts of the study area which were affected by incoming siliciclastic sediments and high local subsidence. Platforms drowned later (~6.3-5.5 Ma) were caused by a rapid sea-level rise combined with an intense local subsidence. Carbonate accumulation rates were measured between intraplatform markers, resulting in a trend that indicates a decrease in sedimentation rate with the square root of time. Comparisons between Central Luconia carbonates and age-equivalent carbonate platforms elsewhere in East Natuna Basin showed that Central Luconia carbonate platforms were drowned earlier (latest late Miocene time) than East Natuna carbonate platforms (Early Pliocene time).

Isolated carbonate platforms and buildups of the Likas Formation provide a long record of carbonate sedimentation in the southern end of the Southwest Palawan Basin. While most carbonate platforms terminated in early Miocene and middle Miocene time in northern parts of western offshore Palawan (i.e. Northwest Palawan Basin and central South Palawan), carbonate deposition began later in the south during late middle Miocene time. Carbonate platforms of the Likas Formation developed in the Paragua sub-basin, which is interpreted to be a depozone eastward of the Palawan accretionary wedge in the structurally complex Southwest Palawan Basin. A regional 2D seismic grid and borehole data from four wells were used to analyze the growth patterns of the carbonate platforms, identify seismic facies, and reconstruct the evolution of the platforms. The carbonate platforms developed on the folded and faulted middle to premiddle Miocene siliciclastic strata. These older siliciclastic units were thrusted onto the southern end of the North Palawan microcontinental fragment, which represents a block of continental crust that drifted southward from South China during early Tertiary time. The platforms aggraded over time and backstepped to keep pace with increasing rates of relative sea level rise. Karst features are recognizable on seismic sections and indicate that the platforms were subaerially exposed at various times during their development. The platforms exhibit variable morphology from faulting and tilting. The platforms terminated in early Pliocene time, as relative sea level continued to rise, and were buried by deep-marine siliciclastic units.

The Coral Sea has been the host to a variety of large carbonate platforms over the geologic past and presently hosts the world's largest system of coral reefs, the Great Barrier Reef, stretching more then 2,300 km along Australia's northeast coast. The Marion Plateau, which today is the site of 400 m deep hemipelagic sediment drifts, once supported two large carbonate platforms that were precursors to reef growth on the central and southern Great Barrier Reef. Previous work examining the growth phases, drownings and rejuvenation of these platforms is extensive. The purpose of this research is to examine the factors controlling the earliest sedimentation on the margin and how it influenced early development of the carbonate platforms. One hundred and eighty-three samples were taken from the base of Hole 1195 B, that was drilled during the Ocean Drilling Program's Leg 194. Analyses were performed using x-ray diffraction on the bulk powder and decalcified less than 2um size fraction smear slides. Four distinct sedimentary facies were defined on the basis of mineralogy and constituent grains. The initial marine transgression of the Marion Plateau was not a straightforward one where a shallow-water margin gradually transitioned into a deep-water margin. Instead, sediments record a complex history of unconformities, hardgrounds, and discrete sedimentary units. The initial flooding was complex as a result of its initially shallow depth at a time characterized by several glacio-eustatic sea-level changes. The data indicate that eustasy has been the strongest control on sediment deposition and clay mineral patterns on the Plateau. Falling sea level resulted in periods of increased detrital input and limited soil formation. Also, a decreasing kaolinite trend in the early Miocene, during a rising sea level, indicates that clays forming on land as a result of climate were not transported out onto the plateau.

The southern Campos Basin comprises syn- and post-rift strata characterised by thick and extensive units of non-marine limestones. These carbonate platforms are scientifically significant due to their unusual palaeoenvironmental setting, and the complexity of the factors controlling their accumulation. They are of economic importance due to discoveries of giant hydrocarbon accumulations in these non-marine carbonate rocks. 3D seismic interpretations show an oblique extensional rifting system that formed a series of graben, half-graben, accommodation zones and horsts oriented NESW to NNE-SSW. The area is subdivided into three tectonic domains based on structural style, stretching factors and subsidence rates. The structural template of the syn-rift exerts a strong influence on depositional patterns. Core logging and thin-section work together with FMI and sidewall core data indicate proximal to more distal lacustrine carbonate deposits with fluvio-deltaic clastics in marginal areas. The dominant carbonate facies are molluscan rudstones and floatstones and a taphonomic analysis (taphofacies) of the cored intervals and exposure surfaces indicate accumulation in shallowing-upward cycles in response to changes in lake level. Microbialite facies, Aptian in age, appear to occur in the most distal locations in restricted palaeoenvironmental conditions. Facies models are presented for the skeletal, mollusc-rich deposits of the Barremian Coqueiros Formation and the overlying microbialite-rich Aptian Macabu Formation. The deposits are stacked in a hierarchical arrangement of four levels of cyclicity ranging from the entire rift basin fill to metre-scale cycles. Controls on formation of these cycles include structural setting, climate and lacustrine margin progradation. Different types of carbonate platform form in the different basinal settings and include footwall areas of fault-blocks, accommodation zones and buried horst blocks. The southern Campos Basin evolves from an initial alkali lake (Barremian) to a main phase of syn-rift, brackish lake conditions. The post-rift succession (Aptian) is characterised by both brackish and hypersaline conditions.

L’arc des Petites Antilles résulte de la lente subduction vers l'Ouest des plaques Nord et Sud-Américaines sous la plaque Caraïbes (2cm/an). A la latitude de l’archipel guadeloupéen et à ~150 km à l’Ouest du front de déformation, le bassin d'avant-arc de Marie-Galante forme un bassin perché, incliné vers la fosse et limité vers l’Est par un haut-fond, l’Eperon Karukéra. À cette latitude, le bassin de Marie-Galante domine le prisme d’accrétion de la Barbade et fait face à la ride de Tiburon qui balaye la zone du Nord au Sud depuis la fin du Miocène supérieur. Le remplissage sédimentaire du Bassin de Marie-Galante montre des déformations actives au moins depuis ~30 millions d’années. L’objectif du travail est de reconstituer l’évolution tectono-sédimentaire de ce bassin pour apporter de nouvelles contraintes sur la compréhension globale de la zone de subduction frontale des Petites Antilles. Ce travail s'appuie sur les données de bathymétrie multifaisceaux et de sismique réflexion multi-traces haute résolution acquises lors des campagnes du programme KaShallow. Cette base de données, complétée de profils sismiques plus basse résolution de campagnes antérieures, permet d’avoir une couverture pseudo 3D et à quatre échelles de résolution de l'ensemble du bassin. Un échantillonnage par ROV et carottage ciblé a fourni 40 prélèvements dans les principales unités sismiques. Les analyses pétrologiques et les datations biostratigraphiques autorisent des reconstitutions paléo-environnementales depuis le Paléogène supérieur jusqu’à Actuel. L’interprétation sismique multi-échelle montre un bassin sédimentaire atteignant ~4,5s temps double (~4500 à 5625 m) sur un substratum magmatique pré-structuré. Ce bassin est composé de 5 grands ensembles sédimentaires (E-1, E1, E2, E3 et E4) subdivisés en 13 unités limitées par 14 surfaces de discontinuités. L’organisation séquentielle des unités sismiques permet de mettre en évidence 10 séquences de dépôts de troisièmes ordres (S-1 à S9). Le calage biostratigraphique de l’ensemble des séquences permet de proposer une évolution tectono-sédimentaire du bassin de l’Éocène à l’Actuel. Ainsi, nous distinguons quatre systèmes de failles normales associées à trois phases d’extensions qui contrôlent l’évolution architecturale et sédimentaire du bassin. 1/ Un système N050±10°E hérité, actif dès le Paléogène supérieur, qui contrôle le basculement général du bassin vers le SSE. Il est responsable de la formation de l'escarpement de Désirade d’environ 4500 m de dénivelé. Cette première extension est interprétée comme résultant de la fragmentation de l'avant-arc en réponse à l'augmentation du rayon de courbure de la zone de subduction. 2/ Un système N130°-N150°E, structurant à l’échelle de l’Éperon Karukéra, qui contrôle la sédimentation dès le Miocène inférieur et marque une première phase d'extension transverse à l’arc. 3/ Un système N160°-N180°E qui segmente le Bassin de Marie-Galante en un sous-bassin à l'Ouest et l'Éperon Karukéra à l'Est. Cette seconde extension, globalement perpendiculaire à la marge, s'accompagne d’une subsidence et d'une inversion de la polarité du bassin en réponse à son basculement vers la fosse qui débute au cours du Miocène moyen et se poursuit actuellement à l'Est du bassin. Cette évolution à long terme de l'avant-arc, concomitante avec le recul de l'arc volcanique vers l’Ouest, est considérée comme résultant d’une érosion basale de la plaque supérieure. 4/ Un système N090±10°E plus tardif est localisé au centre du bassin et qui contrôle le développement de plates-formes carbonatées néritiques sur certaines têtes de blocs, comme par exemple à Marie-Galante. Cette dernière extension, parallèle à l’arc, se manifeste dans le bassin à partir du Pliocène inférieur. Elle se superpose au régime d'extension perpendiculaire à l'avant-arc et est interprétée comme l'accommodation du partitionnement de la déformation en réponse à l’obliquité croissante du front subduction vers le Nord. / The Lesser Antilles result of the slow westward subduction of the North and South American plate under the Caribbean plate (2 cm / year). At the latitude of the Guadeloupe archipelago and ~ 150 km to the west of the deformation front, the fore-arc basin of Marie-Galante forms a perched basin tilted to the pit and limited to the East by a shoal, the Spur Karukéra. At this latitude, Marie-Galante basin dominates the accretionary prism of Barbados and faces wrinkle Tiburon sweeping the area from North to South from the late Miocene. The sedimentary fill Basin Marie-Galante shows active deformation since at least ~ 30 million years. The aim of the work is to reconstruct the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the basin to provide new constraints on the overall understanding of the frontal subduction zone Lesser Antilles. This work relies on multibeam bathymetry data and high-resolution seismic reflection multi-traces acquired during campaigns KaShallow program. This database, supplemented by lower resolution of previous campaigns seismic profiles, provides a pseudo-3D coverage and four scales of resolution of the entire basin. ROV sampling and targeted core provided 40 samples in the main seismic units. Petrological analysis and biostratigraphic dating allow paleoenvironmental reconstructions from the upper Paleogene up Actuel. Seismic interpretation multiscale shows a sedimentary basin reaching ~ 4,5s double (~ 4500-5625 m) on a substrate pre-structured magma. This basin consists of 5 main sedimentary units (E-1, E1, E2, E3 and E4) divided into 13 units bounded by discontinuities 14 surfaces. The sequential organization of seismic units allows to highlight sequences 10 deposits of third order (S-1 to S9). The biostratigraphic calibration of all sequences able to offer a tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Eocene basin to Present. Thus, we distinguish four normal fault systems associated with three phases of extensions that control the architectural and sedimentary evolution of the basin. 1 / A system N050 ± 10 ° E inherited assets from the upper Paleogene, which controls the overall pelvic tilt towards the SSE. He is responsible for the formation of the escarpment Désirade about 4500 m elevation. The first extension is interpreted as resulting from the fragmentation of the fore-arc in response to the increase in the radius of curvature of subduction. 2 / A system N130 ° -N150 ° E, structuring across the Spur Karukéra, which controls sediment from the Miocene and marks the first phase of transverse extension arc. 3 / A system N160 ° E ° -N180 which segments Basin Marie-Galante in a sub-basin to the west and the Spur Karukéra in the East. This second extension, generally perpendicular to the margin, is accompanied by subsidence and reversing the polarity of the basin in response to his switch to the pit, beginning during the Middle Miocene and is ongoing in the East the basin. This long-term evolution of the forearc, concurrent with the decline in volcanic arc to the west, is considered as resulting from a basal erosion of the top plate. 4 / A system N090 ± 10 ° later E is located in the center of the basin and controlling the development of neritic carbonate platforms on certain blocks heads, such as Marie-Galante. This latest extension, parallel to the arc occurs in the basin from the lower Pliocene. It is superimposed on the expansion plan perpendicular to the fore-arc and is interpreted as the accommodation of the partitioning of deformation in response to the increasing obliquity front subduction north.

Cette étude transdisciplinaire incluant sédimentologie, stratigraphie séquentielle, chimiostratigraphie, et géochimie organique et inorganique, examine la série carbonatée du Jurassique moyen-supérieur dans la chaîne du sud-ouest Gissar. Cette série représente l’affleurement le plus complet de la marge nord du Bassin d’Amu-Darya, une province gazière majeure d’Asie Centrale. La production de carbonates commence au début du Callovien, lors d’un ralentissement de la subsidence tectonique régionale associé à un réchauffement climatique. Un changement majeur dans la production carbonatée et la configuration de la plate-forme est enregistré à la fin du Callovien. Ce changement se caractérise par le passage (i) d’une rampe carbonatée avec un gradient proximal-distal bien contrasté du Callovien à (ii) un lagon à faciès péritidaux probablement protégé par des récifs de grande dimension à l’Oxfordien. La surface stratigraphique séparant ces deux séquences est interprétée comme une surface d'émersion régionale, enregistrant une chute du niveau marin entraînée par la tectonique et le climat. Durant la partie terminale de l’Oxfordien moyen, un ou plusieurs bassins intrashelfs sont localisés au sud-ouest de la plate-forme carbonatée. Des carbonates fins nodulaires ou laminés se déposent dans des eaux stratifiées, légèrement hypersalées et anoxiques à dysoxiques, où des tapis microbiens produisent de la matière organique et des carbonates. Ces faciès enregistrent l’initiation de la restriction du Bassin d’Amu Darya, qui se poursuit avec la progradation d’une sabkha et le dépôt de séries anhydritiques et salifères. La comparaison des séries sédimentaires met en évidence des évènements stratigraphiques communs entre le sud-ouest Gissar et les autres bassins des marges nord téthysienne et sud téthysienne : initiation de la plate-forme carbonatée, excursions isotopiques du carbone, âge et mode de formation des roches mères organiques (etc.), impliquant des contrôles climatiques et/ou tectoniques à grande échelle. L’étude pétrographique et géochimique de la diagenèse des carbonates révèle une paragenèse complexe. Certains faciès sont influencés par la fabrique sédimentaire lors de la diagenèse précoce. La succession des phases diagénétiques est reliée à la stratigraphie et à la subsidence des carbonates. Après leur dépôt, les sédiments de la série du Kugitang ont été enfouis à plus de 2 km de profondeur. Des phases liées à des fluides chauds et possiblement à la réduction thermochimique des sulfates se mettent en place durant la Mésogenèse. Finalement, les données stratigraphiques à haute résolution obtenues sur les affleurements du sud-ouest Gissar sont utilisées pour aider à la prédiction de la répartition des réservoirs d’hydrocarbures en subsurface du Bassin d’Amu-Darya. / This transdisciplinary study including sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, and organic and inorganic geochemistry examines the Middle-Upper Jurassic carbonates series located in the southwestern Gissar range. These carbonates, also known as the Kugitang series, represent the most complete outcrop of the northern margin of the Amu-Darya Basin, a gas-producing province of Central Asia. Carbonate production begins in the late Early Callovian during a regional slowing of the tectonic subsidence, coeval with a climate warming. A major change in the carbonate production and platform configuration is recorded at the end of the Callovian: (i) a carbonate ramp with a well-contrasted proximal-distal gradient develops during the Lower to Middle or Upper Callovian. It is overlain by (ii) a vast low energy lagoon dominated by peritidal facies, probably protected by large reefs, during the Lower and Middle Oxfordian. The stratigraphic surface separating the two depositional sequences is associated with a hiatus (Upper Callovian-Lower Oxfordian) and interpreted as a regional exposure surface recording a sea-level drop caused by tectonics and/or climate. During the Middle Oxfordian, one or several intrashelf basins develop southwestwards of the studied carbonate platform. Laminated and nodular carbonates rich in organic matter predominate in these basins. They are interpreted to have formed through the mineralization of microbial mats colonizing the stratified, slightly hypersaline, anoxic to dysoxic basin floor. Large scale reefs may have favored the isolation of these basins. These deposits record the initiation of the tectonic isolation of the Amu Darya Basin, which culminates with the progradation of a large-scale sabkha and the deposition of a thick anhydrite and salt series. The comparison of stratigraphic series highlights common events in several basins of the northern Tethyan margin, but also with the Arabian Plate: initiation of the carbonate platform, carbon isotope excursions, age and depositional conditions of organic-matter rich rocks, etc. The petrography and geochemistry of carbonates reveal a complex diagenetic history. Some facies are strongly controlled by the sedimentary fabric. The diagenetic succession is tentatively linked with the stratigraphy and the subsidence history. Following deposition, the Kugitang series was buried at more than 2 km. Some cements are interpreted to have formed through the circulation of hot fluids in the rocks during the mesogenesis and possibly due to thermochemical sulfate reduction, especially in the Callovian Sequence. Finally, the high-resolution stratigraphy established in this study is used to help improving the prediction of carbonate reservoirs in the subsurface Amu Darya Basin.

Determining the relative importance of processes that control the generation and preservation of continental margin stratigraphy is fundamental to deciphering the history of geologic, climatic and oceanographic forcing imprinted on their sedimentary record. The Northern Carnarvon Basin (NCB) of the North West Shelf of Australia has been a site of passive margin sedimentation throughout the Neogene. Cool-water carbonate sedimentation dominated during the early-middle Miocene, quartz-rich siliciclastics prograded over the shelf during the late-middle Miocene, and carbonate sedimentation resumed in the Pliocene. Middle Miocene to Pliocene siliciclastics were deposited as clinoform sets interpreted as delta lobes primarily based on their plan-view morphology and their relief of 40-100 m. Shelf-edge trajectory analysis suggests that part of this stratigraphic succession was built during a long-term, third order, regressive phase, producing shelf-edge deltas, followed by an aggradational episode. These trends appear to correlate with third-order global eustatic cycles. Slope incisions were already conspicuous on the slope before deltas reached the shelf-break. Nevertheless, slope gullies immediately downdip from the shelf-edge deltas are wider and deeper (>1 km wide, ~100 m deep) than coeval incisions that are laterally displaced from the deltaic depocenter (~0.7 km wide, ~25 m deep). This change in gully morphology is likely the result of greater erosion by sediment gravity flows sourced from shelf-edge deltas. Total late-middle to late Miocene margin progradation increased almost three times from 13 km in the southwest to 34 km in the northeast, where shelf-edge deltas were concentrated. Flat-topped carbonate platforms seem to have initiated on subtle antecedent topographic highs resulting from these deltaic lobes. A reduction of siliciclastic supply to the outer paleo-shelf during the Pliocene combined with the onset of a southwestward-flowing, warm-water Leeuwin Current (LC) most likely controlled the initiation of these carbonate platforms. These platforms display marked asymmetry, likely caused by an ancestral LC, which created higher-angle, upcurrent platform margins, and lower-angle, downcurrent clinoforms. The along-strike long-term migration trend of the platforms could be the result of differential subsidence. These platforms constitute the first widespread accumulation of photozoan carbonates in the Northern Carnarvon Basin. They became extinct after the mid-Pleistocene when the LC weakened or became more seasonal. / text