The North Sakhalin Basin is a polyphase Neogene basin situated on an active strike-slip plate boundary between the Amur and Okhotsk microplates. This basin contains a sedimentary record of the Amur River, as well as the tectonic processes which have resulted in the formation and deformation of the basin. I use a multi-disciplinary approach, involving heavy mineral analysis, seismic interpretation and geomorphic observations and analyses, to constrain the evolution of the landscape, sedimentary basins and fluvial systems at this active continental margin. Detrital mineralogy and integrated sediment accumulation rates indicate that the drainage basin of the Amur River has been relatively stable since the Early Miocene, with no evidence for continental-scale drainage capture during this time. Instead, sediment delivery to the basin has responded to a number of tectonic and climatic processes, most notably the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation in the Pliocene and uplift and erosion of the North Sakhalin Basin in the Late Neogene. By contrast, the Colorado River, which also has a delta on an active strike-slip margin, has been profoundly affected by tectonic processes at the continental margin, resulting in major drainage re-organisation in the Late Neogene. Sediment delivery to the North Sakhalin Basin has been strongly affected by tectonic processes along the Sakhalin-Hokkaido Shear Zone. The basin underwent a phase of transtension during the Early Miocene (>15 Ma), followed by continued strike-slip offset during the Middle-Late Miocene (15-6.3 Ma), and finally transpression during the Pliocene which is still ongoing today. The diachronous, northeastward-propagating deformation and uplift of the North Sakhalin Basin (initiated between 6.3-3.6 Ma) is preserved in the geomorphic characteristics of fluvial networks, the first-appearance of recycled deltaic sediments and by onlapping reflector terminations on offshore anticlines. The landscape of Sakhalin is transient, and continuing to deform in the present day.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:509193 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Nicholson, Uisdean A. M. |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=59100 |
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