Continental margin stratigraphy, deformation, and intraplate stresses for the Indo-Australian region

Abstract

The stratigraphic record along the northwestern Australian continental margin provides constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Indo-Australian region, which is characterized by an extremely high level of intraplate deformation, presumably reflecting high levels of regional stress. The patterns of folding and faulting in the northeastern Indian Ocean are consistent with predictions of a stress model based on age-dependent driving forces on the lithosphere. Here, we examine the stratigraphic record using data from Legs 122 and 123 to investigate whether the continental margin stratigraphy records the spatial and temporal variations in stress inferred from the folding in the northeastern Indian Ocean. The tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the northwestern Australian margin seems to reflect both the changes of intraplate tectonics associated with the unique dynamic situation of the Indo-Australian Plate, as well as the interplay between a major global plate reorganization in Neogene time with eustatic contributions to the sea-level record. -from Authors