Fold growth in the South Caspian Sea Basin: Mechanisms and interaction with deep-water lacustrine sediments

南里海盆地拥有地球上最厚的沉积序列之一。仅在过去的600万年里，它就积累了多达10公里的沉积充填，覆盖在厚厚、富含有机物质、超压的页岩之上。里海位于阿拉伯板块和欧亚板块之间的一个主要板块汇合区的位置，导致形成了许多页岩岩心背斜，并伴随着泥火山。自约3 Ma以来，从海水中分离出来，沉积充填物以河流和三角洲沉积为主，横向进入盆地南部的浅水和深水湖泊沉积。该项目的目的首先是研究以页岩为核心的里海盆地褶皱的形成模式，特别是研究沉积负荷和构造缩短在其成因中的作用；其次是了解褶皱的发育对深水湖泊环境的影响。

The South Caspian Sea Basin contains one of the thickest sedimentary successions of any basin on the planet. It has accumulated up to 10 km of sedimentary infill in the last 6 Million years alone, overlying a thick, organic-rich, over-pressured shale. The location of the Caspian Sea at the site of a major zone of plate convergence between the Arabian and Eurasian Plates, has led to the formation of numerous shale-cored anticlines, with associated mud volcanoes. Since c. 3 Ma it has been isolated from marine waters and sedimentary fill has been dominated by fluvial and deltaic deposits passing laterally into shallow and deep-water lacustrine sediments in the south of the basin. The aims of this project are firstly to investigate the mode of formation of the shale-cored Caspian Sea Basin folds and in particular address the role of sediment loading as well as tectonic shortening in their genesis; and secondly to understand how the deep-water lacustrine environments are affected by the growth of the folds.