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Life span and fate of basins

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK

The life span of each main class of sedimentary basin is estimated from published data. Life spans vary over at least three orders of magnitude, from <1 m.y. for trench basins to >100 m.y. for passive-margin and intracratonic basins. The life-span estimates are used to calibrate a chart of basin groups that focuses on the likely basin fates; i.e., depositional, deformational, or thermal. Consequent fates, predetermined by the tectonic setting of a particular basin class, are distinguished from contingent fates, which are independent of basin type. Accretion of trench-basin fill is, for example, a consequent fate, whereas inversion (far-field shortening) of a rift basin is a contingent fate. Life-span data are also used to calibrate the Wilson Cycle and indicate that it has an average duration of 260 m.y. This is certainly an underestimate, because basin life spans are an imperfect proxy for the duration of subduction and collision zones.

Key Words: sedimentary basins • Wilson Cycle • convergent • divergent • strike slip • intraplate

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