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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Seismic and sedimentologic features of Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian syn-rift sediments on the eastern margin of the Lusitanian Basin

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description

Following deposition of widespread middle Oxfordian lacustrine carbonates and evaporites, the Lusitanian Basin was differentiated into a number of sub-basins. The Arruda sub-basin is a half graben basin situated some 30 km north of Lisbon. It accumulated over 2.5 km of Kimmeridgian siliciclastic sediments, and is bounded to the east by the Vila Franca de Xira fault zone. Carbonate deposition persisted over horsts along the fault zone from the Oxfordian to the early Kimmeridgian, and in places to the late Kimmeridgian, and shows a pronounced west-east facies zonation, with higher energy framestones and grainstones accumulating along the exposed western margins. Seismic data indicate a major gap between the horst blocks that acted as a conduit through which basement derived siliciclastics were fed westwards into the sub-basin to form a submarine fan system. The presence of large blocks of framestone carbonates encased in siliciclastics indicates that carbonate sedimentation occurred in abandoned parts of the fan system. The rapid changes of sediment thicknesses and facies types along the eastern margin of the Arruda sub-basin are indicative of contemporaneous strike-slip movements.