A compacted thickness correction in the palaeotectonic reconstruction

Abstract

The thickness correction resulting from gravitational compaction is one of the significant parameters in the reproduction of the palaeothickness of sedimentary complexes in palaeotectonic reconstructions. Changes of sediment thickness during burial caused by compaction are taken into account in the calculation of a thickness correction. The reconstruction of the layer thickness may be based on a quantitative interpretation of absolute porosity changes. Here, an original method of introducing a compacted thickness correction is developed in which two components, a syn-genetic one and a post-genetic one, are separated and the continuous process of compaction during the burial of sediments is taken into account. The proposed approach is simple; however, detailed determination of the palaeothickness of the layers during their burial involves computer calculations. In this paper the method is described and the computation algorithm is given. Some results of modelling and computations carried out for real data from the eastern part of the Polish Carpathians and Pomieranian Swell are also given. Examples illustrate changes in the recent thickness or layers after introducing the compaction correction