Cratonic basin formation: a case study of the Parnaíba Basin of Brazil

Cratonic basins comprise a significant component of the Earth's continental crust and surface geology. Their subcircular form and large areas of flat-lying, largely undeformed sedimentary rocks characterize the central regions of many continents, and are also a significant habitat for water, mineral and petroleum resources. These basinal regions have been extensively studied, yet there is little consensus on the driving mechanism of their subsidence or their greater tectonic context. Here we present the results of an integrated basin analysis of the Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic Parnaíba cratonic basin of NE Brazil. The analysis integrates existing geological and geophysical data, and a new deep-crustal geophysical dataset, to determine the deep structure of the basin and the underlying crust and mantle. Several major features have emerged from this which constrain the basins genesis: (1) continental–shallow-marine stratigraphy characterized by an exponentially decreasing tectonic subsidence with a relatively long time constant of the order of 70–90 myr; (2) a complex Proterozoic–Early Paleozoic basement that comprises at least three major crustal blocks defined by seismic facies and conductivity contrasts with no evidence of an extensive rift system beneath the basin; (3) a mid-crustal fabric that appears to define the top of a dense and seismically fast lower crust (Vp 6.7–6.8 km s−1 and Vs 3.7–3.8 km s−1) and upper mantle (Vp 8.2–8.4 km s−1) directly beneath the basin, and which correlates with a sediment-corrected Bouger gravity anomaly high of +40–60 mGal; (4) a Moho that is generally as deep or deeper beneath the basin (40–45 km) than its surrounding region (34–40 km), and which appears stepped at the terrane boundaries; (5) a relatively conductive crust and upper mantle beneath the basin, and relatively resistive crust along the boundaries of the basement blocks; and (6) igneous events immediately before and after formation of the cratonic megasequence and a geochemically enriched mantle beneath the basin that sourced two major episodes of Mesozoic igneous intrusions. These latter events are responsible for the development of an atypical gas-prone petroleum system dependent on local magmatic events for heat generation and trapping configurations. The data describing these features are presented and discussed, and their implications used to draw conclusions about the formation of the Parnaíba Basin specifically and cratonic basins more generally