foreland basin

geology

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Assorted References

  • formation from ramp overthrust
    • Mount Sir Donald
      In mountain: Alpine- (or Himalayan-)type belts

      …the overriding mountain range, a foreland basin is formed by the flexure (see tectonic basins and rift valleys). Foreland basins usually exist as subsurface features that have been filled with debris eroded from the advancing overthrust slice of crust. These deposits, called molasse, can in turn be folded and thrust…

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    • Escarpments of the Great Rift Valley rising above the plain north of Samburu Game Preserve, central Kenya. Beisa oryxes graze in the foreground.
      In tectonic basins and rift valleys: Foreland basins

      These lie in front of major mountain ranges—e.g., south of the Himalayas, north of the Alps, and east of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Most basins of this kind are subsurface features, filled with sediment eroded from the adjacent mountain ranges; thus, they are…

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geologic history of

    • Australia
      • Map showing the country of Australia divided into its states and territories with major cities and surrounding bodies of water, including the Indian Ocean, Coral Sea, Tasman Sea, and Pacific Ocean.
        In Australia: The Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras

        …230 million years ago the foreland basin of eastern Australia had been overthrusted by the mountain belt, and a second epoch of black-coal formation opened in eastern Australia (southeastern Queensland and Tasmania) and in South Australia (Leigh Creek). Another foreland basin became established behind the magmatic arc along the eastern…

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    • South America
      • Map showing the countries of South America with national capitals and surrounding bodies of water, including the Atlantic and Pacific.
        In South America: Early Paleozoic events

        …produced a series of peripheral foreland basins, which were the result of crustal deformation and the stacking of slices of basement rocks in the orogenic areas. Examples of basins of the early Paleozoic age are the Beni basin in Bolivia and the Alhuampa and Las Breñas basins in northern Argentina.…

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