The geodynamic evolution of the Precaspian Basin (Kazakhstan) along a north–south section

Crustal-scale structure of the South Caspian Basin revealed by deep seismic reflection profiling

“…In the north, the Precaspian Depression is thought to be floored by Devonian oceanic crust (Brunet, Volozh, Antipov, & Lobkovsky, 1999). South of this area, the North and Central Caspian regions are situated above a Paleozoic basement of the Eurasian craton (Scythian and Turan platforms in Fig.…”

Geothermal evolution of the Astrakhan Arch region of the Pricaspian basin

“…In our geothermal modeling, we have been guided by the knowledge of the dynamical evolution of the basin. There have been no major geodynamic events in the region since at least Early Permian times (Brunet et al 1999;Volozh et al 2003), and hence major heat flux variations should not be anticipated. Moreover, paleotemperatures in the Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian sediments predicted by the reflectivity analysis of vitrinites of test core samples are found not to be higher than the present temperatures in the sediments of the same ages.…”

“…Carbonate reef complexes, reaching in relief up to 3 km above contemporaneous basinal argillites (Volozh 1991), trend northward from the southern margin of the basin to well beyond the center of the basin throughout the Devonian. Lower Paleozoic subsidence over most of the basin was near 1 m my -1 until it increased to near 50 m my -1 in the Late Devonian (Brunet et al 1999). This brief acceleration in subsidence is likely to be associated with post-rifting phases in the East-European platform adjoining the northern and western margins of the basin (IsmailZadeh 1998).…”

Baltica in the Cryogenian, 850–630 Ma

“…The kinematic model of Natalín and Ş engör (2005) assumes that the Turan and Scythian plates are contiguous, although it is also commonly implied that they are distinct (cf. Brunet et al, 1999;Volozh et al, 2003), with some kind of suture presumably between them in the area of the present Caspian Sea. Garzanti and Gaetani (2002), based on stratigraphic, sedimentological, and petrographic studies on the Turan Platform in western Turkmenistan, envisaged a model in which the Turan basement was contiguous with only the easternmost part of the North Caucasus SP and this is what is tentatively shown here (Fig.…”

“…A 10 km-thick, anomalously high-velocity, lower crustal body lies beneath the Peri-Caspian Basin (e.g. Brunet et al, 1999;Volozh et al, 2003 and references therein). Rejecting earlier models in which it was generated by rifting (e.g.…”