Foreland basin

The width and depth of the foreland basin is determined by the flexural rigidity of the underlying lithosphere, and the characteristics of the mountain belt.

Sediment transport within the foredeep is generally parallel to the strike of the thrust fault and basin axis.

The motion of the adjacent plates of the foreland basin can be determined by studying the active deformation zone with which it is connected.

Thus, it is crucial to consider non-GPS models to determine the long-term evolution of continental collisions and in how it helped develop the adjacent foreland basins.

Comparing both modern GPS (Sella et al. 2002) and non-GPS models allows deformation rates to be calculated.

[1] Foreland basins form because as the mountain belt grows, it exerts a significant mass on the Earth's crust, which causes it to bend, or flex, downwards.

The plate tectonic evolution of a peripheral foreland basin involves three general stages.

At this point, the basin enters the overfilled stage and deposition of terrestrial clastic sediments occurs.

The bending of the lithosphere under the orogenic load controls the drainage pattern of the foreland basin.

According to Zhou et al. (2003),[page needed] "under compressional stress the lithosphere beneath the mountain range becomes ductile almost entirely, except a thin (about 6 km in the center) brittle layer near the surface and perhaps a thin brittle layer in the uppermost mantle."

Thermal maturation of sediments is a factor of temperature and time and occurs at shallower depths due to past heat redistribution of migrating brines.

Studies have shown that present day thermal measurements of heat flow and geothermal gradients closely correspond to a regime's tectonic origin and development as well as the lithospheric mechanics.

Evidence of long-range migration includes: 1) correlation of petroleum to distant source rocks, 2) ore bodies deposited from metal-bearing brines, 3) anomalous thermal histories for shallow sediments, 4) regional potassium metasomatism and 5) epigenetic dolomite cements in ore bodies and deep aquifers.

[4] Fluids carrying heat, minerals, and petroleum, have a vast impact on the tectonic regime within the foreland basin.

Within the foreland basin, these fluids potentially can heat and mineralize materials, as well as mix with the local hydrostatic head.

Overpressured zones might allow for faster migration, when 1 kilometer or more of shaley sediments accumulate per 1 million years.