Controls on sedimentation at convergent plate-margins

Convergent margins are areas of geological complexity. Basins which occur in the same position relative to a volcanic arc may owe their origin to more than one process of formation. Sedimentation in convergent-margin basins is controlled by a wide variety of tectonic processes, which may also influence and bias the preserved sedimentary record. As a result, there are no unique sedimentological indicators of basin position or type. However, the sedimentary rocks record many of the important events, which can be synthesized to reconstruct the history of a convergent margin. Autocyclic sedimentological models are not always appropriately applied to convergent- margin sedimentary systems. This is particularly true of fan models of deep-marine turbidite sedimentation. Any sedimentological model developed for a convergent-margin basin should include allocyclic controls relevant to the tectonic setting. Such models should be built within a rational plate tectonic framework.

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