Using the stratigraphic record to document tectonic-geomorphologic interactions in a foreland basin setting: outcrop study of the Ainsa Basin, Spain

Eocene strata of the Ainsa Basin (Spain) contain clastic and carbonate strata deposited in a relatively small (100 km^2), structurally active piggyback foreland basin. The basin is bounded by the Mediano Anticline to the east and the Boltana Anticline to the west. Clastic strata were sourced by an eastern fluvial-deltaic system whereas carbonate strata were sourced from shallow-water carbonate systems that rimmed the southern and western margins of the basin. Four time-stratigraphic units, which form an upward transect through the basin-fill succession, were studied in detail: Ainsa, Morillo, Guaso, Sobrarbe-Escanilla. The study uses the stratigraphic record to document linkages between progressive uplift of the basin-bounding structures, spatial-temporal changes in the amount and location of subsidence, and temporal changes in the landscape. The Ainsa unit contains submarine channels that entered the basin from the east and exited the basin to the northwest, although some channels locally transfer to lobes near the northwest end of the basin. The Morillo unit contains submarine channels that entered the basin from the east, dispersed onto the basin floor, then converged at the western end of the basin where they continued onto the longitudinally adjacent Jaca Basin. The Guaso unit contains submarine channels that entered the basin from the east and transfer to a ponded distributive submarine fan at the center of the basin. The Escanilla-Sobrarbe unit contains a linked shelf-to-basin system that prograded from south to north and records the final filling of the basin. Four lines of evidence collectively support the basin-fill succession was deposited during structural growth. First, the depocenter, which is interpreted to reflect the position of maximum subsidence during deposition, of the systems systematically shifted westward as the basin filled. Second, the axial part of the clastic sediment systematically shifted southward as the basin filled. Third, the stratigraphic units are locally separated by progressive unconformities at the Mediano Anticline. Forth, carbonate-clast, sediment-gravity flow deposits were continually sourced off of the Boltana Anticline. The upward succession generally records a shallowing of the basin through time indicating that sediment supply exceeded the rate at which accommodation was created.