The document provides an overview of paleo continental margins and paleo environments. It discusses typical elements of continental margins like continental shelves, slopes, and rises. It describes features like abyssal plains, trenches, and seamounts. The document notes that continents were not static and discusses past configurations of continents like South America and Africa. It also outlines different depositional environments on continental scales like fluvial, aeolian, and deltaic. Maps show the past positions of the Indian plate hundreds of millions of years ago and how the climate would have been different.

1. Paleo Continental Margins
Basic Familiarization
I expect that the lecture will be helpful for students to
start thinking about the global source-reservoir
architecture and paleo-environments.
By,
Farrukh Qayyum
Geoscientist
Disclaimer Note: All contents in this presentation are copyrighted materials that is being
shared only for teaching purpose.

2. A 3D Perspective View

3. A Continental Margin
COAST
OFFSHORE
BASIN/DEEP OCEAN

4. A Continental Margin

5. SEA WATERContinental Shelf
Continental Slope
Continental Rise
Abyssal Plain
Trench
Volcanic Ridge
Submarine Ridges
(Seamounts)
Typical Elements of a Continental Margin
200-400m
2-3Km
4-6Km
10.0Km

6. GREEN LAND
Abyssal Plain
OceanicRidgesAbyssalPlain

7. Sea Mounts
Oceanic Giants

8. Sea Mounts
Oceanic Giants
Submerged Volcanic Eruption
Under deep ocean
Mostly they don’t form island
because they never appear close
to the sunlight or water surface.
Ocean floor
Water
Mantle
volcano

9. OCEANIC
TRENCH

10. Google Earth Image
Marianas Trench
11.0Km deep in ocean

11. INDIAN OCEAN
Island Arcs and Volcanic Ridges

12. Through out the history of Earth, the continental margins are
being modified because of COLLISION
which means that I am talking about the motion of objects
i.e. continents are moving…

13. The land masses that we see today, they
were not the same in the ancient times (in
million years).
Often new continents are evolved and often
old continents are either completely or
partially vanished from the earth’s upper
surface.
….

14. Continents were moving?
South America
Africa

15. Continents were moving?

16. Paleo Depositional Environments
On a continental scale

17. Cold
Temperate
Hot - Arid
Temperate
Cold
Hot & Cold Environments on the
blue Planet Earth

18. 46 0
C-80 0
C 00
C
Warm - deserts
Tropical
Cold
Hot & Cold Environments on the
blue Planet Earth

19. Pakistan Offshore
PAKISTAN

20. Continental Environment
Marine Environment

21. Fluvial Environment
(Stream-River dominated)
Aeolian Environment
(Wind dominated)
Deltaic Environment
(River Dominated)

22. Earth – The Ice House
Glaciated Regions – Glacial Environments

24. Today200Ma600Ma 400Ma
Let’s take a look into the PAST
Special focus INDIAN PLATE (Geology of India-Pakistan)
Ma – Million Years

25. Today200Ma600Ma 400Ma
Let’s take a look into the PAST

27. This tells me that India should have
Temperate – Moderate Warm Climate at
that time. But it is 650Ma ago. The Pre-
Cambrian Temperature history wasn’t
that I see today.