Modelling The Basin's Evolution
Sinclair's model of foreland basins has remained the state of the art for over a decade, and his four-stage model provides a good match for the Windermere supergroup. In the first stage, an orogenic wedge (here, the mountains of the Southern Uplands accretionary wedge) loads a passive margin, causing flexural subsidence and providing accommodation space. A "forebulge", caused by the rigidity of the crust flexing up behind the load, causes uplift and permits erosion. As the bulge moves backwards, it leaves shallow waters in its wake, which can be filled with carbonates, while hemipelagic sediments and turbidites continue to fill the deeper parts of the basin, leaving a "trinity" of facies --- this is stage 2. At a certain point, the deep water basin changes from an underfilled state, where accommodation space is created as fast as it is filled with flysch, to an overfilled one (stage 3). The orogenic wedge then provides a significant source of molasse sediments, with turbidites and deltas prograding through the basin. The basin is eventually filled, and covered with fluvial and alluvial molasse (stage 4).
Read more about this topic: Windermere Supergroup
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