Using multi-proxy thermal maturity datasets to validate deformation styles from the Adjara-Trialeti fold-and-thrust belt to the Greater Caucasus (Georgia)

We present a brand new multi-proxy dataset of thermal maturity indicators, which derive from the application of several analytical techniques on surface and subsurface sedimentary successions. The study area spans from the Greater Caucasus to the Adjara-Trialeti fold-and-thrust belt (FTB), comprising the intervening western Kura Basin, in Georgia, and represents a region of continental deformation in the hinterland of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone. Original and published clay mineralogy, Raman spectroscopy and petrography on dispersed organic matter, and pyrolysis data are integrated for the first time in a coherent tectono-sedimentary scenario. Thermal maturity spans from the low diagenetic realm (60-80°C) in the Upper Miocene section of the Kura sedimentary fill, to the oil window in the Cretaceous to Lower Miocene successions of Adjara-Trialeti FTB, Kakheti ridge and Kura Basin (70-120°C), up to about 400°C in the Greater Caucasus core. Integration of different indicators, besides allowing the estimation of maximum burial temperatures acquired through time, enabled to draw the tectonic evolution of the area. Different maturity trends and thermal histories, coupled with structural and stratigraphic data, highlight that the study area comprises two domains derived from positive tectonic inversion: the E-W Adjara-Trialeti doubly-verging FTB from an Eocene back-arc rift basin and the SSW-verging Georgian Greater Caucasus from a Mesozoic rift basin. Between the two, thin-skinned south-verging thrusts deform the Kura Basin and the Kakheti ridge successions, originally deposited on an extensional structural high which was later flexured during compression. The similar thermal maturity degree in the Adjara-Trialeti FTB and the Kakheti ridge/Kura Basin areas has been acquired in different time spans: during Paleogene extension and during Miocene thin-skinned shortening, respectively. The results indicate that thermal maturation of the sedimentary successions in the Adjara-Trialeti FTB can be ascribed to burial during rift evolution. The same conclusion can be drawn for the axial zone of the Greater Caucasus, whereas tectonic overburden may have contributed to the thermal maturity of the rocks in the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus: this area needs further work to assess its tectonic evolution.