The strategy is to develop a new and better appreciation of the factors controlling structural architecture and basin development in transform margin settings (Module 1). Synthesis of this knowledge with that gained by earlier studies (Nemčok et al., 2004, 2012a, 2016) will then be used to tackle the mechanisms and factors controlling depositional systems of transform margin settings (Module 2). Both modules 1 and 2 feed into (a) the development of the thermal models characterizing different transform margins, also affected by lower crustal flow, (b) the development of the reservoir rock distribution models, and (c) the development of source rock maturation history models typical for transform margins.

The main motivation for this study is to understand the thermal history of transform margins and spatial and temporal distribution of regions with a ductile lower crust. Such understanding would provide the foundation for studies trying to address the spatial distribution of source and reservoir rocks, and the maturation histories of all candidate source rocks. In order to develop this foundation, we use a numerical modeling approach to study both the thermal and lower crustal flow histories at transform margins, in particular the temporal and spatial distribution of the ductile lower crust in relation to the migrating heat source represented by the traveling ridge and its sandwiching zones of oceanic crust.