The Ancient Continental Margins of the North American and South American Plates and Regularities in the Occurrence of Oil and Gas Accumulations in Them

Various stages of the development of sedimentary basins along the ancient margins of the North American and South American plates are considered. It is shown that the potential of the oil-and-gas bearing is related to a certain stage of evolution of the basins. For the margins of the North American plate, it is the first stage of development in the structure of the ancient Paleozoic continental margins that developed under passive tectonic conditions. For the basins along the ancient margins of the South American plate, it is the second stage, which is the stage of the formation and development of foredeeps overlaid on the earlier structures. An interesting regularity is displayed: than younger the folding-mountain structures that originated in the distal parts of the continental margins, than greater the age range of source rocks in the sedimentary basins preserved there. DOI: 10.1134/S1028334X12020286