The Orphan Basin, located offshore northeastern Newfoundland, Eastern Canada, is a Mesozoic rift basin formed during the disintegration of Pangaea and the concurrent opening of the North Atlantic Ocean. The majority of previous work has divided the basin into the East (EOB) and West Orphan (WOB) subbasins, separated by the Central Orphan High (COH). These subbasins share some similarities but have different opening kinematics, timings, and sedimentary histories. Despite its critical location at the termination of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ), and the transition from the main North Atlantic Ocean to the Labrador Sea, the Orphan Basin remains relatively poorly understood compared to other marginal rift basins in the North Atlantic region. Additionally, much of the public domain geoscientific literature on the basin has not undergone peer review (e.g., conference abstracts, industry reports, etc.). As such, the aim of this review is to critically scrutinize and synthesize the wealth of geoscientific information on the basin, present an overview of the complex structure of the basin and its sedimentary fill, identify knowledge gaps, and provide insights for future research directions. This review highlights that significantly more is known about the EOB than the WOB, largely due to data availability. Furthermore, structural inheritance appears to have strongly influenced the evolution and geometry of rift-related faults. Areas requiring further research include refining the timing and relationship between the opening kinematics of the EOB and WOB, particularly pertaining to the role of the Flemish Cap. Additionally, the continuation of sedimentary facies from the better constrained EOB into the WOB is currently poorly understood, especially for the syn-rift strata, which results in substantial exploration risk in the WOB. Understanding the WOB, including the magmatic rocks, is essential for understanding the wider southern North Atlantic region.

孤儿盆地位于加拿大东部纽芬兰东北部近海，是一个中生代裂谷盆地，形成于盘古大陆解体和北大西洋同时张开期间。以前的大部分工作已将该盆地划分为东部 (EOB) 和西部孤儿 (WOB) 子盆地，由中央孤儿高 (COH) 分隔。这些次盆地有一些相似之处，但具有不同的开放运动学、时间和沉积历史。尽管它位于查理-吉布斯断裂带 (CGFZ) 末端的关键位置，以及从主要北大西洋到拉布拉多的过渡与北大西洋地区的其他边缘裂谷盆地相比，孤儿盆地的海洋仍然知之甚少。此外，关于盆地的许多公共领域的地球科学文献都没有经过同行评审（例如，会议摘要、行业报告等）。因此，本综述的目的是严格审查和综合有关盆地的大量地球科学信息，概述盆地的复杂结构及其沉积填充物，找出知识空白，并为未来的研究方向提供见解。这篇综述强调，对 EOB 的了解比 WOB 的要多得多，这主要是由于数据的可用性。此外，构造继承似乎强烈影响了裂谷相关断层的演化和几何形状。需要进一步研究的领域包括改进 EOB 和 WOB 的开启运动学之间的时间和关系，特别是与佛兰德帽的作用有关。此外，目前对沉积相从受较好约束的 EOB 到 WOB 的延续知之甚少，特别是对于同裂谷地层，这导致 WOB 的勘探风险很大。了解 WOB，包括岩浆岩，对于了解更广泛的北大西洋南部地区至关重要。