Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The territory of Armenia was located in the collision zone between Arabia and Eurasia, and is the seat of active intercontinental deformations, which was attested by the many historical earthquakes that have occurred in this region. All these destructive earthquakes show a strong regional seismic activity, and therefore it is important to evaluate the seismic hazard associated with active structures that generates this seismicity.This study presents the results of the analysis of the active tectonics within the northwestern and southeastern extensions of the Pambak-Sevan-Syunik fault (PSSF), a major right-lateral strike-slip fault cutting through Armenia (NW - SE). Quantifying the deformations in terms of geometry, kinematics, slip rates and earthquake activity, using cosmogenic 3He, OSL/IRSL and radiocarbon dating techniques, reveal different behaviors between the two regions.Within the northwestern extension, in the region of Amassia, the PSSF bends to the west and splits into two main WNW-ESE trending reverse faults defining a compressional pop-up structure. We estimate an uplift rate and a shortening rate of 0.5 ± 0.1 mm/y and 1.4 ± 0.6 mm/y, respectively. This suggests that most of the ~2 mm/y right lateral movement of the PSSF seems to be absorbed within the Amasia pop-structure.Within the southeastern extension, in the region of Tsghuk volcano, the PSSF shows signs of dying out at the southernmost tip of the Syunik graben. A very slow NS trending normal faulting associated with a slight right-lateral movement characterizes the tectonic activity in the region of Tsghuk volcano. We estimate vertical slip rates, EW stretching rate, and right-lateral slip rate of ~0.2 mm/y, ~0.1 mm/y and ~0.05 mm/y, respectively. These results lead to the conclusion that the right lateral movement observed further north along the PSSF is mainly transferred within other active faults further west within the Karabagh (Hagari fault or other structures further northwestwards).
L’Arménie se situe dans la zone de collision entre Arabie et Eurasie et est le siège d’une déformation intracontinental active comme l’atteste les nombreux tremblements de terre historiques qui s’y sont produits. Tous ces séismes, destructeurs, attestent d’une forte activité sismique régionale, et il est par conséquent important d'évaluer l’aléa sismique associé aux structures actives qui génère cette sismicité.Le travail présenté ici, expose les résultats de l’analyse de la tectonique active au niveau des terminaisons nord-ouest et sud-est de la faille de Pambak-Sevan-Syunik (PSSF), une des failles décrochant majeure qui traverse l'Arménie du NW au SE. La quantification des déformations en termes de géométrie, cinématique, vitesse de glissement et paléosismicité, en utilisant les méthodes de datation 3He cosmogénique, OSL/IRSL et radiocarbone, révèlent des comportements différents entre les deux régions.Au niveau de la terminaison nord-ouest, dans la région d’Amassia, la faille PSSF s’incurve vers l'ouest et se subdivise en deux branches de direction WNW-ESE, et de cinématique inverse, définissant une structure en pop-up. Nous estimons une vitesse de soulèvement de 0.5 ± 0.1 mm/an et une vitesse de raccourcissement NNE-SSW de 1.4 ± 0.6 mm/an. Ces résultats suggère que l’essentiel des ~2 mm/an de mouvement dextre estimés le long de la faille de PSSF sont absorbés au niveau du pop-up d’Amassia.Au niveau de la terminaison sud-est, dans la région du volcan Tsghuk, la faille PSSF semble disparaitre. Le peu d’activité tectonique est caractérisée par des failles normales sub-méridiennes associées à une légère composante décrochant dextre. Nous déterminons une vitesse de glissement vertical de ~0,2 mm/an, une vitesse d’extension ~EW de ~0,1 mm/an associée à une composante dextre de ~0,05 mm/an. Ces résultats suggèrent que le mouvement dextre observé le long de la faille de PSSF plus au nord, a été transféré sur d'autres failles plus à l'ouest dans le Karabakh (faille Hagari ou autres structures situés encore plus au NW).
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01621440

NNT : 2016MONTT152
tel-01621440
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01621440
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01621440v2/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01621440/file/2016_MKRTCHYAN_archivage.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society of America
Résumé : International audience
The activity of subhorizontal decollements mapped by geologists in extensional provinces is not explained by rock mechanics principles, which predict that only steep faults can slip. These exposed decollements are therefore suspected to be inactive; they may correspond to rotated, formerly active, high-angle faults. However, growing seismological evidence of earthquakes with low-angle fault-plane mechanisms has forced us to revisit this viewpoint. Using the example of the Gulf of Corinth in Greece, we propose a mechanical model that explains how a weak, high-angle fault may form a low-angle decollement at depth. This decollement is uplifted in a second stage of extension, which allows the exhumation of a metamorphic core complex such as the northern Snake Range, Nevada.
ISSN: 0091-7613

hal-01419920
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01419920
DOI : 10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0439:CCMFTG>2.0

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : Vertical displacements on the SW-NE T (e) over capt fault (Eastern Pyrenees Axial Zone, France), which separates the Variscan Canigou-Caranca and Mont-Louis massifs, were constrained using a thermochronologic multi-method approach. Ar-40/Ar-39 data from the granitic Mont-Louis massif record its Variscan cooling history and reveal no ages younger than Early Cretaceous, while the Canigou-Caranca gneiss massif records systematically younger Ar-40/Ar-39 ages. These younger Ar-40/Ar-39 ages in the Canigou-Caranca gneiss massif are the result of partial to total rejuvenation of argon isotopic systems related to a thermal flow coeval with the Cretaceous HT-BP metamorphism in the North Pyrenean Zone. Only the deepest rocks from the Canigou-Caranca suffered this extensive Mid-Cretaceous thermal overprint probably due to differential burial around 4 km at that time. The post Mid-Cretaceous vertical displacements along the T (e) over capt fault are recorded by "low" temperature thermochronology using K-feldspar Ar-40/Ar-39, zircon and apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He datings. The Mont-Louis granite samples experienced a long period of protracted cooling reflecting a lack of thermo-tectonic activity in this area from Late Palaeozoic to Early Cenozoic, followed by cooling from 55-60 Ma to Late Eocene at a mean rate of 15-20 degrees C/Ma in the final stage. This cooling stage corresponds to T (e) over capt fault reactivation with a reversed component, promoting exhumation of the Mont-Louis roof zone contemporaneously with the south-vergent Pyrenean thrusting. In the Canigou-Caranca massif, the main cooling event occurred from 32 to 18 Ma at a maximum rate of 30 degrees C/Ma during Early Oligocene followed by a more moderate rate of 3 degrees C/Ma from Late Oligocene to Early Burdigalian, coeval with the normal reactivation of the T (e) over capt fault in brittle conditions that accommodated the final exhumation of the massif during the opening of the Gulf of Lion.
ISSN: 1437-3254

hal-00411442
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411442
DOI : 10.1007/s00531-007-0179-x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We use velocities from 65 continuous stations and 31 survey-mode GPS sites as well as kinematic modeling to investigate present day deformation along the Africa-Iberia plate boundary zone in the western Mediterranean region. The GPS velocity field shows southwestward motion of the central part of the Rif Mountains in northern Morocco with respect to Africa varying between 3.5 and 4.0 mm/yr, consistent with prior published results. Stations in the southwestern part of the Betic Mountains of southern Spain move west-southwest with respect to Eurasia (similar to 2-3 mm/yr). The western component of Betics motion is consistent with partial transfer of Nubia-Eurasia plate motion into the southern Betics. The southward component of Betics motion with respect to Iberia is kinematically consistent with south to southwest motion of the Rif Mountains with respect to Africa. We use block modeling, constrained by mapped surface faults and seismicity to estimate the geometry and rates of strain accumulation on plate boundary structures. Our preferred plate boundary geometry includes one block between Iberia and Africa including the SW Betics, Alboran Sea, and central Rif. This geometry provides a good fit to the observed motions, suggesting a wide transpressive boundary in the westernmost Mediterranean, with deformation mainly accommodated by the Gloria-Azores fault system to the West and the Rif-Tell lineament to the East. Block boundaries encompass aspects of earlier interpretations suggesting three main deformation styles: (i) extension along the NE-SW trending Trans-Alboran shear zone, (ii) dextral strike-slip in the Betics corresponding to a well defined E-W seismic lineament, and (iii) right lateral strike-slip motion extending West to the Azores and right-lateral motion with compression extending East along the Algerian Tell. We interpret differential motion in the Rif-Alboran-Betic system to be driven both by surface processes related the Africa-Eurasia oblique convergence and sub-crustal dynamic processes associated with the long history of subduction of the Neotethys ocean lithosphere. The dextral slip identified in the Betic Mountains in Southern Spain may be related to the offshore fault that produced the Great 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, and as such may represent a significant seismic hazard for the West Mediterranean region.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00618337
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00618337
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.05.048

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
We studied the patterns, rates and evolution of fluvial terraces and fault system during the building process of an intracontinental transpressional mountain in the Gobi-Altay (Mongolia). By analyzing incisions and offsets of fluvial terraces and alluvial fans, we show that the massif has grown by outward migration of thrust faults through time. On the northern flank, the present bounding thrust fault began its activity ~600 ka ago, while a more internal sub-parallel fault was still active until ~200-100 ka. Vertical offset of an alluvial fan abandoned ~100 ka ago allows an estimate of 0.1 mm/yr Upper Pleistocene - Holocene uplift rate. The morphology of the catchment-piedmont system strongly suggests a periodical formation of the alluvial surfaces, controlled by the climatic pulses, at the beginning of the wet interglacial periods. The abandonment of the alluvial terraces lags by several thousand years the abandonment of the alluvial fans, showing a diachronous incision propagating upstream. The incision rate deduced from the different elevations of straths exceeds of one order of magnitude the rock uplift rate. This excess is mostly due to ongoing drainage network growth at the core of the massif, and incision due to alluvial apron entrenchment near the outlet. This implies that fluvial response is mainly controlled by drainage growth, interaction with piedmont and cyclic climatic variations, rather than by rock uplift.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00323558
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00323558
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00323558v2/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00323558/file/Vassallo2007.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2006TC002081

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP): Policy B - Oxford Open Option A Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Peridotites exhumed in the footwall of axial detachment faults at slow-spreading ridges are highly serpentinized. Most mid-ocean ridge detachment settings are magmatically active and hydrous fluid circulation in and near the fault has been shown to be influenced by the presence of melt or magmatic lithologies. Our working area along the Southwest Indian Ridge (62–65°E) is nearly amagmatic and represents an end-member to study the hydrous alteration of exhumed peridotites without these magmatic influences. We use an integrated petrological approach combining microstructural, mineralogical and chemical observations to unravel the sequence of serpentinization in 272 dredged samples of variably serpentinized peridotites and to document the circulation of serpentinizing fluids in and near the exhumation faults. We find that serpentine recrystallization and veins overprint the initial serpentinite mesh texture in ∼25% of the samples. Oxygen isotope data suggest that this sequence developed at relatively high temperatures (271–336°C) and under increasing fluid–rock ratios, from near stoichiometry for mesh texture formation to >10 during recrystallization. Increasing fluid supersaturation relative to serpentine favors the replacement of mesh texture lizardite by chrysotile and polygonal or polyhedral serpentine. We attribute local recrystallization into antigorite to moderate Si-metasomatism, possibly following pyroxene serpentinization. We do not observe the more pronounced Si-metasomatism leading to talc replacing serpentine that is reported for the more magmatically active Mid-Atlantic Ridge detachment settings and is attributed to prior leaching of magmatic rocks. Scales of preferential fluid pathways in our samples evolved from pervasive and close-spaced (<500 µm) microfractures during the formation of the initial serpentine mesh texture, to centimeter-thick planar domains of enhanced fluid flux, spaced at ∼10 cm intervals and probably grouped in corridors that may be up to ∼100 m across. Serpentine minerals are enriched in some fluid-mobile elements (Cl, B, U) relative to the peridotite protolith, and several elements (Al, Fe, Si, Cu, As, Sb, REE) are redistributed at the millimeter to decimeter scale. Serpentinizing fluids were seawater-derived, probably mildly alkaline (small to no europium anomalies), reducing and H2-enriched (formation of magnetite). These fluids may have been similar to, though warmer than, those venting at the ultramafic-hosted Lost City hydrothermal fluid (30°N, Mid-Atlantic Ridge).
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-01174047
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01174047
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egv014

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
The Ryukyu subduction is known to generate very few earthquakes in its central segment contrarily to its two extremities. We focus in this study on the southernmost part of the Ryukyu subduction zone offshore east Taiwan. Our first task was to build a homogeneous earthquake catalogue for the period 1900–2007. The new catalogue provides homogenized M′W magnitudes and shows that several M′W≥ 7.0 earthquakes occurred offshore Hualien and Suao cities. We then focused on the 1920 June 5 earthquake (reported surface wave magnitude 8.1) previously located beneath the accretionary prism. The revised moment magnitude has been estimated in our catalogue at 7.7 ± 0.2. It is the biggest earthquake ever recorded in the Taiwan area but the fault that has produced this earthquake has not yet been identified with confidence. We relocated this event using regional phases (seismological bulletins archived at the Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan) about 50 km NNE and shallower of its former location, that is, within the Ryukyu Arc basement. According to earthquake bulletin information, revised magnitude, new hypocentral determination and known regional faults, we propose four potential active faults as candidates for the slip associated to this event: (1) the interplate seismogenic zone (ISZ), (2) an out-of-sequence thrust cutting through the forearc and branching on the ISZ, (3) a NS strike-slip fault cutting through the Ryukyu arc and (4) a N–S, westward dipping thrust fault, affecting the Philippine Sea Plate east of the Luzon Arc. The best compromise is to consider a rupture along the ISZ with a shallow nucleation possibly along a splay-fault followed by a downward and lateral propagation of the rupture that would explain the lack of significant seafloor motion and subsequent tsunami. We also estimate the maximum seismic coupling of the ISZ in the region east of Taiwan to about 0.4. In parallel, the evidences of aseismic slip occurring along the ISZ allow us to conclude that this region should only be affected by M < 8 earthquakes.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-00545459
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00545459
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00545459/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00545459/file/theunisseGJI2010.pdf
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04813.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society of America
Résumé : International audience
We present the first recorded global positioning system (GPS) data from Myanmar measured at the northern tip of the Sagaing fault. This area is in a very complex geodynamic context, where rigid and semirigid plates interact. The 12 GPS sites measured in 2005 and 2008 in northern Myanmar show that the slip rate is 18 mm/yr and is localized along a single active narrow fault trace (<20 km wide). The same rate was previously demonstrated and remeasured, 500 km southward, in central Myanmar. Despite the geodynamic regional complexity induced by interaction between the Sunda and India plates, the Burma microplate, and the highly deformable eastern Himalayan syntaxis, the slip rate remains surprisingly constant along this fault. However, the modeled locking depth varies from 20 km in central Myanmar to 5 km in the north.
ISSN: 0091-7613

hal-00673712
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00673712
DOI : 10.1130/G30872.1

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The North Tehran Fault is located at the southernmost piedmont of Central Alborz, north of Iran. It stands out as a major active fault menacing directly the city of Tehran, a 12 million people metropolis, and would have been the source of several major historical earthquakes in the past. The fault zone extends up to 110km and corresponds mainly to a reverse fault mostly crossing the northern suburbs of the Tehran metropolis, although NTF in its eastern part is characterized more as a left lateral strike slip active fault. We carried out a paleoseismological study of the fault zone in order to determine whether the fault was activated during the Holocene, and to define the characteristics of its activity in terms of kinematics and magnitude. Here in this paper we present only a part of our paleoseismological investigations trench TE2. Observations fromtwo trenches dug across the North Tehran fault scarp reveal evidence for a maximum of six surface-rupturing events within the late quaternary. According to the empirical relationships among average displacement per event and Moment magnitude [25], we can estimate six events Mw~ 6.5 associated with these ruptures in TE2 trench.
Journal of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering

hal-00758375
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00758375

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Gulf of Cadiz spans the plate boundary between Africa and Eurasia west of the Betic–Rif mountain belt. A narrow east dipping subduction zone descends beneath the Gulf of Cadiz and the straits of Gibraltar. The deep crustal structure of the Gulf and the adjacent SW Iberian and Moroccan margins is constrained by numerous multi-channel seismic reflection and wide-angle seismic surveys. A compilation of these existing studies is presented in the form of depth to basement, sediment thickness, depth to Moho and crustal thickness maps. These structural maps image an E–W trending trough, with thin (< 10 km) crust beneath the Gulf of Cadiz. This trough is filled by an eastward thickening wedge of sediments, reaching a thickness of 10–15 km in the eastern Gulf. These sediments are tectonically deformed, primarily along a series of westward-vergent thrust faults and represent a 200–250 km wide accretionary wedge. The northern and especially the southern limits of the accretionary wedge are marked by sharp morphological lineaments showing evidence of recent deformation. These tectonic limits are situated in an internal position with respect to the Miocene deformation front (external Betic and Rif allocthons), which has been abandoned. At the western boundary of the accretionary wedge, near the adjacent Seine and Horseshoe abyssal plains, an E–W trending basement high (Coral Patch Ridge) can be seen indenting the deformation front in an asymmetric manner. Analog modeling is performed using granular materials accreted against a semicircular backstop (representing the basement of the Rif and Betic mountain belts). The modeling initially produces a symmetric, arcuate accretionary wedge. The ensuing collision of an oblique rigid indenter retards accretion on one side, resulting in an embayment and a locally steeper deformation front. The deformation pattern observed in morphology and high-resolution seismic profiles suggests the accretionary wedge and underlying subduction system is still active. The implications of active subduction for the source region of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and the regional seismic hazard assessment are discussed.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00424922
http://hal.univ-brest.fr/hal-00424922
http://hal.univ-brest.fr/hal-00424922/document
http://hal.univ-brest.fr/hal-00424922/file/Gutscher_09Tphys_rev.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2008.11.031

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The Restefond fault, located in the Late Eocene-Early Oligocene Alpine foreland basin, affects the well lithified and low porosity Grès d'Annot. The fault core zone is characterized by the occurrence of highly deformed sandstone lenses. Deformation inside the lenses corresponds to mm to sub-mm-spaced cleavage planes rich in phyllosilicates and up to cm-thick and dm-long quartz-calcite pure extensional veins. The cleavages are mostly composed of newly-formed synkinematic white mica and chlorite. By using thermodynamic thermometers based on the chemical composition of chlorite, a temperature of 200 ± 20 °C of fault activity was computed. This temperature shows that the Restefond fault was active at burial conditions comprised between 6.5 and 8 km, assuming a mean geothermal gradient between 25 and 30 °Ckm−1. The petrophysic properties of sandstones from the core zone and in the hanging and foot wall of the fault were determined on drilled plugs following three spacial directions. The permeability of the highly deformed sandstone from the core zone is about one order of magnitude higher than in the host rock. This increase in permeability occurs in the direction parallel to the S-C structures and is explained by the occurrence of well-connected micropores localized between platy phyllosilicates. This study shows that the fault petrophysic properties are mostly controlled by the precipitation of synkinematic phyllosilicates under deep burial conditions.
Swiss Journal of Geosciences

hal-00795551
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00795551
DOI : 10.1007/s00015-012-0099-z

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : We describe for the first time a set of large active thrusts and folds near the foot of the easternmost Algerian margin, Western Mediterranean, from swath bathymetry and high-resolution seismic data acquired in 2005 during the Maradja2/Samra cruise. This active system resumes a previous passive margin and creates growth strata deposition on the limbs of large folds, resulting in the development of perched basins at the foot of the margin since less than similar to 1 Ma. They form a set of overlapping fault segments verging toward the Algerian basin, in a way similar to what has been observed off eastern Algiers on the rupture zone of the 2003 Mw 6.8 Boumerdes earthquake. The horizontal shortening rate across large folds is estimated to be of the order of 1 mm/yr. Although no historical earthquakes are reported here, these fault segments could have been responsible for large (M similar to 7.5) events in the past. This young tectonic system further supports the hypothesis of subduction inception of the Neogene oceanic lithosphere in the context of the Africa-Eurasia convergence.
Marine Geology (0025-3227) (Elsevier), 2009-06 , Vol. 261 , N. 1-4 , P. 17-32

Droits : 2009 Published by Elsevier Inc.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2009/publication-6850.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2008.05.016
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/6850/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
Although magmatism may occur during the earliest stages of continental rifting, its role in strain accommodation remains weakly constrained by largely 2-D studies. We analyze seismicity data from a 13 month, 39-station broadband seismic array to determine the role of magma intrusion on state-of-stress and strain localization, and their along-strike variations. Precise earthquake locations using cluster analyses and a new 3-D velocity model reveal lower crustal earthquakes beneath the central basins and along projections of steep border faults that degas CO2. Seismicity forms several disks interpreted as sills at 6-10 km below a monogenetic cone field. The sills overlie a lower crustal magma chamber that may feed eruptions at Oldoinyo Lengai volcano. After determining a new ML scaling relation, we determine a b-value of 0.87±0.03. Focal mechanisms for 65 earthquakes, and 13 from a catalogue prior to our array reveal an along-axis stress rotation of ∼60° in the magmatically active zone. New and prior mechanisms show predominantly normal slip along steep nodal planes, with extension directions ∼N90°E north and south of an active volcanic chain consistent with geodetic data, and ∼N150°E in the volcanic chain. The stress rotation facilitates strain transfer from border fault systems, the locus of early-stage deformation, to the zone of magma intrusion in the central rift. Our seismic, structural, and geochemistry results indicate that frequent lower crustal earthquakes are promoted by elevated pore pressures from volatile degassing along border faults, and hydraulic fracture around the margins of magma bodies. Results indicate that earthquakes are largely driven by stress state around inflating magma bodies.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-01667198
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01667198
DOI : 10.1002/2017GC007027

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
This paper presents a synthesis of a multidisciplinary study carried out along the Nîmes Roman aqueduct, located in the southeast part of France. The study was motivated by archaeologists attempting to explain the partial destructions of only one aerial bridge of the aqueduct (Pont de la Lône). Given its close proximity to the Nîmes seismically active fault, a possible seismic origin for the destructions was invoked. Seismologists and structural engineers thus carried out a variety of field and numerical investigations to test the seismic hypothesis. Supporting field evidence was found first along the aerial bridge section of the aqueduct: broken stalactites, arch warping, cracks and destruction of the bridge just above a breast wall shortly after its construction. Secondly, the underground part of the canal was analysed: irregularity in the thickness of calcite deposits of the canal walls, presence of numerous cracks, horizontal shift of the otherwise linear structure of the canal and presence of calcite twins in the deposits, found only where the canal crosses the Nîmes fault system. Numerical modelling and experimental results show that (1) only the Pont de la Lône would have suffered serious damage under seismic solicitation (assuming an M6 earthquake at 10 km distance). The second aerial bridge, the three levels arches Pont du Gard, an historical monument still standing today, would have suffered less damage, due to its very different fundamental frequency of around 0.4 Hz, far from the amplified seismic near-field spectrum; (2) the numerical models also show that a fall of the canal wall would require a higher magnitude event (M > 6); (3) the presence of calcite twinning requires a differential static stress of 4 MPa or greater, which can only be achieved very close to the fault rupture of a M > 6 earthquake; (4) finally, local surface rupturing of such a fault would also corroborate the hypothesis that the observed offset of the canal may be partly seismically induced. Although other possible origins for each individual evidence may not be excluded, the observed spatiotemporal concentration of architectural/geological anomalies together with the numerical results allow us to support a possible co-seismic origin for these disorders, indirectly attesting to the potential seismic activity (M > 6) of the nearby Nîmes fault. Furthermore, following the conclusions of archaeological studies, the disorders occurred between 250 and 350 year AD, thus providing timing for this possible seismic event, an essential parameter in seismic hazard analysis. These results validate the archaeo-seismological approach as a tool that may help improve the knowledge of major infrequent earthquakes in areas of moderate seismic activity.
ISSN: 0921-030X

hal-00379064
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00379064
DOI : 10.1007/s11069-008-9276-9

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Mylonite bodies are exhumed extensions at depth of shallow structural level brittle faults. They are characterised by intense strain localisation involving large volumes of middle to lower continental crust. The analysis of shear zone geometry and microstructures is a useful tool to decipher deformation kinematics, though finite strain estimation is still relatively qualitative. Timing of the deformation has also been the focus of numerous studies using the complete spectrum of geochronometers. However, only rare examples provide geochronological data that can be unambiguously interpreted and cooling, recrystallisation and neocrystallisation are difficult to tell from each other. Thus, time-scales over which major mylonite zones develop and remain active under ductile conditions as well as their strain rate often remain poorly documented. We investigated two sections across the South-Armorican Shear Zone (SASZ), a crustal-scale pluri-km thick dextral shear zone active during a single tectonic event of late-Variscan age and associated with syntectonic granite emplacement.. Finite strain profiles on these cross-sections, quantified from average Quartz grain-size in 34 samples, show a strong deformation partitioning towards the center of the SASZ, with a decrease, for each section, from 150µm in slightly deformed zones to less than 7-5 µm in the core of the ultramylonite. Furthermore, toward the core of the SASZ, development of a penetrative shear band network progressively eliminates lenses of less deformed rocks and results in homogenisation of the Quartz grain sizes. In parallel, we performed in-situ UV-laser Ar/Ar dating on the fabric-forming white micas. White micas population can be decomposed into inherited muscovites carried by the folation and newly-formed, syn-tectonic substituted phengites located along the shear bands yielding 2 age groups for each sample. Along the profiles, the difference between these two ages evolves from 10-15 Ma in weakly deformed domains to zero toward the SASZ core. In addition, mylonite-forming phengites yielded the same age irrespectively of their position on the section or of the rock strain.. On the regional point of view, this study brings deformation-ages for the late-orogenic evolution of the South Armorican domain. Strain accumulated along the SASZ in a time-span extending to 300-298 Ma, i.e. contemporaneously with the activity of nearby major extensional shear zones. These results support a new model of crustal-scale shear zone activity, where the whole body of the shear zone is active throughout its history (defined as the largest age difference through the section), i.e. the actively deforming zone does not get progressively narrower. The strain distribution nevertheless evolves with time, with an increasingly large fraction partitioned in the ultramylonitic core.
EGU General Assembly
Vienne, Austria

insu-00839320
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00839320
BIBCODE : 2010EGUGA..12.9881A

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP): Policy P - Oxford Open Option A Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
The Pyrenean mountain range is a slowly deforming belt with continuous and moderate seismic activity. To quantify its deformation field, we present the velocity field estimated from a GPS survey of the Pyrenees spanning 18 yr. The PotSis and ResPyr networks, including a total of 85 GPS sites, were installed and first measured in 1992 and 1995–1997, respectively, and remeasured in 2008 and 2010. We obtain a deformation field with velocities less than 1 mm yr−1 across the range. The estimated velocities for individual stations do not differ significantly from zero with 95 per cent confidence. Even so, we estimate a maximum extensional horizontal strain rate of 2.0 ± 1.7 nanostrain per year in a N–S direction in the western part of the range. We do not interpret the vertical displacements due to their large uncertainties. In order to compare the horizontal strain rates with the seismic activity, we analyse a set of 194 focal mechanisms using three methods: (i) the ‘r’ factor relating their P and T axes, (ii) the stress tensors obtained by fault slip inversion and (iii) the strain-rate tensors. Stress and strain-rate tensors are estimated for: (i) the whole data set, (ii) the eastern and western parts of the range separately, and (iii) eight zones, which are defined based on the seismicity and the tectonic patterns of the Pyrenees. Each of these analyses reveals a lateral variation of the deformation style from compression and extension in the east to extension and strike-slip in the west of the range. Although the horizontal components of the strain-rate tensors estimated from the seismic data are slightly smaller in magnitude than those computed from the GPS velocity field, they are consistent within the 2σ uncertainties. Furthermore, the orientations of their principal axes agree with the mapped active faults.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-01171752
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01171752
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggv052

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : In order to identify and quantify the Rif (Morocco) present-day deformation, especially those related to active faults (location, geometry, kinematic), we perform a morphotectonic study. The studied area and faults are located in the Northern part (conjugate faults of Al-Hoceima Bay: Trougout, Boujibar and Rouadi), the Eastern part (Nekor fault) and the Southern part of the chain (Rif frontal thrust between Fes and Meknes cities).Morphotectonic tools (DEMs at different scales, satellite and aerial pictures), field studies and Quaternary dating methods (U/Th, OSL, 14C and in-situ cosmogenic isotopes 10Be, 3He, 36Cl) allow us to characterize transtensional deformation in the Northern Rif. Horizontal and vertical slip rates along the N-S-oriented Trougout major fault are ~1.6 mm/yr and ~2 mm/yr respectively. In the Southern part, the Rif frontal thrust shows a shortening rate of ~1.8 mm/yr into Fes and Meknes area. In the Eastern part, the deformation is focused on the Nekor left-lateral strike-slip major fault with ~1.5 mm/yr. Incision features and raised marine terraces involve an uplift of the chain about ~0.2 mm/yr. The overall deformation in the Rif seems to be continuous since the Messinian-Pliocene time.These new morphotectonic constraints are consistent with the GPS measurements showing southwestward overall motion of most of the Rif belt with respect to stable Africa, associated to clockwise rotation. Finally, we propose a geodynamic model in which the Rif, the Alboran sea and the Betics belong to a single microplate bounded by the strike-slip faults of the Betics on the North, the Rif frontal thrust on the South, the Nekor and TASZ (Trans Alboran Shear Zone) strike-slip faults on the East and North-East, and the western Rif folded structures on the West.
L'objectif de cette étude est d'identifier et de quantifier les déformations actuelles dans la chaine du Rif (Maroc), notamment celles associées aux failles actives (localisation, géométrie, cinématique). Pour ce faire, nous mettons en œuvre pour la première fois dans cette région, une approche morphotectonique. Les sites et failles sélectionnés et étudiés se situent dans la partie Nord (les failles conjuguées de la baie d'Al-Hoceima: Trougout, Boujibar et Rouadi), l'Est (la faille de Nékor) et le Sud (front chevauchant sud rifain entre Fes et Meknes).A partir des outils de la morphotectonique (MNTs à différentes résolutions, images satellitaires, photographies aériennes), d'analyses de terrain et grâce aux méthodes de datation du Quaternaire (U/Th, OSL, 14C et isotopes cosmogéniques produits in-situ 10Be, 3He, 36Cl), cette étude met en évidence et quantifie une déformation transtensive dans la partie Nord de la chaine. Les vitesses de glissement horizontales et verticales le long de la faille principale d'orientation méridienne de Trougout sont de ~1.6 mm/an et ~2 mm/an, respectivement. Dans la partie Sud, nous montrons que le front rifain entre Fez et Meknes est actif avec une vitesse de raccourcissement de ~1.8 mm/an. La déformation dans la région Est se localise principalement sur la faille du Nékor avec une vitesse décrochante senestre de ~1.5 mm/an. Par ailleurs, la présence de nombreuses figures d'incision et de surfaces marines soulevées au niveau du littoral Nord témoignent d'une surrection généralisée de la chaine de l'ordre de ~0.2 mm/an. L'ensemble de cette déformation semble être constante depuis la période du Messino-Pliocène. Ces résultats sont cohérents avec les données GPS qui montrent un déplacement de ~5mm/an vers le SW de l'ensemble du Rif associé à un mouvement rotatif horaire, dans le référentiel Afrique stable. D'un point de vue géodynamique, nous proposons que le Rif, la mer d'Alboran et les Bétiques appartiennent à une même microplaque limitée au Nord par les failles décrochantes des Bétiques, au Sud par le chevauchement rifain, à l'Est et au Nord-Est par les failles décrochantes de Nékor et de la TASZ (Trans Alboran Shear Zone) et à l'Ouest par les structures plissées bordières du Rif.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01170466

NNT : 2014MON20105
tel-01170466
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01170466
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01170466v2/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01170466/file/41875_POUJOL_2014_archivage_cor.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The In-Ezzane volcanic district (EZD), located at the triple junction of Algeria, Niger and Libya belongs to the Eastern Hoggar, covers 350 km2 and includes 9 volcanic edifices that are probably aligned along NW-SE faults, parallel to the Tafassasset valley. The low volume (0.7 and 1 km3) of emitted lavas, the similar morphology of the monogenic cones and the lack of differentiated rocks indicate that the volcanic activity of the EZD was restricted in time and volume. The new K-Ar age (i.e. 2.86 ± 0.07 Ma) indicates that the EZD is contemporaneous with the last alkali volcanism paroxysm in Hoggar and with the nearby Libyan volcanics. The EZD alkali basalts (mainly basanite) show a remarkable homogeneous compositions both in major elements (44.8 ⩽ SiO2 ⩽ 45.8 wt.%; 5.2 ⩽ (Na2O + K2O) ⩽ 6.2 wt.%), trace elements (4.3 ⩽ Th ⩽ 5.5 ppm; 34.7 ⩽ La ⩽ 44.7 ppm; 16.1 < La/Yb(N) < 21.6) and radiogenic isotopes (0.70285 < 87Sr/86Sr < 0.70303; 0.51298 < 143Nd/144Nd < 0.51301; (19.212 < 206Pb/204Pb < 19.340, 15.589 < 207Pb/204Pb < 15.602 and 38.834 < 208Pb/204Pb < 38.903). Relative to the Hoggar alkaly basalts the EZD basalts appear systematically impoverished in incompatible elements and show a depleted signature both in Sr and Nd isotopes (almost MORB-like). The Pb isotopes are relatively enriched and intermediate between tholeiites and alkali basalts of the Hoggar. This unusual geochemical signature, is uneasy to reconcile with the known characteristics of the Hoggar swell, and would rather fingerprint a circum cratonic mantle lying beneath the west border of the Murzuq craton (Libya).
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-01054340
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01054340
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2013.12.001

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
The Ama Drime range located at the transition between the high Himalayan range and south Tibet is a N-S active horst that offsets the South Tibetan Detachment System (STDS). Within the horst, a paragneissic unit, possibly attributed to the upper Himalayan crystalline series, overly the lower Himalayan crystalline series Ama Drime orthogneissic unit containing large metabasite layers and pods that have experienced pressure >= 1.4 GPa. Combining structural analysis with new and published pressure-temperature (P-T) estimates as well as U-Th/Pb, Ar-39/Ar-40 and (U-Th)/He ages, the P-T-deformation-time (P-T-D-t) paths of the main units within and on both sides of the horst are reconstructed. They imply that N-S normal faults initiated prior to 11 Ma and have accounted for a total exhumation <= 0.6 GPa (22 km) that probably occurred in two phases: the first one until similar to 9 Ma and the second one since 6 to 4 Ma at a rate of similar to 1 mm/yr. In the Ama Drime unit, 1 to 1.3 GPa (37 to 48 km) of exhumation occurred after partial melting since similar to 30 Ma until similar to 13 Ma, above the Main Central Trust (MCT) and below the STDS when these two fault systems were active together. The switch from E-W (STDS) to N-S (Ama Drime horst) normal faulting between 13 and 12 Ma occurs at the time of propagation of thrusting from the MCT to the Main Boundary Thrust. These data are in favor of a wedge extrusion or thrust system rather than a crustal flow model for the building of the Himalaya. We propose that the kinematics of south Tibet Cenozoic extension phases is fundamentally driven by the direction and rate of India underthrusting.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00486405
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00486405
DOI : 10.1029/2009TC002551

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
The variation of elastic- wave velocities as a function of the direction of propagation through the Earth's interior is a widely documented phenomenon called seismic anisotropy. The geometry and amount of seismic anisotropy is generally estimated by measuring shearwave splitting, which consists of determining the polarization direction of the fast shear- wave component and the time delay between the fast and slow, orthogonally polarized, waves. In subduction zones, the teleseismic fast shear- wave component is oriented generally parallel to the strike of the trench(1), although a few exceptions have been reported (Cascadia(2) and restricted areas of South America(3,4)). The interpretation of shear- wave splitting above subduction zones has been controversial and none of the inferred models seems to be sufficiently complete to explain the entire range of anisotropic patterns registered worldwide(1). Here we show that the amount and the geometry of seismic anisotropies measured in the forearc regions of subduction zones strongly depend on the preferred orientation of hydrated faults in the subducting oceanic plate. The anisotropy originates from the crystallographic preferred orientation of highly anisotropic hydrous minerals (serpentine and talc) formed along steeply dipping faults and from the larger- scale vertical layering consisting of dry and hydrated crust - mantle sections whose spacing is several times smaller than teleseismic wavelengths. Fault orientations and estimated delay times are consistent with the observed shear- wave splitting patterns in most subduction zones.
ISSN: 0028-0836

hal-00412016
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412016
DOI : 10.1038/nature07376