Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The spreading ridge subduction is an unavoidable process during the subduction-related belt elovution. The aim of this thesis concerns the evolution of the Central Patagonian Cordillera, at the latitude of the Chile triple junction, in relation with the Chile spreading ridge subduction inducing the opening of a slab-window beneath the South American plate. By a morphologic, and a structural analysis, coupled with the analysis of satelittes and topographic images, we show the influence of the slab-window development at 3 Ma on the morphostructural evolution of the Central Patagonia. During the Pliocene, the Central Patagonian Cordillera experiences a major extensional phase inducing the formation of transverse and internal depressions. Negative tectonic inversion, responsible to the rift-type topography, induces the inversion of the morphotectonic front and the disruption of the volcano-sedimentary piedmont with the rest of the Cordillera at 3 Ma. Radial extensional regime is characterized by a magnitude comprises between 800 m and 3500 meters and vertical movements are localized along polyphazed faults. We suggest that the Plio-Quaternary morphostructural evolution is related to the opening of the slab-window at 3 Ma beneath the Central Patagonia. The upwelling of asthenospheric hot mantle through the slab window induces the regional collapse of the Central Patagonian Cordillera.
La subduction d'une dorsale active sous un continent est un processus inévitable dans l'évolution des chaînes de subduction. Le travail de cette thèse concerne l'évolution de la Cordillère de Patagonie Centrale, à la latitude du point triple du Chili, en relation avec la subduction de la dorsale active du Chili induisant le développement d'une fenêtre asthénosphérique sous la plaque sudaméricaine. A l'aide d'une approche morphologique, structurale, couplée à l'analyse d'images satellites et topographiques, nous montrons l'influence de la fenêtre asthénosphérique depuis 3 Ma sur l'évolution morphostructurale de la Patagonie Centrale. Au cours du Pliocène, la Cordillère de Patagonie Centrale est marquée par une phase d'extension majeure induisant la formation de dépressions transverses et internes à la chaîne. L'inversion négative du relief responsable de la topographie générale de type rift induit l'inversion du front morphotectonique et la déconnexion du piedmont volcano-sédimentaire du reste de la Cordillère à partir de 3 Ma. L'extension radiale dont l'amplitude est comprise entre 800 mètres et 3500 mètres, se localise dans la plupart des cas au niveau de failles polyphasées. L'évolution morphostructurale plioquaternaire proposée est directement reliée à l'ouverture de la fenêtre asthénosphérique à 3 Ma sous la Patagonie et à la remontée de matériel asthénosphérique chaud induisant la collapse régionale de la Cordillère de Patagonie Centrale.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00557618

tel-00557618
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00557618
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00557618/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00557618/file/scalabrinothese.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
Large-scale conical and saucer-shaped sand injectites have been identified in the Upper Miocene sediments of the Lower Congo Basin. These structures are evidenced on the 3D high-resolution seismic data at about 600 ms TWT (two-way traveltime) beneath the seabed. The conical and saucer-shaped anomalies range from 20 to 80 m in height, 50 to 300 m in diameter, and 10 to 20 ms TWT in thickness. They are located within a sedimentary interval of about 100 m in thickness and are aligned over 20 km in dip direction (NE-SW), above the NW margin of an underlying Upper Miocene submarine fan. We have interpreted the conical and saucer-shaped anomalies as upward-emplaced sand injectites sourced from the Upper Miocene fan because of their discordant character, the postsedimentary uplifting of the sediments overlying the cones and saucer-shaped bodies, the alignment with the lateral fringe of the Upper Miocene submarine fan, and the geological context. Sand injection dates from the Miocene-Pliocene transition (approximately 5.3 Ma). The prerequisite overpressure to the sand injection process may be due to the buoyancy effect of hydrocarbons accumulated in the margins of the fan. Additionally, overpressure could have been enhanced by the lateral transfer of fluids operating in the inclined margins of the lobe. The short duration of sand injection and the presence of many sandstone intrusions suggested that the process of injection was triggered by an event, likely due to a nearby fault displacement related to diapiric movements. This is the first time that sand injectites of seismic scale have been described from the Lower Congo Basin. The localized nature of these injectites has led to a change in the migration path of fluids through the sedimentary cover. Consequently, the sand intrusions are both evidence and vectors of fluid migration within the basin fill.
ISSN: 1468-8115

hal-00963594
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00963594
DOI : 10.1111/gfl.12057

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society
Résumé : Polygonal faults, mainly oriented N50, N110 and N170, are abundant in the upper part of the mud-dominated Kai Formation (upper Miocene-lower Pliocene) of the Voting Basin. A second, less-developed tier of polygonal faults, oriented N20, N80 and N140, exists at the base of the overlying Naust Formation (upper Pliocene-Present). The faults abruptly terminate upward below a thick interval of debris flows. We propose a dynamic model in which: (1) the development of polygonal faults discontinues temporarily as a result of a change in regional sedimentation, leading to inactive polygonal faults; (2) rapid emplacement of debris flows in the late Pleistocene creates a new interval of polygonal faults in the lower part of the Naust Formation immediately beneath the debris flow and some faults penetrate into the underlying Kai Formation; (3) some polygonal faults within the Kai Formation are reactivated and propagated upward into the base of the Naust Formation. The high interconnectivity between faulted layers allows the fluids to reach shallower depths, forming well-expressed pipes and pockmarks on the sea floor. The model of cessation/reactivation of polygonal faults constrains the sealing capacity of sedimentary cover over the reservoirs and helps to reconstruct the fluid migration history through the sedimentary column.
ISSN: 0016-7649

hal-00406645
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00406645
DOI : 10.1144/0016-76492005-178

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The timing of E–W extension of the Tibetan plateau provides a test of mechanical models of the geodynamic evolution of the India–Asia convergence zone. In this work we focus on the Kung Co half graben (Southern Tibet, China), bounded by an active N–S normal fault with a minimum vertical offset of 1600 m. To estimate the onset of normal faulting we combined high and medium temperature (U–Pb, Ar/Ar) and low temperature ((U–Th)/He) thermochronometry of the Kung Co pluton, a two-mica granite of the northern Himalayan granitic belt that outcrop in the footwall of the fault. Biotite and muscovite Ar/Ar ages , are close from each other [not, vert, similar 16 Ma ± 0.2 (Ms) and not, vert, similar 15 ± 0.4 Ma (Bt)], which is typical of fast cooling. The zircon and apatite (U–Th)/He ages range from 11.3 to 9.6 Ma and 9.9 to 3.7 Ma respectively. These He ages are indicative of (1) fast initial cooling, from 11.3 to not, vert, similar 9 Ma, gradually decreasing with time and (2) a high geothermal gradient (not, vert, similar 400 °C/km), close to the surface at not, vert, similar 10 Ma. The Kung Co pluton was emplaced at about 22 Ma (U–Pb on zircon) at less than 10 km depth and 520–545 °C. Subsequent to its shallow emplacement, the pluton underwent fast thermal re-equilibration ending around 7.5 Ma, followed by a period of slow cooling caused either by the end of the thermal re-equilibration or by very slow exhumation (0.02–0.03 mm/yr) from not, vert, similar 7.5 Ma to at least 4 Ma. In either case the data suggest that the exhumation rate increased after 4 Ma. We infer this increase to be related to the initiation of the Kung Co normal fault. A critical examination of previously published data show that most not, vert, similar N–S Tibetan normal faults may have formed less than 5 Ma ago rather than in the Miocene as assumed by several authors. Such a young age implies that E–W extension is not related to the Neogene South Tibetan magmatism (25 to 8 Ma). Consequently, models relating E–W extension to magmatism, such as convective removal of the lower lithosphere, may be inappropriate. We rather think that this extension is related with local accommodation of boundary forces and displacements.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00311791
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00311791
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.01.029

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
This work presents a synthesis of the present-day knowledge on both emerged and submerged carbonate platforms of the Guadeloupe archipelago. Onshore and offshore data acquired during the KaShallow project are presented. Since the early Zanclean, some isolated platforms developed onto a Jurassic to Tortonian basement which displayed reliefs inherited from a major extensional tectonic episode dated from −8 to −5 Ma. Marie-Galante, Grande Terre and the southern shelf of Grande-Terre show strong similarities with Zanclean to Gelasian red-algal facies upward changing into early Calabrian coral facies. A major erosional unconformity (SB2) was recognized and allows to distinguish two early Calabrian formations (Calcaires à Agaricia Formation and Calcaires à Acropora Formation). The final emersion of these platforms is late Calabrian. The La Désirade platform displays Zanclean to early Piacenzian red-algal facies upward changing into coral facies. This platform emerged as soon as in the late Piacenzian. The island subsided again in relation with later extensional tectonic episode and early Calabrian reef platform then unconformably deposited. The Colombie bank deposits comprise Pliocene basinal deposits overlain by late Calabrian coral reefs. The Flandre bank might have emerged synchronously with La Désirade but was drowned only in the late Pleistocene-Holocene interval. Four extensional tectonic episodes have been identified in the late Miocene-Recent interval. Their effects depend on the location of the platforms within the fore-arc.
Bulletin Société Géologique de France

insu-00816463
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00816463
DOI : 10.2113/gssgfbull.184.1-2.99

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
We present a chronological (K-Ar), petrologic and geochemical study (major and trace elements, Sr-Nd isotopes) of Middle Miocene (ca. 16-14 Ma) calc-alkaline rocks (basalts to andesites) extruded in the present-day back-arc region of Central Patagonia (Zeballos Volcanic Sequence (ZVS), 47 S). This magmatism started shortly after mafic plutonism ceased in the arc region (ca. 16 Ma, 200 km west), and ended ca. 2 My before the onset of voluminous slab tear-related back-arc alkaline basaltic magmatism (ca. 12 to Pliocene). The studied calc-alkaline rocks have a typical subduction-related signature (high LILE/HFSE ratios, depletion in Nb, Ta and Ti; Ba/La >20; Ta/Hf <1.5; (Sr-87/Sr-86)(o)=0.70366-0.70402, epsilon(Nd)=+0.1-+3.8). Major and trace elements contents are consistent with their evolution by closed system fractional crystallization of a presumed parental liquid similar in composition to the most basic rock of the suite. Moreover, a strong subducted sediment imprint is recognized (increasing Th/HFSE and decreasing Ce/Pb during differentiation). However, these rocks show striking similarities with volcanic complexes emplaced above areas where a gently dipping slab occurs (high K contents; similar LREE/HREE, Nb/Zr, Ba/Nb; Th/Hf; Th/Ta, Ta/Hf<0.3), particularly the present-day Andean flat-slab region and the Neuquen Basin during the Late Miocene. A comprehensive tectono-magmatic model is here presented to explain the generation and extrusion of these calc-alkaline magmas during the Middle Miocene. The development of a transient low-angle subduction and the resulting eastward migration of the volcanic front are then proposed. Mixing between stored remnants of calc-alkaline magmatism and later primitive alkaline melts is envisioned as the most likely process accounting for the transitional signature (i.e., intermediate between calc-alkaline and alkaline, La/Nb >I; TiO2 <2 wt%) of some basalts extruded synchronously with genuine alkaline lavas in the Neogene Patagonian Plateau Lavas province.
Volcanismo calcoalcalino durante el Mioceno Medio en Patogonia Central (47°S): petrogenesis e implicaciones en la dinamica de placas. En este trabajo se presenta un estudio cronologico (K-Ar), petrologico y geoquimico (elementos mayores y trazas, isotopos de Sr-Nd) de rocas calcoalcalinas (basaltos a andesitas) del Mioceno Medio (16-14 Ma) que ocurren en una posicion de trasarco en Patagonia Central (47°S; Secuencia Volcanica Zeballos, SVZ). Este magmatismo comenzo poco despees de que el plutonismo mafico cesara en la region bajo el arco (ca. 16 Ma, 200 km al oeste), y termino ca. 2 My antes del comienzo de un voluminoso evento magmatico basaltico alcalino desarrollado en el trasarco, relacionado con ventanas astenosfericas, que continuo hasta el Pleistoceno. Las rocas calcoalcalinas estudiadas tienen una quimica tipicamente relacionada con procesos de subduccion (altas razones LILE/HFSE, empobrecimientos en Nb, Ta y Ti; Ba/La>20; Ta/Hf l,5; (87Sr/86Sr)0=0,70366-0,70402, End~O,1±3,8); y sus contenidos de elementos mayores y trazas son consistentes con una evolucion por cristalizacion fraccionada, en un sistema cerrado, desde un liquido parental de composicion similar a la de la roca mas basica del conjunto analizado. Se reconoce, ademas, la influencia de sedimentos subductados en la composicion de estos magmas (aumento de la razon Tb/HFSE y disminucion de la razon Ce/Pb durante la diferenciacion). Sin embargo, estas rocas muestran importantes similitudes composicionales con las de complejos volcanicos emplazados sobre areas donde ocurre subduccion de bajo angulo (altos contenidos de K, similares razones LREF/HREE, Nb/Zr, Ba/Nb; TblHf; TblTa, Ta/Hf O,3), particularmente rocas de la actual region de subduccion plana en Chile central-Argentina y de la cuenca de Neuquen durante el Mioceno Superior. Se propone aqui un modelo tectono-magmatico que explica la generacion y extension de magmas calcoalcalinos en una posicion de trasarco durante el Mioceno Medio en Patagonia mediante el desarrollo de un fenomeno transiente de subduccion de bajo angulo y el consiguiente desplazamiento hacia el este del frente volcanico. Ademas, la mezcla entre remanentes de este magmatismo calcoalcalino almacenados en la corteza y fundidos alcalinos posteriores, provenientes de la astenosfera, se presenta como el proceso responsable de la generacion de la signatura transicional (i.e., intermedia entre calcoalcalina y alcalina, La/Nb>1; TiO2 2 wt%) reconocida en algunos basaltos que ocurren contemporaneamente con otros puramente alcalinos en la provincia de las Lavas Neogenas de Plateau de la Patagonia.
ANDEAN GEOLOGY

insu-00561888
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00561888
DOI : 10.5027/andgeo2010-678

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : We have integrated the relatively unknown distal domains of the Lower Congo basin, where the main depocenters of the Congo submarine fan are located, with the better-constrained successions on the shelf and upper slope, through the analysis of thousands of km of 2D seismic reflection profiles off-shore the Congo-Angola passive margin. The basin architecture is depicted by two ca. 800-km-long regional cross sections through the northern (Congo) and southern (Angola) margin. A large unit deposited basinward of the Aptian salt limit is likely to be the abyssal-plain equivalent of the upper-Cretaceous carbonate shelf that characterized the first post-rift deposits in West-equatorial African margins. A latest-Turonian shelf-deepening event is recorded in the abyssal plain as a long period (Coniacian-Eocene) of condensed sedimentation and basin starvation. The onset of the giant Tertiary Congo deep-sea fan in early Oligocene following this event reactivates the abyssal plain as the main depocenter of the basin. The time-space partitioning of sedimentation within the deep-sea fan results from the interplay among increasing sediment supply, margin uplift, rise of the Angola salt ridge, and canyon incision throughout the Neogene. Oligocene-early Miocene turbidite sedimentation occurs mainly in NW-SE grabens and ponded inter-diapir basins on the southern margin (Angola). Seaward tilting of the margin and downslope salt withdrawal activates the up-building of the Angola escarpment, which leads to a northward (Congo) shift of the transfer zones during late Miocene. Around the Miocene-Pliocene boundary, the incision of the Congo submarine canyon confines the turbidite flows and drives a general basinward progradation of the submarine fan into the abyssal plain The slope deposition is dominated by fine-grained hemipelagic deposits ever since. Results from this work contribute to better understand the signature in the ultra-deep deposits of processes acting on the continental margin as well as the basin-wide sediment redistribution in areas of high river input.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00424533
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00424533
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2008.04.009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The morphogenetic evolution of the Lesser Caucasus has been strongly influenced by Plio-Quaternary volcanic and tectonic events and Pleistocene glaciations. Fluvio-lacustrine environments, indicated by diatomaceous deposits, prevailed in the Syunik region of southern Armenia during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. The Pleistocene diatomaceous deposits studied contain leaf impressions and pollen, allowing local palaeoclimatic reconstructions. The chronology of morphogenetic events has been determined by 17 radiometric dates (K/Ar, Ar/Ar, U/Th), palaeomagnetic investigations and is placed in a spatial context by a detailed geomorphological map and a 24-km geological transect of the Vorotan valley, the main area studied. Before 1.21 Ma, tectonic movements (antecedents of the lower part of the Vorotan valley) generated extensive lake formations with diatomaceous deposits. From 993 ka, volcanic eruptions produced lava flows that covered the fluvio-lacustrine accumulations. During Marine Isotopic Stages 12, 6 and 4, glaciers and fluvio-glacial deposits were probably present overall the principal uplands and valleys of southern Armenia. At 53.68 ka (MIS 3), 12.6 ka, 10.78 ka and 4.14 ka (MIS 1), the development of travertines on some slopes and in some valleys highlights temperate and humid climatic phases. Palaeobotanical studies of leaf and pollen floras show that the vegetation changed several times from forested to steppic phases in response to the climate oscillations of the Lower Pleistocene. This work proposes a first morphogenic and palaeoclimatic reconstruction from the lower Pleistocene to the Postglacial period, when the first settlements of the population in the Lesser Caucasus were influenced by tectono-volcanic events, lake level changes and glacialeinterglacial oscillations forced by the obliquity orbital parameter (41 ky cycles).
ISSN: 1040-6182

hal-00481939
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00481939
DOI : 10.1016/j.quaint.2010.02.008

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Elsevier Masson
Résumé : New field and micropalaeontological investigations have been conducted in four of the Pliocene rias of the internal zone of the Rif in Morocco, on the southern margin of the Alboran Sea. We found that marine sediments outcropping in these rias were deposited mainly during the Early Zanclean, between 5.04 and 3.8 Ma. After a transgressive episode that led to the deposition of terrestrial to marine conglomerates, dark clays deposited first at shallow palaeo-depths and then at bathyal palaeo-depths. The rias were then infilled with a shallowing upward succession comprising marine clays and sandstone and, locally, terrestrial sediments that indicate their final emersion. No Gilbert-deltas were observed in these rias. The presence of transgressive deposits at the bottom of the rias, also identified in other basins of the external zone of the Rif, and the absence of Gilbert deltas question a catastrophic reflooding after the Messinian Salinity Crisis in this area.
ISSN: 1631-0713

hal-01115243
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01115243
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2014.03.002

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The South East Sayan area,Wof the Lake Baikal is subjected to a very complex tectonic setting where the extensional stress field of the Baikal Rift System meets the compressional stress field generated by the India­Asia collision further south. Using satellite images, aerial photographs, SRTM DEM, field mapping of geomorphological structures, and published neotectonics and geological data we show that most of the relief in the SE Sayan initiated during Late Pliocene­Pleistocene through compressive reactivation of inherited structures. By Late Quaternary, clockwise rotation of the compressive field generated strike­slip faulting and local, secondary extension still within a general compressional stress field. We demonstrate that the formation of the small-scale extensional basins within the East Sayan range is not linked to general the extension in the Baikal Rift System nor to a possible asthenospheric plume acting at the base of the crust but rather to the rotation of small rigid tectonic blocks driven by the compression.
ISSN: 0743-9547

insu-00605062
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00605062
DOI : 10.1016/j.jseaes.2010.10.011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
The extinct Odontopterygiformes are the sole birds known to possess strong and sharp bony pseudoteeth, the shape and location of which are closely mimetic of real teeth. The structure of the pseudoteeth is investigated here in a late Pliocene/early Pleistocene species, Pelagornis mauretanicus, using X-ray microtomography and thin sections. The results are interpreted with regard to the pseudotooth mode of growth, and have implications concerning aspects of Pelagornis ecology. The larger pseudoteeth are hollow and approximately cone-shaped, and the smaller ones are rostro-caudally constricted. The walls of pseudoteeth are composed of bone tissue of the fibro-lamellar type, which is intensively remodeled by Haversian substitution. The jaw bones display the same structure as the pseudoteeth, but their vascular canals are oriented parallel to the long axis of the bones, whereas they are perpendicular to this direction in the pseudoteeth. There is no hiatus or evidence of a fusion between the pseudoteeth and the jaw bones. Two possible models for pseudotooth growth are derived from the histological data. The most plausible model is that pseudotooth growth began after the completion of jaw bone growth, as a simple local protraction of periosteal osteogenic activity. Pseudotooth development thus occurred relatively late during ontogeny. The highly vascularized structure and the relative abundance of parallel-fibered bone tissue in the pseudoteeth suggest poor mechanical capabilities. The pseudoteeth were most likely covered and protected by the hardened, keratinized rhamphotheca in the adult during life. The late development of the pseudoteeth would involve a similarly late and/or partial hardening of the rhamphotheca, as displayed by extant Anseriformes, Apterygiformes and some Charadriiformes. This would add support to the hypothesis of a close phylogenetic relationship between Odontopterygiformes and Anseriformes. The late maturation of the Pelagornis feeding apparatus, and hence the delayed capability for efficient prey catching, suggests that Pelagornis was altricial.
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-01545486
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01545486
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0080372

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is a key region to understand the formation and tectonic evolution of the plateau. Most studies concentrated on the Longmen Shan range that corresponds to the tectonically very active boundary between the Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin. This work addresses the deformation and exhumation pattern in the poorly understood metamorphic Danba dome situated at the conjunction between the southern Longmen Shan range and the major strike-slip Xian Shui He fault. The Early Mesozoic and Cenozoic evolution of the dome are then compared to the regional evolution of eastern Tibet. The about 830 Ma zircon U–Pb ages obtained on the Gezong and Gongcai gneiss as well as U–Pb ages on inherited zircons in the Early Mesozoic granites confirm the occurrence of Neo-Proterozoic magmatic episodes in the Danba basement at 800–900 Ma and 650–750 Ma. Following the closure of the Palaeotethys Ocean, granitoids were emplaced in the Danba metamorphic basement and Triassic cover from about 230 Ma to about 170 Ma. The western part of the Lian He Kau granitic massif, emplaced (between 210 and 200 Ma) within the Triassic cover sequence of the dome was only slightly affected by the Early Mesozoic deformation. However, in the eastern, deeper level compartment of the massif, ductile deformation occurred between 200 and 190 Ma, contemporaneous with the onset of the Barrovian-type metamorphism dated at 200–180 Ma. That deformation is compatible with the Early Mesozoic deformation observed in the Longmen Shan range and with the development of the large-scale décollement level in the Songpan Garzê area. Apatite fission track data then indicate that, following the Oligocene–Middle Eocene onset of eastward motion of the Songpan Garzê terrane, the Danba dome developed as a crustal-scale antiform during the Late Miocene–Early Pliocene (10–4 Ma). The exhumation was controlled by the Lian He Kau fault (a major transpressive structure parallel to the Xian Shui He fault) and the associated Manai thrust faults. Regionally, while the Oligocene–Middle Miocene exhumation phase seems to have been of regional extent, the Late Miocene to Present day phase is localised along the Longmen Shan range thrusts as well as along the back-thrusts formed by the Lian He Kau, Manai and associated faults.
ISSN: 0743-9547

insu-01117657
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01117657
DOI : 10.1016/j.jseaes.2015.02.009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : In this study, we investigate the Lesser Antilles forearc basin, focusing on the late Pliocene to Pleistocene sedimentary archives in order to track the occurrence of extreme events triggered by enhanced subduction-related tectono-volcanic activity. We identify late Piacenzian deposits covering a major regional erosional surface, displaying sedimentary dykes and large marine boulders embedded in a mixed continental–marine matrix, characteristic of tsunamites. We interpret this episode of platform emersion and the successive cataclysmic deposits as resulting from enhanced tectonic activity at the interface of the subduction zone, synchronous with the initiation of the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc. We then discuss the implications in terms of the mechanical behaviour of the Lesser Antilles subduction zone.
ISSN: 0954-4879

hal-01571956
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01571956
DOI : 10.1111/ter.12271

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The Tyrrhenian Sea is usually interpreted to be a Neogene back-arc basin that opened by continental rifting and oceanic spreading caused by the eastward migration of the Apennine subduction system from Tortonian to Pliocene times. Rifting of the Tyrrhenian Sea started first along the Eastern Sardinian margin during the Tortonian-Messinian times. The " METYSS " project aims at better constraining the relations between crustal tectonics, salt tectonics and sedimentation from Messinian times to present-day. The " METYSS 1 " cruise (2009, R/V "Téthys II"-INSU) allowed us to obtain about 1200 km of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles along the SE Corsican margin, and along the upper and middle parts of the Eastern Sardinian margin, Western Tyrrhenian. This new dataset clearly illustrates that this area has been highly dissected during the rifting stage by N-S trending normal faults delineating ridges and basins, as previously described. The Messinian seismic markers (UU and MU) locally display fan-shaped stratal geometries, but the mechanism responsible for such geometries, i.e., salt tectonics or rifting, has yet to be carefully deciphered. We also mapped the spatial distribution of the mobile salt (MU). The highly variable thickness of the confined salt basins may be related to the initial pre-Messinian basin geometry or to the fact that sediment deposition was syn-rift. Southeastward, salt tectonics appears highly vigorous. More surprisingly, our data demonstrate that some of the major faults have been significantly reactivated during the post-rift period, up to late Quaternary time. Such recent fault activity has been recorded by bathymetric scarps and associated footwall debris flows. Moreover, some of this post-rift deformation can be evidenced within the Plio-Quaternary sequence by a regional unconformity. The post-Miocene deformation style varies greatly between different areas of the margin, and can also be strongly influenced by the presence or absence of mobile Messinian evaporites (MU).
13ème Congrès Français de Sédimentologie
Dijon, France

hal-00657310
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00657310

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This study presents new geochemical data on 26 mafic lavas from the Middle Atlas and Central Morocco volcanic provinces, including Miocene nephelinites and Pliocene-Quaternary (3.9-0.6Ma) nephelinites, basanites, alkali and subalkaline basalts. Most of them represent near-primary magmas, although some alkali basalts were derived from the minor fractionation of olivine and diopside phenocrysts. These evolved samples and the subalkaline basalt display higher 207Pb/204Pb and Zr/Nb ratios and lower εNd consistent with their contamination by lower crustal granulites during an open fractionation process. The progressive enrichment in incompatible elements observed from alkali basalts to nephelinites suggests their derivation from decreasing partial melting degrees of an enriched mantle source located at the garnet-spinel transition zone. The strong negative spikes observed for K in multielement patterns indicate that this source contained a residual pargasitic amphibole. We propose that partial melting occurred at around 2GPa, i.e. near the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary beneath the Middle Atlas (60-80km).The trace element and isotopic Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf signature of the uncontaminated lavas displays a geochemical flavour intermediate between those of high μ (HIMU), "C", and enriched mantle components. It is very similar to that of abundant metasomatic amphibole- and clinopyroxene-rich lithospheric peridotites and pyroxenites carried by Middle Atlas lavas, which likely represent an analog of the source of these lavas. It is therefore not necessary to postulate the contribution of a "fresh" asthenospheric mantle to their genesis. We propose that they resulted from the partial melting of the base of a veined lithospheric mantle metasomatised during the late Cretaceous by alkaline melts from the Central Atlantic plume, the ancestor of the Canary plume. Melting was probably triggered by the flux of a hot mantle within a regional SW-NE sub-lithospheric channel, in response to either the Alboran slab retreat or edge-driven convection around the West African craton.
ISSN: 0024-4937

insu-01056523
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01056523
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2014.07.009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Baikal Rift System in southern Siberia is one of the main intracontinental extensional features on Earth. The rift system represents the northwestern boundary of the Amuria plate and in that respect can be considered as an evolving plate boundary. The Baikal Rift System has been widely studied both in terms of geology and geophysics and many models have been proposed for its formation and evolution. However, the age of the initiation of deformation and the mechanism driving this deformation are still largely debated. While major extension has occurred since the Late Miocene-Pliocene, the onset of extension seems older than the India-Asia collision, implying that several driving mechanisms may have acted together or in relay through time. In this work, we review the available data and models for deformation in an area encompassing the Baikal Rift System, the Sayan ranges to the west and the Transbaikal to the east. Using a synthesis of this data and our own field and mapping observations, we show that the Baikal Rift System, along with transpressional deformation in the Sayan ranges and transtension in the Transbaikal area, can be explained through major left-lateral strike-slip systems. The deformation is strongly controlled by inherited crustal and lithospheric structures, and is distributed over a wide area within the western Amuria plate that consequently cannot be considered as a rigid block. Such distributed deformation is likely to have a strong effect on the structure of the future continental margin if extension evolves towards the formation of oceanic crust.
ISSN: 1342-937X

hal-00903612
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903612
DOI : 10.1016/j.gr.2012.07.017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Giant Gjallar Vent (GGV), located in the Vøring Basin off mid-Norway, is one of the largest (~ 5 × 3 km) vent systems in the North Atlantic. The vent represents a reactivated former hydrothermal system that formed at about 56 Ma. It is fed by two pipes of 440 m and 480 m diameter that extend from the Lower Eocene section up to the Base Pleistocene Unconformity (BPU). Previous studies based on 3D seismic data differ in their interpretations of the present activity of the GGV, describing the system as buried and as reactivated in the Upper Pliocene. We present a new interpretation of the GGV's reactivation, using high-resolution 2D seismic and Parasound data. Despite the absence of geochemical and hydroacoustic indications for fluid escape into the water column, the GGV appears to be active because of various seismic anomalies which we interpret to indicate the presence of free gas in the subsurface. The anomalies are confined to the Kai Formation beneath the BPU and the overlying Naust Formation, which are interpreted to act as a seal to upward fluid migration. The seal is breached by focused fluid migration at one location where an up to 100 m wide chimney-like anomaly extends from the BPU up to the seafloor. We propose that further overpressure build-up in response to sediment loading and continued gas ascent beneath the BPU will eventually lead to large-scale seal bypass, starting a new phase of venting at the GGV.
ISSN: 0025-3227

hal-01054142
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01054142
DOI : 10.1016/j.margeo.2014.03.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer/Terra Scientific Publishing Company
Résumé : International audience
We carried out a detailed paleomagnetic, rock-magnetic, and Thellier paleointensity study of all similar to 3.6 My Pliocene lava flow succession in southern Georgia. An earlier study (Camps et al., 1996) revealed that several consecutive lava flows record an intermediate polarity direction at the base of the section followed by a thick reverse polarity zone. The transitional field was interpreted as an excursion within chron 2Ar or all upper Cochiti-Gilbert reversal. New paleomagnetic data reported here have been obtained from nearby lava successions. In total, about 170 standard paleomagnetic cores belonging to 22 lava flows were collected during the 2005 sample collection campaign. Rock-magnetic experiments showed that the remanence is carried by Ti-poor titanomagnetite in most of the samples. The fraction of grains with multidomain magnetic structure does not seem to be important. Characteristic remanent magnetization was successfully determined oil all samples. The direct correlation with the original (Thoki) sequence, previous preliminary measurements of natural remanent magnetization (Sologashvili, 1986), and field observations allowed us to establish a new magnetic stratigraphy. The lower part of section is characterized by intermediate magnetic polarity followed by thick reversely magnetized lavas. The upper sequence, represented by 18 consecutive flows yielded normal magnetic polarity. The mean paleointensity of the intermediate field is drastically reduced with respect to the post-transitional field strength. Based on all available radiometric ages and new paleomagnetic data, it may be speculated that Gilbert-Gauss (R-N) reversal was recorded at the upper part of sequence. Lower intermediate polarity flows possibly represent a form of precursor of this reversal that is similar to the Matuyama-Brunhes geomagnetic transition.
ISSN: 1343-8832

hal-00413099
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00413099

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Active faults from the Campo de Dalías (SE Betic Cordillera) allow us to constrain the deformation styles involved in the development of segmented oblique-slip faults. This sector constitutes the widest outcrop of Plio-Quaternary sediments in the northern boundary of the Alboran Sea. It has emerged since the Late Pliocene, and therefore provides recent deformation markers that are not disturbed by erosive processes. The faults started to grow during the Pleistocene, reactivating previous hybrid joints, with a normal-dextral slip. We present a detailed map of the largest fault in the area, the Loma del Viento fault, comprising six onshore segments. Based on field work and aerial photography, the distributions of the contiguous joints have been mapped, and the joints reactivated as faults are identified. Some of these fault segments are hard-linked, and fault slip enhances toward the linkage sectors between them with associated sedimentary depocenters. An electrical tomography profile reveals the wedge geometry of a unit of Pleistocene conglomerates and red silts that were coevally deposited during the fault movement. Long-term slip rate in the central part of the fault is estimated at 0.07 ± 0.03 mm/y. In addition, a seismic crisis nucleated close to the Loma del Viento fault during November 2010 was recorded. Moment tensor analysis of the two mainshocks (Mw 3.5 and 4.2) provides a focal solution indicating a N120°E striking right-lateral strike-slip fault. The corrugated morphology of the Loma del Viento fault may have influenced its seismic behavior. Some of the fault segments are oblique to the general motion of the fault. These oblique segments would provide higher resistance against the general fault motion and could lock the fault, leading to accumulate elastic energy.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00750357
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00750357
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2011.12.001

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Patagonia is well known for spectacular occurrences of a variety of glacial-derived landforms and deposits and for a long history of ancient glaciations. In this paper, we first review the diverse evidence that demonstrates the development of glacial-related sedimentary units within the Central Patagonian Cordillera since 7 Ma. Well preserved glacial landforrns at the top surface of mesetas on both sides of the Lago General Carrera-Buenos Aires are described: the Meseta Guenguel to the north, and the volcanic Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires to the south. The latter meseta corresponds to a 3 Ma old, morphologically inverted paleo-piedmont, based on Ar/Ar dates of the uppermost lava flows. It shows evidence of glacier advances to the NE direction. Over a distance of 20 km, glacial landforms observed by remote sensing data and digital elevation model define glacial tongues that were fed by the Cordillera reliefs to the west. These lobes are now beheaded from their westward sources along a morpho-structural corridor that bounds the Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires to the west. These remnants can be correlated with the oldest glacial landforms recognized north of Lago General Carrera-Buenos Aires, on the Meseta Guenguel that form the Chipanque moraine system. From these features it is concluded that the glacial drainage network of Central Patagonia has been strongly modified following relief inversion in response to erosion processes and to tectonic causes. Changes occurred after 3 Ma, from a smooth piedmont surface covered by an extensive ice mantle ending with ample glacial lobes, to the current series of deeply incised glacial valleys such as the Lago General Carrera-Buenos Aires depression. These new data bear important constraints on the history and development of the first glaciations in southern South America.
ANDEAN GEOLOGY

hal-00512682
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00512682