Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
After Jurassic rifting, numerous carbonate platforms (i.e., the Orizaba, Cordoba and Golden Lane-Tuxpan platforms) developed during the Lower and Middle Cretaceous episode of thermal subsidence along the western passive margin of the Gulf of Mexico, with intervening basinal domains (i.e., the Tampico-Misantla, Zongolica, Veracruz and Deep Gulf of Mexico - DGM - basins).;During the Late Cretaceous-Paleocene, the east-verging Sierra Madre Oriental thrust belt developed, resulting in tectonic uplift and unroofing of the allochthonous units (i.e. tectonic units made up of former Orizaba and Cordoba platforms and Zongolica Basin series). This new topography provided also an important source of clastics to feed the adjacent foredeep, where coeval tectonic loading accounted for the bending of the foreland lithosphere. However, shallow water facies or even emersion persisted until the Eocene in the forebulge area (at the present location of the Golden Lane), preventing locally the clastics to reach the DGM. This topographic barrier was ultimately bypassed by the clastics only during the Oligocene and Neogene, once (1) the prograding clastic wedge had exceeded accommodation, and (2) the long lasting thermal subsidence of the passive margin could overpass the effect of the bending and force the former bulge to sink.;Numerous paleo-thermo-meters (Tmax, Ro), paleo-thermo-barometers (fluid inclusions), PVT and coupled forward kinematic and thermal modeling have been used to calibrate and date the progressive unroofing of the thrust belt. Coupled tectonic and sedimentologic modeling was applied in the foreland to predict the distribution of sand versus shale ratios in the Oligocene to Plio-Quaternary clastic sedimentary wedge of the passive margin, where gravitational gliding of post-Eocene series occurred during the Neogene along major listric faults.;Mantle dynamics are advocated as the main process accounting for post-orogenic uplift and regional tilting of the basement, which initiated a massive transfer of sediments from the Cordillera towards the Gulf of Mexico, from Oligocene onward, resulting in a destabilization and gravitational collapse of the western slope of the Gulf of Mexico in Neogene times.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00445248
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445248
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2009.04.012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Two opposing visions of the Aegean backarc tectonics implicitly contain contrasting images of the rheological behaviour of the lihosphere, supported by different sets of observations. The propagation of the NAF and extension in the Corinth Rift suggest a strongly localising rheology whereas the formation of MCC in the Cyclades and the Rhodope suggests instead a more viscous behaviour. This paradox was the seminal question addressed by the ANR-EGEO programme (2007-2010) that leads to the following conclusions: (1) The exhumation of the Cycladic MCC's is accommodated by the N-dipping North Cycladic Detachment System (NCDS) that partly reworks the Vardar suture and at the base by a series of thrusts, including the basal contact of the Cycladic Blueschists (CBS) over the Cycladic Basement (CB). The activity of LANF is due to the reactivation of pre-existing discontinuities such as thrusts or earlier detachments and much less to the interaction with granitic plutons. (2) Exhumation in the Cyclades has proceeded in two stages: (a) Eocene syn-orogenic exhumation within the subduction lower/upperplate interface while the post-orogenic Rhodope MCC formed further north, (b) Oligo-Miocene post-orogenic extension in an MCC mode coeval with syn-orogenic exhumation in Crete and the Peloponnese. (3) Both stages were associated with slab retreat, as early as the Eocene with an acceleration at 30-35 Ma. (4) The localisation of the presently active steeply-dipping normal faults on the southern margin of the Corinth Rift may have been preceded by a partial reworking of thrusts and syn-orogenic detachments by shallow-dipping decollements. (5) The localisation of the NAF in the Marmara Sea region and the Northern Aegean Sea is now accurately dated between 5.3 and 5 Ma Ma using the erosion and deposition surfaces that mark the Messinian salinity Crisis and nannofossils ages. (6) The formation of MCCs in the Cyclades resulted in the draining of the low viscosity lower crust from the northern Aegean Sea and led to an easier coupling between upper mantle and upper crust, easing the localisation and propagation of the NAF. (7) A comparison between crustal and mantle finite strain suggests that mantle flow due to slab retreat controls the stretching of the crust. Our model involves progressive slab retreat and mantle flow below the overriding plate inducing the observed succession of tectonic episodes with a progressive localisation of extension due to several slab tearing events. There is no paradox in the tectonic history and rheological behaviour of the Aegean lithosphere but an evolution of the kinematic boundary conditions due to slab deformation at depth.
American Geophysical Union
San Francisco, United States

insu-00860518
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00860518
BIBCODE : 2010AGUFM.T13G..04J

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Despite decades of petrological and geochemical studies, the nature and setting of obducted ophiolites remain controversial: the influence of supra-subduction zone environments on pre-existing oceanic lithosphere is yet to assess, and the processes leading to subduction/obduction initiation are still poorly constrained. Our study documents successive influx of slab-derived fluids and progressive strain localization within the upper mantle in a supra-subduction environment during the first few My of the subduction history. We focus on strongly sheared mafic amphibolites intruding peridotites near the mantle–crust transition of the New Caledonia obducted ophiolite and ~ 50 to 100 m above the basal thrust contact of the ophiolite. These m- to hm-long and several m-thick shear bands are interpreted as inherited small-scale intrusions of mafic melts, probably dikes or sills, which were derived from a moderately refractory mantle source refertilized by supra-subduction zone fluids. 40Ar/39Ar age constraints on pargasite at ca. 90 Ma suggest that they could be inherited from the former Pacific west-dipping subduction.Secondary deformation of these mafic intrusions is intimately associated to three major stages of fluid infiltration: (1) the first stage of deformation and metasomatism is marked by syn-kinematic growth of Ca-amphibole (at 700–800 °C and 3–5 kbar) with a distinctive supra-subduction zone signature, and controlled later channelization of aqueous fluids. 40Ar/39Ar dating on magnesio-hornblende indicates that this deformation episode occurred at ca. 55 Ma, coincident with east-dipping subduction initiation; (2) the main metasomatic stage, characterized by the development of a phlogopite-rich matrix wrapping peridotites and amphibolite boudins, points to the percolation of alkali-rich aqueous fluids at still high temperature (650–750 °C); (3) the last, low temperature (< 600 °C) metasomatic stage results in the formation of deformed veinlets containing talc, chlorite and serpentine.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-01306664
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01306664
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01306664/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01306664/file/Soret_2016_Strain_localization.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2015.11.022

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Gulf of Cadiz lies astride the complex plate boundary between Africa and Eurasia west of the Betic-Rif mountain belt. We report on the results of recent bathymetric swathmapping and multi-channel seismic surveys carried out here. The seafloor is marked by contrasting morphological provinces, spanning the SW Iberian and NW Moroccan continental margins, abyssal plains and an elongate, arcuate, accretionary wedge. A wide variety of tectonic and gravitational processes appear to have shaped these structures. Active compressional deformation of the wedge is suggested by folding and thrusting of the frontal sedimentary layers as well as basal duplexing in deeper internal units. There is evidence for simultaneous gravitational spreading occurring upslope. The very shallow mean surface and basal slopes of the accretionary wedge (1° each) indicate a very weak decollement layer, geometrically similar to the Mediterranean Ridge accretionary complex. Locally steep slopes (up to 10°) indicate strongly focused, active deformation and potential gravitational instabilities. The unusual surface morphology of the upper accretionary wedge includes “raft-tectonics” type fissures and abundant sub-circular depressions. Dissolution and/or diapiric processes are proposed to be involved in the formation of these depressions.
ISSN: 0264-8172

insu-00401683
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00401683
DOI : 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2007.11.008

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Synkinematic phyllosilicates in fault zones can be used to deduce the deformation mechanisms and the conditions of fault activity, as their chemical composition, crystal structure and texture can record the different stages of deformation and fluid-rock interactions. The Pic de Port Vieux, a second-order thrust related to the major Gavarnie thrust in the southern central part of the Pyrenees Axial Zone, juxtaposes Triassic pelites of the hanging wall and Cretaceous limestones of the footwall. In order to investigate the mineralogical and geochemical changes and constrain the deformation conditions of thrusting, characterization of phyllosilicates was performed along a transect in the fault hanging wall pelites. The Triassic pelites are mainly composed of quartz, calcite, phyllosilicates (chlorite and K-white mica) and ± hematite. The core fault zone thickness is estimated to be about one meter of intensively foliated green pelites, whereas the damage zone is composed of several meters of red pelites. XRD data demonstrated that the difference in color is related to hematite which is only present in the damage zone. Phyllosilicates of the damage zone are mainly inherited/diagenetic K-white mica and chlorite. In the core zone, newly formed chlorite is abundant and preferentially located in veins. It is enriched in Fe compared to the chlorite of the red pelites. The well-defined foliation in the core zone is overlaid by preferentially oriented muscovite grains which have homogeneous compositions, with less Na and relatively more Fe than mica from the red pelites. Newly formed chlorite and muscovite in the core zone are synkinematic to the fault activity. They are both related to deformation processes and fluid rock interactions. Kübler index measurements and chlorite thermometry show that synkinematic phyllosilicates have registered a temperature of 270°C ± 23°C for the damage zone and 285°C ± 28°C for the core zone which are corresponding to lower-anchizone/epizone grade conditions. Numerical modelling with the geochemical modelling program PhreeqC was performed to determine the favorable conditions for the mineralogical change between red and green pelites. It suggests that the main critical parameter favoring hematite dissolution and chlorite precipitation in the core zone, is the redox conditions. According to the model, the chemical changes in the core zone occurred due to interactions with highly reductive fluids. In addition, the hematite dissolution maybe the source of iron for newly formed phyllosilicates in the core zone that are more iron rich compared to those from the red pelites.
ISSN: 0169-1317

hal-01536006
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01536006
DOI : 10.1016/j.clay.2017.05.008

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The dating of the uplift onset of the Mongolian mountain ranges, the northernmost relief associated with the India-Eurasia convergence, is a fundamental issue to better understand the mechanisms of propagation of the Cenozoic transpressive deformation in Central Asia. Using apatite fission tracks we determined the timing and strain rates of the tectonics affecting the Gurvan Bogd system, in the Gobi-Altay, since the Middle Mesozoic to the Late Cenozoic. The region was firstly affected by a Lower-Middle Jurassic tectonic phase, characterized by a vertical crustal movement larger than 2 km. Then followed a protracted period without major crustal vertical movements until the last uplift phase. The peneplanation of the Jurassic relief produced an erosional surface that has undergone negligible denudation or sedimentation for more than 100 Ma. This same surface corresponds to the present summit plateaux of the massifs, standing about 2000 m above the surrounding region, which corresponds to the vertical movement produced by the ongoing uplift. Modelling of fission track data from the massifs of Ih Bogd and Baga Bogd shows that this uplift phase probably started at 5 ± 3 Ma. The Gobi-Altay mountain range appears therefore as one of the youngest mountain ranges in Central Asia, which is consistent with the idea of a northward propagation of the transpressional deformation from the Himalayan front to the Siberian craton. The Cenozoic uplift rate of the massifs is estimated to be between 0.25 and 1 mm/yr, which is slightly higher than the upper Pleistocene vertical slip rates of the bordering faults. This suggests that thrust faults observed within the massifs would increase the uplift rate inside the massifs compared to the uplift rate determined at their boundaries.
ISSN: 0012-821X

insu-00191116
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00191116
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.04.047

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This paper provides a synthesis of current data and interpretations on the crustal structure of the Pyrenean-Cantabrian orogenic belt, and presents new tectonic models for representative transects. The Pyrenean orogeny lasted from Santonian (~84 Ma) to early Miocene times (~20 Ma), and consisted of a spatial and temporal succession of oceanic crust/exhumed mantle subduction, rift inversion and continental collision processes at the Iberia-Eurasia plate boundary. A good coverage by active-source (vertical-incidence and wide-angle reflection) and passive-source (receiver functions) seismic studies, coupled with surface data have led to a reasonable knowledge of the present-day crustal architecture of the Pyrenean-Cantabrian belt, although questions remain. Seismic imaging reveals a persistent structure, from the central Pyrenees to the central Cantabrian Mountains, consisting of a wedge of Eurasian lithosphere indented into the thicker Iberian plate, whose lower crust is detached and plunges northwards into the mantle. For the Pyrenees, a new scheme of relationships between the southern upper crustal thrust sheets and the Axial Zone is here proposed. For the Cantabrian belt, the depth reached by the N-dipping Iberian crust and the structure of the margin are also revised.The common occurrence of lherzolite bodies in the northern Pyrenees and the seismic velocity and potential field record of the Bay of Biscay indicate that the precursor of the Pyrenees was a hyperextended and strongly segmented rift system, where narrow domains of exhumed mantle separated the thinned Iberian and Eurasian continental margins since the Albian-Cenomanian. The exhumed mantle in the Pyrenean rift was largely covered by a Mesozoic sedimentary lid that had locally glided along detachments in Triassic evaporites. Continental margin collision in the Pyrenees was preceded by subduction of the exhumed mantle, accompanied by the pop-up thrust expulsion of the off-scraped sedimentary lid above. To the west, oceanic subduction of the Bay of Biscay under the North Iberian margin is supported by an upper plate thrust wedge, gravity and magnetic anomalies, and 3D inclined sub-crustal reflections. However, discrepancies remain for the location of continent-ocean transitions in the Bay of Biscay and for the extent of oceanic subduction. The plate-kinematic evolution during the Mesozoic, which involves issues as the timing and total amount of opening, as well as the role of strike-slip drift, is also under debate, discrepancies arising from first-order interpretations of the adjacent oceanic magnetic anomaly record.
ISSN: 0040-1951

insu-01683989
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01683989
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01683989/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01683989/file/teixell-tectono-2018.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2018.01.009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
[1] This article presents (U-Th)/He thermochronological data from the Longmen Shan belt, eastern Tibet. Located between the Songpan-Garze terrane and the Yangtze craton, this mountain range is one of the steepest margins of the Tibetan Plateau and an important area for the comprehension of the mechanisms that control the dynamics of such plateau borders in terms of spatial distribution of deformation or timing of topographic building. We describe several age-elevation transects and perform forward modeling of our data to derive quantitative information on the exhumation of the range. A major phase of exhumation started at 8–11 Ma, with an average rate of $0.65 mm a À1. Comparison of zircon and apatite ages indicates that the eastern part of the range may have experienced a significant decrease in exhumation since 2–3 Ma. We use the distribution of finite exhumation across the major faults of the area to quantify their dip-slip throw rate over the last 10 Ma. The Beichuan Fault, which was activated during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, is the major active structure of the Longmen Shan since the late Miocene, with an average thrusting slip rate between 0.4 and 1 mm a À1. Conversely, over the same time period, only minor dip-slip activity occurred on the Wenchuan Fault Zone. This distribution in space and time of exhumation and deformation is discussed and compared to the different proposed models for the geodynamical evolution of the eastern Tibetan margin. It also provides an important long-term perspective to put in context the destructive 2008 Sichuan earthquake that struck the central Longmen Shan.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-01577059
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577059
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577059/document
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577059/file/godard2009late.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2008TC002407

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
Sandbox experiments, using a two-dimensional and a three-dimensional approach, are used to study the deformation of margins in response to seamount subduction. Successive mechanisms of deformation are activated during the subduction of conical seamounts. First, reactivation of the frontal thrusts and compaction of the accretionary wedge is observed. Then, back thrusting and, conjugate strike-slip faulting develops above the leading slope of the subducted seamount. The basal d6collement is deflected upward in the wake of the subducting high, and a large shadow zone develops behind the seamount trailing slope. Consequently, frontal accretion is inhibited and part of the frontal margin is dragged into the subduction zone. When the main d6collement returns to its basal level in the wake of the seamount, the margin records a rapid subsidence and a new accretionary wedge develops, closing the margin reentrant. The sediments underthrusted in the wake of the seamount into the shadow zone, are underplated beneath the rear part of the accretionary wedge. Substantial shortening and thickening of the deformable seaward termination of the upper plate basement, associated with basal erosion is observed. Seamount subduction induces significant material transfer within the accretionary wedge, favors large tectonic erosion of the frontal margin and thickening of the rear part of the margin. The subduction and underplating of relatively undeformed, water-ladden sediments, associated with fluid expulsion along the fractures affecting the margin could modify the fluid pressure along the basal ddcollement. Consequently, significant variations of the effective basal friction and local mechanical coupling between the two plates could be expected around the subducting seamount.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-01261523
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261523
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261523/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261523/file/Dominguez2000-Tectonics.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/1999TC900055

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The detailed morphology and internal structure of the Calabrian accretionary wedge and adjacent Eastern Sicily margin are imaged in unprecedented detail by a combined dataset of multi-beam bathymetry and high-resolution seismic profiles. The bathymetric data represent the results of 6 recent marine geophysical surveys since 2010 as well as a compilation of earlier surveys presented as a 2 arc-sec (60 m) grid. Several distinct morpho-tectonic provinces are identified including: the deeply incised Malta–Hyblean Escarpment, numerous submarine canyons, broad regions of relatively flat seafloor dominated by fields of sediment waves, the gently undulating anticlinal fold-and-thrust belts of the external Calabrian accretionary wedge and the adjacent portion of the Western Mediterranean Ridge. The Calabrian arc can be divided into 4 domains (from SE to NW): 1) the undeformed Ionian abyssal plain, 2) the external evaporitic wedge, 3) the internal clastic wedge, 4) the Calabrian backstop (Variscan crystalline basement). The Calabrian accretionary wedge can also be divided laterally into two major lobes, the NE- and the SW lobes, and two minor lobes. The kinematics of the limit between the two major lobes is investigated and shown to be sinistral in the external (evaporitic) wedge. A network of radial slip lines within the southernmost external wedge unequivocally demonstrate ongoing dextral displacement of a rigid indenter (representing the corner of the clastic wedge) into the evaporitic wedge thereby confirming the geodynamic model of an active lateral slab tear fault here off eastern Sicily. The slab tear produces a series of major sub-parallel dextral strike-slip faults offshore Mt. Etna and south of the Straits of Messina consistent with the relative motions between Calabria and the Peloritan domain (NE Sicily). Abundant strike-slip faulting, and wide-spread folding and thrusting observed throughout the entire accretionary wedge, indicate regional shortening between the Ionian abyssal plain (foreland) and the Calabrian–Peloritan backstop caused by active subduction.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-01523990
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01523990
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.12.020

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This work combines structural and geochronological data to improve our understanding of the mechanical behaviour of continental crust involving large amount of magma or partially melted material in an abnormally hot collisional belt. We performed a magnetic and geochronological (U/Pb) study on a huge tonalitic batholith from the Neoproterozoic Araçuaí belt of East Brazil to determine the strain distribution through space and time. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, combined with rock magnetism investigations, supports that the magnetic fabric is a good proxy of the structural fabric. Field measurements together with the magnetic fabrics highlight the presence in the batholith of four domains characterized by contrasted magmatic flow patterns. The western part is characterized by a gently dipping, orogen-parallel (∼NS) magmatic foliation that bears down-dip lineations, in agreement with westward thrusting onto the São Francisco craton. Eastward, the magmatic foliation progressively turns sub-vertical with a lineation that flips from sub-horizontal to sub-vertical over short distances. This latter domain involves an elongated corridor in which the magmatic foliation is sub-horizontal and bears an orogen-parallel lineation. Finally the fourth, narrow domain displays sub-horizontal lineations on a sub-vertical magmatic foliation oblique (∼N150°E) to the trend of the belt. U/Pb dating of zircons from the various domains revealed homogeneity in age for all samples. This, together with the lack of solid-state deformation suggests that: 1) the whole batholith emplaced during a magmatic event at ∼580 Ma, 2) the deformation occurred before complete solidification, and 3) the various fabrics are roughly contemporaneous. The complex structural pattern mapped in the studied tonalitic batholith suggests a 3D deformation of a slowly cooling, large magmatic body and its country rock. We suggest that the development of the observed 3D flow field was promoted by the low viscosity of the middle crust that turned gravitational force as an active tectonic force combining with the East-West convergence between the São Francisco and Congo cratons.
ISSN: 0191-8141

hal-00745696
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00745696
DOI : 10.1016/j.jsg.2012.02.015

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Tectonically controlled landforms develop morphologic features that provide useful markers to investigate crustal deformation and relief growth dynamics. In this paper, we present results of morphotectonic experiments obtained with an innovative approach combining tectonic and surface processes (erosion, transport, and sedimentation), coupled with accurate model monitoring techniques. This approach allows for a qualitative and quantitative analysis of landscape evolution in response to active deformation in the three end-member geological settings: compression, extension, and strike–slip.Experimental results outline first that experimental morphologies evolve significantly at a short time scale. Numerous morphologic markers form continuously, but their lifetime is generally short because erosion and sedimentation processes tend to destroy or bury them. For the compressional setting, the formation of terraces above an active thrust appears mainly controlled by narrowing and incision of the main channel through the uplifting hanging-wall and by avulsion of deposits on fan-like bodies. Terrace formation is irregular even under steady tectonic rates and erosional conditions. Terrace deformation analysis allows retrieving the growth history of the structure and the fault slip rate evolution. For the extensional setting, the dynamics of hanging-wall sedimentary filling appears to control the position of the base level, which in turn controls footwall erosion. Two phases of relief evolution can be evidenced: the first is a phase of relief growth, and the second is a phase of upstream propagation of topographic equilibrium that is reached first in the sedimentary basin. During the phase of relief growth, the formation of triangular facets occurs by degradation of the fault scarp, and their geometry (height) becomes stationary during the phase of upstream propagation of the topographic equilibrium. For the strike–slip setting, the complex morphology of the wrench zone, composed of several interacting fault segments, enhances the interactions with the drainage network. Because of the widening of the main fault zone toward the surface, a significant amount of distributed deformation is observed along the wrench zone. Locally, where two terminations of fault segments interact, less than a quarter of the far field displacement can remain measurable using fault offsets, leading to a systematic underestimation of the real fault slip rate.These different experimental examples illustrate the great potential of the approach coupling deformation mechanisms and erosion–transport–sedimentation processes to investigate qualitatively and quantitatively the morphotectonic evolution of tectonically controlled landscapes.
ISSN: 0169-555X

hal-01243587
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01243587
DOI : 10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.02.011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Mediterranean geodynamic system is an exceptional natural laboratory to study the complexities of back-arc extension during subduction rollback. Corsica is a key locality that recorded the Alpine subduction-collision history followed by 30 Ma of the Apennines slab rollback, responsible for the successive opening, from West to East, of the Liguro-Provençal basin and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The overall strain pattern of the Alpine metamorphic units of Alpine Corsica is studied through a synthesis of i) available geological maps, ii) geochronological data and iii) newly acquired structural data relative to successive events of ductile and brittle extension, Three main stages of extension are recorded: 1/ Syn-metamorphic Oligocene extension accommodated by N140° trending ductile shear zones, that correspond to the reactivation of a major Alpine thrust; 2/ Burdigalian ramp-flat extension with N60°-70° trending fault zones that controlled the deposition of onshore piggy-back basins (e.g. St Florent basin), and 3/ Serravalian N-S trending fault zones. From a geodynamical point of view, these successive extensional deformations in Alpine Corsica can be correlated to the history of the Apennines slab rollback. The two first stages are related to a southeastward rollback of the Appennines slab that successively triggered: 1/ Continental rifting in Oligocene leading to the opening of the Liguro-Provençal basin and 2/ Burdigalian extension with N60°-70° trending fault zone, oblique to the Alpine thrust that, after a counterclockwise rotation of the Corso-Sardinian block, became unable to accommodate extension. Finally, the third stage that gave NS-trending fault zones developed in Serravalian, at the onset of Tyrrhenian rifting, related to an eastward rollback of the Apennines slab, as a response of slab tearing in Sicily.
ISSN: 0040-1951

insu-01424859
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01424859
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01424859/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01424859/file/gueydan-tectonoph-2017.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2016.12.028

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
Detailed seafloor mapping in the area east of Taiwan revealed trench-parallel stretching and folding of the Ryukyu forearc and lateral motion of the accretionary wedge under oblique convergence. East of 122ø40'E, a steep accretionary wedge is elongated in an E-W direction. A major transcurrent right-lateral strike-slip fault accommodates the strain partitioning caused by an oblique convergence of 40 ø. A spectacular out-of-sequence thrust may be related to the subduction of a structural high lying in the axis of the N-S trending Gagua Ridge. This asperity is likely responsible for the uplift of the accretionary wedge and forearc basement and may have augmented strain partitioning by increasing the coupling between the two plates. West of 122ø40'E, the low-taper accretionary wedge is sheared in a direction subparallel to the convergence vector with respect to the Ryukyu Arc. The bayonet shape of the southern Ryukyu Arc slope partly results from the recent (re)opening of the southern Okinawa Trough at a rate of about 2 to 4 cm/yr. Right-lateral shearing of the sedimentary forearc with respect to the nonlinear Ryukyu backstop generates trench-parallel extension in the forearc sediment sequence at dilational jogs and trench-parallel folding at compressive jogs. The Hoping Basin lies above a diffuse trench/trench/fault (TTF) or TFF unstable triple junction moving toward the south along a N-S transform zone which accommodates the southward drift of the Ryukyu Arc with respect to Eurasia.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-01261555
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261555
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261555/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261555/file/Lallemand_et_al-1999-Tectonics.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/1998TC900011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
We analyze the kinematics of fault tip folding at the front of a fold-and-thrust wedge using a sandbox experiment. The analog model consists of sand layers intercalated with low-friction glass bead layers, deposited in a glass-sided experimental device and with a total thickness h = 4.8 cm. A computerized mobile backstop induces progressive horizontal shortening of the sand layers and therefore thrust fault propagation. Active deformation at the tip of the forward propagating basal décollement is monitored along the cross section with a high-resolution CCD camera, and the displacement field between pairs of images is measured from the optical flow technique. In the early stage, when cumulative shortening is less than about h/10, slip along the décollement tapers gradually to zero and the displacement gradient is absorbed by distributed deformation of the overlying medium. In this stage of detachment tip folding, horizontal displacements decrease linearly with distance toward the foreland. Vertical displacements reflect a nearly symmetrical mode of folding, with displacements varying linearly between relatively well defined axial surfaces. When the cumulative slip on the décollement exceeds about h/10, deformation tends to localize on a few discrete shear bands at the front of the system, until shortening exceeds h/8 and deformation gets fully localized on a single emergent frontal ramp. The fault geometry subsequently evolves to a sigmoid shape and the hanging wall deforms by simple shear as it overthrusts the flat ramp system. As long as strain localization is not fully established, the sand layers experience a combination of thickening and horizontal shortening, which induces gradual limb rotation. The observed kinematics can be reduced to simple analytical expressions that can be used to restore fault tip folds, relate finite deformation to incremental folding, and derive shortening rates from deformed geomorphic markers or growth strata.
ISSN: 2169-9313

hal-00138061
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00138061
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00138061/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00138061/file/Bernard_et_al-2007-Journalsur Geophysical_Research__Solid_Earth_%281978-2012%29.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2005JB004149

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Masson
Résumé : International audience
New evolutionary models for the Pyrenean orogeny must consider feedbacks between the Mid-Cretaceous hyperextension postulated recently and the Pyrenean inversion. We present a new crustal section of the Pyrenees through the Jaca Basin, the western Axial Zone and the Chaînons Béarnais, which allows identifying the ancient continental margins of the Iberian and European plates and a suture. A sequential restoration allows a reassessment of the style of convergence through time. Restoration leads to a progressively thinned crust in narrow continental margins separated by a domain of exhumed mantle peridotite and overlain by a detached sedimentary lid. Early convergence during the Late Cretaceous and the Earliest Paleogene was accommodated by subduction of the peridotite domain. This was followed in the Eocene by initial collision involving overriding of the Iberian margin onto the European margin along the deep ramp of the North-Pyrenean Frontal thrust, which defines the suture. Subsequent full collision and strong relief generation from the late-Mid or Late Eocene to the Early Miocene were associated with thrust accretion of the Iberian plate, underlain by wedging and northward subduction of the decoupled Iberian lower crust.
ISSN: 1631-0713

insu-01291223
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01291223
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01291223/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01291223/file/The%20crustal%20evolution%20of%20the%20west-central%20Pyrenees%20-%20postprint.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2015.10.010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Taylor & Francis
Résumé : The Latest Cretaceous/Paleocene paleokarsts from Bas-Languedoc (South of France) are characterized by : 1) exokarstic paleosurfaces (sink holes, pinnacles, canyons) which are mostly superimposed onto the Late Jurassic limestones and partly filled up with breccias and sandy clays containing Paleocene planktonic foraminifera; 2) endokarstic cavities filled up by sandy pelites and laminated mudstones with similar micropaleontological assemblage. All these cavities constitute three cut-and-filled paleokarstic systems. A general model of formation for this polyphase system is proposed. These paleosurfaces are generated by a Latest Cretaceous tectonic phase and Paleocene movements associated with eustatic rises inducing rapid floodings. During Upper Danian-Lower Selandian times three successive base levels drops, whose cumulated duration could be as long as 3 Ma, have induced several hundred metres of incisions within the exposed Jurassic carbonate series. A paleogeographic reconstruction shows three main marine gulfs which extend towards NE the EW Pyrenean thrust belt ("Pyrenean Paleocene Trough", PPT) located on the axis of the future Pyrenees. The similarity of the facies and micropaleontological content in the two domains suggests connexions between the marine Paleocene deposits of Bas-Languedoc and the PPT. It could thus explain the succession of the same tectono-eustatic events. We propose, as an hypothesis, that the rapid sea-level changes, as recorded by the imbricated karstic paleomorphologies, could be induced by the closing and the opening of a strait in the Eastern part of the PPT acting as a sill. This would be controlled by tectonic movements along the active orogenic axis of the Pyrenean Range and eustatic variations of the Paleocene World Ocean. The karstic systems developed during these low-stand episodes may have been later reactivated after the Early Selandian and more specifically during the Messinian desiccation event. This late evolution may have generated deep flooded karsts, now situated below the present sea level. Such karsts, partly inherited from Paleocene, could be important aquifers of economic interest.
ISSN: 0985-3111

hal-00407601
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00407601
DOI : 10.3166/ga.20.301-326

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Masson
Résumé : International audience
The Chaînons Béarnais ranges (North-Pyrenean Zone, west-central Pyrenees) display a fold-and-thrust structure involving the Mesozoic sedimentary cover, decoupled from its substratum at the Keuper evaporites level and associated with a few peridotite bodies and scarce Palaeozoic basement lenses. In the western part of the Chaînons Béarnais, the newly described recumbent fold of the Saraillé massif comprises a peridotite body and several lenses of Palaeozoic basement wrapped by the Triassic to Aptian sedimentary cover. This structure represents a remnant of the distal portion of the Pyrenean paleo-rifted margin where mantle rocks have been exhumed during Albian–Cenomanian times. In this paper, we present the first detailed mapping and microstructural analysis of the Saraillé massif, providing new geological basis for reconstructing the evolution of this part of the paleo-margin. Our mapping (i) shows that the pre-rift Mesozoic cover forms a recumbent fold cored by mantle and crustal rocks and (ii) confirms that the prerift cover was detached from its bedrock along a layer of Triassic evaporites and slid onto the exhumed mantle rocks. Sliding of the prerift cover was associated with extreme crustal thinning and mantle exhumation along a major detachment fault, together with intense metasomatism affecting both the continental basement and the sedimentary cover. We show for the first time (1) that the Mesozoic pre-rift sediments experienced syn-metamorphic ductile thinning during mantle exhumation, and (2) that during its extreme attenuation, the continental basement was reduced to tectonic lenses some ten meters thick by ductile shearing.
ISSN: 1631-0713

insu-01265777
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01265777
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01265777/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01265777/file/corre-CRGeosc-2016.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2015.11.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : 1 p.
International audience
The 12th May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in the Longmen Shan occurred on a large thrust fault largely inherited from an Indosinian structure itself probably controlled by an older structural heritage of the South China block continental margin. Within the whole northeast Tibet region, such a structural inheritance has had a major impact on the Tertiary deformation. It appears of primary importance to assess the pre-Tertiary tectonic evolution of the main blocks involved to understand the actual deformation in the eastern edge of Tibet. Over the past decades, the Proterozoic to Cenozoic tectonic, metamorphic and geochronologic history of the Longmen Shan and Songpan Garzê area have been largely studied. We present a synthesis of the tectonic evolution of the Songpan Garzê fold and thrust belt from Triassic to present. The Songpan-Garzê belt was formed during closure of a wide oceanic basin ?lled with a thick (5 to 15 km) sequence of Triassic ?yschoid sediments. Closure of the basin due to Triassic subduction involved strong shortening, intense folding and faulting of the Triassic series. A large-scale décollement, that presently outcrops along the eastern boundary of the belt (Danba area), allowed the growth of a wide and thick accretionary wedge. It develops in the Paleozoic and Triassic series and separates the accretionary prism from an autochthonous crystalline basement which shares many similarities with the basement of the Yangtze Craton (0.7-0.9 Ga). To the north and northwest, below the thickened Triassic series of the belt, the composition (oceanic or continental) of the basement remains unknown. During the Indosinian orogeny the emplacement of orogenic granites (220 - 150 Ma) was associated to crustal thickening. The isotopic composition of granitoids shows that their magma source were predominantly derived from melting of the proterozoic basement with varying degrees of sedimentary material and negligible mantle source contribution. In the Danba area, the décollement outcrops in a large tertiary antiform with a NNW-SSE axis. It has been exhumed too in the hanging wall of the NE-SW faults of the Tertiary Longmen-Shan belt that marks the present day transition from the Tibetan plateau to the Sichuan basin. These faults have episodically absorbed signi?cant shortening since the Late Triassic. The amount and precise timing of post-triassic deformation are dif?cult to constrain especially because of the dif?culty to isolate the tertiary thermochronological signal from the protracted late Triassic - Cretaceous thermal history. Nonetheless it is generally accepted that Jurassic - Cretaceous tectonism did not modi?ed the general Triassic architecture of eastern Tibet contrarily to the Tertiary deformation. The long-term cooling histories obtained on Mesozoic granites and on the metamorphic series of the Danba dome are very similar showing a very slow and regular cooling during Jurassic andCretaceous, con?rming the absence of major tectonic event between c.a. 150 and 30 Ma. Low temperature thermochronology data indicate that ?nal exhumation and cooling occurred in theTertiary with an acceleration between 10 and 5 Ma along the major tectonic structures. Within the Longmen Shan range, a total denudation of 7 to 10 km is estimated for the late Cenozoic period. Similar amounts of late Tertiary denudation have been estimated along an east-west section across the Xianshuihe fault
Asian climate and tectonics seminar
Utrecht, Netherlands

insu-00610298
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00610298
DOI : 10.1016/j.jseaes.2010.03.008

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
A network of 26 GPS sites was implemented in Iran and Northern Oman to measure displacements in this part of the Arabia–Eurasia collision zone. We present the GPS velocity field obtained from three surveys performed in 1999 September, 2001 October and 2005 September and the deduced strain tensor. This study refines previous studies inferred from only the two first surveys. Improvements are significant in NE Iran. The present-day shortening rate across the mountain belts of NE Iran is estimated to 5 ± 1 mm yr−1 at about N11°, 2 ± 1 mm yr−1 of NS shortening across the eastern Kopet Dag and 3 ± 1 mm yr−1 of NS shortening across Binalud and Kuh-e-Sorkh. Our GPS measurements emphasize the varying character of the Kopet Dag deformation between its southeastern part with prevailing thrusting at low rates and its northwestern part with dominant strike-slip activity at increasing rates. The principal axes of the horizontal strain tensor appears very homogeneous from the Zagros to the Alborz and the Kopet-Dag (N20°) and in eastern Iran (Makran and Lut block: N30°). Only NW Iran suffers a variable strain pattern which seems to wrap the Caspian basin. The strain tensor map underlines the existence of large homogeneous tectonic provinces in terms of style and amplitude of the deformation.
ISSN: 0956-540X

insu-00346744
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00346744
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2007.03477.x