Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
In the Gulf of Cadiz key segment of the Africa-Iberia plate boundary (North-East Atlantic ocean), three main different modes of tectonic interference between a recently identified wrench system (SWIM) and the Gulf of Cadiz Accretionary Wedge (GCAW) were tested through analog sand-box modeling: a) An active accretionary wedge on top of a pre-existent inactive basement fault; b) An active strike-slip fault cutting a previously formed, inactive, accretionary wedge; and c) Simultaneous activity of both the accretionary wedge and the strike-slip fault. The results we obtained and the comparison with the natural deformation pattern favor a tectonic evolution comprising two main steps: i) the formation of the Gulf of Cadiz Accretionary Wedge on top of inactive, Tethyan-related, basement faults (Middle Miocene to ~ 1.8 Ma); ii) subsequent reactivation of these basement faults with dextral strike-slip motion (~ 1.8 Ma to present) simultaneously with continued tectonic accretion in the GCAW. These results exclude the possibility of ongoing active SWIM wrench system cross-cutting an inactive GCAW structure. Our results also support a new interpretation of the SWIM wrench system as fundamentally resulting from strike-slip reactivation of an old (Tethyan-related) plate boundary.
ISSN: 0025-3227

insu-00643630
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00643630
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00643630/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00643630/file/Duarte_etal_2011_MS-1.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.margeo.2011.09.014

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We compile field data collected along the eastern part of the North Pyrenean Zone (NPZ) to point to a tectonic evolution under peculiar thermal conditions applying to the basin sediments in relation with the opening of the Cretaceous Pyrenean rift. Based on this compilation, we show that when thinning of the continental crust increased , isotherms moved closer to the surface with the result that the brittle-ductile transition propagated upward and reached sediments deposited at the early stage of the basin opening. During the continental breakup, the pre-rift Mesozoic cover was efficiently decoupled from the Paleozoic basement along the Triassic evaporite level and underwent drastic ductile thinning and boudinage. We suggest that the upper Albian and upper Creta-ceous flysches acted as a blanket allowing temperature increase in the mobile pre-rift cover. Finally, we show that continuous spreading of the basin floor triggered the exhumation of the metamorphic, ductily sheared pre-rift cover, thus contributing to the progressive thinning of the sedimentary pile. In a second step, we investigate the detailed geological records of such a hot regime evolution along a reference-section of the eastern NPZ. We propose a balanced restoration from the Mouthoumet basement massif (north) to the Boucheville Albian basin (south). This section shows a north to south increase in the HT Pyrenean imprint from almost no metamorphic recrystallization to more than 600 °C in the pre-and syn-rift sediments. From this reconstruction, we propose a scenario of tectonic thinning involving the exhumation of the pre-rift cover by the activation of various detachment surfaces at different levels in the sedimentary pile. In a third step, examination of the architecture of current distal passive margin domains provides confident comparison between the Pyrenean case and modern analogs. Finally, we propose a general evolutionary model for the pre-rift sequence of the Northeastern Pyrenean rifted margin.
ISSN: 0040-1951

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/
insu-01355131
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01355131
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01355131/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01355131/file/TECTO10807-Incorporated%20changes-rev2.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2016.07.022

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Large sand intrusions often exhibit conical morphologies analogous to magmatic intrusions such as saucer-shaped or cup-shaped sills. Whereas some physical processes may be similar, we show with scaled experiments that the formation of conical sand intrusions may be favoured by the pore-pressure gradients prevailing in the host rock before sand injection. Our experiments involve injecting air into a permeable and cohesive analogue material to produce hydraulic fractures while controlling the pore pressure field. We control the state of overpressure in the overburden by applying homogeneous basal pore pressure, and then adding a second local pore pressure field by injecting air via a central injector to initiate hydraulic fractures near the injection point. In experiments involving small vertical effective stresses (small overburden, or high pore fluid overpressure), the fracturing pressure (lambda(fract)) is supralithostatic and two dipping fractures are initiated at the injection point forming a conical structure. From theoretical considerations, we predict that high values of lambda(fract), are due to strong cohesion or high pore fluid overpressure distributed in the overburden. Such conditions are favoured by the pore pressure/stress coupling induced by both pore pressure fields. The dips of cones can be accounted for elastic-stress rotation occurring around the source. Contrary to magmatic chamber models, the aqueous fluid overpressure developed in a parent sandbody (and prevailing before the formation of injectites) may diffuse into the surrounding overburden, thus favouring stress rotation and the formation of inclined sheets far from the parent source. For experiments involving higher vertical effective stresses (thick overburden or low pore fluid overpressure), the fracturing pressure is lower than the lithostatic stress, and a single fracture is opened in mode I which then grows vertically. At a critical depth, the fracture separates into two dilatant branches forming a flat cone. We make use of a P.I.V. (Particle Imaging Velocimetiy) technique to analyse plastic deformation, showing that these inclined fractures are opened in mixed modes. Close to the surface, they change into steep shear bands where fluids can infiltrate. The final morphology of the fracture network is very similar to the common tripartite architecture of various injection complexes, indicating that different mechanisms may be involved in the formation of dykes. Feeder dykes under the sill zones may open as tensile fractures, while overlying dykes may be guided by the deformation induced by the growth of sills. These deformation conditions may also favour the formation of fluid escape structures and pockmarks. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00745640
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00745640
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.10.029