Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
High Pressure - Low Temperature (HP-LT) rocks testify for burying and exhumation of crustal material in subduction zones. The question of their exhumation is nevertheless still unclear. The Aegean domain offers several HP-LT belts. Especially, the Attic-Cycladic Blueschist unit (ACBU) is an example of a HP-LT unit exhumed in a convergent and then in a divergent context. It actually appears in metamorphic core complexes (MCCs) formed in the back-arc of the subduction. The syn-convergence "message" is however difficult to read because of the post-convergence structural and thermal overprint that accompanied the formation of the MCCs. Particularly, the geometry, the timing and the amount of the syn-orogenic exhumation remain unclear. We investigate theses questions with metamorphic petrology (Andros and Ios islands) and phengite population, single grain and in situ 40Ar-39Ar geochronology (Andros, Tinos, Syros and Ios islands). Based on these new constraints and a synthesis of published data, we are able to refine the geometry, the timing and the modes of the exhumation of the ACBU. Data from the whole Cyclades exhibit little differences in the age and P-T conditions at the successive stages of syn-orogenic exhumation. The peak of pressure (500±50 °C-18±1 kbar) has been reached at 50-55 Ma. The onset of the exhumation occurred at 40-45 Ma in blueschist facies conditions, between a basal thrust and a summital detachment. The following decompression was accompanied by cooling until 30-35 Ma (400±50 °C-8±1 kbar). At that time, the boundary conditions switched to extension. The change in boundary conditions is recorded by slowing of the exhumation and isobare heating. The conditions of post-orogenic exhumation differ from an island to another. The onset of post-orogenic exhumation is dated around 30 Ma in the northern Cyclades and 25 Ma in the southern Cyclades. It is related to top-to-the-North deformation in all the studied domain. The end of ductile deformation below the detachments is also diachronous (21 Ma in the North and 18 Ma in the South). Finally, we propose a model for the final steps of the exhumation related to the intrusion of granitic bodies around 14 Ma.
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting
San Francisco, United States

insu-00860510
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00860510
BIBCODE : 2010AGUFM.T23C2301L

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : This thesis compiles two distinct studies that both document the control of microstructures on rock seismic properties. The first part deals with the development of crystallographic preferred orientations (CPO) in the uppermost mantle associated with melt/fluid-rock interactions, recorded in peridotites xenoliths from the Japan sea back-arc basin. The microstructural and geochemical characteristics of the studied samples reveal that active spreading is associated to uppermost mantle deformation similar to that observed in the Oman ophiolite. At the onset of back-arc spreading, there are no strong interactions between melt percolation and deformation in comparison to continental rift zones, probably due to the relatively small size and short duration of the spreading event. The second part presents a unique database of plagioclase CPO from variously deformed mafic rocks. CPO are grouped in three main types; their characteristics as a function of deformation regime (magmatic or crystal-plastic) are outlined and discussed. Calculated seismic properties of gabbroic rocks show that anisotropy tends to increase as a function of fabric strength, although it is generally weak, due to the competing effect of olivine/clinopyroxene and plagioclase.
Cette thèse regroupe deux études distinctes, qui documentent le contrôle des microstructures sur les propriétés sismiques des roches. La première partie traite du développement des orientations préférentielles cristallographiques (OPC) dans le manteau supérieur, associé aux interactions liquide/magma-roche, enregistré dans des xénolites de péridotites du bassin d'arrière-arc de la mer du Japon. Les caractéristiques microstucturales et géochimiques des échantillons étudiés montrent que l'ouverture arrière-arc active est associée à une déformation du manteau supérieure similaire à celle observée dans l'ophiolite d'Oman. L'initiation de l'extension d'arrière-arc n'est pas associée à de fortes interactions entre percolation magmatique et déformation, en comparaison avec les zones de rifting continentales, probablement en raison des taille et durée relativement petites de l'épisode d'ouverture. La seconde partie présente une base de données unique d'OPC de plagioclase de roches mafiques plus ou moins déformées. Les OPC sont classées en 3 types principaux; leurs caractéristiques en fonction du régime de déformation (magmatique ou plastique) sont présentées et discutées. Les propriétés sismiques calculées des roches gabbroiques montrent que l'anisotropie tend à croitre avec l'intensité des fabriques, bien qu'elle soit généralement faible, en raison des effets opposés des olivines/clinopyroxènes et du plagioclase.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00795505

tel-00795505
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00795505
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00795505/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00795505/file/Satsukawa_thesis_UM2.pdf

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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Société géologique de France
Résumé : U-Pb ages obtained from detrital zircon from terrigenous sediments are used to determine the sources. Present fluvial sand-bars of the Ogooue river yield age spectra of detrital zircons in agreement with Archean and Early Proterozoic Sources found in the drainage. The large proportion of Late Proterozoic zircons cannot be derived from primary erosion of the watershed basement rocks, since there is no formation of that age in the area. This later group of zircons is in good agreement with reworking of the aeolian Paleogene Bateke Sands, by regressive erosion in the upper reaches of the Ogooue river, as they contain a majority of Late Proterozoic age zircons. The sources of Late Proterozoic zircons in the Bateke Sand are very distant, and transported and reworked - at least in part - by aeolian processes. Our results, together with the widely distributed Paleogene sediments over continental Africa, suggests that Paleogene was it time of subdued erosion of the cratonic areas and extensive reworking, transport and deposition within continental Africa. In contrast, our results from the Ogooue river indicate active present incision of the cratonic area, erosion of the previous continental sediments, and export of the river bed-load to the continental margin. This temporal evolution of erosion-transport-deposition is correlated with the drastic climate change that occurred during the Cenozoic, leading to a more efficient mechanical erosion, and it correlates with the increase of terrigenous flux to the margin, observed during the Neogene.
EISSN: 1777-5817

hal-00411165
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411165
DOI : 10.2113/gssgfbull.179.1.29

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
The Alboran Domain, situated at the western end of the Mediterranean subductionsystem, is characterized by the Ronda Peridotites, one of the world largest exposures of subcontinental mantle. Using U-Pb (LA-ICP-MS) and Ar-Ar dating, we precisely dated twotectonic events associated with the Tertiary exhumation of the Ronda Peridotites. First,shearing along the Crust-Mantle Extensional Shear Zone caused, at ca. 22.5 Ma, mantleexhumation, local partial melting in the deep crust and coeval cooling in the upper crust.Second, the Ronda Peridotites Thrust triggered the final crustal emplacement of theperidotites onto the continental crust at ca. 21 Ma, as testified by granitic intrusions in thethrust hanging-wall. The tectonic evolution of the western Alboran Domain is thereforecharacterized by a fast switch from a continental lithosphere extension in a backarc setting,with sub-continental mantle exhumation, to a rift inversion by thrusting driven by shorteningof the subduction upper plate
ISSN: 0954-4879

insu-01441962
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01441962
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01441962/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01441962/file/Frasca-TerraNova-2017.pdf
DOI : 10.1111/ter.12255

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The mantle deformation processes that control the thinning and break-up of continental lithosphere remain poorly understood. Our knowledge is restricted to either lithospheric scale thermo-mechanical models --that use experimentally derived flow laws--, geophysical imaging and/or rare xenoliths from active continental rifts, such as the East African Rift System. The originality of this work relies on the study of the two largest outcrops of diamond facies subcontinental lithospheric mantle in the world: the Beni Bousera and Ronda peridotite massifs in N Morocco and S Spain, respectively. The structures and petrologic and metamorphic zoning preserved in these massifs --implying a polybaric and polythermal evolution-- provides a unique opportunity to investigate the thermo-mechanical evolution of thick subcontinental lithospheric mantle in extensional settings. In this thesis we studied the deformation mechanisms in both peridotites and pyroxenites to constrain the modes of exhumation of subcontinental lithospheric mantle from garnet-, to spinel-, and finally, to plagioclase lherzolite facies conditions. We combined field mapping of tectonometamorphic domains and structural mapping of ductile structures, microstructural analysis, crystal preferred orientations (CPO) measurements and conventional thermobarometric calculations and thermodynamic modeling (Perple_X) to unravel the pressure and temperature conditions of deformation. We showed that exhumation from garnet- to spinel lherzolite facies conditions was accommodated by fast shearing --in thermal disequilibrium--along a lithospheric scale transtensional shear zone. In this context, the petrological zoning and the large temperature gradient (ca. 100ºC/km) preserved in the Beni Bousera massif represent the mechanical juxtaposition of progressively deeper and hotter lithospheric levels at depths of ca. 60 km in the latest Oligocene (ca. 25 Ma). Final exhumation from spinel- to plagioclase facies lherzolite and emplacement into the crust is best recorded in the Ronda massif where it occurred by inversion and lithospheric scale folding of the highly attenuated continental lithosphere in a back-arc region, probably in relation with southward slab rollback and subsequent collision with the palaeo-Maghrebien passive margin in the early Miocene (21-23 Ma).
Les processus de déformation contrôlant l'amincissement de la lithosphère continentale sont encore mal contraints. Nos connaissances sont principalement basées sur la modélisation thermomécanique d'extension à l'échelle de la lithosphère--utilisant des lois rhéologiques derivées expérimentalement, l'imagerie géophysique et l'analyse de xénolithes provenant de rift continentaux actifs à ce jour, tels que le Rift Est-Africain. L'originalité de ce travail reside dans l'étude des deux plus grands massifs de péridotites sous-continentales ayant enregistrées des conditions primaires du facies à diamant: les massifs de Beni Bousera au nord du Maroc et de Ronda au sud de l'Espagne, respectivement. Les structures et la zonation petrologique et métamorphique --impliquant une évolution polybarique et polythermique-- préservéees dans ces massifs offrent une opportunité unique pour étudier l'évolution thermo-mécanique du manteau sous-continental dans un contexte extensif. Dans ce travail, nous avons étudié les mécanismes de déformation des péridotites et des pyroxénites afin de contraindre les modes d'exhumation du manteau lithosphérique sous-continental, depuis des conditions du facies des lherzolites à grenat, jusqu'au facies à spinelle et enfin à plagioclase. Nous avons combiné la cartographie des faciès tectono-métamorphiques et des structures ductiles de déformation, l'analyse des microstructures, la mesure d'orientations préférentielles de réseau (OPR), et la géothermobarométrie conventionelle couplée à la modélisation thermodynamique (PerpleX) afin de contraindre les conditions de pression et température de la déformation. Nous avons montré que l'exhumation précoce du facies à grenat au facies à spinelle était accomodée par une faille transtensive affectant le manteau lithosphérique. Dans ce contexte, la zonation tectono-métamorphique et le gradient thermique important (ca. 100ºC/km) préservés à Beni Bousera résultent de la juxtaposition mécanique de domaines lithosphériques initialement équilibrés à différentes pressions et températures, fossilisée à une profondeur de ca. 60 km durant l'Oligocène supérieur (ca. 25 Ma). L'exhumation finale du facies de lherzolite à spinelle au facies à plagioclase et l'emplacement final dans la croûte, mieux enregistrés dans Ronda, se sont produits par inversion et plissement de la section lithosphérique fortement amincie dans un contexte arrière-arc, probablement lors du retrait vers le sud de la lithosphère subduite et la collision de l'arc avec les paléo-marges maghrébines au Miocène inférieur (21-23 Ma).
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00767700

tel-00767700
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00767700
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00767700/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00767700/file/THESE_Frets.pdf

Éditeur(s) : AGU
Résumé : Submarine canyons are narrow but deep submarine valleys that extend for hundreds of meters. They represent the most impressive structures that shape the present morphology of passive continental margins. They can occur off the mouth of rivers: the Tagus, Zaire, Amazon, and Orinoco in the Atlantic; the Indus in the Indian Ocean; and the Var, Rhone, and Ebro in the Mediterranean. Some are at times disconnected from any stream mouth such as the Nazare canyon, off Portugal, despite the fact that it is close to the coast. Some were connected to a river mouth during lowstands of sea level, such as the Wilmington canyon in the northwest Atlantic, or the Blackmud canyon in the northeast Atlantic.
EOS, Transactions American Geophysical Union (0096-3941) (AGU), 2004-07-06 , Vol. 85 , N. 27 , P. 257

Droits : 2004 AGU
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00071/18201/15769.pdf
DOI:10.1029/2004EO270001
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00071/18201/

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

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

Éditeur(s) : Université des Antilles Études caribéennes
Résumé : Les îles ont longtemps été étudiées comme de simples lieux périphériques, inscrits dans le prolongement de logiques continentales ; des espaces dépourvus de sens en dehors du prisme des puissances métropolitaines. A travers le champ des études insulaires, il s’agit désormais de croiser les différentes expériences insulaires, de poser les contextes de développement et d’étudier les configurations et les temporalités spécifiques des îles. Étudier les îles nécessite de prendre la mesure de ces territoires -loin de toute vision monolithique-, d’analyser leur espace au regard des réalités sociale et politique, de cerner leur poids économique et leur contexte de développement, des héritages de l’histoire à la prise en compte de leur voisinage géographique. Il s’agit de prendre en considération les logiques exogènes qui font l’île et d’interroger les dynamiques internes.Le sujet d’étude est l’île, l’objet «île », l’île dans la gestion de son espace, la définition de son projet territorial, le positionnement de l’île dans son environnement respectif et les opportunités et stratégies dans l’économie mondialisée. La richesse des enseignements des territoires et des sociétés insulaires débordent le simple cadre spatial de l’île qui peut être entendue comme une synecdoque, un microcosme commode et raisonnable du continent.
Islands were studied for a long time as simple peripheral territories, territories which flesh out the seamless continuation of continental logic, meaningless territories without the prism and perspective of metropolitan power. Through the field of the island studies, critical questions cross various island experiences and their context of development and their configurations; or otherwise study specific temporalities, connectivities and materialities, in the context of globalization. To study islands requires taking the measure of these territories, far from any monolithic vision, to analyze their space with regard to their social and political realities, to identify their economic clout and their context of development and the legacies of the history, in consideration of their geographical neighbourhood. It is a question of considering the exogenous logics which make the island and interrogate its internal dynamics.The subject of study is the island, "island" as object, the island in the management of its space, the definition of its territorial project, the positioning of the island in its environmental perspective and the opportunities it enjoys and the strategies it deploys in the globalized economy. The wealth of scholarship of and about islands and island societies extends beyond the simple spatial frame of the island; ‘the Island’ can be understood as a synecdoche, a convenient, manageable and reasonable microcosm of the continent.

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://journals.openedition.org/etudescaribeennes/7272

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Middle Atlas is a region where xenolith-bearing volcanism roughly coincides with the maximum of lithospheric thinning beneath continental Morocco. It is therefore a key area to study the mechanisms of lithospheric thinning and constrain the component of mantle buoyancy that is required to explain the Moroccan topography. Samples from the two main xenolith localities, the Bou Ibalghatene and Tafraoute maars, have been investigated for their mineralogy, microstructures, crystallographic preferred orientation, and whole-rock and mineral compositions. While Bou Ibalghatene belongs to the main Middle Atlas volcanic field, in the ‘tabular’ Middle Atlas, Tafraoute is situated about 45 km away, on the North Middle Atlas Fault that separates the ‘folded’ Middle Atlas, to the South-East, from the ‘tabular’ Middle Atlas, to the North-West. Both xenolith suites record infiltration of sub-lithospheric melts that are akin to the Middle Atlas volcanism but were differentiated to variable degrees as a result of interactions with lithospheric mantle. However, while the Bou Ibalghatene mantle was densely traversed by high melt fractions, mostly focused in melt conduits, the Tafraoute suite records heterogeneous infiltration of smaller melt fractions that migrated diffusively, by intergranular porous flow. As a consequence the lithospheric mantle beneath Bou Ibalghaten was strongly modified by melt–rock interactions in the Cenozoic whereas the Tafraoute mantle preserves the record of extensional lithospheric thinning, most likely related to Mesozoic rifting. The two xenolith suites illustrate distinct mechanisms of lithospheric thinning: extensional thinning in Tafraoute, where hydrous incongruent melting triggered by decompression probably played a key role in favouring strain localisation, vs. thermal erosion in Bou Ibalghatene, favoured and guided by a dense network of melt conduits. Our results lend support to the suggestion that lithospheric thinning beneath the Atlas mountains results from the combination of different mechanisms and occurred in a piecewise fashion at a short wavelength scale.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-01171756
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01171756
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2014.11.020

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer-Verlag
Résumé : The Chile-Argentina Patagonian Cordillera is a natural laboratory to study the interactions between oceanic and continental lithosphere during the subduction of an active spreading ridge beneath a continent. Subduction of the South Chile spreading ridge, which separates the Nazca plate from the Antarctic plate, started around 15–14 Ma at the southern tip of Patagonia. Presently, the southernmost segment of the Chile Ridge enters the Peru-Chile trench at 46°S, at the site of the Chile Triple Junction (CTJ). We review the main events which occurred on land in the CTJ region (46–47°S), related with processes of ridge subduction. We summarize tectonic, sedimentary, and magmatic features in a 30 Ma-to Present chronological table. A preridge subduction stage, from 30 to 15 Ma, is characterized by the onset and growth of Patagonian relief and by a shift from marine to continental detrital sedimentation in the foreland at 20–22 Ma. The change from pre-ridge subduction to ridge subduction is marked on land by a transition from calc-alkaline to alkaline volcanism, at 14–12 Ma, and by the onset of eruption of very large fl ood basalt provinces (future volcanic plateaus) following rapid erosion of the eastern foreland belt. Post-plateau basaltic volcanism (<4 Ma) is coeval with a period of tectonic and morphological rejuvenation during which the eastern foreland of the Cordillera has been affected by extensional/transtensional tectonics. We place these events in the framework of a tectonomagmatic model involving the opening of slab windows due to both slab tear and ridge axis subduction.
Subduction Zone Geodynamics

hal-00421053
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00421053
DOI : 10.1007/978-3-540-87974-9_12

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We report gabbroic dikes in the plagioclase tectonite domains of the Ojén and Ronda massifs (Betic Cordillera, southern Spain), which record crystallization at low-pressure syn-, or slightly postkinematic to the late ductile history of the Betic Peridotite in the westernmost Mediterranean. We present mineral major and trace element compositional data of discordant gabbroic dikes in the Ojén massif and gabbroic patches in the Ronda massif, complemented by the whole rock and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) data of the Ojén occurrence. In the Ojén massif, gabbro occurs as 1–3 centimeter wide discordant dikes that crosscut the plagioclase tectonite foliation at high angle. These dikes are composed of cm-scale igneous plagioclase and clinopyroxene crystals that show shape preferred orientations subparallel to the lineation of the host peridotite and oblique to the trend of the dike. Intrusion of Ojén gabbro dikes is coherent with the stress field that formed the high temperature, ductile plagioclase tectonite foliation and then attests for a mantle igneous event prior to the intracrustal emplacement of the massif. In the Ronda massif, gabbroic rocks crystallized in subcentimeter wide anastomozing veins, or as interstitial patches in the host dunite. They are mostly composed of plagioclase and clinopyroxene. Plagioclase composition is bytownitic in the Ojén, and andesinic in the Ronda massif. Clinopyroxene in both places shows identical, light Rare-Earth Element (LREE) depleted trace element patterns. The calculated trace element composition of melts in exchange equilibrium with the studied igneous clinopyroxenes reflects LREE-enriched character coupled with negative Eu anomaly, and indicates that gabbro-forming melts in Ronda and Ojén share a common melt source with an island arc tholeiitic affinity. Geothermobarometric data and liquidus mineralogy indicate that gabbro crystallization occurred at shallow depths (0.2–0.5 GPa) in a 7–16 km thick lithospheric section. These data suggest that gabbro-forming melts in the Betic Peridotite record a mantle igneous event at very shallow depths and provide evidence for the hyperextension of the continental lithosphere compatible with extreme backarc basin extension induced by the slab rollback of the Cenozoic subduction system in the westernmost Mediterranean.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-01172246
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01172246
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2015.03.011

Éditeur(s) : Wiley-blackwell Publishing, Inc
Résumé : We present the results from processing and interpreting five lines from the 1992 Erable multichannel seismic reflection experiment extending from the southeastern margin of Flemish Cap into the northern Newfoundland Basin. These profiles reveal significant along strike variations in the rifting styles experienced by Flemish Cap. In the southwest, a 100-km-wide transition zone is identified between thinned continental crust and thin oceanic crust. Similar to the conjugate Galicia Bank and Iberian margins, this transition zone contains a section of deep basement adjacent to a series of shallower ridges and is interpreted as exhumed serpentinized mantle. Along strike towards the northeast, this transition zone pinches out completely within 100 km and is replaced by thin oceanic crust directly adjacent to thinned continental crust. By interpreting nearby seismic profiles and profiles on the conjugate margins using the same classification criteria, we construct regional maps of the distribution of crustal domains on both sides of the North Atlantic. These maps reveal significant variations in rifting style on the conjugate margins and along strike of each margin and also highlight the role of ancient transfer zones in compartmentalizing these rifting variations into four distinct regions. We propose that the limited localization of shallow topographically high serpentinized peridotite ridges on the Newfoundland-Iberia and Flemish Cap-Galicia Bank conjugate margins, was directly related to an increase in the rate of extension following the separation of Flemish Cap and Galicia Bank which exhumed deeper, less serpentinized mantle.
Geophysical Journal International (0956-540X) (Wiley-blackwell Publishing, Inc), 2010-03 , Vol. 180 , N. 3 , P. 976-U4

Droits : 2010 RAS
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00001/11202/7876.pdf
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04477.x
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00001/11202/

Éditeur(s) : Gauthier-Villars
Résumé : Pegasus current measurements carried out along a section located off French Guiana are presented; the section was repeated five times from September 1989 to June 1991 during the NOE (region Nord-Ouest equatoriale)/STACS (Sub Tropical Atlantic Climate Studies) cruises on board the NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) research vessels. The data (vertical and horizontal distributions) show, as suggested by earliest observations, the presence of different currents. At the surface, and in winter, the North Brazil Current (NBC) flows northwestward (positive), is strong (120 cm/s), confined in the first 250 m, coastally trapped (within 250 km) and fed by offshore waters; in summer the NBC strengthens (the velocity increases to 150 cm/s), vertically extends (down to 800 m) and veers offshore; the mean NBC mass flux computed from all the sections available is 34 +/- 9 Sv with absolute maximum and minimum respectively in September 1989 (81 +/- 4 Sv) and February 1990 (13 +/- 1 Sv). Subsurface, a southeastward (negative) undercurrent (herein after named Western Boundary UnderCurrent) is present in winter-spring and located in the layer 250-800 m with similar velocities in February 1990 (- 33 cm/s) and June 1991 (- 29 cm/s) but with largest vertical and horizontal extensions in the latter case; in summer (September 1989 and September 1990) this undercurrent is absent; the mean mTBUC mass flux is - 9 +/- 3 Sv; the maximum is observed in June 1991 (- 19 +/- 2 Sv) and the minimum in February 1990 (- 3 +/- 0.4 Sv) and January 1991 (- 5 +/- I Sv). Deeper, the equatorward Deep Western Boundary Current is trapped against the continental shelf (within 100 km of the shelf break), extends downward from 1 200 to 3 000 m depth with the velocity core centred in the 1 700-2 000 m layer, is maximum (- 50 cm/s) in spring-summer and minimum (- 23 cm/s) in winter; the absolute velocity (- 92 cm/s) has been recorded at 2 000 m depth in September 1989 suggesting a strong variability at this level; the mean equatorward DWBC mass flux is - 30 +/- 14 Sv with absolute maximum and minimum respectively in September 1989 (- 59 +/- 6 Sv) and September 1990 (- 7 +/- 1 Sv). The Integrated Mass, Temperature and Salt Fluxes (IMF, ITF and ISF) with the cumulated errors, computed across the whole section and down to 3 000 m depth for the September 1990, January 1991 and June 1991 cruises, are all positive in September 1990 (respectively 1.9 +/- 19 Sv, 3.1 +/- 30.1 PW and 74 +/- 1 845 Tt/s) but all negative both in January 1991 (- 13.3 +/- 17.0 Sv, - 15.6 +/- 26.5 PW and - 478 +/- 1594 Tt/s) and June 1991 (- 3.8 +/- 10.1 Sv, - 4.0 +/- 16.3 PW, - 130 +/- 989 Tt/s) showing a strong variability between the summer and winter periods. The mean IMF, ITF and ISF values (respectively - 5.1 +/- 46.4 Sv, - 5.2 +/- 73 PW and - 178 +/- 4428 Tt/s) are high and negative, indicating the large influence of the DWBC and the associated North Atlantic Deep Water (upper part) off French Guiana at 5 degrees N.
Oceanologica Acta (0399-1784) (Gauthier-Villars), 1994 , Vol. 17 , N. 2 , P. 143-157

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00098/20881/18495.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00098/20881/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The NW-trending Talas-Ferghana Fault (TFF) in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia, is one of the largest intracontinental strike-slip faults in the world. It extends over a distance of more than 2000 km from southern Tourghai to western Tarim and exhibits a maximum dextral offset of ∼200 km during the late Palaeozoic to present. The history of the fault provides important insights for the understanding of the evolution of southern Central Asia but remains poorly constrained due to lack of reliable geochronological data. We present new Ar-Ar ages and structural data from the Kyrgyz West Tianshan, that elucidate the kinematic history of the TFF in the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. 40Ar/39Ar ages on mylonitic white micas document a deformational history consisting of several episodes. A late Carboniferous age of 312 ± 4 Ma point to initiation of top-to-the-south and dextral transpressional deformation during a metamorphic overprint in Precambrian and Palaeozoic rocks along the northern compartment of the TFF. The main phase of dextral motion along the entire fault occurred in the Permian as suggested by minimum ages of 260-290 Ma obtained at two different locations in the NW and central parts of the TFF. Partial isotopic resetting occurred between 240 and 210 Ma and younger ages of <200-210 Ma are ascribed to late brittle reactivation and hydrothermal fluid flow in the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic times. The Jurassic trans-tensional phase is featured by emplacement of 195 ± 3 Ma pegmatitic dykes. The Ar-Ar mineral ages and structural data argue for a major phase of dextral shearing, affecting the entire region from the West Tianshan to Mongolia in the late Permian and leading to formation of almost equally spaced major NW-trending dextral strike-slip faults. The uniform character of this deformation indicates that the process of amalgamation in this part of the CAOB ended prior to the late Permian, and Central Asia evolved as a single coherent continental block since that time.
ISSN: 0743-9547

hal-00831326
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00831326
DOI : 10.1016/j.jseaes.2013.02.012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
The Calabro-Peloritan belt constitutes the eastward termination of the southern segment of the Alpine Mediterranean belt. This orogenic system was built up during the convergence between the Eurasian and the African plates, roughly directed North-South since the Upper Cretaceous. It was subsequently fragmented during the opening of the Western Mediterranean basins since Oligocene times. The curved shape of the Calabro-Peloritan belt was acquired during the opening of the Tyrrhenian basin since Tortonian. The origin, kinematics and significance of the Calabro-Peloritan tectonic pile are still debated. Our data in the Aspromonte Massif of Southern Calabria reveal an Alpine history marked by two main superimposed kinematic regimes. (i) A first phase corresponds to the piling up of basement nappes with a top-to-the-SE vergence, i.e in a direction orthogonal to the belt trend and towards the Adriatic foreland. This external vergence is similar to what is observed in both Northeastern Sicily and Northern Calabria. In Sicily, the age of nappe piling is Alpine, as evidenced by pinched slices of Mesozoïc sediments. In the Aspromonte Massif, thrusting age is less constrained. Our data suggest remnants of late Hercynian structuration before the Alpine stacking. (ii) A second phase corresponds to the thinning of the continental crust, dated at around 30 Ma by both geochronological and stratigraphical data. This extension is mainly localized on two low-angle detachment contacts, with top-to-the-NE displacement. The lower one corresponds to the reworking of the former main nappe contact. The upper one is a large detachment fault cutting across the pile from upper sedimentary levels down to metamorphic basement. Extension of similar Alpine age and similar internal vergence has been already recognized in other parts of the Calabro-Peloritan Arc: in the basement nappes of Northeastern Sicily and in the ophiolitic units of Northern Calabria. Coming back to the original geometry and position of the Calabro-Peloritan belt, before its bending and the opening of the Liguro-Provençal and Tyrrhenian basins, we evidence a homogeneous Oligocene NE-SW extension all along the Calabro-Peloritan segment of the Alpine Mediterranean belt. This tectonometamorphic history is best explained within the framework of the continuous Tertiary westward dipping subduction of the Tethyan oceanic domain below the European active margin and the progressive eastward retreat of the Apennine trench since Oligocene times.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00283182
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00283182
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00283182/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00283182/file/Heymes_et_al_2008.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2007TC002157

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The analysis of 2D deep-seismic-reflection profiles across the slope and abyssal plain of the Angola oceanic basin reveals the existence of a significant and formerly unknown depocentre beneath the giant Cenozoic Congo deep-sea fan, between 7000 m and 9000 m depth, deposited directly onto the Aptian oceanic crust. The unit, which is up to 2.5 km thick and extends for more than 200 km basinwards of the Continent-Ocean boundary, is probably aged Albian-Turonian. Its radial fan-shaped depocentre is centred on the present-day Congo River outlet and contains at least 0.2 Mio km(3) of sediments. These observations and the results from flexural modelling indicate that (1) the location of the Congo River's outlet has remained fairly stable since the Late Cretaceous, and (2) the basal unit was indeed sourced by a palaeo-Congo River probably located nearby the present-day one. Thus, the Atlantic sedimentary system related to the exoreism of the Congo River is much older than previously thought. Thermal modelling indicates that the maturation history of this upper-Cretaceous deposits is highly influenced by the interaction between the initial high heat flow of the young oceanic crust and further increase in sediment supply due to the progradation of the overlying Tertiary deep-sea fan during the Miocene. Hence, despite low present-day heat-flow values, should the unit have source rock potential, its basal section may be currently generating hydrocarbons.;All in all, the results from our models also suggest that the interplay between an initially high heat flow and the further high sediment supply in areas of major river input, may be a key factor for the thermal maturation of potential source rocks deposited onto a present-day "cold" oceanic crust.
ISSN: 0264-8172

hal-00475541
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00475541
DOI : 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2009.08.015

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Sub-continental lithospheric mantle rocks are exhumed at the foot of magma-poor distal passive margins as aresponse to extreme stretching of the continental crust during plate separation. Remnants of the Northern Iberianpaleo-passive margin are now exposed in the North-Pyrenean Zone (NPZ) and represent field analogues to studythe processes of continental crust thinning and subcontinental mantle exhumation. The NPZ results from theinversion of basins opened between the Iberia and Europa plates during Albo-Cenomanian times. In the westernNPZ, the ‘Chaînons Béarnais’ ranges display a fold-and-thrust structure involving the Mesozoic sedimentarycover, decoupled from its continental basement and associated with peridotite bodies in tectonic contact withPalaeozoic basement lenses of small size. Continental extension developed under hot thermal conditions, asdemonstrated by the syn-metamorphic Cretaceous ductile deformation affecting both the crustal basement and theallochthonous Mesozoic cover.In this study, we present structural and geochemical data providing constraints to reconstruct the evolution ofthe northern Iberia paleo-margin. Field work confirms that the pre-rift Mesozoic cover is intimately associatedto mantle rocks and to thin tectonic lenses of crustal basement. It also shows that the pre-rift cover was detachedfrom its bedrock at the Keuper evaporites level and was welded to mantle rocks during their exhumation atthe foot of the hyper-extended margin. The crust/mantle detachment fault is a major shear zone characterizedby anastomosed shear bands defining a plurimetric phacoidal fabric at the top of the serpentinized mantle. Thedetachment is marked by a layer of metasomatic rocks, locally 20 meters thick, made of talc-chlorite-pyrite-richrocks that developped under greenschist facies conditions. Raman Spectroscopy on Carbonaceous Materials(RSCM), performed on the Mesozoic cover reveal that the entire sedimentary pile underwent temperatures rangingbetween 200C and 480C.We show that: (i) at the site of mantle rocks exhumation, the boudinaged pre-rift sediments have undergone drasticsyn-metamorphic thinning with the genesis of a S0/S1 foliation and, (ii) the Paleozoic basement has been ductilelydeformed, into thin tectonic lenses that remained welded to the exhumed mantle rocks. Therefore the overallcrustal rheology appears dominated by shallow levels having a ductile behavior. This rheology is related to thepresence of a thick pre- and syn-rift decoupled cover acting as an efficient thermal blanket. This new geologicaldata set highlights important characteristics of ductile-type hyper-extended passive margin that cannot be obtainedfrom the study of seismic lines. Finally, we stress that studying field analogues represents a major tool to betterunderstand the mechanisms of extreme crustal thinning associated with mantle exhumation and their structuralinheritance during tectonic inversion.
Geophysical Research Abstracts
Vienne, Austria

insu-01510103
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01510103

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The emergent domain known as “Kasserine Island” in central Tunisia, to the West of the North–South Axis, was emerging during the Turonian. This area has undergone several changes during the Cretaceous–Eocene period. In the present study, the compilation of surface and sub-surface data provided new information about the boundaries variations of the emerged domain. The analysis of paleogeographic maps allowed the identification of three distinct stages of evolution. The first stage extents from the Middle Turonian to the Lower Maastrichtian where the emergent domain covers the area extending from Jebels Selloum-Sidi Aich in the West to Jebel Bouhedma in the East. The boundaries of this area coincide with the E–W Kasserine fault to the North, the N–S Lessouda-Boudinar fault in the East and the N 120 el Mech-Souinia flexure at the South. This emersion contemporaneous with a high eustatic level is most likely related to tectonic activity. The extensional tectonic regime that is characterized by a NE–SW minimal horizontal stress, has reactivated border faults with a normal component. The interference of the tilting of these border faults was at the origin of the emergence of this domain. The ascent of the Triassic salt may also have contributed in this uplift.In the second stage, the emerged domain has reached its maximum expansion to the North, the West and the South during the Middle Maastrichtian–Paleocene period. Its northern limit is irregular, while the southern limit coincides with the N120 Gafsa fault and the E–W fault of Jebels Orbata-Bouhedma. The N–S Lessouda-Boudinar fault forms the eastern limit. This expansion is mostly related to the global eustatic fall that is well characterized during this period, and partly to the compressive tectonic activity.The Lower Eocene is characterized by a marine transgression that has interested the northern edge of the Island, where the Ypresian deposits are discordant on older series. This edge was irregular and marked by the Gulf of Sbiba. The eastern, the southern, and the western boundaries kept the same shape as that of the previous stage. The compressive tectonic regime, characterized by a NW–SE maximum horizontal stress, is accentuated. This constraint state has generated NE–SW folds and NW–SE grabens. Some of these structures allowed the accumulation of a thick phosphate deposits at their edges, and continental deposits in the emerged area.During the Middle to Upper Eocene, the emergent area narrowed further at the North. The deposits are transgressive and discordant on older series. The Other limits always coincide with the Gafsa fault, the Jebels Orbata-Bouhedma and Jebels Lessouda-Boudinar faults. This period is characterized by the filling of the Gafsa basin by evaporate deposits before its emergence in the Oligocene. As a result, the southern-central Tunisia emerged as one area.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-01243490
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01243490
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.07.027

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