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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD European Geosciences Union
Résumé : International audience
During the GWADASEIS cruise (Lesser Antilles volcanic arc, February-March 2009) a very high resolution (VHR) seismic-reflection survey was performed in order to constrain Late Quaternary to Present faulting. The profiles we obtained evidence frequent "ponding" of reworked sediments in the deepest areas, similar to the deposition of Mediterranean "homogenites". These bodies are acoustically transparent (few ms t.w.t. thick) and are often deposited on the hanging walls of dominantly normal faults, at the base of scarps. Their thickness appears sufficient to compensate (i.e. bury) co-seismic scarps between successive earthquakes, resulting in a flat and horizontal sea floor through time. In a selected area (offshore Montserrat and Nevis islands), piston coring (4 to 7 m long) was dedicated to a sedimentological analysis of the most recent of these particular layers. It corresponds to non-stratified homogenous calcareous silty sand (reworked calcareous plankton and minor volcanoclastics). This layer can be up to 2 m thick, and overlies finegrained hemipelagites. The upper centimeters of the latter represent the normal RedOx water/sediment interface. 210Pb and 137Cs activities lack in the massive sands, while a normal profile of unsupported 210Pb decrease is observed in the hemipelagite below, together with a 137Cs peak correspond- ing to the Atmospheric Nuclear Experiments (1962). The RedOx level was thus capped by a recent instantaneous major sedimentary event considered as post-1970 AD; candidate seismic events to explain this sedimentary deposits are either the 16 March 1985 earthquake or the 8 October 1974 one (Mw=6.3 and Mw=7.4, respectively). This leads to consider that the syntectonic sedimentation in this area is not continuous but results from accumulation of thick homogenites deposited after the earthquakes (as observed in the following weeks after Haiti January 2010 event, McHugh et al., 2011). The existence of such deposits suggests that, in the area of study, vertical throw likely results from cumulated effects of separated earthquakes rather than from aseismic creep. Examination of VHR profiles shows that all major co-seismic offsets are recorded in the fault growth sequence and that co-seismic offsets can be precisely estimated. By using a sedimentation rate deduced from 210Pb decrease curve (0.5 mm yr−1) and taking into account minor reworking events detected in cores, we show that the Redonda system may have been responsible for five >M6 events during the last 34 000 yr. The approach presented in this work differs from fault activity analyses using displaced sets of isochronous surfaces and postulating co-seismic offsets. Combining VHR seismic imagery and coring we can decipher co-seismic vs. slow continuous displacement, and thus actually estimate the amplitude and the time distribution of major co-seismic offsets.
ISSN: 1561-8633

insu-00844581
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00844581
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00844581/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00844581/file/nhess-12-1755-2012.pdf
DOI : 10.5194/nhess-12-1755-2012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We present new groundmass K–Ar ages obtained using the Cassignol–Gillot technique, together with whole-rock major and trace elements, from Les Saintes islands (Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas). They are located along the northern Lesser Antilles inner arc, between Basse-Terre Island (western Guadeloupe) to the North and Dominica Island to the South. Ages reveal that the main volcanic phase in Terre-de-Haut occurred between 2.98 ± 0.04 and 2.00 ± 0.03 Ma, and show that the onset of sub-aerial volcanism in Terre-de-Haut is slightly older (~ 0.2 Myr) than that of northern Basse-Terre. Volcanism in Les Saintes resumed to the west, with the rapid construction of Terre-de-Bas Island at 0.888 ± 0.009 Ma. Major elements analyses show that most lavas from Les Saintes belong to a sub-alkaline medium-K magmatic series and are mainly andesites, with relatively rare basaltic andesites and dacites. Rare earth elements spectra reveal a strong enrichment in light elements, as observed for Dominica lavas, and significantly higher than observed for Basse-Terre lavas. Noticeably, Terre-de-Bas spectra display more enriched patterns relative to those from Terre-de-Haut lavas, suggesting a lower degree of partial melting or a stronger sedimentary component incorporated to the subducting slab. Overall, geochemical signatures of Les Saintes and Dominica magmas display common characteristics, which we interpret as reflecting strong petrogenetic affinities, while both are significantly different from that of Basse-Terre lavas. Finally, this study provides a precise timing of subaerial volcanism of Les Saintes Islands, which can be used to better constrain through time the development of the tectonic half-graben where these islands lie, which is part of the arc-parallel en-echelon faults system accommodating the oblique convergence of the North American plate from Montserrat to Dominica. In addition, these results reveal that the initiation of Terre-de-Haut volcanism is presently the oldest dated volcanism from the northern part of the Lesser Antilles active arc.
ISSN: 0377-0273

hal-01067336
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01067336

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Blackwell Publishing
Résumé : International audience
In the Causses platform (south-east France), Late Hettangian to Sinemurian deposits were interpreted previously as shallow-water carbonate ramp deposits. A new look at these deposits has shown a fault-controlled mosaic carbonate platform that is different from the carbonate ramp models. Within the platform mosaic, 15 lithofacies have been recognized, which are organized in four facies associations, including peritidal, restricted shallow sub-tidal, sand dunes and sub-tidal shelf facies associations. The rapid lateral and vertical facies changes, and the lack of consistent landward or seaward direction indicated by the pattern of facies changes, question the existence of a shoreline suggested by the traditional models for this region. Instead, the facies organization and cycle stacking pattern suggest deposition in a mosaic of intertidal islands between which sub-tidal restricted or open conditions could coexist in very close proximity. Such a platform mosaic would have been defined by tectonic activities along normal faults which segmented the shallow-water Causses platform. The facies and facies associations are arranged into metre-scale, peritidal and sub-tidal cycles that are also variable. Certain cycles show the same stacking pattern in all the sections and seem to be traceable over tens of kilometres. On the contrary, other cycles cannot be correlated; they are present only in specific sections and have a maximum lateral extension of 1 or 2 km. These metre-scale cycles stack to form four medium-scale cycles bounded by surfaces that display sub-aerial exposure features. Medium-scale cycles stack into two larger-scale cycles (tens of metres thick) and are bounded by well-defined karstic surfaces. Based on their lateral continuity and their stacking pattern, the metre-scale cycles are controlled probably by high frequency eustatic variations overprinting the topographic irregularities formed by differential subsidence of fault-bounded blocks. Episodic fault activities may reorganize the topography so that, even if eustatic changes may still be the major control of cycles, the expression and number of cycles could be different. Cycles of medium and large-scale are interpreted as being allogenic, controlled by changes in eustasy and/or subsidence rates as evidenced by their lateral continuity and the correlations of the large-scale cycles with third-order depositional sequences.
ISSN: 1469-3496

hal-00411940
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411940
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-3091.2007.00896.x

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : The Danube Canyon is a large shelf-indenting canyon that has developed seaward of the late Pleistocene paleo-Danube valley. Mechanisms of canyon evolution and factors that controlled it are revealed by analyzing the morphology and the sedimentary structure of the canyon, as well as the main features of the continental margin around the canyon. This is based on investigation by swath bathymetry in the canyon area combined with different types of seismic data. The canyon is a major erosional trough with a flat bottom cut by an entrenched axial thalweg. The thalweg path varies from highly meandering to fairly straight in relation to the local gradient. Segments of the canyon are characterized by specific morphology, orientation and gradient along the axial thalweg. We interpret these segments in terms of canyon maturity. The sedimentary structure of the canyon documents an older phase of erosion followed by partial infilling, and thus attests for repeated cycles of canyon development. Canyon morphology is interpreted as a result of erosive sediment flows along the entrenched axial thalweg that caused downcutting into the canyon bottom and instability of the canyon walls, and hence enlargement of the canyon and expansion by headward erosion. During the last lowstand level of the Black Sea the canyon was located in an area of high sediment supply close to the paleo-Danube River mouths. This is indicated by buried fluvial channels on the shelf and by a wave-cut terrace associated with a water level situated about - 90 m below the present level. We infer that erosive flows in the canyon resulted from hyperpycnal currents at the river mouths, probably favored by the low salinity environment that characterized the Black Sea during lowstand times. Other mechanisms could have contributed to trigger sediment failure along the canyon, such as instability related to the presence of shallow gas, or the effect of a deep fault.
Marine Geology (0025-3227) (Elsevier), 2004-05 , Vol. 206 , N. 1-4 , P. 249-265

Droits : 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2004/publication-476.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2004.03.003
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/476/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
The island of Taiwan is affected by intense seismic activity, which includes large events as the disastrous 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake. To improve seismic hazard assessment in this area, we estimate the effect of both interseismic loading and major events since 1736 on the state of stress of major active faults. We focus our approach on western Taiwan, which is the most densely populated part of Taiwan. We pay a specific attention to faults geometry and to both interseismic and coseismic slip distributions. Our results suggest that both earthquakes and interseismic loading before 1999 increase the Coulomb stress in the north-western part of the Chelungpu fault, a region which experienced the highest coseismic slip during the Chi-Chi earthquake. More importantly our results reveal a Coulomb stress increase in the southern part of the Changhua thrust fault, below a densely populated area.
ISSN: 0094-8276

hal-00475590
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00475590
DOI : 10.1029/2009GL042292

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
Phyllosilicate content and related permeability of fault zones form primary controls on hydraulic and mechanical behavior of the brittle crust. Hence, understanding and predicting the localization of these ubiquitous minerals is a major issue for fundamental and applied geosciences. We describe normal fault zones cutting a foreland arkosic turbiditic formation suffering high-T diagenesis and formed under conditions (~200°C) typical of deeply buried reservoirs and common within the seismogenic interval. Microstructural analyses show a large proportion of phyllosilicates (up to 34%) in the fault rock, derived from near-complete feldspar alteration and disaggregation during deformation. This study shows that even faults with offsets (~20 cm) much lower than bed thickness can have such large feldspar-to-phyllosilicate transformation ratios, implying that the origin of the phyllosilicates is purely transformation related. These results imply that the potential sealing capacity and strength of faults could be predicted from the host rock feldspar content. Where sealing capacity and fault strength can be related to phyllosilicate content, these properties can then also be inferred from the predicted phyllosilicate content: this opens up new horizons concerning the hydraulic and the mechanical behavior of the upper crust.
ISSN: 0094-8276

hal-00903574
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903574
DOI : 10.1002/grl.50829

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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Longmen Shan range is one of the major topographic and structural features of the easternmargin of the Tibetan Plateau. With an impressive topographic gradient and low convergence rates across the range this region has raised important questions concerning the dynamics of plateaumargin settings, such as the long-term mechanisms of topographic evolution. The investigation of the distribution in space and time of denudation can provide critical insight into such dynamics and shed light on still unresolved controversies. For that purpose, we present a new dataset that documents the intensity and distribution of denudation processes across this plateaumargin through field survey of fluvial incision markers, quantitative geomorphology and cosmogenic nuclide derived basin-wide erosion rates. Erosion is < 0.5 mm/year in the frontal region of the Longmen Shan and between 0.5 and 1 mm/year further west, with a gradual decrease when reaching the northern headwaters of the Min Jiang watershed, adjacent to the beginning of the Tibetan Plateau. The spatialdistribution of denudation inferred from the various methods we use suggests that most of the differential uplift in the Central Longmen Shan is accommodated by the Beichuan Fault and frontal structures located in the foothills. The denudation pattern seems also to reflect the large-scale propagation of erosion from the Sichuan Basin toward the Plateau. This suggests that the Longmen Shan range is submitted to the combined influences of slow thrusting activity on the frontal structures and progressive westward regressiveerosion as a probable response to a pulse of uplift of the Tibetan PlateauEasternmargin, that started 10 Ma ago.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-01564192
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01564192
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2009.10.026

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 Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union
Résumé : International audience
During the GWADASEIS cruise (Lesser Antilles volcanic arc, February–March 2009) a very high resolution (VHR) seismic-reflection survey was performed in order to constrain Late Quaternary to Present faulting. The profiles we obtained evidence frequent " ponding " of reworked sediments in the deepest areas, similar to the deposition of Mediterranean " homogenites ". These bodies are acoustically transparent (few ms t.w.t. thick) and are often deposited on the hanging walls of dominantly normal faults, at the base of scarps. Their thickness appears sufficient to compensate (i.e. bury) co-seismic scarps between successive earthquakes, resulting in a flat and horizontal sea floor through time. In a selected area (offshore Montserrat and Nevis islands), piston coring (4 to 7 m long) was dedicated to a sedimento-logical analysis of the most recent of these particular layers. It corresponds to non-stratified homogenous calcareous silty sand (reworked calcareous plankton and minor volcanoclas-tics). This layer can be up to 2 m thick, and overlies fine-grained hemipelagites. The upper centimeters of the latter represent the normal RedOx water/sediment interface. 210 Pb and 137 Cs activities lack in the massive sands, while a normal profile of unsupported 210 Pb decrease is observed in the hemipelagite below, together with a 137 Cs peak corresponding to the Atmospheric Nuclear Experiments (1962). The RedOx level was thus capped by a recent instantaneous major sedimentary event considered as post-1970 AD; candidate seismic events to explain this sedimentary deposits are either the 16 March 1985 earthquake or the 8 October 1974 one (M w = 6.3 and M w = 7.4, respectively). This leads to consider that the syntectonic sedimentation in this area is not continuous but results from accumulation of thick homogen-ites deposited after the earthquakes (as observed in the following weeks after Haiti January 2010 event, McHugh et al., 2011). The existence of such deposits suggests that, in the area of study, vertical throw likely results from cu-mulated effects of separated earthquakes rather than from aseismic creep. Examination of VHR profiles shows that all major co-seismic offsets are recorded in the fault growth sequence and that co-seismic offsets can be precisely estimated. By using a sedimentation rate deduced from 210 Pb decrease curve (0.5 mm yr −1) and taking into account minor reworking events detected in cores, we show that the Redonda system may have been responsible for five > M 6 events during the last 34 000 yr. The approach presented in this work differs from fault activity analyses using displaced sets of isochronous surfaces and postulating co-seismic offsets. Combining VHR seismic imagery and coring we can decipher co-seismic vs. slow continuous displacement, and thus actually estimate the amplitude and the time distribution of major co-seismic offsets.
Natural Hazards and Earth System Science

insu-01585969
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01585969
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01585969/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01585969/file/nhess-12-1755-2012-beck.pdf
DOI : 10.5194/nhess-12-1755-2012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
The interpretation of coseismic surface deformation measurements through inversion techniques is of major importance to understand the mechanical behaviour of a seismic fault. Dense geodetic data sets in the vicinity of the ruptured fault provide unique constraints on detailed fault geometry and slip distribution at depth, making them complementary to seismological data. Bam earthquake (Mw 6.6, 2003 December 26) induced surface deformation has been precisely mapped by Envisat ASAR interferometry and by subpixel correlation techniques applied to Spot-5 and ASAR amplitude images. These oblique and horizontal estimations of deformation have been completed with one levelling profile along the main road crossing the rupture from west to east. We process these data (separately and jointly) in a two-step inversion technique, within the elastic half-space theory framework. Our objective is to determine the dislocation model at depth that satisfies simultaneously all the geodetic constraints. Also, we estimate the relative contribution of each geodetic data set to this inversion process.We first use a stochastic direct approach called neighbourhood algorithm in order to estimate the average characteristics of the rupture, and their relative uncertainty. Constraining in this way the geometry of the ruptured fault, we then linearize the inverse problem and compute the slip distribution on the fault using a standard weighted least-square technique, assuming the solution is smooth to some degree. At each step, we discuss the optimal models, their stability as well as the relative influence of each data set on the derived models parameters. Our preferred model reveals a shallow dislocation on a quasi-vertical fault, slightly dipping towards east. The slip vector has a strike-slip component as high as 2 m, while the dip-slip component seems negligible.However, the estimation of the resolution matrices emphasizes the fact that the details of deep fault slip distribution remain out of the scope of this ill-conditioned inverse problem. Yet, our preferred model suggests a main dislocation limited at depth between 1 and 6 km. By contrast, the aftershocks observed in the months following the earthquake are located just beneath the estimated main shock.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-00314173
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00314173
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00314173/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00314173/file/GJI-2007-169-849-briole.pdf
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2007.03358.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
New structural observations coupled with 15 U/Pb and 24 Ar/Ar new ages from the Karakorum shear zone (KSZ) constrain the timing and slip rate of the right-lateral Karakorum fault zone (KFZ), one of the great continental Asian strike-slip faults. In the Tangtse-Darbuk area, the Tangtse (SW) and Muglib (NE) mylonitic strands of the KSZ frame the less deformed Pangong Range. Inherited U/Pb ages show that granitic protoliths are mostly from the Karakorum and Ladakh batoliths, with a major Miocene melting event lasting from ≥21.5 to 13.5 Ma. Some of the Miocene granitic bodies show structural evidence for intrusion synkinematic to the KSZ. The oldest of these granitoids is 18.8 ± 0.4 Ma old, implying that deformation started prior to ∼19 Ma. Microstructural data show that right-lateral deformation pursued during cooling. Ar/Ar data show that ductile deformation stopped earlier in the Tangtse (∼11 Ma) than in the Muglib strand (∼7 Ma). Deformation ended at ∼11 Ma in the Tangtse strand while it is still active in the Muglib strand, suggesting a progressive localization of deformation. When merged with published observations along the KFZ, these data suggest that the KFZ nucleated in the North Ayilari range at least ∼22 Ma ago. The long-term fault rate is 0.84 to 1.3 cm/yr, considering a total offset of 200 to 240 km. The KSZ collected magma produced within the shear zone and/or deeper in crust for which the producing mechanism stays unclear but was not the lower crustal channel flow.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00745066
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00745066
DOI : 10.1029/2011TC003049

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 Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We analyzed twelve fault gouge samples from the Bogd fault in south-western Mongolia to understand the origin and behavior of clay minerals. The investigation relies on x-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high energy synchrotron x-ray diffraction methods to investigate microstructure and preferred orientation. Smectite (montmorillonite), illite-smectite mixed layers, illite-mica and kaolinite are the major clay components, in addition to quartz and feldspars, which are present in all samples. The observations suggest that the protoliths and the fault rocks were highly altered by fluids. The fluid-rock interactions allow clay minerals to form, as well as alter feldspars to precipitate kaolinite and montmorillonite. Thus, newly formed clay minerals are heterogeneously distributed in the fault zone. The decrease of montmorillonite component of some of the highly deformed samples also suggests that dehydration processes during deformation were leading to illite precipitation. Based on synchrotron x-ray diffraction data, the degree of preferred orientation of constituent clay minerals is weak, with maxima for (001) ranging from 1.3 to 2.6 multiples of a random distribution (m.r.d). Co-existing quartz and feldspars have random orientation distributions. Microstructure and texture observations of the gouges from the foliated microscopic zone, alternating with micrometric isotropic clay-rich area, also indicate that the Bogd fault experienced brittle and ductile deformation episodes. The clay minerals may contribute to a slip weakening behavior of the fault.
ISSN: 0191-8141

insu-00667194
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00667194
DOI : 10.1016/j.jsg.2011.10.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Hot collisional orogens are characterized by abundant syn-kinematic granitic magmatism that profoundly affects their tectono-thermal evolutions. Voluminous granitic magmas, emplaced between 360 and 270 Ma, played a visibly important role in the evolution of the Variscan Orogen. In the Limousin region (western Massif Central, France), syntectonic granite plutons are spatially associated with major strike-slip shear zones that merge to the northwest with the South Armorican Shear Zone. This region allowed us to assess the role of magmatism in a hot transpressional orogen. Microstructural data and U/Pb zircon and monazite ages from a mylonitic leucogranite indicate synkinematic emplacement in a dextral transpressional shear zone at 313 +/- 4 Ma. Leucogranites are coeval with cordierite-bearing migmatitic gneisses and vertical lenses of leucosome in strike-slip shear zones. We interpret U/Pb monazite ages of 315 +/- 4 Ma for the gneisses and 316 +/- 2 Ma for the leucosomes as the minimum age of high-grade metamorphism and migmatization respectively. These data suggest a spatial and temporal relationship between transpression, crustal melting, rapid exhumation and magma ascent, and cooling of high-grade metamorphic rocks.;Some granites emplaced in the strike-slip shear zone are bounded at their roof by low dip normal faults that strike N-S, perpendicular to the E-W trend of the belt. The abundant crustal magmatism provided a low-viscosity zone that enhanced Variscan orogenic collapse during continued transpression, inducing the development of normal faults in the transpression zone and thrust faults at the front of the collapsed orogen.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00445260
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445260
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2009.03.022

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : This study is designed to improve the understanding of structural, mechanical and petrophysical characteristics of deformation bands in porous sandstone such as their potential influence on fluid storage or migration in reservoir setting. Structural and petrophysical analysis of band networks from Provence show that permeability of band is mainly controlled by the degree of cataclasis and diagenetic processes at depth. Map-scale analysis of band networks underlines the major influence of tectonic regime on band distribution, organization and permeability. Band associated to normal-fault regime (cataclasis and low-permeability) are located around map-sclae-fault whereas band associated to thurst-fault regime (moderate cataclasis and permeability) are pervasively distributed in all the area. Reverse-sense band are cataclastic and low-permeabiilty around the Roquemaure thrust, which show the potential role of large-scale fault on structural and petrophysical characteristics of bands. This analysis also shows the influence of fault propagation on formation of low permeability catacastic bands. This analysis suggests also granulometry as factor controlling organization of band networks.A mechanical analysis of deformation bands is realized based on results from Provence. Yield envelopes of these materials are calculated from analytical solution. Triaxial tests done on sandstone (L'Etang quarry, Orange) confirm the shape of yield envelope theoretically calculated. Triaxial tests done on the poorly-lithified sands (Boncavaï quarry, Uchaux) show grain size, sorting and packing influencing yield envelope and cataclastic band localization at shallow burial depth. Stress paths are calculated for burial and tectonic event (extension and contraction) using the relationship between main stress and secondary stresses (K0) calibrated from well data. These different results are integrated into a model which allows to estimate type and structural characteristics of bands susceptible to form for a known geological setting.A structural, mechanical and petrophysical model is established form these results. This model is calibrated by permeability data from deformation bands of Provence and results from the mechanical model of strain localization. This model is also confronted to a synthesis of permeability data from literature, which confirms the influence of the different controlling parameters integrated to the model. This model is applied for two sites of uranium exploration/exploitation in porous sandstone reservoirs and validated by field observations.
Cette étude est destinée à améliorer la compréhension des caractéristiques structurales, pétrophysiques et mécaniques des bandes de déformation dans les grès poreux ainsi que de leur rôle potentiel sur la migration ou le piégeage des fluides en milieu réservoir. L'analyse structurale et pétrophysique des réseaux de bandes de Provence montre que leur perméabilité découle principalement de l'intensité de la cataclase dans leur microstructure et des processus diagénétiques qui peuvent s'y localiser avec la profondeur. L'analyse régionale de ces réseaux de bandes souligne l'influence majeure du régime tectonique sur leur distribution, leur organisation et leur perméabilité. Les bandes associées au régime normal (cataclactiques et peu perméables) sont localisées autour des failles cartographiques, tandis que les bandes associées au régime inverse (modérement cataclastiques et perméables) sont distribuées dans toute la région. Les bandes inverses sont fortement cataclastiques et imperméables uniquement autour du chevauchement de Roquemaure ce qui montre le rôle potentiel de la présence de grande faille sur les caractéristiques structurales et pétrophysiques de ces bandes. D'autre part, cette analyse suggère que la granulométrie de l'encaissant peut influencer l'initiation et l'organisation des réseaux. L'analyse mécanique des bandes de déformation a ensuite été réalisée à partir des résultats obtenus en Provence. L'enveloppe de plasticité de ces matériaux est calculée à l'aide d'une solution analytique. Les essais triaxiaux menés sur le grès de la carrière de l'Etang (orange) confirment la forme de ces enveloppes estimées théoriquement. Les essais réalisés sur les sables de Boncavaï (Uchaux) montrent que la taille des grains, le tri et de la compaction dans ces matériaux peu lithifiés influent sur leurs enveloppes de plasticité et la localisation des bandes cataclastiques à faibles profondeurs. Les trajets de contraintes sont estimés pour les phases d'enfouissement et de chargement tectonique (extension et compression) à partir de la relation entre contrainte principale et contraintes secondaires (K0), calibrée à partir de données de forage. Ces résultats sont intégrés à un modèle permettant d'estimer la nature et les caractéristiques structurales des bandes susceptibles de se former dans un contexte géologique donné. Un modèle structural, mécanique et pétrophysique a été établir à partir de ces différents résultats. Ce modèle est calibré à partir des données de perméabilité mesurées sur les bandes de Provence et des résultats du modèle mécanique de localisation cité précédemment. Ce modèle a ensuite été confronté à une synthèse des données de perméabilité disponibles dans la littérature et confirme l'influence des différents paramètres de contrôle pris en compte dans le modèle. Ce modèle a enfin pu être appliqué sur deux sites d'explorations/exploitations d'uranium en réservoir gréseux poreux et validé par les résultats obtenus, en concordance avec les observations de terrain.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01001389

NNT : 2013MON20067
tel-01001389
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01001389
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01001389/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01001389/file/36072_BALLAS_2013_archivage-1_cor.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 American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
The Pyrenean peridotites (lherzolites) form numerous small bodies of subcontinental mantle, a few meters to 3 km across, exposed within the narrow north Pyrenean zone (NPZ) of Mesozoic sediments paralleling the north Pyrenean Fault. Recent studies have shown that mantle exhumation occurred along the future NPZ during the formation of the Albian-Cenomanian Pyrenean basins in relation with detachment tectonics. This paper reviews the geological setting of the Pyrenean lherzolite bodies and reports new detailed field data from key outcrops in the Bearn region. Only two types of geological settings have to be distinguished among the Pyrenean ultramafic bodies. In the first type (sedimented type or S type), the lherzolites occur as clasts of various sizes, ranging from millimetric grains to hectometric olistoliths, within monogenic or polymictic debris flow deposits of Cretaceous age, reworking Mesozoic sediments in dominant proportions as observed around the Lherz body. In the second type (tectonic type or T type), the mantle rocks form hectometric to kilometric slices associated with crustal tectonic lenses. Both crustal and mantle tectonic lenses are in turn systematically associated with large volumes of strongly deformed Triassic rocks and have fault contacts with units of deformed Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous sediments belonging to the cover of the NPZ. These deformed Mesozoic formations are not older that the Aptian-early Albian. They are unconformably overlain by the Albian-Cenomanian flysch formations and have experienced high temperature-low pressure mid-Cretaceous metamorphism at variable grades. Such a tectonic setting characterizes most of the lherzolite bodies exposed in the western Pyrenees. These geological data first provide evidence of detachment tectonics leading to manle exhumation and second emphasize the role of gravity sliding of the Mesozoic cover in the preorogenic evolution of the Pyrenean realm. In the light of such evidence, a simple model of basin development can be inferred, involving extreme thinning of the crust, and mantle uprising along a major detachment fault. We demonstrate coeval development of a crust-mantle detachment fault and generalized gravitational sliding of the Mesozoic cover along low-angle faults involving Triassic salt deposits as a tectonic sole. This model accounts for the basic characteristics of the precollisional rift evolution in the Pyrenean realm.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00512818
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00512818
DOI : 10.1029/2009TC002588

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD The Geochemical Society of Japan
Résumé : International audience
The Western Cordillera of Ecuador consists of Cretaceous crustal fragments of oceanic plateaux and superimposed insular arcs, which were accreted to the northwestern South American margin during the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene. Slices of high-grade metabasites, ultramafic rocks, gabbros and basalts, unmetamorphosed radiolarian cherts and scarce garnet-bearing metasediments were randomly exhumed along Miocene to Recent transcurrent faults crosscutting the Western Cordillera. The basalts show geochemical characteristics of oceanic plateau basalts (flat REE patterns, La/Nb = 0.85). The gabbros differ from the basalts in having lower REE levels, positive Eu anomalies, and negative Nb and Ta anomalies; they are interpreted as resulting from arc magmatism. The amphibolites and banded amphibolites have major and trace element chemistry similar to that of oceanic plateau basalts (flat REE patterns, La/Nb = 0.86) or to cumulate gabbros. The granulite shares with oceanic plateaus similar trace element chemistry (flat REE patterns, La/Nb < 1) and εNdi values (+7.6). Continent-derived metasediments are depleted in heavy REE (La/Y = 4.8) and have a negative Eu anomaly. Foliated lherzolites, melagabbronorites and pyroxenites consist of serpentinized olivine + cpx + opx ± Ca-plagioclase. Lherzolites, melagabbronorites and pyroxenites are LREE depleted with positive Eu anomalies, while the harzburgite displays a U-shaped REE pattern. The trace element abundances of the ultramafic rocks are very low (0.1 to 1 times the chondritic and primitive mantle values). The ultramafic rocks represent fragments of depleted mantle, deformed cpx-rich cumulate, and continental lithospheric mantle or mantle contaminated by subduction-fluid. Except the scarce quartz-rich metasediments, all these rocks likely represent remnants of accreted oceanic crustal fragments and associated depleted mantle. Since these samples were randomly sampled at depth by the fault, we propose that the Western Cordillera and its crustal root are mainly of oceanic nature.
ISSN: 0016-7002

insu-00679228
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00679228