Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Differentiation of the lithospheric mantle occurred principally through partial melting and extraction of melts. Harzburgites are generally considered as melting residues whereas lherzolites are regarded as pristine mantle weakly affected by melting. However, some orogenic peridotites show evidence of igneous refertilization. In this context, this work re-investigates the nature of the Lherz lherzolites (Pyrenees), type-locality of lherzolites, described as a piece of preserved fertile mantle. Structural and geochemical data show that these lherzolites are not pristine but formed through a refertilization reaction between MORB-like melts and refractory lithosphere. Moreover, the Lherz peridotites were partly used to infer the composition of the primitive upper mantle and these results may have important implications for the nature of the late veneer. Additionally, crystal-preferred orientations of minerals (CPO) highlight a strong feedback between melt percolation and finite strain in the percolated rocks. CPO variations are ruled by a subtle balance between instantaneous melt fraction and local strain rate. This work also investigated the effect of melt percolation on Hf, Nd and Sr isotopes. Isotope systematics in Lherz shows that strong isotopic decoupling may arise in a percolation front. The modelling suggests that decoupled isotopic signatures are generated during porous flow and governed by the melt/matrix elements concentrations, chemical diffusivities or efficiency of isotopic homogenization. Melt-rock interactions can generate “intraplate-like” isotopic signatures. This suggests that a part of isotopic signatures of mantle-related rocks could be generated by diffusional processes associated with melt transport.
La différenciation du manteau lithosphérique s'est principalement effectuée par fusion partielle et extraction de magmas. Les harzburgites sont généralement considérées comme des résidus de fusion tandis que les lherzolites représentent un manteau originel peu affecté par la fusion. Cependant, certaines péridotites orogéniques montrent des évidences de refertilisation magmatique. Dans ce contexte, ce travail remet en cause la nature primitive des lherzolites de Lherz (Pyrénées), lithotype de la lherzolite. Les données structurales et géochimiques montrent que ces lherzolites ne représentent pas du manteau préservé mais qu'elles se sont formées par une réaction de refertilisation entre un liquide de type MORB et une lithosphère réfractaire. De plus, les orientations préférentielles de réseau (OPR) des minéraux montrent une forte interdépendance entre la percolation magmatique et la déformation finie observée dans les roches percolées. Les variations d'OPR semblent contrôlées par un équilibre subtil entre fraction de liquide instantanée et taux de déformation local. Ce travail a également abordé les effets de la percolation magmatique sur la variabilité isotopique des roches mantelliques. Les résultats montrent qu'un fort découplage isotopique peut s'observer dans un front de percolation. Les modèles suggèrent que le découplage des signatures isotopiques se produit pendant la percolation, gouverné par le rapport des concentrations en éléments (magma/matrice), la diffusivité et le processus d'homogénéisation isotopique. Les réactions magma/roche peuvent générer des signatures isotopiques de type intraplaque. Ceci suggère qu'une part des signatures isotopiques des roches ou laves dérivées du manteau pourrait être produite par des processus diffusionnels associés à du transport de magma.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00431325

tel-00431325
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00431325
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00431325/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00431325/file/theseleroux08.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
The Ronda orogenic peridotite (southern Spain) contains a variety of pyroxene-rich rocks ranging from high-pressure garnet granulites and pyroxenites to low-pressure plagioclasespinel websterites. The 'asthenospherized' part of the Ronda peridotite contains abundant layered websterites ('group C' pyroxenites), without significant deformation, that occur as swarms of layers showing gradual modal transitions towards their host peridotites. Previous studies have suggested that these layered pyroxenites formed by the replacement of refractory spinel peridotites. Here, we present a major- and trace-element, and numerical modelling study of a layered outcrop of group C pyroxenite near the locality of Tolox aimed at constraining the origin of these pyroxenites after host peridotites by pervasive pyroxene-producing, refertilization meltrock reactions. Mg-number [=Mg/(Mg + Fe) cationic ratio] numerical modelling shows that decreasing Mg-number with increasing pyroxene proportion, characteristic of Ronda group C pyroxenites, can be accounted for by a melt-consuming reaction resulting in the formation of mildly evolved, relatively low Mg-number melts (similar to 0.65) provided that the melt fraction during reaction and the time-integrated melt/rock ratio are high enough (>0.1 and >1, respectively) to balance Mg-Fe buffering by peridotite minerals. This implies strong melt focusing caused by melt channelling in high-porosity domains resulting from compaction processes in a partial melted lithospheric domain below a solidus isotherm represented by the Ronda peridotite recrystallization front. The chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns of group C whole-rocks and clinopyroxenes are convex-upward. Numerical modeling of REE variations in clinopyroxene produced by a pyroxene-forming, melt-consuming reaction results in curved trajectories in the (Ce/Nd)(N) vs (Sm/Yb)(N) diagram (where N indicates chondrite normalized). Based on (Ce/Nd)(N) values, two transient, enriched domains between the light REE (LREE)-depleted composition of the initial peridotite and that of the infiltrated melt may be distinguished in the reaction column: (1) a lower domain characterized by convex-upward REE patterns similar to those observed in Ronda group C pyroxeniteperidotite; (2) an upper domain characterized by melts with strongly LREE-enriched compositions. The latter are probably volatile-rich, small-volume melt fractions residual after the refertilization reactions that generated group C pyroxenites, which migrated throughout the massifincluding the unmelted lithospheric spinel-tectonite domain. The Ronda mantle domains affected by pyroxenite- and dunite- or harzburgite-forming reactions (the 'layered granular' subdomain and 'plagioclase-tectonite' domain) are on average more fertile than the residual, 'coarse granular' subdomain at the recrystallization front. This indicates that refertilization traces the moving boundaries of receding cooling of a thinned and partially melted subcontinental lithosphere. This refertilization process may be widespread during transient thinning and melting of depleted subcontinental lithospheric mantle above upwelling asthenospheric mantle.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-00412200
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412200
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egn014

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
We investigate upper mantle anisotropy beneath the Pyrenean range along three N-S profiles across the mountain belt. The results of a first profile that operated in 1993 in the central part of the belt have been presented elsewhere. We present the results of two other profiles that ran in 1995-1996 and 1996-1997 in the eastern and western part of the belt, respectively and propose an interpretation of the whole results. Teleseismic shear waves (SKS, SKKS, and PKS) are used to determine splitting parameters: the fast polarization direction φ and the delay time δt. Teleseismic shear wave splitting in the eastern Pyrenees displays homogeneous φ values trending N100°E and δt values in the range 1.1 to 1.5 s. A station located in the southern Massif Central, 100 km north of the range, is characterized by different splitting parameters (φ = N70°E, δt = 0.7 s). In the western part of the belt, anisotropy parameters are similar across the whole belt (φ = N110°E and δt = 1.3 to 1.5 s). Most of the measured delay times, including those obtained in the central part of the range, are above the global average of the SKS splitting (around 1 s). At the belt scale, φ is generally poorly correlated with recent estimations of the absolute plate motion, which predicts a fast direction ranging between N50°E and N80°E. Instead, the orientation of φ (N100°E) is parallel to the trend of the Pyrenean belt but also to Hercynian preexisting structures. This parallelism supports an anisotropy primarily related to frozen or active lithospheric structures. We show that a signature related to the Pyrenean orogeny is likely for the stations located in the internal domains of the belt. By contrast, the anisotropy measured at the stations located on the external parts of the belt could reflect a pre-Pyrenean (Hercynian) deformation. We suggest that a late Hercynian strike-slip deformation is responsible for this frozen upper mantle anisotropy and that the Pyrenean tectonic fabric developped parallel to this preexisting fabric. Finally, no particularly strong splitting is related to the North Pyrenean Fault, commonly believed to represent the plate boundary between Iberia and Eurasia.
ISSN: 2169-9313

hal-01388841
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01388841
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01388841/document
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01388841/file/Barruol_Aniso_Pyr_JGR1998.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/98JB02790

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
New petrographic and microstructural observations, mineral equilibria modelling and U/Pb (monazite) geochronological studies were carried out to investigate the relationships between deformation and metamorphism across the Rehamna massif (Moroccan Variscan belt). In this area, typical Barrovian (muscovite to staurolite) zones developed in Cambrian to Carboniferous metasedimentary rocks that are distributed around a dome-like structure. First assemblages are characterized by the presence of locally preserved andalusite, followed by prograde evolution culminating at 6 kbar and 620 °C in the structurally deepest staurolite zone rocks. This Barrovian sequence was subsequently uplifted to supracrustal levels, heterogeneously reworked at greenschist facies conditions, which was followed locally by static growth of andalusite, indicating heating to 2.5–4 kbar and 530–570 °C. The 206Pb/238U monazite age of 298.3 ± 4.1 Ma is interpreted as minimum age of peak metamorphic conditions, whereas the ages of 275.8 ± 1.7 Ma and 277.0 ± 1.1 Ma date decompression and heating at low pressure, in agreement with previous dating of Permian granitoids intruding the Rehamna massif. The prograde metamorphism occurred during thickening and associated horizontal flow in the deeper crust (S1 horizontal schistosity). The horizontally disposed metamorphic zones were subsequently uplifted by a regional scale antiform during ongoing N–S compression. The re-heating of the massif follows late massive E–W shortening, refolding and retrograde shearing of all previous fabrics coevally with regionally important intrusions of Permian granitoids. We argue that metamorphic evolution of the Rehamna massif occurred several hundred kilometres from the convergent plate boundaries in the interior of continental Gondwanan plate. The tectonometamorphic history of the Rehamna massif is put into Palaeozoic plate tectonic perspective and Late Carboniferous reactivation of (Devonian)–Early Carboniferous basins formed during stretching of the north Gondwana margin and formation of the Palaeotethys Ocean. The inherited heat budget of these magma-rich basins plays a role in the preferential location of this intracontinental orogen. It is shown that rapid transition from lithospheric stretching to compression is characterized by specific HT type of Barrovian metamorphism, which markedly differs from similar Barrovian sequences along Palaeozoic plate boundaries reported from Variscan Europe.
ISSN: 0263-4929

hal-01468009
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01468009
DOI : 10.1111/jmg.12214

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Among erosion processes, river incision is classicaly described as a key process controlling erosion of landscapes. Incision efficiency is mainly influenced by climate and erodibility. This latter is not only dependent on the nature of the bedrock, but also on its past deformation, which affects its rheological effective properties, such as fracture density. The main objectives of this thesis are: (1) to better constrain the relationship between effective properties and erodibility, and (2) to quantify the influence of erodibility and erosion on both the temporal and spatial building or decay of the topography. Several numerical tools are developed. A 1D formalism of landscape evolution is introduced, including river incision with stochastic distribution of water discharge and hillslope landsliding. A new remeshing algorithm called Surface Lagrangian Remeshing (SLR) is developed as a complement to remeshing algorithms dealing with internal elements. It allows one to take into account long-term erosion into 2D Lagrangian numerical codes based on triangular finite elements. Then the potentiality of measuring erodibility in-situ using a Schmidt hammer (R) is assessed for the active orogen of Taiwan, the diagenetic Annot sandstones and St Clement fault zone. Results suggest a strong control of R by effective properties. A linear model based on effective medium theory is applied to a fault zone with an unmacthed resolution (750 measures, 25 measures per square meter). The model successfully correlates R to fracture density. These results demonstrate that effective elasticity as well as erodibility are sensitive to the density and type of fractures. Finally I focus on the erosional and rheological conditions that allows reproducing post-orogenic evolution of mountain belts. A model coupling surface erosion and regional isostatic uplift is consistent with observations. The topographic decay and decrease of the ratio of surface elevation over crustal root thickness is at first order controlled by the initial geometry of the mountain belt and erosion efficiency. This new model highlights the control ofclimate and erodibility on the topographic decay and of lithospheric rheology on the perseverance of crustal roots.
Parmi les processus d'érosion, l'incision des rivières est classiquement décrit comme un processus clé contrôlant l'érosion des paysages. L'efficacité de l'incision est principalement influencée par le climat et par l'érodabilité. Ce dernier paramètre ne dépend pas seulement de la nature du substratum rocheux, mais aussi de sa déformation passée qui affecte ses propriétés rhéologiques équivalentes. Les principaux objectifs de cette thèse sont: (1) de mieux contraindre les relations entre propriétés équivalentes et érodabilité, et (2) de quantifier l'influence de l'érosion et de l'érodabilité sur la formation ou la décadence, spatiale et temporelle, de la topographie. Plusieurs outils numériques sont développés. Un formalisme 1D d'évolution des paysages est proposé, prenant en compte simultanément l'incision des rivières avec une distribution stochastique des débits en eau et l'érosion des versants par glissements de terrain. Un nouvel algorithme de remaillage appelé Surface Lagrangian Remeshing (SLR) est développé. Il permet de prendre en compte l'érosion à long terme dans les codes numériques 2D Lagrangiens basés sur des éléments finis triangulaires. Ensuite, la possibilité de mesurer in-situ l'érodabilité avec un marteau de Schmidt (R) est évaluée pour: l'orogène actif de Taiwan, les grès diagénétiques d'Annot et la zone de faille de St Clément. Les résultats suggèrent un fort contrôle de R par les propriétés équivalentes des roches testées. Un modèle linéaire, basé sur la théorie des milieux équivalents, est appliqué à une zone de faille avec une résolution inégalée (750 mesures, 25 mesures par mètre carré). Le modèle permet de corréler avec succès la densité de fracture et R. Ces résultats démontrent empiriquement que l'élasticité équivalente ainsi que l'érodabilité sont sensibles à la densité et à la nature des fractures. Enfin j'étudie les conditions d'érosion et de rhéologie qui permettent de reproduire l'évolution des chaînes de montagnes post-orogéniques. Un modèle couplant érosion en surface et soulèvement isostatique régional est compatible avec les observations. Les taux de décroissance topographique et de diminution du rapport de l'élévation de surface sur l'épaisseur de racine crustale sont contrôlés au premier ordre par la géométrie initiale de la chaîne de montagne et par l'efficacité de l'érosion. Ce nouveau modèle met en évidence le contrôle du climat et de l'érodabilité sur la décroissance topographique et de la rhéologie lithosphérique sur la persévérance des racines crustales.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00602341

tel-00602341
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00602341
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00602341/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00602341/file/thesephilippesteer.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Orogenic wedges locally present chaotic tectonostratigraphic units that contain exotic blocks of various size, origin, age and lithology, embedded in a sedimentary matrix. The occurrence of ophiolitic blocks, sometimes huge, in such “mélanges” raises questions on (i) the mechanisms responsible for the incorporation of oceanic basement rocks into an accretionary wedge and (ii) the mechanisms allowing exhumation and redeposition of these exotic elements in “mélanges” during wedge growth.To address these questions, we present the results of a series of analogue experiments performed to characterize the processes and parameters responsible for accretion, exhumation and tectonosedimentary reworking of oceanic basement lithospheric fragments in an accretionary wedge.The experimental setup is designed to simulate the interaction between tectonics, erosion and sedimentation. Different configurations are applied to study the impact of various parameters, such as irregular oceanic floor due to structural inheritance, or the presence of layers with contrasted rheology that can affect deformation partitioning in the wedge (frontal accretion vs basal accretion) influencing its growth. Image correlation technique allows extracting instantaneous velocity field, and tracking of passive particles. By retrieving the particle paths determined from models, the pressure-temperature path of mélange units or elementary blocks can be discussed. The experimental results are then compared with observations from ophiolite-bearing mélanges in Taiwan (Lichi and Kenting mélanges) and Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous material (RSCM) Thermometry data on rocks from the northern Apennines (Casanova mélange). A geological scenario is proposed following basic observations. The tectonic evolution of the retroside of doubly vergent accretionary wedges is mainly controlled by backthrusting and backfolding. The retro wedge is characterized by steep slopes that are prone to gravitational instabilities. It triggers submarine landslides inducing huge mass transfers. This erosion combined with backthrusting could favour exhumation of the ophiolitic fragments formerly accreted at the base of the wedge along the rough seafloor-sediments interface. Such an exhumed material can be reworked and deposited as debris- flows in proximal basins located at the foot of the retrowedge slope forming a tectono-sedimentary mélange. These syntectonic basins are continuously deformed and involved in prograding backthrusting-induced deformation.
ISSN: 0264-3707

hal-01395127
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01395127
DOI : 10.1016/j.jog.2016.05.008

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Masson
Résumé : The Great Glen Fault (GGF) is a major lithospheric strike-slip fault system that cuts across the Caledonian orogenic belt of Scotland. It separates the Northern Highlands terrane from the Grampian terrane. Movement history along the fault extends at least into the Early Palaeozoic. The low-temperature history of the Scottish Highlands covers a significant period from the Late Palaeozoic to the Present, but the magnitude of vertical movements that affected the GGF area during that time is still a matter of debate. Fission track analysis on detailed vertical profiles in the Ballachulish and Strontian complexes, as well as on a profile oriented northeastwards across the GGF, reveals distributed differential vertical movements along the fault during the Late Palaeozoic. The Mesozoic denudation is estimated at a maximum of 2 km before a more recent widespread exhumation event that started at around 40–25 Ma, leading to 1.6 to 2 km of erosion. La Great Glen Fault (GGF) est un système décrochant lithosphérique majeur qui traverse la chaîne calédonienne d'Écosse. Il sépare les domaines des Northern Highlands et de Grampian. L'histoire tectonique de ce système remonte au moins au Paléozoïque inférieur. L'histoire de la dénudation des Highlands d'Écosse s'étend du Paléozoïque supérieur jusqu'au Présent, mais l'ampleur des mouvements verticaux ayant affecté la zone autour du système de la GGF pendant cette période est toujours sujette à débat. Les analyses traces de fission réalisées sur des profils verticaux dans les complexes granitiques du Ballachulish et de Strontian, ainsi que sur un profil plus au nord-est à travers la GGF, mettent en évidence des mouvements différentiels distribués de part et d'autre de la faille au Paléozoïque supérieur. La dénudation mésozoïque est estimée au maximum à 2 km, avant un dernier épisode de surrection généralisée à partir de 40–25 Ma, qui provoque environ 1,6 à 2 km d'érosion.
ISSN: 1631-0713

hal-00406583
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00406583
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2006.12.005

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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Splitting of teleseismic shear waves has been measured in the Appalachians (eastern USA) and the Pyrenees (western Europe) using data recorded by permanent and portable stations. From a comparison of the results, it appears that an interpretation of the recorded seismic anisotropy in terms of geodynamics is not straightforward. Successive geodynamic events have generated structures that may have resulted in a similar pattern of mantle flow and that therefore may have contributed in the development of the recorded anisotropy. Combining geological and geophysical arguments, it appears that the mantle anisotropy measured across the Appalachians and the Pyrenees may not be systematically Appalachian or Pyrenean in age but may be mainly due to a lithospheric structure formed during earlier major tectonic events, i.e. the Grenvillian and the Hercynian orogenies, respectively. We suggest that during major episodes of continent assembly, a pervasive tectonic fabric is developed in the lithospheric mantle. In the subsequent evolution of the continent, this fabric may induce a significant mechanical anisotropy that will drastically influence the mechanical behaviour of the Iithosphere when submitted to new tectonic events.
ISSN: 0031-9201

hal-01389717
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01389717
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01389717/document
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01389717/file/Vauchez_Barruol-PEPI96_hal.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/0031-9201(95)03125-1

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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : In SW Yukon – SE Alaska, the boundary between the Pacific and North America plates is characterized by a syntaxis at the transition between the Aleutian subduction to the W and the Fairweather – Queen Charlotte strike-slip faults to the SE. The relative motion is oblique to the main fault structures, and the area is marked by the Yakutat block collision. From the Chugach – Saint Elias mountains in the plate boundary zone (up to 6 000 m high) to the intraplate strike-slip faults, markers of the present-day deformation give information on its partition in the system.During my PhD, I first measure surface deformation using a dense GPS network, deployed up to 500 km inland the North America plate. After precise processing and corrections of transient effects in the area (postseismic and glacial isostatic rebound), a new residual velocity field is produced for the syntaxis area, from which I derive strain rates. Those data allow me to quantify the fault slip rates for Fairweather and southern Denali strike-slip faults, and to characterize a bi-modal deformation pattern: Along the plate boundary, the deformation is localized on large-scale structures (accretionary prism to the W, Fairweather to the E); In the syntaxis area, strain rates are the highest and the GPS data shows a diffuse intraplate deformation, similar to an indentor pattern. The Yakutat block seems to strongly drive the North America plate deformation.This indentor pattern induces strong lateral variations on the large intraplate faults: the Denali – Totschunda – Duke River system. In a second part, I realize a regional geomorphological study to characterize the role and slip rate of those faults. From very high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (~ 1 m), a detailed cartography is done. On the basis of fieldwork observations, I measure offsets of fluvial and glacial markers, which are sampled for dating. A dextral cumulative deformation is highlighted on the northern Denali Fault, where as all southern Denali is marked by vertical deformation. This study allows me to quantify new slip rates for the system Denali – Totschunda – Duke River, and to show the leading role of the Totschunda (~ 14 mm/a) and Duke River (~ 6 mm/a) faults, contrary to the Denali Fault (~ 1 mm/a) North of the syntaxis.The new tectonic model for the Yakutat collision provides an important case study for the understanding of indentor systems. The concomitance of a rigid-block deformation (to the West) and diffuse deformation (to the East), as well as the near-zero slip rate on the lithospheric-scale southern Denali Fault highlight the major control of boundary conditions and the structural heritage on the orogen deformation.
Au SO Yukon – SE Alaska, la frontière entre les plaques Pacifique et Nord-Amérique est marquée par une syntaxe à la transition entre la subduction des Aléoutiennes à l’O et le décrochement de Fairweather – Queen Charlotte au SE. Le mouvement relatif est oblique et la région est marquée par la collision du bloc Yakutat. De la chaine des Chugach – Saint Elias en frontière de plaque (jusqu’à 6 000 m d’altitude) aux grands décrochements intraplaque, les marqueurs de la déformation actuelle apportent des informations sur sa partition dans ce système.Au cours de cette thèse, je m’intéresse dans un premier temps à mesurer la déformation de surface à l’aide d’un réseau GPS dense, déployé jusqu’à 500 km à l’intérieur de la plaque Nord-Amérique. Après un travail minutieux de traitement des données et de correction des effets transitoires (rebond post-glaciaire et post-sismique), un champ de vitesses résiduelles robuste et inédit est produit au niveau de la syntaxe, dont je dérive des taux de déformation. Ces données me permettent de quantifier les vitesses de glissement les failles décrochantes de Fairweather et Denali au Sud, et également de caractériser une déformation bimodale : En frontière de plaques, la déformation est localisée sur les grandes structures (prisme d’accrétion à l’O, Fairweather à l’E) ; Au niveau de la syntaxe, les taux de déformation sont les plus importants et les données GPS mettent en évidence une déformation intraplaque diffuse, similaire à un champ attendu à l’aplomb d’un indenteur. Le bloc Yakutat semble donc contrôler fortement la déformation de la plaque Nord-Amérique.Ce champ de déformation induit des variations latérales fortes sur les grandes failles intraplaque : le système Denali-Totschunda-Duke River. Dans une seconde partie, je réalise une étude géomorphologique régionale pour caractériser le rôle et la vitesse de ces failles. À partir de Modèles Numériques de Terrain très haute résolution (~ 1 m), une cartographie de détail est réalisée. Puis une mission de terrain me permet de mesurer des décalages sur des marqueurs fluviatiles et glaciaires et collecter des échantillons pour les dater. Je mets en évidence une déformation cumulée dextre sur le segment Nord de la faille de Denali, alors que toute la partie Sud déforme verticalement la surface. Cette étude me permet de quantifier de nouvelles vitesses de failles sur le système Denali-Totschunda-Duke River, et de montrer le rôle prépondérant des failles de Totschunda (~ 14 mm/a) et Duke River (~ 6 mm/a) contrairement à la faille de Denali (~ 1 mm/a) au Nord de la syntaxe.Le nouveau modèle cinématique proposé pour la région de collision Yakutat permet d’apporter un nouvel exemple à la compréhension des systèmes d’indenteur. La concomitance d’une déformation de blocs (à l’Ouest) et diffuse (à l’Est), ainsi que l’absence de déformation sur la faille lithosphérique de Denali Sud met en évidence le contrôle majeur des conditions aux limites et de l’héritage structural dans la déformation des orogènes.
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01241688

tel-01241688
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01241688
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01241688/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01241688/file/manuscrit_anais_v2_optimise.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Dahomey belt in Togo and Benin is an important segment of the larger West Gondwana Orogen. Here, we review the geodynamic evolution of the Dahomey belt and discuss new U–Pb and Lu–Hf zircon data in light of similar data previously acquired on the geologically related Northern Borborema Province, in NE Brazil. Eighteen samples from different tectonic settings and regions within the belt were collected for zircon isotopic investigation. Passive margin deposits of the Atacora Structural Unit and lower units of the Volta Basin have detrital zircon signatures compatible with the flanking West Africa Craton. The arc-related magmatism resulted from the east-dipping subduction of the Goiás-Pharusian oceanic lithosphere and is represented by a variety of granitoids emplaced in the Benino-Nigerian Shield between 670 and 610 Ma. These granitoids were mainly sourced from crustal reservoirs with subordinate juvenile input. Detrital zircon ages from syn-orogenic deposits in Benino-Nigerian Shield suggest that arc development could have started as early as 780 Ma. The main period of melting in the internal part of the belt, the Benino-Nigerian Shield, is related to crustal thickening and occurs only ca. 30 m.y. after initiation of the continental collision, marked by the ca. 610 Ma ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphism recorded at Lato Hills. Foreland development represented by the upper units of the Volta basin developed soon after continental collision and persisted with the development of the west-verging thrust front synchronously with the main period of crustal melting due to collision at ca. 580 Ma. The subvertical Transbrasiliano Lineament in South America, that corresponds to the Kandi Lineament in Africa, provides a present-day fit between NW Africa and NE Brazil. Restoration of the movement of the Transbrasiliano-Kandi Lineament (strike-slip plate boundary) places the Dahomey belt and Borborema Province (NE Brazil) along the same section of the West Gondwana Orogen. This configuration would explain some of the misfits previously discussed in the literature and aligns the UHP eclogites in Togo and NE Brazil.
ISSN: 0301-9268

hal-01358584
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01358584
DOI : 10.1016/j.precamres.2016.01.032

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
Coupling between erosion and tectonics is thought to play a determinant role in orogenic evolution. Here, we investigate the interplay in this coupling between the assumed erosion law and the crustal rheology at the margin of a collisional plateau, like the Himalaya of Central Nepal. Lithospheric deformation is calculated over a time scale of 100 kyr by a 2D finite element model that incorporates the rheological layering of the crust and the main features of the convergence across the range. For the upper boundary condition, two surface processes were tested: a linear diffusion model and a 1D1/2 integrative model including fluvial incision along the fluvial network and hillslope erosion by landsliding. Model results and their sensitivity to the chosen combinations of erosion law and crustal properties are discussed in light of the constraining geologic and geomorphologic observations. In contrast with the conclusions of Cattin and Avouac [2000] , where a compliant quartz-rich crustal rheology and diffusion law were required, we combine a composite quartz-diabase rheology for the crust with fluvial incision erosion law to account for erosion and elevation profiles across the Himalaya of Central Nepal. More generally, it is proposed that, because of the interplay between the dominant denudation conditions and the rheology of the crust, both well documented erosion rates and processes can provide significant constraints on crustal properties within an active orogen.
ISSN: 0094-8276

hal-00788697
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00788697
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00788697/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00788697/file/godard_et_al.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2004GL021006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Seismic anisotropy of the south Iberian upper mantle is investigated using shear-wave splitting of SKS phases. We analyzed teleseismic events recorded by sixteen permanent broadband stations installed on the southern Iberian Peninsula and in northern Africa, and we determined fast polarization directions phi, and delay times delta t between fast and slow components. The area of investigation extends across two important geological structures in the Variscan Iberian Peninsula: the Variscan Iberian Massif in its center, and the Gibraltar arc in the Southeast, that represents the most westerly Alpine belt in the western Mediterranean. Shear-wave splitting measurements from stations in the Betic domain show homogeneous ENE-WSW fast directions nearly parallel to the trend of the mountain belt, and smooth spatial variations. Stations in the North, toward the southern part of the Variscan Iberian Massif show homogeneous fast directions however trending NS to NE-SW, different from those recorded in the Betic. These observations may reflect a post-Hercynian (Variscan) deformation of the Ossa-Morena zone, related to the main stages in the tectonic evolution of this part, namely transpressional stage, transtensional stage and shortening episode, or a deformation related to the posterior Alpine orogeny. Along the Gibraltar arc, we observe a smoothly varying phi trend changing from ENE-WSW in the Eastern Betics to NS in the area of Gibraltar and Ceuta, following more or less the general trend of the mountain belt around the Alboran Sea, and the coastline. Since a similar rotation is also visible in results from Pn anisotropy, this suggests that the anisotropy is vertically coherent starting from just below the Moho. Comparing the anisotropy pattern expected from various geodynamic models with the observed SKS splitting suggests that the anisotropy is best explained by a model of slab rollback, rather than by delamination models.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00412175
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412175
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412175/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412175/file/Buontempo_SKS_gibraltar_EPSL2008_hal.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.06.024

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The crust of the Paleoproterozoic West African Craton in northern Ghana is dominantly made of Tonalite-Trondhjemite-Granodiorite (TTG) suites, low-K to high-K calc-alkaline granites, with minor LILE-enriched diorites, and chemically related lavas. Results of zircon U-Pb dating indicate that all these different rock types were formed together over a prolonged period of ca. 100 Ma, between 2.21 and 2.11 Ga. Zircon Hf isotope compositions of five samples are supra-chondritic (εHft from +1 to +6) indicating that the granitoids derive from the reworking of juvenile crustal components as old as 2.60 Ga. Geochemical data show that the TTGs were derived from the reworking of a low-K mafic crust, while biotite granites formed by the reworking of older felsic crustal rocks, and diorites derived from the melting of LILE-enriched mantle sources.The combined datasets support a three-step model for the formation of the crust of the West African craton in northern Ghana: (1) a juvenile, mafic proto-crust was extracted from the depleted mantle between 2.60 and 2.30 Ga, in an oceanic environment remote from any pre-existing continental nucleus; (2) the mafic proto-crust was reworked in several primitive magmatic arcs or in accreted oceanic plateaux. Crustal reworking initially produced minor felsic magmatism between 2.35 and 2.21 Ga, followed by the 2.21–2.15 Ga emplacement of low- to medium-P TTG and K-rich calc-alkaline granitoid suites, and was coeval with the formation of an enriched mantle source. (3) Various proto-continental terranes collided during the Eburnean orogeny between 2.14 and 2.11 Ga, triggering intense reworking of the composite crust and mantle reservoirs formed in the previous two steps, i.e. remnants of the juvenile mafic crust, older TTGs and biotite granites, and previously enriched mantle sources. The emplacement of high-P TTGs, granites and LILE-enriched diorites resulted from lower crustal heating in response to the delamination of the lower crust and lithospheric mantle. The Eburnean collision therefore marks the final stages of a 200–500 Ma long period of juvenile continental crust formation and stabilisation. The datasets further reveal that the Paleoproterozoic West African Craton comprises a minimum of two distinct crustal blocks, with north-western Ghana lying at their interface.
ISSN: 0301-9268

hal-01467999
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01467999
DOI : 10.1016/j.precamres.2016.10.011