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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Société Géologique de France
Résumé : Based on a High-Resolution 3D seismic block acquired in the Gulf of Lion in 2004–2005 we investigated fluid pipes and pockmarks on the top of the interfluve between the Hérault canyon and the Bourcart canyon both created by turbidity currents and gravity flows from the shelf to the deep basin in the north-western Mediterranean Sea. Combining the geometry of the potential fluid pipes with the induced deformation of surrounding sediments leads then to the ability to differentiate between potential fluid sources (root vs source) and to better estimate the triggering mechanisms (allochtonous vs. autochtonous cause). We linked together a set of derived attributes, such as Chaos and RMS amplitude, to a 3D description of pipes along which fluids may migrate. As previously shown in other basins, the induced deformation, creating cone in cone or V-shaped structures, may develop in response to the fluid pipe propagation in unconsolidated sediments in the near surface. The level at the top of a cone structure is diachronous. It means that stratigraphic levels over this surface are deformed at the end of the migration. They collapse forming a depression called a pockmark. These pipes are the result of repeated cycles of fluid expulsion that might be correlated with rapid sea-level rise instead of sediment loading. The most recent event (MIS 2.2 stage) has led to the formation of a pockmark on the modern seafloor. It has been used as a reference for calculating the effect of a rapid sea-level rise on fluid expulsion. As all physical and geometrical parameters are constrained, we were able to define that a + 34 m of sea level rise may account for triggering fluid expulsion from a very shallow silty-sandy layer at 9 m below seafloor since the last glacial stage. This value is consistent with a sea level rise of about 102 m during this period. This study shows that the episodic nature of fluid release resulted from hydromechanical processes during sea-level rise due to the interactivity between high pressure regimes and principal in situ stresses.
ISSN: 0037-9409

hal-01667241
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01667241
DOI : 10.1051/bsgf/2017190

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We present new Sr-Nd-Pb isotope data of the western Alpujárride metamorphic basement and the pre-Miocene Flysch sediments of the Betic Cordillera (southern Spain). Nd model ages are consistent with an increasing detrital input from the Alborán domain to the Flysch Trough in the western Mediterranean during the late Oligocene. The Alpujárride metamorphic crustal rocks derived from Archean-Paleoproterozoic terranes located along the northern margin of Gondwana in the Neoproterozoic. The heterogeneous isotopic signatures of the Alpujárride units indicate that they have different sedimentary protoliths and underwent contrasted Variscan and pre-Variscan tectono-magmatic evolutions. Melts/fluids derived from the western Alpujárride gneisses contaminated the mantle source of the Ronda high-Mg pyroxenite dykes, implying that the Alpujárride lower crust underthrusted the subcontinental lithospheric mantle of the Alborán domain generating subduction-like magmatism in the late Oligocene. The western Alpujárride upper crust is involved in the Neogene volcanism of the Alborán Sea basin, but only contaminated some LREE-enriched calc-alkaline lavas erupted along the continental margins. On the other hand, tholeiitic lavas in the center of the basin show no isotopic evidence of crustal assimilation. This indicates that most of the crust in the central Alborán Sea accreted by Miocene tholeiitic magmatism and that Alpujárride lower crust is absent and likely foundered close to the continental margins of the basin.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-01526912
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01526912
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2016.10.003

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We present GPS observations in Morocco and adjacent areas of Spain from 15 continuous (CGPS) and 31 survey-mode (SGPS) sites extending from the stable part of the Nubian plate to central Spain. We determine a robust velocity field for the W Mediterranean that we use to constrain models for the Iberia-Nubia plate boundary. South of the High Atlas Mountain system, GPS motions are consistent with Nubia plate motions from prior geodetic studies. We constrain shortening in the Atlas system to <1.5 mm/yr. 95% confidence level. North of the Atlas Mountains, the GPS velocities indicate Nubia motion with respect to Eurasia, but also a component of motion normal to the direction of Nubia-Eurasia motion, consisting of southward translation of the Rif Mountains in N Morocco at rates exceeding 5 mm/yr. This southward motion appears to be directly related to Miocene opening of the Alboran Sea. The Betic Mountain system north of the Alboran Sea is characterized by WNW motion with respect to Eurasia at 1-2 mm/yr. paralleling Nubia-Eurasia relative motion. In addition, sites located in the Betics north of the southerly moving Rif Mountains also indicate a component of southerly motion with respect to Eurasia. We interpret this as indicating that deformation associated with Nubia-Eurasia plate motion extends into the southern Betics, but also that the Betic system may be affected by the same processes that are causing southward motion of the Rif Mountains south of the Alboran Sea. Kinematic modeling indicates that plate boundary geometries that include a boundary through the Straits of Gibraltar are most compatible with the component of motion in the direction of relative plate motion, but that two additional blocks (Alboran-Rif block, Betic Mountain block), independent of both Nubia and Eurasia are needed to account for the motions of the Rif and Betic Mountains normal to the direction of relative plate motion. We speculate that the southward motions of the Alboran-Rif and Betic blocks may be related to mantle flow, possibly induced by southward rollback of the subducted Nubian plate beneath the Alboran Sea and Rif Mountains.
ISSN: 0264-3707

hal-00475538
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00475538
DOI : 10.1016/j.jog.2009.10.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Maghrebides, Betics and some parts of the Calabrian, NE Sicilian and Tuscan allochtons constitute dismembered fragments of the Alpine belt that resulted from the Cenozoic collision between Africa and Eurasia and the opening of the Western Mediterranean basin. Mineral and whole-rock geochemical analyses have been performed on three distinct outcrops of mantle material from the Edough Massif of NE Algeria, namely the Bou Maiza (BM) gabbros, the La Voile Noire (LVN) amphibolites and the Sidi Mohamed (SM) peridotites. In all samples, Sr isotopes are largely affected by seawater alteration (87Sr/86Sract. > 0.70384 and up to 0.70888) and cannot be used to evaluate the nature of the source reservoirs. SM peridotites display variable depleted mantle Nd isotopic signatures (εNdact. from + 7.0 to + 12.2) and geochemical features suggesting no significant chemical depletion as a result of partial melting and melt extraction (Mg# < 90; slightly LREE-depleted patterns with La/YbN = 0.33-0.39). These rocks are interpreted as parts of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle incorporated into the crustal units of the Edough Massif during the early stages of opening of the Algerian basin. BM gabbros and LVN amphibolites show geochemical signatures indicating derivation from a common Depleted Mantle reservoir (εNd > + 7.9) and are likely cogenetic, but without filiation with the SM peridotites. Pb isotopes indicate a contribution of sediments in the source reservoir, which is attributed to contamination solely by hydrous fluids released from a sedimentary component. This observation, together with a LILE-enrichment, suggests a back-arc basin environment. These results indicate that BM and LVN units were obducted onto the North African margin and subsequently fragmented, probably during doming and exhumation of the lower continental crust of the Edough massif. Doming resulted in opposite movements of the overlying oceanic units, southward for the BM units and northward for LVN amphibolites.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-01122777
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01122777
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2014.03.031

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD University of Chicago Press
Résumé : International audience
Contrasting tectonic reconstructions of the westernmost Mediterranean have been proposed to explain the origin of the Alboran marine basin contemporaneously with Cenozoic convergence between the African and European plates. Cr-rich pyroxenites in the Ronda massif record the geochemical processes occurring in the subcontinental mantle of the Alboran domain in the Late Oligocene, thus constraining the geodynamic scenario of Cenozoic extension in the western Mediterranean lithosphere. Clinopyroxene in intrusive Cr-rich websterite dikes crosscutting the Ronda peridotite is strongly depleted in Nb-Ta and enriched in light rare earth elements, as typically observed in arc magmas, and is in trace element equilibrium with Neogene subduction-related lavas from the western and central Mediterranean. Sr-Nd-Pb radiogenic isotopes indicate that the mantle source of the Ronda pyroxenite dikes was contaminated by a subduction component released by detrital sediments likely deposited in passive continental margins. Rather than convective removal or delamination of the lithospheric root, our data strongly support Alboran geodynamic models that envisage slab rollback as the tectonic mechanism responsible for the Miocene lithospheric thinning. The Ronda Cr-rich pyroxenite dikes represent the earliest unambiguous manifestation of subduction-related magmatism in the western Mediterranean and testify to the involvement of terrigenous sediments in the primitive stages of subduction.
ISSN: 0022-1376

hal-00745853
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00745853
DOI : 10.1086/663875

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Laboratoire Arago
Résumé : International audience
Within all plankton surveys, teleostean eggs are collected together with the plankton, but their identification is generally not considered because of the lack of knowledge in descrip- tive taxonomic key. nevertheless, they can provide relevant information on biology and ecology of species, as well as on the condition of fishing stock in respect to fishery sciences. In the pres- ent work, we are proposing, for the first time, a determination key for fish eggs, based on quali- tative, quantitative and ecological features to identify teleostean eggs of many species occurring in the Mediterranean Sea. Descriptors where followed and established while keeping alive eggs until hatching, since it get nearly always possible to determine the species or the genus to which they belong at the hatching stage and get back then to look for specific characteristics of the eggs.
ISSN: 0240-8759

hal-01160066
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01160066

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Plio-Pleistocene diatomitic sequences in the Shamb paleo-lake (South Armenia, Lesser Caucasus) offer a rare opportunity to give new insights on the paleo-climate of Western Asia. We present an integrated palynological, 40Ar/39Ar geochronologic and magnetostratigraphic study for the most complete section in the sedimentary deposits of the Shamb paleo-lake. 40Ar/39Ar dating of two volcaniclastic layers provided ages of 1.24 ± 0.03 and 1.16 ± 0.02 Ma (2. Magnetostratigraphic data show that the entire Shamb section is of reversed polarity which, combined with 40Ar/39Ar dating, suggests that the entire section correlates with part of the Matuyama period (1.785-1.070 Ma). Pollen assemblages and macroremains diversity clearly show an alternation of glacial and interglacial phases. Age calibrations and accumulation rate extrapolation allow a direct correlation of climate changes with the global isotopic curve, and show that the Shamb section probably ranges from approximately 1.300 to 1.080 Ma (marine isotopic stages 40 to 31). The vegetation of the Lesser Caucasus developed in a mosaic pattern in a Pleistocene continental, mostly arid climate, comparable to the present-day climate. The observed vegetation changes record a dominant climate response to the obliquity orbital parameter, but the influence of precession could not be established from the Shamb data. Pollen and macroflora both indicate that glacial periods were cold and dry and that interglacials were warm with local humidity. The early Pleistocene climatic model for Western Asia is thus similar to the climatic model for the Mediterranean area.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00470353
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00470353
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2010.01.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
A variety of atypical plume-like structures and focused upwellings that are not rooted in the lower mantle have recently been discussed, and seismological imaging has shown ubiquitous small-scale convection in the uppermost mantle in regions such as the Mediterranean region, the western US, and around the western Pacific. We argue that the three-dimensional return flow and slab fragmentation associated with complex oceanic subduction trajectories within the upper mantle can generate focused upwellings and that these may play a significant role in regional tectonics. The testable surface expressions of this process are the outside-arc alkaline volcanism, topographic swell, and low-velocity seismic anomalies associated with partial melt. Using three-dimensional, simplified numerical subduction models, we show that focused upwellings can be generated both ahead of the slab in the back-arc region (though -five times further inward from the trench than arc-volcanism) and around the lateral edges of the slab (in the order of 100 km away from slab edges). Vertical mass transport, and by inference the associated decompression melting, in these regions appears strongly correlated with the interplay between relative trench motion and subduction velocities. The upward flux of material from the depths is expected to be most pronounced during the first phase of slab descent into the upper mantle or during slab fragmentation. We discuss representative case histories from the Pacific and the Mediterranean where we find possible evidence for such slab-related volcanism.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00553075
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00553075
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2010.08.012

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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
AimEcological connectivity is currently considered to be essential to enhance biodiversity conservation efforts and benefit adjacent areas. We evaluate the spatial structure of vulnerable marine benthic invertebrate populations based on connectivity to improve the placement of marine protected areas.LocationGulf of Lions, NW Mediterranean Sea.MethodsWe used a spatially explicit metapopulation model to explore how larval dispersal affects marine benthic invertebrate dynamics at local and regional scales. Minimum recruitment success (the proportion of larvae that settle in a site and survive between spawning and first reproduction, which is required to ensure species persistence) is proposed as a measure of vulnerability. Three contrasting simulations were constructed: closed versus connected populations, habitat loss versus recruitment failure disturbances and varying patterns of oceanographic connectivity. The rescue factor (the ratio of minimum recruitment success in connected and closed populations) quantified the decrease in vulnerability because of oceanographic connectivity.ResultsIn the Gulf of Lions, connectivity reduced population vulnerability by a rescue factor of 5.3. The minimum recruitment success for regional persistence decreased from 3% to 0.2% when species' life expectancies increased from 2 to 50 years. Connectivity enabled the spread of individuals over the entire region, but there were higher densities in sink sites, where low retention rates do not allow for local persistence (western tip of the gulf). Source sites, defined as those sites bringing metapopulation resistance to recruitment failure and stresses from habitat loss, were located in the centre of the gulf.Main conclusionsConnectivity drives the spatial structure of population density distribution and population vulnerability in the absence of any other structuring factor. In the Gulf of Lions, marine protected areas are located in population sinks; however; if protection measures were taken in the central part, populations would benefit throughout the region via the rescue effect.
ISSN: 1366-9516

hal-01341743
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01341743
DOI : 10.1111/ddi.12254

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Société géologique de France
Résumé : In the western Mediterranean Sea, the Liguro-Provençal Basin (LPB) is a key area for studying passive margins because of its recent formation and abundance of onshore and offshore data. The Nerthe area located in the northern margin of LPB provides the unique continuous Oligo-Miocene deposits contemporaneous of the transition rifting to drifting. However, the age of the deposits remains debated and the link between outcrops and offshore seismic data is poorly constrained. The purpose of this paper is double. First, we intend to propose a new chronostratigraphic frame based on bio- (planktonic foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils) and magneto-stratigraphy. Second, we aim to make, through the integration of new highly time-resolved seismic data and field works, a coherent onshore-offshore link concretized by a 3D geological model. The new temporal and spatial data presented in this paper allow correlating the Oligo-Miocene sequences, defining their geometry and specifying precisely the timing of syn- and post-rift stages. The first marine transgression is now precisely dated latest Chattian within the syn-rift deposits and appears to be synchronous with the first marine deposits in the offshore wells and other marginal basins. The transition from syn-rift to post-rift appears to last 3.3 Ma at maximum, between 21.8 and 18.5 Ma (late Aquitanian to early Burdigalian). It is underlined by two major erosional unconformities bearing a hiatus of around 1 Ma. The post-rift started with a major marine transgression that is now dated from middle Burdigalian, at around 18.5 Ma, as elsewhere in the LPB. Contrarily to recent proposals, the post-rift deposits are widely represented on the northeastern margin of the "Golfe du Lion". There, the subsidence of the margin was low during the syn-rift and the transitional periods and high during the post-rift. The onset of this high post-rift subsidence appears to be synchronous with the slowdown of the Corsica-Sardinia block (CSb) motion.
EISSN: 1777-5817

hal-00558497
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00558497
DOI : 10.2113/gssgfbull.181.6.591

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
Deciphering Variscan versus Alpine history in the internal Rif system is a key to constraining the tectonic evolution of the Alboran domain and hence the geodynamics of the western Mediterranean system during the Cenozoic. This study focuses on the evolution of the metamorphic envelope of the Beni Bousera massif and its relation to the underlying peridotites. Combining structural geology, metamorphic petrology, and LA-ICP-MS U-Th-Pb dating of monazite, this study contributes to the understanding of the tectonic history of the western internal Rif. The regional foliation (S2) is characterized by LP/HT mineral assemblages and obliterates a former foliation (S1) developed along a barrovian (MP/MT) metamorphic gradient. The dating of some metamorphic monazite grains from a micaschist and a migmatitic gneiss demonstrates that the crustal envelope of the peridotite recorded two distinct tectonometamorphic episodes. Data from monazite inclusions in S1 garnet suggest that the first event, D1, is older than 250-170 Ma and likely related to the Variscan collision, in agreement with the barrovian type of the metamorphic gradient. The second event, D2, is Alpine in age (at circa 21 Ma) and corresponds to a strong lithosphere thinning allowing subsequent subcontinental mantle exhumation. Such a tectonic context provides an explanation for the LP/HT metamorphic gradient that is recorded in the regional foliation of the western Betic-Rif system. This extension is probably related to a subduction slab roll-back in the western end of the Mediterranean realm during the Oligo-Miocene times. No evidences for a Tertiary HP/LT metamorphism have been identified in the studied area
ISSN: 0278-7407

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
insu-01152517
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01152517
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01152517/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01152517/file/gueydan-2015.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/2014TC003769

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
The most active deep convection area in the western Mediterranean Sea is located in the Gulf of Lions. Recent studies in this area provides some insights on the complexity of the physical dynamics of convective regions, but very little is known about their impacts on the biogeochemical properties. The CASCADE (CAscading, Surge, Convection, Advection and Downwelling Events) cruise, planed in winter 2011, give us the opportunity to compare vertical profiles of properties sampled either during stratified conditions or after/during a convection event. In the present study, we focus on the distributions of the carbonate system properties (mainly total alkalinity, AT; and total dissolved inorganic carbon, CT) because, in the context of the climate change, deep convection areas are suspected to significantly increase the sequestration of anthropogenic CO2 (CANT). Given its limited size, the impact of the Mediterranean Sea on the global carbon budget is probably minor but this marginal sea can be used as a laboratory to better understand carbon sequestration and its transfer to the basin interior by deep convection processes. Distributions of AT and CT, both measured from bottle samples, and that of CANT (estimated with the TrOCA approach) are first analyzed in the light of other key properties (salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen). An objective interpolation procedure is then applied to estimate CT and AT from CTD measured properties. With this procedure, the vertical resolution goes from a maximum of 32 samples per station to one property estimate every meter (more detailed distributions are obtained). Results provide arguments to conclude that CANT is rapidly transferred to the deepest layer due to deep convection events. During deep convection events, the increase of CANT in the water column is positively correlated to that of potential density and oxygen content. The challenge of quantifying the amount of sequestered carbon is however not resolved due to the complexity and the highly dynamical nature of the convective regions. Deep convection in the Gulf of Lions, in parallel with cascading along the continental slope, could thus potentially explain the very high levels of both CANT and acidification estimated in the deep layers of the western Mediterranean Sea.
Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers

hal-01336725
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01336725
DOI : 10.1016/j.dsr.2016.04.003

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Betic-Rif orocline surrounding the Alboran Sea, the westernmost tip of the Mediterranean Sea, accommodates the NW–SE convergence between the Nubia and Eurasia plates. Recent GPS observations indicate a ∼4 mm/yr SW motion of the Rif Mountains, relative to stable Nubia, incompatible with a simple two-plate model. New gravity data acquired in this study define a pronounced negative Bouguer anomaly south of the Rif, interpreted as a ∼40 km-thick crust in a state of non-isostatic equilibrium. We study the correlation between these present-day kinematic and geodynamic processes using a finite-element code to model in 2-D the first-order behavior of a lithosphere affected by a downward normal traction (representing the pull of a high-density body in the upper mantle). We show that intermediate viscosities for the lower crust and uppermost mantle (View the MathML source1021–1022Pas) allow an efficient coupling between the mantle and the base of the brittle crust, thus enabling (1) the conversion of vertical movement, resulting from the downward traction, to horizontal movement and (2) shortening in the brittle upper crust. Our results show that incipient delamination of the Nubian continental lithosphere, linked to slab pull, can explain the present-day abnormal tectonics, contribute to the gravity anomaly observed in northern Morocco, and give insight into recent tectonics in the Western Mediterranean region.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-01467130
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01467130
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.08.041

Éditeur(s) : Amer Geophysical Union
Résumé : The origin of the Algerian margin remains one of the key questions still discussed in the Western Mediterranean sea, due to the imprecise nature and kinematics of the associated basin during the Neogene. For the first time, the deep structure of the Maghrebian margin was explored during the SPIRAL seismic survey. In this work, we present a N-S transect off Tipaza (west of Algiers), a place where the margin broadens due to a topographic high (Khayr-al-Din Bank). New deep penetration seismic profiles allow us to image the sedimentary sequence in the Algerian basin and the crustal structure at the continent-ocean boundary. Modeling of the wide-angle data shows thinning of the basement, from more than 15km in the continental upper margin to only 5–6km of oceanic-type basement in the Algerian basin, and reveals a very narrow or absent transitional zone. Analysis of the deep structure of the margin indicates features inherited from its complex evolution: (1) an oceanic-type crust in the deep basin, (2) similarities with margins formed in a transform-type setting, (3) a progressive deepening of the whole sedimentary cover, and the thickening of the Plio-Quaternary sediments at the margin foot, coeval with (4) a downward flexure of the basement in the basin. These features argue for a multiphased evolution of the margin, including (1) an early stage of rifting and/or spreading, (2) a late transcurrent episode related to the westward migration of the Alboran domain, and (3) a diffuse Plio-Quaternary compressional reactivation of the margin.
Journal Of Geophysical Research-solid Earth (0148-0027) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2013-08 , Vol. 118 , N. 8 , P. 3899-3916

Droits : 2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00152/26333/24412.pdf
DOI:10.1002/jgrb.50318
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00152/26333/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The effects of climate change on extreme events are difficult to assess because extremes present large variability and consequently, it is difficult to identify significant trends in relation to the lack of instrumental long time series. Here we present a record of these extreme storm events in the French Mediterrannean coast over the past 7000 years based on a long sediment core from lagoonal environment in Gulf of Lions. Using a high resolution multiproxies approach on core associating grain size, faunal to reconstruct Mid to Late Holocene history of backbarrier deposits in relation to landfalling activity. Even if change in lagoon geomorphological setting over the Holocene does not allow to compare storm events in terms of intensity trough time, we have recorded six periods of increase in storm activity at 6200, 5500, 4400, 3200, 1500 yr cal B.P. and over the LIA (450 and 100 yr cal B.P.). These evidences of changes in coastal hydrodynamic, inversely correlated to periods of aridification in Western Mediterranean region, are in phase with those observed over the North Atlantic and correspond to Holocene cooling events. This increase in storm activity during Holocene cold events over Mediterranean region was probably due to thermal gradient increase leading to enhanced lower tropospheric baroclinicity over a large Central Atlantic-European domain. This study demonstrates that temperatures in North Atlantic region influence the severe storm activity and therefore the Mediterranean climate at Holocene timescale.
Les effets du changement climatique sur les événements extrêmes sont difficiles à estimer car ces phénomènes présentent une large variabilité, et par conséquent il est délicat d'identifier des tendances significatives compte tenu de l'absence de longues séries de données instrumentales. Dans cette étude, nous présentons un enregistrement de ces tempêtes extrêmes sur la côte Méditerranéenne française au cours des 7000 dernières années à partir de carottes sédimentaires prélevées dans un système lagunaire du Golfe du Lion. L'utilisation d'une approche multi-traceur à haute résolution avec des analyses granulométriques, faunistiques, géochimiques (XRF), en minéraux argileux associées à des données chronologiques de radiocarbone et de 210Pb, 137Cs ; nous a permis de reconstruire l'histoire, au cours de l'Holocène, des dépôts lagunaires en relation avec l'activité des tempêtes. Bien que les paramètres morphologiques de cet environnement lagunaire aient changé durant l'Holocène, ne permettant pas de comparer ces événements au cours du temps en terme d'intensité, nous enregistrons six périodes d'augmentation de l'activité des tempêtes datées à 6200, 5500, 4400, 3200, 1500 an cal B.P. et durant le Petit Age Glaciaire (de 450 à 100 an cal B.P.). Ces changements de l'activité hydrodynamique côtière, en antiphase avec les périodes d'aridifications en Méditerranée de l'Ouest, sont corrélées avec celles observées dans le bassin Nord Atlantique et correspondent aux événements de refroidissement Holocène. L'augmentation de l'activité des tempêtes dans la cette région de la Méditerranée durant les périodes froides, associée à une diminution des températures au pôle Nord, est probablement liée à l'augmentation du gradient thermique qui, par interaction barocline, favorise les cycles d'évolution des tempêtes dans toute l'Europe et la Méditerranée de l'Ouest. Cette étude démontre ainsi que la température dans la région Nord Atlantique influence l'activité des tempêtes extrêmes et donc du climat Méditerranéen à l'échelle de l'Holocène.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00437757

tel-00437757
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00437757
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00437757/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00437757/file/Sabatier_these.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
In the framework of the Africa-Europe convergence, the Mediterranean system presents a complex interaction between subduction rollback and upper-plate deformation during the Tertiary. The western end of the system shows a narrow arcuate geometry across the Gibraltar arc, the Betic-Rif belt, in which the relationship between slab dynamics and surface tectonics is not well understood. The present study focuses on the Western Betics, which is characterized by two major thrusts: 1/ the Internal/External Zone Boundary limits the metamorphic domain (Alboran Domain) from the fold-and-thrust belts in the External Zone; 2/ the Ronda Peridotites Thrust allows the juxtaposition of a strongly attenuated lithosphere section with large bodies of sub-continental mantle rocks on top of upper crustal rocks. New structural data show that two major E-W strike-slip corridors played a major role in the deformation pattern of the Alboran Domain, in which E-W dextral strike-slip faults, N60 thrusts and N140 normal faults developed simultaneously during dextral strike-slip simple shear. Olistostromic sediments of Lower Miocene age were deposited and deformed in this tectonic context and hence provide an age estimate for the inferred continuous westward translation of the Alboran Domain that is accommodated by an E-W lateral (strike-slip) ramp and a N60 frontal thrust. The crustal emplacement of large bodies of sub-continental mantle may occur at the onset of this westward thrusting in the Western Alboran domain. At lithosphere-scale, we interpret the observed deformation pattern as the subduction upper-plate expression of a lateral slab tear and its westward propagation since Lower Miocene.
ISSN: 0040-1951

insu-01163695
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01163695
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01163695/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01163695/file/Frasca-2015.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2015.05.017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
In Western Mediterranean, the Rif belt in Morocco is part of the Gibraltar Arc built during the Tertiary in the framework of Eurasia-Africa convergence. The structural and metamorphic evolution of the internal units of this belt as well as their timing, crucial to constrain the geodynamic evolution of the Alboran Sea, is still largely debated.Our study on the Ceuta Peninsula (Northern Rif) provides new structural, petrological and geochronological data (U-Th-Pb, Ar-Ar), which allow to precise the tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Lower Sebtides metamorphic units with:(1) a syn-metamorphic thrusting event developed under granulite facies conditions (7–10 kbar and 780–820 °C). A major thrust zone, the Ceuta Shear Zone, drove the emplacement of metapelites and peridotitic lenses from the Ceuta Upper Unit over the orthogneisses of the Monte Hacho Lower Unit. This compressional event ended during the Upper Oligocene.(2) an extensional event developed at the boundary between amphibolite and greenschist facies conditions (400–550 °C and 1–3 kbar). During this event, the Ceuta Shear Zone has been reactivated as a normal fault. Normal ductile shear zones contributed to the final exhumation of the metamorphic units during the Early Miocene.We propose that the compressional event is related to the formation of an orogenic wedge located in the upper plate, in a backward position, of the subduction zone driving the geodynamic evolution of the Alboran domain. In this context, the episode of lithospheric thinning could be related to the opening of the Alboran basin in a back-arc position.Furthermore, unlike the previous models proposed for the Rif belt, the tectonic coupling between mantle peridotites and crustal metamorphic rocks occurred in Ceuta Peninsula at a depth of 20–30 km under high temperature conditions, before the extensional event, and thus cannot be related to the back-arc extension.
ISSN: 0040-1951

insu-01682810
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01682810
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2017.11.028

Éditeur(s) : Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls sur mer
Résumé : A new species of a polychaetous annelid belonging to the genus Polydora is described. It was collected on the continental shelf of the western Mediterranean sea. Some morphological features are not consistent with the generic diagnosis. [NOT CONTROLLED OCR]
Vie et Milieu (Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls sur mer), 1974 , Vol. 24 , N. 3A , P. 479-486

Droits : Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls sur mer
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/1974/publication-4981.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/4981/