Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Experimental modelling applied to the study of orogenic wedge dynamics has been a subject of fruitful research for more than 30 years, although the technique dates back as far as the early XIXth century. On one hand, several first order parameters controlling the structural evolution of mountain belts have been intensively investigated using the classic tectonic "sandbox" models. The main parameters are the properties of the basal décollement, the deforming material, the backstop, and fluxes, kinematics and surface processes. On the other hand, the morphological evolution of a mountain relief subjected to changing tectonic or climatic forcing has been addressed using another kind of approach called "geomorphic" models. Nowadays, the literature is extremely rich, particularly for the sandbox technique, so that it becomes difficult to have an exhaustive view of the effects of the above parameters on mountain evolution. In this article, we propose a detailed review of the main results obtained using both "tectonic" and "geomorphic" approaches. Our goal is to provide an almost complete state-of-the-art in the experimental study of relief dynamics to guide present and future researchers in their understanding of mountain belt evolution.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00757713
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00757713
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2012.01.027

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 Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Constraining mantle deformation beneath plate boundaries where plates interact with each other, such as beneath active or halted mountain belts, is a particularly important objective of "mantle tectonics" that may bring a depth extent to the Earth's surface observation. Such mantle deformation can be mapped at scale lengths of several tens of kilometers through the analysis of seismological data and particularly by mapping seismic anisotropy from the splitting analysis of vertically-propagating SKS waves that largely reflect the strain-induced crystal preferred orientations of the rock-forming minerals within the upper mantle. In the present study, we analyse data from approximately 50 broadband seismic stations covering the Western Alps and we provide a coherent picture of upper mantle anisotropy beneath the belt. The large-scale anisotropy pattern is characterized by fast split directions that closely follow the trend of the belt. Moreover, the maximum anisotropy magnitude is not located beneath the internal zones of the belt but instead beneath external units. All suggests that the anisotropy is likely dominated by sublithospheric mantle deformation. We propose that the observed anisotropy pattern can be explained by recent or active mantle flow around the Eurasian slab presently plunging beneath the inner parts of the Alps.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00617828
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617828
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617828/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617828/file/Barruol_SKS_Alpes_EPSL2011_hal.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2010.12.040

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Gulf of Cadiz spans the plate boundary between Africa and Eurasia west of the Betic–Rif mountain belt. A narrow east dipping subduction zone descends beneath the Gulf of Cadiz and the straits of Gibraltar. The deep crustal structure of the Gulf and the adjacent SW Iberian and Moroccan margins is constrained by numerous multi-channel seismic reflection and wide-angle seismic surveys. A compilation of these existing studies is presented in the form of depth to basement, sediment thickness, depth to Moho and crustal thickness maps. These structural maps image an E–W trending trough, with thin (< 10 km) crust beneath the Gulf of Cadiz. This trough is filled by an eastward thickening wedge of sediments, reaching a thickness of 10–15 km in the eastern Gulf. These sediments are tectonically deformed, primarily along a series of westward-vergent thrust faults and represent a 200–250 km wide accretionary wedge. The northern and especially the southern limits of the accretionary wedge are marked by sharp morphological lineaments showing evidence of recent deformation. These tectonic limits are situated in an internal position with respect to the Miocene deformation front (external Betic and Rif allocthons), which has been abandoned. At the western boundary of the accretionary wedge, near the adjacent Seine and Horseshoe abyssal plains, an E–W trending basement high (Coral Patch Ridge) can be seen indenting the deformation front in an asymmetric manner. Analog modeling is performed using granular materials accreted against a semicircular backstop (representing the basement of the Rif and Betic mountain belts). The modeling initially produces a symmetric, arcuate accretionary wedge. The ensuing collision of an oblique rigid indenter retards accretion on one side, resulting in an embayment and a locally steeper deformation front. The deformation pattern observed in morphology and high-resolution seismic profiles suggests the accretionary wedge and underlying subduction system is still active. The implications of active subduction for the source region of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and the regional seismic hazard assessment are discussed.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00424922
http://hal.univ-brest.fr/hal-00424922
http://hal.univ-brest.fr/hal-00424922/document
http://hal.univ-brest.fr/hal-00424922/file/Gutscher_09Tphys_rev.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2008.11.031

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica
Résumé : Interaction between surface processes and deep tectonic processes plays a key role in the structural evolution, kinematics and exhumation of rocks in orogenic wedges. The deformation patterns observed in analogue models applied to natural cases of present active or ancient mountain belts reflect several first order processes that result of these interactions. Internal strain partitioning due to mechanical behaviour of a thrust wedge has a strong impact on the vertical component of displacement of tectonic units that in return favour erosion in domains of important uplift. Such strain partitioning is first controlled by tectonic processes, but surface processes exert a strong feed back on wedge dynamics. Indeed, material transfer in thrust wedges not only depends on its internal dynamics, it is also influenced by climate controlled surface processes involving erosion and sedimentation. Effects of erosion are multiple: they allow long term localization of deformed domains, they favour important exhumation above areas of deep underplating and combined with sedimentation in the foreland they contribute to maintain the wedge in a critical state for long time periods. The simple models illustrate well how mountain belts structure, kinematics of tectonic units and exhumation are determined by these complex interactions.
ISSN: 0016-8521

hal-00561361
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00561361
DOI : 10.1134/S0016852110060075

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society of America
Résumé : orogenic wedges
Interaction between surface and tectonic processes plays a key role in the structural evolution, kinematics, and exhumation of rocks in orogenic wedges. The deformation patterns observed in analog models show that strain partitioning has a strong impact on the vertical component of displacement of tectonic units, which in return favors erosion in domains of important uplift. Partitioning is controlled by tectonic processes and by climate-dependent surface processes, including erosion and sedimentation. The effects of partitioning include localization of deformed domains, exhumation above areas of deep underplating, and steady-state maintenance of wedges for long time periods. Simple models illustrate well how the morphostructural evolution of mountain belts is determined by these complex interactions.
ISSN: 1052-5173

hal-00558931
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00558931
DOI : 10.1130/GSATG48A.1

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
Collisional mountain belts grow as a consequence of continental plate convergence and eventuallydisappear under the combined effects of gravitational collapse and erosion. Using a decade ofGPS data, we show that the western Alps are currently characterized by zero horizontal velocityboundary conditions, offering the opportunity to investigate orogen evolution at the time ofcessation of plate convergence. We find no significant horizontal motion within the belt, but GPS andlevelling measurements independently show a regional pattern of uplift reaching ~2.5 mm/yr in thenorthwestern Alps. Unless a low viscosity crustal root under the northwestern Alps locally enhancesthe vertical response to surface unloading, the summed effects of isostatic responses to erosion andglaciation explain at most 60% of the observed uplift rates. Rock-uplift rates corrected from transientglacial isostatic adjustment contributions likely exceed erosion rates in the northwestern Alps. In theabsence of active convergence, the observed surface uplift must result from deep-seated processes.
ISSN: 2045-2322

hal-01357450
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01357450
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01357450/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01357450/file/noquet2016.pdf
DOI : 10.1038/srep28404

Éditeur(s) : Gauthier-Villars
Résumé : Since the advent of plate tectonics the active margins of the oceans have been studied according to a model whose basis is a piling up of imbrications of oceanic material units, in front of the upper plate, forming a great tectonic accretionary prism. This model is broadly the same for all the authors; it has been largely used for alpine-type or paleo-oceanic mountain chain, all around the world. The authors have directly taken part in the drillings on western and eastern Pacific active margins (Legs 60 and 67) and they have worked on the tectonics of alpine (paleo-oceanic) chains of the peri-mediterranean, peri-caribbean, and peripacific belts. They compare the geological data acumulated from these tow direct sources. The tectonic constraints constraints regime is specified and the consequences of the subduction are looked for. The notions of collison and obduction are discussed in relation to subduction and tectonics. Finally, an anlaysis of the temporal evolution of active margins and of chains, shows the necessity of thinking in terms of superimposed tectonics.
Oceanologica Acta, Special issue (0399-1784) (Gauthier-Villars), 1981

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00246/35700/34207.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00246/35700/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : GPS velocities and seismicity across the Betic-Rif Arc structural domains (Morocco and Iberia) provide a basis to evaluate present-day seismotectonic processes between different deformation belts. The results show asymmetric movements in the complex Alboran system accommodating the convergence between the African (Nubian) and Eurasian plates. While the Betic Mountains are attached to Iberia, moving toward the southeast with respect to Africa, the Rif is divided into three blocks with distinct displacements relative to Nubia: (1) the Tangier block moving southeastward, (2) the Central Rif block moving SSW, and (3) the Oriental Rif block undergoing clockwise rotation. GPS-derived motions decrease in rate from the Rif nappes complex to the foreland.
ISSN: 0010-7999

hal-00411144
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411144
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2008.02.003

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society
Résumé : International audience
Deformation mechanisms, long-term kinematics and evolution of fold and thrust belts subjected to erosion are studied through 2D analogue experiments involving large convergence. First-order parameters tested include (1) décollements and/or plastic layers interbedded at different locations within analogue materials and (2) synconvergence surface erosion. Weak layers, depending on their location in the model, favour deformation partitioning characterized by the simultaneous development of underplating domains in the inner part of the wedge (basal accretion) and frontal accretion where the wedge grows forward. Interaction between tectonics and surface processes influences this behaviour. Development of antiformal thrust stacks controlled by underplating shows small- and large-scale cyclicity. Thin plastic layers induce folding processes, which are studied at wedge scale. Recumbent and overturned folds, with large inverted limbs, develop in a shear-induced asymmetric deformation regime via progressive unrolling of synclinal hinges. Surface erosion and underplating at depth induce further rotation (passive tilting) and horizontalization of fold limbs. Model results give insights to discuss the mechanisms responsible for the large-scale structures (i.e. antiformal nappe stacks, klippen and kilometre-scale recumbent fold-nappes) encountered in several mountain belts such as the Montagne Noire (French Massif Central), the Galicia Variscan belt (Spain) and the northern Apennines (Italy).
ISSN: 0016-7649

hal-00937644
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00937644
DOI : 10.1144/jgs2013-012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD University of Arizona
Résumé : International audience
Taiwan is a young and seismically active mountain belt, where a series of strong earthquakes (M>7) have occurred over the past hundred years. Identifying historical earthquakes around Taiwan is a key to better constrain the geodynamic of this active region. Sedimentological and geochemical analyses of surface sediments from one station offshore east Taiwan revealed the presence of coarse-grained layers interpreted as turbidites. The age of these layers have been determined by 210Pb, 137Cs, and 241Am chronology. Dating of the three most recent turbidites provides ages of AD 2001±3, AD 1950±5, and AD 1928±10. The results show striking temporal correspondence of turbidite layers to large (M≥6.8) earthquakes recorded in the region since the 20th century. The chronologies of sediment layers lead us to believe that turbidites resulted from the 2003 Taitung earthquake (M 6.8), the 1951 Chengkong earthquake (M 7.1), and the 1935 Lutao earthquake (M 7.0), respectively. Such a good correlation between turbidites and high-magnitude (M≥6.8) historical and instrumental seismic events suggests that turbidite paleoseismology constitutes a valuable tool for earthquake assessment in the eastern Taiwan margin. Moreover, the modern reservoir radiocarbon age and the regional marine reservoir correction (ΔR) of the Kuroshio Current off Taiwan were estimated by comparing accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C ages with ages derived from corrected 210Pb profiles and historical accounts of identifiable seismic events. Such a determination is important to calibrate the 14C ages of marine materials for accurate comparison of marine and continental geological records. Our calculated mean ΔR value of 232±54 14C yr (n=2) is higher than its modern value of 86±40 14C yr. This high value can be explained by the presence of local upwelling cells and turbulence in the Kuroshio Current, north of Green Island. These upwelling cells bring 14C-depleted water to the surface, resulting in an increase of the modern ΔR value in this portion of the Kuroshio Current.
ISSN: 0033-8222

hal-01306986
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01306986
DOI : 10.1017/RDC.2015.3

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP): Policy P - Oxford Open Option A Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
The Pyrenean mountain range is a slowly deforming belt with continuous and moderate seismic activity. To quantify its deformation field, we present the velocity field estimated from a GPS survey of the Pyrenees spanning 18 yr. The PotSis and ResPyr networks, including a total of 85 GPS sites, were installed and first measured in 1992 and 1995–1997, respectively, and remeasured in 2008 and 2010. We obtain a deformation field with velocities less than 1 mm yr−1 across the range. The estimated velocities for individual stations do not differ significantly from zero with 95 per cent confidence. Even so, we estimate a maximum extensional horizontal strain rate of 2.0 ± 1.7 nanostrain per year in a N–S direction in the western part of the range. We do not interpret the vertical displacements due to their large uncertainties. In order to compare the horizontal strain rates with the seismic activity, we analyse a set of 194 focal mechanisms using three methods: (i) the ‘r’ factor relating their P and T axes, (ii) the stress tensors obtained by fault slip inversion and (iii) the strain-rate tensors. Stress and strain-rate tensors are estimated for: (i) the whole data set, (ii) the eastern and western parts of the range separately, and (iii) eight zones, which are defined based on the seismicity and the tectonic patterns of the Pyrenees. Each of these analyses reveals a lateral variation of the deformation style from compression and extension in the east to extension and strike-slip in the west of the range. Although the horizontal components of the strain-rate tensors estimated from the seismic data are slightly smaller in magnitude than those computed from the GPS velocity field, they are consistent within the 2σ uncertainties. Furthermore, the orientations of their principal axes agree with the mapped active faults.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-01171752
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01171752
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggv052

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Alpine Corsica consists of a stack of variably metamorphosed units of continental and Tethys-derived rocks. It represents an excellent example of high-pressure (HP) orogenic belt, such as the Western Alps, exposed over a small and accessible area. Compared to the Western Alps, the geology of Alpine Corsica is poorly unraveled. During the 1970s-80s, based on either lithostratigraphic or metamorphic field observations, various classifications of the belt have been proposed, but these classifications have been rarely matched together. Furthermore, through time, the internal complexity of large domains has been progressively left aside in the frame of large-scale geodynamic reconstructions. As a consequence, major open questions on the internal structure of the belt have remained unsolved. Apart from a few local studies, Alpine Corsica has not benefited of modern developments in petrology and basin research. This feature results in several uncertainties when combining lithostratigraphic and metamorphic patterns and, consequently, in the definition of an exhaustive architecture of the belt. In this paper we provide a review on the geology of Alpine Corsica, paying particular attention to the available lithostratigraphic and metamorphic classifications of the metamorphic terranes. These data are completed by a new and exhaustive metamorphic dataset obtained by means of thermometry based on Raman Spectroscopy of Carbonaceous Material (RSCM). This technique provides reliable insights on the peak temperature of the metamorphic history for CM-bearing metasediments. A detailed metamorphic characterization of metasediments, which have been previously largely ignored due to retrogression or to the lack of diagnostic mineralogy, is thus obtained and fruitfully coupled with the available lithostratigraphic data. Nine main tectono-metamorphic units are defined, from subgreenschist (ca. 280-300 °C) to the lawsonite-eclogite-facies (ca. 500-550 °C) condition. These units are homogeneous in metamorphism, laterally continuous and have characteristic lithostratigraphic features. This study also suggests a direct link between the pre-orogenic extensional setting and the present-day compressional structure of Alpine Corsica, indicating that large sections of subducted lithosphere were subducted and exhumed as coherent domains. These features provide important insight on the mechanism of stacking and exhumation of HP rocks, and make Alpine Corsica a unique reference for mountain-building processes in Tethyan-type orogens.
ISSN: 0012-8252

hal-00814433
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00814433
DOI : 10.1016/j.earscirev.2012.10.003

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
The lateral variation of the mechanical properties of continental lithosphere is an important factor controlling the localization of deformation and thus the deformation history and geometry of intraplate mountain belts. A series of three-layer lithospheric-scale analog models, with a strong domain (SD) embedded at various depths, are presented to investigate the development of topography and deformation patterns by having lateral heterogeneities within a weak continental lithosphere. The experiments, performed at a constant velocity and under normal gravity, indicate that the presence or absence of the SD controls whether deformation is localized or distributed at a lithospheric scale. Deformation and topography localize above the edges of the SD, while the SD region itself is characterized by minor amounts of surficial deformation and topography. The depth of the SD (within the ductile crust, ductile mantle lithosphere, or both) controls the pattern of deformation and thus the topography. The presence of a SD in the ductile crust or in the mantle results in limited surficial topographic effects but large variations in the Moho topography. Strong Moho deflection occurs when the SD is in the ductile crust, while the Moho remains almost flat when the SD is in the mantle. When the SD occupies the ductile lithosphere, the SD is tilted. These analog experiments provide insights into intraplate strain localization and could in particular explain the topography around the Tarim Basin, a lithospheric-scale heterogeneity north of the India-Asia collision zone.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-01172472
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01172472
DOI : 10.1002/2014TC003756

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : This historical perspective provides an overall view of the main steps that led to the acceptance of the concept of mantle exhumation accompanying lithosphere stretching and extreme crustal thinning. We first remember that the presence of exposures of mantle rocks along oceanic spreading ridges was early reported in the 60's due to the results of sediment cores and dredge hauls collected along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In the meantime, detailed analysis of the relationships between oceanic sediments of Late Jurassic age and their primary basement in the Apennine ophiolites led many authors to point to the importance of exhumation of mantle rocks on ancient seafloors. By contrast to the thick sections of classical ophiolites (e.g. Oman), the Alpine-Corsican-Appennine ophiolites are characterized by a relatively small amount of mafic rocks (gabbros and basalts), by the absence of any sheeted dyke complex and by the frequent occurrence of oceanic sediments stratigraphically overlying mantle-derived peridotites and associated gabbroic intrusions. They display some of the characteristics of slow-spreading ridge systems, but, due to their highly tectonized character, they have been interpreted successively either as remnants of oceanic fracture zones of normal ocean or as remnants of very-poorly organized, abnormal oceanic basement. This review shows how the concept of mantle exhumation has been elaborated more or less in the same period both by marine geoscientists and by geologists conducting investigations in ophiolitic units of the Alps-Apennines mountain belt. Dredging and diving results from the Gorringe Bank, the Iberia margin, the Thyrrenian Sea and the Central Atlantic in the 1980's and 1990's provided additional proofs that the mantle is currently exhumed in various oceanic environments, including distal continental margins, back-arc basins and slow-spreading ridges of wide oceans. It is shown finally how renewed cross-information from mountain belts and the oceans, multiplying the examples of sedimentary reworking of mantle material, help better constrain the mechanisms of mantle exhumation. This mechanism progressively appeared as a fundamental step during the processes of extension of both continental and oceanic lithospheres in numerous geological situations worldwide.
Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana

hal-00475653
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00475653
DOI : 10.3301/IJG.2009.128.2.279

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
The structure and dynamic evolution of a mountain belt piedmont are controlled by strong interactions between tectonics, surface processes (erosion, sedimentation), and climate. Studying these couplings relies on detailed geometric and kinematic analysis of morphostructural markers (folds, faults, terraces, alluvial surfaces) and analysis of syntectonic sedimentation. To study quantitatively how these markers form, evolve and record deformation, we developed a new analogue modelling approach using a specific composite granular material. The originality stands in the simultaneous modelling of orogenic deformation mechanisms and erosion-transport-sedimentation processes, but also in the use of techniques allowing quantitative measurement of morphostructural evolution. This methodology opens new perspectives in the fields of geomorphology (relief dynamics), seismotectonics (study of active faults), and sedimentology (including sequential stratigraphy).
ISSN: 0010-7999

hal-00411972
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411972
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2008.01.005

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Universidad de Oviedo
Résumé : In recent years attention has been paid to the major role of surface processes on the evolu- tion of mountain belts on different time scales. In this study, sandbox experiments are used to better characterize the complex interactions between surface processes and tectonics. Models results are then applied to better analyze deformation and kinematics of recent active or ancient orogens (case studies are chosen in the Taiwan belt, the Alps and the Hercynian belt).
ISSN: 0474-9588

hal-00853761
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00853761

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Gulf of Cadiz lies astride the complex plate boundary between Africa and Eurasia west of the Betic-Rif mountain belt. We report on the results of recent bathymetric swathmapping and multi-channel seismic surveys carried out here. The seafloor is marked by contrasting morphological provinces, spanning the SW Iberian and NW Moroccan continental margins, abyssal plains and an elongate, arcuate, accretionary wedge. A wide variety of tectonic and gravitational processes appear to have shaped these structures. Active compressional deformation of the wedge is suggested by folding and thrusting of the frontal sedimentary layers as well as basal duplexing in deeper internal units. There is evidence for simultaneous gravitational spreading occurring upslope. The very shallow mean surface and basal slopes of the accretionary wedge (1° each) indicate a very weak decollement layer, geometrically similar to the Mediterranean Ridge accretionary complex. Locally steep slopes (up to 10°) indicate strongly focused, active deformation and potential gravitational instabilities. The unusual surface morphology of the upper accretionary wedge includes “raft-tectonics” type fissures and abundant sub-circular depressions. Dissolution and/or diapiric processes are proposed to be involved in the formation of these depressions.
ISSN: 0264-8172

insu-00401683
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00401683
DOI : 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2007.11.008

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Subduction processes play a major role in plate tectonics and the subsequent geological evolution of Earth. This special issue focuses on ongoing research in subduction dynamics to a large extent (oceanic subduction, continental subduction, obduction…) for both past and active subduction zones and into mountain building processes and the early evolution of orogens. It puts together various approaches combining geophysics (imaging of subduction zones), petrology/geochemistry (metamorphic analysis of HP-UHP rocks, fluid geochemistry and magmatic signal, geochronology), seismology and geodesy (present-day evolution of subduction zones, active tectonics), structural geology (structure and evolution of mountain belts), and numerical modelling to provide a full spectrum of tools that can be used to constrain the nature and evolution of subduction processes and orogeny. Studies presented in this special issue range from the long-term (orogenic cycle) to short-term (seismic cycle).
ISSN: 0264-3707

insu-01287985
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01287985
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01287985/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01287985/file/rolland-2016.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.jog.2016.03.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
[1] This article presents (U-Th)/He thermochronological data from the Longmen Shan belt, eastern Tibet. Located between the Songpan-Garze terrane and the Yangtze craton, this mountain range is one of the steepest margins of the Tibetan Plateau and an important area for the comprehension of the mechanisms that control the dynamics of such plateau borders in terms of spatial distribution of deformation or timing of topographic building. We describe several age-elevation transects and perform forward modeling of our data to derive quantitative information on the exhumation of the range. A major phase of exhumation started at 8–11 Ma, with an average rate of $0.65 mm a À1. Comparison of zircon and apatite ages indicates that the eastern part of the range may have experienced a significant decrease in exhumation since 2–3 Ma. We use the distribution of finite exhumation across the major faults of the area to quantify their dip-slip throw rate over the last 10 Ma. The Beichuan Fault, which was activated during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, is the major active structure of the Longmen Shan since the late Miocene, with an average thrusting slip rate between 0.4 and 1 mm a À1. Conversely, over the same time period, only minor dip-slip activity occurred on the Wenchuan Fault Zone. This distribution in space and time of exhumation and deformation is discussed and compared to the different proposed models for the geodynamical evolution of the eastern Tibetan margin. It also provides an important long-term perspective to put in context the destructive 2008 Sichuan earthquake that struck the central Longmen Shan.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-01577059
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577059
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577059/document
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577059/file/godard2009late.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2008TC002407