Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : During the Fanindien 2006 cruise of R/V 'Beautemps-Beaupre', high resolution multibeam bathymetry, sub-bottom profiling and sediment coring was carried out along the East African margin, offshore Tanzania and Mozambique (Indian Ocean). The newly acquired data reveal the presence of a giant deep-sea valley (the Tanzania channel) that is more than 10 km wide at 4000 m water depth, along the continental rise. The valley remains similar to 70 m deep and 7 km wide at 800 km from the Tanzania coast. Morphological comparison with worldwide submarine channels show that the Tanzania channel is one of the largest known submarine valleys. This discovery brings new light on development of submarine valleys that drain sediments originated from the East African Rift System (EARS) highlands (i.e. the Tanzania channel and its neighbor Zambezi channel located similar to 1000 km southward). Both of the systems have a morphology markedly different to the classical sinuous, V-shaped channels located at similar latitudes (e.g. the Zaire or Amazon channels). Their submarine drainage system consists of a downslope converging tributary canyons joining a central trunk channel in the continental rise. The presence of such giant deep-sea drainage systems is probably linked to a strong structural control on the sediment pathway, associated to a massive sediment transfer towards the Indian Ocean in relation with the tectonic activity of the East African Rift System (i.e. the uplift periods trough mid-Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene times) and its interplay with the East African equatorial climate changes.
Marine Geology (0025-3227) (Elsevier), 2008-12 , Vol. 255 , N. 3-4 , P. 179-185

Droits : 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00324/43491/42958.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2008.09.002
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00324/43491/

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : During the Fanindien 2006 cruise of R/V 'Beautemps-Beaupre', high resolution multibeam bathymetry, sub-bottom profiling and sediment coring was carried out along the East African margin, offshore Tanzania and Mozambique (Indian Ocean). The newly acquired data reveal the presence of a giant deep-sea valley (the Tanzania channel) that is more than 10 km wide at 4000 m water depth, along the continental rise. The valley remains similar to 70 m deep and 7 km wide at 800 km from the Tanzania coast. Morphological comparison with worldwide submarine channels show that the Tanzania channel is one of the largest known submarine valleys. This discovery brings new light on development of submarine valleys that drain sediments originated from the East African Rift System (EARS) highlands (i.e. the Tanzania channel and its neighbor Zambezi channel located similar to 1000 km southward). Both of the systems have a morphology markedly different to the classical sinuous, V-shaped channels located at similar latitudes (e.g. the Zaire or Amazon channels). Their submarine drainage system consists of a downslope converging tributary canyons joining a central trunk channel in the continental rise. The presence of such giant deep-sea drainage systems is probably linked to a strong structural control on the sediment pathway, associated to a massive sediment transfer towards the Indian Ocean in relation with the tectonic activity of the East African Rift System (i.e. the uplift periods trough mid-Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene times) and its interplay with the East African equatorial climate changes. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Marine Geology (0025-3227) (Elsevier), 2008-12 , Vol. 255 , N. 3-4 , P. 179-185

Droits : 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2008/publication-6855.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2008.09.002

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : In Taiwan , the subduction of the Chinese continental margin under the Luzon arc results in the progressive growth of an active orogenic wedge. It is one of the best places to study the complex relationships that occurs between the tectonic processes controlling deformation (plate rheology and kinematics, metamorphism and magmatism) and surface processes (erosion and sedimentation). In order to study the kinematics of the present day convergence of Philippine Sea plate to the Asian continent around Taiwan, we perform 2D and 3D sandbox modeling and we analyzed the models with PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) software. In 2D experiments, a model Coulomb wedge is submitted to erosion and sedimentation under topography and flux steady state conditions. The 3D experiments are mainly used to study the escape tectonics occurring in the middle west and southwest Taiwan. A wedge shaped indenter and a basement relief were used to simulate the mechanical plate boundary between Philippine Sea plate and Eurasia plate and the basement topography to the west of Taiwan respectively. We examine the exhumation patterns, the mode of fault propagation and displacement patterns by strain partitioning of vertical vs. horizontal displacement and convergent parallel vs. orogen parallel components. The preliminary conclusions are: 1. The interactions between tectonics, erosion and sedimentation control geometry and kinematics of the doubly vergent transpressional orogen. 2. Exhumation processes are controlled by the balance between erosion, frontal accretion and underplating in different structural domains of the wedge. 3. Retrowedge erosion favorites backfolding and backthrusting, induces flower structures and fan shaped cleavage distribution. 4. Sedimentation promotes underplating and out-of sequences thrusting. 5. Continental subduction or subduction of topographic highs will enhance underthrusting/underplating, thick-skin tectonics and inversion of sedimentary basin.
Bolletino di Geofisica teorica ed applicata

hal-00411133
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411133

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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Estimating how topography is maintained provides insights into the different factors responsible for surface deformations and their relative roles. Here, we develop a new and simple approach to assess the degree of isostatic compensation of continental topography at regional scale from GOCE gravity gradients. We calculate the ratio between the radial gradient observed by GOCE and that calculated from topography only. From analytical and statistical formulations, simple relationships between this ratio and the degree of compensation are obtained under the Airy–Heiskanen isostasy hypothesis. Then, a value of degree of compensation at each point of study area can be easily deduced. We apply our method to the Alaska-Canada Cordillera and validate our results by comparison with a standard isostatic gravity anomaly model and additional geophysical information for this area. Both our GOCE-based results and the isostatic anomaly show that Airy–Heiskanen isostasy prevails for the Yukon Plateau whereas additional mechanisms are required to support topography below the Northwest Territories Craton and the Yakutat collision zone.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-01467540
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01467540
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01467540/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01467540/file/cadioGJI2016.pdf
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggw281

Éditeur(s) : Université Européenne de Bretagne
Résumé : The southwest Pacific results from the fragmentation of Gondwanaland since the Cretaceous time. The purpose of the current PhD work is to deepen our understanding of the history of the New Caledonia and Fairway basins, located west of New Caledonia, in order to better constrain the geodynamical evolution of the SW Pacific from Cretaceous to Oligocene. The analysis of new geophysical data has led to distinguish 3 main phases of this fragmentation: 1 Mid Cretaceous formation of the Fairway-Aotea Basin in a continental intra-arc position. The formation of this basin reflects the initial stage of continental fragmentation of the Eastern Gondwana margin. The causes of this fragmentation are to be searched for in a major change of the dynamics of the peri-Pacific subduction zone. 2 Latest late Eocene local deformation of the Northern NCB, synchronously with the New Caledonian obduction. We suggest that as the ophiolitic nappe was being obducted onto New Caledonia, the NC Basin subsided under the effect of the loading and underthrusted to accommodate the compressional deformation as a foreland flexural basin. 3 Regional Eocene Oligocene subsidence of the structures linking NC to New Zealand. The morphostructural style of this deformation leads us to suggest that detachment of the lower crust is the cause of subsidence. We therefore propose a model in which the renewal of the Australia-Pacific convergent plate boundary around 45 Ma would have driven the lithosphere to thicken, leading to a root instability and to its detachment in the mantle. These new results have regional petroleum implications, which are discussed in the PhD.
Le Sud-Ouest Pacifique est le résultat de la fragmentation de la marge Est du Gondwana depuis le Crétacé. L'objet du présent travail de thèse est d'approfondir la connaissance des bassins de Nouvelle-Calédonie et de Fairway, situés à l'Ouest de la NC, afin de préciser l'évolution géodynamique du SO Pacifique du Crétacé à l'Oligocène. L'analyse de nouvelles données géophysiques a permis de dégager 3 étapes de cette fragmentation: 1 Formation du Bassin de Fairway-Aotea au Crétacé moyen en position intra-arc continental. La formation de ce bassin reflète les prémices de la déchirure continentale de la marge Est Gondwanienne dont la cause est à rechercher dans un changement de la dynamique de la subduction. 2 Déformation locale de la partie Nord du BNC à l'Eocène terminal synchrone à l'obduction Néo Calédonienne. Nous proposons ainsi un modèle selon lequel le BNC aurait subsidé et réagi comme un bassin flexural d'avant-pays suivant un processus de sous-charriage, au fur et à mesure que la nappe progressait sur le bâti Calédonien. 3 Subsidence Eocène Oligocène régionale affectant les structures reliant la Nouvelle-Zélande à la NC. Les traits morphostructuraux de cette déformation nous permettent d'émettre l'hypothèse que l'ablation d'une partie de la croûte inférieure de ce système serait responsable de la subsidence. Nous proposons ainsi un modèle dans lequel la reprise de la convergence vers 45 Ma entre les plaques Australienne et Pacifique aurait entraîné un épaississement crustal de l'ensemble aboutissant à une instabilité gravitaire de sa racine et provoquant son détachement dans le manteau. Ces nouveaux résultats ont des implications pour le potentiel pétrolier régional.

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2009/these-6520.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2009/sup-6520.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/6520/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Masson
Résumé : International audience
New evolutionary models for the Pyrenean orogeny must consider feedbacks between the Mid-Cretaceous hyperextension postulated recently and the Pyrenean inversion. We present a new crustal section of the Pyrenees through the Jaca Basin, the western Axial Zone and the Chaînons Béarnais, which allows identifying the ancient continental margins of the Iberian and European plates and a suture. A sequential restoration allows a reassessment of the style of convergence through time. Restoration leads to a progressively thinned crust in narrow continental margins separated by a domain of exhumed mantle peridotite and overlain by a detached sedimentary lid. Early convergence during the Late Cretaceous and the Earliest Paleogene was accommodated by subduction of the peridotite domain. This was followed in the Eocene by initial collision involving overriding of the Iberian margin onto the European margin along the deep ramp of the North-Pyrenean Frontal thrust, which defines the suture. Subsequent full collision and strong relief generation from the late-Mid or Late Eocene to the Early Miocene were associated with thrust accretion of the Iberian plate, underlain by wedging and northward subduction of the decoupled Iberian lower crust.
ISSN: 1631-0713

insu-01291223
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01291223
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01291223/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01291223/file/The%20crustal%20evolution%20of%20the%20west-central%20Pyrenees%20-%20postprint.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2015.10.010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
Selected high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles and multibeam bathymetry acquired along the convergent Ecuador margin during the ATACAMES cruise on onboard the R/V L’Atalante (Jan.15–Feb.18, 2012) allow a preliminary evaluation of the neotectonic development and stratigraphic evolution of the margin based on the sismo-stratigraphic analysis of Quaternary sediment preserved on the margin shelf and upper slope. We present three major preliminary results. (1) The evolution of the Esmeraldas, Guayaquil and Santa Elena canyons. The head of the Esmeraldas canyon is the location of a continuous significant sediment transport. The Guayaquil canyon shows several episodes of deposition and incision. Aggrading sedimentation pattern in the canyon records several changes in relative sea-level. The subsidence of the Gulf of Guayaquil probably contributes to the good preservation of the canyon filling stages. The Santa Elena canyon is controlled by a SW–NE trending normal fault. (2) Variations of sediment accumulation and relative vertical motions are shown along-strike the shelf edge. Offshore the uplifted Manta peninsula, a pronounced subsidence of the shelf edge is documented by sedimentary clinoforms that have deposited in a morphological reentrant, and have migrated upslope testifying of a local subsidence meanwhile the adjacent La Plata Island area underwent uplift. In the Esmeraldas canyon area, a local uplift of the shelf is documented. (3) Two neotectonic fault systems with a possible transcurrent component are imaged across the shelf edge and upper margin slope offshore Jama, and Cape Galera. This possible transcurrent motion could be related to the reactivation of ancient faults of the upper plate by the subduction. These preliminary results indicate that the ATACAMES data set has a strong potential to evaluate the spatial and temporal contribution of tectonic and climate changes on the structural development and stratigraphic evolution of the Ecuador continental margin.
ISSN: 0025-3235

insu-01131151
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01131151
DOI : 10.1007/s11001-014-9231-y

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
S U M M A R Y Over the last decade, thermomechanical models have revealed the control of both tectonics and erosion on the morphology of continental plateaus margins. However, unravelling the specific effects of these two coupled processes has been difficult in practice. Here, to assess the control of erosion, we investigate the dynamics of the eastern and the northern borders of the Tibetan Plateau, which are characterized by a low convergence rate and a steep topographic escarpment adjacent to the Sichuan and Tarim basins, respectively. Thermomechanical modelling of continental lithosphere coupled with fluvial denudation reveals that important crustal deformation with large-scale horizontal displacements can occur, without any convergence, as a response to mass transfer due to gravitational collapse and to erosional unloading. These processes are sensitive to crustal structure, geothermal gradient as well as surface erosion. At a timescale of several million years, our results suggest that this denudation-triggered deformation exerts a primary control on the evolution of those plateau margins by counterbalancing the mass removal due to erosion and stabilizing the topographic escarpment. This finding supports a possible explanation for the morphology of the Longmen Shan, eastern Tibet, in which the paradoxical combination of persistent high-topographic gradients close to the foreland and low convergence rates can be related to the influence of erosion on deformation patterns.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-01577060
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577060
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577060/document
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577060/file/godard2009erosional.pdf
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04324.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The contourite depositional system (CDS) along the southwestern Iberian Margin (SIM), within the Gulf of Cadiz and offshore areas of western Portugal bear the unmistakable signal of Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) exiting the Strait of Gibraltar. This locality records key information concerning the effects of tectonic activity on margin sedimentation, the effects of MOW dynamics on Atlantic circulation, and how these factors may have influenced global climate. Over the last four decades, numerous studies have been conducted on the late Miocene, Pliocene and Quaternary sedimentary stacking pattern of Neogene basins along the SIM for both academic and resources exploration purposes. However, understanding of the region rests primarily on basic seismic stratigraphy calibrated with limited data from only a few exploration wells. The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 339 recently drilled five sites in the Gulf of Cadiz and two sites on the western Iberian margin. The integration of core and borehole data with other geophysical databases leads us to propose a new stratigraphic framework. Interpretation of IODP Exp. 339 data along with that from industry sources and onshore outcrop analysis helps refine our understanding of the SIM's sedimentary evolution.We identify significant changes in sedimentation style and dominant sedimentary processes, coupled with widespread depositional hiatuses along the SIM within the Cadiz, Sanlucar, Doñana, Algarve and Alentejo basins. Following the 4.5 Ma cessation of a previous phase of tectonic activity related to the Miocene–Pliocene boundary, tectonics continued to influence margin development, downslope sediment transport and CDS evolution. Sedimentary features indicate tectonic pulses of about 0.8–0.9 Ma duration with a pronounced overprint of ~ 2–2.5 Ma cycles. These more protracted cycles relate to the westward rollback of subducted lithosphere at the convergent Africa-Eurasia plate boundary as its previous NW–SE compressional regime shifted to a WNW–ESE direction. Two major compressional events affecting to the Neogene basins at 3.2–3 Ma and 2–2.3 Ma help constrain the three main stages of CDS evolution. The stages include: 1) the initial-drift stage (5.33–3.2 Ma) with a weak MOW, 2) a transitional-drift stage (3.2–2 Ma) and 3) a growth-drift stage (2 Ma-present time) with enhanced MOW circulation into the Atlantic and associated contourite development due to greater bottom-current velocity. Two minor Pleistocene discontinuities at 0.7–0.9 Ma and 0.3–0.6 Ma record the effects of renewed tectonic activity on basin evolution, appearing most prominently in the Doñana basin. Several discontinuities bounding major and minor units appear on seismic profiles. Quaternary records offer the clearest example of this, with major units of about 0.8–0.9 Ma and sub-units of 0.4–0.5 Ma. Sedimentation is controlled by a combination of tectonics, sediment supply, sea-level and climate. This research identifies time scales of tectonic controls on deep-marine sedimentation, specifically over periods of 2.5–> 0.4 Ma. Shorter-term climatic (orbital) mechanisms control sedimentation at time scales of ≤ 0.4 Ma. The role of bottom water circulation and associated processes in shaping the seafloor and controlling the sedimentary stacking pattern on continental margins has to be seriously reconsidered in future multidisciplinary studies. This is not only because of the common occurrence of sandy contourite deposits in deep water setting and their economic interest for hydrocarbon exploration, but principally because they archive the heartbeat of the interior Earth and therefore have important sedimentary and paleoceanographic implications.
ISSN: 0025-3227

hal-01356166
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01356166
DOI : 10.1016/j.margeo.2015.09.013

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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This study provides new Ar-40/Ar-39 geochronological constraints on the age of the Alpine tectonics in the Aspromonte Massif (southern part of the Calabrian-Peloritan belt). This massif exposes the upper units of the Calabride Complex which originated from the European continental margin. The Calabride Complex was incorporated in the Alpine orogenic wedge and then integrated into the Apennines and Maghrebides fold- and-thrust belts. Throughout the Calabride Complex there is evidence for a two stage tectonic history, which remains however rather poorly dated: Alpine nappe stacking is followed by extensional reworking along the former thrust contacts or along new detachment surfaces. Our new ages suggest that exhumation of the uppermost units, which accompanied nappe stacking, probably started at 45 Ma and that the deepest units were almost completely exhumed at 33 Ma. This kinematics probably corresponds to syn-orogenic extension while the end of exhumation is clearly related to the extensional tectonics dated at 28.6 Ma along detachment structures.;Our geochronological data reveal a very short lag time between accretional and extensional processes in this part of the Mediterranean Alpine orogenic belt. The direction of extension, when the units are restored to their initial position (i.e. before the opening of the Western Mediterranean basins and the bending of the arc) is NNE-SSW. Such a direction does not fit with the eastward slab-retreat model generally put forward to explain extension in the Western Mediterranean. In contrast, we provide evidence for roughly N-S middle Oligocene extension in the accretionary prism, not previously described in this part of the Mediterranean domain.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00475649
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00475649
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2009.10.011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Convergent plate margins typically experience a transition from subduction to collision dynamics as massive continental blocks enter the subduction channel. Studies of high-pressure rocks indicate that tectonic fragments are rapidly exhumed from eclogite facies to mid-crustal levels, but the details of such dynamics are controversial. To understand the dynamics of a subduction channel we report the results of a petrochronological study from the central Sesia Zone, a key element of the internal Western Alps. This comprises two polymetamorphic basement complexes (Eclogitic Micaschist Complex and Gneiss Minuti Complex) and a thin, dismembered cover sequence (Scalaro Unit) associated with pre-Alpine metagabbros and metasediments (Bonze Unit). Structurally controlled samples from three of these units (Eclogitic Micaschist Complex and Scalaro-Bonze Units) yield unequivocal petrological and geochronological evidence of two distinct high-pressure stages. Ages (U-Th-Pb) of growth zones in accessory allanite and zircon, combined with inclusion and textural relationships, can be tied to the multi-stage evolution of single samples. Two independent tectono-metamorphic 'slices' showing a coherent metamorphic evolution during a given time interval have been recognized: the Fondo slice (which includes Scalaro and Bonze rocks) and the Druer slice (belonging to the Eclogitic Micaschist Complex). The new data indicate separate stages of deformation at eclogite-facies conditions for each recognized independent kilometer-sized tectono-metamorphic slice, between ∼85 and 60 Ma, with evidence of intermittent decompression (ΔP ∼ 0*5 GPa) within only the Fondo slice. The evolution path of the Druer slice indicates a different P-T-time evolution with prolonged eclogite-facies metamorphism between ∼85 and 75 Ma. Our approach, combining structural, petrological and geochronological techniques, yields field-based constraints on the duration and rates of dynamics within a subduction channel.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-01054335
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01054335
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egu029

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Institut de Géographie Alpine
Résumé : International audience
The international symposium on «Urban Growth and Natural Hazards, in particular in Developing Countries» was held in the University Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand (France) on December 2 and 3, 1994. This meeting brought together about 70 research people, Ph.D. students, and professionals from France and 12 countries, representing universities, research agencies, as well as government and private companies. The symposium aimed to gather specialized people who are engaged and acting in programmes on hazard appraisal, risk prevention and urban management in city environment. These people aimed to compare experiences acquired in two different fields: on the one hand urban growth and its consequences, and on the other hand, natural hazards and effects, in particular in Developing Countries.Half-way through the International Decade for Natural Hazard Disaster Reduction, we strove to reconcile two points of view usually distincts: nature-oriented research and society-oriented research on hazards. These convergent approaches should merge, not only to improve knowledge of natural hazards and risks, but also to cope with hazard and risk situation on a day-basis in a city. We also choose to study both approaches in Developing Countries (DC) because most of the large cities of the world already are or will be located there in near future. In addition, city location in DC coincides with tropical areas where natural hazards are most frequent threats to life, in particular in mountains, on seashores, and on active convergent plate margins. We stress the fact that the 3 following topics are often lacking in studies which have been carried out on natural hazard appraisal and management. 1) How should we include social and economical factors, and particularly a sound analysis of vulnerability of people and values at risk ? 2) How should we cope with hazard management in large cities of Developing Countries ? 3) What is the specific task of research people in hazard case studies engaged in urban environment and management?Three themes correspond to the three sessions of the symposium. (1) Natural hazards and environmental factors : inventory, diagnostic and classification, (2) Vulnerability of urban society and environment : concepts, approaches, and classification, (3) Tools for urban risk prevention and risk management in case of crisis and catastrophes.
Ce numéro de la Revue de Géographie Alpine reprend une dizaine parmi les 41 contributions exposées par des chercheurs français et étrangers lors du colloque international « Croissance urbaine et risques naturels dans les pays en développement » qui s'est déroulé à l'Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, les 2 et 3 décembre 1994. L'objectif général du colloque était de rassembler les diverses compétences existant en France et à l'étranger dans le domaine de l'évaluation et de la gestion des risques naturels et de confronter les expériences acquises à l'interface entre les villes en croissance et le champ d'action des phénomènes naturels créateurs de risques. Le colloque a donc réuni des chercheurs, des doctorants et des praticiens français et leurs collègues étrangers chargés de prévention, de gestion des risques naturels et de gestion urbaine, principalement dans les grandes villes des pays en développement (P.E.D.).Parvenus à mi-chemin de la Décennie Internationale pour la Prévention des Catastrophes Naturelles, nous avons porté des regards croisés sur les approches naturalistes et sociologiques des risques naturels. Il est maintenant nécessaire de faire converger ces approches, non seulement dans la connaissance des menaces et des risques, mais dans la gestion du risque quotidien en milieu urbain. Nous avons concentré ces approches dans les pays en développement ; en effet, le site de leurs grandes villes coïncide souvent avec le champ d'action des phénomènes naturels générateurs de risques, notamment dans la zone intertropicale et en particulier dans les marges continent ales actives (par exemple autour du Pacifique).Nous avons porté l'accent sur 3 points principaux, qui semblent en partie faire défaut dans les études et les méthodes actuellement mises en oeuvre dans la gestion des risques naturels : 1) comment prendre en compte les aspects socio-économiques, en particulier les types d'analyse des vulnérabilités ? 2) comment aborder la gestion des risques en milieu urbain dans les P.E.D. ? 3) quel rôle doit jouer le chercheur en Sciences de l'Homme, de la Société et de la Terre dans les analyses, les expertises consacrées aux risques et surtout dans leur gestion globale, à la charnière des sociétés citadines précaires et des milieux « naturels » contraignants ?Les contributions ont été regroupées, exposées et discutées lors du colloque sous forme de 3 thèmes. (1) Les phénomènes naturels créateurs de dommages (= menaces) : diagnostic, inventaire et typologie, (2) Les vulnérabilités des sociétés et des espaces urbanisés : concepts, typologie et modes d'analyse, (3) Les outils d'aide à la prévention et à la gestion du risque en milieu urbain.
Colloque international : "Croissance urbaine et risques naturels dans les pays en développement"
Clermont-Ferrand, Université Blaise Pascal, France

ISBN : 0035-1121
hal-01165252
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01165252

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Two opposing visions of the Aegean backarc tectonics implicitly contain contrasting images of the rheological behaviour of the lihosphere, supported by different sets of observations. The propagation of the NAF and extension in the Corinth Rift suggest a strongly localising rheology whereas the formation of MCC in the Cyclades and the Rhodope suggests instead a more viscous behaviour. This paradox was the seminal question addressed by the ANR-EGEO programme (2007-2010) that leads to the following conclusions: (1) The exhumation of the Cycladic MCC's is accommodated by the N-dipping North Cycladic Detachment System (NCDS) that partly reworks the Vardar suture and at the base by a series of thrusts, including the basal contact of the Cycladic Blueschists (CBS) over the Cycladic Basement (CB). The activity of LANF is due to the reactivation of pre-existing discontinuities such as thrusts or earlier detachments and much less to the interaction with granitic plutons. (2) Exhumation in the Cyclades has proceeded in two stages: (a) Eocene syn-orogenic exhumation within the subduction lower/upperplate interface while the post-orogenic Rhodope MCC formed further north, (b) Oligo-Miocene post-orogenic extension in an MCC mode coeval with syn-orogenic exhumation in Crete and the Peloponnese. (3) Both stages were associated with slab retreat, as early as the Eocene with an acceleration at 30-35 Ma. (4) The localisation of the presently active steeply-dipping normal faults on the southern margin of the Corinth Rift may have been preceded by a partial reworking of thrusts and syn-orogenic detachments by shallow-dipping decollements. (5) The localisation of the NAF in the Marmara Sea region and the Northern Aegean Sea is now accurately dated between 5.3 and 5 Ma Ma using the erosion and deposition surfaces that mark the Messinian salinity Crisis and nannofossils ages. (6) The formation of MCCs in the Cyclades resulted in the draining of the low viscosity lower crust from the northern Aegean Sea and led to an easier coupling between upper mantle and upper crust, easing the localisation and propagation of the NAF. (7) A comparison between crustal and mantle finite strain suggests that mantle flow due to slab retreat controls the stretching of the crust. Our model involves progressive slab retreat and mantle flow below the overriding plate inducing the observed succession of tectonic episodes with a progressive localisation of extension due to several slab tearing events. There is no paradox in the tectonic history and rheological behaviour of the Aegean lithosphere but an evolution of the kinematic boundary conditions due to slab deformation at depth.
American Geophysical Union
San Francisco, United States

insu-00860518
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00860518
BIBCODE : 2010AGUFM.T13G..04J

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 Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Longmen Shan (Sichuan, China) is characterised by an unusual morphology which results from a Triassic prism tectonics and a more recent Neogene thick-skin thrusting. Among its specific features is the high elevation of the internal zones in continuity with the Songpan Garze fold-and-thrust belt (SG), which is associated with an abrupt 20 km Moho offset between the Sichuan Basin and the Tibetan plateau as revealed by the analysis of teleseismic data acquired by a dense seismic network. The jump in crustal thickness is located at the apex of the Wenchuan shear zone (WSZ) and marks the western boundary of the metamorphosed units of SG characterized by temperatures varying from 590 degrees C down to 300 degrees C as commonly observed in mature accretionary wedges. Both the structural style marked by intense shortening in tight kink folds and geophysical data suggest the presence of an horizontal discontinuity at similar to 15 km depth over a thick crust (similar to 63 km).;The Longmen Shan east of the WSZ is characterized by thick-skin detachment which thrusts the internal sedimentary units and the Proterozoic basement over the series of the Sichuan Basin deposited on a thinner crust of similar to 44 km thick. The major front is the Beichuan Fault Zone (BFZ) which brought the internal zones onto Triassic and Jurassic series with lower temperatures (less than 400 degrees C). Locally, temperatures of similar to 425 degrees C are found just below the klippes.;These results are in agreement with an original contact of the SG zone represented by an accretionary wedge of sediments thrusted over the margin of the continental crust of the Yangtze craton in the early stage (Indosinian) of the evolution. The present-day slow E-W component of the convergence, added to the difference in crustal thickness caused the Yangtze crust to indent the Songpan Tibetan crust which was softened by a high thermal regime. As a response the edge of the Tibet crust was inflated to the bottom (up to 70 km), whereas to the top, the crystalline massif were exhumed and pushed the deformation eastward as emerging and blind thrusts. This configuration reflects a moderate shortening of the crust which behaves as a soft thick material abutting the resistant and cold Yangtze crust.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00534849
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00534849
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2010.03.018

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
In the Tifnoute Valley, three plutonic units have been defined: the Askaoun intrusion, the Imourkhssen intrusion and the Ougougane group of small intrusions. They are made of quartz diorite, granodiorite and granite and all contain abundant mafic microgranular enclaves (MME). The Askaoun granodiorite and the Imourkhssen granite have been dated by LA-ICP-MS on zircon at 558 ± 2 Ma and 561 ± 3 Ma, respectively. These granitic intrusions are subcontemporaneous to the widespread volcanic and volcano-detrital rocks from the Ouarzazate Group (580-545 Ma), marking the post-collisional transtensional period in the Anti-Atlas and which evolved towards alkaline and tholeiitic lavas in minor volume at the beginning of the Cambrian anorogenic intraplate extensional period. Geochemically, the Tifnoute Valley granitoids belong to an alkali-calcic series (high-K calc-alkaline) with typical Nb-Ta negative anomalies and no alkaline affinities. Granitoids and enclaves display positive εNd-560Ma (+0.8 to +3.5) with young Nd-TDM between 800 and 1200 Ma and relatively low 87Sr/86Sr initial ratios (Sri: 0.7034 and 0.7065). These values indicate a mainly juvenile source corresponding to a Pan-African metasomatized lithospheric mantle partly mixed with an old crustal component from the underlying West African Craton (WAC). Preservation in the Anti-Atlas of pre-Pan-African lithologies (c. 2.03 Ga basement, c. 800 Ma passive margin greenschist-facies sediments, allochthonous 750-700 Ma ophiolitic sequences) indicates that the Anti-Atlas lithosphere has not been thickened and was never an active margin during the Neoproterozoic. After a transpressive period, the late Ediacaran period (580-545 Ma) is marked by movement on near vertical transtensional faults, synchronous with the emplacement of the huge Ouarzazate Group and the Tifnoute Valley granitoids. We propose here a geodynamical model where the Tifnoute Valley granitoids as well as the Ouarzazate Group were generated during the post-collisional metacratonic evolution of the northern boundary of the West African craton. The convergence with the peri-Gondwanan active margin produced brittle fracturing of the cratonic boundary without thickening, allowing rising of magmas. The Tifnoute Valley granitoids display a metasomatized lithospheric mantle source mixed with a minor ancient (2 Ga) continental crust component from the underlying WAC.
ISSN: 0930-0708

halsde-00782152
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halsde-00782152
DOI : 10.1007/s00710-012-0245-3

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The island of Taiwan is located on the convergent boundary between the Philippine Sea plate and the Chinese continental margin. It offers very active mountain building and collapsing processes well illustrated by the rugged topography, rapid uplift and denudation, young tectonic landforms, active faulting and numerous earthquakes. In this paper, using simple models, we have estimated vertical movements and associated absolute gravity variations which can be expected along a profile crossing the southern part of the island and probably suffering the highest rates of rising. The two different tectonic styles proposed for the island, thin-skinned and thick-skinned, were taken into account. Horizontal and vertical movements were modeled by an elastic deformation code. Gravity variations due to these deformations are then modeled at a second step. They are dominated by plate and free-air effects, i.e. elevation of the topography, with several mu Gal yr(-1). By comparison, gravity changes generated by mass transfers are weak: maximum 0.1 mu Gal yr(-1) with the thin-skinned tectonic and 0.3 mu Gal yr(-1) with the thick-skinned tectonic. Though elastic rheology has limitations, this modeling offers interesting results on what gravity signal can be expected from the AGTO project (Absolute Gravity in the Taiwanese Orogen), which proposes to study the dynamic of these mountain ranges using absolute gravimetry (AG) and also including relative gravimetry (RG) and GPS measurements.
ISSN: 0264-3707

hal-00456035
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00456035
DOI : 10.1016/j.jog.2009.09.004

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