Éditeur(s) : American Geophysical Union
Résumé : We use seismic reflection and rock sample data to propose that the first-order physiography of New Caledonia Trough and Norfolk Ridge formed in Eocene and Oligocene time and was associated with the onset of subduction and back-arc spreading at the Australia-Pacific plate boundary. Our tectonic model involves an initial Cretaceous rift that is strongly modified by Cenozoic subduction initiation. Hence, we are able to explain (1) complex sedimentary basins of inferred Mesozoic age; (2) a prominent unconformity and onlap surface of middle Eocene to early Miocene age at the base of flat-lying sediments beneath the axis of New Caledonia Trough; (3) gently dipping, variable thickness, and locally deformed Late Cretaceous strata along the margins of the trough; (4) platform morphology and unconformities on either side of the trough that indicate a phase of late Eocene to early Miocene uplift to near sea level, followed by rapid Oligocene and Miocene subsidence of similar to 1100-1800 m; and (5) seismic reflection facies tied to boreholes that suggest absolute tectonic subsidence at the southern end of New Caledonia Trough by 1800-2200 m since Eocene time. The Cenozoic part of the model involves delamination and subduction initiation followed by rapid foundering and rollback of the slab. This created a deep (>2 km) enclosed oceanic trough, similar to 2000 km long and 200-300 km across, in Eocene and Oligocene time as the lower crust detached, with simultaneous uplift and local land development along basin flanks. Disruption of Late Cretaceous and Paleogene strata was minimal during this Cenozoic phase and involved only subtle tilting and local reverse faulting or folding. Basin formation was possible through the action of at least one detachment fault that allowed the lower crust to either be subducted into the mantle or exhumed eastward into Norfolk Basin. We suggest that delamination of the lithosphere, with possible mixing of the lower crust back into the mantle, is more widespread than previously thought and may be commonly associated with subduction initiation, such as Cenozoic events in the Mediterranean and western Pacific.
Tectonics (0278-7407) (American Geophysical Union), 2010-03 , Vol. 29 , N. TC2004 , P. 1-16

Droits : Copyright 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00001/11271/9283.pdf
DOI:10.1029/2009TC002476
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00001/11271/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
The Jaca basin is a thrust-sheet top basin transported southward andunderlain by basement and cover thrusts separated by a Triassic décollement.Basin-fill upper Cretaceous to lower Oligocene synorogenic sequencesrecord a southward depocenter migration, while growth stratadate a shift of deformation from the mid-Eocene in the N to the earlyMiocene in the S (S-Pyrenean front). However, the deep geometry andkinematic relationships between the cover and basement thrusts remainnon-consensual. We present a new structural and kinematic interpretationfor the eastern Jaca basin, based on subsurface structural maps andcross-sections constructed using industrial seismic reflection profiles.Raman Spectroscopy of Carbonaceous Material (RSCM), vitrinite reflectanceand apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology data givefurther constraints for the restoration of the deformation and burialexhumationsequence. We define 3 main basement thrusts under thenorthern part of the basin, from N to S the Broto, Fiscal and Guargathrusts. The study also clarifies the deep structure of the cover thrustsand their links with these basement thrusts and those located more tothe north in the Axial Zone (AZ), which altogether define the timing ofthe basement thrust sequence as follows : the Lakoura-Eaux Chaudesthrust system (northern AZ) active up to the end Bartonian, the Gavarnie(central AZ) and Broto thrusts during the Priabonian-Rupelian andthe Fiscal and Guarga thrusts during the late Oligocene-early Miocene.AFT results in the basin fill and AZ date the exhumation of the basinto the late Oligocene-early Miocene, in relation to the Fiscal-Guargathrusting. AFT partial reset argues for a maximum burial < 6 km forthe base of the Eocene detrital sequence (Hecho Group turbidites). Bycontrast, RSCM and vitrinite thermometry at the same level indicatesTmax around 180°C, locally up to 240°C, attesting to a temperature anomalypossibly related to transient fluid circulation.
24 ème Réunion des sciences de la Terre 2014
Pau, France

insu-01080836
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01080836

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 Springer
Résumé : International audience
We present here a synthesis of the evolution of rifted continental margin systems in the Gulf of Aden. These margins are volcanic to the west of the Gulf of Aden, where they are influenced by the Afar hotspot, and non-volcanic east of longitude 46° E. The combined use of magnetics, gravity, seismic reflection, field observations (tectonic, stratigraphic and sedimentological) and oil well data allowed us to obtain better constraints on the timing of continental rifting and seafloor spreading. From the Permo-Triassic to the Oligocene, the Arabian-African plate was subject to distributed extension, probably due, at least from the Cretaceous, to tensile stresses related to the subduction of the Tethysian slab in the north. In Late Eocene-Early Oligocene, 34-33 Ma ago, rifting started to localise along the future area of continental breakup. Initially guided by the inherited basins, continental rifting then occurred synchronously over the entire gulf before becoming localised on the northern and southern borders of the inherited grabens, in the direction of the Afar hotspot. In the areas with non-volcanic margins (in the east), the faults marking the end of rifting trend parallel to the inherited grabens. Only the transfer faults cross-cut the inherited grabens, and some of these faults later developed into transform faults. The most important of these transform faults follow a Precambrian trend. Volcanic margins were formed in the west of the Gulf, up to the Guban graben in the southeast and as far as the southern boundary of the Bahlaf graben in the northeast. Seaward dipping reflectors can be observed on many oil industry seismic profiles. The influence of the hotspot during rifting was concentrated on the western part of the gulf. Therefore, it seems that the western domain was uplifted and eroded at the onset of rifting, while the eastern domain was characterised by more continuous sedimentation. The phase of distributed deformation was followed by a phase of strain localisation during the final rifting stage, just before formation of the Ocean-Continent Transition (OCT), in the most distal graben (DIM graben). About 20 Ma ago, at the time of the continental break-up, the emplacement of the OCT started in the east with exhumation of the subcontinental mantle. Farther west, the system was heated up by the strong influence of the Afar hotspot, which led to breakup with much less extension. In the Gulf of Aden (s.str), up to the Shukra El Sheik fracture zone, oceanic spreading started 17.6 Ma ago. West of this fracture zone, oceanic accretion started 10 Ma ago, and 2 Ma ago in the Gulf of Tadjoura. Post-rift deformation of the eastern margins of the Gulf of Aden can be seen in the distal and proximal domains. Indeed, the substantial post-rift uplift of these margins could be associated with either the continental break-up, or activity of the Afar hotspot and related volcanic/magmatic activity. Uplift of the northern proximal margin was still active (e.g. stepped beach rocks exposed at 60 m of 2 Ma; 30 m of 35,200 years; 10 and 2 m) and active volcanoes can be inferred at depths of between 70 and 200 km beneath the margin (at 5-10 km distance from the coast). On the distal margin, heat flow measurements show a high value that is associated with post-rift volcanic activity and the development of a volcano (with flows and sills) shortly after the formation of the OCT. The Afar hotspot is therefore important for several reasons. It allows the localisation of deformation along the Red Sea/Aden system and the rapid opening of the Gulf after the continental break-up; its influence also seems to persist during the post-rift period.
ISSN: 1866-7411

hal-01053089
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01053089
DOI : 10.1007/s12517-011-0475-4

Éditeur(s) : AGU
Résumé : New, high-quality multichannel seismic reflection data from the western New Caledonia offshore domain allow for the first time the direct, continuous connection of seismic reflectors between the Deep Sea Drilling Project 208 drill hole on the Lord Howe Rise and the New Caledonia Basin. A novel seismic interpretation is hence proposed for the northern New Caledonia Basin stratigraphy, which places the Eocene/Oligocene unconformity deeper than previously thought and revisits the actual thickness of the pre-Oligocene sequences. A causal link is proposed between the obduction of the South Loyalty Basin over New Caledonia (NC) and the tectonic history of the northern New Caledonia Basin. Here it is suggested that as the South Loyalty Basin was being obducted during early Oligocene times, the NC Basin subsided under the effect of the overloading and underthrusted to accommodate the compressional deformation, which resulted in (1) the uplift of the northern Fairway Ridge and (2) the sinking of the western flank of New Caledonia. This event also had repercussions farther west with the incipient subsidence of the Lord Howe Rise.
Tectonics (0278-7407) (AGU), 2008-12 , Vol. 27 , N. TC6006 , P. 1-20

Droits : 2008 American Geophysical Union
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2008/publication-4782.pdf
DOI:10.1029/2008TC002263
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/4782/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : In this work on a complete transect of the west‐central Pyrenees, we combine low temperature thermochronology (apatite fission tracks, AFT) with a detailed structural analysis to describe vertical movements related to the thrusting system evolution, and to determine the influence of the latter on the sedimentation/burial/exhumation cycle of thesynorogenic deposits of the southern foreland basin (Jaca and Ainsa basins). AFT analysis from a transect of the south‐Pyrenean basin show the southward decrease of the fission track reset level from the southern edge of the Axial Zone to the South‐Pyreneanfrontal thrust, implying the southwards decrease of the burial amount from more than 5kmin the north to less than 3km in the south assuming an average geothermal gradient of 25°C.km‐1. The structural setting of the Jaca basin attests that the burial of the synorogenicsediments was mainly due to the sedimentary accumulation. AFT data from the northernpart of the basin display a late Oligocene‐early (middle) Miocene cooling event. Newinterpretation of industrial seismic reflection profiles across the Jaca basin suggests that the Oturia thrust is rooted in the Bielsa basement thrust, responsible for the early (‐middle) Miocene out‐of‐sequence tectonic reactivation of the southern flank of the Axial Zone (Jolivet et al., 2007). These results reveal a lower Miocene (Burdigalian ‐?Langhian) out‐of sequence episode of tectonic activity of the interior of the south‐Pyrenean foreland basin. AFT data from the Axial Zone and the North‐Pyrenean Zone confirm the general southwardmigration of the thrusting system, and also bring evidence of the late Oligocene‐lowe rMiocene out‐of‐sequence tectonic reactivation of the northern flank of the Axial Zone. All these results attest of a late Oligocene‐lower Miocene (Burdigalian‐?Langhian) "pop‐up" reactivation of the inner part of the west‐central Pyrenees, younger than the sealing of thesouth‐Pyrenean front (Aquitanian‐?Burdigalian) which is classically considered to mark the end of the Pyrenean compression. These results lead us to propose a new crustal scale evolution model of the west‐central Pyrenees in 3 stages: (i) From the Late Cretaceous to themiddle Eocene, the orogenic prism is characterised by the absence of relief, related to theinversion of Cretaceous extensional structures leading to the accretion of thin crustal units; (ii) The late Eocene‐Oligocene stage corresponds to the continental collision, marked by the creation of important relief associated with the accretion of thick crustal units; (iii) During the early Miocene, the inner part of the Pyrenean wedge is tectonically reactivated.
Ce travail de thèse concerne une transversale complète des Pyrénées centro-occidentales, où on a combiné la thermochronologie basse température (traces de fission sur apatites, TFA) avec une analyse structurale détaillée pour décrire les mouvements verticaux associés à l'évolution du système chevauchant, et pour déterminer l'influence de ce dernier sur le cycle sédimentation/enfouissement/exhumation des dépôts synorogéniques du bassin d'avant‐chaine sud (bassins de Jaca et Ainsa). L'analyse TFA complète les données déjà publiées dans la Zone Axiale et la Zone Nord‐Pyrénéenne, e tconstitue la première étude de ce genre dans un bassin d'avant‐chaîne pyrénéen. Les données TFA sur la transversale du bassin sud‐pyrénéen montrent une diminution vers le sud du degré d'effacement des traces de fission, traduisant la diminution vers le sud de la quantité d'enfouissement, supérieure à 5 km au nord et inférieure à 3 km au sud dans l'hypothèse un géotherme de 25°.km‐1. Le contexte géologique montre que l'enfouissement est principalement lié à l'accumulation des dépôts synorogéniques. Les données TFA de lapartie nord du bassin montrent un refroidissement d'âge Oligocène supérieur‐Miocèneinferieur (moyen). Par ailleurs, une nouvelle interprétation de profils de sismiques réflexiondans le bassin de Jaca montre que le chevauchement d'Oturia s'enracine dans lechevauchement de socle de Bielsa, responsable de l'exhumation tectonique hors‐séquencedu bord sud de la Zone Axiale au Miocène inférieur (‐moyen) (Jolivet et al., 2007). Cesrésultats attestent donc de l'exhumation tectonique hors‐séquence au Miocène inférieur (Burdigalien‐ ?Langhien) de la partie nord du bassin d'avant‐chaine sud‐pyrénéen. Des données TFA obtenues dans la Zone Axiale et la Zone Nord‐Pyrénéenne confirment lamigration générale vers le sud du système chevauchant, et mettent également en évidencela réactivation tectonique hors‐séquence du bord nord de la Zone Axiale à l'Oligocèneterminal‐Miocène inférieur. L'ensemble de ces résultats atteste donc de la réactivation en " pop‐up " de la parties interne des Pyrénées centre‐ouest à l'Oligocène supérieur‐Miocèneinférieur (Burdigalien‐ ?Langhien), postérieurement au scellement du front sud‐pyrénéen (Aquitanien‐ ?Burdigalien) classiquement considéré comme marquant la fin de lacompression pyrénéenne. Ces données nous ont permis de proposer un nouveau modèle d'évolution crustale des Pyrénées centro‐occidentales en 3 grandes étapes : (i) du Crétacé supérieur à l'Eocène moyen, le prisme est caractérisé par une absence de relief, en lien avec l'inversion de structures extensives crétacées conduisant à l'accrétion de petites écailles crustales ; (ii) la période Eocène supérieur‐Oligocène correspond à la collision continentale proprement dite, et est marquée par la création d'importants reliefs associés à l'accrétion d'épaisses unités crustales ; (iii) au Miocène inférieur, la partie interne du prisme pyrénéen est réactivée.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00772154

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
tel-00772154
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00772154
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00772154/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00772154/file/thesemeresse.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The Deep Basin of the Gulf of Mexico (DBGM) extends over eastern Mexico, the southeastern part of the United States, west of the Atlantic Ocean. This study, based on the interpretation and integration of seismic profiles, exploration wells and outcrop studies, focus on the deep part of the Gulf of Mexico, where bathymetry varies from 200 to 3750 m, thus comprising both the continental slope and the abyssal plain. The first part of this thesis focus on the description of the sedimentary infill of the western part of the Gulf of Mexico, in the Veracruz State, and to its geodynamic controls. The geodynamic evolution of the Deep Basin of the Gulf of Mexico (DBGM) begins during the Triassic-Jurassic with the break-up and the opening of a continental rift, in the southern part of the North American lithospheric plate. This opening induced a relative movement of the Yucatan Block towards the southeast. This intra-continental rifting episode was followed by a stage of post-rift thermal subsidence in the basins of the continental margin in the west, coeval with oceanic accretion in the DBGM. The thermal subsidence of the margin was subsequently modified by the Laramian orogeny, which impacted strongly the overall architecture of the margin as well as its litho-stratigraphic evolution, inducing the deposition of siliciclastic deposits in various morphotectonic provinces: i.e., near the tectonic front of the Sierra Madre Oriental (SMO), within the adjacent Chicontepec foreland basin, over the Tuxpan Platform (Golden Lane), across the continental slope and up to the deep abyssal plain, these two last morphotectonic provinces belonging to the DBGM. During the Early Paleogene, the effects of the thermal subsidence of the passive margin were stressed by the tectonic load of the Laramian orogen (i.e., the Sierra Madre Oriental, SMO), thus allowing the development of a foreland basin flexural. In this geodynamic framework, the main sedimentary transfers developed from the tectonic front "SMO" in the west, towards the DBGM in the east, the main source for clastic sediments being linked to the erosion of the "SMO" mountains. During the Paleocene and the Early Eocene, the architecture of the silici-clastic syn-tectonic sediments deposited in submarine fans was characterized by sliding, turbidites with A and B Bouma facies, as well as levees and channels. After the stop of the flexural subsidence, the thermal subsidence of the passive margin resumed during the Late Eocene, the Oligocene and the Neogene, allowing the development of a new sedimentary prism, prograding eastwards toward the DBGM. This sedimentary infill was again made up of levees-channels, sand bars and delta systems. During the Neogene, an extensional system with listric faults and roll-over features developed across the slope of the DBGM, due to an active detachment developing within overpressured Eocene-Oligocene clays. This gravitational gliding of Neogene series accounted also for the development of compressional features at the toe of the slope. Approximately 60% of the Miocene siliciclastic sediments have been trapped in growth strata and slope basins associated with this complex gravitational system, ranging from river-delta features towards gravity slides associated with slump facies. The second part of this thesis aims at a quantification of these various processes, including the construction of balanced cross sections, forward Thrustpack kinematic modelling coupling the development of a basal detachment, lithospheric flexure, erosion and sedimentation, as well as subsequent stratigraphic modelling with the Dionisos software, the later aiming at predicting the sand versus clay ratios in Neogene siliciclastic deposits of the DBGM and its surroundings.
Le bassin profond du Golfe du Mexique (BPMG) est localisé à l'est du Mexique, au sud-est des États-Unis et à l'ouest de l'Océan Atlantique. Cette étude de la partie profonde du Golfe du Mexique est basée sur l'intégration de données de sismique, de forages pétroliers et d'études de terrain; elle comprend toute la pente continentale et la plaine abyssale, avec une bathymétrie qui varie de 200 à 3750 m. La première partie de cette thèse est consacrée à la description du remplissage sédimentaire de la bordure occidentale du Golfe du Mexique, dans le secteur de Veracruz, en liaison avec son évolution géodynamique. L'évolution géodynamique du BPMG commence au Trias-Jurassique avec la rupture et la propagation d'un rift continental, dans le secteur sud de la plaque nord américaine. Cette ouverture et le déplacement relatif vers le sud-est du bloc crustal du Yucatan sont à l'origine du BPGM. Cette géodynamique de rift continental est suivie d'une étape post-rift accompagnée de l'océanisation du bassin. Les bassins de la marge passive ont poursuivi leur évolution sous l'effet de la subsidence thermique à l'ouest du Golfe du Mexique, tandis que de la croûte océanique se formait dans le BPGM. Cette subsidence thermique de la marge a ensuite été perturbée par l'orogénèse Laramienne, qui a remodelé l'architecture stratigraphique silico-clastique des dépôts du Tertiaire entre les éléments morphotectoniques suivants: lefront tectonique de la Sierra Madre Orientale (SMO), le bassin d'avant-pays Chicontepec, la Plateforme de Tuxpan-Faja de Oro, la pente continentale et la plaine abyssale, ces deux dernières provinces morphotectoniques appartenant au BPGM. Pendant le Paléogèneinférieur, les effets de la subsidence thermique de la marge passive ont été accentués par la charge tectonique de l'orogénèse laramienne (SMO), permettant ainsi le développement d'un bassin flexural d'avant-pays. Au cours de cette étape, les principaux transferts sédimentaires se sont effectués du front tectonique "SMO" vers le BPGM. La source principale de sédiments clastiques est liée à l'érosion de la chaîne de montagnes "SMO". Pendant le Paléocène et l'Éocène inférieur, l'architecture des premiers sédiments silico-clastiques syn-tectoniques déposés dans des éventails sous-marins sont caractérisés par des figures de glissement, des faciès turbiditiques A et B de Bouma, des chenaux-levées. Après l'arrêt de la subsidence flexurale, la subsidence thermique de la marge passive s'est poursuivie pendant l'Éocène supérieur, l'Oligocène et le Néogène, permettant le développement d'un nouveau prisme sédimentaire progradant. Les remplissages sédimentaires sont encore constitués de chenaux et de levées, avec des barres de sable associées à des systèmes deltaïques sur la plateforme. Pendant le Néogène, un système de failles listriques s'est développé sur la pente du BPGM, au-dessus d'une surface de décollement située, dans la région d'étude, dans les argiles de l'Éocène-Oligocène. Ce système de failles de croissance a piégé plus de 60% des sédiments silico-clastiques du Miocène. Ce remplissage sédimentaire évolue latéralement de faciès fluviaux deltaïques vers des faciès de pente affectés de glissements gravitaires et associés à des turbidites. La deuxième partie de cette thèse est consacrée à une approche quantitative basée sur des modélisations structurales (coupes équilibrées et modélisations cinématiques directes avec Thrustpack, couplant décollement gravitaire, flexure lithosphérique, érosion et sédimentation), puis sédimentaires (prise en compte des transferts de matériel clastique depuis la partie émergée de la chaîne jusqu'au bassin profond, à l'aide du logiciel Dionisos, afin de mieux comprendre les processus de piégeage des sédiments grossiers dans les structures de croissance et les bassins perchés de la marge.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00435120

tel-00435120
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00435120
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00435120/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00435120/file/thesealzaga.pdf

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 Springer Verlag
Résumé : Vertical displacements on the SW-NE T (e) over capt fault (Eastern Pyrenees Axial Zone, France), which separates the Variscan Canigou-Caranca and Mont-Louis massifs, were constrained using a thermochronologic multi-method approach. Ar-40/Ar-39 data from the granitic Mont-Louis massif record its Variscan cooling history and reveal no ages younger than Early Cretaceous, while the Canigou-Caranca gneiss massif records systematically younger Ar-40/Ar-39 ages. These younger Ar-40/Ar-39 ages in the Canigou-Caranca gneiss massif are the result of partial to total rejuvenation of argon isotopic systems related to a thermal flow coeval with the Cretaceous HT-BP metamorphism in the North Pyrenean Zone. Only the deepest rocks from the Canigou-Caranca suffered this extensive Mid-Cretaceous thermal overprint probably due to differential burial around 4 km at that time. The post Mid-Cretaceous vertical displacements along the T (e) over capt fault are recorded by "low" temperature thermochronology using K-feldspar Ar-40/Ar-39, zircon and apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He datings. The Mont-Louis granite samples experienced a long period of protracted cooling reflecting a lack of thermo-tectonic activity in this area from Late Palaeozoic to Early Cenozoic, followed by cooling from 55-60 Ma to Late Eocene at a mean rate of 15-20 degrees C/Ma in the final stage. This cooling stage corresponds to T (e) over capt fault reactivation with a reversed component, promoting exhumation of the Mont-Louis roof zone contemporaneously with the south-vergent Pyrenean thrusting. In the Canigou-Caranca massif, the main cooling event occurred from 32 to 18 Ma at a maximum rate of 30 degrees C/Ma during Early Oligocene followed by a more moderate rate of 3 degrees C/Ma from Late Oligocene to Early Burdigalian, coeval with the normal reactivation of the T (e) over capt fault in brittle conditions that accommodated the final exhumation of the massif during the opening of the Gulf of Lion.
ISSN: 1437-3254

hal-00411442
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411442
DOI : 10.1007/s00531-007-0179-x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
This paper presents a new balanced structural cross-section of the Jaca thrust-sheet-top basin of the southern Pyrenees combined with paleo-thermometry and apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology data. The cross-section, based on field data and interpretation of industrial seismic reflection profiles, allows refinement of previous interpretations of the south-directed thrust system, involving the identification of new thrust faults, and of the kinematic relationships between basement and cover thrusts from the middle Eocene to the early Miocene. AFT analysis shows a southward decrease in the level of fission track resetting, from totally reset Paleozoic rocks and lower Eocene turbidites (indicative of heating to Tmax > ~120 °C), to partially reset middle Eocene turbidites and no/very weak resetting in the upper Eocene-lower Oligocene molasse (Tmax < ~60 °C). AFT results indicate a late Oligocene-early Miocene cooling event throughout the Axial Zone and Jaca Basin. Paleo-maximum temperatures determined by vitrinite reflectance measurements and Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous material reach up to ~240 °C at the base of the turbidite succession. Inverse modelling of AFT and vitrinite reflectance data with the QTQt software for key samples show compatibility between vitrinite-derived Tmax and the AFT reset level for most of the samples. However, they also suggest that the highest temperatures determined in the lowermost turbidites correspond to a thermal anomaly rather than burial heating, possibly due to fluid circulation during thrust activity. From these results, we propose a new sequential restoration of the south Pyrenean thrust system propagation and related basin evolution.
ISSN: 0278-7407

insu-01312746
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01312746
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01312746/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01312746/file/Labaume_et_al-2016-Tectonics.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/2016TC004192

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This study provides an integrated review of plate tectonic models of the evolution of the Antarctica-Patagonia connection compared to geological records collected on land in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, and offshore along the northern edge of the Scotia Sea. A temporal framework for the sedimentary and tectonic events of the North Scotia Ridge and Tierra del Fuego is constructed with additional data compiled from entire Patagonia and the Austral Basin. This review provides robust correlations of seaways and tectonic events along the Scotia and South America plates and indicates that the opening of the Drake Passage was not steady state since ca. 30 Ma. Rather the regions forming the present-day northern limit of this gateway experienced important paleogeographic changes, from deep marine basins to shallow ridges and emerged regions during the late Oligocene and early-middle Miocene time. Our compilation of geological data shows that emergence along the North Scotia Ridge and Tierra del Fuego was achieved at 23-22 Ma, and has been followed by elimination of the Patagoniano Sea in Patagonia, starting at 22-23 Ma and achieved at 20 Ma. This transition towards more continental sedimentation in southern South America is correlated with more shallow marine conditions in the Austral Basin. This succession of events had a strong influence on the general geometry of the Drake Passage, corresponding to a constriction of its northern limit, starting in the window 29-22 Ma and achieved at 21 Ma. This period of active deformation in southern South America also corresponds to a period of the global climate having two anomalies well known from the isotopic records: the Late Oligocene Warming. around 26 Ma and the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum which ended between 15 and 14 Ma. The possible effects of the post-Oligocene tectonic evolution of the Drake Passage region on general oceanic circulation are discussed. Causes for the synchronicity between tectonic events and these global warming events are examined.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00413525
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00413525
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.12.037

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Kazdag Massif exposes an extensional metamorphic dome in the Biga Peninsula of northwest Turkey, bounded on both flanks by detachments and/or shear zones. The northern flank is marked by the extensional Alakeci shear zone (ASZ), with poorly known P-T-t path. We therefore focus on metamorphic conditions and temporal history of the ASZ to determine its tectono-metamorphic evolution. ASZ mylonites were derived from both the footwall Kazdag Massif core metamorphic rocks and the hanging wall Cetmi melange lithologies. The mylonitic fabrics in the ASZ depict a top-to-the NNE shearing, parallel to the NNE-plunging stretching lineation and NNW-dipping mylonitic foliation. This geometry implies normal sense movement i.e. north-side down-dip extensional displacement along this flank of the Kazdag Massif. The northward transition from ductile to brittle-ductile shear regime through the ASZ shows that the non-coaxial deformation occurred at decreasing temperatures and degree of metamorphism. The paragenesis in equilibrium of the mylonitic gneisses and schists contains quartz + feldspar + muscovite + biotite + garnet staurolite, with late retrogressive chlorite after biotite and garnet. Calculated thermo-barometric conditions for ASZ rocks yielded pressures between 6.9 and 5.7 kbar and temperatures between 706 and 587 degrees C, which constrain the peak metamorphism. The mylonitic rocks supplied isochron Ar-39/Ar-40 mica ages between 26.97 and 24.19 Ma, which we interpret to date the cooling of the mylonites following the P-T decrease across the ASZ. The metamorphic data support the structural record and strengthen the extensional character of the ASZ. The transition from sillimanite-bearing footwall Kazdag Massif core gneisses in the deeper structural levels to chlorite schists; towards the shallow structural levels at the top of the ASZ, is consistent with an extensional exhumation of the metamorphic pile. These data allow us to determine the peak P-T conditions and the temporal evolution in the northern flank of the Kazdag Massif, where Late Oligocene extensional exhumation was assisted by NNE-directed ductile-brittle ASZ, which had operated from amphibolite to greenschist facies. The ASZ, together with similar time-constrained ductile-brittle activity of SW-directed detachment along the southern flank of the massif, collectively indicates a bivergent mode of extension in the western Kazdag Massif. The latter is likely influenced by magmatic activity spatially and temporally related to these extensional zones. At the regional scale, the bivergent tectono-metamorphic pattern of the Kazdag Massif is similar to those observed on other places of the north-central Aegean domain.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00445246
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445246
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2009.02.010

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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The East Sayan ranges are a key area to understand the interactions between the transpressive deformation linked to the far-field effects of the India-Asia collision and the extension linked to the opening of the Baikal Rift System. The active deformation that affects this range is very recent (around 5 Ma) but occurs in a very complex morphotectonic setting and the understanding of the Tertiary deformation relies entirely on a detailed knowledge of the pre-deformation situation. Using apatite fission track thermochronology, cosmogenic 10Be and morphological study on Tertiary lava flows we demonstrate that prior to the Oligocene the morphology of the East Sayan area was characterized by a wide, constantly rejuvenated erosion surface. Apatite fission track thermal modelling indicates that this surface started to form at least in Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous (140-120 Ma). The long-term exhumation rates (several tens of million years) derived from apatite fission track data (17.5 m/Ma) and the short-term erosion rates (over a few hundred thousand years) derived from cosmogenic 10Be data (12-20 m/Ma) are coherent implying a near constant mean erosion rate since Late Jurassic. This constant, slow erosion prevented the formation of a lateritic-kaolinic weathering crust on the planation surface. By Oligocene-early Miocene times a long wavelength uplift that remains to be explained, induced incision that created shallow valleys later filled by basaltic lava flows. Finally, the present short-wavelength topography initiated during the Pliocene.
ISSN: 0743-9547

insu-00805603
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00805603
DOI : 10.1016/j.jseaes.2011.09.017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We review the geodynamic evolution of the Aegea-Anatolia region and discuss strain localisation there over geological times. From Late Eocene to Present, crustal deformation in the Aegean backarc has localised progressively during slab retreat. Extension started with the formation of the Rhodope Metamorphic Core Complex (Eocene) and migrated to the Cyclades and the northern Menderes massif (Oligocene and Miocene), accommodated by crustal-scale detachments and a first series of core complexes (MCCs). Extension then localised in Western Turkey, the Corinth Rift and the external Hellenic arc after Messinian times, while the North Anatolian Fault penetrated the Aegean Sea. Through time the direction and style of extension have not changed significantly except in terms of localisation. The contributions of progressive slab retreat and tearing, basal drag, extrusion tectonics and tectonic inheritance are discussed and we favour a model (1) where slab retreat is the main driving engine, (2) successive slab tearing episodes are the main causes of this stepwise strain localisation and (3) the inherited heterogeneity of the crust is a major factor for localising detachments. The continental crust has an inherited strong heterogeneity and crustal-scale contacts such as major thrust planes act as weak zones or as zones of contrast of resistance and viscosity that can localise later deformation. The dynamics of slabs at depth and the asthenospheric flow due to slab retreat also have influence strain localisation in the upper plate. Successive slab ruptures from the Middle Miocene to the Late Miocene have isolated a narrow stripe of lithosphere, still attached to the African lithosphere below Crete. The formation of the North Anatolian Fault is partly a consequence of this evolution. The extrusion of Anatolia and the Aegean extension are partly driven from below (asthenospheric flow) and from above (extrusion of a lid of rigid crust).
ISSN: 0040-1951

insu-00715950
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00715950
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00715950/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00715950/file/Jolivet-Aegean_Tectonophysics-2012.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2012.06.011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The mantle deformation processes that control the thinning and break-up of continental lithosphere remain poorly understood. Our knowledge is restricted to either lithospheric scale thermo-mechanical models --that use experimentally derived flow laws--, geophysical imaging and/or rare xenoliths from active continental rifts, such as the East African Rift System. The originality of this work relies on the study of the two largest outcrops of diamond facies subcontinental lithospheric mantle in the world: the Beni Bousera and Ronda peridotite massifs in N Morocco and S Spain, respectively. The structures and petrologic and metamorphic zoning preserved in these massifs --implying a polybaric and polythermal evolution-- provides a unique opportunity to investigate the thermo-mechanical evolution of thick subcontinental lithospheric mantle in extensional settings. In this thesis we studied the deformation mechanisms in both peridotites and pyroxenites to constrain the modes of exhumation of subcontinental lithospheric mantle from garnet-, to spinel-, and finally, to plagioclase lherzolite facies conditions. We combined field mapping of tectonometamorphic domains and structural mapping of ductile structures, microstructural analysis, crystal preferred orientations (CPO) measurements and conventional thermobarometric calculations and thermodynamic modeling (Perple_X) to unravel the pressure and temperature conditions of deformation. We showed that exhumation from garnet- to spinel lherzolite facies conditions was accommodated by fast shearing --in thermal disequilibrium--along a lithospheric scale transtensional shear zone. In this context, the petrological zoning and the large temperature gradient (ca. 100ºC/km) preserved in the Beni Bousera massif represent the mechanical juxtaposition of progressively deeper and hotter lithospheric levels at depths of ca. 60 km in the latest Oligocene (ca. 25 Ma). Final exhumation from spinel- to plagioclase facies lherzolite and emplacement into the crust is best recorded in the Ronda massif where it occurred by inversion and lithospheric scale folding of the highly attenuated continental lithosphere in a back-arc region, probably in relation with southward slab rollback and subsequent collision with the palaeo-Maghrebien passive margin in the early Miocene (21-23 Ma).
Les processus de déformation contrôlant l'amincissement de la lithosphère continentale sont encore mal contraints. Nos connaissances sont principalement basées sur la modélisation thermomécanique d'extension à l'échelle de la lithosphère--utilisant des lois rhéologiques derivées expérimentalement, l'imagerie géophysique et l'analyse de xénolithes provenant de rift continentaux actifs à ce jour, tels que le Rift Est-Africain. L'originalité de ce travail reside dans l'étude des deux plus grands massifs de péridotites sous-continentales ayant enregistrées des conditions primaires du facies à diamant: les massifs de Beni Bousera au nord du Maroc et de Ronda au sud de l'Espagne, respectivement. Les structures et la zonation petrologique et métamorphique --impliquant une évolution polybarique et polythermique-- préservéees dans ces massifs offrent une opportunité unique pour étudier l'évolution thermo-mécanique du manteau sous-continental dans un contexte extensif. Dans ce travail, nous avons étudié les mécanismes de déformation des péridotites et des pyroxénites afin de contraindre les modes d'exhumation du manteau lithosphérique sous-continental, depuis des conditions du facies des lherzolites à grenat, jusqu'au facies à spinelle et enfin à plagioclase. Nous avons combiné la cartographie des faciès tectono-métamorphiques et des structures ductiles de déformation, l'analyse des microstructures, la mesure d'orientations préférentielles de réseau (OPR), et la géothermobarométrie conventionelle couplée à la modélisation thermodynamique (PerpleX) afin de contraindre les conditions de pression et température de la déformation. Nous avons montré que l'exhumation précoce du facies à grenat au facies à spinelle était accomodée par une faille transtensive affectant le manteau lithosphérique. Dans ce contexte, la zonation tectono-métamorphique et le gradient thermique important (ca. 100ºC/km) préservés à Beni Bousera résultent de la juxtaposition mécanique de domaines lithosphériques initialement équilibrés à différentes pressions et températures, fossilisée à une profondeur de ca. 60 km durant l'Oligocène supérieur (ca. 25 Ma). L'exhumation finale du facies de lherzolite à spinelle au facies à plagioclase et l'emplacement final dans la croûte, mieux enregistrés dans Ronda, se sont produits par inversion et plissement de la section lithosphérique fortement amincie dans un contexte arrière-arc, probablement lors du retrait vers le sud de la lithosphère subduite et la collision de l'arc avec les paléo-marges maghrébines au Miocène inférieur (21-23 Ma).
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00767700

tel-00767700
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00767700
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00767700/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00767700/file/THESE_Frets.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society of America
Résumé : International audience
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 313 continuously cored uppermost Eocene to Miocene sequences on the New Jersey shallow shelf (Sites M27, M28, and M29). Previously, 15 Miocene (ca. 23-13 Ma) seismic sequence boundaries were recognized on several generations of multichannel seismic profi les using criteria of onlap, downlap, erosional truncation, and toplap. We independently recognize sequence boundaries in the cores and logs based on an integrated study of core surfaces, lithostratigraphy and process sedimentology (grain size, mineralogy, facies, and paleoenvironments), facies successions, stacking patterns, benthic foraminiferal water depths, downhole logs, core gamma logs, and chronostratigraphic ages. We use a velocitydepth function to predict the depths of seismic sequence boundaries that were tested by comparison with major core surfaces, downhole and core logs, and synthetic seismograms. Using sonic velocity (core and downhole), core density, and synthetic seismograms, we show that sequence boundaries correspond with acoustic impedance contrasts, although other stratal surfaces (e.g., maximum fl ooding and transgressive surfaces) also produce refl ections. Core data are suffi cient to link seismic sequence boundaries to impedance contrasts in 9 of 12 instances at Site M27, 6 of 11 instances at Site M28, and 8 of 14 instances at Site M29. Oligocene sequences have minimal lithologic and seismic expression due to deep-water locations on clinoform bottomsets. Miocene sequences (ca. 23-13 Ma) were sampled across several unconformity clinothems (prograding units) on topset, foreset, and bottomset locations. Excellent recovery allows core-seismic integration that confi rms the hypothesis that unconformities are a primary source of impedance contrasts. Our core-seismic-log correlations predict that key seismic surfaces observed in other sub surface investigations without core and/or well logs are stratal surfaces with sequence stratigraphic signifi cance.
EISSN: 1553-040X

insu-00946235
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00946235
DOI : 10.1130/GES00858.1

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
[1] Zircons and monazites from 6 samples of the North Ayilari dextral shear zone (NAsz), part of the Karakorum fault zone (KFZ), have been dated with the U-Th-Pb method, using both ID-TIMS and SIMS techniques. The ages reveal (1) inheritance from several events spanning a long period between the late Archean and the Jurassic; (2) an Eocene-Oligocene magmatic event (similar to 35-32 Ma); (3) an Oligo-Miocene magmatic event (similar to 25-22 Ma), at least partly synkinematic to the right-lateral deformation; and (4) a period of metamorphism metasomatism (similar to 22-14 Ma) interpreted as thermal and fluid advection in the shear zone. The Labhar Kangri granite located similar to 375 km farther Southeast along the KFZ is dated at 21.1 +/- 0.3 Ma. Such occurrence of several Oligo-Miocene granites along the KFZ, some of which show evidence for synkinematic emplacement, suggests that the fault zone played an important role in the genesis and /or collection of crustal melts. We discuss several scenarios for the onset and propagation of the KFZ, and offset estimates based on the main sutures zones. Our preferred scenario is an Oligo-Miocene initiation of the fault close to the NA range, and propagation along most of its length prior to similar to 19 Ma. In its southern half, the averaged long-term fault-rate of the KFZ is greater than 8 to 10 mm/a, in good agreement with some shorter-term estimates based on the Indus river course, or Quaternary moraines and geodesy. Our results show the KFZ cannot be considered as a small transient fault but played a major role in the collision history.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00412570
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412570
DOI : 10.1029/2007TC002184

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society
Résumé : Gem opals from Wegel Tena, Wollo Province, Ethiopia, occur in Oligocene rhyolitic ignimbrites. They display a unique geochemistry, with some samples yielding the highest Ba concentrations ever recorded. They are generally much richer in chemical impurities than opals from other localities. For example, the sum Al+Fe or the sum Na+Mg+Ca+K+Ba are often higher. These geochemical features make them easy to distinguish from other opals worldwide. We observed strong geochemical variations and some good positive correlations in our samples, such as Al+Fe vs. Na+Mg+Ca+K+Ba, Al vs Ca, or Ba vs Ca. This shows that the crystallography of opal has controlled, at least in part, the incorporation of chemical impurities, although opal is not well-crystallized. In addition, the multimodal distributions of several chemical impurities (e.g. U vs Sr, Al vs Ca, Ba vs Ca, etc.) suggest at least two origins of silica: weathering of feldspars and weathering of volcanic glass. In addition, opals from Wegel Tena contain numerous well-preserved microscopic plant fossils. Moreover, their host rock exhibits features typical of pedogenesis (abundant clays, desiccation cracks, and grain size sorting). We propose that the opals at Wegel Tena formed during the Oligocene period when volcanic emissions stopped for a time long enough to allow weathering of ingimbrites and therefore liberation of silica. This accompanied the formation of soil and development of plant life, and some plants were trapped in opal.
ISSN: 1467-7873

hal-00767555
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00767555
DOI : 10.1144/1467-7873/10-MINDEP-058

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