Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The present study addresses the question of increasing need in water supply. One line of research consists in investigating karst aquifers that represent significant water supplies for the areas around the Mediterranean. This work aims at developing a methodology of predictive evaluation of karst distribution and karst thickness within the carbonate massifs. It is based on the study of the Tethysian carbonate platform from the area of Montpellier, South of France. This area underwent a polyphased, complex, tectonic evolution, involving successive karst forming events. The approach is based on the relationships between eustacy and geodynamics, on one hand, and base-level variation recorded within palaeokarsts, on the other hand. Sedimentary fill of palaeokarsts allows to identify distinct karstification phases and sometimes to date them. It is a marker of base-level variations, which we attempt to quantify, that is responsible for karst formation and karst filling and sealing. For three palaeokarsts of regional extent, we analyze : karst sedimentary-fill, the distribution along upstream-downstream profile, the vertical extension of palaeokarsts, indicative of the base-level lowering. - The " Bauxite palaeokarst " results from the two-stage evolution of the " Isthme Durancien " : i) Bauxitic weathering of the Neocomian cover over the southern Massif Central , related to an inversion during Barremian ; ii) ≥1600 m uplift and exhumation during Aptian-Albian, inducing erosion of alterites, upstream, and deposition of detrital bauxites, downstream. - The " Early Paleocene palaeokarsts with marine sedimentary-fill " indicate base level variations of more than 350m in the upstream area. It is suggested here that such base-level variations, exceeding eustacy and recorded in tabular undeformed series, result from desiccation-flooding events in an endoreic silled basin. - The " Miocene palaeokarst with Cevennes-sourced sediment-fill " records a Serravalian-Tortonian base-level drop, depicted by canyon incision in the hinterland of the Gulf of Lion Margin. Uplift values of ≥ 400m upstream, about 250m in an intermediate area and 10's of m downstream, are measured. The present 3D geometry and distribution of carbonate massifs (exposed and covered) are modeled in the study area, from the Cevennes to the Mediterranean. The 3D geological model integrates seismic reflection, borehole and gravimetric data. Tectonic restoration of a N-S section, extracted from the 3D model, allows to reconstruct paleo-base-levels with respect with the carbonate massifs, at different stages of deformation and successive phases of karstification. The 3D paleo-flows through carbonates across the study area, are thus constrained, especially during the Messinian desiccation stage. Application of the results to hydrogeology leads to the following : - Uplift of upstream hinterland (Cretaceous, Miocene) produces large amplitude karsts, but they do not make significant reservoirs. - Karstification responsible for the development of important and deep karst reservoirs is related to desiccation of endoreic basins (early Paleocene and Messinian). - Theses two events have produced two main deep karst reservoirs, with a gravimetric signature : (1) Upstream of Montpellier Thrust, between Pic St Loup, Les Matelles Fault and Hérault Basin, a deep karsts developed over 900m thickness in the Malm limestone, during Paleocene. (2) Downstream (south) of Montpellier Thrust, the coastal karsts extend offshore over more than 10km, they are sealed by a thick Miocene to Quaternary cover, and they result from the Messinian event.
Cette étude s'inscrit dans un contexte de demande croissante en ressources en eau, conduisant à mieux contraindre et estimer la distribution des aquifères karstifiés qui représentent une ressource importante, notamment sur le pourtour méditerranéen. Le but de ce travail est d'élaborer une méthode prédictive de la distribution de la karstification et de l'épaisseur de massifs carbonatés karstifiés, notamment pour les karsts profonds. La méthodologie est développée à partir de l'étude des karsts de la plateforme carbonatée téthysienne du Languedoc montpelliérain; région qui a subi une histoire tectonique complexe et polyphasée, entrainant des phases de karstification successives. Elle est basée sur la compréhension des relations entre eustatisme, géodynamique et niveau de base, enregistrées par les paléokarsts de la région. Le remplissage sédimentaire des paléokarsts permet d'identifier les épisodes de karstification et de les dater ; c'est un marqueur des variations -que l'on cherche à quantifier- du niveau de base local responsable de la formation et du comblement des karsts. On analyse 3 paléokarsts d'extension régionale dont on peut étudier : le remplissage karstique, la distribution le long de profils amont-aval et l'extension verticale indicatrice de l'amplitude de l'abaissement du niveau de base dont il est issu. On en déduit les causes géodynamiques à l'origine de leur formation: - Le " paléokarst des bauxites " à remplissage caractéristique, résulte de l'évolution en 2 phases de " l'Isthme Durancien " : altération bauxitique de la couverture néocomienne sur le sud du Massif Central, liée à une inversion au Barrémien, suivi d'une surrection ≥ 1600m à l'Aptien-Albien, causant l'érosion des altérites en amont et le dépôt des bauxites détritiques en aval. - Le " paléokarst à remplissage marin paléocène inférieur " indique des variations du niveau de base local ≥350m dans la zone amont sud-cévenole. On propose que ces variations de niveau de base d'amplitude très supérieures aux variations eustatiques et dans une zone faiblement déformée, résultent d'assèchements et d'ennoiements d'un bassin endoréique à seuil. - Le " paléokarst à remplissage détritique d'origine cévenole ", enregistre la chute du niveau de base au Serravalien-Tortonien, qui se traduit par l'incision de canyons dans l'arrière-pays de la marge du Golfe du Lion. On détermine une surrection de plus de 400 mètres à l'amont, près de 250m dans les blocs faillés intermédiaires et quelques dizaines de mètres dans la zone avale. En parallèle, on établit la géométrie et la distribution actuelles des massifs carbonatés dans la zone d'étude (y compris sous couverture), en construisant un modèle géologique 3D, des Cévennes à la Méditerranée. On intègre les données de sismique réflexion, de forages et les données gravimétriques. La restauration tectonique séquentielle d'une coupe Nord-Sud extraite du modèle géologique permet d'appréhender la position des paléo-niveaux de base par rapport aux massifs carbonatés, pour chaque époque de karstification. On déduit l'organisation 3D des paléo-écoulements à travers la géométrie complexe des massifs carbonatés languedociens, notamment pendant l'évènement messinien. En terme d'évaluation de la ressource en eau, on déduit que: - Les surrections de l'arrière-pays (Crétacé " moyen ", Miocène) produisent des karsts de grande amplitude, mais ne constituent pas de réservoirs significatifs. - La karstification à l'origine de réservoirs exploitables importants et profonds est créée par l'assèchement de bassins endoréiques, qui ont affecté la région au Paléocène inférieur et au Messinien . - Ces deux évènements sont à l'origine de deux principaux réservoirs karstiques profonds qui ont une signature gravimétrique : (1) En amont du chevauchement de Montpellier, entre le Pic Saint Loup, la faille des Matelles et le bassin de l'Hérault, le karst profond se développe sur une épaisseur atteignant 900m, et est attribuée à l'événement du Paléocène. (2) Au Sud du chevauchement de Montpellier les karsts côtiers s'étendent jusqu'à plus de 10 km au large, scellés par une épaisse couverture Miocène et Plio-Quaternaire, et résultent de l'événement Messinien.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00936257

tel-00936257
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00936257
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00936257/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00936257/file/thA_se_husson_couleurs.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The dating of the uplift onset of the Mongolian mountain ranges, the northernmost relief associated with the India-Eurasia convergence, is a fundamental issue to better understand the mechanisms of propagation of the Cenozoic transpressive deformation in Central Asia. Using apatite fission tracks we determined the timing and strain rates of the tectonics affecting the Gurvan Bogd system, in the Gobi-Altay, since the Middle Mesozoic to the Late Cenozoic. The region was firstly affected by a Lower-Middle Jurassic tectonic phase, characterized by a vertical crustal movement larger than 2 km. Then followed a protracted period without major crustal vertical movements until the last uplift phase. The peneplanation of the Jurassic relief produced an erosional surface that has undergone negligible denudation or sedimentation for more than 100 Ma. This same surface corresponds to the present summit plateaux of the massifs, standing about 2000 m above the surrounding region, which corresponds to the vertical movement produced by the ongoing uplift. Modelling of fission track data from the massifs of Ih Bogd and Baga Bogd shows that this uplift phase probably started at 5 ± 3 Ma. The Gobi-Altay mountain range appears therefore as one of the youngest mountain ranges in Central Asia, which is consistent with the idea of a northward propagation of the transpressional deformation from the Himalayan front to the Siberian craton. The Cenozoic uplift rate of the massifs is estimated to be between 0.25 and 1 mm/yr, which is slightly higher than the upper Pleistocene vertical slip rates of the bordering faults. This suggests that thrust faults observed within the massifs would increase the uplift rate inside the massifs compared to the uplift rate determined at their boundaries.
ISSN: 0012-821X

insu-00191116
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00191116
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.04.047

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
We studied the patterns, rates and evolution of fluvial terraces and fault system during the building process of an intracontinental transpressional mountain in the Gobi-Altay (Mongolia). By analyzing incisions and offsets of fluvial terraces and alluvial fans, we show that the massif has grown by outward migration of thrust faults through time. On the northern flank, the present bounding thrust fault began its activity ~600 ka ago, while a more internal sub-parallel fault was still active until ~200-100 ka. Vertical offset of an alluvial fan abandoned ~100 ka ago allows an estimate of 0.1 mm/yr Upper Pleistocene - Holocene uplift rate. The morphology of the catchment-piedmont system strongly suggests a periodical formation of the alluvial surfaces, controlled by the climatic pulses, at the beginning of the wet interglacial periods. The abandonment of the alluvial terraces lags by several thousand years the abandonment of the alluvial fans, showing a diachronous incision propagating upstream. The incision rate deduced from the different elevations of straths exceeds of one order of magnitude the rock uplift rate. This excess is mostly due to ongoing drainage network growth at the core of the massif, and incision due to alluvial apron entrenchment near the outlet. This implies that fluvial response is mainly controlled by drainage growth, interaction with piedmont and cyclic climatic variations, rather than by rock uplift.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00323558
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00323558
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00323558v2/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00323558/file/Vassallo2007.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2006TC002081

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
Rainbow is a dome-shaped massif at the 36°14′N nontransform offset along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It hosts three ultramafic-hosted hydrothermal sites: Rainbow is active and high temperature; Clamstone and Ghost City are fossil and low temperature. The MoMARDREAM cruises (2007, 2008) presented here provided extensive rock sampling throughout the massif that constrains the geological setting of hydrothermal activity. The lithology is heterogeneous with abundant serpentinites surrounding gabbros, troctolites, chromitites, plagiogranites, and basalts. We propose that a W dipping detachment fault, now inactive, uplifted the massif and exhumed these deep-seated rocks. Present-day deformation is accommodated by SSW-NNE faults and fissures, consistent with oblique teleseismic focal mechanisms and stress rotation across the discontinuity. Faults localize fluid flow and control the location of fossil and active hydrothermal fields that appear to be ephemeral and lacking in spatiotemporal progression. Markers of high-temperature hydrothermal activity (∼350°C) are restricted to some samples from the active field while a more diffuse, lower temperature hydrothermal activity (<220°C) is inferred at various locations through anomalously high As, Sb, and Pb contents, attributed to element incorporation in serpentines or microscale-sulfide precipitation. Petrographic and geochemical analyses show that the dominant basement alteration is pervasive peridotite serpentinization at ∼160–260°C, attributed to fluids chemically similar to those venting at Rainbow, and controlled by concomitant alteration of mafic-ultramafic units at depth. Rainbow provides a model for fluid circulation, possibly applicable to hydrothermalism at oceanic detachments elsewhere, where both low-temperature serpentinization and magmatic-driven high-temperature outflow develop contemporaneously, channeled by faults in the footwall and not along the detachment fault.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-01115281
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01115281
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01115281/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01115281/file/Andreani_et_al-2014-Geochemistry%2C_Geophysics%2C_Geosystems.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/2014GC005269

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Taylor & Francis
Résumé : New structural data and P-T estimates of syn-deformational assemblages within the Beni Bousera peridotites and their crustal envelope are used to explain their Alpine exhumation. The Beni Bousera peridotites occur as thin sheets within high grade crustal units of the lower Sebtides (inner Rif, Morocco) and are composed of weakly deformed spinel lherzolite in the core of the massif and garnet-spinel mylonite at the rim. The main foliation trajectories in both the peridotites and overlying crustal units show systematic rotation towards their mutual contact, indicating a kilometer-scale top to the NW shearing with a dextral component along this crust/mantle contact. Widespread top to the NW shear criteria within the crustal units overlying the peridotite support this feature. Available ages constrain the development of the main foliation in both the peridotites and crustal rocks between 25 and 20 Ma. New P-T data from the peridotites show that deformation occurs during decompression from approximate to 22 kbar, 1050 degrees C to approximate to 9-15 kbar, 800 degrees C. As a consequence, exhumation of the Beni Bousera peridotites takes place during the Oligo-Miocene lithosphere thinning in the footwall of a lithospheric extensional shear zone. The exceptional preservation of garnet within the mylonitic peridotites results from rapid cooling of the border of the massif due to the juxtaposition with colder crustal rocks along this shear zone. Uplifting of the hot mantle rocks simultaneously induces high temperature metamorphism in the overlying crustal units. These new findings allow us to reconstruct the deformation history of the Beni Bousera region and the Alboran domain in the framework of the western Mediterranean geodynamics during the last 40 Myrs.. (C) 2011 Lavoisier SAS. All rights reserved
ISSN: 0985-3111

hal-00767654
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00767654
DOI : 10.3166/ga.24.49-60

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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Continental erosion and weathering destroy parts of the stratigraphic record. Analyses of the sedimentary filling of paleokarsts help completing the geological record of regions that have been submitted to post-depositional, long-term, continental evolution. Jurassic carbonate platform of Languedoc (South of France) has undergone several karstification phases from Cretaceous to Neogene. Later incision of canyons through the carbonate massifs allows to observe paleokarsts over 400m depth, within the massifs. Paleokarsts are partly filled with sediments. Some have yielded marine bioclasts (echinoderms, radiolars), foraminifera and nannofossils; others are composed of polygenic detrital sediments, including sources from the upstream Paleozoic basement (Cevennes). The age of the filling of successive paleokarsts can be constrained by structural relationships and by biostratigraphy. These findings suggests 1) the marine elements of the karstic filling relate to a Late Cretaceous to Early Paleocene interval, while 2) the Paleozoic basement-sourced-sediments were trapped in the karst during Miocene to Present. Karstic sediment containing Early Paleocene foraminifera and nannofossils are found in paleokarsts cavities distributed across the entire thickness of the carbonate massif (≥350m). This requires base-level lowering and associated karstification, followed by base-level rise and karst filling of at least 350 m amplitude, respectively. The time interval corresponding to the occurrence of foraminifera and nannofossils in karsts covers 10 Myrs ; surprisingly, no equivalent marine sediments are preserved on the surface. In addition, analyses of the different forams species suggests several (up to 3) distinct karstification and marine filling cycles. Finally, sedimentological facies analysis of the karst filling reveals the following succession of processes: low energy settling of mudstone, high energy reworking, transport and deposition of silts and sandstones within the karst system. Integration of geological, paleontological and sedimentological data, leads to a polyphase scenario in response to repeated base-level variations, more than 350m amplitude. Such an amplitude excludes eustacy, and the improbable repeated sequence of uplift and subsidence rules out tectonics, as driving forces for base-level change, respectively. We propose that the high-amplitude base-level changes results from a succession of desiccation-flooding events of an endorheic, silled, basin during Early Paleogene. The later detrital assemblage sourced in the Cevennes occurs on perched paleosurfaces and in karst cavities across the whole 350m-deep canyon walls. When found on paleosurfaces, they correspond to the south-flowing Early Miocene fluvial drainage, and can be correlated downstream with the marine, well dated, Early Miocene, sediments. When found within the karst cavities, they correspond to successive base-level surfaces connected to the progressive incision of the canyon. This canyon incision is coeval with a Late Miocene uplift of the hinterland.
24th International Karstological School "Classical karst" : Paleokarst
Postojna, Slovenia

hal-01306683
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01306683
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01306683/document
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01306683/file/Abstract_IKS.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : The Erro-Tobbio peridotites (Voltri Massif, Ligurian Alps) represent subcontinental lithospheric mantle tectonically exhumed during Permo-Mesozoic extension of the Europe-Adria lithosphere. Previous studies have shown that exhumation started during Permian times, and occurred along kilometer-scale lithospheric shear zones which enhanced progressive deformation and recrystallization from spinel- to plagioclase-facies conditions. Ongoing field and petrologic investigations have revealed that the peridotites experienced, during uplift, a composite history of diffuse melt migration and multiple episodes of ultramafic-mafic intrusions. In this paper we present the results of field, structural and petrologic-geochemical investigations into a sector of the Erro-Tobbio peridotite unit that preserves well this multiple intrusion history. Melt impregnation in the peridotites is evidenced by significant plagioclase enrichment and crystallization of unstrained orthopyroxene replacing kinked mantle olivine and clinopyroxene; impregnating melts were thus opx-saturated. Melt-rock interaction caused chemical changes in mantle minerals (e.g. Al decrease and REE increase in cpx; Ti and Cr# enrichment in spinel). Nevertheless, clinopyroxenes still exhibit LREE depletion (Ce;N;/Sm;N; = 0.006-0.011), indicating a depleted signature for the percolating melts. Melt impregnation was thus related to diffuse porous flow migration of depleted MORB-type melt fractions that modified their compositions towards opx saturation by mantle-melt interaction during ascent. The impregnated peridotites are intruded by a hectometer-scale stratified cumulate body, mostly consisting of troctolites and plagioclase wehrlites, showing gradational, interfingered contacts with the host mantle rocks. Subsequent intrusion events are revealed by the occurrence of olivine gabbros as decameter-wide lenses, variably thick (centimeter- to meter-scale) dykes and thin dykelets, which crosscut both the peridotite foliation and the magmatic layering in the cumulates. Overall, major and trace element compositions of minerals in the intrusives indicate that they represent variably differentiated cumulus products crystallized from rather primitive N-MORB-type aggregated melts. Slightly more evolved compositions are shown by olivine gabbros, relative to the troctolites and plagioclase wehrlites of the cumulate body. Mineral chemistry features (e.g. the Fo-An correlation and high Na, Ti, Mg# in cpx) indicate that the studied intrusive rocks crystallized at moderate pressure conditions (3-5 kbar, i.e. 9-15 km depth). Our study thus points to a progressive transition from porous flow melt migration to emplacement of magmas in fractures, presumably related to progressive change of lithospheric mantle rheology during extension-related uplift and cooling.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00407669
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00407669
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2006.06.014

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society of America
Résumé : In Gobi Altay and Altay, Mongolia, several flat surfaces, worn through basement rocks and uplifted during the ongoing tectonic episode to a similar altitude of 4000 m, suggests disruption of a single large-scale surface. New thermochronology and field data show that the plateau surfaces represent uplifted parts of an ancient peneplain that formed during Jurassic time. The Gobi Altay and Altay flattopped massifs are tectonically and geomorphologically unique. Their preservation for ~150 m.y. implies that no further tectonic movements occurred before the onset of the last deformation episode, 5 ± 3 m.y. ago. It also suggests that very low erosion rates were maintained by a dry climate over millions of years.
ISSN: 0091-7613

hal-00406436
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00406436
DOI : 10.1130/G23758A.1