Éditeur(s) : Amer Geophysical Union
Résumé : The Algerian margin has originated from the opening of the Algerian basin about 25-30 Ma ago. The central margin provides evidence for large-scale normal faults of Oligo-Miocene age, whereas transcurrent tectonics characterizes the western margin. A set of NW-SE oriented dextral transform faults was active during basin opening and divided the 600 km long central margin into segments of similar to 120-150 km. The upper Miocene, Plio-Quaternary, and present-day tectonic setting is, however, compressional and supports the occurrence of a margin inversion, a process still poorly documented worldwide. We show that the central Algerian margin represents a rare example of inverted margin, where the process of subduction inception is particularly well expressed and helps understand how extensional and transtensive structures are involved in margin shortening. Using multibeam bathymetry and multichannel seismic reflection sections from the MAR-ADJA 2003 and 2005 cruises, we evidence Pliocene-Pleistocene shortening with contrasting styles along the margin between west (Khayr Al Din bank) and east (Boumerdes-Dellys margin) of Algiers. Pre-Miocene structures such as basement highs and transform faults appear to control changes of the deformation pattern along this part of the margin, resulting in different widths, geometries, and relative positions of folds and faults. Plio-Quaternary and active blind thrust faults do not reuse Oligo-Miocene normal and transform faults during inversion, but instead grow within the continental margin (as testified for instance by the 21 May 2003 M-w 6.8 Boumerdes-Zemmouri earthquake), at the foot of the continental slope and at the northern sides of basement highs interpreted as stretched continental blocks of the rifted margin. The inherited structures of the margin appear, therefore, to determine this deformation pattern and ultimately the earthquake and tsunami sizes offshore. The complex geometry of the fault system along the Algerian margin suggests a process of initiation of subduction in its central and eastern parts.
Tectonics (0278-7407) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2010-03 , Vol. 29 , N. TC2008 , P. 1-22

Droits : 2010 American Geophysical Union
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00008/11883/9286.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00008/11883/9287.pdf
DOI:10.1029/2009TC002547
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00008/11883/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We measure throw distributions for graben-bounding normal faults from two areas on Mars to investigate fault growth, displacement-length (D-max-L) scaling, and extensional strain using a complementary suite of techniques. Faults in the northern plains are inferred to be restricted at 2-3 km depth, as shown by a transition from linear scaling, with D-max-L ratios of similar to 1 x 10(-3), to nonlinear scaling for faults >50 km long. On the Alba Patera volcano, faults conform to linear Dmax-L scaling, with a Dmax-L ratio of similar to 6 x 10(-3), consistent with more deeply penetrating faults that are not restricted at depth. These grabens accommodate larger extensional strains (similar to 0.84%) than the faults in the northern plains (similar to 0.23%), with a temporal change from regionally distributed to localized deformation and associated increases in D-max-L ratio extensional strain, and perhaps down-dip fault height. The results suggest that both spatial and temporal variations in extensional strain and displacement-length scaling relations, along with fault restriction, are recorded by Martian fault populations. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
ISSN: 0191-8141

hal-00420888
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00420888
DOI : 10.1016/j.jsg.2009.03.016

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We use a strike-slip fault analog model to study experimentally the role played by along-fault non-uniform and asymmetric applied normal stress on both coseismic slip and long-term fault behavior. Our model is based on a visco-elasto-plastic multi-layered rheology that allows to produce several hundreds of scaled analog microquakes and associated seismic cycles. Uniform or heterogeneous applied normal stress along the fault plane is imposed and maintained constant during the whole experiment durations. Our results suggest that coseismic slip patterns are strongly controlled by spatial normal stress variations and subsequent accumulated shear stress along fault strike. Major microquakes occur preferentially in zones of major shear stress asperities. Coseismic slip distributions exhibit a pattern similar to the along-fault applied normal stress distribution. The occurrence of isolated low to moderate microquakes where residual stresses persist around secondary stress asperities, indicates that stress conditions along the fault also control the whole variability of fault slip events. Moreover, when fault slip stability conditions are modulated by normal stress distribution, our experiments suggest that the along-fault stress heterogeneity influences the seismic cycle regularity and, consequently, long-term fault slip behavior. Uniform applied normal stress favors irregular seismic cycles and the occurrence of earthquakes clustering, whereas non-uniform normal stress with a single high amplitude stress asperity generates strong characteristic microquake events with stable return periods. Together our results strengthen the assumption that coseismic slip distribution and earthquake variability along an active fault may provide relevant information on long term tectonic stress and could thus improve seismic hazard assessment.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-01666379
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01666379
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.10.009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Association of Petroleum Geologists
Résumé : International audience
We describe the structure, microstructure, and petrophysical properties of fault rocks from two normal fault zones formed in low-porosity turbiditic arkosic sandstones, in deep diagenesis conditions similar to those of deeply buried reservoirs. These fault rocks are characterized by a foliated fabric and quartz-calcite sealed veins, which formation resulted from the combination of the (1) pressure solution of quartz, (2) intense fracturing sealed by quartz and calcite cements, and (3) neoformation of synkinematic white micas derived from the alteration of feldspars and chlorite. Fluid inclusion microthermometry in quartz and calcite cements demonstrates fault activity at temperatures of 195degC to 268degC. Permeability measurements on plugs oriented parallel with the principal axes of the finite strain ellipsoid show that the Y axis (parallel with the foliation and veins) is the direction of highest permeability in the foliated sandstone (10-2 md for Y against 10-3 md for X, Z, and the protolith, measured at a confining pressure of 20 bars). Microstructural observations document the localization of the preferential fluid path between the phyllosilicate particles forming the foliation. Hence, the direction of highest permeability in these fault rocks would be parallel with the fault and subhorizontal, that is, perpendicular to the slickenlines representing the local slip direction on the fault surface. We suggest that a similar relationship between kinematic markers and fault rock permeability anisotropy may be found in other fault zone types (reverse or strike-slip) affecting feldspar-rich lithologies in deep diagenesis conditions.
ISSN: 0149-1423

hal-00903428
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903428
DOI : 10.1306/03071312127

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
Subduction of a narrow slab of oceanic lithosphere beneath a tightly curved orogenic arc requires the presence of at least one lithospheric scale tear fault. While the Calabrian subduction beneath southern Italy is considered to be the type example of this geodynamic setting, the geometry, kinematics and surface expression of the associated lateral, slab tear fault offshore eastern Sicily remain controversial. Results from a new marine geophysical survey conducted in the Ionian Sea, using high-resolution bathymetry and seismic profiling reveal active faulting at the seafloor within a 140 km long, two-branched fault system near Alfeo Seamount. The previously unidentified 60 km long NW trending North Alfeo Fault system shows primarily strike-slip kinematics as indicated by the morphology and steep-dipping transpressional and transtensional faults. Available earthquake focal mechanisms indicate dextral strike-slip motion along this fault segment. The 80 km long SSE trending South Alfeo fault system is expressed by one or two steeply dipping normal faults, bounding the western side of a 500+ m thick, 5 km wide, elongate, syntectonic Plio-Quaternary sedimentary basin. Both branches of the fault system are mechanically capable of generating magnitude 6–7 earthquakes like those that struck eastern Sicily in 1169, 1542, and 1693.
ISSN: 0278-7407

insu-01256887
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01256887
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01256887/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01256887/file/GutscherEtal_2015_Tectonics.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/2015TC003898

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
We recover the Holocene earthquake history of seven seismogenic normal faults in the Fucino system, central Italy. We collected 800 samples from the well-preserved limestone scarps of the faults and modeled their 36Cl concentrations to derive their seismic exhumation history. We found that > 30 large earthquakes broke the faults in synchrony over the last 12 ka. The seven faults released strain at the same periods of time, 12-9 ka, 5-3 ka, and 1.5-1 ka. On all faults, the strain accumulation and release occurred in 3-6 ka supercycles, each included a 3-5 ka phase of slow (≤ 0.5-2 mm/yr) strain accumulation in relative quiescence, followed by a cluster of three to four large earthquakes or earthquake sequences that released most of the strain in < 1-2 ka. The large earthquakes repeated every 0.5 ± 0.3 ka during the paroxysmal phases and every 4.3 ± 0.9 ka between those phases. Earthquakes on the northern faults produced twice larger surface slips (~ 2 m) and had larger magnitudes (Mw 6.2-6.7) than those on the southern faults. On most faults, the relative strain level was found to control the amount of slip and the time of occurrence of the next large earthquake. Faults entered a phase of clustered activity once they had reached a specific relative strain threshold. The Tre Monti fault is identified as the most prone to break over the next century. Our data document earthquake synchrony and clustering at a broader space and time scale than has been reported to date.
ISSN: 0148-0227

hal-00903460
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903460
DOI : 10.1002/jgrb.50299

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
The nucleation, propagation, and associated folding of ramp-flat-ramp normal faults were analyzed from field examples developed in a brittle/ductile multilayer sequence of the Huércal-Overa Basin (SE Spain). Gently dipping sandy silt layers, which display a low cohesive strength (C0 = 7 kPa, μ = 34°), favor the development of extensional detachments. A tectonic origin instead of a possible gravitational origin is supported by the perpendicularity between the paleoslope direction of the fluvial-deltaic environment inferred from imbricated pebbles, and the senses of movement deduced from fault slicken-lines. The link between high-angle normal faults (HANFs) --formed at different levels in the layered sequence-- with horizontal fault segments comes to develop ramp-flat-ramp normal faults with associated roll-over in the hanging wall. Observed extensional duplexes are formed by parallel detachments connected through synthetic Riedel faults. These Riedel faults would produce the back-rotation of the individual blocks (horses), i.e., extensional folding of the originally subhorizontal layers. There is no correlation between the analyzed ramp-flat-ramp normal faults, accommodating south-southeastward extension during Serravallian-lower Tortonian, and either the regional Alpujarride/Nevado-Filabride west-directed extensional shear zone or the top-to-the-north detachments within Alpujarride units, which are clearly sealed by Serravallian-lower Tortonian sediments. Therefore, the studied normal faults are restricted to the brittle/ductile multilayer fluvio/deltaic sequence and accommodate moderate late extension instead of belonging to a large crustal extensional system connected with a regional detachment at depth. Therefore, the basin formed in a moderate crustal thickness context where small and medium-scale extensional systems were subordinate structures. These natural examples support the development of low-angle normal faults at very shallow crustal levels in multilayer sequences with suitable rheological conditions.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00750352
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00750352
DOI : 10.1029/2012TC003130

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
The way faults control upward fluid flow in nonmagmatic hydrothermal systems in extensional context is still unclear. In the Eastern Pyrénées, an alignment of twenty-nine hot springs (29 ∘ C to 73 ∘ C), along the normal Têt fault, offers the opportunity to study this process. Using an integrated multiscale geological approach including mapping, remote sensing, and macro-and microscopic analyses of fault zones, we show that emergence is always located in crystalline rocks at gneiss-metasediments contacts, mostly in the Têt fault footwall. The hot springs distribution is related to high topographic reliefs, which are associated with fault throw and segmentation. In more detail, emergence localizes either (1) in brittle fault damage zones at the intersection between the Têt fault and subsidiary faults or (2) in ductile faults where dissolution cavities are observed along foliations, allowing juxtaposition of metasediments. Using these observations and 2D simple numerical simulation, we propose a hydrogeological model of upward hydrothermal flow. Meteoric fluids, infiltrated at high elevation in the fault footwall relief, get warmer at depth because of the geothermal gradient. Topography-related hydraulic gradient and buoyancy forces cause hot fluid rise along permeability anisotropies associated with lithological juxtapositions, fracture, and fault zone compositions.
ISSN: 1468-8115

hal-01582968
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01582968
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01582968/document
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01582968/file/Taillefer_et_al_Geofluids_2017.pdf
DOI : 10.1155/2017/8190109

Éditeur(s) : Amer Geophysical Union
Résumé : The oblique convergence between North American and Caribbean plates is accommodated in a bookshelf faulting manner by active, oblique-normal faults in the northern part of the Lesser Antilles arc. In the last 20 years, two M > 6 earthquakes occurred along a large, arc parallel, en echelon fault system, the 16 March 1985 in Redonda and 21 November 2004 in Les Saintes. A better understanding of active faulting in this region permit us to review the location and magnitude of historical earthquakes by using a regional seismic attenuation law. Several others moderate earthquakes may have occurred along the en echelon fault system implying a strong seismic hazard along the arc. These faults control the effusion of volcanic products and some earthquakes seem to be correlated in time with volcanic unrest. Shallow earthquakes on intraplate faults induced normal stress and pressure changes around neighboring volcano and may have triggered volcanic activity. The Redonda earthquake could have initiated the 1995 eruption of Montserrat's Soufriere Hills by compressing its plumbing system. Conversely, pressure changes under the volcano increased Coulomb stress changes and brought some faults closer to failure, promoting seismicity. We also discuss the magnitude of the largest 11 January 1839 and 8 February 1843 megathrust interplate earthquakes. We calculate that they have increased the stress on some overriding intraplate faults and the extensional strain beneath several volcanoes. This may explain an increase of volcanic and seismic activity in the second half of the 19th century culminating with the devastating, 1902 Mount Pelee eruption.
Journal Of Geophysical Research-solid Earth (0148-0227) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2011-10 , Vol. 116 , N. B10308 , P. 1-26

Droits : Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00200/31097/29515.pdf
DOI:10.1029/2011JB008443
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00200/31097/

Éditeur(s) : Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh
Résumé : During the GWADASEIS cruise (Lesser Antilles volcanic arc, February-March 2009) a very high resolution (VHR) seismic-reflection survey was performed in order to constrain Late Quaternary to Present faulting. The profiles we obtained evidence frequent "ponding" of reworked sediments in the deepest areas, similar to the deposition of Mediterranean "homogenites". These bodies are acoustically transparent (few ms t.w.t. thick) and are often deposited on the hanging walls of dominantly normal faults, at the base of scarps. Their thickness appears sufficient to compensate (i.e. bury) co-seismic scarps between successive earthquakes, resulting in a flat and horizontal sea floor through time. In a selected area (offshore Montserrat and Nevis islands), piston coring (4 to 7m long) was dedicated to a sedimentological analysis of the most recent of these particular layers. It corresponds to non-stratified homogenous calcareous silty sand (reworked calcareous plankton and minor volcanoclastics). This layer can be up to 2 m thick, and overlies fine-grained hemipelagites. The upper centimeters of the latter represent the normal RedOx water/sediment interface. Pb-210 and Cs-137 activities lack in the massive sands, while a normal profile of unsupported Pb-210 decrease is observed in the hemipelagite below, together with a Cs-137 peak corresponding to the Atmospheric Nuclear Experiments (1962). The RedOx level was thus capped by a recent instantaneous major sedimentary event considered as post-1970 AD; candidate seismic events to explain this sedimentary deposits are either the 16 March 1985 earthquake or the 8 October 1974 one (M-w = 6.3 and M-w = 7.4, respectively). This leads to consider that the syntectonic sedimentation in this area is not continuous but results from accumulation of thick homogenites deposited after the earthquakes (as observed in the following weeks after Haiti January 2010 event, McHugh et al., 2011). The existence of such deposits suggests that, in the area of study, vertical throw likely results from cumulated effects of separated earthquakes rather than from aseismic creep. Examination of VHR profiles shows that all major co-seismic offsets are recorded in the fault growth sequence and that co-seismic offsets can be precisely estimated. By using a sedimentation rate deduced from Pb-210 decrease curve (0.5 mmyr(-1)) and taking into account minor reworking events detected in cores, we show that the Redonda system may have been responsible for five > M-6 events during the last 34 000 yr. The approach presented in this work differs from fault activity analyses using displaced sets of isochronous surfaces and postulating co-seismic offsets. Combining VHR seismic imagery and coring we can decipher co-seismic vs. slow continuous displacement, and thus actually estimate the amplitude and the time distribution of major co-seismic offsets.
Natural Hazards And Earth System Sciences (1561-8633) (Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh), 2012 , Vol. 12 , N. 5 , P. 1755-1767

Droits : Author(s) 2012. CC Attribution 3.0 License.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00089/20040/21990.pdf
DOI:10.5194/nhess-12-1755-2012
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00089/20040/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This study analyzes the active tectonics within the northwestern and southeastern extensions of the Pambak-Sevan-Syunik fault (PSSF), a major right-lateral strike-slip fault cutting through Armenia. Quantifying the deformations in terms of geometry, kinematics, slip rates and earthquake activity, using cosmogenic 3He, OSL/IRSL and radiocarbon dating techniques, reveal different behaviors between the two regions. Within the northwestern extension, in the region of Amasia, the PSSF bends to the west and splits into two main WNW–ESE trending reverse faults defining a compressional pop-up structure. We estimate an uplift rate and a shortening rate of 0.5 ± 0.1 mm/y and 1.4 ± 0.6 mm/y, respectively. This suggests that most of the ∼2 mm/y right lateral movement of the PSSF seems to be absorbed within the Amasia pop-structure. Within the southeastern extension, the PSSF shows signs of dying out within the Tsghuk Volcano region at the southernmost tip of the Syunik graben. There, the tectonic activity is characterized by a very slow NS trending normal faulting associated with a slight right-lateral movement. Slip rates analyses (i.e. vertical slip rate, EW stretching rate at 90° to the fault, and right-lateral slip rate of ∼0.2 mm/y, ∼0.1 mm/y and ∼0.05 mm/y, respectively) lead to the conclusion that the right lateral movement observed further north along the PSSF is mainly transferred within other active faults further west within the Karabagh (Hagari fault or other structures further northwestwards). Comparing our slip rates with those estimated from GPS data suggests that most of the deformation is localized and seismic, at least within the Tsghuk region. The geometrical and kinematic pattern observed within the two terminations of the PSSF suggests that the fault and its surrounding crustal blocks are presently rotating anticlockwise, as also observed within the GPS velocity field. This is consistent with the recent kinematic models proposed for the Caucasus-Kura-South Caspian region and brings a new insight into the present geodynamics of Armenia.
ISSN: 1040-6182

hal-01307342
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01307342
DOI : 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.05.021

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Résumé : Based on new seismological and recent faulting data, we analyze five main sectors in the western part of the Betic Cordillera from an active tectonic perspective: i. The northwestern frontal sector of the cordillera, including the Morón de la Frontera area, with shallow (< 15 km depth) seismogenic active NE-SW reverse and strike-slip faults that do not reach the surface. ii. The Teba area, in the External Zones, which is deformed by sparse N-S to NW-SE normal faults with associated wedges of Quaternary sediments and active strike-slip faults at intermediate crustal levels. iii. The Ronda Basin, representing the major Late Miocene intramontane basin of the western Betic Cordillera, is mainly deformed by NNE-SSW and WNW-ESE folds and locally by NW-SE normal faults. iv. The internal part of the orogen, which is characterized by shallow (<40 km) and intermediate (40 to 120 km depth) seismicity beneath Málaga and the Alborán Sea, ENE-WSW folding, relief uplift, river incision and scarce active faults with surface expression. v. The Spanish Atlantic coast, which coincides with the western end of the Betic orogen, where Pliocene to Quaternary shallowmarine sedimentary rocks are deformed by meso-scale NW-SE oriented normal faults and few ENE-WSW reverse faults. These data support the recent tectonic activity of the western Betic Cordillera determined by the NW-SE Eurasian-African convergence with variable features from the mountain front, characterized by shallow deformations, up to the Internal Zones that mainly undergo uplift and intermediate seismicity.
ISSN: 1698-6180

hal-00750359
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00750359
DOI : 10.5209/rev_JIGE.2012.v38.n1.39211

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The Karakorum Fault zone (KFZ), lying in the west of the Tibetan plateau, is an important dextral strike-slip fault and the important northern geological boundary of the west Himalaya. In the AyilaRi' gyu Range-Gai Basin area lying in the southeast of the KFZ, Ar-40/Ar-39 thermochronologic analysis was performed on the syn-tectonic minerals in the, metamorphic rocks in the Karakorum ductile shear zone, with the base of petrology and deformation structure researches. According to the microstructure features, the minerals in the shear zone recorded the continuous deformation from high ( > 600 degrees C) to low temperature ( < 250 degrees C) appeared as that the nearly horizontal dextral shearing has transformed into the oblique dextral normal slip, made the greenschist facies of deformation stack oil the early medium-high temperature deformation, indicated the uplift during the slip. The thermochronologic revealed the continuous shear process from the early Miocene to 4Ma at least, which containing three rapid cooling stage: from 25 similar to 22Ma to 21 similar to 18Ma, the deformation locally stopped or slower in the, shallow high temperature shear process; from 15Ma to 12Ma, the rapid uplift of the AyilaRi' gyu Range, the initial formation of the Gar Basin together with the main deep incision of river during the strip-slip of the KFZ; since 9Ma, the AyilaRi' gyu Range has increased the rapid uplift and the Gar Basin has formed finally. According to the different levels of deformation and the dextral displacement of the surface landform with different ages, the long term slip rate and the uplift rate indicated the intense dextral strike slip and uplift associated since the late Quarternary Period.
Acta Petrologica Sinica

hal-00411572
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411572

Éditeur(s) : Amer Geophysical Union
Résumé : On November 21, 2004, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurred offshore, 10 km south of Les Saintes archipelago in Guadeloupe (French West Indies). There were more than 30000 aftershocks recorded in the following two years, most of them at shallow depth near the islands of the archipelago. The main shock and its main aftershock of February 14, 2005 (M-w = 5.8) ruptured a NE-dipping normal fault (Roseau fault), mapped and identified as active from high-resolution bathymetric data a few years before. This fault belongs to an arc-parallel en echelon fault system that follows the inner edge of the northern part of the Lesser Antilles arc, accommodating the sinistral component of oblique convergence between the North American and Caribbean plates. The distribution of aftershocks and damage (destruction and landslides) are consistent with the main fault plane location and attitude. The slip model of the main shock, obtained by inverting jointly global broadband and local strong motion records, is characterized by two main slip zones located 5 to 10 km to the SE and NW of the hypocenter. The main shock is shown to have increased the Coulomb stress at the tips of the ruptured plane by more than 4 bars where most of the aftershocks occurred, implying that failures on fault system were mainly promoted by static stress changes. The earthquake also had an effect on volcanic activity since the Boiling Lake in Dominica drained twice, probably as a result of the extensional strain induced by the earthquake and its main aftershock.
Journal Of Geophysical Research-solid Earth (0148-0227) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2011-10 , Vol. 116 , N. B10301 , P. 1-25

Droits : Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00200/31099/29511.pdf
DOI:10.1029/2011JB008310
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00200/31099/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The growth of relief in active tectonic areas is mainly controlled by the interactions between tectonics and surface processes (erosion and sedimentation). The study of long-lived morphologic markers formed by these interactions can help in quantifying the competing effects of tectonics, erosion and sedimentation. In regions experiencing active extension, river-long profiles and faceted spurs (triangular facets) can help in un- derstanding the development of mountainous topography along normal fault scarps. In this study, we devel- oped analogue experiments that simulate the morphologic evolution of a mountain range bounded by a normal fault. This paper focuses on the effect of the fault slip rate on the morphologic evolution of the foot- wall by performing three analogue experiments with different fault slip rates under a constant rainfall rate. A morphometric analysis of the modelled catchments allows comparing with a natural case (Tunka half- graben, Siberia). After a certain amount of fault slip, the modelled footwall topographies of our models reaches a dynamic equilibrium (i.e., erosion balances tectonic uplift relative to the base level) close to the fault, whereas the topography farther from the fault is still being dissected due to regressive erosion. We show that the rates of vertical erosion in the area where dynamic equilibrium is reached and the rate of re- gressive erosion are linearly correlated with the fault throw rate. Facet morphology seems to depend on the fault slip rate except for the fastest experiment where faceted spurs are degraded due to mass wasting. A stream-power law is computed for the area wherein rivers reach a topographic equilibrium. We show that the erosional capacity of the system depends on the fault slip rate. Finally, our results demonstrate the pos- sibility of preserving convex river-long profiles on the long-term under steady external (tectonic uplift and rainfall) conditions.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00646966
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00646966
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00646966/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00646966/file/preprint_Strak_2011.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2011.10.005

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The emergent domain known as “Kasserine Island” in central Tunisia, to the West of the North–South Axis, was emerging during the Turonian. This area has undergone several changes during the Cretaceous–Eocene period. In the present study, the compilation of surface and sub-surface data provided new information about the boundaries variations of the emerged domain. The analysis of paleogeographic maps allowed the identification of three distinct stages of evolution. The first stage extents from the Middle Turonian to the Lower Maastrichtian where the emergent domain covers the area extending from Jebels Selloum-Sidi Aich in the West to Jebel Bouhedma in the East. The boundaries of this area coincide with the E–W Kasserine fault to the North, the N–S Lessouda-Boudinar fault in the East and the N 120 el Mech-Souinia flexure at the South. This emersion contemporaneous with a high eustatic level is most likely related to tectonic activity. The extensional tectonic regime that is characterized by a NE–SW minimal horizontal stress, has reactivated border faults with a normal component. The interference of the tilting of these border faults was at the origin of the emergence of this domain. The ascent of the Triassic salt may also have contributed in this uplift.In the second stage, the emerged domain has reached its maximum expansion to the North, the West and the South during the Middle Maastrichtian–Paleocene period. Its northern limit is irregular, while the southern limit coincides with the N120 Gafsa fault and the E–W fault of Jebels Orbata-Bouhedma. The N–S Lessouda-Boudinar fault forms the eastern limit. This expansion is mostly related to the global eustatic fall that is well characterized during this period, and partly to the compressive tectonic activity.The Lower Eocene is characterized by a marine transgression that has interested the northern edge of the Island, where the Ypresian deposits are discordant on older series. This edge was irregular and marked by the Gulf of Sbiba. The eastern, the southern, and the western boundaries kept the same shape as that of the previous stage. The compressive tectonic regime, characterized by a NW–SE maximum horizontal stress, is accentuated. This constraint state has generated NE–SW folds and NW–SE grabens. Some of these structures allowed the accumulation of a thick phosphate deposits at their edges, and continental deposits in the emerged area.During the Middle to Upper Eocene, the emergent area narrowed further at the North. The deposits are transgressive and discordant on older series. The Other limits always coincide with the Gafsa fault, the Jebels Orbata-Bouhedma and Jebels Lessouda-Boudinar faults. This period is characterized by the filling of the Gafsa basin by evaporate deposits before its emergence in the Oligocene. As a result, the southern-central Tunisia emerged as one area.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-01243490
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01243490
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.07.027

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
The reactivation of faults with near-optimal orientations is commonly considered to control the state of stress in the crust. Near the surface, where a principal stress direction is vertical, the attitude of such faults is explained by Anderson's theory. This raises the questions of how prevalent this type of faulting actually is in current seismicity, down to what depth it frequently occurs, and what range of friction angles explains it best. The Global Centroid Moment Tensor catalog is analyzed to address these questions. Dip-slip and strike-slip mechanisms are dominant, and oblique slips are relatively rare for well-constrained events with depths shallower than 30 km. Preferred Andersonian faulting is the simplest, but not the unique, explanation for this dominance. Isolating reverse, strike- slip, and normal events reveals an asymmetry in the distribution of nodal plane dips and plunges of the P, B, and T axes between reverse and normal faulting. Assuming that the most frequent events correspond to reactivation near optimal orientations yields 40-60 degrees and 0-20 degrees friction angles for reverse and normal faults, respectively. This indicates that reverse and normal faulting mechanics are not symmetrical with respect to stress configuration as predicted by Anderson's theory.
ISSN: 8755-1209

hal-00412159
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412159
DOI : 10.1029/2007RG000240

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
New high-resolution marine data acquired aboard R/V Le Suroît was used to map active normal faults offshore Montserrat in greater detail. The main faults of the Montserrat-Havers fault zone have cumulative scarps up to 200 m high, and offset sedimentary layers by hundreds of meters. They are arranged in a right-stepping, en echelon, trans-tensional array, which confirms that they accommodate the left-lateral component of motion resulting from slip partitioning of oblique convergence along the volcanic arc. They cut across Montserrat's recent volcanic complex. Faulting and fissuring exerted control on the position of andesitic domes, which are aligned along the N110°E average fault trend. The ≈10 km-long fault segments that cross the island could produce damaging, M ≈ 6 events comparable to the shallow, 16 March 1985, Mw∼6.3 earthquake that ruptured a submarine, N140°E striking, left-lateral fault near Redonda.
ISSN: 0094-8276

insu-01586768
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01586768
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01586768/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01586768/file/Feuillet_et_al-2010-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2010GL042556

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
The objective of this study was to realize a three-dimensional (3-D) geological model of the deep basin structure of the Middle Durance region (of folds and faults) by integration of geological and geophysical data, and to evaluate its fault geometry and tectonic history. All of the available geophysical and geological data were compiled in three dimensions using the gOcad geomodeler. The geological and geophysical data were used to build a 3-D geological model of the Middle Durance region. The data on the 3-D geometry of fault surfaces and stratigraphic horizons and the thickness maps of the main stratigraphic units are supported by the 3-D geological model. We show that the Middle Durance Fault cannot be interpreted as a single fault plane that affected the entire Meso-Cenozoic sedimentary layers and the Paleozoic basement but as a listric segmented faulting system in sedimentary layers, rooted in Triassic evaporites and a normal block faulting system in the basement. This decoupling level in the Triassic layers reveals thin-skin deformation, formed by strong mechanical decoupling between the Mesozoic sedimentary cover and the Paleozoic basement. This study also confirms that the Provence geological structure has resulted mainly from Pyrenean deformation, which was partly reactivated by Alpine deformation. We demonstrate that the Middle Durance Fault Zone is a transfer fault that accommodates deformation of the sedimentary filling of the South-East Basin through modified fold geometry over a zone of 7 km to 8 km around the main segment of the fault zone.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-01172221
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01172221
DOI : 10.1002/2014TC003749

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : We present field data from segmented normal faults having particular displacement and overlapping geometries that may be related to down-dip branching of the fault segments. Based on a 3-D numerical modeling study of computed displacement and stress fields around different geometries of down-dip branched normal fault segments, we show that the bends of fault surfaces that coalesce at depth exert a significant influence on (I) the displacement distribution on the fault segment branches and (2) the quasi-static stress fields around the relay zones. The asymmetry in the displacement profiles and low fault interaction at relay zones modeled are consistent with the fault segment geometries observed in field data. As an application, we model the geometry and interaction of the Vallo di Diano normal fault which is segmented at the Earth's surface and which produced an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 along a single fault surface at depth. Numerical modeling of the segmented fault produces an asymmetric displacement profile and low shear stress at the relay zone consistent with the profile and fault interaction inferred from the held. We conclude that asymmetry of the displacement profile and large overlap/separation ratio of the unlinked relay zone can be indicators of the presence of a continuous fault surface underneath. These geometrical attributes are therefore important to consider in the probabilistic analysis of seismic hazard along segmented normal faults.
ISSN: 0191-8141

hal-00411161
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411161
DOI : 10.1016/j.jsg.2008.07.005