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
Miocene (17-11 Ma) magmatic activity in the Kabylies emplaced K-rich (and minor medium-K) calc-alkaline plutonic and volcanic rocks in five zones, delineating a ∼450 km long EW trending strip located along the northern coast of Algeria, between Annaba and Algiers. Their most likely source is the Kabylian subcontinental lithospheric mantle previously metasomatized during the Paleogene subduction of the Tethys oceanic lithosphere. Our preferred tectono-magmatic model involves a Tethyan slab detachment combined with African mantle delamination and crustal stacking, leading to the superimposition of the African continental crust over the Kabylian metasomatized lithospheric mantle. At ca. 17 Ma, the asthenospheric upwelling arising from lithospheric delamination and Tethyan slab tear triggered the thermal erosion of the latter mantle, inducing its partial melting. The corresponding mafic medium-K calc-alkaline magmas interacted with the African basement units during their ascent, generating intermediate to felsic K-rich calc-alkaline melts that display a characteristic trace element and isotopic crustal signature. Later on, slab tears propagated eastward and westward, promoting slab rollback perpendicular to plate convergence and inducing the emplacement of magmatic rocks of decreasing ages from central-eastern Algeria towards Tunisia and Morocco.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-01467997
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01467997
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2016.10.005

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We use velocities from 65 continuous stations and 31 survey-mode GPS sites as well as kinematic modeling to investigate present day deformation along the Africa-Iberia plate boundary zone in the western Mediterranean region. The GPS velocity field shows southwestward motion of the central part of the Rif Mountains in northern Morocco with respect to Africa varying between 3.5 and 4.0 mm/yr, consistent with prior published results. Stations in the southwestern part of the Betic Mountains of southern Spain move west-southwest with respect to Eurasia (similar to 2-3 mm/yr). The western component of Betics motion is consistent with partial transfer of Nubia-Eurasia plate motion into the southern Betics. The southward component of Betics motion with respect to Iberia is kinematically consistent with south to southwest motion of the Rif Mountains with respect to Africa. We use block modeling, constrained by mapped surface faults and seismicity to estimate the geometry and rates of strain accumulation on plate boundary structures. Our preferred plate boundary geometry includes one block between Iberia and Africa including the SW Betics, Alboran Sea, and central Rif. This geometry provides a good fit to the observed motions, suggesting a wide transpressive boundary in the westernmost Mediterranean, with deformation mainly accommodated by the Gloria-Azores fault system to the West and the Rif-Tell lineament to the East. Block boundaries encompass aspects of earlier interpretations suggesting three main deformation styles: (i) extension along the NE-SW trending Trans-Alboran shear zone, (ii) dextral strike-slip in the Betics corresponding to a well defined E-W seismic lineament, and (iii) right lateral strike-slip motion extending West to the Azores and right-lateral motion with compression extending East along the Algerian Tell. We interpret differential motion in the Rif-Alboran-Betic system to be driven both by surface processes related the Africa-Eurasia oblique convergence and sub-crustal dynamic processes associated with the long history of subduction of the Neotethys ocean lithosphere. The dextral slip identified in the Betic Mountains in Southern Spain may be related to the offshore fault that produced the Great 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, and as such may represent a significant seismic hazard for the West Mediterranean region.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00618337
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00618337
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.05.048

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Résumé : International audience
The Ben Zireg anticline NW of Bechar yields the currently most-important Frasnian succession on the northern margin of the Algerian Sahara. It represents 26.5 m of calcilutites which are attributed to the middle–late Frasnian. As the early Frasnian is not represented, the succession rests conformably on undifferentiated, probably late Givetian, substrate. Fine-scaled conodont biostratigraphy reveals a continuous sequence of Montagne Noire Zones 5–13, superseded by the earliest Famennian Lower triangularis Zone. The deposits are organized into 15 sedimentary cycles that are initially condensed and become dilated upwards. Conodont biofacies indicate an overall deepening towards the top of the section with an episode of slight shallowing at the MN11/12 transition marked by an increase of ancyrodellids, which is also seen in the Marhouma section of the Ougarta region (SW Algeria). Homogeneous calcareous microfacies with only a few shaly intercalations determine a predominantly oxygenated depositional environment on an outer platform, submarine rise or ramp setting. This is also indicated by relatively low sedimentation rates which are similar in selected sections from the Tafilalt platform, and contrast with those from the Marhouma trough and the Maider basin. Unlike other Frasnian successions south of the Atlas Fault, but similar to the Moroccan Meseta, the Upper Kellwasser horizon is clearly discriminated at Ben Zireg by an outstanding occurrence of black shales on top of the oxygenated latest Frasnian deposits.
ISSN: 0016-7568

hal-01217151
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01217151
DOI : 10.1017/S0016756814000715

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : This study deals with the preliminary data of rare earth elements (REE) obtained on northeastern Algerian phosphorites from the Tébessa region. These phosphorites are located in two different basins: the northern basin represented by Dj. El Kouif, Dj. Dyr and Tazbant showings and the southern basin with the giant Dj. Onk phosphate deposit. The host sedimentary formation is Late Paleocene to Early Eocene. Twenty-six (26) samples from the four (4) localities were collected and analyzed for their REE contents using the ICP-MS technique. Phosphates from the southern basin (Dj. Onk deposit) show ∑REE contents ranging from 174.41 and 906.39 ppm (average ∑REE = 623.01 ppm), while the northern phosphorites have lower ∑REE contents (from 125.45 to 472.44 ppm; average = 265.57 ppm). PAAS-normalized REE patterns and binary Box plot of (Sm/Pr)N vs (Sm/Yb)N show HREE enrichments for samples from the northern localities while most samples from the southern basin are HREE depleted. Normalized (La/Yb)N vs (La/Sm)N plot shows that (La/Sm)N ratios of all samples are similar to those of modern seawater (from 0.83 to 1.55). However, the (La/Yb)N ratios of the two basins are significantly higher (from 0.67 to 1.18), which indicates an early diagenesis. The Ce/Ce* vs Pr/Pr* diagram shows that the observed Ce anomaly was not affected by diagenesis and more likely represents a proxy for redox conditions. The obtained results substantiate that the northern phosphorites were formed in more oxic environment with more pronounced negative Ce anomalies, whereas the southern phosphorites have lower Ce anomalies. Northern phosphorites are different from those from the south probably because the northern basin was more connected to an open sea as did the Sra Ouartan basin in northern Tunisia. These results have also been confirmed by statistical method studies, such as factorial discriminate analysis.
ISSN: 1877-7058

hal-01412572
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01412572
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01412572/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01412572/file/kechided2016.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.proeng.2016.02.048

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The In Ouzzal terrane in western Hoggar (Southern Algeria) preserves evidence of ultrahigh temperature (UHT) crustal metamorphism. It consists in Archean crustal units, composed of orthogneissic domes and greenstone belts, strongly remobilized during the Paleoproterozoic orogeny which was recognized as an UHT event (peak T > 1000 °C and P ≈ 9–12 kbar). This metamorphism was essentially defined locally in Al-Mg granulites, Al-Fe granulites and quartzites outcropping in the Northern part of the In Ouzzal terrane (IOT).In order to test and verify the regional spread of the UHT metamorphism in this terrane, ternary feldspar thermometry on varied rock types (Metanorite, Granulite Al-Mg and Orthogneiss) and samples that crop out in different zones of the In Ouzzal terrane. These rocks contain either perthitic, antiperthitic or mesoperthitic parageneses. Ternary feldspars used in this study have clearly a metamorphic origin.The obtained results combined with previous works show that this UHT metamorphism (>900 °C) affected the whole In Ouzzal crustal block. This is of major importance as for future discussion on the geodynamic context responsible for this regional UHT metamorphism.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-01526950
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01526950
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2016.08.005

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Diamond-bearing UHP metamorphic rocks witness for subduction of lithospheric slabs into the mantle and their return to shallow levels. In this study we present U–Pb and trace elements analyses of zircon and rutile inclusions from a diamond-bearing garnet megacryst collected in a mélange unit exposed on the northern margin of Africa (Edough Massif, NE Algeria). Large rutile crystals (up to 300 μm in size) analyzed in situ provide a U–Pb age of interpreted as dating the prograde to peak subduction stage of the mafic protolith. Trace element analyses of minute zircons (≤30 μm) indicate that they formed in equilibrium with the garnet megacryst at a temperature of 740–810 °C, most likely during HP retrograde metamorphism. U–Pb analyses provide a significantly younger age of attributed to exhumation of the UHP units. This study allows bracketing the age of UHP metamorphism in the Western Mediterranean Orogen to the Oligocene/early Miocene, thus unambiguously relating UHP metamorphism to the Alpine history. Exhumation of these UHP units is coeval with the counterclockwise rotation of the Corsica–Sardinia block and most likely resulted from subduction rollback that was driven by slab pull.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-01622789
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01622789
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.06.043