Sand injectites network as a marker of the palaeoestress field, the structural framework and the distance to the sand source: Example in the Vocontian Basin, SE France a b s t r a c t A large sand injectite network is very well exposed in the area of Bevons, Southeast France. The associated sandstone turbiditic channelefill and the host marls are the AptianeAlbian rocks of the Vocontian Basin. The sand injection network is composed of dykes, sills and sedimentary laccoliths ranging in thickness from mm to pluriem. The dykes and sills have vertical and horizontal lengths of up to and over 100 m and 1 km, respectively. Outcrop observations show that the architecture and morphology of the sand injectites in the marls is governed by the local stress field during injection, preeexisting faults, the hosterock lithology, compaction, and distance to the potential sand source(s). The main set of dykes is oriented N50e60 perpendicular to the minimum compressive stress s 3 during sand injection. Two other sets of dykes are intruded along preeexisting synesedimentary faults oriented N140e150 (set 2) and N90 (set 3) during the AptoeCenomanian interval. Sills and dykes thin laterally away from their potential sand sources and thin laterally away from them. The vertical thickness variations of the dykes and wings are more complex, as thinning away from the sand sources is often compensated by thickening toward the palaeoesurface. Based on field observations and measurements, we characterized the 3D architecture of the sand injectites and showed that the injectites probably formed due to a forceful injection from an overpressured sand body sealed by lowepermeability lithologies.

International audienceLarge-scale conical and saucer-shaped sand injectites have been identified in the Upper Miocene sediments of the Lower Congo Basin. These structures are evidenced on the 3D high-resolution seismic data at about 600 ms TWT (two-way traveltime) beneath the seabed. The conical and saucer-shaped anomalies range from 20 to 80 m in height, 50 to 300 m in diameter, and 10 to 20 ms TWT in thickness. They are located within a sedimentary interval of about 100 m in thickness and are aligned over 20 km in dip direction (NE-SW), above the NW margin of an underlying Upper Miocene submarine fan. We have interpreted the conical and saucer-shaped anomalies as upward-emplaced sand injectites sourced from the Upper Miocene fan because of their discordant character, the postsedimentary uplifting of the sediments overlying the cones and saucer-shaped bodies, the alignment with the lateral fringe of the Upper Miocene submarine fan, and the geological context. Sand injection dates from the Miocene-Pliocene transition (approximately 5.3 Ma). The prerequisite overpressure to the sand injection process may be due to the buoyancy effect of hydrocarbons accumulated in the margins of the fan. Additionally, overpressure could have been enhanced by the lateral transfer of fluids operating in the inclined margins of the lobe. The short duration of sand injection and the presence of many sandstone intrusions suggested that the process of injection was triggered by an event, likely due to a nearby fault displacement related to diapiric movements. This is the first time that sand injectites of seismic scale have been described from the Lower Congo Basin. The localized nature of these injectites has led to a change in the migration path of fluids through the sedimentary cover. Consequently, the sand intrusions are both evidence and vectors of fluid migration within the basin fill