Along the northern border of Africa, Pangea breakup has been diachronic. During the Jurassic, the Alpine Tethys propagated northeastward from the Atlantic to the Alps. During the Permian, the Neo‐Tethys propagated westward from Oman to northwestern Arabia. Then a secondary and late branch of Neo‐Tethys gave birth to the East Mediterranean basin. Finally the two oceans connected at end of Jurassic times, achieving the development of Africa northern plate boundary. By the Late Cretaceous, convergence between Africa and Eurasia led to the progressive closure of the Tethys realm. The continental collision is not completely achieved, and the different segments of the confrontation zone (Maghreb, central and East Mediterranean, Zagros, and Oman) expose different stages of the process. However, we emphasize the existence of synchronous geodynamic events from one end of the system to the other, although they do not have the same meaning. Two of them are particularly important. The Campanian‐Santonian (C‐S) event corresponds to (1) obduction and exhumation of high‐pressure–low‐temperature metamorphic rocks around the Arabian promontory, (2) inversion along the margins of the East Mediterranean basins, and (3) lithosphere buckling in the Atlas system (Maghreb) and adjacent Sahara platform. The middle‐late Eocene (MLE) event corresponds to (1) the onset of collision at the northern corner of Arabia, (2) the onset of slab retreat in the Mediterranean, and (3) inversion along the margin of the East Mediterranean as well as in the Atlas. The C‐S event coincides with a change in plate kinematics resulting in an abrupt increase of convergence velocity. The MLE event coincides with a period of strong coupling between the Africa and Eurasia plates and an abrupt decrease of convergence velocity. In the middle of the system, the central Mediterranean seems to escape to the effects of convergence and is the site of quite permanent extensional movements since the Triassic.

Abstract. An increasing number of field examples in mountain belts show that the formation of passive margins during extreme continent thinning may occur under conditions of high to very high thermal gradient beneath a thin cover of syn-rift sediments. Orogenic belts resulting from the tectonic inversion of distal margins and regions of exhumed continental mantle may exhibit high-temperature, low-pressure (HT-LP) metamorphism and coeval syn-extensional, ductile deformation. Recent studies have shown that the northern flank of the Pyrenean belt, especially the North Pyrenean Zone, is one of the best examples of such inverted hot, passive margin. In this study, we provide a map of HT-LP metamorphism based on a data set of more than 100 peak-temperature estimates obtained using Raman spectroscopy of the carbonaceous material (RSCM). This data set is completed by previous PT (pressure and temperature) estimates based on mineral assemblages, and new 40 Ar-39 Ar (amphibole, micas) and U-Pb (titanite) ages from metamorphic and magmatic rocks of the North Pyrenean Zone. The implications on the geological evolution of the Cretaceous Pyrenean paleomargins are discussed. Ages range mainly from 110 to 90 Ma, and no westward or eastward propagation of the metamorphism and magmatism can be clearly identified. In contrast, the new data reveal a progressive propagation of the thermal anomaly from the base to the surface of the continental crust. Focusing on the key localities of the Mauléon basin, Arguenos-Moncaup, Lherz, Boucheville and the Bas-Agly, we analyze the thermal conditions prevailing during the Cretaceous crustal thinning. The results are synthetized into a series of three regional thematic maps and into two detailed maps of the Arguenos-Moncaup and Lherz areas. The results indicate a first-order control of the thermal gradient by the intensity of crustal thinning. The highest grades of metamorphism are intimately associated with the areas where subcontinental mantle rocks have been unroofed or exhumed.

The Sivas Basin in the Central Anatolian Plateau (Turkey), which formed in the context of a foreland fold‐and‐thrust belt (FTB), exhibits a typical wall and basin (WAB) province characterized by symmetric minibasins separated by continuous steep‐flanked walls and diapirs. Extensive fieldwork including regional and detailed local mapping of the contacts and margins of minibasins, and interpretation of a set of 2‐D regional seismic lines, provide evidence for the development of a shallow evaporite level separating two generations of minibasins within the WAB province. Here beds of symmetric exposed minibasins along diapir flank are younger than minibasins observed over autochthonous evaporites. Laterally away from the WAB province, increase in wavelength of the tectonic structures suggests a deepening of the decollement level. We interpret that a shallower evaporite level developed in the form of an evaporite canopy, triggered by significant lateral shortening. The Upper Eocene‐Lower Oligocene autochthonous Tuzhisar evaporite level was remobilized by the northward migrating sedimentary load and the tilting of the southern basin margin during propagation of the foreland fold‐and‐thrust belt. Asymmetric and symmetric primary minibasins were overrun by an allochthonous sheet forming a canopy. A second generation of salt withdrawal minibasins subsided into the allochthonous salt sheet. The polygonal pattern of the WAB province influences the growing fold‐and‐thrust belt system during the late stage of the secondary minibasins development. The Sivas FTB basin is the result of the interaction between fold‐and‐thrust belt propagation, evaporite remobilization, and interaction between evaporite flow and sedimentation in the minibasins.

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, Rifted margins: Ductile deformation, boudinage, continentward-dipping normal faults and the role of the weak lower crust, (2016), doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2017.04.030 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T Abstract:The