Seismic evidence of current-controlled sedimentation in the Alboran Sea during the Pliocene and Quaternary: Palaeoceanographic implications

Juan, Carmen; Ercilla, Gemma; Hernández-Molina, F. Javier; Estrada, Ferrán; Alonso, Belén; Casas, David; García, Marga; Farran, Marcel-lí; Llave, Estefanía; Palomino, Desirée; Vázquez, J.T.; Medialdea, Teresa; Gorini, Christian; d’Acremont, Elia; Moumni, Bouchta El; Ammar, Abdellah

doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2016.01.006

Cited by 52 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…Six major units (I to VI) are commonly differentiated, and major seismic discontinuities are labelled following Comas et al () (R5 to R2 and M). In addition, we also use the Plio‐Quaternary seismic subunits and bounding key reflectors defined within Unit I by Martínez‐García et al () (q1 to p3), which are in agreement with the post‐Messinian stratigraphy established by Juan et al () on a regional basin scale. Age attributions and nomenclature have been updated according to the current chronostratigraphic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (Cohen et al, ).…”

Section: Seismic Interpretation and Mappingmentioning

confidence: 72%

From Extension to Shortening: Tectonic Inversion Distributed in Time and Space in the Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean

et al. 2017

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2D seismic reflection data tied to biostratigraphical and log information from wells in the central and southeastern Alboran Sea have allowed us to constrain the spatial and temporal distribution of rifting and inversion. Normal faults, tilted basement blocks, and growth wedges reveal a thinned continental crust that formed in response to NW‐SE extension. To the east, a secondary SW‐NE trend of extension affects the transitional crust adjacent to the oceanic Algerian Basin. The maximum thickness of syn‐rift sediments is ~3.5 km, and the oldest recorded deposits are Serravallian. The WNW‐ESE Yusuf fault formed a buttress separating and accommodating variable extension between two different tectonic domains: the thinned continental crust of Alboran and the oceanic spreading of the Algerian Basin. Late Tortonian to present‐day NW‐SE Africa/Eurasia plate convergence drove shortening and reactivation of some of the earlier extensional structures as reverse and strike‐slip faults, forming complex, compartmentalised subbasins. Tectonic inversion coexisted with the formation of new faults and folds. Inversion was partial along the Habibas Basin and Al‐Idrisi fault, but complete along the Alboran Ridge, where some SW‐NE trending faults were perpendicular to the recent NW‐SE plate convergence and were reactivated as thrusts. The WNW‐ESE Yusuf fault is oblique to the convergence vector, and therefore, reactivation is mainly expressed as transpressional deformation. Volcanic rocks intruded along the Alboran Ridge and Yusuf faults during the latest stages of extension formed rheological anisotropies that localised the later inversion.

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Section: Seismic Interpretation and Mappingmentioning

confidence: 72%

From Extension to Shortening: Tectonic Inversion Distributed in Time and Space in the Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean

et al. 2017

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“…These lines provide a depth record 6 km below the seafloor, down to the basement top, and make it possible to see deep reflectors below the top basement. These data combined with the complete available seismic reflection lines (see d'Acremont et al, 2014; Juan et al, 2016; Lafosse et al, 2016) form a dense network throughout the West Alboran basin and the north Moroccan margin (Figure 2).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…However, for the Miocene intervals, we merged the Aquitanian, Burdigalian, and Langhian units into a single SU2 unit compared to the study of Do Couto et al (2016) (Figure 3). The different seismic units and bounding discontinuities are well defined in the post‐Miocene sequence thanks to the available high‐resolution lines and log information (e.g., Juan et al, 2016; Martinez‐Garcia et al, 2017). For the pre‐MSC sequence, the horizons were tentatively calibrated despite the decrease in seismic resolution with depth (Do Couto et al, 2016).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Polyphase Tectonic Evolution of Fore‐Arc Basin Related to STEP Fault as Revealed by Seismic Reflection Data From the Alboran Sea (W‐Mediterranean)

et al. 2020

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Since the Miocene, the thinned continental crust below the Alboran Sea and its overlying sedimentary cover have been undergoing deformation caused by both convergence of Eurasia and Africa and by deep processes related to the Tethyan slab retreat. Part of this deformation is recorded at the Xauen and Tofiño banks in the southern Alboran Sea. Using swath bathymetry and multichannel seismic reflection data, we identified different stages and styles of deformation. The South Alboran Basin is made up of Early Miocene to Pliocene sedimentary layers that correlate with the West Alboran Basin depocenter and are dominated by E-W trending folds and thrusts. The Xauen and Tofiño Banks first recorded the phase of extension and strike-slip movement during the slab retreat, followed by the phase of compressional inversion since the Tortonian and are now structured by tight folds, thrusts, and mud bodies. This study proposes that the Banks were located on the southern-inherited Subduction Tear Edge Propagator (STEP) fault related to the westward migration of the Alboran domain during the Miocene. The STEP fault zone, acting as a boundary between the African block and the Alboran block, was located along the onshore Jebha-Nekor fault and the offshore Alboran Ridge and the Yusuf fault zone. Thick-skinned and thin-skinned shortening occurred when slab retreat stopped, and inversion began. The present-day style of the deformation seems to be linked to a decollement level made of undercompacted shale on top of the Ghomaride complex.

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“…The Alboran Basin is floored by a thin continental crust made up of the alpine Internal Zone metamorphic complexes, with a Variscan basement located in the southeastern area (Ammar et al, ) resting above an anomalous mantle (Comas et al, ; Hatzfeld, ). The sedimentary infill consists of unconformable Miocene to Quaternary deposits (Comas et al, ; Juan et al, ). This sedimentary record is mostly deformed by two conjugated sets of dextral WNW‐ESE and sinistral NE‐SW faults and folded by ENE‐WSW oriented folds (Estrada et al, ; Martínez‐García et al, ), the Alboran Ridge and Francesc Pagès seamount, pertaining to the main antiforms (Bourgois et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaging the Growth of Recent Faults: The Case of 2016–2017 Seismic Sequence Sea Bottom Deformation in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean)

et al. 2018

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The Eurasian-African NW-SE oblique plate convergence produces shortening and orthogonal extension in the Alboran Sea Basin (westernmost Mediterranean), located between the Betic and Rif Cordilleras. A NNE-SSW broadband of deformation and seismicity affects the Alboran central part. After the 1993-1994 and 2004 seismic series, an earthquake sequence struck mainly its southern sector in 2016-2017 (main event M w = 6.3, 25 January 2016). The near-surface deformation is investigated using seismic profiles, multibeam bathymetry, gravity and seismicity data. Epicenters can be grouped into two main alignments. The northern WSW-ENE alignment has reverse earthquake focal mechanisms, and in its epicentral region recent mass transport deposits occur. The southern alignment consists of a NNE-SSW vertical sinistral deformation zone, with early epicenters of higher-magnitude earthquakes located along a narrow band 5 to 10-km offset westward of the Al Idrisi Fault. Here near-surface deformation includes active NW-SE vertical and normal faults, unmapped until now. Later, epicenters spread eastward, reaching the Al Idrisi Fault, characterized by discontinuous active NNE-SSW vertical fractures. Seismicity and tectonic structures suggest a westward propagation of deformation and the growth at depth of incipient faults, comprising a NNE-SSW sinistral fault zone in depth that is connected upward with NW-SE vertical and normal faults. This recent fault zone is segmented and responsible for the seismicity in 1993-1994 in the coastal area, in 2004 onshore, and in 2016-2017 offshore. Insights for seismic hazard assessment point to the growth of recent faults that could produce potentially higher magnitude earthquakes than the already formed faults.

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Seismic evidence of current-controlled sedimentation in the Alboran Sea during the Pliocene and Quaternary: Palaeoceanographic implications

Cited by 52 publications

References 84 publications

From Extension to Shortening: Tectonic Inversion Distributed in Time and Space in the Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean

From Extension to Shortening: Tectonic Inversion Distributed in Time and Space in the Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean

Polyphase Tectonic Evolution of Fore‐Arc Basin Related to STEP Fault as Revealed by Seismic Reflection Data From the Alboran Sea (W‐Mediterranean)

Imaging the Growth of Recent Faults: The Case of 2016–2017 Seismic Sequence Sea Bottom Deformation in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean)

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