Structural style and tectonic evolution of a polyphase extensional basin of the Gulf of Lion passive margin: the Tertiary Alès basin, southern France

Sanchis, Eric; Séranne, Michel

doi:10.1016/s0040-1951(00)00097-4

Cited by 47 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Lower Cretaceous (Neocomian) is still preserved in the SE basin where it is composed mainly of limestones and marls, with a variable thickness ranging from 500 m to 4,000 m (Debrand-Passard et al 1984). Remnants of Lower Cretaceous are also found in the Eocene to Oligocene Ale`s basin, a rifted basin formed during the Golf of Lion opening and located close to the Massif Central border (Sanchis and Se´ranne 2000). Barremian to Aptian limestones are observed as breccia elements, indicating that during Tertiary, relief-including the Massif Central-was formed partly by Lower Cretaceous limestones.…”

Section: Extent Of the Se Basinmentioning

confidence: 98%

Mid-Cretaceous uplift and erosion on the northern margin of the Ligurian Tethys deduced from thermal history reconstruction

Peyaud¹,

Carter²,

Pagel³

2005

Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch)

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The paleogeography during Early Cretaceous of the northern margin of the Ligurian Tethys is poorly constrained because of deformation and erosion during Pyrenean and Alpine orogenic phases. The present-day limit between Lower Cretaceous sediments in the SouthEast basin, located at the northwestern margin of the Ligurian Tethys, and basement rocks is the consequence of a protracted erosion history. Lower Cretaceous sediments observed today in the basin, even close to the present-day outcropping border, are characteristic of pelagic environments. A larger extent of a Lower Cretaceous cover on the basement must then be considered. This study focuses on the western part of this margin (the Causses basin), in the South of the Massif Central (France), using several thermochronometers and geothermometers to decipher the former extent of the sedimentary cover. Apatite fission track thermochronology on basement rocks surrounding the Causses basin suggests that these rocks cooled from temperatures higher than 110°C during the mid-Cretaceous. Average fluid inclusion homogenisation temperatures between 94°C and 108°C are recorded in calcite veins from outcropping Toarcian and Aalenian shales. In the shales, Tmax values, temperature obtained by Rock-Eval pyrolysis of organic matter, are in agreement with these elevated temperatures. Different explanations for these relatively high temperatures, which cannot be explained by the present-day sedimentary serie in the basin, have been tested using a 1D thermal modelling procedure (Genex). For a 95±10-mW/m 2 paleoflux, thick sedimentary deposits (2.5±0.3 km) including 1.3±0.3 km of Lower Cretaceous sediments cover the South of the Massif Central; these formations have been subsequently eroded from mid-Cretaceous time onwards. This study confirms that the South of the Massif Central was a site of marine sedimentation during the Early Cretaceous where a thick sedimentary sequence was once deposited.

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Section: Extent Of the Se Basinmentioning

confidence: 98%

Mid-Cretaceous uplift and erosion on the northern margin of the Ligurian Tethys deduced from thermal history reconstruction

Peyaud¹,

Carter²,

Pagel³

2005

Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch)

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“…By contrast, contemporaneous development of the Lower Rhoˆne Valley grabens involved transtensional reactivation of the Provenc¸al thrust belt and of underlying Mesozoic extensional fault systems (Roure and Colletta 1996;Sanchis and Se´ranne 2000).…”

Section: Late Eocene Initial Rifting Stage Of Ecrismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Manosque and Ale`s grabens were partly inverted during the Miocene (Roure and Colletta 1996;Sanchis and Se´ranne 2000), reflecting the build-up of a westerly-directed, collision-related compressional stress field ( Fig. 10c; Ble`s and Gros 1991).…”

Section: Miocene Response Of Ecris To Alpine Compressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of the lithosphere in the area of the Rhine Rift System

Ziegler

Dèzes

2005

Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch)

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The Rhine Rift System (RRS) forms part of the European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS) and transects the Variscan Orogen, Permo-Carboniferous troughs and Late Permian to Mesozoic thermal sag basins. Crustal and lithospheric thicknesses range in the RRS area between 24-36 km and 50-120 km, respectively. We discuss processes controlling the transformation of the orogenically destabilised Variscan lithosphere into an end-Mesozoic stabilised cratonic lithosphere, as well as its renewed destabilisation during the Cenozoic development of ECRIS. By end-Westphalian times, the major sutures of the Variscan Orogen were associated with 45-60 km deep crustal roots. During the Stephanian-Early Permian, regional exhumation of the Variscides was controlled by their wrench deformation, detachment of subducted lithospheric slabs, asthenospheric upwelling and thermal thinning of the mantlelithosphere. By late Early Permian times, when asthenospheric temperatures returned to ambient levels, lithospheric thicknesses ranged between 40 km and 80 km, whilst the thickness of the crust was reduced to 28-35 km in response to its regional erosional and local tectonic unroofing and the interaction of mantle-derived melts with its basal parts. Re-equilibration of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system governed the subsidence of Late Permian-Mesozoic thermal sag basins that covered much of the RRS area. By end-Cretaceous times, lithospheric thicknesses had increased to 100-120 km. Paleocene mantle plumes caused renewed thermal weakening of the lithosphere. Starting in the late Eocene, ECRIS evolved in the Pyrenean and Alpine foreland by passive rifting under a collision-related north-directed compressional stress field. Following endOligocene consolidation of the Pyrenees, west-and northwest-directed stresses originating in the Alps controlled further development of ECRIS. The RRS remained active until the Present, whilst the southern branch of ECRIS aborted in the early Miocene. Extensional strain across ECRIS amounts to some 7 km. Plume-related thermal thinning of the lithosphere underlies uplift of the Rhenish Massif and Massif Central. Lithospheric folding controlled uplift of the VosgesBlack Forest Arch.

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“…Therefore, the geological evolution in the area will be addressed briefly. The whole area has undergone a polyphase tectonic history, having been affected by successive orogenic and rifting stages (Arthaud and Séguret, 1981;Arthaud and Laurent, 1995;Séranne et al, 1995;Combes and Carbon, 1999;Sanchis and Séranne, 2000). As previously mentioned, the sequence belongs to a large Mesozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary cover overlying a Paleozoic basement that had been deformed during the Variscan orogeny.…”

Section: Geological Settingsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Influence of local fluid flow on properties of low permeability Cretaceous siltstones (South-Eastern France): Implications for a nuclear waste deep repository

Rousset¹,

Lancelot²,

Verdoux³

et al. 2005

Journal of Geochemical Exploration

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Structural style and tectonic evolution of a polyphase extensional basin of the Gulf of Lion passive margin: the Tertiary Alès basin, southern France

Cited by 47 publications

References 23 publications

Mid-Cretaceous uplift and erosion on the northern margin of the Ligurian Tethys deduced from thermal history reconstruction

Mid-Cretaceous uplift and erosion on the northern margin of the Ligurian Tethys deduced from thermal history reconstruction

Evolution of the lithosphere in the area of the Rhine Rift System

Influence of local fluid flow on properties of low permeability Cretaceous siltstones (South-Eastern France): Implications for a nuclear waste deep repository

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