Evolution of a low convergence collisional orogen: a review of Pyrenean orogenesis

The Pyrenees is a collisional orogen built by inversion of an immature rift system during convergence of the Iberian and European plates from Late Cretaceous to late Cenozoic. The full mountain belt consists of the pro-foreland southern Pyrenees and the retro-foreland northern Pyrenees, where the inverted lower Cretaceous rift system is mainly preserved. Due to low overall convergence and absence of oceanic subduction, this orogen preserves one of the best geological records of early orogenesis, the transition from early convergence to main collision and the transition from collision to post-convergence. During these transitional periods major changes in orogen behavior reflect evolving lithospheric processes and tectonic drivers. Contributions by the OROGEN project have shed new light on these critical periods, on the evolution of the orogen as a whole, and in particular on the early convergence stage. By integrating results of OROGEN with those of other recent collaborative projects in the Pyrenean domain (e.g., PYRAMID, PYROPE, RGF-Pyrénées), this paper offers a synthesis of current knowledge and debate on the evolution of this immature orogen as recorded in the synorogenic basins and fold and thrust belts of both the upper European and lower Iberian plates. Expanding insight on the role of salt tectonics at local to regional scales is summarised and discussed. Uncertainties involved in data compilation across a whole orogen using different datasets are discussed, for example for deriving shortening values and distribution

3D evolution of a retro-foreland basin : the Aquitaine Basin, France

Les bassins d'avant-pays se développent au front des orogènes par flexure de la lithosphère. L'héritage structural et thermique de celle-ci joue un rôle fondamental dans leur évolution et différentes sources peuvent contribuer à la subsidence du bassin. Cette thèse analyse les effets de l'héritage d'un épisode de rift sur un rétro-bassin d'avant-pays qui s'est développé alors que la lithosphère n'avait pas retrouvé son état d'équilibre. Le Bassin Aquitain est le rétro-bassin d'avant-pays pyrénéen qui s'est développé au Campanien-Miocène. L'orogenèse pyrénéenne fait suite à un épisode de rifting Aptien-Cénomanien durant lequel la croûte a été fortement amincie et le manteau sous-continental exhumé. Les effets de l'héritage crustal dus au rift sur l'évolution du bassin sont étudiés par une analyse des structures dans la croûte, du comportement flexural de la plaque européenne et de la distribution des sédiments synorogéniques. L'évolution de la subsidence dans le bassin est étudiée par analyse de subsidence 1D d'après des données de forages. Enfin, les mécanismes d'inversion de la marge européenne sont étudiés par restauration d'une coupe structurale à échelle crustale. Cette étude aide à définir le rôle de l'héritage d'un ancien système de rift sur la mise en place et l'évolution d'un bassin d'avant-pays ainsi que le rôle des différentes sources de subsidence et leurs variations spatio-temporelles. Cette étude démontre également les liens étroits entre l'histoire du rétro-bassin d'avant-pays et les mécanismes et phases d'inversion de la marge hyper-amincieForeland basins develop in front of orogens by flexure of the lithosphere. When they initiate over a crust that has been affected by a previous tectonic event, structural and thermal inheritance have a fundamental role in their evolution and different sources may contribute to basin subsidence. The present work analyzes the impact of inheritance from a rifting event on a foreland basin, which develops while thermal reequilibration has not been achieved at the time of loading. The Aquitaine Basin is the Pyrenean retro-foreland basin that developed from Campanian to Miocene. The Pyrenean orogenesis follows an Aptian-Cenomanian rifting during which the continental crust is thinned and sub-continental mantle exhumed. The orogenesis starts only 10 Myr after the end of rifting. The effects of crustal inheritance due to rifting on the evolution of the basin are studied by analyzing crustal structures, flexural behavior of the European plate, and foreland succession distribution. The subsidence evolution of the basin is studied by the 1D backstripping technique using borehole data. Finally, inversion mechanisms of the European margin are studied by cross-section construction and restoration at crustal scale. This study helps to define the role of rift inheritance on the initiation and the evolution of a retro-foreland basin, as well as the relative role of subsidence sources and their variations in space and time. The present work also shows the strong relationship between the retro-foreland basin's history and both mechanism and the history and mechanisms of inversion of a hyper-extended margi

Évolution 3D d'un rétro-bassin d'avant-pays : le Bassin aquitain, France

Foreland basins develop in front of orogens by flexure of the lithosphere. When they initiate over a crust that has been affected by a previous tectonic event, structural and thermal inheritance have a fundamental role in their evolution and different sources may contribute to basin subsidence. The present work analyzes the impact of inheritance from a rifting event on a foreland basin, which develops while thermal reequilibration has not been achieved at the time of loading. The Aquitaine Basin is the Pyrenean retro-foreland basin that developed from Campanian to Miocene. The Pyrenean orogenesis follows an Aptian-Cenomanian rifting during which the continental crust is thinned and sub-continental mantle exhumed. The orogenesis starts only 10 Myr after the end of rifting. The effects of crustal inheritance due to rifting on the evolution of the basin are studied by analyzing crustal structures, flexural behavior of the European plate, and foreland succession distribution. The subsidence evolution of the basin is studied by the 1D backstripping technique using borehole data. Finally, inversion mechanisms of the European margin are studied by cross-section construction and restoration at crustal scale. This study helps to define the role of rift inheritance on the initiation and the evolution of a retro-foreland basin, as well as the relative role of subsidence sources and their variations in space and time. The present work also shows the strong relationship between the retro-foreland basin's history and both mechanism and the history and mechanisms of inversion of a hyper-extended marginLes bassins d'avant-pays se développent au front des orogènes par flexure de la lithosphère. L'héritage structural et thermique de celle-ci joue un rôle fondamental dans leur évolution et différentes sources peuvent contribuer à la subsidence du bassin. Cette thèse analyse les effets de l'héritage d'un épisode de rift sur un rétro-bassin d'avant-pays qui s'est développé alors que la lithosphère n'avait pas retrouvé son état d'équilibre. Le Bassin Aquitain est le rétro-bassin d'avant-pays pyrénéen qui s'est développé au Campanien-Miocène. L'orogenèse pyrénéenne fait suite à un épisode de rifting Aptien-Cénomanien durant lequel la croûte a été fortement amincie et le manteau sous-continental exhumé. Les effets de l'héritage crustal dus au rift sur l'évolution du bassin sont étudiés par une analyse des structures dans la croûte, du comportement flexural de la plaque européenne et de la distribution des sédiments synorogéniques. L'évolution de la subsidence dans le bassin est étudiée par analyse de subsidence 1D d'après des données de forages. Enfin, les mécanismes d'inversion de la marge européenne sont étudiés par restauration d'une coupe structurale à échelle crustale. Cette étude aide à définir le rôle de l'héritage d'un ancien système de rift sur la mise en place et l'évolution d'un bassin d'avant-pays ainsi que le rôle des différentes sources de subsidence et leurs variations spatio-temporelles. Cette étude démontre également les liens étroits entre l'histoire du rétro-bassin d'avant-pays et les mécanismes et phases d'inversion de la marge hyper-aminci

Evolution of the Alpine orogenic belts in the Western Mediterranean region as resolved by the kinematics of the Europe-Africa diffuse plate boundary

The West European collisional Alpine belts are the result of the inversion, initiated in the middle Cretaceous, of the complex western Neotethys and the Atlantic continental rift domains and closure of remnants of Tethys between the North Africa and European cratons. While the kinematics of Africa relative to Europe is well understood, the kinematics of microplates such as Iberia and Adria within the diffuse collisional plate boundary is still a matter of debate. We review geological and stratigraphic constraints in the peri-Iberia fold-thrust belts and basins to define the deformation history and crustal segmentation of the West European realm. These data are then implemented with other constraints from recently published kinematic and paleogeographic reconstructions to propose a new regional tectonic and kinematic model for Western Europe from the late Permian to recent times. Our model suggests that the pre-collisional extension between Europe and Africa plates was distributed and oblique, hence building discontinuous rift segments between the southern Alpine Tethys and the Central Atlantic. They were characterised by variably extended crust and narrow oceanic domains segmented across transfer structures and micro-continental blocks. The main tectonic structures inherited from the late Variscan orogeny localized deformation associated with rifting and orogenic belts. We show that continental blocks, including the Ebro-Sardinia-Corsica block, have been key in accommodating strike-slip, extension, and contraction in both Iberia and Adria. The definition of a new Ebro-Sardinia-Corsica block allows refining the tectonic relationships between Iberia, Europe and Adria in the Alps. By the Paleogene, the convergence of Africa closed the spatially distributed oceanic domains, except for the Ionian basin. From this time onwards, collision spread over the different continental blocks from Africa to Europe. The area was eventually affected by the West European Rift, in the late Eocene, which may have controlled the opening of the West Mediterranean. The low convergence associated with the collisional evolution of Western Europe permits to resolve the control of the inherited crustal architecture on the distribution of strain in the collision zone, that is otherwise lost in more mature collisional domain such as the Himalaya.</jats:p

Cenozoic mountain building of Western Europe controlled by continental lithosphere evolution

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span&amp;gt;The heterogeneous continental lithosphere of Europe inherits billion of years of tectonic evolution, mineral transformation and magmatic addition.&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span&amp;gt;Though there is now an extensive body of studies on the long-term geological, geochronological and geochemical evolution of the continental crust and lithospheric mantle available in Europe, yet this knowledge has not been linked to the understanding of tectonic evolution of Cenozoic Alpine mountain building.&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;In this aim, we review geophysical, geological, petrographical, geochemical, and thermochronological constraints to infer a kinematically coherent time-integrated tectonic model for the evolution of mountain building in Western Europe,&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;span&amp;gt;along a 4000 km long lithospheric transect from Africa to the East European Craton.&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;We show that&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;span&amp;gt;the key drivers of plate-scale processes related to&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#160;Alpine orogenic and topographic evolution reflect three main ingredients : 1) a protracted magmatic and tectono-thermal transformation of Africa (Gondwana) and North Europea (Baltica) cratonic mantle lithosphere since the Neoproterozoic, 2) an overall limited Mesozoic Tethyan extension of the weak Variscan lithosphere characterized by the lack of wide, thermally relaxed, oceanic lithosphere, 3) a relatively slow Cenozoic convergence between Africa and Europe, preserving initial stages of distributed tectonic inversion of rifted continental blocks throughout Europe, and partial subduction and delamination in the Mediterranean region of the most evolved lithospheric domains.&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;</jats:p

Reconstruction cinématique de la limite de plaque diffuse Europe-Afrique pour étudier l'evolution de la Ceinture Orogénique Alpine en Méditerranée Occidentale

International audienc

Evolution of the Alpine orogenic belts in the Western Mediterranean region as resolved by the kinematics of the Europe-Africa diffuse plate boundary

The West European collisional Alpine belts are the result of the inversion, initiated in the middle Cretaceous, of the complex western Neotethys and the Atlantic continental rift domains and closure of remnants of Tethys between the North Africa and European cratons. While the kinematics of Africa relative to Europe is well understood, the kinematics of microplates such as Iberia and Adria within the diffuse collisional plate boundary is still a matter of debate. We review geological and stratigraphic constraints in the peri-Iberia fold-thrust belts and basins to define the deformation history and crustal segmentation of the West European realm. These data are then implemented with other constraints from recently published kinematic and paleogeographic reconstructions to propose a new regional tectonic and kinematic model for Western Europe from the late Permian to recent times. Our model suggests that the pre-collisional extension between Europe and Africa plates was distributed and oblique, hence building discontinuous rift segments between the southern Alpine Tethys and the Central Atlantic. They were characterised by variably extended crust and narrow oceanic domains segmented across transfer structures and micro-continental blocks. The main tectonic structures inherited from the late Variscan orogeny localized deformation associated with rifting and orogenic belts. We show that continental blocks, including the Ebro-Sardinia-Corsica block, have been key in accommodating strike-slip, extension, and contraction in both Iberia and Adria. The definition of a new Ebro-Sardinia-Corsica block allows refining the tectonic relationships between Iberia, Europe and Adria in the Alps. By the Paleogene, the convergence of Africa closed the spatially distributed oceanic domains, except for the Ionian basin. From this time onwards, collision spread over the different continental blocks from Africa to Europe. The area was eventually affected by the West European Rift, in the late Eocene, which may have controlled the opening of the West Mediterranean. The low convergence associated with the collisional evolution of Western Europe permits to resolve the control of the inherited crustal architecture on the distribution of strain in the collision zone, that is otherwise lost in more mature collisional domain such as the Himalaya