Heat flow in the Valencia trough: Geodynamic implications

Special issue Geology and Geophysics of the Valencia through Western Mediterranean.-- 21 pages, 8 figures, 2 tablesAs part of the Valsis project, 110 heat-flow determinations were obtained in the axial, deep part of the Valencia trough during the Valsis 1 cruise of the R/V Le Suroit in 1988. The data gathered data provide a fairly comprehensive view of the regional heat-flow pattern. Regional heat flow increases from a value of 66 ± 4 mW/m2 to the north of Menorca to 88 ± 4 mW/m2 in the southern part of the rift between Valencia and Ibiza. A simple rifting model, assuming uniform stretching of the lithosphere during a single rifting event from 28 to 22 Ma ago, satisfactorily describes the observed heat flow and depth to sea floor in the northern part of the trough. In contrast, the southern Valencia trough has high heat flow and shallow sea floor that are difficult to reconcile with predictions of a uniform lithospheric stretching model even allowing for an initial elevation, a thin, hot lithosphere or a multi-episode history of rifting. Non-homogeneous lithospheric stretching models, assuming for example large-scale dike intrusion or a greater extension of the mantle than in the crust, provide potential explanations of the high heat flow and shallow sea floor in the southern Valencia trough. Yet, these models remain poorly constrained. © 199

Lateral Variations in Foreland Flexure of a Rifted Continental Margin: The Aquitaine Basin (SW France)

Rift inheritance can play a key role in foreland basin geometry and behavior. If the foreland basin initiates soon after rifting, thermal cooling can also contribute significantly to subsidence. We investigate the effects of crustal inheritance (Aptian-Cenomanian rifting) on the evolution of the Campanian to middle Miocene flexural Aquitaine foreland basin, northern Pyrenees, France. Surface and subsurface data define rifted crustal geometry and postrift thermal subsidence. Analysis of Bouguer gravity anomalies coupled with flexural modeling constrains the lateral variations of elastic thickness, plate flexure, and controlling loads. The Aquitaine foreland is divided along-strike into three sectors. The relative role of surface and subsurface (i.e., buried) loading varies along-strike, and the elastic thickness values decrease from the northeast (25 km) to the southwest (7 km) where the plate is the most stretched. The eastern foreland crust was not rifted and underwent a simple flexural subsidence in response to orogenesis. The central sector was affected by crustal stretching. Here the basin is modeled by combining topographic and buried loads, with postrift thermal subsidence. In the western sector, the foreland basin was created mainly by postrift thermal subsidence. The eastern and central sectors are separated by the Eastern Crustal Lineament, which is one of a series of inherited transverse faults that segment the orogen