84 research outputs found

    3D structure of subsurface thrusts in the eastern Jaca Basin, southern Pyrenees

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    This paper presents a new model of the subsurface structure of the eastern Jaca flexural basin of the west-central southern Pyrenees, by means of subsurface structural maps and four new balanced cross-sections. The study is based on the interpretation of a set of publicly available seismic reflection profiles tied to deep exploration well logs, which constitute a unique database in the southern Pyrenees associated to the gas discovery of the Serrablo field. Investigation of the deep basin structure highlights strong mechanical-stratigraphic contrasts between basement, a competent Upper Cretaceous-Eocene carbonate sequence in the deep basin and a weak infill of Eocene to lower Miocene synorogenicclastic deposits. These contrasts promote the occurrence of various décollement levels and a decoupled style of deformation between intervals of different competence. A contour map for the top of basement reveals a complex structure with lateral variations of the number of thrusts and the displacement on these and local transverse elements.Between the Gavarnie thrust at the southern edge of the Axial Zone and the Guarga thrust at the leading edge of the basement thrust system, three main other basement thrusts are defined below the north-eastern Jaca Basin, from South to North the Fiscal, Yésero and Broto thrusts. In the Meso-Cenozoic sedimentary cover, two low-angle thrusts are mappedin the subsurface across the Upper Cretaceous-Eocene carbonates: i) the deep Oturia thrust, connected upsection to the emerging Oturia thrust known at the surface, and ii) the deep Jaca thrust, drilled by the Serrablo wells, and connected to the emerging Jaca thrust and Yebra de Basa anticline through a zone of disharmonic deformation. The deducedsubsurface geometrical relationships are consistent with the connection of the Gavarnie and Broto basement thrusts to the Priabonian-Rupelian Oturia and Jaca thrusts while the younger Yésero, Fiscal and Guarga basement thrusts emerge at the South Pyrenean thrust front of the Sierras Exteriores, active until the early Miocene. This study highlights the complex structural pattern that characterizes the deep structure of the South Pyrenean basin and the role of disharmonic deformation that challenges the resolution of the deeper thrust system without the help of seismic profiles

    Formation of chlorite during thrust fault reactivation. Record of fluid origin and P-T conditions in the Monte Perdido thrust fault (southern Pyrenees)

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    The chemical and isotopic compositions of clay minerals such as illite and chlorite are commonly used to quantify diagenetic and low-grade metamorphic conditions, an approach that is also used in the present study of the Monte Perdido thrust fault from the South Pyrenean fold-and-thrust belt. The Monte Perdido thrust fault is a shallow thrust juxtaposing upper Cretaceous-Paleocene platform carbonates and Lower Eocene marls and turbidites from the Jaca basin. The core zone of the fault, about 6m thick, consists of intensely deformed clay-bearing rocks bounded by major shear surfaces. Illite and chlorite are the main hydrous minerals in the fault zone. Illite is oriented along cleavage planes while chlorite formed along shear veins (<50Όm in thickness). Authigenic chlorite provides essential information about the origin of fluids and their temperature. Ύ18O and ΎD values of newly formed chlorite support equilibration with sedimentary interstitial water, directly derived from the local hanging wall and footwall during deformation. Given the absence of large-scale fluid flow, the mineralization observed in the thrust faults records the P-T conditions of thrust activity. Temperatures of chlorite formation of about 240°C are obtained via two independent methods: chlorite compositional thermometers and oxygen isotope fractionation between cogenetic chlorite and quartz. Burial depth conditions of 7km are determined for the Monte Perdido thrust reactivation, coupling calculated temperature and fluid inclusion isochores. The present study demonstrates that both isotopic and thermodynamic methods applied to clay minerals formed in thrust fault are useful to help constrain diagenetic and low-grade metamorphic condition

    10 Myr evolution of sedimentation rates in a deep marine to non-marine foreland basin system: Tectonic and sedimentary controls (Eocene, Tremp–Jaca Basin, Southern Pyrenees, NE Spain)

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    The propagation of the deformation front in foreland systems is typically accompanied by the incorporation of parts of the basin into wedge-top piggy-back basins, this process is likely producing considerable changes to sedimentation rates (SR). Here we investigate the spatial-temporal evolution of SR for the Tremp–Jaca Basin in the Southern Pyrenees during its evolution from a wedge-top, foreredeep, forebulge configuration to a wedge-top stage. SR were controlled by a series of tectonic structures that influenced subsidence distribution and modified the sediment dispersal patterns. We compare the decompacted SR calculated from 12 magnetostratigraphic sections located throughout the Tremp–Jaca Basin represent the full range of depositional environment and times. While the derived long-term SR range between 9.0 and 84.5 cm/kyr, compiled data at the scale of magnetozones (0.1–2.5 Myr) yield SR that range from 3.0 to 170 cm/kyr. From this analysis, three main types of depocenter are recognized: a regional depocenter in the foredeep depozone; depocenters related to both regional subsidence and salt tectonics in the wedge-top depozone; and a depocenter related to clastic shelf building showing transgressive and regressive trends with graded and non-graded episodes. From the evolution of SR we distinguish two stages. The Lutetian Stage (from 49.1–41.2 Ma) portrays a compartmentalized basin characterized by variable SR in dominantly underfilled accommodation areas. The markedly different advance of the deformation front between the Central and Western Pyrenees resulted in a complex distribution of the foreland depozones during this stage. The Bartonian–Priabonian Stage (41.2–36.9 Ma) represents the integration of the whole basin into the wedge-top, showing a generalized reduction of SR in a mostly overfilled relatively uniform basin. The stacking of basement units in the hinterland during the whole period produced unusually high SR in the wedge-top depozoneAgùncia de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, Grant/Award Number: 2017SGR596; Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, Grant/Award Number: BES-2015-073302 and CGL2014-55900-P; Swiss National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 200020_18201

    Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy of the Bobbio Formation (NW Apennines, Italy).

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    The Bobbio Formation, traditionally subdivided into two lithological members: the Brugnello Shale (lower member) and the San Salvatore Sandstone (upper member), occurs in the core of the Bobbio tectonic window located 50 Km SW of Piacenza (Italy). It is covered tectonically by allochtonous units thrust toward the NE and is considered as the northwestern-most surface occurrence of the Cervarola Sandstone. Here we report the results of a systematic and quantitative study of the calcareous nannofossils carried out in the frame of a mapping at the 1:10.000 scale of the Bobbio window area. The calcareous nannofossils from the Bobbio Formation are represented well enough for biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic interpretation although the biostratigraphic signal appears strongly noised. The integration of the paleontological data with the field informations has allowed the interpretation of the chronology of the Bobbio Formation. The calcareous nannofossils indicate an early Miocene age for the entire Bobbio Formation. In fact, the Brugnello Shale is Aquitanian - early Burdigalian and the San Salvatore Sandstone is late Burdigalian (the San Salvatore Sandstone contains in its lower part Sphenolithus belemnos while Sphenolithus heteromorphus is missing). According to the most recent calibration of calcareous nannofossil events, the turbidites of the San Salvatore Sandstone were deposited between 19.4 Ma and about 18 Ma at a minimum average sediment accumulation rate of the order of 140 cm/Ky (compacted thickness)

    Fluid Systems in Foreland Fold-and-Thrust Belts: An Overview from the Southern Pyrenees

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    The analysis of three different regions of the South- Pyrenean fold-and-thrust belt reveals that during the Tertiary compression the hydrological system was compartmentalised in time and space. During the early-middle Eocene, when the thrust front affected marine soft-sediments in the Ainsa basin, the thrust fault zones were dominated by formation fluids derived from Eocene marine waters trapped in the underlying Eocene marls, although influences of meteoric waters were also present. During the middle-late Eocene, when the thrust front emplaced marine rocks over continental redbeds in the eastern Catalan basin (L’Escala thrust), the thrust fault zones were dominated by meteoric fluids. These fluids flowed preferentially along these faults, draining laterally the meteoric fluids and acting as barriers hindering their flowing towards more external parts of the belt. During the Oligocene, the most external part of the fold-and-thrust belt in the eastern Catalan basin developed on top of a salt detachment horizon. The thrust front affected continental materials of late Eocene-Oligocene age. At this moment, the thrusts were conduits for meteoric fluids arriving from the surface and also for evolved meteoric fluids migrating over short distance upwards after being in contact with the underlying evaporitic beds. Most of the fractures show a similar sequence of microfractures. Microfractures of stage 1 formed when the sediment was poorly lithified. Microfractures of stage 2 represent the main episode of vein formation which developed when a progressive induration of the host sediment occurred. During microfracture stage 3, formed in an extensional regime, the host sediment was more indurated. The repetition of this sequence of microfractures in different fracture generations of the same outcrop indicates that the sediment induration was restricted to the vicinity of the vein. Away from the veins, the sediment remained poorly lithified during the entire deformation cycle. Calcite cement within the host rock precipitated later than the syn-compressive veins, when the sediment was more indurated. Elemental geochemistry and stable isotopes of the calcite veins indicates that early generation of microfractures is infilled by local fluids (either marine or meteoric), whereas external fluids (meteoric or evolved meteoric) infilled the main compressive stage of microfractures. The hot temperature of these fluids (157°C to 183°C in the Atiart-Arro example) indicates their circulation through deep parts of the thrust belt. The progressive increase of the 87Sr/86Sr ratio through time is due to the progressive uplift, exposure and erosion of the internal Pyrenean Axial Zone.This work was carried out within the framework of DGICYT grant CGL2006-04860. We acknowledge the contribution of the Grup Consolidat “Geologia Sedimentària” 2005/SGR00890
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