Long-term sediment accumulation in the Middle Jurassic–early Eocene Cordilleran retroarc foreland-basin system

Geology ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 591 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. DeCelles ◽  
B. S. Currie
Keyword(s):  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Basin System

scholarly journals Tectonics, Climate and Topography: Oxygen stable isotopes and the early Eocene growth of the Pyrenees

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Honegger ◽  
Thierry Adatte ◽  
Jorge E. Spangenberg ◽  
Miquel Poyatos-Moré ◽  
Alexandre Ortiz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Growth Stages ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
The South ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Isotope Measurements

Abstract. The topographic history of an orogen, a key element to study the interactions of the climate and tectonic conditions that drove it, can be reconstructed by inverting the sedimentary record of its adjacent basins. Previous tectono-stratigraphic studies, including flexural models, and sparse stable oxygen and carbon isotope data from the South-Pyrenean foreland basin suggest a major topographic rise occurred in the late Paleocene-early Eocene. To further test this hypothesis, we present a stack of 658 stable isotope measurements on whole-rock marine carbonate mudstone from a 4800-m-thick composite sedimentary succession which provides a 12 Ma continuous record of environmental conditions during the early to middle Eocene (54 to 42 Ma). From the base of this record (at 54 Ma), oxygen isotopes (δ18O values) show a faster decrease rate than the coeval global negative excursion associated with the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO). This local alteration of the global δ18O signal indicates that topographic growth during this period, associated with significant tectonic activity, perturbed the oxygen isotopic composition of foreland waters. Thus, our data suggest that significant topographic uplift of the Pyrenean orogen started from at least 54 Ma and continued until ca. 49 Ma, reaching the maximum elevations of 2000 ± 500 m in this phase from previous isotope and flexural studies. In addition, our record shows that the long-term carbon stable isotope composition during this period remained relatively stable with no similarity to the global bell-shaped long-term trend of the EECO. This is consistent with the restricted physiography of the South-Pyrenean foreland basin, mainly influenced by local sedimentary and water inputs. Overall, the Pyrenean topographic growth from the late Cretaceous to the Miocene displays several growth stages that seem to be primarily determined by episodes of increased rate of tectonic plate convergence. The duration of these growth stages (several millions of years) is a possible documentation of the response time of mountain ranges to tectonic perturbations. The results of this work, therefore, demonstrate that stable isotope measurements on whole-rock sediments in foreland basins can provide key information for tectono-climatic and topographic reconstructions of mountain ranges.

scholarly journals Long- to short-term denudation rates in the southern Apennines: geomorphological markers and chronological constraints

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Gioia ◽  
Claudio Martino ◽  
Marcello Schiattarella
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Sedimentation Rates ◽  
Southern Apennines ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Small Catchment ◽  
Fluvial Terraces ◽  
Denudation Rates ◽  
Land Surfaces

Long- to short-term denudation rates in the southern Apennines: geomorphological markers and chronological constraints Age constraints of geomorphological markers and consequent estimates of long- to short-term denudation rates from southern Italy are given here. Geomorphic analysis of the valley of the Tanagro River combined with apatite fission track data and radiometric dating provided useful information on the ages and evolution of some significant morphotectonic markers such as regional planated landscapes, erosional land surfaces and fluvial terraces. Reconstruction of paleotopography and estimation of the eroded volumes were perfomed starting from the plano-altimetric distribution of several orders of erosional land surfaces surveyed in the study area. Additional data about denudation rates related to the recent and/or active geomorphological system have been obtained by estimating the amount of suspended sediment yield at the outlet of some catchments using empirical relationships based on the hierarchical arrangement of the drainage network. Denudation rates obtained through these methods have been compared with the sedimentation rates calculated for two adjacent basins (the Pantano di San Gregorio and the Vallo di Diano), on the basis of published tephrochronological constraints. These rates have also been compared with those calculated for the historical sediment accumulation in a small catchment located to the north of the study area, with long-term exhumation data from thermochronometry, and with uplift rates from the study area. Long- and short-term denudation rates are included between 0.1 and 0.2 mm/yr, in good agreement with regional data and long-term sedimentation rates from the Vallo di Diano and the Pantano di San Gregorio Magno basins. On the other hand, higher values of exhumation rates from thermochronometry suggest the existence of past erosional processes faster than the recent and present-day exogenic dismantling. Finally, the comparison between uplift and denudation rates indicates that the fluvial erosion did not match the tectonic uplift during the Quaternary in this sector of the chain. The axial zone of the southern Apennines should therefore be regarded as a landscape in conditions of geomorphological disequilibrium.

Fault growth mechanisms and scaling properties in foreland basin system: The case study of Monte Alpi, Southern Apennines, Italy

2018 ◽  
Vol 116 ◽  
pp. 94-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenzo La Bruna ◽  
Fabrizio Agosta ◽  
Juliette Lamarche ◽  
Sophie Viseur ◽  
Giacomo Prosser
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Growth Mechanisms ◽  
Southern Apennines ◽  
Scaling Properties ◽  
Fault Growth ◽  
Basin System

The Numidian Sand Event in the Burdigalian Foreland Basin System of the Rif (Morocco) in a source-to-sink perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anas Abbassi ◽  
Paola Cipollari ◽  
Maria Giuditta Fellin ◽  
Mohamed Najib Zaghloul ◽  
Marcel Guillong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Source Area ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Early Miocene ◽  
Calcareous Nannofossils ◽  
External Zone ◽  
Field Evidence ◽  
Basin System

<p>During the Tertiary evolution of the Western Mediterranean subduction system, the orogenic accretion at the Maghrebian margin let the stacking of three main tectonic zones of the Rif fold-and-thrust belt: 1) the Internal Zone; 2) the “Maghrebian Flysch” Nappes; and 3) the  External Zone. In this context, a migrating foreland basin system developed between the Maghrebian orogenic belt and the adjacent African Craton. </p><p>A comprehensive reconstruction of the foreland basin system of the Rif Chain for each phase of its accretional history is still missing. In this work, by integrating field observations with quantitative biostratigraphic data from calcareous nannofossils assemblages, sandstone composition, and detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology from selected stratigraphic successions, we reconstruct the foreland basin system that in the early Miocene developed in front of the growing Rif orogen. The analyzed successions are representative of (1) the “Beliounis Facies”, made of quartz-arenites and litharenites (Numidian-like “mixed succession”), from the Predorsalian Unit; (2) the “Mérinides Facies”, made of a Numidian-like “mixed succession”, from the “Maghrebian Flysch Basin”; and (3) the classical “Numidian Facies”, exclusively made of quartzarenites, from the Intrarifian Tanger Unit.</p><p>The petrographic analyses and the detrital zircon U-Pb ages show the provenance of the quartzarenites of the “Numidian Facies” from the African Craton, whereas the sublitharenites and feldspathic litharenites, of both the “Mérinides Facies” and “Beliounis Facies”, show provenance from a cratonic area and the growing and unroofing Rif Chain, respectively. </p><p>The Alpine signature of the detrital grains sedimented into the foredeep deposits of the early Miocene orogenic system of the Rif Chain is from the feldspathic litharenites of both the Mérinides Facies and the Beni Ider Flysch. Both show Mesozoic and Cenozoic U-Pb zircon populations, with a large population of zircons centered at ca. 32 Ma. The U and Th concentration, the Th/U ratio, and the REE pattern of this population of zircons suggest a possible source area from Oligocene doleritic rock intrusions, similar to the magmatic dyke swarms (diorite) cropping out in the Malaga region ( SE Spain).</p><p>The biostratigraphic analyses pinpoint the same age for the arrival of the quartz grains in the Numidian, Mérinides, and Beliounis deposits, indicating about 1 Myr for their sedimentation (ca. 20-19 Ma, early Burdigalian). Together with field evidence, the biostratigraphic results point to an autochthonous deposition of the Numidian Sandstones on top of the Tanger Unit, allowing to delineate the early Burdigalian foreland basin system of the Rif Chain. The foreland depozone involved the Tanger Unit and received the “Numidian Facies” deposits ; the foredeep depozone hosted about 2000 m of the “Mérinides Facies” and the Beni Ider Flysch, and developed on the so-called “Flysch Basin Domain”; and, finally, the wedge-top depozone, characterized by the “Beliounis Facies”, developed on top of the Predorsalian Unit.</p><p>The Numidian Sandstones and the Numidian-like deposits analyzed in Morocco show the same age of similar deposits from Algeria, Tunisia, and Sicily, suggesting a comparable early Burdigalian tectono-sedimentary evolution along the southern branch of the Western Mediterranean subduction-related orogen.</p>

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