scholarly journals Magnetostratigraphic dating of the Paleogene synorogenic sediments of the NE sector of the Ebro Foreland Basin (Spanish Pyrenees)

Author(s):  
Charlotte Peigney ◽  
Elisabet Beamud ◽  
Òscar Gratacós ◽  
Eduard Roca ◽  
Alberto Sáez ◽  
...  

<p>In foreland settings at the front of active orogens, the aggradation/progradation of fluvial fans and sedimentary changes in lacustrine systems depends greatly on the tectonic activity and the derived drainage pattern changes in the hinterland. As a result of the emplacement and erosion of the South-Pyrenean thrust sheets, a system of N-S fluvial fans prograded into the Ebro foreland basin from late Eocene to Oligocene times. After the synorogenic deposition of the Priabonian (late Eocene) marine evaporites of the Cardona Fm, the Ebro Basin was characterized by internal drainage, with the fluvial fans grading to lacustrine systems at the center of the basin, which developed and migrated in response to subsidence changes. All these deposits were deformed by variably oriented salt-detached folds, evidencing the basinwards propagation of the deformation. In this work, we study the Solsona-Sanaüja fluvial fan system by means of litostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy aiming to determine the age of the transition from fluvial fan to lacustrine systems in the NE sector of the Ebro Basin. The precise dating of this succession reveals causal relationships between tectonic and climatic processes affecting the source-to-sink system, including changes in the depositional style linked to the evolution of the Pyrenean fold and thrust belt.</p><p>Our new magnetostratigraphic study consisted in the sampling and analysis of 195 samples along a ca. 1800m thick stratigraphic section of the late Eocene-Oligocene succession in the northern limb of the NW-SE oriented Sanaüja Anticline. Our results show overall Priabonian to Rupelian ages for the succession, considering an age of 36 Ma. (C16n) for the top of the Cardona Fm from previous magnetostratigraphic studies. This allows dating the end of the evaporitic sedimentation (top of the Barbastro Fm) as Priabonian and establishing a late Priabonian to early Rupelian (C13r) age for the transition from the younger lacustrine deposits (Torà Fm) to the continuous and most important fluvial fan episode of progradation in the study area. The final progradation of the fluvial fan system was coeval to a tectonically controlled reorganization of the drainage pattern of the basin responding to the emplacement of the South-Pyrenean thrust sheets. Meanwhile, smaller scale (hectometric-decametric) alternation between lacustrine and alluvial deposits was possibly driven by climatic changes related to orbital eccentricity cycles. The correlation and integration of these results with previous magnetostratigraphic studies in the area can help analyzing sedimentation patterns and architectural changes in the basin margins at a regional scale.</p>

Solid Earth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2539-2551
Author(s):  
Luca Smeraglia ◽  
Nathan Looser ◽  
Olivier Fabbri ◽  
Flavien Choulet ◽  
Marcel Guillong ◽  
...  

Abstract. Foreland fold-and-thrust belts (FTBs) record long-lived tectono-sedimentary activity, from passive margin sedimentation, flexuring, and further evolution into wedge accretion ahead of an advancing orogen. Therefore, dating fault activity is fundamental for plate movement reconstruction, resource exploration, and earthquake hazard assessment. Here, we report U–Pb ages of syn-tectonic calcite mineralizations from four thrusts and three tear faults sampled at the regional scale across the Jura fold-and-thrust belt in the northwestern Alpine foreland (eastern France). Three regional tectonic phases are recognized in the middle Eocene–Pliocene interval: (1) pre-orogenic faulting at 48.4±1.5 and 44.7±2.6 Ma associated with the far-field effect of the Alpine or Pyrenean compression, (2) syn-orogenic thrusting at 11.4±1.1, 10.6±0.5, 9.7±1.4, 9.6±0.3, and 7.5±1.1 Ma associated with the formation of the Jura fold-and-thrust belt with possible in-sequence thrust propagation, and (3) syn-orogenic tear faulting at 10.5±0.4, 9.1±6.5, 5.7±4.7, and at 4.8±1.7 Ma including the reactivation of a pre-orogenic fault at 3.9±2.9 Ma. Previously unknown faulting events at 48.4±1.5 and 44.7±2.6 Ma predate the reported late Eocene age for tectonic activity onset in the Alpine foreland by ∼10 Myr. In addition, we date the previously inferred reactivation of pre-orogenic strike-slip faults as tear faults during Jura imbrication. The U–Pb ages document a minimal time frame for the evolution of the Jura FTB wedge by possible in-sequence thrust imbrication above the low-friction basal decollement consisting of evaporites.


Lithosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie C. Fosdick ◽  
R. A. VanderLeest ◽  
J. E. Bostelmann ◽  
J. S. Leonard ◽  
R. Ugalde ◽  
...  

Abstract New detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology data from the Cenozoic Magallanes-Austral Basin in Argentina and Chile ~51° S establish a revised chronostratigraphy of Paleocene-Miocene foreland synorogenic strata and document the rise and subsequent isolation of hinterland sources in the Patagonian Andes from the continental margin. The upsection loss of zircons derived from the hinterland Paleozoic and Late Jurassic sources between ca. 60 and 44 Ma documents a major shift in sediment routing due to Paleogene orogenesis in the greater Patagonian-Fuegian Andes. Changes in the proportion of grains from hinterland thrust sheets, comprised of Jurassic volcanics and Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks, provide a trackable signal of long-term shifts in orogenic drainage divide and topographic isolation due to widening of the retroarc fold-thrust belt. The youngest detrital zircon U-Pb ages confirm timing of Maastrichtian-Eocene strata but require substantial age revisions for part of the overlying Cenozoic basinfill during the late Eocene and Oligocene. The upper Río Turbio Formation, previously mapped as middle to late Eocene in the published literature, records a newly recognized latest Eocene-Oligocene (37-27 Ma) marine incursion along the basin margin. We suggest that these deposits could be genetically linked to the distally placed units along the Atlantic coast, including the El Huemul Formation and the younger San Julián Formation, via an eastward deepening within the foreland basin system that culminated in a basin-wide Oligocene marine incursion in the Southern Andes. The overlying Río Guillermo Formation records onset of tectonically generated coarse-grained detritus ca. 24.3 Ma and a transition to the first fully nonmarine conditions on the proximal Patagonian platform since Late Cretaceous time, perhaps signaling a Cordilleran-scale upper plate response to increased plate convergence and tectonic plate reorganization.


2015 ◽  
Vol 85 (9) ◽  
pp. 1037-1057 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilhem Hoareau ◽  
Francis Odonne ◽  
Daniel Garcia ◽  
Elie-Jean Debroas ◽  
Christophe Monnin ◽  
...  

Abstract:  Little attention has been focused on the burial diagenesis of deltas deposited on active foreland-basin margins, where tectonics is likely to strongly impact fluid–rock interactions. A petrographic, geochemical, and microthermometric study of several fractured dolomite concretions and enclosing prodelta marls provides insights into the evolution of burial diagenesis in the Eocene Sobrarbe deltaic complex (Ainsa Basin, Spain), and more generally, on the paleohydrology of the South Pyrenean foreland basin. Shallow burial diagenesis was controlled by microbial activity in marine-derived porewaters. Microbial sulfate reduction was first responsible for the formation of pyrite and early calcite, followed by the growth of dolomite concretions during methanogenesis. Subsequent diagenesis was limited to temperatures and depth of less than approximately 75°C and 2 km, respectively. Diagenesis was recorded in porous bioturbation traces and septarian fractures found inside dolomite concretions, as well as in tectonic shear fractures. Neomorphic tabular barite, found only in the bioturbation traces, is interpreted to have formed early in marine-derived porewaters. Septarian fractures were then filled by Fe-rich calcite and centimeter-size celestine. Stable isotopes indicate that calcite probably formed in meteoric-derived waters coming from the overlying fluvial delta plain. The sulfur isotope composition of celestine is compatible with precipitation in waters of mixed parentage, but the exact origin of dissolved sulfate remains poorly constrained. In tectonic fractures, celestine precipitated coevally with calcite displaying evidence of strong fluid–rock interaction. Dissolved sulfate may have migrated to the fractures during active tectonics from the late Eocene to the Oligocene. The paragenesis and the proposed paleohydrologic model are similar to those previously described for other deltaic systems deposited in active foreland basins, including the South Pyrenean foreland basin. These features point to common diagenetic processes in syntectonic foreland-basin deltas, involving both meteoric and marine fluid sources. Similar to passive margin settings, early diagenesis appears to be controlled mainly by relative variations of sea level, whereas during further burial, the development of permeable tectonic fractures is likely to facilitate the influx of basinal or continental waters into fine slope deposits, impacting the diagenetic record. These results emphasize the importance of fracture development in the fluid-flow regime of syntectonic foreland-basin deltas. They demonstrate the necessity to take this parameter into account in fluid-flow modeling of foreland-basin margins.


2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (11) ◽  
pp. 1527-1548
Author(s):  
Katarina Gobo ◽  
Ervin Mrinjek ◽  
Vlasta Ćosović

ABSTRACT Mass-transport deposits (MTDs) represent resedimentation phenomena triggered by the combined effect of seismic shocks of regional scale, structural tilting, basin-floor gradient, relative sea-level fluctuations, and/or excess pore-water pressure and can be useful in the reconstruction of basin development dynamics. The present study from the Dinaric Foreland Basin in Croatia documents several limestone blocks (olistoliths), carbonate debris, and associated bipartite carbonate megabeds as MTDs of exotic origin encased in deep neritic hyperpycnites, referred to as host deposits. Detailed facies and micropaleontological analyses indicate that host deposits were sourced from a fluvio-deltaic system located in the proximity of the uplifting orogen, while the MTDs originated from gravitational collapses of late Ypresian and early Lutetian limestones that were uplifted on blind-thrust anticline ridges on the opposite side of the basin. Mass wasting-produced carbonate blocks, debris, and gravity flows were probably triggered concurrently during the middle to late Eocene, but the blocks could have travelled faster downslope due to the lubricating effect of the underlying water “cushion,” overpressured mud, and the pull of gravity. Debrisflows and co-genetic turbidity currents that contributed to the formation of bipartite megabeds were likely mobilized deeper and moved slower than the carbonate blocks and could have been partly deflected by the previously emplaced olistoliths, resulting in megabed thinning along the olistoliths' down-dip edges. Those collapses were most likely triggered by the combined effect of relative sea-level changes associated with tectonic activity and seismic shocks of regional scale. The study suggests that progressive uplift of the frontal blind-thrust anticline ridge resulted in episodic emergence and collapses of progressively older limestone units, and marked the onset of development of the wedge-top basin. Conceptual models of olistolith emplacement and onset of basin development are suggested and may be applicable to both ancient and recent settings. The insights obtained from the integration of detailed facies analysis and micropaleontology may be useful in similar areas where such a level of detail cannot be obtained by conventional field methods.


2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
D GF Long

Following partial closure of the northern Iapetus Ocean along the Newfoundland segment of the St. Lawrence Promontory, subsidence along the Anticosti Platform was influenced by residual thermal subsidence, renewed tectonic loading by thrust sheets to the south, and sediment loading. Basement subsidence, calculated by removing the effects of sediment loading, was between 2 and 5 cm/ka in the Caradocian, increasing to 8.6 cm/ka in the Pusgillian and Cautleyan, and reaching a maximum of 17.7 cm/ka in the Rawtheyan, during deposition of the Princeton Lake and Vauréal Formations. A marked decline in subsidence, beginning in the Hirnantian and continuing into the Early Silurian, may reflect decoupling of thrust loads to the south, although a further stage of thrust loading may have occurred in the Aeronian during deposition of the lower part of the Jupiter Formation. Storm frequency curves, produced using tempestite abundance, thickness, and grain size through more than a kilometre of carbonate strata on Anticosti Island, allow recognition of long period, 3rd-order trends. These are in part similar to local sea-level trends deduced from direct interpretation of sedimentary structures, but depart significantly from paleontological-based sea-level curves. Shorter period 4th-order cycles appear to be related to orbital eccentricity with periods of 100 and 400 ka. These may reflect periods with falling sea levels, increasing storm activity, or enhanced sediment flux to the middle and outer shelf.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Smeraglia ◽  
Nathan Looser ◽  
Olivier Fabbri ◽  
Flavien Choulet ◽  
Marcel Guillong ◽  
...  

Abstract. Foreland fold-and-thrust belts record long-lived tectonic-sedimentary activity, from passive margin sedimentation, flexuring, and further involvement into wedge accretion ahead of an advancing orogen. Therefore, dating fault activity is fundamental for plate movement reconstruction, resource exploration, or earthquake hazard assessment. Here, we report U-Pb ages of syntectonic calcite mineralizations from four thrusts and three tear faults sampled, at the regional scale, across the Jura fold-and-thrust belt in the northwestern Alpine foreland (eastern France). Four regional tectonic phases are recognized in the middle Eocene-middle Pleistocene interval: (1) pre-orogenic faulting at 44.7 ± 2.6 and 48.4 ± 1.5 Ma associated to the uplift of the Alpine forebulge, (2) syn-orogenic thrusting at 11.4 ± 1.1, 10.6 ± 0.5, 9.7 ± 1.4, 9.6 ± 0.3, and 7.5 ± 1.1 Ma associated to possible in-sequence thrust propagation, and (3) syn-orogenic tear faulting at 10.5 ± 0.4, 9.1 ± 6.5, 7.3 ± 1.9, 5.7 ± 4.7, 4.8 ± 1.7, and at 0.7 ± 4.2 Ma including the reactivation of a pre-orogenic fault as tear fault at 3.9 ± 2.9 Ma. Previously unknown faulting events at 44.7 ± 2.6 and 48.4 ± 1.5 Ma predate by ~ 10 Ma the accepted late Eocene age for tectonic activity onset in the Alpine foreland. In addition, we dated the previously inferred strike-slip faults re-activation as tear fault. The U-Pb ages demonstrate the long-lived tectonic history at the plate boundary between European and African plates and that the deformation observed in the foreland is directly linked to continental collision.


2008 ◽  
Vol 179 (6) ◽  
pp. 551-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Fournier ◽  
Philippe Agard ◽  
Carole Petit

Abstract The “Vélodrome” overturned syncline, at the northern margin of the Cenozoic foreland basin of Valensole in SE France, was formed during the Late Cenozoic at the front of the Digne nappe. Microstructural analyses reveal that mesoscale faulting in the molassic series, from the Oligocene “Molasse Rouge” at the base to the middle to late Miocene “Valensole Conglomerates” at the top, partly occurred before the folding, as layer-parallel shortening: the NNE-SSW-directed compression is recorded by two systems of reverse and strike-slip faults, which formed when the strata were still horizontal and were passively tilted as folding occurred. These data suggest that the Vélodrome folding postdates the deposition of the Valensole Conglomerates and occurred in late Miocene-Pliocene times during the emplacement of the Digne nappe. These results are difficult to reconcile with the interpretation of the Vélodrome as a growth fold progressively formed in 10–15 m.y. during the deposition of the Miocene molasses. Structural data collected in the Barles tectonic half-window enable to reconstruct the evolution of the deformation since the Jurassic. The two main phases of shortening, the pre-Oligocene Pyrenean-Provençal and the Mio-Pliocene Alpine phases, are almost homoaxial with a direction of compression trending N-S for the former and NNE-SSW for the later. A late Eocene-basal Oligocene N-S extensional episode is documented between these two phases, probably in relation with the formation of the western European rift system. The direction of extension of the Liassic rifting of the Alpine Tethys is roughly constrained in the NW-SE quadrant. Paleo-stress field reconstruction brings consistent results at the regional scale and proves to be a powerful tool to decipher the evolution of the deformation in a remarkably complicated tectonic setting.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Peigney ◽  
Elisabet Beamud ◽  
Óscar Gratacós ◽  
Luis Valero ◽  
Ruth Soto ◽  
...  

<p>The South-Pyrenean fold-and-thrust belt consists of three major thin-skinned thrust sheets (Bóixols, Montsec and Serres Marginals) made up of uppermost Triassic to Oligocene cover rocks emplaced during Late Cretaceous-Oligocene times. In its central part, it forms a major salient (the Pyrenean South-Central Unit) whose geometry is controlled by the areal distribution of the pre-orogenic Upper Triassic and synorogenic Eocene salt décollement layers. Both westwards and eastwards, the salient is fringed by Paleogene synorogenic deposits that are deformed by detachment folds with orientations ranging from N-S to E-W. In the western edge of the salient, the varying trend of the folds is a result of synorogenic vertical axis rotations (VAR) which caused the clockwise rotation of the folds from an initial predominant E-W trend to the current NW-SE to NNW-SSE trend. The salient, at least on its western part, developed from a progressive curve originated from divergent thrust transport directions and distributed shortening.</p><p>The aim of our study is to get a better understanding of the whole salient, by studying the kinematics of the deformation on the most frontal part of its eastern edge. Here, some sparse anticlockwise rotations have been reported but their origin and their possible relationship with the distribution of the salt décollements has not yet been addressed. For this purpose, 78 paleomagnetic sites have been sampled on the synorogenic upper Eocene-Oligocene materials of the NE Ebro foreland Basin, in the Artesa de Segre area, focusing on the limbs of oblique salt-cored anticlines (Ponts, Vilanova de l’Aguda, Cardona) which are detached above the synorogenic Eocene-Oligocene evaporites of the Cardona and the Barbastro formations. VAR analyses principally show anticlockwise rotations similar to those previously identified to the North in the Oliana Anticline, although a small number of clockwise rotations were also detected.</p><p>In addition to the VAR analysis, a magnetostratigraphic study of the Eocene-Oligocene continental materials of the northern limb of the Sanaüja Anticline has been conducted in order to constrain the age of these rotations from stratigraphic correlations. The demagnetization of 104 samples from a ca. 1100 m thick magnetostratigraphic section shows Priabonian to Rupelian ages for this succession. The integration of our results on timing, direction and magnitude of foreland VAR with previous paleomagnetic and structural data from both the western and eastern boundaries of the frontal thrust of the Pyrenean South-Central Unit will allow the understanding of the kinematics of the thrust salient as a whole.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Honegger ◽  
Thierry Adatte ◽  
Jorge E. Spangenberg ◽  
Miquel Poyatos-Moré ◽  
Alexandre Ortiz ◽  
...  

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.


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