Intraplate deformations, topographic evolution and sediment production of Western Europe from 40 to 5 Myrs

<p>Western Europe experienced a major rift system initiated during Bartonian times (41 Ma). This evolution is coeval with long wavelength deformations (several hundreds of kilometers) that control the topography and the sediment production beyond the rift. The climate during this time interval was first increasingly arid and then wetter.</p><p>This study is based on both landform and sediment analysis of southern England, France, Belgium and western Germany. The landforms are mainly large pediments, dated by the intersection with sediments deposited in low to high subsiding areas and volcanism. A set of paleogeographic maps with paleotopographic reconstructions, is used to constrain the uplifting and subsiding areas, their wavelength and the critical periods of intraplate deformations.</p><p>The main periods of deformations and sedimentary systems changes area as follow.</p><p><strong>41</strong>Myrs (base Bartonian) was the beginning of a major tilting of Western Europe with subsidence of France and uplift of the Brabant/Ardennes/Rhenish Massif. Even a dense network of basement faults was reactivated, biochemical sedimentation prevailed.</p><p><strong>35-31</strong>Myrs (Late Priabonian-Early Rupelian) initiated a period of general subsidence even along the Ardennes/Rhenish Massif and the French Massif Central. Two major marine floodings are recorded, with a differential preservation according to the balance between deformation and eustasy.</p><p><strong>27-25</strong>Myrs (Chattian) was a period of uplift of Western Europe except the Aquitaine Basin, followed by a relaxation favoring eustatic floodings in (very) low subsiding domains. Chattian siliciclastic deposits are preserved as lowstand wedges in the surrounded basins (North Sea, Atlantic Margin).</p><p><strong>14-11</strong>Myrs (Serravallian-Early Tortonian) initiated the overall uplift of Western Europe, still operating today. This is the beginning of a period of major denudation in southern England, Western Germany (SW Germany flat - “Stufenland”) and along the southern limb of the Franch Massif Central.</p><p>The causes and the consequences in term of sediment production are discussed.</p>

Stratigraphy and sediment signal transmission in a flexural foreland basin dynamically linked to an uplifting range

<p>Foreland basins that develop at the foot of collisional mountain belts accumulate sediments eroded from the ranges. They thus represent valuable archives of the evolution of orogenic systems through time. A few numerical models have investigated the infilling of foreland basins during the growth of an orogenic range and they provide conceptual frameworks for foreland stratigraphy. However, surface processes (erosion, sediment transport and deposition) are often quite basic in these models, and in the last decade, progress has been made in the description of surface processes and its implementation in numerical models. Recently, we developed a landscape evolution model able to describe the evolution of an eroding source coupled to a flexural sedimentary basin (Yuan et al, 2019, JGR; Guerit et al, 2019, Geology). This model takes into account erosion and deposition at the same time, and it thus allows a full dynamical coupling of the range and its foreland. We take advantage of this efficient numerical model to take another look at the stratigraphic evolution of a foreland basin and at the transmission of sediment signal from source to sink. <br>We use the model to simulate the evolution of a flexural retro-foreland basin coupled to an uplifting range and subjected to temporal variations in uplift and precipitation rates. Such variations affect the topography of the range: a lower uplift rate or an higher precipitation lead to a lower range. As a result, because the accommodation space available in the foreland is purely flexural, a decrease in uplift rate or an increase in precipitation rate will be marked by an erosional surface in the foreland basin. On the contrary, an increase in uplift rate or a decrease in precipitation rate will be preserved in the stratigraphy. Interestingly, although the two scenarios induce a different sediment signal from the sources, they are both recorded in the foreland basin as a transient increase in accumulation rate. Such a signal alone can therefore not be used to decipher the type of perturbation that affected the source.<br>Finally, we discuss the evolution of a natural range and coupled foreland basin, the Pyrenees and the Aquitaine Basin. We show that the spatial pattern of sediment deposition in the Aquitaine Basin is very consistent with the topographic evolution of the Pyrenees. However, this topographic evolution is not consistent with the climatic and tectonic reconstruction in the area since the Eocene, opening discussions among others about local vs regional effects. This work is part of the COLORS project, funded by Total.</p>

Geodetic deformation rates and driving processes in metropolitan France and neighboring Western Europe

<p>We constrain present-day deformation rates and styles in metropolitan France and neighboring Western Europe using a dataset of ca. 1200 GNSS horizontal and vertical velocities from continuous and semi-continuous stations. The characterization and correction of network-scale common-mode noise, combined with two independent network analysis technics allow the resolution of very small horizontal velocities (resp. strain rates) with a 95% confidence ca. 0.1–0.2 mm/yr (resp. ca. 1 x 10<sup>-9</sup> yr<sup>-9</sup>) on a spatial scale of 100–200 km. The resulting velocity and strain rate fields show regional coherent patterns that can be associated with features that have been previously identified (e.g., orogen-normal extension in the Pyrenees and Western Alps), but also with new deformation patterns such as North-South shortening in northeastern France - southwestern Germany north of the Alpine Front (Vosges - Rhine Graben - Black Forest). A joint analysis of these new geodetic data with seismicity and focal mechanism catalogs allows the definition of regional seismo-tectonic models that can be compared with the numerous models of deformation processes proposed for Western Europe, from plate tectonics to erosion or Glacial Isostatic Adjustment. We show that plate and micro-plate tectonics play a minor (probably negligible) role in present-day deformation in metropolitan France and that alternative non-tectonic processes must be considered to better understand the origin of recent moderate earthquakes such as the March 2019 Ml=4.9 Montendre earthquake in the Aquitaine Basin or the Nov. 2019 Mw=4.8 Teil earthquake in the Rhone Valley.</p>

Geometries and source-to-sink analysis of a retro-foreland basin during its late to post-orogenic evolution: the case example of the Pyrenees / Aquitaine Basin / Bay of Biscay from 38 to 0 Ma

<p>The purpose of this study is to understand the "source-to-sink" evolution of the Pyrenees system and its retro-foreland basin, the Aquitaine basin and its deep equivalent, the Bay of Biscay during the Cenozoic. This work required (1) a biostratigraphic re-evaluation, (2) an analysis in terms of seismic stratigraphy and quantification of preserved sediment volumes, (3) a quantification of eroded volumes from the Massif Central, (4) a quantification of the eroded volumes from the Pyrenees, (5) a synthesis of all these data.</p><p>In the Aquitaine basin, the transition from the orogenic to the post-orogenic phase occurs between 27.1 and 25.2 Ma. The orogenic period is divided into two phases, (1) up to 43.5 Ma (Lutetian), is characterized by a strong subsidence at the front of the North-Pyrenean-Thrust, (2) from 43.5 to 27.1 Ma, is characterized by the subsidence migration toward the basin, in sub-basins controlled by the thrusts and the inverted structures activity. The post-orogenic is identified by the succession of three erosional surfaces that fossilize the entire compressive structures period. This period is divided into two phases, (1) from 25.2 to 16 Ma approximately, corresponds to the establishment of the isostatic rebound in the Aquitaine basin, (2) between 16 and 10.6 Ma, corresponds to an uplift of the whole system. This latter phase corresponds to a West European event undoubtedly linked to a mantle activity.</p><p>The total quantity of rocks preserved in the Aquitaine basin and the Bay of Biscay is 92 200 km3. The distribution of sediments preserved over time evolves in favour of the Aquitaine basin between 66.0 and 33.9 Ma and in favour of the Bay of Biscay between 5.3 and 0 Ma. This balance is due to the different stages of evolution of the subsidence / uplift in the Aquitaine basin. The sedimentation rates show two periods of increase in sedimentary fluxes, the first at the Eocene-Oligocene limit in the two basins, which we relate to both the period of Pyrenean paroxysmal exhumation and to contemporary global cooling. The second, at 5.3 Ma exclusively in the Bay of Biscay, seems to correspond to the global increase of fluxes, whose climatic origin is favoured by the authors.</p><p>From the inversion of the extensive thermochronological dataset in the Pyrenees and the geomorphological analysis of the planation surfaces of the French Massif Central, we obtained the total amount of eroded rock which is 34 335 km3. The difference observed between the sedimented volumes and the eroded volumes can be explained by the contribution of sediments resulting from the currents from the Pliocene, the not taking into account the volumes coming from the Cantabrian massifs, an underestimation of the eroded volumes and of the terrigenous carbonate fraction in the two basins.</p>

Brittle tectonics and fluids overpressure during the early stage of the Bay of Biscay opening in the Jard-sur-Mer area, (northern Aquitaine Basin, France)

Ba, F, Pb, Ag, Zn mineral deposits are widespread at the northern and eastern boundaries of the Aquitaine Basin. In most cases, they are hosted within high permeability carbonates that rest over the Hercynian basement and below an impermeable layer. Such a position suggests a Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) model for the formation of these deposits. This model is characterized by the lateral flow of sedimentary fluids expelled from the deeper part of the basin and mixed with other sources of water as they reach the basin boundaries. In the Jard-sur-Mer area, which sits in the north of the Basin, these deposits are also found higher in the sedimentary series suggesting that fluids have flown through the impermeable layer. Our field observations demonstrate that a brittle deformation episode, compatible with an upper-Jurassic N-S direction of extension, occurred as the mineralizing fluids were over pressured. The overpressure was the result of a large input of hydrothermal water ascending along inherited faults affecting the Hercynian basement and released at the onset of the tectonics event. When compared with the rest of the basin, these new results at the northern boundary suggests that the Aquitaine Basin recorded several stages of fluid overpressure both at the onset and during the opening of the Bay of Biscay.