Along rifted margins, continental edges are heterogeneous systems that juxtapose lithospheres with different nature, mechanical behavior and structural inheritance. In this study, we focus on the northern Ligurian margin to examine how such complex systems might deform when they are submitted to a compressive stress field. The northern Ligurian margin, of Oligo-Miocene age, has been undergoing contraction over at least the past ~ 6 Ma. Active thrust faults and folds responsible for the regional uplift of the continental edge have previously been identified below the margin. Although seismicity extends as far as the axis of the basin, no recent or active crustal compressional structure has been identified so far in the oceanic domain. We used new 12-channel high-resolution seismic data (FABLES cruise, 2012) and other seismic reflexion lines from the last decades to image the sedimentary cover in the Ligurian oceanic basin, down to the bottom of the Messinian salt layer ~ 3 km below the seafloor. Because the Messinian event is well dated over the Mediterranean (5.96-5.32 Ma) and well identified in the seismic data, it forms a clear marker characterizing the recent deformation related to both salt and crustal tectonics. Noticeable deformation within the oceanic domain is restricted to large, SW-NE elongated salt walls located 10 to 40 km from the margin toe, over a 70-km length. The salt walls have a specific structure and arrangement that cannot result from salt tectonics only. We thus interpret them as resulting from combined deep-seated crustal and thin-skinned deformations. However, although the salt walls are well expressed in the seafloor morphology, their seismic images do not reveal any significant vertical throw across their trace, and they gradually disappear toward the SW. We thus interpret the salt walls as strike-slip structures with possibly very moderate compression. Overall, the post-Messinian deformation taken along these features is likely moderate as well. Thus, most of the contractional deformation would be focused along the margin since ~5 Ma. The synchronicity of the crustal deformation in the oceanic and the continental domains supports the idea that the lower deformation rates observed within the deep basin are related to somewhat different mechanical behaviors within the continental margin and the adjacent oceanic domain, rather than resulting from a recent basinward propagation of the deformation. Thermo-mechanical models suggest that mainly two factors could control the focused deformation along the margin: (1) the locus of highest topographic gradient of the main crustal interfaces, (2) the thermal contrast between the cooling subsiding oceanic domain and the warming uplifting margin. According to these models, the continental versus oceanic nature of the lithospheres would be of second order in the localization of the deformation.

Localized Deformation along an Inverted Rifted Margin: Example of the Northern Ligurian Margin, Western Mediterranean.

CORRADI, NICOLA;
2013-01-01

Abstract

Along rifted margins, continental edges are heterogeneous systems that juxtapose lithospheres with different nature, mechanical behavior and structural inheritance. In this study, we focus on the northern Ligurian margin to examine how such complex systems might deform when they are submitted to a compressive stress field. The northern Ligurian margin, of Oligo-Miocene age, has been undergoing contraction over at least the past ~ 6 Ma. Active thrust faults and folds responsible for the regional uplift of the continental edge have previously been identified below the margin. Although seismicity extends as far as the axis of the basin, no recent or active crustal compressional structure has been identified so far in the oceanic domain. We used new 12-channel high-resolution seismic data (FABLES cruise, 2012) and other seismic reflexion lines from the last decades to image the sedimentary cover in the Ligurian oceanic basin, down to the bottom of the Messinian salt layer ~ 3 km below the seafloor. Because the Messinian event is well dated over the Mediterranean (5.96-5.32 Ma) and well identified in the seismic data, it forms a clear marker characterizing the recent deformation related to both salt and crustal tectonics. Noticeable deformation within the oceanic domain is restricted to large, SW-NE elongated salt walls located 10 to 40 km from the margin toe, over a 70-km length. The salt walls have a specific structure and arrangement that cannot result from salt tectonics only. We thus interpret them as resulting from combined deep-seated crustal and thin-skinned deformations. However, although the salt walls are well expressed in the seafloor morphology, their seismic images do not reveal any significant vertical throw across their trace, and they gradually disappear toward the SW. We thus interpret the salt walls as strike-slip structures with possibly very moderate compression. Overall, the post-Messinian deformation taken along these features is likely moderate as well. Thus, most of the contractional deformation would be focused along the margin since ~5 Ma. The synchronicity of the crustal deformation in the oceanic and the continental domains supports the idea that the lower deformation rates observed within the deep basin are related to somewhat different mechanical behaviors within the continental margin and the adjacent oceanic domain, rather than resulting from a recent basinward propagation of the deformation. Thermo-mechanical models suggest that mainly two factors could control the focused deformation along the margin: (1) the locus of highest topographic gradient of the main crustal interfaces, (2) the thermal contrast between the cooling subsiding oceanic domain and the warming uplifting margin. According to these models, the continental versus oceanic nature of the lithospheres would be of second order in the localization of the deformation.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/692573
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