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Separation of rifting and lithospheric folding signatures in the NW-Alpine foreland

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Abstract

The development of the Alpine mountain belt has been governed by the convergence of the African and European plates since the Late Cretaceous. During the Cenozoic, this orogeny was accompanied with two major kinds of intraplate deformation in the NW-European foreland: (1) the European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS), a left-lateral transtensional wrench zone striking NNE-SSW between the western Mediterranean Sea and the Bohemian Massif; (2) long-wavelength lithospheric folds striking NE and located between the Alpine front and the North Sea. The present-day geometry of the European crust comprises the signatures of these two events superimposed on all preceding ones. In order to better define the processes and causes of each event, we identify and separate their respective geometrical signatures on depth maps of the pre-Mesozoic basement and of the Moho. We derive the respective timing of rifting and folding from sedimentary accumulation curves computed for selected locations of the Upper Rhine Graben. From this geometrical and chronological separation, we infer that the ECRIS developed mostly from 37 to 17 Ma, in response to north-directed impingement of Adria into the European plate. Lithospheric folds developed between 17 and 0 Ma, after the azimuth of relative displacement between Adria and Europe turned counter-clockwise to NW–SE. The geometry of these folds (wavelength = 270 km; amplitude = 1,500 m) is consistent with the geometry, as predicted by analogue and numerical models, of buckle folds produced by horizontal shortening of the whole lithosphere. The development of the folds resulted in ca. 1,000 m of rock uplift along the hinge lines of the anticlines (Burgundy–Swabian Jura and Normandy–Vogelsberg) and ca. 500 m of rock subsidence along the hinge line of the intervening syncline (Sologne–Franconian Basin). The grabens of the ECRIS were tilted by the development of the folds, and their rift-related sedimentary infill was reduced on anticlines, while sedimentary accumulation was enhanced in synclines. We interpret the occurrence of Miocene volcanic activity and of topographic highs, and the basement and Moho configurations in the Vosges–Black Forest area and in the Rhenish Massif as interference patterns between linear lithospheric anticlines and linear grabens, rather than as signatures of asthenospheric plumes.

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Notes

  1. “Accumulation curves” show the thickness of compacted sediments accumulated in basins against time, whereas “subsidence curves” show vertical motions of the base of basins against time. Computing the history of subsidence from the history of accumulation requires paleobathymetry and variations of sea-level to be taken into account, and a decompaction procedure to be applied to the sedimentary sequence (Allen and Allen 1990). The decompaction procedure requires that porosity and compaction parameters are known for each stratigraphic interval. These parameters are not known in the boreholes described here. Thus, we did not decompact the sediments. The curves shown in this article are accumulation curves corrected for paleobathymetry and variations of sea-level.

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Acknowledgements

This work was performed partly in 2000–2002, while OB and MD held post-doctoral positions supervised by MF at the Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques of Nancy (CNRS-UPR 2300). We acknowledge financial support from the Région Lorraine, from the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (Geofrance 3D project) and from the CNRS-INSU (Programme National Intérieur de la Terre 2001–2002, Theme V “Rapid vertical motions”). Sandhausen 4 and Spock 2 borehole data (Fig. 12) were made available by the Landesamt fur Geologie, Rohstoffe und Bergbau of Baden-Württemberg. We thank our colleagues of the EUCOR-URGENT project for inviting us to their annual workshops. Our results and interpretations benefited from constructive discussions with Sierd Cloetingh, François Guillocheau, Laurent Michon, Cécile Robin and Stefan Schmid. We thank Pierre Dèzes, Peter Ziegler and an anonymous reviewer for their critical comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Planétologie et de Géodynamique, UMR CNRS 6112, Université de Nantes, BP 92205, 2 rue de la Houssinière, 44322, Nantes Cedex, France

    O. Bourgeois

  2. Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, UPR CNRS 2300, 15 rue Notre Dame des Pauvres, 54501, Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France

    M. Ford, C. Le Carlier de Veslud, R. Pik, N. Ruby & S. Bonnet

  3. Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg, UMR CNRS 7516, Centre de Géochimie de la Surface, UMR CNRS 7517, 1 rue Blessig, 67084, Strasbourg Cedex, France

    M. Diraison

  4. Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Dpto geologia, Universitad de Chile, Plaza Ercilla #803, Casilla 13518 correo 21, Santiago, Chili

    M. Gerbault

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  1. O. Bourgeois
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  2. M. Ford
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  3. M. Diraison
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  4. C. Le Carlier de Veslud
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  7. N. Ruby
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  8. S. Bonnet
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Correspondence to O. Bourgeois.

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Bourgeois, O., Ford, M., Diraison, M. et al. Separation of rifting and lithospheric folding signatures in the NW-Alpine foreland. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 96, 1003–1031 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-007-0202-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-007-0202-2

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