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The Var turbidite system (Ligurian Sea, northwestern Mediterranean)—morphology, sediment supply, construction of turbidite levee and sediment waves: implications for hydrocarbon reservoirs

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Abstract

The Var turbidite system is a small sandy system located in the Ligurian Basin. It was deposited during the Pliocene-Quaternary in a flat-floored basin formed during the Messinian salinity crisis. The system was fed through time by the Var and Paillon canyons that connect directly to the Var and Paillon rivers. It is still active during the present sea-level highstand. Two main mechanisms are responsible for gravity-flow triggering in the Var turbidite system: (1) mass-wasting events affect mainly the upper part of the continental slope, in areas where volumes of fresh sediment delivered by rivers are highest, and result from the under-consolidation state of slope sediments and earthquakes, and (2) high-magnitude river floods resulting from melting of snow and convective rainfall during fall and spring seasons, and generating hyperpycnal turbidity currents at river mouths when the density of freshwater transporting suspended particles exceeds that of ambient seawater. Failure- and flood-induced gravity flows are involved through time in the construction of the Var Sedimentary Ridge, the prominent right-hand levee of the Var system, and sediment waves. Processes of construction of both the Var Ridge and sediment waves are closely connected. Sandy deposits are thick and abundant in the eastern (downchannel) part of the ridge. Their distribution is highly constrained by the strong difference of depositional processes across the sediment waves, potentially resulting through time in the individualization of large and interconnected sand bodies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the captain and crew of the R/V Téthys II, and C. Pirmez and M. Cremer for their constructive reviews of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Géosciences Azur, Observatoire de Villefranche, Port de la Darse, 06235, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France

    Sébastien Migeon & Françoise Sage

  2. UMR 5805 EPOC, Université Bordeaux 1, Avenue des Facultés, 33400, Talence, France

    Thierry Mulder

  3. Laboratoire Environnements Sédimentaires, IFREMER, 29280, Plouzané, France

    Bruno Savoye

Authors
  1. Sébastien Migeon
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  2. Thierry Mulder
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  3. Bruno Savoye
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  4. Françoise Sage
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Correspondence to Sébastien Migeon.

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Migeon, S., Mulder, T., Savoye, B. et al. The Var turbidite system (Ligurian Sea, northwestern Mediterranean)—morphology, sediment supply, construction of turbidite levee and sediment waves: implications for hydrocarbon reservoirs. Geo-Mar Lett 26, 361–371 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-006-0047-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-006-0047-x

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