Major palaeohydrographic changes in Alpine foreland during the Pliocene - Pleistocene |
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Authors: | CHRISTOPHE PETIT MICHEL CAMPY JEAN CHALINE JACQUES BONVALOT |
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Institution: | Laborutoire de sédirnentologie et de Géochimie du Littoral, UniversitéPicardie, 80039 Amiens cedex, France;Centre des Sciences de la Terre, URA 157 du CNRS, Universitéde Bourgogne, 21000 Dijon, France |
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Abstract: | The changing palaeogeographical pattern of Alpine deposits across the European forelands can be traced by identifying mineral assemblages and establishing the chronology of Pliocene-Pleistocene deposits in Alpine foreland. In the late Miocene, the upper courses of the Rhine and the Aar flowed east from the Swiss molasse plain towards the Danube. In the early Pliocene (Brunssumian, 5-3.2 Ma), these same rivers headed north wards towards the Rhine Graben of Alsace. In the early Reuverian, these streams were captured south of the Rhine Graben by the Doubs. They ceased their northward flow and headed west to feed the Bresse Graben. This phase is dated to the Lower and Middle Reuverian (3.2-2.6 Ma). From the Upper Reuverian (2.6 Ma) to the present day, the Rhine has adapted approximately its present course towards the North Sea, south to north along the Rhine Graben and across the Rhine Schist Massif to feed the Dutch Grabens. This changing pattern of capture and alteration of the hydrographic system of the upper reaches of the Rhine and the Aar can be explained by local tectonic movements. |
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