Charophytes du Crétacé moyen et données nouvelles sur l'Evolution des Clavatoracées

La découverte de nouveaux gisements dans le Sud de la France révèle la persistance, dans le Cénomanien, d'Embergerella cruciata, Atopochara restricta et A. brevicellis (Clavatoraceae). Une parenté entre les genres Embergerella (Barrémien-Cénomanien) et Septorella (Maastrichtien) est envisagée sur la base d'une nouvelle interprétation de la structure de l'utricule. Pour la première fois, des représentants de la famille des Characeae sont décrits dans le Cénomanien: Peckisphaera revesti n. sp. et le Turonien: Mesochara fusiformis n. sp. Indications biostratigraphiques: dans l'état actuel des connaissances sur les flores de Charophytes du Crétacé moyen, seul le Cénomanien est bien caractérisé, par A. multivolvis à laquelle s'ajoute maintenant une nouvelle association de quatre espèces; l'Albien et le Turonien, pour lesquels des précisions sont apportées, restent toutefois encore mal individualisés.The discovery of new localities in the South of France shows that Embergerella cruciata, Atopochara restricta and A. brevicellis (Clavatoraceae) continued into the Cenomanian. A relationship between the genera Embergerella (Barremian-Cenomanian) and Septorella (Maastrichtian) is suggested on the basis of a new interpretation of the structure of the utricle. Representatives of the family Characeae are described for the first time, Peckisphaera revesti n. sp. in the Cenomanian and Mesochara fusiformis n. sp. in the Turonian. Biostratigraphic information: in the present state of knowledge of Middle Cretaceous Charophyte floras, only the Cenomanian is well characterized, by A. multivolvis to which is now added a new association of four species. Although new information is presented on the Albian and Turonian, they are still inadequately understood.     

Actualisation des zonations d'Ammonites dans le Crétacé moyen du bassin anglo-parisien. Essai d'une zonation phylétique de l'Albien au turonien

Les études paléontologiques entreprises depuis le début du siècle dans le Crétacé moyen du bassin anglo-parisien ont abouti à la construction de tableux de répartition stratigraphique des ammonites relativement précis. Différentes zonations ont été proposées par les auteurs. Une discussion de ces zonations est envisagée en tenant compte des conceptions phylétiques actuelles de la zonéostratigraphie (Thomel, 1973).     

Les Vertébrés de la Partie Moyenne du Crétacé en Europe

Les gisements de Vertébrés de la partie moyenne du Crétacé en Europe sont peu nombreux, et des groupes importants (notamment les Mammifères) y sont encore inconnus. Les poissons sont mieux représentés que les tétrapodes, et plus utilisables d'un point de vue biostratigraphique. Pour un certain nombre de groupes de Vertébrés, la partie moyenne du Crétacé semble correspondre à un renouvellement faunique important.In Europe, fossil vertebrate localities in the middle part of the Cretaceous are not numerous, and some important groups (notably mammals) are still unknown there. Fishes are better represented than tetrapods, and more useful from a biostratigraphic point of view. For several groups of vertebrates, the middle part of the Cretaceous seems to correspond to an important faunal renewal.     

Tableau de répartition stratigraphique des Grands Foraminifères caractéristiques du Crétacé moyen de la région Méditerranéenne

Le Groupe de Travail Européen des Grands Foraminifères présente un tableau de répartition stratigraphique de 42 espèces bien définies du Crétacé moyen de la région méditerranéenne. La répartition stratigraphique proposée pour chaque espèce est fondée soit sur des propres observations soit sur des données de la littérature supprimer et est contrôlée par la présence d'Ammonites ou de Foraminifères planctoniques.A summarizing account is presented of the deliberations of the research group for Large Foraminifers of the IGCP Project “Mid-Cretaceous Events”. Large Foraminifers are of incontestable value for dating carbonate platform sequences owing to the absence of many other diagnostic groups of organísms. A table of stratigraphical distributions for 42 species is presented.     

Sedimentation et volcanisme synsédimentaire de la série de base de l'adoudounien infra-cambrien à travers deux exemples de l'Anti-Atlas du Maroc

The Adoudounian Basal Series within the western part of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas Mountains was deposited in a varying palæogeographical setting. The first deposits of volcaniclastic and carbonate sediments accumulated in small shallow basins under tectonic control. Then, sedimentation became siliciclastic and volcano-detrital with coastal and deltaic sedimentation in the western area and lagoon-lacustrine in the eastern area. Synsedimentary alkaline volcanism, associated with normal faulting, indicates a within-plate extensional tectonic regime related to rifting, which affected the northern margin of the West African Craton, during Late Neoproterozoic-Early Cambrian times.     

L'évolution géologique de Madagascar et la dislocation du Gondwana: une introduction

Between eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean, Madagascar was a part of the Gondwana at the end of the Proterozoic. Its evolution, from the Carboniferous through to the present times, displays successive stages of the Gondwana disintegration.The original location of Madagascar, close to present Kenya, is deduced from sedimentological, structural and palæomagnetic data. During Permo-Triassic times, it was submitted to a northeast-southwest regional extension, which resulted in the opening of the Karoo Basins. During the Mid-Late Jurassic, opening of the Somalian and Mozambican Oceanic Basins was accompanied by the translation of Madagascar along a north-south trending transform fault, located along the present Davie Ridge. The Late Cretaceous was characterised in the island by an acceleration of the subsidence in the coastal basins and by an important magmatic, essentially effusive, activity. This marked the beginning of a northeast-southwest extension, opening of the Mascarene Oceanic Basin and separation of India from Madagascar. Since the Neogene up to present times, another extensional regime developed, as in eastern Africa, characterised by a roughly east-west extensional horizontal direction, which results in the opening of faulted basins and the emission of Pliocene-Quaternary alkaline magmas.     

Maturation thermique des roches mères dans les bassins des basses-terres du Saint-Laurent et dans quelques buttes témoins au sud-est du Bouclier canadien

Caradocian source rocks belonging to the Utica Group occur around and overlay the southeastern part of the Canadian Shield from the Ottawa embayment, in the southwestern part of St. Lawrence Lowlands, to the Anticosti Island basin. The kerogen of the source rocks is mainly made up of amorphous organic matter (transmitted light), resembling a solid bitumen framework in reflected light, and contains a small portion of zooclasts (graptolites and chitinozoans). The kerogen is often too mature to have preserved the structure of the original constituents, except those of graptolites and chitinozoans. Otherwise, UV fluorescent colonial alga and tasmanites are observed.In the eastern half of the St. Lawrence Lowlands, stratigraphic and tectonic burial is the main control of source rock thermal maturation. From an area located 50 km west of Quebec City, the estimated vitrinite reflectance (R_o-Std) of the source rock increases in both northeastern (Montmorency Falls) and southwestern (St. Maurice River) directions, from R_o-Std of 1.2 to 1.5 and 1.7%, respectively. The source rocks of the Ottawa embayment and Montreal area (western half of the basin) are overmature due to hydrothermal and igneous activities (2.3%<R_o-Std<2.8%).. In Chicoutimi and Lac Saint-Jean outliers, the source rocks show reflectances between 0.9 and 1.2%, slightly less than reflectance values in the Quebec City area (R_o-Std between 1.2 and 1.5%). On Anticosti Island, the thermal maturation is related to burial only and increases downdip of the inclined platform, from the northeast toward the southwest (R_o-Std between 0.9 and 2.1%).These observations suggest that the St. Lawrence platform and the southeastern Canadian Shield were buried by at least 3.5 km of Paleozoic strata prior to erosion to Grenville basement. This implies that most potential hydrocarbon fields are presumably also lost by erosion.

Résumé

Des roches mères caradociennes, appartenant au Groupe d'Utica, sont trouvées autour et sur la partie sud-est du Bouclier canadien, du sous-bassin de la région d'Ottawa, dans la partie sud-ouest des basses-terres du Saint-Laurent jusqu'au bassin de l'île d'Anticosti. Le kérogène de ces roches mères est principalement constitué de matière organique amorphe (lumière transmise) ayant l'aspect d'un treillis fait de bitume solide lorsqu'il est observé en lumière incidente et contient une petite proportion de zooclastes (graptolites et chitinozoaires). Ce kérogène est souvent trop mature pour avoir préservé la structure originale de ses constituants, sauf celle des graptolites et des chitinozoaires. Dans le cas contraire, on observe des colonies algaires et des tasmanites fluorescentes à la lumière ultraviolette.Dans la moitié est des basses-terres du Saint-Laurent, l'enfouissement stratigraphique et tectonique contrôle la maturation thermique de la roche mère. D'un point situé à 50 km à l'ouest de Québec, la réflectance standardisée à celle de la vitrinite (R_h-Std) de la roche mère augmente tant vers le nord-est (Chutes Montmorency) que vers le sud-ouest (rivière Saint-Maurice), et varie entre 1,2 et 1,5 ou 1,7% respectivement. D'autre part, les roches mères des régions d'Ottawa et de Montréal (ouest du bassin) sont supramatures à cause d'activités hydrothermales et ignées (2,3%<R_h-Std<2,8%). Dans les buttes témoins du Saguenay et du Lac-Saint-Jean, les roches mères montrent des valeurs de la R_h-Std comprises entre 0,9 et 1,2%, légèrement inférieures à celles de la région de Québec (R_h-Std entre 1,2 et 1,5%). Dans l'île d'Anticosti, la maturation thermique est surtout reliée à l'enfouissement et s'accroît en direction de l'approfondissement de la plate-forme, du nord-est vers le sud-ouest (R_h-Std entre 0,9 et 2,1%).Ces observations suggèrent que la plate-forme du Saint-Laurent et le sud-est du Bouclier canadien furent enfouis sous au moins 3,5 km de strates paléozoïques avant que ces dernières soient érodées au niveau du socle grenvillien. Ceci implique que la majorité des gisements potentiels d'hydrocarbures furent probablement aussi perdus par érosion.     

Géodynamique et évolution thermique de la matière organique: exemple du bassin de Qasbat-Tadla, Maroc central

Seismic data analysis of the Qasbat-Tadla Basin allows the deciphering of the main tectonic and sedimentary events that characterised the Hercynian orogen and its role in the basin's structural development. The global tectono-sedimentary framework involves structural evolution of an orogenic foreland basin and was the source of rising geotherms in an epizonal metamorphic environment. The complementary effects of these parameters has led to different source rock maturity levels, ranging from oil producing to graphite domains. Different maturity levels result from three distinct structural domains within the basin, each of which exhibit characteristic geodynamic features (tectonic contraints, rate of subsidence, etc.).     

L'ouverture et le développement du bassin de Morondava (Madagascar) du Carbonifère supérieur au Jurassique moyen. Données stratigraphiques, sédimentaires, paléontologiques et structurales

In the western part of Madagascar, the Morondava Basin shows the Malagasy Karoo series, made of Late Carboniferous-Mid-Permian (Sakoa), Late Permian-Mid-Triassic (Sakamena) and Late Triassic-Mid-Jurassic (Isalo) sequences. The sedimentary facies are mainly aerial and clastic in the series, and the marine conditions are fully established after Lower Jurassic times, when the strait between Africa and Madagascar was flooded.The Karoo basins where these series were deposited are mainly hemi-grabens. Their filling proceeded from west to east and from south to north. Distinction between the southern and northern part of the Morondava Basin suggests that development of the basin was controlled by old crustal weakness zones trending north-northwest-south-southeast and north-northeast-south-southwest.     

Le provincialisme sud-caraibe à l'Aptien inférieur. Sa signification dans le cadre de l'Evolution geodynamique du domaine Caraibe et de l'Atlantique central

Stratigraphic and palaeontologic data from the Lower Cretaceous of Venezuela and the critical revision of the previous results on the whole Caribbean Lower Aptian, show that the South Caribbean region is characterized by an endemic Rudist fauna while some micropalaeontological components have an african affinity. Consequently a South Caribbean palaeobiogeographic province is to be distinguished from a Northern one known to have some European characters. These results fit well with palaeogeographic and palaeotectonic reconstructions concerning both the Caribbean as well as the Central Atlantic areas. New palaeogeographic and palaeoceanographic implications are considered.     

Les lithophages pliocènes de la fontaine de Vaucluse (Vaucluse, France). Un argument pour une phase messinienne dans la genèse du plus grand karst noyé de France

The discovery of a level of lithophaga in the entrance of the karstic spring of the ‘Fontaine de Vaucluse’ indicates a pre-Pliocene age and supports a Messinian origin for the present spring. To cite this article: É. Gilli, P. Audra, C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

Stratigraphie séquentielle du Carbonifère inférieur du Haut Atlas central et des Jebilet (Maroc): un exemple de bassins à turbidites contrôlées par la tectonique

Marine deposits of Visean age are well exposed in the Marrakesh area. Two third order sequences are identified in the central High Atlas and Jebilet: SA, which is of Middle Visean age (CM); SB of Upper Visean age (Cf6αβγ); and a complex with olistoliths of Upper Visean-Lower Namurian age (Cf6δ-Cf7). The SA and SIB sequences consist of a relative low-lying system tract with turbidites, a retrograde transgressive system tract and a prograde high-lying system tract. The relative low level comprises a turbiditic fan fed by tectonic uplift, which does not strictly coincide with eustatic processes. The transgressive system tract retrogrades firstly on the slope during tectonic reactivation with slumps, channels and silty levees, secondly on the shelf edge with a mixture of turbiditic and storm deposits and finally on the shelf with storm deposits and reef building. The high level system tract progrades on the shelf by a delta fan. This model is similar to sequences described in Spain and Italy by Mutti (1992), where tectonism is dominant.Nevertheless, eustasy, as described by Vail et al. (1977) played a part, since the same sequences are found in the chart of Ross and Ross (1987): S1, which of Middle Visean age (Cf5) and S2 which is of Upper Visean age (Cf6αβγ). Only the comparison between regional sequences described in Morocco and the sequences of the European platform allow tectonics and eustasy to be taken into consideration.     

Lithostratigraphie et histoire paléozoïque à paléocène des complexes métamorphiques de la région de Muteh, zone de Sanandaj–Sirjan (Iran méridional)Lithostratigraphy and Palaeozoic to Palaeocene history of some metamorphic complexes from Muteh area, Sanandaj–Sirjan zone (southern Iran)

A detailed analysis of metamorphic complexes outcropping in the Muteh area in central Iran leads to establish the regional stratigraphical column, and to propose a Palaeozoic age for the metamorphic protolith that mainly consists of volcano-sedimentary units. ⁴⁰K---⁴⁰Ar ages for minerals suggest the Mesozoic age of the metamorphic amphiboles and the Palaeocene ones for a late or even post metamorphic bimodal magmatism. To cite this article: N. Rachidnejad-Omran et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 1185–1191.