Crustal laminations in deep seismic profiles in France and neighbouring areas

Summary. Remarkable crustal features appear on the ECORS profiles carried out in northern France and the Bay of Biscay as well as on the SWAT profiles shot in the western Channel and the Celtic Sea. The most striking one is the occurrence of flat laminations in the lower crust. Dipping events and laminations are also present in the upper and lower crust, especially in the SWAT profiles. They can readily be related to tectonic events, Variscan in age, some of them identified in the field. The flat laminations in the lower crust are at first interpreted as resulting from delamination, shearing, magmatism and metamorphism at the crust-mantle transition during the Variscan orogeny. This interpretation raises some difficulty concerning the space and time correlation of the laminations with the Variscan orogeny. They seem to have been emplaced after the Permian-Triassic infilling of the Plymouth Bay basin and before the early Cretaceous opening of the Bay of Biscay. An early to middle Jurassic age is suggested, a period when large cratonic basins were formed without noticeable extension. Heat flow increase and magmatism are proposed as a second hypothesis for the formation of the lower crust laminations. Choosing between orogenic and non-orogenic causes of these laminations will require further deep seismic profiles together with good velocity determination.     

Deep seismic reflection and refraction profiling along the Aquitaine shelf (Bay of Biscay)

Summary. The 300 km ECORS - Bay of Biscay profile was carried out along the Aquitaine shelf and comprised a complete set of experiments including zero-offset and 7.5 km constant offset vertical seismic reflection and six expanding spread profiles. Large offset recordings were fundamental for the definition of the layered lower crust and the Moho, while ESPs provided decisive complementary information for the geological interpretation. These data show a strong variation in crustal thickness from about 20 km beneath the rifted Parentis basin, a failed arm of the oceanic Bay of Biscay, up to 35 km to the north below the Armorican shelf, in the Hercynian domain, and to the south below the Cantabria shelf, in the vicinity of the Pyrenean deformation front. The results have important implications for the behaviour of the crust during the formation of rifted sedimentary basins and during continental collision.     

Deep events in U.K. South Western Approaches

Summary. Apparently planar dipping events are observed in seismic data off south-west Britain within otherwise essentially transparent upper and middle crust. These are believed to represent Variscan thrusts, some of which were re-activated during the post-Carboniferous phase of extension that affected the southern U.K. They can be seen in two extensive commercial seismic surveys recorded to 6 s two-way-time (TWT) and, where laterally persistent, they have been mapped to reveal their essentially planar nature. Commonly these dipping events are associated with deeper, near-horizontal, or gently convex upwards events with which they often appear to converge. Where 'real', these are thought to indicate a complex fault system or possibly the top of the reflective lower crust. The thrusts are seen over the whole area except where granite is known to occur, and commonly exert a major control on the position and subsequent deformation of overlying sedimentary basins.     

Wide-angle vibroseis test across the Rhine graben

Summary. As a joint operation of ECORS and DEKORP, a deep wide-angle seismic experiment using vibrators was carried out in the autumn of 1984. The object was to get information on the deep crust under the Rhine graben without crossing through sedimentary layers. Offsets were in the range of 50 to 89 km. In the first phase, two vibration points were executed in the Vosges mountains. A signal was received in the Black Forest from solely the farthest VP. In the second phase, fourteen VPs were executed in the Black Forest. No stacking or correlation was performed in the field in France. The quality of the results is good only if an equalization is applied before vertical stacking and correlation in the computing centre.     

LA‐ICP‐MS dating of detrital zircon grains from the Cretaceous allochthonous bauxites of Languedoc (south of France): Provenance and geodynamic consequences

The Cretaceous of southern France is characterised by a long erosional hiatus, outlined with bauxite deposits, which represent the only remaining sedimentary record of a key period for geodynamic reconstructions. Detrital zircons from allochthonous karst bauxites of Languedoc (Southern France) have been dated using LA‐ICP‐MS (Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry), in order to specify the age of deposition and to constrain the provenance of the weathered material. We analysed 671 single detrital zircons grains from three karst bauxitic basins, stretching from close to the Variscan Montagne Noire to the present‐day Mediterranean Sea. Analytical results provide Variscan (300–350 Ma) and Late Proterozoic (550–700 Ma) ages as primary groups. In addition, Middle‐, Late Proterozoic and Early Archean (oldest grain at 3.55 Ga) represent significant groups. Mid‐Cretaceous zircons (118–113 Ma) provide a pooled age of 115.5 ± 3.8 Ma, which constitutes the maximum age for bauxite deposition. Results also suggest a dual source for the Languedoc bauxite: one generalised sedimentary source of regional extent and a localised source in the Variscan basement structural high, that has been progressively unroofed during Albian. Integration of these new findings with previously published thermochronological data support the presence of an Early Cretaceous marly cover on the Variscan basement, which has been weathered and then, removed during the Albian. The Languedoc bauxite provide a spatial and temporal link between the uplift of southern French Massif Central to the north, and the Pyrenean rift and its eastward extension to the south. These new results allow to constrain the timing and distribution of uplift/subsidence during the mid‐Cretaceous events in relation with the motion of the Iberian plate relative to Eurasia.     

Seismic reflection imaging of active offshore faults in the Gulf of Corinth: their seismotectonic significance

High resolution seismic reflection surveys over one of the most active and rapidly extending regions in the world, the Gulf of Corinth, have revealed that the gulf is a complex asymmetric graben whose geometry varies significantly along its length. A detailed map of the offshore faults in the gulf shows that a major fault system of nine distinct faults limits the basin to the south. The northern Gulf appears to be undergoing regional subsidence and is affected by an antithetic major fault system consisting of eight faults. All these major faults have been active during the Quaternary. Uplifted coastlines along their footwalls, growth fault patterns and thickening of sediment strata toward the fault planes indicate that some of these offshore faults on both sides of the graben are active up to present. Our data ground‐truth recent models and provides actual observations of the distribution of variable deformation rates in the Gulf of Corinth. Furthermore they suggest that the offshore faults should be taken into consideration in explaining the high extension rates and the uplift scenarios of the northern Peloponnesos coast. The observed coastal uplift appears to be the result of the cumulative effect of deformation accommodated by more than one fault and therefore, average uplift rates deduced from raised fossil shorelines, should be treated with caution when used to infer individual fault slip rates. Seismic reflection profiling is a vital tool in assessing seismic hazard and basin‐formation in areas of active extension.     

Crustal reflection seismics: the contributions of oblique, low frequency and shear wave illuminations

Summary. Continuous vertical seismic reflection profiling, the use of which has been extended by COCORP, BIRPS, ECORS, DEKORP and other programmes (Barazangi & Brown 1986) from stratified sedimentary basins to the entire crust, provides a high resolution cross section of reflectivity. A similar extension of oblique or variable offset sounding would be expected only to provide complementary velocity information. However, combined use of the two methods at crustal scale is new, and we show that refractions and wide angle reflections do contribute original and relevant information, but generally in areas other than velocities - the reason being that interfaces and layers may have a different nature in the crystalline crust from that in sediments.     

Sediment routing evolution in the North Alpine Foreland Basin,Austria: interplay of transverse and longitudinal sediment dispersal

Integration of detrital zircon geochronology and three‐dimensional (3D) seismic‐reflection data from the Molasse basin of Austria yields new insight into Oligocene‐early Miocene palaeogeography and patterns of sediment routing within the Alpine foreland of central Europe. Three‐dimensional seismic‐reflection data show a network of deep‐water tributaries and a long‐lived (>8 Ma) foredeep‐axial channel belt that transported Alpine detritus greater than 100 km from west to east. We present 793 new detrital zircon ages from 10 sandstone samples collected from subsurface cores located within the seismically mapped network of deep‐water tributaries and the axial channel belt. Grain age populations correspond with major pre‐Alpine orogenic cycles: the Cadomian (750–530 Ma), the Caledonian (490–380 Ma) and the Variscan (350–250 Ma). Additional age populations correspond with Eocene‐Oligocene Periadriatic magmatism (40–30 Ma) and pre‐Alpine, Precambrian sources (>750 Ma). Although many samples share the same age populations, the abundances of these populations vary significantly. Sediment that entered the deep‐water axial channel belt from the west (Freshwater Molasse) and southwest (Inntal fault zone) is characterized by statistically indistinguishable age distributions that include populations of Variscan, Caledonian and Cadomian zircon at modest abundances (15–32% each). Sandstone from a shallow marine unit proximal to the northern basin margin consists of >75% Variscan (350–300 Ma) zircon, which originated from the adjacent Bohemian Massif. Mixing calculations based on the Kolmogorov–Smirnoff statistic suggest that the Alpine fold‐thrust belt south of the foreland was also an important source of detritus to the deep‐water Molasse basin. We interpret evolving detrital zircon age distributions within the axial foredeep to reflect a progressive increase in longitudinal sediment input from the west (Freshwater Molasse) and/or southwest (Inntal fault zone) relative to transverse sediment input from the fold‐thrust belt to the south. We infer that these changes reflect a major reorganization of catchment boundaries and denudation rates in the Alpine Orogen that resulted in the Alpine foreland evolving to dominantly longitudinal sediment dispersal. This change was most notably marked by the development of a submarine canyon during deposition of the Upper Puchkirchen Formation that promoted sediment bypass eastward from Freshwater Molasse depozones to the Molasse basin deep‐water axial channel belt. The integration of 3D seismic‐reflection data with detrital zircon geochronology illustrates sediment dispersal patterns within a continental‐scale orogen, with implications for the relative role of longitudinal vs. transverse sediment delivery in peripheral foreland basins.     

Magnetic susceptibility anisotropy measurements of coal from the South Wales coal field: a coalification process indicator

Summary. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility measurements have been performed on 154 specimens taken from 25 different seams in the South Wales Coal Field, up to 24 samples per seam. The magnetic fabric determined is represented, in general, by oblate spheroids with minimum ( K _c) AMS axes usually clustered at a near-vertical, or occasionally, near-horizontal pole which is normal to the magnetic foliation plane defined by great circle distributions of maximum ( K _a) and intermediate ( K _b) axes. The results suggest that the coalification process and variations in rank within the coal field are due to the combined effects of vertical compression and compaction resulting from variations in overburden pressure, and to horizontal compression, due to variations in tectonic thrusting during the Variscan Orogeny. Analysis of the AMS of closely spaced samples across a single anthracite seam shows no systematic variability in magnetic properties within the seam.     

A wide-angle seismic traverse through the Variscan of southwest Ireland

A wide-angle seismic profile across the western peninsulas of SW Ireland was performed. This region corresponds to the northernmost Variscan thrust and fold deformation. The dense set of 13 shots and 109 stations along the 120  km long profile provides a detailed velocity model of the crust.
  The seismic velocity model, obtained by forward and inverse modelling, defines a five-layer crust. A sedimentary layer, 5–8  km thick, is underlain by an upper-crustal layer of variable thickness, with a base generally at a depth of 10–12  km. Two mid-crustal layers are defined, and a lower-crustal layer below 22  km. The Moho lies at a depth of 30–32  km. A low-velocity zone, which coincides with a well-defined gravity low, is observed in the central part of the region and is modelled as a Caledonian granite which intruded upper-crustal basement. The granite may have acted as a buffer to northward-directed Variscan thrusting. The Dingle–Dungarvan Line (DDL) marks a major change in sedimentary and crustal velocity and structure. It lies immediately to the north of the velocity and gravity low, and shows thickness and velocity differences in many of the underlying crustal layers and even in the Moho. This suggests a deep, pre-Variscan control of the structural development of this area. The model is compatible with thin-skinned tectonics, which terminated at the DDL and which incorporated thrusts involving the sedimentary and upper-crustal layers.     

Use of GIS for a spatial and temporal analysis of Kenyan wildlife with generalised linear modelling

This paper applies generalised linear statistical techniques in a GIS to analyse wildlife data from a Kenyan wildlife reserve and its surrounding areas. Attention focuses on the spatial distribution of elephant during nine successive surveys, analysing their temporal and spatial relationship to 12 environmental covariates. A principal component analysis identifies five major determining factors, thereby reducing dimensionality in the data, while a simple spatial analysis procedure, suitable for wildlife data obtained from airborne surveys, quantfies clustering for different animal species. The number of explanatory variables appearing in abundance models is found to be subject to large variations during successive surveys with a minimum and maximum of four and eight variables, respectively. Species from highly clustered populations are found to have over 20 times more observations within short distances compared to the rest. The study concludes that a combination of generalised linear modelling and GIS gives deeper insight into the dynamics of wildlife species in and around well-defined nature reserves.     

Some considerations on the interpretation of seabed images based on commercial 3D seismic in the Faroe-Shetland Channel

Commercial three‐dimensional (3D) seismic surveys now cover much of the continental slope and basin floor areas of the Faroe‐Shetland Channel. A mosaic of the seabed picks derived from these data sets and enhancement with visualisation techniques has resulted in detailed relief images of the seabed that testify to the action of a number of sedimentary processes such as glaciation, downslope and alongslope processes. The wealth of detail in these images is remarkable and extremely valuable for the identification and interpretation of seabed features. However, the level of detail can seduce the interpreter into treating the image purely as an aerial photograph. The interpreter needs to understand the limitations and artefacts inherent in such images to use them appropriately. This paper will present the major artefacts observed in the images and how certain aspects of 3D seismic survey acquisition and processing have contributed to their presence. The vertical and horizontal resolution of the images will also be discussed. Although primarily focused on seabed imagery these comments are equally pertinent to the application of 3D seismic surveys for shallower objectives than for which they were primarily designed.     

Results of DEKORP 2-S and other reflection profiles through the Variscides

Summary. The first DEKORP profile, DEKORP 2-S, a 250 km long line perpendicular to the Variscan strike direction, has provided evidence of major crustal shortening during the Variscan orogeny. Sporadic dipping events in a generally transparent upper crust are interpreted as thrust faults, while the highly reflective lower crust fits into the general picture of Palaeozoic provinces. Correlations are established between certain reflectivity patterns and rheology. Moho depths and reflecting lamellae are considered to be post-Variscan.     

Structural evolution and the partitioning of deformation during basin growth and inversion: A case study from the Mizen Basin Celtic Sea,offshore Ireland

The Celtic Sea basins lie on the continental shelf between Ireland and northwest France and consist of a series of ENE–WSW trending elongate basins that extend from St George’s Channel Basin in the east to the Fastnet Basin in the west. The basins, which contain Triassic to Neogene stratigraphic sequences, evolved through a complex geological history that includes multiple Mesozoic rift stages and later Cenozoic inversion. The Mizen Basin represents the NW termination of the Celtic Sea basins and consists of two NE–SW-trending half-grabens developed as a result of the reactivation of Palaeozoic (Caledonian, Lower Carboniferous and Variscan) faults. The faults bounding the Mizen Basin were active as normal faults from Early Triassic to Late Cretaceous times. Most of the fault displacement took place during Berriasian to Hauterivian (Early Cretaceous) times, with a NW–SE direction of extension. A later phase of Aptian to Cenomanian (Early to Late Cretaceous) N–S-oriented extension gave rise to E–W-striking minor normal faults and reactivation of the pre-existing basin bounding faults that propagated upwards as left-stepping arrays of segmented normal faults. In common with most of the Celtic Sea basins, the Mizen Basin experienced a period of major erosion, attributed to tectonic uplift, during the Paleocene. Approximately N–S Alpine regional compression-causing basin inversion is dated as Middle Eocene to Miocene by a well-preserved syn-inversion stratigraphy. Reverse reactivation of the basin bounding faults was broadly synchronous with the formation of a set of near-orthogonal NW–SE dextral strike-slip faults so that compression was partitioned onto two fault sets, the geometrical configuration of which is partly inherited from Palaeozoic basement structure. The segmented character of the fault forming the southern boundary of the Mizen Basin was preserved during Alpine inversion so that Cenozoic reverse displacement distribution on syn-inversion horizons mirrors the earlier extensional displacements. Segmentation of normal faults therefore controls the geometry and location of inversion structures, including inversion anticlines and the back rotation of earlier relay ramps.     

Crustal structure from an OBS survey of the Nootka fault zone off western Canada

Summary. The Nootka fault zone is the boundary between the small Explorer and Juan de Fuca plates which are situated between the America and Pacific plates off western Canada. To investigate the crustal structure in the region, three explosive/large airgun refraction lines were shot into three ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) with three-component geophone assemblies. In this phase of the study, P -wave velocity—depth models are interpreted by comparison of the travel time and amplitude characteristics of the observed data with theoretical seismograms computed using a WKBJ algorithm. The interpretation gives relatively consistent results for the upper crust. However, the structure of the lower crust is significantly different among the various profiles. Upper mantle velocities range from 7.5 to 8.3 kms⁻¹ and the sub-bottom crustal thickness vanes from 6.4 to 11 km. Nevertheless, these seismic models are consistent in general terms with oceanic crustal models represented by ophiolite complexes. Some aspects of the differences among profiles can be explained by consideration of a recent tectonic model for the development of the fault zone. This requires, within a 1 Myr time interval, variations in the process of crustal formation at the ridge, crustal 'maturing', or both. The abnormally thick crust near a spreading centre may result in part from the complex interaction of the Juan de Fuca and Explorer plates with the larger and older America and Pacific plates. Upper mantle velocity variations are consistent with the concept of velocity anisotropy. The different record sections show that seismic energy is attenuated for ray paths traversing the Nootka fault zone.     

3D seismic technology: the geological 'Hubble'

The proliferation of three‐dimensional (3D) seismic technology is one of the most exciting developments in the Earth Sciences over the past century. 3D reflection seismic data provide interpreters with the ability to map structures and stratigraphic features in 3D detail to a resolution of a few tens of metres over thousands of square kilometres. It is a geological ‘Hubble’, whose resolving power has already yielded some fascinating (and surprising) insights and will continue to provide a major stimulus for research into geological processes and products for many decades to come. Academic and other research institutions have a major role to play in the use of this data by exploiting the enormous volume of geological information contained in 3D seismic surveys. This paper reviews some of the recent advances in basin analysis made using the medium of 3D seismic data, focusing on the fields of structural and sedimentary geology, fluid–rock interactions and igneous geology. It is noted that the increased resolution of the 3D seismic method provided the essential catalyst necessary to stimulate novel observations and discover new geological structures such as mud diapir feeders, km‐long gas blow‐out pipes, giant pockmarks and sandstone intrusions, and to capture the spatial variability of diagenetic fronts. The UKs first impact crater was also discovered using 3D seismic data. The potential for future developments in this field of geophysical interpretation is considerable, and we anticipate that new discoveries will be made in many years to come.     

Cenozoic tectonic activity in a Variscan basement: Evidence from geomorphological markers and structural mapping (NW Iberian Massif)

The NW Iberian Massif is part of an ancient basement that has been considered a seismically stable area with no outstanding Cenozoic tectonics. However, recent seismic activity revealed the need for better knowledge of the Cenozoic structures in the area. Because of the lack of Mesozoic deposits and the scarcity of Cenozoic sediments, as well as the intense deformation of the Pre-Mesozoic Variscan basement, it is difficult to study the Cenozoic tectonic structures. In this work, the combination of detailed structural mapping and study of geomorphological markers in the Variscan basement has allowed recognition of Cenozoic tectonic structures, kinematics and processes that otherwise would not have been identified. The identified structures have been gathered into three groups: a) NE–SW-trending strike-slip faults, mainly sinistral, b) NNW-vergent thrusts that uplift the Caurel Mountains and Galaico-Leoneses Mountains, and c) E–W and ENE–WSW thrusts that uplift the Ancares Mountains in a pop-up structure. The structures cut the Pre-Cenozoic erosion surface and affect the drainage network that shows patterns characteristic of tectonic activity. The three groups of structures define sectors with different relief showing a strong link between geomorphological elements and tectonic structures. The intense drainage reorganisations observed in the area and the deformation of Miocene–Pliocene deposits, point out to a significant Late Miocene tectonic activity in the region. Thus, the Cenozoic tectonic activity in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula takes place during an extensive period of time which started with the episodes of compression in the Cantabrian Margin and it is identified nowadays by the recent seismic activity recorded in the north-western Iberian Peninsula (1995 and 1997 Lugo events). The seismicity is related to the Cenozoic structures identified in the area, which move under the present SE–NW horizontal maximum compression and coincide with the proposed seismogenic faults.     

Provenance of the Lower Triassic Bunter Sandstone Formation: implications for distribution and architecture of aeolian vs. fluvial reservoirs in the North German Basin

Zircon U–Pb geochronometry, heavy mineral analyses and conventional seismic reflection data were used to interpret the provenance of the Lower Triassic Bunter Sandstone Formation. The succession was sampled in five Danish wells in the northern part of the North German Basin. The results show that sediment supply was mainly derived from the Ringkøbing‐Fyn High situated north of the basin and from the Variscan belt located south of the basin. Seismic reflection data document that the Ringkøbing‐Fyn High was a local barrier for sediment transport during the Early Triassic. Hence, the Fennoscandian Shield did not supply much sediment to the basin as opposed to what was previously believed. Sediment from the Variscan belt was transported by wind activity across the North German Basin when it was dried out during deposition of the aeolian part of the Volpriehausen Member (lower Bunter Sandstone). Fluvial sand was supplied from the Ringkøbing‐Fyn High to the basin during precipitation events which occurred most frequently when the Solling Member was deposited (upper Bunter Sandstone). Late Neoproterozoic to Carboniferous zircon ages predominate in the Volpriehausen Member where the dominant age population with a peak age of 337 Ma corresponds to the culmination of Variscan high‐grade metamorphism, whereas a secondary age population with a peak at 300 Ma matches the timing of volcanism and magmatism at the Carboniferous/Permian boundary in the northern Variscan belt. Parts of the basement in the Ringkøbing‐Fyn High were outcropping during the Early Triassic and zircon ages similar to this Mesoproterozoic basement are present in the Bunter Sandstone. The heavy mineral assemblage of the Solling Member is uniform and has a high garnet content compared to the contemporaneous sediments in the Norwegian‐Danish Basin and in the southern part of the North German Basin. This finding confirms that a local source in the Ringkøbing‐Fyn High supplied most of the fluvial sediment in the northern part of the North German Basin. The northernmost part of the Bunter Sandstone is situated on a platform area that is separated from the basin area by a broad WNW–ESE‐oriented fault zone. The most promising reservoir in the basin area is the aeolian Volpriehausen Member since the sandstone has a wide lateral distribution and a constant thickness. The alluvial to ephemeral fluvial Solling Member may be a good reservoir in the platform area and marginal basin area, but the complex sand‐body architecture makes it difficult to predict the reservoir quality.     

Permian exhumation of the Montagne Noire core complex recorded in the Graissessac‐Lodève Basin,France

The paleogeographic reconstruction of the Variscan Mountains during late Carboniferous‐Permian post‐orogenic extension remains poorly understood, owing to the subsequent erosion and/or burial of most associated sedimentary basins during the Mesozoic. The Graissessac‐Lodève Basin (southern France) preserves a thick and exceptionally complete record of continental sedimentation spanning late Carboniferous through late Permian time. This section records the localized tectonic and paleogeographic evolution of southern France in the context of the low‐latitude Variscan Belt of Western Europe. This study presents new detrital zircon and framework mineralogy data that address the provenance of siliciclastic strata exposed in the basin. The ages and compositions of units that constitute the Montagne Noire metamorphic core complex (west of the basin) dictate the detrital zircon age populations and sandstone compositions in Permian strata, recording rapid exhumation and unroofing of the Montagne Noire dome. Cambrian‐Archean zircons and metamorphic lithic‐rich compositions record derivation from recycled detritus of the earliest Paleozoic sedimentary cover and Neoproterozoic‐early Cambrian metasedimentary Schistes X, which formerly covered the Montagne Noire dome. Ordovician zircons and subarkosic framework compositions indicate erosion of orthogneiss units that formed a large part of the dome. The youngest zircon population (320–285 Ma) reflects derivation from late Carboniferous‐early Permian granite units in the axial zone of the Montagne Noire. This population appears first in the early Permian, persists throughout the Permian section and is accompanied by sandstone compositions dominated by feldspar, polycrystalline quartz and metamorphic lithic fragments. The most recent migmatization, magmatism and deformation occurred ca. 298 ± 2 Ma, at ca. 17 km depth (based on peak metamorphic conditions). Accordingly, these new provenance data, together with zircon fission‐track thermochronology, demonstrate that exhumation of the Montagne Noire core complex was rapid (1–17 mm year⁻¹) and early (300–285 Ma), reflecting deep‐seated uplift in the southern Massif Central during post‐orogenic extension.