Les plis hercyniens kilométriques couchés vers l'ouest-sud-ouest dans la région du pic du Midi d'Ossau–col du Somport (zone axiale des Pyrénées occidentales)

The Palaeozoic of the western Pyrenees shows two superposed tectonics easily defined by their different geometry and the major unconformity of the Permian sediments and volcanics on the Devono-Carboniferous series: an Hercynian tectonic found only in the pre-Permian series, characterised by kilometric westward recumbent folds with a weak cleavage; a Pyrenean tectonic, characterised by tight east–west folds, upright to overturned to the south with slaty cleavage, which is the only deformation found in the Permian and Mesozoic series and the second deformation in the pre-Permian Palaeozoic. The Hercynian folding, roughly perpendicular to the trend of the Pyrenees characterises the northern branch of the Ibero-Armorican virgation. To cite this article: P. Matte, C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 773–779.