Aspects of collision tectonics and intraplate deformation

Conference · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · AAPG Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5840198

Coward, M P

Alpine collisional tectonics occurred episodically over the past 100 m.y., closing various small Tethyan basins and causing ripples of basin contraction and tectonic inversion across western Europe. Both at the Tethyan margin and in the smaller basins, deformation styles were controlled by existing fault geometries, in particular, (1) the position, dip, and detachment levels of the important bounding normal faults, (2) the locations of northwest-southwest trending lateral ramps/tear faults, which compartmentalize and tram-line the deformation, and (3) the distribution and thickness of Mesozoic postrift sediments. Collision began in the middle Cretaceous, with the closure of Ligurian and Valais basins and the associated reactivation of northwest-southeast strike-slip faults and small basins as far away as the Atlantic margin. This movement was associated with the earliest orogenic flysch deposits, the subduction of Tethyan ophiolites, and local A-type subduction and high-pressure metamorphism close to the Tethyan continental margins. Major crustal shortening occurred in southern Europe (Spain and southern France) in the Late Cretaceous-Paleogene associated with closure of Pyrenean basins, but in the Alps, the major shortening continued throughout the Neogene. Section restorations based on regional studies, linked to commercial and deep seismic data, indicate well over 100 km of crustal shortening in the western and central Alps, with subduction of lower European crust and lithospheric mantle beneath the southern Alps and the Po plain.

• Research Organization: Imperial College, London (England)
• OSTI ID: 5840198
• Report Number(s): CONF-8809346-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bull.; (United States) Journal Volume: 72:8
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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02 PETROLEUM
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& Exploration
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
EUROPE
FRANCE
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
MESOZOIC ERA
METAMORPHISM
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEISMIC SURVEYS
SPAIN
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TECTONICS
WESTERN EUROPE