Role of Permo-Carboniferous and Mesozoic Fault Reactivation in the Basin Evolution of Southeastern France

Mark A. Enfield

The Sud-Est basin of France consists of a structural mosaic of Permo-Carboniferous, Mesozoic, and Tertiary subbasins. The complex tectonic evolution of these basins has involved alternating strike-slip, contractional, and extensional episodes. By and large, the prospective late Paleozoic-Mesozoic subbasins and the structures that have influenced their development are buried beneath nonprospective Tertiary basin fill. The architecture of the younger basins, which is strongly controlled by reactivation of the structures bounding the older basins, provides clues to the structure and evolution of the pre-Tertiary subbasins. In particular, localized basins associated with Eocene (Pyrenean) contraction and Oligocene extension delineate reactivated structures bounding the older subbasins. Regionally significant middle Cretaceous left-lateral strike-slip movement along Mesozoic growth faults resulted in reactivation of Permian-Carboniferous faults having an antithetic trend, right-lateral sense of movement, and associated anticlines. This method of analysis has been used to determine the location, structure, and dynam c evolution of the buried late Paleozoic and Mesozoic subbasins of southeastern France external to the Alps.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91032©1988 Mediterranean Basins Conference and Exhibition, Nice, France, 25-28 September 1988.