Eric Barrier¹, Francoise Bergerat¹, Marie-Francoise Brunet¹, Jean-Paul Cadet¹, Bruno Vrielynck¹

(1) Centre Parisien de Geologie, Paris Cedex 05, France

ABSTRACT: Paleotectonic Evolution of the Peri-Tethyan Domain

The reconstruction of the tectonic evolution of the peri-tethyan domains is a work of the Peri-Tethys Programme. We present several examples of tectonic maps, including 3 types of complementary data : major tectonic features, paleostresses, and depocentral axes.

The major faults active at the time of the map are represented as well as the major structures, the deformation fronts, and the transform faults. Rifting zones are represented by normal fault patterns and inversions by major thrusts and fold axes.

The paleostress fields, depicted by arrows, display the directions of the main horizontal stress axes for extensional, compressional, and strike-slip regimes. Each arrow represents the average stress field reconstructed in a small region from the analysis of fault-slip data sets. Analyses of basins allow us to characterize tectonic subsidence axes. The axes of active tectonic subsidence and of the major flexural basins are shown. During the post-rifting period, only the axes of thermal subsidence are indicated.

This set of data allow us to synthesize the tectonic evolution of the peri-tethyan basins. For selected basins, we propose tectonic logs showing (1) the major tectonic events, (2) possibly a synthetic stratigraphic columns, (3) the paleostress evolution, and/or (4) subsidence curves. On these tectonic logs, we pay a particular attention to the uncertainties on the dating of the tectonic events. This tectonic reconstruction provides a "checkup" of the knowledge available on the evolution of the major basins. It constitutes a basis for a future project focused on the evolution of the Middle East basins.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90906©2001 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado