Journal
BASIN RESEARCH
Volume 34, Issue 5, Pages 1632-1654Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/bre.12673
Keywords
active margins; Algerian basin; Algero-Balearic basin; contractional salt system; Messinian Salinity Crisis; salt tectonics
Categories
Funding
- European Union [765256]
- Marie Curie Actions (MSCA) [765256] Funding Source: Marie Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Field analogues illustrating the early stage of deformation of shortening structures in salt-bearing orogenic fold-and-thrust belts are not yet well illustrated in literature. The relatively young Messinian salt of the Algerian basin could represent a good case example of such systems. In this study, new seismic data is used to identify, classify and map salt structures throughout the central Algerian Basin and re-assess its structural style. The study found that horizontal displacement loading has driven salt deformation within the basin since its deposition, and observed variations in the structural style of the basin along- and down-dip.
Field analogues illustrating the early stage of deformation of shortening structures in salt-bearing orogenic fold-and-thrust belts are not yet well illustrated in literature. The relatively young Messinian salt of the Algerian basin could represent a good case example of such systems. The Algerian Basin is a deep-water Miocene back-arc basin including a layer of mobile Messinian evaporites up to 2 km thick. The Messinian salt was deposited in an already inverted basin, after its extensive stage. Its inversion initiated in the Tortonian, with a N-NW shortening induced by the north-westward motion of the African plate. In this study, we use new 2D multichannel seismic data to identify, classify and map salt structures throughout the central Algerian Basin and re-assess its structural style. We interpret contractional salt tectonic structures, such as buckle folds, squeezed diapirs and related salt sheets as evidence of regional thick-skinned shortening episodes. We conclude that horizontal displacement loading has driven salt deformation within the basin since its deposition. We also show spatial variations in the structural style of the central Algerian Basin, both along- and down-dip. We demonstrate that the initial shortening-related salt deformation in the late Messinian was focussed along the Algerian margin and later shifted outward toward the Balearic margin in the Plio-Quaternary. The shifting of the deformation front is interpreted to be a result of the thickening and strengthening of the overburden. The second peak of deformation may have reactivated faults along the Emile-Baudot escarpment with thick-skinned deformation. We also observe a variation in the intensity of the salt deformation along the margin from SW to NE, which may be due to variable tectonic loading applied along the Algerian margin or the pre-shortening distribution of salt.
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