Middle to Late Pleistocene faulting history of the Heerlerheide fault, Roer Valley Rift System, influenced by glacio-isostasy and mining-induced displacement

Faults of the Roer Valley Rift System (RVRS) are characterized by seismicity, scarps and displaced fluvial terraces, showing that they are active. The Heerlerheide fault is part of the southern boundary fault system of the RVRS, the Feldbiss fault zone (FFZ). During the late 19th and first half of the 20th century coal was mined in the...

Continental breakup and the dynamics of rifting in back-arc basins: the Gulf of Lion margin

Deep seismic profiles and subsidence history of the Gulf of Lion margin reveal an intense stretching of the distal margin and strong postrift subsidence, despite weak extension of the onshore and shallow offshore portions of the margin. We revisit this evolution from the geological interpretation of an unpublished multichannel seismic profile...

Geodynamics of the Gulf of California from surface wave tomography

The Gulf of California, which forms part of the Pacific-North American plate boundary, is an ideal place to investigate upper mantle dynamics in a continental rifting area. With 19 seismic stations located around the gulf, the NARS-Baja experiment (2002-2008) was designed to image its crustal and mantle structure. Here we present results of a...

Thermal state of the Roer Valley Graben, part of the European Cenozoic Rift System

We performed a detailed analysis of the thermal state of the Cenozoic Roer Valley Graben, the north-western branch of the European Cenozoic Rift System, based on a new set of temperature data. We developed a numerical technique for correcting bottom hole temperatures, including an evaluation of the uncertainty of thermal parameters. Comparison...

Probabilistic tectonic heat flow modeling for basin maturation: Assessment method and applications

Tectonic modeling is often neglected in the basin modeling workflow and heat flow is most times considered a user input. Such heat flows can, therefore, result in erroneous basin modeling outcomes, resulting in false overoptimistic identification of prospective areas or failure to identify prospects. This is particularly true for areas with...

A comparison of the Iberian and Ebro Basins during the Permian and Triassic, eastern Spain: A quantitative subsidence modelling approach

The Permian-Triassic sediments of the Iberian Plate are a well studied case of classical Buntsandstein-Muschelkalk-Keuper facies, with good sedimentological interpretations and precise datings based on pollen and spore assemblages, ammonoids and foraminifera. Synrift-postrift cycles are recorded in these facies, but there are only a few studies...

Oblique strain partitioning and transpression on an inverted rift: The Castilian Branch of the Iberian Chain

The Iberian Chain is a wide intraplate deformation zone formed by the tectonic inversion during the Pyrenean orogeny of a Permian-Mesozoic basin developed in the eastern part of the Iberian Massif. The N-S convergence between Iberia and Eurasia from the Late Cretaceous to the Lower Miocene times produced significant intraplate deformation. The...

Late carboniferous foreland basin formation and Early Carboniferous stretching in Northwestern Europe: Inferences from quantitative subsidence analyses in the Netherlands

The large thickness of Upper Carboniferous strata found in the Netherlands suggests that the area was subject to long-term subsidence. However, the mechanisms responsible for subsidence are not quantified and are poorly known. In the area north of the London Brabant Massif, onshore United Kingdom, subsidence during the Namurian-Westphalian B has...

Neotectonics and intraplate continental topography of the northern Alpine Foreland

Research on neotectonics and related seismicity has hitherto been mostly focused on active plate boundaries that are characterized by generally high levels of earthquake activity. Current seismic hazard estimates for intraplate domains are mainly based on probabilistic analyses of historical and instrumental earthquake catalogues. The accuracy...

The Cenozoic evolution of the Roer Valley Rift System integrated at a European scale

The Roer Valley Rift System (RVRS) is located between the West European rift and the North Sea rift system. During the Cenozoic, the RVRS was characterized by several periods of subsidence and inversion, which are linked to the evolution of the adjacent rift systems. Combination of subsidence analysis and results from the analysis of thickness...

Mode of lithospheric extension: Conceptual models from analogue modeling

Comparison of analogue experiments at crustal and lithospheric scale provides essential information concerning the mode of deformation during lithospheric extension. This study shows that during extension, lithospheric deformation is controlled by the development of shear zones in the ductile parts. At lithospheric scale, the global deformation...