Keuper stratigraphic cycles in the Paris basin and comparison with cycles in other peritethyan basins (German basin and Bresse-Jura basin)

Abstract

High-resolution sequence stratigraphy of the Keuper, Paris Basin, is used to establish correlations between the basin-centre evaporite series and the basin-margin clastics series. The high-resolution correlations show stratigraphic cycle geometries. The Keuper consists of five minor base-level cycles whth occur in the upper portion of the Scythian-Carnian major base-level cycle and the lower part of the Carnian-Liassic major base-level cycle. The maximum relative rate of subsidence for the base-level fall phase of the Scythian-Carnian major cycle occurs in the eastern part of the Paris Basin. During the base-level rise phase of the Carnian-Liassic major cycle, the area of highest rate of subsidence shifted westwards and northwards. This shift records the first occurrence of an independent Paris Basin which was no longer merely the western margin of the German Basin. Two phases of tectonic movement influenced evaporite sedimentation and sequence geometries by creating areas of subsidence where halite could accumulate. The second, within the ‘Marnes irisées supérieures’, induced a general westward and northward tilt of the basin. Concurrent migration of depocentres to the west and north produced an intra-‘Marnes irisées supérieures’ truncation. Comparison of the stratigraphic records of the Paris Basin and of other Triassic Peritethyan basins (German Basin, Bresse-Jura Basin and South-East Basin) reveals numerous similarities. The coastal onlap curve of the German Keuper (Aigner and Bachmann, 1992) exhibits many similarities with the sequence evolution of the Paris Basin. But the Triassic succession is more complete in the German Basin and more cycles are observed. The major difference between these two basins during the Keuper is that the ‘Marnes irisées inférieures’ minor base-level cycle does not occur in the German Basin. In the Bresse-Jura Basin, the major difference concerns the Lettenkohle. One minor base-level cycle is recorded in the Paris Basin while no cycle is observed in the Bresse-Jura Basin.