Pliocene to Quaternary Tectonic Inversion of the Algerian Margin Along the Spiral Transect of Kabylies (North Central Algeria)

Abstract

AbstractThe Algerian margin is frequently seen as the seat of moderate to strong seismic activity as shown by the major Mw 6.9 May 21, 2003, Boumerdes earthquake that occurred close to the Great Kabylia block. This offshore seismic activity is occurring along active faults at seafloor. We presented here the tectonic structures associated to the Pliocene–Quaternary (PQ) tectonic inversion of the central part of the Algerian margin offshore Great Kabylia using new deep multichannel seismic (MCS) lines acquired during the Algerian-French SPIRAL cruise (September 2009, R/V L’Atalante). The seismic profile offshore Kabylia shows that the inversion is expressed by the presence of perched basin along the slope with south-dipping blind thrust which is parts of a flat-ramp system developed in the basement.KeywordsTectonic inversionFlat-ramp systemSeismic dataBoumerdes