Abstract
The Mauléon Basin, in the northwestern Pyrenean Belt, is related to Early Cretaceous rifting and mantle denudation. Here we review the evolution of depositional systems in the Mauléon Rift Basin during Albian and Cenomanian time. This review includes the lithostratigraphy, regional distribution, boundaries, age and facies sedimentology of the basin’s syn-rift formations and their members. We construct paleogeographic maps to elucidate (1) the 3D distribution of sedimentary facies and depositional systems during the Albian and Cenomanian from the Iberian proximal margin to the hyperextended domain and (2) the link between major extensional structures and sedimentation during rifting and mantle denudation. The Mauléon Rift was supplied during most of the Albian by sediments from the Iberian proximal margin. The southern margin had a steep and abrupt topographic boundary related to a northward crustal rollover along the south-dipping Saint-Palais detachment. This feature controlled the deposition of coarse-grained turbidites at the base of the margin that abruptly gave way to low-density turbidites, then deep-basin deposits in the hyperextended domain. During uppermost Albian to Early Cenomanian time, mantle denudation occurred in the eastern Mauléon Basin and the vergence of the detachment systems reversed. Minor debris-flow deposits formed at the foot of fault scarps associated with the newly formed north-dipping detachments. Elsewhere, sediment from deltaic systems to the west in the Saint-Jean-de-Luz area deposited low-density turbidites in the hyperextended domain. During the post-rift stage, the flux of coarse sediment from the detachment footwall gradually declined as deformation waned, and low-density turbidites expanded onto the hyperextended domain from the European Upper Cretaceous carbonate platform. These paleogeographic reconstructions, in addition to offering a synthetic view of the evolution of sedimentary environments during rifting, offer new insight into the post-rifting exhumation of the lower crust and mantle.
Highlights
The Mauléon Basin records hyperextension of the continental crust during the Albian that led to mantle denudation during the latest Albian to Early Cenomanian
From Early to Late Albian time, the basin was primarily supplied from the Iberian proximal margin, which was tilted north as the result of the southdipping Saint-Palais detachment
The steep slope of this margin led to the deposition of nearly 2000 m of conglomerate at the foot of the Iberian necking zone, which transitioned abruptly into low-density turbidites and deep-basin marls accumulating in the hyperextended domain
Summary
Our knowledge of passive margins has greatly increased during recent decades, partly due to oil and gas exploration and International Ocean Drilling Program campaigns on the Atlantic hyperextended margins, such as Angola and Brazil (Karner et al, 2003; Contrucci et al, 2004; Karner and Gambôa, 2007; Aslanian et al, 2009; Moulin et al, 2010; Unternehr et al, 2010) or Iberia and Newfoundland (Boillot et al, 1987, 1989; Driscoll et al, 1995; Manatschal et al, 2001; Péron-Pinvidic et al, 2007; Péron-Pinvidic and Manatschal, 2009; Reston, 2009; Pérez-Gussinyé, 2013; Haupert et al, 2016). In the 80–90’s, the Iberian-Eurasian plate boundary was interpreted as a major transcurrent system responsible for the development of pull-apart basins (Debroas, 1987, 1990) This idea was recently taken up to explain the formation of the West Pyrenean Mauléon Basin (Canérot, 2017), the scientific community agrees on the fact that the whole North Pyrenean Rift system had undergone hyperextension of the continental crust and sub-continental mantle denudation at the sea floor during Albian to Cenomanian time (Lagabrielle and Bodinier, 2008; Jammes et al, 2009; Lagabrielle et al, 2010, 2020; Masini et al, 2014; Tugend et al, 2015; Teixell et al, 2016, 2018; Lescoutre et al, 2019, 2021; Saspiturry et al, 2020a, 2021, among others). First-order relationships can be established between accommodation space creation, depositional system evolution and continental crust thinning to better constrain the mapping of present-day and fossil hyperextended margin structural domains
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