Salt Tectonics in the Provençal Basin, Western Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

The Messinian Salt Giant in the Provençal basin is an opportune area to study salt tectonics: salt deposition occurred throughout the basin well after basin opening, with a tectonic context stable since ~16 Ma, in a closed system. Also, the youth of salt tectonics has led to less mature structures and an evolutionary history that is easier to decipher than in older salt-bearing margins. We conducted an analysis of the chronology of salt deformation, from its deposition to the present-day, thanks to the basin-wide correlation of the Late Miocene and Pliocene-Pleistocene stratigraphic markers. The large seismic dataset provided detailed analysis of the causes and timing of salt deformation at a regional level. The salt tectonics started relatively early, during the Messinian Upper Unit (UU) deposition (phase 1) in the deepest part of the basin. From the Pliocene to the present-day, salt movement is divided into two more main phases (phases 2 and 3), the first of small intensity, occurred during the Pliocene and the second, more intense, during the Pleistocene. The geometric relationship between salt tectonics and crustal nature domains has revealed, whatever the timing deformation phases, a more rapid and intense salt deformation above the proto-oceanic crust domain than in the continental or transitional crust domain. This observation remains unexplained for the time being and could question the role of the influence of crustal nature and associated temperature on salt tectonics.