Significance of the E-W fault system in the geodynamic evolution of the Tunisian Alpine Chain foreland. Example of the Sbiba-Cherichira fault system in Central Tunisia

Abstract

The recent sedimentary basins in Central Tunisia correspond to a set of depocenters with complex geometry which are bounded by E-W, N070 and N-S brittle structures. These bordering faults, active during Eocene and Cretaceous times, have been rejuvenated at the end of the Neogene and during Quaternary in a relay pattern system associated with compressive and extensive deformations according to the alternance of extension and compression phases (Tortonian Atlasic Phase of compression, post tectonic top Miocene-early Pleistocene extension associated to the rifting of the Tyrrhenian Basin, and Pleistocene Phase of compression). These tectonic regime changes involve subsidence inversions. Moreover, the neotectonic study carried out along the strike-slip faults corridories and their associated structures enable us : -- to precise the timing of the tectonic deformations ; -- to establish tectono-sedimentary relationships of Mio-Plio-Quaternary age.