Table Of ContentTHE OCEAN BASINS
AND MARGINS
Volume 8
The Tethys Ocean
THE OCEAN BASINS AND MARGINS
Volume 1 The South Atlantic
Volume 2 The North Atlantic
Volume 3 The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean
Volume4A The Eastern Mediterranean
Volume 4B The Western Mediterranean
Volume 5 The Arctic Ocean
Volume 6 The Indian Ocean
Volume 7 The Pacific Ocean (in two parts)
Volume 8 The Tethys Ocean
THE OCEAN BASINS
AND MARGINS
Volume 8
The Tethys Ocean
Edited by
Alan E. M. Nairn
University of South Carolina
Columbia. South Carolina
Luc-Emmanuel Ricou
CNRS
Paris. France
Bruno Vrielynck
CNRS
Paris. France
and
Jean Dercourt
Universite Pierre et Marie Curie
Paris. France
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC
The Library of Congress has cataloged earlier volumes of this series as follows:
Nairn, A. E. M.
The ocean basins and margins.
Includes bibliographies.
Contents: v. 1. The South Atlantic. —v. 2. The North Atlantic. —[etc.]—v. 7B.
The Pacific Ocean.
1. Submarine geology. 2. Continental margins. I. Stehli, Francis Greenough, joint author.
QE39.N27 551.4*608 72-83046
ISBN 978-1-4899-1560-3 ISBN 978-1-4899-1558-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-1558-0
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1996
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1996
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996
10 987654321
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written
permission from the Publisher
CONTRIBUTORS
Jacques Azema Yves Bellion
CNRS URA 1761, Departement de Faculte des Sciences, Universite
Geologie Sedimentaire, Universite d'Avignon, Avignon, France
Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
J. Besse
Jean-Jacques Bache
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris,
BRGM, 45060 Orleans Cedex, France
Paris, France
Gyorgy Bardossy
Jean-Pierre Burg
Hungarian Aluminum Industrial Co.,
Geologisches Institut, ITH Zentrum,
Ltd., Budapest, Hungary
Zurich, Switzerland
Jean-Paul Bassoullet
Gilbert Camoin
CNRS URA 1761 Departement de
Geologie Sedimentaire, Universite CNRS URA 1208, Centre de
Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France Sedimentologie et Paleontologie,
Universite de Provence,
Aymon Baud Marseille, France
Musee de Geologie, UNIL, BFSH2,
Lausanne, Switzerland Gabriel Carlier
ORSTOM, CS 1, UR 13, 75480 Paris,
Fran~ois Baudin France, and CNRS URA 736,
CNRS URA 1761, Departement de Laboratoire de Minerologie
Geologie Sedimentaire, Universite du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle,
Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France 75005 Paris, France
v
vi Contributors
Fabrizio Cecca Eric Fourcade
CNRS URA 1761, Departement de CNRS URA 1761, Departement de
Geologie Sedimentaire, Universite Geologie Sedimentaire, Universite
Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
Pierre-Jean Combes Rene Guiraud
Laboratoire de Geologie, Universite de Faculte des Sciences, Universite
Montpellier II, Montpellier, France d'Avignon, Avignon, France
Jean-Paul Herbin
Nicholas Cottereau
Departement de Geologie-Geochemie,
ELF, Pau, France
Institut Fran<;ais du Petrole, Rueil
Malmaison, France
Pierre Courjault-Rade
CNRS URA 67, Laboratoire de Zivko Ivanov
Petrophysique, 31400 Toulouse,
France Department of Geography and
Geology, Universite Klement
V. Courtillot Ochridski, Sofia, Bulgaria
Institute de Physique du Globe de
Etienne Jaillard
Paris, Paris, France
ORSTOM, CS1, UR 13, 75480 Paris
Cedex 10, France
Patrick De Wever
CNRS URA 1761, Laboratoire de
Laslo Klain
Geologie, Museum National
Geologisches Institut, ETH Zentrum,
d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
Ziirich, Switzerland
Jean Dercourt
Alain Levy
CNRS URA 1761, Departement de
CNRS URA 1315, Departement de
-Geologie Sedimentaire, Universite
Geologie Sedimentaire, Universite
Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
Dimo Dimov Jacques Lucas
Department of Geography and CNRS, Universite Louis Pasteur and
Geology, Universite Klement Centre de Geochimie de la Surface,
Ochridski, Sofia, Bulgaria Strasbourg, France
Raymond Enay Jean Marcoux
URAM, Universite Lyon 1, Laboratoire de Geologie, Universite
Villeurbanne, France Paris 7, et IPGP, Paris, France
Contributors vii
Rene Marocco Thierry Sempere
ORSTOM, CS1, UR 13, 75480 Paris 13 rue Geoffroy L'Angevin, 75004
Cedex 10, France Paris, France
Jean-Pierre Masse Pierre Soler
CNRS URA 1208, Centre de ORSTOM, TOA, 75480 Paris Cedex
Sedimentologie et Paleontologie, 10, France
Universite de Provence, Marseille,
France H. Theveniaut
Institute de Physique du Globe de
Jean Philip Paris, Paris, France
CNRS URA 1208, Centre de Present address: BRGM, La Source,
Sedimentologie et Paleontologie, Orleans, France
Universite de Provence, Marseille,
France Francis Tollon
CNRS URA 67, Laboratoire de Mine
Liliane Prevot-Lucas ralogie, 31400 Toulouse, France
CNRS, Universite Louis Pasteur and
Centre de Geochimie de la Surface, Bruno Vrielynck
Strasbourg, France
CNRS URA 1761, Departement de
Geologie Sedimentaire, Universite
Luc-Emmanuel Ricou
Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
CNRS URA 729, Laboratoire de
Paleomagnetisme et Geodynamique,
Institut de Physique du Globe de
Paris, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France
FOREWORD
TETHYS: THE QUEST FOR A WST OCEAN
This volume in the series The Ocean Basins and Margins is the final synthesis of a
five-year, multidisciplinary endeavor called the Tethys Project. The aim of this
project was to depict the origin, configuration, and evolution of the Tethys oceanic
realm, which separated North America, Europe, and Asia to the north from South
America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica to the south during the Mesozoic.
The buildup of the Alpine ranges from the Caribbean to Indonesia occurred during
its closure.
From 1987 to 1992, the Tethys Project involved academic sponsors (Pierre et
Marie Curie University of Paris, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) as
well as petroleum companies (BP, ELF-EAP, CFP-TOTAL, Shell) and applied
research centers (Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres, Institut Fran<;ais
du Petrole, Institut Fran<;ais de Recherche et Exploitation de la Mer). It was led by
Jean Dercourt (University P. et M. Curie) and Luc-Emmanuel Ricou (CNRS,
Paris).
The project developed in three stages, associating more than 100 experts who
synthesized their personal data, compiled already published observations, and ac
quired new field data on poorly known areas.
For each stage, specific products were developed. In the first stage, kinematics
and paleomagnetism were combined to locate continents for each main period,
determine major blocks, and follow their migration from Gondwana and their
progressive collision with Laurasia. This retrotectonic building stage materialized in
the publication of a first set of lithospheric atlases of the Mediterranean, as part of
UNESCO-IGCP project 198 (Rakus et al., 1989, 1990, 1991; Dercourt et al.,
ix
x Foreword
1990), the Caribbean (Stephan et al., 1990) and the Southwest Pacific (Rangin et
al., 1990).
After defining the frame, the second stage was devoted to paleogeographical
and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Tethys, again by the compilation of a
huge bibliography, use of original field work and analytical data obtained by the
authors in various regions, plotting various lithological or paleontological symbols
in their paleogeographic position followed by facies analysis to reconstruct paleo
environments. This endeavor resulted in the publication of a 14-map atlas at
1:20,000,000 (J. Dercourt, L.E. Ricou, and B. Vrielynck, 1993), displaying paleo
geographical and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Tethys ranging from Perm
ian (260 Ma), pre-Tethys time to Miocene (10 Ma), post-Tethys time, with each map
covering a time interval of 2 to 6 million years. More than 120 experts participated
in developing this atlas, which was accompanied by a detailed notice including
more than 1700 references.
These cartographic and analytical achievements were completed by a synthesis
using map data to sketch a thematic evolution of Tethys and deduce constraints
concerning the Earth's global behavior.
The volume is divided into six chapters. The first chapter consists of two parts,
by Ricou and by Besse et al. Ricou presents a synthesis of the plate-tectonics history
of the past Tethys Ocean, reconstructed through a set of 14 maps, and details the
kinematics of plates, blocks, and their boundaries around and within Tethys. Ricou
introduced the concept of transit plate(s), which, in eastern Tethys, controlled the
migration of blocks detached from the southern continent to become accreted to the
northern. Besse et al. used paleomagnetic data to propose a revised and improved
reconstruction of the apparent polar-wandering path of major cratons since the
Upper Carboniferous.
The second chapter presents new geological data. Guiraud and Bellion describe
the Late Carboniferous to Recent geodynamic evolution of the West Gondwanian
cratonic Tethyan margin and show that the western Gondwanian Rift System and
related magmatic provinces are related to the reactivation of pre-existing Pan
African zones of lithospheric weakness. Burg et al. studied the mylonitic gneisses
of the Rhodope Massif, assessing the kinematics of ductile deformation events and
the emplacement of a large-scale, nappe complex leading to a better reconstruction
of the Mesozoic Vardar Ocean.
The third chapter is a set of three papers dealing with Mesozoic paleo
geographical reconstructions of Tethys. Marcoux and Baud present a synthetic
comment on the Permo-Triassic map depicting the beginning of the breakup of
Pangea by rifting and spreading. Fourcade et al. synthesize the five maps of Jurassic
paleoenvironments showing that sedimentation was controlled by spreading that led
to the development of deep basins in the E-W Tethys Ocean and the establishment
of seaways that modified the oceanic circulation. Masse et al. describe the major
