LAURENCIN , Muriel

In subduction zones, the 3D geometry of the plate interface is one of the key parameters that controls margin tectonic deformation, interplate coupling and seismogenic behavior. The North American plate subducts beneath the convex Northern Lesser Antilles margin. This convergent plate boundary, with a northward increasing convergence obliquity,...

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The influence of the highly oblique plate convergence at the northern Lesser Antilles onto the margin strain partitioning and deformation pattern, although frequently invoked, has never been clearly imaged. The Anegada Passage is a set of basins and deep valleys, regularly related to the southern boundary of the Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands...

Along the convex Northern Lesser Antilles margin, plate convergence obliquity increases northward resulting in subduction normal to the trench to the west of Guadeloupe and highly oblique (>75°) to the North of Virgin Island. In this context, tectonic structures related to strain partitioning has long been debated, but are still poorly imaged....

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Since Cretaceous, the Lesser Antilles subduction zone has undergone a multiphase tectonic history resulting in its present-day complex architecture. One peculiar aspect for this subduction is the trench / arc convexity from Martinique, in the South, where the subduction is frontal, to Anguilla, to the North, where the convergence obliquity is...

Forearc sedimentary basins record changes in tectonic regime and are thus key area to investigate the tectonic history of a subduction zone through time.Since Cretaceous, The Lesser Antilles subduction zone has undergone a multiphase tectonic history resulting in its present-day complex architecture. One peculiar aspect for this subduction is...

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Oceanic crust formed at slow-spreading ridges is currently subducted in only a few places on Earth and the tectonic and seismogenic imprint of the slow-spreading process is poorly understood. Here we present seismic and bathymetric data from the Northeastern Lesser Antilles Subduction Zone where thick sediments enable seismic imaging to greater...

Worldwide, forearc trench-perpendicular basins are interpreted as the result of trench-parallel extension possibly due to either strain partitioning as at the Aleutians (Ryan & Scholl, 1989) and Ryukyu (Nakamura, 2004) Subduction Zones, and/or to increasing margin curvature as at the Marianas (Heeszel et al., 2008) and Hellenic trenches...

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In the frame of the ANR program GAARanti, aiming to track regional emersion surfaces and potential timing of land emersion or drowning, we conducted new field studies in islands belonging to the Anguilla Bank (Saint Barthélémy, Saint Martin, Tintamarre and Anguilla), the northernmost bank located in the forearc of the Lesser Antilles subduction...

In the frame of the GAARAnti ANR-17-CE31-0009 project, we aim at establishing the paleogeography of the arc/forearc areas of the Northern Lesser Antilles over the last 35 Ma to bring constraints for the mammal fauna dispersion paleo-biogeographic models from south America to Greater Antilles. Available paleogeographic maps are ancient (Stephan...

Understanding the physical parameters and processes that control the seismogenic behavior of subduction zones megathrust faults remains one of the outstanding challenges in Earth Sciences. Here we present important results from several large seismic experiments aimed at addressing this question. These experiments focused on the three subduction...

Our study aims to reconstruct the palaeogeography of the northern part of the Lesser Antilles in order to analyse whether emerged areas might have existed during the Cenozoic, favouring terrestrial faunal dispersals between South America and the Greater Antilles along the present-day Lesser Antilles arc. The stratigraphy and depositional...