MARCAILLOU , B.

New geodynamical data from West Africa bring consistent informations on the pre-Mesozoic reconstruction within a large area running from the western Sahara to the Colombian cordillera. These new data support a Neoproterozoic Ocean (WANO) between the Amazonian (AMC) and West African (WAC) cratons previously to the Iapetus and Rheic oceans. We...

This special issue includes papers covering various topics of importance in the Caribbean such as geodynamics, environmental evolutions and natural hazards (fig. 1). This collection of articles focuses in particular on geodynamic processes occurring along the Caribbean plate boundaries, on volcanic hazards and on flooding. Given the recently...

Marine Geology, v. 255, n. 1-2, p. 30-44, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2008.07.003

Marine Geophysical Researches, v. 27, n. 4, p. 289-300, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11001-006-9009-y

International audience

Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 111, n. B12, p. B12407, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2005JB004239

Splay faults within accretionary complexes are commonly associated with the updip limit of the seismogenic zone. Prestack depth migration of a multichannel seismic line across the north Ecuador–south Colombia oceanic margin images a crustal splay fault that correlates with the seaward limit of the rupture zone of the 1958 (Mw 7.7) tsunamogenic...

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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International audience

International audience

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 272, n. 1-2, p. 296-308, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2008.04.049

At the North-Ecuadorian convergent margin (1°S–1.5°N), the subduction of the rough Nazca oceanic plate leads to tectonic erosion of the upper plate and complex seismogenic behavior of the megathrust. We used three selected pre-stack depth migrated, multi-channel seismic reflection lines collected during the SISTEUR cruise to investigate the...

Strain partitioning related to oblique plate convergence has long been debated in Northern Lesser Antilles. Geophysical data acquired during the ANTITHESIS cruises highlight that the sinistral strike‐slip Bunce Fault develops along the vertical, long, and linear discontinuity between the sedimentary wedge and a more rigid backstop. The...

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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...

Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 109, p. B11103, 2004. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2004JB003060

Classically, deepwater fold-and-thrust belts are classified in two main types, depending if they result from near- or far-field stresses and the understanding of their driving and triggering mechanism is poorly known. We present a geophysical dataset off the western margin of New Caledonia (SW Pacific) that reveals deformed structures of a...

Transform marginal plateaus (TMPs) are large and flat structures commonly found in deep oceanic domains, but their origin and relationship to adjacent oceanic lithosphere remain poorly understood. This paper focuses on two conjugate TMPs, the Demerara Plateau off Suriname and French Guiana and the Guinea Plateau, located at the junction of the...

Ecuador and southwest (SW) Colombia suffered widespread damage during the twentieth century as a result of some of the greatest subduction earthquakes and associated tsunamis ever recorded. In 1906, the Ecuador-SW Columbia margin, located at the transition between the continent and deep ocean, ruptured over a 500-kilometer length as a single...

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...

Norfolk Ridge bounds the northeastern edge of the continent of Zealandia and is proximal to where Cenozoic Tonga-Kermadec subduction initiation occurred. We present and analyze new seismic reflection, bathymetric and rock data from Norfolk Ridge that show it is composed of a thick sedimentary succession and that it was formed and acquired its...