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The evolution of the Lansarine–Baouala salt canopy in the North African Cretaceous passive margin in Tunisia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2013

AMARA MASROUHI ,
OLIVIER BELLIER ,
HEMIN KOYI ,
JEAN-MARIE VILA  and
MOHAMED GHANMI
AMARA MASROUHI*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences of Gabès, University of Gabès, Cité Riadh 6072 Gabès, Tunisia
OLIVIER BELLIER
Affiliation:
CEREGE, UMR CNRS, Université Aix-Marseille, IRD, Collège de France, Europôle de l'Arbois, BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 4, France
HEMIN KOYI
Affiliation:
Hans Ramberg Tectonic Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavagen 16, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden
JEAN-MARIE VILA
Affiliation:
7 Avenue Lombart, 92260 Fontenay-aux-roses, Paris, France
MOHAMED GHANMI
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis-El-Manar, Tunisia
*
†Author for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

Detailed geological mapping, dating, and gravimetric and seismic data are used to interpret the Lansarine–Baouala salt structure (North Tunisia) as a salt canopy emplaced during the Cretaceous Period. The extensional tectonic regime related to the Cretaceous continental margin offered at least two factors that encouraged buried Triassic salt to extrude onto the sea floor and flow downslope: (i) extension induced normal faults that provided routes to the surface, and led to the formation of sub-marine slopes along which salt could flow; (ii) this structural setting led to differential sedimentation and consequently differential loading as a mechanism for salt movement. The present 40-km-long Lansarine–Baouala salt structure with its unique mass of allochthonous Triassic salt at surface was fed from at least four stems. The salt structure is recognized as one of the few examples worldwide of a subaerial salt canopy due to the coalescence of submarine sheets of Triassic salt extruded in Cretaceous times.

Keywords

outcropping salt canopyTriassic saltCretaceousTunisia
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 150 , Issue 5 , September 2013 , pp. 835 - 861
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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