Christian Crouzet

A synthesis of more than 55 paleomagnetic studies yielding Tertiary primary or secondary magnetizations is used to evidence the rotations around a vertical axis since 40 Ma in the Western Alps and surrounding areas. In both external and internal zones of the orogenic prism, the rotations seem to be latitude dependent. In particular a widespread Eocene remagnetization of the Mesozoic European cover from Jura to Provence suggests possible effects of small local rotations of the External units of the belt. The most prominent feature is a consistent large (20–60 degrees) counterclockwise rotation observed in internal units and in the Northern Apennine areas. Also, the Corsica- North Sardinia block rotates similarly. Since the late Oligocene, apparent rotations around vertical axis are small North of the Po plain. It implies that the Torino-Monferrato North verging thrust plays a major role in accommodating the differential rotation. Therefore, domains separated from Europe by oceanic sutures (i.e. Liguria + Corsica − North Sardinia) can play as rigid bodies, while on the contrary, internal deformation deduced from paleomagnetic studies evidence that Apulia cannot be anymore regarded as a rigid body. In the Western Alps, the plate boundary, first localised at the ophiolite suture is then shifted along the Penninic Frontal Thrust. Tectonic models of the Alps that do not take into account the observed rotations have clearly to be reappraised.

Lake sediments are valuable archives and can help construct a chronology of event deposits induced by seismic events. Such a chronology can be used to better understand the recurrence times between seismic events over longer periods than those covered by historical seismicity catalogs. However, only a few studies in lake palaeoseismology have focused on areas with moderate seismicity. This study aims to improve the catalog of paleoseismological archives in the front of the Western Alps. In this part, new multi-proxy data from the sedimentary archives of Lake Aiguebelette (France) allow the identification of 32 homogenites (thickness ≥ 0.5 cm) interpreted as of coseismic origin over the Holocene. An age model based on short-lived radionuclides, paleomagnetic data and radiocarbon ages constrains the chronology of sedimentary deposits in the deep basin of Lake Aiguebelette. Among these homogenites, several were deposited at time intervals compatible with historical seismic events. To correlate the historical seismic events likely to have generated the event deposits identified in the sedimentary sequences of the deep basin of Lake Aiguebelette, the Earthquake Sensitivity Threshold Index (ESTI) method is used. Historical seismicity catalogs with uncertainties about intensities and epicenter coordinates for earthquakes make correlations to event deposits difficult. To better understand which seismic events may have been archived, a relative comparison was conducted between the pseudospectral acceleration (PSA) values calculated for each event in the FCAT-17 seismic catalog and for two distinct frequencies. Based on this PSA approach, for higher frequencies (5 Hz), the contribution of nearby and moderate events is significantly stronger than that of strong and distant events in the lake sequence of Aiguebelette. Thus, the chronicle established based on the event deposits archived in Lake Aiguebelette sediment is interpreted as representative of local events (epicentral distance to the lake < 50 km). Recurrence intervals between the deposition of event layers do not follow a specific distribution (log-normal, Weibull, gamma or exponential) but might be a combination of several distributions. This suggests possible coexistence of several processes over the Holocene, impacting the evolution of the seismicity in this area.