Carine Grelaud

This study predicts sedimentary architectures and facies distribution within the Pliocene prograding prism of the Roussillon Basin (Gulf of Lion, France), developed along an onshore–offshore continuum. Boreholes and outcrops provide facies-scale observations onshore, while seismic data capture basin-scale structures offshore. Forward seismic modeling bridges spatial and scale gaps between these datasets, yielding characteristic synthetic seismic signatures for the sedimentary facies associations observed onshore, used as analogs for offshore deposits. These signatures are then identified in offshore seismic data, allowing seismic profiles to be populated with sedimentary facies without a well tie. Predicted offshore architectures are consistent with shoreline trajectories and facies successions observed onshore. The Roussillon prism records passive margin reconstruction in the Mediterranean Basin following the Messinian Salinity Crisis, through the following three successive depositional profiles marking the onset of infilling: (1) Gilbert deltas, (2) wave- and storm-reworked fan deltas, and (3) a wave-dominated delta. Offshore, transitions in clinoform type modify sedimentary architectures, influenced by inherited Messinian paleotopography. This autogenic control generates spatial variability in accommodation, driving changes in depositional style. Overall, this multi-scale and integrative approach provides a robust framework for predicting offshore sedimentary architectures and can be applied to other deltaic settings with limited land–sea data continuity.

A site in the western flank of Jabal Ja'alan (Oman Mountains) reveals an exceptional succession across the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary. The sampled interval comprises a series of carbonates deposited in shallow‐water platform environments and belonging to the Murka Formation, which lies between the Simsima and Abat formations of latest Cretaceous and Thanetian age, respectively. The larger foraminifera recovered from this interval belong essentially to the group of larger rotaliids (Rotaliidae). Two new genera and two new species are here described, Praelockhartia neoakbari gen. et sp. nov. and Rotaliidium parvum gen. et sp. nov. The former shows a very characteristic architecture of an umbilicus with strong piles and two types of umbilical cavities, while the latter has characteristic dorsal supplementary chamberlets. Other species such as Rotalia cf. jacobi, Rotorbinella hensoni, Rotospirella conica and Lockhartia sp. complete the rotaliid assemblage. The entire assemblage can be considered to be of late Danian age and to belong to shallow benthic zone SBZ 2. The larger rotaliids appear to have recovered and diversified earlier than any other larger benthic foraminifera in the region after the K–Pg crisis. The rotaliids from the Murka Formation also appear to be linked to the Lockhartiinae and to play a special role in improving our understanding of subsequent diversification in the Lockhartia Sea. A new subfamily, Praelockhartiinae, is erected to accommodate all primitive forms that are architecturally close to lockhartiines.

The occurrence of major hydrocarbon prone Mesozoic source rock sequences of the eastern Arabian plate is directly tied to the generation of intra-shelf basins within the giant carbonate platforms that formed during this time period. This paper investigates the driving forces behind the formation of intra-shelf basins and related source-rock/seal sequences. Results impact topics such as exploration, reservoir distribution, regional tectonics and climate modelling. A combination of large scale regional stratigraphic correlations, age dating, geochemical indicators and global climatic/tectonic events are investigated to explain differences and commonalities in basin formation and their impact on source rock seal pairs. In the Mesozoic major intra-shelf basins existed during three time periods: in the Late Jurassic during the Oxfordian to Tithonian, and in the Cretaceous during the Aptian and the Cenomanian. The late Jurassic basin is predominantly generated by plate margin tectonism possibly in conjunction with the rejuvenation of major WNW-ESE and N-S basement structures. Uplift at the eastern plate margin during the late Jurassic caused exposure at the eastern plate margin towards the Neo-Tethys, which in combination with sea level fluctuations resulted in the deposition of several large scale cycles. In central Abu Dhabi westward progradation of the Tuwaiq Mountain, Hanifa and Jubaila Sequences into an intrashelf basin are key evidence for the eastern uplift as are large scale collapse features reported from the eastern margin itself. The widespread deposition of the Arab and Hith anhydrites in the interior of the eastern Arabian plate are taken as further evidence for tectonically driven basin isolation leading to restricted evaporitic conditions. In contrast, the Cretaceous Aptian and Cenomanian intra-shelf basins formed mainly as a consequence of environmental/climatic disturbances associated with global oceanic anoxic events. During these times of global climate stress carbonate sedimentation was unable to keep up in areas with relatively high subsidence rates and laterally segregated providing the impulse for a switch from flat-topped platforms to a nascent basin topography (Hawar & Thamama A/Shuaiba during the latest Bar/Early Aptian; AP Apt 1), and Mauddud FM (latest Albian). Subsequent differential aggradation in combination with continued subsidence led to the full development of the basin topography in the early Aptian (AP Apt2–4; Bab Basin) and early Cenomanian (Shilaif Basin). Significantly, detailed carbon isotopic data indicate that climatic disturbances and the onset of oceanic anoxic events correspond to the generation of the initial topography and not to the onset of the deposition of organic rich basin fill sediments. Subsequent to deposition of organic rich sequences Cretaceous intra-shelf basins are dominated by argillaceous limestones and siliciclastics (Bab basin: Upper Bab Member - AP Apt5 and basal Nahr Umr AP-Apt6; Shilaif Basin: lower & upper Tuwayil FM). Thus, basin fill differs significantly between the late Jurassic tectonic basin featuring evaporate seals (Arab and Hith FM) and the Cretaceous climatic/constructional intrashelf basins being covered by clastic-rich sequences. Finally, it is postulated that the formation of another intra-shelf basin associated with the Valenginian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE1) was prevented by a regional tectonic uplift and platform exposure during the Late Valenginian.

The Atlas Mountains are classically regarded as a failed Mesozoic rift arm subject to Alpine inversion, folding and thrusting. Here, we present new integrated structural and sedimentological studies that have revealed numerous Early–Middle Jurassic diapiric ridges and minibasins, characterized by distinctive halokinetic structures. Diachroneity in halokinesis is observed across the Central High Atlas, waning first in the SW during the Early–Middle Jurassic (Jbel Azourki and Tazoult ridges) and continuing to late Middle Jurassic towards the NE (Imilchil region). The halokinetic structures are readily differentiated from the effects of later Alpine deformation, allowing a new picture of the Central High Atlas to emerge. The most pervasive deformation in the Central High Atlas is associated with Early–Middle Jurassic diapirism, whereas the impact of Alpine inversion is mostly focused at the basin margins. This new understanding helps explain previously problematic aspects of the Atlas Mountains, which we now recognize as an exceptionally well exposed natural laboratory for understanding the interactions between halokinesis, tectonics and sedimentation.