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Transverse zones are important syn-kinematic components of thrust belt development. Various scales of data were utilized to develop three-dimensional geometric and kinematic models for the Bessemer transverse zone (BTZ) of the Alabama Alleghanian thrust belt. Regional analysis of the BTZ began with the examination of geologic maps (1:250,000, 1:48,000, and 1:24,000 scales), seismic reflection profiles, well data, and previous stratigraphic research. All Paleozoic-age stratigraphic contacts, major thrust faults and associated folds, and various unnamed minor structures were compiled to create two strike-perpendicular, and five-strike parallel, cross sections transecting the extent of the BTZ at a scale of 1:100,000. The balanced and viable cross sections were used to create palinspastic maps of the BTZ. The deformed cross sections and geologic maps, and the restored cross sections and palinspastic maps, model the post- and prekinematic geometry of the transverse zone, respectively. Additional geological fieldwork in the northwestern part of the BTZ permitted the construction of geologic maps (1:24,000 scale) documenting cross-strike links (the fundamental unit of transverse zones) exposed at the present erosional surface (Concord and McCalla 7.5 quadrangles). Balanced and viable geologic cross sections (1:24,000 scale) were constructed from these data and placed parallel and perpendicular to strike of cross-strike links. The cross sections were restored and used to create 1:24,000-scale palinspastic maps of the cross-strike links in this part of the BTZ. The cross sections and maps model the three-dimensional geometry of the cross-strike links comprising the BTZ. Sub-allochthon basement structures are present beneath the thrust transport vectors of cross-strike links in the BTZ, indicating genetic relationships between transverse zone structures and underlying basment structures. Basement-graben related changes in the stratigraphic thickness of the decollement-host horizon are interpreted as having localized and facilitated growth of the Bessemer mushwad, a ductile duplex in the allochthon. The muswad localized the structural position of two thrust sheets and several cross-strike links in the BTZ. Geologic map patterns of the transverse zone indicate a break-back deformation sequence for the BTZ, interpreted as a response to decollement propagation through an allochthon-spanning weak decollement-host horizon, which had large stratigraphic thickness variations in basement grabens.

The southern and central Appalachian foreland fold-thrust belt comprises a series of orogen -scale curves that extend from Alabama to New York. One of these is the Tennessee salient, a foreland-convex curve that extends from Cartersville, Georgia, to Roanoke, Virginia. Development of a kinematic model for deformation in the salient has been hindered by a paucity of penetrative deformation in this generally low temperature, low volume-loss portion of the orogen. Industry seismic reflection lines provide greater resolution of subsurface geometry of both the basement surface and the overlying fold-thrust belt, confirming some previous interpretations and changing others. A series of cross sections based on the seismic reflection data incorporates the improved understanding of basement geometry, as well as new interpretations of fold-thrust belt structures such as a sub-thrust detachment fold along the western margin of the Valley and Ridge, a smaller detachment fold along the Cumberland Escarpment, and a duplex below the Knoxville sheet in southeastern Tennessee. The cross sections, combined with recently published analyses of calcite twin strain and paleomagnetic data around the salient, provide sufficient data to develop a new palinspastic reconstruction method and to propose a kinematic model for development of the salient. The basis of the reconstruction method is, in areas where the front of the indenter is oriented oblique to transport, the maximum shortening direction and particle displacement paths are also oblique to the bulk transport direction. Cross sections, kinematic indicators, and palinspastic reconstructions suggest that the Tennessee salient is a primary arc formed by a combination of uniform displacement in a single direction and transport-parallel simple shear (plane strain), that most major faults formed initially curved in front of the irregularly shaped Blue Ridge-Inner Piedmont indenter, and that transport in the fold-thrust belt may have occurred by plan view movement on networks of minor faults, which permitted forelandward propagation of the curved faults without significant rotation. Although the technique does not provide a unique solution, the resulting palinspastic restoration is kinematically admissible and geometrically reasonable. So, it may improve palinspastic restorations of facies in basins with no vertical axis rotations and minimal penetrative strain. Attachments are in PDF format and may be opened with Adobe Reader™.

Early Pennsylvanian, coal-bearing, siliciclastic strata of the Breathitt Group within the Pocahontas Basin, southwestern Virginia, define a southeasterly thickening clastic wedge deposited in continental to marginal marine environments influenced by recurring, high-magnitude relative sea-level fluctuations and low-frequency changes in tectonic loading. A robust dataset of >1200 well logs, cores and numerous outcrops allowed a unique review of the Central Appalachian lithologic record during both the Late Paleozoic Ice Age and onset of the Alleghanian Orogeny. The tropical depositional landscape produced stacked deposits of braided-fluvial channels, broad alluvial plains, tidally-influenced estuaries and small deltas. Trends in facies associations allowed development of a high-resolution sequence stratigraphic architecture based on regional flooding surfaces and bounding discontinuities. Analysis of vertical stacking patterns of lithofacies on regional cross-sections identified 15 widespread, unconformity-bounded depositional sequences with an average duration of ~80 kyr based on available geochronology. Glacioeustatic control on stratigraphic architecture is supported by corresponding sequence duration within the short-eccentricity periodicity of the Milankovitch band, as well as the magnitude and extent of rapid facies shifts, suggesting that far-a-field variations in overall Gondwanan ice-sheet size and volume impacted base-level changes in the tropical basin. The progressive increase in magnitude of transgressions, as indicated by brackish-marine ichnofacies and other faunal indicators within regional high-frequency transgressive system tracts, indicate extrabasinal trends in ice-volume and eustasy. High-frequency eustatic sequences are nested within four asymmetric composite-sequences, attributed to low-frequency variations in tectonic accommodation. Evidence for tectonic forcing on foreland-basin accommodation is based on abrupt facies shifts, angular stratal terminations and wedge-shaped composite-sequence geometries. Spatial and temporal trends in facies associations within composite-sequences reveal episodic variation in tectonic loading overprinted by recurring high-frequency eustatic events. Petrology and detrital-zircon geochronology indicates that sediment was derived from low-grade metamorphic Grenvillian-Avalonian terranes and recycling of older Paleozoic sedimentary rocks uplifted as part of the Alleghanian orogen towards the southeast and, in part, from the Archean Superior Province to the north. Applications of the observed facies distribution and petrophysics of these coal-bearing sedimentary rocks indicate numerous confining intervals within regional mudstones overlying coalbeds, suggesting the potential for beneficial geological storage of CO2 through enhanced-coal-bed-methane recovery. / Ph. D.

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Cette thèse présente la reconstruction de l’histoire tectono-thermique du massif varisque des Jebilet (Maroc) à fort potentiel minier, depuis son évolution pré-orogénique au Dévonien supérieur-Carbonifère inférieur jusqu’à sa structuration pendant l’orogénèse varisque-alléghanienne au Carbonifère supérieur-Permien inférieur. Pour répondre à cette problématique, ce travail s’organise autour de deux approches : (1) l’une métrologique appliquée à la géothermométrie Raman sur la matière carbonée (RSCM) et (2) l’autre intégrant une étude structurale, géochronologique et une analyse de la thermicité.L’approche métrologique a permis de valider l’applicabilité du géothermomètre RSCM (1) dans un contexte de métamorphisme polyphasé, (2) pour des roches carbonatées et des skarns des Jebilet et (3) de proposer un nouveau paramètre Raman RSA permettant de mieux préciser les températures supérieures à 500°C et d’étendre l’applicabilité de la méthode jusqu’à des températures maximales qui atteignent les 700°C.A partir de l’approche intégrée, trois épisodes tectono-thermiques ont été mis en évidence. Le premier épisode D₀ correspond à une tectonique extensive permettant l’ouverture du bassin des Jebilet au Dévonien supérieur-Carbonifère inférieur. Cette tectonique extensive est accompagnée par une anomalie thermique supérieure à 500°C déduites des mesures de géothermométrie RSCM (TRSCM) et par une importante activité magmatique bimodale et granodioritique datée dans ce travail entre 358 ± 7 et 336 ± 4 Ma. Au Carbonifère supérieur débute la phase compressive structurant le massif des Jebilet avec la mise en place de nappes superficielles au Namuro-Westphalien (D₁), suivie par la phase varisque majeure (D₂). L’analyse structurale a permis de montrer une évolution progressive du régime de déformation de D2 depuis une compression coaxiale à une transpression dextre compatible avec un raccourcissement horizontal WNW-ESE à NW-SE. D₂₁ est associée à deux événements thermiques, le premier syn-tectonique de moyenne température (300°<TRSCM<400°C), et le second syn- à post-tectonique de haute température (600°<TRSCM<660°C).Ce contexte tectono-thermique serait l’expression de processus géodynamiques impliquant à partir du Dévonien supérieur une délamination de la lithosphère rhéïque par « slab break-off » ou « slab roll-back » qui entrainerait (1) la remontée de courant asthénosphérique chaud, et (2) la rotation horaire de Gondwana et son amalgamation progressive avec Laurussia structurant au Carbonifère supérieur-Permien inférieur la chaine varisque-alléghanienne. / This thesis presents the reconstruction of the tectono-thermal history of the Paleozoic Jebilet massif (Morocco), from its pre-orogenic evolution at the Upper Devonian-Lower Carboniferous to its structuration during the variscan-alleghanian orogeny at the Upper Carboniferous-Lower Permian. To address this issue, this work is organized around two approaches: (1) one metrological applied to the Raman Spectroscopy of Carbonaceous Matterial (RSCM) and (2) the other integrating a structural and geochronological study and a thermicity analysis.The metrological approach allowed to validate the applicability of the RSCM geothermometer (1) in a context of polyphase metamorphism, (2) for carbonate rocks and skarns of Jebilet and (3) to propose a new parameter Raman RSA allowing to better specify temperatures above 500°C and extend the applicability of the method to maximum temperatures of up to 700°C.From the integrated approach, three tectono-thermal episodes were highlighted. The first episode D₀, corresponds to an extensive tectonic allowing the opening of the Jebilet basin at the Upper Devonian-Lower Carboniferous. This opening is accompanied by a HT thermal anomaly as shown by the important bimodal and granodioritic magmatic activity dated between 358 ± 7 Ma and 336 ± 4 Ma and the TRSCM higher than 500°C recorded by the rocks. During Upper Carboniferous, the compressive phase structuring the Jebilet massif begins with the emplacement of superficial nappes (D₁), followed by the variscan major phase (D2). Structural analysis showed a gradual evolution of D₂ deformation regime from coaxial compression to dextral transpression consistent with WNW-ESE to NW-SE horizontal shortening. D₂ is associated with two thermal events, the first is syn-tectonic with TRSCM between 300 and 400°C, and the second is syn- to post-tectonic with TRSCM between 600 and 660°C.This tectono-thermal context would be the expression of geodynamic processes involving from the Upper Devonian a delamination of the Rheic lithosphere by "slab break-off" or "slab roll-back" which would induce (1) the rise of hot asthenospheric current, and (2) the clockwise rotation of Gondwana and its gradual amalgamation with Laurussia structuring the variscan-alleghanian belt during the Upper Carboniferous-Lower Permian.

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