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The rheology and strength of the lower crust play a key role in lithosphere dynamics, influencing the orogenic cycle and how plate tectonics work. Despite their geological importance, the processes that cause weakening of the lower crust and strain localization are still poorly understood. Through microstructural analysis of naturally deformed samples, this PhD aims to investigate how weakening and strain localization occurs in the mafic continental lower crust. Mafic granulites are analysed from two unrelated continental lower crustal shear zones which share comparable mineralogical assemblages and high-grade deformation conditions (T > 700 °C and P > 6 Kbar): the Seiland Igneous Province in northern Norway (case-study 1) and the Finero mafic complex in the Italian Southern Alps (case-study 2). Case-study 1 investigates a metagabbroic dyke embedded in a lower crustal metasedimentary shear zone undergoing partial melting. Shearing of the dyke was accompanied by infiltration of felsic melt from the adjacent partially molten metapelites. Findings of case-study 1 show that weakening of dry and strong mafic rocks can result from melt infiltration from nearby partially molten metasediments. The infiltrated melt triggers melt-rock reactions and nucleation of a fine-grained (< 10 µm average grain size) polyphase matrix. This fine-grained mixture deforms by diffusion creep, causing significant rheological weakening. Case-study 2 investigates a lower crustal shear zone in a compositionally-layered mafic complex made of amphibole-rich and amphibole-poor metagabbros. Findings of case-study 2 show that during prograde metamorphism (T > 800 °C), the presence of amphibole undergoing dehydration melting reactions is key to weakening and strain localization. Dehydration of amphibole generates fine-grained symplectic intergrowths of pyroxene + plagioclase. These reaction products form an interconnected network of fine-grained (< 20 µm average grain size) polyphase material that deforms by diffusion creep, causing strain partitioning and localization in amphibole-rich layers. Those layers without amphibole fail to produce an interconnected network of fine grained material. In this layers, plagioclase deforms by dislocation creep, and pyroxene by microfracturing and neocrystallization. Overall, this PhD research highlights that weakening and strain localization in the mafic lower crust is governed by high-T mineral and chemical reactions that drastically reduce grain size and trigger diffusion creep.

Dans ce travail de thèse, nous analysons la structure crustale de la marge est-algérienne et du bassin adjacent (région d’Annaba), à partir d’un ensemble de nouvelles données acquises durant la Campagne SPIRAL’2009 incluant un profil sismique terre-mer de ~240 km de long, des lignes sismiques réflexion pénétrante 360-traces, et des profils gravimétriques et magnétiques. Nous avons par ailleurs disposé pour cette étude de données complémentaires incluant notamment un ensemble de profils de sismique réflexion offrant des résolutions complémentaires. La structure crustale ainsi établie nous permet de discuter les nombreux modèles cinématiques d’ouverture du bassin est-algérien proposés dans la littérature, afin de caler dans le temps la formation du bassin par rapport à la collision. Elle permet également de discuter la localisation de la déformation liée à la réactivation de la marge, par rapport aux grands domaines lithosphériques du système marge-bassin, afin de mieux comprendre les modalités de l’inversion. Dans le bassin profond, la modélisation directe des temps d’arrivée et des amplitudes des ondes réfractées et réfléchies met en évidence une croûte océanique anormalement mince de 5-5.5 km d’épaisseur, composée de deux couches. La première, de 2.2 km d’épaisseur, montre des vitesses comprises entre 4.8 à 6.0 km/s impliquant un fort gradient; la seconde de 3.3 km d’épaisseur, présente des vitesses comprises entre 6.0 à 7.1 km/s et un plus faible gradient de vitesse. La modélisation des temps d’arrivées des ondes S fourni pour cette couche un coefficient de Poisson de 0.28, indiquant qu’elle est majoritairement constituée de gabbros. / In this study, we determine the deep structure of the eastern Algerian basin and its southern margin in the Annaba region (easternmost Algeria), to better constrain the plate kinematic reconstruction in this region. This study is based on new geophysical data collected during the SPIRAL cruise in 2009 that included a wide-angle, 240-km-long, onshore-offshore seismic profile, multichannel seismic reflection lines, and gravity and magnetic data, which was complemented by the available geophysical data for the study area. The analysis and modeling of the wide-angle seismic data using travel-times and amplitudes, and integrated with the multichannel seismic lines, reveal the detailed structure of an ocean-to-continent transition. In the deep basin, there is an ~5.5-km-thick oceanic crust that is composed of two layers. The upper layer of the crust is defined by a high velocity gradient and P-wave velocities between 4.8 km/s and 6.0 km/s from the top to the bottom. The lower crust is defined by a lower velocity gradient and P-wave velocity between 6.0 km/s and 7.1 km/s. The Poisson ratio in the lower crust deduced from S-wave modeling is 0.28, which indicates that the lower crust is composed mainly of gabbros. Below the continental edge, a typical continental crust with P-wave velocities between 5.2 km/s and 7.0 km/s from the top to the bottom shows a gradual seaward thinning of ~15 km over an ~35-km distance.