Calculating rates of syndepositional normal faulting in the western margin of the Mesozoic Subalpine Basin (south-east France)

A method is developed to quantify the rate of fault movement, with a very fine time-resolution, so that relevant histories of fault movements can be obtained. The study subject is a Triassic-Jurassic syndepositional normal fault located at the margin of an intracratonic deep basin, the Subalpine basin of south-eastern France. The fault has recently been identified and specifically investigated by a seismic survey along with drilling (Geologie profonde de la France Program). The investigation is based on correlation of time-lines on both sides of the structure through a period of about 70 Myr. Correlations have been made using variable approaches depending on the stratigraphic interval: recognition of laterally continuous marker-beds, biostratigraphic information and application of genetic stratigraphy concepts. In the case of biostratigraphic data, absolute ages are assigned to selected lines of correlation to determine time lengths and calculate velocities of fault movements. A specific backstripping procedure is established. The differential subsidence history between the two sites is restored not as a simple subtraction made after conventional backstripping on each site but as the sum of discrete differential subsidence increments calculated for each chronostratigraphic interval. The originality of the work lies in the completion of the supporting data base, implementation of high-resolution correlations within the large time-span of the investigation and development of a method to calculate the differential subsidence. Even though unassessable errors and uncertainties are still associated with the stratigraphic correlations, the backstripping procedure and the chronological control, the overall method offers a certain validity because the calculated and the observed differential subsidences are close. Beyond the obvious control on depositional geometries and localization of some reservoirs at the toe of the fault, the kinetic regime of the normal fault played an indirect but crucial part in the differential burial-related alteration of the reservoirs recorded on both sides of the fault. The high accuracy of the calculation has revealed that: (1) the growth pattern of the fault does not result from a continuous thermomechanical process but is composed of a series of rifting and sliding events related to gravity-driven extension; (2) the spectacular differential stratigraphic record on both sides of the fault is associated with fairly low values of the fault growth rate (maximum of 165 m Myr(-1)). The method for measuring the growth of structures can be applied to any tectonic and sedimentary environment and offers a wide range of applications.