Tectonic implications of canyon directions over the Northeast Atlantic Continental Margin

• Published in: Tectonics
• Main Authors: Lallemand, Serge, Sibuet, Jean-Claude
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de Géodynamique (ERA-601 CNRS ), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer - Brest (IFREMER Centre de Bretagne), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 1986
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.TE]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Tectonics; Charcot; Porcupine Seabight; Northeast Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261558; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261558/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261558/file/Lallemand1986-Tectonics.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/TC005i007p01125

International audience The basis of this study is a new bathymetric map of the northeast Atlantic compiled from previously published maps made from conventional echosounder data, plus all Sea Beam data acquired on board the R/V JEAN CHARCOT since 1977. As most of the Sea Beam data have been obtained on the continental margin from Porcupine Seabight to the south of the Iberian Peninsula, a precise picture of the continental slope is given. A statistical analysis of the canyons, based on 750 measurements, reveals that many of the canyons present sharp changes in their direction, indicating a structural control mainly linked to the late Hercynian trends, especially around the Iberian Peninsula. Nevertheless, the paths of canyons may merely reflect recent gravity processes, as in the Porcupine Seabight. Canyons locally follow the directions of listric and associated transecting faults (Permian to Triassic and upper Jurassic to lower Cretaceous), as on the Celtic