The structural evolution of the English Channel area

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Authors: Lagarde, J.L., Amorese, D., Font, Marianne, Laville, E., Dugué, Olivier
• Other Authors: Morphodynamique Continentale et Côtière (M2C), Université de Caen Normandie (UNICAEN), Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rouen Normandie (UNIROUEN), Normandie Université (NU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2003
• Subjects: late Cenozoic; reactivated faults; tectonics; differential uplift; drainage; [SDU.STU.GM]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geomorphology; [SDU.STU.TE]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Tectonics; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00175556; https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.744

International audience The structural evolution of the English Channel area is controlled by structure and particularly by the pre-existing Cadomian and Variscan crustal discontinuities, which have been reactivated repeatedly in post-Variscan times. They controlled the crustal subsidence that produced basin development in the Mesozoic, prior to the sea-floor spreading in the North Atlantic region. They were then reactivated during the Cenozoic compression and basin inversion. The English Channel development is ascribed to mid-Tertiary differential uplift (Oligocene to Miocene). During late Tertiary to Quaternary times the Channel displays characteristics of a tectonically controlled fluvial basin periodically invaded by the sea. At the lithospheric scale, the Channel can be considered as an active intraplate area influenced by the NW–SE ‘Alpine push', the NW–SE ‘Atlantic ridge push' and glacial rebound stresses.