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Coastal uplift west of Algiers (Algeria): pre- and post-Messinian sequences of marine terraces and rasas and their associated drainage pattern

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Abstract

The North Africa passive margin is affected by the ongoing convergence between the African and Eurasian plates. This convergence is responsible for coastal uplift, folding, and reverse faulting on new and reactivated faults on the margin. The active deformation is diffuse and thus rather difficult to locate precisely. We aim to determine how a coastal landscape evolve in this geodynamic setting and gain insights into active tectonics. More particularly, we evidence and quantify coastal uplift pattern of the Chenoua, Sahel, and Algiers reliefs (Algeria), using sequences of marine terraces and rasas and computing several morphometric indices from the drainage pattern. Upper and Middle Pleistocene uplift rates are obtained by fossil shoreline mapping and preliminary U/Th dating of associated coastal deposits. Extrapolation of these rates combined to analyses of sea-level referential data and spatial relationships between marine terraces/rasas and other geological markers lead us to tentatively propose an age for the highest coastal indicators (purported the oldest). Values of morphometric indices showing correlations with uplift rate allow us to analyze uplift variation on area devoid of coastal sequence. Geological and geomorphological data suggest that coastal uplift probably occurred since the Middle Miocene. It resulted in the emergence of the Algiers massif, followed by the Sahel ridge massif. The Sahel ridge has asymmetrically grown by folding from west to east and was affected by temporal variation of uplift. Compared to previous study, the location of the Sahel fold axis has been shifted offshore, near the coast. The Chenoua fault vertical motion does not offset significantly the coastal sequence. Mean apparent uplift rates and corrected uplift rates since 120 ka are globally steady all along the coast with a mean value of 0.055 ± 0.015 mm/year (apparent) and of 0.005 ± 0.045 mm/year (corrected for eustasy). Mean apparent coastal uplift rates between 120 and 400 ka increase eastward from 0.045 ± 0.025 to 0.19 ± 0.12 mm/year (without correction for eustasy) or from 0.06 ± 0.06 to 0.2 ± 0.15 mm/year (with correction for eustasy). In addition, the combination of structural and geomorphic data suggests a low uplift rate for the southern part of the Algiers massif.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially funded by the French CNES-TOSCA project and was supported by the Algerian Research Center in Astrophysics, Astronomy, and Geophysics (CRAAG). SPOT images were provided thanks to the ISI programm (©CNES 2010–2011, distribution SPOT images S.A.). We thank Daniel Melnick and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments that helped improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Domaines océaniques, UMR 6538- IUEM, Université de Brest, CNRS, Brest, Plouzané, France

    Christine Authemayou, Stéphane Molliex & Brigitte Van Vliet Lanoe

  2. Normandie Université, Caen, France

    Kevin Pedoja, Bernard Delcaillau & Maelle Nexer

  3. UCBN, M2C, 14000, Caen, France

    Kevin Pedoja, Bernard Delcaillau & Maelle Nexer

  4. UMR 6143 M2C, CNRS, 14000, Caen, France

    Kevin Pedoja, Bernard Delcaillau & Maelle Nexer

  5. CRAAG : Centre de Recherche en Astronomie, Astrophysique et géophysique, Route de l’observatoire, BP63, Bouzareah, Algiers, Algeria

    Aicha Heddar, Azzedine Boudiaf, Hamou Djellit & Karim Yelles

  6. GEOTOP-UQAM-McGILL, Université du Québec, Montréal, Canada

    Bassam Ghaleb

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  1. Christine Authemayou
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  2. Kevin Pedoja
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Correspondence to Christine Authemayou.

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Authemayou, C., Pedoja, K., Heddar, A. et al. Coastal uplift west of Algiers (Algeria): pre- and post-Messinian sequences of marine terraces and rasas and their associated drainage pattern. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 106, 19–41 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-016-1292-5

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