On Land Evidence of Ligurian Margin Normal Faults at St-Jean Cap-Ferrat (France)

Abstract

The French Riviera has witnessed a succession of E-W trending compressions during the Oligocene period and a N-S trending compression during the Mio-Pliocene. The presence of the Ligurian Sea and drifting of the Corsica block are due to a NW-SE trending Oligo-Miocene extension. The markers of each compression are recognizable from the geological maps and they have been studied extensively in the literature. However, markers of the Ligurian Basin opening have never been described on land in the French Riviera. The structural study of the Cap-Ferrat Peninsula, at the South edge of the Nice arc, shows normal and inverse fault clusters. Their chronological relationships and the main trend of their respective stress tensors agree with the different known tectonic events and allow identification of the missing Oligo-Miocene extension on land.

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Published by The Chinese Geoscience Union