Histoire Sédimentaire de la Région au large de la Côte d'Azur

Detailed investigation of a portion of the sea-floor off the French Riviera serves to detail the history of the Algéro-Provençal Basin. The chemical composition and physical properties of sediments and the stratigraphy and structural framework are considered together. Both stratigraphy and structural framework of the sedimentary cover are examined by means of deep drilling, coring and seismic reflection. It appears that the unconsolidated sedimentary cover of the continental slope is Plio-Quaternary in age. This cover displays abundant slumping structures which have resulted from contemporaneous tectonic movements. The basement south of Cannes corresponds to an extension of the crystalline Maures Massif which subsided during Mio-Pliocene time. The central portion of the Algéro-Provençal Basin is covered by an evaporite layer of Miocene age (Messinian, 6 to 9 MY) which forms numerous diapiric structures in this region. It is likely that the evaporite layer resulted from deposition in a lagoonal environment following the formation of the basin in Oligo-Miocene time. Subsequently, the central (presently oceanic) portion of the basin and contiguous continental margins subsided. [NOT CONTROLLED OCR]