MESOZOIC PALEOSTRESS EVOLUTION IN THE SAHARAN PLATFORM (SOUTHERN TUNISIA)

A detailed analysis of brittle deformations in the Saharian platform of southern Tunisia is based on studies of fault-slip data sets and joint sets. It allows reconstruction of the Mesozoic paleostress evolution. During the Permo-Triassic, N-S extensions occurred with high late Permian subsidence rates. During the Norian, strike-slip movements reactivated former normal faults. During the Jurassic and the Cretaceous a succession of extensional events was characterized by : (1) a N-S extension which dominated from late Triassic to early Aptian. We relate this extension to the Africa-Eurasia divergence; (2) a ENE-WSW extension during the Cenomanian. We relate this extension to the opening of the African basins ; (3) a NE-SW Senonian extension that continued during the Cenozoic in the Jeffara and in the Gabes Gulf, during the further evolution of the northern African margin. The various compressional trends recorded in the platform are attributed to Cenozoic events.