f Structural style and evolution of the Gulf of Lion Oligo-Miocene Rifting - Role of the Pyrenean orogeny

The Gulf of Lion area corresponds to the NW rifted margin of the NW-Mediterranean basin. Oceanic accretion occurred during the Burdigalian, following an Oligocene-Aquitanian rifting episode. The Gulf of Lion margin overprints the eastern part of the Late Cretaceous- Eocene Pyrenean orogen located between the present day Pyrenees and Provence. It is also superimposed onto the Mesozoic extensional basin related to the Liassic rifting of the Neo- Thethys. The Oligocene rifting is strongly contraled by the structures inherited from these two previous events.