Abstract
The pre-rift Mesozoic sequences of the Cretaceous passive margins fossilized in the North Pyrenean Zone (NPZ) are characterized by high temperature deformation in relation with thinning of the continental basement. Our compilation of chronological and geological data confirms a clear correlation between the distribution of the highest paleotemperatures in the pre-rift sedimentary cover and the loci of extreme crustal stretching. Geological evidences such as the occurrence of peridotite bodies directly underlying metamorphic pre-rift sediments indicate an early attenuation of the rifted continental crust. This leads us to propose a mechanism of rifting involving boudinage of the continental crust. The lateral extraction of the Paleozoic basement occurred under the pre-rift cover that is decoupled on the Triassic clays and evaporates. The thermal conditions allowing coeval ductile deformation of the crust and of the pre-rift sediments leaded to the widening of basins devoid of large faulted blocks. We discuss the implications on the origin and significance of the granulites and the relations between flysch deposition and high temperature metamorphism of the pre-rift sediments. In the NPZ, Albian-Cenomanian flysch sequences were deposited synchronously with the syn-metamorphic ductile deformation of the pre-rift sequences. Since the base of the flysch deposits also recorded locally the high-temperature tectonic event, we propose an original mechanism for the evolution of the basins involving continuous deformation of the pre-rift metamorphic sediments. At the scale of the Pyrenean domain, our results suggest a strong lateral variability in the tectonic style of passive margins, in direct link with their thermic pattern