The North Pyrenean Aquitaine Basin, France:
Evolution and Hydrocarbons1
Robert Bourrouilh,2 Jean-Paul Richert,3 and Greg Zolnaï4
ABSTRACT
The Mesozoic–Tertiary Aquitaine basin overlaps
the Aquitaine block and the northern edge of the
Iberian margin. Both units are situated in the south-
westernmost part of the European Continent. The
Aquitaine shelf is a stable platform overlying a rela-
tively thin crustal segment; it underwent extension-
al block faulting and many of its folded structures
are related to salt tectonism. The Iberian block is a
thicker lithospheric unit that acted as a buttress. At
the junction of these two structural domains the
South Aquitaine or North Pyrenean area developed,
where crustal stretching, rifting, wrenching, and
orogenic compression were maximal from the
Mesozoic to the Tertiary.
The history of the basin has been a suite of rift-
ing attempts, in the context of the progressive
opening of the Bay of Biscay, which never com-
pletely succeeded. The relative plate motions and
the later convergence led, nevertheless, to the for-
mation of the Aquitaine basin and to the emer-
gence of the Pyrenean fold belt.
The Mesozoic–Tertiary sedimentary infill of the
basin is mostly marine, with thick evaporites, stable
platform carbonates, subsiding platform shaly-cal-
careous deposits, and a characteristic, diachronous
turbiditic (flysch) and molasse complex.
©Copyright 1995. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All
rights reserved.
1 Manuscript received August 4, 1993; revised manuscript received
January 5, 1995; final acceptance January 25, 1995.
2 Laboratoire Cinématique Bassins et Marges, CIBAMAR, Université
Bordeaux I, 33405 Talence, France.
3ELF-Aquitaine Production, 64000 Pau, France.
4Consultant geologist, formerly with ELF-Aquitaine Production, 64000
Pau, France.
The authors thank the Direction Exploration of ELF-Aquitaine Production
for permission to publish their work and for material support. They are
indebted to their colleagues for steady support, advice, and data. Special
thanks are due to Jacques Henry and to members of the ELF-Aquitaine
Exploration team in Boussens, France, for continuing help over the years. We
thank the critical readers of AAPG for constructive remarks.
This paper was presented by the authors, as an oral presentation and
poster session, at the 1988 Nice International Convention of AAPG–Society
for Sedimentary Geology. It was completed, updated, and reworked in
1992–1993.
AAPG Bulletin, V. 79, No. 6 (June 1995), P. 831–853.
Events during the basin-forming, extensional,
and translational periods contributed more to the
generation of the hydrocarbon accumulations than
did the effects of the subsequent compressive
structural regime. The latter, however, may have
enhanced thermal flow and, thus, maturation of
hydrocarbon source rocks.
INTRODUCTION
The paper attempts an up-to-date regional syn-
thesis using the results of recent exploration and
facts of earlier, classical knowledge. Different types
of deformation mechanisms are envisioned and fol-
lowed through geological times. Both the role of
geological heritage and the effects of changing
stress fields are accounted for, in order to investi-
gate their impact on hydrocarbon habitat. Regional
and continental (global) considerations are blended
together with local exploration data to issue a real-
istic interpretation useful for future research work.
BASIN DEFINITION
The Aquitaine basin, in the large sense, took its
definitive shape during the Tertiary; elements of its
general framework have been present since the
end of the Variscan (Hercynian) orogeny. Its north-
ern limit (Figure 1), the shoal of Poitiers, has been a
slightly positive axis linking the Massif Central with
the Armorican fold belt during the whole
Mesozoic–Tertiary period. The shoal of Poitiers
allowed marine connection between the future
Paris and Aquitaine basins. In a somewhat similar
way, its southern limit (Figures 1, 2, 3b), i.e., the
northern edge of the Iberian landmass (the present-
day “axial” high chain of the Pyrenees) has been an
all-time relative high, but allowing marine commu-
nication. At several times, platform carbonates have
formed a continuous blanket across this tectonic
edge. The Pyrenean orogenic belt proper is to the
north of the Paleozoic buttress—it is included with-
in the geographic limits of the Aquitaine basin and
the northern foothills of the mountain chain. To
831
832 Evolution and Hydrocarbons, Aquitaine Basin, France

Figure 1—Location and

VA
RI
SC (a) framework. (a) Location
AN
FR
ON
map, (b) basin framework,
T
N (c) general north-south
cross section. CAH =

Sh
or
PARIS Celt-Aquitaine hinge line,

el
in
NPF = westerly extension of

e
ARM Paris
ORIC
AN
BASIN
North Pyrenean fault,
MAS
Cretaceous rifts with La Rochelle SIF NPT = North Pyrenean
flysch-type sediments SH
OA
L
thrust, P = Paleozoic,

Fig.1/c
OF
ATLANTIC OCEAN PO
IT
IE
P–TR = Permian–Triassic,
RS
J = Jurassic, Kl = Lower
RAL
present-day C
E
NT Cretaceous, Kuf = Upper
seafloor SSIF Cretaceous flysch, Kup =

S
depth lines BAY MA

P
AL
OF Bordeaux
(meters) BISCAY
AQUITAINE
Upper Cretaceous platform,
Bayonne
BASIN Te = Tertiary, LR = La
Toulouse
Rochelle. (Based on BRGM
PA
R Bordeaux
PY
RE et al., 1972.)
BA ENTIS NE
ES MEDITERRANEAN SEA
SIN
Ga 100 km
ro
nn
e
- 2000

se F e -
ault
Ce
R
iv

lt-A

h
.

BAY qu

Tou efranc
OF ita
ine
0
00

- 200

BISCAY hin
-1

gh
lou
de s hi ge
line
Vill
Lan
(b)
A
N.P.T. D Toulouse
Bayonne O
U
R
San Sebastian Pau BA
SIN
S

FR Carcassonne

A
AN

MED. SE
CE
SP N.P.T.
0 50 100 km AIN
N.P.F.
P Y R E N
E E S

T.
N.P.F. K.l. P. L.R.
P-TR .. . Kuf Te N. C.A.H.
.
K.l.
Te Kup (c)
Te J K.l.
pC
. . ..TR.. . . . .. .. J + +
5 km
f

. . . .. .. .. .....
Ku

+ 100 km 50 1
P-TR
Pal.
vert. exag. 4 x

the east, the basin continues in the foreland of the (Figure 3a) which is bounded to the southeast by
Mediterranean structural domain; the Toulouse- the Montauban High, the Landes shoal, the Mirande
Villefranche fault, however, has acted as an effec- basin, and the Adour basins (Figure 1), comprised
tive hinge line, controlling the edge of the present- of the Arzacq, Tarbes, and Comminges basins. With
day basin. To the west, the basin was continuous the exception of the east-northeast–oriented
until the Early Cretaceous, with what is today the Landes shoal, most major paleostructural features
eastern salient edge of the North American exhibit northwest-southeast orientations. The
Continent, i.e., the Flemisch Cap and the Jeanne southernmost part of the “autochthonous” Adour
d’Arc Basin of the Labrador shelf. This western dis- basin disappear s to the south under neath
sected passive margin was truncated by erosional “allochthonous” segments of the North Pyrenean
events during the Late Cretaceous–Tertiary; it is thrust front (Figures 1c, 2, 3b). This deep trough is
now overlain by Tertiary to Holocene turbidites of the sub-Pyrenean zone. The tectonic envelope of
the Bay of Biscay. the overthrust front is the northern limit of the
Several subbasins (or “infrabasins,” hidden under North Pyrenean fold belt. To the south, it is cut off
the Tertiar y cover) are separated by shoals or by the North Pyrenean fault, an east-southeast–
uplifts within the basin area (Figure 2). These are, trending subvertical fault complex, that runs along
from north to south: the Charente (and the small the Iberian margin and limits to the south the thick,
Quercy) basin, the Gironde High, the Parentis Basin sedimentary sequences of the Aquitaine domain.
 Bourrouilh et al. 833

Figure 2—Detailed map

A.M
. of structural elements.
Sh AD = Audignon diapir,
oa AU = Arbailles uplift,
lo
Po f AxCh = axial (high)
itie
rs chain, BM = Basque
massifs, Dax = Dax diapir,
C.M GRU = Grand Rieu uplift,
.
Ib = Ibis structure and
Fig. 7 offshore well,
LR = La Rhune massif,
Ch
are
MH = Montauban high,
nte NPF = North Pyrenean
ba
sin fault, NPT = North
Pyrenean thrust,
NPZ = North Pyrenean
zone, S = Sarrance,
SB = Salies de Béarn
Gi
ron outcropping diapirs diapir, SP = St. Palais
de
ATLANTIC deep ( TR ) structure, S-PZ = sub-
++ Variscan basement
hig
Pyrenean zone, SS = Ste.
OCEAN h Suzanne structure,
3a TVF = Toulouse-Ville-

Qu
Bordeaux
g.
Fi franche fault. (Adapted

er
cy
Arcachon from Soler, 1972;

ba
Choukroune and

sin
Pare Séguret, 1973;
ntis b
. asin Zolnaï, 1975; Chiron,
Ib
1980.)
N
100 km
3a
. 3b

g.
Fi
Fig

es Ce
nd lt-A
La oal qu
itain
sh eh
ing M.H.
elin
e

AD. Mir
Dax and
eb
asin Toulouse
N.P.T.
Arzacq
Bayonne S.B.
F.
V.

basin
T.
SS

L.R
.

San Sebastian
+ . + + S. Pau
P.
Tarbes
+ + N.
+ + S - P Tarbes basin P.
.Z.

+ + B T.
+ .M G.R. . Z
+ + .+
N.P

+ +++ U. . P.P
.
+ + Com
+ + A.U S. ming N.P.T
.
+ ++ + + + .
N.P.F. basin es
++ +
+ + + + + + ++
+ + + +
Tr lizon erse

+ + + + +
(E nsv ue

+ Ax. Ch. + + N.P.F.

. 3b

+ +
ou do

+ + + + ++
a q

+ + + +
Tr Bas

+ +
gh

+ + + + + + +
Fig

Fig. 7

The deep, prospective part of the Aquitaine sequence, is offshore and remains as yet poorly
basin, approximately one-third in surface area, lies defined (Boillot et al., 1984).
in the southwestern portion of the above sensu lato
basin. It is framed by three major structural lines,
which are the Celt-Aquitaine hinge line (or flexure) EVOLUTION
to the northeast, the Toulouse-Villefranche fault to
the east, and the North Pyrenean thrust front to the The early Precambrian to Paleozoic evolution of
south (BRGM et al., 1972; Henry and Mattauer, the basin is rather poorly known. The economic
1972; Castéras, 1974; Winnock, 1974; Durand- basement is composed of a full succession of
Delga et al., 1980). The effective western limit of Paleozoic series folded during the Variscan
the basin, the truncated edge of the Mesozoic (Hercynian) orogeny (Bourrouilh et al., 1980)
834 Evolution and Hydrocarbons, Aquitaine Basin, France

POSITION OF SECTIONS SW NE
b BOUGUER ANOMALY
+ 20
0
- 20
0 100 km
LANDES SHOAL PARENTIS BASIN NORTH AQUITAINE PLATFORM
Garonne R
Ocean
S.L. Te Ku
. . . . ...
....... ...... ........ K.L. ............. ....... ........ + + + + + +
+
+
.. . .... ......... J
TR .u.
P-TR
a 10

(a)
20
? ?
MOHO (projected from west)
30 km
0 50 100 km

SSW IBERIA NNE

EUROPA
BOUGUER ANOMALY
GRAVIMETRIC STE SUZANNE
+ 20
0 SLOPE
- 20
- 40 URSUYA-BAYGOURA
- 60 ANOMALY

P Y R E N E E S
SOUTH PYRENEAN AXIAL POLYPHASED NORTH PYRENEAN
BASIN ZONE SUTURATION ZONE BASIN

NORTH PYRENEAN ARZACQ BASIN LANDES SHOAL

FURROW / FOLD BELT

A.u. S.P. S. D. A.
N.P.F. N.P.T.

0 Ku Te
Ku
Pal. Kl
J
- 10 Pal.
N 160° N 90°
N 110°
SEISMIC N 160°
- 20 ZONE N 160°
TRANSVERSE BASEMENT
TECTONIC STACK OF WRENCH-FAULTS
BASEMENT SLABS
N 110° WITH MAFIC INJECTIONS
- 30 MOHO MOHO (b)

- 40 km
NORTH-PYRENEAN 0 50 100 km
SPUR

Figure 3—Structural cross sections. (a) Northern Aquitaine (Parentis) basin, (b) southern Aquitaine (Adour) basins.
Au = Arbailles uplift, A = Audignon, D = Dax, S = Salies de Béarn, SP = St. Palais diapiric structures, NPF = North Pyre-
nean fault zone (westernmost limit), NPT = North Pyrenean thrust zone, P = Paleozoic, P–TR = Permian–Triassic,
TRu = Upper Triassic, J = Jurassic, Kl = Lower Cretaceous, Ku = Upper Cretaceous, Te = Tertiary. (Adapted from
undisclosed ELF-Aquitaine documents by J. M. Flament and BRGM et al., 1972.)

(Figures 3, 4). They are underlain by (or they less) in the extensional, compressional, and
include) older, Precambrian ensemble(s), which wrenching modes initiated block rotations, tilts,
may have helped to shape the mid- to late-Paleozoic uplifts, and downwarps. Some of the north-north-
fold belts (Britanny and Pyrenees). The Variscan east or northwest-trending old structural lines
structural heritage of the basin is composed of fault straddle the present-day (“Alpine”) Pyrenean belt
lines and lineaments, the main directions being (1) (Zolnaï, 1991, Figure VI-29–31). Gentle scissors or
north-northwest–south-southeast (N160°), (2) piano-key–type differential tilting along such fault
northeast-southwest (N40°), and (3) west-north- lines eventually delimited major paleogeographic
west–east-southeast (N100°) (commonly N110°, domains (containing thicker vs. thinner salt
Figure 5a). Some of the basement blocks, limited deposits, or representing platform vs. basin limits),
by elements of the inher ited fault network, which in due course became structural compart-
remained mobile throughout subsequent basin evo- ments (e.g., Arbailles, Figures 2, 3b).
lution. They became paleogeographic units with The Paleozoic series, whether on the surface
distinct subsidence histories and local deforma- outcrops or in subsurface boreholes, are always
tions along their edges. Small, synsedimentary moderately to strongly folded with varying degrees
adjustment movements (on the order of 1 km or of metamorphism. In the Pyrenean chain, they
 Bourrouilh et al. 835

(a) (b)
ARZACQ

RESERVOIR

CAPROCK
SOURCE
Thickness
(meters) Age S N Fields
. . . . .. .
MIOCENE
... .. ... .
0-800 . . .. . ...
OLIGOCENE
. .. .. . .
. .. . . . . ..
. ...... ....
. ... ...... .. ...
PARENTIS
0-400 EOCENE
. .. . . .. . . . . . . .
PALEOCENE Ger
. . .. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . DP
Lacq

RESERVOIR
DANO-PALEOCENE

CAPROCK
Lagrave
.. . .. K.S

SOURCE
SENONIAN
.. .. .. . ... K.CT Charlas
.... K.AL Mazères Thickness
Age S N Fields
0-5000 TURONIAN
.... ...
(meters)
. ...... ... ... ...... ... ...... .
.
.. . .. . . . . St-Marcet 500

. .. . . .. .
CRETACEOUS

CENOMANIAN to TERTIARY
3500
. . ... . . .
v v VOLC. v v
Ledeuix
2000 ALBIAN
K.AL 0
SENONIAN
K.Ap. to
TURONIAN
2000
400-2000 APTIAN Montastruc
? 300
CENOMANIAN
. . ...
Castéra-Lou
to CAZAUX

CRETACEOUS
BARREMIAN Vic-Bilh
250 . .. . . . . . . . K.N ALBIAN
1 2 3
NEOCOMIAN 3000 MIMIZAN N.
PECORADE
J
1 2 3 LACQ
700 MALM . ..
APTIAN
...
JURASSIC

300 Lugos
MEILLON pools
to
100 DOGGER ROUSSE C 6000 ?
BARREMIAN
?

1 2 3
ST-FAUST
200 LIAS
Laméac PONT D'AS
.. . PARENTIS
Mothes
Lucats
400 INFRA-LIAS Lannemezan
WEALDIAN .
. . . . . ... . .
PURBECKIAN

123
v v v v CAZAUX
500 VOLC.
v v
v
v v v v TR Lavergne
v
JURASSIC
TRIASSIC

SALT 2100
0 -1000 KEUPER VOLC. ??
vv v v v vv v
150 to TRIASSIC
MUSCH.
1650 . . . . .. . ..... ..
. ...........
BUNT. . . . . . . .. . . . . . ? PERM.
VOLC. vv PALEOZOIC
0 -2000 PERMIAN P
. . . Pal.
.. . . .. . . . . . . . . N.C.
CABONIFEROUS .. . . . . . . .
heavy oil

DEVONIAN C condensate

SILURIAN ... ........ ..... .. .. ...... ..

Figure 4—Stratigraphic logs. (a) North Pyrenean trough and Arzacq-Tarbes basins, (b) Parentis Basin (adapted and
modified from ESSO-Rep documents in ELF-Aquitaine and Chambre Syndicale, 1991; Mathieu, 1986; Mediavilla, 1987).

exhibit penetrative schistosity of two or three gen- 5a, b). The thick upper part (Keuper) is salt bearing
erations (Majesté-Menjoulas, 1979). (Figures 4a, b; 6). The Triassic was deposited in a
To the north of the Parentis Basin, the basement flat-lying basin in the center, while rift geometry pre-
of the flat undeformed North Aquitaine platform vailed in both the Parentis Basin and along the south-
consists mainly of granites (Figures 1c, 3a). ern basin edge (near the North Pyrenean fault zone)
The first post-Variscan rifting attempt has taken (Figure 7b). High emerging blocks (e.g., Arbailles
place as soon as the Early Permian, i.e., during the and Grand Rieu) (Figures 2, 3b, 6; see also hydrocar-
late stages of the post-Variscan peneplanation. bon field sections) were formed along the southern
Roughly, north-south– and east-west–oriented basin edge, which alternated with deep corridors
grabens are known in the Pyrenees as well as under already in place during the Late Triassic. Submarine
the basin itself; they are filled with red continental (ophitic) volcanic flows and intrusions took place at
clastics and volcanic flows, with thicknesses up to the Triassic–Jurassic transition (approximately
1000 m (Figures 1c, 5a, 6, 7a). One of these between the Keuper salts and the Liassic anhy-
grabens is the transverse (northeast-southwest–ori- drites), near the Iberian-Aquitaine boundary zone.
ented) Elizondo trough in the Basque country The thickest volcanic wedge was emplaced along
(Figure 2) (Gapillou, 1981). the southernmost, rifted basin edge (several hun-
The Germano-type Triassic series (threefold dreds of meters), whereas the volcanic wedges taper
stratigraphy) record the second rifting event to zero toward the present-day basin center, includ-
(Curnelle et al., 1980, 1982; Curnelle, 1983) (Figure ing the Parentis Basin (Figures 4a, b; 6).
 836

(a) (c)
EUROPE EUROPE
Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

Bay of Biscay Bordeaux

PAR Bordeaux
ENT
IS B AQUITAINE
.
BASIN
Bay of Biscay
FUTURE NORTH CARBONATE
PYRENEAN THRUST Toulouse MEGATURBIDITES PLATFORM
San Sebastian Toulouse
AS FLYSCH BASINS
Pau
TU
RI Bibao Pau (u. Albian Senonian)

.
AN San Sebastian
CH FUTURE

SV
VARIS
AI
N CAN C NORTH PYRENEAN FAULT

AN

UE
HAIN
JACA Bibao

TR

SQ
BASIN

BA
GRAUS-TREMP
BASIN
CARBONATE PLATFORM THRUST OF BOIXOLS
(Upper Maastrichtian)
Albia
STRUCTURAL HERITAGE IBERIA n
apart pull-
basin
s
N N40°
Mediterranean Sea IBERIA
N Flys
ch fu
rrow
N100° APPARENT TRAJECTORY
100 km N
N110° 5° OF IBERIAN PLATE
(not to scale)
100 km
N160°

(b) (d)
EUROPE EUROPE
Atlantic Ocean

Fanglomerates flysch basin Bordeaux

Bordeaux
PAR
Anoxic basins (black shales) ENT
IS AQUITAINE PARENTIS B. AQUITAINE
Basalt flows on the sea floor BASIN Bay of Biscay
SALT
DIAPIRISM
Toulouse PLATFORM
Toulouse
Evolution and Hydrocarbons, Aquitaine Basin, France

Bay of Biscay
San Pau SALT DIAPIRISM SALT
Sebastian
San Sebastian Pau DIAPIRISM
NORTH PYRENEAN THRUSTS
Bibao
Bibao
NORTH PYRENEAN NORTH PYRENEAN FAULT
FAULT ZONE
1
2
N 40° CARBONATE PLATFORM 3 PYRENEAN OROGENY
{{{

OPEN DEEP FLYSH BASIN

N 160° IBERIA
IBERIA
N
MEGATURBIDITES
pull ALBIA
N APPARENT TRAJECTORY APPARENT TRAJECTORY
-apa 100 km
rt b
asin OF IBERIAN PLATE 1 N OF IBERIAN PLATE
s (not to scale) TECTONO-SEDIMENTARY THRUSTS (not to scale)
{

WITH CHRONOLOGY
100 km
N 100°

Figure 5—Paleogeodynamic maps. (a) pre-Mesozoic structural heritage, (b) the mid-Cretaceous revolution: Aptian–Albian basins, (c)
Upper Cretaceous flysch furrows: Albian–Cenomanian to Senonian. Incipient compression developing from late Turonian(?)
through latest Cretaceous, (the Boixols thrust is but one among several upper Cretaceous compressive structures), (d) Eocene back-
ward migration–principal compression; salt diapirism active from Albian to present-day. Based on Bourrouilh and Doyle (1985,
1987a, b); Bourrouilh and Zolnaï (1988); and Bourrouilh et al. (1988).
 Bourrouilh et al. 837

N. MIGRATION OF S.
MIGRATION OF DEPOCENTER MIGRATION OF
BAY OF BISCAY SOUTHERN BASIN EBRO
BASIN/PLATFORM
FILLING ....
.....
SOUTH PYRENEAN ZONE .
MORPHOGENIC MIGRATION (JACA BASIN) ... .
.....
A Q U I T A I N E B A S I N AXIAL ZONE
("HIGH CHAIN") ......
......
..
NORTH PYRENEAN ZONE
........ ....
...
........ ......
........ . ? Tertiary ?
...

~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~~
~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~
~~~
~ ~~
~ ~~ ~~
DEEP . . .
. . . . ..
........
........
........
........ FLYSCH .. .. . ...
CRET
ACEO ........
........ BASIN .. . .
........
US . . ..
...
.
EOCEN
E . ... .
. ..
.. . . .
.. . .
.
CARBONATE DEEP FLYSCH BASIN SHALLOW-WATER . . . .. .. . SOUTHERN
PLATFORM CARBONATES
. . . .. MARGIN
Upper Upper
Cretac. Cretac.
~ ~ ~
~ ~
....
. . .
....
. .
~~~
~ ~ Pillow ....
. . .
Lower
~ ~ ... . vv v
. . v.
v vv
lavas
Cretac. . .
. . .
Te ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~~ ~ ~ ~
Malm
~ ~
~ ~ ~
~ ~
~ ~
. Albian

Dogger u.K.
~ ~ ~
Lias
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Trias

Permian . . .
NORTH
Paleoz. PYRENEAN ~ ~ ~ NORTH
THRUST ~ ~ ~ PYRENEAN
FRONT FAULT
. . . .

SYNSEDIMENTARY
FAULTING and . . . .
DIAPIRISM

Figure 6—North-south evolution diagram across the Pyrenees. The axis of maximal subsidence is shifted from the
North Pyrenean domain (Triassic–Upper Cretaceous) to the South Pyrenean domain (Tertiary).

The lowermost Jurassic (lower Liassic) anhy- with deep faults are known in the south (e.g., the
drites grade upward into a dolomitic, then shallow- Meillon ridge), as well as in parts of the Parentis
marine, mainly limestone platform sequence Basin (Lugos; see “Hydrocarbons” section). Massive
(Dogger–Malm). At the end of the Malm, the basin sand bodies were deposited in the Parentis Basin
became partly emergent, as demonstrated by the during the Purbeckian–Wealdian period (Figure 4b).
presence of anhydrite, some coal, red shales, and The equivalent series of the southern Aquitaine sub-
important locally dominant clastics (sands) and basins are clastic, sandy carbonates (Lacq); sands;
high sand content of the carbonates, as well as the breccias (Meillon); and shales.
intraformational (desiccation) breccias. The first During the Neocomian–Barremian period, the
salt movements (gentle swells and salt cushions) main subbasins (Parentis, Mirande, and Arzacq-
seem to have started as early as the Portlandian Tarbes) became separate entities and the first
(Winnock and Pontalier, 1970). massive salt structures were emplaced (e.g.,
Recent work showed evidence of rifting south of Audignon). Salt intrusions and salt lineaments
Bayonne during the Late Jurassic (Montagné, 1986). were emplaced principally along faults on the
A new phase of basin differentiation began dur- edges of the rhomb-shaped pull-apart basins that
ing the Early Cretaceous (Figure 5b, c). At the first appeared during this period. The subsiding
Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary, large areas of the basins became confined and were filled with
basin became emergent and sharp erosional topo- black shales; some of these (e.g., Arzacq basin)
graphic features (cliffs, slumps, screes) coincident record up to 1000 m of sediments.
838 Evolution and Hydrocarbons, Aquitaine Basin, France

South North PERMIAN

....
...............
+ + + + + + +
+
+

(a)

STRETCHING : ~ 80 km
early TERTIARY

N. PYRENEAN FURROW ARZACQ BASIN LANDES HIGH PARENTIS BASIN CELT-AQUITAINE

0 GRAND RIEU upl. hingline

- 10

salt movements
(b)
- 20 ? ? ?

- 30
MOHO
- 40

COMPRESSION
~ 30 km
ONLY EXTENSION - STRIKE SLIPPING
OROGENIC FOLD BELT

N.P.F. shift in section - line PRESENT - DAY

N.P.T.

Garonne R.
0 +
+
+
- 10
wrench - faults (c)
- 20 ? ? ?
MOHO
- 30

- 40 BOUGUER GRAVITY
+ 50
+ 20 Scale : Horiz. = Vert.
0
- 50 - 50 - 10 0 50 100 km
- 100 - 100

Figure 7—North-south cross section of Mesozoic–Tertiary evolution (location on Figure 2). (a) Post-Paleozoic her-
itage. (b) Mesozoic–early Tertiary extension, affecting the whole Aquitaine basin, i.e., the Parentis and Adour/Arzacq
subbasins and the North Pyrenean furrow, and initiating early salt diapirism (arrows). (c) Middle to late Tertiary
compression, limited to the southernmost North Pyrenean furrow, while the other basins and shoals undergo only
minor extension and wrenching, with renewed salt tectonism. NPF = North Pyrenean fault, NPT = North Pyrenean
thrust.

During the late Early Cretaceous (Aptian to early During the late Albian, yet another important
Albian part of the middle Cretaceous), subsidence structural reorganization took place in connection
rates increased in all basinal areas. A set of north- with the ongoing opening of the North Atlantic
west-southeast–oriented lozenge-shaped basins and Ocean. This revolution or third rifting episode can
uplifts (with east-west– and south-southeast–trend- be related to further sinistral extensional wrench-
ing edges; Figure 5b) developed; their geometry ing. The event can be recognized all over the
indicates sinistral wrench movements occurring Aquitaine basin (and beyond its limits) and has fun-
along a northwest-southeast axis (Figure 8). In the damentally reshaped the paleogeographic pattern
meantime, bioher m-capped plateaus were (Figure 5c). Subsidence rates strongly increased.
emplaced on highs, like the Arbailles block in the Synsedimentary tectonism along the inherited fault
western Pyrenees, and on tilted blocks in the struc- pattern was renewed and enhanced halokinesis.
tural staircases of the southern basin margin High subsidence rates in the basin centers and pen-
(Figures 2, 3b, 4, 7b) (Canérot and Delavaux, etrative diapirism along the basin edges were coeval
1986). Along the southern, mobile edge of the and structurally linked events (Figures 7, 8, 9).
basin, the differential tilting of some of the blocks Westward-opening rifted furrows were thus reac-
produced dips as high as 30°. tivated or newly formed: the Parentis Basin to the
 Bourrouilh et al. 839

Oil or gas producing structures Diapirs

North Pyrenean thrust front + Paleozoic

+ SKETCH
basement OF
Contour lines : thickness of early Cretaceous DEFORMATION

Atlantic
Dax

Ocean AUDIGN
ON PECORADE

100
50
00

0
300
VIC
BILH

0
Bayonne
(Fig. 9b) SAINT
-

M
ED
LACQ

AR
D
CASTERA-LOU
+ LA
+ + + GRAVE
+ +

20
+ + +

00
Pau
+ + + +
+
+ + SAUCEDE - LEDEUIX
+ + MEILLON GER SAINT-
+ + + +
+ + + St FAUST Tarbes MARCET
+
+ + + + + LANNEMEZAN
+ + +
+ + + +
+
+ + + + + +

Sarrance + + + + + + + + + +
N (Fig. 9a) + + + + ++ + + +
+ + + + + + +

100 km

Figure 8—Structural map of the southernmost Aquitaine basin (North Pyrenean domain). Inset: the opening of the
rhomb basins is due to a combination of inherited faults and northwest-southeast–oriented regional senestral shear
couple. The synchronous salt diapirism follows the border faults of the Albian rhomb basins. The Pyrenean thrust
front, composed by en echelon segments, partly overlaps the rhomb basins and the foreland platform.

north, and the North Pyrenean trough to the south, much wider than at present (Figure 7b, c). It
each containing several thousands of meters of stretches over 300 km (200 mi) between the east-
rhythmic sediments (Feuillée et al., 1973; Souquet ernmost Pyrenees and the Basque country, where it
et al., 1977, 1985). The already existing Arzacq- splits into several east-west–oriented branches,
Tarbes pull-apart basins in the southern domain which separate the different elements of the
received over 3000 m of shales during this time. Basque Massifs. Its trace is lost beyond the Basque
This evolution can be considered as a result of the transversal zone (Schoeffler, 1982), another com-
limited easterly shift of the Iberian block, eventual- pound fault group oriented northeast-southwest,
ly generating an east-west–oriented sinistral mega- which connects the western Pyrenees proper and
shear zone. the Cantabro-Asturian chain, the latter being the
These opening pull-apart basins merge into a offset westerly continuation of the Variscan fold
North Pyrenean flysch furrow during the Ceno- belt. This ancestral transverse feature, active since
manian (Curnelle et al., 1980). at least the Permian, actually straddles across the
Several inherited structural lines became of major South Aquitaine and Nor th Iberian domains.
importance during this period. The west-east to Presently it can be followed to the north (Dax) and
east-southeast–oriented North Pyrenean (Figure 10) the south (Pamplona) beyond the limits of the
fault was initially a braided fault system, probably alpine fold belt proper (Rat, 1983) (Figures 2, 11, 12).
840 Evolution and Hydrocarbons, Aquitaine Basin, France
(a)
S.
SARRANCE
...
...
. ..
Pal.
(b)
S.
... ... ...
VIC BILH
VV V Volcanics
Albian - Aptian
... ... Lower Aptian
Figure 9—“Albian revolution” compares (a) north-south
field section near Sarrance (North Pyrenean furrow, see
Figures 2, 7), and (b) north-south subsurface section of
the Vic Bilh field (north Tarbes basin). The tectonic
events during the late Early Cretaceous are very similar
in these two remote areas (fold belt vs. foreland basin).
The Albian fine clastics directly overlap the Triassic
evaporites and shales, and demonstrate intense salt
diapirism. The Tarbes basin has not been affected by
any of the later, compressive events. (J. Henry and J.-P.
Richert, unpublished ELF-Aquitaine documents.)
Both these major fracture zones, the North
Pyrenean fault and the Basque transversal, reacted
repeatedly during the Mesozoic and Tertiary tecton-
ic evolution.
In the Parentis Basin the coarse clastics, which
were derived from the northeast (the Massif
Central; B. Martin, 1975, personal communication),
were spread out in deep channels and deep-sea
fans on the basin slope and floor, near its northern
edge, within a mainly shaly-marly rhythmic (flysch-
type) sedimentation.
In the North Pyrenean trough, the clastic ele-
ments were of southern and eastern origin (base-
ment uplifts) or they were derived from the north
(from the carbonate platforms; Figure 5c). The
southern edge of the flysch furrow had been leaning
against the Iberian margin, along what was to
N.
become the North Pyrenean fault (Figures 6, 10, 11).
0.5 km
This fault, nevertheless, also became involved in the
0 0.5 km
shearing process. Faulted tectonic blocks (of 10-km
magnitude) calved from the main Iberian landmass,
were uplifted and tilted, and in some instances rotat-
ed. Large areas of the present-day high chain became
vv v
emergent [e.g., to the south of the Mendibelza mas-
vv
v
sif in the Basque country (Boirie and Souquet, 1982),
v
. ..
...
.. .
or in the central Pyrenees], offering source areas for
... coarse clastics that flowed into the deep-sea arm
(“aulacogen”; Souquet and Debroas, 1981) to the
north (Figures 4a, 6). Above the basal breccias (wild-
N. flysches), the first thick sandy-shaly turbidite (flysch)
0.5 km sequence was deposited (Albian–Cenomanian). In
the meantime, huge tholeiitic basalt masses (pillows
0 0.5 km and lava flows as well as sheeted dikes and sills)
were emplaced within the flysch furrow, between
Bilbao and the area south of Pau.
...
In the Parentis Basin (Figure 4b), this type of
. ..
...
...
rhythmic sedimentation was limited to the Albian,
while in the North Pyrenean trough it lasted
through the rest of the Cretaceous and throughout
the Paleocene. The Nor th Pyrenean f lysch
sequences are extremely thick, up to 5000 m
Jurassic - Neocomian
Triassic
(Figure 4a). They are diachronous, since the receiv-
Permian ing tectonic basins shifted laterally (east to west
Paleozoic
and south to north). Facies changes to finer, shaly,
and/or platform-type calcareous sediments were
frequent in the slower subsiding areas. With time,
the clastics became finer grained and more calcare-
ous. The initial narrow and long upper Albian fur-
row has progressively evolved into an open embay-
ment, which together with the Parentis Basin
projects the outline of the present-day Bay of Biscay
(Figure 1b).
During the Turonian, general (eustatic) with-
drawal of the sea resulted in more carbonate plat-
form-type sedimentation, even inside the flysch
troughs, where finely brecciated, layered lime-
stones are typical.
Inside the North Pyrenean mobile domain and the
Parentis Basin, a series of east-west– and northeast-
southwest–oriented diapiric salt lineaments were
formed during the Albian–Senonian (Figure 6).
These aligned or offset salt walls of the North
Pyrenean domain, and the salt cushions of the south-
ern Arzacq and Parentis basins were, in some places,
capped by clastic-carbonate plateaus, e.g., on the St.
Marcet structure, at Salies-de-Béarn, or farther to the
west in the Bidache area (Figure 2). Minor bioherms
developed above salt cushions in the more quiet
waters of the Parentis Basin at Mimizan (Figure 3a)
or on the Lacq structure in the southern Arzacq
basin (see “Hydrocarbons” section).
Olistostromes composed of Triassic material
(salt, shales) were also emplaced, mainly into
the mobile domains, during the timespan of the

(a) (b)
ARMORICAN VARISCAN
Fold
Villefranche fault Normal faults
Reverse faults
Left lateral Tectonic stylolites
North Pyrenean
wrenching
Fault Zone Folds
rhythmic (flysch) sedimentation of the late Albian
to early Tertiary (Stevaux and Zolnaï, 1975). The
diapirism and the emplacement of olistostromes
enhanced, through the flow of the evaporites, the
subsidence initially due to crustal stretching.
Within the North Pyrenean furrow, the salt struc-
tures acted as barriers and influenced the paleo-
geography of the turbidites. The entire fast subsid-
ing, rifted, turbidite-filled, mobile belt became
progressively the North Pyrenean zone, where the
major part of the orogenic deformation was going
to take place (Zolnaï, 1971).
Salt lineaments of varied orientations as well as
circular diapirs were also formed farther to the
north and northwest of the North Pyrenean fur-
row, on the stable platform and in the Parentis
Basin (Figures 6, 7b). The salt lineaments are locat-
ed mostly along major faults and fault intersec-
tions, such as the edges of the Aptian–Albian
rhomb grabens (e.g., the huge Audignon anticline
to the north of the Arzacq basin, diapirs near the
city of Dax, most oil-producing structures of the
Parentis Basin, and the Ibis structure 60 km off-
shore, etc.) (Figures 2, 3, 7, 9).
The second major f lysch furrow, of mid-
Senonian age, may have been related to yet another
extensional period, here considered as the fourth
(major) rifting attempt. The flysch sedimentation in
the deep North Pyrenean furrow by now became
fine grained, dominated by marls, and ended with a
thick mudstone ensemble during the Maastrichtian.
This extensional period was probably the last
and was certainly limited to the westernmost part
of the North Pyrenean zone, because the eastern
part of the area had been under compression since
the Turonian. The Iberian compression progressed
diachronously from east to west, crushing the
North Pyrenean belt during the Late Cretaceous
(see following paragraphs).
Bourrouilh et al. 841
(c) (d) Figure 10—Tectonic evolution
diagram. (a) Paleozoic heritage and
later wrenching, (b) Albian
distension (transtension),
(c) Tertiary compression and main
effects, (d) late Tertiary extension
and renewed relief-forming.
-
+ +
+ General uplift
- Mio-Pliocene basin
Seismic activity
On the former Iberian carbonate platform
(Bourrouilh and Alhamawi, 1993), another upper
Senonian flysch domain was emplaced along the
high chain of the present-day central and western
Pyrenees. Its connection with or independence
from the North Pyrenean equivalent flysch trough
is under study.
During the entire Late Cretaceous, two extensive
carbonate platforms developed, covering to the
north the major part of the Aquitaine basin and to
the south the persistently high Iberian block
(Figures 6, 7b). The massive carbonate series over-
lie the older sediments and/or the basement mostly
with angular unconformity, except in the middle
part of the Adour and Parentis depocenters, where
thicknesses reach 1000 and 2000 m, respectively.
These two carbonate platforms thus “framed” the
f lysch belt. No transitional facies are known
between the platforms and the North Pyrenean
trough sediments, indicating the sharp sea-f loor
topography resulting from the abrupt rifting
events.
During the Tertiary, predominantly marine sedi-
mentation continued, at first with calcareous sedi-
ments. Rhythmic sedimentation continued in the
southwestern reaches of the Aquitaine basin dur-
ing the Paleocene (the third thick, f lysch se-
quence). These turbidites were deposited to the
west and the north of the older flysch complexes;
turbiditic sedimentation continued until the
Holocene in the present-day offshore area, i.e., in
the deeper parts of the Bay of Biscay. There is no
structural (rifting) event related with these periods
of shaly-calcareous “passive” basin fillings (Figure
5d). On the northwestern and the southern por-
tions of the present-day Pyrenees, the thick sandy-
calcareous flysch sequence was deposited during
the entire latest Cretaceous–Paleocene–Eocene
period (Figure 6).
842 Evolution and Hydrocarbons, Aquitaine Basin, France

Figure 11—Elements of
regional geophysics. (a)
BOUGUER ANOMALY AND STUCTURAL MAP Gravity (Bouguer anomaly)
SOUTHERN AQUITAINE BASIN AND PYRENEES
and structural map: the
east-west row of positive
gravity anomalies
corresponds to arches of
the North Pyrenean thrust
envelope, suggesting that
the gravity anomalies are
BORDEAUX due to the compressive
ATLANTIC
events of the Pyrenean
OCEAN
orogeny. The “heavy” belt
PARENTIS
AQ
UI corresponds to the North
TA
IN
EB Pyrenean fold belt (stacking
PARENTIS AS
BAY OF
+20 +
BASIN IN of heavy Paleozoic structural
BISCAY + -5
+ + + slabs with possible mafic
+
LANDES SHOAL + masses at depth; see Figure
4b). The “light” anomalies
Fig.9b

+10 -10 -5
0 DAX AIRE S/ADOUR - 20
- 30
to the north indicate the
TOULOUSE

BAYONNE
N.P.T.
ARZACQ
thick sedimentary column
NOR - 40
+ BASIN TH
PYR
ENE
of the sub-Pyrenean trough
SAN SEBASTIAN AN
+ +20 PAU
BAS
IN - 50
CARCASSONNE
(North Pyrenean basins),
+ + + + TARBES

BASQUE
0
-5 + + LOURDES -30 -40
- 60 overthrusted by equally
-10 + + + -20
MASSIFS 0
+ + ++ + - 80
light structural imbricates
-50 MEDITERRANEAN
N.P.F. -90
-100 N.P.F. SEA (Triassic to Tertiary). The
-80
SOU
TH
PYR HIGH CHAIN
- 90 steep gradient to the south
ENE - 110
(a) NORTH
AN
BAS
IN
PRECAMBRIAN AND shows the edge of the thick
PALEOZOIC BASEMENT
Iberian block where
100 km Variscan granitic intrusions
abound (see BRGM-ITGE, in
Fig.9c

press). (b) ECORS (Étude de

ISOGRAD INTERVAL : 10 mgal l’écorce terrestre et
océanique par réflexion et
réfraction sismiques)
profile—offshore Bay of
Biscay (adapted from Pinet
S. PYRENEES PARENTIS B. N. et al., 1987). (c) ECORS
N.P.T.
profile—Central Pyrenees
10 (adapted from Roure et al.,
(b) 1989). NPF = North
O ? ?
MOH Pyrenean fault, NPT = North
40 km Pyrenean thrust, NPyZ =
100 km
North Pyrenean zone, SPyZ
= sub-Pyrenean zone.
N.P.F. N.P.T.
PYRENEES
S. NPyZ SPyZ
N.

10

(c)
MOHO
? Te ?
50 km
K.L.
100 km

In the southern Aquitaine area, along what was Eocene–Oligocene sedimentary fans. The greater
evolving into an orogenic foreland, sedimentation part of the Aquitaine basin to the north of the oro-
became progressively more clastic with large masses genic foreland remained marine until the general fill-
of coarse continental fanglomerates (“poudingues”) ing of the basin caused the sea to retreat to the west.
deposited in successive sequences in a row of The present-day Bay of Arcachon can be considered
 Bourrouilh et al. 843

N
Dax

Bayonne B. Toulouse
A.
N.P.T.

Pau

C.A
Tarbes
L.A.
Carcassonne

N.P N. Py. Z.
.F
B.T. N.P.T.
Pamplona
N.P.F.

Perpignan
Jaca
Ax. Ch.
SD. .
S.Py.Z C.G

S.P B.
.T.

G.T.B.

F
S.
100 km

Double Indenter

Figure 12—Tectonic arches and Trans-Pyrenean faults. The inherited structural patterns of the Iberian block and
that of the area to the north of the Pyrenees are very similar; some of these features actually straddle the Pyrenees.
The Basque, Lannemezan, and Corbières arches (to the north) and the thrust front of the Graus-Tremp basin (to
the south) form an interlocking “double indenter” system, elements of which can be traced back to the
Permian/earliest Mesozoic (using Soler and Puigdefabregas, 1970; Séguret, 1972; Guimera and Alvaro, 1990; and
Roure et al., 1988, modified). Abbreviations same as Figure 2, except: B = Boltana shear zone, BA = Basque arch, BT
= Basque transversal, CA = Corbières arch, CG = Cerdagne graben, GTB = Graus-Tremp basin, LA = Lannemezan
arch, NPyZ = North Pyrenean zone, SD = Sierra de la Demanda uplift, SF = Segre fault, SPT = South Pyrenean thrust,
SPyZ = South Pyrenean zone.

as the last marine inlet on the present-day continent;
it coincides with part of the deep Parentis Basin
(Figure 1b).
The total thickness of the Tertiary reaches 3000 m
in the Tarbes basin and averages 2500 m along the
sub-Pyrenean trough (to the north of the overthrust
front); it is up to 2000 m in the Parentis Basin and
between 500 and 1000 m on the shoals and basin-
margin areas (BRGM et al., 1972).
Orogenic compression started as early as the
mid-Late Cretaceous (Turonian–Senonian) in the
eastern part of the Pyrenees (Henry and Mattauer,
1974; Souquet et al., 1977; Souquet and Deramond,
1989) and propagated progressively to the west in
the North Pyrenean basin. Compression of both the
north and south margins was marked by the devel-
opment of giant, linear, gravity slope sequences or
“evolutionary mass-flow megaturbidites” (Bour-
rouilh et al., 1983), which reached 90 km in length
and a thickness of about 60 m. Similarly, in the
southern Pyrenean basin, but during the Eocene,
compression was accompanied by the emergence
of a syntectonic cycle of giant mass-flow megatur-
bidites extending over 140 km, and more than 200
m thick (Soler and Puigdefabregas, 1970; Johns et
al., 1981).
The main north-south compressional event of the
southern Aquitaine margin was during the middle
Eocene (Figure 5d), as dated by the first massive con-
glomeratic sequences. The major part of the short-
ening took place along the Aquitaine-Iberian limit,
i.e., in the North Pyrenean belt where the crust had
earlier been the most extensively stretched (Figure
7b, c). The main Alpine metamorphism occurred
844 Evolution and Hydrocarbons, Aquitaine Basin, France
within the North Pyrenean fault zone, which repre-
sents the most strongly compressed, schistosed,
crushed part of the belt (Choukroune, 1976), along
the northern edge of the Iberian block. Former nor-
mal faults and hinge lines were inverted into over-
thrusts, the northern limit of the compressed zone
corresponding to the earlier boundary between the
flysch furrow and the carbonate platform. This long-
lived tectonic edge had thus become the North
Pyrenean thrust front (Figures 5d, 6, 7c).
The North and South Pyrenean thrust fronts are
actually tectonic envelopes, and not continuous,
unique, sole faults. They are composed of en eche-
lon segments that offset each other, in places with
important offsets (Figures 2, 8, 11, 12). Several
structural arches exist: the Basque arch along the
northwestern Pyrenees, the Lannemezan arch in
the central northern Pyrenees, the Graus-Tremp
arch in the southern Pyrenees, etc. Two much-
explored surface anticlines are centered in the
northern arches: the Ste. Suzanne structure to the
west and the “Petites Pyrénées” in the central zone.
The Corbières arch continues the Pyrenees proper
to the northeast; it is related to regional sinistral
wrenching (Figures 1b, 5d, 11, 12).
The geometry of the thrust sheets and the ampli-
tude of the overthrusting seem to be directly relat-
ed to the amount of salt in place; in areas of little to
no salt, parallel sets of recumbent folds and/or
reverse faults can be found (Figure 7c), while over-
thrust sheets of some magnitude (10+ km) are pres-
ent in areas of thick evaporites, e.g., in the Ste.
Suzanne–Salies de Béarn and the Lannemezan areas
(Figures 2, 3b, 8, 12, 13, 14c), or in the Graus-
Tremp area in the southern Pyrenees (Figures 11,
12). Many of the earlier salt lineaments and diapirs
have in the process been transformed into lubricat-
ing layers of overthrust sheets within the mobile
belt (see “Hydrocarbons” section).
In the North Pyrenean fold belt, several over-
thrust faults may be present in the same north-
south traverse, in en echelon arrangement, but
none of the deep boreholes has so far provided evi-
dence of large-scale structural stacking, i.e., the
superposition of several (more than one) full over-
thrust units or rafts (Figures 8, 13, 14a–d).
Along the southern edge of the compressed belt
(i.e., along the North Pyrenean fault) the Paleozoic
basement and the Mesozoic–Tertiary cover are, in
places, deformed together; local structural stacks
thus form tightly faulted, imbricate complexes,
with northerly or southerly vergences (Figures 3b,
7c, 14c, d). To the north of this narrow zone, the
Keuper salt complex acts as effective separation
between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic–Tertiary
“stockworks” (Henry, 1966).
During the orogeny, several compressional
episodes followed each other, the younger,
structurally higher faults (sole faults of alloch-
thonous units or rafts) deforming the earlier, struc-
turally lower faults (e.g., in the Ste. Suzanne struc-
ture) (Zolnaï, 1971; Henr y et al., 1989). The
deformation style was mainly influenced by the
facts that (1) the already fractured basement com-
plex was involved in the compression, setting the
sites for the major dislocations, and (2) major seg-
ments of the sedimentary column (e.g., Keuper
salt, Lower Cretaceous marls, Albian to Tertiary
f lysch and molasse series) were still extremely
incompetent during the period of compression.
Large, open synclines and anticlines were formed
first; the synclines later became overthrusted, over-
turned, and/or thinned, “ironed out” by the over-
riding tectonic units. Specific structures were thus
generated, which would seem uncommon in areas
of greater crustal rigidity, and provided with more
competent sedimentary sequences (there are very
few true “duplexes” in the Northern Pyrenees).
The complexity of the final structural picture
makes paleogeographic and palinspastic recon-
structions extremely difficult and hazardous.
To the north, beyond the North Pyrenean thrust
front, i.e., in the Adour basin and the Landes plat-
form and Parentis Basin areas, there is no evidence
of any major, regional compression involving thrust
or crustal shortening. All folds here can be account-
ed for by salt tectonism triggered by small adjust-
ments of the basement in the normal faulting or
wrenching mode (Figures 1c, 2, 3a, 7c). Most of the
latter structures were created along rejuvenated
basement faults, principally of the east-west
(N110°) set in the West Pyrenean foreland, or along
northeast- and east-southeast–trending faults in the
Parentis Basin.
Late in the Pyrenean orogeny, probably during
the Miocene, the two transverse basement direc-
tions were reactivated as well, again in the wrench-
ing mode: N40° (mostly right lateral) and N160°
(right and left lateral) (Figures 2, 3b, 10). These
strike-slip movements, evidenced by field observa-
tions (Richert 1967, 1968; Henry et al., 1968), by
high-resolution seismic studies, and by regional-
scale mapping (Zolnaï, 1975, 1991), were also of
small, kilometer-order amplitudes. They neverthe-
less generated wrench corridors, intricate fold
zones, important outcrop shifts, vaulted structural
“slabs” (fault-bounded narrow domes), f lower
structures, local overturned limbs, etc., many of
which are salt cored. The same late orogenic strike-
slip movements contributed to shape the imbricat-
ed tectonic arches (Séguret, 1972), which are char-
acteristic for both sides of the Pyrenees (Figure 12).
The very latest Pliocene to Holocene episodes of
the Pyrenean orogeny seem to have been an impor-
tant relief inversion, which uplifted the former
southern (Iberian) margin to form the present-day
 Bourrouilh et al. 845

100 km

Bordeaux

N
Arcachon
bay

OIL
LAVERGNE
CAZAUX GAS
LUGOS
PARENTIS MOTHES

CABEIL
MIMIZAN
N. LUCATS

ATLANTIC
OCEAN

BAY OF
BISCAY
GRENADE

PECORADE
VIC BILH Toulouse

Bayonne
LACQ
CASTERALOU

Pau
LAGRAVE
MEILLON GER St
OS MA
Tarbes REP RC
BON ET
LEDEUIX
MAZERES LANNEMEZAN

Figure 13—Hydrocarbon field location map.

high “axial” mountain chain (+2000 to +3500 m),
where Paleozoic outcrops dominate (Figures 2, 7c).
The same process (relief inversion) dropped the
central zone of the severely eroded, Mesozoic–
Tertiary North Pyrenean fold belt from 1000 m up
to below sea level. [In the true axis of this young
folded belt, i.e., in the presently low-lying North
Pyrenean foothills, the St. Palais area (Figure 3b),
over 5000 m of Cretaceous–Tertiary sediments,
must have been eroded.] This inversion movement,
possibly a late- or postorogenic isostatic adjust-
ment, has also deformed the former overthrust
sheets, steepening those of southern vergence to
near vertical, thus inducing the cross-sectional
asymmetry of the North Pyrenean structural “fan”
(Figures 7c, 11c). The major part of this inversion
took place again near the North Pyrenean fault
zone, which is a still-active structural line, as
expressed by abrupt topography and earthquakes
(Figure 3b).
This sudden uplifting of the northern rim of the
Iberian margin may have enhanced (or triggered
with the aid of the Keuper decollement horizon)
gravitational tectonic phenomena on the gently
south-dipping southern side of the Pyrenees,
toward the Ebro basin. In the meantime, within the
North Pyrenean f lysch sequences, the steep
northerly tilting caused layer-on-layer slippage,
amplifying or even newly creating “structural” fea-
tures above buried obstacles such as paleotopo-
graphic reliefs (e.g., the Pau anticline, coincident
with the Meillon subcrop relief; see Henry, 1969;
Haller and Hamon, 1993) (Figure 7c).
It should finally be emphasized that the alpine
orogenic complex of the Pyrenees is devoid of
granitic intrusions and synorogenic volcanism;
there are no ophiolitic masses and the known meta-
morphism is restricted to the trace of the North
Pyrenean fault complex (Choukroune, 1976). This
indicates that the major orogenic event in the area
846 Evolution and Hydrocarbons, Aquitaine Basin, France

(a) (b)

NORTH PYRENEAN
THRUST FRONT
S N S N
LACQ
"Shallow" OIL FIELD N.P.T.
STE SUZANNE
ARZACQ BASIN
ANTICLINE "Deep" GAS FIELD MEILLON GAS FIELD

. . . .. . .. . .. .
l.K

. . .. .. .
.
Te 0m l.K. u.Te. u.Te.
u. Te J. l.Te.
K. . .. .. . ..
.. u. K. fl. . . . .
L.Te.
Te
.. Te J.
..
platform u.K.
K.l.
ysc
.
.... .. h .. ..
K.u
) K.u.
. ch TR l.J.
(F
lys (platform) 5000 . .. .. .. . . . ... .. . . .. ... .. .... . .. . . . L.K.
u. ..
K. 0 5 km TR
K.l.
J. Pal.
K.l. 10000 m-u. J.

l.J.
J.
Grand Rieu .. . . P. TR
T
R.
uplift Pal.

Pal.
3 km
? ? OIL POOL
GAS POOL
3 km

(c) (d)
S N
LANNEMEZAN BONREPOS - MONTASTRUC St. MARCET GAS FIELD
SSW NNE
Lnz 1 Lnz 2 N.P.T. LI 1 N.P.T. SM 10
Bos 1 Mtc 1 SM 2 SM 1 SM 5 SM 3 SM 8

0 S.L
E-O.
0m
Te Te D.P.
+ K.u (platf.)
+
2
) E.
ch
K.u
.
ys Dano-Paléocène
(fl Ku 1000 D.P.
TR Ku (platform) K.u.
4 K.l. Kl.
J.
Pal.
2000
K.l.
K.u.
6 K.u.
J. J. TR )
(flysch

8 3000

K.l.
K.l
10
4000 J.m.u J.m.u.
km 0 2 4 km TR. u.
J.l ?
? J.l.

?
5000
?
? 0 1 km

Figure 14—Hydrocarbon field sections. (a–f) are located in the South Aquitaine or North Pyrenean domain, (g–i) in
the North Aquitaine, Parentis Basin. Compare with stratigraphic logs in Figure 3a, b, and regional cross sections in
Figure 4a, b. (a) Lacq: the “synchronous high” hides a salt cushion, formed at the intersection of inherited north-
south and east-west basement faults, from the latest Jurassic on (modified from A. Nicolaï et al., unpublished work;
see also Winnock and Pontalier, 1970). Stratigraphical abbreviations as in Figures 1c and 4. (b) Meillon: successive
erosional and faulting phases on the northern slope of the old Grand Rieu basement high resulted in a structural-
stratigraphic trap. The Pau surface anticline may be due to late or postorogenic “neo-tectonism,” atop the deep but-
tress of the Jurassic structural/erosional relief (cliff), itself superposed to basement wrench zone (modified from de
Chevilly et al., 1969; Henry, 1969; Haller and Hamon, 1993; and A. Nicolaï et al., unpublished work). Pal = Paleozoic,
Perm = Permian, lJ = Lower Jurassic, m-u J = Middle to Upper Jurassic, lK = Lower Cretaceous, uK = Upper Creta-
ceous, lTe = lower Tertiary, uTe = upper Tertiary. (c) Lannemezan-Bonrepos-Montastruc: structural traps within the
belt of the North Pyrenean thrust complex, where salt diapirs were emplaced during the earlier extensional
(transtensional) period, reworked during the Pyrenean compressions (from Morange et al., 1992). Stratigraphical
abbreviations as in Figures 1c and 4, and DP = Dano-Paleocene. SL = sea level. (d) St. Marcet: the surface anticline in
the “little Pyrenees” Range has been detected by field-geological survey. The slightly recumbent deep diapir has
been active since the Early Cretaceous (from ELF-Aquitaine et al., 1991). Stratigraphical abbreviations as in Figure
14b, and DP = Dano–Paleocene, E = Eocene, E–O = upper Eocene–Oligocene. (e) Vic Bilh and Casteralou fields, situat-
ed on the flanks of an Albian salt lineament, along the northern edge of the Tarbes infrabasin. The Jurassic erosion-
al traps are sealed by the Lower Cretaceous marls (from Mauriaud, 1987; compare with Figure 9b). (f) Lagrave: an
old “transverse” hinge line has become, during the (late-) Pyrenean orogenic phases, a senestral wrench zone, as
indicated by the set of nonconjugate normal faults. Light oil has thus migrated from deep, mature sources into the
shallow habitat (from ELF-Aquitaine et al., 1991). Stratigraphical abbreviations as in Figure 14d. (g) Parentis Basin,
main types of traps: the Parentis field has been generated by deep, nonpiercing diapirism, the Mimizan bioherm is
salt-related as well, the Cazaux stratigraphic trap has become a flat anticline during later salt movements. Strati-
graphical abbreviations as in Figures 1c, 4, or 14c (from ELF-Aquitaine et al., 1991; see also Mediavilla, 1987).
 Bourrouilh et al. 847

(e) (f)
LAGRAVE

W. E. N
S N
S.L.
CASTERALOU VIC-BILH
O-M.

DP 0 E.
0m
Mo
. D.P
.
TERTIARY MOLASSE E K.u.
.
1000 DP . D.P

K.u. K.l.
DANO - PALEOCENE
2000 Ku
U. CRETACEOUS
K.l.
Kl L. CRETACEOUS
J.m-u
ALBO-APTIAN
3000

J JURASSIC
J J J.m-u
J
4000 J J.l.
T R SALT DIAPIR

TRIASSIC 1000 m
J.l.

1 km

4 km

(g) (h)
CAZAUX
W. E.
meters
sub-sea

2000
S.W. N.E. Senonian
PARENTIS BASIN
OCEAN MIMIZAN PARENTIS CAZAUX O. O.
O.
GARONNE Riv. O.
+ O.
O.
O.
O.
+ Albia
Te K.u. Trias l. O. O. n
J. PERMIAN O.
CARBONIFER. O. O.
K.u. + + + + 2500
O.
K.l. Bsmt.

TR
K.l.
T J Barr
5000 m
emia
n
TRl.
We
ald
3000 ian
Pu
rbe
Port ckia
0 50 100 km land n
ian
not to scale
Vertical exaggeration = abt. 7 X 1 km
O.
Reservoirs with water table vert. exag. ≈ 3 x

(i)
LUGOS

29 28 17 19 20 4 12 13

NW. SE.
ALBO. APT.

1400
LOWER
APTIAN

1500
BARREMIAN

1600
INITIAL
WATER TABLE
1700

1 km
vertical exaggeration : x 2.5

Figure 14—Continued. (h) Cazaux: the upper set of oil pools are trapped in separate lenses of a north-south–orient-
ed channel or deep-sea fan near the northern limit of the Parentis Basin. Synsedimentary Albian faulting was essen-
tial in the emplacement of sand bodies; it also permitted Jurassic-generated oil to be emplaced in the upper pools
(from Bessaguet and Martin, 1977). (i) Lugos: the erosional relief that contributed to the mixed structural-strati-
graphic trap is somewhat similar to that of the Meillon trend in the North Pyrenean area (Figure 14b). Figures 12g–i
are based on exploration documents of ESSO-REP, in ELF-Aquitaine et al. (1991).
848 Evolution and Hydrocarbons, Aquitaine Basin, France
has been the Variscan one (tectonics with major
crustal shortening, penetrative metamorphism, and
granitization). Parts of this structural heritage or
regional pattern were rejuvenated during the
Mesozoic–Tertiary extensions, and the whole fab-
ric was eventually overprinted and refolded by the
Late Cretaceous to Tertiary, Pyrenean-Alpine oro-
genic convergence (Figure 7c).
RECENT INTERPRETATIONS
(1) The inherited basement structure constantly
influenced the sedimentation and paleogeography
of the whole area. The northeast-, north-north-
west–, and east-west–trending structural lines are
well known in both neighboring cratons; their
emplacement on both sides of the Tertiary fold belt
of the Pyrenees shows a continuity, which has been
somewhat blurred by the Pyrenean-Alpine events
but which can still be recognized (Figure 12). The
North Pyrenean fault, the Basque transverse system,
and the Cerdagne fault lineament (Figure 10d) cut-
ting across the eastern Pyrenees are but the most
prominent elements of this old fault web. Much of
the recurring movements along these faults took
place in the wrenching mode. The northwest-ori-
ented faults acted during the early movements
(Cretaceous); the east-west fault group was active
since the Permian, under extension, wrenching,
and compression, while northeast-trending faults
underwent important wrenching rejuvenation dur-
ing the late orogenic events (Figures 3b, 7c, 10).
The similarity of the Permian to Lower
Cretaceous sedimentary sequences, present in
southern France and northern Spain, argues in
favor of the Iberian landmass being relatively
autochthonous in relation to the rest of Europe.
(2) The deep structure of the North Pyrenean
fault shows a northerly dip, the deep “spur” of the
thick Iberian plate slipping underneath the very
much thinned South Aquitaine plate during the pro-
cess of crustal convergence (Figures 3b, 7c, 11c).
The gravity image is very relevant all along the
Pyrenees. From north to south, the foreland basin
(i.e., the sub-Pyrenean zone) exhibits negative
anomalies; a lineament of positive anomalies corre-
sponds to the belt of maximal compression (the
North Pyrenean belt), whereas the “axial” high
chain (where crustal thickness is maximal and
where granitic stocks abound) corresponds to
another domain of negative anomalies. There is a
direct correlation between the emplacement of the
positive gravity anomalies in the orogenic belt and
the shape and amplitude of the overthrust sheets.
The structural arches (concave to the south, see
Figure 11a) envelop the positive anomalies, suggest-
ing a common origin for the two. The observed
rows of east-west–trending geophysical anomalies
can therefore be best accounted for by the stacking
and imbricating produced by the Pyrenean orogenic
shortening (Zolnaï, 1971).
(3) The appearance and evolution of the set of
rhomb basins in the North Pyrenean belt and
Parentis area, and the inner organization of these
pull-apart structures, can be best explained by
regional shearing. The wrench movements are,
however, inferred from the basin geometries
rather than from direct observation. The rhomb
basins of the Aptian–Albian period indicate a
northwest-southeast–oriented left-lateral shear
component caused by the opening of the North
Atlantic oceanic arm in connection with the slow
easterly drift and counterclockwise rotation of the
Iberian landmass (Bourrouilh et al., 1988; Zolnaï,
1991, Figure VII-8). These first pull-apart basins
(Arzacq, Tarbes) are limited by south-southeast–
and east-west–oriented faults. The north-north-
west–oriented faults are abrupt (indicating the
direction of the shearing), whereas the east-
west–trending ones form progressive stairs that
contribute to the regional dip. South of the individ-
ual Aptian-Albian pull-apart basins (Figure 5c), the
single late Albian-Cenomanian east-west–oriented
furrow took shape. This furrow is composed of a
row of smaller rhomb basins, place of the first fly-
sch sedimentary cycle (Souquet et al., 1981, 1985).
This structural event was initiated by the ongoing
left-lateral shearing, which was reoriented from
northwest-southeast to east-west. The second
major f lysch trough (mid-Senonian) was coeval
with the partial oceanization of the floor of the
Bay of Biscay, which itself was the result of the
slight counterclockwise rotation of Iberia (Figure
5b, c); new basaltic masses were emplaced, which
engulfed and spread over parts of an already
thinned continental crust. The east-west magnetic
“anomaly 34” (beyond the western limits of our
maps) is dated at 85 Ma, i.e., mid-Senonian. This
oceanic event thus corresponds in time to the end
(and not to the beginning) of the Cretaceous rift-
ing period, which was triggered by the sinistral
east-west shearing.
The lateral displacements necessary to generate
all the rhomb basins and rifts need not have been
great (Zolnaï, 1991)—a few kilometers suffice to
generate the known basins. All that direct field
observation could provide so far are shifts on the
order of 10 km in the central Pyrenees (Debroas,
1987), along the southern edge of the Albian–
Cenomanian flysch furrow. Ongoing field work
may supply further evidence for the assessment of
the offset(s) produced along the North Pyrenean
fault.
(4) The amplitude of the north-south, extension-
al, and compressive movements may have been

relatively modest too. The total north-south stretch-
ing of the Aquitaine basin is estimated to have been
about 80 km, of which the later orogenic compres-
sions were going to recover approximately 30+ km
(Figure 6). The moderate counterclockwise rotation
of the Iberian plate, which accompanied the sinistral
wrenching events (Albian to mid-Senonian), must
not have exceeded a few degrees at this stage
(Figure 5) (see Zolnaï, 1991, Figure V-4). All of these
relatively moderate movements have nevertheless
substantially thinned and weakened the basin floor.
The opening of the Parentis and Adour basins, as
well as the partial oceanization of the Bay of Biscay
(Aptian–Senonian), were consequences of this mod-
erate extension and of the rotation of the Iberian
landmass. The Senonian to Eocene orogenic events
all along the Pyrenees (and probably in the Provence
area as well) took place along the weakened south-
ern wedge. It is significant that the orogenic com-
pressions directly affected only the narrow North
Pyrenean zone. The larger North Aquitaine basin
(including the Parentis subbasin), which has been
equally stretched during the rifting events of the
Mesozoic, remained undisturbed during the com-
pressive events, except for some minor adjustment
movements (shearing), which triggered important
salt tectonism but no regional shortening.
(5) There is some controversial evidence in favor
of a moderate dextral wrench component, in con-
junction with the major compressive event during
the Pyrenean orogeny, resulting in transpression
(Figures 5d, 6). This might have pushed the Iberian
landmass back nearer to its original position, prior
to the Albian sinistral transtensional wrenching.
This late, dextral movement could have taken place
mainly along or near the North Pyrenean fault, too.
The compression (shortening) is maximal along
this line, expressed as schistosity and local meta-
morphism, which are limited to this narrow belt.
Small masses of mantle rocks, i.e., lherzolites (peri-
dotite-type rocks) are also known along the North
Pyrenean fault corridor, usually at crossings with
transverse, north-south–oriented fault lines. Their
extrusion may have been facilitated by recurring
shear movements able to create local extensional
zones (e.g., in “releasing bends”). The straightness
and verticality of the North Pyrenean fault give fur-
ther evidence in favor of the at least partially strike-
slip character of the late Alpine movements.
(Wrench faults and corridors are, in fact, mostly
vertical to subvertical, whereas thrust faults issued
directly from crustal shortening are, as a general
rule, low angle or flat, and present arcuate traces
on maps.) Mapping evidence for right-lateral
wrenching exists in the Basque area (La Rhune mas-
sif, Figure 2) and in the Jaca basin (Spain) from the
Oligocene (Guimera and Alvaro, 1990; Thomas and
Delfaud, 1990).
Bourrouilh et al. 849
(6) Above-average, differential basin subsidence
rates, coeval with major uplifts due to diapirism
along the edges of the same basins, are most typi-
cal of the area (Figures 6; 7b, c; 8). Such balanced
(“paired”) movements occurred during the Aptian
to early Albian (in the Arzacq basin), as well as
during the Albian (in the Parentis Basin and along
the sub-Pyrenean zone). It seems to be beyond
doubt that the ef fects of the or iginal crustal
stretching were enhanced in the whole area by
the migration of the Keuper salts, flowing from
the basin floors to their edges. The shattering of
the fault zones, due to the wrench component,
may have triggered these diapiric movements.
They resulted in intricate basin geometries next
to the diapiric complexes (see “Hydrocarbons”
section).
The remobilization of the thick (>1000 m) late
Triassic–earliest Jurassic evaporitic masses
enhanced the effects of the tectonic subsidence in
the North Pyrenean mobile belt too, where salt lin-
eaments and circular mushroom-shaped diapirs
came into existence within the furrow, all through
the rifting events. In the western Pyrenees, the first
major (late Albian to Cenomanian) turbidite
sequence was deposited to the south of a row of
mid-basin salt lineaments and to the north of the
faulted southern margin, i.e., the North Pyrenean
fault (Figure 6). Most of the second major turbidite
sequence (mid-Senonian) was, to the contrary,
deposited to the north of these salt structures and
to the south of another major hinge line, which
was going to become the North Pyrenean thrust
front and which corresponded roughly to the
southern rim of the earlier, Lower Cretaceous
rhomb basins (Arzacq, Tarbes).
(7) Interpretations using stacked overthrust
sheets and supposing large-scale crustal shortening
(several hundreds of kilometers for the northern
side of the Pyrenees alone) have sometimes been
proposed. These interpretations are based on long-
range lateral projection of the various recognized
structures and on the superposition of the latter.
Such approaches usually do not stand up to three-
dimensional analysis and/or paleogeographic
restorations. The solution to the structural com-
plexity of the folded area should be sought to bet-
ter understand the effects of the transverse fault
systems, which delineate the tectonic compart-
ments. More detailed analysis of the synsedimenta-
ry movements of each of these pre-existing base-
ment blocks allows a better understanding of the
local structural picture, which changes from one
compartment to the other. In fact, each tectonic
compartment has its own specific “signature” or its
own answer to the tectonic forces; anomalies,
therefore, cannot be carried over from one com-
partment to another.
850 Evolution and Hydrocarbons, Aquitaine Basin, France
HYDROCARBONS
Although surface seepages have been known in
the southern part of the basin since the early 19th
century, serious exploration started only in the late
1930s. It resulted in the St. Marcet gas discovery,
made in 1939 on Bastille Day (July 14) (Perrodon,
1980, 1985). The upper Lacq “shallow” (650 m,
approximately 2000 ft) heavy-oil field was discov-
ered in 1949 based on gravimetry and some seismic
work. This was followed in 1951 by the deep Lacq
sour-gas discovery, which tapped a true giant at
3550 m (11,000 ft) in the basal Cretaceous. The
next important discoveries were made at Parentis,
in 1953 in the Barremian, and at Cazaux, in the
Albian sandstones in 1959. After a long series of
dry holes, the Meillon sour-gas field was tapped in
1964, at a depth of 5000 m. The Pecorade–Vic Bilh
oil fields were drilled in 1974–1979, while the
interesting Lagrave oil field was completed in 1984.
A dozen offshore wells, drilled in the western
reaches of the Parentis Basin in the late 1960s and
early 1970s, did not yield commercial results. The
latest oil discovery, in 1992, was made onshore, in
the northernmost part of the Parentis Basin near
Arcachon with the Les Arbousiers 1 well.
The Aquitaine basin is one of the most explored
areas in western Europe; before the North Sea
Basin discoveries, it was the most productive too,
with the giant Lacq and Meillon gas discoveries
(1951 and 1964, respectively) near the northern
rim of the Pyrenees and the oil-producing Parentis
Basin (1954–1959) to the north, near Bordeaux.
Mature source rocks are in the Jurassic shaly car-
bonates and possibly the Lower Cretaceous shales
(see Figure 4a, b). Most reservoir rocks are situated
near the Jurassic–Early Cretaceous boundar y
(sands, sandy carbonates, and dolomites), within
the Jurassic (dolomites), or in the Lower to middle
Cretaceous (Albian; clastics). Natural fracturing is
an important production factor in the Jurassic
reser voirs of the deep gas fields of the sub-
Pyrenean area (Adour basins: Lacq, Meillon, etc.).
The Upper Cretaceous carbonates are poor reser-
voirs, where not fractured.
All discoveries with the exception of St. Marcet
were made using seismic data, the evolution of
which has enabled the exploration to progress over
the decades. Gravimetric and magnetic methods
have also been used systematically. Another con-
trolling factor of exploration was the development
of deep drilling, especially in the flysch-covered
domain, where turbine drilling techniques were
introduced and developed to obtain adequate pen-
etration rates.
Most purely structural habitats (e.g., St. Marcet
gas field, shallow Lacq oil pool, and deep Lacq gas
field, Parentis Basin oil fields) (Figures 13, 14a–i)
are related to some sort of salt movement during
sedimentation. The first wave of exploration start-
ed on surface structures in the “Petites Pyrénées”
area (St. Marcet) and at Ste. Suzanne. A series of
diapiric structures was then drilled with no com-
mercial success, until the improved seismic and
drilling techniques allowed deeper exploration
(deep Lacq pool) (Figure 14a). The discovery in the
Parentis Basin was also made possible with better
resolution seismic, which was able to detect the
“infrabasin” hidden under the relatively quiet
Tertiary cover (Figure 14g–i). Several of the more
recent discoveries are subunconformity traps,
which, like the gas fields of the Meillon trend
(Figure 14b), remained unexplored because of the
difficulty of penetrating a very thick and abrasive
flysch sequence. The fields along the salt ridges
(Casteralou, etc.) are structural-stratigraphic, relat-
ed to early salt movements (Albian–Aptian) (Figure
14c–e). Their discovery needed better regional
understanding and new exploration concepts. The
role of synsedimentary movements needed to be
recognized; synsedimentary movements produced
sets of erosional traps on both sides of the eroded
diapiric trends.
Almost all productive areas are situated within
the deeper basinal domains (Arzacq-Tarbes and
Parentis basins), where the Pyrenean orogeny
(compressive folding) had little to no direct effect
and where maturation was sufficient but not exces-
sive. Most of the purely compressive, alpine folds
have proved disappointing (the St. Marcet and Lacq
fields correspond to habitats formed already during
the Cretaceous halokinetic events).
Another important impact of the synsedimentary
movements (mostly extensional, with a wrench
component) has been in the shaping of confined,
“starved” lozenge-shaped basins (Arzacq-Tarbes) or
rifts (Parentis), ideal for both hydrocarbon genera-
tion and preservation. The same early (preoro-
genic) movements have triggered the salt move-
ments.
Commercially interesting but regionally limited
discoveries have been made in clastic or clastic-car-
bonate deep-sea fans and “slumped” masses in the
Parentis Basin at Cazaux (Figure 14h), and within
the North Pyrenean flysch trough at Mazères (to
the south of the Meillon ridge). The emplacement
of these reservoir bodies also needed the presence
of abrupt synsedimentary reliefs, structural and/or
erosional.
Although source maturation may have been late
(Tertiary subsidence and burial), early trap forma-
tion appears to have been a controlling factor in all
major discoveries: Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
abortive salt doming (Lacq, Parentis) and Early to
Late Cretaceous structural-erosional traps (Meillon,
Vic Bilh, Pecorade, Lugos) (Figure 14b, e, i). One of

the more recent discoveries, at Lagrave in the
North Pyrenean domain, seems to be a fractured
anticlinal trap related to a north-south fault system
with a sinistral wrench component (Figure 14f).
The reservoirs here are Upper Cretaceous carbon-
ates, but the maturity of the oil points toward a
deeper origin.
Another Upper Cretaceous structural trap is the
upper Lacq pool where platform carbonates con-
tain some heavy oil. The reservoir in the St. Marcet
gas field is brecciated Upper Cretaceous carbon-
ates, which cap a salt diapir that grew in the
Senonian flysch furrow. The Ledeuix gas field is a
fractured reservoir in Cretaceous volcanic rocks.
The small Lannemezan gas pool is the only purely
subthrust discovery so far, although the Lacq field is
partly overthrusted along its southern margin.
All of the deep gas is sour, the H2S content being
in the 10% range. Various amounts of condensate
occur in most of the gas fields.
The discoveries amount to a total of approxi-
mately 50 × 106 MT (300 million bbl) of recover-
able oil and 210 × 109 m3 of recoverable gas (6000
tcf). Drilling density is still rather low; about 700
wells have been drilled so far on the 30,000 km2
(12,000 mi2), triangular-shaped southern produc-
tive area, for an average of 1 well/4 km2 (1 well/1.5
mi2). Many of these wells are old and shallow and
were based on now obsolete exploration concepts.
CONCLUSIONS
So far, hydrocarbon exploration has mainly con-
centrated on known Mesozoic (mainly uppermost
Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous) target horizons.
Other intervals within the Mesozoic sequence may
be considered as little known and underexplored,
especially in the light of more recent discoveries
and concepts. The Tertiary and the Paleozoic series
(Mullan, 1984), although potentially hydrocarbon
bearing, are virtually unexplored, and there are still
prospects in the Lower Cretaceous (Albian–Aptian)
series as well. For decades, the principal aim of
exploration has been the search of “alpine,” com-
pressive-structural traps, especially those of the
N110° set located in the overthrust belt and/or
those directly related to salt diapirs in the basin
itself. Reinterpretation in the light of the extension-
al-wrenching concept and targeting “synchronous,”
combination structural-stratigraphic habitats may
lead to new discoveries.
The extremely complex lithological and struc-
tural evolution of the Aquitaine basin has led to a
great variety of lithological and structural forms
and hydrocarbon habitats. Each structure repre-
sents a specific history. Even within the same struc-
tural trend or target, neighboring wells may exhibit
Bourrouilh et al. 851
different settings, and almost every development
well has to be regarded as if it were a wildcat. This
certainly turns exploration into an extremely com-
plex, multidisciplinary process, but it maintains
hope for new discoveries for those with thorough
knowledge, up-to-date technology, and imagination.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Robert Bourrouilh Greg Zolnaï

Robert Bourrouilh received his Greg Zolnaï holds diplomas of
Thèse d’Etat Sciences from the geology from the universities of
University of Paris on sedimentolo- Budapest, Hungary (1953) and
gy and structure of Baleraric Islands Paris, Sorbonne, France (1958). He
and Western Mediterranee. He held spent his career in exploration of
academic positions at the uni- coal, water, and hydrocarbons,
versities of Paris, Pau, and now mostly with the Aquitaine and ELF
Bordeaux. He was a visiting profes- groups, 1957–1988. He has worked
sor at University of Southern in Hungary, France (Paris and
California and University of South Aquitaine basins, Pyrenees), North
Florida. He organized AAPG field Africa, Australia–South East Asia,
seminars on sedimentology and petroleum geology of Surinam, and North America (U.S. and Canada). Presently
Aquitaine Basin and Pyrenees with the support of ELF- he does research work and carries out teaching assign-
Aquitaine, ESSO, and TOTAL. He is associate editor of the ments on regional and structural geology (wrench tec-
Journal of Sedimentary Research. tonics).

J.-P. Richert
J.-P. Richert is presently an inter-
national structural expert with ELF-
Aquitaine. He joined this group in
1966 after gaining a doctorate in
1964 at the University of Stras-
bourg (under Professor Michel
Ruhland). His whole career has
been devoted to the application of
tectonic analysis methods to oil
and gas exploration, especially
concerning seismic data interpreta-
tion in compressive and extensive tectonic regimes.