Basin Structure
The Aquitaine Basin is a very asymmetric foreland basin. It reaches its deepest part of 11 km just in front of the North Pyrenean Thrust.
The 2,000 m isobath follows more or less the course of the Garonne River and divides the basin into a relatively shallow northern platform, the so-called Aquitaine Plateau, and into a much deeper, tightly folded, southern region. The tabular platform in the north contains only a much reduced sedimentary succession that is gently undulating and occasionally faulted. The folding intensity in the southern region increases steadily towards the south, the structures being further complicated by superimposed salt diapirism.
This somewhat simplified structural subdivision gets complicated by the Parentis Basin which extends out into the Atlantic. The Parentis Basin is situated in the Golfe de Gascogne and also reaches 11 km depth; it is a symmetrical basin oriented east-west and comes ashore near Arcachon. This sub-basin is underlain on its far western side by oceanic crust dated at 100-95 million years BP (Cenomanian). It is bounded by dextral wrench faults (possible transform faults) and probably represents a pull-apart basin.
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