Basement control on shaping and infilling of valleys incised at the southern coast of Brittany.

International audienceThe shape and infilling of the submerged parts of valleys incised along the southern coast of Brittany (France) have been investigated using very high-resolution seismics and a small number of piston cores. The valley location and morphology are found to be controlled mostly by submarine topography, which is marked by a well-developed fault zone that lies between the modern coast and a prominent basement-cored island and shoal complex located 5--15 km offshore. The faults controlled the shape of the valley networks and the amount of incision along the valley profile. They were probably active until the end of incision, because the valley thalwegs show scarps up to 10 meters high where they are crossed by these faults. The valleys were incised during the Quaternary lowstands of sea level, and most of the fill was emplaced during the last postglacial sea-level rise. The valley fills form a transgressive succession, consisting mainly of fluvial deposits at the base (possibly amalgamated from older sequences) overlain by tide-dominated estuarine deposits and capped by offshore muds. The most prominent internal surfaces are the tidal- and wave-ravinement surfaces. The valley-fill architecture is strongly dependent on the valley morphology (depth of incision, width of the valleys, and extent of estuarine intertidal areas). Estuarine deposits inside narrow and linear valleys are mostly aggrading muds, whereas those inside large and dendritic valleys dominantly comprise sandier, tidal-channel and bar deposits