TY - CHAP AU - Taher Zouaghi AU - Rihab Guellala AU - Marzouk Lazzez AU - Mourad Bédir AU - Mohamed Ben Youssef AU - Mohamed Hédi Inoubli AU - Fouad Zargouni ED - Uri Schattner Y1 - 2011-08-09 PY - 2011 T1 - The Chotts Fold Belt of Southern Tunisia, North African Margin: Structural Pattern, Evolution, and Regional Geodynamic Implications N2 - Ocean closure involves a variety of converging tectonic processes that reshape shrinking basins, their adjacent margins and the entire earth underneath. Following continental breakup, margin formation and sediment accumulation, tectonics normally relaxes and the margins become passive for millions of years. However, when final convergence is at the gate, the passive days of any ocean and its margins are over or soon will be. The fate of the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf is seemingly known beforehand, as they are nestled in the midst of Africa-Arabia plate convergence with Eurasia. Over millions of years through the Cenozoic era they progressively shriveled, leaving only a glimpse of the Tethys Ocean. Eventually, the basins will adhere to the Alpine-Himalaya orogen and dissipate. This book focuses on a unique stage in the ocean closure process, when significant convergence already induced major deformations, yet the inter-plate basins and margins still record the geological history. BT - New Frontiers in Tectonic Research SP - Ch. 3 UR - https://doi.org/10.5772/20636 DO - 10.5772/20636 SN - PB - IntechOpen CY - Rijeka Y2 - 2024-03-29 ER -