How reliable are growth strata in interpreting short-term (10 s to 100 s ka) growth structures kinematics?

High-frequency stratigraphic cycles (10 s to 100 s ka) often show, at a specific location, an alternation of ‘dynamic’ (proximal-energetic), and ‘non-dynamic’ (distal-pelagic) processes with time. When sedimentation is syn-deformation, these processes tend respectively to fill-up tectonically-induced topography or to drape it. As a consequence, growth strata are alternatively thickened and isopach across the growth structure. High-resolution kinematic studies of growth structures (folds and faults), which assume that sedimentation always fills up topographies (‘fill-to-the-top’ model), may therefore mistake sedimentary cyclicity for tectonic cyclicity. We address this problem with one example of growth anticline in the Spanish Pyrenees, and we discuss the fill-to-the-top model. To cite this article: S. Castelltort et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).