Radiometric dating (U/Th) of the lower marine terrace (MIS 5.5) west of Nice (French Riviera): Morphological and neotectonic quantitative implications

Measurements of U/Th disequilibrium by mass spectrometry with a plasma source were used for the dating of shells collected on the lower marine terrace to the west of Nice. The dates obtained (129 ± 30 ka) arranged with palaeoclimatic data indicate that this terrace corresponds to the MIS 5.5 (Tyrrhenian pro parte) and can be correlated with the level with Strombus bubonius located to the east of Nice. Thus, a profile of almost 70 km can be restored with precision from altimetric measurements of the deposits and from sedimentological indicators of the sea level. This profile passes from the tectonic foreland of Provence to the front of the Nice Alpine Range after skirting the Pliocene Var Basin. It thus crosses major structural limits. As expected, the deformation of the lower Tyrrhenian terrace consists of a west-to-east uplift with two boundaries: (1): the “Var Fault” located under the Pliocene Basin; and (2): the border fault of the Nice Range. On a regional scale, the uplift appears closely related to the Nice Range activity. It decreases to the east, in the Flyschs zone, then increases again up to the Apennines chain.