Geochronological Ar-40/Ar-39 data on the submarine fault-scarps in the Sardinia channel (western Mediterranean)

Granite and gneiss have been sampled on the submarine fault scarps of the S ardinia Channel and have been dated using the Ar-40/Ar-39 method. The major ity of rocks partially presence Hercynian ages. Some of them display Lower Cretaceous ages. In addition, Upper Eocene-Oligocene argon resetting is rec orded only in rocks from the southeast sector of the Channel. We thus propo se that the basement of the Sardinia Channel occupied a shallow position wi thin the slack of the Alpine tectonic units, behind the more deformed front of the internal zones of the Maghrebide Chain. ((C) Academic des sciences / Elsevier, Paris.).