Articles de revues sur le sujet « Aureole tectonics »

Abstract The Cevennes area belongs to the para-autochthonous domain of the Hercynian Belt of the French Massif Central. Three lithological series, namely: sandstone-pelite, black micaschist and gneiss-micaschist, are identified. They form an imbrication of five tectonic units which overthrust the unmetamorphosed Viganais Paleozoic units to the south and the gneissic Mamejean Unit to the north. The structural, metamorphic and magmatic evolution of the Cevennes area is characterized by three events, namely: (1) southward shearing coeval to a MP/MT metamorphism dated around 340 Ma; (2) post nappe anatexis (T<750 degrees C, P>5 kb); (3) Namurian (ca 315 Ma) E-W extensional tectonics and plutonism. The structure of the Mt-Lozere-Borne granitic complex is constrained by new AMS and gravimetric data. The plutons are the driving power of the hydrothermal convective circulations responsible for an early deposition of diffuse arsenopyrite in the thermal aureole. Gold bearing sulfides are afterwards concentrated in quartz veins along brittle normal and wrench faults around the granite. Lastly, ore bearing quartz pebbles are sedimented in the Stephanian Ales coal basin.

We review and refine the geological setting of an area located nearby the Tyrrhenian seacoast, in the inner zone of the Northern Apennines (southern Tuscany), where a Neogene monzogranite body (estimated in about 3 km long, 1.5 km wide, and 0.7 km thick) emplaced during early Pliocene. This magmatic intrusion, known as the Gavorrano pluton, is partially exposed in a ridge bounded by regional faults delimiting broad structural depressions. A widespread circulation of geothermal fluids accompanied the cooling of the magmatic body and gave rise to an extensive Fe-ore deposit (mainly pyrite) exploited during the past century. The tectonic setting which favoured the emplacement and exhumation of the Gavorrano pluton is strongly debated with fallouts on the comprehension of the Neogene evolution of this sector of the inner Northern Apennines. Data from a new fieldwork dataset, integrated with information from the mining activity, have been integrated to refine the geological setting of the whole crustal sector where the Gavorrano monzogranite was emplaced and exhumed. Our review, implemented by new palynological, petrological and structural data pointed out that: (i) the age of the Palaeozoic phyllite (hosting rocks) is middle-late Permian, thus resulting younger than previously described (i.e., pre-Carboniferous); (ii) the conditions at which the metamorphic aureole developed are estimated at a temperature of c. 660 °C and at a depth lower than c. 6 km; (iii) the tectonic evolution which determined the emplacement and exhumation of the monzogranite is constrained in a transfer zone, in the frame of the extensional tectonics affecting the area continuously since Miocene.

The plutons of Cairnsmoor of Fleet (392±2 Ma) and Criffel-Dalbeattie (397±2 Ma, both mineral isochron ages) comprise two of four major post-tectonic granitic complexes emplaced into the Southern Uplands, an Ordovician–Silurian back-arc and foreland basin complex formed at the northern margin of the Iapetus Suture. To expand the palaeomagnetic record of the Southern Uplands we have studied palaeomagnetism and magnetic fabrics in traverses spanning contacts of these intrusions with host mudrocks. A uniform anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) fabric across the Cairnsmoor of Fleet contact has been enhanced by recrystallization into hornfels near the contact and records a late Acadian regional stress operative during, or soon after, emplacement of the pluton in Middle Devonian times. Magnetization during slow cooling recorded a dual polarity (‘A’) remanence in granite and hornfels with mean direction D/I = 92/−2° (α95 = 6.5°) yielding a palaeopole (Q = 6) at 2°N, 265°E linked to cooling at c. 392 Ma. Subsidiary magnetizations are overprints imparted during Variscan tectonism (‘B’, D/I = 194/6°) and Jurassic rifting within the adjoining Irish Sea Basin (‘C’, c. 160–140 Ma, D/I = 172/−52°). The Criffel-Dalbeattie pluton has more complex AMS fabrics recording both deformation and emplacement effects. Hematite of secondary hydrothermal origin is a significant feature of the rock magnetic record in the aureole, which is otherwise dominated by paramagnetism. The granodiorite is more strongly magnetized than the country rocks, accounting for a positive aeromagnetic anomaly. A fairly dispersed dual polarity remanence (mean D/I = 115/55°, α95 = 18°) in granodiorite and late tectonic porphyrite dykes is probably the oldest magnetization preserved in this pluton because it correlates with an excursion of Britain into southerly palaeolatitudes at c. 410 Ma and indicates an Early Devonian emplacement age. The palaeofield at c. 397 Ma, the currently accepted isotopic age, is recorded by a minority overprinted remanence (mean D/I = 272/2°, α95 = 12°) similar to the record in the Cairnsmoor of Fleet pluton and granites from the adjoining Lake District terrane. Granite complexes of the Southern Uplands Block collectively record regional rotation and excursion of Britain into southerly latitudes between c. 410 and 390 Ma. Comparable Silurian–Devonian palaeomagnetic poles identify common apparent polar wander (APW) in paratectonic and orthotectonic terranes from the Variscan Front in the south to the Laurentian foreland in the north following climactic Acadian deformation. APW between 430 and 390 Ma embracing the (post-closure) history of the Caledonian orogen is a loop executed at rates much higher than typical rates of plate motion and appears to record a component of true polar wander. The ∼110° arc length is identical to polar shift identified between mid-Silurian and Lower–Middle Devonian poles from Gondwana. The two paths superimpose to show that the western margin of Gondwana was in proximity to the SE margin of Laurentia during Acadian deformation in Early–Middle Devonian times and remote from the Caledonides; the residual Rheic Ocean subsequently closed by a combination of pivotal and left lateral strike-slip motions.

ABSTRACTThe 532±5 Ma old Carion pluton is a dark, porphyritic ferro-potassic granitoid emplaced near the late Pan-African Angavo mega-shear zone. A rough normal zoning from tonalitic to granitic compositions can be recognised in the field. Steep magmatic foliations are evidenced by K-feldspar megacryst preferred orientations. Microstructures are either magmatic or typical of incipient solid-state deformation in near solidus conditions. Magnetic susceptibility magnitudes (K) range from 11 to 111×10−3 SI in the pluton and can be correlated to the petrography (highest K values in the tonalites; lowest K in the granites; granodiorites in between). The susceptibility magnitudes display a complex zoning pattern. Combined with the arrangement of magnetic foliation trajectories, it is possible to delineate four nested sub-units, regarded as four magmatic pulses successively emplaced from the west to the east of the pluton. The four pulses are characterised by very similar magma geochemistry, but variable magmatic differentiation. The highest degrees of magnetic susceptibility anisotropies (up to 1·6) are observed along internal contacts between sub-units and along the borders of the pluton. The magnetic lineations are also steeply plunging in some places in each sub-unit, possibly imaging the different feeder zones. Magma emplacement occurred at the end of the activity of the Angavo shear zone, hence avoiding re-orientation of the magmatic structures by the late Pan-African transcurrent tectonics. The diachronicity of the four magmatic pulses is consistent with previously determined palaeomagnetic data, because only the two older sub-units display a magnetic reversal sequence, whereas the two youngest sub-units lack any reversion. Emplacement of these four magmatic batches was responsible for a strain aureole and suggests a diapiric mode of ascent.

New 40Ar/39Ar ages are presented for two hornblendes and one biotite from the dynamothermal aureole that is situated at the base of the Mont Albeit ophiolite. Analysis by the incremental release technique reveals a small component of excess 40Ar in one hornblende, though both exhibit plateau-type spectra. The biotite was analyzed by the total fusion technique. All apparent ages are concordant and average 456 ± 3 Ma.Dynamothermal aureoles form during the obduction process, which juxtaposes ophiolites and amphibolite protoliths during a compressional tectonic event at a plate margin: in this instance, thrusting of the Mont Albert ophiolite over rocks of the Shickshock Group. The concordance of biotite and hornblende ages indicates rapid postmetamorphic cooling and firmly dates obduction at 456 ± 3 Ma ago, an age younger than any of the other northern Appalachian ophiolites. The high-pressure metamorphism of the amphibolite is inconsistent with the present high structural level of the composite Mont Albert – Shickshock allochthon. This implies that obduction and assembly of the allochthon took place in a different environment prior to emplacement in its present high-level position. The age presented here is therefore a maximum limit for the late thrusting event. A north–south diachronism of Humber Zone ophiolite obduction is supported by the new data.

AbstractTectonic and thermal perturbations, related to emplacement of granodiorite in the upper continental crust, have been investigated in the late-Hercynian basement exposed in southern Calabria (Italy). Here, the structural aureole is marked by the presence of a major rim fold adjacent to the intrusive contact for a length of at least 20 km. Geometrical analysis of the structural aureole and related foliations, lineations and crenulations reveals that the perturbed zone is at least 3000 m wide and characterized by an open synform trending nearly parallel to the intrusive contact. This pattern is compatible with a laccolith-like mode of magma emplacement, related to the accretion of the pluton that shouldered weak phyllitic and slaty wall rocks. The metamorphic aureole, about 1800 m wide, is characterized by biotite, cordierite and andalusite that appear sequentially in spotted schists and hornfelses approaching the intrusive contact. The peak assemblage equilibrated between 535 and 590°C at pressures between 175 and 200 MPa, confirmed by Al-in-hornblende barometry on granodiorite. Microstructural analysis allowed the inference of a time lag between the thermal and tectonic perturbations. With the aid of thermal modelling it was possible to quantify the time required to reach the peak temperature at a distance from the intrusive contact where cordierite spots and andalusite porphyroblasts clearly overprint crenulations. This estimate represents the time limit to accomplish deformation in the inner portion of the aureole and thus indicates a minimum strain rate of 4 × 10−14 s−1 within the country rocks during granodiorite intrusion.

AbstractMafic-ultramafic rocks of the Kabanga-Musongati alignment in the East African nickel belt occur as Bushveld-type layered intrusions emplaced in metasedimentary sequences. The age of the mafic-ultramafic intrusions remains poorly constrained, though they are regarded to be part of ca. 1375 Ma bimodal magmatism dominated by voluminous S-type granites. In this study, we investigated igneous monazite and zircon from a differentiated layered intrusion and metamorphic monazite from the contact aureole. The monazite shows contrasting crystal morphology, chemical composition, and U-Pb ages. Monazite that formed by contact metamorphism in response to emplacement of mafic-ultramafic melts is characterized by extremely high Th and U and yielded a weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb age of 1402 ± 9 Ma, which is in agreement with dates from the igneous monazite and zircon. The ages indicate that the intrusion of ultramafic melts was substantially earlier (by ∼25 m.y., 95% confidence) than the prevailing S-type granites, calling for a reappraisal of the previously suggested model of coeval, bimodal magmatism. Monazite in the metapelitic rocks also records two younger growth events at ca. 1375 Ma and ca. 990 Ma, coeval with metamorphism during emplacement of S-type granites and tin-bearing granites, respectively. In conjunction with available geologic evidence, we propose that the Kabanga-Musongati mafic-ultramafic intrusions likely heralded a structurally controlled thermal anomaly related to Nuna breakup, which culminated during the ca. 1375 Ma Kibaran event, manifested as extensive intracrustal melting in the adjoining Karagwe-Ankole belt, producing voluminous S-type granites. The Grenvillian-aged (ca. 990 Ma) tin-bearing granite and related Sn mineralization appear to be the far-field record of tectonothermal events associated with collision along the Irumide belt during Rodinia assembly. Since monazite is a ubiquitous trace phase in pelitic sedimentary rocks, in contact aureoles of mafic-ultramafic intrusions, and in regional metamorphic belts, our study highlights the potential of using metamorphic monazite to determine ages of mafic-ultramafic intrusions, and to reconstruct postemplacement metamorphic history of the host terranes.

AbstractThe Castores and probably the Santa Rosa plutons of north-west Isla Navarino, southern Chile, have been emplaced by in situ diapirism into metasedimentary rocks of the Upper Jurassic (?)–Lower Cretaceous Yaghan Formation. For the former, this model is consistent with the concentric foliation paralleling the margin of the pluton and the foliation and stratification planes in the metamorphic aureole. Only the southern part of the Santa Rosa Pluton is preserved, and it has some structures similar to those of the Castores Pluton, which can also be interpreted as produced by an inflating diapir. The main intrusive rocks of these plutons are quartz-monzodiorites and quartz-diorites with synmagmatic foliation. They were preceded by minor bodies of hornblende gabbros, and followed by dykes and small bodies of non-foliated granodiorites. Non-foliated to weakly foliated granodiorites, forming the centre of the Castores Pluton, probably represent a younger intrusive pulse.Twelve K–Ar mineral dates from 10 specimens of plutonic rocks, interpreted as near crystallization ages, span the period 80–90 Ma. These dates do not show the sequence of intrusion of the different rock-types, which may suggest that all of them were intruded and cooled in a short period of time. The timing of emplacement of these plutons in relation to tectonism is difficult to determine; however, a post-tectonic emplacement for at least the Castores Pluton, is proposed.

The mid-Cretaceous Anvil batholith, in south-central Yukon near Faro, intrudes Upper Proterozoic to upper Paleozoic strata of the Cordilleran outer miogeocline. From previous work, it was unclear whether biotite, andalusite–staurolite, and garnet isograds near the pluton resulted from pre-Devonian regional metamorphism and subsequent arching in a structural culmination or from mid-Cretaceous instrusion. The present study has documented biotite, andalusite, staurolite, garnet, and sillimanite isograds concentric to the pluton. Prophyroblast–matrix relationships indicate that peak metamorphism occurred during intrusion, which took place under approximately 3 kbar (300 MPa) pressure and heated country rock to temperatures of 600°–620 °C. The metamorphism is thus compatible with a deep, mid-Cretaceous event. Regional uplift of 10 km is implied by the metamorphic minerals. From cogenetic relationships between some phases of the Anvil batholith and the nearby South Fork volcanic rocks, regional uplift appears to have been completed in a few million years in the mid-Cretaceous. The uncharacteristic aureole suggests that mid-Cretaceous events in this region are atypical of the Cordillera and may reflect a unique tectonic history or position in the orogen.

Abstract The southen end of the 1800 km long Coast Plutonic Complex (CPC), exposed in the Harrison Lake area of British Columbia and in the North Cascades of Washington, bears a record of great crustal thickening -20 to 40 km in localized zones during Late Cretaceous times. During this period, the CPC was positioned at the continental margin during collision/subduction of the Farallon plate. Arc magmatism and regional orogenic contraction were both active as potential crustal thickening processes. Magmatism is favored in this report as the dominant factor based on the delineation of four spatially and temporally separate loading events, the close association of the loaded areas with emplacement of large plutons, and a paucity of evidence of deep regional tectonic contraction. The timing and spatial location of crustal loading events are documented by the following: zircon ages in plutons; an early event of low pressure in pluton aureoles evidenced by andalusite, now pseudomorphed by high-pressure minerals; high pressures in country rock in pluton aureoles measured by mineral compositions in the assemblages garnet-biotite-muscovite-plagioclase and garnet-aluminum silicate-plagioclase; high pressures recorded in plutons by Al-in-hornblende barometry; and uplift ages of plutons derived from K-Ar and Ar-Ar ages of micas and hornblende in plutons.

The Mt. Haley and Lussier River stocks are located northeast of Cranbrook, B.C. near the south end of the Western Main Ranges of the Southern Canadian Rocky Mountains. Both are multiphase, potassium-feldspar porphyritic monzonite plutons that intrude lower Paleozoic miogeoclinal strata. They crosscut and thermally overprint the Lussier River fault and the thrust and fold structures in the east flank of the Purcell anticlinorium and the west limb of the Porcupine Creek anticlinorial fan structure. Muscovite from the Mt. Haley stock yielded a 40Ar/39Ar plateau age of 108.2 ± 0.7 Ma (2σ), and a single-crystal, step-heating analysis of muscovite from a skarn in the metamorphic aureole adjacent to the Lussier River stock gave a plateau date of 108.7 ± 0.6 Ma (2σ). These dates constrain the timing of thrusting and folding in this portion of the western Rocky Mountains and of the displacement along the Lussier River – St. Mary fault to pre-middle Albian.

ABSTRACTOne of the most outstanding apparent examples in N America of a forcibly emplaced pluton is the Papoose Flat Pluton of eastern California. Sideways expansion of this granitic pluton, during emplacement into a series of Cambrian shelf strata, has been regarded by early workers as resulting in the observed intense crystal plastic deformation of the pluton's mylonitic border facies and surrounding country rocks. This deformation is evidenced by up to 90% thinning of individual stratigraphic layers within the pluton's metamorphic aureole, although such intense penetrative deformation of the country rocks is not observed outside the aureole.Previously published quartz c-axis fabrics associated with this deformation (and presented on projection planes oriented perpendicular to lineation) were interpreted as being symmetrical with respect to foliation and lineation, implying almost coaxial deformation histories. Such fabrics could be interpreted as indicating that the pluton evolved by “ballooning” as a result of new magma being intruded into its core during emplacement. However, a major problem with applying the strict ballooning model to the Papoose Flat Pluton is that while oblate strains would be expected to develop in association with a ballooning mechanism, the mylonitic rocks of this elongate WNW-ESE-trending pluton and its aureole are characterised by both a strongly developed foliation, which is concordant with the pluton's margin, and an intense, NW-SE trending, shallow plunging stretching lineation.Previously published fabrics from the Papoose Flat Pluton and its metamorphic aureole have been rotated on to a projection plane oriented parallel to lineation and perpendicular to foliation. Examination of the fabrics in this projection plane has revealed that they are in fact dominantly asymmetric, and that a constant sense of asymmetry is detected across the pluton, suggesting a consistent (top-to-the-SE) shear-sense. This new interpretation is strongly supported by microstructural and petrofabric analysis of additional L-S tectonites collected, during recent fieldwork, from both the aureole and quartz veins within the pluton's gneissic border facies. Thus mylonite formation around the Papoose Flat Pluton could have involved large-scale consistently oriented translation and associated shearing, rather than passive “blister-like” coaxial deformation associated with pluton ballooning. It should be noted that mylonitic deformation is restricted to the western half of the pluton, features indicative of a more “permitted” emplacement mechanism being found in the eastern portion of the pluton.The detected top-to-the-SE shear-sense could be interpreted as indicating that the granitic material forming the western part of the pluton was forcibly intruded in a northwestward direction from the pluton source as a nearly solidified wedge beneath a static cover of sedimentary rocks. Alternatively, the detected shear sense could also be interpreted as indicating SE-directed thrusting of the cover rocks over the underlying pluton, the western margin of the pluton suffering intense mylonitic deformation, while the eastern margin was located in a “stress-shadow” region. If this alternative interpretation is correct, then the deformation temperatures indicated by the pattern of quartz c-axis fabrics dictate that thrusting must either be synchronous with pluton emplacement, or at least have commenced during the early stages of pluton cooling.

ABSTRACTEarly Proterozoic rapakivi intrusions in S Greenland occur as thick sheets which have ramp–flat geometry and were intruded along the median planes of active ductile extensional shear zones. These shear zones and their intrusions were linked via transfer zones in a major three-dimensional framework. At high structural levels (c. 6 km) the rapakivi intrusions developed thermal aureoles which overprint the regional assemblages, whereas at deeper levels in the regional structure they are contemporaneous with regional metamorphism. Thermobarometry on the regional and contact assemblages indicates low pressure granulite facies conditions (200–400 MPa, 650°-800°C) suggesting very high thermal gradients. The rapakivi suite and associated norites have low initial 87Sr/86Sr together with positive εNd values, indicating the involvement of predominantly young crust and/or mantle component in the generation of the igneous suite. It is considered that the voluminous norites are closely related to the mafic melts which underplated the juvenile crust to trigger the generation of the monzonitic rapakivi suite. Taken together, the data are consistent with a model of Proterozoic lithospheric extension, thinning of relatively juvenile continental crust and compression of mantle isotherms, resulting in high crustal heat flow, mafic underplating, and crustal melting with emplacement of magmas along a linked network of extensional shear zones.

The Archean Abitibi Subprovince has been divided formally into a Northern Volcanic Zone (NVZ), including the entire northern part of the subprovince, and a Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ) on the basis of distinct volcano-sedimentary successions, related plutonic suites, and precise U–Pb age determinations. The NVZ has been further formally subdivided into (i) a Monocyclic Volcanic Segment (MVS) composed of an extensive subaqueous basalt plain with scattered felsic volcanic complexes (2730–2725 Ma), interstratified with or overlain by linear volcaniclastic sedimentary basins; and (ii) a Polycyclic Volcanic Segment (PVS) comprising a second mafic–felsic volcanic cycle (2722–2711 Ma) and a sedimentary assemblage with local shoshonitic volcanic rocks.A sequence of deformational events (D1–D6) over a period of 25 Ma in the NVZ is consistent with a major compressional event. North–south shortening was first accommodated by near-vertical east-trending folds and, with continued deformation, was concentrated along major east-trending fault zones and contact-strain aureoles around synvolcanic intrusions, both with a downdip movement. Subsequent dextral strike-slip movement occurred on southeast-trending faults and major east-trending faults which controlled the emplacement of syntectonic plutons (2703–2690 Ma).This study suggests that the NVZ, which is a coherent geotectonic unit, initially formed as a diffuse volcanic arc, represented by the MVZ, in which the northern part, represented by the PVS, evolved into a mature arc as documented by a second volcanic and sedimentary cycle associated with major plutonic accretion. Volcano-sedimentary evolution and associated plutonism, as well as structural evolution, are best explained by a plate-tectonic model involving oblique convergence.

The distribution patterns of four types of garnet in surficial materials of southeastern Gaspé Peninsula are interpreted in terms of the glacial history of the area, the lithostratigraphy of the bedrock, and mineral occurrences. Each type is derived from a distinct source, and all have undergone at least some southeastward glacial dispersion. Type 1 garnets, anhedral Ca-garnet fragments, are from the McGerrigle granite metamorphic aureole and were brought into the region by the same ice flow that caused the well-documented southward dispersal of granite debris. Their distribution within the study area depicts the southern part of this important dispersal train with an improved degree of precision. Type 2 garnets, Ca-garnet crystals, seem to be related to skarns within the boundaries of the study area; some patterns cannot be linked to any known source, thus providing challenging exploration opportunities. Type 3 garnets, colored pyralspite garnet crystals, are related to a tectonic breccia within the Maquereau–Mictaw contact zone. Type 4 garnets, Grenville-type anhedral garnets, were not brought into the region by Laurentide ice, as one might suspect, but rather seem to be related to specific horizons within the Silurian Lower Chaleurs Group. On the basis of a palinspastic reconstruction of southern Gaspé Peninsula and a plate tectonic model for the Paleozoic of eastern North America, we propose that these garnets were derived from the erosion of a metamorphic Grenvillian terrane, which presently forms the Northwestern Highlands Zone of Cape Breton Island. The distribution data for this garnet type also lends support to the concept put forth in a previous study whereby a local Late Wisconsinan ice mass penetrated some 5–6 km into the region from the southeast near Saint-Godefroi.

New and previously published metamorphic data suggest that the Clachnacudainn terrane of the southern Omineca Belt has tectonic affinities with the overlying Selkirk allochthon, rather than the underlying Shuswap metamorphic complex. This interpretation is based on relationships between metamorphic minerals and deformation phases, plutons, and the upper boundary of the terrane, the Standfast Creek fault. Regional kyanite and staurolite zones in the structurally lowest part of the terrane are overlain by a garnet zone that is continuous upward across the Standfast Creek fault into the Selkirk allochthon. This metamorphism is inferred to be Jurassic age based mainly on the continuity of these zones with those of known age in the allochthon. Textural relationships show that metamorphism occurred at different times relative to deformation across the terrane. Thermobarometry and a petrogenetic grid indicate that the terrane attained lower to middle amphibolitc facies conditions. Sillimanite and andalusite zones in the contact aureoles of posttectonic mid-Cretaceous plutons overprint the regional metamorphic zones and the Standfast Creek fault. Comparison of estimated pressures shows that approximately 5–10 km of exhumation occurred between regional and contact metamorphism. These metamorphic data are interpreted to indicate that the Standfast Creek fault had minor displacement after regional metamorphism and negligible displacement after contact metamorphism. Therefore, the fault cannot be an Eocene ductile to ductile–brittle shear zone that appressed or omitted metamorphic isograds and rapidly exhumed the Clachnacudainn terrane in its footwall, as was previously proposed.

The Chibougamau area, occupying the northeastern part of the Abitibi greenstone belt is a large synclinorium of volcanic and sedimentary rocks enclosed within tonalitic gneisses. Several east–west–trending regional folds within this synclinorium are responsible for the vertical attitude of the strata. Synclinal structures, with youngest sediments within the core, possess axial-plane schistosity. Anticlines, on the other hand, either form domes with a core occupied by earlier tonalitic to dioritic plutons or are transected by a series of east–west-trending ductile faults (the Waconichi tectonic zone).An early deformation phase of low intensity (D1) generated broad, north–south folds without schistosity. The subsequent regional deformation, event D2, produced the large east–west folds. These deformations, in combination, produced the regional interference pattern of domes and basins. North–south horizontal shortening generated an east–west-trending schistosity associated with a vertical stretching lineation. Regional deformation at its climax produced a tightening of folds and rotation of fold axes parallel to the stretching lineation.Plutons deflected the regional east–west schistosity and formed concentric trajectories associated with "contact-strain aureoles." This produced small interaction zones or triple points characterized by strong vertical extension. These relations suggest an interference between a regional stress field, which produced north–south horizontal shortening, and local stress fields, controlled or deflected by granitoid plutons acting as competent bodies.East–west-trending ductile shear zones represent the final stage of the regional deformation. The observed northward and southward reverse movement along these east–west faults, their parallelism to the axial trace of folds, and the regional schistosity are probable evidence of a regime dominated by a coaxial strain.

We report the results of a geochemical and U–Pb zircon geochronological study aimed at constraining the timing and tectonic setting of the exhumation of an orogenic peridotitic mantle massif in central Yukon within northern Canadian Cordillera. The Buffalo Pitts orogenic massif is inferred to have been exhumed into continental metasedimentary rocks within the pericratonic Yukon–Tanana terrane. Structurally admixed with the peridotite were boudins of metaleucogabbro and metatroctolite. A metamorphic aureole, defined by migmatite with abundant leucosome, characterizes the metasedi mentary wall rocks to the massif. Whole-rock chemical analyses indicate significant light rare-earth element enrichment of the leucogabbro and the metatroctolite, characteristics commonly ascribed to within-plate or rift settings. Crystallization of the leucogabbro occurred at 261.5 ± 2.3 Ma. The metatroctolite yields a similar crystallization age. These ages are coeval with metamorphism of the wall rocks to the orogenic massif, as indicated by leucosome crystallization at 262.3 ± 0.43 Ma. These geochemical and geochronological data are consistent with the orogenic massif having been exhumed within a continental rift at about 262 Ma, giving rise to metamorphism of the upper crustal rocks into which the massif was exhumed, and coeval with rift-related magmatism. Regional considerations suggest that rifting occurred within the back arc of a northeast-facing magmatic arc, represented by the Klondike schist. Coeval eclogite and blueschist along the northeast margin of the Yukon–Tanana terrane may mark the paleo-trench, along which a southwest-dipping slab is assumed to have subducted beneath Yukon–Tanana terrane.

Abstract The Variscan basement of the Axial Zone is exposed at four different structural levels in two mantled gneiss domes of the Central Pyrenees. The Aston-Hospitalet dome reflects the deepest levels and is cored by large orthogneiss massifs. The Bossòst dome further west possesses a central Variscan granitoid pluton and represents the upper crustal levels. The two gneiss domes are separated by later E-W-trending faults into northern half-domes and southern antiformal structures. Kinematic and metamorphic studies show that uplift of the orthogneiss core started under a N-S compressional setting and continued during dextral transpression. SE-NW-trending lineations in metasediments of the western Aston dome, the deepest level, represent fabrics developed at deeper levels early during the main deformation. They are partially obliterated by later intruding Variscan plutons. Younger ESE-WNW-trending lineations are characteristic for easterly directed flat-lying shear zones developed under amphibolite facies conditions at the roof zone of the orthogneiss and overlying weaker metasedimentary mantle rocks in the Hospitalet dome, which facilitated uplift of the orthogneiss core. In the deeper roots within the Aston orthogneiss such shear zones are not observed. Likewise, ascending Variscan plutons caused doming and the development of shallowly eastward dipping shear zones with a top-to-the-east kinematics in the southern Bossòst dome, while at deeper levels in the northern dome half coaxial deformation within the contact aureole prevails. Orogen-parallel extension, recorded in WNW–ESE structures, is restricted to the interface of rigid orthogneiss cores and weaker metasedimentary mantle rocks, or thermally weakened metasedimentary mantle above ascending Variscan plutons, and occurred under an overall transpressional setting.

The late Precambrian Cadomian Orogen exposed in the North Armorican Massif (northwest France) is a collage of displaced terranes that, in part, developed during amalgamation of continental-arc and marginal-basin complexes. 40Ar/39Ar mineral ages reported here place new constraints on the timing of Cadomian tectonothermal activity in the southern part of the St Brieuc terrane. In the baie de Saint-Brieuc area Brioverian supracrustal units were deformed, metamorphosed, and intruded by calc-alkaline plutonic complexes. Metamorphic hornblende from a metabasic amphibolite sheet within Brioverian rocks records an isotope correlation age of 568.4 ± 2.6 Ma (interpreted to date postmetamorphic cooling through appropriate argon closure temperatures). Similar isotope correlation cooling ages are recorded by metamorphic hornblende within both an amphibolite sheet intrusive into the Penthièvre complex (567.5 ± 1.2 Ma) and the La Croix Gibat amphibolite (574.8 ± 2.1 Ma). Igneous hornblende from the late tectonic to posttectonic St Quay quartz diorite and muscovite from Brioverian metasedimentary rocks in the contact aureole record isotope correlation ages of ca. 565–570 Ma. These and a ca. 568 Ma isotope correlation age determined for hornblende from the foliated Fort de la Latte quartz diorite are interpreted to date postmagmatic cooling.The 40Ar/39Ar ages indicate that Cadomian tectonothermal activity within southern parts of the St Brieuc terrane occurred prior to ca. 570 Ma. This is markedly older than the ca. 540 Ma date previously suggested for peak Cadomian metamorphism and granite emplacement in the adjacent St Malo terrane and is consistent with palinspastic separation of the contrasting Cadomian elements until at least the latest Precambrian. A pre-570 Ma age for Cadomian tectonothermal activity in the St Brieuc terrane suggests correlation with similar-aged orogenic activity in other circum-Atlantic, late Precambrian Gondwanan marginal terranes (including southern portions of the Iberian massif and various sectors of the West African orogens).

Younger granite bodies form two arches, the western and the eastern (WA, EA), which extend from the south northwards from the Meatique, ophiolitic group-island arc rocks, to the large older granite outcrop to the north. This paper concerns the feasibility of exploration in the El-Erediya-Ria El-Garah-El-Gidami-El-Missikat Y Gr regions. Fieldwork and remote sensing, together with geochemical, petrochemical, and mineralogical studies, are used to show the controlling factors, routes, and the origins of the deposits. Remote sensing is used to delineate the different rock units. Normal and strike–slip NW, NNE faults, veins, fractured ENE shear zones, and alteration zones of magmatic-hydrothermal fluids are discussed. Granites are considered using petrochemical diagrams as resources. These rocks are categorized as syeno- and alkali feldspar granites. Geochemical binary relationships recognized the granites are highly fractionated calc-alkaline-altered Monzo-, syeno-, and alkali feldspar granites formed in the active continental margin. The observed positive Ga vs. Cu, Zn, and Ni correlations are used for epithermal-magmatic-hydrothermal polymetallic veins and mineralized greisen zones. Negative Cu vs. Mo correlation patterns show probable Mo-porphyry deposits in the deeper zones at the contact point between porphyritic perthite and perthite granitic El-Erediya mass. The Zr/Sr between 1.65 to 2.93 plus fluorites in El-Missikat and up to 5.48 plus fluorites in El-Erediya show both U-poor at El-Missikat and U-rich deposits at El-Erediya. The recorded U, Th, Cu, and Pb vertical zoning sequence of deposition differentiates U aureole and deposit zones. The estimated lateral zoning sequences of deposition of these elements define the centers of U deposits. Pathfinders for the deposit of the examined area include the positive Fe2O3 vs. Mg O and Fe2O3 vs. Ca O correlations, and also negative Rb/Sr vs. K/Na and Rb vs. Sr ones, can be applied to future prospecting for similar U-F-Au-W-Mo deposits in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.

AbstractThe Permo-Triassic Trinity Peninsula Group is a widespread, regionally metamorphosed metasedimentary sequence in northern Graham Land, Antarctica, which forms the local ‘basement’ to the mainly Jurassic–Cretaceous Antarctic Peninsula magmatic arc. The metamorphic grade, thermal evolution and pressure series of this major tectono-stratigraphical unit are largely unknown. Determining the nature of the metamorphism has relied hitherto on conventional optical identifications of the major phases, mainly in rare volcanic beds. However, diagnostic mineral parageneses are generally absent and the precise metamorphic grade is unknown or has to be inferred over large areas. Using white mica (illite) crystallinity of interbedded mudrocks, the Trinity Peninsula Group is now shown to have been pervasively altered mainly at anchizonal and epizonal grades. Conditions ranged from upper anchizonal in the northeast to thoroughly epizonal in the southwest. Outwith thermal aureoles near plutonic intrusions, the alteration temperatures ranged mainly from 250 to 325 °C, exceeding 300 °C in the highest-grade (epizone/greenschist facies) parts of the sequence. The facies series, K-white mica b cell dimension measurements and mineral phases present are characteristic of an intermediate pressure series altered under moderate geothermal gradients (<35 °C/km), corresponding to burial depths of c. 7–10 km. Unroofing and substantial erosion of the Trinity Peninsula Group took place during polyphasal vertical tectonic movements linked to the development of the magmatic arc in northern Graham Land. The geological setting of the Trinity Peninsula Group is ambiguous and could have been a foreland (or back-arc) basin or the mid- to upper levels of an accretionary prism.

Las peridotitas de Ronda (Málaga) forman la base del manto de Los Reales (Alpujárrides, Cordilleras Béticas). Las rocas ultrabásicas del macizo de Sierra Alpujata permiten reconocer dos deformaciones plásticas sucesivas. La primera es una deformación de altas temperaturas (> 1.000ºC) y bajos esfuerzos (0.3-0.5 Kb) que se conserva en lherzolitas con textura porfiroclástica de grano grueso. Esta deformación puede atribuirse al flujo del manto en una zona de expansión relacionada a procesos de "rifting" continental. La segunda deformación, de bajas temperaturas (~800ºC) y altos esfuerzos (1-2 Kb), oblitera a la anterior en las zonas de borde de la lámina peridotítica, produciendo la milonitización de las peridotitas y el desarrollo de aureolas dinamotérmicas en los materiales encajantes. Esta deformación se debe al cabalgamiento de una escama del manto sobre la corteza continental. El análisis cinemático de las tectonitas ultrabásicas de alta y baja temperatura proporciona, en la posición actual de las Cordilleras Béticas, una dirección aproximadamente N 70º E para la dirección del "paleo-rift". El cabalgamiento de las peridotitas se ha realizado prácticamente en la misma dirección, desde el WSW hacia el ENE.

Hydrothermal alteration in volcanic arcs occurs in many settings and may involve magmatic, marine, lacustrine or groundwaters, driven by magmatic, tectonic or thermal events. King George Island, part of the South Shetland Island Cenozoic volcanic arc, contains an 80 km long zone of propylitized volcanic rocks, with numerous occurrences of quartz veining, silicic, sericitic, argillic and advanced-argillic alteration. On Barton Peninsula, a basaltic lava sequence (49–44 Ma) intruded by a small, high-level granodiorite pluton (∼42 Ma), contains these alteration types, previously interpreted as a single porphyry-copper system. In this study, we report three, possibly four, distinct fossil hydrothermal episodes. (1) Banded chalcedonic quartz, quartz-sericite and propylitic alteration occurs along ESE faults and as reworked clasts in nearby tuffs. Drusy quartz + calcite veins with silicic/sericitic, argillic and propylitic wallrocks may represent feeders to the near-surface silicification. These characteristics, and anomalous Ag + Pb + Sb + Au plus Te + Se + Zn + As, suggest a neutral-pH geothermal system that was active during volcanism. (2) The lavas and banded-quartz rocks were brecciated, veined and replaced by alunite+native sulphur+pyrite, and pyrophyllite + quartz + pyrite + zunyite + diaspore assemblages with anomalous Hg + Se + As + Bi + Au + Tl + Sb + Cu. Such advanced-argillic alteration is diagnostic of degassing of a felsic magma into shallow (<500 m) meteoric groundwaters. Rhyolite tuffs, previously not reported on King George Island, may represent leakage of this magma to the surface. (3) Subsequent burial to ∼3 km was followed by emplacement of a granodiorite pluton and formation of a silicic contact-metasomatic aureole containing muscovite, biotite, actinolite, magnetite, K-feldspar and tourmaline. Disseminated andalusite + corundum also formed in areas previously affected by the advanced-argillic alteration. Iron/copper-sulphide veinlets are locally abundant, but a porphyry-style geochemical signature is not present. Early Cretaceous Ar–Ar ages near the intrusive contact indicate flow of an excess Ar-bearing hydrothermal plume up the contact. Finally, isolated areas of propylitic alteration in the lavas nearby may be related either to quartz veins of episode 1 at depth or to (4) continued circulation of heated groundwaters around the cooling pluton.

The organic matter (OM) sampled in 15 oil exploration wells and 102 outcrops of Cambrian-Ordovician rocks in the St. Lawrence Lowlands consists of zooclasts (chitinozoans, graptolites, and scolecodonts) and solid bitumen (mainly pyrobitumen). The reflectance of pyrobitumen, transformed in vitrinite-equivalent (Ro-Std-B), indicates that the upper part of the platform sequence is mature (condensate zone) in the Québec area, but overmature in the Montréal area.The platform is divided into three domains based on optical texture of OM and types of bitumen: domain 1, south of Montréal, contains a highly reflecting and coked pyrobitumen showing alteration rims; domain 3, east of Trois-Rivières, contains low-reflecting, late solid bitumen commonly associated with oil impregnations; domain 2, located midway, contains a pyrobitumen with moderate reflectance and, locally, fine mosaic texture. The thermal maturation in the autochthonous sequences of the St. Lawrence Lowlands and in the Appalachian allochthons increases from the north-east toward the south-west and in the direction of the Appalachian belt. In wells, the gradient of Ro-Std-B with depth decrease from the autochthonous zone toward the Appalachian belt, and is inversely related with thickness of the sequences. Isoreflectance values parallel the outline of the Chambly–Fortierville Syncline in the central and eastern parts of the basin. Consequently, thermal maturation predates folding. Reflectance jumps observed between the Lowlands and the first Appalachian overthrusts, and observed when crossing Logan's Line, demonstrate that the maximum burial of Appalachian sequences predates the tectonic transport. The Ro-Std-B in allochthonous zones shows higher values in the St-Francis River cross-section than in structural equivalent units of the Québec area. Therefore the increase of thermal maturation observed from the northeast toward the southwest, in the St. Lawrence Lowlands, is also developed in the Appalachian allochthonous units. A post-Taconic regional thermal event explains this similarity in both autochthonous and allochthonous sequences, with the sequences of the Connecticut Valley – Gaspé Synclinorium being the most thermally mature.Zones of highest thermal maturation, locally observed in the Montréal area, are explained by (i) hydrothermal activity (Ro-Std = 3–4%), accounted for by sulfate and sulfide mineralization (Ba, Zn, Pb) and by (ii) contact metamorphism, related to alkaline intrusions (Ro-Std-B = 13%). The contact metamorphism is restricted to aureoles less than 5 km wide around the Monteregian alkaline intrusions, but the hydrothermal alteration, apparently not related to contact metamorphism, covers an area of 10 km around mineralized domains.

ABSTRACTThe pursuit of a comprehensive theory for the origin and evolution of granitoids is hindered by our incomplete understanding of the nature of the source and the mechanisms by which the magma is segregated and transported. This paper is a collection of three largely independent and necessarily incomplete perspectives on these outstanding issues. Lower to mid-crustal regions, which contain the principal source material for granitoid magmas, are highly heterogeneous. Consideration of available transfer mechanisms suggests that (1) this heterogeneity survives all foreseeable lower crustal processes; (2) closure is on very different scales for different chemical systems (e.g. Pb, Nd, Sr and O isotopes); in almost all cases, however, closure scale is much smaller than the scale of magma extraction zones for plutons; and (3) pluton-wide homogenisation of magmas by diffusion is precluded by low diffusivities in felsic melts. Thus, granitoid magmas begin life as aggregates of small, isolated chemical domains; homogenisation occurs only through (and on the scale of) effective stirring by convection. Because of variability in local conditions as well as in bulk composition, crustal regions undergoing anatexis must be patchworks with variable melt fractions and melt compositions. The way in which magma is extracted from and coalesces with this patchwork exerts a critical influence on the nature of granitoid magmas. Decoupling and unusual coupling of compositional parameters and isotopic heterogeneity within plutons are to be expected in crust-derived granitoids and do not require contamination. Granites image their sources, but these sources are ill-defined and do not correspond to simple, easily-recognised materials. Extent and patterns of heterogeneity remaining in crystallised plutons may be effective indicators of the ascent process.The efforts of materials scientists in characterising the nature and evolution of solid-phase interconnectivity in partially-molten materials may offer some insights into crustal magmatic processes. In particular, the rheological properties of partially-molten crustal rocks are probably strongly affected by the contiguity of the solid grains in the system (i.e. the fraction of their surface area that is shared with other grains). Theory and experimental data for simple alloy systems reveal that contiguity depends principally upon melt fraction and upon the characteristic wetting angle (θ) of the system. Measured θ's in granitoids (∼50° on average) imply contiguities as high as ∼0·2 for melt fractions of 0·5 or greater. This value in turn suggests that, at least under static conditions, a continuous skeleton of solid grains is maintained to quite high degrees of melting in the crust. Consequently, regions consisting of 50% or more of melt can, in principle, maintain not only high yield strength, but also high viscosity (provided the strain rate is sufficiently low to avoid disrupting contiguity).Despite the fact that on some time scale the continuous solid skeleton of a partially-molten region resists deformation, it is itself subject to textural evolution that could lead to the upward migration of melt. Occasional detachment of grains from the skeleton and subsequent “microsettling” within the partially-molten column may lead eventually to compaction of the solid (without plastic deformation) and net upward displacement of melt.Proposed granite transport mechanisms are discussed, although several are viewed as having historical interest only. In the absence of tectonic transport, diapirism appears to be the most compelling of these processes. However, considerable diversity exists in the literature regarding a pivotal requirement for this mechanism. Structural studies have tended to conclude that the granite diapir must be highly crystallised in order to ascend, whereas results of physical modelling yield contradictory results. For ascent to occur in these models, the magmas must be sufficiently fluid to allow convective circulation. Indeed, heat loss associated with diapirism is so efficient as to be a significant restriction on overall ascent. The resolution of these contrasting views appears to be that they reflect different phases of the ascent/emplacement continuum. Understanding the emplacement history of a southeastern Australian pluton allows assessment, via the diapir model, of the flow properties of the rock within the deformation aureole. Results suggest rock viscosities about an order of magnitude lower than those predicted by laboratory experiments, perhaps reflecting difficulties in reproducing natural conditions in the laboratory.

AbstractAbridged English version. – The Variscan Pyrenean belt (fig. 1) has been for long famous for its Late Carboniferous LP-HT metamorphism, characterised by the prograde succession, in medium grade metapelites, of biotite, cordierite, andalusite and sillimanite, together with staurolite and garnet [Guitard et al., 1996]. However, the discovery of two kyanite generations lead Azambre and Guitard [2001] to propose a polymetamorphic evolution, with an early (MI) and a late (MIII) kyanite-bearing Barrovian stage, preceding and following the main LP-HT stage (MII).Geological settingThe Variscan orogeny in the Pyrenees occurred from Namurian to Early Stephanian (c. 325-300 Ma), following the deposition of thick Ediacarian-Ordovician silico-clastites, Silurian to Early Caboniferous carbonates, and pre-orogenic Mid-Carboniferous flyschs.Two main tectonic events are recorded, each one subdivided into regionally correlated sub-events (phases) (table I), allowing a detailed correlation between tectonics, metamorphism and plutonism. The Namurian to Westphalian D1 event (c. 325-310 Ma) resulted in a S-vergent fold and thrust belt (with 100–150 km of N-S shortening) and the development of the main, sub-horizontal, Sr schistosity (D1c phase), coeval with MI. The Westphalian-Early Stephanian D2 event (310-300 Ma) was more complex. First, a syn-convergence extensional phase (N-vergent backfolds and E-W extension) resulted in the E-directed escape of the upper crust (D2a phase). Then, a renewal of the N-S shortening was marked by large upright anticlines (domes) and narrower synclines, with up to 10 km amplitudes (e.g., the Canigou anticline-Villefranche syncline pair) (D2b phase). Both D2a and D2b were coeval with MII and the emplacement of early granitoid sills and laccoliths (e.g., the Ansignan hypersthene-granite in the Agly Massif). Later on, D2 evolved into a transcurrent regime, with belt-parallel dextral transpression (D2c and D2c phases). D2c was coeval with the main stage of granite emplacement under low-grade conditions, allowing the expression of a conspicuous Mγ contact metamorphism (e.g., Mont-Louis pluton). D2d ended the D2 event, with the development of retrograde dextral-reverse mylonites. The late MIII metamorphic event encompassed D2c and D2d (and possibly D2b).The early MI Barrovian metamorphic eventThe MI Barrovian metamorphic event resulted from the crustal thickening associated with the development of the D1 intra-cratonic wedge. It was of low-grade, with a chlorite-muscovite Sr schistosity, in the part of the belt that was subsequently overprinted by the syn-MII transformation of chlorite into biotite. The only remnants of MI medium-grade conditions are found as early kyanite in the deepest domains of the Castillon, St-Barthélémy, Agly and Aston massifs, being there obliterated under high-grade MII conditions, and in the core of the Canigou anticline (Velmanya, point v in fig. 2), where a relict kyanite-staurolite-anorthite paragenesis is known, shielded by MII cordierite. The reconstructed P-T conditions at the thermal peak of MI are 5 kbar (19 km) and 575oC (fig. 2), implying the existence of a (now eroded) major D1 nappe (≥ 7 km thick).The main MII LP-HT metamorphic eventStructural domes and medium– or high-grade MII zones are broadly coincident, high-grade conditions being only encountered in the core of the Albères massif, the southern Aston Dome and the North-Pyrenean massifs (grading there up to the LP granulite facies) (fig. 1).Subdivisions of the MII eventThe prograde MII metamorphism is essentially syn-D2a, with clear syn-kinematic growth of the medium-grade minerals, and the main regional tectono-metamorphic D2a/MII structure is evidently deformed and strongly folded by the D2b phase: the D2b domes are basically post-metamorphic. However, a detailed examination of the blastesis-deformation relationships shows that staurolite is pre- to-synkinematic for D2a, whereas andalusite is strictly synkinematic (and consequently is often observed shielding the staurolite), cordierite being syn-to post-kinematic and syn-D2b in some instances. This allows a subdivision of the MII event into three stages:– MIIs, pre-to-syn-D2a, characterised by the staurolite-andalusite (And1 without cordierite) association, with development of a staurolite zone grading downwards into an andalusite (St → And1) zone. – MIIa, syn-to post-D2a (but always developed prior to D2b), characterised by the cordierite (Cord1)-andalusite (And2) association (without staurolite), with development of a thin cordierite zone grading downwards into an andalusite (Cord1 → And2) zone. – MIIb, post-D2a and syn-D2b, characterised by a large cordierite (Cord2) zone developed at the expense of an-dalusite (And → Cord2), only found in the core of the D2b anticlines (e.g., the Garonne dome).Thus, although MII is basically pre-D2b, and the MIIs and MIIa medium-grade isogrades are folded, it appears that metamorphism was still active in the cores of the ascending D2b domes (MIIb). Moreover, in the core of some domes, prograde sillimanite is also syn-kinematic of the D2b phase, and the sillimanite-muscovite isograde may obliquely overprint the MIIa isogrades, as in the Canigou dome. This is related to the syn-D2b emplacement of granite sheets (e.g., the Canigou granite) and may be interpreted as an aureola of “regional-contact” metamorphism, noted MIIγ, that was evidently coeval with MIIb, and enhanced its effects.P-T-t path of the MII eventThe P-T-t path of the MII event may be described using the petrogenetic grids of Pattison et al. [2002] and Pattison and Vogl [2005] (fig. 3). From MIIs to MIIb, it records a prograde anti-clockwise path, following a post-MI clockwise exhumation path, with ≥ 7 km eroded (fig. 2B). The MIIs pressure was close to 3 kbar (10–11 km) in the St zone and decreased to 2.5 kbar (9 km) at the MIIa stage (And2 isograde), for an estimated temperature of 540oC (based on the triple point of Holdaway [1971], the thermobarometer of Pattison et al. [2002] and independent fluid inclusion data by Kister et al. [2003]). A further pressure decrease, down to 2 kbar (7 km), and a temperature increase (up to 600oC) is registered in the MIIb cordierite zone in the core of active D2b domes. Except for the cores of the domes, MIIa remained the peak temperature event, and during MIIb pressure remained constant (or was re-increasing in the syncline cores) and temperature was constant or decreasing. At the end of the MII event (MIIb-MIIγ), extreme conditions of c. 4 kbar and 700–730oC are recorded in the deepest parts of the belt, where anatexis, succeeding to a sillimanite-K-feldspar zone, is observed, as in the Albères Massif and some North-Pyrenean Massifs.The MII metamorphism as a syn-tectonic plutono-metamorphic eventBased on the observation of the deep crust outcropping in the North Pyrenean massifs, Vielzeuf [in Guitard et al., 1996] concluded that emplacement of mafic melts in the Carboniferous lower crust was responsible for the MII metamorphism. At the beginning of the process, a regional thermal anomaly is superimposed to the middle crust (MIIs-MIIa), directly reflecting the emplacement of mafic sills in the underlying lower crust (fig. 4A). Heat is transferred conductively and, most likely, advected by the aqueous-carbonic fluids issued from the devolatilising lower crust (fluid inclusion data). Heat advection by melts characterised the end of the MII event, with development of more or less local thermal anomalies: still “regional” (MIIbγ) as in the Garonne dome, or directly liked to sheet-like granite intrusions (MIIγ) as at the bottom of the Mont-Louis pluton (fig. 4B) or at the contact of the Canigou granite (fig. 4C).The late MIII Barrovian metamorphic eventThe MIII event is mainly characterised in the eastern massifs (Albères, Cap de Creus), where a retrogressive kyanite (so-called “hysterogenic” kyanite) is overprinting high-grade assemblages. Although poorly expressed, MIII minerals in these massifs define two zones, with an external chloritoid zone and an internal kyanite-staurolite zone. A MIII chloritoid zone (sillimanite → chloritoid) is also observed in the core of the Canigou dome. Under the kyanite-staurolite equilibrium hypothesis, the peak MIII P-T conditions in the eastern massifs are estimated at 5 kbar and 575oC, that would imply a pressure increase of 1 to 1.5 kbar (4–6 km deepening) starting from the end of MII, associated with a severe temperature decrease of 150oC. Such an overpressure cannot be due to the D2d dextral-inverse mylonites. However, a fluid inclusion study [Kister et al., 2003] demonstrated that the rocks of the Villefranche syncline did register a pressure increase at the D2b stage, i.e., experienced effective downwards displacement during the syncline formation, and it may be estimated that, in the core of the syncline, a depth increase of 7–8 km could have been attained. Now, in the Cap de Creus massif, the highest MIII grade is observed in the core of the D2b Birba syncline, analogous to the Villefranche syncline. Thus, D2b deepening in the syncline cores may have contributed to the pressure increase. An additional increase may have been provided by sedimentary accumulation in an overlying (and now eroded) syn-orogenic basin (fig. 5). While such a process may explain the development of MIII associations in the D2b synclines, it remains to explain its appearance in the anticlines (Albères, Canigou). However, in the same fluid inclusion study referred to just above [Kister et al., 2003], it is demonstrated that, post-dating D2c and the late pluton emplacement, the studied area suffered a severe isobaric temperature drop, allowing the appearance of chloritoid in the Canigou core (fig. 5). A similar explanation may hold for the Albères massif, if it is accepted there that late kyanite and staurolite were not in equilibrium: starting from the peak MII conditions (c. 4 kbar and 650o–700oC), a strong isobaric cooling would have allowed the successive appearance of staurolite and kyanite.Discussion and conclusionTimingThe youngest pre-orogenic flyschs are dated (in the Axial Zone) from the Namurian-Westphalian boundary (315±5 Ma), thus setting a minimal age for D1-MI. On the other hand, in the northern Pyrenean Agly massif, the Ansignan hypersthene-granite, which is coeval with MII, is dated at around 315-305 Ma, and the associated norites, likely testifying for the mafic magmatism at the origin of the heat flux responsible for MII, are themselves dated at c. 315 Ma. Finally, the large syn-D2c (post-MII) granite plutons are all dated at 307±3 Ma (i.e., close to the Westphalian-Stephanian boundary). Taken together (with the possibility of a slight diachronism between the North Pyrenean massifs and the Axial Zone, and, within the Axial Zone, between east and west), these data indicate that the MI-MII transition and the whole D2a–c/MII development took place in a very restricted time interval (c. 10 Ma), in Westphalian to Stephanian times.Crustal rheology and orogenic developmentAt the end of the Namurian crustal subduction (D1-MI), the Pyrenean crust, that had been thickened with at least a doubling of the upper crust thickness, had begun to experience uplift and erosion. This exhumation process rapidly changed from retrograde to prograde (MIIs-MIIa) during the D2a (MII) syn-convergence extensional phase.The D2a sub-event was marked by the development of three interrelated processes: (i) isotherm upwelling, regional stratiform MII metamorphism and partial melting in the middle crust, as a result from the intrusion, in the lower crust, of mafic magmas of mantellic derivation; (ii) thinning of the thickened crust; (iii) first arrival of granite plutons in the middle crust. It is thought, according to Vielzeuf [inGuitard et al., 1996], that these processes were initiated by a lithospheric delamination process.At the end of D2a, the crustal rheology had been modified, with a partially melted middle crust that received granitic melts issued from the melting of the lower crust. This highly ductile middle crust was sandwiched between a thick (≥ 10 km) rigid upper crust and a less ductile granulitised hot lower crust (800o–900oC), thus allowing the progressive decoupling of the upper and lower crust from D2a to D2c. The buckling of the upper crust, with formation of the large upright D2b folds, became therefore possible, forcing the injection of deep anatectic melts in the anticline cores (a probable explanation of the MIIbγ thermal culmination), and creating, in the deepened syncline cores, the strong pressure increase that favoured MIII inception.However, the MII isogrades are frozen in their folded position, indicating that cooling of the belt had indeed begun since at least the end of the D2b phase. The cooling was sufficiently rapid to be expressed in the Axial Zone by a sub-isobaric temperature decrease, at the origin of the MIII Barrovian and retrograde event, coeval with the late D2c and D2d phases. In the North Pyrenean Massifs, where the D2d phase was extensive, the retrograde MIII event could not be expressed, due to both decompression and thermal effects of the extension.A summary of this complex evolution is given in figure 6. Finally, the interrelated D2 and MII events appear as the record, in the middle-upper crust, of a very short, but very intense heating event that strongly modified the rheologic behaviour of the crust inherited from the D1 crustal subduction and allowed a transitory decoupling of the upper and lower crust. The isobaric MIII event records an exceptionally rapid return to the “normal” thermal and rheologic structures of the crust.The rapidly changing tectonic and thermal conditions that characterise the Variscan Pyrenees during the D2 event may be understood if the position of the Pyrenees within the southern branch of the West European Variscan belt is considered (fig. 7).

AbstractThe Arbus igneous complex (SW Sardinia, Italy) represents a good example of a short time lived post-collisional composite pluton emplaced at shallow crustal level in the external zone of the Variscan chain. The pluton almost consists of granodiorite and leucogranite rock-suites emplaced at 304 ± 1 Ma within a main NW trending thrust separating the metamorphic wedge from the fold and thrust belt foreland. The pluton emplaced into a dilatational step over connecting two NW–SE dextral shear zones which belongs to a regional network of post-collisional strike-slip structures marking the transition from collision to post-collisional extension. The microstructure observed for quartz and K-feldspar confirms the lack of significant post-emplacement deformation, indicating only limited high-temperature sub-solidus recrystallization. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptivity data and field-structural analysis have been carried out to reconstruct the geometry of the pluton and the trajectories of magmatic flow in relation to regional deformation structures. Overall, the magmatic and the magnetic fabrics are broadly discordant with the metamorphic foliation of the country rocks, defining an EW trending elliptical asymmetric sill rooted in the SW quadrant. The reconstructed architecture combined to petrologic observation indicates that accretion of the pluton involved injection of multiple dykes through a sub-vertical feeder zone, combined to lateral flow of the roof controlled by inherited collisional structure. The duration of magmatic activity and the cooling history of the contact metamorphic aureole have been evaluated through a suite of 2D thermal models. All these observations, together with the available geochronological constraints are suggestive of very rapid construction of the pluton. The proposed emplacement model is fully consistent with the regional phase of strike-slip tectonics and widespread magmatism accommodating the large rotation of the Corsica-Sardinia block during the Carboniferous-Permian transition.

Abstract Zircon separates from the contact aureole of the syn-tectonic Dawros–Currywongaun–Doughruagh Complex, western Ireland, are studied to constrain the nature and timing of magmatism associated with the early stages of the Grampian Orogeny. The samples analysed come from the uppermost part of the Dalradian Supergroup in northern Connemara (the Ben Levy Grit Formation), where a laterally extensive (>10 km) package of metamorphosed siliciclastic sedimentary rocks containing heavy mineral seams crops out. The seams mainly comprise magnetite, but zircon is also present in greater than accessory quantities. The seams have been locally reworked at granulite-facies metamorphic conditions during intrusion of the Dawros–Currywongaun–Doughruagh Complex magmas. Here we combine in situ mineral chemical and U–Pb geochronological analyses of zircons from samples of these heavy mineral seams collected at different locations in the Dawros–Currywongaun–Doughruagh Complex thermal aureole. An important finding is that the zircons studied have magmatic trace-element compositions, interpreted here as a function of their growth during contact metamorphic-induced partial melting. The zircons yield a range of U–Pb spot ages whose uncertainties suggest a maximum duration of zircon growth of ˜11 Ma, between 477.1 and 466.1 Ma, though it is likely that zircon growth occurred much more quickly than this. The age constraints revealed here match well with the range of 475 to 463 Ma previously proposed for the Grampian Orogeny overall in Connemara and lend useful support to models that argue for high-intensity, relatively short-lived Grampian orogenesis in the Connemara Caledonides.

Granitic rocks in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir State, NW Himalaya are exposed at eight places. They are named as Dramman, Piparan, Kaplas, Khol Dedni, Chinta, Bhala, Kai Nala, and Nagin Dhar Granites. They occur in the form of irregular bodies of varying dimensions. These granites are mostly leucocratic, two-mica, porphyritic to aplitic, massive and highly jointed with crude foliation in some cases. The contact with the Older Metamorphics is sharp and thermal aureole is absent. These granites are monzo- to syeno-granitic in composition with peraluminous, S-type (equivalent to ilmenite series) and calc-alkaline affinity. These intrusive bodies are emplaced within the Older Metamorphics under tectonic influences at later stages of metamorphism. They have formed from highly evolved anatectic granites derived by partial melting of lower crustal material with diapiric situations. These processes had been operative at a temperature of 600-700°C at a depth of 20-30 km under 5 Kb Pressure. The emplacement of these granites is suggested to be due to transient dilation where the diapir is enhanced by sheeting mechanism.

The Main Karakoram Thrust (MKT) separates the Karakoram Plate from the accreted Kohistan—Ladakh Terranes and Indian Plate to the south. Within the central Karakoram three geologically distinct zones are recognized: from south to north (i) the Karakoram metamorphic complex, (ii) the Karakoram batholith and (iii) the northern Karakoraih sedimentary terrane. Magmatic episodes of Jurassic and mid-Upper Cretaceous age are recognized before India-Asia collision at ca. 50-45 Ma. Both reveal subduction-related petrographic and geochemical signatures typical of Andean-type settings. Associated with the Jurassic event was a low-pressure metamorphism (Ml). Synchronous with the mid-Upper Cretaceous episode was the passive accretion of the Kohistan-Ladakh terrane to the Karakoram and closure of the Shyok Suture Zone (SSZ). The main collision between the Indian and Asian Plates resulted in crustal thickening beneath the Karakoram and development of Barrovian metamorphism (M2). Early postcollisional plutons dated at 36-34 Ma cross-cut regional syn-metamorphic foliations and constrain a maximum age on peak M2 conditions. Uplift of the Karakoram metamorphic complex in response to continued crustal thickening was synchronous with culmination collapse along the inferred Karakoram Batholith Lineament (KBL). A combination of thermal re-equilibration of thickened continental crust and the proposed addition of an enriched mantle component promoted dehydration, partial melting and generation of the Baltoro Plutonic Unit (BPU). It was subsequently emplaced as a hot, dry magma into an extensional mid-crustal environment. A contact aureole (M3) was imposed on the low-grade sediments along the northern margin, whereas isograds in uplifted metamorphic rocks to the south were thermally domed with in situ migmatization.

The basal contact of the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) on the North Range is interpreted as the outer edge of a meteorite impact crater. Yet, the base of the SIC, and contacts within the SIC, and the overlying Onaping are not circular. Their outline is elliptical. This and other details of the geology of the North Range which have not been fully explained include: variations in the width of the metamorphic contact aureole, lateral discontinuous variations in the thickness of the norite and granophyre units, paleomagnetic evidence that the North Range contact of the SIC originally had a dip of around 20o, and differing magnetic fabrics in the norite / gabbro versus the granophyre. Several metrics are used to determine how much of the current outline of the North Range is the result of post-impact deformation and how much is a primary feature related to a meteorite impact. Uplift, rotation, and translation experienced by different segments of the North Range of the SIC is established using, dyke azimuth and petrographic analysis of Matachewan diabase dykes, and paleomagnetic and magnetic fabric data analysis. These analyses show: a) the elliptical form of the North Range is a primary feature associated with a near circular impact crater, b) some of the original crater wall must have been preserved, and c) deformation of the North Range is limited to regional scale block rotation producing a SW dip modified by minor block rotation tilting and vertical displacement associated with north-northwest trending faults.

During the Caledonian orogeny, the Moine thrust zone in northwestern Scotland (UK) emplaced Neoproterozoic Moine Supergroup rocks, metamorphosed during the Ordovician (Grampian) and Silurian (Scandian) orogenic periods, westward over the Laurentian passive margin in the northern highlands of Scotland. The Laurentian margin comprises Archean–Paleoproterozoic granulite and amphibolite facies basement (Scourian and Laxfordian complexes, Lewisian gneiss), Proterozoic sedimentary rocks (Stoer and Torridon Groups), and Cambrian–Ordovician passive-margin sediments. Four major thrusts, the Moine, Ben More, Glencoul, and Sole thrusts, are well exposed in the Assynt window. Two highly alkaline syenite intrusions crop out within the Moine thrust zone in the southern Assynt window. The Loch Ailsh and Loch Borralan intrusions range from ultramafic melanite-biotite pyroxenite and pseudoleucite-bearing biotite nepheline syenite (borolanite) to alkali-feldspar–bearing and quartz-bearing syenites. Within the thrust zone, syenites intrude up to the Ordovician Durness Group limestones and dolomites, forming a high-temperature contact metamorphic aureole with diopside-forsterite-phlogopite-brucite marbles exposed at Ledbeg quarry. Controversy remains as to whether the Loch Ailsh and Loch Borralan syenites were intruded prior to thrusting or intruded syn- or post-thrusting. Borolanites contain large white leucite crystals pseudomorphed by alkali feldspar, muscovite, and nepheline (pseudoleucite) that have been flattened and elongated during ductile shearing. The minerals pseudomorphing leucites show signs of ductile deformation indicating that high-temperature (~500 °C) deformation acted upon pseudomorphed leucite crystals that had previously undergone subsolidus breakdown. New detailed field mapping and structural and petrological observations are used to constrain the geological evolution of both the Loch Ailsh and the Loch Borralan intrusions and the chronology of the Moine thrust zone. The data supports the interpretation that both syenite bodies were intruded immediately prior to thrusting along the Moine, Ben More, and Borralan thrusts.

Skarns at the contact of marbles and mafic as well as felsic dikes located in the Itaoca region (Espírito SantoState, eastern Brazil) were investigated in terms of mineralogy and genesis. Marbles and the older mafic dykeswere affected by high grade metamorphism of Brasiliano age, as comproved by the presence of spinel. Theundeformed younger granitic dykes are post-tectonic. Skarns related to the granite dykes were formed as outcomesof silica addition in marble layers during the intrusion, generating zones composed of i)olivine + carbonate +pyroxene + amphibole ± phlogopite; ii)pyroxene + amphibole ± phlogopite ± scapolite, and iii)pyroxene ±phlogopite. The last mineral association occurs close to the granite and shows the maximum silica enrichment.Evidence of Ca-metassomatism in the granite is shown by the strongly zoned plagioclase crystals, which showcentral portions with An17 and border zone with An43. Skarns generated at the contact with amphibolite dykesare wider than the former, probably because the original contact metamorphic reaction zones generated duringthe intusion were reinforced by granulite facies metamorphism. The reaction aureoles display the followingmineral associations: i) carbonate ± olivine, ii) carbonate + diopside ± scapolite ± epidote, iii) plagioclase +diopside ± scapolite ± epidote, and iv) amphibole + plagioclase ± phlogopite ± hercinite ± grossularite. The firstassociation belongs to the marble at the contact, and the last to the amphibolite. There are mineralogical andtextural evidences for metamorphic and metassomatic reactions due to the migration of Ca, Mg and Si, leading,for example, to the scapolitization of the plagioclase.