Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Aegean extension is a process driven by slab rollback that since 45 Ma shows a two-stage evolution. From 45 to13 Ma it is accommodated by localized deformation leading to i) the exhumation of high-pressure metamorphicrocks from mantle to crustal depths, ii) the exhumation of high-temperature rocks in core complexes and iii) thedeposition of Paleogene sedimentary basins. Since 13 Ma, extension is distributed over the whole Aegean domaingiving a widespread development of onshore and offshore Neogene sedimentary basins. The 3D reconstruction atAegean scale of this two-stage evolution shows that the rate of trench retreat was around 0.6 cm/y during the first30 My and then accelerated up to 3.2 cm/y during the last 13 My. Using available tomographic evidence, timingof metamorphic and sedimentary processes, paleomagnetic data and geometry and kinematics of deformation, wepropose that the sharp transition in trench retreat and deformation mode, localized vs distributed, at 13 Ma wascontrolled to slab tearing. Moreover, the development of dextral NE-SW strike-slip faults and related pull-apartbasins in the North Aegean domain, from the Cyclades to the Rhodope, strongly suggests that this sharp transitionalso corresponds to the onset of Anatolia westward escape.
Geophysical Research Abstracts
Vienne, Austria

insu-01137631
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01137631

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Dahomey belt in Togo and Benin is an important segment of the larger West Gondwana Orogen. Here, we review the geodynamic evolution of the Dahomey belt and discuss new U–Pb and Lu–Hf zircon data in light of similar data previously acquired on the geologically related Northern Borborema Province, in NE Brazil. Eighteen samples from different tectonic settings and regions within the belt were collected for zircon isotopic investigation. Passive margin deposits of the Atacora Structural Unit and lower units of the Volta Basin have detrital zircon signatures compatible with the flanking West Africa Craton. The arc-related magmatism resulted from the east-dipping subduction of the Goiás-Pharusian oceanic lithosphere and is represented by a variety of granitoids emplaced in the Benino-Nigerian Shield between 670 and 610 Ma. These granitoids were mainly sourced from crustal reservoirs with subordinate juvenile input. Detrital zircon ages from syn-orogenic deposits in Benino-Nigerian Shield suggest that arc development could have started as early as 780 Ma. The main period of melting in the internal part of the belt, the Benino-Nigerian Shield, is related to crustal thickening and occurs only ca. 30 m.y. after initiation of the continental collision, marked by the ca. 610 Ma ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphism recorded at Lato Hills. Foreland development represented by the upper units of the Volta basin developed soon after continental collision and persisted with the development of the west-verging thrust front synchronously with the main period of crustal melting due to collision at ca. 580 Ma. The subvertical Transbrasiliano Lineament in South America, that corresponds to the Kandi Lineament in Africa, provides a present-day fit between NW Africa and NE Brazil. Restoration of the movement of the Transbrasiliano-Kandi Lineament (strike-slip plate boundary) places the Dahomey belt and Borborema Province (NE Brazil) along the same section of the West Gondwana Orogen. This configuration would explain some of the misfits previously discussed in the literature and aligns the UHP eclogites in Togo and NE Brazil.
ISSN: 0301-9268

hal-01358584
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01358584
DOI : 10.1016/j.precamres.2016.01.032

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The basement of central Madagascar displays two contrasted structural patterns. The first one (D1) is characterized by north-striking foliations that are gently dipping to the west and carry W- to WSW-plunging lineations, whereas the second one (D2) is characterized by steeper foliations that are striking to the NNE and lineations that are either subhorizontal or gently plunging to the SSW. The younger pattern is related to late-Panafrican tectonics along the major Angavo shear zone that is about 1000 km in length and 40 km in width with apparently little offset. Deformation in the Angavo zone induced interference folding on both sides. The D2 event is characterized by low pressures (ca 400 MPa) and high temperatures (up to 790 degrees C) responsible for prograde granulite facies conditions, that resulted from heat transfer due to magma and fluid advection in the Angavo shear zone. The D2 event is pinned at 550 +/- 11 Ma by a new monazite age from a reoriented Andringitrean granite near Ankaramena. A new suite of amphibole and biotite Ar-Ar geochronological data enables to retrace the thermochronogical evolution inside and outside the Angavo shear zone. Combined with new structural results from the western interference zone. these ages yield a better understanding of the late-Panafrican history of central Madagascar. No diachronism is observed along the strike of the Angavo shear zone. Conversely, amphibole and especially biotite ages decrease from West to East, i.e. towards the shear zone. These new ages range from 511 to 469 Ma. A 1-D conductive model constrains the thermal effect in relation with the Angavo shear zone to be restricted to a lateral distance of ca 60 km (in map view) for a maximum heating duration of 20 Myr. This is in agreement with the Ar-Ar data and with the width of the observed interference zone. Following this episode of deformation and heat transfer, the estimated cooling rates of the Angavo shear zone range from to 15 to 6 degrees C/Myr, respectively before and after 515 Ma. A post-collision intracontinental setting is suggested for the Angavo shear zone, which is regarded as a remote effect of the Kuunga Orogeny between India and Antarctica.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00463507
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00463507
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2009.03.009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Timétrine massif exposed west of the Pan-African suture zone in northeastern Mali belongs to the passive margin of the West African craton facing to the east intra-oceanic arc assemblages and 730 Ma old pre-collisional calc-alkaline plutons. The Timétrine lithologic succession includes from the base to the top Mesoproterozoic cratonic to passive margin formations overlain by deep-sea Fe-Mg schists. Submarine metabasalts and two ultramafic massifs of serpentinized mantle peridotites are inserted as olistoliths towards the top whereas turbidites of continental origin represent the younger unit. Field and petrological data have revealed a distinct metasedimentary sequence attached to the serpentinized peridotites. It essentially consists of impure carbonates, Fe jaspers and polymictic breccias containing altered blocks of mantle peridotites, most rocks being enriched in detrital chromite. This association is interpreted as reworked chemical and detrital sediments derived from the alteration of mafic-ultramafic rocks. It is argued that mantle exhumation above sea floor took place during the Neoproterozoic rifting and crustal thinning period under possible tropical conditions, as suggested by the large volume of silicified serpentinites. In spite of greenschist facies metamorphic overprint characterized by widespread Fe-rich blue amphiboles that are not diagnostic of high-pressure conditions, it is possible to reconstruct a former ocean-continent transition similar to that evidenced for the Mesozoic period, followed by the deposition of syn-to post rift terrigeneous turbidites roughly coeval with ocean spreading some time before 800 Ma. It is concluded that the serpentinite massifs were tectonically emplaced first in an extensional setting, then incorporated within deep-sea sediments as olistoliths and finally transported westward during late Neoproterozoic collisional tectonics onto the West African craton.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-00985586
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00985586
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2013.11.004

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD [London] : Nature Pub. Group Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
The deeply eroded West Gondwana Orogen is a major continental collision zone that exposes numerous occurrences of deeply subducted rocks, such as eclogites. The position of these eclogites marks the suture zone between colliding cratons, and the age of metamorphism constrains the transition from subduction-dominated tectonics to continental collision and mountain building. Here we investigate the metamorphic conditions and age of high-pressure and ultrahigh-pressure eclogites from Mali, Togo and NE-Brazil and demonstrate that continental subduction occurred within 20 million years over at least a 2,500-km-long section of the orogen during the Ediacaran. We consider this to be the earliest evidence of large-scale deep-continental subduction and consequent appearance of Himalayan-scale mountains in the geological record. The rise and subsequent erosion of such mountains in the Late Ediacaran is perfectly timed to deliver sediments and nutrients that are thought to have been necessary for the subsequent evolution of sustainable life on Earth.
ISSN: 2041-1723

hal-01122789
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01122789
DOI : 10.1038/ncomms6198

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : The Oman-Emirates is the largest and best-exposed ophiolite; consequently, it has attracted significant interest among scientists, together with serious conflicts. Most geologists regard this ophiolite as having formed in an intra-oceanic subduction zone before being accreted to the Arabian continent. Here, we propose an alternative scenario, supported by detailed field observations and integrated geophysics. The smaller Emirates part of the ophiolite was forced into a nearby continent, in the pre-collision stage of Tethyan closure. The contraction led to the exhumation of the mantle floor of segmented basins accreted in a rifted system similar to the present-day Gulf of California. The implied high temperature–high pressure metamorphism and the range of geochemical signatures were introduced during the process of rifting, whereas the larger Oman ophiolite was emplaced by obduction onto and along the subducting continental shore. This Ridge–Trench–Transform system might call for a new process to obduct over continents in particular Tethyan ophiolites.
ISSN: 0954-4879

hal-01526919
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01526919
DOI : 10.1111/ter.12256

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
The Pyrenean peridotites (lherzolites) form numerous small bodies of subcontinental mantle, a few meters to 3 km across, exposed within the narrow north Pyrenean zone (NPZ) of Mesozoic sediments paralleling the north Pyrenean Fault. Recent studies have shown that mantle exhumation occurred along the future NPZ during the formation of the Albian-Cenomanian Pyrenean basins in relation with detachment tectonics. This paper reviews the geological setting of the Pyrenean lherzolite bodies and reports new detailed field data from key outcrops in the Bearn region. Only two types of geological settings have to be distinguished among the Pyrenean ultramafic bodies. In the first type (sedimented type or S type), the lherzolites occur as clasts of various sizes, ranging from millimetric grains to hectometric olistoliths, within monogenic or polymictic debris flow deposits of Cretaceous age, reworking Mesozoic sediments in dominant proportions as observed around the Lherz body. In the second type (tectonic type or T type), the mantle rocks form hectometric to kilometric slices associated with crustal tectonic lenses. Both crustal and mantle tectonic lenses are in turn systematically associated with large volumes of strongly deformed Triassic rocks and have fault contacts with units of deformed Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous sediments belonging to the cover of the NPZ. These deformed Mesozoic formations are not older that the Aptian-early Albian. They are unconformably overlain by the Albian-Cenomanian flysch formations and have experienced high temperature-low pressure mid-Cretaceous metamorphism at variable grades. Such a tectonic setting characterizes most of the lherzolite bodies exposed in the western Pyrenees. These geological data first provide evidence of detachment tectonics leading to manle exhumation and second emphasize the role of gravity sliding of the Mesozoic cover in the preorogenic evolution of the Pyrenean realm. In the light of such evidence, a simple model of basin development can be inferred, involving extreme thinning of the crust, and mantle uprising along a major detachment fault. We demonstrate coeval development of a crust-mantle detachment fault and generalized gravitational sliding of the Mesozoic cover along low-angle faults involving Triassic salt deposits as a tectonic sole. This model accounts for the basic characteristics of the precollisional rift evolution in the Pyrenean realm.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00512818
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00512818
DOI : 10.1029/2009TC002588