Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Masson
Résumé : International audience
The Chaînons Béarnais ranges (North-Pyrenean Zone, west-central Pyrenees) display a fold-and-thrust structure involving the Mesozoic sedimentary cover, decoupled from its substratum at the Keuper evaporites level and associated with a few peridotite bodies and scarce Palaeozoic basement lenses. In the western part of the Chaînons Béarnais, the newly described recumbent fold of the Saraillé massif comprises a peridotite body and several lenses of Palaeozoic basement wrapped by the Triassic to Aptian sedimentary cover. This structure represents a remnant of the distal portion of the Pyrenean paleo-rifted margin where mantle rocks have been exhumed during Albian–Cenomanian times. In this paper, we present the first detailed mapping and microstructural analysis of the Saraillé massif, providing new geological basis for reconstructing the evolution of this part of the paleo-margin. Our mapping (i) shows that the pre-rift Mesozoic cover forms a recumbent fold cored by mantle and crustal rocks and (ii) confirms that the prerift cover was detached from its bedrock along a layer of Triassic evaporites and slid onto the exhumed mantle rocks. Sliding of the prerift cover was associated with extreme crustal thinning and mantle exhumation along a major detachment fault, together with intense metasomatism affecting both the continental basement and the sedimentary cover. We show for the first time (1) that the Mesozoic pre-rift sediments experienced syn-metamorphic ductile thinning during mantle exhumation, and (2) that during its extreme attenuation, the continental basement was reduced to tectonic lenses some ten meters thick by ductile shearing.
ISSN: 1631-0713

insu-01265777
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01265777
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01265777/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01265777/file/corre-CRGeosc-2016.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2015.11.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
In the external Western Alps, the collision started with the shortening of the proximal European (Dauphinois) margin. One peculiar feature is the crustal thickening that finally led to the exhumation of the basement External Crystalline Massifs (ECM) during the Neogene. In these massifs, various age of shortening, structural style and sequence of deformation have been proposed leading to different kinematics along the Alpine arc that in turn do not imply the same crustal/lithospheric strength. In this contribution, we present new structural and microstructural data along with Ar/Ar ages from field studies in the Oisans-Grandes Rousses massifs, between Grenoble and Briançon). From balanced cross-sections, we show that about half of the external zone crustal shortening is accommodated within the ECM with similar Ar/Ar ages in all massifs. Furthermore, the shear zones present very large thicknesses (several hundred meters) and do not reactivated either the inherited Liassic normal faults or the Variscan foliation. Finally, the main shortening structures are localized beneath inherited Liassic syn-rift basins. These results suggest that the crust was weak during its shortening. Such behavior is most likely due to the combination of several factors: the crust burial (below the overthrusting internal units) down to about 10km, the presence of weak inherited syn-rift basins, and the strain softening in shear zones that evolve in mica-rich phyllonites. These results are consistent with the studies in the Aar massif and should most likely apply to the Mont Blanc massif, whose relationships with its cover are still debated.
EGU General Assembly
Vienne, Austria

insu-00839426
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00839426
BIBCODE : 2013EGUGA..15.8837B

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Hot collisional orogens are characterized by abundant syn-kinematic granitic magmatism that profoundly affects their tectono-thermal evolutions. Voluminous granitic magmas, emplaced between 360 and 270 Ma, played a visibly important role in the evolution of the Variscan Orogen. In the Limousin region (western Massif Central, France), syntectonic granite plutons are spatially associated with major strike-slip shear zones that merge to the northwest with the South Armorican Shear Zone. This region allowed us to assess the role of magmatism in a hot transpressional orogen. Microstructural data and U/Pb zircon and monazite ages from a mylonitic leucogranite indicate synkinematic emplacement in a dextral transpressional shear zone at 313 +/- 4 Ma. Leucogranites are coeval with cordierite-bearing migmatitic gneisses and vertical lenses of leucosome in strike-slip shear zones. We interpret U/Pb monazite ages of 315 +/- 4 Ma for the gneisses and 316 +/- 2 Ma for the leucosomes as the minimum age of high-grade metamorphism and migmatization respectively. These data suggest a spatial and temporal relationship between transpression, crustal melting, rapid exhumation and magma ascent, and cooling of high-grade metamorphic rocks.;Some granites emplaced in the strike-slip shear zone are bounded at their roof by low dip normal faults that strike N-S, perpendicular to the E-W trend of the belt. The abundant crustal magmatism provided a low-viscosity zone that enhanced Variscan orogenic collapse during continued transpression, inducing the development of normal faults in the transpression zone and thrust faults at the front of the collapsed orogen.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00445260
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445260
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2009.03.022

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Taylor & Francis
Résumé : Modern geochronology has moved beyond the acquisition of dates: the goal is to understand the significance of these numbers for the geodynamic evolution of Earth at all scales. The coupling of the laser-ablation microprobe (LAM) to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers (ICPMS, multicollector (MC)-ICPMS) has revolutionised geochronology and geochemistry over the last 10 years. These systems enable the rapid and precise in situ analysis of trace-element patterns and isotopic systems, while adding information related to microstructural context and major-element composition. The integration of these multiple sources of data is crucial in constraining the origin of the sample and the processes leading to its formation, so that we can understand the meaning of a date in terms of geological events. LAM-ICPMS measurement of U-Pb ages and trace-element patterns in zircon, coupled with LAM-MC-ICPMS analysis of Hf isotopes in the same grains, gives new insights into the processes of magma genesis. Applied to detrital zircons from modern drainages or sedimentary rocks (the TerraneChron approach), it becomes a powerful tool to investigate problems of crustal evolution on scales ranging from single terranes to continents. The in situ analysis (LAM-MC-ICPMS) of Re-Os systematics in single grains of sulfides in mantle-derived peridotites has demonstrated that most mantle rocks contain several generations of Os-bearing sulfides; whole-rock analyses are mixtures reflecting multiple melting and metasomatic events in the lithospheric mantle. These deep-seated events are commonly mirrored in the crust; Os model-age spectra from xenolith suites show age 'peaks' that correspond to the ages of thermal/tectonic events in the overlying crust, suggesting strong linkages between crust and mantle. Integrated studies of the timing and nature of crustal and mantle events, using these techniques, will be important for understanding the large-scale dynamics of the Earth.
ISSN: 0812-0099

hal-00411328
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411328
DOI : 10.1080/08120090802097450

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
New petrographic and microstructural observations, mineral equilibria modelling and U/Pb (monazite) geochronological studies were carried out to investigate the relationships between deformation and metamorphism across the Rehamna massif (Moroccan Variscan belt). In this area, typical Barrovian (muscovite to staurolite) zones developed in Cambrian to Carboniferous metasedimentary rocks that are distributed around a dome-like structure. First assemblages are characterized by the presence of locally preserved andalusite, followed by prograde evolution culminating at 6 kbar and 620 °C in the structurally deepest staurolite zone rocks. This Barrovian sequence was subsequently uplifted to supracrustal levels, heterogeneously reworked at greenschist facies conditions, which was followed locally by static growth of andalusite, indicating heating to 2.5–4 kbar and 530–570 °C. The 206Pb/238U monazite age of 298.3 ± 4.1 Ma is interpreted as minimum age of peak metamorphic conditions, whereas the ages of 275.8 ± 1.7 Ma and 277.0 ± 1.1 Ma date decompression and heating at low pressure, in agreement with previous dating of Permian granitoids intruding the Rehamna massif. The prograde metamorphism occurred during thickening and associated horizontal flow in the deeper crust (S1 horizontal schistosity). The horizontally disposed metamorphic zones were subsequently uplifted by a regional scale antiform during ongoing N–S compression. The re-heating of the massif follows late massive E–W shortening, refolding and retrograde shearing of all previous fabrics coevally with regionally important intrusions of Permian granitoids. We argue that metamorphic evolution of the Rehamna massif occurred several hundred kilometres from the convergent plate boundaries in the interior of continental Gondwanan plate. The tectonometamorphic history of the Rehamna massif is put into Palaeozoic plate tectonic perspective and Late Carboniferous reactivation of (Devonian)–Early Carboniferous basins formed during stretching of the north Gondwana margin and formation of the Palaeotethys Ocean. The inherited heat budget of these magma-rich basins plays a role in the preferential location of this intracontinental orogen. It is shown that rapid transition from lithospheric stretching to compression is characterized by specific HT type of Barrovian metamorphism, which markedly differs from similar Barrovian sequences along Palaeozoic plate boundaries reported from Variscan Europe.
ISSN: 0263-4929

hal-01468009
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01468009
DOI : 10.1111/jmg.12214

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : IODP Hole U1309D (IODP Exp. 304-305, 30°N) and ODP Site 1275 (ODP Lag 209, 15°45?N) sampled two oceanic core complexes, at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The recovered rocks are mostly gabbroic with some very primitive and olivine rich (Ol>70%). In Hole U1309D, trace element compositions of clinopyroxene and plagioclase poikiloblasts from olivine-rich rocks ndicate that they crystallized from the same melt in all lithologies. Olivine trace element compositions are in disequilibrium with the two other minerals. Olivine crystallographic preferred orientations are weak, with a relatively strong uncommon [001] concentration but consistent with deformation by dislocation creep with activation of the high temperature (010) [100] slip system, commonly described in asthenospheric mantle. The joint study of geochemical processes and microstructures in these rocks suggest a complex crystallization history in an open system with percolation of large volume of MORBtype melt and interaction with the depleted shallow mantle. Olivine-rich rocks are interpreted as the ultimate residue of these melt-mantle reaction processes. At Site 1275, the formation of the more evolved rocks of the gabbroic series is not related to the impregnation event creating olivine-rich rocks.
These rocks represent late magmatic injections, which are completely crystallized at depth as intrusivegabbroic bodies. The results presented in this thesis are consistent with the formation of oceanic core complexes associated with relatively strong magmatic activity, and with the crystallization of most of melt in the lithosphere without basaltic counterpart erupted on the seafloor.
Le puits IODP U1309D (Exp. IODP 304-305, 30°N) et le Site ODP 1275 (Leg ODP 209, 15°45'N) ont permis d'échantillonner deux core complexes océaniques de la dorsale Médio-Atlantique. Les roches récupérées sont principalement gabbroïques dont certaines très primitives et riches en olivine (ol >70%). Dans le puits U1309D, les compositions en éléments en trace des poeciloblastes de clinopyroxène et de plagioclase des roches riches en olivine indiquent qu'ils précipitent depuis le même magma dans toutes les lithologies. La composition en éléments en trace des olivines est en déséquilibre avec ces deux minéraux. Les fabriques cristallographiques de l'olivine sont faibles avec une concentration sur [001] inhabituelle, néanmoins compatibles avec une déformation plastique de haute température, avec l'activation du système de glissement (010) [100] communément décrit dans le manteau asthénosphérique. L'étude conjointe des caractéristiques géochimiques et microstructurales de ces roches met en lumière une histoire complexe de cristallisation dans un système ouvert où de larges volumes de magma de type MORB ont percolé et interagi avec le manteau appauvri superficiel. Ces roches riches en olivine représenteraient le résidu ultime de ces réactions liquide-manteau. Au site 1275, la formation des roches les plus évoluées de la série n'apparaît pas liée à l'événement d'imprégnation formant les roches riches en olivine. Ces roches correspondent à des injections tardives de magma qui ont entièrement cristallisé en profondeur sous forme de plutons intrusifs. Les résultats présentés dans ce mémoire sont compatibles avec une formation des core complexes océaniques associée à une activité magmatique relativement importante, et à une cristallisation complète de tout ou partie de ces magmas dans la lithosphère sans contre-partie volcanique en surface.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00354807

tel-00354807
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00354807
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00354807/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00354807/file/these_MD.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We analyzed twelve fault gouge samples from the Bogd fault in south-western Mongolia to understand the origin and behavior of clay minerals. The investigation relies on x-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high energy synchrotron x-ray diffraction methods to investigate microstructure and preferred orientation. Smectite (montmorillonite), illite-smectite mixed layers, illite-mica and kaolinite are the major clay components, in addition to quartz and feldspars, which are present in all samples. The observations suggest that the protoliths and the fault rocks were highly altered by fluids. The fluid-rock interactions allow clay minerals to form, as well as alter feldspars to precipitate kaolinite and montmorillonite. Thus, newly formed clay minerals are heterogeneously distributed in the fault zone. The decrease of montmorillonite component of some of the highly deformed samples also suggests that dehydration processes during deformation were leading to illite precipitation. Based on synchrotron x-ray diffraction data, the degree of preferred orientation of constituent clay minerals is weak, with maxima for (001) ranging from 1.3 to 2.6 multiples of a random distribution (m.r.d). Co-existing quartz and feldspars have random orientation distributions. Microstructure and texture observations of the gouges from the foliated microscopic zone, alternating with micrometric isotropic clay-rich area, also indicate that the Bogd fault experienced brittle and ductile deformation episodes. The clay minerals may contribute to a slip weakening behavior of the fault.
ISSN: 0191-8141

insu-00667194
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00667194
DOI : 10.1016/j.jsg.2011.10.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The lithospheric mantle is intrinsically heterogeneous and anisotropic. These two properties govern the repartition of deformation, controlling intraplate strain localization and development of new plate boundaries. Geophysical and geological observations provide clues on the types, ranges, and characteristic length scales of heterogeneity and anisotropy in the lithospheric mantle. Seismic tomography points to variations in geothermal gradient and hence in rheological behavior at scales of hundreds of km. Seismic anisotropy data substantiate anisotropic physical properties consistent at scales of tens to hundreds of km. Receiver functions imply lateral and vertical heterogeneity at scales < 10 km, which might record gradients in composition or anisotropy. Observations on naturally deformed peridotites establish that compositional heterogeneity and Crystal Preferred Orientations (CPOs) are ubiquitous from the mm to the km scales. These data allow discussing the processes that produce/destroy heterogeneity and anisotropy and constraining the time scales over which they are active. This analysis highlights: (i) the role of deformation and reactive percolation of melts and fluids in producing compositional and structural heterogeneity and the feedbacks between these processes, (ii) the weak mechanical effect of mineralogical variations, and (iii) the low volumes of fine-grained microstructures and difficulty to preserve them. In contrast, olivine CPO and the resulting anisotropy of mechanical and thermal properties are only modified by deformation. Based on this analysis, we propose that strain localization at the plate scale is, at first order, controlled by large-scale variations in thermal structure and in CPO-induced anisotropy. In cold parts of the lithospheric mantle , grain size reduction may contribute to strain localization, but the low volume of fine-grained domains limits this effect.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-01277174
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01277174
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2015.07.026

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Mylonite-bearing crustal shear zones are exhumed extensions at depth of (potentially seismogenic) brittle faultsat shallow structural level. By concentrating deformation, shear zones play a major role in the rheology and mechanicalbehavior of the continental crust. Analysis of shear zone geometry and microstructures is a useful toolto decipher deformation kinematics, though finite strain estimation is still relatively qualitative. Timing of thedeformation has also been the focus of numerous studies using the complete spectrum of geochronometers. However,only rare examples provide geochronological data that can be unambiguously linked with deformation. Thus,time-scales over which major mylonite zones develop and remain active under ductile conditions as well as theirstrain rates often remain poorly documented. Several sections across the South Armorican Shear Zone (SASZ),a crustal-scale, several km-thick dextral shear zone were investigated by structural, petrological and Ar/Ar radiochronologicalmethods. Finite strain profiles on these sections showed a strong deformation partitioning towardsthe ultramylonite core of the SASZ, with a decrease, of both the C’/S mean angle (from ca. 45 to less than5) and the Quartz grain-size (from ca. 150 to 5 m). In parallel, conventional and in-situ Ar/Ar datings on thefabric-forming white micas were performed on compositionally complex white-micas. Inherited magmatic muscovitescarried by the foliation and newly-formed, syn-tectonic substituted phengites located along the shear bandsyielded 2 age groups for the less deformed samples. Along the shear zone cross-section, the difference betweenthese two ages evolves from 10-15 Ma in weakly deformed domains to zero toward the SASZ core. In addition, thevery fine-grained syn-tectonic phengites yielded the same ca. 300-298 Ma age irrespectively of their distance to thecore of the shear zone, even in slightly deformed rocks distant by several km. These results support a new modelof crustal-scale shear zone activity, where the whole body of the shear zone is active throughout its history, i.e.the actively deforming zone does not get progressively narrower. The strain distribution nevertheless evolves withtime, with an increasingly larger fraction partitioned in the ultramylonitic core. Besides, combination of the finitestrain estimations and the Ar/Ar ages enables us to assess the range of strain rates associated with mylonitization.
EGU General Assembly 2014
Vienne, Austria

insu-01565057
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01565057

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag (Germany) Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
The dissolution of carbonate rocks usually leads to both porosity (ϕ) and permeability (k) increase. We present experimental evidences and physical-based models of positive and anti-correlated dynamics of k and ϕ observed during dissolution experiments of carbonate rocks. We study the way the rate of change of ϕ and k is controlled by the degree of undersaturation of the percolating solution for two different types of carbonate rocks. We document the occurrence of an anti-correlated k−ϕ trend when the flowing fluid (deionized water) has a weak capacity of dissolution. A positive correlation is found when CO2 is added to the deionized water to increase the potential dissolution rate. Detailed analyses of the microstructures of the rock performed by X-ray microtomography reveal that low dissolution rate favors detachment of solid particles and their subsequent accumulation at the pore-throat inlet. Particles are detached from the rock matrix due to the differential dissolution rate of the indurated grains and the microporous cement. We then propose a simple phenomenological model to interpret the effect of the pore-throat clogging by the accumulation of partially dissolved carbonate particles. We conjecture that permeability is controlled by the decrease of the effective hydraulic radius and the increase of the tortuosity due to partial and localized obstruction of the pore network. Conversely, increasing the level of undersaturation of the flowing solution leads to an augmented potential of dissolving most of the transported particles before they reach the throats. In this case, both k and ϕ increase and display power-law correlations.
ISSN: 0169-3913

hal-01174145
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01174145
DOI : 10.1007/s11242-015-0456-2

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
New structural observations coupled with 15 U/Pb and 24 Ar/Ar new ages from the Karakorum shear zone (KSZ) constrain the timing and slip rate of the right-lateral Karakorum fault zone (KFZ), one of the great continental Asian strike-slip faults. In the Tangtse-Darbuk area, the Tangtse (SW) and Muglib (NE) mylonitic strands of the KSZ frame the less deformed Pangong Range. Inherited U/Pb ages show that granitic protoliths are mostly from the Karakorum and Ladakh batoliths, with a major Miocene melting event lasting from ≥21.5 to 13.5 Ma. Some of the Miocene granitic bodies show structural evidence for intrusion synkinematic to the KSZ. The oldest of these granitoids is 18.8 ± 0.4 Ma old, implying that deformation started prior to ∼19 Ma. Microstructural data show that right-lateral deformation pursued during cooling. Ar/Ar data show that ductile deformation stopped earlier in the Tangtse (∼11 Ma) than in the Muglib strand (∼7 Ma). Deformation ended at ∼11 Ma in the Tangtse strand while it is still active in the Muglib strand, suggesting a progressive localization of deformation. When merged with published observations along the KFZ, these data suggest that the KFZ nucleated in the North Ayilari range at least ∼22 Ma ago. The long-term fault rate is 0.84 to 1.3 cm/yr, considering a total offset of 200 to 240 km. The KSZ collected magma produced within the shear zone and/or deeper in crust for which the producing mechanism stays unclear but was not the lower crustal channel flow.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00745066
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00745066
DOI : 10.1029/2011TC003049

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
A key element of the biomechanical design of trees is their ability to generate largemechanical stresses in wood at the stem periphery. This function is necessary for the tree tocontrol the orientation of its axes, and therefore to grow in height, maintain its branches at anoptimal angle or achieve adaptive reorientations (Fournier et al., 2013). This “maturationstress” appears in wood fibres during their cellular maturation when their secondary cell wallis thickening. In hardwoods, the stress asymmetry is generated by the formation of specificfibres with a very high tensile growth stress on the upper side of the inclined axis. Theresulting tension wood has microstructural features highly different from the normal wood.Tension wood in almost all temperate species has a specific gelatinous cell wall layer, calledG-layer, that is not lignified and highly mesoporous (Chang et al., 2015). It has been shownrecently, at the macroscopic scale, that cellulose tension appears during maturation and issynchronous with the development of this specific layer (Clair et al., 2011). Tropical species,like simarouba, are able to generate lignified tension wood fibres. The mechanisms of stressgeneration in tension wood fibres are not yet well known. The aim of our study is tounderstand these mechanisms and to know the spatial and temporal kinetics of the differentcell wall layers stiffening during maturation, in parallel with tensile stress generation.Contact-Resonance Atomic Force Microscopy, CR-AFM, was used here to address thisquestion on embedded samples (Arnould and Arinero, 2015) using dual resonance frequencytracking (DRFT, Rodriguez et al., 2007). Change in the contact modulus between, and within,each layer of the cell wall has been measured on several radial lines of developing fibres atdifferent steps. In order to understand the obtained results, and to estimate the sensitivity ofthe AFM indentation-like technique to the different cell wall components stiffness, an elasticanisotropic indentation model was used (Vlassak et al., 2003; Jäger et al., 2011). Finally,these mechanical measurements have been compared to topochemical data obtained on thesame fibres.
8th Plant Biomechanics International Conference
Nagoya, Japan

hal-01436113
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01436113

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
[1] The Pyrenees, north of the North Pyrenean fault, display a complex structure involving a succession of peridotite massifs, basement massifs, and mid-Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous basins located in a narrow domain, which was affected by a mid-Cretaceous, preorogenic, high-temperature, low-pressure metamorphism. The Late Cretaceous basins were interpreted either as pull-apart basins formed during transcurrent motion of Iberia relative to Eurasia or as remnants of a larger extensional basin. Recent models support that peridotite massifs result from the exhumation of the mantle during this preorogenic event. The northern boundary of the Agly basement massif shows evidence of ductile deformation of the basal formations of the Agly sedimentary cover. Macroscopic and microscopic kinematics indicators consistent with asymmetry of crystallographic fabrics suggest normal sense of shear and thus suggest detachment, at least partial, of the Mesozoic cover from its basement. Triassic to Early Cretaceous limestones are mylonitic and consistently shows a foliation, a NS- to NE-trending lineation, shear criteria suggesting top-to-the-north shearing and locally boudinage. At the microscopic scale, mylonites are characterized by a very fine grain size, frequently <10 µm. They contain larger, partially recrystallized calcite parent grains and undeformed quartz grains with calcite fringes crystallized in pressure shadows. In these mylonites, calcite systematically shows a weak but well-defined crystallographic-preferred orientations, suggesting HT dislocation creep combined to diffusion creep and possibly grain boundary sliding in the finest fraction of the mylonites. Paleotemperatures determined using Raman spectrometry suggest synkinematic temperature conditions in the range 340-390°C, in good agreement with observed microstructures and calcite CPO. The mylonitic fabric in Mesozoic limestones is folded by EW-trending Pyrenean folds north of the Agly basement massif, attesting that this fabric formed before the Pyrenean orogeny. These data consistently support preorogenic extension under medium-temperature conditions of the northern Agly massif and likely of the massif itself. Since simultaneously (~100 Ma) a mid-Cretaceous basin opened south of the basement massif, we suggest a model of preorogenic exhumation of the Agly massif in response to the regional extension associated to the rotation of Iberia. This model may explain the exhumation of the North Pyrenean massifs during a single preorogenic event that allowed the opening of extensional basins and the exhumation of the lithospheric mantle. All these structures being subsequently reworked during the Pyrenean orogeny.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00852833
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00852833
DOI : 10.1002/tect.20015

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Much debate exists concerning the strength distribution of the continental lithosphere, how it controls lithosphere-scale strain localization and hence enables plate tectonics. No rheological model proposed to date is comprehensive enough to describe both the weakness of plate boundary and rigid-like behaviour of plate interiors. Here we show that the duality of strength of the lithosphere corresponds to different stages of microstructural evolution. Geological constraints on lithospheric strength and large strain numerical experiments reveal that the development of layers containing weak minerals and the onset of grain boundary sliding upon grain size reduction in olivine cause strain localisation and reduce strength in the crust and subcontinental mantle, respectively. The positive feedback between weakening and strain localization leads to the progressive development of weak plate boundaries while plate interiors remain
ISSN: 0040-1951

insu-00949213
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00949213
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00949213/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00949213/file/Gueydan_et_al_2014.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2014.02.005

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : We present an experimental study of relations between hydraulic properties of clayey rocks and their deformation at bulk and micro scale. The experimentation is based on triaxial deformation of kaolinitic core samples, on permeability measurements, and on several methods of analysis of the microstructure. To produce the samples, remoulded kaolinite material is consolidated by axial loading up to 20 MPa in an oedometric cell. Then, in a triaxial cell, an undrained stress path is applied in order to induce shearing damage in the sample. The permeability of the sample is measured by fluid flow across the sample. Before and after these hydro-mechanical tests, the evolution and the homogeneity of the pore space and moreover the texture of the material are analysed by X-ray tomography, environmental scanning electron microscopy and thermic neutron diffraction. Contrary to expectations, the permeability at the sample scale does not vary significantly, although quite large deformation is reached. The final deformation is heterogeneous, with well-developed shear bands. It appears that the development of compacting and dilating zones generates a heterogeneous permeability field, which results in a negligible variation of the bulk permeability at the sample scale.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science

hal-00496407
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00496407
DOI : 10.1016/j.ijrmms.2010.04.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society, London
Résumé : This collection of papers presents recent advances in the study of deformation mechanisms and rheology and their applications to tectonics. Many of the contributions exploit new petrofabric techniques, particularly electron backscatter diffraction, to help understand the evolution of rock microstructure and mechanical properties.
Deformation Mechanisms, Rheology and Tectonics: Microstructures, Mechanics and Anistropy;Geological

hal-00685575
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00685575

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
We report new structural, microstructural, petrological, and major- and trace-element data on ultramafic rocks from the Kondyor zoned ultramafic complex in Far-East Russia. The ultramafic rocks are subdivided into three subconcentric lithologies, from core to rim: (1) a metasomatic domain where generally phlogopite-rich dykes pervasively intrude dunite; (2) a main dunite core; (3) a pyroxenite rim. The ultramafic rocks have nearly vertical contacts with the surrounding Archaean basement (gneisses, quartzites and marbles) and hornfelsed Riphean sediments. The hornfelsed sediments show a relatively steep ( 60), outward dipping layering, which rapidly flattens to horizontal away from the inner contact. Although the Riphean sediments define a dome-like structure, the inward, shallow dipping foliation of the dunites indicates a synformal structure. Detailed petro-structural investigations indicate that the Kondyor dunites were deformed by solid-state flow under asthenospheric mantle conditions. The outward textural change from coarse- to fine-grained equigranular dunite and the outward-increasing abundance of subgrains and recrystallized olivine grains suggest dynamic recrystallization while fluid circulation was channelized within the core metasomatic zone, with a decreasing melt fraction from core to rim, and also suggest that solid-state deformation induced grain-size reduction towards the cooling border of the Kondyor massif. Based on their geochemistry, the dunites are interpreted as mantle rocks strongly affected by reaction with melts similar to the JurassicCretaceous Aldan Shield lamproites. Rim pyroxenites were formed by a melt-consuming peritectic reaction, implying the existence of at least a small, conductive thermal gradient around the dunite body while the latter was still at near-solidus temperature conditions. This suggests that the zoned structure of Kondyor was initiated at mantle depths, most probably within the subcontinental lithosphere. Upon cooling, the lamproitic melts were progressively focused in the central part of the massif and drained into vein conduits where they reacted with the wall-rock dunite. Two-dimensional numerical modelling based on finite-differences with a marker-in-cell technique incorporates temperature-dependent rheologies for both molten and non-molten host rocks. The modelling consolidates the structural, petrological and geochemical interpretations, which show that the dunites represent the synformal, flat-lying apex of an asthenospheric mantle diapir, triggered by fluid pressure channelized in the core, which nearly reached the Earths surface. We conclude that translithospheric mantle diapirism is an important mode of mass transfer in the Earth.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-00424508
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00424508
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egn083

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
Located east of Guadeloupe, the island of La Désirade exhibits the oldest rocks of the Lesser Antilles arc and the eastern Caribbean plate. An old magmatic basement is composed of (1) late Jurassic ophiolitic complex with meta-basaltic pillow lavas and interbedded radiolarites, (2) acid igneous complex comprising meta-quartz-diorite and meta-rhyolitic lavas flows, and (3) meta-diabasic/microdioritic dyke swarm complex. We present and discuss the discovery of synmetamorphic thrust tectonics in this island. Based on detailed structural analysis we evidenced two main compressive events. The first event (D1) is characterized by pervasive folding associated with thrust development. In the northeastern part of the island, a major thrust fault, the Grand Abaque Thrust, has been discovered which displaces for several kilometers the acid igneous complex onto the ophiolitic unit. The second deformation event (D2) is featured by a main pervasive cleavage S2 observed at the regional scale associated with upright folding (F2) and by the development of two sets of conjugated steeply dipping strike-slip shear zones, dextral 130°N and sinistral 20°N striking, respectively. Microstructural observations indicate that Greenschist facies metamorphism is clearly contemporaneous with the development of D1 and D2 superimposed tectonic structures. Ar/Ar geochronology was performed on two bulk of adularia minerals sampled in the northeast volcanic complex within a deformed zone related to a D2 event. These analyses yield well-defined and concordant plateau ages at 106.2 ± 1.7 Ma and 107.2 ± 1.8 Ma. Thus, shortening and thickening tectonics occurred during Lower Cretaceous (Albian). In the available framework of Caribbean geodynamics, the synmetamorphic thrust tectonics we discovered in the French Lesser Antilles is related to the collision between an Aptian-Albian oceanic plateau and the Andean-Cordilleran east-dipping subduction zone. Our results support subduction polarity reversal during Lower Cretaceous.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00620555
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00620555
DOI : 10.1029/2011TC002875

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : The relationship between deformation and so-called fluid paleotransfers in minor faults has been analysed in an argillaceous formation located in the Causses Basin in France. The fluid paleotransfers are related to the fault activity to a large extent. We attempt to estimate the intensity of paleo-deviatoric stress magnitudes under which the fault activity may have occurred and consequently, the change in the structural fault permeability. The paleo-deviatoric stress magnitudes were calculated with the inverse method of Etchecopar applied to calcite twinning. The measured crystals are contained within the core zone of minor faults and this study is based on a previous complete microtectonic and microstructural analysis of the faults. In this paper, analysis of calcite twinning has been applied for the first time to vein fillings associated small faults in a context of relatively weak deformation, a condition ensured by the tectonic and structural analysis. Calculation and discussion of the paleo-deviatoric stress tensors in relation to the evolution of the structural fault permeability and to the hydraulic behaviour of the faults are the aim of this paper. The analysed faults, created and active during the same tectonic event, were permeable under a (;σ;1;–;σ;3;) mean value of 40–50 MPa. On the other hand, the reactivation of faults during a second tectonic event implies mean (;σ;1;–;σ;3;) value higher than 40–50 MPa, especially for the faults that are poorly oriented with respect to the principal tectonic stress directions. The core zone of these faults remained sealed and impermeable or became permeable by development of microcracks inside the pre-existing fillings.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00407577
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00407577
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2006.09.014

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
We report on microstructural data obtained by optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy concerning the crystallographic relationships of serpentine minerals with their host olivine in two contrasting situations. In the first case, mesh-textured lizardite (liz) is developed in a standard 60% serpentinized oceanic harzburgite from the Oman ophiolite where olivine converts to columnar lizardite. The joined columns are perpendicular to the basal plane (001)(liz), corresponding to the pseudofibres observed optically. The plane (001)(liz) is locally parallel to the narrow boundary ol-liz; thus column orientations register the interface of serpentinization. The ol-liz relationships are not strictly topotactic, but reflect preferred cracking orientations in olivine, parallel to (010)(ol). In the second case, antigorite (atg) develops in a rare sample of antigorite schist in a kimberlite from Moses Rock (Colorado Plateau), representative of a suprasubduction-zone mantle wedge. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images along [010](atg) show domains of very regular modulation with a 43 center dot 5 A wavelength (m = 17, where m is the number of silicate tetrahedra along the wave), with few defects, indicative of HP-HT antigorite, and also heavily kinked regions as fingerprints of strong tectonic shear. TEM imaging and electron diffraction patterns reveal two topotactic relationships between antigorite and olivine: [100](atg)//[010](ol) and < 100 >(atg)//< 100 >(ol); the planes in contact are (001)(atg)//(100)(ol) and (001)(atg)//(010)(ol), respectively. The [010](atg)//[001](ol) and antigorite lamellae are parallel to the forsterite b-axis. In both cases, the topography of olivine-serpentine interfaces is controlled by open fluid pathways along microcracks oriented according to the anisotropy of the olivine aggregate. In the cases studied, the serpentine aggregate exhibits a preferred orientation inherited from that of the peridotite. These results have some relevance to the seismic anisotropy of serpentinized mantle. Anisotropy of propagation of seismic waves as a result of the olivine fabric is maintained and reinforced with the development of lizardite. Conversely, the development of antigorite produces a trench-parallel fast S-wave polarization and an anisotropy that is lowered at low degrees of serpentinization and then increased with increasing serpentinization.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-00456061
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00456061
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egp049