Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
At the time of the collision with India (55Ma), the southern margin of Asia was a composite continental domainresulting from an already long history of successive accretions of different terranes having different rheologies.Knowledge about the structure, composition and thermal state of the Tibetan lithosphere through time is thusfundamental to understand the respective contributions of pre-Cenozoïc and Cenozoïc tectonics in the building ofthe Plateau to its present-day elevations.We focused on the boundary between the Qiangtang terrane to the south, and the Songpan-Ganze terrane to thenorth.We jointly studied deep crustal xenoliths and associated (ultra-)potassic magmatism from the Eocene basinsof Nangqian and Xialaxiu (Qinghai Province, China), north of the Qiangtang terrane. The aims were to retrievethe composition and the thermal state of the lower crust during Eocene times, to study the behavior of the lowercrust and lithospheric mantle of the Eastern Qiangtang terrane and the adjacent Songpan-Ganze terrane at the timeof the collision, and the link with the magmatic activity.Crustal xenoliths are of two types: biotite-rich, amphibole bearing metasediments; and garnet-bearing quartzofeldspathicgneisses. Such assemblages are typical of very high-grade amphibolite and granulite faciesmetamorphism; further study should allow us to quantify the pressures and temperatures those rocks experienceduntil the time they were sampled by their host lavas.Major element geochemistry places the c.a. 51-49 Ma (Spurlin et al., 2005) Xialaxiu volcanic field in a fairlydifferentiated (SiO265-70 wt%) high-K field of the calc-alcaline series. Trace element analysis suggests a strongcrustal contamination of the primary mantellic melts. C.a. 38-37 Ma (Spurlin et al., 2005) Nangqian magmaticbodies span across the alkaline series, with high to extreme (K2O6wt%) values. Complex major and traceelement patterns, coupled with high-resolution microprobe data on pyroxene xenocrysts, suggest that enrichmentoccurred at the source by metasomatism of the lithospheric mantle.Further work will precise which mechanisms could have accounted for such a metasomatism of the mantle beneaththe Northern Qiangtang terrane during Eocene, and whether the lower crust had an autochtonous or allochtonousnature.
Geophysical Research Abstracts
Vienne, Austria

insu-01308919
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01308919

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer
Résumé : International audience
In this study, we used data recorded by two consecutive passive broadband deployments on the Gulf of Aden northern margin, Dhofar region, Sultanate of Oman. The objective of these deployments is to map the young eastern Gulf of Aden passive continental margin crust and upper mantle structure and rheology. In this study, we use shear-wave splitting analysis to map lateral variations of upper mantle anisotropy beneath the study area. In this study, we found splitting magnitudes to vary between 0.33 and 1.0 s delay times, averaging about 0.6 s for a total of 17 stations from both deployment periods. Results show distinct abrupt lateral anisotropy variation along the study area. Three anisotropy zones are identified: a western zone dominated by NW-SE anisotropy orientations, an eastern zone dominat- ed with NE-SW anisotropy orientations, and central zone with mixed anisotropy orientations similar to the east and west zones. We interpret these shorter wavelength anisotropy zones to possibly represent fossil lithospheric mantle anisotropy. We postulate that the central anisotropy zone may be representing a Proterozoic suture zone that separates two terranes to the east and west of it. The anisotropy zones west and east were being used indicative of different terranes with different upper mantle anisotropy signatures.
ISSN: 1866-7411

hal-00647478
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00647478
DOI : 10.1007/s12517-011-0477-2

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
More than 10 years of geodetic measurements demonstrate an uplift rate of 1–3 mm/yr of the high topography region of the Western Alps. By contrast, no significant horizontal motion has been detected. Two uplift mechanisms have been proposed: (1) the isostatic response to denudation responsible for only a fraction of the observed uplift and (2) the rebound induced by the Wurmian ice cap melting which predicts a broader uplifting region than the one evidenced by geodetic observations. Using a numerical model to fit the geodetic data, we show that a crustal viscosity contrast between the foreland and the central part of the Alps, the latter being weaker with a viscosity of 1021 Pa s, is needed. The vertical rates are enhanced if the strong uppermost mantle beneath the Moho is interrupted across the Alps, therefore allowing a weak vertical rheological anomaly over the entire lithosphere.
ISSN: 0094-8276

hal-01332757
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01332757
DOI : 10.1002/2016GL067821

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Understanding subduction rheology in both space and time has been a challenge since the advent of plate tectonics.We herein focus on "subduction infancy", which corresponds to the first 0-2 My immediately following subductionnucleation, when a newly born slab penetrates into the overriding plate mantle and heats up.The only remnants of this critical, yet elusive, geodynamic step are thin metamorphic soles, commonly found beneathpristine, 100-1000 km long portions of oceanic lithosphere emplaced on top of continents (i.e. ophiolites).In this study, we show how, during subduction infancy, transient mechanical properties of both the mantle and crustacross the subduction plate interface (during 100s ky) control and hinder the penetration of tectonic plates intothe mantle, and how this results in strong peaks of resistance and even slicing of their surface — leaving behindthin, chopped-off metamorphic slivers (i.e. metamorphic soles).These findings constrain the mechanical behaviour of the subduction plate interface (with implications for couplingprocesses and earthquake generation) as well as the properties of the crust and mantle. They also highlight the roleof fluids in enabling subduction to overcome this early resistance.
Geophysical Research Abstracts
Vienne, Austria

insu-01309386
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01309386