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", that is the first ~1-5 My immediately following subduction nucleation, when a newly born slab penetrates into the upper plate mantle and heats up. The only remnants of this critical yet elusive geodynamic step are thin metamorphic soles, commonly found beneath pristine, 100-1000 km long portions of oceanic lithosphere emplaced on continents (i.e., ophiolites).Through the (i) worldwide compilation of pressure-temperature conditions of metamorphic sole formation augmented by pseudosection thermodynamic modeling, (ii) calculations of the viscosity of materials along the plate interface and (iii) generic numerical thermal models, we provide a conceptual model of dynamic plate interface processes during subduction infancy (and initiation s.l.).We show in particular how major rheological switches across the subduction interface control slab penetration, and the formation of metamorphic soles. Due to the downward progression of hydration and weakening of the mantle wedge with cooling, the lower plate (basalt, sediment) and the upper plate (mantle wedge) rheologies equalize and switch over a restricted temperature-time-depth interval (e.g., at ~800°C and ~1 GPa, during 0.1-2 My, for high-temperature metamorphic sole formation). These switches result in episodes of maximum interplate mechanical coupling, thereby slicing the top of the slab and welding pieces (basalt, sediment) to the base of the mantle wedge. Similar mechanical processes likely apply for the later, deeper accretion and exhumation of high-temperature oceanic eclogites in serpentinite mélanges, or for the accretion of larger tectonic slices.This model provides constraints on the effective rheologies of the crust and mantle and general understanding, at both rock and plate scale, for accretion processes and early slab dynamics.
AGU Fall Meeting 2015
San Francisco, United States

insu-01242103
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01242103

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Société géologique de France
Résumé : International audience
– The 300 km long allochthonous sheet of oceanic mantle forming the New Caledonia ophiolite displays three specific characters: 1) the ophiolite pile lacks concordant sheeted dykes and pillow basalt layers; 2) the ophiolite, refered to as the Peridotite nappe, is thrusted over the basaltic formations of the Poya terrane which are classicaly thought to originate from a different oceanic environment; 3) The basal contact of the ultramafic sheet is remarkably flat all along New-Caledonia and the Peridotite nappe has not been thickened during obduction, rather it experienced significant extension. This suggests that the peridotites have not been emplaced by a tectonic force applied to the rear. New petrological and geochemical results obtained from mantle rocks finally show that the Poya terrane may originate from the same oceanic basin as the peridotites. In this article, we consider such possible cogenetic links and we propose a simple model for the obduction of the New Caledonia ophiolite in which the Poya basalts represent the original cover of the Peridotite nappe. We infer that continuous uplift of the subducted units buried beneath the oceanic lithosphere in the northern part of New Caledonia drove passive uplift of the ophiolite and led to erosion and to initiation of sliding of the basaltic layer. During the Priabonian (latest Eocene), products of the erosion of the basaltic layer were deposited together with sediments derived from the Norfolk passive oceanic margin. These sediments are involved as tectonic slices into an accretionary wedge formed in response to plate convergence. The volcaniclastic sedimentation ends up with the emplacement of large slided blocks of basalts and rafted mafic units that progressively filled up the basin. Obduction process ended with the gravity sliding of the oceanic mantle sheet, previously scalped from its mafic cover. This process is contemporaneous with the exhumation of the HP-LT units of Pouebo and Diahot. Gravity sliding was facilitated by the occurrence of a continuous serpentine sole resulting from metasomatic hydratation of mantle rocks, which developed during the uplift of the Norfolk basement and overlying Diahot and Pouébo units. Progressive emersion of the obducted lithosphere allowed subsequent weathering under subaerial, tropical conditions. Obduction passive et mise en place gravitaire des grandes nappes ophiolitiques : les ophiolites de Nouvelle-Calédonie (SW Pacifique) sont-elles un cas d'école ? Résumé. – La nappe de manteau de Nouvelle-Calédonie, s'étendant sur 300 km de long montre trois caractéristiques im-portantes: 1) La succession ophiolitique ne contient ni dykes, ni basaltes en coussin, 2) l'ophiolite est charriée sur des formations basaltiques (nappe de Poya) que l'on considère classiquement comme originaires d'un bassin océanique dif-férent de celui d'où est issu le manteau, et 3) le contact basal de la nappe ultrabasique est remarquablement plat tout le long de l'île et celle-ci n'a pas été épaissie durant l'obduction. Cela suggère que les péridotites n'ont pas été mises en place en réponse à une poussée tectonique arrière. De nouveaux résultats pétrologiques et géochimiques obtenus sur l'ophiolite montrent en réalité que les basaltes de Poya peuvent être extraits de la fusion du manteau de l'ophiolite. Nous proposons donc un nouveau modèle pour l'obduction, dans lequel les basaltes de Poya forment la couver-ture initiale primitive du manteau de la nappe des péridotites. La surrection progressive des unités profondes enfouies lors de la subduction de la lithosphère du bassin sud-Loyauté à l'Eocène, a permis le soulèvement passif de l'ophiolite et l'érosion puis le glissement des unités basaltiques. Durant le Priabonien, l'accumulation des produits de l'érosion de la couche des basaltes et de la marge passive de Norfolk ont formé les séquences de flysch comprenant localement des débris basaltiques grossiers. Ces sédiments font partie d'un prisme d'accrétion tectonique construit en réponse à la convergence au front de la subduction. La sédimentation détritique se termine par la mise en place de grandes unités ba-saltiques glissées qui comblent le bassin. Le processus de l'obduction se termine par le glissement gravitaire de l'écaille de manteau océanique sur les basaltes. Cet événement est contemporain de l'exhumation des unités HP-BT de Pouébo et du Diahot. Le glissement gravitaire a été facilité par la présence sous l'ophiolite, d'une semelle continue de serpentines résultant de l'interaction du manteau avec des fluides métasomatiques remontant durant l'exhumation des unités en-fouies pendant la subduction continentale. L'émersion progressive de la lithosphère obduite a placé le manteau dans des conditions d'altération supergène tropicale.
EISSN: 1777-5817

hal-01257702
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01257702
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01257702/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01257702/file/Lagabrielleetal-BSGF-2012-revised-light.pdf
DOI : 10.2113/gssgfbull.184.6.545

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Résumé : International audience
Upper Triassic volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Mamonia Complex in southwestern Cyprus are exposed in erosional windows through the post-Cretaceous cover, where the Mamonia Complex is tectonically imbricated with the Troodos and Akamas ophiolitic suites. Most of these Upper Triassic volcanic rocks have been considered to represent remnants of Triassic oceanic crust and its associated seamounts. New Nd and Pb isotopic data show that the whole Mamonia volcanic suite exhibits features of oceanic island basalts (OIB). Four rock types have been distinguished on the basis of the petrology and chemistry of the rocks. Volcanism began with the eruption of depleted olivine tholeiites (Type 1) and oceanic island tholeiites (Type 2) associated with deep basin siliceous and/or calcareous sediments. The tholeiites were followed by highly phyric alkali basalts (Type 3) interbedded with pelagic Halobia-bearing limestones or white reefal limestones. Strongly LREE-enriched trachytes (Type 4) were emplaced during the final stage of volcanic activity. Nd and Pb isotopic ratios suggest that tholeiites and mildly alkali basalts derived from partial melting of heterogeneous enriched mantle sources. Fractional crystallization alone cannot account for the derivation of trachytes from alkaline basalts. The trachytes could have been derived from the partial melting at depth of mafic material which shares with the alkali basalts similar trace element and isotopic compositions. This is corroborated by the rather similar isotopic compositions of the alkali basalts and trachytes. The correlations observed between incompatible elements (Nb, Th) and {varepsilon}Nd and Pb isotopic initial ratios suggest that the Mamonia suite was derived from the mixing of a depleted mantle (DMM) and an enriched component of High µ (µ = 238U/204Pb, HIMU) type. Models using both Nd and Pb isotopic initial ratios suggest that the depleted tholeiites (Type 1) derived from a DMM source contaminated by an Enriched Mantle Type 2 component (EM2), and that the oceanic tholeiites (Type 2), alkali basalts (Type 3) and trachytes (Type 4) were derived from the mixing of the enriched mantle source of the depleted tholeiites with a HIMU component. None of the Mamonia volcanic rocks show evidence of crustal contamination. The Upper Triassic within-plate volcanism likely erupted in a small southerly Neotethyan basin, located north of the Eratosthenes seamount and likely floored by oceanic crust.
ISSN: 0016-7568

insu-00353657
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00353657
DOI : 10.1017/S0016756806002937

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Subduction infancy corresponds to the first few million years following subduction initiation, when slabs start their descent into the mantle. It coincides with the transient (yet systematic) transfer of material from the top of the slab to the upper plate, as witnessed by metamorphic soles welded beneath obducted ophiolites. Combining structure–lithology–pressure–temperature–time data from metamorphic soles with flow laws derived from experimental rock mechanics, this study highlights two main successive rheological switches across the subduction interface (mantle wedge vs. basalts, then mantle wedge vs. sediments; at ∼800 °C and ∼600 °C, respectively), during which interplate mechanical coupling is maximized by the existence of transiently similar rheologies across the plate contact. We propose that these rheological switches hinder slab penetration and are responsible for slicing the top of the slab and welding crustal pieces (high- then low-temperature metamorphic soles) to the base of the mantle wedge during subduction infancy. This mechanism has implications for the rheological properties of the crust and mantle (and for transient episodes of accretion/exhumation of HP-LT rocks in mature subduction systems) and highlights the role of fluids in enabling subduction to overcome the early resistance to slab penetration.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-01383368
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01383368
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01383368/document
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01383368/file/Agard_2016_Plate_interface.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.06.054

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The analysis of field relationships between allochthonous crystalline slivers, ultramafic units and associated sedimentary cover in the high-pressure Schistes Lustrés units of northern Corsica allows reconstruction of the pre-orogenic architecture of a fossil Mesozoic Ocean-Continent Transition (OCT) of the Tethys basin. The studied area, encompassing the Serra di Pigno and Col de Téghime areas (Cap Corse) is composed of an assemblage of prealpine basement sheets made up of serpentinized mantle rocks, Permian gabbros and gneisses, locally associated with Paleozoic metabasites and micaschists. The sedimentary cover includes numerous intervals of calc-schists, marbles, quartzites, micaschists and dolomitic metabreccias yielding a great variety of lithostratigraphical successions. The metasedimentary sequences do not show affinities with the typical cover series of the Prépiémontais margin domains. This implies an origin from a more internal domain (oceanward) for the studied units. In addition, the sedimentary cover of the ultramafic basement units do not display the characters of the classical Alpine ophiolites but bear lithological features showing affinities with both continental and oceanic environments. We assume that the high variability of the sedimentary successions as well as the presence of a basement composed of continental and upper-mantle rocks is consistent with an origin at an OCT. The acidic basement slivers are regarded as former extensional allochthons of continental crust abandoned during breakup on a newly exhumed seafloor of peridotite composition. Such extensional allochthons, will then logically constitute the most internal continental slices buried at great depth during Alpine subduction. This work shows that a lot has to be expected from a revision of the Schistes Lustrés lithostratigraphy in the light of the new concepts of the evolution of the OCT domains.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00795578
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00795578
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2012.06.013

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 Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
Three-quarters of the oceanic crust formed at fast-spreading ridges is composed of plutonic rocks whose mineral assemblages, textures and compositions record the history of melt transport and crystallization between the mantle and the sea floor. Despite the importance of these rocks, sampling them in situ is extremely challenging owing to the overlying dykes and lavas. This means that models for understanding the formation of the lower crust are based largely on geophysical studies1 and ancient analogues (ophiolites)2, 3, 4, 5 that did not form at typical mid-ocean ridges. Here we describe cored intervals of primitive, modally layered gabbroic rocks from the lower plutonic crust formed at a fast-spreading ridge, sampled by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program at the Hess Deep rift. Centimetre-scale, modally layered rocks, some of which have a strong layering-parallel foliation, confirm a long-held belief that such rocks are a key constituent of the lower oceanic crust formed at fast-spreading ridges3, 6. Geochemical analysis of these primitive lower plutonic rocks--in combination with previous geochemical data for shallow-level plutonic rocks, sheeted dykes and lavas--provides the most completely constrained estimate of the bulk composition of fast-spreading oceanic crust so far. Simple crystallization models using this bulk crustal composition as the parental melt accurately predict the bulk composition of both the lavas and the plutonic rocks. However, the recovered plutonic rocks show early crystallization of orthopyroxene, which is not predicted by current models of melt extraction from the mantle7 and mid-ocean-ridge basalt differentiation8, 9. The simplest explanation of this observation is that compositionally diverse melts are extracted from the mantle and partly crystallize before mixing to produce the more homogeneous magmas that erupt.
ISSN: 0028-0836

hal-00950085
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00950085
DOI : 10.1038/nature12778

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Sedimentary basins, through the sedimentary successions and the nature of the deposits, reflect the geology of thearea from which the sediments were derived and thus provide valuable record of hinterland tectonism. As the collisionbetween the South China and the Indochina blocks (i.e. the Indosinian orogeny) is still the object of a numberof controversies regarding, for instance, its timing and the polarity of the subduction, the sedimentary basins associatedwith this mountain belt are likely to provide clues to reconstruct its geodynamic evolution. However, boththe Sam Nua Basin (located to the south of the inner zones of the Indosinian orogeny and the Song Ma ophiolites)and the Song Da Basin (located to the north of the inner zones), northern Vietnam, are still lacking importantinformation regarding the depositional environments and the ages of the main formations that they contain.Using sedimentological and dating analyses (foraminifers biostratigraphy and U-Pb dating on detrital zircon), weprovide a new stratigraphic framework for these basins and propose a geodynamic evolution of the present-daynorthern Vietnam.During the Early Triassic, the Sam Nua Basin was mainly supplied by volcaniclastic sediments originating froman active volcanic activity. Geochemical investigations, combined with sedimentological and structural analyses,support an arc-related setting for this magmatism. This magmatic arc resulted from the subduction of a south dippingoceanic slab that once separated the South China from the Indochina blocks. During the Middle to the LateTriassic, the Sam Nua Basin underwent erosion that lead to the formation of a major unconformity, termed theIndosinian unconformity. This unconformity is interpreted to result from the erosion of the Indosinian mountainbelt, built after the continental collision between the South China and the Indochina blocks. Later, during the LateTriassic, the Sam Nua Basin experienced the deposition of very coarse material, emplaced under continental settingand representing the product of the erosion of the Indosinian mountain belt.To the North, the Song Da Basin is characterized by strongly diachronous deposits over a basal unconformitydeveloped at the expense of volcanic and volcaniclastic deposits related to the Emeishan Large Igneous Province.The sedimentary succession indicates a foreland setting during the Early to the Middle Triassic, which contrastswith the commonly assumed rift setting for these sediments. Thus, the Song Da Basin documents the formation ofthe Indosinian thrust belt, located immediately to the South of the basin.
European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2017
Vienne, Austria

insu-01510331
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01510331

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Kyanite and zoisite eclogites from the Limousin area in the Variscan French Massif Central (FMC) have been formed by deep subduction to 100 km depth at peak pressure-temperature conditions around 660 degrees C and 2.9 GPa. They belong to a thin tectonic unit comprising ophiolitic bodies devoid of HP-UHP markers and forming a transported suture zone now separating the two main lithotectonic units of the FMC with contrasted tectono-metamorphic features (namely the lower and upper allochthons). Composition of kyanite-eclogites is similar to supra-subduction-zone basalts found in back-arc basins or island arcs (LREE depleted, negative Nb-Ta anomalies, epsilon Nd: +6 to + 9). Zoisite eclogites have the major-element fingerprint of ultrabasic iron-rich plagioclase cumulates common in continental intrusions or forming Fe-Ti oceanic gabbros. The distribution of immobile trace-elements is however more comparable to alkaline Si-undersaturated rocks, but the Sr-Nd isotopic composition (Sr-87/Sr-86: 0.706; epsilon Nd: -3 to -5) suggests the intervention of an old radiogenic crustal component during their petrogenesis. The chemical composition of hydrous zoisite eclogites does not correspond closely to a common magmatic precursor. It is thus suggested that, by analogy with well exposed worldwide HP-UHP terranes, at least a part of the trace-element signature and the isotopic compositions are controlled by channelled fluid-rock interaction at UHP conditions, leading to localised segregation of zoisite that hosts nearly all Sr and LREE budgets of the bulk eclogite. Sr-Nd isotopic composition of these samples is thus controlled by zoisite and probably represents the isotopic composition of the fluid phase present during UHP recrystallisation. Zircons extracted from a zoisite eclogite were dated in-situ by LA-ICP-MS. Crystallisation of the magmatic precursor is bracketed between 489 and 475 Ma and the UHP event is dated at 412 +/- 10 Ma, in agreement with published ages for the Eo-Variscan HP stage in the FMC. A late resetting of the U-Pb isotopic system at 382 +/- 7 Ma is related to an anatectic high pressure-medium pressure event, well known in the Limousin area. The oceanic eclogites dated in this study are tentatively linked to the Galicia-South Brittany Lower Paleozoic Ocean; they show evidence of the existence of an intra-oceanic subduction zone at the Lower Ordovician and of partial closure of this oceanic domain by ocean-continent subduction during Early Devonian.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00512835
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00512835
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2010.05.013

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Several recent studies have documented that reactions between melt and crystal mush in primitive gabbroic rocks (via reactive porous flow) have an important control in the formation of the lower oceanic crust and the evolution of MORBs. In this context, olivine-rich rocks can form either by fractional crystallization of primitive melts or by open system reactive percolation of pre-existing (possibly mantle-derived) olivine matrix. To address this question, we performed in-situ trace element analyses (by LA-ICP-MS) of olivine from the Erro-Tobbio ophiolite Unit (Ligurian Alps), where mantle peridotites show gradational contacts with an hectometer-scale body of troctolites and plagioclase wehrlites, and both are cut by later decameter-wide lenses and dykes of olivine gabbros. Previous studies inferred that troctolites and olivine gabbros represent variably differentiated crystallization products from primitive MORB-type melts. Olivines in the three rock types (mantle peridotites, troctolites, olivine gabbros) exhibit distinct geochemical signature and well-defined elemental correlations. As expected, compatible elements (e.g. Ni) show the highest concentrations in peridotites (2580–2730 ppm), intermediate in troctolites (2050–2230 ppm) and lowest in gabbros (1355–1420 ppm), whereas moderate incompatible elements (e.g. Mn, Zn) show the opposite behaviour. By contrast, highly incompatible elements like Zr, Hf, Ti, HREE are variably enriched in olivines of troctolites, and the enrichment in absolute concentrations is coupled to development of significant HFSE/REE fractionation (ZrN/NdN up to 80). AFC modelling shows that such large ZrN/NdN ratios in olivines are consistent with a process of olivine assimilation and plagioclase crystallization at decreasing melt mass, in agreement with textural observations. In-situ trace element geochemistry of olivine, combined with microstructural investigations, thus appears a powerful tool to investigate reactive percolation and the origin of olivine-rich rocks in the lower oceanic crust.
ISSN: 0016-7037

hal-01419938
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01419938
DOI : 10.1016/j.gca.2016.06.029

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
In the Tifnoute Valley, three plutonic units have been defined: the Askaoun intrusion, the Imourkhssen intrusion and the Ougougane group of small intrusions. They are made of quartz diorite, granodiorite and granite and all contain abundant mafic microgranular enclaves (MME). The Askaoun granodiorite and the Imourkhssen granite have been dated by LA-ICP-MS on zircon at 558 ± 2 Ma and 561 ± 3 Ma, respectively. These granitic intrusions are subcontemporaneous to the widespread volcanic and volcano-detrital rocks from the Ouarzazate Group (580-545 Ma), marking the post-collisional transtensional period in the Anti-Atlas and which evolved towards alkaline and tholeiitic lavas in minor volume at the beginning of the Cambrian anorogenic intraplate extensional period. Geochemically, the Tifnoute Valley granitoids belong to an alkali-calcic series (high-K calc-alkaline) with typical Nb-Ta negative anomalies and no alkaline affinities. Granitoids and enclaves display positive εNd-560Ma (+0.8 to +3.5) with young Nd-TDM between 800 and 1200 Ma and relatively low 87Sr/86Sr initial ratios (Sri: 0.7034 and 0.7065). These values indicate a mainly juvenile source corresponding to a Pan-African metasomatized lithospheric mantle partly mixed with an old crustal component from the underlying West African Craton (WAC). Preservation in the Anti-Atlas of pre-Pan-African lithologies (c. 2.03 Ga basement, c. 800 Ma passive margin greenschist-facies sediments, allochthonous 750-700 Ma ophiolitic sequences) indicates that the Anti-Atlas lithosphere has not been thickened and was never an active margin during the Neoproterozoic. After a transpressive period, the late Ediacaran period (580-545 Ma) is marked by movement on near vertical transtensional faults, synchronous with the emplacement of the huge Ouarzazate Group and the Tifnoute Valley granitoids. We propose here a geodynamical model where the Tifnoute Valley granitoids as well as the Ouarzazate Group were generated during the post-collisional metacratonic evolution of the northern boundary of the West African craton. The convergence with the peri-Gondwanan active margin produced brittle fracturing of the cratonic boundary without thickening, allowing rising of magmas. The Tifnoute Valley granitoids display a metasomatized lithospheric mantle source mixed with a minor ancient (2 Ga) continental crust component from the underlying WAC.
ISSN: 0930-0708

halsde-00782152
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halsde-00782152
DOI : 10.1007/s00710-012-0245-3