Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Upon subduction, the oceanic crust transforms to blueschists and eclogites, with seismic properties that gradually become similar to those of the surrounding mantle. In order to evaluate the anisotropy of blueschists and glaucophane-bearing eclogites, the elastic constants of glaucophane single-crystal plates from the Sesia-Lanzo Zone (Aosta Valley, Western Alps) were measured using Brillouin spectroscopy at ambient conditions. The mean P- and S-wave velocities are 7.8 and 4.6 km s−1 respectively, and the anisotropy is high (38.1% (AVP) and 27.3% (AVS)). Glaucophane develops strong LPO, characterized by the [001]-axes concentrated sub-parallel to the lineation, and the {110} poles concentrated sub-perpendicular to the foliation in both blueschist and eclogite rocks. The measured LPO is in good agreement with viscoplastic selfconsistent numerical models. Seismic properties of glaucophane-bearing blueschist and eclogite are calculated by combining measured LPO and the single-crystal elastic moduli of glaucophane with the other main mineral constituents of the rock: mostly epidote for blueschist, and omphacite and garnet for eclogite. Blueschists present stronger anisotropies (AVP=16.1% and AVS=10.3%) than eclogites (AVP=2.9% and AVS=1.7%). The shear-wave splitting and resulting delay times for a 7-km thick layer of eclogite or blueschist are low for the eclogite (b0.03 s), but signi!cant for blueschist (0.16 s). Application to the subducted oceanic crust yields a decrease of velocity contrast with the surrounding mantle and of anisotropy at depth depending on the temperature of the slab. The details of the velocity variations in subducted oceanic crust are dif!cult to reconcile with the blueschist-eclogite transition as probed by exhumed metamorphic rocks and may require additional phases such as lawsonite or chemical variations such as oxidation state.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00564518
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00564518
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2010.09.011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
Lawsonite pseudomorphs are used to identify and distinguish the kinematic records of subduction and exhumation in blueschist-facies rocks from Syros (Cyclades; Greece). Lawsonite is a hydrous mineral that crystallizes at high-pressure and low-temperature conditions. During decompression, lawsonite is typically pseudomorphed by an aggregate dominated by epidote and paragonite. Such aggregates are easily deformable and if deformation occurs after the lawsonite breakdown, the pseudomorphs are difficult to distinguish from the matrix. The preservation of the lawsonite crystal shape, despite complete retrogression, indicates therefore that the host blueschist rock has not been affected by penetrative deformation during exhumation, thus providing indication of strain-free conditions. Therefore, tracking the lawsonite growth and destabilization along the P-T path followed by the rocks during a subduction/exhumation cycle provides information about the subduction/exhumation-related deformation. Using microstructural observations and P-T pseudosections calculated with thermocalc, it is inferred that top-to-the-south sense of shear preserved in lawsonite pseudomorph-bearing blueschists on Syros occurred during the prograde metamorphic path within the lawsonite stability field, and is therefore associated with subduction. On the contrary, the deformation with a top-to-the-north sense of shear is observed in surrounding rocks, where lawsonite pseudomorphs are deformed or apparently lacking. This deformation occurred after the lawsonite breakdown during exhumation. At the regional scale, exhumation-related deformation is heterogeneous, allowing the preservation of lawsonite pseudomorphs in significant volumes of blueschists of the central and southern Cyclades. It is argued that such successive shearing deformation events with opposite senses more likely correspond to an exhumation process driven by slab rollback, in which subduction and exhumation are not synchronous
ISSN: 0263-4929

insu-00841214
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00841214
DOI : 10.1111/jmg.12035

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The 40Ar/39Ar geochronological technique has significantly contributed to the study of crustal deformation. However, the frequent occurrence of extraneous argon in high-pressure terrains can make the interpretation of 40Ar/39Ar ages problematic. This contribution attempts to: i) characterize the distribution and origin of extraneous argon in the Cycladic Blueschist Unit (CBU, Greece) by applying the 40Ar/39Ar dating technique on three Cycladic islands, Syros, Tinos and Ios, which span a complete transect of the CBU and ii) discuss regional implications for the tectonometamorphic evolution of the CBU. Our results, combined with ages available in the literature, show that periods of peak-burial conditions (55–49 Ma) and syn- (45–38 Ma) to post-orogenic exhumation (37–21 Ma) are well constrained in the CBU by the 40Ar/39Ar method. Moreover, Variscan apparent ages are preserved in the Cycladic basement of Ios, indicating that the 40Ar/39Ar system was not completely reset during the Eocene metamorphic episode. Additionally, our 40Ar/39Ar data show that the occurrence of extraneous argon is heterogeneously distributed in the CBU. While high-pressure rocks of Syros and Tinos are only locally affected, extraneous argon is clearly evidenced in the CBU of Ios, yielding geologically meaningless ages up to 900 Ma. On each island, the most affected ages were obtained in microstructures where fluid circulation is enhanced such as shear bands or strain shadows around garnets. We suggest that the Cycladic Basement, a polymetamorphic continental unit, behaved as an argon reservoir that has been mobilized by fluid circulation at the Eocene. These argon-enriched fluids have then heterogeneously contaminated metamorphic rocks when percolating through the CBU. Finally, we claim that a minimum closure temperature of 550 °C must be accepted for the phengites of the CBU and conclude that volume diffusion is not the main process resetting the argon isotopic system in high-pressure rocks compare to recrystallization enhanced by fluid circulation and deformation.
ISSN: 0024-4937

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/
insu-01424268
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01424268
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01424268/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01424268/file/Valentin-Lithos-Accepted-2016.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2016.12.013

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Superposed to ductile syn-metamorphic deformations, post-foliation deformations affect metamorphic units during their exhumation. Understanding the role of such deformations in the structuration of metamorphic units is key for understanding the tectonic evolution of convergence zones. We characterize post-foliations deformations using 3D modelling which is a first-order tool to describe complex geological structures, but a challenging task where based only on surface data. We propose a modelling procedure that combines fast draft models (interpolation of orientation data), with more complex ones where the structural context is better understood (implicit modelling), allowing us to build a 3D geometrical model of Syros Island blueschists (Cyclades), based on field data. With our approach, the 3D model is able to capture the complex present-day geometry of the island, mainly controlled by the su-perposition of three types of post-metamorphic deformations affecting the original metamorphic pile: i) a top-to-South ramp-flat extensional system that dominates the overall island structure, ii) large-scale folding of the metamorphic units associated with ramp-flat extensional system, and iii) steeply-dipping normal faults trending dominantly NNW-SSE and EW. The 3D surfaces produced by this method match outcrop data, are geologically consistent, and provide reasonable estimates of geological structures in poorly constrained areas.
ISSN: 0191-8141

insu-01188400
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01188400
DOI : 10.1016/j.jsg.2015.07.002

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The late Carboniferous accretionary system of the South Tianshan orogen (North-Western China) underwent complex structural and polymetamorphic evolution. Combined petrological, geochronological and microstructural analysis of (ultra)high-pressure (UHP) metabasites (eclogites and blueschists) enclosed in metapelites show a relict coarse-grained eclogitic fabric S2 surrounded by a dominant fine-grained eclogite and blueschist facies retrograde fabric S2. The S2 fabric is reworked by upright folds F3 that are responsible for a major shortening of the whole accretionary system. For both the eclogite and blueschist, peak and retrograde P–T conditions have been thermodynamically constrained at 25–26 kbar and 425–500 °C and 10–13 kbar and 500−550 °C respectively, suggesting a shared exhumation history. The garnet-whole rock-amphibole isochron in the blueschist yielded Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd ages of 326.0 ± 2.9 Ma and 318.4 ± 3.9 Ma respectively, interpreted to date the prograde to peak metamorphic assemblage. The retrograde path of the eclogite is characterized by heterogeneous omphacite recrystallization into a mylonitic fine-grained matrix and crystallization of blue amphibole. Microstructures in both pristine porphyroclastic and recrystallized fine-grained domains in the eclogite indicate a gradual evolution from constriction-dominated (L>S-type) to flattening-dominated (S>L-type) type of deformation, increase of fabric intensity reflected by gradually growing M-indexes and the development of lattice preferred orientation (LPO) typical for dislocation creep under slightly hydrated conditions. Recrystallization of the matrix in the blueschist is homogeneous, which indicates a matrix dominated channel flow during exhumation. These LPOs evolutions suggest a significant mechanical coupling with the upper plate concomitant with oroclinal bending of the Kazakh orocline. Lock up of Kazakh orocline is responsible for further stress increase resulting in horizontal shortening of South Tianshan accretionary wedge and development of D3 upright folding and steepening of the whole sequence.
ISSN: 1342-937X

hal-01481263
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01481263
DOI : 10.1016/j.gr.2016.07.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Cycladic Blueschist Unit (CBU) represents the northern passive margin of the Adria continental block and ophiolites that are the remnants of the Pindos Ocean, which were affected by high pressure-low temperature metamorphism in the blueschist and eclogite facies during the Eocene. Prior to the Lutetian, the ophiolitic and margin units were thrust towards the SW inside a NE-dipping subduction zone. Two subsequent exhumation stages are characterized by top-to-the-NE senses of shear: i) from mantle depths to lower crustal levels, before 37 Ma, which was accommodated by an extensional inversion of the Vardar suture zone, and ii) from deep crustal levels to the near-surface, between 30 and 20 Ma, which was accommodated by the North Cycladic Detachment. It is during this late stage of ductile exhumation that the central Cyclades Core Complex was exhumed. Segmentation of the CBU by normal faults started at 12 Ma, as recorded by the low temperature thermochronometers, and was coeval with block rotation and folding with NS-trending axes, which were predominantly controlled by the Myrthes-Ikaria strike-slip fault in the centre of the Cyclades. A map restoration of the CBU geometry, prior to segmentation, has been carried out using available structural and paleomagnetic data. The restoration shows that, following the CBU exhumation from mantle depths to crustal levels, a single core complex was exhumed along a single NE dipping detachment.
ISSN: 0040-1951

insu-00672320
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00672320
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2011.12.025

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Résumé : International audience
Andros is a key island for understanding both the timing of high-pressure–low-temperature(HP-LT) metamorphism and the dynamics of crustal-scale detachment systems exhuming high-gradeunits in the Cyclades (Greece). Using phengite 40Ar–39Ar geochronology coupled with thermobarometry,as well as data from literature, we constrain the pressure–temperature–time (P-T-t) paths of theMakrotantalon and Attic–Cycladic Blueschist units on Andros. Peak conditions of the HP-LT episodein the Makrotantalon unit are 550 °C and 18.5 kbar, dated at 116 Ma. We correlate this episode withEarly Cretaceous blueschist facies metamorphism recognized in the Pelagonian zone of continentalGreece. This is a new argument favouring a Pelagonian origin for the Makrotantalon unit. In the Attic–Cycladic Blueschist unit, the P-T-t path is characterized by: (1) exhumation after peak conditions inHP-LT conditions between 55 and 35 Ma; (2) isobaric heating at 7 kbar until 30 Ma; and (3) isothermaldecompression until 21 Ma. This thermal evolution and timing are similar to those of the neighbouringTinos Island, emphasizing major thermal re-equilibration at the transition between stable and retreatingsubduction. Modifications of the crustal thermal state played a major role in the evolution of the NorthCycladic Detachment System, below which Andros HP-LT units were exhumed.
ISSN: 0016-7568

insu-01114909
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01114909
DOI : 10.1017/S0016756814000661

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
High Pressure - Low Temperature (HP-LT) rocks testify for burying and exhumation of crustal material in subduction zones. The question of their exhumation is nevertheless still unclear. The Aegean domain offers several HP-LT belts. Especially, the Attic-Cycladic Blueschist unit (ACBU) is an example of a HP-LT unit exhumed in a convergent and then in a divergent context. It actually appears in metamorphic core complexes (MCCs) formed in the back-arc of the subduction. The syn-convergence "message" is however difficult to read because of the post-convergence structural and thermal overprint that accompanied the formation of the MCCs. Particularly, the geometry, the timing and the amount of the syn-orogenic exhumation remain unclear. We investigate theses questions with metamorphic petrology (Andros and Ios islands) and phengite population, single grain and in situ 40Ar-39Ar geochronology (Andros, Tinos, Syros and Ios islands). Based on these new constraints and a synthesis of published data, we are able to refine the geometry, the timing and the modes of the exhumation of the ACBU. Data from the whole Cyclades exhibit little differences in the age and P-T conditions at the successive stages of syn-orogenic exhumation. The peak of pressure (500±50 °C-18±1 kbar) has been reached at 50-55 Ma. The onset of the exhumation occurred at 40-45 Ma in blueschist facies conditions, between a basal thrust and a summital detachment. The following decompression was accompanied by cooling until 30-35 Ma (400±50 °C-8±1 kbar). At that time, the boundary conditions switched to extension. The change in boundary conditions is recorded by slowing of the exhumation and isobare heating. The conditions of post-orogenic exhumation differ from an island to another. The onset of post-orogenic exhumation is dated around 30 Ma in the northern Cyclades and 25 Ma in the southern Cyclades. It is related to top-to-the-North deformation in all the studied domain. The end of ductile deformation below the detachments is also diachronous (21 Ma in the North and 18 Ma in the South). Finally, we propose a model for the final steps of the exhumation related to the intrusion of granitic bodies around 14 Ma.
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting
San Francisco, United States

insu-00860510
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00860510
BIBCODE : 2010AGUFM.T23C2301L

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
We herein focus on understanding what controls the detachment and migration of oceanic crustal slices along subduction zones. We provide evidence for the coeval Middle to Late Cretaceous exhumation of oceanic blueschists in the same Neotethyan subduction zone, across more than 3000 km, from depths around 30-40 km, over a short time interval (similar to 25 Ma) compared to the duration of subduction (>100 Ma). We stress the importance of such a geodynamic process and suggest that this exhumation was promoted by a regional-scale change in the long-term interplate mechanical coupling. On the basis of geological and geophysical evidence, we propose that the upward migration of oceanic fragments in subduction zones is normally inhibited and only occurs discontinuously, as the subduction channel opens up in response to a major change in plate geodynamics, slab geometry and dynamics, mantle wedge and slab hydration, or a combination of these.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00420898
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00420898
DOI : 10.1029/2009GC002428

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Obduction processes, though spectacular (dense oceanic ophiolites are emplaced on top of light, continental rocks along thousands of km), have been little elucidated since the advent of plate tectonics. Based on convergence velocities and blueschist formation, we show that the two recent large-scale, Upper Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous obductions coincided with periods during which velocities increased abruptly and more than doubled. The latter obduction also modified the interplate coupling across adjacent subduction zones. We critically propose a mechanism in which large-scale obductions are triggered by intraplate instabilities resulting from sharp plate accelerations, possibly in response to superplume events
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00407960
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00407960
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.04.002

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : High Pressure - Low Temperature (HP-LT) rocks testify for burying and exhumation of crustal material in subduction zones. Their complete exhumation is the result of processes acting during (syn-orogenic) and after (post-orogenic) subduction is active, the latter partly obliterating the first. In the Aegean domain, the Attic-Cycladic Blueschist unit (ACBU) is a HP-LT unit exhumed in metamorphic core complexes (MCCs) in the back-arc domain of the Hellenic subduction zone. This study is an attempt to distinguish features related to syn-orogenic exhumation processes responsible for the first stages of exhumation This syn-orogenic "message" has to be read through the post-convergence structural and thermal overprint that accompanied the formation of the MCCs. Particularly, the geometry, the timing and the amount of the syn-orogenic exhumation has to be determined. We investigate these features with coupled field, metamorphic petrology and radiochronology studies First, based on observations on Ios (southern Cyclades), it has recently been proposed that syn-orogenic exhumation of the ACBU was accommodated by a basal thrust over the Cycladic Basement (CB) [Huet, et al., 2009]. The peak conditions, deduced from pseudosections calculation for the Ios main lithologies, are 500 °C-19 kbar for the ACBU and 550 °C-16 kbar for the CB. Exhumation until 400 °C-8 kbar is considered as syn-orogenic. Second, phengites populations, single grains and in situ 40Ar-39Ar geochronology has been carried out on samples from Tinos and Andros (northern Cyclades), Syros (central Cyclades) and Ios. The results gather in several clusters: 50-55 Ma, 40-45 Ma, 30-35 Ma, and 22-26 Ma. Based on these new P-T-t data and a synthesis of published data, we are able to refine the geometry and the timing of the exhumation of the ACBU. Data from the whole Cyclades exhibit little differences in ages and P-T conditions for the successive stages of exhumation. The peak of pressure (500±50 °C-18±1 kbar) has been reached at 50-55 Ma from Tinos to Ios. The onset of the exhumation occurred at 40-45 Ma in blueschist facies conditions, between a thrust at their bottom and a detachment at their top. The following decompression was accompanied by cooling until 30-35 Ma (400±50 °C-8±1 kbar). At that time, the boundary conditions switched to extension. Finally, we propose a model for the exhumation of HP-LT units accounting for these data. We also consider the rheological implications of the syn-orogenic structuration of the Aegean wedge on the post-orogenic evolution. B. Huet, L. Labrousse, and L. Jolivet [2009] Thrust or detachment? Exhumation processes in the Aegean: Insight from a field study on Ios (Cyclades, Greece), Tectonics, 28, 3, doi:10.1029/2008TC002397.
EGU General Assembly
Vienne, Austria

insu-00839054
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00839054
BIBCODE : 2010EGUGA..1214098H

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Tethyan ophiolites show an apparent poorly organized association of ultramafic andmafic rocks. By contrast tothe complete mantle-crustal sections of Semail-type ophiolite sheets, Tethyan ophiolites are characterized by asmaller amount of mafic rocks (gabbros and basalts), by the absence of any sheeted dyke complex and by thefrequent occurrence of oceanic sediments stratigraphically overlying mantle-derived peridotites and associatedgabbroic intrusions. Therefore, they are considered as typical remnants of oceanic lithosphere formed in slowspreadingenvironment or in ocean–continent transition at distal passive margins. In the very first models offormation of the Tethyan ophiolites, in the years 1980, the geodynamical processes leading to mantle unroofingwere poorly understood due to the paucity of data and concepts available at that time from the present-dayoceans. In particular, at that time, little work had focused on the distribution, origin and significance ofmafic rocks with respect to the dominant surrounding ultramafics. Here, we reconsider the geology of sometypical metaophiolites from the Western Alps and Corsica, and we show how results from the past decadeobtained in the current oceans ask for reassessing the significance of the Tethyan ophiolites in general. Revisitedexamples include a set of representative metaophiolites from the blueschists units of the Western Alps (Queyrasregion) and from Alpine Corsica (Golo Valley). Field relationships between the ophiolitic basement andthe metasedimentary/metavolcanic oceanic cover are described, outlining a typical character of the Tethyanophiolite lithological associations. Jurassic marbles and polymictic ophiolite metabreccias are unconformablyoverlying the mantle-gabbo basement, in a way strictly similar to what is observed in the non-metamorphicAppennine ophiolites or Chenaillet massif. This confirms that very early tectonic juxtaposition of ultramafic andmafic rocks occurred in the oceanic domain before subduction. This juxtaposition resulted from tectonic activitythat is now assigned to the development of detachment faults and to the formation of Oceanic Core Complexes(OCCs) at the axis of slow spreading ridges. This fundamental Plate Tectonics process is responsible for the exhumationand for the axial denudation of mantle rocks and gabbros at diverging plate boundaries. In addition, fieldrelationships between the discontinuous basaltic formations and the ultramafic–mafic basement indicate that thistectonic stage is followed or not by a volcanic stage.We discuss this issue in the light of available field constraints.
ISSN: 0012-8252

insu-01096467
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01096467
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01096467/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01096467/file/Lagabrielle-EarthSciRev-2014.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.11.004

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Résumé : International audience
This paper presents a synthetic view of the geodynamic evolution of the Zagros orogen within the frame of the Arabia-Eurasia collision. The Zagros orogen and the Iranian plateau preserve a record of the long-standing convergence history between Eurasia and Arabia across the Neo-Tethys, from subduction/obduction processes to present-day collision (from ~ 150 to 0 Ma). We herein combine the results obtained on several geodynamic issues, namely the location of the oceanic suture zone, the age of oceanic closure and collision, the magmatic and geochemical evolution of the Eurasian upper plate during convergence (as testified by the successive Sanandaj-Sirjan, Kermanshah and Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arcs), the P-T-t history of the few Zagros blueschists, the convergence characteristics across the Neo-Tethys (kinematic velocities, tomographic constraints, subduction zones and obduction processes), together with a survey of recent results gathered by others. We provide lithospheric-scale reconstructions of the Zagros orogen from ~ 150 to 0 Ma across two SW-NE transects. The evolution of the Zagros orogen is also compared to those of the nearby Turkish and Himalayan orogens. In our geotectonic scenario for the Zagros convergence, we outline three main periods/regimes: (1) the Mid to Late Cretaceous (115-85 Ma) corresponds to a distinctive period of perturbation of subduction processes and interplate mechanical coupling marked by blueschist exhumation and upper-plate fragmentation, (2) the Paleocene-Eocene (60-40 Ma) witnesses slab break-off, major shifts in arc magmatism and distributed extension within the upper plate, and (3) from the Oligocene onwards (~ 30-0 Ma), collision develops with a progressive SW migration of deformation and topographic build-up (Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone: 20-15 Ma, High Zagros: ~12-8 Ma; Simply Folded Belt: 5-0 Ma) and with partial slab tear at depths (~10 Ma to present). Our reconstructions underline the key role played by subduction throughout the whole convergence history. We finally stress that such a long-lasting subduction system with changing boundary conditions also makes the Zagros orogen an ideal natural laboratory for subduction processes.
ISSN: 0016-7568

insu-00616582
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00616582
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00616582/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00616582/file/692.full.pdf
DOI : 10.1017/S001675681100046X

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : Structural, metamorphic, and geochronologic work shows that the Ampelos/Dilek nappe of the Cycladic blueschist unit in the eastern Aegean constitutes a wedge of high-pressure rocks extruded during early stages of orogeny. The extrusion wedge formed during the incipient collision of the Anatolian microcontinent with Eurasia when subduction and deep underthrusting ceased and the Ampelos/Dilek nappe was thrust southward over the greenschist-facies Menderes nappes along its lower tectonic contact, the Cycladic-Menderes thrust, effectively cutting out a ∼30- to 40-km-thick section of crust. The upper contact of the Ampelos/Dilek extrusion wedge is the top-to-the-NE Selçuk normal shear zone, along which the Ampelos/Dilek nappe was exhumed by ∼30–40 km. Detailed Rb-Sr and 40Ar/39Ar dating of mylonites demonstrates that both shear zones operated between 42 and 32 Ma. There is no evidence for episodic motion during the ∼10 Myr life span of the shear zones, suggesting that both shear zones operated in a steady, nonepisodic fashion. Our data provide supporting evidence that simultaneous thrust-type and normal sense shearing can accomplish the early exhumation of deep-seated rocks
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00405013
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00405013
DOI : 10.1029/2005TC001872

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
For the first time, an albite orthogneiss has been recognised and dated within the HP-LT blueschist facies metabasites and metapelites of the Ile de Groix. It is characterised by a peraluminous composition, high LILE, Th and U contents, MORB-like HREE abundances and moderate Nb and Y values. A U-Pb age of 480.8 ± 4.8 Ma was obtained by LA-ICP-MS dating of zircon and titanite. It is interpreted as the age of the magmatic emplacement during the Early Ordovician. Morphologically different zircon grains yield late Neoproterozoic ages of 546.6-647.4 Ma. Zircon and titanite U-Pb ages indicate that the felsic magmatism from the Ile de Groix is contemporaneous with the acid, pre-orogenic magmatism widely recognised in the internal zones of the Variscan belt, related to the Cambro-Ordovician continental rifting. The magmatic protolith probably inherited a specific chemical composition from a combination of orogenic, back-arc and anorogenic signatures because of partial melting of the Cadomian basement during magma emplacement. Besides, the late Devonian U-Pb age of 366 ± 33 Ma obtained for titanite from a blueschist facies metapelite corresponds to the age of the HP-LT peak metamorphism.
ISSN: 1437-3254

insu-00714570
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00714570
DOI : 10.1007/s00531-011-0732-5

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society
Résumé : International audience
We constrain the slip and cooling history of the Mykonos detachment footwall using thermochronometry. A U-Pb zircon age of 13.5 +/- 0.3 Ma dates intrusion of the Mykonos monzogranite. Ar-40/ Ar-39 homblende and biotite ages from the monzogranite are 12.7 +/- 0.6 Ma and 10.9 +/- 0.6 Ma, whereas zircon and apatite fission-track ages range from 13 +/- 0.8 Ma to 10.7 +/- 0.8 Ma and 12.5 +/- 2.2 Ma to 10.5 +/- 1.8 Ma. (U-Th)/He ages range from 13.6 +/- 0.6 Ma to 9.0 +/- 0.7 Ma for zircon and 11. +/- 10.5 Ma to 8.9 +/- 0.4 Ma for apatite. The ages in part overlap within 2 sigma errors and together with the long apatite fission-track lengths (>14 mu m) support rapid cooling at rates > 100 degrees C Ma(-1). The low-temperature thermochronometric ages decrease east-northeastwards in the direction of hanging-wall transport on the Mykonos detachment. Age-distance relationships show that the Mykonos detachment slipped at an average rate of 6.0 + 9.2/-2.4 km Ma(-1) c. 30 km of offset and c. 12 km of exhumation. This result indicates that Miocene low-angle normal faulting was not important for the exhumation of the Cycladic blueschist unit. The opening of the Aegean Sea basin in the Miocene was controlled by a few large-magnitude low-angle normal faults.
ISSN: 0016-7649

hal-00412177
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412177
DOI : 10.1144/0016-76492006-145

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society
Résumé : International audience
A polyphase history of oceanic construction and consumption is documented by the distribution of the Tethyan ophiolitic suture zones in Iran. Despite the geodynamic significance of these suture zones, few modern petrological and geochronological data are available from these ophiolitic domains, hampering a full assessment of the timing, thermobaric regimes and palaeotectonic scenarios leading to oceanic suturing and continental assembly in Iran and, more in general, along the southern margin of Eurasia. In this paper, we describe a newly discovered HP ophiolite mélange within the Rasht ophiolites, at the NW termination of the Palaeo-Tethyan suture in Iran. Petrological investigations on the metamorphic units embedded within the ophiolite mélange are integrated with whole-rock geochemistry and Ar–Ar phengite geochronology to constrain the geotectonic setting of formation and to define the associated P–T–t paths. We provide evidence that the Rasht ophiolite domain corresponds to an exhumed subduction complex formed during Early Carboniferous (c. 350 Ma) subduction of a branch of the Palaeo-Tethyan oceanic realm, with peak metamorphism equilibrated under blueschist- to eclogite-facies metamorphic conditions. Implications of these data for the palaeotectonic reconstruction during closure of the Palaeo-Tethyan ocean and the terminal collisional assembly along the southern margin of the Eurasia plate are also discussed.
ISSN: 0016-7649

hal-01571998
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01571998
DOI : 10.1144/jgs2016-130

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD E Schweizerbart Science Publishers
Résumé : The occurrence and preservation of aragonite in eclogite-facies rocks of north-eastern Corsica is linked to an uncommon microtexture. Aragonite exclusively occurs as oriented fibres in garnet crystals of a graphitic, more or less siliceous marble that immediately overlies a serpentinite body of the meta-ophiolitic unit. The arrangement of the fibres is grossly radial, but more clearly sectoral in subhedral garnet, the fibres growing perpendicular to the garnet/matrix interface. Raman mapping reveals that the carbonate is calcite in the matrix and in poikiloblastic garnet cores, and that the fibres in the garnet mantle are aragonite alone in the case of a carbonate matrix, and both aragonite and quartz (in distinct fibres) in a quartz–carbonate matrix. These features are interpreted as prograde intergrowths, the result of garnet nucleation and growth in a calcite and then aragonite matrix (±quartz). Upon further heating and/or decompression, the aragonite matrix transformed back to calcite while the carbonates included in garnet retained their original structure, in spite of the relatively high temperature attained (ca. 500 °C). These aragonite relics are one more example of the preservation of a high-pressure polymorph through mechanical shielding of inclusions in a rigid host. The aragonite–garnet intergrowths are similar to quartz–garnet intergrowths described in amphibolite-facies graphitic schists. They are evidence that oriented inclusions in garnet are not necessarily precipitates (‘exsolutions'). Unlike precipitates, their orientation is controlled more by the shape of the garnet growth front than by symmetry constraints.
ISSN: 0935-1221

hal-00411136
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411136
DOI : 10.1127/0935-1221/2008/0020-1892

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Slices of polycyclic metasediments (marbles and meta-cherts) are tectonically amalgamated with the polydeformed basement of the Dent Blanche tectonic system along a major Alpine shear zone in the Western Alps (Becca di Salé area, Valtournenche Valley). A combination of techniques (structural analysis at various scales, metamorphic petrology, geochronology and trace element geochemistry) was applied to determine the age and composition of accessory phases (titanite, allanite and zircon) and their relation to major minerals. The results are used to reconstruct the polyphase structural and metamorphic histories, comprising both pre-Alpine and Alpine cycles. The pre-Alpine evolution is associated with low-pressure high-temperature metamorphism related to Permo-Triassic lithospheric thinning. In meta-cherts, microtextural relations indicate coeval growth of allanite and garnet during this stage, at ~ 300 Ma. Textures of zircon also indicate crystallisation at HT conditions; ages scatter from 263 to 294 Ma, with a major cluster of data at ~ 276 Ma. In impure marble, U-Pb analyses of titanite domains (with variable Al and F contents) yield apparent 206Pb/238U dates range from Permian to Jurassic. Chemical and isotopic data suggest that titanite formed at Permian times and was then affected by (extension-related?) fluid circulation during the Triassic and Jurassic, which redistributed major elements (Al and F) and partially opened the U-Pb system. The Alpine cycle lead to early blueschist facies assemblages, which were partly overprinted under greenschist facies conditions. The strong Alpine compressional overprint disrupted the pre-Alpine structural imprint and/or reactivated earlier structures. The pre-Alpine metamorphic record, preserved in these slices of metasediments, reflects the onset of the Permo-Triassic lithospheric extension to Jurassic rifting.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00758123
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00758123
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2012.05.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
The transition zone at the downdip end of seismic coupling along subduction interfaces is often the site of megathrust earthquake nucleation and concentrated postseismic afterslip, as well as the focus site of episodic tremor and slip features. Exhumed remnants of the former Alpine subduction zone found in the Swiss Alps allow analyzing fluid and deformation processes near the transition zone region (30–40 km paleodepth). The Dent Blanche Thrust (DBT) is a lower blueschist-facies shear zone interpreted as a fossilized subduction interface where granitic mylonites overlie a metamorphosed accretionary wedge. We report field observations from the DBT region where multiple, several tens of meters thick foliated cataclastic networks are interlayered within the basal DBT mylonites. Petrological results and microstructural observations indicate that the various cataclasis events took place at near-peak metamorphic conditions (400–500°C, 1.1–1.3 GPa) during subduction of the Tethyan seafloor in Eocene times (42–48 Ma). Some of these networks exhibit mutual crosscutting relationships between mylonites, foliated cataclasites, and vein systems indicating mutual overprinting between brittle deformation and ductile creep. Whole-rock chemical compositions, in situ 40Ar-39Ar age data of recrystallized phengite, and Sr isotopic signatures reveal that DBT rocks also underwent multiple hydrofracturing and metasomatic events via the infiltration of fluids mainly derived from the oceanic metasediments underneath the DBT. From the rock fabrics, we infer strain rate fluctuations of several orders of magnitude beyond subduction strain rates (∼10−12 s−1) accompanied by fluctuation of supralithostatic and quasi-lithostatic fluid pressures (1 ≥ λ > 0.95). DBT brittle-plastic deformation switches highlight the diversity of deformation processes and fluid-rock interactions in the transition zone region of the subduction interface.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-01243526
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01243526
DOI : 10.1002/2015GC005776