Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
IODP Site U1309 was drilled at Atlantis Massif, an oceanic core complex, at 30 degrees N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). We present the results of a bulk rock geochemical study (major and trace elements) carried out on 228 samples representative of the different lithologies sampled at this location. Over 96% of Hole U1309D is made up of gabbroic rocks. Diabases and basalts cross-cut the upper part of the section; they have depleted MORB compositions similar to basalts sampled at MAR 30 degrees N. Relics of mantle were recovered at shallow depth. Mantle peridotites show petrographic and geochemical evidence of extensive melt-rock interactions. Gabbroic rocks comprise: olivine-rich troctolites (>70% modal olivine) and troctolites having high Mg# (82-89), high Ni (up to 2300 ppm) and depleted trace element compositions (Yb 0.06-0.8 ppm); olivine gabbros and gabbros (including gabbronorites) with Mg# of 60-86 and low trace element contents (Yb 0.125-2.5 ppm); and oxide gabbros and leucocratic dykes with low Mg# (<50), low Ni (similar to 65 ppm) and high trace element contents (Yb up to 26 ppm). Troctolites and gabbros are amongst the most primitive and depleted oceanic gabbroic rocks. The main geochemical characteristics of Site U1309 gabbroic rocks are consistent with a formation as a cumulate sequence after a common parental MORB melt, although (lack of systematic) downhole variations indicate that the gabbroic series were built by multiple magma injections. In detail, textural and geochemical variations in olivine-rich troctolites and gabbronorites suggest chemical interaction (assimilation?) between the parental melt and the intruded lithosphere. Site U1309 gabbroic rocks do not represent the complementary magmatic product of 30 degrees N volcanics, although they sample the same mantle source. The bulk trace element composition of Site U1309 gabbroic rocks is similar to primitive MORB melt compositions; this implies that there was no large scale removal of melts from this gabbro section. The occurrence of such a large magmatic sequence implies that a high magmatic activity is associated with the formation of Atlantis Massif. Our results suggest that almost all melts feeding this magmatic system stays trapped into the intruded lithosphere.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00413562
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00413562
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.12.034

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : Approximately 4 yr of campaign and continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements across the Dead Sea fault system (DSFS) in Lebanon provide direct measurements of interseismic strain accumulation along a 200-km-long restraining bend in this continental transform fault. Late Cenozoic transpression within this restraining bend has maintained more than 3000 m of topography in the Mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges. The GPS velocity field indicates 4-5 mm yr(-1) of relative plate motion is transferred through the restraining bend to the northern continuation of the DSFS in northwestern Syria. Near-field GPS velocities are generally parallel to the major, left-lateral strike-slip faults, suggesting that much of the expected convergence across the restraining bend is likely accommodated by different structures beyond the aperture of the GPS network (e.g. offshore Lebanon and, possibly, the Palmyride fold belt in SW Syria). Hence, these geodetic results suggest a partitioning of crustal deformation involving strike-slip displacements in the interior of the restraining bend, and crustal shortening in the outer part of the restraining bend. Within the uncertainties, the GPS-based rates of fault slip compare well with Holocene-averaged estimates of slip along the two principal strike-slip faults: the Yammouneh and Serghaya faults. Of these two faults, more slip occurs on the Yammouneh fault, which constitutes the primary plate boundary structure between the Arabia and Sinai plates. Hence, the Yammouneh fault is the structural linkage that transfers slip to the northern part of the transform in northwestern Syria. From the perspective of the regional earthquake hazard, the Yammouneh fault is presently locked and accumulating interseismic strain.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-00406620
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00406620
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2006.03328.x

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 Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Kazdag Massif exposes an extensional metamorphic dome in the Biga Peninsula of northwest Turkey, bounded on both flanks by detachments and/or shear zones. The northern flank is marked by the extensional Alakeci shear zone (ASZ), with poorly known P-T-t path. We therefore focus on metamorphic conditions and temporal history of the ASZ to determine its tectono-metamorphic evolution. ASZ mylonites were derived from both the footwall Kazdag Massif core metamorphic rocks and the hanging wall Cetmi melange lithologies. The mylonitic fabrics in the ASZ depict a top-to-the NNE shearing, parallel to the NNE-plunging stretching lineation and NNW-dipping mylonitic foliation. This geometry implies normal sense movement i.e. north-side down-dip extensional displacement along this flank of the Kazdag Massif. The northward transition from ductile to brittle-ductile shear regime through the ASZ shows that the non-coaxial deformation occurred at decreasing temperatures and degree of metamorphism. The paragenesis in equilibrium of the mylonitic gneisses and schists contains quartz + feldspar + muscovite + biotite + garnet staurolite, with late retrogressive chlorite after biotite and garnet. Calculated thermo-barometric conditions for ASZ rocks yielded pressures between 6.9 and 5.7 kbar and temperatures between 706 and 587 degrees C, which constrain the peak metamorphism. The mylonitic rocks supplied isochron Ar-39/Ar-40 mica ages between 26.97 and 24.19 Ma, which we interpret to date the cooling of the mylonites following the P-T decrease across the ASZ. The metamorphic data support the structural record and strengthen the extensional character of the ASZ. The transition from sillimanite-bearing footwall Kazdag Massif core gneisses in the deeper structural levels to chlorite schists; towards the shallow structural levels at the top of the ASZ, is consistent with an extensional exhumation of the metamorphic pile. These data allow us to determine the peak P-T conditions and the temporal evolution in the northern flank of the Kazdag Massif, where Late Oligocene extensional exhumation was assisted by NNE-directed ductile-brittle ASZ, which had operated from amphibolite to greenschist facies. The ASZ, together with similar time-constrained ductile-brittle activity of SW-directed detachment along the southern flank of the massif, collectively indicates a bivergent mode of extension in the western Kazdag Massif. The latter is likely influenced by magmatic activity spatially and temporally related to these extensional zones. At the regional scale, the bivergent tectono-metamorphic pattern of the Kazdag Massif is similar to those observed on other places of the north-central Aegean domain.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00445246
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445246
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2009.02.010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Laboratory models have been conducted to improve our understanding of the role that the resistance of the slab to bending and its coupling to the ambient mantle play in subduction dynamics over geological time scales. Our models are set up with a viscous plate of silicone (lithosphere) subducting under negative buoyancy in a viscous layer of glucose syrup (mantle). For our study, the lithosphere/upper mantle viscosity contrast has been systematically varied, from similar to 10 to similar to 10(5) in order to explore the parameter space between weak and strong slab dynamics. We found that subduction is characterized by a retreating mode for viscosity ratios > 10(4), by the coexistence of a retreating mode and an advancing mode for viscosity ratios between similar to 10(4) and similar to 10(2), and quasi-stationary, Rayleigh-Taylor like behaviour for ratios < 10(2). By combining our experimental results and kinematic data from current subduction zones in four reference frames which differ in the amount of net rotation, we infer that a lithosphere/upper mantle viscosity contrast of 150-500 is necessary to obtain realistic trench/subducting plate velocity ratios as well as the variability of subduction styles observed in nature.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00412008
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412008
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.04.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We review the geodynamic evolution of the Aegea-Anatolia region and discuss strain localisation there over geological times. From Late Eocene to Present, crustal deformation in the Aegean backarc has localised progressively during slab retreat. Extension started with the formation of the Rhodope Metamorphic Core Complex (Eocene) and migrated to the Cyclades and the northern Menderes massif (Oligocene and Miocene), accommodated by crustal-scale detachments and a first series of core complexes (MCCs). Extension then localised in Western Turkey, the Corinth Rift and the external Hellenic arc after Messinian times, while the North Anatolian Fault penetrated the Aegean Sea. Through time the direction and style of extension have not changed significantly except in terms of localisation. The contributions of progressive slab retreat and tearing, basal drag, extrusion tectonics and tectonic inheritance are discussed and we favour a model (1) where slab retreat is the main driving engine, (2) successive slab tearing episodes are the main causes of this stepwise strain localisation and (3) the inherited heterogeneity of the crust is a major factor for localising detachments. The continental crust has an inherited strong heterogeneity and crustal-scale contacts such as major thrust planes act as weak zones or as zones of contrast of resistance and viscosity that can localise later deformation. The dynamics of slabs at depth and the asthenospheric flow due to slab retreat also have influence strain localisation in the upper plate. Successive slab ruptures from the Middle Miocene to the Late Miocene have isolated a narrow stripe of lithosphere, still attached to the African lithosphere below Crete. The formation of the North Anatolian Fault is partly a consequence of this evolution. The extrusion of Anatolia and the Aegean extension are partly driven from below (asthenospheric flow) and from above (extrusion of a lid of rigid crust).
ISSN: 0040-1951

insu-00715950
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00715950
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00715950/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00715950/file/Jolivet-Aegean_Tectonophysics-2012.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2012.06.011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Although subducting slabs undergo a bending deformation that resists tectonic plate motions, the magnitude of this resistance is not known because of poor constraints on slab strength. However, because slab bending slows the relatively rapid motions of oceanic plates, observed plate motions constrain the importance of bending. We estimated the slab pull force and the bending resistance globally for 207 subduction zone transects using new measurements of the bending curvature determined from slab seismicity. Predicting plate motions Using a global mantle flow model, we constrain the viscosity of the bending slab to be at most similar to 300 times more viscous than the upper mantle: stronger slabs are intolerably slowed by the bending deformation. Weaker slabs, however, cannot transmit a pull force sufficient to explain rapid trenchward plate motions unless slabs stretch faster than seismically observed rates of similar to 10(-15) s(-1). The constrained bending viscosity (similar to 2 x 10(23) Pa s) is larger than previous estimates that yielded similar or larger bending resistance (here similar to 25% of forces). This apparent discrepancy occurs because slabs bend more gently than previously thought, with an average radius of curvature of 390 km that permits subduction Of Strong slabs. This gentle bending may ultimately permit plate tectonics on Earth.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00412383
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412383
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.05.009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
GPS measurements adjacent to the southern Red Sea and Afar Triple Junction, indicate that the Red Sea Rift bifurcates south of 17 degrees N latitude with one branch following a continuation of the main Red Sea Rift (similar to 150 degrees Az.) and the other oriented more N-S, traversing the Danakil Depression. These two rift branches account for the full Arabia-Nubia relative motion. The partitioning of extension between rift branches varies approximately linearly along strike; north of similar to 16 degrees N latitude, extension (similar to 15 mm/yr) is all on the main Red Sea Rift while at similar to 13 degrees N, extension (similar to 20 mm/yr) has transferred completely to the Danakil Depression. The Danakil Block separates the two rifts and rotates in a counterclockwise sense with respect to Nubia at a present-day rate of 1.9 +/- 0.1 degrees/Myr around a pole located at 17.0 +/- 0.2 degrees N, 39.7 +/- 0.2 degrees E, accommodating extension along the rifts and developing the roughly triangular geometry of the Danakil Depression. Rotating the Danakil Block back in time to close the Danakil Depression, and assuming that the rotation rate with respect to Nubia has been roughly constant, the present width of the Danakil Depression is consistent with initiation of block rotation at 9.3 +/- 4 Ma, approximately coincident with the initiation of ocean spreading in the Gulf of Aden, and a concomitant similar to 70% increase in the rate of Nubia-Arabia relative motion.
ISSN: 0094-8276

hal-00475536
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00475536
DOI : 10.1029/2009GL041127

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Société géologique de France
Résumé : The mechanical equilibrium of an orogenic wedge is maintained thanks to interactions between tectonic processes and surface processes. To better constrain the influence of erosion and sedimentation on the evolution of orogens, we performed a series of analogue models based on the tapered wedge principle, varying the amounts of erosion and sedimentation. The models develop by frontal accretion in the foreland basin and by simple underthrusting and subsequent underplating in the hinterland. The variations in rates of erosion and sedimentation strongly modify the extent, the morphology, the structures, the timing of development and the material paths in the different models. Under certain conditions, entire structural units can be formed and subsequently eroded out of the geological record, leading to important underestimations when restoring sections. Particles located in the converging lower-plate or in the upper-plate show complex uplift paths related to tectonic stages. The correlation between models and three Alpine tectonic cross-sections emphasizes the role of erosion and sedimentation on the dynamics and development of the orogen and adjacent Molasse basin. Along strike changes in the present structure of the orogen could be explained in part by differences in surface processes.
EISSN: 1777-5817

hal-00411140
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411140
DOI : 10.2113/gssgfbull.3.297

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Editions Paralia CFL
Résumé : SUBDUNE v0.6 is a very preliminary version of an exploratory model designed tocompute the sea level to the shoreline, combining the effects of various physics, from run-up to tides. It aims at providing an easy-to-use and quick way to estimate water elevation to the beach, assuming morphology is known. Combined with accurate beachdata, such as LIDAR, this engineering tool may provide with end-users an efficient way to quantify submersion.
ISSN: 1760-8716

hal-00854170
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00854170
DOI : 10.5150/jngcgc.2012.022-B

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : In Taiwan , the subduction of the Chinese continental margin under the Luzon arc results in the progressive growth of an active orogenic wedge. It is one of the best places to study the complex relationships that occurs between the tectonic processes controlling deformation (plate rheology and kinematics, metamorphism and magmatism) and surface processes (erosion and sedimentation). In order to study the kinematics of the present day convergence of Philippine Sea plate to the Asian continent around Taiwan, we perform 2D and 3D sandbox modeling and we analyzed the models with PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) software. In 2D experiments, a model Coulomb wedge is submitted to erosion and sedimentation under topography and flux steady state conditions. The 3D experiments are mainly used to study the escape tectonics occurring in the middle west and southwest Taiwan. A wedge shaped indenter and a basement relief were used to simulate the mechanical plate boundary between Philippine Sea plate and Eurasia plate and the basement topography to the west of Taiwan respectively. We examine the exhumation patterns, the mode of fault propagation and displacement patterns by strain partitioning of vertical vs. horizontal displacement and convergent parallel vs. orogen parallel components. The preliminary conclusions are: 1. The interactions between tectonics, erosion and sedimentation control geometry and kinematics of the doubly vergent transpressional orogen. 2. Exhumation processes are controlled by the balance between erosion, frontal accretion and underplating in different structural domains of the wedge. 3. Retrowedge erosion favorites backfolding and backthrusting, induces flower structures and fan shaped cleavage distribution. 4. Sedimentation promotes underplating and out-of sequences thrusting. 5. Continental subduction or subduction of topographic highs will enhance underthrusting/underplating, thick-skin tectonics and inversion of sedimentary basin.
Bolletino di Geofisica teorica ed applicata

hal-00411133
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411133

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society
Résumé : Gem opals from Wegel Tena, Wollo Province, Ethiopia, occur in Oligocene rhyolitic ignimbrites. They display a unique geochemistry, with some samples yielding the highest Ba concentrations ever recorded. They are generally much richer in chemical impurities than opals from other localities. For example, the sum Al+Fe or the sum Na+Mg+Ca+K+Ba are often higher. These geochemical features make them easy to distinguish from other opals worldwide. We observed strong geochemical variations and some good positive correlations in our samples, such as Al+Fe vs. Na+Mg+Ca+K+Ba, Al vs Ca, or Ba vs Ca. This shows that the crystallography of opal has controlled, at least in part, the incorporation of chemical impurities, although opal is not well-crystallized. In addition, the multimodal distributions of several chemical impurities (e.g. U vs Sr, Al vs Ca, Ba vs Ca, etc.) suggest at least two origins of silica: weathering of feldspars and weathering of volcanic glass. In addition, opals from Wegel Tena contain numerous well-preserved microscopic plant fossils. Moreover, their host rock exhibits features typical of pedogenesis (abundant clays, desiccation cracks, and grain size sorting). We propose that the opals at Wegel Tena formed during the Oligocene period when volcanic emissions stopped for a time long enough to allow weathering of ingimbrites and therefore liberation of silica. This accompanied the formation of soil and development of plant life, and some plants were trapped in opal.
ISSN: 1467-7873

hal-00767555
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00767555
DOI : 10.1144/1467-7873/10-MINDEP-058

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The 12 May 2008 the Sichuan earthquake was one of the worst natural disasters in China. Here, we present a detailed picture of the epicentral area inferred geophysical data. Based on the analysis of teleseismic data acquired by a dense seismic network, we highlight an abrupt 20 km Moho offset between the Sichuan Basin and the Tibetan plateau and a horizontal discontinuity at similar to 15 km depth, which may connect with the ruptured zone of the 2008 event. We obtain low mean crustal velocity ratios, which suggest the absence of a thick and extensive zone of partial melt within the crust beneath the eastern part of the Songpan-Garze Terrane. All our data support the idea that the Longmen Shan range mark a zone of active strain localization due to the rigid Yangtze craton resisting eastward displacement of the Tibetan Plateau.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00534471
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00534471
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2009.11.010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Incipient granulite facies conditions and carnockitization affected metasedimentary formations of northern Nigeria during the early stage of the Late Neo-proterozoic (Pan-African) orogeny. This domain is characterized by recumbent foliations consistent with crustal thickening. Far from the Pan-African plutons, initial Barrovian-type metamorphism (medium temperature) evidenced by kyanite and staurolite inclusions is documented only front garnet cores. This early stage was followed by a temperature increase up to >= 700 C, with decompression coeval with the generation of garnet-cordierite melts and emplacement of garnet granitoid sheets. Hectometric-wide layers of non-retrograded granulites survived conformably within anatexites and S-type garnet-bearing anatectic granites from the Toro area. Temperatures of >= 800 C required for the crystallization of granulites facies rocks at c. 0.7 GPa pressure and coeval dry anatexis, were reached regionally as a result of heat supply from abundant anhydrous monzo-dioritic to noritic magmas injected as metre-wide veins and as stocks and pinions (charnockites, monzodiorites). The available geochronological results suggest a long-lived thermal perturbation (638-585 Ma) in this former continental domain of northern Nigeria rooted by Archaean crust that was later the site of the Jurassic anorogenic magmatism.
Proceedings Of The Geologists Association

hal-00407196
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00407196
DOI : 10.1016/S0016-7878(07)80046-0

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
The mantle and continental crust--Earth's main silicate reservoirs--have a lead isotope composition that is too radiogenic to have evolved from primitive Solar System material over 4.57 billion years1. To account for this imbalance, it has been suggested that unradiogenic lead may have partitioned into the metallic core2, 3, 4 or lower continental crust5. Alternatively, radiogenic lead could have been added to Earth later by meteorite impacts6. Unradiogenic lead was discovered in fragments of mantle rocks exhumed in the Horoman massif, Japan, implying that the mantle itself may provide a complementary reservoir of unradiogenic lead7. However, it is unclear why this unradiogenic component is not sampled by the melting that generates oceanic basalts8. Here we present double-spike lead isotope data for abyssal peridotite rocks, considered to represent suboceanic mantle, exposed on the Atlantic Ocean floor. We find that sulphides dated at about 1.83 billion years old and trapped as inclusions in silicate minerals preserve extremely unradiogenic lead isotope compositions. This unradiogenic lead could have been prevented from adding significantly to oceanic basalts if either the silicates shield the sulphide inclusions or if the sulphides reside in refractory mantle rocks that are rarely sampled during melting. We conclude that the lead isotope composition of the silicate Earth could be largely balanced by unradiogenic lead in sulphide in the mantle.
ISSN: 1752-0894

hal-00795575
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00795575
DOI : 10.1038/ngeo1531

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 Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Paleozoic-early Mesozoic geology of Tibet was controlled by the rift-drift, seafloor spreading and subduction zone tectonics of a Paleo-Tethyan realm, which evolved between the West Cathaysides (WC) and the East Cimmerides (EC). Different suture zones with ophiolites and ophiolitic mélanges, high-pressure metamorphic belts, magmatic arcs and accretionary prism complexes separating different terranes mark multiple subduction-accretion systems within this Paleo-Tethyan domain, reminiscent of the modern Western Pacific Ocean. Discrete basins separated by different continental blocks and magmatic arcs constituted a complex paleogeography of Paleo-Tethys, and these oceanic strands were closed as a result of subduction with different polarities during the late Paleozoic-Triassic. The Longmu Tso Shuanghu-Changning Menglian Suture zone (LS-CMS) in Tibet represents the main tectonic boundary between the WC and EC that developed in the Devonian. The East Kunlun-A’nyemaqen oceanic slab was subducted northward beneath the East Kunlun terrane in northern Tibet, whereas the Sumdo oceanic slab was subducted northward beneath the South Qiangtang-North Lhasa terrane in southern Tibet. The Longmu Tso Shuanghu-Changning Menglian and Jinshajiang-Ailaoshan-Song Ma ophiolites were developed and emplaced in subduction-accretion systems with opposite polarities (westward and eastward) beneath the North Qiangtang-Qamdo-Simao-Indochina terrane in central Tibet. The Jinshajiang-Ailaoshan-Song Ma oceanic slab was subducted westward beneath the North Qiangtang-Simao-Indochina terrane along the Jinshajiang and Ailaoshan-Song Ma trenches in a trench-ridge-trench triple junction plate configuration. The Emeishan mantle plume produced a large Permian basaltic terrane, developed on the western passive margin of the South China block. The final closure of the Paleo-Tethyan oceanic branches resulted in continental collisions and development of a vast Indosinian orogenic collage in the latest Triassic-Jurassic.
ISSN: 0743-9547

insu-01119604
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01119604
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01119604/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01119604/file/Xu-JAES-2015.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.jseaes.2015.01.021

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The southernmost part of the Ryukyu subduction, where the Philippine Sea Plate is subducting under the Eurasian Plate, is known to be a very seismically active region of transition from a north-dipping subduction along the Ryukyu subduction to an ~ SE-NW collision along the Taiwanese orogenic wedge. In this paper, we will focus on the Ryukyu forearc area close to Taiwan where the deformation is paroxysmal. In order to decipher the nature of the seismic deformation in this region, a three month passive experiment, combining 22 Ocean Bottom Seismometers and 51 onland stations, has been led. Starting from an a-priori heterogeneous model, we have obtained 801 well-located earthquake hypocenters, a precise P-wave tomography model and 14 focal mechanisms. The seismicity along the Ryukyu forearc is mainly located not only in the vicinity of the Interplate Seismogenic Zone (ISZ) but also within both the subducting PSP and the overriding plate. Seismicity within the upper-plate is essentially localized east of Nanao basin where NW-SE extension occurs, and northwest of the Hoping basin where strike-slip dominates. As revealed by both the P-wave velocity structure and the newly derived seismicity, we argue that a sub-vertical step offsetting the subducting PSP around 10 km may support the presence of a trench-parallel tear. The PSP also undergoes extension in its upper part that is probably caused by buckling and slab pull. The P-wave velocity structure reveals three other major features: (1) a continuity between the Central Range and the Ryukyu Arc with a shallower Moho (~ 30 km depth) between ~ 122.3°N and ~ 122.5°N along the Ryukyu Arc, (2) high P-wave velocities along the eastern side of the Central Range and, (3) two bodies with similar high crustal velocities (6.5-7.0 km/s) at 12-18 km depths, embedded within the Ryukyu arc basement, just north of Hoping Basin and north of the Nanao Basin.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00795521
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00795521
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2012.04.011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
High-grade migmatitic and mylonitic gneisses from the Day Nui Con Voi massif in northern Vietnam record temperatures of 760-810 °C at pressures of 6-10 kbars. High temperature conditions have resulted in the development of major element diffusional profiles in garnet. Laser ablation ICP-MS analyses of trace elements indicate that REE and Hf closely followed Rayleigh-like fractionation trends but underwent significant post-crystallization modification. Light REE and to a lesser extent, HREE rim-to-rim zonation profiles show progressive flattening with the decreasing garnet size. Nd and Sm are completely homogenized in the crystals smaller than 1.5 mm, while Lu always preserves variable degrees of core-to-rim concentration gradient. The observed REE patterns are interpreted as resulting from the combination of protracted garnet growth of progressively smaller crystals and intracrystalline diffusion. This had profound influence on Sm-Nd geochronology and resulted in isochron ages ranging from 50 to 32 Ma. The youngest age was obtained for a sample, where all garnet crystals are smaller than 2 mm in which light REE profiles are completely or nearly completely homogenized. Thus, only the youngest age represents geologically meaningful event, and 31.7 ± 0.9 Ma age is interpreted as the best estimate of the resetting episode due to high temperature diffusional homogenization of light REE during early Oligocene metamorphism. Older Sm-Nd ages reflect mixed analyses of variably reset individual garnet crystals. Lu-Hf isotopic analyses of bulk garnet fractions, despite yielding high parent/daughter isotopic ratios appeared very scattered and did not allow defining isochron ages. Instead, apparent ages defined by whole rock and individual garnet fractions range from c. 80 to 160 Ma. Very old apparent ages are interpreted as being the consequence of intracrystalline Lu diffusion and preservation of the original Hf distribution, which leads to lower 176Lu/177Hf ratios, and thus steeper (older) isochrons. Back diffusion of Lu during commonly observed resorption played a subordinate role in modifying isotope systematics.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-00813949
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00813949
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2012.04.024

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Studies of paleomagnetic fields during polarity transitions recorded over the past few million years frequently suggest a configurational persistence consistent with long-lived mantle control over the pattern of flux emanating from Earth's fluid core. Fundamental to an understanding of the core-mantle dynamics involved is the question of the spatial-temporal nature of the physical conditions at the base of the mantle that may be responsible. Our analysis of the field during a mid-Cenozoic, reverse-to-normal (R-N) polarity change, recorded in a continuous sequence of lava flows in southeastern Queensland, Australia, provides strong evidence that the time span over which local mantle features retain such an influence is far longer than had thus far been observed. Specifically. the reversal is dominated by two sequential groupings of transitional magnetic vector directions, each associated with a clustering of virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) at locations common to several more youthful reversal datasets from about the globe. Our Ar-40/Ar-39 age determinations indicate that these Australian lavas erupted 25.56 +/- 0.48 Ma, strongly suggesting that the characteristic time for invariant control by the mantle over flux emerging from the outer core is at least on order of a few tens of Myr. The availability of transitional paleomagnetic data from still earlier times within the Cenozoic may further delineate this duration and, perhaps, provide a means to track changes in the pattern of long-standing concentrations of magnetic flux at the core-mantle boundary. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
ISSN: 0031-9201

hal-00411919
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411919
DOI : 10.1016/j.pepi.2008.07.012