Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : High P-wave velocities (7.1-7.8 km/s) lower crustal bodies (LCBs) imaged along volcanic margins are commonly interpreted as plume and break-up-related thick mafic underplating. This interpretation is partly challenged in this paper based on new seismic observations and modelling of the outer Voring Basin (Norway). An exceptional strong amplitude reflection, the T Reflection, is particularly well defined below the North Gjallar Ridge (NGR) between 7 and 8 s TWT. The T Reflection is located near the volcanic lava flows emplaced during the NE Atlantic breakup (similar to 55-54 Ma ago) and coincides with the top of the LCB, forming a mid-crustal dome. Based on structural and temporal relationships, we show that the dome clearly influences the structural development of the NGR and predates the continental breakup at least by 10-15 Ma. Using a thermo-kinematical model, we tried also to investigate and quantify the relationships between the extension, LCB and the magmatic production. Modelling suggests that significant Paleocene-Early Eocene magmatism can be produced without any temperature anomaly in the mantle if differential stretching occurs during the break-up initiation. The conclusion of 2D thermo-kinematical parametric analysis is that the magmatic model predicts, either little extension (beta < 2) with no melting or high extension (beta > 5) with significant melting along the outer Voring Basin. We suggest that the continental part of the LCB could not necessarily be breakup-related and so magmatic, as has often been stated previously. It is concluded here that the continental part of the LCB observed beneath the outer Voring Basin may be partly (or fully) attributed to inherited, high-pressure granulite/eclogite lower crustal rocks. The real amount of mafic material emplaced along the outer Voring Basin could be 20-40% less than thought.
Tectonophysics (0040-1951) (Elsevier), 2006 , Vol. 412 , N. 3-4 , P. 255-278

Droits : 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2006/publication-1042.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.tecto.2005.10.038
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/1042/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Structural analysis along with 40Ar–39Ar and U–Pb datings in the Fuping massif provide new insight into the evolution of the eastern part of the Trans-North China Belt (North China Craton), from 2.7 Ga to 1.8 Ga. D1 is responsible for the development of a dome-and-basin structure coeval with crustal melting giving rise to migmatite and Nanying gneissic granites at 2.1 Ga. This dome-and-basin architecture resulted from the interference between a N–S compression of a weak ductile crust and gravity-driven vertical flow, in a high thermal regime. The next events involved flat lying ductile thrusting (D2) and normal faulting (D3) dated at around 1880 Ma and 1830 Ma, respectively. The D2 and D3 events belong to the Trans-North China Orogeny that results in the final amalgamation of the North China Craton. The D1 deformation is considered as evidence for an earlier orogen developed around 2.1 Ga prior to the Trans-North China Orogeny. The change in the deformation style between the 2.1 Ga and 1.8 Ga could be viewed as a consequence of the cooling of the continental crust in the North China Craton.
ISSN: 0191-8141

insu-00309553
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00309553
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00309553/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00309553/file/Trap-JStructuralGeology-2008.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.jsg.2008.05.001

Éditeur(s) : Public Library Science
Résumé : Subsurface sediments of the Sonora Margin (Guaymas Basin), located in proximity of active cold seep sites were explored. The taxonomic and functional diversity of bacterial and archaeal communities were investigated from 1 to 10 meters below the seafloor. Microbial community structure and abundance and distribution of dominant populations were assessed using complementary molecular approaches (Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis, 16S rRNA libraries and quantitative PCR with an extensive primers set) and correlated to comprehensive geochemical data. Moreover the metabolic potentials and functional traits of the microbial community were also identified using the GeoChip functional gene microarray and metabolic rates. The active microbial community structure in the Sonora Margin sediments was related to deep subsurface ecosystems (Marine Benthic Groups B and D, Miscellaneous Crenarchaeotal Group, Chloroflexi and Candidate divisions) and remained relatively similar throughout the sediment section, despite defined biogeochemical gradients. However, relative abundances of bacterial and archaeal dominant lineages were significantly correlated with organic carbon quantity and origin. Consistently, metabolic pathways for the degradation and assimilation of this organic carbon as well as genetic potentials for the transformation of detrital organic matters, hydrocarbons and recalcitrant substrates were detected, suggesting that chemoorganotrophic microorganisms may dominate the microbial community of the Sonora Margin subsurface sediments.
Plos One (1932-6203) (Public Library Science), 2014-08 , Vol. 9 , N. 8 , P. e104427

Droits : This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00203/31408/29801.pdf
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0104427
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00203/31408/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is a key region to understand the formation and tectonic evolution of the plateau. Most studies concentrated on the Longmen Shan range that corresponds to the tectonically very active boundary between the Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin. This work addresses the deformation and exhumation pattern in the poorly understood metamorphic Danba dome situated at the conjunction between the southern Longmen Shan range and the major strike-slip Xian Shui He fault. The Early Mesozoic and Cenozoic evolution of the dome are then compared to the regional evolution of eastern Tibet. The about 830 Ma zircon U–Pb ages obtained on the Gezong and Gongcai gneiss as well as U–Pb ages on inherited zircons in the Early Mesozoic granites confirm the occurrence of Neo-Proterozoic magmatic episodes in the Danba basement at 800–900 Ma and 650–750 Ma. Following the closure of the Palaeotethys Ocean, granitoids were emplaced in the Danba metamorphic basement and Triassic cover from about 230 Ma to about 170 Ma. The western part of the Lian He Kau granitic massif, emplaced (between 210 and 200 Ma) within the Triassic cover sequence of the dome was only slightly affected by the Early Mesozoic deformation. However, in the eastern, deeper level compartment of the massif, ductile deformation occurred between 200 and 190 Ma, contemporaneous with the onset of the Barrovian-type metamorphism dated at 200–180 Ma. That deformation is compatible with the Early Mesozoic deformation observed in the Longmen Shan range and with the development of the large-scale décollement level in the Songpan Garzê area. Apatite fission track data then indicate that, following the Oligocene–Middle Eocene onset of eastward motion of the Songpan Garzê terrane, the Danba dome developed as a crustal-scale antiform during the Late Miocene–Early Pliocene (10–4 Ma). The exhumation was controlled by the Lian He Kau fault (a major transpressive structure parallel to the Xian Shui He fault) and the associated Manai thrust faults. Regionally, while the Oligocene–Middle Miocene exhumation phase seems to have been of regional extent, the Late Miocene to Present day phase is localised along the Longmen Shan range thrusts as well as along the back-thrusts formed by the Lian He Kau, Manai and associated faults.
ISSN: 0743-9547

insu-01117657
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01117657
DOI : 10.1016/j.jseaes.2015.02.009

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

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

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : 1 p.
International audience
The 12th May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in the Longmen Shan occurred on a large thrust fault largely inherited from an Indosinian structure itself probably controlled by an older structural heritage of the South China block continental margin. Within the whole northeast Tibet region, such a structural inheritance has had a major impact on the Tertiary deformation. It appears of primary importance to assess the pre-Tertiary tectonic evolution of the main blocks involved to understand the actual deformation in the eastern edge of Tibet. Over the past decades, the Proterozoic to Cenozoic tectonic, metamorphic and geochronologic history of the Longmen Shan and Songpan Garzê area have been largely studied. We present a synthesis of the tectonic evolution of the Songpan Garzê fold and thrust belt from Triassic to present. The Songpan-Garzê belt was formed during closure of a wide oceanic basin ?lled with a thick (5 to 15 km) sequence of Triassic ?yschoid sediments. Closure of the basin due to Triassic subduction involved strong shortening, intense folding and faulting of the Triassic series. A large-scale décollement, that presently outcrops along the eastern boundary of the belt (Danba area), allowed the growth of a wide and thick accretionary wedge. It develops in the Paleozoic and Triassic series and separates the accretionary prism from an autochthonous crystalline basement which shares many similarities with the basement of the Yangtze Craton (0.7-0.9 Ga). To the north and northwest, below the thickened Triassic series of the belt, the composition (oceanic or continental) of the basement remains unknown. During the Indosinian orogeny the emplacement of orogenic granites (220 - 150 Ma) was associated to crustal thickening. The isotopic composition of granitoids shows that their magma source were predominantly derived from melting of the proterozoic basement with varying degrees of sedimentary material and negligible mantle source contribution. In the Danba area, the décollement outcrops in a large tertiary antiform with a NNW-SSE axis. It has been exhumed too in the hanging wall of the NE-SW faults of the Tertiary Longmen-Shan belt that marks the present day transition from the Tibetan plateau to the Sichuan basin. These faults have episodically absorbed signi?cant shortening since the Late Triassic. The amount and precise timing of post-triassic deformation are dif?cult to constrain especially because of the dif?culty to isolate the tertiary thermochronological signal from the protracted late Triassic - Cretaceous thermal history. Nonetheless it is generally accepted that Jurassic - Cretaceous tectonism did not modi?ed the general Triassic architecture of eastern Tibet contrarily to the Tertiary deformation. The long-term cooling histories obtained on Mesozoic granites and on the metamorphic series of the Danba dome are very similar showing a very slow and regular cooling during Jurassic andCretaceous, con?rming the absence of major tectonic event between c.a. 150 and 30 Ma. Low temperature thermochronology data indicate that ?nal exhumation and cooling occurred in theTertiary with an acceleration between 10 and 5 Ma along the major tectonic structures. Within the Longmen Shan range, a total denudation of 7 to 10 km is estimated for the late Cenozoic period. Similar amounts of late Tertiary denudation have been estimated along an east-west section across the Xianshuihe fault
Asian climate and tectonics seminar
Utrecht, Netherlands

insu-00610298
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00610298
DOI : 10.1016/j.jseaes.2010.03.008