Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Siberian cratonic mantle
International audience
The processes that control water distribution in nominally anhydrous minerals from peridotites are twofold. Melt depletion will remove water while metasomatism can potentially add water to these minerals. These processes can lead to a wide range of outcomes in water contents, which in turn could play a role in mantle rheology and long-term cratonic root stability. To examine these complexities, water concentrations in minerals from well-characterized peridotites from the Udachnaya kimberlite in the central Siberian craton were analyzed by FTIR. The peridotites span a complete top to bottom cross-section of typical cratonic lithospheric mantle (2-7 GPa and 700-1400 °C). Diffusion modeling of water content profiles across olivine grains shows that water loss during decompression is limited to the 100 μm rims of olivines; the cores preserved their mantle water contents. Water contents range from 6 to 323 ppm wt H2O in olivine, 28-301 ppm H2O in orthopyroxene (opx), 100-272 ppm H2O in clinopyroxene (cpx) and 0-23 ppm H2O in garnet. Melting modeling cannot reproduce the high water contents of cratonic mantle peridotites and any potential partial melting trend must have been erased by later events. The water contents of minerals, however, are correlated with modal abundances of clinopyroxene and garnet, bulk rock FeO, TiO2 and SiO2 as well as with light and middle rare earth elements in clinopyroxene and garnet. These relationships are best interpreted as interaction of residual, melt-depleted peridotites with silicate melt, which produced modal and cryptic metasomatism. Importantly, the water enrichment in the Siberian cratonic mantle took place prior to kimberlite magmatism and eruption. Water addition by metasomatism occurred from pressures >4 GPa all the way to the base of the cratonic root below central Siberia, but was limited to shallower levels (<5 GPa) in the Kaapvaal cratonic lithosphere. The difference in olivine water contents at the deepest levels of the Kaapvaal (<5 ppm H2O) and Siberian (6-323 ppm H2O) cratonic roots may be linked to oxygen fugacity and resulting fluid speciation or, alternatively, to reaction with different metasomatic agents. Calculated viscosities for the deepest Udachnaya samples are similar to those inferred for the asthenosphere. If these xenoliths are representative of the deep cratonic lithosphere, water is not as important a parameter as previously thought in the strength of cratonic lithosphere, otherwise the cratonic root beneath Udachnaya would have been delaminated. Alternatively, the metasomatic xenoliths may not be representative of the Siberian cratonic root and kimberlites preferentially sample cratonic mantle lithosphere material located near, and metasomatized by, melt conduits, which served as channels for upward migration of water-rich melts and fluids including kimberlites. In that case, the cratonic root overall still may have relatively low water contents, which in addition to its less metasomatized (more refractory) and thereby buoyant nature, still play a role in making it strong enough to resist delamination by the surrounding asthenosphere.
ISSN: 0016-7037

hal-01053920
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01053920
DOI : 10.1016/j.gca.2014.04.011

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 Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The platinum-group element (PGE) systematics of continental mantle peridotites show large variability, reflecting petrogenetic processing of the upper mantle during partial melting and melt/fluid percolation inside the lithosphere. By removing Pd-Cu-Ni rich sulfides, partial melting events that have stabilized the sub-continental mantle lithosphere fractionated PPGEs (Palladium-group PGE; Pt, Pd) relative to IPGEs (Iridium-group PGE; Os, Ir, Ru, Rh). Residual base-metal sulfides (BMS) survive as enclosed IPGE-enriched Monosulfide Solid Solutions (Mss), which otherwise decompose into Ru-Os-Ir-rich refractory platinum-group minerals (PGMs) once the partial melts become S-undersaturated. The small-scale heterogeneous distribution of these microphases may cause extreme nugget effects, as seen in the huge variations in absolute PGE concentrations documented in cratonic peridotites. Magmas fluxing through the lithospheric mantle may change the initial PGE budgets inherited from the melting events, resulting in the great diversity of PGE systematics seen in peridotites from the sub-continental lithosphere. For instance, melt-rock reactions at increasing melt/rock ratios operate as open-system melting processes removing residual BMS/PGMs. Highly percolated peridotites are characterized by extreme PGE depletion, coupled with PGE patterns and Os-isotope compositions that gradually evolve toward that of the percolating melt. Reactions at decreasing melt-rock ratios (usually referred to as "mantle metasomatism") precipitate PPGE-enriched BMS that yield suprachondritic Pd/Ir and occasionally affect Pt/Ir and Rh/Ir ratios as well. Moreover, volatile-rich, small volume melts fractionate Os relative to Ir and S relative to Se, thereby producing rocks with supra-chondritic Os/Ir and S/Se coupled with supra-chondritic Pd/Ir and Pt/Ir. Major magmatic inputs at the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary may rejuvenate the PGE systematics of the depleted mantle. Integrated studies of "refertilized" peridotites with worldwide provenance provide evidence for mixing between old PGM-rich harzburgitic protoliths and newly-precipitated BMS. Long-lived PGMs carry the Os-isotope compositions of ancient melt‐depletion events into seemingly undepleted fertile lherzolites. Another diagnostic feature of major refertilization processes is the increasing modal abundance of Pt-Pd-Te-Bi or Pt-As-S microphases. Due to regional-scale refertilization processes, sizeable (> 100 km) domains of the upper lithospheric mantle are now significantly enriched in Pd, Au, Cu, Se, and other incompatible chalcophile elements that are of considerable importance in PGE-ore forming events.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00828626
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00828626
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2012.08.017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The South Liaodong Peninsula massif is the easternmost Mesozoic Metamorphic Core Complex, recognized in Eastern China. It provides a good example of the combination of ductile shearing, synkinematic plutonism and polyphase exhumation. The Jurassic granodioritic plutons, located at the footwall of the detachment normal fault, and dated here at ca 160 Ma, recorded two different phases of cooling. A slow cooling regime of about 3-10°C/my prevailing before 122 Ma, was followed by a significant increase in cooling rate of about 40-55°C/my after that time. By contrast, a single fast cooling path was recorded by the Cretaceous monzogranite situated in the footwall of the detachment normal fault. This result indicates that the Jurassic and Cretaceous plutons recorded different exhumation processes: a Jurassic slow or negligible exhumation and a Cretaceous fast one assisted by normal faulting. These two cooling stages correspond to distinct geodynamic processes during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Extensional tectonics seems not significant before Early Cretaceous. The second stage, dominated by an extensional regime which develops after ca 120 Ma, is tentatively correlated to the lithosphere removal of the North China Craton.
ISSN: 1367-9120

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/
insu-00528171
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00528171
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00528171/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00528171/file/Lin-JAsianEarthSciences-2010.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.jseaes.2010.09.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We discuss mantle structure and dynamics under the Gibraltar arc. For that region, a large variety of geodynamic models has been proposed, and there was, up to recently, no consensus on which of these models is the best one to describe the geodynamic situation of the region. The key to distinguishing the different models probably lies in the upper mantle, and we propose two specially adapted seismological techniques that help to distinguish each of the two models that are more frequently invoked. These are, on one hand, the subduction-rollback (SR) model, and on the other, continental delamination or convective removal (CDCR). The first technique that we use is based on observations of dispersed P-wavetrains that are expected for certain ray directions. Observations made on the Gibraltar arc suggest the presence of subducted oceanic lithosphere under the Alboran Sea. The second technique is based on shear-wave splitting of SKS phases, and it allows us to look for the radially-oriented flow that must be present in the mantle beneath the Alboran Sea, for a CDCR mechanism. There are however no indications of any radial flow up to this point. Both approaches therefore suggest that subduction-rollback is the best model to explain the complex geodynamic situation under the region.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-01388041
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01388041
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01388041/document
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01388041/file/Bokelmann_Gibraltar_Tphy2011_hal.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2010.08.004

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Serpentinites are one of the major components of the oceanic lithosphere and are stable in the slab and the mantle wedge up to 100-150 km depth in subduction zones. During oceanic mantle hydration and alteration, they trap trace and fluid mobile (FME: B, Li, As, Sb, Rb, Ba, Cs, Sr, U and Pb) elements that participate to elemental transfer occurring between the dehydrating slab and the mantle wedge in subduction context. The Lanzo massif is an eclogitized oceanic lithosphere that preserved its oceanic structure and recorded different steps of serpentinization/de-serpentinization from oceanic lizardite to prograde antigorite in subduction context, up to its dehydration and secondary olivine crystallization, and finally retrograde antigorite during massif exhumation. It constitutes a suitable place to study trace element behavior during serpentinization/de-serpentinization processes and associated chemical transfers between the different envelopes of the oceanic lithosphere and the mantle wedge. Geochemical analyses of serpentine and associated minerals show that the serpentinization/de-serpentinization of the Lanzo massif took place in a relatively closed system without significant trace element transfer between the different parts of the oceanic lithosphere. In the deeper part of the lithosphere, from the slightly serpentinized mantle peridotites (SSP, < 20% serpentinization) to the paleo-Moho, composed of massive serpentinites (MS, 80% serpentinization), the trace elements mobility is reduced. The chemical composition of lizardite and antigorite is homogenized with the local degree of serpentinization: in SSP, serpentine veins composition is inherited from the host mineral while, in MS, their composition is homogenous between destabilized phases at the scale of the outcrop (~ 5 m). In the shallowest part of the oceanic lithosphere, from the paleo-Moho to the oceanic paleo-seafloor, the serpentinites are foliated (FS, > 90% serpentinization). In that zone, the alpine deformation enhances the mobility of trace elements and permits their redistribution and the homogenization of antigorite composition at massif scale. Locally, in the SSP and MS, the crystallization of metamorphic veins of ~ 1-2 m corresponds to channelized fluid flows that allowed fluid transfers - and thereby trace elements - to longer distance. The successive crystallizations of antigorite and then olivine are accompanied by a diminution of some FME (B, Li, As, Sb, Ba, Rb) and Eu contents attesting that these elements are removed from slab to mantle wedge during subduction.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-00937661
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00937661
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2013.08.025

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : We study the Africa-Iberia plate boundary in the vicinity of Gibraltar. Numerous models have been proposed for that region throughout the last decades, proposing mechanisms that range widely from continental delamination, convective removal, to subduction of oceanic lithosphere. To better constrain upper-mantle structure under the region, we study waveforms of P-waves that traverse the Alboran Sea region between Spain and Morocco. These show dispersive behavior, which, together with early arrival times, confirms the presence of an anomalous upper mantle structure under the Alboran Sea. The dispersion is consistent with that expected from subducted lithosphere. Waveforms of body waves therefore provide a way to better constrain the elusive mantle structure and dynamics of the Alboran Sea region
ISSN: 0094-8276

hal-00407670
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00407670
DOI : 10.1029/2007GL030964

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
We propose in this paper an original method for quantifying the material losses at subduction zones mainly based on vertical movements of the active margins. We first test the method, using isostatic and elastic models, applying it to 15 different well-constrained convergent margins. The main conclusion is that most of them are presently close to the isostatic equilibrium. Consequently, we consider as a first hypothesis that such was also the case in the past and that erosion or accretion are natural mechanisms restoring the equilibrium in response to a perturbation. Then, we apply this model to compute the geometry of the palcoslab knowing the palcotopography of the margin. The comparison between present and past ocean margin lithospheric wedge geometries provides estimates of the removed material that constituted the initial wedge. Two cases were studied for palcoreconstructions: Japan and Peru. The results show that a considerable amount of material was removed during the Neogene along both margins. A detailed interpretation of the Neogene history of the Japan margin is proposed on the basis of our results.
ISSN: 0148-0227

hal-01261647
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261647
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261647/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261647/file/lallemanJGR1992.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/91JB02342

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Imaging deep active volcanic areas remains a challenge in our understanding of their activity and evolution, especially in subduction zones. Study of magnetic anomalies is appropriate to access such dynamics in depth. The magnetic anomaly pattern of the Lesser Antilles Arc (LAA) subduction is studied through Curie Point Depth (CPD), interpreted as the depth of the 580 °C isotherm, and developed to better assess the deep thermal structure of the arc. The depth of the estimated CPD exhibits a complex topography. Keeping in mind the overall uncertainty associated with this method, a main doming is evidenced below the Guadeloupe archipelago. Its apex is shifted towards the ancient arc, suggesting a very hot state of the fore-arc/arc domain. To better understand the LAA thermal state, we perform 2D thermo-mechanical simulations of the subduction zone. Recalling that magnetite is a serpentinization by-product, we simulate water transfer triggered by slab dehydration to test the assumption of fore-arc serpentinization suggested by the positive magnetic anomaly in the vicinity of the Guadeloupe archipelago. In this area, the subduction-induced arc lithosphere hydration and related weakening trigger a fast heating of the upper plate by basal convective removal. This process of fast arc lithosphere thinning may apply where simultaneously the volcanic arc is split in two and normal convergence is high enough. As serpentinization strongly decreases P-wave velocity, we propose a new interpretation of a published seismic profile below Guadeloupe. The seismic layer previously interpreted as the arc lower crust may rather be a layer of serpentinized mantle, as supported by spatial correlations between gravimetric and magnetic anomalies. Consequently, at the scale of Guadeloupe Island, the fore-arc Moho would be shallower than initially assumed, with a dome shape more consistent with both the extensive deformation active since the Oligocene in the inner fore-arc and the CPD doming.
ISSN: 0040-1951

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/
insu-01505300
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01505300
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01505300/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01505300/file/Gailler-2017.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2017.03.014

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD University of Chicago Press
Résumé : International audience
Contrasting tectonic reconstructions of the westernmost Mediterranean have been proposed to explain the origin of the Alboran marine basin contemporaneously with Cenozoic convergence between the African and European plates. Cr-rich pyroxenites in the Ronda massif record the geochemical processes occurring in the subcontinental mantle of the Alboran domain in the Late Oligocene, thus constraining the geodynamic scenario of Cenozoic extension in the western Mediterranean lithosphere. Clinopyroxene in intrusive Cr-rich websterite dikes crosscutting the Ronda peridotite is strongly depleted in Nb-Ta and enriched in light rare earth elements, as typically observed in arc magmas, and is in trace element equilibrium with Neogene subduction-related lavas from the western and central Mediterranean. Sr-Nd-Pb radiogenic isotopes indicate that the mantle source of the Ronda pyroxenite dikes was contaminated by a subduction component released by detrital sediments likely deposited in passive continental margins. Rather than convective removal or delamination of the lithospheric root, our data strongly support Alboran geodynamic models that envisage slab rollback as the tectonic mechanism responsible for the Miocene lithospheric thinning. The Ronda Cr-rich pyroxenite dikes represent the earliest unambiguous manifestation of subduction-related magmatism in the western Mediterranean and testify to the involvement of terrigenous sediments in the primitive stages of subduction.
ISSN: 0022-1376

hal-00745853
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00745853
DOI : 10.1086/663875

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Most kimberlites contain abundant dunitic nodules. These are centimetre-sized, rounded and multi-grained assemblages of xenocrystic olivine with a wide range of compositions (Fo83 to Fo94). The absence of orthopyroxene and other mantle minerals and the range of olivine compositions have been attributed to reaction between mantle peridotite and (proto)kimberlitic fluid or melt, but the timing of the reaction is a subject of debate. In a kimberlite from the Kangamiut region of Greenland, nodule cores are surrounded by fine-grained outer margins with near-constant Fo contents (∼Fo88) but highly variable minor element contents (e.g. 500–2500 ppm Ni). These margins crystallized from the kimberlite melt and we show that their compositions can be explained by crystallization of olivine alone, if a high partition coefficient for Ni between melt and olivine (DNi > 20) is assumed. Orthopyroxene assimilation is not required, removing the constraint that its dissolution occurred during ascent of the kimberlite magma. Within some nodules, in addition to the usual core-to-margin gradients, we observe asymmetric compositional changes (variable Fo but near-constant minor element contents) across mobile grain boundaries. These changes document fluid percolation at the grain scale that occurred during dynamic recrystallization in the deforming lithospheric mantle. We note that chemical gradients associated with mobile grain boundaries are observed in olivines that cover the entire compositional range of the nodules, and propose that fluid-assisted dynamic recrystallization took place in dunite that was already compositionally heterogeneous. Reaction between peridotite and protokimberlitic melt or fluid and dissolution of orthopyroxene thus occurred within the lithospheric mantle, immediately (a few days) prior to the ascent of the kimberlite melt and the entrainment of the dunite nodules. We propose that the grain boundary zones probably mimic, at a fine scale, the fluid–peridotite interaction that caused, at a larger scale, orthopyroxene dissolution and formation of compositionally diverse olivine in kimberlites.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-01277963
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01277963
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egv054

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
S U M M A R Y Over the last decade, thermomechanical models have revealed the control of both tectonics and erosion on the morphology of continental plateaus margins. However, unravelling the specific effects of these two coupled processes has been difficult in practice. Here, to assess the control of erosion, we investigate the dynamics of the eastern and the northern borders of the Tibetan Plateau, which are characterized by a low convergence rate and a steep topographic escarpment adjacent to the Sichuan and Tarim basins, respectively. Thermomechanical modelling of continental lithosphere coupled with fluvial denudation reveals that important crustal deformation with large-scale horizontal displacements can occur, without any convergence, as a response to mass transfer due to gravitational collapse and to erosional unloading. These processes are sensitive to crustal structure, geothermal gradient as well as surface erosion. At a timescale of several million years, our results suggest that this denudation-triggered deformation exerts a primary control on the evolution of those plateau margins by counterbalancing the mass removal due to erosion and stabilizing the topographic escarpment. This finding supports a possible explanation for the morphology of the Longmen Shan, eastern Tibet, in which the paradoxical combination of persistent high-topographic gradients close to the foreland and low convergence rates can be related to the influence of erosion on deformation patterns.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-01577060
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577060
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577060/document
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577060/file/godard2009erosional.pdf
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04324.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Two types of olivine occur in kimberlites from Greenland, Canada and southern Africa. The first, xenocrystic olivine, displays several different forms. Most distinctive are 'nodules', a term we use to describe the large (1-5 mm), rounded, single crystals or polycrystalline aggregates that are a common constituent of many kimberlites. Olivine compositions are uniform within single nodules but vary widely from nodule to nodule, from Fo81 to 93. Within many nodules, sub- to euhedral asymmetric tablets have grown within larger anhedral olivine grains. Dislocation structures, particularly in the anhedral grains, demonstrate that this olivine was deformed before being incorporated into the kimberlite magma. Olivine grains in the kimberlite matrix between the nodules have morphologies similar to those of the tablets, suggesting that most matrix olivine grains are parts of disaggregated nodules. We propose that a sub- to euhedral form is not sufficient to identify phenocrysts in kimberlites and provide some criteria, based on morphology, internal deformation and composition, that distinguish phenocrysts from xenocrysts. The second type of olivine is restricted to rims surrounding xenocrystic grains. Only this olivine crystallized from the kimberlite magma. Major and trace element data for the rim olivine are used to calculate the composition of the parental kimberlite liquid, which is found to contain between about 20 and 30% MgO. The bulk compositions of many kimberlites contain higher MgO contents as a result of the presence of xenocrystic olivine. The monomineralic, dunitic, character of the nodules, and the wide range from Fo-rich to Fo-poor olivine compositions, provide major constraints on the origin of the nodules. Dunite is a relatively rare rock in the mantle and where present its olivine is persistently Fo-rich. The dunitic source of the nodules in kimberlites lacked minerals such as pyroxene and an aluminous phase, which make up about half of most mantle-derived rocks. It appears that these minerals were removed from the mantle peridotite that was to become the source of the nodules, and the Fo content of the retained olivine was modified during interaction with CO2-rich fluids whose arrival at the base of the lithosphere immediately preceded the passage of the kimberlite magmas. Fragments of the resultant dunite were entrained into the kimberlite, where they were retained both as intact nodules and as disaggregated grains in the matrix.
ISSN: 0022-3530

insu-00543321
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00543321
BIBCODE : 10.1093/petrology/egp080
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egp080

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The timing of E–W extension of the Tibetan plateau provides a test of mechanical models of the geodynamic evolution of the India–Asia convergence zone. In this work we focus on the Kung Co half graben (Southern Tibet, China), bounded by an active N–S normal fault with a minimum vertical offset of 1600 m. To estimate the onset of normal faulting we combined high and medium temperature (U–Pb, Ar/Ar) and low temperature ((U–Th)/He) thermochronometry of the Kung Co pluton, a two-mica granite of the northern Himalayan granitic belt that outcrop in the footwall of the fault. Biotite and muscovite Ar/Ar ages , are close from each other [not, vert, similar 16 Ma ± 0.2 (Ms) and not, vert, similar 15 ± 0.4 Ma (Bt)], which is typical of fast cooling. The zircon and apatite (U–Th)/He ages range from 11.3 to 9.6 Ma and 9.9 to 3.7 Ma respectively. These He ages are indicative of (1) fast initial cooling, from 11.3 to not, vert, similar 9 Ma, gradually decreasing with time and (2) a high geothermal gradient (not, vert, similar 400 °C/km), close to the surface at not, vert, similar 10 Ma. The Kung Co pluton was emplaced at about 22 Ma (U–Pb on zircon) at less than 10 km depth and 520–545 °C. Subsequent to its shallow emplacement, the pluton underwent fast thermal re-equilibration ending around 7.5 Ma, followed by a period of slow cooling caused either by the end of the thermal re-equilibration or by very slow exhumation (0.02–0.03 mm/yr) from not, vert, similar 7.5 Ma to at least 4 Ma. In either case the data suggest that the exhumation rate increased after 4 Ma. We infer this increase to be related to the initiation of the Kung Co normal fault. A critical examination of previously published data show that most not, vert, similar N–S Tibetan normal faults may have formed less than 5 Ma ago rather than in the Miocene as assumed by several authors. Such a young age implies that E–W extension is not related to the Neogene South Tibetan magmatism (25 to 8 Ma). Consequently, models relating E–W extension to magmatism, such as convective removal of the lower lithosphere, may be inappropriate. We rather think that this extension is related with local accommodation of boundary forces and displacements.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00311791
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00311791
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.01.029

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD University of Chicago Press
Résumé : International audience
In the North China block, the south Liaodong Peninsula massif is an elliptical metamorphic core complex (MCC) with a long axis trending NE‐SW. In cross‐section view, it is asymmetric, with a steeply dipping northwestern flank and a gently dipping southeastern flank. It consists of three lithotectonic units: a gneissic migmatite unit, a Paleo‐ to Meso‐Proterozoic micaschist‐slate unit, and a Neoproterozoic to Mesozoic sedimentary cover. Three deformation events related to extensional tectonics are distinguished in the study area: D1 is a ductile deformation related to the exhumation of the MCC; the following event, D2, corresponds to the development of recumbent folds formed during the early exhumation of the MCC; and the youngest event, D3, corresponds to brittle normal faulting that controlled the opening of a Cretaceous continental half‐graben basin. A pre‐D1 event characterized as northward verging is interpreted as the result of N‐S shortening that occurred in the Late Triassic during the final stages of the collision between the North and South China blocks. The ductile and brittle structures were developed coevally, with synkinematic plutonism and formation of half‐grabens. New 40Ar/39Ar and U/Pb Cretaceous ages obtained from the mylonitic granodiorite, gneissic migmatite, orthogneiss, and granite indicate that the south Liaodong Peninsula MCC is contemporaneous with other Cretaceous extensional structures, such as numerous syntectonic plutons bounded by ductile normal faults, MCC, and half‐graben basins, described in eastern China. Among the several hypotheses proposed to account for the Mesozoic extension along the eastern margin of Eurasia, lithosphere convective removal appears to be the most likely.
ISSN: 0022-1376

insu-00362879
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00362879
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00362879/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00362879/file/WeiLin-TheJournalofGeology-2008.pdf
DOI : 10.1086/527456

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Carbonation of peridotite is a widespread process in nature, with emerging societal and environmental implications through geological storage of CO2. We studied the micro- and nano-scale structures associated with the carbonation of peridotite pervaded by a CO2-rich water and the induced changes of its hydrodynamic properties. Focused ion beam (FIB) nanotomography was coupled with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. An experimental sample of dunite core percolated by a CO2-rich fluid (pCO2 = 11 MPa) at 160 °C was compared with a naturally carbonated sample from the Atlantic Ridge (Exp. IODP 304). Results of the 8-days percolation experiment show continuous alteration of olivine into magnesite locally associated with a poorly crystalline serpentine-type mineral referred to as proto-serpentine. The experiment is also characterized by an overall decrease in rock porosity (from 7.7 to 6.4%) and permeability (from 8.5 × 10− 16 to 1.7 × 10− 16 m2). The primary inter-granular porosity (1 to 10 μm) is progressively filled with magnesite, leading to the overall decrease of permeability. At the same time, a secondary small-scale porosity (10 nm to 1 μm) is created at the tip of the dissolution features along the (010) cleavage planes of olivine grains. Carbonate crystals grow within these etch-pit structures behind the dissolution front. Dissolution and precipitation occur at a relative rate that maintains the secondary porosity over the timescale of the experiment (i.e. carbonate growth has to be the slowest one). This process is interpreted as an interface coupled dissolution-precipitation mechanism of olivine carbonation. Proto-serpentine is only formed in highly reduced flow areas, such as small olivine etch-pits (10 to 500 nm wide), which are more isolated from CO2 input. SEM-FIB analyses show the 3D preferential orientation of the dissolution-precipitation planes within a given olivine grain. It suggests the formation of lateral connections between the etch-pits (infra-micrometric “channels”) providing access to reactants and removing reaction products at the reaction sites. The experimental results show that olivine dissolution and magnesite precipitation converge to a quasi-steady state resulting in a constant carbonation rate controlled by reaction kinetics and not by mass transfer for this flow regime. The system self-regulates, independently of the porosity change at least during this incipient stage of olivine carbonation. Similar textures are observed in natural samples collected at 170 m-depth in the vicinity of veinlets driving late fluids down into the cooling oceanic lithosphere. This suggests that similar mechanisms are active in nature and can play an important role in the late, low temperature alteration stages of fractured peridotite. These results also highlight the critical role of nm-scale spatial arrangement of dissolution and precipitation features on mass transfers and on the sustainability of olivine carbonation through coupled dissolution-precipitation processes.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-01684733
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01684733
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2017.11.013