Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Deformation of the continental lithosphere is traditionally modeled assuming that heat production in the subcontinental lithospheric mantle is negligible. Although this may be appropriate for highly depleted Archean lithosphere, studies of mantle xenoliths and lithospheric-derived mafic rocks suggest that heat productions of up to 0.4 ;μW/m3 may be attained in the mantle of Phanerozoic and Neoproterozoic regions due to modal metasomatism. To investigate the effect of a local enrichment in heat-producing elements within the lithospheric mantle on the continental deformation, we performed a series of 2D thermo-mechanical models simulating the deformation of a lithospheric plate 1000 km long, which contains in its central part a 200 km wide and 20 km-thick mantle layer with a heat production of 0.05;–0.25 ;μW/m3 between 40 and 80 km depth, leading to a local enhancement of the surface heat flow by 1;–5 mW/m2. Compression models show that a 20 km-thick layer with a heat production as low as 0.05 ;μW/m3 within the shallow lithospheric mantle leads to strain localization in both the enriched mantle and the overlying crust. Strain localization depends exponentially on the temperature increase in the lithosphere section, which is controlled by the volume of metasomatized mantle and the intensity of the metasomatic enrichment in heat-producing elements. A heat production of 0.25 μW/m3 between 60 and 80 km depth results, for instance, in strains within and above the metasomatized mantle 5 times higher than in the surrounding lithosphere. Strain localization also depends on the location of the heat-producing domain and on the plate rheological structure; deeper heat-producing domains and weaker plates leading to stronger localization. These results provide an explanation for strain localization in intraplate environments, leading to the formation of orogenic belts situated hundreds to thousands of kilometers away from known plate boundaries, as observed in the Neoproterozoic belts of Gondwana and in the present-day deformation of the Asian plate.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00411386
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411386
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.07.040

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Borborema Province of northeastern Brazil is divided into three main domains: northern, central, and southern. Several U-Pb zircon ages of plutons and orthogneisses became available in the recent years in the central and northern domains, but similar results are scarce in the southern domain. This study reports U-Pb dates for single zircon grains from one orthogneiss (Jupi orthogneiss) and two plutons (Cachoeirinha syenitic pluton and Cabanas granite) south of the East Pernambuco shear zone system (EPSZ). The results provide geochronological constraints on the timing of deformation and magmatism in this part of the southern domain and allow correlations with the central domain. The Jupi orthogneiss was emplaced and deformed during development of the regional flat-lying foliation. A Pb-206/U-238 weighted apparent mean age of 606 +/- 8 Ma is interpreted as the crystallization age of the protolith of the orthogneiss and consequently the age of high-grade Brasiliano metamorphism. The NNE-trending Cachoeirinha pluton is only locally affected by strike-slip deformation, whereas the ENE-trending Cabanas granite is intensely affected by deformation related to the EPSZ. The 587 8 Ma and 573 4 Ma ages of the Cachoeirinha pluton and Cabanas granite, respectively, bracket the main period of activity of the EPSZ. Tectonomagmatic activity in the study area is similar to the age of Brasiliano events in the central domain, north of the EPSZ. In addition, xenocrystic zircons in the Jupi orthogneiss and Cabanas granite are interpreted as inherited from Paleoproterozoic source rocks, suggesting the presence of widespread reworked old crust in the southern domain, similar to the central domain. These results support the idea that the central and southern domains belonged to the same crustal block before the onset of the Brasiliano orogeny.
ISSN: 0895-9811

hal-00411394
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411394
DOI : 10.1016/j.jsames.2007.06.003