Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Société géologique de France
Résumé : International audience
Age constraints on the protoliths, deformation, metamorphism and melting events are key parameters when correlating different continental lithospheric remnants among each other and disentangling their evolution within large-scale orogens. In situ U-Th-Pb chemical dating on monazites using Electron Probe Micro-Analyser (EPMA) has been performed on eight samples throughout the Variscan Maures-Tanneron massif (SE France) in order to date the medium to high-tectonothermal events related to the Variscan orogeny.Results indicate a polyphased crustal evolution : (i) U-Th-Pb ages obtained in polygenetic monazite grain cores gave inherited Upper Ordovician (456 ± 11 Ma) age, highlighting the large scale occurrence of the Ordovician magmatic activity in the North Gondwanian margin. An Early Devonian (404 ± 10 Ma) age may date a protolith emplacement related to calc-alkaline supra-subduction magmatism or could be associated to an early medium-grade metamorphism, prior to collisional stage. (ii) The crustal thickening stage has been further recorded in prograde metamorphic monazites formed during the underthrusting and subsequent nappe stacking events, under amphibolite facies conditions. This stage is dated between 382 ± 11 (Middle Devonian) and 331 ± 5 Ma (Late Visean). (iii) An orogenic partial melting event took place during Middle Carboniferous and is accompanied by the crystallization of crustal peraluminous magmas (Plan-de-la-Tour granite, 329 ± 3 Ma).This contribution demonstrates the capacity of monazite to record the prograde path of rocks during increasing metamorphic conditions related to stages of crustal thickening, and the robustness of the U-Th-Pb chronometer in monazite despite the overprinting of high-grade thermal events, including partial melting. The age ranges of the different orogenic stages reported in this study are in good agreement with those reported in adjacent Variscan Corsica and Sardinia; while correlations with other nearest Variscan massifs like the Argentera massif in the southwestern Alps or the French Massif Central remain more hypothetic. The Internal Zone of the Maures-Tanneron massif, and more widely the Internal Zone of the Maures-Tanneron-Corsica-Sardinia segment, is part of the southern orogenic root system of the Variscan belt.
EISSN: 1777-5817

insu-01140973
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01140973
DOI : 10.2113/gssgfbull.186.2-3.145

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
The Nile delta sedimentation constitutes a continuous high resolution (1.6 mm/year) record of Ethiopian African monsoon regime intensity. Multiproxy analyses performed on core MS27PT recovered in hemipelagic Nile sediment margin (<90 km outward of the Rosetta mouth of the Nile) allow the quantification of the Saharan aeolian dust and the Blue/White Nile River suspended matter frequency fluctuations during the last 21 cal. ka BP. The radiogenic Sr and Nd isotopes, clay mineralogy, bulk elemental composition and palynological analyses reveal large changes in source components, oscillating between a dominant aeolian Saharan contribution during the LGM and the Late Holocene (~4 to 2 cal. ka BP), a dominant Blue/Atbara Nile River contribution during the early Holocene (15 to 8.4 cal. ka BP) and a probable White Nile River contribution during the Middle Holocene (8.4 to 4 cal. ka BP). The following main features are highlighted: 1. The rapid shift from the LGM arid conditions to the African Humid Period (AHP) started at about 15 cal. ka BP. AHP extends until 8.4 cal. ka BP, and we suggest that the Ethiopian African Monsoon maximum between 12 and 8 cal. ka BP is responsible for a larger Blue/Atbara Nile sediment load and freshwater input into the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. 2. The transition between the AHP and the arid Late Holocene is gradual and occurs in two main phases between 8.4 and 6.5 cal. ka BP and 6.5 to 3.2 cal. ka BP. We suggest that the main rain belt shifted southward from 8.4 to ~4 cal. ka BP and was responsible for progressively reduced sediment load and freshwater input into the eastern Mediterranean Sea. 3. The aridification along the Nile catchments occurred from ~4 to 2 cal. ka BP. A dry period, which culminates at 3.2 cal. ka BP, and seems to coincide with a re-establishment of increased oceanic primary productivity in the western Mediterranean Sea. We postulate that the decrease in thermo-haline water Mediterranean circulation could be part of a response to huge volumes of fresh-water delivered principally by the Nile River from 12 to 8.4 cal. ka BP in the eastern Mediterranean. We propose that the large hydrological change in Ethiopian latitude could be a trigger for the 8.2 ka cooling event recorded in high latitude. Revel R., Colin C., Bernasconi S., Combourieu-Nebout N., Ducassou E., Grousset F.E., Rolland Y., Migeon S., Brunet P., Zhaa Y., Bosch D., Mascle J.,. "21,000 years of Ethiopian African moonsoon variability recorded in sediments of the western Nile deep sea fan", Regional Environmental Change,
ISSN: 1436-3798

hal-00836300
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00836300

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The NW-trending Talas-Ferghana Fault (TFF) in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia, is one of the largest intracontinental strike-slip faults in the world. It extends over a distance of more than 2000 km from southern Tourghai to western Tarim and exhibits a maximum dextral offset of ∼200 km during the late Palaeozoic to present. The history of the fault provides important insights for the understanding of the evolution of southern Central Asia but remains poorly constrained due to lack of reliable geochronological data. We present new Ar-Ar ages and structural data from the Kyrgyz West Tianshan, that elucidate the kinematic history of the TFF in the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. 40Ar/39Ar ages on mylonitic white micas document a deformational history consisting of several episodes. A late Carboniferous age of 312 ± 4 Ma point to initiation of top-to-the-south and dextral transpressional deformation during a metamorphic overprint in Precambrian and Palaeozoic rocks along the northern compartment of the TFF. The main phase of dextral motion along the entire fault occurred in the Permian as suggested by minimum ages of 260-290 Ma obtained at two different locations in the NW and central parts of the TFF. Partial isotopic resetting occurred between 240 and 210 Ma and younger ages of <200-210 Ma are ascribed to late brittle reactivation and hydrothermal fluid flow in the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic times. The Jurassic trans-tensional phase is featured by emplacement of 195 ± 3 Ma pegmatitic dykes. The Ar-Ar mineral ages and structural data argue for a major phase of dextral shearing, affecting the entire region from the West Tianshan to Mongolia in the late Permian and leading to formation of almost equally spaced major NW-trending dextral strike-slip faults. The uniform character of this deformation indicates that the process of amalgamation in this part of the CAOB ended prior to the late Permian, and Central Asia evolved as a single coherent continental block since that time.
ISSN: 0743-9547

hal-00831326
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00831326
DOI : 10.1016/j.jseaes.2013.02.012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Geophysical Research Abstracts
Wien, Austria

hal-00417298
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00417298

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The identification of a large OIB-type volcanic sequence on top of an obducted nappe in the Lesser Caucaus of Armenia helps us explain the obduction processes in the Caucasus region that are related to dramatic change in the global tectonics of the Tethyan region in the late Lower Cretaceous. The ophiolitic nappe preserves three distinct magmatic series, obducted in a single tectonic slice over the South Armenian Block during the Coniacian-Santonian (88-83 Ma), the same time as the Oman ophiolite. Similar geological, petrological, geochemical and age features for various Armenian ophiolitic massifs (Sevan, Stepanavan, and Vedi) argue for the presence of a single large obducted ophiolite unit. The ophiolite, shows evidence for a slow-spreading oceanic environment in Lower to Middle Jurassic. Serpentinites, gabbros and plagiogranites were exhumed by normal faults, and covered by radiolarites. Few pillow-lava flows have infilled the rift grabens. The ophiolite lavas have hybrid geochemical composition intermediate between Arc and MORB signatures: (La/Yb)(N) = 0.6-0.9: (Nb/Th)(N) = 0.17-0.57; (Nd-143/Nd-144)(i) = 0.51273-0.51291; (Sr-87/Sr-86)(i) = 0.70370-0.70565; (Pb-207/Pb-204)(i) = 15.4587-15.5411; (Pb-208/Pb-204)(i) = 37.4053-38.2336; (Pb-206/Pb-204)(i) = 17.9195-18.4594. These compositions suggest they were probably formed in a back-arc basin by melting of a shallow asthenosphere source contaminated by a deeper mantle source modified by subducted slab-derived products. Sr-87/Sr-86 ratios and petrological evidence show that these lavas have been intensely altered by mid-oceanic hydrothermalism as well as by serpentinites, which are interpreted as exhumed mantle peridotites. The gabbros have almost the same geochemical composition as related pillow-lavas: (La/Yb)(N) = 0.2-2.3; (Nb/Th)(N) = 0.1-2.8; (Nd-143/Nd-144)(i) = 0.51264-0.51276: (Sr-87/Sr-86)(i) = 0.70386-0.70557; (Pb-207/Pb-204)(i) = 15.4888-15.5391; (Pb-208/Pb-204)(i) = 37.2729-37.8713; (Pb-206/Pb-204)(i) = 17.6296-17.9683. Plagiogranites show major and trace element features similar to other Neo-Tethyan plagiogranites (La/Yb)(N) = 1.10-7.92; (Nb/Th)(N) = 0.10-0.94; but display a less radiogenic Nd isotopic composition than basalts [(Nd-143/Nd-144)(i) = 0.51263] and more radiogenic (Sr-87/Sr-86)(i) ratios. This oceanic crust sequence is covered by variable thicknesses of unaltered pillowed OIB alkaline lavas emplaced in marine conditions. Ar-40/Ar-39 dating of a single-grain amphibole phenocryst provides a Lower Cretaceous age of 117.3 +/- 0.9 Ma, which confirms a distinct formation age of the OIB lavas. The geochemical composition of these alkaline lavas is similar to plateau-lavas [(La/Yb)(N) = 6-14; (Nb/Th)(N) = 0.23-0.76; (Nd-143/Nd-144)(i) = 0.51262-0.51271; (Sr-87/Sr-86)(i) = 0.70338-0.70551; (Pb-207/Pb-204)(i) = 15.5439-15.6158; (Pb-208/Pb-204)(i) = 38.3724-39.3623; (Pb-206/Pb-204)(i) = 18.4024-19.6744].;They have significantly more radiogenic lead isotopic compositions than phiolitic rocks, and fit the geochemical compositions of hot-spot derived lavas mixed with various proportions of oceanic mantle. In addition, this oceanic + plateau sequence is covered by Upper Cretaceous calc-alkaline lavas: (La/Yb)(N) = 2.07-2.31; (Nb/Th)(N) = 0.08-0.15; (Nd-144/Nd-143)(i) = 0.51271-0.51282; (Sr-117/Sr-116)(i) = 0.70452-0.70478), which were likely formed in a supra-subduction zone environment. During the late Lower to early Upper Cretaceous period, hot-spot related magmatism related to plateau events may have led to significant crustal thickening in various zones of the Middle-eastern Neotethys. These processes have likely hindered subduction of some of the hot and thickened oceanic crust segments, and allowed them to be obducted over small continental blocks such as the South Armenian Block.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00443855
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00443855
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2009.02.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
U-Pb zircon and Ar-Ar amphibole and biotite ages from rocks of the West Congo Belt of Angola indicate that this area underwent two main deformation events of amphibolite facies grade at c. 540 and 490 Ma, which were followed by tectonically assisted exhumation during eastward thrusting of the hinterland domain onto the foreland domain. High-grade conditions in the West Congo Belt are 20-40 Ma younger than in the Ribeira-Araçuai Belt of Brazil, its South American counterpart, or than in the westernmost Kaoko Belt of Namibia, its African correlative. In the present state of knowledge, a more appropriate counterpart to the southern part of the West Congo Belt may be restricted to the Cabo Frio Terrane in the eastern Ribeira Belt, which yields a broadly similar evolution.
ISSN: 0954-4879

hal-00716463
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00716463
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2012.01060.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
Dating the timing of motion on crustal shear zones is of tremendous importance for understanding the assembly of orogenic terranes. This objective is achieved in this paper by combining petrological and structural observations with novel developments in in situ U-Th-Pb geochronology of allanite. A greenschist facies shear zone within the Mont Blanc Massif is documented. Allanite is synkinematic and belongs to the mylonitic assemblage. LA-ICP-MS U-Th-Pb isotope analyses of allanite reveal high contents and highly radiogenic isotopic compositions of the common-Pb component. The use of measured Pb-isotope compositions of associated minerals (feldspars and chlorite) is critical for accurate common-Pb correction, and provides a powerful mechanism for linking allanite growth to the metamorphic assemblage. A mean 208Pb/232Th age of 29.44 ± 0.95 Ma is accordingly taken for synkinematic allanite crystallisation under greenschist facies conditions. This age reflects the timing of the Mont Blanc underthrusting below the Penninic Front and highlights the potential of directly dating deformation with allanite.
ISSN: 0954-4879

hal-00963545
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00963545
DOI : 10.1111/ter.12066