Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The identification of the structures and deformation patterns in magma-poor continental rifted margins is essential to characterize the processes of continental lithosphere necking. Brittle faults, often termed mantle detachments, are believed to play an essential role in the rifting processes that lead to mantle exhumation. However, ductile shear zones in the deep crust and mantle are rarely identified and their mechanical role remains to be established. The western Betics (Southern Spain) provides an exceptional exposure of a strongly thinned continental lithosphere, formed in a supra-subduction setting during Oligocene-Lower Miocene. A full section of the entire crust and the upper part of the mantle is investigated. Variations in crustal thickness are used to quantify crustal stretching that may reach values larger than 2000% where the ductile crust almost disappear, defining a stage of hyper-stretching. Opposite senses of shear top-to-W and top-to-E are observed in two extensional shear zones located close to the crust-mantle boundary and along the brittle-ductile transition in the crust, respectively. At locations where the ductile crust almost disappears, concordant top-to-E-NE senses of shear are observed in both upper crust and serpentinized mantle. Late high-angle normal faults with ages of ca. 21 Ma or older (40Ar/39Ar on white mica) crosscut the previously hyper-stretched domain, involving both crust and mantle in tilted blocks. The western Betics exemplifies, probably better than any previous field example, the changes in deformation processes that accommodate the progressive necking of a continental lithosphere. Three successive steps can be identified: i/a mid-crustal shear zone and a crust-mantle shear zone, acting synchronously but with opposite senses of shear, accommodate ductile crust thinning and ascent of subcontinental mantle; ii/hyper-stretching localizes in the neck, leading to an almost disappearance of the ductile crust and bringing the upper crust in contact with the subcontinental mantle, each of them with their already acquired opposite senses of shear; and iii/high-angle normal faulting, cutting through the Moho, with related block tilting, ends the full exhumation of the mantle in the zone of localized stretching. The presence of a high strength sub-Moho mantle is responsible for the change in sense of shear with depth. Whereas mantle exhumation in the western Betics occurred in a backarc setting, this deformation pattern controlled by a high-strength layer at the top of the lithosphere mantle makes it directly comparable to most passive margins whose formation lead to mantle exhumation. This unique field analogue has therefore a strong potential for the seismic interpretation of the so-called “hyper-extended margins”.
ISSN: 0264-8172

insu-01310895
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01310895
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01310895/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01310895/file/Frasca-MarPetGeol-2016.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2016.04.020

Éditeur(s) : The Geological Society of London
Résumé : Conservational models, like simple shear, pure shear or polyphase models that exclude exchanges between the lower continental crust and upper mantle, are usually proposed to explain the lithospheric stretching and consequent crustal thinning of passive continental margins. These models need large amounts of horizontal movement, and have, therefore, important implications for plate kinematic reconstructions and intraplate deformation. In this paper we propose to show these implications in the Central Segment of the South Atlantic Ocean. In the Angola–Brazilian system, these models imply about 240 km of horizontal movement. This movement can be compensated by two end-member mechanisms: (1) an intraplate deformation located in Africa; and (2) an intraplate deformation located in South America. We detail for each solution the strong geological and geodynamical implications, and discuss the consequences for the genesis of passive continental margins.
Geological Society, special publication (0375-6440) (The Geological Society of London), 2012-02 , Vol. 369 , P. 75-90

Droits : The Geological Society of London 2012
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00087/19839/17757.pdf
DOI:10.1144/SP369.5
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00087/19839/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
We image the lithospheric and upper asthenospheric structure of western continental Yemen with 24 broadband stations to evaluate the role of the Afar plume on the evolution of the continental margin and its extent eastwards along the Gulf of Aden. We use teleseismic tomography to compute relative P-wave velocity variations in southwestern Yemen down to 300 km depth. Published receiver function analysis suggest a dramatic and localized thinning of the crust in the vicinity of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, consistent with the velocity structure that we retrieve in our model. The mantle part of the model is dominated by the presence of a low velocity anomaly in which we infer partial melting just below thick Oligocene flood basalts and recent off-axis volcanic events (from 15 Ma to present). This low velocity anomaly could correspond to an abnormally hot mantle and could be responsible for dynamic topography and recent magmatism in western Yemen. Our new P-wave velocity model beneath western Yemen suggests the young rift flank volcanoes beneath margins and on the flanks of the Red Sea rift are caused by focused small-scale diapiric upwelling from a broad region of hot mantle beneath the area. Our work shows that relatively hot mantle, along with partial melting of the mantle, can persist beneath rifted margins after breakup has occurred.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-01015496
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01015496
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01015496/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01015496/file/Korostelev_etal_GGG_2014.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/2014GC005316

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The interseismic velocity field provided by geodetic methods is generally interpreted in the framework of a thick elastic lithosphere with a slipping fault at depth. Because lateral variations of lithospheric rheology play a key role in determining the geological strain distribution, I examine the idea that interseismic strain rate variations also occur in response to lateral variations in the elastic thickness of the lithosphere. Using a stress balance principle and some simplifying assumptions, I show using a 1D model that elastic thickness is inversely proportional to strain rate for the simple case of pure strike-slip faulting. Elastic thickness computed on three profiles crossing the San Andreas fault system (SAFS) suggests that the distribution of interseismic strain rate is compatible with a thick elastic lithosphere in the Great Basin-Sierra Nevada province and on the Pacific plate. Conversely, a thin plate with a shallow asthenosphere is needed on the SAFS to explain its high strain rate. A 2.5D Finite Element model of interseismic strain in the Carrizo Plain region in Central California shows how known vertical and horizontal variations of elastic properties refine 1D model predictions. In a case of a multiple fault system, I point out that the interseismic velocity is not causally tied to faults slip rate. Therefore, analysing the velocity field across the SAFS cannot reliably provide faults slip rate distribution as previously claimed. Rather, the apparent correlation between geologic slip rate and interseismic strain may only indicate that the elastic thickness plays a dominant role in controlling fault strength. Finally, I suggest that interseismic geodetic strain could be a new way to infer effective elastic plate thickness on the continents.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00412155
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412155
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.01.046

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
The Ronda peridotite supplies one of the best objects to document subcontinental mantle deformation, but its internal deformation and exhumation mechanisms remain controversial. Here we provide new structural data and numerical results that constrain the Oligocene-Miocene deformation history of the Ronda massif. We first describe a mantle shear zone in the northern massif that developed subcrustal strain localization during decompression and related partial melting. The deformation regime of this mantle shear zone evolved from penetrative NE-SW stretching to sinistral shear highlighted by discrete shear bands. We then show structural observations that document a viscous deformation in the southern massif occurring prior to the thrust-assisted emplacement of the peridotite during large decompression. Finally, we performed numerical investigations that quantify a high temperature of 980°C for the basal peridotite lens at the time of its crustal emplacement. Our numerical results constrain the timing of ductile deformation of the peridotite just before 22 Ma, probably between 30 and 22 Ma. Altogether, these features led us to conclude that the deformation and exhumation of the Ronda peridotite results from lithosphere thinning subsequently inverted in the course of the Oligocene-Miocene. Among available models, our findings support the hypothesis of peridotite exhumation by the inversion of a thinned back-arc continental lithosphere during westward slab rollback through the Alboran region.
ISSN: 0278-7407

insu-00924180
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00924180
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00924180/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00924180/file/tect20062.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/tect.20062

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 Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00380865
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00380865
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.04.020

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
New magnetotelluric and receiver transfer function studies provide insights from the upper to the lower crust of the eastern Betic Cordillera, which is deformed by large folds, normal faults, and a major transcurrent left-lateral fault, the Carboneras Fault Zone (CFZ). Receiver function analysis determines a NNW dipping Moho reaching 20 degrees that increases in depth, from 20 km south of the CFZ up to 34 km in the Sierra de Los Filabres. In addition, seismic discontinuities determined in the upper crust are interpreted as major contacts between metamorphic complexes that are detached and folded. The MT inversion model reveals a conductive zone, also representing a crustal seismic discontinuity, associated with the Alpujarride/Nevado-Filabride contact and fitting the N vergent geometry of the Sierra Alhamilla antiform. A small flexure at Moho coincides with the CFZ, as revealed by the Bouguer anomaly trend, in agreement with the receiver function results. Moreover, the Bahr strike and tipper angle at the stations placed closest to the CFZ clearly reveal the continuity of the CFZ at least down to approximately 15 km in depth, crossing all the detected crustal discontinuities up to the Moho. The lack of a clear Moho offset associated with the Carboneras Fault supports the idea that some large strike-slip faults tend to accommodate the deformation by a broadening fault zone at lower crustal levels. Its nucleation could occur at the base of a thin crust, where melting processes critically reduced the lithospheric strength during the late Miocene, to then propagate upward, reaching the topographic surface. Northward, the lithosphere comprised moderately larger strength, and the crustal discontinuities favored the development of larger folds with kilometric amplitude instead of strike-slip faults since the late Miocene.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00671024
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00671024
DOI : 10.1029/2010GC003274

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
Physical modeling of oblique subduction is performed to study the mechanism of strain partitioning. The model is two-layer and includes the elasto-plastic lithosphere (the overriding and subducting plates) and the low-viscosity liquid asthenosphere. The subduction is driven by a push force from a piston and a pull force when the density contrast Ap between the subducting plate and the asthenosphere is positive. We vary both Ap and the interplate friction (frictional stresses). Slip partitioning is obtained only in the models with high interplate friction and only when the overriding plate contains a weak zone. This zone in the models corresponds either to locally thinned litho-sphere or to cut (fault). The horizontal, trench-normal component of the interplate friction force [Ffh[ can be comparable with the absolute value of the horizontal component of the nonhydrostatic interplate pressure force [Fph [ in the subduction zone. Ffh is always negative (compression), while Fph can be either negative (compressional subduction regime) or positive (extensional regime). High friction, which promotes partitioning, can completely cancel the extensional (suction) force Fph. Back arc tension and strike-slip faulting appear thus as conflicting processes, although they can coexist in the same subduction zone, depending on the relative values of relevant forces. It appears that high friction can exist only in compressional subduction zones where partitioning should develop more easily. This conclusion is supported by the comparison of two oblique subduction zones, having similar geometry: the compressional southern Kurile zone (strong partitioning) and extensional southern Ryukyu zone (no lithospheric-scale partitioning). Other factors controlling the strain partitioning are the length of the oblique subductlon zone, the boundary conditions at the transverse limits of the forearc sliver, and of course, the obliquity of subduction.
ISSN: 2169-9275

hal-01261396
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261396
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261396/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261396/file/chemendaJGR2000.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/1999JB900332

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Slices of polycyclic metasediments (marbles and meta-cherts) are tectonically amalgamated with the polydeformed basement of the Dent Blanche tectonic system along a major Alpine shear zone in the Western Alps (Becca di Salé area, Valtournenche Valley). A combination of techniques (structural analysis at various scales, metamorphic petrology, geochronology and trace element geochemistry) was applied to determine the age and composition of accessory phases (titanite, allanite and zircon) and their relation to major minerals. The results are used to reconstruct the polyphase structural and metamorphic histories, comprising both pre-Alpine and Alpine cycles. The pre-Alpine evolution is associated with low-pressure high-temperature metamorphism related to Permo-Triassic lithospheric thinning. In meta-cherts, microtextural relations indicate coeval growth of allanite and garnet during this stage, at ~ 300 Ma. Textures of zircon also indicate crystallisation at HT conditions; ages scatter from 263 to 294 Ma, with a major cluster of data at ~ 276 Ma. In impure marble, U-Pb analyses of titanite domains (with variable Al and F contents) yield apparent 206Pb/238U dates range from Permian to Jurassic. Chemical and isotopic data suggest that titanite formed at Permian times and was then affected by (extension-related?) fluid circulation during the Triassic and Jurassic, which redistributed major elements (Al and F) and partially opened the U-Pb system. The Alpine cycle lead to early blueschist facies assemblages, which were partly overprinted under greenschist facies conditions. The strong Alpine compressional overprint disrupted the pre-Alpine structural imprint and/or reactivated earlier structures. The pre-Alpine metamorphic record, preserved in these slices of metasediments, reflects the onset of the Permo-Triassic lithospheric extension to Jurassic rifting.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00758123
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00758123
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2012.05.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
Expeditions 304 and 305 of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program cored and logged a 1.4 km section of the domal core of Atlantis Massif. Postdrilling research results summarized here constrain the structure and lithology of the Central Dome of this oceanic core complex. The dominantly gabbroic sequence recovered contrasts with predrilling predictions; application of the ground truth in subsequent geophysical processing has produced self-consistent models for the Central Dome. The presence of many thin interfingered petrologic units indicates that the intrusions forming the domal core were emplaced over a minimum of 100-220 kyr, and not as a single magma pulse. Isotopic and mineralogical alteration is intense in the upper 100 m but decreases in intensity with depth. Below 800 m, alteration is restricted to narrow zones surrounding faults, veins, igneous contacts, and to an interval of locally intense serpentinization in olivine-rich troctolite. Hydration of the lithosphere occurred over the complete range of temperature conditions from granulite to zeolite facies, but was predominantly in the amphibolite and greenschist range. Deformation of the sequence was remarkably localized, despite paleomagnetic indications that the dome has undergone at least 45 degrees rotation, presumably during unroofing via detachment faulting. Both the deformation pattern and the lithology contrast with what is known from seafloor studies on the adjacent Southern Ridge of the massif. There, the detachment capping the domal core deformed a 100 m thick zone and serpentinized peridotite comprises similar to 70% of recovered samples. We develop a working model of the evolution of Atlantis Massif over the past 2 Myr, outlining several stages that could explain the observed similarities and differences between the Central Dome and the Southern Ridge.
ISSN: 0148-0227

hal-00617528
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617528
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617528/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617528/file/2010JB007931.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2010JB007931

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
ODP (Ocean Drilling Program)/IODP (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program) Site 1256 is located on the Cocos Plate in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean, in a 15 Ma old oceanic lithosphere formed at the EPR during a period of superfast spreading (>200 mm/yr). ODP/IODP Hole 1256D reached for the first time the contact between sheeted dikes and underlying gabbros. It consequently offers a unique opportunity to study in situ, in present-day oceanic crust, the root zone of the sheeted dike complex. This root zone is a thin, 100 m thick boundary layer between the magmatic system (i.e., the axial melt lens, similar to 1100 degrees C), and the overlying high temperature hydrothermal system (<= 450 degrees C). The understanding of interactions within this boundary layer is critical to that of crustal processes along mid-ocean ridges.;This work focuses on the petrophysical characterization of the root zone of the sheeted dike complex in order to further constrain the hydrothermal circulation system in the vicinity of the axial melt lens, as recorded in non-granoblastic dikes, granoblastic dikes, and varitextured gabbros. The petrophysical properties were determined from sample measurements in the laboratory and were compared to in situ downhole geophysical probing. The porosity structure is bipolar, depending on lithology, resulting in a layered system. Non-granoblastic dikes are generally altered in the greenschist fades (similar to>250 degrees C) with relatively high and interconnected (cementation index m similar to 1.72, electrical tortuosity tau similar to 28.3) porosity (1.5%). In contrast, gabbros are retrogressively metamorphosed in the amphibolite (similar to>450 degrees C) and greenschist facies, with lower porosity (1.3%) that involves numerous fissures and cracks, resulting in a more connected medium (m similar to 1.58, tau similar to 11.8) than non-granoblastic dikes. These cracks are more abundant but also tend to close with increasing depth as indicated in downhole geophysical data. Porosity and alteration, as viewed from surface electrical conductivity, appear to be directly correlated.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00544556
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00544556
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2010.07.013

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
The Atlas Mountains are characterized by high elevations and Quaternary volcanism. Long period magnetotelluric data acquired along a NNW-SSE transect reveal the presence of a conductive anomalous mantle below the High Atlas. Data dimensionality analyses show a preferent N80 degrees E strike of the deep resistivity structure in agreement with the induction vector alignment at long periods. Accordingly, a 2D inversion of the data set was carried out. Large resistive bodies at the crustal basement most likely correspond to batholiths emplaced in more conductive metapelites. They are covered by outcropping conductive sedimentary detritic and carbonate rocks. Lithospheric thinning producing anomalous mantle and basin development in the Atlas probably started during Triassic-Jurassic rifting. Inversion tectonics since the Oligocene produced low shortening on previous lithospheric weak zones, with thrusting of the Atlas above the stable African plate. Melting at the top of the anomalous mantle is connected with Quaternary basaltic volcanism in the Middle Atlas.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00671017
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00671017
DOI : 10.1029/2010TC002859

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Understanding subduction rheology in both space and time has been a challenge since the advent of plate tectonics.We herein focus on "subduction infancy", which corresponds to the first 0-2 My immediately following subductionnucleation, when a newly born slab penetrates into the overriding plate mantle and heats up.The only remnants of this critical, yet elusive, geodynamic step are thin metamorphic soles, commonly found beneathpristine, 100-1000 km long portions of oceanic lithosphere emplaced on top of continents (i.e. ophiolites).In this study, we show how, during subduction infancy, transient mechanical properties of both the mantle and crustacross the subduction plate interface (during 100s ky) control and hinder the penetration of tectonic plates intothe mantle, and how this results in strong peaks of resistance and even slicing of their surface — leaving behindthin, chopped-off metamorphic slivers (i.e. metamorphic soles).These findings constrain the mechanical behaviour of the subduction plate interface (with implications for couplingprocesses and earthquake generation) as well as the properties of the crust and mantle. They also highlight the roleof fluids in enabling subduction to overcome this early resistance.
Geophysical Research Abstracts
Vienne, Austria

insu-01309386
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01309386

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
Analysis of the microstructures in the km-scale mantle shear zone that separates the northern and the central parts of the Lanzo peridotite massif provides evidence of an evolution in time and space of deformation processes accommodating shearing in the shallow mantle within an extensional setting. This shear zone displays an asymmetric distribution of deformation facies. From south to north, gradual reorientation of the foliation of coarse porphyroclastic plagioclase-bearing peridotites is followed by development of protomylonites, mylonites, and mm-scale ultramylonite bands. A sharp grain size gradient marks the northern boundary. Early deformation under near-solidus conditions in the south is recorded by preservation of weakly deformed interstitial plagioclase and almost random clinopyroxene and plagioclase crystal orientations. Feedback between deformation and melt transport probably led to melt focusing and strain weakening in the shear zone. Overprint of melt-rock reaction microstructures by solid-state deformation and decrease in recrystallized grain size in the protomylonites and mylonites indicate continued deformation under decreasing temperature. Less enriched peridotite compositions and absence of ultramafic dykes or widespread melt-impregnation microstructures north of the shear zone and clinopyroxene and amphibole enrichment in the mylonites and ultramylonites suggest that the shear zone acted as both a thermal barrier and a high-permeability channel for late crystallizing fluids. These observations, together with chemical data indicating faster cooling of central Lanzo relative to the northern body, corroborate that this shear zone is a mantle detachment fault. All deformation facies have crystal preferred orientations consistent with deformation by dislocation creep with dominant activation of the (010)[100] and (100)[001] systems in olivine and orthopyroxene, respectively. Dynamic recrystallization produces dispersion of olivine CPO but not a change of dominant deformation mechanism. Evidence for activation of grain boundary sliding is limited to mm-scale ultramylonite bands, where solid-state reactions produced very fine grained polymineralic aggregates. Except for these latest stages of deformation, strain localization does not result from the microstructural evolution; the grain size decrease is a consequence of the need to deform a rock volume whose strength continuously increases because of decreasing temperature conditions. Strain localization in the intermediate levels thus essentially results from the more localizing behavior of both the deep, partially molten, and shallow parts of this extensional shear zone distribution.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00644844
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00644844
DOI : 10.1029/2011GC003627

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
Deciphering Variscan versus Alpine history in the internal Rif system is a key to constraining the tectonic evolution of the Alboran domain and hence the geodynamics of the western Mediterranean system during the Cenozoic. This study focuses on the evolution of the metamorphic envelope of the Beni Bousera massif and its relation to the underlying peridotites. Combining structural geology, metamorphic petrology, and LA-ICP-MS U-Th-Pb dating of monazite, this study contributes to the understanding of the tectonic history of the western internal Rif. The regional foliation (S2) is characterized by LP/HT mineral assemblages and obliterates a former foliation (S1) developed along a barrovian (MP/MT) metamorphic gradient. The dating of some metamorphic monazite grains from a micaschist and a migmatitic gneiss demonstrates that the crustal envelope of the peridotite recorded two distinct tectonometamorphic episodes. Data from monazite inclusions in S1 garnet suggest that the first event, D1, is older than 250-170 Ma and likely related to the Variscan collision, in agreement with the barrovian type of the metamorphic gradient. The second event, D2, is Alpine in age (at circa 21 Ma) and corresponds to a strong lithosphere thinning allowing subsequent subcontinental mantle exhumation. Such a tectonic context provides an explanation for the LP/HT metamorphic gradient that is recorded in the regional foliation of the western Betic-Rif system. This extension is probably related to a subduction slab roll-back in the western end of the Mediterranean realm during the Oligo-Miocene times. No evidences for a Tertiary HP/LT metamorphism have been identified in the studied area
ISSN: 0278-7407

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
insu-01152517
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01152517
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01152517/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01152517/file/gueydan-2015.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/2014TC003769

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer
Résumé : International audience
In the Dent Blanche Tectonic System, the Mont Morion biotite-bearing granite is a km-scale intrusion preserved in a low-strain volume. Zircon saturation thermometry suggests that it crystallised from a melt that reached about 800 °C. U–Pb zircon and allanite geochronology indicates crystallization of the magma in the Permian (290 ± 3 Ma; 280 ± 8 Ma, respectively). Migmatitic biotite-gneiss and amphibolite are found as xenoliths within the Mont Morion granite and constitute its country-rocks. In two samples of migmatitic biotite-gneiss zircon has metamorphic overgrowths that yield U–Pb ages of 285 ± 3 Ma and 281 ± 4 Ma, and are thus contemporaneous with the intrusion of the granite. The Mont Morion granite with its country-rocks of migmatitic biotite-bearing gneiss and amphibolite was thus emplaced at middle crustal levels while amphibolite facies metamorphism affected its country rocks. The magmatic and metamorphic record in the Mont Morion area reflects the high-temperature regime and lithospheric thinning of the Adriatic continental margin during Permian.
ISSN: 1661-8726

insu-01622179
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01622179
DOI : 10.1007/s00015-017-0284-1

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Understanding subduction rheology in both space and time has been a challenge since the advent of plate tectonics. We herein focus on "subduction infancy", that is the first ~1-5 My immediately following subduction nucleation, when a newly born slab penetrates into the upper plate mantle and heats up. The only remnants of this critical yet elusive geodynamic step are thin metamorphic soles, commonly found beneath pristine, 100-1000 km long portions of oceanic lithosphere emplaced on continents (i.e., ophiolites).Through the (i) worldwide compilation of pressure-temperature conditions of metamorphic sole formation augmented by pseudosection thermodynamic modeling, (ii) calculations of the viscosity of materials along the plate interface and (iii) generic numerical thermal models, we provide a conceptual model of dynamic plate interface processes during subduction infancy (and initiation s.l.).We show in particular how major rheological switches across the subduction interface control slab penetration, and the formation of metamorphic soles. Due to the downward progression of hydration and weakening of the mantle wedge with cooling, the lower plate (basalt, sediment) and the upper plate (mantle wedge) rheologies equalize and switch over a restricted temperature-time-depth interval (e.g., at ~800°C and ~1 GPa, during 0.1-2 My, for high-temperature metamorphic sole formation). These switches result in episodes of maximum interplate mechanical coupling, thereby slicing the top of the slab and welding pieces (basalt, sediment) to the base of the mantle wedge. Similar mechanical processes likely apply for the later, deeper accretion and exhumation of high-temperature oceanic eclogites in serpentinite mélanges, or for the accretion of larger tectonic slices.This model provides constraints on the effective rheologies of the crust and mantle and general understanding, at both rock and plate scale, for accretion processes and early slab dynamics.
AGU Fall Meeting 2015
San Francisco, United States

insu-01242103
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01242103

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We use 3-D mechanical modeling representing faults as planar surfaces with frictional properties that obey Coulomb-failure process to explore the long-term slip rates of the Altyn Tagh fault and Kunlun faults in the north Tibetan plateau. Crustal theology is simplified as an elastoplastic upper crust and a viscoelastic lower crust. Far-field GPS velocities and late Quaternary fault slip rates are used to constrain the model results. Rheological tests show that effective fault friction lower than 0.1-0.08 leads to high slip rates that fit with geologically and geodetically determined slip rates of the Kunlun fault (10-11.7 +/- 1.5 mm/yr). Meanwhile, the modeled Altyn Tagh fault reaches slip rates similar to 13.7 mm/yr to similar to 7.8 mm/yr in its central portion, between ranges of the geological slip rates. Associated with high slip rates, our model predicts that central Tibet (similar to 84 degrees E-95 degrees E) from the Altyn Tagh fault to the north of the Himalayan arc accommodates north-south shortening and east-west extension rates of similar to 10-12 mm/yr and similar to 8-10 mm/yr, respectively. We also question the widely accepted idea that interseismic strain is driven at the base of the seismogenic zone by a screw dislocation. If this assumption fails, the presented model implies that interseismic strain around large strike-slip faults could be distributed in a much broader way if the lithosphere deforms as a thin elastic plate rather than an elastic half-space with an embedded dislocation. If this distributed deformation is ignored, and the instantaneous surface deformation field modeled as that resulting from slip on a dislocation below a specified depth embedded in an elastic half-space, the estimated slip rate will inevitably be lower than the true long-term slip rate. This appears to explain why geodetic slip rates proposed for the Altyn Tagh fault (510 mm/yr) are lower than some of the geological slip rates. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00411926
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411926
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.06.049