Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society of London
Résumé : International audience
In Eastern China, the North China Block (NCB) has experienced a complex tectonic evolution during Late Palaeozoic to Mesozoic times. The unconformable sedimentary cover, which ranges in age from Neoproterozoic to Permian, underwent two tectonic episodes in Early Triassic and Cretaceous times. An early north–south compressional phase, D1, characterized by north-verging recumbent folds with east–west-trending axes and top-to-the-north ductile shear zones can be observed in a gabbroic pluton and the Neoproterozoic sedimentary host rocks. The available radiometric ages allow us to interpret this event as an Early Triassic back-thrusting related to the final stage of the collision between the North China and South China Blocks. During the LateMesozoic, an extensional event characterized by (1) half-grabens filled by continental terrigeneous red beds and lava flows, (2) low-angle detachment faults, (3) synkinematic granitic plutons, and (4) metamorphic core complexes is widespread in the Eastern Liaoning Peninsula. This extensional D2 event can be subdivided into a ductile deformation and a brittle deformation, corresponding to different expressions of crustal deformation. In every area studied in the Eastern Liaoning Peninsula, the ductile D2 deformation is characterized by a NW–SE-trending stretching lineation with a top-to-the-NWsense of shear.Mica and amphibole fromthe metamorphic country rocks, granodioritic or monzogranitic plutons and their mylonitized margins yield 40Ar/39Ar ages ranging from 130 to 120 Ma. These dates support fast cooling and exhumation rates coeval with the extensional tectonics. The brittle D2 deformation is responsible for the formation of high-angle normal faults marked by low-temperature cataclasites bounding half-grabens. During the Mesozoic, the tectonic regime of Eastern China experienced a significant inversion from compression to extension. The Eastern Liaoning Peninsula massif provides an example of this geodynamic transition.
ISSN: 2041-4927

hal-00134055
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00134055
DOI : 10.1144/SP280.7

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 Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Correlations between major and minor transition elements in tectonically emplaced orogenic peridotites have been ascribed to variable degrees of melt extraction and melt–rock reaction processes, leading to depletion or refertilization. To elucidate how such processes are recorded in the subcontinental lithospheric mantle, we processed a large geochemical dataset for peridotites from the four tectono-metamorphic domains of the Beni Bousera orogenic massif (Rif Belt, northern Morocco). Our study reveals that variations in bulk-rock major and minor elements, Mg-number and modal mineralogy of lherzolites, as well as their clinopyroxene trace element compositions, are inconsistent with simple partial melting and mainly resulted from different reactions between melts and depleted peridotites. Up to 30% melting at < 3 GPa and cryptic metasomatism can account for the geochemical variations of most harzburgites. In Grt–Sp mylonites, melting and melt–rock reactions are masked by tectonic mixing with garnet pyroxenites and subsolidus re-equilibration. In the rest of the massif, lherzolites were mostly produced by refertilization of a refractory protolith (Mg-number ∼ 91, Ol ∼ 70%, Cpx/Opx = 0·4) via two distinct near-solidus, melt–rock reactions: (1) clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene precipitation and olivine consumption at melt/rock ratios <0·75 and variable mass ratio between crystallized minerals and infiltrated melt (R), which are recorded fairly homogeneously throughout the massif; (2) dissolution of orthopyroxene and precipitation of clinopyroxene and olivine at melt/rock ratios ≤1 and R = 0·2–0·3, which affected mainly the Ariègite–Seiland and Seiland domains. The distribution of secondary lherzolites in the massif suggests that the first refertilization reaction occurred prior to the differentiation of the Beni Bousera mantle section into petro-structural zones, whereas the second reaction was associated with the development of the tectono-metamorphic domains. Our data support a secondary, refertilization-related origin for most lherzolites in orogenic peridotite massifs.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-01526901
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01526901
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egx003

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Ibituruna quartz-syenite was emplaced as a sill in the Ribeira-Aracuai Neoproterozoic belt (Southeastern Brazil) during the last stages of the Gondwana supercontinent amalgamation. We have measured the Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) in samples from the Ibituruna sill to unravel its magnetic fabric that is regarded as a proxy for its magmatic fabric. A large magnetic anisotropy, dominantly due to magnetite, and a consistent magnetic fabric have been determined over the entire Ibituruna massif. The magmatic foliation and lineation are strikingly parallel to the solid-state mylonitic foliation and lineation measured in the country-rock. Altogether, these observations suggest that the Ibituruna sill was emplaced during the high temperature (similar to 750 degrees C) regional deformation and was deformed before full solidification coherently with its country-rock. Unexpectedly, geochronological data suggest a rather different conclusion. LA-ICP-MS and SHRIMP ages of zircons from the Ibituruna quartz-syenite are in the range 530-535 Ma and LA-ICP-MS ages of zircons and monazites from synkinematic leucocratic veins in the country-rocks suggest a crystallization at similar to 570-580 Ma, i.e., an HT deformation >35My older than the emplacement of the Ibituruna quartz-syenite. Conclusions from the structural and the geochronological studies are therefore conflicting. A possible explanation arises from Ar-40-Ar-39 thermochronology. We have dated amphiboles from the quartz-syenite, and amphiboles and biotites from the country-rock. Together with the ages of monazites and zircons in the country-rock, Ar-40-Ar-39 mineral ages suggest a very low cooling rate: <3 degrees C/My between 570 and similar to 500 Ma and similar to 5 degrees C/My between 500 and 460 Ma. Assuming a protracted regional deformation consistent over tens of My, under such stable thermal conditions the fabric and microstructure of deformed rocks may remain almost unchanged even if they underwent and recorded strain pulses separated by long periods of time. This may be a characteristic of slow cooling "hot orogens" that rocks deformed at significantly different periods during the orogeny, but under roughly unchanged temperature conditions, may display almost indiscernible microstructure and fabric.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00445262
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445262
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2009.02.039

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
We report structural evidence of ductile strain localization in mantle pyroxenite from the spinel to plagioclase websterite transition in the Ronda Peridotite (southern Spain). Mapping shows that, in this domain, small-scale shear zones occurring at the base of the lithospheric section are systematically located within thin pyroxenite layers, suggesting that the pyroxenite was locally weaker than the host peridotite. Strain localization is associated with a sudden decrease of grain size and increasing volume fractions of plagioclase and amphibole as a result of a spinel to plagioclase phase transformation reaction during decompression. This reaction also fostered hydrogen extraction ('dehydroxylation') from clinopyroxene producing effective fluid saturation that catalyzed the synkinematic net-transfer reaction. This reaction produced fine-grained olivine and plagioclase, allowing the onset of grain-size sensitive creep and further strain localization in these pyroxenite bands. The strain localization in the pyroxenites is thus explained by their more fertile composition, which allowed earlier onset of the phase transition reactions. Geothermobarometry undertaken on compositionally zoned constituent minerals suggests that this positive feedback between reactions and deformation is associated with cooling from at least 1000°C to 700°C and decompression from 1*0 to 0*5 GPa.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-00941293
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00941293
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egt039

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
The transition zone at the downdip end of seismic coupling along subduction interfaces is often the site of megathrust earthquake nucleation and concentrated postseismic afterslip, as well as the focus site of episodic tremor and slip features. Exhumed remnants of the former Alpine subduction zone found in the Swiss Alps allow analyzing fluid and deformation processes near the transition zone region (30–40 km paleodepth). The Dent Blanche Thrust (DBT) is a lower blueschist-facies shear zone interpreted as a fossilized subduction interface where granitic mylonites overlie a metamorphosed accretionary wedge. We report field observations from the DBT region where multiple, several tens of meters thick foliated cataclastic networks are interlayered within the basal DBT mylonites. Petrological results and microstructural observations indicate that the various cataclasis events took place at near-peak metamorphic conditions (400–500°C, 1.1–1.3 GPa) during subduction of the Tethyan seafloor in Eocene times (42–48 Ma). Some of these networks exhibit mutual crosscutting relationships between mylonites, foliated cataclasites, and vein systems indicating mutual overprinting between brittle deformation and ductile creep. Whole-rock chemical compositions, in situ 40Ar-39Ar age data of recrystallized phengite, and Sr isotopic signatures reveal that DBT rocks also underwent multiple hydrofracturing and metasomatic events via the infiltration of fluids mainly derived from the oceanic metasediments underneath the DBT. From the rock fabrics, we infer strain rate fluctuations of several orders of magnitude beyond subduction strain rates (∼10−12 s−1) accompanied by fluctuation of supralithostatic and quasi-lithostatic fluid pressures (1 ≥ λ > 0.95). DBT brittle-plastic deformation switches highlight the diversity of deformation processes and fluid-rock interactions in the transition zone region of the subduction interface.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-01243526
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01243526
DOI : 10.1002/2015GC005776

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
We make this reply to Philippe Oliver's comments on the deformation of the Mesozoic cover of the northern Agly massif.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00903419
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903419
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903419/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903419/file/Vauchez_et_al-2013-Tectonics.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/tect.20061

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD SpringerOpen
Résumé : The Karakorum Fault zone (KFZ) plays an important role in understanding the formation, evolvement and deformation of the Tibetan Plateau. The high-T dextral shearing metamorphic rocks, e.g., mylonites or mylonitized gneisses-granites, locally crop out along the southeastern part of the KFZ in the Ayila Ri'gyü Range area. The SHRIMP U-Pb dating of the syn-kinematic crystallized zircons indicates that the initial age of the KFZ is ∼27 Ma, ∼10 Ma older than previous results. The extensive high-T dextral shearing along the KFZ started at least at 27–20 Ma, accompanied by the syn-kinematic emplacement of leuco-granites. Deformation and concomitant fluid circulation during shearing most likely occurred as early as at 25–13 Ma. The KFZ probably grew from southeast to northwest along the fault as a result of continuous convergence between the India plate and Eurasia plate.
ISSN: 1001-6538

hal-00406402
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00406402
DOI : 10.1007/s11434-007-0164-6

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : Structural, metamorphic, and geochronologic work shows that the Ampelos/Dilek nappe of the Cycladic blueschist unit in the eastern Aegean constitutes a wedge of high-pressure rocks extruded during early stages of orogeny. The extrusion wedge formed during the incipient collision of the Anatolian microcontinent with Eurasia when subduction and deep underthrusting ceased and the Ampelos/Dilek nappe was thrust southward over the greenschist-facies Menderes nappes along its lower tectonic contact, the Cycladic-Menderes thrust, effectively cutting out a ∼30- to 40-km-thick section of crust. The upper contact of the Ampelos/Dilek extrusion wedge is the top-to-the-NE Selçuk normal shear zone, along which the Ampelos/Dilek nappe was exhumed by ∼30–40 km. Detailed Rb-Sr and 40Ar/39Ar dating of mylonites demonstrates that both shear zones operated between 42 and 32 Ma. There is no evidence for episodic motion during the ∼10 Myr life span of the shear zones, suggesting that both shear zones operated in a steady, nonepisodic fashion. Our data provide supporting evidence that simultaneous thrust-type and normal sense shearing can accomplish the early exhumation of deep-seated rocks
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-00405013
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00405013
DOI : 10.1029/2005TC001872

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
The Ronda peridotite massif in Southern Spain shows a well-defined 'recrystallization' front that separates a large-scale partial melting domain formed at the expense of the continental lithospheric mantle from a 'preserved' lithospheric domain. To investigate the processes allowing a transient lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary to propagate in the lithospheric mantle, we performed a joint petrostructural and geochemical study of an similar to 2.5 km(2) zone extending from the melting front to the mylonites that mark the western limit of the massif. This study emphasizes a feedback between heat transfer, melt percolation, and deformation in the lithospheric mantle. Petrographical observations and geochemical data show that heterogeneous reactive percolation of melts produced in the underlying partial melting domain led to refertilization of lithospheric peridotites up to 1.5 km ahead from the melting front, producing metre-scale layering of fertile and refractory mantle rocks. Within 800 m from the front, pre-existing garnet pyroxenite layers were partially molten and the resulting melts probably contributed to the refertilization process. Detailed structural mapping and analysis of the microstructures and crystal preferred orientations highlight the relations between reactive melt transport and deformation, and the control of the temperature gradient on both processes. Parallelism between the recrystallization front, compositional boundaries, and deformation structures, as well as variations in the deformation intensity of pyroxenes and spinels, suggest syn- to late-tectonic melt transport controlled by both the deformation and the thermal gradient. Variations in the strength of olivine crystal preferred orientations as a function of the modal and chemical composition of the spinel tectonites point to a higher contribution of diffusion to deformation in the most fertile rocks, corroborating the hypothesis that deformation occurred in presence of melt. Finally, the systematic dispersion of olivine [100] and orthopyroxene [001] axes in the foliation plane suggests a dominantly transpressive deformation regime.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-00420904
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00420904
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egp032

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
To constrain the relations between deformation and metasomatism in the subcratonic lithospheric mantle, we have analyzed the microstructures and crystal preferred orientations in 50 mantle xenoliths from the Kaapvaal craton. Water contents in olivine and pyroxenes were measured in 14 samples equilibrated at different depths. Coarse-granular microstructures recording deformation by dislocation creep followed by annealing predominate. Mylonitic (sheared) peridotites with partially or totally recrystallized microstructures are however common below 140 km. Refractory compositions predominate, but multiple metasomatic events resulted in orthopyroxene enrichment or secondary crystallization of clinopyroxene and phlogopite. Coherent orthopyroxene and olivine CPO in most coarse-grained peridotites implies in pre- to syn-kinematic orthopyroxene enrichment or epitaxial growth on primary orthopyroxene. Undeformed, interstitial orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and phlogopite with random orientations in coarse-grained peridotites record post-kinematic modal metasomatic events. Deformation of these phases in the sheared peridotites implies that mylonitization results from a later event, which affected locally the deep cratonic lithosphere. Olivine CPO recording dominant [100] glide predominate at all depths. Only two samples, equilibrated at ~ 3.3 GPa show olivine [001] and orthopyroxene [001] axes subparallel, suggesting dominant [001] glide. Water contents in olivine are maximum (150 wt. ppm H2O) in peridotites equilibrated at ~ 160 km depth. Peridotites equilibrated below 180 km depth are, in contrast, almost dry. Lack of correlation between olivine mg# and water content indicates that the high water contents in olivine record re-hydration after the extensive partial melting, which produced the cratonic root. The vertical variation in water contents in olivine observed in the Kaapvaal peridotites may result from hydrogen addition or loss during extraction by the kimberlites. Comparison with magnetotelluric electrical conductivity data suggests, however, that the observed vertical variation of water contents in olivine may be representative of the present-day state of the Kaapvaal mantle, implying that extensive metasomatism resulted in hydration of the cratonic mantle at intermediate depths. The annealed microstructures of Kaapvaal peridotites indicate however that this metasomatism was not followed by remobilization of the cratonic root.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00750328
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00750328
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2012.05.001

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
High-grade migmatitic and mylonitic gneisses from the Day Nui Con Voi massif in northern Vietnam record temperatures of 760-810 °C at pressures of 6-10 kbars. High temperature conditions have resulted in the development of major element diffusional profiles in garnet. Laser ablation ICP-MS analyses of trace elements indicate that REE and Hf closely followed Rayleigh-like fractionation trends but underwent significant post-crystallization modification. Light REE and to a lesser extent, HREE rim-to-rim zonation profiles show progressive flattening with the decreasing garnet size. Nd and Sm are completely homogenized in the crystals smaller than 1.5 mm, while Lu always preserves variable degrees of core-to-rim concentration gradient. The observed REE patterns are interpreted as resulting from the combination of protracted garnet growth of progressively smaller crystals and intracrystalline diffusion. This had profound influence on Sm-Nd geochronology and resulted in isochron ages ranging from 50 to 32 Ma. The youngest age was obtained for a sample, where all garnet crystals are smaller than 2 mm in which light REE profiles are completely or nearly completely homogenized. Thus, only the youngest age represents geologically meaningful event, and 31.7 ± 0.9 Ma age is interpreted as the best estimate of the resetting episode due to high temperature diffusional homogenization of light REE during early Oligocene metamorphism. Older Sm-Nd ages reflect mixed analyses of variably reset individual garnet crystals. Lu-Hf isotopic analyses of bulk garnet fractions, despite yielding high parent/daughter isotopic ratios appeared very scattered and did not allow defining isochron ages. Instead, apparent ages defined by whole rock and individual garnet fractions range from c. 80 to 160 Ma. Very old apparent ages are interpreted as being the consequence of intracrystalline Lu diffusion and preservation of the original Hf distribution, which leads to lower 176Lu/177Hf ratios, and thus steeper (older) isochrons. Back diffusion of Lu during commonly observed resorption played a subordinate role in modifying isotope systematics.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-00813949
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00813949
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2012.04.024

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This study provides new Ar-40/Ar-39 geochronological constraints on the age of the Alpine tectonics in the Aspromonte Massif (southern part of the Calabrian-Peloritan belt). This massif exposes the upper units of the Calabride Complex which originated from the European continental margin. The Calabride Complex was incorporated in the Alpine orogenic wedge and then integrated into the Apennines and Maghrebides fold- and-thrust belts. Throughout the Calabride Complex there is evidence for a two stage tectonic history, which remains however rather poorly dated: Alpine nappe stacking is followed by extensional reworking along the former thrust contacts or along new detachment surfaces. Our new ages suggest that exhumation of the uppermost units, which accompanied nappe stacking, probably started at 45 Ma and that the deepest units were almost completely exhumed at 33 Ma. This kinematics probably corresponds to syn-orogenic extension while the end of exhumation is clearly related to the extensional tectonics dated at 28.6 Ma along detachment structures.;Our geochronological data reveal a very short lag time between accretional and extensional processes in this part of the Mediterranean Alpine orogenic belt. The direction of extension, when the units are restored to their initial position (i.e. before the opening of the Western Mediterranean basins and the bending of the arc) is NNE-SSW. Such a direction does not fit with the eastward slab-retreat model generally put forward to explain extension in the Western Mediterranean. In contrast, we provide evidence for roughly N-S middle Oligocene extension in the accretionary prism, not previously described in this part of the Mediterranean domain.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00475649
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00475649
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2009.10.011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Masson
Résumé : In Vietnam, the Triassic Indosinian collision affected coevally the Truong Son belt and the Kontum Massif,which were not independent tectonic units, but parts of the same Gondwana-derived Indochina continental block. This thermotectonic event took place synchronously throughout Vietnam, during the Lower Triassic 250-240-Ma time interval, as demonstrated by numerous geochronological data, combining Ar-Ar and U-Pb dating methods. Structural and kinematic investigations, in the Indosinian metamorphic rocks, reveal that the collisional process resulted from a consistent northwest-striking convergence of Indochina with respect to the adjacent blocks. It is suggested that this motion was taken up by a pair of opposite subduction zones: to the north, beneath South China, and to the west, beneath western Indochina, along the Song Ma and Po Ko sutures, respectively. Tectonic markers, calc-alkaline subduction-related volcanism and granitic intrusions and the generation of high-pressure rocks that have been recently discovered support this geodynamic setting, at least along Po Ko. Along the northwest-trending Song Ma zone, the obliquity of the convergence during subduction and subsequent collision resulted in the development, within the Truong Son Belt, of a set of subparallel dextral mylonitic shear zones, under amphibolite-facies metamorphism. The intermediate segments remained weakly metamorphic or even almost devoid of metamorphism. Along Po Ko, the convergence was near-orthogonal, with a left-lateral strike-slip component; the ongoing continental subduction resulted in the reworking of the Kontum granulitic basement and the development of Indosinian HP granulitic conditions; the subsequent extension-related exhumation operated approximately in the same northwestwards direction. This Indosinian evolution, applied on a continental crust that had been probably affected, as in South China, by a Caledonian-related event, as judged by the general unconformity of the Lower Devonian sediments, the widespread occurrence of magmatic crystallisation ages of ca 450 Ma (Ordovician-Silurian), and by the approximately similar age of the primary granulitic episode in the Kontum Massif. The similarities of the Devonian facies over central, northern Vietnam and South China imply a land connection, possibly as a consequence of a Caledonian collision along Song Ma, but this does not preclude a further oceanic opening and a closure during the Indosinian.
ISSN: 1631-0713

hal-00411591
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411591
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2007.10.005

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
In the Oman ophiolite, the large scale Makhibiyah shear zone, in Wadi Tayin massif was generated with no or little relative motion between the two adjacent blocks, in contrast with what is reported from otherwise similar shear zones in deep crust and upper mantle. This shear zone is asymmetrical with, along one margin an asthenospheric mantle (similar to 1200 degrees C) and along the adjacent margin, a lithospheric mantle (similar to 1000 degrees C). Within the hotter side and with increasing shear strain, horizontal flow lines smoothly swing towards the shear zone direction before abutting against the wall of the lithosphere side. Profuse mafic melts issued from the hotter mantle are frozen in the shear zone by cooling along this lithospheric wall. Tectonic and magmatic activities are entirely localized within the asthenospheric compartment. Mantle flow lines were rotated, during their channelling along this NW-SE shear zone, in the NW and SE opposite directions. Depending on whether the flow lines are deviated NW or SE, dextral or sinistral shear sense is recorded in the shear band mylonitic peridotites. This demonstrates that the shear zone was not generated by strike-slip motion, a conclusion supported by regional observations.
ISSN: 0954-4879

hal-00411334
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411334
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2008.00806.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Thermal diffusivity of synthetic quartz single-crystals and natural polycrystalline aggregates were measured using a modified Angstrom method at ambient pressure and up to 800 degrees C in order to investigate the effect of crystal preferred orientation on thermal diffusivity of quartz rich rocks. The thermal diffusivity tensor of quartz was determined by measuring the thermal diffusivity of an oriented synthetic quartz single-crystal along the [100] and [001] directions. A naturally deformed, fine-grained quartzite mylonite, was used to compare the single crystal properties with aggregate properties. Using the crystal preferred orientations (CPO) measured by the Electron Back Scattered Diffraction (EBSD) method and the measured thermal diffusivity tensor of quartz, the three-dimensional aggregate thermal diffusivity was modelled using volume averaging models. In order to test the validity of these models that are only based on the properties of the constituent minerals, the thermal diffusivity was then measured on oriented cores as a function of temperature, along three orthogonal directions, parallel to the (X-lineation, Y, Z-pole to foliation) structural frame. Both modelled and direct measurement of thermal diffusivity show an anisotropy of thermal diffusivity, heat transport being more effective parallel to Y-direction and less effective parallel to the lineation X-direction. Thermal diffusivities measured in a given direction on the natural rock are lower by less than 10% than the modelled thermal diffusivity in the same direction, showing that rock imperfections have a weak effect on heat transport. In addition, the modelled thermal diffusivity anisotropy based on the characterization of crystal orientations and thermal diffusivity tensor shows a good agreement with measurements in both alpha and beta stability field. This validation of the petrophysical simulation allows for evaluating the 3D thermal diffusivity of quartz rich rocks in different crustal conditions. The 3D thermal diffusivity of five naturally deformed quartzites displaying quartz fabrics expected in different crustal pressure and temperature ranges were simulated. The resulting thermal diffusivity anisotropies of quartzites range between 40% and 10%, depending on temperature, crystallographic fabric patterns and fabric strength. Under crustal conditions, quartzites deformed in the granulite facies display a high thermal diffusivity in the (XZ) foliation plane, whereas quartzites deformed in greenschist facies have highest thermal diffusivity in the (Z) direction normal to the foliation plane.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00413568
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00413568
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2008.11.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Masson
Résumé : International audience
Although they are famous among Earth scientists, the Lherz peridotites are exposed within geological formations of the North Pyrenean Zone (NPZ) still lacking detailed investigations. Our study focuses on the metasediments of the Aulus basin hosting the Lherz peridotite body and associated ultramafic fragments of smaller size. The new data set comprises of structural analysis and detailed geological mapping of the massive Mesozoic marbles that form the prerift sequence typical of the NPZ and of the ultramafic-rich clastic breccia formations surrounding the peridotite bodies. The massive marbles display an evolution from hot and ductile to cold and brittle deformation, indicative of an exhumation process ending with the sedimentary reworking of both the deformed Mesozoic metasediments and the exhumed ultramafic rocks. Crystal Preferred Orientations (CPO) measured in the marbles support a deformation mechanism by dislocation creep of calcite, which is dominant between 400 8C and 600 8C; these deformation temperatures are within the range determined earlier by Clerc et al. (2015), using RSCM (Raman Spectroscopy of Carbonaceous Material) geothermometry. As a consequence, we better describe the transition from ductile to brittle deformation in the prerift marbles and clarify the origin of the syn-rift breccias. Due to continuous exhumation along detachments' faults, the brecciated metamorphic carbonates of the prerift NPZ sedimentary cover were passively uplifted towards shallower levels and progressively unroofed, while transported passively on the back of the exhumed ultramafic footwall. These results are consistent with the recent interpretations of the North Pyrenean peridotites as remnants of subcontinental mantle rocks exhumed within the pre-Pyrenean rift system. We emphasize the importance of tectonic decoupling between the Mesozoic sedimentary cover and the Palaeozoic basement, which leads to the juxtaposition of metamorphosed and deformed Mesozoic Please cite this article in press as: Lagabrielle Y, et al. Very high geothermal gradient during mantle exhumation recorded in mylonitic marbles and carbonate breccias from a Mesozoic Pyrenean palaeomargin (Lherz area, North Pyrenean Zone, France). C. R. Geoscience (2016), http://dx.
ISSN: 1631-0713

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/
insu-01285079
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01285079
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01285079/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01285079/file/1-s2.0-S1631071315002060-main.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2015.11.004

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Hot collisional orogens are characterized by abundant syn-kinematic granitic magmatism that profoundly affects their tectono-thermal evolutions. Voluminous granitic magmas, emplaced between 360 and 270 Ma, played a visibly important role in the evolution of the Variscan Orogen. In the Limousin region (western Massif Central, France), syntectonic granite plutons are spatially associated with major strike-slip shear zones that merge to the northwest with the South Armorican Shear Zone. This region allowed us to assess the role of magmatism in a hot transpressional orogen. Microstructural data and U/Pb zircon and monazite ages from a mylonitic leucogranite indicate synkinematic emplacement in a dextral transpressional shear zone at 313 +/- 4 Ma. Leucogranites are coeval with cordierite-bearing migmatitic gneisses and vertical lenses of leucosome in strike-slip shear zones. We interpret U/Pb monazite ages of 315 +/- 4 Ma for the gneisses and 316 +/- 2 Ma for the leucosomes as the minimum age of high-grade metamorphism and migmatization respectively. These data suggest a spatial and temporal relationship between transpression, crustal melting, rapid exhumation and magma ascent, and cooling of high-grade metamorphic rocks.;Some granites emplaced in the strike-slip shear zone are bounded at their roof by low dip normal faults that strike N-S, perpendicular to the E-W trend of the belt. The abundant crustal magmatism provided a low-viscosity zone that enhanced Variscan orogenic collapse during continued transpression, inducing the development of normal faults in the transpression zone and thrust faults at the front of the collapsed orogen.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00445260
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445260
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2009.03.022

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The late Carboniferous accretionary system of the South Tianshan orogen (North-Western China) underwent complex structural and polymetamorphic evolution. Combined petrological, geochronological and microstructural analysis of (ultra)high-pressure (UHP) metabasites (eclogites and blueschists) enclosed in metapelites show a relict coarse-grained eclogitic fabric S2 surrounded by a dominant fine-grained eclogite and blueschist facies retrograde fabric S2. The S2 fabric is reworked by upright folds F3 that are responsible for a major shortening of the whole accretionary system. For both the eclogite and blueschist, peak and retrograde P–T conditions have been thermodynamically constrained at 25–26 kbar and 425–500 °C and 10–13 kbar and 500−550 °C respectively, suggesting a shared exhumation history. The garnet-whole rock-amphibole isochron in the blueschist yielded Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd ages of 326.0 ± 2.9 Ma and 318.4 ± 3.9 Ma respectively, interpreted to date the prograde to peak metamorphic assemblage. The retrograde path of the eclogite is characterized by heterogeneous omphacite recrystallization into a mylonitic fine-grained matrix and crystallization of blue amphibole. Microstructures in both pristine porphyroclastic and recrystallized fine-grained domains in the eclogite indicate a gradual evolution from constriction-dominated (L>S-type) to flattening-dominated (S>L-type) type of deformation, increase of fabric intensity reflected by gradually growing M-indexes and the development of lattice preferred orientation (LPO) typical for dislocation creep under slightly hydrated conditions. Recrystallization of the matrix in the blueschist is homogeneous, which indicates a matrix dominated channel flow during exhumation. These LPOs evolutions suggest a significant mechanical coupling with the upper plate concomitant with oroclinal bending of the Kazakh orocline. Lock up of Kazakh orocline is responsible for further stress increase resulting in horizontal shortening of South Tianshan accretionary wedge and development of D3 upright folding and steepening of the whole sequence.
ISSN: 1342-937X

hal-01481263
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01481263
DOI : 10.1016/j.gr.2016.07.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society of London
Résumé : International audience
The mylonitic Cambrian quartzites, Moine Thrust Zone, NW Scotland, have long been used to study microstructural and petrofabric evolution and to develop understanding of grain-scale processes accommodating large-scale displacements. Today, structural geology is entering a new age of understanding of the basic processes involved in microstructural evolution due to the emergence of novel instrumental techniques and theoretical models. It seems apposite therefore to re-evaluate the microstructure of one example of this classic quartz mylonite from the Stack of Glencoul, Assynt, using arguably the most important of these new techniques, electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). The three-dimensional (3D) microstructure and petrofabric of this rock was analysed using EBSD, to: 1) corroborate previous optical and X-ray texture goniometry measurements; 2) investigate the potential for sampling and/or tectonic sectioning bias that may be introduced inadvertently into any petrofabric analysis; and 3) predict its seismic properties. It is found that microstructures do differ between orthogonal structural sections, leading to variations in strengths of different components in the overall petrofabric that might impact on seismic properties. The results emphasize the true 3D nature of microstructures and petrofabrics, which can be recognized and accommodated more readily by this new generation of analytical techniques.
Continental Tectonics and Mountain Building: The Legacy of Peach and Horne

hal-00565749
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00565749