Where are the limits of Mesozoic intracontinental sedimentary basins of southern France?

International audienceReconstitution of the geometry of sedimentary basins is fundamental to understand the nature of present sedimentary rocks and the economic potential in hydrocarbon and mineral resources. Present-day topography of southern France shows elevations growing between the Meso-Cenozoic Aquitaine Basin to the South-East Basin across the Variscan domain and the Jurassic Causses small basin with maximum relief in the Cévennes area. Present-day elevation offset is of approximately 1000 m. This geometry questions the paleogeography and dynamics of these various domains and the relative elevation of the Variscan domain during the subsidence of adjacent Aquitaine and South-East Basins. In this study, we investigate the geological history of the Variscan basement high and the Causses small basin using paleotemperatures deduced from organic matter analysis, low temperature thermochronology and regional geological constraints.Lower Jurassic (upper Pliensbachian and Toarcian) marls sampled across the area from the Aquitaine Basin to the South-East Basin have similar depositional environments containing mainly type III oganic matter, and close Tmax values ranging between 430 and 440 ± 2 °C. These data show that the entire south Massif Central has undergone a similar burial history. considering that these values are explained by burial. Low temperature thermochronology data have been acquired on basement rocks outcropping on the borders of sedimentary basins (Rouergue, Cévennes and Margeride). Fission-track ages are ranging between 74 ± 5 and 187 ± 6 Ma and track lengths between 11.5 ± 0.3 and 13.6 ± 0.1 μm; apatite (U–Th)/He corrected ages are ranging between 65 ± 5 and 184 ± 15 Ma. Data inversion with the software QTQt indicates a cooling episode starting at the end of Early Cretaceous or beginning of Late Cretaceous from maximum temperature of 100 ± 10 °C in the Rouergue and Cévennes area and from 80 ± 10 °C in most of the Margeride area.Thermal indicators are compatible with the erosion of a Middle/Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous sedimentary cover of 1400 ± 400 m assuming a thermal paleogradient of 35 °C/km. The preserved sedimentary cover attests of a Middle and Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous sedimentary cover of 1000–2000m in the Aquitaine and South-East basins. This erosion phase occurred during mid-Cretaceous and is associated to a major geodynamical event characterized by large amplitude (from the Aquitaine Basin to Durancian doming in the South-East Basin) and by kilometric offset. We interpret also these data to show that marine connections have existed between the Aquitaine Basin and the South-East Basin during the Jurassic and likely Early Cretaceous. The present-day morphology of the area has then been acquired after Cretaceous times and may result from the Pyrenean orogenic event during Eocene times

Evidence and origin of different types of sedimentary organic matter from a Paleoproterozoic orogenic Au deposit

Carbonaceous material (CM) is thought to be a key reductant contributing to the formation of large Au deposits, but there has been much speculation about its source, molecular composition and reactivity. The first successful analytical retrieval of organic compounds from a thermally over-mature ( > 550 °C) Paleoproterozoic Cosmo-Howley Orogenic Au deposit was recently achieved by Robert et al. (2016). Here, we have evaluated the nature of the CM associated with this high temperature Au mineralisation via an integrated analytical approach which combined high-resolution in situ laser Raman spectroscopy, micro to nano-scale imaging (e.g., EELS, HAADF-STEM, and HRTEM) and molecular and isotopic geochemistry. We identified two distinct CM types: CM ker – an ubiquitous highly graphitic kerogen typical of high-grade metamorphic conditions formed by regional metamorphism; and CM fd – small sub-microscopic inclusion-like nodules of highly disordered carbon rich in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), coincident within the Au-bearing sulfide minerals in hydrothermal vein regions. The paragenetic emplacement and molecular characteristics of CM fd suggests a formation by metasomatic processes and introduction by a hydrothermal fluid which might also have co-transported Au. CM ker and CM fd gave different Raman spectra indicative of their contrasting origin and structural response to regional and contact metamorphic history and subsequent metasomatism of the Cosmo-Howley deposit. Raman signals indicated CM ker had a graphitic like structure whereas CM fd comprised high concentrations or clusters of PAHs. The broad range of Raman spectra detected here (and by others in similar studies) was likely due to the mixed signals of these two types of CM. The d 13 C values of PAH products released via the HyPy treatment of the parent and sequentially demineralised kerogen fractions were measured to be in the range of -20 to -30‰, indicative of an organic biopolymeric origin. The d 13 C values of PAHs products decreased with demineralisation, concomitant with an increase in their concentrations and affinity to the sulfide-minerals (and associated CM fd ) suggesting a close relationship. The localised (within 20 mm) co-occurrence of different CM types and apparent abundance correlation of CM fd with Au and sulfides suggests Au mineralisation might be supported by specific CM types, and these relationships should be evaluated further including on a wider Au deposit scale