Syntectonic crustal melting and high-grade metamorphism in a transpressional regime, Variscan Massif Central, France

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. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Meteoric water circulation in a rolling-hinge detachment system (northern snake range core complex, Nevada)

Combined petrofabric, microstructural, stable isotopic, and 40Ar/39Ar geochronologic data provide a new perspective on the Cenozoic evolution of the northern Snake Range metamorphic core complex in east-central Nevada. This core complex is bounded by the northern Snake Range detachment, interpreted as a rolling-hinge detachment, and by an underlying shear zone that is dominated by muscovite-bearing quartzite mylonite and interlayered micaschist. In addition to petrofabric, microstructural analysis, and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology, we use hydrogen isotope ratios (δD) in synkinematic white mica to characterize fluid-rock interaction across the rolling-hinge detachment. Results indicate that the western flank of the range preserves mostly Eocene deformation (49-45 Ma), characterized by coaxial quartz fabrics and the dominant presence of metamorphic fluids, although the imprint of meteoric fluids increases structurally downward and culminates in a shear zone with a white mica 40Ar/39Ar plateau age of ca. 27 Ma. In contrast, the eastern flank of the range displays pervasive noncoaxial (top-tothe-east) fabrics defined by white mica that formed in the presence of meteoric fluids and yield Oligo cene-Miocene 40Ar/39Ar ages (27-21 Ma). Evolution of the Oligocene-Miocene rolling-hinge detachment controlled where and when faulting was active or became inactive owing to rotation, and therefore where fluids were able to circulate from the surface to the brittle-ductile transition. On the western flank (rotated detachment), faulting became inactive early, while continued active faulting on the eastern flank of the detachment allowed surface fluids to reach the mylonitic quartzite. The combined effects of synkinematic recrystallization and fluid inter action reset argon and hydrogen isotope ratios in white mica until the early Miocene (ca. 21 Ma), when the brittle-ductile transition was exhumed beneath the detachment

Deformation and magnetic fabrics in ductile shear zones: A review

The Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) is a well-established petrofabric tool for indicating relative strain and microstructural character and has been validated on various rock types and different structural settings. The magnetic susceptibility of a rock (K) depends primarily on the nature and abundance of magnetic minerals. The physical arrangement and lattice-preferred orientation of these magnetic minerals give rise to magnetic anisotropy. The AMS scalar parameters most commonly used to constrain strain include the corrected degree of anisotropy (P'> 1), a proxy for fabric intensity, and the shape factor (- 1 ≤ T≤ + 1), an indicator of the magnetic fabric symmetry (prolate vs. oblate).A number of studies have shown that a positive correlation generally exists between P' and strain. Thus, the AMS shows a great potential as a tool for examining deformation in geologic structures characterized by large strain gradients such as shear zones. However, a number of caveats exist: (i) The increase of P' with strain cannot be solely attributed to deformation because P' also increases with K regardless of deformation; (ii) Strain across shear zones is typically heterogeneous and is often localized in units of different lithology, thus making the separation of the lithological and strain controls on AMS difficult; also, deformation is commonly accompanied by mineral segregation or fluid-rock interaction that induces changes in magnetic mineralogy; (iii) Even if the undeformed lithology was uniform across a shear zone, variations in strain rate or temperature may result in different deformation mechanisms; hence, the relationship between P' and strain depends strongly on both the mineral carriers of AMS and on deformation mechanisms; and (iv) The AMS is unable to resolve composite fabrics, such as those resulting from S-C structures, where minerals on the C and S planes, respectively, contribute to AMS

Coupled basin-detachment systems as paleoaltimetry archives of the western North American Cordillera

Stable isotope paleoaltimetry data from the Snake Range metamorphic core complex (MCC) and Sacramento Pass Basin (NV, USA) document that extensional mylonite zones and kinematically linked syntectonic basins reliably record paleotopography in the continental interior of western North America when compared to a sea-level reference. Here we show that this basin-MCC pair tracks meteoric fluid flow at different levels of actively extending crust in a high-topography region during Oligo-Miocene extension of the Basin and Range Province. For paleoaltimetry purposes we compare multi-proxy oxygen (δ 18O) and hydrogen (δD) isotope data as well as geochronological information from the Snake Range MCC to a time-equivalent (ca. 20Ma) stable isotopic proxy record from the Buckskin Mountains MCC (AZ, USA), which developed next to the Pacific Coast near Miocene sea level. We complement this paleoaltimetry study by comparing the Buckskin Mountains MCC data with older (~35Ma) lacustrine stable isotope and paleofloral records from the nearby House Range (UT, USA), whose paleoelevation has been determined independently through paleobotanical analysis. Each of the investigated compartments of the paleohydrologic system within the Snake Range MCC depicts a coherent scenario of low Oligo-Miocene δ 18O and δD values of meteoric water that reflect precipitation sourced at high elevation. A 77‰ difference in δD water between the Snake Range (δD water~-113‰) and the Buckskin Mountains (δD water~-36‰) is consistent with minimum mean paleoelevation of the Snake Range of about 3850±650m above Miocene sea level. Additional support for such elevations comes from a comparison between the Buckskin Mountains MCC and the Eocene House Range basin (UT, USA) where differences in δ 18O water values are consistent with 2300±500m minimum paleoelevation of the House Range. Based on the presence of brecciated rock-avalanche deposits within the Sacramento Pass Basin, we conclude that the Snake Range was a topographic high and locus of significant relief during regional scale extension within the Cordilleran hinterland. © 2012 Elsevier B.V

Eocene and Miocene extension, meteoric fluid infiltration, and core complex formation in the Great Basin (Raft River Mountains, Utah)

Metamorphic core complexes (MCCs) in the North American Cordillera reflect the effects of lithospheric extension and contribute to crustal adjustments both during and after a protracted subduction history along the Pacific plate margin. While the Miocene-to-recent history of most MCCs in the Great Basin, including the Raft River-Albion-Grouse Creek MCC, is well documented, early Cenozoic tectonic fabrics are commonly severely overprinted. We present stable isotope, geochronological (40Ar/39Ar), and microstructural data from the Raft River detachment shear zone. Hydrogen isotope ratios of syntectonic white mica (δ2Hms) from mylonitic quartzite within the shear zone are very low (-90‰ to -154‰, Vienna SMOW) and result from multiphase synkinematic interaction with surface-derived fluids. 40Ar/39Ar geochronology reveals Eocene (re)crystallization of white mica with δ2Hms ≥ -154‰ in quartzite mylonite of the western segment of the detachment system. These δ2Hms values are distinctively lower than in localities farther east (δ2Hms ≥ -125‰), where 40Ar/39Ar geochronological data indicate Miocene (18-15 Ma) extensional shearing and mylonitic fabric formation. These data indicate that very low δ2H surface-derived fluids penetrated the brittle-ductile transition as early as the mid-Eocene during a first phase of exhumation along a detachment rooted to the east. In the eastern part of the core complex, prominent top-to-the-east ductile shearing, mid-Miocene 40Ar/39Ar ages, and higher δ2H values of recrystallized white mica, indicate Miocene structural and isotopic overprinting of Eocene fabrics

Miocene paleoaltimetry of the Mt. Everest region

Abstract HKT-ISTP 2013 A

Deformation coupling between the Archean Pukaskwa intrusive complex and the Hemlo shear zone, Superior Province, Canada

Archean greenstone belts typically form narrow sheared basins separating bulbous tonalo-trondjhemo-granodioritic (TTG) intrusive complexes. The role played by gravity in the development of such dome-and-keel structures constitutes a key question in Archean tectonics. The Pukaskwa intrusive complex (PIC)-Hemlo greenstone belt system stands as a remarkable example of the dome-and-keel architecture that commonly occurs in Archean terrains. Abundant strain markers in the greenstone belt and in the Hemlo shear zone (HSZ) attest of late sinistral strike-slip kinematics (D2) whereas, in general, the quartzofeldspathic coarse-grained rocks of the Pukaskwa intrusive complex bear little macroscopically visible kinematic indicators, most likely due to pervasive recrystallization. The PIC consists dominantly of a heterogeneous assemblage of TTG plutonic rocks and gneisses, which overall are less dense than the greenstone rocks. The study of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS), based on 120 stations and 1947 specimens from the PIC, reveals east-west trending prolate and plano-linear fabrics across the northern margin of the complex, i.e., along the HSZ. Since geotherms were higher in the Archean than in the present, the effective viscosity of the TTG units would have been sufficiently low to allow their diapiric ascent through denser greenstone rocks. Here we propose an alternative model where thrust tectonics is responsible for the early structuration of the PIC. Later transpressive tectonics causes strain localization along internal strike-slip shear zones and along lithological boundaries. © 2013 Elsevier B.V

Late Carboniferous paleoelevation of the Variscan Belt of Western Europe

Received 9 September 2020 Received in revised form 17 May 2021 Accepted 13 June 2021 Available online xxxx Editor: J.-P. Avouac Keywords: stable isotope paleoaltimetry meteoric fluids shear zone detachment Variscan Carboniferous 1. Introduction The Variscan belt, extending from South America to East Asia through North America and Central Europe, is a Himalayan-type collision belt that resulted from protracted convergence between the Laurentia-Baltica and Gondwana lithospheric plates between ∼ 410 and ∼ 310 Ma (e.g. Matte, 2001). This extensive mountain belt exposes vast amounts of granites, migmatitic complexes and granulite facies rocks and is considered a “hot orogen” character- ized by crustal thickening, syntectonic crustal melting, high-grade metamorphism, and syn- to post-convergence gravitational col- lapse (Fig. 1; e.g. Gébelin et al., 2009; Vanderhaeghe et al., 2020). * Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (C. Dusséaux). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.117064 0012-821X/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. abstract We present the first stable isotope paleoaltimetry estimates for the hinterland of the eroded Variscan Belt of Western Europe based on the hydrogen isotope ratios of muscovite from syntectonic leucogranites that have been emplaced at ∼ 315 Ma. We focus on the Limousin region (Western Massif Central, France) where peraluminous granites are spatially associated with strike-slip and detachment shear zones that developed as a consequence of Late Carboniferous syn- to post-orogenic extension. In this region, we show that the north-east corner of the Millevaches massif (located at the junction between brittle and ductile fault systems) represented a pathway for Earth surface-derived fluids that penetrated the crust and reached the ductile segment of the low-angle Felletin detachment zone. Using microstructural, thermometry, hydrogen isotope and 40Ar/39Ar geochronological data, we show that these Variscan meteoric fluids interacted with hydrous silicates during high temperature deformation between ∼ 318 and 310 Ma. For paleoaltimetry purposes, we reference our hydrogen isotope record (δD) of ancient meteoric fluids from mylonitic rocks to ∼ 295 Myr-old records retrieved from freshwater shark remains preserved in the Bourbon l’Archambault basin that developed in the external zones of the orogen. A ∼ 76 difference in δDmeteoric water values between the Millevaches massif (δDmeteoric water value = − 96 ± 8) and the Bourbon l’Archambault foreland basin (δDwater value = − 20 ± 6) is consistent with paleoaltimetry estimates of 3.4 ± 0.7 km based on a modern lapse rate of ∼ -22/km for δDwater values. The rather large difference in δD values between the foreland basin and the continental interior suggests that the hinterland of the Variscan belt of western Europe was high enough to act as a barrier to moisture transport from the south-south-east and induce an orographic rain shadow to the north

Impact of the Southern Ecuadorian Andes on Oxygen and Hydrogen Isotopes in Precipitation

Determining how the elevation of the Northern Andes has evolved over time is of paramount importance for understanding the response of the Northern Andes to deformational and geodynamic processes and its role as an orographic barrier for atmospheric vapor transport over geologic time. However, a fundamental requirement when using stable isotope data for paleoaltimetry reconstructions is knowledge about the present-day changes of δ18O and δD with elevation (isotopic lapse rate). This study defines the present-day river isotopic lapse rate near the Equator (∼3°S) based on analysis of δ18O and δD of surface waters collected from streams across the Western Cordillera and the Inter-Andean depression in Southern Ecuador. The results for the two domains show a decrease of δ18O with elevation which fits a linear regression with a slope of −0.18‰/100 m (R2 = 0.73, n = 83). However, we establish a present-day lapse rate of −0.15‰/100 m for δ18O (R2 = 0.88, n = 19) and -1.4‰/100 m for δD (R2 = 0.93, n = 19) from water samples collected along the west facing slopes of the Western Ecuadorian Cordillera which is mainly subject to moisture transport from the Pacific. We argue that this empirical relationship, consistent with those obtained in different tropical areas of the world, can inform stable isotope paleoaltimetry reconstructions in tropical latitudes.</jats:p

Structure of late Variscan Millevaches leucogranite massif in the French Massif Central: AMS and gravity modelling results

In the Limousin area, Variscan leucogranitic plutons are spatially associated with normal faults and major strike-slip shear zones that are a continuation of the South Armorican shear zone. Our study focuses on the large N-S-trending Millevaches granitic massif (Massif Central, France), and intends to highlight, through gravity modelling, structural and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS), the massif structure at depth and to discuss the mode of emplacement of granites within a strike-slip tectonic context. The mica subfabric suggests that the magnetic foliations display a general NW-SE sub-horizontal pattern on both sides of the N-S Pradines dextral wrench fault zone that deforms the core of the massif on 5 km width. The magnetic lineation trend exhibits a sigmoïdal pattern, N-S in the Pradines fault zone and NW-SE on both sides of it, which are consistent with a dextral wrench component. The horizontal magnetic foliations and lineations are consistent with the thin granite laccolith model. There is no significant imprint of the extensional Variscan belt collapse on the internal fabric of Millevaches granites than the tectonic dextral transcurrent movement prevailing in this area. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved