Comment on: Discovery of the fossiliferous Cu Brei Formation (Lower Devonian) in the Kon Tum Block (South Viet Nam): Tong-Dzuy Thanh, Than Duc Duyen, Nguyen Huu Hung, Bui Phu My

International audienceThe publication of Tong-Dzuy Thanh et al. calls for two remarks: The metamorphism in the "Kon Turn block" cannot be younger than Permian because the outcrop they describe is not metamorphic. Their very interesting discovery is a new piece of evidence for the exotic origin of the Dien Binh Series. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The Triassic Indosinian orogeny in East Asia - Foreword

La tectonique récente, du Tertiaire à l'Actuel, est omniprésente dans l'Est et le Sud-Est asiatique, et s'y manifeste notamment sous la forme de décrochements crustaux de grande ampleur, comme celui du fleuve Rouge. Pour importante qu'elle soit, cette tectonique ne saurait faire oublier les événements orogéniques antérieurs auxquels elle s'est superposée et qui ont largement participé à la construction des confins orientaux de l'Asie. En tout premier lieu, il s'agit de l'événement orogénique qui s'est produit au Trias et qui a eu comme conséquence de rassembler, par collision, des blocs continentaux d'origine gondwanienne, alors séparés par des espaces océaniques dépendant de la Paléotéthys. La distribution actuelle des principaux blocs et microblocs engagés dans ce processus est illustrée sur la Fig. 1

Superimposed tectonic and hydrothermal events during the late-orogenic extension in the western French massif central: a structural and 40Ar/39Ar study.

In the Western French Massif Central, the Argentat fault is a major structure through which As–Au fluids percolated in the Late Carboniferous along brittle fractures. New petrostructural investigations show that an early ductile normal-dextral faulting, coeval to leucogranite emplacement took place during the Late Visean syncollisional extension of the belt and was accompanied by a hydrothermal event marked by the growth of muscovites whose 40Ar/39Ar ages cluster around 335 Ma. This early fluid channelling is associated with brittle deformation only in the hangingwall of the Argentat fault, whereas ductile deformation is restricted to the footwall. These results provide new evidence for the upper crust implication during the syncollisional extension in the French Massif Central. This study stresses the interest of a detailed multimethod analysis to characterize hydrothermal processes, especially in basement areas where the tectonic, plutonic and metamorphic evolution is polyphased

Late Visean thermal event in the northern part of the French Massif Central. New 40Ar/39Ar and Rb-Sr isotopic constraints on the Hercynian syn-orogenic extension.

he French Massif Central belongs to the central metamorphic domain of the European Hercynian Belt. 40Ar/39Ar mica and amphibole dates have been obtained on magmatic and metamorphic rocks from the northern part of the French Massif Central (Sioule and Brévenne-Violay series). The 336- to 337-Ma dates recorded by a granodiorite (the St. Gervais pluton) and its mylonitic border along the Ste Christine fault and the 337-5-Ma muscovite ages from the Brévenne series are consistent with the age of wrenching related to the late stage of the Hercynian compression. The remaining age spectra from the Sioule area provide ages ranging from 331 to 335 Ma that are interpreted as cooling ages related to rock exhumation after the main stages of metamorphism and deformation in the studied area. Late Visean dates widespread in North Massif Central correspond to a huge magmatic event characterized by the emplacement of "red granites", granophyres and sub-aerial acidic volcanics known as the "Tufs anthracifères" formation. Rb-Sr isotopic data from volcanic and hypovolcanic rocks from the Sioule and Montagne Bourbonnaise areas place constraints on the source of the magmas. Simple metapelite crustal melting or a major contribution from depleted mantle sources are ruled out, and instead, mantle-derived magmas were probably involved, at least as a heat source, during the Late Visean magmatism. Exhumation and cooling of metamorphic rocks below 300°C occurred contemporaneously with this Late Visean magmatism. In the geodynamic evolution of the Hercynian Belt, the Late Visean (ca. 335-330 Ma) magmatism corresponds to a major break marking the onset of post-collisional extension in the inner zone which had been thickened by collision in Latest Devonian-Earliest Carboniferous. This Late Visean extension in the inner zone which is synchronous to compression in the northern and southern forelands of the belt appears as a syn-orogenic process