U-Pb zircon and monazite geochronology of Variscan magmatism related to syn-convergence extension in Central Northern Portugal

The Viseu area is located in the Central Iberian Zone of the Iberian Variscan Belt and hosts numerous post-thickening, collision-related granitoids intruded into upper and middle crustal levels. The present paper reports high precision U-Pb zircon and monazite ages for four plutons of the Viseu area: The syn-kinematic granitoids of Maceira (314±5 Ma), Casal Vasco (311±1 Ma) and Junqueira (307.8±0.7 Ma) and the late-kinematic biotite monzogranites of Cota (306±9 Ma). This points to a synchronous emplacement of the different syn-kinematic plutons shortly followed by the intrusion of the late-kinematic granites and shows that the Upper Carboniferous plutonism occurred within a short time span of ca. 10 million years. The ascent of granite magmas took place after an extensional tectonic event (D2) and is coeval with dextral and sinistral crustal-scale transcurrent shearing (D3). Field and petrographical evidence suggest a narrow time-span between peak T metamorphic conditions and the intrusion of granitic melts which implies very fast uplift rates accommodated through active tectonic exhumation. Magma compositions evolve through time, reflecting an increasing involvement of mid-crustal sources and the underplating effect of an upwelling asthenospheric mantle at the base of a thinning and stretching continental crust. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Overview of recent TJ-II stellarator results

The main results obtained in the TJ-II stellarator in the last two years are reported. The most important topics investigated have been modelling and validation of impurity transport, validation of gyrokinetic simulations, turbulence characterisation, effect of magnetic configuration on transport, fuelling with pellet injection, fast particles and liquid metal plasma facing components. As regards impurity transport research, a number of working lines exploring several recently discovered effects have been developed: the effect of tangential drifts on stellarator neoclassical transport, the impurity flux driven by electric fields tangent to magnetic surfaces and attempts of experimental validation with Doppler reflectometry of the variation of the radial electric field on the flux surface. Concerning gyrokinetic simulations, two validation activities have been performed, the comparison with measurements of zonal flow relaxation in pellet-induced fast transients and the comparison with experimental poloidal variation of fluctuations amplitude. The impact of radial electric fields on turbulence spreading in the edge and scrape-off layer has been also experimentally characterized using a 2D Langmuir probe array. Another remarkable piece of work has been the investigation of the radial propagation of small temperature perturbations using transfer entropy. Research on the physics and modelling of plasma core fuelling with pellet and tracer-encapsulated solid-pellet injection has produced also relevant results. Neutral beam injection driven Alfvénic activity and its possible control by electron cyclotron current drive has been examined as well in TJ-II. Finally, recent results on alternative plasma facing components based on liquid metals are also presented. ISSN:0029-5515 ISSN:1741-432

The Variscan Orogeny: extent, timescale and the formation of the European crust. In: Schulmann, K., Martínez Catalán, J. R., Lardeaux, J. M., Janoušek, V. & Oggiano, G. (eds) The Variscan Orogeny: Extent, Timescale and the Formation of the European Crust.

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O papel da Zona de Cisalhamento Juzbado: Penalva do Castelo na intrusão de granitos variscos tardi-pós- D3 da região de Viseu (Zona Centro-Ibérica)

A intrusão do maciço de Cota-Viseu teve lugar numa área tectónicamente complexa, onde tem lugar a terminação ocidental da Zona de Cisalhamento de Juzbado - Penalva do Castelo (ZCJPC). O granito inclui-se no grupo dos granitóides variscos tardi- pós- D3 e faz parte de um batólito zonado que ocupa uma grande extensão na Zona Centro-Ibérica. O granito de Cota-Viseu corta a ZCJPC e não apresenta evidências de deformação no estado sólido. Contudo, os dados obtidos através do estudo da anisotropia de susceptibilidade magnética e a interpretação estrutural regional, indicam que a ZCJPC parece ter exercido um forte controlo na localização das vias de ascensão do magma e na criação do espaço necessário para a instalação do corpo intrusivo.The Cota-Viseu massif is part of a late-post-tectonic composite batholith that occupies a large area in the Central Iberian Zone. It is emplaced in a tectonically complex area located at the western termination of the Juzbado - Penalva do Castelo Shear Zone (JPCSZ). The Cota-Viseu granite intrudes the JPCSZ and shows no evidence of solid-state deformation. However, the measurements of magnetic fabrics in the granite and the structural regional interpretation suggest that the JPCSZ controlled the location of the magma feeders and opened space for granite emplacement

Tectonic evolution of the upper allochthon of the Órdenes complex (northwestern Iberian Massif): Structural constraints to a polyorogenic peri-Gondwanan terrane

The upper allochthon of northwest Iberia represents the most exotic terrane of this part of the European Variscan belt. Recent advances in the metamorphic petrology, structural geology, and geochronology of the upper allochthon in the Órdenes complex are integrated into a synthesis of its tectonic evolution, constraining the main tectonothermal events. Important aspects of this synthesis are (1) the interpretation of Cambro-Ordovician magmatism and earliest metamorphic event, as the result of drifting of a peri-Gondwanan terrane; (2) the subsequent shortening and crustal thickening of the terrane related to its subduction and accretion to Laurussia; (3) a younger cycle of shortening and extension resulting from convergence between Lau- russia and Gondwana; and (4) the emplacement of this exotic terrane as the upper allochthon, together with underlying ophiolitic and basal allochthons, during the Laurussia-Gondwana collision. Implications derived from the well-established tectonothermal sequence are discussed in the context of Paleozoic paleogeography and geodynamics. The evolution of this part of the belt is related first to the closure of the Tornquist Ocean, and later to that of the eastern branch of the Rheic Ocean. Furthermore, the relative paleopo- sitions of the upper allochthon and the Iberian autochthon in northern Gondwana are discussed. © 2007 Geological Society of America. All rights reserved

Evolución metamórfica hercínica de la región de Segovia (Sierra de Guadarrama)

La región de Segovia representa uno de los sectores más profundos de la Sierra de Guadarrama, donde el metamorfismo regional hercínico alcanza la mayor intensidad. La evolución tectonometamórfica de este sector coincide con la que se encuentra en los niveles meso corticales de las cadenas con fuerte engrosamiento cortical. Una primera etapa prograda de media P/T (MI), contemporánea con la tectónica tangencial más intensa, da paso a un estadio paroxismal marcadamente descompresivo (M2) y a una etapa final retrógrada (M3). Las condiciones metamórficas más extremas tuvieron lugar en la parte de alta temperatura de la facies de las anfibolitas. En las rocas pelíticas y cuarzo feldespáticas la desestabilización de la moscovita conduce a la aparición de una extensa zona con ortosa + sillimanita, dentro de la cual queda incluida toda la región considerada. En las metabasitas, las condiciones termales más extremas vienen definidas por la coexistencia de hornblenda, diopsido y plagioclasa, que definen texturas subgranoblásticas con bordes de grano netos

The Corredoiras orthogneiss (NW Iberian Massif): Geochemistry and geochronology of the Paleozoic magmatic suite developed in a peri-Gondwanan arc

The Corredoiras orthogneiss belongs to the intermediate pressure upper units of the Órdenes Complex (Variscan belt, NW Spain), mainly composed by granodioritic orthogneisses, with small bodies of tonalitic orthogneisses, amphibole-rich orthogneisses and metagabbronorites. In this work we study their chemical and isotopic composition, to gain insight into the linkage between plate tectonics and magmatism and to improve the knowledge of the paleogeographic evolution of the European Variscan Belt. Granodioritic and tonalitic orthogneisses range from intermediate to felsic rocks, with K2O/Na2O ratios≈1, typical of calc-alkaline rocks, and high Na2O content, characteristic of I-type granites. Metagabbronorites are basic rocks, but some of them are contaminated by interaction with the felsic magmas, showing enrichment in SiO2, Na2O and K2O. All Corredoiras metaigneous rocks are enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILE) and light rare earth elements (LREE) relative to high field strength elements (HFSE), resulting in a high LILE/HFSE ratio. These geochemical features are the most characteristic of magmas related to subduction zones; furthermore all orthogneisses display significant negative anomalies in Ta, Nb and Zr, which together with their low contents in Y and Yb match up with granitoids generated in volcanic arcs or subduction zones. SHRIMP U–Pb zircon dating provides a concordia age of 492±3 Ma. Granodioritic orthogneiss has negative εNd(492 Ma) values (−2.2 to −3.6) and high (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios (0.707 to 0.708), on the other hand tonalitic orthogneisses and metagabbronorites have positive εNd(492 Ma) (1.0 to 2.4) and low (87Sr/86Sr)i (0.703 to 0.705), suggesting that granodioritic orthogneisses have a clear crustal influence in their generation, whereas tonalitic orthogneisses and metagabbros can be related to basic magmas extracted from the mantle or from a basic lower continental crust. The Corredoiras chemical characteristics permit us to interpret that this rocks were probably generated in an ensialic island arc and may represent a peri-Gondwanan fragment drifted away to open the Rheic Ocean

A unique blueschist facies metapelite with Mg-rich chloritoid from the Badajoz-Córdoba Unit (SW Iberian Massif): correlation of Late Devonian high-pressure belts along the Variscan Orogen

The Badajoz-Córdoba Unit (BCU, SW Iberian Massif) is a Variscan high-P unit mainly constituted by metapelites, metagreywackes, orthogneisses, Grt-amphibolites, and retrogressed eclogites (high-P metamorphism at c. 377 Ma). Discovery of rare metapelites with well-preserved high-P mineral assemblages, including large garnets up to 1 cm in diameter with abundant inclusions, chloritoid (up to X = 0.32), kyanite, staurolite, chlorite, phengite (up to Si = 3.16 apfu), paragonite, margarite, and rutile, allows detailed determination of the tectonothermal evolution of the unit. Pseudosection modelling of representative samples indicates that this mineral assemblage formed in blueschist facies (near eclogite facies transition) at P conditions higher than 20 kbar at c. 525°C and that it underwent a subsequent severe exhumation and moderate heating. The lithological composition of the BCU, the age of high-P metamorphism and the characteristics of the high-P mineral assemblages are similar to those found in other high-P and low to intermediate-T units of the Variscan Orogen. All these units form part of a single blueschist-eclogite facies metamorphic belt formed during Late Devonian subduction of the external margin of Gondwana.Insightful revisions of the manuscript by Idael F. Blanco Quintero and Uwe Kroner are kindly acknowledged. Financial support has been provided by the Spanish project CGL2016-76438-P (Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad)

A unique blueschist facies metapelite with Mg-rich chloritoid from the Badajoz-Córdoba Unit (SW Iberian Massif): correlation of Late Devonian high-pressure belts along the Variscan Orogen

The Badajoz-Córdoba Unit (BCU, SW Iberian Massif) is a Variscan high-P unit mainly constituted by metapelites, metagreywackes, orthogneisses, Grt-amphibolites, and retrogressed eclogites (high-P metamorphism at c. 377 Ma). Discovery of rare metapelites with well-preserved high-P mineral assemblages, including large garnets up to 1 cm in diameter with abundant inclusions, chloritoid (up to XMg = 0.32), kyanite, staurolite, chlorite, phengite (up to Si = 3.16 apfu), paragonite, margarite, and rutile, allows detailed determination of the tectonothermal evolution of the unit. Pseudosection modelling of representative samples indicates that this mineral assemblage formed in blueschist facies (near eclogite facies transition) at P conditions higher than 20 kbar at c. 525°C and that it underwent a subsequent severe exhumation and moderate heating. The lithological composition of the BCU, the age of high-P metamorphism and the characteristics of the high-P mineral assemblages are similar to those found in other high-P and low to intermediate-T units of the Variscan Orogen. All these units form part of a single blueschist-eclogite facies metamorphic belt formed during Late Devonian subduction of the external margin of Gondwana