L'unité de la Boghen (Nouvelle-Calédonie, Pacifique SW): un complexe d'accrétion jurassique. Données radiochronologiques préliminaires U-Pb sur les zircons détritiques.

La datation des zircons détritiques de l'unité de la Boghen permet d'attribuer un âge post-liasique à cet ensemble, autrefois considéré comme le " socle anté-permien " de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Ce complexe est formé d'un ensemble volcanosédimentaire et terrigène à caractère distal, reposant directement sur une croûte océanique ou de bassin marginal incomplète. Compte tenu de ses caractères sédimentologiques, de l'existence d'un métamorphisme de haute pression d'âge Jurassique (environ 150 Ma) et de son association au complexe volcanosédimentaire d'arc de la Chaîne centrale, il est possible d'interpréter cette unité comme un prisme d'accrétion mis en place au Jurassique le long de la marge active Est-Gondwanienne. Le spectre d'âge des zircons détritiques permet d'assigner le système d'arcs permo-mésozoïques Sud-Est-Gondwanien et l'Antarctique comme sources principales de la fraction détritique. Abstract Radiochronological dating of detrital zircon extracted from the Boghen terrane metasediments allows a Jurassic age to be assigned. This terrane was formerly considered as the "pre-Permian basement" of New Caledonia. Its sedimentological features, its Late Jurassic high-pressure metamorphism (ca 150 Ma) and its association with the arc-related volcano-sedimentary complex of the Central Chain Terrane indicate that the Boghen terrane was an accretionary complex formed during the Jurassic period along the East-Gondwana active margin. The age spectrum of detrital zircons is consistent with a derivation from the Permian-Mesozoic Southeast-Gondwana arc system and the Antarctic continent

Palaeozoic collision between the North and South China Blocks, Triassic intracontinental tectonics, and the problem of the ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism

International audienceThe Qinling–Dabie Belt represents the boundary between the North and South China Blocks (NCB, SCB, respectively), where ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks are widespread. A structural study in eastern Qinling and zircon LA ICPMS dating of the migmatite that form the core of the Central Qinling Unit allows us to argue that continental collision occurred in Silurian, before 400 Ma. In the Late Palaeozoic, from Devonian to Permian, the northern margin of SCB experienced a continental rifting. From Late Permian to Middle Triassic, northward continental subduction of SCB is responsible for the development of a high-pressure metamorphism. The age of the UHP metamorphism remains unsettled yet. A two-time genesis, Early Palaeozoic and Early Triassic, is often preferred, but a single Palaeozoic age followed by a Triassic resetting cannot be ruled out

Detrital zircon records of Late Cretaceous syn-rift sedimentary sequences of New Caledonia: an Australian provenance questioned

International audienceThe Late Cretaceous clastic coastal sediments of New Caledonia are contemporaneous with the latest stages of the eastern Australian marginal rifting. As such, they record the erosion of basement terranes located on uplifted and tilted blocks and a contemporaneous volcanic activity. Detrital zircon populations contain two major components, the younger of which is Early Cretaceous, and the older Early Paleozoic and Precambrian. Following recent advances in the knowledge of detrital zircon content of basement terranes, and at variance with previous interpretations, that hypothesised a possible direct Australian provenance for Precambrian zircons, the detrital zircon record of these syn-rift sediments allows a local recycled provenance to be established. In consequence, this new evidence confirms that New Caledonia was already isolated from Australia as early as Coniacian time (ca. 89-85 Ma) a fact consistent with the development of faunal and floral endemism at that period. The prominent abundance of Early Cretaceous detrital zircons also establishes the importance of a previously unrecorded Early Cretaceous magmatism in the area

The metamorphic sole of New Caledonia ophiolite: 40Ar/39Ar, U-Pb, and geochemical evidence for subduction inception at a spreading ridge

Amphibolite lenses that locally crop out below the serpentinite sole at the base of the ophiolite of New Caledonia (termed Peridotite Nappe) recrystallized in the high-temperature amphibolite facies and thus sharply contrast with blueschists and eclogites of the Eocene metamorphic complex. Amphibolites mostly display the geochemical features of MORB with a slight Nb depletion and thus are similar to theyoungest (Late Paleocene–Eocene) BABB components of the allochthonous Poya Terrane. Thermochronological data from hornblende (40Ar/39Ar), zircon, and sphene (U-Pb) suggest that these mafic rocks recrystallized at ~56 Ma. Using various geothermobarometers provides a rough estimate of peak recrystallization conditions of ~0.5 GPa at ~80–95°C. The thermal gradient inferred from the metamorphic assemblage (~60°C km-1), geometrical relationships, and geochemical similarity suggest that these mafic rocks belong to the oceanic crust of the lower plate of the subduction/obduction system and recrystallized when they subducted below young and hot oceanic lithosphere. They were detached from the down-going plate and finally thrust onto unmetamorphosed Poya Terrane basalts. This and the occurrence of slab melts at ~53 Ma suggest that subduction inception occurred at or near to the spreading ridge of the South Loyalty Basin at ~56 Ma

The Zanhuang Massif, the second and eastern suture zone of the Paleoproterozoic Trans-North China Orogen

International audienceThis paper presents a reappraisal of the tectonic evolution of the Zanhuang Massif that lies at the eastern margin of the Trans-North China Orogen, a continent–continent collision belt that marked the amalgamation of the North China Craton in Late Paleoproterozoic. Detailed field work with focus on geometries of structures and kinematics was performed. This was completed with LA-ICP-MS U–Pb analyses on zircon, EPMA U–Th/Pb dating on monazite and 40Ar/39Ar dating on amphibole. These studies led us to propose a new three-fold litho-tectonic subdivision of the massif: The Western Zanhuang Domain (WZD) made of TTG, migmatite and pink anatectic granite is correlated to the Fuping Massif that crops out to the north-west. Both areas represent a continental block, called the Fuping Block, which acquired most of its architecture around 2100 Ma ago. The Eastern Zanhuang Domain (EZD) made of TTG and migmatite represents the western edge of an Eastern Neoarchean Block. In between, the Central Zanhuang Domain (CZD) is a NE–SW trending stack of supracrustal, gneiss and mafic magmatic rocks thrust sheets displaced toward the ESE upon the Eastern Block. The lithological features suggest that the CZD represents the remnant of an oceanic basin, called the Taihang Ocean that closed during the amalgamation of the Eastern Block and the Fuping Block around 1880–1850 Ma. In agreement with recent work done along the western margin of the belt, in the Lüliang Massif, this study documents the amalgamation of the North China Craton in response to the closure of two oceanic basins, namely the Lüliang Ocean and the Taihang Ocean. West-dipping subductions and collisions involving three distinct continental blocks, called the Western, the Fuping and the Eastern Blocks, took place around 1880–1850 Ma

Paleozoic tectonics of the southern Chinese Tianshan: Insights from structural, chronological and geochemical studies of the Heiyingshan ophiolitic mélange (NW China)

International audienceIn the southern Chinese Tianshan, the southernmost part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), widespread ophiolitic mélanges form distinct tectonic units that are crucial for understanding the formation of the CAOB. However, the timing of tectonic events and subduction polarity are still in controversy. In order to better understand these geological problems, a comprehensive study was conducted on the Heiyingshan ophiolitic mélange in the SW Chinese Tianshan. Detailed structural analysis reveals that the ophiolitic mélange is tectonically underlain by sheared and weakly metamorphosed pre-Middle Devonian rocks, and unconformably overlain by non-metamorphic and undeformed lower Carboniferous (Serpukhovian) to Permian strata. The igneous assemblage of the mélange comprises OIB-like alkali basalt and andesite, N-MORB-like tholeiitic basalt, sheeted diabase dikes, cumulate gabbro and peridotite. Mafic rocks display supra-subduction signatures, and some bear evidence of contamination with the continental crust, suggesting a continental marginal (back-arc) basin setting. Zircons of a gabbro were dated at 392 ± 5 Ma by the U-Pb LA-ICP-MS method. Famennian-Visean radiolarian microfossils were found in the siliceous matrix of the ophiolitic mélange. Mylonitic phyllite which displays northward-directed kinematic evidence yielded muscovite 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages of 359 ± 2 Ma and 356 ± 2 Ma. These new data, combined with previously published results, suggest that the mafic protoliths originally formed in a back-arc basin in the Chinese southern Tianshan during the late Silurian to Middle Devonian and were subsequently incorporated into the ophiolitic mélange and thrust northward during the Late Devonian to early Carboniferous. Opening of the back-arc basin was probably induced by south-dipping subduction of the Paleo-Tianshan Ocean in the early Paleozoic, and the Central Tianshan block was rifted away from the Tarim block. Closure of the back-arc basin in the early Carboniferous formed the South Tianshan Suture Zone and re-amalgamated the two blocks

Tanis

L’année 2019 a été particulièrement riche en activités diverses pour la Mission française des fouilles de Tanis (MFFT). La campagne de recherches proprement dite (fouilles, épigraphie, architecture) menée au printemps s’est en effet prolongée en s’articulant progressivement avec le projet de mise en valeur du site archéologique, faisant suite aux travaux initiés par la mission elle-même depuis quelques années, désormais portés, avec le concours étroit de celle-ci, par l’Ifao conjointement ave..

Multiple melting stages and refertilization as indicators for ridge to subduction formation: The New Caledonia ophiolite

International audienceThe origin of the New Caledonia ophiolite (South West Pacific), one of the largest in the world, is controversial. This nappe of ultramafic rocks (300 km long, 50 km wide and 2 km thick) is thrust upon a smaller nappe (Poya terrane) composed of basalts from mid-ocean ridges (MORB), back arc basins (BABB) and ocean islands (OIB). This nappe was tectonically accreted from the subducting plate prior and during the obduction of the ultramafic nappe. The bulk of the ophiolite is composed of highly depleted harzburgites (± dunites) with characteristic U-shaped bulk-rock rare-earth element (REE) patterns that are attributed to their formation in a forearc environment. In contrast, the origin of spoon-shaped REE patterns of lherzolites in the northernmost klippes was unclear. Our new major element and REE data on whole rocks, spinel and clinopyroxene establish the abyssal affinity of these lherzolites. Significant LREE enrichment in the lherzolites is best explained by partial melting in a spreading ridge, followed by near in-situ refertilization from deeper mantle melts. Using equilibrium melting equations, we show that melts extracted from these lherzolites are compositionally similar to the MORB of the Poya terrane. This is used to infer that the ultramafic nappe and the mafic Poya terrane represent oceanic lithosphere of a single marginal basin that formed during the late Cretaceous. In contrast, our spinel data highlights the strong forearc affinities of the most depleted harzburgites whose compositions are best modeled by hydrous melting of a source that had previously experienced depletion in a spreading ridge. The New Caledonian boninites probably formed during this second stage of partial melting. The two melting events in the New Caledonia ophiolite record the rapid transition from oceanic accretion to convergence in the South Loyalty Basin during the Late Paleocene, with initiation of a new subduction zone at or near the ridge axis

The Lüliang Massif: a key area for the understanding of the Palaeoproterozoic Trans-North China Belt, North China Craton

International audienceThis paper documents the first detailed structural analysis of the Lüliang Massif in the Trans-North China Belt, North China Craton. A nappe, made up of a Terrigeneous and Mafic Unit (TMU) derived from an oceanic basin thrust over gneisses and volcanic-sedimentary rocks, is interpreted as a magmatic arc deposited upon a TTG basement. The nappe is rooted to the west in the Trans-North China Suture that separates the Fuping Block from the Western Block. Nappe stacking, coeval with a top-to-the-SE synmetamorphic D1 event, is dated around 1890–1870 Ma using chemical U–Th/Pb EPMA datings on monazite and U–Pb LA-ICP-MS dating on zircon. A second D2 ductile event, characterized by SE-verging folds, reworks the D1 structures. D2 is the first event recorded in the late-orogenic sedimentary series that unconformably covers the metamorphic units formed during D1. These lithological, structural and geochronological results are correlated with those described in the eastern massifs of Hengshan, Wutaishan and Fuping. The Trans-North China Belt resulted from the collision of the Fuping Block and the Western Block after a westward-directed subduction and subsequent closure of an oceanic basin where the TMU was deposited