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Institute
The post-Variscan uplift of the western Anti-Atlas Precambrian core is studied by zircon fission track (ZFT) analysis of ten samples of granites and schists from the Kerdous and Ifni inliers. All samples yield Carboniferous ZFT ages ranging from 358 +/- 31 Ma to 319 +/- 32 Ma, with nine dates younger than 338 +/- 35 Ma. The weighted mean age calculated for these nine samples is 328 +/- 30 Ma. These results compare with the available K-Ar datings of white mica and biotite from the same rocks or from the overlying Ediacaran-Cambrian low-grade metasediments. The fact that different systems with distinct closure temperatures yield similar ages suggests the occurrence of a short Carboniferous thermal event followed by rapid cooling. Consistent with the regional geological framework, the thermal event is assigned to the Variscan folding, being followed by rapid exhumation and cooling related to the post-folding erosion. To cite this article: S. Sebti et aL, C. R. Geoscience 341 (2009).
In the Western Alps, the Piemont-Ligurian oceanic domain records blueschist to eclogite metamorphic conditions during the Alpine orogeny. This domain is classically divided into two "zones" (Combin and Zermatt-Saas), with contrasting metamorphic evolution, and separated tectonically by the Combin fault. This study presents new metamorphic and temperature (RSCM thermometry) data obtained in Piemont-Ligurian metasediments and proposes a reevaluation of the P-T evolution of this domain. In the upper unit (or "Combin zone") temperatures are in the range of 420-530 A degrees C, with an increase of temperature from upper to lower structural levels. Petrological evidences show that these temperatures are related to the retrograde path and to deformation at greenschist metamorphic conditions. This highlights heating during exhumation of HP metamorphic rocks. In the lower unit (or "Zermatt-Saas zone"), temperatures are very homogeneous in the range of 500-540 A degrees C. This shows almost continuous downward temperature increase in the Piemont-Ligurian domain. The observed thermal structure is interpreted as the result of the upper and lower unit juxtaposition along shear zones at a temperature of similar to 500 A degrees C during the Middle Eocene. This juxtaposition probably occurred at shallow crustal levels (similar to 15-20 km) within a subduction channel. We finally propose that the Piemont-Ligurian Domain should not be viewed as two distinct "zones", but rather as a stack of several tectonic slices.
The Valais units in Savoy (Zone des BrSches de Tarentaise) have been re-mapped in great detail and are subject of combined stratigraphic, structural and petrological investigations summarized in this contribution. The sediments and rare relics of basement, together with Cretaceous age mafic and ultramafic rocks of the Valais palaeogeographical domain, represent the heavily deformed relics of the former distal European margin (External Valais units) and an ocean-continent transition (Internal Valais unit or Versoyen unit) that formed during rifting. This rifting led to the opening of the Valais ocean, a northern branch of the Alpine Tethys. Post-rift sediments referred to as "Valais trilogy" stratigraphically overlie both External and Internal Valais successions above an angular unconformity formed in Barremian to Aptian times, providing robust evidence for the timing of the opening of the Valais ocean. The Valais units in Savoy are part of a second and more external mid-Eocene high-pressure belt in the Alps that sutured the Brian double dagger onnais microcontinent to Europe. Top-N D1-deformation led to the formation of a nappe stack that emplaced the largely eclogite-facies Internal Valais unit (Versoyen) onto blueschist-facies External Valais units. The latter originally consisted of, from internal to external, the Petit St. Bernard unit, the Roc de l'Enfer unit, the MoA >> tiers unit and the Quermoz unit. Ongoing top-N D2-thrusting and folding substantially modified this nappe stack. Post 35 Ma D3 folding led to relatively minor modifications of the nappe stack within the Valais units but was associated with substantial top-WNW thrusting of the Valais units over the Dauphinois units along the Roselend thrust during W-directed indentation of the Adria block contributing to the formation of the arc of the Western Alps.
Subduction factory : 1. Theoretical mineralogy, densities, seismic wave speeds, and H2O contents
(2005)
Understanding the relationships between density and spatio-thermal variations at convergent plate boundaries is important for deciphering the present-day dynamics and evolution of subduction zones. In particular, the interaction between densification due to mineralogical phase transitions and slab pull forces is subject to ongoing investigations. We have developed a two-dimensional subduction zone model that is based on thermodynamic equilibrium assemblage calculations and includes the effects of melting processes on the density distribution in the lithosphere. Our model calculates the "metamorphic density" of rocks as a function of pressure, temperature and chemical composition in a subduction zone down to 250 km. We have used this model to show how the hydration, dehydration, partial melting and fractionation processes of rocks all influence the metamorphic density and greatly depend on the temperature field within the subduction system. These processes are largely neglected by other approaches that reproduce the density distribution within this complex tectonic setting. Our model demonstrates that the initiation of edogitization (i.e., when crustal rocks reach higher densities than the ambient mantle) of the slab is not the only significant process that makes the descending slab denser and generates the slab pull force. Instead, the densification of the lithospheric mantle of the sinking slab starts earlier than eclogitization and contributes significantly to slab pull in the early stages of subduction. Accordingly, the complex metamorphic structure of the slab and the mantle wedge has an important impact on the development of subduction zones. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A new reconstruction of Alpine Tethys combines plate-kinematic modelling with a wealth of geological data and seismic tomography to shed light on its evolution, from sea-floor spreading through subduction to collision in the Alps. Unlike previous models, which relate the fate of Alpine Tethys solely to relative motions of Africa, Iberia and Europe during opening of the Atlantic, our reconstruction additionally invokes independent microplates whose motions are constrained primarily by the geological record. The motions of these microplates (Adria, Iberia, Alcapia, Alkapecia, and Tiszia) relative to both Africa and Europe during Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic time involved the subduction of remnant Tethyan basins during the following three stages that are characterized by contrasting plate motions and driving forces: (1) 131-84 Ma intra-oceanic subduction of the Ligurian part of Alpine Tethys attached to Iberia coincided with Eo-alpine orogenesis in the Alcapia microplate, north of Africa. These events were triggered primarily by foundering of the older (170-131 Ma) Neotethyan subduction slab along the NE margin of the composite African-Adriatic plate; subduction was linked by a sinistral transform system to E-W opening of the Valais part of Alpine Tethys; (2) 84-35 Ma subduction of primarily the Piemont and Valais parts of Alpine Tethys which were then attached to the European plate beneath the overriding African and later Adriatic plates. NW translation of Adria with respect to Africa was accommodated primarily by slow widening of the Ionian Sea; (3) 35 Ma-Recent rollback subduction of the Ligurian part of Alpine Tethys coincided with Western Alpine orogenesis and involved the formation of the Gibraltar and Calabrian arcs. Rapid subduction and arc formation were driven primarily by the pull of the gravitationally unstable, retreating Adriatic and African slabs during slow convergence of Africa and Europe. The upper European-Iberian plate stretched to accommodate this slab retreat in a very mobile fashion, while the continental core of the Adriatic microplate acted as a rigid indenter within the Alpine collisional zone. The subducted lithosphere in this reconstruction can be correlated with slab material imaged by seismic tomography beneath the Alps and Apennines, as well as beneath parts of the Pannonian Basin, the Adriatic Sea, the Ligurian Sea, and the Western Mediterranean. The predicted amount of subducted lithosphere exceeds the estimated volume of slab material residing at depth by some 10-30%, indicating that parts of slabs may be superposed within the mantle transition zone and/or that some of this subducted lithosphere became seismically transparent.
The Takab calcareous rocks of northwest Iran crop out in association with a variety of metamorphic rocks including mafic granulites, amphibolites, granitic gneisses, pelitic schists and meta-ultramafic rocks. They can be divided into marbles and calc-silicate rocks on the basis of the dominance of calcite/dolomite and silicate minerals. Dominant peak metamorphic granulite facies assemblage of calc-silicate rocks is Scp + Grt(I) + Cpx + Cal + Qtz +/- Hbl(I). The decrease of temperature and pressure during exhumation produced post-peak metamorphic assemblages. Coronal garnet (Grt II) in the calc-silicate rocks was produced by retrograde reactions consuming plagioclase and clinopyroxene, while peak metamorphic garnet (Grt I) occurs as preserved xenoblastic grains in calcite and/or plagioclase (Pl II). Regional metamorphism took place at 740 degrees C and X-CO2 similar to 0.9. Garnet-clinopyroxene-plagioclase-quartz (GADS) barometry yields a pressure of 8-9 kbar, corresponding to a depth of ca. 24-27 km. This was followed by decompression and hydration during exhumation of the crustal rocks up to the surface. Secondary phases such as garnet (II) hornblende (II), plagioclase (II), zoisite and titanite (II) constrain the temperature and pressure of post-peak metamorphism as similar to 600 degrees C and similar to 6 kbar respectively and a fluid with XCO2 as low as 0.4. Halogens were near-absent during the peak metamorphic stage. The scapolite and hornblende crystallized underpeak metamorphic conditions contain very low fluorine and chlorine, whereas relatively high fluorine (similar to 0.8 wt%) in the titanite (II) and hornblende (II) suggests a possible infiltration of F-rich fluids into the calc-silicate rocks during retrogression. It is interpreted to be related to external fluids released during crystallisation of granitoid magmas and/or leucosome patches in the adjacent migmatites.
Overriding plate thinning in subduction zones : localized convection induced by slab dehydration
(2006)
In subduction zones, many observations indicate that the backarc thermal state is particularly hot and that the upper lithosphere is thin, even if no recent extension episode has occurred. This might result from free thermal convection favored by low viscosities in the hydrated mantle wedge. We perform 2-D numerical experiments of the convective mantle wedge interaction with both the downgoing slab and the overriding plate to test this hypothesis, explore its physical mechanism, and assess its dependencies on some relevant rock properties. Water transfers across the subducting plate and the mantle wedge are explicitly modeled by including in the calculation realistic hydration/ dehydration reaction boundaries for a water-saturated mantle and oceanic crust. The rheology is non-Newtonian and temperature-, pressure-, and water content-dependent. For low strength reduction associated to water content, the upper plate is locally thinned by an enhanced corner flow. For larger strength reductions, small convection cells rapidly thin the upper plate ( in less than 15 Myr) over the area in the overriding lithosphere hydrated by slab-derived water fluxes. As a result, the thinned region location depends on the subducting plate thermal state, and it increases with high convergence rates and low subduction dip angles. Other simulations are performed to test the sole effect of hydrous rock weakening on the upper plate/mantle convective interaction. They show that the thinning process is not influenced by the corner flow, but develops at the favor of a decoupling level induced by the formation of hydroxylated minerals inside the hydrated lithosphere. The erosion mechanism identified in these simulations allows us to explain the characteristic duration of erosion as a function of the hydrous strength reduction. We find that the presence of amphibole in the upper lithosphere in significant proportions is required down to a temperature of about 980 degrees C, corresponding to an initial depth of similar to 70 km, to strongly decrease the strength of the base of the lithosphere and trigger a rapid erosion (< 15 Myr).