The Las Chacras-Potrerillos batholith (Pampean Ranges,Argentina): structural evidences,emplacement and timing of the intrusion

Within the southern part of the Sierra Pampeanas (the Sierra de San Luis, Argentina), a series of extensive intrusive bodies are regarded to post-date the Famatinian cycle but were emplaced during the Achalian, a period of heterogeneous deformation along crustal scale fault zones. The largest of those is the Las Chacras-Potrerillos batholith that is situated at the northern end of the transpressive, sinistral Guzmán shear zone. This composite pluton exhibits three sub-domains that comprise two granitoid sub-units each: The southern Potrerillos stock (muscovite-bearing red granite and biotite-bearing red granite) and the central (biotite porphyritic granite and giant porphyritic granite) and northern domain (equigranular granite and porphyritic granite) of the Las Chacras stock. The crystallisation ages of the biotite porphyritic granite is around 381 Ma (U/Pb on zircons and Pb/Pb on sphene), while the host rock was already cooled below 350 °C at 420 Ma. Thermal modelling approaches favour a pulsed intrusion with a duration of 1.5 Ma. The emplacement was followed by rapid cooling below the muscovite cooling temperature. Biotite cooling ages in different sub-units reflect either a long-lasting cooling history of approximately 30 Ma (which is supported by the modelling) or a reheating effect at around 350 Ma. Devonian-age determinations on the fault rocks and granitoids point to a syn-tectonic emplacement of the batholith. The pluton is interpreted to be positioned at the crossover of sinistral shear zones. The origin of this NNE directed extensional setting in a transpressive regime seems to be related to the transfer of displacement along a secondary set of NNW-trending sinistral faults. The final emplacement is due to a subsequent ballooning of the batholith following the direction of space creation. This model is based on the relative timing of the emplacement sequence and macroscopically visible planar fabrics in the field as well as magnetic fabric data. Our results indicate that the emplacement is syn-kinematic with respect to the Achalian deformation event.     

Ground motion simulations of the SW Iberia margin: rupture directivity and earth structure effects

In this study, we focus on the region between Gorringe Bank and the Horseshoe Fault located in the SW Iberia margin, which is believed to be the site of the great 1755 earthquake. We model ground motions using an extended source located near the Horseshoe scarp to generate synthetic waveforms using a wave propagation code, based on the finite-difference method. We compare the simulated waveforms, for the Algarve Basin and the Lower Tagus Valley Basin (Portugal), using a 3-D velocity model down to the Moho discontinuity with a simple 1-D layered model. The radiated wave field is very sensitive to the velocity model and a small number of source parameters, in particular, the rupture directivity. The rupture directivity, the strike direction and the fault dimensions are critical to the azimuthal distribution of the maximum amplitude oscillations. We show that the use of a stratified 1-D model is inappropriate in SW Iberia, where sources are located in the oceanic domain and receivers in the continental domain. The crustal structure varies dramatically along the ray paths, with large-scale heterogeneities of low or high velocities. Moreover, combined with the geometric limitations inherent to the region, a strong trade-off between several parameters is often observed; this is particularly critical when studying moderate magnitude earthquakes (M < 6), which constitute the bulk of the seismic catalogue in SW Iberia.     

The alkaline-carbonatite complex of Jacupiranga (Brazil): Magma genesis and mode of emplacement

A comprehensive study including new field, petrological and geochemical data is reported on the Jacupiranga alkaline-carbonatite complex (133–131 Ma) which, together with other alkaline complexes, occurs in southern Brazil and is coeval with the Paraná CFB province. It consists of a shallow intrusion (ca. 65 km²) in the Precambrian crystalline basement, and can be subdivided in two main diachronous plutonic bodies: an older dunite-gabbro-syenite in the NW and a younger clinopyroxenite-ijolite (s.l.) in the SE, later injected by a carbonatitic core (ca. 1 km²). An integrated petrogenetic model, based on bulk rock major and trace element analyses, mineral chemistry and Sr-Nd-Pb-C isotopic data, suggests that the two silicate intrusions generated from different mantle-derived magmas that evolved at shallow level (2–3 km depth) in two zoned cup-shaped plutonic bodies growing incrementally from independent feeding systems. The first intrusion was generated by OIB-like alkaline to mildly alkaline parental basalts that initially led to the formation of a dunitic adcumulate core, discontinuously surrounded by gabbroic cumulates, in turn injected by subanular syenite intrusive and phonolite dykes. Nephelinitic (± melilite) melts – likely generated deep in the lithosphere at ≥ 3 GPa – were the parental magmas of the second intrusion and gave rise to large coarse-grained clinopyroxenite ad- to meso-cumulates, in turn surrounded, and partially cut, by semi-annular fine-layered melteigite-ijolite-urtite ortho-cumulates. The available isotopic data do not evidence genetic links between carbonatites and the associated silicate intrusions, thus favouring an independent source from the mantle. Moreover, it may be suggested that, unlike gabbro-syenites and carbonatites, mostly generated from lithospheric mantle sources, the parental magmas of the ijolite-clinopyroxenite intrusion also record the influence of sublithospheric (plume-related?) geochemical components.     

Geochemistry and paleotectonic setting of Ediacaran metabasites from the Ossa-Morena Zone (SW Iberia)

New results on the geochemistry of Neoproterozoic (late Ediacaran) metabasites of the Ossa-Morena Zone (OMZ, Iberian Massif) are presented. The metabasite suite exhibits N- and E-MORB signatures, as well as volcanic arc signatures. The three amphibolite groups are discerned on the basis of major and trace element contents, and the Nd isotope relations help unravel the existence of a diverse magmatism during late Ediacaran times across the OMZ. N-MORB “Serie Negra” metabasites are distributed in the southern and, mostly, the central OMZ (Monesterio antiform). Calc-alkaline metabasites are exclusively constrained to the Coimbra-Córdoba sector of the northern OMZ. Finally, E-MORB-type metabasites are widespread across the entire OMZ. In present-day active geodynamic settings, such magma types are typical of younger island arcs, notably of forearc zones that are affected by extension soon after the initiation of subduction. The new geochemical data permit us to postulate a petrological zonation congruent with a N-dipping subduction zone located to the S of the current OMZ during the late Ediacaran. We argue that the metabasite host units represent (continental) shallow-crustal forearc segments of a convergent margin. The volcanic arc edifice would have developed during the latest Ediacaran to early Cambrian times and has been preserved, often without major orogenic reworking, in the central and northern OMZ.     

Epigenetic tourmalinite and arsenopyrite in the aureole of the Leinster batholith,SE Ireland

Metasomatic tourmaline-quartz-hydromuscovite/phengite-fluorite rocks which locally contain in excess of 40% disseminated arsenopyrite and lesser amounts of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, molybdenite, rutile, ilmenite and Fe-rich chlorite, occur near the village of Inistioge in SE Ireland. They are developed within Lower Palaeozoic phyllites close to the northwest margin of the southern termination of the Leinster batholith. The mineralization occurs within a belt of anomalously high (Caledonian) strain which was active during batholith-intrusion and which is essentially a product of heterogeneous shortening. Tourmaline constitutes up to 60% of the volume of the metasomatic material and although the lithology exhibits bed-parallel lamination, both detailed field and textural relationships demonstrate its origin to be epigenetic. The mineralization is spatially related to pegmatitic (K-feldspar, fluorite and muscovite-bearing) quartz veins with greisen alteration envelopes composed of coarse-grained muscovite, fluorite, apatite and tourmaline. The mineralized rocks were produced during alteration of aluminous metasediments by magmatic and/or meteoric fluids which were channelled through the high strain zone during cooling of the batholith.     

Calc-silicate reactions and bedding-controlled isotopic exchange in the Notch Peak aureole, Utah: implications for differential fluid fluxes with metamorphic grade

Fluid compositions and bedding‐scale patterns of fluid flow during contact metamorphism of the Weeks Formation in the Notch Peak aureole, Utah, were determined from mineralogy and stable isotope compositions. The Weeks Formation contains calc‐silicate and nearly pure carbonate layers that are interbedded on centimetre to decimetre scales. The prograde metamorphic sequence is characterized by the appearance of phlogopite, diopside, and wollastonite. By accounting for the solution properties of Fe, it is shown that the tremolite stability field was very narrow and perhaps absent in the prograde sequence. Unshifted oxygen and carbon isotopic ratios in calcite and silicate minerals at all grades, except above the wollastonite isograd, show that there was little to no infiltration of disequilibrium fluids. The fluid composition is poorly constrained, but X(CO₂)_fluid must have been >0.1, as indicated by the absence of talc, and has probably increased with progress of decarbonation reactions. The occurrence of scapolite and oxidation of graphite in calc‐silicate beds of the upper diopside zone provide the first evidence for limited infiltration of external aqueous fluids. Significantly larger amounts of aqueous fluid infiltrated the wollastonite zone. The aqueous fluids are recorded by the presence of vesuvianite, large decreases in δ¹⁸O values of silicate minerals from c. 16‰ in the diopside zone to c. 10‰ in the wollastonite zone, and extensive oxidation of graphite. The carbonate beds interacted with the fluids only along margins where graphite was destroyed, calcite coarsened, and isotopic ratios shifted. The wollastonite isograd represents a boundary between a high aqueous fluid‐flux region on its higher‐grade side and a low fluid‐flux region on its lower‐grade side. Preferential flow of aqueous fluids within the wollastonite zone was promoted by permeability created by the wollastonite‐forming reaction and the natural tendency of fluids to flow upward and down‐temperature near the intrusion‐wall rock contact.     

4: Transpressional tectonics, lower crust decoupling and intrusion of deep mafic sills: A model for the unusual metallogenesis of SW Iberia

SW Iberia is interpreted as an accretionary magmatic belt resulting from the collision between the South Portuguese Zone and the autochthonous Iberian terrane in Variscan times (350 to 330 Ma). In the South Portuguese Zone, pull-apart basins were filled with a thick sequence of siliciclastic sediments and bimodal volcanic rocks that host the giant massive sulphides of the Iberian Pyrite Belt. Massive sulphides precipitated in highly efficient geochemical traps where metal-rich but sulphur-depleted fluids of dominant basinal derivation mixed with sulphide-rich modified seawater. Massive sulphides formed either in porous/reactive volcanic rocks by sub-seafloor replacement, or in dark shale by replacement of mud or by exhalation within confined basins with high biogenic activity. Crustal thinning and magma intrusion were responsible for thermal maturation and dehydration of sedimentary rocks, while magmatic fluids probably had a minor influence on the observed geochemical signatures.The Ossa Morena Zone was a coeval calc-alkaline magmatic arc. It was the site for unusual mineralization, particularly magmatic Ni–(Cu) and hydrothermal Fe-oxide–Cu–Au ores (IOCG). Most magmatism and mineralization took place at local extensional zones along first-order strike-slip faults and thrusts. The source of magmas and IOCG and Ni–(Cu) deposits probably lay in a large mafic–ultramafic layered complex intruded along a detachment at the boundary between the upper and lower crust. Here, juvenile melts extensively interacted with low-grade metamorphic rocks, inducing widespread anatexis, magma contamination and further exsolution of hydrothermal fluids. Hypersaline fluids (δ¹⁸O_fluid > 5.4‰ to 12‰) were focused upward into thrusts and faults, leading to early magnetite mineralization associated with a high-temperature (> 500 °C) albite–actinolite–salite alteration and subsequent copper–gold-bearing vein mineralization at somewhat lower temperatures. Assimilation of sediments by magmas led in turn to the formation of immiscible sulphide and silicate melts that accumulated in the footwall of the layered igneous complex. Further injection of both basic and sulphide-rich magmas into the upper crust led to the formation of Ni–(Cu)-rich breccia pipes.Younger (330 to 280 Ma?) peraluminous granitoids probably reflect the slow ascent of relatively dry and viscous magmas formed by contact anatexis. These granitoids have W–(Sn)- and Pb–Zn-related mineralization that also shows geochemical evidence of major mantle–crust interaction. Late epithermal Hg–(Cu–Sb) and Pb–Zn–(Ag) mineralization was driven by convective hydrothermal cells resulting from the high geothermal gradients that were set up in the zone by intrusion of the layered igneous complex. In all cases, most of the sulphur seems to have been derived from leaching of the host sedimentary rocks (δ³⁴S = 7‰ to 20‰) with only limited mixing with sulphur of magmatic derivation.The metallogenic characteristics of the two terranes are quite different. In the Ossa Morena Zone, juvenile magmatism played a major role as the source of metals, and controlled the styles of mineralization. In the South Portuguese Zone, magmas only acted as heat sources but seem to have had no major influence as sources of metals and fluids, which are dominated by crustal signatures. Most of the magmatic and tectonic features related to the Variscan subduction and collision seem to be masked by those resulting from transpressional deformation and deep mafic intrusion, which led to the development of a metallogenic belt with little resemblance to other accretionary magmatic arcs.     

Syn-kinematic emplacement of the Pangong metamorphic and magmatic complex along the Karakorum Fault (N Ladakh)

This paper investigates the age, P–T conditions and kinematics of Karakorum Fault (KF) zone rocks in the NW part of the Himalaya–Karakorum belt. Granulite to greenschist facies assemblages were developed within the KF zone during strike-slip shearing. The granulites were formed at high temperature (800 °C, 5.5 kbar), were subsequently retromorphosed into the amphibolite facies (700–750 °C, 4–5 kbar) and the greenschist facies (350–400 °C, 3–4 kbar). The Tangtse granite emplaced syn-kinematically at the contact between a LT and the HT granulite facies. Intrusion occurred during the juxtaposition of the two units under amphibolite conditions. Microstructures observed within the Tangtse granite exhibit a syn-magmatic dextral S–C fabric. Compiled U–Pb and Ar–Ar data show that in the central KF segment, granulite facies metamorphism occurred at a minimum age of 32 Ma, subsequent amphibolite facies metamorphism at 20–18 Ma. Further shearing under amphibolite facies (650–500 °C) was recorded at 13.6 ± 0.9 Ma, and greenschist-facies mica growth at 11 Ma. These data give further constrains to the age of initiation and depth of the Karakorum Fault. The granulite-facies conditions suggest that the KF, accommodating the lateral extrusion of Tibet, could be at least a crustal or even a Lithosphere-scale shear zone comparable to other peri-Himalayan faults.     

Diapiric emplacement in the upper crust of a granitic body: the La Bazana granite (SW Spain)

The ascent and emplacement of granites in the upper crust is a major geological phenomenon accomplished by a number of different processes. The active processes determine the final geometry of the bodies and, in some favourable cases, the inverse problem of deducing mechanisms can be undertaken by relying on the geometry of plutons. This is the case of the La Bazana granitic pluton, a small Variscan igneous body that intruded Cambrian rocks of the Ossa-Morena Zone (SW Iberian Massif) in the core of a large late upright antiform. The granite shows no appreciable solid-state deformation, but has a late magmatic foliation whose orientation, derived from field observations, defines a gentle dome. The regional attitude of the main foliation in the country rock (parallel to the axial plane of recumbent folds) is NW–SE, but just around the granite, it accommodates to the dome shape of the pluton. Flattening in the host rock on top of the granite is indicated by boudinaged and folded veins, and appears to be caused by an upward pushing of the magma during its emplacement. The dome-shaped foliation of the granite, geometrically and kinematically congruent with the flattening in the host rock, can be related in the same way to the upward pushing of the magma. The level of final emplacement was deduced from the mineral associations in the thermal aureole to be of 7–10 km in depth. Models of the gravity anomaly related to the granite body show that the granite has a teardrop–pipe shape enlarged at its top. Diapiric ascent of the magma through the lower middle crust is inferred until reaching a high viscous level, where final emplacement accompanied by lateral expansion and vertical flattening took place. This natural example suggests that diapirism may be a viable mechanism for migration and emplacement of magmas, at least up to 7–10 km in depth, and it provides natural evidence for theoretical discussion on the ability of magmatic diapirs to pierce the crust.     

The Central Extremadura batholith: Geotectonic implications (European Hercynian Belt)—an outline

Study of the Central Extremadura batholith and shear zone, described for the first time herein, provides new insights into the tectonomagmatic evolution of the Ibero-Armorican arc.The main plutonic event may be closely related to intracontinental shear-zone development. The Central Extremadura shear zone may provide a model for the interpretation of collision structures related to the origin of the Ibero-Armorican arc.     

Petrology and geochemistry of the Juzzak Sill,western Chagai arc (Pakistan): implications for petrogenesis and emplacement

The Juzzak Sill occurs in the western part of the east-west trending, subduction-related magmatic belt known as the Chagai arc. The sill is concordantly emplaced in the Paleocene Juzzak Formation and locally cross-cuts the Early to Middle Eocene Robat Limestone and Eocene Saindak Formation. The sill is a porphyritic pyroxene diorite that grades into a porphyritic andesite (60.12–61.57 wt% SiO₂) along the chilled margins. It comprises phenocrysts of hypersthene and plagioclase (An_32–45) in a medium- to fine-grained groundmass of these minerals, opaque oxide, and apatite. The rocks are high-K (2.37–2.86 wt% K₂O) calc-alkaline with low Mg# (42–55), Cr (51–80 ppm), and Ni (22–30 ppm) contents. Mantle-normalized trace element patterns, exhibited by marked negative Nb anomalies and positive spikes for Sr, Rb, and Zr and are akin to island arc signatures. The relatively higher ratios of Zr/Y (3.57–6.58), Ti/V (46.05–54.36), Ta/Yb (0.14–0.15), and Th/Yb (2.56–2.65) and high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio (0.70524) suggest the role of continental crust materials, thus implying continental margin-type arc affinity. The source diagnostic ratios including K/Ba, P/Zr, and La/Ce of Juzzak Sill andesite and Eocene andesite from the Chagai arc are more or less similar, but the former has a much higher K/Y and Ba/Y ratios, which suggests assimilations of the host sediments during intrusion.     

The Lilloise intrusion,east Greenland: Hydrogen isotope evidence for the efflux of magmatic water into the contact metamorphic aureole

The epizonal, Tertiary Lilloise layered intrusion (5–9 km diameter) has a well developed amphibolitised basalt aureole, several hundred metres wide. The sequence of main cumulate minerals is olivine, augite, plagioclase, amphibole (Ti-hornblende to hastingsite), with amphibole first appearing as an intercumulus mineral about 2000 m below the present top of the intrusion. The range of D and ¹⁸O values (SMOW) of amphiboles and biotites from early intercumulus, and cumulus minerals and late pegmatites is very narrow, -70 to -88 and +4.3 to 5.5 respectively. Amphiboles or whole rocks from the basaltic country rocks change from D= -85 near the contact to -116 in the outer part of the aureole, and to -118 in the non-metamorphosed basalts up to 9km away. All basalts are depleted in ¹⁸O relative to normal values with the largest depletion (up to 2–3) in the outer part of the aureole. Meteoric water did not interact with either the magma or the hot plutonic rocks. This is in contrast to the results from most other plutonic complexes in the North Atlantic Tertiary igneous province (Skaergaard, Kangerdlugssuaq, Skye, etc.) many of which were similarly emplaced into basaltic country rocks. A meteoric-hydrothermal convective system was established in the basalts including the inner contact zone prior to the complete crystallisation of the Lilloise magma. The inner part of the aureole was finally modified by magmatic-hydrothermal fluids which evolved non explosively from the Lilloise magma. The meteoric-hydrothermal system in the outer part of the aureole, with integrated water/rock ratios of about 0.2 (atom % oxygen), did not collapse in on the hot pluton or inner contact metabasalts. Several factors may have reduced the permeability of the basalt country rocks. The emplacement of dykes prior to the Lilloise intrusion and possible associated weak hydrothermal activity could have restricted circulation of meteoric water; major fracture permeability was not generated during the quiet non-explosive crystallisation history of the Lilloise single magma pulse; metasomatism and alteration accompanying the magmatic-hydrothermal fluids may have reduced permeabilities in the inner aureole. Meteoric waters, however, did enter locally, at a very late stage, during low temperature serpentinisation of periodotite.     

The Geysers-Cobb Mountain Magma System, California (Part 2): timescales of pluton emplacement and implications for its thermal history

Over 400 ion microprobe U-Pb isotopic ages measured for zircons extracted from 24 geothermal wells that penetrate the Geysers Plutonic complex (GPC) allow us to conclude that the entire known extent of the GPC crystallized during the early Pleistocene. Nine samples of the microgranite porphyry that forms the shallow cupola (100-1,500 m below sea-level, mbsl) of the GPC yield the oldest model U-Pb age (1.75 ± 0.01 Ma after correction for initial U series disequilibrium; errors 1σ). Twelve samples from the main intrusive phase (orthopyroxene-biotite granite) present at depths >1,250 mbsl define a crystallization age of 1.27 ± 0.01 Ma. This coincides with the age determined for a structurally and compositionally distinct body of granodiorite (1.25 ± 0.01 Ma; N = 5 samples) that is intruded over a similar depth range. Two petrographically distinct varieties of orthopyroxene-biotite granite yield ages of 1.46 ± 0.03 (GPC21-6000) and 1.16 ± 0.02 Ma (CA5636 74F 21; three samples). U-Pb zircon ages for dikes intruded in metagraywacke country-rocks overlap with those obtained from the main body of the GPC and include the youngest material identified (dike sample NEGU2 ST1-7700: 1.11 ± 0.03 Ma). Overall, the U-Pb results demonstrate that the main body of the GPC (∼300 km³) was emplaced and crystallized within the upper crust over a short time interval (0.2 Ma) that overlaps with zircon crystallization ages of overlying silicic volcanic units.     

Sedimentological and paleoenvironmental characterisation of transgressive sediments on the Guadiana Shelf (Northern Gulf of Cadiz, SW Iberia)

During the transgression following the Last Glacial Maximum, four backstepping parasequences were deposited on the northern Gulf of Cádiz shelf (SW Iberia). In contrast to other areas on the shelf, these transgressive deposits are at, or very close to, the surface to the southeast of the Guadiana Estuary mouth. This is particularly true for transgressive parasequence T_C, possibly associated with the Younger Dryas event, and the youngest parasequence T_D, probably linked to a slow-down in sea-level rise at around 8.2 ka BP, both of which form a sandy transgressive bulge on the upper middle shelf.The older and more distal parasequence T_C is characterised on seismic records by convex low-angle sigmoidal clinoforms, and contains high amounts of quartz and bioclasts. In contrast, the younger and more proximal parasequence T_D shows relatively steep concave prograding clinoforms, and contains high amounts of quartz and other terrigenous components, but comparatively low amounts of bioclasts. Furthermore, the difference in age between both parasequences is clearly marked by a difference in the content of glauconite.The results indicate that sediments found in parasequence T_C are associated with deposition related to storm events, with frequent reworking of components, and the more proximal and younger sediments in T_D are the result of rapid sediment accumulation related to floods in the Guadiana River basin, possibly during the transition from a dry cold period to a warmer more humid period, when vegetation cover was lowest and flood frequency increased.Additionally, accumulations of terrigenous components directly associated with the Guadiana River basin found on the outer shelf indicate that, at least during the beginning of the transgression, overflow channels active during large-scale flood events may have spilled material to an area located immediately to the south of the Guadiana Estuary mouth.     

The influence of crystallography and kinetics on phengite breakdown reactions in a low-pressure metamorphic aureole

A natural example of phengite that had undergone partial thermal decomposition at a pressure of about 0.5 kbar and a temperature of about 680° C in a contact aureole was exmined in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). Partially pseudomorphed phengites were found to consist of combinations of phengite, biotite, K-feldspar, mullite, sillimanite, spinel and cordierite. Different areas within individual, partially pseudomorphed, phengite grains show various degrees of reaction and different reaction products; the cores are the least reacted and the margins have reacted most. In the cores the assemblage Al-, Mg-enriched phengite+biotite +K-feldspar+mullite±spinel has formed, whereas the assemblage K-feldspar+mullite+sillimanite+spinel +biotite+cordierite has formed at the edges. According to our thermodynamic calculations, the breakdown of phengite should have produced cordierite+spinel +corundum+K-feldspar in regions isolated from the influx of SiO₂ and cordierite+andalusite+quartz+K-feldspar in regions near the edge of the grains that were essentially saturated with SiO₂. Chemical equilibrium was not achieved in any part of the partially pseudomorphed phengites on a micron scale or larger. Breakdown theoretically should have been complete by about 550° C; the reaction temperature was overstepped by at least 130° C for 20–25 years. The variations in the degree and type of reaction are probably due partly to the availability of suitable nucleation sites in different regions, partly to the need to remove H₂O from reaction sites and partly to the influence of SiO₂, which diffused into the grains during metamorphism. The presence of SiO₂ lowers the equilibrium temperatures. Thus there is a higher driving force for breakdown near the grain boundaries than in the cores. Most of the products show an orientation relationship with the parent phengite and have consistent habit planes; they have their closest-packed planes and closest-packed directions parallel to one another and to those of phengite. Such relationships minimize the strain and surface energies at nucleation and favour most rapid nucleation and growth of the reaction products. The great structural similarity of biotite to phengite resulted in its having the highest rate of nucleation and growth of any product and it occurred in all areas of the phengite pseudomorphs studied. Mullite and sillimanite were produced metastably. Mullite has more rapid nucleation kinetics than other aluminosilicates because it is structurally disordered. Sillimanite formed rather than andalusite in regions of the partially pseudomorphed phengites where the reaction reached an advanced stage, because the reaction from phengite to andalusite requires an energetically unfavourable change in aluminium co-ordination state.     

Single subduction zone for the generation of Devonian ophiolites and high‐P metamorphic belts of the Variscan Orogen (NW Iberia)

Within the Variscan Orogen, Early Devonian and Late Devonian high‐P belts separated by mid‐Devonian ophiolites can be interpreted as having formed in a single subduction zone. Early Devonian convergence nucleated a Laurussia‐dipping subduction zone from an inherited lithospheric neck (peri‐Gondwanan Cambrian back‐arc). Slab‐retreat induced upper plate extension, mantle incursion and lower plate thermal softening, favouring slab‐detachment within the lower plate and diapiric exhumation of deep‐seated rocks through the overlying mantle up to relaminate the upper plate. Upper plate extension produced mid‐Devonian suprasubduction ocean floor spreading (Devonian ophiolites), while further convergence resulted in plate coupling and intraoceanic ophiolite imbrication. Accretion of the remaining Cambrian ocean heralded Late Devonian subduction of inner sections of Gondwana across the same subduction zone and the underthrusting of mainland Gondwana (culmination of NW Iberian allochthonous pile). Oblique convergence favoured lateral plate sliding, and explained the different lateral positions along Gondwana of terranes separated by Palaeozoic ophiolites.     

Balanced cross-sections and their implications for the deep structure of the northwest Alps: discussion

Field evidence around the southwestern termination of the Mont Blanc basement massif casts doubt on Butler's interpretation of the massif as a relatively thin thrust-sheet extending over the imbricated Dauphind cover. A thick-skinned model of basement faulting, analogous to Laramide faulting in the western U.S.A., seems more appropriate for the area.