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.     

Geochemistry and geothermometry of volcanic rocks from Serra Branca, Iberian Pyrite Belt, Portugal

Volcanic rocks from Serra Branca, Iberian Pyrite Belt, Portugal, consist of calc-alkaline felsic and intermediate rocks. The latter are massive andesites, whereas the former include four dacitic to rhyolitic lithologies, distinguishable on spiderdiagrams and binary plots of immobile elements. Zircon thermometry indicates that two felsic suites may have formed from different magmas produced at distinct temperatures, with only limited fractionation within each suite. Alternatively, all the felsic rocks can be related through fractionation of a single magma if the lower zircon saturation temperature obtained for one suite merely results from Zr dilution, mostly reflecting silicification.

The relatively high magma temperatures at Serra Branca ease the classification of felsic rocks based on their HFSE contents and also indicate volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit favorability. This contrasts with other areas of the Belt that register lower magma temperatures and are subsequently barren. However, magma temperatures may have not been high enough to cause complete melting of refractory phases in which HFSE reside during crustal fusion of an amphibolite protolith, implying difficult discrimination of tectonic environments for the felsic rocks. The intermediate rocks were possibly formed by mixing between basaltic magmas and crustal material, compatible with volcanism in an attenuated continental lithosphere setting.     

Structural study of a semiductile strike-slip system in the Central Iberian Zone (Variscan Fold Belt,Spain): structural controls on gold deposits

The Villalcampo shear system is a regional dextral strike-slip fault zone that affects Late Variscan granites and their metamorphic country rocks over an area of about 150 km². The detailed geometry of this subvertical north-west—south-east shear zone is outlined. The system forms an extensional fan to the northwest and extends to the south-east as a broad extensional duplex. Particular attention is focused on the distribution of fault rocks and associated veins in its north-west splay. A structural study of the shear bands (encompassing both geometric and kinematic criteria) and a microscopic study of the fault rocks has led to the interpretation of the system as a brittle—ductile shear zone. Calculations give a shear strain value of = 1.5 and a minimum displacement of s = 3700 m. The localization of gold mineralization in mylonite-filled subvertical extensional veins is a product of the formation of the Villalcampo shear system. The subvertical faults and veins underwent a process of cyclical sealing and reopening. As such they acted as valves controlled by fluid pressure regulating fluid—rock interactions and gold deposition. Conditions favouring these processes occur near the base of the seismogenic zone in the vicinity of the frictional—quasi-plastic transition at mid-greenschist metamorphic conditions (T = 350°C and 10–15 km depth).     

Potential field constraints on the deep structure of the Lugo gneiss dome (NW Spain)

The Lugo gneiss dome, in the NW Iberian Massif (Spain) is a Variscan structure developed during late stages of orogenic collapse. Crustal extension was mainly accomplished by two kilometre-scale conjugate extensional shear zones and by the late development of the dome and a huge normal fault. These structures overprint previous contractional recumbent folds and a thrust fault. The Lugo dome and its southward continuation, the Sanabria dome, are the site of the conspicuous Eastern Galicia Magnetic Anomaly (EGMA), a N–S band, 50 km wide and 190 km long, with a maximum amplitude of 190 nT. Integrated potential field modelling of the EGMA and its corresponding gravity signature have been carried out aided by constraints provided by the measurement of c. 900 magnetic susceptibilities and by previous geophysical data, mainly seismic refraction and reflection profiles. Results suggest that a large volume of low-density migmatites and associated inhomogeneous granites are the main source of the magnetic anomaly. Small massifs of basic and ultrabasic rocks inside the migmatites and high-susceptibility iron ore bodies sparsely distributed in low-grade Middle Ordovician slates are also thought to contribute to the anomaly but to a minor extent. Although otherwise similar to other gneiss domes, the Lugo dome is accompanied by a striking magnetic anomaly whose origin is discussed in terms of the tectonic evolution of this structure and the provenance of the magnetite-bearing migmatites and inhomogeneous granites that core it.     

3-D electromagnetic imaging of a Palaeozoic plate-tectonic boundary segment in SW Iberian Variscides (S Alentejo, Portugal)

In SW Iberian Variscides, the boundary between the South Portuguese Zone (SPZ) and the Ossa Morena Zone (OMZ) corresponds to a major tectonic suture that includes the Beja Acebuches Ophiolite Complex (BAOC) and the Pulo do Lobo Antiform Terrane (PLAT). Three sub-parallel and approximately equidistant MT profiles were performed, covering a critical area of this Palaeozoic plate-tectonic boundary in Portugal; the profiles, running roughly along an NE–SW direction, are sub-perpendicular to the main Variscan tectonic features. Results of the three-dimensional (3-D) modelling of MT data allow to generate, for the first time, a 3-D electromagnetic imaging of the OMZ–SPZ boundary, which reveals different conductive and resistive domains that display morphological variations in depth and are intersected by two major sub-vertical corridors; these corridors coincide roughly with the NE–SW, Messejana strike–slip fault zone and with the WNW–ESE, Ferreira–Ficalho thrust fault zone. The distribution of the shallow resistive domains is consistent with the lithological and structural features observed and mapped, integrating the expected electrical features produced by igneous intrusions and metamorphic sequences of variable nature and age. The development in depth of these resistive domains suggests that: (1) a significant vertical displacement along an early tectonic structure, subsequently re-taken by the Messejana fault-zone in Late-Variscan times, has to be considered to explain differences in deepness of the base of the Precambrian–Cambrian metamorphic pile; (2) hidden, syn- to late-collision igneous bodies intrude the meta-sedimentary sequences of PLAT; (3) the roots of BAOC are inferred from 12 km depth onwards, forming a moderate resistive band located between two middle-crust conductive layers extended to the north (in OMZ) and to the south (in SPZ). These conductive layers overlap the Iberian Reflective Body (evidenced by the available seismic reflection data) and are interpreted as part of an important middle-crust décollement developed immediately above or coinciding with the top of a graphite-bearing granulitic basement.     

A subtropical water intrusion spring-event in the shelf-slope of the south-western Bay of Biscay after strong wind-forcing pulses

Two consecutive multidisciplinary surveys, covering the north and north-western part of the Iberian shelf and slope during spring 2000, showed a dramatic change in the oceanographic conditions as a result of a southern water intrusion that replaced shelf and slope waters down to 300 m depth. The intrusion covered an alongshore distance of ∼400 km from the north of Cape Finisterre to the centre of the Cantabrian Sea, and was developed in less than a month between the two occupations of the same area. The analysis of surface currents from several buoys moored over the slope allow us to associate the emerging oceanographic configuration after the event with a strong and well-defined slope current, although during winter 1999-2000 the entrance of the Iberian Poleward Current (IPC) in the Bay of Biscay was very weak. The rapid development of the intrusion is discussed in relation with the unusual strong wind forcing pulse that occurred between the cruises. Our results highlight the importance of variability scales below seasonal (event-scale) in the Iberian margin.     

Resilience of traditional knowledge systems: The case of agricultural knowledge in home gardens of the Iberian Peninsula

The resilience of a social–ecological system largely depends on its capacity to learn by absorbing new information to cope with change. But, how resilient are traditional knowledge systems? We explore the resilience of the traditional agricultural knowledge system of home gardeners in the Iberian Peninsula (n = 383). We use multivariate analysis to explore the co-existence of agricultural information derived from two different knowledge systems: (i) knowledge and use of landraces (representative of traditional agricultural knowledge) and (ii) knowledge and use of commercial crop varieties (representative of modern agricultural knowledge). Our analyses show a positive association between both types of knowledge: overall gardeners who are more knowledgeable about commercial crop varieties are also more knowledgeable about landraces. Despite this overall tendency, results from hierarchical cluster analysis showed different groups of traditional and modern knowledge holders. Our results suggest that (a) traditional knowledge is not a frozen and static corpus of knowledge and (b) modern and traditional agricultural knowledge are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Both maintenance of some aspects of the traditional knowledge and incorporation of some aspect of the modern knowledge seem to be core elements of home gardeners’ body of agricultural knowledge which is constantly evolving in response to changing environmental and socioeconomic conditions. Changes in traditional knowledge can be seen as a part of the general self-organizing process of this knowledge system.