Les concentrations à sillimanite du Sud Velay et l'évolution P–T–t fini-hercynienne dans le Massif central (France)

The Late Hercynian evolution in the French Massif Central corresponds to the transition from a LP–HT (M₃ event at 314 ± 5 Ma) to a higher temperature metamorphism corresponding to the emplacement of the Velay granite dome (M₄ event at 301 ± 5 Ma). This transition is outlined by the development of sillimanite folia, which represent planes of base-cation leaching, associated with ductile deformation. This evolution implies a counterclockwise retrograde $P\text{–}T\text{–}t$ path under subsolidus conditions between M₃ and M₄. To cite this article: P. Barbey et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Differences in the Crustal and Uppermost Mantle Structure of the Bohemian Massif from Teleseismic Receiver Functions

A target of our study was the Bohemian Massif in Central Europe that was emplaced during the Variscan orogeny. We used teleseismic records from ten broadband stations lying within and around the massif. Different techniques of receiver function interpretation were applied, including 1-D inversion of R- and Q-components, forward modelling of V _s velocity, and simultaneous determination of Moho depth and Poissons ratio in the crust. These results provide new, independent information about the distribution of S wave velocity down to about 60 km depth. In the area of Bohemian Massif, the crustal thickness varies from 29 km in the NW to 40 km in the SE. A relatively simple velocity structure with gradually increasing velocities in the crust and uppermost mantle is observed in the eastern part of the Bohemian Massif. The western part of the massif is characterized by more complicated structure with low S wave velocities in the upper crust, as well as in the uppermost mantle. This could be related to tectono-magmatic activity in the Eger rift that started in the uppermost Cretaceous and was active in the West Bohemia-Vogland area till the late Cenozoic.     

Geophysical Field Pattern in The West Bohemian Geodynamic Active Area

Regional geophysical data from detailed gravity survey, airborne magnetometry and gamma-ray spectrometry were analysed in order to determine the subsurface extent of contrasting geological bodies and to highlight subtle anomalies which can be related to the occurrence of earthquake swarms. Potential field data were compiled into contour and colour-shaded relief maps suitable for detecting structural tectonic elements. A shaded relief map of the horizontal gradient of gravity was used to detect considerable structural and tectonic features. The results of airborne gamma-ray spectrometry, showing the regional total gamma-ray activity, abundance of uranium, thorium and potassium, were included in this study. Only the two most instructive maps – the total gamma-ray activity and the abundance of potassium are shown. The main line of epicentres Nový Kostel – Poátky coincides well with the N-S configuration of abundances of these natural radioactive elements. The epicentres of micro-earthquakes detected by the local seismological network KRASLICE for the 1991 to 1998 period were plotted in the geophysical maps. The hypocentres of earthquakes in the main epicentral zone at Nový Kostel were projected onto the crustal density model based on the interpretation of seismic reflection profile 9HR and gravity data. The average distance between the Nový Kostel epicentral zone and the seismic profile was 4-5 km. Based on the interpretation of gravity data the hypocentres of the main epicentral zone seem to be associated with the western margin of the Eibenstock - Nejdek (Karlovy Vary) Pluton and, beside that, they follow the depth level where the allochthonnous part of the Saxothuringian Zone is thrust over the European parautochton. A drawing of the geodynamic model of the area is also shown.     

Tectonosedimentary Evolution of the Cheb Basin (NW Bohemia,Czech Republic) between Late Oligocene and Pliocene: A Preliminary Note

A working model of tectono-sedimentary evolution is proposed for the Cheb Basin, a polyhistory sedimentary basin formed between the late Oligocene and Pliocene by reactivation of basement fracture systems in the northwestern part of the Bohemian Massif. The basin is located at the intersection of the Ohe (Eger) Graben structural domain, characterized by dominance of NE-striking graben systems in present-day geology, and the NW-striking Cheb-Domalice Graben, a major strike-slip – dominated structure in Western Bohemia. The first significant depositional episode in the Cheb Basin coincides with the deposition of late Oligocene-Miocene clastics in the whole extensional system of the Ohe Graben, controlled by E-W – trending depocenters. The main structural feature of the Cheb Basin region at that time was a palaeohigh caused by a NW- trending accommodation zone separating minor E-W – trending depocentres. The second, late Pliocene, episode of sedimentation occurred under a very different kinematic regime than the Oligo-Miocene rift basin evolution. During this time, the present-day structure of the Cheb Basin and the Cheb-Domalice Graben formed as a consequence of sinistral displacement on the Mariánské Lázn Fault Zone. Reactivation of this strike-slip fault zone led to the formation of a horsetail splay of oblique-extensional faults at the northern termination of the Mariánské Lázn Fault Zone, which contained the present-day Cheb Basin.     

Subsurface Temperature Changes Due to the Crustal Magmatic Activity – Numerical Simulation

Geothermal aspects of the hypothesis, relating the earthquake swarms in the West Bohemia/Vogtland seismoactive region to magmatic activity, are addressed. A simple 1-D geothermal model of the crust was used to assess the upper limit of the subsurface heating caused by magma intrusion at the assumed focal depth of 9 km. We simulated the process by solving the transient heat conduction equation numerically, considering the heat of magma crystallization to be gradually released in the temperature interval 1100°C to 900°C. The temperature field prior to the intrusion was in steady-state with a surface temperature of 10°C and heat flow of 80 mWm ^–2 , the temperature at the 9 km depth was 270°C. The results suggest that the temperature and heat flow in the uppermost 1 km of the crust begin to grow 100 ka after the intrusion emplacement only, and that the amplitudes of the changes for the realistic lateral extent (a few kilometres) of the intrusion are very small. It was also found that the rate of magma solidification depends strongly on the thickness of the intrusion. It takes about 100 years for a 50 m thick sill to cool down from 1100°C to 600°C, which value represents the lower limit of the solidus temperature. The same cooling takes only 60 days if the sill is 2 m thick. If the nature of the strongly reflected boundaries, interpreted from the January 1997 Nový Kostel seismograms, is connected with the fresh emplacement of magma, the calculated cooling rates have a predictive potential for the temporal changes of the waveforms.     

Diamond-bearing and diamond-free metacarbonate rocks from Kumdy–Kol in the Kokchetav Massif, northern Kazakhstan

Abstract Dolomite marble from the Kumdy–Kol area of the Kokchetav Massif contains abundant microdiamond, mainly in garnet and a few in diopside. The mineral assemblage at peak metamorphic condition consists of dolomite + diopside + garnet (+ aragonite) ± diamond. Inclusions of very low MgCO₃ calcite and almost pure calcite occur in diopside and are interpreted as aragonite and/or aragonite + dolomite. Single-phase Mg–calcite in diopside with a very high MgCO₃ component (up to 21.7 mol%) was also found in diamond-free dolomitic marble, and is interpreted as a retrograde product from aragonite + dolomite to Mg–calcite. The dolomite stability constrains the maximum pressure (P) at < 7 GPa using previous experimental data, whereas the occurrence of diamond yields the minimum peak pressure–temperature (P–T) condition at 4.2 GPa and 980 °C at X co ₂ = 0.1. The highest MgCO₃ in Mg–calcite constrains the minimum P–T condition higher than 2.5 GPa and 800 °C for the exhumation stage. As these marbles were subjected to nearly identical P–T metamorphic conditions, the appearance of diamond in some carbonate rocks was explained by high X co ₂. A low X co ₂ condition refers to high oxidized conditions and diamond (and/or graphite) becomes unstable. Difference in X co ₂ for marble from the same area suggests local heterogeneity of fluid compositions during ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism.     

Petrogenesis of graphitic cherts in the Armorican segment of the Cadomian orogenic belt (NW France)

Graphitic cherts are interbedded within terrigenous sediments in the Cadomian orogenic belt of end-Proterozoic age. In the Armorican Massif (NW France), the graphitic cherts are of two types: massive cherts essentially composed of quartz (SiO₂ > 96%) and with rare sedimentary structures; laminated cherts containing up to 3·4% Al₂O₃ and 92–98% SiO₂. Sedimentary structures observed in the laminated cherts are indicative of a restricted hypersaline tidal or supratidal environment. The origins of both types of chert are to be found in the diagenetic processes of silification of terrigenous and mixed terrigenous-evaporitic facies. These processes, which could be mediated by the presence of organic matter, were controlled by the migration of the freshwater/saltwater mixing zone during periods of relative sea-level change. The proposed diagenetic origin for the cherts places a number of constraints on their use in the establishment of stratigraphic correlations.     

Relics of an early-Panafrican metabasite–metarhyolite formation in the Brno Massif, Moravia, Czech Republic

The Brno Massif in Moravia, Czech Republic, is an important exposure of Precambrian basement in central Europe. It includes large volumes of Cadomian granitoids and a narrow fault-bounded zone with metagabbros, metadiorites, and metabasalts. This so-called Central Basic Belt also contains some metarhyolites; one of these was dated by means of the zircon evaporation method at 725 ±15 Ma. Chemical and isotope data show that the dated rock represents a mantle-derived magma which is cosanguinous with surrounding MORB-type metabasites. The data suggest that the Brno Massif hosts the oldest metabasite complex currently known in central Europe. Its formation apparently coincides with the main period of ocean-floor spreading and island-arc formation in the Panafrican orogens. This lends further support to the theory that the Brno Massif is a Gondwana-derived element. Received: 9 December 1999 / Accepted: 9 February 2000     

Early Carboniferous blueschist facies metamorphism in metapelites of the West Sudetes (Northern Saxothuringian Domain,Bohemian Massif)

The metamorphic evolution of micaschists in the north‐eastern part of the Saxothuringian Domain in the Central European Variscides is characterized by the early high‐pressure M1 assemblage with chloritoid in cores of large garnet porphyroblasts and a Grt–Chl–Phe–Qtz ± Pg M2 assemblage in the matrix. Minerals of the M1–M2 stage were overprinted by the low‐pressure M3 assemblage Ab–Chl–Ms–Qtz ± Ep. Samples with the best‐preserved M1–M2 mineralogy mostly appear in domains dominated by the earlier D1 deformation phase and are only weakly affected by subsequent D2 overprint. Thermodynamic modelling suggests that mineral assemblages record peak‐pressure conditions of ≥18–19 kbar at 460–520 °C (M1) followed by isothermal decompression 10.5–13.5 kbar (M2) and final decompression to <8.5 kbar and <480 °C (M3). The calculated peak P–T conditions indicate a high‐pressure/low‐temperature apparent thermal gradient of ～7–7.5 °C km^?1. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry isotopic dating and electron microprobe chemical dating of monazite from the M1–M2 mineral assemblages give ages of 330 ± 10 and 328 ± 6 Ma, respectively, which are interpreted as the timing of a peak pressure to early decompression stage. The observed metamorphic record and timing of metamorphism in the studied metapelites show striking similarities with the evolution of the central and south‐western parts of the Saxothuringian Domain and suggest a common tectonic evolution along the entire eastern flank of the Saxothuringian Domain during the Devonian–Carboniferous periods.     

Origin of Carboniferous sandstones fringing the northern margin of the Wales‐Brabant Massif: insights from detrital zircon ages

A study of detrital zircon age populations in Namurian–Westphalian (Carboniferous) sandstones in the southern Central Pennine Basin of the UK has revealed considerable complexity in their provenance history. The Pendleian–Marsdenian Morridge Formation, which is known to have been derived from the Wales‐Brabant Massif to the south on the basis of palaeocurrent and petrographic information, is dominated by zircons ultimately derived from the Caledonian belt to the north. These zircons were recycled from sandstones of northern origin that had been previously deposited over the massif during Middle to Late Devonian times. The Morridge Formation also includes Late Neoproterozoic zircons of local Wales‐Brabant Massif origin. The south lobe of the Yeadonian Rough Rock has been previously interpreted as having a complex provenance including sediment of northern origin interbedded with sediment ascribed to a Wales‐Brabant Massif source. However, the zircon spectrum lacks a Late Neoproterozoic component that would have been diagnostic of input from the Wales‐Brabant Massif, and the provenance history of the Rough Rock south lobe therefore remains enigmatic. The Langsettian Ludgbridge Conglomerate is dominated by Late Neoproterozoic zircons of Wales‐Brabant Massif origin, but even in this evidently proximal deposit, the provenance is complex since the main zircon group (ca. 640 Ma) cannot be matched with known local Neoproterozoic basement sources. The data either indicate the presence of hitherto‐unknown magmatic rocks of this age adjacent to the South Staffordshire coalfield or indicate that the zircons were recycled from sediment with a more distal origin. Finally, the Duckmantian Top Hard Rock contains zircons that can be reconciled with a source in the Irish Caledonides, consistent with the palaeocurrent evidence, supplemented by zircons derived from the Wales‐Brabant Massif, possibly including the Monian Composite Terrane of Anglesey. The study reinforces the important message that failure to recognize the presence of recycled zircon could lead to erroneous reconstructions of sediment provenance and transport history. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.