L'escarpement de faille de la Têt est-il le résultat de la tectonique active Plio-Pléistocène ou d'une exhumation Pléistocène ?

The Têt Fault looks like an active fault. Its activity, attested for Pliocene, remains discussed for Pleistocene. We propose a new scenario of evolution for the Têt Fault, highlighting the importance of Pleistocene exhumation processes. It is based on a relationship between morphology and basin filling. During Pleistocene, the fault activity is weak and vertical displacements seem to have no considerable impact on the drainage features. This study concludes that Pliocene offset may also be reduced: the fault activity generating relief is anterior to Pliocene. To cite this article: J.-M. Carozza, S. Baize, C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

Geochronology of the mid-German crystalline rise west of the River Rhine

The mid-German crystalline rise has its westernmost exposures at the western margin of the Rhine graben in the southern Pfalz and the northern Alsace. The outcrops are made up of granitoid rocks and minor volcano-sedimentary sequences. Radiometric ages obtained by U/Pb, Pb/Pb, Sm/Nd and Rb/Sr analyses of the igneous rocks from this area range from ∼433 to ∼325 Ma thus covering a time span from the Silurian to the end of the lower Carboniferous. Because the investigated rocks are — according to their chemical composition — largely related to subduction zone environments, the following three geodynamical scenarios are postulated, always taking subduction of oceanic crust beneath the mid-German crystalline rise into account: (a) subduction of the Rheic ocean during the Silurian from the north; (b) subduction of the Rhenohercynian ocean during the late Devonian (∼369 Ma) from the north; (c) subduction of the Saxothuringian ocean during the lower Carboniferous (∼334 Ma) from the south.     

Post-collisional Variscan lamprophyres (Black Forest, Germany): Ar/Ar phlogopite dating, Nd, Pb, Sr isotope, and trace element characteristics

Subsequent to high-pressure and temperature metamorphism of the axial zone of the Variscan foldbelt in central Europe at ca. 340 to 330 Ma, formation of lamprophyre dikes during transtensional tectonics may be viewed as the beginning of the post-collisional stage of the orogeny. We report the results of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar mica dating, major and trace element data, and isotope compositions for lamprophyre and rhyodacite samples from the southern Black Forest. The chemical compositions of these rocks shed light on the upper mantle and crust at the end of the Variscan orogeny. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages for four phlogopite–biotite separates from lamprophyres indicate emplacement at 332 to 314 Ma. This event coincides with melting of the crust as indicated by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar biotite plateau ages of ca. 332 Ma for rhyodacite dikes which are probably related to coeval undeformed granites. Incompatible trace element patterns of the lamprophyre samples reveal the characteristics of evolved continental crust and are interpreted as evidence for melting of sediment in a subduction-modified mantle. Nd, Sr, and Pb isotope compositions indicate an enriched mantle source with _Nd-values of −1.5 to −6.8 which is similar to Variscan crust. Significant contamination of the lamprophyric melts by Variscan crust can be ruled out as mantle-derived phlogopite phenocrysts have similar _Nd-values as in the whole-rock samples. We propose that the isotope compositions and incompatible trace element characteristics of the lamprophyres were predominantly inherited from melted sediment. The isotope compositions of Variscan lamprophyres from western Europe suggest that enriched upper mantle was only partly delaminated when ascending hot mantle triggered melting of the lower crust, as has been invoked for the origin of post-collisional granites. The isotope compositions of Tertiary basalts and mantle xenoliths indicate a depleted upper mantle under western Europe, implying that the enriched Variscan material was efficiently removed and mixed into the convecting mantle.     

东阿尔卑斯原-古特提斯构造演化

新生代阿尔卑斯是非洲和欧洲之间的陆陆碰撞造山带。强烈的造山作用使大量前中生代基底出露地表,尽管这些基底被强烈逆冲推覆和走滑叠置,但是仍保留较丰富的前中生代基底演化信息。结合近几年对东阿尔卑斯原-古特提斯的研究,本文梳理和重建了阿尔卑斯前中生代基底的构造格局,认为前阿尔卑斯基底受原特提斯、南华力西洋、古特提斯洋构造体系影响而经历了多期造山过程。新元古代-早古生代的原阿尔卑斯作为环冈瓦纳地块群的组成部分,受原特提斯洋俯冲的制约,是新元古-早古生代环冈瓦纳活动陆缘的组成部分,其中,海尔微-彭尼内基底组成外缘增生系统,包括卡多米期地壳碎片在内的陆缘弧/岛弧以及大量增生楔组成内缘增生系统。早奥陶世瑞亚克洋打开,随后原阿尔卑斯从冈瓦纳陆缘裂离,在泥盆纪-石炭纪受南华力西洋控制,海尔微-彭尼内-中、下奥地利阿尔卑斯从冈瓦纳分离。在早石炭世(维宪期)南阿尔卑斯(或与之相当的冈瓦纳源地块)与北部阿莫里卡地块群拼贴增生于古欧洲大陆南缘,共同组成华力西造山带(广义),华力西期缝合带保留在绍山-科尔山南侧。晚石炭世-早二叠世,阿尔卑斯受古特提斯洋的俯冲影响,在华力西造山带南侧形成安第斯山型活动大陆边缘,古特提斯洋在阿尔卑斯的演化至少持续到早三叠世,消亡遗迹保留在中奥地利阿尔卑斯基底的Plankogel杂岩中。     

Two-sided Variscan thrust tectonics in the Vosges Mountains,northeastern France

Abstract

Variscan convergence produced two-sided (bivergent) crustal-scale thrusting in the Vosges Mountains. In the northern Vosges the central polymetamorphic crystallines were thrust to the NW over Cambrian to Silurian low-grade and very low-grade metamorphic clastics. Synorogenic upper Devonian - lower Carboniferous turbidites and volcanics were folded into NW-vergent structures which display SE-dipping slaty cleavage. The entire sequence shows increasing metamorphism and deformation from NW to SE. Late right-lateral strike-slip faulting along the Lalaye-Lubine fault zone outlasted thrusting. In the southern Vosges a lower Carboniferous turbiditic basin that was fringed on the south by a volcanic arc was tectonically shortened by south-directed tectonic imbrication of slivers of varied rocks including ultramafics, gneissic basement, and synorogenic elastics. The increasing degree of deformation and metamorphism towards the north suggests a thrust contact with the polymetamorphic gneisses of the central Vosges. The final stages of Variscan convergence were accompanied by voluminous granitic plutonism and by faulting along NNE-SSW and E-W-trending strike-slip faults. The tectonic evolution reflects progressive Variscan closure of a previously extended basinal crust in a high-temperature regime.     

Stable isotope constraints on the origin of the Cabo de Creus garnet-tourmaline pegmatites,Massif des Alberes,Eastern Pyrenees,Spain

Pegmatite dyke swarms are exposed within the easternmost Pyrenees at Cabo de Creus. These dykes were emplaced into high-grade metamorphosed sedimentary strata of Cambro-Ordovician age, but lack obvious field relationship to Hercynian intrusive rocks. Together with structural and geochemical data, equilibrium oxygen isotope fractionations at temperatures of ≈ 600°C, the lack of obvious subsolidus exchange, and the H- and O-isotopic signatures of water in equilibrium with pegmatite mica and quartz are interpreted to indicate a derivation from anatexis of a metapelitic source at shallow crustal levels.     

The upper Maastrichtian dinosaur fossil record from the southern Pyrenees and its contribution to the topic of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction event

In the present paper, the fossil record of the archosaurs (dinosaurs, crocodylomorphs and pterosaurs) of the southern Pyrenees before the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K–Pg) transition is revised. On the basis of this fossil record, a well-dated succession of dinosaurs and other archosaurs is established within polarity magnetochrons C30 and C29r. Almost 150 sites with dinosaur remains have been identified, containing hadrosauroid ornithopods, titanosaur sauropods and theropods, as well as egg sites and tracks. Fossil remains of dinosaurs and other archosaurs are abundant in C29r, disappearing abruptly near the top of the “Lower Red Garumnian” unit of the Tremp Formation. Thus this should be located very close to, or coinciding with the K–Pg boundary. These data suggest that the disappearance of the dinosaurs and other archosaurs was geologically abrupt in the southern Pyrenees, but to date there is no incontrovertible evidence of the presence of the impact level that marks the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary. Interestingly, what is highlighted in the southern Pyrenees is that the vertebrate-rich upper Maastrichtian continental sites were replaced by similar sedimentological facies characterized by the virtual absence not only of dinosaurs but also of any vertebrate remain throughout the lower Palaeocene. This could mean that the Danian terrestrial ecosystems of the southern Pyrenees took longer than other areas of the world to recover their biodiversity after the K−Pg extinction event.     

Re-folded structure of syn-orogenic granitoids(Padrón dome,NW Iberia):Assessing rheological evolution of cooling continental crust in a collisional setting

This contribution discusses about the rheological, kinematic and dynamic frameworks necessary to produce recumbent and upright folds from syn-orogenic granitic massifs that were formed during an early stage of magma genesis related to the onset of a migmatitic dome. Syn-kinematic granitoids occurring within the high-grade infrastructure of the Padron migmatitic dome(NW Iberia) are deformed into largescale recumbent folds(D_2) that are later affected by upright folds(D_3). Petrostructural analysis of a selected area of this dome reveals that after a period of crustal thickening(D_1), NNW-directed extensional flow gave way to recumbent folds and penetrative axial plane foliation(S_2). Superimposed subhorizontal compression resulted in upright folds(D_3). A closer view into the dynamics of the dome allows exploring the factors that may condition the nucleation of folds with contrasting geometries during progressive deformation of molten continental crust. The formation of folds affecting syn-kinematic granitoids suggests a cooling metamorphic path in migmatitic domes. Active and passive folding mechanisms require a crystallizing(cooling) magma to nucleate folds. A more competent metamorphic host inhibits fold nucleation from much less competent magmas. As it crystallizes, magma becomes more rigid(competent),and approaches viscosity values of its host. Passive folding is favored when no significant competence contrast exists between magma and host, so this folding mechanism is more likely shortly after magma genesis and emplacement. In such conditions, and under dominant subhorizontal flow accompanied by flattening(D_2),passive folding would produce isoclinal recumbent geometries. Further magma cooling introduces a shift into the rheological behavior of partially molten crust. Thereon, crystallizing magma bodies would represent significant competence contrasts relative to their host. At this point, buckling is a more likely folding mechanism, and more regular, buckle folds re-fold previous structures after significant cooling. The geometry of resulting folds is upright due to dominant subhorizontal compression(D_3) at this stage.     

东昆仑祁漫塔格地区华力西期花岗岩地质地球化学特征

通过对祁漫塔格地区华力西期花岗岩类型、空间分布、地质地球化学特征的研究表明，该区花岗岩分布最广的是华力西中、晚期花岗岩。华力西中期花岗岩岩石组合为钾长花岗岩、花岗岩、二长花岗岩，为高钾钙碱性系列，稀土元素含量较低，属轻稀土富集型，铕亏损较小，LILE中的Cs、Rb、Ba、K等含量相对富集，而LILE中的Sr、HFSE中Nb、Ti和P相对亏损，形成于碰撞后或造山晚期；华力西晚期花岗岩岩石组合为钾长花岗岩、花岗闪长岩、中粗粒黑云母二长花岗岩、花岗斑岩，为高钾钙碱性系列，稀土元素含量高于华力西中期花岗岩的稀土元素含量，铕亏损较为明显，微量元素以Sr、Ti和P更为亏损为特征，形成于活动大陆边缘到碰撞后花岗岩的过渡环境。     

The Cwm Llwyd Outlier,Carmarthenshire, South‐West Wales – Britain's deepest karstic subsidence or Variscan pull‐apart structure?

The Cwm Llwyd Outlier of Namurian Middle Shales in the central part of the Black Mountain escarpment of South Wales is an unusual structure. It occupies a topographic depression located more than 2 km from the main outcrop of the Middle Shales and has a stratigraphic discordance with its wall‐rocks of more than 300 m. Previous interpretations advocating a karstic origin imply that this is the deepest known subsidence in Great Britain. However, although the outlier lies among some of the finest epikarst landforms in the country, several factors indicate that the subsidence was not caused by a karstic mechanism. These include the amount of stratigraphic displacement in contrast to the depth of available vertical space in the putative host Carboniferous Limestone, the relatively simple form of the outlier, and the absence of brecciation, marginal solution residues and associated palaeoendokarst features in the adjacent wall‐rocks. The outlier is re‐interpreted here as the product of faulting which occurred during a Variscan strike‐slip or transpressive tectonic regime, producing local sinistral transtension that may have been re‐activated in the Palaeogene period. Remapping the outlier at a scale of 1:2 500 indicates that the present structure is related principally to a left‐stepping offset between the Cwm Llwyd and Llwyn Celyn faults. Analogies are drawn with the Cainozoic pull‐apart structures in Southwest England. Near‐surface reddening and kaolinization of the beds probably represent pre‐Pleistocene weathering. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.