The Montalet granite, Montagne Noire, France: An Early Permian syn-extensional pluton as evidenced by new U-Th-Pb data on zircon and monazite

Dating the magmatism in the Montagne Noire gneiss dome in the southern French Massif Central is a key point for understanding the Late Palaeozoic evolution of this part of the Variscan belt, which is characterised by compressive tectonics during the Carboniferous and extensional tectonics during Stephanian-Permian times. The Montalet granite crops out in the north-western part of the dome and was first considered as an early syntectonic intrusion related to compressive deformation. More recently, it has been dated at 327 Ma and considered as contemporaneous with the diapiric ascent of the Montagne Noire gneiss dome before the Stephanian-Permian extension. We show that in fact, this pluton was emplaced 294 ± 1 Ma ago and is therefore contemporaneous with the Stephanian-Permian extension. This age is consistent with the interpretation of the Montagne Noire Massif as an extensional gneiss dome.