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Although fundamental to the understanding of crustal dynamics in extensional setting, the relationships between the emplacement of granitic intrusions and activity of detachments still remain very elusive. Through a multi-scale approach, we here document a continuous deformation history between the monzogranitic intrusion of Naxos and the Naxos-Paros Detachment System (Cyclades, Greece). Field observations first show an early magmatic deformation followed by solid-state, ductile and then brittle deformation when approaching the detachment zone, as evidenced by the overprinting of mylonites by cataclastes and pseudotachylites. From these observations, we define six strain facies that characterize a positive strain gradient from core to rim of the Naxos monzogranite. Based on field pictures, X-ray tomography and Electron BackScatter Diffraction (EBSD) analyses along the strain gradient, we then quantify the intensity of mineralogical fabrics in 2D and 3D and better characterize the deformation mechanisms. Our measured shape variations of the strain ellipsoid corroborate the large-scale strain gradient, showing a good correlation between qualitative and quantitative studies. In addition, EBSD data indicate that dislocation creep was predominant during cooling from more than 500°C to temperature conditions of the ductile-to-brittle transition. However, 1) a weakening of quartz lattice preferred orientation with increasing strain and 2) evidence of numerous four-grain junctions in high-strain shear bands also indicate that grain boundary sliding significantly contributed to the deformation. Although the source of grain boundary sliding remains to be constrained, it provides a consistent approach to account for strain localization in Naxos.

The Ronda peridotite supplies one of the best objects to document subcontinental mantle deformation, but its internal deformation and exhumation mechanisms remain controversial. Here we provide new structural data and numerical results that constrain the Oligocene-Miocene deformation history of the Ronda massif. We first describe a mantle shear zone in the northern massif that developed subcrustal strain localization during decompression and related partial melting. The deformation regime of this mantle shear zone evolved from penetrative NE-SW stretching to sinistral shear highlighted by discrete shear bands. We then show structural observations that document a viscous deformation in the southern massif occurring prior to the thrust-assisted emplacement of the peridotite during large decompression. Finally, we performed numerical investigations that quantify a high temperature of 980°C for the basal peridotite lens at the time of its crustal emplacement. Our numerical results constrain the timing of ductile deformation of the peridotite just before 22 Ma, probably between 30 and 22 Ma. Altogether, these features led us to conclude that the deformation and exhumation of the Ronda peridotite results from lithosphere thinning subsequently inverted in the course of the Oligocene-Miocene. Among available models, our findings support the hypothesis of peridotite exhumation by the inversion of a thinned back-arc continental lithosphere during westward slab rollback through the Alboran region.