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International audience; The Mesoproterozoic era is a crucial period in Earth history characterized by muted oxygen levels in the atmosphere–ocean system. This period is well represented in the non-metamorphosed sedimentary rocks from the Taoudeni Basin, Mauritania. Few studies have been carried out to trace the sources of these sedimentary archives. Here, we examined the sedimentary rocks from the Atar (S4 drill core) and El Mreiti groups (S2 and S3 drill cores). This study focuses on whole-rock elemental geochemistry and Sm/Nd isotope compositions to provide insights into the provenance of the fine-grained siliciclastic sediments from the basal part of the Mesoproterozoic Atar and El Mreiti groups. Paleoweathering indices reveal a moderate degree of chemical weathering in the source areas, consistent with the low compositional maturity of the studied samples. The concentrations of the relatively immobile trace elements suggest mixing sources of sediment provenance, which is dominated by felsic source rocks for the Atar sediments. However, distinctively positive ƐNd(t) values coupled with high 143Nd/144Nd and Sm/Nd ratios and high ƒSm/Nd values of the sediments from the El Mreiti Group indicate derivation from juvenile and less evolved sources rocks. Further, the depleted mantle model ages (TDM) of the provenance protolith (1.95–2.31 Ga) support the argument that the El Mreiti sediments are dominantly sourced from the Paleoproterozoic terrane exposed in the eastern Reguibat Shield while the Atar Group were predominantly from the Archean basement rocks in the western Reguibat Shield. Moreover, Sm/Nd isotope and mixing model results support the major contributions of the felsic Archean rocks of the Reguibat Shield for the Atar Group samples. Although these strata, separated by ∼1000 km, have been described as stratigraphic equivalent, our study demonstrates distinct sediment sources between the Atar Group strata and those of El Mreiti, therefore, reinforcing the importance of sediment provenance in understanding the evolution and reconstruction of modern and ancient sedimentary systems.

International audience; Understanding paleoenvironmental dynamics linked to biological evolution in Earth history is a major goal within the geological community. The difficulty of achieving this goal, at least in part, lies with the secondary transformations experienced by a majority of ancient rocks, especially through metamorphism and hydrothermal activity. The Mesoproterozoic (∼1.1 Ga) shallow-marine deposits from the Taoudeni Basin, Mauritania, have suffered a complex, multiphase tectonic, and thermal evolutionary history. Representative samples from two drill cores (a background site [S2] and a dolerite intrusion-bearing drill core [S1]) from the El Mreiti Group were evaluated for transformations and overprints of original mineralogies and geochemical compositions. Our results show that the drill core hosting the dolerite intrusion (S1) is characterized by a suite of minerals (that is, pyroxene, graphite, pyrrhotite, garnet, zeolite, and authigenic clay minerals) resulting from contact metamorphism and associated hydrothermal activity. However, compared to the S1, the S2 core shows no evidence of post-depositional transformation. The geochemical data obtained from S1 reveal a striking elevation of iron contents likely delivered from the hydrothermal fluids. Moreover, concentrations of redox-sensitive trace elements (molybdenum, uranium, and vanadium) increased dramatically during hydrothermal and metamorphic activity. This study demonstrates that need for caution when assessing paleoenvironmental conditions in ancient sedimentary rocks, particularly for iron and trace metal approaches commonly used in reconstructions of paleo-redox.

The early evolution of metazoans has been reconstructed by studies on exceptionally preserved molds in siliciclastic rocks from the Ediacaran Period. However, there remains considerable controversy regarding the formation mechanisms of this unusual ‘Ediacaran-style’ preservation. Proposed hypotheses usually include early authigenesis of minerals, but evidence for this is scarce. In a recently discovered deposit of Ediacaran biota in Brazil, we show that the classic moldic preservation is related to clay mineral authigenesis. Specifically, these clays originated from the alteration of original pyroclastic sediments, likely enhanced by microbial activity, leading to early illitization and morphological templating of the fossiliferous surfaces at a micrometric scale. Such high-fidelity preservation was made possible by rapid burial during volcanic events and the in-situ templating of tissue by clays via microbially-mediated mineralization. This newly described Lagerstätte demonstrates that a number of minerals can facilitate preservation, and that perhaps ‘Ediacaran-style’ preservation result from different processes leading to the same broad style of preservation.

International audience; The Pyrenees belt features well exposed deformation structures that make it ideally suited to study thrust faults. In this paper, we present the first 40Ar/39Ar age of the Pic de Port Vieux thrust (PPVT) located in the south-western part of the Pyrenean Axial Zone. The PPVT is a secondary thrust related to the major Gavarnie thrust (GT) with a footwall comprising Upper Cretaceous limestones, and a hanging wall made of Lower-Triassic pelites and sandstones. A vertical transect in the fault hanging wall was investigated to characterize the deformation mechanism and to date the thrust activity by using 40Ar/39Ar step-heating technique on muscovite.Petrographic observations confirm that pressure solution and recrystallization/dissolution processes in presence of fluids are the main mechanisms that controlled the chemical/textural changes in the fault core zone. Three groups of muscovite are identified in the fault zone i.e. detrital, diagenetic and newly-formed muscovites. The detrital and diagenetic muscovites are mainly present in the damage zone, while the newly-formed muscovite is abundant in the core zone and is synkinematic to the fault activity. The fractions 50–16 μm, 16–2 μm, 2–0.5 μm

International audience; Synkinematic phyllosilicates in fault zones can be used to deduce the deformation mechanisms and the conditions of fault activity, as their chemical composition, crystal structure and texture can record the different stages of deformation and fluid-rock interactions. The Pic de Port Vieux, a second-order thrust related to the major Gavarnie thrust in the southern central part of the Pyrenees Axial Zone, juxtaposes Triassic pelites of the hanging wall and Cretaceous limestones of the footwall. In order to investigate the mineralogical and geochemical changes and constrain the deformation conditions of thrusting, characterization of phyllosilicates was performed along a transect in the fault hanging wall pelites. The Triassic pelites are mainly composed of quartz, calcite, phyllosilicates (chlorite and K-white mica) and ± hematite. The core fault zone thickness is estimated to be about one meter of intensively foliated green pelites, whereas the damage zone is composed of several meters of red pelites. XRD data demonstrated that the difference in color is related to hematite which is only present in the damage zone. Phyllosilicates of the damage zone are mainly inherited/diagenetic K-white mica and chlorite. In the core zone, newly formed chlorite is abundant and preferentially located in veins. It is enriched in Fe compared to the chlorite of the red pelites. The well-defined foliation in the core zone is overlaid by preferentially oriented muscovite grains which have homogeneous compositions, with less Na and relatively more Fe than mica from the red pelites. Newly formed chlorite and muscovite in the core zone are synkinematic to the fault activity. They are both related to deformation processes and fluid rock interactions. Kübler index measurements and chlorite thermometry show that synkinematic phyllosilicates have registered a temperature of 270°C ± 23°C for the damage zone and 285°C ± 28°C for the core zone which are corresponding to lower-anchizone/epizone grade conditions. Numerical modelling with the geochemical modelling program PhreeqC was performed to determine the favorable conditions for the mineralogical change between red and green pelites. It suggests that the main critical parameter favoring hematite dissolution and chlorite precipitation in the core zone, is the redox conditions. According to the model, the chemical changes in the core zone occurred due to interactions with highly reductive fluids. In addition, the hematite dissolution maybe the source of iron for newly formed phyllosilicates in the core zone that are more iron rich compared to those from the red pelites.