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National audience; We present the first stable isotope paleoaltimetry estimates for the internal zones of theeroded Variscan Belt of Western Europe based on the hydrogen isotope ratios (δD) ofmuscovite from syntectonic leucogranites that have been emplaced at ~315 Ma. Wefocus on the Limousin region (Western Massif Central, France) where peraluminousgranites are spatially associated with strike-slip and detachment shear zones thatdeveloped as a consequence of Late Carboniferous syn- to post-orogenic extension andmerge to the northwest with the South Armorican Shear Zone.The NE corner of the Millevaches massif is located at the junction between brittle andductile fault systems that acted as preferential pathways for Earth surface-derivedfluids. These meteoric fluids penetrated the crust at depth and reached the ductilesegment of the low- angle Felletin detachment zone. Using microstructural,thermometry, hydrogen isotope geochemistry and 40Ar/39Ar geochronological data, weshow that these Variscan meteoric fluids interacted with hydrous silicates during hightemperature deformation between at least ~318 and ~310 Ma. Based on the measuredδDMuscovite values ranging from -116 to -105‰ in mylonitic leucogranite and atemperature of hydrogen isotope exchange of 540 ± 51°C deduced from the Ti-inmuscovitegeothermometer, we calculate an average δDmeteoric water value of -96 ± 8‰.For paleoaltimetry purposes, we reference our hydrogen isotope record of ancientmeteoric fluids from mylonitic rocks to time-equivalent (~300 Ma) oxygen isotoperecords retrieved from freshwater shark remains preserved in the Bourbonl’Archambault (BA) basin that developed in the external zones of the orogen. Using ahydrogen isotope lapse rate of -22‰/km, a ~76‰ difference in δDmeteoric water valuesbetween the Millevaches massif and the BA basin (δDwater = -20 ± 6‰) permitspaleoaltimetry estimates attaining 3400 ± 700 m. Obviously, we are limited inextrapolating isotope elevation relationships into the distant past; however, the ratherlarge difference in δD values between the foreland basin and the orogeny interiorsuggests that the hinterland of the Variscan belt of western Europe acted as a barrierto moisture from the south-south-east and was probably high enough to induce anorographic rain shadow to the north.

Here, we report on the Quaternary Volsci Volcanic Field (VVF, central Italy). In light of new 40Ar/39Ar geochronological data and compositional characterization of juvenile eruptive products, we refine the history of VVF activity, and outline the implications on the pre-eruptive magma system and the continental subduction processes involved. Different from the nearby volcanic districts of the Roman and Campanian Provinces, the VVF was characterized by small-volume (0.01–0.1 km3) eruptions from a network of monogenetic centers (mostly tuff rings and scoria cones, with subordinate lava occurrences), clustered along high-angle faults of lithospheric depth. Leucite-bearing, high-K (HKS) magmas (for which we report for the first time the phlogopite phenocryst compositions) mostly fed the early phase of activity (∼761–539 ka), then primitive, plagioclase-bearing (KS) magmas appeared during the climactic phase (∼424–349 ka), partially overlapping with HKS ones, and then prevailed during the late phase of activity (∼300–231 ka). The fast ascent of primitive magma batches is typical of a tectonically controlled volcanic field, where the very low magma flux is a passive byproduct of regional tectonic strain. We suggest that the dominant compressive stress field acting at depth was accompanied by an extensional regime in the upper crust, associated with the gravity spreading of the Apennine chain, allowing the fast ascent of magma from the mantle source with limited stationing in shallow reservoirs.

The Late Pleistocene Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) super-eruption (Southern Italy) is the largest known volcanic event in the Mediterranean area. The CI tephra is widely dispersed through western Eurasia and occurs in close stratigraphic association with significant palaeoclimatic and Palaeolithic cultural events. Here we present new high-precision 14C (34.29 ± 0.09 14C kyr BP, 1σ) and 40Ar/39Ar (39.85 ± 0.14 ka, 95% confidence level) dating results for the age of the CI eruption, which substantially improve upon or augment previous age determinations and permit fuller exploitation of the chronological potential of the CI tephra marker. These results provide a robust pair of 14C and 40Ar/39Ar ages for refining both the radiocarbon calibration curve and the Late Pleistocene time-scale at ca. 40 ka. In addition, these new age constraints provide compelling chronological evidence for the significance of the combined influence of the CI eruption and Heinrich Event 4 on European climate and potentially evolutionary processes of the Early Upper Palaeolithic.

International audience; Structural and 40Ar/39Ar geochronological investigations of the Rehamna Massif (Meseta, Moroccan Variscan belt) provide new constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Alleghanian-Variscan orogen during the Upper Paleozoic. Three main tectonic events have been recognized: (1) Southward thrusting of an Ordovician sequence over the Proterozoic basement, its Cambrian sedimentary cover, and the overlying Devono-Carboniferous basin. This event caused subhorizontal shearing and prograde Barrovian metamorphism of the buried rocks. (2) Continuous shortening resulting in the development of a synconvergent extrusion of metamorphosed units to form a dome elongated E-W. This was responsible for synconvergent detachment of the Ordovician upper crustal sequence. The timing of these two episodes is constrained to 310-295 Ma by cooling and metamorphic amphibole and mica ages (3) A NW-WNW convergence in a direction orthogonal to the previous one and characterized by the accretion of the Rehamna dome to the continental basement in the east. Based on 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages from a syntectonic granitoid and its host rocks and metamorphic 40Ar/39Ar ages from greenschist facies mylonite, the timing of this event falls between 295 and 280 Ma. The end of the Variscan orogeny in the Moroccan Meseta is constrained by the 40Ar/39Ar cooling age of a posttectonic pluton dated at ~275 Ma. The tectonic events highlighted in Morocco coincide with the late Variscan-Alleghanian tectonic evolution of southern Europe and North America and can be correlated with the global reorganization of plates that accompanied suturing of Pangaea at around 295 Ma.

Rift-related thinning of continental basement along distal margins is likely achieved through the combined activity of ductile shear zones and brittle faults. While extensional detachments responsible for the latest stages of exhumation are being increasingly recognized, rift-related shear zones have never been sampled in ODP sites and have only rarely been identified in fossil distal margins preserved in orogenic belts. Here we report evidence of the Jurassic multi-stage crustal thinning preserved in the Santa Lucia nappe (Alpine Corsica), where amphibolite facies shearing persisted into the rift to drift transition. In this nappe, Lower Permian meta-gabbros to meta-gabbro-norites of the Mafic Complex are separated from Lower Permian granitoids of the Diorite-Granite Complex by a 100-250 m wide shear zone. Fine-grained syn-kinematic andesine+Mg-hornblende assemblages in meta-tonalites of the Diorite-Granite Complex indicate shearing at T= 710± 40 °C at Pb0.5 GPa, followed by deformation at greenschist facies conditions. 40Ar/39Ar step-heating analyses on amphiboles reveal that shearing at amphibolite facies conditions possibly began at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary and persisted until tb188 Ma, with the Mafic Complex cooling rapidly at the footwall of the Diorite-Granite Complex at ca. 165.4±1.7 Ma. Final exhumation to the basin floor was accommodated by low-angle detachment faulting, responsible for the 1-10 m thick damage zone locally capping the Mafic Complex. The top basement surface is onlapped at a low angle by undeformed Mesozoic sandstone, locally containing clasts of footwall rocks. Existing constraints from the neighboring Corsica ophiolites suggest an age of ca. 165-160 Ma for these final stages of exhumation of the Santa Lucia basement. These results imply that middle to lower crustal rocks can be cooled and exhumed rapidly in the last stages of rifting, when significant crustal thinning is accommodated in less than 5 Myr through the consecutive activity of extensional shear zones and detachment faults. High thermal gradients may delay the switch from ductile shear zone- to detachment-dominated crustal thinning, thus preventing the exhumation of middle and lower crustal rocks until the final stages of rifting.

International audience; The occurrence of numerous NE-SW trending rift basins that locally bound metamorphic core complexes in Transbaikalia, northern Mongolia and north-eastern China indicates that the eastern domain of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt was affected by a large-scale NW-SE extensional tectonic event during late Jurassic to early Cretaceous times. Available geochronological information about the formation of metamorphic core complexes in the region define partly synchronous periods in Transbaikalia (134-121 Ma) and North China (136-110 Ma) suggesting dome exhumation during the early Cretaceous. In north-eastern Mongolia, the Ereendavaa Range, lined by the Onon Shear Zone, was recently interpreted as one of these metamorphic core complexes, of late Jurassic to early Cretaceous age, on the basis of U-Pb zircons data from two synkinematic pegmatite dykes. However, this wide time range remains to be discussed. The present work constrains the tectono-thermal evolution of the range by providing new MC-ICP-MS U-Pb zircons ages from pegmatite dykes and metamorphic igneous rocks, and mica and amphibole 40Ar/39Ar laser step-heating ages from metamorphic and magmatic rocks that crop out within the range. The results show that (1) the Ereendavaa range was the locus of a widespread magmatic activity prior to its exhumation from late Jurassic times, (2) cooling of the range began at least at 137.9 ± 0.3 Ma as revealed by a 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages obtained from an hornblende sampled within the range core, and (3) exhumation along the Onon Shear Zone occurred from 130.3 ± 1.9 Ma down to 124.8 ± 0.3 Ma, as shown by ages of most of micas and amphiboles from the Shear zone. These more accurate ages are consistent with metamorphic core complex ages from adjacent areas. Furthermore, they argue for an extensional dynamic paroxysm at the scale of eastern Asia during a narrow time range in the early Cretaceous between ca. 130 Ma and ca. 120 Ma.

International audience; New 40Ar/39Ar geochronological data for several volcanic ash horizons from Melka Kunture, Ethiopia, allow for significantly more precise age constraints to be placed upon the lithostratigraphy, archaeology and paleontology from this long record. Ashes from the Melka Kunture Formation at Gombore yielded the most reliable age constraints, from 1.393 ± 0.162 Ma2 (millions of years ago) near the base of the section to 0.709 ± 0.013 Ma near the top. Dating the Garba section proved more problematic, but the base of the section, which contains numerous Oldowan obsidian artifacts, may be >1.719 ± 0.199 Ma, while the top is securely dated to 0.869 ± 0.020 Ma. The large ignimbrite from the Kella Formation at Kella and Melka Garba is dated to 1.262 ± 0.034 Ma and pre-dates Acheulean artifacts in the area. The Gombore II site, which has yielded two Homo skull fragments, 'twisted bifaces,' and a preserved butchery site, is now constrained between 0.875 ±0.010 Ma and 0.709 ± 0.013 Ma. Additional ashes from these and other sites further constrain the timing of deposition throughout the section. Integration with previously published magnetostratigraphy has allowed for the first time a relatively complete, reliable timeline for the deposition of sediments, environmental changes, archaeology, and paleontology at Melka Kunture.

International audience; The 218.4 ± 0.4, 228.8 ± 0.9 and 231.9 ± 0.7 Ma 40Ar/39Ar laser probe pseudo-plateau ages (2σ; 49–63% 39Ar-release) of very low-grade meta-pelitic whole-rocks from the Sakaigawa unit date high-P/T metamorphism. We argue that this event occurred in a subduction–accretion complex, not along the East Asian continental margin, but on the Pacific side of the proto-Japan superterrane. Proto-Japan was a Permian magmatic arc, presently dispersed in the Japanese islands, which also contained older subduction–accretion complexes. The arc system was fringing but not yet part of the Eurasian continent. The Middle to Late Triassic high-P/T tectono-metamorphic event was partly coeval with proto-Japan's collision with proto-Eurasia along the southward extension of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, causing the main metamorphism in the Hida-Oki terrane. It is possible that this system continued via the Cathaysia block (China) to Indochina. The Late Permian to Middle Triassic Indosinian event might stem from docking of Pacific-derived terranes with Southeast Asia's continental margin. The concept of the proto-Japan superterrane implies that the Qinling-Dabie-Sulu suture zone joined the Central Asian Orogenic Belt to the east of the North China craton and did not continue to Japan, as commonly assumed.

A Ar-40/Ar-39 geochronological study was performed on amphibole and biotite from some representative units of distinct tectonic domains of the southeastern Guiana Shield, north of the Amazonian Craton, the Amapa Block and the Carecuru Domain. In the AmapA Block, an Archean continental block involved in the Transamazonian orogenesis (2.26-1.95 Ga), the investigated minerals, from rocks of the Archean high-grade basement assemblage, give only Paleoproterozoic ages, indicating their complete resetting during the Transamazonian orogenic event. Amphibole ages vary from 2087 +/- 3 to 2047 +/- 20 Ma, and biotite ages spread mainly between 2079 +/- 18 and 2033 +/- 13 Ma. In the Carecuru Domain, in which the geodynamic evolution is related to Paleoproterozoic magmatic arc setting during the Transamazonian event, calc-alkaline granitoids yield amphibole age of 2074 +/- 17 Ma, and biotite ages of 1928 +/- 19 Ma and 1833 +/- 13 Ma. These data reinforce the importance of the Transamazonian orogenic cycle in the investigated area, and indicate that the rocks were not significantly affected by post-Transamazonian events. When coupled with available U-Th-Pb monazite and Pb-Pb zircon geochronological records and petro-structural observations, the new Ar-40/Ar-39 data delineate contrasting cooling and exhumation histories for the tectonic domains. In the AmapA Block, the data suggest nearly vertical T-t paths that reflect fast cooling rates, which indicate tectonically controlled exhumation, related to collisional stages of the Transamazonian event, between 2.10 and 2.08 Ga. Conversely, in the Carecuru Domain, low cooling rates suggest that the arc-related granitoids underwent slow and monotonous cooling since their emplacement until reaching the biotite isotopic closure temperature.

International audience; Laser-probe dating of mylonite whole-rock samples from the North Tianshan—Main Tianshan fault zone that cross-cuts the North Tianshan domain's southern margin yielded 40Ar/39Ar spectra with 255–285 Ma ages. Biotite from an undeformed, Early Carboniferous granite, which cuts the steep mylonitic foliation in the Proterozoic basement of the Yili arcs's southern margin, gave a 263.4 ± 0.6 Ma plateau age (1σ). Pre-Carboniferous metasediments overlying this basement yielded plateau ages (1σ) of 253.3 ± 0.3 (muscovite) and 252.3 ± 0.3 (biotite) Ma. The Permian ages of mylonites date movement on these ductile, dextral strike-slip shear zones, whereas the mica ages are interpreted by recrystallisation as a result of fluid flow around such transcurrent faults. We propose that the Tianshan's Permian syn-tectonic bimodal magmatism was created in a non-plume-related Yellowstone-like extensional–transtensional tectonic regime. Gold mineralisation, tracing aqueous flow in the crust, peaked in Permian time and continued locally into the Triassic. The picture is emerging that a convective fluid system partly driven by magmatic heat, existed in a strongly fractured and weakened crust with an elevated heat flow, leading to regional-scale isotope resetting. We suggest that surprisingly young isotopic ages in the literature for early orogenic (ultra)high-pressure metamorphism are similarly due to fluid-mediated recrystallisation.

International audience; The Tamlalt–Menhouhou gold deposit belongs to the Neoproterozoic–Palaeozoic Tamlalt inlier located in the Eastern High-Atlas (Morocco). It occurs in altered Upper Neoproterozoic bimodal volcanic and volcano-sedimentary units outcropping in the Tamlalt–Menhouhou area. Gold mineralization has been identified in quartz veins related to shear-zones associated with a strong quartz-phyllic-argillic alteration. Visible free gold is related to goethite–malachite–barite boxworks in quartz veins. The other alteration minerals accompanying gold mineralization are mainly carbonates, chlorite, hematite, albite and pyrite whose relative proportion defines three alteration types. 40Ar/39Ar geochronology performed on phengite grains from phyllic alteration and the auriferous quartz veins, yields plateau ages ranging from 300 ± 5 Ma to 284 ± 12 Ma with a weighted mean age of 293 ± 7 Ma. This identifies a Late Variscan age for the Tamlalt–Menhouhou “shear zones-related” gold deposit and emphasizes the consequences of the Variscan orogeny for gold mineralization in the High-Atlas and Anti-Atlas Neoproterozoic inliers.

International audience; Geochronologic Ar-40/Ar-39 data of fabric-forming metamorphic minerals, in conjunction with structural and metamorphic studies, are being increasingly used to constrain the deformation and tectonometamorphic evolution of polyphase low-grade orogens. Careful data interpretation is needed to extract meaningful age constraints from neo- and recrystallized minerals affected by isotopic disturbances. In the southern Quebec Appalachians, the Sutton Mountains anticlinoriurn exposes the metamorphic core of the early Paleozoic continental margin of Laurentia. Orogenesis in this part of the Appalachians was the result of tectonic events that have been classically attributed to the combined effects of the Middle to Late Ordovician Taconian and the Middle Devonian Acadian orogenies; however, evidence of separate and distinct Silurian-Early Devonian tectonism has also been recently documented. Laser step-heating Ar-40/Ar-39 data on single-grains of muscovite from polydeformed greenschist facies samples of the Sutton Mountains anticlinorium indicate that these tectonometamorphic events are heterogeneously preserved as a prograde Taconian event at ca. 45 Ma and an Acadian overprint at ca. 390 Ma. The integration of Ar-40/Ar-39 age spectra analyses with structural relationships provides precise age constraints on the duration, propagation, and evolution of Silurian-Early Devonian hinterland directed deformation as it migrated across the anticlinorium, including back thrusting from ca. 433 Ma to ca. 420 Ma and extensional faulting from ca. 417 Ma to ca. 405 Ma. Along the Laurentian margin of the northern Appalachians, such Silurian-Early Devonian tectonism is currently attributed either to the collapse of the Taconian orogen triggered by the delamination of the subducted slab or to the outboard accretion of peri-Gondwanan terranes during the Satinic orogeny.

M. Philippe ROSSI, Ingénieur BRGM, Orléans, Président du juryM. Jean-Luc BOUCHEZ, Professeur, Université de Toulouse III, RapporteurM. Michel DIAMENT, Physicien, IPG Paris, RapporteurM. Michel FAURE, Professeur, Université d'Orléans, Directeur de thèseM. Yan CHEN, Maître de Conférences, Université d'Orléans, ExaminateurM. Pierre ROCHETTE, Professeur, Université d'Aix-Marseille III, Examinateur; A study with AMS measurements, a gravity survey and new 40Ar/39Ar datings was carried out on three granitic massifs from the southeastern part of the French Massif Central: the Margeride, Mont-Lozère – Borne and Aigoual – Saint-Guiral – Liron plutons. The three sub-coeval massifs emplaced around 305-310 Ma. For the three plutons, microstructures are mainly of magmatic type or formed during a high-temperature solid-state deformation. Magnetic lineations generally trending NW-SE to E-W with a subhorizontal plunging correspond to the late-hercynian post-collisional regional extensional deformation. Locally, for example in the microgranitic dykes to the North of the Aigoual granite, magnetic fabrics could record the magma flow and not the regional deformation. By combinning old and new gravity data and AMS results, emplacement models for each of the three plutons are proposed.; Une étude associant des mesures structurales par ASM, un levé gravimétrique et de nouvelles datations 40Ar/39Ar a été menée sur trois massifs granitiques du Sud-Est du Massif Central : les plutons de la Margeride, du Mont-Lozère – Borne et de l'Aigoual – Saint-Guiral – Liron. Les trois massifs, sub-contemporains, se sont mis en place autour de 305-310 Ma. Pour les trois plutons, les microstructures sont majoritairement de type magmatique ou acquises lors d'une déformation à l'état solide à haute température. Les linéations magnétiques, essentiellement NW-SE à E-W subhorizontales, reflètent la déformation régionale extensive tardi-hercynienne post-collisionnelle. Localement, comme dans les dykes microgranitiques au Nord de l'Aigoual, les fabriques ASM ont, au contraire, enregistré l'écoulement du magma. A partir de la combinaison des données gravimétriques, existantes ou nouvellement acquises, et ASM, des modèles de mise en place sont proposés pour chacun des trois plutons.

A study with AMS measurements, a gravity survey and new 40Ar/39Ar datings was carried out on three granitic massifs from the southeastern part of the French Massif Central: the Margeride, Mont-Lozère – Borne and Aigoual – Saint-Guiral – Liron plutons. The three sub-coeval massifs emplaced around 305-310 Ma. For the three plutons, microstructures are mainly of magmatic type or formed during a high-temperature solid-state deformation. Magnetic lineations generally trending NW-SE to E-W with a subhorizontal plunging correspond to the late-hercynian post-collisional regional extensional deformation. Locally, for example in the microgranitic dykes to the North of the Aigoual granite, magnetic fabrics could record the magma flow and not the regional deformation. By combinning old and new gravity data and AMS results, emplacement models for each of the three plutons are proposed., Une étude associant des mesures structurales par ASM, un levé gravimétrique et de nouvelles datations 40Ar/39Ar a été menée sur trois massifs granitiques du Sud-Est du Massif Central : les plutons de la Margeride, du Mont-Lozère – Borne et de l'Aigoual – Saint-Guiral – Liron. Les trois massifs, sub-contemporains, se sont mis en place autour de 305-310 Ma. Pour les trois plutons, les microstructures sont majoritairement de type magmatique ou acquises lors d'une déformation à l'état solide à haute température. Les linéations magnétiques, essentiellement NW-SE à E-W subhorizontales, reflètent la déformation régionale extensive tardi-hercynienne post-collisionnelle. Localement, comme dans les dykes microgranitiques au Nord de l'Aigoual, les fabriques ASM ont, au contraire, enregistré l'écoulement du magma. A partir de la combinaison des données gravimétriques, existantes ou nouvellement acquises, et ASM, des modèles de mise en place sont proposés pour chacun des trois plutons.