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The low- P /high- T Variscan metamorphic dome of Gavarnie-Gedre-Heas, Central Pyrenees, harbors a small (1 m 3 ) but special cordierite and orthoamphibole-bearing enclave embedded within an anatectic granite. Compared to other cordierite-orthoamphibole occurrences described in the literature, the enclave shows singular characteristics: (1) its mineral composition is unique with cordierite (Crd) + gedrite (Ged) + biotite ss (Bt) + staurolite (St) + garnet (Grt) + spinel (Spl) + corundum (Crn) + ilmenite (Ilm) and sulfides (Sulf), but lacking quartz (Qtz), plagioclase (Pl), and aluminosilicate minerals; and (2) its chemical composition, with low SiO 2 , high Al 2 O 3 , K 2 O, and TiO 2 and high Fe 2 O 3T /MgO. The Crd-Oam-bearing rocks also occur as layers in stromatic migmatites that show a mineral composition (Bt + Crd + Ged + Pl + Qtz + Ilm + Grt ± St) and a chemical composition more akin to other described occurrences. The cordierite-orthoamphibole enclave records a succession of metamorphic reactions: (1) local Crd-Oam growth at the expense of Bt with release of K 2 O; (2) development of coronas of Crd ± Ilm ± Grt around St; (3) isochemical breakdown of St to Crd + Spl + Crn. In the Ged-bearing layers in interlayered migmatites, the formation of the Crd-Oam assemblage involves the consumption of Bt, Pl, and Qtz. Mass balance calculations show that in the enclave most reactions took place in an open system with addition of Si and release of K 2 O. Pseudosections indicate a clockwise P-T path, with high-temperature conditions (700–730 °C) at decreasing pressure (from 5.6 to 3 kbar). This fits the P-T path of other metamorphic domes of the Variscan Central Pyrenees.

Chemical composition of mafic magmas is a critical indicator of physicochemical conditions, such as pressure, temperature, and fluid availability, accompanying melt production in the mantle and its evolution in the continental or oceanic lithosphere. Recovering this information has fundamental implications in constraining the thermal state of the mantle and the physics of mantle convection throughout the Earth's history. Here a statistical approach is applied to a geochemical database of about 22,000 samples from the mafic magma record. Potential temperatures (Tps) of the mantle derived from this database, assuming melting by adiabatic decompression and a Ti-dependent (Fe2O3/TiO2 = 0.5) or constant redox condition (Fe2+/∑Fe = 0.9 or 0.8) in the magmatic source, are thought to be representative of different thermal “horizons” (or thermal heterogeneities) in the ambient mantle, ranging in depth from a shallow sublithospheric mantle (Tp minima) to a lower thermal boundary layer (Tp maxima). The difference of temperature (ΔTp) observed between Tp maxima and minima did not change significantly with time (∼170°C). Conversely, a progressive but limited cooling of ∼150°C is proposed since ∼2.5 Gyr for the Earth's ambient mantle, which falls in the lower limit proposed by Herzberg et al. [2010] (∼150–250°C hotter than today). Cooling of the ambient mantle after 2.5 Ga is preceded by a high-temperature plateau evolution and a transition from dominant plumes to a plate tectonics geodynamic regime, suggesting that subductions stabilized temperatures in the Archaean mantle that was in warming mode at that time.

International audience; Taiwan is an archetypal example of continental accretionary wedges. Yet the generally poor knowledge of three-dimensional strain distribution over time and role of architecture of the rifted margin shed doubt on the cylindrical two-dimensional kinematic models of Taiwan collision. Here we provide new field-based constraints on strain distribution, new Raman Spectroscopy on Carbonaceous Materials temperatures and apply mica-chlorite multiequilibrium approach to determine pressure-temperature in the Central Range of Taiwan. We identify three distinct structural domains that define zones of orthogonal shortening in the western Backbone Range and left-lateral ductile shearing overprinted by left-lateral transtensional brittle deformation in eastern Central Range. Field surveys show the lack of nappe stacking in the Backbone Range. Combining new temperature estimates with existing thermochronological constraints we emphasize that western Taiwan mostly inherited preorogenic thermal history. We show that metamorphic peak conditions of 5-6 kbar and 330-400 °C in the eastern Backbone Range and HP rocks of the Yuli Belt exhumed along the P-T paths related to transcurrent deformation. We propose a three-dimensional kinematic model of Taiwan accounting for the oblique motion of the Philippine Sea Plate relative to the plate boundary and the reactivation of a NS striking transform fault in the South China Sea rifted margin. Recent and ongoing strain partitioning in the Taiwan accretionary wedge is reflected by the coexistence of brittle left-lateral shear, oblique extension, and contraction. Our results have impact on orogen-based plate kinematic reconstructions that consider two-dimensional kinematic evolution of orogens.

Greenstone belts preserved in the West African Craton (2300-2070 Ma) provide key information for understanding the petrogenetic processes and geodynamic setting for juvenile crust formation during a nascent Paleoproterozoic plate tectonic regime. New geochemical and isotopic data are presented for the magmatic suites exposed in Sefwi Greenstone Belt, SW Ghana. We define five distinct plutonic suites, with extrusive equivalents, including: 1) two generations of high SiO2, Na2O-rich tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) granitoids; 2) calc-alkaline, LILE-enriched diorites; 3) tholeiitic pyroxenite, gabbro and layered mafic intrusives; 4) high-K quartz monzonites; and, 5) incompatible element-rich, two-mica granites and muscovite leucogranites. Trace element patterns of most magmatic suites display negative Nb-Ta, P and Ti anomalies and weakly positive Pb anomalies, suggesting magma genesis in a subduction setting with minor crustal contamination/assimilation. Complementary zircon U-Pb and Lu-Hf data indicate contemporaneous emplacement of diorites (epsilon Hf-(t) = + 2.5 to + 5.4) and low-HREE TTGs (epsilon Hf-(t) = + 4.3 to + 7.6) between ca. 2159 and 2153 Ma, derived from contrasting sources, namely the partial melting of the metasomatised mantle wedge and high-pressure partial melting of low-K mafic sources, respectively. High-HREE TTGS are attributed to the shallow, partial melting of mafic material. The emplacement of high-K quartz monzonites (epsilon Hf-(t) = +2.5 to +5.2) at ca. 2135 Ma reveals mixing of mantle-derived magmas and remelting of existing TTGs in the crustal pile. Consistently positive epsilon Hf-(t) values indicate predominantly radiogenic, though heterogeneous, magma sources during crustal growth, derived from precursory material extracted from the depleted mantle and an older crustal component with a minimum age of 2650 Ma. Magmatogenesis of two-mica granites and leucogranites (ca. 2092 and 2081 Ma) is interpreted to be the product of crustal anatexis during an oceanic arc-arc collisional event, with a proposed suture parallel to the NW margin of the Sefwi Belt. We hypothesise that the formation and accretion of the West African Craton reflects the rapid amalgamation of individual oceanic arc terranes, providing potential insight into the transitional plate tectonic regime that may have characterised the Earth between 3000 and 2000 Ma.

New constraints on the architecture, deformation sequence and tectonic evolution of the sparsely exposed Palaeoproterozoic Sefwi Greenstone Belt (ca. 2200-2070 Ma) in SW Ghana are derived from the integration of field observations, structural mapping and interpretation of regional airborne geophysical data. Our findings provide new insights into the tectonic evolution of the West African Craton during the Palaeoproterozoic Eburnean Orogeny (ca. 2150-2070 Ma). Domains of contrasting metamorphic grade comprising high-grade paragneisses and meta-volcanic rocks are tectonically juxtaposed against low-grade volcano-sedimentary packages. The earliest deformation event is characterised by a bedding-parallel high-grade metamorphic foliation (S-1) that is axial planar to isoclinal folds formed during NNW-SSE shortening and late-D-1 partial melting. This crustal thickening event generated biotite +/- muscovite granites emplaced parallel to the NW margin of the Sefwi Belt between ca. 2092 and 2081 Ma, providing a minimum age for D-1. D-2 deformation is characterised by a moderate to steeply dipping, ENE-WSW to NE-SW striking, penetrative S-2 mineral foliation. Within the Sefwi Belt, coaxial F-2 fold axes and L-2 stretching lineations pitch shallowly ENE-WSW to NE-SW, oblique to the major shear zones, indicative of ENE-WSW transtension and associated constrictional deformation. Differential exhumation of middle and lower crustal segments along NNE-striking D-2 extensional detachments was coincident with sinistral oblique reactivation of NE-SW regional-scale shear zones. The timing of exhumation is constrained by metamorphic monazite U-Pb ages at ca. 2073 Ma. Subsequent E-W shortening is associated with dextral reactivation of regional NE-SW striking shear zones and refolding of earlier structures away from the major shear zones. We propose that the NW margin of the Sefwi Belt represents the collision (D-1) of southern Ghana and central and NW Ghana/Ivory Coast which record different tectonic histories. Furthermore, we suggest the amalgamation of the West African Craton is the product of episodic collisional orogenesis, providing new insights into the evolution of orogenic processes during the Palaeoproterozoic.

We present the first combined U-Pb ages and Lu-Hf isotope data of zircon grains from the southern Ouaddai area in Eastern Chad in the Central Africa Orogenic Belt. Zircon xenocrysts from granites and detrital zircons from quartzites of the Ouaddai document crustal accretion from depleted mantle sources at 3.0 ± 0.5 Ga, rarely up to 3.8 Ga, and for subsequent reworking during four magmatic events, during the Neoarchean at ca. 2.6 Ga (eHft = −7.0 to 4.6), Paleoproterozoic at ca. 1.9–2.1 Ga (eHft = −17.7 to 5.3), Mesoproterozoic at ca. 1.1 Ga (eHft = −15.3 to 5.9), and Neoproterozoic/early Cambrian at 635–540 Ma (eHft = −31.1 to 1.4). Superchondritic eHft values point to new crust addition during all four events. Metamorphic zircon rims yield a Concordia age of 600 ± 2 Ma, and provide evidence that greenschist to amphibolite-facies metamorphism affecting the quartzites occurred between syn-tectonic (635 Ma) and post-kinematic (540 Ma) granite intrusions. Our new set of zircon data, combined with field relationships, also indicate that the quartzite precursor rocks were deposited between 1045 and 635 Ma, possibly after 670 Ma in a basin that subsequently became the Central Africa Orogenic Belt. The detritus was supplied from surrounding cratons, although the sources of the Mesoproterozoic zircons remain ambiguous. Comparison of age-eHft data from worldwide sources suggests sediment supply from the Irumide, Katanga and Mozambique belts, located to the south-east of the Congo Craton. Paleogeographic reconstructions further require sediment transport prior to final closure of several oceanic basins surrounding Central and Northern Africa during the Neoproterozoic, comprising the Khomas and Mozambique oceans

The breakup of supercontinents is accompanied by the emplacement of continental flood basalts and dike swarms, the origin of which is often attributed to mantle plumes. However, convection modeling has showed that the formation of supercontinents result in the warming of the sub-continental asthenospheric mantle (SCAM), which could also explain syn-breakup volcanism. Temperature variations during the formation then breakup of supercontinents are therefore fundamental to understand volcanism related to supercontinent cycles. Magmatic minerals record the thermal state of their magmatic sources. Here we present a data mining analysis on the first global compilation of chemical information on magmatic rocks and minerals formed over the past 600 million years: a time period spanning the aggregation and breakup of Pangea, the last supercontinent. We show that following a period of increasingly hotter Mgrich magmatism with dominant tholeiitic affinity during the aggregation of Pangea, lower-temperature minerals crystallized within Mg-poorer magma with a dominant calc-alkaline affinity during Pangea disassembly. These trends reflect temporal changes in global mantle climate and global plate tectonics in response to continental masses assembly and dispersal. We also show that the final amalgamation of Pangea at similar to 300 Myr led to a long period of lithospheric collapse and cooling until the major step of Pangea disassembly started at similar to 125 Myr. The geological control on the geosphere magma budget has implications on the oxidation state and temperature of the Earth's outer envelopes in the Phanerozoic and may have exerted indirect influence on the evolution of climate and life on Earth.

The Cordillera Blanca batholith (12–5 Myr) forms the highest Peruvian summits and builds the footwall of the Cordillera Blanca normal fault (CBNF). Even if several models have been proposed, the processes driving both the exhumation of the Cordillera Blanca and extensional deformation along the CBNF are still debated. Here we quantify the emplacement depth and exhumation of the batholith of the northern Peru arc from the late Miocene to present. Based on a compilation of crystallization ages and new thermobarometry data in the Cordillera Blanca batholith, we propose that the batholith was emplaced at a depth of ~3 km in successive sills from 14 to 5 Ma. By contrast, the younger rocks exposed at the surface were emplaced the deepest (i.e., ~6 km) and are located close to the CBNF, suggesting post 5 Ma tilting. Furthermore, a formal inversion of the thermochronologic data indicates an increase of the exhumation rates in the Cordillera Blanca during the Quaternary. The higher predicted exhumation rates correlate with areas of high relief, both in the northern and central part of the Cordillera Blanca, suggesting that Quaternary valley carving by glaciations have a significant impact on the latest stage of the Cordillera Blanca exhumation (2–0 Ma).

High-strain zones bound and separate the high-grade tectono-metamorphic terranes from low-grade greenstone belts in the North-Western parts of Ghana. These belts are bounded by granitoid domains characterized by two main episodic pulses of magmatic intrusive events, which occurred between 2213 Ma and 2086 Ma. High-strain zones are thought to play a significant role in creating fluid pathways, particularly for partially molten material from lower crustal sources to the upper crust. In this study, a three-dimensional thermo-mechanical model has been used to explore the evolution of high-strain zones and relief under compressional and simple shear boundary conditions. Different orientations of a system of branched strike-slip faults were tested. The effects of the frictional angle and density contrast on the evolution of relief were also compared in this study. The resulting model indicates domains of tensile vs. compressional strain as well as shear zones. This shows that the internal fault zones as well as the host rock in between the faults behave as relatively weaker domains than the external regions. Under both applied compressive and simple shear boundary conditions, these weakened domains constitute preferential zones of tensile and shear strain accommodations in the upper crust, which may favour infilling by deeper partially molten rocks. This processes is suggested by the authors as the most likely processes to have occurred in pre-existing branched shear zones systems in North-Western Ghana during the Eburnean orogeny (around 2.20-2.10 Ga). The orientations of faults in these models play an important role in controlling the evolution of relief and localized deformation. In particular, greatest the largest relief is obtained when faults dip parallel to each other and when they are inclined at depth, as they thus facilitate strain rotation and material transfer from depth. The host rock density does not play a primary role in producing relief compared to variations in friction angle at crustal scale of our model. Relief increases by 200-300 m when the host rock density is increased by 200 kg/m(3), whereas relief reduces by about 1200 m when decreasing the host rock friction from phi =20 degrees to 10 degrees. This study suggests a model for interpreting the evolution and locus of exhumation of partially molten rocks in North-Western Ghana.

International audience; Constraining the way in which continental deformation is accommodated in time and space is essential to reconcile past plate movements with geological observations. Kinematic reconstructions of the Iberia-Europe plate boundary are still debated. Here we focus on an inverted Mesozoic rift basin, the Cameros basin, which is part of the Iberian chain. We use a combination of detrital low-temperature thermochronological techniques to define the time-temperature evolution of the basin from Mesozoic rifting to Cenozoic collision. Zircon fission-track analyses of Oligocene-Miocene sedimentary rocks yield two main age populations at 17010 and 10010Ma, reflecting (i) an Early Jurassic thermal event related to the Atlantic-Alpine Tethys opening and (ii) an Albo-Cenomanian thermal event related to the Bay of Biscay opening. Thermal modeling of combined zircon fission-track, apatite fission-track, and apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He data reveals that collision-related cooling of the Cameros basin started during the Paleocene (60Ma). A second cooling/exhumation phase of the basin is recorded from 35 to 25Ma. Initial cooling occurred after a protracted postrift period characterized by persistence of high geothermal gradients, a feature also recognized in the Pyrenees. Our results show that the Iberian chain shared the same Early to Late Jurassic tectonothermal evolution with the Atlantic-Alpine Tethyan rifted margins. From the Albian onward, the thermal evolution of the Cameros basin was very similar to that of the Pyrenees. This study shows that the preservation in mountain ranges of a succession of rifting events provide important clues for plate reconstructions.

The Marbat basement (Sultanate of Oman) belongs to the Neoproterozoic accretion domain of the Arabian-Nubian shield. We present new geochronological, petrological and geochemical data as an extension of our previous study (Denele et al., 2017) re-interpreting this basement as a metamorphic core complex (MCC). We showed that this MCC consists of a metamorphic unit (Juffa complex) separated by an extensional detachment from a plutonic unit (Sadh complex and Tonalite plutons). Geochemical data show that the Juffa metasediments correspond to volcanogenic graywackes, suggesting deposition in front of a juvenile magmatic arc. New in situ U-Pb zircon data show that the protolith of the Juffa paragneisses is Tonian in age (960-830 Ma). The Juffa complex recrystallized under amphibolite facies conditions (950 MPa, 630 degrees C) corresponding to thermal gradient of 17-18 degrees C/km, i.e. close to that observed in fore-arc environment subjected to tectonic underplating. It was then retrogressed (< 400 MPa, < 400 degrees C) during exhumation of the MCC. Phase assemblages of the Sadh complex and Tonalite plutons record magmatic temperatures estimated at 700-840 degrees C and 610-840 degrees C from hornblende and zircon-saturation thermometry, respectively; pressures are grossly estimated at ca. 250 MPa. These data and structural evidence led us to consider that the Sadh complex is a plutonic unit emplaced during exhumation of the MCC. Hence, we re-interpret the previously published zircon core U-Pb ages of the Banded gneisses (ca. 860-830 Ma) as inherited, and zircon rim ages (ca. 815 Ma) as the age of their intrusion. This suggests that the parent magma of all these granitoids could have interacted with volcanic material equivalent to the Juffa complex. Overall, the Marbat area developed during the Tonian and involved (i) deposition of volcanosediments (Juffa complex) in an island-arc environment (960-830 Ma); (ii) metamorphism under middle pressure conditions during tectonic underplating at ca. 820-815 Ma, followed by emplacement of plutonic rocks in the upper crust during initiation of the MCC at ca. 815-810 Ma; and (iii) late-tectonic intrusions associated with MCC amplification at ca. 800-790 Ma (Mahall intrusives and Tonalite plutons).

The Paleoproterozoic Sefwi-Sunyani-Comoe region that straddles the Ghana-Ivory Coast border in West Africa has been characterised as resulting from a combination of compression and simple shear with leucogranite intrusion either being prior to the compression or synchronous with late shearing. The analysis of regional magnetic datasets combined with field observations allows us to better define the geometry of the major lithostratigraphic packages and their structural contacts in this region. This analysis reveals a series of elongate rounded leucogranite intrusions enveloped by deformed metasediments. Recent finite element modelling of two-phase aggregates has shown that we can analyse the geometry of these systems both in terms of their finite deformation and their mechanical contrast. We interpret the geometries we see in the Sefwi-Sunyani-Comoe region as reflecting the activity of a major crustal deformation zone which was dominated by simple shear. The comparison with our modelling suggests a finite shear strain of approximately 5 gamma, which in turn implies a lateral displacement of 400 km parallel the Sefwi Greenstone Belt, which places Southern Ghana (EoGhana?) near eastern Burkina Faso prior to deformation. Our analysis also suggests that the leucogranites were already acting as more rigid bodies during the shearing, suggesting that their emplacement was predominantly pre-kinematic.

We have investigated three greenstone belts (Boromo, Hounde, and Banfora) and associated granitoid terrains, which form part of the Eburnean orogen, situated in western Burkina Faso. These belts expose tholeiitic basalts (basal unit) followed by calc-alkaline intermediate predominantly effusive volcanic and sedimentary suites geochemically reminiscent of present-day volcanic island arc environments. The basal mafic unit probably corresponds to a juvenile arc crust or oceanic plateau. It contains unusual megacrystic tholeiitic basalts, allowing us to correlate the western margin of the Boromo belt with the eastern margin of the Hounde belt. These two N–S trending belt-parallel tholeiitic units are interpreted as limbs of a crustal scale anticline, intruded and partially obliterated by tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) and granite intrusions. Three deformation events (D1–D3) can be distinguished in western Burkina Faso. The first deformation phase (D1) operated under an E–W to WNW-oriented compression. Regional greenschist to lower amphibolite facies metamorphism and intense folding characterize early-Eburnean deformation phases, during which time the crust was thickened by lateral shortening of volcanic island arcs and concomitant magma input. The crustal-scale antiform between the Boromo and Hounde belts is attributed to the D1 event. Shallow water detrital Tarkwaian-type sediments were deposited during the late D1 event within the Hounde belt, in a belt-parallel basin extending for 400 km. The subsequent D2 phase overprints the structural grain of the study area, and is best visible in airborne magnetic data. It is characterized by N to NE-trending transcurrent shear zones, which are considered preferred host structures for gold mineralization. We suggest that the newly formed and thickened crust reached the maximum thickness supportable by a weak and hot mantle during the D1 phase, and the pure shear dominated compressional regime switched to simple shear dominated transpression during the subsequent D2 phase. Granitoid diapirism played an important role at all stages of the Eburnean crustal growth processes in particular through early volume addition to the newly formed orogen and through later accommodating part of the lateral shortening. Pluton emplacement contributed to the greenstone belt structuration at local scales; however, the regional scale system geometry was controlled by coaxial shortening of the viscous volcanic units (basalts, gabbros, and andesites) of the greenstone belts, supported by coeval magma input. The last D3 deformation, which is either late-Eburnean or perhaps even Pan-African in age, is characterized by shallow N or S dipping minor thrust faults or an E-W trending steeply dipping spaced crenulation cleavage and kink folds, occurring mainly in highly anisotropic lithologies across the study region.

International audience; Including past production, current indicated and inferred resources, Wassa is a 5 Moz poly-deformed early-orogenic gold deposit located on the eastern flank of the Ashanti Belt, in southwest Ghana. It is hosted by metamorphosed volcanic, intrusive and sedimentary rocks of the Sefwi Group (ca. 2260–2160 Ma). Early mineralization has an Eoeburnean age (2164 ± 22 Ma, Re–Os on pyrite) and is characterized by quartz veins, by a carbonate alteration of the host rocks, and by deformed gold-bearing pyrite. Remobilization of this gold occurred during the late stages of the Eburnean Orogeny (~ 2.1 Ga) and is associated with quartz-carbonate veins with visible gold and euhedral pyrites.

New petrological and geochronological data are presented on high-grade ortho- and paragneisses from northwestern Ghana, forming part of the Paleoproterozoic (2.25-2.00Ga) West African Craton. The study area is located in the interference zone between N-S and NE-SW-trending craton-scale shear zones, formed during the Eburnean orogeny (2.15-2.00Ga). High-grade metamorphic domains are separated from low-grade greenstone belts by high-strain zones, including early thrusts, extensional detachments and late-stage strike-slip shear zones. Paragneisses sporadically preserve high-pressure, low-temperature (HP-LT) relicts, formed at the transition between the blueschist facies and the epidote-amphibolite sub-facies (10.0-14.0kbar, 520-600 degrees C), and represent a low (similar to 15 degrees Ckm(-1)) apparent geothermal gradient. Migmatites record metamorphic conditions at the amphibolite-granulite facies transition. They reveal a clockwise pressure-temperature-time (P-T-t) path characterized by melting at pressures over 10.0kbar, followed by decompression and heating to peak temperatures of 750 degrees C at 5.0-8.0kbar, which fit a 30 degrees Ckm(-1) apparent geotherm. A regional amphibolite facies metamorphic overprint is recorded by rocks that followed a clockwise P-T-t path, characterized by peak metamorphic conditions of 7.0-10.0kbar at 550-680 degrees C, which match a 20-25 degrees Ckm(-1) apparent geotherm. These P-T conditions were reached after prograde burial and heating for some rock units, and after decompression and heating for others. The timing of anatexis and of the amphibolite facies metamorphic overprint is constrained by in-situ U-Pb dating of monazite crystallization at 2138 +/- 7 and 2130 +/- 7Ma respectively. The new data set challenges the interpretation that metamorphic breaks in the West African Craton are due to diachronous Birimian basins' overlying a gneissic basement. It suggests that the lower crust was exhumed along reverse, normal and transcurrent shear zones and juxtaposed against shallow crustal slices during the Eburnean orogeny. The craton in NW Ghana is made of distinct fragments with contrasting tectono-metamorphic histories. The range of metamorphic conditions and the sharp lateral metamorphic gradients are inconsistent with hot orogeny' models proposed for many Precambrian provinces. These findings shed new light on the geodynamic setting of craton assembly and stabilization in the Paleoproterozoic. It is suggested that the metamorphic record of the West African Craton is characteristic of Paleoproterozoic plate tectonics and illustrates a transition between Archean and Phanerozoic orogens.

In this paper, we examine the apparent timing relationships between the structural and metamorphic events of the amphibolite facies sequence in the Walter-Outalpa Shear Zone (WOSZ) area in the southwestern part of the Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic Curnamona Province. The local structural geometry and style are largely due to heterogeneous, non-coaxial flow in which foliation development is related to the superposition of two main independent structural events (D2* and D3*). Strain was progressively partitioned into high-strain zones in the southern part of the study area in contrast to the low-strain areas in the north of the study area. D2* deformation developed under amphibolite facies conditions and is partitioned between zones of thrusting and flattening ( ±folding) related to nappe formation. D3* deformation developed under greenschist facies conditions and is partitioned between strike-slip faulting and folding. D3* high-strain zones form discontinuous, NW-trending anastomosing strands that contain relics of the D2* thrust-related foliation. These relicts preserve the higher grade mineral assemblages that are partially overprinted by D3* retrograde assemblages. Strike-slip movement along the WOSZ is, therefore, interpreted to have re-used the pre-existing D2* thrust such that D2*-strain partitioning influenced renewed D3* strain partitioning. The high-grade metamorphism and phase of pervasive deformation (D2*/M2) are ascribed to the D2 Mesoproterozoic Olarian Orogeny that occurred in the Curnamona Province between ca. 1600 and 1590 Ma. The tectonic context of the D3*/M3 shearing event is highly uncertain. Recent geochronological Sm–Nd isotope ages from garnet from within the WOSZ shear zone yield ca. 520–490 Ma Delamerian ages [Dutch, R.A., Hand, M., Clark, C., 2005. Cambrian reworking of the southern Australian Proterozoic Curnamona Province; constraints from regional shear zone systems. Geol. Soc. London 162; 5, 763–775]. However, the D3*M3 shear foliation are truncated by the Neoproterozoic unconformity flooring the Adelaide Rift Complex stratigraphy, suggesting pre-Delamerian Orogeny activity along the shear zone. It is, thus, likely that the D3* movement along the shear zone records a combination of late Olarian Orogenic movement with a component of reactivation during the Delamerian Orogeny. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The aim of this paper is to explore the link between the metamorphic record of a Palaeoproterozoic orogeny and its thermo-mechanical evolution, in order to discuss the burial and exhumation processes of moderate- to high-pressure volcano-sedimentary rocks (6-8 to >10 kbar) in the Birimian Province (2.2-2.0 Ga) of the West African Craton. Metamorphic data collected in Burkina Faso, southwest Ghana and eastern Senegal suggests a Palaeoproterozoic Birimian crust dominated by moderate apparent geothermal gradients of 20-30 degrees C/km (M2a), which fit a purely conductive thermal crustal regime. This produced greenschist- to amphibolite-facies metamorphic assemblages that developed during the Eburnean orogeny (similar to 2.1 Ga), associated with regional shortening and granitoid intrusions. The M2a gradient is superimposed on an early thermal regime (M1: 6-8 kbar). At around 25 km depth, TTGs reached appropriate PT conditions to start melting. The buoyant and low-viscosity partially molten material, comprising a fraction of CaO-poor melt and residual material, then ascended through the overlying sediments. It entrained upwards lower crustal material as well as the surrounding sediments. This scenario explains the important breaks in metamorphic conditions observed in the Birimian province between the thin slivers ( 8 kbar) preserved in the thermal aureoles of granites and the adjacent synforms of greenstones, which consist of low-grade metasediments (P < 6 kbar; T < 450 degrees C). This scenario is in agreement with a significant recycling of the TTGs in the genesis of CaO-poor granitoid melts. We discuss the implications of our results for the tectono-metamorphic and mechanical evolution of Palaeoproterozoic orogenies.

International audience; Despite the consensus that TTGs, the main constituents of the Archaean continental crust worldwide, originated by partial melting of garnet-bearing amphibolites, natural evidence is scarce. A large variety of Archaean amphibole-rich rocks, including migmatitic amphibolites and hornblende-rich cumulates, was exhumed as a tectonic melange in the Inyoni shear zone (ISZ) near Barberton (South Africa), likely at the time of emplacement of the 3.2 Ga Nelshoogte-Badplaas plutons. This unique collection provides the opportunity to investigate partial melting of garnet-amphibolites, as well as the differentiation processes occurring in the TTG magmas en route to the surface. The ISZ migmatitic amphibolites are characterized by quartz-plagioclase leucosomes in equilibrium with garnet, amphibole, titanite ± epidote. Garnet compositions are characterized by high almandine and grossular contents. Actually, the leucosomes and neosomes likely lost part of their melt component and mesosomes may have been also modified towards restite-rich compositions due to melt segregation. Restite-bearing rocks are very iron-rich according to their high contents in garnet. Besides, the Mg-rich compositions of the hornblende cumulates and their REE distribution patterns resemble those of the nearby TT (tonalite-trondhjemite) plutons. Thermobarometric estimates from the ISZ migmatitic rocks cluster in the range 720-800 °C and 1.1-1.2 GPa for the melting reaction and the derived geothermal gradient is ca 17-22 °C/km. These conditions are consistent with either water-present melting or, more likely, water-absent epidote-dehydration melting. Such a geothermal gradient is therefore assigned to the genesis of large volumes of medium-pressure TTG magmas, that will likely form at greater depth. Unmelted garnet-bearing amphibolites correspond to slightly lower conditions. The magmatic cumulates crystallized at ca 0.6 GPa. The cumulate rocks evidence that the TTG parental magmas en route to the surface experienced fractional crystallization of a large amount of amphibole before crystallizing as tonalite-trondhjemite plutons at slightly shallower depths (ca 0.5 GPa).