Evidence for a ductile strike-slip fault in the Porquerolles Island (Var, France) and its tectonic implications on the Upper Palaeozoic tectonics of the Variscan Maures Massif

A new geological map of the Palaeozoic units from the Porquerolles Island provides evidence for two main units joined along a north–south-trending shear zone: a western unit of schist, sandstone and microconglomerates, an eastern unit of schist including calcareous rocks, metabasite and various types of mineralisations. The shear zone has experienced a main strike-slip, sinistral movement in a ductile regime, and a late westward normal movement from ductile to brittle regimes. It crosscuts an early thrust fault, marked by penetrative syn-metamorphic deformation and the abundance of quartz rods. According to geometrical relationships, the regional conic fold is interpreted as a large-scale dragging of foliation related to strike-slip faulting. Combined folding and wrenching point out a main transpressional tectonics related to the continental collision dated Middle Visean in the central and eastern parts of the Variscan Maures massif. To cite this article: J.-P. Bellot, C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]