Véronique Gardien

Ductile strain rate measurements document long-term strain localization in the continental crust

Quantifi cation of strain localization in the continental lithosphere is hindered by the lack of reliable deformation rate measurements in the deep crust. Quartz-strain-rate-metry (QSR) is a convenient tool for performing such measurements once calibrated. We achieve this calibra- tion by identifying the best piezometer-rheological law pairs that yield a strain rate in agree- ment with that measured on the same outcrop by a more direct method taken as a reference. When applied to two major continental strike-slip shear zones, the Ailao Shan-Red River (ASRR; southwest China) and the Karakorum (northwest India), the calibrated QSR high- lights across-strike strain rate variations, from 1 ◊ 10 −13 s -1 in zones where it is localized. Strain rates integrated across the shear zones imply fast fault slip rates on the order of 1.1 cm yr -1 (Karakorum) and 4 cm yr -1 (ASRR), proving strong strain localization in these strike-slip continental shear zones.

Petrology and Ar-Ar dating of granulites from the Galicia Bank (Spain): African craton relics in Western Europe

Abstract Intermediate orthogranulites were collected on the western flank of the Galicia bank during the Galinaute II cruise in 1995. The petrography of these rocks reveals two types of granulites. The first type is hydrous granulites with K-feldspar + plagioclase + quartz + orthopyroxene + hornblende + garnet + biotite + opaque + zircon + apatite assemblage. Both hornblende and orthopyroxene define a weak foliation plane. A late deformation event is expressed by some fractures cross-cutting the foliation. The second is anhydrous granulites with K-feldspar + plagioclase + quartz + orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + opaque + zircon + apatite assemblage. The rocks display a granoblastic texture and are affected by brittle deformation as testified by the development of numerous microfractures. The P-T conditions (7 ± 1 Kbar, 750 ± 50 °C) calculated from two representative samples demonstrate that the rocks equilibrated under granulite facies conditions. Ar-Ar dating gives Precambrian ages ranging between ca. 2500–2000 Ma for the amphibole from the hydrous granulite and 1600–1500 Ma for the core of the K-feldspar from the anhydrous and hydrous granulites. A younger age of 900 Ma is obtained from the recrystallized rims of the K-feldspar from the two samples. These data indicate that the granulitic rocks in the Galicia Bank had already been exhumed and cooled below ca. 140–400 °C (blocking T° for K-feldspar) in Precambrian times (900 Ma). Given the very well preserved granulitic minerals assemblage of the rocks, the granulites behaved as competent and metastable boudins during their exhumation. The granulitic samples were previously interpreted as fragments of the lower continental crust sampled by the main detachment fault during Cretaceous rifting, but they were part of an upper continental crust from the Precambrian. Geochronological data and petrological assemblages suggest that the granulite blocks in the Galicia Bank probably were derived from the North Armorican Domain (northern part of France) where a Precambrian terrain outcrops. The opening of the Bay of Biscay could be responsible for the scattering of the Precambrian terrain and may explain the presence of the granulitic blocks on both sides of the Bay of Biscay. During the subduction of Europe below the Iberian peninsula the granulite blocks were transported southward and incorporated into a Cretaceous conglomerate forming the accrecionary prism on the Northern Iberia Margin. The granulite facies blocks found on the Galicia Bank represent another example of Gondwanian relics supporting the idea that the West European plate belonged to the West African craton during the Proterozoic.