The Ronda peridotite massif in Southern Spain shows a well-defined 'recrystallization' front that separates a large-scale partial melting domain formed at the expense of the continental lithospheric mantle from a 'preserved' lithospheric domain. To investigate the processes allowing a transient lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary to propagate in the lithospheric mantle, we performed a joint petrostructural and geochemical study of an ∼2·5 km2 zone extending from the melting front to the mylonites that mark the western limit of the massif. This study emphasizes a feedback between heat transfer, melt percolation, and deformation in the lithospheric mantle. Petrographical observations and geochemical data show that heterogeneous reactive percolation of melts produced in the underlying partial melting domain led to refertilization of lithospheric peridotites up to 1·5 km ahead from the melting front, producing metre-scale layering of fertile and refractory mantle rocks. Within 800 m from the front, pre-existing garnet pyroxenite layers were partially molten and the resulting melts probably contributed to the refertilization process. Detailed structural mapping and analysis of the microstructures and crystal preferred orientations highlight the relations between reactive melt transport and deformation, and the control of the temperature gradient on both processes. Parallelism between the recrystallization front, compositional boundaries, and deformation structures, as well as variations in the deformation intensity of pyroxenes and spinels, suggest syn- to late-tectonic melt transport controlled by both the deformation and the thermal gradient. Variations in the strength of olivine crystal preferred orientations as a function of the modal and chemical composition of the spinel tectonites point to a higher contribution of diffusion to deformation in the most fertile rocks, corroborating the hypothesis that deformation occurred in presence of melt. Finally, the systematic dispersion of olivine [100] and orthopyroxene [001] axes in the foliation plane suggests a dominantly transpressive deformation regime.
Other| January 01, 1983 Etude geochimique du massif basique et ultrabasique de Najac (Aveyron); Consequences geotectoniques J. L. Bodinier J. L. Bodinier Author Univ. sci. tech. Languedoc, cent. geol. geophys., Montpellier 34060, France Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France (1983) S7-XXV (2): 185–193. https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.S7-XXV.2.185 Article history first online: 03 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation J. L. Bodinier; Etude geochimique du massif basique et ultrabasique de Najac (Aveyron); Consequences geotectoniques. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 1983;; S7-XXV (2): 185–193. doi: https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.S7-XXV.2.185 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyBulletin de la Société Géologique de France Search Advanced Search This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.
Download This Paper Open PDF in Browser Add Paper to My Library Share: Permalink Using these links will ensure access to this page indefinitely Copy URL Copy DOI
Peridotite xenoliths exhumed by Quaternary alkaline magmatism in the Tahalgha district, southern Hoggar, represent fragments of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath the boundary between the two major structural domains of the Tuareg Shield: the 'Polycyclic Central Hoggar' to the east and the 'Western Hoggar', or 'Pharusian Belt', to the west. Samples were collected from volcanic centres located on both sides of a major lithospheric shear zone at 4°35' separating these two domains. Although showing substantial variations in their deformation microstructures, equilibrium temperatures and modal and chemical compositions, the studied samples do not display any systematic changes of these features across the 4°35' fault. The observed variations rather record small-scale heterogeneities distributed throughout the study area and reflecting the widespread occurrence of vein conduits and metasomatized wall-rocks related to trans-lithospheric melt circulation during the Cenozoic. These features include partial annealing of pre-existing deformation microstructures, post-deformation metasomatic reactions, and trace-element enrichment, coupled with heating from 750–900°C (low-temperature lherzolites) to 900–1150°C (intermediate-T lherzolites and high-T harzburgites and wehrlites). Trace-element modelling confirms that the range of rare earth element (REE) variations observed in the Tahalgha clinopyroxenes may be accounted for by reactive porous flow involving a single stage of basaltic melt infiltration into a light REE (LREE)-depleted protolith. Whole-rock compositions record the final entrapment of disequilibrium metasomatic melts upon thermal relaxation of the veins–wall-rock system. The striking correlations between equilibrium temperatures and trace-element enrichment favor a scenario in which the high-temperature peridotites record advective heat transport along melt conduits, whereas the intermediate- and low-temperature lherzolites reflect conductive heating of the host Mechanical Boundary Layer. This indicates that the lithosphere did not reach thermal equilibrium, suggesting that the inferred heating event was transient and was rapidly erased by thermal relaxation down to the relatively low-temperature present-day geotherm. The low-T (<900°C) deformed lherzolites (porphyroclastic to equigranular) are characterized by only incipient annealing and LREE-depleted clinopyroxene compositions. They were only weakly affected by the Cenozoic events and could represent relatively well-preserved samples from rejuvenated Pan-African lithosphere. Extensive lithospheric rejuvenation occurred either regionally during the Pan-African orogeny, as a result of lithospheric delamination or thermomechanical erosion after thickening, or more locally along the meridional shear zones. The low-T Tahalgha lherzolites are comparable with lherzolites from Etang de Lherz, southern France, interpreted as lithospheric mantle rejuvenated by melt-induced refertilization during a late stage of the Variscan orogeny.
The Lanzo peridotite, Italian Alps, is a classic plagioclase lherzolite massif emplaced during the opening stages of the Liguro-Piemontese ocean basin, in the early Mesozoic. It consists of three bodies (i.e., northern, central and southern) separated by shear zones. Clinopyroxenes separated from plagioclase lherzolites from the southern body show a limited range in present-day values of 143Nd/144Nd (0·5131–0·5133) and 87Sr/86Sr (0·7022–0·7027), and plot within the field of Atlantic midocean ridge basalt (MORB) asthenosphere. Clinopyroxenes from the northern body have higher 143Nd/144Nd ratios (00·51335 and 00·51342) and a very low 87Sr/86Sr ratio (00·70180). Clinopyroxenes from the central body have isotopic ratios intermediate between these two extremes. The southern body is interpreted as asthenosphere that rose from the stability field of garnet as a high-temperature diapir. This evolution was accompanied by a significant degree of melt extraction (6–12%, locally up to 20%). In contrast, the northern body is considered to be a fragment of the continental lithosphere (i.e., mechanical boundary layer) which became isolated from the convective mantle 400–700 m.y. ago. The central body is interpreted as a mantle hybrid which contains components from the sub-continental lithosphere modified by small-volume melts from the asthenosphere (i.e., thermal boundary layer). The refractory peridotites show a wide range of 143Nd/144Nd and 87Sr/86Sr values (0·5127–0·5133 and 0·7024–0·7045, respectively). These facies are interpreted as percolation bands of magmas which evolved from 'plume type', possibly associated with the pre-rift evolution of the Liguro-Piemontese area, to MORB type associated with rifting of the Liguro-Piemontese basin and partial melting of the Lanzo massif. A similar evolution is suggested for the parental magmas of the vein-conduit segregates (pyroxenites and gabbros).