The Exhumation of Cross Sections of the Continental Crust: Structure, Kinematics and Rheology

“Exposed cross-sections through the continental crust: implications for crustal structure, petrology and evolution”—reply to A.Y. Glikson

Earth and Planetary Science Letters ◽

10.1016/0012-821x(83)90063-8 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 64 (1) ◽

pp. 171-173

Author(s):

David M. Fountain ◽

Matthew H. Salisbury

Keyword(s):

Continental Crust ◽

Cross Sections ◽

Crustal Structure

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Restoration of the Caledonian Baltoscandian margin from balanced cross-sections: the problem of excess continental crust

Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Earth Sciences ◽

10.1017/s026359330001110x ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 78 (3) ◽

pp. 197-217 ◽

Cited By ~ 68

Author(s):

R. A. Gayer ◽

A. H. N. Rice ◽

D. Roberts ◽

C. Townsend ◽

A. Welbon

Keyword(s):

Continental Crust ◽

Cross Section ◽

Continental Margin ◽

Cross Sections ◽

Branch Line ◽

Norwegian Coast ◽

Thrust Sheets ◽

Thrust System ◽

Basement Ridge ◽

The Baltic

ABSTRACTConsideration of six balanced cross-sections through parts of the Finnmark Caledonides, N Norway indicates that shortening varies between 25% and 75%. A restored long cross-section across the width of the orogen, constructed with the aid of a branch line map, demonstrates a foreland propagating thrust system, with earlier formed more internal metamorphic nappes thrust SE 330 km under ductile conditions and then carried piggyback ESE a further 296 km on later brittle thrust sheets. Total shortening is 78·7% with a translation of the most internal thrust sheet of 626 km.The restored section suggests that: (1) the rate of propagation of deformation from hinterland to foreland is c. 2·27 cm y−1; (2) incorporation of basement into the nappes resulted from inversion of extensional faults formed during Iapetus rifting; (3) during rifting a Finnmark basement ridge separated a 220 km wide southeasterly Gaissa basin from the passive Iapetus continental margin which was at least 423 km wide; (4) the Finnmark Caledonides resulted from a continent-microcontinent collision which obducted continental crust at least 600 km across the Baltic margin; and (5) the Caledonian Baltoscandian margin prior to Iapetus suturing extended at least 400 km W of the Norwegian coast. On a Bullard reconstruction this overlaps with Laurentian rocks in Greenland. The excess continental crust is accounted for by shortening of the Baltoscandian margin during collision.

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Mantle exhumation at magma-poor passive continental margins. Part I. 3D architecture and metasomatic evolution of a fossil exhumed mantle domain (Urdach lherzolite, north-western Pyrenees, France)

BSGF - Earth Sciences Bulletin ◽

10.1051/bsgf/2019007 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 190 ◽

pp. 8 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Yves Lagabrielle ◽

Riccardo Asti ◽

Serge Fourcade ◽

Benjamin Corre ◽

Marc Poujol ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Continental Crust ◽

Cross Sections ◽

Large Scale ◽

Fault Zones ◽

Rock Interaction ◽

Crustal Rocks ◽

Alkaline Lava ◽

Two Samples ◽

Mineralogical Study ◽

Mantle Exhumation

In two companion papers, we report the detailed geological and mineralogical study of two emblematic serpentinized ultramafic bodies of the western North Pyrenean Zone (NPZ), the Urdach massif (this paper) and the Saraillé massif (paper 2). The peridotites have been exhumed to lower crustal levels during the Cretaceous rifting period in the future NPZ. They are associated with Mesozoic pre-rift metamorphic sediments and small units of thinned Paleozoic basement that were deformed during the mantle exhumation event. Based on detailed geological cross-sections and microprobe mineralogical analyses, we describe the lithology of the two major extensional fault zones that accommodated: (i) the progressive exhumation of the lherzolites along the Cretaceous basin axis; (ii) the lateral extraction of the continental crust beneath the rift shoulders and; (iii) the decoupling of the pre-rift cover along the Upper Triassic (Keuper) evaporites and clays, allowing its gliding and conservation in the basin center. These two fault zones are the (lower) crust-mantle detachment and the (upper) cover décollement located respectively at the crust-mantle boundary and at the base of the detached pre-rift cover. The Urdach peridotites were exposed to the seafloor during the Late Albian and underwent local pervasive carbonation and crystallization of calcite in a network of orthogonal veins (ophicalcites). The carbonated serpentinized peridotites were partly covered by debris-flows carrying fragments of both the ultramafics and Paleozoic crustal rocks now forming the polymictic Urdach breccia. The mantle rocks are involved in a Pyrenean overturned fold together with thin units of crustal mylonites. Continent-derived and mantle-derived fluids that circulated along the Urdach crust-mantle detachment led to the crystallization of abundant metasomatic rocks containing quartz, calcite, Cr-rich chlorites, Cr-rich white micas and pyrite. Two samples of metasomatized material from the crust-mantle detachment yielded in situ zircon U/Pb ages of 112.9 ± 1.6 Ma and 109.4 ± 1.2 Ma, thus confirming the Late Albian age of the metasomatic event. The cover décollement is a 30-m thick fault zone which also includes metasomatic rocks of greenschist facies, such as serpentine-calcite association and listvenites, indicating large-scale fluid-rock interactions implying both ultramafic and continental material. The lowermost pre-rift cover is generally missing along the cover décollement due to tectonic disruption during mantle exhumation and continental crust elision. Locally, metasomatized and strongly tectonized Triassic remnants are found as witnesses of the sole at the base of the detached pre-rift cover. We also report the discovery of a spherulitic alkaline lava flow emplaced over the exhumed mantle. These data collectively allow to propose a reconstruction of the architecture and fluid-rock interaction history of the distal domain of the upper Cretaceous northern Iberia margin now inverted in the NPZ.

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