scholarly journals Paleotemperature investigation of the Variscan southern external domain: the case of the Montagne Noire (France)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clément Montmartin ◽  
Michel Faure ◽  
Hugues Raimbourg
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Structure ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Carbonaceous Material ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Illite Crystallinity ◽  
Axial Zone ◽  
Massif Central ◽  
External Domain ◽  
Montagne Noire ◽  
Oriented Parallel

The Montagne Noire located in the southern part of the French Massif Central represents the northern part of the South-Variscan Foreland. It is subdivided into three parts. The granite-migmatite Axial Zone dome is surrounded by non- or weakly metamorphosed Paleozoic sedimentary series. Both northern and southern flanks of the Montagne Noire dome are deformed by km-scale, south to southeast facing recumbent folds and thrusts sheets. The Raman Spectroscopy of Carbonaceous Material (RSCM) method, carried out in the low-grade metamorphic rocks of the southern flank of the Montagne Noire, yielded temperatures comprised between 400°C near the dome, and 230°C in the southern domain. Three Raman geothermometers were used to cover this temperature range. RSCM temperatures comply qualitatively with previous estimates based on illite crystallinity, conodont colour alteration, and fluid inclusions carried out in the same area, which document a metamorphic temperature increase towards the dome. The isotherms cut across the different nappe contacts and are oriented parallel to the southern margin of the Axial Zone. This temperature distribution supports the idea that the thermal structure was acquired during the Axial Zone dome emplacement. The thermal structure acquired during the recumbent folds emplacement and burial of the sedimentary series is totally overprinted by the doming. In addition, in a domain relatively remote from the Axial Zone dome, the RSCM measurements yielded significantly higher temperatures than illite crystallinity. This discrepancy points to a higher sensitivity of RSCM to short-lived thermal events than illite crystallinity, possibly because of more efficient kinetics of the carbonization reaction. On the other hand, high RSCM temperatures analysed far from the Axial Zone, between 300°C and 360°C, could be explained by the presence of granitic plutons under the foreland basin.

Isograds and mineral assemblages in the eastern axial zone, Montagne Noire (France): implications for temperature gradients and P–T history

1982 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Thompson ◽  
Jean-Pierre Bard
Keyword(s):  
Metamorphic Grade ◽  
Temperature Gradients ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Reaction Sequence ◽  
Axial Zone ◽  
Rock Composition ◽  
Mineral Assemblages ◽  
Montagne Noire ◽  
Sequence Study

Detailed petrography across a metapelitic sequence in the eastern axial zone of the Montagne Noire, France, is the basis for a sequence of isograds marking the first appearance of biotite–cordierite, staurolite, andalusite, and sillimanite. The juxtaposition of low-grade biotite-free rocks against medium-grade rocks at the gently dipping biotite–cordierite isograd is attributed to tectonic telescoping of the metamorphic sequence. Study of mineral assemblages with respect to an AFM reaction sequence indicates the staurolite isograd is related to changes in rock composition, and complex assemblages in the sillimanite zone may be the result of unstable persistence of minerals formed when metamorphic grade was lower. These assemblages are interpreted to contain a record of part of the P–T history during which pressure decreased as temperature increased. P–T profiles show that temperature gradients of 200–300 °C/km suggested by previous workers are not required to explain the isograd pattern; gradients of 37 °C/km or less are sufficient.

Direct Observation of Crystalline Ordering In Naturally Graphitized Carbon Produced by Low Grade Metamorphism

1977 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 162-163
Author(s):  
Thomas R. McKee ◽  
Peter R. Buseck
Keyword(s):  
Crystallite Size ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Carbonaceous Material ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Graphitized Carbon ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Heat Treated ◽  
Commercial Carbon ◽  
Metamorphic Zone

Sediments commonly contain organic material which appears as refractory carbonaceous material in metamorphosed sedimentary rocks. Grew and others have shown that relative carbon content, crystallite size, X-ray crystallinity and development of well-ordered graphite crystal structure of the carbonaceous material increases with increasing metamorphic grade. The graphitization process is irreversible and appears to be continous from the amorphous to the completely graphitized stage. The most dramatic chemical and crystallographic changes take place within the chlorite metamorphic zone.The detailed X-ray investigation of crystallite size and crystalline ordering is complex and can best be investigated by other means such as high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The natural graphitization series is similar to that for heat-treated commercial carbon blacks, which have been successfully studied by HRTEM (Ban and others).

Low-grade metamorphism and accretion tectonics: Southern Uplands terrain, Scotland

1985 ◽  
Vol 49 (352) ◽  
pp. 335-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. S. Kemp ◽  
G. H. J. Oliver ◽  
J. R. Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Structural Data ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Structural Level ◽  
Concomitant Increase ◽  
Illite Crystallinity ◽  
Grade Metamorphism ◽  
Trench Slope ◽  
Reflectance Data ◽  
Trajectory Characteristic

AbstractPrevious studies of low-grade metamorphism in the Southern Uplands accretionary terrain indicated prehnite-pumpellyite facies/anchizone conditions developed throughout the area, except for local preservation of trench-slope sediments and an accreted seamount at zeolite facies/advanced diagenetic grade. New graptolite reflectance data are presented that show a general northward increase in temperature in the Southern Uplands. The results from two cross-strike traverses in the southern and central belts in contemporaneous sequences, using illite crystallinity, illite lateral spacing (bo) , and graptolite reflectance, indicate the development of systematic accretion-related low-grade metamorphism. Well-developed and constant anchizone conditions occur throughout the NE (Langholm) traverse, associated with common, F1 accretion-related folding and a regionally penetrative S1 cleavage. In the SW (Kirkcudbright) traverse, however, the youngest, last accreted packets are preserved at a transitional diagenetic stage and lack a penetrative S1 cleavage. Illite crystallinity, graptolite reflectance, and bo increase systematically northward through earlier accreted packets, reaching values of the NE traverse only at the northern end. The concomitant increase of bo with illite crystallinity suggests the relatively high P-low T trajectory characteristic of subduction zones. Integration of metamorphic and structural data relates increasing intensity of aceretion-related F1 folding, developmertt of S1 fabric, and onset of later fold phases to grade of metamorphism and structural level within the accretionary pile.

The South Wales Coalfield: low grade metamorphism in a foreland basin setting?

1996 ◽  
Vol 133 (06) ◽  
pp. 739 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Bevins ◽  
S. C. White ◽  
D. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
The South ◽  
Grade Metamorphism ◽  
South Wales

French and Belgian Uplands

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Etlicher
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Rift Valley ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Metamorphic Complex ◽  
French Massif Central ◽  
Massif Central ◽  
Montagne Noire ◽  
Oceanic And Continental Crust ◽  
Moderate Elevation

The French Uplands were built by the Hercynian orogenesis. The French Massif Central occupies one-sixth of the area of France and shows various landscapes. It is the highest upland, 1,886 m at the Sancy, and the most complex. The Vosges massif is a small massif, quite similar to the Schwarzwald in Germany, from which it is separated by the Rhine Rift Valley. Near the border of France, Belgium, and Germany, the Ardennes upland has a very moderate elevation. The largest part of this massif lies in Belgium. Though Brittany is partly made up of igneous and metamorphic rocks, it cannot be truly considered as an upland; in the main parts of Brittany, altitudes are lower than in the Parisian basin. Similarities of the landscape in the French and Belgian Uplands derive from two major events: the Oligocene rifting event and the Alpine tectonic phase. The Vosges and the Massif Central are located on the collision zone of the Variscan orogen. In contrast, the Ardennes is in a marginal position where primary sediments cover the igneous basement. Four main periods are defined during the Hercynian orogenesis (Bard et al. 1980; Autran 1984; Ledru et al. 1989; Faure et al. 1997). The early Variscan period corresponds to a subduction of oceanic and continental crust and a highpressure metamorphism (450–400 Ma) The medio- Variscan period corresponds to a continent–continent collision of the chain (400–340 Ma). Metamorphism under middle pressure conditions took place and controlled the formation of many granite plutons: e.g. red granites (granites rouges), porphyroid granite, and granodiorite incorporated in a metamorphic complex basement of various rocks. The neo-Variscan period (340–320 Ma) is characterized by a strong folding event: transcurrent shear zones affected the units of the previous periods and the first sedimentary basins appeared. At the end of this period, late-Variscan (330–280 Ma), autochthonous granites crystallized under low-pressure conditions related to a post-collision thinning of the crust. Velay and Montagne Noire granites are the main massifs generated by this event. Sediment deposition in tectonic basins during Carboniferous and Permian times occurred in the Massif Central and the Vosges: facies are sandstone (Vosges), shale, coal, and sandstone in several Stephanian basins of the Massif Central, with red shale and clay ‘Rougier’ in the south-western part of the Massif Central.

Presence de disthene epizonal dans la zone axiale de la Montagne Noire (Massif central, France)

1986 ◽  
Vol II (3) ◽  
pp. 525-526
Author(s):  
M. Dempange ◽  
R. Goutay ◽  
H. Issard ◽  
M. Perrin
Keyword(s):  
Massif Central ◽  
Montagne Noire

Clay mineral evidence for low-grade Caledonian and Variscan metamorphism in south-western Dyfed, south Wales

1980 ◽  
Vol 43 (331) ◽  
pp. 857-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Robinson ◽  
R. A. Nicholls ◽  
L. J. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Lower Cambrian ◽  
Volatile Matter ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Illite Crystallinity ◽  
X Ray ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Mineral Assemblages ◽  
Variscan Metamorphism ◽  
Pelitic Rocks

SummaryIllite crystallinity determinations on Palaeozoic pelitic rocks, whose stratigraphic range runs from Lower Cambrian to Westphalian, indicate that anchimetamorphism has affected both the Lower and Upper Palaeozoic sequences. Two metamorphic episodes are in evidence, with the earlier, Caledonian, being of slightly higher grade. The higher anchizone crystallinity values are recorded from the Fishguard area in which mineral assemblages of the prehnite-pumpellyite facies have recently been recognized in basic igneous rocks. The later metamorphic episode has affected rocks to the south of the Variscan front. Here crystallinity values are low anchizone but some straddle the boundary with the diagenetic state. The Pembroke coalfield lies in this southern area and has coals largely of anthracite rank with volatile matter contents of between 10.1 and 5% Grade of metamorphism as indicated by crystallinity and by coal rank data from the Pembroke coalfield shows anomalous results to that described from the main South Wales coalfield. A neo-formed 2M illite from the Variscan spaced cleavage is described with analytical and X-ray diffraction data.

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