Reuniting the Ötztal Nappe: the tectonic evolution of the Schneeberg Complex

The Ötztal Nappe in the Eastern Alps is a thrust sheet of Variscan metamorphic basement rocks and their Mesozoic sediment cover. It has been argued that the main part of the Ötztal Nappe and its southeastern part, the Texel Complex, belong to two different Austroalpine nappe systems and are separated by a major tectonic contact. Different locations have been proposed for this boundary. We use microprobe mapping of garnet and structural field geology to test the hypothesis of such a tectonic separation. The Pre-Mesozoic rocks in the area include several lithotectonic units: Ötztal Complex s.str., Texel Complex, Laas Complex, Schneeberg Complex, and Schneeberg Frame Zone. With the exception of the Schneeberg Complex which contains only single-phased (Eoalpine, i.e. Late Cretaceous) garnet, all these units have two-phased garnet with Variscan cores and Eoalpine rims. The Schneeberg Complex represents Paleozoic sediments with only low-grade (sub-garnet-grade) Variscan metamorphism which was thrust over the other units and their Mesozoic cover (Brenner Mesozoic) during an early stage of the Eoalpine orogeny, before the peak of Eoalpine metamorphism and garnet growth. Folding of the thrust later modified the structural setting so that the Schneeberg Thrust was locally inverted and the Schneeberg Complex came to lie under the Ötztal Complex s.str. The hypothesized Ötztal/Texel boundaries of earlier authors either cut across undisturbed lithological layering or are unsupported by any structural evidence. Our results support the existence of one coherent Ötztal Nappe, including the Texel Complex, and showing a southeastward increase of Eoalpine metamorphism which resulted from southeastward subduction.

Is there a time lag between the metamorphism and emplacement of plutons in the Axial Zone of the Pyrenees?

Detailed petrographic and geochemical studies conducted on zircons from the Lys-Caillaouas pluton reveal their igneous and metamorphic affinities. The igneous zircons constrain the emplacement of the pluton to 300±2 Ma. By contrast, the metamorphic zircons yield an older age of 307±3 Ma, which probably dates the thermal peak of the HT/LP Variscan metamorphism. Therefore, a short time lag of c. 7 Ma emerges between the metamorphic climax and emplacement of the pluton in the Axial Zone (Pyrenees).

Deciphering orogeny: a metamorphic perspective Examples from European Alpine and Variscan belts

In this paper we review and discuss, in a synthetic historical way, the main results obtained on Variscan metamorphism in the French Massif Central. First, we describe the pre-orogenic architecture of the French Massif Central on the base of available lithostratigraphic and geochemical constraints. Second, we portray the progressive metamorphic evolution through time and space with the presentation of 6 metamorphic maps corresponding to critical orogenic periods, namely 430–400 Ma, 400–370 Ma, 370–360 Ma, 360–345 Ma, 340–325 Ma and 320–290 Ma. We discuss the role of multiple subductions in orogeny, the metamorphic effects of continental collision (i.e. regional development of intermediate-pressure metamorphic series) as well as the links between post-thickening tectonics and the regional development of low-pressure metamorphic series coeval with crustal partial melting. As it was the case for the western Alps, we emphasize the lack of temporal data on high-pressure/low-temperature metamorphic rocks as well as the uncertainties on the sizes of rock units that have recorded the same metamorphic history (i.e. coherent P-T-t/deformation trajectories). Finally, we underline the main differences and similarities between the metamorphic evolutions of the western Alps and the French Massif Central.

Constraints on the origin of gabbroic rocks from the Moldanubian-Moravian units boundary (Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic and Austria)

Constraints on the origin of gabbroic rocks from the Moldanubian-Moravian units boundary (Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic and Austria)Gabbroic bodies from the Moldanubian Monotonous Group (Maříž) and the Moravian Vratěnín Unit (other sites), often showing retrogressive recrystallization at their margins in the amphibolite-facies grade, have norite, gabbronorite, gabbro and hornblendite compositions. Gabbros with preserved coronitic textures are limited to the Vratěnín Unit. The estimated equilibration temperatures derived from plagioclase-amphibole pairs and orthopyroxene Ca contents calculated for pressures 5-10 kbar overlap for coronitic (700-840 °C) and non-coronitic gabbroic rocks (680-850 °C). Although the Moldanubian (Maříž) gabbroic rocks are more Mg-rich compared to the Moravian gabbroids, they show crust-like La/Nb ratios of 2.1-6.6 characteristic of subduction-related magmatic rocks coupled with uniform low εNdvalues of + 0.6 to + 0.7. Apparent subduction-related features are probably caused by contamination by juvenile crust and/or by metamorphic fluid rich in incompatible elements during the Variscan metamorphism. Samples from Korolupy-Nonndorf and Mešovice have La/Nb ratios < 1.7 and show negative correlations between La/Nb and εNd. Such decoupling between La/Nb and εNdcould be attributed to contamination of the subduction-related parent magma by crustal material with higher La/Nb and lower εNdvalues. Samples from Uherčice show ambiguous geochemical patterns inherited from contamination by very old recycled material. Gabbroic rocks from Maříž should represent an underplated, partly layered cumulate body of continental tholeiite composition, strongly influenced by crustal contamination. In contrast, gabbroic bodies from the Vratěnín Unit, having a close spatial relationship to the surrounding garnet amphibolites, were emplaced into a lithologically variable passive margin sequence probably during the Cadomian extension.

Superposition of tectono-thermal episodes in the southern Cantabrian Zone (foreland thrust and fold belt of the Iberian Variscides, NW Spain)

The combined use of the illite “crystallinity” Kübler index (KI) and the conodont colour alteration index (CAI) has revealed the existence of three thermal episodes in an area affected by thin-skin tectonics, close to the internal zones of the Variscan orogen in NW Spain. In the southernmost part of the study area, the first episode gave rise to a regional syntectonic Variscan metamorphism. The associated deformation involves the development of a slaty cleavage, which is mainly recognized in Precambrian rocks. Towards the foreland, the syntectonic metamorphism disappears and only an incipient burial metamorphism, giving rise to anchizonal conditions in the basal part of the thrust units, is observed. Another metamorphic episode occurred close to the Carboniferous-Permian boundary in an extensional tectonic regime. This metamorphism is restricted to the northern part of the study area, where it reached anchizonal or epizonal conditions. It is associated with a subhorizontal or moderately north-dipping cleavage and can be considered as a late-Variscan episode. The last thermal episode occurred during the Permian. It was produced by heat flow due to hydrothermal fluids, whose migration was favoured by faults. The effects of this episode are irregularly distributed, and they are apparent in the unconformable Stephanian rocks in which anchizonal or epizonal conditions were reached. It is interpreted as a post-Variscan episode.