The Variscan French Massif Central experienced two successive stages of extension from Middle Carboniferous to Early Permian. In the northern Massif Central, the first stage began in the late Visean, immediately after nappe stacking, and is well recorded by NamurianWestphalian synkinematic plutonism. The Middle Carboniferous leucogranites widespread in the NW Massif Central (Limousin and Sioule...

The Caledonian orogenic belt of northern Britain hosts some significant quartz vein-hosted gold deposits. However, as in orogenic belts worldwide, the relationship between gold mineralization and regional tectonics, magmatism, and metamorphism is a matter of debate. This is primarily due to the absence of precise temporal constraints for the mineralization. Here we report high-precision 40Ar/39...

• Detrital zircon analysis of Neoproterozoic Dom Feliciano Belt supracrustal rocks. Minimum age constraint for sedimentation into Brusque Complex rift basin at ca. 810 Ma. Mesoproterozoic fractions reveal major African sedimentary protosources. detrital record correlates with Kaoko and Porongos Complex. Data show close proximity between the Luis Alves Congo cratons Rodinia breakup. metasediment...

dyke swarms emplacement constitutes one of the conspicuous features of the neoproterozoic arabian-nubian shield (ans) (~950-540ma). based on field investigations, petrographic and geochemical characteristics the dyke swarms in nw sinai (egypt) comprise of mafic (dolerite-trachy-basalt-basalt), intermediate (basaltic-andesite trachy-andesite) and felsic (rhyodacite-rhyolite) varieties. geochemic...

The formation of porphyroblasts by replacement and displacement of pre-existing S surfaces is examined in the light of textural evidence displayed by sediments hornfelsed by the Bushveld Igneous Complex. Helicitic biotite, staurolite, and cordierite all show replacement and displacement textures, the former being more common. The evidence indicates that porphyroblasts arc capable of creating lo...

The European Alps are a mountain belt that is characterized by a series of discrete orogenic events, which have long been recognized. Despite the inherent episodic nature of orogenic evolution, the Alps have been continuously exhumed, mainly by erosion, but also by normal faulting. Since continental collision started in the late Eocene/Early Oligocene evidence for ongoing erosional exhumation h...

A foreland basin system is defined as: (a) an elongate region of potential sediment accommodation that forms on continental crust between a contractional orogenic belt and the adjacent craton, mainly in response to geodynamic processes related to subduction and the resulting peripheral or retroarc fold-thrust belt; (b) it consists of four discrete depozones, referred to as the wedge-top, forede...

[1] Orogens with multiple (ultra)high-pressure ((U)HP) and (ultra)high-temperature ((U) HT) metamorphic events provide a complex but telling record of oceanic and continental interaction. The Early Paleozoic history of the “Heart of China,” the Qinling orogenic collage, offers snapshots of at least three (U)HP and two (U)HT metamorphic events. The preservation of remnants of both oceanic and co...