Centrifuge modelling of plutons intruding shear zones: application to the Fürstenstein Intrusive Complex (Bavarian Forest, Germany)

Abstract

Models consisting of a thick overburden resting on a buoyant layer were sheared and centrifruged in order to study the relationship between strike-slip shear zones and intrusions of buoyant material. Three experiments were carried out: In model 1, where the overburden consisted of a viscous material, no diapirs formed even after shearing for 40 mm (? = -1.07) and 27 min centrifuging. In models 2 and 3, where the overburden was semi-brittle, prescribed cuts at two different orientations (model 2: parallel to s1; model 3: perpendicular to s1) were initiated in the overburden in order to see whether such cuts acted as pathways for intrusion. In model 2 the prescribed cuts were used by the buoyant material as pathways when the cuts opened during shearing. Continued shearing widened the cuts and allowed the buoyant material to extrude on the surface of the model forming a coalesced elliptical sheet. In model 3. the cuts were closed during shearing and prevented the intrusion of the buoyant material. During further shearing, the cuts rotated and activated as strike-slip faults bounding pull-apart basins. Such pull-apart basins were not deep enough to tap the buoyant material. Nevertheless, the results of the experiments suggest that magma ascends in shear zones not as diapirs, but rises along preexisting pathways as dykes. Model results were used to evaluate emplacement of the Fürstenstein Intrusive Complex (FIC) in the Bavarian Forest, whose magnetic and structural inventory have been investigated in detail. The pluton consists of 5 magma batches, each with distinct magnetic fabrics. which are interpreted as the result of magma intrusion along opening and rotating tension gashes within the BPSZ stress field. Shear failure of the crust in the FIC area due to thermomechanical weakening provided the space for the emplacement of the last and biggest granite magma batch. Overall, the emplacement history of the FIC fits perfectly with the observations made during experiment 2 and indicates that magma ascent in shear zones is bound to tension gashes.