Monazite U–Th–Pb EPMA and zircon U–Pb SIMS chronological constraints on the tectonic, metamorphic, and thermal events in the inner part of the Variscan orogen, example from the Sioule series, French Massif Central

Abstract

In the northern Variscan French Massif Central, the Sioule metamorphic series exposes from top to bottom the tectonic superposition of the Upper Gneiss Unit (UGU), Lower Gneiss Unit (LGU), and Para-autochthonous Unit (PAU). The nappe stacking developed throughout two prograde syn-metamorphic events: D1 is a top-to-the-SW shearing coeval with a probable Devonian migmatization and D2 is a top-to-the-NW shearing event. Both events were completed before the unconformable deposition of the undeformed and unmetamorphosed “Tufs anthraciferes” formation, dated at ca 330 Ma (Late Visean). Furthermore, the UGU experienced a high-pressure metamorphism ascribed to a D0 event during which eclogite or granulite crystallized in several parts of the UGU. Monazite U–Th–Pb and zircon U–Pb SIMS datings were carried out in order to constrain the ages of these D0, D1, and D2 tectono-metamorphic events. These new geochronological results are placed in a P–T-t diagram constructed for the UGU, LGU, and PAU. Monazite sampled in UGU, LGU, and PAU rocks yields similar 365–350 Ma ages consistent with the D2 event dated in other places of the French Massif Central. A zoned monazite grain from a granulitic paragneiss yields 416 ± 15 and 362 ± 14 Ma ages interpreted as those of the D0 and D2 events, respectively. Zircon from the same granulitic paragneiss yields SIMS ages at 343 ± 2 and 328 ± 2 Ma that are interpreted as recrystallization processes associated with post-thickening thermal events, possibly recording the onset of orogenic collapse of the Northern Massif Central. It is worth to note that neither monazite nor zircon recorded the D1 event.