Relationships between lower and upper crust tectonic during doming: the mylonitic southern edge of the Velay metamorphic core complex (Cévennes-French Massif Central)

Abstract

Petrological, structural, and thermochronological analyses have been focused on the Mylonitic Metamorphic Vellave Zone (MMVZ), which wraps around the southern edge of the Velay metamorphic core complex dome. Mineral-stretching lineations in the Sil-Bt zone are everywhere perpendicular to the dome edge, the strong mylonitic foliation displays top-to-the south normal shearing, and preferential quartz orientations show high-temperature prismatic <a> deformation interpreted as pure shear patterns. The Sil-Bt zone reflects the dome dynamics during its forced emplacement and uplift. From the contact aureole of the Borne monzogranite, through greenschist facies, and until the And-Crd-Bt zone of the MMVZ, the series are affected by constant syn-metamorphic top-to-the-northeast shearing, acting since at least 320 Ma and reflecting upper crust tectonics during doming: the detachment system. A constriction-dominated deformation regime characterizes the And-Crd-Bt zone, together with the fact that thermochronometers (micas Ar/Ar, U-Th/Pb monazite) are set at 310 Ma, reflecting fast cooling and uplift high in the crust, consequently, the MMVZ is a mylonite that represents the interaction of dome dynamics and the tectonic environment of the upper crust. The Velay dome was forcibly emplaced in the country rocks, and has intruded its own detachment, showing the relationship between the detachment and the dynamic of the dome on its southern edge.