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The Salau deposit, located in the Axial Zone of the French Pyrenees, is the most important tungsten deposit ever mined in France. Two types of mineralization, both closely associated with a granodiorite intrusion, are distinguished. The first is a fine-grained scheelite skarn related to contact metamorphic and metasomatism between the intrusion and the adjacent carbonate rocks. The second type is represented by massive sulfides accompanied by coarse-grained scheelite, apatite, and electrum. This syn-kinematic mineralization is found enclosed within the skarn ore but occurs also within the granodiorite stock along major ductile–brittle shear zones. REE contents of scheelite and apatite from the two types of mineralization show differences suggesting that the two types derived from two different fluids. U/Pb dating on zircon, apatite and scheelite illustrates that magmatic zircon and apatite formed at 295 ± 2 Ma during emplacement and cooling of the granodiorite intrusion. These are cogenetic to the fine-grained scheelite skarn. Hydrothermal apatite from massive sulfide ores yields a younger age of 289 ± 2 Ma, whereas closely associated coarse-grained scheelite yields a consistent although less precise age of 284 ± 11 Ma. These results suggest that the late massive sulfide ore with abundant coarse-grained scheelite and electrum is related to the emplacement of an underlying, more evolved intrusion, accompanied during its ascent by the development of steeply dipping reverse-dextral shear zones.

Much of the present-day volume of Earth’s continental crust had formed by the end of the Archean Eon, 2.5 billion years ago, through the conversion of basaltic (mafic) crust into sodic granite of tonalite, trondhjemite and granodiorite (TTG) composition. Distinctive chemical signatures in a small proportion of these rocks, the so-called high-pressure TTG, are interpreted to indicate partial melting of hydrated crust at pressures above 1.5 GPa (>50 km depth), pressures typically not reached in post-Archean continental crust. These interpretations significantly influence views on early crustal evolution and the onset of plate tectonics. Here we show that high-pressure TTG did not form through melting of crust, but through fractionation of melts derived from metasomatically enriched lithospheric mantle. Although the remaining, and dominant, group of Archean TTG did form through melting of hydrated mafic crust, there is no evidence that this occurred at depths significantly greater than the ~40 km average thickness of modern continental crust. Some of Earth’s earliest continental crust has been previously inferred to have formed from partial melting of hydrated mafic crust at pressures above 1.5 GPa (more than 50 km deep), pressures typically not reached in post-Archean continental crust. Here, the authors show that such high pressure signatures can result from melting of mantle sources rather than melting of crust, and they suggest there is a lack of evidence that Earth’s earliest crust melted at depths significantly below 40 km.

Apatite is a ubiquitous accessory mineral found in most magmatic rocks and is often the only U-bearing mineral available to date mafic rocks because primary zircon and/or baddeleyite are not present. In this paper, U-Pb LA-ICP-MS dating of apatite was applied to seven different dike and sill samples of dolerite from the Variscan belt of Brittany (Armorican Massif, western France). These dolerites, which are characterized by a within-plate tholeiite geochemical signature, are organized in several dense swarms across the belt. Their geochemical compositions are homogeneous although they intrude a large geographical area subdivided into several domains each characterized by different tectonic-metamorphic settings. Their emplacement ages were so far poorly constrained due to the difficulty to date these mafic rocks using either the 40Ar/39Ar or the U-Pb methods on classical minerals like mica, plagioclase, or zircon. Although the closure temperature of apatite is lower than the emplacement temperature of the magma, physical models show that the time needed to solidify and cool these mafic dikes and sills below the apatite closure temperature is basically of the order of 100 years or less. Consequently, the U-Pb dates obtained on apatite can be interpreted as the emplacement ages for these mafic intrusions. Our results demonstrate that, in all cases, the apatite grains do carry enough radiogenic Pb to be dated by in situ U-Pb analyses and yield a 207Pb-corrected mean age of 363.4 ± 5.8 Ma. These results reveal the existence of a major and short-lived magmatic event in the Variscan belt of Brittany during the Devonian-Carboniferous transition, a feature further highlighted by field evidence. Beyond the geological implications of these results, U-Pb LA-ICP-MS dating of apatite appears to represent an ideal tool to date small size mafic intrusions.

By re-examining the historical outcrops of Port-Béni located in the Trégor unit of the North Armorican Cadomian belt, the present work delivers four new ages that provide additional constraints on the Proterozoic history of northern Brittany. It is established that granitic, porphyritic rocks crystallized at the end of the Rhyacian (Paleoproterozoic), 2038 ± 12 Ma ago, before being transformed into orthogneisses at a late Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran) age of 621 ± 2 Ma, which is a minimum age, given the retrograde alteration these rocks underwent. The age of ca. 1.8 Ga previously proposed for the protolith of the Port-Béni orthogneiss should be discarded, and these two new ages are consistent with most of those yielded so far by the other Icartian (i.e., Eburnean) basement relics from the Armorican Massif. The gneissic basement was then intruded and disrupted into xenoliths by a granodioritic magma that crystallized 604.5 ± 2.0 Ma ago. This age, slightly younger than previously thought, corresponds to the emplacement age of one of the main units of the North Trégor batholith - the Pleubian-Talbert unit -, part of the Trégor volcano-plutonic complex, which may have built up over a longer period than that indicated by the uncertainty associated with this age. Caution should be exercised in extrapolating this age to that of the whole complex. Finally, doleritic dykes, possibly resulting in two swarms previously thought to be Paleozoic in age, have crosscut this complex. One of the latest yielded an age of 597 ± 15 Ma, indicating that the Trégor doleritic dyking episodes also occurred during the late Neoproterozoic, in between ca. 605 Ma and ca. 580 Ma. As the doleritic dykes are of tholeiitic composition, which distinguishes them from the earlier calc-alkaline magmas, they suggest that the intra-arc extension, documented in the southern, adjacent Saint-Brieuc unit of the belt, also affected the Trégor unit. They may likely have fed northern equivalents of the lava flows from the Paimpol Formation (exposed in between the Saint-Brieuc and the Trégor units), when magma production became moderately influenced by the Cadomian (i.e., Pan-African) subduction and mostly dominated by extension, possibly as a result of a steepening of a north-dipping subduction slab. Indeed, a re-examination of the available geochemical and geochronological data in the light of our new results documents that arc-magma production moved progressively from north (Trégor unit) to south (Saint-Brieuc unit) over time, in the interval 605-580 Ma.

In collision belts, the upper plate is generally less deformed than the lower one that underwent syn-metamorphic ductile shearing, and frequently late-collisional crustal melting. Concerning the Variscan orogeny, it is widely accepted that the Armorica microcontinent represented the upper plate of the collision system. In France, the Central-North-Armorican Domain belonged to this upper plate whose southern margin in the Pontivy–Coray area exposes metamorphic rocks. There, structural and metamorphic studies indicate that an early tectono-metamorphic event (M0-M1) with biotite–garnet–staurolite–kyanite assemblage, crystallized at 0.9 GPa and 500 °C, is characterized by a top-to-the NW shearing. This event was followed by an HT event (M2) at ca 800–900 °C, coeval with a domal structure. In micaschists, monazite yields an LA-ICP-MS age at 351 Ma ascribed to M2. M0-M1-M2 events developed before the Late Carboniferous pluton emplacement at ca 315 Ma (M3 event). The tectono-metamorphic succession documents that Armorica was not a rigid block but underwent a synmetamortphic ductile deformation during the Famennian–Tournaisian (360–355 Ma) collision redefined here as the late episode of the “Bretonian orogenic phase”, whereas the pre-Famennian Bretonnian episode is ascribed to oceanic subduction. These new data allow us to reassess the geodynamic evolution of this part of the Variscan orogen.

Based on new structural, petrological and U-Th-Pb geochronological data, a reappraisal of the Variscan tectono-metamorphic history of the Pelvoux Massif (External Crystalline Massif, French Alps) is proposed with the aim to understand the flow pattern and kinematics of the Variscan partially molten crust and the Eastern Variscan Shear Zone. The Pelvoux Massif consists of high-grade metamorphic rocks of middle to lower crust, mostly migmatites, that record a prominent syn-metamorphic deformation event (D 2 ) characterized by a pervasive NE-SW striking, steeply dipping, S 2 foliation, and a network of anastomosed NS and NW-SE trending shear zones, the kinematics of which indicates a sinistral transpression. Relics of an early syn-metamorphic event (D 1 /M 1 ) related to crustal thickening and top-to-the-east nappe stacking are also reported. Both the D 1 and D 2 features are interpreted as reflecting a NW-SE shortening event, firstly marked by dominant nappe stacking, and secondly overprinted by a sinistral transpression that started at peak metamorphism with the onset of crustal partial melting at ca. 650 °C during the late Visean (ca. 335–330 Ma). Ongoing sinistral D 2 transpression in the partially molten middle-lower crust of the Pelvoux involved strain partitioning between C and C’ shear zones and horizontal longitudinal flow in the range 330–300 Ma. Along the anatectic front, vertical shortening and top-to-the-NW shearing (D 3 ) is coeval with D 2 and argue for southeastward motion of the partially molten crust. The contemporaneity between NW-SE directed transpressional flow and vertical shortening is supported by our radiometric data of D 2 and D 3 and attests for strain partitioning between the suprastructure and infrastructure during horizontal crustal flow under transpressive regime. The exhumation of deep-seated rocks during sinistral transpression followed a near isothermal (ca. 700 °C) evolution down to pressure of ca. 0.5 GPa in the period 325–306 Ma. The sinistral transpression recorded in the Pelvoux Massif might corresponds to an antithetic shear zone coeval with the dextral East-Variscan Shear Zone, proposed for this part of the Variscan orogen. Sur la base de nouvelles données structurales, pétrologiques et géochronologiques U-Th-Pb, une réévaluation de l'histoire tectono-métamorphique varisque du massif du Pelvoux (Massif cristallin externe, Alpes françaises) est proposée dans le but de comprendre le style et la cinématique du fluage de la croûte varisque partiellement fondue et de la Zone de Cisaillement Est Varisque. Le massif du Pelvoux est constitué de roches métamorphiques de haut grade, de la croûte moyenne à inférieure, principalement des migmatites, qui enregistrent un événement de déformation syn-métamorphique prédominant (D 2 ) caractérisé par une orientation NE-SW, une foliation S 2 à fort pendage et un réseau anastomosé de zones de cisaillement d'orientation NS et NW-SE dont la cinématique indique une transpression senestre. Des reliques d'un événement syn-métamorphique précoce (D 1 /M 1 ) lié à l'épaississement de la croûte et à l'empilement des nappes à vergence Est sont retrouvées. Les caractéristiques de D 1 et D 2 sont interprétées comme reflétant un événement de raccourcissement NW-SE, d'abord marqué par l'empilement dominant des nappes, qui évolue ensuite en une transpression senestre, initiée au pic du métamorphisme avec le début de l’anatexie crustale dès 650 °C, à la fin du Viséen (335–330 Ma). Dans la croûte partiellement fondue, la déformation transpressive senestre D 2 se partitionne avec la formation de zones de cisaillement C et C’ qui accommodent le fluage longitudinal entre 330 et 300 Ma. Le long du front anatectique, un raccourcissement vertical accompagné d’un cisaillement vers le NW (déformation D 3 ) sont contemporains de D 2 et participent aussi à l’échappement vers le sud-est de la croûte partiellement fondue. La contemporanéité entre le fluage transpressif dirigé NW-SE (D 2 ) et le raccourcissement vertical à cinématique NW (D 3 ) est étayée par nos données radiométriques. L'exhumation des roches profondes lors de la transpression senestre a suivi une évolution quasi isotherme (~ 700 °C) jusqu'à une pression d'environ 0,5 GPa dans la période 325–306 Ma. La transpression senestre enregistrée dans le massif du Pelvoux pourrait correspondre à une zone de cisaillement antithétique contemporaine de la zone de cisaillement dextre Est-Varisque.

The Mayo-Kebbi massif (Chad) exposes a Neoproterozoic juvenile crustal segment that has been tectonically accreted in the Central African Orogenic Belt and reworked during the Pan-African orogeny. It comprises a syntectonic high-K magmatic suite including the Zabili A-type granitic pluton. The Zabili pluton is made of a highly differentiated granite generated by fractional crystallization of a magma formed by partial melting of a Neoproterozoic juvenile protolith. Syn- to post-magmatic ductile to brittle deformation of the Zabili pluton is associated with metasomatism and deposition of uranium. Primary magmatic U-bearing minerals are zircon, monazite, and uranothorite. Late-magmatic deformation and Na-metasomatism are marked by the development of R’ antithetic shear zones with high-temperature dynamic recrystallization of K-feldspar and Ca-plagioclase phenocrysts coeval with crystallization of albite along deformation bands and grain boundaries, and crystallization of interstitial amphibole, calcite epidote and albite also affected by intracrystalline deformation. At this stage, U-bearing minerals are monazite, uraninite, brannerite (pseudomorphosed in ekanite). This late-magmatic event is dated by U–Th–Pb on monazite at 599 ± 4 Ma. Brittle deformation and Ca-metasomatism are marked by cataclastic zones and veins containing albite, epidote, calcite, chlorite, apatite, metamict zircon, pitchblende, U-silicates, and iron oxides. U-bearing minerals are altered and/or remobilized in ekanite, kasolite, and uranophane. These data suggest that the uranium mineralization hosted by the Zabili pluton records a superposition of processes and traces extreme crustal differentiation of a Neoproterozoic juvenile crustal segment reworked during the Pan-African orogeny.

A field study combined with a laboratory study and 3D modeling have been performed in order to decipher the genesis of the Salau deposit W-Au mineralization (Pyrenees, France), one of the most important for tungsten in Europe. Results show the existence of two superimposed ore types, emplaced ca. 10 km depth and within decreasing temperature conditions: a calcic silicates skarn with rare scheelite and disseminated sulphides followed by a mineralized breccia with massive sulphides (pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite dominant), coarse-grained scheelite and gold, representing the main part of the ore mined in the past. This breccia is localized in ductile-brittle shear-zones which crosscut the granodiorite. U/Pb dating on zircon, apatite and scheelite, previously realized, confirmed this polyphase evolution. These two types of mineralization, linked to the emplacement of two successive intrusions as confirmed by sulphur isotopic analysis, granodioritic then leucogranitic, can be classified as belonging to the Intrusion-Related Gold Deposit type (IRGD). The emplacement of the high-grade gold and scheelite breccia was initiated by the progressive localization of the regional deformation in the Axial Zone of the Pyrenees during the Permian within E-W dextral-reverse faults. Une étude de terrain combinée à une étude de laboratoire et de modélisation 3D a été réalisée afin de décrypter la genèse de la minéralisation à W-Au du gisement de Salau (Pyrénées, France), une des plus importantes d’Europe pour le tungstène. Les résultats montrent qu’il existe deux types de minéralisations superposées, mises en place vers 10 km de profondeur et dans des conditions décroissantes de température : un skarn à silicates calciques, rare scheelite et sulfures disséminés, suivi d’une brèche filonienne à sulfures massifs (pyrrhotite et chalcopyrite dominante), scheelite grossière et or qui a constitué l’essentiel du minerai lors de la phase d’exploitation. Cette brèche se localise dans une série de zones de cisaillement ductile-fragile recoupant l’intrusion granodioritique. Les datations U/Pb sur zircon, apatite et scheelite réalisées antérieurement, confirment ce polyphasage. Ces deux minéralisations, associées à deux intrusions successives comme le confirment les analyses isotopiques du soufre, granodioritique puis leucogranitique, s’inscrivent dans l’évolution d’un modèle Intrusion Related Gold Deposit. La mise en place de la brèche filonienne à forte teneur en or et scheelite est initiée par la localisation progressive de la déformation régionale dans la Zone axiale des Pyrénées durant le Permien au sein de failles E-W dextres inverses.

Since the second half of the twentieth century, exotic copper mineralization represents a prime target for many mining exploration companies operating in the hyperarid Atacama Desert, in northern Chile. Although there is evidence that the emplacement of such deposits took place during specific Tertiary climatic periods and relief formation, many uncertainties remain regarding the exact timing for their deposition and/or the genetic link between the exotic deposits and the primary porphyry copper deposits. We present a first attempt of U-Pb dating of copper-rich minerals from the Mina Sur exotic deposit from the Chuquicamata mining district. A suite of Mn-rich black chrysocolla clasts surrounded by pseudomalachite bands has been characterized and dated in petrographic context using both nanosecond and femtosecond in situ laser ablation ICP-MS analyses. U-Pb dating on pseudomalachite bands yields a crystallization age of 18.4 ± 1.0 Ma. For the Mn-rich chrysocolla clasts, the 206Pb/238U apparent ages range from 19.7 ± 5.0 Ma to 6.1 ± 0.3 Ma, a spread interpreted as the result of U and/or Pb mobility linked to fluid circulation following crystallization. This study demonstrates that supergene copper mineralization can be directly dated by the U-Th-Pb method on pseudomalachite. Furthermore, the age obtained on pseudomalachite indicates that Mina Sur copper deposition took place at ca. 19 Ma, about 11 m.y. after the unroofing and hydrothermal alteration of the Chuquicamata deposit, a result that is consistent with the supergene ages already known in the Atacama Desert.

In the Brioude-Massiac district (French Massif Central: FMC), a network of W-As-Bi-Au quartz veins constitutes the Bonnac deposit, where tungsten is the major economic element, together with high-grade gold (up to 15 g/t Au). The evolution of this mineralization has been divided into 3 stages: (i) an early deep-seated wolframite-löllingite stage formed between 12 to 9 km, at up to 400 °C; (ii) a ductile/brittle deformation stage associated with scheelite and arsenopyrite deposition, with an estimated temperature of 480–300 °C; (iii) a late stage controlled by fluid-overpressure potentially triggered by fault-valve mechanism, at a depth of 7 to 5 km, and a temperature estimated between 266 to 240 °C, is marked by micro-fracturing infilled by native bismuth, bismuthinite, hedleyite, electrum, pyrite and base-metals. Structural analysis and apatite LA-ICP-MS U/Pb dating demonstrate a spatial and temporal link between the emplacement of the peraluminous leucogranitic dykes and the Bonnac mineralization. In more details, the mineralization was deposited between 321–316 Ma, during, or just after, the emplacement of the peraluminous dykes estimated around 329–315 Ma, suggesting a magmatic-hydrothermal transition for the ore-forming process. In the proposed model, the cooling of a hidden two-mica granitic pluton could have generated a magmatic fluid, and acted as the heat source responsible for fluid flow towards inherited permeability zones. The magmatic fluid could have then re-equilibrated at high temperature by fluid-rocks interaction. The sharp changes in pressure, associated with the decrease of the temperature, and sulfide-fugacity generated by a late input of meteoric fluid were responsible for the deposition of the late gold-stage. At the regional scale, the tungsten-gold event is ascribed to an early hydrothermal stage, dissociated from the formation of the antimony event in the district. The leucogranitic dykes and Bonnac quartz veins are controlled by a NW-SE stretching direction, interpreted as an expression of the Serpukhovian-Bashkirian syn-orogenic extension (D4 event of the FMC). These new data provide evidence for an early tungsten and gold metallogenic event in the FMC, prior the “Or300” event. The genetic classification of the Bonnac mineralization is equivocal. The W-As-Bi-Au-quartz veins exhibit the features of both an “orogenic gold” deposit at a relatively deep emplacement level (mesozonal), and an Intrusion-Related-Gold-Deposit (IRGD) type with a spatial-temporal link with the peraluminous intrusion emplacement. We propose that the Bonnac deposits represent an intermediate type between a typical orogenic-gold deposit and an IRGD. We argue that the presence of economic high-grade gold content in tungsten vein-type, and more generally the IRGD deposits, have been underestimated in the Variscan French Massif Central. Dans le district de Brioude-Massiac (Massif Central français ; FMC), les gîtes de Bonnac correspondent à un réseau de veines de quartz à W-As-Bi-Au. Le tungstène y est le principal métal économique, et est associé à de fortes teneurs en or (entre 1 et 15 g/t Au). L’évolution de cette minéralisation peut être divisée en 3 étapes : (i) un stade précoce à wolframite et löllingite, formé en profondeur, entre 12 et 9 km, et à des températures supérieures à 400 °C ; (ii) un stade de déformation ductile/cassant qui contrôle le dépôt de scheelite et d’arsénopyrite, estimé entre 480–300 °C ; (iii) un stade tardif, contrôlé par des surpressions de fluide marquées par une micro-fracturation colmatée par une paragenèse à bismuth natif, bismuthinite, hedleyite, électrum, pyrite associée à des métaux de base. Les surpressions de fluide seraient possiblement provoquées par un mécanisme de valve-sismique, à des températures comprises entre 266 et 240 °C, à une profondeur estimée entre 7 et < 5 km. L’analyse structurale, et les datations U/Pb sur apatite par la méthode LA-ICP-MS démontrent un lien spatial et temporel entre les dykes leucogranitiques peralumineux et les gîtes de la région de Bonnac. La formation de la minéralisation entre 321–316 Ma est contemporaine à légèrement plus jeune que celle des dykes peralumineux mis en place autour de 329–315 Ma, ce qui suggère une genèse lors d’une transition magmatique-hydrothermal. Dans ce modèle, le refroidissement d’un pluton granitique à deux micas sous-jacent, pourrait générer des fluides magmatiques et servir de source de chaleur activant une circulation du fluide vers des zones à haute perméabilité comme des fractures préexistantes. Le fluide magmatique aurait ensuite été rééquilibré à haute température par des processus d’interaction fluide-roches. Les changements brusques de pression, la baisse des températures, et de fugacité du soufre générés par un apport tardif de fluides météoriques semblent responsables du dépôt du stade aurifère tardif. À l’échelle régionale, l’événement or-tungstène est attribué à un stade hydrothermal précoce, et dissocié de la formation de l’événement à antimoine du district. La mise en place des dykes leucogranitiques et des veines de quartz de Bonnac est contrôlée par une direction d’étirement NW-SE, interprétée comme une expression de l’extension syn-orogénique d’âge Serpukhovien-Bashkirien (événement D4 du Massif Central français). Ces nouvelles données fournissent des preuves d’une première période métallogénique à tungstène et or dans le FMC avant l’événement « Or 300 ». La classification génétique des minéralisations de Bonnac est équivoque. Les veines de quartz à W-As-Bi-Au présentent à la fois les caractéristiques du modèle de l’« or orogénique », avec un niveau relativement profond de mise en place (mésozonal), et celles du modèle Intrusion-Related-Gold-Deposit (IRGD) avec un lien spatio-temporel entre la minéralisation et une intrusion peralumineuse. Nous proposons que Bonnac soit un type intermédiaire entre un modèle typique de l’or orogénique, et un IRGD. Nous soutenons que la présence de teneurs économiques en or dans les gisements de tungstène de type filonien, et plus généralement ceux de type IRGD, ont été sous-estimés dans la partie varisque du Massif Central Français.