Thermal Evolution of Continental Rifting in Corsica (France)

Abstract:

Present thermal evolution models for continental rifting are based on pure-shear extension (McKenzie 1978), in which crustal and mantle strain is co-located and all rocks cool throughout rifting. However, the multi-phase rift model of Lavier and Manatschal (2006) accommodates lithospheric extension via spatially offset crustal and mantle strains, producing depth-dependent thinning and exhumation of lithospheric mantle. Significant reheating of the upper plate is a natural consequence of this model. We seek to constrain the temperature-time history of the upper-plate Tethyan margin preserved in Corsica to discriminate between the two thermal models.

A record of the conditions and timing of reheating is preserved in the age and trace element compositions of metamorphic zircon overgrowths. Zircon from the hanging wall and footwall of the Jurassic-age Belli Piani shear zone (Beltrando et al 2013) were depth-profiled for both U-Pb and trace element concentrations via LA-ICP-MS split streaming. Across both sides of the shear zone, U-Pb ages show a strong population of 275-300 Ma grains. However, a subset of footwall grains show 165-210 Ma overgrowths. These ages indicate that the margin reached temperature conditions sufficient for zircon saturation and subsequent zircon growth. These lower crustal findings are consistent with prior observations made within the sedimentary succession, which records rapid thermal uplift, karstification, and subsequent drowning of Triassic dolostones contemporaneous with the opening of the Alpine Tethys (Decarlis and Lualdis 2008). Ti-in-zircon thermometry yields temperatures of ~720°C in the hanging wall and ~830°C in the footwall. This is consistent with the appearance of overgrowths, and provides further support that the Belli Piani shear zone was active during Jurassic rifting. Collectively, these data point directly to a rift-coeval reheating event that affected the entire crustal pile and lend support to the multi-stage Lavier and Manatschal model.