No abstract

International audienceLow-angle normal faults accommodate a large part of continental post-orogenic extension. Besides the intrinsic rheological characteristics of the continental crust that may lead to the formation of shallow-dipping shear zones at the brittle–ductile transition, the role of pre-existing low-angle structures such as large thrusts has been proposed by several authors. We explore this question with the example of the North Cycladic Detachment System (NCDS) that is composed of a series of distinct detachments cropping out on the islands of Andros, Tinos and Mykonos, separating the Cycladic Blueschists in the footwall from the Upper Cycladic Nappe in the hanging wall. We show that these extensional structures are part of a single large-scale structure (more than 200 km along strike) that reactivates the Vardar suture zone. It extends eastward on Ikaria and westward offshore Evia and Thessalia where it probably connects to recent shallow-dipping normal faults evidenced on published seismic reflection profiles. The NCDS started its activity in the Oligocene concommitantly with the Aegean extension, and was still active in the Late Miocene. It has exhumed a series of metamorphic domes from southern Evia to Mykonos below low-angle detachment systems, made of low-angle normal faults and low-angle ductile shear zones. The ductile shear zones and the faults were created with a low dip and they kept the same attitude throughout their exhumation. We identify three main detachments that are part of a continuum of extension on the NCDS : Tinos detachment, Livada detachment and Mykonos detachment. A fourth detachment (Vari detachment) is the reactivation of an Eocene exhumation-related structure. Deformation in the footwall is characterized by intense stretching and flattening. Using the spatial evolution observed along strike from Andros to Mykonos we construct a history of formation of the NCDS starting with the reactivation of former thrusts leading to the exhumation of high-temperature metamorphic domes. The Aegean example shows that reactivation of earlier shallow-dipping discontinuities can play a fundamental role in continental post-orogenic extension

[1] We present the first P-T, deformation time, and kinematic constraints on the only known blueschist facies rocks (BS) present in the Zagros (Hajiabad area). The BS were underplated below the Sanandaj-Sirjan zone and crop out as kilometer-scale bodies within extensive colored melange units marking discontinuously the Neotethyan suture zone. P-T estimates point to high-pressure/low-temperature (HP-LT) conditions around 11 kbar and 520-530°C for the majority of BS, along a $15°C km À1 gradient. Some exotic blocks in matrix serpentinite reached 17-18 kbar at $500°C. In situ laser probe 40 Ar-39 Ar radiometric age constraints on phengite cluster between 85 and 95 Ma and suggest that (1) synconvergence exhumation of Zagros BS from 35-50 km to depths <15-20 km was accomplished before 80 Ma, (2) BS exhumation corresponded to a transient process with respect to the long-lived subduction beneath Iran ($150-35 Ma), and (3) age constraints for Zagros BS are 5-10 Myr older than for the nearby Oman HP-LT rocks and broadly coincide with obduction processes in the region (circa 95-70 Ma). We propose that the mechanical coupling across the Neotethyan subduction zone (NSZ) beneath Iran was modified by the large-scale plate rearrangement accompanying obduction, allowing for a short-lived exhumation of Zagros BS. Exhumation ceased at the end of obduction, when subduction of the Arabian continental margin stopped. Kinematic calculations suggest that convergence velocities across the NSZ likely doubled (to $5-6 cm yr À1 ) during the period 118-85 Ma, so that BS exhumation may have been promoted by a combination of obduction movements and increased convergence velocities.