A tectonic model for the juxtaposition of granulite- and amphibolite-facies rocks in the Eburnean orogenic belt (Sassandra-Cavally domain, Côte d’Ivoire)

Abstract

The Sassandra-Cavally (SASCA) domain (SW Côte d’Ivoire) marks the transition between the Archaean Kenema-Man craton and the Palaeoproterozoic (Rhyacian) Baoule-Mossi terranes. It is characterized by the tectonic juxtaposition of granulite-facies and amphibolite-facies rocks. Migmatitic grey gneisses, garnet-cordierite-sillimanite migmatitic paragneisses and garnet-staurolite-bearing micaschists reached peak pressure conditions ranging from ~6.6 kbar at 620°C to ~10 kbar at 820°C. These conditions are associated with the first recorded deformation D1 and correspond to a Barrovian geothermal gradient of ~25°C/km. Subsequent exhumation, associated with a second deformation D2, was marked by decompression followed by cooling along apparent geothermal gradients of ~40°C/km. A D3 deformation phase is marked by folding and local transposition of the regional S1/S2 foliation by E-W trending shear zones. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of monazite, which displays complex internal structures, reveals four age groups as a function of their textural position: 1) Rare relictual zones yield dates at the Archaean-Palaeoproterozoic transition (c. 2400–2600 Ma); 2) a cluster of dates centered at c. 2037 Ma. This cluster includes dates from crystals located in the S2 foliation of the migmatitic grey gneiss, which suggests that this is the age for the D2 exhumation; 3) a cluster of dates centered at c. 2000 Ma, and 4) dates spreading from c. 1978 to 1913 Ma, documented for the first time in the West African Craton monazites. The ages of the latter two groups are similar to the ones identified in the Guiana Shield, and could be attributed to a disturbance by fluids, to a periodic opening of U-Pb system or to an episodic crystallization of monazite during slow cooling lasting several tens of Myrs. These data bring new petro-tectonic and geochronological constraints on the contact between the Rhyacian Baoule-Mossi terrains and the Archaean Kenema-Man nucleus, and confirm the collisional character of the polyphase tectono-metamorphic evolution of the SASCA domain during the Eburnean orogeny. They suggest a transitional regime between the predominance of gravitational instabilities and modern plate tectonics. The exhumation of the granulite- and amphibolite-facies rocks results from a combination of crustal-scale folding associated with lateral flow and regional transcurrent shear zones, which would explain the juxtaposition of rocks that reached significantly different P–T conditions.