U-Pb SHRIMP zircon dating of high-grade rocks from the Upper Allochthonous Terrane of Bragança and Morais Massifs (NE Portugal); geodynamic consequences

Bragança and Morais Massifs are part of the mega-klippen ensemble of NW Iberia, comprising a tectonic pile of four allochthonous units stacked above the Central-Iberian Zone autochthon. On top of this pile, the Upper Allochthonous Terrane (UAT) includes different high-grade metamorphic series whose age and geodynamic meaning are controversial. Mafic granulites provided U–Pb zircon ages at 399±7 Ma, dating the Variscan emplacement of UAT. In contrast,U–Pb zircon ages of ky- and hb-eclogites, felsic/intermediate HP/HT-granulites and orthogneisses (ca. 500–480 Ma) are identical to those of gabbros (488 ± 10 Ma) and Grt-pyroxenites (495 ± 8 Ma) belonging to a mafic/ultramafic igneous suite that records upper mantle melting and mafic magma crustal underplating at these times. Gabbros intrude the high-grade units of UAT and did not underwent the HP metamorphic event experienced by eclogites and granulites. These features and the zircon dates resemblance among different lithologies, suggest that extensive age resetting of older events may have been correlative with the igneous suite emplacement/crystallisation. Accordingly, reconciliation of structural, petrological and geochronological evidence implies that the development and early deformation of UAT high-grade rocks should be ascribed to an orogenic cycle prior to ≈500 Ma. Undisputable dating of this cycle is impossible, but the sporadic vestiges of Cadomian ages cannot be disregarded. The ca. 500–480 Ma time-window harmonises well with the Lower Palaeozoic continental rifting that trace the VariscanWilson Cycle onset and the Rheic Ocean opening. Subsequent preservation of the high heat-flowregime, possibly related to the Palaeotethys back-arc basin development (ca. 450–420 Ma), would explain the 461 ± 10 Ma age yielded by some zircon domains in felsic granulites, conceivably reflecting zircon dissolution/ recrystallisation till Ordovician times, long before the Variscan paroxysm (ca. 400–390 Ma). This geodynamic scenario suggests also that UAT should have been part of Armorica before its emplacement on top of Iberia after Palaeotethys closure.

Geoquímica dos eclogitos do Maciço de Bragança: origem dos "veios dioríticos" e implicações geocronológicas

A análise dos perfis de elementos incompatíveis imóveis em eclogitos do Maciço de Bragança permitiu dividir estas rochas em três grupos (A, B e C). As rochas dos grupos B e C correspondem a eclogitos granulitizados que, frequentemente, contêm veios "dioríticos". Os dados geoquímicos disponíveis revelam que os materiais dos veios e os eclogitos hospedeiros têm concentrações muito semelhantes de elementos incompatíveis "imóveis", enquanto há diferenças significativas no que se refere a elementos móveis. Assim, é improvável que os veios possam representar magmas dioríticos gerados por fusão parcial dos eclogitos hospedeiros. Os veios "dioríticos" são interpretados neste trabalho como produtos de actividade metassomática que afectou os eclogitos; o metassomatismo terá sido induzido por fluidos que terão emanado dos gnaisses encaixantes duranto o metamorfismo prógrado da descompressão. Este episódio metasomático terá causado reajustamentos isotópicos, o que explicaria as contradições aparentes entre os dados geocronológicos obtidos nos eclogitos.