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Ordovician magmatism in the Lévézou massif (French Massif Central): tectonic and geodynamic implications

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Abstract

New U–Pb dating on zircon yielded ca. 470 Ma ages for the granitoids from the Lévézou massif in the southern French Massif Central. These new ages do not support the previous interpretation of these granitoids as syn-tectonic intrusions emplaced during the Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous thrusting. The geochemical and isotopic nature of this magmatism is linked to a major magmatic Ordovician event recorded throughout the European Variscan belt and related to extreme thinning of continental margins during a rifting event or a back-arc extension. The comparable isotopic signatures of these granitoids on each side of the eclogite-bearing leptyno-amphibolitic complex in the Lévézou massif, together with the fact that they were emplaced at the same time, strongly suggest that these granitoids were originally part of a single unit, tectonically duplicated by either isoclinal folding or thrusting during the Variscan tectonics.

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank X. Le Coz and Y. Lepagnot for the sample preparation, J. Langlade for the assistance with microprobe analysis, and D. Vilbert for the Sm/Nd and Sr isotopic analysis. V. Janoušek and P. Boulvais are thanked for helpful discussions about the whole-rock and isotopic geochemistry. Constructive reviews of P. Jeřábek and J.M. Lardeaux helped to improve the manuscript.

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  1. UMR CNRS 6118, Géosciences Rennes, OSUR, Université, Rennes 1, 35042, Rennes Cedex, France

    Caroline Lotout, Pavel Pitra, Marc Poujol & Jean Van Den Driessche

  2. Česká Geologická Služba, Klárov 3, 118 21, Prague 1, Czech Republic

    Pavel Pitra

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Lotout, C., Pitra, P., Poujol, M. et al. Ordovician magmatism in the Lévézou massif (French Massif Central): tectonic and geodynamic implications. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 106, 501–515 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-016-1387-z

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