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U–Pb geochronology and petrology of the late Paleozoic Gil Marquez pluton: magmatism in the Variscan suture zone, southern Iberia, during continental collision and the amalgamation of Pangea

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Abstract

The origin of plutonic complexes that stitch suture zones developed during collision is not well understood. In southern Iberia, the Pulo du Lobo suture zone (PDLZ) is intruded by the syn- to postcollisional Gil Marquez pluton (GMP), thought to be part of the Sierra Norte Batholith. U–Pb (LA-ICPMS, zircon) data on various phases of the GMP yield from oldest to youngest: (1) a 354.4 ± 7.6 Ma unfoliated gabbro; (2) a 345.6 ± 2.5 Ma foliated intermediate phase; (3) a 346.5 ± 5.4 Ma unfoliated porphyritic granite; (4) a 335.1 ± 2.8 Ma unfoliated biotite granite. This sequence is consistent with cross-cutting relationships observed in the field. The range in ages is consistent with interpretations that the GMP is part of the composite (ca. 350–308 Ma) SNB. Inherited ages preserved in the GMP intermediate and felsic phases indicate that its magmas traversed through South Portuguese Zone and PDLZ crust during emplacement. The ca. 345 Ma emplacement of the late kinematic foliated intermediate phase constrains the age of late-stage strike slip deformation within the PDLZ, and the lack of a foliation in the older gabbro indicates that is was not proximal to a shear zone neither at the time of emplacement, nor during its subsequent history. The unfoliated porphyritic granite and unfoliated biotite granite cut the foliation of the intermediate phase indicating emplacement during the waning stages of collision, while the ca. 335 Ma biotite granite intrudes the Santa Ira Flysch, thereby providing a tight constraint for the latest stage of deformation in the PDLZ.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ricardo Arenas and Vaclav Kachlik for their constructive and insightful reviews and Jarda Dostal for editorial handling. This research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery grants to JAB and JBM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Saint Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, B2G 2W5, Canada

    Evan R. Gladney, James A. Braid & J. Brendan Murphy

  2. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, c/Rios Rosas 23, 28003, Madrid, Spain

    Cecilio Quesada

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Brunswick, PO Box 4400, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3, Canada

    Christopher R. M. McFarlane

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  1. Evan R. Gladney
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Correspondence to J. Brendan Murphy.

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Gladney, E.R., Braid, J.A., Murphy, J.B. et al. U–Pb geochronology and petrology of the late Paleozoic Gil Marquez pluton: magmatism in the Variscan suture zone, southern Iberia, during continental collision and the amalgamation of Pangea. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 103, 1433–1451 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-014-1034-5

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