The Tatric crystalline unit of the Western Carpathians in northern Slovakia displays an inverted metamorphic sequence where high-grade migmatite and orthogneiss units are overlying lower-grade mica schists. Enclosed within the migmatites are lenses of eclogite-bearing amphibolites. Conventional geothermobarometry coupled with isochemical modeling constrained P-T paths that exhibit contrasting metamorphic histories for rock units that are now heterogeneously interleaved. Relict eclogite facies assemblages with occasionally preserved omphacite record post-peak pressure conditions of 1.7-1.8 GPa followed by near isothermal decompression at ~750 °C leading to intensive re-equilibration of eclogites at high-pressure granulite facies conditions and development of diopside + plagioclase symplectitic textures. New ID-TIMS Sm-Nd dating of garnet separated from the omphacite-bearing eclogite yields a whole rock-garnet isochron age of 337 ± 10 Ma, with an epsilon Nd isotopic composition of +8.3. While major element profiles across the garnets display little variation, the trace element distribution shows a typical HREE enrichment profile and a slight core to rim disparity with LREE and MREE concentrations higher in the cores and higher HREE in the rims. Granulite-facies migmatites that host the eclogite boudins record lower pressure metamorphic conditions of 1.2 GPa at ~750 °C and a similar retrograde path. The lower-grade micaschists reached metamorphic conditions of 0.8 GPa at ~650 °C. Monazite U-Pb analysis from a migmatite surrounding the eclogite boudins yields one population of ca. 380 Ma age. Another migmatite away from the eclogite yields two populations monazite ages. A robust 340 ± 11 Ma monazite U-Pb age is indistinguishable from our garnet age and U-Pb SIMS age of zircons in the anatectic leucosome of the migmatite (347 ± 7 Ma). We interpret the ca. 340 Ma ages to represent the exhumation of the deep crustal root of the Variscan orogen into the middle crust coeval with anatexis. A younger monazite U-Pb age of 300 ± 16 Ma is consistent with 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology data of ca. 310 Ma that is likely indicative of the Late Carboniferous I-type magmatism and cooling in the Tatric block. Cooling rates calculated by garnet diffusion modeling yield estimates of ~30 °/Ma. This exhumation was likely tectonically forced by the action of a rigid indentor which prompted the weak lower crust to be heterogeneously extruded to mid-crustal levels at a time coeval with anatexis and subsequently extruded with mid-crustal material to the upper crust.

The Tatric crystalline unit of the Western Carpathians in northern Slovakia displays an inverted metamorphic sequence where high-grade migmatite and orthogneiss units are overlying lower-grade mica schists. Enclosed within the migmatites are lenses of eclogite-bearing amphibolites. Conventional geothermobarometry coupled with isochemical modeling constrained P-T paths that exhibit contrasting metamorphic histories for rock units that are now heterogeneously interleaved. Relict eclogite facies assemblages with occasionally preserved omphacite record post-peak pressure conditions of 1.7-1.8 GPa followed by near isothermal decompression at ~750 °C leading to intensive re-equilibration of eclogites at high-pressure granulite facies conditions and development of diopside + plagioclase symplectitic textures. New ID-TIMS Sm-Nd dating of garnet separated from the omphacite-bearing eclogite yields a whole rock-garnet isochron age of 337 ± 10 Ma, with an epsilon Nd isotopic composition of +8.3. While major element profiles across the garnets display little variation, the trace element distribution shows a typical HREE enrichment profile and a slight core to rim disparity with LREE and MREE concentrations higher in the cores and higher HREE in the rims. Granulite-facies migmatites that host the eclogite boudins record lower pressure metamorphic conditions of 1.2 GPa at ~750 °C and a similar retrograde path. The lower-grade micaschists reached metamorphic conditions of 0.8 GPa at ~650 °C. Monazite U-Pb analysis from a migmatite surrounding the eclogite boudins yields one population of ca. 380 Ma age. Another migmatite away from the eclogite yields two populations monazite ages. A robust 340 ± 11 Ma monazite U-Pb age is indistinguishable from our garnet age and U-Pb SIMS age of zircons in the anatectic leucosome of the migmatite (347 ± 7 Ma). We interpret the ca. 340 Ma ages to represent the exhumation of the deep crustal root of the Variscan orogen into the middle crust coeval with anatexis. A younger monazite U-Pb age of 300 ± 16 Ma is consistent with 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology data of ca. 310 Ma that is likely indicative of the Late Carboniferous I-type magmatism and cooling in the Tatric block. Cooling rates calculated by garnet diffusion modeling yield estimates of ~30 °/Ma. This exhumation was likely tectonically forced by the action of a rigid indentor which prompted the weak lower crust to be heterogeneously extruded to mid-crustal levels at a time coeval with anatexis and subsequently extruded with mid-crustal material to the upper crust.

The Tatric crystalline unit of the Western Carpathians in northern Slovakia displays an inverted metamorphic sequence where high-grade migmatite and orthogneiss units are overlying lower-grade mica schists. Enclosed within the migmatites are lenses of eclogite-bearing amphibolites. Conventional geothermobarometry coupled with isochemical modeling constrained P-T paths that exhibit contrasting metamorphic histories for rock units that are now heterogeneously interleaved. Relict eclogite facies assemblages with occasionally preserved omphacite record post-peak pressure conditions of 1.7-1.8 GPa followed by near isothermal decompression at ~750 °C leading to intensive re-equilibration of eclogites at high-pressure granulite facies conditions and development of diopside + plagioclase symplectitic textures. New ID-TIMS Sm-Nd dating of garnet separated from the omphacite-bearing eclogite yields a whole rock-garnet isochron age of 337 ± 10 Ma, with an epsilon Nd isotopic composition of +8.3. While major element profiles across the garnets display little variation, the trace element distribution shows a typical HREE enrichment profile and a slight core to rim disparity with LREE and MREE concentrations higher in the cores and higher HREE in the rims. Granulite-facies migmatites that host the eclogite boudins record lower pressure metamorphic conditions of 1.2 GPa at ~750 °C and a similar retrograde path. The lower-grade micaschists reached metamorphic conditions of 0.8 GPa at ~650 °C. Monazite U-Pb analysis from a migmatite surrounding the eclogite boudins yields one population of ca. 380 Ma age. Another migmatite away from the eclogite yields two populations monazite ages. A robust 340 ± 11 Ma monazite U-Pb age is indistinguishable from our garnet age and U-Pb SIMS age of zircons in the anatectic leucosome of the migmatite (347 ± 7 Ma). We interpret the ca. 340 Ma ages to represent the exhumation of the deep crustal root of the Variscan orogen into the middle crust coeval with anatexis. A younger monazite U-Pb age of 300 ± 16 Ma is consistent with 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology data of ca. 310 Ma that is likely indicative of the Late Carboniferous I-type magmatism and cooling in the Tatric block. Cooling rates calculated by garnet diffusion modeling yield estimates of ~30 °/Ma. This exhumation was likely tectonically forced by the action of a rigid indentor which prompted the weak lower crust to be heterogeneously extruded to mid-crustal levels at a time coeval with anatexis and subsequently extruded with mid-crustal material to the upper crust.

The Tatric crystalline unit of the Western Carpathians in northern Slovakia displays an inverted metamorphic sequence where high-grade migmatite and orthogneiss units are overlying lower-grade mica schists. Enclosed within the migmatites are lenses of eclogite-bearing amphibolites. Conventional geothermobarometry coupled with isochemical modeling constrained P-T paths that exhibit contrasting metamorphic histories for rock units that are now heterogeneously interleaved. Relict eclogite facies assemblages with occasionally preserved omphacite record post-peak pressure conditions of 1.7-1.8 GPa followed by near isothermal decompression at ~750 °C leading to intensive re-equilibration of eclogites at high-pressure granulite facies conditions and development of diopside + plagioclase symplectitic textures. New ID-TIMS Sm-Nd dating of garnet separated from the omphacite-bearing eclogite yields a whole rock-garnet isochron age of 337 ± 10 Ma, with an epsilon Nd isotopic composition of +8.3. While major element profiles across the garnets display little variation, the trace element distribution shows a typical HREE enrichment profile and a slight core to rim disparity with LREE and MREE concentrations higher in the cores and higher HREE in the rims. Granulite-facies migmatites that host the eclogite boudins record lower pressure metamorphic conditions of 1.2 GPa at ~750 °C and a similar retrograde path. The lower-grade micaschists reached metamorphic conditions of 0.8 GPa at ~650 °C. Monazite U-Pb analysis from a migmatite surrounding the eclogite boudins yields one population of ca. 380 Ma age. Another migmatite away from the eclogite yields two populations monazite ages. A robust 340 ± 11 Ma monazite U-Pb age is indistinguishable from our garnet age and U-Pb SIMS age of zircons in the anatectic leucosome of the migmatite (347 ± 7 Ma). We interpret the ca. 340 Ma ages to represent the exhumation of the deep crustal root of the Variscan orogen into the middle crust coeval with anatexis. A younger monazite U-Pb age of 300 ± 16 Ma is consistent with 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology data of ca. 310 Ma that is likely indicative of the Late Carboniferous I-type magmatism and cooling in the Tatric block. Cooling rates calculated by garnet diffusion modeling yield estimates of ~30 °/Ma. This exhumation was likely tectonically forced by the action of a rigid indentor which prompted the weak lower crust to be heterogeneously extruded to mid-crustal levels at a time coeval with anatexis and subsequently extruded with mid-crustal material to the upper crust.

Controlled source seismic methods were employed in this study to investigate the reflectivity and velocity structure of two Hercynian orogens – the Uralides and Variscides. Conventional common depth point (CDP) sections from five reflection seismic campaigns and a velocity model obtained from tomographic inversion of wide-angle observations were the main datasets studied from the Middle Urals. These were complemented with the near-vertical seismic sections and velocity models from the Southern Urals. In the Variscides, conventional CDP processing, along with non-standard processing and synthetic data modeling, were used to obtain and interpret reflection seismic images of the Southwestern Iberian crust. Although, the Uralian and Variscan belts were formed in Late Paleozoic time in apparently similar plate collisional settings, a comparison of the seismic results show that the crust of these two orogens looks quite different at depth. In the Urals, collision of Baltica with Asian terranes (Siberia and Kazakhstan) resulted in a highly diversely reflective crust of 40-45 km thickness. The axial zone of the orogen is characterized by a high velocity crustal root of diffuse reflectivity and an imbricated Moho, with a crustal thickness reaching 55-60 km. The Moho discontinuity is marked by a sharp decrease in reflectivity and is well imaged in most locations except in the crustal root zone. The Southwestern Iberian Variscan crust is 30-35 km thick and is characterized by a highly reflective two-layered structure that resulted from collision of Luarussia and Gondwana, including terranes in-between them. This type of crustal structure is very similar to those imaged in other regions of the Variscan belt in the Europe. The Moho discontinuity is flat and appears to be the deepest reflection. This thesis compares the deep structure of the two orogens and interprets mountain building processes related to late Paleozoic plate movements.

Nous avons mené cet exercice au travers d’une étude pluridisciplinaire combinant des couvertures géophysiques (gravimétrie et aéromagnétisme) réactualisées ou nouvelles, des informations géologiques acquises sur le terrain ou sur carottes de forages pétroliers et un catalogage de propriétés pétrophysiques des roches. Sur une large moitié sud du Bassin parisien, du Massif armoricain aux Vosges, nous avons : i) réalisé un schéma structural du substratum du Bassin parisien, ii) proposé une carte géologique détaillée, sous couverture, iii) réactualisé la carte de zonation de la chaîne varisque en France, intégrant de nouvelles datations sur carottes de forages ayant atteint le substratum. D’après ces résultats, la suture éo-varisque se poursuit d’ouest en est, de la partie sud-armoricaine jusqu’au nord des Vosges, le domaine nord-armoricain se prolonge jusqu’à la faille de Bray et la zone saxothuringienne est continue d’est (Vosges) en ouest (Manche). Egalement, à l’aide de modélisations conjointes de gravimétrie et magnétisme, intégrant l’information recueillie dans le forage de Couy, la nature du substratum environnant désormais mieux connu, ainsi que les contraintes pétrophysiques nouvelles, nous proposons que la source de l’AMBP soit un corps plutonique intermédiaire à acide. Pour finir, en compilant la bibliographie et nos résultats, nous proposons que ce corps se soit mis en place entre le Viséen inférieur et le Viséen supérieur, dans une ouverture NNE-SSW selon un raccourcissement maximal NNW-SSE. / Mapping the cadomian/variscan basement buried beneath the Paris basin is a key objective to improve the geological knowledge of the Variscan belt in West Europe. We address this objective using a combination of new and updated potential field data (aeromagnetic and gravity), as well as information provided by field studies and drill cores, and a library of petrophysical characteristics measured on field samples. On a large southern half of the Paris basin, from the Armorican Massif to the Vosges: i) we made a new interpretative structural sketch map under the sedimentary cover, ii) we proposed a detailed geological map of the Paris basin substratum, iii) we updated the tectonic sketch of the Variscan belt in France, supported by new geochronological determinations on deep drill cores. Altogether, these results show that the eo-Variscan suture is extended from the southern part of the Armorican Massif to the northern Vosges. Eastwards, the North-Armorican domain reaches the Bray fault; and the Saxothuringian zone is extended from the Vosges to the English Channel. In addition, based on combined aeromagnetic and gravity 2D modelling constrained by Couy deep borehole data, the PBMA source is interpreted as a deep intermediate-alkaline plutonic body. Finally, compiling bibliographic information together with our new results, we hypothesize that this magmatic body could have been emplaced in the early to late Visean period, during a NNE-SSW opening under a NNW-SSE shortening.

This thesis will present a key analysis and the results of our researchs on the tectonic behaviour, mainly by folding and shearing, and role, during Variscan deformation, of Waulsortian mudmounds in various sedimentary and tectonic settings of Western Europe, and particularly in Belgium, Brittany and Southern Ireland. In oder to modelise this behaviour and role, seven structural lithofacies from lenticular mudmounds to well-stratified calcareous-shaley series have been defined. By this way, our detailled maping and inventory of structures of deformation - included strain measurements of the elliptically deformed crinoidal osscicles in limestones and shales - in the ductile, brittle or shearing conditions of the Variscan deformations have allowed to define five principles of mechanical relations between these lithofacies. Two models of Waulsortian domain structuration, during the Asturian and Sudetian-II orgonenic phases, have been carried out following these principles. In both models, folding is the essential mode of tectonic structuration, eventually accompanied by shear zones and brittle structures of regional importance or due to local effects of the lithofacies anisotropies.

This thesis will present a key analysis and the results of our researchs on the tectonic behaviour, mainly by folding and shearing, and role, during Variscan deformation, of Waulsortian mudmounds in various sedimentary and tectonic settings of Western Europe, and particularly in Belgium, Brittany and Southern Ireland. In oder to modelise this behaviour and role, seven structural lithofacies from lenticular mudmounds to well-stratified calcareous-shaley series have been defined. By this way, our detailled maping and inventory of structures of deformation - included strain measurements of the elliptically deformed crinoidal osscicles in limestones and shales - in the ductile, brittle or shearing conditions of the Variscan deformations have allowed to define five principles of mechanical relations between these lithofacies. Two models of Waulsortian domain structuration, during the Asturian and Sudetian-II orgonenic phases, have been carried out following these principles. In both models, folding is the essential mode of tectonic structuration, eventually accompanied by shear zones and brittle structures of regional importance or due to local effects of the lithofacies anisotropies.

La finalité de ce travail est de développer un modèle thermomécanique 2D pour analyser en détails les effets de la dissipation visqueuse et de l'hydratation du coin de manteau sur l’état thermique et la dynamique dans les zones de subduction. L’état thermique et la dynamique résultant des modèles prenant en compte la dissipation visqueuse et/ou l'hydratation du manteau sont comparés aux modèles ne les prenant pas en compte (Marotta and Spalla, 2007), afin d’analyser leurs effets sur la viscosité et sur la vitesse de déformation. Notre nouveau modèle démontre l’activation de la convection du manteau à courte longueur d’onde en fonction de l'hydratation et de la serpentinisation du coin de manteau. Il en résulte un recyclage des croûtes continentales et océaniques subduites. En outre, les effets de la vitesse de subduction sur l’ampleur de la région hydratée ont été analysés. Les évolutions des conditions P-T des marqueurs de crustaux et l'état thermique enregistré dans les différentes portions du complexe de subduction sont utilisés pour avoir une meilleure compréhension de la distribution et de l'évolution, dans le temps et dans l'espace, de conditions métamorphiques caractérisées par des rapports P/T contrastés. Une fois ces modèles établis, les évolutions P-T prédites par les modèles sont comparées aux données métamorphiques naturelles observées dans la chaine varisque, plus particulièrement dans les Alpes et le Massif Central français. Afin de prendre en compte l’exhumation de croûte subduite jusqu’aux niveaux les plus superficiels, le modèle prend en compte le rôle de l'atmosphère et donc des mécanisme d’érosion et de sédimentation. / The aim of this work was to develop a 2D thermo-mechanical model to analyse in detail the effects of the shear heating and mantle wedge hydration on the thermal state and dynamics of an ocean/continent subduction system. The thermal setting and dynamics that result from models with shear heating and/or mantle hydration are directly compared to a model that does not account for either (Marotta and Spalla, 2007) to analyse their effects on both the strain rate and the viscosity. The new model show the activation of short-wavelength mantle convection related to the hydration and the serpentinisation of the mantle wedge, with the consequent recycling of oceanic and continental subducted material. The effects of the subduction velocities on the size of the hydrated area are also analysed, andpredictions of the pressure-temperature evolutions of crustal markers and the thermal field, which affect different portions of subduction systems, are used to infer the thermal regimes that affect the models. Similarly, the model can help to understand extensively both the distribution and the evolution, in time and space, of metamorphic conditions characterised by contrasting P/T ratios in subduction systems. In a second phase, P-T predicted by the model has been compared with natural P max -T estimates related to the Variscan metamorphism, from both the present domains of the Alps and from the French Central Massif. However, the model did not allow to compare simulated P-T paths with successive metamorphic stages recorded and preserved by the rocks during their metamorphic evolution, because of the lack of exhumation of subducted material up to the shallowest portion of the crust.

Les Vosges sont caractérisées par la présence de nombreuses intrusions et extrusions magmatiques d’affinités variées. Elles constituent donc un excellent site d’étude pour contraindre, par la datation et la géochimie, l’évolution des évènements de ce segment de l’orogène Varisque. Ce travail révèle ainsi deux successions d’évènements magmatiques identiques, décalées dans le temps, caractérisent les domaines Moldanubien (360 à 320 Ma) et Saxothuringien (335 à 295 Ma). Ces successions d’évènements magmatiques résultent de deux processus majeurs. L’avancée des croûtes continentales subduites et sous-plaquées au niveau du Moho sous les blocs continentaux permet le passage du magmatisme calco-alcalin au magmatisme calco-alcalin riche en potassium. L’apport de chaleur par désintégration des éléments radiogéniques (K, U et Th) présents dans ces croûtes continentales subduites permet, dans un premier temps, la formation du magmatisme magnésio-potassique en profondeur. Dans un second temps, elle permet la formation du magmatisme d’origine crustale par l’intrusion du magmatisme magnésio-potassique, riche en K, U et Th, à la limite croûte moyenne - croûte supérieure. Ces successions d’évènements magmatiques et particulièrement, la présence des granites magnésio-potassiques, relient clairement les Vosges à la partie Est de l’orogène Varisque (Forêt Noire, Massif de Bohème, Alpes et Corse-Sardaigne). / The Vosges Mountains are characterized by the presence of numerous magmatic intrusions and extrusions of varied affinities. Accordingly, they constitute the best site to investigate, by dating and geochemistry, the evolution of the events affecting this segment of the Variscan orogeny. Two successions of identical magmatic events, shifted in the time, are identified, characterizing both Moldanubian (360 to 320 Ma) and the Saxothuringian (335 to 295 Ma) domains. These successions of magmatic events result of two major process. The progress of subducted and underplated continental crusts at Moho depth under continental blocks permits to shift from calc-alkaline to high potassic calc-alkaline magmatism. The radiogenic heat production from latter underplated continental crusts, in a first time, permits to generate magnesio-potassic magmas at depth. Then, this radiogenic heat permits to generate crustal magmas by intrusion of magnesio-potassic magmas rich in K, U and Th at mid-upper crust boundarie. These successions of magmatic events and particularly, the presence of the magnesio-potassic granites, imply a strong link between the Vosges Mts. and the eastern part of the Variscan orogeny (Black Forest, Bohemian Massif, the Alps and Corsica Batholith).