U/Pb age of a large dacitic block locked in an Early Carboniferous synorogenic mélange in the Parautochthon of NW Iberia: New insights on the structure/sedimentation Variscan interplay

• A new Cambrian U/Pb age of a large body of dacitic volcanics is presented.
• This block is surrounded by Lower Carboniferous low grade synorogenic metasediments.
• Similarity of chemistry and age points to a provenance from volcanics events known in the tectonic unit thrusted on top.
• The thrusting progression is envisaged as the origin of the mélange unit deposited in the synorogenic trough.
• This sedimentary mélange has been preserved in an areas close to the internal Variscan zones of NW Iberia.

At the NW of the Iberian Variscan Massif the Parautochthon is envisaged as an intervening structural unit located between the far-traveled allochthonous stacked units and the autochthon. It has been recently divided in two structural slices; the Upper constitutes a repetition of the upper Cambrian to Silurian sequence of the Central Iberian Zone autochthon, while the Lower has been proposed as a thick Variscan synorogenic deposit. A large volcanic block embedded in the uppermost Devonian–lower Carboniferous Lower Parautochthon yields an U/Pb age of 497 ± 2 Ma (upper Cambrian). This age, joined to the petrographic features and the chemical composition, supports the provenance area for the large glided block in the Upper Parautochthon, where a magmatic event of similar age and characteristics has been identified. This source area for the slid block reinforces the idea of a mélange developed in the synorogenic trough at the front of a main thrust structure, which over thrusts the Upper Parautochthon on top of the Lower Parautochthon.