Polyphase ductile/brittle deformation along a major tectonic boundary in an ophiolitic nappe, Alpine Corsica: Insights on subduction zone intermediate-depth asperities

- A major fault separates gabbro from serpentinite/peridotite in Alpine ophiolite.
- Displacement along this fault combines seismic slip and aseismic ductile shear.
- High friction of gabbro-peridotite contact favors frictional melting.
- Low friction of gabbro-serpentinite contact prevents frictional melting.
- Gabbro-peridotite contact areas are interpreted as seismic asperities.

In an ophiolitic nappe of Alpine Corsica, a major fault zone superimposes metagabbro over serpentinite and peridotite. Ductile and brittle deformation structures are observed in the fault damage zones. In the metagabbro damage zone, early deformation culminates in blueschist or eclogite facies conditions and consists of west-verging mylonitization alternating with pseudotachylyte-forming faulting with undetermined vergence. This early deformation is likely coeval with west-verging seismic (pseudotachylyte-forming) reverse faulting in the footwall peridotite or with aseismic distributed cataclastic deformation of footwall serpentinite. These early events (aseismic mylonitization or distributed cataclasis and seismic faulting) are interpreted as reverse faulting/shear in an east-dipping subducting oceanic lithosphere in Cretaceous to Eocene times. Late deformation events consist of ductile shear and seismic faulting having occurred under retrograde greenschist conditions. Kinematics of the ductile shear is top-to-the-east. These events are interpreted as the result of syn-to post-collision extension of Alpine Corsica in Eocene to Miocene times. The heterogeneous distribution of pseudotachylyte veins along the fault zone (abundant at peridotite-metagabbro interfaces, rare or absent at serpentinite-metagabbro interfaces) is interpreted as the consequence of contrasted frictional properties of the rocks in contact. High-friction peridotite-metagabbro contacts could correspond to asperities whereas low-friction serpentinite-metagabbro contacts could correspond to creeping zones.