LiDAR offshore structural mapping and U/Pb zircon/monazite dating of Variscan strain in the Leon metamorphic domain, NW Brittany

- Interpretation of offshore LiDAR and echosounder records
- Structural map of Variscan ductile strain, off Leon domain, NW Brittany
- Elaboration of a foliation trajectory map
- Emphasis is put on regional dextral shearing.
- A new transpressional kinematic model is proposed.

An exceptional structural picture of the immerged Variscan basement, offshore the Leon metamorphic domain, is supplied by high-resolution LiDAR and echosounder data recorded in the Molène archipelago, western Brittany (France). Various types of fabrics are identified and, from in situ rock sample analyses further combined with field structural data, are interpreted on a lineament trajectory map as the trace of magmatic and tectonic structures. Our onshore/offshore study leads us to propose a two-phase kinematic model that emphasizes the role of a strike-slip duplex in an EW-trending relay zone linking the North Armorican and Pierres Noires ductile shear zones (NASZ, PNSZ). Dextral shearing occurred within a transtensional setting, synchronously with magmatic intrusions (St-Renan granite and an offshore gabbro-diorite complex) dated at 314-320 Ma by new U-Th/Pb ages. It post-dated an early regional foliation related to top-to-the-NE ductile transpressional shearing. Our study emphasizes the key role of strike-slip tectonics in the NW part of the Armorica Variscan belt.