A restored section of the southern Variscan realm across the Corsica-Sardinia microcontinent

A complete section of the southern realm of the Variscan orogenic belt can be restored in the Corsica-Sardinia segment. Northern Corsica exposes a nonmetamorphosed Palaeozoic succession lying on Panafrican mica schist related to a microcontinent (most likely Armorica or from a microcontinent from the Hun superterrane) that had drifted away directly from Gondwana. These formations are thrust over the Variscan Internal Zone composed mainly of anatectic high-grade Palaeozoic formations that crop out from central Corsica to northern Sardinia; the metamorphic peak of the eclogite remnants has been dated at c. 420 Ma. The Variscan Internal Zone interpreted here as a collision zone, and also the Eovariscan suture, was intruded in Corsica by Mg-K granite from 345 to 335 Ma. The thrust of this Internal Zone onto the stack of parautochthonous nappes in central Sardinia is cross-cut by the Posada Asinara dextral shear zone. To the south, parautochthonous nappes overthrust the North-Gondwana margin which displays a possible Panafrican basement topped by an Iglesiente-Sulcis nonmetamorphic/anchimetamorphic Palaeozoic succession. To cite this article: P. Rossi et al., C. R. Geoscience 341 (2009). (C) 2008 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.