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International audienceThe late stages of the Variscan orogeny are characterized by middle to lower crustal melting and intrusion of voluminous granitoids throughout the belt, which makes it akin to “hot” orogens. These processes resulted in the development of large granite–migmatite complexes, the largest of which being the 305–300-Ma-old Velay dome in the eastern French Massif Central (FMC). This area also hosts a wide range of late-Variscan plutonic rocks that can be subdivided into four groups: (i) cordierite-bearing peraluminous granites (CPG); (ii) muscovite-bearing peraluminous granites (MPG); (iii) K-feldspar porphyritic, calc-alkaline granitoids (KCG) and (iv) Mg–K-rich (monzo)diorites and lamprophyres (“vaugnerites”). New results of LA-SF-ICP-MS U–Pb zircon and monazite dating on 33 samples from all groups indicate that both granites and mafic rocks emplaced together over a long period of ~40 million years throughout the Carboniferous, as shown by intrusion ages between 337.4 ± 1.0 and 298.9 ± 1.8 Ma for the granitoids, and between 335.7 ± 2.1 and 299.1 ± 1.3 Ma for the vaugnerites. Low zircon saturation temperatures and abundant inherited zircons with predominant late Ediacaran to early Cambrian ages indicate that the CPG and MPG formed through muscovite or biotite dehydration melting of ortho- and paragneisses from the Lower Gneiss Unit. The KCG and vaugnerites contain very few inherited zircons, if any, suggesting higher magma temperatures and consistent with a metasomatized lithospheric mantle source for the vaugnerites. The KCG can be explained by interactions between the CPG/MPG and the vaugnerites, or extensive differentiation of the latter. The new dataset provides clear evidence that the eastern FMC was affected by a long-lived magmatic episode characterized by coeval melting of both crustal and mantle sources. This feature is suggested here to result from a lithospheric-scale thermal anomaly, triggered by the removal of the lithospheric mantle root. The spatial distribution of the dated samples points to a progressive southward delamination of the lithospheric mantle, perhaps in response to rollback following continental subduction, or to “retro-delamination” owing to the retreat of a south-verging subduction zone

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International audienceThe combination of U–Pb, Lu–Hf and O isotopic analyses in global zircon databases has recently been used to constrain continental crustal growth and evolution. To identify crust-forming events, these studies rely on the assumption that new crust is formed from depleted mantle sources. In contrast, this work suggests that post-collisional mafic magmas and their derivatives represent a non-negligible contribution to crustal growth, despite having zircons with “crust-like” Hf–O isotopic characteristics. We address this paradox and its implications for crustal evolution on the basis of a case study from the Variscan French Massif Central (FMC). The late stages of continental collisions are systematically marked by the emplacement of peculiar mafic magmas, rich in both compatible (Fe, Mg, Ni, Cr) and incompatible elements (K2O, HFSE, LREE) and displaying crust-like trace element patterns. This dual signature is best explained by melting of phlogopite- (and/or amphibole-) bearing peridotite, formed by contamination of the mantle by limited amounts (10–20%) of crustal material during continental subduction shortly preceding collision. Mass balance constraints show that in melts derived from such a hybrid source, 62–85% of the bulk mass is provided by the mantle component, whereas incompatible trace elements are dominantly crustal in origin. Thereby, post-collisional mafic magmas represent significant additions to the crust, whilst their zircons have “crustal” isotope signatures (e.g. −2<εHft<−9−2<εHft<−9 and View the MathML source+6.4<δO18<+10‰ in the FMC). Because post-collisional mafic magmas are (i) ubiquitous since the late Archean; (ii) the parental magmas of voluminous granitoid suites; and (iii) selectively preserved in the geological record, zircons crystallized from such magmas (and any material derived from their differentiation or reworking) bias the crustal growth record of global zircon Hf–O isotopic datasets towards ancient crust formation and, specifically, may lead to an under-estimation of crustal growth rates since the late Archean

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