Estimating structural inheritance in orogens is critical to understand the manner in which plate convergence is accomodated. The Pyrenean belt, which developed in Late Cretaceous to Paleogene times, was affected by Cretaceous rifting and Variscan orogeny. Here we combine a structural and petrological study of the Axial Zone in the Central Pyrenees to discuss structural inheritance. Low-grade Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks were affected by a Variscan transpressional event that produced successively: (i) regional-scale folds; (ii) isoclinal folding, steep pervasive cleavage and vertical stretching, synchronous with peak metamorphism; (iii) and strain localization into ductile reverse shear zones. The persistence of a relative flat envelop for the Paleozoic sedimentary pile and Variscan isograds, and the absence of Alpine crustal-scale faults in the core of the Axial Zone, suggest that the Axial Zone constitutes a large Variscan structural unit preserved during Pyrenean orogeny. This configuration seems to be inherited from Cretaceous rifting, which led to the individualization of a large continental block (future Axial Zone) against a hyper-extended domain along the North Pyrenean Fault zone. This study places the currently prevailing model of Pyrenean belt deformation in a new perspective and bears important implications for crustal evolution and inheritance in mountain belts more generally.

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During the late stage of the Variscan orogeny, the pyrenean segment underwent intense magmatism and regional high temperature-low pressure metamorphism. In the Lesponne-Chiroulet-Neouvielle area, a granodioritic pluton was emplaced in the upper crust while dioritic to granitic magmas were emplaced in metamorphic domes. Magmatism was contemporaneous with the regional crustal partial melting recorded in the core of the domes. The area is therefore a key target in the Pyrenees to discuss potential magmatic sources as well as the age and duration of the late Variscan magmatism. Geochemical data on representative magmatic rocks highlight two distinct sources of magma: a mantle source and a metasedimentary crustal source that produced respectively metaluminous and peraluminous magmas. Geochronological results show that magmatism took place over a period of about 10 My from ca. 303 to ca. 290 Ma. During this period, the middle to lower crust was composed of partially molten metasediments intruded by mantle and crustal magmas that crystallized in a final pulse at ca. 290 Ma. Late Variscan metamorphism and magmatism recorded in the Pyrenees have to be related to a significant and rapid heating from the underlying mantle rather than to crustal processes such as the maturation of a thickened continental crust. We propose that the initiation of metamorphism and bimodal magmatism at ca. 305 Ma in the Pyrenees is the expression of the delamination of the Gondwanan lithospheric mantle at a global scale in the Variscan belt.

The Variscan crust of Pyrenees documents vertical strain partitioning: lateral flow vs uppercrust thickening in the core of Pangea -We document horizontal strain partitioning between extensional and compressional domains during plate-scale oroclinal bending Accepted ArticleThis article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as

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