Solid Earth, 6, 643–668, 2015 www.solid-earth.net/6/643/2015/ doi:10.5194/se-6-643-2015 © Author(s) 2015. CC Attribution 3.0 License. High-temperature metamorphism during extreme thinning of the continental crust: a reappraisal of the North Pyrenean passive paleomargin C. Clerc1,2,*,**, A. Lahfid3, P. Monié2, Y. Lagabrielle4, C. Chopin1, M. Poujol4, P. Boulvais4, J.-C. Ringenbach5, E. Masini5, and M. de St Blanquat6 1Laboratoire de Géologie, CNRS-UMR8538, Ecole normale supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris, France 2Géosciences Montpellier, CNRS-UMR 5243, Université de Montpellier 2, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France 3BRGM/ISTO, 3 avenue Claude Guillemin, 45000 Orléans, France 4Géosciences Rennes, UMR 6118, Université Rennes 1, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes, France 5TOTAL, CSTJF, avenue Larribau, 64000 Pau, France 6GET, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France *now at: ISTO, 1A rue de la Férollerie, 45100 Orléans, France ** Invited contribution by C. Clerc, recipient of the EGU Outstanding Student Poster (OSP) Award 2012. Correspondence to: C. Clerc (
[email protected]) Received: 12 January 2015 – Published in Solid Earth Discuss.: 20 February 2015 Revised: 13 April 2015 – Accepted: 16 May 2015 – Published: 8 June 2015 Abstract. An increasing number of field examples in moun- and no westward or eastward propagation of the metamor- tain belts show that the formation of passive margins during phism and magmatism can be clearly identified. In contrast, extreme continent thinning may occur under conditions of the new data reveal a progressive propagation of the ther- high to very high thermal gradient beneath a thin cover of mal anomaly from the base to the surface of the continental syn-rift sediments.