Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Palaeomagnetic dating of widespread remagnetization on the southeastern border of the French Massif Central and implications for fluid and Mississippi Valley-type mineralization

January 1, 2001

Palaeomagnetic dating techniques have been applied to determine the age of fluid migration that produced the Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) Pb-Zn-Ba-F deposits in the Ce??vennes region of southern France. 15 sampling sites in two gently deformed areas around the Largentie??re and Croix-de-Pallie??res mines on the Ce??vennes border were selected for palaeomagnetic study. They yielded a very well-defined direction of remagnetization corresponding to an Early-Middle Eocene age. This remagnetization cannot be related to the formation of magnetic as a result of the transformation of smectite to illite because the latter has been well dated as a Mesozoic event. The magnetic overprint in this area is related to a chemical phenomenon during fluid migration. The age of remagnetization corresponds to a major uplift in the Pyre??ne??es mountains, located to the south of the Ce??vennes. This implies that fluid migration occurred from the south to the north as a result of hydraulic head established in the Pyre??ne??es orogenic belt during orogenesis and suggests that the MVT deposits in the Ce??vennes region formed from a gravity-driven fluid system as described by Garven & Freeze (1984a,b).

Publication Year 2001
Title Palaeomagnetic dating of widespread remagnetization on the southeastern border of the French Massif Central and implications for fluid and Mississippi Valley-type mineralization
DOI 10.1046/j.0956-540X.2001.01382.x
Authors B. Henry, H. Rouvier, M.L. Goff, D. Leach, J.-C. Macquar, J. Thibieroz, Michael T. Lewchuk
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Geophysical Journal International
Index ID 70023369
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse