The N-E Sardinia batholith is part of the European Variscan belt which is generally considered an example for hot collisional orogens. After a period of crustal thickening characterized by lower gradients, during Late Carboniferous and Early Permian times, higher geothermal gradients were diffusively established. The sources which contributed to the thermal budget of late Variscan high-temperature events are still debated. One of the hypothesis considers an extra contribution by radioactive heating of felsic crust tectonically emplaced at the bottom of a Palaeozoic orogenic root. It is apparent that a detailed characterization of heat-producing elements (K, U and Th) of Sardinian Variscan crust are needed by the Earth Science community. This study focus on this goal reporting the results of an extensive survey on the base of gamma-ray measurements performed in the laboratory and in situ. The K, U and Th abundances obtained for the main lithotypes of Sardinia batholiths will be used as input for modeling the geodynamic and thermal evolution of the South Variscan Belt.
A Detailed Gamma-ray Survey for Estimating the Radiogenic Power of Sardinian Variscan Crust.
BALDONCINI, Marica;FIORENTINI, Giovanni;MANTOVANI, Fabio;STRATI, Virginia;
2014
Abstract
The N-E Sardinia batholith is part of the European Variscan belt which is generally considered an example for hot collisional orogens. After a period of crustal thickening characterized by lower gradients, during Late Carboniferous and Early Permian times, higher geothermal gradients were diffusively established. The sources which contributed to the thermal budget of late Variscan high-temperature events are still debated. One of the hypothesis considers an extra contribution by radioactive heating of felsic crust tectonically emplaced at the bottom of a Palaeozoic orogenic root. It is apparent that a detailed characterization of heat-producing elements (K, U and Th) of Sardinian Variscan crust are needed by the Earth Science community. This study focus on this goal reporting the results of an extensive survey on the base of gamma-ray measurements performed in the laboratory and in situ. The K, U and Th abundances obtained for the main lithotypes of Sardinia batholiths will be used as input for modeling the geodynamic and thermal evolution of the South Variscan Belt.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
