Reply to comment by P. Olivier on 'Preorogenic exhumation of the North Pyrenean Agly Massif (Eastern Pyrenees, France)'

摘要

[1] We make this reply to Philippe Olivier's comments on the "conceptual model" proposed in our paper on the deformation of the Mesozoic cover of the northern Agly massif. He acknowledges that the observations, measurements, and interpretations of the macrostructures, microstructures, and the crystallographic preferred orientation of calcite are convincing. This was the core of our contribution; we therefore appreciate that our results are considered significant! As Olivier stressed, the model presented in the Discussion section is "conceptual"; this implies that we did not aim at representing the complete evolution, but merely a new tectonic framework in which the North Pyrenean massifs have evolved before the Pyrenean orogeny. Nobody is currently able to reliably reconstitute the preorogenic evolution of the Pyrenees. We therefore limited the graphic presentation of our model to a snapshot emphasizing tectonic features that, because they were grossly coeval (preorogenic), have almost certainly interacted during the rotation of Iberia relative to Eurasia. Our contribution highlights a widespread preorogenic deformation of the margin of Eurasia in the Eastern Pyrenees. This deformation was associated to a strong modification of the geotherm, responsible for the preorogenic "Pyrenean" metamorphism that reached peak temperature as high as 600°C in some Cretaceous basins [Goldberg and Leyreloup, 1990]. Simultaneous extensional tectonics at the southern and northern boundaries of the Agly Massif has certainly contributed to its exhumation.