Geochronological constraints on post-collisional shear zones in the Variscides of Sardinia (Italy)

The post-collisional tectonics in the inner zone of the Variscan belt of Corsica-Sardinia recorded a dextral transpression developed with an orogen-parallel tectonic transport. Recent works documented the presence of nearly parallel dextral and sinistral crustal-scale shear zones responsible for the exhumation of the metamorphic complexes. To constrain, for the first time, the timing of both shear zones and the timing of the transpressional shearing, zircons and monazites were collected for U-Th-Pb ages. Results indicate that the shear zones have been active at c. 320Ma in a transpressional setting, widespread in the Southern European Variscan belt.