Structural map of Variscan north Sardinia

Leonardo Casini (a), Stefano Cuccuru (a), Giacomo Oggiano (a) & Antonio Puccini (a)
(a) DipNeT, Sassari University, Via Piandanna 4, 07100, Sassari, Italy E-mail: casini@uniss.it

The Variscan section exposed across north Sardinia consists of migmatitic complexes intruded by the huge Corsica-Sardinia Batholith (CSB). This latter represents one of the largest magmatic provinces assembled in Late Variscan times, between about 340 and 280 Ma. The composition of most plutons ranges from monzogranitic to granodioritic, with subordinate gabbro-dioritic terms and leucocratic, muscovite ± cordierite ± garnet-bearing, peraluminous granites. The compositional homogeneity of plutons often makes geological mapping a difficult task, unless large geochemical, geochronological and isotopic datasets are available. In this work we present a new structural map of northern Sardinia. The results are based on detailed field-structural survey, U-Pb zircon dating and extensive, in situ, geochemical characterization with a portable gamma ray spectrometer.

Corsica-Sardinia Batholith, portable gamma ray spectrometry, geochemical signature, Variscan