Granite emplacement during contemporary shortening and normal faulting: structural and magnetic study of the Veiga Massif (NW Spain)

The Veiga Massif belongs to the calc-alkaline series of Hercynian granitic rocks of the Ibero-Armorican arc The Veiga granodiorite intruded during the Upper Carboniferous into the core of the WNW-ESE N-verging ‘Ollo de Sapo’ antiform, formed by Precambrian and Palaeozoic metasediments. Internal fabrics show that magma intrusion was contemporary with shortening. Measurements of feldspars orientations and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) throughout the granite are consistent and indicate a foliation striking WNW-ESE (parallel-to-folding), with a constant dip of 75–85 °N. The zonation of bulk low-field susceptibility is related to mineral content and indicates a more basic composition at the southern and western borders. The difference in elevation between outcrops (more than 600 m) allows us to infer the three-dimensional attitude of granite fabrics throughout the Massif. Syn-magmatic fabric folds are preserved in the inner part of the igneous body. The highest degree of magnetic anisotropy is observed in areas located near the bottom and top of the intrusion. At the scale of the Massif, foliation is convergent toward the bottom of the intrusion, along a line located at its northern border, where the magma source is interpreted to be located. In the western border of the Massif, the presence of C and S structures indicates that magma cooling was coeval with movement of the Chandoiro fault, a N-S striking normal fault with a N290E hanging wall displacement direction. These results indicate that emplacement of the Veiga granite is coeval with NNE-SSW shortening and with an WNW-ESE extension direction, parallel to the trend of the late folds.