Structural and metamorphic evidence of local extension along the Vivero fault coeval with bulk crustal shortening in the Variscan chain (NW Spain)

The Vivero fault is a W-dipping, N-S-striking ductile shear zone separating the Ollo de Sapo antiform in its western hangingwall and the Lugo dome in its eastern footwall. Two stages of deformation (F1 and F2) produced nearly coaxial folds with sub-horizontal axes. A crenulation cleavage S2 transposes an older S1. Three sets of shear bands in the hangingwall define a pervasive fabric consistent with an E-W bulk shortening perpendicular to a composite S1–2 foliation and NNE-stretching parallel to L2. The Vivero fault zone is marked by a mylonitic foliation with a steeply NW-plunging stretching lineation and extensional crenulation cleavage (ECC) indicating normal slip. In the vicinity of the fault, sub-horizontal NNE-trending F3 folds, with a crenulation cleavage S3, deform earlier-formed fabrics, including a mylonitic foliation. re-temperature conditions obtained from mineral assemblages on both sides of the Vivero fault yield a minimum throw of 5.5 km. Andalusite-bearing pelite in the hangingwall was infolded by an F2 synform into the kyanite field at 450–500°C. The eastern edge of these rocks was later accreted to the footwall and heated to andalusite-staurolite conditions at ∼600°C. n the Vivero and Valdoviño faults is kinematically related. East-west shortening during F2 involved folding and sinistral strike-slip on the Valdoviño fault which induced local extension along the newly generated Vivero fault. Synkinematic emplacement of granitoids along the Vivero fault is favoured by extension. Coeval slip on both faults took place during the later stages of F2 folding. Geometrical constraints caused northwards escape of the crustal block bounded by the Valdoviño and Vivero faults, recorded by NNE-stretching defined by L2.