Cuartel Ophiolite: Structure, timing and exhumation mechanisms for a Cadomian suture zone in the peri-Gondwanan Realm (SW Iberia)

• We describe tectonic processes linked to the opening and closure of an arc basin. • Ductile extensional shear zones exhumed Cadomian ophiolites. • Cadomian ophiolites exhumation culminated during the Variscan Orogeny. The Cadomian Orogeny formed as an accretionary orogen surrounding Gondwana. The structure resulting from the Cadomian Orogeny is pervasively reworked during the Paleozoic, within the frame of the Variscan Cycle. In SW Iberia (Mina Afortunada Massif), a tectonometamorphic and geochronological analysis revealed two Cadomian deformation phases. The first phase (D C1 ; 586 Ma, U-Pb dating in inherited metamorphic garnet from Mina Afortunada Gneiss) is associated with ophiolite accretion during the closure of a back-arc or intra-arc basin (Cuartel Ophiolite). A metamorphic fabric related to this phase is preserved as an internal foliation in Ediacaran (meta)sedimentary rocks. The second phase (D C2 ; 515–485 Ma) is constrained by the age of the igneous protolith of Mina Afortunada Gneiss (∼515 Ma), which is affected by a penetrative foliation formed during D C2 , and by the unconformable deposit of Ordovician sediments, which are not affected. The telescoping of metamorphic isograds during D C2 and the geometry of detachment faults associated with this phase suggest extensional tectonics as the driving mechanism for the early exhumation of the Cadomian suture zone in Mina Afortunada Massif. The superimposition of Variscan folds and shear zones onto the Cadomian structures contributed to the subsequent exhumation of the Cadomian suture zone. The analysis and reconstruction of Cadomian and Variscan structures, plus the geochronological data, allow us to correlate the Cuartel Ophiolite with the Mérida Ophiolite, being two pieces of the same, yet dismembered, Cadomian suture zone. The number of Cadomian suture zones in Gondwana does not coincide with that of Cadomian suture zone exposures. Reworked orogens such as the Cadomian could be subjected to duplication of their suture zones. Assessments regarding the Cadomian paleogeography should consider the multiplier effect of the structural overprints after ophiolite accretion.