Abstract This paper reports field, petrological and structural data of the peraluminous cordierite-andalusite-bearing Campanario-La Haba granite. Crystallization age is constrained by Rb-Sr whole-rock dating at 309 ± 6 Ma (with ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) i = 0.70739 ± 0.00038) and took place during late Hercynian tectonic events. The pluton shows a petrographic zonation, although there are no marked differences in chemical compositions between the margin and the centre of the intrusion. Petrography, mineralogical data and geochemical modelling indicate melt generation by partial melting of a metasedimentary protolith, probably with some mantelic contribution as shown by its low Sr i value, followed by emplacement at P < 3 kbar. The internal structure of the pluton resulted from the lateral spreading in the stretching direction given by an N120–130E dextral strike-slip zone and the external geometry seems to be strongly conditioned by faults (Riedel R type fractures) formed in the host rocks. This emplacement model agrees with that defined for the adjacent Extremadura granitic plutons and for the Los Pedroches batholith suggesting the existence of a dextral regional shear-zone in the South branch of the Central Iberian Zone.

Abstract Granite intrusion in transtensional regime is modelled by injecting a Newtonian fluid into a sand pack containing a ductile layer. The transtensional regime is obtained using two plastic sheets sliding along two rigid horizontal plates, and diverging from two narrow spaces (two fixed velocity discontinuities). The injection tube is located in a central space between these plates. Both symmetric experiments (when the two sheets were displaced with equal and opposite velocity vectors) and asymmetric experiments (in which only one sheet was displaced) were performed. Transtension was applied with a systematic variation (every 15°) of the divergence angle (α), between 15° and 90°. Experiments showed that: intrusions localize strain from the first stages of deformation; intrusions result in partially conformable laccoliths with bowler-hat geometry in cross-section; intrusions show an important offset towards the mobile basal plate for asymmetric transtensional regime, and are more symmetric and centred on the injection point for symmetric transtensional regime; the geometry of intrusions is controlled by the faults developed in the overburden. The significance of this control depends upon the angle of divergence α. Examples of the Hombreiro and Los Pedroches granites of the Variscan belt of Spain have been addressed to test the applicability of these experimental results.