Résumé
U-Pb geochronology and whole-rock geochemistry (major, trace and rare earth elements) were applied to various ortho- and paragneiss formations of the southeastern part of the French Massif Central. The Mendic granite and the Les Palanges granite were dated at 603 ± 9 Ma and 540 ± 18 Ma, respectively. Their micaschist host-rocks show a multi-episodic evolution that matches the U-Pb data obtained on metasediments and leucogranites of the Variscan Orogen. An old zircon source was detected at 1.87 Ga in the Les Palanges micaschist, while, seemingly, this heritage was wiped out of the Mendic micaschsit during the Cadomian events. In the Decazeville gneiss, where a crustal component of unknown age has been detected, the major event is the Variscan migmatization. At Bertholène, the geochronology of uranium ores associated to the Les Palanges orthogneiss evidenced two periods of emplacement :-the relicts of the first phase, of Liassic age at 173 ± 9 Ma, are restricted to an uranium oxide ; -the second phase, related to coffinites, represents the economical ore emplaced from Oligocene until Recent times, generated through remobilization of the Liassic stock.A comparison between the geochronological data from the ore, and of those from its granite host, suggests a genetic relationship between the Cadomian magmatism and the U-concentrations, spatially linked to the unconformity between the Les Palanges basement and its Permo-Carboniferous cover series. Metamictization of the source minerals combined with tectonic processes would be responsible for the release of uranium. Uranium-rich minerals from Bertholène, from Lodève and from Les Pierres-Plantées have been subjected to trial dating by the isotopic Xe-Xe method, which confirms the evolution admitted for those occurrences. This technique is demonstrably expeditious and faithful. Various phenomena were investigated, at the scale of the crystalline structure, related to the xenon energy states and to the problem of rare gas diffusion.