Detailed geological field mapping, integrated with meso- and microstructural investigations, kinematic of the flow and finite strain analyses, combined with geochronology, are fundamental tools to obtain information on the temperature–deformation–timing path of crystalline rocks and shear zone. The Posada-Asinara shear zone (PASZ) in northern Sardinia (Italy) is a steeply dipping km-thick transpressive shear zone. In the study area, located in the Baronie region (NE Sardinia), the presence of mylonites within the PASZ, affecting high- and medium-grade metamorphic rocks, provides an opportunity to quantify finite strain and kinematic vorticity. The main structures of the study area are controlled by a D₂ deformation phase, linked to the PASZ activity, in which the strain is partitioned into folds and shear zone domains. Applying two independent vorticity methods, we detected an important variation in the percentage of pure shear and simple shear along the deformation gradient, that increases from south to north. We constrained, for the first time in this sector, the timing of the transpressive deformation by U–(Th)–Pb analysis on monazite. Results indicate that the shear zone has been active at ~325–300 Ma in a transpressive setting, in agreement with the ages of the other dextral transpressive shear zones in the southern Variscan belt.

In recent decades, constraining the timing of shear activity has been one of the main topics of research about the tectono-metamorphic evolution of orogenic belts. We present a review of a combined structural and geochronological approach to two major ductile regional shear zones, in two collisional orogens: the first one affecting the Variscan basement in northern Sardinia (Italy) and the External Crystalline Massifs of the Alps (East Variscan Shear Zone; EVSZ), and the second one deforming the medium- to high-grade rocks of the metamorphic core of the Himalaya (High Himalayan Discontinuity). High-resolution, texturally and chemically controlled monazite geochronology applied in separated shear zones of the Variscan belt allowed recognizing a similar timing of activity ranging between c. 340–330 and 300 Ma. This approach led to a better understanding of the evolution of the EVSZ, supporting a model where several branches were active according to a growth by linkage model. Following a similar approach, in situ U-Th-Pb analysis of monazite constrained the timing of top-to-the-S/SW shearing of a regional-scale High Himalayan Discontinuity in the Himalayan belt to between c. 28 Ma and 17 Ma. Earlier exhumation of the hanging wall was triggered by shear zone activity, whereas at the same time, the footwall was still experiencing burial with increasing P-T conditions. The timing of shearing of this shear zone fits with an in-sequence shearing tectonic model for the exhumation of the Himalayan mid-crust.

Phase equilibrium modelling is a powerful method for obtaining pressure–temperature (P–T) estimates in metapelites; however, the advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of applying this technique to greenschist‐facies pelites have received little attention. This study uses two greenschist‐facies metapelites from the Nappe Zone in Sardinia (Italy) to examine differences between currently available thermobarometric techniques. First, this work compares P–T estimates from chlorite–K‐white mica–quartz–water and K‐white mica–quartz–water multiequilibrium approaches, the latter integrated with previously published T_max results from Raman spectroscopy on carbonaceous material. Consistent P–T conditions are retrieved from these methods for both samples, with P–T estimates suggesting a difference in peak metamorphic conditions between the Internal and External Nappe Zones of Sardinia (peak P–T conditions of 0.6–0.8 GPa, 420°C–450°C and 0.4–0.5 GPa, 370°C–400°C for the Internal and External Nappes, respectively). Second, phase equilibrium modelling was used to assess the ability of six different sets of solution models, alongside their associated thermodynamic datasets, to constrain P–T conditions in the same samples, which are characterized by high‐variance mineral assemblages. Significant differences were found between the six thermodynamic databases, and important discrepancies were recognized between the observed and predicted mineral assemblages and compositions (e.g., Si in K‐white mica). In only one sample, three databases were able to predict the observed natural assemblage. The compositional isopleths for K‐white mica, from the same databases, do not intersect, offering no assistance in constraining P–T conditions. However, one database predicted chlorite's natural composition, yielding a P–T estimate consistent with multiequilibrium methods: ~0.9 GPa, ~350°C–400°C for the Internal Nappe Zone and ~0.5 GPa, ~300°C–350°C for the External Nappe Zone. Although P–T conditions constrained using calculated isopleths from greenschist‐facies metapelites and databases optimized for modelling low‐grade to medium‐grade pelitic systems may be reliable, they should be applied cautiously and compared with estimates from inverse and independent approaches.

Metamorphic reactions are commonly driven to completion within shear zones thanks to fluid circulation, making the re‐equilibration of the mineral assemblage one of the dominant processes. Despite the important role of H₂O in such processes, forward thermodynamic modelling calculations commonly assume either H₂O‐saturated conditions or only fluid loss during prograde evolution to peak conditions. These assumptions influence the understanding of shear zones during the retrograde evolution. Here, we investigate the P–T–MH₂O retrograde evolution of the Mt. Bracco Shear Zone (MBSZ), an Alpine ductile tectonic contact which marks the boundary between two HP units in the Dora‐Maira Massif (Western Alps, Italy). After the eclogite‐facies peak (at 500–520°C and 1.8–2.2 GPa), the subsequent mylonitic event is constrained at amphibolite‐facies conditions, continuing its evolution at decreasing pressure and temperature during rock exhumation, from ~590°C, 1.0 GPa down to ~520°C, 0.7 GPa. The P/T–MH₂O forward modelling highlights different behaviour for the two analysed samples. After reaching a minimum H₂O content at the transition from eclogite‐ to amphibolite‐facies conditions, a significant fluid gain is modelled for only one of the two analysed samples just before the mylonitic event. The MBSZ then evolves towards H₂O‐undersaturated conditions. This work thus underlines the necessity of investigating the H₂O evolution within shear zones, as the H₂O content is susceptible to change through the P–T path, due to dehydration reactions or fluid infiltration events. Furthermore, lithological heterogeneities influence possible different fluid circulation regimes in shear zones, resulting in externally or internally derived fluid gain.