Magma transfer in the upper crust including emplacement at the surface of the Earth, have been regarded as largely controlled by the regional tectonic activity. While this relationship is well highlighted for systems like monogenetic, mostly basaltic, volcanic fields, the tectonic control on the transfer and emplacement of magmas in complex, polygenetic, volcanic systems, remains poorly documented in evolving tectonic settings. The Mont-Dore Plio-Quaternary volcanic complex (4.7 to 0.3 Ma) is one of such polygenetic volcanic fields as it is formed of three successive eruptive cycles: The caldera unit (3.3 to 2.2 Ma); The Aiguiller complex (2.5 to 1.5 Ma) and the Sancy stratovolcano unit (1.5 to 0.3 Ma).

Analyzing fractures, fault kinematics and regional lineaments in the Variscan basement, together with attitude of dikes and volcanic centers alignments of the three volcanic units, we document the influence of the brittle structuration of the underlying basement on the volcanism distribution over time while regional stress changed. The late-Variscan N02E0, and secondary N160, striking crustal faults were reactivated since the Oligocene and channeled at depth the magma, while similarly oriented faults and fractures triggered the final storage in the shallow crust and spatial distribution of the volcanic vents. This fault system continued to act from the Miocene to the present-day uplift, associated with new N020E striking, flat-lying, fractures. An exception arises during the upper Miocene while N060E and N135E striking faults enabled the development of the caldera unit in a NW-SE extensional context.

The emplacement of the three units from the mid-Pliocene to the end of the Pleistocene while a change in regional stress field conditions emerged at about 2.5 Ma exemplify the control of the brittle Variscan basement on the magmatic activity of the Mont-Dore Plio-Quaternary volcanic complex.