pre alpine variscan inheritance a key for the location of the future valaisan basin western alps the boundary between the helvetic and the penninic brianconnais zones has long been recognized as a major fault penninic front in the western alps a narrow oceanic domain has been postulated at least along part of this boundary the valaisan ocean however the information provided by the pre triassic basement has not been fully exploited and will be discussed here in detail the igneous and metamorphic history of the pre triassic basement shows significant differences between the external massifs from the helvetic zone with abundant late carboniferous granites and the basement of the brianconnais zone including the internal massifs dora maira gran paradiso monte rosa devoid of carboniferous granites a major coal bearing basin the zone houillere opened along this boundary this limnic intramontane basin has never been properly investigated the zone houillere is not comparable with the external paralic flexural basins on both sides of the variscan belt but shows similarities with the saar saale basin like the latter we interpret the zone houillere as a transtensional basin opened along a major crustal scale fault zone namely the east variscan shear zone the permian magmatism and sedimentation displays contrasting distributions being absent or very localized in the helvetic zone and widespread in the penninic zone the above data indicate that the structural inheritance from the variscan belt plays a major role in defining the future location of the valaisan basin i e the boundary between the european palaeomargin and the brianconnais microcontinent

geophysical geological transect and tectonic evolution of the swiss italian alps a complete alpine cross section integrates numerous seismic reflection and refraction profiles across and along strike with published and new field data the deepest parts of the profile are constrained by geophysical data only while structural features at intermediate levels are largely depicted according to the results of three dimensional models making use of seismic and field geological data the geometry of the highest structural levels is constrained by classical along strike projections of field data parallel to the pronounced easterly axial dip of all tectonic units because the transect is placed close to the western erosional margin of the austroalpine nappes of the eastern alps it contains all the major tectonic units of the alps a model for the tectonic evolution along the transect is proposed in the form of scaled and area balanced profile sketches shortening within the austroalpine nappes is testimony of a separate cretaceous age orogenic event west directed thrusting in these units is related to westward propagation of a thrust wedge resulting from continental collision along the meliata hallstatt ocean further to the east considerable amounts of oceanic and continental crustal material were subducted during tertiary orogeny which involved some 500 km of n s convergence between europe and apulia consequently only a very small percentage of this crustal material is preserved within the nappes depicted in the transect postcollisional shortening is characterized by the simultaneous activity of gently dipping north directed detachments and steeply inclined south directed detachments both detachments nucleating at the interface between lower and upper crust large scale wedging of the adriatic or apulian lower crust into a gap opening between the subduced european lower crust and the pile of thin upper crustal flakes alpine nappes indicates a relatively strong lower crust and detachment between upper and lower crust

the pyrope coesite rocks and their country rocks at parigi dora maira massif western alps detailed petrography mineral chemistry and pt path both the coarse and fine grained varieties of the partly coesite bearing pyrope quartzites their interlayered jadeite kyanite rocks and the biotite phengite gneiss country rock common to all of them were subjected to detailed petrographic and textural studies in order to determine the sequence of crystallisation of their mineral constituents which were also studied analytically by microprobe prior to pyrope and coesite growth the mg rich metapelites were talc kyanite chlorite rutile ellenbergerite schists which upon continued prograde metamorphism developed first pyrope megacrysts in silica deficient local environments at the expense of chlorite talc kyanite and subsequently the smaller pyrope crystals with coesite inclusions from reacting talc kyanite based on geobarometrically useful mineral inclusions as well as on experimentally determined phase relations a prograde pt path simplified for water activity 1 is constructed which passes through the approximate pt conditions 16 kbar and 560 c 29 kbar and 720 c and finally up to 37 kbar at about 800 c where the mg rich metapelite was a pyrope coesite rock with phengite kyanite and talc still present during the retrograde path pyrope was altered metasomatically either into phlogopite kyanite quartz or at a later stage to chlorite muscovite quartz both assemblages yield pt constraints the latter about 7 9 kbar 500 600 c the country rock gneisses have also endured high pressures of at least 15 kbar but they provide mostly constraints on the lowest portion of the uplift conditions within the greenschist facies about 5 kbar 450 c microprobe data are presented for the following minerals pyrope ellenbergerite dumortierite unusually mgti rich jadeite vermiculite formed after na phlogopite paragonite and for several generations of phengite chlorite talc phlogopite dravite and glaucophane in the high pressure rocks as well as for biotite chlorite phengites epidote garnet albite and k feldspar in the country rock gneisses an outstanding open problem identified in this study is the preservation of minerals as inclusions within kyanite and pyrope beyond their pt stability limits

rbsr and 40ar39ar laser probe dating of high pressure phengites from the sesia zone western alps underscoring of excess argon and new age constraints on the high pressure metamorphism abstract the combined use of the rb sr and 40ar 39ar laser probe methods allows confirmation of the existence of excess argon in phengites from eclogites from the sesia zone western alps despite systematic 40ar 39ar plateau ages 40ar 39ar phengite ages from two different areas show integrated age spreads between 65 4 0 3 ma and 109 5 0 4 ma the youngest 40ar 39ar plateau age 65 9 0 4 ma is concordant with two rb sr phengite whole rock isochron ages from the same outcrop which display a mean age at 64 2 2 5 ma and older than a rb sr biotite whole rock isochron age at 53 0 1 0 ma this age concordance being incompatible with the concept of isotopic closure temperature is probably fortuitous and probably results from an excess argon contamination however the concordance of the rb sr phengite isotopic closure temperature with the temperature reached during the eclogite facies event suggests that the age at 64 2 2 5 ma could be a crystallization age probably contemporaneous with the eclogite facies event in the sesia zone when compared to recent age data from the piemont zone and the dora maira massif the entire data set which needs to be confirmed by extra measurements support diachronous high pressure hp events in the western alps

preboreal climatic oscillations recorded by pollen and foraminifera in the southern adriatic sea abstract core sa03 1 from the southern adriatic sea ec eurostrataform project provides new information about climate changes and palaeocirculation in the adriatic region during the last deglaciation the results of an integrated study based on pollen and foraminifera records of the part of the core spanning the late pleistocene early holocene transition including the late younger dryas the preboreal and the beginning of the boreal are presented the major vegetation changes and the short term oscillations occurred during the early holocene warming in the southern adriatic basin on the basis of a high resolution pollen record are documented vegetation changes are correlated to short term oscillations detected in the foraminifera record during the same interval the two independent terrestrial and marine proxies indicate at least three short term cold and dry oscillations occurring at 11 2 11 10 8 10 4 and 10 cal ka bp according to the age depth model adopted in this study finally adopting an event stratigraphy approach the comparison of these results with two western mediterranean records of preboreal short term oscillations suggest the occurrence of synchronous bio events in the mediterranean basin

nappe geometry in the western swiss alps abstract detailed geological mapping during the last 20 years in the western swiss alps has shown clearly that most of the lower basement nappes are fold nappes possessing normal and inverted limbs moreover their cores are made of strongly deformed gneisses indicating that important ductile strain took place during the formation of the fold nappes it is therefore probably wrong to imagine deep basement nappes as rigid slices as often actually claimed especially when interpreting seismic profiles true brittle type thrust nappes involving basement rocks only occur in the internal and upper parts of the belt cover nappes on the contrary are in most parts of the alpine belt thrust sheets following more or less the rules of thin skinned tectonics many basement fold nappes lost part of their sedimentary cover during or just before their formation by decollement along ductile horizons the result is that many cover thrust nappes in the external part of the alps are directly related to their original basement fold nappes

the 3d quantitative lattice and shape preferred orientation of a mylonitised metagranite from monte rosa western alps combining neutron diffraction texture analysis and synchrotron x ray microtomography abstract two complementary 3d techniques neutron diffraction and synchrotron x ray microtomography sxr ct were used to compare the shape and lattice preferred orientations of a mylonitised metagranite from the monte rosa unit western alps italy the goal of using these techniques was to obtain two different orientation distribution functions although the two functions describe relatively independent characteristics of the rock fabric nonetheless they also exhibit close relationships to macroscopic fabrics and may be complementarily used to quantify rock fabrics and microstructures thereby highlighting 3d features that cannot be obtained with either technique if used independently we describe an approach that can be potentially useful in various disciplines e g structural geology rock mechanics tectonics and geophysics when a complete data set of preferred orientations and size distribution is needed micas display a strong orthorhombic symmetry between mesoscopic lineation and microscopic spo and lpo whereas quartz and feldspars are characterised by a monoclinic symmetry between mesoscopic lineation and lpo these observations suggest a rheological decoupling between the weak phase mica layers and the stronger quartz feldspar layers this mechanical decoupling occurred during the alpine subduction collision when the monte rosa unit was part of the insubric line system and accommodated large vertical strain

origin of the monte rosa nappe in the pennine alps a new working hypothesis on the basis of lithological and structural evidence a new solution is proposed for the classical problem of the restoration of folded continental and oceanic nappes in the pennine alps of switzerland and italy according to this working hypothesis the monte rosa nappe a high pressure metamorphic gneiss unit represents basement of the northern european margin of alpine tethys its paleogeographic origin was formerly sought either in the brianconnais microcontinent or in the southern adriatic continental margin the monte rosa nappe is enveloped by the lithologically heterogeneous and extremely deformed furgg zone interpreted here as a melange zone formed during subduction and collisional closure of the valais ocean basin the northern subbasin of alpine tethys in a late stage of the alpine orogeny late eocene postdating closure of the valais ocean basin the european continental margin including the monte rosa basement was subducted southward under the pennine nappe stack and reached eclogite facies depth from there the monte rosa nappe quickly ascended back toward the surface in an internal southeastern position separated from the other europe derived units located farther northwest by the rootless brianconnais derived bernhard nappe system

the western alps from the jurassic to oligocene spatio temporal constraints and evolutionary reconstructions abstract despite extensive research in the last 150 years the regional tectonic reconstruction of the western alps has remained controversial the curved orogenic belt consists of several ribbon like continental terranes sesia austroalpine internal crystalline massifs brianconnais which are separated by two or more ophiolitic sutures piemonte valais antrona lanzo canavese high pressure hp metamorphism of each terrane occurred during distinct orogenic episodes at 65 ma in the sesia austroalpine at 45 ma in the piemonte zone and at 35 ma in the internal crystalline massifs it is suggested that these events reflect individual accretionary episodes which together with kinematic indicators and the speed and direction of plate motions provide constraints for the discussed reconstruction model the model involves a prolonged orogenic history that took place during relative convergence of europe and adria here considered as a promontory of the african plate the first accretionary event involved the sesia austroalpine terrane final closure of the piemonte ocean occurred during the eocene 45 ma and involved ultra high pressure uhp metamorphism of the piemonte oceanic crust incorporation of the brianconnais terrane in the accretionary wedge occurred thereafter possibly during or after subduction of the valais ocean in the late eocene 45 35 ma this subduction was terminated at ca 35 ma when the internal crystalline massifs i e the assumed internal parts of the brianconnais terrane were buried into great depths and underwent hp and uhp metamorphism

present day heat flow thermal history and tectonic subsidence of the east china sea basin the east china sea basin is located in the convergence area between the eurasian plate the pacific plate and the philippine sea plate and consists of two depressions the taibei depression in the west and the xihu depression in the east heat flow measurements show that the east china sea basin is characterized by present day heat flow around 70 6 mw m 2 varying between 55 and 88 mw m 2 no significant difference in heat flow is observed between the xihu and the taibei depressions thermal history reconstruction using vitrinite reflectance suggests that the thermal history was however different in the taibei and the xihu depressions paleo heat flow values when the pretertiary formations experienced their maximum temperature at the end of the paleocene reached a mean of 82 mw m 2 in the taibei depression much higher than the present day value the lower tertiary sediments in the xihu depression experienced maximum temperatures at the end of oligocene 35 4 23 3 ma and reached a mean paleo heat flow value of 83 mw m 2 tectonic subsidence analysis shows that the timing of the major rifting episode was different across the east china sea basin the rifting occurred from the late cretaceous w65 ma to the early eocene w55 ma in the taibei depression followed by thermal subsidence from the late eocene to the end of miocene 23 3 5 2 ma in contrast in the xihu depression the initial subsidence lasted until the early miocene and thermal subsidence to the end of miocene from pliocene to the present an accelerated subsidence took place all along the west pacific margin of asia significant thicknesses of strata were removed from the unconformities in the basin the mean amount of erosion was 1147 m from the paleocene and 1208 m above the oligocene in the taibei depression and 1409 m from the oligocene in the xihu depression q 2004 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

kinematic and temporal relationships between parallel fold hinge lines and stretching lineations a microstructural and crystallographic preferred orientation approach folds with hinge lines subparallel to stretching lineation are common features in shear zones and represent extreme cases of fold modification however their microstructures and in particular their kinematic significance remain poorly understood here we describe the meso and micro scale structures and crystallographic preferred orientation cpo of quartz and muscovite from a metric scale shear modified fold from plattjen saas fee western internal alps the studied fold is of class 2 and the samples collected around the fold have essentially the same microstructures quartz c axes plotted in the tectonic coordinate system exhibit an apparent reverse obliquity on opposing limbs muscovite fabrics are controlled essentially by the orientation of 001 planes if the cpo data are plotted in a common reference frame e g either fold or geographical all samples exhibit essentially the same patterns for both minerals in particular relative to the fold axis and axial surface the reversal of quartz cpo obliquity on opposing limbs is no longer evident the small obliquity 15 between the intersection lineation of the two planes of 001 of muscovite and the fold axis results in the apparent reversal of shear sense on opposite limbs when viewing the cpo related to the macroscopic fabric the homogeneity of the microstructures and cpos of quartz and muscovite across the fold support the interpretation that the fold developed during simultaneous activation of heterogeneous and homogeneous simple shear with the former responsible for fold development and the latter responsible for fold rotation and the overwhelming of the heterogeneous deformation these processes led to the observed parallelism between fold hinge line and local stretching lineation

evidence for excess argon during high pressure metamorphism in the dora maira massif western alps italy using an ultra violet laser ablation microprobe 40 ar 39 ar technique ultra high pressure eclogite amphibolite grade metamorphism of the dora maira massif in the western alps is a well established and intensively studied event however the age of peak metamorphism and early cooling remains controversial the 40ar 39 ar step heating and laser spot ages from high pressure phengites yield plateau ages as old as 110 ma which have been interpreted as the time of early cooling after the high pressure event recent u pb and sm nd results challenge this assertion indicating a much younger age for the event around 45 ma and hence a radically different timing for the tectonic evolution of the western alps in a new approach to the problem samples from the undeformed hercynian metagranite brossasco were studied using an ultra violet laser ablation microprobe technique for 40ar 39 ar dating the new technique allowed selective in situ analysis at a spatial resolution of 50 urn of quartz phengite biotite and k feldspar the results demonstrate the frequent occurrence of excess argon with high 40ar 39 ar ratios 1000 10000 and a strong relationship between apparent ages and metamorphic textures the highest excess argon ratios are always associated with high closure temperature minerals or large diffusion domains within single mineral phases the best interpretation of this relationship seems to be that excess argon was incorporated in all phases during the high pressure event then mixed with an atmospheric component during rapid cooling and retrogression producing a wide range of argon concentrations and 40ar 36ar ratios step heating analysis of minerals with this mixture would produce linear arrays on a40ar 36ar versus 40ar 36 ar correlation diagram leading to geologically meaningless plateau ages older than the true closure age in the present case some ages in the range 60 110 ma could be explained by the presence of excess argon incorporated around 40 50 ma ago similar results found in other high pressure terrains in the alps may reconcile the argon geochronometer with other systems such as rb sr u pb or sm nd this study therefore calls for an increasing use of high resolution in situ sampling techniques to clarify the meaning of 40ar 36 ar ages in many high pressure terrains

early tertiary eclogite facies metamorphism in the monviso ophiolite although crucial for the construction of tectonic models of the alps the timing of high pressure metamorphism is still poorly determined and controversial it is likely to vary from one tectonic unit to another depending on when each became involved in subduction this in turn relates to palaeogeographic position with respect to the active ocean basin well defined reliable geochronological data are too few to test this hypothesis this paper extends the database by determining sm nd mineral isochrons on two samples from the monviso ophiolite in the piemonte zone carefully selected to minimize the problems of sm nd dating of eclogites encountered elsewhere in the alps the dated samples have eclogite facies mineral assemblages typical of the lago superiore unit of the ophiolite mineral compositions are similar to previously reported samples and indicate pressures of around 2 gpa and temperatures of 400 500 c sm nd isochron ages of 60 12 and 62 9 ma are defined by garnet and clinopyroxene while the rb sr age on phengite which is part of the high p assemblage is 40 1 ma the new data fit an emerging pattern of ages in which high p metamorphism in the oceanic realm is early tertiary with slightly older ages in the overlying sesia zone and younger oligocene ages in the underlying internal basement massifs which only became involved in subduction when closure of the piemont ocean was complete

on the evolution of orogens pressure cycles and deformation mode switches abstract evidence of two burial exhumation cycles that took place during a single orogeny has been found in rocks belonging to the piemonte unit of the western alps an early high pressure event which resulted from tectonic burial down to pressures of 1 5 gpa was followed by exhumation to ca 0 20 0 35 gpa as a result of extensional deformation renewed shortening culminated in a second burial episode down to pressures of 0 65 0 80 gpa before the final exhumation took place existing geochronological data allow only ca 13 19 ma for the completion of both burial exhumation cycles therefore we suggest that the evolution of orogens is characterized by multiple short lived burial exhumation cycles related to orogen scale alternance between shortening and extensional deformation

sequence and style of major post nappe structures simplon pennine alps abstract in the upper pennine nappe complex of the simplon pennine alps switzerland and italy at least three phases of major post nappe folding in places associated with thrusting can be distinguished these are superimposed on an earlier formed partly chaotic complex of tectonic units including the bernhard and monte rosa continental flakes and the zermatt saas and antrona ophiolite complexes the earliest post nappe folds were essentially isoclinal throughout the whole region and were accompanied by a strong schistosity which is the main foliation in most areas later two successive phases of back folding led to the present overall structure both phases typically show rapid variations in style from open folds lacking axial planar schistosity to very tight structures with complete foliation transposition this has been demonstrated by systematically mapping the major axial traces over the whole region successively removing the major structures in reverse order shows that the ophiolite complexes were originally part of a continuous unit marking an important suture between the bernhard and monte rosa nappes

exhumation of high and ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks by slab extraction exhumation of high and ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks in collisional orogens may be explained by upward extrusion of these rocks erosion of their overburden or extensional thinning of the overburden some high pressure terranes such as the adula nappe in the central alps fit none of these scenarios we propose an additional way in which part of the overburden may be removed it may sink off into the deeper mantle slab extraction structural and metamorphic relationships in and around the adula nappe indicate that the emplacement of this alpine high to ultrahigh pressure nappe to 3 2 gpa in a pile of lower pressure nappes resulted from the interaction of two subduction zones that accommodated the closure of two ocean basins ultimately leading to the extraction of the intervening slab in terms of mechanics the cause of the exhumation is in this case not the buoyancy of the high pressure rocks but the negative buoyancy of the extracted slab

geochronological evolution of hp metamorphic rocks of the adula nappe central alps in pre alpine and alpine subduction cycles abstract shrimp dating of zircon from eclogites their country rock gneisses and quartz veins from the northern and middle adula nappe central alps accompanied by cathodoluminescence imaging and ree geochemistry of these dated zircon crystals revealed that the adula nappe has been affected by two pre alpine high pressure hp metamorphic events northern c 330 340 ma middle c 370 ma in the northern adula nappe loss of radiogenic pb of the c 330 340 ma zircon domains in combination with previous geochronological data argue for an overprinting alpine hp event in the middle adula nappe metamorphic zircon domains record in addition a 33 32 ma event interpreted to reflect ht metamorphism already identified in the southern part of the nappe where such shrimp ages have been related to ht lepontine metamorphism the alpine hp event indicated by previous shrimp data in the southern adula nappe at c 35 ma is not recorded in the zircons of the rocks dated herein the absence in this dataset is probably because either no hp c 35 ma zircon domains were formed or such domains were completely reset during the 33 32 ma ht event protolith ages of orthogneisses and eclogites are 470 457 ma and 595 587 ma respectively and maximum sedimentation ages of paragneisses 500 460 ma the lack of hercynian protolith zircon ages implies pre hercynian formation for the precursors of the dated hp rocks our data suggest that the adula nappe contains various hercynian basement slivers that underwent subduction to hp conditions at c 330 340 ma and c 370 ma prior to the alpine orogeny similar to many other parts of the hercynian basement in central and southern europe supplementary material u pb and th shrimp data and ree and trace element analyses are availaible at http www geolsoc org uk sup18367

kinematics of syn and post exhumational shear zones at lago di cignana western alps italy constraints on the exhumation of zermatt saas ultra high pressure rocks and deformation along the combin fault and dent blanche basal thrust kinematic analyses of shear zones at lago di cignana in the italian western alps were used to constrain the structural evolution of units from the piemont ligurian oceanic realm zermatt saas and combin zones and the adriatic continental margin dent blanche nappe during palaeogene syn and post exhumational deformation exhumation of zermatt saas u hp rocks to approximately lower crustal levels at ca 39 ma occurred during normal sense top s e shearing under epidote amphibolite facies conditions juxtaposition with the overlying combin zone along the combin fault at mid crustal levels occurred during greenschist facies normal sense top se shearing at ca 38 ma the scarcity of top se kinematic indicators in the hanging wall of the combin fault probably resulted from strain localization along the uppermost zermatt saas zone and obliteration by subsequent deformation a phase of dominant pure shear deformation around 35 ma affected units in the direct footwall and hanging wall of the combin fault it is interpreted to reflect nw se crustal elongation during updoming of the nappe stack as a result of underthrusting of european continental margin units and the onset of continental collision this phase was partly accompanied and followed by ductile bulk top nw shearing especially at higher structural levels which transitioned into semi ductile to brittle normal sense top nw deformation due to vanzone phase folding from ca 32 ma onwards our structural observations suggest that syn exhumational deformation is partly preserved within units and shear zones exposed at lago di cignana but also that the combin fault and dent blanche basal thrust experienced significant post exhumational deformation reworking and overprinting earlier structures

the geometry and timing of orogenic extension an example from the western italian alps contacts between rocks recording large differences in metamorphic grade are indicative of major tectonic displacements low p upon high p contacts are commonly interpreted as extensional i e material points on either side of the contact moved apart relative to the palaeo horizontal but dating of deformation and metamorphism is essential in testing such models in the western alps the piemonte ophiolite consists of eclogites t 550 600 c and p 18 20 kbar structurally beneath greenschist facies rocks t 400 c and p 9 kbar mapping shows that the latter form a kilometre wide shear zone the gressoney shear zone gsz dominated by top se movement related to crustal extension rb sr data from micas within different gsz fabrics which dynamically recrystallized below their blocking temperature are interpreted as deformation ages ages from different samples within the same fabric are reproducible and are consistent with the relative chronology derived from mapping they show that the gsz had an extensional deformation history over a period of c 9 myr between c 45 36 ma this overlaps in time with the eclogite facies metamorphism the gsz operated over the entire period during which the footwall evolved from eclogite to greenschist facies and was therefore responsible for eclogite exhumation the discrete contact zone between eclogite and greenschist facies rocks is the last active part of the gsz and truncates greenschist facies folds in the footwall these final movements were therefore not a major component of eclogite exhumation pressure estimates associated with old and young fabrics within the gsz are comparable indicating that during extensional deformation there was no significant unroofing of the hangingwall since there are no known extensional structures younger than 36 ma at higher levels in this part of the alps exhumation since the final juxtaposition of the two units at 36 ma seems to have been dominated by erosion key words deformation age eclogite exhumation rb sr dating tectonic

the arc of the western alps in the light of geophysical data on deep crustal structure recently two international deep seismic campaigns in the western and central alps etude continentale et oceanique par reflexion et refraction sismique progetto strategico crosta profonda ecors crop roure et al 1996b and national research program 20 nrp 20 pfiffner et al 1997 have been completed here we present a synoptic interpretation of the wealth of geophysical data about deep crustal structure of the alps collected during the past 40 years including the two above mentioned geophysical projects the tectonic reinterpretation of the ecors crop high resolution seismic transect is based on an evaluation of the deep crustal structure by integrating new and literature data on surface geology combined with previously published interpretations regarding the central alps schmid et al 1996 this study reveals substantial differences in geometry and kinematics between transects across the western and central alps respectively at depth the transition between the central and western alps is marked by the western limits of an adriatic lower crustal wedge shaped structure and the northeastern limits of a similar structure made of european lower crustal material at the surface it coincides with a corridor of dextral strike slip along the tonale and simplon lines in addition the thickness of the seismogenic zone shows a remarkable variation from over 40 km beneath the penninic realm of the western alps to less than 20 km in the central alps the formation of the western alpine arc was initiated during convergence and collision before 35 myr ago when the adriatic micro plate moving northward with respect to the european foreland caused sinistral transpression in the western alps while the central and eastern alps underwent head on convergence and collision during the post collisional stage i e after 35 myr ago the arcuate shape of the western alps was accentuated by wnw directed movement and anticlockwise rotation of the adriatic microplate decoupled from the central and eastern alps along the tonale simplon dextral shear zone this led to wedging of lower crustal slices both in the western alps and in the central alps the new tectonic interpretation of the ecors crop transect allows a kinematic model to be established for crustal shortening in the western alps during the past 35 myr the ivrea mantle plays the role of a backstop in our tectonic model we distinguish three episodes of post collisional crustal shortening along the ecors crop transect from 35 to 30 ma the brianconnais basement was back thrusted over the gran paradiso units leading to 30 km of crustal shortening first episode in the early miocene movements concentrated mainly along the penninic frontal thrust and resulted in about 60 km shortening second episode post 12 ma shortening within the external massifs is associated with folding in the jura mountains when the crust was shortened by an additional 30 km third episode

forethrusting backfolding and lateral gravitational escape in the northern part of the western alps monte rosa region a penetrative composite foliation and stretching lineation in the ophiolite of the zermatt saas vanzone region developed under eclogite facies conditions in mid cretaceous time eclogite facies mineral parageneses in this foliation were progressively replaced by blueschist facies and greenschist to amphibolite facies mineral assemblages during late cretaceous and mid tertiary time and were subsequently completely retrogressed kinematic indicators associated with the various stretching lineations of the different metamorphic facies reveal that shearing was initially approximately top to west high p phase and changed during the greenschist amphibolite facies stage into a top to west northwest orientation forethrusting was followed by low angle normal shearing during the final retrograde phase this sense of shear was upper block to southwest west southwest unambiguous structural relics of the high pressure event were not recognized in the gneiss of the monte rosa nappe but the close similarity of the metamorphic evolution of the zermatt saas and monte rosa units including the high p event makes a common tectonic history probable in late oligocene and miocene time the zermatt saas vanzone region was affected by an initial phase of backfolding mischabel phase predating top southwest west southwest directed low angle normal shearing toward the south southeast followed by a second backfolding event vanzone phase the main geometrical and structural features suggest that the mischabel phase resulted from vertical extrusion and horizontal intrusion of the ductile basement monte rosa into shallower units antrona and zermatt seas ophiolites and is in accord with a recently proposed kinematic model for the central alps no clear cut relations between the second phase of backfolding and the retrograde phase were observed this suggests that both events took place largely simultaneously backfolding northeast of the simplon line postdated retrograde normal shearing and is of late miocene age it is concluded that backfolding in the zermatt saas vanzone region cannot be causally linked with backfolding northeast of the simplon line

35 ma old ultrahigh pressure metamorphism and evidence for very rapid exhumation in the dora maira massif western alps abstract ion microprobe shrimp data on zircons from various rock types of an ultrahigh pressure uhp metamorphic whiteschist type pyrope quartzite lens of the dora maira massif dmm consistently show domains giving a late eocene age of 35 4 1 0 ma which is taken as the age of uhp metamorphism these domains partially replace the older oscillatory zoning pattern of the zircons formed during primary magmatic crystallization at about 275 ma zircons of a metagranitic country rock next to the uhp metamorphic lens have these primary features best preserved all zircons measured also yield intermediate ages between 275 and 35 ma with a statistical concentration between 260 and 210 ma thus the uniformity of the initial zircon population both in the lens and the country rock evidences a common protolith that is a granite intruded during the late herynian while the intermediate ages are at least partly due to incomplete resetting of the zircons during uhp metamorphism those in the 260 210 ma range may be related to rifting episodes in the permotriassic the mg rich chemistry of the whiteschist lenses is due to local metasomatic alterations of the granite perhaps by fluids derived from evaporitic sediments dating as early as the permotriassic as well the more pervasive resetting of zircon ages during uhp metamorphism in the pyrope quartzite lenses is explained by the ubiquity of fluids and or melts produced during subduction by a series of dehydration reactions that occurred only in the more hydrous mg rich protoliths and not in their drier granitic neighborhood fission track ages determined partly on the same zircon samples yielding 29 9 1 4 ma mark the time when the uhpm unit had reached about 290 c at a shallow location within the crust thus exhumation over a vertical distance of about 120 km must have occurred within about 5 6 ma indicating an average uplift rate of about 20 24 km ma and an average cooling rate of about 85 100 c ma the radiometric data obtained do not lend any support to an eo alpine cretaceous subduction event so that deep subduction and immediately following exhumation all took place during early to mid tertiary time this scenario seems to apply to large portions of the western and central alps as well calling for drastic geodynamic reinterpretations of these parts of the alps

kinematics of ductile shearing from outcrop to crustal scale in the monte rosa nappe western alps significant ductile deformation has produced widespread mylonitic structures in the basement orthogneisses and the mesozoic cover quartzites and marbles of the monte rosa nappe in the inner part of the western alps we summarize here the results of a detailed microstructural study at several scales of observation in the northern part of the nappe and discuss the kinematic significance and compatibility of such results most of the observed deformations can be accounted for by progressive wnw vergent shearing during and after the late eocene within a ductile shear zone of crustal scale the displacement of the hanging wall may have been in excess of several tens of kilometers however some ese vergent shear criteria cannot be reconciled with this general picture and suggest that local backthrusting occurred later near the toe of the monte rosa nappe

dynamics of orogenic wedges and the uplift of high pressure metamorphic rocks subduction accretion complexes can be approximated as wedge shaped continua with a rigid buttress behind and a subducting litho spheric slab beneath thick wedges undergoing prograde metamorphism have a negligible long term yield strength and are likely to exhibit a complex nonlinear viscous rheology such a wedge will tend to deform internally until it reaches a stable configuration in which the gravitational forces generated by the wedge geometry balance the traction exerted on its underside by the subducting slab accretion of material at the wedge front will lengthen the wedge and cause it to shorten internally to regain the stable geometry this shortening will be expressed as late out of sequence thrusting backthrusting and folding conversely underplating of sediment or crustal slices will thicken the wedge which may need to extend internally to regain stability extension will cause listric normal faults that may merge downward into zones of ductile extension continued underplating at depth and compensating extension above provides a mechanism for bringing high p low t metamorphic rocks to upper levels in the rear of the wedge where they are commonly observed many major tectonic boundaries in convergent orogens such as the coast range thrust in the franciscan complex major nappe contacts in the alps and the contact between the nevado filabride and higher betic nappe complexes in the betic cordillera show abrupt increases in metamorphic grade downward across them this is consistent with their origin or reactivation as uplift related extensional structures

pre collisional high pressure metamorphism and nappe tectonics at active continental margins a numerical simulation the evolution of a subduction channel and orogenic wedge is simulated in 2d for an active continental margin with p t paths being displayed for selected markers in our simulation subduction erosion affects the active margin and a structural pattern develops within a few tens of millions of years with four zones from the trench into the forearc i an accretionary complex of low grade metamorphic sedimentary material ii a wedge of nappes with alternating upper and lower crustal provenance and minor interleaving of oceanic or hydrated mantle material iii a megascale melange composed of high pressure hp and ultra high pressure uhp metamorphic rocks extruded from the subduction channel and iv the upward tilted frontal part of the remaining lid the p t paths and time scales correspond to those typically recorded in orogenic belts the simulation shows that hp uhp metamorphism of continental crust does not necessarily indicate collision but that the material can be derived from the active margin by subduction erosion and extruded from the subduction channel beneath the forearc during ongoing subduction

pb sr nd isotopic behavior of deeply subducted crustal rocks from the dora maira massif western alps italy ii what is the age of the ultrahigh pressure metamorphism pb nd and sr isotope data are reported from two localities on mineral separates from mg rich metapelites and associated rocks that have been subducted to depths of at least 100 km for which metamorphic conditions are estimated at 28 33 kilobars pressure and 700 800 c and then returned to the surface initial isotope ratio data from the granitoid country rock are similar to those found in the metapelites the initial ratios indicate predominantly recycled aged granitic crustal materials for the sources of all of the samples five zircon samples 4 from pyrope megacrysts and 1 from fine grained pyrope quartzite lenses in the metapelites accurately define a chord yielding intercept ages of 304 10 and 38 0 1 4 ma in a concordia diagram zircon from the country rock also plots along the chord the zircon data together with initial nd and sr data indicate that the sedimentary sources of the rocks were derived mainly or entirely from sialic hercynian rocks ellenbergerite from pyrope megacrysts and monazite from the fine grained ground mass yield slightly younger ages of 30 34 ma apparently reflecting lower blocking temperatures than that of zircon sm nd data from a pyrope megacryst give an errorchron corresponding to an age of 38 ma in agreement with the zircon date a major question concerns the timing of the ultrahigh pressure metamorphism experimental data suggest that pyrope and quartz coesite as well as ellenbergerite formed by various metamorphic reactions if as generally assumed the ultrahigh pressure metamorphism occurred ca 100 ma ago our data require that the zircon did not experience measurable lead loss at that time but lost major amounts of lead 38 ma ago during late alpine metamorphism estimates of diffusion rates for nd in pyrope further suggest that the apparent sm nd age of 38 ma for the megacryst is not consistent with that model those problems are resolved if the ultrahigh pressure metamorphism occurred 38 40 ma ago but problems remain from ar ar dates of 100 ma on phengite an inferred 120 ma age for zircon lead loss from another study and possibly by the very rapid uplift required if the metamorphism is that young

cataclastic deformation and metasomatism in the subduction zone of mafic blocks in melange san simeon california abstract the primary origin of shale matrix melange forming the central belt of the franciscan complex is still debated the seacliff exposures near san simeon display numerous lensoidal blocks of graywacke greenstone lesser layered chert and blueschist that are encased in a matrix of scaly shale the boudinaging of mafic greenstone and blueschist blocks was accommodated by cataclasis and varied amounts of metamorphic reconstitution that is particularly intense along block margins zones of necking and intra block shear zones cataclastic zones in blueschists are greenish where chlorite and pumpellyite have formed the mineralogic assemblage produced during cataclasis in greenstones is the same as that replacing the interior of the block albite chlorite pumpellyite the cataclastic margins of many 7 of 12 greenstones gained k rb cs and ba in contrast the cataclastic margins of all blueschist blocks lost na several 3 of 9 with substantial decreases and some 3 of 9 had significant increases in k rb cs and ba this metasomatic alteration is indicative of fluid rock interaction between mafic blocks and sediments alteration of the mafic rocks with the growth of pumpellyite and chlorite occurred when blocks were encased in the shale matrix of the melange which was dynamically deforming and heated to temperatures of 150 c as synsubduction temperature depth gradients were 10 c km burial of mafic blocks while encased in the melange matrix to depths approaching 15 km is apparent surficial olistostromal movements alone do not account for the incorporation deformation and retrograde metasomatic alteration of the exotic blueschist blocks and the metamorphism of the shale matrix at such inferred depths these attributes indicate chemical exchange with shale and smearing displacement of the margins of mafic blocks occurred in the subduction zone as the shale matrix flowed and exerted shear tractions

sm nd isotopic evidence on the age of eclogitization in the zermatt saas ophiolite rocks within the zermatt saas ophiolite of the western alps have undergone eclogite facies metamorphism during subduction prior to the alpine collision the metamorphic history of these rocks is well defined with eclogitic assemblages being followed by the limited growth of blueschist assemblages of glaucophane and paragonite subsequent greenschist alteration occurs adjacent to faults veins and metasediments away from such sources of water retrogression is very limited sm nd isotopic analyses of an essentially unretrogressed eclogitic metabasalt suggest that eclogite facies metamorphism occurred at 52 18 ma the large uncertainty is due to the presence of very small amounts of nd rich epidote present as inclusions within garnet as the closure temperature of garnet to sm nd is thought to be 600dc resetting due to post high pressure diffusion is thought to be insignificant given the fine grained protolith to the sample analysed and its extensive deformation under eclogite facies conditions incomplete homogenization of pre metamorphic isotopic variations is also considered unlikely to be responsible for the young age a tertiary age of eclogitization means that models of early alpine evolution based on the cessation of high pressure metamorphism in the cretaceous need to be revised

relating orogen width to shortening erosion and exhumation during alpine collision we investigate along strike width changes of the thickened accreted lower plate talp in the central and in the eastern alps we set the width of the talp in relation to the inferred amount of collisional shortening and exhumation along six orogen scale cross sections taking the present day along strike gradients in the amount of collisional shortening to represent the temporal evolution of the collisional wedge it may be concluded that the cross sectional area of the talp diminishes during ongoing shortening indicating that the erosional flux outpaced the accretionary flux higher amounts of collisional shortening systematically coincide with smaller widths of the talp and dramatic increases of the reconstructed eroded rock column higher amounts of shortening also coincide with larger amplitudes of orogen scale upright folds with higher exhumation and with higher exhumation rates hence erosion did play a major role in reducing by 30 km the vertical crustal thickness in order to accommodate and allow shortening by folding long term climate differences cannot explain alternating changes of width by a factor of almost 2 along straight segments of the orogen on length scales less than 200 km as observed from the western central alps to the easternmost eastern alps sedimentary or paleontological evidences supporting such paleo climatic differences are lacking suggesting that erosional processes did not directly control the width of the orogen

alpine geodynamic evolution of passive and active continental margin sequences in the tauern window eastern alps austria italy a review the penninic oceanic sequence of the glockner nappe and the foot wall penninic continental margin sequences exposed within the tauern window eastern alps have been investigated in detail field data as well as structural and petrological data have been combined with data from the literature in order to constrain the geodynamic evolution of these units volcanic and sedimentary sequences document the evolution from a stable continent that was formed subsequent to the variscan orogeny to its disintegration associated with subsidence and rifting in the triassic and jurassic the formation of the glockner oceanic basin and its consumption during the upper cretaceous and the paleogene these units are incorporated into a nappe stack that was formed during the collision between a penninic zentralgneis block in the north and a southern austroalpine block the venediger nappe and the storz nappe are characterized by metamorphic jurassic shelf deposits hochstegen group and cretaceous flysch sediments kaserer and murtorl groups the eclogite zone and the rote wand modereck nappe comprise permian to triassic clastic sequences wustkogel quartzite and remnants of platform carbonates seidlwinkl group as well as jurassic volcanoclastic material and rift sediments brennkogel facies covered by cretaceous flyschoid sequences nappe stacking was contemporaneous to and postdated subduction related high pressure eclogite and blueschist facies metamorphism emplacement of the eclogite bearing units of the eclogite zone and the glockner nappe onto penninic continental units zentralgneis block occurred subsequent to eclogite facies metamorphism the eclogite zone a former extended continental margin was subsequently overridden by a pile of basement cover nappes rote wand modereck nappe along a ductile out of sequence thrust low angle normal faults that have developed during the jurassic extensional phase might have been inverted during nappe emplacement