This study assesses the significance, geometry, and kinematics of greenschist-facies deformation along the Dent Blanche Basal Thrust (DBBT), a major tectonic contact in the Internal Western Alps of ...Switzerland and Italy. The DBBT separates continental units of the Dent Blanche nappe, the structurally highest unit in the Western Alps, from underlying Piemont-Ligurian ophiolites. Mylonites and deformation structures along the contact provide a record of its retrograde greenschist-facies evolution after earlier high-pressure metamorphism. A first phase of foreland-directed, reverse-sense, top-(N)W shearing (D1) occurred between ca. 43 and 39 Ma, related to exhumation of the Dent Blanche nappe from high-pressure conditions. It led to the formation of mylonitic fabrics under high- to medium-grade greenschist-facies conditions along the entire DBBT. A phase of ductile normal-sense top-SE shearing (D2) at ca. 38–37 Ma was mainly localized within underlying ophiolitic units and only partly affected the DBBT. Another phase of ductile deformation (D3) under medium- to low-grade greenschist-facies conditions at ca. 36–35 Ma occurred in response to underthrusting of European continental margin units and resulted in the updoming of the nappe stack. Especially the southeastern DBBT was characterized by bulk top-NW shearing, partly conjugate top-NW/top-SE shearing, and resulting orogen-perpendicular crustal extension. Subsequently, the DBBT was affected by a phase of orogen-perpendicular shortening (D4) and formation of folds and crenulations at ca. 34–33 Ma due to increasing compressional tectonics. Finally, a phase of semi-ductile to brittle normal-sense top-NW and conjugate shearing (D5) from ca. 32 Ma onwards particularly affected the southeastern segment and indicates exhumation of the DBBT through the ductile–brittle transition. This was followed by brittle NW–SE extensional deformation. This study suggests that the DBBT experienced a polyphase deformation and reactivation history under decreasing greenschist-facies metamorphic conditions during which different segments of this major shear zone were variably affected.
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FZAB, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
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.
Field relations and deformation structures in the southeastern part of the Pohorje Mountains constrain the tectonic evolution of the Austroalpine high-pressure/ultrahigh pressure (HP/UHP) terrane. ...The Slovenska Bistrica Ultramafic Complex (SBUC) forms a large (ca. 8 × 1 km size) body of serpentinized harzburgite and dunite including minor garnet peridotite and is associated with partly amphibolitized eclogite bodies. The SBUC occurs in the core of an isoclinal, recumbent, northward closing antiform and is mantled by metasedimentary rocks, mostly gneisses and a few marbles, including isolated eclogite/amphibolite lenses. Before this folding, the SBUC formed the deepest part of the exposed terrane. We interpret the SBUC to be derived from near-MOHO, uppermost mantle which was intruded by gabbros in the subsurface of a Permian rift zone. During Cretaceous intracontinental subduction, the SBUC was most likely part of the footwall plate which experienced HP to UHP metamorphism and was folded during exhumation. In the Miocene, the Pohorje Pluton intruded and, subsequently, the metamorphic rocks together with the pluton were deformed probably due to east-west extension and contemporaneous north-south shortening, thus forming an antiformal metamorphic core complex.
Central Anatolia exposes previously buried and metamorphosed, continent-derived rocks – the Kırşehir and Afyon zones – now covering an area of ∼300 × 400 km. So far, the exhumation history of these ...rocks has been poorly constrained. We show for the first time that the major, >120 km long, top-NE ‘Ivriz’ Detachment controlled the exhumation of the HP/LT metamorphic Afyon Zone in southern Central Anatolia. We date its activity at between the latest Cretaceous and early Eocene times. Combined with previously documented isolated extensional detachments found in the Kırşehir Block, our results suggest that a major province governed by extensional exhumation was active throughout Central Anatolia between ∼80 and ∼48 Ma. Although similar in dimension to the Aegean extensional province to the east, the Central Anatolian extensional province is considerably older and was controlled by a different extension direction. From this, we infer that the African slab(s) that subducted below Anatolia must have rolled back relative to the Aegean slab since at least the latest Cretaceous, suggesting that these regions were underlain by a segmented slab. Whether or not these early segments already corresponded to the modern Aegean, Antalya, and Cyprus slab segments remains open for debate, but slab segmentation must have occurred much earlier than previously thought.
•A semi-linear, E–W-trending shear zone extends for over 120 km in Central Anatolia.•Extensional unroofing along the shear zone at greenschist facies conditions.•Late Cretaceous–early Eocene Ulukışla Basin was a supra-detachment basin.•Anatolian extensional province formed before onset of Aegean extension.•African slab below Anatolia–Aegean likely segmented at least since the Cretaceous.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
The metamorphic series of the Pohorje Mountains represents a part of the Eastern Alpine realm that was subjected to ultrahigh-pressure conditions during the Cretaceous Eo-Alpine orogenic cycle. The ...Slovenska Bistrica Ultramafic Complex located in the south-eastern Pohorje Mountains is an 8km wide serpentinite body that contains lenses of garnet-bearing ultramafites and eclogites. It is embedded in and part of a mixed continental unit of metapelitic gneisses, orthogneisses, and eclogites. We present Lu–Hf garnet chronometry coupled with geochemical and petrological data from three samples: one garnet lherzolite, one eclogite from within the ultramafic complex, and one eclogite from the surrounding mixed unit. All obtained ages are identical within error, i.e. 96.6±1.2Ma and 94.8±5.1Ma, respectively, for the two eclogites and 91.6±4.1Ma for the garnet lherzolite. Garnet of all samples shows homogeneous concentrations of major bivalent elements due to high temperature re-equilibration. It does, however, preserve growth-related zoning with respect to Lu in all three samples implying that Lu–Hf ages still record garnet growth. The coincidence of ages suggests that the ultramafic complex and the surrounding continental mixed unit share the same subduction history, i.e. the complex was part of the subducting plate during and after the garnet growth stages.
•Lu–Hf garnet geochronology is applied to eclogites and garnet bearing ultramafites.•The ages are coupled to phases of garnet growth via the characterization of Lu zoning.•The ages indicate a coherent character of the Pohorje Nappe in the Eastern Alps.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
The Etirol-Levaz Slice in the Penninic Alps (Valtournenche, Italy) is a piece of eclogite-facies continental basement sandwiched between two oceanic units, the blueschist-facies Combin Zone in the ...hanging wall and the eclogite-facies Zermatt-Saas Zone in the footwall. It has been interpreted as an extensional allochthon from the continental margin of Adria, emplaced onto ultramafic and mafic basement of the future Zermatt-Saas Zone by Jurassic, rifting-related detachment faulting, and later subducted together with the future Zermatt-Saas Zone. Alternatively, the Etirol-Levaz Slice could be derived from a different paleogeographic domain and be separated from the Zermatt-Saas Zone by an Alpine shear zone.
We present Lu–Hf whole rock–garnet ages of two eclogite samples, one from the center of the unit and one from the border to the Zermatt-Saas Zone below. These data are accompanied by a new geological map of the Etirol-Levaz Slice and the surrounding area, as well as detailed petrology of these two samples. Assemblages, mineral compositions and garnet zoning in both samples indicate a clockwise PT-path and peak-metamorphic conditions of about 550–600°C/20–25kbar, similar to conditions proposed for the underlying Zermatt-Saas Zone. Prograde garnet ages of the two samples are 61.8±1.8Ma and 52.4±2.1Ma and reflect different timing of subduction. One of these is significantly older than published ages of eclogite-facies metamorphism in the Zermatt-Saas Zone and thus contradicts the hypothesis of Mesozoic emplacement. The occurrence of serpentinite and metagabbro bodies possibly derived from the Zermatt-Saas Zone inside the Etirol-Levaz Slice suggests that the latter is a tectonic composite. The basement slivers forming the Etirol-Levaz Slice and other continental fragments were subducted earlier than the Zermatt-Saas Zone, but nonetheless experienced similar pressure–temperature histories. Our results support the hypothesis that the Zermatt-Saas Zone and the overlying continental slivers do not represent a coherent paleogeographic unit but rather formed by successive, in-sequence subduction and accretion of different fragments.
•Eclogites from Etirol-Levaz Slice yield Lu-Hf ages of 52.1 ± 3.8 Ma/61.8 ± 2.3 Ma•Ages are significantly older than peak-pressure ages in underlying Zermatt-Saas Zone•Zermatt-Saas Zone formed by successive, in-sequence subduction and accretion of crustal fragments.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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