The Alpine Oligocene plutons are spatially and temporally associated with the activity of the Periadriatic Fault System (PFS), an orogen‐parallel, crustal‐scale transpressive mylonitic belt. ...Excellent three‐dimensional exposure, combined with a wealth of structural, seismic, petrological, geochronological, geochemical, and paleomagnetic data collected over the last decades help to constrain the relationships between deformation, ascent, and emplacement of the plutons. Magmas were channeled from the base of the thickened continental crust into the narrow mylonitic belt of the Periadriatic Fault System, which was used as ascent pathway to cover vertical lengths of 20 to 40 km. Therefore the linear alignment of the plutons at the surface is not the expression of a linear source region at depth. Ascent of the melts is controlled by the mylonitic foliation of the PFS, which forms the only steep anisotropy, continuously traversing the entire Alpine crust. In contrast, the flow direction is not influenced by the specific kinematics of the faults. Final emplacement of the plutons occurred by extrusion from the Periadriatic Fault System into the adjacent country rocks. The transition from ascent to final emplacement is favored by partitioning of transpressive deformation.
We study the morphology of the major rivers draining the Eastern Alps to test whether the active tectonics of this part of the orogen is reflected in the shape of channel profiles of the river ...network. In our approach we compare channel profiles measured from digital elevation models with numerically modelled channel profiles using a stream power approach. It is shown that regions of high stream power coincide largely with regions of highest topography and largest uplift rates, while the forelands and the Pannonian Basin are characterised by a significantly lower stream power. From stream power modelling we conclude that there is young uplift at the very east of the Eastern Alps, in the Bohemian Massif and in the Pohorje Range. The impact of the Pleistocene glaciations is explored by comparing properties of rivers that drain in proximal and distal positions relative to the ice sheet during the last glacial maximum. Our analysis shows that most knick points, wind gaps and other non-equilibrium features of catchments covered by ice during the last glaciations (Salzach, Enns) can be correlated with glacial processes. In contrast the ice free catchments of the Mur and Drava are characterized by channels in morphological equilibrium at the first approximation and are showing only weak evidence of the strong tectonic activity within these catchments. Finally, the channel profiles of the Adige and the divide between the upper Rhine and Danube catchments differ significantly from the other catchments. We relate this to the fact that the Adige and the Rhine respond to different base levels from the remainder of the Eastern Alps: The Adige may preserve a record from the Messininan base level change and the Rhine is subject to the base level lowering in the Rhine Graben.
Kyanite-rich and quartz-rich eclogites occur as lenses within amphibolite-facies quartzo-feldspathic gneisses in the Pohorje Mountains, Northern Slovenia, that form the easternmost Austroalpine ...basement. Major and trace elements indicate that the kyanite-rich eclogites were derived from plagioclase-rich gabbroic cumulates, whereas the quartz-rich eclogites represent more fractionated basaltic compositions. Both varieties are characterized by a LREE-depleted N-MORB type REE signature. Geothermobarometry and
P–
T pseudosections indicate that eclogites equilibrated at 1.8–2.5 GPa and 630–700 °C, consistently with the lack of coesite and with equilibration conditions of the chemically similar eclogites from the adjacent basement units at Koralpe and Saualpe type localities. Decompression reaction textures include (i) clinopyroxene–plagioclase intergrowths after omphacite, (ii) replacement of kyanite by corundum–plagioclase–spinel±sapphirine symplectites, (iii) breakdown of phengite to biotite–plagioclase sapphirine symplectites. The results of this study indicate that Koralpe, Saualpe and Pohorje high-pressure rocks represent former MORB-type oceanic crust that was subducted in the course of the late Cretaceous (approximately 100 Ma ago) collision between the European and the Apulian plates.
The Periadriatic lineament is a 700-km-long, first-order tectonic boundary in the Alps, along which several Tertiary intrusions are located that were emplaced while tectonic processes were active. ...The Pohorje pluton is one of the Periadriatic magmatic suites and comprises a pluton and a dacite stock that were emplaced at depths of about 10 and 2 km, respectively. Oriented samples were collected from 33 sites in the magmatic, and three in the surrounding metamorphic rocks and subjected them to standard palaeomagnetic and magnetic susceptibility anisotropy processing. There is extreme variation in susceptibility (although the magnetic mineral are always magnetite) and in its anisotropy within the pluton. Lowest values are in the mafic members (in the gabbro, the oldest and in some lamprophyres, the youngest member of the plutonic suite), while the tonalite (granodiorite) exhibits extreme variation, far exceeding those observed for other Periadriatic plutons. The ‘abnormality’ of the Pohorje pluton is attributed to the complex history that involves assimilation, fractional crystallization, stratification in the magma chamber, incorporation of wall rocks, variable degree of K-metasomatism and hydrothermal alteration. Despite the above-described heterogenities and sometimes very high degree of susceptibility anisotropy (much higher that in the metamorphic samples) in the acid member, the palaeomagnetic directions observed for the pluton define three clear-cut groups. The directions show no dependence on the degree of magnetic susceptibility anisotropy. In the order of crystallization, they exhibit decreasing degree of clockwise declination deviation from north. The dacite stock is characterized by counter-clockwise rotated declinations. As the Pohorje pluton was uplifted very fast within the right-lateral Periadriatic shear zone system, it is interpreted that the palaeomagnetic directions observed for the pluton are evidence for a clockwise rotation during exhumation. The palaeomagnetic directions for the dacite, which formed after the climax of the external forces, fits the regional pattern of counter-clockwise rotation observed in the Neogene sediments around the Pohorje pluton. This shows that by the time of the dacite intrusion, the Pohorje pluton was already incorporated into the ‘block’ that was driven by counter-clockwise rotated Adriatic microplate.
As a former part of the great Roman Empire, Slovenia has many archaeological sites featuring buildings and objects entirely or partly constructed from marble whose provenance is doubtful. In ...Slovenia, the most probable source of such marble is the Pohorje Mountains. For the purpose of supporting further provenance studies, these marbles are fully scientifically characterized. The techniques used are petrographic and geochemical analysis, stable isotope ratio analysis and EPR spectroscopy. The results show that the Pohorje marbles are highly heterogeneous in both their isotopic and geochemical parameters as well as grain sizes. The parameters of the different Pohorje marble outcrops are compared between themselves and with the parameters of known ancient quarries in the Mediterranean and Austria. The use of a multi‐technique approach with combined parameters allows the best possible discrimination.
High-pressure metamorphism in the Pohorje Mountains of Slovenia (Austroalpine unit, Eastern Alps) affected N-MORB type metabasic and metapelitic lithologies. Thermodynamic calculations and ...equilibrium phase diagrams of kyanite-phengite-bearing eclogites reveal PT conditions of >2.1 GPa at T<750 degrees C, but within the stability field of quartz. Metapelitic eclogite country rocks contain the assemblage garnet + phengite + kyanite + quartz, for which calculated peak pressure conditions are in good agreement with results obtained from eclogite samples. The eclogites contain a single population of spherical zircon with a low Th/U ratio. Combined constraints on the age of metamorphism come from U/Pb zircon as well as garnet-whole rock and mineral-mineral Sm-Nd analyses from eclogites. A coherent cluster of single zircon analyses yields a 206Pb/238U age of 90.7 plus or minus 1.0 Ma that is in good agreement with results from Sm-Nd garnet-whole rock regression of 90.7 plus or minus 3.9 and 90.1 plus or minus 2.0 Ma (epsilonNd: +8) for two eclogite samples. The agreement between U-Pb and Sm-Nd age data strongly suggests an age of approximately 90 Ma for the pressure peak of the eclogites in the Pohorje Mountains. The presence of garnet, omphacite and quartz inclusions in unfractured zircon indicates high-pressure rather than ultrahigh pressure conditions. The analysed metapelite sample yields a Sm-Nd garnet-hole rock scatterchron age of 97 plus or minus 15 Ma. These data probably support a single P-T loop for mafic and pelitic lithologies of the Pohorje area and a late Cretaceous high-pressure event that affected the entire easternmost Austroalpine basement including the Koralpe and Saualpe eclogite type locality in the course of the complex collision of the Apulian microplate and Europe. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Fluid inclusions in garnet combined with element X-ray mapping, phase equilibrium modelling and conventional thermobarometry have been used to constrain the metamorphic evolution of metapelitic ...gneiss from the HP/UHP metamorphic terrane of Pohorje Mountains in the Eastern Alps, Slovenia. Retrograde
P
–
T
trajectory from ~2.75 GPa and 780°C is constrained by the composition of matrix phengite (6.66 apfu Si) coexisting with garnet cores, kyanite and quartz. The intersection of the
X
Prp
= 0.25 isopleth for the garnet with the upper stability boundary for K-feldspar in the matrix indicates near-isothermal decompression to ~0.9 GPa at 720°C. Temperatures over 650°C during this stage are corroborated by the high degree of ordering of graphite inclusions associated with Zn, Mg-rich staurolite and phlogopite in the Mg-rich (
X
Prp
= 0.22–0.25) garnet cores. Majority of garnet porphyroblasts are depleted in Mg (down to
X
Prp
= 0.09) and enriched in Mn (up to
X
Sps
= 0.12) along cracks and at their margins. The associated retrograde mineral assemblage comprises Zn, Mg-poor staurolite, muscovite, biotite–siderophyllite, sillimanite and quartz. The onset of the retrogression and the compositional modification of the garnet porphyroblasts were accompanied by the addition of fluid-deposited graphite around older graphite inclusions, probably due to removal of water from a graphite-buffered COH fluid by dissolution in partial silicic melt. Instantaneous expulsion of water near the melt solidus (640°C, max. 0.45 GPa) caused dissolution of the graphite at redox conditions corresponding to 0.25–1.25 log
f
O
2
units below the QFM buffer, giving rise to a H
2
O–CO
2
–CH
4
fluid trapped in primary inclusions in Mn-rich, Mg-poor, almandine garnet that reprecipitated within the retrogressed domains. The absence of re-equilibration textures and consistent densities of the fluid inclusions reflect a near-isochoric cooling postdating the near-isothermal decompression. Bulk water content in the metapelite attained 2 wt% during this stage. The low-degree partial melting and extensive hydration due to the release of the internally derived, low-pressure aqueous fluids led to the reset of peak-pressure mineral assemblage.
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