Area balancing as a test of models for the deep structure of mountain belts,with specific reference to the Alps

Basic concepts of structural restoration are applied to crustal cross-sections through mountain belts to explore large-scale tectonic models and deep structure. However, restored sections should account for variations in pre-orogenic crustal thicknesses. Crustal balancing approaches are reviewed and applied to two Alpine sections, coinciding with deep seismic experiments: NRP-20 East (Central Alps) and ECORS-CROP (Western Alps). Existing studies assume large (>300 km) orogenic contraction and only moderately thinned pre-orogenic crust. The resulting restored sections contain more crust than is imaged beneath the present-day Alps, the missing crust generally assumed to be subducted. Two kinematic modifications reduce the requirement for subduction: thinning and buoyancy-driven return flow of ultra-high-pressure metamorphic rocks during orogenesis; and pre-orogenic hyperextension. Using large stretching factors for the pre-orogenic crust negates crustal subduction on both Alpine transects. If the lower crust was approximately rigid, restorations of the Central Alps require strongly depth-heterogeneous stretching of upper and lower crust during Mesozoic rifting. Relaxing this requirement allows uniform lithospheric stretching, a corollary consistent with published subsidence estimates. Restorations make implicit statements on the form of pre-orogenic basins and the structure of continental margins incorporated into mountain belts that can in turn provide tests of tectonic models.     

Evolutionary model for Alpine Corsica: mechanism for ophiolite emplacement and exhumation of high-pressure rocks

A tectonic model of Alpine Corsica is proposed based on geological studies. Its evolution starts after the Jurassic with intraoceanic subduction, followed by mid-Cretaceous subduction of the European continental margin under the oceanic segment of the Adriatic plate. After subduction of the continental crust to a depth of ≈ 150 km, slices of crustal material are buoyantly uplifted together with high-pressure oceanic rocks (ophiolites and 'schistes lustrés'). High pressure–low temperature continental gneiss units overthrust the outer segments of the European crust, while producing a normal sense motion along the upper surface of the rising crustal body. During the Eocene, the closure of the remnant Ligurian oceanic basin separating the proto Corsican belt and Adria, resulted in a second orogenic phase with the emplacement of unmetamorphosed ophiolitic nappes which overthrust the previously exhumed and eroded HP belt. This Corsican model suggests an original evolutionary path for orogenic belts when continental collision is preceded by intraoceanic subduction.     

Towards an understanding of the southern Appalachian Piedmont crustal transition—A multidisciplinary approach

The Piedmont of the southern Appalachians is characterized by significant geophysical and geological anomalies which indicate there is a major crustal transition. Multiple hypotheses, including a suture zone and a subducted continental margin, have been presented to explain the variations. Although crustal seismic reflection data have provided significant constraints, there are ambiguities inherent in the interpretation of such data. The ambiguities can be reduced by careful consideration of related geophysical and geological observations. Although the importance of correlating crustal reflection data with known geologic features by tracing reflections to drill holes or to the surface cannot be overestimated, only rarely are such correlations possible. In almost all interpretations of crustal reflection structure it is necessary to constrain the model with methods such as seismic refraction, gravity, magnetics, conductivity, and surface geology (including palinspastic reconstructions). When information from these techniques is incorporated into interpretations of the Piedmont crustal structure, the model which appears to be most consistent with the observations is one in which the upper crust of the Piedmont is decoupled from the lower crust, and in which the lower crust thins eastward. The lower crust may be a subducted Precambrian continental margin and its associated transition toward thinner, basinal crust.     

Continental convergence in the Alps

Collision of continental plates in the Alps, in less than 5 · 10⁶ y during the late Eocene, was preceded by a paired metamorphic belt in both plates of the south-dipping suture, and accompanied or succeeded by a high-t/low-p metamorphic event anomalously located in the lower plate. This event did not result from crustal burial because it peaked too soon after collision. Additional heat may have come from a second subduction zone dipping northward underneath the lower plate and/or from post-collisional friction along a subhorizontal décollement in the crust of the lower plate, evident in a seismic low-velocity layer. Décollement and partial anatexis on the LVL, thick-skinned warping, folding, and kinking of the nappes and their South Alpine root zone, and possibly the parautochthonous Jura folding are post-collisional, typically Alpine, distortions of the otherwise normal subduction model.     

Intraplate tectonics in stable Europe as related to plate tectonics in the Alpine system

Western Europe is traversed by the Rhinegraben rift system. The stages of graben formation evolved coincidentally with the culminations of compressional folding in the Alps. Rhinegraben rifting has been controlled by mantle diapirism, but the Alpine orogeny by subduction of lithosphere. Presumably, Alpine subduction forced compensating mantle uplift in the foreland. The Middle Eocene to Oligocene crustal spreading of the Rhinegraben implies a state of stress with a maximum horizontal component parallel to the graben axis (about 20?). In the same area, the Recent average direction of maximum compressive stress is of about 320? (NW), as calculated by in-situ stress measurements, fault-plane solutions of earthquakes and Recent crustal movements. The rotation of the stress components relative to the crust of stable Europe evolved subsequent to counterclockwise rotations of microplates in the Mediterranean. A model is proposed which ascribes these rotations to alterating shear motions of the Afro-Arabian macroplates relative to stable Europe exerting a ball-bearing effect to the intervenient microplates. The postulated motions are in accord with the patterns of inhomogeneous ocean floor spreading east and west of the African plate. The stages of Alpine plate collision had induced a significant readjustment of intraplate stress conditions, and deformation in the cratonic foreland of stable Europe.     

Earthquakes and strength in the laminated lower crust —Can they be explained by the “corset model”?

We present a model that may explain deep crustal earthquakes observed, in particular, in several areas of highly reflective (laminated) lower continental crust. We combine observations from earthquake seismology, crustal reflection seismics and tectonic-rheological concepts. The study concentrates on parts of the northern Alpine foreland where many earthquakes occur inside the laminated lower crust, which is generally considered to be warm and weak. Thin mafic/ultramafic, sill-like intrusions and invisible dykes are assumed to form a corset-like network with high strength. This model can explain the observed strong and multiple reflections and the occurrence of rupture inside a stable structure within a weak lower crust. Tectonic stress transfer (from the Alpine collision zone or/and the Upper Rhine Graben) and its release may follow classical friction concepts. In addition, the heterogeneity of the laminated lower crust may also favour various viscous instabilities.     

Petrogenesis of calc-alkaline,shoshonitic and associated ultrapotassic Oligocene volcanic rocks from the Northwestern Alps,Italy

Along the Western Alps there is geological evidence of late-Alpine (Oligocene) magmatic activity which clearly postdates the Lepontine (Eocene-early Oligocene) metamorphism and related deformation of the Alpine nappe pile. This magmatic activity was notably delayed in relation to the most important convergent processes and may be related to buoyancy of lithosphere, tensional tectonics and thermal updoming subsequent to the collision between the Eurasian and African plates. The geochemical features of the rocks and the geophysical characteristics of the Alpine chain, suggest that: (a) shoshonitic and calcalkaline melts may have been generated by partial melting of metasomatized peridotitic material and subsequent fractional crystallization and crustal contamination; silicic andesites and latites, however, could have been also derived from metasomatized eclogite or deep continental crust material; (b) the ultrapotassic lamprophyres with high K, P, LREE, Th, Zr, U and high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios were generated by partial melting of strongly metasomatized mantle; the varied Sr-isotopic ratios may partially also reflect additional radiogenic component from the continental crust following magma segregation from the source.     

Crustal structure of the Southern Alps beneath the intersection with the European Geotraverse

Newly digitized and amplitude controlled record sections from the 1977 Southern Alps refraction campaign permitted a reinterpretation of the crustal structure in the area between western Lombardy and the Giudicaria fault. The resulting model exhibits considerable lateral heterogeneity: in the west, below 7.5 km of sediments of the Lombardy Basin, the crust reaches a depth of only 31 km, whereas it thickens towards the more mountainous area in the east, reaching a depth of 46 km below the Adamello Massif. Although the signal character of the corresponding reflections is somewhat erratic, the data are satisfied best by models with a low-velocity zone in the upper crust. An additional small velocity discontinuity from 6.2 to 6.4 km/s was found in the middle crust at around 20 km. Earlier interpretations, based on travel-times alone, included a layer with a velocity of about 7 km/s at this depth. This high-velocity layer was then interpreted as lower-crustal material of the Adriatic — African plate, which had been overthrust onto the European plate during the Alpine orogeny, thus explaining the uplift of the Southern Alps. However, this model of crustal doubling is questionable, because such a mid-crustal high-velocity layer is not in agreement with the amplitude data. The relatively thin crystalline part of the crust under the Lombardy Basin is interpreted, in accordance with geological evidence, as a relic of a Late Hercynian rifting event.     

The collisional knot in Liguria

A series of 8 new seismic refraction profiles were computed as extensions of the borehole controlled reflection profiles of the Po plain into the northern Apennines and the Ligurian Alps. They help to more clearly define the subsurface structure of this intricate ‘Ligurian knot’. In particular, it has been possible to identify a number of high velocity bodies, and they may be correlated with such geological entities as the Adriatic Mesozoic, ophiolites of the Apenninic Liguride nappes, and ophiolites or Mesozoic carbonates underlying the Antola flysch in the Alpine part of the knot. When combining the refraction and reflection lines, these bodies appear to be bounded by important dislocation surfaces, such as the Padanide sole thrust (Plio-Pleistocene), the Villalvernia Varzi line (Oligo-Miocene), the Ottone-Levanto line (Oligo-Miocene), and the Volpedo-Valle Salimbene fault (Oligo-Miocene; reactivated as a transfer fault in the Plio-Pleistocene). The 3D geometry may be interpreted in terms of regional kinematics and is compatible with a model that envisages an Oligo-Early Miocene NW translation of the Adriatic indenter, coupled with collapse in the Provençal-Ligurian sea and rotation of the Sardinia-Liguria complex into the roll-back of the Adriatic subduction zone. The refraction interpretations, extending to a depth of 15 km, are supplemented by data on the Moho configuration obtained for the European Geotraverse. The Moho appears to be dissected into a series of patches which may be interpreted in terms of the shallow crustal configuration and its history. In particular, the deepest patch appears to be terminated by the Volpedo-Valle Salimbene fault, which consequently would displace the entire crust.     

Upper and middle crustal deformation of an arc–arc collision across Hokkaido, Japan, inferred from seismic refraction/wide-angle reflection experiments

The Hidaka Collision Zone (HCZ), central Hokkaido, Japan, is a good target for studies of crustal evolution and deformation processes associated with an arc–arc collision. The collision of the Kuril Arc (KA) with the Northeast Japan Arc (NJA), which started in the middle Miocene, is considered to be a controlling factor for the formation of the Hidaka Mountains, the westward obduction of middle/lower crustal rocks of the KA (the Hidaka Metamorphic Belt (HMB)) and the development of the foreland fold-and-thrust belt on the NJA side. The “Hokkaido Transect” project undertaken from 1998 to 2000 was a multidisciplinary effort intended to reveal structural heterogeneity across this collision zone by integrated geophysical/geological research including seismic refraction/reflection surveys and earthquake observations. An E–W trending 227 km-long refraction/wide-angle reflection profile found a complicated structural variation from the KA to the NJA across the HCZ. In the east of the HCZ, the hinterland region is covered with 4–4.5 km thick highly undulated Neogene sedimentary layers, beneath which two eastward dipping reflectors were imaged in a depth range of 10–25 km, probably representing the layer boundaries of the obducting middle/lower crust of the KA. The HMB crops out on the westward extension of these reflectors with relatively high Vp (>6.0 km/s) and Vp/Vs (>1.80) consistent with middle/lower crustal rocks. Beneath these reflectors, more flat and westward dipping reflector sequences are situated at the 25–27 km depth, forming a wedge-like geometry. This distribution pattern indicates that the KA crust has been delaminated into more than two segments under our profile. In the western part of the transect, the structure of the fold-and-thrust belt is characterized by a very thick (5–8 km) sedimentary package with a velocity of 2.5–4.8 km/s. This package exhibits one or two velocity reversals in Paleogene sedimentary layers, probably formed by imbrication associated with the collision process. From the horizontal distribution of these velocity reversals and other geophysical/geological data, the rate of crustal shortening in this area is estimated to be greater than 3–4 mm/year, which corresponds to 40–50% of the total convergence rate between the NJA and the Eurasian Plate. This means that the fold-and-thrust belt west of the HCZ is absorbing a large amount of crustal deformation associated with plate interaction across Hokkaido Island.     

The Western Carpathians—interaction of Hercynian and Alpine processes

The complicated structural and rheologic properties of Western Carpathian lithosphere reflect the complex geodynamic history of the Carpathian orogen. Based on critical analysis of earlier models, new interpolation of existing geophysical data and results of integrated modelling, a new map of the lithosphere thickness for the Carpathian–Pannonian region has been constructed. The map allows for the distinction of a frontal orogen collision zone in the NE (from increased lithosphere thickness) as well as a zone of oblique collision with the Bohemian Massif in the West, where lithosphere is not significantly thickened. The MOHO discontinuity beneath the Western Carpathian hinterland (Danube and East Slovak Basins), as defined by deep reflection seismic profiling, is relatively shallow. This probably reflects recent crustal extension related to oblique collision between the European plate and the ALCAPA block and an increase of the asthenospheric updoming from the Middle Miocene onward.Crustal thickness reflects the combined effects of deep-seated orogenic processes and mantle thermal evolution beneath the Pannonian Basin system. In this study, we focus particularly the structures of: (1) the Late Alpine collision and Neogene back arc basin development, including deep-seated contacts between colliding plates, a zone of slab detachment, the compressional accretionary wedge of the Outer Western Carpathian Flysch Belt, and extensional structures produced by subduction rollback and asthenosphere upwelling; (2) Early Alpine structures related to Cretaceous thrust-stacking, including subhorizontal reflection packages (interpreted as multi-generational extensional structures), the underplated intra-Penninic (Oravic) continental ribbon, and ophiolite traces of the Meliatic oceanic suture; and (3) north-dipping reflectors interpreted as remnant Hercynian lithotectonic fragments with opposed vergency to the subducted Alpine units.     

An Andean type Palaeozoic convergence in the Bohemian Massif

The geological inventory of the Variscan Bohemian Massif can be summarized as a result of Early Devonian subduction of the Saxothuringian ocean of unknown size underneath the eastern continental plate represented by the present-day Teplá-Barrandian and Moldanubian domains. During mid-Devonian, the Saxothuringian passive margin sequences and relics of Ordovician oceanic crust have been obducted over the Saxothuringian basement in conjunction with extrusion of the Teplá-Barrandian middle crust along the so-called Teplá suture zone. This event was connected with the development of the magmatic arc further east, together with a fore-arc basin on the Teplá-Barrandian crust. The back-arc region – the future Moldanubian zone – was affected by lithospheric thinning which marginally affected also the eastern Brunia continental crust. The subduction stage was followed by a collisional event caused by the arrival of the Saxothuringian continental crust that was associated with crustal thickening and the development of the orogenic root system in the magmatic arc and back-arc region of the orogen. The thickening was associated with depression of the Moho and the flux of the Saxothuringian felsic crust into the root area. Originally subhorizontal anisotropy in the root zone was subsequently folded by crustal-scale cusp folds in front of the Brunia backstop. During the Visean, the Brunia continent indented the thickened crustal root, resulting in the root's massive shortening causing vertical extrusion of the orogenic lower crust, which changed to a horizontal viscous channel flow of extruded lower crustal material in the mid- to supra-crustal levels. Hot orogenic lower crustal rocks were extruded: (1) in a narrow channel parallel to the former Teplá suture surface; (2) in the central part of the root zone in the form of large scale antiformal structure; and (3) in form of hot fold nappe over the Brunia promontory, where it produced Barrovian metamorphism and subsequent imbrications of its upper part. The extruded deeper parts of the orogenic root reached the surface, which soon thereafter resulted in the sedimentation of lower-crustal rocks pebbles in the thick foreland Culm basin on the stable part of the Brunia continent. Finally, during the Westfalian, the foreland Culm wedge was involved into imbricated nappe stack together with basement and orogenic channel flow nappes.     

Cenozoic geodynamic evolution of the Aegean

The Aegean region is a concentrate of the main geodynamic processes that shaped the Mediterranean region: oceanic and continental subduction, mountain building, high-pressure and low-temperature metamorphism, backarc extension, post-orogenic collapse, metamorphic core complexes, gneiss domes are the ingredients of a complex evolution that started at the end of the Cretaceous with the closure of the Tethyan ocean along the Vardar suture zone. Using available plate kinematic, geophysical, petrological and structural data, we present a synthetic tectonic map of the whole region encompassing the Balkans, Western Turkey, the Aegean Sea, the Hellenic Arc, the Mediterranean Ridge and continental Greece and we build a lithospheric-scale N-S cross-section from Crete to the Rhodope massif. We then describe the tectonic evolution of this cross-section with a series of reconstructions from ~70 Ma to the Present. We follow on the hypothesis that a single subduction has been active throughout most of the Mesozoic and the entire Cenozoic, and we show that the geological record is compatible with this hypothesis. The reconstructions show that continental subduction (Apulian and Pelagonian continental blocks) did not induce slab break-off in this case. Using this evolution, we discuss the mechanisms leading to the exhumation of metamorphic rocks and the subsequent formation of extensional metamorphic domes in the backarc region during slab retreat. The tectonic histories of the two regions showing large-scale extension, the Rhodope and the Cyclades are then compared. The respective contributions to slab retreat, post-orogenic extension and lower crust partial melting of changes in kinematic boundary conditions and in nature of subducting material, from continental to oceanic, are discussed.     

Crustal and upper mantle seismic structure of the Australian Plate, South Island, New Zealand

Seismic reflection and refraction data were collected west of New Zealand's South Island parallel to the Pacific–Australian Plate boundary. The obliquely convergent plate boundary is marked at the surface by the Alpine Fault, which juxtaposes continental crust of each plate. The data are used to study the crustal and uppermost mantle structure and provide a link between other seismic transects which cross the plate boundary. Arrival times of wide-angle reflected and refracted events from 13 recording stations are used to construct a 380-km long crustal velocity model. The model shows that, beneath a 2–4-km thick sedimentary veneer, the crust consists of two layers. The upper layer velocities increase from 5.4–5.9 km/s at the top of the layer to 6.3 km/s at the base of the layer. The base of the layer is mainly about 20 km deep but deepens to 25 km at its southern end. The lower layer velocities range from 6.3 to 7.1 km/s, and are commonly around 6.5 km/s at the top of the layer and 6.7 km/s at the base. Beneath the lower layer, the model has velocities of 8.2–8.5 km/s, typical of mantle material. The Mohorovicic discontinuity (Moho) therefore lies at the base of the second layer. It is at a depth of around 30 km but shallows over the south–central third of the profile to about 26 km, possibly associated with a southwest dipping detachment fault. The high, variable sub-Moho velocities of 8.2 km/s to 8.5 km/s are inferred to result from strong upper mantle anisotropy. Multichannel seismic reflection data cover about 220 km of the southern part of the modelled section. Beneath the well-layered Oligocene to recent sedimentary section, the crustal section is broadly divided into two zones, which correspond to the two layers of the velocity model. The upper layer (down to about 7–9 s two-way travel time) has few reflections. The lower layer (down to about 11 s two-way time) contains many strong, subparallel reflections. The base of this reflective zone is the Moho. Bi-vergent dipping reflective zones within this lower crustal layer are interpreted as interwedging structures common in areas of crustal shortening. These structures and the strong northeast dipping reflections beneath the Moho towards the north end of the (MCS) line are interpreted to be caused by Paleozoic north-dipping subduction and terrane collision at the margin of Gondwana. Deeper mantle reflections with variable dip are observed on the wide-angle gathers. Travel-time modelling of these events by ray-tracing through the established velocity model indicates depths of 50–110 km for these events. They show little coherence in dip and may be caused side-swipe from the adjacent crustal root under the Southern Alps or from the upper mantle density anomalies inferred from teleseismic data under the crustal root.     

Vertical extrusion and horizontal channel flow of orogenic lower crust: key exhumation mechanisms in large hot orogens?

A large database of structural, geochronological and petrological data combined with a Bouguer anomaly map is used to develop a two‐stage exhumation model of deep‐seated rocks in the eastern sector of the Variscan belt. An early sub‐vertical fabric developed in the orogenic lower and middle crust during intracrustal folding followed by the vertical extrusion of the lower crustal rocks. These events were responsible for exhumation of the orogenic lower crust from depths equivalent to 18?20 kbar to depths equivalent to 8?10 kbar, and for coeval burial of upper crustal rocks to depths equivalent to 8–9 kbar. Following the folding and vertical extrusion event, sub‐horizontal fabrics developed at medium to low pressure in the orogenic lower and middle crust during vertical shortening. Fabrics that record the early vertical extrusion originated between 350 and 340 Ma, during building of an orogenic root in response to SE‐directed Saxothuringian continental subduction. Fabrics that record the later sub‐horizontal exhumation event relate to an eastern promontory of the Brunia continent indenting into the rheologically weaker rocks of the orogenic root. Indentation initiated thrusting or flow of the orogenic crust over the Brunia continent in a north‐directed sub‐horizontal channel. This sub‐horizontal flow operated between 330 and 325 Ma, and was responsible for a heterogeneous mixing of blocks and boudins of lower and middle crustal rocks and for their progressive thermal re‐equilibration. The erosion depth as well as the degree of reworking decreases from south to north, pointing to an outflow of lower crustal material to the surface, which was subsequently eroded and deposited in a foreland basin. Indentation by the Brunia continental promontory was highly noncoaxial with respect to the SE‐oriented Saxothuringian continental subduction in the Early Visean, suggesting a major switch of plate configuration during the Middle to Late Visean.     

How Alpine or Himalayan are the Central Andes?

 Although non-collisional mountain belts, such as the Andes, and collisional mountain belts, such as the Alps and the Himalayas–Tibet, have been regarded as fundamentally different, the Central Andes share several features with the Himalayas–Tibet. The most important of these are extremely thickened (≥70 km) continental crustal roots supporting high plateaus and mountain fronts characterized by large basement thrusts. The main prerequisite for very thick crustal roots and extreme mountainous topography appears to be large-scale underthrusting of continental crust of normal thickness, irrespective of whether the crustal thrusts are antithetic with respect to subduction as in the Andes, or synthetic with respect to preceding subduction of oceanic lithosphere as in the Himalayas. In both cases sole thrusts near the base of the continental crust nucleated in thermally anomalous zones of the hinterland and then propagated across ramps into shallower detachments located within thick sedimentary or metasedimentary cover rocks. In contrast to the Central Andes and the Himalayas, the Alps are characterized by intracrustal detachment which allowed both the subduction of lower crust and a stacking of relatively thin upper crustal slivers, which make up a narrow mountain chain with a more subdued topography. Received: 10 August 1998 / Accepted: 1 March 1999     

Geometry and kinematics of the Roisan-Cignana Shear Zone,and the orogenic evolution of the Dent Blanche Tectonic System (Western Alps)

The Dent Blanche Tectonic System (DBTS) is a composite thrust sheet derived from the previously thinned passive Adriatic continental margin. A kilometric high-strain zone, the Roisan-Cignana Shear Zone (RCSZ) defines the major tectonic boundary within the DBTS and separates it into two subunits, the Dent Blanche s.s. nappe to the northwest and the Mont Mary nappe to the southeast. Within this shear zone, tectonic slices of Mesozoic and pre-Alpine meta-sediments became amalgamated with continental basement rocks of the Adriatic margin. The occurrence of high pressure assemblages along the contact between these tectonic slices indicates that the amalgamation occurred prior to or during the subduction process, at an early stage of the Alpine orogenic cycle. Detailed mapping, petrographic and structural analysis show that the Roisan-Cignana Shear Zone results from several superimposed Alpine structural and metamorphic stages. Subduction of the continental fragments is recorded by blueschist-facies deformation, whereas the Alpine collision is reflected by a greenschist facies overprint associated with the development of large-scale open folds. The post-nappe evolution comprises the development of low-angle brittle faults, followed by large-scale folding (Vanzone phase) and finally brittle extensional faults. The RCSZ shows that fragments of continental crust had been torn off the passive continental margin prior to continental collision, thus recording the entire history of the orogenic cycle. The role of preceding Permo-Triassic lithospheric thinning, Jurassic rifting, and ablative subduction processes in controlling the removal of crustal fragments from the reactivated passive continental margin is discussed. Results of this study constrain the temporal sequence of the tectono-metamorphic processes involved in the assembly of the DBTS, but they also show limits on the interpretation. In particular it remains difficult to judge to what extent pre-collisional rifting at the Adriatic continental margin preconditioned the efficiency of convergent processes, i.e. accretion, subduction, and orogenic exhumation.     

Integration of natural data within a numerical model of ablative subduction: a possible interpretation for the Alpine dynamics of the Austroalpine crust

A numerical modelling approach is used to validate the physical and geological reliability of the ablative subduction mechanism during Alpine convergence in order to interpret the tectonic and metamorphic evolution of an inner portion of the Alpine belt: the Austroalpine Domain. The model predictions and the natural data for the Austroalpine of the Western Alps agree very well in terms of P–T peak conditions, relative chronology of peak and exhumation events, P–T–t paths, thermal gradients and the tectonic evolution of the continental rocks. These findings suggest that a pre‐collisional evolution of this domain, with the burial of the continental rocks (induced by ablative subduction of the overriding Adria plate) and their exhumation (driven by an upwelling flow generated in a hydrated mantle wedge) could be a valid mechanism that reproduces the actual tectono‐metamorphic configuration of this part of the Alps. There is less agreement between the model predictions and the natural data for the Austroalpine of the Central‐Eastern Alps. Based on the natural data available in the literature, a critical discussion of the other proposed mechanisms is presented, and additional geological factors that should be considered within the numerical model are suggested to improve the fitting to the numerical results; these factors include variations in the continental and/or oceanic thickness, variation of the subduction rate and/or slab dip, the initial thermal state of the passive margin, the occurrence of continental collision and an oblique convergence.     

A new tomographic image of the Pyrenean lithosphere from teleseismic data

A new tomographic model of the Pyrenean lithosphere is determined down to 200 km depth from teleseismic P and PKP travel times, with a lateral resolution of 0.25°. Compared to previous models, two important improvements are 1) a larger number of stations with a more even distribution, in particular to the west of the range, and 2) the introduction, before inversion, of crustal corrections inferred from previous refraction and reflection experiments. This last point is crucial because a strong Moho jump (up to 20 km) is present at the North Pyrenean Fault, the former boundary between Eurasian and Iberian plates. The comparison of the models obtained with and without crustal corrections reveals the strong contamination of the models by the crust down to 100 km depth. In the uncorrected model, a large strip with negative P-velocity anomalies, previously interpreted as subduction of lower crust, is observed. It disappears in the corrected model. Moreover, the introduction of crustal corrections allows us to reveal short wavelength heterogeneities which were hidden by the crustal signal.An attempt is made to relate the heterogeneities revealed by the tomographic model with the tectonic history of the Pyrenees, in particular with the Alpine orogeny. The Alpine phase includes an extensive episode with generation of the thin continental crust and possibly the opening of an oceanic sea floor, and then a compressive stage. In our model, no signature of an oceanic subducted slab could be detected all along the range, a result which rules out the opening of a large oceanic floor before the compressive stage. A subduction of continental crust is possible but, due to the transformation of lower crust into eclogite at depth, it can not be detected by seismological methods, whereas it was observed from electrical and gravity data. To the East of the range, large heterogeneities with low velocities are ascribable to the Neogene extension related to the rotation of the Corso–Sardo block and the opening of the Gulf of Lion. A prominent high velocity anomaly extending down to 200 km in eastern-central Pyrenees could possibly be interpreted as a detached piece of the Tethys slab. In north of Iberia outside the range, deep (down to 200 km) low velocity structures oriented N130°E are probably related to Hercynian orogeny.     

喜马拉雅碰撞带陆壳增厚和隆升机制——一种陆壳构造演化模式

“回流”是大陆碰撞带内普遍发生的一种构造-物理过程。本文基于喜马拉雅碰撞带的地质、地球物理事实,提出“回流”模式,以阐明喜马拉雅碰撞带各种地质、地球物理过程的内在联系,揭示大陆碰撞带的构造演化规律。