Magnetic fabrics in rocks from the Möll-Drau Valley (Carinthia,Austria)

A large suite of rock cores was collected from localities lying on linear profiles across the Möll-Drau Valley (in Carinthia, Austria) for a fabric study to determine the nature of the Möll-Drau Line (MDL) and its place in the Alpine Orogeny. The fabrics of the region show a dominant N-S compression direction in the Kreuzeck Group which transforms to a NE-SW compression direction within the Reisseck Group. This and the large number of prolate sites in the Reisseck Group indicate an overthrusting of the Eastalpine units (Kreuzeck Altkristallin) on to the Penninic units (Reisseck group). The geological and radiometric observations of the MDL suggest that the MDL is an uplifting shear line. If this is so, the magnetic fabrics suggest that this uplift was active after the main N-S compression of the Alpine Orogeny. The complete absence of fabric overprinting due to this uplift also suggests that the activity on the Line was relatively friction free. The distinct fabric differences within the Goldeck and Kreuzeck units indicate that they may have undergone individual block type movements and rotations.