Geophysical‐geological transect and tectonic evolution of the Swiss‐Italian Alps (original) (raw)
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Tectonics, 1990
The deep crustal seismic line NFP 20-EAST crosses almost the entire Swiss Alps. Despite the complex geometry of the well-exposed nappe structure and the considerable axial plunge of some of the units, the Vibroseis survey yielded coherent reflections from several individually identifiable nappe contacts. In the northern part of the survey the Vibroseis data closely match the internal structure of the Helvetic nappes and the underlying autochthonous-parautochthonous Mesozoic sediments. On the northern flank of the Aar massif, an external basement uplift, these Mesozoic sediments seem to rise from a depth of approximately 7-8 km below sea level to the surface in a series of
Rollback Orogeny Model for the Evolution of the Swiss Alps
Tectonics, 2018
The construction of the European Alps and the Himalayas has been related to the convergence and subsequent collision of two continental plates. Nearly all models of orogeny build on this concept, and all of them relate the stacking of nappes and the buildup of topography to compressional forces at work in response to the collision between two continental plates. For the central European Alps, however, these models fail to explain the first‐order observations of a mountain belt, which particularly includes the striking isostatic imbalance between the low surface topography and the thick crust beneath the Alps. Here we review and synthesize data on the geologic architecture of the central Alps, the chronology and pattern of crustal deformation, and information about the deep crustal structure derived from seismic tomography. Furthermore, we discuss the intrinsic and explicit assumptions in the kinematic models of Alpine evolution in the context of plate tectonic considerations. We com...
1998
Deep Structure of the Swiss Alps: Results of NRP 20. O.A. Pfiffner, P. Lehner, P. Heitzmann, St. Mueller, and A. Steck (editors). Birkhaüser, Basel, 1997, 380 pp., large format (44 × 31 × 6 cm). DM 228.00, ISBN 3-7643-5254-X.
Orogenic structure of the Eastern Alps, Europe, from TRANSALP deep seismic reflection profiling
Tectonophysics, 2004
The TRANSALP Group, comprising of partner institutions from Italy, Austria and Germany, acquired data on a 340 km long deep seismic reflection line crossing the Eastern Alps between Munich and Venice. Although the field work was split into four campaigns, between fall 1998 and summer 2001, the project gathered for the first time a continuous profile across the Alps using consistent field acquisition and data processing parameters. These sections span the orogen itself, at its broadest width, as well as the two adjacent basins. Vibroseis and explosion data, complementary in their depth penetration and resolution characteristics, were obtained along with wide-angle and teleseismic data. The profile shows a bi-vergent asymmetric structure of the crust beneath the Alpine axis which reaches a maximum thickness of 55 km, and 80-100 km long transcrustal ramps, the southward dipping dSub-Tauern-RampT and the northward-dipping dSub-Dolomites-RampT. Strongly reflective patterns of these ramps can be traced towards the north to the Inn Valley and towards the south to the Valsugana thrust belt, both of which show enhanced seismicity in the brittle upper crust. The seismic sections do not reveal any direct evidence for the presence of the Periadriatic Fault system, the presumed equivalent to the Insubric Line in the Western Alps. According to our new evolutionary model, the Sub-Tauern-Ramp is linked at depth with remnants of the subducted Penninic Ocean. The dcrocodileT-type model describes an upper/lower crustal decoupling and wedging of both the European and the Adriatic-African continents. D
Geological outline of the Alps
Episodes, 2003
The Alps were developed from the Cretaceous onwards by subduction of a Mesozoic ocean and collision between the Adriatic (Austroalpine-Southalpine) and European (Penninic-Helvetic) continental margins. The Austroalpine-Penninic wedge is the core of the collisional belt, a fossil subduction complex which floats on the European lower plate. It consists of continental and minor oceanic nappes and is marked by a blueschist-to-eclogite-facies imprint of Cretaceous-Eocene age, followed by a Barrovian overprint. The collisional wedge was later accreted by the Helvetic basement and cover units and indented by the Southalpine lithosphere, which in turn was deformed as an antithetic fold-and-thrust belt.
Tectonic interpretation of a 3D seismic model of the Eastern Alps
2006
Neogene extensional processes. Some terranes (e.g. Tisza, Saxothuringian) can be delineated by their distinct middle crust. In some areas (e.g. Vienna basin) deep sediments are not isostatically compensated by shallow Moho but by lower crust with high velocity and density.
Subduction and obduction processes in the Swiss Alps
Tectonophysics, 1998
The significance of the Briançonnais domain in the Alpine orogen is reviewed in the light of data concerning its collision with the active Adriatic margin and the passive Helvetic margin. The Briançonnais which formerly belonged to the Iberian plate, was located on the northern margin of the Alpine Tethys (Liguro-Piémont ocean) since its opening in the early-Middle Jurassic. Together with the Iberian plate the Briançonnais terrane was separated from the European plate in the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, following the northern Atlantic, Bay of Biscay, Valais ocean opening. This was accompanied by the onset of subduction along the northern margin of Adria and the closure of the Alpine Tethys. Stratigraphic and metamorphic data regarding this subduction and the geohistory of the Briançonnais allows the scenario of subduction-obduction processes during the Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary in the eastern and western Alps to be specified. HP-LT metamorphism record a long-lasting history of oceanic subduction-accretion, followed in the Middle Eocene by the incorporation of the Briançonnais as an exotic terrane into the accretionary prism. Middle to Late Eocene cooling ages of the Briançonnais basement and the presence of pelagic, anorogenic sedimentation lasting until the Middle Eocene on the Briançonnais preclude any sort of collision before that time between this domain and the active Adria margin or the Helvetic margin. This is confirmed by plate reconstructions constrained by magnetic anomalies in the Atlantic domain. Only a small percentage of the former Briançonnais domain was obducted, most of the crust and lithospheric roots were subducted. This applies also to domains formerly belonging to the southern Alpine Tethys margin (Austroalpine-inner Carpathian domain). It is proposed that there was a single Palaeogene subduction zone responsible for the Alpine orogen formation (from northern Spain to the East Carpathians), with the exception of a short-lived Late Cretaceous partial closure of the Valais ocean. Subduction in the western Tethyan domain originated during the closure of the Meliata ocean during the Jurassic incorporating the Austroalpine-Carpathian domain as terranes during the Cretaceous. The subduction zone propagated into the northern margin of Adria and then to the northern margin of the Iberian plate, where it gave birth to the Pyrenean-Provençal orogenic belt. This implies the absence of a separated Cretaceous subduction zone within the Austro-Carpathian Penninic ocean. Collision of Iberia with Europe forced the subduction to jump to the SE margin of Iberia in the Eocene, creating the Apenninic orogenic wedge and inverting the vergence of subduction from south-to north-directed.
Tectonics, 1990
The deep crustal seismic line NFP 20-EAST crosses almost the entire Swiss Alps. Despite the complex geometry of the well-exposed nappe structure and the considerable axial plunge of some of the units, the Vibroseis survey yielded coherent reflections from several individually identifiable nappe contacts. In the northern part of the survey the Vibroseis data closely match the internal structure of the Helvetic nappes and the underlying autochthonous-parautochthonous Mesozoic sediments. On the northern flank of the Aar massif, an external basement uplift, these Mesozoic sediments seem to rise from a depth of approximately 7-8 km below sea level to the surface in a series of