Articles | Volume 11, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1823-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1823-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Long-wavelength late-Miocene thrusting in the north Alpine foreland: implications for late orogenic processes
Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 1+3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Christoph von Hagke
Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, RWTH Aachen University,
Wüllnerstrasse 2, 52056 Aachen, Germany
Department of Geography and Geology, University of Salzburg,
Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
Fritz Schlunegger
Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 1+3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
István Dunkl
Geoscience Center, Sedimentology and Environmental Geology, University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstrasse 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Marco Herwegh
Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 1+3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Related authors
Samuel Mock, Christoph von Hagke, Fritz Schlunegger, István Dunkl, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2019-56, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2019-56, 2019
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Based on own and published age data, we can infer tectonic pulses along-strike the entire northern rim of the Central Alps between 12–4 million years. Although lithologic variations largely influence the local deformation pattern, the tectonic signal is remarkably consistent all the way from Lake Geneva to Salzburg. This might result from a deep-seated tectonic force and marks a change from dominantly vertical to large-scale horizontal tectonics in the late stage of Alpine orogeny.
Kevin Alexander Frings, Elco Luijendijk, István Dunkl, Peter Kukla, Nicolas Villamizar-Escalante, Herfried Madritsch, and Christoph von Hagke
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1323, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1323, 2022
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
We use apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronologic on detrital grains sampled from a well to unravel the exhumation history of the northern Swiss Molasse Basin and reconcile seemingly contradicting previous studies. With single grain ages and provenance ages, we achieve to narrowly constrain exhumation magnitude and timing and embed previous results into a single consistent thermal history. This includes proof for hydrothermal activity and a contribution to the discussion on exhumation drivers.
Veronica Peverelli, Alfons Berger, Martin Wille, Thomas Pettke, Pierre Lanari, Igor Maria Villa, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth, 13, 1803–1821, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1803-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1803-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This work studies the interplay of epidote dissolution–precipitation and quartz dynamic recrystallization during viscous granular flow in a deforming epidote–quartz vein. Pb and Sr isotope data indicate that epidote dissolution–precipitation is mediated by internal/recycled fluids with an additional external fluid component. Microstructures and geochemical data show that the epidote material is redistributed and chemically homogenized within the deforming vein via a dynamic granular fluid pump.
David Mair, Ariel Henrique Do Prado, Philippos Garefalakis, Alessandro Lechmann, Alexander Whittaker, and Fritz Schlunegger
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 953–973, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-953-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-953-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Grain size data are important for studying and managing rivers, but they are difficult to obtain in the field. Therefore, methods have been developed that use images from small and remotely piloted aircraft. However, uncertainty in grain size data from such image-based products is understudied. Here we present a new way of uncertainty estimation that includes fully modeled errors. We use this technique to assess the effect of several image acquisition aspects on grain size uncertainty.
Michael A. Schwenk, Laura Stutenbecker, Patrick Schläfli, Dimitri Bandou, and Fritz Schlunegger
E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 71, 163–190, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-71-163-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-71-163-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We investigated the origin of glacial sediments in the Bern area to determine their route of transport either with the Aare Glacier or the Valais Glacier. These two ice streams are known to have joined in the Bern area during the last major glaciation (ca. 20 000 years ago). However, little is known about the ice streams prior to this last glaciation. Here we collected evidence that during a glaciation about 250 000 years ago the Aare Glacier dominated the area as documented in the deposits.
Ariel Henrique do Prado, Renato Paes de Almeida, Cristiano Padalino Galeazzi, Victor Sacek, and Fritz Schlunegger
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 457–471, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-457-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-457-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Our work is focused on describing how and why the terrace levels of central Amazonia were formed during the last 100 000 years. We propose to address this question through a landscape evolution numerical model. Our results show that terrace levels at lower elevation were established in response to dry–wet climate changes and the older terrace levels at higher elevations most likely formed in response to a previously higher elevation of the regional base level.
Alessandro Lechmann, David Mair, Akitaka Ariga, Tomoko Ariga, Antonio Ereditato, Ryuichi Nishiyama, Ciro Pistillo, Paola Scampoli, Mykhailo Vladymyrov, and Fritz Schlunegger
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2441–2473, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2441-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2441-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Muon tomography is a technology that is used often in geoscientific research. The know-how of data analysis is, however, still possessed by physicists who developed this technology. This article aims at providing geoscientists with the necessary tools to perform their own analyses. We hope that a lower threshold to enter the field of muon tomography will allow more geoscientists to engage with muon tomography. SMAUG is set up in a modular way to allow for its own modules to work in between.
Michael A. Schwenk, Patrick Schläfli, Dimitri Bandou, Natacha Gribenski, Guilhem A. Douillet, and Fritz Schlunegger
Sci. Dril., 30, 17–42, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-30-17-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-30-17-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A scientific drilling was conducted into a bedrock trough (overdeepening) in Bern-Bümpliz (Switzerland) in an effort to advance the knowledge of the Quaternary prior to 150 000 years ago. We encountered a 208.5 m-thick succession of loose sediments (gravel, sand and mud) in the retrieved core and identified two major sedimentary sequences (A: lower, B: upper). The sedimentary suite records two glacial advances and the subsequent filling of a lake sometime between 300 000 and 200 000 years ago.
Emilija Krsnik, Katharina Methner, Marion Campani, Svetlana Botsyun, Sebastian G. Mutz, Todd A. Ehlers, Oliver Kempf, Jens Fiebig, Fritz Schlunegger, and Andreas Mulch
Solid Earth, 12, 2615–2631, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2615-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2615-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Here we present new surface elevation constraints for the middle Miocene Central Alps based on stable and clumped isotope geochemical analyses. Our reconstructed paleoelevation estimate is supported by isotope-enabled paleoclimate simulations and indicates that the Miocene Central Alps were characterized by a heterogeneous and spatially transient topography with high elevations locally exceeding 4000 m.
Renas I. Koshnaw, Fritz Schlunegger, and Daniel F. Stockli
Solid Earth, 12, 2479–2501, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2479-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2479-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
As continental plates collide, mountain belts grow. This study investigated the provenance of rocks from the northwestern segment of the Zagros mountain belt to unravel the convergence history of the Arabian and Eurasian plates. Provenance data synthesis and field relationships suggest that the Zagros Mountains developed as a result of the oceanic crust emplacement on the Arabian continental plate, followed by the Arabia–Eurasia collision and later uplift of the broader region.
Dariusz Botor, Stanisław Mazur, Aneta A. Anczkiewicz, István Dunkl, and Jan Golonka
Solid Earth, 12, 1899–1930, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1899-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1899-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The thermal evolution of the East European Platform is reconstructed by means of thermal maturity and low-temperature thermochronometry. Results showed that major heating occurred before the Permian, with maximum paleotemperatures in the earliest and latest Carboniferous for Baltic–Podlasie and Lublin basins, respectively. The Mesozoic thermal history was characterized by gradual cooling from peak temperatures at the transition from Triassic to Jurassic due to decreasing heat flow.
Hilmar von Eynatten, Jonas Kley, István Dunkl, Veit-Enno Hoffmann, and Annemarie Simon
Solid Earth, 12, 935–958, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-935-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-935-2021, 2021
Elco Luijendijk, Leo Benard, Sarah Louis, Christoph von Hagke, and Jonas Kley
Solid Earth Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2021-22, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2021-22, 2021
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Our knowledge of the geological history of mountain belts relies strongly on thermochronometers, methods that reconstruct the temperature history of rocks found in mountain belts. Here we provide a new equation that describes the motion of rocks in a simplified, wedge-shaped representation of a mountain belt. The equation can be used to interpret thermochronometers and can help quantify the deformation, uplift and erosion history of mountain belts.
Veronica Peverelli, Tanya Ewing, Daniela Rubatto, Martin Wille, Alfons Berger, Igor Maria Villa, Pierre Lanari, Thomas Pettke, and Marco Herwegh
Geochronology, 3, 123–147, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-123-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-123-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This work presents LA-ICP-MS U–Pb geochronology of epidote in hydrothermal veins. The challenges of epidote dating are addressed, and a protocol is proposed allowing us to obtain epidote U–Pb ages with a precision as good as 5 % in addition to the initial Pb isotopic composition of the epidote-forming fluid. Epidote demonstrates its potential to be used as a U–Pb geochronometer and as a fluid tracer, allowing us to reconstruct the timing of hydrothermal activity and the origin of the fluid(s).
James Gilgannon, Marius Waldvogel, Thomas Poulet, Florian Fusseis, Alfons Berger, Auke Barnhoorn, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth, 12, 405–420, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-405-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-405-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Using experiments that simulate deep tectonic interfaces, known as viscous shear zones, we found that these zones spontaneously develop periodic sheets of small pores. The presence of porous layers in deep rocks undergoing tectonic deformation is significant because it requires a change to the current model of how the Earth deforms. Emergent porous layers in viscous rocks will focus mineralising fluids and could lead to the seismic failure of rocks that are never supposed to have this occur.
Owen A. Anfinson, Daniel F. Stockli, Joseph C. Miller, Andreas Möller, and Fritz Schlunegger
Solid Earth, 11, 2197–2220, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-2197-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-2197-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present new U–Pb age data to provide insights into the source of sediment for the Molasse Sedimentary Basin in Switzerland. The paper aims to help shed light on the processes that built the Central Alpine Mountains between ~35 and ~15 Ma. A primary conclusion drawn from the results is that at ~21 Ma there was a significant change in the sediment sources for the basin. We feel this change indicates major tectonic changes within the Central Alps.
Fritz Schlunegger, Romain Delunel, and Philippos Garefalakis
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 717–728, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-717-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-717-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We calculated the probability of sediment transport in coarse-grained mountainous streams in the Alps and the Andes where data on water discharge is available. We find a positive correlation between the predicted probability of sediment transport and the grain size sorting of the bed material. We suggest that besides sediment discharge, the bedload sorting exerts a significant influence on the mobility of sediment and thus on the stability of gravel bars in mountainous streams.
David Mair, Alessandro Lechmann, Romain Delunel, Serdar Yeşilyurt, Dmitry Tikhomirov, Christof Vockenhuber, Marcus Christl, Naki Akçar, and Fritz Schlunegger
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 637–659, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-637-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-637-2020, 2020
Philippos Garefalakis and Fritz Schlunegger
Solid Earth, 10, 2045–2072, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-2045-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-2045-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The controls on the 20 Myr old Burdigalian transgression in the Swiss Molasse basin have been related to a reduction in sediment flux, a rise in global sea level, or tectonic processes in the adjacent Alps. Here, we readdress this problem and extract stratigraphic signals from the Upper Marine Molasse deposits in Switzerland. In conclusion, we consider rollback tectonics to be the main driving force controlling the transgression, which is related to a deepening and widening of the basin.
Christopher Weismüller, Janos L. Urai, Michael Kettermann, Christoph von Hagke, and Klaus Reicherter
Solid Earth, 10, 1757–1784, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1757-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1757-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We use drones to study surface geometries of massively dilatant faults (MDFs) in Iceland, with apertures up to tens of meters at the surface. Based on throw, aperture and structures, we define three geometrically different endmembers of the surface expression of MDFs and show that they belong to one continuum. The transition between the endmembers is fluent and can change at one fault over short distances, implying less distinct control of deeper structures on surface geometries than expected.
François Clapuyt, Veerle Vanacker, Marcus Christl, Kristof Van Oost, and Fritz Schlunegger
Solid Earth, 10, 1489–1503, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1489-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1489-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Using state-of-the-art geomorphic techniques, we quantified a 2-order of magnitude discrepancy between annual, decadal, and millennial sediment fluxes of a landslide-affected mountainous river catchment in the Swiss Alps. Our results illustrate that the impact of a single sediment pulse is strongly attenuated at larger spatial and temporal scales by sediment transport. The accumulation of multiple sediment pulses has rather a measurable impact on the regional pattern of sediment fluxes.
Samuel Mock, Christoph von Hagke, Fritz Schlunegger, István Dunkl, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2019-56, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2019-56, 2019
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Based on own and published age data, we can infer tectonic pulses along-strike the entire northern rim of the Central Alps between 12–4 million years. Although lithologic variations largely influence the local deformation pattern, the tectonic signal is remarkably consistent all the way from Lake Geneva to Salzburg. This might result from a deep-seated tectonic force and marks a change from dominantly vertical to large-scale horizontal tectonics in the late stage of Alpine orogeny.
Arne Grobe, Christoph von Hagke, Ralf Littke, István Dunkl, Franziska Wübbeler, Philippe Muchez, and Janos L. Urai
Solid Earth, 10, 149–175, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-149-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-149-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The Mesozoic sequences of the Oman mountains experienced only weak post-obduction overprint and deformation, and thus they offer a unique natural laboratory to study obduction. We present a study of pressure and temperature evolution in the passive continental margin under the Oman Ophiolite using numerical basin models calibrated with thermal maturity data, fluid-inclusion thermometry, and low-temperature thermochronology.
Alessandro Lechmann, David Mair, Akitaka Ariga, Tomoko Ariga, Antonio Ereditato, Ryuichi Nishiyama, Ciro Pistillo, Paola Scampoli, Fritz Schlunegger, and Mykhailo Vladymyrov
Solid Earth, 9, 1517–1533, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1517-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1517-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Muon tomography is a technology, similar to X-ray tomography, to image the interior of an object, including geologically interesting ones. In this work, we examined the influence of rock composition on the physical measurements, and the possible error that is made by assuming a too-simplistic rock model. We performed numerical simulations for a more realistic rock model and found that beyond 300 m of rock, the composition starts to play a significant role and has to be accounted for.
Ismay Vénice Akker, Josef Kaufmann, Guillaume Desbois, Jop Klaver, Janos L. Urai, Alfons Berger, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth, 9, 1141–1156, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1141-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1141-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We studied porosity changes of slates from eastern Switzerland, which were deposited in an ocean in front of the emerging Alps during the Cenozoic. The Alpine collision between the European and African plates brought the rocks from this basin to today’s position in the Alps. From the basin to the surface, the porosity first decreased down to a small number of round cavities (<1 vol%) to microfractures, and once at the surface, the porosity increased again due to the formation of macro-fractures.
David Mair, Alessandro Lechmann, Marco Herwegh, Lukas Nibourel, and Fritz Schlunegger
Solid Earth, 9, 1099–1122, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1099-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1099-2018, 2018
Fritz Schlunegger and Philippos Garefalakis
Earth Surf. Dynam., 6, 743–761, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-743-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-743-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Clast imbrication, which is a depositional fabric where clasts overlap each other similar to a run of toppled dominoes, is one of the most conspicuous sedimentary structures in coarse-grained fluvial deposits. However, the conditions leading to this fabric have been contested. Here, we calculate the hydrological conditions for various stream gradients. We find that clast imbrication most likely forms where channel gradients exceed a threshold and where upper flow regime conditions prevail.
Simon Virgo, Christoph von Hagke, and Janos L. Urai
Solid Earth, 9, 91–113, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-91-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-91-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The marbles of the migmatitic dome on the island Naxos contain deformed layers of amphibolite with multiple phases of boudinage. The boudins formed by E–W shortening normal to the layers and layer parallel extension in various directions. We identified five different generations of boudins that show that E–W shortening is the prevalent deformation in these rocks during the peak metamorphosis and the following cooling, different from other parts of the island dominated by top-to-north shearing.
Anna Costa, Peter Molnar, Laura Stutenbecker, Maarten Bakker, Tiago A. Silva, Fritz Schlunegger, Stuart N. Lane, Jean-Luc Loizeau, and Stéphanie Girardclos
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 509–528, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-509-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-509-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We explore the signal of a warmer climate in the suspended-sediment dynamics of a regulated and human-impacted Alpine catchment. We demonstrate that temperature-driven enhanced melting of glaciers, which occurred in the mid-1980s, played a dominant role in suspended sediment concentration rise, through increased runoff from sediment-rich proglacial areas, increased contribution of sediment-rich meltwater, and increased sediment supply in proglacial areas due to glacier recession.
François Clapuyt, Veerle Vanacker, Fritz Schlunegger, and Kristof Van Oost
Earth Surf. Dynam., 5, 791–806, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-791-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-791-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This work aims at understanding the behaviour of an earth flow located in the Swiss Alps by reconstructing very accurately its topography over a 2-year period. Aerial photos taken from a drone, which are then processed using a computer vision algorithm, were used to derive the topographic datasets. Combination and careful interpretation of high-resolution topographic analyses reveal the internal mechanisms of the earthflow and its complex rotational structure, which is evolving over time.
Raphael Schneeberger, Miguel de La Varga, Daniel Egli, Alfons Berger, Florian Kober, Florian Wellmann, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth, 8, 987–1002, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-987-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-987-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Structural 3-D modelling has become a widely used technique within applied projects. We performed a typical modelling workflow for a study site with the occurrence of an underground facility. This exceptional setting enabled us to test the surface-based extrapolation of faults with the mapped faults underground. We estimated the extrapolation-related uncertainty with probabilistic 2-D interpolation. This research was conducted to improve structural 3-D modelling in less-constrained areas.
Camille Litty, Fritz Schlunegger, and Willem Viveen
Earth Surf. Dynam., 5, 571–583, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-571-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-571-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This paper focuses on the analysis of the properties controlling the grain size in the streams of the western Peruvian Andes. Pebble size distributions in these streams have been compared to fluvial processes and basin properties. The resulting trends and differences in sediment properties seem to have been controlled by threshold conditions upon supply and transport.
Michael Kettermann, Christoph von Hagke, Heijn W. van Gent, Christoph Grützner, and Janos L. Urai
Solid Earth, 7, 843–856, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-7-843-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-7-843-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We present an analogue modeling study on the interaction of pre-existing joints and normal faults using cohesive powder. We vary the angle between joints and a rigid basement fault and analyze interpreted map-view photographs at maximum displacement for various parameters and compare to nature. Results show a clear effect of increasing angle between joints and faults on fault geometry, fracture density and connectivity. These information can help interpreting fractured layers in the subsurface.
Laura Stutenbecker, Anna Costa, and Fritz Schlunegger
Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 253–272, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-253-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-253-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This paper considers the influence of lithology on the landscape development in the Central Swiss Alps. In high-alpine settings such as the upper Rhône valley, external forcing by climate, glaciation and uplift affects the geomorphological evolution of the landscape. By careful compilation of published data and geomorphological analysis we found that the rock type and its susceptibility to erosion are the main factors controlling the response time to those perturbations.
K. P. Norton, F. Schlunegger, and C. Litty
Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 147–157, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-147-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-147-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Cut-fill terraces are common landforms throughout the world. Their distribution both in space and time is not clear-cut, as they can arise from numerous processes. We apply a climate-dependent regolith production algorithm to determine potential sediment loads during climate shifts. When combined with transport capacity, our results suggest that the cut-fill terraces of western Peru can result from transient stripping of hillslope sediment but not steady-state hillslope erosion.
Related subject area
Subject area: Tectonic plate interactions, magma genesis, and lithosphere deformation at all scales | Editorial team: Structural geology and tectonics, paleoseismology, rock physics, experimental deformation | Discipline: Tectonics
Magnetic fabric analyses of basin inversion: a sandbox modelling approach
The influence of crustal strength on rift geometry and development – insights from 3D numerical modelling
Construction of the Ukrainian Carpathian wedge from low-temperature thermochronology and tectono-stratigraphic analysis
Analogue modelling of basin inversion: a review and future perspectives
Insights into the interaction of a shale with CO2
Tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Slyne Basin
Control of crustal strength, tectonic inheritance, and stretching/ shortening rates on crustal deformation and basin reactivation: insights from laboratory models
Late Cretaceous–early Palaeogene inversion-related tectonic structures at the northeastern margin of the Bohemian Massif (southwestern Poland and northern Czechia)
The analysis of slip tendency of major tectonic faults in Germany
Earthquake ruptures and topography of the Chilean margin controlled by plate interface deformation
Late Quaternary faulting in the southern Matese (Italy): implications for earthquake potential and slip rate variability in the southern Apennines
Rare earth elements associated with carbonatite–alkaline complexes in western Rajasthan, India: exploration targeting at regional scale
Structural complexities and tectonic barriers controlling recent seismic activity in the Pollino area (Calabria–Lucania, southern Italy) – constraints from stress inversion and 3D fault model building
The Mid Atlantic Appalachian Orogen Traverse: a comparison of virtual and on-location field-based capstone experiences
Chronology of thrust propagation from an updated tectono-sedimentary framework of the Miocene molasse (western Alps)
Orogenic lithosphere and slabs in the greater Alpine area – interpretations based on teleseismic P-wave tomography
Ground-penetrating radar signature of Quaternary faulting: a study from the Mt. Pollino region, southern Apennines, Italy
U–Pb dating of middle Eocene–Pliocene multiple tectonic pulses in the Alpine foreland
Detrital zircon provenance record of the Zagros mountain building from the Neotethys obduction to the Arabia–Eurasia collision, NW Zagros fold–thrust belt, Kurdistan region of Iraq
The Subhercynian Basin: an example of an intraplate foreland basin due to a broken plate
Late to post-Variscan basement segmentation and differential exhumation along the SW Bohemian Massif, central Europe
Holocene surface-rupturing earthquakes on the Dinaric Fault System, western Slovenia
Contribution of gravity gliding in salt-bearing rift basins – a new experimental setup for simulating salt tectonics under the influence of sub-salt extension and tilting
Thick- and thin-skinned basin inversion in the Danish Central Graben, North Sea – the role of deep evaporites and basement kinematics
Complex rift patterns, a result of interacting crustal and mantle weaknesses, or multiphase rifting? Insights from analogue models
Interactions of plutons and detachments: a comparison of Aegean and Tyrrhenian granitoids
Insights from elastic thermobarometry into exhumation of high-pressure metamorphic rocks from Syros, Greece
Stress rotation – impact and interaction of rock stiffness and faults
Late Cretaceous to Paleogene exhumation in central Europe – localized inversion vs. large-scale domal uplift
Kinematics and extent of the Piemont–Liguria Basin – implications for subduction processes in the Alps
Effects of basal drag on subduction dynamics from 2D numerical models
Hydrocarbon accumulation in basins with multiple phases of extension and inversion: examples from the Western Desert (Egypt) and the western Black Sea
A reconstruction of Iberia accounting for Western Tethys–North Atlantic kinematics since the late-Permian–Triassic
The enigmatic curvature of Central Iberia and its puzzling kinematics
Control of 3-D tectonic inheritance on fold-and-thrust belts: insights from 3-D numerical models and application to the Helvetic nappe system
Plio-Quaternary tectonic evolution of the southern margin of the Alboran Basin (Western Mediterranean)
Surface deformation relating to the 2018 Lake Muir earthquake sequence, southwest Western Australia: new insight into stable continental region earthquakes
Seismic reflection data reveal the 3D structure of the newly discovered Exmouth Dyke Swarm, offshore NW Australia
Cenozoic deformation in the Tauern Window (Eastern Alps) constrained by in situ Th-Pb dating of fissure monazite
Uncertainties in break-up markers along the Iberia–Newfoundland margins illustrated by new seismic data
Tectonic inheritance controls nappe detachment, transport and stacking in the Helvetic nappe system, Switzerland: insights from thermomechanical simulations
Can subduction initiation at a transform fault be spontaneous?
The Geodynamic World Builder: a solution for complex initial conditions in numerical modeling
From mapped faults to fault-length earthquake magnitude (FLEM): a test on Italy with methodological implications
Lithosphere tearing along STEP faults and synkinematic formation of lherzolite and wehrlite in the shallow subcontinental mantle
A systematic comparison of experimental set-ups for modelling extensional tectonics
Improving subduction interface implementation in dynamic numerical models
The Bortoluzzi Mud Volcano (Ionian Sea, Italy) and its potential for tracking the seismic cycle of active faults
The Ulakhan fault surface rupture and the seismicity of the Okhotsk–North America plate boundary
Control of increased sedimentation on orogenic fold-and-thrust belt structure – insights into the evolution of the Western Alps
Thorben Schöfisch, Hemin Koyi, and Bjarne Almqvist
Solid Earth, 14, 447–461, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-447-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-447-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A magnetic fabric analysis provides information about the reorientation of magnetic grains and is applied to three sandbox models that simulate different stages of basin inversion. The analysed magnetic fabrics reflect the different developed structures and provide insights into the different deformed stages of basin inversion. It is a first attempt of applying magnetic fabric analyses to basin inversion sandbox models but shows the possibility of applying it to such models.
Thomas B. Phillips, John B. Naliboff, Ken J. W. McCaffrey, Sophie Pan, Jeroen van Hunen, and Malte Froemchen
Solid Earth, 14, 369–388, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-369-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-369-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Continental crust comprises bodies of varying strength, formed through numerous tectonic events. When subject to extension, these areas produce distinct rift and fault systems. We use 3D models to examine how rifts form above
strongand
weakareas of crust. We find that faults become more developed in weak areas. Faults are initially stopped at the boundaries with stronger areas before eventually breaking through. We relate our model observations to rift systems globally.
Marion Roger, Arjan de Leeuw, Peter van der Beek, Laurent Husson, Edward R. Sobel, Johannes Glodny, and Matthias Bernet
Solid Earth, 14, 153–179, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-153-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-153-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We study the construction of the Ukrainian Carpathians with LT thermochronology (AFT, AHe, and ZHe) and stratigraphic analysis. QTQt thermal models are combined with burial diagrams to retrieve the timing and magnitude of sedimentary burial, tectonic burial, and subsequent exhumation of the wedge's nappes from 34 to ∼12 Ma. Out-of-sequence thrusting and sediment recycling during wedge building are also identified. This elucidates the evolution of a typical wedge in a roll-back subduction zone.
Frank Zwaan, Guido Schreurs, Susanne J. H. Buiter, Oriol Ferrer, Riccardo Reitano, Michael Rudolf, and Ernst Willingshofer
Solid Earth, 13, 1859–1905, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1859-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1859-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
When a sedimentary basin is subjected to compressional tectonic forces after its formation, it may be inverted. A thorough understanding of such
basin inversionis of great importance for scientific, societal, and economic reasons, and analogue tectonic models form a key part of our efforts to study these processes. We review the advances in the field of basin inversion modelling, showing how the modelling results can be applied, and we identify promising venues for future research.
Eleni Stavropoulou and Lyesse Laloui
Solid Earth, 13, 1823–1841, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1823-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1823-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Shales are identified as suitable caprock formations for geolocigal CO2 storage thanks to their low permeability. Here, small-sized shale samples are studied under field-representative conditions with X-ray tomography. The geochemical impact of CO2 on calcite-rich zones is for the first time visualised, the role of pre-existing micro-fissures in the CO2 invasion trapping in the matererial is highlighted, and the initiation of micro-cracks when in contact with anhydrous CO2 is demonstrated.
Conor M. O'Sullivan, Conrad J. Childs, Muhammad M. Saqab, John J. Walsh, and Patrick M. Shannon
Solid Earth, 13, 1649–1671, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1649-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1649-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The Slyne Basin is a sedimentary basin located offshore north-western Ireland. It formed through a long and complex evolution involving distinct periods of extension. The basin is subdivided into smaller basins, separated by deep structures related to the ancient Caledonian mountain-building event. These deep structures influence the shape of the basin as it evolves in a relatively unique way, where early faults follow these deep structures, but later faults do not.
Benjamin Guillaume, Guido M. Gianni, Jean-Jacques Kermarrec, and Khaled Bock
Solid Earth, 13, 1393–1414, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1393-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1393-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Under tectonic forces, the upper part of the crust can break along different types of faults, depending on the orientation of the applied stresses. Using scaled analogue models, we show that the relative magnitude of compressional and extensional forces as well as the presence of inherited structures resulting from previous stages of deformation control the location and type of faults. Our results gives insights into the tectonic evolution of areas showing complex patterns of deformation.
Andrzej Głuszyński and Paweł Aleksandrowski
Solid Earth, 13, 1219–1242, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1219-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1219-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Old seismic data recently reprocessed with modern software allowed us to study at depth the Late Cretaceous tectonic structures in the Permo-Mesozoic rock sequences in the Sudetes. The structures formed in response to Iberia collision with continental Europe. The NE–SW compression undulated the crystalline basement top and produced folds, faults and joints in the sedimentary cover. Our results are of importance for regional geology and in prospecting for deep thermal waters.
Luisa Röckel, Steffen Ahlers, Birgit Müller, Karsten Reiter, Oliver Heidbach, Andreas Henk, Tobias Hergert, and Frank Schilling
Solid Earth, 13, 1087–1105, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1087-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1087-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Reactivation of tectonic faults can lead to earthquakes and jeopardize underground operations. The reactivation potential is linked to fault properties and the tectonic stress field. We create 3D geometries for major faults in Germany and use stress data from a 3D geomechanical–numerical model to calculate their reactivation potential and compare it to seismic events. The reactivation potential in general is highest for NNE–SSW- and NW–SE-striking faults and strongly depends on the fault dip.
Nadaya Cubas, Philippe Agard, and Roxane Tissandier
Solid Earth, 13, 779–792, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-779-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-779-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Earthquake extent prediction is limited by our poor understanding of slip deficit patterns. From a mechanical analysis applied along the Chilean margin, we show that earthquakes are bounded by extensive plate interface deformation. This deformation promotes stress build-up, leading to earthquake nucleation; earthquakes then propagate along smoothed fault planes and are stopped by heterogeneously distributed deformation. Slip deficit patterns reflect the spatial distribution of this deformation.
Paolo Boncio, Eugenio Auciello, Vincenzo Amato, Pietro Aucelli, Paola Petrosino, Anna C. Tangari, and Brian R. Jicha
Solid Earth, 13, 553–582, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-553-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-553-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We studied the Gioia Sannitica normal fault (GF) within the southern Matese fault system (SMF) in southern Apennines (Italy). It is a fault with a long slip history that has experienced recent reactivation or acceleration. Present activity has resulted in late Quaternary fault scarps and Holocene surface faulting. The maximum slip rate is ~ 0.5 mm/yr. Activation of the 11.5 km GF or the entire 30 km SMF can produce up to M 6.2 or M 6.8 earthquakes, respectively.
Malcolm Aranha, Alok Porwal, Manikandan Sundaralingam, Ignacio González-Álvarez, Amber Markan, and Karunakar Rao
Solid Earth, 13, 497–518, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-497-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-497-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Rare earth elements (REEs) are considered critical mineral resources for future industrial growth due to their short supply and rising demand. This study applied an artificial-intelligence-based technique to target potential REE-deposit hosting areas in western Rajasthan, India. Uncertainties associated with the prospective targets were also estimated to aid decision-making. The presented workflow can be applied to similar regions elsewhere to locate potential zones of REE mineralisation.
Daniele Cirillo, Cristina Totaro, Giusy Lavecchia, Barbara Orecchio, Rita de Nardis, Debora Presti, Federica Ferrarini, Simone Bello, and Francesco Brozzetti
Solid Earth, 13, 205–228, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-205-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-205-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The Pollino region is a highly seismic area of Italy. Increasing the geological knowledge on areas like this contributes to reducing risk and saving lives. We reconstruct the 3D model of the faults which generated the 2010–2014 seismicity integrating geological and seismological data. Appropriate relationships based on the dimensions of the activated faults suggest that they did not fully discharge their seismic potential and could release further significant earthquakes in the near future.
Steven Whitmeyer, Lynn Fichter, Anita Marshall, and Hannah Liddle
Solid Earth, 12, 2803–2820, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2803-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2803-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Field trips in the Stratigraphy, Structure, Tectonics (SST) course transitioned to a virtual format in Fall 2020, due to the COVID pandemic. Virtual field experiences (VFEs) were developed in web Google Earth and were evaluated in comparison with on-location field trips via an online survey. Students recognized the value of VFEs for revisiting outcrops and noted improved accessibility for students with disabilities. Potential benefits of hybrid field experiences were also indicated.
Amir Kalifi, Philippe Hervé Leloup, Philippe Sorrel, Albert Galy, François Demory, Vincenzo Spina, Bastien Huet, Frédéric Quillévéré, Frédéric Ricciardi, Daniel Michoux, Kilian Lecacheur, Romain Grime, Bernard Pittet, and Jean-Loup Rubino
Solid Earth, 12, 2735–2771, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2735-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2735-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Molasse deposits, deposited and deformed at the western Alpine front during the Miocene (23 to 5.6 Ma), record the chronology of that deformation. We combine the first precise chronostratigraphy (precision of ∼0.5 Ma) of the Miocene molasse, the reappraisal of the regional structure, and the analysis of growth deformation structures in order to document three tectonic phases and the precise chronology of thrust westward propagation during the second one involving the Belledonne basal thrust.
Mark R. Handy, Stefan M. Schmid, Marcel Paffrath, Wolfgang Friederich, and the AlpArray Working Group
Solid Earth, 12, 2633–2669, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2633-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2633-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
New images from the multi-national AlpArray experiment illuminate the Alps from below. They indicate thick European mantle descending beneath the Alps and forming blobs that are mostly detached from the Alps above. In contrast, the Adriatic mantle in the Alps is much thinner. This difference helps explain the rugged mountains and the abundance of subducted and exhumed units at the core of the Alps. The blobs are stretched remnants of old ocean and its margins that reach down to at least 410 km.
Maurizio Ercoli, Daniele Cirillo, Cristina Pauselli, Harry M. Jol, and Francesco Brozzetti
Solid Earth, 12, 2573–2596, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2573-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2573-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Past strong earthquakes can produce topographic deformations, often
memorizedin Quaternary sediments, which are typically studied by paleoseismologists through trenching. Using a ground-penetrating radar (GPR), we unveiled possible buried Quaternary faulting in the Mt. Pollino seismic gap region (southern Italy). We aim to contribute to seismic hazard assessment of an area potentially prone to destructive events as well as promote our workflow in similar contexts around the world.
Luca Smeraglia, Nathan Looser, Olivier Fabbri, Flavien Choulet, Marcel Guillong, and Stefano M. Bernasconi
Solid Earth, 12, 2539–2551, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2539-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2539-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we dated fault movements at geological timescales which uplifted the sedimentary successions of the Jura Mountains from below the sea level up to Earth's surface. To do so, we applied the novel technique of U–Pb geochronology on calcite mineralizations that precipitated on fault surfaces during times of tectonic activity. Our results document a time frame of the tectonic evolution of the Jura Mountains and provide new insight into the broad geological history of the Western Alps.
Renas I. Koshnaw, Fritz Schlunegger, and Daniel F. Stockli
Solid Earth, 12, 2479–2501, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2479-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2479-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
As continental plates collide, mountain belts grow. This study investigated the provenance of rocks from the northwestern segment of the Zagros mountain belt to unravel the convergence history of the Arabian and Eurasian plates. Provenance data synthesis and field relationships suggest that the Zagros Mountains developed as a result of the oceanic crust emplacement on the Arabian continental plate, followed by the Arabia–Eurasia collision and later uplift of the broader region.
David Hindle and Jonas Kley
Solid Earth, 12, 2425–2438, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2425-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2425-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Central western Europe underwent a strange episode of lithospheric deformation, resulting in a chain of small mountains that run almost west–east across the continent and that formed in the middle of a tectonic plate, not at its edges as is usually expected. Associated with these mountains, in particular the Harz in central Germany, are marine basins contemporaneous with the mountain growth. We explain how those basins came to be as a result of the mountains bending the adjacent plate.
Andreas Eberts, Hamed Fazlikhani, Wolfgang Bauer, Harald Stollhofen, Helga de Wall, and Gerald Gabriel
Solid Earth, 12, 2277–2301, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2277-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2277-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We combine gravity anomaly and topographic data with observations from thermochronology, metamorphic grades, and the granite inventory to detect patterns of basement block segmentation and differential exhumation along the southwestern Bohemian Massif. Based on our analyses, we introduce a previously unknown tectonic structure termed Cham Fault, which, together with the Pfahl and Danube shear zones, is responsible for the exposure of different crustal levels during late to post-Variscan times.
Christoph Grützner, Simone Aschenbrenner, Petra Jamšek
Rupnik, Klaus Reicherter, Nour Saifelislam, Blaž Vičič, Marko Vrabec, Julian Welte, and Kamil Ustaszewski
Solid Earth, 12, 2211–2234, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2211-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2211-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Several large strike-slip faults in western Slovenia are known to be active, but most of them have not produced strong earthquakes in historical times. In this study we use geomorphology, near-surface geophysics, and fault excavations to show that two of these faults had surface-rupturing earthquakes during the Holocene. Instrumental and historical seismicity data do not capture the strongest events in this area.
Michael Warsitzka, Prokop Závada, Fabian Jähne-Klingberg, and Piotr Krzywiec
Solid Earth, 12, 1987–2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1987-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1987-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
A new analogue modelling approach was used to simulate the influence of tectonic extension and tilting of the basin floor on salt tectonics in rift basins. Our results show that downward salt flow and gravity gliding takes place if the flanks of the rift basin are tilted. Thus, extension occurs at the basin margins, which is compensated for by reduced extension and later by shortening in the graben centre. These outcomes improve the reconstruction of salt-related structures in rift basins.
Torsten Hundebøl Hansen, Ole Rønø Clausen, and Katrine Juul Andresen
Solid Earth, 12, 1719–1747, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1719-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1719-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We have analysed the role of deep salt layers during tectonic shortening of a group of sedimentary basins buried below the North Sea. Due to the ability of salt to flow over geological timescales, the salt layers are much weaker than the surrounding rocks during tectonic deformation. Therefore, complex structures formed mainly where salt was present in our study area. Our results align with findings from other basins and experiments, underlining the importance of salt tectonics.
Frank Zwaan, Pauline Chenin, Duncan Erratt, Gianreto Manatschal, and Guido Schreurs
Solid Earth, 12, 1473–1495, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1473-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1473-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We used laboratory experiments to simulate the early evolution of rift systems, and the influence of structural weaknesses left over from previous tectonic events that can localize new deformation. We find that the orientation and type of such weaknesses can induce complex structures with different orientations during a single phase of rifting, instead of requiring multiple rifting phases. These findings provide a strong incentive to reassess the tectonic history of various natural examples.
Laurent Jolivet, Laurent Arbaret, Laetitia Le Pourhiet, Florent Cheval-Garabédian, Vincent Roche, Aurélien Rabillard, and Loïc Labrousse
Solid Earth, 12, 1357–1388, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1357-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1357-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Although viscosity of the crust largely exceeds that of magmas, we show, based on the Aegean and Tyrrhenian Miocene syn-kinematic plutons, how the intrusion of granites in extensional contexts is controlled by crustal deformation, from magmatic stage to cold mylonites. We show that a simple numerical setup with partial melting in the lower crust in an extensional context leads to the formation of metamorphic core complexes and low-angle detachments reproducing the observed evolution of plutons.
Miguel Cisneros, Jaime D. Barnes, Whitney M. Behr, Alissa J. Kotowski, Daniel F. Stockli, and Konstantinos Soukis
Solid Earth, 12, 1335–1355, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1335-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1335-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Constraining the conditions at which rocks form is crucial for understanding geologic processes. For years, the conditions under which rocks from Syros, Greece, formed have remained enigmatic; yet these rocks are fundamental for understanding processes occurring at the interface between colliding tectonic plates (subduction zones). Here, we constrain conditions under which these rocks formed and show they were transported to the surface adjacent to the down-going (subducting) tectonic plate.
Karsten Reiter
Solid Earth, 12, 1287–1307, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1287-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1287-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The influence and interaction of elastic material properties (Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio), density and low-friction faults on the resulting far-field stress pattern in the Earth's crust is tested with generic models. A Young's modulus contrast can lead to a significant stress rotation. Discontinuities with low friction in homogeneous models change the stress pattern only slightly, away from the fault. In addition, active discontinuities are able to compensate stress rotation.
Hilmar von Eynatten, Jonas Kley, István Dunkl, Veit-Enno Hoffmann, and Annemarie Simon
Solid Earth, 12, 935–958, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-935-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-935-2021, 2021
Eline Le Breton, Sascha Brune, Kamil Ustaszewski, Sabin Zahirovic, Maria Seton, and R. Dietmar Müller
Solid Earth, 12, 885–913, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-885-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-885-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The former Piemont–Liguria Ocean, which separated Europe from Africa–Adria in the Jurassic, opened as an arm of the central Atlantic. Using plate reconstructions and geodynamic modeling, we show that the ocean reached only 250 km width between Europe and Adria. Moreover, at least 65 % of the lithosphere subducted into the mantle and/or incorporated into the Alps during convergence in Cretaceous and Cenozoic times comprised highly thinned continental crust, while only 35 % was truly oceanic.
Lior Suchoy, Saskia Goes, Benjamin Maunder, Fanny Garel, and Rhodri Davies
Solid Earth, 12, 79–93, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-79-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-79-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We use 2D numerical models to highlight the role of basal drag in subduction force balance. We show that basal drag can significantly affect velocities and evolution in our simulations and suggest an explanation as to why there are no trends in plate velocities with age in the Cenozoic subduction record (which we extracted from recent reconstruction using GPlates). The insights into the role of basal drag will help set up global models of plate dynamics or specific regional subduction models.
William Bosworth and Gábor Tari
Solid Earth, 12, 59–77, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-59-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-59-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Many of the world's hydrocarbon resources are found in rifted sedimentary basins. Some rifts experience multiple phases of extension and inversion. This results in complicated oil and gas generation, migration, and entrapment histories. We present examples of basins in the Western Desert of Egypt and the western Black Sea that were inverted multiple times, sometimes separated by additional phases of extension. We then discuss how these complex deformation histories impact exploration campaigns.
Paul Angrand, Frédéric Mouthereau, Emmanuel Masini, and Riccardo Asti
Solid Earth, 11, 1313–1332, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1313-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1313-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We study the Iberian plate motion, from the late Permian to middle Cretaceous. During this time interval, two oceanic systems opened. Geological evidence shows that the Iberian domain preserved the propagation of these two rift systems well. We use geological evidence and pre-existing kinematic models to propose a coherent kinematic model of Iberia that considers both the Neotethyan and Atlantic evolutions. Our model shows that the Europe–Iberia plate boundary was made of two rift systems.
Daniel Pastor-Galán, Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso, and Arlo B. Weil
Solid Earth, 11, 1247–1273, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1247-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1247-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Pangea was assembled during Devonian to early Permian times and resulted in a large-scale and winding orogeny that today transects Europe, northwestern Africa, and eastern North America. This orogen is characterized by an
Sshape corrugated geometry in Iberia. This paper presents the advances and milestones in our understanding of the geometry and kinematics of the Central Iberian curve from the last decade with particular attention paid to structural and paleomagnetic studies.
Richard Spitz, Arthur Bauville, Jean-Luc Epard, Boris J. P. Kaus, Anton A. Popov, and Stefan M. Schmalholz
Solid Earth, 11, 999–1026, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-999-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-999-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We apply three-dimensional (3D) thermo-mechanical numerical simulations of the shortening of the upper crustal region of a passive margin in order to investigate the control of 3D laterally variable inherited structures on fold-and-thrust belt evolution and associated nappe formation. The model is applied to the Helvetic nappe system of the Swiss Alps. Our results show a 3D reconstruction of the first-order tectonic evolution showing the fundamental importance of inherited geological structures.
Manfred Lafosse, Elia d'Acremont, Alain Rabaute, Ferran Estrada, Martin Jollivet-Castelot, Juan Tomas Vazquez, Jesus Galindo-Zaldivar, Gemma Ercilla, Belen Alonso, Jeroen Smit, Abdellah Ammar, and Christian Gorini
Solid Earth, 11, 741–765, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-741-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-741-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Alboran Sea is one of the most active region of the Mediterranean Sea. There, the basin architecture records the effect of the Africa–Eurasia plates convergence. We evidence a Pliocene transpression and a more recent Pleistocene tectonic reorganization. We propose that main driving force of the deformation is the Africa–Eurasia convergence, rather than other geodynamical processes. It highlights the evolution and the geometry of the present-day Africa–Eurasia plate boundary.
Dan J. Clark, Sarah Brennand, Gregory Brenn, Matthew C. Garthwaite, Jesse Dimech, Trevor I. Allen, and Sean Standen
Solid Earth, 11, 691–717, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-691-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-691-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A magnitude 5.3 reverse-faulting earthquake in September 2018 near Lake Muir in southwest Western Australia was followed after 2 months by a collocated magnitude 5.2 strike-slip event. The first event produced a ~ 5 km long and up to 0.5 m high west-facing surface rupture, and the second triggered event deformed but did not rupture the surface. The earthquake sequence was the ninth to have produced surface rupture in Australia. None of these show evidence for prior Quaternary surface rupture.
Craig Magee and Christopher Aiden-Lee Jackson
Solid Earth, 11, 579–606, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-579-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-579-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Injection of vertical sheets of magma (dyke swarms) controls tectonic and volcanic processes on Earth and other planets. Yet we know little of the 3D structure of dyke swarms. We use seismic reflection data, which provides ultrasound-like images of Earth's subsurface, to study a dyke swarm in 3D for the first time. We show that (1) dyke injection occurred in the Late Jurassic, (2) our data support previous models of dyke shape, and (3) seismic data provides a new way to view and study dykes.
Emmanuelle Ricchi, Christian A. Bergemann, Edwin Gnos, Alfons Berger, Daniela Rubatto, Martin J. Whitehouse, and Franz Walter
Solid Earth, 11, 437–467, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-437-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-437-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates Cenozoic deformation during cooling and exhumation of the Tauern metamorphic and structural dome, Eastern Alps, through Th–Pb dating of fissure monazite-(Ce). Fissure (or hydrothermal) monazite-(Ce) typically crystallizes in a temperature range of 400–200 °C. Three major episodes of monazite growth occurred at approximately 21, 17, and 12 Ma, corroborating previous crystallization and cooling ages.
Annabel Causer, Lucía Pérez-Díaz, Jürgen Adam, and Graeme Eagles
Solid Earth, 11, 397–417, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-397-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-397-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Here we discuss the validity of so-called “break-up” markers along the Newfoundland margin, challenging their perceived suitability for plate kinematic reconstructions of the southern North Atlantic. We do this on the basis of newly available seismic transects across the Southern Newfoundland Basin. Our new data contradicts current interpretations of the extent of oceanic lithosphere and illustrates the need for a differently constraining the plate kinematics of the Iberian plate pre M0 times.
Dániel Kiss, Thibault Duretz, and Stefan Markus Schmalholz
Solid Earth, 11, 287–305, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-287-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-287-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we investigate the physical mechanisms of tectonic nappe formation by high-resolution numerical modeling. Tectonic nappes are key structural features of many mountain chains which are packets of rocks displaced, sometimes even up to 100 km, from their original position. However, the physical mechanisms involved are not fully understood. We solve numerical equations of fluid and solid dynamics to improve our knowledge. The results are compared with data from the Helvetic Alps.
Diane Arcay, Serge Lallemand, Sarah Abecassis, and Fanny Garel
Solid Earth, 11, 37–62, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-37-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-37-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We propose a new exploration of the concept of
spontaneouslithospheric collapse at a transform fault (TF) by performing a large study of conditions allowing instability of the thicker plate using 2-D thermomechanical simulations. Spontaneous subduction is modelled only if extreme mechanical conditions are assumed. We conclude that spontaneous collapse of the thick older plate at a TF evolving into mature subduction is an unlikely process of subduction initiation at modern Earth conditions.
Menno Fraters, Cedric Thieulot, Arie van den Berg, and Wim Spakman
Solid Earth, 10, 1785–1807, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1785-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1785-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Three-dimensional numerical modelling of geodynamic processes may benefit strongly from using realistic 3-D starting models that approximate, e.g. natural subduction settings in the geological past or at present. To this end, we developed the Geodynamic World Builder (GWB), which enables relatively straightforward parameterization of complex 3-D geometric structures associated with geodynamic processes. The GWB is an open-source community code designed to easily interface with geodynamic codes.
Fabio Trippetta, Patrizio Petricca, Andrea Billi, Cristiano Collettini, Marco Cuffaro, Anna Maria Lombardi, Davide Scrocca, Giancarlo Ventura, Andrea Morgante, and Carlo Doglioni
Solid Earth, 10, 1555–1579, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1555-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1555-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Considering all mapped faults in Italy, empirical scaling laws between fault dimensions and earthquake magnitude are used at the national scale. Results are compared with earthquake catalogues. The consistency between our results and the catalogues gives credibility to the method. Some large differences between the two datasets suggest the validation of this experiment elsewhere.
Károly Hidas, Carlos J. Garrido, Guillermo Booth-Rea, Claudio Marchesi, Jean-Louis Bodinier, Jean-Marie Dautria, Amina Louni-Hacini, and Abla Azzouni-Sekkal
Solid Earth, 10, 1099–1121, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1099-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1099-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Subduction-transform edge propagator (STEP) faults are the locus of continual lithospheric tearing at the edges of subducted slabs, resulting in sharp changes in the lithospheric thickness and triggering lateral and/or near-vertical mantle flow. Here, we study upper mantle rocks recovered from a STEP fault context by < 4 Ma alkali volcanism. We reconstruct how the microstructure developed during deformation and coupled melt–rock interaction, which are promoted by lithospheric tearing at depth.
Frank Zwaan, Guido Schreurs, and Susanne J. H. Buiter
Solid Earth, 10, 1063–1097, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1063-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-1063-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This work was inspired by an effort to numerically reproduce laboratory models of extension tectonics. We tested various set-ups to find a suitable analogue model and in the process systematically charted the impact of set-ups and boundary conditions on model results, a topic poorly described in existing scientific literature. We hope that our model results and the discussion on which specific tectonic settings they could represent may serve as a guide for future (analogue) modeling studies.
Dan Sandiford and Louis Moresi
Solid Earth, 10, 969–985, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-969-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-969-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates approaches to implementing plate boundaries within a fluid dynamic framework, targeted at the evolution of subduction over many millions of years.
Marco Cuffaro, Andrea Billi, Sabina Bigi, Alessandro Bosman, Cinzia G. Caruso, Alessia Conti, Andrea Corbo, Antonio Costanza, Giuseppe D'Anna, Carlo Doglioni, Paolo Esestime, Gioacchino Fertitta, Luca Gasperini, Francesco Italiano, Gianluca Lazzaro, Marco Ligi, Manfredi Longo, Eleonora Martorelli, Lorenzo Petracchini, Patrizio Petricca, Alina Polonia, and Tiziana Sgroi
Solid Earth, 10, 741–763, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-741-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-741-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The Ionian Sea in southern Italy is at the center of active convergence between the Eurasian and African plates, with many known
Mw > 7.0 earthquakes. Here, a recently discovered mud volcano (called the Bortoluzzi Mud Volcano or BMV) was surveyed during the Seismofaults 2017 cruise (May 2017). The BMV is the active emergence of crustal fluids probably squeezed up during the seismic cycle. As such, the BMV may potentially be used to track the seismic cycle of active faults.
David Hindle, Boris Sedov, Susanne Lindauer, and Kevin Mackey
Solid Earth, 10, 561–580, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-561-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-561-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
On one of the least studied boundaries between tectonic plates (North America–Okhotsk in northeastern Russia), which moves very similarly to the famous San Andreas fault in California, we have found the traces of earthquakes from the recent past, but before the time of historical records. This makes us a little more sure that the fault is still the place where movement between the plates takes place, and when it happens again, there could be dangerous earthquakes.
Zoltán Erdős, Ritske S. Huismans, and Peter van der Beek
Solid Earth, 10, 391–404, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-391-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-391-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We used a 2-D thermomechanical code to simulate the evolution of an orogen. Our aim was to study the interaction between tectonic and surface processes in orogenic forelands. We found that an increase in the sediment input to the foreland results in prolonged activity of the active frontal thrust. Such a scenario could occur naturally as a result of increasing relief in the orogenic hinterland or a change in climatic conditions. We compare our results with observations from the Alps.
Cited articles
Allen, P. A., Crampton, S. L., and Sinclair, H. D.: The inception and early
evolution of the North Alpine Foreland Basin, Switzerland, Basin Res., 3,
143–163, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.1991.tb00124.x, 1991.
Aubert, D.: Sur l'existence d'une ride de plissement oligocène dans le
Jura vaudois, Bull. la Société Neuchâteloise des Sci. Nat., 81,
47–54, 1958.
Bachmann, G. H. and Müller, M.: Sedimentary and structural evolution of
the German Molasse Basin, Eclogae Geol. Helv., 85, 519–530,
https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-167019, 1992.
Baran, R., Friedrich, A. M., and Schlunegger, F.: The late Miocene to
Holocene erosion pattern of the Alpine foreland basin reflects Eurasian slab
unloading beneath the western Alps rather than global climate change,
Lithosphere, 6, 124–131, https://doi.org/10.1130/L307.1, 2014.
Beck, P.: Über den Mechanismus der subalpinen Molassetektonik, Eclogae
Geol. Helv., 38, 353–368, 1945.
Becker, A.: The Jura Mountains – an active foreland fold-and-thrust belt?,
Tectonophysics, 321, 381–406, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-1951(00)00089-5, 2000.
Beidinger, A. and Decker, K.: Quantifying Early Miocene in-sequence and
out-of-sequence thrusting at the Alpine-Carpathian junction, Tectonics,
33, 222–252, https://doi.org/10.1002/2012TC003250, 2014.
Berge, T. B. and Veal, S. L.: Structure of the Alpine foreland, Tectonics,
24, TC5011, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003TC001588, 2005.
Berger, A., Wehrens, P., Lanari, P., Zwingmann, H., and Herwegh, M.:
Microstructures, mineral chemistry and geochronology of white micas along a
retrograde evolution: An example from the Aar massif (Central Alps,
Switzerland), Tectonophysics, 721, 179–195,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2017.09.019, 2017.
Blau, R. V.: Molasse und Flysch im östlichen Gurnigelgebiet (Kt. Bern),
Beiträge zur Geol. Karte der Schweiz, Schweizerische Geologische Kommission, Bern, NF 125, 151 pp., 1966.
Boyer, S. E. and Elliott, D.: Thrust systems, Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull.,
66, 1196–1230, 1982.
Brown, R. W., Beucher, R., Roper, S., Persano, C., Stuart, F., and
Fitzgerald, P.: Natural age dispersion arising from the analysis of broken
crystals. Part I: Theoretical basis and implications for the apatite
(U–Th)/He thermochronometer, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 122, 478–497,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2013.05.041, 2013.
Burkhard, M.: Aspects of the large-scale Miocene deformation in the most
external part of the Swiss Alps (Subalpine Molasse to Jura fold belt),
Eclogae Geol. Helv., 83, 559–583, 1990.
Burkhard, M. and Sommaruga, A.: Evolution of the western Swiss Molasse
basin: structural relations with the Alps and the Jura belt, Geol. Soc.
London, Spec. Publ., 134, 279–298, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.1998.134.01.13,
1998.
Buxtorf, A.: Prognosen und Befunde beim Hauensteinbasis- und
Grenchenbergtunnel und die Bedeutung der letzteren für die Geologie des
Juragebirges, Verhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesesellschaft Basel, 27,
184–254, 1916.
Campani, M., Mulch, A., Kempf, O., Schlunegger, F., and Mancktelow, N.:
Miocene paleotopography of the Central Alps, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.,
337–338, 174–185, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2012.05.017, 2012.
Caputo, R., Poli, M. E., and Zanferrari, A.: Neogene–Quaternary tectonic
stratigraphy of the eastern Southern Alps, NE Italy, J. Struct. Geol.,
32, 1009–1027, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2010.06.004, 2010.
Cardello, G. L., Di Vincenzo, G., Giorgetti, G., Zwingmann, H., and
Mancktelow, N.: Initiation and development of the Pennine Basal Thrust
(Swiss Alps): a structural and geochronological study of an exhumed
megathrust, J. Struct. Geol., 126, 338–356, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2019.06.014,
2019.
Castellarin, A. and Cantelli, L.: Neo-Alpine evolution of the Southern
Eastern Alps, J. Geodyn., 30, 251–274,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0264-3707(99)00036-8, 2000.
Cederbom, C. E., Sinclair, H. D., Schlunegger, F., and Rahn, M. K.:
Climate-induced rebound and exhumation of the European Alps, Geology, 32,
709–712, https://doi.org/10.1130/g20491.1, 2004.
Cederbom, C. E., van der Beek, P., Schlunegger, F., Sinclair, H. D., and
Oncken, O.: Rapid extensive erosion of the North Alpine foreland basin at
5-4 Ma, Basin Res., 23, 528–550, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.2011.00501.x,
2011.
Champagnac, J.-D., Molnar, P., Anderson, R. S., Sue, C., and Delacou, B.:
Quaternary erosion-induced isostatic rebound in the western Alps, Geology,
35, 195–198, https://doi.org/10.1130/G23053A.1, 2007.
Chemenda, A. I., Burg, J. P., and Mattauer, M.: Evolutionary model of the
Himalaya-Tibet system: Geopoem based on new modelling, geological and
geophysical data, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 174, 397–409,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-821X(99)00277-0, 2000.
Davies, J. H. and von Blanckenburg, F.: Slab breakoff: A model of
lithosphere detachment and its test in the magmatism and deformation of
collisional orogens, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 129, 85–102,
https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821X(94)00237-S, 1995.
DeCelles, P. G. and Giles, K. A.: Foreland basin systems, Basin Res., 8,
105–123, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2117.1996.01491.x, 1996.
Dürst Stucki, M., Reber, R., and Schlunegger, F.: Subglacial tunnel
valleys in the Alpine foreland: an example from Bern, Switzerland, Swiss J.
Geosci., 103, 363–374, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00015-010-0042-0, 2010.
Egli, D., Mancktelow, N., and Spikings, R.: Constraints from 40Ar∕39Ar geochronology on the timing of Alpine shear zones in the Mont Blanc-Aiguilles Rouges region of the European Alps, Tectonics, 36,
730–748, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016TC004450, 2017.
Farley, K. A.: (U-Th)/He Dating: Techniques, Calibrations, and Applications,
Rev. Mineral. Geochemistry, 47, 819–844, https://doi.org/10.2138/rmg.2002.47.18,
2002.
Farley, K. A., Wolf, R. A., and Silver, L. T.: The effects of long
alpha-stopping distances on (U-Th)/He ages, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac.,
60, 4223–4229, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7037(96)00193-7, 1996.
Fillon, C., Huismans, R. S., and van der Beek, P.: Syntectonic sedimentation
effects on the growth of fold-and-thrust belts, Geology, 41, 83–86,
https://doi.org/10.1130/G33531.1, 2013.
Flowers, R. M., Ketcham, R. A., Shuster, D. L., and Farley, K. A.: Apatite
(U–Th)/He thermochronometry using a radiation damage accumulation and
annealing model, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 73, 2347–2365,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2009.01.015, 2009.
Fox, M., Herman, F., Willett, S. D., and Schmid, S. M.: The Exhumation
history of the European Alps inferred from linear inversion of
thermochronometric data, Am. J. Sci., 316, 505–541,
https://doi.org/10.2475/06.2016.01, 2016.
Frisch, W., Kuhlemann, J., Dunkl, I., and Brügel, A.: Palinspastic
reconstruction and topographic evolution of the Eastern Alps during late
Tertiary tectonic extrusion, Tectonophysics, 297, 1–15,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-1951(98)00160-7, 1998.
Fry, B., Deschamps, F., Kissling, E., Stehly, L., and Giardini, D.: Layered
azimuthal anisotropy of Rayleigh wave phase velocities in the European
Alpine lithosphere inferred from ambient noise, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.,
297, 95–102, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2010.06.008, 2010.
Fuchs, W.: Gedanken zur Tektogenese der nördlichen Molasse zwischen
Rhone und March, Jahrb. der Geol. Bundesanstalt, 119, 207–249, 1976.
Ganss, O. and Schmidt-Thomé, P.: Die gefaltete Molasse am Alpenrand
zwischen Bodensee und Salzach, Zeitschrift der Dtsch. Geol. Gesellschaft,
105, 402–495, 1953.
Ganti, V., von Hagke, C., Scherler, D., Lamb, M. P., Fischer, W. W., and
Avouac, J.-P.: Time scale bias in erosion rates of glaciated landscapes,
Sci. Adv., 2, e1600204, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600204, 2016.
Garefalakis, P. and Schlunegger, F.: Link between concentrations of sediment
flux and deep crustal processes beneath the European Alps, Sci. Rep., 8,
183, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17182-8, 2018.
Genser, J., Cloetingh, S., and Neubauer, F.: Late orogenic rebound and
oblique Alpine convergence: New constraints from subsidence analysis of the
Austrian Molasse basin, Global Planet. Change, 58, 214–223,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2007.03.010, 2007.
Giamboni, M., Ustaszewski, K., Schmid, S. M., Schumacher, M. E., and Wetzel,
A.: Plio-Pleistocene transpressional reactivation of Paleozoic and Paleogene
structures in the Rhine-Bresse transform zone (northern Switzerland and
eastern France), Int. J. Earth Sci., 93, 207–223,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-003-0375-2, 2004.
Glotzbach, C., Reinecker, J., Danišík, M., Rahn, M. K., Frisch, W., and Spiegel, C.: Thermal history of the central Gotthard and Aar massifs,
European Alps: Evidence for steady state, long-term exhumation, J. Geophys.
Res., 115, F03017, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JF001304, 2010.
Glotzbach, C., van der Beek, P. A., and Spiegel, C.: Episodic exhumation and relief growth in the Mont Blanc massif, Western Alps from numerical modelling of thermochronology data, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 304, 417–430, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.02.020, 2011.
Guellec, S., Mugnier, J.-L., Tardy, M., and Roure, F.: Neogene evolution of
the western Alpine foreland in the light of ECORS data and balanced
cross-section, in: Deep structure of the Alps, Mém. Soc. géol.
suisse, 1, edited by: Roure, F., Heitzmann, P., and Polino, R., Société Geologique Suisse, Zürich, 165–184, 1990.
Gusterhuber, J., Dunkl, I., Hinsch, R., Linzer, H.-G., and Sachsenhofer, R.:
Neogene uplift and erosion in the Alpine Foreland Basin (Upper Austria and
Salzburg), Geol. Carpathica, 63, 295–305, https://doi.org/10.2478/v10096-012-0023-5,
2012.
Haldemann, E. G., Haus, H. A., Holliger, A., Liechti, W., Rutsch, R. F., and
della Valle, G.: Geological Atlas of Switzerland 1:25000, Map sheet Eggiwil
(LK 1188), Federal Office of Topography swisstopo, Wabern, Switzerland,
1980.
Handy, M. R., Schmid, S. M., Bousquet, R., Kissling, E., and Bernoulli, D.:
Reconciling plate-tectonic reconstructions of Alpine Tethys with the
geological–geophysical record of spreading and subduction in the Alps,
Earth-Science Rev., 102, 121–158,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.06.002, 2010.
Handy, M. R., Ustaszewski, K., and Kissling, E.: Reconstructing the
Alps–Carpathians–Dinarides as a key to understanding switches in
subduction polarity, slab gaps and surface motion, Int. J. Earth Sci.,
104, 1–26, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-014-1060-3, 2015.
Haus, H.: Über alte Erosionserscheinungen am Südrand der miocaenen
Nagelfluh des oberen Emmentales und deren Bedeutung für die Tektonik des
Alpenrandes, Eclogae Geol. Helv., 28, 667–677, 1935.
Haus, H.: Geologie der Gegend von Schangnau im oberen Emmental (Kanton
Bern): ein Beitrag zur Stratigraphie und Tektonik der subalpinen Molasse und
des Alpenrandes, Beiträge zur Geol. Karte der Schweiz, Geologische Kommission der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft, Bern, NF 75, 106 pp., 1937.
Herwegh, M., Berger, A., Baumberger, R., Wehrens, P., and Kissling, E.:
Large-Scale Crustal-Block-Extrusion During Late Alpine Collision, Sci. Rep.,
7, 413, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00440-0, 2017.
Herwegh, M., Berger, A., Glotzbach, C., Wangenheim, C., Mock, S., Wehrens,
P., Baumberger, R., Egli, D., and Kissling, E.: Late stages of
continent-continent collision: Timing, kinematic evolution, and exhumation
of the Northern rim (Aar Massif) of the Alps, Earth Sci. Rev., 200, 102959,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102959, 2020.
Hetényi, G., Molinari, I., Clinton, J., Bokelmann, G., Bondár, I.,
Crawford, W. C., Dessa, J.-X., Doubre, C., Friederich, W., Fuchs, F.,
Giardini, D., Gráczer, Z., Handy, M. R., Herak, M., Jia, Y., Kissling,
E., Kopp, H., Korn, M., Margheriti, L., Meier, T., Mucciarelli, M., Paul,
A., Pesaresi, D., Piromallo, C., Plenefisch, T., Plomerová, J., Ritter,
J., Rümpker, G., Šipka, V., Spallarossa, D., Thomas, C., Tilmann,
F., Wassermann, J., Weber, M., Wéber, Z., Wesztergom, V., and
Živčić, M.: The AlpArray Seismic Network: A Large-Scale European
Experiment to Image the Alpine Orogen, Surv. Geophys., 39, 1009–1033,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-018-9472-4, 2018a.
Hetényi, G., Plomerová, J., Bianchi, I., Kampfová Exnerová,
H., Bokelmann, G., Handy, M. R., and Babuška, V.: From mountain summits
to roots: Crustal structure of the Eastern Alps and Bohemian Massif along
longitude 13.3∘ E, Tectonophysics, 744, 239–255,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2018.07.001, 2018b.
Hinsch, R.: Laterally varying structure and kinematics of the Molasse fold
and thrust belt of the Central Eastern Alps: Implications for exploration,
Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull., 97, 1805–1831, https://doi.org/10.1306/04081312129,
2013.
Homewood, P., Allen, P. A., and Williams, G. D.: Dynamics of the Molasse
Basin of Western Switzerland, in: Foreland Basins, edited by: Allen, P. A. and Homewood, P., Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford, UK,
199–217, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444303810.ch10pp, 1986.
Hourigan, J. K., Reiners, P. W., and Brandon, M. T.: U-Th zonation-dependent
alpha-ejection in (U-Th)/He chronometry, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 69,
3349–3365, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2005.01.024, 2005.
Hurford, A. J.: Cooling and uplift patterns in the Lepontine Alps South
Central Switzerland and an age of vertical movement on the Insubric fault
line, Contrib. to Mineral. Petrol., 92, 413–427,
10.1007/BF00374424,
1986.
Jordi, H. A.: Blatt 1188 Eggiwil, Geol. Atlas Schweiz 1 25 000, Erläut.
75, Bundesamt für Landestopografie swisstopo, Wabern, 72 pp., ISBN 978-3-302-40065-5, 2012.
Karner, G. D. and Watts, A. B.: Gravity anomalies and flexure of the
lithosphere at mountain ranges, J. Geophys. Res., 88,
10449–10477, https://doi.org/10.1029/JB088iB12p10449, 1983.
Kästle, E. D., Rosenberg, C., Boschi, L., Bellahsen, N., Meier, T., and
El-Sharkawy, A.: Slab break-offs in the Alpine subduction zone, Int. J.
Earth Sci., 109, 587–603, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-020-01821-z, 2020.
Kempf, O., Matter, A., Burbank, D. W., and Mange, M.: Depositional and
structural evolution of a foreland basin margin in a magnetostratigraphic
framework: the eastern Swiss Molasse Basin, Int. J. Earth Sci., 88,
253–275, https://doi.org/10.1007/s005310050263, 1999.
Ketcham, R. A.: Forward and Inverse Modeling of Low-Temperature
Thermochronometry Data, Rev. Mineral. Geochemistry, 58, 275–314,
https://doi.org/10.2138/rmg.2005.58.11, 2005.
Kissling, E. and Schlunegger, F.: Rollback Orogeny Model for the Evolution
of the Swiss Alps, Tectonics, 37, 1097–1115, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017TC004762,
2018.
Kissling, E., Schmid, S. M., Lippitsch, R., Ansorge, J., and Fügenschuh,
B.: Lithosphere structure and tectonic evolution of the Alpine arc: new
evidence from high-resolution teleseismic tomography, Geol. Soc. London,
Mem., 32, 129–145, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.MEM.2006.032.01.08, 2006.
Kuhlemann, J. and Kempf, O.: Post-Eocene evolution of the North Alpine
Foreland Basin and its response to Alpine tectonics, Sediment. Geol.,
152, 45–78, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0037-0738(01)00285-8, 2002.
Landesgeologie: Geological Map of Switzerland 1:500'000, Federal Office of
Topography swisstopo, Wabern, Switzerland, 2005.
Landesgeologie: GeoMol: Geologisches 3D-Modell des Schweizer Molassebeckens
– Schlussbericht, Bundesamt für Landestopografie swisstopo, Wabern, Berichte der Landesgeologie, 10, 128 pp., ISBN 978-3-302-40109-6, 2017.
Laubscher, H. P.: Die Fernschubhypothese der Jurafaltung, Eclogae Geol.
Helv., 54, 221–280, 1961.
Laubscher, H. P.: Jura kinematics and the Molasse Basin, Eclogae Geol.
Helv., 85, 653–675, 1992.
Leary, R., Orme, D. A., Laskowski, A. K., DeCelles, P. G., Kapp, P.,
Carrapa, B., and Dettinger, M.: Along-strike diachroneity in deposition of
the Kailas Formation in central southern Tibet: Implications for Indian slab
dynamics, Geosphere, 12, 1198–1223, https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01325.1, 2016.
Lemcke, K.: Das Bayerische Alpenvorland vor der Eiszeit, Schweizerbart
Science Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany, 1988.
Liniger, H.: Pliozän und Tektonik des Juragebirges, Eclogae Geol. Helv.,
60, 407–490, 1967.
Lippitsch, R., Kissling, E., and Ansorge, J.: Upper mantle structure beneath
the Alpine orogen from high-resolution teleseismic tomography, J. Geophys.
Res., 108, 2376, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JB002016, 2003.
Louis, S., Luijendijk, E., Dunkl, I., and Person, M.: Episodic fluid flow in
an active fault, Geology, 47, 938–942, https://doi.org/10.1130/G46254.1, 2019.
Luijendijk, E.: Beo v1.0: numerical model of heat flow and low-temperature thermochronology in hydrothermal systems, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 4061–4073, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4061-2019, 2019.
Luijendijk, E., Winter, T., Köhler, S., Ferguson, G., von Hagke, C., and
Scibek, J.: Using thermal springs to quantify deep groundwater flow and its
thermal footprint in the Alps and North American orogens, EarthArXiv
[preprint], https://doi.org/10.31223/osf.io/364dj, 29 April 2020.
Madritsch, H., Schmid, S. M., and Fabbri, O.: Interactions between thin- and
thick-skinned tectonics at the northwestern front of the Jura
fold-and-thrust belt (eastern France), Tectonics, 27, TC5005,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2008TC002282, 2008.
Mair, D., Lechmann, A., Herwegh, M., Nibourel, L., and Schlunegger, F.: Linking Alpine deformation in the Aar Massif basement and its cover units – the case of the Jungfrau–Eiger mountains (Central Alps, Switzerland), Solid Earth, 9, 1099–1122, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1099-2018, 2018.
Mazurek, M., Hurford, A. J., and Leu, W.: Unravelling the multi-stage burial
history of the Swiss Molasse Basin: integration of apatite fission track,
vitrinite reflectance and biomarker isomerisation analysis, Basin Res.,
18, 27–50, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.2006.00286.x, 2006.
Mitterbauer, U., Behm, M., Brückl, E., Lippitsch, R., Guterch, A.,
Keller, G. R., Koslovskaya, E., Rumpfhuber, E.-M., and Šumanovac, F.:
Shape and origin of the East-Alpine slab constrained by the ALPASS
teleseismic model, Tectonophysics, 510, 195–206,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2011.07.001, 2011.
Mock, S. and Herwegh, M.: Tectonics of the central Swiss Molasse Basin:
Post-Miocene transition to incipient thick-skinned tectonics?, Tectonics,
36, 1699–1723, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017TC004584, 2017.
Molnar, P., England, P., and Martinod, J.: Mantle dynamics, uplift of the
Tibetan Plateau, and the Indian Monsoon, Rev. Geophys., 31, 357–396,
https://doi.org/10.1029/93RG02030, 1993.
Mosar, J.: Present-day and future tectonic underplating in the western Swiss
Alps: reconciliation of basement/wrench-faulting and décollement folding
of the Jura and Molasse basin in the Alpine foreland, Earth Planet. Sci.
Lett., 173, 143–155, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-821X(99)00238-1, 1999.
Mosar, J., Stampfli, G. M., and François, G.: Western Préalpes
Médianes Romandes: Timing and structure. A review, Eclogae Geol. Helv.,
89, 389–425, 1996.
Mosbrugger, V., Utescher, T., and Dilcher, D. L.: Cenozoic continental
climatic evolution of Central Europe, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 102,
14964–14969, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0505267102, 2005.
Müller, M., Nieberding, F., and Wanninger, A.: Tectonic style and
pressure distribution at the northern margin of the Alps between Lake
Constance and the River Inn, Geol. Rundschau, 77, 787–796,
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01830185, 1988.
Nussbaum, C.: Neogene tectonics and thermal maturity of sediments of the
easternmost Southern Alps (Friuli area, Italy), PhD thesis, Université de
Neuchâtel, 172 pp., 2000.
Oncken, O., Hindle, D., Kley, J., Elger, K., Victor, P., and Schemmann, K.:
Deformation of the Central Andean Upper Plate System – Facts, Fiction, and
Constraints for Plateau Models, in The Andes, in: Frontiers in Earth Sciences,
edited by: Oncken, O., Chong, G., Franz, G., Giese, P., Götze, H.-J., Ramos, V. A., Strecker, M. R., and Wigger, P., Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany, 3–27, 2006.
Ortner, H., Reiter, F., and Brandner, R.: Kinematics of the Inntal shear
zone–sub-Tauern ramp fault system and the interpretation of the TRANSALP
seismic section, Eastern Alps, Austria, Tectonophysics, 414, 241–258,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2005.10.017, 2006.
Ortner, H., Aichholzer, S., Zerlauth, M., Pilser, R., and Fügenschuh, B.:
Geometry, amount, and sequence of thrusting in the Subalpine Molasse of
western Austria and southern Germany, European Alps, Tectonics, 34,
1–30, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014TC003550, 2015.
Peresson, H. and Decker, K.: Far-field effects of Late Miocene subduction in
the Eastern Carpathians: E-W compression and inversion of structures in the
Alpine-Carpathian-Pannonian region, Tectonics, 16, 38–56,
https://doi.org/10.1029/96TC02730, 1997.
Pfiffner, O. A.: Evolution of the North Alpine Foreland Basin in the Central
Alps, in: Foreland Basins, edited by: Allen, P. A. and Homewood, P., Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford, UK, 219–228, 1986.
Pfiffner, O. A.: Geologie der Alpen, 1st edn., Haupt, Bern, Stuttgart, Wien,
2009.
Pfiffner, O. A.: Structural Map of the Helvetic Zone of the Swiss Alps,
including Vorarlberg (Austria) and Haute Savoie (France), 1:100 000, Federal Office of Topography swisstopo, Geol. Spec. Map, 128 (Explanatory
notes), 2011.
Pfiffner, O. A., Erard, P. F., and Stäuble, M.: Two cross sections
through the Swiss Molasse Basin (lines E4-E6, W1, W7-W10), in: Deep structure
of the Swiss Alps. Results of NRP 20, edited by: Pfiffner, O. A., Lehner, P.,
Heitzmann, P., Mueller, S., and Steck, A., Birkhäuser, Basel,
Boston, Berlin, 64–72, 1997.
Philippe, Y., Colletta, B., Deville, E., and Mascle, A.: The Jura
fold-and-thrust belt: a kinematic model based on map-balancing, in: Peri
Thetys Memoir 2: Structure and prospects of Alpine Basins and Forelands,
edited by: Ziegler, P. A. and Horvàth, F., Muséum
national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, 235–261, 1996.
Pippèrr, M. and Reichenbacher, B.: Late Early Miocene
palaeoenvironmental changes in the North Alpine Foreland Basin, Palaeogeogr.
Palaeocl., 468, 485–502,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.01.002, 2017.
Qorbani, E., Bianchi, I., and Bokelmann, G.: Slab detachment under the
Eastern Alps seen by seismic anisotropy, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 409,
96–108, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2014.10.049, 2015.
Ratschbacher, L., Frisch, W., Linzer, H.-G., and Merle, O.: Lateral extrusion
in the eastern Alps, PArt 2: Structural analysis, Tectonics, 10,
257–271, https://doi.org/10.1029/90TC02623, 1991.
Reiners, P. W. and Brandon, M. T.: Using Thermochronology to Understand
Orogenic Erosion, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 34, 419–466,
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.earth.34.031405.125202, 2006.
Rosenberg, C. L. and Berger, A.: On the causes and modes of exhumation and
lateral growth of the Alps, Tectonics, 28, TC6001,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2008TC002442, 2009.
Rosenberg, C. L. and Kissling, E.: Three-dimensional insight into
Central-Alpine collision: Lower-plate or upper-plate indentation?, Geology,
41, 1219–1222, https://doi.org/10.1130/G34584.1, 2013.
Rosenberg, C. L., Berger, A., Bellahsen, N., and Bousquet, R.: Relating
orogen width to shortening, erosion, and exhumation during Alpine collision,
Tectonics, 34, 1306–1328, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014TC003736, 2015.
Rosenberg, C. L., Schneider, S., Scharf, A., Bertrand, A., Hammerschmidt,
K., Rabaute, A., and Brun, J.-P.: Relating collisional kinematics to
exhumation processes in the Eastern Alps, Earth-Sci. Rev., 176, 311–344, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.10.013, 2018.
Rutsch, R.: Molasse und Quartär im Gebiet des Siegfriedblattes
Rüeggisberg (Kanton Bern), Beiträge zur Geol. Karte der Schweiz, Geologische Kommission der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft, Bern, NF 87, 89 pp., 1947.
Sommaruga, A., Mosar, J., Schori, M., and Gruber, M.: The Role of the Triassic Evaporites Underneath the North Alpine Foreland, in Permo-Triassic Salt Provinces of Europe, North Africa and the Atlantic Margins, edited by: Soto, J. I., Flinch, J. F., and Tari, G., Elsevier, 447–466, 2017.
Schegg, R. and Leu, W.: Analysis of erosion events and palaeogeothermal
gradients in the North Alpine Foreland Basin of Switzerland, Geol. Soc.
London, Spec. Publ., 141, 137–155, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.1998.141.01.09,
1998.
Schlunegger, F. and Castelltort, S.: Immediate and delayed signal of slab
breakoff in Oligo/Miocene Molasse deposits from the European Alps, Sci.
Rep., 6, 31010, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep31010, 2016.
Schlunegger, F. and Kissling, E.: Slab rollback orogeny in the Alps and
evolution of the Swiss Molasse basin, Nat. Commun., 6, 8605,
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9605, 2015.
Schlunegger, F. and Mosar, J.: The last erosional stage of the Molasse Basin
and the Alps, Int. J. Earth Sci., 100, 1147–1162,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-010-0607-1, 2011.
Schlunegger, F. and Norton, K. P.: Headward retreat of streams in the Late
Oligocene to Early Miocene Swiss Alps, Sedimentology, 60, 85–101, https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12010, 2013.
Schlunegger, F. and Norton, K. P.: Climate vs. tectonics: the competing
roles of Late Oligocene warming and Alpine orogenesis in constructing
alluvial megafan sequences in the North Alpine foreland basin, Basin Res.,
27, 230–245, https://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12070, 2015.
Schlunegger, F., Matter, A., and Mange, M. A.: Alluvial fan sedimentation and
structure of the southern Molasse Basin margin, Lake Thun area, Switzerland,
Eclogae Geol. Helv., 86, 717–750, 1993.
Schlunegger, F., Burbank, D. W., Matter, A., Engesser, B., and Mödden,
C.: Magnetostratigraphic calibration of the Oligocence to Middle Miocene
(30-15 Ma) mammal biozones and depositional sequences of the Swiss Molasse
Basin, Eclogae Geol. Helv., 89, 753–788, 1996.
Schlunegger, F., Matter, A., Burbank, D. W., and Klaper, E. M.:
Magnetostratigraphic constraints on relationships between evolution of the
central Swiss Molasse basin and Alpine orogenic events, Geol. Soc. Am.
Bull., 109, 225–241, https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1997)109<0225:MCORBE>2.3.CO;2, 1997.
Schlunegger, F., Rieke-Zapp, D., and Ramseyer, K.: Possible environmental
effects on the evolution of the Alps-Molasse Basin system, Swiss J. Geosci.,
100, 383–405, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00015-007-1238-9, 2007.
Schlunegger, F., Anspach, O., Bieri, B., Böning, P., Kaufmann, Y., Lahl,
K., Lonschinski, M., Mollet, H., Sachse, D., Schubert, C., Stöckli, G., and Zander, I.: Geological Atlas of Switzerland 1:25000, Map sheet
Schüpfheim (LK 1169), Federal Office of Topography swisstopo, Wabern,
Switzerland, 2016.
Schmid, S. M., Pfiffner, O. A., Froitzheim, N., Schönborn, G., and
Kissling, E.: Geophysical-geological transect and tectonic evolution of the
Swiss-Italian Alps, Tectonics, 15, 1036–1064, https://doi.org/10.1029/96TC00433,
1996.
Schmid, S. M., Fügenschuh, B., Kissling, E., and Schuster, R.: Tectonic
map and overall architecture of the Alpine orogen, Eclogae Geol. Helv.,
97, 93–117, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00015-004-1113-x, 2004.
Schmid, S. M., Scharf, A., Handy, M. R., and Rosenberg, C. L.: The Tauern
Window (Eastern Alps, Austria): a new tectonic map, with cross-sections and
a tectonometamorphic synthesis, Swiss J. Geosci., 106, 1–32,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00015-013-0123-y, 2013.
Schmid, S. M., Kissling, E., Diehl, T., van Hinsbergen, D. J. J., and Molli,
G.: Ivrea mantle wedge, arc of the Western Alps, and kinematic evolution of
the Alps–Apennines orogenic system, Swiss J. Geosci., 110, 581–612,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00015-016-0237-0, 2017.
Schönborn, G.: Alpine tectonics and kinematic models of the central
Southern Alps, Mem. di Sci. Geol. Padova, 44, 229–393, 1992.
Schuller, V., Frisch, W., and Herzog, U.: Critical taper behaviour and
out-of-sequence thrusting on orogenic wedges – an example of the Eastern
Alpine Molasse Basin, Terra Nov., 27, 231–237, https://doi.org/10.1111/ter.12152,
2015.
Sinclair, H. D.: Flysch to molasse transition in peripheral foreland basins:
The role of the passive margin versus slab breakoff, Geology, 25, 1123–1126,
https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1997)025<1123:FTMTIP>2.3.CO;2, 1997.
Sinclair, H. D. and Allen, P. A.: Vertical versus horizontal motions in the
Alpine orogenic wedge: stratigraphic response in the foreland basin, Basin
Res., 4, 215–232, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.1992.tb00046.x, 1992.
Sinclair, H. D., Coakley, B. J., Allen, P. A., and Watts, A. B.: Simulation
of Foreland Basin Stratigraphy using a diffusion model of mountain belt
uplift and erosion: An example from the central Alps, Switzerland,
Tectonics, 10, 599–620, https://doi.org/10.1029/90TC02507, 1991.
Sommaruga, A.: Décollement tectonics in the Jura forelandfold-and-thrust
belt, Mar. Petrol. Geol., 16, 111–134, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0264-8172(98)00068-3,
1999.
Sommaruga, A., Eichenberger, U., and Marillier, F.: Seismic Atlas of the
Swiss Molasse Basin, Matériaux pour la Géologie la Suisse - Géophysique, 44, Swiss Geophysical Commission, Federal Office of Topography swisstopo, Wabern, ISBN 978-3-302-40064-82012, 2012.
Spiegel, C., Kuhlemann, J., Dunkl, I., and Frisch, W.: Paleogeography and
catchment evolution in a mobile orogenic belt: the Central Alps in
Oligo–Miocene times, Tectonophysics, 341, 33–47,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-1951(01)00187-1, 2001.
Stampfli, G. M. and Marchant, R. H.: Geodynamic evolution of the Tethyan
margins of the Western Alps, in: Deep structure of the Swiss Alps: Results of
NRP 20, edited by: Pfiffner, O. A., Lehner, P., Heitzmann, P., Mueller, S., and Steck, A., Birkhäuser, Basel, Boston, Berlin, 223–240, 1997.
Stäuble, M. and Pfiffner, O. A.: Processing, interpretation and modeling
of seismic reflection data in the Molasse Basin of eastern Switzerland,
Eclogae Geol. Helv., 84, 151–175, https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-166767, 1991.
Strunck, P. and Matter, A.: Depositional evolution of the western Swiss
Molasse, Eclogae Geol. Helv., 95, 197–222,
https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-168955, 2002.
Ustaszewski, K. and Schmid, S. M.: Latest Pliocene to recent thick-skinned
tectonics at the Upper Rhine Graben – Jura Mountains junction, Swiss J.
Geosci., 100, 293–312, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00015-007-1226-0, 2007.
Ustaszewski, K., Schmid, S. M., Fügenschuh, B., Tischler, M., Kissling,
E., and Spakman, W.: A map-view restoration of the
Alpine-Carpathian-Dinaridic system for the Early Miocene, Swiss J. Geosci.,
101, 273–294, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00015-008-1288-7, 2008.
Valla, P. G., van der Beek, P. A., Shuster, D. L., Braun, J., Herman, F.,
Tassan-Got, L., and Gautheron, C.: Late Neogene exhumation and relief
development of the Aar and Aiguilles Rouges massifs (Swiss Alps) from
low-temperature thermochronology modeling and 4He∕3He thermochronometry, J. Geophys. Res., 117, F01004, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JF002043, 2012.
Vermeesch, P.: Three new ways to calculate average (U–Th)/He ages, Chem.
Geol., 249, 339–347, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2008.01.027, 2008.
Vernon, A. J., van der Beek, P. A., Sinclair, H. D., Persano, C., Foeken, J., and Stuart, F. M.: Variable late Neogene exhumation of the central European
Alps: Low-temperature thermochronology from the Aar Massif, Switzerland, and
the Lepontine Dome, Italy, Tectonics, 28, TC5004,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2008TC002387, 2009.
Vollmayr, T.: Strukturelle Ergebnisse der Kohlenwasserstoffexploration im
Gebiet von Thun, Schweiz, Eclogae Geol. Helv., 85, 531–539, 1992.
von Hagke, C. and Malz, A.: Triangle zones – Geometry, kinematics,
mechanics, and the need for appreciation of uncertainties, Earth-Sci.
Rev., 177, 24–42, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.11.003, 2018.
von Hagke, C., Cederbom, C. E., Oncken, O., Stöckli, D. F., Rahn, M. K., and Schlunegger, F.: Linking the northern Alps with their foreland: The
latest exhumation history resolved by low-temperature thermochronology,
Tectonics, 31, TC5010, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011TC003078, 2012.
von Hagke, C., Oncken, O., and Evseev, S.: Critical taper analysis reveals
lithological control of variations in detachment strength: An analysis of
the Alpine basal detachment (Swiss Alps), Geochem., Geophy. Geosy., 15, 176–191, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GC005018, 2014a.
von Hagke, C., Oncken, O., Ortner, H., Cederbom, C. E., and Aichholzer, S.:
Late Miocene to present deformation and erosion of the Central Alps –
Evidence for steady state mountain building from thermokinematic data,
Tectonophysics, 632, 250–260, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2014.06.021, 2014b.
Wehrens, P., Baumberger, R., Berger, A., and Herwegh, M.: How is strain
localized in a meta-granitoid, mid-crustal basement section? Spatial
distribution of deformation in the central Aar massif (Switzerland), J.
Struct. Geol., 94, 47–67, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2016.11.004, 2017.
Weidmann, M., Homewood, P., Morel, R., Berchten, J.-D., Bucher, H., Burri,
M., Cornioley, J.-D., Escher, P., Rück, P., Tabotta, A., and Zahner, P.:
Geological Atlas of Switzerland 1:25 000, Map sheet Châtel-St-Denis (LK 1244), Federal Office of Topography swisstopo, Wabern, Switzerland, 1993.
Weisenberger, T. B., Rahn, M. K., van der Lelij, R., Spikings, R. A., and
Bucher, K.: Timing of low-temperature mineral formation during exhumation
and cooling in the Central Alps, Switzerland, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.,
327–328, 1–8, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2012.01.007, 2012.
Whipple, K. X.: The influence of climate on the tectonic evolution of
mountain belts, Nat. Geosci., 2, 97–104, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo413, 2009.
Willett, S. D. and Schlunegger, F.: The last phase of deposition in the
Swiss Molasse Basin: from foredeep to negative-alpha basin, Basin Res.,
22, 623–639, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.2009.00435.x, 2010.
Willett, S. D., Schlunegger, F., and Picotti, V.: Messinian climate change
and erosional destruction of the central European Alps, Geology, 34, 613–616, https://doi.org/10.1130/G22280.1, 2006.
Wolf, R. A., Farley, K. A., and Silver, L. T.: Helium diffusion and
low-temperature thermochronometry of apatite, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 60, 4231–4240, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7037(96)00192-5, 1996.
Zaugg, A., Löpfe, R., Kriemler, M., and Kempf, T.: Geological Atlas of
Switzerland 1:25 000, Federal Office of Topography swisstopo, Wabern,
Switzerland, 2011.
Zhao, L., Paul, A., Malusà, M. G., Xu, X., Zheng, T., Solarino, S.,
Guillot, S., Schwartz, S., Dumont, T., Salimbeni, S., Aubert, C., Pondrelli,
S., Wang, Q., and Zhu, R.: Continuity of the Alpine slab unraveled by
high-resolution P wave tomography, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 121,
8720–8737, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JB013310, 2016.
Zweigel, J., Aigner, T., and Luterbacher, H.: Eustatic versus tectonic controls on Alpine foreland basin fill: sequence stratigraphy and subsidence analysis in the SE German Molasse, in Cenozoic Foreland basins of Western Europe, edited by: Mascle, A., Puigdefàbregas, C., Luterbacher, H. P., and Fernàndez, M., Geological Society Special Publications, 134, 299–323, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.1998.134.01.14, 1998.
Short summary
Based on thermochronological data, we infer thrusting along-strike the northern rim of the Central Alps between 12–4 Ma. While the lithology influences the pattern of thrusting at the local scale, we observe that thrusting in the foreland is a long-wavelength feature occurring between Lake Geneva and Salzburg. This coincides with the geometry and dynamics of the attached lithospheric slab at depth. Thus, thrusting in the foreland is at least partly linked to changes in slab dynamics.
Based on thermochronological data, we infer thrusting along-strike the northern rim of the...