Articles | Volume 11, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-199-2020
© 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-11-199-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
21 Feb 2020
Research article |
| 21 Feb 2020
| 21 Feb 2020
Dating tectonic activity in the Lepontine Dome and Rhone-Simplon Fault regions through hydrothermal monazite-(Ce)
Christian A. Bergemann
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Natural History Museum of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
currently at: Institute of Earth Sciences, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
Edwin Gnos
Natural History Museum of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Alfons Berger
Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Emilie Janots
ISTerre, University of Grenoble, Grenoble, France
Martin J. Whitehouse
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
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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.
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Subject area: Tectonic plate interactions, magma genesis, and lithosphere deformation at all scales | Editorial team: Geochemistry, mineralogy, petrology, and volcanology | Discipline: Geochronology
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Short summary
Metamorphic domes are areas in a mountain chain that were unburied and where deeper parts of the crust rose to the surface. The Lepontine Dome in the Swiss and Italian Alps is such a place, and it is additionally bordered on two sides by shear zones where crustal blocks moved past each other. To determine when these tectonic movements happened, we measured the ages of monazite crystals that form in fluid-filled pockets inside the rocks during these movements of exhumation and deformation.
Metamorphic domes are areas in a mountain chain that were unburied and where deeper parts of the...
