Articles | Volume 12, issue 4
Solid Earth, 12, 885–913, 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-885-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue: New insights into the tectonic evolution of the Alps and the...
Solid Earth, 12, 885–913, 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-885-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
21 Apr 2021
Research article
| 21 Apr 2021
Kinematics and extent of the Piemont–Liguria Basin – implications for subduction processes in the Alps
Eline Le Breton et al.
Related authors
Vincent F. Verwater, Eline Le Breton, Mark R. Handy, Vincenzo Picotti, Azam Jozi Najafabadi, and Christian Haberland
Solid Earth, 12, 1309–1334, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1309-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1309-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Balancing along geological cross sections reveals that the Giudicarie Belt comprises two kinematic domains. The SW domain accommodated at least ~ 18 km Late Oligocene to Early Miocene shortening. Since the Middle Miocene, the SW domain experienced at least ~ 12–22 km shortening, whereas the NE domain underwent at least ~ 25–35 km. Together, these domains contributed to ~ 40–47 km of sinistral offset of the Periadriatic Fault along the Northern Giudicarie Fault since the Late Oligocene.
Azam Jozi Najafabadi, Christian Haberland, Trond Ryberg, Vincent F. Verwater, Eline Le Breton, Mark R. Handy, Michael Weber, and the AlpArray and AlpArray SWATH-D working groups
Solid Earth, 12, 1087–1109, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1087-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1087-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study achieved high-precision hypocenters of 335 earthquakes (1–4.2 ML) and 1D velocity models of the Southern and Eastern Alps. The general pattern of seismicity reflects head-on convergence of the Adriatic Indenter with the Alpine orogenic crust. The relatively deeper seismicity in the eastern Southern Alps and Giudicarie Belt indicates southward propagation of the Southern Alpine deformation front. The derived hypocenters form excellent data for further seismological studies, e.g., LET.
Ángela María Gómez-García, Eline Le Breton, Magdalena Scheck-Wenderoth, Gaspar Monsalve, and Denis Anikiev
Solid Earth, 12, 275–298, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-275-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-275-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The Earth’s crust beneath the Caribbean Sea formed at about 90 Ma due to large magmatic activity of a mantle plume, which brought molten material up from the deep Earth. By integrating diverse geophysical datasets, we image for the first time two fossil magmatic conduits beneath the Caribbean. The location of these conduits at 90 Ma does not correspond with the present-day Galápagos plume. Either this mantle plume migrated in time or these conduits were formed above another unknown plume.
Susanne J. H. Buiter, Sascha Brune, Derek Keir, and Gwenn Peron-Pinvidic
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-139, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-139, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Continental rifts can form when and where continents are stretched. Rifts are characterised by faults, sedimentary basins, earthquakes and/or volcanism. If rifting can continue, a rift may break a continent into conjugate margins such as along the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In some cases, however, rifting fails, such as in the West African Rift. We discuss continental rifting from inception to break-up, focussing on the processes at play, and illustrate these with several natural examples.
R. Dietmar Müller, John Cannon, Michael Tetley, Simon E. Williams, Xianzhi Cao, Nicolas Flament, Ömer F. Bodur, Sabin Zahirovic, and Andrew Merdith
Solid Earth Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2021-154, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2021-154, 2022
Preprint under review for SE
Short summary
Short summary
We have built a community model for the evolution of the Earth's plate-mantle system. Created with open-source software and an open-access plate model, it covers the last billion years, including the formation, breakup and dispersal of two supercontinents, and the creation and destruction of numerous ocean basins. The model allows us to ‘see’ into the Earth in 4D, and helps us unravel the connections between surface tectonics and the "beating heart" of the Earth, its convecting mantle.
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.
Peter Biermanns, Benjamin Schmitz, Silke Mechernich, Christopher Weismüller, Kujtim Onuzi, Kamil Ustaszewski, and Klaus Reicherter
Solid Earth Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2021-97, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2021-97, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for SE
Short summary
Short summary
We introduce two spectacular, up to 7 km long normal fault scarps near the city of Bar (Montenegro). The fact that these widely visible earthquake-related structures have never been described before is even less surprising than the circumstance that they apparently do not fit the tectonic setting that they are located in. By quantifying the age and movement of the newly discovered fault scarps and by partly re-interpreting local tectonics, we introduce approaches how this is still compatible.
Vincent F. Verwater, Eline Le Breton, Mark R. Handy, Vincenzo Picotti, Azam Jozi Najafabadi, and Christian Haberland
Solid Earth, 12, 1309–1334, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1309-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1309-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Balancing along geological cross sections reveals that the Giudicarie Belt comprises two kinematic domains. The SW domain accommodated at least ~ 18 km Late Oligocene to Early Miocene shortening. Since the Middle Miocene, the SW domain experienced at least ~ 12–22 km shortening, whereas the NE domain underwent at least ~ 25–35 km. Together, these domains contributed to ~ 40–47 km of sinistral offset of the Periadriatic Fault along the Northern Giudicarie Fault since the Late Oligocene.
Azam Jozi Najafabadi, Christian Haberland, Trond Ryberg, Vincent F. Verwater, Eline Le Breton, Mark R. Handy, Michael Weber, and the AlpArray and AlpArray SWATH-D working groups
Solid Earth, 12, 1087–1109, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1087-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1087-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study achieved high-precision hypocenters of 335 earthquakes (1–4.2 ML) and 1D velocity models of the Southern and Eastern Alps. The general pattern of seismicity reflects head-on convergence of the Adriatic Indenter with the Alpine orogenic crust. The relatively deeper seismicity in the eastern Southern Alps and Giudicarie Belt indicates southward propagation of the Southern Alpine deformation front. The derived hypocenters form excellent data for further seismological studies, e.g., LET.
Ángela María Gómez-García, Eline Le Breton, Magdalena Scheck-Wenderoth, Gaspar Monsalve, and Denis Anikiev
Solid Earth, 12, 275–298, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-275-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-275-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The Earth’s crust beneath the Caribbean Sea formed at about 90 Ma due to large magmatic activity of a mantle plume, which brought molten material up from the deep Earth. By integrating diverse geophysical datasets, we image for the first time two fossil magmatic conduits beneath the Caribbean. The location of these conduits at 90 Ma does not correspond with the present-day Galápagos plume. Either this mantle plume migrated in time or these conduits were formed above another unknown plume.
Rohitash Chandra, Danial Azam, Arpit Kapoor, and R. Dietmar Müller
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 2959–2979, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2959-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2959-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Forward landscape and sedimentary basin evolution models pose a major challenge in the development of efficient inference and optimization methods. Bayesian inference provides a methodology for estimation and uncertainty quantification of free model parameters. In this paper, we present an application of a surrogate-assisted Bayesian parallel tempering method where that surrogate mimics a landscape evolution model. We use the method for parameter estimation and uncertainty quantification.
Mjahid Zebari, Christoph Grützner, Payman Navabpour, and Kamil Ustaszewski
Solid Earth, 10, 663–682, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-663-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-663-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Here, we assessed the maturity level and then relative variation of uplift time of three anticlines along the hanging wall of the Zagros Mountain Front Flexure in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. We also estimated the relative time difference between the uplift time of more mature anticlines and less mature ones to be around 200 kyr via building a landscape evolution model. These enabled us to reconstruct a spatial and temporal evolution of these anticlines.
Hugo K. H. Olierook, Richard Scalzo, David Kohn, Rohitash Chandra, Ehsan Farahbakhsh, Gregory Houseman, Chris Clark, Steven M. Reddy, and R. Dietmar Müller
Solid Earth Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2019-4, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2019-4, 2019
Revised manuscript not accepted
Sascha Brune, Simon E. Williams, and R. Dietmar Müller
Solid Earth, 9, 1187–1206, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1187-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1187-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Fragmentation of continents often involves obliquely rifting segments that feature a complex three-dimensional structural evolution. Here we show that more than ~ 70 % of Earth’s rifted margins exceeded an obliquity of 20° demonstrating that oblique rifting should be considered the rule, not the exception. This highlights the importance of three-dimensional approaches in modelling, surveying, and interpretation of those rift segments where oblique rifting is the dominant mode of deformation.
Robert McKay, Neville Exon, Dietmar Müller, Karsten Gohl, Michael Gurnis, Amelia Shevenell, Stuart Henrys, Fumio Inagaki, Dhananjai Pandey, Jessica Whiteside, Tina van de Flierdt, Tim Naish, Verena Heuer, Yuki Morono, Millard Coffin, Marguerite Godard, Laura Wallace, Shuichi Kodaira, Peter Bijl, Julien Collot, Gerald Dickens, Brandon Dugan, Ann G. Dunlea, Ron Hackney, Minoru Ikehara, Martin Jutzeler, Lisa McNeill, Sushant Naik, Taryn Noble, Bradley Opdyke, Ingo Pecher, Lowell Stott, Gabriele Uenzelmann-Neben, Yatheesh Vadakkeykath, and Ulrich G. Wortmann
Sci. Dril., 24, 61–70, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-24-61-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-24-61-2018, 2018
Jodie Pall, Sabin Zahirovic, Sebastiano Doss, Rakib Hassan, Kara J. Matthews, John Cannon, Michael Gurnis, Louis Moresi, Adrian Lenardic, and R. Dietmar Müller
Clim. Past, 14, 857–870, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-857-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-857-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Subduction zones intersecting buried carbonate platforms liberate significant atmospheric CO2 and have the potential to influence global climate. We model the spatio-temporal distribution of carbonate platform accumulation within a plate tectonic framework and use wavelet analysis to analyse linked behaviour between atmospheric CO2 and carbonate-intersecting subduction zone (CISZ) lengths since the Devonian. We find that increasing CISZ lengths likely contributed to a warmer Palaeogene climate.
Wenchao Cao, Sabin Zahirovic, Nicolas Flament, Simon Williams, Jan Golonka, and R. Dietmar Müller
Biogeosciences, 14, 5425–5439, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-5425-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-5425-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We present a workflow to link paleogeographic maps to alternative plate tectonic models, alleviating the problem that published global paleogeographic maps are generally presented as static maps and tied to a particular plate model. We further develop an approach to improve paleogeography using paleobiology. The resulting paleogeographies are consistent with proxies of eustatic sea level change since ~400 Myr ago. We make the digital global paleogeographic maps available as an open resource.
Michael Rubey, Sascha Brune, Christian Heine, D. Rhodri Davies, Simon E. Williams, and R. Dietmar Müller
Solid Earth, 8, 899–919, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-899-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-899-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Earth's surface is constantly warped up and down by the convecting mantle. Here we derive geodynamic rules for this so-called
dynamic topographyby employing high-resolution numerical models of global mantle convection. We define four types of dynamic topography history that are primarily controlled by the ever-changing pattern of Earth's subduction zones. Our models provide a predictive quantitative framework linking mantle convection with plate tectonics and sedimentary basin evolution.
Nicholas Barnett-Moore, Rakib Hassan, Nicolas Flament, and Dietmar Müller
Solid Earth, 8, 235–254, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-235-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-235-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We use 3D mantle flow models to investigate the evolution of the Iceland plume in the North Atlantic. Results show that over the last ~ 100 Myr a remarkably stable pattern of flow in the lowermost mantle beneath the region resulted in the formation of a plume nucleation site. At the surface, a model plume compared to published observables indicates that its large plume head, ~ 2500 km in diameter, arriving beneath eastern Greenland in the Palaeocene, can account for the volcanic record and uplift.
N. Herold, J. Buzan, M. Seton, A. Goldner, J. A. M. Green, R. D. Müller, P. Markwick, and M. Huber
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 2077–2090, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2077-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2077-2014, 2014
J. Cannon, E. Lau, and R. D. Müller
Solid Earth, 5, 741–755, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-5-741-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-5-741-2014, 2014
S. Zahirovic, M. Seton, and R. D. Müller
Solid Earth, 5, 227–273, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-5-227-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-5-227-2014, 2014
S. J. Gallagher, N. Exon, M. Seton, M. Ikehara, C. J. Hollis, R. Arculus, S. D'Hondt, C. Foster, M. Gurnis, J. P. Kennett, R. McKay, A. Malakoff, J. Mori, K. Takai, and L. Wallace
Sci. Dril., 17, 45–50, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-17-45-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-17-45-2014, 2014
M. Hosseinpour, R. D. Müller, S. E. Williams, and J. M. Whittaker
Solid Earth, 4, 461–479, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-4-461-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-4-461-2013, 2013
C. Heine, J. Zoethout, and R. D. Müller
Solid Earth, 4, 215–253, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-4-215-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-4-215-2013, 2013
N. Wright, S. Zahirovic, R. D. Müller, and M. Seton
Biogeosciences, 10, 1529–1541, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-1529-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-1529-2013, 2013
R. D. Müller and T. C. W. Landgrebe
Solid Earth, 3, 447–465, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-3-447-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-3-447-2012, 2012
Related subject area
Subject area: Tectonic plate interactions, magma genesis, and lithosphere deformation at all scales | Editorial team: Structural geology and tectonics, rock physics, experimental deformation | Discipline: Tectonics
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
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
Long-wavelength late-Miocene thrusting in the north Alpine foreland: implications for late orogenic processes
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
Anticlockwise metamorphic pressure–temperature paths and nappe stacking in the Reisa Nappe Complex in the Scandinavian Caledonides, northern Norway: evidence for weakening of lower continental crust before and during continental collision
Deformation of feldspar at greenschist facies conditions – the record of mylonitic pegmatites from the Pfunderer Mountains, Eastern Alps
Correlation between tectonic stress regimes and methane seepage on the western Svalbard margin
The impact of earthquake cycle variability on neotectonic and paleoseismic slip rate estimates
From widespread Mississippian to localized Pennsylvanian extension in central Spitsbergen, Svalbard
The influence of detachment strength on the evolving deformational energy budget of physical accretionary prisms
New insights on the early Mesozoic evolution of multiple tectonic regimes in the northeastern North China Craton from the detrital zircon provenance of sedimentary strata
The influence of upper-plate advance and erosion on overriding plate deformation in orogen syntaxes
Channel flow, tectonic overpressure, and exhumation of high-pressure rocks in the Greater Himalayas
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
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.
Samuel Mock, Christoph von Hagke, Fritz Schlunegger, István Dunkl, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth, 11, 1823–1847, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1823-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1823-2020, 2020
Short summary
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.
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.
Carly Faber, Holger Stünitz, Deta Gasser, Petr Jeřábek, Katrin Kraus, Fernando Corfu, Erling K. Ravna, and Jiří Konopásek
Solid Earth, 10, 117–148, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-117-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-117-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The Caledonian mountains formed when Baltica and Laurentia collided around 450–400 million years ago. This work describes the history of the rocks and the dynamics of that continental collision through space and time using field mapping, estimated pressures and temperatures, and age dating on rocks from northern Norway. The rocks preserve continental collision between 440–430 million years ago, and an unusual pressure–temperature evolution suggests unusual tectonic activity prior to collision.
Felix Hentschel, Claudia A. Trepmann, and Emilie Janots
Solid Earth, 10, 95–116, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-95-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-95-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We used microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction to analyse the deformation behaviour of feldspar at greenschist facies conditions in mylonitic pegmatites of the Austroalpine basement. There are strong uncertainties about feldspar deformation, mainly because of the varying contributions of different deformation processes. We observed that deformation is mainly the result of coupled fracturing and dislocation glide, followed by growth and granular flow.
Andreia Plaza-Faverola and Marie Keiding
Solid Earth, 10, 79–94, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-79-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-79-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Vast amounts of methane are released to the oceans at continental margins (seepage). The mechanisms controlling when and how much methane is released are not fully understood. In the Fram Strait seepage may be affected by complex tectonic processes. We modelled the stress generated on the sediments exclusively due to the opening of the mid-ocean ridges and found that changes in the stress field may be controlling when and where seepage occurs, which has implications for seepage reconstruction.
Richard Styron
Solid Earth, 10, 15–25, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-15-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-15-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Successive earthquakes on a single fault are not perfectly periodic in time. There is some natural random variability. This leads to variations in estimated fault slip rates over short timescales though the longer-term mean slip rate stays constant, which may cause problems when comparing slip rates at different timescales. This paper is the first to quantify these effects, demonstrating substantial variation in slip rates over a few to tens of earthquakes, but much less at longer timescales.
Jean-Baptiste P. Koehl and Jhon M. Muñoz-Barrera
Solid Earth, 9, 1535–1558, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1535-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1535-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This research is dedicated to the study of poorly understood coal-bearing Mississippian (ca. 360–325 Ma) sedimentary rocks in central Spitsbergen. Our results suggest that these rocks were deposited during a period of widespread extension involving multiple fault trends, including faults striking subparallel to the extension direction, while overlying Pennsylvanian rocks (ca. 325–300 Ma) were deposited during extension localized along fewer, larger faults.
Jessica McBeck, Michele Cooke, Pauline Souloumiac, Bertrand Maillot, and Baptiste Mary
Solid Earth, 9, 1421–1436, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1421-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1421-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In order to assess the influence of deformational processes within accretionary prisms, we track the evolution of the energy budget. We track the consumption of energy stored in internal deformation of the host rock, energy expended in frictional slip, energy used in uplift against gravity and total energy input. We find that the energy used in internal deformation is < 1% of the total and that the energy expended in frictional slip is the largest portion of the budget.
Yi Ni Wang, Wen Liang Xu, Feng Wang, and Xiao Bo Li
Solid Earth, 9, 1375–1397, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1375-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1375-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Early Triassic sediments in the northeastern North Chian Craton resulted from the subduction of the Paleo-Asian oceanic plate and collision between the North China and Yangtze cratons. Late Triassic sediments resulted from the final closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean in the Middle Triassic and exhumation of the Su–Lu Orogenic Belt. Early Jurassic change in provenance was related to the uplift of the Xing'an–Mongolia Orogenic Belt and the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate.
Matthias Nettesheim, Todd A. Ehlers, David M. Whipp, and Alexander Koptev
Solid Earth, 9, 1207–1224, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1207-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1207-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In this modeling study, we investigate rock uplift at plate corners (syntaxes). These are characterized by a unique bent geometry at subduction zones and exhibit some of the world's highest rock uplift rates. We find that the style of deformation changes above the plate's bent section and that active subduction is necessary to generate an isolated region of rapid uplift. Strong erosion there localizes uplift on even smaller scales, suggesting both tectonic and surface processes are important.
Fernando O. Marques, Nibir Mandal, Subhajit Ghosh, Giorgio Ranalli, and Santanu Bose
Solid Earth, 9, 1061–1078, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1061-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1061-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We couple Himalayan tectonics to numerical simulations to show how upward-tapering channel (UTC) flow can be used to explain the evidence. The simulations predict high tectonic overpressure (TOP > 2), which increases exponentially with a decrease in UTC mouth width, and with increase in velocity and channel viscosity. The highest TOP occurs at depths < −60 km, which, combined with the flow in the UTC, forces high-pressure rocks to exhume along the channel’s hanging wall, as in the Himalayas.
Cited articles
Advokaat, E. L., Van Hinsbergen, D. J. J., Maffione, M., Langereis, C. G., Vissers, R. L. M., Cherchi, A., Schroeder, R., Madani, H., and Columbu, S.: Eocene rotation of Sardinia, and the paleogeography of the western Mediterranean region, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 401, 183–195, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2014.06.012, 2014.
Amante, C. and Eakins, B. W.: ETOPO1 1 Arc-Minute Global Relief Model, NOAA Technical Memorandum NESDIS NGDC, 24, 19, https://doi.org/10.7289/V5C8276M, 2009.
Andreani, L., Loget, N., Rangin, C., and Pichon, X. Le: New structural constraints on the southern Provence thrust belt (France): Evidences for an eocene shortening event linked to the corsica–sardinia subduction, B. Soc. Geol. Fr., 181, 547–563, https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.181.6.547, 2010.
Andrés-Martínez, M., Pérez-Gussinyé, M., Armitage, J., and Morgan, J. P.: Thermomechanical Implications of Sediment Transport for the Architecture and Evolution of Continental Rifts and Margins, Tectonics, 38, 641–665, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018TC005346, 2019.
Argnani, A.: Evolution of the southern Tyrrhenian slab tear and active tectonics along the western edge of the Tyrrhenian subducted slab, Geol. Soc. Sp., 311, 193–212, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP311.7, 2009.
Argnani, A.: Plate motion and the evolution of Alpine Corsica and Northern Apennines, Tectonophysics, 579, 207–219, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2012.06.010, 2012.
Argnani, A. and Frugoni, F.: Foreland deformation in the Central Adriatic and its bearing on the evolution of the Northern Apennines, Ann. Geofis., XL, 771–780, 1997.
Argnani, A., Rovere, M., and Bonazzi, C.: Tectonics of the Mattinata fault, offshore south Gargano (southern Adriatic Sea, Italy): Implications for active deformation and seismotectonics in the foreland of the Southern Apennines, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 121, 1421–1440, https://doi.org/10.1130/B26326.1, 2009.
Babist, J., Handy, M. R., Konrad-Schmolke, M., and Hammerschmidt, K.: Precollisional, multistage exhumation of subducted continental crust: The Sesia Zone, western Alps, Tectonics, 25, 1–25, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005TC001927, 2006.
Ballèvre, M., Manzotti, P., and Dal Piaz, G. V.: Pre-Alpine (Variscan) Inheritance: A Key for the Location of the Future Valaisan Basin (Western Alps), Tectonics, 37, 786–817, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017TC004633, 2018.
Barnett-Moore, N., Hosseinpour, M., and Maus, S.: Assessing discrepancies between previous plate kinematic models of Mesozoic Iberia and their constraints, Tectonics, 35, 1843–1862, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015TC004019, 2016.
Barnett-Moore, N., Font, E., and Neres, M.: A Reply to the Comment on “Assessing Discrepancies Between Previous Plate Kinematic Models of Mesozoic Iberia and Their Constraints” by Barnett-Moore Et Al., Tectonics, 36, 3286–3297, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017TC004760, 2017.
Barnett-Moore, N., Müller, D. R., Williams, S., Skogseid, J., and Seton, M.: A reconstruction of the North Atlantic since the earliest Jurassic, Basin Res., 30, 160–185, https://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12214, 2018.
Barrett, T. J. and Spooner, E. T..: Ophiolitic breccias associated with allochtonous oceanic crustal rocks in the east Ligurian Apennines, Italy – A comparison with observations from rifted oceanic ridges, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 35, 79–91, 1977.
Beltrando, M., Rubatto, D., Compagnoni, R., and Lister, G.: Was the valaisan basin floored by oceanic crust? Evidence of permian magmatism in the Versoyen unit (Valaisan domain, NW ALPS), Ofioliti, 32, 85–99, https://doi.org/10.7892/boris.85691, 2007.
Beltrando, M., Rubatto, D., and Manatschal, G.: From passive margins to orogens: The link between ocean-continent transition zones and (ultra)high-pressure metamorphism, Geology, 38, 559–562, https://doi.org/10.1130/G30768.1, 2010.
Beltrando, M., Frasca, G., Compagnoni, R., and Vitale-Brovarone, A.: The Valaisan controversy revisited: Multi-stage folding of a Mesozoic hyper-extended margin in the Petit St. Bernard pass area (Western Alps), Tectonophysics, 579, 17–36, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2012.02.010, 2012.
Beltrando, M., Manatschal, G., Mohn, G., Dal Piaz, G. V., Vitale Brovarone, A., and Masini, E.: Recognizing remnants of magma-poor rifted margins in high-pressure orogenic belts: The Alpine case study, Earth-Sci. Rev., 131, 88–115, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.01.001, 2014.
Berger, A. and Bousquet, R.: Subduction-related metamorphism in the Alps: Review of isotopic ages based on petrology and their geodynamic consequences, Geol. Soc. Sp., 298, 117–144, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP298.7, 2008.
Bernoulli, D. and Jenkyns, H. C.: Ancient oceans and continental margins of the Alpine–Mediterranean Tethys: Deciphering clues from Mesozoic pelagic sediments and ophiolites, Sedimentology, 56, 149–190, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3091.2008.01017.x, 2009.
Bestani, L., Espurt, N., Lamarche, J., Floquet, M., Philip, J., Bellier, O., and Hollender, F.: Structural style and evolution of the Pyrenean-Provence thrust belt, SE France, B. Soc. Geol. Fr., 186, 223–241, https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.186.4-5.223, 2015.
Bestani, L., Espurt, N., Lamarche, J., Bellier, O., and Hollender, F.: Reconstruction of the Provence Chain evolution, southeastern France, Tectonics, 35, 1506–1525, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016TC004115, 2016.
Bill, M., O'Dogherty, L., Guex, J., Baumgartner, P. O., and Masson, H.: Radiolarite ages in Alpine–Mediterranean ophiolites: Constraints on the oceanic spreading and the Tethys-Atlantic connection, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 113, 129–143, https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(2001)113<0129:RAIAMO>2.0.CO;2, 2001.
Billi, A., Faccenna, C., Bellier, O., Minelli, L., Neri, G., Piromallo, C., Presti, D., Scrocca, D., and Serpelloni, E.: Recent tectonic reorganization of the Nubia-Eurasia convergent boundary heading for the closure of the western Mediterranean, B. Soc. Geol. Fr., 182, 279–303, https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.182.4.279, 2011.
Bortolotti, V. and Principi, G.: Tethyan ophiolites and Pangea break-up, Isl. Arc, 14, 442–470, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1738.2005.00478.x, 2005.
Bouillin, J. P., Durand-Delga, M., and Olivier, P.: Betic-rifian and tyrrhenian arcs: Distinctive features, genesis and development stages, Developments in Geotectonics, 21, 281–304, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-42688-8.50017-5, 1986.
Bousquet, R., Oberhänsli, R., Goffé, B., Wiederkehr, M., Koller, F., Schmid, S. M., Schuster, R., Engi, M., Berger, A., and Martinotti, G.: Metamorphism of metasediments at the scale of an orogen: A key to the Tertiary geodynamic evolution of the Alps, Geol. Soc. Sp., 298, 393–411, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP298.18, 2008.
Bronner, A., Sauter, D., Manatschal, G., Péron-pinvidic, G., and Munschy, M.: Magmatic breakup as an explanation for magnetic anomalies at magma-poor rifted margins, Nat. Geosci., 4, 549–553, https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1201, 2011.
Brun, J. P. and Faccena, C.: Exhumation of high-pressure rocks driven by slab rollback, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 272, 1–7, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2008.02.038, 2008.
Brune, S.: Evolution of stress and fault patterns in oblique rift systems: 3-D numerical lithospheric-scale experiments from rift to breakup, Geochem. Geoph. Geosy., 15, 3392–3415, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GC005446, 2014.
Brune, S., Popov, A. A., and Sobolev, S. V.: Modeling suggests that oblique extension facilitates rifting and continental break-up, J. Geophys. Res., 117, B08402, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JB008860, 2012.
Brune, S., Popov, A. A., and Sobolev, S. V.: Quantifying the thermo-mechanical impact of plume arrival on continental break-up, Tectonophysics, 604, 51–59, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2013.02.009, 2013.
Brune, S., Heine, C., Pérez-Gussinyé, M., and Sobolev, S. V.: Rift migration explains continental margin asymmetry and crustal hyper-extension, Nat. Commun., 5, 1–9, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5014, 2014.
Brune, S., Williams, S. E., Butterworth, N. P., and Müller, R. D.: Abrupt plate accelerations shape rifted continental margins, Nature, 536, 201–204, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature18319, 2016.
Brune, S., Corti, G., and Ranalli, G.: Controls of inherited lithospheric heterogeneity on rift linkage: Numerical and analog models of interaction between the Kenyan and Ethiopian rifts across the Turkana depression, Tectonics, 36, 1767–1786, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017TC004739, 2017a.
Brune, S., Heine, C., Clift, P. D., and Perez-Gussinyé, M.: Rifted margin architecture and crustal rheology: Reviewing Iberia–Newfoundland, Central South Atlantic, and South China Sea, Mar. Petrol. Geol., 79, 257–281, 2017b.
Brune, S., Williams, S. E., and Müller, R. D.: Oblique rifting: the rule, not the exception, Solid Earth, 9, 1187–1206, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1187-2018, 2018.
Canérot, J.: The pull apart-type Tardets-Mauléon Basin, a key to understand the formation of the Pyrenees, B. Soc. Geol. Fr., 188, 35, https://doi.org/10.1051/bsgf/2017198, 2017.
Castellarin, A., Vai, G. B., and Cantelli, L.: The Alpine evolution of the Southern Alps around the Giudicarie faults: A Late Cretaceous to Early Eocene transfer zone, Tectonophysics, 414, 203–223, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2005.10.019, 2006.
Catalano, R., Di Stefano, P., and Kozur, H.: Permian circumpacific deep-water faunas from the western Tethys (Sicily, Italy) – new evidences for the position of the Permian Tethys, Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl., 87, 75–108, https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(91)90131-A, 1991.
Channell, J. E. T. and Kozur, H. W.: How many oceans? Meliata, Vardar, Pindos oceans in Mesozoic Alpine paleogeography, Geology, 25, 183–186, https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1997)025<0183:HMOMVA>2.3.CO;2, 1997.
Channell, J. E. T., D'Argenio, B., and Horváth, F.: Adria, the African promontory, in mesozoic Mediterranean palaeogeography, Earth-Sci. Rev., 15, 213–292, https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-8252(79)90083-7, 1979.
Choukroune, P.: Tectonic evolution of the Pyrenees, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 20, 143–58, 1992.
Cipriani, A. and Bottini, C.: Early Cretaceous tectonic rejuvenation of an Early Jurassic margin in the Central Apennines: The “Mt. Cosce Breccia”, Sediment. Geol., 387, 57–74, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2019.03.002, 2019a.
Cipriani, A. and Bottini, C.: Unconformities, neptunian dykes and mass-transport deposits as an evidence for Early Cretceous syn-sedimentary tectonics: new insights from the Central Apennines, Ital. J. Geosci., 138, 333–354, 2019b.
Civile, D., Lodolo, E., Accettella, D., Geletti, R., Ben-Avraham, Z., Deponte, M., Facchin, L., Ramella, R., and Romeo, R.: The Pantelleria graben (Sicily Channel, Central Mediterranean): An example of intraplate “passive” rift, Tectonophysics, 490, 173–183, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2010.05.008, 2010.
Clerc, C. and Lagabrielle, Y.: Thermal control on the modes of crustal thinning leading to mantle exhumation: Insights from the cretaceous pyrenean hot paleomargins, Tectonics, 33, 1340–1359, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013TC003471, 2014.
Conti, P., Manatschal, G., and Pfister, M.: Synrift sedimentation, Jurassic and Alpine tectonics in the central Ortler Nappe, (Eastern Alps, Italy), Eclogae Geol. Helv., 87, 63–90, https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-167443, 1994.
Corti, G.: Continental rift evolution: From rift initiation to incipient break-up in the Main Ethiopian Rift, East Africa, Earth-Sci. Rev., 96, 1–53, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2009.06.005, 2009.
Costa, S., and Caby, R.: Evolution of the Ligurian Tethys in the western Alps:
D'Agostino, N., Avallone, A., Cheloni, D., D'Anastasio, E., Mantenuto, S., and Selvaggi, G.: Active tectonics of the Adriatic region from GPS and earthquake slip vectors, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 113, 1–19, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JB005860, 2008.
Dal Zilio, L., Kissling, E., Gerya, T., and van Dinther, Y.: Slab Rollback Orogeny Model: A Test of Concept, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2020GL089917, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089917, 2020.
Dannowski, A., Kopp, H., Klingelhoefer, F., Klaeschen, D., Gutscher, M.-A., Krabbenhoeft, A., Dellong, D., Rovere, M., Graindorge, D., Papenberg, C., and Klaucke, I.: Ionian Abyssal Plain: a window into the Tethys oceanic lithosphere, Solid Earth, 10, 447–462, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-447-2019, 2019.
Dannowski, A., Kopp, H., Grevemeyer, I., Lange, D., Thorwart, M., Bialas, J., and Wollatz-Vogt, M.: Seismic evidence for failed rifting in the Ligurian Basin, Western Alpine domain, Solid Earth, 11, 873–887, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-873-2020, 2020.
Debroas, E.-J.: Le Flysch noir albo-cénomanien témoin de la structuration albienne à sénonienne de la Zone nord-pyrénéenne en Bigorre (Hautes-Pyrénées, France), B. Soc. Geol. Fr., VI, 273–285, https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.VI.2.273, 1990.
Decarlis, A., Manatschal, G., Haupert, I., and Masini, E.: The tectono-stratigraphic evolution of distal, hyper-extended magma-poor conjugate rifted margins: Examples from the Alpine Tethys and Newfoundland-Iberia, Mar. Petrol. Geol., 68, 54–72, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2015.08.005, 2015.
Decrausaz, T., Müntener, O., Manzotti, P., Lafay R., and Spandler C.: Fossil oceanic core complexes in the Alps. New field, geochemical and isotopic constraints from the Tethyan Aiguilles Rouges Ophiolite (Val d'Hérens, Western Alps, Switzerland), Swiss J. Geosci., 114, 3, https://doi.org/10.1186/s00015-020-00380-4, 2021.
Dewey, J. F., Helman, M. L., Knott, S. D., Turco, E., and Hutton, D. H. W.: Kinematics of the western Mediterranean, Geol. Soc. Sp., 45, 265–283, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.1989.045.01.15, 1989.
Dick, H. J. B., Lin, J., and Schouten, H.: An ultraslow-spreading class of ocean ridge, Nature, 426, 405–412, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02128, 2003.
Duretz, T., Gerya, T. V., and May, D. A.: Numerical modelling of spontaneous slab breakoff and subsequent topographic response, Tectonophysics, 502, 244–256, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2010.05.024, 2011.
Ebinger, C. J., Jackson, J. A., Foster, A. N., and Hayward, N. J.: Extensional basin geometry and the elastic lithosphere, Philos. T. R. Soc. A, 357, 741–765, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1999.0351, 1999.
Epin, M. E., Manatschal, G., Amman, M., Ribes, C., Clausse, A., Guffon, T., and Lescanne, M.: Polyphase tectono-magmatic evolution during mantle exhumation in an ultra-distal, magma-poor rift domain: example of the fossil Platta ophiolite, SE Switzerland, Int. J. Earth Sci., 108, 2443–2467, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-019-01772-0, 2019.
Espurt, N., Hippolyte, J. C., Saillard, M., and Bellier, O.: Geometry and kinematic evolution of a long-living foreland structure inferred from field data and cross section balancing, the Sainte-Victoire System, Provence, France, Tectonics, 31, 1–27, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011TC002988, 2012.
Faccenna, C., Becker, T. W., Lucente, F. P., Jolivet, L., and Rossetti, F.: History of subduction and back-arc extension in the central Mediterranean, Geophys. J. Int., 145, 809–820, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0956-540X.2001.01435.x, 2001.
Fassmer, K., Obermüller, G., Nagel, T. J., Kirst, F., Froitzheim, N., Sandmann, S., Miladinova, I., Fonseca, R. O. C., and Münker, C.: High-pressure metamorphic age and significance of eclogite-facies continental fragments associated with oceanic lithosphere in the Western Alps (Etirol-Levaz Slice, Valtournenche, Italy), Lithos, 252–253, 145–159, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2016.02.019, 2016.
Faupl, P. and Tollmann, A.: Die Roßfeldschichten: Ein Beispiel für Sedimentation im Bereich einer tektonisch aktiven Tiefseerinne aus der kalkalpinen Unterkreide, Geol. Rundsch., 68, 93-120, 1979.
Faupl, P. and Wagreich, M.: Late Jurassic to Eocene Palaeogeography and Geodynamic Evolution of the Eastern Alps, Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geologischen Gesellschaft, 92, 79–94, 1999.
Ferrando, S., Bernoulli, D., and Compagnoni, R.: The Canavese zone (internal Western Alps): A distal margin of Adria, Schweiz. Miner. Petrog., 84, 237–256, 2004.
Florineth, D. and Froitzheim, N.: Transition from continental to oceanic basement in the Tasna nappe (Engadine window, Graubunden, Switzerland): evidence for early Cretaceous opening of the Valais Ocean, Schweiz. Miner. Petrog., 74, 437–448, 1994.
Ford, M., Duchêne, S., Gasquet, D., and Vanderhaeghe, O.: Two-phase orogenic convergence in the external and internal SW Alps, J. Geol. Soc., 163, 815–826, https://doi.org/10.1144/0016-76492005-034, 2006.
Frank, W. and Schlager, W.: Jurassic strike slip versus subduction in the Eastern Alps, Int. J. Earth Sci., 95, 431–450, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-005-0045-7, 2006.
Frisch, W.: Tectonic progradation and plate tectonic evolution of the Alps, Tectonophysics, 60, 121–139, https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-1951(79)90155-0, 1979.
Frizon de Lamotte, D., Raulin, C., Mouchot, N., Wrobel-Daveau, J.-C., Blanpied, C., and Ringenbach, J.-C.: The southernmost margin of the Tethys realm during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic: Initial geometry and timing of the inversion processes, Tectonics, 30, TC3002, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010tc002691, 2011.
Froitzheim, N.: Synsedimentary and synorogenic normal faults within a thrust sheet of the Eastern Alps (Ortler zone, Graubünden, Switzerland), Eclogae Geol. Helv., 81, 593–610, 1988.
Froitzheim, N. and Eberli, G. P.: Extensional detachment faulting in the evolution of a Tethys passive continental margin, Eastern Alps, Switzerland, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 102, 1297–1308, https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1990)102<1297, 1990.
Froitzheim, N. and Manatschal, G.: Kinematics of Jurassic rifting, mantle exhumation, and passive-margin formation in the Austroalpine and Penninic nappes (eastern Switzerland), Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 108, 1120–1133, https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1996)108<1120:KOJRME>2.3.CO;2, 1996.
Froitzheim, N., Schmid, S. M., and Frey, M.: Mesozoic paleogeography and the timing of eclogite facies metamorphism in the Alps: A working hypothesis, Eclogae Geol. Helv., 89, 81–110, 1996.
Gaina, C., Roest, W. R., and Müller, R. D.: Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic deformation of Northeast Asia, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 197, 273–286, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-821X(02)00499-5, 2002.
Gattacceca, J., Deino, A., Rizzo, R., Jones, D. S., Henry, B., Beaudoin, B., and Vadeboin, F.: Miocene rotation of Sardinia: New paleomagnetic and geochronological constraints and geodynamic implications, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 258, 359–377, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2007.02.003, 2007.
Gawlick, H. J. and Missoni, S.: Middle–Late Jurassic sedimentary mélange formation related to ophiolite obduction in the Alpine–Carpathian–Dinaridic Mountain Range, Gondwana Res., 74, 144–172, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2019.03.003, 2019.
Gerya, T. V., Stöckhert, B., and Perchuk, A. L.: Exhumation of high-pressure metamorphic rocks in a subduction channel: A numerical simulation, Tectonics, 21, 1056, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002tc001406, 2002.
Guerrera, F., Martin-Algarra, A., and Perrone, V.: Late Oligocene-Miocene syn-/-late-orogenic successions in Western and Central Mediterranean Chains from the Betic Cordillera to the Southern Apennines, Terra Nova, 5, 525–544, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3121.1993.tb00302.x, 1993.
Guerrera, F., Martín-Martín, M., and Tramontana, M.: Evolutionary geological models of the central-western peri-Mediterranean chains: a review, Int. Geol. Rev., 63, 65–86, https://doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2019.1706056, 2019.
Guillot, S. and Ménot, R. P.: Paleozoic evolution of the External Crystalline Massifs of the Western Alps, C. R. Geosci., 341, 253–265, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crte.2008.11.010, 2009.
Guillot, S., Di Paola, S., Ménot, R. P., Ledru, P., Spalla, M. I., Gosso, G., and Schwartz, S.: Suture zones and importance of strike-slip faulting for Variscan geodynamic reconstructions of the External Crystalline Massifs of the western Alps, B. Soc. Geol. Fr., 180, 483–500, https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.180.6.483, 2009.
Gurnis, M., Turner, M., Zahirovic, S., DiCaprio, L., Spasojevic, S., Müller, R. D., Boyden, J., Seton, M., Manea, V. C., and Bower, D. J.: Plate tectonic reconstructions with continuously closing plates, Comput. Geosci., 38, 35–42, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2011.04.014, 2012.
Gurnis, M., Yang, T., Cannon, J., Turner, M., Williams, S., Flament, N., and Müller, R. D.: Global tectonic reconstructions with continuously deforming and evolving rigid plates, Comput. Geosci., 116, 32–41, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2018.04.007, 2018.
Hamai, L., Petit, C., Le Pourhiet, L., Yelles-Chaouche, A., Déverchère, J., Beslier, M. O., and Abtout, A.: Towards subduction inception along the inverted North African margin of Algeria? Insights from thermo-mechanical models, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 501, 13–23, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.08.028, 2018.
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-Sci. 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.
Hart, N. R., Stockli, D. F., Lavier, L. L., and Hayman, N. W.: Thermal evolution of a hyperextended rift basin, Mauléon Basin, western Pyrenees, Tectonics, 36, 1103–1128, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016TC004365, 2017.
Heine, C., Zoethout, J., and Müller, R. D.: Kinematics of the South Atlantic rift, Solid Earth, 4, 215–253, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-4-215-2013, 2013.
Henry, P., Azambre, B., Montigny, R., Rossy, M., and Stevenson, R. K.: Late mantle evolution of the Pyrenean sub-continental lithospheric mantle in the light of new 40Ar-39Ar and Sm–Nd ages on pyroxenites and periodotites (Pyrenees, France), Tectonophysics, 296, 103–123, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-1951(98)00139-5, 1998.
Hermann, J. and Müntener, O.: Extension-related structures in the Malenco-Margna-system: Implications for paleogeography and consequences for rifting and Alpine tectonics, Schweiz. Miner. Petrog., 76, 501–519, https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-57712, 1996.
Horváth, F., Bada, G., Szafián, P., Tari, G., Ádám, A., and Cloetingh, S.: Formation and deformation of the Pannonian Basin: Constraints from observational data, Geo. Soc. Mem., 32, 191–206, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.MEM.2006.032.01.11, 2006.
Hosseinpour, M., Williams, S., Seton, M., Barnett-Moore, N., and Müller, R. D.: Tectonic evolution of Western Tethys from Jurassic to present day: coupling geological and geophysical data with seismic tomography models, Int. Geol. Rev., 58, 1616–1645, https://doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2016.1183146, 2016.
Huismans, R. S. and Beaumont, C.: Symmetric and asymmetric lithospheric extension: Relative effects of frictional-plastic and viscous strain softening, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 2496, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JB002026, 2003.
Jammes, S. and Lavier, L. L.: Effect of contrasting strength from inherited crustal fabrics on the development of rifting margins, Geosphere, 15, 407–422, https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01686.1, 2019.
Jammes, S., Manatschal, G., Lavier, L., and Masini, E.: Tectonosedimentary evolution related to extreme crustal thinning ahead of a propagating ocean: Example of the western Pyrenees, Tectonics, 28, 1–24, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008TC002406, 2009.
Johansen, S. E., Panzner, M., Mittet, R., Amundsen, H. E. F., Lim, A., Vik, E., Landrø, M., and Arntsen, B.: Deep electrical imaging of the ultraslow-spreading Mohns Ridge, Nature, 567, 379–383, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1010-0, 2019.
Jolivet, L., Faccenna, C., Goffé, B., Mattei, M., Rossetti, F., Brunet, C., Storti, F., Funiciello, R., Cadet, J. P., d'Agostino, N., and Parra, T.: Midcrustal shear zones in postorogenic extension: Example from the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 103, 12123–12160, https://doi.org/10.1029/97jb03616, 1998.
Jolivet, L., Gorini, C., Smit, J., and Leroy, S.: back-arc basins: the Gulf of Lion margin, Tectonics, 34, 662–679, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014TC003570, 2015.
Joseph, P., Cabrol, C., and Friès, G.: Titled blocks and submarine passes in the Banon graben (France, SE) during Apto-Albian times: a paleotopography directly induced by strike-slip synsedimentary tectonics, C. R. Acad. Sci. II A, 304, 447–452, 1987.
Kaczmarek, M. A., Müntener, O., and Rubatto, D.: Trace element chemistry and U–Pb dating of zircons from oceanic gabbros and their relationship with whole rock composition (Lanzo, Italian Alps), Contrib. Mineral. Petr., 155, 295–312, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-007-0243-3, 2008.
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.
Kiss, D., Candioti, L. G., Duretz, T., and Schmalholz, S. M.: Thermal softening induced subduction initiation at a passive margin, Geophys. J. Int., 220, 2068–2073, https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggz572, 2020.
Kneller, E. A., Johnson, C. A., Karner, G. D., Einhorn, J., and Queffelec, T. A.: Inverse methods for modeling non-rigid plate kinematics: Application to mesozoic plate reconstructions of the Central Atlantic, Comput. Geosci., 49, 217–230, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2012.06.019, 2012.
Kurz, W., Neubauer, F., and Unzog, W.: Evolution of Alpine eclogites in the Eastern Alps: Implications for Alpine Geodynamics, Phys. Chem. Earth Pt. A, 24, 667–674, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1464-1895(99)00097-6, 1999.
Labails, C., Olivet, J.-L., Aslanian, D., and Roest, W. R.: An alternative early opening scenario for the Central Atlantic Ocean, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 297, 355–368, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2010.06.024, 2010.
Lacombe, O. and Jolivet, L.: Structural and kinematic relationships between Corsica and the Pyrenees–Provence domain at the time of the Pyrenean orogeny, Tectonics, 24, 1–20, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004TC001673, 2005.
Lagabrielle, Y. and Cannat, M.: Alpine Jurassic ophiolites resemble the modern central Atlantic basement, Geology, 18, 319–322, 1990.
Lagabrielle, Y. and Lemoine, M.: Alpine, Corsican and Apennine ophiolites: the slow-spreading ridge model, C. R. Acad. Sci. II A, 325, 909–920, 1997.
Lahondère, D. and Guerrot, C.: Datation Sm–Nd du métamorphisme éclogitique en Corse alpine: un argument pour l'existence au Crétacé supérieur d'une zone de subduction active localisée sous le bloc corso-sarde, Géologie de la France, 3, 3–11, 1997.
Lavier, L. L. and Manatschal, G.: A mechanism to thin the continental lithosphere at magma-poor margins, Nature, 440, 324–328, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04608, 2006.
Le Breton, E., Handy, M. R., Molli, G., and Ustaszewski, K.: Post-20 Ma Motion of the Adriatic Plate: New Constraints From Surrounding Orogens and Implications for Crust-Mantle Decoupling, Tectonics, 36, 3135–3154, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016TC004443, 2017.
Le Pichon, X., Bergerat, F., and Roulet, M.-J.: Plate kinematics and tectonics leading to the Alpine belt formation; A new analysis, Geol. S. Am. S., 111–131, 1988.
Lemoine, M., Bas, T., Arnaud-Vanneau, A., Arnaud, H., Dumont, T., Gidon, M., Bourbon, M., de Graciansky, P.-C., Rudkiewicz, J.-L., Megard-Galli, J., and Tricart, P..: The continental margin of the Mesozoic Tethys in the Western Alps, Mar. Petrol. Geol., 3, 179–199, https://doi.org/10.1016/0264-8172(86)90044-9, 1986.
Li, X. H., Faure, M., Lin, W., and Manatschal, G.: New isotopic constraints on age and magma genesis of an embryonic oceanic crust: The Chenaillet Ophiolite in the Western Alps, Lithos, 160–161, 283–291, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2012.12.016, 2013.
Liati, A. and Froitzheim, N.: Assessing the Valais ocean, Western Alps: U–Pb SHRIMP zircon geochronology of eclogite in the Balma unit, on top of the Monte Rosa nappe, Eur. J. Mineral., 18, 299–308, https://doi.org/10.1127/0935-1221/2006/0018-0299, 2006.
Liati, A., Froitzheim, N., and Fanning, C. M.: Jurassic ophiolites within the Valais domain of the Western and Central Alps: Geochronological evidence for re-rifting of oceanic crust, Contrib. Mineral. Petr., 149, 446–461, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-005-0658-7, 2005.
Loprieno, A., Bousquet, R., Bucher, S., Ceriani, S., Dalla Torre, F. H., Fügenschuh, B., and Schmid, S. M.: The Valais units in Savoy (France): A key area for understanding the palaeogeography and the tectonic evolution of the Western Alps, Int. J. Earth Sci., 100, 963–992, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-010-0595-1, 2011.
Macchiavelli, C., Vergés, J., Schettino, A., Fernàndez, M., Turco, E., Casciello, E., Torne, M., Pierantoni, P. P., and Tunini, L.: A New Southern North Atlantic Isochron Map: Insights Into the Drift of the Iberian Plate Since the Late Cretaceous, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 122, 9603–9626, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JB014769, 2017.
Maffione, M. and van Hinsbergen, D. J. J.: Reconstructing Plate Boundaries in the Jurassic Neo-Tethys From the East and West Vardar Ophiolites (Greece and Serbia), Tectonics, 37, 858–887, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017TC004790, 2018.
Manatschal, G.: New models for evolution of magma-poor rifted margins based on a review of data and concepts from West Iberia and the Alps, Int. J. Earth Sci., 93, 432–466, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-004-0394-7, 2004.
Manatschal, G. and Bernoulli, D.: Architecture and tectonic evolution of nonvolcanic margins: Present-day Galicia and ancient Adria, Tectonics, 18, 1099–1119, https://doi.org/10.1029/1999TC900041, 1999.
Manatschal, G. and Müntener, O.: A type sequence across an ancient magma-poor ocean-continent transition: the example of the western Alpine Tethys ophiolites, Tectonophysics, 473, 4–19, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2008.07.021, 2009.
Manatschal, G., Engström, A., Desmurs, L., Schaltegger, U., Cosca, M., Müntener, O., and Bernoulli, D.: What is the tectono-metamorphic evolution of continental break-up: The example of the Tasna Ocean-Continent Transition, J. Struct. Geol., 28, 1849–1869, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2006.07.014, 2006.
Manzotti, P., Ballèvre, M., Zucali, M., Robyr, M., and Engi, M.: The tectonometamorphic evolution of the Sesia–Dent Blanche nappes (internal Western Alps): review and synthesis, Swiss J. Geosci., 107, 309–336, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00015-014-0172-x, 2014.
Manzotti, P., Bosse, V., Pitra, P., Robyr, M., Schiavi, F., and Ballèvre, M.: Exhumation rates in the Gran Paradiso Massif (Western Alps) constrained by in situ U–Th–Pb dating of accessory phases (monazite, allanite and xenotime), Contrib. Mineral. Petr., 173, 1–28, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-018-1452-7, 2018.
Marroni, M., Monechi, S., Perilli, N., Principi, G., and Treves, B.: Late Cretaceous flysch deposits of the Northern Apennines, Italy: age of inception of orogenesis-controlled sedimentation, Cretaceous Res., 13, 487–504, https://doi.org/10.1016/0195-6671(92)90013-G, 1992.
Marroni, M., Molli, G., Montanini, A., and Tribuzio, R.: The association of continental crust rocks with ophiolites in the northern Apennines (Italy): implications for the continent–ocean transition in the Western Tethys, Tectonophysics, 292, 43–66, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-1951(98)00060-2, 1998.
Martin, L. A. J., Rubatto, D., Vitale Brovarone, A., and Hermann, J.: Late Eocene lawsonite-eclogite facies metasomatism of a granulite sliver associated to ophiolites in Alpine Corsica, Lithos, 125, 620–640, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2011.03.015, 2011.
Masetti, D., Fantoni, R., Romano, R., Sartorio, D., and Trevisani, E.: Tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Jurassic extensional basins of the eastern southern Alps and Adriatic foreland based on an integrated study of surface and subsurface data, AAPG Bull., 96, 2065–2089, https://doi.org/10.1306/03091211087, 2012.
Masini, E., Manatschal, G., and Mohn, G.: The Alpine Tethys rifted margins: Reconciling old and new ideas to understand the stratigraphic architecture of magma-poor rifted margins, Sedimentology, 60, 174–196, https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12017, 2013.
Masini, E., Manatschal, G., Tugend, J., Mohn, G., and Flament, J. M.: The tectono-sedimentary evolution of a hyper-extended rift basin: The example of the Arzacq-Mauléon rift system (Western Pyrenees, SW France), Int. J. Earth Sci., 103, 1569–1596, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-014-1023-8, 2014.
Masson, H., Bussy, F., Eichenberger, M., Giroudd, N., Meilhac, C., and Presniakov, S.: Early Carboniferous age of the Versoyen ophiolites and consequences: Non-existence of a “Valais ocean” (Lower Penninic, western Alps), B. Soc. Geol. Fr., 179, 337–355, https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.179.4.337, 2008.
Matte, P.: The Variscan collage and orogeny (480–290 Ma) and the tectonic definition of the Armorica microplate: A review, Terra Nova, 13, 122–128, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3121.2001.00327.x, 2001.
Matter, A., Homewood, P., Caron, C., Rigassi, D., Van Stuijvenberg, J., Weidmann, M., and Winkler, W.: Flysch and Molasse of Western and Central Switzerland: Geology of Switzerland, a Guide Book, edited by: Schweizerische Geologische Kommission, Wepf & Co. Publishers, Basel, New York, 261–293, 1980.
McCarthy, A., Chelle-Michou, C., Müntener, O., Arculus, R., and Blundy, J.: Subduction initiation without magmatism: The case of the missing Alpine magmatic arc, Geology, 46, 1059–1062, https://doi.org/10.1130/G45366.1, 2018.
McCarthy, A., Tugend, J., Mohn, G., Candioti, L., Chelle-Michou, C., Arculus, R., Schmalholz, S. M., and Müntener, O.: A case of Ampferer-type subduction and consequences for the Alps and the Pyrenees, Am. J. Sci., 320, 313–372, https://doi.org/10.2475/04.2020.01, 2020.
McClay, K., Munoz, J. A., and García-Senz, J.: Extensional salt tectonics in a contractional orogen: A newly identified tectonic event in the Spanish Pyrenees, Geology, 32, 737–740, https://doi.org/10.1130/G20565.1, 2004.
McKenzie, D.: Some remarks on the development of sedimentary basins, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 40, 25–32, https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821X(78)90071-7, 1978.
Michard, A., Chalouan, A., Feinberg, H., Goffé, B., and Montigny, R.: How does the Alpine belt end between Spain and Morocco?, B. Soc. Geol. Fr., 173, 3–15, https://doi.org/10.2113/173.1.3, 2002.
Michard, A., Negro, F., Saddiqi, O., Bouybaouene, M. L., Chalouan, A., Montigny, R., and Goffé, B.: Pressure-temperature-time constraints on the Maghrebide mountain building: Evidence from the Rif-Betic transect (Morocco, Spain), Algerian correlations, and geodynamic implications, C. R. Geosci., 338, 92–114, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crte.2005.11.011, 2006.
Michard, A., Mokhtari, A., Chalouan, A., Saddiqi, O., Rossi, P., and Rjimati, E. C.: New ophiolite slivers in the External Rif belt, and tentative restoration of a dual Tethyan suture in the western Maghrebides, B. Soc. Geol. Fr., 185, 313–328, https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.185.5.313, 2014.
Mohn, G., Manatschal, G., Müntener, O., Beltrando, M., and Masini, E.: Unravelling the interaction between tectonic and sedimentary processes during lithospheric thinning in the Alpine Tethys margins, Int. J. Earth Sci., 99, 75–101, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-010-0566-6, 2010.
Mohn, G., Manatschal, G., Beltrando, M., Masini, E., and Kusznir, N.: Necking of continental crust in magma-poor rifted margins: Evidence from the fossil Alpine Tethys margins, Tectonics, 31, 1–28, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011TC002961, 2012.
Molli, G.: Northern Apennine–Corsica orogenic system: An updated overview, Geol. Soc. Sp., 298, 413–442, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP298.19, 2008.
Molli, G. and Malavieille, J.: Orogenic processes and the Corsica/Apennines geodynamic evolution: insights from Taiwan, Int. J. Earth Sci., 100, 1207–1224, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-010-0598-y, 2011.
Molli, G., Brogi, A., Caggianelli, A., Capezzuoli, E., Liotta, D., Spina, A., and Zibra, I.: Late Palaeozoic tectonics in Central Mediterranean: a reappraisal, Swiss J. Geosci., 113, 1–32, https://doi.org/10.1186/s00015-020-00375-1, 2020.
Montenat, C., Janin, M. C., and Barrier, P.: L'accident du Toulourenc: Une limite tectonique entre la plate-forme provençale et le Bassin vocontien à l'Aptien-Albien (SE France), C. R. Geosci., 336, 1301–1310, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crte.2004.05.002, 2004.
Moulas, E., Schmalholz, S. M., Podladchikov, Y., Tajčmanová, L., Kostopoulos, D., and Baumgartner, L.: Relation between mean stress, thermodynamic, and lithostatic pressure, J. Metamorph. Geol., 37, 1–14, https://doi.org/10.1111/jmg.12446, 2019.
Mouthereau, F., Filleaudeau, P. Y., Vacherat, A., Pik, R., Lacombe, O., Fellin, M. G., Castelltort, S., Christophoul, F., and Masini, E.: Placing limits to shortening evolution in the Pyrenees: Role of margin architecture and implications for the Iberia/Europe convergence, Tectonics, 33, 2283–2314, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014TC003663, 2014.
Müller, R. D., Roest, W. R., Royer, J.-Y., Gahagan, L. M., and Sclater, J. G.: Digital isochrons of the world's ocean floor, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 102, 3211–3214, https://doi.org/10.1029/96jb01781, 1997.
Müller, R. D., Royer, J. Y., Cande, S. C., Roest, W. R., and Maschenkov, S.: New constraints on the late cretaceous/tertiary plate tectonic evolution of the caribbean, Sedimentary Basins of the World, 4, 33–59, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1874-5997(99)80036-7, 1999.
Müller, R. D., Cannon, J., Qin, X., Watson, R. J., Gurnis, M., Williams, S., Pfaffelmoser, T., Seton, M., Russell, S. H. J., and Zahirovic, S.: GPlates: Building a Virtual Earth Through Deep Time, Geochem., Geophy., Geosy., 19, 2243–2261, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GC007584, 2018.
Müller, R. D., Zahirovic, S., Williams, S. E., Cannon, J., Seton, M., Bower, D. J., Tetley, M. G., Heine, C., Le Breton, E., Liu, S., Russel, S. H. J., Yang, T., Leonard, J., and Gurnis, M.: A Global Plate Model Including Lithospheric Deformation Along Major Rifts and Orogens Since the Triassic, Tectonics, 38, 1884–1907, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018TC005462, 2019.
Müntener, O. and Hermann, J.: The role of lower crust and continental upper mantle during formation of non-volcanic passive margins: Evidence from the Alps, Geol. Soc. Sp., 187, 267–288, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.2001.187.01.13, 2001.
Nagel, T. J., Herwartz, D., Rexroth, S., Münker, C., Froitzheim, N., and Kurz, W.: Lu-Hf dating, petrography, and tectonic implications of the youngest Alpine eclogites (Tauern Window, Austria), Lithos, 170–171, 179–190, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2013.02.008, 2013.
Neres, M., Font, E., Miranda, J. M., Camps, P., Terrinha, P., and Mirão, J.: Reconciling Cretaceous paleomagnetic and marine magnetic data for Iberia: New Iberian paleomagnetic poles, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 117, 1–21, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JB009067, 2012.
Neres, M., Miranda, J. M., and Font, E.: Testing Iberian kinematics at Jurassic-Cretaceous times, Tectonics, 32, 1312–1319, https://doi.org/10.1002/tect.20074, 2013.
Neubauer, F., Dallmeyer, R. D., Dunkl, I., and Schirnik, D.: Late Cretaceous exhumation of the metamorphic Gleinalm dome, Eastern Alps: kinematics, cooling history and sedimenetary response in a sinistral wrench corridor, Tectonophysics, 242, 79-98, https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-1951(94)00154-2, 1995.
Nirrengarten, M., Manatschal, G., Tugend, J., Kusznir, N. J., and Sauter, D.: Nature and origin of the J-magnetic anomaly offshore Iberia–Newfoundland: implications for plate reconstructions, Terra Nova, 29, 20–28, https://doi.org/10.1111/ter.12240, 2017.
Oliva-Urcia, B., Casas, A. M., Soto, R., Villalaín, J. J., and Kodama, K.: A transtensional basin model for the Organyà basin (central southern Pyrenees) based on magnetic fabric and brittle structures, Geophys. J. Int., 184, 111–130, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04865.x, 2011.
Olivet, J.: La cinématique de la plaque ibérique, B. Cent. Rech. Expl., 20, 131–195, 1996.
Pérez-Gussinyé, M., Morgan, J. P., Reston, T. J., and Ranero, C. R.: The rift to drift transition at non-volcanic margins: Insights from numerical modelling, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 244, 458–473, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2006.01.059, 2006.
Peybernés, B. and Souquet, P.: Basement blocks and tecto-sedimentary evolution in the Pyrenees during Mesozoic times, Geol. Mag., 121, 397–405, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756800029927, 1984.
Picazo, S., Müntener, O., Manatschal, G., Bauville, A., Karner, G., and Johnson, C.: Mapping the nature of mantle domains in Western and Central Europe based on clinopyroxene and spinel chemistry: Evidence for mantle modification during an extensional cycle, Lithos, 266–267, 233–263, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2016.08.029, 2016.
Piccardo, G. B. and Guarnieri, L.: Alpine peridotites from the Ligurian Tethys: An updated critical review, Int. Geol. Rev., 52, 1138–1159, https://doi.org/10.1080/00206810903557829, 2010.
Pleuger, J. and Podladchikov, Y. Y.: A purely structural restoration of the NFP20-East cross section and potential tectonic overpressure in the Adula nappe (central Alps), Tectonics, 33, 656–685, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013TC003409, 2014.
Popov, A. A. and Sobolev, S. V.: SLIM3D: A tool for three-dimensional thermomechanical modeling of lithospheric deformation with elasto-visco-plastic rheology, Phys. Earth Planet. In., 171, 55–75, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pepi.2008.03.007, 2008.
Ratschbacher, L., Merle, O., Davy, P., and Cobbold, P.: Lateral extrusion in the Eastern Alps, Part 1: boundary conditions and experiments scaled for gravity, Tectonics, 10, 245–256, 1991.
Reuber, G., Kaus, B. J. P., Schmalholz, S. M., and White, R. W.: Nonlithostatic pressure during subduction and collision and the formation of (ultra)high-pressure rocks, Geology, 44, 343–346, https://doi.org/10.1130/G37595.1, 2016.
Ribes, C., Manatschal, G., Ghienne, J. F., Karner, G. D., Johnson, C. A., Figueredo, P. H., Incerpi, N., and Epin, M. E.: The syn-rift stratigraphic record across a fossil hyper-extended rifted margin: the example of the northwestern Adriatic margin exposed in the Central Alps, Int. J. Earth Sci., 108, 2071–2095, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-019-01750-6, 2019.
Ribes, C., Petri, B., Ghienne, J. F., Manatschal, G., Galster, F., Karner, G. D., Figueredo, P. H., Johnson, C. A., and Karpoff, A. M.: Tectono-sedimentary evolution of a fossil ocean-continent transition: Tasna nappe, central Alps (SE Switzerland), Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 132, 1427–1446, https://doi.org/10.1130/B35310.1, 2020.
Rosenbaum, G., Lister, G. S., and Duboz, C.: Rewlative mortiosn of Frica, Iberia and europe during Alpine orogeny, Tectonophysics, 359, 117–129, 2002.
Rosenbaum, G. and Lister, G. S.: Neogene and Quaternary rollback evolution of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Apennines, and the Sicilian Maghrebides, Tectonics, 23, TC1013, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003TC001518, 2004.
Rosenberg, C. L.: Shear zones and magma ascent: A model based on a review of the Tertiary magmatism in the Alps, Tectonics, 23, TC3002, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003TC001526, 2004.
Royden, L. and Burchfiel, B. C.: Are systematic variations in thrust belt style related to plate boundary processes? (The western Alps versus the Carpathians), Tectonics, 8, 51–61, https://doi.org/10.1029/TC008i001p00051, 1989.
Rubatto, D., Gebauer, D., and Fanning, M.: Jurassic formation and Eocene subduction of the Zermatt-Saas-Fee ophiolites: Implications for the geodynamic evolution of the Central and Western Alps, Contrib. Mineral. Petr., 132, 269–287, https://doi.org/10.1007/s004100050421, 1998.
Ruh, J. B., Le Pourhiet, L., Agard, P., Burov, E., and Gerya, T.: Tectonic slicing of subducting oceanic crust along plate interfaces: Numerical modeling, Geochem., Geophy., Geosy., 16, 3505–3531, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GC005998, 2015.
Sandmann, S., Nagel, T. J., Herwartz, D., Fonseca, R. O. C., Kurzawski, R. M., Münker, C., and Froitzheim, N.: Lu–Hf garnet systematics of a polymetamorphic basement unit: new evidence for coherent exhumation of the Adula Nappe (Central Alps) from eclogite-facies conditions, Contrib. Mineral. Petr., 168, 1–21, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-014-1075-6, 2014.
Scharf, A., Handy, M. R., Favaro, S., Schmid, S. M., and Bertrand, A.: Modes of orogen-parallel stretching and extensional exhumation in response to microplate indentation and roll-back subduction (Tauern Window, Eastern Alps), Int. J. Earth Sci., 102, 1627–1654, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-013-0894-4, 2013a.
Scharf, A., Handy, M. R., Ziemann, M. A., and Schmid, S. M.: Peak-temperature patterns of polyphase metamorphism resulting from accretion, subduction and collision (eastern tauern window, european alps) – a study with raman microspectroscopy on carbonaceous material (RSCM), J. Metamorph. Geol., 31, 863–880, https://doi.org/10.1111/jmg.12048, 2013b.
Schettino, A. and Scotese, C. R.: Apparent polar wander paths for the major continents (200 Ma to the present day): A palaeomagnetic reference frame for global plate tectonic reconstructions, Geophys. J. Int., 163, 727–759, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2005.02638.x, 2005.
Schettino, A. and Turco, E.: Tectonic history of the Western Tethys since the Late Triassic, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 123, 89–105, https://doi.org/10.1130/B30064.1, 2011.
Schmalholz, S. M. and Podladchikov, Y. Y.: Tectonic overpressure in weak crustal–scale shear zones and implications for the exhumation of high-pressure rocks, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 1984–1988, https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50417, 2013.
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., Bernoulli, D., Fügenschuh, B., Matenco, L., Schefer, S., Schuster, R., Tischler, M., and Ustaszewski, K.: The Alpine-Carpathian-Dinaridic orogenic system: Correlation and evolution of tectonic units, Swiss J. Geosci., 101, 139–183, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00015-008-1247-3, 2008.
Schmid, S. M., Fügenschuh, B., Kounov, A., Matenco, L., Nievergelt, P., Oberhänsli, R., Pleuger, J., Schefer, S., Schuster, R., Tomljenovic, B., Ustaszewski, K., and van Hinsbergen, D. J. J.: Tectonic units of the Alpine collision zone between Eastern Alps and western Turkey, Gondwana Res., 78, 308–374, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2019.07.005, 2020.
Schuster, R. and Frank, W.: Metamorphic evolution of the Austroalpine units east of the Tauern Window, Mitt. Geol. Bergbau Stud. Österr., 42, 37–58, 1999.
Scisciani, V. and Calamita, F.: Active intraplate deformation within Adria: Examples from the Adriatic region, Tectonophysics, 476, 57–72, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2008.10.030, 2009.
Séranne, M.: The Gulf of Lion continental margin (NW Mediterranean) revisited by IBS: an overview, Geol. Soc. Sp., 156, 15–36, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.1999.156.01.03, 1999.
Sibuet, J.-C., Srivastav, S. P., and Spakman, W.: Pyrenean orogeny and plate kinematics, J. Geophys. Res., 109, 1–18, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003JB002514, 2004.
Sieberer, A.-K. and Ortner, H.: Influence of Penninic rifting on the tectonic evolution of the northern Austroalpine margin, GeoUtrecht 2020, 24–26 August 2020, Utrecht, the Netherlands, https://www.conftool.pro/geoutrecht2020/index.php?page=browseSessions&form_session=159, 296, 2020.
Sinclair, H. D.: Tectonostratigraphic model for underfilled peripheral foreland basins: An Alpine perspective, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 109, 324–346, https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1997)109<0324:TMFUPF>2.3.CO;2, 1997.
Spakman, W., Chertova, M. V., Van Den Berg, A., and Van Hinsbergen, D. J. J.: Puzzling features of western Mediterranean tectonics explained by slab dragging, Nat. Geosci., 11, 211–216, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0066-z, 2018.
Speranza, F., Villa, I. M., Sagnotti, L., Florindo, F., Cosentino, D., Cipollari, P., and Mattei, M.: Age of the Corsica-Sardinia rotation and Liguro-Provençal Basin spreading: New paleomagnetic and
Speranza, F., Minelli, L., Pignatelli, A., and Chiappini, M.: The Ionian Sea: The oldest in situ ocean fragment of the world?, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 117, 1–13, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JB009475, 2012.
Srivastava, S. P., Roest, W. R., Kovacs, L. C., Oakey, G., Lévesque, S., Verhoef, J., and Macnab, R.: Motion of Iberia since the Late Jurassic: Results from detailed aeromagnetic measurements in the Newfoundland Basin, Tectonophysics, 184, 229–260, https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-1951(90)90442-B, 1990.
Stampfli, G. M.: Le Briançonnais, terrain exotique dans les Alpes?, Eclogae Geol. Helv., 86, 1–45, 1993.
Stampfli, G. M. and Borel, G. D.: A plate tectonic model for the Paleozoic and Mesozoic constrained by dynamic plate boundaries and restored synthetic oceanic isochrons, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 196, 17–33, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-821X(01)00588-X, 2002.
Stampfli, G. M., Mosar, J., Marquer, D., Marchant, R., Baudin, T., and Borel, G.: Subduction and obduction processes in the Swiss Alps, Tectonophysics, 296, 159–204, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-1951(98)00142-5, 1998.
Stern, R. J. and Gerya, T.: Subduction initiation in nature and models: A review, Tectonophysics, 746, 173–198, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2017.10.014, 2018.
Stüwe, K. and Schuster, R.: Initiation of subduction in the Alps: Continent or ocean?, Geology, 38, 175–178, https://doi.org/10.1130/G30528.1, 2010.
Tetreault, J. L. and Buiter, S. J. H.: The influence of extension rate and crustal rheology on the evolution of passive margins from rifting to break-up, Tectonophysics, 746, 155–172, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2017.08.029, 2018.
Thöni, M.: Dating eclogite-facies metamorphism in the Eastern Alps – Approaches, results, interpretations: A review, Miner. Petrol., 88, 123–148, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-006-0153-5, 2006.
Thorwart, M., Dannowski, A., Grevemeyer, I., Lange, D., Kopp, H., Petersen, F., Crawford, W., Paul, A., and the AlpArray Working Group: Basin inversion: Reactivated rift structures in the Ligurian Sea revealed by OBS, Solid Earth Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2021-9, in review, 2021.
Trümpy, R.: Sur les racines helvétiques et les “Schistes lustr”es” entre le Rhone et la Vallée de Bagnes (Région de la Pierre Avoi), Eclogae Geol. Helv., 44, 338–347, 1951.
Trümpy, R.: La zone de Sion-Courmayeur dans le haut Val Ferret valaisan, Eclogae Geol. Helv., 47, 315–359, 1954.
Tucholke, B. E. and Sibuet, J. C.: Problematic plate reconstruction, Nat. Geosci., 5, 676–677, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1596, 2012.
Tugend, J., Manatschal, G., Kusznir, N. J., Masini, E., Mohn, G., and Thinon, I.: Formation and deformation of hyperextended rift systems: Insights from rift domain mapping in the Bay of Biscay–Pyrenees, Tectonics, 33, 1239–1276, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014TC003529, 2014.
Tugend, J., Chamot-Rooke, N., Arsenikos, S., Blanpied, C., and Frizon de Lamotte, D.: Geology of the Ionian Basin and Margins: A Key to the East Mediterranean Geodynamics, Tectonics, 38, 2668–2702, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018TC005472, 2019.
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.
Van Hinsbergen, D. J. J., Vissers, R. L. M., and Spakman, W.: Origin and consequences of western Mediterranean subduction, rollback, and slab segmentation, Tectonics, 33, 393–419, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013TC003349, 2014.
Van Hinsbergen, D. J. J., Spakman, W., Vissers, R. L. M., and van der Meer, D. G.: Comment on “Assessing Discrepancies Between Previous Plate Kinematic Models of Mesozoic Iberia and Their Constraints” by Barnett-Moore Et Al., Tectonics, 36, 3277–3285, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016TC004418, 2017.
Van Hinsbergen, D. J. J., Torsvik, T. H., Schmid, S. M., Maţenco, L. C., Maffione, M., Vissers, R. L. M., Gürer, D., and Spakman, W.: Orogenic architecture of the Mediterranean region and kinematic reconstruction of its tectonic evolution since the Triassic, Gondwana Res., 81, 79–229, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2019.07.009, 2020.
Vissers, R. L. M. and Meijer, P. T.: Mesozoic rotation of Iberia: Subduction in the Pyrenees?, Earth-Sci. Rev., 110, 93–110, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.11.001, 2012.
Vissers, R. L. M., Van Hinsbergen, D. J. J., Meijer, P. T., and Piccardo, G. B.: Kinematics of Jurassic ultra-slow spreading in the piemonte Ligurian ocean, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 380, 138–150, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2013.08.033, 2013.
Vissers, R. L. M., Van Hinsbergen, D. J. J., van der Meer, D. G., and Spakman, W.: Cretaceous slab break-off in the Pyrenees: Iberian plate kinematics in paleomagnetic and mantle reference frames, Gondwana Res., 34, 49–59, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2016.03.006, 2016a.
Vissers, R. L. M., Van Hinsbergen, D. J. J., Wilkinson, C. M., and Ganerød, M.: Middle jurassic shear zones at Cap de Creus (eastern Pyrenees, Spain): A record of pre-drift extension of the Piemonte–Ligurian Ocean?, J. Geol. Soc., 174, 289–300, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2016-014, 2016b.
Von Blanckenburg, F. and Davies, J. H.: Slab breakoff: A model for syncollisional magmatism and tectonic in the Alps, Tectonics, 14, 120–131, 1995.
Wortel, M. J. R. and Spakman, W.: Subduction and slab detachment in the Mediterranean-Carpathian region, Science, 290, 1910–1917, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.290.5498.1910, 2000.
Wortmann, U. G., Weissert, H., Funk, H., and Hauck, J.: Alpine plate kinematics revisited: The adria problem, Tectonics, 20, 134–147, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000TC900029, 2001.
Yamato, P., Agard, P., Burov, E., Le Pourhiet, L., Jolivet, L., and Tiberi, C.: Burial and exhumation in a subduction wedge: Mutual constraints from thermomechanical modeling and natural P-T-t data (Schistes Lustrés, western Alps), J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 112, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JB004441, 2007.
Yamato, P. and Brun, J. P.: Metamorphic record of catastrophic pressure drops in subduction zones, Nat. Geosci., 10, 46–50, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2852, 2017.
Zhou, X., Li, Z. H., Gerya, T. V., and Stern, R. J.: Lateral propagation-induced subduction initiation at passive continental margins controlled by preexisting lithospheric weakness, Sci. Adv., 6, 1–10, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz1048, 2020.
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.
The former Piemont–Liguria Ocean, which separated Europe from Africa–Adria in the Jurassic,...
