Articles | Volume 12, issue 4
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.
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
| 21 Apr 2021
Kinematics and extent of the Piemont–Liguria Basin – implications for subduction processes in the Alps
Eline Le Breton
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Earth Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Sascha Brune
Geodynamic Modelling Section, German Research Centre for Geosciences, GFZ Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Kamil Ustaszewski
Institute for Geological Sciences, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany
Sabin Zahirovic
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Maria Seton
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
R. Dietmar Müller
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
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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,...
