Kinematic evolution of Alpine Corsica in the framework of Mediterranean mountain belts

Abstract

The tectonic evolution of Alpine Corsica and surrounding areas is described through a series of plate reconstructions from the onset of the Alpine convergence in the early Cretaceous (~120Ma) to the early Miocene (~19Ma). The southward subduction of Eurasian lithosphere (Alpine Tethys) beneath Adria and Iberia, and the subduction of Ligure–Piemontese Ocean (Iberian plate) beneath the Adria margin, led to the formation of a trench–trench–trench triple junction close to the northern margin of Adria. During the first phase, from the early Aptian (~120Ma) to the Campanian (~75Ma) the northeastern oceanic part of the Iberian plate subducted beneath Adria along an intra‐oceanic subduction zone between Corsica and Adria. This trench was linked to the eastern Iberian convergent margin (having opposite polarity) through a transform fault. Starting from the Campanian and until the Oligocene (~34Ma) oceanic and transitional crust was obducted onto Hercynian Corsica and Eurasia, giving rise to HP metamorphism within the subducted continental crust. From ~40Ma to the early Oligocene (~33Ma) the onset of continental collision in the Alpine area led to thickening of the subducting Eurasian margin through the formation of the European lower crustal wedge. Finally, from the early Oligocene (~33Ma) to the early Miocene (~19Ma), during the rotation of the Corsica and Sardinia blocks, the Pyrenean–Alpine belt lost its continuity in Gulf of Lyon and Provençal area, while the western Adriatic margin (Apennine domain) became a left‐lateral transpressive belt linking the western Alpine chain with the Calabrian Arc.