Pressure-temperature-deformation-time (P-T-d-t) exhumation history of the Voltri Massif HP complex, Ligurian Alps, Italy

Abstract

[1] An integrated structural, petrological, and geochronological/thermochronological study was undertaken to constrain the tectonic controls on the exhumation of the Voltri Massif high-pressure (HP) complex, located in the Ligurian portion of the Western Alps (Italy). Petrotextural analyses were performed to identify the pressure-temperature interval of (1) peak metamorphism (the D1-M1 stage) to eclogitic/blueschist facies conditions and (2) the main retrogressive event (the D2-M2 stage) to greenschist facies conditions. U-Pb SHRIMP dating on a zircon rim (33.8 ± 0.8 Ma) and titanite grains (29 ± 5 Ma), coupled with 40Ar-39Ar analyses on phengite (∼64 Ma to ∼34 Ma) placed temporal constraints on the exhumation path from the D1-M1 to the D2-M2 stages at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary. Apatite fission track thermochronology, with older ages of 23.9 ± 4.9 Ma, confirms the existence of a regional, Late Oligocene to Miocene cooling/exhumation event for the Voltri Massif (the D3-M3 stage). The compilation of this pressure-temperature-deformation-time path supports a change in the exhumation history: (1) an initial stage, from the D1-M1 to the D2-M2, which was nearly isothermal with highly variable exhumation rates, and (2) a second stage, from D2-M2 to upper crustal levels, which was accomplished by cooling and moderate exhumation rates of ∼1–2 mm yr−1. This two-stage path can be reconciled with the dominant tectonic mechanisms responsible for exhumation of HP rocks in the Voltri Massif area. At the regional scale, this path is consistent with major geodynamic reorganization in the Mediterranean region at the Eocene-Oligocene time boundary, which involved a switch from synorogenic events during transpressive kinematics at the Alpine-Apennine plate boundaries, to postorogenic processes related to crustal thinning and opening of back-arc basins.