Single and double exhumation of fault blocks in the internal Sesia-Lanzo Zone and the Ivrea-Verbano Zone (Biella, Italy)

Abstract

The combination of magmatic, structural and fission track (FT) data is used to unravel Oligocene/Miocene near-surface tectonics in the internal Western Alps. This includes reburial of parts of the already exhumed Sesia-Lanzo Zone and their subsequent re-exhumation. We define blocks mainly on the base of their Oligocene–Miocene cooling history (FT data) and on published paleomagnetic data. The preservation of a paleosurface allows a detailed reconstruction of the exhumation, burial and re-exhumation of different tectonic blocks. Near-surface, rigid block rotation is responsible for the reburial of the Lower Oligocene paleosurface in part of the Sesia-Lanzo Zone (the Cervo Block) and for the conjugate uplift of deeper portions of the Ivrea-Verbano Zone (the Sessera-Ossola Block). This block rotation around the same horizontal axes produces in the currently exposed portions of the two blocks, quite different temperature/time paths. While the surface of the Cervo Block is buried, the lower part of the Sessera-Ossola Block is uplifted. The rotation is constrained between the age of emplacement of the Biella Volcanic Suite on top of the Sesia-Lanzo Zone (32.5 Ma) and the intrusion of the Valle del Cervo Pluton (30.5 Ma). After this relative fast movements, the concerned blocks remained in (or underneath) the partial annealing zone of zircon until in Aquitanian times they were rapidly uplifted into the partial annealing zone of apatite. The further stage of exhumation out of the partial annealing zone of apatite extends over the entire Miocene. At that time, units of the external Western Alps underwent fast exhumation (external Briançonnais, Valais). In addition to the well-known post-collisional deformation in the axial- and external Western Alps, the internal units (i.e., the upper plate) hold an apparent stable position in terms of exhumation.