Thermochronological record of thrusting and strike-slip faulting along the Giudicarie fault system (Alps, Northern Italy)

Abstract

The Giudicarie fault system represents the central, approximately NE–SW-trending segment of the Periadriatic fault system. Based on new fission track data the near surface evolution of the units bordering the Giudicarie fault system (GFS) is analysed. New and published zircon fission track (ZFT) data are compiled in an age-contour map of the area, and depict some first order features of cooling and exhumation pattern.Out of the three main Permian plutons located in the footwall of the GFS, the northern (Brixen pluton) and southernmost (Kreuzberg pluton) yielded ZFT ages of about 100Ma, while the intermediate Ifinger pluton cooled through the zircon partial annealing zone only in the Miocene. The Ifinger granodiorite overthrusts the Southalpine basement and the Permian rocks of the Athesian Volcanic District along the NW dipping brittle Naif fault. Across this thrust an important age jump from Miocene to Permian ZFT ages is observed, suggesting that the deformation has jumped towards the southeast, thus deactivating the related segment of the GFS.The most eye-catching feature of the age-contour map is the corridor of young, Miocene ZFT ages from small tonalitic intrusions along the Northern Giudicarie fault. This corridor connects Early Miocene (17–23Ma) ZFT ages of the NE-Adamello with the Middle–Late Miocene (19–9Ma) ZFT ages of the Meran–Mauls basement and the western Tauern window and provides evidence for a polyphase deformation along the GFS. A three-step evolution model is proposed for the GFS: (a) shearing of the northern rim of the Adamello batholith along the dextral strike slip Periadriatic fault system; (b) bending of the central part of the fault to a NE direction together with the adjacent intrusive rocks; (c) Dissection of the bend part (Meran–Mauls fault) by the sinistral transpressive Northern Giudicarie fault and exhumation of small tonalitic bodies along this structure.