Alpine Evolution Research Articles

P-T evolution of HP migmatitic paragneiss from the Beni Bousera metamorphic unit (internal Rif, Northern Morocco) constrained by phase equilibria modelling and melt reintegration

ABSTRACT The high-pressure (HP) migmatitic paragneiss of the Beni Bousera metamorphic unit (BBMU) from the Beni Bousera Massif underwent granulite-facies metamorphism. They mainly consist of garnet, biotite, kyanite, sillimanite, cordierite, spinel, quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar, rutile, ilmenite and graphite. These minerals form a sequence of metamorphic assemblages corresponding to five metamorphic events (M1, M2, M3, M4, and M5). The first three events correspond to a latest Carboniferous-earliest Permian metamorphic evolution, while the last two are retrograde and Alpine in age. The p-T conditions of these metamorphic events were estimated using pseudosection calculations in the MnNCKFMASTHO system. Following prograde stage conditions of 9.3–10.9 kbar and 630–665°C (M1 stage), the p-T evolution culminates in melting of the paragneiss which occurred mainly at HP conditions, within the kyanite stability field, at 11.8–14.2 kbar and 820–845°C (M2 pressure-peak); anatexis then continued at high to medium pressure (HMP), within the sillimanite stability field, at 9.9–11 Kbar and 840–860°C (M3 thermal-peak), accompanied by the production of very small proportions of melt. The prograde p-T segment of the inferred clockwise path is characterized by a pressurization related to a post-Variscan collisional event triggered by the closure of the Paleotethys Ocean, and is followed by the exhumation of the granulitic unit to mid-crustal depth, with slight coeval heating. The retrograde Alpine evolution is coeval with the final exhumation of the migmatitic paragneiss and underlying peridotites during back-arc extension related to the westward retreat of the Alpine subduction. It occurred under sub-solidus conditions from 9.5–10.7 kbar and 818–848°C (M4) to 4.9–5.85 kbar and 710–785°C (M5) and corresponds to a near-isothermal and strongly decompressive metamorphic evolution (ΔP ≈ 5 Kbar).

Quantification of sediment fluxes and intermittencies from Oligo–Miocene megafan deposits in the Swiss Molasse basin

AbstractThe conglomerates preserved in alluvial fans in the Swiss Molasse basin provide crucial insights into the sedimentary dynamics of these routing systems. In particular, the architectural trends and grain sizes of such deposits reveal information on the sediment fluxes and record variations in the intermittency — a proxy for the fan's activity — that indicate on the relative importance of tectonic or climatic controls on sediment production and transport. Here, we calculated intermittencies from sediment transport dynamics using the ratio between the long‐term average and the short‐term instantaneous unit sediment fluxes during bankfull discharge conditions. For this, we collected grain size data from three palaeo‐fan systems that were active through Oligo–Miocene times and that reveal preserved proximal–distal relationships. The three fan systems, which we term the western, central and eastern fans, show significant differences in their long‐term sediment budget but equivalent magnitudes of the sediment transport dynamics expressed through the intermittency factor. The eastern fan records a low long‐term sediment flux (5.7 km2 Myr−1), which needed the fan to be active during ca. 8 h yr−1 (intermittency factor of 0.89 × 10−3). The western fan reveals a higher long‐term sediment flux (16.2 km2 Myr−1), which could have accumulated during ca. 16 h yr−1 (intermittency factor of 1.83 × 10−3), thereby reflecting a more active system. The central fan records the largest long‐term sediment flux (40.3 km2 Myr−1), where ca. 57 h yr−1 of sediment transport would be required to deposit the supplied material (intermittency factor of 6.53 × 10−3), thus representing the most active system. By relating these characteristics to the regional exhumation history, we consider that the central fan mainly recorded the transient response of the Alpine surface to the break‐off of the European mantle lithosphere slab. Contrarily, the western and eastern fans were formed during the Alpine evolution when steady‐state conditions between uplift and erosion were reached and when sediment fluxes to the basin were lower. Despite differences in the tecto‐geomorphic and climatic boundary conditions, our data suggest that these Oligo–Miocene megafans could accomplish their mean annual sediment transport work within a few hours or days per year.

The short-lasted latest Oligocene–early Miocene “Circum Rhodope” compression and its relation to the main Late Alpine tectonic events on Balkan peninsula

The short lasting compressional to transpressional tectonic event between the latest Oligocene and Middle Miocene is an important element of the Late Alpine evolution of the Balkan peninsula and the Aegean area. It is well recorded by the termination of the sedimentation in a relatively short period of 6–7 Ma (between 20.5 Ma and ~13 Ma). This crustal shortening represents a stage of the Late Alpine tectonic evolution of the area separating the late Paleogene extensional regime from the Aegean extension that took place from ~13 Ma on and finally shaped this branch of the orogen.

Structural record of polyorogenic pre-Alpine and Alpine deformations within a major thrust nappe close to a suture zone (Internal-External Zones Boundary of the central Betic Cordillera, S Spain)

ABSTRACT The Malaguide Complex occupies the highest position in a thick-skinned Alpine thrust stack. It includes polydeformed, sedimentary and low-grade metamorphic rocks of Palaeozoic basements and their Meso-Cenozoic covers. NE of Granada the complex results severely sheared and stretched along the Betic suture zone in the metamorphic hinterland (orogenic backstop). The suture developed after the Burdigalian, due to oblique collision of the Alboran Domain (including the Malaguide Complex) with the South-Eastern Iberian Paleomargin. The orogenic evolution in the backstop region started with late Palaeogene to Early Miocene N-directed pre-collisional shortening and early thrust stacking, associated with low-grade metamorphism in the lowest Malaguide units increasing downwards into the underlying Alpujarride Complex. An accretionary prism developed at the expense of deep-marine (Flysch) sediments and the sedimentary covers of the Iberian and Alboran conjugate margins (External Zones and Frontal units, respectively). Later orogenic stages were characterized by SSE-directed back-folding and -thrusting in the Middle Miocene affecting both sides of the Betic suture related to dextral wrenching causing plurikilometric displacements. In this way, the suture evolved towards a several kilometres wide megashear zone (Cogollos-Diezma Corridor), prior to a final phase of SW-directed post-orogenic extension in the Late Miocene. Despite this protracted Alpine evolution, the Malaguide basements also preserve a record of orogenic activity during Late Carboniferous stages of the Variscan Orogeny in the form of a set of NE-SW trending folds with SE vergence and associated slaty cleavage, which are not found in the post-Carboniferous cover. The temperature conditions of this event (>300°C) in the less metamorphic Malaguide units are determined by colour alteration index (CAI) data from conodonts that have also allowed biostratigraphic dating of the Devonian-Carboniferous successions.

Quantification of Alpine Metamorphism in the Edolo Diabase, Central Southern Alps

The Southern Alps are the retro-vergent belt of the European Alps that developed from Late Cretaceous subduction to Neogene times. The most prominent Alpine thrusts and folds, nowadays sealed off by the Adamello intrusion, were already developed before the continental collision and clasts derived from the eroded pre-collisional wedge can be found in the Cretaceous foredeep sequences. In contrast, the thermal state attained by the Southern Alps during the long-lasting Alpine evolution is still unknown. This contribution provides evidence for Alpine metamorphism in the northern part of the central Southern Alps. Metamorphic conditions are determined for the alkaline Edolo diabase dykes that emplaced in the exhumed Variscan basement rocks before being deformed during the Alpine convergence (D3). The Alpine foliation in the Edolo diabase dykes is marked by actinolite, biotite, chlorite, epidote, albite, and titanite and it developed under greenschist facies conditions at temperature of 350–420 °C and pressure ≤0.2 GPa. The T/depth ratio indicates a minimum of 50–60 °C/km that is compatible with thermal gradients characteristic of arc settings. Based on radiometric ages from the literature, these conditions were attained during the Alpine subduction.

Metasediments Covering Ophiolites in the HP Internal Belt of the Western Alps: Review of Tectono-Stratigraphic Successions and Constraints for the Alpine Evolution

Ophiolites of the Alpine belt derive from the closure of the Mesozoic Tethys Ocean that was interposed between the palaeo-Europe and palaeo-Adria continental plates. The Alpine orogeny has intensely reworked the oceanic rocks into metaophiolites with various metamorphic imprints. In the Western Alps, metaophiolites and continental-derived units are distributed within two paired bands: An inner band where Alpine subduction-related high-pressure (HP) metamorphism is preserved, and an outer band where blueschist to greenschist facies recrystallisation due to the decompression path prevails. The metaophiolites of the inner band are hugely important not just because they provide records of the prograde tectonic and metamorphic evolution of the Western Alps, but also because they retain the signature of the intra-oceanic tectono-sedimentary evolution. Lithostratigraphic and petrographic criteria applied to metasediments associated with HP metaophiolites reveal the occurrence of distinct tectono-stratigraphic successions including quartzites with marbles, chaotic rock units, and layered calc schists. These successions, although sliced, deformed, and superposed in complex ways during the orogenic stage, preserve remnants of their primary depositional setting constraining the pre-orogenic evolution of the Jurassic Tethys Ocean.

U − Pb geochronology of epidote by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) as a tool for dating hydrothermal-vein formation

Abstract. Epidote – here defined as minerals belonging to the epidote–clinozoisite solid solution – is a low-μ (μ=238U/204Pb) mineral occurring in a variety of geological environments and participating in many metamorphic reactions that is stable throughout a wide range of pressure–temperature conditions. Despite containing fair amounts of U, its use as a U−Pb geochronometer has been hindered by the commonly high contents of initial Pb, with isotopic compositions that cannot be assumed a priori. We present a U−Pb geochronology of hydrothermal-vein epidote spanning a wide range of Pb (3.9–190 µg g−1), Th (0.01–38 µg g−1), and U (2.6–530 µg g−1) contents and with μ values between 7 and 510 from the Albula area (eastern Swiss Alps), from the Grimsel area (central Swiss Alps), and from the Heyuan fault (Guangdong Province, China). The investigated epidote samples show appreciable fractions of initial Pb contents (f206=0.7–1.0) – i.e., relative to radiogenic Pb – that vary to different extents. A protocol has been developed for in situ U−Pb dating of epidote by spot-analysis laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) with a magmatic allanite as the primary reference material. The suitability of the protocol and the reliability of the measured isotopic ratios have been ascertained by independent measurements of 238U/206Pb and 207Pb/206Pb ratios, respectively, with quadrupole and multicollector ICP-MS applied to epidote micro-separates digested and diluted in acids. For age calculation, we used the Tera–Wasserburg (207Pb/206Pb versus 238U/206Pb) diagram, which does not require corrections for initial Pb and provides the initial 207Pb/206Pb ratio. Petrographic and microstructural data indicate that the calculated ages date the crystallization of vein epidote from a hydrothermal fluid and that the U−Pb system was not reset to younger ages by later events. Vein epidote from the Albula area formed in the Paleocene (62.7±3.0 Ma) and is related to Alpine greenschist-facies metamorphism. The Miocene (19.2±4.3 and 16.9±3.7 Ma) epidote veins from the Grimsel area formed during the Handegg deformation phase (22–17 Ma) of the Alpine evolution of the Aar Massif. Identical initial 207Pb/206Pb ratios reveal homogeneity in Pb isotopic compositions of the fluid across ca. 100 m. Vein epidote from the Heyuan fault is Cretaceous in age ( 107.2±8.9 Ma) and formed during the early movements of the fault. In situ U−Pb analyses of epidote returned reliable ages of otherwise undatable epidote–quartz veins. The Tera–Wasserburg approach has proven pivotal for in situ U−Pb dating of epidote, and the decisive aspect for low age uncertainties is the variability in intra-sample initial Pb fractions.

Blueschist mylonitic zones accommodating syn-subduction exhumation of deeply buried continental crust: the example of the Rocca Canavese Thrust Sheets Unit (Sesia\u2013Lanzo Zone, Italian Western Alps)

The Rocca Canavese Thrust Sheets Unit (RCTU) is a subduction-related mélange that represents the eastern-most complex of the Sesia–Lanzo Zone (SLZ), bounded by the Periadriatic (Canavese) Lineament that separates the Alpine subduction complex from the Southalpine domain. The RCTU is limited to the south by the Lanzo Massif (LM) and to the east by the Eclogitic Micaschists Complex (EMC). Particularly the tectonic contact area of the RCTU, adjacent to the neighbouring SLZ and the LM is characterised by a 100–200-m-thick mylonitic to ultra-mylonitic zone (MZ) that was active under blueschist-to greenschist-facies conditions. Despite the dominant mylonitic structure, some rocks (garnet-bearing gneiss, garnet-free gneiss and orthogneiss) still preserve pre-mylonitic parageneses in meter-sized domains. The scarcity of superposed structures and the small size of relicts impose a detailed microstructural analysis supported by chemical investigation to reconstruct the tectono-metamorphic history of the MZ. Therefore, we integrated the classical meso- and microstructural analysis approach with a novel quantitative technique based on the Quantitative X-Ray Map Analyzer (Q-XRMA), used to classify rock-forming minerals starting from an array of X-ray elemental maps, both at whole thin section and micro-domain scale, as well as to calibrate the maps for pixel-based chemical analysis and end-member component maps, relevant for a more robust conventional geothermobarometer application as well for calculating reliable PT pseudosections. Pre-Alpine relicts are garnet and white mica porphyroclasts in the garnet-bearing gneiss and biotite and K-feldspar porphyroclasts in garnet-free gneiss and orthogneiss, respectively, providing no PT constraints. The Alpine evolution of the MZ rocks, has been subdivided in three deformation and metamorphic stages. The first Alpine structural and metamorphic equilibration stage (D1 event) occurred at a pressure of ca. 1.25–1.4 GPa and at a temperature of ca. 420–510 °C, i.e. under blueschist-facies conditions. The D2 event, characterised by a mylonitic foliation that is pervasive in the MZ, occurred at ca. 0.95–1.1 GPa and ca. 380–500 °C, i.e. under epidote-blueschist-facies conditions. The D2 PT conditions in the MZ rocks are similar to those predicted for the blocks that constitute the RCTU mélange, and they overlap with the exhumation paths of the EMC and LM units. Therefore, the RCTU, EMC and LM rocks became coupled together during the D2 event. This coupling occurred during the exhumation of the different tectono-metamorphic units belonging to both continental and oceanic lithosphere and under a relatively cold thermal regime, typical for an active oceanic subduction zone, pre-dating Alpine continental collision.

The connection between the Alps and the Carpathians beneath the Pannonian Basin: Selective reactivation of Alpine nappe contacts during Miocene extension

Abstract The Cretaceous basement of the broader NW Pannonian Basin, including the Vienna Basin, has an Alpine nappe structure that can be correlated between the Eastern Alps and the Western Carpathians. For the first time in this region, based on the systematic integration of petroleum industry vintage 2D reflection seismic data with well data from Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, we document various modes of interaction between pre-existing thrust and superimposed normal faults. Whereas in some cases the pre-existing Cretaceous nappe contacts became extensional low-angle normal faults, the typical scenario is that the Miocene normal faults obliquely cut across them. The style of this negative inversion, i.e. contraction followed by extension exploiting the same fault system, is based on the orientation and geometry of the Alpine nappes in relation to the successor extensional basins. We expand our earlier findings made in the Hungarian sector of the NW Pannonian Basin where Neoalpine (Neogene) low-angle normal faults did indeed interact with abandoned Eoalpine (Cretaceous) and Mesoalpine (Paleogene) thrust fault planes, but in a more selective manner than expected before. The subsurface examples of this paper are located in the Austrian part of the Vienna Basin, the Hungarian, Austrian and Slovakian segments of the broader Danube Basin. Our new regional and local scale subsurface observations also helped to define a very large, but so far unrecognized Eocene antiformal nappe stack beneath the Danube Basin. Presently this is a highly dismembered and dominantly subsurface structure concealed beneath the NW Pannonian Basin between the Eastern Alps and the Western Carpathians. This finding has important implications for the understanding of the Alpine evolution of the broader region.

Integrating X-Ray Computed Tomography With Chemical Imaging to Quantify Mineral Re-crystallization From Granulite to Eclogite Metamorphism in the Western Italian Alps (Sesia-Lanzo Zone)

Metamorphic transformations and fabric evolution are the consequence of thermo-dynamic processes, lasting from thousands to millions of years. Relative mineral percentages, their grain size distribution, grain orientation, and grain boundary geometries are first-order parameters for dynamic modeling of metamorphic processes. To quantify these parameters, we propose a multidisciplinary approach integrating X-ray computed microtomography (µ-CT) with X-ray chemical mapping obtained from an Electron MicroProbe Analyzer (EMPA). We used a metapelitic granulite sample collected from the Alpine HP-LT metamorphic rocks of the Mt. Mucrone (Eclogitic Micaschists Complex, Sesia-Lanzo Zone, Western Alps, Italy). The heterogeneous Alpine deformation and metamorphism allowed the preservation of pre-Alpine structural and mineralogical features developed under granulite-facies conditions. The inferred granulitic mineral association is Grt + Bt + Sil + Pl + Qtz ± Ilm ± Kfs ± Wm. The subsequent pervasive static eclogite-facies re-equilibration occurred during the Alpine evolution. The inferred alpine mineral association is Wm + Omp ± Ky + Qtz+ Grt though local differences may occur, strongly controlled by chemistry of microdomains. X-ray µ-CT data extracted from on centimeter-sized samples have been analyzed to quantify the volumetric percentage and shape preferred orientation for each mineral phase. By combining tomographic phase separation with chemical variation and microstructures (i.e., different grain-size classes for the same phase and morphology of different pre-Alpine microdomains) the pre-Alpine mineralogical phases from the Alpine overprint have been distinguished and quantified. Moreover, the sample preserves 100% of the pre-Alpine granulite fabric, which surprisingly corresponds to less than 22% of the corresponding pre-Alpine metamorphic assemblages, while the Alpine eclogitic static assemblage corresponds to 78% though no new fabric is developed. This contribution demonstrates that the combined use of EMPA X-ray chemical mapping with the X-ray µ-CT shape analysis permits a dynamic approach to constrain the chemistry of the mineral phases linked to the development of metamorphic-related static and dynamic fabrics.

Paleocene metamorphism along the Pennine\u2013Austroalpine suture constrained by U\u2013Pb dating of titanite and rutile (Malenco, Alps)

We present in situ rutile and titanite U–Pb geochronology for three samples from the Ur breccia, which forms the boundary between the Malenco unit and the Margna nappe (Eastern Central Alps) near Pass d’Ur in southeast Switzerland. These sampled both oceanic brecciated material and a blackwall reaction zone in contact with a micaschist and serpentinized peridotite. Peak temperatures during Alpine metamorphism in these units were ~ 460 ± 30 °C. Textural observations combined with new geochronological data indicate that rutile and titanite both grew below their closure temperatures during Alpine metamorphism. We present a technique to calculate the most precise and accurate ages possible using a two-dimensional U–Pb isochron on a Wetherill concordia. Rutile from two samples gave a U–Pb isochron age of 63.0 ± 3.0 Ma. This age conflicts with previous 39Ar–40Ar data on heterogeneous amphiboles from which an age of 90–80 Ma was inferred for the high pressure part of the Alpine evolution, but is consistent with K–Ar ages and Ar–Ar ages on phengitic white mica. Titanite from three samples gave a U–Pb isochron age of 54.7 ± 4.1 Ma. This age is consistent with Rb–Sr isochron ages on mylonites along and in the footwall of the Lunghin–Mortirolo movement zone, a major boundary that separates ductile deformation in the footwall from mostly localized and brittle deformation in the hangingwall. Our ages indicate a Paleocene rather than upper Cretaceous metamorphism of the Pennine–Austroalpine boundary and permit at most ~ 15 Myr, and possibly much less, between the growth of rutile and titanite.

Rollback Orogeny Model for the Evolution of the Swiss Alps

AbstractThe construction of the European Alps and the Himalayas has been related to the convergence and subsequent collision of two continental plates. Nearly all models of orogeny build on this concept, and all of them relate the stacking of nappes and the buildup of topography to compressional forces at work in response to the collision between two continental plates. For the central European Alps, however, these models fail to explain the first‐order observations of a mountain belt, which particularly includes the striking isostatic imbalance between the low surface topography and the thick crust beneath the Alps. Here we review and synthesize data on the geologic architecture of the central Alps, the chronology and pattern of crustal deformation, and information about the deep crustal structure derived from seismic tomography. Furthermore, we discuss the intrinsic and explicit assumptions in the kinematic models of Alpine evolution in the context of plate tectonic considerations. We combine these views with progress in understanding that has been gained through subduction and collision, isostatic mass and force balancing and with information that has been collected on the modern seismic regime. We conclude that a rollback orogeny model for the European plate offers the most suitable concept to explain the ensemble of surface and deep lithosphere observations. In this model gravity forces drive the evolution of the orogen and the construction of surface topography is accomplished without the requirement of a hard collision between two continents.

Geology of the Saint-Marcel valley metaophiolites (Northwestern Alps, Italy)

ABSTRACTThe geological map of the Saint-Marcel valley at the scale of 1:20,000 illustrates the tectonic setting of metaophiolites from the southern Aosta Valley, in the Italian side of the Western Alpine belt. The map highlights the sharp contact between the metaophiolitic basement and its metasedimentary cover, which mainly consists of quartzites, marbles, and calcschists. In spite of the Alpine tectonics, this contact is regarded as deriving from the original oceanic crust/sediments interface. Metaophiolites mostly consist of metabasalts hosting Fe–Cu sulphide mineralisations, characterised by high-pressure metamorphic imprint. These rocks likely represent the shallowest portion of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere created near the axis of the slow-spreading ridge where hydrothermal fluid circulation was active. Selected key-sections through metasediments reveal a consistent internal lithostratigraphy, in spite of the pervasive metamorphic and tectonic reworking acting during the Alpine evolution. Metasediments reflect various sedimentation episodes starting from pelagic and proximal settings to the onset of the orogenic stage. The Saint-Marcel valley metasediments thus reflect a changing in the sedimentation environments through time and space during the overall geologic evolution.

Neat stratigraphic and dynamic relationships between pyroclastic flow and ash-cloud surge deposits in the Cabo de Gata–Níjar Geopark, Almería, Spain

The southern end of Genoveses Bay (Cala de Genoveses) in Almeria (SE Spain) hosts one of the most spectacular examples in Europe of combined (from base to the top), ignimbrite, surge, and pumice-ash fall deposits, forming a world-class outcrop of pyroclastic rocks. At a regional scale, the volcanism that led to the formation of these rocks has to be understood in terms of the late Alpine tectonic evolution of the western Mediterranean.

An inverse modeling approach to obtain P–T conditions of metamorphic stages involving garnet growth and resorption

This contribution presents an approach and a computer program (GrtMod) for numerical simulation of garnet evolution based on compositions of successive growth zones in natural samples. For each garnet growth stage, a new local effective bulk composition is optimized, allowing for resorption and/or fractionation of previously crystallized garnet. The successive minimizations are performed using the Nelder–Mead algorithm; a heuristic search method. An automated strategy including two optimization stages and one refinement stage is described and tested. This program is used to calculate pressure–temperature ( P–T ) conditions of crystal growth as archived in garnet from the Sesia Zone (Western Alps). The compositional variability of successive growth zones is characterized using standardized X-ray maps and the program XMapTools. The model suggests that Permian garnet cores crystallized under granulite-facies conditions at T > 800 °C and P = 6 kbar. During Alpine times, a first garnet rim grew at eclogite-facies conditions (650 °C, 16 kbar) at the expense of the garnet core. A second rim was added at lower P (∼11 kbar) and 630 °C. In total, garnet resorption is modeled to amount to ∼9 vol% during the Alpine evolution; this value is supported by our observations in X-ray compositional maps.

Polycyclic alpine orogeny in the Rhodope metamorphic complex: the record in migmatites from the Nestos shear zone (N. Greece)

The Rhodope Metamorphic Complex (RMC) is a high-grade crystalline massif located at the northern margin of the Aegean region. Numerous scenarios have been proposed for the evolution of the RMC during Alpine times. A debated issue is whether there has been a single protracted orogenic cycle since around the mid-Mesozoic or whether Alpine orogeny involved distinct episodes of subduction and crustal accretion. We describe a key outcrop located on the Nestos Shear Zone (NSZ), a major NNE-dipping top-to-SW shear zone characterized by an inverted metamorphic sequence. Structural and petrological data document the existence of two anatectic events. The first event, best preserved in decametric structural lenses, is pre-kinematic with respect to top-to-SW shearing and involved high-temperature “dry” melting. Zircon and monazite LA-ICPMS U-Th-Pb data indicate that this event occurred at ∼140 Ma. The second event is syn-kinematic with respect to top-to-SW shearing and involved lower-temperature water-assisted melting. Zircon and rutile LA-ICPMS U-Pb data indicate that this second event occurred at ∼40 Ma. During ongoing top-to-SW shearing and as late as ∼36 Ma, the rocks from the outcrop were at higher temperatures than the peak temperatures experienced by lower levels of the NSZ. This confirms the existence of the inverted metamorphic sequence and demonstrates that the NSZ was a major thrust at 36–40 Ma. The ∼100 Myr time laps between the two anatectic events encompasses the period from ∼115 to ∼70 Ma characterized by a gap in the geochronological record on the scale of the RMC (the Eastern Rhodope excluded). This ∼45 Myr gap likely reflects a period of tectonic quiescence between the mid-Mesozoic orogen and the Cenozoic one, attesting for polycyclic Alpine orogeny in the RMC. Unlike assumed in several geodynamic scenarios, the Alpine evolution of the RMC did not consist of a single orogenic cycle of Mesozoic age followed by Cenozoic crustal-scale extension triggered by mantle delamination. Polycyclic orogeny has resulted in a two-loop P-T-t path for the hangingwall unit of the NSZ. The Cenozoic P-T paths of this unit and the footwall unit merged while both units were being exhumed, a feature attributed to syn-thrusting extensional spreading of the main mass of the hangingwall unit above the NSZ.

Constraining P–T conditions during thrusting of a higher pressure unit over a lower pressure one (Gran Paradiso, Western Alps)

AbstractIdentifying higher pressure units overlying lower pressure ones is a first order argument to determine the presence of large‐scale thrusting. For the first time, petrology is used to quantify the pressure difference between two stacked units in the Western Alps. In the Gran Paradiso Massif, the Money unit crops out as a tectonic window below the Gran Paradiso unit. The reconstruction of the Alpine evolution of these two units and the history of their tectonic contact has been achieved using a multidisciplinary approach that combines meso‐ and microstructural analysis and pseudosection calculations. In both units, four stages of deformation and metamorphism have been identified. Stage 1 reflects the phase of continental crust subduction and P–T conditions of ~18–20 kbar, 480–520 °C and of ~13–18 kbar, 500–530 °C have been estimated for the Gran Paradiso and the Money units respectively. This yields a maximum difference of ~20 km in the depth reached by these two units during the early Alpine history. Thrusting of the Gran Paradiso unit over the Money unit (stage 2) led to the development of the main foliation and occurred in the high‐P part of the albite stability field at P–T conditions of ~12.5–14.5 kbar and 530–560 °C, identical in both units. The thrust contact was folded during stage 3 together with the entire Money unit, and then both units were exhumed together (stage 4). During this polyphase evolution, detrital garnet has been partially dissolved, while the earliest Na‐bearing phases (glaucophane, paragonite) have been overprinted by the low‐P mineral associations. The uncertainties on derived pressures between the two units are unfortunately larger than hoped, and this is attributed to the muscovite solid‐solution model not incorporating a pyrophyllite component.

Tectonics of the Monte Rosa and surrounding nappes (Switzerland and Italy): Tertiary phases of subduction, thrusting and folding in the Pennine Alps

The Monte Rosa basement fold nappe, surrounded by other continental units of the Brianconnais s.l. domain and ophiolites of the Piemont Ocean, represents a major structure of the Pennine Alps situated at the border of the Canton Valais (Switzerland) and Italy. The Central Alps were formed during the collision and SE-directed underthrusting of the European below the Adriatic plate by successive underthrusting, detachment and accretion of the Austroalpine Sesia continental crust, the Piemont oceanic crust and the continental Brianconnais–Europe plate border. The 90–60 Ma Sesia high-pressure metamorphism, followed by the 50–38 Ma Zermatt-Saas Fee and Monte Rosa high-pressure metamorphism, and since 40 Ma by the Barrovian regional metamorphism, reveal a long-lasting Alpine evolution during convergence of both plates. The superposition of the ultra-high pressure Zermatt-Saas Fee ophiolites by the continental Cimes Blanche unit of the Brianconnais domain and the medium pressure ophiolitic Tsate nappe is explained by delamination and tectonic flake detachment of the Cimes Blanches from the Brianconnais crust and its south directed thrust over the Zermatt-Saas Fee and Tsate ophiolites. The main ductile deformational structures, related to the NW-directed nappe emplacement, were generated after 40 Ma under greenschist to amphibolite facies Barrovian orogenic metamorphism. Early extrusional structures have been transposed by the younger thrust structures. The NW-directed thrust of the Alps was accompanied since about 35 Ma by ductile dextral shear and backfolding in the zone of dextral transpression between the converging European and Adriatic plates.

Seismic signature of the Alpine indentation, evidence from the Eastern Alps

The type of collision between the European and the Adriatic plates in the easternmost Alps is one of the most interesting questions regarding the Alpine evolution. Tectonic processes such as compression, escape and uplift are interconnected and shape this area. We can understand these ongoing processes better, if we look for signs of the deformation within the Earth's deep crust of the region. By collecting records from permanent and temporary seismic networks, we assemble a receiver function dataset, and analyze it with the aim of giving new insights on the structure of the lower crust and of the shallow portion of the upper mantle, which are inaccessible to direct observation. Imaging is accomplished by performing common conversion depth stacks along three profiles that crosscut the Eastern Alpine orogen, and allow isolating features consistently persistent in the area. The study shows a moderately flat Moho underlying a seismically anisotropic middle-lower crust from the Southern Alps to the Austroalpine nappes. The spatial progression of anisotropic axes reflects the orientation of the relative motion and of the stress field detected at the surface. These observations suggest that distributed deformation is due to the effect of the Alpine indentation. In the shallow upper mantle right below the Moho interface, a further anisotropic layer is recognized, extended from the Bohemian Massif to the Northern Calcareous Alps.

Les facteurs de risque de rupture du ligament croisé antérieur chez le skieur alpin en équipe de France

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to analyze risk factors of anterior crucial ligament (ACL) injury in competitive alpine skiers. Material and methodWe included the French team's skiers who suffered from an ACL total rupture between April 2002 and April 2010. It was a retrospective study about 8 seasons of ski and including 2 Olympiads. We sent by mail to each concerned skier a questionnaire. They had to answer to one questionnaire by rupture in the considered period. ResultsForty-two answers (24 from girls, 18 from men) were collected. Fifty-five percent of injuries occurred by sunny weather and 22% by overcast weather, 52% on compact snow and 24% on ice-cold snow, 60% on well-prepared ski run. Downhill and Giant Slalom were responsible for 74% of injuries. Athletes especially injured themselves on December and January (52.5%). The warm-up was globally well done (83%), the skiers not tired and well concentrated. The injuries occurred mostly during a period with many travels and races, lot of stress. It is necessary to hold 27 cases of non-release of bindings while international standard were respected. DiscussionThe evolution of alpine skiing equipment clearly increased the number of ACL injuries, increasing forces on the knee. ConclusionFrom now on, environmental and intrinsic factors seem to be well controlled. We can wonder if it exists a delay of adjustment of skiers face to a constantly evolving equipment which becomes more and more successful.