Periadriatic Research Articles

Kinematics, seismotectonics and seismic potential of the eastern sector of the European Alps from GPS and seismic deformation data

We present a first synoptic view of the seismotectonics and kinematics of the eastern sector of the European Alps using geodetic and seismological data. The study area marks the boundary between the Adriatic and the Eurasian plates, through a wide zone of deformation including a variety of tectonic styles within a complex network of crustal and lithospheric faults. A new dense GPS velocity field, new focal mechanisms and seismic catalogues, with uniformly re-calibrated magnitudes (from 1005), are used to estimate geodetic and seismic deformation rates and to develop interseismic kinematic and fault locking models. Kinematic indicators from seismological and geodetic data are remarkably consistent at different spatial scales. In addition to large-scale surface motion, GPS velocities highlight more localized deformation features revealing a complex configuration of interacting tectonic blocks, for which new constraints are provided in this work accounting for elastic strain build up at faults bonding rotating blocks. The geodetic and seismological data highlight two belts of higher deformation rates running WSW-ENE along the Eastern Southern Alps (ESA) in Italy and E-W in Slovenia, where deformation is more distributed. The highest geodetic strain-rates are observed in the Montello-Cansiglio segment of the ESA thrust front, for which the higher density of the GPS network provides indications of limited interseismic locking. Most of the dextral shear between the Eastern Southern Alps and the Eastern Alps blocks is accommodated along the Fella-Sava fault rather than the Periadriatic fault. In northern Croatia and Slovenia geodetic and seismological data allow constraining the kinematics of the active structures bounding the triangular-shaped region encompassing the Sava folds, which plays a major role in accommodating the transition from Adria- to Pannonian-like motion trends. The analysis of the seismic and geodetic moment rates provides new insights into the seismic potential along the ESA front.

Postcollisional cooling history of the Eastern and Southern Alps and its linkage to Adria indentation

Indentation of rigid blocks into rheologically weak orogens is generally associated with spatiotemporally variable vertical and lateral block extrusion. The European Eastern and Southern Alps are a prime example of microplate indentation, where most of the deformation was accommodated north of the crustal indenter within the Tauern Window. However, outside of this window only the broad late-stage exhumation pattern of the indented units as well as of the indenter itself is known. In this study we refine the exhumational pattern with new (U–Th–Sm)/He and fission-track thermochronology data on apatite from the Karawanken Mountains adjacent to the eastern Periadriatic fault and from the central-eastern Southern Alps. Apatite (U–Th–Sm)/He ages from the Karawanken Mountains range between 12 and 5 Ma and indicate an episode of fault-related exhumation leading to the formation of a positive flower structure and an associated peripheral foreland basin. In the Southern Alps, apatite (U–Th–Sm)/He and fission-track data combined with previous data also indicate a pulse of mainly Late Miocene exhumation, which was maximized along thrust systems, with highly differential amounts of displacement along individual structures. Our data contribute to mounting evidence for widespread Late Miocene tectonic activity, which followed a phase of major exhumation during strain localization in the Tauern Window. We attribute this exhumational phase and more distributed deformation during Adriatic indentation to a major change in boundary conditions operating on the orogen, likely due to a shift from a decoupled to a coupled system, possibly enhanced by a shift in convergence direction.

Pseudotachylytes of the Tonale nappe (Italian Alps): petrogenesis, 40Ar-39Ar geochronology and tectonic implications

Pseudotachylyte veins of the Tonale nappe (NE Italy) occur along faults and shear zones which accommodated the deformation that shortened the Adriatic crust to the north of the Periadriatic Lineament during the late Alpine orogeny. These veins are characterized by thin glass layers showing variable clast content and colours, coupled with chemical variations. They are derived from surrounding gneiss, but mass-balance studies show some quartz missing in the veins (i.e., 1 rock = a vein + b quartz, with b ranging from 0.1 to 0.3). Thermodynamic modelling of the melting process indicates that the energy necessary to melt 1 cm3 of rock is 4-5 kJ. Temperature reached inhomogeneous values between ~1100°C (total melting of micas) and ~1700°C (partial melting of the quartz clasts). The modelling of the cooling process accounts well for the microlite blastesis in the glassy groundmass of the veins, provided that the pressure at which pseudotachylytes formed along faults/shear zones ranges between 4 and 8 kbar. 40Ar-39Ar laser-probe in-situ data show that vein zoning corresponds to a range of apparent ages. Step-heating analyses indicate the presence of components younger and older than the age proposed for the vein, due to alteration and clasts, respectively. Interplay between these two factors affects the in-situ data. The new 40Ar-39Ar ages of the Tonale nappe pseudotachylytes (~50-21 Ma), as compared to previously published data, testify a long-lived deformation lasting from Eocene to Early Miocene. The peak of this deformation is Late Eocene-Early Oligocene in age (~35-30 Ma), coeval with the emplacement of the Northern Adamello plutons and of several apophyses and dykes in the Adriatic crust.

Crustal structure of the Alps as seen by attenuation tomography

We develop a simple tomographic approach exploiting the decay rate of coda waves to map the absorption properties of the crust in a region delimited approximately by the Rhine Graben to the North, the Apennines to the South, the Massif Central to the West and the Dinarides to the East. Our dataset comprises 40 000 coda records of about 2000 weak to moderate crustal earthquakes, with magnitude ranging from 2.8 to 6 and recorded by broad-band, accelerometric and short-period stations. After proper choice of a coda window minimizing the effects of variable epicentral distances, we measure the coda quality factor Qc in five non-overlapping frequency windows covering the 1–32 Hz band for all available source station pairs. These measurements are subsequently converted into maps of absorption quality factor (Qi) using a linearized, approximate relation between Qc and Qi. In practice the following procedure is applied in each frequency band: (1) we divide the target region into 40×40 km cells; (2) for each source-station pair, we assign the measured Qc value to each pixel intercepted by the direct ray path; (3) the results are averaged over all paths and subsequently smoothed with a 3×3 pixels moving window. Our approach is consistent with the high sensitivity of Qc to the value of Qi between source and station.Our tomographic approach reveals strong lateral variations of absorption with length scales ranging from 100 km to 1000 km. At low frequency (∼1 Hz), the correlation with the surface geology is clear, Cenozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary basins (resp. crystalline massifs) being recognized as high (resp. low)-absorption regions. Furthermore the Qi map delineates finer geological features such as the Ivrea Body, the Rhône Valley, or felsic intrusions in the central Alps. At high-frequency (>16 Hz), only the thickest Cenozoic sedimentary deposits show up as high-attenuation regions and a north/south dichotomy is apparent in the absorption structure. The limit between low-attenuation regions to the North and high-attenuation region to the South correlates geographically with the location of the Periadriatic Lineament (PL), a major late-alpine crustal- to lithospheric-scale structure. Furthermore, the attenuation structure seems to prolong the PL to the West along a line marked by large historical earthquakes. The Apennines orogenic belts exhibit a distinct frequency behavior, with high attenuation at low-frequency and low-attenuation at high-frequency. Low-frequency absorption may likely be explained by the relatively thick cover of Cenozoic sedimentary materials, as well as by shallow geothermal activity. We hypothesize that the frequency dependence of the attenuation structure, in particular in the Apennines, is caused by a change of the wavefield composition which accentuates the sensitivity of the coda to the deeper parts of the medium as the frequency increases.

Hypogene speleogenesis in dolomite host rock by CO2-rich fluids, Kozak Cave (southern Austria)

A growing number of studies suggest that cave formation by deep-seated groundwater (hypogene) is a more common process of subsurface water–rock interaction than previously thought. Fossil hypogene caves are identified by a characteristic suite of morphological features on different spatial scales. In addition, mineral deposits (speleothems) may provide clues about the chemical composition of the paleowater, which range from CO2-rich to sulfuric acid-bearing waters. This is one of the first studies to examine hypogene cave formation in dolomite. Kozak Cave is a fossil cave near the Periadriatic Lineament, an area known for its abundance of CO2-rich springs. The cave displays a number of macro-, meso- and micromorphological elements found also in other hypogene caves hosted in limestone, marble or gypsum, including cupolas, cusps, Laughöhle-type chambers and notches. The existance of cupolas and cusps suggests a thermal gradient capable of sustaining free convection during a first phase of speleogenesis, while triangular cross sections (Laughöhle morphology) indicate subsequent density-driven convection close to the paleowater table. Notches mark the final emergence of the cave due to continued rock uplift and valley incision. Very narrow shafts near the end of the cave may be part of the initial feeder system, but an epigene (vadose) overprint cannot be ruled out. Vadose speleothems indicate that the phreatic phase ended at least about half a million years ago. Drill cores show no evidence of carbon or oxygen isotope alteration of the wall rock. This is in contrast to similar studies in limestone caves, and highlights the need for further wall-rock studies of caves hosted in limestone and dolomite.

Geomechanical characterisation of fault rocks in tunnelling: The Brenner Base Tunnel (Northern Italy)

The goal of this study is to characterise the rock faults involved in the excavation works of the Brenner Base Tunnel, which crosses one of the main tectonic alignments of the alpine area, the Periadriatic fault. The characterisation was carried out at different scales from macro (through drillings and geomechanical surveys) to meso (lab tests on specimens) and micro-scale (through thin sections), in order to find a correlation between the different scales properties of the rock masses. Finally, a relation between the voids ratio at the micro-scale and the fault rocks conditions at the meso and macro-scale was pointed out. As a result, by means of the Hoek–Brown method, an estimation of the fault rock strength was achieved, tending to avoid quite a typical overestimation arising from the use of literature values.

Strike-slip tectonics in the Pannonian basin based on seismic surveys at Lake Balaton

Strike-slip tectonics has been the dominant style of deformation during the neotectonic (Pliocene and Quaternary) evolution of the Pannonian basin. Main faults are exposed in the “island mountains” of the basin, but strike-slip tectonic features can be best studied in the basin fill by seismic data. Lake Balaton offers the opportunity to carry out high to ultra-high-resolution seismo-acoustic surveys to image stratigraphic and tectonic features in the central part of the Pannonian basin. Several campaigns in the lake using different acquisition techniques have resulted in more than 2000-km seismo-acoustic profiles with a range of resolutions and penetration depths. Interpretation of faults and folds shows a few kilometers wide shear zone below the lake in Late Miocene–Pliocene strata. This zone can be identified as the continuation of the Balatonfő line known onshore to the east of the lake. Mapping revealed a set of duplex structures and highlighted the importance of this shear zone in the formation of Lake Balaton. Comparison of our results to analogue clay models suggests that the observed shear zone is sinistral and the horizontal displacement is on the order of hundreds of meters. Looking at 3D industrial seismic data to the south of the lake, we suggest that the first-order Balaton line, which represents the continuation of Periadriatic line, is also sinistral and characterized by small horizontal displacement of about 1.0–1.5 km during Pliocene and Quaternary times. This indicates a 0.2–0.3 mm/year average slip rate, which is compatible with recent GPS measurements.

Snežna jama (Slovenia): Interdisciplinary dating of cave sediments and implication for landscape evolution

Caves are important markers of surface evolution, since they are, as a general rule, linked with ancient valley bottoms by their springs. However, caves can only be dated indirectly by means of the sediments they contain. If the sediment is older than common dating methods, one has to use multiple dating approaches in order to get meaningful results. U/Th dating, palaeomagnetic analysis of flowstone and sediment profiles, cosmogenic dating of quartz pebbles, and mammalian dating allowed a robust estimate of speleogenesis, sediment deposition, climatic change at the surface, and uplift history on the Periadriatic fault line during the Plio-Pleistocene. Our dates indicate that Snežna jama was formed in the (Upper) Miocene, received its sedimentary deposits during the Pliocene in a rather low-lying, hilly landscape, and became inactive due to uplift along the Periadriatic and Sava faults and climatic changes at the beginning of the Quaternary. Although it is only a single cave, the information contained within it makes it an important site of the Southern Alps.

Geology of the Brenner Pass-Fortezza transect, Italian Eastern Alps

We present a 1:30,000 geological map resulting from detailed geostructural surveys carried out along the Italian segment of the design corridor for the Brenner Pass railway base tunnel (BBT), extending from Fortezza (Italy) to Innsbruck (Austria). The map covers the southern part of the Austroalpine-Penninic collisional wedge, the Periadriatic Fault System, associated Oligocene igneous bodies (Periadriatic magmatism) and part of the Southalpine basement. The Penninic Zone in the western Tauern Window is represented by the double domal structure of the Europe-derived Tux and Venediger-Zillertal basement and cover nappe system, capped by the ophiolitic Glockner nappe. The overlying Austroalpine nappe system is here represented by the polymetamorphic Merano-Mules basement and minor cover sheets. The Southern Alps domain includes the Bressanone Granite and pre-granite quartz-phyllites. Four Alpine ductile deformation phases have been recognized, followed by ductile-brittle shear zones, and finally brittle deformations along faults with extensional and strike-slip kinematics. The Quaternary is characterized by glacial deposits, large gravitational mass movements and landslides.

States of paleostress north and south of the Periadriatic fault: Comparison of the Drau Range and the Friuli Southalpine wedge

This study focuses on the analysis of structures and kinematics of a N–S profile along the axis of maximum shortening of the European Eastern Alps. The area includes the southern Austroalpine unit in the north and the Southalpine unit, which is a part of the Adriatic indenter. The stratigraphically different units are separated by the Periadriatic fault, the major strike-slip fault within the Alps. In order to assess the kinematics of these units, mainly fault-slip data from north and south of the Periadriatic fault were analyzed. We distinguish a succession of five main kinematic groups in both units: (1) N–S compression; (2) NW–SE compression; (3) NE–SW compression, σ3 changes gradually from subvertical to subhorizontal; (4) N–S compression; and (5) NW–SE compression. Our study reveals that the deformation sequence on either sides of the PAF is similar. The mean orientations of the principal stress axes, however, show small, but consistent differences: The subhorizontal axes north of the Periadriatic fault plunge northward, in the south southward. A counterclockwise (CCW) rotation of the southern part in respect to the north is evident and in line with the well-known counterclockwise rotation of the Adriatic indenter as well as dextral displacement of the N-fanning stress-field along the Periadriatic fault. Opposing plunge directions are interpreted as a primary feature of the internal stress-field within an orogenic wedge further increased during ongoing compression.

Rare-element granitic pegmatite of Miocene age emplaced in UHP rocks from Visole, Pohorje Mountains (Eastern Alps, Slovenia): accessory minerals, monazite and uraninite chemical dating

Abstract The granitic pegmatite dike intruded the Cretaceous UHP rocks at Visole, near Slovenska Bistrica, in the Pohorje Mountains (Slovenia). The rock consists mainly of K-feldspar, albite and quartz, subordinate muscovite and biotite, while the accessory minerals include spessartine-almandine, zircon, ferrocolumbite, fluorapatite, monazite- (Ce), uraninite, and magnetite. Compositions of garnet (Sps48-49Alm45-46Grs + And3-4 Prp1.5-2), metamict zircon with 3.5 to 7.8 wt. % HfO2 [atom. 100Hf/(Hf + Zr) = 3.3-7.7] and ferrocolumbite [atom. Mn/(Mn + Fe) = 0.27-0.43, Ta/(Ta + Nb) = 0.03-0.46] indicate a relatively low to medium degree of magmatic fractionation, characteristic of the muscovite - rare-element class or beryl-columbite subtype of the rare-element class pegmatites. Monazite-(Ce) reveals elevated Th and U contents (≤11 wt. % ThO2, ≤5 wt. % UO2). The monazite-garnet geothermometer shows a possible precipitation temperature of ~495 ± 30 °C at P~4 to 5 kbar. Chemical U-Th-Pb dating of the monazite yielded a Miocene age (17.2 ± 1.8 Ma), whereas uraninite gave a younger (~14 Ma) age. These ages are comtemporaneous with the main crystallization and emplacement of the Pohorje pluton and adjacent volcanic rocks (20 to 15 Ma), providing the first documented evidence of Neogene granitic pegmatites in the Eastern Alps. Consequently, the Visole pegmatite belongs to the youngest rare-element granitic pegmatite populations in Europe, together with the Paleogene pegmatite occurrences along the Periadriatic (Insubric) Fault System in the Alps and in the Rhodope Massif, as well as the Late Miocene to Pliocene pegmatites in the Tuscany magmatic province (mainly on the Island of Elba).

TERTIARY PEGMATITE DIKES OF THE CENTRAL ALPS

The largest field of Alpine Oligocene pegmatite dikes is in the Central Alps within the Southern Steep Belt (SSB) of the Alpine nappes; it extends for about 100 km in an E–W direction and 15 km in a N–S direction north of the Periadriatic Fault, from the Bergell pluton (to the east) to the Ossola valley (to the west). The pegmatite field geographically overlaps (1) the highest temperature domain of the Lepontine Barrovian metamorphic dome and (2) the zone of Alpine migmatization. We have studied pegmatites in two areas: (1) the Codera area on the western border of the Bergell pluton and (2) the Bodengo area between the Mera and the Mesolcina valleys. Most pegmatites show a simple mineral assemblage consisting of K-feldspar, quartz, and muscovite ± biotite, and only a minor percentage of the dikes (< 5%) contains Sn-Nb-Ta-Y-REE-U oxide, Y-REE phosphate, Mn-Fe-phosphate, Ti-Zr-silicate, Be-Y-REE-U-silicate and oxide minerals (beryl, chrysoberyl, bertrandite, bavenite, and milarite), garnet (almandine-spessartine), tourmaline (schorl to rare elbaite), bismuthinite, magnetite, and rarely dumortierite and helvite. The mineral assemblages, geological context, and chemical compositions allow the distinction between LCT (lithium, cesium, tantalum) and mixed LCT-NYF (niobium, yttrium, fluorine) pegmatites (with only one exception of an NYF dike in the Bodengo area). The LCT pegmatites of the Central Alps did not reach a high degree of geochemical evolution. The most fractionated pegmatites are found in the Codera area and contain Mn-rich elbaite, triplite, pink-beryl, and Cs-Rb-rich feldspar. In the Bodengo area pegmatites locally contain miarolitic cavities and the most evolved pegmatites correspond to the beryl-columbite-phosphate type. From a structural point of view two main types of pegmatites can be distinguished: (1) pegmatites that were involved in ductile deformation and (2) pegmatites that postdated the main ductile deformation of the SSB. Many pegmatites of the Codera valley belong to the first structural type: they were emplaced at relatively high ambient temperature (ca. 500 °C) and locally show a pervasive recrystallization of quartz and a mylonitic structure. The Codera dikes trend about 70° and are steeply dipping. In the Bodengo area the main set of pegmatites (trending approximately N–S to NNE–SSW) crosscuts the ductile deformation structures of the SSB, but the area also includes an earlier generation of boudinaged and folded pegmatite dikes. The undeformed pegmatites from this area may contain miarolitic pockets. There is no systematic difference in the mineral assemblage between the two structural types of pegmatites. However, the chemistry of pegmatite minerals, especially of garnet, in addition to field data suggests that the dikes of the Codera and Bodengo areas represent two distinct generations of pegmatites. Structural data and the few existing radiometric ages suggest that pegmatites were emplaced over a time span between 29 and 25 Ma (and possibly as young as 20 Ma), with the youngest dikes postdating the ductile deformations of the Alpine nappes. The present work presents a first comprehensive field description and geochemical – mineralogical characterization of the Alpine pegmatite field of the Central Alps.

Tertiary volcanism in the Italian Alps (Giudicarie fault zone, NE Italy): insight for double alpine magmatic arc

In the Southern Alps (NE Italy), within the Giudicarie fault zone, Middle to Upper Eocene deep-water foredeep succession includes volcanic layers, pebbles from porphyric dykes and volcaniclastic sandstones, testifying the occurrence of Eocene volcanic activity from unknown volcanic centres. In this paper, we report petrographic, geochemical and chronostratigraphic characteristics.Both the volcanic layers and the pebbles share their petrographic and geochemical characteristics with calc-alkaline igneous activity of the nearby Eocene Adamello batholith, as well as with dykes from the Eastern Lombardian Alps and the Southern Alps basement, in the proximity of the Giudicarie fault zone. All of these rocks have incompatible element ratios typical of orogenic magmas (e.g., high Th/Yb and La/Nb, and low Ta/Yb, Nb/U) in contrast to that observed for the coeval anorogenic Veneto volcanic rocks. In addition, the studied Eocene calc-alkaline rocks also differ in part from the Oligocene calc-alkaline ones distributed along the E-W oriented Periadriatic fault system in terms of trace element distribution and incompatible element ratios. The Oligocene rocks are generally more enriched in incompatible elements than the Eocene ones and show higher Zr/Y but lower Nb/Y ratios. The set of data presented in this paper allows us to advance new insights on the evolution of Tertiary magmatism in the Alps, which was probably developed through a NE-SW-oriented magmatic arc during Eocene and an E-W-oriented magmatic arc during Oligocene. The two events are marked by different geochemical features of the magmatic products.

Modes of orogen-parallel stretching and extensional exhumation in response to microplate indentation and roll-back subduction (Tauern Window, Eastern Alps)

The Tauern Window exposes a Paleogene nappe stack consisting of highly metamorphosed oceanic (Alpine Tethys) and continental (distal European margin) thrust sheets. In the eastern part of this window, this nappe stack (Eastern Tauern Subdome, ETD) is bounded by a Neogene system of shear (the Katschberg Shear Zone System, KSZS) that accommodated orogen-parallel stretching, orogen-normal shortening, and exhumation with respect to the structurally overlying Austroalpine units (Adriatic margin). The KSZS comprises a ≤5-km-thick belt of retrograde mylonite, the central segment of which is a southeast-dipping, low-angle extensional shear zone with a brittle overprint (Katschberg Normal Fault, KNF). At the northern and southern ends of this central segment, the KSZS loses its brittle overprint and swings around both corners of the ETD to become subvertical, dextral, and sinistral strike-slip faults. The latter represent stretching faults whose displacements decrease westward to near zero. The kinematic continuity of top-east to top-southeast ductile shearing along the central, low-angle extensional part of the KSZS with strike-slip shearing along its steep ends, combined with maximum tectonic omission of nappes of the ETD in the footwall of the KNF, indicates that north–south shortening, orogen-parallel stretching, and normal faulting were coeval. Stratigraphic and radiometric ages constrain exhumation of the folded nappe complex in the footwall of the KSZS to have begun at 23–21 Ma, leading to rapid cooling between 21 and 16 Ma. This exhumation involved a combination of tectonic unroofing by extensional shearing, upright folding, and erosional denudation. The contribution of tectonic unroofing is greatest along the central segment of the KSZS and decreases westward to the central part of the Tauern Window. The KSZS formed in response to the indentation of wedge-shaped blocks of semi-rigid Austroalpine basement located in front of the South-Alpine indenter that was part of the Adriatic microplate. Northward motion of this indenter along the sinistral Giudicarie Belt offsets the Periadriatic Fault and triggered rapid exhumation of orogenic crust within the entire Tauern Window. Exhumation involved strike-slip and normal faulting that accommodated about 100 km of orogen-parallel extension and was contemporaneous with about 30 km of orogen-perpendicular, north–south shortening of the ETD. Extension of the Pannonian Basin related to roll-back subduction in the Carpathians began at 20 Ma, but did not affect the Eastern Alps before about 17 Ma. The effect of this extension was to reduce the lateral resistance to eastward crustal flow away from the zone of greatest thickening in the Tauern Window area. Therefore, we propose that roll-back subduction temporarily enhanced rather than triggered exhumation and orogen-parallel motion in the Eastern Alps. Lateral extrusion and orogen-parallel extension in the Eastern Alps have continued from 12 to 10 Ma to the present and are driven by northward push of Adria.

Facies architecture of the Upper Oligocene submarine Smrekovec stratovolcano, Northern Slovenia

The Upper Oligocene Smrekovec Volcanic Complex (SVC) represents the remains of a submarine stratovolcano which underwent Early Miocene tectonic dissection and large-scale displacement along the Periadriatic Line. According to the lithofacies architecture, abundance and spatial distribution, central, medial and distal zones of the former volcano edifice have been recognized. The zones extend at a distance of 0–2km, 2–5km and 5–20km south of the Periadriatic Line, respectively.Lavas, shallow intrusive bodies, autobreccia, peperite and hyaloclastite deposits occur mainly in the central zone, which is extensively altered under hydrothermal conditions, characterised by the development of zeolites (mainly laumontite), prehnite, chlorite, albite and epidote. Explosive volcanic activity intensified with the evolution of magma from basaltic andesitic to dacitic. Gas- and water-supported eruption-fed density flows are assumed. Their deposits show lithofacies organisation in pyroclastic depositional units (PDUs) similar to either volcaniclastic turbidites (Type 1) or thin subaqueous ignimbrites (Type 2).Volcaniclastic debris flow deposits are developed as volcaniclastic breccia and sandy debris flow deposits; the former occurs in the central and medial zones, and the latter occurs in the medial zone only.The most widespread lithofacies in the SVC are volcaniclastic turbidite deposits. Three types of sedimentary unit (TSU) have been distinguished. Type 1 is 2–5m thick and dominated by the massive division. It mainly occurs in the central zone. Type 2 is 0.7–3.5m thick and occurs in the central and medial zones. It comprises the massive division, bedded fining- and thinning-upward division, and a horizontally, wavy and cross-laminated division, topped by massive fine-grained tuff. Type 3 is 0.1–1.5m thick and mainly occurs in the distal zone. The massive division is absent, and thinly-bedded and laminated divisions are topped by massive fine-grained tuff. Volcaniclastic turbidites were settled from low-density turbidity currents and related suspension clouds.Mixed volcaniclastic–siliciclastic deposits are subordinate in occurrence and restricted to the distal zone. They are commonly reworked by bottom currents.

K–Ar dating of synkinematic clay gouges from Neoalpine faults of the Central, Western and Eastern Alps

With ongoing Alpine convergence and deformation during exhumation there is a general progression from ductile to brittle behaviour on the Periadriatic Fault and kinematically related faults farther north (e.g. the Simplon–Rhone Fault and a diffuse, discontinuous zone of generally dextral strike–slip movement on the southern boundary of the Aar massif). K–Ar dating of fine grained illite from clay fault gouges provides a reliable method for establishing the maximum age of this transition to brittle faulting and, for short-lived faults, the approximate time of faulting itself. The new results establish that brittle faulting on the northeastern segment of the Canavese Fault (i.e. the part of the Periadriatic Fault southwest of Lago Maggiore) occurred around 20Ma, with south-side-up kinematics. A K–Ar age of ca. 17Ma for the crosscutting Giudicarie Fault in the Eastern Alps is effectively identical with an already published pseudotachylyte age and places a lower limit on major and continuous strike slip movements of the Periadriatic Fault. The age of brittle faulting farther north, on the southern border of the Aar Massif, is from 13.6±0.3 to 8.3±1.1Ma, consistent with the younger cooling and exhumation in this area. The dominantly dextral brittle faulting becoming younger to the north reflects the continued indentation and anticlockwise rotation of Adria as Alpine units become exhumed and progressively welded to the southern block. In contrast to the Eastern Alps, there is no field evidence for (westward) lateral extrusion of Alpine units relative to Adria and the European foreland.

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

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.

Origin and age of the Eisenkappel gabbro to granite suite (Carinthia, SE Austrian Alps)

The northern part of the Karawanken plutonic belt is a gabbro–granite complex located just north of the Periadriatic lineament near the Slovenian–Austrian border. Petrographic and geochemical studies of the Eisenkappel intrusive complex indicate that this multiphase plutonic suite developed by a combination of crystal accumulation, fractional crystallization and assimilation processes, magma mixing and mingling. The mafic rocks are alkaline and have within-plate geochemical characteristics, indicating anorogenic magmatism in an extensional setting and derivation from an enriched mantle source. The mafic melts triggered partial melting of the crust and the formation of granite. The granitic rocks are alkalic, metaluminous and have the high Fe/Fe+Mg characteristics of within-plate plutons. Temperature and pressure conditions, derived from amphibole-plagioclase and different amphibole thermobarometers, suggest that the analysed Eisenkappel gabbros crystallized at around 1000±20°C and 380–470MPa, whereas the granitic rock crystallized at T≤800±20°C and≤350MPa. Mineral-whole rock Sm–Nd analyses of two cumulate gabbros yielded 249±8.4Ma and 250±26Ma (εNd: +3.6), garnet-whole rock Sm–Nd analyses of two silicic samples yielded well-constrained ages of 238.4±1.9Ma and 242.1±2.1Ma (εNd: −2.6).

The Northern Giudicarie and the Meran-Mauls fault (Alps, Northern Italy) in the light of new paleomagnetic and geochronological data from boudinaged Eo-/Oligocene tonalites

This study concentrates on small intrusions along two important faults of the Giudicarie fault system, the Northern Giudicarie and the Meran-Mauls fault, summarised under the term tonalitic lamellae. Magnetic fabric analyses in combination with structural field data indicate dextral strike slip deformation along the NE–SW striking northern part of the Giudicarie fault system, the Meran-Mauls fault, overprinted by younger thrusting. The regional stressfield was oriented approximately NNW–SSE during Tertiary times. The distinctive change in deformation along the Meran-Mauls fault from dextral strike slip to top-SE thrusting may be caused by a rotation or bending of the fault after the intrusion of the tonalites and the formation of their horizontal magnetic foliation. Based on the assumption of a preliminary straight Periadriatic lineament bent by the NNW-wards advancement of the Southalpine indenter, the tonalitic lamellae may be interpreted as lenses sheared off from the Adamello batholith during indentation. New U/Pb data on zircon show that some of the lamellae are of Oligocene (Rupelian), others of Late Eocene (Priabonian) age. An amphibole-gabbro lens occurring on the Meran-Mauls fault provides a Middle Eocene (Bartonian) age. Among the major Periadriatic plutons, only the southern units of the Adamello batholith also intruded in the Eocene that suggests a strong correlation between the tonalitic lamellae and the Adamello batholith. The analyses of the remanent magnetisation and the Curie point determinations argue for magnetite as the main carrier of a viscous magnetisation blocked at relatively low temperatures. This indicates slow cooling of the investigated intrusions along the Giudicarie fault system down to approximately 300°C, which is in contrast to the fast cooling determined for the Adamello intrusion units currently at the surface. The new zircon fission track data also show later cooling of the tonalites along the Giudicarie fault system when compared with the Adamello batholith in the south and the Mauls lamellae in the north, indicating that this area contains magmatic bodies exhumed from a deeper structural level than in the Adamello and the Mauls region. This may be due to important top-SE thrusting and transpressive faulting in the footwall of the Northern Giudicarie fault and the Meran-Mauls fault.

The crystalline basement of the Adria microplate in the eastern Alps: a review of the palaeostructural evolution from the Neoproterozoic to the Cenozoic

The frontal northern part of the continental Adriatic microplate is formed by a stack of Austroalpine nappes and by the Southalpine basement and cover units. Both basement portions are now side by side, separated by the Periadriatic (Insubric) fault system, but they became juxtaposed only during the Alpine orogeny. Permian HT-LP metamorphism is now recognised also within the Austroalpine basement of the eastern Alps, whilst it was known since long in the Southalpine basement. High thermal heat flow responsible for HT-LP metamorphism is related to the extensional tectonics and lithospheric thinning during the Permian and by concurrent magmatic underplating. During the Variscan orogeny, eclogite facies metamorphism is documented within the Ötztal and the Silvretta basements (350 Ma), as well as within the Nonsberg-Ulten unit (336 Ma). The HP events in the Ötztal and the Silvretta basements correlate temporarily with the closure of the Rheic Ocean between the Hanseatic and the Galatian terranes. Docking of the Galatian-Hanseatic composite terrane with Laurussia resulted in large-scale strike-slip tectonics and potentially in the formation of mega-folds (“Schlingen”) within the Austroalpine basement during the Visean. Palaeo-Tethys ridge subduction may be responsible for fast decompression and isobaric heating documented within the Ötztal basement. The Palaeozoic sedimentary sequences of the Austroalpine and the Southalpine phyllitic complexes testify that from Silurian to Devonian, both basement portions were in a passive margin position. During the Cambrian–Ordovician, the Austroalpine basement occupied a position along the leading edge of Gondwana facing the Proto-Tethys Ocean. The compositional variation of the intruded granitic suites confirm an evolution from a magmatic arc towards a collisional-type geodynamic setting related to the closure of the previously opened back-arc basins.