Publication Date:
2017-04-04
Description:
The controversial relationship between the orogenic segments of the Western Alps and the Northern Apennines is here explored integrating
recently published 3D tomographic models of subduction with new and re-interpreted geological observations from the eclogitic domain of the
Voltri Massif (Ligurian Alps, Italy), where the two belts joint each other. The Voltri Massif is here described as an extensional domain
accommodating the opposing outward migration of the Alpine and Apennine thrust fronts, since about 30–35 Ma. Using tomographic images of
the upper mantle and paleotectonic reconstructions, we propose that this extensional setting represents the surface manifestation of an along strike
change in polarity of the subducted oceanic slab whose polarity changed laterally in space and in time. Our tectonic model suggests that the
westward shift of the Alpine thrust front from the Oligocene onward was the consequence of the toroidal asthenospheric flow induced by the
retreat of the Apenninic slab.
Description:
Published
Description:
34–50
Description:
3.3. Geodinamica e struttura dell'interno della Terra
Description:
JCR Journal
Description:
reserved
Keywords:
Western Alps
;
Northern Apennines
;
Voltri Massif
;
Tomography
;
Kinematic reconstruction
;
Extensional detachment
;
Toroidal flow
;
04. Solid Earth::04.07. Tectonophysics::04.07.02. Geodynamics
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
