Permo–Paleogene magmatism in the eastern Alps

Abstract

The present-day configuration of the lithosphere in the eastern Alps and more broadly in the northern Adriatic zone, records a multistage geologic evolution that was active since Precambrian times. Major evolutionary events (e.g., ocean opening, collision, subduction, etc.) were marked by the emplacement of large quantities of magmatic products. In this paper we present an overview of the field, petrographic, and geochemical characteristics of the main plutonic and volcanic bodies outcropping in the northern Adriatic zone and spanning from Permian to Cainozoic. Geochemical and petrologic study of these igneous occurrences greatly helped unraveling the geologic history of this area.

Enriched asthenosphere melting beneath the nascent North African margin: trace element and Nd isotope evidence in middle–late Triassic alkali basalts from central Sicily (Italy)

“…WPB within-plate basalts, MORB mid-ocean ridge basalts, VAB volcanic arc basalts Southern Alps volcanic rocks have been interpreted as the effect of a back-arc setting of an active subduction system (Armienti et al 2003), similarly to what recently proposed for the Ladinian plutonic rocks in the Western Alps (Finero body; Zanetti et al 2013). On the other hand, the geochemical characteristics of Ladinian igneous rocks in Southern Alps have been more properly interpreted in light of a derivation from mantle sources, modified by older subduction events, in a transtensional setting (e.g., Sloman 1989;Bonadiman et al 1994;Cassinis et al 2008;Bellieni et al 2010).…”

“…In contrast, the Leonforte alkali basalts show completely different whole-rock and mineralogical compositions compared with the coeval igneous products cropping out in the Southern Alps (e.g., Dolomites, Brescian Prealps), that were also part of the nascent North African margin. Here Ladinian potassic rocks (with basic to acid compositions and mostly shoshonitic to K-calcalkaline affinity) are associated with drowning carbonate platforms, representing marine transgression (e.g., Cassinis et al 2008;Bellieni et al 2010). Early studies associated such compositions with an ensialic orogenic event (Castellarin et al 1988).…”

“…The continental rifting related to the early stages of Pangea breakup is widely documented throughout the European continent (e.g., Beccaluva et al 2005;Bortolotti and Principi 2005;Martin-Rojas et al 2009;Handy et al 2010). Numerous occurrences of alkaline magmatic products are related to this continental-scale process, such as the late Permian mildly alkaline basalts and dolerites of the southern Pyrenees (Lago et al 2004), the Late Permian alkaline lamprophyres and alkali basalts of the Spanish Central System (e.g., Villaseca et al 2004;Orejana et al 2008), the Late Permian-middle Triassic basanites, alkali basalts, hawaiites and mugearites of the Sardinia-Corsica Domain (SCD; Traversa et al 2003), the Middle Triassic basaltic dykes in the northern Calabria-Peloritani Orogen (e.g., Barca et al 2010), the Middle-Late Triassic basalts to trachytes of the Southern Alps (e.g., Armienti et al 2003;Bellieni et al 2010), the Middle-Late Triassic alkali basalts of the Hellenide orogenic Belt (e.g., Pe-Piper 1998;Pe-Piper and Piper 2002;Bortolotti et al 2008) and the Late Triassic alkali basalts of Spain (e.g., Sanz et al 2013), Oman (Chauvet et al 2011), Cyprus (Lapierre et al 2007), Turkey Middle-Late Triassic magmatism related to the continental rifting processes is also documented in western-central Sicily (Bellia et al 1982;Grasso and Scribano 1985;Grasso et al 1995;Guarnieri et al 2000), but up to now little has been inferred about the geodynamic significance in the Mesozoic Mediterranean geodynamic framework. A possible kinship between Late Triassic basaltic rocks from Western Sicily and the tholeiitic basalts of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (Marzoli et al 1999(Marzoli et al , 2011 has been recently envisaged by Cirrincione et al (2014), based on geochemical and isotopic data.…”

Caratterizzazione geotecnica e mineralogica di depositi vulcanici alterati soggetti a fenomeni di scivolamento nell’area pedemontana della Provincia di Vicenza

“…Durante l'era Cenozoica, in questa zona, si verificò una significativa attività vulcanica con effusione di magmi prevalentemente basici e ultrabasici, i quali costituiscono la Provincia Vulcanica Veneta (Bellieni, 2010). I primi eventi si manifestarono a partire dal Paleocene superiore interessando un'area ristretta in corrispondenza dei Monti Lessini e solo successivamente il fenomeno ebbe una maggiore risonanza estendendosi verso ovest nel Veronese, poi più a nord nel Trentino Meridionale, infine a sud nei Colli Euganei e ad est nel dominio del Marosticano.…”

Beauty and complexity of metamorphism: case studies from the frontal part of the Adria microplate

“…The geochronological framework of magmatic and metamorphic events, and the lithostratigraphy of the Austroalpine basement of the Eastern Alps have been recently reviewed by Schulz et al (2008), whereas the details of the Austroalpine and Southalpine magmatic activity, from Permian to Cenozoic, and the geodynamic evolution of the region are presented in two companion papers (respectively Bellieni et al 2010, andSpiess et al 2010, this volume).…”