Structural Evolution of the Apuane Alps: An Example of Continental Margin Deformation in the Northern Apennines, Italy

Structural and petrological constraints on the tectono‐metamorphic evolution of the Massa Unit (Alpi Apuane, NW Tuscany, Italy)

“…In the Alpi Apuane region (Figure 1) two major metamorphic units can be distinguished below the anchimetamorphic to non-metamorphic rocks of the Tuscan Nappe (Carmignani et al 1978;Cerrina Feroni et al 1983). The upper unit, the Massa Unit, comprises a pre-Mesozoic basement affected by pre-Alpine deformation (Conti et al 1993) overlain by a well-developed Middle Triassic to Upper Triassic metasedimentary sequence (Verrucano Formation) including Middle Triassic metavolcanic rocks (Elter et al 1966).…”

“…the Carrara Marble). Overlying these, Upper Liassic±Lower Cretaceous cherty metalimestones, cherts and calc-schists, re¯ecting deep-marine sedimentation related to the progressive subsidence of the carbonate platform, give way to calc-schists, marbles and sericitic phyllites of Cretaceous to Eocene age and to Oligocene turbiditic metasandstones (Carmignani and Giglia 1975;Carmignani et al 1978).…”

“…The Alpi Apuane region shows the deepest exposed levels of the Northern Apennine thrust wedge formed during the Eocene±Early Miocene Europe (Sardinia/Corsica)±Africa (Adria) continental collision (Boccaletti et al 1971;Carmignani et al 1978;Scandone 1979). During the early stage of this collision the oceanic Liguride Units were emplaced onto the westernmost part of the Adria continental margin (Tuscan Domain).…”

The Main Results of ODP Leg 107 in the Frame of Neogene to Recent Geology of Perityrrhenian Areas

“…It is commonly agreed that the drifting of the Corsica-Sardinia block, and the oceanic accretion of the Western Mediterranean Basin, ended in intra-Burdigalian times, after a rifting phase initiated in middle/upper Oligocene (Edel, 1980;Rehault, 1981;Cherchi and Montadert, 1982). This major dynamic event is clearly correlatable to the first strong Adria-verging deformations of the Apulian margin and produced a metamorphic belt (greenschist facies) known from the Northern Apennines (Apuane Alps) to Calabria (San Donato Unit) (Carmignani et al, 1978;Scandone, 1982). Subduction/collision processes were accompanied by a north-to northwest-dipping Benioff plane beneath Sardinia, by eruptions of calc-alkaline lavas (Savelli, 1984), and by graben/half-graben formations in that island (Cherchi and Montadert, 1982).…”

Geological 3D modeling for excavation activity in an underground marble quarry in the Apuan Alps (Italy)

“…During the D1 event, stacking took place of the tectonics unit 87 belonging to the Tuscan and Ligurian domains, with development of a progressive deformation in two 88 stages , the main of these represented by greenschist foliation (Sp) which is 89 axial plane of isoclinal micro-to kilometric-scale folds. 90 This foliation, which characterizes most of the metamorphic rocks of the Apuan Alps, is associated with a 91 stretching lineation SW-NE trending, interpreted as the main transport direction of the inner Northern 92 Appennines (Carmignani et al, 1978;Molli, 2008). During the D2 event, the previously formed structures 93 were reworked and developed different generations of folds and locally high strain zones associated with 94 exhumation and vertical shearing (Molli, 2012).…”