The association of continental crust rocks with ophiolites in the Northern Apennines (Italy): implications for the continent-ocean transition in the Western Tethys

Marroni, Michèle; Molli, Giancarlo; Montanini, Alessandra; Tribuzio, R.

doi:10.1016/s0040-1951(98)00060-2

Cited by 131 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…This hypothesis conforms to the interpretations proposed for ophiolite sequences of the Alps and Apennines as shown in [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. Worth of note, recent oceanographic studies emphasize that the petrological characteristics of the current day oceanic rocks are more heterogeneous to that assumed in the past [32][33][34][35][36] and, hence, the "ophiolite concept" interpreted as "fossil oceanic lithosphere with a unique and complete lithologic sequence" has also to be revisited and updated [33].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 92%

The Betic Ophiolites and the Mesozoic Evolution of the Western Tethys

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The Betic Ophiolites consist of numerous tectonic slices, metric to kilometric in size, of eclogitized mafic and ultramafic rocks associated to oceanic metasediments, deriving from the Betic oceanic domain. The outcrop of these ophiolites is aligned along 250 km in the Mulhacén Complex of the Nevado-Filábride Domain, located at the center-eastern zone of the Betic Cordillera (SE Spain). According to petrological/geochemical inferences and SHRIMP (Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro-Probe) dating of igneous zircons, the Betic oceanic lithosphere originated along an ultra-slow mid-ocean ridge, after rifting, thinning and breakup of the preexisting continental crust. The Betic oceanic sector, located at the westernmost end of the Tethys Ocean, developed from the Lower to Middle Jurassic (185-170 Ma), just at the beginning of the Pangaea break-up between the Iberia-European and the Africa-Adrian plates. Subsequently, the oceanic spreading migrated northeastward to form the Ligurian and Alpine Tethys oceans, from 165 to 140 Ma. Breakup and oceanization isolated continental remnants, known as the Mesomediterranean Terrane, which were deformed and affected by the Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene Eo-Alpine high-pressure metamorphic event, due to the intra-oceanic subduction of the Jurassic oceanic lithosphere and the related continental margins. This process was followed by the partial exhumation of the subducted oceanic rocks onto their continental margins, forming the Betic and Alpine Ophiolites. Subsequently, along the Upper Oligocene and Miocene, the deformed and metamorphosed Mesomediterranean Terrane was dismembered into different continental blocks collectively known as AlKaPeCa microplate (Alboran, Kabylian, Peloritan and Calabrian). In particular, the Alboran block was displaced toward the SW to occupy its current setting between the Iberian and African plates, due to the Neogene opening of the Algero-Provençal Basin. During this translation, the different domains of the Alboran microplate, forming the Internal Zones of the Betic and Rifean Cordilleras, collided with the External Zones representing the Iberian and African margins and, together with them, underwent the later alpine deformation and metamorphism, characterized by local differences of P-T (Pressure-Temperature) conditions. These Neogene metamorphic processes, known as Meso-Alpine and Neo-Alpine events, developed in the Nevado-Filábride Domain under Ab-Ep amphibolite and greenschists facies conditions, respectively, causing retrogradation and intensive deformation of the Eo-Alpine eclogites.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 92%

The Betic Ophiolites and the Mesozoic Evolution of the Western Tethys

et al. 2017

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“…the Adriatic side of the Northern Apennines (Treves 1984;Marroni et al 1998;Pini 1999;Vannucchi and Bettelli 2002) (Figure 8c, d). They can be interpreted as monoformational non-metamorphic tectonites or broken/dismembered formations .…”

Section: Broken/dismembered Formations or Non-metamorphic Tectonites mentioning

confidence: 99%

Myths and recent progress regarding the Argille Scagliose, Northern Apennines, Italy

Vannucchi

Bettelli

2010

International Geology Review

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Argille scagliose (scaly clay) is a geological term first used in 1840 to describe rocks in the Northern Apennines of Italy. The term was originally created to stress the mesoscopic scaliness of a type of rock that commonly outcrops in this area. The rock is also typified by a chaotic assemblage of blocky components that are embedded within the scaly matrix. Before the advent of plate tectonic concepts, the extreme complexity of these rocks posed an extreme challenge to interpret with then-standard concepts of deposition processes in sedimentary basins. Similar rocks were recognized in many other mountain belts, thus the term became widely used. At the same time, the emphasis of the term changed from a description of the matrix to a term with multiple, intensely debated, genetic associations. Only after the discovery of plate tectonics was it accepted that these rocks are formed at subduction boundaries, and that the multiple types of embedded blocks can have an origin from both slope-instabilities within an accretionary prism, and from tectonic reworking/deformation processes near the base of an active accretionary prism. This paper reconstructs the scientific evolution of thinking about argille scagliose during the years when it was one of the supreme challenges to sedimentary geologists. The often strong debate between competing hypotheses for the origin of these rocks led to many myths that still outcrop in the geological literature. We explore why this happened, the apparent future of modern research on chaotic rocks in the Apennines and other fossil accretionary prisms, and what is and should productively remain from the long geological controversy over argille scagliose.

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“…Permian wrench lineaments and failed rift arms associated with Pangea transformation were widely reactivated and exploited during the opening of the Jurassic branches of the Neotethys, from the Owen-Somali Basin between Africa/Arabia and India/Madagascar [46] to the LigurianPiedmont Ocean [48,49].…”

Section: Driving Forces and Plate Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Permian Pangea ‘B’ to Late Permian Pangea ‘A’☆

Muttoni¹,

Kent²,

Garzanti³

et al. 2003

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

222

151

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The pre-drift Wegenerian model of Pangea is almost universally accepted, but debate exists on its pre-Jurassic configuration since Ted Irving introduced Pangea 'B' by placing Gondwana farther to the east by V3000 km with respect to Laurasia on the basis of paleomagnetic data. New paleomagnetic data from radiometrically dated Early Permian volcanic rocks from parts of Adria that are tectonically coherent with Africa (Gondwana), integrated with published coeval data from Gondwana and Laurasia, again only from igneous rocks, fully support a Pangea 'B' configuration in the Early Permian. The use of paleomagnetic data strictly from igneous rocks excludes artifacts from sedimentary inclination error as a contributing explanation for Pangea 'B'. The ultimate option to reject Pangea 'B' is to abandon the geocentric axial dipole hypothesis by introducing a significant non-dipole (zonal octupole) component in the Late Paleozoic time-averaged geomagnetic field. We demonstrate, however, by using a dataset consisting entirely of paleomagnetic directions with low inclinations from sampling sites confined to one hemisphere from Gondwana as well as Laurasia that the effects of a zonal octupole field contribution would not explain away the paleomagnetic evidence for Pangea 'B' in the Early Permian. We therefore regard the paleomagnetic evidence for an Early Permian Pangea 'B' as robust. The transformation from Pangea 'B' to Pangea 'A' took place during the Permian because Late Permian paleomagnetic data allow a Pangea 'A' configuration. We therefore review geological evidence from the literature in support of an intra-Pangea dextral megashear system. The transformation occurred after the cooling of the Variscan mega-suture and lasted V20 Myr. In this interval, the Neotethys Ocean opened between India/Arabia and the Cimmerian microcontinents in the east, while widespread lithospheric wrenching and magmatism took place in the west around the Adriatic promontory. The general distribution of plate boundaries and resulting driving forces are qualitatively consistent with a right-lateral shear couple between Gondwana and Laurasia during the Permian. Transcurrent plate boundaries associated with the Pangea transformation reactivated Variscan shear zones and were subsequently exploited by the opening of western Neotethyan seaways in the Jurassic.0012-821X / 03 / $^see front matter ß

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The association of continental crust rocks with ophiolites in the Northern Apennines (Italy): implications for the continent-ocean transition in the Western Tethys

Cited by 131 publications

References 52 publications

The Betic Ophiolites and the Mesozoic Evolution of the Western Tethys

The Betic Ophiolites and the Mesozoic Evolution of the Western Tethys

Myths and recent progress regarding the Argille Scagliose, Northern Apennines, Italy

Early Permian Pangea ‘B’ to Late Permian Pangea ‘A’☆

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