Marco Beltrando

From passive margins to orogens: The link between ocean-continent transition zones and (ultra)high-pressure metamorphism

A lithostratigraphic association consisting of serpentinized mantle rocks, continent-derived allochthons, mid-oceanic ridge gabbros of Jurassic age and post-rift sediments, typical of an ocean-continent transition, is found in the eclogitic Piemonte units, in the Western Alps. In situ U-Pb geochronology was performed on zircons from an orthogneiss sampled at the bottom of a sliver of continental basement, in contact with serpentinites. Primary magmatic zircons of Permian age were overgrown by a second generation of zircon at ca. 166–150 Ma, likely related to melt infiltration associated with the intrusion of the underlying gabbroic body. This indicates that continental basement slices and oceanic basement rocks were already juxtaposed in the Jurassic and they were probably part of hyper-extended crust related to the opening of the Tethys. Therefore, the complex lithological association described here, which is also characteristic of several (ultra)high-pressure melange zones worldwide, was acquired prior to the orogenic event, during which it was only partly reworked. Ocean-continent transitions are in positions favorable to reach (ultra)high-pressure conditions, following negatively buoyant oceanic lithosphere into subduction, and then being accreted to the orogen, in response to the arrival of more buoyant continental lithosphere, resisting subduction. The ocean-continent transition is now found in the immediate footwall of a 500-m-thick shear zone, which accommodated multiple episodes of deformation during Eocene–Oligocene time, suggesting an important link between Alpine deformation and rift-related structures.

Tracing the Thermal Evolution of the Corsican Lower Crust During Tethyan Rifting

Continental rifting requires thinning the continental lithosphere from ~120 km to <20 km by a series of processes which each impart a characteristic thermal signature to the extending lithosphere. Here, high-resolution thermochronology is used an upper-plate hyperextended margin sampled in Corsica an upper-plate hyperextended margin sampled in Corsica to traceDespite advances in understanding the structural development of hyperextended magma-poor rift margins, the temporal and thermal evolution of lithospheric hyperextension during rifting remains only poorly understood. In contrast to classic pure-shear models, multi-stage rift models that include depth-dependent thinning predict significant lower-crustal reheating during the necking phase due to buoyant rise of the asthenosphere. The Santa Lucia nappe of NE Corsica is an ideal laboratory to test for lower-crustal reheating as it preserves Permian lower crust exhumed from granulitic conditions during Mesozoic Tethyan rifting. Despite advances in understanding the structural development of hyperextended magma-poor rift margins, the temporal and thermal evolution of lithospheric hyperextension during rifting remains only poorly understood. In contrast to classic pure-shear models, multi-stage rift models that include depth-dependent thinning predict significant lower-crustal reheating during the necking phase due to buoyant rise of the asthenosphere. The Santa Lucia nappe of NE Corsica is an ideal laboratory to test for lower-crustal reheating as it preserves Permian lower crust exhumed from granulitic conditions during Mesozoic Tethyan rifting. Despite advances in understanding the structural development of hyperextended magma-poor rift margins, the temporal and thermal evolution of lithospheric hyperextension during rifting remains only poorly understood. In contrast to classic pure-shear models, multi-stage rift models that include depth-dependent thinning predict significant lower-crustal reheating during the necking phase due to buoyant rise of the asthenosphere. The Santa Lucia nappe of NE Corsica is an ideal laboratory to test for lower-crustal reheating as it preserves Permian lower crust exhumed from granulitic conditions during Mesozoic Tethyan rifting. Despite advances in understanding the structural development of hyperextended magma-poor rift margins, the temporal and thermal evolution of lithospheric hyperextension during rifting remains only poorly understood. In contrast to classic pure-shear models, multi-stage rift models that include depth-dependent thinning predict significant lower-crustal reheating during the necking phase due to buoyant rise of the asthenosphere. The Santa Lucia nappe of NE Corsica is an ideal laboratory to test for lower-crustal reheating as it preserves Permian lower crust exhumed from granulitic conditions during Mesozoic Tethyan rifting. Despite advances in understanding the structural development of hyperextended magma-poor rift margins, the temporal and thermal evolution of lithospheric hyperextension during rifting remains only poorly understood. In contrast to classic pure-shear models, multi-stage rift models that include depth-dependent thinning predict significant lower-crustal reheating during the necking phase due to buoyant rise of the asthenosphere. The Santa Lucia nappe of NE Corsica is an ideal laboratory to test for lower-crustal reheating as it preserves Permian lower crust exhumed from granulitic conditions during Mesozoic Tethyan rifting. Hidden text: The abstract may be included at the discretion of the supervisor. the syn-rift thermal evolution within a lower-crustal section of an upper-plate hyperextended margin sampled in Corsica. Novel zircon, rutile, and apatite 206Pb/238U depth-profiling coupled with garnet trace element diffusion modeling provide compelling evidence for rift-related crustal reheating. A Jurassic thermal pulse is recorded in the footwall of the Belli Piani Shear Zone (BPSZ), where 200-180 Ma zircon 206Pb/238U overgrowth ages on Permian core populations and the preservation of stranded diffusion profiles in resorbed garnets imply the dominant footwall fabric formed as a result of high-temperature (T ~800 °C) ductile thinning of the lower crust. Conductive reheating of middle crustal rocks in the immediate BPSZ hanging wall, demonstrated by Jurassic apatite 206Pb/238U ages, was likely achieved by syn-kinematic juxtaposition against the hot footwall and wholesale conductive steepening of geothermal gradients. Subsequent rapid cooling from 180-160 Ma, coeval with extensional unroofing of the footwall, underscores the importance of extreme ductile thinning during crustal hyperextension. The results of this study suggest early lithospheric-scale depth-dependent thinning follows an early phase of diffuse rifting and tectonic subsidence and triggers crustal reheating during early hyperextension. Continued extension results in rapid exhumation and cooling of the lower crust, extreme crustal attenuation, and mantle exhumation followed by relaxation to a steady-state thermal field coeval with the start of sea-floor spreading.

Architecture of the distal Piedmont-Ligurian rifted margin in NW-Italy: hints for a flip of the rift system polarity†

The Alpine Tethys rifted margins were generated by a Mesozoic polyphase magma-poor rifting leading to the opening of the Piedmont-Ligurian “Ocean”. This latter developed through different phases of rifting that terminated with the exhumation of sub-continental mantle along an extensional detachment system. At the onset of simple shear detachment faulting, two margin-types were generated: an upper and a lower plate corresponding to the hanging-wall and footwall of the final detachment system, respectively. The two margin architectures were markedly different and characterized by a specific asymmetry. In this study the detailed analysis of the Adriatic margin, exposed in the Serie dei Laghi, Ivrea-Verbano and Canavese Zone, enabled to recognize the diagnostic elements of an upper plate rifted margin. This thesis contrasts with the classic interpretation of the Southalpine units, previously compared with the adjacent fossil margin preserved in the Austroalpine nappes and considered as part of a lower plate. The proposed scenario suggests the segmentation and flip of the Alpine rifting system along strike, and the passage from a lower to an upper plate. Following this interpretation, the European and Southern Adria margins are coevally developed upper plate margins, respectively resting NE and SW of a major transform zone that accommodates a flip in the polarity of the rift system. This new explanation has important implications for the study of the pre-Alpine rift-related structures, for the comprehension of their role during the reactivation of the margin and for the palaeogeographic evolution of the Alpine orogen.