CALABRIA: THE "ROSETTA STONE" IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ALPINE TETHYS CONJUGATE DISTAL MARGINS
While present-day proximal rifted margins are well documented in seismic and well data, the access to deep-water distal rifted margins and in particular to the rocks forming these domains remains difficult. Remnants of fossil rifted margins sampled in orogens are thus unique and enable to unravel the nature of rocks, structures and conditions controlling the formation of final rifting and lithospheric breakup. However, a major problem in orogens is that remnants of only one margin are preserved, while the conjugate has often been subducted and obliterated during convergence. Thus, our understanding of rift processes leading to lithospheric breakup is hampered by the lack of data and more precisely by the access to examples of well-preserved conjugate distal margins.
In the Alps in Western Europe, remnants of the fossil Jurassic distal Adriatic margin are spectacularly preserved and exposed in the Central Alps. However, remnants of the conjugate European margin, and in particular its distal parts are less investigated and most examples are heavily overprinted by Alpine deformation and metamorphism. In order to analyse the distal conjugate European margin in the Alps the remnants need to escape orogeny and subduction and have to be properly restored in the pre-orogenic position.
With the project I aim at locating the European and Adriatic conjugate margins in the Mesozoic Alpine Tethys kinematic framework. The kinematic reconstruction, coupled with stratigraphic and basement data, allow to build complete large-scale cross-sections through the conjugate European and Adriatic rifted margins.
with Gianreto Manatschal
Collaborations with L. Barale, B. Petri, P. Cadenas, P. Chenin, M.-E. Epin, R. Compagnoni
While present-day proximal rifted margins are well documented in seismic and well data, the access to deep-water distal rifted margins and in particular to the rocks forming these domains remains difficult. Remnants of fossil rifted margins sampled in orogens are thus unique and enable to unravel the nature of rocks, structures and conditions controlling the formation of final rifting and lithospheric breakup. However, a major problem in orogens is that remnants of only one margin are preserved, while the conjugate has often been subducted and obliterated during convergence. Thus, our understanding of rift processes leading to lithospheric breakup is hampered by the lack of data and more precisely by the access to examples of well-preserved conjugate distal margins.
In the Alps in Western Europe, remnants of the fossil Jurassic distal Adriatic margin are spectacularly preserved and exposed in the Central Alps. However, remnants of the conjugate European margin, and in particular its distal parts are less investigated and most examples are heavily overprinted by Alpine deformation and metamorphism. In order to analyse the distal conjugate European margin in the Alps the remnants need to escape orogeny and subduction and have to be properly restored in the pre-orogenic position.
With the project I aim at locating the European and Adriatic conjugate margins in the Mesozoic Alpine Tethys kinematic framework. The kinematic reconstruction, coupled with stratigraphic and basement data, allow to build complete large-scale cross-sections through the conjugate European and Adriatic rifted margins.
with Gianreto Manatschal
Collaborations with L. Barale, B. Petri, P. Cadenas, P. Chenin, M.-E. Epin, R. Compagnoni
PALEOGEOGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE PYRENEES-ALPS LINKING ZONE
Within the Mediterranean system, the geometry and geodynamic configuration of the eastern Iberian and European plates together with the Corsica-Sardinia block have been the subject of vigorous debate. The opening of the Liguro-Provençal Basin (since Oligocene) has largely destroyed the orogen east of the Pyrenees. Vestiges are preserved as the Pyreneo-Provencal fold belt and associated basins (Cenomanian to Eocene) across southern France and in the Corso-Sardinian block. The period of greatest uncertainty is from Late Cretaceous to Eocene, representing early phases of collision in both the Alps and the Pyrenees. Contemporaneous subduction systems underwent a rapid and fundamental reorganisation in which major transform faults played a vital role. The amount and timing of these motions are still not well constrained, leaving room for different interpretations. The polarity and infill of the foreland basins in the Alps, Pyrenees and in their linking zone clearly record large-scale distributions of topography in time and space and can help to solve the problem.
with Mary Ford and Jaume Verges.
Collaborations with Armin Dielforder, Nicolas Espurt, Sophie Leleu, Chiara Macchiavelli, Sebastien Ternois
Within the Mediterranean system, the geometry and geodynamic configuration of the eastern Iberian and European plates together with the Corsica-Sardinia block have been the subject of vigorous debate. The opening of the Liguro-Provençal Basin (since Oligocene) has largely destroyed the orogen east of the Pyrenees. Vestiges are preserved as the Pyreneo-Provencal fold belt and associated basins (Cenomanian to Eocene) across southern France and in the Corso-Sardinian block. The period of greatest uncertainty is from Late Cretaceous to Eocene, representing early phases of collision in both the Alps and the Pyrenees. Contemporaneous subduction systems underwent a rapid and fundamental reorganisation in which major transform faults played a vital role. The amount and timing of these motions are still not well constrained, leaving room for different interpretations. The polarity and infill of the foreland basins in the Alps, Pyrenees and in their linking zone clearly record large-scale distributions of topography in time and space and can help to solve the problem.
with Mary Ford and Jaume Verges.
Collaborations with Armin Dielforder, Nicolas Espurt, Sophie Leleu, Chiara Macchiavelli, Sebastien Ternois