The Alps were developed from the Cretaceous onwards by subduction of a Mesozoic ocean and collision between the Adriatic (Austroalpine-Southalpine) and European (Penninic-Helvetic) continental margins. The Austroalpine-Penninic wedge is the core of the collisional belt, a fossil subduction complex which floats on the European lower plate. It consists of continental and minor oceanic nappes and is marked by a blueschist-to-eclogite-facies imprint of Cretaceous-Eocene age, followed by a Barrovian overprint. The collisional wedge was later accreted by the Helvetic basement and cover units and indented by the Southalpine lithosphere, which in turn was deformed as an antithetic fold-and-thrust belt.
Dal Piaz, G., Bistacchi, A., Massironi, M. (2003). Geological outline of the Alps. EPISODES, 26(3), 175-180.
Geological outline of the Alps
BISTACCHI, ANDREA LUIGI PAOLO;
2003
Abstract
The Alps were developed from the Cretaceous onwards by subduction of a Mesozoic ocean and collision between the Adriatic (Austroalpine-Southalpine) and European (Penninic-Helvetic) continental margins. The Austroalpine-Penninic wedge is the core of the collisional belt, a fossil subduction complex which floats on the European lower plate. It consists of continental and minor oceanic nappes and is marked by a blueschist-to-eclogite-facies imprint of Cretaceous-Eocene age, followed by a Barrovian overprint. The collisional wedge was later accreted by the Helvetic basement and cover units and indented by the Southalpine lithosphere, which in turn was deformed as an antithetic fold-and-thrust belt.
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