scholarly journals Thrust tectonics in the Wetterstein and Mieming mountains, and a new tectonic subdivision of the Northern Calcareous Alps of Western Austria and Southern Germany

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Ortner ◽  
Sinah Kilian
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Northern Calcareous Alps ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Southeastern Part ◽  
Thrust Sheet ◽  
Northern Calcareous ◽  
Lateral Contact ◽  
Thrust Tectonics ◽  
Thrust Sheets

AbstractWe investigate the tectonic evolution of the Wetterstein and Mieming mountains in the western Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA) of the European Eastern Alps. In-sequence NW-directed stacking of thrust sheets in this thin-skinned foreland thrust belt lasted from the Hauterivian to the Cenomanian. In the more internal NCA major E-striking intracontinental transform faults dissected the thrust belt at the Albian–Cenomanian boundary that facilitated ascent of mantle melts feeding basanitic dykes and sills. Afterwards, the NCA basement was subducted, and the NCA were transported piggy-back across the tectonically deeper Penninic units. This process was accompanied by renewed Late Cretaceous NW-directed thrusting, and folding of thrusts. During Paleogene collision, N(NE)-directed out-of-sequence thrusts developed that offset the in-sequence thrust. We use this latter observation to revise the existing tectonic subdivision of the western NCA, in which these out-of-sequence thrusts had been used to delimit nappes, locally with young-on-old contacts at the base. We define new units that represent thrust sheets having exclusively old-on-young contacts at their base. Two large thrust sheets build the western NCA: (1) the tectonically deeper Tannheim thrust sheet and (2) the tectonically higher Karwendel thrust sheet. West of the Wetterstein and Mieming mountains, the Imst part of the Karwendel thrust sheet is stacked by an out-of-sequence thrust onto the main body of the Karwendel thrust sheet, which is, in its southeastern part, in lateral contact with the latter across a tear fault.

scholarly journals Structural evidence of in-sequence and out-of-sequence thrusting in the Karwendel mountains and the tectonic subdivision of the western Northern Calcareous Alps

2019 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-83
Author(s):  
Sinah Kilian ◽  
Hugo Ortner
Keyword(s):  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Northern Calcareous Alps ◽  
Deformation History ◽  
Structural Geometry ◽  
Thrust Sheet ◽  
Northern Calcareous ◽  
Nappe Tectonics ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
History Of

AbstractWe present the results of a field study in the Karwendel mountains in the western Northern Calcareous Alps, where we analysed the boundary between two major thrust sheets in detail in a key outcrop where nappe tectonics had been recognized already at the beginning of the 20th century. We use the macroscopic structural record of thrust sheet transport in the footwall and hanging wall of this boundary, such as folds, foliation and faults. In the footwall, competent stratigraphic units tend to preserve a full record of deformation while incompetent units get pervasively overprinted and only document the youngest deformation.Transport across the thrust persisted throughout the deformation history of the Northern Calcareous Alps from the late Early Cretaceous to the Miocene. As a consequence of transtensive, S-block down strike-slip tectonics, postdating folding of the major thrust, new out-of-sequence thrusts formed that climbed across the step, and ultimately placed units belonging to the footwall of the initial thrust onto its hanging wall.One of these out-of-sequence thrusts had been used to delimit the uppermost large thrust sheet (Inntal thrust sheet) of the western Northern Calcareous against the next, tectonically deeper, (Lechtal) thrust sheet. Based on the structural geometry of the folded thrust and the age of the youngest sediments below the thrust, we redefine the thrust sheets, and name the combined former Inntal- and part of the Lechtal thrust sheet as the new Karwendel thrust sheet and the former Allgäu- and part of the Lechtal thrust sheet as the new Tannheim thrust sheet.

scholarly journals Examining the tectono-stratigraphic architecture, structural geometry, and kinematic evolution of the Himalayan fold-thrust belt, Kumaun, northwest India

Lithosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 414-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhadip Mandal ◽  
Delores M. Robinson ◽  
Matthew J. Kohn ◽  
Subodha Khanal ◽  
Oindrila Das
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Kinematic Model ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Main Central Thrust ◽  
Thrust Sheet ◽  
Balanced Cross Section ◽  
Kinematic Evolution ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
Northwest India

Abstract Existing structural models of the Himalayan fold-thrust belt in Kumaun, northwest India, are based on a tectono-stratigraphy that assigns different stratigraphy to the Ramgarh, Berinag, Askot, and Munsiari thrusts and treats the thrusts as separate structures. We reassess the tectono-stratigraphy of Kumaun, based on new and existing U-Pb zircon ages and whole-rock Nd isotopic values, and present a new structural model and deformation history through kinematic analysis using a balanced cross section. This study reveals that the rocks that currently crop out as the Ramgarh, Berinag, Askot, and Munsiari thrust sheets were part of the same, once laterally continuous stratigraphic unit, consisting of Lesser Himalayan Paleoproterozoic granitoids (ca. 1850 Ma) and metasedimentary rocks. These Paleoproterozoic rocks were shortened and duplexed into the Ramgarh-Munsiari thrust sheet and other Paleoproterozoic thrust sheets during Himalayan orogenesis. Our structural model contains a hinterland-dipping duplex that accommodates ∼541–575 km or 79%–80% of minimum shortening between the Main Frontal thrust and South Tibetan Detachment system. By adding in minimum shortening from the Tethyan Himalaya, we estimate a total minimum shortening of ∼674–751 km in the Himalayan fold-thrust belt. The Ramgarh-Munsiari thrust sheet and the Lesser Himalayan duplex are breached by erosion, separating the Paleoproterozoic Lesser Himalayan rocks of the Ramgarh-Munsiari thrust into the isolated, synclinal Almora, Askot, and Chiplakot klippen, where folding of the Ramgarh-Munsiari thrust sheet by the Lesser Himalayan duplex controls preservation of these klippen. The Ramgarh-Munsiari thrust carries the Paleoproterozoic Lesser Himalayan rocks ∼120 km southward from the footwall of the Main Central thrust and exposed them in the hanging wall of the Main Boundary thrust. Our kinematic model demonstrates that propagation of the thrust belt occurred from north to south with minor out-of-sequence thrusting and is consistent with a critical taper model for growth of the Himalayan thrust belt, following emplacement of midcrustal Greater Himalayan rocks. Our revised stratigraphy-based balanced cross section contains ∼120–200 km greater shortening than previously estimated through the Greater, Lesser, and Subhimalayan rocks.

Tectonic subdivisions in thrust belts – cleaning up the western Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Ortner ◽  
Sinah Kilian
Keyword(s):  
Northern Calcareous Alps ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Southern Germany ◽  
Northern Calcareous ◽  
Thrust Belts ◽  
Formal Framework ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
Comprehensive Mapping

<p>Tectonic subdivisions of larger geologic units reflect the geologic knowledge at the time of creation. In many thrust belts the original subdivisions had been created during the first comprehensive mapping campaigns at the end of the 19<sup>th</sup> to early 20<sup>th</sup> century and reflect the geologic knowledge at that time. Even if many thrusts were identified correctly, no formal framework existed to give guidelines of how to distinguish tectonic units. Nevertheless, these subdivisions are still in use.</p><p>We analyze the thrust sheets of the Northern Calcareous Alps of western Austria and southern Germany and test the implicit assumptions underlying most tectonic subdivisions against field observations:</p><p>Assumption 1: Thrust transport is large and thrusts do not end laterally. However, several major thrusts do loose stratgraphic offset and end laterally.</p><p>Assumption 2: Allochthons are surrounded by thrusts on all sides. Unfortunately, any fault has been used to delimit allochthons.</p><p>Assumption 3: Thrusting should bring old on young rocks. In some cases, allochthons have been delimited by out-of-sequence thrusts, that stack young on old rocks. In other cases, the allochthon is a mountain-size glide block that was buried by younger sediments, and the trace of the thrust is an unconformity in the field.</p><p>As a consequence we propose a revised tectonic subdivision of the western part of the NCA, that avoids some of the problems discussed here, and is entirely based on the emplacement of old-on-young rocks across thrusts.</p>

The Graptolitic Faunas of the Gotlandian in the Eastern Alps and their Relationships

1934 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 268-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Heritsch
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Development ◽  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Northern Calcareous Alps ◽  
Carnic Alps ◽  
Northern Calcareous ◽  
Southern Margin ◽  
The Alps ◽  
The University ◽  
The Great War ◽  
Surprising Discovery

The years that followed the Great War saw a rapid development in knowledge of the graptolitic faunas of the Eastern Alps. Professor M. Gortani described many graptolites from the Carnic Alps, and papers from the Geological Department of the University of Graz dealt with the same subject, as well as the distribution of the graptolites over a wider area of the Eastern Alps. Especially noteworthy was the surprising discovery of graptolites in the so-called grauwacke zone of the Alps, which follows the southern margin of the Northern Calcareous Alps. In the grauwacke zone, which consists of Palaeozoic and more ancient strata, more or less metamorphosed, graptolites were found at the following localities, (a) Fieberbrunn in the Tyrol (1), where the zones of Monograptus cyphus to M. turriculatus are found, and the presence of M. priodon indicates that higher zones may occur; (b) environs of Eisenerz in Styria (2), where the zones of M. gregarius to M. griestoniensis are found, as well as the zone of M. nilssoni; (c) Montavon in Vorarl-berg (29), where a badly-preserved specimen of Monograptus, possibly M. priodon, was discovered.

scholarly journals Ophiolitic detritus in Kimmeridgian resedimented limestones and its provenance from an eroded obducted ophiolitic nappe stack south of the Northern Calcareous Alps (Austria)

2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 473-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Jürgen Gawlick ◽  
Roman Aubrecht ◽  
Felix Schlagintweit ◽  
Sigrid Missoni ◽  
Dušan Plašienka
Keyword(s):  
Late Jurassic ◽  
Carbonate Platform ◽  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Northern Calcareous Alps ◽  
Western Carpathians ◽  
Chrome Spinel ◽  
Geochemical Composition ◽  
Northern Calcareous ◽  
Tectonic Processes ◽  
Building Process

Abstract The causes for the Middle to Late Jurassic tectonic processes in the Northern Calcareous Alps are still controversially discussed. There are several contrasting models for these processes, formerly designated “Jurassic gravitational tectonics”. Whereas in the Dinarides or the Western Carpathians Jurassic ophiolite obduction and a Jurassic mountain building process with nappe thrusting is widely accepted, equivalent processes are still questioned for the Eastern Alps. For the Northern Calcareous Alps, an Early Cretaceous nappe thrusting process is widely favoured instead of a Jurassic one, obviously all other Jurassic features are nearly identical in the Northern Calcareous Alps, the Western Carpathians and the Dinarides. In contrast, the Jurassic basin evolutionary processes, as best documented in the Northern Calcareous Alps, were in recent times adopted to explain the Jurassic tectonic processes in the Carpathians and Dinarides. Whereas in the Western Carpathians Neotethys oceanic material is incorporated in the mélanges and in the Dinarides huge ophiolite nappes are preserved above the Jurassic basin fills and mélanges, Jurassic ophiolites or ophiolitic remains are not clearly documented in the Northern Calcareous Alps. Here we present chrome spinel analyses of ophiolitic detritic material from Kimmeridgian allodapic limestones in the central Northern Calcareous Alps. The Kimmeridgian age is proven by the occurrence of the benthic foraminifera Protopeneroplis striata and Labyrinthina mirabilis, the dasycladalean algae Salpingoporella pygmea, and the alga incertae sedis Pseudolithocodium carpathicum. From the geochemical composition the analysed spinels are pleonastes and show a dominance of Al-chromites (Fe3+–Cr3+–Al3+ diagram). In the Mg/(Mg+ Fe2+) vs. Cr/(Cr+ Al) diagram they can be classified as type II ophiolites and in the TiO2 vs. Al2O3 diagram they plot into the SSZ peridotite field. All together this points to a harzburgite provenance of the analysed spinels as known from the Jurassic suprasubduction ophiolites well preserved in the Dinarides/Albanides. These data clearly indicate Late Jurassic erosion of obducted ophiolites before their final sealing by the Late Jurassic–earliest Cretaceous carbonate platform pattern.

A structural analysis of a metamorphic fold–thrust belt, northeast Gagnon terrane, Grenville Province

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 1915-1927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Brown ◽  
Taoby Rivers ◽  
Tom Calon
Keyword(s):  
Deep Level ◽  
Greenschist Facies ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Thrust Sheet ◽  
Grenville Province ◽  
Lake Formation ◽  
Transport Direction ◽  
Tectonic Transport ◽  
Thrust Sheets

Northeast Gagnon terrane is located within the Parautochthonous Belt of the Grenville Orogen, near the projected intersection of the front zones of the Grenville and New Quebec orogens. The area consists principally of supracrustal units of the Early Proterozoic Knob Lake Group, and a newly recognized unit, the Equus Lake formation. Both are intruded by the Middle Proterozoic Shabogamo gabbro. Structural elements in the rocks record evidence of a polyorogenic history that is attributed to both the ca. 1800 Ma Hudsonian and the ca. 1000 Ma Grenvillian orogenies. This paper is concerned with the latter.Grenvillian deformation resulted in the formation of a relatively deep-level fold–thrust belt. Three thrust sheets can be defined on the basis of basal thrusts, variations in morphology and orientation of structural elements, and internal thrust sheet geometry. The polydeformational style of the area, rotation of fold axes into subparallelism with the tectonic transport direction, and internal imbrication lead to a complex internal thrust sheet geometry. Thrusting has produced and inverted the metamorphic gradient, with lower greenschist facies in the basal thrust sheet and upper greenschist facies in the upper thrust sheet.Documentation of the northeastern margin of Gagnon terrane as a north- to northwest-directed metamorphic fold–thrust belt corroborates similar interpretations for Gagnon terrane from elsewhere along the Grenville Front and is in accord with the models of the Grenville Province as a collisional orogen. Furthermore, it is suggested that northeast Gagnon terrane is an exhumed, internal, ductile part of a fold–thrust belt.

scholarly journals Wedge equilibrium in fold-and-thrust belts: prediction of out-of-sequence thrusting based on sandbox experiments and natural examples

2000 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.A. Nieuwland ◽  
J.H. Leutscher ◽  
J. Gast
Keyword(s):  
Time Lapse ◽  
In Situ Stress ◽  
Experimental Program ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Thrust Tectonics ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
Sandbox Experiments ◽  
In Situ Stress Measurements

AbstractThrust tectonics are dealt with on the basis of primarily experiments focusing on the dynamics of a developing thrust belt and on understanding and predicting normal-sequence and out-of-sequence thrusting. Field examples are presented in addition to the examples of sandbox-model experiments. The results have improved the insight into thrust-belt-forming mechanisms; the validity of the conclusions is supported by natural examples.The experimental program was aimed at examining the effect of changes in a selection of key parameters in thrust tectonics on the geometry and the successive phases in the development of thrust sheets. Sandbox experiments were used to analyse the effects of basal friction, detachment lithology, basement relief and syntectonic sedimentation. Multilayer experiments were performed to simulate the effects of ductile detachment lithologies.It was found that a thrust belt’s cross-sectional geometry is formed in a dynamic process during which the wedge may develop from subcritical through critical to supercritical and back to critical again. The process is illustrated with sandbox experiments, analysed by time-lapse computed tomography scans and in-situ stress measurements. On the basis of the sandbox-model results and the natural examples, we conclude that a critical examination of the boundary conditions of a fold-and-thrust belt and of changes in these conditions during the deformation process enables predictions about the geometry and kinematics of the thrust belt.

scholarly journals Conodont thermometry by Raman spectroscopy on carbonaceous material: a case study from the Northern Calcareous Alps (Mürzalpen Nappe, Eastern Alps)

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 201-210
Author(s):  
Gerd Rantitsch ◽  
Gerhard Bryda ◽  
Hans-Jürgen Gawlick
Keyword(s):  
Raman Spectroscopy ◽  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Carbonaceous Material ◽  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Northern Calcareous Alps ◽  
Carbonaceous Matter ◽  
Northern Calcareous ◽  
Temperature Range ◽  
Color Alteration

AbstractCarnian metapelites from the southeastern segment of the Mürzalpen Nappe (Northern Calcareous Alps, Eastern Alps) were heated to 280-310 °C, estimated by Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous material (RSCM). This temperature range is correlated to a Color Alteration Index of 5.0-6.5, determined on conodonts from adjacent Anisian to Norian carbonates. Average RSCM temperatures estimated on the conodonts are biased towards higher temperatures. The spectral characteristics of the conodont apatite suggest a composition altered during progressive recrystallization, influencing the band parameters of the included carbonaceous matter. Consequently, accurate conodont RSCM thermometry needs an assessment of apatite alteration.

The origin of elevated low-relief surfaces in the Eastern Alps from geomorphic criteria and cosmogenic nuclide dating

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerit Gradwohl ◽  
Kurt Stüwe ◽  
Moritz Liebl ◽  
Jörg Robl
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Northern Calcareous Alps ◽  
Glacial Erosion ◽  
Field Mapping ◽  
Northern Calcareous ◽  
Cosmogenic Nuclide ◽  
Cave Sediments ◽  
Cosmogenic Nuclide Dating ◽  
Longitudinal Channel

<p>Elevated low-relief surfaces are peculiar landforms found in many areas across the Eastern Alps, most notably on the plateaus of the Northern Calcareous Alps and the southern metamorphic ranges from Nock Mountains to Koralpe. Found in domains both glaciated and unglaciated during the Pleistocene, (peri-)glacial erosion as well as fluvial prematurity have been cited as two opposing models for their formation. In order to contribute to this debate, we present a map of the existing low-relief surfaces in the Eastern Alps, bridging both glaciated and unglaciated regions, using a combined effort of field mapping and GIS-based mapping. Hypsometric statistics and analysis of longitudinal channel profiles show clear differences between formerly glaciated, partly-glaciated and unglaciated regions and their relations to the mapped surfaces. Furthermore, the pace of late- to post-Miocene incision is quantified via cosmogenic nuclide dating (<sup>26</sup>Al, <sup>10</sup>Be, <sup>21</sup>Ne) of allogenic siliceous sediments from discrete elevations correlating with the low-relief surfaces, in particular from cave sediments in the Northern Calcareous Alps. This information can be used to demonstrate that low-relief surfaces in many unglaciated regions, but also in some glaciated regions can be interpreted in terms of pre-Pleistocene relict landscapes.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document