Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vpsfw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T09:41:19.512Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Styles and regimes of orogenic thickening in the Peloritani Mountains (Sicily, Italy): new constraints on the tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Apennine belt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2008

GIANLUCA VIGNAROLI ,
FEDERICO ROSSETTI ,
THOMAS THEYE  and
CLAUDIO FACCENNA
GIANLUCA VIGNAROLI*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Università di Roma Tre, L.go S. L. Murialdo 1, 00146 Roma, Italy
FEDERICO ROSSETTI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Università di Roma Tre, L.go S. L. Murialdo 1, 00146 Roma, Italy
THOMAS THEYE
Affiliation:
Institut für Mineralogie und Kristallchemie der Universität, Azenbergstr. 18, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany
CLAUDIO FACCENNA
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Università di Roma Tre, L.go S. L. Murialdo 1, 00146 Roma, Italy
*
*Author for correspondence: vignarol@geo.uniroma3.it
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Peloritani Mountains constitute the Sicilian portion of the Calabria–Peloritani Arc (Italy), a tectono-metamorphic edifice recording the history of the subduction–exhumation cycle during Tertiary convergence between the African and European plates. Here, we describe the kinematic and the petrological characteristics of the major shear zones bounding the lowermost continental-derived metamorphic units cropping out in the eastern portion of the Peloritani Mountains. Both meso- and micro-scale shear sense criteria indicate a top-to-the-SSE tectonic transport, during a general evolution from ductile to brittle deformation conditions. Quantitative thermobarometry on texturally equilibrated phengite–chlorite pairs crystallized along the shear bands indicates pressure of 6–8 kbar at temperatures of 360–440 °C for the structurally highest units and 3–4 kbar at 380–440 °C for the lowest ones. This documents an overall inverse-type nappe arrangement within the tectonic edifice and a transition from an Alpine- (13–18 °C km−1) to a Barrovian-type (28–36 °C km−1) geothermal gradient during the progress of the Alpine orogenic metamorphism in the Peloritani Mountains. The integration of these results allows the Peloritani Mountains to be considered as a constituent element of the Apennine orogenic domain formed during the progressive space–time transition from oceanic to continental subduction at the active convergent margin.

Keywords

Alpine metamorphismmetamorphic petrologycontinental subductionPeloritani MountainsCalabria–Peloritani Arc
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 145 , Issue 4 , July 2008 , pp. 552 - 569
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alvarez, W., Cocozza, T. & Wezel, F. C. 1974. Fragmentation of the Alpine orogenic belt by microplate dispersal. Nature 248, 309–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amodio Morelli, L., Bonardi, G., Colonna, V., Dietrich, D., Giunta, G., Ippolito, F., Liguori, V., Lorenzoni, S., Paglionico, A., Perrone, V., Piccarreta, G., Russo, M., Scandone, P., Zanettin-Lorenzoni, E. & Zuppetta, A. 1976. L'Arco Calabro-Peloritano nell'orogene Appenninico-Maghrebide. Memorie della Società Geologica Italiana 17, 1–60.Google Scholar
Atzori, P., Cirrincione, R., Del Moro, A. & Pezzino, A. 1994. Structural, metamorphic and geochronologic features of the Alpine event in the south-eastern sector of the Peloritani mountains (Sicily). Periodico di Mineralogia 63, 113–25.Google Scholar
Berman, R. G. 1990. Mixing properties of Ca–Mg–Fe–Mn garnets. American Mineralogist 75, 328–44.Google Scholar
Berman, R. G. 1991. Thermobarometry using multi-equilibrium calculations: a new technique, with petrological applications. Canadian Mineralogist 29, 833–55.Google Scholar
Bird, P. 1979. Continental delamination of the Colorado Plateau. Journal of Geophysical Research 84, 7561–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonardi, G., Cavazza, W., Perrone, V. & Rossi, S. 2001. Calabria–Peloritani terrane and northern Ionian Sea. In Anatomy of an Orogen: the Apennines and Adjacent Mediterranean Basins (eds Vai, G. B. & Martini, I. P.), pp. 287–306. Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Bonardi, G., Compagnoni, R., Messina, A., Perrone, V., Russo, S., De Francesco, A. M., Del Moro, A. & Platt, J. 1992. Sovrimpronta metamorfica alpina nell'Unità dell'Aspromonte (settore meridionale dell'Arco Calabro-Peloritano). Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana 111, 81–108.Google Scholar
Bonardi, G., De Capoa, P., Di Staso, A., Martìn-Martìn, M., Martìn-Rojas, I., Perrone, V. & Tent-Manclùs, J. E. 2002. New constraints to the geodynamic evolution of the southern sector of the Calabria–Peloritani Arc. Comptes Rendus Geoscience 334, 423–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonardi, G., De Capoa, P., Di Staso, A., Estévez, A., Martín-Martín, M., Martín-Rojas, I., Perrone, V. & Tent-Manclús, J. E. 2003. Oligocene-to-Early Miocene depositional and structural evolution of the Calabria–Peloritani Arc southern terrane (Italy) and geodynamic correlations with the Spain Betics and Morocco Rif. Geodinamica Acta 16, 149–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonardi, G., De Capoa, P., Di Staso, A., Perrone, V., Sonnino, M. & Tramontana, M. 2005. The age of the Paludi Formation: a major constraint to the beginning of the Apulia-verging orogenic transport in the northern sector of the Calabria–Peloritani Arc. Terra Nova 17, 331–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonardi, G., De Capoa, P., Fioretti, B. & Perrone, V. 1994. Some remarks on the Calabria–Peloritani Arc and its relationships with the southern Apennines. Bollettino di Geofisica Teorica e Applicata 36, 483–92.Google Scholar
Bonardi, G., Giunta, G., Liguori, V., Perrone, V., Russo, M. & Zuppetta, A. 1976. Schema geologico dei Monti Peloritani. Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana 95, 49–74.Google Scholar
Bonardi, G., Giunta, G., Perrone, V., Russo, M., Zuppetta, A. & Ciampo, G. 1980. Osservazioni sull'evoluzione dell'Arco Calabro-Peloritano nel Miocene Inferiore: la Formazione di Stilo–Capo d'Orlando. Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana 99, 365–93.Google Scholar
Bouillin, J. P. 1984. Nouvelle interprétation de la liason Apennin-Maghrébides en Calabre: consequences sur la paléogéographie téthysienne entre Gibraltar et les Alpes. Révue de Géologie Dynamique et de Géographie Physique 25, 321–38.Google Scholar
Brunet, C., Monié, P., Jolivet, L. & Cadet, J. P. 2000. Migration of compression and extension in the Tyrrhenian Sea, insights from 40Ar/39Ar ages on micas along a transect from Corsica to Tuscany. Tectonophysics 321, 127–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, R. W. H. 2004. The nature of ‘roof thrusts’ in the Moine Thrust Belt, NW Scotland: implications for the structural evolution of thrust belts. Journal of the Geological Society, London 161, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Channell, J. E. T. & Mareschal, J. C. 1989. Delamination and asymmetric lithospheric thickening in the development of the Tyrrhenian Rift. In Alpine Tectonics (eds Coward, M. P., Dietrich, D. & Park, R. G.), pp. 285–302. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 45.Google Scholar
Cirrincione, R., Atzori, P. & Pezzino, A. 1999. Sub-greenschist facies assemblages of metabasites from south-eastern Peloritani range (NE-Sicily). Mineralogy and Petrology 67, 193–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cirrincione, R. & Pezzino, A. 1991. Caratteri strutturali dell'evento Alpino nella serie mesozoica di Alì e nella unità metamorfica di Mandanici (Peloritani orientali). Memorie della Società Geologica Italiana 47, 263–72.Google Scholar
Cirrincione, R. & Pezzino, A. 1994. Nuovi dati strutturali sulle successioni mesozoiche metamorfiche dei M. Peloritani orientali. Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana 113, 195–203.Google Scholar
Cloos, M. 1982. Flow melanges: numerical modeling and geologic constraints on their origin in the Franciscan subduction complex, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 93, 330–45.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Capoa, P., Guerrera, F., Perrone, V., Serrano-Lozano, F. 1997. New biostratigraphic data on the Frazzanò Formation (Longi–Taormina Unit): consequences on the deformation age of the Calabria–Peloritani Arc Southern Sector. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 103, 343–56.Google Scholar
De Gregorio, S., Rotolo, S. G. & Villa, I. M. 2003. Geochronology of the medium to high-grade metamorphic units of the Peloritani Mts., Italy. International Journal of Earth Sciences 92, 852–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewey, J. F., Helman, M. L., Turco, E., Hutton, D. H. W. & Knott, S. D. 1989. Kinematics of the Western Mediterranean. In Alpine Tectonics (eds Coward, M. P., Dietrich, D. & Park, R. G.), pp. 265–83. Geological Society Special Publication no. 45.Google Scholar
Dietrich, D. 1988. Sense of overthrust shear in the Alpine nappes of Calabria (southern Italy), Journal of Structural Geology 10, 373–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubois, R. 1970. Phases de serrage, nappes de socle et métamorphisme alpin à la junction Calabre-Apennin: Sur la suture calabro-apenninique. Révue de Géologie Dynamique et de Géographie Physique 12, 221–54.Google Scholar
England, P. C. & Thompson, A. B. 1984. Pressure–Temperature–Time paths of regional metamorphism I. Heat transfer during the evolution of regions of thickened continental crust. Journal of Petrology 25, 894–928.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faccenna, C., Piromallo, C., Crespo-Blanc, A., Jolivet, L. & Rossetti, F. 2004. Lateral slab deformation and the origin of the western Mediterranean arcs. Tectonics 23, TC1012, 21 pp. doi:10.1029/2002TC001488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faccenna, C., Mattei, M., Funiciello, R. & Jolivet, L. 1997. Styles of back-arc extension in the Central Mediterranean. Terra Nova 9, 126–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferla, P. & Azzaro, E. 1978. Il metamorfismo Alpino nella serie mesozoica di Alì (M. Peloritani, Sicilia). Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana 97, 775–82.Google Scholar
Giunta, G. & Nigro, F. 1999. Tectono-sedimentary constraints to the Oligocene-to-Miocene evolution of the Peloritani thrust belt (NE Sicily). Tectonophysics 315, 287–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giunta, G. & Somma, R. 1996. Nuove osservazioni sulla struttura dell'Unità di Alì (M.ti Peloritani, Sicilia). Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana 115, 489–500.Google Scholar
Goffé, B., Bousquet, R., Henry, P. & Le Pichon, X. 2003. Effect of the chemical composition of the crust on the metamorphic evolution of orogenic wedges. Journal of Metamorphic Geology 21, 123–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haccard, D. C., Lorenz, C. & Grandjacquet, C. 1972. Essai sur l'évolution tectogénétique de la liasion Alpes–Apennines (de la Ligurie a la Calabre). Memorie della Società Geologica Italiana 11, 309–41.Google Scholar
Iannace, A., Bonardi, G., D'Errico, M., Mazzoli, S., Perrone, V. & Vitale, S. 2005. Structural setting and tectonic evolution of the Apennine Units of northern Calabria. Comptes Rendus Geoscience 337, 1541–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jolivet, L. & Faccenna, C. 2000. Mediterranean extension and the Africa–Eurasia collision. Tectonics 19, 1095–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jolivet, L., Faccenna, C., Goffé, B., Burov, E. & Agard, P. 2003. Subduction tectonics and exhumation of high-pressure metamorphic rocks in the Mediterranean orogens. American Journal of Science 303, 353–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jolivet, L., Faccenna, C., Goffé, B., Mattei, M., Rossetti, F., Brunet, C., Storti, F., Funiciello, R., Cadet, J. P., d'Agostino, N. & Parra, T. 1998. Midcrustal shear zones in post-orogenic extension: example from the northern Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy). Journal of Geophysical Research 103, 12123–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knott, S. D. 1987. The Liguride Complex of southern Italy. A Cretaceous to Paleogene accretionary wedge, Tectonophysics 142, 217–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langone, A., Gueguen, E., Prosser, G., Caggianelli, A. & Rottura, A. 2006. The Curinga–Girifalco fault zone (northern Serre, Calabria) and its significance within the Alpine tectonic evolution of the western Mediterranean. Journal of Geodynamics 42, 140–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lentini, F., Catalano, S. & Carbone, S. 2000. Carta geologica della Provincia di Messina (scala 1:50000). Florence: Società Elaborazioni Cartografiche.Google Scholar
Messina, A., Compagnoni, R., Russo, S., De Francesco, A. M. & Giacobbe, A. 1990. Alpine metamorphic overprint in the Aspromonte nappe of the northeastern Peloritani Mts (Calabria–Peloritani Arc, southern Italy). Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana 109, 655–73.Google Scholar
Messina, A., Perrone, V., Giacobbe, A. & De Francesco, A. M. 1997. The Mela Unit: a medium grade metamorphic unit in the Peloritani Mountains (Calabria–Peloritani Arc, Italy). Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana 116, 237–52.Google Scholar
Messina, A., Somma, R., Macaione, E., Carbone, G. & Careri, G. 2004. Peloritani continental crust composition (southern Italy): geological and petrochemical evidence. Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana 123, 405–41.Google Scholar
Ogniben, L. 1969. Schema introduttivo alla geologia del confine calabro-lucano, Memorie della Società Geologica Italiana 8, 453–763.Google Scholar
Ogniben, L. 1973. Schema geologico della Calabria in base ai dati odierni. Geologica Romana 12, 243–585.Google Scholar
Parra, T., Vidal, O. & Agard, P. 2002. A thermodynamic model for Fe–Mg dioctahedral K white micas using data from phase-equilibrium experiments and natural pelitic assemblages. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 143, 706–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parra, T., Vidal, O. & Jolivet, L. 2002. Relation between the intensity of deformation and retrogression in blueschist metapelites of Tinos Island (Greece) evidenced by chlorite–mica local equilibria. Lithos 63, 41–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Passchier, C. W. & Trouw, R. A. J. 1996. Microtectonics. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 325p.Google Scholar
Piccarreta, G. 1981. Deep-rooted overthrusting and blueschist metamorphism in compressive continental margins: An example from Calabria (southern Italy). Geological Magazine 118, 539–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Platt, J. P. 1993. Exhumation of high-pressure metamorphic rocks: a review of concepts and processes. Terra Nova 4, 119–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Platt, J. P. & Compagnoni, R. 1990. Alpine ductile deformation and metamorphism in a Calabria basement nappe (Aspromonte, South Italy). Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae 83, 41–58.Google Scholar
Rossetti, F., Faccenna, C., Goffé, B., Monié, P., Argentieri, A., Funiciello, R. & Mattei, M. 2001. Alpine structural and metamorphic signature of the Sila Piccola Massif nappe stack (Calabria, Italy): Insights for the tectonic evolution of the Calabrian Arc. Tectonics 20, 112–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rossetti, F., Goffé, B., Monié, P., Faccenna, C. & Vignaroli, G. 2004. Alpine orogenic PTt deformation history of the Catena Costiera area and surrounding regions (Calabrian Arc, southern Italy): the nappe edifice of Northern Calabria revised with insights on the Tyrrhenian–Apennine system formation. Tectonics 23, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Serri, G., Innocenti, F. & Manetti, P. 1993. Geochemical and petrological evidence of the subduction of delaminated Adriatic continental lithosphere in the genesis of the Neogene–Quaternary magmatism of central Italy. Tectonophysics 223, 117–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Somma, R., Messina, A. & Mazzoli, S. 2005. Syn-orogenic extension in the Peloritani Alpine thrust belt (NE Sicily, Italy): evidence from the Alì Unit. Comptes Rendus Geosciences 337, 861–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spear, F. S. 1993. Metamorphic Phase Equilibria and Pressure–Temperature–Time Paths, Washington, D. C.: Mineralogical Society of America, 799p.Google Scholar
Spear, F. S., Hickmott, D. D. & Selverstone, J. 1990. Metamorphic consequence of thrust emplacement, Fall Mountain, New Hampshire. Geological Society of America Bulletin 102, 1344–60.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srivastava, P. & Mitra, G. 1996. Deformation mechanisms and inverted thermal profile in the North Almora Thrust mylonite zone, Kumaon Lesser Himalaya, India. Journal of Structural Geology 18, 27–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, A. B. & England, P. C. 1984. Pressure–Temperature–time paths of regional metamorphism II. Their interference and interpretation using mineral assemblages in metamorphic rocks. Journal of Petrology 25, 929–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, S. N. 1994. Fission track analysis of the crystalline basement rocks of the Calabrian Arc, southern Italy: evidence of Oligo-Miocene late orogenic extension and erosion. Tectonophysics 238, 331–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vidal, O., Parra, T. & Trotet, F. 2001. A thermodynamic model for Fe –Mg aluminous chlorite using data from phase equilibrium experiments and natural pelitic assemblages in the 100–600 °C, 1–25 kbar range. American Journal of Science 6, 557–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallis, S. R., Platt, J. P. & Knott, S. D. 1993. Recognition of syn-convergence extension in accretionary wedges with examples from the Calabrian Arc and the eastern Alps. American Journal of Science 293, 463–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zuppetta, A. & Sava, A. 1987. Nuovi dati sulla geologia dei dintorni di Mandanici (Monti Peloritani – Sicilia). Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana 106, 347–49.Google Scholar