- Austroalpine nappes
The Austroalpine nappes are a geological
nappe stack in the EuropeanAlps . The Alps contain three such stacks, of which the Austroalpine nappes are structurally on top of the other two (meaning they werethrust ed over the other two). The name Austroalpine means "Eastern Alpine", because these nappes crop out mainly in theEastern Alps (the Alps east of the lineLake Constance -Chur –Lake Como ).Because the Austroalpine nappes consist of material from the former Apulian or Adriatic plate that was thrusted over the European plate they are called
allochthon nappes. In comparison with the other nappe stacks they have experienced lower grademetamorphism , which distinguishes them clearly from thePenninic nappes on which they rest.Lithologies
The Austroalpine nappes are fragments of the former
continental shelf andcontinental slope of the Apulian or Adriatic plate. These fragments contain rocks from the continental basement as well as fromsedimentary rock s deposited in these environments.The basement rocks have experienced
metamorphism related to their original depth in the Earth’s crust, but in the Austroalpine nappes Alpine metamorphism (i.e. metamorphism related to the formation of the Alps) is fairly low grade to non-existent. The basement rocks can begreenschist facies toamphibolite facies , depending on their original depth. They arePaleozoic schist s and (para-)gneiss es intruded bygranite s of Variscan andTertiary age.On top of this basement
Permian andMesozoic sedimentary andvolcanic rock s were deposited. Shallow marinelimestone s are abundant, these limestones now form the mountain chains of the northern part of the Eastern Alps, which are therefore together called the "Northern Calcareous Alps ". Sometimes the limestone has been turned intodolomite , as in theAustria n regionSalzkammergut and the German regionAllgäu .A special unit is the
greywacke zone , a band ofPaleozoic metamorphosed sedimentary rocks that forms an east-west band through the Austrian Alps. The greywacke zone crops out between the Mesozoic rocks of the Northern Calcareous Alps and the Austroalpine and Penninic basement rocks of theCentral Eastern Alps . Stratigraphically the greywacke zone can be up to 2km thick.All of these lithologies were
fold ed and thrusted, so that the basement can be found on top of the sediments and vice versa.Geographic position
In
Switzerland the Austroalpine nappes have been eroded away except for a few isolated outcrops called theSesia unit and theDent Blanche klippe (theMatterhorn is the most outstanding example of an Austroalpineklippe ). These remaining Swiss nappes have a different tectonic and metamorphic history than their counterparts in Austria, which is why they are not always seen as a part of the Austroalpine nappes.On the other hand, in Austria the Austroalpine nappes cover the largest part of that country, except for a few windows like the
Hohe Tauern window and theEngadin window .Traces of the Eo-Alpine orogenic phase
Before the formation of the Alps in the lower and middle
Tertiary period, the Austroalpine rocks experienced anotherdeformation phase: theEo-Alpine phase of mountain building that took place in theCretaceous . Themetamorphic field gradient is to the east-south-east, so in a west-north-western direction the traces become less severe. In the west of Switzerland the event cannot be recognized anymore. In Austria, however, Eo-Alpineeclogite lenses occur close to the Hohe Tauern window.The Eo-Alpine phase is sometimes seen as the earliest phase of the Alpine orogeny. However, after the initial mountain building the
tectonic plate s moved away from each other. The next phase was more than 50 Ma later, so the events are often seen as unrelated.References
* [http://www.8ung.at/geologie/eeinfueh.htm Description of the geology of Austria, website of Christof Kuhn]
* [http://pages.unibas.ch/earth/tecto/Members/Schmid/alps/schmid_html/Text_Schmid.html Description of the geology of the Western and Central Alps, website of S.M. Schmid]
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