Title: Symmagmatic folding of the base of the Bergell pluton, Central Alps
Abstract: Evidence for magmatic, submagmatic and solid-state deformation in tonalite, granodiorite and country rocks found at the deep-seated floor (22–26 km) of the Bergell pluton demonstrates that final emplacement and crystallization occurred during regional deformation of the pluton and the underlying country rocks. After northward emplacement over the country rocks, but before complete crystallization, the floor of the pluton was folded during simultaneous N-S shortening and E-W stretching. This is evidenced by synmagmatic folds with E-W striking, nearly vertical axial planes, and by regional east-plunging stretching lineations in the country rocks which are parallel to the regional-scale fold axes and the magmatic mineral lineations in the pluton. Opposite senses of shear from the well-foliated, occasionally mylonitic contact suggest that deformation was mostly accomplished by pure shear. Synmagmatic deformation is related to late-stage N-S shortening of the Alpine orogen and shows that the still partially molten pluton responded to low differential stress very much like the country rocks deformed in the solid-state at high temperatures. Post-emplacement tilting associated with backthrusting along the Insubric mylonites led to the exposure of the pluton's floor at its present-day western margin.
Publication Year: 1996
Publication Date: 1996-11-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 65
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