Gv. Dal Piaz et al., Tertiary age and paleostructural inferences of the eclogitic imprint in the Austroalpine outliers and Zermatt-Saas ophiolite, western Alps, INT J E SCI, 90(3), 2001, pp. 668-684
The Austroalpine Sesia-Lanzo inlier and upper Austroalpine Dent Blanche, Mt
. Mary and Pillonet outliers occur on top of the western-Alpine orogenic we
dge and, as a whole, override the structurally composite ophiolitic Piemont
e zone. Instead, the Mt. Emilius, Glacier-Rafray, Etirol-Levaz and other lo
wer Austroalpine eclogitic outliers are inserted within the Piemonte zone,
between its upper (Combin) and lower (Zermatt-Saas) tectonic elements, or w
ithin the latter. Rb-Sr dating on phengitic micas show that the eclogitic i
mprint in the lower Austroalpine outliers, conventionally regarded as Late
Cretaceous by comparison with the Sesia-Lanzo inlier, is of Eocene age (49-
40 Ma), like the underlying Zermatt-Saas ophiolite (45-42 Ma) between the A
osta valley and Gran Paradiso massif. Ar-40-Ar-39 plateau ages on the same
mica concentrates of the ophiolitic Zermatt-Saas nappe (46-43 Ma) are consi
stent with Rb-Sr dating, whereas that on the Austroalpine Glacier-Rafray kl
ippe (92 Ma) is influenced by argon excess. The lower Austroalpine outliers
underwent the subduction metamorphism concurrently with the Zermatt-Saas n
appe, 20-25 Ma later than the eclogitic Sesia-Lanzo inlier and blueschist P
illonet klippe. The temporal gap and present intra-ophiolitic position mean
that the lower Austroalpine outliers were probably derived from an intraoc
eanic extensional allochthon (Mt. Emilius domain) stranded inside the Piemo
nte-Ligurian ocean far from the Dent Blanche-Sesia domain and Adriatic marg
in.