Geology of the Alps
Tectonic subdivision
Helvetic nappes The Alps are a mountain range in Central Europe, this article describes the geology of the Alps. ... This article is about the geology of the (European) Alps. ...
Penninic nappes
Austroalpine nappes
Southern Alps
Formations & rocks
Bündner slate | flysch | molasse This article is about the geology of the (European) Alps. ... This article is about the geology of the (European) Alps. ... This article is about the geology of the (European) Alps. ... A flysch is a sandstone formation, the word comes from the Swiss German language. ... Molasse refers to the sandstones, or less commonly shales, formed as shore deposits, for example that left from the rising Alps, or erosion in the Himalaya. ...
Geological structures
Aarmassif | Dent Blanche klippe | Engadine window | Flysch zone | Giudicárie line | Greywacke zone | Hohe Tauern window | Molasse basin | Penninic thrustfront | Periadriatic Seam | Ivrea zone | Lepontin dome | Rechnitz window | Rhône-Simplon line | Sesia unit Relief of the Alps, and the Periadriatic Seam The Periadriatic Seam is a distinct geologic fault in Southern Europe, running S-shaped about 1000 km from the Tyrrhenian Sea through the whole Southern Alps as far as Hungary. ...
Paleogeografic terminology
Valais Ocean The Valais Ocean is a disappeared piece of oceanic crust which was situated between the continent Europe and the microcontinent Iberia. ...
Briançonnais microcontinent
Piemont-Liguria Ocean
Apulian or Adriatic plate

The Aarmassif or Aaremassif (German: Aarmassiv) is a geologic massif in the Swiss Alps, that contains a number of large mountain chains and parts of mountain chains. The Piemont-Liguria basin or the Piemont-Liguria Ocean (sometimes only one of the two names is used, for example: Piemonte Ocean) was a former piece of oceanic crust that is seen as part of the Tethys Ocean. ... The Adriatic or Apulian Plate is a small tectonic plate that broke away from the African plate along a large transform fault in the Cretaceous period. ... The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ... The Alps are a mountain range in Central Europe, this article describes the geology of the Alps. ... This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... In geology, a massif is a section of a planets crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. ... The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ...

Name

The massif is called after the Aar, a river that has its source in the massif. Aar (disambiguation). ...

Geography

The Aarmassif crops out in the eastern part of the Bernese Alps and the Lepontine Alps, roughly form Leukerbad in the west to the Tödi in the east. Further east the massif only appears in small windows like the Vättner window between Gigerwald and Vättis in Sankt Gallen and at the Limmerensee in the same canton. Outcrop is a geological term referring to the appearance of bedrock exposed at the surface of the Earth. ... The Bernese Alps (German: Berner Alpen) is a group of mountain ranges in the western part of the Alps, in Switzerland. ... The Lepontine Alps are a mountain range in the central part of the Alps. ... boring uiiuuuuy6tguityhygygytyrythfutyjtytttreftfedfhytytuy6tgfdghfrtyjhhyuytyugjhgjhyryjytyuyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ... Tödi is the highest mountain in the Glarus Alps in the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. ... The Canton of St. ... The twenty-six cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. ...

Tectonics and lithology

The Aarmassif is part of the Helvetic nappes, which are so-called autochthonous nappes, meaning they consist of material originally from the European tectonic plate. In the Aarmassif these rocks are Paleozoic basement rocks, deformed and metamorphosed during the Variscan orogeny. Younger Mesozoic sedimentary rocks were eroded from this basement as a thrust fault brought the basement to the surface in the Alpine orogeny. Other places where the European basement crops out in the Helvetic nappes are the mountain chains of the Massif des Écrins and of Mont Blanc in the French and Italian Alps. This article is about the geology of the (European) Alps. ... Look up autochthonous in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ... The Paleozoic Era (from the Greek palaio, old and zoion, animals, meaning ancient life) is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. ... In geology, the terms basement and crystalline basement are used to define the rocks below a sedimentary basin, or more generally any rock below sedimentary rocks or sedimentary basins that are metamorphic or igneous in origin. ... In engineering mechanics, deformation is a change in shape due to an applied force. ... Metamorphism can be defined as the mineralogical, chemical and crystallographic changes in a solid-state rock, i. ... The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny is a geologic mountain-building event recorded in the European mountains and hills called the Variscan Belt. ... The Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. ... Two types of sedimentary rock: limey shale overlaid by limestone. ... Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. For erosion as understood by materials science, see Erosion (materials science) For erosion as an English analogy, see Erosion (figurative) Erosion is the displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) by the agents of wind, water... A thrust fault is a particular type of fault, or break in the fabric of the Earths crust with resulting movement of each side against the other, in which a lower stratigraphic position is pushed up and over another. ... The Alps arose as a result of the pressure exerted on sediments of the Tethys Ocean basin as its Mesozoic and early Cenozoic strata were pushed against the stable Eurasian landmass by the northward-moving African landmass. ... Principal summits of the Ecrins, together with the national park boundaries The mountains of the Massif des Écrins form the core of the Parc national des Écrins in France. ... This article is about the Alpine mountain. ...

The lithologies of the basement rocks are mainly gneisses, schists and amphibolites. These were in some places intruded by Permian granites during the Variscan orogeny, called Aare granite. During the Alpine orogeny in the Tertiary all these rocks were thrust over Mesozoic limestones to the north. The limestones now have a very high dip angle, forming a ridge that appears at the Eiger and south of the Jungfrau. Petrology is a field of geology which focuses on the study of rocks and the conditions by which they form. ... Gneiss Gneiss (IPA: ) is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from preexisting formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks. ... Schist The schists form a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. ... Amphibolite is a gouping of rocks composed mainly of amphibole (as hornblende) and plagioclase feldspars, with little or no quartz. ... The Permian is a geologic period that extends from about 299. ... Quarrying granite for the Mormon Temple, Utah Territory. ... The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny is a geologic mountain-building event recorded in the European mountains and hills called the Variscan Belt. ... For other uses, see Tertiary (disambiguation). ... Limey shale overlaid by limestone. ... Strike and dip refer to the orientation or attitude of a geologic feature. ... For other uses, see Eiger (disambiguation). ... The Jungfrau (German: virgin) is the highest peak of a mountain massif of the same name, located in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps, overlooking Grindelwald. ...