-
The Austroalpine nappes are a geological nappe stack in the European Alps. The Alps contain three such stacks, of which the Austroalpine nappes are structurally on top of the other two (meaning they were thrusted over the other two). The name Austroalpine means Eastern Alpine, because these nappes crop out mainly in the Eastern Alps (the Alps east of the line Lake Constance - Chur – Lake Como). The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ...
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. ...
The Blue Marble: The famous photo of the Earth taken en route to the Moon by Apollo 17s Harrison Schmitt on December 7, 1972. ...
The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ...
Structural geology is the study of deformation of rock including breaking (fracturing and faulting) and bending or folding. ...
Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newtons Second and Third Law. ...
Outcrop is a geological term referring to the appearance of bedrock exposed at the surface of the Earth. ...
Eastern Alps is the name given to the eastern half of the Alps, usually defined as the area east of the Splügen Pass in eastern Switzerland. ...
Map of the Bodensee; Schweiz is Switzerland, Deutschland is Germany, and Osterreich is Austria. ...
Chur is the capital of the Swiss canton of Graubünden and lies in the northern part of the canton. ...
Map of Lake Como Lake Como (Lago di Como in Italian, also known as Lario) is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. ...
Because the Austroalpine nappes consist of material from the former Apulian or Adriatic plate that was thrusted over the European plate they are called allochton nappes. In comparison with the other nappe stacks they have experienced lower grade metamorphism, which distinguishes them clearly from the Penninic nappes on which they rest. In geology, sediments which originate from outside the burial site are called allochton (from greek allo = other, and chton = earth). ...
Metamorphism can be defined as the mineralogical, chemical and crystallographic changes in a solid-state rock, i. ...
Lithologies
The Austroalpine nappes are fragments of the former continental shelf and continental slope of the Apulian or Adriatic plate. These fragments contain rocks from the continental basement as well as from sedimentary rocks deposited in these environments. Sediment Rock Mantle The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent, which is covered during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas (known as shelf seas) andbbccvcnccccccccccccccccccccccccvvvvvvvvvvvvvvcggggggggggggggggyutu7ti8yukiyuiyutuiyuiytui gulfs. ...
The continental shelf is an area of relatively shallow sea water that is found on the edge of each continent. ...
Two types of sedimentary rock: limey shale overlaid by limestone. ...
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 be greenschist facies to amphibolite facies, depending on their original depth. They are Paleozoic schists and (para-)gneisses intruded by granites of Variscan and Tertiary age. Metamorphism can be defined as the mineralogical, chemical and crystallographic changes in a solid-state rock, i. ...
Earth cutaway from core to exosphere. ...
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. ...
The Paleozoic Era is a major division of the geologic timescale, one of four geologic eras. ...
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. ...
Gneiss Gneiss 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. ...
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. ...
Tertiary period was previously one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, from the end of the Cretaceous period about 65 million years ago to the start of the Quaternary period about 1. ...
On top of this basement Permian and Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks were deposited. Shallow marine limestones 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 into dolomite, as in the Austrian region Salzkammergut and the German region Allgäu. The Permian is a geologic period that extends from about 299. ...
The Mesozoic is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. ...
Ignimbrite is a deposit of a pyroclastic flow. ...
Limey shale overlaid by limestone. ...
The Northern Limestone Alps are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps. ...
Dolomite crystals from Touissite, Morocco Dolomite is the name of both a carbonate rock and a mineral consisting of calcium magnesium carbonate (formula: CaMg(CO3)2) found in crystals. ...
Salzkammergut is a resort area east of Salzburg, Austria, spanning the federal states of Upper Austria, Salzburg, and Styria. ...
Allgäu is an area in south-west of Swabia (Bavaria) and contains also a small part of south-east Baden-Württemberg. ...
A special unit is the greywacke zone, a band of Paleozoic 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 the Central Eastern Alps. Stratigraphically the greywacke zone can be up to 2 km thick. The Paleozoic Era is a major division of the geologic timescale, one of four geologic eras. ...
The Central Eastern Alps are the core ranges of the Eastern Alps with the highest peaks, located between the Northern Limestone Alps and the Southern Limestone Alps, from which they differ in geological composition. ...
Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, is basically the study of rock layers and layering (stratification). ...
KM, Km, or km may stand for: Khmer language (ISO 639 alpha-2, km) Kilometre Kinemantra Meditation Knowledge management KM programming language KM Culture, Korean Movie Maker. ...
All of these lithologies were folded and thrusted, so that the basement can be found on top of the sediments and vice versa. Fold or folding may refer to: fold (geology) folding, in poker, is the act of withdrawing from a hand rather than meeting the bet folding ingredients together is a cooking technique protein folding origami, the art of paper folding pattern welding, the folding of metal This is a disambiguation page...
Geographic position In Switzerland the Austroalpine nappes have been eroded away except for a few isolated outcrops called the Sesia unit and the Dent Blanche klippe (the Matterhorn is the most outstanding example of an Austroalpine klippe). 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. Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. Erosion s the displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) by the agents of wind, water or ice, by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms (in the case of...
The Matterhorn (Fr. ...
A klippe is a geological feature of thrust fault terranes, where a nappe has thrust exotic strata over an area and been removed to leave a form of inlier. ...
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 the Engadin 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 another deformation phase: the Eo-Alpine phase of mountain building that took place in the Cretaceous. The metamorphic 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-Alpine eclogite lenses occur close to the Hohe Tauern window. Tertiary period was previously one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, from the end of the Cretaceous period about 65 million years ago to the start of the Quaternary period about 1. ...
In engineering mechanics, deformation is a change in shape due to an applied force. ...
The Cretaceous period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic period, about 146 million years ago (Ma), to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch of the Tertiary period (65. ...
Eclogite is a coarse-grained, mafic-to-ultramafic grouping of metamorphic rocks of special interest on account of the variety of minerals they contain and their microscopic structures and geological relationships. ...
The Eo-Alpine phase is sometimes seen as the earliest phase of the Alpine orogeny. However, after the initial mountain building the tectonic plates moved away from each other. The next phase was more than 50 Ma later, so the events are often seen as unrelated. The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ...
Annum is a Latin noun meaning year. ...
References - Description of the geology of Austria, website of Christof Kuhn
- Description of the geology of the Western and Central Alps, website of S.M. Schmid
|
Feeds |
Contact