Structural and kinematic relationships between Corsica and the Pyrenees-Provence domain at the time of the Pyrenean orogeny

Abstract

The Pyrenees-Provence belt and the Alps were both active in the late Eocene. Alpine Corsica was once a part of the Alps, and the now obducted metamorphic oceanic domain is similar and easily correlated in both areas. Tectonic reconstructions before the Oligo-Miocene opening of the Liguro-Provençal basin show that at the same time, Corsica was located in the hinterland of the Provençal ranges. A late Eocene cross section running from Alpine Corsica to Provence gives an image of a complete mountain belt from an internal domain made of metamorphosed oceanic material (Alpine Corsica) to the foreland fold and thrust with a thin-skinned geometry (Provence). During the late Eocene the intervening basement of western Corsica was thus within this mountain belt, probably thrust onto the European basement. We analyze and interpret the structural pattern and the overall geometry of the Provençal-Corsican domain during late Eocene times in terms of oblique convergence and strain partitioning, within the framework of the Africa-Eurasia convergence. This evolution is integrated in a set of kinematic reconstructions of the western Mediterranean region from 65 Ma to the present. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.