From passive margin to continental collision; a tectonic scenario for the Western Alps

Abstract

General transverse section just south of the Pelvoux Massif, European margin of Tethys. An ancient atlantic-type margin, it was subject to extension from Triassic to the beginning of Late Cretaceous times and to collision thereafter, as the result of convergence of the Eurasian and African continents. Paleogeographic evolution is outlined; a new Alpine tectogenetic reconstruction is proposed. An attempt is made to establish how the previous extensional structures influenced the later tectonic evolution.--Modified journal abstract.