Kinematics and Age of Syn-Intrusive Detachment Faulting in the Southern Alps: Evidence for Early Permian Crustal Extension and Implications for the Pangea A Versus B Controversy

Abstract

Permian basin formation and magmatism in the Southern Alps of Italy have been interpreted as expressions of a WSW-ENE-trending, dextral megashear zone transforming Early Permian Pangea B into Late Permian Pangea A between ~285 and 265 Ma. In an alternative model, basin formation and magmatism resulted from N-S crustal extension. To characterize Permian tectonics, we studied the Grassi Detachment Fault, a low-angle extensional fault in the central Southern Alps. The footwall forms a metamorphic core complex affected by upward-increasing, top-to-the-southeast mylonitization. Two granitoid intrusions occur in the core complex, the synmylonitic Val Biandino Quartz Diorite and the postmylonitic Valle San Biagio Granite. U-Pb zircon dating yielded crystallization ages of 289.1 ± 4.5 Ma for the former and 286.8 ± 4.9 Ma for the latter. Consequently, detachment-related mylonitic shearing took place during the Early Permian and ended at ~288 Ma, but kinematically coherent brittle faulting continued. Considering 30° anticlockwise rotation of the Southern Alps since Early Permian, the extension direction of the Grassi Detachment Fault was originally ~N-S. Even though a dextral continental wrench system has long been regarded as a viable model at regional scale, the local kinematic evidence is inconsistent with this and, rather, supports N-S extensional tectonics. Based on a compilation of >200 U-Pb zircon ages, we discuss the evolution and tectonic framework of Late Carboniferous to Permian magmatism in the Alps.