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Swiss Journal of Geosciences
Fig. 5 | Swiss Journal of Geosciences

Fig. 5

From: Dating the Tethyan Ocean in the Western Alps with radiolarite pebbles from synorogenic Oligocene molasse basins (southeast France)

Fig. 5

Crustal cross-section model proposing an evolution for the southern Western Alps during the Early Oligocene. At that time, the Piemont thrust sheets, already stacked in the upper Cretaceous–Paleocene subduction accretionary wedge, underwent severe syncollision shortening. This resulted in a major orogenesis so that erosion fed abruptly the peripheral molasse basins in margin-derived and ocean-derived clasts whose metamorphic signatures range from non or very low-grade to high-grade blueschist facies (Lz lizardite, Atg antigorite)

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