Investigation of the exhumation mechanisms of the axial core of a collisional orogen, by means of structural analysis of brittle deformation and of thermochronology in the Eastern Alps.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Mark R. Handy, since 11/2011
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2008 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 70408000

• Final Report Year: 2015

Final Report Abstract

The most significant results of this project concern the new FT ages obtained for the Tauern Window and surrounding areas, the new cross sections constructed across the Tauern Window, the new brittle structures mapped in the same area, and the thermal models performed to simulate cooling of the western Tauern Window during collision. These data allowed us link cooling to exhumation and shortening, and to propose a new model for the exhumation of the Tauern Window, which emphasize the role played by folding and erosion, in contrast to extensional denudation.

Publications

• 2011, Estimating displacement along the Brenner Fault, and orogen-parallel extension in the Eastern Alps. International Journal of Earth Sciences, 100, 1129-1145
  Rosenberg, C.L., and Garcia, S.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-011-0645-3)
• 2012, Reply to the comment of Fugenschuh et al. on the paper ‘Estimating displacement along the Brenner Fault and orogen-parallel extension in the Eastern Alps’ by Rosenberg and Garcia, Int J Earth Sci (2011] 100:1129-1145
  Rosenberg, C.L., and Garcia, S.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-011-0726-3)
• 2013, The Tauern Window (Eastern Alps. Austria]: a new tectonic map, with cross-sections and a tectonometamorphic synthesis. Swiss Journal of Geosciences, Swiss Journal of Geosciences, 106:1-32
  Schmid SM, Scharf A, Handy MR, Rosenberg CL
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00015-013-0123-y)
• 2015, Fault slip analysis and late exhumation of the TauemWindow, Eastern Alps. Tectonophysics, 649, 1-17
  Bertrand, A., Rosenberg, C., Garcia, S.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2015.01.002)
• 2015, Relating orogen width to shortening, erosion, and exhumation during Alpine collision. Tectonics, 34
  Rosenberg, C.L., Berger, A., Bellahsen, N., and R. Bousquet
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/2014TC003736)
• Exhumation mechanisms of the Tauern Window (Eastern Alps) inferred from Apatite and Zircon fission track thermochronology. Tectonics, Vol 35 Issue 2, February 2017, Pages 207-228
  Bertrand, A., Rosenberg, C.L., Herman, F., Fügenschuh, B., and Rabaute, A.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/2016TC004133)
• Relating collisional kinematics to exhumation processes in the Eastern Alps. Earth-Science Reviews, Volume 176, January 2018, Pages 311-344
  Rosenberg, C.L., Bertrand, A., Scharf, A., Schneider, S., Hammerschmidt K., Rabaute, A., and Brun, J.-P.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.10.013)