Journal of the Virtual Explorer

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Research into the formation of deep-water rifted margins is undergoing a paradigm shift. The discovery of exhumed continental mantle and hyper-extended crust devoid of significant normal faulting directly overlain by shallow marine sediments is fundamental in defining the controls and processes that thin and rupture continental lithosphere.

This field guide enables scientists to visit outcrops that preserve structural, stratigraphic or petrological evidence for formation of hyper-extended margins. The volume includes a general introduction and description of the Alpine Tethys margins, as well as guides to the most prominent structures observed in the Alps, including preserved remnants of fault bounded basins, basement-top detachment faults in direct contact with extensional allochthons, tectono-sedimentary breccias overlain by syn- and post-rift sediments as well as exhumed subcontinental mantle and embryonic oceanic crust.

The outcrops of the Alpine Tethys margins represent an observational window into otherwise inaccessible geological settings, and are critical to new concepts on extreme crustal thinning, mantle exhumation, continental breakup and initial seafloor spreading.