Geochronology of the medium to high-grade metamorphic units of the Peloritani Mts., Sicily

The Peloritani Mountains are a fragment of an orogen variably attributed to the Alpine or Hercynian orogeny. On the basis of 39 Ar- 40 Ar, U-Pb and Rb-Sr dating, the main metamorphism of the two medium-high grade metamorphic units, the Mela and Aspromonte Units, and most of the thrusting responsible for stacking the orogenic edifice are seen to be Hercynian. The main thrusting of the Aspromonte Unit over the lower grade units took place at 301€2 Ma. Brittle deformation during Tertiary reactivation of Hercynian thrust planes did not generate any rejuvenation of white micas in the studied sector. Our dataset shows a great complexity and we propose to unravel it by considering different levels…