Tertiary structural relationships between Alps and Apennines: the critical Torino Hill and Monferrato area, northwestern Italy

The relationship between the Alpine and Apenninic orogenic systems is concealed at the surface by Tertiary sediments of two main tectono-stratigraphic units: the "Alpine-related' Torino Hill domain and the "Apennines-related' Monferrato domain. Mapping and structural analyses carried out in the area behind the Mio-Pliocene Apenninic-Padane thrust front allow comparison of the kinematic history of the Torino Hill and Monferrato domains. The Western Monferrato structural setting is the result of: 1) Late Oligocene-Burdigalian transpressive tectonics due to lateral displacement between the Alps-related and the Apennines-related domains; and 2) compressive post-Messinian tectonics related to northward transport along the main Padane thrust front. Post Messinian tectonic events affected also the NW-vergent asymmetrical Torino Hill anticline. -from Authors