View source for Ivrea zone

{{short description|Tectonic terrane in the Italian Alps}}
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{{Context|date=July 2025}}
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{{Geology of the Alps}}

The '''Ivrea zone''' is a [[tectonics|tectonic]] [[terrane]] in the [[Italy|Italian]] [[Alps]], that consists of a steeply [[Strike and dip|dipping]] piece of the [[Earth]]’s lower [[crust (geology)|crust]] of the [[Apulian plate]]. The zone is named after the Italian city of [[Ivrea]].

[[File:Dunite0001.jpg|thumb|left|[[Dunite]] from the Ivrea zone at Finero]]
Geologically the Ivrea zone is considered a part of the [[Southern Alps (geology)|Southern Alps]]. Most rocks in the zone are [[sedimentary rock|sedimentary]], for example [[limestone]]s that have been turned into [[marble]] by [[metamorphism]]. Most of the zone has been through [[granulite facies]] metamorphism and was intruded by [[mafic]] [[Intrusion|pluton]]s. This is the type of rock common in the lower regions of the crust. When the terrane was [[Tectonic uplift|uplifted]] during the formation of the Alps, the upper crust was eroded off so that these rocks are now at the surface.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gonzalez |first=Christopher M. |last2=Fiorentini |first2=Marco L. |last3=Gorczyk |first3=Weronika |last4=Dering |first4=Greg |date=2020-09-01 |title=Numerical modeling of post-collisional carbonated alkaline magmatism: Variscan style Orogeny (the Ivrea Zone as natural laboratory) |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451912X2030012X |journal=Solid Earth Sciences |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=131–152 |doi=10.1016/j.sesci.2020.05.002 |issn=2451-912X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegesmund |first=S. |last2=Layer |first2=P. |last3=Dunkl |first3=I. |last4=Vollbrecht |first4=A. |last5=Steenken |first5=A. |last6=Wemmer |first6=K. |last7=Ahrendt |first7=H. |date=2008-01 |title=Exhumation and deformation history of the lower crustal section of the Valstrona di Omegna in the Ivrea Zone, southern Alps |url=https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/10.1144/SP298.3 |journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications |language=en |volume=298 |issue=1 |pages=45–68 |doi=10.1144/SP298.3 |issn=0305-8719}}</ref>

[[Geophysics|Geophysical]] research shows the [[Mantle (geology)|mantle]] is relatively close under the surface at the Ivrea zone. Some geologists think the boundary between [[pyroxenite]]s and [[lherzolite]]s, that is also found in [[outcrop]]s in the Ivrea zone, represents the [[Mohorovičić discontinuity]] (the Moho).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Mohorovicic discontinuity in the Ivrea-Verbano Zone |url=https://iugs-geoheritage.org/geoheritage_sites/the-mohorovicic-discontinuity-in-the-ivrea-verbano-zone/ |access-date=2025-07-01 |website=IUGS |language=en}}</ref> The Moho is [[Seismology|seismologically]] defined as the boundary between the crust and mantle.

==See also==
*{{annotated link|Mohorovičić discontinuity}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivrea Zone}}
[[Category:Structural geology]]
[[Category:Geology of the Alps]]
[[Category:Terranes]]
[[Category:Geology of Italy]]

== References ==
{{Reference list}}{{plate-tectonics-stub}}