Écaille du Petit Saint Bernard

Representation and status

Color CMYK

N/A

Color RGB

R: 241 G: 239 B: 237

Rank

tectonic slice

Validity

Unit is in Use

Status

valid

Status discussion

Nomenclature

Deutsch

Petit-Saint-Bernard-Schuppe

Français

Écaille du Petit Saint Bernard

Italiano

Scaglia del Piccolo San Bernardo

English

Petit Saint Bernard Slice

Origin of the Name

Col du Petit St. Bernard (France)

Historical Variants

zone du Petit St-Bernard (Schoeller 1929), Zona del Piccolo San Bernardo (Dal Piaz et al. 1992a), unité du Petit St Bernard (Bousquet 1998), Versoyen-Petit St-Bernard nappe (Masson et al. 2008), Petit St. Bernhard tectonic unit (Steck 2008), Petit Saint Bernard Slice (TK500, Gouffon et al. 2024)

Hierarchy and sequence

Subordinate units

• Calcschistes du Petit St-Bernard
• Ophiolite du Versoyen

Age

Age at top

• Early Jurassic

Age at base

• Carboniferous

References

Definition

Gouffon Yves (Editor) (2024) : Tectonic Map of Switzerland 1:500000, Explanatory notes. Federal Office of Topography swisstopo, Wabern

p.62: The Petit Saint-Bernard Slice is restricted to the area of the eponymous pass on the French-Italian border and just reaches the southern border of the map, east of La Thuile. It consists of a series of Triassic – Jurassic sediments with Subbriançonnais facies and is often considered as an independent tectonic unit thrust over the Sion-Courmayeur Nappe and, together with it, thrust under the Middle Penninic Zone Houillère.

Important Publications

Masson Henri, Bussy François, Eichenberger Marc, Giroud Niels, Meilhac Caroline, Presniakov Sergei (2008) : Early Carboniferous age of the Versoyen ophiolites and consequences: non-existence of a “Valais ocean” (Lower Penninic, western Alps). Bull. Soc. géol. Fr. 179/4, 337-355