Emplacement at granulite facies conditions of the Sesia-Lanzo metagabbros: early record of Permian rifting?

The evolution of the pre-Alpine Corio and Monastero metagabbros points to strong chemical and mineralogical similarities with that of other Permian gabbro bodies of the Alps, which are concentrated in the Southalpine and Austroalpine domains. The structural and metamorphic pre-Alpine evolution of these gabbros records a re-equilibration following the emplacement in the deep crust (P = 0.6-0.9 GPa and T = 850 +/- 70 degreesC), exhumation through amphibolite facies conditions (P = 0.5-0.35 GPa and T = 570-670 degreesC), followed by a greenschist facies imprint (0.25 less than or equal to P less than or equal to 0.35 GPa and T < 550 degreesC). This retrograde P-T evolution suggests that the exhumation occurred in a high thermal gradient regime, as that induced by upwelling of an asthenospheric plume during continental rifting. This would be consistent with the crustal thinning known to have occurred in both the Southalpine and Austroalpine domains during Permian times. The gabbros and their country acid granulites are spatially associated with the serpentinised subcontinental mantle of the Lanzo Massif. This lithologic association and the metamorphic evolution is similar to that of the Fedoz gabbro (Austroalpine Domain of the Central Alps) and completely different from that observed in passive margins, where no remnants of the lower crust occur and the upper granitic crust directly overlies the serpentinized lherzolites. The location of Permian gabbro bodies in the Austroalpine and Southalpine domains and their absence in the Helvetic domain is evidence for asymmetric rifting.