Thermal history of the Epiligurian Marzabotto wedge‐top basin records the tectonic development of the Northern Apennines (Italy)

Apatite fission track (AFT) and U-Th/He analyses (AHe) of detrital minerals from Eocene to Pliocene siliciclastic deposits in the Northern Apennines were here applied to constrain the tectono-thermal history of the wedge-top Epiligurian Marzabotto Basin (EMB). Detrital AFT age populations from Eocene to Miocene strata cluster between similar to 71 and similar to 58 Ma. AHe ages show a quite variable single grain age distribution ranging from similar to 104 to similar to 7 Ma indicating some degree of post-depositional thermal resetting. Thermal modelling of AFT and AHe data indicates that the EMB experienced a maximum temperature of similar to 90 degrees prior to Oligocene-to-Pliocene cooling. We interpret the Oligocene-Early Miocene cooling signal to represent rock uplift associated with growth of the Apennines orogenic wedge and the late Miocene-Quaternary cooling to track frontal accretion in the orogenic wedge concomitant with rollback-driven extension.