Reply to discussion by Elter and Padovano of ‘Deformation during exhumation of medium- and high-grade metamorphic rocks in the Variscan chain in northern Sardinia (Italy)

We welcome the invaluable opportunity that the discussion by Elter and Padovano offers us in order to corroborate the conclusions of our paper and clarify some aspects of the geodynamic setting of Sardinia in the context of the Southern Variscan Belt. Our response will be focused on aspects concerning (1) orthogonal collision, (2) High Grade Metamorphic Complex (HGMC), (3) transcurrent tectonics and (4) suture. The paper by Carosi et al. (2009) reports many original structural data from the central-northern portion of the Variscan basement of Sardinia highlighting the occurrence of sinistral and dextral shear zones. The final interpretation also takes into account a huge amount of structural, kinematic, petrological and geochronological data recorded over the last ten years by the research group in Pisa across several transects in northern Sardinia. It is worth noting that none of the proposed relevant papers by Elter and Padovano deal with the geology of the study area; they only deal with the northeastern portion of the HGMC, or other portions of the Southern Variscan Belt. In their discussion of our contribution, Elter and Padovano consider two contributions by Corsini and Rolland (2009) and Padovano et al. (2009), both published after our paper was accepted in September 2008. The first was published online on 4 February 2009 and the second is an abstract published in September 2009. Obviously, we could not consider these two contributions when writing our own, but with the aim of gaining a better knowledge of Variscan geological history it is useful to discuss some of the criticisms raised.