Plate tectonics: discovering ocean and continent on the Apuan Alps

A Summer School for teachers, focused on understanding plate tectonics by the direct observation of its effects in the field and with the aid of hands-on activities, has been proposed in the frame of “Piano Lauree Scientifiche“ project. Rather than being a theory to be known only from school books, plate tectonics can be, in fact, discovered in our landscapes and rock outcrops. The Summer School has been organized, im collaboration with the “Parco delle Apuane” as a three days field trip across the Alpi Apuane massif in northern Tuscany, during which different tectonic units have been observed, deriving from both oceanic paleoenvironment (i.e., Ligurian Units) and continental crust (Apuane Unit and Tuscan Nappe) During field observations special attention has been posed to the study of brittle and ductile deformation of different lithologies that have been deformed at different structural levels , i.e., in different pressure and temperature ranges, developed during plate collisions and subsequent exhumation of the rocks towards the surface. Interactive observations have been addressed to recognize different rock types and to define how they are oriented in the space to understand their relative geometric relationships fundamental to reconstruct the architecture of the belt. Outcrop scale structures have been related also to mountain scale ones (i.e., pluridecametric folds) leading to the construction of the chain. During the first day we focused also on the development of natural cave and karstification processes. In this view we visited the “Antro del Corchia” cave that represents one of the best examples in the northern Apennines belt. Not far from the Antro del Corchia cave we had the opportunity to visit the old mine of Levigliani were we discussed about related mineralizations that till not far ago represented a very strong commercial activity for the region. During the last day, various interactive lab activities have been proposed regarding mainly classification problems of rocks and minerals, determination of rock ages and interpretation of topographic and geological maps.