Geology of the Entracque-Colle di Tenda area (Maritime Alps, NW Italy)

The 1:25,000 geological map of the Entracque-Colle di Tenda area covers an area of about 130km(2) in the Italian Maritime Alps, between the Gesso and Vermenagna valleys. The map area is of great relevance since the Alpine units of this region sampled a geological nodal point in the Mesozoic, at the transition between two different sedimentation domains of the Alpine Tethys European palaeomargin (the Dauphinois basin to the NW and the Provencal platform to the SE). During the Cenozoic, this palaeogeographic hinge was progressively incorporated along multiple shear zone systems developed at the southern termination of the Western Alps arc.