Geochemistry and petrography of Western Tethys Cretaceous sedimentary covers (Corsica and Northern Apennines): From source areas to configuration of margins

Provenance studies most commonly apply the classical approach based on petrographic modal analysis of arenites. In this paper, a modal analysis of arenites is combined with both a petrographic study on conglomerate clasts and a geochemical investigation of major and trace elements of pelites. The Ligure-Piemontese oceanic basin, a branch of Western Tethys, and its continental margins were consumed during the Eocene collisional events that led to the formation of the Alpine-Apennine belt. Remnants of Cretaceous sedimentary successions supplied by the continental margins are today preserved as tectonic units in the Alpine-Apennine belt: Balagne Nappe in Alpine Corsica and Internal...