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13 An Outstanding Mountain: The Matterhorn 191 Fig. 13.4 The long geological history “told” by the Matterhorn. The The shape of the mountain is even younger; it was carved by the rocks of the pyramid date from the Paleozoic, those of the base are Quaternary glaciers and related weathering (photo H. Rougier) Mesozoic in age. The thrust between them dates back to the Cenozoic. phyllitous limestone (Upper Cretaceous). It can be up to 300 m thick above Täsch. On the other hand, the Cimes Blanches and the Frilihorn nappes (Sartori et al. 2006) often present a stratigraphic series reduced (a few tens of metres thick) and separated from their original basement (Mont Fort nappe). They are mainly Triassic dolomitic marbles, Jurassic-laminated marbles and breccias that outcrop well in Arben, on the left bank of the Zmuttbach, a left tributary of the Mattervispa River, upstream of Zermatt (Sartori 1987). 13.2.4 Plate and Nappe Tectonics: The Matterhorn Becomes European From a structural point of view, rocks of oceanic origin belong to two units, the Zermatt-Saas Fee Zone (Bearth 1953), rich in ophiolites, and the Tsaté nappe (Escher et al. 1997), rich in ocean sediments (Figs. 13.7 and 13.8). The latter was structured early (during Cretaceous sedimentation and subduction) as an orogenic prism (Stampfli and Marthaler 1990). The original stratigraphy is no longer preserved: Upper Cretaceous series are located at the base of the nappe and many ophiolite thrust slices are inserted in Lower to Middle Cretaceous shales in the upper part of the Tsaté nappe, near the contact with the Dent Blanche nappe. The Zermatt area is rich in high-pressure metamorphic ophiolites (Bearth 1967): it descended deeper into the ocean subduction, carrying with it the continental Monte Rosa nappe, which also had high eclogitic metamorphism. Between the end of the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Cenozoic, a large and slow underground pile-up gave birth to the primitive Alps. On the surface, the margin of the African plate thrusted on the remains of the Tethys Sea; in depth the margin of the European plate embedded under the orogenic prism. 13.2.5 The Importance of the Matterhorn for the History of Geology The Matterhorn rocks belong to the Dent Blanche nappe (Lower Austroalpine). Argand (1911) was the first geologist to affirm that the rocks of these more than 4000 m high mountains were of African origin (Marthaler 2001, 2005).PDF Image | An Outstanding Mountain The Matterhorn
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