Rise and fall of a nested Christmas-tree laccolith complex, Elba Island, Italy

Abstract In two separate areas of western and central Elba Island (Italy), Late Miocene granite porphyries are found as shallow-level intrusions inside a stack of nappes rich in physical discontinuities. Detailed mapping of intrusive rocks, along with their relations with country rocks, show that outcrops from western and central Elba Island expose the same rock types, with matching intrusive sequence, petrography and geochemical features. Structural and geological data indicate that these layers were originally part of a single sequence that was split by eastward-directed décollement and tilting. The two juxtaposed portions of the original sequence allow the restoration of a 5-km thick sequence, made up of nine main intrusive layers, building three Christmas-tree laccoliths nested into each other to support a structural dome. During their construction, the role of the neutral buoyancy level was of minor significance with respect to the role played by the relatively thin overburden and/or the large availability of magma traps inside the intruded crustal section. Emplacement of the Monte Capanne pluton into the base of the domal structure likely caused oversteepening and initiated decapitation of the complex, with gravity sliding of the upper half off the top.