| Abstract/Notes | The three principal ophiolithic groups of this region are those of Levanto, Monte Bianco, and Monte Penna, about midway between Spezia and Genoa, viz. north of Levanto, Sestri Levante, and Chiavari, at average altitudes of 300, 800, and 1,600 metres respectively. Like the Eocene ophiolithic group of Sestri Ponente and Isoverde, west of Genoa, they lie in the upper horizon of that formation, that is, in the fossiliferous (fucoids) albarese limestones and the argillaceous schists which rest on the Middle Eocene macigno sandstone as the lowest member of the Ligurian Eocene. The sedimentary and infolded ophiolithic groups consecutively aligned from the coast to the crest of the Apennines form a series of anticlines north to south, dipping west, with some transverse folds. The whole region is greatly contorted and brecciated; it is, moreover, profoundly eroded by torrents charged with calcium carbonate which has accelerated erosion and at the same time re-cemented breccia. Although the three groups are now separated, they are, together with the scattered islands north of the crest of the Apennines towards Piacenza in the Po Valley, only the remnants of an originally continuous formation of no less than 1,500 square kilometres or 600 square miles. |
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