Monte Forato Arch (Passo dell' Arco), Tuscany, Italy
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(Shift moves in; Command on Mac zooms out. Might need to click on image first. On iDevice, can move device around to pan). View of the Monte Forato Arch, Apuane Alps, Tuscany, Italy
Hide... The arch near the summit of Mt. Forato on the crest of the Apuane Alps, 26 July 2017. Through the arch is the Cardosa River valley. The towns of Pruno and Volegno are on the hills to the right with smaller Valinventre along the stream in the valley bottom. The Italian coastline on the Ligurian Sea is in the distance. To the east, down the Turrite di Gallicano, is the small town of Fornovolasco (trailhead for this hike). In the distance beyond are the northern Apennines. To the north, the northern (main) summit of Monte Forato is at the cross. About a third of the way to the summit on the crest is a WWII entrenchment from the German Gothic Line fortifications.
Geologically, we are in the Apulian basement rocks exposed within the Alpi Apuane metamorphic core complex. The rocks here are late Triassic to Jurassic carbonates deposited on the margin of the Tethys Ocean on the edge of the Apulian microplate. The arch itself presumably originated as one of the many caves in the area. Measuring some 30 m across, the Passo dell' Arco is quite striking and visible from a substantial distance. Not far to the north are the massive and famous marble quarries of the Carrara region. These rocks were telescoped by thrusting in the early-middle Tertiary, with extension following in the past ~20 Ma. To the east, across the Serchio river valley, rise the higher peaks of the northern Apennines comprised of lower Tertiary sediments of the Tuscan nappes that had thrust over these rocks. Return to panorama index page |