Subduction-related structures and geodinamic evolution of SE Sicily-Calabria offshore

Stratigraphy in the study area

Multidisciplinary approach for outcropping and subsurface Permian-Cenozoic deepwater carbonates (Central Sicily): outcome for paleogeography of the Southern Tethyan continental margin

An integrated stratigraphic study of the outcropping and buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate successions have been performed. These successions form some of the tectonic units, mostly buried beneath the Late Neogene sedimentary cover, in the fold and thrust belt of Central Sicily. Three main successions, pertaining to the well known Lercara, Imerese and Sicanian domains, have been reconstructed on the basis of a detailed facies analysis, seismostratigraphic interpretation, biostratigraphy (mostly based on palynological data) and comparison between outcropping and subsurface deep-water sediments. The main results reveal a continuous sedimentation of the deep-water Southern Tethyan S…

Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate rocks of the Southern Tethyan Domain. The case of Central Sicily

We present an integrated stratigraphy of the outcropping and buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate successions, forming some of the tectonic units mostly buried beneath the Late Neogene sedimentary cover in the fold and thrust belt of Central Sicily. Three main successions, pertaining to the well known Lercara, Imerese and Sicanian domains, have been reconstructed on the basis of a detailed facies analysis, seismostratigraphic interpretation, bio -stratigraphy (mostly based on palynological data) and comparison between outcropping and subsurface deep-water sediments. The main results reveal a continuous sedimentation of the deep-water Southern Tethyan Sicilian succession since the Pe…

Field and seismic reflection information in Sicily and surrounding areas: constraints for the deep seismic (SIRIPRO) investigation.

PROGETTO SIRIPRO: INTERPRETAZIONE GEOLOGICA PRELIMINARE DEL PROFILO SISMICO CROSTALE

PROGETTO SIRIPRO: ELABORAZIONE ED ANALISI DI DATI GEOFISICI

Towards a new marine structural model of Italy

The exploitation of economic resources in marine environment and the assessment of natural hazards press a greater knowledge of the sea floor geology. Since the Structural Model of Italy was published in the 1991 by the CNR, new data have been collected concerning the marine geology of the sea floor surrounding Italy, also by means of up to date technologies (digital seismics, SBP Chirp, Multibeam). Data collected during the last decades in the frame of research programs as CROP MARE, CARG, morpho-bathymetric survey of the Tyrrhenian Sea, MAGIC, allow investigating the submerged geological structures with different temporal and spatial resolution. As consequence, at present marine geologist…

Sicily’s fold–thrust belt and slab roll-back: the SI.RI.PRO. seismic crustal transect

Sicily is a thick orogenic wedge formed by (1) the foreland (African) and its Sicilian orogen and (2) the thick-skinned, Calabrian–Peloritani wedge. The crust under central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian margin to the coastline of the Sicily Channel, has been investigated by the multidisciplinary (SI.RI.PRO.) research project. The project dealt with the nature and thickness of the crust and depth and geometry of the Moho, which is essential in formulating subduction models and improving the knowledge of African and Tyrrhenian–European lithospheres. The results resolve features such as (1) the main orogenic wedge, (2) the very steep, NW–SE-trending regional monocline suggesting inflection of th…

Neo-Tethys (or Palaeotethys arm?)Permian-Mesozoic carbonates in the Pelagian continental margin (Central Mediterranean)

THE SIRIPRO PROJECT: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO SICILY GEODYNAMIC SETTING. THE GEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE CENTRAL SICILY CRUSTAL SEISMIC LINE

New insights from recently migrated CROP multichannel seismic data at the outermost Calabrian arc accretionary wedge (Ionian sea)

This study addresses selected aspects of the stratigraphic-structural setting of the outermost Calabrian Arc accretionary wedge and underlines relationships between structural development and Messinian evaporite stratigraphy through the analysis of re-processed CROP multichannel seismic reflection profiles. A detailed seismostratigraphic analysis, calibrated with P-velocities compiled by previous works, images a general bipartition of the Messinian evaporite deposits: the transparent «lower subunit» appears to have undergone ductile-flow deformation», with the development of salt-cored thrusting structures, and the layered «upper subunit» appears to be characterized by brittle deformation. …

Some considerations on the results of the crustal SIRIPRO profile in central Sicily

Preliminary results of a crustal seismic profile across Sicily (Italy)

Geological results of the crustal SIRIPRO transect in central Sicily

The tectono-sedimentary evolution of the syntectonic basins growing on the Sicilian fold and thrust belt

A crustal seismic profile across Sicily

Abstract A crustal reflection seismic profile, more than 100 km long, was recorded across central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian shore to the Sicily Channel, to understand the deep structures and the collision mechanisms between Europe and Africa and the subsequent geodynamic evolution. The profile was acquired using explosive sources and 240 active channels recorded by a Sercel 408-XL, 24 bits A/D converter, with a 12 km spread and a 24-fold coverage. The data were processed following a non-conventional procedure in order to preserve the relative amplitudes of the reflections and to better investigate the Sicily deep structures down to the Moho. The main highlighted structures are the dramati…

Surface geometries in central Sicily FTB in the frame of the Siripro crustal profile

Layered lower crust and mantle reflectivity as imaged by a re-processed crustal seismic profile from Sicily in the central Mediterranean

Abstract Though Sicily is a key area for understanding the central Mediterranean tectonics, a number of questions on its dynamics remains open due to the lack of detailed data on the lithospheric structure. Deep reflectivity images of the African lithosphere, beneath Sicily, have been derived from the re-processing of the crustal seismic reflection stack (SI.RI.PRO. Project). Of specific interest was the imaging, beneath central-southern Sicily, of a thinned crust with a reflective, “layered” pattern for the lower crust that differs from the one, thicker and sub-transparent, of the northern-central sector. Brittle deformation in the upper crystalline crust along a low-angle normal fault and…

Seismic reflection data highlighting the oceanic features of the Ionian crust

VIGOR: Sviluppo geotermico nelle Regioni della Convergenza. Progetto VIGOR – Valutazione del Potenziale Geotermico delle Regioni della Convergenza, POI Energie Rinnovabili e Risparmio Energetico 2007-2013

Fogli 609-596, Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia

Il Servizio Geologico Nazionale ha unificato i Fogli 609 "Termini Imerese" e 596 "Capo Plaia" in un unico Foglio denominato 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" allo scopo di uniformare i rilievi e raccoglierne la descrizione in un unico volume delle Note Illustrative. Il Foglio 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" della Carta Geologica d’Italia in scala 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell’ambito del Progetto CARG con i fondi della Legge 67/88 - Legge 226/99 con una convenzione tra Servizio Geologico Nazionale ora ISPRA) e Regione Siciliana. Le aree ricadono interamente nella Provincia di Palermo, comprendono la fascia marina del Golfo di Termini Imerese fino al promontorio di Capo Plaia, la r…

The Sicilian collisional boundary. An unconventional carbonate foreland and fold and thrust belt.

New insights on shallow to intermediate crustal structures of the submerged Apenninic-Maghrebian chain (northern Sicily offshore) coming from the re-processing of the CROP M6A seismic reflection profile

PROGETTO SIRIPRO: ELABORAZIONE ED ANALISI DEI DATI SISMICI

Shallow structures at the outer Calabrian accretionary wedge (NW Ionian Sea): new insights from recently migrated reflection data

Terra Nova, 00, 000–000, 2010 Abstract Post-stack time migration of a set of seismic reflection profiles reveals details of the stratigraphic–structural setting of the outermost Calabrian accretionary wedge, in the NW sector of the Ionian Sea, with particular emphasis on the Messinian stratigraphy and the deformation style of the thin frontal portion of this wedge. A structural style and seismic facies analysis, calibrated by refraction data, images a general bipartition of the Messinian evaporite deposits: the `lower subunit', consisting mainly of salt, appears to have undergone ductile-flow deformation, and the `upper subunit', consisting mainly of gypsum and marls, appears to be characte…

Seismic reflection reprocessing procedures in the frame of the SIRIPRO 1 crustal profile across Sicily.

Deep controls on foreland basin system evolution along the Sicilian fold and thrust belt

Abstract Neogene-Quaternary wedge-top-basins arose during the Sicilian fold and thrust belt (FTB) build-up. The infilling sedimentary successions are: i) middle-upper Miocene silicoclastics succession, accommodated on top of the accreted Sicilide and Numidian flysch nappes; ii) upper Miocene-lower Pliocene deepening-upwards sediments unconformably overlying the inner Meso-Cenozoic deep-water, Imerese and Sicanian thrust units; iii) Upper Pliocene-Quaternary coastal-open shelf deposits unconformably covering (in the outer sector of the FTB) a tectonic stack (Gela thrust system). These successions are characterized by a basal unconformity on the deformed substrate believed to be the depositio…

Deep controls on Foreland Basin System evolution along the Sicily Thrust Belt

The palinspastic restoration of the Sicilian crustal geological cross section (Catalano et al., 2013) points out two subsequent main thrust (MT1 and MT2) active during the Neogene tectonic evolution as well as the decrease of slip and shortening rate estimated for MT2 with respect to MT1 early main thrust. During orogenic building, syn-tectonic deposits are accumulated inside wedge-top-basin that grow on top of thrust sheets. Sedimentary and stratigraphic features of wedge-top basin change trough time following fold and thrust belt evolution. Neogene-Quaternary syn- tectonic successions (terrigenous, evaporitic, hemipelagic and shallow water deposits) extensively crop-out, in more or less w…

Middle Miocene–Early Pliocene wedge-top basins of NW Sicily (Italy): constraints for the tectonic evolution of a ‘non-conventional’ thrust belt, affected by transpression

The study of geological evolution of a multiphase orogenic belt is complex, expecially when the tectonic events are superimposed in a coaxial fashion. The Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt represents an interest- ing case study, as a non-coaxial superimposition of structures is recognizable, owing to large synkinematic clockwise rotations during each of two subsequent compressional events. These rotations involved also the syntectonic basins that developed in the wedge-top depozone. This study aims to constrain the tectono-depo- sitional evolution of the NW Sicily fold-and-thrust belt and the associated wedge-top depozone between the middle Miocene and the early Pliocene. Integrated analyses of…

NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE CRUSTAL STRUCTURES OF SOUTH-EASTERN SICILY FROM REPROCESSING OF SEISMIC REFLECTION DATA IN THE FRAME OF THE SIRIPRO PROJECT

The buried Fold and Thrust Belt in Sicily: perspectives for future exploration.

The study region is a part of the Sicilian-Maghrebian Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB), a segment of the Alpine collisional belt, recently described as a result of both post-collisional convergence between Africa and Europe and roll-back of the subduction hinge of the Ionian lithosphere. The region (extending in central Sicily from the Madonie Mountains. to the eastern corner of the Iblean-Pelagian foreland through the impressive NE-SW trending Tertiary clastic and evaporitic range of the Caltanissetta trough) is located in an area where the main thrust system disappears beneath a wedge of deformed Neogene deposits. Earlier studies have neglected the importance of the potential target for hydroca…

New insights into the stratigraphic-structural setting of the outermost Calabrian accretionary wedge (NW Ionian Sea ) based on recently-migrated reflection data

External Calabrian Arc (hereinafter ECA) is a SE-verging accretionary wedge developed above the convergent plate boundary between Africa and European plates, related to the subduction of the Ionian plate beneath the Calabrian plate: sediments have been scraped off the subducting Ionian plate and piled up along thrust faults opposite of the European region. Although regional geophysical studies conducted in the past 20 years suggest constraints on the internal structure of the ECA (e.g. CATALANO & SULLI, 2006), few, if any, of these studies discussed in detail its thin frontal portion, i.e. the transition of the ECA with the Ionian abyssal plain. We believe that this is the reason why a majo…

Carta Geologica d'Italia alla scala 1:50.000 e note illustrative del foglio 594-585 PARTINICO-MONDELLO.

The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Partinico” and “Mondello”. The map sheet “Partinico-Mondello” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebides to the Calabrian arc and the Southern Apennines. The fTB and its submerged western and northern exten- sions are partly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sec- tor, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compress…

A crustal seismic profile across Sicily (Italy): preliminary results

Preliminary results of the crustal seismic profile acquired in the frame of the Siripro Project

Subduction-related structures and geodynamic evolution of the SE Sicily-Calabria offshore.

The barren Messinian Tripoli in Sicily and its palaeoenvironmental evolution: suggestions on the exploration potential

New observations on the Sicily Messinian Tripoli have yielded a variably thick diatomitic, calcareous and shaly rock interval marked by an upwards disappearance of calcareous and siliceous plankton (barren lithosome), coexisting with a variability in vegetal remains and significant amounts of amorphous organic matter (AOM). Facies analysis associated with biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of the several field and borehole sections has been framed in a well-accepted chronological scheme that points to this barren interval coinciding with the stratigraphic upper and younger part of some Tripoli sections (bituminous Tripoli) located in the northern part of the study area. Biostratigraphically,…

Sicily's Foreland Fold/thrust Belt and Slab Roll-back: The SI.RI.PRO. Seismic Crustal Transect.

Subsurface geometries in Central Sicily FTB in the frame of the frame of the SIRIPRO crustal profile

Seismic reflection constraints on the nature of the Ionian crust

Contour map of the top of the regional geothermal reservoir of Sicily (Italy).

An integrated review of existing geological and geophysical data – partly acquired during oil and gas exploration – combined with new data provided by deep geothermal studies of selected key areas, was used for the 3D modeling and mapping of the top of the geothermal reservoir developed at a regional scale in Sicily (Central Mediterranean). The resulting 1:500,000 scale map covers the area of the whole Sicily (about 25,700 km2) and is devoted to represent the main input for both the thermal modeling and the evaluation of geothermal potential at a regional scale. As the map indicates the distribution at depth of a likely target for geothermal drilling, it can be also used as a rough indicato…

Il controllo della sismica a riflessione nella elaborazione dei Fogli Geologici del Progetto CARG nella Sicilia Occidentale Seismic reflection constraints in the frame of the CARG Project in Western Sicily

In the frame of the CARG Project, the interpretation of several seismic reflection profiles has provided new important constraints aimed at clarify the deep structural setting of the Central-Western Sicily and the related offshore fold and thrust belt. It has already been envisaged as a tectonic pile mainly made up of deep water Meso-Cenozoic carbonate units overriding a thick stack of Meso-Cenozoic carbonate platform units, detached from their crystalline basement. The data collected, constrained by wells logs, field and stratigraphic data, have improved the knowledge of a complex sector outcropping in the Corleone and Caccamo geologic sheets area. Seismic interpretation displayed the rela…

WALKING ALONG A CRUSTAL PROFILE ACROSS THE SICILY FOLD AND THRUST BELT