Tectono-stratigraphic evolution of a basin generated by transpression: the case of the Early Pliocene Lascari Basin (northern Sicily)
Integrated stratigraphy and structural analysis carried out in the Madonie Mts. (Northern Sicily) is aimed to the description of a syn-sedimentary tectonic event, recorded in a small infra-pliocene basin restricted to the Lascari Syncline core. The onset and evolution of the basin was driven by transpressive tectonics, generating a lens-shaped, deep and narrow tectonic depression, bounded by steep and high, tectonically controlled slopes, also reflected in the present-day topography of the area. During the genesis of the basin, the tectonic control interferes with a dramatic sea level oscillation during the Messinian-Early Pliocene time interval. In this paper, the syn-tectonic deposits of …
Interference between shallow and deep-seated structures in the Sicilian fold and thrust belt.
Abstract: The fold and thrust belt in western Sicily is characterized by the presence and interference of shallow and deep-seated compressional structures, which were generated and developed at different structural levels. The shallow structures consist of imbricated thrusts and asymmetric folds, with a typical wavelength of 2 km, involving relatively thin deep-water units. These units are superimposed on thick platform carbonate units, along a wide and originally almost flat floor thrust. The axial trend of the folds is variable, as multi-phase folding often occurred, producing a characteristic interference pattern, reflecting continuous variations of the apparent transport direction durin…
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…