The Brolo Island, a lentil in the “Ocean”

The north-eastern Sicily coast reflects the effects of Holocene active tectonics associated to subduction system of Ionian crust beneath the Calabrian arc (CAPUTO et alii, 1970; WESTAWAY, 1993, DOGLIONI et alii, 1999). The latter, characterized by a stack of crystalline rock and its sedimentary cover, is the highest structural element in the Sicily chain. The Calabrian arc is a region that records one of the major Quaternary vertical tectonic movement in the whole Mediterranean basin. This uplift, well documented from Last Interglacial, is expressed as vertical variation of the height of the Quaternary marine terraces inner margin that characterize the north-eastern Sicily coast. The uplift…