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…