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…