Using high-resolution stratigraphy and structural analysis to constrain a “polyphase” tectonics in wedge-top basins. Inferences from the Late Tortonian Scillato Basin (central-northern Sicily).

Abstract The present paper aims to show, both from a stratigraphic and structural points of view, the main features of a wedge-top syntectonic basin which evolved recording polyphase and non-coaxial tectonics. The study area is the Scillato Basin ( SB ), a roughly N–S-oriented structural depression located in the central-northern sector of the Sicililian Maghrebides. There, an approximately 1300 m-thick upper Serravallian to upper Tortonian succession of clastic units outcrops as a portion of the Neogene syntectonic covers of the Sicilian fold and thrust belt. Within the outcropping succession the upper Tortonian Terravecchia Fm represents the main topic of this paper. A multidisciplinary a…

Millstones as indicators of relative sea-level changes in northern Sicily and southern Calabria coastlines, Italy

Abstract New data are presented for late Holocene relative sea-level changes in two coastal sites of Sicily and Calabria, southern Italy. Reconstructions are based on precise measurements of submerged archaeological remains that are valuable indicators of past sea-level position. The archaeological remains are millstone quarries carved on sandstone coastal rocks and nowadays partially submerged which, to the authors’ knowledge, are used for the first time as sea-level markers. Millstones of similar typology are located on the coast of Capo d’Orlando (northern Sicily) and Capo dell’Armi (southern Calabria). When the archeologically-based sea-level position is compared with the shoreline elev…

Seismotectonics in the North-Western Sicily Continental Margin: implications for Geohazard assessment

Active processes in the Northern Sicily Continental Margin (NSCM) have been analysed to produce a seismotectonic map, in order to obtain a useful tool for the assessment of the seismic hazard of the sea-land region. The seismotectonic map is composed of overlapping layers that represent the distribution of different features, such as lithostratigraphy, tectonic elements, seismicity, heat flow, gravimetry, magnetometry, Moho depth, horizontal and vertical movements, submarine landslides, fluid emissions, outlining the mutual relationship and the active structures. The NSCM is suitable to test this approach because it’s located in a transitional area between the Sicilian-Maghrebian chain to t…

Sea–land geology of Marettimo (Egadi Islands, central Mediterranean sea)

We present a 1:10,000 scale geological map of Marettimo Island and its offshore (Egadi Archipelago, central Mediterranean Sea). The map was achieved by integrating a new geological survey with data from recent, marine, geological and geophysical surveys acquired along the adjacent continental shelf. The island is composed of a Mesozoic, mostly carbonate platform succession, which is overlain by continental to coastal marine Quaternary deposits. Extensional tectonics have affected the carbonate platform since the Late Triassic producing an initial increase of accommodation space that was filled by interbed breccias, marls and calcareous marls. During the Jurassic, a NE-SW-directed normal fau…

Syn-sedimentary tectonics during early Pliocene time in the northern Madonie Mountains (Sicily

Tettonica sinsedimentaria del Pliocene inferiore nei Monti delle Madonie settentrionali (Sicilia). L'analisi stratigrafico-strutturale condotta in un piccolo bacino infra-pliocenico nelle Madonie settentrionali (Lascari-Capo Plaja) permette di descrivere un evento tettonico sin-sedimentario. La sinclinale EW in cui si sviluppa il bacino sintettonico appartiene ad un sistema di pieghe nord vergenti che deformano un piano di sovrascorrimento più antico (Langhiano-Serravalliano). La geometria di crescita che caratterizza il pattern stratale dei depositi pliocenici e la discordanza angolare alla base suggeriscono che la nucleazione di queste strutture compressionali si possa essere realizzata a…

Extensive field mapping in Sicily in the frame of the CARG Project

Rilievi geologici finalizzati alla compilazione di carte geologiche in Sicilia nord-occidentale (Progetto CARG) Vengono descritti i risultati del rilevamento di numerosi fogli geologici a scala 1:50.000 ubicati nella Sicilia settentrionale (dalle Isole Egadi fino ai Monti delle Madonie), eseguito nel quadro del Progetto CARG. I rilievi sul terreno sono stati integrati con i dati di sottosuolo provenienti da profili sismici a riflessione e perforazioni profonde. I risultati ottenuti offrono un quadro a scala regionale dell’assetto stratigrafico-strutturale di uno dei settori più complessi della Catena Siciliano-Maghrebide. Sono state ricostruite le successioni stratigrafiche dei paleodomini …

Mountain building in NW Sicily from the superimposition of subsequent thrusting and folding events during Neogene: structural setting and tectonic evolution of the Kumeta and Pizzuta ridges

We present a 1:25.000 scale geological map of the Kumeta-Pizzuta ridge in north-western Sicily (Italy), achieved by integrating stratigraphic, structural and geophysical data. In this area, the tectonic edifice results from the piling-up of deep-water-, carbonate platform- and pelagic platform-derived tectonic units (Imerese and Sicilide, Panormide and Trapanese domains, respectively) resulting from deformations of the former southern Tethyan continental margin. The structural setting shows interference of tectonic events, different types of structural styles and different scales of deformational patterns. Early overthrust of the Imerese on the Trapanese units (since the late Serravallian) …

Multivariate geophysical survey to detect a shallow fault zone in a landfill project area

An integrated analysis of 2D high-resolution shallow seismic refraction tomographies (SRT) and electrical resistivity tomographies (ERT) has been carried out along a slope where the presence of a fault zone was assumed. It was also applied a post-inversion k-means cluster analysis of the P-wave velocity, the density of the seismic rays and the electrical resistivity of the interpretation models. Distribution maps of the cluster in multi-space were built, allowing to better definethe lateral geometry of a NE-SW directed band composed of intensely tectonized carbonate breccias. Finally, the fracturing and kinematic analysis on fault planes observed along the trenches, highlighted systems of l…

The production of western Greek amphorae in Agrigento (Southern Sicily): An archaeometric and archaeological characterisation of the late 6th-4th centuries BCE series

This paper aims at an interdisciplinary, archaeological and archaeometric characterisation of the western Greek amphorae series produced in late Archaic and Classical-period Agrigento (southern Sicily). The research is based on a macroscopic examination, according to the standardised methods of Fabrics of the Central Mediterranean (FACEM), combined with petrographic analyses of 21 amphorae samples of presumed local fabric found in Agrigento itself. These were found in the artisanal area outside Porta V, in the excavations South of the temple of Zeus, and in several Sicilian consumption sites. Furthermore, a selection of 12 coarse ware samples and three tiles, all of supposed local manufactu…

Long-term earthquake potential of active faults by using coastal and off-shore geological and morphological indicators

Seismogenic fault models and active deformation ones coupled with models of both earthquake rate and earthquake probability were recently used in a time-independent modelling. The integration of models allows to estimates the magnitude, location, and likelihood of potentially damaging earthquake ruptures in regions with high natural seismic hazard. Improvements of these models imply the recognition of the spatial geometry of the larger, active faults, deemed to be the source of the most damaging future earthquakes. However, identifying active faults and calculating their geologic slip rates for deriving earthquake rates are not easy tasks in regions inaccessible to direct field studies like…

Crustal structures of the Sicily orogene along the SIRIPRO seismic profile

Geo-hazards of the San Vito peninsula offshore (southwestern Tyrrhenian Sea)

Geomorphological Tools for Mapping Natural Hazards.-- 12 pages, 7 figures, supplemental material https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2020.1866703.-- Software: The geomorphological main map and the Figures in the text were compiled using GLOBAL MAPPER, Surfer and Quantum-G GIS Software and redesigned to print with Adobe Illustrator

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…

Millstone coastal quarries of the Mediterranean: A new class of sea level indicator

The coasts of Italy still preserve several remnants of coastal quarries built in antiquity, that now provide insights into the intervening sea-level changes occurred during the last millennia. In this paper, we show and discuss a new class of sea level indicator consisting of millstones carved along the rocky coast of southern Italy since 2500 BP, that are currently submerged. They were extracted from beachrocks, sandstones or similar sedimentary rocks, easier for carving by ancient carving tools. Our study focuses on 10 coastal sites located at Capo d'Orlando, Avola, and Letojanni, in Sicily; Soverato, Tropea, and Capo dell'Armi, in Calabria; Castellabate, Palinuro, and Scario, in Campania…

Basins at convergent margins: evolution of the Messinian basins developed on top of the Sicilian Fold and Thrust belt

During the Messinian inherited palaeo-topography and ongoing deformation conditioned the depositional environments of the Mediterranean region, already strongly influenced by the effects of the salinity crisis. It occurred mainly in the central region, where seabed at that time is expected to be very uneven and shallower than Western and Eastern Mediterranean. Indeed in this area as from 15 Ma the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (SFTB) was originating, characterized by a multi-stage evolution. Two main shortening events generated and developed at different structural levels (shallow- and deep-seated thrusts following a thin-skinned thrust-model) and at different time intervals, involved mainl…