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 …

North Western Sicily offshore in the frame of the marine CARG Project. Main rsults

SIRIPRO PROJECT: DEEP CRUSTAL SETTING IN THE NORTHERN SICILY CONTINENTAL MARGIN AND ITS ADJACENT ONSHORE

Preliminary data concerning the morphology of a Calabrian Ionian margin area: Caulonia and Marina di Gioiosa canyons

In the framework of the Vector National Italian Project (VulCost line), aimed to study the role of the morphology and the geology of the Ionian Calabrian margin in the coastline evolution, an oceanographic cruise was planned to collect geophysical data along two canyon systems: Caulonia and Marina di Gioiosa. The survey explored the continental shelf and slope from a depth of 15 m to more than 1150 m, using Multibeam Echosounder to investigate the seafloor topography. This work provides an outline of the erosive feature of the slope, shaped mostly by seasonal river input and by the connection to the structural and geological characteristics of the margin, made interesting by a narrow shelf …

Foreland Basin System Evolution along the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt

Foreland Basin System tettono-sedimentary evolution along the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt

Carte marine e rischi geologici

The investigations carried out by the "Gruppo di Geologia Marina" of the Palermo University in the framework of the CARG project, have been focused on the marine sectors between the Egadi Islands offshore and the Cefalù Basin (NW Sicilian offshore). The research activities have yielded new results on the following fields: (i) sedimentation and coastal dynamics, (ii) sea bottom cartography and mapping of submerged structures, (iii) morpho-bathymetry and geological risk assessment

Submarine canyon morphologies in the Gulf of Palermo (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea) and possible implications for geo-hazard

12 pages, 12 figures, 1 table.

Submarine Slope Failures Along the Northern Sicilian Continental Margin (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea) and Possible Implications for Geo-Hazard

Mass wasting and downslope movements are common processes that have contributed to shape the northern Sicilian continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea) since the Late Quaternary. Nevertheless, processes controlling their evolution are still partially unknown and a variety of geologic factors can be responsible for their formation. In this work we present an overview of the main mass wasting features (submarine canyons, landslides, debris flows) observed and mapped in different sectors of the northern Sicilian margin. The margin is characterized by a narrow, steep continental shelf (1-2°) and a very irregular and steep (6-8°) upper slope. The main aims of this work are: (1) to outline th…

Geomorphology of the urban area of Palermo (Italy)

The results of a geomorphological study carried out in the urban area of Palermo are summarized in a thematic map. Field survey, analysis of aerial photographs and topographic maps, consultation of historical documents and maps, stratigraphic and topographic reconstruction from numerous wells and subsoil data, and bibliographic search were performed, in order to display the geomorphological changes produced by man over time in a densely populated area and to define the Anthropocene of the study area. Palermo town rises along large marine terrace surfaces cut by small river valleys and bordered by wide degraded and abandoned coastal cliffs. Over the last 2700 years, this area was affected by…

Quaternary marine and continental unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units of the NW Sicily coastal belt

In the coastal sector of NW Sicily, the regional correlation of relevant unconformities recognised within the Quaternary sedimentary successions allowed the mapping of seven unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units (UBSUs). The regional unconformities are marine or subaerial erosional surfaces, as well as non-depositional surfaces, locally marked by paleosoils. The erosional surfaces were produced from marine abrasion, surface water overland/concentrated flow, river erosion, karst solution, mass movement, or wind erosion. The main lithofacies of the Quaternary UBSUs consist of: (a) marine and coastal bioclastic calcarenites, (b) aeolian sandstones, (c) river deposits, (d) colluvial deposits…

Hinterland-verging thrusting in the northern Sicily continental margin: a late collisional stage of the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt?

Backthrusting, nappe refolding, and normal faulting frequently characterize late collisional stage of an orogen. Shortening driven by backthrusting is widely reported in the Alpine orogen, and it has been proposed to be responsible for the increase of subsidence (Roure et al., 1990). Moreover delamination and backthrusting has been considered as related to subcritical condition of a Coulomb-type accretional wedge (Torres Carbonell et al., 2011). The Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (SFTB) was characterized by a three-stage evolution during the last 15 My: two main shortening events generated and developed at different structural levels (shallow- and deep-seated thrusts in thin-skinned thrust-m…

Preservation of modern and mis 5.5 erosional landforms and biological structures as sea level markers: A matter of luck?

The Mediterranean Basin is characterized by a significant variability in tectonic behaviour, ranging from subsidence to uplifting. However, those coastal areas considered to be tectonically stable show coastal landforms at elevations consistent with eustatic and isostatic sea level change models. In particular, geomorphological indicators—such as tidal notches or shore platforms—are often used to define the tectonic stability of the Mediterranean coasts. We present the results of swim surveys in nine rocky coastal sectors in the central Mediterranean Sea using the Geoswim approach. The entire route was covered in 22 days for a total distance of 158.5 km. All surveyed sites are considered to…

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…

Integrated analyses of syn-tectonic basin fill to costrain the deformation evolution in a fold thrust belt: field examples from the sicilian chain

STRATIGRAPHIC AND STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF A HIGH RESOLUTION SEISMIC SURVEY PERFORMED IN THE BAY OF AUGUSTA (SE SICILY)

The Bay of Augusta is located along the NE margin of the Hyblean Plateau (SE Sicily). In this area a mostly bioclastic and terrigenous Quaternary succession outcrops. This area recorded a constant regional uplift rate of 50 kA. Two main groups of faults, referred to as the northwest and the southwest fault zones, are separated by a central zone where no evident fault planes have been imaged by seismic data. The faults in both groups strike from N30W to N52W and are also inferred to be steeply dipping. The faults pertaining to northwestern cluster show a very little offset, 50 kA. As concern the southeastern fault zone, results coming from radiocarbon age dating don’t have sufficient resolut…

Dynamics at the Strait of Sicily and Mediterranean Sapropels

Plio-Pleistocene geological evolution of the northern Sicily continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea): new insights from high-resolution, multi-electrode sparker profiles

High-resolution seismic profiles were acquired in the north Sicily offshore region with an innovative, multi-tip sparker array which lacks ringing and has a base frequency around 600 Hz. The new data, combined with published data, suggest that intra-slope and extensional basins formed as a consequence of the late Miocene (?)–early Pliocene shortening and thrusting, and the middle (?)–late Pliocene continental rifting affecting the internal side of the Sicilian-Maghrebian chain. Early (?) Pleistocene to Holocene high-amplitude and high-frequency sea-level changes resulted in repeated sub-aerial exposure and flooding of the shelf, and the deposition of cyclically arranged hemipelagic and shel…

The geographic information in the assessment of geohazard in the marine environment

Slope instability and erosion, mass transport, volcanic and tectonic activity, fast sediment accumulation fluid escape are the main processes responsible for the geohazard in marine environment. A major knowledge about the geological setting of the offshore areas and related processes can be crucial to assess and manage the potential geological risks. High resolution morphobathymetric surveys, yielded in the frame of the MaGIC project (Marine Geohazards along the Italian Coasts), integrated with previously acquired data, single-channel seismic reflection profiles, backscatter data and sediments sampling, allow to define the geomorphological, stratigraphic and structural features in the offs…

Active north-vergent thrusting in the northern Sicily continental margin in the frame of the quaternary evolution of the Sicilian collisional system

Abstract A three-stage evolution has characterized the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (SFTB) during the last 15 My: two main thin-skinned shortening events involving mainly Meso-Cenozoic carbonate units, followed by thick-skinned thrusting involving Plio-Pleistocene deposits in the frontal area as well as the crystalline basement in the inner and deeper sector of the chain. We investigated the northern Sicily continental margin, by using differently-penetrative seismic reflection data and new field surveys, which revealed, both offshore and onshore, north-vergent compressional structures that affected the tectonic edifice during Quaternary time. These structures, correlated with the kinemati…

Submarine canyons of north-western Sicily(Southern Tyrrhenian Sea): Variability in morphology, sedimentary processes and evolution on a tectonically active margin

Plio-Quaternary coastal landscape evolution of north-western Sicily (Italy)

We present and discuss the results of a geomorphological and geological study aimed at reconstructing the Plio-Quaternary evolution of the NW Sicily coastal belt, a low strain rate region in the central Mediterranean Sea. We performed morphometric and field analysis of Quaternary marine terraces extracting more than 300 shoreline location points subdivided into six orders. The obtained dataset was validate by investigating the morphological changes along topographic profiles and comparing the extracted locations and elevations with the stratigraphic boundaries in the Plio-Quaternary units. We distinguished two contiguous coastal sectors characterized by different paleo-shoreline elevations …

Field mapping in Western Sicily in the frame of the CARG Project

Towards a new marine structural model of Italy

The exploitation of economic resources in marine environment and the assessment of natural hazards press a greater knowledge of the sea floor geology. Since the Structural Model of Italy was published in the 1991 by the CNR, new data have been collected concerning the marine geology of the sea floor surrounding Italy, also by means of up to date technologies (digital seismics, SBP Chirp, Multibeam). Data collected during the last decades in the frame of research programs as CROP MARE, CARG, morpho-bathymetric survey of the Tyrrhenian Sea, MAGIC, allow investigating the submerged geological structures with different temporal and spatial resolution. As consequence, at present marine geologist…

Sequence stratigraphy of the Late Neogene – Quaternary deposits in the Egadi Islands offshore (NW Sicily)

A multidisciplinary approach to reveal the Sicily Climate and Environment over the last 20 000 years

Abstract We present a thorough review of the knowledge on the climate and environment in Sicily over the last 20 000 years, taking into account results of several studies carried using terrestrial and marine records. We obtain a coherent framework of the most important changes succeeded in the island, even if some points need further investigation. All the reconstructions of surface temperatures of the seas and the air surrounding Sicily point out severe climatic conditions during the last glacial period. The steppe- and semisteppe-like vegetation pattern testifies, together with additional evidence from geochemical data of lacustrine evidence, markedly arid conditions. Fi-nally, significan…

Unità a limiti inconformi utilizzate per la cartografia dei depositi quaternari nei fogli CARG della Sicilia nord-occidentale

Sono riportati i risultati di uno studio sui depositi quaternari del settore settentrionale siciliano compreso tra Trapani e Cefalù. Dettagliati rilevamenti di campagna e analisi stratigrafiche condotti in questa area nell’ambito del Progetto CARG hanno consentito di definire diverse unità a limiti inconformi, del rango di sintema e subsintema, che costituiscono la sintesi regionale degli affioramenti quaternari della Sicilia nord-occidentale. Sono state riconosciute e studiate numerose successioni di terreni di ambiente da continentale a marino costituite da: depositi fluviali, paralici e marini (conglomerati monogenici o poligenici, areniti e/o peliti sciolte o variamente cementate), accu…

MADONIE MTS. AND CALTANISSETTA BASIN

Toward an update of the structural model in Italian submerged areas: contributions from the EMODnet Geology Project

The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODNet) Project aims at the collection of as many existing data as possible on European Seas to be represented on digital maps at the 1:250,000 scale, accessible via web through a dedicated portal. It is articulated into different Lots concerning Bathymetry, Geology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Physical Habitats, Human activities. The Geology Lot is realized by a Consortium in which the Geological Survey of Italy is partner. EMODnet Geology requires the compilation of a number of layers subdivided into Work Packages (WP), referring to seafloor sediments grainsize, sedimentation rates, Quaternary geology, pre-Quaternary geology and stratigr…

Facies, architecture and genetic controls of carbonate ramp aprons development

Cool-water Carbonate Ramp Aprons (CRA) are depositional systems in which skeletal sand and gravel are redistributed basinwards on a ramp, off a shallow carbonate platform by tractive currents as a result of flow funnelling in between topographic highs. These deposits are different and should not be confused with the carbonate apron models proposed by of Mullins and Cook (1986) who describe either carbonate deep water turbiditic systems accumulated at the base of the slope or talus cones formed at the margins of carbonate build ups. A key example of CRA facies assemblages is represented by the Early Pleistocene, Favignana Calcarenite where bimodal depositional processes, occurring in a water…

Terrazzi deposizionali sommersi al largo della Baia di Carini (Sicilia nord-occidentale)

Bathy-morphological analysis of submarine canyons across the north-western Sicily continental slope

We present here the results of the morpho-bathymetric analyses of the main submarine canyons along the upper slope off the north-western Sicily. This region developed during the Neogene as the transition area between the Sicilian fold and thrust belt and the Tyrrhenian basin realm. Along the upper slope, a dense network of submarine canyon develops from 80 m water depth up to more than 2000 m, showing a large variability of sizes and morphology. In this area submarine canyons play a crucial role related to the along-slope sedimentary transport and are among the most distinctive features of the submarine seascape. This study is based on a quantitative analysis of a high resolution multibeam …

Tidal notches, coastal landforms and relative sea-level changes during the Late Quaternary at Ustica Island (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)

In this paper we present and discuss data concerning the morphostructural evolution at Ustica Island (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) during Late Quaternary. New insights on the relative sea-level changes of Ustica are coming from data collected during a geomorphological field survey around the island, together with the bathymetric analysis of the surrounding seabed and 14C datings on samples of speleothems, flowstones and marine shells found inside three selected sea caves. The survey was mainly accomplished on June 2015 through the first complete snorkel investigation off the about 18 km-long volcanic coast of the island, which allowed to precisely define location, relationship and morphometric fe…

Evidences of mud volcanoes in the Palermo and Termini Gulf (N Sicily offshore)

The occurrence of mud volcanoes and mud domes is, for the first time, documented in the continental shelf and upper slope of the Palermo and Termini Gulf (north Sicily offshore region). The study area belongs to the northern Sicily continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea). Along this margin, morphology of the high-gradient continental slope is irregular due to the presence of structural highs, slope failures and canyons, and is interrupted by a flat area at a depth of 1,500 m. Mud volcano activity generally formed in areas characterised by high sedimentation rates and/or as consequences of regional tectonics (often compressional), overpressure in the sediments and gas generated at diffe…

Mixed Carbonate Ramps: Tectonic and Palaeogeographic settings (Sicily, Southern Italy)

GE.B.EC.SUD: STUDIO GEOLOGICO, BIONOMICO ED ECOLOGICO DI AREE MARINE PROTETTE DELL’ITALIA MERIDIONALE.RISULTATI

Submarine Mass Movements Along a Sediment Starved Margin: The Menorca Channel (Balearic Islands - Western Mediterranean)

6th International Symposium on Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences (ISSMMTC), 23-25 September 2013, Kiel, Germany.-- 10 pages, 5 figures

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) …

Potential Cyclic Steps in a Gully System of the Gulf of Palermo (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea)

Multibeam bathymetric data revealed the occurrence of atrain of bedforms along a gully system in the Gulf of Palermo, Southern Tyrrhenian Sea. The observed gullies, located in the westernmost sector of the Gulf of Palermo, incise the outer shelf at a depth of 120 m and converge at the Zafferano Canyon, connecting to the Palermo Basin at a the depth of 1300 m. Bedforms develop along these gullies and along the thalweg of the canyon, displaying an average wavelength of 200 m, with maximum values of 340 m. Their gully floor location combined with their wave length, upslope asymmetry and crescent shape point to a possible cyclic steporigin of these bedforms. Preliminary numerical modeling sugge…

Controlli stratigrafici e tettonici sull'evoluzione morfo-sedimentaria dell'offshore della Sicilia nord-occidentale durante il Quaternario

Ambiente e clima della Sicilia durante gli ultimi 20 mila anni

Environment and Climate in Sicily over the last 20, 000 years. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2010). A series of recent studies shed light on the central Mediterranean, and Sicily, climate and environment, starting from the last glacial maximum (about 20 ka cal BP). In the present paper, we examine most of these works, in order to unravel environmental changes of the past, mainly in terms of temperature, atmospheric pattern, precipitation, vegetation and faunal associations. The climate of the last glacial maximum was characterised by very low temperature and by repeated northerlies penetration, even during summer. Low precipitation values led to a steppe- or semisteppe-like vegetation pattern, domina…

ANALISI DELL’ETEROGENEITA’ BIOCENOTICA LUNGO LA FASCIA COSTIERA DELLE ISOLE DI USTICA E MARETTIMO

Geological results of the crustal SIRIPRO transect in central Sicily

Submarine canyon of the north-western Sicilian offshore (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea): variability in morphologies, sedimentary processes and tectonic settings

Foglio 607 Corleone

Geology of the Kumeta-Pizzuta ridges (NW Sicily)

We present a 1:25.000 scale geological map of the Kumeta-Pizzuta ridge in north western Sicily (Italy), which was 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 platformderived tectonic units (Imerese and Sicilide, Panormide and Trapanese domains respectively) originated by deformations of former southern Tethyan continental margin. The structural setting shows interference of subsequent tectonic events, different type of structural styles, and different-scale deformational patterns. Early overthrust of the Imerese on the Trapanese units (since late Serravall…

The tectono-sedimentary evolution of the syntectonic basins growing on the Sicilian fold and thrust belt

Elementi di pericolosità geologica dell’offshore del margine calabro-ionico

Seismostratigraphic modeling using constrained HVSR Data

An application of HVSR inversion is presented in order to verify the effectiveness of this technique for purposes of reconstruction of the buried geological setting where stratigraphic constraints are available. Specifically, the reconstruction of the stratigraphy in the studied area has been obtained by a seismic-stratigraphic three-dimensional modeling. This allowed for geophysical and geognostic data derived from surveys carried out during this study, as well as previously by the municipality of Palermo.

The crust in Western and Central Eastern Sicily

The Middle-Late Quaternary littoral deposits of Western Sicily coastal belt (southern Italy): sedimentology and geomorphology

A multidisciplinary study has been carried out on the littoral deposits located along the western Sicily coastal belt, central Mediterranean region, with the aim of unravelling their origin and evolution through analysis of their lithology, texture, sedimentary structures, and geomorphological features. The deposits crop out between the towns of Trapani and Marsala and are distributed from the present-day coastline up to 120 m above sea level, forming four major discrete ridges in the landscape, each of separated by topographic depressions with flat or slightly concave upwards surfaces. The ridges ranging between 5 to 30 m in height, display a NNE-SSW trend almost parallel to the present-da…

Submarine canyons of north-western Sicily (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea): Variability in morphology, sedimentary processes and evolution on a tectonically active margin

Special issue Submarine Canyons: Complex Deep-Sea Environments Unravelled by Multidisciplinary Research.-- 13 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables

THE STRUCTURE OF WESTERNMOST SICILY

Biostratigraphy, Chronostratigraphy and Paleonvironmental Reconstruction of the Palermo Historical Centre Quaternary succession

Marine deposits from the Palermo Plain were historically relevant for the Quaternary Period definition. Here we show lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic data collected on three boreholes in the Palermo historical centre that recovered 36.8, 42.0 and 52.0 metres of sediments overlaying the Numidian Flysch. Marine sedimentary sequences span from the Calabrian Stage (calcareous nannofossil Zone MNN 19d) to the Middle Pleistocene (dominance of medium-sized gephyrocapsids within the MNN 19f Zone) and also include a short Holocene depositional event. Calcareous nannofossil, benthic and planktonic foraminifera assemblages point to a shallow coastal environment, possibly < …

Morphological and seismostratigraphic features and evolution of Caulonia and Marina di Gioiosa canyons, offshore Calabrian margin (Ionian Sea)

Morphology, distribution and development of submarine canyons on the Palermo Gulf Slope (NW Sicilian Offshore)

Mapping tectonics: a key element in submarine geological events and probabilities assessment

A case study of the correlation between steep and narrow margin with the development of fluvial structures: the Ionian Calbrian area

Seismo-stratigraphic model of “La Bandita” area in the Palermo Plain (Sicily, Italy) through HVSR inversion constrained by stratigraphic data

Ambient noise Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) technique is commonly used approach to obtain 1D models of the shear-wave velocity in the shallow surface of an investigated area. However, obtained models can have a wide margin of uncertainty if inversions have not been appropriately constrained by detailed stratigraphic information. An application of HVSR inversion constrained by lithostratigraphic data is presented in order to verify the effectiveness of this technique for purposes of geological and geophysical reconstruction of a sedimentary basin in a densely urbanized area. This is often the case of seismic microzonation studies, in which almost all the information derives fr…

Evoluzione geologica della Sicilia

Valle del Colomba. Panoramica sui rapporti tettonici tra le unità Sicane nei Monti di Palazzo Adriano

The SI.RI.PRO. Project: field stratigraphical-structural data from the N-S central Sicily transect

Ciminna, First Stop - 27 Thursday

A description of the stratigraphic setting and tectonic evolution of the Late Neogene Ciminna basin (Northern Sicily)

Morphologic and sedimentological characters of the inner shelf setting in the Egadi Islands (NW Sicilian offshore, Western Mediterranean)

Slope failures along the northern Sicilian continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian sea)

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

Unità a limiti inconformi dei depositi quaternari utilizzate per la cartografia nei fogli CARG della Sicilia nord occidentale

Morfologie e depositi pleistocenici lungo le falesie carbonatiche di Monte Catalfano (Sicilia settentrionale)

Tectonics, climate and deposition/erosion cycles during the Quaternary in Western Sicily

Continental to marine Quaternary deposits outcrop in thin and patchily exposed successions in Western Sicily, overlying a previously deformed substrate, known as the Neogene-Early Quaternary chain. These deposits are grouped in sedimentary units bounded by unconformity surfaces. The detected unconformities, often of regional extent, allows us to define seven main synthems: a) Marsala synthem is a Lower Pleistocene 2-80 m-thick body of marine/coastal calcarenites; b) Piana di Partinico synthem is made up of 1-5 m thick marine/continental clastics located on several marine terraces related to sea level highstand phases of Middle Pleistocene (Oxygen Isotope Stages – OISs - 17-7); c) Polisano s…

Fogli 609-596, Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia

Il Servizio Geologico Nazionale ha unificato i Fogli 609 "Termini Imerese" e 596 "Capo Plaia" in un unico Foglio denominato 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" allo scopo di uniformare i rilievi e raccoglierne la descrizione in un unico volume delle Note Illustrative. Il Foglio 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" della Carta Geologica d’Italia in scala 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell’ambito del Progetto CARG con i fondi della Legge 67/88 - Legge 226/99 con una convenzione tra Servizio Geologico Nazionale ora ISPRA) e Regione Siciliana. Le aree ricadono interamente nella Provincia di Palermo, comprendono la fascia marina del Golfo di Termini Imerese fino al promontorio di Capo Plaia, la r…

CARATTERI MORFOLOGICI E SEDIMENTOLOGICI DEGLI AMBIENTI DI PIATTAFORMA INTERNA DELLE ISOLE EGADI (OFFSHORE SICILIA NORD-OCCIDENTALE)

Eustatic and oceanographic control on sedimentary evolution of middle-late Quaternary shelf margin-to-upper slope deposits on the Egadi Islands offshore (Italy)

During the past decades a number of sequence stratigraphy studies illustrated how, during Quaternary, interaction between sea level changes and sediment supply controlled the depositional evolution along continental margins, giving a cyclic signature to the sedimentary infilling. However, as both deposition and erosion are processes ultimately controlled by balance between environmental energy and sedimentary influx, also the oceanographic regime takes part in controlling the sedimentary growth along the continental margin. This is exactly what occurs on physiographic settings as islands offshore areas, where bottom currents can be very energetic. In the western Sicily offshore, southwards …

Seismostratigraphic and sedimentologic analysis of Late Quaternary deposits in the Gulf of Termini Imerese (offshore Northern Sicily)

Understanding Paleomagnetic Rotations in Sicily: Thrust Versus Strike-Slip Tectonics

The paleomagnetic investigation of the western Sicily Maghrebian belt has revealed since the 1970s that large clockwise rotations up to 140° with respect to the Hyblean-African foreland occurred synchronous with Tertiary shortening of the chain. The observation that rotations decrease stepwise from internal to external tectono-stratigraphic units led in the 1990s to a widely accepted model postulating that rotational thrust-sheet emplaced during forward orogenic propagation. More recently, other authors suggested that clockwise rotations from Sicily are conversely the result of late orogenic dextral strike-slip tectonics. Here we report on a paleomagnetic investigation of 30 Jurassic-Eocene…

The Sicilian collisional boundary. An unconventional carbonate foreland and fold and thrust belt.

Hatching Success of Caretta caretta on a Mediterranean Volcanic Beach: Impacts from Environmental Parameters and Substrate Composition

New data on the potential impact of environmental parameters and the mineralogical nature of the substrate on the hatching success of the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta on a volcanic beach on Linosa Island in the central Mediterranean Sea are reported. During 2 years of investigation (2018-19), five nests were observed. The temperature and moisture of the nests were determined along with the grain size and mineralogical nature of the substrate. The temperature values of the nests recorded at depths of 5 and 35 cm showed an average temperature incubation of 32.2°C ± 1.4°C and 32.8°C ± 1.6°C, respectively, with peaks close to 37°C. The sedimentological analysis carried out on two cores…

Implicazioni cronostratigrafiche sui depositi plio-pleistocenici della Sicilia e del suo offshore nel quadro del Progetto CARG

Evoluzione di sistemi deposizionali di piattaforma continentale durante il Pleistocene superiore - Olocene: analisi sedimentologica di due carote prelevate nel Mar Tirreno Meridionale

E’ stato condotto uno studio sedimentologico di due carote prelevate nell’offshore della Sicilia settentrionale allo scopo di analizzare i cambiamenti di regime deposizionale verificatisi nel Pleistocene superiore - Olocene. Sulle due carote, provenienti dal Golfo di Termini Imerese (2,74 m di lunghezza, profondità -126 m) e dalla Baia di Carini (1,35 m di lunghezza, profondità -194 m), sono state anche eseguite analisi geochimiche e micropaleontologiche. Da un punto di vista granulometrico in entrambe le carote si può notare che la parte inferiore è principalmente costituita da una granulometria grossolana (ghiaia, ghiaia sabbiosa) che passa ad una granulometria di tipo argillo-siltosa nel…

Marine geological mapping as a tool for natural hazard evaluation and coastal management. The case study of northern Sicilian offshore

ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE MESSINIAN BASINS DEVELOPED ON TOP OF THE SICILIAN FOLD AND THRUST BELT

During the Messinian the inherited paleo-topography conditioned the depositional environments of the Mediterranean region, already strongly influenced by the effects of the salinity crisis, 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 in thin-skinned thrust-model) and at different time intervals, involving mainly the Meso-Cenozoic carbonate units of th…

Extensive backthrusting features in the northern Sicily continental margin highlight a late collisional stage of the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt

Backthrusting, nappe refolding, and normal faulting frequently characterize late collisional stage of an orogen. Shortening driven by backthrusting is widely reported in the Alpine orogen, and it has been proposed to be responsible for the increase of subsidence. Moreover delamination and backthrusting has been considered as related to subcritical condition of a Coulomb-type accretional wedge (Torres Carbonell et al., 2011). The Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (SFTB) was characterized by a three-stage evolution during the last 15 My: two main shortening events generated and developed at different structural levels (shallow- and deep-seated thrusts in thinskinned thrust-model) and different ti…

Tectono-sedimentary evolution of wedge-top basins in the north-western Sicilian Maghrebides (Italy)

Sea Crop and Land seismic profiles data as a premise to a deep crustal investigation in Sicily.

Hinterland-Verging Thrusting in the Northern Sicily Continental Margin: Evidences for a Late Collisional Stage of the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt?

The Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt developed during Neogene-Quaternary times characterized by main African-wards tectonic transport direction. Recent investigations highlighted extensive hinterland-verging tectonic structures active during late Pliocene-Pleistocene time suggesting a late collisional stage of the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt that could be a precursor of a change in the subduction polarity in the central belt of Mediterranean.

Deep controls on foreland basin system evolution along the Sicilian fold and thrust belt

Abstract Neogene-Quaternary wedge-top-basins arose during the Sicilian fold and thrust belt (FTB) build-up. The infilling sedimentary successions are: i) middle-upper Miocene silicoclastics succession, accommodated on top of the accreted Sicilide and Numidian flysch nappes; ii) upper Miocene-lower Pliocene deepening-upwards sediments unconformably overlying the inner Meso-Cenozoic deep-water, Imerese and Sicanian thrust units; iii) Upper Pliocene-Quaternary coastal-open shelf deposits unconformably covering (in the outer sector of the FTB) a tectonic stack (Gela thrust system). These successions are characterized by a basal unconformity on the deformed substrate believed to be the depositio…

Progetto MAGIC: “L’informazione territoriale nella valutazione del rischio geologico in ambiente marino”. . In: Workshop GIS Day: "GIStales: di dati, persone e strumenti”.

MaGIC è un progetto quinquennale (2007-2012) finanziato dal Dipartimento Nazionale della Protezione Civile per l'acquisizione di dati morfobatimetrici ad alta risoluzione. Lo scopo principale del progetto è quello di definire e rappresentare i principali elementi morfologici dei fondali marini, in particolar modo quelli derivanti da dinamiche morfo-sedimentarie che implicano mobilità e/o instabilità dei sedimenti e conseguenti situazioni di pericolosità per le infrastrutture e le aree costiere urbanizzate. I rilievi morfobatimetrici vengono realizzati con un sistema ecoscandaglio radiale multifascio (Multibeam echosounder systems) calibrato ad hoc nell’area di lavoro e corretto in velocità …

Deep controls on Foreland Basin System evolution along the Sicily Thrust Belt

The palinspastic restoration of the Sicilian crustal geological cross section (Catalano et al., 2013) points out two subsequent main thrust (MT1 and MT2) active during the Neogene tectonic evolution as well as the decrease of slip and shortening rate estimated for MT2 with respect to MT1 early main thrust. During orogenic building, syn-tectonic deposits are accumulated inside wedge-top-basin that grow on top of thrust sheets. Sedimentary and stratigraphic features of wedge-top basin change trough time following fold and thrust belt evolution. Neogene-Quaternary syn- tectonic successions (terrigenous, evaporitic, hemipelagic and shallow water deposits) extensively crop-out, in more or less w…

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…

DATI PRELIMINARI RIGUARDANTI LA MORFOLOGIA E LA STRATIGRAFIA DI UN’AREA DEL MARGINE IONICO DELLA CLABRIA: CANYON DI CAULONIA E DI MARINA DI GIOIOSA

EXTENSIVE FIELD MAPPING IN SICILY (CARG PROJECT) IN THE FRAME OF THE CRUSTAL SEISMIC REFLECTION ACQUISITION (SI.RI.PRO PROJECT).

Marine geology of the Gulf of Castellammare (NW Sicily offshore) as depicted in the sheet n. 593 of the Geologic map of Italy, scale 1:50.000

The buried Fold and Thrust Belt in Sicily: perspectives for future exploration.

The study region is a part of the Sicilian-Maghrebian Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB), a segment of the Alpine collisional belt, recently described as a result of both post-collisional convergence between Africa and Europe and roll-back of the subduction hinge of the Ionian lithosphere. The region (extending in central Sicily from the Madonie Mountains. to the eastern corner of the Iblean-Pelagian foreland through the impressive NE-SW trending Tertiary clastic and evaporitic range of the Caltanissetta trough) is located in an area where the main thrust system disappears beneath a wedge of deformed Neogene deposits. Earlier studies have neglected the importance of the potential target for hydroca…

Carta Geologica d'Italia alla scala 1:50.000 e note illustrative del foglio 594-585 PARTINICO-MONDELLO.

The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Partinico” and “Mondello”. The map sheet “Partinico-Mondello” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebides to the Calabrian arc and the Southern Apennines. The fTB and its submerged western and northern exten- sions are partly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sec- tor, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compress…

Near surface seismostratigraphic modelling of the Bandita plain in Palermo town (Italy) from integra-ted analysis of HVSR and stratigraphic data

The Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) noise method (Nakamura, 1989) is nowadays widely used to estimate the resonance frequencies of geological structures (Bonnefoy-Claudet, 2006). However, often HVSR is also used to obtain information on the depth of the seismic bedrock and on thickness and seismic velocity of the process overburden deposits, using inversion techniques of the H/V curve (Fäh et al., 2003). This nevertheless produce results with large uncertainty intervals of parameters, and then must be necessarily constrained by detailed stratigraphic information. An application of HVSR inversion is presented in order to verify the effectiveness of this technique for purposes of…

I fondali marini della penisola di Capo San Vito (Sicilia Nord-Occidentale)

Foglio 593, Castellammare del Golfo

Il Foglio 593 “Castellammare del Golfo” della Carta Geologica d’Italia in scala 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell’ambito del Progetto CARG con i fondi della Legge 305/89, con una convenzione tra Servizio Geologico Nazionale (ora ISPRA) e la Regione Siciliana. Il Foglio “Castellammare del Golfo” ricopre un settore dell’ estremità nordoccidentale della Sicilia e comprende le aree marine del Golfo del Cofano, della Baia di San Vito e della porzione centro-occidentale del Golfo di Castellammare, e quelle emerse costituite dalla dorsale dei Monti di Capo San Vito, dall’ampio settore collinare di Monte Luziano e Monte Bosco, dal massiccio di Monte Inici e dai pianori della Piana di Castellammare, …

Geoacoustic Inversion with Drifting Buoys: Enverse 1997–98 Experiments (Marettimo Is.)

Acoustic buoys were developed to allow the rapid determination of range-dependent bottom properties in a shallow water environment from the inversion of propagation measurements. The main features of the buoys are the large dynamic range, digital signal conditioning unit, global positioning system receiver and reliable radio data link. The buoys drift away from a broadband source receiving its pings at known positions. Single hydrophone, matched waveform, inversion techniques are applied to the received signals to invert for geoacoustic parameters. Eight prototypes were tested over the southern continental shelf off the island of Marettimo (Sicily) during the EnVerse 97 sea trials. Calibrat…

IL PROGETTO GEBECSUD: UN APPROCCIO DI TIPO PAESAGGISTICO ALLA VALUTAZIONE DELLA QUALITÀ AMBIENTALE IN AREE MARINE COSTIERE

Carta geologica d'italia alla scala 1:50.000 e note illustrative del foglio 595_Palermo

The Map Sheet 1:50.000 595 ”Palermo” includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Palermo”. The map sheet “Palermo” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the Central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebide to the Calabrian arc and Southern Apennines. The FTB and its submerged western and northern extensions are part- ly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sector, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compressional move- ments, after the Paleogene Alpine orog…

Marine Geoarchaeological Survey: Preliminary Data from Island of Mozia (Westernmost Sicily)

Sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of wedge-top clastic successions: Insights and open questions from the upper Tortonian Terravecchia Formation of the Scillato Basin (central-northern Sicily, Italy)

Abstract An up to 1250 m-thick clastic succession, the upper Tortonian Terravecchia Formation (TRV), has been analysed in detail in the middle–late Miocene Scillato wedge-top Basin grown above an already deformed tectonic stack in the northern Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt. The study involved field-based sedimentological and stratigraphic analyses aimed to determine to what extent both the depositional and sequence stratigraphic evolution of the Scillato Basin have been ruled by syn-sedimentary compressional to transpressional tectonics. Widespread intraformational angular unconformities associated with sudden change of palaeocurrents pattern and successive source area shifting suggest that…

Stop 8: The Northern sector of the Chain (S. Vito Peninsula): The Panormide Thrust

Understanding paleomagnetic rotations in Sicily: Thrust vs. transpressive structures

Since the 1970s, paleomagnetic data collected in Sicily have documented large magnitude clockwise (CW) rotations around vertical axis with respect to Africa and the Hyblean foreland. Many Authors argued that rotations arise from rotational thrusting of large coherent nappes coinciding with paleogeographic units. In the forward thrust propagation process, each nappe rotates the overlying nappe stack. This would explain the stepwise decrease of rotation magnitudes from the internal Panormide unit (90°-140°) to the external Saccense unit, yielding no rotation. However, other Authors later proposed that rotations of Sicily are the consequence of dextral shear occurring since late Miocene times …

Development, human impact and habitat distribution in submarine canyons of the Central and Western Mediterranean

We present in this paper different studies on canyon systems, adopting distinct approaches, temporal and spatial scales. Most of our study areas coincide with the NW Sicilian canyons, which present striking differences in their morphologies in response to the Plio-Quaternary tectonic evolution of the northern Sicilian margin. In the present-day, active sedimentary processes inferred from bedform analyses along some of the studied canyons could drive to enhanced biological activities along them. This is also confirmed by an on-going study of the impact of trawling fishery on the morphology and sedimentary environments of the Sicilian margin, where intense deep-sea bottom trawling activities …

Growth and geomorphic evolution of the Ustica volcanic complex at the Africa-Europe plate margin (Tyrrhenian Sea)

18 pages, 13 figures, 1 table

An integrated investigation for core GMS-93/3, NW Sicily offshore (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea): high-resolution seasmic profiles and calcareous plankton biostratigraphy

Late Quaternary high uplift rates in northeastern Sicily: evidence from calcareous nannofossils and benthic and planktonic foraminifera

The northeastern part of Sicily is characterized by intense seismic activity. Several systems of faults have been recognized in Pliocene and Pleistocene sediments in the area and, in fact, estimates of uplift rates are among the highest recorded in Sicily and south Italy. We examined calcareous nannofossil and benthic and planktonic foraminifera assemblages from pelitic sediments of the Contrada Zura section (Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto Basin, Furnari village, Messina). The occurrence of Emiliania huxleyi, a coccolithophore species which appeared in the oceanic record about 270,000 years ago, is witness to the uniqueness of this outcrop, while the planktonic/benthic foraminifera ratio indicat…

Late Quaternary sedimentary evolution of the Castellammare Gulf (North-Western Sicily offshore)

High-resolution seismic stratigraphy has been applied to the interpretation of the stratigraphic architecture of Late Pleistocene and Holocene successions on the continental shelf and upper slope of the Gulf of Castellammare, North-Western Sicily. The Late Quaternary type 1 depositional sequence is bounded by a regional unconformity and it is made up of four systems tracts, developed under fourth order relative sea level fluctuations, after the previous highstand of isotope Stage 5e. Systems tract are located in different parts of the basin, two being confined to the outer shelf and the upper slope, the other developed along the inner shelf. Facies associations, geomorphological elements, a…

I depositi quaternari nei fogli CARG della Sicilia nord occidentale: implicazioni climatiche, ambientali e tettoniche

Quaternary deposits within the National Geologic Maps of Northwestern Sicily: climatic, environmental and tectonic implications. In Northwestern Sicily, Quaternary continental, coastal and marine deposits outcrop. The occurrence of deposits enclosing lower and upper unconformity surfaces allowed to define several unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units (synthems). These units have been mapped in the several National Geologic Maps prepared in the frame of the CARG Project. Stratigraphic features of the Quaternary deposits and their relationship with marine/fluvial terraces, other landforms and tectonic structures suggest the presence of small and isolated sedimentary areas placed on structu…

Tectonically-enhanced deposition in the Late Tortonian Scillato Basin (N Sicily): a sequence stratigraphic view

Il controllo della sismica a riflessione nella elaborazione dei Fogli Geologici del Progetto CARG nella Sicilia Occidentale Seismic reflection constraints in the frame of the CARG Project in Western Sicily

In the frame of the CARG Project, the interpretation of several seismic reflection profiles has provided new important constraints aimed at clarify the deep structural setting of the Central-Western Sicily and the related offshore fold and thrust belt. It has already been envisaged as a tectonic pile mainly made up of deep water Meso-Cenozoic carbonate units overriding a thick stack of Meso-Cenozoic carbonate platform units, detached from their crystalline basement. The data collected, constrained by wells logs, field and stratigraphic data, have improved the knowledge of a complex sector outcropping in the Corleone and Caccamo geologic sheets area. Seismic interpretation displayed the rela…

WALKING ALONG A CRUSTAL PROFILE ACROSS THE SICILY FOLD AND THRUST BELT

SIRIPRO PROJECT: FIELD AND STRATIGRAPHICAL-STRUCTURAL DATA FROM N-S CENTRAL SICILY TRANSECT

PANORAMICA SUI RAPPORTI TETTONICI TRA LE UNITA' SICANE NEI MONTI DI PALAZZO ADRIANO

Plio-Quaternary coastal landscape evolution of north-western Sicily (Italy)

We present and discuss the results of a geomorphological and geological study aimed at reconstructing the Plio-Quaternary evolution of the NW Sicily coastal belt , a low strain rate region in the central Mediterranean Sea. We performed morphometric and field analysis of Quaternary marine terraces extracting more than 300 shoreline location points subdivided into six orders. The obtained dataset was validate by investigating the morphological changes along topographic profiles and comparing the extracted locations and elevations with the stratigraphic boundaries in the Plio-Quaternary units. We distinguished two contiguous coastal sectors characterized by different paleo-shoreline elevations…

Carta geomorfologia e sedimentologica dei fondali dell’Isola di Ustica

Carta Geologica d’Italia a scala 1:50.000-Foglio 604 “ISOLE EGADI”. Progetto CARG.

Carta Geologica d’Italia alla scala 1:50.000 del Foglio 608 “Caccamo”. Progetto CARG.

Foglio 594 Partinico

Note illustrative della Carta Geologica d’Italia alla scala 1:50.000 del Foglio 593 “Castellammare del Golfo” (settore marino)