Active tectonics along the south east offshore margin of Mt. Etna: New insights from high-resolution seismic profiles

The offshore margin of Mt. Etna has been shaped by Middle Pleistocene to Holocene shortening and extension and, more recently, by gravity-related sliding of the volcanic edifice. These processes have acted contemporaneously although the gravitational component largely prevails over the tectonic one. In order to investigate this issue, we focused on the main role of active tectonics along the south-eastern offshore of Mt. Etna by means of marine high-resolution seismic data. Seismic profiles revealed post-220 ka sedimentary deposits unconformably overlaying the Lower-Middle Pleistocene Etnean clayey substratum and volcanics of the Basal Tholeiitic phase and the Timpe phase. Offshore Aci Trez…

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

Geometry and modeling of an active offshore thrust-related fold system: The Amendolara Ridge, Ionian Sea, southern Italy

On the Ionian Sea coast of southern Italy, spanning the transition from the Calabrian Arc to the Apennines, NE-directed motion of the thin-skinned frontal thrust belt of the Apennines toward the Apulian foreland reportedly ceased during the Early-Middle Pleistocene (PATACCA & SCANDONE, 2007). Deformation since then was dominated by the regional uplift of the Calabrian Arc (WESTAWAY, 1993; CUCCI & CINTI, 1998). However, detailed structural and geomorphologic analysis has revealed that uplift of Middle Pleistocene and younger marine terraces not only ensues from a regional-scale process, but also reflects a smaller-wavelength component of shortening which is attributed to recent, deeper activ…

Elusive active faults in a low strain rate region (Sicily, Italy): Hints from a multidisciplinary land-to-sea approach

Low Strain Rate regions (LSRrs), i.e., areas undergoing tectonic deformation at rates of 1 mm/yr or less, often host important cities and highly vulnerable anthropogenic assets, and due to their subdued topography and relatively infrequent seismicity, are often considered low seismic hazard areas. Despite this, infrequent but high-magnitude earthquakes in such regions suggest that identifying active structures in the LSRr is one of the primary challenges for both the scientific community and modern societies. In such regions, one of the main issues in identifying active faults is the lack of valuable outcrop data due to erosional/sedimentation rates overwhelming the fault deformation, causi…

Neogene to Quaternary evolution of the Calabrian Subduction System, (Central Mediterranean)

We construct an ESE striking to WNW geological cross-section across the Calabrian Subduction System (Central Mediterranean) using seismic near vertical profiles and field data. The interpreted profiles were time-to-depth converted, merged and translated in a geological section stretching from the Marsili Oceanic Basin (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea) to the Ionian accretionary complex . Moving toward the east, the resulting section through the Paola, Amantea, and Crati basins, the Coastal Chain and Sila Massif and Crotone basin. The maximum elongation of these basins change progressively moving toward the east: from NNW in the Paola to NS in the Crati to the NNE in the Crotone basins. Data we pres…

Nuove metodologie per l’esplorazione SIsmica a RIflessione PROfonda (SI.RI.PRO.) applicate allo studio della crosta in Sicilia (Italia).

Large deep-seated gravitational slide off Ischia volcanic island, Eastern Tyrrhenian sea (Italy)

Ischia island develops at the edge of the shelf area and represents the sub-aerial section of a larger, E-W trending volcanic ridge including others submerged or buried volcanic edifices. In the past decade the island’s offshore has been the object of extensive hydrographic and marine geophysical surveys that have shown the structural complexity of the undersea sections and have overall shown the importance of gravity failures in island’s evolution. In this paper we report a previously unreported deep-seated slump structure and associated surficial mass wasting phenomena which occur off Ischia south-western flank. Recently acquired hydrological and geophysical data lead to identify the morp…

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

12 pages, 12 figures, 1 table.

Caratterizzazione chimica ed isotopica della carota MSK-C4 (Tirreno Meridionale)

ACTIVE DEFORMATION IN SICILY FROM GPS VELOCITIES OF THE PERI-TYRRHENIAN GEODETIC ARRAY (PTGA)

Boulder coastal deposits at Favignana Island rocky coast (Sicily, Italy): Litho-structural and hydrodynamic control

Boulders are frequently dislodged from rock platforms, transported and deposited along coastal zones by high-magnitude storm waves or tsunamis. Their size and shape are often controlled by the thickness of bedding planes as well as by high-angle to bedding fracture network. We investigate these processes along two coastal areas of Favignana Island by integrating geological data for 81 boulders, 49 rupture surfaces (called sockets) and fracture orientation and spacing with four radiocarbon dates, numerical hydrodynamic analysis, and hindcast numerical simulation data. Boulders are scattered along the carbonate platform as isolated blocks or in small groups, which form, as a whole, a disconti…

Tectono-stratigraphic modelling of the North Sicily continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea).

A two-dimensional numerical modelling that simulate the kinematic and thermal response of the lithosphere to thinning was used for the quantitative reconstruction of the late Neogene to Recent times tectonic and stratigraphic evolution of the North Sicily continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea). The numerical study of the evolution of the North Sicily margin builds on the crustal image and kinematic interpretation of the margin obtained by Pepe et al. [Tectonics 19 (2000) 241] on the basis of seismic data and gravity modelling. Tectonic modeling indicate that different segments of the margin were undergoing different vertical movements, which are mainly expression of the rifting and th…

Quantitative identification, distribution and source apportionment of anthropogenic trace metals in marine sediment of Milazzo gulf (N-E Sicily): preliminary results

Field and seismic reflection information in Sicily and surrounding areas: constraints for the deep seismic (SIRIPRO) investigation.

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…

Active deformation evidence in the offshore of western Calabria (southern Tyrrhenian Sea) from ultra-resolution multichannel seismic reflection data: results from the Gulf of Sant'Eufemia

<p>An ultra-resolution, multichannel seismic reflection data set was collected during an oceanographic cruise organised in the frame of the “<em>Earthquake Potential of Active Faults using offshore Geological and Morphological Indicators</em>” (EPAF) project, which was founded by the Scientific and Technological Cooperation (Scientific Track 2017) between the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space of the State of Israel. The data acquisition approach was based on innovative technologies for the offshore imaging of stratigraphy and structures alo…

Resurgent uplift at large calderas and relationship to caldera-forming faults and the magma reservoir: New insights from the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera (Italy)

Abstract Resurgence uplift is the rising of the caldera floor, mainly due to pressure or volume changes in the magma reservoir. Identifying resurgence structures and understanding their relationship to the magmatic reservoir is challenging. We investigate the resurgence structures of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera (Italy) by integrating bathymetric data, high-resolution seismic profiles and Differential Synthetic-Aperture Radar Interferometry data. Our results show that the resurgent area is manifested as 1) a central dome constituted by two main blocks bounded by NNE-SSW trending faults, 2) an apical graben developed on top of the most uplifted block, 3) a peripheral zone including sev…

Geophysical investigation of Pleistocene volcanism and tectonics offshore Capo Vaticano (Calabria, southeastern Tyrrhenian Sea)

Abstract Magma upwelling forming volcanic plumbing systems in back arc settings is typically controlled by extensional tectonic structures of the upper crust. Here we investigate this process in the area between the volcanic arc of the Aeolian Islands and the Calabrian arc (SE Tyrrhenian Sea) by integrating morpho-bathymetry and reflection seismic data with the outcomes of “Inverse 3D magnetic modeling” of previously gathered aeromagnetic data. Morpho-bathymetric data highlight the presence of a seamount ∼10 km offshore Capo Vaticano Promontory (eastern Calabria). This feature, named Capo Vaticano seamount is composed of a series of NE-trending ridges, the greatest of which (R1) is ∼12 km l…

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…

Sismotettonica della Faglia di Tindari e delle aree adiacenti (Sicilia nord-orientale)

The Tindari Fault System (southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) is a regional structure located at the transition between ongoing contractional and extensional crustal compartments above the western edge of the downgoing Ionian slab. Onshore structural data, an offshore seismic reflection profile, and earthquake data are here analyzed to constrain the present geometry of the Tindary Fault System and its tectonic evolution since Neogene, with particular regard to the present and recent activity.

An active oblique-contractional belt at the transition between the Southern Apennines and Calabrian Arc: The Amendolara Ridge, Ionian Sea, Italy

High-resolution, single-channel seismic and multibeam bathymetry data collected at the Amendolara Ridge, a key submarine area marking the junction between the Apennine collision belt and the Calabrian subduction forearc, reveal active deformation in a supposedly stable crustal sector. New data, integrated with existing multichannel seismic profiles calibrated with oil-exploratory wells, show that middle to late Pleistocene sediments are deformed in growth folds above blind oblique-reverse faults that bound a regional pop-up. Data analysis indicates that similar to 10 to 20km long banks that top the similar to 80km long, NW-SE trending ridge are structural culminations above en echelon fault…

Structural highs formation and their relationship to sedimentary basins in the north Sicily continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea): implication for the Drepano Thrust Front.

Two high-penetration seismic profiles across the continental margin of north Sicily (southern Tyrrhenian Sea) have been interpreted to construct a crustal section across the margin and to provide a three-dimensional perspective on the upper crustal setting of the Solunto High and its structural relationships with the adjacent Cefalù Basin. Crystalline rocks of the Kabilian-Calabrian Units (KCU) are recognized in the Solunto High region and farther to the north. The KCU body is tectonically superimposed onto sedimentary rocks pertaining to the Sicilian-Maghrebian Units (SMU) and the Solunto High corresponds to the thrust sheet culmination. Its occurrence in the Solunto High demonstrates that…

Seismic stratigraphy of upper Quaternary shallow-water contourite drifts in the Gulf of Taranto (Ionian Sea, southern Italy)

Abstract The occurrence of articulated seafloor morphology over continental shelf-upper slope environments, may result in a significant change in the patterns and intensity of basin-scale thermohaline circulation during eustatic sea-level fluctuations. These changes may cause, in turn, erosion, deposition and/or transport of sediments at the seafloor, to form shallow-water contourite drifts. Here we investigate this process in the NW sector of the Gulf of Taranto (Ionian Sea) during and following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), by integrating multibeam bathymetric data, ultra-high resolution seismic-reflection data and gravity core data. Sea level fall caused subaerial exposure of the summi…

The use and beauty of ultra-high-resolution seismic reflection imaging in Late Quaternary marine volcaniclastic settings, Napoli Bay, Italy

A Nápolyi-öbölben felvett ultra nagy felbontású egycsatornás (IKB-Seistec™) reflexiós szeizmikus szelvények korábbi geológiai és geofizikai vizsgálatok eredményeivel együtt kivételes, eddig soha nem látott felbontású szeizmikus leképezését nyújtják a Flegrei-mezők és a Somma-Vezúv felszín alá süllyedt késő-pleisztocén–holocén rétegtani felépí - tésének. A szeizmikus szelvényeken látott geometria és gravitációs magvevővel nyert üledékek adatainak összevetéséből Campania partközeli kontinentális talapzatán számos olyan üledékes és vulkáni szerkezet, valamint hidrotermális jelenség került leképezésre, melyek a legutolsó glaciális maximum (kb. 18 000 év) óta keletkeztek. A Pozzuoli-öbölben mért…

Pattern and rate of post-20 ka vertical tectonic motion around the Capo Vaticano Promontory (W Calabria, Italy) based on offshore geomorphological indicators

The magnitude and rate of Late Pleistocene-Holocene vertical tectonic movements offshore of the Capo Vaticano Promontory (western Calabria, southern Italy) have been measured on the basis of the present-day depth variations of the edges of submerged depositional terraces (and associated abrasion platforms) that formed below the storm-wave base, during the sea level stillstand of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). These depositional features, represented by submerged prograding wedges and an associated terrace-shaped upper boundary, have been identified in high-resolution seismic reflection profiles acquired along the continental shelf and the upper slope of the promontory, and are referred to …

Arc and forearc rifting in the Tyrrhenian subduction system

The evolution of forearc and backarc domains is usually treated separately, as they are separated by a volcanic arc. We analyse their spatial and temporal relationships in the Tyrrhenian subduction system, using seismic profiles and numerical modelling. A volcanic arc, which included the Marsili volcano, was involved in arc-rifting during the Pliocene. This process led to the formation of an oceanic backarc basin (~ 1.8 Ma) to the west of the Marsili volcano. The eastern region corresponded to the forearc domain, floored by serpentinised mantle. Here, a new volcanic arc formed at ~ 1 Ma, marking the onset of the forearc-rifting. This work highlights that fluids and melts induce weakening of…

The holocene marine record of unrest, volcanism, and hydrothermal activity of campi flegrei and somma-vesuvius

Abstract This chapter illustrates the marine record of a spectrum of volcanic, hydrothermal, and sedimentary features that characterize the Latest Pleistocene–Holocene evolution of the Naples Bay offshore Campi Flegrei and Somma–Vesuvius. The work is based on review of previous literature integrated with interpretation of new high-resolution marine Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) derived from swath bathymetry surveys and high-resolution reflection seismic profiles calibrated with marine gravity core data. Seismic profiles from Pozzuoli Bay provide detailed images of the ring fault system and resurgent dome associated with the evolution of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) collapse caldera and …

Pattern and rate of post-20 ka verticaltectonic motion around Capo Vaticanopromontory (W Calabria, Italy) based onoffshore geomorphological indicators

The magnitude and rate of Late Pleistocene – Holocene vertical tectonic movements offshore Capo Vaticano (western Calabria) have been quantified on the basis of the depths of infralittoral prograding wedges (IPWs) and associated abrasion platforms formed during the stillstand of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). These features were identified on high-resolution reflection seismic profiles acquired along the continental shelf and upper slope around the promontory. The pattern of vertical movements of the Capo Vaticano promontory is characterized by a marked asymmetry associated with a NE-directed tilt. Removal of the non tectonic component of vertical changes using an ice-volume equivalent eus…

Seismotectonics of the active thrust front in southwestern Sicily: hints on the Belice and Selinunte seismogenic sources

We present a seismotectonic model of the active thrust front in western Sicily, which includes the area hit by the 1968 Belice earthquake sequence. The ~40 km long South-WEstern Sicilian Thrust (SWEST) is formed by two aligned albeit non-parallel fault arrays, the Granitola-Castelevetrano Thrust System (GCTS) in the west and the Partanna- Poggioreale Thrust System (PPTS) in the east. The ~NE-SW trending, NW-dipping GCTS straddles from the Pelagian coastline to Castelvetrano, is ~18 km long and composed of two segments, with the northern, ~12 km long one showing geodetic and geologic evidence of active deformation (Barreca et al., 2014). The segment is marked by a sharp gradient in Different…

Crustal architecture and Miocene to Recent evolution of the W Calabria continental margin (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea)

An active oblique-contractional belt at the transition between the Southern Apennines and Calabrian Arc: The Amendolara Ridge, Ionian Sea, Italy

High-resolution, single-channel seismic and multibeam bathymetry data collected at the Amendolara Ridge, a key submarine area marking the junction between the Apennine collision belt and the Calabrian subduction forearc, reveal active deformation in a supposedly stable crustal sector. New data, integrated with existing multichannel seismic profiles calibrated with oil-exploratory wells, show that middle to late Pleistocene sediments are deformed in growth folds above blind oblique-reverse faults that bound a regional pop-up. Data analysis indicates that ~10 to 20 km long banks that top the ~80 km long, NW-SE trending ridge are structural culminations above en echelon fault segments. Numeric…

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…

Palaeogeographical evolution of the Egadi Islands (western Sicily, Italy). Implications for late Pleistocene and early Holocene sea crossings by humans and other mammals in the western Mediterranean

Abstract The continental shelf morphology offshore of western Sicily suggests that during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 20 ka cal BP), two of the Egadi Islands, Favignana and Levanzo, were connected to Sicily by a wide emerged plain, while Marettimo was only separated from the other islands by a narrow channel. We studied the relative sea-level variation from the LGM until today, focussing on two important time slices: the Mesolithic (9.5–13 ka cal BP) and the Neolithic (6.5–7.5 ka cal BP). In this research, we discuss a sea-level rise model by means of geomorphological, archaeological and geophysical observations and new radiocarbon dating of marine and terrestrial fossil fauna. The resul…

The NW sector of the Sicily Channel: geometry and evolution of inverted structural lineaments

The 3-D trend of anticline axial planes, fault planes and surfaces has been reconstructed in the offshore area between the Egadi Islands and the Sciacca High from the interpretation of multichannel seismic reflection profiles and well data (available from the VIDEPI project database). In particular, isopach maps generated for the five seismic units of age between Cretaceous and Quaternary allowed highlighting the space-time migration of the tectonic processes. The western portion of the studied area covers the submerged prolongation of the inner sector of the Sicilian-Maghrebian chain, limited in the NW and in the SE by two tectonic lineaments running along the western and eastern margins o…

A stalactite record of four relative sea-level highstands during the Middle Pleistocene Transition

International audience; Ice-sheet and sea-level fluctuations during the Early and Middle Pleistocene are as yet poorly understood. A stalactite from a karst cave in North West Sicily (Italy) provides the first evidence of four marine inundations that correspond to relative sea-level highstands at the time of the Middle Pleistocene Transition. The speleothem is located ∼97 m above mean sea level as result of Quaternary uplift. Its section reveals three marine hiatuses and a coral overgrowth that fixes the age of final marine ingression at 1.124 ± 0.2, thus making this speleothem the oldest stalactite with marine hiatuses ever studied to date. Scleractinian coral species witness light-limited…

The transition between the Marsili oceanic crust and the W Calabria rifted margin: rifting and drifting in the upper plate of the Ionian subduction zone

The western Calabria continental margin forms the transition between the Late Pliocene to Recent Marsili spreading center and continental Calabria. Integrating highpenetration and -resolution upper crustal seismic images with seafloor morphology, ODP well data and geological/geophysical constraints we provide a detailed reconstruction of the architecture of the distal portion of the W Calabria rifted margin and of the adjacent Marsili “oceanic” domain (Fig. 1) and develop a scheme for the Pliocene to present rifting and drifting of the upper plate of the Ionian subduction zone. Our seismic data document the presence of stretched and thinned continental crust, less than 10 Km thick into the …

Late Quaternary coastal uplift of southwestern Sicily, central Mediterranean sea

Abstract Mapping and luminescence aging of raised marine terraces and aeolian ridges along an ∼90 km coastal stretch in southwestern Sicily provide the first quantitative assessment of vertical tectonic deformation in this region, which spans the frontal part of an active thrust belt. We recognized a staircase of eleven terraces and nine related aeolian ridges. The elevation profile of terraces parallel to the coast shows a >90 km long bell-shaped pattern, onto which shorter-wavelength (∼10 km long) undulations are superimposed. Luminescence ages from terraced beach deposits and aeolian sediments constrain the position of paleoshorelines formed during MIS 5e, 7a and 7c, with a maximum uplif…

Preliminary results of a crustal seismic profile across Sicily (Italy)

Structural architecture and active deformation pattern in the northern sector of the Aeolian-Tindari-Letojanni fault system (SE Tyrrhenian Sea-NE Sicily) from integrated analysis of field, marine geophysical, seismological and geodetic data

Framed in the current geodynamics of the central Mediterranean, the Aeolian-Tindari-Letojanni fault system is part of a wider NW-SE oriented right-lateral wrench zone which accommodates diverging motion between regional-scale blocks located at the southern edge of the Calabrian Arc. In order to investigate the structural architecture and the active deformation pattern of the northern sector of this tectonic feature, structural observations on-land, high and very-high resolution seismic reflection data, swath bathymetry data and seismological and geodetic data were merged from the Lipari-Vulcano volcanic complex (central sector of the Aeolian Islands) to the Peloritani Mountains across the G…

On the relationships between tectonics and volcanism in the offshore capo vaticano, se tyrrhenian sea, during the plio-pleistocene.

High-resolution bathymetry and a grid of single-channel reflection seismic profiles (Sparker and Chirp) were recently recorded in a sector of the upper slope of Capo Vaticano (CV) promontory (Tyrrhenian coast, W Calabria) where forward and inverse modeling of previously acquired aeromagnetic data highlight the presence of a WNW©\ESE elongated, 20 km long and 3¨C5 km wide, magnetized body extending from sea floor to about 3 km below sea level. Magnetic properties of this body are consistent with those of the medium to highly evolved volcanic rocks of the Aeolian Arc (De Ritis et al., 2010). Forthwith offshore promontory, the bathymetry highlights a complex-shape seamount that develops along …

Fluid storage and migration properties of sheared Neptunian dykes

Abstract Neptunian dykes are widely reported along the Tethyan carbonate platforms and are commonly considered as subsurface baffles or barriers to fluid flow. However, the fluid storage and migration properties of sheared Neptunian dykes are poorly known. For this reason, we investigate the inner structure and fluid flow properties of two Neptunian dykes, which can be characterized by different architectures if involved or not in brittle shearing processes. The dykes strike ca. WNW-ESE and crosscutting the tight Jurassic limestones exposed at Maranfusa Mt., NW Sicily, Italy. The unsheared and sheared Neptunian dykes are almost sub-vertical and at high-angle with respect to the horizontal p…

Architettura stratigrafica ed evoluzione del Golfo di Pozzuoli negli ultimi 15 ka:una nuova prospettiva sulla caldera del Tufo Giallo Napoletano,Campi Flegrei, margine tirrenico orientale.

I Campi Flegrei rappresentano un distretto vulcanico attivo che si sviluppa al confine tra il settore emerso e sommerso del margine continentale campano. Il distretto vulcanico occupa una superficie di circa 200 km2, è strutturalmente dominato da una caldera di collasso del diametro di circa 8 km formatasi in seguito all’eruzione del Tufo Giallo Napoletano (TGN), un deposito ignimbritico del volume di 30-50 km3 Dense Rock Equivalent, datato a 15 ka B.P. circa, ed è attivo da almeno 78 ka B.P circa. L’obiettivo di questo lavoro è di ricostruire l’architettura stratigrafica e l’evoluzione vulcanotettonica tardo-Quaternaria del sistema caldera di collasso - faglia anulare - risorgenza intra-ca…

VARIABILITY OF DEPOSITIONAL SETTING ALONG THE NORTH-WESTERN SICILY CONTINENTAL SHELF (ITALY) DURING LATE QUATERNARY: EFFECTS OF SEA LEVEL CHANGES AND TECTONIC EVOLUTION

The geological, geomorphological and sedimentological features of the north-western Sicily continental shelf are here illustrated with the aim to propose a geological model able to explain the Neogene-Quaternary evolution of the Sicilian continental margin in the context of the central Mediterranean region. Above the continental shelf and upper slope the sedimentary succession, showing along the different sectors of the margin considerably variable internal geometry and stratigraphic relationships with the underlying units, is interpreted as a IV order depositional sequence (Late Quaternary Depositional Sequence, LQDS) deposited during the last eustatic change (last 125 ky). The lower bound…

Ricostruzione paleoclimatica degli ultimi 16.000 anni nella carota MSK12-C1 (Tirreno Meridionale)

Benthic foraminiferal response to trace element pollution. The case study of the Gulf of Milazzo, NE Sicily (Central Mediterranean Sea).

The response of benthic foraminiferal assemblages to trace element pollution in the marine sediments of the Gulf of Milazzo (north-eastern Sicily) was investigated. Since the 1960s, this coastal area has been a preferred site for the development of two small marinas and a commercial harbour as well as for heavy industry. Forty samples collected in the uppermost 3-4 cm of an undisturbed layer of sediment in the littoral environment were used for this benthic foraminiferal analysis. The enrichment factors (EFs) of selected trace elements (As, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) were also calculated. Changes both in benthic foraminiferal assemblages and in some trace elements concentrations have pr…

Recent Activity and Kinematics of the Bounding Faults of the Catanzaro Trough (Central Calabria, Italy): New Morphotectonic, Geodetic and Seismological Data

A multidisciplinary work integrating structural, geodetic and seismological data was performed in the Catanzaro Trough (central Calabria, Italy) to define the seismotectonic setting of this area. The Catanzaro Trough is a structural depression transversal to the Calabrian Arc, lying in-between two longitudinal grabens: the Crati Basin to the north and the Mesima Basin to the south. The investigated area experienced some of the strongest historical earthquakes of Italy, whose seismogenic sources are still not well defined. We investigated and mapped the major WSW–ENE to WNW–ESE trending normal-oblique Lamezia-Catanzaro Fault System, bounding to the north the Catanzaro Trough. Morphotectonic …

Plio-Quaternary tectonic evolution offshore the Capo Vaticano Promontory

We reconstruct the Plio-Quaternary tectono-stratigraphic evolution in the offshore Capo Vaticano (W Calabria, Italy) by integrating data obtained from single- and multi-channel reflection seismic profiles and a reprocessed version of the CROP M2A/III line. NW-trending, high-angle normal faults, dipping ~70° to the south-west formed along the continental slope connecting the south-west continental shelf of the Capo Vaticano Promontory to the Gioia Tauro Basin (Pepe et al., 2014). Faults generally have small displacements up to 40 m and are sealed by Pleistocene deposits. West of the Capo Vaticano promontory and in the Gioia Basin, a SE-dipping, normal fault system, more than 32 km long, is r…

Measuring magnitude and rate of vertical movements in the offshore Capo Vaticano (W Calabria) using lowstand coastal prisms and wave-built terraces

The magnitude and rate of vertical movements have been measured in the offshore Capo Vaticano (western Calabria) for the Late Pleistocene - Holocene on the basis of the depth of submerged coastal prism and associated wave-built terrace formed during the sea-level lowstand of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Uplifted and submerged terraces have proved to be valuable recorders of vertical motion in many locations around the world (e.g. DICKINSON, 2001; WEBSTER et alii, 2004) as the depth of their tops appear to be controlled by the sea-level. In the eastern Tyrrhenian margins, depending on the hydraulic energy conditions (i.e. waves and wind-induced currents), the average water depth of terrac…

SISTER 99: a seismic campaign to investigate the kinematics of South Tyrrhenian extensional region

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

The architecture and Neogene to Recent evolution of the W Calabrian continental margin: an upper plate perspective to the Ionian subduction system (Central Mediterranean)

The western Calabria continental margin forms the transition between the Pliocene to Recent Marsili spreading center and continental Calabria, all parts of the upper plate of the Ionian subduction zone. Integrating high-resolution and crustal seismic images constrained by gravity modeling, we provide a detailed reconstruction of the architecture of the margin and develop a new scheme for its Miocene to present evolution. This time span encompasses the continent-continent collision between Africa and Eurasia, subsequent orogenic collapse and rifting apart between the two continental masses, and the Pliocene to Recent emplacement of oceanic crust in the Vavilov and Marsili basins. The crust o…

Ampiezza e tassi dei movimenti verticali a Capo Vaticano (Calabria occidentale,Italia) negli ultimi 20 mila anni determinati sulla base di cunei progradanti epiattaforme di abrasione.

Ampiezza e tassi dei movimenti tettonici verticali sono stati quantificati nel settore offshore di Capo Vaticano (Calabria occidentale), nell’intervallo Pleistocene superiore – Olocene, sulla base delle profondità del ciglio dei cunei progradanti infralitorali e delle piattaforme di abrasione formatesi durante l’ultimo massimo glaciale (LGM). I cunei progradanti sono stati riconosciuti in profili sismici a riflessione ad alta risoluzione Sparker. I dati sismici sono stati acquisiti lungo la piattaforma e la scarpata continentale superiore, durante le crociere oceanografiche Marisk 2010 e 2012 organizzate dall’IAMC del CNR di Napoli, il DISTEM dell’Università di Palermo e il Dip. di Scienze …

Architecture and Pliocene to Recent evolution of the offshore prolongation of the Granitola - Castelvetrano Thrust System (Sicily Channel)

High-resolution, seismic profiles were recorded in the offshore of Mazara - Punta Granitola with the purpose of reconstructing the architecture and Pliocene to Recent evolution of the south-west prolongation of the Granitola- Castelvetrano Thrust System, identified as an active structure possibly related to destructive historical earthquakes (Barreca et al., 2014; Ferranti et al., this meeting). A number of seismic units were identified. The oldest one is interpreted as representative of the Lower Pliocene pelagic deposits known in the region as Trubi. Lower-middle Pleistocene calcarenites are widespread along the continental shelf (CS) between Mazara del Vallo while their top rapidly deepe…

The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera offshore the Campi Flegrei: Stratal architecture and kinematic reconstruction during the last 15 ky

In this study we integrate high-resolution swath bathymetry, single channel reflection seismic data and gravity core data, to provide new insights into the shallow structure and latest Quaternary to Holocene evolution of the submerged sector of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) caldera (Campi Flegrei) in the Pozzuoli Bay. The new data allow for a reconstruction of the offshore geometry of the NYT caldera collapse-ring fault system, along with the style and timing of deformation of the inner caldera resurgence.Our interpretation shows that the NYT eruption (~. 15. ka BP) was associated with a caldera collapse bounded by an inward-dipping ring fault system. The ring fault system consists in a …

Benthic foraminifera as indicators of relative sea-level fluctuations: Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction of a Holocene marine succession (Calabria, south-eastern Tyrrhenian Sea)

This study presents the results of an integrated stratigraphic analysis conducted on a marine gravity core (MSK-12 C4) recovered from the outer continental shelf (82 mwater depth) of western Calabria, ~2.6 km, NE of Capo Vaticano (Eastern Tyrrhenian margin). The gravity core MSK-12 C4 recovered a stratigraphic succession of 4.18 m beneath the seafloor representing the last ~11.1 ka. Sedimentological analysis, micropaleontological quantitative analysis on benthic foraminiferal assemblages, tephrostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphic analysis of high resolution reflection seismic data recorded in the core site area and AMS 14C absolute age determinations allowed reconstructing the marine recor…

Morfologia e morfometria del settore ionico del Golfo di Taranto.

Il versante Ionico del Golfo di Taranto è caratterizzato dalla presenza di alti strutturali e bacini che rappresentano l’espressione morfologica di sistemi di faglie pleistoceniche transpressive. La dorsale di Amendolara si estende per 45 Km in direzione N130°E, ed è caratterizzato dalla presenza di tre alti batimetrici minori (denominati Amendolara, Rossano e Cariati). Verso NE, la dorsale di Capo Spulico si estende per 40 Km in direzione !N115°E. Durante la Campagna Oceanografica “Teatioca” sono stati acquisiti 1100Km2 di dati batimetrici multibeam e profili sismici monocanale ad alta (Sparker) ed altissima risoluzione (Subbottom Chirp). L’analisi integrata dei nuovi dati ha consentito di…

Geodetic and geological evidence of active tectonics in south-western Sicily (Italy)

Abstract Integrated geological, geodetic and marine geophysical data provide evidence of active deformation in south-western Sicily, in an area spatially coincident with the macroseismic zone of the destructive 1968 Belice earthquake sequence. Even though the sequence represents the strongest seismic event recorded in Western Sicily in historical times, focal solutions provided by different authors are inconclusive on possible faulting mechanism, which ranges from thrusting to transpression, and the seismogenic source is still undefined. Interferometric (DInSAR) observations reveal a differential ground motion on a SW–NE alignment between Campobello di Mazara and Castelvetrano (CCA), locate…

Resurgent uplift at large calderas and relationship to caldera-forming faults and the magma reservoir: new insights from the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera (Italy) 

<p>Resurgence uplift is the rising of the caldera floor, mainly due to pressure or volume changes in the magma reservoir. Identifying resurgence structures and understanding their relationship to the magmatic reservoir is challenging. We investigate the resurgence structures of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) caldera (Italy) by integrating bathymetric data, high-resolution seismic profiles and Differential Synthetic-Aperture Radar Interferometry data. Our results show that the resurgent area is manifested as 1) a central dome constituted by two main blocks bounded by NNE-SSW trending faults, 2) an apical graben developed on top of the most uplifted block, 3) a peripheral zone…

Architecture and 15 ka to present volcano-tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera offshore the Campi Flegrei, (Naples, Eastern Tyrrhenian Margin)

The Campi Flegrei area is structurally dominated by the caldera associated with the eruption of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT), a 40 km3 DRE ignimbrite dated at ca 15 ka BP [Deino et al., 2004], The volcanological evolution of the NYT caldera as been long described on the basis of outcrop and subsurface studies onland [Rosi & Sbrana, 1987; Orsi et al., 1996, and references therein; Di Vito et al., 1999; Perrotta et al., 2006; Fedele et al., 2011], but its offshore morphology, the stratal geometry of the volcaniclastic products and structures and the late-stage geodynamic evolution of the inner caldera resurgence are still poorly known. We integrate geological and geophysical data obtained…

Fracture stratigraphy and oil first migration in Triassic shales, Favignana Island, western Sicily, Italy

This study aims at evaluating the control exerted by fracture stratigraphy and diagenetic processes on oil first migration through an outcropping, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic succession. The present work included results of sedimentological, paleontological, mineralogical, petrographic, structural, and microstructural analyses carried out on organic-rich shales exposed at the Favignana Island of Sicily, Italy. The analyses focus on Upper Triassic yellowish siltstones and greyish laminated dolomitic limestones, which form a 10's of m-thick succession exposed along the westernmost portion of the Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt. The studied succession deposited in a coastal lagoon associated t…

3‐D Architecture and Plio‐Quaternary Evolution of the Paola Basin: Insights Into the Forearc of the Tyrrhenian‐Ionian Subduction System

Using seismic reflection profiles and bathymetric data, we analyzed the stratigraphy and tectonics of the Paola Basin, providing information on the dynamic of the forearc of the Tyrrhenian-Ionian subduction system. The Paola Basin is a NNW-SSE trending syncline, bounded by the Coastal Chain to the east and the Paola Anticline to the west. It hosts up to 5.2 km thick Plio-Quaternary deposits, most of them supplied from Apenninic/Sila entry points and transported by longshore currents. The total subsidence reaches a value of ∼5 km. The sedimentary load varies from 60% to 75% of the total subsidence. The Pliocene to Lower Pleistocene sedimentary infill of the syncline displays a strata growth …

Segmentation and mechanism for subsidence across the western Calabria continental margin, south-eastern Tyrrhenian Sea

Active faulting and continental slope instability in the Gulf of Patti (Tyrrhenian side of NE Sicily, Italy): a field, marine and seismological joint analysis

The Gulf of Patti and its onshore sector represent one of the most seismically active regions of the Italian Peninsula. Over the period 1984–2014, about 1800 earthquakes with small-to-moderate magnitude and a maximum hypocentral depth of 40 km occurred in this area. Historical catalogues reveal that the same area was affected by several strong earthquakes such as the Mw = 6.1 event in April 1978 and the Mw = 6.2 one in March 1786 which have caused severe damages in the surrounding localities. The main seismotectonic feature affecting this area is represented by a NNW–SSE trending right-lateral strike-slip fault system called ‘‘Aeolian–Tindari–Letojanni’’ (ATLFS) which has been interpreted a…

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…

Geodetic and geological evidences of activetectonics in western Sicily (Italy): insights onthe seismogenic source of the 1968 Beliceearthquake sequence.

The night between the January 14th and 15th 1968, a wide area of western Sicily (Italy) was shaken by a strong earthquake, the main shock of a seismic crisis that hit the region until the January 25th. The disastrous event, that is the strongest seismic event recorded in Western Sicily in historical times, caused about 370 deaths and the destruction of many villages facing the Belice river valley, which was the epicentral area for this unexpected natural disaster. The seismic sequence consisted of a main shock with M=5.9 and a series of pre-shock and aftershocks that were clustered along a NE-SW alignment. Focal planes solutions provided by many authors in the last decades show controversia…

New Evidence of MIS 3 Relative Sea Level Changes from the Messina Strait, Calabria (Italy)

Investigation of sea-level positions during the highly-dynamic Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3: 29–61 kyrs BP) proves difficult because: (i) in stable and subsiding areas, coeval coastal sediments are currently submerged at depths of few to several tens of meters below the present sea level

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

Sul ritrovamento di tephra di composizione riolitica peralluminosa a largo del promontorio di Capo Vaticano (Calabria Occidentale, Tirreno Meridionale)

Geomorphological and Morphometric Analyses of the Catanzaro Trough (Central Calabrian Arc, Southern Italy): Seismotectonic Implications

In this work, we investigated the landscape response to the recent activity of the faults affecting the Catanzaro Trough, a seismically active structural basin that developed transversally to the Calabrian Arc (Southern Italy) during the Neogene–Quaternary. We carried out a geomorphological and morphometric study of the drainage networks and basins intercepted by the Quaternary faults that were previously mapped through remote and field analyses. The study confirms the occurrence north of the Catanzaro Trough of a WNW–ESE-oriented left-lateral strike-slip fault system (here named the South Sila Piccola Fault System), which accommodates the differential SE-ward migration of the u…

Studio morfometrico e statistico degli eventi di frana nel settore marino orientale del Golfo di Taranto

La campagna oceanografica “Teatioca” è il frutto della collaborazione fra l’Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero (IAMC) di Napoli, l’Università Federico II di Napoli, l’Università di Palermo e Trieste e l’INGV di Roma. Durante tale campagna, effettuata a bordo della N/O Urania del CNR nel 2011, sono stati acquisiti dati batimetrici multibeam ad alta risoluzione ed una fitta maglia di dati sismici ad alta (Sparker) ed altissima (Chirp) risoluzione nell’area ionica del Golfo di Taranto. L’analisi integrata del Modello Digitale del Terreno (10m, 5m e 2m) generato dai dati multibeam con i nuovi dati sismo-stratigrafici ha consentito di analizzare in dettaglio l’instabilità dei versanti. Una …

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

Seismic expression of the shallow structure of The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) caldera offshore the Campi Flegrei

In this study we integrate high-resolution swath bathymetry, single-channel reflection seismic data and gravity core data, to provide new insights into the shallow structure and latest Quaternary to Holocene evolution of the submerged sector of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) caldera (Campi Flegrei) in the Pozzuoli Bay. The new data allow for a reconstruction of the offshore geometry of the NYT caldera collapse – ring fault system, along with the style and timing of deformation of the inner caldera resurgence. Our interpretation shows that the NYT eruption (~15 ka BP) was associated with a caldera collapse bounded by an inward-dipping ring fault system. The ring fault system consists in a …

Multi-temporal tectonic evolution of Capo Granitola and Sciacca foreland transcurrent faults (Sicily channel)

Highlights • Seismic reflection profiles evidence tectonic inversion and active strike-slip faults offshore SW Sicily foreland • Pliocene-Quaternary transpressional inversion of Late Miocene extensional basins • Transpressional fold growth rates were high in Latest Miocene-Pliocene and decreased during Quaternary Joint analysis of high-penetration multi-channel and high-resolution single-channel seismic reflection profiles, calibrated by deep well boreholes, allowed a detailed reconstruction of the Late Miocene to Recent tectonic history of the Capo Granitola and Sciacca fault systems offshore southwestern Sicily. These two fault arrays are part of a regional system of transcurrent faults t…

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, …

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…

Magmatism Along Lateral Slab Edges: Insights From the Diamante-Enotrio-Ovidio Volcanic-Intrusive Complex (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea)

Volcanic‐intrusive complexes often formed along lateral slab edges as a consequence of subduction‐induced mantle flow. We investigate this process in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea by integrating multibeam bathymetry, seismic‐reflection data, regional magnetic anomalies data, and seismological data. The interpretation of the data highlights the presence of magmatic intrusions that locally reach the seafloor forming volcanic edifices. Chimneys, lava flows, and laccoliths are observed beneath and surrounding the volcanoes. The emplacement and cooling of the magma occurred during the Brunhes Chron. The volcanoes are not active even if the hydrothermal activity occurs. The volcanic‐intrusive compl…

Active deformation in Southern Italy, Sicily and southern Sardinia from GPS velocities of the Peri-Tyrrhenian Geodetic Array (PTGA)

Campaign measurement (1995-2000) of Global Positioning System (GPS) site velocities in southern Italy, Central Mediterranean area, document differential displacements within the orogens rimming the Tyrrhenian Sea. Within the Southern Apennines, GPS velocities define two laterally juxtaposed belts of deformation, with transpression in the east and transtension in the west. In the east, ~8 mm/yr convergence between northern Murge-Gargano block and the International GPS System (IGS) site MATE is partitioned across ~east-west striking right-lateral faults, consistent with seismicity and with the offshore geological record. To the south, in northern Calabria, site velocities relative to MATE ind…

Hyper-extended rifted margin in the Tyrrhenian Sea, upper plate of the Ionian subduction zone

The Tyrrhenian Sea is a Miocene to Present back-arc basin developed in the upper plate of the Ionian subduction zone. Refraction seismic data indicate that the central sector of the Marsili Basin is a zone of thin crust ∼7 km thick compatible with its oceanic origin (Steinmetz et al., 1983). Conventional models rather define a Continent-Ocean Transition (COT) with normal oceanic crust (i.e. Finetti et al., 2005). This does not seem to be the case for the whole Tyrrhenian Basin. Serpentinized peridotites, emplaced during Pliocene, have been drilled at ODP Site 651 (Sartori et al. 2004). The W Calabria segment of the Tyrrhenian continental margin is peculiar as seismic data has excluded the p…

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

Geometria e modellazione di un sistema di retro-scorrimenti attivosulla base di dati di geofisica marina ad alta risoluzione:la Dorsale di Amendolara (Golfo di Taranto).

Nuovi dati sismici ad alta (Sparker) ed altissima (Subbottm Chirp) risoluzione, acquisiti durante la Campagna Oceanografica “Teatioca_2010”, integrati da dati sismici multicanale ad alta penetrazione, pubblici disponibili sul sito www.videpi.com, calibrati con pozzi profondi, batimetrici multifascio e carotaggi, rivelano che la dorsale di Amendolara, estensione sottomarina della zona frontale del sistema a thrust dell’Appennino meridionale, è stata controllata nel Quaternario da un sistema di retro-scorrimenti e faglie transpressive (ATFS) che dislocano verso SW la catena mio-pliocenica NE-vergente. Il pacco di sequenze deposizionali attribuito, sulla base della facies sismica e della prese…

Relazione tra le associazioni a foraminiferi bentonici e l'inquinamento da elementi in traccia nel Golfo di Milazzo, N-E Sicilia (Tirreno Meridionale)

Ricostruzione paleoambientale e paleoclimatica mediante foraminiferi bentonici di un settore dell'offshore di Capo Vaticano (Tirreno Meridionale)

Tectonics and seismicity of the Tindari Fault System, southern Italy: Crustal deformations at the transition between ongoing contractional and extensional domains located above the edge of a subducting slab

[1] The Tindari Fault System (southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) is a regional zone of brittle deformation located at the transition between ongoing contractional and extensional crustal compartments and lying above the western edge of a narrow subducting slab. Onshore structural data, an offshore seismic reflection profile, and earthquake data are analyzed to constrain the present geometry of the Tindari Fault System and its tectonic evolution since Neogene, including the present seismicity. Results show that this zone of deformation consists of a broad NNW trending system of faults including sets of right-lateral, left-lateral, and extensional faults as well as early strike-slip faults rewor…

Miocene to Present evolution of the Calabria Tyrrhenian continental margin (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea)

The Miocene to Present evolution of the Calabria Tyrrhenian Continental Margin (CTCM, Southern Tyrrhenian Sea) are reconstructed using two ENE-WSW oriented, near-vertical seismic profiles (CROP-M27 and SISTER 11 lines). The interpreted profiles were time-to-depth converted, merged and translated in a geological section, which was also extended to the Tyrrhenian bathial plain and the Calabrian arc using wide-angle seismic data [Scarascia et al., 1994], and tested with gravity modelling. Across the CTCM, top of KCU is laterally variable in depth forming basins filled by Oligo-Miocene clastic to terrigenous deposits up to 1500m thick. Basins are separated by major structures with contractional…

Granulometry, mineralogy and trace elements of marine sediments from the Gulf of Milazzo (NE Sicily): evaluation of anthropogenic impact

Granulometry, mineralogy, and trace element concentrations are determined in marine sediments from thirty-six sampling sites in the littoral environment of the Gulf of Milazzo (NE Sicily). Sediment samples were collected in August 2008, along 18 seaward transects, at water depths of ‐10, ‐20 and ‐30 m, by using a Van Veen grab. Grain-size analysis shows predominance of sand (56%) and silt (35%) fractions with respect to clay (7%) and gravel (2%) fractions. Bulk mineralogical analysis documents the presence of quartz, micas, feldspars, calcite, and chlorite, which reflect erosion processes affecting the Kabilian-Calabrian Units. Concentrations of most trace elements in the deeper sediments w…

Rifted margin formation in the South Tyrrhenian Sea: A high resolution profile across the North Sicily passive continental margin.

A new, 150 km long seismic line across the continental margin of north Sicily has been acquired and interpreted. The overall structure of the margin is controlled by extension, which caused crustal thinning and widespread normal faulting. Two main thinned zones are observed in the south in correspondence with the Cafalù basin and farther to the north at the continent-ocean transition. Zones of thinned crust coincide with zones of intense normal faulting. Extension began in late Tortonian times and caused the opening of the Cefalù basin controlled by a northward dipping listric fault. Messinian stretching affected most of the future margin and provoked a widening of the Cefalù basin and norm…

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

Foglio 594 Partinico